((The RP XP with MJ))

First, a quick thank you to everyone who responded to my first article, “A Jedi Walks Into a Bar….” It’s great to see so much response to my intro and the subject of RP. In fact, I was so moved by the awesome questions and comments, I decided to jump the gun on Friday’s article and give you something else to chew over until then. If you’re new to RP, this is for you.

Four Imperial soldiers stood in formation on the action deck of the destroyer Shroud. Only one of them would be chosen for promotion and a field assignment that would grant limitless power through complete autonomy. Only one would be given the position of Imperial Agent.

As the colonel approached to inspect the four officers, each one stiffened even more than they already were.

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The Twi’lek smuggler looks up from her drink and smiles toward the man in the robes and armor.

The Jedi Knight catches her eye and nods a polite greeting before turning his attention to the row of bottles behind the bar.

Taking her drink, the smuggler moves closer to him, her eyes casually taking in the bar, the colorful crowd, careful not to linger on the Jedi. She stops close to him, close enough to be heard in a whisper but not overheard by anyone else. She faces the dance floor and leans back on the bar with her elbows. “You’re Kendris?”

The Jedi purses his lips and studies his own reflection in the mirror behind the bar. “You’re sloppy,” he says just above a whisper.

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Ever since I returned from the Fan Site Summit in Austin I’ve spent little time in Rift. This was the game that I chose to tide me over until SWTOR release. As effective of last night my sub with Rift ended. With almost 2 months until it runs out I’m not really going to play much, and atm it’s lucky if I can muster up 1 hour play over a full day. This is from someone who played no less than 6 hours + per-day every day to almost nothing.

It’s not like I have not tried to rekindle the joy of playing the game but after getting around 8 hours on TOR, Rift is now so lackluster I cant seem to get that buzz I once used to feel.

Now with TOR I was ready as always to roll out on a PvP server. Just like every other game. With PvP being quite high on my list of things that keep me playing, and you can only really get that good PvP fix on a PvP server.,

Now, I’m a little puzzled to what server to roll out on with the news that PvE servers will have PvP zones that will auto flag anyone that enters at will.

This article will be for those like me that now find themselves pondering which type of server to go play. I hope reading back through when I’m done helps me to decide also. 🙂

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Back in the day, when I was a new MMO’er and starting fresh in Everquest, Role Playing was something I had only associated to those D&D games.

The ones that made kids go nuts and do things not associated to being normal. In EQ, I played a Wood Elf Druid and had a few guildmates who introduced me to the world of MMO RP as it was then. Not much, as most you had a first and last name and generally just talked (typed) how you wanted to play your character as. They weren’t the hardcore who always were in character, but they did their best.

I had one guildie who played a Dark Elf Necromancer and she loved to RP with try to RP with me. She was basically my introduction into this world. Although I was really bad at it, she never got mad and always made the attempt. Now, I have never really seen much support for RP in a MMO. Even Warcraft, which I see as taken RP a step back from what players had, as they have never implemented the first and last name system in place that most players were use to. Now in WoW, you have to use an add-on to get the most out of an attempt to RP.

So with Swtor, I have already noticed a few things that most RP players might like. Names, for a start, I have noticed are able to be hyphenated with special characters. This brings an element to naming your character for the specific RP feel or bond you want your in-game avatar to share with yourself. Also, from what I understand, the first and last name convention is back. Good times for all the RP’ers out there.

The other aspect I see is the whole choice system. So this basically opens the door up for Role Playing in Swtor. You want to play the Dark Side? You got it. You want to play the Sith Warrior trying to make amends for past actions so you start to choose the “good” choices in conversations with NPCs. Are you wanting to play a Jedi that is skirting the line on falling into the Dark Side of the Force?  To do this, you start choosing some of the darker responses. Swtor really opens up some of the aspects of the Role Play in MMO”RP”G.

The thing that really makes this nice as a Role Player is that, no matter what type of Role Player you are, you can make your choices in-game, Flashpoints and wherever even while grouped, and the only thing that matters is your choice. If you chose the dark side choice in the conversation but a player who went towards the light side wins the roll for the response, your choice still counts for you. So while you might not get to see your part play out, you know that it counted for how you want to play you character, and as a Role-player, it’s your choices that matter for your character the most.