Reading fansites, forums, talking with players and listening to podcasts, I am witnessing a phenomena that I am also a part of.  There are many people trading in their traditional play style or class type for a new one.

With a new game brings a fresh beginning in a lot of ways.  A new community, new game mechanics and new players, even if you are playing with friends from a previous game.  With that, a chance for a fresh start.  A chance to leave behind that character and world you have been playing.  To lay down the shackles of your guild responsibility.  Dare I say, a New Hope?

I’m one of those gamers that sometimes enjoys taking a step back from whatever game I’m currently playing and looking at the grand scheme of the MMO scene. I believe it’s important, as gamers, to be aware of the overall image that the market and field are portraying. It helps us make informed gaming decisions, and lets us prepare ourselves for the road ahead. Seeing as we’re in the final stretches before SWTOR’s deployment, I figure now’s a good time to take that step back, and do some gazing.

The Senate on Coruscant has played host to countless diplomats from every corner of Republic space.

According to Amazon, on November 16th, the book titled “The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic” is going to be available. With the release coming next month, this would be just what the rabid fan might need to tide them over until Early Access begins.

From the Publisher:
Star Wars fans the world over are buzzing in anticipation of what promises to be a defining moment in the history of multiplayer online gaming: the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game follows the escalating war between the Jedi and the Sith thousands of years before the events of the Star Wars films, and its innovative design allows players to choose sides and help shape the history of the galaxy. This gorgeous, full-color volume features the detailed art behind this highly anticipated release from BioWare and LucasArts. With character sketches, interviews, and artwork featuring the game s new weapons, starships, and previously unexplored worlds, The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic is the ultimate chronicle of the newest Star Wars experience.

About the Authors:
Frank Parisi is an editor at Lucasfilm, Ltd. He was the co-author of The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, editor of Star Wars Insider magazine, project editor of The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and has contributed numerous articles to GamePro and ALARM magazines.

Daniel Erickson is writing director for BioWare’s Austin, Texas studio. He began his gaming career as an intern with Next Generation magazine and is currently lead writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The developers of MMORPGs seem to enjoy encouraging their players to spend at least a small chunk of their time in a new game walking and running. It’s kind of like taking baby steps in a game– literally. I guess developers are afraid to throw too much at new gamers at once, similar to how a player generally gets to level 5 or so hitting an average of two abilities. Either that or they like to toss pretty scenery in your face by saying, “Here, isn’t this tree awesome? Now look at 280 of the same identical tree while you run here, there, and back again 12 times.”

Welcome once again to a galaxy far, far away! Gamebreaker.TV hyperjumps its way from the Star Wars: The Old Republic universe to your living room. This totally wizard episode features guest host Ed “Taugrim” Park from The Sanctum. Of course, our regular hosts Gary Gannon, Justin Lowe, and Larry Everett all weight in on today’s topic of PvP.

Sithinquisitor.com published an interview with Daniel Erickson about… Sith Inquisitors! The guys over there wanted to get the lo-down on what it’s like to be a Sith and how their story plays out.

James Ohlen said that he and Daniel get into fist fights over Pureblood being made playable for Sith Inquisitors. Where do you stand on the issue? To further complicate things, we saw a great example of one in the Return trailer. He was quite imposing.

Daniel: It wasn’t anything as dramatic as fistfights. Writers tend to be purists and there are about two or three lines in the entire storyline that are kind of odd for Purebloods simply because we weren’t planning for them. The final decision was that fifteen seconds of awkwardness was worth it to give players a combination they really wanted. So purebloods there are. And the artists did a great job going back and making all of the intricate and Sith Inquisitor-only slave brands work on the purebloods too.

Great interview all around. Daniel Erickson really gives an insight in the culture of the Sith as you begin a new story. Check it out via the link above.

The tremendous anticipation for the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic is bringing many Star Wars fans to the online gaming genre, much like Star Wars Galaxies once did. But although we are dealing with the same galaxy, The Old Republic takes place much longer ago: Specifically, 3,653 years before the Battle of Yavin. This leads to significant differences in the politics, technology, and characters. You will find no Skywalkers in this era, as your savior is more likely to be known as Revan.

Though the time period known as the The Old Republic Era takes place between 25,053 and 1,000 BBY, many of the stories and groups that affect the setting we will see in the game take place between 5,000 and 3,653; with the final year there being the year the Treaty of Coruscant is signed and the Cold War begins. The game itself takes place around 3,643, ten years after the treaty is signed and half the galaxy given to the Sith Empire. Though we may take a look at important events before this time period, I do not expect us to move past the events of SWTOR at all. Follow me after the cut and let’s take a look at some of the groups and important events from this time period.

I am working on a project where I am looking for people in the community interested in getting together to talk about the advanced class you will be playing upon release. The overall plan will be a sixteen part special that will be hosted here on Force Junkies

I am not looking to discuss the things going on in beta or information that is sourced from any leak sites. The main thrust of this project is to get all the information we know about each advanced class and talk about it. This is about getting people together, having fun, and getting a little more pumped up for the game.

If you’re interested please hop on over to the thread on the Official Forums to read more. The best way to sign up is to do so there so that way I can contact you using the private message system.

If you have any specific questions you can always contact me at Laughter@Rerollz.com.

Last Thursday, Electronic Arts released its financial earnings report for the last fiscal quarter that ended on September 30, 2011. The company also talked about expectations for the next quarter, during which Star Wars: The Old Republic will grace PC screens everywhere. For one, Electronic Arts actually raised its earnings outlook for the full fiscal year up from expectations of $4.1 billion to an expected range of $4.05 billion to $4.2 billion, based on increased digital revenue from games like TOR.

So I went to a Weird Al concert a couple weeks ago. If you don’t know who that is, then 1) I feel sorry for you and 2) you really should check out his “White and Nerdy” video. There are too many great lines in that song to quote, but one of my favorite scenes is a visual joke near the end. Four words for you: Star Wars Holiday Special.

At the concert I was fascinated by the makeup of the audience. There were families, middle aged men, couples, kids, groups of teenage boys, aging bikers, tattooed young women, and a lot of guys walking around in Storm Trooper outfits. Traditionally the local 501st is invited by Al to appear with him and the band on stage during his Star Wars parody, The Saga Begins.

Georg Zoeller is dropping news bits on us today with another devpost when a community member asked if the Sniper range was 30-35 meters.

Originally posted by GeorgZoeller (Source)

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Snipers (and Gunslingers) have a range of 35 meters for most of their abilities, which is the longest range class for player abilities available. Troopers for examples have a maximum range of 30 meters on their long range abilities.

If the is correct, then even Sith and Jedi Sages and Inquisitors will have to get in range to stop Snipers and Gunslingers from picking them off!

And continuing along the same theme of Imperial Agents and Smugglers, how about the cover mechanic keeping you save from Force Leap and Grapple abilities?

Originally posted by GeorgZoeller (Source)

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Correct. Cover protects from Force Leap, being pulled via grapple, etc.

Using Entrench (An ability increasing the effectiveness of cover temporarily) will also make the Agent immune to any other kind of control (CC),. They become an unmovable object that cannot be charged, pushed, lifted, frozen, Force choked or in any other way incapacitated.

This gives those sneaky IA’s and Smugglers a good heads up in PVP for sure. Any one change their mind on their class selection just now?

Host: Jason Dodge
Co-Hosts: Mike (MH Williams), Joe (Jedi Supastar), Strawfellow, Ryan Raplee, Drew R (Kythik)

This week we discuss a whole slew of topics from companions and crafting to flashpoints. Remember, if you have any questions for us or any topics you want us to talk about send us emails or leave us comments!

Contact: Draegan@Rerollz.com, DrewR@Rerollz.com

 
Direct Download: click here.

We are pleased to report that Bioware has announced their second Fansite Summit and the Force Junkie team will be there representing Junkie Nation! The summit will be held in Austin Texas at Bioware’s studios November 6th through the 8th. We will be on hand to get even more hands-on experience and plenty of time with the devs.

With the official release date just 50 days away, we hope that Bioware will take off the gloves and let us bring to you all the details and news that your crave! We hope that with the lifting of the media embargo, we will also get the chance to bring you even better coverage of the game. If you have any questions that you want answered, leave them here in the comment section and we’ll do our best to get answers to them!

As you already probably can guess, we won’t be alone! What kind of summit would it be if it was just one fansite? Keep your eyes out as other sites will be announcing that they will be attending. Our friends at Ask A Jedi have already called out that they will be going. We can’t wait to catch up with everyone since the last time we met at Pax Prime.

Stay tuned everyone for the latest and greatest here at FORCE Junkies!

I’ve got Halloween candy on the brain. When you were a kid, did you like those homemade goodie bags that some neighbors made? I thought they were awesome, but then again, I’ve always been a sucker for surprises. I didn’t even mind that they sometimes contained pencils instead of candy. Before you think I’m totally nuts, let me bring this analogy to light: How about those Star Wars: The Old Republic goodie bags, also known as loot containers? Are they a way you’d like to see your loot divvied to you?