We haven’t heard word one about other races than humans in Star Wars: The Old Republic, although I think that Mandalorians might be a lock for the Sith side there. What I really would love to see — and what I despair will not happen — is the creation of a droid playable race. We know that droids are confirmed as companions and NPCs, but there’s a few glaring problems with them being a playable race.
The first problem is based on an assumption — that all races will have access to any class, at least on your side (Empire/Republic). And although I’m not up to spec on my Star Wars lore, I don’t think there’s a lot of support out there for Jedi/Sith droids.
The second is more of an equipment issue. In KOTOR, droids have a different set of gear than the rest of the races — droid armor, shielding, flamethrowers, etc. They don’t just loot a jacket off a bad guy and throw it around their metallic shoulders. From a MMO designer’s standpoint, to have one race that doesn’t wear the gear that the other races can — both visually and functionally — is a big red flag.
But I’ll hold onto hope for a few reasons. HK-47 in both KOTOR games is one of the most popular characters among the fans, and his blaster-shooting assassin antics can match wits with even the most ardent Sith out there. There’s other droids that are playable as well, but HK-47 is more human-like in form and speech.
The second is for the “cool factor” — simply put, this is something that would get the fans (like me) salivating. How many games let you play a robot as a race? DDO’s Warforged, perhaps, and maybe one or two other lesser examples, but it really would be something different and something to attract players who are looking for a different, Johnny-5 experience.
The third is that C3P0 and R2D2 aside, droids have had a prominent role in kicking butt across the Star Wars movie landscape. Revenge of the Sith’s cyborg General Grevious is a great example, even if he isn’t pure “droid”, he sure looks like it. And what about Empire Strikes Back’s IG-88, a droid who was recruited by Darth Vader for bounty hunter work? He doesn’t do much in the films, but he looks deadly as anything, and he proves that droids have purpose beyond just comedic antics. Droids are just about everywhere in the Star Wars series, and TOR would do well to honor that by pushing themselves to include them as a race (or class), even if they can’t be Force users.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of support out there for Jedi/Sith droids.”
Although technically a cyborg…you have a close argument with General Grievous
No matter how cool it would be, I don’t think they’ll be a playable race.
Grievous was never a Jedi/Sith. He made use of lightsabers, but that was about it – no connection to the Force at all, which defines them a lot more than swinging a glowy stick around.
I don’t think the race issue is as big a deal as you might think. It’s not truly new – EQ had Small/Medium/Large armors which could only be worn by certain races, the Warforged in DDO have their docents, and pretty much every drop Warhammer had was class-restricted. Honestly, most players seem to EXPECT specialized gear… I remember all the complaining in WAR because gear for certain races had the “wrong” stats. The flip side of that is that most gear is going to be optimized for a limited set of users one way or another. What’s the big deal if they formalize it for flavor?
The biggest problem with droid characters would be their limited range. Droids are almost universally specialized, and do a few things very well but not much else.
Then again, that’s pretty much what most MMO players seem to want out of their characters, so maybe it would work out fine after all.
I would certainly like to see them as a playable race, and I wouldn’t have any problem with the idea of them being class-restricted… But I also tend to think it’s unlikely.
The loot/gear issue could be sidestepped by making them less gear and more skill/ability dependant, ala Monks in old school EQ1.
I’ve been completely ignoring SWTOR. After many launches that couldn’t hold a candle to the game I had built up in my head prior to the launch, I’ve learned to just enjoy the game I’m playing today and worry about whether or not to play the next game when it gets here.
That being said, I think being able to play a droid would get my attention.
I couldn’t agree more. Secretly I’ve been holding out hope for Droids being a class/race in this game. Given that this is based so heavily off of KotOR and how beloved HK-47 is in both games I certainly think it would be awesome to have them be playable in the game – and how many other Star Wars games could claim to have offered something similar to the player? It would be an entirely unique experience where TOR would be breaking new, fresh ground.
Of course everyone and their mother would be running around doing HK speak to the likes of “Sarcastic Statement: I’m so pleased you decided to face pull the entire camp of Raiders, SithMomma47. You are a valuable contributor to our party.”
Wait a minute, that would be awesome!
A droid race would be pretty awesome and very original. I’m betting Mandalorian will be a race too. Then I’m guessing it will be the standard ones like Wookie, Trandoshian, Twi’lek and Ewok. Heh, Ewoks…
Droid PCs would make me very happy
I could imagine a droid engineer type of pet class though.
I think droids could be very viable. Droid would be like a class almost. Loot drops, a saber for a jedi, oh look shielding for a droid…welp no droid. Disenchant or whatever they’ll do in Star Wars Universe.
I think it is very doable, and I think it should be done. If you don’t want a bunch of Jedi/Sith roaming around you have to up the cool factor of other Races/Classes. Droids is one of them.
I also just realized that people playing droids would be able to use 733t for their character names without it being utterly inappropriate!
Now we just have to decide if that’s good or bad…
I have a sneaking suspicion droids will be incorporated into the game in one of 2 ways:
1) Droid handler — the game doesn’t have a “pet class” yet, and this would seem to be ideal.
2) Crafting — could be a way to make a “pet tradeskill” that gave you droids as combat buffs / little attack-repair buddies.
The loot gear issue could be resolved by making gear have a special droid look and just kind of paper it over. If you can carry 5 horses and a drake in your backpack, why not make the same item look totally different for droids, to mix games.
The loot issue I don’t think would be a problem. Again as mentioned before there are instances where specific races couldn’t use particular things. DDO with the Warforged and certainly in SWG with the Wookies only being able to wear certain types of equipment. I think even Trandoshans couldn’t equip footwear of any sort.
Now the armor may not be as varied as traditional “human” armor but I think there is a precedent in place where being a particular race/class nets you only specific armor types separate from the rest of the gaming world.
I think a larger issue would be in the customization. If you’re making a Rodian, for example, you are not going to worry about what your arms look like too much other than some option for more muscular/less muscular. As a droid you’re probably going to want more customization, for not just your head but overall what pieces makes up your overall form. HK certainly looks different from C3PO who certainly looks different from General Grievous or the droid army featured in the prequels. We’re likely talking about several leg/chest/arm/hand/head pieces not unlike putting together a City of Heroes/Villains type character even Champions Online.
I’d still love for them to do it. I’d easily play a Droid over a Jedi if given the choice in the new TOR.
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