Darth Hater

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.

Random House posted an excerpt of Chapter One from Revan, Drew Karpyshyn's upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic novel. In the excerpt, the reader learns more about the environment & people of Dromund Kaas and of Lord Scourge, the Sith focal point of the excerpt. As Darth Hater previously reported, the novel synopsis is also available.

Visit the Random House site to read the full excerpt.

This week's Star Wars: The Old Republic Facebook Image of the Week captures a battle between a Sith and a Jedi inside an ancient tomb.

A lone Jedi Knight does battle against a disciple of the dark side.

For your convenience, we collected all the images in the Facebook Image of the Week Media Gallery for your viewing pleasure. Make sure to check the Media Gallery for the fullsize image.

The thing that separates MMORPGs from other types of games is the ability to interact with hundreds or thousands of other players on a single server. However, in games with opposing factions, it is common to see limitations in place to prevent players from speaking directly with players on the other side. This is done for a variety of reasons. Some consider it an important deterrent to griefing and other activities that are damaging to the community, while others believe that cross-faction communication encourages community building. In this weeks Community Pulse, I'm taking a look at the active debate surrounding this subject on the official forum.

Star Wars is known for iconic characters that stand the test of time. These characters have a cultural impact that go well beyond their original appearances, leading many fans to seek out any possible information on their favorite characters. Star Wars: The Old Republic is continuing this trend by supplying information about BioWare's classic character Darth Revan from Knights of the Old Republic. In preparation for learning the end of Revan's story, we decided it might be a good idea to take a look at his beginning.

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.

When someone thinks of a Dark Lord of the Sith, one of the first few characteristics that comes to mind is a thirst for control and power. The key to any good antagonist (or in the case of The Old Republic, your possible protagonist) is character depth. It is not enough for Sith Lords to be evil and ruthless. The character must consider these vile acts necessary or rationalize his actions to be for a greater good.

BioWare does not disappoint in their post count for this week's DevTracker Highlights. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson talks vague narrative timelines and how the Sith don't see themselves as evil, but everyone else does. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller dives into Flashpoints, weapon flourishes, the use of instancing on planets, misconceptions about base class and advanced class abilities, and the MMO design with concerns to testing and feedback. Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert explores how real world economics translates to in-game economies. All this and more continued after the jump.

This week's DevTracker Highlights discuss what the developers prefer to play, video capturing, hints on upcoming videos, and more after the jump.

A couple weeks ago we were our first look at the new Blood of the Empire webcomic. As we learned with Threat of Peace, these comics are a wellspring of clues about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Always hungry for any information on TOR, we dug into the new comic to see what we could find.

New details about the second Star Wars: The Old Republic novel, Deceived, were revealed today on StarWars.com:

Hot on the heels of the unveiling of the cover to Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance is this first look at another hardcover set in the time of the eagerly anticipated video game in development by LucasArts and BioWare.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, readers will learn more about Darth Malgus, the Sith Lord who brought down the Jedi Temple. Star Wars fans first experienced the devastating might of Darth Malgus in last year's epic cinematic trailer to Star Wars: The Old Republic which depicted the Sacking of Coruscant. Readers will learn more about the man behind the mask in this novel by author Paul S. Kemp.

Deceived tells the story of Darth Malgus and gives fascinating insight into his rise to fame and glory as the Sith Lord who destroyed the Jedi Temple. This stunning narrative finds the dark hero battling a veteran Jedi Master, setting the stage for the affairs and betrayals surrounding the last battle of the Great War before the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant.

Also shown in this announcement was the cover art for the book. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived is due out in hardcover on December 28, 2010. You can pre-order the novel from Amazon.com.

Update: Sean Dahlberg just announced the update -

You first experienced the devastating might of Darth Malgus on the day that changed the galaxy forever during the Sacking of Coruscant. Now you can learn more about the man behind the mask in the latest novel set in the same time period as Star Wars: The Old Republic!

Learn More.

Today's update is the seventh entry in the Timeline series, entitled "Peace for the Republic?"

The centuries immediately preceding the Great War were thought to be one of the most peaceful eras in Republic history. As he dives deeper into the galaxys history, Master Gnost-Dural discovers new evidence that suggests the dark influence of the Sith Empire was seeping into the Republic even then. Gnost-Durals latest report isolates one historical incident which suggests there was a Sith Lord pulling strings within the ranks of the Jedi decades before the war even began.

BTC 103 - More than a century before the Sacking of Coruscant, two Jedi scholars embarked on a journey which became one of most inexplicable mysteries of its time. Young Jedi Knight Eison Gynt joined his Master in a mission to investigate the Ancient Sith Temple of Yavin 4. On Yavin, the pair was attacked by the native Massassi and driven into the Tomb of Naga Sadow where a powerful force of darkness emerged. Gynts Master returned to Coruscant wounded and half-insane, remorseful that young Eison Gynt had been killed in the chaos. Years later, however, Gynt returned from Yavin on his own and attacked his former Master. Gynt was killed and all assumed that he had been tainted by the darkness on Yavin 4 and returned to Coruscant for revenge. Nonetheless, the truth, as Master Gnost-Dural has discovered, may have been far more sinister.

Watch the latest Timeline holorecord, Peace for the Republic?, narrated by actor Lance Henriksen.

You can also download a high resolution version of this video.


There are several interesting references to note in this edition of the timeline. The Sith temples of Yavin IV feature predominantly and Naga Sadow is also a key player in this timeline entry. There is also intriguing artwork of the Star Forge in the parting shot.

Voss was recently announced as the 12th planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This planet is a unique addition as next to nothing was known about it prior to last weeks Friday Update. BioWare appears to be using that void to weave a new story and display their willingness to add to the IP. The information supplied on the Holonet reveals much more than just an interesting story; it also hints at the possible gameplay elements that Voss could offer.

Here at Darth Hater we are constantly examining any media released for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Holonet, in particular, quickly became one of our most valued resources in this endeavor. Framed by the ever important fourth pillar, each new release on the official site slowly increases our knowledge of the people and places we will encounter when players finally get their hands on the game. In light of the recent addition of a biographies section, we thought it might be a good idea to look back over the Holonet and find all the people we have been introduced to over the past year and a half.

Note: This article will be updated over time as we include new items to the dissection.

Powerful Sith and practitioners of the dark side proliferate the history of the Star Wars Universe. Although most casual fans may only know Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, anyone following the Expanded Universe knows there is a much deeper pool to draw examples from. For those that follow the extended fiction, few Sith names resonate like Naga Sadow. With BioWare and LucasArts crafting a new history for Star Wars: The Old Republic, we thought it might be a good time to look back at this powerful Sith Lord and speculate how he may effect what we will see in TOR.

In a thoughtful forum post, BioWare's Lead Writer, Daniel Erickson, expanded on a subject he touched on in our interview and again with Ars Technica: the misconceptions people may have about the Sith as the "bad" side of the galactic struggle of dominance.

An interesting thread. I always like to see what responses the philosophical discussions provoke. Hopefully people noticed that there were no quotes from me saying the Sith were good -- even the interviewer ended on it being an excuse to unleash ones hate. It was a clever title masking a more complex truth, which is that morality is shaped by culture and people. Genocide, slavery, human sacrifice and more horrific wars against people who have different beliefs than can be easily counted have all been part of the human experience and to my knowledge not one culture has ever stood up and said "We're doing this because were terrible people."

More after the jump.

This week's update is a Fan Friday. As Sean Sean Dahlberg said:

In this Fan Friday, we are highlighting various items from the Star Wars: The Old Republic community, dishing out exciting content from the Development Team, following up on GDC 2010, and confirming our presence at this years E3.

If you're looking for more opportunities to voice your opinion, you'll be interested in the new polls we posted up. Also, we added new avatars to the forums, so try them out.


The Developer Corner section includes is an amazing video of the Sith Inquisitor showing off some of his lightning abilities with booming sound effects.

Also included is some fan art by Hazaz and some by Daennika, some fan fiction by terminalpleasure, a Sith History Guide for Noobies by Danik_Kreldin, a few new pictures of customizable female faces, new avatars, new polls, and a wrap-up on GDC 2010.

In addition to Fan Friday, Daniel Erickson posted a few comments on the official forums this week. Details on his posts after the jump.

There have been six Star Wars: The Old Republic timeline videos produced and presented by BioWare and LucasArts to date. Each one reveals more about the history leading up to the story we will see in Star Wars: The Old Republic. With an analysis of the timeline videos, both individually and as a whole, an idea of the greater story begins to appear. Note: ATC (After the Treaty of Coruscant) / BTC (Before the Treaty of Coruscant)

Here is Darth Hater's dissection of the latest Developer Dispatch from Star Wars: The Old Republic, which focuses largely on the recently revealed Taris. As in our prior dissections, we will add new content in as we find it, so keep checking back. Feel free to let us know if you notice something we missed, and we will be happy to add it to our dissection with credit. Note: if something is mentioned in a prior dissection, then we do not reiterate it again here. Low bandwidth users should note there are numerous images contained in this article.

Its that time of the week again. Time to see what treats the developers have left for us. First up is a nice Developer Dispatch on Taris:

Once home to a sprawling planet-wide city, Taris was razed long ago by the Sith Lord Darth Malak while seeking to eliminate the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan. Now, a post-apocalyptic Taris is being realized in Star Wars: The Old Republic. After 300 years, Republic and Jedi leaders are moving forward with the efforts at colonization.

Along with the video on Taris is issue #27 of the Threat of Peace.