Just doodling with an idea here…

If TOR proves to be more of a single-player RPG than a “true” MMO, ie: you’re on a very set story path; you can solo most of the game; you can pick up companions to help you rather than PUGs or people from you’re guild… would a reduced fee be out of the question?

I’m not saying free. Oh no, no, no. I’m not one of those people. I’m saying a reduced fee, like $9.99 a month, to offset the fact the game is a different kind of beast to “normal” MMOs and perhaps doesn’t offer the same multiplayer experience, but is still multiplayer to enough of a degree to warrant some form of lower price.

When you think about it, such pricing could be a master-stroke. Why? because it would instantly put criticism that the game is single-player-esque to the sword, (“Sure it’s like a single-player game in a lot of ways… but we don’t charge what average MMOs charge, either… *shrug* …”), not to mention that many people will want to play TOR regardless and under-cutting the bulk of the MMO market by $5 would be a masterstroke, in anyone’s language. It’s a price difference that would have to guarantee more sales, to my mind.

Of course, this thought hinges on the current thinking that the game is more along the lines of BioWare’s single-player games, but with the added ability to drag your mates along too, in a multiplayer fashion. If the game proves to be more of a traditional MMO than people are thinking at this time, the point of this thread is, of course, somewhat moot; I can see that as well as the next forum user.

Just thought it might be fun to riff on the concept.

I think we’d be in broad agreement that, for TOR to tell us a class-based story, it will need to be fairly linear.

But the question begs: How linear is… well, linear?

For example: Can I log in, get the starting quest — which is linear — and then totally ignore it, and just wander off somewhere else, like I’m playing Oblivion or Fallout3?

Or do I have to follow that linear storyline for a set number of levels? For example, the way the linear intro to Age of Conan would take your character to Level 20?

Or will the game try and take me through a very, very, very linear storyline until the level cap?

Obviously, I have no idea, and neither do you. But what would you LIKE to see happen?

(Personally, I’d like it to be like Oblivion and Fallout3, but I get the feeling that sort of gameplay won’t be on the cards at all…)

So the following (old) pieces of game text suggest that, in all likelihood, Jedi start on Tython and do quests relating to “the arrival of a Twi’lek pilgrim clan” while Sith start on Korriban and “in the deep tombs of the great Dark Lords of the past, potential Sith must face arduous tests to prove their worthiness”. Here’s the text in full:

Among the ancient Tythonian ruins, mysterious Force energies abound, and the legacy of a long forgotten darkness has re-emerged. With the arrival of a Twi’lek pilgrim clan determined to settle on Tython in violation of Galactic Republic law, delicate and dangerous trials have arisen for Jedi Padawans in training and for the Order itself.

In the vaulted halls of the Sith Academy on Korriban and in the deep tombs of the great Dark Lords of the past, potential Sith must face arduous tests to prove their worthiness. Even if they survive this deadly training, though, their greatest challenge lies in the cruel competition of their fellow acolytes, as each vies for the favor of their Masters.

But what about everyone else? I ponder if we will all start in the same place, too.

For example, if we are a Republic Soldier, would it make sense that we are stationed on Tython, too? Or if a Sith Soldier, why wouldn’t we be on Korriban?

The practicality is that the devs only have to design two “noob zones” that allow us to train and skill up, depending on our faction.

Of course, a third faction would really round things off, however, it would seem that until we’re told differently, this is a very clear-cut, black and white, us and them, Sith and Jedi kind of game.

So what do you think? Two factions, two noob zones? Or are you still hoping that non-Force users might end up somewhere else, like a Republic military academy for the soldiers, etc?

Levels are strange things in MMOs. Essentially, they mean very little.

You could design a game, for example, where it is mind-bendingly hard to get to Level 20, but each level you gets TONS of cool stuff. Or you could design a game with the same content and 100 levels and you simply get less cool stuff per level; sometimes even nothing.

So what sort of level do you want to reach as the cap in TOR?

Do you want it to be a really low number, but extremely long and hard to reach each new level, rewarded with lots of cool stuff each time you crack a level?

Or do you want leveling to “feel” faster by going through more levels in the same length of time, even though you’re still doing the same work as the previous example?

I know BioWare prides itself on in-house talent when it comes to writing the quests and storylines in its games but…

Would you think it was a massive selling-point if a certain quest line, or perhaps a mini-expansion, or some other “chunk” of the game was accredited to one of the Star Wars authors?

Would it be cool to do a quest line by Timothy Zahn? Or follow an expansion pack from Michael Stackpole? What about a Mandalorian storyline by Karen Traviss (sorry, I had to contractually slip that in there for the Mando’ade haters)?

Especially with the way BioWare is going out very hard to promote TOR as a “story based” MMO, would it excite you to know that your story was being written by one of the Star Wars authors, or would you just not care?

… as they zoom around the galaxy doing quests?

Are they on leave? Are they AWOL? Something other?

Because I presume quests won’t be timed, like a mission that you must return from in a set period of time, so unlike Sith and Jedi — or even Mandalorians — who are masters of their own destiny and can basically do as they please to a larg(er) degree, how do you think TOR will fudge the fact that members of the military will be able to zoom around and, essentially, “do their own thing” in the game?

All MMOs have money sinks of one kind or another to ensure that players are regularly siphoning-off their cash and, hopefully, maintaining an economy that doesn’t artificially inflate due to everyone being rich and driving up the cost of goods and resources. Accordingly, there are many ways MMOs do it. Some are OK, and some are a total pain.

Which money sinks are you “OK” with, and which do you hate?

For mine, I have always, always, always, hated paying “rent” on my house/apartment in games. Houses are such a non-essential in many ways; they largely serve as places to store equipment and, maybe, decorate with items if the game allows that sort of thing.

They aren’t usually a massive focal point for people in games… yet, there they are, every week, trying to take some stupid amount of money out of your game account, which you feel compelled to pay… yet you hardly ever go to your house to make it “worth it”.

Why can’t a game introduce the concept of buying a house outright? Once it’s bought, that’s it! No more charges! They really are such a minor thing, relatively speaking, that ongoing rent ends up being a real turn off. Yeah, this is my #1 hated money sink.

Conversely, I’ve never had too much trouble with the concept of paying for “fast travel” across a map. Sometimes the cost is a little steep (there’s an absolutely stupid one, simply for going across town in Bree in LotRO, for example), but on the whole, fast travel is usually worth it, and I never seem to pay it too much attention; it is what it is, and does what it says on the box, so to speak.

So what money sinks do you like/dislike? And, of course, what ones do you want to see in TOR?

Let’s talk about classes. Specifically, let’s talk about Force-using and Non-Force using classes. It’s my guess that you will log into the game and select Republic or Sith for your character’s faction. Let’s assume Republic for this example.

Your class choices are:

Jedi Guardian (Nuker)
Jedi Consular (Healer)
Jedi Sentinel (Tank)

Mandalorian Supercommando (Nuker)
Medical Droid (Healer)
Republic Soldier (Tank)

Can you see what I’ve done there? I’ve offered a Force using and a non-Force using of each of the Holy Trinity of classes. I’ve also bad a bit of fun by saying the non-Force using Medic could be a Medic droid (as there’s an insane number of people who want to play droids), but really, you could insert any sort of specialist healer there.

Now, does that make a number of assumptions about the game? Of course. I don’t deny that. Even the concept of having the Holy Trinity involved is an assumption. But we have to start somewhere and it’s my belief that the game isn’t just about Sith and Jedi (ie: we already know there’s a non-Force using Soldier class), so what I’ve proposed there is possible, to my mind.

At the end of the day, I think playing a Mandalorian Supercommando would be a cool alternative to a nuker Jedi. I think playing a Medical Droid would be a cool alternative to a healing Jedi. And I think playing a Republic Soldier would be a cool alternative to playing a Jedi tank. And that’s what the devs will be wanting to provide, right? Cool alternatives, so that not everyone is a Jedi or Sith?

There’s a small disclaimer that the games on this list don’t have final release dates, but it’s nice to see TOR sitting in some nice company in this article from India.

I was skimming through the Dragon Age Wikipedia entry earlier (I was there to remind myself when it was shipping), and I saw some interesting words that I think are worth repeating here:

The designers are incorporating ‘origin’ stories for each race and some classes in the game. For example, a Dwarf Noble will begin the game as part of the royal family in one of the Dwarven cities, and a Dwarf Commoner will begin on the streets of the city. Origin stories determine the background of the player’s character prior to the main events of the game’s story, forming an introduction to the game world and hours of game-play. People that the player meets during the origin story may reappear throughout the game, some of whom may be adversaries.

How closely do you guys think this might be mirrored in TOR, when it comes to our storylines?

Especially the whole concept of the introduction story… could TOR end up being like Age of Conan, with an initial section dedicated to setting the scene, depending on your class? Some would say, and I would agree, that it was a great way to start that game. And if another BioWare title is doing similar… hmmmm…

There is no tracking of alignment as in previous BioWare games, but the moral choices of the main character throughout the game will still affect the story. You may save the world whether you are good or evil, but the decisions that you make in the process will change the world around you–deciding who will become King, for example, and affecting nations and races and their places in the world. These decisions will also influence your companion NPCs, and could ultimately lead to an NPC deciding to leave your party if he does not agree with your approach.

Sounds a lot like being able to be the good guy on the Republic side and being the good guy on the Sith side, eh?