Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

Fan Site Summit: Gabe Amatangelo Q&A (Audio)

One of the biggest highlights of the Fan Site Summit for me personally was getting to watch Lead End-game Designer Gabe Amatangelo present some things that his team is working on. Being an MMO, many players are waiting for concrete information on both the PvE and PvP end-game, and Gabe delivered some of that that with details on how the world PvP works on the planet Ilum.

But he didn’t stop there. He fielded many questions from all of the fan site representatives – never an easy task – and provided everyone with a glimpse into the future! And to that point, I will say there that this isn’t his complete presentation… some of what Gabe said is under embargo for a period of time. But the Q&A that is here is most worthy of a listen if you are a member of the TOR faithful, as I know you all are. Enjoy!

 

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Posted by Momus | 5 Comments

Friday Update: Voidstar Video and Warzone Page!

For people who are PVP focused, here’s your Friday update!

First up, we have the Voidstar video, the third warzone for players to fight over.

The Voidstar is a derelict Imperial Battle Cruiser that disappeared during the Great War. The ship is believed to contain the schematics to a powerful weapon. Now that it’s been rediscovered floating in the depths of space, both the Empire and the Republic are racing to take control of the vessel and access the secrets stored in its memory banks.

 

Second up is the Warzones systems page! There’s a nice blurb on each possible warzone, with videos of each. There are short descriptions of each and how they function, as well.

Voidstar is an assault-style Warzone in which one side attempts to fight its way to access the ship’s data core, while the other side defends the ship and attempts to prevent the other side from reaching the data core. The battle takes places across multiple sections of the ship, through blast doors and across elevated bridge spans where taking a fall is almost always lethal. The attackers battle their way through each section, drawing ever closer to the ship’s data core, while the defenders seek to halt the attackers’ progress at various control points.

 

The match is broken up into multiple rounds. After the completion of each round, the teams switch sides between being the attackers and the defenders. The winner is determined by whichever side reaches the data core the fastest. In the case that the defenders win both rounds, the winner is determined by whichever side came closest to achieving the objective.

 

Enjoy!

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Posted by Lethality | 15 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Which Class Do You REALLY Want To Kill??

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Back in the early days World of Warcraft (before Battlegrounds, of course,) there were classic battles fought between the towns of Southshore and Tarren Mill. During this time (and always) I played a Rogue. There was nothing more enjoyable to me than sneaking behind Horde lines, right into the thick of things, and unleashing a surprise attack that usually killed one player, and always caused complete chaos which allowed my Alliance brethren a window of opportunity to advance. Sure, I was dead within seconds. But it was fun!

During those battles, there was a certain Orc Hunter named Grumbel that always showed up. Somehow, one way or another, it always seemed to be him that was able to flesh me out, kite me around, and kill me. He became my nemesis. And ever since that time, whenever I entered a PvP battle, I always sought out Hunters first. It was an extra bonus if they also happened to be Orcs.

We thought we’d have a little fun this morning and simply ask – which class in TOR do you think you’ll hate the most, and can’t wait to lay down the hurt in some PvP? Come on… you know you have one!

 

 

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Posted by Lethality | 4 Comments

Why TOR Needs Huttball

No matter you you slice it, Huttball has gotten a lot of attention. When BioWare announced it during gamescom in August, many didn’t know what to make of it at first.

Initially, most players were stunned. The Jedi and Sith are playing a GAME together? How can that be? Our own Professor even weighed in on the topic.

Then we heard from the man with the abs, Writing Director Daniel Erickson, that he had been asked to specifically craft a story around the game to allow same-faction players to compete against each other.

Slowly, once players started to get their hands on Huttball at various conventions, it’s clear it was a hit and quite fun to play, despite the canonical bastardization. I personally played through 2 or 3 matches during PAX last month, and it was a blast!

The guys over at TORWars have their own take. TOR Warrior Marshal Carr gives his thoughts on why TOR needs Huttball. Here’s an excerpt:

Now that I’ve ranted a little about PvP, and my love of CoD, I’m going to attempt to make a point. TOR needs Huttball, just as much as Americans need football. Life is stressful. There’s work stress, family stresses, and the ever-crushing weight of being a “success” to deal with everyday. When I sit down to watch a football game, I can forget about my everyday stresses and focus my energy (and money) on a game that is just plain fun to watch.

And as usual, the article is chock full of Star Wars related pictures the likes of only TORWars seems to be able to dig up! So head over and check out the whole piece!

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Posted by Lord Paladin | 8 Comments

Breakdown: PvP Rewards In The Old Republic

Breakdown is designed to to fill that stressful void while SWTOR.com is down for maintenance. Each Wednesday morning, we’ll look at a topic and try to break it down based on what we know, and what we can expect. In the end, we hope to educate, entertain, and prevent you from having your own Breakdown!

If you follow the official SW:TOR forums at all, you’ll see more than a few threads repeating themselves trying to clarify some of the basic features of SW:TOR. Here in Breakdown, we’ll try to present all the currently known facts about how the game works in an easy to read format. Hopefully, we can clear up a few misconceptions, and answer a few questions; maybe we’ll even fill you in on something you didn’t know.

For the first edition of Breakdown, we thought we’d cover the topic of PvP rewards. Without further adieu, let’s get started! There are a few different types of PvP rewards that we’ll cover: Open World PvP, Instanced PvP, and Valor.

First off, let’s start with defining what we know:

Commendations: The PvP token/badge used to buy PvP rewards.
Valor: PvP experience points.
Valor Rank: PvP level (the higher the level, the more experienced in PvP).

Instanced PvP: Grant Warzone Commendations and Valor.

• Alderaan – Republic vs Empire
• Huttball – Republic vs Empire, Empire vs Empire, or Republic vs Republic
• Voidstar – Republic vs Empire

Open World PvP: Grant Mercenary Commendations and Valor.

• Ilum – Republic vs. Empire (2 bases where factions fight for control).
• Other Planet PvP/Open World PvP not yet announced – Republic vs Empire.

And of course, you can defeat enemy faction players in the open world on PvP servers. This would net only Valor, as Commendations are for objective based goals.

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