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Hyperspace Beacon: Post-launch
Readers of this column have a lot of questions for me, and I do my best to answer all of them. However, the most frequent question I get is "what class are you playing?" followed by "which guild are you going to join?" Thankfully, I work from an office at home, and my time can be very dedicated to playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Many of the websites and podcasts fall off after a game is launched because, hey, the producers of these bits of entertainment have a game to play now. Fortunately for you, I really want to give my readers something to look forward to once TOR actually launches. Unlike others who lack either the time or dedication to their fans, I am going to be stepping up my game after launch -- literally. I have teased my post-launch plans a few times before, but I figured I should put it all down in writing. This way I have something to reference when the time comes, and I'm sure the readers here will hold me to my word. Most of all, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be an extraordinary experience for anyone who follows me. Hop past the break for the full details.
New Star Wars: The Old Republic dev blog dishes on advanced classes
Ready for another Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday feature? Whom are we kidding, of course you are! BioWare's Georg Zoeller is happy to oblige via his new dev blog that focuses on TOR's advanced classes. His previous entry laid the groundwork, whereas today's exercise is all about the details. Players will choose their advanced class at level 10, and each base class offers two advanced class choices (i.e., the Smuggler will need to select either the Gunslinger or Scoundrel as her advanced class). Each advanced class provides two exclusive skill trees and shares a third tree with the other (non-selected) advanced class. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, since Zoeller goes into quite a bit of detail in terms of the various skills, skill trees, and even decision-making and testing metrics (and of course, it's all sprinkled with a liberal dose of pretty pictures). Devour all the details on the official TOR website.
Newly "smuggled" information from Star Wars: The Old Republic
Just when we think there isn't anything more that can be revealed about the smuggler class, BioWare proves us wrong. The Old Republic website just launched a slew of screenshots, advanced class data, and videos about Han Solo's favorite Republic class. Let's see if we can break this down into bite-sized pieces. First, we know the smuggler's duck-and-cover combat techniques are not new, but we now have an official breakdown of the advanced classes. The scoundrel advanced class is all about sneaking in, hitting hard, then getting out before anyone notices. The stealth belt, med pack, and single blaster are his equipment of choice. The gunslinger advanced class controls the enemies' movement as well as packing a nice DPS punch. All the gunslinger needs is two blasters and perfect aim -- if you bust an enemy's knees or blindshot him, he ain't gonna move. Secondly, we have one of the smuggler's companions: Bowdaar. This Wookiee is most likely picked up on the Smuggler's Moon, Nar Shaddaa, since he is a gladiator in the arenas there. Although he uses few -- if any -- weapons, this strong-armed companion has never been defeated in battle. This sets him up well to be the tank to the smuggler's healer or crowd control role. Plus, what's a smuggler without a Wookiee partner, right? Lastly, what would a smuggler be without a starship? The Corellian XS Stock Light Freighter serves at the smuggler's transportation of choice. As with most Corellian-designed vessels, the XS Stock Light is perfect for cargo transportation, crew accommodation, and pirate defense. Everything your smuggler will need to find consistent work throughout the galaxy, plus a few added features to hide not-so-legal items. Check out more information about this sneaky class on the official site, and don't forget to visit our gallery for some awesome screenshots. %Gallery-103218%
Breakfast topic: Future heroic classes
Blizzard has told us that the Death Knight will be the first of the heroic classes, and probably the only one we can expect to see in the next expansion. I haven't heard a word about what other heroic classes might be in the future. Therefore I started thinking of my own. Sure, sure we'd love to see Bards and Battlemages, but how about something new. Here are some of my thoughts: The Craftmaster- Any existing non-heroic class, but can have three or four trade skills. They'd have access to bind-on-pickup Craftmaster-only items. No hot-glue gun required! The Supertwink- No, I don't mean another rogue, but a character that cannot level past 29. The Supertwink may be able to access some abilities and skills from higher levels. The Gunslinger- Somewhere between a Rogue and a Hunter. Gunslingers do not use pets, and have a few up close trick shots. They can dual wield ranged weapons and stealth about.
New class for Warrior Epic unveiled
Warrior Epic, covered here and here, is something I'm looking forward to. The art style is positively quasi-Baroque, something that's a nice change from the Gothic overtones we're so used to in most MMOs. The character designs are varied and colorful, and don't shrink from detail. This is seen very clearly in the newly-released shots of the character class called the Zambrano. The class appears on the website to be restricted to women, though that might be premature to conclude. If it is, though, not since Paine from Final Fantasy X-2 have we seen a gunslinger with such intricate attire. The site has more information on this intriguing character class, with screenshots, so go check her out![Thanks, Brice!]
