We are excited to reveal Novare Coast, our latest Player-vs-Player Warzone featured in the upcoming Game Update 1.2 “Legacy” for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!
On the war-torn planet of Denova, opposing forces vie for control of Novare Coast, a strategically vital beachhead that leads to the open oceans of Denova. Whoever controls this coastline will have a decisive advantage in taking control of the planet. To secure the beach, sides battle for control of three mortar turrets which can be used to pound the enemy with artillery fire.
See the Warzone for yourself by checking out the latest video.
Since I'm not one for PvP there's really not much for me to say about the video.
After the break the Community Q&A, a number of links and the developer quotes.
Last Friday BioWare also posted a new Community Q&A. This continues the questions about Game Update 1.2. Here is one such question:
Leonalis: When will we get the titles promised for playing on PTS? Will it be for all my characters?
Stephen Reid (Senior Community Manager): Short answer: after Game Update 1.2 goes live and yes! There are two in-game titles that will be granted to anyone who created a new character on the Public Test Server. Both titles will be placed after your character’s name. The first title is given for attaining Level 10 with any new character on PTS, and it is ‘First Line of Defense’. The second title is given for finishing Chapter 1 with any new character on PTS, and it is ‘The Cutting Edge’.
We’ll be granting these titles soon after Game Update 1.2 goes live, and you’ll receive the titles across your account for all characters, both existing and new. You’ll get the titles via in-game mail, similar to the Founder’s Medal, so keep an eye on your mailbox. In addition, these titles will still be available to be gained from playing on PTS in the future.
I don't play on PTS, but I think that's a nice idea to give people titles for playing on test (though I wonder why there isn't a third one for getting to 50 on test; ah well).
Last week a few sites posted articles about PvP and Warzones as well, with a few details slipping out of PAX East last weekend. First off Darth Hater had an interview with Gabe Amatangelo on PvP and Operations; here's an excerpt:
Can you explain what your vision is for the rated Warzone pre-season?
The first season we’re doing in 1.2 is pre-season because we don’t have the cross-server queuing in yet. Cross-server queuing is definitely important for an Elo-based type of rating system for matching people up with people of similar rating skill on a frequent basis. This first preseason introduces the competitive measure because we think that is an important aspect to complete PvP experience, but also to collect data and refine the system before getting into the official season one.
In one of the other questions Gabe says that Domination is the most popular Warzone type (by which I'm sure he's referring to the Alderaan Warzone). But I wonder... how does he measure that to come to that conclusion? Considering that the Warzones pop randomly and users don't have a say over which one they play, as I understood. Anyway.
Darth Hater also has a detailed PAX East coverage. Lots of stuff there; definitely worth a look.
Ten Ton Hammer's SWTORHub was also at PAX East and they had an interview with James Ohlen. Here's an excerpt:
Ten Ton Hammer: With the building blocks of the Legacy system coming into place, is the plan currently to build on it and keep expanding it into its own system?
James Ohlen: That's the plan. The legacy system is going to be a big part of the game. We even have a whole team devoted to build new features for it. Our game update 3 has a whole bunch of new features and our game update 4 has a special legacy system surprise. After that, we're going to gauge fan's reaction to the legacy system. So if the legacy system really takes off, we'll pour more resources into it, but it if doesn't do as well as we thought, we might not put so much of a focus on it. Our strategies are based on how our fans react; we have a plan all the way through to the end of the year, and we can make adjustments depending on feedback.
A special legacy surprise? Hmm, I have no idea what that could be. Now I'm curious what he's referring to.
Kotaku had a look at the new Warzone in Game Update 1.2 and felt that it is pretty good. Here's an excerpt:
In the new warzone, there are three turret bases for which Republic and Imperial forces vie to control. Whoever controls two out of three when time is up wins — straightforward, and compelling. What I enjoyed most was how the layout of the terrain and the placement of the bases heavily encouraged the use of strategic, tactical thinking. While you could run your guys straight into their guys (the tactic that got us slaughtered repeatedly in the first round), the hills and architecture provide a great deal of opportunity for flanking and creative maneuvers. The gameplay is as chaotic as anyone might expect of a zone that has more than a dozen blaster- and lightsaber-armed players in it but, importantly, it never becomes too frenetic to follow.
Over at Massively they had a look at the new Flashpoint and made a 15-minute walkthrough video. The video should probably be considered spoiler-ish as it goes through all the bosses and tells a lot about the mechanics for most of them. Either way, here it is:
And that leaves the developer quotes.
Developer Quotes
- [link] to Stephen Reid on April Fools' joke.
- [link] to David Hunt on Companion gear mods.
- [link] to David Hunt on modded items.
- [link] to David Bass on PAX East.
- [link] to David Bass on Guild Summit panels.
- [link] to Amber Green on Test patch notes.
- [link] to Stephen Reid on James Ohlen feedback request.
- [link] to Stephen Reid on armor models.
- [link] to Amber Green on more Test patch notes.
- [link] to Georg Zoeller on itemization in 1.2.
- [link] to Georg Zoeller on itemization in 1.2, part 2.
- [link] to Georg Zoeller on itemization in 1.2, part 3.
- [link] to Georg Zoeller on itemization in 1.2, part 4.
The first post I'll lift out is by David Hunt, commenting on modded items (on the Test server forum):
Modded waists and wrists are still rare in 1.2, but there are a few more of them. When waists or wrists are modifiable, they do not have the third slot (because they have lower stats than the chest/head/legs/hands/feet).Earpieces and implants don't support mods.
I... dont' think I've ever actually seen any moddable waist or wrist items. I actually thought those didn't come in moddable variety. Maybe having a few more of them means I'll actually see some.
The second post (also on the Test server forum) is by Georg Zoeller talking about itemization in Game Update 1.2. It's a fairly large post so I'm not going to quote it in its entirety, but here's an excerpt:
"Campaign" and "Black Hole" GearCampaign gear is the new tier of PvE set items we are rolling out with the Explosive Conflict Operation. It shares the set bonus with Rakata, allowing seamless equipment upgrades and is acquired through tokens acquired in Hard Mode of Operation: Explosive Conflict and the new World Boss on Belsavis.
All Campaign gear can also be reverse engineered for a chance to learn the associated schematic. For armor, this means a chance to learn the custom (orange) appearance of item, for implants, earpieces, mods, etc. This means learning to craft the item itself. All of these may be crafted critical for an additional augment slot or, in case of a mods, additional resulting items.
Campaign gear uses a different stat distribution from previous sets with greater variety of available stats and better base stats.
Honestly, I've got a feeling that all that endgame gear stuff is way beyond what I'll ever reach. After having finished my Agent's story I haven't really felt compelled to play her again. And I suspect that my Consular will be similar. But it's good for those who do enjoy the endgame in TOR.
Anyway, that's it for now.
[link] to interview with Gabe Amatangelo at Darth Hater.
[link] to PAX East coverage at Darth Hater.
[link] to interview with James Ohlen at SWTORHub.
[link] to Warzone preview at Kotaku.
[link] to Flashpoint walkthrough video at Massively.
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