Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

Details on SWTOR Warzones and Crafting Revealed

Details on SWTOR Warzones and Crafting Revealed



Yesterday, Electronic Arts presented its annual Winter Showcase in London, and Darth Hater was there to watch for news on Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare revealed the Imperial Agent at last year's showcase, so our expectation bar raised a few notches. With information on both PvP Warzones and the eagerly anticipated crafting system, this European event did not disappoint.
PvP Warzones


Earlier this year at E3, we learned SWTOR will incorporate Warzones as just one of the forms of player versus player combat, and a brief mention the planet Alderaan would feature a Warzone without any significant details. Yesterday, we learned that Alderaan's Warzone will be an 8 vs. 8, objective-based PvP with a goal of controlling planetary defenses, and provides rewards in the form of tokens and XP. Although we asked, we don't yet know if there will be any group size scaling for Warzones.



Player respawns appear to be instant in its current form, as players spawn in a drop ship high above the battlefield. These drop ships are safe areas that house vehicles that then take players to the planet's surface to continue the fight. There are also turrets that continually bombard your ship that you can re-aim once they are under your control.

"There is this mechanic of two drop ships. Your objective as a team is to go down and control anti-aircraft artillery pieces that you literally see turn and fire on the other ships," explained BioWare's Blaine Christine. Once a team controls these defenses, they direct a massive cannon at the other faction's capital ship, and the first team to destroy the other team's ship is the victor. "You are destroying the ship which is inherently kind of a timer, because once that destruction occurs, the match is over," continued Christine. "The winner is the winner, and the loser is the loser based on whose ship is still alive."



We also learned that each Warzone will be governed by different mechanics and objectives. The developers teased the next Warzone will take place on a derelict starship and its mechanics will be completely different from Alderaan's. "If you say what kind of scenarios could happen on a derelict starship, you can kind of formulate scenarios to see what we mean," Christine hinted. "It is going to be a different experience; you'll have different objectives, different things going on, and different mechanics. Still immersive -- but different."

BioWare's PvP designer Gabe Amatangelo said they wanted Warzones to fit in with the story element of the game. When they looked at PvP, they decided that banners, flags and points were "too game-y."

"I think that the biggest thing is we have to look at where these pieces fit into the story, because we still want them to tie to the story," Christine replied when asked about the challenge developing unique Warzones that made sense to the planet's background. "We sort of looked at it like what is the action that is occurring at that point in time... whatever level the player is at, so it is partially based on the player's level and what abilities they have. We also considered what events are occurring within context on that particular planet, and how it would make sense to fit in those mechanics and/or area that you would be fighting over."
  • Previous
  • Next
  • Page 1 of 2

Comments

Page 1 of 7
  • bea10's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #101 bea10 Posted 11/11/2010 3:40:48 PM
    What I like about roleplaying games and especially MMORPG's is that you have ONE character that you level and customize with gear and new ablilities. That's because the single-avatar RPG makes it easier for the the player to feel like he plays the role of his or hers character. Hence the word roleplaying. As such i loved games like Elder Scrolls, Diablo etc. The thing about companions is that you dont have as many choices in determining their role like with your main character. You dont get too choose their gender, race, temper like you would you main character. Thus they tend too fell like they are forced into your roleplaying game. Obviously companions will have big impact on the game experince in TOR, I just hope that they wont be alpha and omega in the game. I dont mind having them craft, gather and helping me in open world pvp battle, since this wont change the experience much, I mean whats the difference between you collecting a flower or your companion doing it when you right click something, the same goes for crafting. But in instanced pvp I hope they give us the chance to play without them, maybe by doing 8v8 (player only) and 8v8 (player with companion) battles. After all if the companions are always there it wont be PvP, it will be PWCvPWC. And besides how heroic will the game be if you cant do anything without the help of your companions.

    "Ouch, I got a splinter in my finger. Bowdaar come get it out for me"
    - A smuggler in TOR
  • Loekii's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #92 Loekii Posted 11/7/2010 3:32:49 PM
    I am still worried about how crafting and the economy will balance out.

    With passive accumulation, I can see a lot of 'mule' accounts just farming. That could seriously wreck havoc on any play economy.
  • incantator's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #99 incantator Posted 11/9/2010 10:13:58 AM
    I would assume that since the companions can all be seen when you are on your ship, all of the companions have to be on the same planet as you are. This would limit the amount of farming your companions could engage in, especially if you have to be a certain level to unlock high level planets for travel.
  • Jaramukhti's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 781
    #96 Jaramukhti Posted 11/7/2010 5:19:44 PM
    That would be assuming you can set all accounts to farm and then log. I think BioWare could do a lot to fix that by only allowing one account to keep farming when you log out of the game. Even further still, they could only allow one task to be queued.

    There are a number of ways BioWare could tweak the system to make sure farmers can't just abuse it. I'm sure it is something they have already considered.
  • Lukas's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #89 Lukas Posted 11/6/2010 3:14:27 AM
    I love the idea that your npc's keep working even with you aren't playing, since I tend to quit games during the year, and then have a hard time catching back up over winter and summer.
  • Loekii's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #90 Loekii Posted 11/7/2010 3:28:08 PM
    I would prefer to see Passive NPCs only work while you are on-line.

    If you are not actually playing the game, then you should not actually benefit.

    It is unfair to those that are actually playing the game.

    I can empathize with the dislike of having to 'catch up', but imo, that should be the players cross to bear - for deciding to not play the game for that time period.

  • JediJoeK's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 75
    #98 JediJoeK Posted 11/8/2010 4:03:51 AM
    I'd agree with you if you were talking about leveling, but not with crafting. The person playing has the same opportunity to send NPC's off to grind while he/she is offline as well as the other.
  • frost1977's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #97 frost1977 Posted 11/8/2010 12:58:03 AM
    its really not that diffrent than, in SWG when factorys & harvesters could run while off line.
  • Chino's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #88 Chino Posted 11/6/2010 2:27:49 AM
    "it is a very robust system, and there are still some details that we haven't revealed yet which I know players are going to be excited about. I will just say there are some mechanics to it that will allow players who are more involved in crafting to really get deeply involved in crafting and be appropriately rewarded for it."

    I bet this system is that leaked info, something about GPX crafting were you were able to create your own skins or models and put it into the game. That way you would be able to get a name for yourself no? imagine you created a beautiful lightsaber hilt or gun that alot of people would want! Your name would get spread across the server and alot of people would be your regular costumers, even more if you created wounderful items/skins/models.
  • Loekii's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #91 Loekii Posted 11/7/2010 3:31:05 PM
    If TOR is able to have their skins modded, like DAO was, I think it will be a large selling factor.

    Those that have seen the player modifications in Dragon Age Nexus - http://www.dragonagenexus.com/ - will understand how much it can improve the enjoyment to players, by allowing them to customize to their taste.

  • indusan's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 73
    #86 indusan Posted 11/6/2010 1:36:57 AM
    I have to say, I never got into eve but i did like the concept of passive accumulation. I think that gathering/crafting is a great game aspect to apply that mechanic.

    as for the warzones... anyone notice the lack of stealth?
  • Jaramukhti's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 781
    #87 Jaramukhti Posted 11/6/2010 1:41:46 AM
    It probably makes a more effective statement, visually, to have the two sides duking it out in the open.

    Ingame, during real-time PvP, I would expect to see a lone player trying to take one of those turret guns from time to time. Then when you go in for the fresh meat - BAM! - Stealth shank.

    Just like the Consular during the E3 demo was primarily a camera person, I'm sure most of this combat was shot to look the most cinematic. But good catch, nonetheless.:)
  • Somerled's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #85 Somerled Posted 11/5/2010 9:51:25 PM
    Crew crafting sounds amazing! I can see my self with 10 mins before work, logging on to set my crew to work then reaping the rewards when I get home. :)
  • dalak's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 26
    #84 dalak Posted 11/5/2010 9:47:42 PM
    Great article, it was nice reading about the potential crafting systems.
  • Elkesai's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 230
    #83 Elkesai Posted 11/5/2010 9:02:29 PM
    Did they say the crafting info would be on the official site today, or should it be presumed to be next weeks update, as has happened before?
  • To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Page 1 of 7

Most Commented Articles

Go to Articles

Tag Cloud

More