With the NDA lifted in TOR, I decided to take a big hit for the team and amassed around 70 hours of play time in the past week to get a good feel for the solo game-play.

First things first. Playing solo, or mostly solo, works very well. You will be faced with challenges that will need more than one player, yet these tend to be outside your story quest lines and, as such, can be bypassed.

Also, some content can only be completed solo when you gain your first companion at around  level 8 or 9. For those wishing to be companion-free and still play solo, you are going to have a real hard time at this game. Each companion is tailored for your class needs, and as such, will hit you hard if you try and play without them by your side.

I played solo on every class apart from the Imperial Agent. I had major concerns about the cover system on both the IA and on the Smuggler. After playing the smuggler, however, I have to admit I enjoyed it greatly. Its not all about sneaking up from behind cover. You have some good AOE skills early on that makes it play different from what I expected.

Continue Reading »

Continuing his streak of highly informative posts on the main SWTOR forums, Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller, voted most likely in his class to scream out “Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale!” at inappropriate times,  stopped by once more to enlighten us about Smugglers and their Cover mechanics.

Georg Zoeller - The Wookiee Whisperer

Continue Reading »

This year’s only Friday the 13th finally brought us full details about the Sith Inquisitor class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. From all the excitement in the official forums and on Twitter it is obvious that a lot of people were really looking forward to this update. Who doesn’t dream about roasting their enemies with some Force Lightning anyways? As it always seem to happen with these class updates, a lot of people suddenly changed their mind about what class they want to play at release. I personally, didn’t. In fact, this class update gave me so much comedic inspiration that I will have things to make fun of for days.

Lets get the important information out of the way first. One of the Inquisitor’s companions was revealed to be a genuine bad-ass called Khem Val. His species, the Dashade, are force-resistant and they actually feed on force users. This particular individual devoured over a thousand Jedi at the battles of Yn and Chabosh and you can read this and much more on his official page.
 
The Inquisitor, just like his force using brethren, Sith Warriors, will be using the Fury starship for traveling the galaxy. There is also a class video available that we posted about a few days ago. Below you will find a gallery of newly released in-game Inquisitor screenshots.

Now onto the more important stuff. SWTOR Life’s very first dissection of this Friday’s update. We’re doing it SWTOR Life style, meaning it has no sense at all and we make wild assumptions and insane connections.
Click here to read what’s in common for iPods, World of Warcraft race Arakkoa and Sith Inquisitors

First off let me start off this little article with the props so due to SWTORCRAFTER and SERGE for the awesome interviews and hands-on reports from the fan summit.   I was as happy as a Sarlacc full of Boba when I got all those articles and reports.  Well done guys. Remind me to send you both a nice can of nuts, and a $50 space hooker for Festivus this year.

Today’s topic of whine:   Game systems.   That’s right. You read it right. I’m gonna go off on a tangent about something I have absolutely no clue about, have never heard about, and have never seen.   Why you ask in a perplexed and angry tone?  Simple: I have way to much time on my hands and very little to do.  I also enjoy bitching about crap for no good reason.

 
Need moar epic SWTOR rant? Click here to read the full article

Going through all the blog posts and tweets and everything else has left me exhausted. The amount of information given in this last Friday Update is staggering if you think about it, as it is something actual about our classes we are playing at launch. In the bigger picture, if you look at it like I do, it really breaks down class roles, and that leads to the reality of how close we actually are to finally playing this game. With all of this, I am going to try to dissect some of this information in relation to the Bounty Hunter.

Diving straight in, I am going to start with this quote below:

Choosing an Advanced Class is very important in The Old Republic, as within your Advanced Class, your character will reach their full potential. Your Advanced Class choice dramatically alters the gameplay experience of your base class by providing access to two exclusive skill trees per Advanced Class, with a third being shared between both Advanced Classes.

So how I take this is that this plays out like any other MMO so far, even the venerable Warcraft and how their Talent trees used to be when it wasn’t so restricted. This basically say “Hey, pick the AC you want, you still get the base class abilities of the class itself, thus this being the Bounty Hunter. You can even place some points in the other AC. So, just like WOW, we get 3 talent tress to mess with to fine tune the type of player we want to be and how we play.

Now, as much as I hate “cookie-cutter” builds on classes, I don’t see a way Bioware can stop this. Some abilities are going to be better than others and there will be those that will probably force those upon you depending on the role you pick. With this in mind, I hope that Bioware gives us the “Dual Spec” option so that we can have 2 builds based on what we are doing (Soloing/Group).

Something else I picked up on is this:

As you level up, your character will gain abilities from three sources:

• Through trainers, from their base class (e.g. Sith Warrior)
• Through trainers, from their advanced class (e.g. Marauder)
• Through skill points spent in the skill trees of their Advanced Class

So no longer is it the run to one trainer and you’re done. We now have to hit up the Base Class (Bounty Hunter) but we also have to fine the AC trainer that we are playing, in my case which will be the Mercenary. This is interesting as unless these are always grouped up, you have to make sure to remember where each are to make sure all of your abilities are up to par.

Now the fine folks over at Bioware even gave us the break-down on the roles for the Bounty Hunters:

Bounty Hunter Advanced Classes

Mercenary (Roles: Mid – Long Range Damage Dealing, Healing)

PowerTech (Roles: Close – Mid Range Damage Dealing, Tanking)

• As previously announced, the Bounty Hunter’s Mercenary Advanced Class now features the ‘Bodyguard’ skill tree, allowing this iconic class to fill the role of a medic if desired.
• The ‘Advanced Prototype’ skill tree, shared between both Bounty Hunter ACs, now features an upgrade to the base class flamethrower, which allows the player to rotate while using the ability.

We now see how the Bounty Hunter breaks down. Mercenary breaks down into a DPS/Healer role and the Powertech breaks down into a DPS/Tank role. Now for all you WOW’ers out there, Bounty Hunters look to have the possibility of being Paladins of Swtor.

Those that are going the Tank Bounty Hunter will also have that DPS chance of speeding up their leveling without sacrificing the Tank aspect of it. It also plays

I, like many, think this last update was a great one. it really moves use one step closer to that fateful date where we all get to jump in game and put all this information we have been hoarding for so long to the test. In regards to the Bounty Hunter, playing a main healer and knowing I have DPS choices to help in the leveling process make me very happy as well.

I fall firmly into the category of players who were greatly intrigued by Friday’s Dev. Update, as much for what it didn’t say for what it did.  We learned that the Sith Inquisitor will have an Advanced Class that will be fully capable of Tanking, for example, which came as a pleasant surprise to many (myself included).

At this stage, the tanking rogue has now been done before, breaking from the “Tanks must wear plate” paradigm, so the Assassin tank will not necessarily be groundbreaking.  We know that the Sith Inquisitor wears light armor also, which has led to a number of speculations.  Will the Assassin be a completely avoidance-based tank, utilizing high Dodge and/or Parry rates to minimize incoming damage (rather than mitigating it outright through high armor rates)?  I  initially also thought of the Swordmaster class from Warhammer Online, which also fulfilled the tanking role without the usage of a shield.  It was from looking at the Inquisitor’s mirror class, the Jedi Consular, that the picture became somewhat less fuzzy.

Take a look at a screen grab of this talent, called Kinetic Ward, which I believe sheds some light onto how this mechanic may function:

As a mirror class, I’d say it’s probably safe to assume that the Assassin will be using something similar.  This fits in with the description of the Consular (specifically, the Jedi Shadow) using “Lightsaber defense and Force powers.”

And as an aside, we knew that the Inquisitor/Consular were going to have access to some degree of Stealth, but take a look at the last line in this tooltip.  I hadn’t anticipated the playstyle of “Stealth Tank” but that is exactly what it seems to suggest.  We can probably also count on seeing the Imperial Agent and Smuggler healers making use of Stealth in some way as well.  That has the potential to be a really interesting mechanic – I’m most curious to see how it plays out in PvP though.

So as it stands, while SWTOR may not be rewriting the rules of the Holy Trinity, they are at the very least, providing these tools to a number of different classes.  It remains to be seen whether or not the developers will give in and allow Advance Class respecs or not.  While this may not be the most popular stance to take, I’m actually kind of hoping that they don’t.  I can imagine this feature being a popular “Paid Service” feature if they ever offered it.

All in all, I can safely say that I am completely stoked to play this beast!

Should I Tank, Or Should I Heal ?

Continue Reading »

Darth Hater got a tip from one of their forum visitors that May issue of UK PC Gamer has released what they claim to be an entire list of species and compatible classes in Star Wars the Old Republic. Here’s the list:

Humans: Can play every class.
Zabraks: Can play every class.
Miraluka: Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular
Sith Pureblood: Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor
Chiss: Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter
Rattataki: Imperial Agent, Bounty Hunter, Sith Inquisitor
Mirialan: Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular
Twi’lek: Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler
Cyborg: Trooper, Smuggler, Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter

This is a great piece of information to speculate on. We first see there are no Cathar on the list (which is going to disappoint a lot of furry fans …) and then there are the Cyborg. For me, a huge sci-fi geek, the prospect of having a Cyborg character is dream fulfilling. I can’t decide which would be more cool, Cyborg light saber wielding Sith Warrior (ala general Grievous) or a dashing Imperial Agent whose cybernetic implants are all the talk among the ladies. Prospect of having such character almost makes me change my mind and play Empire at start. My Trooper and Smuggler Cyborgs would have a dark backstory as to why half their body is metal and not flesh. I wonder though why they didn’t do Jedi Knight Cyborgs. I mean, Luke Skywalker could be imagined as cyborg with his robotic arm and all.

To prove that his list is just speculation and nowhere near final we have Daniel Erickson posting on the official forums. You can check what he had to say on our Dev Tracker page (I am just linking there to show off how you can now link to single posts on our Dev Tracker page) or you can just read his post bellow:

Hey Folks,

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.

Hope that helps!

Daniel

So last week I delved into the General Forum and brought you a glimpse into the Appearance tab discussion. This week I am doing something a little different and bringing you not just one forum post but eight. That’s right, and I do this because I think these posts are generally over looked by the masses and they shouldn’t be because their owners and everyone that has participated has put a wealth of gathered information for all to browse and learn from. This week I bring you the Class FAQ posts from every class on the Character Classes Forum.

First you want to start out with the Compendium of knowledge for everything known character wise that has been gathered and set before you like a bountiful feast for your brain. The The Classes Checklist: Confirmed NFO post by chillinvillain is an amazing job at keeping a lot of information in one single place. I think it is generally over-looked as people rush head long into their classes they want to know more about. I would say that this thread should be the first stop for all players that want to get some good over all information.

So without further ado, lets jump into what I think are the best of the best in regards to classes and get started with the best around, the Non-Force User classes in the game.

Are you are in the mood to walk the walk and talk the talk? Do you like solo moonlit strolls along the beach before you knock some ones head in for a reward? How about being cold, maybe say cold as carbonite? Then I think you are just like me and know that the Bounty Hunter is the class for you. Before you begin your journey though, you might want to know more about what you have to look forward to, so go read up. Fembo has been doing a great job on the post and I thank them for it. (Yes I am kind of biased and Bounty Hunters get to go first, but it’s my post so keep reading or I’ll put a mark on your head)

Do you like to hide in the shadows and work unseen? Like hiding behind things and taking your prey by surprise? Rather take them in dead than alive? Have some weird fetish for sharp pointy objects? Well then, you’re probably an Imperial Agent out on a mission or watched BladeRunner way too many times. Anyways, check out the FAQ on IA’s by  TheShadowedTruth. This will get you started on your new life, just stay away from airlocks.

Like the military? Got a thing for guns and then some guns and maybe even some guns for guns on the side? Yeah I thought so. You want to feel like a walking can of sardines do you? Got a thing for the Tin Man over Dorothy and prefer hand grenades to apples. Trooper, through and through aren’t ya?  Well listen up soldier! leviatha has some news for you over here. Pop to it and get educated and then get ready to report for duty! While you are waiting to get started, go see if you can land a shot on this.

You are not Han Solo. You are not Han Solo. You are not Han Solo. You are not Han Solo. You are not Han Solo. You are not Han Solo. Got it? No? Okay so if you want to be the Lego-las of Swtor then go right ahead. Hoviator has something that might interest you posted here and maybe if you are good, we might be okay with you thinking that you are Solo…but you won’t be.

So now we get to the Force Users. You know them, they are the Ravers with Glow-sticks.

Like Dark Robes? Have nothing but hate and anger rolling around that brain of yours? Get the urge to go all Johnny “Johnny B” Bukowski on some Republic heads when you feel all good inside? Well hello Mr Sith Inquisitor! You’re not the Emperor yet and probably never will be, but you keep trying to achieve the impossible. Pangscar has the Sith Inquisitor 2.0 post going and this should help you on that way to ultimate power.

Darth Malgus is the current flavor in game. Darth Vader is probably the one you old geezers relate to more. Either way, Sith Warriors are bad news to anyone, even themselves. Jxspyder has all the information you want on this particular class posted for you to read.

Hey Farm Boy! Get those two droids and go milk some cows or swamprats or something. Yes, nothing too witty to say about the beloved Jedi Knight. So ncupton will fill you in  on all the details and maybe you won’t be some lowly Padawan anymore. Never know, you could end up saving everyone of us!

I got nothing for the Jedi Consular. Seriously! Because as soon as you pop out your lightsaber staff all I will see is something we have all seen before. I’ll laugh at you. Everyone will laugh at you. So while we are indisposed rolling in joyous rapture at your class choice misfortune, Drudenfusz has some information on this post, that may make it possible for you to seem like a good class choice, but we will still snicker at you.

So there you go, Class information on all the classes currently being brought to you in Swtor.

Forum Friday is a weekly posting regarding the posts from the Official Swtor Forums. If you find a post you find interesting and would like to see it discussed here, then Contact Swtor Life with your idea.

Hello gentle readers. Let’s step into the way-back machine and journey all the way back in history to the golden age of  2002.  Lets re-live a moment of Star Wars mythology that to me at least, was so awesome and anticipated, I have to say it was my single favorite scene in the movie.  In case there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about which piece of awesome I refer to, it is: The minute Yoda went all Toshiro Mifune on Dooku.  If there was such a thing as getting pimp slapped by the force, that would have been the definitive example.

Yoda was a Rogue you see.  Seriously.   He was fast, used little shoto saber(s), did lots of spinny, flippy shit, and tried to basically turn Dooku into some force inspired origami meat-swan. That’s what rogues do, right? Fast agile attacks meant to inflict maximum damage with minimum exposure?  I’m pretty sure that is right, and if not, Sorry.  I’m rusty.  I just couldn’t help but think “WoW, that’s how I fight with my rogue in WoW!”  Are mmo’s borrowing from the movies and lore, or are the movies and modules borrowing from mmo’s these days?  Can all my Iconic Star-Wars Classes be broken down and classified with mmo standards?

There was a great disturbance in the force when BioWare announced the classes and some of the advanced classes that all but confirmed we would be seeing a “Trinity-like” setup for grouping and endgame.   One of the big worries was the newly verified scientific law called “WoW in space” or simply “Whiner’s law”, which states:

Part 1

With all games being equal, World of Warcraft will always rank exponentially lower on the innovative scale, and higher on the casual fanboy scale than any other game it is paired with.  Therefore, any game who makes any decisions based on the success of WoW or it’s business model is doomed to utter failure as it will be too similar and / or too different than WoW, and as no two identical / opposite things can occupy the same mmo-sphere, the larger of the two (Being wow) will consume the smaller of the two (being everyone and everything else) and eventually remove it from the time stream as well. If it is like WoW it is a horrible idea, only because WoW was so successful. We love WoW so much it’s like Diabetes.

Part 2 of the law states:

Bibbity bibbity boo.  There is a God and his name is Celery.

Because it’s like WoW it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Doesn’t mean it’s a brilliant idea either.  My concern personally (other than dying before the game actually launches) is that I will be playing a rogue with a lightsaber, or a paladin with a lightsaber or a hunter…. with a lightsaber.  Will my Jedi, I have waited so long for, play like every other button spamming raid donkey or will it be a unique and new play style.  Do I want that comfortable feel of long played and tested mechanics or that totally new type immersion?  At this time I have to say I just don’t know.  I trust BioWare to make great games, but this idea of going further than imitation into flat out cloning of another game’s mechanics is something I didn’t expect.  I’m not sure if it is going to turn out well for them along a critical reception point of view. Until some widespread people get more hands on time with the game, we just don’t know. An hour here or 15 minutes there is nowhere near enough time to form an opinion.    Just remember folks,  If it looks like a rogue, and stabs like a rogue, well hell….  It might be a Jedi, and I think i’m ok with that.