DarthHater.com - Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

Would you change your class story’s ending?
- By Infamous 3/26/2012 12:46:23 PM
- Category IconFeature
- 28
Endings are a topic of much contempt recently in gaming. Some argue endings should conclude the narrative, bringing resolution to the characters and leaving the audience satisfied. Others argue endings that subvert the expectations of the audience and leave a lasting impression are the most memorable. Despite which side you might agree with, it’s clear endings cannot fulfill the expectation of an entire audience. Take note that this article delves into the endings of both the Trooper and Imperial Agent storylines.
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28 latest comment by TheCommissar
Guide: Imperial Agent Sniper - Marksman
- By Shadowlance 1/24/2012 9:26:35 AM
- Category IconFeature
- 17
Unlike their sneakier cousins the Operatives, Imperial Snipers eschew up close and personal combat for the flexibility and advantages that a good rifle and long range can offer. Among the ranks of these Snipers are those who work to master their weapon skills, putting aside the gadgetry and poisons they naturally have access to, becoming Marksmen. Ideally situated from a steady perch and without interruption, a specialized Marksman can rain death on his foes with relative impunity.
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Imperial Agent

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17 latest comment by SeaLynx
Guide: Imperial Agent Operative - Medic
- By Jaspor 1/17/2012 11:50:32 AM
- Category IconFeature
- 11
The Imperial Agent relies on cunning and stealth to serve the Empire in a wide variety of roles. The Operative advanced class focuses on technology and concealment tools and abilities in order to provide healing and unleash damage from close range. Imperial Intelligence is known for quickly and quietly doing their job without being seen, and the Operative is an important piece of this covert organization. The abilities and suggested specs for Operatives in these roles are examined after the jump.

Upon reaching level ten, Imperial Agents will be directed to choose their permanent advanced class. The Sniper advanced class is limited to a damage dealing role and is most effective at long range. Alternatively, the Operative can heal or deal damage and is most effective at short to medium range with several effective melee attacks. This guide takes a look at the Medic specialization of the Operative advanced class.
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Imperial Agent

Advanced Class

Operative

Guide
11 latest comment by Jaspor
Operations Gear Preview
- By emlaeh 12/7/2011 12:47:07 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 101
UPDATE: We recently added images showcasing the Republic faction's Operations gear. You will find these images on their respective class pages.

Three tiers of Level 50 PVE gear appeared in the 11/26 patch: Tionese, Columi, and Rakata. Darth Hater spent some time poking around in-game and analyzing client data to attempt to determine how one could acquire some of the highest item level gear sets. All items included two- and four-piece set bonuses that curiously displayed only when the item is equipped; these set bonuses were mainly buffs to existing abilities and not unique to a particular tier.

So far, set names remain consistent to combat role through item progression, and carry a unified look throughout so you don’t look mismatched or out of place. Armor set names were the same for both factions, and we do provide some low-res preview images of both the Imperial and Republic versions of the sets on each class pairing page. It is confirmed that the Republic versions of the armor sets look different, and keep in mind Imperial Agents use knives while Smugglers use shotguns.

We would like share what we found, and encourage comments if you believe anything is inaccurate or have any additions, as we’re happy to credit you for any legitimate finds.
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Flashpoint

Smuggler

Bounty Hunter

Sith Warrior

Trooper

Imperial Agent

Jedi Knight

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

Eternity Vault

Operations

dbsite
101 latest comment by cgspalding
Friday Update: Razer Peripherals and Jedi Consular vs Imperial Agent
- By MarcusRendorr 12/2/2011 5:42:12 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 35
This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update comes to us in two parts. First, the previously announced SWTOR-themed Razer peripherals are now available for pre-order. All of the products (mouse, keyboard, headset, and mousepad) will be released simultaneously with the game on December 20th. BioWare also published a Choose Your Side video featuring the Jedi Consular and Imperial Agent classes. The video provides players with an overview of each class's playstyle and the gist of each storyline. Read after the jump for the video embed and DevTracker posts.
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Friday Update

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Jedi Consular

Razer
35 latest comment by coolaid
Friday Update: Imperial Agent Character Progession, Revan Novel Preview, Early Access Details
- By Jaspor 11/4/2011 10:16:03 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 34
This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update gives us the Imperial Agent progression video. The video gives a good look at both Advanced Classes. The Operative is shown using stealth and crowd control to get the upper hand on her enemies. The Sniper makes use of portable cover and high-powered rifles to take out her targets from a distance.

Also part of today's update is an exclusive preview of the upcoming Revan novel. Drew Karpyshyn's book based in the SWTOR universe will be released November 15 and this update gives us a look at chapters 3 and 11.

There was also an update to the official pre-order page that mentions the possible length for early game access.

DevTracker posts and video embed after the jump. Our dissection gallery of the trailer is below.

UPDATE: Early Game Access details are now available.

Many of you have been wondering how long Early Game Access will last, and we are now happy to announce that depending on when you redeem your Pre-Order Code, you will gain Early Game Access up to five days before the official game launch date.

Early Game Access is staggered over five days to ensure a quality experience for players at launch. Staggering access aids server stability and a gradual increase in player population through the game. Early Game Access will be granted according to when your Pre-Order Code is redeemed at the Code Redemption Center. If you have not yet pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic, there's still time! Visit our Pre-Order page for more information and watch the Collector's Edition Unboxing video for a peek inside this highly coveted edition of the game.

Gallery: Imperial Agent Armor Progression Trailer Dissection

Imperial Agent Armor Progression Dissection Image 5

Imperial Agent Armor Progression Dissection Image 4

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Imperial Agent Armor Progression Dissection Image 2

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Friday Update

Revan

Progression

Imperial Agent
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PGW 2011: Interview with Alexander Freed
- By emlaeh 10/24/2011 7:28:19 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 13
Alexander Freed is probably best known for his writing duties on the Imperial Agent class story, but he also authored the Blood of The Empire and The Lost Suns comics as well as Flashpoints, side quests, and other in-game experiences players will encounter in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Darth Hater caught up with him at Paris Games Week to delve a little deeper about what it takes to write engaging interactive dialogue for the game and across different media.

What advice would you give someone who actually wants to make interactive storytelling their career?

Alexander Freed: Obviously learning the basics of storytelling, and more than the basics, because that is the foundation you're working from. So if there isn't a way for you to work in a very strong, very critical environment on game writing, then work in prose, work in film, work in something else where you are going to get feedback and criticism. If you can get that sort of feedback and criticism in a game environment, fantastic! But honing the storytelling basics is huge. Learn how to write dialogue. It doesn't matter what medium you're in. If you can do snappy dialogue, then you can probably adjust to writing snappy dialogue in a different medium.

Hit the jump for the interview in full.
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BioWare

Alexander Freed

Imperial Agent

Blood of the Empire

The Lost Suns

Paris Games Week
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NYCC 2011: Highlights and Imperial Agent Gameplay
- By DH_Sghetti 10/23/2011 1:57:29 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 9
New York Comic Con may be over but there is plenty left incoming on the Darth Hater content train. As we are in the process of getting the rest of the video up, we put together our own highlights video from the event showcasing a few fans as well as gameplay from various classes at the event. We also pulled together a ton of video, the first of which being an eleven minute video staring Imperial Agent gameplay on the Origin Planet of Hutta.

For the highlights video and Imperial Agent gameplay footage, hit the jump.
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Sith Warrior

Imperial Agent

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

NYCC

NYCC 2011
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Lore Update: Imperial Agent
- By raelimar 7/5/2011 3:00:09 PM
- Category IconFeature
- 20
Most of the classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic are strongly represented in both the movies and the Expanded Universe. However, the Imperial Agent is a mysterious anomaly; they work in the background and rarely make their presence directly known. While BioWare did not invent the concept of Imperial Intelligence agents, they are the first to explore this role as part of a dedicated storyline. Last week we examined that Bounty Hunter, now join us in taking a closer look at the spies and snipers of the Sith Empire.
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Lore

Mandalorian

Class

Imperial Agent

Mandalore

Advanced Class

Chiss

Operative

Sniper

Keeper

Jadus

Chiss Ascendancy
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Friday Update: Battle for Alderaan and E3 Highlight Videos
- By sado 6/24/2011 4:42:28 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 105
This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update is the Battle for Alderaan Highlights Video. The video includes footage of a group of players taking on King Ulgo. Before this, a live stage demo from Gamespot featured the quest at E3 2011 along with many others. Up until now, the context of the event was muddy at best. However, we now have a greater understanding of Alderaan's story and more specifically, the self-proclaimed King Ulgo.

A working dissection of both of the videos is in the media gallery below. Make sure to check back for more. As with all of our dissections, items noted in prior dissections will not be mentioned here again unless otherwise important. Feel free to add your thoughts and items you noticed in the video. If we decide to use your find, we will credit you in the dissection.

The official DevTracker post and video embed follow the jump. Alternately, you can view the high-definition version of the video via our Youtube account.

Update: BioWare just moments ago released a new video from E3, this time highlighting commentary from the fans lucky enough to get a chance to play. Embed of the video is available after the jump.

Gallery: 6.24.11 Friday Update Dissection

E3 Highlight Video Dissection Image 5

E3 Highlight Video Dissection Image 4

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Dissection

Friday Update

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Ability

Smuggler

Imperial Agent

Alderaan

Jedi Consular

E3

Ulgo

Alyson Bridge

Bouris Ulgo

E3 2011
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E3 2011: Gameplay Impressions
- By Staff 6/15/2011 7:00:30 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 52
Darth Hater once again sent a substantial team to E3 and experienced a new demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Several staffers share their personal impressions of various classes on Tatooine in the following pages, and you are welcome to ask them questions about their experiences at tonight's Q&A. Please note that even though Orionark and Emlaeh also attended, they both felt their time spent with the game was too limited comparatively to give substantial written impressions.

Individual Impresssions Pages
- Algiebba
- Infamous
- Mako
- Dover
- Sado
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Bounty Hunter

Imperial Agent

Sith Inquisitor

E3

Sorcerer

Assassin

Mercenary

E3 2011
52
Friday Update: E3 Details, Advanced Classes, and The Lost Suns
- By Staff 6/3/2011 2:20:45 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 90
This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update is E3 Details, new Advanced Classes Page, and on The Lost Suns with an interview Alexander Freed. As BioWare Austin's Community Manager Stephen Reid hinted at this morning, there are three updates today about SWTOR. This is all in preparation for the Electronic Entertainment Expo that starts June 6 and expectations are massive on the news coming out of the event. Stated in the E3 details post is a tidbit about what fans can expect from E3:
- More to share regarding the stories from the CG trailers
- Belsavis raid content
- Alderaan political intrigue
- Tatooine -- sandpeople and something unknown
As part of this week's Friday Update, MMORPG.com interviewed Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller about the Advanced Classes we will see in Star Wars: The Old Republic. He covers abilities from almost every class including the Jedi Knight's Force Leap, the different stances of the Sith Warrior, the Bounty Hunter's helpful Kolto Missile, and the Smuggler's explosive Shrapnel Bomb.

The Old Republic: The Lost Suns previewed earlier this week on StarWars.com, and today an interview with Senior Writer and Managing Editor Alexander Freed. He covers a brief overview of the comic that follows Theron Shan, a Republic spy set out to discover what the Sith Empire's plans are for the planets newly acquired in the Treaty of Coruscant. The comic canonically at the start of the game, about 10 years after Threat of Peace and 40 years after Blood of the Empire.

Included a bit after the rest of the updates went up was a new Advanced Classes page. The page is a newly redesigned page to fit the place of the older updates. It contains new information about the trees and abilities of the Advanced Classes.

Official Dev Tracker posts follow the jump. Images from today's Friday Update are contained in the Media Gallery below. If higher resolution versions of the images become available, we will update them. Aurebesh Working translation follows the jump as well as in the Media Gallery.

Gallery: 6.3.11 Friday Update Images

Friday Update 6.3.11 Background 24

Friday Update 6.3.11 Background 9

Friday Update 6.3.11 Background 10

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Friday Update

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Smuggler

Alexander Freed

Bounty Hunter

Sith Warrior

Tatooine

Trooper

Imperial Agent

Alderaan

Jedi Knight

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

E3

Belsavis

Deceived

Juggernaut

Marauder

Advanced Class

Vanguard

Operative

Sniper

Sorcerer

Assassin

Powertech

Mercenary

Shadow

Commando

Scoundrel

Gunslinger

Sentinel

Guardian

Georg Zoeller

Stephen Reid

Sage

The Lost Suns

Theron Shan

E3 2011

Eternity Vault
90
Darth Hater's Coverage of BioWare Austin's Fan Site Summit
- By Staff 4/28/2011 6:24:16 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 49
This week, Darth Hater attended the much talked about Fan Site Summit. Sado and Dover joined the rest of the fan sites down at BioWare Austin on April 24 through the 26th. The list that follows below is Darth Hater's up to date coverage of the event. Images of us at the event are contained in the media gallery at the bottom of this post. Update: New high quality images are now available in the media gallery below after image 45.

DH Fan Site Summit Content

Darth Hater Exclusive Screenshot
Gallery: Fan Site Summit Images

HiCam Image 61

HiCam Image 62

HiCam Image 63

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Gallery: Immersion Day Screenshots

Immersion Day Screenshot 5

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Nal Hutta

Flashpoint

Companion

Bounty Hunter

Black Talon

Imperial Agent

Dromund Kaas

Kaas City

Advanced Class

Sniper

Powertech

Mako

Fan Site Summit

Kaliyo Djannis
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Fan Site Summit: General Information Learned
- By Staff 4/28/2011 6:21:47 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 70
Carefully examining and dissecting content for Star Wars: The Old Republic is the keystone of our work at Darth Hater. This meticulous approach is seen throughout our articles, but it becomes even more pronounced when we are actually playing the game.The following is our list of new general notes from our multiple hours of game play at the Fan Site Summit earlier this week.
- Crew Skills available for training in Kaas City: Cybertech (Reverse Engineering Tech which leads to creating Tech), Underworld Trading, Slicing, Bio Analysis, Bio Chem, Diplomacy, Investigation Mission, Treasure Hunting, Synthweaving, Archeology, and Artifice.
- Galactic Market Kiosk is the name of the Auction House, and encountered first on Dromund Kaas.
Hit the jump for more.
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Nal Hutta

Flashpoint

BioWare

Companion

Bounty Hunter

Taxi

Black Talon

Imperial Agent

Dromund Kaas

Kaas City

Fan Site Summit

Crew Skill
70
Fan Site Summit: Black Talon Flashpoint Impressions
- By Staff 4/28/2011 6:20:17 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 29
During the Fan Site Summit, we were able to advance our characters as far as we could in the time allowed. For some of us, that meant completing our class story on Nal Hutta and moving on toward Dromund Kaas. While in transit to the Sith Capital, we were able to take part in the Black Talon Flashpoint. As the first Flashpoint avaliable to Sith players, Black Talon fills the same introductory role as the Esseles will for the Republic. Hit the jump for a closer look at our first full run through a Flashpoint in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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Sith

BioWare

Bounty Hunter

Black Talon

Imperial Agent

Dromund Kaas

Kilran

Fan Site Summit
29
Fan Site Summit: Imperial Agent Impressions
- By Dover 4/28/2011 6:19:53 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 16
As many of you know, Darth Hater was invited to join a special fan summit this week at BioWare's Austin campus. In addition to presentations and live Q&As, we were able to get more solid hands-on with Star Wars: The Old Republic. While sado was traipsing through Nal Hutta with his Bounty Hunter, I was finally able to get some serious time with a class Ive followed closely since November of 2009: the Imperial Agent. After spending many hours bringing an Agent from level one to Advanced Class and beyond, I finally feel like I can report on this enigmatic, elusive class.

Article Pages:
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Nal Hutta

Ability

BioWare

Companion

Imperial Agent

Kaas City

Advanced Class

Sniper

Fan Site Summit

Kaliyo Djannis
16
PC Gamer UK Reveals Cyborg Playable Species
- By Zanthos 4/9/2011 2:16:19 AM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 137
Update: It appears the list PC Gamer UK saw in the latest build is inaccurate.

Daniel Erickson
Hey Folks,

The species/class combo list you're referencing is not accurate. If it does appear in the magazine, that's unfortunate.

My guess is that an enthusiastic member of the press wrote down everything he saw in the character creation screen which, as we've stated often, is nowhere near final. Occasionally we'll have species in odd classes or in all classes because of a bug or testing.

Hope that helps!

Daniel

As with any game in development, everything in any current or past build is subject to change. It is important to note that no species/class combination is final until BioWare announces it. Thanks to Gerbo and Meglivorn for pointing out Daniel Erickson's comment in the Dev Tracker.
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Species

Smuggler

Bounty Hunter

Sith Warrior

Trooper

Imperial Agent

Human

Jedi Knight

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

Mirialan

Rattataki

Miraluka

Twi'lek

Chiss

Pureblood

Cyborg
137
Friday Update: Advanced Classes Update
- By sado 4/8/2011 2:27:53 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 139
This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update is the Advanced Classes Update Developer Blog by Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller. The update includes a deep dive from Georg Zoeller on the Advanced Classes in general, talent trees, abilities, and a few interesting tidbits from the testing program. Developer Blogs normally are not huge updates but this one is definitely not a normal Developer Blog.

Two choice quotes from the update:

Georg Zoeller
Jedi Shadow (Roles: Close - Mid Range Damage Dealing, Tanking)
Sith Assassin (Roles: Close - Mid Range Damage Dealing, Tanking)

Plenty more is covered in the Advanced Classes Update. Be sure to check it out and let us know your feedback on it in the comment section of this post. The Official DevTracker post follows after the jump.
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Developer Blog

Friday Update

Smuggler

Bounty Hunter

Sith Warrior

Trooper

Imperial Agent

Testing

Jedi Knight

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

Juggernaut

Marauder

Advanced Class

Vanguard

Operative

Sniper

Sorcerer

Assassin

Powertech

Mercenary

Shadow

Commando

Scoundrel

Gunslinger

Georg Zoeller

Sage
139
DevTracker Highlights For The Week of March 31, 2011
- By Infamous 3/31/2011 9:47:20 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 21
BioWare is quite matter-of-fact this week, releasing tidbits of information in some short and concise posts in this week's DevTracker Highlights. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks lightsaber colors and energy blades. Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert answers questions about the appearance of younglings, dueling, species and class combinations, and the soul of a class and their armor. Senior Game Designer William Wallace also talks about the Imperial Agent and the evolution of their energy blade abilities. Hit the jump to see all the highlights.
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Community

Species

Imperial Agent

Damion Schubert

Zabrak

Georg Zoeller
21
Friday Update: New Trailer
- By sado 3/11/2011 3:42:39 PM
- Category IconSWTOR News
- 158
Live from PAX East 2011, BioWare announces this week's Friday Update - New In-game Trailer. The Trailer recaps the high level story -- Peace in the Republic, Empire Returned, War, all set to clips of in-game footage. We're bringing this content live so watch this post for the Friday Update news.

UPDATE 11a PT: We had a chance to chat with Stephen Reid and we will have the full interview up relatively soon, but we wanted to let you know about something you will see tomorrow:

Stephen Reid
We're having a Saturday update; we got something going up tomorrow. I'm not going to spoil it but it is related to Taral V. I think people are going to like it; you're not going to have to work too hard to figure it out but it is something people have been asking for consistently for quite a long time.

No, it isn't a release date. But yeah, we're having an update tomorrow.

Working Dissection of the trailer is in the Media Gallery below. As with all dissections, we will not comment on stuff seen in prior videos. Make sure to keep checking out throughout the weekend for more content for the Dissection as we will add new content as we go. Official DevTracker post follows after the jump.

Gallery: Fate of the Galaxy Trailer Dissection

Fate of the Galaxy Dissection Image 13

Fate of the Galaxy Dissection Image 14

Fate of the Galaxy Dissection Image 2

Fate of the Galaxy Dissection Image 22

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Friday Update

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Coruscant

Smuggler

Penny Arcade Expo

Bounty Hunter

Sith Warrior

Tatooine

Hoth

Trooper

Imperial Agent

Trailer

Jedi Knight

Jedi Consular

Sith Inquisitor

Belsavis

Malgus

Space Combat

Fate of the Galaxy
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