Author Topic: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)  (Read 2640 times)

Offline Mangala

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PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« on: September 04, 2010, 09:59:00 AM »
http://darthhater.com/2010/09/04/pax-2010-blaine-christine-interview
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To kick off our time at PAX and tide us over until tomorrow's presentation, BioWare's Blaine Christine spoke with us for a bit about the differences and similarities of Advanced Classes, plus the various multi-player aspects of questing, companions, and exploration. Of course, we couldn't resist asking about a few other controversial things such as their view of the community uproar over the naming of the Jedi Wizard, or what drove the decision to implement class trainers.


We just came back from Gamescom where you all were talking mostly about Game Systems. What is one of the things you would like to talk about here at PAX 2010?

Blaine Christine: The big stuff is really coming tomorrow (Saturday) at our stage show with myself and Dallas Dickenson walking people through the game, so that is where the real meat is going to be as far as new content.

The coolest thing is that we have consumers getting hands on for the first time at Gamescom in Europe, and now here. PAX is such a great show because it is awesome to be among fans instead of only talking or showing the game to just sales people or press. It is cool to interact with people who love the game and are ultimately going to be the real players of the game and see how they react to it for the first time in the US.

Are there are any common class design choices you made throughout all the Advanced Classes regarding combat roles?

Blaine Christine: It is the same as how we started out with the base eight classes. We don't go at it from the standpoint of what we need to have in a MMO. It is more about what is interesting from a Star Wars standpoint, what are the iconic characters and classes, and how does that fit in the overall picture of our game.

In this case, we give the example of the Jedi Knight where the Jedi Guardian is much more like Obi Wan from the Clone Wars. He is wearing heavy armor, he is leading the charge, he is at the front of the battle, and he is a leader of men. In true MMO terms, he is basically a melee tank. But then if you take the Jedi Sentinel class, then you are more of a melee DPS. You are not going to wear the heavy armor, you get to dual wield sabers and you do lots and lots of damage with both of those sabers.

What is the difference between the kind of tanking abilities the Bounty Hunter would do in contrast to the Jedi Knight or other tank classes?

Blaine Christine: Well, the Jedi Knight is easy because you are talking about a ranged tank versus him... what is what he winds up being. There are parallels because if you look at the demo we did for Gamescom and E3, we had the Trooper wearing heavy armor soaking up, and acting as the tank even though he is ranged. So there are parallels on either side, but again, it starts with the iconic idea of what we want to play, what we see in the movies, and how does that play out in the game.

We heard a lot more about the Imperial Agent these last couple of weeks than we have in months. Can you explain the gameplay differences between the two Advanced Classes of the Imperial Agent?

Blaine Christine: One of them is more based around stealth, and the other one is a little bit more about ranged DPS. So stealth... you are going to be using elements of stealth, but we really haven't talked in detail about how that works yet. Basically, you are going to be using stealth to move up closer on enemies. You have one ability that we talked about that is Shiv, which is a close range melee attack, so you are focused on that sort of element. The other path is really focused on really heavy-hitting ranged DPS shots with your sniper rifle.

There is really a controversy on the forums right now about the Jedi Wizard, and the meanings behind that name and why it was chosen.

Blaine Christine: I'm not intimately involved with that particular naming process, but all I can say at this point is we watched the forums closely... the Darth Hater forums, our forums, and we paid attention to what the community was saying. We certainly noticed the frenzy around that particular name, and there may be some announcements forthcoming in the future around that particular name.

You also spoke a bit more about companions and how they will work in group combat. How are they going to work with all the roles of every Advanced Classes? Are there going to be different specs for them?

Blaine Christine: Not necessarily. You have to consider companions separately from your class, so they aren't heavily impacted by the Advanced Class you take. You have multiple companion characters, and they each are sort of a specialist in a particular area.

We showed the Dashade for the Sith Inquisitor, and he is a big tough guy. With his different AI kits, you can actually outfit him to fulfill various roles, and augment your abilities. "Kits" is just terminology we are using, but what it means is that I want to make sure my Dashade is working like a true melee tank, so I'm going to make sure his outfit or kit is going to allow him to soak up more damage, and maybe he isn't going to deal out as much damage. But I may have a different type of kit that will allow me to outfit him with abilities to have him do more melee DPS. He can sort of specialize in different areas.

As far as the thought process of implementing trainers in a story-based game, will you also gain abilities through story elements?

Blaine Christine: There are definitely story ties to your abilities. And that should quell some people's fears around that. As you move through as a Jedi Padawan, there are key moments as you level up that will be tied to abilities you have and certain other elements, and to sort of hint around certain things, possibly even weapons that you gain.

You have to realize that through our course of design, we consider many different options and how those things will work. But there are certain things that make sense from a game design perspective, and yes, we realize it doesn't perfectly fit in with the story of how a Jedi would evolve if you were doing a movie. But we're not doing a movie, we're doing a MMO, and there are certain game conventions that just work. We certainly explored other avenues besides trainers, and we came to the decision that is what works. It does tie into the story in a very unique way, and I think people will be happy about that, but ultimately that is what works best for the game.

You all spoke about various topics that caused issues in MMO class design; can you talk to specifics about some of these issues you wanted to avoid?

Blaine Christine: The way I look at it is that we want to make it as easy as possible to play the game how they want to play it. If we take the example of companions, they can serve functions when I'm a solo player. For example, if I'm playing an Inquisitor specializing in my ranged abilities then I may want that sort of tank role fulfilled because maybe I like to play by myself. That is my style of play, and therefore, I'm going to use the Dashade as a tank and he goes out there to work for me in that regard.

Now on the flip side, if I'm grouped, then it is a way to augment my abilities as well. For example, if you and I are playing together... you're playing the Sith Inquisitor and I'm playing the Sith Warrior, and we're like "ah, we don't have a healer at this time." If both of our companions have healing abilities, then we can add those companions to go along with us and we have our healing back up without having to go out and find other group mates. That is kind of solving the whole traditional "oh crap, we can't run this instance until we get a healer." Well, guess what? We have companion characters that are one option for you. Maybe it isn't as powerful as a true healing class along with you, but it should allow you to get through the encounter or quest that you want to complete.

And everyone can have a companion out in the party as well. I gave the example of two of us in a group, and the same is true for a group of four. Imagine you have four Sith Warriors grouped up, you can do that. But if you wanted a ranged DPS guy, then hey, I have a companion that can do that.

How do you tie in exploration with progression and socialization? Like with bonuses and such. How do you get people to go out and explore?

Blaine Christine: I think a lot of it for us comes down to intelligent quest layout and design, but it is also intelligent world design, so there are many elements that can play into that. It is sort of bread-crumbing players through the world. It is like... if I complete a quest in one area, then I have to make sure there are other questgivers in that area. So then I can say, "I wrapped up this quest line. Where do I go next? I go here." We can even do that within your class quests; you'll be led to new areas where you say, "okay, now I have this new area to explore," and it leads the player along. Similarly, world quests and bonus quests will lead you to new areas to explore beyond just the one path of the class quest. We want people to do that as well.

In addition, there is placement of mobs, etc. and how you spawn the worlds. You want to keep players looking at the horizon and sort of saying "out there, it looks like I see a larger encounter, or a different type of enemy than I saw before." So you keep moving forward throughout the world to get to that next objective through multiple ways.

Are world quests something you want to do as a group?

Blaine Christine: Absolutely. World quests are the ones, in fact, that we encourage people to group. And there will be some that are likely best fulfilled by a group. We'll definitely encourage you to group via world quests, but you aren't required to do them.

How are you developing the game to make sure that social element is intact where you are bringing people together?

Blaine Christine: One way is leading people through quests even if you are different classes. For example, I'm on Coruscant and all four Republic classes are there for the first time, the quests will take them to specific areas where you start to run into people. You run into people and think, "oh, I haven't seen that class before. That is kind of cool. I am playing a Jedi Knight and now I see a Smuggler, so I should group up with him and see what that is all about." It is partially level design, and partially quest design.

There are other elements like making it easy to form guilds, chat in different channels, etc. Story is very important to us, so we always want people to experience the story in groups as well. Player ships will serve as a gathering area and a place to interact with friends.

Speaking of groups, you mostly focused on discussing small group play, but we haven't heard much about large group play at endgame.

Blaine Christine: The only thing we revealed so far is PvP Warzones, which will be higher level content where players can participate in large scale battles... Imperial versus Republic. We haven't revealed details around raids, but certainly we recognize their importance as an element of play that encourages people to group for social game play.

Thank you! We look forward to seeing you in the presentation.

Blaine Christine: Yeah -- it should be a good one.
"May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk."


Offline Caradir

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2010, 10:12:57 AM »
sounds good csnt wait to see more vids.
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." Josiah Stamp (Governor Bank of England 1928-41)

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Offline Caradir

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2010, 11:11:32 AM »
HK :D

sweet story progression by the looks of things, really is nerd porn :D
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." Josiah Stamp (Governor Bank of England 1928-41)

Offline Mangala

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2010, 07:47:25 PM »
HK :D

sweet story progression by the looks of things, really is nerd porn :D

yeah. Possible Revan reborn? ;)

Anyways:

http://www.askajedi.com/2010/09/05/pax-presentation-video-screens/

Has actual presentation footage in HD.
"May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk."


Offline Caradir

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2010, 08:00:35 PM »
HK :D

sweet story progression by the looks of things, really is nerd porn :D

yeah. Possible Revan reborn? ;)

Anyways:

http://www.askajedi.com/2010/09/05/pax-presentation-video-screens/

Has actual presentation footage in HD.

yeah, but reborn? why and as what? possibly a  Vong?
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." Josiah Stamp (Governor Bank of England 1928-41)

Offline Mangala

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2010, 08:32:52 PM »
Quest was called Rebirth that was given out to the sith in the presentation etc and given that sith no about being reborn etc (look at the Emperor in Post Endor works - reborn alot into clones and so on?)
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Offline Caradir

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2010, 10:23:42 PM »
Quest was called Rebirth that was given out to the sith in the presentation etc and given that sith no about being reborn etc (look at the Emperor in Post Endor works - reborn alot into clones and so on?)

thats not proper rebirth as force sensitive clones ALWAYS go mad, the sith were working on TRUE eternal life by manipulating midi-clorians but Darth Sidious's paranoia led to him killing his master Darth Plagueis before the secret was passed to him.
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." Josiah Stamp (Governor Bank of England 1928-41)

Offline Mangala

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Re: PAX Interview (Videos to be added after SWTOR presentation)
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2010, 08:46:02 AM »
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I spent a lot of time at PAX with SWTOR. Personally, I loved it.

If you loved KOTOR, you will love the game. The writing is fucking great. I would compare the quality of the quests to the first 20 levels of Tortage in AoC, and the initial Death Knight quests in WoW. If you liked the epic storylines in those games, the way they kind of made you feel like you were part of something big, that's the feeling I got playing SWTOR.

People always tout WoW for it's UI. So many have tried and failed to reproduce the precise timing that Blizz has fine tuned in WoW. Well SWTOR's UI felt just as good. No lag after button press like LOTRO. When you hit an action, the action was carried out. SWTORs UI is intuitive. You'll pick it up in minutes. Simple and functional.

My favorite class was the Sith Inquisitor. This surprised me as I really did not have any interest in the class. Great crowd control class with ability to put out melee damage. Very powerful.

I thought the animations were excellent for the most part. There is a stiffness to the upper body when running that I hope is fixed by launch (I think it will be). But otherwise the avatar animations are great. The game is beautiful. Supposedly the client running at PAX is a build or two behind what is running in the studio and visually inferior. If that is true I can't wait to see the final product.

I left PAX a believer in this game. I spoke with Bioware SWTOR Lead Writer Daniel Erickson at length. This guy did not come across as a salesman at all. He loves this game and after talking to him I know he 'gets it'. The only questions I left PAX with were in regards to PvP. After what I played, I'm sold on the game. I'm just really hoping for a strong PvP game design element as well.

I do not think SWTOR is going to be for everyone. As a story driven game, I just don't see people who do not enjoy lengthy spoken dialog enjoying the core of the game. (on that note, the voice acting is the best I've ever heard, period). WoW killer? I would say no. (I personally think it will be better than WoW, but not as appealing to the casual gamer) But large, healthy player base? I'm sure of it.
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I keep reading impressions from people who have seen combat footage and thought it looked dull or boring. Watching videos from E3 of gameplay I was worried about the same thing. Hands on gave me a totally different impression. Combat is very fast paced. I was always on the move, firing my pistol, running behind cover, popping out to launch a missle for AoE damage, charging into release a DoT flame thrower to finish them off.

In a lot of the videos I've seen of gameplay, the toons are standing there not moving much. I would have got my ass kicked if I did that playing the game.
"May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk."