It was inevitable - Bioware Austion has confirmed studio layoffs as a part of their "restructuring plan" that was talked about in May. Along with, Rich Vogel, a Bioware former vice president and producer, has also departed the studios. This is noteworthy as he was one of the foremost producers on The Old Republic, and instrumental to the success it had. Bioware has released a press statement, which says some of their staff have been shipped to other projects at EA Sports Austin and Bioware Austion, but others have been let go, with "qualifying personnel [receiving] severance package and outplacement assistance."

If you had one of those free weekend trials that you never got a chance to dust off, now's a good chance - the game is free to play up until level 15, effective immediately. Any previous free trials, free time accounts, or weekend pass accounts are all valid for this, and if you like the game up to the cap, you can upgrade to a full account to begin subscribing. A full FAQ explaining everything is located here, if you have more questions. 

The Old Republic's server transfer goodies are going to be limited soon, as some previously transferrable servers are being locked out, no doubt in preparation for the inevitable server mergings coming soon. Other servers are still available to transfer, but the window is rapidly closing to capture some of the prizes that were offered to transferring players. 

Anyone who would like to transfer servers - or has already - is in for a treat, as Bioware has unveiled new reward set for players, including this cute little guy here, as well as twenty five Black Hole Commendations for purchasing gear. If you've transferred already, you get these, so now is a good time to check your inbox. 

We've been talking about it for weeks, and it's finally here - SWTOR's 1.3 "Allies" patch is live. Included in this major update come:

• A new group finder
• Legacy perks
• Adaptive gear
• Augment unlocks
• Ranked warzones
• ... and much more!

You can read more about update 1.3: Allies on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic developer blog!

So not only has Bioware finally showed off both the Legacy and new Character Perks, they're all ridiculously cool. The difference between Legacy perks and Character perks is that Legacy applies to everyone in your family tree, while Character applies to only the specific. There's a ton of them, too, rewarded all different ways. Rewards are doled out for class missions, space missions, warzones, exploration, and flashpoints, while perks come in travel, companion, and convenience. If you're excited, then make the jump. 

Lots of big changes detailed on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site, especially heavy modifications to Augmented Items. The gear was not quite what Bioware wanted, so they upped the variety of things you could tweak on Augment slots, the levels, required kits, and the like. And even if you don't understand Augmenting items, the blog post completely details everything Augmenting entails. If Flashpoint items are more your flavor, that's on the blog too. 

More Bioware Q+A! The most important answer is at the top, telling everyone how to get the highly sought-after HK-51 droid. The rest is all about generating threat, level cap raises, and the like. 

It might only be a nice perk, but it's a pretty nice one - character transfers for SWTOR are now live, giving you the chance to swap out if you feel like you don't belong. There's not a whole lot of restrictions, either - all you need is to be not banned and not a guildmaster. Guilds will not be transferred. The number of servers is limited, currently, but will expand as needed. For now, it's a service that Bioware rolled out to balance out server populations, so low-pop servers will probably on the receiving end only. There's a Character Transfer FAQ if you want to know more.

1.3's on the horizon, and to prepare for it, yet another extremely helpful community questions and answers. Some are new features coming with the patch, such as Group Finder and the augment kits, and some old features like the difference between missing and resisting an ability and Legacy Item drops.