Aug 12, 2011

Posted by | 22 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Does TOR Have Room For Social Professions?

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!

Every class in Star Wars: The Old Republic is focused squarely on the combat aspect of the game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either, however, as it allows a very specific focus for the player and developers alike. But we all know that MMOs can provide a wider variety of activities than just combat. That’s exactly the point behind this discussion on social professions on the official forums.

For those that are not sure what a social profession is – the best example would come from another Star Wars MMO – Star Wars Galaxies. The game in question had quite a few professions that fully revolved around interacting with and servicing other players. You don’t fight anyone (unless you really, really want to). You practically stand, socialize and do the tasks that are appropriate for your class. A great example would be the Entertainer profession, which allowed players to stay in a cantina and actually work there, essentially buffing other players. It’s certainly not everybody’s dream to play an Entertainer, but it gives an option to play and progress through the game more on the social side than the combat side. A varied style of gameplay, to be sure.

So while we know that the classes for TOR’s launch are related to combat, is there room for more variety later? Can we see non-combat classes such as social professions? Maybe in an expasion down the road? Could the BioWare story for these classes be as interesting as that of the combat classes? You can vote, but we’d love to hear your thoughts below!

Does TOR have room for non-combat or social professions?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

 

Read More
Jun 14, 2011

Posted by | 2 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Are You Playing Your Class For The Story?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, Joanis and 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!


As you take your first steps as a Bounty Hunter on Hutta, you drink in the proverbial air of your surroundings.  Other denizens of the galactic underworld mill about engaging in activities that are probably against the law. As you walk toward the first quest giver, you dream about your character’s future. What targets will you be tasked with taking out for credits? How will you shape the galaxy’s future?

A lot of these questions resonate with me. I’m excited about my character having a story of its own.  Being able to see my character’s impact on the galaxy from chapter to chapter, as well as the impact of other classes’ stories, is a welcome change from not reading quest text. It is the first time an MMO has a reason to pick your class other than just gameplay.

Will a class’ story have an impact on your decision to play it? Or will the storyline just be a nice addition to make your grind to max level less boring? Maybe it’s somewhere in between?

What will be the primary factor in choosing your main class in TOR?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Read More
Apr 11, 2011

Posted by | 8 Comments

Tanks A Lot, BioWare.

Unless you: live under a rock, were born yesterday, don’t know how to use the Internet or have a life (which no one has anymore, it’s lame!), then you probably know what Star Wars: The Old Republic is. If the aforementioned aren’t applicable to you and you still don’t know what SW:TOR is, then peruse around and drink it all in, noob! This game is shaping up to be pretty awesome if I do say so. And, just when I think things couldn’t get any more awesome, Friday comes and BioWare’s Georg Zoeller gives us a nice look at how the classes are turning out.

Now, to be frank, the past few Fridays weren’t that spectacular. The Jedi Knight progression video was neat but it left a lot to be desired. It was almost as if BioWare was trying to derail the hype train with their fan Fridays and re-informing certain information. It’s clear to me now, well it was always clear, so I am reassured that they know what they are doing.

Read along, read along….

Read More
Apr 9, 2011

Posted by | 4 Comments

Daniel Erickson Debunks PC Gamer Class/Species List

Yesterday, there was speculation buzzing that the new issue of the UK edition of PC Gamer had revealed some new info about the available class/species combinations in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Of particular interest was the inclusion of “Cyborg” on the list of available species.

Even though it was published in a reputable magazine, something seemed amiss. Sure enough Daniel Erickson came to the thread this morning to clear things up:

The species/class combo list you’re referencing is not accurate. If it does appear in the magazine, that’s unfortunate.

My guess is that an enthusiastic member of the press wrote down everything he saw in the character creation screen which, as we’ve stated often, is nowhere near final. Occasionally we’ll have species in odd classes or in all classes because of a bug or testing.

Now, in all fairness, Daniel didn’t outline what specifically is inaccurate about the list. Does it mean that there is no Cyborg species? Or perhaps other available class/species combos are incorrect? Remains to be seen.

Hop on over to the official forum thread to catch up on all the debate!

Read More
Mar 3, 2011

Posted by | 1 Comment

IGN Exclusive: Bounty Hunter Class Video and Q&A

It seems that this time around, IGN has been rewarded with a sneak-peak at what is undoubtedly part of this Friday’s official update – the Bounty Hunter Class Video!

We speculate that this also means the Bounty Hunter class page will be getting its long-overdue makeover this week as well.

The video showcases some pretty cool combat abilities, some we’ve seen before but also some new ones. Of particular interest was the way that characters seem to react to knockbacks or explosions… more natural and varied than I recall from earlier videos.

Also, Tusken Raiders!

In addition, there’s also a brand new Q&A with Daniel Erickson and Georg Zoeller:

IGN: As development continues, would you be able to provide any details as to how the Bounty Hunter’s changed? How have his primary skills evolved and what tend to be the most effective skills once a large amount has been unlocked?

Zoeller: Here are some examples of recent changes to the class: the introduction of the Bodyguard skillset which adds a healing and support role to the class [and] the addition of talent choices to create synergy between blasters and tech attacks. There aren’t really ‘most effective’ skills for any class, as what is effective varies between encounters, different builds and whether or not you are in a group or not.

Head on over to IGN to check it out!

Read More