Nov 25, 2011

Posted by | 7 Comments

Force Fields: The Professor Takes a Look at the Jedi Knight

“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.” -Master Yoda, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

Hello all, the Professor is here and he has a brief overview for you of the class that you have all been waiting for: the Jedi Knight. I’ve been playing this class for a while now and I’ve seen what it can, and cannot do.

For those who have read my articles this one will not be much different, I’m going to go over the good, and the bad, of the Jedi Knight in Star Wars the Old Republic.

The Jedi Knights: guardians of peace, before the dark times; before the Empire.

Before I go any further, despite the flaws that I’ll be bringing up, I really did enjoy playing a Jedi Knight. There are actually more good things than there are bad.

Read More
Sep 15, 2011

Posted by | 48 Comments

Office Hours: The Perils Of Faction Imbalance

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Star Wars. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh enlighten us all with opinions on lore, design and more in this sometimes highly-opinionated piece. 

Greetings my Padawan learners! The Professor is here once again, and this time with a topic that I am empassioned about. But first, I have two disclaimers:

Disclaimer #1

What you are about to read is an opinion piece. It might even be considered controversial. It might even make some readers mad. The point is, I’m a critic. I do what I do and say what I say because criticism, in my eyes, is a better form of feedback than flattery.

I get a lot of flak from some viewers for always “attacking” BioWare. The truth is that there are plenty of things I wholly agree with BioWare on regarding The Old Republic. I, intentionally, focus on controversial hot topics and heated opinions because I feel the dissenting voice is an important thing.

Am I always correct? No. Do people disagree? Yes.

This is what I do though. I’ll never say, “This sucks because I say so.” I’ll always explain why I don’t like something. That, to me, is the essence of what being a critic is all about.

Disclaimer #2

This article is based on a series of forum posts that were made on SWTOR.com in a thread started by Aneu.

I have checked the information as well as I could, and have found it to be accurate. If this information is incorrect, I can only apologize. This article is, however, based on the numbers generated by parsing the Guild Headquarters information.

Read More
Aug 28, 2011

Posted by | 63 Comments

Ask A Jedi: Heart Attack Over Huttball!

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of Star Wars lore and history, in this sometimes highly-opinionated piece. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!

Editor’s Note: This is a special edition of Ask A Jedi, where there are no questions from readers. Only a lecture from the Professor!

No. The title isn’t joking; well okay it is, kind of. Yes, I am recovering from a mild heart attack that I suffered a few days ago. People wondered why I suddenly vanished from posting on forums when I did (only a period of about 8 hours when I was in the middle of discussion with people) and that is the answer – the Prof’s health is pretty bad right now.

I joke, because people already found out about my heart issue and everyone knows that I was pretty worked up about Huttball. The fact is, as a designer and a major lore-freak, Huttball bothers me. I don’t like it when lore is pushed aside for gameplay. Though, seriously I don’t think that had anything to do with my heart attack contrary to the sensationalism of this very article.

Read More
Aug 1, 2011

Posted by | 63 Comments

Ask A Jedi: Holy Kark, That Was Evil!

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of Star Wars lore and history, in this sometimes highly-opinionated piece. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!

This week, we’re taking a slight departure from the reader Q&A format, and instead focusing on a recent reveal that I just find too juicy to ignore. This is regarding the Esseles Flashpoint Developer Walkthrough, which was recently unveiled during San Diego Comic Con. Specifically, I am referring to the point where the party makes the choice to… “jettison” the engineers.

If we were formatting this similar to past Ask A Jedi columns, it would go something like this:

Dear Jedi,

How do you feel about the engineers getting spaced in The Esseles Flashpoint?


Dear StarWarsNut,

I am a bit shocked by the event in question.


Now, for the long version

For those of you who have not seen it, you can view it here:

In case you can’t view it, or don’t want to view it, allow me to give you the recap.

Read More
Jun 22, 2011

Posted by | 17 Comments

Ask A Jedi: Why Do People Think The Jedi Are Good? And That Gnost-Dural Guy

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of Star Wars lore and history, in this sometimes highly-opinionated piece. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!

Welcome to another edition of Ask A Jedi where we try answer your questions regarding lore and history within the Star Wars universe, of course with a focus on The Old Republic!

This week, reader Judas submitted the following question:

Dear Jedi,

How come people think that the Jedi are actually good? According to BioWare the Republic committed genocide against the Sith.

Thank you for the question Judas. This one is rather complicated, so it is going to take a little time to explain.

Read More