OotiniCast Episode 78

Posted on by May 4, 2013
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We discuss some of the content coming in Game Update 2.1: Customization, along with a quick guide to two level 55 hard modes, Athiss and Cademimu.

1. Introduction

Hyp’s Marauder certainly hasn’t been getting much beauty sleep.

Baldy (worse than ever)

Speaking of beauty, Hyp’s Scoundrel, Pearlneck, has a new look.

Pearlneck new look 2

Pearlnecks new look

Pearlnecks new look 2

2. Trivia Question

This week’s question is all about New Hollywood. New Hollywood is a period of moviemaking from the mid-60s to the very early 80s. It is usually marked as beginning with “Bonnie and Clyde”, a surprising hit of a movie where the main characters die, and ends with the overpriced flops “Heaven’s Gate” and “One from the Heart”.

New Hollywood was marked by a period of time where filmmakers were still part of the studio process, but allowed greater freedom. So they were a mix of the two things we have today—generally big-budget movies with tight studio control and smaller indie films with low budgets but tons of creative freedom. The occasional big-budget movie with filmmaker control, like Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies, can be seen as a product of this time.

New Hollywood proved that movies could be big successes without being cookie-cutter films, like the musicals, war movies, and horse operas of the 50s and early 60s. They also legitimized the sequel with the critical and successful “Godfather Part II,” brought us the summer blockbuster with “Jaws,” and showed that fantasy and sci-fi could have wide audience appeal with “Star Wars.”

Of course, their successes sowed the seeds of the movement’s failure; more money was thrown their way, which both increased the risk if a movie was a flop, and caused the studios to demand more control over their big bets.

But what made New Hollywood really successful was that this was the first generation of moviemakers who had grown up watching movies. They loved movies and they knew movies. They put references to great earlier movies in their movies, both as a nod to films they loved and also quite frankly to uplift their own films.

Now, we’ve used the Trivia Question to explore Lucas’s influences before. So let’s set aside the movies of Kurosawa. But let’s find as many other examples as we can of famous movie scenes being referenced, either in dialogue, shot selection etc. in the six “Star Wars” movies.

I’ll get you started. (This example won’t count.) The famous Greedo cantina scene is a reference to the wonderful western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, where Tuco is caught by an armed man who has been hunting him. He is in the bath, apparently unarmed, and his hunter waves his pistol in his face and gloats over how happy he is to have caught him. But then Tuco, or Han, fires a hidden pistol and kills his opponent. While Han’s scene has become known as “Han Shot First”, Tuco’s line at the end of his scene is appropriate to both: “When you have to shoot, shoot! Don’t talk”.

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. Whoever gets the most references to earlier movies by next Wednesday will be put in a drawing to win a Taun Fawn code courtesy of BioWare and one of the latest full-size Cartel Packs (or if you’re on The Harbinger, a very special mount!).

3. Holofeed

4. Community

We recommend hawtpantsrepublic.com, which includes a most excellent guide for Sentinels updated for Game Update 2.0. You can follow the site’s author via @HawtRepublic on Twitter.

Our guildmate Krad highly recommends Geldarion’s various posts about Gunslingers. Probably best to start with his Gunslinger/Sniper Advanced Class Guide.

Kuze is working on his instructional video on platforming, you can find his existing guides in Kuze’s Korner.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com).

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @heymason12, @Rrubb, @HamSammich509, @TheTurg (Terg), @roguish98 (Matt Roberts), @EmpireDivider (Moff Chong), @YojeVawree, @weihanthekidsun (Weihan Sun), @MrSteveVoss, @KairiahMedens (David), @ChazLobo, @terencemyers, @JediKrackr, @Lawilc01 (Laurie M), @rocketman003 (Ki’el), @ForceChuckle, @Watchman_Marek, @voyak, @tshapedvisor, @Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio), @rclemons1977 (Brian Clemons), and emails from Jacob Hausman, @1BigBore (Bill), Graham S and Neiro.

The Pearlneck lookalike spotted by Terg:

Pearlneck clone

 

And the one I spotted:

Another Pearlneck cloneGraham S recommends the Mad Katz S.T.R.I.K.E. 7:

Graham Sellars

6. Sarlacc Digest

We cover two of the level 55 hard mode Flashpoints, Athiss and Cademimu, leaving Mandalorian Raiders and Hammer Station for next week.

Athiss (Dulfy’s guide)

  • you can slice the elevator at the beginning to avoid fall damage
  • grab the explosives from the room to the left of where you come in if no one in the group has Archaeology
  • Professor Ley’arsha (woman with adds)
    • tank face away from group
    • tank moves away with purple circle to drop corruption away from melee
    • DPS kill adds (normals) when they periodically turn up
  • The Beast of Vodal Kressh (big dog)
    • adds appear at 75%/50%/25% of boss health; tank needs to pick them up
    • huge knockback/stun, so tank with back to wall
    • DPS needs to kill the adds ASAP
    • can avoid extra adds by fighting boss near pond on the way to the boss
  • Ancient Abomination (bonus boss)
    • tank in alcove behind boss
    • DPS and healer sit on boss’s behind, AoE heal periodic damage from knockback
    • interruptible ability after each knockback
  • Prophet of Vodal (guy with the fires)
    • move out of small purple circles (note that they stick around for some time)
    • healer needs to cleanse the corruption DoT as soon as possible (hits really hard)
    • when boss stealths, a random party member will get a flaming effect on them, and four fire adds will spawn and chase that player; they need to kite the flames until they disappear
  • click on the altar to complete the Flashpoint

Cademimu (Dulfy’s guide)

  • crew skill shortcuts: gate (Scavenging) and shuttle (Slicing)
  • Officer Xander (guy with the EN-4C droid)
    • when activated, droid will slowly move towards randomly selected player; will switch players over time
    • need to kite droid into trap (circle on ground), without any player themselves getting trapped
    • when the droid is trapped, kill it (droid won’t take damage otherwise)
    • player targeted with large blue circle needs to move away from the group until it explodes (to avoid damaging anyone else)
  • Captain Grimyk (Wookie captain)
    • tank faces him away from group because of his flamethrower
    • adds (Ugnaughts) must be brought into the flamethrower before they can be damaged
  • Sith Separatist (bonus boss)
    • periodically pulls everyone in and does massive AoE; need to run out as soon as it happens
    • random player will take big hit (healers needs to keep everyone’s health topped off)
    • healer and ranged can usually find something to stand behind so they don’t get pulled in while still maintaining line of site
  • General Ortol (rocket guy with the shackles)
    • initially two and then three quarters of the room will be uninhabitable as the rocket engines above fire; group needs to move to the safe area
    • each time it changes, the soon-to-be-dangerous quarters fill with steam
    • a random player will be periodically shackled, along with anyone close to them; someone else needs to run through them to break the shackle
    • boss does a knockback, so tank/fight in a corner of the safe quarter of the room
    • 2.0.1 bug: additional players shackled by being too close to the shackle’s targeted player cannot be freed; so melee and tank need to stay a bit spread out (can still be in melee range)

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) and Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. We are a proud member of the TOR Syndicate! You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio Paragon.

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Dye Modules in Game Update 2.1: Customization

Posted on by May 10, 2013
7

A key feature of the upcoming Game Update 2.1: Customization are Dye Modules, which provide a mechanism for changing the color of our character’s armor. Cory Butler (Producer) was kind enough to answer some of our questions, which are included below along with the information that Cory and Nathan Emmott (Systems Designer) had already provided to the fan sites.

Dye Modules can be inserted into items with a Dye Module slot using the item’s modification window, the same way as mods and augments are added now.

The vast majority of items have been updated to include a Dye Module slot. You can tell whether a given item has a Dye Module slot by its tooltip. Certain categories of items do not have a Dye Module slot: items with a level requirement of less than 15, lore outfits (e.g., Jolee Bindo’s outfit), items of premium (green) quality and items which simply didn’t look good when dyed. However, all craftable items (from Synthweaving and Armormech) will have Dye Module slots.

Will all adaptive armor, wearable from level 1, have Dye Module slots?

Cory: All Cartel Market outfits (with the exception of Lore gear) will be dyeable, regardless of item level.

Dye Modules are consumable, in that they can be used once. Removing a Dye Module from an item, or replacing it, will destroy the original Module.

Some Dye Modules will be sold on the Cartel Market, both directly and in future packs.

Others will be craftable, with some Reputation Vendors selling Dye Module schematics. Yet more Dye Modules will be available on the CE (Collector’s Edition) vendor and the security key vendor.

Which crew skill(s) can make the Modules?

Cory: Artifice is the only skill that will produce Dye Modules.

While it was initially indicated that Dye Modules could be reverse engineered, Cory confirmed that this will not be the case.

How much overlap will there be in colors between the different sources?

Cory: There is no overlap between the sources. Each source (Cartel Market, Crafting, and Vendors) has its own selection of color schemes available.

Items that have a Dye Module slot have a primary color and a secondary color. The example given was the Havoc Squad armor, such as that worn by Aric Jorgan:

Aric Jorgan

The default primary color is white, and the secondary color is orange. These can be changed using the Dye Modules, which come in three categories:

  • primary color only
  • secondary color only
  • primary and secondary colors

Continuing the Havoc Squad armor example, a Dye Module for primary black would leave the orange markings, whereas a Dye Module for secondary red would leave the armor as white, but change its markings to red. But a Dye Module that defines green as primary and black as secondary would completely change its appearance to green with black markings.

Will it be possible to combine a primary Dye Module and a secondary Dye Module into a single primary/secondary Dye Module?

Cory: You cannot combine a primary and a secondary Dye Module to create a Primary/Secondary Dye Module.

Thus the only primary/secondary color combinations available will be those provided.

You can preview how a given Dye Module will look, presumably on the items you are wearing. This is especially important as how the Dye Module affects an item may vary (e.g., different shades of blue). The preview feature allows you to check that it will look the way you want before applying it (or even purchasing it).

You can use the existing unify color to chest system to make all your gear share a single Dye Module’s effect, by adding a Dye Module to your chestpiece, and then unifying the rest of your gear. You can then add Dye Modules to the rest of your items as you desire, if you want a different color for them on an item-by-item basis.

While there will be a large number of Dye Modules available in Game Update 2.1, BioWare encourages the community to suggest new colors so that they can added in the future.

UPDATE: In a Q&A between Dulfy and BioWare, it was clarified that the undyeable lore outfits include Bastila Shan, The Last Handmaiden, Carth Onasi, Darth Malak, Jolee Bindo, Triumvirate Armor, the Revan armor set and the Mask of Nihilus. The initial number of dye modules and their sources was also revealed:

There will be 48 different Dye Modules at release. 25 will be available through the Cartel Market, 3 will be available from the Security Key and Collector’s Edition vendors, and 20 more will be available through the crafting system (schematics for some of which will be found on Reputation vendors).

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Overview of Game Update 2.1: Customization

Posted on by May 6, 2013
3

BioWare provided SWTOR’s fan sites with information about Game Update 2.1 entitled “Customization”, the first update since the Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion. Given what we were told, this update is focussed on a variety of features to add extra dimensions to customer customization. It seems that they are making this update all about quality of life, not surprising given the expansion gave us a solid chunk of new content.

Cory Butler features in the latest Old Republic Insider for April 2013, which touches on some of what’s coming in Game Update 2.1.

Collections

The Collections window will show you all of the items available in the game that are considered collectible. This includes armor sets, weapons, pets, speeders and toys from the Cartel Market, including the random items that are obtained through the packs.

SWTOR_Collection_01

Once you have bound such an item to one of your characters, that item is considered to be in your collection. Your collection is account-wide, not limited to a character or legacy.

You can then pay a one-time fee (in Cartel Coins) for an item to unlock it, which means that you can freely create new copies of that item on any character on your account.

For example, if you obtained the Mask of Nihilus, you could pay the Cartel Coin fee to unlock it, and then create copies on all your characters regardless of server. You could even provide them to all your characters’ companions!

Probably more useful is that you could unlock a favourite speeder, and then never have to buy a speeder again for any alt you create… ever.

Once an item is in your collection, it stays there; you can destroy all copies of the item, and as long as you have unlocked it, you can always create more.

A given copy is (of course!) bound to the character that uses the Collection interface to create that copy.

The Pink Lightsabers blog did a Q&A with Cory Butler on this feature, in which he revealed the cost of a given item’s Collection unlock:

For pack items, the Cartel Coin cost is based on item rarity, and ranges from 60 to 600 CC. For direct-sale items, the unlock fee is a fraction of the item’s base price.

Player Convenience Services

Escrow Deductions

Non-subscribers have a credit cap (200,000 credits for Free and 350,000 credits for Preferred). When this cap is reached, any additional credits are stored in an escrow account. Prior to Game Update 2.1, the credits in the escrow account could only be accessed if the player subscribed.

In Game Update 2.1, new Escrow Deduction items can be purchased from the Cartel Market, that allow a fixed amount of credits to be made available to the player from their escrow account. There are three types available:

  • 50,000 credit transfer for 40 Cartel Coins
  • 150,000 credit transfer for 80 Cartel Coins
  • 600,000 credit transfer for 240 Cartel Coins

The applicable credit cap does not affect credits transferred using these items. The items can be resold on the GTN.

Character, legacy and guild renaming

Items will be sold on the Cartel Market which allow a character, a player’s legacy or a guild to be renamed. There is a 30 day cooldown applied to a given change in name.

  • Character Rename for 1000 Cartel Coins
  • Legacy Rename for 1000 Cartel Coins
  • Guild Rename for 3000 Cartel Coins

These items can be sold on the GTN.

There will be a single (one per account), one-off complimentary Character Rename item provided to subscribers at or soon after the launch of Game Update 2.1.

Appearance Vendor Kiosk

The Appearance Vendor Kiosk can be used to alter a character’s body type, hair style, eye colour, scars, tattoos—effectively everything that is available in the character creator. A character’s species can also be changed, but not their class (or Advanced Class) or gender.

Appearance Vendor Kiosk

Courtesy of SWTOR-RP

In addition, the existing options have been expanded (e.g., new hair colours and styles), and new options will be coming in future updates at a regular cadence. Their intention is that players can customize their characters to achieve their personal Star Wars fantasy.

Cory emphasised the role-playing potential of the Kiosk. His young, clean-cut Padawan would eventually grow into a war-grizzled veteran, adding a scar after a big battle, and slowly greying his hair as he ages.

The Kiosks are located in convenient locations on the Fleet and each faction’s capital world. More Kiosks may be added in the future.

All changes made using the Kiosk are paid for with Cartel Coins; there is no option to pay with credits. However, subscribers will enjoy a substantial discount of up to 50% off the cost of Kiosk changes. When activated, the Kiosk offers a full portrait view, equivalent to the character creator. The changes made are charged on a “per-slider” basis, so a single change (e.g., a character’s skin color) would be cheaper than changing their hair colour and style.

If you choose to change a character’s species, there will be a single cost that includes all customization options.

Update: SWTOR-RP has had some questions answered by BioWare, including the revelation that character name changes are also coming in Game Update 2.1, and will be found in Cartel Market’s unlock section.

New species: Cathar

The Cathar are a new species that can be unlocked for Cartel Coins via the Cartel Market or directly in the Appearance Vendor Kiosk. Based on this post, the cost of the Cathar would appear to be 600 Cartel Coins. This is an account-wide unlock, rather than being legacy-specific like the existing racial unlocks.

The Cathar will then be available to male and female characters of all eight classes (i.e., both factions). You can create new Cathar characters, or use the Appearance Vendor Kiosk to change the species of an existing character to Cathar.

Cathar Trooper

Damion Schubert told us that the Cathar you encounter on Makeb were designed using the updated, far more detailed appearance options that have been provided. This includes new fur patterns and hairstyles. Aric Jorgan, a Cathar who features prominently in the Trooper’s class story, has also had his appearance updated.

There is also a social emote, referred to as “Cathar pride”. We would guess this involves your Cathar roaring like a lion.

Cathar female

BioWare have released the Cathar Preview Video, viewable below.

Dye Modules

Cory Butler was kind enough to answer some of our questions about Dye Modules, which you can read about here.

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OotiniCast Episode 77

Posted on by April 26, 2013
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The news this week is all about Game Update 2.0.1. We then discuss gaming peripherals, based on some insightful information and suggestions from our listeners.

1. Introduction

Hyp is quite taken with our guildmate Ry’s space cowboy hat:

Howdyy

Teo was a guest on The Oceanic Gamer‘s Flash Point podcast (episode 55). Thanks to David and Simon for the opportunity!

2. Trivia Question

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Joey Weaver!

3. The Holofeed

4. Community

Thanks to Mark Emery for his most generous donation!

William Keele (@DarthKenji) has his latest Lesson from the Holocron for your edification, all about Jawas: “Freaky Little Hooded Creatures”.

For those interested in joining Ootini Fight Club for some endgame PvP, please contact Chong by email (empiredivider@gmail.com).

From Kuze’s Korner, we have Datacron video guides for the four starter planets:

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @voyak, @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @StoleTarts (Megan), @ForceChuckle, @GregCarter78, @O_JohnnyBravo_O (JB), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @HamSammich509, @dingwog, @JediKrackr, @TheTurg, @BenAKenobi, @Eskatun, @rocketman003 and an email from Masterjedi (@masterbearjedi).

6. Sarlacc Digest

Our topic of discussion was gaming peripherals, based on tweets from @Jayconnell, @YojeVawree and @rclemons1977 (Brian Clemons) and emails from Rendrin, Quaza Impsbane, Marshall Carr and Azazeal.

The devices that we discussed are from both Razer and Logitech:

Naga

Razer Naga

LogitechG600

Logitech G600

Nostromo

Razer Nostromo

LogitechG13

Logitech G13

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) and Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. We are a proud member of the TOR Syndicate! You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio Paragon.

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Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Korriban

Posted on by May 27, 2013
1

Red Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) is on the world map. The datacron itself is located in The Ruined Atrium of the Tomb of Tulak Hord (marker is green).

+2 Willpower Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in the Lower Wilds. Both locations can be seen on the Korriban world map.

+2 Endurance Datacron

The datacron is located near the Departure Shuttle (marker is green).

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Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Hutta

Posted on by May 20, 2013
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+2 Aim Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Bog. Both locations can be seen on the Hutta world map.

Blue Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) in on the world map. The datacron itself is located in the Sewer Maintenance Tunnels (marker is green).

+2 Presence Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Rustyards.

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Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Ord Mantell

Posted on by May 14, 2013
1

Red Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) is on the world map. The datacron itself is located in Mannett Point (marker is green).

+2 Aim Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located on Savrip Island. Both can be seen on the world map.

+2 Presence Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located west of Mount Avilatan.

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Kuze’s Korner Datacron Guide: Tython

Posted on by May 10, 2013
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+2 Endurance Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in the Tythos River Valley.

+2 Willpower Datacron

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in Upper Kaleth.

Blue Matrix Shard

The starting location (marker is orange) and the datacron itself (marker is green) are located in The Forge.

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Freaky Little Hooded Creatures

Posted on by April 21, 2013
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Sand stays. All else changes.

-Iziz, from Knights of the Old Republic

In every Star Wars parody that I have ever seen, one species that always gets included is the Jawa. In Spaceballs they were called Dinks, most likely in reference to the cadence with which they sang as they marched across the dunes. Thumb Wars referred to them as “The Freaky Little Hooded Creatures”; an accurate if not flattering title for the little sentient beings. As we all know, our very own Chill and Teo decided to name their Old Republic podcast after a common Jawa cry. At first glance, Jawas might seem as though some Black Mages had stumbled into Star Wars from Final Fantasy, but like so many other parts of the Star Wars universe, once you dig into the lore surrounding them, a very interesting story emerges.

LftH-Sandcrawler

Even though some models of protocol droids cannot abide these disgusting creatures, Jawas have, in my personal opinion, always seemed rather cute. The average height of an adult is one meter, with an average mass of around 30 kilograms. The most distinguishing characteristics are their brown hooded robes and glowing yellow eyes. In similarity with their cousins the Sand People (more on this later), Jawas do not take off their robes—at least not in public. Through the study of corpses and skeletal remains, xenobiologists have discovered that under those robes Jawas are gaunt, rodent-like creatures with sunken faces. Jawas are known to dip their robes into a special solution that helps them retain moisture in their native environment. This solution is foul smelling to most other species. The staple of their diet is a round and yellowish, tough-skinned melon called the hubba gourd. Tasting sour to most other species, Jawas find them delicious when roasted. They also hunt carnivorous beasts on Tatooine called Squills for their tough pungent meat. The Jawa homeworld was Tatooine, but Jawas—like many other species in the cosmopolitan Star Wars Universe—can be found on many planets including the junk planet, Raxus Prime, which is about as close to Jawa paradise as I can imagine. Jawa life expectancy is around 80 standard years.

Among themselves Jawas speak Jawaese. This language is not only made up of sounds the Jawas make, but also scent-producing pheromones. If the Jawa speaking gave off a bitter smell, then that in combination with the words he said might have a different meaning than if he gave off a sweet smelling scent. Jawas learned early on when meeting other species (mostly to trade for their truly interesting goods) that this way of communicating was ineffective when conversing with non-Jawas. The ever enterprising Jawas developed the Jawa Trade Language, which is comprised of only the spoken component of Jawaese. Jawas cannot speak Basic because of limitations in their vocal chords, a limitation shared with Wookies.

Jawas are a communal, compulsive scavenger species whose unofficial motto is “not to look for uses in a salvaged item, but rather to imagine someone else who might find a use for it.” Jawas have an uncanny ability to get an item working just well enough to sell, a trait that has got them the stigma of being scavengers and thieves. Jawas actually enjoyed being referred to as such.

LftH-Sandcrawler2

They live in clan families, each with their own territory for scavenging and living. In the Knights of the Old Republic, we learned the story of how the Jawas got the Sandcrawler machines they became known for. For anyone who has not played that game, Czerka Corporation brought the Sandcrawlers to Tatooine when attempting to mine the planet, but after finding the ore was sub-par, they abandoned their Sandcrawlers to the planet, rationalizing that it would cost more to take them off world than to just leave them rusting out in the Dune Sea. The always opportunistic Jawas scavenged the Sandcrawlers and made them theirs. Each Sandcrawler was led by a Clan-Chief, who was always male. The overall operation of the clan was overseen by a female Shaman. One of three criteria must be met to become a Shaman: possessing some Force ability (able to perform magic), overcoming an illness accompanied by a hallucinatory vision, or being trained by the current Shaman to take her place. Shaman were believed to be able to tell the future, and to perform spells, hexes and blessings to protect the clan. The Shaman was one of the most protected Jawa in the clan and as such was protected in the clan’s fortress and so did not travel in the clan’s Sandcrawler. Once a year before the storm season of Tatooine, all the clans gather together in an annual swap meet. Here all the Jawa clans gather and mingle, trading with each other and attending to any inter-clan business. Navigation data on the ever shifting sands of the desert was also exchanged, along with arrangement of marriages to ensure the continued genetic diversity of the species.

LftH-Blizz

I feel that I would be doing my readers a great injustice if I did not mention the most popular Jawa in Star Wars: The Old Republic: the ranged tank companion for the Bounty Hunter, Blizz. If you have not yet played the Bounty Hunter story and do not want this companion’s background to be spoiled, please skip this paragraph. Blizz was hired by a scavenger crew lead by a man named Slam when the crew was on Tatooine. The young Jawa eagerly joined them as a “ferret,” getting into places where Slam and his crew could not, and was allowed to keep a share of what he found. After being with Slam’s crew for a few years, they went to work for the White Maw pirates on Hoth. The young Jawa was ecstatic about the planet’s “white sand,” and kicked snow up all around him while playing in the snow. Slam saw the miniature blizzard the little guy had made and jokingly called him Blizz, or little blizzard. Blizz liked the nickname and used it from then on.

Lastly, I want to discuss the origins of the Jawa. In my research I have found three theories as to their evolution. The first is that they (like the Sand People) are descendants of humans. The second theory is related to their rodent-like appearance, and says that they evolved from womp rats. This idea I got from The Official Guide to Alien Species, and while it is the most outlandish to me personally it is a theory from an official source. This same book states that they and the Sand People have certain genetic markers that link them to an earlier sentient species on Tatooine, the Kumumgah, which leads to the third theory that is tied into the mythological history of Tatooine itself.

During the time of the Rakata Infinite Empire, a species called the Kumumgah lived on their lush homeworld. They defied the Rakata’s authority over them. The Rakata decided to make an example of them, and so blasted their homeworld from its orbit. The Kumumgah’s native planet was transformed into a glass-covered world. Over the millennia, the glass crystals eroded down into the sands that covers all of Tatooine today. The surviving Kumumgah were decimated and scattered. Ultimately the species split into two groups. One group struck out into the wilderness, eschewing all technology, analogous to space age Amish. This group became the ancestors of the Sand People. The other group retreated into the ruins of the original Kumumgah’s ruined cites. There they scavenged as much as they could to survive, establishing a culture that would eventually develop into one of dinky little freaky hooded creatures.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter using @DarthKenji. Until next time, may the Force be with you all.

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OotiniCast Episode 76

Posted on by April 19, 2013
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Chill and Teo are joined by Hyp and Redna to discuss the latest news and our ongoing adventures on Makeb. As many are getting to level 55, we cover the initial steps in gearing up for hard mode Flashpoints and Operations.

1. Introduction

Hyp managed to get the following companion-related achievement while in a warzone. So to maximise your achievement accumulation, ensure you have a companion out before you enter!

HK achievement in a warzone

He was quite taken with the appearance of the following characters, particularly their helms:

Interesting armor 1

Interesting armor 2Teo’s male lowbie Sorcerer and Hyp’s female Sniper (Cyborgyna) in Ancient Hypergate, in the state of undress that became advisable with the (now fixed) naked bug.

Naked bug

Hyp’s Scoundrel, Pearlneck, looking… larger than life.

Pearlneck

A little scenery from Makeb:

Makeb scenary

Hyp would love to get his hands on this pet, a miniature Star Destroyer:

Star Destroyer pet

Finally, some pictures of everyone’s favourite, Baldygina.

Baldy and HK Bad Baldy Statuesque Baldy

2. Trivia Question

This week’s questions is a “Who am I?” I have been credited on all six episodes of the Star Wars movies. I am also credited on all four Indiana Jones movies, even the one that shall not be named. I am credited on a Pixar movie. And I am credited on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. Though I am not credited in SWTOR, my influence is clear as a bell.  Who am I?

Please send your answer to ootinicast@gmail.com. Correct answers by next Wednesday will be put in a drawing to win a Taun Fawn code courtesy of BioWare and one of the latest full-size Cartel Packs.

3. The Holofeed

  • The Rise of the Hutt Cartel digital expansion launched for all players on Saturday evening, accompanied by a launch trailer (also on YouTube).
  • Patch 2.0.0b was deployed during regular maintenance on Tuesday, to fix the issues with reverse engineering color crystals and the naked bug in PvP.
  • While the investigation into the apparently lower TTK (time to kill) is ongoing, it was pointed out that the Expertise cap on healing is now 20% (up from 15% pre-2.0), making it equivalent to how it was before 2.0, as the Trauma healing effect is now 35% (up from 30%).
  • As part of the fix for the naked bug, Expertise was removed from Warhero and Elite Warhero PvP gear, along with its other stats being boosted, making it equivalent to PvE gear of the same item rating. There remains a bug such that the new PvE gear sets, when bolstered, will give better stats than the equivalent level 55 PvP gear; this will be fixed in patch 2.0.1, coming this Tuesday.
  • The caps on Classic, Basic and Planetary Commendations are being revised upwards in patch 2.0.1.
  • A performance issue is the reason our mission logs can hold a maximum of 25 missions.
  • The current issues with one time passwords are being addressed. This includes a change that has been deployed that extends their lifetime so they are less likely to be expired if the mail in which they are sent is delayed.
  • How crew skill missions work was clarified, and some issues were listed. Note that these new rules (e.g., only Bountiful and Rich missions will return an Artifact (Purple) quality mat on crit) only apply for the new 401-450 range.
  • A couple of world designers describe the new Macrobinocular and Seeker Droid systems. They also provide some handy hints for how to most effectively use the Seeker Droids.

4. Community

If you have a Sith Assassin (or a Jedi Shadow), we recommend Mad Sith Assassin.

You can find Lance Cadiz regularly live-streaming his adventures at jediconsular.tv.

Megan (@StoleTarts) has written a review of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion.

If you are interested in some serious roleplaying, we recommend you join Clan Epsis, on the Jung Ma server (US east coast RP/PvP).

Finally, in Kuze’s Korner, Datacron videos for all the starting planets will soon be available.

5. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @madmar_sith (be sure to follow him back to join the #swtorfamily!), @GregCarter78 (Greg Carter), @woutergrys, @Geldarion (co-host of Corellian Run Radio), @AspisVodox, @joseph_foran, @TheTurg (Terg), @JediKrackr, @terencemyers, @masterbearjedi (Raz), @ForceChuckle, @roguish98 (Matt Roberts), @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @Dimbo56 (SWTOR Mayor), @hadrian9 (Mikhael Lombard), and emails from Quaza Impsbane, Rose and Baffle.

Greg Carter suggests the following rules for the OotiniCast Drinking Game. Please feel free to send us your additions. While listening to the show, anytime one of the following happens, take a drink!

  • Hyp requests BioWare give him/everyone Cartel Coin compensation
  • Red has some sort of in-game bug
  • Hyp requests day/night cycles or starship/fighter inertia
  • Teo responds to one of Hyp’s suggestions with “Yeah… not gonna happen” (or just “Yeah” and moves on)
  • Hyp refers to Makeb as some kind of scab
  • Anyone says “Super Secret Space Project”
  • Chill skips the Sarlacc Digest
  • Red complains about the Inquisitor storyline
  • Teo makes a correct prediction for a patch date

Ray Leamon refers us to Dulfy’s SWTOR Dreadseed and Star Forager armor locations guide, to help you obtain these sets using your Seeker Droid.

@JediKrack’s visual guide to the Priority Transport Terminal outside each class’s hangar on the Fleet:

Priority Transport near the Smuggler hangar

Chong is quite taken with the helmet which appears to be just a toothpick!

Chong toothpick helm

As discussed in the show, you can now find Hyp’s Marauder, Baldygina, on Twitter.

Baldy on Twitter

6. Sarlacc Digest

Using Dulfy’s most excellent SWTOR Level 55 endgame gearing guide, we discuss the initial stages of gearing for characters that have got to level 55.

7. Outro

Thanks to Redna (@RystoJ) and Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

Information about our guilds on The Harbinger, Ootini Knights (Republic) and Ootini Rage (Empire), can be found here.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. We are a proud member of the TOR Syndicate! You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher and Radio Paragon.

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