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Friday Update: More Crew Skills + The Jedi Sage!

BioWare community coordinator Alyson Bridge has just posted today’s updates – one might be expected, and the other is definitely welcomed!

The first update reveals the results of the community poll to rename the Jedi Wizard Advanced Class to something… else. The choices available to players were Sage, Seer and Adept:

A few weeks ago, we asked the community to help us rename the Jedi Wizard advanced class. Thousands of votes and many posts full of lively debate later, the polls have closed, and we have a clear winner! Without further ado:

The new name for the Jedi Wizard is… Jedi Sage!

So Sage it is. Better that Wizard, but is it still too close to Mage?

Secondly, Patrick Mallot gives us a closer look at Crew Skills:

I’m Patrick Malott. I’ve worked as a Game Systems Designer on various titles over the years, but what we’re working on here at BioWare Austin is my dream project: Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

In the piece, Patrick reveals one of the crafting skills to be “Armstech” which is the ability to create blasters (not light sabers, of course!)

Be sure to hop on over to the official site to check out the updates!

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Damion Schubert: Chat Channels & Mission Cancellation

BioWare Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert treated TOR followers today with some Thanksgiving Eve goodness in the form of a few forum posts – both of which provide some solid new information.

In a thread entitled No World Chat, Damion responds with a very interesting description of how the chat channels in the game work (and specifically their reach:)

Each planet has chat channels that allows you to communicate with other players on the same planet. Yes, we have different channels for general, pvp, trade, etc. You will be able to turn off the channel, flag another player as a spammer for Customer Support’s review, and ignore problem players.

Disregarding whether or not they are realistic (and the presence of technology makes them much more realistic here than in fantasy games – you only have to look at a CB Radio for an analog), chat is very good for the community. Of particular note, some of our best content areas are the awesome multiplayer fights our worldbuilders have been setting up. If to fight those, you had to go to town and wait for someone else to wander by, life would suck, and this content (which I want to stress, in my opinion, is usually wicked fun) would never get done.
We currently don’t have any global channels that cover the whole game. General rule of thumb in an MMO is that if your chat channel has more than a certain number of participants, it becomes spammy and unusable (something that we’ll be keeping an eye on in our earlier planets).

Considering “planets” as an analog to “zones” in other popular MMOs, this makes a lot of sense, and should side-step the type of player communication problems Warhammer had at the outset.

Damion also provided some insight as to companion options and Crew Skills in a thread entitled Crew Missions: Emergency Recall?!:

Currently, you can recall your companion at any time from a mission. You lose any progress he has made, as well as any upfront costs, but he returns immediately. This may be adjusted as we test further, but it seems to offer a decent balance.

You can also have a companion stop crafting an item at any time. In that case, you lose no materials (but all progress will be lost).

So ultimately, there will be some risk involved if you send a companion off on a crafting task or mission, and decide later that you need him back. The penalty of losing progress on the mission, in addition to the up-front cost, seems to be in line and not too steep.

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Daniel Erickson Crew Skills: TOROCast Video Interview

The gang over at TOROCast posted a short video interview with Daniel Erickson regarding the recently revealed Crew Skills. There isn’t a lot of new information, but it’s nice to get a visual while some of the information is described:

There is also a shorter, second video in which its revealed that crafters will be able to (somehow) obtain very rare recipes, so that there may only be one or two folks per server who maybe able to make the item. This would be the method where really dedicated crafters could really make a name for themselves. Daniel also revealed that crafted items created by master craftsmen would be near the very top-tier of items found anywhere else in the game.

Of course, this is the tried and true method of prestige used by some other popular MMO crafting systems. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s also going to be an opportunity at prestige by quality, not just obscurity. Will creating higher quality versions of the same item, with better or additional resources be possible?

Head over to TOROcast and check out the other video!

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Friday Update: Crew Skills Game Systems Page

Alyson Bridge just posted today’s Friday Update, which, as anticipated as a follow to last week’s EA Winter Showcase reveals, is a brand new Game Systems page: Crew Skills!

Crew Skills are a unique approach to a crafting system, built to suit the tastes of a broad range of players and to maximize your time spent adventuring and experiencing your character’s story while still earning useful benefits. Put your companions to work and get the most out of the galaxy’s myriad opportunities!

This is a long-awaited update for many community members, and continues BioWare’s push into revealing more about TOR’s game systems. If you’re into non-combat aspects of the game, this is a must-read!

Head on over to the official site and check it out!

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Darth Hater talks to Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills

The Darth Hater crew had some time with Daniel Erickson at last week’s EA Winter Showcase, and they asked him to describe the Crew Skill system in his own words:

The crafting system in Star Wars: The Old Republic we call Crew Skills is something we worked on literally for years trying to solve some of the big puzzles. There are a lot of us who are big crafting fans, including myself, but we really wanted to make sure we preserved some of the core concepts around SWTOR such as you play a hero of Star Wars.

Daniel goes on to confirm 3 styles of Gathering:

• You can be right there physically and pick something up
• Have your companion pick something up while you do other things
• Send a companion who’s not with you physically on a gathering mission

And they go on to cover the other Crew Skills: Crafting and Missions.

Though there’s not a lot of new detail here, we hope that we’ll get a Game Systems page soon to supplement all of the news!

Needless to say, you need to head over to DH and give the article a full read!

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