Let me start this article off by saying that I do not know anything more than the rest of you about what is coming in the new Dark Side focused Territory Battles that hit the SWGoH news waves yesterday. However, I will say that I know this game better than most after having played it daily for nearly 2 years. The way that EA/CG goes about their business is very logical, and while it is not always friendly to the wallets of those who, like me, expect to dominate, as a businessman myself I understand why things are done the way they are (for the most part).

So what can we expect from the new Dark Side focused Territory Battles? Much of the same – if you know what to look at. Let’s take a look at a few areas:

Characters of Interest

One of the items we picked up on quickly was how swgoh.gg added a “Characters of Interest” on their site for Territory Battles – Hoth and allowed us to see which of these four characters – Commander Luke Skywalker (CLS), Hoth Rebel Scout, Hoth Rebel Soldier and Captain Han Solo (CHOLO). So who will be the new Characters of Interest in this new Territory Battle? I have two short-term theories and one long-term theory.

First, the long-term theory. The First Order. A Territory Battle setting that takes place on a planet that is featured in The Last Jedi is a possibility, but I see it as much more likely in March 2018 to coincide with the release of The Last Jedi on DVD (yes, I just went there.) While it would be cool to see the territory and get new toons now, I do not see that happening – yet.

Two more realistic settings for this Dark Side focused Territory Battles version are something Empire focused, maybe even Hoth from the other perspective, or Dathomir featuring the Nightsisters. A Empire focus could very well be on Lothal or another planet featured in Season 4 of Star Wars Rebels with Grand Admiral Thrawn as the CLS of this new Dark Side Territory Battlefield. Given his Legendary event, Artist of War, is set to take place for the second time starting

Who would our other Characters of Interest be? That is a great question. A few Empire toons that come to mind are Deathtrooper, Gar Saxon, Imperial Super Commando and possibly Grand Moff Tarkin. Of course new characters would be added, likely one that is like CHOLO and would be a pay to play only toon for the first round of the new Territory Battles then farmable for FTP only on a Cantina node that takes 16 energy to ensure it’s not a quick farm.

While Dathomir could also be a scene for this new Territory battlefield, all of the attention to the Nightsisters in October feels more like a theme for Halloween and less like a game-changing update. That having been said, Dathomir has been rumored in the past as a Territory Battlefield, so we will see what EA/CG comes up with. If a Dathomir setting and Nightsisters focus were used, Mother Talzin is the obvious CLS equivalent with new Nightsisters forcing players to open their wallets or be patient. In addition, if Dathomir were to be used as the battlefield, it could take on a whole Separatist Army, Dark Side theme and then open things up to General Grievous, Count Dooku and more.

Platoon Characters

One of the biggest changes that came about with the release of Territory Battles – Hoth was the need for characters in Platoons. While this is still a work in progress on the Hoth gameboard, here are a few characters that I would expect we will be annoyed by immediately in Platoons on the new Dark Side focused Territory Battles.

• Dengar
• Director Krennic
• Gamorrean Guard
• Gar Saxon
• General Grievous
• Geonosian Spy
• Imperial Super Commando
• Nightsister Acolyte (who I am furiously farming…)
• Shoretrooper
• Sith Assassin
• Sith Trooper
• URoRRuR’R’R
• Zam Wesell

Why these specific characters? Because as a PTP member of the community, these are all characters that I have put less emphasis on, and my son’s FTP account has even less focus on these toons. Since the money is in deep rosters for EA/CG, it makes financial sense for them to force those of us who want to remain atop our Guilds and atop the leaderboards to spread our focus out to many toons.

So there you have it. My thoughts on what is to come. Like I said before, I do not know anything more than you do, so rip this up if you like. But feel free to add your thoughts below and have a discussion about it as we might very well get a lot of this right…