SWTOR: Patch 1.1.5 Now Ilum Free

So there are quite a few changes in the most recent patch and most of them relate to PvP. After a night of trying it out, it left an overall positive impression on my increasingly cynical mind.

Ilum Dailies/Weeklies can be completed in Warzones.

I don't think anyone can see this as more than a stop-gap solution to the atrocity that is Ilum. As much as I've raged about Ilum, I always thought it had potential. I'm pretty sure Bioware thought the same way but it appears that the actual fix to the zone will take a long time.

Until then, both sides can get their daily and weekly rewards with ease. Each warzone game played counts as 3 Ilum objectives obtained, no matter if you end up winning or losing the game. That means 10 games a night and that gives a good chance of getting the daily warzone daily done as well...or at least getting something toward the warzone daily. Yes, I am being optimistic that people would get at least 1 win out of 10 games.

Champion and Battlemaster Gear from Warzone Commendations

Its not really that simple, but rather you are allowed to trade up your warzone commendations for the Battlemaster and Champion versions. Conversion is

1 Champion Commendation = 120 Warzone Commendations

1 Battlemaster Commendation = 1000 Warzone and 1000 Mercenary Commendations

This may seem a like a lot and I certainly balked at the rates when I first saw it. But then, Warzone Commendations wouldn't be the main source of Champion and Battlemaster gear. You'd still be relying on the bags from the weekly and daily quests. Puchasing the bags will also be more cost effective (7 Champion commendations = 840 Warzone Commendations while the bags are at an effective 7:800 ratio and adds in Centurion Commendations as well).

What this does is allow you to get that last commendation or two for that piece of gear if the weekly/daily bags fall short and you really want to get it now. It also softens the blow on bad losing streaks. While the numbers seem very unfavourable in such a case, it helps when the patch also has ....

Increased Commendation/Valor Rewards

Patch 1.1.5 introduced added rewards by earning medals, as well as new medals. Each medal (up to 4) gives 500 valor and 10 warzone commendations in addition to regular valor/commendation rewards for game due to overall medal count and if the game is a win or loss.

To put that into perspective, before the patch, a loss with 6 or so medals would net me just 700 or so valor and 30-40 commendations. Last night, I had a lot of losses, but never got less than 1800 valor and 60 commendations per match. Winning a game typically nets me 2500 valor and between 90-100 commendations. In just 10 games, I went from middle of rank 51 to hitting rank 53.

Another thing I noticed in my games is that, win or lose, more people seem to be trying harder. Now, I can't say for certain if it is just that small subset of people are actually trying or if the rewards are causing this, but it definitely made the games more fun. I didn't mind the losses as there were not that many certain loss situations. Even losing 4-0 in Huttball, our team tried to make a comeback, and that is where the fun is in a game.

Purchasable High End Crystals

I consider this a minor thing because it was stated that this will not last. The crystals are indeed powerful, with the highest level, beyond what artificers can currently make, going for 250k credits. not cheap, but certainly accessible for those who really want the stats. But the colour....oh the colour. The same hideous black/yellow from the first pre-order bonus gem. I'm glad I'm not at the point where I need to min/max anything so I plan to pass on this one.

Bioware has definitely been increasing confidence with the SWTOR gamers with their patches. While it can be argued that SWTOR should not have been in that rut so soon, the damage was done and its time to see what they do to get that excitement back into the game. News about patch 1.2 is indeed promising and potentially changes the game. If nothing else, it's something to keep us talking for a few more weeks.

Highlights

• Not related to changes, but an Alderaan win stolen right under the opponents. down over 100 points, with only a side turret, we managed to capture center and eak out a 5-0 win. The changes to the side speeders did make it more challenging to defend the side turret, but luckily, we were not easy to kill and kept them off the objective long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
• One of the more fun nights of PvP in a while. Sure, there were frustrating moments, but that's always been part of the fun.

SWTOR: What Would Make Ilum Better?

I'm pretty sure that everyone is so tired of talking about Ilum. But for all the complaints and problems encountered, the zone has a lot of potential. As the game gets more level 50s willing to slug it out, improvements to Ilum will be needed sooner than later.

Tangible Rewards

Better known as "Why are we fighting for this place again?".

No, not talking about pets or gear, but anything that will make a visible impact to the players or gameplay. It doesn't even have to be overpowered either. The valor buff from taking control points is actually a good start and can benefit even small groups against a larger, less organized, horde. Having it also give bonuses to warzones was also a good idea.

There had been talk before of being able to access the rarest of rare materials from the zone based on who controls Ilum and that will be a huge bonus as well. As it stands though, full control cannot be maintained long enough for such a reward to be even useful.

Fleet Announcements/Monitors

One of my biggest frustrations with Ilum is that, when I get there, either nothing is happening or something interesting happened and it is already over. Timing is everything and with good timing/luck, you can get into exciting battles. Conversely, going to Ilum when nothing is happening can be mind-snappingly dull as you play arament carousel with 30 other people.

Being able to see if any action is happening on Ilum will definitely help bring in people. A quick check of a map or pvp monitor can indicate how many of each faction are in Ilum and if there is a fight going on. A fleet-wide chat can also allow players to send out a "call to arms" and notify people that a major battle is happening. But of course, that leads to the next improvement suggestion....

Instant or Faster Travel to Ilum

As it stands, getting to Ilum from the fleet requires the following steps:

1. Enter elevator to hangar
2. Enter ship
3. Fly to Ilum
4. Enter orbital station
5. Enter elevator in orbital station
6. Take shuttle down to Ilum
7. Take speeder to PvP zone

I cannot count the number of times when I heard about a good fight going on Ilum and seeing it finish just I arrive in the PvP area. Depending on how fast things load for you, it can take a good 5-10 minutes to get there from the fleet, for some people, perhaps more. If the fights are just starting, then there's still some good PvP to be had. But if you find out about the action near the tail end of the battle, then it would be too late and you may end up just doing some armament carousel.

A direct shuttle to the Ilum PvP area would do wonders to open up the zone and make PvP there more accessible. Having a system like this will allow fights to escalate quickly and last longer as more people start pouring in.

Granted, there can't always be battles in the zone as there definitely are other things to do, but having these improvements can make those that do happen truly epic...or at least, something positive to talk about.

SWTOR: Tanking Alderaan PvP

I have to say I am definitely having more fun doing PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic than any other game I've played. Heck, even League of Legends did not keep me for very long, as great a game as it is. I suppose a huge part in SWTOR's favour is the fact that PvP is very accessible. The bolstering mechanic allows even a level 10 to go toe to toe with a level 50 and potentially win. However, it does not give any talents or skills so that is already a huge disadvantage. Bolster also does not scale down, so those with top pvp gear will still overpower those just jumping in as soon as they can queue for warzones.

Mind you, I've never been one-shot. Or 2-shot for that matter. I went up against a level 40 Jedi Guardian a few times and it was apparent we were both in tank spec. However, the gearing and ability differences were very obvious and I was clearly outmatched. But even then, the fight did take a while before I ran away like the coward I am.

Alderaan is not exactly perfect for a tanking class. With the lower damage, you can't expect to go solo and kill someone. However, because of high survivability, you are suited to being able to protect the objectives for a long time. Sure, it can be boring, but SWTOR actually makes it clear that it rewards people more for objective play than how many people you killed. In this Alderaan vid, I cut out several minutes because nothing happened while defending the center node but I ended up 3rd on the leaderboard, particularly with the medal count and objective points.

The match shown was really really close - pretty much down the wire, but we were able to pull it off in the end. Pretty good for a PUG group actually.

Highlights of the match:

• Some really terrible goofs from yours truly. Learn from my mistake and NEVER leave the objective for a long time.
• The nodes interfere with line of sight and smaller characters can effectively hide themselves. You may never know that they are there until it is too late.
• Line of sight also makes stopping a node capper from range a bit harder. If you are range, make sure to move around the node to take shots at them.
• Keeping a friendly shielded and his opponent taunted ensures his victory. After the taunt, I go back to guard my node.
• 11k Objective points! I honestly have no idea how and which points factor in to your rewards. Unfortunately, the leaderboard does not show the rewards given to even your teammates.

SWTOR: More Tank Hutball

Over the weekend I focused on getting my Sith Juggernaut to a level where I get more tools to play with. I stopped at level 26 and this gave me access to Force Choke and Force Push. The former is a nice crowd control ability limited only to the fact that it is channeled. It lasts for 3s but that is usually enough to keep someone away from an objective.

Force Push is just a fantastic ability. All day I have denied goals and killed opponents with this ability and made PvP even more fun. The knockback distance is actually quite long, perhaps 15 meters and it can stun opponents unlike other class' knockbacks. The one minute cooldown is very limiting however and knowing when to use or save it for later can make a difference.

Some highlights of the video:

• Good use of ball passing for both sides.
• Using Force Push to knock people off ledges and into hazards. In one case, I pushed the enemy ball carrier into the poison hazard and rooted him with a charge to make sure he dies. I died too, but that was fun.
• Using Taunt when I can to make sure the ball carrier takes less damage. A Powertech was also doing very well shielding the ball carriers.
• A lot of good group play in protecting the ball carrier. The opposing group were a little disorganized, but they didn't lack in effort and had been trying to score.
• A teammate going the wrong way! It was a little confusing at first before we realized what was happening. We were ahead 3-0 though so everyone had a laugh. That same ball carrier also seemed inexperienced with ball passing.

Sadly beta is over, but I'll have more vids coming out during the week, as well as commentary. With early access coming in just over a week, I am very eager to play and get more SWTOR PvP action.

SWTOR: Sith Juggernaut PvP - Huttball

On the last day of the beta weekend, I decided to give PvP a whirl. I decided to stick with my tank spec particularly because of one talent - Intimidation. This allowed Chilling Scream to be cast without any rage cost. While Chilling Scream is governed by the global cooldown, it does not have a cooldown of it's own. And having a free, almost spammable AoE snare is incredibly valuable. Sadly, I wasn't able to get high enough level to get other great abilities for PvP, but I figured I'd still give it a go.

Huttball is actually a great warzone for a Sith Juggernaut or Jedi Guardian. While PvP is always about killing other people, control is far more powerful in a game like Huttball. Killing opponents would actually make things harder as they spawn behind the goal line.

In this particular game, I decided to play very aggressively and see if I can draw the attention of multiple players. My first skirmish did just that and 4-5 opposing players decided to beat on me. A deficit of half their team locked in a useless battle. It did take them 24s to kill me which was more than enough time for the ball carrier to score by the time I respawned. I decided to use this strategy a lot as my opponents did not seem to really care about the objectives and decided to farm kills (or they gave up early). I did make a mistake at one point when I created a 3-1 deficit created in favour of the opponents when I decided to take on a smuggler. Not that I didn't appreciate the healing or the extra shooter, but it was an unnecessary fight.

One of the better abilities of a Juggernaut at this level is Guard and Taunt. These make Juggernauts and Guardians excellent bodyguards for ball carriers and healers and actually makes tanking useful in PvP. I have to hand it to Bioware that they decided to make all specs useful for PvP and it made the game significantly more fun.

Other highlights of the match:

• A 3-1 situation where I was able to take one trooper down before I died
• Force Scream is a really powerful finisher ability. It should be able to deal far more damage than seen in the vid if I was able to gear up more
• Force Charge is a ton of fun
• The Juggernaut's resilience is shown very well on that last goal. Taking focus fire and having one healer, I was able to slowly make my way to the goal line. Also, charging through fire is fun, if dangerous (my health went down to almost 30%)
• Another show of durability of the class is when I decided to run through the poison hazard. Took some damage but it was not significant and allowed me to save my charge in case other opponents don't take their attention from the ball carrier.

In any case, I have now cemented my decision to make the Sith Juggernaut as my main class. While I was sad to not have the time to level and get more abilities, I welcome the challenge of learning how to use a higher level tank in PvP.