Preparing for the Launch of Star Wars the Old Republic

It's official, BioWare has announced that Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR) will launch on December 20th, 2011 in North America. The European game launch will come two days after the US release on December 22nd. I don't think that gamers could ask for a better Christmas present this year!

Many people are calling SWTOR the most anticipated game release of all time. With all of the hype surrounding this game there is no doubt that tons of people are going to be online playing the game when it is released. If you want to create the best possible character and start leveling quickly then you need to be prepared.

In this hub I'll be covering all of the things you can do before the game launch to make sure you are ready to win.

If you haven't placed your pre-order for the game yet drop everything you are doing and submit your order!

If you don't pre-order the game then there is a good possibility you won't get to play when the game is released.

I placed my pre-order through Amazon and they quickly emailed me a code to register for early game access and a color stone.

Amazon is also offering release date delivery which means you can have the game delivered to your home the same day the game goes live!

Some of the game stores are planning midnight releases of the game as well. If you have a GameStop in your area check with them to see if they will be participating.

Limited Supply at Launch

Bio-ware has annouced that they are artificially limiting the supply of the game at launch in order to ensure their servers are able to handle the massive load they will be under at launch.

This means that both digital and retail copies of the game will be unavailable once the quota has been met. No one except BioWare knows exactly what number the quota has been set to but you don't want to take that chance.

Early Game Access

Pre-ordering the game will also give you access to the game before the launch! According to BioWare access to the game will be granted based on the order the pre-order codes were redeemed.

Unlike the beta having early access to the game will allow you to keep the progress and levels of your characters.

Color Stone

Another perk of buying the game before release is that you will get a free color stone. A color stone is a digital item that you will be able to use to change the color of your lightsaber blade or your blaster bolts.

So far the confirmed colors for the stone include: red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple and white. Additional colors are expected to be announced at, or before the launch.

The Bottom Line

There is no question about it, if you want to get off to a good start with SWTOR you must pre-order the game.

One of the key things you should be doing before the launch is researching classes. Personally I plan to play a Bounty Hunter because they look awesome!

Trust me the last thing you want to be doing on launch day is sitting at the character creation screen trying to decide what class to play while others are already leveling.

BioWare has added quite a bit of information about each of the classes on their website. I also recommend watching the class progression video's to help you decide what class to play.

You may be wondering why you should be worrying about a guild before the game even launches. There are a few main reasons why you should find a guild pre-launch.

1. So you can get on the same server as your friends.
2. You'll have more people to help with quests and instances at launch.
3. You don't get hundreds of guild invites on launch day

BioWare has implemented a three phase guild system. Phase 2 has been activated but that doesn't mean you can't still join a guild, tons of them are still recruiting.

Phase 1 - Formation - This phase basically allows you to either create a guild or join an existing one.

Phase 2 - Alignment - The alignment phase allows guilds to declare other guilds as allied or adversial. BioWare plans to use this information to help select which servers guilds should be placed on.

Phase 3 - Deployment - This phase will happen when the game launches. BioWare will assign guilds to servers based on data collected in the alignment phase.

To get started creating a guild visit the guild headquarters at www.swtor.com/guilds.

Free Up Disk Space

Currently we know that the beta client for the Old Republic takes up about 27GB of disk space. Based on this information it is estimated that the full release will require anywhere from 30 - 40GB of disk space.

This shouldn't be much of a problem for most people but make sure you have the space available. There is nothing worse than trying to frantically delete files so you can install a new game and play with your friends.

Laptop HD's are typically smaller than their desktop counterparts so you may need to either upgrade the size of your drive or purchase an external drive if you plan on using a gaming laptop to play.

If your computer is overdue for an upgrade now is the time to do it. Don't set yourself up for a disaster, you don't want to find out on release day that your computer can't run the game.

Below are the minimum system requirements for running the game. Obviously you want to make sure your system exceeds the requirements by a significant margin.

If several of your components are close to the minimum you may be better off building an entire new computer.

Processor

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better
• Windows XP or later

RAM

• Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM
• Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM

VIdeo Card

Your video card must have at least 256MB of on board memory and have support for Sharder 3.0 or better.

Examples:

• ATI X1800 or better
• nVidia 7800 or better
• Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

With any game launch you're going to want to have lots of caffeine on hand for late night gaming sessions. If you want to be prepared for the launch of SWTOR you should already be stocked up on your favorite energy drink before launch day.

You don't want to have to stop leveling your character so you can go buy more energy drinks.

Why stay up all night?

All of the hardcore gamers are going to be pulling an all nighter on release day. If you want to have any chance of earning any server first achievements then you need to be right there with them.