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

Ten Ton Hammer: Going back to what you were saying about “what’s fun in Star Wars”, to me you captured that really well in the captain scene in the demo where there’s lots of combat going on in the background or even in the CG trailer where you see the transport pull up and then seeing all those lightsabers. Are you going to be seeing those kind of moments in the actual game where you may have dozens of Sith that you’re fighting alongside of?

Blaine Christine: I think that’s certainly a goal. Someone earlier mentioned, “I noticed in the Smuggler footage you see NPCs taking cover.” From there he asked if we’ll ever see cases where NPCs are fighting each other, and I mentioned how if you watch the transport scenes you do actually see that. The Imperial troops are actually helping us out as they’re blasting away at the Republic troopers as they come in from those pods, so you have both factions dueling right there as you’re going in and being the one to finish off the fight.

Ten Ton Hammer: Speaking of the cover system, will other classes be able to take advantage of that to some degree, or is it more specific to the mechanics of the Smuggler class?

Jake Neri: I think right now we’ve just shown the Smuggler using that. It’s a tenant of that class for sure and we haven’t really shown other classes using it.
 
Blaine Christine: We get a lot of questions about, hey why would people want to be anything other than Sith or Jedi, and we feel like it’s on us to make sure that the design is such that we as players feel compelled to play those other classes. For my part I can honestly say Smuggler is one of the most fun classes because I love rolling into cover and then using the flashbang and taking enemies out with a barrage. So it’s just a different gameplay element to play with.

Jake Neri: It makes the Smuggler unique. So a goal of ours is to make sure that each class, while it has a unique story, it also has a unique style of play and a unique combat system.

Ten Ton Hammer: That’s a weird question to me because I always want to be Han Solo instead of Luke…

Jake Neri: Well people can’t imagine, because the Jedi and the Sith are so powerful and amazing, but it would be silly of us to just make the one-shot Jedi game, you know?

Blaine Christine: And then the other one that comes up is the Trooper. Why would I want to be a Trooper? If you read up on the Trooper on our website or when we talk about it, all of our classes are based around the idea that you truly are heroic or are a hero both in your story but also in your combat. So using the Trooper as an example, he’s a member in an elite squad in the Republic, so it’s like he’s the green beret essentially of the Republic troopers so he’s not just a generic clone trooper somewhere. So since they are heroic, if you are the absolute best Trooper in the galaxy would you be able to take on a Jedi? Maybe, if you’ve got the right tools.

Jake Neri: Of course you would Blaine – you’d use a very specific ability…

Ten Ton Hammer: Well we appreciate the two of you taking the time to talk with us!

Blaine Christine: Absolutely!

Jake Neri: Thanks guys!