The Excellently Expected SWTOR Jedi Knight

By now, folks keeping tabs on Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic know that the latest class reveal is the Jedi Knight, the second in the line of Force users revealed for the upcoming game. While there’s the usual buzz of excitement surrounding any major information chatter for this anticipated MMO, there’s also an undercurrent of “exactly as we expected” among the TOR faithful. Moon Over Endor’s Ayane even expresses a bit of disappointment over reading the description and Q&A and seeing, well, exactly what was supposed to be there.

While I can agree that of all the TOR classes, the Jedi Knight was the biggest “duh” out there, I don’t know that seeing exactly what we expected is necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, if there’s one huge pressure that’s on Bioware, it’s to get the IP of the Star Wars universe correct for those that are expecting an authentic experience (not to mention for Lucasarts).

There’s certain tried and true ideas behind a Jedi that everyone is familiar with – the sense of justice, the idea of fighting for the greater good, adventure and excitement not being craved, and all that jazz. If we didn’t have these core concepts behind the Jedi Knight, I’d say it’d be difficult to sell on those who’ve been at the lore longer than some of you have been alive.

This kind of stuff needs to translate into gameplay as well. Defensive techniques, finesse rather than brutality, and the overall heroic aura are apparently the Jedi Knight’s stock in trade, making them the obvious mirror counterpart to TOR’s Sith Warrior. TOR class balance in this sense is extremely important, lest one lightsaber wielding ninja-monk be more powerful than another. If this means creating a bit of predictability in the two classes’ abilities, skills, and gameplay, then that will be a necessary evil. Besides, expected gameplay for the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior may translate into more people trying other classes to avoid the rush of lightsaber-y goodness on the battlefield.

All that being said, I also would hold out a bit more sunny hope for some alternative playstyles as well. I go into this in more detail over at Darth Hater when I write about the possibility of a morally grey Jedi Knight, but the morality and choice system creates some very interesting directions that a Jedi Knight could go. With exclusive abilities unlocked through aligning with one or the other side of the moral compass, there might still be a possibility that the Jedi Knight is not as straightforward as he or she may seem.

Regardless of all this, we’re now more than halfway done with the unveiling of the TOR classes, so there’s still more possibilities on the horizon that aren’t as expected as blue lightsabers. Keep the faith, TOR fans!