Star Wars Old Republic Release Date?

[pinotnoir]

Anyone know when this is coming out? I have been looking at some of the videos on youtube and it looks pretty cool. It may force me to leave wow if its good.

[Lyonheart]

It does look like it might actually be good. Si-Fi MMOs have not done very well. Some have had minimal success, but not on any grand scale. SWG had over a million subscribers when it came out, but the game mostly sucked, so the number fell down to next to nothing. But SW is a Fantasy/ Si-Fi hybrid IMO. lightsabers=sword play, The Force=magic etc.. So it has the potential to keep fantasy junkies and Si-Fi junkies both happy, if done right, and this looks promising!

[jinkobi]

This things going to be a hit... If anyone here played Knights of the old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, etc... Well you already know Bioware is probably the best RPG creators to date. It's going to be huge. Besides Star Wars already being huge-KOTOR already has a gigantic cult following including myself.

I've been eagerly awaiting my BETA invite. They are like Blizzard though and aren't going to push out anything that isn't good. When it's done it's done mentality. You can go to the http://www.swtor.com and sign up for the beta+newsletter. On the site they have gameplay trailers, extensive info, it's going to kick some ass.

[Redbeard]

This game looks interesting, though i havent read too much about it yet.

How do you do class balance with jedi / sith in the mix though? I saw a video with a stormtrooper class and the guy had a big gun but... come on. Jedi. /force hand knock over thing crazy jump stab you with my lightsabre.

I dont see how on a 1 v 1 basis they can balance the force users and the non force users.

Edit: Thinking about it some more I guess its similar to mages vs other people in a regular fantasy game. i dont know. The jedi are such badasses in the lore of star wars though, so its hard for me to see it balancing. (I.e. they either make a jedi as weak as a regular storm trooper dude or make a storm trooper dude as badass as a jedi).

[jinkobi]

This game looks interesting, though i havent read too much about it yet.

How do you do class balance with jedi / sith in the mix though? I saw a video with a stormtrooper class and the guy had a big gun but... come on. Jedi. /force hand knock over thing crazy jump stab you with my lightsabre.

I dont see how on a 1 v 1 basis they can balance the force users and the non force users.

That's one of the main features. Not everyone will even want to be a Jedi because each class offers some very unique fighting styles. This short documentary on the combat explains it better than I could. But basically each class has its own arsenal- a bounty hunter with a jetpack has the potential to be more powerful due to tactics. The fighting is suppose to be very strategic in nature.

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/video-documentary-4

Plus you can buy your own spaceship eventually. How cool is that :D

[pinotnoir]

I think Jedi will be just as powerful as the other classes. They wont be super bad asses like the Movies. There is one form of Jedi that will be more of a healer/buffer too. Not sure how thats going to work but the game looks like a nice change from Wow. The next xpack from wow looks like the same old grind again in the same land. At least Star Wars will be new stuff.

[Redbeard]

Ill have to do some more reading. I saw one video where a developer commented that a group of people getting together to all fight 1 big boss wasnt very heroic, and they were more interested in harrowing battles against insurmountable odds.

I wonder how that will play out if they dont have traditional "bosses." If the combat is fun (dont know either way obviously), the idea of dropping into a planet and being surrounded by a ridiculous horde of robots trying to kill me or something like that sounds like it could be amusing.

[Dooz]

G-4 had a 30 minute hands on interview with the lead game designer of SWTOR at E3. I watched the whole thing live. The release date is "spring 2011." I have to say, I wasn't that impressed with the mechanics. However, that's based on limited knowledge of the game and just what I could glean from a 30 minute interview.

The graphics looked great. However, I thought they should have taken advantage of that time to show how this game will be different from every other MMORPG out there. Instead they show a boss fight with the standard Tank, healer, and dps. It looked like any other boss encounter in WoW to be honest. They also showed a starting zone that looked like Durotar, but instead of boars, there were non-aggroing humanoids. They tried to hype up having your own ship, but I did a little research and the rumors are that the ship is static. I hope that's not true.

They discussed the Jedi / Sith factor and explained that the classes would have balance. The Dev explained that A smuggler could have just as much power as a Jedi if you assume that the smuggler is the "best smuggler ever." I can see that, and you have to remember Jedi have varying amounts mitaclorians (sp). Some will be more powerful than others.

I am still hopeful this game lives up to the hype. I have to admit that I will probably play this game no matter what, but I just didn't see anything in the "hands on" that makes this game stand out. If you have "On Demand G4 TV," you can see the Interview in G4's coverage of E3.

[jinkobi]

If I ever get into the BETA I'll give everyone the heads up if it sucks lol.

The game is going to be good if you are a big Star Wars fan. Because what you're saying dude is 100% true- it is WOW Star Wars from everything I've gleaned. That's a positive thing for me though. If they can take the good things from WOW and translate it into the Star Wars Universe then I'm stoked.

That being said I don't think it is going to appeal to the hardcore raider types. The focus is more on the adventure and story, not blasting to top level to raid. It's going to appeal to people like me who want to be nerds and pretend they're living in Star Wars :D

Another positive point is the storyline. You'd have to play the original Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) 1 & 2 to get everything completely. The timeline is set thousands of years prior to Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker. The stories from the first two KOTOR games were even better than the original Star Wars trilogy.

So unlike SW Galaxies you won't be hanging out with Chewbacca. Not that there's anything wrong with Chewie. Being set in a time where they aren't locked into the original SW saga opens up many possibilities. The lore restraints aren't there.

[Dooz]

If I ever get into the BETA I'll give everyone the heads up if it sucks lol.

The game is going to be good if you are a big Star Wars fan. Because what you're saying dude is 100% true- it is WOW Star Wars from everything I've gleaned. That's a positive thing for me though. If they can take the good things from WOW and translate it into the Star Wars Universe then I'm stoked.

That being said I don't think it is going to appeal to the hardcore raider types. The focus is more on the adventure and story, not blasting to top level to raid. It's going to appeal to people like me who want to be nerds and pretend they're living in Star Wars :D



Yeah I understand where you're coming from. That would be the reason I'd play it too. I was just hoping that there would be something we haven't seen already... so there's a reason to stay in this game as long as I've stayed in wow. I played Aion and got over it very quickly. Great graphics just couldn't sustain that game. I don't want that to happen with SWTOR. So maybe not being impressed is not the best choice of words... disappointed... expecting more might have been better. I'm still in... I just want to be in for the long haul.

[pinotnoir]

One cool thing about the game is all the interaction is voiced with actors. You may get tired of hearing them talk but thats pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7WHHQokRGs

[Redbeard]

Im kind of torn on the talking lol.

Like its COOL. But on the other hand so is listening to Metallica while I play a game (or talking with friends on vent).

Is tell your friends in vent "hey guys SHHH for a few minutes im talking to an NPC" going to become annoying?

I hate to look down on a feature im just trying to look at it realistically.

I sincerely hope its awesome.

[jinkobi]

Im kind of torn on the talking lol.

Like its COOL. But on the other hand so is listening to Metallica while I play a game (or talking with friends on vent).

Is tell your friends in vent "hey guys SHHH for a few minutes im talking to an NPC" going to become annoying?

I hate to look down on a feature im just trying to look at it realistically.

I sincerely hope its awesome.

Lol... I hear ya man... There's a time for talking and a time for shoving your lightsaber where there is no light! Like there will be Cantinas with games- hopefully like KOTOR there was podracing and duels. Places for socializing and hanging with friends. The voice acting won't be happening while combat is going on so you can coordinate attacks on vent. The dialogue will be playing for your entire party at the same time so everyone will probably be listening.

The dialogue and everything are right on par with the original KOTOR games. The voice acting REALLY sets the mood. Some of the most friggen epic story moments and gaming moments that have stayed with me over the years.

The dialogue choices are also an incredibly cool feature. If its like KOTOR being good or evil had tremendous impacts on the storyline. Depending what companions you had with you at the time would also create unique events to happen.

Bioware is all about storyline if anything. The leveling and becoming more powerful will also be cool- but it's all about the story and creating the feeling you really are in the video game. The way Bioware presents its games just suck you in and you're like wtf just happened, lol.

Will be interesting to see the multiboxing possibilities- in that video looks like they cleared an entire dungeon/starship with 2 people.

Sorry to say 'the dialogue' so much rereadin this rofl... It's late here and about to fall asleep and hard to think up more synonyms for that, lol...