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Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview

With galactic wars and tales raging for the past few weeks, and the 1.1 patch for Star Wars: The Old Republic just released, we thought it time to chat to Bioware lead designer James Ohlen on how everything's been going.

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The launch for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been very successful. Knowing that so many have tried to compete on the MMO-market and failed, was the success completely expected all along or do you feel like you can finally sleep a little easier now that you've got a large fan base?
 
We are defintely proud of the achievement. But we also know that our work has really just started. We need to provide new content and game systems non a regular basis througout 2012 and beyond. This is what our fans expect. So get ready for the Old Republic universe to expand in a major way in January, March and on a regular basis after that. 
 
Having seen the game up and running in its finalized form, is there anything you guys are not completely happy with or wish that you would have done different?
 
I don't think we'd have done anything differently, but that doesn't mean we're resting on our laurels. There are bugs to fix, performance to improve, content to add and game systems to improve.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Will the patch introduce any new planets and/or zones or is that something that you will reserve for a future expansion?
 
Every one of our major game updates, starting with the ones in January and March, will introduce a new world. Most often this new world will be the setting for the new Operation, Flashpoint or Warzone being released during that update.
 
As pleasant as new content is, it does surprise me to see a major patch for The Old Republic this close to the release. I know from personal experience that leveling towards the ceiling, although fun and engaging, takes its fair amount of time. What new content will the patch bring to Star Wars: The Old Republic and which group of gamers will be affected?
 
Our first Game Update is aimed mainly at the our level 50 players. While there is a ton of stuff to do at level 50 already in the game at launch, we need to continue to add more material.
 
We've all been treated to light sabers, blaster pistols, spaceships and personal speeders. To be honest, I felt like a complete jedi pretty early on in the game whilst wearing my robes and dual wielding light sabers. What sort of gear and equipment will be released in order to keep my experience versatile and intriguing for years and years to come?
 
We will continue to release new gear on a regular basis. We have a ton of new gear coming in March for the highest level players. But we plan to continue to release other new items for players of all levels. Including pets, speeder bikes, land speeders and more.
 
World of Warcraft introduced MMO-players to a very interesting way of story telling. By allowing the player to travel through time and space he or she was able to experience some of the most epic moments from the Warcraft series as well as the books. Have you thought about creating something similar with The Old Republic, perhaps connecting the game further to the films?

Star Wars: The Old Republic
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Time travel is really not a Star Wars staple. But we intend to be creating new stories for years to come, so you never know what kind of stories we might tell in the future.
 
Would you consider this to pretty much be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 or do you have any plans at all to release a single player game tied to the series for people who wanna continue the RPG experience without necessarily having to go online?
 
We currently don't have plans for a single player Knights of the Old Republic 3. Though you never know what might be coming in the Old Republic. A nod to KOTOR fans in a future expansion would be pretty cool.
 
We get a lot of questions from readers with Mac computers who's wondering if they're ever gonna be able to play The Old Republic. Is it ever going to be Mac compatible?
 
There's always boot camp ;-)  We are looking at a Mac version. But other than that we have no other information.
 
What was George Lucas comments on the released game? Is he playing? Which class?

George is a film maker at heart and is the chairman of the board for all Lucasfilm companies.  We work very closely with the people in Lucasfilm Licensing who are always encouraging us to expand within the SW universe. 
 

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