• Damion Schubert On Obtaining Grade 7 Ship Parts

    Game Update 1.6 introduced new Heroic Space Missions and Tier 7 ship parts to help players complete these challenging missions. The prices to obtain these new ship parts are hundreds of Daily and Fleet Commendations. To the surprise of many players, these parts were also made available for purchase on the Cartel Market. Players have discussed this approach and debated whether the large discreprancy in costs between the two ways of obtaining the items is truly a step towards "pay to win" for SWTOR. Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez has posted some feedback from Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert indicating that BioWare is looking for solutions to reduce the gap between the two paths:

    Damion Schubert

    Unfortunately, there is, in fact, a great disparity between these two costs. We want to apologize for this, as there was a miscommunication internally on how valuable these upgrades were, how challenging they should be to earn, and how fast a player should be able to earn them.

    We are currently looking at solutions that cause the least amount of frustration for all players affected, while keeping the integrity of both the Cartel Market and the game intact.

    It is not our intent to make the Cartel Market the “way to play" the game—we want you to feel that both the Cartel Market and earning gear in game are viable options as far as value goes, neither being far more efficient or effective than the other.

    We truly hope you enjoy the challenge of the new Heroic Space Missions and apologize again for what we hope is a small distraction.

    I want to reiterate that we are actively looking at solutions and they will be communicated to you as soon as we have a solid plan.

     

  • Beating the Game Update 1.6 Space Missions with Grade 6 Ship Parts

    With Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate now on live servers, we thought it would be a great time to take a second look at the additions to Space Combat and put together a guide. If you have played any of the new missions you likely noticed how hard the missions are, almost seemingly gated to players with Grade 7 gear. Well, with enough prodding with Grade 6 ship parts I was able to beat every single one. How did I do it? Hit the jump to find out.

    Note: While we cover only the Imperial side in this post, the Republic ones should be the same for the corresponding missions.

  • Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate Warzone Preview

    Game Update 1.6’s most important addition is of course, the Ancient Hypergate Warzone. While we’ve seen video of it before, I thought it would be a good idea to jump into the Warzone on the live servers to get an initial feeling on the new addition. This preview serves as my first impression of the Warzone before any guides we happen to create.

    We would love to hear your thoughts on the new Warzone.

  • Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate Launch Trailer

    Now that Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate is in the wild, BioWare christened the launch with a new trailer showing off the new content. While it may not reveal anything big to the fans following the game here, it still serves as an advertisement for the update.

    For all of our articles pertaining to Game Update 1.6, head over to our coverage guide.

  • Game Update 1.6: Cartel Market Additions

    Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate is now on live servers and with it comes a new assortment of items for the Cartel Market. In order to show the community at large the items, we created this post to serve as a listing for them. Initially, this post will only contain brief summaries with images due to time constraints. As the day progresses, we will make a list in entirety. As with new Cartel Packs, items may take a while to find for some but when we come across them, we will add them here. For the current items, hit the gallery below.

    Gallery: Game Update 1.6: Cartel Market Additons

    czerkacele
    microdefender
    mottledblurrg
    holochair

  • Coverage Guide: Game Update 1.6

    Now that Game Update 1.6 is on the Live Servers, we've taken some time to aggregate all of our coverage into an easy-access compendium for your referencing pleasure. Below the jump you'll find a convenient table of contents linking to all of the related content and more we've produced here at Darth Hater. This guide will be continually updated as new content is added to the site, so take a second to bookmark it and tell your friends. You can also look for the handy link in the "Feature" box to the top right of your web browser for easy navigation in the future from our homepage. Keep reading to check it out!

    Update: New additions to the Cartel Market added.

  • Patch Notes: Game Update 1.6 (Final)

    Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate is upon us! As of the time of this posting, servers are down but BioWare has the patch notes available for players to read ahead of them coming back online. Along with the new content that we've known about for a while now is also the Life Day Holiday items. If you would like to learn more about the content covered in the new update, head over to our coverage guide. For the patch notes in full, hit the jump.

    Update: Servers are back online early!

  • Game Update 1.6 Coming December 11

    After some time on the Public Test Server, Game Update 1.6 finally has a release date. BioWare will launch the update during the Scheduled Maintenance window on Tuesday, December 11. 

    BioWare

    Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for six hours on Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 from 2AM CST (12AM PST/3AM EST/8AM GMT/9AM CET/7PM AEDT) until 8AM CST (6AM PST/9AM EST/2PM GMT/3PM CET/1AM AEDT). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than six hours, but could be extended.

    Game Update 1.6 introduces a new Warzone, Ancient Hypergate, where you can team up with other players to fight for control of powerful energy pylons to unleash the power of the ancient Gree hypergate against your enemies. Six new Heroic Space Missions are also available for each faction. These missions will be a challenge even for the greatest pilots in the galaxy!

    Please Note: PvP Warzones and Space Missions are available to Subscribers at no additional cost. Players without a subscription have limited free access per week and may purchase additional access in the Cartel Market.

    After this maintenance is over, restart the game launcher to patch to Game Update 1.6: Ancient Hypergate.

    As with all of the updates, we have a coverage guide for those looking to learn about the new patch. For the full post, hit the official forum.

  • Developer Update: Heroic Space Missions

    With Game Update 1.6 on the Public Test Server and on the way to live servers soon, BioWare detailed the new Space Combat Missions coming in the update to the community. While it may not contain much new information for those following Star Wars: The Old Republic closely, the post conveys the information in a concise manner.

    BioWare

    These missions will be repeatable, incredibly challenging, and reward players who enjoy the current Space Missions. Our goal is to make these missions worthy of the most skilled players, and completing them, along with their Bonus Objectives, should test the greatest pilots. To help in this endeavor, players will also be able to get new upgrades for their ship, attainable through various means like trade skills and specialty vendors. The rewards for these missions will also be increased, and hopefully provide new motivations for players who want to improve their gear for use in Flashpoints and Operations.

    For the post in full, head to the official site.

  • BioWare LiveStream Q&A: Game Update 1.6 11/29/2012

    BioWare and LucasArts will hold their next LiveStream Q&A on November 29 at 3PM CST to discuss the upcoming Game Update 1.6 with the community at large. Details of the event are below.

    BioWare

    Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - LiveStream

    11/29/2012

    3:00pm to 3:30pm CST

    The second LiveStream Event will discuss Game Update 1.6: The Ancient Hypergate and the recently launched Free-to-Play option. Game Update 1.6 brings an exciting player-versus-player Warzone and new Heroic Space Missions. If you’d like to participate in this LiveStream Q&A Event, you can ask questions on the LiveStream Channel during the event or prior to the event through Twitter(#SWTOR), Facebook, or the official forums.

  • Developer Update: Ancient Hypergate

    With Game Update 1.6 on the Public Test Server and on the way to live servers soon, BioWare decided to introduce the new Warzone coming in the update to the community once again. While it may not contain much new information for those following Star Wars: The Old Republic closely, it still lays out the objectives in a manner that conveys it well to players.

    BioWare

    From a gameplay standpoint, Ancient Hypergate plays like a combination of a 2 point objective map, team death match, and a multi-flag game of capture-the-flag. Each of the two energy pylons is synchronized on a power cycle. At the end of this cycle, each pylon discharges energy into the gate of the faction that controls its objective point. Holding one or both of the pylons directly leads to gaining points at the end of each cycle. The amount of energy discharged is based on the amount of enemies defeated during that specific power cycle. The more players defeated, the more energy discharged into a gate! Additionally, the generators in the central structure of the Warzone release suspended energy orbs into the atmosphere. Players are able to collect these orbs and run them directly to an energy pylon. Getting near a friendly controlled pylon with an orb will immediately discharge a small amount of power directly into the gate.

    For the article in full, head over to the official site.

  • Game Update 1.6: Space Combat Missions Impressions

    Earlier today, BioWare fixed the Star Wars: The Old Republic Space Combat missions in Game Update 1.6 on the Public Test Server. With that, I was able to take a look at them and get a general idea of what to expect when the update goes live. After seeing the new missions firsthand, I can speak somewhat briefly on some of the key points. Consider these impressions somewhat incomplete as I was unable to finish any of the missions and unable to even attempt the Kabal Station Defense mission due to being ineligible. I will add more to this post as the situation evolves, but for now hit the jump and read my initial impressions.

  • Game Update 1.6: Duma Strike Mission Preview (Space Combat)

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server yesterday, an assortment of new Space Combat missions came along with it. In order to convey them in a preview, we're posting them via video capture here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the embed below for our preview of the Duma Strike Mission.

  • Game Update 1.6: Cha Raaba Assault Mission Preview (Space Combat)

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server yesterday, an assortment of new Space Combat missions came along with it. In order to convey them in a preview, we're posting them via video capture here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the embed below for our preview of the Cha Raaba Assault Mission.

  • Game Update 1.6: Far Cradle Strike Mission Preview (Space Combat)

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server yesterday, an assortment of new Space Combat missions came along with it. In order to convey them in a preview, we're posting them via video capture here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the embed below for our preview of the Far Cradle Strike Mission.

  • Game Update 1.6: Kanz Minefield Mission Preview (Space Combat)

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server yesterday, an assortment of new Space Combat missions came along with it. In order to convey them in a preview, we're posting them via video capture here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the embed below for our preview of the Kanz Minefield Mission.

  • Game Update 1.6: Lorta Escort Mission Preview (Space Combat)

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server yesterday, an assortment of new Space Combat missions came along with it. In order to convey them in a preview, we're posting them via video capture here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the embed below for our preview of the Lorta Escort Mission.

  • Game Update 1.6: Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular Elite War Hero Gear

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server today, an assortment of new Elite War Hero gear came along with it. In order to convey them in image form, we're posting them here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the image below for the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular Elite War Hero gear.

  • Game Update 1.6: Sith Warrior and Jedi Knight Elite War Hero Gear

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server today, an assortment of new Elite War Hero gear came along with it. In order to convey them in image form, we're posting them here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the image below for the Sith Warrior and Jedi Knight Elite War Hero gear.

  • Game Update 1.6: Elite War Hero Gear Preview

    With Game Update 1.6 hitting the Public Test Server today, an assortment of new Elite War Hero Gear came along with it. In order to convey them in image form, we're posting them here. As with everything in a time sensitive manner, we may add and update this post later with new material. With that, see the image below for the Elite War Hero Gear Preview. 

    As BioWare mentioned before, the look remains somewhat unchanged from the previous release baring some minor differences in color.

    Update: All item previews are now online.