I just want to post a quick comment about the zone. I wish the Retreat area were a bit more visually distinct from "regular" Voss. I think changing the time of day in the zone would help give the retreat its own character. I'd suggest that time be set in the late afternoon or early evening with a warm ambient glow over everything, and some deeper shadows under the trees. It would still feel very much like Voss, but different enough that players immediately know or feel like that they are some place different.

Hello, SWTOR's new forums! I've finally found a moment in this chaotic year to hop in and check things out. I thought I'd start with a post of what's been going on at my blog "This Week in Aurebesh" lately which just last month celebrated it's 6th birthday on the world wild web! First Impressions: Legacy of the Sith, part two - This post focuses on my reactions to the story that the new expansion has started us on. Fade and Glow - Top Five Non-Cartel Market Color Crystals - This is quite possibly my favorite "Dumb Top Five List" in the history of the blog. Viva Nar Shaddaa - I did have time for some Aurebesh recreations this year, and this post explores the history, design and translation of the "Welcome to Nar Shadda" sign that greets visitors to the Smuggler's Moon. Tricks and Treats - In addition to discussing the new Galactic Season, this post also serves as a raffle I'm hosting for THREE OPAL VULPTILLA MOUNTS. The raffle ends Tuesday, Novemeber 15, so there may still be time to enter as you read this! If you’ve never visited my site before, I hope you’ll take a look around. I’ve been translating SWTOR’s alien languages for six years now and sharing commentary about the state of the game as I see it.

Just a quick update concerning my latest update in which I share some final thoughts about Onslaught before this week's debut of Legacy of the Sith. Be sure to read to the end of the post to learn how to enter a raffle for an rare Opal Vulptilla mount. The deadline to enter is Thursday, February 17 at 11 PM ET. The more entries I get, the more winners I will draw! Onslaught Review and Opal Vulptilla Giveaway

Happy (belated) New Year from This Week in Aurebesh! I want draw your attention to two recent posts. First and foremost is my interview with SWTOR System Designer David Staats. David gives us a deep dive into Galactic Seasons and what sort of changes we can expect to see in the upcoming Season 2. Definitely check this out! Galactic Seasons Interview with David Staats My latest post is rather more silly, but I want to re-iterate that my Adopt-a-Grophet program is still going strong! I still have countless Fiery Grophets and Venomous Ginxes in search of new family! For details about how to get a FREE pair of companion pets from me, check the post below! Adopt-a-Grophet I'll see you soon in Legacy of the Sith.

As part of the building excitement for the release of "Legacy of the Sith" This Week in Aurebesh asks "Who's that Twi'lek?" I speculate about SWTOR's mysterious new character. Everyone who comments on the blog post will be entered in a raffle to win an Opal Vulptilla mount, courtesy the good folks at Bioware! For details on how to enter please take a moment to check out the post linked below: Who's That Twilik? This raffle is open to entries until December 4, 2021 at 12 PM ET. As always if you've a little time to spend, I hope you'll check out the other translations and SWTOR commentary I've created over the last half decade!

Will we keep access to the items in the Renown stash? I still have a bunch of pets and mounts stored in those across my legacy and I dip into it when I make a new character.

Hello! This Week in Aurebesh celebrated its 5th birthday the other day and to celebrate I've translated the runes that light up around the pedestal of the Outdoor Jedi Temple decoration that was recently added to the game. The latest entry also contains some context about the version of the Jedi code used in the decoration, and I also remark on the "Best View in SWTOR" contest that is finishing up this week. Does This Look Jedi to You? And if you've a little time to spend, I hope you'll check out the other translations and SWTOR commentary I've created over the last half decade!

Thank you for the clarifications. How will Set Pieces and Tacticals be handled? Will they be randomly distributed to all members of the group or directed only to characters whose class can use them?

Hello there! As another summer of SWTOR gets started, This Week in Aurebesh remains committed to providing you, gentle reader, the finest fake space language commentary in the Old Republic. My latest post come from a request to translate some Justicar propaganda found on Coruscant, and it is one several of their posters I've recreated in English. You can check it, and many more, out at here: This Week in Aurebesh This summer, my goal is clear out my backlog of signs and posters I've been meaning to but not quite been able to get around to covering. If there are any alien language signs in the game, you'd like me to translate, please let me know. I love taking requests! Feel free to add you suggestions here, in the comments of my blog or on Twitter.

I just had time for a quick tour of both apartments this morning. My first impression is good. From some previews I'd seen earlier, I thought they'd just look like smaller versions of guild ship rooms, but they are visually distinct from the standard Republic/Imperial style and there's no mistaking these strongholds for rooms of a guild ship. The cantina music bleeding into the Republic apt seems like a neat idea, but it got old fast. A way to toggle it on and off would be nice. Speaking of toggles, the lights switches in the Rishi overlook are one of my favorite features of that stronghold, I'd love to see them added here. The lighting in the Republic apt is pretty neutral, so options to mix it up would be nice. I'd love to see some Starship hooks added to the exterior areas outside the stronghold, rather like the hooks on the ocean floor on Manaan. Being able to set up our ship out there would be cool.

Welcome! It's exciting to see the team go and I look forward to what is to come!

Yep. This is my first experience with login rewards, so I don’t really have a frame of reference, but after a week, I don’t feel like I’ve received much additional value. I realize that balancing rewards that are useful to new players and veteran players alike is an impossible task, but currently they are skewing very hard towards being new player friendly. That’s fine, but expect veteran players to complain like they’ve gotten socks for Christmas. That said the rewards are pretty weak even for new players. White quality companion gifts are nearly worthless these days and a few jawa junk won’t really help anyone raise their crafting skill. As for the credit tokens, the absolute last thing SWTOR’s economy needs is more money pumped into it, whether it’s 1k or 100k. The end of the week rewards were the only ones that piqued my interest. A free bit of valor isn’t bad and the purple sparkle powder is something fun and unique. However, 5 powder does not last long at all. I’d trade all those white companion gifts for a few more powders. The only rewards I’d consider valuable are the ones I can’t get elsewhere. I simply don’t need poor quality companion gifts and I have stacks and stacks of jawa junk clogging my cargo bay already. A daily reward of an extra fleet pass, or quick travel to a world boss location or a token that I can use from some extra renown or conquest points or social points could come in handy without being game breaking. I’m not saying I expect platinum quality CM loot just for logging on everyday, but so far the most of the rewards seem like stuff I’m going to get anyway just playing anyway. More of the same doesn’t really feel like a reward. I’d welcome extra tokens from the Gree/Rakghoul/etc events. CM Certs are nice, but I’d also hope the Cartel Bazaar vendors get updated as well. The Market’s backlog is deep enough that more stuff could be put on the vendors. Some of the old sets are ridiculously expensive simply because they haven’t been available for a long time. This is especially true of decorations that haven’t been available since their packs were discontinued. There is also a lot of retired gear that could be reintroduced to players: old flashpoint and operations sets that were removed when the ops were scaled and the flashpoints level synced. There are also tons of level 48-50 recipes that were removed from the trainers during Fallen Empire. Giving players new cosmetic stuff to craft or trade on the GTN is always a good thing. And, yes, every once in a while, there are should be something freaking awesome, something unique to the rewards system, something other players will stop and notice and want, something at least on par with top tier CM loot: a cool armor set or selection of weapons or an over-the-top mount. Pull out all the stops. I guess my main question is this: is the new system designed for brand new players or more veteran players? Is the reward system account based or legacy based? If I have characters on other servers will I have to log on to them daily as well? I’m certain encouraging anticipation is the main goal of the system. “If I keep logging for x more days, I’ll get that cool thing!” Right? That means the thing does need to be cool. Obviously, there is no one thing that all players will want, so the system should be cycling in different rewards to wanted by different types of players. Look, it was cool to get purple sparkle powder on the PTS today, because SPARKLE POWDER!!!!!, but I understand others not giving a flip about it.

I just want to take a moment and share the short Q&A I conducted with Charles Boyd about how SWTOR uses Aurebesh and other alien languages in the game. It was pretty cool to get answers from SWTOR's very own Creative Director! Given the focus of my blog, if you're looking for info about the next operation, PVP balance or next year's 10th anniversary, you'll be disappointed, but I hope you'll check it out: Charles Boyd Q&A

This Week in Aurebesh has just celebrated it's 4th Anniversary with my overview of the Swoop Rally event and a translation of billboard that was first seen on Corellia but is also featured prominently around the event's Rally Courses: Swoop-de-Whoop I have not been diligent in bumping this thread. It's been a odd year to be sure, but since I last posted here I have been invited to join SWTOR's Content Creator program, and it's been a pleasure to be in the company of so many creators and fans, and my mission of exploring some of corners of SWTOR continues as always. If you have a moment, I hope you'll stop on by.

I've spent some time messing around with the event and the new quests. The quests are a welcome addition to an event that has never been particularly engaging. It's nice that folks who want to do more than burn credits and click get do some basic questing and have their time rewarded with some free plays. Let me echo the comments that new additions sold by the Golden Certificate vendors are less than impressive. Golden certs are going to be prize most of us come away with, so please, please, let there be rewards worth saving up for that aren't a slightly different version of decorations that were recently added to game elsewhere. I get that you want the vendor prizes to be low effort, but at least give us something that isn't already available. This list from Tor-decorating is chock full of possible decorations based on existing assets. Armor-wise, you could also dust off, rename and recolor any of the old PVP or ops sets that are no longer accesible in game. I don't know how difficult companion customizations are to implement, but there are still many companions who are not covered by the options available on these vendors. And finally new color crystal and dye recipes are always welcome. I think you should want Golden Certificates to feel like prizes. Without anything new and fun to spend them on, they will feel like quite the opposite. Lastly, I happened to notice that the duration of the dance action from the Dance Floor decoration has been slashed to 6 seconds. I assume it is using the same trigger or action as the version in the casino that is now a quest objective. Reducing the duration of the decoration by 90% utterly ruins the fun factor of the decoration. I hope you can find a way to reverse that change.

I took another spin around Alderaan tonight and I thought I’d share some comments. First off, of course mounts need to be usable universally throughout the stronghold. It’s far too big and sprawling for us to be forced on foot. You know that already I’m sure. The grand hall really does feel lacking without at least an accessible balcony if not a second floor of rooms. I also agree that the some of the current side rooms off the hall could use some natural light. The hallways on the main floor and mountain retreat have scattered small hooks. I’d prefer to see medium narrow hooks along the walls since they allow for more possible decorations like benches or other furniture as well conversion to double small hooks in the same location. The Killik cave definitely could use a ceiling hook or two. There are many environmental ceiling decos that would fit perfectly in the cave. I’d also like to see hooks added to some of the nooks in the main grounds outside the main building. The area just south of the entrance, up a slight hill that ends in a small clearing with two trees could use some hooks. Likewise the waterfall and the pond that are bracket both ends of the stream are also places where I’d want to place critters or people, either on the rocks in those area or in the water itself. There are also some interactive features that I also hope are included. Practice Dummies should be a standard feature in all strongholds now (Indeed I’d even consider including them retroactively in at least guild ships). To me, the ideal location for a dummy would be somewhere outside with a nice view or perhaps on the roof of a building rather have it be hidden in a dark, side room. Finally, including an orokeet perch or cliffside notch that is only accessible via the MGGS grapple gun seems like something that would be perfectly appropriate for Alderaan. Overall, Alderaan will be by far the most picturesque stronghold yet with an excellent variety of locations to explore and decorate. So far, so good!

This Week in Aurebesh kicks off the roaring 20's with my now traditional list of almost certainly wrong predictions for the coming year. Why go for a single when I can swing for the fences? A Mug’s Game: Five Predictions for 2020 Finally, this week's post is a very non-click-baity review of The Rise of Skywalker, a fun movie I mostly liked. The Rise of Skywalker Review

After the livestream preview, I’m super-psyched for the Alderaan stronghold. I won't be able to get on the PTS until next week, but I did want to echo some comments from the livestream. First, the taxis absolutely should be Thrantas. I’d also like larger, much larger rugs. While the ability to scale existing rugs is probably unlikely, the recent addition of the long runner carpet was nice to see. Most of the other ug decorations are too small for any of the large rooms on Rishi and presumably Alderaan. When placed on a hook in center of those rooms, they really don’t pull the room together. I'd like some real wall-to-wall carpeting options. I also hope that there are plenty of ceiling hooks. I know this is a problem on Rishi where some rooms don’t even have hooks up there. In addition, hooks in and near the stream out front would also be nice for assorted plants and critters. Finally, I think a commemorative statue to honor Carrie Fisher would be an appropriate decoration for inclusion on Alderaan. I get that you can’t specifically reference Leia, but a statue of a Princess from Alderaan (with an astromech in honor of the late Kenny Baker) that happened to have hair buns and a long dress would not be out of place in any era.

This Week in Aurebesh's 100th post is a slightly overdue overview of my first month in SWTOR's new expansion Onslaught, another reason why it's a great time to be a Star Wars fan! First Impressions: Onslaught My previous entry is a look back at a selection of my favorite previously translated holographic and neon signs that you might spot on your journey into the underworld of Mek Sha! Clip Show Also don't miss my recreation of a simple poster that has long been one of my favorites. In addition I discuss my visit to October's SWTOR's Community Cantina event in New York City! Buy n Large Finally, this week, to celebrate the imminent release of Rise of Skywalker, I will be beginning my most epic and personal Dumb Top Five list: My Top Five Favorite Things about Star Wars that aren't movies. I hope you'll come check it out. By the time you read this, the first entry should already by up, This Week in Aurebesh

This Week in Aurebesh just celebrated its third birthday, somewhat to our surprise, as Vector might say! To mark the occasion, I've translated the ancient Jedi runes near Ood Bnar's datacron on Ossus. I also examine the meaning of the text and the origins of the runes themselves. I hope you'll check it out! Cracking the Jedi Code

I'm a little behind in these posts so here's a quick catch up of what's been going on This Week In Aurebesh since June: To the Victor Go the Spoils - My overview of the announcement of Onslaught's Spoils of War gearing system. Conquest! What is it Good For? - My reaction to the recent double-xp-fueled conquest changes. Dantooine, We're on Dantooine - My review of the Pirate Incursion event on Dantooine. Gravity Wins Again: The Best Worst Ways to Die in Star Wars: The Old Republic - It's not just the lightsabers and blasters than can do you in, beware killer elevators, bottomless pits and ravenous ancients beasts. Orange is the New Red - Fight for the Empire! I recreate in english one of the Imperail propaganda posters awarded to players during Star Wars Celebration.

Finished my phase one group achievement today on my healing Sorc. It's weird being back at the start of the gearing cycle and without all those passive Legacy buffs. I can feel the difference. Most of all I miss the old 6-piece bonus. It really allows Healing Trance/Innervate to mesh with the other abilities, and on the PTS healings feels gappy now as I wait for it or Wandering Mend to come off cooldown. Fewer Trances (and no 4 piece bonus) also negatively affects my regen, so it'll be something I really need to keep on top of. The new 6 piece set bonus is pretty lackluster, buffing one of my least used heals and it honestly seems to reward bad play. I've been playing with the same set bonuses for years and that Healing Trance cooldown reduction feels essential to me now, to the point where I'd argue it should be baseline for the class. Oh, to clarify, the set in question I tested earlier this week was the Empowered Restorers. I switched to the Revitalized Mystic this weekend, and it's better, but not particularly interesting. Right now I'm more bummed about what I'm go lose than what is waiting for me in the new sets and tacticals.

This Week in Aurebesh: I discuss Onslaught's new gearing system: Spoils of War. Amplifiers and Tacticals and Charles Points, oh my! To the Victor Go the Spoils My previous post breaks down my top five-ish favorite non-Cartel Market pets in the game. Find out about some of the best plastic pals, fine feathered friends & very good boys & girls that the game has to offer! If That Orobird Won’t Sing: Top Five Non-Cartel Market Pets

This Week in Aurebesh: Defend the Republic! I translate the first of the four propaganda posters awarded to players as a part of Star Wars Celebrations' Community Cantina Event! In addition, I describe the process I follow to recreate SWTOR's amazing aurebesh signage! How It's Made Last week, I shared a short story about the time I almost met the late, great Peter Mayhew.

https://imgur.com/e9kv70q One of these armor sets will take several weeks of grinding to earn on Dantooine, the other consists of a level 20ish crafted chest piece and some pieces that the adaptive gear vendors on the Republic and Imperial fleets will charge you a grand total of 15000 credits to buy. Are there differences? Sure, but are they really different enough to make them worth saving up and then spending event Currency on? I'm not feeling it.