Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

You mentioned earlier that you don't want players to need to go out and recruit a bunch of other players to take down one monster. How do you balance an MMO so that you're still able to be a bad ass in single player but also have that sort of multiplayer experience that so many MMOs provide?

James: One of the things we've been doing is that we're making sure that when we're building content we have different representatives of the different play styles. Whenever we're doing design discussions or implementing a system, we have the different player types involved. There's the solo player type that hates other players and is very anti-social...

BioWare is creating their game with all play styles in mind.

It's funny, because there are a bunch of players like this in WoW where they don't like to hang around with other players but love to show off all the cool stuff that they have.

Then there are the players that like to adventure with their buddies. They have their own group of friends, and they just like to adventure with those players all the time.

Then there are players that like to join guilds and are social butterflies and like to adventure with people from their guild. They like to be part of these big huge groups that go out and play in major events like raids.

We want to take all those players and make sure that each of those player types has fun in our game. I can't go into details about all the systems, but we have made sure that those player types are thought about when we're building the game.

Can you talk about the leveling system at all? Will there be innovations beyond killing monsters all the time?

James: Our leveling system does use the classic experience point type leveling system. There are some innovations that we working on, but we can't talk about it.

I can talk about companion characters, and they're going to be a big part of that system. They are going to be leveling up and geting different equipment with you.

The Dark Side and the Light Side are also going to be a big part of the game. You're going to be making decisions in your stories that are going to be bringing you towards the Light Side or the Dark Side. You can also try to go down a more "gray" path, much like Qui-Gon Jinn. All of those paths are acceptable paths in which you work to travel down. I don't think we've really seen that sort of system in an MMO before.

Will PvP be in the game? How are you handling that system?

James: There will be PvP in the game There's a reason why we decided to build two factions into the game,

The game is called Star *Wars*. We're always thinking about that. It's always about war. It's always about conflict. When the writers are penning the story, we always try to remind them that this is Star Wars. It's about the wars, and the conflict.

Think about the movies, that's what is exciting about them. Any sort of PvP mechanic we have we want to make feel like Star Wars. There are definitely certain things that that means....that I really can't talk about. *laughs*

You've talked about the companion characters quite a bit. Do they disappear when you're playing with other people? How do you prevent ending up playing with a small mob if you're playing with three friends?

James: You only ever have a single companion character at a given time. You may have collected more than one companion character but you can only have one with you. You can switch them out because the companion characters have different strength, weaknesses and personalities.

For example, you may have a whole bunch of companion characters, but only one companion character likes big guns. You may want to use him all the time. Or you may have a different companion character that you play with simply because you like their story and personality. Maybe you're pursuing a romance with your companion character. Or perhaps a different companion character has really compelling quests that you want to participate in.

You can only have one with you at any given time, but we have been balancing for when you group with your friends.

Companion characters are going to be a big part of your MMO experience.

Rich: And we really want to make sure these companions aren't just pets. They should be a part of your experience. Even if you're playing alone, you'll always have that companion to go with you and be with you.

Gordon: They add to the immersion of the game as well.

How much control will you have over your compaions? Will you be able to trigger their special abilities?

James: That's actually something that players have varying expectations about. Some players are going to want a lot of control and some players hate pets. They don't want to play a Hunter type class, so they're going to want to have less control. We've made sure to accomodate those different play styles.

We don't want to force players to always keep control of their companions.

How are you handling Force potential? That was always a big part of the universe, are you implementing any of that sort of thing into the game?

James: For the most part, it's going to be based on the class, level, and the choices you make in the game. There aren't going to be players with more Force potential than other players, simply because you get into a bad situation when you go down that path. The "I'm cooler than you" scenario.

You can certainly earn those sort of bragging rights if you're a higher level and played through the game, but we don't want it to be based on something that players have no control over.

Are there any plans for a mentoring / sidekick system?

James: Yes, we have a plan for that sort of system. There are certainly different ways to implement that, and, although we can't say which system it's going to be, we are investigating that.

Gordon: We always want to make sure people can play with their friends as soon as possible rather than capping them so they can't. That's part of the social experience, no matter what level a player is.

How are you incorporating vehicles into gameplay? Will there be ground combat and space combat?

James: We can't talk about it, but Star Wars definitely had a lot of vehicles and we're certainly looking at it.

Are you going to be including anything in the game that isn't combat oriented? Maybe some classes like a smuggler, admiral or diplomat?

James: The core classes are definitely going to be oriented around heroic combat encounters. We are going to have crafting, which we think is a major part of MMOs. We're really hoping to implement that into the game in a way that feels right for Star Wars. For the longest time we were really struggling with crafting because it doesn't really feel right in Star Wars, but one of the designers came up with a great idea of how to incorporate crafting into the game without making the hero feel like he's doing something non-heroic.

Will lightsabers change as we advance?

James: That's one thing with MMOs; player's and their equipment change as they progress through the game, so you definitely aren't going to end the game with the same lightsaber you started off with.

That may mean you upgraded your lightsaber or you switched to a better one,

Rich: As you progress, you will definitely be able to tell a high end character from a relative newbie.

Are you doing anything with player changable environments? Things like capturable towns and stuff like that?

James: We are looking at it, but we can't say anything yet. Warhammer has been doing some fantastic work in that regard, and they're part of EA and we can talk about all their experiences and what they've done with their game.

What kind of web elements are you preparing for the game? Things like an Armory sort of system or even what WoW is doing with achievements?

The web will be a major part of the SWTOR experience.

Gordon: We really look at that as part of the service of the game. There's no difference to me between the service in the game and the service on the web. You are our customers and we're delivering you entertainment.

Will there be instancing in the game?

James: Yes. There will be instances in the game, and it's improtant for a lot of reasons. We want to be able to do storytelling and have players experiences that aren't disrupted like they are in public areas.

Rich: But we are balancing the instanced areas with the public parts.

James: Because it's an MMO and players play MMOs because they want to feel part of a vast world with lots of other players, you can't make too heavy use of instancing, or you'll take that feeling away. That's something we're very aware of.

Rich: I actually met my first online friend when they saved me from dying. That's an experience you don't get in instances.

How will the dialogue in SW: TOR be delivered? Will it be textually? A lot of BioWare games use great voice-acting and cinematic cameria angles and that sort of thing.

James: We really can't talk about that at this time. We have a lot of learning that we can take from other BioWare games, and we're going to take storytelling to the next level.

Finally, battles in Star Wars always seem to feature hundreds of characters on screen. You see all the clone troopers running around and the storm troopers being blasted by Rebel troopers. Are you have combat where maybe your Jedi is surrounded by hundreds of enemies?

James: We definitely want players to feel outnumbered. *coughs* Maybe not a hundred to one, but we do want players to feel outnumbered and we can do that in public areas and especially in instanced areas.