Richmond,VA The old republic

http://www.swtor.com/

 

Oh crap.

Don't let the wife see this.
I thought with WoW things were bad...but I spent so much time in Star Wars: Galaxies...

Another Star Wars MMO and this one looks promising.

ACK!

 

If it's got Bioware's stamp on it, then that's all that need's to be said for a Class A experience. The Baldur's Gate series (based on D&D) is one of the all time greatest RPG's for the solo playing experience. Baldur's Gate, The Sword Coast, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, Shadows of Amn, Throne of Bhaal. The whole series was great. Pick em up if you like D&D. It'll take you months to get through them. Now, lets see, a level 50 paladin with Carsomyr +5 two handed sword....ah the memories! Death to Dragons! Looking forward to this game as set in the Star Wars world.

 

Prolly going to be a couple years before it's released, but well worth it. You can find me on their forums under the name ThoughtBomb.

 

You know, if we start saving $15 a month now, by the time its released we should have enough money to pay the monthly fees for a long time...

 

Or buy another set or armor!

 

I hear it might be microtransaction based...

 

They would loose over half their community if they choose that route. Me included. Sure, it would be free to play but it would eventually cost you $30+ a month to stay competative.

 

WHOOPS.....looks like they may loose some of their fans anyways.



If this is true I won't be playing it. Not that it wont be a good game, it's just not the type of game I was wanting to play.

It would be more like a Star Wars "Zelda" that you pay for monthly.

 

Hmmm, I had a link in that last post, but not now!

I'll have to try and find it again.

EDIT:
The article that I had linked has been pulled from the MMORPG.com website. Possibly because it was leaked info that's being protected by their NDA. But because Im so cool I have the whole thing copied already. WOOT!


ARTICLE BELOW:

Below Im posting an inside view of The Old Republic based on an inside source. And no I didnt have to dumpster dive this time to get this info rofl.
Oh and before the flame wars begin, lets not forget I was dead on correct when I said Bioware was making a Star Wars theme MMO in 2006. And this was despite Bioware and LA both stating for a fact that this would not be a star wars MMO.
This is going to be long and so I'll do my best to organize what I know as best I can.

Many MMO's start out as an idea. Developers formulate a basic concept and then workshop ideas. A basic blueprint is written up and a budget is estimated. Then work begins. At this point some of the larger MMO dev houses present their blueprint to a marketing team. The team will do research to determine what kind f projected revenue they can expect and if the game will reach an intended target. Ideas are given back to the development team who may or may not revise their blueprint.

I describe this as whats normally done within a development of an MMO. I mention this because TOR didnt start in this traditional sense.

TOR was born from a business model. This business model was handed over to developers who were then asked to design a game around it. What was this business model you ask, it was a book.

This book was written by Lucas Arts and inspired by KOTOR and its success. I dont know the origins of when and why it was done but this book is the framework for TOR.

The game has been designed to play like a virtual book. Each chapter will have alternate endings based on which dialog you chose in the quests. The goal is to make the game replayable and new each time you start over.

Each chapter has roughly the same content as a KOTOR game. And there are several chapters so the game does have a ton of content.

The game is heavily instanced. If you have ever played Lord of the Rings Online, its similiar to the beginning quest sequence and some of the books. You will literally watch a story unfold in front of you in your own little world. There are several cinematic scenes in the game.

Its definitely NOT open. There are no giant worlds you can freely explore. Its sort of like Guild Wars or a variation of Age of Conan. No player cities and no housing.

There is no space content so if your hoping for a JTL in TOR you better look elsewhere. There is a few quests involving boarding a ship but you arent going to fly around in an X-Wing doing missions.

The story evolves. Think Books in Lord of the Rings. They plan on adding new chapters to the story. Here is the catch, you will likely have to pay for each new chapter. Its not really an expansion, so its more like buying some additional quests.

There are classes in the game but not in the traditional MMO sense. There isnt a tank class or a healing class really. Each class can dps and has some healing abilities.

Each class will start on its own planet and will have a unique series of quests to start the game. Once you leave the planet, the quests will be mostly the same as other classes but the dialog is unique to each class. Of course there are different possibilities based on the dialog you choose. Also cinematic sequences will be different depending on class.

You can solo through the entire game. Not to say there arent group quests, there are but you can skip them.

If you dont like questing, this game isnt for you. There really is no other means to play the game.

There is no non-combat class.

There is a limit to the number of companions you can have. And in a group you cant have two of the same companions out at the same time. Also you can only have one companion out at a time.

Crafting is very basic. You craft your own lightsaber.