It has been generally accepted that the official Threat of Peace(ToP) comic has been riddled with relevant game information, and this is a good reminder that we should look to the comics for possible TOR facts. The recent Balmorra announcement seems all the more expected when you consider how it was represented in ToP. While some in the community have taken issue with the fact that we are only given small sets of the comic at a time, it seems BioWare still wants us to pay close attention to what we get.
The weapon in question here is actually a supercharged Imperial vibroblade. It's shorter than the traditional vibroblade--designed for one-shot stealth attacks. The blade's powercell releases one massive jolt of energy when the weapon hits its target, rendering it largely useless afterward, but usually, of course, the target is in pretty much the same state.
This particular quote contains the largest hints at possible game play elements hidden in the recent ToP. The inclusion of vibroblades has been known for quite some time, but here we have a very particular "supercharged Imperial vibroblade". This weapon, "designed for one-shot stealth attacks", strongly suggests that it will be used by a very particular character class. Take into account the
Timeline holorecord focusing on Imperial Agents and the other information
we already covered, and an Imperial Agent appears to be a very real possibility.
However, that isn't the only speculation we take from this section of the post. We also have some information about possible player abilities that could be used by an Imperial Agent class. The first possible ability comes from the description of the vibroblade itself being used in "stealth attacks". This implies that such a class would have the ability to use stealth or concealment to avoid detection. If this is true then it would be the first revealed class with an active ability to avoid detection other then line of sight, such as the Smuggler's cover skill.
The second possible player ability comes from the described effect of the weapon, "...rendering the blade largely useless afterward, but usually, of course, the target is in pretty much the same state." This appears to be a form of crowd control,
something we've seen repeatedly in TOR, that could be very similar to the Smuggler's "Kick" ability or the Bounty Hunter's "Electro Dart". Such a weapon would be perfect for assassinations, as we see attempted in the webcomic, so a follow-up killing blow, a kin to the Smuggler's "Head Shot", could be an additional possibility.
Will you get to wield these weapons in the game? I can neither confirm nor deny that. Suffice to say, if you do, don't bother trying it against Baras. Electricity is practically running through his veins in the first place. You don't want to wind up like the would-be assassin the comic. Maybe if you try two?
Another potential reveal comes from Rob Chestney mentioning Baras, the Sith representative involved in the peace talks on Alderaan. This character is a Sith force user with a large presence in ToP. There is an interesting implication when Rob mentions how Baras, an obvious dark sided Sith, has electricity "practically running through his veins." While this bit does seem to be more of a casual comment, and certainly the weakest part to garner speculation, it may be implying that certain characters are able to gain certain resistances, either by armor or alignment. Possibly meaning that force lightning will have a lesser effect on a dark sided force user then a light sided one.
In the final part of the quote we also get a reminder that this post is not an official announcement, meaning any speculation or conjecture should be treated as such. That being said, all information from a BioWare employee is interesting and certainly worth a second look. With all of the knowledge we've gathered from BioWare over the past months, some hypotheses are seeming more and more likely.
