Are you ready for some Huttball?! Director of Content Cody Bye is, and he got the chance to try out this Star Wars: The Old Republic PvP mode at PAX.

Although I only had the opportunity to play as one character class, it was easy to see that people were falling into similar PvP roles that you might find in any MMO. The Jedi Shadow was a “rogue” while the Sith Warriors definitely tried to get up in my face and take my attention away from his squishier teammates. The smugglers stood at the periphery blasting away and the bounty hunters did the same, much like mages or healers.

I'm not entirely sure if some statistics were adjusted for PAX, but it seemed like my character was able to stay alive for a very, very long time. Some of my opponents were quickly dropped with a few “backsabers” (kinda like a backstab, but with a lightsaber), but if I was caught by one or two of the opposing meleers, I just ran away and attempted to stun them if I could until they got tired of harassing me.

Since I had a relatively long time in my play session, there were a few other things that I noticed:

• The fire and acid traps were not forgiving at all, although they did seem to be acting a little awkward during the demo. Still, if you avoided them you were cool.
• Crowd controlling is just as effective in SW:TOR as it is in any MMO's PvP.
• Recognizing what a character's class was during the session was a little difficult. There were a few times that I was trying to attack a squishy and got a meat-tank instead.
• The familiarity of the game mechanics allowed me to jump in easily and have fun.
• I don't remember seeing any non-humans, which was a little disappointing.
• The out-of-game broadcaster was excellent and she did a great job.
• People were extremely excited to get a chance to play. Lines were huge.

Huttball isn't going to make or break Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it was nice to see that the developers had taken some time to put some new tricks into an old style of play. Tossing the ball around the field will definitely make for some wild engagements, and I hope that the way the character classes end up playing when the game launches allows for some very fun and competitive encounters. May the Force be with the BioWare team as they push this baby to launch!

Cody "Micajah" Bye, Director of Content