Advanced Class Breakdown: Bounty Hunter

Our Bounty Hunter class page has now been updated with all the advanced class information (also presented to you below).

What's an advanced class you ask? Check out this post which explains further.

I'm thinking of making a light side Bounty Hunter. It might put a fun twist on things!

Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunters are rugged, independent, and always get the job done.

Advanced Class: Powertech
The best in shielding, defensive tactics and high-powered flamethrowers combine to make the Powertech an impenetrable one-man blockade, getting up close and personal to take down enemies of all sizes.

Tree: Shield Tech (Tank)
Further boosts the Powertech's defensive technology, allowing him to soak up attacks.

 Jet Charge
Instant Cooldown: 15 secs Range: 10-30m
Jumps to a distant target, doing 148 damage and rooting the target for 3 seconds. Cannot be used against targets in cover.

Combust

Passive

Your flamethrower combusts the target, lowering damage done by 6% for 15 seconds.

Tree:  Advanced Prototype
The latest technology makes the Powertech a versatile fighter against any enemy.

Meltdown
Passive
Your Immolate and Retractable Blade have a 20% chance to make your next Flamethrower channel twice as fast and tick twice as frequently.

Immolate

Instant Cooldown: 15 secs Range: 10m

A spray of fuel hits a burning target igniting into a fireball that does 882-886 damage to the target and 115 damage to up to 3 additional nearby enemies. Target must be burning.

Tree:  Firebug (shared)
The Firebug concentrates on burning their opponents with missiles and technology.

 Incendiary Missile
Instant Cooldown: 12 secs Range: 30m
Fires a missile at an enemy doing 547-559 elemental damage and applying a burn that deals 106-107 damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.

Prototype Particle Accelerator

Passive

Your incendiary missile damage has a 30% chance to finish the cooldown on Rail Shot and to remove its heat cost. This effect can only happen every 10 seconds.

Advanced Class: Mercenary

A pair of blasters, deadly heat-seeking missiles, and heavy armor make the Mercenary a mobile weapons platform. There's no problem extra firepower can't solve, and no one with sense gets between a Mercenary and their target.

Tree: Arsenal
Uses advanced rocketry and specializes in taking down their targets quickly.

Light Em Up
Passive
Tracer Missile has a 100% chance to add 2 heat signature stacks to a target instead of 1.

Heatseeker Missiles

Instant Cooldown: 15 secs Range: 30m

Fires several missiles that home in on the target and do 1131-1141 damage. This damage is increased by 3% per heat signature on the target.

Tree: Bodyguard (Heal)
Gives the Bounty Hunter skills and technology to heal and restore his allies.

Kolto Shell
Instant Range: 30m
A shell of kolto energy surrounds the target. When the target takes damage they are healed for 151. 10 charges lasts 5 min. Heal can only happen every 3 seconds.

Reactive Armor

Passive

Proactive medicine now provides 10% armor while active.

Tree:  Firebug (shared)
The Firebug concentrates on burning their opponents with missiles and technology.

 Incendiary Missile
Instant Cooldown: 12 secs Range: 30m
Fires a missile at an enemy doing 547-559 elemental damage and applying a burn that deals 106-107 damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.

Prototype Particle Accelerator

Passive

Your incendiary missile damage has a 30% chance to finish the cooldown on Rail Shot and to remove its heat cost. This effect can only happen every 10 seconds.

Advanced Class Breakdown: Sith Warrior

Next up in our advanced class breakdown in the mirror of the Jedi Knight Class, the Sith Warrior class. All four Republic classes have a mirror Sith class that each have the same play style and same type of options ... but with a darker feel!

This is a smart move by BioWare as it will bring a yin yang balance to the two factions. Balance is crucial in any game and besides, there must be balance in the Force!

So our Sith Warrior class page has now been updated with all the advanced class information (also presented to you below). Read up because if you intend to play SWTOR you'll need to understand the advanced class options available to you and other players. 

Once you turn to the Dark Side, forever will it dominate your destiny ...

Sith Warrior
Warriors channel anger and hatred to become brutal combatants.

Advanced Class:Juggernaut

Sith who train in the stalwart arts of the Juggernaut boast unrivaled stamina in battle. Through diligence and clarity, the Juggernaut shapes the Force to his will to become nearly invulnerable. Damage that would destroy others is shrugged off, and futility fills the Juggernaut's foes with doubt and despair. Protecting their allies and punishing their adversaries, they charge into the thick of any fray, and take the brunt of the assault and are even able to drain the energy of their enemies to further strengthen their resolve.

Tree: Vengeance (DPS)
The Juggernaut stops at nothing to crush enemies, obliterating them with heavy hits.

 Shatter 
Instant Cooldown: 9 secs Range: 4m
Channels the Force into your Lightsaber and crushes your target under its weight, dealing 569 internal damage to a target afflicted by Sundering Assault, with a further 1476 internal damage over 12 seconds.

Unstoppable

Passive

Force Charge has a 100% chance to grant Unstoppable, reducing all damage taken by 20% and granting immunity to physics and movement impairing effects for 4 seconds.

Tree: Immortal (Tank)
Uses the power of the Force to increase the Warrior's survivability in battle

Invincible

Instant Cooldown: 3 mins

Reduces the damage the Warrior suffers from all sources by 60% for 9 seconds.

Revenge

Passive

While in Soresu Form, parrying, deflecting, shielding, or resisting an attack has a 50% chance to grant Revenge, reducing the rage cost of your next Force Scream or Smash by 1. Lasts 10 seconds and stacks up to 3 times.

Tree: Rage (shared)
Allows the Warrior greater control of the Force and further mastery of the Shii-Cho form.

Obliterate
Instant Cooldown: 15 secs Range: 15m
Jumps to a target, impaling it for 307-363 weapon damage. Strikes with both weapons if dual wielding.

Shockwave

Passive

Each tick of Force Choke and Force Crush grants you Shockwave, increasing the damage your next Smash deals by 25%. Stacks up to 4 times.

Advanced Class: Marauder

Wielding two sabers and unmatched aggression, Sith trained as Marauders slice through enemy ranks, dealing death with merciless efficiency. Able to intuit precisely how to attack in order to maximize every strike, their adversaries become victims in the blink of an eye. Whether annihilating a squad of Republic troops or cutting down a single Jedi, the Marauder sees and exploits every weakness to exact the greatest toll. Never hesitating, never faltering, there is no swifter bringer of pain and damage in the galaxy.

Tree: Annihilation (Sustained Damage and Survival )
Mastering the aggressive Juyo form, the Annihilation Marauder destroys enemies from within.

Annihilate

Instan Cooldown: 12 secs Range: 4m

Strikes the target with both Lightsabers for 547-633 weapon damage. Each use of this ability grants Annihilator for 15 seconds, lowering the cooldown of your next Annihilate by 1.5 seconds.  Stacks up to three times. Requires two Lightsabers.

Inescapable Torment

Passive

Choked targets take 30% more damage from your next 5 bleed effects. Lasts 15 seconds.

Tree: Carnage (Burst DPS)
Focuses on acrobatic Lightsaber techniques that strike quickly and lethally.

Ataru Form

Instant Cooldown: 1.5 secs

Enter an acrobatic Lightsaber form, increasing accuracy by 3%. In addition, your successful melee attacks have a 20% chance to trigger a second force strike that deals 148 energy damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.

Gore

Passive

Impale now attacks with both Lightsabers when dual wielding.

Tree: Rage (shared)
Allows the Warrior greater control of the Force and further mastery of the Shii-Cho form.

Obliterate
Instant Cooldown: 15 secs Range: 15m
Jumps to a target, impaling it for 307-363 weapon damage. Strikes with both weapons if dual wielding.

Shockwave

Passive

Each tick of Force Choke and Force Crush grants you Shockwave, increasing the damage your next Smash deals by 25%. Stacks up to 4 times.

Advanced Class Breakdown: Jedi Knight

To give gamers a better understanding of how classes in SWTOR work, we will be breaking down the information for each individual class, into their advanced classes. Over time we'll separate the class pages even further into individual pages about specific specializations (Jedi Knight: Guardian; Jedi Knight: Sentinel; etc).

As you probably already know, there are eight main classes in SWTOR. For each of these eight there will be 2 advanced classes. At around level ten you will get the option to choose your destiny. Each character will have three trees of skills that they can build up. Two of these trees are unique to each advanced class. One of the trees is shared by the other advanced class of that class. Confused? An example would be that the class of Jedi Knight has two advanced classes: Jedi Knight: Guardian and Jedi Knight: Sentinel. Both of these advanced classes have the same tree of Focus. They each then have another two that are unique.

What this means for the gamer is that if you choose Jedi Guardian, you don't necessarily need to be a tank. If you spec into the Vigilance tree you'll be able to wield a lot of damage.

To make it clear, advanced classes are not just individual skill trees, like marksmen or beastmaster for hunters in WoW, they are classes of their own with their own unique options.



At this stage, no information about being able to change your advanced class after you've chosen it has been released, so it's possible that it's a life-of-the game character decision, much like the initial class decision. Bioware have, however, hinted that players may be able to change their talent tree specs (for example, from Vigilance to Defense). This would allow players to level in Vigilence and then swap to Defense for raiding or flash points at higher levels.

The shared tree in the advanced classes gives players the ability to customize their character even further to suit their play style.

First up lets look at Jedi Knight and its advanced classes trees and options. The new information is in this post but a complete class guide on the Jedi Knight class can be found on our Jedi Knight Class Page.

Keep in mind that any information available now could change by the time the game is released. This information has been collected from SWTOR.com and other official information.

Jedi Knight

Through training, the Knight turns combat into an art.

Advanced Class: Guardian 

A wall between the good people of the Republic and their enemies, the Guardian stands firm in the face of overwhelming odds and dares opponents to attack.

Class Role:  Tank, Damage
Weapon:      Lightsaber
Armor:          Heavy



Tree: Vigilance (DPS)
Provides greater skill in single-blade offense and the ability to take enemies down quickly.

Force Scarring
Passive: Sundering Strike lowers the target's internal and external resists bu 10% on its first application

Shien Form
Instant
Cooldown: 1.5 secs Enter an offensive Lightsaber form, increasing all damage dealt by 6%. All attacks which cost focus will refund 1 focus when used. In addition, taking damage generates 1 focus, but this effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds.

Tree: Defense (Tank)
Allows the Guardian to more effectively withstand enemy attacks and protect allies.

Endure:
 Instant, Cooldown: 3 mins
Temporarily increases your maximum health by 30% for 15 seconds. When the effect ends, the health is lost.

Force Leap
Passive: Force Leap now stuns targets for 2 seconds.

Tree: Focus (shared)
Specializes in advanced Force techniques and the Shii-Cho lightsaber form.

Force Exhaustion 
Instant, Cooldown: 21 secs, Range: 15m
Progressively slows the target from 60% to 10% movement speed over 5 seconds and deals 180 kinetic damage each second. At the end of the duration the target is crushed, and takes an additional 553 kinetic damage.

Zephyr

Passive

Reduces the cooldown of all Force abilities while in Shii-Cho Form by 3 seconds.

Advanced Class: Sentinel

Control and focus are the hallmarks of the Sentinel. Through years of training the Sentinel learns the art of using two Lightsabers simultaneously to create an intricate web of damage that is almost impossible to evade.

Class Role:   Damage

Weapon:      2 Lightsabers
Armor:          Medium

Tree: Watchman (Sustained Damage and Survival )
The Sentinel masters the Juyo Lightsaber form, making him more dangerous as a fight goes on.

Overload Lightsaber 

Instant Cooldown: 12 secs

Charges your Lightsabers with deadly energy for 15 seconds, causing your next 3 successful melee attacks to make the target burn for 491 elemental damage over 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.

Merciless Zeal

Passive

Critical hits with burn effects heal you for 2% of your maximum health.

Tree: Combat (Burst Damage)
Allows the Sentinel to master the Ataru Lightsaber form to rapidly dispatch enemies.

Blade Rush
Instant, Range: 4m 
Strikes the target with both weapons for 647-729 weapon damage and automatically triggers an Ataru Form strike. For 6 seconds after using Blade Rush, your Ataru Form has an extra 30% chance to be triggered. Requires two Lightsabers.

Opportune Attack

Passive

Your Ataru Form hits have a 100% chance to make your next focus spender deal 10% more damage.

Tree: Focus (shared) 
Specializes in advanced Force techniques and the Shii-Cho lightsaber form.

Force Exhaustion 
Instant, Cooldown: 21 secs, Range: 15m
Progressively slows the target from 60% to 10% movement speed over 5 seconds and deals 180 kinetic damage each second. At the end of the duration the target is crushed, and takes an additional 553 kinetic damage.

Zephyr

Passive

Reduces the cooldown of all Force abilities while in Shii-Cho Form by 3 seconds.

 

Darth Hater Q&A

SWTOR Face: In your words, how would you describe your site? Do you have a particular focus or interest?

Darth Hater: Darth Hater is the top fan site for covering all things Star Wars: The Old Republic

SWTOR Face: Darth Hater is the top fan site for covering all things Star Wars: The Old Republic...

SWTOR Face: When did you start blogging about SWTOR?
Darth Hater: Darth Hater founded in July 2009


SWTOR Face: What, if any, MMOs have you played?
Darth Hater: Ultima Online, Everquest, World of Warcraft, Global Agenda, All Points Bulletin, Warhammer, Rift, Aion, Lord of The Rings Online... really, if it is a MMO, one of us gave it a try at one time or another.

SWTOR Face: Are you attracted to SWTOR because of the gaming experience, Star Wars, or both?
Darth Hater: Both.

SWTOR Face: Republic or Empire?
Darth Hater: Empire.

SWTOR Face: What excites you most about SWTOR?
Darth Hater:  Blizz.

Global Agenda Game Guide and Review Video

In my quest to fill the void of interesting content in gaming I found Global Agenda, a FREE MMO that has all the impact I love about FPS games and throws it into a MMO environment. I didn't expect a lot when I downloaded it, but was I wrong?! Hi-Rez Studios has done an 'Unreal' job with this game and it's worth checking out!!

Download your free copy here.

In this video I cover:

• the basic game description
• a character creation tour
• questing tour
• a full dungeon instance (speed up for your convenience)
• a full raid (also sped up)
• PVP
• hints, recommendations
• information about how the game runs on different hardware

If you're like me and you're just waiting for a the end of year rush of new games, and you haven't tried Global Agenda yet, check out this video and see if it ticks some of your gaming boxes.

   

Diablo III Black Soulstone Cinematic

One cool thing that came out of Blizzcon this morning and that's the Diablo III Black Soulstone Cinematic. I've been impressed by all of Blizzard's cinematics going right back to Diablo I. Even if you're not a fan of the game, this is an impressive video.

Video description: As Deckard Cain's niece, Leah, struggles to make sense of her uncle's mysterious and disturbing notations, she bears witness to a dark vision. Azmodan, Lord of Sin, towers over the fragile young woman, swearing his armies of the burning Hells shall pour forth into Sanctuary, ravishing the world and all hope of resistance.

Blizzard Getting Desperate By Offering Free Diablo III?

Yesterday at Blizzon, Blizzard announced that all annual subscribers to World of Warcraft will get a FREE copy of their up and coming Diablo III. Not only that, they'll also get a free ingame mount and guaranteed access to the expansion beta.

This is a surprising move by Blizzard. Why would you give away copies of a game that many WoW players would be willing to pay full price for, without a second thought!? I personally don't know any WoW players that are not interested in Diablo III. Is this a sign of panic by Blizzard and a desperate act to keep their subscription numbers up to impress their investors? That' the only logical explanation that I can see for this bold move. Even I might have been tempted to take up this offer if I wasn't so interested in the Collector's Edition of Diablo III.

I have no intention of spending any real time in WoW in the foreseeable future. I'm not saying that it's not a great game, because it is; it's just that I believe I've got the most out of the game already, after three years of playing it. A lot of players, myself included, are looking forward to new games like Bioware's SWTOR. Blizzard may be thinking that if their customer base has a yearly subscription, there's a better chance of them logging in and giving it another go in six months time.

Fan Sites Breaking NDAs

I have noticed over the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of NDA information leaked onto the net. This is depressing for us fan sites who are trying to do the right thing by Bioware.

The team at Bioware have a strategy in place that they believe is in the best interests for the future of SWTOR and as a fan of their game, I want to fully support their decisions about when to post stuff and what information to release.

So although we have been asked by our readers several times to post leaked information, we will not be doing that and breaking the NDA. Please keep in mind that some of the details about the game that have been released, in breach of the NDA, are from the beta and may not even be accurate for the public release of the game.

We will also remove any sites breaking NDA's from our blog feed.