dromund-kaas
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Massively does Geek Week: Take a scenic tour of SWTOR
As MMO players, we know all about being geeks; we're the geekiest video gamers around! Join in the fun today as we celebrate Google's Geek Week with a series of MMO-flavored videos to introduce fellow geeks to our favorite games: Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, The Secret World, and more! Despite its struggles since launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic retains a mighty playerbase. In fact, its subscription numbers easily place it in the top five MMOs! No doubt many players stick with the game because of its incredible and iconic vistas and locations. So why not live vicariously through our SWTOR columnist and virtually visit some of those destinations in a humorous flythrough recorded especially for Geek Week? Visit the haunted halls of the Sith Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas, tour the ruins of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and explore the war-torn wastes of Ilum. But whatever you do, don't mention what happens on the Bounty Hunter's D5-Mantis starship. We're still trying to block that from our minds.
Hyperspace Beacon: More beacons
Hyperspace beacons guide a space traveler safely to places in the known galaxy. As Han Solo curtly explained to Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars movie, "traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations, we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?" Hyperspace beacons were used to communicate the navigational computer on starships so that trips weren't ended "real quick." Now, Han Solo's Millennium Falcon didn't use the beacons, but ships around the time of Star Wars: The Old Republic did, hence this column's eponym. Last week, we took a trip across the Star Wars galaxy discussing the different planets in the Core Worlds and the Outer Rim. Most of those planets should be partially familiar to you because of the Star Wars movies. However, today's territories may be a bit less familiar to those who have not played other Star Wars games or read Star Wars books. After the break, I will take you on a tour of these worlds, but if you have any questions, I invite you to post them in the comments at the end of the article. In the words of Admiral Ackbar, "All craft, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark." Three... two... one... mark!
Hyperspace Beacon: Timeline
When I started the Holocron Files last week, it slipped my mind that I have been doing this column for a year and a half and that not everyone has been following every issue. When I wrote about the Pureblood Sith, it was really meant to be a refresher course, not a comprehensive chronicle. It's extremely difficult to capture the full history of a species in about a thousand words. That being said, I understand that not everyone has a perspective on the Star Wars timeline, especially the time leading up to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I don't think it's any secret that BioWare stories are extremely deep, and Lead Writer Daniel Erickson has a nerdgasm every time someone interviews him about Star Wars history. The established history leading up to TOR will play a major role in the story that unfolds in the game, otherwise the development team would not have had the wherewithal to create the timeline videos for the website. Following the break, I would like to set you up for future, more comprehensive articles about the Star Wars lore. Although this column is certainly not exclusively about lore, when I bring up another Holocron File, I want reader to have a decent understanding of when these events fall in Star Wars history. So rev up your time machine to 88 miles per hour! This Hyperspace Beacon is about to go back in time -- way back!
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR's hidden messages
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future," were Yoda's words from The Empire Strikes Back, but contrary to the Jedi Master's belief, most of the time there are clues to what our future holds. Like the smell right before a rain storm, or little ticks of involuntary action that give away when someone is bluffing in poker, or that face your mother used to give you which said you were in trouble, clues to what the future holds are everywhere. Star Wars: The Old Republic is no exception. Clues to what the game holds are hidden all over its website. Alyssa Gobelle is the web designer for SWTOR. She has done a beautiful job of constructing a site that is entertaining as well as interesting to look at. Although the busy lettering, Aurebesh, entices the eyes, it also gives away secrets to the game. In April, Gobelle was interviewed by the Holonet Project fan site, where she revealed that the messages are totally intentional: "When they first brought me on, our first major task was to design the HoloNet. We wanted the HoloNet's voice to be as much 'within the lore of the game' as possible so we planned to add some generic Aurebesh to start. But we also wanted to add some hidden teases and notes for you guys to devour and ponder upon and play with. Give some more fuel to the speculation festivities." Continue after the break to find out what some of these "hidden teases" are. Perhaps you can help me figure out what the rest of them mean.
Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals Dromund Kaas, seat of imperial power
It's another Friday, and the recent pattern has shown, Star Wars: The Old Republic has posted a new update on the official site. As we've heard a full reveal of all the playable classes, the site has been focusing more on backstory and locations of late. And we see an important location indeed -- the heart of the Sith Empire that has been obliterating much of the eponymous republic's power base. Dromund Kaas, a jungle planet, was discovered by the Sith quite some time ago, but the location was lost and the planet forgotten in the recesses of history. That is, until the Sith suffered a horrendous defeat some thousand years back, at which point the remnants of the fleet happened upon the forested world. They spent generations building their force back up, which included turning the atmosphere into a nonstop electrical storm (how that helps with launching an attack on a larger entrenched military is somewhat questionable, but let's not sweat the details). Even with the Sith powerbase expanding, Dromund Kaas remains the center of intrigue, politics, and all that goes along with the above. No doubt there are a large number of future Star Wars: The Old Republic players already thinking about what adventures might take place on the planet's surface, so take a look at the official update, which includes further screenshots, concept art, and a video flythrough of the planet.
