Classes In SWTOR: Traditional Roles, Or Much More?

With what appears to be one class left to be unveiled for BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic, the ZAM staffers decided to check out what we already know and see how classes will play together in this MMO.

As we watch the year coming to an end, all of us are eagerly awaiting this new decade for the predicted release of some highly anticipated MMO blockbusters. In particular, the one monster MMO that's been hogging a lot of the spotlight is BioWare's ultra-immersive, storyline driven Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. While BioWare and EA have not yet officially confirmed a 2010 release date, other sources do suggest that they are perhaps pushing for an October 2010 unveiling.

Despite the fact that an official launch won't be seen for at least another half a year, one of the most interesting new concepts revealed for SW:TOR is its unique class mechanics and how each class will contribute to group combat, or if BioWare will even be employing that timeless MMORPG trinity of the healer, the damage dealer and the tank. Either way, we here at ZAM are so psyched about what kind of MMO SW:TOR will be that we've decided to look at some of the released classes to figure out just how they'll fit together into the jigsaw puzzle that is combat.

Before we begin, it's important to note that BioWare intends for combat in SW:TOR to be as heroic and as epic as possible. Looking at the in-game footage released by developers, it seems that BioWare wants to move away from the classic "designated tank and crew" dealing with one unit at a time. Instead, the focus appears to be on mob tactics and how an elite team of players must deal with large groups of enemies without having access to an army of mages on designated 'polymorph duty'. This will potentially change how we see classic roles of tanks, healers and damage dealers, so keep that in mind as we look at the classes revealed thus far:

The Trooper (Jedi) and the Bounty Hunter (Sith)

Both the Trooper and the Bounty Hunter are heralded as elite combat units that can don heavy armour and even heavier weaponry. They both appear to be a deadly mash-up of close-range combat abilities, like the trooper's ability to smash someone in the face with his rifle, or the Bounty Hunter's short-range Flamethrower, and long-range abilities, like a grenade launcher, a sticky grenade, a mini-rocket, an electro dart, and a plethora of other ranged armaments. While it's easy to simply dismiss these two as being classic ranged damage dealers, BioWare has placed a lot of emphasis on the fact that they're equipped with state-of-the-art heavy armour, and it's noted that both of these classes are not afraid to wade into the middle of combat, blowing everything-and everyone-up as they go.

In this way, it seems these opposing classes will probably be used as some sort of mid-range tank and heavy damage dealer. Their armour should provide great protection, even if they need to take up the role of a "main tank" in a group by getting the enemy's attention. Interestingly, the Trooper and the Bounty Hunter are also equipped with a wide array of crowd controlling abilities, like the explosive grenade employed by the Trooper and the stunning Flamethrower favoured by the Bounty Hunter. This seems to further suggest that these two units will be used as the protectors of the back-line support classes (like the Bounty Hunter / Imperial Agent) while providing excellent front-line control and damage for their lightsaber wielding allies.

The Jedi Knight and the Sith Warrior


The Jedi Knight and the Sith Warrior are, understandably, iconic representations of their respective factions, so it's quite easy to see that these will be two very powerful classes. BioWare notes that these two warrior classes will always be on the front line, cleaving their enemies in two while executing some pretty sweet looking combat moves and stabbing-related fatalities.

Here there can be no doubt where BioWare wants to push the lightsaber class; both the Jedi Knight and the Sith Warrior HoloNet pages pointedly note that while these classes do feature robes as an indicator of their designation, they both tend to favour heavy armour when going into battle. In this way, it's highly likely that the Jedi Knight and the Sith Warrior will be the first into the thick of things, supplementing their defences with the ability to deflect incoming blaster bolts and using their force powers, like the classic Force Push, Force Choke and Lightsaber throw, to decimate their opponents.

The Smuggler (Jedi) and the Imperial Agent (Sith)


One of the most important features associated with these 'rogue-like' classes is that they alone seem to retain the ability to take cover behind various objects and environmental structures. By taking cover, these two classes gain bolstered defences to incoming ranged attacks, or the attacks are simply negated when they are behind cover, and they gain the ability to launch devastating ambush attacks, while hiding, to support their more aggressive allies. In this way, the Smuggler gains the ability to toss out stun grenades, fire off a flurry of blaster shots to suppress enemy advancement, and, when they find themselves cornered without a tree to hide behind, Smugglers also have the stylish ability to kick their opponents in the groin. Meanwhile, Imperial Agents can create protective energy barriers, fire off tranquilizer darts and even call down vicious laser / missile strikes on their unsuspecting foes.

Ultimately it seems the Smuggler and the Imperial Agent are destined to be the "true" Rogue class of SW:TOR. While most MMOs have taken the concept of the Rogue and parlayed it into a massive damage dealer with crowd controlling capabilities, in SW:TOR, it seems these Rogue-like characters are more designed for stealth and trickery. Thus, the Smuggler and the Imperial Agent appear to play more as support classes; doing their best to inhibit their enemies and make it easier for their beefier allies, like the Trooper and the Jedi, to walk in and blow stuff up.


 


All in all, with these three revealed classes for SW:TOR, the one problem that remains on everyone's mind is this: where's the healer!? While it's extremely improbable that BioWare will completely skip over the much loved (and much avoided) role of the healbot, it's important to see that the team seems to be avoiding 'classic' archetypes with their character classes. In this way, a healing oriented character may very well also contain traces of other archetypes.

Ultimately, however, it's easy to see that, with SW:TOR, BioWare wants to make a game where each class isn't absolutely pigeon-holed into their respective roles. Instead, all of the classes revealed seem to allow for a great deal of personal style, with each class having the ability to act aggressively with a lot of focus on their damage output, or they can act defensively, with emphasis placed on crowd controlling and soaking up (or in the case of the Smuggle / Imperial Agent, avoiding!) damage. Now it's just a matter of time as we wait and see how BioWare will address the problematic necessity of the healer-support class, and what they'll do to make sure we don't have an Old Republic that's filled to the brim with lightsaber wielding warriors.

Comments

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a few points
# Nov 21 2009 at 4:22 AM Rating: Decent
26 posts
Are we sure they aren't going to just have a stimpack skill, like in KOTOR, which would essentially allow everyone to heal themselves?

Plus, given that how people decide to play the game will highly influence the abilities, skills and 'spells' they get access to, it may be that their classes don't fit into the prototypical class mode at all. Maybe each class will eventually be able to fill various rolls within a group, including the ability to heal.

I sort of always expect the unexpected with Bioware. I don't think they're a company that's afraid to deliver something radically different than any MMO before. They may very well choose to go a very different direction with class roles and class balance than any MMO to date.
Cheers
# Nov 20 2009 at 12:10 PM Rating: Decent
Seems like they have a good character class, healbot not sure about that inclusion either

scary maze

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