Press Ban Lifted On SWTOR

[Ki Adi Mundi]

A few months ago, BioWare had a few events that allowed media sites to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, for a few hours- we're talking an average of 5 hours for each player, allowing those sites to get an in-depth, hands-on experience of SWTOR.

Until recently, though, those sites were restricted from talking about their impressions of the game, due to a press ban, which has just been lifted. Since then, some really great reviews about the game and classes have been revealed.

The Jedi Knight

The issue I have with a lot of MMOs is that the tasks you're asked to do to level and gain new gear lack any sort of significant meaning. It's just kill five monsters, then kill 10 more and collect their ammunition satchels, then maybe kill their leader, then move on. In The Old Republic, you're still given these kinds of tasks, but considering the amount of story that's delivered between them and the fact that it's presented like it is in a single-player role-playing game, it instills a stronger sense of purpose. In the case of this demo session, that purpose is to become a Jedi.

The setting for questing is Tython, the starting area for Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular players. As tends to be the case in many Star Wars games, you don't start out with a lightsaber. The iconic Jedi kill stick must be earned. As the Knight class, my focus is combat. I have a training sword that buzzes with energy but doesn't glow like the saber. Initially I can use a Strike skill to deal instant damage to enemies and build a focus meter. This can be followed up with a Slash attack that does more damage and consumes focus, which forms the central combat mechanic for the class.

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The Jedi Consular

The first important choice I had to make wasn’t which captain to save or kill, but which of the two Jedi classes I was going to play. Being the only person from TOROcast meant we were only going to get to touch half of what was going on between the Jedi Knight and the Jedi Consular, which were both playable for the first time. Considering I was the first person in the known Galaxy to play any Jedi, as a Jedi Knight at PAX on stage in September (There should be an achievement for that by the way BioWare), I knew that the Jedi Knight class was close enough to how the Sith Warrior plays, and knew a few of its abilities to where I was satisfied with what kind of class it would be. But the Consular was still a bit of a mystery, which is why I ran in and sat down at one the Jedi Consular machines and I never looked back!

Starting out as a Female Twi’lek Consular it was my task to dig into the secrets of the force on Tython, I will avoid spoilers, you can listen to the spoiler section of the special report podcast for that. But let me just say that this was the most epic levels 1-7 I have experience in an MMO. From the get go as the Consular you are dealing with deep stuff, none of this “once upon a time there was a farmer, then 20 levels later he got his leather cloak and a sword!” bullcrap. It was very clear in the time I had that the darkside is really a viable option in this game as a Consular. If you want to find an elusive darkside master and go behind the back of the Jedi Council to train in the dark side of the force I think you can make that happen. You may or may not have to watch someone burn alive in front of you to get there though.

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Check out the amazing articles, and I promise you they will get you even more excited about SWTOR!