SWTOR: From January 28th to Febuary 15th – Part 1

A feature BioWare has put if you don't play for some time.

Have you all missed me? It's been since the end of January when I posted my last article, but my small hiatus there won't stop me for regularly posting about BioWare's amazing MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, for the great Star Wars Underworld community. In this article you'll read more about the guilds sponsored by the SWU, more on my upcoming plans for the community, and more about the game and community itself. I do have to say I'm glad I've finally got time to submit such an informative article!

It would be awesome to see the guilds look like this!

For those who will be getting the game or who already have the game, I ask you readers to please join me and The Star Wars Underworld-TOR community to join my new, upcoming guilds officially sponsored by the SWU and its owners. Each guild will be affiliated with the Republic and the Empire respectively, and I will act as leaders of both guilds. The guilds will have a website of their own, and there will be regularly scheduled raids and community playdates in which many members can participate—regardless of rank or skill! The guilds' leaders will work their best to create community playdates that will regularly include players of all ranks and skill. Both guilds are PvP-based placed on an EST server: The Republic Underworld will be placed on the Vulkar Highway server, and the Imperial Underworld will be placed on the Iron Citadel server. At one point I did decide to have them both named as the "Star Wars Underworld", but I thought this could cause some trouble with the name, so I figured the "Republic Underworld" and "Imperial Underworld" would do.

Please visit our own Facebook page of the TOR community of The Star Wars Underworld at The Old Republic Cantina, where I'll answer questions you have and if you're interested in working with the guilds. The page is nothing but TOR-ific (something I got from Chris)!

One proposed feature that has caused controversy between SWTOR players is gay relationships. There are those that agree, those that disagree, and those that don't mind at all; each viewpoint someone will take regardless of sexuality. I don't mind the implementation of gay relationships, but I see it as a great component for those who agree which also expands the gameplay of the current galaxy BioWare has created for us. Sadly, the voices of those who are against the homosexuality feature may be just as loud (or even louder?) than those who are celebrating this future feature.

The Family Research Council (FRC) is speaking out against the gay relationships in SWTOR and had this announcement recently:

In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I'm Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it's launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that "gay" and "lesbian" don't exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't. On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!

Catch will lead you down the wrong path, folks.

Another feature that had caught my eye was the rare, white lightsaber crystal that one player had used in the game. One high-leveled character by the name of CatchDeathwalker had been seen sporting the sparkling white lightsaber. The owner had posted about it on the official forums. There was an immediate outburst from the community about the crystal as everyone wanted to know where Catch obtained the item (of course), but after some time BioWare staff had dropped by with some startling (not-so-startling) news about Catch and that sexy lightsaber of his. 

This was released by BioWare staff:

We've done some investigating and discovered that CatchDeathwalker did not obtain the white crystal through legitimate means in the game. Right now, we're removing the crystal from his possession, and we're going to have some more information for you as soon as possible about this situation (but don't worry, we won't post any spoilers!).

We apologize for not responding to this thread sooner, but we needed to investigate the issue before commenting.

Allison Berryman | Senior Community Coordinator

Well, that stinks for Catch, but the good news for other players is that the crystal is still out there waiting to be found. Make sure you also use legitimate methods to obtain it if you plan to keep it. There is a Reddit post going with clues about where and how it can be found (possible spoiler zone).

I have yet to confirm exactly how the crystal is obtained but when I learn more about this story, I'll be here with an update.

Here is a well-displayed example (LOL!).

One amazing event that BioWare is hosting is its first Guild Summit, being hosting in Austin, Texas from

March 4th–6th, 2012. Guild leaders from around the world will be able to discuss and participate with others and BioWare developers and share their thoughts, feelings, suggestions, and ideas in the roundtable-styled event. This event shows me that BioWare is doing the best they can for the community, and it shows they really do care about how we currently think and feel, and that they're doing this to hear our suggestions to improve.

The process is extremely simple: guilds apply here. Once accepted—and 200 guilds will be—they'll be invited to attend this two-day event in BioWare's hometown of Austin, Texas. Once there, guild leaders and other guild representatives filling in for their guild leader will have the opprotunity to engage the developers in meaningful discussions about SWTOR. Here is the official announcement! (I'd really be uber excited if the upcoming Underworld guilds could participate in this awesome event!)

Lastly, I have been invited by Chris and Savanna do come on The Star Wars Underworld Podcast and speak about Star Wars: The Old Republic (Don't worry, I'll be talking about TCW, too!). I will make my first appearance on the podcast during mid-February and I'm extremely excited. Also, a few weeks ago I had submitted an application to The Star Wars Underworld website stating that I'll be able to start writing for them full-time starting February 13th, 2012. I'm quite late with this article which was supposed to kickoff the start of my official employment, but better late than never! I'm not sure if I'll make multiple appearances on the podcast (and I would love to!), but I would have to have an official approval by the cast. As of now all I can say is I will be on the podcast pretty soon, and that I'll be regularly writing weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) articles about SWTOR.

Stay tuned for the release of "Part 2" which will conclude the series of these amazing two articles! The next article will go in-depth on the community blog and developer tracker, patch notes, bug fixes and in-game woes (Ilum's woes to be exact), Q&A threads, recent content and announcements BioWare has released or will be releasing, and the SWTOR Asia Pacific launch.

To keep up with all the latest news and updates about Star Wars: The Old Republic, be sure to 'Like' us on Facebook. And for everything that the rest of the Star Wars universe has to offer, please 'Like' The Star Wars Underworld, also on Facebook. Comment, share, and 'like'!