Politics play an integral role throughout the Star Wars universe. We recently took a close look at the Mandalorians, one of the minor factions players may encounter in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This week we are looking at a faction that is very different from the honor-bound warriors: the eternally criminal Hutts.

BioWare recently announced Hoth as the 13th planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This iconic planet is seen in multiple forms of media, including Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Galaxies, and many other Star Wars titles. Hoth is a long standing fan-favorite, and an appearance in The Old Republic offers players the opportunity to learn a great deal about this mysterious ice coated world.

Delving into the history of the people, places, and things in Star Wars: The Old Republic is our favorite hobby here at Darth Hater. While dissecting and discussing, we realized a very important aspect of Star Wars was missing on our site: factions. We wanted to take a closer look at the groups that may play a key role in the adventures we will experience in game, and our premiere entry for this series was an obvious choice. Here is our in-depth look at the Mandalorians.

Responding to a post on the Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Forums, writer Drew Karpyshyn addressed the connection, or lack thereof, between the planet Hoth and the Expanded Universe character known as General Hoth.


Hat tip to RogueJedi86.

As previewed yesterday, BioWare's Sean Dahlberg announced Hoth as the thirteenth playable planet for Star Wars: The Old Republic:


Plus, the third issue of Blood of the Empire webcomic is available, which contains a first glimpse of the Emperor (or possibly something else):


UPDATE: A late Fan Friday was added to this week's update. It includes the usual community artwork, as well as the Bounty Hunter screenshots from the recent European press event. This week's Developer Corner is a short dialogue video showing the depth-of-field effect in action. There are also a few new avatars to choose from on the official forums.


Aurebesh translations for Hoth's HoloNet page after the jump.

According to Videogamer, Hoth is a playable planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Head over there to check out some exclusive screenshots.

UPDATE: Sean Dahlberg confirmed part of tomorrow's update will be the planet Hoth.

Sean Dahlberg sends word of this week's updates:


In the latest developer blog, "Creating Worlds," Daniel Erickson goes into detail about the process behind creating Voss. He includes some of his notes collected during the process and expands on the sheer amount of documentation that is generated for each of the worlds created for the game.

In addition to the new developer blog, the Game Systems section of the official website has been launched. The Advanced Class System is the first entry in this new section.


This new section gives a summary of the concept behind the Advanced Classes and emphasizes how important choosing an Advanced Class will be in defining a player's character.

Images and things of note after the jump.

While not officially announced as a playable planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Geonosis sits with Dantooine and Yavin IV on the list of possible additions. A promising candidate, Geonosis is mentioned in multiple forms of marketing: including the Timeline, Biography section, and even the Threat of Peace. Geonosis is an iconic location with an important role in the films and continued development in books. A closer look at Geonosis reveals some interesting possibilities.

After taking a closer look at Dantooine, we decided to examine other planets and locations we may see revealed in future Star Wars: The Old Republic updates. While Yavin 4 is not as prominent in the older marketing, it played a key role in the Peace for the Republic timeline. More than a simple overview, the video revealed some very interesting details about the events on Yavin 4 leading up to The Old Republic. However, it did not cover the moons entire backstory. The history of Yavin 4 is weaved heavily throughout Star Wars lore, and the sequence of events that unfolded in the most recent timeline are all the more interesting when placed in the proper context.

Although Dantooine has not been officially announced as a planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic, we repeatedly see it crop up in the marketing: namely within the Threat of Peace webcomic. With the recent influx of planet reveals, we thought it would be a good idea to reevaluate other locations we may see in future updates. Since BioWare is known to give hints to unreleased content, we feel it is in the community's best interest to take a closer look at one of the first known planets of the Star Wars universe.

Today's update is the seventh entry in the Timeline series, entitled "Peace for the Republic?"


There are several interesting references to note in this edition of the timeline. The Sith temples of Yavin IV feature predominantly and Naga Sadow is also a key player in this timeline entry. There is also intriguing artwork of the Star Forge in the parting shot.

Voss was recently announced as the 12th planet in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This planet is a unique addition as next to nothing was known about it prior to last weeks Friday Update. BioWare appears to be using that void to weave a new story and display their willingness to add to the IP. The information supplied on the Holonet reveals much more than just an interesting story; it also hints at the possible gameplay elements that Voss could offer.