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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Flashpoint Interview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
During a recent visit to EA's Redwood Shores studio for Star Wars: The Old Republic "Immersion Day", MMORPG.com Community Manager Mike Bitton had the opportunity to sit down with Lead Writer Daniel Erickson to chat about 'flashpoints'. It's a great interview that covers a wide variety of topics related to flashpoints so check it out and leave us a comment or two.
MMORPG.com: Are all Flashpoints locked to a particular faction? Are there cross-faction Flashpoints?
Daniel Erickson: There are no cross-faction quest givers, so there are places that you end up, most of them are locked to a particular faction. Later on, there are some that can be run by both factions, but they’re sort of in different contexts and everything you do as far as actual dialogue and role-playing are all different. You’ll never have a time where you’re going to go in and talk to the same Imperial Moff that told the Empire to go do something, and your Jedi is going to go, “OK! I’ll do that too!”
Read more of Mike Bitton's Star Wars: The Old Republic Flashpoint Interview.
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Comments
The Star Wars story has been going on for thousand's of years. WHy should the factions be able to fight together ever!!
Other than tha nice review
Interesting review: I like the concept of Flashpoints, another layer of content for structured group play = Awesome. I wonder how variable the challenge will be in these over the course of levelling up?
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
There's always a third part criminal that profits from both and fights both sides from time to time! I'd love to see a full blast third faction for a change
let's wait an see what the future brings!
Wouldn't fit. Basically it's the cold war between US and Russian. A few street gangs are meaningless in the mix. It's never goning to happen in this game.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
On another note, there are always 3 factions, if not 4. There is the outlaw faction, and those who do not take sides.
I think it was written almost word for word from an audio recording, and if you know DE and his interview style, he jumps around a lot. He talks a LOT and has a lot of thoughts on how to explain things, its not unlike him to get his words mixed up in a conversation when he's trying to explain something.
I would like to hear about more interesting social player interaction than the mensioned pissing off someone in your group for rolling on loot you don't need and descrimination towards classes that use less optimal armor sets.
Someone that plays a Jedi and rolls on Tropper gear would need it for..err.... RP!
My question would be, "Say someone has played the Flashpoint before. Can someone that has grouped with you can they fast forward the cutscene, dailog, or text? Or does it all play out differently for everyone else? Some MMOs people just skip the cutscenes, dailog, or text which is fine its their choice, but if I wanted to sit there and listen to the story I would like the option to and not feel like I missed out something if someone where to fast foward it say the group leader.
I don't understand why interview them over Flashpoints. I don't see anything new in this interview, and all of the info on FP has already been given out. So this was a waste of oportunity to get some new info out.
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
Yeah, it's always challenging when transcribing audio. It's not going to read like he's sitting there writing out the answers.
@nomss: They showed off a new Flashpoint so I felt it prudent to put together an interview on Flashpoints. Not everyone is paying attention to every detail of the game so some of it is already known information sure. I did have a few other juicy questions but we ran short on time. Your feedback is noted and appreciated. Maybe next time we'll get some more out of Daniel, but our SWTOR coverage isn't over yet, we've got a good deal more for you guys so stay tuned!
quote:
MMORPG.com:
In some recent discussions regarding gear it was revealed that players will generally be free to wear most gear that falls under their armor class regardless of whether it looks and is statted for another class that uses the same armor type. For example, a Jedi Knight who wears Heavy armor can wear some armor that may have the stats and appearance of Trooper gear. Does this extend to gear dropped in Flashpoints? Can a Jedi roll on Trooper armor and vice-versa?
Daniel Erickson:
Yeah, absolutely. So a Jedi could roll on just about anything and the Trooper will probably get really mad at him, but you can absolutely roll on it. It’s not going to ever be as good as Jedi gear, because the Trooper and the Jedi are looking for different stats. So, he could roll on it, he could put it on, he could run around looking like a Trooper; but if you see a Jedi that is dressed like a Trooper and he tries to join your Flashpoint group, you’re probably going to tell him no, because he clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing.
That's when the social clothing tab, or alike comes into play: it's needed.
when in cut scenes, a person can press space bar to skip each dialogue line like in other buioware games. but when in a group, every person in the group has to press space bar to skip thru the dialogue. so even if 3 out of the 4 people presses space bar, it won't skip as long as that 4th person hasn't pressed it. and again they have to do it for each line of dialogue. they have also said you won't be able to bypass entire dialogue sequences because the choices made can change how the flashpoint runs(i.e. what bosses you face, how they work, what paths you take, ect.).
Awesome... cant wait for this game!
Ahhh, awesome Ty Gaou for that information. Its a little comforting. Got a friend of mine that blazes thru all of the content and I kinda like to enjoy the stories so I read. Granted it will be more compelling cause I won't have to actually read it anymore I can just listen to the dailog, but hate for him to click thru stuff without me seeing anything ilke other games in the past.
MMORPG.com:
On a related note, are there Flashpoints where Imperial and Republic players must band together to thwart a greater enemy? If not, is this something you have considered?
Daniel Erickson:
One of the things that, so no, there are no things that where they get together and fight together. It is my personal opinion, and this is something we may explore later, but until you’ve exhausted the war, until you’ve exhausted the conflict there, the third party thing always sort of weakens both sides. There’s very little in the Star Wars universe that’s ever been as exciting as the Empire vs. The Republic conflict, so bringing in the space worm of whatever that everybody’s gotta go and battle, while very economic, because it allows us to just do one piece. Originally in the game, we thought we were going to do a lot of quest content that way, as well. It’s much more expensive to do everything completely unique on both sides, but contextually it just doesn’t work as very good storytelling to say, “Hey. Let’s band together and team up and kill each other later.”
How about Reapers invasion (Mass Effect reference) :P, from a galaxy not so far away, and players must travel to planets (notablely 3 races/classes) to gather a army to defend against the invasion (Dragon Age reference)
lol but I really hope at a certain point, not too long or drag out, players can join forces for a very brief moment, (like in one flashpoint) and as a storytelling device, have one side betray the other in the end(those Sith bums :P), so the boss isn't a AI NPC, but a full on PvP
I don't see why PvP can't have stories sometimes.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
gfgfgfgfg how to playt
Thanks for your insights
I like how there is dungeons for smallish sized groups throughout the game, too many MMOs are purely a solo thing until end game.
Its great how they have taken bits from their other games and incorporated them into ToR, Bioware have made some of the best games I have played so the bar is set high for ToR
I really cant wait to get into this game, but they make us have too, not fair!
These do sound really interesting and I hope they can deliver and this isn't just fancy wording for stale ideas.
Anyway
Yeah, absolutely. So a Jedi could roll on just about anything and the Trooper will probably get really mad at him, but you can absolutely roll on it. It’s not going to ever be as good as Jedi gear, because the Trooper and the Jedi are looking for different stats...
Why? Why let the drama happen? Why are modern games so willing to entertain the assholes in people? If the gear isn't right for X player, but is right for Y, Y should have higher rights on it. (Where two players of Y class would have equal rights).
Other games have made this mistake and not learned from them, but you can. The best scenario is Need * Need OS/"Non-ideal" * Greed with Need rolls taking priority, OS rolls being behind that and Greed in last place.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
I agree completely man. This is going to cause problems for sure.
The only thing i see concerning this is this
Quote: Loot is distributed according to need/greed rules with a quality threshold set by the group leader. Players will also accumulate commendations that can be traded for special gear - Bioware
What this entails i do'nt know yet. Seems to be basic need before greed though, If i were to compare it to Everquest 2. Basically if you have 4 people.
2 roll need
2 roll greed.
The only roll that matters is the 2 that rolled need are the only one thats matter.
I guess it will be up to the player to decide who is rolling need when they shouldn't be.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
there is need and greed(not sure how your middle option would work). the reason they have allowed this is because testers asked for it. the system they had before was that say you got a piece of heavy armor that wasn't designated for a specfic class(it might look more trooperish than jedi) then the armor would appear as a jedi type armor when worn(stats wouldn't change). testers didn't like it and wanted to be a jedi but look like a trooper. this is the kind of gear they are talking, where its stats might be better for one class but can be worn by both. but there will also be alot of class specfic gear that can only be worn by those classes(there will also be light/dark/gray side gear but thats a whole other thing)
Well basically if a party has a Knight and a Trooper and a Knight piece drops--
Knight can roll Need, as any Knights in the group should be able to, or they can roll "Need (Non-ideal)" or Greed.
Trooper can roll "Need (Non-ideal)" or Greed. This option lets the group know that the Trooper wants and "needs" this item because even if it isn't ideal, it's an upgrade over what is in the slot. Other Knights can roll this option too in case they decide they'd like the piece but it's not a huge upgrade so they're willing to compete in case someone else really wants it.
Anyone else can only roll Greed. Need rolls prioritize over "Need (Non-ideal)" which prioritizes over Greeds.
In this way, the silly troopers running around decked out in knight gear didn't take it from knights who actually really wanted the piece, only to drop it once a comparable trooper piece comes along. Or worse, troopers taking it because they like to idle in the knight look.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
commendations can be used to purchase blue gear from commendation vendors. ATM they're not bind on pick so they could be used to trade with too. Check out for more info http://www.torocast.com/index.php/editorials/item/524-fansite-summit-gameplay-impressions