Hiho all

With the release of GU10 will return a long abandoned concept from SWG - the PvP battlefield. Fear not, these are not the old ringed arenas of 2003 but brand new areas on Endor and Yavin 4 set aside for some PvP action. The only pre-requisites for entry into these new BFs is that you have a combat level of 75 and are a member of the rebel alliance or imperial army.

To access the battlefields from anywhere simply type /bat (short for /battlefield). The following UI will appear:

Double click on a battlefield to add yourself to a queue. Double click a queue you are in to remove yourself. If you are group leader you will add the group to a queue.

Note: If you are planning to do heroics and want to join a battle after you can only join a queue as an individual before you join the heroic group, ONLY the group leader and add or remove a battlefield queue. If you are planning to do a battlefield I recommend only using single faction groups.

When the queue size reaches 4 on either side and the previous battle has completed and folk in the fight have been warped to a nearby outpost then everyone will individually receive an invite to the next battle. You have 30 seconds to accept or the system will assume you don't want to take part

Once the window for invites has appeared the battlefield status window will change to show the number of people queued and how many have accepted.

When the 2 minutes total invite time is up the following can happen:

• If you failed to accept then you are removed from the queue.
  
• If you accepted but there were not 3 others of your faction and 4 members of the opposite faction then you will all be returned to the queue and wait for others to join.
  
• If you accepted and there are enough others who did then you will all be removed from any group you are in and warped to the battlefield spawn point.

Once you arrive there is a short period where the battlefield sets up, this is mainly to allow for everyone to load in and prepare themselves.

Both sides will start with 5,000 points in each battlefield. A single PvP kill will reduce your enemies score by 10 points and objectives will reduce the other side score by 500 points (i.e. the main reason Loche's team won in the screenshot below is his team had an extra objective completed and they had uber-tester patrank slaughtering all in sight)

When in game you can see the score sheet at any time by typing /bat (at this time you are unable to queue yourself for another battle, you have to finish the one you are in). You can now see who is on your side and who is on the opposing side.


You can form groups during this set up phase and it is strongly recommended to do this to help medics with healing and rezzing.

After a short while the battle will start, see the maps and objectives detail below for each of the four battlefields, when you first enter the PvP zone you will be set to special forces and receive a new buff which makes you invisible to radar and overhead map display.

Note: You must engage in combat before the first base is captured to get GCW points, if you are AFK or just slow you will be penalised.

You will receive a one minute warning before the battle ends unless one sides score reaches 0 in which case the final score sheet will display and you will be warped to an outpost and reset to combatant status.

If your team won you will receive 5 tokens (like heroic tokens, they even fit in the aurilia box) and 500 GCW. If you drew you will get 200 GCW but 3 tokens and if you lost you will receive 100 GCW and 2 tokens.


At this point you can join another queue or go and trade in your rewards at the two new faction staff sargeants

Rewards are all priced at 35 tokens from each battlefield.

Name	Dmg Type	Type	Elemental Type	Elemental Dmg.	Overall DPS	Range	Profession
N'Ggant-Zarvel 9118	Energy	Carbine	Electric	20	899	50m	Any CL 75
CR-1 Blast	Kinetic	FreeTarHW	Cold	50	900	64m	Any CL 75
Magnaguard Electro	Kinetic	Polearm	Electric	20	890	5m	Any CL 75
Westar-34	Energy	Pistol	Heat	20	900	35m	Any CL 75
Westar-M5	Energy	Rifle	Cold	20	906	64m	Any CL 75
Buzz-Knuck	Kinetic	Unarmed	Acid	20	900	5m	Any CL 75
Sith Sword	Kinetic	One-Handed	Cold	20	900	5m	Any CL 75
Vibrosword	Kinetic	Two-Handed	Acid	20	900	5m	Any CL 75

Now remember, I want a nice clean fight, unless you're a smuggler in which case use any dirty trick you want!

Battlefield: Massassi Isle - Yavin 4 Located on a small south ocean island is this picturesque seaside resort, currently out of action while imperials and rebels fight for control of the exclusive fishing rights in the area. This battlefield involves 6 bunkers, 3 of each side and each can be destroyed. Two smaller bunkers near the front line and a larger base near the spawn point for each side. The smaller bunkers give 200 GCW while the larger ones give 500.

Battlefield: Jungle warfare - Yavin 4 Located in the depths of the Central Jungle is this little hideaway. Currently out of action while rebels and imperials fight to establish a foothold from the surrounding wildlife. This battlefield is a mix of the previous two maps but has two smaller bunkers near the spawn points which can be destroyed and one central base which can be flipped. In general the team which first controls the main bunker will win as the main bunker terminal will break after it has been flipped too many times.

Battlefield: Bunker assault - Endor Located in the midst of the North Western Mountain range is this beautifal avian research centre. Currently out of action while imperials and rebels fight for control over the views it provides of nearby valleys. This battlefield involves one central bunker on a steep plateau. The base can be controlled by either side and swapped between them at will. No smaller bunkers or side objectives, this is probably the most straightforward king of the hill style map added. The reward is only 100 GCW per flip.

Battlefield: Data Runner - Endor Located on a small ringed island in the southern ocean is this communication array. Stray transmissions from both sides of the galactic civil war have been picked up in this region. This is a variation on a traditional capture the flag map. Once both teams have members in the pvp zone one player will be randomly selected to receive a data packet. They will receive a special buff and be unable to enter stealth (but they can use a vehicle). They will also receive a glow to alert all team mates, and enemies, to the fact they are carrying the data. The goal is to reach one of the four transmitters marked on the map below, everyone will receive a waypoint to the target transmitter which will be the furthest one from the person who received the buff. Reach the transmitter and use it to send the data for a 100 GCW point reward. Once either the data has been sent, or the data carrier has been killed, or 90 Seconds have passed the data will be given to a random member of the opposing side, they will then have to reach their target transmitter.

Tziena - Thank you, Red-Dwarf for this week's feature!