Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Winters 0]

Greetings Everyone,

I got an email from Bioware announcing a new Star Wars MMO called Star Wars: The Old Republic, taking place several thousand years before the prequals and several thousand after the Sith Wars.

Website

Sounds good and looks fun but I honestly don't know what to make of it considering Empire Divided...

[Andy 50]

It doesn't look very canonical... Coruscant on that site looks like movie Coruscant, not ancient Old Republic Coruscant.

SWG has been going for a long time now; it was one of the first of the current generation of MMORPGs, which include EVE Online and--of course--World of Warcraft. It hasn't been as popular as it once was for a while, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were winding it down a notch. It has never had the following that WoW has (at least not since WoW launched anyway).

Also, this will probably have little resemblance to Galaxies, as that was developed by SOE (Sony Online Entertainment), not BioWare.

Either way, I won't be joining in. Unless it's free, in which case I will possibly take a brief glimpse. :p

[Ender 8]

BioWare should be working on Mass Effect 2, not bothering with this nonsense... :p

[Chickenman 9]

Or KOTOR 3. Which this certainly isn't.

[Winters 0]

1). They're working on Mass Effect 2

2). I think they are working on a KOTOR 3

[Andy 50]

Or KOTOR 3. Which this certainly isn't.

2). I think they are working on a KOTOR 3

Actually, I just did a spot of Google-research, and I think you might find that this is KotOR3.

[Chickenman 9]

That's what I fear it would be.

*Riot*

[Andy 50]

Well they killed KotOR 2, so it was not looking good for 3. lol

[Ender 8]

Now, I know I'll probably never play it, but...

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/01/this-is-...oure-looking-f/

I know it's not game footage, but holy s*** that is cool! And the storyline seems like it'll be amazing.

[Brumak 2]

Holy crap...

CG is getting too incredible these days....almost too incredible for my liking

But damn does look awesome!

[Drake 53]

I may leave WoW for this. That trailer was sick.

[Uncle Du 22]

Whoa.

I can't think of anything else to say. Well, other than, incredible.

[CorSec 5]

Taking a step back from the gorgeous E3 trailer, I'll share some of my thoughts on the game.

Reading some of the developer blogs over the past few weeks I've been disappointed with a few of their design goals. First, they're planning to develop four unique classes for each faction (Republic/Sith Empire), making 8 classes total. What this means is, if you want to play a Bounter Hunter, but your friends are playing Republic; you're out of luck. Bounty Hunters are a Sith Empire class.

Furthermore, they're caught up in this idea of "story" as a "pillar" of the mmo experience. To them, this means each class will be playing through quest content designed specifically for that class. Sure, it sounds like fun for the player, but if I'm effectively playing a single-player RPG designed for me, why is it even online? How does the social aspect of MMO's come into play? Additionally, as any of the World of Warcraft Developers will tell you: Designing a "class" quest is inefficient. They stopped implementing them in vanilla WoW because it was too costly designing 9x the content to individualize the experience for every class. But if the entire MMO is based on this theory? Its wildly ambitious, to say the least.

I love Bioware, don't get me wrong; they're very capable of making engaging, fun RPG's. However, they're new to MMO's, and in the current market, a few mistakes and a weak launch will kill your game. The Star Wars fanbase is wide, but these aren't necessasrily the people who are going to keep paying $15 a month for access. To get loyal subscribers they need to make sure they're making a great MMO, not just a great Star Wars RPG.

[Brumak 2]

First...with the Bounty Hunter aspect...WTF??? A bounty hunter should have no faction holding his/her sway, but monetary gain.

And, with the story as a pillar...I actually like that aspect. I've been waiting for an mmo that can focus on a single class for a player yet integrate the story and gameplay for other classes and players as a whole. A game that can do that flawlessly will have my utmost respect in the mmo community.

I love Bioware, at least the games they've made so far...so I guess I'd like to think that they have a great game in the works. At the same time I hope they're not drowning themselves under an immense amount of pressure.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Brumak

[Uncle Du 22]

Yea, that kinda is stupid what they're doing with the bounty hunters. Is there any word on what the Republics unique class will be? I mean, other than Jedi obviously.

And being that I'm not a big MMO guy in the first place, this might be the kinda game that will really appeal to me, and others like me. Cause I mean, lets face it, you know there's a lotta people out there that wanna be like me.

:p

[CorSec 5]

That's the thing, all the classes are unique to each faction; 4 each. They've only confirmed the Trooper for the Republic and Bounty Hunter for the Sith.

http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes

[Andy 50]

I've always been a bit wary of this game since it was announced...

Continuity wise it seemed odd when I first heard of it; but I'm sure that has all been retconned by now.

I'll wait and see. If I can get a free trial of it I might take a look. lol, also depends how much it's going to cost, etc. :p

[Uncle Du 22]

WATCH THIS.

[Andy 50]

Oh. my. god.

[Uncle Du 22]

Did it happen to say if the Smuggler class was on the Republic side?

[Andy 50]

I think it did... But I was presuming you'd be able to play it on either faction.

[Ender 8]

I think Smuggler is for the Republic and Bounty Hunter is for the Sith, fulfilling the same basic role. Now I really wish that was a single player game.

[Uncle Du 22]

Yea, that's the only thing about the whole concept that I don't like, is that it's an MMO. I've never been one for getting together with people that I've never met in any way, shape or form.

Then again, we could always start a GB faction in the game, then we could at least play with people here. ;)

[Mara 25]

I will, if you pay for my copy. :p

[Andy 50]

And probably subscription. :p