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.

This week the Official SWTOR forums have been ablaze with debate surrounding PVP. A thread titled Why do People hate PvP? has been the focal point of this debate amassing an astonishing 1,018 responses at the time of this writing. As the title alludes, the thread poses the question as to why some members of the community are PvP averse and seem to speak specifically towards Open World PvP.

I am sure we all know what guild housing is and how it operates in other games, such as LotRO or Guild Wars, but let's explore this aspect in the Star Wars setting. There are two ways in which I could see guild housing being implemented, if it is at all. Either it could be designed as a literal house or building on an already designed planet, such as Korriban or Coruscant, or it could be put on a separate, just for guild halls planet. But not only that, perhaps it would much more convenient to allow guild housing upon ships, instead of planet(s).

This is a fairly simple poll today.

[poll id="8"]

If you have no clue what the options mean here are the options deciphered. PvE is player vs environment, it is the same as PvP (player vs player) but you are safe from being attacked from other players most of the time. RP is roleplay and has special rules and tends to help with immersion(also follows PvE rules). RP-PVP is a mix of all of the above.

If there is a server type I missed please complain and let me know what you want.(I just wont be able to change the poll for it)

Well, I will finally go there, one of the big questions... Instancing, how will it be handled?

Call them Flashpoints, Dungeons, Raids, or Instances, what it means is it's CLOSED for you and your party, without interruption. Who wouldn't like the option to go into single player-esque mode? You are minding your own business, until a lightsaber is shoved through your stomach, or someone thinks that it's a great idea to kill the quest giver (assuming the possibility). Sure, you run into those that choose to disrupt your game time, rather then lend a hand, but what about those who are playing to make friends?

Instancing, the closed world, single player, leave me alone time. You can get a lot done in this time, without worrying about anyone bothering you, or needing to rely on your buddy to log on and give you a hand. But if this is what you want, why not play a single player game? You will get the same immersion, and do not have to pay a monthly fee. But without a monthly fee, the game you are playing will hardly be updated, and you might possibly be bored in no time, which comes to a predicament: Switch to MMO, or deal with it and wait for another big game. I have had my fun in single player games, but I usually try to zoom through them as fast as possible, so I could justify my purchase by beating it, but I fight through a lot of the boring game play. I guess I am just MMO oriented now.

But what about those who are interested in the MMO portion of the game? The non-instanced, mass amount of players in sight, ask for help anywhere anytime. From the footage we have seen, the flashpoint of the Sith and Bounty Hunter, they are in a flashpoint. Which could be a major story quest, in that case my opinion is that it SHOULD be closed. Major Quests, certain party quests, raids, some but not all dungeons, should be instanced. Those parts most likely offer massive information in your class quests. But a good bulk of us are looking forward to an open world to have fun and meet people in

So my question is, how do you think instancing should be handled? My statement of the major quests, raids, etc. Or do you want a more closed game?

Companion characters have always been a trademark of Biowares games. From KOTOR to Mass Effect, companion characters have given players someone to give them support, loyalty, and romance (for all you lonely guys and gals out there). After Petes interview with Leo, we definitely know that companion characters will be in SWTOR. This formula has worked throughout Biowares long history of single-player RPGs, but how will this transfer to the MMO stage?

In a typical MMO there is a progression of quest difficulty, which ranges from simple solo-able quests, to harder group quests, to raid quests, which are generally the most difficult. Companion characters would be a massive help in solo quests, but when you get in a group situation is when things get tricky. In a group that would mean double the people to heal, and more micromanaging for players. If anyone has ever done a simple instance you know that if one thing goes wrong in a pull everyone can get screwed. The same goes for raids: the more people and NPCs the harder it is to coordinate during a big boss fight.

Companion characters could not only have an effect on PvE but on PvP as well. If each companion is different with different abilities, it seems that Bioware would have a lot more work on balancing.

Bringing in companion characters isnt all a bad thing; they bring a whole new level of depth and meaning to your story. If you kill the captain, not only will his family hate you, but your companion could be horrified at your actions and leave you forever.

So whats your view on companion characters? Should they be there for the whole game, or only for leveling? Or they should be there for PvE, and not for PvP?

The question that boggles the mind of casuals and hardcore alike, "What do I wish to do once I am max level?"

[poll id="4"]

It seems from what we are told, is that the PvE (Player Vs Environment) content will be stuffed full of shiney exploding goodness, but we have not been told much about the PvP (Player Vs Player). Will the raiding be enough to keep the hardcore players playing the content weekly, or are they looking to push them to do the, GASP, WoW thing, where you roll an alt when you get to bored. But I am not afraid to roll an alt, knowing that we are being given 200+ hours of story per class, but I do want some end game raiding And with the recent information given to us at Comic-Con, it appears classes will be able to get alignment towards the Light Side, and the Dark Side, for new abilities and what not, which could add more bulk and time to the story.


The the PvP comes in, "What if I want to PvP and not reroll? Will I be forced to reroll due to lack of people or objectives to complete?"

I do not think we need to worry, as interviews have stated, "This is Star WARS" So I am comfortable with myself knowing that BioWare is working on giving us a great PvP experience, the real question is, "What depth of conflict?" Many questions are out there and we are waiting for them to be answered, will there be PvP Planets? Objectives? Quests? Special Abilities? Titles gained through PvP? Vehicles? Spac---, nope, won't be opening that Pandora's Box. Time will tell, time will also answer these questions. I am sure BioWare will show us all these in due time, and we will all be happy.