Huttball

[Kris1234]

I take no credit for this. For those that dont know, Huttball is a pvp encounter

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ok so since i was at Eurogamer expo i thought id do a little report on some of the things i saw, me and gabe ofc stood at the SWTOR pc's quite a bit , one thing they were playing is the Huttball game, my first imprecions of this when i first herd about it is that it was some kind of american football game but no, this is no sports game, basicly its a gladitorial pit with a ball involved but neither the less it is a game where teamwork is critical, without the right tactics, teamwork and good communication your team will not win . they have built the map it self quite cleaverly as first off it acomadates all classes and roles, so lets go through the map (borrowed the pics from another site )


Subterranean level

ok so lets start with the subterranean level, this is the lowest level on the map just below the ground level and is pretty much a open expanse, although i did see a few fights going on here the only real reason you would be on this level is if you are looking for a few power-ups or if you have just fallen off one of the higher levels, you cant get to the scoring zone from this level so you will hardly ever see the ball carrier down here.

http://www.huttball.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/huttballmapthesubterranean.jpg


Ground level

ok so next up is the ground level, this is the main level of the map and where most of the action takes place, teams will rush into the middle of this map at the start as the ball is placed right in the centre of this level and contains most of the power-ups and the hazards, ofc at the eurogamer expo there was no team work what so ever so everyone just rushed to the center, forgot all about the ball and just had a big fight, i would expect this if we come up against a team who dont know eacother or are just crap. around the ball in the center are quite a few different hazards and other pit devices such as 2 big acid pits, air jets (will throw you up in the air into a random location, but maybe strait into a hazard) fire pits and ofc enemy players. the acid pit wont kill you right away but will give you a damage over time effect, the fire pits will kill you within a few seconds but do give you, if your quick, time to get out with severly damaged health. a chain fence stops you just running round the outside to get to the scoring zone so you have to go through the middle and run the gauntlet to score.

http://www.huttball.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/huttballmapgroundlevel.jpg


Elevated level

when you start the game most players will rush foward onto this level and jump down onto the ground level as it is the quickest way to the ball, once you have jumped down onto the ground level or are just on it anyway the only way to get back to this level is to use the air jets and hope it fires you up here or to run around the outside of the map and use 1 of 2 ramps to get back up, while watching this i noticed the classes that really excelled here was the ranged classes as they can ofc fire down onto the ground level and dont have to wait for the fire pits (which there are alot of up here) i saw many a jedi and sith get caught out waiting to go through a fire pit and get picked off by ranged people on the same level or shooting up from the ground level, no cover up here. but a good place for the ball carrier to get lucky with the fire pits and escape any chasing enemies.

http://www.huttball.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/huttballmapelevated.jpg

[Kris1234]

MORE INFO

source: http://www.betacake.net/2011/08/star-wars-old-republic-exclusive.html

The purpose of this guide is to cover some basic and not-so-basic aspects of Huttball.

I originally posted this last phase when many of the dynamics were different. I will steadily revise the guide, so far I have removed things that no longer apply.



Basics
Huttball is football. Your objective is to get the ball across the opposing team's goal line.

The opposing team's goal line is on the opposite side of the field. Do not take the ball toward your own goal. Look up at the ceiling. Be sure the colors are those of the opposing team. The game is more chaotic now and it is possible to get confused.

The score board in the upper right has a round icon under each team's name. The team with the icon is the team who currently has possession of the ball.

Possession of the ball transfers from one team to the other when the ball carrier dies and there is a player close enough to the ball at the time of death. Do not die with the ball. Passing the ball is the best way to avoid this. Passing is so important that it has its own section.

The player with the ball has a bright column of light on them. If your team does not have the ball, then you should be somewhere near the ball carrier. If you are off somewhere else, you're really not helping your team as much as you could be.

Hazzards. Hazzards are there to help you offensively and defensively. The fire wall is the most critical. Running through it places a DOT on you. It is not instant death if you have healing, use cooldowns, etc. Being knocked into the fire wall however is much more lethal. Fire walls are on timers.
There is an ability that you receive called Throw the Ball. It's an icon of a green ball. When you activate this ability, it places a targeted AoE on your mouse. Move the target icon so that it covers a team mate, then click again. The ball will pass to your team mate.

Do not die with the ball.

When out of combat you may use the standard sprint ability.


Throw the Ball

Throw the Ball should be on your hotbar by the time the match begins. If you do not see this icon do the following:

Open your abilities.

Go to the general tab

Drag it on to your hot bar.

The ball places a snare on you.
The ball seems to have a damage effect, more testing is needed to determine the exact mechanic.

These two elements exist to encourage passing the ball. Both can be overcome by healing and certain class abilities.
The ball flies through the air much farther and faster than anyone can run with it.

Do not run in a cluster. Run ahead of of the carrier and pass to each other.

You run at full speed without the ball.

Throw the Ball has a 30m range. It cannot be used while you are stunned. It can be used to throw the ball to people on a higher or lower platform. This is very important.

If you place the target on a team mate it will pass to that player. If you place the target so that it does not overlap anyone, you will ground the ball. Grounding the ball forces it to reset in the center. You must not die with the ball in your possession otherwise the ball immediately goes to the closest enemy player.



Offense
The ball carrier starts moving toward the enemy goal unless they are low on health. If they are low on health they should immediately pass before they are stunned and killed.

Sage/Sorcerer should shield the carrier and run with them. You want to heal the carrier and use your AoE knockback and stuns to keep pressure off the carrier. You have the ability to pull a team mate to you. For Sorcerers this ability is called Extrication. This should be used to pull the carrier back to you in case they get pulled away or knocked away.

[A word on Extrication]
Many times players who are not very familiar with the game claim that a player without force leap somehow cheated to have force leap. Or they think one of their team mates has pulled the enemy carrier to a better position out of stupidity. What's happening is a Sage/Sorcer pulled their team mate to themselves with Extrication.

The other team members should move ahead of the carrier to the best position they can so that they can receive the ball. Pass the Ball does not work well if you have no one to pass it to. It works extremely well when you pass the ball to someone who is already past a hazzard for a much quicker score.

Grounding the ball. If you are going to die and none of your team mates are in position, you should throw the ball to the ground. This will cause it to respawn in the middle. If your team is thinking and working as a team then they should see that you are in trouble. If they can't reach you or save you, they should already be heading to the middle to grab it. They should even tell you to ground it or you should tell them you are about to ground it. Do not die with the ball.

Killing players
It is not a good thing to kill as many players as you can while on offense. Doing this teleports them to their goal line which is where your carrier is headed. Unless your carrier has a protector or can protect themselves with shield and AoE knockback, try to slow down defenders instead.

Knock them into the pit but leave them there with snares and blinds. DO NOT kill them. You are only doing them a favor if you do.

If you must kill someone, kill DPS. This seems counter intuitive but hear me out. Killing a healer takes a lot of time if they really don't want to die. They have the CC and panic buttons to make this take a long time. Also, if a healer is coming at your carrier, the likelihood of your carrier being stunned and knocked off into the pit is dramatically higher.

If the healer is good, they can keep you tied up while they're DPS is getting the ball back. Death of the carrier is the way your team loses the ball. Getting the DPS off your character gives your team time. In the zergish nature of the game right now, the less focus fire your carrier takes, the more time they have to keep the carrier up with their 3 second big heals. Effects like trauma make it harder for healers to singlehandedly save someone.

Ball carriers. The people who are best at running the ball are the ones with force speed. Second best are people who are difficult to kill.



Defense
Nothing is cheap or cheesy. Nothing. If you adopt this mindset you will have the proper killer instinct to win.

If your team does not have the ball, do all that you can to impede the carrier. Stun them, pull them out of position, snare them. Your secondary objective is to kill the carrier to get the ball back.

[/B]Suicide. The spawn point is on the platform above the goal line. There is no respawn timer. This means that if you are out of position after a possession change and the other team is advancing the ball in your territory, suicide is your fastest option.

It's an instant teleport.

It's a full heal.

When you are conflicted about doing this, see item #1.

Kill the carrier.

Stun the carrier. Stuns do not break on damage, even if it's coming in from 6 players in a zerg.

4B. Use an AoE blind before you begin your damage spike. This will let you get your damage in before being knocked back or otherwise CC'd. This will also delay healing from the people running with the carrier.

No kill is as important as the carrier. Not even the healer attempting to support them. In a 12v12 match with Trauma in effect, a healer cannot outheal focus fire from 5+ players.

Fire walls.
Stunning and snaring on the fire is a tactic. Classes with AoE snare like Guardian and Juggernaut should use this immediately after applying a blind if it's up. Offense likes to run in a pack with the carrier and will follow them over hazzards to not get separated. When snared, you can see 2 or 3 people die at once because of the new fire wall timers.

[Kris1234]

Useful Abilities

This section will continue to be expanded. I have more content but there have been a number of changes.

Force Speed. This ability is king. You ignore the ball snare and seemingly most other snares. When shielded you can speed through the fire. This makes Sages and Sorcerers particularly strong since they can do both for themselves.

Force Leap / Force Charge. When you have the ball, look for people ahead of you in a place you want to go. Leap to them. This is especially helpful if you have been knocked into the pit or you are stuck behind a hazzard. You cannot leap to someone using cover.

Intercept. When you have the ball, look for team mates ahead of you in a place you want to go. This is a level 50 Guardian / Juggernaut ability that functions like Force Leap / Charge to a friendly target.

Extrication / Rescue. It allows a Sorcer/Sage to pull a team mate to themselves. 30m range You can move to a better position and suddenly bring the carrier to you. You can also pull the carrier back if they get knocked into the pit.

Force Pull. Use this to pull the carrier out of position. Preferably into the pit. This ability has been removed from Guardian and Juggernaut I do not know if anything else has changed with it, need confirmation.

Overload. This ability is quite powerful because it's only on a 30 second cooldown. This is the AoE knockback that Sorcerers/Sages have. Position yourself so that your enemy is between you and the pit or you and a firewall or acid pool. Knocking people into a firewall is usually fatal. Knocking people into an acid pool followed by a stun is often fatal, but good players can usually survive this if they're not already low on health.

Force Push. This ability can mean the difference between a win or loss, primarily because of its range. If the carrier is coming, push them into a firewall and kill them. If they're about to cross the goal line, push them backward into the pit. This has a long cooldown (2 minutes) so while handy, it's nowhere near the power of Overload.

Chilling Scream. This ability is an AoE snare. You want to use this liberally to try and separate the assist train. Now that firewalls are on a short timer, this ability can lead to deaths for the opposing team.

Defending against Force Leap. If you are a ranged class that has to stand still to do a lot of damage, always put your foot on the edge of a platform or acid pool. Leap positions the player directly in front of you, which generally means they'll fall straight down. Portable Cover also prevents Force Leap.

Stun. This is one of the strongest offensive weapons. Try to save it for focusing down a particular target. Now that there are 12 players, attack in groups of 5 or so. A stun combined with focus fire on the carrier should lead to death before they can pass the ball. You cannot pass while stunned.

Tanking stances. If you are a Guardian, Juggernaut, Shadow or Assassin and you have the ball, you should consider immediately switching into your tanking stance. You gain the benefit of your shield and increased armor. If you are on offense running with the carrier, switch to tank stance and apply guard to the carrier.

[Crum1515]

Great write up, you should put some links to a couple matches at the bottom if you can find em. I was reading the twitter feed of SR, and he said they are gonna try and put in interceptions.

I think this is the PvP I am most looking forward too other than world pvp

[Kris1234]

good idea will scout around for a few videos