Rendili Hyperworks BT-7 Thunderclap lulz

[Kolya]

Since there's like over 9000 posts about this, I thought I'd add to the fun.

I kinda like it, it's got a sweet mix between a freighter and a B-Wing, and it definitely looks trooperish. Sort of reminds me of a sideways YKL-37R Nova Courier (http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Nova_Courier), which I always thought made a good commando style ship. Name could be better though, "Thunderclap" just sounds like a very fierce STD.

As for the Commando/Vanguard skill tree, despite the obvious ramifications of DPS vs Tanking, I can't look at this picture without getting a little turned on.

http://cdn-www.swtor.com/sites/all/files/en/classes/trooper/62img/ss03_800x450.jpg

Hell, even this picture just brings memories of Dawn of War and loading up my space marine squads with heavy bolters.

http://cdn-www.swtor.com/sites/all/files/en/classes/trooper/62img/ss01_800x450.jpg

I sincerely doubt that BioWare would be stupid enough to make Vanguards incapable of dishing out some pretty heavy damage. They are the ones that need to keep aggro after all. Plus, high armor mitigation coupled with a rumored self heal lead to some awesome moments.

So, we'll see. But Trooper is looking more and more like something I want to play the fuck out of. I'm enthusiastic, but reserved. Next thing I'd like to know is if there are going to be mounts for faster travel, or if you're stuck hoofing it around all the time.

Edit: One thing I'm curious about though is whether or not starships will be instanced areas and only available to the players that own them, or if they'll take more of a SWG/STO approach and allow people to invite others on their ships. I can see the briefing room on the Trooper ship being an awesome place for having 47th meetings and such.

[Cooke]

Edit: One thing I'm curious about though is whether or not starships will be instanced areas and only available to the players that own them, or if they'll take more of a SWG/STO approach and allow people to invite others on their ships. I can see the briefing room on the Trooper ship being an awesome place for having 47th meetings and such.

If Cryptic can do it in STO, I have total faith in Bioware being able to pull this off.

[Kolya]

If Cryptic can do it in STO, I have total faith in Bioware being able to pull this off.

Oh, I know they can, the question is will they? They've already made space combat a joke by railing it, and I haven't seen anything to indicate that the ships will be anything more than a novelty, much like KoTOR. Just a game mechanic put in place to give the illusion that it's a non-linear storyline.

[Cavadus]

For reference the CNN board is meant for newswire stuff, not discussion threads.

I'm pretty sure Bioware has already stated that you can bring squads onto your ship.

[Polmeni]

I can't wait to tool around in The 'Clap and give the Sith a run for their money. I'm starting to get very interested in the Trooper class as well. I knew as soon as I looked at the classes I would play a Trooper but they are turning out more awesome than I imagined.

A ranged Tank? I'll have to be it to believe it.

[Pymamin]

It makes sense when everything else you are fighting is ranged as well. At least as much sense as it does for a person to tank a bullet (laser, particle beam, whatever). Truely it would depend on how much distance has an affect on aggro. If it's like Wow and it doesn't have (a huge) effect it would make sense. If it's like GA where distance is a huge factor but everyone is ranged anyway, it doesn't matter too much. If it's like Guild Wars where distance is a huge factor AND there are melee peeps (I'm looking at you, Force Users) it'll get much more interesting (possible annoying).

[Cavadus]

Range will be pretty meaningless in TOR. It's been confirmed that the average range for Smuggler stuff is 30 meters. Imperial Agents are the longest range of the ranged professions.

I'd imagine Troopers fall somewhere inbetween but it's still so miniscule as to be meaningless.

Plus we've seen some Jedi/Sith stuff where they seem to leap dozens of meters in one action which just marginalizes it even more.

It's clear range will be worthless and we're all going to be fantasy melee classes dressed up in one Star Wars skin or another especially seeing as how TOR's combat is just a straight EQ/WoW ripoff.

Hopefully it'll be more like GW then those other too but BioWare seems far too wrapped up with just directly plagiarizing WoW for that to be the case, IMO.

GW was pretty much the only traditional RPG combat system I've ever enjoyed.

Edit: Oh, and on the subject of Trooper's Advanced Classes it has been confirmed that Vanguard has a "Blaster Rifle" tree. Whether it's DPS oriented or just meant as a straight up aggro-management compliment to the tanking tree remains to be seen, however.

Hopefully the former. Otherwise I'll hafta be a grenade specced Commando.

[Pymamin]

Then you'll probably like GW2 as the combat looks to be even more dynamic.

Perhaps I should just create a GW2 so I can stop pseudo hijacking threads with my GW2 talk.

On the topic of TOR, I'm still up in the air over if I play it. It looks cool, but it'll have to play quite differently from WoW et al. in order for me to want to spend money on it. And from Cav's sky is falling predictions, it doesn't sound like it.

[Cavadus]

On the topic of TOR, I'm still up in the air over if I play it. It looks cool, but it'll have to play quite differently from WoW et al. in order for me to want to spend money on it. And from Cav's sky is falling predictions, it doesn't sound like it.

Yeah, I honestly think TOR is a pretty tough sell unless you're a rabid Star Wars fan like Kolya or myself or if you just really loved KOTOR and want to do that all over again with new content a bunch of times.

I'll be honest, if TOR wasn't Star Wars and didn't offer the Trooper class I'd have zero interest in playing it. Nothing I've seen so far is terribly impressive and from what I've learned of the design philosophy of BioWare it's basically anathema to everything I personally like and want in an MMO.

[Polmeni]

I suppose I'm part of the latter. More of a Star Wars fan than an MMO but I never played WoW. If that is the case, I guess this would be a fresh experience for me since I'm familiar with the GW straight up style instead.

That and BioWare basically giving us the chance at stories that could be as quality as KOTOR's 8-fold is a pretty big draw. I think a lot can end up depending on how they handle PvP as well, though, with the "Any Class can Solo" frame that they seem to have expressed, I feel it won't be as tactical as GW was in assembling teams to accomplish certain missions or win matches.

I guess only time will tell.