HoloNet Links #101
Wow, today is the 20th of June, and the 21st marks the beginning of Summer. It also is the start of Summer of SWTOR. To kick it off, Double XP Weekends are back! Starting Friday, June 21st, through June 24th you can earn Double XP and Legacy XP. This starting weekend and subsequent weekends are great for leveling a new character quickly or even if you take advantage of the double Legacy XP it is well worth it. Besides Double XP weekends, which we will talk about more later, Geldarion has a leveling guide for gear, we have info on the new event, and plenty of other juicy tidbits coming to SWTOR.
More on Double XP, SWTOR Summer, & Community Cantina dates after the Jump…
- Double XP Weekends starting June 21st
In my opinion, the best thing about the Double XP Weekends, especially if you are starting a new character, is that feeling, like when I first logged into SWTOR. Playing alongside friends and getting through story, planet quests and heroics. Not to mention for those not fond of alts, this is a quick way to get that other class leveled up or completed you have been putting off.
Below are the weekends that the Double XP will apply. Are you planning to take advantage of this extra XP? Let us know if so and what you plan to do…creating a new character or finishing up a class you started, but never completed?
June 21, 2013 (1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT) to June 24, 2013 (2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT)
June 28, 2013 (1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT) to July 1, 2013 (2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT)
July 4, 2013 (6:00AM CDT / 11:00AM GMT) to July 8, 2013 (2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT)
- Geldarion’s Update 2.0 guide for Leveling Gear
What goes perfect with the upcoming Double XP weekends? A guide for gear as you level to 55. Well, your friend and mine Geldarion aka Drew has written the perfect guide for just that. He helps you plan out the best way to keep your character in the best gear all the way to reaching level 55. His plan for using the new Planetary Comms to get the gear, when to get the gear and how to maximize the number of Planetary Comms you get is very helpful. However, don’t take my word for it, head over to his article on The Fanatical Swordsman and read it for yourself…you’ll be glad you did, especially while leveling during Double XP Weekends!
- SWTOR Summer Update
Now we have talked about the Double XP Weekends, but that is just part of what is in store for SWTOR this Summer. Bruce Maclean, in a recent dev post, has given us more details and updated dates for content and events coming to SWTOR this summer and beyond. The dates according to his post are as follows and subject to change:
July 9th: Update 2.2.2 – Nightmare Mode for the Scum & Villainy Operation
July 23rd: Return of the Gree Event – This time it will be for two weeks and the event will be scaled up to level 55. Bruce also states, “better loot, commendations and achievements…even a new vehicle drop is possible.”
August 6th: Update 2.3 scheduled release – Details are scarce at this time, but during the remaining Community Cantina events more information will be released. In his post, he states there will be a new Daily area, game-wide color vibrancy improvement and New Flashpoints…yes, plural. We will talk about this more in the dev notes section.
August 13th: New Event to be released – Another part of Update 2.3 will be a new event, which we learned about from the last Community Cantina event, will be a Bounty Hunter themed event. Bruce’s post mentions this event will be fully voice-over set of missions. This event will scale to characters from level 15-55 as you take down “bounty targets across the galaxy.” Players can earn XP, comms, credits, and reputation with the “Bounty Broker Association.” Check out this dev post by Eric Musco about armor set one and armor set two that will be part of the new event.
October: Update 2.4 scheduled release. Its focus will be mostly on PVP. Bruce mentions that not much can be said right now about the content he did mention three things…Oricon, Dread Masters and Warzone Arenas!
Now, there have been several things BioWare has dropped the ball on to be honest, but I will say giving us dates, even if they get pushed back are still dates. That is much better than “soon.” As for the list of updates full of content, I think BioWare has done a good job at keeping us informed and listening to the community. We wanted a more quest oriented event, fully voiced, and something new…the announcement of a Bounty Hunter themed event sounds amazing and totally fits the Star Wars theme. Now, of course it has not yet been determined how the event itself stacks up, but for now I am smiling and looking forward to grouping up to track down bounties across the galaxy.
image via justpushstart.com
The above image is of a hangar that is part of the New Event
The other thing we knew very little about and still not much was Update 2.4, which I dub “PVP love…finally.” Although, we didn’t learn anything concrete, we did hear two words I think several PVPers will be happy with…Warzone Arenas! Now, what does BioWare mean by that is anyone’s guess right. Do they mean new arena maps, or do they mean something like 4 vs. 4 arena matches. I am going to say the latter because they mentioned that 2.4 will have significant effect on Ranked PVP. We know that you can currently que up in teams of four, so if it is something like 4 vs. 4, it should fit in the system without needing much overhauling. If it is something like 4 vs. 4 arenas, then is it something you would be in favor of for Ranked PVP? Let us know in the comment section below, along with your thoughts on any of the new information for future content releases from now till 2.4.
- Dev notes
EricMusco How much will the “new” Flashpoints cost? | 06.18.2013, 10:22 AM
I can confirm that you will not be paying an additional charge to get the new Flashpoints. They are a part of the content of Game Update 2.3, which as we have stated in the past, we will not charge for.
-eric
EricMusco How much will the “new” Flashpoints cost? | 06.18.2013, 10:28 AM
Quote: Originally Posted by TUXs – Plural? Could you please confirm they aren’t just new “nightmare” modes….
Plural? Yup! And definitely not “nightmare” modes, they are brand new.
-eric
The two posts above, by Eric, are very encouraging! One, there will not be an additional charge for this content coming in Update 2.3. Two, they will be NEW Flashpoints, and yes, that is plural. I was afraid they were only going to up the difficulty level and maybe give us one new Flashpoint. Thanks, Eric, for the update and thank you BioWare for making some good decisions on this course of actions.
EricMusco Server Transfer are they coming next week the 25th? | 06.18.2013, 03:06 PM
Hey folks,
Yes, Paid Character Transfers are still slated for 2.2.1. The reason we didn’t post anything about it is that simply put, nothing changed. I will typically only post about something changing from what I had already stated previously.
Paid Character Transfers are still slated for 2.2.1 which is targeted for next Tuesday, June 25th. I will let you know if anything changes, the second it changes.
-eric
Sounds like Paid Character Transfers are still a go for Update 2.2.1. This is good news that, so far it has not been pushed back, but time will tell. Since these are paid transfers, I would hope they would wait and make sure they are nearly perfect before rolling it out. It would be lots of headaches for players and dev team to put the feature in-game and then the transfers not work correctly…like losing part of a player’s Legacy, their gear, credits, Cartel Coins, etc. Let’s keep our fingers crossed it is ready to go on the 25th.
CourtneyWoods Awww crud. | 06.18.2013, 02:54 PM
Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to clear things up about some of the changes coming to the Friends of SWTOR program.
Starting June 11th, we began our “transition time” and you are no longer able to refer friends. If you had referred a friend before June 11th, they have until July 12th to subscribe and receive the current rewards.
It is important to note that this program will be returning with the Kurtob Alliance Speeder and some new rewards. We are targeting to bring back this program in early August of this year.
Hope that helps!
CourtneyWoods Awww crud. | 06.18.2013, 03:30 PM
Quote: Originally Posted by Alec_Fortescue
New rewards? Please tell me it will be retroactive :/ It won’t hurt if they would be retroactive.
Hey Alec_Fortescue,
They are not retroactive. The monthly grant of Cartel Coins you receive will still remain (and you already have the Kurtob Alliance Speeder). The reason why is that our new Friends Program has a new tracking system on the web that wasn’t there previously. Because of this, it is considered a new program. We are still hammering out different ways for Subscribers to receive the rewards through this program.
Once we have those details hammered out, I will give y’all an update!
Now, so far everyone is saying, “Jason has fanboy card renewed,” but here is where I might lose my card entirely. Now, I understand it is BioWare’s right to make changes as they see fit. That is true for the changes to their Friends of SWTOR program. If they feel they need to make changes that’s fine, and might just be a good thing to stir-up new subscribers. The problem I have with the changes is the fact they mention they need to “hammer out” ways for Subscribers, who have already invited friends to the game and they joined, to get the new rewards. BioWare this is a bad joke. In the dev post, it states that there is no current way to track who has had friends join using the Friends program. Yes, there is. A player’s Cartel Coin ledger that states each month when you receive 100 Cartel coins for your friend being a subscriber. So, if I am able to get 100 Cartel coins for getting a friend to join the game, then why isn’t the same system used to show who is eligible for the new rewards? In the LiveStream Event, Bruce, Jeff, and Eric said that they, BioWare, were going to make an effort to make the subscriber feel that they are valued. Now, you are still trying to figure out how to award players rewards, who not only subscribe, but brought other subscribers to SWTOR.
Honestly, I do not like to rant, because I understand that change is a part of games…it is part of life, but you have a system in place that tracks the current Friends of SWTOR program, why can it not be used for any future rewards etc.?
Questions surround
changes to Friends of SWTOR program
Star Wars Community News & Events
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- Community Cantina coming to Chicago
The Community Cantina is coming to the Midwest, Chicago to be exact! If it sounds like I am personally excited, it is because I am. I will be attending this event and can’t wait to go to meet the developers, as well as other players from SWTOR. From talking to others, who have attended similar events in the past it should be a blast! If you are interested in attending the Community Cantina in Chicago, be sure to RSVP on the SWTOR Facebook page. It is listed in the event section of the page. If you can’t make this event below is a list of the remaining Community Cantina events that was posted by Eric Musco.
Here are the additional dates and locations of future Community Cantina events:
EricMusco Eric Musco confirms Naboo as next planet at Cantina Crawl | 06.18.2013, 09:17 AM
Here is the list of our events for the rest of the year:
San Diego – July 18th
Chicago – August 9th
Germany – August 23rd
Seattle – August 31st
New York – October (exact date TBD)
Austin – November (exact date TBD)
As some other folks have alluded to, BioWare doesn’t really have a “head office.” Edmonton is our sister studio, all of our SWTOR development is here out of Austin. That being said I would love to do an event in Canada in the future but it is not on the schedule for this year. I would check our Facebook page for exact details on the events we have announced, we should be posting more information on Germany and Seattle soon.
-eric
PS – Naboo for life
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