Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
Startup screen
Developer(s)	EA Capital Games EA Mobile
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Platform(s)	Android, iOS
Release	November 24, 2015
Genre(s)	Role-playing

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is a mobile collectible RPG developed by Capital Games and published by Electronic Arts.^[1][2] The game received a soft launch in Australia during October 2015, and was formally released on November 24, 2015.^[3][4][5]

Gameplay

Galaxy of Heroes allows players to collect Star Wars characters from both the main canonical universe established after Lucasfilm was acquired by The Walt Disney Company and the Legends-canon Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, create teams with them, and use them to fight in turn-based battles. There are multiple ways to collect characters: some are given to players immediately, whereas others are gained via game play or as in-game rewards in the form of shards that are earned by players to unlock and or promote their characters. Shards can either be earned from battles or bought from a shop. Once a player maximizes one non-event character's rarity to seven stars, he/she then unlocks a special shop in which excess shards from seven-star non-event heroes can be exchanged for gear. The shard amount needed for the character to be unlocked will also correspond to their starting star level, which can range from one to seven stars. Characters can be promoted to a max of seven stars with each additional star increasing their power. There are also training droids that can provide varying levels of experience points to level up characters. Gear, mods, and ability parts can all upgrade characters, although some gear can primarily be won only from battles for one particular side of the Force, to encourage players to play on both sides. The maximum level cap in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is 85, which was changed from the previous level cap of 80 (previously 70). The maximum gear level has not yet been determined, for the gear required to reach higher levels is not available in many places.^[6] Players level up their user level by gaining experience by completing daily quests or completing battles. The main currency of the game is "credits". Credits can be used to train a hero, buy things from the store, obtain a hero when you have enough shards or promote a hero.

Battles are divided up into rounds, with the character with the highest speed attribute going first. Each team consists of up to five different hologram avatars which battle until defeated or retreated. Battles are turn-based, again based on the speed attribute, where the combatants apply various buffs to their own team and damage to the opponent all the while trying to deal the most overall damage and have the last character alive.

Modes

There are various modes for players to engage in, including squad arena (player vs. player), dark and light side battles, cantina, galactic wars, raids, and various special events. All modes are played versus the computer controlled AI, including the squad arena battles in which the AI controls a player-created team.

The main area in the game; The Cantina

Center Table:

• Light Side Characters Campaign: Lead a squad of light side heroes to defeat dark side enemies in 3-wave battles.
• Dark Side Characters Campaign: Lead a squad of dark side villains to defeat light side enemies in 3-wave battles.

Upper Center Table:

• Shipments: Purchase randomly available character shards and gear with crystals and credits, which change every six hours.
• Store: Purchase data cards to get characters and consummable resource items, or redeem a Bronzium data card with earned Ally Points.

Upper Left Table:

• Neutral Cantina Campaign: Lead a squad of heroes and villains to defeat unlikely combinations of enemies in 3-wave battles.
• Neutral Mod Battles Campaign: Engage in 5-wave battles against enemies enhanced by particular mods to earn low-grade mods and slicing parts.
• Mod Challenges: Win mod battles to earn better mods of a particular stat.

Upper Right Tables:

• Arena Battles: Battle against other player squads in 5-on-5 battles, while competing for daily prizes based on ranking.
• Galactic War Campaign: Defeat a daily gauntlet of 12 player squads with squads from your entire collection of characters, while being aware of permadeath.

Lower Left Tables:

• Daily Challenges: Complete daily challenges to obtain important resources and select gear.
• Mod Shipments: Stronger mods available here for sale, which change every six hours.

Lower Right Tables:

• Special Event Battles: Participate in special battles reflecting Star Wars scenarios to earn rewards
• Shard Shop Shipments: Purchase gear or shards for General Grievous with currency redeemed from excess 7-star character shards

"Back Room" Areas: Far Left, Guilds

• Guild Raids: Work together to defeat a powerful boss and earn rare gear and shards for a special character.
• Territory Battles: Work together to drive enemy armies away from a large swath of territory.
• Guild Shipments: Purchase items with guild tokens earned from guild victories, including character shards.
• Guild Member Item Requests/Donations: Allows a guild member to donate or request gear items.
• Statistics Management: Review the guild's current statistics, since its inception.
• Guild Search: Search for other guilds.

Far Right, Ships

• Fleet Arena: Pit your created fleet against other player's fleets and compete for daily rewards based on ranking.
• Daily Ship Challenges: Complete daily challenges to earn ship resources.
• Fleet Arena Store: Use currency earned from arena ranking to buy blueprints, shards and high-grade ability materials.
• Neutral Fleet Battles: Use your fleet to defeat computer-controlled enemy fleets, composed of heroes, villains or both, in single-wave 3-on-3 battles.

Raids

Raids were added to the game in April 2016 with the introduction of the Rancor. Guilds send in teams of five hologram avatars at a time to battle multiple powerful bosses across four different stages, with all bosses sharing a universal health bar that is split into fourths, one for each stage, which decreases as the damage the guild inflicts begins to accumulate. Once it empties completely, the raid is won and participating members will be given rewards.

There are three types of raids ,each set in a different era and known for its unique difficulties. One lets the player fight a Rancor, another lets the player battle a Separatist AAT, while in another the player faces off against ancient Sith warriors, along with Darth Nihilus, Darth Sion and Darth Traya, all from the Knights of the Old Republic series.^[7]

Ships

Ship battles were added on November 22, 2016. This feature allows players to control various spaceships through their captains and pilots.^[8] The vehicles are controlled and played similarly to the main game with the player's characters, with the addition of an unassailable capital ship, which offers leadership bonuses, special abilities, and additional attacks.

23 different ships were available at the launch of the new feature. Ships enhancement mirrors that of characters, each area available for improvement - rarity, level, skill level - requiring a different, special currency. These currencies are acquired through daily challenges and daily reward for fleet arena standing.

Mods

Mods (short for modifications) are an optional upgrade for characters within the game. Once the player's account reaches level 50, Mods become available to any of their characters that are level 50 or above. There are different categories of mods, each of which yields a different primary effect on the stats of the character that has equipped it. This effect allows players to increase statistical areas of their characters to yield better performance in battle.

In the late summer of 2018, EA released an update that significantly changed how mods worked, dubbed "Mods 2.0". The update grants players more freedom on what kinds of mods they would like to acquire by eliminating character faction requirements from the Mod Challenges, and provides suggestions for each character on which mod types should be used. In addition, mods graded as Mark V (the original, typical Mark limit) can be "sliced" (hacked) to increase its color tier and open up extra secondary stats, and can be sliced once more to reach an extra-higher, exclusive Mark VI tier. Slicing requires parts acquired from an extra set of very difficult mod battles against characters of a certain faction, while all mod battles now use a separate pool of energy. ^[9]

Reception

The game has received a mixed response from critics, currently holding a 70/100 rating on Metacritic based on 8 reviews.^[10]

References

External links

• Official website
• Capital Games website