Rise of the Hut Cartel: What to Expect (no spoilers)

The Rise of the Hut Cartel is Star Wars The Old Republic's first digital expansion. If you were really keen and pre-ordered back in January then you'll have access on April 9th, everybody else (who pre-order between 7th January and 13th April) will get access on April 13th. But what is this expansion? What will you get with it? Well, I had access to it for about a month so read on and I'll tell you what to expect, without revealing any story line spoilers.

What you get for $10

Just like all things in this world, you get what you pay for. This is a $10 expansion (or $20 if you are not a subscriber) and you really do get $10 worth of content. This digital expansion is more like a bloated major patch. It doesn't come with all the regular things we're used to receiving in our MMO expansions, like new player races, fifty hours worth of play time in missions, and new classes. The Rise of the Hut Cartel expansion is one new planet, two separate story lines - one for Imperial and one for Republic - and a bunch of new missions.  I was able to finish the story arc in two casual days of playing. If you are expecting this to compete with the expansions you may have experienced in WoW, Rift, and other MMOs, you will be disappointed. If you are expecting $10 worth of content, you will be satisfied.

Story lines

All eight classes have their own unique introduction to the main story line on the new plant, Makeb. After these introductory video cut scenes though, the story and missions are then the same for all Republic players and for all Imperial players. The re-play-ability is limited for players with multiple alts. BioWare tried to disguise the lack of variety by telling players that all their characters will have a unique experience but really, that is an overstatement. The only difference after that initial cut scene is what the NPCs refer to you as. The story on Makeb is not a continuation of your classes' main story.

The story also doesn't use your companions - they have nothing to say on any of the missions. Your companions do comment on things like the scenery though, but they have nothing more than a superficial role. It has been said in multiple interviews that class missions in SWTOR finish at 50 and that it is not cost effective for BioWare to extend with the same level of detail as in the first three Acts. So after playing through the first story on Makeb I tried it again on a second character. I found myself tabbing through identical blocks of voice acting to speed it up.

Leveling

The Makeb story arc and adjacent missions don't provide enough experience to level from 50 to 55. If you start the new story in the expansion at level 50 then you will finish at around 53 or just above. The missions can be a challenge if your level of gear is basic. My full war hero geared Gaurdian had no problems for the first few levels but also didn't get any new gear until level 55. Players in recruit gear or story mode operations level gear will find it a little bit harder and might find the occasional upgrades at around level 53. I found the missions easier the second time around by first going out and doing a whole heap of dailies and getting to level 54 before even starting the missions on Makeb.

Mini games

Outside of Makeb there is a variety of new content in the way of microbinocular and seeker droid missions. These missions will excite people who like travelling all over the Galaxy on exploration style journeys. Using microbinoculars to reveal hidden items, or seeker droids to track down missions objectives - similar to tracking for Bounty Hunters in Star Wars Galaxies or mining in WoW - these new missions will be loathe by some and loved by others.

But what about my alts?

Playing through the story line in Makeb seemed very fluid as it moved from island to island and the story itself is very well written and enjoyable. Because the story is the same for all Republic or Imperial  players I think that many players will focus on playing one or two characters rather than a legacy of characters.

Same Sex Romance - The Gay Planet

This is an overstatement! There was an uproar all over the Internet about same sex romances being introduced in this expansion. People are still upset, but for a different reason. The story arcs only have ONE flirt option for each faction. Republic players will get to flirt with one female NPC, regardless of their gender and Imperial players will get to flirt with one male NPC, regardless of their gender. Players were expecting multiple romance options but this is simply not the case. The characters I played through on were both male, Republic and this new romance option was just no different to the options I'd had before the expansion. What a load of hooha for nothing.

In conclusion

So all in all I am disappointed that my character's story is not continued by this expansion but hey, let's get real - it's $10, it's new content, it's fun and it's worth every penny. End game really hasn't changed a lot, with one new operation and no new warzones. Expect to be doing exactly the same thing you're doing at level 50 when you reach level 55.

Working on a big change to SWTORFACE and GamingFACE

Over the next week or so we will be making SWTORFACE.com a biger part of GamingFace. All content will be in both places for now.

The Many Looks of Khem Val

Khem Val customizations

What follows is some basic information about Khem Val, but not much more than you'll find out when you first unlock him. Then I'll go on to show you the vast amount of customizations available for him - more than any other companion. Plus, I'll tel you where you can get them from.

About Khem Val

Khem Val is your own personal bodyguard as the first companion for Sith Inquisitors. One of the last few remaining Dashades, he is unique among assassins, thanks to his specie's force resistance. Khem Val's legacy goes back thousands of years as, like most of his species, he was suspended on Korriban for future generations to find. Khem Val is ruthless, to put it bluntly. He doesn't like being soft, but that doesn't mean that all of his decisions are Dark Side in nature. He hates slavery. Khem Val's storyline is closely tied to your class story and his personal story is not complete until after your class story has concluded at level 50. I found Khem Val's story to be quite entertaining and different to other companion's - almost comical in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer type way, which plugs in nicely to the Sith Inquisitor class story, which has a similar feel.

Khem Val Customizations

When you first unlock Khem Val you will get a choice of looks, customizations 1, 2 and 3, plus the default look, giving you a total of 4 looks to chose from immediately. There are 15 total looks for Khem Val, although only 5 different skins; the other 10 looks are clothing and armor variations on those 5 skins.

The screenshot above shows customizations default, 1, 2, 3 and 4. The image shows a front and back view of Khem Val in just his loin cloth. Being an alien of non-humanoid dimensions, default clothing and armor don't make any appearance changes.

Customizations 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (above) include a cloth outfit variation on the first 5 skins. This adds a bit more color and variation to Khem Val's appearance.

 Customizations 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 equip Khem Val with armor. Although only superficial, the armor does make him look quite menacing. He's still bare-chested from front view but these outfits provide a look as though he is protected from rear attacks.

Wel-Nolan in the Cantina on Balmorra has customizations, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 13 - all listed for 12500 credits (each). There are no special requirements for any of these customizations and they're available from Keith the companion customization vendor on Taris as well.

 The Collector's Edition vendor on the Imperial Fleet has 3 more customizations available for Khem Val which include 2, 7 and 12. These customizations are only available to Collector's Edition owners. They are 2000 credits each.

The security key vendor on the Imperial Fleet has the last ones, for anybody who has a security key attached to their account. Customizations 4, 9 and 14 cost 12500 each. Once you have purchased items from the security key vendor they are yours to keep forever, even if you remove the security key at a later date.

I personally chose all the red customizations, which allow me to change his outfit depending on my mood, without the discrepancy of his skin changing color.


Don't forget to check out similar posts: Here 

Wallpaper : The Galactic Republic A Bright Light In The Darkness...

A new wallpaper for our readers :


The Galactic Republic
A Bright Light In The Darkness...

Red and blue remind me of the Rebels in Star Wars and The Galactic Republic in SWTOR so I wanted to use them in this image but I wanted to keep the World War II mascot feel to it! hope you like it!

1920x1080

Rise of the Hut Cartel: What to Expect (no spoilers)

The Rise of the Hut Cartel is Star Wars The Old Republic's first digital expansion. If you were really keen and pre-ordered back in January then you'll have access on April 9th, everybody else (who pre-order between 7th January and 13th April) will get access on April 13th. But what is this expansion? What will you get with it? Well, I had access to it for about a month so read on and I'll tell you what to expect, without revealing any story line spoilers.

What you get for $10

Just like all things in this world, you get what you pay for. This is a $10 expansion (or $20 if you are not a subscriber) and you really do get $10 worth of content. This digital expansion is more like a bloated major patch. It doesn't come with all the regular things we're used to receiving in our MMO expansions, like new player races, fifty hours worth of play time in missions, and new classes. The Rise of the Hut Cartel expansion is one new planet, two separate story lines - one for Imperial and one for Republic - and a bunch of new missions.  I was able to finish the story arc in two casual days of playing. If you are expecting this to compete with the expansions you may have experienced in WoW, Rift, and other MMOs, you will be disappointed. If you are expecting $10 worth of content, you will be satisfied.

Story lines

All eight classes have their own unique introduction to the main story line on the new plant, Makeb. After these introductory video cut scenes though, the story and missions are then the same for all Republic players and for all Imperial players. The re-play-ability is limited for players with multiple alts. BioWare tried to disguise the lack of variety by telling players that all their characters will have a unique experience but really, that is an overstatement. The only difference after that initial cut scene is what the NPCs refer to you as. The story on Makeb is not a continuation of your classes' main story.

The story also doesn't use your companions - they have nothing to say on any of the missions. Your companions do comment on things like the scenery though, but they have nothing more than a superficial role. It has been said in multiple interviews that class missions in SWTOR finish at 50 and that it is not cost effective for BioWare to extend with the same level of detail as in the first three Acts. So after playing through the first story on Makeb I tried it again on a second character. I found myself tabbing through identical blocks of voice acting to speed it up.

Leveling

The Makeb story arc and adjacent missions don't provide enough experience to level from 50 to 55. If you start the new story in the expansion at level 50 then you will finish at around 53 or just above. The missions can be a challenge if your level of gear is basic. My full war hero geared Gaurdian had no problems for the first few levels but also didn't get any new gear until level 55. Players in recruit gear or story mode operations level gear will find it a little bit harder and might find the occasional upgrades at around level 53. I found the missions easier the second time around by first going out and doing a whole heap of dailies and getting to level 54 before even starting the missions on Makeb.

Mini games

Outside of Makeb there is a variety of new content in the way of microbinocular and seeker droid missions. These missions will excite people who like travelling all over the Galaxy on exploration style journeys. Using microbinoculars to reveal hidden items, or seeker droids to track down missions objectives - similar to tracking for Bounty Hunters in Star Wars Galaxies or mining in WoW - these new missions will be loathe by some and loved by others.

But what about my alts?

Playing through the story line in Makeb seemed very fluid as it moved from island to island and the story itself is very well written and enjoyable. Because the story is the same for all Republic or Imperial  players I think that many players will focus on playing one or two characters rather than a legacy of characters.

Same Sex Romance - The Gay Planet

This is an overstatement! There was an uproar all over the Internet about same sex romances being introduced in this expansion. People are still upset, but for a different reason. The story arcs only have ONE flirt option for each faction. Republic players will get to flirt with one female NPC, regardless of their gender and Imperial players will get to flirt with one male NPC, regardless of their gender. Players were expecting multiple romance options but this is simply not the case. The characters I played through on were both male, Republic and this new romance option was just no different to the options I'd had before the expansion. What a load of hooha for nothing.

In conclusion

So all in all I am disappointed that my character's story is not continued by this expansion but hey, let's get real - it's $10, it's new content, it's fun and it's worth every penny. End game really hasn't changed a lot, with one new operation and no new warzones. Expect to be doing exactly the same thing you're doing at level 50 when you reach level 55.

Are you happy with the Asia-Pacific servers closing down?

So the votes are in!

Merge all the APAC servers into one server
 (82%)

Transfer option for a server of your choice
 (16%)

Do Nothing
 (11%)

Merge APAC servers to US servers
(8%)

We are getting what 16% or people wanted its not good but we are are the mercy of BioWare... :( back to crap PVP at 220 ping for us Aussies, Frack you a lot for that BioWare! But they are in it for the money and not the fun like us so I may hate it but I do understand it.... Noooooooo 

We want your vote! I just posted a Poll on the right side of this site please vote and let us and BioWare what you think about the closing down Asia-Pacific servers of SWTOR. Go vote now! V

Let the lag wars begin Asia-Pacific servers close down!

BioWare are closing down Asia-Pacific servers of SWTOR. I just found this news on Google+ and I must say, I think it's shocking that BioWare would not listen to the suggestions made and would instead opt to close down the Australian servers completely. This will force me, and other Australian and New Zealand players, back to the laggy experience we put up with when the game first came out in the US and did not yet have Oceanic servers.

To make it even worse, names that we had secured on original servers are now gone, forcing us all to now change our SWTOR identities. I understand that other players had to change their names as well when the server merges took place, but older veteran players at least had the opportunity to keep their identities if they had active accounts. We are now going to be limited to hyphenated weird names because of the massive populations on the US servers.

Being an avid PvP player, the 200+ ping is going to be completely unacceptable and won't allow me to be competitive.

This is one massive nail in the coffin for Oceanic players.

One of the three Asia-Pacific servers has a more than satisfactory population and a simple merge of all Oceanic players to that most populated server would solve the issues that BioWare have.

Fans suggested several ways to address the problem, with BioWare eventually opting to remove the servers altogether. Musco says the studio will need to update the Free Character Transfer System in order to cater for recent game updates, as well as the forthcoming 2.0 update and Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion pack, so it may be some time before the transfer is completed.

Once those issues are addressed, players on APAC servers will be offered Free Character Transfers to the buzzing North American servers of the same gameplay type. “Mastar Dar’Nala (PvP) will transfer to The Bastion (PvP), Gav Daragon (RP-PvE) will transfer to Begeren Colony (RP-PvE), and Dalborra (PvE) will transfer to The Harbinger (PvE),” the community post reads.

Making the most of Double XP

The first weekend of Double XP was definitely a success for most players. I personally got 2 of my level 40-odd characters through to level 50, giving me a total of 6 completed level 50s.

One of the characters I leveled from 43 to 50 in about 7 or 8 hours. I did this by:
1) using the Double XP
2) combined with the 25% bonus buff and
3) I played through the class story line and the planet story main mission line only.
I found that by doing this, by the time I reached Corellia, I was level 50. By the time I finished the planet I was on at level 43, Belsavis, I was way ahead of the level requirements for all missions, making it very easy gameplay.

By sticking to just the class story line and planet story main missions, it was almost like being involved in a movie. Gone were the distracting side missions that I've already done four times by now on other characters. I generally find that leveling characters, especially alts, can be a little bit confusing when it comes to stories, especially if you have a gap of weeks between major chapters. Throw in one or two other alts stories and it can be quite confusing.

With my second character, my Comanndo, I used a different tactic. I was invited to join a group in my guild that was power-grinding on Ilum. A full raid of 30 players were all leveling at lightening speeds. So I took my level 43 Commando out there and within 2 hours he was level 50.

Bioware will be fixing this play style on Ilum before this weekend's Double XP by removing the boost in stats for sub-level 50 players. To be honest, I don't think that leveling in this way is as big an advantage as people thought. Yes, you get to 50, but you have no credits, no companions and you haven't unlocked any of the story line bonuses to do with your legacy. So even though it only took 2 hours to get from 43 to 50, I still had to spend the following day finishing off my character's story line. If anything, all this did was to make it a little bit easier to play through the class missions - not that they are hard, especially if they're green (playing above the level requirements). Having spoken to other guild members who also leveled in this way, they also agree that it wasn't the best tactic after all, as they now have had to spend this week farming credits to pay for training and gear.

This coming weekend I have a level 14 Inquisitor to level. In preparation I have maxed out warzone experience and class mission experience bonuses in my legacy for this character. I also have boosters in the character's inventory. I intend on playing through her class story line and PvP only, skipping all other side missions. This will give me more than enough experience and credits to have an enjoyable leveling experience, whilst still achieving my goal of getting to level 50 by the weekend's end.

In my quest to provide detailed companion information, by the end of this Double XP weekend I will have all eight classes with completed class story lines - and also all companion story lines completed to maximum affection.

Video The Old Republic Insider Episode 5

Get ready for some weekend Grinding!! Dubbed XP weekends!!


Bioware has announced the game’s first – Double XP weekends, scheduled on the following dates:

• March 15, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to March 18, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
• March 22, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to March 25, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
• March 29, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM GMT to April 1, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT
• April 5, 2013 at 1:00PM CDT / 6:00PM to April 8, 2013 at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT

Double XP weekends will help all SWTOR fans prepare for the upcoming Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel. As a part of this promotion double XP affects literally everything (space, quest rewards, PvP, etc). If you’ve already hit Level 50, don’t worry your Legacy XP will double too, but this does not affect things like Valor.


Today we are pleased to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Insider Episode 5 is now live! This video details some of the new Cartel Market items including the Luxury Skiff Speeder and the Contraband Shipment, a set of five Cartel Packs! Also, preview the exciting gameplay updates coming in March and get a glimpse of the new Operation coming with Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy.

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