In-Depth with Eternity Vault

This week, from Star Wars: The Old Republic, we have a developer walkthrough the Eternity Vault, a high level Operation (raid) for both Imperial and Republic players.

The video that Bioware released today is the Imperials’ try at cracking the Eternity Vault, so better luck next time Republic players.

The walkthrough starts off with Dallas Dickinson, Director of Production for SWTOR, giving a short summary and intro for the Eternity Vault.

The walkthrough begins with four Imperial players being briefed by General Threnoldt, he warns them of the dangers of the Eternity Vault.  “We uncovered a new section of Belsavis prison during a bombing run; it’s been sealed for 20,000 years. The Rakata called it the Eternity Vault, it’s where they kept the prisoners and technology they could never afford to release.”

As General Thenoldt is warning the group of the prisons dangers,  its defense systems target the destroyer and cause the party to evacuate using escape pods. As the escape pods crash on the hostile frozen surface of Belsavis, it becomes clear that there is more than just four Imperial players crashed on the prison’s front door.  The Imperial players meet up and begin assaulting the prison. The main tank (a Sith juggernaut) and a Sith assassin, the off tank, rush into battle to draw attention off the rest of the group from the two large turrets and a swarm of droids. The raid group destroys the droids and takes out the two turrets with relative ease. Now the “Infernal One” kicks it up a notch with an Annihilation Droid. The Annihilation Droid is very large boasting a gnarly knock-back AoE and a brutal rocket firing arm. During the battle with this monstrous droid the party struggles a bit, first losing a Sith Marauder, who is quickly re-animated. Again towards the end of the fight the raid group sees that they have the droid’s health low so they rush him. About five out of the eight players go down, but the Annihilation Droid is demolished. Now keep in mind this entire battle takes place before the raid group ever enters then Eternity Vault – what lies in store within is the real challenge.

This is one of the first times we see a Sith Assassin tanking. He seems to be an avoidance/parry tank. Throughout the video it seems like the Assassin takes a little more damage than the Juggernaut, but could possibly be dealing more damage.  This video also shows off the Imperial Agent as a healer and he does a decent job. The main thing that healers should be excited about from this video is the customizable HUD which has a raid health bar that makes it MUCH easier to see your team’s health. (And possibly force/ammo/overheating.)

This is a level 50 Operation, and although Bioware has shown most of this info off before, there is a few things at the end of the video in a montage that look very new. Puzzles and a boss fight where in between the rocks you’re standing on lava is flowing freely. This could be environmental hazards. The montage also shows what could possibly bring the total of bosses for Eternity Vault up to five which isn’t a bad raid at all.

Be sure to check out the entire video:

As always, may the Force be with you