HoloNet Links #116
Update 2.4 is live! The update became part of the game Tuesday, October 1st. There are already a lot of mixed reviews. I have only been able to sample a small bit of the new update, and despite the bugs, I’m happy with some of the new content. Last night, I accepted the quest on fleet and then set off for Oricon. I will get into some of my first impressions of Oricon. We will take a look at the patch notes and discuss some of the changes in 2.4 in this week’s HoloNet Links.
The Dread War – Patch Notes, First Impressions of Oricon, & more after the Jump…
Update 2.4 Patch Highlights
As many of you are aware, Update 2.4: The Dread War has been added to SWTOR. What some might not know what is all was included in this patch. Here are a few of the major highlights mentioned in the official patch notes on the SWTOR site:
New Story Mission Area: Oricon! Located in an uncharted system well off the Hydian Way, Oricon is a remote moon that is immeasurably strong with the dark side – a perfect home for the feared Dread Masters! Begin the Oricon journey by talking to O6-D5 on the Republic Fleet or D5-F2 on the Imperial Fleet. Details under General
Warzone Arenas! 4v4 Warzone Arenas are now active for Unranked, Ranked Solo, and Ranked Team play! Details under PvP
New Level 55 Daily Missions! Explore the ship-strewn, mysterious landscape of Oricon as you battle the deadly Dread Guard and their minions. The Dread Masters are bent on destroying both the Empire and Republic and they’re using their every resource to do so! Details under Missions and NPCs
New Operation: Dread Fortress! Begin your assault of the Dread Masters lair, an ancient fortress claimed by the Dread Masters soon after arriving on Oricon. Details under Flashpoints and Operations
New Operation: Dread Palace! Make your way beyond the Dread Fortress to the foreboding palace of the Dread Masters and battle towards the final confrontation with the galaxy’s greatest threat. Details under Flashpoints and Operations
New Galactic Reputation Organization! A new organization has been added: Strike Team Oricon (Republic) (Republic)/Dread Executioners (Imperial). Details under Legacy
New Gear Sets! Three new sets of gear have been added: Dread Forged (new tier), Oriconian (new PvE Commendation gear) and Obroan (new PvP tier). Details under Items and Economy
New Vehicles and Mount! The Praxon Pyroclast, Gurian Volcano, and Strike Force Tauntaun have been added! Details under Items and Economy
Now these are some of the major items found in the latest patch, but what else should we be aware of this new update. As Carla and Drew talked about in the Episode 103 podcast, there are some nice quality of life features. For starters, the new changes to the GTN! Many of these could be argued should have been in the game from the start, but at least they are in-game now. Shift+Left click an item to add kit to search window, Unit Pricing, the GTN remembering the amount you sold an item for in the past and it can use that same price to figure up what the same item will sell for even if in different quantities. Another quality of life feature is the ability to use dye modules on Lore armor pieces and crafted orange armor pieces below level 15. Like I mentioned last week, this is a good thing for letting the player have more say into what their character looks like and how their armor looks.
There have been some class changes when Update 2.4 went live. Several classes were affected, but both Trooper and the Bounty Hunter classes had some major changes. Be sure to read through all the patch notes for complete details.
Dev notes
AmberGreen [OPS] Bastion of Fear bugged | 10.02.2013, 07:57 AM
Hello folks,
We are currently working on a fix for The Bastion of Fear (Rep) and Descent into the Dark Fortress (Imp) not updating for all members of the Ops group upon completing the Dread Fortress Operation. We’re sorry for any inconvenience any of you may have suffered as a result. We’ll let you know as more information develops and have added this to the Known Issues for now. Thank you!
I’m sure those of you that have already attempted the new Dread Fortress Operation that it is unable to be completed. As the dev post states, the last Dread Master goes back to their throne and does not lose the buff called “Unreachable.” This makes clearing the Operation impossible, but it is a known issue and hopefully will be patched soon. Sort of baffles me how certain bugs can get through testing, but that tends to be the case. So far, nobody has created a bug free game. Although even if they did, we, gamers, would find something else to complain about.
*edit*
This bug has been patched in today’s patch, October 3rd, 2013. Time for all you raiders to go eliminate the Dread Masters…all of them! Be sure you read the 2.4.0a patch notes for complete details.
AmberGreen Isotope 5 crafting materials no longer purchasable from basic comm vendor | 10.02.2013, 12:29 PM
Hey folks!
We are aware that all Basic Commendations Vendors have taken Isotope-5 off of their shelves as of Game Update 2.0. This is absolutely a stocking error, and we are working on getting a new shipment out such that they’ll be back on sale at the original price very soon.
We apologize for the inconvenience and will be adding this to the Known Issues.
Thank you!
Hopefully shipments of Isotope-5 will resume quickly, although the patch notes for 2.4 states that Isotope-5 will not be needed to make artifact gear with a 156 rating. This might cut down on the total amount of this crafting material needed, at least for this level gear.
AmberGreen Companion dies when quick travel at Czerka | 10.02.2013, 02:01 PM
This is listed on the Known Issues.
Companion Characters can be killed when using Quick Travel to go to the Republic or Imperial Landing Zone from certain areas of CZ-198.
However, if you’re seeing it in other places, we’ll need details!
As Amber posted, this is a known issue. I would suggest if you come across this happening to you on the Czerka moon, CZ-198, that you fill out an in-game bug ticket with all the details of where, when, and what was happening when your companion died. I’m sure this bug will get fixed rather quickly, however part of me wonders if it is an evil plot by Czerka.
Agent Breck goes to Oricon
Like I mentioned in the intro, I started the story quest for Oricon late Tuesday night. I managed to get through the first quest without too much hassle. My character Agent Breck started the quest on the fleet. I liked this small cutscene to start the quest, even though it was short it allowed my character to hear a few lines relating to my character’s storyline. After that, I then proceeded to planet Oricon via my ship, sort of similar to the start of the Makeb storyline. I did find it interesting that my character was asked to help save the galaxy and my faction couldn’t pay the “gas money” to get me there the first time lol. I guess everyone is trying to save money these days. The approach to the planet was another neat cutscene with destroyed hulls of starships littering the space around Oricon.
Once on the planet’s surface, you can see, even for a planet with several lava areas it really is beautiful in an eerie, dark way. It is the seemingly perfect setting for the Dread Masters to setup a “home base.” A quick tip, if you have not bought your 156 rating gloves, don’t, you will receive them as a reward for the first mission, not to mention an artifact level armor container when you talk to your first contact. I think getting two pieces of artifact level gear is a nice reward that is unless you just bought them with commendations or in a drop.
Speaking of the first mission, you will be required to rescue/recruit five specific NPCs. Of course these NPCs are being guarded by groups of enemy NPCs and needed to clear before you can click on the object to release the NPC you are helping. This brings me to my first complaint, don’t click on an object when another player is fighting the mobs in front of the object. The spawn rate is fast enough that there is no reason to “steal” another player’s or group’s object. If you need to get through the quest faster, group up and save your time that way.
As far as the mobs, they seem to be every few feet. I am not even close to being highly geared and I didn’t have much trouble with these early mobs, but they are everywhere. This didn’t seem a problem with all the people currently doing the Oricon missions. It could be a bit of a nuisance if you attempt this alone and are undergeared or get caught right after one fight by some newly respawned NPCs. That is all for now from the planet Oricon, more to come later from Agent Breck.
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SWTOR music video
This week we have another fan created music video. The one we are highlighting today is posted by Youtube user trozkiy. The title of the video is Imperial Agent – No One Lives Forever. First off, it is not your typical music video, although music is the primary audio for this video, to me this video is a bit more epic than editing footage to say some modern music.
The video, as you can tell from its title, is about the Imperial Agent class. As you will see in the submitted video, the creator puts bits of the Agent’s Class story cutscenes to music. Trozkiy also adds in clips from in-game PVP matches, space combat, and general exploration. Now all that said, yes, there are a few potential spoilers, but nothing that should impact your play through as an Imperial Agent. Take a look at this video and let us know what you think. Also if you have seen a great video or have made one yourself and would like it to possibly be highlighted in this article, just send me an email with the video link and a brief description to jason@corellianrun.com.
That’s all for this week! If you have a particular link, story, video, or topic related to SWTOR we would love to hear about it! You can send those to us here at Corellian Run Radio and we can place it in a future article. Just email us the links and/or the details for the event at corellianrun@gmail.com, or you can also leave any link suggestions in the comments below, or in Corellian Run Radio’s Facebook group. See you all next week!