Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nerd-Gasm!

Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hope Trailer

Note: I'd have more to discuss, but the SW:ToR site is currently down due to a large volume of traffic.

As a gamer I tend to sit on the fence lately. It should come as no surprise that some gamers may be apprehensive about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Why should they, we, I, be apprehensive?

Example number one - Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
A game poised to go head-to-head with the MMORPG giant, World of Warcraft. EA, Mythic and Paul Barnett did an amazing job to hype this game up; unfortunately, that is all it had - hype. The game released unfinished and buggy. The client and server weren't syncing correctly and this led to some issues. With each new patch more problems cropped up and what began as a mass influx turned into a mass exodus.

Example number 2 - Age of Conan
While I personally haven't played this game, I knew early on to steer clear of the company producing it. From what I understand is that AoC fell short in the content department. Players were hitting 80 without anything to do. Many I've spoken to agree that if the entire game had been like the starting zone, they would still be playing today.

On to the juicy part of this blog - Star Wars: The Old Republic

Classes:Republic - Jedi - Tank or Melee DPS
Smuggler - Crowd Control/Jack-of-all-trades
Jedi Consular - Melee/Healer
Republic Trooper - Ranged DPS
Sith Empire-
Sith Warrior - Tank or Melee DPS
Bounty Hunter - Crowd Control/Jack-of-all-trades

Sith Inquisitor - Melee/Healer
Imperial Agent - Ranged DPS


Advanced Classes:

Each class has a talent tree, or 'Advanced Class' where the player can choose to specialize in certain skills and areas.


"Advanced Classes are specialized careers that your characters can choose in
Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As your character becomes more seasoned through adventure, you will be given the opportunity to undertake one of two Advanced Classes. This decision is equally as important as when you originally created your character. This is because your choice will not only make your character more distinct and powerful, but it will also help further define the role you wish to play in The Old Republic.
In addition to your Class-specific Skills and Abilities, your chosen Advanced Class will grant you access to role-defining Abilities that represent additional areas of expertise and some may even grant new weapon and armor types. Additionally, each Advanced Class will also have three sets of Skills available to further customize your character."
Companion Classes:
"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 complement 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."
Appearance/Ships and Housing:

Every player, regardless of their chosen class, will get a personal starship. Yes, you can walk around in these, bring a friend and show off your badass lil' pecker package. Of course, when you have an entire galaxy at hand, everyone having the same ride would be pretty boring. Most games allow you to customize your character, Star Wars:ToR allows you to customize your ship. Will it be little fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view? Who knows. BioWare has yet to comment more on this.
Not only will you get a neat starship to pick up some green chicks (see right) in, but you'll get an apartment to bring 'em back to and have your way.

As for the player character, every one of us - in every game - will start out in basic gear. The player can do PvP goals to obtain better gear (BioWare hasn't commented much on this), and as always you may PvE for better gear. Some gear will be aesthetics (eye-candy), but most will be useful, beneficial to the player.

BioWare advocates grouping, but says it's entirely possible to play the game solo. Grouping will be rewarding, fun and beneficial. Not to mention that some instances in the game will require a group.

Speaking of PvP, it was stated there will be group PvP in 'areas of war' and that Alderaan (Princess Leia's home) is rumored to be a PvP planet.

I think I jizzed in my pants...