GC 2011: Gabe Amatangelo Interview
Star Wars: The Old Republic designer Gabe Amatangelo took some time during Gamescom to answer some questions about Operations and Warzones. He even dropped a few nuggets about what types of RPG elements we can expect inside Flashpoints, and possibly something to look forward to at PAX.
Hit the jump for more, as maybe three times asking the same question is the charm...
Eternity Vault is the first Operation players will encounter. What are some Operation design elements the team utilized to make players feel they are participating in Star Wars combat?
Gabe Amatangelo: There is one part where you have to solve a puzzle to open a door and you're backed up against a wall much like the Battle of Endor. You're trying to fight off the waves to make your way inside a fortress. We also have a boss fight in where everyone in the group has a one-on-one duel match. That is very Star Wars -- the one-on-one moment and everyone is the spectator of everyone else's one-on-one epic Star Wars duel.
What's really nice about Belsavis is that it has three climates. The lore allows for three climates in a very tightly packed area, so we're able to go from snow to lush forests to lava and mountains all within a short span of a player's walking journey. The first scene that you see with the escape pods landing is inspired by Hoth; a very thick mist of snow and stuff like that. We've got some creatures out there as you're approaching. We don't have walkers in there, but there is the big droid with sort of walker-like feet and turrets. So we tried to capture that moment as much as we could without the walker fight.
We saw the Imperial approach in the Eternity Vault demonstration here at Gamescom; is there a different approach to the Operation for Republic players similar to the way Flashpoints are different for each faction?
Some flashpoints are different for each faction. The Eternity Vault is not a different operation for each faction. They do have different mission debriefings and a different motivation going in, but the combat action is the same.
In the Eternity Vault Operation trailer, fans saw a puzzle mechanic that players will have to perform during a particular encounter. Can you explain the mechanic in detail and how this extends to BioWare's approach to the design of Operations?
I don't want to explain it in detail because I don't want to spoil it too much, but the idea is that the puzzle is a very RPG element. At the same time, I wanted to do it as a puzzle with co-op 8 to 16-player mode, and just take it in that direction to see how players responded to it and explore more with it.
Speaking of RPG elements, inside some of the Flashpoints you're going to find things. For example, if you have Archaeology, then you might find a secret door or a secret lever for another hallway wrapping around in a Flashpoint. If you have Slicing, then you might find a broken droid that you can slice and it can then assist you farther in the dungeon. Basically, as far as like the puzzle mechanic and these other elements go, the idea is wanting to inject as much of the familiar RPG nostalgic element into the MMO game play setting -- but doing it in steps as opposed to all at once.
Aside from the number of player characters allowed into the Operation itself, how are the 8-man and 16-man versions of each Operation different?
They'll potentially differ in the number of monsters, and they can differ in the toughness of the NPCs in there. There is also some variance of mechanics to accommodate more players. The mechanics and the different kind of combat game play that happens will also vary with difficulty mode as well. Some will require more coordination in the more difficult mode.
We said yesterday that you get more loot in the 16-man operations. To clarify, the better loot is reserved for the hard modes. Obviously with an increased challenge comes an increased reward.
Can you explain the general philosophy behind implementing a variety of difficulty options for operations? Why did you decide to do this?
It was for the accessibility. There are a lot of Star Wars fans and BioWare fans that will be coming to the game that aren't familiar with all the multiplayer or MMO co-op stuff with multiple groups. This is a good way to smooth out that curve. There is also this general MMO audience who are intimidated by the high number raid.
We just want to make it accessible. We don't want to have it where once you get to level 50 you have to wait X number of months of gearing up before you can enjoy multiple group content. We wanted to give that option to you right when you hit 50.
In the normal mode -- the kind of entry mode -- we're doing the loot containers that give everyone a chance. The idea is that it isn't requiring a hard-core guild on Vent to distribute stuff. It is casual; it is pickup and sort of a stepping-stone. The loot containers serve that purpose well. There will be some loot that might drop on some of those encounters outside of those bags that people can roll off on like a mount or something like that. We're still in testing to determine how we want to do the harder mode as far as loot distribution goes.
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Posted 8/23/2011 8:38:28 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 8/22/2011 5:21:53 PMIf there are no loot containers in hard mode, then it's pretty much a guarantee I'll never play hard mode.
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Posted 8/22/2011 6:11:25 PMThose tend to have the ability to organise their own loot distribution.
Who knows, they may still have loot bags, but special/traditional boss drops as well. Its an intelligent plan to have loot bags for your PUG type setting, really great idea. Not so much for Hardmode progression raiding, though it may have its place.
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Posted 8/23/2011 5:38:59 PMSomeone perceived as more important can get an entire gear set in 2-3 weeks, a new guy could get his entire set handed down in a week of defaulted loot or wait 10 weeks of getting next to nothing while his perceived value stays at the bottom of the barrel. The only thing I like of loot systems is when it comes to determining perhaps a single rare/guild achievement (legendary), however for 95%+ of the loot, I really think taking politics out of it will make for a better game while still making it so that your more frequent raiders get more gear.
Loot is already usually segregated by class/spec I don't really feel the need for someone to be determining distribution as long as there's a clean system in place that makes it so people that raid more frequently get more gear, by putting an appropriate commendation and drop rates, this is easier to accomplish with loot containers than with a single pooled boss drop.
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Posted 8/22/2011 5:09:49 PMWhat makes me a bit worried is the tempo in which new content is being released... I know developing new stuff is not easy and needs a lot of implementation but after TOR is shipped, they will have it probably easier to created new missions, planets, flashpoints, operations and warzones to keep us updated and provide low or none downtime in regards of endgame content (WoW comes to mind with month of simple raid tiers and no new release).
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Posted 8/22/2011 6:51:34 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 8/22/2011 5:20:54 PMThere is no confirmation, that only 1 operation at launch, but they only PROMISE that there is 1 operation right from the start.
So you could easy say that there is a minimum of 1 operation...my personal conclusion about that is: They already work on a second Operation, but dont know if it is ready at launch day.
Im confident that when people are done with EV, there is more content available...
Again: Just my 2 cents
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Posted 8/22/2011 4:49:50 PMRaiding could be slightly competitive again. But the issue that remains on the plate is the final encounter of the Operation, and I really hope that isn't available in normal/easy mode or in the smaller group size. There needs to be a fair content incentive for a raid to push the hard modes at the largest Operation/raid size.
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Posted 8/23/2011 2:09:34 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 8/22/2011 7:45:55 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 8/22/2011 5:25:53 PMThe way they keep talking about raids in tor say they want it to be accessible and a smooth learning curve. To me that says the easy mode will be piss easy for anyone with a clue. "you don't need voice comms" and the examples they've given says to me that it'll be a push over if you know how to not stand in fire.
What remains to be seen is how the more challenging modes will entertain those of us who want endgame to be something we can work at!
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Posted 8/22/2011 6:40:34 AMAs for the interview, I'm excited to see how they will implement some of the raid stuff he's talking about (like the 1v1 fights) without it ending up being just bad. It could very easily either end up as a wash or so hard that you always have those 2 guys that fail over and over and over.
Also, since when was puzzling an RPG thing ? When I think puzzles in games (outside puzzle-games ofc) I think adventure games. Can't really think of any RPGs I've ever played that had major puzzle-elements.
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Posted 8/22/2011 2:43:47 PMMy youtube channel - SW:TOR content
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Posted 8/22/2011 10:25:07 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 8/23/2011 2:08:19 AM