The Time Has Come

The time has come, Tuesday December thirteenth, will be the first day of early access into Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG. Those who pre-ordered the game early on will be in the first wave of new residents of the Star Wars Galaxy. Each day a new group of recruits to the Republic and Empire forces will be permitted to launch their ships to the home planets of their chosen class and begin the unique story that will be theirs alone. Although each class has a base story line, decisions made by the individual player along the way will alter the path of their character, so it will be rare indeed for two stories to be exactly the same.

Early access will continue up until the official release date of December twentieth when the game will available to everyone. Those who have pre-ordered will receive an email the morning of the day they are allowed to enter the game informing them they are eligible for access. Having experienced delays in receiving emails myself during beta, costing a little weekend game time, I will be firing up my client every morning starting Tuesday just in case.

If you have not pre-ordered the game yet there is still time to do so and gain a day or two of game time before the actual release, at least that is the impression given on the main SWTOR site.

The time has come, choose your side, Republic or Empire, Jedi or Sith, Smuggler or Imperial Agent, Trooper or Bounty Hunter, the stories are immersive and the game play exciting. If you are an MMO fan, a Star Wars fan, or both, I think you will like what you find in Star Wars: The Old Republic, see you in game.

Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG Now Available For Pre-Order

PRE-ORDER NOW!

To get early game access and a Color Stone to changeyour weapon effect!
Play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ and explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Team up with other players to battle enemies in dynamic Star Wars™ combat and overcome incredible challenges.

The order in which you redeem your Pre-order Code is the order in which you will gain Early Game Access before the game’s official release. So don’t wait and pre-order now!

Pre-Order Exclusive:
Early Game access
Color Stone (virtual item)
30 Days Game Time included


Define your Star Wars Saga

Choose from one of eight iconic roles and become the hero of your personal Star Wars saga — an interactive storyline with cinematic dialogue and full voiceover for all in-game characters.

Choose the Light or Dark Side

Meaningful choices throughout your journey will determine your path down the light or dark side of the Force.

Adventure with Companions

Build or break meaningful relationships with your companions as they join in your journeys and fight at your side.

Engage in Heroic Star Wars Combat

Fight against reactive enemies in dynamic Lightsaber duels, cantina shootouts, and large-scale multi-player battles.

Pilot your Personal Starship

Earn your own ship which is your base of operations as you explore the galaxy and participate in epic space combat.

Discover a Fully-Featured MMO

Join your friends and experience player-vs.-player Warzones, multi-player Flashpoints, multi-group Operations, guilds, auction houses, crafting, mounts, and much more.Star Wars: The Old Republic

There's A Map For That

An example of the level of detail captured by the map making process.

No matter what class you play in Star Wars: The Old Republic, or any other mmorpg game for that matter, it's always more fun if you know where you are going. That's where a good map system can make the difference between a great game and an average one at best.



SWTOR just published a developers blog detailing the map making process for the game. The first thing that impressed me was the massive scope of area that needed to be mapped.

SWTOR currently has seventeen planets, some of these with land masses five to six times larger than your average MMO. Add to that the fact that some planets consist entirely of cities and much of the game play on others is inside buildings. The challenges faced to get all this mapped in a user friendly format is just mind boggling to me.

When you are in an MMO you don't want to spend your time trying to figure out where you need to be, you want to be getting there and doing the task you want to accomplish. The location of quest givers, quest locations, vendors, transportation and much more is critical in spending your time playing and not just wandering around searching for your objective.

I am not even going to attempt to describe the process the developers went through in creating the mapping system in SWTOR, instead I will recommend you read the Developer Blog A Path to Success: Maps, and their Making by Damion Schubert Principal Lead Systems Designer for SWTOR. I will tell you though, I think they did a fantastic job and have definitely raised the bar on map making in MMO's.

One other nice thing about this Dev Blog is that several of the screen shot were from Tython the starting planet zone for Jedi Consulars. I have included those here to give you an idea of what the map system is like in SWTOR.

On this map of Tython, you can see mission icons for two missions, and one icon showing a mission offer. The circle represents a mission icon that is moused over, offering a better idea of the hunting radius, as well as what is being hunted, in a given area.

A map of the Jedi Temple on Tython.

Bonus feature: The map goes semi-transparent once you start moving, so you can keep it up to navigate as necessary.