MER Episode 23 – Form V

This week we get back to the classic style of MER, breaking down the latest news and getting to the heart of community conversations. We get caught up on all the details for Space Combat and the new Jedi Knight advanced classes, and take a good look at the four new playable species. The community really brought their A-game for this week’s discussion topic, and they helped us dissect the concerns surrounding class restrictions. Also the mail bag has gotten significantly lighter, and we’ll continue to answer our backlog of emails in the next couple of shows.

We want to offer a big thanks to Rel82aStarkiller, Mesirav Darkcrest, Kathy from Corellian Run Radio, camensmasher, Robhellboy, Lordhammer from Guild Umbra, Timsobuff, Xavier, and Sebastian0 for taking the time to leave us reviews on iTunes.

Music for this show was provided by General Fuzz. Check out more of his work at generalfuzz.net

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Discuss this episode on the FORUMS

News from the Galactic Republic
8/17 – PC Gamer article covering space combat in The Old Republic
-Space combat is NOT going to be a sim like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
-Buzz word used at the press junket was “Tunnel Shooter”
-Combat will be accessed via unlockable “hot-spots” that you interact with similar to the glaxy map in ME.
-Combat is single-player at first, plans to implement PVP and Co-op in the future

8/13 – Jedi Knight Advanced Classes
-Advanced Classes update at SWTOR.com
-New video with in-game footage of Jedi combat
-Advanced Classes: Guardian and Sentinel
-Also introduced to the first companion for the Knight, the T7-01 Astromech
-Lightsaber forms at Wookiepedia

8/6 – New Timeline Holorecord covering the Mandalorian War
-Timeline Video at SWTOR.com
-Focuses on the Republic’s struggle and how Revan and Malak turned the tide
-Their acts ended the war, but also lead to their fall to the dark side
-Next Timeline will investigate even more dark side influence over the war, specifically Exar Khun

8/6 – Four new playable species announced
-Species update at SWTOR.com
-Sith Pureblood confirmed for Sith Warrior (Wookiepedia)
-Miraluka confirmed for Jedi Knight (Wookiepedia)
-Mirialans confirmed for Jedi Consular (Wookiepedia)
-Zabrak confirmed for Sith Inquisitor (Wookiepedia)
-“There are combinations we haven’t confirmed. James recently talked on this subject at Comic-Con International, though, and announced that there will be some restrictions. For the time being, the combinations we have announced you can count on. What other combinations will there be? That’s an update for another day…” – Sean Dahlberg

Stories From the Outer Rim
Community Discussion – Class Restrictions

Listener Questions
GoodRevan – Do you think there will be expansion packs released to keep things with TOR new and up to date, or do you think that this is a one off deal? And if there are expansion packs, do you think that they will add new planets, or weapons, etc?
Couldn’t find an official word from Bioware, but it’s very likely there will be expansions

Mads from Denmark – I’ve been wondering for a while now, how much of a role the companion characters will play in the end game play of swtor. I loved them in both Kotor and Mass Effect and I wonder how much different they are going to be in this game. Specifically if you lose a character, lets say a healer-type, because they don’t like the way you do things, does that mean that you have a disadvantage in endgame? Are more than one of your companions capable of filling a certain role?

Sergio – Do you guys plan on making a guild in SWTOR?

Tygran – One major theme in most SW movies/books/games is redemption and the fall from grace. Do you think they will allow players to switch sides? Such as a Jedi losing his way and switching to Sith. Not sure how that would work for the other classes. If they did this, I would hope it would come with a cost such as a long quest chain and loss of abilities while you learned new ones.
No faction swaps. Ever. – James Ohlen, Lead Designer

KondorHawx – Once the game comes out and we’re all enjoying the wonderful universe of Star Wars, what are your plans on the occurrence of the show? Weekly, bi-weekly?

Friday Update for March 26th, 2010

We’re here at PAX East! With a huge set of sessions and a sprawling expo floor to check out, we certainly have an exciting weekend ahead of us. Even if The Old Republic doesn’t have an official presence at the conference, expect to see a slew up updates about the things we see and hear.

In the mean time, this week Sean brings us a slightly different take on the Friday Update. No new planets or webcomics, but instead a deeper look into some of the characters we’ve seen thus far. Interested in Grand Moff Kilran’s rise to power or about the descendant of Bastila Shan? The new Biographies section of the Holonet looks like its shaping up to be the definitive source for info about some of the galaxy’s biggest names. Broken down into three sections (by faction), the list is rather slim at the moment, but we should expect to see more added in the coming weeks.

The second portion of today’s update is a pointer to a short story on the official Star Wars site by Threat of Peace writer Robert Chestney. The story follows Hylo Visz, a Mirialan pilot who helped to break through the Mandalorian Blockade. Chestney chooses to focus on a time in her past where she is contracted to work for a large Hutt crime cartel. Of particular interesting note is the mention of a Corellian corporation. If you remember in episode nine we discussed how Corellia was one of the planets we would love to see in the game based on its rich history involving some of the galaxy’s most powerful and prevalent ships. Be sure to give the story a read!