Star Wars: The Old Republic's Smugglers Get Wookiee Companions

[benbenthegamerman]

I have wanted to play a smuggler since the game was annoucned, and this just sealed the deal with freaking titanium glue.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Those are some sexy goggles.

 

[SimuLord]

I dont think they mean he is literally immortal, just ridiculously hard to kill.

Looks cool, really lookin forward to this one comin out.

Like a furry version of Fawkes.

 

[dancinginfernal]

Bioware is aware they are making an MMO, right? Everything I seen about this game implies otherwise.

It's largely instanced.

See: Guild Wars. At least that's the vibe I'm getting.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Uhh, they know that the reason most pets are not given unique backstories is that there are going to be thousands of identical pets running around, right? One hundred hunters running around with identical pet boars makes sense, one hundred smugglers running around with identical 108-year-old Wookie legnedary arena champions does not make sense. Yeah, maybe making MMOs is not quite Bioware's forte.

I'm still holding out hope for Guild Wars 2, though.

 

[silentsentinel]

So... how long does it take to cast "Summon Wookiee"?

 

[Cryo84R]

Everyone is special, thus making no one special.

 

[Saltyk]

Why is everyone giving this idea so much hate? We know very little about The Old Republic at this point. They haven't even started the Beta to my understanding. So many seem to assume that this will work just like WoW. Is WoW's system really the ONLY way to play MMOs? I'm giving Bioware the benefit of the doubt on this one. They are not stupid.

My bet is that we WON'T see

one hundred smugglers running around with identical 108-year-old Wookie legnedary arena champions

As I said earlier, my theory is that companions are used in story missions that work similar to the instances in WoW. And if you check the official Old Republic site it seems to imply that your character will gather multiple companions. NOT just a wookie, but others as well.

Bioware has stated that they are trying to make an MMO with an actual story. Give them some credit, guys. They obviously didn't just start this process last month. Any intelligent game designer is going to look at what works, and try to modify it to their own model.

I dunno.. Seems like to me that this is being done to combat the notion of Sith/Jedi/bounty hunter imbalance.

Honestly without doing something like this, do you really see alot of people gravitating to anything over than sith/jedi/Bhunter? Really. Who wants to be a faceless trooper or agent? Without adding wookies, I suspect smuggler was pretty low on peoples priority lists. But hey, what do I know?

I shared your concern as well. But a video I saw alleviated that concern a little. Bioware CLAIMS that all the classes will be competitive with each other. That they can actually fight on fairly equal terms as long as the player takes advantage of their class' strengths. Have you checked out the abilities of the "lesser" classes so far? Troopers have sticky grenades and the agent can deploy a miniature shield and call down orbital strikes. They most certainly don't sound underpowered in my book. And considering that Bioware says they wrote actual stories for each class, I doubt you will be faceless by any means.

By the way, I'm far from a fanboy. This game wasn't even on my radar until about a month ago, when I started to see some clips. It impressed me and I looked into it some more. I'm bringing all this up, because most of the despairing comments seem to come from people who haven't even taken a cursory look at what they are talking about or looked into any of the information available.

Sorry about the rant.

 

[Alar]

I believe I can sum up my entire impression of this article and the contents therein with one word.

HHHNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!!

 

[hypern]

All we need now is a snarky Twlek and a Wookie compliang to his companion when he/she want to give him a haircut.

 

[Vincent33]

Smuggler gameplay [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV4bCGjQxTw[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV4bCGjQxTw
no sound, and have in mind it's early beta.

Only thing that bugs me about the video is the really short aggro range.

 

[jericu]

Well, it's cool that they give us a Wookiee for people who REALLY want to emulate Han Solo, but personally, I'm hoping that each class has multiple companions. After all, the class page says "Known Associate*S*"

 

[seditary]

By the way, I'm far from a fanboy. This game wasn't even on my radar until about a month ago, when I started to see some clips. It impressed me and I looked into it some more. I'm bringing all this up, because most of the despairing comments seem to come from people who haven't even taken a cursory look at what they are talking about or looked into any of the information available.

After reading many threads all over the place about TOR, I've come to the conclusion that most people are intentionally shitting on the game as a sort of protection in case the game sucks.

 

[Vincent33]

After reading many threads all over the place about TOR, I've come to the conclusion that most people are intentionally shitting on the game as a sort of protection in case the game sucks.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

Bioware is aware they are making an MMO, right? Everything I seen about this game implies otherwise.

Thats the point. Bioware is trying something new instead of copying WoW's now tired formula.

 

[seditary]

Spoiler: snip

After reading many threads all over the place about TOR, I've come to the conclusion that most people are intentionally shitting on the game as a sort of protection in case the game sucks.

Very much so.

 

[Saltyk]

By the way, I'm far from a fanboy. This game wasn't even on my radar until about a month ago, when I started to see some clips. It impressed me and I looked into it some more. I'm bringing all this up, because most of the despairing comments seem to come from people who haven't even taken a cursory look at what they are talking about or looked into any of the information available.

After reading many threads all over the place about TOR, I've come to the conclusion that most people are intentionally shitting on the game as a sort of protection in case the game sucks.

I can understand that to some level. I've found that I've really enjoyed movies that I heard were bad, or expected to be bad. And really hated movies that were supposed to be good. When you go into something with low expectations, you can enjoy it more.

Remember Dragonball Evolution? One friend and I went in expecting nothing like the shows and came out pleasantly surprised. Others in the same group thought it was crap. They apparently expected it to be like the anime. It wasn't good (why was Yamcha a surfer dude with no martial arts skills?), but it could have been far worse.

The point being that I can understand that, but 90% of these comments can be negated by spending 5 minutes on the official site.

 

[zHellas]

It'd be interesting if there was some sort of system, like instances in WoW, where you're joined by your companion only in certain areas or missions where you're the only player there. That would go a long way toward making your companion feel more special and unique, instead of walking past 5 other Smugglers, with their own Bowdaars in tow, on your way someplace.

I agree that it is kind of lame, like a second-rate Han and Chewie. His backstory is kind of interesting, but he could have been something a lot more cool.

It'd be more fun if you can choose what kind of companion you want(like anything from an odd alien animal thingy to a Twi'lek).

Also, do you want some shoogah on yours pancakes?

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Hmm. Not sure if want. It'd feel pretty old-school to play a smuggler with a Wookie companion, but on the other hand it almost feels like the devs are trying too hard, at either pandering to the old-school crowd or increasing WoW-like appeal.