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Star Wars: The Old Republic: IGN's Exhaustive Community Q&A
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
IGN wasn't kidding when they said they would be taking questions from the community straight to the folks at BioWare, and the results are in. The resulting Q&A numbers 4 pages in length, and contains an assortment of new information and hints. Fielding the questions are senior content producer Dallas Dickinson from BioWare Austin, and Jake Neri, producer at LucasArts.
Some stand-outs below:
On healing:
IGN: A lot of people wanted to know about the healing system. Will The Old Republic use a trinity system; the tank, healer, and the DPS class. Will the healer play a massive role, or will groups be able to go with no healing?
Dallas Dickinson: We want to make sure that we have many, many MMO roles filled there, but it's really important to us that players are able to actually play their experience either as a group or as a solo. So there are a number of ways that healing comes into the game. Several of our classes have healing branches that they can follow that will have some specific healing powers, but we don't want to make it a requirement for the base core game. That said, you're obviously going to be better off, especially when you get into higher-level stuff and into PvP, if you have healers on your side.
Jake Neri: I think we have a unique sort of twist on how healing works. I don't think we're speaking in total detail about it, but I think the people will be excited for it, and it's definitely a unique function of our game.
On space, and customization:
IGN: This is from Mitchell in Texas. I would like to know if you guys are implementing space combat. There are a lot of people asking about space combat, and what type of combat will it be? Will there be dogfights, capital ships? And he says I want to feel like a Star Wars adventurer in the fray, not just another Boba Fett lookalike. Do you guys plan on allowing the player to customize their weapon, armor, and body features with a lot of variety.
Dallas Dickinson: The first one is that we're not talking about space combat yet. The second one is absolutely. We know that customization is a key to MMOs. It's one of the things that players strive for. It's one of the things that makes your gameplay experience unique. Throughout your characters life you're going to be able to find upgrades, you're going to be able to find some custom equipment, so that you will look different, you will feel different. People will be able to identify you by your achievements because they'll say, "Holy cow, you have that helmet. You must have completed this part of the game!" And it'll be a badge of honor.
Some other things covered include the issue of balance between force-wielding and non-force wielding classes, the possibility of player bounties, and more. But mostly, the answers were relatively thin on questions not involving what appears to be the focus for The Old Republic's marketing at the moment: the story.
For the full Q&A, head on over to IGN.
Comments
Precisely zero new info in that Q&A heh...
The PR guys were up to snuff, but that leads to a boring 4 page read that basically says "We can't talk about that yet." and "There will be companions..." and "Story is a differentiator."
Well, my expectations keep falling with each interview.
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IGN: How will The Old Republic differentiate itself from the WoW formula of leveling, grinding the same encounters of enemies, raiding the same encounters of enemies until everyone has the same loot and we quit until more content is added?
Dallas Dickinson: One of our key differentiators is story, right? [It's] the degree to which we are making this a truly cinematic storytelling experience for the players. We've talked all about adding this pillar of story to the MMORPG. And so we're going to be hitting that with all barrels. It's one of the things that makes the game compelling not just the first time through, but makes it replayable; because you can play through as one of our Republic-side characters, and then just start again and have no shared content when you play as a Sith-side character.
IGN: You said at E3 that you didn't want this to be a game about rat killing. You wanted it from the get go to feel like an epic game. Can you talk about that?
Jake Neri: Sure. I think that's where the story comes in, right? Instead of taking mindless quests, you're participating in a journey to do something awesome, whether it's becoming the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy or things along those lines. I think that's really the spirit of what we're talking about when we talk about that. There is combat in the game--you do fight creatures, you do fight humanoids--but at the core of it your story is taking you on your own personal epic Star Wars adventure depending on what class you are. Your experience will be different from anybody else that plays it based on your ability to make different choices of how you develop your character.
Dallas Dickinson: Jake and I sort of tag-teamed on the last question. He gave the mechanics answer and I gave the story answer. On this he's given the story answer, so I'll give the mechanics side of things.
We've talked about many-on-one combat and how different that is. It wouldn't make sense if you were supposed to be a tough, heroic participant in this story and you went out and were taking on one rat in a corner of an alley and potentially dying. You're going to wade into battle and taking on two or three guys at a time. And they're two or three guys who are well equipped, who have real firepower and real abilities. We want that feeling to happen from the beginning. We want you to feel like a hero in the Star Wars universe.
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I am sorry, but I don't want to switch sides every 2-4 months just to prolong the game. That would be the exact opposite of story emersion which is kinda ironic. Give me one class, one character, that I can play and LEVEL for 1-2 years and you got me. It can not be that hard to implement some degree of required standard grinding before continuing on the main story, but that does seems to be the case here.
I fear they GREATLY underestimate just how obsessed and fast a hardcore (ugh detest that word) player will go through a story driven game. I think SW:TOR is looking more and more like a fantastic single player rpg but not so much a MMO. Here is to being completely wrong heh.
"Jake Neri: I think we've actually shown in the gameplay footage of the bounty hunter that yeah, there are abilities that utilize the jetpack. The one that was called out specifically during E3 was the Death From Above power, where you actually jet up, shoot down at your enemies and then release a couple of rockets to knock them down. It's very much reminiscent of Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones."
Yeah....every bounty hunter has a jetpack....because of course, it woudn't be "iconic" otehrwise, if all bounty hunters weren't just like Jengo and Boba Fett. Just like all smugglers will have a pistol, so they can be Han Solo....
Vomit fest. You don't get to create anything new...or be your own character...you're an iconic clone of a Star Wars movie character, playing down a set of rails.
Why not just make it a console game already and be done with it?
People will be able to identify you by your achievements because they'll say, "Holy cow, you have that helmet. You must have completed this part of the game!" And it'll be a badge of honor.
So, um...the only way to get cool custom gear for your character is via questing? What about random drops or maybe a piece of gear made by a crafter? There will be crafting in this game right? If there is, and they have hinted that there will be, how will it stack up to gear gotten via quest? Exactly how much customization will we be allowed with our characters and not just clothing, but with looks as well?
OMG let me interview these guys. I'll get some answers to questions we're all really wanting to know. How much of an MMORPG will this game actually be? Right now it seems like it is a single player game with an MMO aspect tacked on to it. I just get this feeling we're going to be playing a Star Wars game that is going to play like Guild Wars. There will be central zones where players will meet and hangout and the rest of the game will be all instances. Does anyone else get this feeling as well?
Also, and this is a key question...what about an end game? What happens once we complete the story arc to our character? Are we just expected to not want to play that character any longer? Are the expecting us to re-roll new characters and play the game from beginning to end as a new class and a faction so we can continue to play? Because that is what it sounds like to me.
How many times have you guys said you want companies to try something new?
And BioWare comes along and decides to make a very story based, soloable game. And now you are going to bitch because it's not like EQ/WoW with raiding, equipment grinding
Give me a fracking break. You can't have it both ways peoples. Either you want something new or you don't.
And maybe this isn't the kind of new you want. So, BioWare isn't the only company making a MMO.
maybe some of us view this as throwing the baby out with the bathwater??
As in, why can't we have a cool story in addition to all the great things we've come to expect from an MMORPG?
And why the ABSOLUTE LACK of any freedom whatsoever, and the NEED to have everyone playing a clone of a movie character in a pre-defined role??
We wanted an MMORPG, not a single-player console game with a glorified co-op mode.
maybe some of us view this as throwing the baby out with the bathwater??
As in, why can't we have a cool story in addition to all the great things we've come to expect from an MMORPG?
And why the ABSOLUTE LACK of any freedom whatsoever, and the NEED to have everyone playing a clone of a movie character in a pre-defined role??
We wanted an MMORPG, not a single-player console game with a glorified co-op mode.
But financially the only MMORPG doing well is WoW. Perhaps a single-player console game with a glorified co-op mode is a better financial model for EA right now.
Its looks like BioWare is catering to loyal BioWare fans, which there are many of, and I am one of them. I buy every game BioWare makes and this will be one of them.
And I'm not buying any MMOs at all right now, so perhaps this is a smart move for them.
And to be fair we really don't know how group unfriendly this game will be yet. CoX is a very solo friendly game and I was able to find groups for years in that game.
"Memories are meant to fade. They're designed that way for a reason."
maybe some of us view this as throwing the baby out with the bathwater??
As in, why can't we have a cool story in addition to all the great things we've come to expect from an MMORPG?
And why the ABSOLUTE LACK of any freedom whatsoever, and the NEED to have everyone playing a clone of a movie character in a pre-defined role??
We wanted an MMORPG, not a single-player console game with a glorified co-op mode.
Amen.
If they have time, and money, to sink into 138469235698247569824567 lines of voice acting. Then why do they not have time to expand this game beyond a single player console-esque game?
maybe some of us view this as throwing the baby out with the bathwater??
As in, why can't we have a cool story in addition to all the great things we've come to expect from an MMORPG?
And why the ABSOLUTE LACK of any freedom whatsoever, and the NEED to have everyone playing a clone of a movie character in a pre-defined role??
We wanted an MMORPG, not a single-player console game with a glorified co-op mode.
Amen.
If they have time, and money, to sink into 138469235698247569824567 lines of voice acting. Then why do they not have time to expand this game beyond a single player console-esque game?
I'm guessing because they spent all that time and money on the lines of voice acting
OK, so the 4 worlds announced are start up worlds for new characters. So they have more adventure content to develope and put in along with thier settings and/or planets.
Another year at the very least for this one.
My question to them would be: After release, do you have a method to extend the "story" through a Expansion even when a character is maxed level? Or will Expansions only pile on additional features and new systems (ex. Space)? Or do you not plan Expansions?
I have high hopes, because I'm a Star Wars fan.
BioWare makes good games, sure, but the moment they announced a "Star Wars MMORPG", that's what my mind focused on. Playing to an audience other than "Star Wars" or "MMORPG" would seem like a miss to me.
I also have to admit I feel similar to the person a few comments up that indicated everytime s/he reads a new interview they are let down a bit more.
There's talk of freedom, choices, and extreme customization. If so, then why is a bounty hunter 'evil' and why is a smuggler 'good'? That doesn't seem like customization... that seems like pigeon-holing me.
ridiculous they did not answer anything.