Bioware's new Star Wars MMO

It would be fair to say that I am eagerly anticipating the recently announced Star Wars: The Old Republic. It has Bioware at the helm, which alone merits it a great deal of attention. But there is a lot more. Bioware is shooting for a much more immersive, story-driven MMO, without the menial "kill 50 boars, then bring me 15 vulture gizzards" quests that have become integral to the modern MMORPG paradigm. Essentially, it sounds like they're shooting for KOTOR, but in a persistent, multiplayer world. If they pull it off, they could have a top-tier MMO on their hands, one that may even (dare I say it) rival WoW.

There are a lot of juicy details circulating on various gaming news websites (several of which you can find over to the right), so I'm not going to bother repeating them all here, but there are a few that I think bear some rampant, almost completely unfounded speculation:

-NPC companions: This is one of the biggest things that intrigues me about the game. Right now, all we know is that you will have several customizable companions available as your character advances, but that you can only have one with you at a time. This certainly raises some serious possiblities for storytelling, with the trademark Bioware romance coming immediately to mind. A big weakness with most MMOs is that you lack any real connection to the game world, and thus the story. These companions could provide that missing link. Plus, being able to corrupt a noble jedi into a twisted sith as he fights by your side would be fun, if nothing else.

It would be really neat to see an influence system a la NWN2, which could perhaps be tied to in-game benefits. For instance, Companion A could have conections with the government of a particular system, allowing access to quests and special armor not otherwise available, but A will only put in a good word for somebody she trusts and can vouch for in good faith. While Companion B might have a black market contact that could get you a sweet hookup on some illegal weapons, but only if you're willing to turn on both A and B.

The potential for soloing is also pretty sweet, as you could select a companion with strengths that compliment your weaknesses, and it could add a new layer of depth to PvP, similar to Guild Wars hero battles. And similar to GW heroes, these NPCs should add more depth to character customization, always a good thing in my book.

-Other Classes: Right now, all that has been announced is the obligatory jedi and sith. This begs the question: why would I play anything else? Figuring out a way to balance the various classes while still maintaining the necessary badassery of jedi/sith raises some interesting options: will Bioware provide some sort of specialization system, limiting these characters to being good with their lightsabers, or good with the force, or average at both? Or perhaps there will be a class system similar to Mass Effect, with a few primary archetypes (melee specialist, force-user, tech-specialist, etc.), with jedi/sith being a hybrid combination. This could also pave the way for other interesting hybrids: non-jedi/sith force-users, who stick to blasters and other forms of ranged combat would be interesting to play, for instance. And as for the other classes, the potential seems endless. Specialists in both ranged combat and technology seem like shoe-ins, with a potential for non-lightsaber-wielding melee specialists, non-jedi/sith force users, and hybrids of all the above.

One interesting thing will be how Bioware handles healers. How powerful and prominent will healing be? Will there just be some weak HoTs that get tacked on to a few classes, with character mitigation picking up the slack, or will there be dedicated healers with a full arsenal of abilities? And who will heal? Jedi seem like a pretty obvious candidate, being the only ones with anything akin to magic, and the lore generally gives them pretty potent healing abilities. But a more tech-focused character, armed with various medical kits might also work. Or Bioware could take a really radical step, and not have any healing (or perhaps just some limited self-healing for a few classes). This would make things very interesting indeed, forcing a much more conservative style of combat while allowing for some of the more spectacular jedi abilities (deflecting blaster bolts isn't nearly as powerful when you have no armor and can't be healed up between the hits that do get through).


However, overall, I am still only cautiously optimistic about the game's prospects. For one, it is still in the very early stages, and it could get canceled or severely redesigned between now and release. Also, it has the potential to simply flop, and in more ways that I can count. And a poor release could end up killing it, AoC-style. Quite simply, there is a lot that can go wrong with any game, but much more so with an MMO, where the temptation is to release ASAP and fix it later.

But still, I think this is the first genuinely innovative MMORPG in the post-WoW era that has a real shot at success. I hope it can deliver.