Details On The Old Republic’s Class System
Bioware has released some new info about their upcoming Star Wars MMORPG The Old Republic recently. Most notably, it was info about the class system. Like a certain world that may or may not have something to do with Warcraft, The Old Republic is a two faction system. You can either join the light side of the force or the dark side of the force and you will be banding together to take the opposing faction out. However, perhaps the biggest surprise lies in the classes you can choose from. There are apparently only four classes per faction, which seems low for a new MMORPG.
Without going into too much detail, here is a quick rundown of each class. The light side of the force can choose between Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular, while the dark side can choose between Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior, and Sith Inquisitor. All of these classes basically break down into archer, rogue, warrior, and mage archetypes for each faction. For example, the smuggler relies on stealth while the Jedi Consular relies on powerful force abilities, and the force, as we all know, is basically just space magic. The Imperial Agent and the Sith Inquisitor fit the same mold, although the abilities they will learn and weapons they will use will be totally different than their counterparts on the light side.
Now, this sounded very limiting to many fans out there. Sure you could split yourself apart in terms of skills and builds, but four classes does not offer a whole lot of variety. To fix this, Bioware will be implementing an Advance Class system. Basically, at low levels, your character will grow in power along the same lines as other characters in his or her class. However, at higher levels you get to choose what advance class you want to go into, which gives you access to more powerful and more specialized abilities. For example, a Sith Warrior may choose between two advance classes, one which specializes in taking damage and drawing agro, and another which focuses on maximizing damage per second. Once the warrior chooses one of these classes, the abilities from the other become unavailable to him. However, each class does have a “shared skill set” which is available to members of both advance classes. This effectively doubles the amount of classes players have to choose from, even more so if you consider the ability to specialize on shared skills rather than advance class skills.
In the end it’s a bit like the World of Warcraft talent system, but with fewer choices. Instead of preparing for a situation, it’s all about forming a character from start to finish. Character creation seems far more static in The Old Republic, however, considering its subject matter, that seems quite appropriate.
(25 votes, average: 2.80 out of 4)
Post a Comment to Details On The Old Republic’s Class System