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Sith Inquisitor: You Are in Command Now

Unlimited Power

“If I were to die, all the knowledge you seek about the true nature of the Force will be lost with me. Learn the power of the Dark Side!” –Darth Sidious, Star Wars III:  Revenge of the Sith

The Sith Inquisitor is a careful and calculating strategist, priding his or herself on manipulating others and gaining power in the Force. This is the class who can channel that most dangerous and deadly of all Force abilities, Force Lightning. Pure, dark energies dance from their fingers, lashing out to destroy any who oppose them or stand in their way.

Coupling their mastery of force lightning with the deadly finesse of a lightsaber, Inquisitors can heal their allies, cause great harm to their adversaries, and even shield companions from the worst attacks of their enemies with great skill, quick and deadly movements, and the supreme mastery of shadows and the dark energy of the Force.

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Council Chambers: Last Call for Guild Deployment

Council Chambers is all about the ins and outs of guild leadership in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Each week, we’ll look at running and managing a guild through good times, bad times and everything in between.  

A couple weeks ago, we talked about the Pre-Launch Guild Program that Star Wars: The Old Republic offered its members and some tips about how to make the most of recruiting with this forums-based system. Early access is now only a little over two weeks away, and the Pre-Launch Guild Program is drawing to a close. That means you have only days to ensure your guild meets the requirements for server placement!

First things first: the LAST day to have your guild ready for deployment in the pre-launch program is Friday, December 2, 11:59pm CST. Guilds who do not meet eligibility requirements by this date will not be eligible for placement under the pre-launch program.

That does not mean you cannot form a guild at launch or have significant long-term impacts for those guilds who do not meet the criteria; all it means is that your guild will not be assigned a server in advance or be created for you by the system at launch.

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The Smuggler’s Blues: Sneak Preview, 5 Credits Only

Introduction

“Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen *anything* to make me believe that there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything. ‘Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny.” –Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to get some hands-on time playing the Smuggler class in The Old Republic beta test, and I wanted to share some of my experiences with other readers. First, I’m going to try and keep this relatively spoiler-free as far as story and quests go – I’ll cover some general impressions, but I also don’t want to give away unexpected plot hooks.

Now that being said, I think the Smuggler leveling experience does a fantastic job – and, in fact, having played a few classes I’d argue potentially the best – at really capturing that original Star Wars feel to it. If you’re a fan of the movies, you’ll immediately recognize some iconic Han scenes as you play your Smuggler. I think the first one appears around your third quest or so – there I was, just getting the feel of my new Smuggler character and beginning the quests and then bam! There’s my Smuggler, acting in a way that was almost clip for clip from the original Star Wars: A New Hope movie.

Now for me, I loved it – after all, my decision to play a Smuggler was so I could channel a Han-type Scoundrel, and so I really enjoyed the nostalgia from being not only able to recognize certain iconic movie moments, but to actually experience my character acting them out.

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Council Chambers: Making The Most Of Allies And Adversaries

Council Chambers is all about the ins and outs of guild leadership in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Each week, we’ll look at running and managing a guild through good times, bad times and everything in between.  

This week’s entry focuses on a unique aspect of TOR, the Allies and Adversary system.  This system allows a guild leader to connect with up to three other guilds through the TOR guild window, and will ideally place all of these guilds together on the same server at launch.  In order to be an ally or adversary of another guild, you all need to be requesting the same type of server (PvE, PvP, RP-PvE) and also the same time zone (EU, US East, US West).  For most guilds, if they used this feature at all, it’s been as a way to connect with friends from other games or other well-known guilds in the community.  But it turns out, there may be a lot more to the Allies and Adversaries system than just connecting with some friends to land on the same server.

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Council Chambers: Fostering Interest In Your Guild Pre-Launch

Council Chambers is all about the ins and outs of guild leadership in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Each week, we’ll look at running and managing a guild through good times, bad times and everything in between.  

Within the last week, the developers at Star Wars: The Old Republic pushed out the third, and final, phase of the pre-launch guild deployment system.  In this third and final phase, the system checks to make sure your guild has at least four members who have pre-ordered the game in order to create your guild for you when the game goes live.  With a little over a month now between phase 3 and launch, one of the biggest questions for many guilds out there will be how to not only recruit folks and secure their pre-launch spots, but also how to retain them.

Last week, we talked about advertising a guild through the Star Wars guild forums and how to begin building membership for your new SW:TOR guild.  This week, we’re going to talk about the other half of the recruitment effort – holding and maintaining interest.  No matter how great of a recruiting drive you make, if you don’t find ways to keep players engaged and interested – they don’t stick around, which leads to even more time being spent on recruiting.  So while it’s very important to recruit new members, it’s also key to make sure the ones you’ve already recruited feel like a part of the group.

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