Posted by Raz | 0 Comments

The Nerfherder’s Guide to the Galaxy: Dromund Kaas

 From the crystal-laden caverns of Ilum to the Jundland Wastes of Tatooine, this is your guide to discovering the distant worlds and locales of Star Wars:The Old Republic. Welcome to The Nerfherder’s Guide to the Galaxy! 

“Dromund Kaas is not our home, and in many ways we do not belong here. The Emperor led us here and we made it into something more than we found, but it is still a place of savagery ruled by beasts. We have retaken Korriban, but this remains our seat of power, to remind us of the cost of losing this war. Never forget what the Republic took from us, let that shame fuel your anger.”

- From the Teachings of Lord Kraius

Dromund Kaas, the dark heart of the Sith Empire, is a world of lush jungles dominated by vicious predators that are only slightly less dangerous than the Dark Lords that rule there. During the Golden Age of the ancient Sith Empire, Dromund Kaas was found, colonized, and then largely forgotten as its hyperspace coordinates were lost. Centuries later, following the Great Hyperspace War, an armada of Sith forces vanished into hyperspace to escape the onslaught of Republic forces.

The armada, led by the Sith who became the new Emperor, blindly leapt into hyperspace to avoid any possible contact with hostile vessels. Finally, guided by the Force, they rediscovered the Dromund system and settled on Dromund Kaas as their new capital world. Among the jungles and ruins of the ancient Sith, the Emperor inspired his followers to begin building a new Empire and to prepare for the day when they would reemerge and take their revenge upon the Republic.

One of their first efforts was the construction of the Citadel and Kaas City as testament to the power of the Sith Empire. The Emperor assembled his Dark Council from his most trusted and powerful Sith Lords and began building a strong military force, with a focus on a vast fleet that could reach out and conquer the galaxy in his name. Through dark rituals designed to extend his life, the Emperor transformed the planet’s ionosphere into a frenzied electrical storm that continues to rage centuries later. The entirety of Dromund Kaas is cast in perpetual darkness, illuminated only by the lights of Kaas city and the tempest of power above.

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Posted by Cormeister | 20 Comments

Ask A Jedi: Legacy System, Magenta Crystals, And Operatives

Stand aside Master Gnost-Dural! The Ask A Jedi crew is here to answer all of your burning questions about Star Wars: The Old Republic! Powered by R2-Db’s question and answer feature, we will answer the highest rated questions each and every week. So sit back, relax, and let us drop some knowledge on you, Ask A Jedi-style!

The most popular question over on R2-DB this week was posed by Ajamison. He asks, “Is there any more information on when the Legacy system will be fully implemented instead of just allowing a Legacy name and Legacy leveling which currently does nothing?”. Indeed, this week got us our first update from a developer about the upcoming plans for the Legacy system. James Ohlen (Game Director) gave an interview to Gamespot about the Legacy system and other game features. Very generally, here is Mr. Ohlen’s vision for the Legacy system:

We wanted to have a system that encouraged players to create alts and to play the game through the different story paths. So the legacy system is meant to do that.

More specifically, here are some details from the Gamespot interview about the Legacy system:

…and then you gain legacy experience points and legacy levels, and with legacy experience points and levels, that gives you–that allows you to unlock abilities, perks, a whole slew of different advantages, essentially, that all the members of your legacy tree will be able to enjoy.

[...]

…and it’s something we want to push towards players who enjoy the level-up game. It’ll also be beneficial to the end game, but it really is going to have a lot of abilities that make leveling up even more enjoyable and allow you to customize your leveling experience.

TOR has really made me an “alt-aholic” so the idea of more perks as you level more and more characters really appeals to me. Like a lot of people, I plan on making at least one character of each class and I suspect I will be utilizing the Legacy system perks rather extensively.

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Posted by Lady Republic | 3 Comments

Clandestine Maneuvers: Spy Game

(Thanks to special guest author Ehren for his contributions on the Imperial Agent impressions entry!)

By The Tailor of Coruscant

Introduction

”Bond, James Bond.” – England’s greatest secret agent introduces himself in Dr. No

Over the past several weeks I have been fortunate enough to engage in a wide variety of Beta testing. One of the most enjoyable play experiences came as an Imperial Agent. There is a compelling story, engaging and challenging gameplay mechanics and an opportunity for a variety of play styles should make this class one of the most attractive options in the game.

Curiously, in much of the early polling, Imperial Agent is among the lowest ranked in terms of raw numbers. Spend a moderate amount of time lurking on the Imperial Agent however, and you will find though the numbers are small, the core player base is devoted. They should be. Those looking to play Imperial Agent in the live game can perhaps take solace in the famous words of Shakespeare’s Henry V, when he called out to, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” I have always had a fondness for the underrepresented classes in role playing games (RPGs), and perhaps that contributes to my affection for this class.

What follows is a (mostly) spoiler free account of early game play for one of the true gem classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I think this game in general, and this class in particular, are best experienced without spoiling the story too much. That said, there is still plenty of good information to pass along without revealing too much that would take some of the magic away from this excellent story.

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Posted by Momus | 4 Comments

Friday Update: Imperial Agent Progression Video, and Two Chapters of Revan!

Imperial Agents, your wait is over! The Imperial Agent progression video has been released… makes a Republic loyalist pretty jealous!

After a cryptic Twitter message, you now have your orders! Carry them out!

Also included in this Friday’s exciting update, are Chapters Three and Eleven from author Drew Karpyshyn’s upcoming novel on the hero (or villain) of KOTOR, Revan!

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Posted by Cormeister | 3 Comments

Yellow Posts: Group Stealth, The NDA, International Update And More

Hello again fellow forum followers! The week began with Stephen Reid giving us a little more information on why SW:TOR is going to have a limited launch and debunking the international region locking rumor that has been going around. Here is an excerpt from the thread titled “For those outside North America and Europe“:

I realize many of you are hoping for a definitive ‘answer’ to the question of “Why are we limiting the initial launch for The Old Republic”. I’m afraid you already have your answer in the very first post of this thread. It was a decision made to ensure the highest quality of game service.

There have been other key questions, and we’ve tried to answer them for you. There are no plans to ‘region lock’ or ‘IP block’ players from the game. You may experience some latency issues if you’re not playing in a launch region. In addition, we’ll accept credit card payments for subscriptions. These seem to be the key questions for those who choose to potentially import the game, and hopefully we’ve answered those.

Next up, there is a new conductor…err…community manager in town! Specifically the new European Community Manager, Chris Collins. In his inagural post, Mr. Collins explains what his job actually entails (here is an excerpt):

As the European Community Manager, it’s my job to work closely with TonyMoreno and the rest of the EU community team, to ensure every last bit of feedback from the European community is understood and given to the right people here at BioWare. Being based at the BioWare Ireland office in Galway, I’ll be working directly with Stephen and the rest of the community team, but with the advantage of being closer to the centre of the action…

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