Darth Hater

Let's say lightsaber styles will appear in TOR, perhaps opened up by the Advanced Classes (I know we don't know this, but for the sake of the thread we'll pretend).  What lightsaber style or styles would you like to see for the Consular?

Reference: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_combat

Although Ataru seems to be a safe bet given the saberstaff, personally, I'd like to use Makashi, which Count Dooku used in the films.  It's very elegant, and seems to lend itself to using Force powers easily, as it generally engaged using only one hand, like the Consular's single-saber animation seems to be.

Form II came about as a means of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. It was described as being very elegant, powerful, and requiring extreme precision, allowing the user to attack and defend with minimal effort, while his opponents tired themselves out. Practitioners often wielded the blade one-handed for greater range of movement and fluidity. The form relied on parries, thrusts, and small, precise cutsas opposed to the blocking and slashing of the other forms. Form II countered sun djem, the goal of early Form I masters, by being well trained in prevention of disarming and weapon destruction.

Form II emphasized fluid motion and anticipation of a weapon being swung at its target, and so required very fluid movements of both the blade and the body.

Feints would also be commonly used to confuse or trap opponents, a tactic that Count Dooku commonly used in combat during the Clone Wars. Precise footwork and movements were required for maintaining proper distance from the opponent during defense and/or when moving in for an attack. The blade manipulation required for this form was very refined and required intense focus, such as Dooku's hurling objects at Anakin while using a one-handed bind to keep Obi-Wan at bay. Timing, accuracy, and skill, rather than strength, were relied on to defeat one's opponent, and with a skilled practitioner, the results were extremely potent.

The footwork of Makashi practitioners followed a single line, front and back, shifting the feet to keep in perfect balance as the practitioner attacked and retreated. Makashi was a style based on balance, on back-and-forth charges, thrusts, and sudden retreats. Elegance, gallantry, enchantment, finesse, artfulness, and economy were the core of Makashi. Dooku displayed this to the extreme during the duel aboard the Invisible Hand, using his footwork to evade Anakin and Obi-Wan so that he could fight them one-on-one instead of at the same time. Makashi duelists also trained themselves to avoid enslavement to form, as such enslavement opened the practitioner to be defeated by predictability and the unforeseen.

I feel like this fits well with a single-blade Consular spec.  The saberstaff requires a lot of fluid acrobatics to be effective, but even so it's still not a heavy-hitting weapon (as far as individual strikes go).  The weapon doesn't lend itself well to physically strong fighters, so it makes sense to stick it with the Consular.  In keeping with that "light melee" theme, I think the single-bladed Consular could make good use of Makashi, as it offers a free hand for easy Force-power usage and doesn't rely on heavy strikes either.

I agree, I have hoped they will include forms in the game, and particularly this form.  I also agree that it seems more suitable for the Consular, but I could see them including it as an option for the Knight/Guardian.  Implementing forms in one manner or another seems a likely way to shake up lightsaber combat; the real question is how they will be animated.  In KOTOR II, every form still looked the same they just had different stats.  Here's hoping for visual distinction.

I also hope that if you can switch forms you can turn off one blade of a double-bladed lightsaber and fight with it that way like Darth Maul did, rather than pulling out a different weapon.

Personally, I'm a fan of Form II as well.  Always thought it was very neat.  In terms of what fits the class the best, I would have to say either Form VI or Form III.  Form VI would be a must for the Consular since it fits the role of "diplomat" the best.  The only two that I could see that may not fit the Consular would be Forms V and VII, otherwise, I think most would fit depending on advanced class roles.

Another reason Makashi might be good is that it's a very classical style that might be trained to a more scholarly type of Jedi. The Consular Holonet says:

In a more peaceful age, Jedi Consulars may have humbly dedicated their lives to service as keepers of Jedi lore or as ambassadors in service to the Republic-tasks for which Consulars are uniquely qualified.

Also, what would be really slick is if after you chose the single-blade Consular AC, you got access to a curved hilt lightsaber.

I like Form III, the Way of the Mynoc (aka Soresu.)  I don't much care for the idea of wearing armor as a Jedi, so focusing on defense makes the most sense to me, especially since a Consular should be able to use Force based abilities to help take opponents out of the fight.

I'm guessing if stances are in at all they will be alittle less lore based this time around. I could see jedi knight having a "basic" "defense" and "beserk" stance with "lore appropriate" names. For the consular I'd imagine a healing and ranged dps stance.

I personally don't think lightsaber forms will take the shape of "stances" in the MMO sense, or a passive buff like in KOTOR 2 (which Bioware didn't design).  I think it's more likely, if they exist at all, they'll mainly be descriptors of builds or AC's, ie: the single-saber AC for the Knight gets Soresu (and possibly one other style) and the dual saber AC gets some thematic equivalent.

Quote from Meldarion
I'm guessing if stances are in at all they will be alittle less lore based this time around. I could see jedi knight having a "basic" "defense" and "beserk" stance with "lore appropriate" names. For the consular I'd imagine a healing and ranged dps stance.

While possible, I think this is unlikely due to Bioware's mantra for this game:  "Story drives choice, choice drives action."  They seem to make game-design decisions based on story, not the other way around.

Quote from HarryTruman
I personally don't think lightsaber forms will take the shape of "stances" in the MMO sense, or a passive buff like in KOTOR 2 (which Bioware didn't design).  I think it's more likely, if they exist at all, they'll mainly be descriptors of builds or AC's, ie: the single-saber AC for the Knight gets Soresu (and possibly one other style) and the dual saber AC gets some thematic equivalent.

This does seem likely.  But I hope there are a few choices for each class regardless of build.  (eg. turn off one blade of the staff-saber and switch to a single-blade form suitable to the consular.)

If I see a wrist saber i'm going to be ticked off.

I think BioWare will name some abilities after the forms (like Wizards of the Coast did in Jedi Academy sourcebook for the pen & paper Star Wars game). So it is possible to have almost every form with one character, because they are just talents that increase some little things of allow you a certain attack. What I try to say is that I don't think we get a whole package at once of a form, but always some features that tell us we have studied the form somewhat (but not mastered it yet). And it would be true to the lore, were many Jedi use tricks from various forms in a combat than to stick only to one.

Actually, gameplay reports from Gamescom have confirmed at least one thing, namely that the Sith Warrior, before getting an Advanced Class, gets at least one form, Soresu, that seems to function like a "stance" as seen in many MMO's.  It seems to offer passive bonuses, and will likely open up additional abilities, as stances do.

James Ohlen also said at Gamescom that the forms are kind of like "powers" (which is what stances are) and not all Advanced Classes will have access to this or that.

I guess it is and will stay a dream that you can learn different forms from different master and use them regardless of your class. Whenever you would have learned one class you could "merge" it with another if you wanted to build your own individual style.

I do hope we will see different animations though depending on what "buff" we have running.

I don't think they'll be "buffs," not like it was in KOTOR 2.  A good example, I think, of what it'll do is similar to the Warrior from WoW.  The Warrior has three stances, and while they do offer passive bonuses, their main advantage is they allow for new abilities.   I think this is where we'll really see the lightsaber forms shine.

Since there's no auto-attack in TOR, there's really no concern for changing up the animations.  If the forms open up new moves, then those will be the new animations.

It's like in DA with for example blood mage, you needed to activate the buff to be able to use blood mage abilities.

So since it was mentioned for the SW that the style is a buff we can pretty much assume the same for the rest? Activate Form X Buff and you get specials?!

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