As we get closer to the launch of Game Update 1.2, Senior Game Designer William Wallace previews upcoming Legacy System changes in a new Developer Blog. We have the intro for you below but make sure to click here for the full read.
"Where would you start if you were constructing the Skywalker family tree? Let?s start with Anakin. If you ask me, Anakin is a level 50 Sith Warrior anchoring the top of the family tree. He?s married to Padme Amidala and they have two kids, Luke and Leia. Luke and Leia were both strong in the Force, like their father before them. Leia ends up marrying Han Solo, undoubtedly a level 50 Smuggler, and they have three children who all turn out to be Jedi. Luke marries Mara Jade, and they in turn have Ben, who is also a powerful Jedi Knight. Looking at their family tree, it?s clear that the Skywalker legacy produces powerful Force users and great heroes.
From the very beginning of development on Star Wars?: The Old Republic?, we felt that the idea of familial bonds was a cornerstone of the Star Wars? experience. In this blog, I?m going to explore what that means and what rewards are waiting for the characters in your Legacy, as well as exploring the design philosophy behind the changes we made.
You may have already started your Legacy by picking a Legacy Name. This happens when you finish Chapter 1 with your first character. From this point, all of your characters on that server are now considered part of your Legacy, regardless of faction. This means that any existing characters which have not been played past Chapter 1 will gain a Legacy Name, and any newly created characters will also have their Legacy Name available from character creation.
From Game Update 1.2: Legacy, unlocking your Legacy grants you access to a newly expanded Legacy Panel (accessed, by default, by pressing the ?Y? key) where you can modify your family tree, and see what Legacy Rewards you have unlocked."
In another new Developer Blog, Principal Lead PvP & Endgame Designer Gabe Amatangelo discusses PvP changes in Update 1.2. Again, we have the intro below...
"Fellow PvPers,
We believe competitive measure is an important part of a complete PvP experience. As such we are excited to be introducing the first phase of that to Star Wars?: The Old Republic??s PvP gameplay in Game Update 1.2: Legacy, with Pre-Season of Ranked Warzones. We want to emphasize this is Pre-Season while the community and development teams collect data and refine the system in preparation for Season One, which will begin with the inclusion of cross-server Warzone queuing. The Pre-Season ratings will be reset when Season One officially begins."
SWTOR.com also provides a preview of the new Ship Droid mini-game with a write-up and a number of preview videos.
The SWTOR.com Community News area was equally busy this week, starting with the Dev Tracker Summary from March 20-26, 2012. This round-up tracks developer posts in response to fan questions and concerns during the specified time period. Click here for the latest installment.
"In this week?s Community Q&A we?ve searched out questions on Game Update 1.2, which is currently available to test on the Public Test Server, and coming to live servers soon.
With so much new content and additions in Game Update 1.2, we found plenty of questions ? and got you plenty of answers! However, we?ve got so many questions and answers that we?re going to extend this Q&A into next week as well. After that, we?ll return to taking new questions from everyone. As always, we have edited some questions below for clarity or brevity."
In our last bit of news from SWTOR.com, we have details on the next scheduled maintenance for the MMO. The duration is slated for 5 hours.
Tuesday, April 3rd , 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 7AM CDT (5AM PDT/8AM EDT/1PM GMT/2PM CET/12AM AEDT).
Moving away from the official TOR site, ZoKnowsGaming.com reports that The Old Republic is using more servers than are necessary for the number of gamers partaking in the GFFA MMO experience.