Substantial information on Star Wars: The Old Republic can be hard to find at times, and so it was quite surprising to find SW:TOR’s Lead Principal Writer Daniel Erickson laying down some serious specifics about the game’s quest content breakdown in an unexpectedly informative reply to a thread on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums.
The thread in question was started by forum user DarthShredKing, who asserted that there would actually be repeated content in Star Wars: The Old Republic due to the presence of non-class quests on a particular faction’s side:
“Now.... I can get that if you play a Sith warrior start to finish, then play a Jedi Knight start to finish, there will not be a single piece or repeated content. But what if I play a Jedi Knight then I play a Trooper or Smuggler? How many non-class quests will I see? This counts as repeated content. What percent of quests will be class quests specific to one class and what percent of quests will be "the bigger picture" quests that everyone within one faction will see?”
An interesting point. Interesting enough to prompt a response from Mr. Erickson, who really laid things out. This is the sort of explanation I’d expect to find in a Friday Update feature, but hey, I’m not arguing!
Erickson explained that there is actually no repeated content across factions and that each class has their very own Class Quests that lead them from the very beginning of their progression right to the end-game.
Beyond Class Quests, there will be shared quests across all classes within a specific faction as Star Wars: The Old Republic is a multiplayer game, and one of the main features of Star Wars: The Old Republic is not just storytelling in an MMO, but multiplayer storytelling in an MMO. To that end, players can look forward to a number of different types of multiplayer content ranging from one-off or short-chain quests called “World Quests” to epic-length “World Arcs” which range anywhere from four to ten quests and feature a planet-spanning storyline and include branching quest lines that promise replay value (the quests are not repeatable). Also included in the array of multiplayer content are Flashpoints, which are “heavily scripted major story and action pieces” designed for groups to tackle. Daniel also teased us with some of the possibilities players might experience when tackling SW:TOR’s multiplayer content with other classes:
“Our multiplayer content has lines, choices and content that is specific to each class and content that is only there if you're in a group. Did the Jedi Consular really just convince the Sith boss to stand down and not fight us? Did the Bounty Hunter really just shake down the Moff for more money? Did the Smuggler just leave the group with that attractive quest giver? Um...are they coming back? It's fun to replay the game and see all the different content but it's also a blast to play with friends and be completely surprised by what they say. Often you'll find yourself saying ‘Okay, that clearly was not one of my dialogue options!’”
The real specifics came in Daniel’s breakdown of the aforementioned content. Origin worlds will be comprised primarily of Class Quest content (60%), dropping down to 40% on Capital worlds, and they’ll make up an even smaller percentage of the content on the rest of the game’s planets. Daniel explained that this particular breakdown was put in place to introduce players to their class and class storyline before throwing you out into the wild.
Most people seem to be responding positively to this, but I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. I guess it all depends on how long the Class Quest slanted content makes up 60-40% of your experience. I am aware you can do Class Quests with other players, but if everyone is trying to get their own done and they’re all individual to your class, it might take more time than it’s worth grouping to do them, encouraging players to solo this particular type of content. I’m the type of person who likes to get started in the game with his friends and hit the ground running together, so I still need more information before I commit to having cause for concern. While I’m not yet sure I find the revelation troubling, I certainly can’t say I share the feeling of reassurance that most of the people I’ve seen responding to the news seem to feel.
What are your thoughts on the quest breakdown? Share ‘em with us in the comments below!
