Star Wars: The Old Republic announced

[Blackjack]

Hmm, I thought storm troopers basically couldn't hit the broad side of a barn at 3 feet (did they ever hit a target at all in 6 movies?  ), and basically served as rats do in most mmorpgs (you just kill a lot of them fast to get started). Not sure I'd want to play something with such a reputation for fragility. 

[CeeKay]

some of the timeline, with Lance Henriksen!

[The Rocketman]

So, so far we know there's gonna be these classes:
-bounty hunter
-trooper
-jedi/sith I guess

I was thinking what other classes might get announced, and here's a guess:
-agent/spy (stealth based, sniper perhaps?)
-commander (buffer, pet class?)
-engineer (build turrets, droids etc)

Let's see however if they can surprise me

[CeeKay]

you forgot nerf herder!  I'm betting the thief class will be something like Scoundrel.

[Daehawk]

Wheres the Smuggler?

I want to play a Hutt and be a Crime Lord class.

[Destructor]

Wheres the Smuggler?

I want to play a Hutt and be a Crime Lord class.

Then people can come to YOU for quests. How'd you like to have a giant green ! over your head for the rest of your days?

[CeeKay]

Wheres the Smuggler?

I want to play a Hutt and be a Crime Lord class.

Then people can come to YOU for quests. How'd you like to have a giant green ! over your head for the rest of your days?

plus imagine how long it would take to get across a single zone?  everyone else would be level 50 by the time you made it back and forth across the zone once 

[Daehawk]

Just have my slave girls carry me

[Blackjack]

So, so far we know there's gonna be these classes:
-bounty hunter
-trooper
-jedi/sith I guess

I was thinking what other classes might get announced, and here's a guess:
-agent/spy (stealth based, sniper perhaps?)
-commander (buffer, pet class?)
-engineer (build turrets, droids etc)

Let's see however if they can surprise me

I was hoping to run some Taun-Taun stables myself. 

I had been wondering whether Jedi/Sith will be a class, or maybe more of a specialty ability set for any of the basic classes. Cause lets face it - if there's a Jedi class in the game, you'll probably have 200,000 of those, and about 50 players trying the other classes. 

Bioware apparently doesn't feel that way, judging from some old interviews that do all but confirm Jedi as a class, but they emphasize the other classes are all "hero" classes that can match up with that:
http://www.massively.com/2008/10/24/the-old-republic-unveiled-classes-jedi-and-crafting/

Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer BioWare Austin: Absolutely. We're not talking about any of the other classes, but there are a lot of fantasies in Star Wars, and they're not all Jedi and Sith. There are absolutely going to be classes that are based around the other archetypal fantasies that you might have in there, and as you might expect some of those are going to go into some very different places in the Star Wars universe and concentrate very strongly in there.

[CeeKay]

I imagine the Jedi/Sith class is going to be an XP sink.

[Daehawk]

I could live without a jedi class and just have them as NPCs.

I hope I can own a weapons shop and such. I damn well better be able to fish too at the start.

And can we have Jawa houses of ill repute?

[Blackjack]

Hey they added a "behind the scenes/making of" video about The Republic Trooper:
http://www.swtor.com/media/vidcasts/devdispatch003

From massive blaster rifles to state-of-the-art armor, creating the Republic Trooper took hard work and dedication from The Old Republic team. In the latest Developer Dispatch, we recount the making of this heroic defender of the Republic; from design to story, concept, and animation.

I like when they're joking about "Lets face it, stormtroopers die a lot." I was afraid there would be a stormtrooper class where you couldn't see anything (due to the tiny eyeholes), couldn't hit anything (because lets face it, no stormtrooper in a Star Wars movie was ever able to hit ANYthing) and you pretty much died all the time. 

The video is mostly drawings and pasty faced (like me!) types talking about the game, but there are a few precious glimpses of gameplay footage and animations.

[Daehawk]

I even searched on youTube for "Stormtrooper hits something" and this is all it came up with Watch the one on the right of the screen.

[Blackjack]

Kotaku noted the latest Edge magazine (it's a UK magazine, and probably the issue isn't on U.S. newsstands just yet; I try to at least browse it at Borders or Micro Center) revealing The Smuggler -- looking very Han Solo-ish -- as another class in ST:TOR:

Interview Confirms Smuggler Class for SW:TOR
http://kotaku.com/5273396/interview-confirms-smuggler-class-for-swtor

There's a scan there that Edge's publisher will no doubt be upset about. Probably more so about the full pages being scanned over at:
http://www.starwarsmmo.net/news/edge-magazine-bioware-interview/

[Lockdown]

I don't know if Ron's put this up yet at GT... but this may be the BEST cgi trailer I have ever seen. 

Yeah, it's that good.  (and it is SO worth watching in HD if you have a few minutes to let it load).

Bioware's MMO CGI

[Razgon]

I don't know if Ron's put this up yet at GT... but this may be the BEST cgi trailer I have ever seen. 

Yeah, it's that good.  (and it is SO worth watching in HD if you have a few minutes to let it load).

Bioware's MMO CGI

that...was some serious shit right there...

I'd pay good money to watch a movie like that!

[CeeKay]

holy crap that's better than Viagra!

[Arkon]

Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow.....


 

That was ....awesome!

I loved the bounty hunter.

[Blackjack]

At E3, they claimed this would be the first "fully voiced MMO ever," blah blah...

E3 2009: Star Wars: The Old Republic is world's first 'fully-voiced' MMO
http://www.massively.com/2009/06/01/e3-2009-star-wars-the-old-republic-is-worlds-first-fully-voi/

During this afternoon's EA press conference for E3, Bioware and LucasArts announced that the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the world's first fully voiced MMO featuring 'hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue'. The announcement came during the concluding minutes of EA's event and featured numerous lightsaber-wielding Jedi mounting the stage, two of whom revealed themselves as representatives of Bioware and LucasArts. [THAT must've been a hoot!]

The two companies touted the game as 'the largest voice over project in the history of games and maybe across all areas of entertainment'.

And blah blah blah!

they revealed that every class has its own unique storyline.

"If you play the entire game as a bountry hunter, an Empire class, and then play the game again as a trooper, a Republic class, your game play experience will be completely different. As you can tell story means a lot to us. Until now MMO games have shown an impressive commitment to the classic RPG features of combat, exploration and progression, what we call the 'three pillars'. What we're adding is something that's fundamental to success of great entertainment in general: story."

It sounds a bit like what LOTRO dabbles in (class quests) and taking it to the next levely.

imho, the trailer's awesome, but sometimes I wish The Matrix flopped in 1999 so we weren't subjected to... gratuitous... slow mo sequences... in every... action... film. 

[Moliere]

To quote Ctrl-Alt-Del, it's "delicious, like cake-filled pie." Grinding out MMO missions might be fun for a little while at least if I get to use force powers. 

[Lockdown]

I know it probably doesn't matter anyway, as release dates for MMO's invariably get pushed back; but does anyone know where the release date of this falls in relation to Cryptic's StarTrek MMO?

[Toe]

I don't know if Ron's put this up yet at GT... but this may be the BEST cgi trailer I have ever seen. 

Yeah, it's that good.  (and it is SO worth watching in HD if you have a few minutes to let it load).

Bioware's MMO CGI

Its pretty sweet but to me not as good as Blizzards (ala Warcraft 3) and those Warhammer ones if you ask me.

[Lockdown]

Its pretty sweet but to me not as good as Blizzards (ala Warcraft 3) and those Warhammer ones if you ask me.

Previous to this, I'd say the World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, & Hellgate London were my favorites, so I understand where you're coming from.  But for me, sci-fi always wins.

[Kagath]

I'm not into MMOs and I want to play this now. My inner SW geek has reawakened recently and is hungry.

I read before that it was more of a single player experience? Not like the others where you can get a group together?

[TiLT]

OK, wtf? That video managed to completely turn me off for now. The time period this game takes place in has been well documented stylistically through the Tales of the Jedi comics, but Bioware seems to ignore every single thing just so they won't scare away people not familiar with the period. And what's with the TIE-fighters and Star Destroyers? Those ships were designed around the time the Old Republic collapsed. And the technology, the technology... The setting at the time felt ancient. Civilizations on planets were almost medieval in style, even on Coruscant, with actual technology being almost religious in the way it's treated (see the Mandalorian battle armor, which was a status symbol worn by their greatest leader). Space ships were the biggest clue that this was a space-faring galaxy, but even those were primitive (it would often take weeks of travel to move between planets, needing many stops with heavy manual calculations on the way, unless you paid a hefty premium for an explored, "safe" route). Yet here we see a civilization at a HIGHER technological level than we've seen in the movies (even the Jedi wear advanced battle armor). Hello? Could someone please rein in the artists for this project?

Argh, as a Star Wars geek, this was NOT what I needed to see to give me confidence in the game.

[Razgon]

I just liked the lightsaber fights...and the battles...and the scenery...and the action...and the bounty hunter...

[CeeKay]

I just liked the lightsaber fights...and the battles...and the scenery...and the action...and the bounty hunter...

and the 'splosions!  boom boom BOOM!

btw, I think Tales of the Jedi take place further back the Knights of the Old Republic era, which is what this one seems to be focusing on.

[TiLT]

btw, I think Tales of the Jedi take place further back the Knights of the Old Republic era, which is what this one seems to be focusing on.

There's overlap, actually. I know at least one of the TotJ books takes place about 10 years before KOTOR. Compare that to both being about 3000-4000 years before the movies. If there was THAT dramatic technological advancement in 10 years, what the flying fuck were they doing for the next thousands of years?

[CeeKay]

btw, I think Tales of the Jedi take place further back the Knights of the Old Republic era, which is what this one seems to be focusing on.

There's overlap, actually. I know at least one of the TotJ books takes place about 10 years before KOTOR. Compare that to both being about 3000-4000 years before the movies. If there was THAT dramatic technological advancement in 10 years, what the flying fuck were they doing for the next thousands of years?

perfecting the flying fuck 

[edit to add] here's the timeline they're using.  it looks like it's 300 years after the first KotOR game.

[Lockdown]

You guys are confusing me (the NON-Star Wars geek). 

I was under the assumption nothing could get published (books, games, comics, cartoons, blow-up dolls) without it being approved by... well... whoever approves such things.  I thought there was some ultimate guiding person or group that made sure everything was accurate from a history/timeline/technology standpoint.  (sort of like Tolkien's deathgrip on Lord of the Rings).

Is this not the case?

[TiLT]

[edit to add] here's the timeline they're using.  it looks like it's 300 years after the first KotOR game.

Alright, and 311 years after TotJ. Still doesn't explain how they made such a massive leap in technology in a relatively small amount of time (for Star Wars), then in the next 3000 years or so not only didn't progress any more, but actually regressed in technology. And they invented the Star Destroyer 3000 years before its first model actually saw the light of day. And TIE Fighters, a ship class that was created because of Palpatine's demand for cheap starfighters.

The setting they chose to place this game in is rich enough as it is. Why do they have to be revisionists? Do they really have so little faith in themselves?

[Scraper]

I just uploaded a bunch of pics for the game on the front page. They show off the trooper, bounty hunter, and smuggler classes and some locals. http://www.gamingtrend.com/screenshots/index.php?GameID=7931

[rittchard]

Call me a cynic, but I still don't get why devs love to do these "prequel" games/movies/books.  Particularly for a game, there's something just inherently uninteresting to me to know I'm set in the middle of a storyline which ultimately has less meaning because I know X years in the future how it's going to turn out (this bugged me in both LOTRO and SWG, and on TV, Enterprise).  I'm sure some will argue it's the journey that counts, and while I can understand that, I'd ask why can't I have an interesting journey in a story/timeline where I *don't* know what the future holds?  In other words, would it be so horrible to place a Star Wars game storyline after Episode 6? 

Another thing that bother me about this KOTORO implementation is the class structure.  You have troopers, who generally equate to soldier fodder, and then Jedi, with all sorts of force powers.  Just seems inherently unbalanced for an MMO setting, it's like Nathan vs. Peter in Heroes (I can fly!  Well I can absorb powers, stop time, telekinesis, travel in time....).  And while I like the idea of an MMO that really delves into lore and storyline, it also seems like that style of gameplay might be better served in a single player game.  In AoC, the beginning portion which was very single player-esque worked very well, but the reality is it more or less isolated you from other players.  And it ended fast enough that it didn't impact the MMO-world.

All in all, I've been a Bioware fan for a long time, but I am really not sure this is going to be a slam dunk.

[CeeKay]

[edit to add] here's the timeline they're using.  it looks like it's 300 years after the first KotOR game.

Alright, and 311 years after TotJ. Still doesn't explain how they made such a massive leap in technology in a relatively small amount of time (for Star Wars), then in the next 3000 years or so not only didn't progress any more, but actually regressed in technology. And they invented the Star Destroyer 3000 years before its first model actually saw the light of day. And TIE Fighters, a ship class that was created because of Palpatine's demand for cheap starfighters.

The setting they chose to place this game in is rich enough as it is. Why do they have to be revisionists? Do they really have so little faith in themselves?

they haven't explained what may have happened during the intervening years, so who knows why tech didn't progress.  from what I understand technology actually regressed during Palpatines reign due to the way he ran things, so something could have happened on a longer scale.

[TiLT]

they haven't explained what may have happened during the intervening years, so who knows why tech didn't progress.  from what I understand technology actually regressed during Palpatines reign due to the way he ran things, so something could have happened on a longer scale.

Yes, technology regressed in the Empire. The Rebel Alliance did massive amounts of research to compensate, and by the time the New Republic was founded, they had the most advanced starfighters ever seen in the galaxy, by far. The X-wing for example, was such a massive leap in starfighter technology that the whole company that made it jumped ship to the Rebels to give them an edge over the Empire.

Also keep in mind that the Star Wars universe is very capitalistic in how it works, and they've always been portrayed as very hungry for new inventions and technology (yes, even in TotJ). While it's entirely possible that technology on a galactic scale regressed over the 3000 years between the KOTOR MMORPG and the movies, there is absolutely nothing in Star Wars lore to support this, and I find it very hard to believe.

No, the simple answer to this conundrum is this: Bioware is afraid of making casual Star Wars fans feel detached from the setting, so they're bending it (breaking it, in my opinion) to bring it closer to what people will recognize, while at the same time adding stuff they think is "hip" and "cool", like jedi armor (I mean, wtf is that all about? What is it supposed to protect them against? Rocks and pebbles from the peasants?).

[Jaddison]

Let's just go with the Star Trek alternate timeline meme and enjoy it...that way we don't know how the story ends.  Hey if can reinvigorate Star Trek why not Star Wars!

[Fez]

Call me a cynic, but I still don't get why devs love to do these "prequel" games/movies/books.  Particularly for a game, there's something just inherently uninteresting to me to know I'm set in the middle of a storyline which ultimately has less meaning because I know X years in the future how it's going to turn out (this bugged me in both LOTRO and SWG, and on TV, Enterprise).  I'm sure some will argue it's the journey that counts, and while I can understand that, I'd ask why can't I have an interesting journey in a story/timeline where I *don't* know what the future holds?  In other words, would it be so horrible to place a Star Wars game storyline after Episode 6? 

Another thing that bother me about this KOTORO implementation is the class structure.  You have troopers, who generally equate to soldier fodder, and then Jedi, with all sorts of force powers.  Just seems inherently unbalanced for an MMO setting, it's like Nathan vs. Peter in Heroes (I can fly!  Well I can absorb powers, stop time, telekinesis, travel in time....).  And while I like the idea of an MMO that really delves into lore and storyline, it also seems like that style of gameplay might be better served in a single player game.  In AoC, the beginning portion which was very single player-esque worked very well, but the reality is it more or less isolated you from other players.  And it ended fast enough that it didn't impact the MMO-world.

All in all, I've been a Bioware fan for a long time, but I am really not sure this is going to be a slam dunk.

You've basically echoed my feelings about everything.  So far I haven't seen one reason in the game to interact with other players.  Not sure how this will shape up.

[Rumpy]

Damn, that just reinforces why I believe Bioware will make a great MMO.

[Daehawk]

I am a Bioware fan yes but this game looks great to me. Ive wondered about the high tech in the prior games too but ive gotten past that these days. its a GAME. Enjoy it. Im really looking forward to this one. I at least plan to have 1 smuggler as a good guy and one something as an evil side guy.

[Moliere]