Old Republic Dev Teases Tauntaun Vanity Pets

[The Wooster]

Old Republic Dev Teases Tauntaun Vanity Pets

Hopefully there's a 'cut your tauntaun open and sleep inside it' emote.

There's no shortage of iconic creatures and robots that would make for great vanity pets in the Star Wars universe. Personally, I've been holding out for a tiny pet Ewok which will valiantly follow me into battle. And off cliffs. Oh yes.

In a Q&A with the Inquisitors Roadhouse, Bioware's Lead System Designer Damion Schubert gave up a few details regarding vanity pets and their place in the next big The Old Republic update.

"I don't want to give out too big a hint," said Schubert, shortly before doing exactly that, "but they smell kinda' bad on the outside." [http://youtu.be/CXmp1hLK0tY?t=1m18s]

Now I'm the first to admit my knowledge of Star Wars lore begins and ends with the original three movies, but aren't tauntauns generally a little bit big for a vanity pet? Wouldn't making them a mount make more sense?

Schubert also added that there'll be new ways to acquire vanity pets, adding that Bioware wants to reward as many types of gameplay as possible. Players will be able to acquire certain new pets by increasing their social and legacy levels while others will be included as random drops in certain areas. Some of the pets will require more coordinated effort to unlock.

"One of the things we want to do a lot more of is adding items that take a bit of communal exploration to discover," he said. "We're well aware of how popular datacrons and the magenta lightsaber crystal are - and minipets is one place where we've identified adding fun things like that could really pay off."

Might I suggest Bioware turn Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan into a vanity pet? She's already about the right size. [http://images.mmorpg.com/images/galleries/full/492011/34f1de13-55d7-415b-bf3b-2cf46181a08c.jpg]

Source: Inquisitor's Roadhouse [http://inquisitorsroadhouse.com/2012/01/20/swtor-vanity-pets-qa-with-damion-schubert/]




Permalink

 

[fix-the-spade]

Riiiight.

Are these going to go the same way as the pets in Star Wars Galaxies? Updated to oblivion with nary a warning?

Speaking of which, is space combat set to make an appearance in ToR at all?

 

[Formica Archonis]

I sincerely hope I'm not the only one who read that as "vanity plates". You know, something like

       Coruscant
        LITESID
The Heart of the Galaxy

hanging off the back of a Tauntaun.

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

PLEASE DON'T LEAVE OUR GAME! WE HAVE PETS!

okay I'm not sure about the legalities of this, if the mods have a problem just message me and I'll remove it.

Riiiight.

Are these going to go the same way as the pets in Star Wars Galaxies? Updated to oblivion with nary a warning?

Speaking of which, is space combat set to make an appearance in ToR at all?

Ladies, Gentlemen, people who have been burned by TOR, people who were burned by the NGE update. I present to you... Star Wars Galaxys Emu
http://site.swgemu.com/forums/content.php?s=c7c31f9540462c84b17dfedaf52a5e28

It's not completely updated yet, but it's getting there, and a better waste of your time

NOTE: you still need to have SWG

 

[jp201]

Riiiight.

Are these going to go the same way as the pets in Star Wars Galaxies? Updated to oblivion with nary a warning?

Speaking of which, is space combat set to make an appearance in ToR at all?

There is space contest in TOR. It is star fox like at the moment being on rails but it is very well done for what it is.

SOE made Galaxies while TOR is made by EA so it will likely be different.

 

[Vrach]

aren't tauntauns generally a little bit big for a vanity pet? Wouldn't making them a mount make more sense?

And mini-Ragnaros makes perfect sense?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Space combat is one of the reasons I quit SWTOR. On rails combat is just lame, and I enjoyed the previous Galaxies combat. What I really want, and will never get, is an MMO that integrates the idea of real spaceflight sim combat, much like Tie Fighter/X-Wing but also with capital ship control. Imagine being able to have a guild crew a Star Destroyer-esq cap ship with a starfighter complement...
Like that will eve happen.
The other reason I quit was because I didn't see a point switching out WoW for another WoW-Clone MMO set in the Star Wars universe with voice acting and bioware writing/dialogue. And I also hate the influx of Jedi/Sith.
I really think Galaxies had it right in the beginning that to be Jedi you had to earn it, not just be given it at character creation.
Also I wanted the option of being Mando, or at least earning Mando status.
To me Star Wars shouldn't be faction vs. faction but rather allow you to choose sides at any given point or remain neutral and do your own thing (the very essence of being a Smuggler or Pirate). Instead we get a straight-from-wow Ripped faction based system.
Innovate people, otherwise you're just another WoW clone set in KotOR's universe (years later who cares) with no real choices and the same WoW gear farming that I already do on WoW.
Why trade games for essentially the same game? Just because its Star WArs? not a good enough selling point to me.
And Vanity Pets? screw that, I'd rather have my own personal Speeder bike and tauntaun mount than copy WoW's vanity pet system. Next thing you know they'll add Pokemon style battles to compete with MoP.
INNOVATE FUCKERS.

 

[Nimcha]

Annoying, I hate those stupid pets. At least the datacrons and crystal are actually useful. Great feature that, had a lot of fun hunting a few of those with guildmates but for some stupid pet I'm not going to bother.

 

[Nurb]

And let the unending microtransactions on a subscription MMO commence!

 

[JediMB]

Space combat is one of the reasons I quit SWTOR. On rails combat is just lame

Because Star Fox is such a lame game, right?

and I enjoyed the previous Galaxies combat. What I really want, and will never get, is an MMO that integrates the idea of real spaceflight sim combat, much like Tie Fighter/X-Wing but also with capital ship control. Imagine being able to have a guild crew a Star Destroyer-esq cap ship with a starfighter complement...
Like that will eve happen.

The problem here is that this would be a whole MMO on its own, so they'd basically have to make two MMOs while only charging for one.

The other reason I quit was because I didn't see a point switching out WoW for another WoW-Clone MMO set in the Star Wars universe with voice acting and bioware writing/dialogue. And I also hate the influx of Jedi/Sith.

Funny, because all my WoW-playing friends agree on that it isn't just a WoW-clone.

And personally I tend to see a whole lot of Bounty Hunters running around, but I don't mind.

I really think Galaxies had it right in the beginning that to be Jedi you had to earn it, not just be given it at character creation.

That made sense for that point in time, when Jedi were supposed to be basically extinct. Not for an Old Republic era when there are thousands of them around.

Also I wanted the option of being Mando, or at least earning Mando status.

So you quit before you had the chance to earn Mandalorian status? Too bad for you, because I made Mandalorian in a couple of weeks.

To me Star Wars shouldn't be faction vs. faction but rather allow you to choose sides at any given point or remain neutral and do your own thing (the very essence of being a Smuggler or Pirate). Instead we get a straight-from-wow Ripped faction based system.

You think WoW invented the faction system? No. The faction system exists for story purposes, as well as PvP-purposes. The class-exclusivity (which only applied to one or two classes in WoW, as I recall) is there for variety and PvP balance.

What I would complain about, though, is that there's plenty of promised features not (fully) implemented yet. Releasing the game in December was really bad timing, and I think it would have benefited from a mid-Q2 2012 release instead, when the BioWare fans would be done with their first few playthroughs of Mass Effect 3. That would have given them the time to fix more bugs and implement more planned features too.