In sharp contrast to the Jedi and Sith who exist separately from the militaries, the armies of the Republic and the Empire have no mystical force to rely on. Their prowess and cunning come from training, discipline, and oftentimes a willingness to do things that a Jedi would cringe at. These front line troops have far more to lose than their Force wielding counterparts, and they know it. Whether they enlist for patriotism or power, to walk onto a battlefield and know that facing down a Jedi or Sith is a possibility takes courage that many in the galaxy don’t have. To come out victorious is an even bigger task.

The men and women in the militaries of Star Wars find themselves facing Rakghouls, Sith and almost every terror the galaxy has. Jump past the cut to learn more about these incredibly soldiers.

Some people love them and some people hate. But what does Bioware think? They revamped the medal system a lot recently, and while my previous article covered the facts, here we will examine the reasoning behind the design, how it might affect rated warzones, and possible improvements.

The medal system attempts to reward players based on their individual performance, presumably while trying to win the warzone. The rewards are great enough that players often farm these medal at the cost of proper strategic play and at a detriment to their team. So the question is: do medals improve the warzone experience? Other games have successfully added individual player scoring while keeping players focused solely on winning. League of Legends Dominion map comes to mind. It may be considerably harder to design such a system in SWTOR but this is the goal. Unless of course Bioware intends players to choose between two different objectives while in warzones.

The Tatooine open-world PvP area saw a lot of action during the Rakghoul Plague event but I expect things to be quieting down now that it’s over. Ilum has pretty much shut down, so hopefully this recent event raised interest in the Outlaw’s Den. I still spend most of my time between queues there and have learned a few things since my previous article. Fortunately, I can say that I have found no new spawn locations since that guide so it appears to be complete. And check out this upgraded map of the box locations after the break:

Now that 1.2 has been released and we’re currently in the middle of uh, tossing around rakgoul infections, it’s time to gaze up at the horizon and wonder what BioWare has in store for its fans next. Some players were happy with game update 1.2, and others found it lacking, but both types of players know that SWTOR still needs a few major fixes and additional features. It’s a young game, and still has room to grow.

Everyone has their own personal list of what they feel the game needs to focus on. For many players, some kind of group finder feature (also known as looking for group, or LFG) is becoming increasingly important, and takes up that number one spot. This past week, James Ohlen, Game Director of SWTOR, asked for our player feedback regarding the group activities we’d most like to see such a system developed for. The poll on the official forums can be found here.

But just how big are these explosions after the 1.2 nerf? And how can you avoid them?

1.2 only nerfed the actual burst damage a little. The big nerf is in the cool downs. If you want to make people explode with your Guardian (Juggernaut), or want to learn how to beat us, click to continue reading after the break.

Even after a 10% reduction to Force Sweep‘s (Smash) damage the 5k medal is still easy to come by, and I frequently break 6k on under-geared goofballs. Sadly, however, the cool down of our glorious explosions has been increased by a whopping 33%, from 9 sec to 12 sec. This goes for both Force Sweep and Blade Storm (Force Scream). With smaller explosions and longer cool downs, its tough to tell where the Focus tree stands.

My best advice for countering us Guardians is to learn when we are going to Sweep and get away so it misses. This is easier said that done against a good Guardian but sometimes server lag will help you. Everyone should keep in mind that Sentinels (Marauders) can now hit just as big as Guardians with Sweep/Smash but I’ll leave their analysis to someone else.

What use is it calling yourself the “Protectors of the Galaxy” if you keep yourself from fighting? How can a galaxy at war train a Jedi to learn of peace and knowledge with the threat of impending doom over their heads? While the Jedi Order portrayed in The Phantom Menace and the beginning of Attack of the Clones was one that had flourished in peace, the Great Galactic War breeds an entirely different mindset for these paragons of the Force.

Jump past the cut to read how war can turn a philosopher into a warrior, and if the Order can really uphold its standards while fighting a brutal war.

After only 4 months SWTOR has seen a staggering array of changes, both good and bad.  And while some events have sent fan boys raging, others have brought frustrated players back into the fold smiling.  So it’s time to take a look at those changes and how they have affected the game.

We’ll discuss everything, but you’re going to have to click Continue Reading to find out!

The following loot list is for normal mode Maelstrom Prison, which is a Republic-side flashpoint for levels 35-39. All bosses are listed in the order of occurrence. Trash drops are at the end. Some of the drops in Maelstrom Prison seem to drop off multiple bosses, as well as off trash. I’ve listed some of the possible occurrences. There may be more.

Loot lists are currently a work in progress. If you notice anything that needs a correction or addition, please feel free to leave a comment.

The legacy system has many fantastic features in store for the game, from new emotes to strange race/class combinations, but the idea that all of your characters must be related has caused a stir amongst the roleplaying community. Sure, the dev blog video has revealed that you have the option to list your character as allies as well as relatives, but inventive roleplayers may see the opportunity to create some of the epic family legacies that Star Wars is famous for. The tools that this system gives us can allow us to create epics of our own. Jump past the cut to see how family matters in a galaxy far, far away.

With the level of changes going into 1.2, Reverse Engineering (RE) is something you need to be on top of.  The best gear in the game will be crit crafted Orange custom gear with Augment slots.  

But how do you get that gear, the Augments, and the modifications to put into them?

Click Continue Reading to find out!