I’ve seen many a Friday update come and go while following SWTOR. So I, like you, have had to ride the roller-coaster ride BioWare gives us each and every week.

We are all waiting for different things to come to light, some solid information on something that has had been shown for the breathiest of moments.

 

Well, these are mine. You may notice I will not mention Raids or Quests in my top ten list as I would like to experience these things in-game.

 

This is my list of the holly grail of reveals in reverse order of importance for me –

 

10 – Ship Customisation

This subject has been thrown around quite a bit in and around the forums. BioWare has said that space combat will be like a mini game. Yet I see it as so much more.

If you can custom your ships in any way shape or form it will for me at least increase the game play no end. Simple things like changing the colours or a small change in the way the ship looks when you get new armor upgrades, weapons and better engines would make it way more fun for me. Without them I guess I would only dabble in space combat as it does not improve my ground combat skills.

 

 

9 Races

A final tally of which races will be in the release of TOR and which class specific races will we have to choose from.

We already know a little about this yet the final number is still unknown. Most of the classes have 2 given races that future players will have the pick from. Though it would be nice to have all of them listed so I and many others can start to plan ahead.

I guess if the alien races that BioWare give us are not to are liking we have the old faithful humans to fall back on. Just a heads up before the game hits would go long way, and would at least let us plan ahead.

 

8 Character Creator

Now who wouldn’t freak-out if BioWare release a pre-game character creator download before launch ?

Getting you avatar right at the start of an mmo is something many will spend a great deal of time over. I’ve done it myself spent 2 hours tweaking every aspect of face, body and hair to just get the right look.

From a dark evil-looking PK class, to an over worked crafter looks are important in expressing yourself in the game world. It’s true in mmo’s as in the real world that the first impression counts. I like to model the class I play to the role it will take in-game, this is where the mmo for me starts well before I step foot into the world. So this is a very important update I will lookout for before lunch.

 

 

7 Guilds

Guilds are the life blood of every server.

BioWare have one of the best per-game set-ups in the SWTOR guild page. No one to my knowledge have had a pre-game guild recruitment page and also set a matching service so you can be pinned on the same server as another guild.

We still know next to nothing about how the guild structure will look. What benefits guilds will have and what tools they will have at their disposal. This update will be on the list of almost every guild leader so they can make a start at planning the structures of their given guilds.

 

6 Character Customization

Unlike the character creator, this is something you can alter within the game as you progress. Every from light/dark side alignment, weapons, armor and all manner of loot drops and craft-able items. As gamers we do not like to look the same as everyone else who is playing the same class as we are. Having some customization in-game is a small way to separate us from the masses.

Even a small option to change the colours of your armor sets will prove to be a great addition to TOR. Once players start to raid players start to look almost the same. With the option of just adding a colour changer for you items just gives you the feel of not being the same as every other class that stumble across in the world.

 

 

5 End-Game Activity’s

Make no bones about it, end-game activity’s of all kinds prolong the life of the game tenfold, this also includes mini games. BioWare have already said that there are systems that they have not even revealed.

We already know that PvP, Raids, Space Combat and crafting should be considered as end-game content. These things we do when we reach max level, but what else will be in when the game is released and in future expansions.

I wait each and every week with bated breath to get a glimpse at what we will be doing other than your normal mmo end-game content. Mini game may be seen as fluff for the mmo, but it’s just adds that little something that makes the game so much more enjoyable.

 

 

4 Pricing and MT’s

We already know SWTOR is going to have sub’s on par with other mmo’s. This has proven to be the best way to turn a good profit for high population mmo in the past. I can see TOR having a more than ample player base to keep the game away from the free to play (F2P) model than many games now have falling into.

Not having a good amount of players in your game going F2P can turn a loss into a profit, yet the top mmo’s still make more following the monthly sub plan.

MT’s. Love or hate them, the topic will not just go away.

You can make a heap of cash just from MT transactions, but doing them wrong can have a devastation effect on your game. I’m all for vanity items that have little to no effect on you stats or how you play the game. Buying items just to make you stand out from the rest of the players is not going to make you rebel against the game.

Trinket items should be the only thing if any that you can get from any form of MT transactions. Above all BioWare and EA should never give weapons armors or elite companions by the way of MT’s. If anyone is under any illusion that TOR will by pass any form of MT’s then they are living in a dream world. EA and BioWare have already shown in single player games the value they place in this form or payment from gamers.

It may come in the way of added content/ server switch for your class and those all important vanity pets and mounts that are the must have item of the month. TOR would be one of the only high-profile mmo’s on the market if they bypassed this form of added income to the game. So it’s not a case of if but how the MT’s will work when  the game goes live.

 

3 Crafting

We know quite a lot about crafting already yet there are a few slots left open. We could take a wild guess at them and speculate all over the place. But it would be nice to see what the remaining skills will be, and more importantly which class is better at crafting what gear.

That little crafter is craving more info on crafting so I rate this update unlocking the rest of the skills very high on my list.

 

2 Release Date

Well it has to be there. If this is not in anyone’s top ten list of anticipated updates I would call you mad. The release is one of the most speculated topic’s on the fo rums ever since they went live many moons ago.

 

1 The Legacy System

This for me is the only thing that could top the importance of a release date. It had the breathiest of mentions around 12-18 months ago then the trail surrounding it when cold.

For a start if the legacy gives your traits from one class to used on another when you re-roll a new avatar it would change my selection of my starting class. A class I called out way before it was even released.

I’m not even sure it’s even still in or if BioWare has scrapped the idea all together. What ever the answer is, it could be a game changer. It also maybe as  slight as keeping the same last name or having a new race unlocked for a class that was unable to use before.

The fact that nothing has been said about it for so long worries me a little.

 

Well these are the updates I long for each and every week.

 

So until next time, MrWarlock signing off.