If you are interested in stepping into the world of player versus player combat for the first time or even if you are a battle worn veteran, take a look at this brand new PvP guide with tips from the Star Wars Galaxies developers, as well as the community elected Player Senate!
SWG Developers
Optimizing settings
It's possible to drastically improve your client performance by reducing some of the graphical settings available in the game. Before getting into a fight consider reducing things like the particle slider, view distance, and disable shadows (under graphics and terrain settings).
If you're fighting in an area with a lot of vegetation, reducing the draw distance for non-colidable flora and nearby radial flora can also help performance (under terrain settings)
In a large fight, change the chat setting on the combat message filter to 'self'. This will reduce the amount of messages. In large fights, having the combat tab show all messages can cause a serious performance impact.
Try not to take part in any battles larger than 16 on 16. This will drastically reduce the amount of stutter you experience during battles. Ask your friends and opponents to turn down their settings as well so you can experience the best possible action!
Where to find the action
There tend to be several focal points for PvP, the largest of which is the ruins of Restuss.
To get there, simply hop on a shuttle to Restuss Starport near Rori. From the landing area you'll be able to make out the edge of the ruined town. In order to approach the ruins you will have to be flagged as 'special forces'.
Aside from Restuss there are three smaller battlefields. One on Naboo, another on Corellia and the last one on Talus. If you can take and hold one of the bases, the factional officer in the base will offer increasingly useful rewards such as healing stims, damage shields and items that will let you regain action on the fly.
Getting around
There are a lot of ways to get around the galaxy. While most of the common fighting spots will have a shuttle destination, allowing for easy transport, don't underestimate the benefit of items such as an ITV that allows you to travel to a local destination without having to catch a shuttle or use a space ship. If, for example, the enemies are controlling the entrance to Restuss, look at your planetary map. There might be a second shuttle near the city that would allow you to easily approach the ruins from a different direction.
Camps with shuttle beacons and cloning facilities can be very useful. This is especially true when fighting away from starports and cloning centers. Making good use of camps can allow you and your group to quickly get to the action and quickly recover after being forced to clone.
A note on vehicles: Remember while PvPing, your vehicle becomes as much of a target as you do. Don't ride what you are not ready to see damaged.
Using a rare and hard to repair vehicle can result in an unexpected ambush, which would lead to a hefty repair bill. For insurance, you should consider buying a couple of regular swoop speeders off the local Bazaar Terminal. If they get shot up you'll only be out a small amount of credits.
Star Wars Galaxies Player Senate
Glzmo
Role-playing and PVP are not mutually exclusive. Combine the two to maximize your enjoyment of the game! This can really increase the immersion into the game, for example duels of light side and dark side Force users, Bounty Hunter encounters, Stormtroopers fighting Rebel troops and much more!
Know your own profession and know your enemies profession just as well if not better. Use strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your enemy to your advantage.
MasterTexiria
Space
You are going to die a lot when you first start, stick with it, every pilot does
In a fighter -
Avoidance is the key here. You will likely be one or two shotted by everything flown by a player.
Run all the overloads - Reactor Overload 4, Engine Overload 4, Cap to Shield shunt 3 or 4, Weapon Capacitor Overload 4, Weapon Overload 4.
Load Countermeasures, lots and lots of countermeasures. Missiles are a key part of the PvP arena.
Get yourself a good wing mate, practice killing droid fighters together.
Attend Halyn Lance's Rara Avis Flight School on the Starsider Galaxy for More Training
In a Gunship or Transport Class -
Your crew is your life. Train, sleep, and think together. A dedicated crew in a YT, Decimator, or Nova can wreck house.
You're big and fast, remember that.
nebaf
Designate a target caller, then use the /assist command on them to target what they're targeting. This will allow you to kill your enemies much faster since you focus on one player at a time.
ace426
Buff up! Here are the three3 most important buffs to any PvPer:
- Power ups - clothing, armor and weapon. When in doubt, go for healing potency. No amount of Critical stacking will help you if you're dead.
- Entertainer buff - Each profession has their "standard" buff and most players customize them more, but if in doubt...Both Armors, Glancing Blow and Critical chance always work well. If you're an Action Heavy profession (like Medic), get Action Reduction in place of Glancing or Crit.
- Medic buffs - Get all 7 buffs. If you don't know where a Rebel/Imp buff house is, ask in your faction chat channel.
Other tips:
If you're a ranged profession...STAY AT RANGE! Let melee professions engage in melee fights.
Use the terrain - Hide around the corners of buildings if you need to heal.
ESC+TAB a lot! That allows you to target the closest enemy.
Never chase someone in a straight line - always follow off to one side to avoid traps, mines or clouds.
Watch your debuffs. If you have a stack of Commando DoTs of 5+, use LOS or distance to drop the stack(s).
Heal often; even if it's a minor heal.
Patience - Let them come to you when necessary.
Learn your role - Every profession has a specialty. Officers = AoEs, Medics = healing, Spy = recon or picking off Medics, Commando = AoEs, Jedi = tanks and DBs, BH = traps and snares
MOST IMPORATANT TIP: Have FUN !
PvP depends on the other faction for content - be respectful and you'll get respect. Whether you're cloning or camping, enjoy what you're doing! One kill or one million, you can beat anyone and you can be beat by anyone.
ponaif
Don't be afraid to change the keyboard bindings to easier to reach buttons, even if it means for a week you will be performing less to get used to the change.
You could even make commonly used abilities bound to buttons other than the FX keys, such as a heal, or an "oh crap" ability. You can then drag these bound keys to the very end of the toolbar to make room for the others. Keep everything a finger twitch away, it helps.
For me (a medic):
CTRL + S is stasis self CTRL + W is stasis target CTRL + A is heal over time CTRL + D is evasion (when setup for support) or thyroid rupture (when setup for DOOM) Q is cure affliction E is sero boost X is bacta bomb Then I move all those bound keys to the far right of my toolbar, and everything NOT bound is 1,2,3,4,5,F1,F2,F3,F4,F5 for easy access.
Keep a separate toolbar for buffs, especially if you are a class with lots of abilities like medic or smuggler.
Save your "oh crap" buffs like crystals, GCW buffs, for when you are about to die. Use them at the same time you would use your defensive ability. As a medic, I never throw my temporary buffs until I stasis myself, at that point I throw everything because coming out of stasis I am a target.
Remember that terrain you can walk through (no clip) does not mean you can shoot through it (line of sight). Use this to your advantage when needing to heal or take less damage.
ALWAYS have at least 3 vehicles at your disposal. Even carry a crate of swoops; they are so cheap you might as well consider them disposable.
Use crafted stims. Even though combat usually breaks them after the first tick, a 1k heal is still health gained. A medic can remove the debuff, allowing you to use another stim. An Officer probably is able to do the same.
If you are PvPing alone, keep moving and keep your enemy guessing. Don't be afraid to take risks, and use things to your advantage such as NPCs.
Don't stick around to fight a spy alone; even if they appear to be a noob, there are probably 7 more waiting for you to get ****y.
Never talk trash to the enemy, unless it is obviously a joke. Both factions are guilty of the same annoying things.
Most importantly, don't develop grudges between guilds of the same faction (Flurry)...
eargosedown
Tips for dealing with profs:
Light Jedi: Avoid melee range. Try to use only AOE and COE affects when they have saber reflect up, and avoid direct attacks. Try to make them use Force Run, then snare them the moment its up.
Dark Jedi: Crit hit defense will go a long way in avoiding the high potency hits. Try to stay as far away from them as possible. Avoidance abilities (Such as Medic Evasion, Spy Avoid Damage, BH Shields, etc) can go really help by preventing them a heal.
Smuggler: Be sure to pack heal stims. Try and kite them as much as possible. The quicker you get them to burn out of action, the better you'll fare in the fight. Watch out for Break the deal and False hope.
Medic: Make sure to stay out of their bleed cloud, a large part of their DPS comes from it. Try to get the medic to stasis themselves, and then unload everything you have at the exact second it drops. Overloading them with damage faster they can heal/react is usually the key.
Bounty Hunter: Make sure to keep them at range, to avoid the Dire Root. Try and hit them as hard as possible when their shields are down. Use Line of Sight to avoid fighting when their shields are up, waiting for the timer to run out before reengaging if possible.
Spy: *Always* pack faction binoculars. When jumped by a spy don't panic, this will almost always cause you to die. Try and immediately use a heal stim, its not affected by the ambush heal nerf. If capable, purge your debuffs and DoTs immediately. Once you're capable of stabilizing your health, unload on them as hard as possible. This will usually either kill them, or force them to flee.
Officer: Keep moving. The bulk of the DPS usually comes from AoE attacks. Try and do as much spike damage as possible, Officer defense is usually pretty low. Depending on the jewelry set, snares can go a very long way in the demise of them. Try to use snares as much as possible on Hellstorm officers, while working on just straight direct damage on General ones.
Commando: Avoid prolonged engagement if your profession does not have a dot purge. Most use high amounts of Block as a main defense, so work on using spike damage to help punch through. Line of Sight usage can also help a lot, as commandos cannot break snares.
General Tactics:
Always stay with your group. If you venture out alone you become a prime target for the other faction to gang up on.
Use voice communication. Be it ventrilo, Skype, the in-game system, team speak, use it. Being able to coordinate can make or break a fight.
Assisting. Calling targets and concentrating fire can really help pick off the other teams medic or other support. Assist macros (/assist <Name>) can also help, by having everyone use it on one person.
Iheamylap
Effects Volume : Turn down Background musing and keep Effects volume higher. You'll hear enemies fighting in the distance, which can serve as warnings. Additionally, cloaked spies' footsteps can still be heard when they are moving around you.
Targeting Macros : For enemies you encounter often and that you know you need to keep an eye on, like Medics for example, it's handy to have an Enemy1, Enemy2 and Enemy3 set of macros that you can bind to three Number pad keys. You switch out the names in the macro depending: /pause.25 /target <name>. If it's for automatically targeting spies, auto repeat it if you want to target them the moment they are decloaked. Remember to have a /dump macro bound to a key as well or quick use of the command.
If You See'em, Group Em : If you're randomly entering PvP in a PvP zone or event and you are leader of a group, keep it filled and keep misc allies in it. PvPers work better in groups, so keep and eye out for LFG tags or allies requesting groups. If your not in a group and cant' get in one, Form one!
Wulfman_GA
Tactics:
Do not run into a PVP zone straight line, do not fall for line camping in Restuss etc .. Coordinate your group (with others) and do something different. Even with low numbers and less buffs the surprise will often bring the advantage.
Review the skills and professions of your PVP group and adjust your attack accordingly.
Divide and conquer - even when outnumbered you can create an advantage by splitting the other side up and outnumber the groups that break up.
Communication:
PVP requires two sides, so call for more troops while you are loosing and not when you are winning.
Use the Faction channels to notify others, there are more people listening then talking
Make sure you have cross group communication (same faction) to coordinate your attack / defense
Planning:
Get some people away from the "standard" battle zones and have them PVP at different locations, more will follow once there is a fight.
Get your side in order and make sure to have an opponent (especially on events) who will roughly match in numbers (or skill)
Make sure everyone knows the overall plan (situational awareness).
Vincent76
Get familiar with your surroundings; know where you can take cover and where you can't. You enemy will know these things already and will try their best to make you fight on their terms.
Keep an eye on the radar and overhead map and move with your group, if you're outside medics AOE healing/drag range, you can be SOL if the battle suddenly moves away from you. Watch where your friends are and /assist them to bring down single players faster. Rushing into battle will only leave you being at a great disadvantage as you'll be the first target. Very few can survive 8 vs. 1 for more than 1 second.
If you don't have access to team speak or ventrilo, use the in-game voice chat features. /voiceinv <name> will invite your player of choice to your channel. When running mass PVP with multiple groups having +20 men in voice chat means you'll be able to coordinate and know what's going on in areas that may be outside your viewing range. Locate the medics and let your mates know what their names are so they can take them out.
Having spies to recon also helps prepare and can also be done across multiple groups on one voice chat channel (besides, its just plain fun). You can get lucky and completely foil an attack by cutting them off before they reach the destination they want to fight at.
Watch your combat log. Let it speak to you. It has a language of its own but and can teach you a lot. It can also guide you to locations of spies. If your AOE's hit targets you can't see, ask for active reveals on the location.
Watch out for the visual and audio markers that signify different profession abilities. Some hurt while others flag a weakness.
Get friendly with an Officer that can stim you up, or use the stims from the Static Bases. They're helpful in a pinch. I never leave home without packing External heals for +4.5k health. That's an additional 15k damage the enemy has to deal to you before you'll be on your knees.
Prepare for PVP. PVP isn't PVE and can be a frustrating experience for new players that are unfamiliar with what the different combat classes are capable of. Players fight back and their objective is to kill you. If you're not prepared to be taken on by another player, group up with an experienced group that can protect you till you feel comfortable on taking on your own targets.
Learn from your guild mates and train for combat with them, utilize that you're a mixed group with different professions. If you're in a mixed guild, you can do skirmishes at the static bases to prepare with friends and have a laugh as you kill them all on guild chat. Often, training with guildies that have a different profession can teach you a lot about what works against those particular professions using your own. In Mass PVP there are a lot of factors that weigh in, so getting familiar with the different professions will help your group in fighting them.
Participate in guild wars if you get the chance, its usually great fun - especially if you decide on fighting at POI's.
Tessie
PvP isn't for everyone; however, everyone should try it. It's a fun part of the game for many and could open up a whole new set of activities and introduce you to a new set of friends. There are many players who are willing to help a new PvPer learn the ins and outs, so don't be afraid to ask for help.
However, if you try PvP and don't like it, you can just walk away. It will be there in a few months when you're ready to try your hand at it again.
Jod_Iegemai
- Using the overhead map (M) and changing the opacity (Options (O) /Interface) will allow you to keep your enemies in sight while still seeing the UI.
- Communication is the key for large numbers so join the rebel or imperial chat channels for up to date information and organization.
- Using "private voice" channels help for organizing large groups in PvP across guilds and groups.
- Patience is the key...watch and learn the patterns of the enemy to make your strike.
Good Luck!
Now that you're ready for battle, head out to one of the PvP locations and join your friends in an exciting player on player battle!
