Star Wars - The Old Republic

Teurion is a huge Star Wars fan; when SWTOR comes out, he'll be on it like a chicken on a junebug. Like white on rice. Like a politician on your tax dollars.

So, we naturally started talking about the game and what we'd like to see in it. I came up with the following ideas (so, George, I know you're reading....listen up!):

1. The universe...must....be.....HUGE. We're talking on the order of EVE Online and bigger. So big that you just can't physically explore all of it...ever....no matter how much time you have. Yeah, that big.

2. Ship piloting (and combat) needs to be more like Freelancer and not like EVE Online. Let me pew pew pew while manually controlling the ship just like a real fighter pilot! If multiple characters can be on the ship, then let one drive and the others pew pew or fix stuff or whatever, but don't make the piloting something mundane like set an orbit, commence firing type deal. I want to fly around and shoot stuff up!!

3. Make travel between systems instant (hyperdrive) and travel within systems potentially fast. Freelancer implemented this with Jump Gates between systems, and trade lanes + the cruise engine inside systems. I love those ideas. On an aside, it would be really nice if WoW flight was instant now also, kinda like an option you could turn on and off at will.

4. Worlds need to be fully explorable. They don't have to be survivable, just explorable. If you decide to strike out on your own, don't be surprised if you wind up as some yeti's meal. Also, a big warning sign needs to be posted: Warning - Gravity works here. If you get caught in some planet's gravitational pull and your ship isn't meant for planetary flying...oops, you're goin' down. Yeah, that means no straffing the whomp rats with your Tie Fighter.

5. PvP NEEDS to be optional. One of my chief complaints about EVE Online is that PvP is not optional; sure, you can stay in the high security zones, but if some nub wants to sacrifice his ship to the cops, he can blow you away and there's nothing you can do about it. I prefer the WoW model of Normal/PvP servers where you can pick and choose to PvP if you want.

6. The tank/healer/dps model needs to stay in WoW. I would prefer that cooperative stuff (raids, for lack of a better term) focus on coordinating different attack teams or players, with everyone managing their own health and resources, but at the same time, taking care to coordinate with the team. I like the idea of five people doing something in a ship in cooperative fashion that might look something like the t/h/d model - a ship's pilot, a couple of gunners, a repair team - generic roles that any class could fulfill.

7. Progression is just as viable for solo play as it is for group play. Or...there is no end game because the universe is SO FREAKIN' HUGE. I could see solo players and group players grouping up in fighter squadrons, battleships, planetary battles, vehicular combat...kind of like the idea of solo play in a group; individuals would have to coordinate with each other but would be responsible for their own self. See #6.

8. No loot drops. WHAT??? HAVE YOU GONE MAD???? no, I haven't. I would volunteer that taking random loot drops off boss mobs out of the game would foster more pure game play - ie, people would do what they enjoyed instead of what they don't really enjoy and therefore, have more contentment with the game and stay longer. Progression doesn't have to be vertical; it could just as easily be horizonal in that in this system, X weapons are the bomb, but in that system, they don't do squat and vise versa. So, you'd have to gear yourself to the system where you'll be spending your time.

9. (got this one from another blog) Everything you do should matter in the long run. This is an old complaint from many long time MMOers. Farmer Bill has you take care of his wolf problem, but mysteriously, he has the same problem when you bring your 10,000 alts through the area. And what did you accomplish in your ultimate quest by solving his problem? A little rep? A little XP? A little loot that will be replaced in a day or two? uh, no. Phasing solves some of this issue, but in the end, quests that don't advance the main story (or even a side one for cryin' out loud) are just fodder for leveling and money.

I'm sure there are more ideas coming down the pipe, but I'm out of time. Hopefully no one has come here looking for actual information on SWtOR, cause I don't have any. (read the title of the blog.....).