May 4, 2021 · 8:00 am

Turn Turn Turn

Happy May the 4th! Personally I don’t need an excuse to celebrate Star Wars, but it’s always nice to get a tiny Astromech droid in the mail and check out the latest news from a galaxy far, far away. If you are actually reading this on the 4th, then you will be able to check out a special livestream event featuring a bunch of SWTOR‘s official content creators. We will be venturing into the Dread Fortress operation on its most deadly difficulty, Nightmare! You’ll be able to tune to the show on several different twitch channels, and if you have a moment, I hope you’ll stop by and say “Hello there!” There will be giveaways, mayhem and hopefully some defeated bosses!

SWTOR is primarily known for its story, but it also features a wide variety of operations for raiders of all skill levels. SWTOR‘s story mode ops are extremely accessible for brand new and inexperienced players; the intermediate Hard Modes are a fun challenge for veterans on a casual schedule; and at the Nightmare level, seasoned players looking to test their skills can face some of the greatest challenges and earn some of the rarest rewards the game has to offer.

Over the years, SWTOR has done an excellent job telling stories through group content, and I highly recommend teaming up with friends and guild-mates to check them out. Tonight’s stream will be an excellent showcase for one of SWTOR‘s most beloved operations and will feature some of the best players in the game. And I’ll be there too. Hopefully facing the right direction some of the time!

To Everything There Is A Season

Game update 6.3 “Dark Descent” launched with two new additions to Star Wars: The Old Republic both of which bear discussing: Galactic Seasons and the Secrets of the Enclave flashpoint, but I think it’s worth splitting the topics up over two posts.

Let’s start with Galactic Seasons, SWTOR’s take on the battlepass. Seasons is a system that directs players to do activities in the game and rewards them with a variety of cosmetics: a new companion, mounts, weapons, armor and, if they stick with it long enough, a new Stronghold to decorate.

Galactic Seasons is my first experience with a battlepass system, so I don’t really have any prior frame of reference. But my first impression after a week is that it’s fine. Is it a cash grab by EA, or a way for Bioware to give players more value for their subscription? Probably a bit of both.

I don’t have any particular issues with the Cartel Market. However, for a while now the gear awarded from flashpoints, operations and reputation tracks has not competed aesthetically with what we can buy from the Cartel Market. This is surely not an accident. However, an important part of the MMO experience is finding and earning rewards through gameplay, and I think SWTOR may have swung too far towards focusing those rewards on the Cartel Market and away from what players, especially casual players, can earn in the game.

Galactic Seasons does move this balance back towards gameplay a bit. There are a fair amount of unique rewards to be found by players willing to participate in Seasons. For example, the mount subscribers pick up from the very first level of progress through the Season is quite cool. Indeed some of the best rewards are front-loaded, and players can earn some fun stuff without going too deep into the system.

If there is anything that Galactic Seasons reminds me of in SWTOR’s history, it’s the Dark vs. Light event from 2016. Like Seasons, the Dark vs. Light event was all about getting players to do stuff in the game and passing out rewards to those who participate.

I would encourage folks to treat Seasons the same way. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need to complete it in one day or one week or even one month. Look at the rewards and decide which ones you want, and pace yourself to get them. Take your time, and do what you want to do. It’s also fair that you may not be interested in all the objectives you get during a given day or week. If you don’t like PVP or grinding mobs; that’s cool. Take the day off, take the week off. We have some ability to change the objectives we really don’t want, but I don’t mind that Galactic Seasons encourages us to venture outside our comfort zone a bit. Last week, I found an excuse to revisit Galactic Starfighter after years away. I was terrible, no doubt, but I can’t deny doing a fist pump when I scored a kill during the match.

Starting next month, Seasons will have a mechanism allowing players to pay credits to catch up their progress if they’ve fallen behind. It will almost certainly not be cheap, but if you’ve got the credits, stuff like this is what they’re here for.

Are there problems with Galactic Seasons? Absolutely. Players can skip the grind completely simply by paying Cartel Coins. I know battlepasses in other games tend to have pay-to-skip options, but I think it’s a little hinky that SWTOR has one on top of the monthly subscription. However, it’s not my place to tell anyone how to spend their money, and I can’t fault players who don’t have the time to invest in the system or the credits to burn, but still want to check out some of the unique prizes.

As I see it, there are two key questions to ask about Galactic Seasons: First, is it mandatory? No. Not at all. To be brutally honest, I think many of the rewards are neat, but they’re not that neat. A character based on that alien with twenty seconds of screen time in one movie is not exactly an iconic addition to our existing roster of companions.

I might be wrong, but that’s probably fine. I think Bioware might be better off aiming for “neat” rather than “OMG I MUST HAVE THAT.” Could the rewards be neater? Yeah, I think so. The first of the two armor sets is dull, and I’m not sure we needed three different colored versions of the same creature mount. As much as I enjoy decorating, I wish the signature reward of the season packed a bit more punch than the fleet strongholds. Overall, I do believe some of the rewards are genuinely neat, but I don’t think anyone ought to feel disappointed if they miss out on them.

The second and most important question to ask of Galactic Seasons is this: Is it content? To me the answer is no. It’s something to do between actual content releases. That’s all. Every SWTOR player knows that it can be a long wait between story updates, and Galactic Seasons is a framework doling out tasks and rewards to players. Between major updates, active players traditionally self-direct themselves by choosing to play class or expansion stories, competing in PVP, clearing operations, completing achievements, etc. Galactic Seasons seems to me to be another option for players.

However, SWTOR already has two other systems for rewarding players for playing the game: Renown and Conquest, and I think Seasons doesn’t quite mesh well with them. Solo players will likely find that most objectives align with existing Conquest goals, but players focused on group activities, especially PVP and progression operations, will have to go further out of their way to complete most Galactic Seasons objectives.

I wish players had a little more leeway when it comes to the random objectives. I know Onslaught’s play-your-way philosophy leads to people grinding the fastest, easiest content, but I lead weekly guild events, and depending on the week’s Conquest theme, we might run the daily operation or hunt world bosses, but since players might have different Daily or Weekly Galactic Seasons objectives, I am put in the frustrating position of selecting to run content that rewards people unequally. This is not fair or fun for people who find themselves the odd ones out because of bad luck with objectives.

Ultimately, if Galactic Seasons doesn’t interest you, that’s fine. You can opt in or out as much as you like. Once again, it looks like players who have been subscribed at any point during Onslaught will continue to have access to the expansion’s future story updates. If you subbed for one month back in October 2019, you can still hop on and see how the war is going and find out what Malgus is up to. That content is waiting for you, no charge.

 

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April 29, 2021 · 12:00 pm

Raffle Season

Game Update 6.3 has arrived with the Secrets of the Enclave flashpoint to explore and the “Galactic Seasons” battlepass system to work through. I’ll have more to say about both next week, but for now I’d like to celebrate the welcome approach of summer and every Star Wars fan’s second favorite holiday (after Life Day, of course), May the Fourth. Once again this year, I am in the lucky position of being able to host a raffle and share some swag from the Cartel Market with visitors of this blog!

There are three neat new armor sets on the market this week, and three winners of this raffle will be awarded their choice of one of these sets: Mythosaur Hunter, Tactical Ranger or Dark Marauder.

To enter, leave a comment below with the following information:

  • Your character name (be mindful of spaces and special symbols!)
  • Your faction
  • Your server
  • Which one of the armor sets you’d like to win

That’s it! I will accept entries for one week from this posting and will randomly select the winners on May 6 at 12 PM ET. Since I’ll be acquiring the sets from the market myself, I won’t be able to mail them until the unlock timer expires that weekend.

If you prefer not to comment publicly, I will also accept entries via email at twia@generic-hero.com or through twitter.

There are no country or server restrictions on any of the prizes that will be awarded.

This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with LucasFilm Ltd, BioWare or Electronic Arts Inc.

We’re on the honor system here, so one entry per person, please.

Good luck, and May the 4th be with you!

 

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April 26, 2021 · 12:01 am

That Which Does Not Kill Us

With SWTOR‘s next game update “Dark Descent” arriving in just a few days, I figure it was high time to finally translate the third of three Mandalorian themed banners introduced late last year in the Spirits of Vengeance flashpoint.

While it was the last one I recreated, this will be the first one players encounter on their journey through the flashpoint on board the Clan Varad crewed starship, Champion’s Glory.

The sign is gold with purple and black accents and features a fitting slogan for the Clan. Described as “restless” by a Dark Lord of the Sith and bloodthirsty by most everyone else, Clan Varad served as the antagonists of the flashpoint Mandalorian Raiders and are likely already familiar to many players of the game.

The slogan is vague enough to appeal to the single-minded goals of Clan Varad, but it does beg the question: “Strongest at what?” I doubt Mandalorians who align with Varad have much interest in self-reflection so the question seems likely answered by whichever beskar-pot dictator shows up with the biggest blasters that day. Millennia later, these would go on to be the last words of the Deathwatch’s Pre Vizsla, so the slogan remains fittingly ironic.

When Is A Skull Not A Skull?

All three of the posters featured in the Spirit of Vengeance flashpoint feature unique and truly very cool takes on the famous skull icon made famous by Boba Fett. Of the three new symbols, the skull on the Clan Varad banner is most similar to the classic Mythosaur skull, but this version has a hand-printed texture rather than a stamped one, suggesting that if nothing else, Varad is far more hands-on than most Mandalorian clans.

Next up, the Darmanda logo from the Fortune’s Folly is quite similar in shape to the skull, but more closely evokes the contours of the equally if not more famous T-shaped visor of the Mandalorian helmet, but with a sleek, futuristic flair.

I alluded to this in the post in which I translated the banner from Heta Kol’s ship, the Seeker’s Vigil, but I might as well put my tin-foil hat theory on the record sooner rather than later. I suspect that symbol is not a skull at all, but the hilt of a weapon. But what weapon? Now, the Darksaber as seen on the shows The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian was created well after the events of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but what if Heta Kol is looking to create or acquire a proto-Darksaber? While other weapons inspired by modern Star Wars lore have found their way into SWTOR, this distinct take on the lightsaber feels conspicuous by its absence. This addition could also firmly connect Shae Vizla to Clan Vizsla, which has also played a significant role in Star Wars stories recently.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it, and it’s just a fancy skull. Hopefully we’ll find out before too long!

 

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Filed under General Star Wars, Mandalorian to English, Onslaught

April 1, 2021 · 4:01 am

A Face in the Crowd: Top Five Faces of the Old Republic

There are many grave and important issues facing Star Wars: The Old Republic these days. Who knows when all the classes will be balanced? What are Malgus’ plans? Where does Theron get his hair cut? When will Vaylin become a romancable companion? Why can’t we have a Baby Yoda pet? How will SWTOR celebrate its 10th anniversary?

However, those questions pale in comparison to the five I will be answering today. Curiously, each answer exposes a different face of the Old Republic, whose visages reveal not only our capacity for pattern recognition in the oddest of places, but also the discovery that no matter where you go, from the most crowded instance of the Imperial and Republic fleets to the depths of Manaan and the darkest corner of Iokath, you’re never really alone.

As you wander around Carrick Station, do you ever feel like you’re being silently judged?

That’s because you are.

Why do the Selkath stan HK Droids?

Welcome to HK-221B Manaan Street.

Is this closest we’re ever going to get to a Porg in SWTOR?

Say it ain’t so, Bioware!

Why does it seem like the GTN section is always hungry?

Vaiken Spacedock is both figuratively and literally ready to devour you and your credits.

How can you know if you took a wrong turn in the Gods from the Machine operation?

It’s okay, I do it all the time too.

Next time you catch the gaze of these friendly faces on your journey through the galaxy, smile back.

 

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Filed under Dumb Top Five, General SWTOR

March 11, 2021 · 1:30 pm

These Go to Eleven

Longtime readers will know that I’m not usually one for hot takes. It’s been a more than week since SWTOR‘s last update, but I think it’s probably worth putting my reactions on the record. Consider this my lukewarm take on game update 6.2.1.

First let’s start with the elephant in the room, because relatively speaking, it takes up about as much space on our screens: the Amplifier sidebar. It is a real head-scratcher. The newly designed character sheet puts Amplifiers in a position of prominence that far, far outweighs their actual importance to players, while the information that actually matters is relegated to a tabbed table in the bottom left.

I don’t even know where to begin with this. The User Interface should, above all, account for how players will use it and make information and functions easier to access. I often check my Accuracy and Alacrity when swapping gear, I generally don’t care what Amplifiers I have. Additionally, putting the weapons smack dab in the middle of the column of armor slots in remarkably non-intuitive. I can’t tell you how many times last week I tried to equip a belt in my weapon slot.

I am all in favor of an improved Amplifier interface, and I have no issue with the cost of rerolling locked Amplifiers. The game needs credit sinks, and the players who most care about their Amps likely have the most cash to burn. I tell new players not to worry about Amplifiers at all; as they acquire maximum level gear, consider setting aside good mods with good Amps if they want, but, aside the daily reroll for Conquest points, I think the vast majority of players have no need to fuss with their Amplifiers.

The Amplifier window should not be a massive caboose that distracts players from the real reasons they want to access the character sheet.

This was not the only annoyance to be found in the latest patch. SWTOR game updates often come with new and unintended bugs. This time those bugs have affected Utilities and Tacticals that grant extra stacks of buffs. For example, the Tactical that is supposed to give Sage healers an extra jump of Wandering Mend currently has no effect, and the Force Harmonics Utility that should grant Shadows an extra charge of Force Potency is likewise ineffective. Pretty much every class has at least one spec affected, and it’s frustrating that we are into our second week of discussing which bad Tactical or normally subpar Utilities should be used instead while we await a hotfix.

Finally the update did bring some changes to Uprisings, Knights of the Eternal Throne’s forgotten group content. The Uprisings have been rebalanced for level 75, and I’m honestly glad to have more max-level content to romp around in. I am on the record as someone who enjoys Uprisings. The have some neat mounts and achievements to farm, the power-ups are fun and they are a nice change of pace from the Flashpoints I’ve run many times over the years. There, however, is legitimate confusion over how the difficulty designations of Uprisings and Flashpoints don’t align. A Storymode flashpoint is meant to be soloed, but a Storymode Uprising is meant for a group, and a Veteran Uprising has more in common with a Master Mode flashpoint. I think some nomenclature clarifications are in order.

While I haven’t tried any of the rebalanced Master Mode Uprisings yet, I have run a few Storymodes with a friend and they seem to fill the spot that the old school Heroic-4’s used to: quick, small group content where companions can fill in for players in a pinch. Even in 270 gear with mid-level companions, we were able to complete several Uprisings in 15-20 minutes without much fuss. The boss fights felt maybe a bit too long, and some mechanics chewed up companions while others had very little effect, but that’s always been the risk when subbing in companions in place of players.

If you’re tired of Hammer Station and the same old heroics, grab a friend and your favorite companions and try a few Uprisings. You’ll get to revisit some familiar locations, watch trash mobs explode like popcorn and hopefully have a laidback, good time. In the meantime, we await official word about whether the Character Sheet will be revised due to player feedback and when those frustrating bugs will be quashed.

 

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Filed under General SWTOR, Onslaught

February 28, 2021 · 11:59 pm

Aurebesh is Weird

As February ends, gentle reader, I am once again turning in my work at the last possible second. All I can say is that this month definitely did not work out the way I’d planned.

This time, I’ve chosen to take a fresh look at one of the very first translations I made for this blog, and make a more faithful recreation this time around. Given its translation, you will likely not be shocked to learn that this sign can be found most commonly on the planet Corellia. Amusingly, the blue text contains a spelling error. It’s not the only one in the game, but it’s also a common error, one I’ve made myself, so I’m happy to let it slide. The orange text is another example of seemingly random single or paired letters that are seen frequently in holographic neon around the galaxy, and the use of the letters “G” and “Z” are a common popular choice for numerous signs and displays in the game. For the blue text, I followed the original’s use of capital and lower case letters, but for the line of orange, single glyphs I opted to reflect the capital “G’s” rather than alternate it with a lower case “g’s” in order the better match the poster’s original design.

There are several aspects to this seemingly simple sign that make translation a bit more tricky that it might seem at first glance. My initial translation nearly five years ago was completely nonsensical because technically this writing is not Aurebesh. To the best of my knowledge this alphabet has not been formally identified in Star Wars canon, but it is actually the second attempt, after Aurebesh as we know it, to recreate Joe Johnston’s original alien alphabet created for the original trilogy. The particular font used here is likely Erik Schroeder’s Galactic Basic. The giveaway that the font used is not formal Aurebesh is actually the use of glyphs which in Aurebesh are two-letter digraphs. As Aurebesh has evolved over the years, the digraphs have been used less and less over time or repurposed as other symbols. In SWTOR when you see an Aurebesh digraph you can usually assume the font being used is not Aurebesh.

As fake space letters go, I continue to find the evolution of Aurebesh interesting. There are many, many issues with its original, official presentation. The punctuation is incomplete, and there are no numbers or rules for capitalization. Over the years, different fonts, very often created by fans, have filled in the gaps and fleshed it out in ways beyond its original intention. The overall effect of this is that Aurebesh feels rather like a living “language” with weird oddities and quirks that real alphabets develop through generations of use across vast distances. Aurebesh, from the very beginning, was never intended to be THE singular alphabet of the Star Wars universe, just one of many. (including our own English alphabet). In Star Wars: The Old Republic, this diversity of languages and scripts can be found around the game world, and eagle-eyed gamers will spot Huttese/Outer Rim Basic, Naboo Futhork, ancient Jedi and Sith runes and most recently Mandalorian alongside the familiar Aurebesh.

UPDATE! I just noticed a spelling error of my own in my recreation. I’m tempted to claim this is an intentional homage to the error in the original and totally not a basic mistake by yours truly. You be the judge!

 

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Filed under Aurebesh to English, General Star Wars, General SWTOR

January 13, 2021 · 3:40 pm

Cherish the Past

This week let’s take a look at the second of three Mandalorian posters found in the new flashpoint Spirit of Vengeance. Beware! My comments on this poster, found on the Ash’ad ship, the Seeker’s Vigil, could be considered spoilers for the flashpoint’s story, so definitely check that out first.  Although the Mando’a spoken language has been frequently used in SWTOR, the Mandalorian font makes its SWTOR debut, I believe, in Spirit of Vengeance.

The poster is available as a Stronghold decoration that can drop from bosses in the flashpoint, although it seems to have been mislabeled as propaganda from the Dar’manda ship, Fortune’s Glory.

At first glance, the most prominent image on the poster seems to be the familiar Mandalorian skull symbol, but I don’t believe this is meant to depict the Mythosaur at all. The poster’s color scheme and design most closely recalls the flashpoint’s final boss, Heta Kol whose helmet shares a similar arrangement of horns and prominent dorsal fin. Whether it is meant to be an image of a specific creature, I cannot say. I’d actually suggest that the icon better evokes the shape of a dagger or sword or saber hilt.

If that is the case, then the visual design appears to be at odds with the written message of the poster which implies that whoever created it clearly does not believe that the pen is mightier than the sword.

The mystery of Heta Kol has become a hot topic of conversation since the release of the flashpoint, and the text might be a reference to Canderous Ordo, otherwise known as Mandalore the Preserver. Should we take this as a clue that she has ties to the brothers Jekiah and Ras Ordo, whose sister is presumed to be dead? Maybe!

Overall I like how the poster immediately evokes in its color and design classic Mandalorian imagery, but gives it an unexpected twist or two.

Sell the Sizzle

While it’s not unusual for news from SWTOR to dry up this time of year, Bioware has put the next game update on the PTS unexpectedly early. But the most dramatic news this week came from starwars.com which announced that future Star Wars games would now share the official identity of “Lucasfilm Games.” To mark the announcement, they showed off a “sizzle real” of clips from numerous Star Wars games including, The Old Republic! The news has already triggered announcements of more Lucasfilm property games from publishers other than EA. SWTOR has very often been relegated to the roll of the forgotten middle child struggling for attention whenever newer, hotter games come out. Nevertheless, SWTOR has remained a stalwart over the years, and it’s always nice to see it get some love from Mom and Dad at the official website as the game celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Fingers crossed that there is more excitement to come!

 

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Filed under General SWTOR, Mandalorian to English, Onslaught

January 1, 2021 · 12:01 am

Fight the Future: Five Predictions for 2021

Happy New Year! Let’s all hope that 2021 is a big improvement on the previous year. As is tradition, let’s kick things off with my dumb top five predictions for the next year of SWTOR that are likely to be wrong.

Looking back at last year’s list, it did look for a moment like I might, shockingly, come away with a winning record. A Blurrg mount was briefly teased on the PTS late last year but it did not seem close to making it to the live game. One should always remember that the PTS is not a promise. While this does suggest we might lope around on a Blurrg at some time in the coming year, I cannot fairly give myself a point for that one.

As for my two correct predictions, guessing that we wouldn’t see changes to Spoils of War was not a stretch. No one has ever gone poor betting that something in SWTOR would not change. As for my story prediction, technically it has not been explicitly confirmed, but the subtext is clear enough that I feel confident putting that one in the win column. I am being somewhat vague since it still feels spoilery, but I will say I am pleased with how that beat played out in the Echoes of Oblivion story.

Without further ado on with the show! These predictions are based on my years of experience not developing a mass market videos game inspired by one of the world most popular intellectual properties. So, of course, I know what I’m talking about.

Expansion Hype

SWTOR’s tenth anniversary is next December, and it seems reasonable to expect that Bioware would like to celebrate with an expansion. That will give Onslaught a roughly two year lifespan, a stretch more or less in line with SWTOR’s other expansions. With much of Onslaught’s 2020 content backed up to the end of the year, this does leave a lot of ground for the game to cover before getting ready for a new expansion, so this prediction is far from a slam dunk. Will 2021 end with a new expansion or a new expansion announcement? There is a fair amount of ground between the two, but I will boldly predict that this time next year, we’ll be level 80 and grinding new sets of equipment. Hopefully not in Hammer Station.

What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

The possibility of an expansion does make the business of predictions easy this time. I suspect that the Spirit of Vengeance flashpoint and perhaps one more (or two if we’re really lucky) to come this year, will act as the prologue to the next expansion, in the same way the Forged Alliances flashpoints set up Shadow of Revan. That means the next expansion could very well focus on a Mandalorian civil war. Mandalorians are having their moment in pop culture right now so I don’t think it’s outrageous that SWTOR might get in on that action. In addition, it’s also a faction neutral setting into which Bioware could easily insert both Republic and Sith aligned characters.

This could also allow Bioware to keep the loyalist/saboteur storylines going without having to resolve them. I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing Republic Bounty Hunters looking for work on Carrick Station and Jedi saboteurs recruiting on Korriban anytime soon.

End of Expansion Gearing

If we do get an expansion, I suspect it will be preceded by a tried and true MMO end of expansion gear bonanza. I don’t think a new tier of gear would be out of the question to drive up those Veteran’s Edge stacks. At the very least I’d say the Dxun class sets and crafting materials for gold augments will become easier to acquire. While I know the mechanics of how Ossus gear was acquired during Jedi Under Seige was controversial, I do think we might see new loot gained from a new daily area and perhaps a lair boss.

Hey, What About Malgus?

The fate of Darth Malgus remains the major thread from Onslaught still dangling, and resolving his story seems like the thing Onslaught will most likely accomplish this year. Whatever Malgus is up to on Dantooine could very well take us to the ruins of the Jedi Enclave there. In the end, I think we will face and defeat Malgus in final battle. I’ve seen other possibilities suggested for Malgus, but as fond as I am of him and the tragic figure he’s become, I think his days are numbered. I don’t imagine we’ll be able to join him, recruit him as a companion, or install him as the Sith Emperor. He is reasonable to be suspicious, at best, of the player characters regardless of class, faction or allegiance, and I just don’t see him going down without a fight.

A Porg in Every Pot

It’s not a running joke until I run it into the ground. So, yes, I am hopeful that 2021 will be finally the year that an adorable Porg will be able to follow and passively observe me on my adventures! Once again, I am here to offer helpful suggestions for how to add Porgs to SWTOR. First off, clearly, there will be Porg tacticals that replace all our spoken dialogue with Porg calls. This will make the recording of all future dialogue a significantly easier task. But let’s be clear, there must be distinct Porg sounds for characters of all genders and alignments. Clearly a Sith Inquistor’s clucks should be distinct from a Republic Trooper’s chirps. And since I’ve predicted that a new tier of gear is imminent, the system to acquire it should be named “Spoils of Porgs” which will allow us to grind unwanted gear into “Porg Fragments” that we can use to purchase Best-in-Slot equipment. And, yes, Bioware, you can have these ideas for free.

For these predictions to come to pass, it would mean we’d be getting outrageously more content from SWTOR than we’ve almost ever seen from the game’s history. So I’m certainly letting my sunny disposition get the better of me. Still, I believe Bioware plans to mark the tenth anniversary of SWTOR with something special, so I am honestly hopeful it will be a party to remember.

 

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Filed under Dumb Top Five, General SWTOR, Onslaught

December 16, 2020 · 12:10 am

Echoes of Vengeance Review

This week I’d like to share some spoiler free thoughts on SWTOR‘s Game Update 6.2, Echoes of Vengeance. I won’t lie, I’ve been eagerly looking forward to SWTOR‘s first significant story update of 2020. I doubt there is anyone out there from the players to the developers who isn’t disappointed that we didn’t get more story this year, but I do think the game has closed out the year with a bang.

Echoes of Oblivion

MMOs aren’t really known for endings. To one extent or another, they’re all about keeping the treadmill running and hyping up the next big thing. Echoes of Oblivion, however, feels like the capstone to a journey started nine years ago. It ties together the major strands and story beats woven through eight class stories and all of the expansions, and brings them together for a conclusion that felt to me immensely satisfying.

There are the expected heroes and villains doing their thing, a few pleasant surprises, and one or two things put right that had gone wrong. In service of the story, there is once again an incredible setting to explore. We visited a similar mindscape before during Knights of the Eternal Throne, but this time the environment seems to have been modeled on the landscape of a brain with synapse-like paths connecting suspended islands of memories illuminated by glowing neuron-like formations. It’s unique and fantastic, and I definitely recommend taking your time to look around as you make your way through this adventure.

The who story itself is appropriately epic with moments of high drama and even a funny running joke early on. Each of the major non-player characters get a moment to shine and be cool, but none of it feels like kill-stealing or overshadowing of our characters. It’s our choices and actions have made it all possible and brought us to the end of all things.

With so many story beats and characters to juggle, it’s not surprising, however, that not every thread got pulled, even ones that perhaps should have. The climax surely could’ve had more personal impact if the Consular’s Shielding technique or the Inquisitor’s Forcewalking powers had been invoked. Moreover, I think it’s fair that players of Jedi Knights who have newly reignited or recently started romances with Kira and Scourge might be disappointed that their relationships weren’t acknowledged on-screen, despite their major roles in the story. I know there are countless combinations of characters and companions, and I don’t envy Bioware’s task of finding space for them all, but it does feel like any romances outside of Lana and Theron have gotten the short end of the stick for quite a while now.

I suppose I could also argue that Echoes of Oblivion is just SWTOR taking a victory lap, but if it is, it’s well deserved. Bringing a decade’s worth of story told by countless writers, artists, designers, developers and players to a rewarding climax is no mean feat, and the good folks at Bioware should be commended for sticking the landing.

The Spirit of Vengeance

But, of course, this is not the end. No sooner have we caught our breath than a new threat has emerged, and we’re off to a new flashpoint, the Spirit of Vengeance. Given the popularity of The Mandalorian, it’s not shocking that SWTOR would want to explore Mandalorian’s unique brand of politics. But they’re hardly riding any coattails. Generations of Star Wars fans have been mad about this stuff since Boba Fett made his debut in 1978, and SWTOR has been having fun with Mandos since launch. If the show’s popularity is an excuse for a deeper dive, I’m cool with that.

The flashpoint focuses on three clans familiar to SWTOR players, and each section is distinctive, giving the whole flashpoint a sense of progression. I’ve run the SoV on solo, veteran and master modes and each of the boss fights are pretty fun, although it’s not always clear how their mechanics work. I’m still not sure how best to deal with Bask Sunn’s tether and Troya Ajak’s songbird volley. That said, aside from the healing check on Troya, I didn’t find the flashpoint too taxing on Master Mode, especially as compared to the Onslaught‘s other new flashpoint, Objective Meridian. It is a long flashpoint, and that may not be for everyone. Personally, I consider Hammer Station speed runs to be the death of fun, so I am more than fine spending some extra time in SoV. That said, a group of four should have no problem moving through at a reasonable click. Curiously, I found solo the slowest mode since I had to slog through all the trash by myself. I wouldn’t mind if those power-ups from the Uprisings were a standard feature of solo-modes. A thermal devastator or two certainly would have come in handy!

Dar’manda

The flashpoint comes with numerous decorations to collect including three new Mandalorian themed posters. One can be seen below.

While the two other posters are written using the Mando’a font, this one is in Aurebesh, and for good reason. It features Indigo, leader of a clan of  Mandalorian exiles called Dar’manda who we met on Mek Sha. To their credit, the Dar’manda understand that it would be completely inappropriate for them to use the Mando’a language in their propaganda.

At first, I thought the text of this poster was a fairly basic aphorism, but in thinking about it in the context of the story and setting, it’s clear to me that the rewards being promised here are not the honor and glory sought by your bog-standard Mando, but far more material rewards. “Besom better have my credits,” as they might put it.

The logo at the bottom is a variation on the mythosaur skull and the standard Mandalorian T-shaped visor and helmet seen across Mandalorian lore. I don’t know if this is the first appearance of the symbol, but it’s pretty cool, and I hope we will get to see it in other contexts again.

I confess I went with a quick and dirty recreation here in hopes of publishing my take on the game update’s content while it was still somewhat hot. However, when I return next year, I plan to take a look at the two Mando’a posters in greater detail.

The Undiscovered Country

As this honestly crappy year comes to a close, I’m looking forward to the next. This silly blog, SWTOR and the good people with whom I’m honored to play have all been things that made a 2020 a lot easier to take. Next year is SWTOR’s tenth anniversary, and as Echoes of Oblivion closes the door on one adventure, the Spirit of Vengeance opens the path to another. Let’s see where it leads.

Stay safe, have fun and may the Force be with us all!

 

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Filed under Aurebesh to English, General SWTOR, Onslaught

December 4, 2020 · 2:10 am

A Day Long Remembered

I had been working on an Aurebesh translation for last week, but when I heard about the passing of David Prowse, I chose to set that aside and instead take a moment to pay respects to the man behind the mask of the greatest movie villain of my lifetime. It is literally no exaggeration to say that of the many pieces that went into the creation of Darth Vader, he was the biggest. It’s one thing to wear such an excellent costume, it’s quite another to wear it with poise and understated menace. There is a neat moment in The Empire Strikes Back that illustrates the physicality that Prowse brought to his performance. As the Rebel base on Hoth is overrun by the Empire, a squad of Snowtroopers carefully pick their way through the rubble of the area, but Darth Vader strides through confident that nothing will slow his progress.

Over the years, I’ve drawn a lot of Star Wars pictures, but not so many of Darth Vader. I’ve always found the mask’s confusing tangle of angles and curves a tough nut to crack. But I can’t think of a better excuse to give it another go.

As far as how this topic relates to SWTOR, I’ve discussed the suggestion of paying tribute in game to significant deceased members of Star Wars‘ legacy before, but it is worth repeating. I think the game should honor both the myriad of stories told under the Star Wars banner, but also the real people who helped create them. A monument on Korriban to a legendary lost Dark Lord of the Sith or a statue on Alderaan of a beloved and sassy Princess could easily be done without violating the sacred canon while allowing players a place in the game to pay tribute to the giants on whose shoulders we stand today.

 

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Filed under General SWTOR, My Artwork