It's that time again for a community discussion topic! We're both incredibly excited to get back to the gritty details of the most recent news, some rumors, and most importantly, what you guys and gals are thinking about The Old Republic. For anyone new to MER (or in case you have forgotten), here’s how the community discussion topic works: The week before each episode we will put up a short audio clip detailing the new topic. We then want you to send us your thoughts either through the forums, email, or in the form of an mp3. When it comes time to record the episode, we will pull some of your comments and use them as a basis for discussion on the show. So, now for this week’s question…

The recent announcement of the four new playable species for The Old Republic has brought to a head the conversation about non-human species being limited to specific classes. For example, this past week we learned that the Zabrak will be able to force-lightning their way through the game as Sith Inquisitors, and the blind Miraluka can force-feel their way through the world as Jedi Knight. While it has been announced that there are many details missing, including more race/class combinations, two primary schools of thought have come to light on this subject: Those who want a completely open system to create and customize their character exactly as they see fit, and those who defer to Bioware’s judgment. A strong argument for the latter is the possibility of some very detailed class stories based specifically on the history of a given species.

Well I think lore wise there does need to be some restrictions. I think it would be very hard to have a Sith Pureblood being in the Republic. And given the Sith Empire's general xenophobia several republic standards like Wookiees and Mon Cals would be awkward under the Emperor's reign. Not saying that there aren't some fantastic story ideas for the Sith supporting Wookiee, but that should be really really rare, and if it is rare it shouldn't be allowed in the game. As for restrictions of race on given faction classes I would hope BioWare would be more open and not terribly stingy with freedom to choose.

Class Restrictions are something that anybody who's played WoW is familiar with: that being the ability for a race to be specific classes, yet not to be others. Now in WoW, for anybody who WASN'T heavy into the Lorecraft, they needed to ask around to find out why there were class restrictions, and some of them did make a lot of sense (Eg: A Human not being allowed to be a druid, or a Tauren not being allowed to be a Warlock.)

After essentially repeating everything that was said by Brooks already, my opinion stands with the fact that I'm completely OK with class restrictions. One of the major pillars in this game is Story, and one of the great things about class restrictions is the ability to add an extra level of story-telling. That being said, I can understand why a lot of people have problems with the concept of class restrictions. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that gamers generally tend to dislike being told they can't do specific things, and then the nerdrage explodes as they try to convince the developers to agree with their point of view.

The big thing to understand here is that BioWare has specifically announced that the races announced so far aren't necessarily restricted to just 1 class. However, a lot of people are still continuing to misunderstand this, and assuming that they can only be, say, a Zabrak Inquisitor. A lot of details have yet to be announced, and therefore in my opinion, everybody should just calmmmmmmmmmmmm downnnnnnnnnnnn until the races have been confirmed to be playable as X and Y and Z classes.

Most of the reason that people are panicking are because of the fact that they wanted to make a specific race, and they're under the assumption that because their favourite race was announced to be playable for a specific class, that that is the ONLY class that that race will be playable as. Therefore, the nerd-rage explodes yet again as people want to play Sith Pureblood Bounty Hunters, or Twi'Lek Sith Warriors.

Because I've basically written a giant wall of text, I'm going to finish by saying that we don't know all the details yet, so people who might be complaining about not being able to play certain classes should sit tight and wait for confirmation before panicking. Thanks for listening to my opinion.

As Blackferne has said, some race restrictions aren't a bad thing and frankly, in the case of Star Wars are needed. Seeing someone run around as Sith Pureblood Jedi Consular, or a Mon Calamari Sith Inquisitor would be rather ridiculous.

So, I'm not against the principle of race restrictions. However, I think it's a bit premature to discuss it farther than that. For now, I'll reserve my judgment on how BioWare applies it to TOR until all the cards are on the table.

I'll just say that while I understand the need for the restrictions, I hope BioWare isn't too heavy handed with them. I'm more concerned with races that haven't been announced specifically Nautolan, Kel Dor, and Mon Cal.

I second the CAAAAAALLLLLL DOOOOOOWWWWWNNN.
There is a matrix of what is going to be permissible. Don't worry that race A was tied to class B. Just be happy Race A is in the game and hope for more options later.

By the way have they OFFICIALLY announced humans yet or are we just assuming that they are in the game?

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Win.

I can understand and expect certain race restrictions. Sith Pureblood for example I would find it hard to see on the Republic side as they are, lore wise, of Sith Nobel bloodline. Also remember the Sith are anti alien and, in Lore, they were only a smattering of aliens within the Sith Ranks.

On the Republic they are a big love in faction open to all but again there are certain races that were fanatically loyal to the Republic.

Of the races released so far I would say that Chiss, Rattataki, Pureblood, Mirialans and Miraluka are faction locked. I would expect Zabraks and Twi'lek to be available to both factions.

I think its smart of them to have some degree of races restrictions to certain factions. I do hope however that it doesn't come down to it being races exclusively bound to certain class's. It would make more sense to be able to play say a race like a zabrak and be a Sith inquisitor, a Sith warrior, imperial agent and it wouldn't even be a stretch for one to be a bounty hunter.
But getting away from that part of it, its good to see there beginning to introduce to us new playable races except human, which as mentioned above they never came out and said would be in the game but as far as video and screen-shots go i think we can safely assume it. Look forward to seeing some of these races in action but as u can tell from my avatar im still waiting for my Jedi Nautolan race to be announced i can feel it, its coming any day now.

I agree with the general consensus I am seeing here on the board: meaning that while I defer to Bioware's judgment I hope their judgment is sound enough to realize that certain races should be restricted to classes and/or factions while other races should not.

I don't know enough about all of the revealed races to knit-pick who should be and could go where, but it seems like a lot of members of these forums already have that under control.

I would like to hope that any class restriction they make will only enrich other aspects of the game; most obviously story - but probably other aspects as well.

Hey. This is my first post on the forums (love the podcast, guys), so I'll just get right to the point.

While I prefer to think I am "confident" in BioWare's overall ability to do things right, one could say I am deferential.

I believe racial restrictions will be good for SW:TOR for the sake of maintaining continuity and a cohesive story line, for the reasons mentioned, such as the xenophobia of the Sith Empire, as well as realism of the background of that species in relation to that class's lifestyle and faction allegiance. This is why I personally welcome the idea of certain species being faction-locked.

Also, as far as the somewhat mysterious origin selection stage of character creation, I think that could be an interesting way to open the door to more variation in terms of species to story and setting, as some have discussed elsewhere, that could allow for a way to explain a race being an option to a certain class. With the example of the possibility of a Sith Pureblood being a potential option for the Sith Inquisitor or the Zabrak for the Sith Warrior. Depending on the origin someone selects, it may unlock the option for that race while giving a story-centered reason for that option being available, such as (pure speculative imagination here) the Sith Inquisitor's slave origin being only one of the options allowing a Sith Inquisitor to be one of many strange races to the Empire, that would otherwise not be found roaming around, while another origin could be of non-slave origin such as an exile or outcast, allowing for more Imperial-friendly species.

One could go as far to say that the origin selection stage being used in this fashion as a form of continuity protection (I had another term in mind, but it may have not been quite appropriate ) as far as species are concerned.

That's just an idea of how that could work while creating more species possibilities without causing conflict with the story or realism (excuse me for the term usage, I know it's blasphemy when talking about imaginary concepts) of the circumstances of the setting.

It's obviously important for BioWare to find a middle ground so the optimal amount of people can be pleased and have the options they want. It's my hope that the final sets of choices of races we have for each class will be satisfactory for everyone. I don't see why BioWare wouldn't want that, too.

I don't generally comment on any specific parts of the SW:TOR community, since I can't bother to read what every person says while sifting through a lot of rage and emotional and opinion-fueled ignorant tirades. My only thought there is that again, I have confidence in BioWare to deal with it responsible, like they have, and don't let the emotionally vocal groups get the better of anyone else.

Thanks for reading.