Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Loniel Bonewalker]

Fine for me, if you don't want collision detection then let all the damage spells not require LOS so when I have to cast a 3 sec spell the guy can't simply run through my body to get out of it. Realism doesn't matter for that, shouldn't matter for having to face your attacker to cast a spell on them!

Collision detection is absolutely needed as I said previously so I am going to assume that comment was toward another. you should be used to it by now Lons. Casters are not supposed to win unless we have a huge gear advantage or we face a dimwit melee who has no clue. Which is why auto-stick is crazy when there is no collision detection. I see it as those with fast attacks running through those who have to cast while casters will sit there and get beat on, because moving is negligible. Game is not live yet so I suppose the complaining is pointless.

I am curious though if these features pertain to duels in the 1v1 setting and not in a larger scale? Like I said I have no real clue just not a feature i'm crazy about. But not something I can see stressing about.

[Syana]

Balance issue? It's a lame mechanic, one that EQ didn't have except on bolt spells. The longer any MMO goes on the more mechanics there are given to melee to stay on and destroy a caster and the less the caster is given to get away. Just because 4% of the population can twich a mage well enough to compete with a facerolling hunter, warrior, et al that was bought yesterday from ebay naked, doesn't mean it's all hunky dorey now. When you can do in 1.5 sec the damage it takes a 5 second cast spell things aren't balanced. They just play out the way you like them to now. I'm not talking LOS go behind a wall either... I'm talking LOS run through someone.

That's like saying you shouldn't be able to run away from the melee. I mean, really, how does a frail mage physically outrun a warrior? Or how can a mage just stand there and cast a 3 second spell with a warrior beating your ass with a huge two handed axe? Even if you put the collision in, it doesn't stop the warrior from circle strafing. And how exactly does a mage continue casting while turning to keep the target in front.

Wait wait.. let's take this one step further. Why do melee need to be in melee range to hit you with their weapon? Why do melee need to have YOU in front to hit you? The no collision in wow works both ways. You can quickly run through the warrior and they wouldn't be able to hit you with their auto attack (thus wasting their auto attack time).

That is just the way Blizzard has pvp set up right now. If you think you have a better option, go suggest it to them or the next MMO developer, instead of just complaining about how all the pvp mechanics are against mages/casters. It just makes you look biased. I'm sure most melee players will agree that an auto follow/sticking option will make it stupid easy to play melee vs caster/range. That doesn't make it very compelling gameplay though.

On the subject of collision, there are MMOs out there with it. I think Age of Conan was one of them. To be honest, the gameplay felt clunky and not fun. And yes, I did play AoC briefly. I've also played a mage and warrior/rogue in wow pvp. In both occasion, I find the gameplay to be more smooth and enjoyable. Mage had its weaknesses but so do almost every other class.

[Syana]

Back to Star Wars discussion:

One thing that does intrigue me is the space combat. That would be an interesting pvp aspect.

I guess I should look for a beta key.

[Loniel Bonewalker]

/

Back to Star Wars discussion:

One thing that does intrigue me is the space combat. That would be an interesting pvp aspect.

I guess I should look for a beta key.

Yea I was excited for space combat as well. However from what I can tell it is on rails, so i do not know how much that may diminish the fun it may have been. Perhaps they may add non-railed pvp space combat at some point, at least something I can hope for.

[Syana]

I'm thinking Wing Commander / Descent type space combat. Or is that too much to hope for?

[Loniel Bonewalker]

I'm thinking Wing Commander / Descent type space combat. Or is that too much to hope for?

I "think" its more starfox, at least I think. I am not a 100% sure though, but I do believe that is at least what it will be similar to at launch. I know there was some talk that space travel and combat would be expanded upon but I do not believe it is something being focused on right now though I could be wrong.

I was hoping for something like where you could be flying along in your ship to your destination and could encounter a incursion/boarding party on your ship. I was thinking that could at least make space travel a tad interesting while also being easy to implement and not to game changing. But then again I could be all wrong and space combat could not be as I believe it will be.

[Wresh]

I "think" its more starfox, at least I think. I am not a 100% sure though, but I do believe that is at least what it will be similar to at launch. I know there was some talk that space travel and combat would be expanded upon but I do not believe it is something being focused on right now though I could be wrong.

I was hoping for something like where you could be flying along in your ship to your destination and could encounter a incursion/boarding party on your ship. I was thinking that could at least make space travel a tad interesting while also being easy to implement and not to game changing. But then again I could be all wrong and space combat could not be as I believe it will be.

I've heard a lot of people calling it similar to starfox...

Space Combat is VERY important in a Star Wars game (like...duh, right?), but SWG didn't have anything in space until they released a full expansion for it. If I were to guess....they put this space combat system into the game for the release and will most likely release some full scale space expansion....at least that is what I am hoping for!!

There have been a ton of rumors floating around out there...One I saw was - guilds getting Capital Ships later on (expansion or major patch??) in which it is not only a guild hall, but you can take into combat missions. I would think this would be some MAJOR programming, but if they could pull it off, it would be fun.

[Aindayen]

I loved wing commander

[Zeyla]

The SWToR space combat is actually pretty fun as it is now. It is a starfox-style shooting gallery mostly. It is just a fun diversion, side-quest kind of thing. Open space combat would be much much cooler though, no doubt. I recall reading a developer post or note somewhere that said they do want to expand on the space combat and make it more open. It sounded like they were going to leave the space combat as-is for now, then look at expanding on it later. It might have been a chat with one of the developers at a recent conference where I saw it.

I hadn't heard about the guild capital ship thing, that would be awesome! If they could bring back some semblance of the gameplay from those old X-Wing/Tie Fighter PC games, that would rock!

[Wresh]

Full scale beta this weekend for major stress testing...
Anyone that signed up for it before 11/11/11 will get in (I think they said that was the cutoff date). If you didn't get an invite through email(some people are stating they never got one), but you signed up go to http://www.swtor.com/tester while signed into the website and you should be able to dload the client.

[Wresh]

I have some information on how some of the crafting works and a pretty well laid out post for how to find the datacrons and how to assemble relics in the game....

I'll only post them if those who are wanting to play wish to see it since these are spoilers, otherwise I can PM them to people if individuals would like to see this.

I'll let you guys/gals decide.

[Zeyla]

One note on the crafting. Everything changed with the latest build of the game (from last week). The "gathering" crew skills are different for each "production" skill now. I don't know if your guide has been updated yet for this.

Once you have your chosen production skill chosen it is really fairly simple to choose the right gathering and research crew skills in-game, the description for each production skill pretty clearly defines the other skills you need to have.

With each build of the game it is getting better and more polished each time. I am very much looking forward to the release, and to working on a character I know won't be deleted Hopefully they will get the info they need during the stress test this weekend for a smooth launch in December.

[Wresh]

***SPOILERS****

This is information you can find out there easily now that the NDA has been lifted, but if you want to experience everything first hand don't read below.




This is a great site for an overview of skills and where to find Datacrons. http://www.swtor-holo.net/index.html



WHAT ARE MATRIX SHARDS?

As you explore the worlds of Star Wars: The Old Republic you will discover Datacrons. These powerful items will give you an increase to your base stats when you loot them. In addition you will sometimes receive a Matrix Shard, which you can use to construct a Relic. Your character has three relic slots, which you can use to customize your stats to suit your requirements.

The color crystals you use in constructing your relics will determine the stats of the finished relic. The Matrix shards come in the following Colors: Red (Strength), Blue (Willpower), Yellow (Endurance) and Green (Aim/Cunning)

BUILDING RELICS:

Relics can be disassembled, which require you to have a Disassembler Core in your inventory. For Imperials there's a Jawa in Mos Ila called Pitkth who sells them. Republics need to visit the salvage yard right at the northern point of Anchorhead, just inside the walls (-822, 3564).
Stats are dependent on the color crystals that are used.
Higher level crystals will yield better results.
Empire Location - Ancient Assembly Chamber (-1785, 556) Near the Dark Temple
Republic Location - Jedi Temple

COMBINATION RESULTS:

It appears that regardless of class, results are the same when combining shards. It does however appear that using the same color multiple times yields a higher level Relic with better attributes. Keep posting your results and what colors you used to arrive at them.

[R] | [Y] | [R] - 8 STRENGTH, 30 ENDURANCE, 11 WILLPOWER, 14 ACCURACY
[R] | [R] | [B] - 25 ENDURANCE, 10 WILLPOWER, 10 PRESENCE, 19 FORCE POWER
[Y] | [Y] | [Y] - 18 AIM, 60 ENDURANCE, 34 CUNNING, 30 ABSORPTION
[R] | [Y] | [B] - 6 STRENGTH, 12 ENDURANCE, 6 WILLPOWER
[G] | [B] | [B] - 9 AIM, 17 ENDURANCE, 9 CUNNING, 9 ACCURACY.
[Y] | [B] | [B] - 7 STRENGTH, 20 ENDURANCE, 5 WILLPOWER, 10 DEFENSE
[R] | [B] | [B] - 17 ENDURANCE, 7 WILLPOWER, 7 PRESENCE, 13 CRITICAL
[R] | [B] | [G] - 6 AIM, 6 ENDURANCE, 12 CUNNING
[G] | [Y] | [Y] - 17 ENDURANCE, 9 CUNNING, 9 PRESENCE, 9 CRIT
[R] | [Y] | [Y] - 7 STRENGTH, 17 ENDURANCE, 7 WILLPOWER, 13 ACCURACY

[Rhedd]

I'm getting very excited for this game as well. Hopefully we get a big turnout. I'm heavily leaning towards Trooper/tank at this point.. Might go with Knight though.

[Wresh]

I'm getting very excited for this game as well. Hopefully we get a big turnout. I'm heavily leaning towards Trooper/tank at this point.. Might go with Knight though.

But there are no Dwarves in this game....how will you survive?!?!

[Beelzebubs]

Really enjoyed getting my smuggler up to level 24 over the weekend. I fucking love the Gree for the record, call me the black bisector or roughly translated.... The Dark Destroyer!

[Wresh]

To those who've played beta, what will be your main?

For me, I think it will be harder to choose than I thought it would be. I 1st wanted to go Jedi Knight - Sentinel, but after playing in the past 2 beta weekends and trying out every class I think it is down to the Trooper and Counselor.....but really leaning towards Trooper - Commando. The grenades and AoE damage they do is insane.

[Beelzebubs]

I'll definitely be going as a Gunslinger sharpshooter. So much fun and so much flirting. Bowdar is a boss as well.

Sadly though PvP with a smuggler is a ballache due to lack of cover options and when using your own it becomes incredibly laggy when trying to react fast.

[Zeyla]

I'll be going Trooper - Vanguard for tanking most likely. Mostly because I like playing tank classes more, plus I like the whole ranged-tank thing (pretty cool). And the tanks I ran across in my beta experience didn't inspire a lot of confidence, so I want to make sure my groups have a good tank I do wish they gave heavy cannons to vanguards instead of rifles. Using the any gun abilities with a heavy cannon just looks bad ass, but only commando's get to look that cool i guess.

I did a Commando this build and man can they do a lot of AoE damage! Healing as Commando is interesting as well, it has some cool mechanics. I think Vanguard is the way to go for me though. For my second character I'll probably go with a Jedi Counselor, I liked that class as well.

One thing that was nice to see with the recent builds is they have upped the difficulty a fair amount. The combat in some areas and and heroic group quests require the use of CC abilities and careful execution. I'm glad they did this, it was a little too easy in early builds. Like I said before with each build the game is coming along nicely and despite the long queues this last "all in" beta test weekend, the servers ran pretty well. So here's hoping for a smooth launch!

[Coral]

Bah, Republic scum.