PvP in SWTOR has long been a controversial topic. There are some who love it, there are some who hate it and everything in between. A recent post in the forums talked about how to improve PvP and it was written by a self-confessed old WoW PvPer. As someone who has also played hardcore World of Warcraft PvP, I can see a lot of their points as valid. However, SWTOR is a different game and I try to avoid any comparisons between two different games since it’s really different playing fields here. It’s apples and oranges- so comparing WoW PvP to SWTOR PvP just doesn’t stack up for me. However… there are some things that you can learn from doing PvP in another MMORPG, such as WoW that you can take with you into new games that you play like SWTOR. So with the spirit of that in mind, let’s…
pvp
Developer Blogs: PvP Season One Blog
Senior System Designer Rob Hinkle posted a blog regarding the upcoming season 1 of ranked warzones. The blog post doesn’t contain a ton of new info, but it’s nice to see the 6 month timeframe officially stated. It does feel like they’re doing a lot of stuff on the fly which seems scary but hopefully it provides them latitude to adapt as they go instead of screwing up season 1 and having to wait until season 2 to make changes. You can read the full blog post on the official website right here, or our copy paste below: Developer Blogs: PvP Season One Blog 11.07.2013 Greetings PvPers! I’m happy to say that a long awaited and promised time is finally upon us! With the launch of Game Update 2.4.3, the longest pre-season will be over and the inaugural Ranked PvP season will begin. We know it has been a long haul and…
DELAYED** Season 1 of Ranked Warzone Arenas
Eric Musco posted an update on the official SWTOR Forums, regarding the upcoming Season 1 of Ranked War zone Arenas. These will unfortunately bee delayed, as the devs found a game breaking bug with them. Surprised this happened? Not overly. Glad they caught it? Very. A bug like this could have cause major problems if it hit the live server. DELAYED Season 1 of Ranked Warzone Arenas | 10.25.2013, 08:22 AM Hey everyone, The last time we talked about Season One, we said that it was targeted to begin on Tuesday, October 29th. Unfortunately, we are going to be delaying the start of Season One. I know that this is the absolute last thing any PvP players will want to hear, but we have good reason. We have discovered that there is a major issue with how ratings are being awarded in Ranked matches currently. This bug can cause some very serious “rating…
Will Warzones Die When Arenas Go Live?
With the new PvP arenas coming to SWTOR, some players have questions about what will happen to current warzones once the arenas go live. As many players already know, in current warzones, there are usually several people who run around killing, rather than doing the objective on the warzone. Such is always the case in objective-based PvP in MMORPGs. Now obviously we know that as soon as arenas go live, people are all going to want to sign up for them. But does this mean warzones will completely die off? What about the players who like the current traditional warzones? The good news is that there are several reasons why warzones will not die off when arenas go live. There are actually two different options you get when you queue: Regular: you will get the same old 8v8 warzones you’ve seen since launch or arenas. Your rating will not be affected by wins/losses in…
SWTOR Arenas are on the Way: How Will It Affect Gameplay?
SWTOR game update 2.4 is coming in the fall and it’s adding arenas to the game that features the small-scale 4v4 battles. Not all the details are known at this time but we do know that it is an addition to the current Warzones, and adds a new competitive element to PvP in SWTOR. Therefore, it will give players more PvP action after leveling up than you have now. While this is certainly a good thing and many SWTOR players are very excited about this new update, others are not so happy. (No surprise, right?) Adding arenas to The Old Republic has both good and bad points to consider. Based on other MMOs, here are some of the ways adding arenas to SWTOR could affect gameplay. Some Players May Have an Advantage Some players are concerned that adding the arenas will give others players more of an advantage. There has…
Dev Response: Why PvP Updates have been slow
So much drama in the SWTOR Forums LBC, It’s kinda hard bein’a BruceMaclean D-O-double-G. Ahem.. What I’m Trying To Say is, that yesterday Senior Producer Bruce Maclean, took on the forum posting an explanation to why new PVP updates are several months out. Hi Warforever! We are listening and do care. For what it’s worth I’m a PvPer too. PvP is one of our priorities and we are not going to do away with it. I’m not a big believer in making excuses, and can understand why it might feel like we are not focused on PvP, but here’s a bit of an explanation why the next big PvP update is several months out: PvP and Class Balance are the same team of guys. It makes sense that the designers working on one also work on the other. This means that raising the level cap to 55 for Rise of the Hutt Cartel last month…
Tutorial Stream: How to Position Effectively as a Healer in PvP
Are you interested in becoming a better healer in SWTOR? Do you heal in PvP or plan to and have questions about how to get the most from your class in terms of healing? There is an upcoming tutorial stream on Twitch that just may help you out! I am Ferrite, a healer on Prophecy of the Five. I play all three healing classes and stream regularly. When my stream is online I receive a lot of questions about healing specifics, but I feel that the important topics are sometimes overseen. As a result I have decided to try a more organized show on a specific topic. If it works out well I will prepare more shows, improve the format, and work off of your suggestions. My first show will be about positioning at 8:30 EST (-5:00) Monday, May 27th. @ http://twitch.tv/ferritesc2 The order of topics is tentative, but as follows: How do…
Upcoming PVP Changes
It’s no secret that the launch of Star Wars: The old republic – rise of the Hutt cartel brings some PVP problems to the game. One of the main problems have been naked Bolster and the itemization issues attached to it. Yesterday SWTOR Community Manager Eric Musco took on the official forums and posted some very detailed information on everything BioWare was going to do about it. Basically it comes down to Going into a Warzone completely naked will now be worse than wearing gear. War Hero and Elite War Hero gear is viable again. Check it out below out check out the original thread over at the official forums here. Copy paste: Alex Modny Naked Bolster The main change being made to Bolster is how it treats item slots with no items in them aka the naked bolster. If there is a slot without an item in it, that slot will only…
Corellian Run Radio Interviews Rob Hinkle
The good people over at Corellian Run Radio had the chance to interview Senior Systems Designer, Rob Hinkle. In the interview Mr. Hinkle answers questions regarding upcoming and current mechanics in PVP. What struck me the most about his answers to the questions, regarding gear. He personally felt gear had mattered too much up to this point. He spoke of having progression without having such a large gear gap, i.e. tightening up the gear gap. This seems like a good way to go. Here is a snip: Question 4: Are there any plans to ever change from the vertical progression of PvP gear to horizontal, especially with free-to-play? (i.e. will gear in the future still be a large factor in performance?) Rob: As we move forward, we want to tighten up the minimal gear level and maximum gear level power gap while inside PvP. ToR is an MMORPG, so we feel that players need some…
Does Player Marking Belong in PvP?
Here’s an interesting topic of debate- player marking in PvP. Both SWTOR and WoW have it and some people love it, where others hate it. I often play a healer in PvP (in both games) and I know what it’s like to be targeted for focus fire with a big mark over your head. You don’t have to see it to know it’s there. So here’s the question: does this feature belong in PvP? Some will say it is an essential part of the game, allowing teammates to coordinate and plan their attack, shut down the enemy healers and spot a targeted enemy from clear across the field. Others say it causes an unfair advantage and that is changes the play of the game, especially when the marks do not get removed upon death. So what do you think? Is player marketing an essential feature of PvP and warzones or…
A Balance Sage SWTOR PvP Guide
What the balance Sage lacks in glamour and color, it makes up for by being one of the deadliest DPS on the field when played correctly. The developers describe the Sage as a perfectly balanced class because you can contribute to the gameplay in a positive way no matter what type of situation you end up facing. This awesome class is hard to catch or kill and it’s very fun to play. PvP Balance Sage Playstyle As a balance sage, you’ll need to use a combination of techniques when in a PVP setting in order to come out on top. This includes using snares and other forms of crowd control (CC) while kiting until your enemy stops in their tracks, which is when you’ll want to start nuking them. If your sage is being used as a healer, you should also use these techniques to help keep your opponents at bay…
Understanding Ranked Warzones
What are ranked warzones? Ranked warzones are a new form of structured PVP ins SWTOR which offers 8-player teams the opportunity to face others in competitive, ranked matches. It’s a step up from regular, random PvP. Ranked Warzones is the new way for players to take part in PvP play; it’s BioWare’s answer to the next step in competitive PvP. It gives teams a chance to compete against each other in ranked matches. If you want to take part in Ranked Warzone matches, you’ll need to put together a team that has at least 8 players. This rule may change later but as of now, you cannot compete in these matches if you don’t have the required number of players. So it’s time to start rounding up your best PvPers in the guild or at least, your best buddies that you know you work well with. How It Works To begin, your…
Novare Coast PvP Footage from Test Server (in German)
Here’s a great video with some coverage from Novare Coast PvP. Unless you speak German, you won’t be able to understand what is being said but it’s a fantastic video, regardless. 12 minutes long, it gives a lot of insight into gameplay and the new Warzone. Novare Coast New Medals and More Now if you’re looking for more information about the new medals (my guild was), here is a picture that gives you a lot of information. My guild is all about PvP so I am happy to see this and can’t wait for Patch 1.2. Are you ready for 1.2 and Novare Coast?
Patch 1.1.5 PvP Commendation Infographic
Hey everyone, I was recently asked to make a guide for new 50s or those who havn’t pvp’ed a while about the current PvP currency system. As many of you may be aware – as of patch 1.1.5 they streamlined the route to obtain battlemaster and champion commendations – it is no longer dependent on RNG anymore since you can now directly purchase these commendations. Anyways, I thought I would get creative and make an inforgraphic rather than a wall of text 😛 Hope you find it useful! Imgur mirror:http://imgur.com/WkEIs Oh yes, this is only valid until patch 1.2.
Some Useful PVP/Warzone Stats/Info
Do you love PvP in SWTOR? Are you into warzones or just wanting to learn more about them? Whether you’ve reached the level cap yet or not, PvP can be fun in SWTOR. Warzones can break the monotony of leveling or give you something to do at level 50. It’s also a way to build gear for yourself. If you want to learn a little more about the warzones, there is a useful resource you need to bookmark. Dulfy’s Healing Corner has some very useful warzone information and statistics for SWTOR. I love charts, stats and graphs so this is right up my alley. It covers gear, expertise and PvP bonuses, warzone medals, valor and amount needed for next level, resolve system details and so much more. It’s one of the most complete SWTOR PvP resources I’ve seen so far. For example, here are medals that you can…
SWTOR Endgame Gearing Guide for Empire Players
One of the biggest questions gamers have when they reach level 50- the maximum level- is what to do next. How do you get geared up? What is there to do in endgame? SWTOR is still a new game so there is not a lot of advice or “common knowledge” in the gaming community yet about what to do. In fact, many players are leveling to the cap and then stopping because they don’t know what to do next or there are not enough people playing to do anything with. But you can bet that as the game has been out longer and more and more players get into it and reach the level cap, there will be more gamers to play with. So you can start right now getting geared up so you’re ready to go and you will be a few steps ahead of others, giving you an…
SWTOR PvP Endgame “A mess” Says One Gamer
Endgame content in an MMO is important. What do you do when you reach max level? It’s this content that really hooks the player and keeps him (or her) in the game. Good endgame content is needed to maintain subscribers past their initial experience. For some gamers, PvP is where it’s at and BioWare claims to offer that in SWTOR. However, there are some players who are just not satisfied with what BioWare has offered us in game yet. Some of these gamers are frustrated with the PvP, especially in Ilum- the end game PvP area for level 50s. One gamer posts on MMOsite.com how they are not pleased with the endgame PvP or Ilum in SWTOR. Pelagato presents these reasons why SWTOR PvP endgame is a mess: Population Imbalance Performance Problems PvP gear Only 3 warzones and Ilum BIOCHEM!!!! Pelagato has a video to further prove this point: So…
TOR TV: Star Fleet Dental kill some guy over and over
Star Fleet Dental has uploaded a new movie. This time it’s all about killing, grieving and corpse camping.You might wan’t to check this forum thread before this video make any sense. Members of Starfleet Dental were given the extraordinary chance to test their skills against the self-declared top player of Veela and SWTOR forum loudmouth “Territo. A hard fought battle that ultimately ended in sadness as sweet, sweet Arus foolishly challenged Territo to a duel.
Intergalactic Intel: Guild vs Guild
“They should bring it back.”“Bring what back?” My brother asked me.“What do all of the great PvP MMO’s have?”“Level brackets?” I caught the sarcasm in his voice. And shot a nasty look at him.“Besides that,” he stopped and stared at me until he knew what I was talking about.“GvG.” Welcome back to another installment of Intergalactic Intel! This week we’re going to be looking at one of the oldest forms of end game content in MMO history. Guild vs Guild. We’ll look at my favorite version of GvG, as well as look at a few things SWTOR could do. Why Guild vs Guild? People enjoy competition. There are the never ending battles of whose better at both PvE and PvP. Sometimes it can be settled through a duel, or looking at progress, but for others it’s not always so simple. As anyone can tell you end game content is almost…
TOR TV: REAL World PvP on Ilum Patch 1.1
Reading Reddit and the official forums yesterday I became a sad sad panda. For some reason people are more interested in broken stuff, then all the cool stuff that works really well. I don’t understand what is happening and why the community is developing in to such a unproductive sad place, becourse we all know that Star Wars: The old republic is an AWESOME game. If you don’t you won’t be reading this story in the first place. Below is a 2 hour video showing FUN openworld pvp. I don’t expect you to watch it all, but the next time you feel like exploiting or in any other way destroying open world PVP on Ilum, see a few minuts of the video, and understand that you are doing it wrong! Interested in SWTOR Movies? We have new movies most weekdays here on swtorstrategies! Have suggestions for movie we ought to feature? Get in contact with us here
BioWare Says No Plans for Cross-server PVP Queuing in Near Future of SWTOR
We told you recently how BioWare plans to implement a separate level 50 warzone into the PvP queue, and while it sounds like a great idea, it’s not without its cons- just like anything. A downside to this new plan that many players have pointed out is that queue times for warzones can now become even longer than they already are to level 50s. So some have brought up the idea of cross-server PvP queues like other games have (think WoW). However, BioWare says they won’t be implementing this tactic, at least not any time in the near future of SWTOR. So instead, it looks like level 50s will just have to wait for other level 50s to catch up to them so queue times could be very long- at least at first and while the game is still new. “Cross-server queuing for PvP is something that the development team…
Is SWTOR PVP Broken?
Recently there have been a lot of complaints about PVP in SWTOR and not all of them are just from hardcore PvPers who don’t like the way things are set up in SWTOR. In fact, there are many bugs and legitimate complaints that lead a gamer to ask, “Is PvP in SWTOR broken?” MMO Crunch has a piece that asks “Where’s the PvP?” and brings up a pretty good question about the lacking world PvP in SWTOR. I have to agree with the author since I play on a PvP server and have yet to run into a PvP encounter in the open world once so far and I’ve been playing since pre-launch. MMO Crunch says: “The problem with the open PvP zones is there is absolutely no incentive for players, which is why they’re empty. Why bother in a open zone when you can queue up for a warzone…
INC Gamers SWTOR PvP Preview
For many MMOs, the PvP is one of the most exciting aspects. Some players choose games based solely on the PvP aspects. We’re still learning about PvP in SWTOR but the good news is that with the past couple of beta weekends and the NDA lifted, we can learn more about SWTOR PvP than ever before. INC Gamers tells us about about three of the PvP Warzones (it’s assumed there are more). The writer, Tim McDonald talks about playing in Huttball, The Voidstar and the Alderaan Civil War and he gives an account of how he felt when playing each of these warzones. Here’s a snippet: “There currently appears to be no way to queue for a specific Warzone, so I’ve played some more than others. To be more specific: I’ve played Huttball 52 million times.” 52 million, huh? Sounds like enough to form a good opinion on the experience….
TOR TV: Various Level 50 Mercenary Bounty Hunter videos with commentary
Here is a few videos showing some beta gameplay. The first video is a video of a Level 50 Mercenary Bounty Hunter doing PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The video have has some insightful commentary that I personally enjoyed. The guys that made the video is using real PvP situations to illustrate the classes strengths and weaknesses. If your thinking about creating a Bounty hunter with tne Mercenary tree, I also recoment you to check out this short video. This video is A beta overview of the Bounty Hunter Mercenary advanced class’ main damage dealing spec, the Arsenal spec, at level 50 in SWTOR with gameplay footage. This is the same as the Commando Gunnery spec, with different ability animations and names And finally here is a video of a Level 50 Mercenary Bounty Hunter (Arsenal spec) soloing 2 named boss-level mobs at the same time, wich hopefully…