We know that each class is going to have a unique individual story, which is another way of saying class-exclusive quests. We also know that some flashpoints—BioWare's term for a special type of narrative instance—will be class exclusive, and were shown an example of a Sith Warrior flashpoint. In an MMO where transitioning between open world and instanced world is apparently instantaneous—thanks to the HeroEngine—can we really assume that the "open" content will vastly outweigh the class-exclusive, instanced content? While I don't expect a paucity of non-class exclusive content, there are rumors that you will be actively encouraged to roll multiple characters. Namely, the loosely described "legacy character" system from that old "I took a survey" rumor:



A gut reaction by many future TOR players when presented with this rumor was "holy balls broken," their thoughts fixated on ever-escalating power bonuses with each alt rolled:





Assuming the feature is even implemented, I have more faith in BioWare than that. Indeed, we've already seen a "legacy character" system from BioWare previously in Mass Effect. ME handled the "legacy character" concept with the introduction of bonus talents. After playing your first character long enough to unlock some achievements for power use, subsequent characters could select one of the talents unlocked through those achievements for their character. As this system provides no additional talent points to spend on your new character, it's a far cry from the power-stacking nightmare that concerned so many. If anything, the system provides an ambiguous power increase by allowing power combinations otherwise impossible by the class talent lists, but spreading talent points thinly could hamper a character as easily as it helps it. While any "legacy character" system in TOR might be very different than what we saw in ME, I think the example shows that BioWare's collective mamas didn't raise no fools. Regardless, if the rumor proves to be true, it will show that BioWare is encouraging the creation of alts.

So we have class-exclusive narrative content and rumors of alt-character "bonuses". We also have the likely possibility that classes will be added in later expansions (as many MMOs do). In TOR's case, this would mean that accessing some expansion content might require rolling a new character (hardly a foreign concept after World of Warcraft's Death Knight). So what does this mean for gameplay? How can they still support those who hold a strong aversion to playing multiple characters while still offering "replayability" benefits for those who want to embrace an alt-heavy design?


For those who don't want to play alternative characters, the answer is two-fold: in-depth grouping and content-rich endgame. We've already seen confirmation that characters can experience class-exclusive content via grouping in the Sith Warrior flashpoint video. While we know the flashpoint "belongs" to the Sith Warrior, the Bounty Hunter is able to experience, participate, and even influence (via the multiplayer dialogue system) the narrative. This is the best way to offer class-specific content to those who only want to play one character. That this also encourages social participation and helping lowbies is an added bonus for TOR's community. A Bounty Hunter playing with an Imperial Agent buddy has effectively doubled the class-exclusive content they'll both have access to within one playthrough. I find this far more agreeable than the "quest sharing" method where you have to do the same mundane task longer until everyone in the group has achieved the full checklist of objectives, usually based on kill counts or random item drop rates. And I personally would be a lot more willing to step up and help someone with a quest if doing so means I get to see new content. For example, even if I've already played through a particular flashpoint on my own Sith Warrior, it might be worth doing again with my Imperial Agent to see what unique dialogue options I get out of it.

To support such grouping, BioWare would simply need to ensure that groups with a large level disparity can play together without taking away the challenge of a flashpoint. It'd be a shame load into another class's flashpoint that you've never seen before only to breeze through it because your Sith Warrior is max level and the instance is for a level 5 Bounty Hunter. Of course there are other issues you might have with that combination.





Grouping must always provide an challenging, fun experience, or it's going to hurt this method of experiencing cross-class content. Even with grouping, faction-exclusive classes make experiencing all content of the game with one character unlikely, and it's still best to avoid thinking that "alts" are an acceptable replacement for quality endgame content. Be it raiding, questing, player-vs-player, crafting, world building, achievement hunting, gear hunting, or resource/zone control, there needs to be an open-ended stream of content that will keep players playing in the endgame—without having to create multiple characters. Even for those who want to play multiple characters, anything less would seem like an unrewarding finish after completing their class narrative.


So what do alt-a-holics want from a system that seems to be encouraging alt-rolling? I would argue that alt-lovers are looking for unique choice-based content and alternate narrative paths within each class. By which I mean not only an alternate alignment ending for each narrative, but actual mid-narrative divergent paths, a reason to play the same class multiple times. If somebody likes the idea of rolling alts, then why not give them as many variations in narrative as possible to support that? Unlike Knights of the Old Republic or other BioWare single player RPGs, there is no way to save before important decisions so you can see both results of that decision. Once you decide, you're stuck. That goes a long way to defining individual characters by the choices they make rather than the class they belong to. I see no reason why—assuming development time can support it—these decisions shouldn't lead to long, sprawling sidequests that other members of the same class might not even have a chance to see, encouraging those players to either re-roll or group up to access that content.

Finally, provide some vanity rewards for rolling an alt or—even better—reaching a particular ending for one of your characters. It still isn't a good idea to grant surplus power for having multiple characters, but perhaps an "Emperor" vanity achievement might be enough to encourage a die-hard Bounty Hunter to roll that Sith Warrior he's been thinking about. And it's a good, harmless goal for completionists to strive for.


It's unclear at this point what the final ratio of "class content" to "general content" will be. We don't even have a full understanding on how heavily this game will be instanced. For all we know every quest-giver and quest will take place in an instance, and that would affect how readily you can access content without rolling multiple characters. As much as I enjoy trying out the various classes and experiencing their storylines, BioWare ultimately needs to understand that not everybody is eager to do that.

What are your thoughts on Alts in TOR? Do you think they'll be required? Encouraged? Is that a bad thing or good thing? Let me know!

• Discussion: "Don't Be Surprised If You're Expected To Play Alts"