Alea Iacta Est

AIE NEWS

Blizzard has been hacked! It’s not a major hack, but they are strongly suggesting that you change your password and update your phone’s authenticator software as soon as you can. Passwords and emails seem to be part of the compromised data, Blizzard has said our billing info is safe, as are physical authenticators. More information can be found in their statement to players.

Pondera is open! AIE world of warcraft’s 11th co guild is open for business! Thanks to our wonderful members and the projected influx of pandas, AIE warcraft needed another guild, bringing our total up to 11!

The great purging will begin soon! Come the end of August, if you haven’t logged into your AIE warcraft toons in 5 months or more, they will be getting removed from the guild! To stay in all you have to do is log into your toons! Doesn’t have to be long, but it resets the ‘last time logged in’ counter.

There’s a new TF2 mode, Mann vs. Machines! The war between Red and Blue has been suspended to take on an even greater enemy! This update includes new maps, modes, and of course the machines and their all new classes! These will invariably be added to the rotation on TFTuesdays and TFThursdays!

As part of the new Stormlegion expansion, Trion has revealed the new mage soul! (A soul is kind of like a ‘spec’ in other games)! The Harbinger has been announced! This is a single target melee-range soul for all the mage-y folks out there. There is a lot more info (including a great short story) over on the Rift website.

Buy a year of RIFT, get the upcoming expansion, a new mount, titles, and all unearned veteran rewards for free! A year of Rift only costs $120 when you buy it through this special offer. Please note it is not a subscription, but is a one time purchase. For more details please check out the Rift stormlegion website.

For all you that live in Indiana, or will be traveling there for the GenCon Indianapolis convention this week, AIE member Healertrek, who sometimes goes by the nickname Dave Fitzgerald, will be presenting a seminar on game design on Saturday Aug 18th at 5pm, with an AIE meetup to follow immediately afterwards for drinks and game playing. To RSVP for the meetup, see his post on our AIE Meetup.com page.

As always, see our show notes for links to more information on all of the above. And with that, let’s head into SWTOR news with our guest, Emperor Pelell!

SWTOR NEWS from Pelell:

Intro chit chat~ Running EC story mode with LoL version 2.0. New Ops leader Machia is super hardcore, instituting Turntable nights for our runs. Sunday night we ran to soundtracks and showtunes. On this coming Wednesday, it’s one hit wonders. It seems to provide motivation, as well as offer a zone of comfort and humor that is definitely needed whilst wiping, learning the new fights. Still trying to get matching black/blue sabers, as well as getting geared up. Curse Apolas and his Canadian luck!

SWTOR AIE news:
New In-Game Event Started Today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1NELWJh0k
A video was just released about the Chevin and an Intergalactic Grand Acquisition Race. The event starts like the Rakghoul Plague event, with the news release video on each of the factions respective Fleet, directing them to Nar Shadda. At this time, I have only played for a short while. Obtainable rewards include Legacy Bound bowcasters and blasters, Red Sparkle powder, a new pet, a Sandperson outfit, and I hear a new speeder is also out there. Also, like the previous event, it appears to be a staged, meaning an additional daily quest will open up each day over the course of the event. Be aware! During the last event, in order to obtain all the gear and title associated with it, you had to run the event daily a total of 6 times, and I believe it was a 9 day event.

2 New Officers Sema (Republic) and Cakuu (Imperial):
http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46373-attention-two-new-swtor-aie-officers-on-deck/

Sema is a sweet healer in my Ops team and a very calm, cool headed lady. Her willingness to assist me personally with menial guild swapping stuff, as well as helping the community at large are only a couple reasons why she is an excellent choice. You may also recognize Cakuu’s name from the awesome avatars that she has created for quite a few members of the community. Coupled with her dedication to PVP and her positive attitude, encouraging new players to give it a whirl, she makes another fine addition to the Officer Corp. These gals exemplify what it is to be a giving member of the community. Please, offer them your congratulations and/or condolences.

Summer of Love Events: http://forum.myextralife.com/topic/46106-summer-of-love-july-29-through-august-4th/

Sunday Skivvy Run with Cakuu and Jijitsu. Had a couple teams on each side run FPs with very little clothing and no weapons. I understand there are screen shots, should you want to sneak a peek.

Monday Pancakes for AIE by Neuroid. Involved members on each side jumping of a high bridge on Hoth. Whoever landed closest to me won credits provided by Neuroid. Caleks won first place and Abovan won for most creative jump.

Tuesday was The Kessel Run Scavenger Hunt, also organized by Neuroid. Clues were given at 5 separate locations by AIE Volunteers that led to the next clue. Quite possibly the most fun event I have ever done with AIE. I look forward to doing this one again.

Wednesday night was an off night.

Thursday was the Night of Remembrance, in honor of Milliway from WoW, as well as others we have lost. We gathered on Hoth to show our respects. Each Director had the opportunity to share some words. It was amazing to see the community hold this event across multiple games.

Friday night we had The Running of the Beefcake, which was organized by Sophi. You had to create a low level hunky body type and run across Illum, running in only your pants.

And finally Saturday night was the Summer Of Love Ball, also organized by Sophi. Companion loved was shown, and people were sporting many different outfits. While I was unable to make this one, I had a sweet Sandpersons outfit picked out.

Big Thanks to everyone who organized these events, and thanks to all those that participated. Check out the forums and the thread, there are pictures and at least two videos available.

The “Other Big News”
http://www.swtor.com/free
http://www.swtor.com/free/features
http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449

SWTOR will be going F2P “soon”, though thorough specifics are not readily available. I have included links that detail the information that is currently available. The gist of it is there is currently 2 models set up, a subscriber model, and a F2P model. The most important thing I would like to stress is that the core content seems to still be available to the people who choose the F2P model. Meaning, you can level your toon from 1-50, and enjoy the story, which for me, is where the game shines. Now, you will be limited to x number of FPs, Space Missions, and WZs per week, and Ops will not be available for the F2P model. Also limited are character slots, GTN transactions, travelling ability, character creation options.

You will also have the ability to purchase additional content, with what they are calling Cartel Coins. This could be cosmetic items, additional character slots, additional content, though again, specifics have not been released. Those who have purchased the game and have had an active subscription gets a monthly stipend of these coins, and they get them for game time played already. You will get 150 coins for past months played, 200 coins for each month paid for post F2P announcement. Also, those who purchased the Collector’s Edition also get 1000 of these coins, on top of the monthly accrued stipend. I imagine once a more complete list becomes available, we can talk about more of the specifics of what’s offered in the F2P model.

It will be interesting to see how Bioware/EA handles this from here on out. I have been extremely excited about this game, and with everything that has happened over the past 9 months, from server transfers to lost toon and/or Legacy names, to now the F2P option becoming active, it’s easy to see how some people could get frustrated by any individual aspect, let alone all of these. Thankfully, we have an awesome community and a group of people dedicated to the game. I imagine that once the game goes free to play, that we may see an influx of both new and returning members. For me personally, that gives me hope that the game is still very much alive, and worth doing the work involved.

I want to thank all of the SWTOR Officers, past and present, for their time and energy that they have put in to make sure AIE has a presence in SWTOR. I also want to thank the community members that play the game, who are also equally responsible for our in game presence.

Lastly and once more, a big, big thanks to Neuroid and Sophi for the Summer O’ Love.

CLOSE

And that’s our show for tonight, We want to thank Pelell for joining us! Next week we’ll be talking to the leaders of AIE’s newest game, The Secret World! (We’d tell you who they are, but it’s a SECRET!)

Quick mention! We have some great iTunes reviews! Big thanks to Nosjer, who gave us two thumbs up, and Stonegargoyle, who said we were a special kind of weird. You two obviously have great tastes in podcasts, and for that, we thank you!  Want to get a shout out too? Just give us a 5 star review on iTunes! It’s just that easy and we are just that easily impressed!

And we’d like to give a shout out to Rem and Jules over at the Tauren Think Tank podcast for your gracious comments concerning our AIE Remembrance Day celebration. /moo right back at you guys.

Stay tuned, as we’ve got some great AIE member segments coming right up, including…
– Alludra’s Pets
– Ask Miss Mulgra
– Epic Achievements
– Overly Dramatic News
– MegaMinute