SDCC 2011: Interview With Dallas Dickinson

SDCC 2011: Interview With Dallas Dickinson



Star Wars: The Old Republic's Dallas Dickinson, Director of Production, took time out of his San Diego Comic-Con schedule to speak with Darth Hater earlier today. Dickinson clarified and expanded some statements made during the panel and Q&A sessions so far, including aspects of personal transportation and companion customization.

What prompted the class design change from choosing a permanent Advanced Class to having the ability to switch?

Dallas Dickinson: I think we just decided that it is just such a significant choice that you make. We try to give you as much information as possible so you make a good one, but we know that there are some people who choose to play as a Juggernaut, play for three levels, and are like "aww man!" We want to make it so that the first time you choose to respec your Advanced Class, it is relatively painless; it is going to cost some credits, but it is not going to cost a ton. Though after that, we want to make it very difficult. We don't want people to hot swap their Advanced Class willy-nilly; we want to make sure it is something you don't do all the time.

How does your Light and Dark side points affect your combat and can you give some examples of this?

I can't give you examples. However, something we talked about all along is that as you progress very far down the light side path or very far down the Dark side path, you're actually going to unlock some abilities that are only available to that side of the Force.
You touched on re-roll incentives yesterday. Can you speak a bit about this system, and if it is available to those who have a tendency to stick with one main class?

Dallas Dickinson: I can't actually talk about unlocking new species. That was a little teaser dropped by Mr. Ohlen that we aren't going to talk about any time soon.

Can you explain what you meant when you stated "we have an entire world that is devoted to the elder game for players who are not grouped up?" What can the solo endgame player expect?

We have an endgame planet that is very much something you go to after you've completed your class quest. We wanted to make sure we're supporting both the endgame players who are very much into Operations, Flashpoints, and PvP, but also those people who like to play in a more solo way. So there is content on that planet that is specifically for the people who like to play solo. You can play it as a group, but you can have something that is fun to do as a solo player.



Can you share any further specifics?

Ilum is the the name of the planet.

Can you describe the scope of Operations (raids) that will be available at release?

Thus far we are only promising one Operation. It will be playable at multiple party sizes. It is called the Eternity Vault, and you probably saw a video of it. We haven't allowed hands-on on it yet, but we probably will sometime soon.

We heard a tidbit about open world PvP and designed areas for these activities. Can you elaborate this?

We aren't elaborating on it beyond saying that we have PvE and PvP servers, and therefore on the PvP (servers) there will be open world PvP. There may be some more we'll say on that pretty soon.



You received a very huge response from the crowd when you showed the screen with the four different customized Vettes yesterday at the panel. Can you talk about that a bit more in depth? Can we customize more than just the color, maybe hair length, something like that?

It was a raging debate within the company, and within the design group for quite a while. How much of that we want to allow, and how much of that is appropriate. I think we heard loud and clear what the community wants -- and I think they're right -- is to have the ability to customize the look of your companion so my Vette looks different from your Vette. I can't give you the details right now about the exact ways in which each one can be customized. Suffice to say that you're going to have a lot of choices. You're going to be able to make your companion as unique as you can make yourself. You'll be able to customize that part of your story as well.
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Comments

  • Perkunas's avatar
    Spice Runner
    • Posts: 215
    #25 Perkunas Posted 7/23/2011 3:41:03 PM
    I hope you guys enjoy your content. I'm really glad that there are still folks who haven't been bitten by the overly-entitled bug.
  • darthuser2633's avatar
    Spice Runner
    • Posts: 129
    #32 darthuser2633 Posted 7/23/2011 6:34:24 PM
    We're not ALL crazy!

    :D.

    Seriously, I play solo 85% of the time, though grouping is definitely a mission in itself, thus earning better rewards.
  • Jaramukhti's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 795
    #44 Jaramukhti Posted 7/25/2011 6:10:19 PM
    ^ ^ ^
    This.

    I'm just happy that there will be solo endgame content. I don't even care that the rewards won't be raid level. I just want something I can do by myself at endgame if I just don't have the time look for groups, or if I just want to go it solo.
  • JMarFTL's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 5
    #17 JMarFTL Posted 7/23/2011 2:41:04 PM
    Great stuff as always guys. When mainstream news sites are still asking questions like "what's an advanced class?" I can always count on DH to ask in-depth stuff.
  • Slythe75's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 24
    #16 Slythe75 Posted 7/23/2011 2:00:22 PM
    So sad they caved in on the choice matters regarding the AC respec :(
  • Heliwyr's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 46
    #19 Heliwyr Posted 7/23/2011 2:58:53 PM
    I think they did rather well coming up with a happy medium. You aren't going to have people changing their AC all over the place unless they have a lot of time and credits on their hands nor will they be changing every week. And really, I think that adds a lot of life to the endgame if you're playing your same character for years and years. It is now possible, over the course of your MMO career, to spend time with either AC choice. Of course, some may never change, but I bet most people will, at some point, switch to the other AC to try it, and then switch back later on.

    And maybe I'm just happy because now I don't have to worry about possibly hating the playstyle of the AC I chose. (Most likely because I thought it would be fun, but couldn't make it work well for me.)
  • Perkunas's avatar
    Spice Runner
    • Posts: 215
    #23 Perkunas Posted 7/23/2011 3:14:17 PM
    They need to make it so you can not change once you cap. I don't want some idiot rolling on healer gear because he might respec as a Sage for his raid next week...
  • flem1's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 865
    #36 flem1 Posted 7/24/2011 1:10:39 AM
    No kidding. Plus allowing one change if you regret it is just a short distance away from letting you change back if you regret changing in the first place.

    Ugh. Just... no. This is the sort of thing that is intended to make people happy but just encourages more bad player behavior. Maybe it's not too late to rip it out in testing though...
  • Jaramukhti's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 795
    #45 Jaramukhti Posted 7/25/2011 6:13:51 PM
    I'm not disagreeing with you, but I would be surprised if this change wasn't BECAUSE of testing feedback.

    If AC respec is what the testers have been clamoring for, and it is now a reality, I wouldn't count on them finding it gamebreaking enough to ask for its removal.
  • Jaelar's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 33
    #26 Jaelar Posted 7/23/2011 3:55:14 PM
    I was hoping for something along the lines of the Aldor/Scryer change in BC. You could do it if you really wanted to, and people did, but you sure didn't just do it willy-nilly.
  • Perkunas's avatar
    Spice Runner
    • Posts: 215
    #27 Perkunas Posted 7/23/2011 4:00:03 PM
    That's actually a good idea. Make them pay through the nose if they want to switch. Now I just need to figure out where the best place to farm "Force Armaments" is so I can make a ton of gold...er...credits!
  • AnthonyEBonds's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 39
    #15 AnthonyEBonds Posted 7/23/2011 1:14:55 PM
    The devs are very dynamic in the design of this game. It has radically changed....or maybe i just see their vision more clearly. Either way, they pay attention to what we want, and do their best to deliver. This may be one for the history books lol.
  • chronium's avatar
    Dark Councilor
    • Posts: 1,717
    #13 chronium Posted 7/23/2011 12:18:35 PM
    Sorry Hoth but I'm ditching you for Ilum.
  • Socrates's avatar
    Dark Lord
    • Posts: 419
    #38 Socrates Posted 7/24/2011 1:22:58 AM
    Me too, Ilum looks amazing!
  • quickiller45's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 5
    #7 quickiller45 Posted 7/23/2011 7:53:07 AM
    Dont mean to be the negative one here but the idea of only 1 operation really worries me. Though Im sure they will add more after launch. Other than that great info.
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