Random:
- Don't Be Surprised If You Hear Seth Green
- Don't Be Surprised If TOR Is Not Released In 2009
- Don't Be Surprised If...
- Don't Be Surprised If 'Romance' Means Slavish Agreement
- The Roles Are *gasp* Innovative!
- You Were Deceived if you Think TOR Will be Unique
- Don't Be Surprised If I Am Your Father
- Don't Be Surprised If Fo Diggity Kicks You in the Groin
- Don't Be Surprised If TOR Has No PvP Bounties
- Don't Be Surprised If You Don't Get Into the Beta
Editorials
Editorials (87)
One thing that always puzzled me when looking at information people have gotten from their hands-on time with Star Wars: The Old Republic was that no one had ever bothered to look at what stats did. More importantly, no one ever looked to analyze what those stats might mean. Call it the min/maxxer in me, but this is very important, so I decided to do it myself.
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Editorials
Finally PAX West has come and gone and with it is my first hands-on with Star Wars: The Old Republic. I made sure to get as much playtime with each available class and I will cover my thoughts on each of them after the break.
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- "Oh? What was it when we killed our Padawans?!"
"Our duty!" - ― Jedi Seer Xamar and Jedi Master Lucien Draay
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I'm a name snob. I always get stuck at the character creation screen. Should I find a name with a meaning that really captures what this character is about? Should I search randomly generated names for one that just feels sexy rolling off the tongue? Or should I craft the punniest, most hilarious gag or pop reference that will amuse me for years to come? Regardless of the approach—and despite some dubious results—I always put in some effort. Hence my annoyance when I see an immersion-shattering chunk of l33tspeak nonsense as a character name. Unfortunately these players-who-shall-not-be-named exist in every online game, and we'll see them in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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Editorials
Have you ever been the new kid at school? Have you ever tried to pick up a new sport or a musical instrument? Have you ever tried to learn to drive stick after driving an automatic for years? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions then you already have a pretty good idea how tough transitions can be, especially when you are accustomed to doing things a particular way. In many cases we avoid trying new things for fear of failing. The same applies to making the transition from console games to PC games, especially PC MMO games. It's particularly difficult for true blue console gamers to transition to PC MMOs due to the sheer amount of control a player is given over their characters in MMOs as opposed to console games. Most console gamers rely on twitch to become successful at a particular game. The same can be said for PC FPS or, "Shooters". MMOs on the other hand take a whole different skill set. In fact MMOs are an entirely different animal. We must bring to bear far more than twitch gaming and minor character management. This is not to say that MMO gamers are in any way superior gamers to our twitch gamer counterparts or console gamers for that matter. MMO gamers merely use a different style of gameplay and different tools for the job. In many ways, MMO gamers are a hybrid of all game styles. MMO gamers employ a mix of twitch style, pen and paper style principles and RTS style gameplay. We will cover the tools, methods, and skills needed to help make your transition from console games to MMO gaming as smooth as possible.
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Human speech evolved using a specific set of apparatus that allow us to make the sounds that we do. Even our closest primate cousins cannot physically generate human-like speech. And yet BioWare seems to have no problem with normal-sounding speech from Trandoshans, Gamorreans, or even the double-mouthed Ithorians in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Aliens sounded "alien" in the films, but I think they'll sound like any old human in SWTOR. I worry that this will break immersion for some players.
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Editorials
Between its voice acting and writing requirements, Star Wars: The Old Republic is big. This will affect it post-release. Expansions add different things to MMOs, but tend to include two key features: new classes for new characters and new levels for old characters. I have doubts that BioWare will have the resources to write new classes—like writing another Knights of the Old Republic for each—and also to extend old class narratives. I think the SWTOR level-cap will never be raised. I like that.
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Editorials
Thursday, 12 August 2010 22:05
Don't Be Surprised If SWTOR Has Achievements
Written by Matt "fo diggity"In my last article I discussed a possible "legacy" system for Star Wars: The Old Republic. In it, I mentioned unlocking character options at important in-game milestones, like max level. What I didn't discuss and will now, is if BioWare will include arbitrary milestones—commonly called "achievements"—and keying in-game rewards to them. Achievements have become so popular that it's almost guaranteed, but implementation is debatable and linking achievements to in-game rewards would be a mistake.
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Tuesday, 10 August 2010 21:40
Don't Be Surprised If Bonus Customization Is Unlockable
Written by Matt "fo diggity"
In response to recent comments by BioWare about playable aliens, reader YarekStorn pointed out the possibility that class-exclusive species in Star Wars: The Old Republic might be "unlockable" for other classes with later characters. This immediately made me think of the long-rumored "legacy character" system. Although no corroborating signs have been seen for such a feature, I think it's an excellent example of how a "legacy" system should work, and is worth exploring.
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Editorials
Thursday, 05 August 2010 17:16
Don't Be Surprised If TOR Has Same-Faction PvP
Written by Matt "fo diggity"
PvP is awesome. Tut-tut gentle-hearted PvEer, I don't mean PvP is superior, only that many players—myself included—enjoy it immensely. We know that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have PvP; BioWare has announced War Zones, instanced PvP battlegrounds, and Señor Dahlberg has gleefully mentioned "ganking". However, I wonder how firm the the faction lines will be. After some thought, I see no reason why BioWare can't do same-faction PvP, and it would be a terrible waste not to.
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Editorials
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 22:20
Don't Be Surprised If No Content Is Player-Driven
Written by Matt "fo diggity"
Truly player-driven content—the ability to not only influence the political or economic status quo of the game, but to generate content as a member of the community—has been championed by some as the most promising feature in MMO games, if not all games.
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Monday, 02 August 2010 17:58
You Were Deceived if you Think TOR Will be Unique
Written by Cameron WrightIf you were to visit the official Old Republic Forums, you would find many who believe that The Old Republic will be a WoW-clone. That is to say, it will follow the same formula put forth by Blizzard, consisting of repetitious kill quests, delivery quests, unbalanced player vs. player combat, boring raids and instances, and an overall uninspired atmosphere.
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