Darth Hater

Jedi Shadows were generally elite investigators charged with covert actions of the Jedi Order.  Sometimes their names did not even exist on record, and depending on the era, their particular duties and roles differed somewhat.

Though labeled as Shadows, the duty of these Jedi was in fact the opposite as they were defenders of the light side of The Force. Its members were selected by the Jedi Council after the approval of a master and were tasked with locating sources of evil. As such, their task was the destruction of any force that practiced the dark side of the Force which included the Sith or other malicious groups. They were often engaged in information gathering roles that allowed them to full intelligence on their foes for a decisive blow to be made against them. Due to their missions, Jedi Shadows were often noted for being loners with a black and white perception of the world around them. This paranoia meant that they saw signs of the dark side in everything they saw - including their own comrades. As such, they were often deployed cautiously and only in times after a great conflict. A Shadow had no hesitation in their duty and were willing to betray those that they considered evil but often practiced restraint as they recognized that their definition of such foes did not match those of the Council. Some among their rank believe that more aggressive actions were needed in order to destroy evil.

Members of this group among the Jedi consisted of bands of Jedi Knights who were tasked with gathering information on those that practiced the dark side of the Force. This meant that they were often engaged in covert activities such as infiltrating and disguising themselves once within the target territory. Typically, these operations lasted only for a few hours but some were noted to take weeks at a time as the Shadow got closer to the leader of a dark side cult.

The formation of this group was not known except that they dated as far back as era of the Great Hyperspace War. In the aftermath of the conflict, the Shadows were dispatched by the Jedi Order to find and destroy any artifacts left behind by the seemingly destroyed Sith Empire. This led to the destruction of Sith amulets, talismans and other relics that were tainted with the power of the Dark Side. They continued to exist even during the years of the Great Sith War when it was believed that the menace of the Sith had ended.
After the Great Sith War, the Jedi Covenant used Consulars for the same purpose as the Shadows, using visions to remain vigilant for any sign of the dark side. However, the Covenant did have its own division of covert Shadows that more closely mirrored the old Jedi Shadows in skills and purpose which consisted of the more aggressive members of that branch of the Jedi Order. Celeste Morne was one such agent.

Taria Damsin and Maw were Shadows before the Great Jedi Purge, after which the latter was corrupted by the Inquisitor Jerec.

Obviously, there won't be too many story differences between the Shadow and the (sigh) Wizard, but I do think knowing the background of this term and job in the Jedi Order can give us clues as to what the Consular's story will be like.

Also, how do you think the Shadow will play?  Judging from what's been said about the Sith Assassin, it sounds like the Shadow (being at least a basic mirror) will be utilizing some stealth and burst damage.  Thoughts?

It makes me think of the KoTOR sentinel/watchman play strategy. There was a lot more emphasis on sneaking around to do a stun/massive melee damage from an advantageous position, as opposed to face-to-face melee. Working with this assumption, I personally am much more inclined to play this class than the 'Wizard." I wonder if much of the Shadow's story will involve what seems to be walking a fine line between light and dark side as you rout out the Sith; it seems to be a class that is focused on eliminating Sith in every way possible, rather than being diplomatic.

I don't think AC choice, while permanent, will have much of an impact on the class story (I think there's a dev quote commenting on this specifically somewhere).  That said, I do think Consular's will get some pretty cool investigation-style quests.

Quote from HarryTruman
I don't think AC choice, while permanent, will have much of an impact on the class story (I think there's a dev quote commenting on this specifically somewhere).  That said, I do think Consular's will get some pretty cool investigation-style quests.

That sounds very strange. The entire emphasis of AC by Bioware is that its a permanent and very important decision that shapes your character, and I would he highly surprised if they didnt do an all out AC quest chain where u decide your AC and "train" towards it.

While the AC's are currently described as "permanent," they've also said that it could be subject to change.  If they can change something like an AC, then it probably isn't directly tied into story.  They've also said that story choices primarily impact your story, not your build or gameplay (specifically in reference to lightside/darkside powers), so having the AC's not be tied into the story makes sense in that thread.

Also, they've said at Gamescom and other events that the reason they built the AC's is because they wanted 16 classes but didn't want to spend time doing 16 fully voiced stories.  Having subclasses like this was a way to cut down on work; if each subclass had it's own story, even a modest deviation, it would work against their main reason for having AC's.

Well If they allow respeccing it makes perfect sense.

They have however said multiple times that they want to stray from the respeccing path although I dont think it will be possible not to include respeccing options.
Mostly due to the fact that patches tend to nerf some builds and buff others.

I guess we just have to wait and see.

Respeccing, I think, will be allowed within certain AC's but not between them. The AC's unlock relatively early in the game and therefore if you want to play a different AC you can simply reroll. I am currently quite tempted by the Shadow or its Sith Counterpart.

I'd prefer something like this: lvl 1-10 no AC, lvl 10 - max lvl first AC finished, after max lvl allowing to get xp for the second AC. This would allow to get your second AC faster than the first (if depending on xp) but you can only activate one at the time. So either first or second. This means you had the possibility to change your role in a group depending on what role is needed. Whoever couldn't raid because to less of a certain role (tank/healer/dps) people could activate their second AC and fill that roll. This way you wouldn't have to roll another character just to try out your second AC.

Quote from Siros
I'd prefer something like this: lvl 1-10 no AC, lvl 10 - max lvl first AC finished, after max lvl allowing to get xp for the second AC. This would allow to get your second AC faster than the first (if depending on xp) but you can only activate one at the time. So either first or second. This means you had the possibility to change your role in a group depending on what role is needed. Whoever couldn't raid because to less of a certain role (tank/healer/dps) people could activate their second AC and fill that roll. This way you wouldn't have to roll another character just to try out your second AC.

They will likely give a bonus for rolling an alt after you complete an entire class story or hit max level. I don't think they'd make the bonus to rolling the same class as they want players to experience multiple stories not just 1.

New Developer Corner has confirmed the following:

Jedi Shadow
** Double Bladed Saber
** Stealth
** Burst melee damage

What's interesting is that there's no mention of Telekinetics in comparison to the Wizard, who seems to be defined by TK and Control.

Quote from Juggernaught
Well If they allow respeccing it makes perfect sense.

They have however said multiple times that they want to stray from the respeccing path although I dont think it will be possible not to include respeccing options.
Mostly due to the fact that patches tend to nerf some builds and buff others.

I guess we just have to wait and see.

I really hope that respecing bethween AC WON'T be possible.
That would ruin the whole idea of learning something...

"I know how to go invisible" then you spend some credits and suddenly "I forgot how to turn invisble but I now know how to heal a group....."

REALLY hope that won't be possible. Trait and skill respecs within the certain class however would be alright.

Really hope that the stealth turns the user completely invisble like the Burglar and Wargs in lotro. Would be cool.

Quote from Blackberry

Really hope that the stealth turns the user completely invisble like the Burglar and Wargs in lotro. Would be cool.

Their was a quote from James Ohlen were he talks about Shadow's using the force to make them disappear, (Obi-Wan and the mind trick in Episode IV).

edit; here's the quote:

In the movies, Jedi use mind tricks to avoid confrontation. You could call that a "stealth" ability. We have something similar in mind for the Jedi Consular.

Quote from JohnnyKong
Their was a quote from a dev that talked about Shadow's using the force to make them disappear (a la, Obi-Wan and the mind trick in Episode IV) rather than making the player invisible as a means to stealth.

Yeah, but that may just be lore/fluff explaining the ability. In truth, no-one turns invisible, not even the Defels, it's just sneakiness and misdirection. But for mechanic reasons, the character will at least have to turn invisible when in pvp, so I think functionally the character will be invisible when in Stealth.

It's like with stealth fighter... they won't show up on radar even though they are still there or when u drive on the road looking left you won't see the people to your right even though they are also there.  We define "visible" with what we can see. What we cannot "see" is not visible.  I still expect for the game that you will just vanish or you cannot target someone.