Star Wars: The Old Republic's 'Trooper' class detailed

by Randy Nelson { May 9th 2009 at 9:00AM }

BioWare has declassified data on the Trooper class that'll be fighting alongside the Jedi in its upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. Yes, as you can see on the class' data page, they do look surprisingly similar to the troopers who fought in the Clone Wars -- but hey, those were wicked cool, so we'll just be thankful for this tweaking of pre-film canon.

As BioWare describes them, the Trooper is an elite special forces element of the Republic's military, a.k.a. a good guy. They're evidently highly effective at close-quaters combat, carry sticky grenades and have access to numerous enhancements for their standard "modern rifle." That and myriad armor variations that will boggle any fanboy's mind. Check out these bad boys (and girls, hopefully) in motion at the official site.

Tags: bioware, ea, electronic-arts, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

The Baron @ May 9th 2009 9:04AM

I honestly thought from the picture that this was a post about Quake Live.

Discuss!

mike @ May 9th 2009 12:31PM

This was my initial reaction:
http://www.bungie.net/images/news/inlineimages/AnniversaryMCNewsweekLrg.jpg

Cj @ May 9th 2009 9:07AM

BFG.

Charlie_Six @ May 9th 2009 9:16AM

I hope this class doesn't follow the common RPG experience for ranged attack classes. That is, shoot enemy until they close to melee range, then run away until you can turn and shoot them again. I find the process really cumbersome..

MystileArmor @ May 9th 2009 9:26AM

"They're evidently highly effective at close-quaters combat"

Why do you comment on an article you didn't read? You know you just make yourself look stupid.

t_m @ May 10th 2009 3:57AM

except i was asuming that was a typo, as it makes little sense.

"they evidently would have been good at close quarters combat if everyone else wasn't running around with lightsabers and michlorians" should have been the full quote.

Snowblind @ May 9th 2009 9:37AM

This is the class I was hoping for, even if it was pretty obviously going to be in the game. I think it'll be more interesting playing as something like this, when everyone else is going to be a Jedi/Sith.

Not that I don't want a Jedi as well.

Jrinswand @ May 9th 2009 10:43AM

THIS is the class you were hoping for? Not something way more interesting, like a bounty hunter or a Wookiee engineer or something?

I'm excited about seeing the various classes BioWare are creating, but they're going to have to try a lot harder than this in order to get me seriously interested in the game.

Snowblind @ May 9th 2009 11:14AM

I think the Republic Trooper is far more interesting than a bounty hunter :)

The Dark Wayne @ May 9th 2009 10:52AM

Augh! I'm so conflicted I've always wanted to be a Mandalorian, but clone troopers are just as much my favorite! They basically are Mandalorians too! Auuugggghhh

The Dark Wayne @ May 9th 2009 11:07AM

this is 300 years later than those so id imagine their designs would change a bit

The Dark Wayne @ May 9th 2009 11:07AM

odd, that was supposed to reply to dimaskrenz

MystileArmor @ May 9th 2009 11:18AM

I'd like the option of mixing certain elements from classes. So you could be a clone-trooper that has some bounty hunter skills on the side. Something like that.

Also, I want this game on the Xbox 360, since my pc is a piece of shit when it comes to playing games.

LaughingTarget @ May 9th 2009 11:36AM

This is a few thousand years before clone troopers.

dimaskrenz @ May 9th 2009 11:42AM

I know the designs are changed. But, clone trooper-look a like? Come on Bioware!

THE Ezio Auditore de Firenze (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ May 9th 2009 12:02PM

now i can't decide between bounty hunter and trooper. damn.

The Dark Wayne @ May 9th 2009 12:10PM

no shit it's a few thousand years before, but there's no denying that they basically are the same.

Markez @ May 9th 2009 4:13PM

Holy balls do I fail. I always thought your gt was a Matrix reference. I'm a real asshat. Mostly because that doesn't make sense either. Dude I'm thinking of was the merovingian... Immmmmm faaaailing awaaaaaaayyyyy

The Baron @ May 10th 2009 2:07PM

@Mystile

This is a game which is going to be designed (like WoW) to run on practically anything. Stick a $50 graphics card in your PC and you'll probably manage some pretty good settings.

dimaskrenz @ May 9th 2009 11:06AM

No Old Republic Trooper like this one?
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5666/trender33rg.jpg

or Sith Trooper?
http://www.coveworld.net/kotor-d20/sithtrooper2.jpg

Snowblind @ May 9th 2009 11:16AM

Some of the Republic Trooper armour did make them look sort of like that first image. As for the Sith Troopers, I imagine that'll be a seperate class, unless the Bounty Hunter is the Sith equivalent.

dimaskrenz @ May 9th 2009 11:45AM

But it just doesn't look an Old Republic army...
Are they trying to re-design clone armour for Old Republic? Doesn't feel Old Republic at all...

finnith @ May 9th 2009 12:07PM

Maybe they got special armour because they were special forces.

Van Redd @ May 9th 2009 12:45PM

I'm just hoping and praying that this is the game I wanted SW: Galaxies to be.

squeehunter @ May 9th 2009 12:53PM

I'm hoping it's like SWG before they ruined it.

Doombot (zuburi) @ May 9th 2009 11:00PM

Good luck. This will be another easy MMO.

I'd prefer it to be hardcore like SWG used to be, too. But it's just not going to happen.

I remember the treks through the desert in SWG. Those were good times.

squeehunter @ May 9th 2009 12:52PM

Is there any notable SW technology missing from the KOTOR's time? 3000 years is a long time to be technologically stagnant. Was there a dark age?

Wes @ May 10th 2009 3:01AM

Well, you have to keep in mind that the overall technology in Star Wars episode 1, 2 and 3 somehow seems more advanced than the technology in 4, 5 and 6 which takes place after.

I mean, come on those killer robots with dual-lasers in each hand that rolled around in circles with their own personal nearly impenetrable shield?

How come when Luke Skywalker and Han Solo mounted their rescue attempt in Star Wars: A New Hope those things never show up?

A. CGI at the time didn't exist to make them without an extremely cheesy looking effect.

B. Its more personable if the story is human versus human rather than human versus robot guard.

Its kind of strange though because it feels like to me that the 'driods' launched to track down one of the escape pods from the captured corvette that had C3 Po and R2D2 were less advanced than the droids from 20 year prior in episode 1. What happened? Did the empire run out of money and decided to get the 80% off 800 year old droid models?

Where did the robot guards go? Did the empire decide it was unfair to lay off all those henchmen in favor of autorobonization after the Evil Hencemen Union was established and hired all the henchmen back to get easily-shot?

Star War's technology timeline is as screwed up as Star Trek storyline is after that travesty with Scott Backula 'Enterprise' was made.

AwesomeTown @ May 9th 2009 12:57PM

I'm not into MMOs but the more I read and see of this game, and the fact it's from BioWare, might just get me into them. I can't wait to see more classes.

Rentaro @ May 9th 2009 1:02PM

Saw the picture without reading the headlines. Got my hopes up for a Republic Commando for a sec. Sad-Face

samn @ May 9th 2009 6:10PM

Yeah, a new Republic Commando would be awesome! I remember spending countless hours upon hours on that game. Would be nice to have an updated version, for sure.

aristokrat @ May 9th 2009 1:49PM

Is this going to me more action-y in combat that most MMO's? Has anyone ever done mixed combat, like some classes are Halo-like run-n-gun and other classes are slow magic-wielders?

Velsar @ May 9th 2009 4:23PM

Seems too typical... ranged attack with one gun that modifies and what not, no real special talents or traits...

Soldier...

Bah I hate SOLDIER just as much as I hate MELEE (for anything with the ability to be magical).

I don't remember any elite Republic Forces in KOTOR...

Nah they pretty much all sucked.

Dirty @ May 9th 2009 4:52PM

This game has got me in its tractor beam. As much as I dont want a MMO and a real sequel to KOTOR.

Phinehas @ May 9th 2009 5:02PM

Compensating much?

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ May 9th 2009 10:50PM

In other words:

You are Masteir Chef and y0u are pretty cool guy,uses sticky grenades and can fire y0ur Laz0rsss BARRRRGHH!!! and doesn't afraid of anything.

justshovejayohbe @ May 10th 2009 3:27AM

Question: Why is the Sith Empire's logo the same as the Republic's logo and why does the Republic have a new logo?

Snowblind @ May 10th 2009 7:36AM

Without trying to be a picky Star Wars fan, yeah, this bothered me.

Basically they're saying the Republic based their logo on the Sith emblem..? No one questioned that? It's like the European Union using a swastika.

t_m @ May 10th 2009 4:01AM

Er.. so these guys with the big guns... in a universe full of jedi with lightsabers... they are the ones that are close combat specialists???

Er... you sure? Cos they didn't seem to excel at close combat in the movies...

squeehunter @ May 10th 2009 7:03AM

I remember reading something about human soildiers being much more reliable and intelligent than the droid armies and since they had all those clones already, then why not use them?

Also, I wouldn't call the technology in the prequels more advanced than in the older movies. They just had flashier computer interfaces. Plus, they showed Coroscaunt which the older ones never did except for the remastered Ep. VI