Welcome back to yet another installment of the Darth Hater PvP column, where we’ll collect and update the news that matters to the PvP community. This thread will be updated periodically as necessary throughout the week, so you can refer back to it for new information. If you have any tips on current content that should be featured, or if you think your video or guild should be featured in a future column, send them to me via PM.
In this week's PvP column we'll be taking a look at a great guide for gearing a character; we'll also have a look at a call for change on PvP servers, as well as some tips for balance. For these stories, a community PvP spotlight, and more, hit the jump.
News
Open World PvP Returning to Ilum
As mentioned earlier this week, Game Update 1.7: "Return of the Gree" will be going live soon, and with it comes a revamp of open-world PvP on Ilum's Western Ice Shelf.
Explore the Planet Ilum to unveil a new Event, Relics of the Gree! A mysterious ancient Gree starship called “the Gray Secant” has appeared over Ilum’s Western Ice Shelf.
This will be a big deal to many players who have been wanting to see open world PvP have more of an impact on the game at large. We'll have to wait and see how it goes, of course, and we'll keep you updated on any information that comes our way.
Community Spotlight
Over on the official forums, Keyran-Halcyon made a great post on the subject of gearing out a new or lowbie character for higher level, end-game PvP. Head over to their post and have a look.
A great discussion kicked off on the subject of how open world PvP is affected by things like companions, as well as the apparent absence of a reward for killing a player in an open-world setting. User ilifus on the official forums made this thread, so head on over and weigh in with your opinion.
In a recent thread, MikeTheDuke made a post requesting basic tips and tricks for being successful at PvP. If you consider yourself an aficionado on all things related to obliterating your opponent, why not swing by and give them some advice?
Op-Ed: When Enough is Enough
If your PvP experience has been anything like mine, you could certainly call it a mixed bag. More often than not, however, you'll usually encounter an individual who takes it upon themselves to attempt to lead the group, and they will tend to do this in a few different ways. Some will kindly offer to provide a strategy, or simply suggest that players take a certain approach to securing the objectives of the particular map. Others are far more brusque, and assume control of what's going on; or they attempt to at least, with a varying degree of bossiness and attitude. There are occasionally those that fall in between, but most can be placed into those two categories. The real question I've always had, and perhaps some of you can relate, is how effective each, and are certain approaches warranted based on the team's performance? Let's break it down a bit.
Personally, I've inherited some very bad matches via the queue, coming in to a battle that is all but lost. And, invariably, there is one seriously angry dude. Barking about how "if the team had just listened", or how everyone else lacks ability. But sometimes, this approach seems to be highly effective. Whether they're trying to prove the person wrong, make them eat their words, or simply ignoring him and attempting to win, the particularly wrathful individual seems to perform what he sees as his job very well; is this, however, a justification of his attitude? Many players can be offended by the tone of such a "bossy" individual, and can be completely turned off of performing at all, since they've been taken so far out of their comfort zone by someone who is so apparently angry.
Looking at the other side of the coin, you'll have players that attempt to give out information by using a much more gentle demeanor, and merely offer information. The problem with this approach is that they are often less vocal, and as a result are not noticed nearly as much as their more rage-filled counterpart. So, which is more effective? It's hard to say really, since there could arguably be evidence presented for each side of this case. In my personal opinion, I don't take personal offense to much of what goes on in a heated situation like that. Unless they cross a personal and very specific line, I won't judge a person by what they say or do given such a stressful environment. That being said, I also think that more people could stand to take a step back from the keyboard, take a deep breath, and remember why they play a game, whatever that personal reason may be. Of course, there will always be those that simply enjoy raining on everyone's fun time, but honestly I've not encountered too much of that in my time playing the game. So the next time that person in your BG speaks up, be it brusquely, quietly, or somewhere in between, consider what they're saying, rather than the tone they're saying it in, and you may find yourself on the winning side of a previously unlikely victory. And if you're the guy giving out the tips, take a minute and measure what you're saying before you say it. If a team can reach a comfortable level of compromise, then I think all involved would have a lot more fun with the game.
What do you all think? I know this topic will resonate with many of you, so feel free to discuss it in the comments below. As always, keep it civil and mature, and have a good time. Also, as a final note, this is my first time actually publishing the PvP column, so any feedback or suggestions for improvement are certainly welcome.
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Posted 1/20/2013 10:42:35 PMI never understood why in a game that prominently featured laser swords, very hard lines between good and evil, and long standing rivalries, dueling wasn't something more prominently featured. I think this would have made a very good PvP addition, with dueling arenas, rankings, titles, rivalries (maybe even a backdoor to something like player bounties). I'd like to think its something that might be considered at some point.
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Posted 1/21/2013 12:04:41 AMHave faith my friend, I have a feeling they are coming eventually. WoW arena is a huge success and has developed into an e-sport. The SWTOR community is almost petitioning adding that by forming dueling tournaments on the pvp servers and making several forum posts about adding it. Remember, even KotOR had 1v1 duels. I would guess (with no hard evidence) that we will see it within the year. They haven't even added pvp seasons yet so I know they have big plans. Keep your fingers crossed for some cool stuff in the expansion.
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Posted 1/27/2013 10:14:01 AMSomebody has a very high opinion of Bioware.
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Posted 1/19/2013 1:22:54 PMYes, a grain-of-salt attitude is imperitive in PvP given some of the rage that goes on, but looking at it from within doesn't take a look at the big picture. Sure within the game, there are pros and cons, are they performing better/worse. Are people QQing? Are people sabotaging? Whatever.
Taking a step back and asking "Does that raging turn others off of PvP who may not have done it before?" is another. I have avoided PvP in the past because I didn't understand the need for having a thick skin. Then I found a game that made PvP fun and I engaged in it more regularly.
Currently I don't do much PvP since the whole idea of PvPing is to get gear to do better at PvPing. Seems kind of circular. I'll play when I need a change of pace rather than it being the goal of my experience. Ragers must consider that if they chase people away from PvP, then they are setting themselves up for failure. In more ways than one. You can troll without ever saying a word. I see the posts in Gen Chat crying and whining about queues taking forever. "Come on people! Q up already!!!" I almost did queue up just to go and submarine the mission on the guy on several occasions. Or even ingame when it happens I wanna tank the mission.
So the question goes beyond the in game implications of raging vs. helper.
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Posted 1/18/2013 6:15:51 PMThanks for the post, Vox!
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Posted 1/18/2013 4:28:36 PMCurrently I feel the biggest issue is the battle between in game devs vs in game hacks concerning PvP. It's no lie we have some who hack pvp. If you don't know well now you do. Many guilds are well known for this already but still exist. " We haz Cookies" (imperial guild) "Goof Troop" (Republic sister guild of We haz Cookies), Covenant is another Rep guild getting know for hacking so is Army of Monkeys which is an imp guild and there are many more as well but I am not going to type out each one lol.
Why waste the time or bother to Hack is beyond me. The penalty for getting caught is having all toons deleted so why bother? To prove you can do it? If so congrads I guess. I personally can't help but laugh at such it's like an impotent man using a vibrator on a woman then calling it natural LOL... I know many that are subject to the abuse of hacks don't appreciate it either but yet it's something we have to deal with while the devs and hacks wage war.
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Posted 1/18/2013 6:04:26 PMA very small group of players keep going on and on about hacks as if it is this huge widespread problem...Myself and everyone I know in game have never encountered any issues with hackers.
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Posted 1/18/2013 10:30:03 PMI've experienced a few encounters with hackers, but they're usually the same people. Usually the best recourse is to report them; usually, other players will have encountered them as well, so most people on the server will be aware of it. That being said, it definitely happens, so hopefully they amp up whatever their response to it is.
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Posted 1/18/2013 10:30:38 PMI've experienced issues with some of the same groups that you're reporting, so don't worry, you're not alone.
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Posted 1/19/2013 5:28:50 PMER MY GERD, they killed me so they must be hacking. Please provide any proof that anyone from Goof Troop has ever used any type of hacks or cheats, I would love to see this.
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Posted 1/19/2013 5:34:34 PMHello guild leader of Covenant here. I suggest you actually learn what you are talking about before dragging our name through the mud. None of my players have ever used a hack. If they did they wouldn't wear the tag.
You'll notice none of us have ever been banned for hacking either, despite being accused numerous times, including several times myself. Why is that? We've never done it. We play the game to win. There is no point in a victory you didn't actually earn.
To those of you who insist that the only way we could be successful is to hack, I offer you the cliche, L2P.
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Posted 1/20/2013 12:24:41 AMOhhh this post makes me laugh.... Goof Troop is our little sister guild..... In yo face hype....
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Posted 1/18/2013 10:39:03 AMthe start of the video is fail lol
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Posted 1/17/2013 9:05:22 PMWhile I don't really do PVP, I am definitely familiar with the angry leader of the FP or Heroic Quest. I understand everyone wants to complete the quest/FP quickly and effectively, but the point is to have fun. No one is going to have a good time if they're being "yelled at" for making an honest mistake or if someone is constantly on edge about another player's performance. Of course, I only play this game because I dig the class storylines. I am by no means a hard cut MMO player. I'm the guy who cringes every time someone in the group wants to mash the spacebar when there's a conversation.
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Posted 1/19/2013 1:21:06 PMtrue, I also do loads of pve and see these kind of people sometimes
don't you worry about people who want to spacebar the conversation, I they keep being an **** you can just either put them on ignore or act as if you did space through
I try to keep my space through request civil like: /e loves his spacebar (they see your nickname instead of /e)