Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part Nine)

Flashpoints & Operations

As far as Flashpoints are concerned, they kindda remind me of Vindictus where the instanced dungeons are somewhat centralized within an area (minus the boat fares and ability to select dungeon difficulty of course) and you get to fight through a horde of enemy mobs just to get to the final boss...alone or with a party.

And from what I could tell while playing them, each of these flashpoints are unique and fun instances that will take around an hour or two (maybe more) to complete and may sometimes require you to make certain decisions at critical stages along the way that would affect how you progress forward in the dungeon.

If your wondering...in the same way as your class quest decisions are made, via the conversation options you choose, these flashpoint ones are exactly the same too and they also come with the associated alignment changes. However, if your in a group, your alignment will only be affected by the decision you've made during the conversation and not by the actual outcome (which is actually decided via the system performing rolls for each person in the group and then going with the option chosen by the one who did the highest roll).

Other than that, they aren't really that much different from the instanced dungeons in other MMOs. (Disclaimer: Well...it might be fun to me since I'm playing these flashpoints for the first time anyway.)

Operations should be pretty much the same as flashpoints I guess, except that these are tougher instances that only becomes available at level 50 and caters to a much larger party size (Flashpoints: up to 4 players, Operations: 8 to 16 players).

For more details, please visit:
SWTOR Flashpoints
SWTOR Operations

Warzones
Up until this point, there are roughly five warzone maps available for players to fight in.

	Alderaan Civil War Republic and Empire transport ships converge at an important orbital defense facility. Gain control of the facility's air defense cannons, turn them on the enemy ship and shoot it down! Game Mode: 3-point Domination
	The Voidstar You are part of a boarding party seeking out prototype technology on a long lost derelict starship. Each faction takes turns to defend the ship's datacore while the other tries to retrieve it by planting bombs on doors in an attempt to find a route towards the core of the ship. Game Mode: Assault (2 Rounds)
	Huttball Anything goes in this brutal spectator sport run by the Hutts. Two teams fight in a no-holds-barred event where the object is to grab the Huttball and get it to the opposing team's goal line. Game Mode: Huttball
	Novare Coast The invasion of Denova has begun as the armies of the Empire and Republic clash on the Novare Coast. Vie for control over the coast's powerful artillery emplacements and use them to cut off your enemy's reinforcements until the Novare Coast remains firmly under your control. Game Mode: Majority 3-point Domination
	Ancient Hypergate Elite forces of the Republic and Empire are battling to capture and activate an ancient Gree hypergate complex on the planet Seline. Seize control of energy pylons at either end of the complex and direct their power towards your team's hypergate to claim victory. But be cautious...for each time power is transferred from the pylons, they emit a deadly energy blast that only the central bunker can protect you from. Game Mode: Convergence

But as you can see, although each of these maps have their own unique objectives, they don't seem too different from PVP maps found in other games. As far as gameplay is concerned, they seem to bear a resemblance to FPS games' "Capture the Flag", "King of the Hill" and "Bomb & Defusal", but tailored to Star Wars's context of course.

To start entering these warzones, one must first reach the minimum level of 10 before the icon at the lower right corner of your in-game screen activates. Once unlocked, you may then freely queue yourself for these warzones as shown in the second picture (right). Alternatively, if your the leader of your group, you may also queue the whole group up for the same warzone using the "Queue Group" button.

Do note however that the warzone map that you or your group will be sent to is random and cannot be chosen as far as I know. Additionally, there appears to be a weekly limit as to the number of times you can participate in warzones for free-to-play and preferred players. The limit can only be circumvented if you purchase a weekly warzone pass or subscribe to the game.

Space Combat
Now if you asked me, I'ld say that space combat in Star Wars The Old Republic isn't quite like what you would expect from say Battlestar Galactica Online or other flight simulation type of games.

Its space combat appears to be some sort of tunnel shooter where you get limited control of your spacecraft's movement (limited to within your screen) and have to take down as many of the enemies that fly across your screen as possible or fulfill some objectives during your "predetermined" flight path.

Your weapons of choice for these combats merely include a beam cannon, a missile rack and perhaps a "screen-wide" nuke if you have it equipped. To fire the beam cannon, you just have to point and left click (or hold for continuous fire) on the targets while right clicking would fire missiles instead.

And although tempting, please remember not to continuously fire your cannons especially if your shooting at nothing. This is because while firing them, your shields do not regen at all and if they're gone, all the damage taken would be directly on your hull which does not repair at all and once gone...you will die. Besides that, you should also try to avoid crashing into stuff as well for apparently any sort of crashes would immediately deplete your shields.

As for your starship's upgradability, it appears to be limited to stuff like improving the damage or rate of fire of your beam cannons, increasing your missile capacity, improving shield capacity and regen per tick and also your starship's hull integrity. All you have to do is approach a "Starship Upgrades" vendor, purchase the upgrades and equip them onto your starship (like how you would equip yourself or your companion).

To enter a space combat instance, you would first have to visit the flight deck of your starship and access the galaxy map. From there, just choose the corresponding space combat instance that you wish to enter and jump there.

But remember...just as there are limits to the number of times you can participate in warzones, restrictions are put in place too with regards to the number of times that you can enter a space combat (3 times per week). Likewise, the only way to go around this limit is to purchase some sort of weekly pass via the cartel market.

All in all, Star Wars The Old Republic isn't a bad game to download and play for free despite its restrictions. I am pretty sure it would entertain you for plenty of hours just as it did for me.

Star Wars The Old Republic Video Clips

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Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part Eight)

Crafting & Crew Skills

Crafting in Star Wars The Old Republic is simply just a matter of sending your companions out to gather the necessary materials and then asking them to fabricate your desired item out of the gathered materials. And though as simple as it may sound, there are still some things that needs to be known.

First of all, unlike crafting in your usual MMOs, the garnering of materials and crafting of an item here in SWTOR are broken down into separate specializations with each requiring their own skill proficiencies (a.k.a. crew skill). And the way it works is that a "crafting" crew skill may require more than one "type" of material to manufacture an item. But as each "type" of material needs their own crew skill to gather, you would often require a few of these "material-gathering" crew skills to support your crafting one.

Now with this basic idea in mind, let us proceed to discuss the kinds of crew skills that are found in the game and how they relate to one another.
Gathering Crew Skills

Gathering type crew skills are distinctively categorized from the other "material-gathering" crew skills because of their additional avenue of material collection. Not only can their materials be obtained via sending companions out on "missions", we could also get them (for free) off "resource nodes" found lying all over the SWTOR universe.

The way these nodes operate is that you can only harvest them once before they disappear. However, the nodes are static and would only require some time before they regenerate.

• Archaeology
  Archaeology is the study of crystal formations and archaeological finds. Crystal formations contain crystals that an Artificer can use to construct lightsaber modifications and armor for Force users. Archaeological finds contain artifact fragments of Force-imbued technology. These valuable items contain ancient formulas and algorithms used in the crafting skills Artifice and Synthweaving. Archaeologists can send their companions on missions to gather resources.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Artifact Fragments, Power Crystals, Color Crystals
  
• Bioanalysis
  Bioanalysis is the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and vegetation. Genetic materials include cell fibers, bacterial strains, toxic extracts and medicinal fluids. Biochemists use these materials to create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. The crafting skill Biochem utilizes Bioanalysis resources. Bioanalysts can send their companions on missions to gather resources.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Biochemical Compounds, Biochemical Samples
  
• Scavenging
  Scavenging is the art of salvaging useful parts and base materials such as metals, alloys and synthetic compounds from potential technological resources - junk piles, fallen droids, abandoned cargo and broken-down vehicles. The crafting skills Armormech, Armstech and Cybertech utilize Scavenging resources. Scavengers can send their companions on missions to gather resources.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Scavenged Metals, Scavenged Compounds, Flux Components
  
• Slicing
  Slicing is the art of accessing secure computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable items, credits and rare tech schematics. Common slicing targets include electronic safes, data stations, security mainframes and biometric footlockers. These targets contain credits, rare tech schematics used to construct Cybertech gadgets, vehicles and space upgrades, and mission discovery objects that unlock challenging missions that can potentially yield great rewards. Slicers can send their companions on missions to retrieve these valuable items.
  
  Slicing missions can return with rare tech parts used to construct prototype and artifact augments. These can be slotted into exceptionally crafted items. Other possible mission rewards include augment schematics that can be learned by armormechs, armstechs and synthweavers.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Lockboxes, Sliced Tech Parts
  

Mission Crew Skills

Mission type crew skill is the other form of "material-gathering" crew skill that is available in the game. With this form of crew skill, their materials can only be obtained by sending companions out on mission runs (which costs credits of course).

• Diplomacy
  Diplomacy is the art of conducting and managing negotiations. Sending your companions on diplomatic missions can influence your light side or dark side standing. In addition to light side and dark side influence, possible Diplomacy rewards include medical supplies used to construct prototype and artifact implants, medpacs, stimulants, adrenals and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Medical Supplies, Companion Gifts
  
• Investigation
  Investigation is the skill of researching, gathering, analyzing and decoding secret information. Sending your companions on Investigation missions can yield valuable items in the form of researched compounds used to construct prototype and artifact weapons and blaster barrels, prototype schematics for all crafts, and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Researched Compounds, Companion Gifts
  
• Treasure Hunting
  Treasure Hunting is the ability to track down and recover valuable items by following a series of clues. Companions sent on Treasure Hunting missions can return with rare gemstones used to construct prototype and artifact enhancements, hilts, color crystals, focii and generators. Other possible rewards include lockboxes that can contain valuable items or credits and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Lockboxes, Companion Gifts, Gemstones
  
• Underworld Trading
  Underworld Trading entails the exchange of goods and services on the galactic black market. Sending your companions on Underworld Trading missions can yield luxury fabrics and underworld metals used to construct prototype and artifact armor, earpieces, grenades, space upgrades, and weapon and armor modifications. Other possible rewards include gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.
  
  Resource Type Gathered:
  Companion Gifts, Underworld Metals, Luxury Fabrics
  

Crafting Crew Skills

Crafting crew skills are what you would need to acquire if you were planning on creating products for the end consumers. With these, all you need is to assemble the needed materials (either by buying off other players or gathering yourself) and you will be able to craft with 100% success rate. And as far as crafting items are concerned, most of the basic "schematics" (recipes for making the items) can be learnt from the respective crafting crew skill trainers so long as you are skilled enough.

Now the thing you would need to note with these crew skills is that you will gain an additional function called "Reverse Engineering". With this function, you will be able to "reverse engineer" (dismantle) items related to your crafting crew skill. For example, if you've learnt Armstech, you would be allowed to reverse engineer weapons like blaster rifles, techblades and whatnots (basically stuff that you can craft, you would be able to dismantle).

And the reasons for dismantling them would range from gaining Augmentation Slot Components to learning a better schematic for the item you've just disassembled to even purely retrieving some crafting materials so that you can gain a few more "clicks". However, do note that the learning of better schematics via reverse engineering works in such a way that if you perform it on a premium (green) item, the schematic you might learn from it would be one rarity rank better only, i.e. a prototype (blue) version of that item. Similarly, to obtain the artifact (purple) version schematic, you will have to be disassembling the prototype items instead. And up until the time of this article, there is no better version than artifact yet.

• Armormech
  Armormech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to construct armor for non-Force users. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the armor creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Armormechs can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armormech.
  
  Armormechs can also craft aim, cunning, shield and absorb augments. These can be installed in any item that has an augment slot.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Scavenging - Scavenged Metals, Scavenged Compounds
  Slicing - Sliced Tech Parts
  Underworld Trading - Underworld Metals
  
• Armstech
  Armstech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to craft blasters, blaster modifications and melee weapons. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the weapon creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Crafted blasters include blaster pistols, blaster rifles, sniper rifles, assault cannons and shotguns. Blaster modifications include blaster barrels. Melee weapons include vibroblades and electrostaves. Armstechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armstech.
  
  Armstechs can also craft endurance, surge, critical, accuracy and power augments. These can be installed in any item that has an augment slot.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Scavenging - Scavenged Metals, Scavenged Compounds
  Slicing - Sliced Tech Parts
  Investigation - Researched Compounds
  
• Artifice
  Artifice is the delicate skill of constructing lightsaber modifications, enhancements, generators and focii. Lightsaber modifications include color crystals and hilts that augment a Force user's combat attributes. Color crystals determine beam and bolt color for lightsabers and blasters. Enhancements are modification upgrades for weapons and armor. Artificers can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Artifice.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Archaeology - Power Crystals, Color Crystals, Artifact Fragments
  Treasure Hunting - Gemstones
  
• Biochem
  Biochem is the skill involved in crafting medical supplies, performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants. Biochemists can create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. Biochemists can reverse engineer their crafted implants and possibly discover new ways to improve implant creation. The gathering skill Bioanalysis provides crafting resources for Biochem.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Bioanalysis - Biochemical Samples, Biochemical Compounds
  Diplomacy - Medical Supplies
  
• Cybertech
  Cybertech is the skill to assemble droid armor, earpieces, grenades, armoring, mods and miscellaneous gadgets. Armoring and mods are upgrade modifications that augment combat ability. Earpieces are external mini-computers that are worn on or near the ear. They enhance combat prowess by giving audio and visual feedback to the wearer or through direct neural feedback via an external nerve relay. Cybertechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Cybertech.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Scavenging - Scavenged Metals, Scavenged Compounds
  Underworld Trading - Underworld Metals
  
• Synthweaving
  Synthweaving is the process of fabricating synthetic materials out of crystals, various chemicals and artifact fragments to construct armor for Force users. Vendors provide premade solutions, suspensions and composites that are used during the Synthweaving process. Synthweavers can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Synthweaving.
  
  Synthweavers can also craft strength, willpower, defense, alacrity and presence augments. These can be installed in any item that has an augment slot.
  
  Requires Resources From:
  Archaeology - Power Crystals, Artifact Fragments
  Slicing - Sliced Tech Parts
  Underworld Trading - Luxury Fabrics, Underworld Metals
  

Well ultimately, just remember to choose your crew skills wisely as free-to-player players are only allowed to learn one crew skill, preferred players two crew skills and subscribers up to three of them. And also, regardless of how many crew skills you can pick up, you are only allowed to learn one crafting crew skill.

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