Corellian Run Radio

It’s time for Day 4, we hope you enjoy it!   Check back daily for a new day’s release.   Musical talents of Tyler Heikes.   Written by our very own Maer! * On the first day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me the chance to play in Early Access. * On the second day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access. * On the third day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me three Advanced Skill trees, two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access. * On the fourth day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me four mirrored classes, three Advanced Skill trees, two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access.

It’s time for Day 3, we hope you enjoy it!   Check back daily for a new day’s release.   Musical talents of Tyler Heikes.   Written by our very own Maer! * On the first day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me the chance to play in Early Access. * On the second day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access. * On the third day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me three Advanced Skill trees, two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access.

It's time for Day 2, we hope you enjoy it!   Check back daily for a new day’s release.   Musical talents of Tyler Heikes.   Written by our very own Maer! * On the first day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me the chance to play in Early Access. * On the second day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me two opposing factions and the chance to play in Early Access.

It is our pleasure to present to you, our rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas... BioWare style.    We hope you enjoy it!   Check back daily for a new day's release.   Musical talents of Tyler Heikes.  Written by our very own Maer! * On the first day of Christmas, BioWare gave to me the chance to play in Early Access.

Dierdre & Carla decide to talk about pre-launch, grace period and early access in Roxanne's absence.   FACT OR FICTION:  Can you pick out the true fact?   This week's fact or fiction talks about early access, guild server assignments and official launch date changes. More Episode #39 and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Fri Up 12/9: Sith Inquisitor Progression video http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/sith-inquisitor-character-progression * Unified color to chest piece gone - http://www.swtor.com/blog/why-unify-color-chest-piece-gone-and-whats-next * Early Access - http://www.swtor.com/preorder/faq#q209656 * Pre-load STAR WARS: The Old Republic Now! http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111207 QUICK MENTIONS: * Be part of launch (Launch parties) - http://www.swtor.com/blog/be-part-launch-12202011 * CRR HoloScan - Samm Carbo of TOROCast - http://corellianrun.com/2011/12/09/crr-holoscan-samm-of-torocast/ SITH OR JEDI: The Test of the Noisy Neighbor COMMUNITY BUZZ * No Grace Period - http://corellianrun.com/2011/12/09/special-edition-my-two-credits/    -   http://torwars.com/2011/12/09/the-great-grace-period-controversy/ * Twitter info -  https://twitter.com/#!/Rockjaw/status/145987386575302658  -  https://twitter.com/#!/EAgamer/status/145704775126745088 * No Advanced notice on when you get in for early release. Thanks from Corellian Run Radio  

Deirdre Hollis (you may know her from the TORWars site) joins us to provide another arguing partner for Roxanne as we cover everything from Philosophical Stand Island to how hard it is to make an attractive female toon. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge takes a look at the final day of testing, legacy names, and the pre-launch guild phase. More Episode #38 and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Fri Up 12/2: Free music tracks via Facebook and YouTube. * Fri Up 12/2: SWTOR peripherals on sale. Do people really still buy mouse pads? * Fri Up 12/2: IA vs. JC video * Fri Update 11/25: JC Character Progression. How practical are those heavy robes and headdresses when fighting bad guys? * James Ohlen confirms Legacy system and last names here. * No AC re-spec, says Georg. * Wal-Mart cancels pre-orders due to “lack of product availability.” Stephen Reid says he will be checking into it here, here, and here. David gives an update here. * Big testing weekend (Thanksgiving), final testing weekend Dec 2nd * NDA lifted! QUICK MENTIONS: * New Associate Online Community Manager, JoVETH Gonzalez. * Unofficial Boot Camp Discussion Thread. * Great thread on Crafting in TOR, “Theory: Crafting.” * Check out our new weekly column, CRR HoloScan. Our first victi-, err subject, is Lethality from Ask A Jedi. GUILD CHECKPOINT PLUG Would you like to see your guild highlighted in our weekly column? Email Jason at jason@corellianrun.com. CRR HOLOSCAN Check out our new weekly column, CRR HoloScan. Our first victi-, err subject, is Lethality from Ask A Jedi. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Ice Cube Trays COMMUNITY BUZZ * Philosophical Stand Island * Character Creator, Individuality Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * Deirdre Hollis for joining us today. * Zyns for writing a positive review on iTunes.

Sunny Ravencourt and Radicool from Sunny’s Diner join us to discuss our Fansite Summit experience, plus we are slowly figuring out that Sunny might be a hardcore player in casual  clothing. We also learn that Georg is a playful, vengeful god and that just makes us like him more. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s trick challenge ends unexpectedly, but still fulfills its main purpose of delivering fake facts. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Dreamhack Winter 2011, Nov. 24-27. Sweden.  Read more here. * Sith Inquisitor vs. Trooper trailer. Carla is sad it’s not a tutorial. Plus, she doesn’t get to find out who wins. * Another round of Beta Test Weekend invites. FAQ. You can get weekend testing keys from gaming sites, but David says don’t go there if you’ve already signed up on swtor.com everyone signed on official swtor forums before Nov. 11 will get a weekend invite. * Stephen says more details coming about grace period after end of Early Access. * Fansite Summit 2: James Ohlen Q&A; Gabe Amatangelo on Voidstar, Flashpoints, Operations and Ilum; Georg Zoeller Metrics Presentation. QUICK MENTIONS: * Guild Checkpoint: Redeemed, the family-friendly Republic guild. * CRR on The Pink Side of the Force. On Bootleg Radio this Wed night 8 pm EST. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Unwanted Phone Call. COMMUNITY BUZZ Does SWTOR appeal equally to the Casual, Hardcore crowd? Official forums: “Thank you TOR – from a casual player” Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * Sunny and Radicool from Sunny’s Diner for joining us today. * Oggie24,Jason Andersen, and Vamdree/LingeringDrama for writing positive reviews on iTunes. * BioWare, especially Stephen Reid and David Bass, for inviting us to the second Fansite Summit. Outro music by General Fuzz.

We make bets about early game access. We try to avoid talk about the dramacast. We debate movie-watching commitments. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge concerns cover, guild pre-launch, the pre-order offer code. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Fri Up 10/28: Warzones page. * Phase 3 Guild Pre-Launch. * Dev Tracker: David Bass explains the four server types. * Pre-Order Page. Early access details. * Fri Update 11/4: Imperial Agent Character Progression video. * Revan releases Nov. 15th. Excerpts here. * Fansite Summit II, Nov. 6-8 at BioWare Austin. Quick Mentions * Chimaera’s Alexander Freed interview * Republic Trooper’s Georg Zoeller interview about the Trooper. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Movie Night. COMMUNITY BUZZ * Fansites, Gaming Coverage, Bias * Links to many press reviews. * Props to Sunny’s Diner Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * Thrawn1818 (US), John Chesh (UK), PathosBedlam (Australia) for writing positive reviews on iTunes.

We’ve already talked about New York Comic Con on the TORWars and Mos Eisley Radio podcasts, but we still manage to find a few topics that we didn’t cover. We are joined by Virtek (Damien) from TORSyndicate and Guild Umbra to get his NYCC impressions and later by our very own Jason Taylor to discuss Dark/Light impact on gameplay. We also can’t help talking about the new Kung Fu Panda expac. More Show Notes, all NYCC coverage, and Comments after the jump. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge concerns Dark side corruption, species/class combos, dungeon finders. Here’s the link to the post of awesomeness where TheDarkKnight has gathered up all SWTOR info. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Fri Up 10/14: NYCC: Signs of War Trailer. Satele, Trooper Dude, Darth Malgus in-game! * Fri Up 10/14: New Game Systems page. * Fri Up 10/21: Eurogamer Expo Highlights Video. Hi, Dover! * Fri Up 10/21: Collector’s Edition video. Kathy & Roxanne rail against class warfare again. * Fri Up 10/21: Fan Friday. We loved Dreddon’s Bounty Hunter even before we knew he had given us a shout out on his thread. * Paris Games Week, Oct 21-25. * New York Comic Con 2011: mini-reveal recap here and here, Fansite Face-Off, David Bass interview, SWOOTR-not-SWEATER debate, it’s not Steve Blum. Quick Mentions * CRR on MER. CRR on TORWars * Jeffrey’s post-PAX video. * Massive influx of press reviews of SWTOR follows lifting of press embargo on Oct. 15th. CRR article gathers links to lots of different gameplay reviews from IGN, Massively, Rock Paper Shotgun, the Escapist and many more. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Last Appetizer. COMMUNITY BUZZ * Morality and Gameplay * Mists of Pandaria Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * Virtek/Damien (@Virtek_dma) and Jason Taylor (@JT_Holonet) for joining us on our podcast. * brisnmundaen (Canada), Azurebonds (UK) , von Thom83 (Germany)  for writing positive reviews on iTunes CRR Coverage of NYCC In case you missed it, we have articles, pictures, guest appearances,

Roxanne couldn’t make it this episode, but we got Larry Everett (The Republic, Massively) to fill the third seat, which was great when we started our retrospective talk about following SWTOR because he’s been tracking this game since it was just a twinkle in BioWare’s eye. Bonus: three-minute blooper reel where Kathy cannot get through the outro. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge concerns companions, pre-ordering, and PvP. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump... FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Fri Update 9/30: Galaxy Map. * Fri Up 10/7: Choose Your Side video. Jedi Knight vs. Bounty Hunter * Fri Up 10/7: Part 2 of William Wallace’s Companion Dev Blog. * Beta Testing Weekend 2. * Testing Email Woes. Stephen Reid responds here. To check your status, go to swtor.com/tester. * Georg’s Class Design Philosophy. * New York Comic Con Oct 13-16. Quick Mentions * Drew Karpyshyn responds to criticisms of his upcoming novel, Revan, in his personal blog. * Gamesindustry.biz interview with the Doctors. * Craig Morrison’s blog post, “The Success Anomaly.” * Extra Credits – Games You Might Not Have Tried #2 ON THE CRR SITE * Jason Taylor reminisces about discovering Star Wars for the first time * Fan Fiction contest. Submit on the official forums Oct. 8-22. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Pirated Movie. COMMUNITY BUZZ * Great responses on the subject of race in Star Wars in the Comments section and forums. * Following SWTOR: Looking Back and Forward Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * To Larry Everett (@Shaddoe on Twitter) for joining us * To Dan Nichols, dstupper, and Jerrit for writing positive reviews on iTunes. * Blooper reel music by General Fuzz

It’s the release date episode! We each recount our stories of where we were and how we found out, as people do for significant events such as the JFK assassination or the Space Shuttle tragedy. Wildly inappropriate. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales?  This week’s host challenge involves guilds, the release date, and the ESRB rating. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Release date. Monthly sub rates. Watch swtormovie’s video of the doctors announcing the release date at Eurogamer. Listen to Darth Hater’s full audio of the presentation. Launch day desktop app will help you count down the days until release. * Friday Update 9/16: Q&A with Gabe Amatangelo. Scroll down. * Guild Phase 2: Alignments. Carla in Old Timers Guild. Kathy and Roxanne in MERC (Mos Eisley Radio Community). * Gamespot’s exclusive Developer Dispatch: Companions. Watch video and read interview with James Ohlen here. * Friday Update 9/23: William Wallace’s Developer Blog on Companions. Mako can be ANY RACE now. Carla praises it as progressive, Roxanne thinks it’s weird and possibly a sign of bad writing, esp after reading the Gamasutra article about diversity in gaming. * Same gender romance arcs announced as a post-launch feature. ESRB gives SWTOR a Teen rating. Quick Mentions: * BioWare at upcoming Game Developers Conference. Darth Hater posts list of GDC panels with BioWare representation. * Damion Schubert interviewed by TORWars. Dressing rooms discussed. * James Ohlen interviewed by Gamasutra. * For really great Eurogamer coverage, check out Darth Hater. On the CRR Site * If you missed this, take a look at Noah’s article about the companions, “

Serge from SWTOR-Life joins us to discuss the latest updates and to give a “red zone” perspective on game release. The team comes closer than ever to losing Fact or Fiction. Kathy picks her Advanced Class based on outfits. Roxanne doesn’t understand mail. Serge doesn’t understand junk mail. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge concerns rep grinding, The Lost Suns, and PvP commendations. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * 9/2 Friday Update: Gamescom Highlights video * 9/9 Fri Up: PAX Highlights video * 9/9 Smuggler Character Progression video. * TOR Reporter video interview with Gabe Amatangelo. * Dev Tracker: Georg talks about how phasing will help with launch day overpopulation, how it doesn’t hurt PvP, how it will be used minimally. * GameFest, Sept 16-18 in Birmingham, England. * Eurogamer Expo, Sept 22-25 in London. Quick Mentions * Gamasutra article on EA Games CFO Eric Brown on quality of service, Q4 ship for SWTOR, mentions “industry standard” of 18-24 months for new post-launch content. * Darth Hater joins Curse gaming network. * Star Wars eBay charity auction. Cool Star Wars merchandise for cancer research. Dedicated page features video clips, trivia, etc. * CRR on TOROcast and Sunny's Diner. SITH OR JEDI? We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Return Address Labels. COMMUNITY BUZZ * Weekend Testing. Stephen Reid posts Testing FAQ, plus some revisions. SR updates fans on first beta testing weekend, says that there will be no testing during the second weekend of September, and perhaps no other September weekends. * Gamasutra reports that analyst group Cowen and Company predicts SWTOR could sell 3 million units.

Discuss this episode on the forums here or on Comments. Carla, Kathy, and Roxanne are back from PAX and full of stories and opinions about what we learned. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales?  This week’s host challenge involves PvP. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump. FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. Pre-PAX Shout-out to TOROcast, Ask A Jedi, TORWars, Mos Eisley Radio, and Ford for joining us at the Taphouse Grill. Read Kathy’s recap here. DAY 1: Friday * Huttball * Q&As – lockouts, difficulty levels, raid loot, customizable UI * Daniel Erickson interview * What else we saw at PAX * Fantina DAY 2: Saturday * Q&A: release date “targeting holiday 2011;” no mail between factions * Jennifer Hale sighting. Autographs happen. Check out her audio interview by the New Yorker here. * Irrational panel on voicing Bioshock Infinite * BioWare Meet & Greet DAY 3: Sunday * Q&A * Paramount Theater presentation: Eternity Vault demo, weekend testing, Ilum Quick Mentions: * Ask A Jedi article on Cowan Financial Group raising investor rating for EA based on expected sales of SWTOR. Estimating that 3 million units will be sold. Forbes article. * VGChartz ranks SWTOR #6, 384k boxes sold so far. On the CRR Site * PoisonTaco’s look back at the history of following SWTOR. Hard to believe some folks have been waiting for this game for so long. * Would you like to write about SWTOR? We’re looking for a few more writers to keep content on our site. Contact us at corellianrun@gmail.com. SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Convention Line. Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * To everyone who came to the PAX events and introduced themselves to us. * To Darth Hater for making the arrangements for the Community Cantina. * To TOROcast for hosting a multi-site podcast. * To BioWare and especially David Bass for taking care of the fansites at PAX and for hosting the official meet and greet. * To MekoRedtail, Otistoh, Deverin11 for leaving us positive reviews on iTunes.          

The whole crew is back together this week – Carla, Kathy, and Roxanne review the new videos and how they’re starting to look like they’ve been directed by Michael Bay. We also delve into the good, bad, and ugly of microtransactions. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales?  This week’s host challenge involves the Jedi Consular companion, stealth, and blaster colors. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump... FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * 7/29 Fri Update: Esseles Walkthrough. Dallas Dickinson guides us through an early flashpoint – cutscenes galore and play-by-play descriptions. * 8/5 Fri Update: San Diego Comic Con Highlights video. Our first SWTOR infomercial! * 8/5 Fri Update: Jedi Consular finally get some lovin’. Class trailer, companion Qyzen Fess, Corvette Defender. * EA re-organization. Gamasutra reports that BioWare gets its own label under EA Games. * Gamescom Aug 17-21 in Cologne Germany. * Dev Tracker: Georg mentions Smuggler group stealth in the official forums. He also confirms that the Imperial Agent will have it on Google Plus. * Daniel Erickson tells us that switching companions will no longer require a trip back to the ship on Google Plus. Quick Mentions * Dev Tracker: Georg Zoeller tells us that there is no gear dye system in place right now, but it may happen later. * DT: Georg talks about changing blaster fire colors. * DT: Chris Collins is named new European Community Manager. * DT: David Bass says no decision has yet been made about whether players will be able to have surnames. CRR ARTICLES * Weekly Guild Checkpoint by Jason Taylor. Interested guilds please contact us at corellianrun@gmail.com * Official Forums Fan Fiction Contest until Aug. 14th. Details here. * “Those People” by Noah. Do you recognize these guild personalities? * “SWTOR and the Future of Star Wars” by PoisonTaco SITH OR JEDI: We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Collector’s Edition. COMMUNITY BUZZ This Extra Credits: Microtransactions episode spawned our discussion on the dreaded MT. Thanks from Corellian Run Radio * Thanks to gsworld and Prince Ali of ia for leavin...

Brandon and Kim from Old Republic Dads join Carla and Kathy to discuss the Comic Con reveals. Surprise pre-order announcement sends SWTOR community into a frenzy and it isn’t all good. FACT OR FICTION: Can you pick out the confirmed fact from the tall tales? This week’s challenge concerns the legacy system, the collector’s edition, and the planet Ilum. More Show Notes and Comments after the jump FROM THE NEWSNET & BEYOND: Roundup of the most important announcements and news. * Pre-orders! BioWare kicks off Comic Con by opening SWTOR up for pre-orders to selected parts of the world. Unselected parts of the world are unhappy, esp with the lack of information. Stephen Reid explains why here and in Darth Hater interview. When you register determines when you get into early game access. Some codes are not sent out right away. Allison Berryman says BioWare does not currently plan to block IPs. * San Diego Comic Con Day 1: SWTOR Q & A.  Watch video here. * SDCC Day 2: Darth Hater’s Live Blog & BioWare Q&A. Read blog and watch video here. * SDCC Day 3: Darth Hater’s Live Blog & BioWare Q&A video. Jennifer Hale! Read blog and watch video here. * 7/22 Friday Update: Join the Fight video. * Dev Tracker: Georg talks about companion death here and here. * Dev Tracker: Georg talks about AC Respec. * Dev Tracker: Georg talks about flashpoint size. Quick Mentions * Dev Tracker: Georg says Consular and Inquisitor have combat rez. * Dev Tracker: Georg says no equipment damage as result of PvP death. * Dev Tracker: Stephen Reid addresses inviting friends in testing. * Grace period after launch confirmed. SITH OR JEDI? We find out which path we walk in real life with The Test of the Stray Puppy COMMUNITY BUZZ * Velinos asks about server difficulty. * HereticZero asks about age restricted servers