Star Wars: The Old Republic Pre-Launch Guild Program

[moaradin]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=271764

http://www.swtor.com/info/systems/guilds

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of the new Guild Headquarters (HQ) as well as the Pre-Launch Guild Program. Many members of the community have already been organizing guilds on the forums, and we’re now happy to provide the tools to officially register and reserve your guild’s name. In this new section of the website, you can search for an existing guild to join or you can create a new guild and begin recruiting members. When Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ launches, you may be able to import your guild directly into the game, subject to availability and meeting certain criteria*.

Every guild gets its own guild mini-site on www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com, complete with information about the guild, its recruitment status, and its own public and private forums. Create or join a guild now and you’ll have the opportunity to have your own space to socialize and organize before the game launches. Every guild is automatically entered into the searchable guild database, which makes it easy for players to find their ideal guild. Get your guild together early and get ready for The Old Republic!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details, and to search for or join a guild, visit the Guild HQ now! Also be sure to visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

*Conditions and restrictions apply. See Guilds FAQ for full details.

To discuss the Pre-Launch Guild Program, please use this thread in the Guild Hall forum. To report bugs, please use this thread in the Website Feedback and Support forum. Please note that some words and phrases, particularly some relating directly to Star Wars, are restricted. If you feel your desired guild name is restricted in error, please contact us using the site support form.

They are letting people create their guilds and reserve the name. It sounds like the game is very close, otherwise it would be pretty weird to have something like this far from release. The bolded part is really cool.

[Sargerus]

omg how did I miss this??

[moaradin]

It isn't a Friday Update like they usually have, so it was pretty much completely unexpected. The only thing strange was that the site was down for maintenance today longer than usual. Every guild having their own forums is great. Something that Blizzard should definitely take note of.

This is definitely looking to lead up to a big reveal this weekend at PAX. I got a feeling theres gonna be a release date.

[Deleted]

This is truely an awesome thing to have.

And also a huge marketing ploy, but a perfectly harmless one. I'd enjoy it if others actually followed this suite and offered a Mini-site per guild/clan

[Ceethemage]

This has me doing the happy dance.

[Zeppelin535]

I love everything about this update. Although how will the "4 pre-order rule" work if people pre-order physical copies from local retailers? Will you be forced to have atleast 4 guild members pre-order online?

Edit: Anyone else having troubles getting to the new guild section of the website?

[Sargerus]

Edit: Anyone else having troubles getting to the new guild section of the website?

yeah, takes FOREVER to load, BW servers are quite full right now

[moaradin]

Yea theres a ton of traffic. I was able to finally manage to create a guild though. Had to pay tribute to the guild I was in for 3 years in WoW ;(

[Sunseeker]

yeah, takes FOREVER to load, BW servers are quite full right now

This has actually been one of my largest points of concern for SWTOR. BW servers are CONSTANTLY crashing every time there's a news update. I sincerely hope they are not running their game so close to the edge.

Anyway, this is a cool, yet obvious, marketing ploy. I'm certainly not going to make or join a guild till I have more info about the game however.

[The Jackal]

Why must this game tease me so. You can create a guild even though the game isn't even out and most likely won't be out for quite some time. I am a Bioware fan, though I don't see point of getting myself all excited to join a guild with a bunch of people I never met, unless a guild from wow, rift, etc is going transfer to swtor with same guild name and players

[moaradin]

Thats what its for mostly. Also, I find it hard to believe the game is far away when you are letting people preserve names. I would say 3 months at the latest.

[nerfducken]

This has actually been one of my largest points of concern for SWTOR. BW servers are CONSTANTLY crashing every time there's a news update. I sincerely hope they are not running their game so close to the edge.

Anyway, this is a cool, yet obvious, marketing ploy. I'm certainly not going to make or join a guild till I have more info about the game however.

Um, that's every game. X game server goes down = X game players go have a hissy fit on the official forums and pages take ages to load if they don't time out with the 'servers are too busy' error.

Same with new announcements, especially interactive ones. Everyone was rushing to get their guild name in at the same time. If anything this shows how much of a following the game has.

[Sunseeker]

Um, that's every game. X game server goes down = X game players go have a hissy fit on the official forums and pages take ages to load if they don't time out with the 'servers are too busy' error.

Same with new announcements, especially interactive ones. Everyone was rushing to get their guild name in at the same time. If anything this shows how much of a following the game has.

That's nice. However after experience with many games who had huge followings, somehow this didn't click in the developer's head that they were going to have huge player-bases all trying to play the first day. CO, DCUO, Aion, all these games crashed to the point of unplayablity for the first week or so due to huge player populations and the developers believing that more servers wouldn't be necessary.

Anyone working on anything Star Wars related should expect HUGE numbers when they announce anything from Luke plucked his nose-hairs to new game information. Anything Star Wars related should prepare in advance for those kinds of floods. Especially when announcing something like this.

[Konics]

They are letting people create their guilds and reserve the name. It sounds like the game is very close, otherwise it would be pretty weird to have something like this far from release.

They opened the site almost 3 years ago and started releasing little tid bits of information every friday that noone gives a shit about and what I noticed is it just left the community disappointed if anything....then they open beta apps like a year ago now that everyone got hyped up about when in all actuality the game is probably still in early alpha testings. I don't know whos in charge of the hype train but they started it so early its just ridiculous if anything they have hurt themselves and are starting to turn people away.......anyway what I'm getting at is this doesnt mean anything. The game will still most likely not be out for another year+ and probably delayed even more after that. Maybe I'm getting ahead too far but I just don't see a way in hell it will be out by the end of spring like they keep saying.

Only thing at PAX will probably be the flashpoint V they have already said they would show if anything else I would be surprised.

[moaradin]

They opened the site almost 3 years ago and started releasing little tid bits of information every friday that noone gives a shit about and what I noticed is it just left the community disappointed if anything....then they open beta apps like a year ago now that everyone got hyped up about when in all actuality the game is probably still in early alpha testings. I don't know whos in charge of the hype train but they started it so early its just ridiculous if anything they have hurt themselves and are starting to turn people away.......anyway what I'm getting at is this doesnt mean anything. The game will still most likely not be out for another year+ and probably delayed even more after that. Maybe I'm getting ahead too far but I just don't see a way in hell it will be out by the end of spring like they keep saying.

Only thing at PAX will probably be the flashpoint V they have already said they would show if anything else I would be surprised.

The release window has always been Spring 2011, and it is confirmed that it is going to be released in 2011 for sure. They have released bigger updates on Friday than the updates I'm used to getting maybe once a year.

[Trollsbane]

Simply amazing thinking on the guild thing. I'm very impressed.

---------- Post added 2011-03-09 at 04:23 PM ----------

They opened the site almost 3 years ago and started releasing little tid bits of information every friday that noone gives a shit about and what I noticed is it just left the community disappointed if anything....then they open beta apps like a year ago now that everyone got hyped up about when in all actuality the game is probably still in early alpha testings. I don't know whos in charge of the hype train but they started it so early its just ridiculous if anything they have hurt themselves and are starting to turn people away.......anyway what I'm getting at is this doesnt mean anything. The game will still most likely not be out for another year+ and probably delayed even more after that. Maybe I'm getting ahead too far but I just don't see a way in hell it will be out by the end of spring like they keep saying.

Only thing at PAX will probably be the flashpoint V they have already said they would show if anything else I would be surprised.

That's your opinion. Plenty of people are excited about nearly ever Friday update.

At PAX they'll have a 45 minute playsession of the Flashpint, and a 45 minute playsession of any class in their starter worlds.

[Fierae]

I'm really looking forward to this. Bioware games are always good plays.

I just really hope it doesn't turn out as it is in testing at the moment, that would really really suck. (Ie. it feels like you're playing an online singleplayer...)