Darth Hater

• E3: Interview With James Ohlen
• Advanced Class Design
• Progression, UI & Player Ships

E3: Interview With James Ohlen

We were honored to gain more insight regarding class design, group sizes, character progression, and other topics from James Ohlen, Creative Director and Lead Designer of Star Wars: The Old Republic. As the game is still under development, we must warn you that some specifics mentioned about particular systems are subject to change after undergoing significant testing. An example of this is the combat systems for the Trooper changing to become something more fitting to the class in almost three months between our hands-on game play sessions, and the mysterious disappearance of double bladed lightsabers in the Sith Warrior HoloNet outfitting screenshots.

For the reason behind the latter and more, read on.


Design is a big focus, and today we learned a lot about combat and how it works with the player classes in group combat. We saw an example of the four Republic classes working together: the Jedi Knight, the Jedi Consular, the Smuggler, and the Trooper. Would you like to go a little more in-depth about how these classes can interact in a group setting?

Ohlen: We gave every single one of the classes different roles; much like the classic roles that you see in the MMO genre. That wasn't how we initially concepted the classes. The initial concept for the classes was that we wanted to get all the iconic characters from the movies into our game. We have the Bounty Hunter who is Boba Fett, we have the Smuggler Han Solo, Darth Vader's the Sith Warrior, etc. But once we had those archetypes, we wanted to make sure they also fit within the MMO norms. We wanted to have the DPS -- the damage dealer. We wanted to have the tank -- the guy who absorbs all the damage. We wanted to have the ranged DPS. So we looked at the classes.

For example, on the Republic side, the Jedi Knight is more of a DPS class. Though he can also -- depending on which Advanced Class he chooses -- go into more of a tank role. The Trooper is more of a tank role, but he is also a ranged DPS. The Smuggler is a ranged DPS and the Consular is more of a control character.

But you'll notice that I was saying that each of those classes could fill two different roles and that is because of our Advanced Class system. The Advanced Class system actually allows you -- once you reach level 10 -- to choose between two different roles.

So as the Jedi Knight, you can decide to go down more of a heavily-armored path where you have a single lightsaber, you have heavy armor, and you're more of a tank character who goes in there and absorbs damage. Or you can go down a path where you're much more of a DPS guy; where you're wielding double lightsabers and it is much more about dealing out damage fast. And each of the classes has that choice. It kind of allows us to give more class choice later on in the game.

We have a basic idea from what you just said about the Republic classes. We were only able to play two of the Sith classes today but we are Darth Hater, and we have a lot of Sith following us. In regards to the Sith classes, how does the Advanced Class choice shake up each one of those classes?

Ohlen: So on the Sith side we have the four classes: The Sith Inquisitor, the Sith Warrior, the Bounty Hunter, and the Imperial Agent. And the Imperial Agent is a ranged DPS character. He's actually quite unique because he uses cover; he is kind of our sniper character. He plays a lot different from any other class from any other MMO that I've seen. The Bounty Hunter is more heavily armored, and he can be a tank role though he can also do ranged DPS. The Sith Warrior is very much a tank character and the Sith Inquisitor is a control, or ranged DPS as well.

Now, the way they can change: the Sith Warrior can diverge, and he can go to the classic Darth Vader route which is wear really heavy armor, single lightsaber. If you're a Darth Vader fan, then that is who you want to be. And you're going to be the tank character: you're going to be able to take a lot of damage. Darth Vader deflects Han Solo's blaster bolts in the Empire Strikes Back. He is able to take a lot of damage. Or if you want to be more of a DPS guy, you can go more the dual lightsaber route and be much more of an aggressive character. And that's more like an Anakin Skywalker from Episode 2.

With the Inquisitor, you really get to choose between the Darth Maul route and the Emperor Palpatine route. So you know the Darth Maul route is you're very agile-wielding the saber staff and the Palpatine route is you're all about lightning and control powers, and you're more of a sorcerer than you are a lightsaber-wielder. You operate at range. If you're a fan of mages and sorcerers and all of that, then that is probably what you want to be.

So that is an interesting combination you have. We know about the Sith Marauder, the DPS Sith Warrior, then you've got the Maul route on the Inquisitor which is another light armored DPS. What's the difference between these two that makes them so distinct beyond the fact that they have unique stories?

Ohlen: There are a lot of visual differences obviously in the types of armor they wear. The Inquisitor is always in the light armor; the Warrior is always going to be in the heavier armor.

The types of lightsabers they use: the staff saber is restricted to the Inquisitor, while the dual lightsabers are for the Warrior. Also because of the core powers, the Inquisitor is always going to be more of a sorcerer type. He has things like the Dark Gift healing ability, the lightning powers. These are things that the Sith Warrior doesn't have. The Sith Warrior is very much our Darth Vader class. He has the telekinetic kill -- the choke -- that the Inquisitor doesn't. So they're always going to feel different. Sith Warrior is going to be about armor, much more lightsaber abilities, and more telekinetic powers like the Force Choke while the Sith Inquisitor has lighter armor, lightning powers, and feels more like a sorcerer.

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