SWTOR

[Tyrnan]

CoX doesn't miss multispec for instance.

Some of that might be due to the fact that CoX has multispec. 

(not that you're wrong; I'm just sayin')

Totally forgot it has dual builds  I only ever used it to pick whatever I wanted up to 20, then switch builds and take stamina at 20 so haven't used it since it went inherent.

[Kirth]

Always in motion is the future

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37082/EA_Battlefield_3_Preorders_Stand_At_125M_Star_Wars_Still_Aiming_For_Q4.php

The company still expects the MMO to launch this calender year, but EA's fiscal guidance takes into account a possible slip into first calendar quarter of 2012 (fiscal Q4) if needed, Brown said. "We have a date set internally [for calendar Q4], with a lot of assumptions around it," he said.

"We're not done until we're done. ... We're not going to know with enough certainty to publicly announce a release date," until later this month or sometime in October, said Brown of the MMO.

[Paelos]

Sounds like EA just hired Kerry Collins.

[Lakov_Sanite]

They're playing a game of chicken with blizzard and diablo at this point.

[eldaec]

People here are massively overestimating the intersection of players who give a shit about diablo, players who give a shit about swtor, and players who will buy a maximum of one game released in November.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yeah, no.

We're talking mass market here, as in a world full of people with tight budgets and games that are gonna be on the shelves at walmart. I assure you of the pc titles released this year maybe two will be carried in walmart and those are swtor and diablo. It's naive to think bioware and blizzard aren't playing a little game of cat and mouse.

The whole "when it's done" bullshit is just that. there is no doubt in my mind that swtor is going to be released when it is most advantageous to sales. Soon as you start getting into open beta, the suits consider the game done.

[Malakili]

Yeah, no.

We're talking mass market here, as in a world full of people with tight budgets and games that are gonna be on the shelves at walmart. I assure you of the pc titles released this year maybe two will be carried in walmart and those are swtor and diablo. It's naive to think bioware and blizzard aren't playing a little game of cat and mouse.

The whole "when it's done" bullshit is just that. there is no doubt in my mind that swtor is going to be released when it is most advantageous to sales. Soon as you start getting into open beta, the suits consider the game done.

Diablo 3 is going to sell a bazillion copies no matter when it releases.  Maybe SWTOR is worried about it, but I can't imagine Blizzard is seriously worried about D3 sales in relation to SWTOR unless that want to just fuck over EA for the hell of it.  Diablo 3 is going to be selling copies at full price for the next 8 years.  TOR has to make a huge splash immediately or risk nuking its population so much that it isn't sustainable.

[Zetor]

Going back to the trinity thing on the last page (this thread moves fast and changes topics faster... yeah, star wars, I know) - can all classes have the option of tanking and healing 'with the right spec' or are some of them more equal than others? Looks like 2/3 of my guild's going to play smuggler and I have a feeling we might be 'a bit' short on tanks.

(I'm going to be the only one playing a trooper from the looks of it, so I have Fordel's trooper gif going in an endless loop now )

[Ingmar]

Going back to the trinity thing on the last page (this thread moves fast and changes topics faster... yeah, star wars, I know) - can all classes have the option of tanking and healing 'with the right spec' or are some of them more equal than others? Looks like 2/3 of my guild's going to play smuggler and I have a feeling we might be 'a bit' short on tanks.

(I'm going to be the only one playing a trooper from the looks of it, so I have Fordel's trooper gif going in an endless loop now )

This may be a BW but should answer your questions more or less:

[Rasix]

I think that each of the 4 classes has 2 main trinity roles they can fill.

Jedi Knight: tank/dps
Consular: heal/dps
Smuggler: heal/dps
Trooper: tank/dps

Not sure if they can fill these roles in both advanced classes or not.

edit: Ingar beat me and is more helpful. ><

[Zetor]

Thxinfo!

(now they only need to implement dual-spec so I will actually be able to shoot stuff with my trooper occasionally)

[Draegan]

I believe Troopers can heal as well.

[luckton]

I believe Troopers can heal as well.

Troopers can heal...chart > you.   

[Morfiend]

WTF, Sith Assassin is a tank? 

[Ingmar]

They added some tanking talents to the shadow/assassin a couple months back, yeah. I think you are supposed to be able to skip them if you want to just do the regular stealther dps thing.

[Rasix]

"Can tank" not "is tank".  

edit: He did it again! DAMN YOU, INGMAR.

[Morfiend]

"Can tank" not "is tank". 

Isn't that pretty much the same thing in a MMO?

[Ingmar]

"Can tank" not "is tank".  

edit: He did it again! DAMN YOU, INGMAR.

Slow day at work. 

[Rasix]

"Can tank" not "is tank".  

Isn't that pretty much the same thing in a MMO?

Not if you can do competitive DPS outside of your tank "stance"/role or comparable DPS while also holding aggro. Sure people are going to want your ass to tank if there's no one else, but that comes with the territory.

[Ingmar]

And, honestly, I think WoW has kind of killed the whole 'if you can tank/heal you have to tank/heal' thing pretty well at this point. Nobody bats an eye at fury warriors or laughs at even ret paladins these days.

[Rasix]

True.  Plus if it's being handled mostly via talents instead of just toggles, then people will be a bit less expectant. 

[Evildrider]

And, honestly, I think WoW has kind of killed the whole 'if you can tank/heal you have to tank/heal' thing pretty well at this point. Nobody bats an eye at fury warriors or laughs at even ret paladins these days.

This is probably amplified by dual specs as well.  Since everyone expects you to be able to heal or tank even if you say you are dps.  One of the reasons I'm on the fence about dual spec in SWTOR.  I want to play a Sith Juggernaut DPS, I'm sure all the WoW kiddies will just assume I'm a tank because of that.

[koro]

From what I've seen, the talent trees actually make very little difference, and your ability to tank as a tank-capable AC hinges on usage of abilities that every person who levels that AC gets normally, along with gear.

So in other news, the weekend beta testers from a week or two ago are in a bit of a huff. Apparently Bioware went and changed the beta test FAQ regarding them from saying "While being a weekend tester does not guarantee you access to the test at a later date, you'll still be considered for subsequent testing" to essentially "You've all been removed from the testing pool. See you at release!"

[Ingmar]

Oh hai, talent calculator, hadn't seen that before. I definitely see some tanking talents in the kinetic combat tree for consulars, as one example. They may not make a huge difference though, as you say, really hard to know without knowing anything about the abilities they're modifying etc., really.

[koro]

Oh hai, talent calculator, hadn't seen that before. I definitely see some tanking talents in the kinetic combat tree for consulars, as one example. They may not make a huge difference though, as you say, really hard to know without knowing anything about the abilities they're modifying etc., really.

The Shadow trees in general are just really really weird, even knowing most of the context. The Guardian trees are also weird in that you have only 4 talents that relate to mitigation in the "tank" tree, and two of them are 3-minute defensive cooldowns. Everything else just revolves around altering abilities, usually with damage or mucking with their resource costs.

[Rasix]

Talent calc, eh? Common, man.  Someone tell me it's NOT an NDA violation.  We've been over this.

[Sjofn]

Sounds like EA just hired Kerry Collins.

 


Fuck I hate Kerry Collins.

[koro]

If you want me to nuke that talent calculator link, I'll do it.

[Rasix]

That'd be splendid.

Cat's out the bag, but we can be internally consistent.  

edit: Btw, if I'm wrong, you can tell me that as well.  I'm open to being corrected. PMs work too if you want to swear at me.   

[koro]

I believe Bioware's shown off the talent trees of one or two classes, though I don't think they've shown them all off. So I'll remove it just to be safe.

And in other news, there's a smuggler video which, a few stylistic touches aside, actually does a pretty good job of showing off what the class as a whole does.

[Rasix]

Every class appears to have a "known" facts thread in their forums.  Somethings are out there, some are not.  Heh.  Stupid NDA.

[koro]

Yeah, I'm not sure why they're still bothering with the NDA at this point. Between beta leak sites and Reddit posts, the massive amount of people who've played it at PAX, and the now-pissed-off weekend warriors from a couple weeks ago, I don't know why they just don't go ahead and open up the floodgates.

[Ingmar]

Some dude in a suit says no.

[Lantyssa]

Some dude doesn't realize it's probably hurting them more than helping at this point.

[Simond]

Yeah, I'm not sure why they're still bothering with the NDA at this point. Between beta leak sites and Reddit posts, the massive amount of people who've played it at PAX, and the now-pissed-off weekend warriors from a couple weeks ago, I don't know why they just don't go ahead and open up the floodgates.

NDA going away means the storylines get spoiled.