SWTOR: Catch-All

I also added links to the OP to their class breakdowns of the Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter.

Didnt list it outright because it is spoilerish if you want to experience the story first hand in the game.

Also for those that may not know yet:

Jeff Hickman took over as Executive Producer, Live Services for SWTOR.

With his work on WAR we can only hope he learned his lessons from the WAR launch and apply them here. Some people are up in arms like he's the whole reason WAR failed, and while some of it may lie on his shoulders i dont think its as much as people would like to spin it.

I'd rather have someone with experience in that position than someone without any.

But if someone has no experience you can pin all your hopes and dreams on them because you have no clue what they're capable of. They're a blank slate. If someone has been around and was involved in something you didn't like then obviously you're forced to loathe them and thereby in turn expect only the worst from them. Figureheads are nice that way. They become responsible for everything.

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Tanglebones wrote:

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Confirmed: I'm going to look awesome.

oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Confirmed: I'm going to look awesome.

Can't wait to see my Sith Inquisitor's progression I'm thinking of going the full Palpatine

Tanglebones wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Confirmed: I'm going to look awesome.

Can't wait to see my Sith Inquisitor's progression I'm thinking of going the full Palpatine

Are, are they going to have face scanning for our characters? I didn't see anything about that.

oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Confirmed: I'm going to look awesome.

Can't wait to see my Sith Inquisitor's progression I'm thinking of going the full Palpatine

Are, are they going to have face scanning for our characters? I didn't see anything about that.

I doubt it, but I really want to turn "The Full Palpatine" into a phrase that means something

Tanglebones wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

New video for Sith Warrior progression:
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/...

Confirmed: I'm going to look awesome.

Can't wait to see my Sith Inquisitor's progression I'm thinking of going the full Palpatine

Are, are they going to have face scanning for our characters? I didn't see anything about that.

I doubt it, but I really want to turn "The Full Palpatine" into a phrase that means something :P

One of your Sith officers, folks. We aim to please!

I'd think "The Full Palpatine" would be associated with staying in the water until you're fully pruned.

They're a bunch of teases! Maybe they meant 1 full week instead of this week when talking about PvP. Nice video but very lackluster after the fact

They also have a dev blog entry about the UI

one of the first iterations:
IMAGE(http://cdn-www.swtor.com/sites/all/files/en/db/uiblog/ui_01.png)

ranalin wrote:

A very negative interview.

You mean preview.
Man, I really want to write something about that.

jonnypolite wrote:
ranalin wrote:

A very negative interview.

You mean preview.
Man, I really want to write something about that.

Ya... they play the game for 48 hours and all they can write is a few paragraphs about how empty and boring it was? Well no duh, they were only playing on a server with 50 people in the entire thing, it's going to be empty. This "preview" sounds like it was written by someone that had already made up his mind before even playing.

As much as I'm uncertain about TOR, I'm much more uncertain about bit-tech (and I know a guy who works/worked there), their views on games don't really fit with my experiences of those same games, so chances are if they say it's crap then I'll really enjoy it. If I didn't know better I'd say they were click-baiting with this preview to get people onto the site.

ranalin wrote:

A very negative interview.

I think you meant preview. Tannhausered.

Basically reads as "oh noes, this is just an mmo. It has a story sure, and that one bit with the flashpoint was neat, but overall we found the story boring and stupid based on our play-through of the starting zone."

Much more positive 2 day preview from ars technica.

As far as the PvP embargo, I am guessing they will lift that next week with next week's Friday update featuring PvP.

*Edit* Lots of chatter on the Dev Tracker. PvP embargo will lift in less than a week.

And Stephen Reid's take on the Bittracker preview:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

A couple of things that might confuse in this review; while the reviewer played the game over a period of 48 hours, they didn't play for 48 hours. (If they did, they'd have gotten a lot further in the game...!)

Second, Origin Worlds are indeed a different sort of experience from the rest of The Old Republic. Essentially an introduction to the game, they focus quite heavily on story, and on getting you used to the pace of how the game plays. Game mechanics are relatively light, without the introduction of more complex concepts such as Advanced Classes, Crew Skills, and so on. In fact, your first Companion Character is really the first new 'system' you deal with on an Origin World.

Third, your story mileage may vary. As everyone in the studio plays the game a lot, we talk constantly about it, and what comes up very often is of course the story involved. We compare quests, talk about the choices we made, and often just ask each other "Have you gotten to the bit when..." Just like a great book or TV series (as we feel 'longer' than a movie), there are generally 'moments' people enjoy in most stories.

Scratched wrote:

If I didn't know better I'd say they were click-baiting with this preview to get people onto the site.

I'd agree with ya because pretty much everyone else that's been there has been glowing about what they saw. If MMOs arent your thing then i could see how may not impress ya over all in a small amount of time played.

...and yes i meant preview

I can very easily see TOR being viewed like this preview through jaded eyes.

ranalin wrote:

If MMOs arent your thing then i could see how may not impress ya over all in a small amount of time played.

I've been wondering about that, and who they're trying to attract to it. If it's people who would be drawn into a KotOR type story, and they have said that TOR is essentially has the story equivalent to KotOR 3, 4 and 5, then I ask myself would I play a MMO instead of a bunch of story games, and I think it depends on the pricing/sub. I don't really want to pay for a base game plus a sub for a story focussed game, even if it's multiplayer, I'd rather buy 3 good singleplayer games. I don't think they've really gone into detailing high level PvE/PvP yet, which would bring out the comparisons to existing traditional MMOs.

Scratched wrote:
ranalin wrote:

If MMOs arent your thing then i could see how may not impress ya over all in a small amount of time played.

I've been wondering about that, and who they're trying to attract to it. If it's people who would be drawn into a KotOR type story, and they have said that TOR is essentially has the story equivalent to KotOR 3, 4 and 5, then I ask myself would I play a MMO instead of a bunch of story games, and I think it depends on the pricing/sub. I don't really want to pay for a base game plus a sub for a story focussed game, even if it's multiplayer, I'd rather buy 3 good singleplayer games. I don't think they've really gone into detailing high level PvE/PvP yet, which would bring out the comparisons to existing traditional MMOs.

Additional pvp info is out any time now ("less than a week"). They've said they've been working on the endgame portion and will be talking about it soon as well.

I'll pay the normal monthly sub for this. I'd even pay extra. My worries are still the same as they always have been. If the endgame/pvp structure isnt up to par with the rest of the game leading up to it. Then they might have a hard time keeping me continuing to pay.

I'll be interested most to see what they use as their 'bad guys'. WoW and most others have two factions rarely fighting each other in PvE, and fighting against the latest evil/mad thing trying to blow up the world. I'm not into the SW fiction but from what I do know it's mostly Sith/Empire versus Jedi/Republic, they could go interesting places with that, but it could easily be killed in the name of balance.

Scratched wrote:

I'll be interested most to see what they use as their 'bad guys'. WoW and most others have two factions rarely fighting each other in PvE, and fighting against the latest evil/mad thing trying to blow up the world. I'm not into the SW fiction but from what I do know it's mostly Sith/Empire versus Jedi/Republic, they could go interesting places with that, but it could easily be killed in the name of balance.

Thats the trick and while there may be some common enemies (Mandalorians depending on their mood) they cant have the Republic doing things that would progress the works of the Empire.

Which makes me wonder about the Bounty Hunter.

Spoiler:

They said his early quests are him trying to get enough rep to partake in the Great Hunt. Which i thought was a Mandalorian challenge. Granted it seems the Hutts are sponsoring this one.

So who knows what they're planning right now...

BT preview wrote:

Why bounty hunters can’t reap the benefits of crouching behind a crate to avoid bullets is as big a mystery as why lightsabers can’t even cut through un-armoured enemies on a single strike.

WTH? A jedi can't one shot everything in the game with a light saber? I call BS!

Scratched wrote:

I'll be interested most to see what they use as their 'bad guys'.

SWG got around this issue a good bit by having you go up against neutral criminal organizations, pirates, hostile natives and animals. Every once in a while they'd throw in a mission where you're taking on either rebels or imperials. Of course SWG also wasn't that heavy on story but I'd imagine SWTOR will be similar with the flashpoint missions giving you your primary opportunities to beat up on the opposing faction.

Kehama wrote:
Scratched wrote:

I'll be interested most to see what they use as their 'bad guys'.

SWG got around this issue a good bit by having you go up against neutral criminal organizations, pirates, hostile natives and animals. Every once in a while they'd throw in a mission where you're taking on either rebels or imperials. Of course SWG also wasn't that heavy on story but I'd imagine SWTOR will be similar with the flashpoint missions giving you your primary opportunities to beat up on the opposing faction.

There were plenty of places in WoW, for example, where you would find all the local wandering mages and whatnot were friendly to you. Those were places where the other side were out killing your team in NPC format for quests.

I dreamed the Sith Inquisitor Progression video last night. For some reason, Sith Sorcerer involved a clown suit at highest levels. I'm that much more interested in playing one now

Is there any news coming out tomorrow, or are EA leaving any announcements for E3?

Scratched wrote:

Is there any news coming out tomorrow, or are EA leaving any announcements for E3?

The embargo for the fan summit PvP action is supposed to lift this week. Friday they said it would be in less than a week. So maybe?