Star Wars: The Old Republic talks instanced regions and hubs at NYCC

The original Republic flashpoint of Jedi Meditation and Posing has sadly been sent back to the drawing board.

Last weekend's big convention, New York Comic Con, hosted another panel on Star Wars: The Old Republic. And perhaps to the surprise of the fans, this panel was all about numbers. Specifically, it was all about the numbers for upcoming content in the game, such as Flashpoints, Operations, and Warzones. Stephen Reid took his time to lay out what players can expect from this content and how many different areas players can expect, starting with 15 different Flashpoints at launch.

The Flashpoints will not all be story-focused, according to Reid, with some focused more heavily on the puzzle or gameplay aspects. All of them, however, can be replayed at higher difficulties in the endgame. In addition, Reid showed off the upcoming fleet hubs for the game, the central gathering areas for players that feature vendors, auction systems, and a special "VIP Lounge" for people who purchased the Collector's Edition. With only a little over two months remaining until the game's launch, there's not much more time before these promised features become a reality.

Reader Comments (56)

"and a special "VIP Lounge" for people who purchased the Collector's Edition"

woot, I get a lounge! Hope it's like the roped-off airport VIP sections I never got into in airports so I can finally feel special.

@real65rcncom
It's a little room at the top of an elevator in beta.

Or much time for "game-testing"...

All I got from signing up (years ago) was a hacked account and two fake emails :(

Interesting, whole fleet hubs thing is something I did not know about this game.

The VIP lounge leaves a really nasty taste in my mouth. Granted it will probably be rarely used except for someone to afk and feel important while they do it, but MMOs are about content and making sure that content is accessible by as many players as possible.

If they later say for a $5-$10 payment you'll have access, fine, but a subscription game with areas gated off by who pays extra on retail just smells up the room. It's something a freemium game would do. I've long thought that TOR will go F2P a year after release to heal development costs with retail, and this makes me feel more confident in that thought.

@(Unverified) Amazing, someone on the internet is upset about something that doesn't matter.

@(Unverified) Good lord its just an aesthetic feature its no different then some games offering Pets or Mounts.

@(Unverified)

I think that's called confirmation bias. There's no evidence for a F2P conversion and saying there will be is just a veiled wish for failure.

@(Unverified) So you would feel all "VIP" for paying 5 extra dollars to get in? Gimmie a break man. Nobody cares about the VIP room.

@(Unverified) I really hope the VIP vendor sells some sort item that can be dropped down on to the heads of people like you.

Ah yes, instanced regions. They really, really bothered me in the beta.

@nimzy Oh cmon, don't you like finding a group only to have to switch region instances to meet and it throws you to your bind, increasing your travel time?

@Lucidus And who could forget instance-switching shares the same 30-minute cooldown with your recall, making switching between parties impossible?

@nimzy
It seems like one of the silliest things to not fix before launch. I doubt its a technical nightmare to not send you back to your bind. (all they would need to do is store the location and then teleport you after the switch, at least in my overly simplistic mind)

There's a little too much "we can't talk about that yet," for a game that is less than 2 months from release. They're still showing off screenshots of endgame content. Screenshots??? Really?? The NDA is still going strong as well. This info would have been good if TOR was scheduled to be released in 2013.

Seems like there are a lot of red flags surrounding this game indicating epic fail.

@Mtor I don't know if this comment needed to be. If I hadn't been in beta, at this point I'd be concerned. Still a NDA, no sign of larger beta still (weren't there supposed ot be guild betas?). I know they said no open beta, but at this point nothing major is going to change.

I understand this is Bioware's first MMO but they aren't helping themselves by being so restrictive with communication. From what I've seen the game is ready to go. Yes it can use more tweaking, but a MMO can always use more tweaking.

@Mtor

You do know that if they do open the NDA, then information about the story in which the game is build upon since day one of development would be spoiled and thus ruining the game for people.

You really are a smart troll who can think on the ball. No wonder you are on here trolling. Stupid comments from a uneducated person.

@Jwheeler
VS beta people spoiling the stories on day one of release. Really not much of a difference. If they have really limited opening day sales, then those who can't play opening day still face this problem. If the stories are the make and break of this game, then what happens once you experience the stories you want to see?

I've never seen so many cry like little bitches. Sometimes I buy the CE, sometimes I don't. Capitalism, deal with it.

~DamnLag

@(Unverified) Oh millions of OCCUPY people WILL soon deal with it. Along with building the "Lenin Memorial" at the Mall. Muahahaha. XD

Just kidding.

Or am I? ^^

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Star Wars: The Old Republic talks instanced regions and hubs at NYCC

Reader Comments (56)

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:05AM real65rcncom said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 12:44PM BigAndShiny said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:08AM b3n said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:24AM heerobya said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:30AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:43AM mrmojoz said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:51AM Clemalum07 said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 1:33PM hereafter said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 2:29PM DerpMchurson said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 4:56PM Ilikesoup said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:41AM nimzy said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 1:01PM Lucidus said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 1:13PM nimzy said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 2:40PM KvanCetre said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 11:46AM Mtor said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 5:24PM Interitus said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 7:03PM Jwheeler said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 9:40PM exe973 said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 12:20PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Oct 17th 2011 5:00PM Elikal said

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