Star Wars: The Old Republic pre-loading now; early access begins Dec. 13

Registered pre-order customers of Star Wars: The Old Republic now have the ability to pre-load the game in preparation for the Early Game Access event beginning December 13.

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With Star Wars: The Old Republic is less than twenty days from launch, developer BioWare has decided to allow pre-order customers to pre-load the game now. "To ensure that players can get into the game as quickly as possible when their Early Game Access begins, we are now allowing everyone who has redeemed a Pre-Order Code at our Code Redemption Center to pre-load the game to their computer," the developer announced.

According to an official post on the game's blog, Star Wars: The Old Republic will begin rolling early access to the game for users beginning December 13.

"Invitations will be sent throughout the Early Game Access period offering rolling access to the game in the order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code, so be sure to check your email inbox," the blog revealed.

Old Republic players must redeem pre-order codes via BioWare's Code Redemption Center in order to pre-load the game; however, the blog clarifies: "Pre-Ordering the game only allows you access to the Early Game Access period and your Color Crystal." The pre-load does not grant access to the game following release, players must redeem the official game product registration code after launch to continue uninterrupted.

According to the blog, "Early Game Access may be up to 7 days," which is slightly longer than BioWare originally announced. "The length of your Early Game Access depends on the date and order in which you redeemed your Pre-Order Code," the post added.

For more details, including a detailed breakdown of how to transition from the current beta into the final Early Access, check the official Old Republic blog.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 7, 2011 4:25 PM

    Xav de Matos posted a new article, Star Wars: The Old Republic pre-loading now; early access begins Dec. 13.

    Registered pre-order customers of Star Wars: The Old Republic now have the ability to pre-load the game in preparation for the Early Game Access event beginning December 13.

    • reply
      December 7, 2011 8:05 PM

      Im excited pre loading now good thing I kept the beta so Im just updating instead of downloading the full game.

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        December 7, 2011 9:24 PM

        good to know! so glad i listened to that email telling me to delete the beta install before preloading :/

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          December 8, 2011 6:30 AM

          Depending when you were in the beta that was a good thing. Only if you were in the last testing weekend can you just update your client.

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        December 7, 2011 11:46 PM

        Yep, I'm good to go. Just waiting on my email.

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        December 8, 2011 6:35 AM

        I uninstalled and redownloaded last night - I hadn't planned to but as I had enough time and it would let me clean up the beta install I figured why not?

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        December 8, 2011 6:36 AM

        I ended up uninstalling and just downloading a fresh copy. My directory from the beta was almost 36GB total and with a fresh install its down to 18.5GB so you might want to do a clean install if you need the space.

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          December 8, 2011 9:55 AM

          I thought my folder was corrupted or something because mine was also about that size. I swear I had to download the same file multiple times.

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      December 8, 2011 10:16 AM

      I wiped my beta client and re-downloaded just to be safe. There's plenty of time, I recommend other beta testers do the same.

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      December 8, 2011 12:10 PM

      Only took me 1hrs 45min to download the 18.4 GB. I was getting about 4.9 down speeds. Now I hope I get in on the first day.

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