Star Wars: The Old Republic

[keg in kc]

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

[keg in kc]

Thought you guys might be interested in this. It's a write-up of an upcoming PC Gamer article on the game, which includes the very first details of PvP that I've seen anywhere:

I just recently received my PC Gamer US for this month, and they have a preview of the Imperial Agent from the massive 2 day session that so many of us have heard about. I'll do my best to compile the information.

Article Summary

- Bioware manages to differentiate the Jedi starting area from the Agent starting area.
- Bioware has done an impressive job of replicating the lifestyle of a secret agent.
- There are still a lot of kill-and-deliver quests, but there was usually a more in-depth class quest which added more meaning to the area.
-Example: "When I was sent to sabotage the power factory..., I ran into a small outpost of downtrodden locals. If I was headed into the facility anyways, why not earn a few extra credits by stealing some power generators and stomping a few bad-guy faces for 'em"
-"Tales of TOR's focus on story have not been exaggerated: it's immediately apparent that this is a BioWare game. "
-Kaliyo reminds the reviewer of Morrigan: "dark, sexy and disapproving of everything I did"
-Cover activated by holding Shift. This highlights cover locations; you can tap R to roll into the one you're looking at.
-Cover is NOT a flat percent-damage reduction. If you're behind it when someone shoots at you, it misses completely. If you're shooting, you're going to get hit. Cover degrades as it gets shot, and some abilities are designed specifically to shoot over cover or knock you out of it.
-Cover-exclusive abilities (like Snipe- "a high damage ability with a long cast time", Suppressive Fire- "a channeled spray-and-pray technique that hits all targets in front of you randomly", and Explosive Probe- "Sends a small probe to the target that explodes the next time they're hit").
-"Fighting is all about rhythm"
-"Solo Conversation" mode, which allows players to enter conversations alone, even when grouped.
-Kaas City is interesting- "it takes a very interesting twist that involves rival Sith Lords, terrorist cells plotting to destroy the city and a cult of Revanites"
-Crew Skills- Archeology (Gathering skill, able to mine crystal nodes and three rotating missions that the writer could send their companion on- example is a dead Sarlacc), Underworld Trading (spices), and Treasure Hunters (previously announced).

Impressions

-Overall, very positive experience- "I'm thrilled. My enthusiasm for TOR is completely renewed"
-"Companions are the key to enhancing TOR's roleplaying experience"
-"The RPG side of TOR reminds me of Dragon Age: Origins... and the game's PvP system feels like an upgraded version of Warhammer Onlines"
-"I'm starting to believe that BioWare can pull off this massive undertaking- the most hyped and biggest-budget MMO of all time- and if they do, just about everyone will have a compelling reason to play it"

Agent Skill Trees

Sniper
-Marksmanship- cover-based, "take out your enemies from a safe distance"
-Ability- Snap shot- Rolling into cover makes your next snipe instant cast.
-Engineering- "This one's all about controlling pet probes"
-Ability- Detonate probes- Blows up all probes.

Operative
-Concealment- "Stealth and daggers"
-Ability- Waylay- Detonates flash bomb and charge at a distant enemy, attacking them instantly and boosting next attack by 20%.
-Medic- "favorite playstyle", heals allies with probes and bact-syringe guns.
-Ability- Kolto Probe- Sends healing droid to target and stacks up to three times, like the Lifebloom spell for WoW's Druid.

Both
-Lethality- Adds venoms to melee and blaster attacks.
-Ability- Seeker Probes- Sends out probes to target, poisoning everyone around them.

PvP

Combat
-Tanks guard allies and taunt enemies to reduce their damage output on anyone other than the tank
-No player collision
-Deflected damage, taunted enemies, and other effects will be shown visually
-When players are crowd-controlled, their resolve bar fills up. Once it maxes out, player is immune to CC.
-Pace of combat is manageable- no instant kills or burst damage.
-Cover mechanic combined with medic agent is very fun and unique.
-No companions in PvP.

Rewards
-Valor identical to Warhammer's Renown, an alternate PvP levelling system.
-Badge system similar to Halo: Reach rewards for streaks of success.
-Healing and damage absorption is tracked in the match stats to promote and reward tanks and healers.
-Players can "commend" favorite teamates to give them bonus rewards.
-Seperate PvP gear sets while leveling and at max level.

Ships

-Main Room- Contains central computer and Holocom for both players and NPCs.
-Medical Bay- Bacta tank and bed.
-Escape Hatch- Unkown use in space combat.
-Captain's Quarters- No fish tank.
-Cockpit- contains galactic map.
-Engine Room- Shiny equipment, but no interaction so far.
-Mission Terminal- Contains quests that encourage you to do activities taht you haven't tried in a while, such as PvP.
-Companions- each have their own section of the ship

Link to the forum thread is here

[Pants]

FML

[keg in kc]

Was that a "**** my life" or a "for the mother****ing loss"?

[Pants]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Was that a "**** my life" or a "for the mother****ing loss"?

**** my soon to be nonexistent life.

[keg in kc]

I hear that, brother. This game's going to be like WoW was at it's worst for me I think. The real world will feel virtual and the game will be life.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Official developer walkthrough of Taral V.

This looks ****ing amazing...

Just watched this. I REALLY want to like this game, but so far . . . I just don't.

I'll buy it and try it out for sure, but it's going to have to show me something more than this, because that looked pretty much like the same things I've seen in WoW, TBH.

[keg in kc]

I can't really speak to WoW since I haven't played it for 5 years. I will say that 15 minutes of a flashpoint walkthrough is probably not indicative of every aspect of gameplay, and for sure doesn't emphasize what they're pushing as the game's major asset, that being story.

But...I haven't played it, so I can't say for sure.

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally Posted by Silock

Just watched this. I REALLY want to like this game, but so far . . . I just don't.

I'll buy it and try it out for sure, but it's going to have to show me something more than this, because that looked pretty much like the same things I've seen in WoW, TBH.

I guess the big question is, what is SWTOR going to bring to the MMORPG world that other games haven't.

Outside of being based on Star Wars, lots of in-game voice/character acting, is it really going to do more?

i am guessing, there will be questing/grinding, crafting of some sort, PVP and...

It is going to be interesting to see. There is a ton of hype around this game. It wont meet all expectations, but I suspect it will be a pretty decent game.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by thecoffeeguy

i am guessing, there will be questing/grinding, crafting of some sort, PVP and...

All of those are confirmed. They (supposedly) have fewer fed-ex and "kill x whatevers" kind of quests, and most of them are optional side-quests that pop up automatically when you're doing class and world quests. The crafting system is a little unusual in that it's your companions that do the crafting, and they can do it while you're doing other things (or not online). Different companions have different strengths, and there are also treasure-hunting and political quests they can do in addition to crafting. They haven't officially released very much information on PvP, basically what I've posted on here in the last week.

The wild card, the 'and...' you mention is the story. They're designing the game differently from other MMOs in that leveling, under their design, is something to be savored rather than sped through so you can get to the end game. They want 0-49 to be just as important to the player as 50, basically. They don't want TOR to be yet another game where you burn your way as quickly as possible to the cap so you can start the real game.

And I'd imagine some traditional MMO players will have difficulties with that. They're (we're...) conditioned to think about leveling as an annoyance to grind through so we can get to raiding. So cinematic sequences and storylines could be a barrier to those folks. Me, personally, that's what has me the most excited about the game.

That's not to say that there won't be end-game. They just haven't released any information on it yet.

At this point, I would say there's probably a lot more that we don't know about the game than we think.

[Silock]

So what happens at end game? Anything?

[keg in kc]

They've talked about PvP, raiding and there've been whispers of some kind of legacy system (rumor is that it would allow you to play additional classes on some races) but they haven't talked in any detail about the endgame yet.

That's just the way they're handling PR: they are very tightlipped about releasing any information about any aspect of the game until it's set in stone. My assumption is that they will have the same kind of endgame options that people are used to, but with maybe a little more emphasis on alts (since story is such a big aspect of the game).

But I honestly don't know for sure...

[kcxiv]

MMO's are done, its been there done that. THey keep making them easier and easier to do.

I lost all faith in MMO's.

[thecoffeeguy]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

All of those are confirmed. They (supposedly) have fewer fed-ex and "kill x whatevers" kind of quests, and most of them are optional side-quests that pop up automatically when you're doing class and world quests. The crafting system is a little unusual in that it's your companions that do the crafting, and they can do it while you're doing other things (or not online). Different companions have different strengths, and there are also treasure-hunting and political quests they can do in addition to crafting. They haven't officially released very much information on PvP, basically what I've posted on here in the last week.

The wild card, the 'and...' you mention is the story. They're designing the game differently from other MMOs in that leveling, under their design, is something to be savored rather than sped through so you can get to the end game. They want 0-49 to be just as important to the player as 50, basically. They don't want TOR to be yet another game where you burn your way as quickly as possible to the cap so you can start the real game.

And I'd imagine some traditional MMO players will have difficulties with that. They're (we're...) conditioned to think about leveling as an annoyance to grind through so we can get to raiding. So cinematic sequences and storylines could be a barrier to those folks. Me, personally, that's what has me the most excited about the game.

That's not to say that there won't be end-game. They just haven't released any information on it yet.

At this point, I would say there's probably a lot more that we don't know about the game than we think.

It is definitely going to be interesting to see.
There is a ton of hype around this game and I wonder if that is going to impact what people are expecting. Stay tuned.

As of now, I am planning on buying SWTOR and Guild Wars 2. Between those two, Rift and LoTRo, I should be good on MMO's for awhile.

Originally Posted by keg in kc

They've talked about PvP, raiding and there've been whispers of some kind of legacy system (rumor is that it would allow you to play additional classes on some races) but they haven't talked in any detail about the endgame yet.

That's just the way they're handling PR: they are very tightlipped about releasing any information about any aspect of the game until it's set in stone. My assumption is that they will have the same kind of endgame options that people are used to, but with maybe a little more emphasis on alts (since story is such a big aspect of the game).

But I honestly don't know for sure...

And we still dont have a release date yet for SWTOR right?
Best guesses? My guess is late fall.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Official developer walkthrough of Taral V.

This looks ****ing amazing...

Looks very cool. But some of that action seems very very dependent on your companion characters. It's starting to look like they're really forcing the teamwork aspect and it's going to be the only way to get through some points. I guess that's OK as long as it's done correctly. I just hate relying on others that I may or may not know, to get through a level...

[Silock]

I'm more interested in end game, because that's where the bulk of your time is spent. Not sure this game has it.