The Voidstar
About The Voidstar Warzone
The Voidstar is currently my favorite Warzone in Swtor. When you start off in The Voidstar you will either be an Attacker or a Defender, depending on which of the two you are will determine what you're required to do to win. An attacker's job is to destroy each set of doors leading down to the datacore terminal and then claim the terminal. A defender's job is to protect each set of doors to prevent the Attackers from reaching the terminal. If the defenders hold off the attackers long enough then they win; if the attackers get to the terminal before the time expires then they win.
There are three sets of doors that the attackers must first get through before they can claim the datacore terminal. In order to destroy a door the Attackers must place a bomb on the door and defend it until it explodes. It takes about eight seconds to place a bomb on the door and a much shorter amount of time for the bomb to be disarmed. There are always two doors which can be attacked and once one is destroyed the other automatically opens up allowing everyone through.
To slow down the attackers in between each set of doors there are also other obstacles. For example, in between the first and second set of doors the attackers must activate each of the bridges in order to cross the pit and then in between the second and third set of doors there is another terminal which must be activated. It won't take long to do either of these things but in certain games every second counts. The attackers have seven minutes to reach the Datacore. Depending on how fast they get to the Datacore or if they get there at all will determine how long the defenders of round 1 have as attackers during round 2 to reach the Datacore.
Starting as an attacker or defender is completely random and unless you join the game late you will always get to play both sides. As for what team wins the game, it all depends on different things. If the attackers during round 1 reached the Datacore then the attackers during round 2 will have the same amount of time to reach the Datacore as the attackers reached it in during round 1. Confused? Yeah, it's a bit confusing. Say during round 1 they made it to the Datacore in 6 minutes. During round 2 the attackers will have 6 minutes to reach the Datacore. If they reach the Datacore then they win. In a simpler sense it is whom ever reaches it faster wins.
If neither team reached the Datacore in time it is then about who made it closer to the Datacore. So say round 1 attackers got to the second set of doors if round 2 attackers make it to the third set of doors then the round 2 attackers win. Now let's delve deeper into how this all works. Let's say round 1 attackers make it to the second door and round 2 attackers make it to the second door 2, it looks like a tie now, right? The win will go to the team that blew up the first set of doors faster. AKA the team that reached the second set of doors quicker.
Now say neither team even made it through the first doors, well then just the Imperials win. (lol!) At least from my experience in this Warzone; in about 5 games I have player that neither team made it past the first set of doors the win always went to the Imperials. I have NO clue what factors Bioware has in place to determine the winning team in this scenario but it seems to be the opposite of whatever team I am on.
Winning The Voidstar
As with all Warzones that have an objective you can interact with, it is important that you keep an eye out for anyone attempting to plant the bomb (if you're a defender) or anyone that is trying to disarm the bomb (if you're an attacker). Regardless of what you're doing you will want to make sure to interrupt these players, even if you're about to kill someone that is at 10%, killing him is not going to win the round but stopping someone from doing something important may.
Believe it or not in order to win this Warzone you don't even have to kill a single person. As a defender you can hold off the attackers by interrupting anyone at the door or just using all of your AoE abilities where they would plant the bomb at the door. Doing this will not allow a single person to plant the bomb which will allow your team to win without killing a single person! Call this the pacifists strategy! As an attacker all you have to do is distract the defenders or CC them and you will be able to plant the bomb without killing a single one of them. Now, it is probably much harder to win without killing someone as an attacker but it is still definitely possible.
You are probably tired of hearing it by now but seriously, teamwork and communication wins 99% of the time. Distracting the enemy while someone else plants the bomb is a well known and commonly used method to winning this Warzone. Flipping that around, not calling out a door that is being heavily attacked or calling out for help if you're a sole defender can quickly cause your team to lose control of the door and allow the other team to plant the bomb.
In closing, it is extremely important that you use directions when calling out what door is under attack. East or West not right or left. If you say something like right or left you'd have to specify if you're facing the doors or facing away from the doors. I've seen it used both ways, sometimes they're Crowd controlled at their door and they'll be yelling right, right!! Then someone will die and be trying to run out of the room you rez in only to be yelling left, left!!
Tips for The Voidstar
- As an attacker; when no one is around always try to plant a bomb.
- As an attacker; always stop someone from disarming the bomb.
- As a defender; always try to disarm one of the bombs.
- As a defender; always try to stop someone from planting a bomb.
- A good area to slow down the enemies and buy some time on defense is inbetween the first and second doors when they attackers must activate the bridge. Slowing them down here will buy you some crucial time. There is also a terminal in between the second and third doors that you can do the same thing, but it isn't as easy to defend as the bridges.
- Players with a knockback ability (Jedi Consulars and Sith Inquisitors) can quickly end an enemies like by blasting them off of a bridge
- Always fight by a door, pretend the doors are "flags" or "nodes" that you want to always fight by
- As a defender, remember your job is to DEFEND. You don't even need to kill a single person on the enemy team to prevent them from getting past the first doors, all you need to do is AoE the door and prevent them from planting a bomb
If you are unfamiliar with how Warzones work... In the sense that this is your first ever MMORPG and you have never played other games like World of Warcraft, Warhammer, or any other game with instanced Battlegrounds that have capturable objectives, you will want to take a look at my Warzone Basics Guide.
The Voidstar Screenshots
The Voidstar Videos
Almar's Videos - The Voidstar PvP Gameplay (Defenders)