DARKSIDE DEFENDERS

During E3 2011, the Hater team experienced the Tatooine Jundlands Waste at level 26 and there was plenty to talk about after the first run through. This post will receive frequent updates during the convention week so make sure to check back throughout the week for more. As it content filters in, we will send update notifications via Twitter. Check the jump for the General Things Learned.


- Jawa companion (Blizz) confirmed in play session

- Khem Val seen has a charge ability

- Xalek seen during play session, first time since the December 3rd event in 2009.

- Quest items are separated into another tab in your bag

- Companion kits seen again, this time shown as items you equip to your companion, kits unlock abilities for your companion to use on the battlefield.

- Companions had access to Stasis kit, Shockwave kit, Medipac kit, Grenade Pack kit.

- Lieutenant Pierce seen as Imperial Trooper companion of the SIth Warrior, seen before in a prior video but now confirmed as a companion.

- Some quests show up as a radar effect with hovering over the quest area, showing off a distinct difference between that quest type and others on the map. In the case of the quest we experienced, it required us to kill Sand People until one of them dropped an item we needed to locate the lost SIth Lord.

- Imperial Agent companion (Scorpio) seen here again, shown in past trailers, female looking silver mech, described as cold and hates the Imperial Agent player character.

- Self Resurrect is called Medical Probe, cooldown increases the more you die, you are invulnerable for 12 seconds, must get to a safe area in those 12 seconds, effect looks similar to stealth

- Speeder bikes do not appear to be items, looks to be an ability, might have been an item that are clicked once to acquire

- You can hop on your speeder bike while mounted, includes an animation on the ground when you hop, speeder bikes tilt with movement as well

- In stealth combat targets will detect you quickly unless you engage them immediately, can't stay near a mob while in stealth

- Companions instantly go into stealth when the player goes into stealth

Here is what I am going to start out by saying. Take this with a grain of salt, and I mean a grain, because it does not come from anyone at BioWare, LucasArts, or EA. However it does come from a company who is creating what is easily the coolest looking peripherals that you will ever see be released with a game.


After watching all the E3 footage hitting the internet as of late I was directed to a video on DarthHater’s website where they Dover did an awesome interview covering the new peripherals from Razor. I’ll link the video below. We have some details on the new products hereif you missed it yesterday, but you get a better idea of the cool new toys from Dover’s video.

What you will probably miss because I did the first time as well, the beginning of the video the interviewee states that the products will launch WITH SWTOR. The exact comment the gentleman makes is:

“Today we are looking at the Star Wars: The Old Republic peripherals that we designed with LucasArts and BioWare that are coming out WITH the game later this year… HOPEFULLY”

So your key words there; WITH SWTOR, and HOPEFULLY.

At the end of the video right after they finish discussing the headphones, (which are SEXY by the way) at 4:15 he states:

“These are the official peripherals for Star Wars: The Old Republic and their coming out hopefully November.”

There you go folks, IF these peripherals are indeed to be released with Star Wars: The Old Republic and what this gentleman has said is true. The Star Wars: The Old Republic is slated for a November 2011 release date.

There are a lot of IF’s and HOPEFULLY’s in there, so as I said in the beginning take it with a grain of salt. But, it’s definitely something to think about.

During a conference call this morning to William Blair and Company analysts, CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello stated "we're in mid-scale beta, we've got a high scale beta at the end of June." Riccitiello continued with "and only the foolish assume they know the outcome of a beta in terms of whether it's just six weeks ahead or not."

Darth Hater contacted BioWare for comment, and they stated "game testing is ongoing." Daniel Erickson, Star Wars: The Old Republic's writing lead, stated in an interview with Gamespot there would not be a traditional open beta due to anticipated high player population.

Update: Stephen Reid responds to John Riccitiello's comments on the official forum.

In "High Scale Beta at the end of June", Stephen Reid said:

Take a deep breath, everyone...

Game Testing is currently ongoing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This isn't news - it's been ongoing for quite a while. At different points in the process, we have invited a number of people to test. Some of those people tested for short periods, some for longer periods.

We've recently transitioned into longer-term and larger-scale testing. We have more people testing the game now than ever before. We are allowing them to play for longer than ever before. We're also continuing to invite people to test, so if you haven't signed up for testing yet now is a good time.

We will be allowing more and more people to test The Old Republic before launch, and that means occasionally we'll spike in our invite numbers. It doesn't mean everyone who's signed up for testing is going to be invited in one block.

What we're doing now, essentially, is similar to a Closed Beta for other MMORPGs, but we call it Game Testing. It's invite-only, and it's limited in size. That gives us the most 'bang for our buck' in terms of getting meaningful, actionable feedback. However, we're still ramping up, we're getting more people in... and we're still aiming to launch in 2011.

According to non-official Star Wars: The Old Republic community team Twitter accounts, another round of survey emails that may lead to eventual game testing invitations were distributed today. If you received one, then know they are definitely legitimate and you should answer the questions -- but don't post the contents of the survey or the email on Darth Hater, as it can potentially break the Game Testing Agreement.

The rest of us can continue to seethe with envy.