Don't get yourself killed in Texas! Grats on the level up!

Yup.

Made a post about this a while back, don't know what happened to it.

Ingress, the game.

I just got a beta invite tonight!

So what is it? Ingress is an ARG developed by Niantic Labs that makes furious use (no pun intended) of the Google Maps API.

Every player has a power reserve of 'exotic matter' (or XM) that they collect by moving around on the map. (Meaning, you have to get up off your ass and out of the house.) XM is statically spawned on the map (always within walking distance), and cannot be traded. Instead, XM can be collected by moving within 50 meters of it, and then expended on portals.

Portals are locations that seem to be intentionally placed near municipal areas. The trailer suggests that they would primarily be sight-seeing spots or public sculptures. From a quick lap around town I was able to find three within just a few minutes of my house: one at the local library, and two at fire stations. By expending XM, these portals can be 'hacked' to put them under your faction's control, and then reinforced with upgrades to better their defenses, as well as you/your faction's score. Enemy players can expend XM to try and hack the portal back, to to 'fire' at your portal to try and weaken it. When portals are captured, you gain action points which appear to be the closest thing to XP in this game.

There is obviously a larger meta-game at work, but the core concept is pretty simple. The two factions are generic enough, the Enlightened and the Resistance (I chose Enlightened for the beta), and the game has an in-client chat that can view messages from faction/all in your local area (20km), region (200km), and globally.

Now, obviously, this is meant to help bring people together as well as engage them, but I doubt I'll have any of that kind of gameplay at three in the goddamn morning driving around in my small town, but I can see what they are aiming for.

The game is currently in closed beta, and only for Android. There may be future developments planned for iPhone as well but I haven't found any news regarding such. This is also the first augmented reality game that I've played with the latest generation of tech and I really like what I'm seeing so far, even if the implications creep my shit out hard.

Extra credit: this is another app by the same developer. Notice any similarities?


(The game is STILL in beta and invites WILL be handed out to the current playerbase+new players in the immediate future. Twitter was able to confirm as much for me.)

Read 'em and weep.

You will need an alt of the opposite faction. It doesn't have to be high level (Level 15 is ok). This is because one of HK 51's components is obtained from the other faction's territory but it is bind on legecy (i.e. you can mail it to your main)

The more the merrier. When hunting down HK-51's components, the more people you have to cover territory, the better. Once a component is unearthed, anyone nearby, regardless of if they are in your party/ops, can loot it. If you scanner detects a component nearby, make sure to call it out so other players can benefit as well!

You will need to run two specific flashpoints as part of the quest.
Only Coruscant and Dromund Kaas compoents are bound to legacy, rest of the components go straight to your mission tab of your inventory and are bound to that character. So yes, you will need a level 50 character to unlock HK-51 but there might be an option in the future to unlock it for other characters in your legacy.

Source, with full walk-through.

Developer Update - Terror from Beyond
 
Original Story


Terror from Beyond is a new Operation that takes us to Asation, a remote planet in the Gree Enclave. Asation is a swampy, wetland world that was terraformed by the Gree thousands of years ago. It is not a Gree homeworld, but it does house some incredible technology assembled long ago by the Gree crafter caste. Key among this technology is the Hypergate, a massive device capable of transmitting matter from across the galaxy. The Dread Masters have sown chaos on Asation by activating the Hypergate, letting through untold horrors and monstrosities. It's up to players to cut a path through these creatures, defeat the agents of the Dread Masters, and deactivate the Hypergate at any cost.


Terror from Beyond offers five new major boss encounters that will challenge even the most highly-coordinated groups of players. In keeping with previous Operations, Terror from Beyond includes one "puzzle" encounter that really steps outside of the bounds of what you normally see in a boss fight. To defeat this new enemy, players will need to work together to repair a massive, ancient Gree computer from within the machine itself. Unlike previous puzzle encounters where the solutions were relatively easy to figure out, this one has players leveraging their particular group composition to control a chaotic situation. It's very different from the things that we've done in the past, and I'm excited to see what players think.

In addition to strange creatures and agents of the Dread Masters, players will run into a familiar face on Asation. No spoilers, but here's a hint: he's not going to be very happy to see you.

The final encounter in Terror from Beyond pits players against a creature of unprecedented scale in Star Warsâ„¢: The Old Republicâ„¢. It's easily the most visually striking encounter we've ever built. In Explosive Conflict, we took a gauntlet-style approach to the final boss, which worked very well in the context of a military operation. This is totally different. You get to fight something that is huge and otherworldly. The difficulty is highly execution-based, and the mechanics are very positional and fun.



This Operation introduces the next tier of progression in Star Wars: The Old Republic, including a new set of PvE gear. The hard difficulty mode for Terror From Beyond is balanced for players wearing a full set of Campaign gear, which can be acquired from Operation: Explosive Conflict. Augments will become increasingly more important the deeper you get into Terror from Beyond. Story mode will be available for players who just want to see the sights, but it's no walk in the park.

Terror from Beyond will be available in Game Update 1.4!

Jesse Sky
Lead Operations & Flashpoint Designer

In a raid, there are typically four roles.

The callers, who are tracking their CC targets, the NPC's health percentage, phase of the fight, etc.

The damage dealers, who's sole purpose is to kill something before it enrages.

The tanks, who take the hits that would normally crush other players.

The healers, who keep the raid alive.


Calling can be done by any one of the other three roles, but should not be done if it detracts from their primary role.

Damage dealers are paying attention to their targets, their positioning, and most importantly, their rotation.

Tanks are paying attention to their targets, their positioning, NPC behavior, threat generation, and their defensive cool-downs.

Healers, are paying attention to the health pools of the entire raid group, their positioning, and their healing rotation.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that quite a few healers have the occasional problem of loosing track of their positioning during a particular phase, or might even screw up their rotation, because they are paying so much attention to the raid's health pools.


If you are not getting healed the moment you drop low, it's because someone else (typically a tank) needs healing more than you at that present moment. Rest assured that we know your health is low, and are getting to it as quickly as possible. Healers like knowing when a tank has blown all of their defensive cool downs because it means that they must prioritize them differently.



All that being said, when I hear "Soandso is low on health" during an encounter, I consider it an open-faced insult to the healers. I will jump down your throat about it, and I will not be nice.

Thank you for reading this, and please, have a little faith in your healers.


And now, back to your regularly scheduled forum!