Video Games Star Wars: The Old Republic [Archive]

keg in kc

06-02-2009, 09:00 AM

New Q&A:Star Wars: The Old Republic Exclusive Q&A - The Smuggler Profession and E3 2009 (http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6210545/star-wars-the-old-republic-exclusive-qanda-the-smuggler-profession-and-e3-2009?tag=topslot;thumb;1)

News by Staff, GameSpot
Jun 1, 2009 2:00 pm PT

We get the exclusive details on the smuggler profession, as well as an E3 update for this upcoming massively multiplayer online game based in the Star Wars universe.

While massively multiplayer online games started off being little more than virtual drudgery--requiring you to fight the same monsters over and over again until your character got strong enough to fight the next level of monsters--Star Wars: The Old Republic is looking to go in an entirely new direction. The game will be more or less entirely story-driven, and your story experience will be based on your selection of character class, as well as the choices you make along the way. We have the exclusive first details on the smuggler profession, as well as what's planned for the game at E3, thanks to some inside information from senior content producer Dallas Dickinson, principal lead writer Daniel Erickson, and lead systems designer Damion Schubert.

GS: We can't wait to see The Old Republic at this year's E3. Give us a rundown of what's planned for the show for this massively multiplayer online game.

Dallas Dickinson:We are showing a lot of "MMO Firsts" at E3, the biggest of which is the fact that we are the first-ever fully voiced MMO (both players and non-player characters have full voice throughout the game). This is one of the largest voice-over projects in the history of games--we're taking storytelling in MMOs to the next level, with real cinematic conversation. We're also giving the first in-game look at a couple of classes (the bounty hunter and the smuggler) and a few planets (Hutta and Ord Mantell). The smuggler class utilizes a dynamic cover system in combat, which is also a first for the MMO space. Finally, we're going to show one of our "flashpoints" to demonstrate the amount of real-player choice that we offer in The Old Republic.

GS: We're pleased to be able to reveal the smuggler class in this E3 story. Give us an overview of this profession.

DD:The smuggler class is meant to evoke the Han Solo fantasy. The story, appearance, character, and the way the class plays in combat are all based on Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and other great smugglers of the Star Wars universe. As a smuggler, you'll need to get by on quick thinking, charm, luck, and your ability to outsmart others. Instead of being a heavily armed tough guy (like the trooper), the smuggler has to be one step ahead of his opponents in combat, which is why we have implemented a "cover" system for the class. To succeed, the smuggler has to stun opponents, shoot from around corners, and, yes, shoot first.

GS: Despite the politically charged world of The Old Republic, it sounds like smugglers don't usually care to get involved in politics, though they'll prefer to side with the Republic when push comes to shove. What does this mean for the smuggler class in practice?

Daniel Erickson: The smuggler is his own man, going where his instincts lead and making alliances as he sees fit. When playing a smuggler, you can avoid getting involved in the war longer than any other class, but eventually war touches everyone. Even then, the smuggler chooses how he steps into the galactic conflict and whether he does so for patriotism or simple profiteering.

GS: We understand that the smuggler's usual daily business doesn't involve throwing lightsabers so much as sneaking contraband from point A to point B. Can you give us some examples of the kind of missions your average smuggler will be busy with in The Old Republic?

DE: Smugglers are after one thing: credits. Whether it's contraband, people, lost treasures, or some exotic snarling beast from the far side of the galaxy; if it's worth credits and you can get it on a starship, the smuggler is interested.

GS: Given that smugglers are most concerned with wealth, what will successful smugglers do with all the piles of credits they bring in from their illicit operations?

DE: Fine clothes, new weapons, upgrades that makes it easier to get even more credits. It's all up to the player. Credits are for spending--after all, a smuggler is chasing the good life, not saving for retirement.

GS: We understand that one of the most important skills for a smuggler will be...personal charm? How does this work in practice?

DE: The "social character" has always been a huge role in BioWare games, and the smuggler gives us a chance to have the perfect protagonist for it. For boys who want to chat up the princess while the other nobles look on aghast, for girls who want to bat their eyelashes at their rivals just before shooting them in the knee then laugh [at how gullible he was], for everyone that feels as much triumph from a good con job as a shoot-out and loves being the scoundrel, the smuggler is a dream come true. Of course, The Old Republic is about choices, and if you want to spec your smuggler out to be a scruffy-looking nerfherder with a gun, a bad attitude, and a propensity to shoot first and ask questions later, that route is always there. Just don't expect that "flirt" line you just picked to work nearly as well.

GS: We also understand that this profession will be highly skilled at reconnaissance. What are some of the scouting skills and abilities that smugglers will have at their disposal?

Damion Schubert: In the battlefield, the smuggler's skills allow him to find cover spots overlooked by others. The smuggler is also very good at moving around unseen and can use the element of surprise to deadly effects.

GS: We also understand that smugglers generally don't travel the galaxy wearing heavy Stormtrooper-like armor and tend to rely on their fast reflexes, rather than on heavy weapons. What kind of gear will the average smuggler carry when the going gets rough?

DS: When it comes to weaponry, the smugglers know that hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at their side. Now, in terms of armor, smugglers like to stay lightly equipped--as much to complement their combat techniques as to not cramp their style. You see, many smugglers are real charmers and like a little class with their appearance--think Lando in Cloud City. In fact, when discussing gear, we affectionately refer to one of the high-end smuggler player-versus-player reward sets as the "Bling" outfit.

GS: When the time comes to fight, how will the smuggler do battle? Any chance of an "Always Shoots First" skill, for instance?

DS: Not having the force powers of a Jedi or the heavy weaponry of troopers, the smuggler must often rely on underhanded battle techniques. The smuggler is definitely not above shooting his enemies first, shooting them in the back, or shooting them from behind heavy cover. He's also a bit of an escape artist; when the odds aren't in his favor, the smuggler has the tools to get away and reestablish more favorable terms of combat.

GS: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to add about the smuggler, or about Star Wars: The Old Republic?

DE: From a story perspective, the smuggler is all about crazy adventures, colorful characters, whirlwind romances, and living life by the seat of your pants. For everyone who ever wanted to live the Han Solo lifestyle, this is their class.

Hammock Parties

06-02-2009, 09:42 AM

If they do bounty hunters right I may have to play it.

Bounty hunting in SWG sucked.

Cannibal

06-02-2009, 09:47 AM

I seriously had fun in Galaxies. For awhile.

I'm of the belief that every MMO is only fun for awhile before getting repetitive.

I played WoW for quite a while. But I agree, it got VERY repetative.

keg in kc

06-02-2009, 09:56 AM

Cannibal

06-02-2009, 07:52 PM

keg in kc

06-02-2009, 09:03 PM

My problem with a Star Wars mmo is that I imagine everyone and their uncle will want to be Jedi. I know I wouldn't want to be anything else in it.They had the right idea initially in SWG I think, making it something you can unlock but not begin with.

Gotta admit, the idea of being a smuggler appeals to me. I mean, who wouldn't want to be Han Solo...

I'm not sure about the trooper or bounty hunter classes. Although I thought they did a good job of showing what the bounty hunter can do in the cinematic trailer (everything she did was an ingame class skill, the grenades, flame thrower, etc).

Cannibal

06-02-2009, 09:19 PM

They had the right idea initially in SWG I think, making it something you can unlock but not begin with.

Gotta admit, the idea of being a smuggler appeals to me. I mean, who wouldn't want to be Han Solo...

I'm not sure about the trooper or bounty hunter classes. Although I thought they did a good job of showing what the bounty hunter can do in the cinematic trailer (everything she did was an ingame class skill, the grenades, flame thrower, etc).

I'll admit the game sounds intriguing. I had not heard about it until I saw your thread. I will look into it.

keg in kc

06-03-2009, 12:16 PM

New preview:E3 2009: Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/990327p1.html)

By Ryan Scott | Jun 2, 2009

We get a first-hand walkthrough of BioWare's upcoming Star Wars MMO.

Spiffy: An actual fun Star Wars online role-playing game; action that looks like it amounts to more than passive math.

Iffy:It's got a hell of a competitor in World of Warcraft; can't get here fast enough.

BioWare's epic third Knights of the Old Republic game -- this one a massively multiplayer online RPG -- takes players to a time roughly 4,000 years before George Lucas' dual film trilogy (and 300 years past the previous KotOR games). Republic forces tangle with the evil Sith Empire, and players choose sides in the mounting civil war. BioWare alleges unique story paths for each character class, with zero repeated content between Republic and Imperial character archetypes.

What's New for E3?

Besides one of the most beautiful cinematic trailers I've ever seen -- which depicts Sith forces infiltrating a Jedi temple and laying waste to the place before general hell breaks loose -- The Old Republic looks like the real deal. This is the first time anyone's seen it in action, and the push toward non-photorealistic art (senior producer Dallas Dickinson describes TOR's look as "stylized realism") means a scalability-minded developer who thought twice about relegating the game to Age of Conan hell.

The mantra: Story drives choice, and choice drives action. After a brief demonstration of the previously revealed Bounty Hunter class (a ranged terror who packs everything from grenades to wrist-mounted flamethrowers) and the just-in-for E3 Smuggler (an opportunist who makes shrewd use of cover terrain, and resorts to dirty kick-in-the-balls tactics when fighting up-close), Dickinson treated the audience to a show of the series' trademark ethical dilemmas -- sans save button.

A player-driven Dark Jedi (one that the developers were hesitant to definitively identify as such) commandeered a mid-transit ship, on orders to kill its treasonous captain. The choice was ours: permanently relieve him from duty, or show him our soft side? The jaded collective of critics chose the former, which resulted in a display of lightsaber-powered violence that quickly coerced the crew to his side. Chaos ensued, driving said Sith (named -- amusingly enough -- Darth Awesome) and his Bounty Hunter pal into an impromptu defense against invading Jedi. The expected hotbar of MMO moves guided the combat, though slick speed bursts, blaster bolt blockage, and flat-out badass lightsaber duels (which haven't looked this good since the movies themselves) afforded TOR a flair not often glimpsed in this me-too genre. As the Jedi fell, the victorious Sith snatched his prey's lightsaber, and immediately lit it up for dual-saber action.

If I were Star Wars Galaxies, I'd just go ahead and throw myself off the Cloud City catwalk.

NewChief

06-03-2009, 01:49 PM

They all get repetitive, because every character is essentially just doing the same thing over and over, using different class mechanics.

The idea of making story a pillar of the game could feasibly be very interesting, particularly if different classes proceed in different ways.

The thing that I wonder is how interested hardcore mmo gamers will be in that story element, and in the cinematic presentation and voiceover. Because generally they don't even bother to read quest text, and I've known tons of people over the years that think quests in general are just a pain in the ass, and all they do is grind, pvp and raid.

I'm fairly hardcore myself, but I'm really looking forward to something in a game that goes beyond just killing the same things over and over for xp, loot or gear...

I'd really like to see a MMORPG that captures the complex storylines that I've seen in the text-based RPGs (Muds). A game I played and staffed on (www.armageddon.org) had incredible story arcs in a persistent game world. Many of these story arcs were inspired by player actions, but some were decided on staff side. One example: the game is set up around two warring cities, Allanak and Tuluk. Through ingame actions and play, Allanak invaded and occupied Tuluk for about 3 real-life years (50 or so ingame years). Tuluk then became an occupied city-state with an active rebellious underground engaged in terrorist and guerrilla warfare against the occupying army from Allanak. Other Tuluki became Allanak sympathizers, betraying their city-state. Opened up a completely cool and interesting political side of gameplay that made classes and coded powers/skills much less important than one's ability to inspire, organize, and lead.

Pants

06-03-2009, 05:27 PM

keg in kc

06-03-2009, 07:03 PM

It was interesting seeing them talk about it with the gamespy guy earlier. They're apparently scripting 100s of hours worth of story progression, not just for each of the 8 individual classes, but for separate branches of each of the 8 classes. And they plan to somehow tie character progression in with that story progression. They made it sound like you would get more powerful by progressing within your own story, rather than only through endless hours of filling your quest log and grinding away (which, let's face it, that's what major MMOs are about right now - max your level that way and then raid...).

I'll have to see it implemented to really be able to give an opinion on it, but it's certainly ballsy.

Pants

06-03-2009, 07:11 PM

NewChief

06-03-2009, 07:20 PM

To a certain extent, playing an MMO is all about improving your character. The games are addicting because you're always working towards that next reward that's just "oh so close". If you want a storyline, you need to be playing a single player RPG where you [and your party] are the centerpiece and the savior(s) of that RPG universe. 10,000,000 people can't all be "The Hero". Another huge part of an MMO is the "epeen" factor, which is just a way for people to feed their ego to an extent that would be completely impossible in their real lives.

Bioware has never failed with a game, but I really worry they might not do very well with The Old Republic. I really hope I'm wrong.

You're right when you're talking about 10,000,000 people. The MUD I played on had a population of about 500 active players, usually maxing out at 100 or so online at the same time. Even at that, it was extremely intensive on the staff side of things to keep realistic, interesting storylines going ingame, but it worked. But for 100 players online, we had a staff of like 20, so you're looking at 20% of your people online being responsible for playing NPCs, keeping the storyline going, and managing making the game environment respond realistically to player actions. Basically a lot of the stuff that MMORPGs handle with code, we'd handle manually... but that manual handling allowed for it to be more unique, unpredictable and interesting. Not sure that an MMORPG on the scale of WOW will ever be able to pull off a truly great story-based roleplaying game.

Pants

06-03-2009, 07:21 PM

You're right when you're talking about 10,000,000 people. The MUD I played on had a population of about 500 active players, usually maxing out at 100 or so online at the same time. Even at that, it was extremely intensive on the staff side of things to keep realistic, interesting storylines going ingame, but it worked. But for 100 players online, we had a staff of like 20, so you're looking at 20% of your people online being responsible for playing NPCs, keeping the storyline going, and managing making the game environment respond realistically to player actions. Basically a lot of the stuff that MMORPGs handle with code, we'd handle manually... but that manual handling allowed for it to be more unique, unpredictable and interesting. Not sure that an MMORPG on the scale of WOW will ever be able to pull off a truly great story-based roleplaying game.

That must have been fun as hell.

NewChief

06-03-2009, 07:36 PM

That must have been fun as hell.

Very much so. It's still going: www.armageddon.org

I just don't have the time to sink into it. Oh... the most badass thing about it that contributes to not getting too into your skills/stats: permadeath. When your PC dies, it dies. You then create a new one (which is actually really cool, because there are so many difference gameplay experiences through different races, clans, city-states, tribes, etc). While this sucks in some ways, it also makes it so that having a long-lived PC is more important than having a code-wise strong PC. In other words... who is more powerful? The bigass, strong barbarian warrior or the effete noble that can hire 20 bigass strong barbarian warriors?

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-04-2009, 09:56 AM

Holy...mother...of FUCK. Those were the best graphics I have ever seen in a game.
That trailer made my balls tingle joyously.

MoreLemonPledge

06-04-2009, 11:14 AM

After WoW took over my life I vowed to never play another MMO again. Then I see this and Final Fantasy XIV...

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 11:18 AM

After WoW took over my life I vowed to never play another MMO again. Then I see this and Final Fantasy XIV...I made that vow after EverQuest. And then after Star Wars: Galaxies. And then after WoW.

I'm not making that vow again. LMAO

Jawshco

06-04-2009, 11:44 AM

I play City of Heroes/Villians, and likely will until The Old Republic comes out. It is a great casual game.

The thing that keeps City of Heroes alive is that the game keeps making changes with each new issue. The Architecht Missions right now is the only thing keeping me playing at the moment. I love making my own missions. Going Rouge that's coming out soon that allows Heroes and Villians to switch sides also sounds pretty awesome.

HC_Chief

06-04-2009, 02:51 PM

The Deceived trailer is badass.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-04-2009, 02:58 PM

The Deceived trailer is badass.

That shit was Imax-worthy.

chasedude

06-04-2009, 03:06 PM

The Trailer was cool but it won't be like the game. Trailer's rarely show the exact game mechanics and views. As for an MMO, I'm all for it, if it's done right. There's too many variables yet to sway my immediate purchase of this title upon release.

Pants

06-04-2009, 06:40 PM

Holy...mother...of ****. Those were the best graphics I have ever seen in a game.
That trailer made my balls tingle joyously.

That's just a pre-rendered cut scene. Blizzard is still the master of those, IMO.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-04-2009, 06:53 PM

That's just a pre-rendered cut scene. Blizzard is still the master of those, IMO.

I KNOW it's a cut scene. It's still the best EVAH!!!!!

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 10:14 PM

Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC) (http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3174566)

Our first hands-on reveals an interesting mix of Knights of the Old Republic and World of WarCraft.

By Thierry Nguyen 06/02/2009

What's the game about? Have you seen the new trailer? The one that pretty much everyone describes as "what the Star Wars prequels should have been?" Yea, imagine that, but in game form. Okay, okay, the BioWare crew describes this game as "full of heroic Star Wars moments," or "Knights of the Old Republic three, four, five, and six all in one game." Or perhaps, it's what Star Wars Galaxies should have been.

What's new for E3? A lot, since this is both the first time that BioWare has shown gameplay, and the first time we've played it. For this gameplay demo, BioWare showed off some combat, some dialogue, and gameplay with the Bounty Hunter, Sith, and Smuggler (that last one is a new class reveal) classes.

In general, the game resembles a mash-up of Knights of the Old Republic/Mass Effect and World of WarCraft. The storytelling and dialogue sequences use the same radial menu as in Mass Effect (though, don't expect that all responses in the upper-left to be noble/good ones and all lower-right responses to be asshole ones; the team will vary up the dialogue choice placement), while the combat generally utilizes the menu/hotkey system of an MMO title.

Class-wise, the Bounty Hunter looks like a general ranged damage dealer, while the Sith is akin to a WoW Rogue (lesser attacks build up points that you use to pull off more powerful attacks). The new class, the Smuggler, is the "dirty fighter" class (and also obviously modeled after Han Solo). He's the kind of guy who shoots first, or kicks aliens in their genitalia before putting them down with a headshot. Another interesting mechanic that the Smuggler introduces is cover; he can actually duck behind cover points and perform specific "in cover" moves (I'm not entirely sure whether cover is Smuggler-only, or can be utilized by other character classes as well).

Finally, the developers showed off a story moment. Taking place during a "flash point" (BioWare's term for an instance that changes based on your choices), the big decision concerns the fate of a Imperial ship captain. For a bit of context: the captain has disobeyed a direct order from a Grand Moff, and you (and your buddy, depending on whether you're soloing this or not) fight through the ship and confront said captain. For the purposes of the demo, the BioWare fellows killed the captain for insurrection. As a result, the crew is forced to follow the orders that the captain disobeyed; as a result, a rival Republic ship (with its Jedi captain) attacked the players, and his Republic forces breached the engine room.

For my hands-on, I found myself in the bizarre situation of being a nice, sensible Sith. See, I had already seen what happens when the dude dies, so I want to see how the mission changes when he lives. But, well, I was a Sith -- one that said things that "you're forgiven" and "we need to be all in this together." Letting him live alters the context and geometry of the flashpoint: instead of fighting a sudden breach in the engine room, you literally go in the opposite direction and fight fewer opponents as they arrive via the hangar. While it sounds like just a wall-texture swap, there were some subtle differences; such as how the lack of breaches means that the enemies didn't just smash their way through the walls, they conveniently had to go through doors and were hence really easy to spot without surprise.

What's our take? I generally like what I saw and played. The Sith is a pretty fun class; I basically used enough basic attacks to build up enough points to perform a cooler move, like a Force Choke or some sort of force lightning stomp that stunned enemies in an area, or a simple "stab you in the stomach" type of move with the lightsaber. The combat feels a bit faster and more active than in WoW; the BioWare guys noted that there's no auto-attack option. So while combat doesn't quite match the fidelity of 1:1 input that you'd find in, say, a Ninja Gaiden or a Devil May Cry title, but it does translate into a more frenzied, button-pressing affair. If anything, my only gripe is that I am not a fan of how the character's faces are. The general art style, landscapes, architecture, and even overall character design works just fine. But the moment I see a face, I just don't like it; it seems a bit too close to the art style of the recent Clone Wars cartoon, which I don't like either. Basically, I'm going to be wearing a lot of hoods, masks, and helmets when I play.

Even as such, a huge game like this can't be summarized in a fifteen minute playthrough. Class balance, quest content, PvP, etc. etc. are still up in the air, and we got a long way before its release. I did enjoy what I play, but that's just a fraction of what BioWare is expecting people to play. Though, I'm cautiously optimistic right now, despite the faces.Ironically, when I first saw the artwork for the game months ago, I said I wouldn't play because it looked like clone wars...

Anywho, there's a few dozen screenshots here, so you can get an idea of what the game looks like, as opposed to what we saw in the cinematic trailer: http://www.1up.com/do/media?cId=3168646&sec=IMAGES

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 10:17 PM

..E3 2009: Star Wars: The Old Republic Demo (http://pc.ign.com/articles/989/989833p1.html)

Smugglers, Sith and story-driven action!
by Steve Butts

June 2, 2009 - Day one, hour one of the show there's one place that I wanted to be: front row at the Star Wars: The Old Republic demo. The team at BioWare made some ambitious promises when we originally debuted the game, and we were excited to see whether or not they'd live up to their pledge to bring story to the forefront of the MMO experience. After seeing the first ever live demo of the game at E3 today, we're happy to say that BioWare is delivering the Star Wars MMO experience that we hoped The Old Republic would be.

First, the team walked us through the trailer that was shown at yesterday's press conference. The trailer shows the Sacking of Coruscant, an important event in the history leading up to The Old Republic. Apart from setting the stage for the Galactic Civil War, the trailer also showcases the cinematic combat and emotional weight that players will experience in the final game.

After viewing the trailer, the teams from BioWare and LucasArts loaded up the game for our first ever live demo. We started by exploring the new Bounty Hunter class and the first of two new planets for the game. The bounty hunter, Ayrik, begins on Hutta at the start of The Great Hunt, a massive contest organized by the Mandalorians and designed to find the best new bounty hunters in the galaxy. Through his mentor, Braden, Ayrik starts the game as one of the more likely candidates.

The interactions with Braden gave the developers a chance to show off the massive amount of voiced dialogue in this game. The Old Republic will be the first fully-voiced MMOs; all the NPCs as well as all the PCs will have full dialogue. Moreover, the main interactions with the NPCs will play out in cinematic cutscenes that allow the player to input their own responses in a Mass Effect-style dialogue wheel. As Braden introduces Ayrik to his companions, a Nar Shaddan tech specialists and a Trandoshan security officer, Ayrik has the option to respond in ways that emphasize his moods. Whether he responds with humility or arrogance, cruelty or greed, will impact the way the rest of the story unfolds.

After playing through the cutscene, Ayrik heads outside to explore Hutta. This is the first time that Hutta is being displayed in video game form, so we were happy to see the ways that the art team has rendered the industrial wasteland of this Hutt stronghold. Through the sickly green mists in the air ahead of us we can see the palace of the Hutts protected by screens of Fa'athra gangsters.

As Ayrik moved up to the palace, we had the chance to see the combat system in action. The bounty hunter is primarily a ranged attacker and makes use of special attacks like rockets and stun darts to maintain an advantage over his enemies. The requisite flamethrower attacks are thrown in as well for when the bounty hunter finds himself in need of some timely crowd control. All the abilities are triggered using a traditional MMO hotbar, but the actual action seems a bit more fluid and dynamic than the usual round-by-round combat in most MMOs.

The new Smuggler class also makes use of ranged attacks but doesn't have access to the same armor that the bounty hunters can use. To help even the odds in combat, the smuggler can use a new cover system. We saw this in action on another new planet, Ord Mantell, where the smuggler was running guns to the Rebels in their war against the Separatists. The opportunity for cover is displayed in the environment as a faint green crouching outline. When the smuggler takes cover, he gains access to new abilities and is protected from the attacks of his enemies. Of course, not all the smuggler's combats take place at far ranges. Should an enemy get too close, the smuggler can stun them with a quick kick to the crotch and then finish them off by shooting them in the head.

Each of these two new classes has a unique role to play in the Galactic Civil War, and because they're on different sides of the conflict, they won't share any of the same content. Anything that the smuggler plays through with the Rebellion will be off limits to the Imperial bounty hunter and vice versa.

The last half of our demo gave us the chance to see how one of these Civil War story points plays out. Called a "flashpoint," these story instances give players the chance to join together in groups and take on deep, story-based missions. In this particular case, a Sith player and a bounty hunter player grouped together to deliver a reprimand to an Imperial ship captain who had recently disobeyed a Gran Moff's order.

After fighting through waves of marines to get to the bridge, the pair of player characters confront Captain Orzik in a dialogue driven cutscene. The cool part about this cutscene is that different players are prompted for different responses. So after the captain tries to justify his action, the bounty hunter may have the chance to direct the conversation. The conversation culminates with a decision to kill the captain or let him live. The team's not quite sure how they're going to handle big decisions like this and preserve each player's experience. Whether all the players will vote on the consequential dialogue choices or not hasn't been determined.

In our demo, we voted to kill the captain (as if there was ever any doubt). The second in command takes over and, with our brutality having given her a renewed sense of loyalty, decides to fulfill the Gran Moff's order and launch an attack on a Rebel capital ship. Standing on the bridge, you'll watch as your ship comes out of lightspeed right in front of the Rebel ship. Lasers begin firing and boarding pods come crashing into your ship. The new captain tells our two players that rebel soldiers have infiltrated the engine room and suggests that you head down to repel the boarders.

This sequence finally gave us the opportunity to see real lightsaber combat in action. Given that the players we were watching were only 8th level, there was an awful lot of cinematic action on the screen. The Sith character charged into combat with an array of awesome leaps, swings and stabs. The sense of connection between the lightsaber and the enemies was very believable, and the animations for the blocks and strikes enhanced the sense of realism.

But it's not just about the regular attacks. The Sith can use a range of Force powers, choking enemies or stunning them with lightning attacks. The bounty hunter can even jet up into the air and rain blaster fire down on his enemies from on high. As they took out Republic soldiers and infiltrators, our party of two eventually came into contact with a Jedi Padawan, the student of the Jedi Master who was the target of Capt. Orzik's originally order. After the Padawan is dispatched, the Jedi Master appears to take on our two characters.

Watching the three characters fight, using a range of Force powers, lightsaber attacks and bounty hunter tricks, really got us excited to see more of the game but, unfortunately, our demo ended with this final combat with the Sith brandishing his lightsaber and his enemy's in an awesome dual wield pose.

If this is the kind of thing we can expect from an 8th level encounter, we can't wait to see what else the team has in store for the game's higher levels.

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 10:22 PM

...Star Wars: The Old Republic E3 Demo Report (http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/69111/page/1)

Posted June 3rd, 2009 by Garrett Fuller

You're definitely the hero when you can take on a whole ship of enemies!
Until now, the general public has only seen bits and pieces of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but at E3 2009 LucasArts and BioWare are finally showing off a brand new CG trailer, some gameplay, and the Smuggler class for first time. Even though the game still isn’t in beta, TOR looks great, moves fast, and definitely takes a fun approach to MMOs. Having a very active story for players to explore along with the MMO elements of PvP and massive Jedi vs. Sith battles, TOR looks to deliver where other Star Wars games have come up short.

Our first look at the game while at E3 2009 began with a trailer of the sacking of Coruscant. Fast paced and action packed, the Sith make it clear they are here to wreak havoc with the Dark Side as their ally. As is the case in all BioWare games, story and character choices make all the difference in the world. TOR will be one of the first MMOs to use full voice over capabilities. Your responses are in text but only briefly and help to drive the story line in the game. BioWare uses its classic cut scene format to give players a heroic journey in the Old Republic.

We got a first look at the planet Hutta, home of the notorious gangsters the Hutts. The Bounty Hunter class was shown off and the team was quick to explain that they want players to truly feel the badass storyline, which can definitely draw some parralels Boba Fett. The class has great features to blast foes, use jump packs, rockets, and even fire a deadly flame thrower that works as a crowd control device. We later saw the Bounty Hunter working in full effect with a Sith as they took on an Imperial ships entire crew after the captain disobeyed a direct Grand Moff order. Team work counts, but the two classes made some nasty work of any opponents.

Our first look at the Smuggler class followed in the tracks of Han Solo himself. Both the Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are ranged classes, were the Jedi and Sith focus on melee. The Smuggler wears less armor and works on a unique new system that allows the class to take full advantage of cover in the game. The cover mechanic shows places where primarily ranged fighters can jump or roll themselves into a defensive bonus in the environment and is one of the first times a system like this has been used successfully in an MMO.

In the Smuggler segment, we got a chance to see Ord Mantell, where a civil war between the Republic and separatists gives the Smuggler plenty of options to run guns and information . Bounty Hunters have all kinds of weapons at their disposal with flash grenades and barrage fire as well as close combat dirty kicks and point blank head shots.

Next we were taken into a Flash Point, which is similar to an instanced scenario where your group gets to make choices based on a story line. As mentioned above an Imperial transport ship captain has disobeyed a direct order from a Grand Moff. You are there to deliver the result. Do you obey your Sith tendencies and kill him, or let him live to help you in your quest? The choice is yours and impacts the gameplay to follow. In this instance the Captain lived and the ship was boarded by Republic troopers. While the Captain evacuates the ship out of the fight, it is your job to fight off the Republic troops who board the cruiser.

But of course it wasn’t easy; there were some Padawans and Jedi with them. A quick note: Making the choice to spare the Captain gave us points towards the Light Side, so obviously there are Dark Side points as well. Your Light Side / Dark Side standing can impact the type of loot you'll receive.

For the next few minutes of the demo we watched as a Bounty Hunter and Sith player characters took on the Republic forces. The action was fast paced and the two players moved through multiple opponents in full fury. The Sith is definitely a full melee character with loads of lightsaber attacks and Force Chokes. Also Force Lightning can be used as a crowd control skill, which then gave the Bounty Hunter some easy targets to blast away. The game play moved much faster than many MMOs and plays similar to console game speed. Once the troopers and Padawan have been eliminated a Jedi Knight drops in and fights both players in an epic boss battle. As the Sith triumphed we saw some serious loot drop off the Jedi that both classes could use. The Sith was now able to wield two lightsabers, while the Bounty Hunter got a powerful upgrade to armor.

After the demo the BioWare folks explained that Star Wars: The Old Republic is being made with all the trimmings of an MMO. Full PvP, groups, raids, guilds, auctions, and crafting will play major parts in the game design and have players building up their resources to battle it out across the galaxy.

After the demo we got the chance to sit with Gordon Walton and Richard Vogel to talk about the experience. Look for that video on Ten Ton Hammer very soon. Gordon and Richard both stressed that fun and heroic Star Wars fantasy is really what is at the core of The Old Republic. From what we saw, the game is fast paced and delivers where other Star Wars games have failed in the past. There is a lot to look forward to in the coming months with Star Wars: The Old Republic. The team continues to work hard on balance and gameplay to bring the best experience to fans, and they want everyone to feel a longing to play in a galaxy far, far away.

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 10:25 PM

....E3: Bringing Story To The Forefront In Star Wars: The Old Republic (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23904)

by Kris Graft
June 3, 2009

BioWare wants to be a storyteller as much as a video game developer. The studio is known for its keen focus on story and character development, with revered single-player role-playing games like Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect to its credit.

But the studio has yet to tackle the MMO genre, and it's clear that BioWare feels that it has something to prove. At a Gamasutra-attended demo of the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic at E3, BioWare Austin senior producer Dallas Dickinson said he and his team want to "bring story to the forefront of the MMO space."

It will be an incredibly difficult challenge making a highly story-driven MMO, one that takes all of the varying actions and choices of masses of players and neatly wraps it all together into a cohesive storyline.

"To put story into an MMO, we had lots of discussions," Dickinson said. "...Story has to drive choice, and choice has to drive action." He said that the game's dynamically morphing story and the player's choices must have a "real emotional impact" for gamers.

The Old Republic takes place 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, and 3,000 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV. An action-packed pre-rendered cinematic trailer for the game showed a massive hand-to-hand battle in a large pillared hall between Sith and Jedi, with some flame-throwing bounty hunters thrown into the mix. Lightsabers, of course, were aplenty.

While the trailer was pre-rendered, the cinematic is indicative of the kind of gameplay BioWare Austin is aiming for in the battle system. Choice-driven action will be a central to the game, Dickenson said. Gamers will often be attacked by multiple enemies in what the producer referred to as "heroic combat."

A Talkative MMORPG

But it's when the action subsides when The Old Republic's "BioWare-ness" really becomes obvious. As revealed earlier this week, all of the game's dialog with all non-player characters will be voiced -- a massive undertaking as the game will have hundreds of thousands of lines of dialog. It's a first for an MMO, Dickenson said, and in line with BioWare's goal to make the game as cinematic and story-driven as possible.

"It's a production challenge," Dickenson told Gamasutra after the presentation, perhaps understating the effort that BioWare will have to put into the game to reach such a goal. "But it really came down to when you see it with the full voiceover, it's an impactful, emotional experience. When you take away chunks of it, you start losing some of that. It's about putting our money where our mouth is when we say that story and choice matter."

During the short half-hour demo held at LucasArts' meeting room, the voiceovers and writing seemed particularly strong, with a tinge of humor. If BioWare can keep the consistency throughout the game, it could make good on its promise of a memorable, cinematic, story-driven experience.

Players control their dialog choices in a way similar to Mass Effect dialog wheel. As in past BioWare single-player RPGs, the developer wants to have choice have real meaning, and with The Old Republic, BioWare appears to be trying to make choices blurrier -- less cut and dry. In one case, players are given the choice to cut down a captain with a lightsaber after he fails to follow orders, which will build up fear and loyalty amongst surrounding NPCs -- or let him live, which will allow players to speak with him and feed off of his knowledge in the future. By making sure there are clear benefits and drawbacks for either choice, choices can have more meaning.

The bloodthirsty attendees of this particular demo voted to kill the captain, which irreversibly changes both the story and the gameplay scenarios for the player. "There are mid-term and long-term impacts" from decisions, Dickenson said. "...Every NPC involved in [a] conversation... is going to react to you differently depending on what decision you make."

He also briefly mentioned an intriguing multiplayer conversation system, in which players in the same party will be able to take turns responding and initiating conversations with NPCs. It's a concept that could add a new dimension to MMOs, but Dickenson said that BioWare is still keeping details of the feature under wraps.

Choices will also drive gamers to either the Light or Dark Side of the Force: "If you go totally Dark Side you will have some abilities that are available to you that aren't available to players in your same class who took a kindlier route," Dickenson said.

Stylized Realism

During the game demo, which ran without a hitch off of BioWare's servers in Austin, the senior producer played as a bounty hunter akin to Boba Fett, which used range weapons. He also revealed during the demo a smuggler class that lets players live the Han Solo fantasy. A sneaky cheat, the smuggler class allows players to use a cover system, which balances the class' lacking armor abilities.

Overall, The Old Republic boasted great-looking cartoon-inspired graphics -- exaggerated facial features, bright colors, and expressive animations. BioWare has been calling the art style "Stylized Realism." It's not necessarily high-poly, but very sharp. "We're actually going for more 'painterly,' if I want to use a hoity toity term," Dickenson said.

The cartoon-ish style will also help The Old Republic work on a wide array of PC configurations, so gamers won't necessarily need a top-of-the-line system. "The stylized realism actually kind of enters into that. We're choosing an art style that we can scale really well," Dickenson told Gamasutra.

keg in kc

06-04-2009, 10:27 PM

.....RPS At E3: Star Wars - The Old Republic (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/03/e3-09-the-old-republic-new-class-more/)

Written by John Walker on June 3, 2009 at 7:12 am.

A new class for BioWare’s forthcoming Star Wars MMO was revealed today: the Smuggler. Described by BioWare as, “The Han Solo fantasy,” the Smuggler is a ranged fighter who makes cunning use of a freshly revealed cover system. More details, plus a reaction to our seeing some fantastic battles, below.

The thing I want to report most of all is just how bloody beautiful the game looks. Stylised, it’s one of a number of games around at the moment that appears to have taken its inspiration from concept art. SWTOR’s world looks as if it were created with a watercolour paintbrush. The vistas of the Smuggler’s lush world, or the barren wastes in which a Bounty Hunter stalked, were just breathtaking. Not just because of the sheer volume of detail, but the artistry with which it’s presented. It’s pretty special.

But back to that new class. The Smuggler has his Han Solo-style blaster pistol, and lacking any heavy armour, is reliant on more tactical, stealthy play. This is realised through a cover system unlike any other MMO. When approaching trees, rocks, buildings, and so on, a crude faint green blocky figure appears, indicating places the player can lock into to take the cover. This is apparently not unique to the Smuggler, but certainly won’t be available to all classes. It was quick-n-simple, letting the blaster fire be aimed at multiple enemies easily and with more safety. Of course, the Smuggler needs to be able to do something if the enemy gets too close, and one of his melee options was revealed today: he can kick a baddie in the groin, then shoot him in the head. Nice.

Once again the emphasis could not have been more firmly stated as being on story. And once again, we were shown a ton of really awesome looking battles. The ddifference between BioWare’s claims for the power of the narrative in The Old Republic, and what’s being shown, is always a little disjointed. But it’s understandable. When you’ve got a game that can present battles that look quite so stunning as those shown in LucasArts’ Jedi temple today (no, really, they’ve build a faux-stone Jedi temple in the corner of a small upstairs room of the LA Convention Center), you can see why they’d not want to demo you someone having an extensive chat with an NPC, no matter how emotional the consequences.

However, it’s important to report that we were shown an important choice moment. The game’s dialogue is 100% voiced - a first for an MMO, and a task too gargantuan to bear thinking about - so decisions aren’t as simple as dismissing a screen of text. Decent actors delivering their pleas always add significance. We were shown a level in which a Sith and a Bounty Hunter had fought their way to the bridge of a Republic ship. Killing the captain was a choice put into our hands, and of course the vote went with his death. Sith, after all. The consequences of this action are apparently far reaching, and in this instance led to a tremendous space battle going on outside the window.

There’s no going back on moments like that. Saving that captain’s life would have taken the plot in a whole other direction, and it’s one the bloodthirsty player would never know without playing the game over again from the start. No saving and reloading in an MMO. Quite how such moments are handled when played in a party is not being divulged just yet, but we’re assured it’s all worked out.

Leading up to this decision was a quite remarkable fight. SWTOR is designed to let you fight two, three or four enemies at once without certain doom. The fight for the bridge saw the Sith player perform some really splendid moves to take out multiple targets, including a Force Jump that let him target enemies on the other side of the sizeable level, and leap into them, lightsabre slashing as he landed. Force Choke also provided a grisly ending for a tough Jedi enemy, who had been impressively weakened by the Bounty Hunter who set him on fire with his flamethrower. He was now hovering in midair on his jetpack, taking pot shots. Good times.

The emphasis on story means there’s also a strong focus on morality. Whether you’re Republic or Sith, you can still be a bastard (I have been promised that there will be plenty of opportunities to make some completely horrendous decisions) or a do-gooder. And with Dark and Light come unique abilities unavailable to those who fail to be as lovely or as evil as you. At one point the Sith character had a bar on screen explaining that he was “channelling hatred”. Ooh.

SWTOR boasts a bunch of firsts. As mentioned, it’s the first MMO to have every line recorded. It’s also the first MMO to offer conversation choices (although I think there’s a couple of others in development that are planning the same). And it’s the first MMO that will have a truly unique experience depending upon which side you take. BioWare were keen to once again point out there’s not a single quest common to the Sith and the Republic. When asked why they’re not making Knights of the Republic 3, their reply is that this is it, and it’s KotOR 4, 5, 6 and 7 as well.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 12:25 AM

After multiple viewings, I declare that the co-leader of the Sith strike force( and the first one to ignite their blade when the ship door opens )IS IN FACT the long, lost Revan.
If you watch carefully, you'll see Revan in several shots, kicking ass along with the Sith Emperor.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 12:34 AM

ADDENDUM:

Note Revan deliver the head kick to the Rodian Jedi.

Bowser

06-05-2009, 10:48 PM

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 10:53 PM

So is it that Malak that comes walking in through the front door of the Jedi Temple?

Nope. Either outcome of KOTOR results in Malak being dead.

Pants

06-05-2009, 10:56 PM

Nope. Either outcome of KOTOR results in Malak being dead.

And my Revan ended up becoming a Light Side god, so I doubt that's him.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 11:11 PM

And my Revan ended up becoming a Light Side god, so I doubt that's him.

No dice there either. In the time between KOTOR 1 and 2, Revan goes back to the Unknown Regions, traveling alone, and tells no one of his motives.

This was done on purpose so that Old Republic could feature the character(or elements and hints of the character)without being pigeonholed in to a specific outcome or darkside/lightside alignment.

It's only natural to bring Revan back; he/she's a HUGE fan-favorite.

Pants

06-05-2009, 11:26 PM

No dice there either. In the time between KOTOR 1 and 2, Revan goes back to the Unknown Regions, traveling alone, and tells no one of his motives.

This was done on purpose so that Old Republic could feature the character(or elements and hints of the character)without being pigeonholed in to a specific outcome or darkside/lightside alignment.

It's only natural to bring Revan back; he/she's a HUGE fan-favorite.

Anything is possible, I guess. I just think it would be extremely silly for Bioware to align him with the Dark Side after players finished KOTOR with him being a Light Side Master. That would mean he went from Light to Dark to Light to Dark again. Major fucking flip-flopper.

[The opposite would obviously apply here as well]

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 11:45 PM

Anything is possible, I guess. I just think it would be extremely silly for Bioware to align him with the Dark Side after players finished KOTOR with him being a Light Side Master. That would mean he went from Light to Dark to Light to Dark again. Major fucking flip-flopper.

[The opposite would obviously apply here as well]

Alright, time to go in to Full Nerd Mode:

Revan is probably the most morally ambiguous character in the history of SW. When Revan returns to the Republic as a Sith Lord with Malak in tow, he spares certain worlds for strategic reasons because his ultimate goal is to prepare the galaxy for an impending invasion by what are known as the "True Sith".
The Sith Emperor you see in that trailer is the leader of those True Sith, and has been for 300 years though their Order was established in the Unknown Regions thousands of years before him.

He's just the current leader.

As I stated before, Revan heads back to the Unknown Regions shortly after the events of KOTOR 1, leaving all his companions behind, and where his motives go from there are a complete mystery.
But being as powerful as he is, and having walked on both sides of the force in such extreme incarnations, it's highly plausible to surmise that he has either regained his motives prior to being captured and memory-erased by the Jedi in KOTOR 1, or is operating within an entiely new set of goals/principles which may in fact contradict the agenda of the True Sith Empire.

Valiant

06-05-2009, 11:47 PM

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 11:55 PM

Isn't the MMO 300years after kotor's??

Yes.

But remember; the Sith you see in that trailer is 300 years old. So it is entirely possible that Revan could be the same age if he is using whatever powers these Sith have to sustain themselves.

Valiant

06-05-2009, 11:56 PM

Yes.

But remember; the Sith you see in that trailer is 300 years old. So it is entirely possible that Revan could be the same age if he is using whatever powers these Sith have to sustain themselves.

I don't think they would use Revan in this way.. Not their style to turn him again..

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-05-2009, 11:58 PM

I don't think they would use Revan in this way.. Not their style to turn him again..

I wouldn't rule anything out; the character is a completely open canvas.

Sweet Daddy Hate

06-06-2009, 12:05 AM

I like the Sith Emperor a lot; he looks like a MUCH more intimidating version of Vader. The first time you see his face and eyes, it's like "time to step the fuck BACK from this guy"!

keg in kc

06-08-2009, 11:15 AM

One more good read:Hands-on: Star Wars: The Old Republic (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/04/hands-on-star-wars-the-old-republic/)

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 4th 2009 at 11:30AM }

There's an unnavigable divide between the world of MMORPGs and the art of good storytelling. Not writing, mind you -- the gang at Blizzard know their way around a word processor -- but rather, the actual sharing of a story. It's not a genre that supports the relaying of intricate plotlines. Most players are in it for the grind, for social status or notoriety. The option to enable "text skipping" doesn't exactly lend itself to plot development. Even if the mass interest was there, all of the game's players are receiving the same storyline. No choice, no branching, no consequences.

Attempting to build a bridge with which to cross this divide would be an extremely ambitious undertaking. Fortunately, Bioware is a studio well versed in ambition -- and, if our brief time with the game is any indication, Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to irrevocably change the way MMOs tell stories.

After both watching the game in action at a LucasArts demo and getting our hands on it shortly thereafter, we were left with a bizarre feeling that what we had just seen was not in fact an MMO, but rather, another offline installment in the KOTOR franchise. The familiar elements were there -- rich storytelling, clever writing and interesting characters. These elements were presented in frequent cutscenes which appear in lieu of scrolling text quest -- a welcome change for the hardcore MMO player with a number of levels notched into their belt.

Here's where the aforementioned ambition comes into play -- each of the game's classes will have its own personal story arc that lasts throughout its entire lifespan. Beneath this umbrella is an epic class-specific story as well as a few serialized mini-arcs which include a ton of tied-together quests and instanced dungeons. Daniel Erickson, The Old Republic's lead writer, explained that the game's quests are so linked to a player's personal story that no one quest will be embarked upon by two different classes.

Or, in other words, two characters from two different classes won't receive any of the same quests. The replay value here is going to be mind-boggling.

Even more mind-boggling is the amount of voicework that's going into this thing. Erickson claimed that the title is on its way to setting a record for most voice work ever put into a single entertainment industry project. We believe it. Each cutscene contains extensive voice work, often from a number of NPCs conversing with the player. Each class has its own voice actor. Multiply that by two to accommodate for genders. You can probably multiply that by a bit more, should the game offer its players a choice of species to play as (we've only seen humans). Then accommodate for conversations that branch off based on decisions each player makes, and you have a hundred thousand billion hours of voice work.

Speaking of branching off, the game's cutscenes feature moral decisions and branching dialogue. As you'd expect, these choices drastically alter the course of the mini-arc in which they occur -- but your larger decisions also effect the grand scope of your character's own personal story.

To non MMOers, these sound like ludological storytelling conventions that have been around for about a decade. In the context of a persistent online RPG, it sounds like straight up witchcraft.

For the hardcore grinders among you, fret not -- there's plenty of stuff here for you lot as well. The combat looks fast-paced paced and complex, and the classes we got a chance to see look varied enough to keep MMO players used to a particular RPG archetype in familiar territory.

The three classes we saw were Bounty Hunters (long range attackers) who implement blasters, flamethrowers, rockets and jetpacks), Sith (damage and aggro sponges with a number of nefarious force powers at their disposal) and the just-revealed Smuggler (rogueish class that uses a really neat -- and unprecedented -- environmental cover system). We didn't get to see the Trooper or Jedi classes, nor could we squeeze from BioWare's tightly squeezed lips what the other classes would be.

However, they did confirm the Hair Stylist class from Star Wars Galaxies wouldn't be making a re-appearance.

The demo we played placed us in the shoes of a level 10 Sith named DARTHAWESOME, who was sieging an Empire-contolled ship in an attempt to dispatch its disobediant captain. Once you reach said captain, you can choose to kill him, and lose his expert advice during the following battle, or spare him, and risk the unkind response from your red-sworded master. Of course, these consequences weren't known before the decision had to be made, as is often the nature of consequences.

(We killed him, of course.)

It looked really great, and the standard conventions of the MMORPG genre will apparently all be in there -- a player-controlled economy, PVP, raiding, guilds, etc. -- but BioWare didn't focus on these elements in their presentation. Why should they? We've seen all that stuff before.

What we haven't seen is an MMORPG with an overarching, class-specific story -- one that the player can contort to fit their own moral code and personal priorities. It'll be a tough act to pull off, but BioWare has wowed us before. If anyone can pull it off, it's them.

keg in kc

06-08-2009, 11:21 AM

Developer vid on the Trooper class: http://www.swtor.com/media/vidcasts/devdispatch003

(Can't get the embed to work for some reason)

Fish

06-08-2009, 11:29 AM

This game is already giving me wood....

chasedude

07-07-2009, 09:57 PM

This came across my email. There's an article about the game with an announcement of a new character class, the smuggler.

http://www.gamerzines.com/downloading-mmozine_13.html

Sweet Daddy Hate

07-07-2009, 10:08 PM

This came across my email. There's an article about the game with an announcement of a new character class, the smuggler.

http://www.gamerzines.com/downloading-mmozine_13.html

WHEEEEE!!!!!:rockon:

kcxiv

07-07-2009, 10:33 PM

I been MMO'ing for years now, if this game can be some fun with some difficutly and not like WOW aka Idiocrascy the movie, then i will be in.

Sweet Daddy Hate

07-07-2009, 10:56 PM

I been MMO'ing for years now, if this game can be some fun with some difficutly and not like WOW aka Idiocrascy the movie, then i will be in.

If it weren't Bio Ware I'd be concerned, but KOTOR is just a fucking classic. Great story, LOTS of replay value, and this MMO seems like it could be a never ending version with an actual, living galaxy that gets shaped and twisted by every player involved.

If successful and worthy, it could go on for a long time.

kcxiv

07-08-2009, 12:54 AM

If it weren't Bio Ware I'd be concerned, but KOTOR is just a ****ing classic. Great story, LOTS of replay value, and this MMO seems like it could be a never ending version with an actual, living galaxy that gets shaped and twisted by every player involved.

If successful and worthy, it could go on for a long time.

Yep, i played EQ from 2001-2007. I loved raiding in MMO's I am not much for leveling up, but get me to max level and let me take down monsters with about 20-50 other folks and i have a blast doing it.

I hate hate hate EA, but if Bioware can pull it off, i am going to be in it to win it. I will be back representing my guild www.halcyonaffinity.org rar lol

SCChief

07-08-2009, 01:00 PM

This game is already giving me wood....

Amen

oaklandhater

07-18-2009, 06:52 AM

keg in kc

07-18-2009, 07:13 AM

Holy shit.

Sweet Daddy Hate

07-18-2009, 03:30 PM

I watched this yesterday; damned impressive.

On a side note:

I will pwn you all when this game is released!

keg in kc

07-27-2009, 01:23 PM

Some info from comic-con:SDCC 2009: Behind the Scenes - Star Wars: The Old Republic (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/1007498p1.html)

By Gerald Villoria | Jul 25, 2009

We sat in on the Behind the Scenes - Star Wars: The Old Republic panel and bring you these choice excerpts from the discussion.

BioWare is at Comic-Con, promoting its forthcoming Star Wars MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. We sat in on the Behind the Scenes - Star Wars: The Old Republic panel and bring you these choice excerpts from the discussion. Read on to learn about working on BioWare's first MMO, the development of The Old Republic's classes, as well as details on the story taking place at this point in time in the Star Wars universe. Be sure to check back soon for an exclusive interview with members of the teams at LucasArts and BioWare.

The Heroes of Our Tale:

The Behind the Scenes - Star Wars: The Old Republic panel featured Jake Neri (Producer, LucasArts) moderating a lively discussion that included Hall Hood (Senior Writer, BioWare), Alexander Freed (Managing Editor, BioWare), Dallas Dickinson (Senior Content Producer, BioWare), and Jeff Dobson (Art Director, BioWare).

On reactions to the game being announced:

"When we made the announcement, we got a tremendous response from folks. We had some expectations, some idea of what the interest was going to be in this project. And then, at E3, we showed some of what we were actually doing, and the response overwhelmed our expectations. I think we're all very humbled by what people are looking for and what people expect to see in a massively multiplayer, BioWare-created game, set in the Star Wars universe. It's both exciting and I would say humbling."

"I was reading some forum somewhere, and I'm not sure if we had officially announced it yet, and the post said, "If this is real, I will eat my tattoos."

On the challenges involved in keeping a cohesive vision:

"The one unifying goal of the art team is bringing the concept art to life. It's really easy when you have a 3D animator or an artist do something, and you can just put it next to the concept art and see if it matches up."

"We work very closely with the writing, because we want the art to tell a story as well. It's what we do at BioWare and what we do well."

"There's times where we'll draw something, that wasn't necessarily what they had in mind, but they'll take that, and say "That's cool, we'll rewrite it to fit that."

"Of course, the moral of the story, by the art talent, is that's something WE [the writers] have to do."

On Dallas Dickinson coming into the project after it had started:

"I came to it with an MMO background, I've been an MMOs person for the last 8-10 years, so I had preconceived notions about how this type of game plays. When I started at BioWare, my first task was to read through the entire design document, and call out things that I thought were risky, that I thought were crazy, and that I thought were impossible.

So I had a list. There was no way we should be doing full voice-over in a massively multiplayer game, there was no way we should be doing multiplayer dialogue, I didn't even know what that means! There was no way we should be adding unique stories for all of our classes? This was all crazy talk! So I had a whole list, and these were the dumb things you were doing, and I'm going to save the day by fixing everything!

Then I played what was already there, I played an early prototype version of the game, and I shut up, which is hard to get me to do, if you ask these guys. I do not cease to find out that I'm wrong, ever.

I played the game, with the full voice over, and honestly I can't imagine doing an RPG without them. It changes how we view a game, it changes your character, it changes everything about the story, the interaction. The fact that we have every class with a unique story is something that's not just new for MMOs, it's new for RPGs. In RPGs, you usually have just one story that has to fit the class you choose. Here we don't have that constraint. We have a smuggler story that's 100% different from our bounty hunter story."

"Since I called those things out and was told I was wrong, I just sit around and drink. A lot."

On building Knights of the Old Republic-length narratives that all work together:

"Look at the original Knights of the Old Republic. That entire game would be a Jedi story. And we've got Jedi stories. And we've got smuggler stories, and bounty hunter stories, and so forth. So we've got a whole bunch of game-length narratives, all running in parallel, all that have to work together and not contradict one another. It's all taking place in the same universe, it's all part of the great story of the Old Republic.

But each story has to be self-contained and be entertaining in its own right, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The way we do that is make sure that each class has its own role within the universe. If you want to know the story of the underworld during the Old Republic, then you're going to play a smuggler, or a bounty hunter. If you want to know the role of the military, and what it's like to be on the front lines, and to deal with the hierarchy within the Republic, and generally carry a big gun, then you've got the trooper."

"If you took all of our stories, and stitched them together like a movie, the closest comparison would be like Pulp Fiction. You'd play a little bit, and be like, "what was that all about?" and 40 hours later you'd be like, "Ohhhh, that's what that was all about!"

"It would be like the G-rated Pulp Fiction, of course."

On making the smuggler class as exciting as the Jedi and Sith:

"Let's make something clear: smugglers are not normal people. They're the best shots in the galaxy, they have lightning fast reflexes, and you never see them coming until it's too late. Han Solo snuck up on Darth Vader in a star freighter, and Vader was all like, "What?"

Han shot Vader three times on Bespin! OK, sure, it didn't do anything, but still! Three times! I like to believe that Vader didn't kill Han because he understood that Han was awesome.

Han was so awesome that he needed to be preserved in carbonite! That's my version of the Empire Strikes Back."

"Smuggler stories are unique because smugglers don't consult the Jedi council. They don't get their orders from Republic High Command. They don't sit in on Senate meetings. They're creatures of the underground. They're dealing with crime lords, and bounty hunters, and slavers, and the worst scum and villainy in the galaxy.

And yes, they're going to fight the empire, and the Sith, and Jedi, if they want to go that way. The common thread to all their villains is that they are very powerful people, larger than life characters that take themselves too seriously. And then a smuggler comes in, and takes them down several notches, and makes fun of them, gets the girl (or guy), and the credits, and then leaves. The End."

"There's another version of that story that you're going to have to go and write."

On creating the smuggler and the bounty hunter:

"It's simple. Bounty Hunter is Boba Fett, and smuggler is Han Solo. That's the core inspiration, that's where it starts."

"They're similar classes, they're both gunmen, but they approach the use of those guns very differently. The smuggler is going to be quicker, lighter, he's the cowboy, he's the gunslinger, and he's going to be gone before you shoot back."

"There are other bounty hunters in the galaxy, other smugglers in the movies and fiction that we try to tap. Lando was a smuggler too, so we try to do some stuff that really speaks to the idea of a Lando fantasy."

"Which is a great one! To own your own planet? That's pretty darned cool."

"And wear a cape."

"If you want to go more Lando, then there's going to be a path for you, and you can end up with the super pimped-out cape."

On the Sith Empire in the Old Republic:

"Our Sith Empire traces its origins to the very start of the Sith. It's not the same Sith Empire as Dark Revan's from KotOR, it's not the same Empire as Palpatine's in the movies, but it connects both of them. It bridges the two in a certain sense. They have their own traditions, their own way of doing things.

As you play the game, you're going to see the entire empire and how it works. You're going to see the underclass: the slaves, the conquered species, the planets that have surrendered to them for one reason or another. You're going to see the middle class of the Imperial aristocracy: the military, the families who are doing about as well as anyone who's not a proper Sith can do.

And then above them there are the Sith: the guys with the lightsabers who can force choke you to death if you look at them wrong. And you can't argue, because this is the Sith Empire, not the regular empire, not the slave empire, but this is the empire that is entirely oriented towards the Sith and looking at them as the powerful, rightful rulers of the galaxy.

There are some tensions there, and there are some people who utterly, passionately believe that this is the right way for the galaxy to be run. That the force-sensitive people have power because they were the right people."

On neutrality and the light side/dark side system:

"Regardless of what your class choice is, you get to make decisions that either drive you further light or further dark. You can be playing the nicest Sith on the block, and it'll actually change your gameplay experience in a number of ways. It'll change the way that your companions interact with you, it'll change the way that NPCs interact with you, it'll actually give you powers that are only available to the "light side" version of that class. Same is true of the dark side, and the same is true of someone that wants to walk the line."

On role-playing and downtime socializing:

"This is an MMO. We're going to make sure that we are competitive with AAA MMOs and will have those secondary activities that are not just your current class story, that are not just your combat and progression. There will be crafting, there will be trading, there will be all sorts of those things. We call them secondary systems, but they're built for the downtime. We want to make sure that we support guilds. We want to make sure that we support all of those things that actually make this a social experience, that don't make this just about your single-player play experience.

Many of us who play MMOs know that a lot of the time you do play by yourself, you do play solo, so we're making sure to support that, we're making sure that you can play through this content, you can play it by yourself. But if you want to get into more advanced portions of the game, then yeah, we will absolutely be having those systems."

On accessibility:

"How easy is it going to be? It's going to be so easy."

"One of the things I'm really proud of, is the hook is really short. With BioWare games, I usually sort of slog through the first two or three hours until I'm immersed in the story. I found that all the storylines that we've done so far have a really short hook. Twenty, thirty minutes and you're in. You know everything that's going on with your story and you're ready to sit there and play one of those seven- or eight-hour sessions all night long and be late to work in the morning."

Valiant

07-27-2009, 03:08 PM

One more good read:

I am sorry that sounds good in theory, but text/voice skipping is a must.. YOU WILL do the same quests multiple times no matter what they say about having different quest lines..

Nothing is more infuriating then sitting through the same sequence multiple times.. Do what all good MMO's do and allow us to skip the damn content IF we want..

Pants

07-27-2009, 09:43 PM

But each story has to be self-contained and be entertaining in its own right, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

How can an MMO have an end? That's against the game mechanic. Are they just going to extend the story through patches and/or expansion packs?

keg in kc

07-27-2009, 09:58 PM

I've missed it if they've said they won't have voice skipping at all. Every previous bioware game has. Or at least every recent one.

As for MMOs having an end, I think they were talking about class arcs, not the game itself.

People need to stop thinking about this game in terms of EQ or WoW, maybe. That's thinking too small. If they start with everything they're advertising, they're going to be several magnitudes larger than any MMO has been at release to this point.

Sweet Daddy Hate

07-28-2009, 09:13 AM

jidar

07-28-2009, 09:40 AM

Everything Bioware touches turns to gold, and the only other company that is comparable is Blizzard, I'm sure Bioware will pull this off.

keg in kc

08-25-2009, 09:52 AM

Developer gameplay walkthrough from Gamescom:

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=816935&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/101/1016934/gcom09_oldrepublic_spc1_082109_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://pc.ign.com/objects/816/816935.html'>More Star Wars: The Old Republic Info</a></div>

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=816935&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/101/1016934/gcom09_oldrepublic_spc2_082109_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://pc.ign.com/objects/816/816935.html'>More Star Wars: The Old Republic Info</a></div>

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=816935&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/101/1016934/gcom09_oldrepublic_spc3_082109_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://pc.ign.com/objects/816/816935.html'>Star Wars: The Old Republic at IGN.com</a></div>

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=816935&downloadURL=http://pcmovies.ign.com/pc/video/article/101/1016934/gcom09_oldrepublic_spc4_082109_flvlowwide.flv&allownetworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://pc.ign.com/objects/816/816935.html'>More Star Wars: The Old Republic Info</a></div>

Sweet Daddy Hate

08-25-2009, 09:55 AM

Yep, watched that yesterday. They've got the Deus Ex-like interaction going on for this game.

Is there anything Deus Ex can't make better? No. No there is not.

keg in kc

08-25-2009, 10:15 AM

So I hadn't watched those videos before posting them.

My initial reaction is holy shit.

Huffmeister

08-25-2009, 09:48 PM

Sweet Daddy Hate

08-25-2009, 09:50 PM

I can't wait to play this. One thing that bugs me is the way keep touting how this is the "largest voice over project EVER!!!" Does anyone really give a damn about that? If it wasn't for BioWare's stellar track record, I would be concerned.

I like the attention to detail. It shows me that Bioware is concerned with pushing the genre and delivering a superior product.

Silock

08-25-2009, 11:14 PM

I don't know. Right now, it just looks like a console multiplayer game that you play on the PC.

Will they have PvP? Battlegrounds? Large scale war? That's what I want out of a SW MMO.

kcxiv

08-26-2009, 12:06 AM

Sweet Daddy Hate

08-26-2009, 12:15 AM

YOu cant have Dark Side and the good side and not have pvp. If it didnt, whats the damned point?

I just know me and my mmo crew that i been gaming with for about 8 years now are going to tear it up. Well, as long as it keeps looking good.

I can't fucking wait for this shit. I've got two mad video game skills in this life:

"Lightsabers or Light Cycles; your ass is MINE". :fire:

keg in kc

08-26-2009, 03:41 AM

YOu cant have Dark Side and the good side and not have pvp. If it didnt, whats the damned point?Apparently you can accrue dark and light side points whether you're sith or republic, which itself will be a new concept in MMOs. Meaning you can play a redeemed sith or a fallen jedi, and your skills or jedi abilities will somehow reflect that. Which could make faction-based PvP a little difficult.

(at least I think that's what they're planning...)

Silock

08-26-2009, 09:25 AM

But if the whole game is like what they're showing, I'm going to have to pass. I want to see a sense of scale, not running around doing dinky missions until I hit the level cap.

keg in kc

08-26-2009, 09:43 AM

But if the whole game is like what they're showing, I'm going to have to pass. I want to see a sense of scale, not running around doing dinky missions until I hit the level cap.Everything we've seen in demos is from early-on in the game. Although they are not targetting hardcore gamers and say most of the 200 hours of scripted content per character can be soloed.

PvP and raiding have both been confirmed, however.

Silock

08-26-2009, 10:30 AM

Well, that's good. I'd still like to see it in action before I make a final decision, though.

Hopefully I can get the wife in on the ground floor with this one. She just recently started playing WoW with me, and it's been a chore since I know everything about it and she doesn't.

oaklandhater

08-26-2009, 04:57 PM

Has any one seen the new gameplay from Gamescon on IGN the game is looking very nice for such an early build.

Valiant

08-26-2009, 07:14 PM

But if the whole game is like what they're showing, I'm going to have to pass. I want to see a sense of scale, not running around doing dinky missions until I hit the level cap.

I think that is because most endgame will be pvp battles.. Well at least I hope so.. The good thing is they can come up with new villains/heroes by doing old republic..

I just want to see large scale battles (80-100 people) in man on man, vehicle, and space battles

keg in kc

08-27-2009, 05:28 AM

I think that is because most endgame will be pvp battles.. Well at least I hope so.. The good thing is they can come up with new villains/heroes by doing old republic..

I just want to see large scale battles (80-100 people) in man on man, vehicle, and space battlesI hope not, because I have zero interest in pvp. I'd like to have something to do once I hit the level cap.

Oh, speaking of space battles, they apparently are working towards having space in the game, but I don't know how.

oaklandhater

08-27-2009, 10:21 AM

I hope not, because I have zero interest in pvp. I'd like to have something to do once I hit the level cap.

Oh, speaking of space battles, they apparently are working towards having space in the game, but I don't know how.

They said there will be raid's but they also said there will be no true healer/tank class in the game so how raid's will work is anybody's guess.

keg in kc

08-27-2009, 10:40 AM

They said there will be raid's but they also said there will be no true healer/tank class in the game so how raid's will work is anybody's guess.I don't know about how they'd address healing, but the Sith Warrior class revealed in the ign video from gamescom seemed awfully tank-like to me. Melee combat, aoe enrage ability, and apparently can trait to defend your group from blaster fire.

NewChief

08-27-2009, 11:33 AM

I don't know about how they'd address healing, but the Sith Warrior class revealed in the ign video from gamescom seemed awfully tank-like to me. Melee combat, aoe enrage ability, and apparently can trait to defend your group from blaster fire.

I wondered how they were going to keep everyone from wanting to play a jedi. Now I see how: they've made the Jedi class very boring in combat, imo. It just doesn't look that exciting to play, to me. The sith warrior seemed to use the exact same attacks over and over. The fast-close ability, then slash slash slash with the saber.

keg in kc

08-27-2009, 12:01 PM

Low-level toon I think. I don't know of any MMO that has real exciting varied skills until you get a lot of levels under you.

Valiant

08-27-2009, 05:28 PM

I hope not, because I have zero interest in pvp. I'd like to have something to do once I hit the level cap.

Oh, speaking of space battles, they apparently are working towards having space in the game, but I don't know how.

The problem with the lore is the villains or bosses would have to be people.. It is not like other mmo where the boss is 50ft tall and everyone can see him.. If the raid bosses are jedi/sith they would get lost with 20+ raiders all attacking..

And I do not think there will be healing classes in the game..

The game is hard to describe as a traditional mmo because of this, maybe eve online is the closest to it..

Valiant

08-27-2009, 05:29 PM

Will be fun to see how they develop this game..

Sweet Daddy Hate

08-27-2009, 07:42 PM

This game looks like it will be KOTOR with real-time combat.

Sweet Daddy Hate

08-28-2009, 04:07 PM

Warrior-Up, bitches!

http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/sith-warrior

keg in kc

09-08-2009, 03:10 PM

Video from PAX this weekend. Same demo as gamescom, but they show a female toon for the first time, and at the flash point, they go with the light side option of not killing the captain.

<embed id="mymovie" width="432" height="362" flashvars="playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=4.3&flavor=EmbeddedPlayerVersion&skin=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/media_player/proteus/one/skins/gamespot.png&paramsURI=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6216906%26mode%3Demb edded%26width%3D432%26height%3D362%2F" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" name="mymovie" style="" src="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/media_player/proteus/one/proteus2.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/>

Garcia Bronco

09-08-2009, 03:15 PM

Until they come out with a console game count me out. I don't want to play star wars with you. MMOs suck and I can't understand why these asshat companies keep pushing only that option.

/rant over

keg in kc

09-08-2009, 03:16 PM

Wasn't the Force Unleashed a console game?

Sweet Daddy Hate

09-08-2009, 03:23 PM

Until they come out with a console game count me out. I don't want to play star wars with you. MMOs suck and I can't understand why these asshat companies keep pushing only that option.

/rant over

Consoles made gaming retarded. Any reputable game that an adult would play gets ported to that bullshit.

Just as Satan intended.:p

Taco John

09-09-2009, 12:48 AM

When does this drop? Looks pretty sweet

keg in kc

09-09-2009, 10:00 AM

So far all I've heard is "2010". No word even of beta at this point.

keg in kc

09-10-2009, 03:19 PM

I think this is the full presentation from PAX, 42-minutes long:

<embed id="mymovie" width="432" height="362" flashvars="playerMode=embedded&movieAspect=4.3&flavor=EmbeddedPlayerVersion&skin=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/media_player/proteus/one/skins/gamespot.png&paramsURI=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamespot.com%2Fpages%2Fvideo_player%2Fxml.php%3Fid%3D6216995%26mode%3Demb edded%26width%3D432%26height%3D362" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" name="mymovie" style="" src="http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/media_player/proteus/one/proteus2.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/>

embiggened version here: http://pax.gamespot.com/video/6216995/star-wars-the-old-republic-pax-2009-live-presentation?hd=1&tag=topslot;title;1

Saulbadguy

09-10-2009, 08:55 PM

FWIW, the original KOTOR was released on Steam this week for 9.99

oaklandhater

09-29-2009, 03:49 PM

Just To let you guys know They started takeing in beta sign up's

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20090929_001

oaklandhater

09-29-2009, 03:55 PM

Thank you for visiting www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com. We are making adjustments to the site due to the overwhelming response to the testing announcement. Please be patient and check back later. We estimate that the site will be back up in the next few hours

that didn't take long.......

keg in kc

09-29-2009, 05:08 PM

Sweet, I'll have to sign up once I'm home (so they can scan my computer). They must be further along than I realized. I was thinking Holiday 2010 release.

Sweet Daddy Hate

09-29-2009, 05:19 PM

Sweet, I'll have to sign up once I'm home (so they can scan my computer). They must be further along than I realized. I was thinking Holiday 2010 release.

Good luck getting in.

keg in kc

09-29-2009, 05:32 PM

Good luck getting in.Yeah, it's going to take a huge dose of luck. Although I've made a few betas (SWG, WoW, Tabula Rasa). Best chance is probably the stress tests in the months leading up to release.

kcpasco

09-29-2009, 06:36 PM

Play Aion in the meantime guys, its actually kinda fun.

And I'm not going back to WoW until they fix the priest class and nerf paladins

keg in kc

09-29-2009, 06:40 PM

Weird, I got in at work all the way to the pc scan, but it's been down for an hour since I got home. grr

oaklandhater

09-29-2009, 06:41 PM

Yeah, it's going to take a huge dose of luck. Although I've made a few betas (SWG, WoW, Tabula Rasa). Best chance is probably the stress tests in the months leading up to release.

Yea I made it in to (Tabula rasa Planetside and Champions online its all based on if you have the comp to run it and luck)

oaklandhater

09-29-2009, 06:41 PM

Play Aion in the meantime guys, its actually kinda fun.

And I'm not going back to WoW until they fix the priest class and nerf paladins

The grind in Aion is insane.

keg in kc

09-29-2009, 06:42 PM

Play Aion in the meantime guys, its actually kinda fun.I have 5 60s and a couple of 30s in Lord of the Rings online, and they have an expansion coming on December first that will open up two more character slots. I think that fills my dance card for the time being, along with Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 (and Bioshock which I haven't started, and Fallout 3 which I haven't finished and the Witcher which i haven't finished. christ).

KCWolfman

09-30-2009, 01:52 AM

Weird, I got in at work all the way to the pc scan, but it's been down for an hour since I got home. grr

Same here. Even worse, each time I try to sign up it kicks me outta Chiefs Planet.

KCWolfman

09-30-2009, 05:19 AM

Got in and registered, scanned and the request was sent.

Of course there is not a womprat's chance on Hoth of me being chosen.

keg in kc

09-30-2009, 09:27 AM

It's still the same for me as it was last night before bed: website's up, but I can't log in.

keg in kc

09-30-2009, 09:40 AM

Okay, it looks like firefox was the problem with logging in. Got through and signed-up via IE.

kaplin42

09-30-2009, 09:48 AM

For those of you dong Beta I wish you the best of luck. I tried it once, and it's just not for me (beta testing that is, not KoTR). However, if you can pass on what the experience is like without breaking the NDA, it would be much appreciated.

oaklandhater

10-01-2009, 02:46 PM

Okay, it looks like firefox was the problem with logging in. Got through and signed-up via IE.

good luck to you keg here is hopeing some one from Cp will get in.

keg in kc

10-01-2009, 02:48 PM

good luck to you keg here is hopeing some one from Cp will get in.I think there's a decent chance because they're apparently doing it in a tiered fashion, instead of the way it's normally done (i.e.you get in beta and stay in until release):When each testing session ends, will the chosen players be able to test again?

Our approach is to have new testers for each testing session. That said,players who give excellent feedback or find and report good bugs may be considered for additional testing sessions.I'm assuming it will be that way until open beta and stress testing near release.

oaklandhater

10-01-2009, 05:19 PM

ah If I get in to the beta for this + get Dragon age and mass effect 2 I would never be bored again.

Garcia Bronco

10-01-2009, 10:07 PM

Consoles made gaming retarded. Any reputable game that an adult would play gets ported to that bullshit.

Just as Satan intended.:p

Consoles have been around longer than any mainstream PC game.

keg in kc

10-01-2009, 11:03 PM

Consoles have been around longer than any mainstream PC game.Pong was a console.

Sweet Daddy Hate

10-02-2009, 09:28 AM

Consoles have been around longer than any mainstream PC game.

I know, I had one when I was a kid. And so did other kids. Console games are comprised of a bunch of goofy kid-shit like Zelda and Mario etc.

keg in kc

10-02-2009, 10:05 AM

The Story of the Sith Warrior (http://cdn-www.swtor.com/news/blog/20091001_001)

Think back to when you first watched Star Wars™: A New Hope™ — to the moment when Darth Vader enters the besieged Republic ship, surveying the carnage, single-mindedly hunting his target, Princess Leia. If you were like me, your eyes bulged and you thought, “I wanna be that guy.”

Now, maybe I was alone in that visceral response. Maybe it reveals something disturbing about me, I don’t know. On subsequent screenings, I seem to recall hearing a chorus of hisses and boos when Vader emerges. So maybe most of the Star Wars™ fan community are Luke lovers, or Solo sycophants . But something tells me there are more of me out there. And all these years, like me, you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to express your inner Vader.

Well, I’m here to tell you, our time has come.

Get ready, my friends, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is going to be our coming out party. It’s time to ignite your red lightsaber and grind the galaxy under your steel platform boot.

The Sith Warrior is about domination and control, as he seeks to utterly annihilate his enemies. No one wields a lightsaber with more devastating effect as he brings ferocity and all his rage to bear on every strike. He is feared, he is a melee master, and he can choke you to death without even touching you.

NPCs that give a bounty hunter attitude cower and wet themselves when the Sith Warrior walks into the room. The Warrior glares and Jedi—even Masters—tremble and feel their devout beliefs weaken within them. The Warrior wades into a battalion of Republic soldiers and leaves a pile of steaming parts behind.

You begin the Sith Warrior story as the apprentice of one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the Empire. Yes, you serve him, as Vader served the Emperor, but he knows that you are at your best and most powerful the more you can flex your muscles. As long as your master’s ultimate directives are met, you are encouraged to entertain your every impulse and do as you please.

Unbound and unleashed on the galaxy, you wage war against the Jedi, relentlessly hunting and neutralizing their most powerful and important players. You can leave an indelible darkness on every planet you visit or find less wanton routes to your goals, as you eliminate rivals, acquire your own minions and build your personal power base.

The enemies of the Sith quickly realize that you are the real threat that cannot be ignored. Other Sith you encounter and confront come to revere and revile you, as much as—if not more than—your master. And eventually, the Emperor himself may take notice of your exploits.

Where is this all leading? That’s up to you. You can serve dutifully and pound away by the letter of your master’s law, or you can risk plotting to someday destroy him and grab his power (as Vader reveals in his plea for Luke to join him). You can even have secret designs to redeem yourself, embrace the light and destabilize the Empire from within.

If this excites you, if you’re like me and already have Darth Vader’s theme music playing in the background of your mind 24-7, then crank up the volume to 11 and point those internal speakers out the window. Don’t get caught up in the debate over who shot first. Don’t be tied down by the Jedi Code. Embrace the darkness within you! Revel in your emotions, grab for glory and bend the galaxy to your will.

Neil Pollner
Writer

Garcia Bronco

10-02-2009, 10:24 AM

I know, I had one when I was a kid. And so did other kids. Console games are comprised of a bunch of goofy kid-shit like Zelda and Mario etc.

Pong was really the first mainstream game and it was console. PAC-MAN was the second game craz and every adult wanted to play it on the Atari at home. The console market is also bigger. The advantage is that you can have a system that you know will run the game. I don't mind a PC game, but damn...I might have to spend an additional 5 hundred just to run it.

Garcia Bronco

10-02-2009, 10:26 AM

Pong was a console.

Missed your post. Good memory

keg in kc

10-30-2009, 12:14 PM

Latest class reveal: Jedi Knight (http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/jedi-knight)

Star Wars: The Old Republic Q&A - The Jedi Knight (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarstheoldrepublic/news.html?sid=6238428&tag=topslot;title;1&mode=previews)

By Staff, GameSpotPosted Oct 30, 2009 10:25 am PT

Get the details on the Jedi knight profession in this upcoming massively multiplayer game that will take place in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a massively multiplayer game that lets you play as one of many classic Star Wars archetypes from the earlier time period BioWare introduced in its single-player Knights of the Old Republic game. One of the professions you can play is the Jedi knight, a character aligned with the light side of the Force and the peace-loving Republic. We have the details from BioWare's director of production Dallas Dickinson and senior game designer William Wallace.

GameSpot: We're pleased to be able to reveal the early details on the Jedi knight profession. This is obviously an iconic character class represented by some of the most famous characters in Star Wars fiction. Give us an overview of this profession.

Dallas Dickinson: The Jedi knight is based very much on [Samuel L. Jackson's] Mace Windu archetype [from the Phantom Menace motion picture]. He is a powerful, force-wielding warrior who will be called on to protect the galaxy from a great evil. Players should expect to be involved in a bit of intrigue but mostly to be focused on hunting down and combating the Sith and their representatives throughout the galaxy.

GS: We understand that Jedi knights find themselves in a precarious political position in the world of The Old Republic. The Jedi Order--facing a growing threat from the combined forces of the Sith--has retreated to the world of Tython, which hasn't made it popular among Republic senators. What kind of political and faction-related challenges will Jedi knight characters need to be aware of?

DD: Without giving away too much of the story, all the tensions you outlined will be at play. Many political players in the Republic's hierarchy have negative views of the Jedi and some of them are mistrustful because they feel the Jedi Order has abandoned them. Add this to direct [opposition from] the Sith Empire and you have a class (and a story) that is fraught with challenges.

GS: How will the political position of the Jedi Order affect the experience of a Jedi knight player? What sort of missions will these characters undertake? For instance, in addition to defending the Republic against the Sith, will knight characters have bodyguard or diplomatic missions, like the characters in the Episode 1 film?

DD: Without going into specifics, this is absolutely the kind of work that the Jedi knight is cut out for. There are powerful and important members of the Republic's political hierarchy, and the Jedi are often sent to protect these individuals--especially when those individuals are threatened by the Sith. That said, you can expect a wide variety of mission types as a Jedi knight.

GS: The Jedi knight class seems to closely resemble the guardian profession from the Knights of the Old Republic games, possessing such powers as Force push and saber throw. Is it fair to make the comparison between the professions? What kind of player will want to play as a Jedi knight?

William Wallace: It's fair to make that comparison. Besides Force push and saber throw, the Jedi Knight gets some abilities similar to the guardian's "Force valor" that give various benefits to both Jedi knights and their entire party, as well as the ability to wield two lightsabers at once. The guardian profession was definitely a major influence on the concept and design of the Jedi knight.

At its core, the Jedi knight is about getting into battle as quickly as possible, dominating the fight and protecting allies. Players who enjoy fast melee combat will identify with this class--there's no passive auto-attack combat here. The Jedi knight has a smorgasbord of lightsaber abilities to choose from as the situation dictates and must continue to evaluate the battle to see whether he should strike hard at one or two targets or swing widely to keep a whole cluster of enemies at bay. Sometimes it's more advantageous to simply push them all back with the Force, take a second to breathe, and then leap back into the fray with both lightsabers drawn. Players who enjoy that kind of tactical decision making in combat will find a lot to like in the Jedi knight.

GS: Tell us about the role of the Jedi knight in battle. How do these characters support their comrades when the going gets tough?

WW: The Jedi knight can fill a couple of roles in combat. In one-on-one combat, the Jedi knight is practically unmatched in melee power. He excels in getting into the fight very quickly by charging into a group of enemies and then has a number of strong single and double lightsaber attacks to damage his enemies and keep them from damaging him. In group combat, the Jedi knight excels at staying at the forefront of the fight and has a number of ways to keep the battle focused on him, letting his allies concentrate on what they do best and also keeping any Sith lightsabers away from unarmored targets. Even if the Jedi knight isn't leading the group, the character is still a valuable asset to his comrades by virtue of his wide range of melee abilities and his ability to augment the party's strength with Force abilities and auras.

GS: And tell us about the role of the Jedi knight outside of battle. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, for instance, we witnessed the first showing of The Old Republic's group dialogue system. How will having a Jedi knight in your party be a different experience from playing without? Will knights have a Force persuade power, for instance? How differently will other characters think of and treat parties that include a Jedi knight or two?

DD: Many non-player characters react differently, depending on the class of player character talking with them. Some NPCs are impressed by Jedi, while some don't trust them. You will have some different experiences than if you were to play as a smuggler, for example, when talking to seedy underworld characters. And, as with previous BioWare games, there will also be some abilities that players can use to change their dialogue (and story) options.

GS: Thanks, gentlemen.

scorpio

11-03-2009, 07:53 AM

The Jedi page is up at the official site:

http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/jedi-knight

keg in kc

11-18-2009, 03:34 PM

Another class reveal: Imperial Agent (http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/imperial-agent).

Sweet Daddy Hate

11-18-2009, 05:11 PM

Schweet!

Valiant

11-18-2009, 07:18 PM

Play Aion in the meantime guys, its actually kinda fun.

And I'm not going back to WoW until they fix the priest class and nerf paladins

Uhh Priests are badass.. Paladin's you just have to be the right class to fight, which unfortunately is three..

Valiant

11-18-2009, 07:19 PM

Consoles have been around longer than any mainstream PC game.

Consoles are PC's now..

keg in kc

11-24-2009, 12:50 PM

Last two classes have been revealed, although no official information has been released yet. They are the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor.

So the final class list is as follows:

Bounty Hunter
Imperial Agent
Jedi Consular
Jedi Knight
Sith Inquisitor
Sith Warrior
Smuggler
Trooper

thecoffeeguy

11-24-2009, 04:23 PM

keg in kc

11-24-2009, 05:31 PM

And mass effect 2 hits january 26.

Sweet Daddy Hate

11-24-2009, 09:59 PM

I loves me some BIOWARE.

kcpasco

11-25-2009, 04:29 AM

Uhh Priests are badass.. Paladin's you just have to be the right class to fight, which unfortunately is three..

I was refering to PVE not PVP, I don't PVP much.

A Paladin shouldn't be able to be a better healer then me, tank and do insane damage. While shadow priest absolutley suck balls right now when it comes to damage.

But I blame the arenas for this mess, Blizz is finally owning up and admitting that arenas were a mistake.

Sweet Daddy Hate

12-11-2009, 03:54 PM

NEW CLASSES:

Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor

http://www.swtor.com/?sourceid=eag1058

keg in kc

12-12-2009, 12:42 PM

Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On - New Character Details and Playing the Sith Inquistor (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarstheoldrepublic/news.html?sid=6242790&om_act=convert&om_clk=picks&tag=picks%3Btitle%3B1&mode=previews&page=1)

By Andrew Park, GameSpotPosted
Dec 10, 2009 5:35 pm PT

We try out this upcoming massively multiplayer game based on the Star Wars universe first explored in Knights of the Old Republic.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, game developer BioWare, a studio founded by two medical doctors on the foundations of nerdy swords-and-sorcery role-playing, made the jump to deep space with Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars-themed role-playing game that told a story that predated the events of the motion pictures by several centuries. Some years later, the developer is now working on a massively multiplayer online game in the same universe--a game that will let you play as a Boba Fett-like bounty hunter, a Han Solo-like smuggler, or a Mace Windu-like Jedi knight…among others. We recently had a chance to get a bit more insight on the game from its developers, and we also had our first chance to play the game using the Sith inquisitor profession, which we'll discuss shortly.

For starters, all eight playable professions have now been revealed for the game. Previously, we'd revealed the Republic trooper, the smuggler, the Sith warrior, the bounty hunter, the Jedi knight, and the Imperial agent. The studio has now revealed the final two professions: the Sith inquisitor, an evil Force-powered character reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine who is capable with a lightsaber but possesses an array of even-deadlier Force powers; and the Jedi consular, which is patterned after the Knights of the Old Republic profession and is also good with a lightsaber but is better with light-side Force powers and tends to look for ways to resolve conflict with words, rather than with a fight.

The development team reiterated its commitment to deliver an enjoyable Star Wars experience above all else and suggested that this outlook also influenced the game's character design. Rather than focus on standard online role-playing game archetypes such as healer, tank (frontline fighter who soaks up damage from enemies), and DPS (or damage per second, a combat character that focuses on dealing as much damage as possible), the team is focusing on creating characters who are fun to play and provide the kind of experience you'd expect from playing such a character in a Star Wars game.

However, in the interest of game balance, the studio is adding several game features that will help make the game enjoyable to play without having lopsided character classes or forcing players to group with certain other professions to have any kind of chance. For starters, each class is being designed around a number of different themes that can apparently be specialized in to customize your character around your playing style. The example given was the smuggler profession, whose general themes include luck, recklessness, opportunity, and cowboy. These themes contributed to designing the class around two different archetypes: a gunslinger archetype that uses such skills as taking cover in combat and using a "dirty kick" attack in melee, while carrying dual pistols into battle and using smooth-talking skills to get out of sticky situations; and a scoundrel archetype that focuses more on stealth and critical headshot hits, as well as unconventional medical skills--reminiscent of the way Han Solo rescued a frostbitten Luke in The Empire Strikes Back by gutting a tauntaun and shoving Luke's body into the beast's warm carcass.

In addition to this open-ended character design, the team will add computer-controlled "companion" characters that your character will meet and join over time, and can call upon as needed. Two examples shown by the developers were Khem Val the Dashade, a Sith inquisitor whose powerful lightning-based abilities provide excellent ranged damage, and Xalek the Kaleesh, a Sith apprentice who deals heavy bursts of damage with his lightsaber attacks.

The presentation ended with a hands-off demonstration of the Jedi consular character in motion on the Jedi home planet of Tython as the character did battle with squat humanoid "flesh raider" enemies. The consular seems to be pretty handy with a lightsaber but is even better at using Force powers, including mind maze, which is an ability that temporarily stuns a group of enemies and prevents them from attacking, and Force slam, which is a telekinetic power that lifts an enemy in the air and then smashes it down into the ground. The consular also has a meditation skill that briefly incapacitates the character but quickly regenerates spent Force powers--a much-needed feature that would have been welcome in Knights of the Old Republic and will probably make the lives of Jedi characters much easier in The Old Republic.

We then moved from our hands-off demonstration to hands-on time with the Sith inquisitor profession on the starting planet of Korriban. Korriban, as you may recall from the Knights of the Old Republic games, is the homeworld of the evil Sith--effectively, the dark Jedi of the Star Wars universe. In both of those previous games, Korriban was a world in transition--while the Sith have established a home base and training ground on the planet, they also run an active excavation outfit in the Valley of the Dark Lords, a series of deserted desert tombs where mighty Sith warlords, and their mighty Sith secrets, lie entombed.

In the Knights of the Old Republic games, players ran missions for the Sith to explore these tombs in search of artifacts, escaped slave laborers, and treacherous rival Sith students. In the Old Republic, as a Sith inquisitor you'll end up with similar tasks, though you'll also take on new quests and find yourself working for, and against, numerous Sith academy trainers in short order. Our session began with our character's initial meeting to speak with our first Sith instructor. Once we did, the game initiated a dialogue sequence reminiscent of those in Knights of the Old Republic, complete with branching dialogue options (including straightforward answers and wise-guy remarks) and quick camera cuts between different characters. The instructor, who addressed us simply as "Slave," made a few casual death threats before sending us out to the Valley to retrieve a set of holocrons (basically, data discs) from the tomb of the fallen Sith lord Zash.

Eager to explore Korriban and zap as many people, places, and things with lightning as possible, we made our way to the shortest possible route to the valley entrance using the onscreen minimap, but not without passing by another quest-giving Sith trainer, who demanded we assist her with a different mission--that of smuggling a captured and brainwashed Jedi off the planet to help spread confusion and chaos on Tython. While the trainer very much seemed like a coldhearted Sith and repeatedly threatened us when we did not immediately accept the mission, it raised an interesting question: Who exactly had been brainwashed, the captured Jedi or the Sith trainer who demanded we smuggle the prisoner safely off Korriban? We pondered following through on the quest but decided that it might not offer as many opportunities to zap things with lightning, and we instead made a beeline for the exit.

The Valley of the Dark Lords in The Old Republic looks like a much huger, more-detailed version of the preliminary dig sites from the Knights of the Old Republic games. The entire area is still an inhospitable desert but, in this case, is bathed orange from the intense heat of the sun. The valley opens up into a series of huge dig sites laid out next to each other, and the central walkway is cluttered with metal girders, digging equipment, and other industrial debris. We made our way down to the valley and headed to the tomb to which we were assigned--which was helpfully marked by a waypoint on our minimap--to meet an archeologist character waiting on the outside. The character, who was not a Sith warrior but was still seemingly as cruel and impolite as any Sith, demanded we seek out something called the "Red Engine," essentially a multiple-location puzzle that could be fully activated only when each differently located fragment was anointed with the blood of a slain enemy. That was all we could stand, so we went running headlong into the tomb in search of something, anything, to start zapping.

Fortunately, the ruins were full of living things to make dead. On entering the tomb, we found a separate holocron left by a dead Sith initiate that claimed that rebellious slaves had turned on their captors and reprogrammed the local maintenance droids to attack Sith. So we not only had a reason to destroy escaped slaves and mutinous droids, but we also had a quest to do so. In addition, the tomb was infested by giant caterpillar-like monsters known as "K'Lor Slugs," which, to our delight, turned out to not be immune to lightning bolts.

Our character was apparently built up to be a few levels higher than a character in this area normally would be and was equipped not only with a deadly lightsaber, but also with numerous special abilities. Like in all massively multiplayer games, these abilities are bound to hotkeys on your keyboard, expend a certain amount of energy (in this case, your character's Force energy), and require a certain amount of time to "cool down" before they can be reused. However, unlike World of Warcraft and EverQuest, and more similar to games like City of Heroes and Champions Online, The Old Republic doesn't have a basic auto-attack that will automatically make your character repeatedly whack away at your currently targeted foe. Instead, our character had a basic "saber strike" melee attack and various lightning-based and telekinetic Force powers, such as a simple damaging blast known as "shock"; a powerful stunning attack called "overload," which caused our character to leap upward and strike the ground with his lightsaber while stunning all nearby enemies; and "whirlwind," a telekinetic power that incapacitates a single foe by lifting it off the ground with a gust of wind.

These powers helped us easily carve our enemies into mincemeat as we activated the first few parts of the Red Engine by slaying enemies nearby while picking up the first few holocrons for our main quest. Sadly, time flies when you're destroying enemies you have completely outclassed, so we were unable to complete any of our main quests within our allotted playtime. However, we had plenty of opportunities to crush our enemies and found that while the inquisitor class seems to have limited lightsaber skills, its Force powers more than compensate and definitely make you feel like you're playing a very powerful and dangerous character.

The Old Republic seems like it has much to offer--powerful character classes built on Star Wars fiction rather than stodgy old massively multiplayer archetypes; playable Jedi and Sith characters from the outset; and did we mention the lightning? Though we've finally had a chance to play, we can't help but feel like we've barely scratched the surface of what seems like a very deep game. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more updates.

NewChief

12-12-2009, 01:04 PM

I'll have to say that I'm fairly impressed with the planning on this so far. At first, I thought that you'd just end up with everyone playing sith or jedi. By having two force classes for each side, I think they'll cut down on that tendency.

Sweet Daddy Hate

12-12-2009, 01:12 PM

Can't wait.

keg in kc

12-12-2009, 01:58 PM

I was concerned initially with the idea of the AI companions, although they've always worked well in Bioware games, but after playing skirmishes in LotRO for the last two months, I think it's going to be great. I know in LotRO it's introduced a great mechanic and gives you yet another OCD MMO thing to do (raising your soldier's skills). There are times now I wish I could use my soldier in the world outside the skirmish instances, and that sounds like what TOR is going to do.

This game's going to be huge I think. And not just because it's Star Wars. Because it sounds like it's going to be good.

Sweet Daddy Hate

12-12-2009, 02:03 PM

How are they going to keep everyone from choosing the high-level, more power-endowed classes?

The galaxy needs ditch-diggers too, so to speak.

keg in kc

12-12-2009, 02:10 PM

How are they going to keep everyone from choosing the high-level, more power-endowed classes?

The galaxy needs ditch-diggers too, so to speak.My experience in MMOs has always been that the majority of players have tendencies or roles they fall into regardless of what the best classes are in min-max terms. Although on the other hand you have players (like me) who randomly change from game-to-game. I know in EQ I was a bard, in WoW I was a tank and in LotRO I'm a lore-master.

That's actually something that concerns me a little about TOR in that they're trying to get away from the Tank/DPS/Buffer/Healer mindset as they mentioned in the article. People are going to have to find their way in a world without traditional MMO roles. There's probably going to be a lot of kicking and screaming while it happens, too; folks are resistant to change. "THAT'S NOT HOW WOW DOES IT!"

My guess is though they'll be doing a lot of tuning in beta. Although it also sounds to me like they're not making any classes more powerful than others, they're just giving them different ways to do the same general things. Several of the classes have crowd control, several do ranged damage, several have melee skills, and as the article mentioned (first I'd heard of this...) each class will have its own skill trees that allow them to specialize in different areas.

It'll be interesting to see.

Sweet Daddy Hate

12-12-2009, 02:19 PM

My experience in MMOs has always been that the majority of players have tendencies or roles they fall into regardless of what the best classes are in min-max terms. Although on the other hand you have players (like me) who randomly change from game-to-game. I know in EQ I was a bard, in WoW I was a tank and in LotRO I'm a lore-master.

That's actually something that concerns me a little about TOR in that they're trying to get away from the Tank/DPS/Buffer/Healer mindset as they mentioned in the article. People are going to have to find their way in a world without traditional MMO roles. There's probably going to be a lot of kicking and screaming while it happens, too; folks are resistant to change. "THAT'S NOT HOW WOW DOES IT!"

My guess is though they'll be doing a lot of tuning in beta. Although it also sounds to me like they're not making any classes more powerful than others, they're just giving them different ways to do the same general things. Several of the classes have crowd control, several do ranged damage, several have melee skills, and as the article mentioned (first I'd heard of this...) each class will have its own skill trees that allow them to specialize in different areas.

It'll be interesting to see.

Well, I ask because they're going to have soldiers on both sides, and this is SW we're talking about; who the hell wants to be a grunt with a blaster when you can choose to wield force-powers and a lightsaber?

When I was a kid out playing with my friends in 1977/78, I don't recall anyone fighting over "who gets to play the Republic soldier in the goofy helmet who gets his ass shot off by Stormtroopers before Vader enters stage-right"?:D

keg in kc

12-12-2009, 03:33 PM

There were plenty of people who wanted to be han solo, and more than a few boba fetts.

Sweet Daddy Hate

12-12-2009, 03:39 PM

There were plenty of people who wanted to be han solo, and more than a few boba fetts.

Well of course there were. But bounty hunters and smugglers are more desirable than being trooper#32 or soldier getting choked.

keg in kc

12-29-2009, 05:09 PM

Sweet video on the two Sith classes:

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NewChief

12-29-2009, 05:49 PM

Well, I ask because they're going to have soldiers on both sides, and this is SW we're talking about; who the hell wants to be a grunt with a blaster when you can choose to wield force-powers and a lightsaber?

When I was a kid out playing with my friends in 1977/78, I don't recall anyone fighting over "who gets to play the Republic soldier in the goofy helmet who gets his ass shot off by Stormtroopers before Vader enters stage-right"?:D

This was my major concern as well. After watching videos of the gameplay with the various classes... and seeing them make two difference "force" classes for each side... I think this is less of a concern.

If there was one jedi class per side, then I think everyone would flock to it. Since there are two jedi classes per side, I think you'll see people feel more free to explore the classes outside of the jedi.

keg in kc

01-02-2010, 04:09 PM

Who is the Imperial Agent? (http://cdn-www.swtor.com/news/blog/20100101_001)

The Imperial Agent is the ghost inside the Empire who ensures the people’s loyalty. She could be your neighbor, your lover or your superior officer. When rebellion stirs, she silences or discredits those who commit treason. She’s always alert, always watching for signs of dissent, and with a word, she can consign you to a dark cell for the rest of your life.

The Imperial Agent is the undercover spy who’s earned the trust of powerful individuals inside the Republic. She attends all the best parties, steals the plans of Senators and generals, and knows just what to sabotage and just who to kill to bring whole fleets crashing down around her. When she’s discovered, she’ll disappear with a smile.

The Imperial Agent is the special operative who cleans up the messes made by Sith Lords who can’t see the big picture—or who further their own agenda at the expense of the greater good. Without anyone realizing it, the Imperial Agent keeps the Empire from falling apart by arranging backroom deals and undertaking secret missions into the underbelly of the Empire.

The Imperial Agent is the Intelligence officer who hunts down enemies no one else ever hears about—conspiracies, rogue Jedi, ascendancy malcontents, black ops groups inside the Strategic Information Service, and worse. No one will ever know about her victories, but the secrets she collects make her powerful… and that’s the way she likes it.

Long story short? The Imperial Agent is an expert at infiltration, seduction and assassination. She’s part of Imperial Intelligence. And she’s whoever she needs to be to get the job done.

Creating a New Class

One of our goals for the Imperial Agent was to take a fresh look at the Star Wars™ universe. We know what life is like for Jedi and Sith, smugglers and bounty hunters—but what does it mean to be a citizen of the Empire, charged with protecting its people and bringing glory to its Sith rulers? What does it take to be part of a military machine—not as a soldier on the front lines or a scheming Grand Moff, but as a player in politics and espionage? What sort of person navigates a galaxy of superweapons and superhumans with only his training and his wits, knowing that one wrong word could mean secrets exposed and wars lost? What’s the ultimate goal for such an individual? Power? Thrills? Or simply an Empire safe from its enemies?

The Imperial Agent is an unusual class in that it doesn’t neatly fit a specific Star Wars movie archetype. Oh, espionage clearly has a role in the setting—in the original trilogy alone, we see stolen Death Star plans, mysterious cloaked informants, good-hearted businessmen blackmailed into betraying old friends, infiltration teams flying salvaged enemy ships, and more—but the operatives themselves are rarely front-and-center. In a game with the scope of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, however, creating a class to deal directly with this setting element seemed natural.

That addresses the “agent” part of the class. But why “Imperial”? We see a lot of loyal officers of the Empire in the films without getting inside their heads. Grand Moff Tarkin is the only character Darth Vader ever treats as an equal—he can stare Darth Vader down even as Vader violently chokes people around him. But why? How does an ordinary man like Tarkin come to “hold Vader’s leash,” and how would a lower-ranking officer ever survive a Sith’s wrath? Is it by proving yourself invaluable, or by having a secret edge your superiors can’t beat?

There’s also a lot to be explored in the role of the defender of a despotic nation. The Sith Empire has done terrible things, yes—but trillions of ordinary Imperial citizens believe in its cause. The Empire isn’t mired in the chaos and mediocrity of the democratic Republic. The Empire promises that great men will rise to the top, and lesser men can be proud to serve. Many Imperial Intelligence officers are genuinely patriotic, believers in the system… and others are jaded, self-serving or idealistic reformers. If we were going to create a game where half our stories take place from the Imperial perspective, we needed a class that dived deep into the Imperial story.

Secrets of the Imperial Agent

That’s enough background and context. Let’s talk specifically about what you’re going to see and do in the Imperial Agent class story.

It all starts on Hutta, where XXX XXXXXX is trying to XXXX the XXXXXXXXXX of XXXXXX the Hutt. After XXX XXXXX XXXXXXX, the Imperial Agent XX XXXX XX XXXXXXXXXXX X XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX on behalf of Darth XXXXX. He’ll work alongside a genetically enhanced XXXXXXX, encounter double-agents and triple-agents, betray XXX XXX XXXXXX or perform atrocities in the name of the Empire. The Imperial Agent will need to determine his own loyalties and the loyalties of those around him, and survive the attentions of XXXXXXX successor, the Sith Lord XXXXX XXXXXXX.

The Republic military, the SIS and the Jedi will all have a part to play as well, and that’s just the beginning—enough to give you a taste without spoiling what’s to come.

Conclusion

Playing the Imperial Agent isn’t for everyone. He’ll never be out front with a Lightsaber or torching Droids with a flamethrower, and he’ll never receive fame and recognition for his successes. The Imperial Agent lives in the shadows and, when he does his job right, no one ever realizes he was there. His best weapons are a sniper rifle, his gadgets and his ability to charm or lie his way through any situation. He works for an Empire that places little value on an individual operative’s life.

It’s going to be rough. It’s going to be fun.

For those of you giving it a try, one last word of advice: Whatever you do? Don’t trust XXXXXX.

Alexander Freed
Senior Writer

Taco John

01-03-2010, 04:29 AM

This game is going to be awesome. I'm pumped to play the inquisitor as well as the Imperial Agent.

keg in kc

01-12-2010, 01:54 PM

This actually isn't too awfully far off from my 'holiday 2010' expectations:Star Wars: The Old Republic Delayed Until 2011? (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/1060257p1.html)

By Bryn Williams | Jan 12, 2010

EA's CEO John Riccitiello mentions that the company's 'new major MMO' won't hit until next year.
There's some confusion as to exactly which new MMO EA's John Riccitiello was referring to in a statement issued yesterday, but the chances are that BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic won't land in stores until sometime in 2011. GameSpot's coverage suggests that either The Old Republic or possibly Realtime Worlds' APB could slip into next year.

Riccitiello also said that the company is planning to launch "our major new MMO"--presumably BioWare Austin's Star Wars: The Old Republic--in "spring 2011." It was unclear if he meant calendar year 2011, or EA's 2011 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2011.

[UPDATE 2] When asked if Riccitiello was talking about SW: TOR, an EA rep would only offer the following statement: "No further comment beyond what John said. This wasn't a comment about a specific franchise, but a notation on how we are building a plan and guidance for the next fiscal year."

Since December 2008, EA has cut around 2,500 jobs, a figure which factors heavily into our earlier story of the videogame industry in crisis.And a specific spring 2011 statement (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2350365#edit2350365) from a dev on the tor forums:While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

Sweet Dick Willy

01-12-2010, 02:58 PM

BOOOOO!

Sweet Dick want MMO sooner, goddamnit!

Pants

01-12-2010, 04:19 PM

BOOOOO!

Sweet Dick want MMO sooner, goddamnit!

Didn't you lose a bet or something?

Sweet Dick Willy

01-12-2010, 04:31 PM

Didn't you lose a bet or something?

Not yet I haven't, and piss on anyone who thinks otherwise.

keg in kc

02-02-2010, 09:08 AM

keg in kc

02-26-2010, 02:01 PM

New developer video, this one ties directly into the events of Knights of the Old Republic (spoilers if you never played it!):

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Sweet Daddy Hate

02-27-2010, 04:26 PM

Going back to Taris...

Taco John

03-01-2010, 01:58 AM

Thank God I have a job, because I'd have a difficult time finding a job once this thing finally comes out. That Sith video has me pumped.

Sweet Daddy Hate

03-01-2010, 02:03 AM

Thank God I have a job, because I'd have a difficult time finding a job once this thing finally comes out. That Sith video has me pumped.

Yep. KOTOR with real-time combat = WOOD.

kcxiv

03-01-2010, 04:37 AM

i hope this is a real mmo not just a fucking solo mission until your max level then go the WoW route. I want a real mmo where you group and its a fucking bonus to group.

One thing i hate in most games now is that its more efficient to level by yourself. These are fucking MMO's!!!!

joesomebody

03-02-2010, 12:14 PM

i hope this is a real mmo not just a ****ing solo mission until your max level then go the WoW route. I want a real mmo where you group and its a ****ing bonus to group.

One thing i hate in most games now is that its more efficient to level by yourself. These are ****ing MMO's!!!!Yes and no. Rarely do I have 8+ hours to play a video game at one time. And spending 2+ hours assembling a group, getting everyone in position, and then finally start playing only to have one of your group mates drop out because it turns out he's 11 and his dad needs the computer to send a last minute report to work really pisses me off.

Grouping is fun and all, but I don't want it to be the only option.

This is why I three box in EQ when I play MMOs. I bring my own group.

Pants

03-02-2010, 12:50 PM

Yes and no. Rarely do I have 8+ hours to play a video game at one time. And spending 2+ hours assembling a group, getting everyone in position, and then finally start playing only to have one of your group mates drop out because it turns out he's 11 and his dad needs the computer to send a last minute report to work really pisses me off.

Grouping is fun and all, but I don't want it to be the only option.

This is why I three box in EQ when I play MMOs. I bring my own group.

Just get into a good mid-size guild and you be aight. Goddamn, this is making me reminisce about the World of Warcrack days. Before Blizzard ruined the game, those 20/40 man raids were fun as hell.

keg in kc

03-17-2010, 01:52 PM

Set Blasters to Question: A Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/1077651p1.html)

By Anthony Gallegos | Mar 15, 2010

Bring in the interrogation droid...

While we still haven't seen or played much of Star Wars: The Old Republic, what we have checked out is enough to fill our heads with questions. Setting aside the types of queries that only the hardest of the hardcore Star Wars nerds would care about, we sat down with Jake Neri, Producer at LucasArts, in order to find out how the demo we recently played compares to the final product that will ship next year.

GameSpy: How long do you give Star Wars Galaxies until it's dead?

Jake Neri: You know, we still work feverishly on Star Wars Galaxies. We have a team here still dedicated, SOE Austin's still dedicated, I don't see the game dying.

GameSpy: So is the plan to keep them going concurrently, to keep them going at the same time?

Jake Neri: I guess the true answer to that is, honestly, time will tell. We've always said that we'll support Galaxies while the fans support Galaxies. So I think that's probably the true answer. While there are still people playing it, we're still interested in having it going.

GameSpy: Just to clarify, in previous demos of the game, in presentations, you said that for fans out there looking for the next KOTOR, this is it -- this is KOTOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, it's all of those games, all in one. So the content that we played today, these missions, they're for the Trooper class. Will the other classes also be able to go through this content, or is this specifically the Trooper's single-player game?

Jake Neri: You're seeing the Trooper on Ord Mantell, so there is a limited number of classes on Ord Mantell at start. We call them origin planets, this is where the player starts. Those planets are trying to get the particular class off on the story, trying to integrate them quickly into their story, and then also teach them the fundamentals of the game. So we're not bringing all classes, all groups to these planets. You will see other Republic classes here on this planet, but you wouldn't accidentally run into a level 50 Sith Warrior as you're trying to learn how to play as a Trooper.

GameSpy: What other planets are we going to see?

Jake Neri: We've announced a ton of the planets. Starting planets that you'll see... I think we've talked about Korriban, Hutta, Ord Mantell, and Tython as the homeworld of the Jedi. And so those are the sort of the origin planets as we've talked about them so far.

GameSpy: Can you tell us more about the combat system? How do the cover mechanics tie into it?

Jake Neri: One of the things that we showed quite a bit last year was the cover mechanic for the Smuggler. The Trooper is different: The Trooper is more like a run-and-gun -- just guns blazing -- type of class. We wanted it to just have a real pure, fun, DPS class, that relied on the rifle for everything from grenades to fire effects to shooting. With the AI, you're noticing that they are trying to take cover, they are trying to be dynamic, there's a lot of work in progress going there. You'll probably see some of them breaking. But the idea there is that if you're a ranged class, and you're fighting against an AI, they're going to try to act appropriately based on trying to find a way that they might have an advantage over you. They may run up on you, or they may try to take cover and let you duke it out from that standpoint. The Trooper really is just about trying to be at range at all costs. If an AI or an enemy gets up on you, that's where their weakness is, and so we're trying to balance that at the moment with the Trooper.

GameSpy: Have you had any reaction from the community about the final list of classes that you've revealed? Has every archetype from Star Wars been adequately represented?

Jake Neri: Has every archetype been represented? Probably not everyone -- I mean, there's quite a few. What we tried to do, though, with the classes, is start with what the Star Wars fantasy is before we went into, like, "Will this be a tank, or will this be a healer?" That type of "trinity" idea for MMOs. I think we talked about this a little bit last year, but if we're going to do a bounty hunter, let's make sure it lives up to the Boba Fett fantasy. If we're going to do a Jedi Knight, what do the people want in a Jedi Knight?

Once we've got that, and we feel like we're delivering on that fantasy for the player, then we'll go ahead and figure out how the gameplay works for them in terms of a group mechanic and that sort of thing. If the community is satisfied... I think they're pretty satisfied. I think almost every one of our classes has been well-received.

There are some that... I guess when you're doing eight classes, you imagine some will resonate more than others. Maybe we've been surprised by some of the ones that people are really drawn to. The Trooper, for instance, has been one that it seems like the community really likes a lot. Imperial Agent is another one that I think is new and unique. We always say, "Well, people are going to love Sith and Jedi," but they've equally loved some of the other classes in there like the Agent, which is one that we've crafted from a number of Star Wars archetypes.

GameSpy: How does the team go about balancing the ability to make players feel like they're heroes with also presenting them with an actual challenge?

Jake Neri: The challenge part is ongoing for us. We haven't nailed it all the way through the game yet. But, as a philosophy, we're trying to make the player feel heroic early. One of the ways we're doing that, and we talked about it quite a bit, is we're trying to do more cinematic, more visceral combat. We want you, at an early level, to have abilities that make you feel cool. And if you're going to do them a lot, they have an interesting payoff. Over-the-top grenade effects, for instance, at level two or three for the Trooper, might be different from what you get in other games, where you're sort of progressing all the way through to the end and then you're really a bad-ass. That philosophy for us is something that we have to balance against. We'll just consistently work at it, we're in the process of constantly going through the classes and saying, "Hey, does this work, does this need to be tweaked, what do the numbers look like here, how does the AI function here?" You're going to see, as you stick with us over the next year, and watch us evolve, you'll see this stuff get more and more finely tuned and more and more compelling. From the combat, how the characters themselves play and how the AI reacts.

GameSpy: When the game comes out of the gate, is it going to have a strong endgame that's going to keep players glued, after they hit whatever level cap is in place? Or is that something that's coming later, as we've seen some MMOs do?

Jake Neri: Well, we're fully aware of the need for an endgame. We don't have a ton of detail on what we're doing, but we absolutely want to support players who we know will be there very early on. One of the challenges for us as a unit is trying to figure out... How do you roll endgame content out, when is the right time for that, what should it look like? We've got a ton of ideas, we haven't announced anything firm, but we're fully aware of how important that is and how many players want that sort of content. We know, we're aware that somebody will be there 14 hours after launch. We get that. That's what makes it great, that's our challenge, and we're up to that challenge, I think. We've got a lot of designers that understand that, we've got a number of strategic folks that understand that. Everybody knows the challenge.

GameSpy: I would think that it's a particular challenge because you guys are focusing, more than any other MMO before, on putting story first. Fully voice-acted, this is like several sequels to KOTOR all in one, and it would seem like at some point the character's going to max out and exhaust all the story options. At that point, do you plan to just... I'm not going to say "devolve," but basically turn into a PVP-focused game, for the endgame players? How are you going to tackle the exhaustion of storyline?

Jake Neri: Well, as the player goes on, they start to branch...so, there's their individual story, and then there's the world story. As you progress you get more involved in the world story. I think maybe that's a place for us to have more repeatable content, or things that players can participate in that make sense in the grand scheme of what we're trying to do with the box. The individual stories are interesting, we think that people will probably want to play one or two of them. I think that's the pattern for people that really enjoy story, they're going to go back through and play that.

And it offers, for newer players that aren't familiar with MMOs, it's an opportunity for them to have their own Star Wars adventure at their disposal, right? With a full story. We do... The story is interesting in the sense that it's different, nobody's done it like this. And yeah, you're right, it does hit on some challenges that we have at the end. We don't want to devolve into just a purely PVP-based game, we would never do that, our story is at the forefront of everything we're going to do. So it's just a challenge that we have to deal with.

GameSpy: Have you guys talked at all about space flight, combat, stuff like that?

Jake Neri: The only thing we've said about space is that we understand that there's a desire for it. That's really what we've said so far.

GameSpy: So can we take that to mean that that's going to be there in some capacity at launch?

Jake Neri: I couldn't say what you can take that as. That would be up to you to speculate. [chuckles]

GameSpy: But you have received requests from the fans? Because it's such a key part of the Star Wars mythos, to have these epic space battles. Do you feel like an Old Republic game could be complete without that?

Jake Neri: I feel like we understand, yeah, from the player perspective, what they love about space. I think what we've shown so far is a focus on a ground game that's really compelling, so you know, anything we ever do around that, whatever the system be, would have to support that character progression and that story, and that really tight, finely-tuned experience. So we'll see.

GameSpy: If I could go back to classes really quick -- when you unveiled them you talked about how the focus was on re-creating these great Star Wars characters, without so much of a focus on the traditional tank, DPS, and healer dynamic that's in every MMO. Have you kind of gone back on that? Because I'm getting the impression that you are looking for a tank class and a DPS class, or is that no longer the case?

Jake Neri: Well, I think that one of the things that we have to do is make sure that people have compelling roles in groups, with each of the classes. Once we start with, have we delivered on the fantasy that people have about the Star Wars archetypes, then from there you're naturally going to get some of that MMO archetype pushing up into that. We're going to find that challenge of, certain mechanics do work, they are time-honored, how do we deliver that? But at the same time, we haven't shown a ton of our grouping yet, and I think that we will show that it will be different from what you have seen so far.

Again, I couldn't really talk to you as much as I'd just have to show you that. We have to work in and blend companions into the mix, which are a real compelling and interesting part of our group mechanics. And so we do have some challenges there. But you will hear us occasionally talk about, you know, DPS or tanks. It's not because we're going away from our core goal of, hey, we want to deliver on the Star Wars thing, it's just that sometimes that's the best way to describe something, and sometimes, yeah, that's naturally what's happening.

GameSpy: Have you butted heads with the Lucasfilm continuity police about anything you've wanted to do or include?

Jake Neri: Bumped heads with them? Not in, I would say, a negative way. No. They're right over there, we work with them constantly, and they've been very supportive. Those folks, this entire organization, has benefited from what we've done with BioWare in the past, right? KOTOR was tremendously successful, it created another subgenre or sub-brand of Star Wars. So they're very supportive of what we're doing, and they've been helpful.

I think last year we talked about the Smuggler, some twists to the Smuggler class, some opportunity to do some off-healing, and that was something that they brought to the table. They were looking at the classes, because all the stuff has to go over there to check through continuity as you mentioned. They said, "Hey, here's a few other things that some of these archetypes have done, are you interested in them?" We said, "Okay, yeah, that's cool." They've been very supportive, for the most part. They'll bust us occasionally on something, but it's never that bad. I haven't gotten fired yet, so that's good news.

keg in kc

03-17-2010, 02:19 PM

Star Wars: The Old Republic Updated Hands-On - The Republic Trooper (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarstheoldrepublic/news.html?sid=6253660&om_act=convert&om_clk=picks&tag=picks;title;2&mode=previews)

By Andrew Park, GameSpotPosted Mar 16, 2010 12:01 pm PT

We suit up with the Republic trooper profession in this upcoming Star Wars-themed online role-playing game.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a studio named BioWare developed a single-player role-playing game called Knights of the Old Republic. It took place in a unique version of the Star Wars universe centuries before the events in the motion pictures. Now, BioWare has returned to this setting with a highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game that will attempt to combine the addictive hack-and-slash nature of massively multiplayer games with the intimacy and in-depth story of single-player games. In The Old Republic, you'll be able to choose a profession that is associated primarily with the plucky Republic, or the growing Sith Empire. This time out, we played the Republic's trooper class--a heavy-duty assault class that doesn't use lightsabers but, instead, suits up in heavy armor and carries heavy blasters and grenades.

We began our session with a rookie level-six trooper (made significantly more powerful for the purpose of the play session with the help of some substantially overpowered weapons and armor) on Ord Mantell, a planet split by civil war. It seems that the Republic's control of the planet is slipping away to a separatist guerilla movement, and our job this time around was to infiltrate a separatist base, meet up with our commanding officer, and get debriefed on the real mission: locating and disabling a force field protecting a powerful bomb that must be defused. However, along the way, we also picked up a side mission from a local journalist who offered a bribe in return for our recovery of certain holodiscs containing exciting footage of separatists--footage that the news networks would love.

We began our mission by not-so-subtly making our entry into the separatist compound, which was casually guarded by various separatist soldiers (including commandos armed with blaster rifles, separatist brawlers armed with melee-range vibroblades, pistol-toting propaganda officers, and security robots). Fortunately, our somewhat overpowered test trooper character didn't have much trouble dividing and conquering each small cluster by engaging each enemy individually in combat and generally blasting the enemy to bits.

The trooper is considered to be an "action point class," in that it has a basic blaster attack (currently called "hammer shot") that not only deals some ranged damage to a target, but also stores up two action points in the character's meter (the trooper can store up to 10). These action points are used to power most of the profession's other abilities, such as "rifle grenade," which launches a single-target explosive that knocks its targets off their feet; "sticky grenade," which launches a different single-target explosive that causes its targets to panic (what with a live grenade being stuck to them and all); and "full auto," which can potentially use up all your character's action points by unloading your blaster rifle on your target in a damaging barrage. Troopers also have a close-range melee attack with the butts of their rifles that can send their opponents sprawling. Clearly, these abilities make the profession crucial not just for dealing damage, but also for controlling crowds of enemies by making sure priority targets are knocked off their feet...and stay off their feet.

We tore through the first few separatist troopers on the map quickly while seeking out our contact; she was staked out in a nearby control room clearly located on the game's minimap. After speaking with her and getting our orders to deactivate the bomb's force field, we headed out to the base's entrance. Again, it was clearly marked on the minimap, and we fought the occasional skirmish with nearby separatist troopers. Interestingly, The Old Republic will actually custom-tailor hunting quests based on your play patterns, so if you happen to repeatedly slaughter, oh, let's say, Ord Mantell separatist troopers, the game will craft a miniquest for you that will reward you for killing a few more of them (in this case, a total of 20). Fortunately, our powerful character had little trouble patiently isolating individual targets and filling them with holes like interstellar Swiss cheese.

Because of our powerful character, we didn't have a great deal of trouble dealing with the base's defenses, which were primarily separatist colonists and robots. Thus, we soon got on the trail of the bomb. On our way to the center of the base, we found a small party of injured (and terrified) separatists, who begged for their lives. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and let them escape. At that point, LucasArts producers informed us that we'd normally receive light side points (this wasn't implemented at the time we were playing). Soon, we found our main target--a control room where a frightened separatist soldier claimed that the bomb had been moved and that Republic scum like us would never find it. At this point, we entered into a three-sided dialogue with the soldier and our commanding officer--who had also tracked down the target--and gave us an order to pull out our weapon to shoot the man on the spot. Rather than take the dialogue option of agreeing to the order, we chose to refuse in favor of interrogating the man thoroughly (which would probably have earned us more light side points). He folded and revealed that the bomb had been moved to an unknown location and his separatist commanding officers had fled.

With our quest log updated to locate the fleeing separatist officers, we tracked them down in a nearby room and entered into a two-sided dialogue. We did our best to come to a peaceful resolution, though the panicky fugitives refused to listen to reason and opened fire. We gunned them down in short order, completing our primary mission. This left us to complete our side quest to hunt down the missing journalist and his holodiscs. We found the idealistic young man soon afterward, modifying the content of the discs to suit the separatist's agenda since he had become swept up in the movement. We engaged the young man in dialogue and decided we'd had enough of going after light side points and demanded the discs on pain of death. The journalist revealed that the discs were stolen by separatist propaganda officers. We ventured back out to the base to locate some propaganda officer spawns and summarily executed them, picking up the discs as loot. We then left the base to find that the main bridge going from the compound to the outside world had been completely destroyed. We hopped down into the ravine below to find our journalist contact to hand off the discs for our reward, hightailed it back to the main base to collect our reward for the main quest, and picked up several new ones from needy settlers and military officers.

Though our time with the class was short, we can tell that the Republic trooper is clearly a tough customer who can dish it out, as well as take it. We'll continue to bring you updates on this highly anticipated game as soon as we can.

Taco John

03-17-2010, 03:04 PM

Pants

03-17-2010, 03:09 PM

I want solid PvP with some fucking balance. Also, sounds like they don't really know what to do with endgame, so I guess we'll be seeing expansion packs every 3 months?

keg in kc

03-17-2010, 03:22 PM

Not me. I won't even play it if I have to rely on others to pass the game. I'm a one man wolf pack.That's the way I've played every MMO I've been a part of for the last 10 years, from EQ to SWG to WoW to LotRO. If I group it's because I want to, not because I have to. It's certainly become easier to solo with the most recent games, but it's always been possible.I want solid PvP with some ****ing balance. Also, sounds like they don't really know what to do with endgame, so I guess we'll be seeing expansion packs every 3 months?We'll be seeing expansion packs every 3 months regardless, I'll bet.

As far as endgame, they're still more than a year away from release. Although I'd be surprised if they don't have a lot more figured out than they're sharing at this point. They seem to be following a specific plan for meting out informaion.

Pants

03-17-2010, 03:33 PM

That's the way I've played every MMO I've been a part of for the last 10 years, from EQ to SWG to WoW to LotRO. If I group it's because I want to, not because I have to. It's certainly become easier to solo with the most recent games, but it's always been possible.We'll be seeing expansion packs every 3 months regardless, I'll bet.

As far as endgame, they're still more than a year away from release. Although I'd be surprised if they don't have a lot more figured out than they're sharing at this point. They seem to be following a specific plan for meting out informaion.

Yeah, but considering it's a massive MMO with unique stories and quests for different classes on top of everything else, they'll need at least 6-7 months of playing through it to fix bugs, so I'm betting the game itself is pretty much complete.

I'm not buying this if there's no real PvP, though. What's the point of getting "phat lewtz" if you can't own people with it?

keg in kc

03-17-2010, 04:00 PM

Yeah, but considering it's a massive MMO with unique stories and quests for different classes on top of everything else, they'll need at least 6-7 months of playing through it to fix bugs, so I'm betting the game itself is pretty much complete.No doubt. My guess is they have their endgame, they just aren't at the point in their marketing where they're talking about it yet. Plus the interview was a lucasarts guy, not a bioware guy.

You know, speaking of development timeline, I don't even know if (external) closed beta has started yet. We signed up in, like, December, wasn't it? But I haven't heard a word about beta since then.I'm not buying this if there's no real PvP, though. What's the point of getting "phat lewtz" if you can't own people with it?I couldn't care less about PvP. The last time I PvPed was probably 5 years ago (Illidan was actually my original WoW server).

I grew out of it. I'm exclusively a PvE player now.

kcpasco

03-19-2010, 12:36 PM

Pants

03-19-2010, 03:00 PM

I've been keeping up on the updates and I really feel this one might give WoW a run for its money.

All the other MMO's have tried and failed miserably but this one feels different.

I can't wait for this game.

I really hope Bioware can do it, but it honestly sounds to me like they don't have the MMO formula quite figured out. I have no doubts that the game is going to be amazing for a while, I just don't know how it's going to be sustained to have the longevity of WoW. I'm also wondering what Blizzard has up its sleeve with their brand new IP MMO.

keg in kc

03-19-2010, 03:17 PM

As far as the perfect MMO formula goes, I'm not entirely sure even Blizzard knows what made WoW as big as it was.

The question for me, from the moment it was announced and BioWare started talking about adding the story pillar to the MMO genre, was just how successful that approach would be. Because that's something that many of the MMO gamers I know have actually looked at as a negative. Even me to a point. Most of my time talking to NPCs in WoW, and in LotRO now, has been tabbing as quickly as I can through tedious walls of text to get to the next monotonous grind the game has to offer. And in that light I'm not sure that, at the end of the day, your average WoW player gives two shits about story. MMO's, so far, have basically been about giving players a never-ending supply of braindead clicking, and not about following a storyline or doing anything else that requires thinking.

I hope it works, though. It would be nice to have a little more meat in the genre.

keg in kc

03-19-2010, 03:33 PM

I did some digging and found some additional recent endgame discussion:Star Wars: The Old Republic end game is 'brand new system' (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=238122)

Bioware says it's 'never been done in an MMO before'

Tuesday 9-Mar-2010 4:44 PM

Bioware has revealed that end game content in Star Wars: The Old Republic will mix the classic MMO system with "something brand new".

The 'endgame' content offers players incentives to stay in the game once they've reached maximum level.

Speaking to PC Gamer in its new 'MMO issue', the game's creative director James Olhen said:

"We're looking at classic [endgame] systems, but we're also doing something brand new that hasn't been done in an MMO before. So we're going to mix those two together."

Olhen then got hushed by the game's product manager, but added that Bioware was keen for players to continue questing after hitting maximum.

"We want to make sure the endgame isn't completely different to what you have been doing," he said. "So there will be a natural progression... We want to make sure that when people play ToR they feel like they never run out of content... that it's an epic story."And then some lucasarts comments on those comments (http://darthhater.com/2010/03/15/jakeneri-jamesohlen-endgame-intertwining-pillars/):First, we have to address James Ohlen. First off -- he is a total badass. He probably did more really amazing RPGs than anyone around, so he is allowed to say things like that. He is allowed to think outside of what us, the rest of us normal humans, are allowed to think about.

I think what he talking about is that we do have aspirations to do some really exciting things. One of the things that we want to try to do with our endgame is something that is very much Star Wars, so I don't know how you want to interpret that, but I think is what James is hinting. I don't think anyone has had an endgame quite like what Star Wars delivers.

The main point is that we have aspirations of doing something really exciting. We understand about what people want to do in an endgame, so we want to make sure that we fulfill that. We also want to make sure that we push the boundaries on what is possible and what is cool.

I didn't talk to James about the comment, but I know where he comes from and where he thinks. He thinks a little bit differently than everybody else. So I am guessing that it is going to be good. If James says it's going to be good, then it is going to be good. That is the stamp that you need.So it looks like they maybe have a better idea than came across in the other article I posted.

Not a surprise, but apparently they're going all-out at E3.

kcxiv

03-20-2010, 12:20 AM

I dont like PVP much myself. I want a game thats built for PVE. I like raiding. I like killing big bad meanies to get my phat lewts. For me its not about the phat lewts. Its about killing a meanie with 24- whoever many ther people. Back in Everquest doing certain raids liek Xegony, Rathe Council and Ralloz Zek The Warlord required 65-80 something people and sometimes even more.

I want a PVE game that isnt all that focused on PVP. I dont need the game to be a WOW killer. I just need a fun game that has a healthy population and i am set.

Here is an Everquest raid i frapp'ed about 3-4 years ago. This was a 54 man raid. This shit was fun. I died at the end cause he asshole tank pulled a rampaging mob toward me when i hit lifeburn. He did it on purpose. lol asshole.

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Sweet Daddy Hate

03-21-2010, 07:30 PM

You guys completely lost me.

keg in kc

03-23-2010, 01:34 PM

Official forum post (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2652774) from a TOR developer on group versus solo xp:We increase the XP pool for each group member in it, and then divide that pool. I don't have the number in front of me, but its something we'll be tweaking as we play anyway.

The general gist is that we want to reward grouping, but not so much that grouping is the only way to play the game (something that is very easy to do if you tilt the table too much, and then balance the levelling curve to that rate gain). That being said, as some have mentioned, grouping with another person increases your killing efficiency and reduces your risk of death substantially, to the degree that being in a group of two is vastly more efficient than 2X killing efficiency (this is like most MMOs). Still, you want to reward grouping enough to help ensure that you overcome the friction associated with grouping (finding groupmates, getting to them, tolerating idiots, etc).

Other notes: Yes, we have anti-twink measures. Yes, high level players get shut out if they kill creatures too far below them. This is a fine line - you want to let high level players help their new friends, but you really don't want high level players hunting in low level areas, as that can be disruptive to the lowbies.
Yes, compared to other MMOs, we give you more XP for completing quests and less for killing creatures. These numbers will also likely be continually tweaked.
Yes, harder things give more experience.

Group of 5 level 10's killing a level 10 mob: 100 xp each
Group of 3 level 10's killing a level 10 mob: 100 xp each
Solo person of level 10 killing a level 10 mob: 100 xp

no one gets screwed, no one is forced to group and everyone is happy.

Balancing it's not that easy. Instead, you need to look at XP gain per hour. A group of 3 can kill (let's say) 5X the creatures than a solo player can in an hour, which means that if you give everyone the full XP value, grouping is 5X() more efficient than soloing. If you balance the curve to that, the solo player gets screwed.

In our curve, we push that towards being closer to 2-3X. Still a significant advantage, but the grouper has to deal with all of the inertia of forming a group.

keg in kc

03-24-2010, 04:07 PM

They may be close to testing.

http://darthhater.com/uploads/blog_images/6371/launchswtorlogin.png

keg in kc

03-24-2010, 04:10 PM

That's a screenshot of the page you get if you login to https://launch.swtor.com/.

Which I have done. And seen that page for myself.

Sweet Daddy Hate

03-25-2010, 07:49 PM

Mmmm.....REAL video game; aaaaarrrrrgghhhh......

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oKrPoBRkgcQ/SwISrOs4cFI/AAAAAAAAAYU/mBbSAiqzHd4/s400/drooling_homer-712749_gif.png

keg in kc

04-23-2010, 12:17 AM

WANT. NOW.

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Sweet Daddy Hate

04-24-2010, 04:26 PM

WANT. NOW.

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Sumbitch doesn't want to play. :deevee:

Valiant

04-24-2010, 04:54 PM

No doubt. My guess is they have their endgame, they just aren't at the point in their marketing where they're talking about it yet. Plus the interview was a lucasarts guy, not a bioware guy.

You know, speaking of development timeline, I don't even know if (external) closed beta has started yet. We signed up in, like, December, wasn't it? But I haven't heard a word about beta since then.I couldn't care less about PvP. The last time I PvPed was probably 5 years ago (Illidan was actually my original WoW server).

I grew out of it. I'm exclusively a PvE player now.

I just do not see this game being predominantly pve unless you are talking about leveling up.. After watching some videos, it seems to be going the eve route.. Which there is nothing really wrong with that.. Most of starwars is sith vs. jedi.. Which there is nothing wrong with that..

I have a feeling they will use updates for storiy arcs to further the pvp aspect, in doing so you will have to pve to get items to further the story along.. Basically it is going to make you pve to pvp..

Hammock Parties

04-25-2010, 08:43 AM

So much for STO. Wow.

kcxiv

04-25-2010, 08:51 PM

keg in kc

04-27-2010, 10:31 AM

I dont think this game is for me. Not quite sure yet, but it seems like a solo player game in an open world.

I like to raid and kill big bad monsters. I was hoping this was going to be something like that, but will wait for more info before i decide if i am going to buy it.I would say "wait and see". They've given us almost zero information about raiding, about PvP/PvE and/or about their endgame philosophy. Any kind of perception about what the game will be at this point is coming from you, rather than from them...

That said, nothing is confirmed, but they have inferred that raiding is in. Although the "big monster" part of "big bad monsters" doesn't really fit the star wars mythos in a general sense, rancor or krayt dragon aside. So I'm not sure I'd ever expect to see anything like Ragnaros in Molten Core. Although maybe you could find yourself fighting something like a spirit of Naga Sadow in a temple on one of Yavin 4's moons. Who knows.

I'd wait and see...

oaklandhater

04-27-2010, 11:00 AM

I would say "wait and see". They've given us almost zero information about raiding, about PvP/PvE and/or about their endgame philosophy. Any kind of perception about what the game will be at this point is coming from you, rather than from them...

That said, nothing is confirmed, but they have inferred that raiding is in. Although the "big monster" part of "big bad monsters" doesn't really fit the star wars mythos in a general sense, rancor or krayt dragon aside. So I'm not sure I'd ever expect to see anything like Ragnaros in Molten Core. Although maybe you could find yourself fighting something like a spirit of Naga Sadow in a temple on one of Yavin 4's moons. Who knows.

I'd wait and see...

the amount of raid bosses they can make on korriban should be endless also I cant find the article but one of the dev's said some time after e3 that they wanted there raids to be like the Raid on the death star in a New hope.

Saulbadguy

04-27-2010, 11:24 AM

I'm really not feeling this game right now. More excited for Final Fantasy 14.

oaklandhater

04-27-2010, 11:36 AM

I'm really not feeling this game right now. More excited for Final Fantasy 14.

Asian MMO grind no thank you.

keg in kc

04-27-2010, 12:00 PM

the amount of raid bosses they can make on korriban should be endless also I cant find the article but one of the dev's said some time after e3 that they wanted there raids to be like the Raid on the death star in a New hope.Yeah, as I understand it, at least some members of the TOR team believe that the current raid philosophy is backwards, that many people attacking a single boss is not "heroic" at all, that the bosses are actually the 'hero' philosophically-speaking in that situation, and that raids should really be the players facing insurmountable odds like, as you mention, Han, Luke and Obi Wan rescuing Leia.

We'll see what they come up with. One of the raid skirmishes in LotRO that I played this weekend is called "Survival in the Barrow Downs" and it's basically unending waves of undead attacking until they finally kill you. I really hope they're not heading toward something like that. If they can find a creative way to re-create that Death Star sequence to where it's not "raid group fights enemies non-stop for 60 minutes", it could be good. Fighting wave after wave of enemies gets old very quickly.

Either way, as I mentioned, they really haven't shown anything at this point. All our speculation is built out of snippets from interviews and articles.

Sweet Daddy Hate

04-28-2010, 02:03 PM

I'm really not feeling this game right now. More excited for Final Fantasy 14.

Well, enjoy being ghey then...:)

Hammock Parties

05-04-2010, 11:30 PM

Keg, can you turn off the autoplay on that video you posted?

keg in kc

05-04-2010, 11:35 PM

Keg, can you turn off the autoplay on that video you posted?Post 176?

Wish I could. That's beyond my technical skills, unfortunately. I'll see if I can't find a youtube link to replace it.

keg in kc

05-04-2010, 11:44 PM

Hey clay, you have a quote with an autoplay vid in it, post #34. I changed the original (going back through the thread and fixing them all - looks like the direct links from bioware autoplay).

keg in kc

05-12-2010, 09:59 PM

There may be some significant info coming out tomorrow morning:Star Wars: The Old Republic participated in the EA UK Press Event in London over these last few days. Starting 9am UTC/GMT tomorrow [That's 2am PDT, 4am CDT, 5am EDT], the embargo on this event will be lifted and you'll begin to see various updates across the web pertaining to this.

Pants

05-13-2010, 10:17 AM

Yeah, as I understand it, at least some members of the TOR team believe that the current raid philosophy is backwards, that many people attacking a single boss is not "heroic" at all, that the bosses are actually the 'hero' philosophically-speaking in that situation, and that raids should really be the players facing insurmountable odds like, as you mention, Han, Luke and Obi Wan rescuing Leia.

We'll see what they come up with. One of the raid skirmishes in LotRO that I played this weekend is called "Survival in the Barrow Downs" and it's basically unending waves of undead attacking until they finally kill you. I really hope they're not heading toward something like that. If they can find a creative way to re-create that Death Star sequence to where it's not "raid group fights enemies non-stop for 60 minutes", it could be good. Fighting wave after wave of enemies gets old very quickly.

Either way, as I mentioned, they really haven't shown anything at this point. All our speculation is built out of snippets from interviews and articles.

I don't know, figuring out patterns and bringing down the big bad boys in WoW was incredibly fun. Towards the end of my playing time, to bring anything worthwhile down in the end game took immaculate team work and felt pretty rewarding. WoW raid bosses felt epic and I hope the KOTOR end game has something similar. Going into an instance situation by yourself sounds really fucking awesome too, but they should def. have some huge bosses with epic loot in the end.

Hays

05-13-2010, 10:28 AM

I hope this game is good, i need a new mmorpg.
Daoc is the last game i played for years.
WoW just got boring
SWG i liked until they redid it and now its crap
I tried numerous others but they just don't have the appeal

I just doomed this game with what i hope it becomes

keg in kc

05-13-2010, 10:36 AM

All kinds of new information is starting to leak out today. They've confirmed the first non-human playable race (Rikkitaki) and that each of the 8 core classes will have two subclasses (first two announced are Sith Warrior subclasses Juggarnaut and Marauder). Hands on demo this time was Bounty Hunter:Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands On (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-pre-e3-hands-on?page=1)

MMO PC Hands On by Jon Blyth
Today 09:00

I've read a number of previews of Star Wars: The Old Republic. It'd be hard not to - people have been writing about it for over a year. Not to mention, I sat in a room at 2009's E3 and voted to kill some captain or other. But until yesterday, I still had no strong mental image of what the game would play like. That's not the fault of the writers - it's the fact that the particulars of what BioWare is doing are still in flux, and the developers refuse to talk about anything that's still in flux. Remember that sentence, you'll be hearing more of it later!

The basic recap facts have been worn into my brain, but let's dutifully go through it again: The Old Republic is a fully-voiced, story-led MMO, with eight classes, shocking amounts (fifty novels' worth) of dialogue, and BioWare's trademark branching moral storyline, with consequences that come snapping at your buttocks long after you've forgotten what you've done. Actually, I'm still expecting a slap for killing that captain.

Oh hang on, let me just correct a mistake. There are 16 classes - but we'll come to that later. See, I can prick-tease too.

At EA's showcase yesterday, the first thing that happened was a hands-on of a new class. We were each given a level six bounty hunter, and dropped into a Cantina in front of a quest-giving Hutt. Then, we explored the industrious swamp town of Jiguuna, and a hostile Evocii village.

The Evocii are proud warrior types - they're only hostile because Rikkitaki like us tend to be bounty hunters, bounty hunters work for Nem'ro The Hutt, and Nem'ro tends to send bounty hunters to kill them. Nem'ro's personality is best illustrated by his idle animation - he coughs into his palm, and licks whatever came out.

Worth mentioning at this stage - this is the first non-human playable race. When I ask about others, I'm given an entertainingly evasive answer that they'd only be using humanoid races because love scenes get weird with blobs. If we ever do make contact with lovely blue tit and dick creatures, I can't help but suspect BioWare will be catapulting themselves naked into space.

Our first errand involves killing Huttsbane, the aggressively named hero of a nearby Evocii village. It was my job to fetch his de-bodied head, but he wouldn't acknowledge my presence until I'd killed four of his Evocii Guardians. Not Scouts or Watchers, although they do look similar - Guardians. It's somehow reassuring to note that the adjectival pedantry of MMO kill quests has survived into TOR.

This gave me a chance to try out the six attacks that every low-level Bounty Hunter will have. It's a ranged class, with a weapon use that isn't limited by rage, mana, or energy - the Bounty Hunter has to deal with heat.

Decent attacks - the knockdown area-of-effect Missile Blast, and channelled Flame Thrower - all accumulate heat, and once your guage is full, you're stuck with phaser fire and the longer cooldown attacks like the paralysing Electro Dart, and the hugely damaging, but conditional Rail Shot. (To fire the rail shot, your target must be stunned, sleeping, or on fire). Our final move is the desperate Vent Heat, which can cool you down once a minute, and give you a chance to deal some heavy damage again.

The mobs aren't challenging - if you've read anything about TOR, you'll be aware that Lucasarts and BioWare's interpretation of heroism is to allow you to fight multiple regular mobs with only one eye to your HP. But once I do confront Huttsbane, I'm given the option to not fight, and take the head of another Evocii in his place. Bounty Hunters have three role-playing options - efficient, merciless, and sympathetic - and just like Mass Effect, the soppier options are delivered with in-character cynicism.

Role-playing doesn't affect your faction, of course. Both factions might have the light and dark path, but there were many thousands of decent German soldiers in the 1940s. That doesn't mean they fought for England.

The ranged nature of the Bounty Hunter means I don't get to experience the connection of light sabres, or use cover - in fact, my pale-faced Rikkitaki mercenary is disappointingly familiar. The second quest, however, brings a smile to my face. It's another head-collecting quest, only this time I won't be given the option to take the wrong head, because I've got to deliver it to his wife. Nice.

OK, about those sixteen classes? I'm ushered into a corner with Daniel Erickson, the Lead Writer and Designer on TOR, and told that I can know something special and new: each one of the eight classes will branch into two specialised classes. It's a classic BioWare device, and in this case, it spares them from having to write 16 epic class stories, as the Advanced Classes will share their narrative. Anyway, at some point, a Sith Warrior will get the choice - does he want to become a Juggernaut, or a Marauder? In MMO language: a tank, or hardcore damage-dealer?

And that's just the beginning of your specialisation - this is also World of Warcraft's level 10 Talent Point moment, where you start your journey down those three skill trees you can never completely fill. It's as big and complex as two distinct classes. It's the beginning of your uniquely tweaked character.

And it's now that I must, with regret, refer you back to the first paragraph. It was on the last page, so I'll write it again, to spare Eurogamer from suffering two free page impressions - "BioWare don't like to talk about anything that's still in flux". These are the questions I asked that are met with a good-natured lack of information:

What will other classes advance into? (We're not currently saying)

How exactly will these skill trees refine the Tank and DPS roles? (We're not currently saying) Is it like, erm, a Paladin? (A bit like that)

When will you get to make the decision? (It's changed a few times, it's not fixed yet)

Given that these branches share a class storyline, will you be able to respec? (Maybe, we're trying to distinguish gameplay from story decisions - you should have to live with your story decisions)

Do you understand how nut-chafing this drip-feed of information can be? (We don't like talking about things that are still in flux)

Something that's always bothered me about The Old Republic write-ups, and something that's been brought up by previous Eurogamer hands-ons, has been the idea of what you do when you're not fighting. Devoid of other players, and with a skeleton crew of NPCs, the world seems sparse. I know this will be fleshed out, but it's still a worry: How will you fill the hundreds of hours that MMOs are expected to fill? Where's my cooking and fishing?

The answer is equally evasive, but upbeat. There's enough content to fill those hours, I'm told. You won't have the time in a single lifetime to discover all the content. Between the two factions, there are no recycled NPCs. It's Knights of the Old Republic 3 to infinity. If you printed out the script and it rained, the Earth would be covered in papier mache. Is big game.

This is, according to Erickson, the result of a brain experiment where they're trying to recreate the game that they imagined when someone first described MMOs to them. And that's exactly it. That is the lost feeling I've had when reading these previews. I find myself filling in the gaps in the official information with the hope I had when I first installed Anarchy Online. All this vagueness leads to hope. And hope is hardly renowned for its realism.

One thing we can be sure of, though: BioWare's simple commitment to story and meaningful decisions trumps its desire to make an easily described MMO. Having mapped out the nightmare logic of Mass Effect's chapter-spanning decisions, and The Old Republic's eight epic class storylines, this commitment must feel like marrying a serial killer. Sure, it's simple to honour your vows, but it's not always easy. Let's just hope it's fun.

keg in kc

05-13-2010, 02:23 PM

Another hands-on article:Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On - The Bounty Hunter (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/starwarstheoldrepublic/news.html?sid=6262359&mode=previews&om_act=convert&om_clk=previews&tag=previews%3Btitle%3B2)

By Jane Douglas, GameSpot UKPosted May 13, 2010 7:10 am PT

We sample Star Wars: The Old Republic's bounty hunter class and the game's first announced playable alien race, the Rattataki.

In its latest demo of The Old Republic, developer BioWare showed off the bounty hunter playable class, adding another archetype of the Star Wars canon to the lineup for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The bounty hunter class is inspired, naturally, by fan favourite Boba Fett. "We want the game to feel as close to the movies as possible," says Daniel Erickson, lead writer. Accordingly, BioWare pays tribute to another "fan favourite," Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, with the Rattataki: bald, pale-skinned humanoid creatures and the first playable alien race to be announced for the game.

Though BioWare is not talking about Rattataki race-specific attributes yet, the bounty hunter's special abilities--at lowly level six, at least--were laid out for us. The bounty hunter is The Old Republic's gadgeteer class; we played as a male Rattataki bounty hunter, packing the basic arsenal of bounty hunter toys. These included rapid shots, as well as missile blast and rail shots. We also had shocking electro darts and the obligatory flamethrower attack. At the other end of the toolbar sat "recharge and reload," a gradual health and mana restorative akin to eating or drinking in World of Warcraft. This was accompanied with an animation of the bounty hunter tuning up his or her jetpack and flamethrower.

We started out in the palace-cum-cantina home of Nem'ro the Hutt, who issued us a quest to eliminate his nemesis, the leader of a nearby Evocii village. Not only did he want us to bring back his head, but he also wanted us to thin out the ranks of Evocii guardians and scouts along the way--four of one and 10 of the other--in classic MMORPG fashion. Leaving Nem'ro's palace (home to a handful of chatty non-player characters and a Mos Eisley-style cantina band), we headed for the quest waypoints on our map, passing through the settlement of Jigunna. This was a hub with vendors and a medical bay, which formed part of the starting area for bounty hunters and imperial agents. It was sparsely populated as we played, though we're told the non-player population will be expanded for a more bustling hub area. As previously seen, environments and character models were attractive, though not excessively fancy, with strong colouring and an authentic Star Wars art style on their side.

On the far side of Jigunna was The Bog, a swampland, and the Evocii village, where we took on the inferior firepower of the Evocii defenders. In combat, the bounty hunter was mobile and aggressive--able to strafe and blast away. It's "not a cover class," in contrast to other classes, says Erickson. Here again BioWare underlined the nonstatic, not-so-automatic combat of its MMORPG. Besides a health bar, bounty hunter characters have a heat gauge that fills as the character uses its special abilities. This heat gauge, which fills quickly and drains relatively slowly, prevents spamming of the most powerful specials. The jetpack didn't come into play at this level, though it became accessible "sooner rather than later" in combat with flight-powered moves, such as, we're told, "death from above."

Upon reaching the village leader's hut, we were challenged to rethink our mission to kill and behead the leader in light of the Evocii's side of the story. This presented a "moral choice" between completing the quest as ordered and collecting the bounty or agreeing to take back another head (from one of the poor saps you already murdered on the way in). The dialogue options were arranged on a Mass Effect-style wheel. They weren't marked as "light side" or "dark side," a la "renegade" and "paragon," though there was a light and dark side meter on the character stats screen, which influences your choices. These choices are potentially more interesting for a bounty hunter--a basically amoral class--than for, say, a Sith warrior.

It is tough to gauge the real promise of an MMORPG--a game intended for an extended, persistent experience--from single quests and character class demos, but the signs for Star Wars: The Old Republic are still good. Keep an eye out for more from this game as its second quarter 2011 release window approaches.

keg in kc

05-13-2010, 02:30 PM

And another, this one more bloggy:Star Wars: The Old Republic reveal playable species with our hands on (http://www.thegalacticstruggle.com/2010/05/13/star-wars-the-old-republic-reveal-playable-species-with-our-hands-on/)

Today, thegalacticstruggle.com managed to get some serious hands on time with Star Wars:The Old Republic and firstly, everyone will be pleased to know that the game is coming along very nicely indeed. After speaking with the guys at LucasArts and Bioware, it’s clear that this game needs to be right when it launches as the expectations from the community are very high. I don’t think any game has so much riding on it and this is probably down to the factors of combining Star Wars and Bioware.

We won’t go too much in to the quest we played today – we will leave that to the other media sites but with our hands on time, we were placed on Hutta as a level 6 Bounty Hunter, taking part in a new story on the planet but probably the most interesting thing was that we were playing as a Ratataki – yes folks – there WILL be playable species in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Players will be able to customise their characters as well. Jake Neri confirmed in our interview that it probably wont be as indepth as the customisation found in Star Wars Galaxies but there will be some variety for players.

During our time with the game, we discovered many neat things dotted around the map – some of which are still work in progress but we did get a chance to take a look in a Spaceport, noticed a few vendors and managed to see inside a Bazaar(auction house). How these elements will play out in the future, we just don’t know as they were not working. Also for the first time, we actually managed to play along side other players – which was alot of fun. I managed to jump in and rescue a couple of others who were pinned down by some of the vile gangsters you will find roaming around Hutta.

Badass Bounty Hunters on Hutta -

The cover system adds a new sense of depth to combat. Instead of the traditional ‘button bashing’ MMO combat, you now actually have to re-think how you will attack. Often, I found myself having to move behind the enemy who were using the crates/speeders/trees as cover, so I could get a clear shot at them and it made the whole experience very engaging.

It’s not Shakespeare but its a damn good story

Personally, one of the biggest surprises was the ’story’. Like some of you, I really didn’t give a rats ass about story as I just wanted to get in to the action and play the ’story’ out myself by actually playing the game. However, once I sat down and the NPC (non player controlled) characters I was interacting with started to speak to me, I suddenly found myself actually CARING about the story and the decisions that I made. This was fantastic! Why? Because from an early stage, you can determine whether you will be a player who actually cares and build up a reputation for being like that, or someone who is a cold hearted killer. By instigating threats for example, you can see how the NPC’s react and importantly, respond. Soon you discover that SWTOR doesnt just become a just game any more – it becomes an engrossing and throughly enjoyable experience. You actually do enjoy the interactions with your surroundings – a great achievement, if you ask me.

Most of the stuff we saw was still work in progress and some ideas might not make the final cut of the game. The developers are trying out lots of new ideas that are either ‘borrowed’ from other MMOs or something that they have created themselves. Amongst traditional Amour/Weapon vendors, we noticed ‘Speeder vendors’ but they werent actually selling Speeders. Instead they appeared to be some sort of taxi service that might put you on a hired speeder bike/transporter and guide you to your chosen Taxi stop. If you think of how the flight masters work in WoW, this is probably how Bioware see this working (IF it stays in the game).

We also saw some kind of personal shuttle device, that might be able to call a shuttle to your location and whisk you away to a different part of the planet, or a new planet altogether but it’s clear that transportation is being taken seriously but how the general mechanics behind how it will work, are yet to be revealed. Our time on Hutta was very enjoyable and as a Star Wars Galaxies vet, I found SWTOR to be very enjoyable and I am extremely excited about the future – bring on the beta!!

Sweet Daddy Hate

05-13-2010, 03:49 PM

Between the two factions, there are no recycled NPCs. It's Knights of the Old Republic 3 to infinity. If you printed out the script and it rained, the Earth would be covered in papier mache. Is big game.

Sold.

keg in kc

05-20-2010, 07:49 AM

Newly-announced planet...

...

Hoth!

Exclusive: Hoth is in Star Wars: The Old Republic (http://www.videogamer.com/news/exclusive_hoth_is_in_star_wars_the_old_republic.html)

By Wesley Yin-Poole - 20/05/2010 - 9:04am GMT

VideoGamer.com can exclusively reveal brand new Star Wars: The Old Republic details and lovely-looking screens.

Star Wars: The Old Republic, due out exclusively for the PC in spring 2011, is an MMORPG set over 3000 years before the events of the films and 300 years after developer BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic series.

It's got eight classes, two rival factions (the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire), an unannounced number of humanoid playable races and single-player RPG style moral decision making.

Here we've got the first details on Hoth, one of the most remote and lifeless planets in the Star Wars galaxy.

Hoth, as keen Star Wars fans will know, was the setting of that cool bit in The Empire Strikes back when Luke Skywalker's squadron of Snow Speeders ran rings around Imperial AT-ATs.

In The Old Republic, Hoth has no allegiance, no government, is contested by players from both factions, has frozen desolate wasteland terrain and is littered with wreckage from a major battle of what's called the Great War.

According to Star Wars lore, Hoth was of no real interest to the Republic until it became the site of a devastating military defeat. At the height of the Great War, Republic and Imperial fleets clashed in the Hoth system in a decisive battle which saw the destruction of some of the most advanced and powerful starships in the galaxy.

In the aftermath of the battle, Hoth became a massive starship graveyard, littered with the wreckage of hundreds of warships from both sides, including several prototype ships the Republic had deployed in the hope of turning the tide of the war. As the war raged on, though, neither the Republic nor the Empire had the time and resources to mount a recovery operation.

Upon learning of the wealth of technology abandoned on Hoth, an ambitious pirate confederation started their own salvage operation. They brought an army of droids and mercenaries and began looting all useful remnants from the wreckage in an effort to piece together their own battle cruisers and create a pirate armada.

In the wake of the Treaty of Coruscant, however, both the Republic and Empire have returned to reclaim what's left of their war machines, and Hoth has become a point of considerable contention. Despite the peace and the planet's remote location, skirmishes have broken out, and now both superpowers have become entrenched - committed to fighting for Hoth until the cold, bitter end.

So there you have it. Hoth is in Star Wars: The Old Republic and you'll be able to go there. Now that you've read our words, check out the four exclusive screens and four exclusive pieces of artwork of the famous ice planet. Then, when you're done with that Star Wars loveliness, head over to our hot off the press hands-on preview from EA's spring showcase event.

Sweet Daddy Hate

05-20-2010, 03:06 PM

Where is the Wampa?

keg in kc

05-21-2010, 12:24 PM

I was hoping for some new Hoth stuff today, but no dice. Their official announcement was the same screens as yesterday. Although there is a vidlet that looks pretty cool.

Sweet Daddy Hate

05-21-2010, 12:54 PM

I was hoping for some new Hoth stuff today, but no dice. Their official announcement was the same screens as yesterday. Although there is a vidlet that looks pretty cool.

I like the online comic-book over there.

keg in kc

05-21-2010, 01:00 PM

Yeah, the new one is really good so far. Much better than the first one.

keg in kc

05-21-2010, 01:39 PM

Sweet Daddy Hate

05-21-2010, 02:29 PM

Bowser

05-22-2010, 09:17 AM

I think it just hit me how huge this game is going to be (dimensionally-speaking). They're a year away from release and they've already announced 13 planets.

(Tython, Korriban, Hutta, Ord Mantell, Coruscant, Balmorra, Alderaan, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, Taris, Belsavis, Voss and now Hoth)

What, are they in competition with Halo 2, Episode 3 to see who can drag the release date out longer?

Hammock Parties

05-22-2010, 10:10 AM

I think it just hit me how huge this game is going to be (dimensionally-speaking). They're a year away from release and they've already announced 13 planets.

(Tython, Korriban, Hutta, Ord Mantell, Coruscant, Balmorra, Alderaan, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, Taris, Belsavis, Voss and now Hoth)

Which doesn't really mean much to be honest.

There are well over 50 planets in STO. Most of them have one tiny area where you can beam down.

Now if they pull off SWG-style environments over 13 planets, I'll be impressed. Exploring in that game was FUN.

Hammock Parties

05-22-2010, 10:12 AM

Newly-announced planet...

...

Hoth!

Holy shit. Well, I know where $14.99 of mine is heading per month starting in a year.

keg in kc

05-22-2010, 10:27 AM

Which doesn't really mean much to be honest.

There are well over 50 planets in STO. Most of them have one tiny area where you can beam down.

Now if they pull off SWG-style environments over 13 planets, I'll be impressed. Exploring in that game was FUN.I don't think there's been official word on planet scale, but there was a mention in a Coruscant developer dispatch many moons ago that you can see for "miles and miles" on the surface of the planet. Being Coruscant, it's many levels deep, as well. So my guess is that the planets are quite large...

I believe there's already more planets in TOR than there were in Galaxies (although my brain's fuzzy, that was so many years ago...). One thing I do remember from Galaxies was a lot of empty, unused space. I don't think you're going to get much of that in TOR, because they're said to be designing every inch of every planet by hand, in typical BioWare fashion.

Just thinking logically, if you're going to have 8 classes with 200 hours each of class-specific story content, and (according to them) none of the content is going to be used across classes, you're going to need a lot of space in which to work.

As far as the STO comparison goes, this game's the polar opposite of that one in that they haven't even announced (or rumored) space combat yet. Everything to this point is taking place on the ground.

Hammock Parties

05-22-2010, 10:32 AM

I could honestly live WITHOUT space combat. I think adding it to SWG made it needlessly complicated, and they should have focused more on making what was already there BETTER.

keg in kc

05-22-2010, 12:36 PM

I'm not big on space combat either. Although if it's done well I'll probably enjoy it.

I actually left SWG before Jump to Lightspeed.

Sweet Daddy Hate

05-22-2010, 12:36 PM

Just embrace the Awesomeness.

keg in kc

05-27-2010, 04:26 PM

Big news this week - first real details on companions:Star Wars: The Old Republic Companions (http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1093317p1.html)

From Chewie to Artoo, we've got new details on the game's companion characters.
May 27, 2010

Today BioWare's giving us an advance look at the first details on the companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare's provided us with an intriguing write-up that's going up on The Old Republic website tomorrow. To make things even sweeter, BioWare's creative director and lead designer James Ohlen consented to answer some of our questions.

Every Star Wars hero needs a companion. Han had Chewie, Luke had R2-D2 -- even Jabba had the cackling monkey lizard Salacious B. Crumb. These characters compliment a player's strengths or weaknesses, and provide company for the epic journey you will inevitably undertake. Whether they're combative, friendly, flirtatious, or even just good for a laugh, companions always contribute to your adventure.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, a variety of these Companion Characters will join your cause. Some will join you for adventure, some for greed, and some for motivations that will remain hidden until much further along in your adventure. The Companions run the gamut from intelligent droids to bizarre aliens, from an honorable princess to a roguish pirate, and each class has a completely unique set to of Companions.

While traveling the galaxy, your Companion Characters will provide commentary, information on plots and directions to points of interest-- all from their own unique perspectives. Companion Characters may act as your conscience, and try to influence your decisions. In turn, you will influence them, and change how they develop as the story progresses. Based on your choices, some Companions will become your closest friends, others may become your lovers, and a few may even become your enemies!

You will be introduced to your first Companion Character early in your adventure. But as you become more seasoned, more will rally to your cause. As you travel with your Companions and get to know them better, they will not only become more powerful but they will also introduce you to a unique series of quests and rewards. Furthermore, you will be able to enhance your companions by equipping them with various gear.

As your team grows and develops, new options, strategies, and tactics will become available. When you're headed to "The Tomb" on Belsavis, who will you bring to watch your back and help out the rest of your group? Do you bring the hard-as-nails soldier who will help keep your enemies' attention off of your group, the gifted battlefield medic who can help keep everyone alive, or do you bring your ever-faithful Astromech whose computer skills may be the only hope for completing the mission? These are just some of the choices you will make while you and your Companions roam the galaxy in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

-- BioWare

IGNPC: Companions have been part of BioWare games from Mincs to Liara. How has the role or design of companions evolved over the years? How will The Old Republic improve on the existing companion systems? What have you learned about players' expectations for the companions?

James Ohlen: Companions have evolved a lot since the days of Minsc and Baldur's Gate. In Baldur's Gate the companion characters we created were limited to voice over barks and a little bit of story. In Baldur's Gate 2 we expanded that significantly, adding the ability for players to get to know his companion through intricate conversation trees, companion centered quest lines and romances. Occasionally we wouldn't have companions as part of our initial design (Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire were examples of that), but we'd always add them back because companions had become such a staple of our games. In fact, Mass Effect 2 has a storyline that is focused primarily on the collection of companion characters.

With Star Wars: The Old Republic we had to solve for the fact that this is the first Bioware (MMO)RPG that is entirely real time. All of our previous RPGs allow the player to pause the game. We have had to approach how a player controls his companion much differently than before.

IGNPC: Can you give us a few specific examples of how companions might impact a particular player's experience?

James Ohlen: Companion characters have a significant impact on the player's experience. They are integral to the player's storyline. They interject during conversation to give the player their view on things. They give commentary as the player explores the world. They are an important part of combat, providing extra DPS, healing, tanking abilities or even crowd control.

IGNPC: How flexible are the companions' story arcs? Are they merely scripted to provide a solid context for the player's own moral choices or will the player have an opportunity to change a companion's goals and attitudes?

James Ohlen: Players can change his companion's attitudes and sometimes even his moral leaning. It is dependant on who the companion is and what kind of person the player is role-playing as. Some companions can be twisted to the darkside of the Force and others can be redeemed. Some companions can become stronger and more independent or be beaten down until they are subservient. This is done through a system that we are tentatively calling the Affection system. It's loosely based on the Dragon Age affection system and allows the player to change his companion's attitude through his actions, words and even through gifts.

IGNPC: Companions play an important part in the story, but they also impact the player's gameplay options. What types of tactical contributions will companions be able to make?

James Ohlen: Companions add a lot to a player's combat capabilities. Each companion has a specific role, whether it be additional DPS, tanking, healing or crowd control. Companions also have special abilities that can be activated to significantly change what's going on during a battle. One companion might lay down suppressing fire, giving the player some breathing room to escape or turn the tide of the battle. Another companion might trap a tough enemy in an energy bubble, allowing the player to use a divide and conquer strategy in a battle. Players can also equip items to his companion character. This includes standard gear such as armor and weapons. Additionally, what a player equips to his companion can change the companion's behavior.

IGNPC: How do you determine which types of companions work best for each class and each story arc? Will the different classes have the same range of companions? Will Troopers have fewer or more combat companions than, say, imperial agents? Can you tell us how different character types might work with the same companion type?

James Ohlen: Each character class gets his own stable of unique companion characters. All of the companions available to a class are useful in combat. The companions have been built to complement a class, so a class with tank options like the Sith Warrior isn't going to have a bunch of tank companions as it would be redundant.

IGNPC: Who have been your favorite companions from past BioWare games?

James Ohlen: I could give the standard answer of Minsc, Boo and HK-47, but I'll go with something different. From way back I would say my favorite companion was Viconia. She had a long and convoluted development history, and the fact that she became the most popular romance in Baldur's Gate 2 was a relief.

My favorite recent companion is Alistair from Dragon Age. The concept for Alistair is a little bland and unoriginal. He's also competing against the player to be the 'hero' of the story (and players hate that). But Dave Gaider (lead writer of Dragon Age) created a personality for Alistair that worked really well. The voice acting was also phenomenal, so I found myself liking Alistair more than I ever thought I would.