Posted by ReDDoT | 26 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Should TOR Have A Dual-Spec System?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

In addition to choosing your character class which determines your story and roughly defines the role of your in-game character, you’ll also have to decide on an  advanced class which narrows down your combat role even further. Your advanced class also grants you access to two unique talent trees, with one additional talent tree being a shared between the two advanced classes. Essentially, from the point where you pick your class to the point where you have reached the maximum level – you could end up with one of at least 6 unique combinations. This is a very deep and interesting variety that will hopefully allow players to play the game the way they want it. But, some players want more than that.

For those who are not sure what a dual-spec system is, it essentially allows your character to save two sets of talents from the above-mentioned trees, thereby making it quick and easy to switch between the two. Typically this also requires the player to carry multiple sets of gear and brings a few other problems to the table (which are out of scope of this article).

Right now, BioWare’s position is that, although your character can switch between specs, a dual-spec feature that saves those choices is not needed. In my opinion, what it comes down to is how well BioWare will address the issue of having all specializations and advanced classes as viable choices for any flashpoint or operation, of course in their own way, but still viable.

By the way, the forum community seems to be split right in half over this as well, perhaps pointing towards the fact that no one truly knows how TOR is designed to play at higher levels and how balanced or viable the specializations are.

So what do you think? Based on your previous MMO experience and/or knowledge about TOR – yay or nay to dual-spec?

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Posted by Kray | 8 Comments

Fully Operational: The Empire’s Damage Dealers

“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!” — There is no better example of damage in the Star Wars galaxy than the scene attached to that quote. Each week in Fully Operational, join Kray as he takes a look at the damage dealing role in Star Wars: The Old Republic. And yes, we’ll blow up a planet if we get the chance. 

Hello and welcome to the first of many installments of Fully Operational! My name’s Kray and I’ll be your guide through the perilous journeys of a damage-dealer (otherwise known as DPS – damage-per-second.) I’m described by many who meet me as “very tall” and “has spiky hair”, which I think qualifies me more than anything else to write articles about the world of damage dealing in Star Wars: The Old Republic! Oh, this is for your listening enjoyment. You can thank me later.

But enough about me! Today’s installment of your new favorite TOR column is an overview of some of the DPS AC options out there, based on the information we have so far. It’s not everything, but Bioware has given us more than enough to get a rough idea on how each class will play. If you’re looking for help on choosing a DPS class for the launch, look no further!

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Posted by ReDDoT | 18 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Should Other Players Be Able To Inspect Your Build?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Everyone’s familiar with privacy issues on the Internet, but there’s also an issue of privacy in MMOs. Many people feel that information about their characters, particularly their character’s build or “spec” should remain private if they want it to. There are a few reasons typically cited for this, one being a simple one – people want their specialization to remain unique and to prevent others from copying it. Another reason is a bit more complex – being denied the acceptance to group for a Flashpoint or Warzone due to one’s specialization deviating from the “standard”.

There is another side to this, as some say that the specialization should be known to the whole party to prevent potential issues, or at least to plan accordingly and have appropriate expectations. However in TOR, this will depend on the way BioWare handles this issue, and if every specialization will be viable in its own way.

If you want to see what the community at-large thinks, check out this thread on the official forums. The poll there shows that more than half of the community is against complete transparency in showing the allocated points, with another 12% being for showing only the name of the specialization tree that has the most spent points in it.

What do you think? Do you want others to be able to inspect your character’s skills and other attributes? What are the issues one way or another? Let us know below.

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Posted by Cealog | 19 Comments

The Bacta Tank: Tanking In TOR – The Empire Advanced Classes

In each edition of The Bacta Tank, we take a look at the role of tanking in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and discuss the strategies, tactics and theory on how to make the most of your meat shield. Wether you root for the Republic or empathize with the Empire, if you’re into tanking, take a dunk in the The Bacta Tank!

Welcome, fellow future tanks! It’s time to take another dip into The Bacta Tank.  Today I’ll be taking a look at the Empire’s Advance Classes suited for tanking.  These classes each have a mirror class on the Republic side, which you can read about in my previous post.  In my opinion the core game play between the mirror class will be the same, but the ablities and skills each class will use to achieve this core is what will separate the two classes. As always here at Ask A Jedi, for this article I will only be using officially released information, as well as how these classes may relate to other games I have played.  The rankings are solely based on my opinion only and like the game itself, are subject to change between now and launch.

HAM Scale: 1 = Highest, 2 = Middle, 3 = Lowest

Sith Warrior – Juggernaut – Immortal

“Warriors channel anger and hatred to become brutal combatants.  A stalwart defender of the Sith Empire, the Juggernaut embodies the teachings of Marka Ragnos, charging into enemies with heavy armor and pure rage.  An Immortal uses the power of the Force to increases the Warrior’s survivability in battle.” – SWTOR.com

• Main Weapon – Lightsaber
• Main Defense – The Force
• Known Abilities – Invincible, Revenge

Analysis
With Bioware keeping class balance between each fraction, Sith Juggernaut is the counterpart to the Jedi Guardian.  The Immortals ability Invincible is almost just like a World of Warcraft’s Protection Warrior’s Shield Block.  I expect the Sith Immortal to have the highest health of the three Empire tanking classes. The Sith Immortal will jump right in to the fight and unleash his fury on all near him.
HAM Ranking

• Health – 1
• Avoidance – 2
• Mitigation – 3

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

MMORPG.com – Advanced Classes Interview With Georg Zoeller

It what might be the first of two “external” updates for TOR fans, gaming site MMORPG.com has a nice, detailed interview with Principle Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller.

The piece touches on virtually every Advanced Class, as well as how each faction might stack up against the other:

MMORPG.com: In terms of the two factions how do the Advanced Classes stack up? Does every class have its equal? How are you handling class balance?

Georg Zoeller: To ensure faction balance, each Republic class has it’s ‘nemesis’ on the Empire side, balanced for equal access in utility, mitigation and damage potential, etc.

Head on over to MMORPG.com for the full interview!

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