BioWare reveals more info on The Old Republic class progression

by Griffin McElroy on Apr 10th 2011 5:00PM

Jedi Knights don't just become Jedi Knights, you know -- if that were the case, The Empire Strikes Back would be way, way shorter. It takes tons of training for a Jedi (and every other class in The Old Republic, for that matter) to hone their abilities to a lightsaber-sharp point. Luckily for the MMO's potential players, BioWare has revealed a ton of information on how this progression will play out in-game.

Check out the latest post on the game's official blog for a quick rundown on class progression in The Old Republic, covering everything from advanced classes to skill trees. So, so many skill trees. No kidding, you guys. Like, a tropical rainforest of skill trees.

Via: Big Download
Source: BioWare

Tags: bioware, ea, lucasarts, mmo, mmorpg, pc, Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic, The-Old-Republic

Reader Comments (44)

Awesome sauce all over my face

@The Cole Train

yuck

Bioware, just tell me when the game is out.

Lightsabers aren't exactly sharp, I doubt i could cut much with it if it wasn't made of lasers.

@MrAlex

If it wasn't made of lasers it wouldn't be a lightsaber.

@This Little Man Says His Name Is

My point is it burns rather than cuts so it is not sharp and doesn't have any pointy bits.

@MrAlex

Haha yeah good point. Without the lazorz it would be a staff that you beat people with

@MrAlex

You use lasers to cut things.

This and starcraft 2 are reasons for me to buy a new PC or laptop to run them i loved kotor 1& 2 on Xbox I'm excited for this one

Why are MMO's doing bottom-up talent trees lately? I'm just stupid in that way, but I think they're easier/nicer going from top to bottom.

@MrPistachio

Either because they want to be different from WoW just for the sake of it, or because trees, you know, grow from the ground up.

@kgoo867 Yeah but trees grow upwards

Yeah so I think I've made my mind up for my first character, Sith Marauder.

Beast tanking though Jedis with dual sabers, ooooh yeeaaaah

Hey how about revealing the release date.

The game continues to unfold with less and less imagination and a severe lack of innovation.

If Bioware didn't have the good fortune of being able to rely so heavily on traditional MMO fare and past Mass Effect success while being bolstered by their company name and the an iconic pop culture brand (interestingly also the same respective reasons Halo 3 was actually successful from a fiscal perspective), I would venture to say this game would never come out. But since the majority of the systems in this game have already been in play in other games for years, they certainly aren't attempting to challenge themselves or the genre.

There, I said it. This game officially looks incredibly boring.

I used to be really excited about this game. Its fallen completely off my list over the course of the last several months.

@Apakal This is almost the same responds people gave when Bioware announced KOTOR. An RPG Star Wars game? What madness is this?! Lightsabers that didn't kill things in one stroke? D20 rules?! It looks boring!

Yet it became on their biggest hits and help rejuvenate the love for Star Wars in many. I'll hold judgement until I'll actually play the game, but to me, it looks just what I wanted, another KOTOR.

@TacoHell : Who said that about KOTOR pre-release? Oh, right, nobody, that's who. Rewriting history to try and make a point just sounds stupid.

@Apakal : couldn't agree more. This is WoW with a Star Wars skin. Granted, just about every game now is a WoW clone, but if there was one title I'd hoped to see buck the trend, it was this one. Devs have admitted it's half-baked and their not being given the time and resources to do it right. And let's face it, being constrained by the limitations of current gen consoles handicaps any RPG or MMO. The only reason Dragon Age wasn't universally panned was because people were so desperate for a single-player RPG. Well, that and massive payola, as we all know.

@Apakal Wow you have no idea how the gaming community works. From the beginning they never said they were gonna be a wow killer, they knew the only way to even compete is to use alot of the ideas that wow had and use ingenuity to create something new. Its not easy developing a mmo from scratch and expect people to learn a whole new way to play. Your very uninformed to form such an opinion this early on in the stage, Im sure you havent played it, and cant place a real opinion. Your judging from screens, vids, and what ever your mind thinks up. I understand people are allowed to have opinions, but maybe hold your tongue till you can form a real opinion.

@psycros Are you serious? People would call the lightsabers "lightbats" because they couldn't think of a lightsaber that doesn't kill someone in one hit. I know people would complain because it was turn-based combat, well-hidden turn base combat, but turn based combat none the less. Saying no one complained (and still don't) is what is really laughable.

@Apakal

"But since the majority of the systems in this game have already been in play in other games for years, they certainly aren't attempting to challenge themselves or the genre."

And what did WoW do that had never been done? All its systems had been in other games before. Its quest system was refined from what came before, but quests were nothing new. Its PvP? Nope. Soloability? Nope. Nothing WoW did was completely original either, but the lack of "challenging themselves or the genre" didn't hurt its chances.

That's the thing. If an MMO is too different, people will feel scared and alienated and go back to the familiar like WoW. But if it's too much of the same, it'll remind them of WoW and they'll go back to that. TOR has enough innovation that WoW can't copy(the voicework and much more emphasized story in quests), with a lot of the familiar that should hook people into it.

@RogueJedi86

For one, I made an active effort to not specifically mention WoW because they too haven't done anything that revolutionary and I in now way give them credit for having done so. But since we're here, lets talk about it. WoW had the good fortune of timing. It was able to bring a bunch of great things from other games and deliver them in a total package that hadn't been done yet.

Bioware doesn't have that luxury. Its way too late in the game for that. They're just delivering the same package as everyone else. Sure that package might be good enough to make the game profitable. I'm sure enough people are okay with playing a re-skin provided the lore is deep and rich, etc. etc. etc. Point is, that's not good enough for me. Especially when there are more than a few triple A titles on the horizon that aren't delivering the standard package and that look to be a lot more promising for players looking for a new experience, which after over half a decade of playing basically the same thing, I think people are ready.

@Apakal

I still think TOR has the timing edge too, just a different timing edge than WoW had at launch. WoW is boring people now, Cataclysm brought nothing new to the table that hadn't been done in BC and WotLK before. With people bored of WoW, they look to other MMOs, and TOR is perfect to fill that void(see my talk of same and differentness earlier). People are tired of WoW's shallow questing, TOR brings it to a new level where every quest has a fully voiced story to experience and give feedback on with the dialogue wheel, instead of a wall of text that says to kill 5 Bears with the only options being to accept the quest or reject it(which just means you'll be accepting it anyways because you need that xp/gold/item). WoW's next 2 raids are just recycling old raids they only removed recently, which really doesn't excite people.

So yeah, my tl;dr is that people are bored of WoW and its latest expansion, and TOR can come in at that time to pull people out. For that matter so can RIFT and GW2 and all the other MMOs you may have high hopes for.

This is sort of the problem i see with this game: everyone is going to play as a jedi/sith (or w/e the lightsaber based classes are). This is the same problem Galaxies ran into. In the beginning of Galaxies (or shortly after it started) you had to go to Dantooine (or some planet like that) and go through the hardest quest line in the game to get a lightsaber and become a jedi. When they revamped Galaxies for w/e reason and you could just create a new character that was already a jedi, it ruined the game b/c thats all anyone was.

@BLipp18
I would be more worried about an over population of Bounty Hunters actually since just about everyone I talk to seems to want to play one.

That isn't much of a "tree."

@(Unverified)

There are like 15 other comments in this thread, what are you blabbering about?

I fear that this game has been in development for so long that by the time it's finally released no one will care about it anymore. I know that the longer I wait, the less interested I become.

@bones8677 Then the game comes out, everyone freaks out and buys it. Its star wars. Its the old republic. Yeah its taking a while, but the second it comes out all of the bashes and ney sayers are going to buy it because its going to be a fresh take on mmos. You may say your less interested, but you'll buy it.

@US 447 What's fresh about it? It's World of Warcraft with Star Wars. It's yet another hotkey based MMO. A mechanic that has nowhere to go from where it is now. What makes the Old Republic so unique from all of the other MMOs out there?

At first glance I thought that image was the latest version of Pazaak.

@Beastcake
As long as they keep the original sound effects I'll be happy.
Frankly, all I want to do is roll scoundrel and hang out in a pazzak bar.

@kgoo867

Yes, I'm sure the success of a title with a monthly fee would inspire them to create a game that they only make money from once.

@(Unverified)
I don't understand the purpose of your comment.

@kgoo867

Diablo 3 and SC2 aren't in the Warcraft series so they don't count. It's like saying ME3 and DA3 are proof that BioWare will make more KotOR games after TOR. BioWare didn't wanna make any KotOR games after KotOR, that's why they gave KotOR2 to Obsidian. They wanted to do TOR, so they're doing TOR.

I highly highly highly HIGHLY doubt a Warcraft 4 will ever come with WoW out there. How could they make it when the setting and villains are ever changing? Like say WC4 used Deathwing, but then he's killed in Cataclysm, major plot hole. You could set it 500 years in the future, but the existence of any areas or zones proves that those zones are never in trouble in the future, nor will they get destroyed, which again causes time paradoxes when Blizz does a world revamp like Cataclysm. Anyways the point is Warcraft 4 would cause issues with the future development of WoW, and Blizz wouldn't end WoW just to do WC4, so you'll never see a WC4, at least not while WoW still lives.

@kgoo867

Another game unrelated to WoW, that really doesn't help your case for a future non-MMO Warcraft game. Nor does more Diablo and SC2 games, since those are also not Warcraft. The point is that Blizzard won't make a Warcraft 4. SC2 Parts 2+3 and Diablo 3 and that Titan MMO don't have anything to do with WC4 beyond games Blizzard is making that aren't WC4.

@RogueJedi86
Warcraft IV has been confirmed since 2008, where you been?
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Arreat-Summit/Warcraft-4-Confirmed-Starcraft-2-to-be-a-Trilogy

Old news.

Why is Joystiq so behind the curve on all this stuff. A newsletter with this in was in my inbox about 3 weeks ago.

What's so special about a World of Warcra... oh... it's The Old Republic... sorry!

@(Unverified)
Well that might be because Bioware has been advertising it as Kotor 4,5,6,7,8 combined into one game.

Will the combat be more interesting than KOTOR? I was sorely disappointed by the combat system in KOTOR. Of course, I tried playing it for the first time about a year ago. Perhaps it just hasn't aged well.

@kgoo867

"Why you're an idiot."

"DERP DERP DERP NO ONE WILL BUY THE OLD REPUBLIC" -you

Pot, kettle, black?

@kgoo867

" so because you're actually incompetent, you frame and reword the things I say to make me look like an idiot. "

Look up "incompetent" in the dictionary-I'm afraid you just described the exact opposite. Good job! Again, though, you seem quite backwards. HURRRR STAR WARS NOT POPULAR HURRRR NO ONE DRINKS COKE

Star Wars: The Old Republic

BioWare reveals more info on The Old Republic class progression

Reader Comments (44)

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:05PM The Cole Train said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:18PM Cleric said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:14PM bones8677 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:15PM MrAlex said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 7:54PM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 11:26PM MrAlex said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 12:14AM Integral said

Posted: Apr 12th 2011 11:54AM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:19PM skbkoy65 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:25PM MrPistachio said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:38PM Poor Tom said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:44PM Shane86 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:28PM BoBsS said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:39PM US 447 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:44PM Apakal said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:00PM TacoHell said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:28PM psycros said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:36PM psycros said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 7:28PM US 447 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:25PM TacoHell said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:43PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 7:02AM Apakal said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 1:31PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 5:45PM BLipp18 said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 11:27AM Kalis said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:43PM Anticrawl said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:44PM Anticrawl said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 6:54PM bones8677 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 7:29PM US 447 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:05PM bones8677 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 7:49PM Beastcake said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 9:34PM akeso said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:11PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:18PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 8:32PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 9:09PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Apr 10th 2011 10:17PM RogueJedi86 said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 2:23AM Shiv Thrice said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 5:13AM EthanBunny said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 9:43AM Rupee said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 12:07PM Kalis said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 12:21PM SisypheanLife said

Posted: Apr 11th 2011 4:07PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Apr 14th 2011 6:26PM ThePenIsMightier said

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