Overly Positive

In the Star Wars films, poor bounty hunter Boba Fett was reduced in some ways to a random baddie that just happens to suffer an unfortunate fate for his amoral ways, but SWTORJunkies has something up on their site about how player-based bounty systems could give Boba Fett and all his faithful following a second lease on life in TOR.

Other games where bounty hunter systems have been considered are usually based on PvP. It’s sort of unclear what role PvP will have in Star Wars: The Old Republic, especially with Bioware pushing other elements of the gameplay and concepts as hard as they are, but with a dedicated class like the Bounty Hunter in the game, there might be ample opportunity to introduce such a system.

Details such as the Smuggler having unique mechanics may also fit the Bounty Hunter in terms of having any kind of Bounty system in-game. Whether it is for NPC’s or for player-characters, the Bounty Hunter could use economical skills unique to them in order to pursue bounties on others’ heads, creating a niche way for Bounty Hunters to earn cash for themselves. Alternatively, as part of an overall bounty hunter system, Bounty Hunters could be uniquely equipped with a set of tools that would make it much easier for them to track down a bounty than others in different classes – a way to put a locator on someone, or perhaps a way to provide a bonus for participating in a bounty hunt of any kind. These are the kinds of things that might make the Bounty Hunter class in and of themselves a bit more appealing to play, as a way to draw off the massive interest in ligthsabers and Force Choking.

Frankly, it’s great that the game’s focus on story will open the doors to using such mechanics such as a Bounty Hunting system in the game. Imagine that a player’s choices during the course of their TOR experience happen to put a price on their heads. As a tie-in to the story, Bounty Hunters could be a threat for other players to constantly watch their backs for. Bounty Hunters themselves will have their tales enhanced by completing various bounties, making friends and enemies along the way. The moral choice system as it has been presented so far will figure into any Bounty Hunting system, giving Bounty Hunters (and others if the system so includes them) the ability to make decisions about turning in bounties or taking a potentially more lucrative route by letting them go. There are literally dozens if not hundreds of possibilities.

With official info from Bioware taking a bit of a breather before GamesCom and PAX, threads like this one definitely generate a lot of fodder for discussion. Whether or not a bounty hunting system is put into place for TOR remains to be seen – but the pieces are certainly there to be more successful than Boba Fett.