Star Wars: The Old Republic Flashpoints Preview
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After making your way through most of Coruscant, you'll have the opportunity to play through the Hammer Flashpoint, which we'll talk about briefly today. The Hammer is one of the new Flashpoints that appears to be more focused on gameplay and puzzles than the cinematic flair present in the previously revealed Black Talon and Esseles. Some bits of group dialogue precede the actual Flashpoint, but once you arrive, it plays more like a typical dungeon run. However, what really stood out about the Hammer was the way Crew Skills were used throughout the experience. Players proficient enough in certain Crew Skills could, for example, re-activate a mining drill in order to break through a wall, circumventing a good deal of the Flashpoint's trash mobs and allowing the group to beeline for the first boss. Later on, an elevator could be sliced, though no one in the group had high enough Slicing to figure out what that would have entailed.
One more thing to note is that the boss fights in the Hammer were much more challenging than the Esseles, with each fight requiring some decent pre-planning and additional awareness. This is especially true for the final boss fight, which appears deceptively simple at first, but quickly gets hairy. I don't want to spoil the mechanics for you, but suffice it to say you are very likely to wipe the first time on this fight unless someone in the group knows the fight already and can warn you of the dangers.
