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Bounty Hunting in Star Wars: The Old Republic

Life as a mercenary in BioWare's upcoming MMO.
March 3, 2011

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a kind of a big deal, as most that follow video games know at this point. It's the first massively multiplayer online game built by BioWare, and the next serious attempt after Star Wars: Galaxies to offer a persistent online world in the Star Wars universe. The game features fairly traditional MMO mechanics mixed with fully-voiced character interactions usually found in single-player role-playing games. The strong focus on story helps set apart The Old Republic from many other games in the genre, and I think it's safe to say there are a lot of people very curious about the impact it'll make when it's finally ready for launch.

While we wait, let's talk about bounty hunters. As one of the eight classes offered in The Old Republic, the Bounty Hunter class is available to those who choose to fight on the Empire side. BioWare writing director Daniel Erickson and principal lead combat designer Georg Zoeller offer more information.

IGN: How do you go about designing specific missions for the Bounty Hunter class? What types of objectives, goals and narrative framing is important to get right?

Erickson: The Bounty Hunter is his own man and always needs space to stretch out, so as much as possible missions take you into situations you won't see with other classes. Conflicts with authority figures on both sides, stand offs with other individualists, and, of course, the epic chase are all important parts of designing a Bounty Hunter story. For tone and texture we look a great deal at classic Westerns: a man, a gun and a world (galaxy) of trouble.

IGN: What does "Star Wars bounty hunter" mean to BioWare? The movies don't really get into it all that much, but the comics and extended fiction get into the idea of the Bounty Hunter's guild, and how that's a source of tension for certain Bounty Hunters in the future. Is that sort of political environment present for Bounty Hunters in The Old Republic?

Erickson: As an unknown Bounty Hunter, early in your career the galaxy is pretty open. As you become more famous there are several different interested groups that can make life interesting. The Mandalorians are an obvious one, but the Republic has their own secret band of Hunters as well and there are always those trying to organize by force or bribe.

IGN: Did you ever find that it was difficult to ally Bounty Hunters with a specific faction? Is there every any indication in the game as to why Bounty Hunters are allied with the Dark Side when really they're just entrepreneurs working for the highest bidder?

Erickson: Bounty Hunters in Star Wars will kill people for money. They'll capture innocent people for the right price and do all sorts of things that a modern democratic government would have problems associating with on a large scale. The Empire was just a much easier place to put them than the Republic would have been.

IGN: Besides the obvious Boba Fett, what other Star Wars Bounty Hunters did you draw upon for inspiration?

Erickson: Before originally planning the first chapter of the Bounty Hunter I read every Bounty Hunter comic and book I could get my hands on. Dengar is a particular favorite both for his complicated friendship with Boba Fett and his gritty, old cowboy attitude towards life.

IGN: Do NPCs in the world react differently to Bounty Hunters than they might other classes, and if so how? Do Bounty Hunters get unique options during conversations and what are they like?

Erickson: NPCs react differently to all classes and the Bounty Hunter and Smuggler most of all. As outsiders on their respective sides these are the people who get to shake things up and see their sides from another perspective. An Imperial officer that wouldn't dream of trying to strong arm a Sith will talk down to a Bounty Hunter, but an underworld contact might be far more likely to offer up information.

IGN: How early on in development was it decided that the Bounty Hunter should be included in the launch version of the game? Was there ever any debate about replacing the Bounty Hunter with another class?

Erickson: Bounty Hunter was in on day one and there has never been any thought of changing it. We just started with "Who do you want to be?" written on the white board. Obi-Wan, Luke, Qui-Gon, Darth Vader, the Emperor, Han Solo and Boba Fett were the clear leads and provided our first classes.

IGN: As development continues, would you be able to provide any details as to how the Bounty Hunter's changed? How have his primary skills evolved and what tend to be the most effective skills once a large amount has been unlocked?

Zoeller: Here are some examples of recent changes to the class: the introduction of the Bodyguard skillset which adds a healing and support role to the class [and] the addition of talent choices to create synergy between blasters and tech attacks. There aren't really 'most effective' skills for any class, as what is effective varies between encounters, different builds and whether or not you are in a group or not.

IGN: What are the signature skills?

Zoeller: The Mercenary Bounty Hunter focuses on missiles and staying at range from enemies. Devastating attacks like Heatseeker and Fusion Missile and Rail Shot make the Mercenary a sight to behold on the Battlefield. The Powertech Bounty Hunter specializes in flamethrowers and close range attacks. Attacks like Flame Burst, Flame Sweep as well as the jetpack-assisted Rocket Punch are some of the signature moves of this advanced class.

IGN: How does the Bounty Hunter compare to the classes available to Republic players? Is there a direct parallel class or does the Bounty Hunter have a style of its own and is there a gimmick for the Bounty Hunter the way there is with the Smuggler's cover system?

Zoeller: The Bounty Hunter's role for the Empire is similar to that of the Trooper on the Republic side. One could say that they are arch enemies. Within the class, the roles are divided as follows : the Mercenary advanced class can take the role of ranged damage dealer or healer [and] the Powertech advanced class can take the role of close range damage dealer or tank. The skill trees for these advanced classes offer various ways of sub-specializing these roles (e.g. burst vs. sustained kind of damage dealing roles, etc.)

IGN: What is the Bounty Hunter's resource that's drawn upon to activate special skills?

Zoeller : The Bounty Hunter is always trying to manage the heat generated by active armor and weapon systems. As abilities are used heat is generated that naturally dissipates over time, although in a non-linear fashion. Overheating shuts down access to the more powerful abilities, so proper heat management is vital for the skilled Bounty Hunter.

Not all of the Bounty Hunter's abilities are constrained by heat of course and there are some emergency abilities that allow quick venting of heat when needed.

IGN: What kind of companions will a bounty hunter be able to obtain?

Erickson: The Bounty Hunter has a very diverse group of companions. Not being part of any organized group, the Bounty Hunter picks people up along the way in all sorts of odd circumstances. Former targets, rivals and what is possibly the cutest Companion Character in BioWare history all show up to make an appearance. And no, I'm not talking about Mako.

IGN: What are the most suitable professions for a bounty hunter?

Zoeller: The answer is it depends. Does the Bounty Hunter want to craft blasters, personal armor, or other useful types of gear? Does the Bounty Hunter want to gather resources or run missions for his craft? Or does the Bounty Hunter want to forego crafting and sell gathered or mission rewarded resources to other players? The most suitable crew skills for a Bounty Hunter that wants to craft blasters or personal armor are the following:

Crafting:
Armstech – The ability to work with hard metals, alloys, and synthetic materials to craft blasters.
Armormech – The ability to work with hard metals and electronic shielding to construct all types of personal armor.

Gathering:
Scavenging – the art of recovering useful materials and parts from old or damaged technology. Scavenging provides crafting materials for Armstech and Armormech.

IGN: Thanks for your time.