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Star Wars: The Old Republic Update 2.7 invading on April 8th
The invasion is coming! The invasion is coming! Break out your lightsabers and rev up your starfighter because Star Wars: The Old Republic is releasing Update 2.7: Invasion on Tuesday, April 8th. The title of Update 2.7 comes from two "invasion" flashpoints on Tython and Korriban, as well as the events in a new level 55 story arc. Players will be invading the Jedi and Sith home worlds while investigating mysteries in enemy territory. The update also contains some PvP action, including a new Quesh Huttball experience and the Denon Exosphere space battle. The excitement for 2.7 now comes in video form, so check it out.
SWTOR introduces update 2.7's brand-new Huttball pit
The Star Wars: The Old Republic site has today updated with a dev blog penned by Associate Designer Alex Modny, who outlines the new Huttball mode coming with update 2.7. The pit is located on Quesh and features more traps and a more vertical layout than the pit on Nar Shaddaa: Where the original Huttball Pit was setup in a rectangle with the end zones at each of the longer ends, the Quesh Pit is setup more as an upside down pyramid with the Huttball stand at the apex and the end zones at the base. [...] Toxic sludge pipes will rain down acidic pain upon anyone unlucky enough to get caught in the downpour. In addition to dealing damage, the toxic sludge also slows down its victims as the goo sticks to their booties! The new map also incorporates "magnetic grapple blaster tables," which allow players not carrying the Huttball to scale the structure and gain access to its second level.
Hyperspace Beacon: Star Wars: The Old Republic predictions for 2014
Knowing my luck, when I finish writing this, the marketing team for Star Wars: The Old Republic will release a huge announcement about 2014 that no one saw coming. And it wouldn't be hard for BioWare to release something unknown to the community at large because it's said next to zero about what we should expect for 2014. Normally, BioWare promotes the upcoming features to death. We knew about the Cathar coming at least a year before they actually hit the live servers. Players and fans (and enemies) of SWTOR have speculated wildly as to why the developers have remained silent on the subject, my favorite being that BioWare has run out of content to produce, which kind of reneges on the 10-year plan it touted before launch. Whether or not BioWare has new content in the works, we do know a few things that will be coming, and we also have some super-secret things we can speculate on thanks to some intrepid SWTOR fans. So let's talk about what we do know, what we don't know, and what we think will happen.
Hyperspace Beacon: Making a deal with the Hutts in SWTOR
Hutts. When you say that word to a layman, he probably thinks that you're talking about grass-topped houses, but if you say that word to the Star Wars fan, the image that springs to his mind is Jabba the Hutt. The giant green and yellow slug was mentioned all the way back in 1977 when Star Wars was first released. In fact, he was supposed to show up in that movie, but due to budget restraints, the special effects department couldn't mask over the late Declan Mulholland. The scene was later added back in for the special edition, but it really nullified the mystery of Jabba and made the Hutt appear to be more of a joke than the dangerous gangster that he should have been. Hutts. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Nem'ro is the central figure to both the Bounty Hunter and the Imperial Agent storylines for the first 10 levels. On the Republic side, you run into an overarching story on Nar Shaddaa involving Bareesh the Hutt and Republic Ambassador Averdon, one that pits you against warring criminal organizations. These gargantuan blobs are central to both the Republic and Imperial stories on Quesh and the endgame operation for Karagga's Palace. And now, the first SWTOR expansion will center around the Hutts and the planet of Makeb. Hutts. Where did they come from? How did they come to power? Are they different in TOR than they are in the movies? Let's take a moment to explore these criminal overlords.
Hyperspace Beacon: All SWTOR classes are useful in Huttball, part two
A few weeks ago, after many weeks of seeing new players in Star Wars: The Old Republic warzones, I thought it would be a good idea to post a little guide on the basics of winning Huttball. Interestingly, that article birthed a conversation about how some classes were better suited for the game, but more importantly, some players had given up on the warzone because they felt that their particular class didn't work in Huttball at all. Admittedly, certain classes do have more utilities that make them a better fit for the game, but I believe every class has its role in this particular arena. And more importantly, I believe that every class can have fun and feel useful. However, some players need a bit of training. Two weeks ago, I covered the Sith Warrior, Jedi Knight, Imperial Agent, and Smuggler classes. In this week's coverage, I'm going to take a look at two SWTOR classes that seems to be built for this game and two others that have more surprises than you might think: the Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Consular, Republic Trooper, and Bounty Hunter.
Hyperspace Beacon: All SWTOR classes are useful in Huttball, part 1
I'm excited about this week's topic. It's not often that I get to put Star Wars: The Old Republic's misconceptions to rest. As I said last week, my guild does recreational PvP, which is to say that we do it for the fun of it and not because we have to be the best of the best. This helps us enjoy the sport of it without having the pressure of maintaining a ranked-PvP score. Unfortunately, that also means we run into a lot of other players who don't know exactly what they are supposed to be doing in games like Huttball. Those same complaining players are also the ones who claim that their particular class is deficient in one way or another based on the PvP map. The biggest cringe in SWTOR comes from Huttball. Naysayers complain that one class or another does something different or better than they do. Today, I'm going to break down a couple of the classes to show you how each of them can be more effective. Let's dive in.
Hyperspace Beacon: How to smoke your opponents in SWTOR's Huttball
My guild does what I like to call "recreational PvP." Even though I guess all MMO PvP is technically recreational, we do it just for fun, not as some sort of competitive sport. For example, we love the PvP warzones in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I think we settled on Novare Coast as our favorite, but really it's hard to choose. But inevitably, at least one person will cringe in voice chat when we see that we are queued up for Huttball. I'll even do it, and I'm actually a huge fan of the zone. So why the Huttball hate? Even if half of the team is pre-made in random 16-man groups, it's difficult to coordinate, and in a game like Huttball where strategy is extremely important, a few uneducated players can break the team. I guess that's why I'm making this tiny guide: I'm tired of losing at Huttball. Perhaps if I pass out some tips on the game, the teams will at least be more evenly matched. After losing so many matches, I've picked up on some things that fool unprepared teams every time, and today I'm outlining them right here. Next time you're in a match, you can either use my tips yourself or not be fooled when another team employs these tricks.
SWTOR goes bug hunting with 1.0.2 and prognosticates PvP improvements
With the abundance of bugs and glitches in Star Wars: The Old Republic, fans are looking to James Ohlen's promise of weekly patches to shore up the faults. Yesterday we saw patch 1.0.2 go live with some -- but certainly not all -- of these fixes, as well as an increase in the PvP lockbox rewards and allowing players to emote while mounted. In addition to yesterday's patch, today BioWare plans to roll out an emergency fix to address a few important issues: players crashing to desktop at character select, a problem with the chat channels in which they would stop functioning for some people, and the now-infamous /getdown bug. PvP Lead Gabe Amatangelo also emerged from the BioWare fortress to chat about plans for the future of the game's PvP combat. According to Amatangelo, the team is working on level 50 brackets for warzones, vastly improving open world PvP on Ilum, a new same-faction vs. same-faction warzone, team vs. team queuing, ranked warzone matches, and more. He says that to date, over a million warzone matches have been played, with 39% of those matches played being Huttball and the Empire winning 53% of every match fought.
Hyperspace Beacon: Sensing the future
I like making predictions. When it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic, I've been spot on about several things, but I've missed the boat on some too. "Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side," Yoda warned the young Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith. It's a good thing I don't have anything to lose by guessing what I think will happen in the future for this game. In 2011, we saw TOR launch with astronomical numbers, and all you have to do is look at our front page to realize how much people have been talking about this game. Hopefully, the future of the game is just as bright. Thankfully, developers at BioWare have been very talkative about what's coming in the future. Let's combine what players have said with the plans developers have spoken about to predict the future of the game. After the break, I'll mix the news with my Force powers to see in the the future... the future... the future... echo... echo...
SWTOR's Daniel Erickson on pulling players' moral strings
BioWare's Daniel Erickson said that for the writing team, the crunch time came way ahead of everyone else since the script for the game had to be done first. As such, the team has had plenty of time to reflect on how the game's developed while it's moved on to future content. In speaking with GameSpy, the Star Wars: The Old Republic head writer opened up about the difficulties and fun of penning a game with so many personalities, choices, and plot twists. Probably the most revealing is how Erickson admits that the writers are trying to pull players in multiple directions through a series of moral influences: the game's own light and dark side system, players' own morality, companions' own likes and dislikes, and multiplayer dialogue. Ideally, he said, one of the goals of the writing team was to make quests that would challenge players' set paths to make them want to change. "It's interesting to watch all those dynamic forces affect the player, see how they interact with the storytelling method," he said. Erickson also says that the project got initial pushback over the notion of centering it on story, because of the past limitations of MMOs and "the expected norm" that had grown over the years: "It was clear, when you played the early MMOs, that they were trying to put as much as they could in for what was there. There were people on each one of these projects that clearly cared passionately about the lore, and were really trying to get it across to the players. So we knew that that was there and we knew from the single-player games what did it." The interview continues to cover a wide range of writing challenges, including coming up with the script for Huttball, quests that the team was sure would get cut by the ESRB, and how the team enjoyed coming up with intricate stories, connections, and romances for companion characters.
SWTOR: Warzones whack-a-mole
You cannot make a Star Wars game without some sort of galactic conflict. Subscribers to Star Wars: The Old Republic can play out this interplanetary war in appropriately named instances called warzones. Out of the box, BioWare's MMO includes three of these epic conflicts. The planetary government of Alderaan draws both major factions into its own internal conflict in the civil war warzone. Nar Shaddaa host the seediest death-games the galaxy has ever heard of. Huttball is the prime example of these deadly sports. And the technology of the Voidstar is up for grabs by either the Empire or the Republic, but the question is "who will get there first?" At level 10, you can begin your PvP adventure by queuing up for these battles solo or with a group of four. But as any war general will tell you, the more you know about the battle you're about to enter, the more likely it is that you will win. Past the break, you'll find a rundown of each warzone and a bit of strategic advice before you jump into battle.
Hyperspace Beacon: PvP with Taugrim
Many of you reading this have asked about PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic. And while I may know game mechanics and have a good understanding of how PvP works, I am by no means an expert at that style of gameplay. Lucky for you (and me), I work with one of the best PvPers at Gamebreaker. On top of that, he's been playing TOR beta for a couple of weeks now and already has some incredible insight into the game's PvP scene. Let me introduce to you Ed Park aka Taugrim. Ed joined the Gamebreaker team as an expert on Trion's RIFT, and he has been doing video guides for PvP for about seven years. Ed has a habit of proving people wrong in his videos, which is one of the main reasons I like turning to him for PvP advice. He told me about the melee cleric in RIFT and how many people said the playstyle wasn't viable in PvP. Consequently, he released videos showing (with incredible commentary, I might add) how he successfully plays that class in PvP. But we didn't come here to talk about RIFT -- we came to talk about SWTOR. After the break, catch my interview with Taugrim in bite-sized chunks. Enjoy!
The Old Republic playable at New York Comic Con
Mark October 13th through the 16th on your calendars, Star Wars: The Old Republic faithful, especially if you'll be anywhere in the vicinity of New York City. BioWare's Hutt-sized Star Wars MMO will be hogging the spotlight at this year's New York Comic Con, and you'll have a couple of opportunities to get some hands-on time with the highly anticipated sci-fi title. The Alderaan and Huttball warzones will be playable at SWTOR's booth, while a few of the developers will be featured on three separate panels over the course of the event. If you like a little alcohol with your Star Wars, you'll also want to make note of a dev-hosted meet-and-greet at District 36 on Wednesday, October 12th. All the details are available at the official site, so what are you waiting for?
Hyperspace Beacon: Monday night Huttball! [Updated]
If memory serves me, the first MMO that integrated an actual sport into its game design was Free Realms. Although soccer was not implemented at launch, players could not miss the soccer fields, and eventually, the developers did put those fields to good use. I certainly don't believe the Star Wars: The Old Republic developers had Free Realms in mind when they created the newly announced Warzone Huttball, but that does not negate the fact that most MMOs do not have sports that are just sports. I'm not sure this is because developers take the setting too seriously and therefore don't think outside the box in regard to side adventures players can have, but you will be hard-pressed to see many other MMOs introduce a sporty game into their core. Needless to say, Huttball excites me even more about SWTOR, and I've even considered creating a character just to play Huttball. Beyond the jump, I breakdown the rules of Huttball and speculate on the further possibilities of the game. Join me.
The Daily Grind: What was the juiciest reveal at Gamescom?
Every summer, the Massively staff spends time lurching from con to con in a drunken haze of MMO reveals. And every summer, we mull over those reveals, mentally ranking each one for quality, practicality, guts, and comic-relief. Gamescom has provided another such opportunity. WildStar? 2007 called; it wants Tabula Rasa back. The Secret World in April? Ambitious. Otherland? About time. Huttball? Wait. Really? Huttball? Then again, we'll play just about anything. So you tell us: What would you deem the best reveal of Gamescom? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Old Republic gets a somewhat lighthearted 'Huttball' Warzone
If you ever feel like taking a break from cutting through folks with laserswords, Star Wars: The Old Republic will include a somewhat wackier game mode that should suit your needs. It's called "Huttball" -- a neutral Player vs. Player Warzone which is likely the closest thing the MMO will have to an official sport. Unless, of course, they invent ligthsaber baseball, which seems unlikely for several obvious reasons. The game tasks two teams with securing a neutral ball and running it into the opposing teams endzone. Just like football! Only with more Force-choking. Check out the trailer above to get a taste of space sports.
SWTOR presents the next great galactic sport: Huttball
Forget your regular PvP, in which the objective is to take down the other faction base or capture the flag. Star Wars: The Old Republic introduces us to a new way to face off against your enemies. Of course, we're talking about Huttball. Massively introduced you to this Nar Shaddaa sport earlier this week, but in this latest video, Director of Production Dallas Dickinson explains the rules and story behind this PvP arena. The highly lethal sport consists of two teams that each attempt to grab the ball from the middle of the Pit and cross that ball over the other team's goal line. It sounds a bit like soccer, but in this game of soccer, lethal force is encouraged. In fact, the Czerka Corporation has provided fire jets and acid pits just to make the game that much more dangerous. Beyond the break we've provided the full video introduction to this next sport sensation!
Gamescom 2011: SWTOR wins Best Online Game and introduces Huttball
The excitement revolving around Star Wars: The Old Republic at Gamescom 2011 apparently cannot be contained. Even those voting for the best-in-show cannot help but recognize BioWare's MMO for its achievements. Although Electronic Arts' single-player title Battlefield 3 won the top slot, The Old Republic was voted Best Online Game. Indeed, this game is powerful as analysts have foreseen. In addition to taking home the Best Online Game title, the EA booth introduced a new PvP arena that features something different from the typical faction vs. faction combat. In the new Warzone, called Huttball, players of opposing teams attempt to grab the center ball and score points by crossing over their opponents' goal line. And it just wouldn't be Nar Shaddaa without a little bloodshed, right? Instead of just trying to recapture the ball from the opposite team, you are welcomed -- nay, encouraged -- to strike your enemy down with all your hatred! If that enemy happens to be of the same faction, he's fair game in Huttball. Remember, what happens in Nar Shaddaa stays in Nar Shaddaa. Darth Hater nabbed some footage of Huttball in action. If you speak German or absolutely have to catch the latest TOR visuals, force leap past the break for the footage.
