Star Wars: The Old Republic

First things first, they have announced a release date for SW:TOR.

North America - December 20, 2011
Europe - December 22, 2011

Silly different dates! :(

Anyway, I received an email today advising the following:

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We hope you are enjoying participating in the Game Testing Program and want to thank you for helping shape the most anticipated MMO to date.

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However, I haven't received a test invite (sadly) and I'm not sure if I was supposed to have been in the test or not. Has anyone else got this email and not received a test invite? I hope it was just a mistake being sent to me and that I haven't missed out on it!

Allen, future Sith Inquisitor.

Have you checked your swtor account to see if your account has been selected for testing?

I got an invite to the beta yesterday, but that was because I got the beta invite at Eurogamer...

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On September 29th, you received two emails regarding the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Game Testing Program. These emails were sent to you by mistake. This was due to an internal error and not the result of hacking or malware. Please be assured that no personal information was compromised. We are sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Please note that receipt of these e-mails does not affect your chances to be invited to test the game at a later date.

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Aww, dammit! :(

Summary of thoughts from Eurogamer and the subsequent Meet n' Greet:

Clicky

I also got a Game Testing invite because of the Meet n' Greet, also got to shake a few Dev's hands :D. Although i can't talk about the Game Testing stuff because of NDA :(.

Nice write up there, vdbswong. I am really looking forward to this game now.

Thanks =].

I'm also looking forward to heading back home this week and testing out more of the Game.

I can't play whilst i'm at Uni :(...

Well, not until i get a new laptop (i'm definitely going to be playing after release, Uni or not ;) :P)

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Originally Posted by vdbswong

Thanks =].

I'm also looking forward to heading back home this week and testing out more of the Game.

I can't play whilst i'm at Uni :(...

Well, not until i get a new laptop (i'm definitely going to be playing after release, Uni or not ;) :P)

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Lol the only reason im not gaming at Uni is due to my lack of a good machine.

Cant wait to get my new build next week :p

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Originally Posted by danbt

Lol the only reason im not gaming at Uni is due to my lack of a good machine.

Cant wait to get my new build next week :p

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Ugh lucky, enjoy that :p. I bought a new PC in my Second Year using my loan and it's what i left at home this time round :(.

Been trying to buy a Gaming Laptop, but I keep getting shafted by it either being "Out of Stock" or having my Payment Verification fail because they're morons :censored: :censored: (and by that time it's out of stock again).

Although i guess i'm fortunate that i only have a half day Wednesday with Thursday and Friday off. Which means i get 4.5 days of Testing :rockon: :rockon:.

I'm pretty much building my first PC for this game. Hella excited. Also pleased they have moved the EU release date to the 20th; the same as in the US now.

If anyone is interested there are a couple of interesting reviews from beta testers (with a recorded video) on betacake here.

To be fair, after he (or anyone for that matter) refers to PvE'ers as Carebears, i really couldn't take his opinion seriously anymore.

I'm sure there are people who play MMOs for the PvP but apart from maybe Eve Online, i've never really been that bothered in open world PvP.

I'm personally looking forward to TOR for the Story/Class Quests and to be able to play through them with friends.

Sure i might dabble in some PvP, but that's usually a distraction and i'll queue up with my friends. Even then, if i really wanted to PvP i'd just play League of Legends or Battlefield 3.

Apparently press embargoes were lifted meaning quite a few sites have been allowed to voice their opinion from the beta.

You can find a summary of their opinions here: clicky.

Unfortunately the general NDA for testers hasn't been lifted so i can't comment or compare any of that to my experience.

However i will say i do like this quote ;):

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RockPaperShotgun

Hands On - Part One - Oct 20

"All the classes are currently frustratingly slow to start, especially the Smuggler who I shall be telling you about next time. But once things kick off, and you’ve got ten quests down the right side of the screen and six different people pissed off at you for something, four flashpoints available for when you find someone else to play with, and have I mentioned, two lightsabres, it’s jolly hard not to want to keep going for more."

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Some "reviews" are looking quite interesting, looks like a game I could really get in to I think. Am loving what I see of the SI right now, that's defo gonna be my first char!

Does anyone know if there will be things like racial bonuses, as I'm not sure which race to go with.

Also, will there be a way of changing specs?

Has there been any detail on character customization? Lightsaber hilts, crystals etc.

Geist, have a read through this: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=496756

Fantastic info in there. From what I can tell, Lightsabers are customisable and with the digital deluxe edition you get a crystal to change it's colour.

I found the answers to some of my questions, multi specs will be introduced after release and I can't see any info about racial bonuses so it looks like choice will be down to story/rp/aesthetics.

I'll dance around the NDA and post what i know the devs have posted:

Racial Bonuses - They recently confirmed them at NYCC, however they'll be purely aesthetic. They didn't want min-max'ers or certain guilds to be arse-y about exactly how to roll your character.

Item Customisation - They've stated that there's a Modification system in place with every item gaining modification slots. As such, it should be technically possible to deck out your Level 1 gear with the Top Tier/Level mods and make it comparable to items of a similar level (not quite sure if it'd be particularly better).

That would govern the "Hilts" as you'd choose which hilt you liked and then just mod it up. With regards to Lightsaber colours they've stated they want to Alignment lock some of the more "iconic" colours such as Blue, Green for Light Side and Red for Dark Side... there's still debate with regards to purple/yellow/orange.