MMORPG.com's Community Manager Michael Bitton has synthesized all of the information about Star Wars: The Old Republic that came out during last week's GamesCom and placed it one handy-dandy article for readers to slice and dice and discuss. Check out the ships and advanced class information that Mike has amassed.

Bioware had a massive booth at the show, and for the first time the general public was able to get their hands on the game, well, that is if you could stomach the reportedly lengthy lines. Write-ups detailing gamers’ first-experiences with SW:TOR have appeared all around the ‘net since then, and eager fans have been poring over the markedly mixed opinions. No surprise, really, with such a highly anticipated game you’re going to have many people who will absolutely fall in love with the game after their first experience and those who will completely hate it.

Read more of the SWTOR GamesCom Wrap Report.

Excellent review. I am also looking forward to the imperial agent. I have yet to determine wether it will be operative or sniper...

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

I think the showing at GamesCom could have been a bit shinier on their part, last years Captain flashpoint was met with much more cheering than this years showing of low level content only.

Still, a lot of interesting things were said and shown, maybe not so much through the footage which we had already seen a bit of, but through interviews and impressions.

Most people I spoke with (both on the personal level and the forums) seem cautiously optimistic about the game, while disappointed with the lenghty queueus and the short amount of playing time.

The footage looks decent for low levels imo, even though there are a lot of problems that still need fixing:

*The AI of the mobs actually does things like taking cover and running to the next room to hide, but this seems to come with a lot of pathing issues and it doesn't always work.

*Walking animations in particular, as well as 'idle' or 'in-combat' animations still need a lot of work, luckily James Ohlen (lead designer) did confirm that they were working on that intensively and we'd be seeing steady improvements over the following months.

*The presentation also needs a bit more work in some areas, like introducing more monster types with varied abilities.

*Difficulty will need to be reviewed after testing, only a complete newbie to the genre (and some players in the videos evidently were just that) could actually die in that demo.

Still, there are things that hold great promise; the resource system for the trooper looks interesting, cover looks good yet a bit clunky still, the AI shows promise when the issues are fixed and the quests seem to be interesting, as well as the voice overs.

Originally posted by Durudan

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

 I think no auto attack is one of the best things about this combat.. Perhaps with no autoattack that means you will have to be less lazy while you play the game?

"Jedi Wizard?" Seriously? I think that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

People have to remember, Bioware is writing this game for the Wow crowd.  It is by a large margin the biggest pool of MMO players out there, hence Bioware is thinking big.  Personally, I think it will have a chance to challenge Wow.  Wow is getting a bit long in the tooth and if anyone can do it, it is Bioware, especially with the Star Wars IP.  Would not be surprised to see Wow numbers go down after this game is released.

I also think a lot of people on this site won't like it.  There is nothing innovative or different in this game, just more of the same.  Bioware has been very careful to not do anything that will challenge players, their emphasis is on fun factor.  My only concern with the game is what is there end game going to be?  Guess we need to wait to find out. 

Seriosly... "Jedi Wizard"? I can perhaps accept Sith Sorcerer, it could be worse... But "Jedi Wizard"? It's lika adding a class named "Ninja wizard" or something like that. Honestly. -_-

Other than that, it sounds good. Though I admit that the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior seem a bit too much like mirror classes for my taste... ^^

Sounds fun and exciting...mainly b/c im an ultra star wars nerd!  Can't wait to play most, if not all, of those classes.

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Durudan

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

 I think no auto attack is one of the best things about this combat.. Perhaps with no autoattack that means you will have to be less lazy while you play the game?

 

That only works if you have varied things available to do at all times during combat. If you are stuck firing off a basic attack for periods while waiting for other things to recharge (you know, what an auto-attack generally is), then all it is is making the player push the same button over and over and touting it as "active combat."

Auto-attack was actually a QoL feature where devs made life easier on a player waiting with nothing to do while waiting for their powers to recharge. Removing auto-attack is only a combat improvement if you also remove that boring "cooldown gap." Otherwise, it's a step backwards, not forwards.

You can't use Sith Lord as a class because "Lord" is a title; not a class. Sorcerer is fine but, yes, Wizard sounds stupid. Yet, I can't think of anything better than Wizard other than "Sage" but that sounds weird, too.

Originally posted by Sabrel

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Durudan

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

 I think no auto attack is one of the best things about this combat.. Perhaps with no autoattack that means you will have to be less lazy while you play the game?

 

That only works if you have varied things available to do at all times during combat. If you are stuck firing off a basic attack for periods while waiting for other things to recharge (you know, what an auto-attack generally is), then all it is is making the player push the same button over and over and touting it as "active combat."

Auto-attack was actually a QoL feature where devs made life easier on a player waiting with nothing to do while waiting for their powers to recharge. Removing auto-attack is only a combat improvement if you also remove that boring "cooldown gap." Otherwise, it's a step backwards, not forwards.

 Hmm, well I didn't notice having to wait that long for a cooldown. Seemed like I always had something available. But w/e I think they will do what is best for the game, and what is best is not always what you or I think is best.

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Sabrel

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Durudan

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

 I think no auto attack is one of the best things about this combat.. Perhaps with no autoattack that means you will have to be less lazy while you play the game?

 

That only works if you have varied things available to do at all times during combat. If you are stuck firing off a basic attack for periods while waiting for other things to recharge (you know, what an auto-attack generally is), then all it is is making the player push the same button over and over and touting it as "active combat."

Auto-attack was actually a QoL feature where devs made life easier on a player waiting with nothing to do while waiting for their powers to recharge. Removing auto-attack is only a combat improvement if you also remove that boring "cooldown gap." Otherwise, it's a step backwards, not forwards.

 Hmm, well I didn't notice having to wait that long for a cooldown. Seemed like I always had something available. But w/e I think they will do what is best for the game, and what is best is not always what you or I think is best.

 

Ah, such blind faith.

The overall health of the game is not my concern. That is for the beancounters. All I care about is my personal enjoyment, and I'm not doing another STO "push one button constantly" game. My keyboard can't take it.

IM trying to keep my glass 1/2 full for this game. So nothing really new here but more + than -

Originally posted by Sabrel

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Sabrel

Originally posted by sungodra

Originally posted by Durudan

I think the game has a lot to work, the only class combat that i apreciatted was the jedi... the others were just standing there shotting with no auto-attack..

 I think no auto attack is one of the best things about this combat.. Perhaps with no autoattack that means you will have to be less lazy while you play the game?

 

That only works if you have varied things available to do at all times during combat. If you are stuck firing off a basic attack for periods while waiting for other things to recharge (you know, what an auto-attack generally is), then all it is is making the player push the same button over and over and touting it as "active combat."

Auto-attack was actually a QoL feature where devs made life easier on a player waiting with nothing to do while waiting for their powers to recharge. Removing auto-attack is only a combat improvement if you also remove that boring "cooldown gap." Otherwise, it's a step backwards, not forwards.

 Hmm, well I didn't notice having to wait that long for a cooldown. Seemed like I always had something available. But w/e I think they will do what is best for the game, and what is best is not always what you or I think is best.

 

Ah, such blind faith.

The overall health of the game is not my concern. That is for the beancounters. All I care about is my personal enjoyment, and I'm not doing another STO "push one button constantly" game. My keyboard can't take it.

 How do we not know they plan to add an auto attack? Maybe one is not needed to play the game. It could be more of strategic combat style.  They will have people testing this game and if they get enough complaints and feel that one is needed to effectively play this game, I am sure they will probably add it... I don't have blind faith. I plan to buy this game and if auto attack is in or not and if it really has a negative impact on my gameplay experience they will find out because they will not have my sub for very long.

I preordered ff14 and don't even think I'll enjoy it. Just something to kill some time with inbetween games, and my friends are going to play it for some time. So , I really don't have any faith in any company.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

People have to remember, Bioware is writing this game for the Wow crowd.  It is by a large margin the biggest pool of MMO players out there, hence Bioware is thinking big.  Personally, I think it will have a chance to challenge Wow.  Wow is getting a bit long in the tooth and if anyone can do it, it is Bioware, especially with the Star Wars IP.  Would not be surprised to see Wow numbers go down after this game is released.

I also think a lot of people on this site won't like it.  There is nothing innovative or different in this game, just more of the same.  Bioware has been very careful to not do anything that will challenge players, their emphasis is on fun factor.  My only concern with the game is what is there end game going to be?  Guess we need to wait to find out. 

 

If Cataclysm wasnt on the horizon you would probably be right, although im a bit dubious about how much this game would appeal to the average WoW player, it is unfortunately, not a fantasy game but a Sci-fi one.. though lately reviews of TOR have been more along the lines of WoW with lightsabres, im still not convinced that this is necessarily a good thing. If Cataclysm tanks badly, then maybe.. just maybe.. TOR will draw some away, though if it does well, they might not even notice that TOR gets released....

Originally posted by Renkaiden

You can't use Sith Lord as a class because "Lord" is a title; not a class. Sorcerer is fine but, yes, Wizard sounds stupid. Yet, I can't think of anything better than Wizard other than "Sage" but that sounds weird, too.

Sorcerer seems fine to me, it doesn't make the bile rise in my throat. But almost anything would be better than "Jedi wizard." I liked your idea for "sage." Maybe "seer" would work too? (Jedi can see the future after all.)

I think you guys are missing the point of what he's saying.

It's not so much about whether there is, or isn't auto attack, it's the pace of combat. He's saying he doesn't want to stand there waiting to press his 1 button attack skill, and I don't blame him. Having autoattack (or not) isn't really the issue, it's keeping the pace of combat going, and keeping it interesting. If you opt to remove autoattack, then that's fine, but the speed of combat should be sped up accordingly, and there should be more variety to start with than just 1 or 2 attack skills.

Originally posted by Renkaiden

You can't use Sith Lord as a class because "Lord" is a title; not a class. Sorcerer is fine but, yes, Wizard sounds stupid. Yet, I can't think of anything better than Wizard other than "Sage" but that sounds weird, too.

Jedi Knight is a "title" and not a class either. That didn't stop Bioware. Also, I mentioned Sith Lord specifically because almost all of the Jedi classes/subclasses were directly lifted from KOTOR II, including: Sith Marauder, Sith Assassin, Jedi Sentinel, Jedi Guardian, Jedi Consular, and dun-da-dun, Sith Lord appears to be missing, replaced by "Sith Sorcerer".

Ideally, I'd have liked to see the Jedi/Sith class names break down like this:

Jedi (instead of Jedi Knight)

• Jedi Guardian (tank)
• Jedi Weapon Master (dps)

• Jedi Watchmen or Jedi Shadow. While Jedi Shadows do exist in the lore, they only made a brief appearance in one of the KOTOR comics. Watchmen can cloak themselves in the Force, but are a bit more familiar, they also sound cooler than the generic "Jedi Shadow".
• Jedi Master. D'uh. How did Jedi Wizard take the place of this iconic name? It fits, it works, and it's not awkward.

Sith (just Sith)

• Sith Warrior (tank)
• Sith Marauder (dps)

• Sith Assassin (leave as is)
• Sith Lord (replace Sorcerer).

Personally I want my Jedi Ringmaster so I can start mu Cirque du Systeme Solaire and make a fortune!