The Bioware team has revealed its plans for PAX set for later this week. During PAX, fans can check out a SWTOR panel that will include a developer Q&A and a new live demo. Devs have also promised that attendees will have the opportunity to hear "new reveals". In addition, the team will host a meet & greet with fans and will be able to try the game out at the SWTOR booth.

Starting at 2PM on Sunday, August 28th, BioWare and LucasArts will be holding a Star Wars: The Old Republic panel at the Paramount Theatre, where fans will have the opportunity to be among the first to hear new reveals, take part in a Q&A session with developers and see a live demonstration of the opening minutes of the Eternity Vault, a high-level Operation taking place on the planet of Belsavis.

Read more on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.

Everybody is expecting a release date from Bioware, let's hope they are giving one.

It will be done when its done, they can tell me the release date 6 months prior, or 6 days, it makes no matter to me...

I'm more interested in what they have in mind for a sub fee.

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

The last one they showed was a PvP demo... although I admit I am disappointed there has been no hint of anything to do with open world PvP other than it will be there. I hope it's not just PvP enabled with no objectives.

Originally posted by Kabaal

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

The last one they showed was a PvP demo... although I admit I am disappointed there has been no hint of anything to do with open world PvP other than it will be there. I hope it's not just PvP enabled with no objectives.

according to gabe amatangelo in this interview from gameescom there will be open world areas with objectives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRTCT365Ro&feature=player_detailpage#t=264s

Originally posted by gaou

Originally posted by Kabaal

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

The last one they showed was a PvP demo... although I admit I am disappointed there has been no hint of anything to do with open world PvP other than it will be there. I hope it's not just PvP enabled with no objectives.

according to gabe amatangelo in this interview from gameescom there will be open world areas with objectives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRTCT365Ro&feature=player_detailpage#t=264s

I hadn't watched that video, thanks. He was a bit vague apart from the world bosses which i don't have much interest in but it's good to hear that there is something in the works.

Originally posted by lars1134

Everybody is expecting a release date from Bioware, let's hope they are giving one.

They won't. EA has already announced that they will have a "hard ship date" in September. I mean, it is pretty close so I guess it is still possible, but the focus of the announcement will be based on open-world pvp.

Originally posted by Celcius

Originally posted by lars1134

Everybody is expecting a release date from Bioware, let's hope they are giving one.

They won't. EA has already announced that they will have a "hard ship date" in September. I mean, it is pretty close so I guess it is still possible, but the focus of the announcement will be based on open-world pvp.

in a way.. i think the lack of release date is probably a good thing.. Bioware are undoubtedly making sure its 100 percent before they push it out the door, and arent letting EA bully them into doing otherwise.. so like the game or not  (its not for me ) .. i would expect the game at least to be solid on release...   players arent as forgiving for bad launches so.. good tactic imo..

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

 Well, people had been asking for well over a year for them.  So isn't it hypocritical to complain about them giving the people the demo?

Don't expect a release date until after the beta weekend/stress tests in September. It'll be a while......

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

 

If you look at the forums... you can feel 4 distinct big crowds

-The WoW+Rift crowd looking for the next triple-A to offer challenging PvE endgame

-The SWG leftovers who keep demanding for the most "Themepark" MMO ever to implement "Sandbox" features

-The WAR+DaoC crowd drawn in by Mythic instanced PvP and PvP progression (and hoping for some RvR)

-And then the KOTOR people that keep demanding solo player features, minigames and companion romances

And SWTOR is trying to keep all of em interested, so far succesfully.

Aug 28? Thats's real close to September and the final stretch through Q4 2011. I would hope that they announce the release date this close to launch.

Originally posted by aiskerrigan

Don't expect a release date until after the beta weekend/stress tests in September. It'll be a while......

  This!  Adding in the comments from SR and others that 'beta weekends' will be a 'couple of months'.  Not expecting a release date until at least late September.

  As for PAX, it'll all be PVP, guild and Legacy related stuff.

Originally posted by monarc333
It's amazing we don't have a release date. Supposedly so close to release and nothing? Just dam peculiar.

well they feel they only need to announce the date 4-8 weeks before launch.  so if the game were to come out in november, then it would be possible that the date wouldn't come for a bit still.

from their last earnings call:

Most MMOs have been announced, in term of ship date, 4-8 weeks prior to introduction. That's fairly standard. "People have target quarters, but whether it's World of Warcraft, it was our last launch or Sony's last launch, 4-6 weeks is relatively typical. You usually want to have high-scale testing completed and under your belt before you open it up to the paying consumer because the paying consumer can be very harsh. They have high expectations: perfect performance. That's what we intend to provide at launch."

As we get into the bulk of the summer we're going to be ramping up our beta campaign and by the time we get to around September we'll be in a position to really call the ball give the hard ship date."

http://darthhater.com/2011/07/26/electronic-arts-q1-2012-earnings-conference-call/

Based upon this information I would expect a release date reveal around mid-november. The release date will probably be around late december given there track record. They would want to milk the heck out of this "Holiday 2011" release window.

At some point a release date and sub info is going to have to be given.  Thats the last of the important info.  Everything else at this point is fluff.

My biggest concern is that there has been a lot of raiding and pvp talk, but very little about crafting.

Originally posted by waynejr2

Originally posted by Vorthanion

It really worries and bothers me that they keep pushing these raid demos.  Is this another Blizzard in the making?

 Well, people had been asking for well over a year for them.  So isn't it hypocritical to complain about them giving the people the demo?

 

I don't think that was phrased correctly, but yeah some people have been asking for the demos.  It's one of the things that I really wanted to see ... and wasn't very impressed.  It basically looked like a TBC or Rift style raid, so I hope TOR has something else in store too.

I'm just saying, waves of mobs plus turrents with no aggro table ... and a boss whose trick is an emote + LOS mechanic isn't very interesting after playing through Rift earlier this year or TBC in '06.