Star Wars: The Old Republic - Official Thread

[Adad]

New Smuggler Secrets
Friday, September 24, 2010 at 11:54am



No two Smugglers are exactly alike, and you’ll be able to customize your character to fit your play style. You’ll face many choices in how your Smuggler develops as you explore the Old Republic galaxy. One of the most important decisions will be which Advanced Class to pursue—whether you want to become the fastest draw in the Outer Rim as a Gunslinger, or whether you prefer to specialize in some of the Smuggler’s more cunning tactics as a Scoundrel. Both paths have their own rewards and more choices within their various disciplines, but you’ll have to choose what style suits you best—or better yet, maybe you’ll want to try them both!

If you’re interested in playing something just a little more exotic than human, you might want create a Twi’lek Smuggler. Learn more about this species and get a closer look on the Twi’lek Inhabitants page.

No Smuggler would be complete without a Wookiee companion, so we’d like to introduce you to Bowdaar, the mighty Wookiee warrior. You can learn more about this known associate on the Smuggler page or by accessing Bowdaar’s biography.

A Wookiee’s not the only necessity. A Smuggler wouldn’t be able to do much smuggling without a personal starship. Check out the new Starship section of the HoloNet, and make sure to look at the Smuggler’s Corellian XS Stock Light Freighter. It’s the ship that can make the “Balmorra run” in just a handful of parsecs, and if you choose to play the Smuggler, it will be yours.

Finally, if you love the Smuggler as much as we do, we can guarantee you’ll enjoy the new Smuggler Class Gameplay Video. This video captures the spirit of how the Smuggler plays in the game, and if you look carefully, you might even see something you’ve never seen before.

Enjoy!

[Subb]

The gunslinger's stock photo is so sweet. It'd be awesome if a Jedi could don that attire!

[Balance]

oh yeah, like every smuggler in the universe would have a wookie working with them....

[Ragnarok]

Hyperspace Beacon: More hidden messages

by Larry Everett Sep 28th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, New titles, Opinion, Rumors, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon
A little over a month ago, I mentioned there were hidden messages within the Star Wars: The Old Republic website. Site designer Alyssa Gobelle had some fun and riddled all the pages with Aurebesh phrases. This gives the site not only an interesting aesthetic but also a direct tie to the story being told. Gobelle said to The Holonet Project in an interview, "[W]e planned to add some generic Aurebesh to start. But we also wanted to add some hidden teases and notes for you guys to devour and ponder upon and play with. Give some more fuel to the speculation festivities."

For those who aren't aware what Aurebesh is, I will explain briefly. Obviously, since Star Wars happens a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the language is not going to be the same as ours. The accepted history of the "language" starts in 1993 when a graphic designer for West End Games, Stephan Crane, wanted to add some extra flavor to the Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion. So based on symbols seen in Dark Forces and monitor readouts from Return of the Jedi, he created one corresponding Aurebesh letter for every English letter. And the name Aurebesh, like the English word alphabet, is derived from the first two letters: Aurek and Besh. (Alphabet is from the Greek letters Alpha and Beta.)

This week we dive into the messages hidden within the Biography pages and into a bonus screenshot that may give us some insight into a PvP mechanic. Follow me after the break to help me unravel these mysteries.

The very little I can figure out
The Biography pages contain the histories and personality traits of some of the more notorious characters you will meet in your travels across the SWTOR universe. This includes people like Grand Master Satele Shan, Grand Moff Kilran, and Mandalore, or some of your possible companions like Vette, Bowdaar, and T7-O1. Just like every other page on the holonet, the pages also contain Aurebesh phrases, and just like the planets from the last article, there are some that are easy to figure out and some that are not.

We will start with an easy one. Mandalore's pages, like every page, has "welcome to the holonet" at the top, and hidden within the text are three phrases. Mandalore's three phrases are Mandalore the Vindicator, Champion Needed, and Jedi merely first. Each Mandalore has a "the" title after his name to signify something about his reign. The previous Mandalore came to be known as Mandalore the Lesser, probably because he was a puppet of the Empire. Although the meaning behind the name is unclear, the current Mandalore, Artus, is known as Mandalore the Vindicator. The other two phrases revolve around the Great Hunt. This sport was started by Mandalore the Lesser as a way of energizing the clans. Artus is apparently continuing the tradition, so the Hunt needs a champion. The Jedi actually started the Great Hunt centuries before as a way to exterminate Sith followers and the creatures the Sith had created. Yet the tradition continues -- will you be the champion needed by Mandalore the Vindicator?

The next one is less obvious but certainly more fun: Satele Shan. Her phrases are Jedi exiled her mother, Blood of Revan, and A secret son. The latter two are obvious. Apparently, she is the scion of Revan and Bastila Shan (which in and of itself is awesome), but she also has a son whom no one apparently knows about. How does he fit into the world arc? The first phrase got me thinking (and this is total speculation): What if there is extreme significance to her mother's being exiled? The timeline is still fuzzy, so I don't know whether it's possible. But her mother could be the Jedi Exile from Knights of the Old Republic 2, if Revan and Bastila had a son. Canonically, the Jedi Exile is female, so who knows?

I need your help on these

As usual, I do not have all the answers, so perhaps you can help me out with a few of these mysteries and their significance.

Nem'ro the Hutt
Betrayed Skadge -- Who is Skadge, and why is he important?
Houk and Rattataki bodyguards -- We know Rattataki are a playable species; does that play some role in the bounty hunter class story?

Vette
A Gift from Lord Haras -- Does this mean Vette is a slave?
Risha's Sister -- Risha is the first planet in the Rishi System, but I doubt that is what is this phrase is about. Who is Risha?
Star of Kala'uun -- Kala'uun is a large city on Ryloth. If she is the "star" of this city, does that mean she was famous as an entertainer?

Bowdaar
Great Feastmaster's Collateral -- This holds no significance to me.
Karssk's Pre -- Is this phrase cut off?
Good Luck Redhead -- Does this mean anything to you?

T7-O1
Flesh Raider Collectable -- Collectable is spelled wrong, I guess, unless she is referring to a specific item and not some random collectible.

General Garza
Ando Prime -- This planet is a frozen world that is home to famous pod races during the time just prior to the Clone Wars. It is also the home of the Bendu Monks, an order that predates the Jedi. What is the relationship between this planet and this Republic general?

Darth Malgus
Yablari, Trandosha, Kalee -- I am not sure what Darth Malgus has to do with any of these planets, are you?
First Contact -- Was he the first official contact the Republic had with the Empire?

Bonus mystery

As a bonus, I would like to include this screenshot from the smuggler class, which was released late last week. The picture shows the smuggler (scoundrel advanced class) scolding a red-skinned Zabrak. In the background, you will notice a sign with what looks like a list of some sort in Aurebesh. But it's not Aurebesh. I first noticed this non-Aurebesh writing in the screenshots of Nar Shaddaa. What is this writing if it's not Aurebesh?

Prior to writing, I was a graphic artist with web design and print-page layout being my focuses. During this time, I had accumulated a multitude of fonts, and being the pack rat I am, I kept them all, especially my Star Wars-related fonts. After skimming through all 10,000 (not an exaggeration), I noticed a font that I had dismissed as not being a real Star Wars font because I had never seen it in any Star Wars art. The font is called Galactic Basic. It is a collection of upper and lowercase letters that resemble Aurebesh, yet is not Aurebesh. When I compared this font to the lettering in the Nar Shaddaa screenshots, they actually spelled words.

Although there was nothing important spelled out in the Nar Shaddaa picture, the smuggler screenie was quite the opposite. After decoding, the smuggler's picture said this (laid out as close as I can to the actual layout):

BHG
dead or alive [in smaller text]
most
wanted

Bendix fust
Ona rissuk                                                      
raim Blastwell
panza dacko
Regg Pixola

For those who are not so familiar with Star Wars, "BHG" is obviously Bounty Hunters Guild. My speculatory mind went crazy. My fanboy got excited. Wouldn't it be incredible if this were a hint at open-world PvP and the names on that list were actual player names? There are multiple ways these names could appear on the list. Maybe they do something to tick off an NPC, or perhaps PCs can place bounties like they can in Star Wars Galaxies. But no matter how those names get there, are they a hint to future gameplay? Personally, I hope so.

Until next week, may Kikalekki's blessings be upon you.
The Hyperspace Beacon by Larry Everett is your weekly guide to the vast galaxy of Star Wars: The Old Republic, currently in production by BioWare. If you have comments or suggestions for the column, send a transmission to larry@massively.com. Now strap yourself in, kid -- we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!

Just something I found interesting.

[Tbone]

Very good find. In retrospect, perhaps we should have made that language part of the challenge. But I guess it would have been pretty obvious and not very original.

I think I get the reference to redhead. In KOTOR II, one of your companions is Mira, who is a redhead. There's a wookie who has a life debt with her, but is very bitter about it, Hanharr. Throughout the game, he is hunting her, and usually refers to her "that redhead" or something similar. So I think the phrase is a nod to Hanharr, who could also be your companion if you went Dark Side. Whether there is a significant connection there or if it is just a nod, I don't know.

[Ragnarok]

Aurebesh alphabet

[Ragnarok]

This one can get confusing as there is a great deal of content in the game, all geared for slightly different experiences. So let's get to it, yes?

--There is no repeated content across factions. Easy enough.

--Every Class has a completely unique storyline with their own companion characters and quests that takes them from the very first level through the very last and leads them naturally into the end game content. We call these Class Quests.

Now the questions and ideas that can be harder to get your head around if you haven't yet been one of the few lucky ones to actually play the game.

--"Is all your faction specific content Class Quests?"

Absolutely not. It's a multiplayer game, built for multiplayer storytelling. Which means all classes in a faction will have access to all of the same content except the Class Quests.

--"What is the breakdown between Class Quests and multiplayer quests?"

On the Origin worlds it's about 60% Class Quests, dropping to about 40% on the Capital worlds and then even lower for the rest of the game. The whole idea is to get you into the game, teach you about your class and your story, then get you out there playing with other people. We need to meet Obi-Wan, get our lightsaber and learn about the rest of the galaxy, but then it's time to get the gang together and go to war. We're still going to take breaks and run off to Dagobah but that's now the minority of our story. So the game very purposefully starts with more single player content and then moves strongly towards content that can be played multiplayer.

--"What are all the different types of multiplayer quests?"

Whew, that one's a big list but I can hit the major stuff. 1) World Quests: One-offs or short chains built for easy pick up and play. Grab a PUG or your friends and have a short adventure together. 2) World Arcs: Epic quest arcs that go from four to ten quests or more and follow a storyline across an entire planet. Big decisions and branching questlines you may have to play multiple times (in different playthroughs, they're not repeatable) to see all the content. Built for long play sessions or a series of short sessions where you and your group want a huge adventure that may stretch over tens of hours. Also very PUGable as long as you're grabbing like minded folks. 3) Flashpoints: Instanced, heavily scripted major story and action pieces built for groups to go in and get the very best of BioWare's multiplayer storytelling. Built to be played in a single sitting.

Now here's the fun part. Our multiplayer content has lines, choices and content that is specific to each class and content that is only there if you're in a group. Did the Jedi Consular really just convince the Sith boss to stand down and not fight us? Did the Bounty Hunter really just shake down the Moff for more money? Did the Smuggler just leave the group with that attractive quest giver? Um...are they coming back? It's fun to replay the game and see all the different content but it's also a blast to play with friends and be completely surprised by what they say. Often you'll find yourself saying "Okay, that clearly was not one of my dialogue options!"

Hope that helps!

Originally posted by Mr. Daniel Erickson.

[Erathaol]

Now THAT'S exciting!  The structure sounds a bit like the missions in City of Heroes, with the typical one-off quests separate from the super long epic quest chains that will suck your life away.  Except SW:TOR will have actual variety (I hope), unlike the cookie-cutter "bust into the warehouse and beat up the bad guys" Groundhog Day-esque mission in CoH...

All in all, I'm very excited to eventually play those long, involved quests with a group of y'all.  That's where teamwork will really shine, and that's my favorite part of MMOs.

[Subb]

I can't believe that there's only one voice per sex per class :/

they've also confirmed the legacy system.

[Shirokumo]

What's the legacy system? >.<

[Adad]

Loosely, you create a character, play all the way through until you've completely leveled him/her then there will be some incentive offer to encourage you to create a new character and start over with the bonus they offer. No details yet

[Ragnarok]

Hero engine:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boqHWm3fQmc


All I can say is holy crap....

[Deathsythe]

Very nice info.

[Ragnarok]

Star wars Calendar






Oh the blue 19 is Republic day

[Tbone]

...and that's when RP goes too far!