First, thank you all for the great feedback. This weekend I should put up part 2! So stay tuned!

Secondly I would like to point out that this is a basic guide and not a place for tips such as "make an alt and run the ball the wrong way." Those types of "tips" are not helpful for the longevity of the community. For whoever reads this guide I would ask that such posts are just ignored.

combining the Trooper's pull with the Jedi's Force leap. Jedi falls into the pit, Trooper positions himself on the enemies goal line, both the Trooper and Jedi target the same guy in the pit, Trooper pulls an enemy from the pit, Jedi leaps at the enemy once the enemy lands and runs the ball in.

That sounds really great! I would love to see that in action, although I think that would be incredibly hard to coordinate without the use of voice chat. Another way to do that is if the ball carrier does not have force leap they could just either pass the ball to the trooper or pass the ball to the enemy and kill him.

Thanks for sharing!

This is awesome. I've come to really enjoy Huttball, it is far and away the most exciting PvP map. It does make me wish I had a KB or a pull but other than that it is awesome.

Passing is a difficult thing to get used to and it is definitely a weakspot for me personally. Maybe because I don't have the throw ability hot keyed to something, I just click it. Since it is used only in Huttball I hate to give it an "important" keybind. But I think I will need to if I want to get serious about PvP.

This is awesome. I've come to really enjoy Huttball, it is far and away the most exciting PvP map. It does make me wish I had a KB or a pull but other than that it is awesome.

 

Passing is a difficult thing to get used to and it is definitely a weakspot for me personally. Maybe because I don't have the throw ability hot keyed to something, I just click it. Since it is used only in Huttball I hate to give it an "important" keybind. But I think I will need to if I want to get serious about PvP.

I didn't realize how important it was to keybind the ball throw ability until I did. It would take me so long to click and then pass that I would almost always die (usually being forced into acid or fire) before I could pass. I then decided to key bind the throw ability to my mouse wheel (pressing it), and I can pass much more efficiently.

Just so were clear, Huttball sucks for bounty hunters. Just sayin.

Which is the part that sucks? The 2 knockbacks you can get, or the ability to drag the EBC off the platforms?

Which is the part that sucks? The 2 knockbacks you can get, or the ability to drag the EBC off the platforms?

I did PVP through teens and into my level 32 Powertech (that I've put on the shelf for now), and killing people was difficult. Very difficult. Grappling people was fun since I saved the game (Huttball) by doing that a few times. But fighting just sucked. Flamethrower requires me to stand still. flame burst and sweep do hardly any damage at all. I used a build collected and agreed as viable in PVP among multiple popular sites/forums.

Think I'm just bad? So did I. So I tried another class that was melee (since I was getting killed mostly by melee), and lo and behold, I've got a Sith Warrior at level 10, still using the freaking training sword, MOWING down level 20's and higher. I kid you not. The people I kill the most? Bounty Hunters. They hardly do any damage to me, AT LEVEL 10! And I'm taking them down in less than 10 seconds. On my Bounty Hunter PT it takes like 45 - 60 seconds to fight someone. By that time they have allies show up.

Either I'm just more talented pushing buttons 1 - 6 on my Sith Warrior than I am on my Bounty Hunter, or something's imbalanced.

Our guild uses every tactic in this guide. As a BH PT Shield, I enjoy fire/poison grapples and jet charges into the endzone from the pit.

I did PVP through teens and into my level 32 Powertech (that I've put on the shelf for now), and killing people was difficult. Very difficult. Grappling people was fun since I saved the game (Huttball) by doing that a few times. But fighting just sucked. Flamethrower requires me to stand still. flame burst and sweep do hardly any damage at all. I used a build collected and agreed as viable in PVP among multiple popular sites/forums.

 

Think I'm just bad? So did I. So I tried another class that was melee (since I was getting killed mostly by melee), and lo and behold, I've got a Sith Warrior at level 10, still using the freaking training sword, MOWING down level 20's and higher. I kid you not. The people I kill the most? Bounty Hunters. They hardly do any damage to me, AT LEVEL 10! And I'm taking them down in less than 10 seconds. On my Bounty Hunter PT it takes like 45 - 60 seconds to fight someone. By that time they have allies show up.

 

Either I'm just more talented pushing buttons 1 - 6 on my Sith Warrior than I am on my Bounty Hunter, or something's imbalanced.

Man, I honestly think huttball was BUILT for BH. I don't use channeled stuff in there. Flameburst and sweep are my bread and butter next to rail shot. I can 1 v 1 anyone up to lvl 40. You realize sweep is more of a debuff, right, to lower attack? (at least in my build) Are you using rail shot? Are you guarding people?

First, thank you all for the great feedback. This weekend I should put up part 2! So stay tuned!

 

Secondly I would like to point out that this is a basic guide and not a place for tips such as "make an alt and run the ball the wrong way." Those types of "tips" are not helpful for the longevity of the community. For whoever reads this guide I would ask that such posts are just ignored.

 

 

 

That sounds really great! I would love to see that in action, although I think that would be incredibly hard to coordinate without the use of voice chat. Another way to do that is if the ball carrier does not have force leap they could just either pass the ball to the trooper or pass the ball to the enemy and kill him.

 

Thanks for sharing!

Every tactc allowed is viable. I 100% agree they are horrible for longevity and community. When it is fixed by bioware then it will be deleted. Until then no tactic is broken or wrong. Alt self scoring and force grip into spawn zone are allowed and used so everyone should know about them not just the people abbusing the mechanics.

One extra tip not mentioned here that many new huttball players overlook is that you can reset the ball if you are carrying it by passing it to no one (ie throwing the ball to a location where no player on either team will receive the pass).

This is very useful when you manage to kill an enemy ball carrier close to your goal line and find yourself near death and in a situation where you are at risk of turning the ball back over and have limited or no other immediate options. Even if the other team manages to be the first to the ball they will have to advance from mid field again rather than starting in a high probability scoring position.

Just be careful using this and ensure the throw is directed well away from any opposing players so as to not be intercepted.

One extra tip not mentioned here that many new huttball players overlook is that you can reset the ball if you are carrying it by passing it to no one (ie throwing the ball to a location where no player on either team will receive the pass).

From the guide:

In situations where there are no teammates to pass to (and you are about to die) it is often better to throw the ball away (called intentional grounding) then to let the enemy kill you and take the ball.

 

PRO TIP: Another alternative pass is to pass the ball to an enemy who is about to die, this will cause the ball to come right back to your teams closest member or reset to a neutral ball if no member is nearby.

I agree, though. I've found myself doing this quite often as a squishy Scoundrel, since I don't have any abilities to move the ball forward myself. If I'm about to die and there isn't a teammate around, I just ground the ball. Hell, if I happen to get the ball close to my goal line, I tend to do this anyway if a teammate is near the center. It's basically me instantly passing the ball halfway down the field.

One extra tip not mentioned here that many new huttball players overlook is that you can reset the ball if you are carrying it by passing it to no one (ie throwing the ball to a location where no player on either team will receive the pass).

 

This is very useful when you manage to kill an enemy ball carrier close to your goal line and find yourself near death and in a situation where you are at risk of turning the ball back over and have limited or no other immediate options. Even if the other team manages to be the first to the ball they will have to advance from mid field again rather than starting in a high probability scoring position.

 

Just be careful using this and ensure the throw is directed well away from any opposing players so as to not be intercepted.

Wow I never thought of this! Great idea. xD I feel dumb for not making this mental leap myself, lol.

Plan to put in some hours queuing tonight, will be trying out a new keybind for throw.

I enjoy Huttball immensely, it reminds of Netrek Hockey, if there are any oldtimers around.

I myself am a BH PT Shield (level 28) and I was wondering what strategies are best to employ for my spec which is more PvE based. My damage feels anemic overall, no burst capabilities which has always been PvP mainstay. Sometimes I am able to last quite some time 1v1, but how long are you 1v1 in Huttball? Grapple is fun, although putting yourself in position to use it effectively is pretty difficult.

Overall I know I'm missing some big tools to help make me more effective, such as: Carbonize, Kolto Overload, Jet Charge, PvP skills such as No Escape, Neural Overload, etc

Some of those I'll get, some I won't unless I spec differently (I've never been a big dual spec proponent, but Huttball makes me want to!), which brings up a few interesting points.

I've heard grumblings from the 50 PvP spec/geared crowd that "lowbies shouldn't be allowed in to ruin our game". While the bolster is a decent idea, it obviously doesn't make up for all the differences between a level 20 and a level 50. I still think that "lowbies" can be effective if played well (I hate it when I'm on the losing team and yet the top 5 damage spots are all my teammates) equivalent play will still have a big gap between the "lowbies" and the "I'm uber elite 50".

I really really wish that SWTOR didn't have PvP Specific Gear and a PvP Attribute (Expertise). I'm sure there are great reasons for having it and so on, but it does make being a "complete" player much more difficult. I'm trying to play the whole game, PvP, PvE, Crafting, Space Combat, etc. It's much easier for a PvP person to jump into most levels of PvE rather than the opposite when PvP is dominated by specialized players and gear. If you compare the top PvP gear and the top PvE gear, you short yourself a little bit of your base stats to pick up Expertise, but in PvE you typically wouldn't care as much about both your stats (favoring Aim over Endurance as a Merc BH, or Endurance over Strength as a Sith Juggernaut) so there's very little overall downside to using PvP gear for the majority of PvE purposes.

For instance, top Aim/Endurance PvP gear (Battlemaster Combat Tech's Body Armor) is exactly identical to top PvE gear (Rakata Combat Tech's Body Armor), except that it trades 18 Aim and 24 Endurance for 50 Expertise. If you are a Merc BH, you hardly care at all about the Endurance loss, so there is not much of a downside (-18 Aim to not have to gear up an equivalent PvE Chest Item). While I don't have true numbers as to how Expertise really matches up versus other prime stats, it's hard to draw a comparison when they affect apples and oranges, it still seems like PvP gear allows you to do PvP very effectively while probably not having a big downside to PvE. Not sure the same can be said of PvE gear going into PvP encounters.

Anyway, Huttball seems to be a better candidate for adjusting the queue matchups than other warzones. I'd be content waiting twice as long if some more calculations were made to make the playing field more equitable for all involved.

Maybe blending Expertise, Level, and Valor and assigning a value and then trying to find your closest matches. If the spread is too far apart, you wait some amount of extra time to attempt to make a better match, but after X amount of time, your value is brought closer in line with the other values the system is comparing, until you find a match.

I'm sure there are issues aplenty, and maybe this blended value can be used in assigning medals, mvp, bolstering, etc.

TL; DR - Maybe Huttball will benefit from more advanced team generation mechanics to even the playing field. Now go back and read the whole thing.

Maybe this will all become a smaller issue as more people start spending more time on their 50's and maintaining separate PvP gear and dual speccing, blah blah blah. But a system like this would also help the dabblers to find good matches.

Some that they're working on already. Not as sure about the other stuff.

http://www.swtor.com/blog/new-year%E2%80%99s-pvp-update

That sounds really great! I would love to see that in action, although I think that would be incredibly hard to coordinate without the use of voice chat. Another way to do that is if the ball carrier does not have force leap they could just either pass the ball to the trooper or pass the ball to the enemy and kill him.

 

Thanks for sharing!

Haha, there are a few things that I want to get together with people to try, just for chuckles or the novelty of it.

Like getting a team consisting of a lot of Sages/Sorcerers and have them run a Rescue/Extrication train on the ball handler. Just have them positioned at various places leading to the enemies goal, then have them all target the ball handler and teleport him across the map when he gets in range.

I think Ive found a gun that boosts the ball carrying ability on alderaan, some vendor had it.

Cant find it, and forgot how it was named. Didnt pvp at that time of leveling.

Does anyone know what I am talking about? Are there any other huttball specific items?

Haha, there are a few things that I want to get together with people to try, just for chuckles or the novelty of it.

 

Like getting a team consisting of a lot of Sages/Sorcerers and have them run a Rescue/Extrication train on the ball handler. Just have them positioned at various places leading to the enemies goal, then have them all target the ball handler and teleport him across the map when he gets in range.

I had a random PUG that this happened in this week, we had all Sages and we got 6 caps to 0 in just a few minutes by using "Rescue" to pull the ball carrier all over the map. One pull up from center, One pull to last ramp, One pull to goal - rinse and repeat. When Rescue was on cooldown we just force ran through fire (with force armor on) and kept going

I think Ive found a gun that boosts the ball carrying ability on alderaan, some vendor had it.

 

Cant find it, and forgot how it was named. Didnt pvp at that time of leveling.

 

Does anyone know what I am talking about? Are there any other huttball specific items?

This would be the first I ever heard of anything like that! Please post more info, screenshot, name of gun, what kinda boost it gives you!

How do I pass the ball?

Nothing happens when I target a teammate and press "throw", as in my case is "T" ´key.

How do I pass the ball?

 

Nothing happens when I target a teammate and press "throw", as in my case is "T" ´key.

Sorry for the late reply, to pass you click the icon on toolbar (or T if you have it keybound) and then you get a targeting cursor (blue republic symbol) that appears at your mouse location on the ground. Simply move your mouse around and click to choose where to throw the ball too.

You cannot throw the ball if you are under the influence of some CC technique (such as force choke.) You do NOT need to have a target selected to throw, think of it like football: The quarterback (you carrying the ball) can throw it anywhere!

http://www.torhead.com/item/2zh4FOf#sold-by

there, although I think I was wrong, its for datacrons not hutball, dunno if it has any use in the warzone, but description pretty much says indirectly huttball.

Me and a few from my guild have begun naming each piece of the map in Huttball, we used our old ventrilo names coupled up with high and mid to say where we are at all times. Something like I am on high enz would mean the highest point in the middle of the enemy ramp section. Low enz would be the platform behind the enemy acid pit. It only works for us in ventrilo but we are always on the ball and know where each other is and when and where to pass, its a good idea as a guild doing premades to work out a system quickly.

One of our favorite systems right now is for me to pick up the ball ( am tank spec juggernaut ). I throw on all my defense abilities when I am attacked and another tank specced player guards me so I am the very being of tanked damage. Another player usually a stealther has moved to the enemy end zone. I will get close and intercede up and run it in for a score.

Another good system is to move the ball out to a wing and push up along an edge, charging or interceding high onto the platforms and into the end zone quickly.

If your pretty certain the enemy is going to score then get ready to counter. A good counter can be scored in as quickly as 30 seconds, an assassin picks it up, speed boosts into the pit, throws upto someone in the end zone, score.

Force users break Huttball.

Moving the ball beyond choke points and defendable positions, while mercs and agents have to slowly slog through them.