- "We have a great partnership with the talented folks at Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive. It is that collaboration that has enabled us to deliver a unique mobile experience that brings the vastness of the epic Star Wars franchise into the palm of your hand..."
- ―John Salera, Executive Producer at EA Capital Games
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (SW:GoH) is a mobile game by Electronic Arts released on November 24, 2015. The game was first announced on June 15, 2015, in EA's press conference during the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo.[1]
The game allows players to collect characters from the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Rebels, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the original trilogy, The Mandalorian, the sequel trilogy, and put those characters into battle.[1]
The game also features material from Legends, with characters such as HK-47, Bastila Shan, and Kyle Katarn. However, due to the sandbox nature of the game, this does not canonize the characters in the current narrative acknowledged by Lucasfilm.[5]
Gameplay[]
Overview[]
SWGoH is a sandbox collector RPG where players collect characters and ships ("toons"), upgrading them and creating teams of up to 5 units which are then brought into the turn-based combat system against a group of enemy AI-controlled units and player-made teams. Team composition can be restricted by game mode (such as light side or dark side battles), and most characters work best within a team composed of their faction due to synergy bonuses. Squad battles generally involve 5 characters, whereas ship battles consist of one capital ship providing support to a fleet of 3 starfighter's and up to 4 reinforcements.
Unit Upgrades[]
There are many ways to upgrade a toon, with some upgrade types unique to characters and some to ships.
Ranking up a toon goes up to 7 stars, and provides access to higher levels of power, with the highest ship ability upgrades restricted to ships with high star counts, while characters are unable to reach high gear levels or equip superior mods if they are not 7 stars. The player ranks up toons by collecting shards/blueprints through a variety of methods such as certain battles, events, or through shipments.
Leveling up a character paves the way for better upgrades to be applied, such as equipping gear and relics and upgrading abilities. Gear is the primary method of increasing a character's stats, and goes up to tier 13 (tier 12 being gated by a 7 star requirement), upon which being reached relics can be applied. Upon reaching the next gear tier, the character gains additional stat bonuses beyond the gear and becomes more powerful. Abilities are unlocked as higher gear tiers are reached, and require higher character levels to upgrade - making the effects more potent. Some abilities are restricted to specific game modes due to power, and this is shown in the omicron ability materials required to upgrade to that ability. Mods can be applied upon a character reaching level 50, and provide additional stat bonuses that can be utilized to give characters an edge in combat. The most powerful mods are restricted to characters at gear tier 12 and above, further increasing the liability of having characters not at 7 stars.
Leveling up a ship doesn't open as many opportunities as leveling up a character does, since ships do not have equipable gear. Rather, they derive their stats from their crew or, in the case of uncrewed ships, their capital ship. As a ship is leveled up, it gains access to higher ability levels, except the crew abilities, the upgrades of which are gated by the crew's gear level.
Running parallel to squad development is the datacron. This object is equipped with a squad to provide additional stats to the whole squad - similar to how mods work, but on a squad-wise basis. Datacrons max out at level 9, and every 3 levels upgraded provides an alignment, faction, and character bonus (at levels 3, 6, and 9, respectively) which applies in the Territory War, Grand Arena, and Squad arena game modes. The datacron system rotates on a 9-monthly basis, with a new faction and characters getting bonuses for the nine months. There are three phases of datacrons running simultaneously staggered, so that there is a new set of datacrons with bonuses every 3 months, while the other 2 sets persist until their duration has expired. Upon expiration, datacrons are broken down into their specific upgrade material, which can be used to upgrade the replacing set of datacrons.
Game Modes[]
PVE Energy Battles[]
These game modes run of an energy system, with most modes having their own energy type. In all of these modes except mod challenges and ship battles, an allied leader may be borrowed to grant additional bonuses to your team, and in all of these modes except light and dark side battles there are no unit restrictions. The first game modes a player unlocks are the Light and Dark side battles, in which players are restricted to units of the mode-specific alignment. These modes are a source of gear and shards/blueprints. In Cantina Battles, players battle to earn shards/blueprints and ability materials. In Mod battles and Mod challenges, which unlock at player level 50, players battle for mods and mod upgrade materials. Ship battles are the only energy based modes where a player can utilize their fleet, and is a source of higher level gear and shards/blueprints. The final energy game mode is Galactic Conquest, which is a monthly game mode that runs over the course of a fortnight and tests the breadth of a player's roster for unique rewards.
Daily PVE Battles[]
These game modes do not run off energy, rather a number of daily attempts. The Challenge mode (both fleet and squad) provides a daily boost to resources and runs challenges in a week long schedule. Galactic War requires a player to daily fight 12 straight battles without roster refreshing, and provides useful gear and resources in the early game.
PVP Arenas[]
These game modes involve a player attacking other player's teams. In Squad Arena and Fleet Arena, players use their best team to climb the rankings against the AI-controlled teams of other players, and get rewards sent daily to their inbox. In Grand Arena Championships, players fight 3 other players over the course of a week for three weeks, rising and falling divisions accordingly, before getting and end of season payout.
Events[]
These game modes pit players up against specific enemies for unique rewards. The Journey Guide requires players level up specific characters in order to unlock "legendary" or "epic confrontation" characters, such as requiring 5 Jedi characters at 5 stars to unlock a 5 star Grand Master Yoda, or requiring 14 characters and ships at gear tier 13 with many relics in order to unlock a Galactic Legend, the best units in the game that manipulate character stats in battle to their advantage. The events tab provides access to many limited time events that often require specific factions leveled up in order to gain rewards.
Guild Events[]
Upon reaching level 22, players unlock the guild function and are able to join a guild with other players, giving them access to guild events. Raids are a collaborative effort in which the guild works together to take on a massive PVE opponent and defeat it, such as a Rancor or the Sith Triumverate, gaining rewards for the damage they do. Territory battles are a 6-day long guild event in which players utilize only one side of their roster (light side or dark side) in order to fight waves of PVE enemies in order to earn stars in a themed campaign with faction-specific bonuses (such as the Geonosis: Republic Offensive territory battle providing bonuses for Jedi and Galactic Republic units) and earn rewards according to the number of stars collected. Territory War is a three day event in which the guild sets a defense then fights another guild, using the left over units to wipe out the enemy territories and gain rewards.
Development[]
The game is continually updated with additional characters, ships and features.
Continuity[]
The game contains a mix of content from the new Star Wars Canon, such as Resistance and First Order, and Legends, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In 2021, upon announcement of his release in the game, Dash Rendar was noted specifically as a character from Legends continuity, even though he was re-canonized in June 2018.[6]
Media[]
Appearances[]
Characters | Organisms | Droid models | Events | Locations |
Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
Canon characters
Legends characters
|
Droid models
Canon droids
Legends droids
Events
Canon events
|
Legends events
Locations
Canon locations
|
Legends locations
Organizations and titles
Canon organizations and titles
Legends organizations and titles
Sentient species
Canon species
Legends species
Vehicles and vessels
Canon vehicles
Legends vehicles
Weapons and technology
Canon technology
Legends technology
|
Miscellanea
Canon miscellanea
|
Legends miscellanea
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Announcing Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)
- ↑ How to Become a Master of the Holotables in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (Cole Horton) on StarWars.com (November 24, 2015) (content now obsolete; backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes on the official Google Play website (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Cantina Music on Vimeo by Nick von Kaenel on vimeo.com (March 27, 2017) (archived from the original on January 17, 2021)
- ↑ Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) on Twitter: "I wouldn't assume so. Galaxy of Heroes is very meta / sandbox / do what ya want kind of game. And more fun for it." (screenshot)
- ↑ Developer Insights: Dash Rendar on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes Forums - Kit Reveal - Scythe (CG_Tusken_Meathead) on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)