SWTOR's Georg Zoeller salutes the Trooper class
He won't play favorites between the choice of builds, but BioWare's Georg Zoeller is remarkably open otherwise when it comes to talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic's Trooper in action.
In an interview on RepublicTrooper.com, Zoeller fields a number of questions about the Trooper's capabilities in combat, especially in regard to how a ranged class can function as a tank. After struggling with these unique problems, BioWare tuned the Vanguard (the Trooper's advanced tanking spec) to be a mid-ranged tank with visual effects to show when the class was warding off melee attacks.
"Statistically, their tanking ability is based more upon absorption and shielding and less about avoidance, making them the slightly more predictable tanks (Medics love that)," he wrote. "Finally, they are visually very different when in action, as most of their abilities are themed around technical attacks "
Zoeller said that all-Trooper guilds are entirely possible, given the flexibility of the advanced class roles, as Troopers cover the gamut of the Holy Trinity. He sees Trooper healers as being extremely desirable: "Commandos are the only medic class capable of increasing their target's mitigation and receptivity to heals. They are also the only Advanced Class that features a 'smart heal,' an auto-response heal that triggers on the target when they take damage."
