*****Official Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread*****

[LateX'Dog]

Speaking of which, have they said yet whether LUA scripting will be available for custom UIs yet?

No plans for release addons, but I've heard there using LUA, so the future of addons if they allow them are very bright.

 

[PaddyMC89]

So... these "datacrons" - I don't know too much about them other than they are rare collectibles that add info / lore to your codex, but more interestingly I've heard they give you a stat boost when you find them. Is this a permanent thing that sticks with your character, or is it just a boost to an item? So is it possible that somebody who's found 50 datacrons can have similar stats to somebody that's 5 levels higher than them? Or give you that extra edge over people in endgame that have similar gear.

I actually think that's a good thing, by the way. I don't think the playing field should be exactly the same for two people at the same level with the same gear sets - World of Warcraft pandered too much to balancing every little detail, which I didn't like. All that mattered in the end was what gear you had and nothing else.

This would give your character some individuality, and if the datacrons are fun to find, it gives a genuinely positive incentive to explore every nook and cranny of a planet long after you've finished levelling there, which is also something I like in a game - a zone shouldn't be there just to be your questing area for 5-10 hours and then you forget it forever.

 

[Darth Bane]

Need this game yesterday.

 

[SkScotchegg]

Can anyone answer a few questions, will SWTOR have 5 man dungeons to do as you level, and will there be raids at high end? and if so will they be 10 man, 20 man or 40 man?

Also whats the max level we can level our characters to?

And is there a group finder?

And I read the classes on offical website but still confused which classes are healers?

Sorry if this has already been said elsewhere, I've read nearly every page of this thread and keep reading each day, but I must have missed this information.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Can anyone answer a few questions, will SWTOR have 5 man dungeons to do as you level, and will there be raids at high end? and if so will they be 10 man, 20 man or 40 man?

Also whats the max level we can level our characters to?

And is there a group finder?

And I read the classes on offical website but still confused which classes are healers?

Sorry if this has already been said elsewhere, I've read nearly every page of this thread and keep reading each day, but I must have missed this information.

Thanks in advance.

- We have no idea what the endgame content is, but raids seem very likely. There are 4 player flashpoints though throughout the game, sadly there are not many of them - I say sadly because they are absolutely brilliant.

- Max level is 50

- Yes there is a group finder, but it needs a lot of work at the moment.

- I forget which the healers are tbh, but I have been healed by a soldier.

 

[Lithon]

To the people in beta - is that the US beta? I've read that the EU beta invites hadn't started yet.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

It is a US server, but EU players (at least in my group).

 

[SkScotchegg]

- We have no idea what the endgame content is, but raids seem very likely. There are 4 player flashpoints though throughout the game, sadly there are not many of them - I say sadly because they are absolutely brilliant.

- Max level is 50

- Yes there is a group finder, but it needs a lot of work at the moment.

- I forget which the healers are tbh, but I have been healed by a soldier.

Thanks for the reply, but what are flashpoints? is that another word used for "instances"?

EDIT: Oh and one more question, are the talent trees and class skills available to the public yet so we can start trying to figure out what build we want to use?

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Thanks for the reply, but what are flashpoints? is that another word used for "instances"?

EDIT: Oh and one more question, are the talent trees and class skills available to the public yet so we can start trying to figure out what build we want to use?

From one of the devs:

“Flashpoints in Star Wars: The Old Republic are action-packed, story-driven adventures that put a group of players up against difficult foes in sticky situations. Every Flashpoint begins with an exciting story and contains difficult decisions which have meaningful impact on the challenges you’ll face, the enemies you’ll fight, and the outcome of the flashpoints.”

My first was one of the best experiences I have ever had in a video game, there are just not enough of them!

Talent/skill trees are all subject to change, but a few have been posted in that beta leak website a few posts up.

 

[ty77]

to the people in the beta gametest. what's your view on the instancing on all the planets?? thats if your seeing it??
i get the start worlds sure.
But in the beta forums im in this has kicked off big time about this , as people are finding it on other planets.
And im not talking about phasing im talking about different versions of the planets say like coruscant 1 , coruscant 2 and so on. Like in AOC.
It has been posted about this on the main forums but got deleted. A lot o people have emailed the tester help. but nothing back yet.

And yes i know bio have said this will not happen. but its in the game now.

 

[Tombstone]

to the people in the beta gametest. what's your view on the instancing on all the planets?? thats if your seeing it??
i get the start worlds sure.
But in the beta forums im in this has kicked off big time about this , as people are finding it on other planets.
And im not talking about phasing im talking about different versions of the planets say like coruscant 1 , coruscant 2 and so on. Like in AOC.
It has been posted about this on the main forums but got deleted. A lot o people have emailed the tester help. but nothing back yet.

And yes i know bio have said this will not happen. but its in the game now.

Oh.

Thats a major downer for me. I hope thats just for beta, I've always found that a big detraction in my enjoyment in the MMOs I've played in the past which have had instanced zones in that manner. Aion had it too, though they originally said it would only be for the starter zone, it ended up being for all zones (except in Aion they were called Channels)

 

[Sleepery]

Aion, DDO, EQ2, AoC that I know of. Saves them having to write decent net code

 

[ty77]

Aion, DDO, EQ2, AoC that I know of. Saves them having to write decent net code

I dont really want to use this one.
but hey if wow a 6 year old game can do this no reason why Swtor cant i would have thought.
you dont see them having lots of versions of ironforge or stormwind.

Hope it is just the beta. but it sucks being in the main city and there is more than one version and a friend is in the another. which has been the case yesterday. And then he had to get a shuttle or teleport or something came up on his screen to join me when we made a group. when we should have been standing right next to each other anway lol.

 

[Sleepery]

That's why it always bugged me - there was nothing quite like stepping out of the space port in Coronet and seeing the square absolutely seething with players. There was always a real buzz about it. Same with EQ and the West Commons tunnel or outside the Bank in North Qeynos.

Then you'd log onto Star Trek and see that there were 15 people in your instance of Earth Space Dock, talk about an immersion breaker

 

[Vuvuzela]

My first was one of the best experiences I have ever had in a video game, there are just not enough of them!

Captain, let’s hope enough people complain about this and Bioware do make some more.

Also can you explain why they are so good? Is it the story, the fighting, is it in a “dungeon” so to speak or in the open world?

 

[SkScotchegg]

Oh.

Thats a major downer for me. I hope thats just for beta, I've always found that a big detraction in my enjoyment in the MMOs I've played in the past which have had instanced zones in that manner. Aion had it too, though they originally said it would only be for the starter zone, it ended up being for all zones (except in Aion they were called Channels)

Am not sure what you two are talking about, can you please explain? I dont understand the words used?

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Captain, let’s hope enough people complain about this and Bioware do make some more.

Also can you explain why they are so good? Is it the story, the fighting, is it in a “dungeon” so to speak or in the open world?

It is difficult to explain. They are "exciting", very well polished, great story, good integration into a team. Basically a raid type zone.

 

[Tombstone]

Am not sure what you two are talking about, can you please explain? I dont understand the words used?

Well from the sounds of what he described, each zone has multiple versions of it, each version would hold a set number of people, lets say 50 for example. So you would have Alderaan Version 1, when that fills up people would be in version 2, so if you were person 51, you'd be in Alderaan Version 2. So you could be stood outside Brians Cantina in Alderaan version 1 and your mate could be stood outside Brians Cantina in Alderaan but you couldnt see him because he is in Version 2. The MMOs with it in usually have some method by which you can change which version you are in but its just something which annoys me and imo shouldnt be in MMOs. If there are 200 people in my zone then I want to be able to see those 200 people running about doing their thing and potentially bump into them. Hopefully its something they are using just for beta and wont be present in release.

 

[SkScotchegg]

Well from the sounds of what he described, each zone has multiple versions of it, each version would hold a set number of people, lets say 50 for example. So you would have Alderaan Version 1, when that fills up people would be in version 2, so if you were person 51, you'd be in Alderaan Version 2. So you could be stood outside Brians Cantina in Alderaan version 1 and your mate could be stood outside Brians Cantina in Alderaan but you couldnt see him because he is in Version 2. The MMOs with it in usually have some method by which you can change which version you are in but its just something which annoys me and imo shouldnt be in MMOs. If there are 200 people in my zone then I want to be able to see those 200 people running about doing their thing and potentially bump into them. Hopefully its something they are using just for beta and wont be present in release.

OMG, that sounds so rubbish man, that just defeats the whole object of being an mmo, surely...I played wow for 4 years and loved seeing all the other people in the major cities and also when out questing.

I think what you guys have just spoke about is the first bad thing I've heard about SWTOR, if they put that in the game that is a major blow...I really dont understand why they would do this? to reduce lag? but other mmo's have been able to have hundreds of people in one zone at a time with no lag so I dont see why SWTOR cant do the same.

Sweet jesus, I'm really worried for this game now.

EDIT: Also another good reason to have loads of people in one zone is sometimes I'd be in ogrimmar, major horde city in wow and alience would come raid us for pvp and we'd have huge epic battles...and sometimes on my warlock I'd like to kill myself with my own spells and everyone would heal me and try keep me alive...and also just the feel of seeing a city full of people and not feeling alone, feeling like you were part of something, people inspecting you and say "wow you look amazing...and you have amazing equipment!"....felt good!

EDIT2: And if you got loads of people in one zone you got more people to help you do group quest and find people for crafting and instances...theres probably a huge list of reasons why having more people is so good and beneficial.

 

[ChrisJSY]

Aye, some mmo's have taken a horrible route of doing instanced worlds.
Way back when MMO's were not as popular you had a very little amount of servers, then as games couldn't cope with having everyone on such little ones they introduced more servers, splitting up the community up more. Then going a step further and splitting up the areas you play in to limited players.

But that's the fault of the developer, making a world that cannot support a lot of people, like APB. Having a city that can support around 100 people per instance, split down the middle for Cops/Crims, minus all the new players, afkers, people messing about or socialising in the non social zones, you end up fighting the same people over and over till you change instances.

I think Anarchy Online, in it's prime had about 30k players per server (they had two at first, then added a German Realm) eventually forcing the german players to choose the other two to transfer to for free in aid to boost numbers , I believe each realm individually on WoW has a bit less.
Sure, both those games at times have had their fair share of laggy encounters when tons of people pile into the same location, but it's to be expected and I'd rather have the option to have unlimited people in one location than limited to some stupidly low numbers.

I'm looking forward to SWTOR a lot but this instancing balls, if true (first I ever heard of it since 2008, inc all the reviews and leaked vids). First thing I don't like about it.