The Star Wars: The Old Republic Class Experience

SW: TOR Blog Moon over Endor put up an article about a few Bioware updates about the MMO, and one of them caught my eye. Ayane talks a bit about the developer blog update where Bioware devs talk about creating and conceptualizing the Trooper class.

The thing that caught my eye was one particular quote that Ayane decided to call out:

“When we start designing classes, we want to start with the experience–what should it feel like to play– what should it feel like to play as a Jedi or a Bounty Hunter? When doing so, we often touch upon character archetypes seen in the films: what would it be like to play the Han Solo experience, the Boba Fett experience or the Darth Vader experience?”

If there’s one thing that Bioware has going for them when it comes to making the classes authentic, it’s this point right here. I’ve talked about how the Star Wars IP, one of the most loved and familiar to many a geek like myself, is ready-made for success. But I think in careers, where the feel of a career is paramount to the success of it as meaningful and enjoyable to the player, this advantage truly shines.

Let’s be honest, true believers – playing an MMO career, no matter if you are a healer, damage-dealer, or tank, has moments where it’s frustrating. Whether it is dying constantly to players or to creatures due to being so fragile, to feeling like you don’t have a defined role, to dealing with potentially game-breaking bugs, there are bad moments where you feel like the MMO is out to get you. In times like these, it’s the feel and experience of the character, and the connection you feel to it in terms of your desired portrayal or experiences that keep your head above water. Bioware has the advantage of not having to “sell” you on the character career that you have chosen. In the player’s mind, when they select a given career, they’ve already created an image and experience they want to have with the character based on the vast lore and mythology of Star Wars. People envision themselves to be Han Solo, or Boba Fett, or even Stormtroopers. Of course, we can’t forget the Jedi, either, perhaps the coolest looking sword-wielders in geekdom.

It’s obvious this might be a double-edged sword – after all, if someone is feeling like they want to be Obi-Wan Kenobi and they end up being like the Star Wars kid, the backlash could be devastating for the game experience overall. SOE had their turn at this and major adjustments in Star Wars Galaxies proved to be partially responsible for the decrease in the game’s popularity. But Bioware has a knack for producing story experiences that draw upon a complex setting while still making that story the players’ own, so if they succeed in making their Smuggler class feel like the sardonic, blaster-wielding, street smart captain Solo, they’ll have a lot of satisfied customers, or at the very least – a shield behind which to hide while they fix the inevitable broken things their classes will inevitably suffer through.