Arguably the greatest rift in the Star Wars: The Old Republic community came from the possibility, now reality, of four of the eight classes as force users. This discussion spawned shortly after the Sith Warrior was released and described as a melee focused class, and only grew in intensity. Having nearly a month to think about this design choice, we felt it was important to weigh in with our opinion.

So the cat is officially out of the bag for the two remaining Star Wars: The Old Republic classes: the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor. This fills out all of the careers in the game, and the reaction to the last two reveals has been interesting to say the least. Over at the official forums, there is a veritable hotbed of opinions about the last two classes, from crushing disappointment, to concern over debate on no clear healing classes, to outright wild notions (that might be trolling). In other words, there's a lot of the typical MMO community reaction to any kind of definitive announcement; that, my dear friends, is a blend of mass hysteria and crazy jumping to conclusions.

One of the mantras of the marketing team behind Star Wars: The Old Republic has been "the four pillars" that make up an MMO: exploration, advancement, combat and story. TOR has made a splash in the MMO community with a marketing emphasis on story, however the recent change in direction, hinted at by Jake Neri, is what we should be paying attention to. With many months of narrative buzz words behind us, we may be entering a new phase in the news coming out of Austin. Could it be that we are finally approaching the second pillar?

Everyone on the Star Wars: The Old Republic official forums, and at Darth Hater, has their hearts all a-flutter over the possible announcement of the Jedi Knight, the anticipated lightsaber-wielding class for the Republic side of things. With the Sith Warrior taking center stage for the latter part of the summer, it seems that the holidays will be bringing us plenty of the lighter side of things with their peace-loving Jedi counterparts.

By now, folks who've been following the game have had a chance to take in the latest Developer Dispatch from BioWare on the making of the planet Coruscant. Like many others, I was impressed at the six minutes of explanation detailing how the developers plan on making Coruscant meet the expectations of the players who are eager to get their hands on it and experience what it has to offer. The Coruscant presentation brings up an interesting point regarding the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and how large and massive Bioware plans to make the various areas of the game.

The recent media released about the planet Coruscant included multiple pictures of a taxi building being implemented within the city-planet. These pictures may have conveyed different methods of transportation, potentially not unique to the Capital of the Republic, showing what could be the basis for intraplanetary travel or even interplanetary travel to other worlds. But what possible systems could this crazy "taxi system" be hinting at?

The hype train for Star Wars: The Old Republic is moving full steam ahead in the wake of the recent Testing Program signups, however it seems some passengers are getting antsy. As the machine moves faster, those on board are finding it easier and easier to jump to conclusions, with even the smallest piece of information inciting a dramatic response. The community on the official forums has always had a constant ebb and flow that cycles around the information released by BioWare, but lately it seems erratic and unpredictable; almost as though people are scared of what we will learn next.

In a previous aritcle we covered what SRPG fans can learn from people who play and enjoy MMO's, now let's look at the other side of the coin. With BioWare making an unprecedented push on the importance of story in Star Wars: The Old Republic, we could see many single player tropes working their way into the final product. While almost all MMO fans started off playing single player games, there are some things you may have forgotten while working on raid schedules and dealing with guild drama. So now we are going to focus on what MMO fans can learn from those who prefer single player RPGs.

Last Friday, Dragon Age: Origins had quite an update. Bioware is going to be giving out a character creator, for free, prior to release of the game on the 13th. The tool will let people tinker around and make their ideal character, that will then carry over to the release of the game three weeks later. After thinking about how I will download this and play around with the character options, Captain Obvious came to the rescue. Bioware is making Star Wars: The Old Republic too.

Since the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic, there has been a continuing discusion over whether or not the Sith are actually "evil". The original movies seem to point that direction, however the expanded universe has proclaimed them to simply be a different point of view. The real question for those of us following TOR's development is, "Are The Old Republic's Sith evil?"

It has been a while since we have had a constructive criticism post going, so it is time to have one again. Like the previous one, this is where you state your concerns as well as a way to help fix them. This can be directed towards Bioware, or darthhater.com. As long as what you say is a genuine concern and why it is it is fair game. Just remember comments like "Topic X is stupid," won't cut it, go with "Topic X could be improved by adding Y." Remember to be nice and if talking about the game try to go with confirmed facts. (The micro transaction thing is one of those topics that has been talked to death with little confirmation on any level) If you have no complaints just ask a question and I will try to answer it.

For quite some time, BioWare has maintained a high level of control over the information being released for Star Wars: The Old Republic (commonly abbreviated as TOR). The guys and gals at BioWare Austin, the studio where the game is being developed, have been very careful about just what tidbits of info they release to the general public. But amidst all the secrecy surrounding the game, the last month or so has proven to be very exciting for those keeping a close watch on it. The first break came when BioWare debuted their developer walkthrough at Gamescom. The segment, which comes in at around twenty minutes, showcases the games fast-paced combat, dynamic dialogue system, and gave the general public their first look at the Sith Warrior class. For those not lucky enough to have been in attendance, the entire video (split up into four parts) can be seen here at IGNs YouTube page in all its beautiful HD glory.