Darth Hater

Players who choose the Assassin advanced class gain access to a double-bladed lightsaber, stealth and the ability to equip Shield generators, allowing the Assassin to effectively damage enemies or protect allies. We have created a guide detailing this advanced class, its roles and how to play them most effectively after the jump.

Editor’s Note: The companions list could possibly be deemed spoiler territory, if that’s a problem, don’t scroll down to the bottom of the post.

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.

Star Wars: The Old Republic fan site The Sith Inquirer had the chance to interview BioWare's Lead Writer Daniel Erickson on the Sith Inquisitor. In the interview, Daniel discusses his inspirations in writing the Inquisitor's story, companions, and more.

However, the most important point came when discussing the voice actors that will play the respective genders of the Sith Inquisitor.

Our Sith Inquisitor male is played by Euan Morton and our Sith Inquisitor female is played by Xanthe Elbrick. Both brought interesting takes on the role that were unexpected. Xanthe, particularly, brought a subtle understanding of the character and an ability to convey a huge amount of meaning while saying something completely different.

For the interview in full, visit The Sith Inquirer.

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.

Sith Inquisitors "believe the order of the universe belongs to them." This observation by Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas is perhaps the most suitable key to obtaining a better understanding of these members of the Sith Empire. For millenia, the Inquisitors have wielded the dark side to alter their environment and even the course of history. Their use of Sith magic and their powers of concealment impact many political situations in the galaxy, including the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant. By taking a closer look at the history behind these deceptive and powerful individuals we can gain a greater appreciation for how they will effect the galaxy in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Darth Hater filmed some Star Wars: The Old Republic's Huttball Warzone PvP action from a Trooper Commando and Sith Sorcerer point of view at PAX Prime. The videos are embedded after the jump, and we'll add all the Huttball PvP videos we get to this post. Enjoy.

Psst. Pay attention to the audio in the Trooper video.

Darth Hater filmed some Star Wars: The Old Republic's Alderaan Warzone PvP action from a Sith Sorcerer and Jedi Guardian point of view at PAX Prime. The video is embedded after the jump, and we'll add all the Alderaan PvP videos we get to this post. Enjoy.

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

Outside of the BioWare booth during E3 2011, we were able to capture some footage of some Sith Assassin gameplay. We cannot guarantee it is very exciting due to the tendencies of the players at E3 but we can at least say it is a bit of gameplay for those looking for new footage.

We did however manage to make a dissection of the video. The dissection includes information on an assortment of gear, new abilities, and 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. See the Media Gallery below for the dissection.

Video is embedded after the break.

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.

After the GameSpot Reveal of the Sith Inquisitor, Star Wars: The Old Republic released new information today for their weekly Friday Update to fulfill the desires of those leaning towards the Dark side. Whether you plan to play an Assassin or Sorcerer, the Sith Inquisitor, filled with treachery and deception, pull the strings of the galaxy to meet their end-goals. The video is embedded below, and you can also view and download it via the official website.

Exclusive to Darth Hater, BioWare's James Ohlen describes the differences between the two Advanced Classes of the Sith Inquisitor:

James Ohlen
The Advanced Classes... all they do is build upon the abilities of your primary class. So it isn't like you're losing the abilities you get up until then. If you're Palpatine, you still have a lightsaber, and you still use it like in Episode 3. You just prefer to use lightning and it is probably the better route to engage in combat.

If youre going the Darth Maul route, then youre going to be much more close-combat. Yes, you still have some lightning and other dark powers, but you're much more effective when you leap right into combat and engage in melee.

A new biography entry is available for Khem Val, the Dashade companion for the Sith Inquisitor. As a former servant of the Sith Lord Tulak Hord, Khem Val feeds on the power of Force-users. New information is available including screenshots and a fly-through of the Fury-Class Imperial Interceptor, the personal ship of both the Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor.

Our Working Dissection and screenshots from the update are the galleries below. As with all Dissections we will not mention stuff in past Dissections. If you find something you think we should point out, add it to the comments section of this post and if we use it we will credit you for the find. Aurebesh translation and Official DevTracker post follow the jump.

Just a few hours ago Gamespot posted the new Sith Inquisitor Class Video. This video marks the seventh class video for Star Wars: The Old Republic, with only the Jedi Consular left to go. Now all the Sith Inquisitor fans (many of which are part of the Darth Hater team) can now point to a single video when someone asks them why they plan to play the SI.

You can watch the video here and we will be embedding it shortly.

In addition to the new video, Gamespot also posted an exclusive interview with Georg Zoeller and Daniel Erickson talking specifically about the Sith Inquisitor. You can find that interview here. Hit the jump for a few select passages from the interview.

This video is chalk full of new images with first look at many Sith Inquisitor powers and the first in-game screens of the Geonosian. At this late hour, we aren't certain when it will be up, but be sure to keep your eyes on Darth Hater for the inevitable dissection to come.

Today, Star Wars: The Old Republic reached 300,000 likes on Facebook. With that feat accomplished, BioWare unveiled a new screenshot, which makes this the second image coming from Facebook this week alone. This screenshot features a Sith Inquisitor on Dromund Kaas rocking a double-bladed lightsaber while listening to the sultry tunes of the latest and greatest of the Empire's bands on his Sith Pod. In all seriousness, it is a great screenshot and shows off the progression of the development of SWTOR quite well. There is also speculation abound as to what Senior Community Coordinator David Bass means when he stated on Twitter "Hmm. Wonder what that screenshot means..." Feel free to hash it out in the comments.

On the Imperial capital world of Dromund Kaas, a Sith Assassin prepares himself for a fight by readying his double-bladed Lightsaber.

For ease of reference, we compiled a Facebook Image of the Week Media Gallery containing all the images which you can view below.

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.

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.

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.

Last Friday, Star Wars: The Old Republic's Principal Lead Systems Designer Georg Zoeller provided some insight regarding how BioWare and LucasArts designed the combat aspects of the Advanced Class system. We decided it was time to take a look back at the roles we speculated about prior to the Developer Blog and update our charts with the information gathered.

This post includes details of what we were able to learn from our hands-on time at the Penny Arcade Expo, which included six of the eight classes, and three of the four origin worlds. We invite you to add your own notes to the comments section of if you were at PAX and would like to share about your hands-on experience. As a reminder, we will not be covering things mentioned in prior 'General Information Learned' posts from E3 and Gamescom. Beware: bantha-sized post after the jump.

• Page 1: General Notes, Stat Modifiers, and Character Sheets


• Page 2: Equipment and Loot

While at the Penny Arcade Expo, we had time to write down all of the abilities in the demo for our community here at DH. After the jump you will find the playable classes with abilities listed in order of level trained. Many of these will be familiar to people who have seen the abilities list from Gamescom, but a few of them have changed even since then. A full abilities list comparison will come later in the week but for now here are the abilities. Note: It is implied that these are only general class abilities and do not include advanced class abilities. The starting abilities that are missing from here were the same from Gamescom and were not changed so our staff in attendance did not write those down.

• Bounty Hunter


• Imperial Agent


• Sith Warrior


• Sith Inquisitor


• Trooper


• Smuggler

This week's Friday update is now online:

Whether you're looking to dominate the galaxy in the name of the Empire or rescue it from darkness as part of the Republic, you wont get very far without a starship. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, your starship will be your base of operations, and it might even be your best friend. Ship models are specially designed to match the needs and tastes of each of the class types, so even though all the starships are outfitted for traveling the galaxy, each has its own character.

Study the style and specifications of the various Starships by accessing the HoloNet now!

You will notice these Starships have been dissected from the Space Combat Video that came out earlier this week. As well as Starships there are new polls available for your perusal. The poll questions are:

• Which feature are you most looking forward to in STAR WARS: The Old Republic?


• Have you played Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR)?

As always, we look forward to seeing the results of the new polls.

There is also a Fan Friday featuring artwork from community members Wraloa and Kiuas, a fan-created video from Tukor, a showcase of a community RP thread, and more new avatars.

But most importantly, the Developer Corner outlined everything announced during our Gamescom presention about Advanced Classs (where we failed the "let's see how many data points we can write down in 20 seconds and if we can read our own handwriting" test -- self-depreciating humor there folks, but you can now see why we had some stuff missing), and new concept art that seems to show HK-47, or at the least a model of his same type.

Aurebesh translations after the jump.