What has SW:TOR done for Star Wars?

I figured there was no better time than May the 4th to write this article. It's something that's been occupying my mind in some way or another since the game was first announced, but until now I haven't really felt comfortable writing it. My question was: What will this game do for Star Wars? How will it expand upon and lay the groundwork for that which has already been written, filmed, and produced? What will its legacy within the Star Wars IP be?

The game having been out for a while now, and having experienced multiple class stories, I feel finally comfortable attempting to address this question.

A galaxy at war: The Setting

A duel on the shattered doorstep of the Jedi Temple. Yeah, that's not dark.

The most obvious contribution is that the writers at Bioware have written an entire time period for the Star Wars universe, complete with their own characters and events. The imagery and themes are, in many ways, unique. Yes, the galaxy is at war, but this isn't your standard galactic warfare plot. The setting itself is incredibly dark when compared to many other time periods in the Star Wars universe. Some examples (none of these should be spoilers, really):

• The Jedi Temple on Coruscant is utterly destroyed, and the Jedi withdraw to Tython. 
• Coruscant is occupied and then bartered back to the Republic. 
• Alderaan, Corellia and Balmorra all become warzones. 
• The Mandalorians more or less side with the Sith Empire.
• As a result of the Sith Empire, slavery becomes a common, accepted practice in a large part of the galaxy.
• An ancient Rakata Warlord awakens.

I could go on, but I think that's sufficient. I could point to many things that are definitely spoilers to enhance this point, but I won't. You should experience all the class stories for yourself.

In essence: things are bad for the Republic, and their survival isn't the only thing at stake. In fighting this war, they could lose the essence of what the Republic really is. This theme is very common on the Republic side of things, but I feel it is done very well here.


You also get a real sense of vulnerability from the Jedi Order in this period. In Knights of the Old Republic 2, the Order is almost completely decimated. We're talking about what is almost a "starting from scratch" scenario. By the time SW:TOR starts, the Order has bounced back somewhat, and they are looking to rediscover their past - but they are immediately thrust into a destructive conflict as some of the first casualties.


The setting as a whole fills a large gap in the timeline, but also manages to be unique and compelling. In a sense, it's a wonderful sweet spot for Bioware: they are still close enough to the Great Hyperspace War for those events and the Ancient Sith to be relevant and compelling (hence the historical analysis of Master Gnost-Dural's journals), but they still draw on their Knights of the Old Republic storylines and expand on what, exactly, the Republic has been through in the thousands of years before we finally get to the movies.

One last quick mention that goes along with the setting is the music. A massive amount of original music was composed for the game, and all of it is fantastic. It is recognizable as Star Wars, but maintains a uniquely dark feeling. You can find the game's music on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic Youtube account. 

Agents of change: The Characters

The characters that have been written for the setting are, in standard Bioware fashion, thought-provoking and convincing.

Darth Malgus is perhaps one of my favourite Star Wars characters of all time. I'm talking Top 10 material. Hate me if you must. Simply put, he is in my opinion one of the most interesting Sith characters ever written in the Star Wars universe.

His anti-racism stance and rejection of Sith Imperial decadence is a refreshing change. His theory that the Force is conflict, and that the existence of a Light and Dark side are evidence of this are extremely insightful and lead to a very unique philosophy.

In a strange way, you see how one could admire Malgus's viewpoint. He demands that passion be allowed to run its course, regardless of race. He demands that inhibitions be stymied, and that conquest be allowed to continue - because the survivors of the conflict become more powerful, and move closer to a perfect understanding of The Force.

I don't want to spoil too much here, because if you didn't read Deceived by Paul S. Kemp, you really should. Here are his words on Malgus:

"He's definitely not a hero, and he's not an anti-hero. My goal was to create a character that readers can respect but still abhor. I very much enjoy writing characters who live in a moral twilight."

―Paul S. Kemp, on developing Malgus for The Old Republic: Deceived

Besides main story arc characters like Malgus, though, are another important contribution: companions.

"Have I ever told you that you meet the most wonderful people?"

I think that the writing for the companions in the game is simply inspired. Most of these companions are interesting enough to be the focus of their own stories! I, for one, would totally read a story about Gault. I'm interested to see if these companions end up popping up in related fiction, and what is in store for them in the future.


The stories seldom told

I think that one of the great legacies of this game will be that it told stories that had been neglected, to varying degrees, throughout the Star Wars Universe. More specifically, while some of these stories had been told in other media, most of them were under-represented in video games.

An example is the Smuggler class. The Han Solo Adventures books by Brian Daley were some of my favourites as a youngling. However, in video games, there really was no equivalent that felt like you were in charge of your destiny as a smuggler. 

Yes, there were games where you played as a Smuggler. One of my favourite expanded universe projects, Shadows of the Empire, had an N64 game where you played as Dash Rendar, a smuggler. The story's focus really wasn't on Rendar though, but rather the Empire and Xizor's hunt for Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance's acquisition of the second Death Star plans. Even though you were playing a character who happened to be a smuggler, you didn't get the feeling that your status as a Smuggler mattered in the story at all.

The Imperial Agent is perhaps even a better example, with almost nothing having been produced about intelligence operatives in the Star Wars universe. I guess you can count the Dark Forces games, but even then, we know how that storyline turns out.

The Bounty Hunter and Trooper have had video games with them as the focus, but they are almost singular examples and, in my opinion, are not very exceptional games.

Igniting the blade of Fandom

Finally, one thing that I think that SW:TOR did that may not have been highlighted: it brought people back to the Star Wars Universe. 

Whether we're talking about long-time fans who had never considered an MMO before, estranged Star Wars: Galaxies communities re-uniting in the next iteration of the Universe, or even MMO fans who had never enjoyed Star Wars, one thing is clear - Star Wars is back on the map, and it's here to stay.

Feel free to share what you think SW:TOR has done for Star Wars in the comments! May The Force be with you!

Community Spotlight: Galactic Public Radio

Available in the Sith Empire as "Radio Free Korriban".

Welcome to another installment of a recurring feature on Thrown Gauntlet, the Community Spotlight. Each week I'll be looking at a site that supports the Star Wars: The Old Republic community, be it a blog, podcast, information database, or otherwise. My hope is to point people to other websites they may also enjoy and to bring the SW:TOR fan community closer together. 

Galactic Public Radio is currently my podcast hub of choice (though I do obviously listen to others as well), and you owe it to yourself to check it out. They have a number of programs which I listen to regularly. I'd like to go into detail a bit on each of them, and why you'd be interested in listening to them.

Consider yourself educated.

All Classes Considered is a fun and informative show hosted by the fantastic Porter Williams. Each week he focuses on a new Advanced Class, going over all the skill trees while highlighting the class's key ideas and concepts.

Even if the ACC Episode this week is about the class you play, I recommend you tune in. There is a strong chance you will still learn something. And, if it's a class you don't play, you're guaranteed to get a good idea of how another class plays. It could help you decide to play that class, or it may just give you insight in to how best to counter that class in PvP.

I was given the opportunity to help with the Juggernaut episode which came out last week, and it was a lot of fun. 

Porter himself does a fair amount of prep before the show, too. The resulting discussion is engaging enough to come back to week after week.

Porter is also looking for class experts (most recently a Shadow, Sentinel, Guardian or Sage expert), so if you think you're cut out for this, please lend him your voice and your talent!

All the news that's fit to... holobroadcast, I guess.

Talk of the Galaxy is GPR's weekly news podcast, bringing you up to speed on the happenings in the galaxy over the previous seven days. The program has the news of the week, but it also has a weekly discussion topic. Even if I don't always agree with 100% of the opinions expressed, it always gets me thinking - and that's the point. It's an enjoyable listen.

One thing I really like about the program is their "Around the Community" feature, which features blogs and fansites from the SW:TOR community. I've found a lot of new and interesting blogs and podcasts this way. Obviously, since this article is a Community Spotlight, I believe very much in highlighting the work of others. I hope they continue to include this and maybe even spend more time on it in the future!

It probably won't, but don't let that stop you from trying.

Wait...wait... The Force will tell me is formatted like a game show, and is a lot of fun to listen to. The show normally has a guest from somewhere in the SW:TOR community (this week it was Stephen Reid, Senior Community Manager, and is definitely worth a listen. Stephen Reid never disappoints, except apparently when being quizzed about Punch-Out!). Questions are answered and fun is poked at the loser.

This is a great podcast to listen to to unwind. The guys are all really funny and the questions are well thought out. It's more of a casual, fun listen.


Other shows:


There are other shows on GPR which seem to have fallen inactive for the moment. Having said that, you can actually submit a segment to GPR. If you have a great idea, go to their website and submit it!


To Conclude:


So there you have it: Galactic Public Radio! You can listen to these podcasts on their website, or you can subscribe via iTunes or RSS. If you like the show you've listened to, I recommend voting for it on iTunes. This data is important for the success of their show!


Have a website you think I should look at, or that you think should be in the spotlight? Let me know at throwngauntlet@gmail.com, or contact me on my Twitter account, @ThrownGauntlet. I'm always looking for new blogs, resources and fansites to review!

Regarding Server Population

"The delegation from Ord Mantell moves to install stairs."

The fine folks over at TORWars have put up their most recent podcast, which addresses among other things the perceived server population issue. Since this is a common complaint, I thought I'd weigh in on this.

I'd like to preface this post by saying that I play on The Fatman-US (PvP) so if my server has a population issue, it is one of overpopulation and not a lack of players. This overpopulation is not currently a problem, but it could eventually become one. On Free Weekends at peak times, you're looking at an hour wait to log in.

I think that the best case scenario here is for us to get real, hard numbers on server population that we can take a look at. Most other MMO companies do not do this, so I don't have my hopes up. In the absence of hard numbers, discussing server population becomes a lot harder.

As Asros pointed out today on Twitter, you end up in a discussion where one side cannot produce any facts and is acting solely based on their "feelings" on server population. The honest truth is that, without numbers, people are guessing. They can tell you what the amount of people on the fleet was at 6pm, but they can't tell you what the total number of people logged into the server are. Dulfy has done a population survey, but it is obviously a snapshot of each server's users at a specific point in time and is not indicative of how many active players actually play there.

There is no doubt that peak concurrent users is down, which is believable. As TORWars reported, the initial playtime was unsustainable. We've been told subscriber numbers are more or less stable, which also seems reasonable.

Now having said all that, I do believe that some of the stories of servers starting to empty are valid - mostly because I think people are re-rolling to more populated servers like mine in the absence of hard data. In my opinion, the best realistic scenario here involves a complete population review of all servers once paid transfers have been open for a couple weeks. I have no doubt that Bioware will be keeping an eye on this.

Stretching out with your feelings probably won't do you much good on this topic.

Bioware needs to be honest with themselves and seriously consider server merges if things look grim a few weeks after paid transfers open. Thankfully, Daniel Erickson has said that server merges, while not a preferred option, are a possibility. I hope it doesn't come to that; I really hope it doesn't. But I think it might, and here's why:

Unless additional incentive is given to players to transfer off of high-pop servers, I don't think you'll see many people leaving them.


Even if the transfers are free (Bioware has said free transfers will be offered to high-pop server players), there's really no incentive to leave. So there's the occasional queue - so what? People have had plenty of chances to leave my server a lot earlier on, like at launch when there were multi-hour queues. People play here despite queues. Lots of guilds have transferred here in recent weeks. I doubt these people will want to relocate again.

On top of that, you're looking at a situation where we're really not given any data by Bioware on server population. Why take a chance and transfer to a light population server, only to pay to transfer back later? With more data, people might make an informed decision. As it stands right now, it's a shot in the dark.

Hate to tell you the odds, but...

There are two scenarios I can see where you will have substantial traffic off of high population servers:

1. Paid transfers open, hundreds if not thousands of people transfer to high population servers, and queues become unbearable for the veterans of the high population servers. If Bioware is smart, they keep unpaid transfers open during this period, because this might actually cause people to abandon ship.

2. Free transfers open and there is some kind of incentive to jumping ship, or some kind of "trial period" where you can transfer back for free. I'm not going to say incentive is everything here, but excepting people who have burned all their bridges on their current server or just have personal problems with their current server, why would someone leave a high-pop server right now with all the uncertainty?

Here's hoping that Bioware offers some incentive to repopulate lower-pop servers. If not, the free transfers will likely be underutilized.

Mixing it up

As mentioned in my Maintaining Composure post, I've been trying to get a feel for all the dedicated PvPers in the guild so that I can assess where our strengths are, and where we need to improve. Also, though our guild screens for disruptive and rude behaviour, people are obviously capable of lying so it also lets me make sure that the guild's name isn't being ruined out on the field.

Last night, I finally had the chance to PvP with one of our newer recruits, a Marauder that I'd heard some good things about. I had been trying to work him into a group, but it seemed for a while that we were playing "Guild Chat Tag": our availability never seemed to line up. One of us always seemed to be AFK when there was a vacancy, or else one of the two of us was already in a full group of four guild members.

I'm also still new to the whole "PvP Officer" thing, which I'm sure didn't help things. Sure, I've acted in an Officer capacity before in other guilds, but normally that was as a class or role officer or raid leader. Never before have I had the responsibility of playing with someone who likely is not playing my class and analyzing their playstyle, strengths and weaknesses. Oh, yeah, I also have to try to help my team win while I do this. I don't resent the duty - on the contrary, I'm honoured to do it. It's just that I'm not comfortable with myself in the role yet, so I guess I probably missed some opportunities to invite this Marauder previously, and I felt bad about it.

Once I got on the field with him, my feelings changed completely.

I'm not sure why exactly, but PvPing with someone for the first time is always a breath of fresh air for me. I'm often exposed to new strategies and playstyles. Instead of intuitively knowing where my teammates are and what they're doing, I'm forced to keep my head up and take it all in. If the class is not normally one I play with, I experience new synergies and group capability.

Perhaps the most interesting part is seeing someone mentally integrate themselves into our group.

In Kira's words, "Isn't teamwork grand?"

I don't prep people when I PvP with them. I guess I could say, "Hey, when we're in there, I'm going to be asking you for information and asking you to do things... if you have any questions, feel free to ask me", but that would be far less fun. I get a certain amount of excitement out of seeing people get it, so to speak. Even if they had done PvP in a group setting before, there's that moment when they become comfortable with us and things just start clicking.

The Marauder in question did really well, and I'm glad to have him on our side. As a result of last night's experience, I'm going to focus on scrambling groups as much as I can. I know there are some people who will still want to play together if possible, and that's okay too. But I feel that we all still have a lot more to learn from each other.

PvP Tank Basics: Using Taunt Effectively

PvP Tank Basics is a series of articles in which I'll examine the baseline PvP tank abilities and discuss strategies for maximizing their effectiveness. I will keep these articles up to date, so that they can be referenced at any time by new PvP tanks. Today, we're looking at Taunt.

Taunt is a great way to cut down burst damage, which is one of the prime killers of healers in PvP combat. The ability itself is fairly simple:

Taunt

InstantCooldown: 15s
Range: 30 m
Taunts the target, forcing it to attack the Warrior for 6 seconds. Player targets deal 30% less damage when attacking anyone other than you. Lasts 6 seconds.

This ability is named Taunt for Jedi Guardians, also. For Sith Assassins and Jedi Shadows, it is called Mind Control. For Powertechs it is named Neural Dart, and for Vanguards it is called Neural Jolt. All these abilities function identically. You do not need to be in your "Defensive Stance" to use your Taunt ability (see the section below called "What if I'm not a tank?").

The ability is of course useless if used on someone who is attacking you. It has a fairly short cooldown, which means that you can (and should) use it often.


Taunt Priority


My priority for using taunt is as follows:

1. Any class capable of heavy burst damage who is currently attacking a healer. Good examples are Operatives/Scoundrels who have just opened on a healer; Marauders/Sentinels who have just charged a healer; Rage/Focus-specced Juggernauts/Guardians; Gunslingers/Snipers.

2. Any damage class attacking a healer. This is fairly self-explanatory. The less healing healers need to use on themselves to stay alive, the more they will be throwing on your team, including you.

3. Burst damage-capable enemies focus-firing friendly DPS. Again, self-explanatory. Give your healers a chance to save this person. There are better abilities to use in this situation, but if none of them were available and Taunt was, I'd at least use it.


4. Any enemy DPS focus-firing friendly DPS.

As a side note, never Taunt an enemy healer. They aren't doing damage, so the ability has no effect.


The Psychology of Taunt


Taunt only lasts 6 seconds, and few opponents will be perceptive enough to see that they've been taunted and switch to you. It does happen sometimes, so have those defensive cooldowns ready.

If Taunt is used at the right moment, it may demoralize an enemy and get them to switch targets, especially when combined with other abilities. A good example are Operatives/Scoundrels who open from stealth on a healer. If you taunt them, you are going to be reducing their burst damage significantly, and they may give up or vanish in an attempt to re-open. Burst damage is one of their primary strengths; you are drastically decreasing their effectiveness by taunting them and they don't have a great way to adapt to that.


What if I'm not a tank?


Not primarily a tank, but your advanced class has access to a taunt-like ability? No problem. I'd recommend you still use it.

If you are primarily dealing damage in PvP, you often find yourself attacking enemies who are attacking your healer. Obviously, enemy healers are the highest priority and there is little point to taunting a healer, but once they are defeated your enemies are often stuck to your healers.

Spend the global cooldown to throw your Taunt on one of them. Not only will you get free medals, but you'll  be helping your healer out. You may be primarily a damage dealer, but you can still save someone's life. I would argue that if you play an advanced class that has access to taunt, even if focused on damage, you should be taunting often. It is a unique and highly-effective part of your toolbox which often becomes forgotten. It is part of what separates a good DPS-specced Juggernaut/Powertech/Assassin from a great one.

PvP Tank Basics: Using Guard Effectively

PvP Tank Basics is a series of articles in which I'll examine the baseline PvP tank abilities and discuss strategies for maximizing their effectiveness. I will keep these articles up to date, so that they can be referenced at any time by new PvP tanks. Today, we're looking at Guard.

Guard is a frequently misunderstood ability. While keeping it on a healer is a prudent strategy, it doesn't do anything for someone who isn't taking damage in PvP. Guard will almost always be your main source of Protection on the scoreboard at the end of a warzone if you are a dedicated PvP tank. It also allows your healers more time to react to incoming focus fire. Used appropriately and with healer support, it can turn the tide.

This means that the most effective way to use guard is to make sure that it is always redirecting damage to you. The only way to ensure this is to swap it as different members of your team are selected as targets. Do not be afraid to switch your Guard to someone new. The only possible exception to this is if you are the ball carrier in Huttball and do not wish to risk taking more damage.

Any advanced class with access to a tanking skill tree will learn Guard at level 14. From Torhead:

Guard

Instant
Range: 30 m

While active, the guarded player takes 5% less damage and generates 25% less threat. In addition, so long as you remain within 15 meters of the guarded player, 50% of all incoming damage from enemy players is transferred back to you. Requires Soresu Form.

Regardless of your advanced class, Guard always requires that you use the "Defensive Stance"  for your advanced class (Soresu Form for Juggernauts and Guardians) in order to be able to use it; if you switch stances it will immediately be removed. There was talk in Beta that Guard let your guarded target use your damage reduction. This has since been proven to be false, however they do still get the flat 5% damage reduction bonus while guarded.

The most important thing to remember about Guard is that you must be within 15 meters of your Guarded target in order to intercept 50% of their incoming damage. If you overextend, you may be responsible for the guarded player's demise, especially in a heavy-pressure situation.


Guard Priority

Guard does a good job of making healing easier to handle for your team's healers. But who should you be guarding at any given point in time? My priority is as follows:

1. If one of my healers is being attacked, I put my guard on them until they are no longer in danger. This aspect of using Guard is often a judgement call. Look around for Ranged DPS that may still be focusing on your healer before you leave them alone. If possible, ask your healer if they are okay (voice communication is helpful here).

2. With my healer no longer in danger, I look at the health of those around me as I move into the thick of the fight. If I see someone is being focus-fired, I use guard on them immediately and, if available, Intercede to them or Force Charge to an enemy nearby so that they will be getting the benefit of my Guard as soon as possible (other ACs can substitute their own gap closers here). Very often, the enemy's focus fire target is a melee DPS on your team who has made themselves a threat by antagonizing the enemy's healers. If possible, call the enemy's focus fire target to your healers (again, voice communication helps) in case they are not yet aware of it.

3. While guarding the focus fire target, I continue to monitor our healer's health as I help support the DPS. Setting your healer as your focus target helps make this a lot easier. You need to enable this in Preferences and the keystroke is Alt+F by default. Your healer should also communicate with you, if possible, in the event that they are being attacked. That way, you know to go back to help them.


The Psychology of Guard


A lot of the time, DPS will continue to attack a guarded healer, either not noticing or not caring that they are doing only 50% of their normal damage to the healer. As a tank, this is what you want them to do. Even if your healer is only able to keep you and themselves alive, they are likely occupying the time of 3+ enemies who are not attacking other people on your team, and you are able to utilize your taunts to further decrease the damage. In other words, you are buying time for the rest of your team to kill them.

However, smart DPS will usually do one of three things to counter this:

1. They will switch to you, attempting to burn you down while the healer recovers from recent pressure. Since they are attacking you, you're taking full damage from their attacks and your taunts are useless. The exact threat this poses to you depends on the type of classes attacking you, but it's not usually a good situation. Here's where you use your defensive cooldowns. If possible, throw out stuns on your attackers to let your healer respond to the target switch. Keep your guard on your healer for the moment, in case they choose to switch back.

2. They will switch to another member of your team. This scenario is actually more favourable for you than the first one. Intercede to that target, swap your Guard to them, and utilize taunts and/or stuns to make the enemy's team difficult. Keep your eye on your healer; they may switch back once they realize you're responding to their pressure. Use this opportunity to throw out snares on the enemy in case they decide to switch back to your healer.

3. They will attempt to separate you from your healer. Not much you can do here besides use your gap closer to get back as soon as possible. This is possibly the worst scenario for you, depending on your healer's status when you get separated and on how much damage is being thrown at your healer in your absence.


We stand on guard for thee


Having read these tips, get out there and start supporting your allies on the field with Guard! It is, without a doubt, the most powerful ability tanks have in PvP to protect their allies. Using it well is the first step on your PvP tank journey. As always, any feedback is appreciated.

Q&A Analysis and Commentary: April 27th, 2012

So, the Q&A this week was informative enough that I feel it should be highlighted. Some of these answers have been given before (at the Guild Summit for example), but others are new. You can click the link above to go directly to the Q&A, but here is my summary and my comments:


Dual Spec will not be making it in for Patch 1.3.

That awkward moment when you realize you're not specced for healing, so you call a medical capsule immediately.

This is a disappointment, but I can live another patch without Dual Specialization. I know a lot of people in the community and in my guild will be upset by this one, but this is something that needs to be done correctly and thoroughly before it is added to the live client. This was probably the biggest thing to come out of the Q&A.


Character transfers will be available in early summer of this year.


Exciting news. Basically they will be allowing free transfers from high-pop servers to lower-pop ones first, and then after all of that is done they will open up paid transfers. This is good as it will allow players to re-assess the community of their server before forking over money for paid transfers. Kudos to Bioware for having this done so quickly.


Social gear will scale to your armor type automatically in Patch 1.3.

You can't tell just by looking, but she has a 23% chance to deflect and a military-grade shield generator.

This is exciting news for all those who do not wear Light Armor. What I would love to see in the future is some limited functionality to allow you to wear different kinds of modifiable armor (for example, there are some Light Armor legs that look a lot like Revan's robe, but I can't use them because they are Light and I am a tanking Juggernaut). As far as we know, this armor scaling feature will work only with Social gear - but I would love for them to expand it to all gear. Probably a pipe dream, though.


New species will be added sometime this year.

This cheerful looking guy could be the nail in my Chiss Operative's coffin.

No word on what kind of species we're talking here, but this is exciting. Hopefully they add extra character slots around the same time, because mine are already full. If they put Nautolan in, someone is going to be getting deleted.


Datacrons may be made Legacy-wide!


They are considering it, so this is not 100% guaranteed. I liked the datacron hunt thing, but a lot of people seem to dislike it based on the fact that it requires a time investment on mutiple characters. The stat bonuses individually are very minor, but they do add up. I'm interested to see where they go with this.