As regular readers surely know, I really enjoy the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. And I don’t mean the community team led by Eric Musco, although it’s great too and deserves an honorable mention in this article. No, the people that I’d like to talk about today are those people who play SWTOR, and out of their passion for Star Wars, the Old Republic, or BioWare (or all three), they create an amazing website, podcast, or some other kind of internet content. And from their creation, they inspire the rest of the community.
I really wish that I could visit every single SWTOR blog and site all the time. Unfortunately, there are just too many to track. So what I’d like to do is to point out the ones that I visit most often. These aren’t necessarily the “best”; I wouldn’t even call this a top 10 for me because there are great sites that I just can’t visit often enough. So in no particular order, let me tell you about these 10 great sites.
The podcasts
I listen to people talk about games all the time. I remember Sean Dahlberg mentioning that the SWTOR community team used to have the SWTOR fan podcasts playing in the background of the office so that the team could hear what the passionate people in the community thought about the game and the direction it was headed. I listen to podcasts quite a bit myself. A good time for me to listen to podcasts is when I’m leveling up a character in game or when I’m drawing the Sword and Bored comic.
Corellian Run
Corellian Run Radio has been one of my favorite podcasts since before the game launched. Kathy and Carla started the show, giving it its own specific flavor of fun. The current hosts Heather and Jason continue the positive message that started about five years ago. I met Heather at PAX South, and her bubbly personality isn’t something that she puts on for the show. Both she and Jason are genuinely positive about Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Bad Feeling Podcast
I mentioned being genuine when talking about Corellian Run Radio, and Bad Feeling Podcast has that in spades. This podcast is raw. And when I say that, I don’t mean that they swear a lot and make crude jokes (although there is a little bit of that). This podcast feels like two guys sitting in guild chat talking about their favorite game. And if you’ve ever made a podcast, you’ll know that that kind of rapport and spontaneity doesn’t just happen. Despite their laid-back demeanor, Chuck and Brian are professionals, and it makes for a great podcast.
OotiniCast
Teo, Chill, and the rest of OotiniCast are another group of guys who are honest about the game they enjoy. This might be a theme with me. I think what separates OotiniCast from the other podcasts is that it tends to have a good balance of different kinds of players. You have the casual, the PvPer, the hardcore raider, the PvEer, the GTN player, and many different other player archetypes in its semi-rotating cast. If I were to use one word to describe OotiniCast, it would be “thorough.” Besides having that variety of different types of players on the show, it also covers everything that happens in SWTOR during a given week.
The streamers
I stream periodically, and I really like it. It’s a bit stressful for me because I’m constantly interrupted if I don’t schedule a specific time with everyone in the house to be “on-air.” And originally, I didn’t fully understand why you would want to watch someone else play a game for hours on end until I started watching them myself. Now granted, I have many other things calling for my attention, so I don’t watch streams as often as I like, and I miss many of the good parts. But I do catch a few hours of streams a week, and these are the three guys I watch the most.
Snave
If you are in the SWTOR community regularly and have seen my past disagreements with Snave, you will certainly ask yourself why in the world I watch him at all, let alone why he is on my list. Perhaps it’s just my personality, but I listen to and watch many programs that I disagree with because I believe that perspective is important. Snave’s approach to gaming is probably the most polar opposite to mine, but he is passionate about this game. To me, passion is important.
Redna
And on the subject of passionate people, Redna is likely one of the most passionate SWTOR players I’ve seen. He is a Star Wars fan and SWTOR fan. Although I can’t 100% agree with everything he says, I respect his passionate desire to project a positive message about this game. In all seriousness, if you’re feeling down about SWTOR, go to his chatroom and ask him how he honestly feels about the game. It’s kind of contagious.
Bored Brit
Chris chose a very unfortunate callsign, if you ask me, but that being said, I have a lot of respect for this streamer. Chris is the streamer I would be if I had more time to stream — and if I were British. Excepting the fact that he’s not a roleplayer, many of the reasons he plays the game mirror my own. He spends a lot of time playing through old and new content. He engages his audience constantly and consistently. To top it off, he’s likely one of the friendliest streamers I’ve ever seen.
Websites and other stuff
I look to blogs and short-form video media for solid information. Although I expect it to be sprinkled with personal commentary, most of what I’m looking for is information. I want to know about a particular change to the game, what’s happening in a community, or where to find a specific item. These are the primary places I look for that.
SWTOR-RP
I have close ties to SWTOR-RP, but I no longer write articles for them. Ganden and his crew do a wonderful job of not only keeping up on SWTOR news but delivering the news from a perspective I relate to. As a roleplayer and someone who loves to immerse himself in the setting of the games he plays, I find SWTOR-RP gives me this perspective.
Ebon-Hawk.net
I should point out that The Ebon Hawk server has four or five different sites that focus on the happenings in that server’s communities. And although I watch Ebon-Hawk.net most often, the other sites are just as valid and important. You should find one that fits your particular style of gameplay. In the same vein, if you don’t play on The Ebon Hawk, you should certainly find a server forum that isn’t run by SWTOR‘s community team because there is just a little bit more freedom and a lot more heart in a community-run site.
Secondly, I mention Ebon-Hawk.net because of the translators and phonebook. The links at the top of Ebon-Hawk.net lead to a program that can translate 13 different languages, including Catharese, Old Corellian, and Ancient Sith. Of course, these languages and translations aren’t canon, but they are based on canon and are probably the closest anyone will get to a canon translator. And the phonebook will help you pick a name based on your species and gender.
Vulkk
I watch every video that Vulkk puts out, and he is the only SWTOR player I can say this about. Of course, there are other SWTOR YouTube content creators, but Vulkk is the one I watch most often. I’ve tried to wrap my head around why he’s the one I watch, and I think what sets him apart from the other informative video producers is his positive perspective. Oh, and maybe because he plays my favorite class: Sith Marauder.
Dulfy
I don’t think I have to say much about Dulfy since any SWTOR player who doesn’t visit Dulfy doesn’t actually play SWTOR. (That’s sarcastic hyperbole. Don’t take it seriously, but do visit Dulfy.) However, I do want to commend Dulfy on its consistency and its ability to continually produce the most up-to-date content on the game.
I know that I missed some. I know that there are other great sites. I know that some sites are just starting and others are beginning to come back. And some, like the SWTOR comic Imperial Entanglements, I just didn’t know how to categorize. Let me know about the sites you visit in the comments below, and most importantly, why are they on your list?
Every other week, Larry Everett jumps into his T-16 back home, rides through the hypergates of BioWare‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic, and posts his adventures in the Hyperspace Beacon. Drop him a holocom on Twitter @Shaddoe or send him a transmission at larry@massivelyop.com. Now strap yourself in, kid — we gotta make the jump to hyperspace!
