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Hyperspace Beacon: Roleplaying conflict in SWTOR
Like many of you, I'm eagerly awaiting the launch of Update 1.5 for Star Wars: The Old Republic, which will hopefully happen next week. Although I have been on the test server and tried out the new content, I don't want to give my impressions until it's officially launched. So this week, I've decided to address an issue I've seen crop up more and more in the roleplay community that has nothing to do with the pending game update. In any good story, there is conflict -- physical, interpersonal, or otherwise. In MMO roleplay, a good chunk of conflict turns physical. After all, most of our characters are highly skilled warriors and other combat specialists, and physical conflict is the natural course. That means that roleplayers then have to be highly skilled at PvP if their characters are to be highly skilled, too, right? Don't get me wrong, I love PvP, but this supposition always rubbed me the wrong way, especially in a game like TOR where there is a large disparity between PvE skills and PvP. So what kinds of physical conflict resolutions are there if it's not straight-up PvP? And doesn't the dueling system in TOR limit itself to one-on-one dueling? How do you resolve that issue? Excellent questions. I'm glad you asked. Let's dive in.
