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]

Corellia is official. And very interesting:

Despite their appreciation for a lax legal system, Corellians are known to be staunchly loyal to the Republic. This is why recent rumors of Imperial influence in the local government went largely ignored until now. Nothing has been confirmed by reliable sources, but official lines of communication between Corellia and the Republic have recently been suddenly and mysteriously shut down.

Holo-video and images from Corellia show widespread destruction in Coronet city, and though an act of terrorism has not been ruled out, some fear the situation may be more serious. However dire circumstances are, though, the rugged and resilient spirit of the Corellian people is sure to have survived, and rest-assured, the Republic will stop at nothing to protect this planet that is so critical to the Republic’s infrastructure and its culture.

Some very cool screenshots, as well: http://swtor.com/media/screens

And video:

[Saulbadguy]

Wow - the beta for Final Fantasy XIV is absolute, complete dogshit.

Even if it wasn't buggy as hell, it's not fun.

I'm all in for Star Wars: ToR

[keg in kc]

I've been reading through a ton of reviews from people who played the 15 minute demo at PAX and I have yet to come across anything negative to any serious degree. It seems to have been universally loved. A lot of people say they were wowed by the dialogue, and that it's been difficult for them to go back to playing their regular MMO(s) with the text-boxes. A few of the people who mention this were players who say they had no interest in story to begin with but that the cinematics and voiceacting they experienced were so good that now they are. I've seen very few negative comments about gameplay or class play, either, mostly things along the lines of "smuggler seemed to start slow compared to imperial agent or bounty hunter, but it looks like a class that gets amazing later on looking at the skill tree". Apparently combat is as fast-paced (and fun) as advertised and so far I haven't seen a single complaint about the lack of an auto-attack.

Speaking of smuggler, hot new video:

[keg in kc]

New developer dispatch, and this one is a dooooozy. Jedi!

I'm putting it in a spoiler window so it won't autoplay whenever somebody clicks on the thread...

Spoiler!

Man, I think this is going to change my plan for the game. Initial playthrough as a Knight, then Main play as a Consular. Because if knowing more of the story might make me change decisions, I want the Consular to be the toon that gets it right.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

So many glorious options...

[keg in kc]

[keg in kc]

Man, I love this shot. It really gives a sense of scale to the ship.

[keg in kc]

Oooh, like this one, too:

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Oooh, like this one, too:

I'm grateful that I will have graduated IT classes before this game comes out, or there could be a serious conflict of time/interest otherwise.

[keg in kc]

There's a really interesting developer blog out today for their Friday Feature regarding advanced classes. Each class will have access to two advanced classes, which each have two unique subclasses, and you'll be able to dedicate your points to a third general subset. I've never encountered an MMO advancement setup anywhere close to this intricate. Basically each class can be played four completely different ways using four completely different sets of skills (in other games you can build your character to do things differently, say tank or DPS, but your skillset doesn't actually change...). And you can hybridize within an advanced class.

I'm not going to quote the whole thing here except the bits about how it works for smuggler. It's worth taking the time to read the entire blog: http://www.swtor.com/news/blog/20101001

Example: The Smuggler

Han Solo, Lando, Talon Karrde… There are plenty of different Smuggler personalities to be found in the Star Wars universe to choose from and this is reflected in the versatility of their available Advanced Classes:
The Scoundrel

The Scoundrel is not afraid of getting his hands dirty, as the ‘Scrapper’ skill-set has an off-hand Scatter Gun, a number of powerful (but not necessarily fair) melee moves and access to a Stealth Field Generator with various possible upgrades for a dramatic entrance … or exit.

The ‘Sawbones’ skill-set on the other hand offers ways to dramatically improve the Smuggler’s healing and support-related abilities, including access to the powerful Emergency Medpack.

And, if all else fails, the Scoundrel seems to have the uncanny ability to Shoot First, a very useful skill to have for sure.
The Gunslinger

Gunslingers are trained in a broad array of blaster-oriented abilities against both single and multiple targets and excel at dealing large amounts of damage from a safe distance. Their access to Illegal Weapon Mods may well give them the edge over an opponent insisting on a fair fight.

Their ‘Sharpshooter’ skill-set includes many abilities geared at improving their personal damage, improving the performance of their groups, and gaining additional benefits from cover.

Whether lobbing Shrapnel Bombs on nearby enemies or dealing increased damage for enemies Shot In The Back, the ‘Dirty Fighting’ skill-set is all about getting an edge over people who prefer a straight fight and helps to ensure that the Gunslinger delivers sustained damage to more than just one opponent.

The Shared Skill Set

Shared by both Advanced Classes, the ‘Luck’ skill-set focuses on improving many of the Smuggler’s base class abilities such as increasing energy regeneration in Cover or delivering some Very Critical Hits when using Dirty Kick.

As you can see from the small set of skills mentioned above, players will be able to customize their personal Smuggler experience dramatically by distributing skill points across the three available skill-sets, defining their character’s role as Smuggler as they see fit: Within the Scoundrel Advanced Class, a player preferring the traditional MMO healer role may spend the majority of their skill points training in the Sawbones skill-set with additional improvements to their core abilities from the Luck skill tree, or they could decide that a ‘Stealth Healer’ role with points distributed between the Scrapper and Sawbones trees might be the role they want to play in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

[Pants]

If they get the gear and stat min/maxing right, this game will be the WoW killer everyone has been trying to make.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

There's a really interesting developer blog out today for their Friday Feature regarding advanced classes. Each class will have access to two advanced classes, which each have two unique subclasses, and you'll be able to dedicate your points to a third general subset. I've never encountered an MMO advancement setup anywhere close to this intricate. Basically each class can be played four completely different ways using four completely different sets of skills (in other games you can build your character to do things differently, say tank or DPS, but your skillset doesn't actually change...). And you can hybridize within an advanced class.

I'm not going to quote the whole thing here except the bits about how it works for smuggler. It's worth taking the time to read the entire blog: http://www.swtor.com/news/blog/20101001

So if you think of it in roles (I use D&D 4e roles, but WoW has same concept: striker, defender, leader, controller), it appears that each class is capable of playing different roles through these specializations. That's pretty cool.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

So if you think of it in roles (I use D&D 4e roles, but WoW has same concept: striker, defender, leader, controller), it appears that each class is capable of playing different roles through these specializations. That's pretty cool.

WoW was OK as far as specializations went (at least back when I played it years ago) but to be in a serious guild and do serious raiding, most classes had to go down a very specific talent path. Of course DPS classes like Mages and Rogues had a lot more freedom.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

WoW was OK as far as specializations went (at least back when I played it years ago) but to be in a serious guild and do serious raiding, most classes had to go down a very specific talent path. Of course DPS classes like Mages and Rogues had a lot more freedom.

Yeah, that's the problem with lots of options and diversity: balance. Once one build is obviously superior to the others, then you end up with everyone just cloning (see what I did there?) that build.

Back when I played Muds, you saw this all the time with open class, skill-based muds. They let you create unrestricted builds from a skill list. This is supposed to lead to limitless options and lots of diversity in characters. What it always ended up leading to was everyone creating the same few builds that were optimized.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

WoW was OK as far as specializations went (at least back when I played it years ago) but to be in a serious guild and do serious raiding, most classes had to go down a very specific talent path. Of course DPS classes like Mages and Rogues had a lot more freedom.

And as I mentioned, even if your specialization role would change, your actual skillset really didn't. At least that's how I remember it being from four years ago (the last time I played). I know in LotRO my Lore Master has the same basic skills whether he's specced for crowd control, DPS or solo/pet and that system has a lot more variety than I remember from WoW. In Star Wars galaxies you would get a few bonus skills based on your spec, but nothing like this.

The thing that isn't mentioned much in all this is the companions. It should be feasible to group with 4 of anything in the Old Republic, since your companions will be able to fill roles. So if you have, say, four smugglers on, you've got the potential for dps and healing right there, if you want tanking, you bring along Bowadar or the Jedi NPC on the ship that looks like a JK.

How easy is it going to be to find groups without the traditional trinity limitations that every prior MMO has. You won't necessarily ever have to wait for a healer or a tank or anything else.