Star Wars: The Old Republic

Ryslin · 2011-11-23T13:42:53.000Z

MarchHare:

You can still respec in TOR, you just can’t choose a different advanced class. Suppose you were a Jedi Knight and picked Jedi Guardian as your advanced class. You could spec yourself for tanking when you’re in a group and then respec for dps when you’re playing solo. You can’t; however, respec to the other Jedi Knight advanced class (Jedi Sentinel).

If it helps, think of the game as having 16 classes, not 8.

This sort of thing is exactly why eq2 eventually ditched the whole “pre class” thing and made everyone who they are from the start. No more priest for 10 levels, shaman for 10 lvls then mystic for the rest of the game. Though swtor isn’t that tree’d I agree in thinking of your advanced class from the get go and then fiddle with the skill builder. Every spec has a great deal of dps in the trees even if you choose the healer/tank versions.

Jason_Townsend · 2011-11-23T13:51:12.000Z

MarchHare:

I could be wrong (I’m not in the beta and am only getting this info from fan sites), but I think Mercs/Commandos are sort of like Paladins in WoW if Paladins didn’t have the Protection tree. They wear heavy armour and have good survivability, but they lack the ability to act as tanks.

Yeah you may be onto something there.

Charlatan · 2011-11-23T13:51:49.000Z

Regarding the “tank classes can DPS”: I’ve played a number of tanking classes (granted, not to 50) and I’ve never felt like my DPS was lacking. Of course, I didn’t spend any time comparing my time-to-kill with anyone elses’, so maybe it takes me 15% longer to kill stuff. Doesn’t really bother me.

And for those of you who say there will be all sorts of min-maxers who will ferret this info out and so the top guilds won’t have any of class XYZ because their DPS is 3% lower… well, sure, but that’s not the majority of people playing, nor do I think that’s the target audience for BioWare.

@MarchHare: there really are only 8 classes, each class on the Republic side is mirrored on the Empire side. So Commando == Mercenary, Sage == Sorcerer and so forth. Combine that with the fact that each base class (Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter) story is duplicated between 2 advanced classes, and there’s “only” 8 different storylines (4 per faction).

I think their website is melting down. I couldn’t log on before (kept failing login) but I was able to log into the launcher with the same password. Now I’ve gotten the patches I need but the play button is greyed out, even though I’m in the continuing beta. This doesn’t bode well for their opening crush.

MarchHare · 2011-11-23T13:57:25.000Z

@MarchHare: there really are only 8 classes, each class on the Republic side is mirrored on the Empire side. So Commando == Mercenary, Sage == Sorcerer and so forth. Combine that with the fact that each base class (Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter) story is duplicated between 2 advanced classes, and there’s “only” 8 different storylines (4 per faction).

Is that really true? I get that each advanced class has an analogue on the other faction (e.g. Jedi Sentinel/Sith Marauder are both melee dps classes who dual-wield lightsabers), but they don’t have exactly the same abilities and skill trees, do they?

Jason_Townsend · 2011-11-23T14:03:43.000Z

They’re meant to be pretty close analogues.

MarchHare · 2011-11-23T14:06:27.000Z

Jason Townsend:

They’re meant to be pretty close analogues.

That’s disappointing, but I guess it would be nearly impossible to balance the game for both PvP and PvE if each faction had completely unique abilities and talents.

Charlatan · 2011-11-23T14:06:31.000Z

MarchHare:

Is that really true? I get that each advanced class has an analogue on the other faction (e.g. Jedi Sentinel/Sith Marauder are both melee dps classes who dual-wield lightsabers), but they don’t have exactly the same abilities and skill trees, do they?

The names and graphics are different, but from what I understand, the skills are identical. Talent trees, I’m not so sure about, but that should be easily verifiable from an online talent calculator.

Dawn_Falcon · 2011-11-23T14:18:59.000Z

Jason Townsend:

They’re meant to be pretty close analogues.

Calculator - http://www.torhead.com/calculator/

So… looking at Torhead, there also seem to be some near-identical shared DPS talent trees between advanced classes… i.e. for the Sith Warrior, the Marauder and Juggernaught both have the “rage” tree. And they look near-identical across the sides, too.

MarchHare · 2011-11-23T14:20:34.000Z

Dawn Falcon:

Looking at Torhead, there also seem to be some near-identical shared DPS talent trees between advanced classes… i.e. for the Sith Warrior, the Marauder and Juggernaught both have the “rage” tree.

Yes, each class shares one talent tree between both of its advanced classes. The other two talent trees for each adv. class are unique.

Dawn_Falcon · 2011-11-23T14:22:53.000Z

Interesting, from a balance POV, given they’re working with partially different skill sets.

Razgon · 2011-11-23T14:24:16.000Z

Well, im in, but not until saturday…oh well, probably won’t have time to try it out then.

Andrew · 2011-11-23T14:26:32.000Z

MarchHare:

Is that really true? I get that each advanced class has an analogue on the other faction (e.g. Jedi Sentinel/Sith Marauder are both melee dps classes who dual-wield lightsabers), but they don’t have exactly the same abilities and skill trees, do they?

If they did anything besides change the names and graphics of abilities between the analogue classes, they are dumb. See: Warhammer and its almost-mirror classes that ended up with at least a few pairings where one ended up much better than the other. I guess Warhammer was more PvP-centric so it was more of a problem, but I don’t see any benefit of making the already difficult problem of balance even harder.

inactive_user · 2011-11-23T14:55:30.000Z

As far as I could tell playing a Jedi Guardian and a Sith Warrior, they are exact mirrors.

Jason_Townsend · 2011-11-23T15:10:56.000Z

I found Smuggler and Agent somewhat different in 1-10. An Agent chain-sniping is standing up from cover the whole time, but packs a powerful-feeling alpha. Smugglers spend a lot of time in actual cover charging up their basic power attack.

MarchHare · 2011-11-23T15:18:49.000Z

Jason Townsend:

I found Smuggler and Agent somewhat different in 1-10. An Agent chain-sniping is standing up from cover the whole time, but packs a powerful-feeling alpha. Smugglers spend a lot of time in actual cover charging up their basic power attack.

I’m curious how Sniper and Gunslinger can be identical matches since the former uses a sniper rifle and the latter uses dual pistols.

ChrisJ · 2011-11-23T15:26:49.000Z

Rasputin:

That looks right.

While I’m thinking of it I’ll ask one more time: the TRN has an applicant named “Bilski,” anyone know who that is?

Rasputin,

I know him… he’s me. :)

As I said in my application, I’m a long time Qt3 lurker (since 2001-ish) and IRL friend of Tom Chick’s. I’m also a WoW veteran and a Star Wars fan (reformed).

On a more personal note, I’m an IP attorney (Bilski is a reference to a recent Supreme Court patent case. It’s kinda interesting subject matter if you want to Wikipedia it), in my 30s, and I have a backlog of PC games that I really am going to get around to soon, and this time I mean it. I applied to the Qt3 guild because I want to play with well educated adults who will play for fun, and not just for purples. I don’t have enough posts on Qt3 to send a pm, so if you have any other questions please send me an email at the address I noted in my application.

Everyone else,

Hi, it’s nice to meet you!

Chris

Marcus · 2011-11-23T15:27:42.000Z

MarchHare:

I’m curious how Sniper and Gunslinger can be identical matches since the former uses a sniper rifle and the latter uses dual pistols.

Because they both use guns!

MarchHare · 2011-11-23T15:33:42.000Z

Marcus:

Because they both use guns!

I can’t tell if this is a serious or factitious reply. ;)

Assuming you’re not joking, don’t you think using a sniper rifle (long range, high damage per shot, slow-ish refire rate) should play significantly differently from using dual pistols (short-medium range, lower damage per shot, faster refire rate)?

Soapyfrog · 2011-11-23T15:35:28.000Z

MarchHare:

Assuming you’re not joking, don’t you think using a sniper rifle (long range, high damage per shot, slow-ish refire rate) should play significantly differently from using dual pistols (short-medium range, lower damage per shot, faster refire rate)?

You know what kind of a game this is, right?

Murbella · 2011-11-23T15:35:36.000Z

I haven’t played an agent, but don’t both classes use the cover mechanic? It seemed pretty cool from the 15 minutes i played on my smuggler. Not as fun as my sith Juggernaut of course though.