MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh recently attended the San Diego Comic Con. While there, she had the opportunity to speak with Alexander Freed and Dallas Dickinson of BioWare about the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The time period of Star Wars: The Old Republic was chosen as deliberately as that of Knights of the Old Republic. Set 3,000 years before Darth Vader and 300 years after KotOR, Bioware is able to move around in the time line while keeping the continuity of the Star Wars expanded universe in mind as they write their story.

"Being set in a new time period, we can use the content to weave a new story," said Alexander Freed. "We are telling the story of the origins of the Sith Empire." A different empire than the one of KotOR or the one run by Emperor Palpatine, in SWTOR, the gamer will see the different strata of the Sith Empire; the slaves, the imperial families, the regular middle class, the conquered planets, and of course the upper echelon, the Sith themselves.

Read the Comic Con Interview

Pretty hard to get excited about the game when they just keep telling us the same things over and over again.

Yeah and they have repetedly said the "There's no save button in an MMO" thing to the extent I think they didn't know that and feel they have to enlighten everyone else. I know BioWare makes good games, but this trickle of information we have been getting could bite them in the ass. In the absence of info people let their imaginations run wild and a game will rarely meet the expectations one has built up in their head. The only new thing I read was a new form of death mechanics. Skill based system with sp loss at death sort of like EVE?

Thanks for the interview mmorpg.com

Unfortunately and at no fault of your interviewer, but BioWare/La are stuck in not being able to tell us anything else beyond what they've already told us.  We have to keep in mind the cat got let out of the bag before they were ready to tell the world about the game and we are now feeling the affects.

All, good, when they have info to tell us, I'm sure they will, just sucks having to wait for it

Did they just misspell Qui-gon Jinn there? :)

Other than that it's pretty much all standard talk we've heard so far, nothing all that new.

OK, if you disreguard the "choose your own adventure" aspect of the linear progression and drawing out the grind with VO (as apposed to clicking through dialog) there still remains a question.

What makes this Level/Class based IP MMOG different than what has been introduced before?

What I see is a refinement of policies LEC believes makes a better, iconic and starwarsy experiance minus the excessive drag of entertaining, resources collecting, heavy death penelty, decay and player housing.  I guess the real downturn in playing is making a bad set of chioces in your progression and ending up with a character you don't want to play.  Funny that, another reason to abandon during play.  Hmm, maybe they need to investigate player freedoms a little more.

Ummmm....

Empire Troopers?


Choosing alignment at character creation?  

Some new info here, guys.

Since this game is probably a 2011 release to start with how much detail can they give you at this time?  Not a whole lot because most things are not set in stone yet.  So why complain about it, they are going to be giving you generalities all of this year and most of next.

If they started giving more detail, I would question their sanity.

Sith families? Interesting concept.

What bothers me the most is that they haven't even fleshed out things like death. Death in an MMO occurs pretty frequently. You would think they'd have some idea of how they want to handle it by now, especially if they're showing a public demo in a month.

Originally posted by miropovo

Yeah and they have repetedly said the "There's no save button in an MMO" thing to the extent I think they didn't know that and feel they have to enlighten everyone else. I know BioWare makes good games, but this trickle of information we have been getting could bite them in the ass. In the absence of info people let their imaginations run wild and a game will rarely meet the expectations one has built up in their head. The only new thing I read was a new form of death mechanics. Skill based system with sp loss at death sort of like EVE?

That's because MMO gamers aren't their only target.  They're also very much interested in garnering the attention of single player gamers, console gamers and non-gaming Star Wars fans.  They have to keep reiterating terminology that isn't familiar to this type of audience.

After all things are considered, current MMO gamers may not even be the primary target audience.  There are probably a lot of people who go to Comic Con who are not gamers.

OK it's got more dialog than all the Bioware games put together...OK we get it.   It is story driven...OK we get that, too.  Now what about the rest of the game?  Is it going to be an MMORPG or a Star Wars version of Guild Wars, because that is what it is beginning to sound more and more like.

I agree, at the very earliest we're looking at a late 2010 release. Either way though I agree, you can't really expect huge hunks of information when a game is so early in its development. This is why I am not very excited about this game yet, there really isn't any point in getting all hyped up when the launch is so far away...

-Ethnine-

Originally posted by Teala

OK it's got more dialog than all the Bioware games put together...OK we get it.   It is story driven...OK we get that, too.  Now what about the rest of the game.  Is it going to be an MMORPG or a Star Wars version of guild wars, because that is what it is beginning to sound more and more like.

There's nothing wrong with a well-done Star Guilds. Thrown in a little bit of Diablo itemization, a quality PvP element. better replayability and end-game raid dungeons and I'd be happy to play it.

         It's Star Wars...it's Bioware...its during the Sith Empire. Sounds shitty right? (sarcasm off). I'm glad they aren't telling us new stuff everyday...it's the hype of past mmos that truly was the downfall at launch. I'll play this game if they never say another word about it until release. I'd prefer it that way...I can make my own judgements...but only after I actually play the damn thing.

        It won't matter to the whiny doomspeakers though...If Bioware says  too little.....then the game probably not any good anyway..fail. Too much...and it won't live up to the hype...or as others percieve..promises of the developers...thus fail...and Bioware is eternally despised and a bunch of liars. If they release it too soon and add features later..then they are again "liars" and all the features ever possible should have been in the game already...fail. If they wait until it has all they claim and more...then it would've taken too long...and snore...again fail. If it comes out perfect....satisfying all expectations and promises..revolutionizing the industry of mmo's and gaming in general..with 10x the content of any game and 2x the player base of WOW...and weekly updates..no bugs..pays you to play it and makes you a sandwich for the privilege...washes your car and wipes your ass...then people will make shit up to bitch about.  It's always "fail" to some people.

Originally posted by BarCrow

         It's Star Wars...it's Bioware...its during the Sith Empire. Sounds shitty right? (sarcasm off). I'm glad they aren't telling us new stuff everyday...it's the hype of past mmos that truly was the downfall at launch. I'll play this game if they never say another word about it until release. I'd prefer it that way...I can make my own judgements...but only after I actually play the damn thing.

        It won't matter to the whiny doomspeakers though...If Bioware says  too little.....then the game probably not any good anyway..fail. Too much...and it won't live up to the hype...or as others percieve..promises of the developers...thus fail...and Bioware is eternally despised and a bunch of liars. If they release it too soon and add features later..then they are again "liars" and all the features ever possible should have been in the game already...fail. If they wait until it has all they claim and more...then it would've taken too long...and snore...again fail. If it comes out perfect....satisfying all expectations and promises..revolutionizing the industry of mmo's and gaming in general..with 10x the content of any game and 2x the player base of WOW...and weekly updates..no bugs..pays you to play it and makes you a sandwich for the privilege...washes your car and wipes your ass...then people will make shit up to bitch about.  It's always "fail" to some people.

So very true.

All that matters at the end of the day is that those of us who enjoy playing games are in the games doing exactly that, than worrying about all the other crap going on around us, escaping the world for a few hours a day is relief enough for me =).

I'm fine with them not promising the world to us right now, remember what happened to WAR?


Everyone was pissed when they couldn't deliver what the talking head, Paul Barnett, was promising.

Originally posted by BarCrow

         It's Star Wars...it's Bioware...its during the Sith Empire. Sounds shitty right? (sarcasm off). I'm glad they aren't telling us new stuff everyday...it's the hype of past mmos that truly was the downfall at launch. I'll play this game if they never say another word about it until release. I'd prefer it that way...I can make my own judgements...but only after I actually play the damn thing.

        It won't matter to the whiny doomspeakers though...If Bioware says  too little.....then the game probably not any good anyway..fail. Too much...and it won't live up to the hype...or as others percieve..promises of the developers...thus fail...and Bioware is eternally despised and a bunch of liars. If they release it too soon and add features later..then they are again "liars" and all the features ever possible should have been in the game already...fail. If they wait until it has all they claim and more...then it would've taken too long...and snore...again fail. If it comes out perfect....satisfying all expectations and promises..revolutionizing the industry of mmo's and gaming in general..with 10x the content of any game and 2x the player base of WOW...and weekly updates..no bugs..pays you to play it and makes you a sandwich for the privilege...washes your car and wipes your ass...then people will make shit up to bitch about.  It's always "fail" to some people.

QFE

The people (especially the people on these boards) cannot be pleased. It is impossible. Regardless of what BiOWare would do, people would still bitch. 

So while, on an emotional level, I want more and new information just as much as the next person, I salute BioWare for their efforts to keep info flow exclusive to the things that they have 120% confirmed. 

PLUS, people who have paid closer attention to the ComicCon Interviews actually got some news out of them. Like Item-Customization and Skill-Trees/Healing via Skill-Tree specialization, not dedicated Healing Classes. 

 To be honest, I would be completely happy if this game was just SW:KOTOR's 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10 with multiplayer elements.  I have absolutely loved every game that Bioware has come out with and I don't see any reason to believe that this will not also be a success.  It is way too early for you people to be bitching about this game and comparing it to other games.  If BioWare sticks with it's winning formula, you know what this game will play and feel like but on a much grander scale.

I can't understand those actively upset over the supposed lack of information. As if any MMO, major or minor to any degree, has released any more so soon. Of course, it's the same reaction every time: GIEF MOAR OAR FAIL!

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Originally posted by Vrazule

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Originally posted by miropovo

Yeah and they have repetedly said the "There's no save button in an MMO" thing to the extent I think they didn't know that and feel they have to enlighten everyone else. I know BioWare makes good games, but this trickle of information we have been getting could bite them in the ass. In the absence of info people let their imaginations run wild and a game will rarely meet the expectations one has built up in their head. The only new thing I read was a new form of death mechanics. Skill based system with sp loss at death sort of like EVE?

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That's because MMO gamers aren't their only target.  They're also very much interested in garnering the attention of single player gamers, console gamers and non-gaming Star Wars fans.  They have to keep reiterating terminology that isn't familiar to this type of audience.
After all things are considered, current MMO gamers may not even be the primary target audience.  There are probably a lot of people who go to Comic Con who are not gamers.

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