Star Wars Galaxies

I was reading some of the other posts and someone said that Bioware likes to implement good / evil scales, where a player can earn points in either direction based on his / her actions.

Since we definitely don't want Jedi to be a playable class at the beginning of the game, because we will be over-run by them, I think Bioware should introduce a bunch of professions (ala SWG) BH, Smugglers, Doctors, Riflemen, etc and as you play the game, you earn points slowly in either direction. Once you reach one side of the spectrum fully, you unlock the ability to turn your character into a Jedi or Sith.

In addition to that, you start off as sort of a weak Jedi, learning the ins and outs and finally, after gaining enough "Jedi points" (or whatever you want to call them) you have the ability to choose what kind of Jedi you want to be (Guardian, etc, etc).

From there you continue a long, long, long road to Jedi master.

Either that, or they could make the game purely about Jedi / Sith, and have 10 or so different classes of them, instead of BHs, smugglers, etc. That would kind of ruin the feel of Starwars that existed in SWG pre-CU, where people felt they were actually living in the Starwars universe.

i personally don't care, i would like a grind to unlock.  i would rather see the ability to be a droid, wear a cape and have a holster.

Geez, let people put some points into Jedi/force skills if they want to. Especially in a setting like that. No need to be ants at a picnic.

If its a power-issue, padawans suck as bad as a rookie infantryman.

And some people don't want to play Jedi or force users at all, either.

I personally think that people can't compare it on a scale with SWG.   Overrun with Jedi?  I'm not sure what to say to that because its a completely different time line, and probably a unique story that drives the game which isn't bound by the limitations of making a game in the time line between two movies.  

Lucas has said that Expanded Universe is pretty much just Star Wars fiction until officially adopted as canon.  Sure the book have to maintain continuity with the the movies, with other books, and they are officially licensed, but what's to say that at a "forgotten" point in the Old Republic time line that hasn't been developed yet isn't chalked full of Jedi.  On the other side there could be next to no Jedi in the story that drives the game.. its pretty open, not like making a game between movie 4 and 5.

I enjoyed the good/evil alignment in Kotor that shifted as you made choices in the game.  They never handed you a Jedi in the beginning, and I couldn't see them doing that in an MMO.  People just didn't wake up and start using force powers in the Star Wars universe, and very very rarely did you ever have the unstoppable force wielder like you see in the movies.  There were average joe jedi, still jedi, but nothing close to a Vader.

So what is a smuggler going to smuggle in the Old Republic?

I can guarantee they won't follow in SOE's footsteps and not have playable Jedi at release. A lot of people were pissed off that Jedi were not a playable class or even unlockable at the beginning. It is Knights of the Old Republic (Jedi are everywhere). I just can't wait for the sith vs old republic (I guess this announcement fits in with Wizards release of KotOR miniatures for their star wars minis line.

Edit: Thought Bomb anyone?

As epic as Bioware likes to make their storylines, I'm betting everyone starts out in the game exactly the same - no skills, no power, MAYBE you have a popgun.  You've got a few questions to find answers to, as well as the huge, overriding one - Who am I?  Then you get thrown into a story where things slowly start to reveal themselves, and based on your choices your class is chosen for you at some point as you gain power.  Then you get a huge power increase, and then your story gets a huge wrinkle, you make a decision, play to the end of the story, then - erm, epic raids for all eternity.

I desperately hope it's not class-based, and that something similar to the OP's idea is put out there, but I don't think too many people are holding out much hope that it's skill-based.  Considering the almost total lack of creativity among developers these days, as well as a total lack of confidence in anything that isn't kill-loot-repeat-mashbuttonsagainagainagain garbage that could be played by any leet punk with a PS3 or 360, and just the fact that EA bought it, it's likely we'll have seen this game before.  I really, really hope I'm wrong.