By Nathan Grayson on December 19th, 2012 at 2:30 pm.
First those ding dang dern Triads and now Hutts? Jeez, what won’t rise these days? I mean, at this rate, everyone and everything’s going to start rising, and then that’ll just be the new normal, non-risen plane of existence. Where’s the fun in that? Oh well, though. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel: The Subtitling is now officially a thing, and it’s coming soon to a galaxy near (read: far, far away from) you. But what will it entail? Am I finally about to get the Hutt crime empire management sim of my dreams? Cross your slimy slug fingers and head past the break for details.
As of now, the biggest feature on RotHC’s rather scant feature list is a good old-republic-fashioned level cap increase. Come spring of next year, 55 will be the new end of the line.
“The Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel will send players to Makeb, a dual-faction planet where players will continue their battles with the merciless Hutt Cartel. During their journey, players will meet new allies, make new enemies and uncover the cutting-edge technology on this vibrant planet. Experience five new levels of story driven missions to an already expansive, epic online universe that will raise the level cap to 55.”
So basically, more story, more levels, more Hutts – all of the MMO expansion pack essentials, in other words. This probably won’t have the cataclysmic impact of, say, a WoW expansion, though. EA and BioWare are pricing it at $9.99 for subscribers and $19.99 for everyone else. Plus, it’s digital-only – all of which adds up to suggest that the Hutt-centric slice of content probably won’t be Hutt-sized.
Who knows, though? Maybe BioWare will surprise us. And regardless, more is more. In a game as story-dependent as SWTOR, this type of thing is definitely much-needed. The question, however, is whether or not even that’ll be enough. Many of SWTOR’s flaws are systemic – as are those of many modern content-driven MMOs – but it clearly hasn’t done enough to separate itself from the pack. I guess what I’m trying to say is, give me my goddamn Hutt crime empire management minigame already.
19/12/2012 at 14:35 c-Row says:
Robots will sure rise next.
19/12/2012 at 14:56 Alien426 says:
Then Nations, the Kasai, Prussia, the Phoenix, the Dragon, Nightmares. Then “n”, but without “of”.
http://www.mobygames.com/search/quick?q=rise%20of
20/12/2012 at 16:08 sdancer says:
Don’t forget “fall of”, which is always a good follow-up.
19/12/2012 at 14:45 Jams O'Donnell says:
Is that hutt wearing a hatt?
19/12/2012 at 14:49 Hoaxfish says:
he looks very hott
19/12/2012 at 15:12 solidsquid says:
I’d hitt it
19/12/2012 at 15:02 Llewyn says:
This is why I hate RPS.
I click on the jump to post a comment and find some inconsiderate gitt has already beaten me to it. I’d have got away with it on any of those other gaming sites populated by morons.
19/12/2012 at 16:02 Atrocious says:
Are you butt hutt?
19/12/2012 at 19:44 Midroc says:
Hutters gonna hutt.
19/12/2012 at 16:41 Mad Hamish says:
Nah it’s actually a level cap.
19/12/2012 at 22:19 0over0 says:
Do you know what you get when you squeeze a hutt with the level cap removed? You don’t want to know!
19/12/2012 at 14:46 caddyB says:
That’s a screenshot from Nar Shaddaa.
19/12/2012 at 14:49 IncredibleBulk92 says:
You should have used the correct abbreviation:
SW:TOR:RotHC
19/12/2012 at 14:53 McDan says:
This raise in level cap really hutts the spot.
19/12/2012 at 15:16 Greg Wild says:
Not another hutting pun war…
19/12/2012 at 18:10 dontnormally says:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEgh8TUlpQc
19/12/2012 at 14:54 EssBen says:
wasn’t this supposed to be a content patch months ago?
Cheeky beggers.
19/12/2012 at 17:12 sdancer says:
They started talking about it good couple of months ago, but never really mentioned a time. It was even announced before the free2pay transition, so I guess other things got in the way.
19/12/2012 at 15:45 Sparkasaurusmex says:
Still not F2P huh?
19/12/2012 at 17:00 aliksy says:
Do people view raising the level cap as a good thing? I guess I’m too burned and jaded on progression MMOs, but that just sounds like “Now with more grinding and obsolete content!” to me.
19/12/2012 at 17:17 sdancer says:
It will be at least interesting to see how it impacts the current raid instances, but I’m far more scared of itemisation than of five more levels to ding through. If they keep stat and skill progression at bay (maybe by promoting some of the less used skills), it may turn out to be more of a shiny thing than of a gamebreaker.
PvP should work out pretty well with the the item-bound expertise stat overshadowing everything else.
My main concern is, will the game still be around in May so my 8€ actually bought something?