Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

  • The Front Line: Improving PVP Communication

    Welcome to The Front Line, a new column dedicated to helping you improve your PVP experience, both as a member of a team and as a leader of one. This week’s inaugural column will focus on how effective communication will improve your team’s chances of winning.

    There is no in-game tutorial for communication, and it’s not something that everyone learned as they leveled their character to 50. Communication is a skill developed through practice, observation and emulation of other players and teams. Communication presents a unique challenge in every Warzone, because in order to react to an impending enemy attack your team first needs to be made aware of it. Regardless of whether it is typed in Ops chat or spoken via a third-party voice client, effective communication is an invaluable asset for anyone delving into PVP. Not only will it help your chances of winning and snag you MVP votes but long-term, you may eventually become recognized on your server as a valuable combat asset, a fact that will play to your advantage when Ranked Warzones finally hit servers.

    Read on for analysis of common communication problems and some helpful tips on solving them. If any of the article’s PVP-specific terms are unclear, make sure to check out the glossary provided at the end of the article for clarification.

  • Guide: Loot Systems

    Imagine this familiar scene: An oversized carcass lays strewn across the snow, a purple light emanating gently from its corpse. A group of players run hurriedly over, frantically clicking before bothering to resurrect fallen comrades or paying any mind to that strange puddle of goo beneath their feet. A chorus of elation and vulgarity-laced groans can be heard throughout Ventrilo and the chat log floods with “brb bio.” What happens next is the reason many players engage in endgame PVE in the first place. You rub your eyes, carefully open your bags and sure enough, find that singular piece of loot that has eluded you for oh-so-long.

    At some point in his or her MMO career, every player has experienced this moment of euphoria. At this same junction between effort and payoff however exists a lurking, fragile thing that can otherwise ruin the experience for nearly the entire group: loot distribution politics. A majority of the angst and disagreements often found within a guild, or even a pick-up group, is caused by perceived discrepancies regarding loot distribution. MMO players as a rule have very little to no tolerance for the mismanagement of loot assignments, so how can you be certain to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with raid looting? The answer is simple: you need a system.

    Read on below the jump for highlights and explanations of a number of commonly used MMO loot systems, one of which might just be right for you.

  • Watercooler: New Playable Species

    In the April 27th Community Q&A, Daniel Erickson dropped this interesting tidbit:

    JimG
    Is there any sort of ETA on adding completely new playable species into the game such as Togruta, Mon Calamari, Nautolan, etc.?
    Daniel EricksonCan’t comment on what species you might see, but you can expect the roster of playable species to expand… this year.

    A dearth of playable species options is one of the criticisms often leveled by fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic, stretching as far back as the beta phases of the game. Most pronounced amongst Republic players, much of the negativity focuses on race selections being limited to “green human, red human, tattooed human, blindfolded human” and the like. For those of you bored to tears by the current lack of biodiversity however, there may be some hope on the horizon, and within the next six months. To get a feel for what to expect, we ambushed various members of the DarthHater staff while attempting to take coffee breaks and posed the question: "Which playable species would you like to see next, and do you think they're coming?" For the most complete watercooler dissection of this topic you're likely to find, read on past the jump, and then get involved in the comments section at the bottom of the post!

  • Patch 1.2 Concealment Operative Analysis

    As most long time Operatives know, the 1.1.1 patch was quite the mixed bag. Our bread and butter ability, Hidden Strike, was significantly nerfed reducing damage output by 20%. It also reduced however the amount of the enemy’s Resolve Bar that was filled by Jarring Strike, and Acid Blade got a buff. Now that the 1.2 test server patch notes are out, let’s take a look at how it will affect the PvP Concealment Operative.

  • Combat Mechanics: It Really Isn't Commandos' and Sorcerers' Fault

    In most modern MMORPGs, it is the dedicated PvP population that usually identifies most glaring class imbalances, and The Old Republic is no exception. What sets Star Wars: The Old Republic apart is that the imbalances that our friendly neighborhood PvPers have shone a spotlight on are structural problems that apply to every facet of the combat system, not just a few specific abilities. Join me after the jump as we cover the basics of TOR’s combat system and discuss how that combat system presently gives certain classes an advantage.

  • Future Warzone Gametype Possibilities

    Over the years through innovation, game developers gave us a plethora of fun and unique gametypes. A few even stood the test of time to become mainstays in the industry in not only first person shooter games but also transcended genres. Though Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a young game compared to other massively multiplayer games, Gabe Amatangelo and the developers at BioWare promise that more is to come in the realm of Warzones. With that being the case, I decided it is as good a time as any to look back at past gametypes in the hope that future content might employ the best of them.

  • Companions: The Good, The Bad and The Broken

    When BioWare first introduced fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic to the idea of companions, it was a shock to many. "Why would I bother grouping if I already have a helper?" some asked. "Won't this trivialize solo content and make group content mind numbingly boring?" others wondered. "Now idiots will have even more reason to be loot ninjas," even more exclaimed. The truth is that the companion system, despite all its flaws, brings so many benefits to the table that I truly don't think the game would be anything close to what it is now without them. That doesn't mean everything is perfect on the minion front, however.

  • Ilum went from boring to bad

    Many good changes went into patch 1.1, Rise of the Rakghouls. The patch added a new flashpoint, implemented anti-aliasing, and expanded Karagga’s Palace to a full-size Operation. However, as the title of this article implies, Ilum is still a hell of a mess.

  • Faction Conflict in The Old Republic

    On the outside, Star Wars: The Old Republic may seem like a traditional good versus evil conflict between the Republic and the Empire. But much like an office environment, there are many more factions, relationships, traditions and passive-aggressive memos involved in the grand scheme of things. Let’s take a look at some of the potential conflicts one may find during the Old Republic era.

  • Lasting Decisions in an Everlasting World

    When BioWare first announced Star Wars: The Old Republic, they released a video explaining the collaboration between LucasArts and BioWare as well as some of the key features of the game. One of these features was the lack of a save button. Traditionally in BioWare games, players could see the result of their choices in-game and then load up a prior save to see what happens when they make a different choice. However, in Star Wars: The Old Republic, there is no save button; the decisions you make are the decisions you live with. As more information about the game comes to the surface, the key feature of making decisions that last seems to have fallen by the wayside.

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