Bioware has released the date for SWTOR's Update 1.3. On June 26th there will be a scheduled maintenance for four hours on Tuesday, from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8 AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.

Game Update 1.3: Allies introduces new features for all SWTOR players including a Group Finder tool, Legacy Perks, Ranked Warzones, and Adaptive Gear! Now you will be able to quickly find groups to take on Flashpoints, Operations, Warzones, and Planetary Heroic Missions. The Legacy System incorporates new bonuses including Advancement Perks which allows you to customize your leveling experience. With Adaptive Gear, social gear can now be used in combat, by fusing it with corresponding armor bonuses and creating slots for modifications.

Source: http://www.swtor.com/blog/scheduled-maintenance-game-update-1.3-june-26th-2012

GameBreaker.tv The Republic Episode 95 talks Server Merges and Update 1.3 class changes

The day that most active SWTOR players wanted has finally been announced. Bioware will allow free server transfers starting June 12th 2012. Here is what we know so far:

• Servers will be labled origin and destination servers allowing for limited transfer choices
• Server types and languages will be respected. You will not find your PvE characters transferred to a PvP server, or vice versa!
• Legacy will be transferred to your new server and your unlocks will be available there too
• If you have already unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, the higher level Legacy will take precedence
• For guild members and masters, you will not be able to transfer your guild as a whole to your new server; instead you will need to reform
• If you have a guild bank, it will be re-granted to your new guild on your destination server by Customer Service. This is not an automatic process and you will have to contact Customer Service directly
• If your transferred character’s name conflicts with an existing name on a destination server, you will be asked to rename your character
• In the case of Legacy names, unless you have unlocked your Legacy on your destination server, you will need to rename your Legacy upon transfer (although you may pick the same Legacy name as on your origin server, if available).

Now I just need to find out what server my guild is moving to!

Source: http://www.swtor.com/blog/character-transfer-server-populations-and-you

BioWare has posted a detailed blog outlining its Star Wars: The Old Republic Update 1.3 class changes desinged to address some balance issues. Here is a summary of the Update 1.3 class changes:

Tanks

• Threat generation for all tanking stances has been increased to 100% (up from 50%).
• Cyclone Slash/Sweeping Slash now apply an accuracy debuff with the Dust Storm/Quake skills.
• Guardian Slash/Crushing Blow have been slightly redesigned to deal AOE damage when striking a target with 5 sunder stacks (and now spread those stacks). This AOE damage is “smart” and will not hit enemies affected by control that breaks on damage.
• Single Saber Mastery now offers effects based on your current Form. In Soresu Form, Cyclone Slash/Sweeping Slash and Force Sweep/Smash deal increased threat.
• Force Breach (Combat Technique)/Discharge (Dark Charge) now generate increased threat.
• The AOE damage dealt by Slow Time/Wither is now “smart” and will not hit enemies affected by control that breaks on damage.
• Supercharged Ion Cell/Gas now cause High Impact Bolt/Rail Shot to trigger your Ion Cell/Cylinder on the target and on up to 4 additional nearby targets. This AOE damage generates a high amount of threat and is “smart,” meaning it will not hit enemies affected by control that breaks on damage.
• The healing generated by Combat Technique/Dark Charge has been reduced by approximately 50%.
• The healing generated by Harnessed Shadows/Harnessed Darkness has been reduced to 8% in total (down from 12% in total).
• The armor provided by Combat Technique/Dark Charge has been reduced to +115% (down from 150%).

DPS

• Rapid Fire is no longer the capstone ability for Sharpshooter/Marksmanship. Rapid Fire is now a 3-pt passive skill that reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot/Ambush and Speed Shot/Series of Shots.
• Blaster Volley/Sniper Volley is the new capstone ability for Sharpshooter/Marksmanship. This is now an active ability that finishes the cooldown on Speed Shot/Series of Shots and greatly increases alacrity and energy regeneration for about 10 seconds.
• Cell Charger/Terminal Velocity has been redesigned to passively restore 1 energy cell/vent 8 heat every 6 seconds.
• Gravity Surge/Light ‘Em Up now additionally grants an extra stack of Charged Barrel/Tracer Lock and Charged Barrier/Power Barrier, if applicable, with each Grav Round/Tracer Missile fired.
• Target Lock/Advanced Targeting has been redesigned. Now gives Full Auto/Unload and High Impact Bolt/Rail Shot 10% armor penetration per point.

Source: swtor.com

When SWTOR's Lead Game Designer Daniel Erickson was asked about cross server LFG tool in PC Gamer's interview he answered:

"They will not be cross-server as we are coming up on a huge move to servers with massively higher population caps than we have today."

This seems to suggest that we could see a large server merge to servers that will host a much higher player population, or "Mega Servers". Although server mergers do not usually suggest that a game is doing well, in SWTORs case I believe they added too many servers at launch to handle the initial login storm. For SWTOR a server merge is very badly needed. Source: PCGamer.com

GameBreaker.tv The Republic show discusses SWTORs upcoming Update 1.3

Video previewing some of the features coming soon to Star Wars: The Old Republic in Game Update 1.3: Allies.

Following the monster SWTOR Update 1.2 Bioware is promising a lighter and faster Update 1.3 that will focus more on quality-of-life features and less on new content.

What we know so far:

The main feature coming in SWTOR Update 1.3 is a Looking for Group (LFG) tool. As far as we know it will not be cross server. Players will be able to choose their role as well as if they want to queue up for Heroic Missions, Normal Flashpoints, Hardmode Flashpoints and Story Mode Operations. Choosing a random encounter will provide players with a daily reward.

Furthermore social gear will no longer be limited to light armor, the armor type will adapt based on the class wearing it (this may extend to other armor types in the future). You will be able to add augment slots to existing gear using the modification tables no one currently uses. There will be new additions to the Legacy system currently listed in the Coming Soon Legacy tab. Some form of Server Transfers will also be released with the Update or just prior to it. The current rumor is that the first transfer will be free.

Some wild guesses:

Ranked Warzones may be coming in 1.3 but we have not seen any confirmation of this. There is also a possibility of a new HK-51 companion (we at least know the artwork is there). I would also guess we may get a new world event around the Update 1.3 release. Server populations are also a large issue in SWTOR as there were just too many servers created at launch to handle the initial login storm. I am guessing that 1.3 will have some server transfer/merges functionality although we do not have any details.

What I would like to see:

One of the biggest issues I have with SWTOR is server populations. There are lots of people playing SWTOR but they are spread out between too many servers. If you log into some servers outside of 6PM-8PM it can be very challenging to make a Flashpoint group. An LFG tool will not change that. Bioware has to solve this somehow if the game is to continue to attract players. The 2 easiest solutions would be a cross server LFG tool or server transfer/merges. For me this is a crucial moment for SWTOR and a solution to this issue is already overdue.

I would also like to see some additional content in a form of a new warzone or flashpoint, however I am not holding my breath.

Release Date

So far all we know is that Update 1.3 is scheduled for sometime in the beginning of summer. I am hoping this means June. My official guess is the last week of June.

Update 22-May-2012

Check out the new Update 1.3 Video Preview:

Coming Soon to Star Wars The Old Republic Game Update 1.3 Allies

Dungeons & Dragons Online releases Update 13. Includes 6th year celebration event, 3 new free quests and many bug fixes.

Release Notes: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Release_Notes_Update_13_Official

Massively.com has an excellent interview with Turbine Executive Producer Fernando Paiz and Senior Producer Eric Boyer on this coming Monday's Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 13. In the interview we learn all about the new free 3 quest adventure pack, birthday event (free +2 tomes) as well as guaranteed quest rewards on 3rd completion and new store items.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/23/unraveling-ddos-web-of-chaos-turbine-talks-update-13/