And the SWTOR Guild Summit has begun! You might remember that BioWare was bringing in guild leaders and raiders from around the world to Austin, TX, to participate in a roundtable discussion on SWTOR's endgame and beyond. Well, James Ohlen's "State of the Game and Game Update 1.2 Presentation" is just kicking off with some brand new information on Patch 1.2, so if you want to spend today getting in on the SWTOR discussion, be sure to hop onto the stream over at www.swtor.com/guildsummit!

Can't stream at work? Be sure to follow our sister-site @Torhead on Twitter! Fewyn is currently attending the SWTOR Summit and will be live-tweeting event details throughout the day!

In the wake of Patch 1.2 BioWare continues to make subtle changes to improve features and content, while also making improvements and changes to the in-game economy. With weekly patch 1.1.5 a number of changes are being implemented, including the much requested removal of light side and dark side color crystal requirements. 

But leave it to BioWare to turn patch notes into "rumors" and craft an entire story around some of the changes. It interesting to see how adding just a little flavor and in-game story can make the most meaningless of patch notes seem like an actual economic change. To see these mini-story patch notes, be sure to check out BioWares latest blog post.

Community Manager Joeveth Gonzalez took the the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums yesterday to recruit local (Austin-based) SWTOR players. They are looking for players that are experienced with endgame Operations, Warzones, and Flashpoints that, if chosen, will test out brand new content in the BioWare office in Austin. 

If you meet this criteria, then be sure to fill out this survey and you will be contacted with more information if you qualify. While only a temporary position, it is paid and will require at least a weekend to a month of your time. This could be an attempt to refine and craft a greater endgame experience for SWTOR, and who better to solve this problem than the players who are actively participating in it?

It's now been two months since the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic and BioWare is looking back on it's launch, calling it a tremendous success. With over two million copies of the game sold, SWTOR is officially the fastest growing MMO to date!

To celebrate the occasion, BioWare released a video that gives us an inside look at the game's launch day as well as player insight to things they have enjoyed about the game so far.

BioWare and LucasArts are looking to expand their market and are excited to announce Star Wars: The Old Republic will officially launch in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore on March 1st, 2012! Now this isn't to say players in these regions haven't already begun their adventure within the game, but it will allow them to continue their saga's on regional servers. For a limited time, select players will be given the opportunity to migrate their characters from their current servers, to Asia Pacific servers after the launch on March 1st. This will will not only help balance the current server load, but allow those who transfer to take advantage of decreased network latency.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available in both Standard and Digital Deluxe editions. Players who pre-order the game in Australia or New Zealand will be entitled to the Color Crystal pre-order item, which changes the color and stats of your lightsaber or blaster ammo. Players in every region will also get the opportunity to receive the Founder's Medal if they complete one of the following transactions by Monday, April 30th 2012, 12:01AM EDT, 2:00AM NZDT; Hong Kong & Singapore: Sunday, April 29th, 2012, 9:01PM HKT, 9:01PM SGT:

• Billed at least once for an active Star Wars: The Old republic recurring subscription
• Redeemed a Star Wars: The Old Republic 60-Day Pre-Paid Game Time Code

For more details on the Asia Pacific Launch, visit the Launch FAQ.

Community Production Coordinator, Courtney Woods, has taken to the forums to give an update for all the anxious guilds looking to attend the first Guild Summit in Austin. Applications are being reviewed and every guild that applied can expect a response in the next few days.

She goes on to say that there is A New Hope (I couldn't resist) for those unable to attend. Select events during the Guild Summit will be livestreamed, allowing players from all over the world to enjoy and participate in some of the event discussions. The only real restriction is that the livestream will only be available in English. However, the silver lining is that according to a tweet by Stephen Reid, the livestream of the Summit won't cost you anything. So if you aren't some of the lucky few invited to this event, you still won't miss out on all the summit discussions.

A lot of great information came out with last week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Q&A Session with SWTOR's Lead Writer Daniel Erickson. Of course, not everyone has the time to sift through those big words, so have a condensed version of what Daniel had to say regarding the various hot topics in SWTOR, and what we can expect in the next big update:

• Dual-Spec: "Dual spec is in the works and coming soon."
• Legacy System Unlocking New Species: "The species that will be unlocked in Game Update 1.2 are species currently in the game that will become available to classes and factions [Sith Warrior Twi'leks?] where you haven't seen them before.
• New PvP Warzone: "The new warzone is enabled for same faction vs. same faction play."
• Social Gear for Medium and Heavy Armor Characters: "Expect to see the first new gear coming in Game Update 1.2 and some dramatic changes to the social gear system just around the corner."
• Character Transfers: "Definitely going to be available in the future."
• More Rare Colour Crystals: "Absolutely. Not just rare items but limited availability items, more treasure hunts and some big surprises for the community to discover."
• Making Equipment Match: "The new and vastly improved "Hue to Chest" system launches with Game Update 1.2."
• Target of Target: "Yes. Target of target on primary target and party frames will be part of Game Update 1.2."
• ... and probably the most important news: Making the Bug Report Shortcut Key Unbindable: "Yes! This will be addressed in a weekly patch in the very near future."

So there you have it, some great answers from Daniel Erickson (although a few answers were clear dodges, you can read them all hear), and if you want to submit your own questions to the next community Q&A, head over to the official thread for the February 17th, 2012 Q&A forum post.

Check out Part II of our Smooth Operations Guide here!

Leveling up in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is one of the smoothest, most well-directed experiences I've had thus far, but when it comes to pursuing endgame content at level 50, it's surprising how little direction there is for aspiring endgame raiders. Some would argue that so much hand-holding isn't needed, but given that SWTOR might be the first MMORPG for many players, I've decided to compile a handy guide for getting geared and prepared for endgame raiding.

One comment I would like to make before I get started is that endgame progression in Star Wars: The Old Republic is surprisingly accessible for even the most heavily time-constrained player. At some points, it does seem like BioWare has made it too easy to get the very best gear in the game, but my main point is this: even if you hate endgame raiding in other MMORPGs, I would highly advise you to try out SWTOR's 8-person operations at least once. Both Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace - in spite of all their bugs - are fun and it's worth the experience to try them out. Now let's get on with Part I of the guide!

Jumping into Star Wars: The Old Republic can be a daunting task for anyone who maybe isn't a seasoned MMO veteran. As well, with thousands of players making tutorial videos on Youtube, it can be hard to tell just who exactly to listen to. Well, BioWare has decided to make the decision easy, because you can just listen to them!

In what is the first of a new series of tutorial videos designed to help new players learn the basics, BioWare has released its Quick Start Guides. This first video, titled "Begin Your Journey," will take you through the process of jumping into the game for the first time. Social Media Coordinator Eric Musco breaks down the different choices of server types, while walking you through character creation and the opening conversations for all character classes. 

This new video is the first in their New Player Guide section and over the next few weeks, BioWare will be releasing additional guides on topics like navigation, user interface, and grouping with other players.