Character advancement and customization are integral parts of all RPGs and many titles have succeeded or failed solely because of their approach to these mechanics. For over a year now, we have waited patiently for the first hints of how we will customize our characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic and now the first official clues are being revealed. During our time at LucasArts we were able to see a small example of how advancement and customization will be handled in TOR.
Buried between the Imperial Agent demo and Sith Inquisitor/Jedi Consular reveal, we were shown one example of how players will be able to customize the Smuggler class. The presentation consisted of a single, simple image we have attempted to recreate below.
The presentation continued with Blaine Christine, producer from BioWare, explaining what the different routes meant for players. He focused first on the Gunslinger path, explaining that a Smuggler following this path will focus on dual blasters and will be using the cover mechanic frequently. He also mentioned that this type of character could use persuasion more then the second path, possibly leading to different dialogue or story options unavailable to Smugglers following a different specialty.
The second path, called Scoundrel, is vastly different then its dual oriented counterpart. This specialty focuses on abilities that have only recently become associated with the Smuggler class. The first ability Blaine mentioned was the Scoundrels affinity for stealth and how this allows them to move close to their opponents, possibly implying they have a skill similar to the Imperial Agents Shiv. He then noted that this path also gave the Smuggler access to healing abilities. However he failed to note any specific ability or skill names associated with either of these paths.
Later in the evening we were able to talk to Jake Neri and ask a few specific questions about these paths and how they could work in the final product. The following is an excerpt from the interview, specifically the area that focuses on the Smuggler skill and advancement in general.
Dover: You you also showed us the Skill Tree idea, the ability to go into the customization of the characters and make it your own. We saw the Smuggler starting off as a Smuggler and then possibly branching off into two different directions, one being a Gunslinger and the other being a Scoundrel. How does this split work out?
Sado: Are they set defined paths or is there room for customization?
Jake Neri: There is definitely room for customization. We didn't show tremendous amounts of detail on that because it is really in development right now. The concept of being able to go into those directions and have a different, defined play experience is what we are trying to show. We know we will have people that go, hey I'm in love with being a smuggler but I just prefer to stay at range. Or I like to be more of a stealth class, I want to sneak around and do things, I don't want to fight. Or maybe I want to sneak up on people.
In Smugglers, the different trees allow you to do that. Trees are the best way to describe them now. We don't have official nomenclature on how we are talking about these but you guys get the concept of skill trees. You go down a path, you're applying certain skill points in there, and you're going in a direction you like to play.
What we are trying to show with Medicine is that maybe your in a situation where you need a healer type to get through. Smuggling doesn't necessarily immediately make people think about healing. People say, wow. That is weird. But at the same time we always try to stretch into the Star Wars cannon and do things that aren't conventional and that was one of those things we talked about earlier with Leland Chee.
We went to him and said, We have smugglers and we want to do something interesting what do you think? They have this whole lore around black market medicine and organ leggers that are in touch with different spices and other things, and through that, Smugglers are in touch with underworld medicine. Because, like Blaine talked about, you cant always be heading to the doc when you're a Smuggler because your running around. You're doing dirty deeds.
Dover: You also talked about cutting open the tauntaun. Field medicine.
Jake Neri: Yeah, field medicine. We've been joking a lot about that. I don't know if it totally works, but Blaine has stuck with that and we appreciate him for that. The main thing is that we are trying to do interesting things with the classes by making sure that you can be that range class you want to be and in a pinch you can also be useful to a group. That is sort of why we chose that to show you.
Sado: You talked about persuade in those branches as well, that the gunslinger would be the one with extra points in persuade to be able to possibly activate more story. Does that mean that somebody will have to go that way if they want to experience more story or will there be some way of counteracting that?
Jake Neri: I don't think you have to do anything. If you're a fan of story and you're looking to drill into that the most, that fits along with what we are saying with choose your playstyle. It doesn't mean that you should have any more or less an experience as anyone else, but that it should be the experience you like. And if you're a fan of story and you're trying to find new and interesting things, then you should be trying to win conversations if that appeals to you.
I imagine that the guy who wants to be the Scoundrel first may re-roll another character and go down that path because he wants to try persuade. Or maybe he just doesn't care about it because he wants to be more of a stealthy guy who wants to run up behind people and shoot them in the back.
I get nervous of the words you have to do something because that is sort of the opposite of what we are trying to say. We really want people to play the way they are dreaming about it. We cant cover every possibility but we are trying to bring a lot of options so that people do have choice.
Dover: Two more quick things about that before we let you get back to all the other things going on here in San Francisco. First, at the end of the presentation you said, Players should be able to quickly get into the role that they want to get into. Did that comment have to do with the possibility of switching between paths? Or does that mean at the beginning of the game you can quickly get into the play style you want to get into?
Jake Neri: Without going into a ton of detail on that, because that system is still in development, a key goal is that once you reach a certain level and you enabled those certain paths, or you experienced whatever it takes to enable those paths, you can go in between them quickly. That is the heart of what were saying. You cant do everything all at once, you need to earn some of these things, but once you have done that and you are in a situation where hey, I need this type of a gameplay/class build, you'll be able to go into that quickly.
Dover: Awesome. Last one before we let you go. You mentioned the Scoundrel of the Smuggler branch has Medicine. We were able to see the Sith Inquisitor with an actual heal that is able to use it on themselves or another person and we also saw the Benevolence ability for the Consular. Are we going to see healing options for every class if a player wants to go that direction?
Jake Neri: I don't think every class. But I do think you guys are picking up on the idea that when it comes to grouping we don't want you to always be frustrated because you cant find the right group. We want you to have utility in order to be successful in a solo experience or in a group. Now Smuggler, Inquisitor and Consular are three examples of healing.
I think if you would have played the Jedi Knight you wouldn't have seen that same stuff. Instead, you would have seen a rejuvenate ability for most classes, which is in support of us wanting to have quick-paced gameplay. It is similar to Bandage, an out of combat ability, where the other heals you have seen are more in combat. You guys are simply picking up on some of the classes that might be able to so some healing in the game.
Many interesting game facts are found in the interview, including possible respecs, branching dialogue based on skills, and the fact that many classes (not just Consulars and Inquisitors) will have true healing paths. This small peak into their approach to skill customization answers many questions from the community, and undoubtedly generates quite a few more. As we look forward to the new year we cant wait to have these new questions answered as well.
As a reminder to all of the information hungry fans out there, we were told repeatedly, as you can see in the interview, that the current state of skill trees in The Old Republic is far from finalized. Although multiple, vastly divergent paths would be welcome in our eyes, they should not be expected in the final product until otherwise stated by BioWare and LucasArts.
