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We have a good deal of news from The Old Republic’s BioWare shepherds today, some good and some bad. Let’s start with the good. Light Side: Developers at BioWare have begun talking about a Mac client for the company’s über popular Star Wars MMO. Though the official word from Greg Zeschuk is “not yet,” both he and Ray Muzyka are aware of their tremendous Mac audience, who are just waiting for a program that will let them access the game without setting aside a Windows partition. Zeschuk has gone as far to state that a Mac port is “definitely one of the things [they’re] looking at next.” Further, those who currently can access the game are in for a treat in the near future, with game director James Ohlen revealing that a content update is planned for release this month, containing an entirely new planet with a never-before-seen Flashpoint. All he would reveal about the Flashpoint itself is that it centers around a plague that could have “significant repercussions across the galaxy.” He warns gamers to “be prepared for something different.” Further, the Karagga’s Palace Operation is being expanded to more than three times its existing size, with three new boss monsters and more set pieces. “You won’t believe the last boss,” Ohlen says. 
Not all is sunshine and daisies in the land of The Old Republic, though. The first bit of controversy surrounds “Slicing,” one of the crew skills players can select once they leave their starting planet. While most gathering skills and mission skills net items for a small fee, which can then be used for crafting, Slicing allows one to earn money by spending money, directly. Initially, the rewards for this were so absurdly high that gamers were generating insane amounts of credits in an extremely short period of time. As such, in a post-Christmas patch, Slicing was nerfed. Then, reports came in that BioWare was banning players from the game simply for going to higher levels zones while they were still low-level. In a statement released by Stephen Reid on the game’s forums, however, he clarifies that BioWare only banned accounts that were found to be involved in credit farming, specifically for sale to other players. There has been a smaller selection of accounts that has been warned or temporarily suspended, however, for systematically opening loot containers on Ilum—a level 40+ planet—while still underleveled. They were doing so in such numbers that it was unbalancing the game’s economy. Reid assures players that they will not be banned from the game simply for opening a crate on Ilum before they’re actually supposed to be there, and even the greatest offenders were only warned or suspended. Again, the only ones banned have been those suspected of credit farming. By Shelby Reiches |