Star Wars: The Old Republic

[keg in kc]

Don't believe there's a dedicated thread, and since they're starting to release information now, I figure it's time for one.

[keg in kc]

Lots and lots and lots of new information this week, as the embargo was finally lifted on a so-called "Jedi Immersion Day" that the media was granted in early November, which included what is to date the most time anybody outside of beta has been given with the game (folks were allowed to play for several hours on Tython).

So we have our first real, official looks at the Knight and Consular, complete with a tiny bit of cutscene video (obviously spoilery, so watch at your own risk):





Also about 5 minutes from Machinima:

[keg in kc]

Tons and tons of links to articles, I'm not going to quote much (or anything) here because there was just so much. The most notable thing to me was the nearly universal excitement from the media types. People have obviously been looking forward to the game, but aside from the fanboys (like me...) most of the reception to demoing at conventions has been lukewarm, at best. But with extended time, people seem to really dig what BioWare is doing, and that's good to see...

Gamespot
IGN
Massively
Videogamer
G4
Torocast (might copy and paste this one below, good read)
MMORPG
Ten Ton Hammer
Eurogamer
GamesRadar
Curse
GameSpy
1up

The torocast article I mentioned above:

From Tython to Coruscant: My six hours with SWTOR

Written by brandeni
Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:28

TOROcast was honored to be selected among the few to attend the Jedi Immersion event at LucasArts in San Fransisco last month. I did my best to cover everything I could, I got to play the game for 6 hours straight, got further than anyone else there, and can finally talk about it! So, lets get to it!

The big question on many people’s mind after every hands on experience they have with the game seems be “This was a great 15 minutes, but this is an MMO, a game that is supposed to take hours. Does it hold up under some serious play time?” I believe that, for me, this event finally has answered that question with a big fat yes!

The first important choice I had to make wasn’t which captain to save or kill, but which of the two Jedi classes I was going to play. Being the only person from TOROcast meant we were only going to get to touch half of what was going on between the Jedi Knight and the Jedi Consular, which were both playable for the first time. Considering I was the first person in the known Galaxy to play any Jedi, as a Jedi Knight at PAX on stage in September (There should be an achievement for that by the way BioWare), I knew that the Jedi Knight class was close enough to how the Sith Warrior plays, and knew a few of its abilities to where I was satisfied with what kind of class it would be. But the Consular was still a bit of a mystery, which is why I ran in and sat down at one the Jedi Consular machines and I never looked back!

Starting out as a Female Twi’lek Consular it was my task to dig into the secrets of the force on Tython, I will avoid spoilers, you can listen to the spoiler section of the special report podcast for that. But let me just say that this was the most epic levels 1-7 I have experience in an MMO. From the get go as the Consular you are dealing with deep stuff, none of this “once upon a time there was a farmer, then 20 levels later he got his leather cloak and a sword!” bullcrap. It was very clear in the time I had that the darkside is really a viable option in this game as a Consular. If you want to find an elusive darkside master and go behind the back of the Jedi Council to train in the dark side of the force I think you can make that happen. You may or may not have to watch someone burn alive in front of you to get there though.

While playing I was really sucked into what was going on with Tython and the relationships between the Jedi, the Twi’lek inhabitants and the Flesh Raiders. All three factions had different motives and reasons for what they were doing, and they all had an effect on each other. It is something you very quickly find yourself in the middle of and it is something that you can affect in very drastic ways. The 1, 2 and 3 keys on your keyboard have never had so much of an impact on the journey of your character, usually they just sit there so you can repeat the same keystrokes over and over again to kill stuff; which is something I don’t think I ever had to do in The Old Republic.

In many MMO’s death only tends to happen when you accidentally aggro another mob while your leveling up. In TOR you have no choice but to take on multiple enemies at a time, so you can’t just sit there with one target, pressing a pattern of keys. You have to adapt and think on your feet, otherwise you will be as good as a pile of steaming bantha poodoo.

Let me highlight a combat scenario that stuck out and you will get a better feel for how important using the right abilities at the right time is in The Old Republic. I remember seeing two Seeker Droids (more info on them here) near an entrance I wanted to go through. I thought to myself “heh.. these guys don’t stand a chance!” pulled out my training blade and charged in. I used “Stasis Field” on the enemy on the right, which lifted him into the air (ala mass effect) and unable to do anything. Then I switched my gaze to the other one who was already blasting away at me. I started using my Telekenetic Throw ability on him as he was putting away his blaster to slow him down while he tried getting to me with his sword (like when the Consular uses it on Lord Malgus in the hope trailer to pin him to the boulders). Before I could do anything else, three more Seeker droids turned off their cloaking devices and suddenly I found myself dealing, not with two targets, but five.

That was the “uh oh, time to spit out the coffee and lift myself off my chair” moment. They surrounded me quickly and as the droid who I was holding back with rocks and debris finally closed in on me, that’s when I decided to use “Force Wave,” which threw all of them away and down to the ground in separate directions. This massive shockwave was enough to weaken them all and even kill the droid who had been enduring the rubble I was tossing at him with Telekenetic Throw. While they were getting off the ground I realized the droid who I had sent floating up in the air earlier was probably about to get back into the mix. I knew that using Project (which is an ability that lifts up and hurls a boulder out of the ground and at a target) does twice as much damage on a target who is in stasis. So I hurled the boulder at him as he floated in the air, doing enough damage to nearly kill him off. From that point on I used my saber to clean up the mess and kept them at bay with my Telekenetic Throw ability when needed.

That encounter was not any form of a special raid encounter, that was just me as a Jedi in the wilderness coming across what you might call “the common mob,” at level five. These kinds of things happened all the time, and I have never been so tense in an MMO at this low of a level. I caught myself saying “phew” several times out loud after barely surviving a difficult moment. I will detail another one of those moments in a bit, but first I need to talk about companions!

Qyzen was the first companion you get as a Consular. I had been encountering him several times on my missions on Tython. He is a Trandoshan with a little bit of a “hokey tradition thing” and bounty hunter thrown into one. My master had great relations with him, despite him being (what some Jedi believe) an outsider. Some events unfolded that freed Qyzen from some obligations relating to his “hokey traditions.” I took him under my wing and got this feeling that I could really go a few ways with this guy, do I prey upon his traditions, and make a mockery out of it to gain a loyal servant? Or do I respect the Trandoshan way and learn something of my own and help him make things right with the “Scorekeeper”?

Since this was the first time anyone was able to use companions and talk about it, let’s go over the mechanics so far. Right now they start with three abilities, which appear in their own separate command bar. It looks like all companions have Attack and follow abilities/commands, as well as a special ability unique to that companion. Qyzen’s special ability was Charge, where he would crouch down while facing his target, ignite his jetpack (which Daniel Erickson upon seeing this noted that it might be a good idea for them to actually add a jetpack to Qyzen..) and hurl himself, fist first towards the target, generating a lot of threat. Basically his ability for me was “hey you go do some damage to this guy and try and pull him off me ASAP!” The way I played my class changed the second I had Qyzen. He could take a lot of hits and could pull aggro off of me, which made him a great tank. So that’s how I used him, I would sick him on a group of baddies and then swoop in out of no where to save the day, kind of like that chick in the Hope trailer.

At this point I was well on my way to constructing my lightsaber, I skipped all kinds of side quests just to focus on my main questline, to see how far I could get. A circle of Bioware and LucasArts staff started to surround my desk, and the pressure was on. There was one last obstacle in my way before arriving at the forge, a big Flesh Raider boss. He was no push over, and the odds were stacked against me. It was me, my companion and him. I sent my companion in for the first strike and though he was temporarily distracted by that, it didn’t take long for aggro to transfer over to me. I had to walk a tight line of keeping him at bay and keeping him from killing my companion who was trailing behind him doing damage as I slowed him down with Telekenetic Throw. It was not an easy fight, and it really proved to me that they can make the one on one battles feel heroic too. At one point I charged towards him and used my “Force Wave” ability in the hopes of pushing him back and down to the ground, but at the same time he stomped on the ground! The result was my companion, him, and I, all hurling back in opposite directions just like Obi-Wan and Anakin in their duel on Mustafar. I eventually took him out, but not before getting down to around five percent health even after using a stim pack during the fight.

The next moment which really stood out to me was when I finally constructed my lightsaber. I was the only one there to get to that point on this day so it was a great feeling. The staff around me was almost a little bit more excited than I was. I have to say I have never witnessed a group of people so excited about the game they are creating than the BioWare Austin team. Through the whole day they were so giddy to have us play the game and find cool new surprises. If this game has kept them going for so long, I can’t imagine what it will do to the common folk like us.

After constructing my lightsaber it was all down hill from there before I was in front of the Jedi Council, talking to Satele Shan and on my way to Coruscant! I took a transport from the Jedi Temple to a mid-point space station, from there I caught another shuttle straight down to Coruscant. I should note that, it is on this space station before Coruscant that you can participate in the first Republic Flashpoint, which we all got to play later in the evening. I will cover that part of the event in more detail tomorrow.

I arrived on Coruscant as a level 7, which is about three levels lower than expected for Coruscant, but again I skipped every single side quest. The very first thing I did, since I was the first person to get to ride on a speeder bike from the press back at E3, was try to continue that legacy by hopping onto a Taxi! I took the Taxi from a station located in front of the Senate Building. From there I went down into the propaganda central of Coruscant, where the Justicars held power (there were several other locations I could have gone to instead). This was a “They are on to something here” moment, because the Taxi ride into that part of Coruscant gave me similar feelings I had during the first moments of Half Life 2 and Bioshock, seeing all the propaganda posters on the wall in your way in really sets the tone, it was only missing some musical ques and it would have been dead on. It was here that I dared to get through the first blockade into the heart of the Justicar’s territory. This was a bad mistake, I finally died the first time here, and even after getting some assistance and being pumped up to level thirteen to be more on an even playing field with them, they still took me out. Rest assured the next time I come across them, they will not be so lucky.

Time was running out on our big play session, so I decided to make the most of it... by flying back to the Senate Building and just playing around. It was revealed to me by Daniel Erickson, that early on they made the choice to build everything in real scale. This means no walking into a small shack where the inside of it is larger than could actually fit into that building and vise versa. It was inside the massive Senate building that I danced ontop of a senator (who shares the same race as Yoda), pranced around the hallways, and enjoyed an overall sense of awe at the amazing and beautiful interior hall ways and rooms. Everything really felt hand crafted, and unique inside. I can not emphasis just how massive this building was, and the overwhelming sense of “This is what being able to actually go into an entire building in a game feels like, without being pinned down and locked off to one tiny room” was great. You will just have to see and feel it for yourself. After strolling by some temporary PvP vendors, my time was coming to an end. There I was, looking off the side of the massive structure I was standing on, watching the cars fly around. I knew what had to be done. “Times up!” was heard, and there was no going back... my life as a Jedi Consular was over for the day. I made the faithful leap down to my characters death off of the cliff falling hundreds of stories, and to the bottom of Coruscant.

So whats the take away in all of this? I was immersed and the game was great. In my short (but long) time with the game my character had already grown on me, going into this the class I least wanted to play in The Old Republic was the Consular. Now here I am in love with the class, and I think that speaks volumes towards the real importance of story and the classic Bioware way. I was someone playing a female character, which I never do, playing an alien race, which I never do, and as a class I wasn’t interested in, again which I never do. Despite all of that I was blown away and didn’t want to let go. We still have a lot to learn about The Old Republic, especially in the “end game” department, but one thing I think we can all rest easy about is going to be the journey to that point. Finally an MMO where the fun starts at level 1 and not 60.

[keg in kc]

Totally missed this vid on vacation. Nice trooper feature from last friday:

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

So much WIN in this game.

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New planet was announced today, and I think it's a new Bioware creation: Quesh.

Toxic Treasure

Environmental poisons have made Quesh one of the most dangerous and valuable planets in the galaxy, and the grounds for a savage battle between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Though the chemicals on Quesh are lethal to most life forms, they can also be used to create some of the most potent adrenals in the galaxy… and untold wealth for whoever controls the ingredients.

Initially discovered by the Republic during the Great War, Quesh was abandoned after scientists detected the poisonous content of its atmosphere. It wasn’t until years later that a young chemist rummaging through old data recognized the potential for the chemical compounds on Quesh—they are incredibly close to venenit shadaaga (Hutt Venom), a primary ingredient in high-grade adrenals for healing, reflexes, and concentration.

If the Republic could find a way to process the delicate chemicals, it would provide a major source of new income at a critical time in the war effort. Ultimately though, Republic engineers were unable to master the techniques to synthesize the adrenals. They were forced to seek help from some unlikely allies– the Hutts. Three families from the Hutt Cartel were quietly convinced to step around their neutrality treaty with the Empire in return for a cut of adrenal profits that not even a Hutt could refuse. The Cartel, so long as they received their share, looked the other way.

Within a decade, the Republic was fully invested in Quesh. Despite efforts to keep Quesh a guarded secret, miner and worker gossip slowly crept out. It wasn’t long before the Empire heard about this vast source of chemical wealth - and the treaty-breaking Hutts. The Cartel was forced to declare the Republic-aligned Hutts traitors, and assist the Empire as it launched a full-scale attack on Quesh, seeking to destroy Republic efforts and claim the resource for its own.

Now, the Republic struggles to defend its investment from the Empire and their unhappy Hutt Cartel allies.

That makes 17 planets so far.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Sounds like a good planet for Cassel's toxic ass.

[keg in kc]

Star Wars: The Old Republic Updated Q&A - Flashpoints...The Old Republic's Answer to Dungeons?

By Staff, GameSpotPosted Jan 27, 2011 5:53 pm PT

World designer Jesse Sky gets into the nuts and bolts of flashpoints, the heavy-duty cooperative adventures planned for The Old Republic.

The Old Republic is one of the most highly anticipated games this year, possibly because it's a massively multiplayer game that takes place in the Star Wars universe first explored in BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic. The game will let you play as a Jedi, a Sith, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, or one of many other types of characters, and explore the conflict between the Republic and the Sith Empire. Over the course of your travels, you will most likely find yourself exploring a flashpoint--the game's cooperative adventures that are perhaps analogous to the dungeons you may have explored in other games. But different. The first flashpoint to be revealed is Taral V, an adventure area in Republic territory. World designer Jesse Sky discusses this new area and how flashpoints will work in general.



GameSpot: Give us an overview of the Taral V flashpoint. What's the purpose of this area in the game's story, and how will successfully conquering it change the outcome of a character's adventures?

Jesse Sky: The emperor is holding a powerful Jedi captive in his personal prison--a massive space station at the heart of the Maelstrom Nebula. Only a Gree computer is capable of navigating the treacherous cosmic storms that surround the prison. Fortunately, the Republic has learned that the Empire guards just such a device on the remote jungle world of Taral V.

Your mission is to infiltrate the hidden Imperial fortress on Taral V and recover this computer. Success will mean that the Republic fleet can launch an assault on the prison where you can, perhaps, rescue the Jedi prisoner.

GS: Without spoiling anything, can you give us a quick run-through of what it will be like to try to conquer this flashpoint? What kinds of enemies will players be up against? What kinds of player skills and tactics will be important? How many hours is the flashpoint intended to take?

JS: You and your friends will form a covert strike team and land a shuttle in the jungle beyond the walls of the fortress. You'll face vicious beasts, battle an entire legion of Imperial soldiers, and confront the ruthless Sith who oversee operations on the planet. The fortress on Taral V doubles as a research facility, so you should come prepared to deal with some advanced weapons technology.

Taral V can be played in roughly 90 minutes, which is about the average length for a flashpoint. A completionist play-through would probably take more than two hours. If you have any stealthy friends, you might find them particularly useful on this mission.

GS: How does Taral V fit into The Old Republic in a larger sense? Approximately what level should characters be when they try to tackle it? Will it require large groups of players to conquer?

JS: Taral V is intended for players at level 32 or above, and it's balanced for a full group of four players.

GS: Let's talk about flashpoints in general. How many are intended to be in the game at launch? How will the game guide players toward them, and how important will they be to a player's overall experience? For instance, we understand that player-versus-player (PVP) battles are intended to let players play them continuously, gaining all their levels and loot through them--can we say the same for flashpoints?

JS: I won't get into our launch numbers, but flashpoints are a core part of the game experience and will challenge you from a relatively early level all the way to endgame. You could spend a large chunk of your time playing them, for sure, and there are plenty of incentives to do so.

GS: In many massively multiplayer games with different types of content, you often see certain players gravitating toward one specific way to play over others--some people are crafters, others only want to do quests, and some people only want PVP. Is there a specific kind of player that you're targeting for flashpoints?

JS: Flashpoints are designed to be enjoyed by everyone, but they will hold the most appeal for players who like cooperative gameplay. I would also say we're sympathetic to players who are a little bored with the "traditional" dungeon experience. My team loves playing dungeons, but we want flashpoints to be an evolutionary step toward something more engaging. My hope is that even players who traditionally solo will be attracted to them and seek out groups.

On a personal level, I'm targeting my friends. I ran a Star Wars pen-and-paper campaign in college, so building cooperative, story-driven missions in this universe is very exciting to me. It's like sitting behind the game master screen again, except I'm joined by a host of talented people, and we have powerful tools at our disposal.

GS: While flashpoints are clearly intended to be challenging experiences, once you've completed one, are you finished with it forever? What incentives are planned to get players to run a certain flashpoint multiple times? Alternate difficulty levels? Randomized loot? Some kind of points system that earns you prestige for successfully completing these areas?

JS: Flashpoints are repeatable by design, and we strive to include elements that keep them fresh for multiple play-throughs. The gameplay focus in a flashpoint is very tight, which contrasts a bit with adventuring in the open world, but it lets us empower players in some really interesting ways. For example, you might explore the area and discover a secret that changes the mechanics of a boss fight. Or you might make a story decision that alters the course of the gameplay.

Naturally, you'll find some of the best equipment in flashpoints. There will be other reward structures in place as well, but our main focus is making them fun. Fun is my favorite incentive.

GS: Could you give us a general update on the game's development? Which aspects of the game is the team focusing on?

JS: Development is going very well, and we're all happy to be heading into our home stretch. We've been receiving some incredibly positive feedback from our ongoing game testing program, which has let us better balance combat, item drops, and quest flow, plus plenty more. It's been a huge morale booster to get feedback from real players that we can use to improve the game. As for my team, we're still hard at work building more flashpoints. The whole studio is very busy.

GS: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add about flashpoints, or the game in general?

JS: Many of us play the game in our free time for as many hours as we work on it during the week. It's very exciting. I have a difficult time pulling myself away to play other online games lately, and that speaks volumes.

GS: Thank you.

[keg in kc]

Four more flashpoints were announced today:

The Esseles (Early Game, Republic)

When a Republic transport secretly carrying a high-profile passenger is attacked by Imperials, your team must defend the ship and eventually must decide the passenger’s fate.


The Black Talon (Early Game, Empire)

The captain of an Imperial transport refuses official orders to intercept a Republic transport, and your team must seize control of the transport and carry out the mission. Will you kill or spare the captain?


Taral V (Mid Game, Republic)

Imperials are holding a Jedi prisoner who is critical to the Republic war effort. Your team must travel deep into enemy territory to recover the key to liberating this Republic hero.


Boarding Party (Mid Game, Empire)

When a high-level Republic prisoner escapes from an Imperial prison, your team must track down the target and prevent an audacious attack to destroy the Sith Empire.


Directive 7 (End Game, Both)

Mutinous droids on a remote moon develop a technology that could lead to massive destruction for both the Republic and the Empire. Your team must shut down the rebellion before it’s too late.

[keg in kc]

More on flashpoints this week:

Building Flashpoints

Introduction

Hi, my name is Jesse Sky, and I'm a World Designer for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. My team builds Flashpoints. And in our spare time? We build more Flashpoints. Our job is to test the mettle of you would-be heroes. We work alongside some of the best creative talent in the galaxy to deliver unparalleled multiplayer story experiences.

What is a Flashpoint?

A Flashpoint is a galactic crisis, something so threatening that even the most stalwart heroes must bring allies. The Death Star was a Flashpoint. Luke and Obi-wan spent a few minutes LFG in the Mos Eisley Cantina where they enlisted the aid of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Together, they infiltrated a moon-sized battle station to rescue Princess Leia. Things didn't go quite as they expected; difficult choices were made along the way. That's a Flashpoint in a nutshell.

In game terms, a Flashpoint is a challenging, cooperative mission that takes place entirely within an instance, which only your group can enter. While adventuring, you’ll be alerted to a crisis developing somewhere in the galaxy. That’s when you know it’s time to contact some friends and buckle up for an epic battle.

Designing a Flashpoint

Every Flashpoint starts with an idea – usually something along the lines of “What if...?” or “Wouldn’t it be cool if...?” Our writers take this idea and run it through a grueling process of peer review and painstaking revision until they’ve shaped it into something formidable. When it’s complete, they present us with a document that outlines the essentials of the story and setting. Once we’re all on the same page, they start writing the dialogue, and we start planning the mission.

Planning usually starts on a dry-erase board. Let’s say this Flashpoint takes place on a space station. Well, what kind of space station is it? How do you get aboard? Can we divide it into sections? What can we do to make each section unique and interesting? Is there room for a sandcrawler? We experiment with a lot of different layouts, but we always try to keep the player moving forward.

A key part of planning is building action around the narrative. The mission can usually be broken down into sequences of connected events – conversations, boss battles, and other objectives. To get the player from one objective to the next, we try to infuse each section with as much action as the story allows. That means enemy movement, changes in the environment, and explosions. Lots of explosions.

Think of the Death Star – Luke and his friends didn’t wander around aimlessly shooting Imperials. They had a plan: rescue the princess, deactivate the tractor beam, and escape in the Millennium Falcon. Of course, things didn’t go quite as planned. They had to deal with a legion of Stormtroopers and a dianoga in the garbage compactor. Before they could escape, Obi-Wan was killed in a confrontation with Vader. Maybe next time you won’t split the party, Kenobi.

Of course, not every mission is linear. Instancing buys us a lot of flexibility to change the course of your experience based on decisions you make. You may find that moral choices come with more consequences than an alignment shift. You may also find that completing bonus objectives opens secret doors for you – or new avenues to victory.

Building a Flashpoint

Once we’ve decided on the structure of the mission, we start building. At this point, we become concerned with your visual experience. It would be a shame if the whole mission took place in a series of identical hallways, right? We strive for a lot of visual diversity in the environments. For example, the Taral V Flashpoint takes you through a jungle, an exterior outpost, and then deep into an Imperial research facility.

We build set pieces for both boss battles and multiplayer conversations. As much as possible, we try to move you between large, open spaces and smaller, claustrophobic spaces. Every now and then we throw in something crazy. We know we’ve done our job right when the artists react with a mixture of enthusiasm and annoyance.

Combat is of course a key part of what makes Flashpoints exciting. Naturally we include a number of challenging bosses, but we also work hard to make the spaces between them interesting. We try to avoid the design pitfall of filling areas with ‘yard trash.’ Fighting through legions of enemies is part of what makes the cooperative gameplay feel heroic, but we find it helps if your enemies do more than just stand around waiting to be attacked.

The real challenge of building a Flashpoint is balancing momentum with storytelling. We want you to feel like you are the heroes in a Star Wars action sequence, but we also want to give you opportunities to roleplay with your friends. The combat is made meaningful because we place it in the context of an epic struggle with cinematic storytelling. At the heart of every Flashpoint is a conflict that you have some personal stake in. We never want you to lose sight of that.

Combat in Flashpoints

For more of an insight into combat in Flashpoints, I asked Georg Zoeller, our Lead Combat Designer for a few more details. Here’s Georg:

The combat experience in Flashpoints can differ radically from combat in the open world. We aim to tightly integrate the story with the types of enemies the Flashpoint calls for, their AI behavior and their abilities, creating unique scenarios seen nowhere else in the game.

For example, when defending a Republic vessel from being boarded by Imperial forces as part of the Esseles Flashpoint in the early game, players will have to deal with breach pods full of commando forces cutting through the hull while trying to reach the bridge – all while the ship is being rocked by explosions from heavy laser fire. Here, we’re trying to create the unpredictable sense of excitement you get when playing a game like the original Star Wars™: Knights of the Old Republic™.

Flashpoints also feature some of the toughest combat challenges in the game. Flashpoints in The Old Republic will require a full group of players to succeed.

Numbers alone won’t be enough either - with a cast of adversaries among the most memorable and powerful in the game and scenarios that often leave the party with impossible choices, players are expected to show superior coordination and skill in order to overcome the challenges ahead.

The combat team is hard at work to ensure that each of the pivotal Flashpoint battles provides its own set of challenges to a group of experienced players, and we certainly hope you enjoy them.

What sets Flashpoints apart?

If you're familiar with other massively-multiplayer games, you've probably run a ‘dungeon’ or two. Ever found yourself wondering, “What am I doing here?” or “Why the blazes am I fighting these green guys?” Has it ever felt like a glorified slot machine? Is your screen filled with so many numbers that you forget you’re supposed to be having fun? Our goal is to make sure that never happens.

We also have to contend with your incredible class story. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, you come to closely identify with your character. You should never feel like a cog in a loot-generation machine – you’re a champion of the Sith or a hero of the Republic. You’ve got a number of very urgent missions, and we want Flashpoints to be worthy of your time and attention.

At the end of a Flashpoint, you’ll have more than just shiny new items – you’ll have developed your character. You’ll have the satisfaction of righting wrongs (or wronging rights). And to top it off, you’ll have learned something about your friends (“You seem more evil today. Are you evil?”).

I played the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic alongside my roommate in college. We tried to imagine how cool it would be to join forces and take on greater challenges together. I never dreamed it would actually happen, much less that I’d be working on it. It’s called a Flashpoint, and it’s gonna be great.

Jesse Sky
World Designer

[Huffmeister]

Thanks for all the updates, Keg. Any word on when it will be released?

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Huffmeister

Thanks for all the updates, Keg. Any word on when it will be released?

Not yet. Although it's definitely going to be this year according the EA's latest earnings conference call. It will be out in calendar year 2011, but it'll be fiscal 2012. Which means it could be anytime between April and December.

(Current speculation is still May, although there was a bogus September report a week or so ago).

I have yet to meet somebody in beta, so I don't have any idea what the current state of the game is. Lots of positive rumors, however.

[keg in kc]

Kind of cool graphics comparison video i just stumbled across:

[keg in kc]

New developer blog out today, this one has some obviously cherry-picked but still encouraging comments from beta testers, which I'll bold for folks who don't want to read the whole thing:

Living the Life of a Live Producer

Hey everybody! My name is Blaine Christine and I’m proud to say that I am the Live Producer on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. I’ve been on the BioWare team for three and a half years now and I’m happy to report that all of the mental images you have of us working at a world class RPG development studio are true. Yes, we have rivers of chocolate running down the hallway, yes, a live animatronic ogre lives in the basement and of course, yes, we have LARPing parties from 5PM to midnight every weeknight. (I usually dress up as Princess Amidala and practice my diplomacy skills on Daniel Erickson, who pulls off a very convincing Gungan ambassador.)

Okay – at least two of those things are not really true. So what the heck does the "Live Producer" really do on a day-to-day basis?

As Live Producer, I work with the development team to ensure that anything released to our fans (read – you!) meets the quality standards that are so important to any BioWare product. That means any time a new build of the game makes it into our Game Testing Program, I need to ensure that any content or features that we specifically want to have tested meet the designers’ needs and don’t contain any major bugs. When that build is deployed for people to play, I need to ensure the design group is getting the feedback they need from Game Testing (AKA, real players) to balance and iterate on the game itself.

This probably raises a few questions for you, so let me attempt to answer a few of the things on your mind right now. First of all, yes, we officially started external Game Testing a while ago, as some of you are able to confirm by your participation. (Yes, you are allowed to say that you have been in testing, but NOTHING ELSE. I will find you…!) We have received valuable and actionable feedback from the players that have participated thus far. Much of this feedback has already been incorporated into the game and we’re going to continue testing to validate the changes that have been made.

What sort of feedback, you say? Rather than bore you with details of the bugs that were found and the fixes that were made, we guessed that you’d rather hear about what The Old Republic is like to play, right? So we asked our Game Testers to share a few of their thoughts with you. Please note, their names have been changed to protect their NDA compliance!

“The questing experience in TOR was amazing! The voiceovers and cinematics actually make me wonder how I ever survived the 'grind' without them.” – GP

“As one of those people who didn't really care about story in an MMO, after playing TOR I can't imagine playing another MMO unless it has as much focus on story as TOR does.” - PA

“I've been waiting years and years and years for an MMORPG experience like this. The combat is incredible and never gets old. The grind is gone. I am so happy the grind is gone (so, so very happy). The stories are fantastic, well written, well acted, well animated, incredibly immersive, and the inclusion of choice takes it into territory that other MMOs have only dreamed of. Lastly, this game makes you feel like a bad***. The entire time. And I love that.” – JA

“I suppose my only major complaint was that when I jumped into the sarlaac's belly on Tatooine, I did not find a new definition of pain and suffering from being slowly digested over a thousand years. It is still early though. I'm sure they will fix that before release.” - CL

“This is the Jedi game to end all Jedi games. If you're a gamer and you don't throw your hands up in triumph when you get your first lightsaber, you're not really alive. This game is, bar none, the best interactive Star Wars experience ever.” – VI

As you can see from the feedback, we’ve been encouraged by the widespread affirmation of our goal to bring BioWare storytelling to the MMO genre. We’ve also been running periodic focus testing groups, and the results have been exactly the same. We love to see consistency like this in testing because it allows the development team to have a clear understanding of the areas for improvement while validating the core principles that we’ve used to construct the foundation for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Beyond Game Testing, I work with the rest of the Live Services group to make sure that we have the proper team and technology in place to ensure a successful launch. I’m sure you are all aware how important the launch period is for an MMO, but beyond the obvious, we are committed to delivering a BioWare quality level of service and support. MMOs have the added layer of 24/7 service and we want to make sure we knock that aspect out of the park. Our customers are extremely important to us – you guys are the ones who made BioWare what it is today. Thank you!

I know you’re all extremely excited to get your hands on the game. All I can suggest is to make sure you’re signed up for testing at swtor.com/tester. As we get closer to launch, the number of players invited to our tests will continue to increase - so if you haven’t made it in yet, don’t lose hope!

Well, that’s about it. I’ve been in the industry for exactly 11 years now and I truly love my job. It’s an honor to work with the caliber of folks on our team and despite the fact that we Producers don’t have many real talents other than the “Gift of Gab”, it’s nice to know that intelligent and creative folks are still willing to put up with us when they’re forced to!

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in Game Testing!

Blaine Christine
Live Producer

[joesomebody]

Definitely want to play this one. Hoping they keep the minimum requirements realistic for the average computer. I hear that is why they chose a cartoonish style for the game, to keep the min reqs lower.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by joesomebody

Definitely want to play this one. Hoping they keep the minimum requirements realistic for the average computer. I hear that is why they chose a cartoonish style for the game, to keep the min reqs lower.

That's definitely part of it. That's one of the reasons wow has had such a long, prolific life, in MMO terms (others have lasted longer, but not with that popularity...).

Although I'm still hoping I have enough work this year to allow me to do a little upgrading. Although there's so many new games to play it'll eat into my budget.