Friday Update -19th Nov-

It's a Fan Friday...with awesome smilies and costumes...and a Studio Insider (ex-dev corner).

We got Q.A. from mister Daniel "huggable" Erickson in the Studio Insider...

Quote :

Q: What happens when a group member leaves during a quest, or even in the middle of a dialog *disconnects*? Will any AI take over?

A: No AI takeovers, the quest or conversation continues without them. You can hit escape and leave a conversation (multiplayer or otherwise) whenever you like.

Q: When getting a group quest, can you get 4 Bounty Hunters or do you have a specific class requirement to start the quest? How will we know which quest we need?

A: You can make a group of any mix of classes, including four of the same. There are several play groups here that enjoy doing just that. Full Trooper groups seem to be the most popular and look pretty amazing coming over a hill.

Q: Can I turn my helmet on/off?

A: Helmets will be on a toggle so you can show or not as you like. The cinematic team has an additional override control they can use to turn it off in conversation (in case you like to keep your Trooper helmet on with the awesome voice processing). That way they can override it occasionally to keep you from wearing your helmet during your romantic kiss scene (bonk!).

Q: Will the Advanced Classes be locked into a particular role, for example: Will a Juggernaut be locked to only a tank, or if he could fulfill other roles as well?

A: Each of the advanced classes is a full, flexible class with various trees that allow specialization. So although the Juggernaut is perhaps best suited to play a ‘tanking’ role, a player could specialize in other roles depending on what skills they choose and the tactics they use with their companions.

Q: Are the origin planets simply starting grounds, or will we come back to them past level 10?

A: You definitely have reasons to come back. Korriban, for instance, is where the Dark Council often meets. There are also reasons later for all of the classes to go to some of the other classes' origin worlds. It's important to us that lower level characters get to see some high level players strutting their stuff early on.

Quite a few interesting answers...

The more quests done without being forced into a specific group composition, the better. Now if only the companion AI will be shown to be useful in combat. That and learning if MTs will be no more than cosmetic are the only unrevealed game parts which can affect my decision to buy/not buy.

The Q & A thread showed me two things
1. I have been paying to much attention to this game and/or
2. I have a long way to go in accepting everyone in this game.

Seriously people read the original post- ONE question per person a month. And the same questions that have been asked and answered repeatedly!

Kalrin wrote:

my question concerns space combat. Will we be able to free roam? maybe even take part in player vs player space combat, or just player vs cpu as we travel around?

Come on this question led to the single funniest thing I've ever heard a dev say. I nearly peed myself when I saw the PAX Q&A. (If you don't know the answer check my .sig. I had to put something new there because Selven broke out the Mod bat on my old one )
and

DCGorilla wrote:

The Timeline shows how Revan and Malalk fell to the Dark side and how Revan killed Malak and redeemed himself. What about the events in KOTOR 2? I know Bioware wasn't involved with that game, but there are some pretty cool story points involved with it. The Exile follows Revan into the Unkown Regions. What happens to her? Will that be revealed in the game upon its release? Or instead will we just have to forget about that storyline because its not Bioware? I'm a devoted Star Wars fan and I love everything about it. I'm just curious to know

Your following this game up two yearsbefore launch do a little research!

I can see why someone might not know every single dev quote (so if you know the answer, send a PM and he will reconsider his question), but at least see if your question is already in there. Have seen at least 3 questions that have been asked 3+ times.

But I guess we're all just dying to get some info. This Q&A Thread seems long due - It's great they added it. It will be something really great about the next FFs.


Oh yeah that DE quote... he's just epic. That's what I love about this game too... We really have a sorta connection to the devs, which I did not always have when I played MMOs.

Grome wrote:

I can see why someone might not know every single dev quote (so if you know the answer, send a PM and he will reconsider his question), but at least see if your question is already in there. Have seen at least 3 questions that have been asked 3+ times.

I know that's why I put that I've been following the game too closely.

Grome wrote:

But I guess we're all just dying to get some info. This Q&A Thread seems long due - It's great they added it. It will be something really great about the next FFs.

I think why a Q & A thread has been so long in coming istwo reasons: 1) The knew they couldn't answer most questions more than " We can't talk about that yet, and" 2) They knew they would get the same stupid questions over and over again.

It was a little meh today for me. Not bad, just meh. Especially when you compare to the last two weeks. It's OK though, I'm not going to love all of the updates.

Although, I do appreciate the monthly Q&A they have started. Hopefully this signifies they are getting more open about the game as testing expands and the game grows nearer to launch.

I was really hoping for something more substantial. These fan friday's just kinda irk me now

Remember everyone!

I have been so happy with the info coming out these past couple weeks, I am totally OK with a so-so update.

Actually, I hadn't seen the helm toggle thing confirmed anywhere, so that made me really happy! I mean, it's really important for my toon to have good hair. Hat head sucks.

Also, I like seeing that the response to the crafting system is very positive in the poll. I have read some seriously negative stuff recently, so it was good to see that most people are ok with the crafting system so far.

CRR_Kathy wrote:

I have been so happy with the info coming out these past couple weeks, I am totally OK with a so-so update.

Actually, I hadn't seen the helm toggle thing confirmed anywhere, so that made me really happy! I mean, it's really important for my toon to have good hair. Hat head sucks.

Also, I like seeing that the response to the crafting system is very positive in the poll. I have read some seriously negative stuff recently, so it was good to see that most people are ok with the crafting system so far.

I'm just happy they give us ANYTHING imo, and every friday.

The helm thing makes me really happy, cause some of the helms are...well as Daniel Erickson put it.. "Hey baby, /kiss [BONK!]"

I'm happy people are enjoying crafting as well, I'm REALLY looking forward to it, and I usually don't get deep into crafting in mmos.

Kai-Sun wrote:

...well as Daniel Erickson put it.. "Hey baby, /kiss [BONK!]"

The guy can be really funny on paper too!

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I'm happy people are enjoying crafting as well, I'm REALLY looking forward to it, and I usually don't get deep into crafting in mmos.

I think this is really the reason why the crafting is so popular, most people who "hate" MMO crafting are eager to try this one out...

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I'm happy people are enjoying crafting as well, I'm REALLY looking forward to it, and I usually don't get deep into crafting in mmos.

A good crafting system really makes a game for me. The two that I've liked the best are FFXI and SWG. The ones that I thought were a joke were in WoW and AoC. Guess I like them when they're not easy. Hope TOR challenges me.

Well, for games like WoW, I like picking trade skills I feel match the characters needs, but it becomes useless beyond a stat bump. Gear it creates is usually replaced so quickly, it just feels like it's a tacked on kind of thing.

Aion's grind for Aether...well, that game can take it's grind and shove it. I can still smell the farm bots and I only played it for a month.

This seems a bit more involved (ironically...lol) approach and seems appealing to actually be vested in, especially if it gives really awesome items. It's made into an RP style thing where it's not just you doing it but the crew, and you have a good bit of options that some games don't give you.

I seriously think my hype meter keeps kicking it up a notch every time we get an update. I'd say I'm easy to please though.

kind of off-topic, but I totally knew that people would start to QQ (on the official forum) about this answer:

Quote :

A: Each of the advanced classes is a full, flexible class with various trees that allow specialization. So although the Juggernaut is perhaps best suited to play a ‘tanking’ role, a player could specialize in other roles depending on what skills they choose and the tactics they use with their companions.

It's kind of funny to watch people saying, but, but, but Dallas said the opposite in the video...

azarhal wrote:

kind of off-topic, but I totally knew that people would start to QQ (on the official forum) about this answer:

Quote :

A: Each of the advanced classes is a full, flexible class with various trees that allow specialization. So although the Juggernaut is perhaps best suited to play a ‘tanking’ role, a player could specialize in other roles depending on what skills they choose and the tactics they use with their companions.

It's kind of funny to watch people saying, but, but, but Dallas said the opposite in the video...

Oh you have no idea, there's an insanely long saber debate thread going on in the Jedi Knight forum with all sorts of denial and opinions being slung around.

We kinda new they were going to go that way anyway, they've showed with other classes like the JC and the smuggler that there's more then one way to play your AC, people just really bury their heads down until they get official words.

I'm happy, I am EXTREMELY excited to tank as my Knight, but it's also friggen awesome on so many levels I might have some options when I'm dealing with slight tank burn out.

It amazes me how many people seem to be saying they want "cookie cutter" classes. I want choice so that I can personalize my character according to my playing style. A good friend of mine in WoW built a rogue spec that let him PvP and do raids equally well. Everyone said that his build sucked ... as he owned the battle fields/arenas and was top melee dps in the raids...

What I've read so far about these Advanced Classes sounds intriguing.

Quince wrote:

It amazes me how many people seem to be saying they want "cookie cutter" classes. I want choice so that I can personalize my character according to my playing style. A good friend of mine in WoW built a rogue spec that let him PvP and do raids equally well. Everyone said that his build sucked ... as he owned the battle fields/arenas and was top melee dps in the raids...

What I've read so far about these Advanced Classes sounds intriguing.

One of the guys we were arguing with really had a hard on for the hard trinity, and just couldn't get his head outside of it.

They're going in a great direction by allowing flexibility to allow us to tackle the game on OUR terms, and it gives them more options to make more interesting content.

I'm enjoying it so far.

This just makes the whole companion system more and more interesting for me. I am starting to think this adds a whole different dimension to the game.

As now you don't just watch what you wear, spec and do but also your companion's part of all of this. If you're into it you can breed a companion perfectly fit for every ingame situation. Kind of exciting in PvP too, as it will not only be a battle of 1v1 but 2v2 where everyone kind of has to look out for his companion too. Makes it all a little more strategically challenging than your run of the mill MMO.

I think the people who keep complaining about all the classes being pet class are also the people who have an unconditional love of the Trinity. They just can't imagine a game played any other way, so the companions are broken their religious belief.

Grome wrote:

I can see why someone might not know every single dev quote (so if you know the answer, send a PM and he will reconsider his question),

In the end PMing them is what I did. I know my first instinct to express my frustration with them is the exact opposite of what we are trying to establish here, which is why I said I have some work to do. But I am working on it.

Godric_Barbarosa wrote:

In the end PMing them is what I did. I know my first instinct to express my frustration with them is the exact opposite of what we are trying to establish here, which is why I said I have some work to do. But I am working on it.

That's fine, my Instincts regularly tell me to do the wrong thing.

Just gotta work your way around them.

Daniel and Damion both posted on the TOR forums. Selected quotes from both posts below, seems like they are anwsering Q.A. faster then should...

From Daniel:

Quote :

Just to clear up any confusion. Implants in SWTOR, much like in KOTOR, are not visible and can be changed out. They are a way to give more loot and stat options to characters without covering them in random art pieces. Except for the flavor name given to them, they function the same as rings or amulets might in a fantasy game.

From Damion:

Quote :

To answer another question I've seen elsewhere, no, companions will not be crafting lightsabers. Happy Friday, everyone!

Godric_Barbarosa wrote:

Grome wrote:

I can see why someone might not know every single dev quote (so if you know the answer, send a PM and he will reconsider his question),

In the end PMing them is what I did. I know my first instinct to express my frustration with them is the exact opposite of what we are trying to establish here, which is why I said I have some work to do. But I am working on it.

UPDATE: I got a nice thank you from one of the people I PMed. Definitely got more pleasure out of the thank you than my initial snarky post. See I'm learning!