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KLIK KLAK Holotable Heroes,
Today’s Developer Intentions will cover the Geonosian squad changes that will be reworked later today! These changes cover a bit more ground than usual so I’ve interviewed the group of designers who worked on these characters.
Check out the full kit changes for each character below:
[ [url="https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/209356/kit-rework-sun-fac/p1"]Sun Fac[/url] | Poggle the Lesser | Geonosian Spy | Geonosian Soldier ]
Q: Why did we rework the rest of Geonosians now?
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[*] A: The Territory Battle on Geonosis was coming and we knew that the Geonosians had to play a big role. They are a prominent part of the environment and we wanted the bugs to thrive on the new map, it is their home world after all! We also needed to more clearly differentiate between which Geonosian is which, as a few of them were quite hard to distinguish from each other.
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Q: Can you highlight some important changes to the Geonosian squad?
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[*] A: The biggest and most exciting change to the squad is Hive Mind. Each Geonosian has their Unique ability changed to Hive Tactics, that allows for boosted abilities and some new effects if the Geonosian Brood Alpha is alive in your squad. We reworked rest of their kits really hook into Hive Mind and synergize with the swarm of attacks that this team is capable of. That said, their individual roles in the squad did not change much. If you are an experienced Geonosian player you’ll see we went deeper into those characters identities along with modernizing their kits.
Take Geonosian Spy for example, he has always been a stealthy damage dealer that likes to get in and get out quickly. While he’s even better at that role now, he’s a spy who gathers intel on the enemy squad’s movements and weaknesses. We gave him a new ability that Exposes the enemy team and, combined with the Hive Mind bonus in his unique, it is a sure fire way to pull the entire team out of stealth. Gathering information on the enemy and then using it at the right time to undermine their team’s strengths felt very spy like.
The other Geonosians were given the same treatment. Sun Fac’s second special is much more impactful than before. He inflicts stagger and (if already debuffed) can inflict blind and daze to really shut down an opponent. Lastly, we wanted to mention that Poggle the Lesser and Geonosian Soldier can now call target allies for assists if they have Hive Mind. This is very important given the variety of effects each Geonosian character has on its basic ability.
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Q: What aspect of the Geonosians you were trying to highlight with this rework?
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[*] A: Primarily we wanted to create the feeling of controlling a giant swarm. How do you even focus on attacking a specific bug in a cloud of buzzing and agile Geonosians? The constant equalizing of health gives you a nearly unending supply of health and protection to spread around the squad and prevents any one Geonosian from being blasted off the holotables immediately. We also wanted to capture the feeling of a Hive Mind, with a queen pulling the strings. Facing this team should be intimidating because it's so overwhelming and the sheer volume of attacks are going to peck away at any team over time.
On top of that, many of the visuals were reworked to capture the stream of bugs flying towards the enemy and the Geonosians now usually fly when they attack!
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Q: Why should I unlock this squad?
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[*] A: Our goal was to create something like the Nightsister squad, a strong tribal team that really worked well together and has an interesting mechanic that was unique to the faction. We think it’s a pretty straightforward squad to unlock and there are clear roles for each of the Geonosians.
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Q: We have a couple separatists with leader abilities now. How should I choose my leader for a new Geonosian squad?
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[*] A: If you have an all Geonosian squad, you want Geonosian Brood Alpha leading the team even though you don’t need him the Leader slot to get the Hive Mind bonuses. It’s the large amount of health and protection bonuses that are critical to keeping the squad alive while Hive Mind helps spread the damage around the team.
There are some other interesting team compositions under a separatist leader that we are excited for players to explore but you would still want the Brood Alpha on any team if you bring even one or two other Geonosians.
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Q: Hive Mind is a big focus of the new Geonosian squad. How does it work and how do I utilize it effectively?
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[*] A: Similar to Nightsisters, we wanted an interesting gameplay interaction that was unique this faction. You do not need to have Geonosian Brood Alpha in leader slot to get hive mind bonuses but he does need to survive to keep Hive Mind active on Geonosians allies.
hile alive, all Geonosian get bonuses to certain abilities and then hive mind equalizes health and protection with other Geonosian allies. Additionally, Hive Mind calls Geonosian allies to assist whenever a Geonosian ally uses an ability.
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Q: In what game modes will this squad be the most successful?
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[*] A: Beyond the required missions on the Geonosian Territory Battle: Separatist Might, the Geonosian team is fairly effective at other combat missions but don’t forget this squad can be used in the Separatist required missions as well.
The improved survivability makes them a hard team to punch through, making them a solid Grand Arena and Territory War team on defense. Many mid-tier squads do not have the control tools (stuns, buff immunity, or ability block) to get around Brute and kill the Brood Alpha and then raw damage to finish them off. On offense this team can even take on some of the harder squads in Grand Arena/Territory War.
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Q: What should we know about these reworks that we may not notice at first glance?
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[*] A: You’ll probably notice each model received a rework and some animation updates but there shouldn’t be too many surprises when playing this team. As mentioned before his team is fairly straightforward but here’s a few tips. Geonosian Spy can hit incredibly hard with the proper setup.
We’ve added 2 targeted assists so remember each of your squad’s basics:
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[*] Geonosian Spy - Call him if you want to deal unavoidable damage and set him up for a big attack
[*] Poggle The Lesser - Useful to call for the Ability Block
[*] Sun Fac - Can dispel on basic and if he dispels, he heals, which combos with health equalization.
[*] Geonosian Soldier - Can apply Tenacity Down and helps with landing Expose
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