Darth Hater

The first day of Darth Hater's coverage of Star Wars: The Old Republic activities at San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at 3:30p PT with our live blog of the "Join Us, It Is Your Destiny" panel, and we'll burn up the servers again at 7p PT for a live blog of the Q&A session at BioWare Base. Please note this post will contain all of our on site coverage for today.

• Join Us, It Is Your Destiny Panel Live Blog


• BioWare Base Q&A Live Blog

Make sure to refresh this post for the most up-to-date information coming out of the panel. We will transcribe the audio and update with direct quotes as soon as possible after the conclusion of each event. Live blog follows the jump.

Note: Please keep in mind that all of quotes are rough and should not be taken as 100% accurate until we get the audio transcribed. ;)

Most of the classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic are strongly represented in both the movies and the Expanded Universe. However, the Imperial Agent is a mysterious anomaly; they work in the background and rarely make their presence directly known. While BioWare did not invent the concept of Imperial Intelligence agents, they are the first to explore this role as part of a dedicated storyline. Last week we examined that Bounty Hunter, now join us in taking a closer look at the spies and snipers of the Sith Empire.

Today's Star Wars: The Old Republic Friday Update features a character progression video for the Bounty Hunter. Highlights include the general characteristics of the Mercenary and Powertech Advanced Classes, glimpses of various species, and a Jedi getting stabbed in the head.

Our working dissection is available in the media gallery below. As with all of our dissections, items noted in prior dissections will not be mentioned here again unless otherwise important. Make sure to check back throughout the day for more. Feel free to add your thoughts and items you noticed in the video. If we decide to use your find, we will credit you in the dissection.

Video embed and yellow text after the jump.

In the Star Wars universe there is no more famous archetype than that of a lightsaber wielding Jedi or Sith. Among these villains and heroes, there is one category of character who is better described as infamous: The Bounty Hunter. Donning armor, blasters, and all manner of gadgetry, these soldiers for hire give Star Wars fans an alternative to the hokey religions and ancient weapons of Jedi. For these reasons and more, BioWare has included the Bounty Hunter as one of the eight main classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

This post includes details of what we were able to learn from our hands-on time at the Penny Arcade Expo, which included six of the eight classes, and three of the four origin worlds. We invite you to add your own notes to the comments section of if you were at PAX and would like to share about your hands-on experience. As a reminder, we will not be covering things mentioned in prior 'General Information Learned' posts from E3 and Gamescom. Beware: bantha-sized post after the jump.

• Page 1: General Notes, Stat Modifiers, and Character Sheets


• Page 2: Equipment and Loot

We were able to have multiple members of the Darth Hater staff on hand to help compile the following ability stats at Gamescom. With the rushed nature of our hands on time, the consistency from one class to the next is understandably variable. Additionally, it should be noted that we were repeatedly reminded that all in-game text from character sheets to tooltips are considered "placeholder" and may be subject to change.

Note: We played Level 2 characters. Although we previously mentioned many abilities in prior dissections and other content, we included them to contrast and track changes between the various builds. Changes from one build to the next are highlighted in bold.

• Imperial Agent


• Bounty Hunter


• Trooper

It appears that August is interview season for those of us following Star Wars: The Old Republic. We recently had some excellent face time during Celebration V, and this trend continues in Germany with James Ohlen. In our first interview from Gamescom, James gives us insight into why there are advanced classes, who they are designing PVP for, and what we can expect from space combat.

Although we haven't quite recovered yet from our time at Star Wars Celebration V, Darth Hater is turning its attention to Cologne, Germany for our coverage of Gamescom. The Darth Hater team will bring you interviews, hands-on impressions, and all the breaking Star Wars: The Old Republic news coming out of the convention throughout the week.

Vee have ways of making them talk... stay tuned.

DH Gamescom Content:

• Interview with James Ohlen


• Class Abilities Update & Comparison

UPDATE 8/18: Advanced Class Names Revealed in Press Presentations
UPDATE 8/19: Advanced Class Names Revealed on offiicial site here.

Please note our original post included some inaccuracies specifically with the Trooper descriptions, missing information for the Bounty Hunter, as well as some missing description points. We apologize for any confusion: the slides were shown to us for about 20s each and our priority was to get the accurate names for each Advanced Class.

• Imperial Agent - Operative & Sniper


• Sith Inquisitor - Sorcerer & Assassin


• Bounty Hunter - Powertech & Mercenary


• Jedi Consular - Shadow & Wizard


• Trooper - Commando & Vanguard

More information about the Jedi Knight advanced classes:

• Sentinel: Dual Light Sabers; Saber Fighting Specialist; Melee


• Guardian: Single Light Saber/ Heavy Armor; Leadership/ Party Buffs; Tank

Blaine Christine gave the presentation, and these were some of the descriptions for each class. As he introduced these slides, he gave the example of how you would turn into Darth Maul: you pick your species as Zabrak, and as you level up, you are presented with the option to become a Sith Assassin. "The Assassin is going to be able to use a double bladed lightsaber just like Darth Maul. He is going to do a lot of damage, so that is his main function." He continued with a description of the Sith Sorcerer: "He is going to be a lot more like the Emperor; more ranged based. He will still use his lightsaber, but he is going to use Force Lightning and focus on that to fry his enemies from afar."

Then as a comparison, the Jedi Knight was touched on. The Sentinel uses dual lightsabers, was compared to Anakin Skywalker, and has a focus on dealing lots of damage with fast moves and action. The Guardian was described as a "traditional MMO tank" by wearing heavier armor, and the ability to soak up lots of damage.

Please note all the Advanced Class names were communicated in English along with the entire presentation, and we will update this post with more details as we receive them. We are committed to bringing you the most accurate official information coming out of Gamescom.

Shortly after the announcement of all the classes, we received another version of the multiplayer group demo that we originally saw at E3 -- but this time, all the Republic characters were playing Advanced Classes. The Jedi Sentinel was the dps off-tank, while the Trooper Commando was ranged tanking the large mob. The Smuggler had the Gunslinger specialization, and used portable cover while dual wielding blasters. The Jedi Consular chose the Wizard advanced class, and provided both healing and light crowd control.

More Updates and Media after the jump

This week's DevTracker Highlights discuss what the developers prefer to play, video capturing, hints on upcoming videos, and more after the jump.

Our dissection of the Star Wars: The Old Republic content released during E3 is now online. As in our prior dissections, we will add new content in as we find it, so keep checking back. Feel free to let us know if you notice something we missed, and we will be happy to add it to our dissection with credit. Note: If something is mentioned in a prior dissection, then we do not reiterate it again here. Low bandwidth users should note there are numerous images contained in this article.

Sean Dahlberg sends word of this week's updates:

Principal Lead Writer Daniel Erickson talks about creating the world of Voss in Star Wars: The Old Republic!

In the latest developer blog, "Creating Worlds," Daniel Erickson goes into detail about the process behind creating Voss. He includes some of his notes collected during the process and expands on the sheer amount of documentation that is generated for each of the worlds created for the game.

In addition to the new developer blog, the Game Systems section of the official website has been launched. The Advanced Class System is the first entry in this new section.

Today we are revealing a new area of the website called Game Systems. This area talks about various features from a gamer's perspective. Our first section in this new area discusses the Advanced Class System.

The Advanced Class System grants you access to unique skills and abilities, and is designed to allow you the flexibility to customize your characters to fit your play style. For example, all Smugglers are lucky, opportunistic swindlers. But, do you want to be the kind of Smuggler that sneaks into the middle of a firefight and quickly blasts away at an opponent from point-blank range? Or do you want to be the kind that keeps to the outskirts of the battle, strategically picking your targets from a distance?

These are just some of the meaningful choices that the Advanced Class System offers you to personalize and advance your character in Star Wars: The Old Republic!

This new section gives a summary of the concept behind the Advanced Classes and emphasizes how important choosing an Advanced Class will be in defining a player's character.

Images and things of note after the jump.

A UK Press event took place during this week revealed quite a bit about the game's classes, trees, and more. Along with the hands on is information about the Advanced Classes, Species, and more. Listed below are links to the various outlets that attended:

Eurogamer: Advanced Classes, Hands on, Video
The Galactic Struggle: Hands on, Interview with Jake Neri
Strategy Informer: Interview with Daniel Erickson
Gamespot: Hands on, Interview with Daniel Erickson
VG247: Interview with Jake Neri
Edge Online: Interview with Daniel Erickson

As a caveat, you might want to read our class speculation article and the chart we made back in December.

Update: New high quality version of the Advanced Classes:

...each Advanced Class will have a further three branches of skills to specialise in (equivalent to World of Warcraft's talent specialisation options on a single class). The first two skill trees are particular to your Advanced Class, while the the third is a shared set of skills which expand on the core abilities of the main class. (Eurogamer)

Note: We will add other articles about the press event as we find them.

This week's update is a Fan Friday. As Sean Sean Dahlberg said:

In this Fan Friday, we are highlighting various items from the Star Wars: The Old Republic community, dishing out exciting content from the Development Team, following up on GDC 2010, and confirming our presence at this years E3.

If you're looking for more opportunities to voice your opinion, you'll be interested in the new polls we posted up. Also, we added new avatars to the forums, so try them out.


The Developer Corner section includes is an amazing video of the Sith Inquisitor showing off some of his lightning abilities with booming sound effects.

Also included is some fan art by Hazaz and some by Daennika, some fan fiction by terminalpleasure, a Sith History Guide for Noobies by Danik_Kreldin, a few new pictures of customizable female faces, new avatars, new polls, and a wrap-up on GDC 2010.

In addition to Fan Friday, Daniel Erickson posted a few comments on the official forums this week. Details on his posts after the jump.

Last week, LucasArts & BioWare extended an invitation to Darth Hater for another round of Star Wars: The Old Republic hands-on game play at the beautiful Presidio campus in San Francisco. Eager to take another look, Meg and I left GDC and made our way to Lucasfilm where we were treated to playing Level 6 Troopers on Ord Mantell, and also spoke in depth with Jake Neri of LucasArts and Daniel Erickson of BioWare.

While attending GDC last week, Darth Hater was fortunate enough to be invited out to the LucasArts office in San Francisco for a hands-on demo featuring the Trooper class. After finishing our time with the game we spoke with Daniel Erickson, Star Wars: The Old Republic's lead writer about the classes, their stories, and a few of the choices players will be facing in game.

This week's update is a Developer Blog. As Sean Dahlberg said:

Writer Joanna Berry brings to light some thoughts behind crafting the Jedi Consular

After reading this blog, a few new people might be interested in playing a Jedi Consular. After you have finished reading this blog, feel free to check out our Afterlife Interview and our Timeline Synopsis if you haven't already.

Story has to drive choice, and choice has to drive action. - BioWare's Dallas Dickinson to Gamasutra

In a previous article, we presented a chart showing the depth of customization players might expect after making the path choice in Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare's RPG signature usually includes foreshadowing an important decision with prior experiences and choices made during one's personal story, so the major decision of path choice shouldn't result in a surprise. Although we expressed our opinion of the depth and variety of customization that should exist after making this permanent decision, we didn't detail how we suspect you will initially acquire and progressively improve skills in what we call the "core class." Therefore, we here at Darth Hater decided to elaborate on our prior class combat speculations and delve deeper into what we feel "core class" really means.

The holonet for the second to last class, the Jedi Consular, is now up:

Channeling the power of the Force for strength and wisdom, the Consulars of the Jedi Order cut to the truth of any complicated situation as cleanly as their double-bladed Lightsabers cut down an army of Imperial foes. Whether unlocking long forgotten mysteries of the Jedi, raising armies to fight for the Republic, or engaging in mortal combat with Dark Lords of the Sith, the Jedi Consulars deep attunement to the Force gives them all the power they need to rise to any battle with poise and balance.

Access the HoloNet to read archived reports on the mystical Jedi Consular and to see footage of the Consular in action Also, be sure to check out the media section for new downloadable screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers

Sean also said in another thread that the Sith Inquistors page will be going up next week. Go check out this new Jedi class, and have your worries about having to wear a funny hat, put at ease. The latest issue of Threat of Peace was also released today. Have fun reading and searching for clues

Today is the day The Information Extravaganza has begun Below you will find links to all of the articles posted on December 3rd pertaining to what we learned at LucasArts about Star Wars: The Old Republic. This includes information regarding the Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler class trees, second part of our interview with Jake Neri, other general information learned during the hands-on demo, and our take on the four force users debate.

The final class announced for the Sith Empire is the Sith Inquisitor. This force user is based off of Count Dooku and Emperor Palpatine, and excels at the use of electricity to dispose of anything standing in its way. Unlike the Consular, who seems to prefer a more tactical approach to combat, the Inquisitor doesn't mind quickly getting into the thick of things. This powerful class is skilled at using lightning to leave charred destruction in its wake.