I say YES to alien unlock

 

Link this through legacy, if you play a class up to level 50 you unlock non basic speaking aliens

 

I would be happy with a very basic alien species creator even if it only had like two head options each.

 

Implementing this way does not affect the bioware storyline and its optional

 

I know I can't stand re rolling the same class because its the same voice and I actually roll female toon alts to avoid the repetitive sounds and subtitled gibberish would be great alternative

 

An alien unlock system could get frequent updates in which people with unlocked alien option can buy new alien species through the cartel market so bioware can make money off this

 

If linked to legacy and its an alien unlock not an individual species unlock then it would be acceptable to use basic npc looks without having to create anything too original

 

The subtitles exist, the npcs exist and gibberish exists already, so just make it happen. You don't have recreate the wheel, simplify

We probably would never make a non-English speaking player race. I know it seems attractive, but simply put, hearing alien for way too long drives you crazy. An early build of the game had Tython populated by a race other than Twi'leks, and after about the fourth quest, you want to put a fist through your monitor.

 

So any races we add in the future will need to plausibly be able to speak basic.

 

I wanted to drive a fist through my monitor just listening to Yuun on Hoth.

Voss would be fantastic.

 

A Voss Sorcerer would give me some serious geekgasm.

It wouldn't be impossible making Wookiees, Ithorians, Talz etc. playable, it would just take a very long time to develop. If they can't speak basic, then simply substitute the dialogue with their native language and have subtitles played underneath. If they're unlikely to romance a companion then have them restricted from flirting or have any attempts to automatically fail. Of course gear would be the big challenge as they'd nead to alter every piece so they don't clip and appear properly or they could take the short path make them not appear at all like on Broomark.

I dont get it...cant they just have Alien races like Trandoshans speak galactic basic using the same dialogue but alteration to the way the voice sounds.?? When Bossk speaks on the Clone Wars its clear that Galactic Basic is not his first language but he speaks just fine....and his voice sounds great. They did it with a Kel-Dor on Taris, and Narshadaa...the actual dialogue for the PC's has no reason to change just the audio. And if they're worried about clipping and the way the character models relate to armor. Havent they gotten enough experimentation with our Companion characters to make a variable assessment how we (THE CONSUMER) feel on this matter. Or maybe Biowares just lazy. The Togruta the Cathar the Kel-Dor the Mon Calamari the Rodians and the Trandoshans should have been playable from launch...becuase with only minor tweaks everyone of them should have worked. Me personally i love the Trandoshan's and would have made a Trandoshan Bounty Hunter in a hot second. Wookie's should have been included as well. Because i for one never get tired of hearing Shyriiwook. And second evrery Star Wars fan carries a love for Wookie's. Stop trying to give us a Bioware game with a Star Wars IP. TOR was suppose to be THE STAR WARS GAME!!! Its time to stop making excuses MAN UP and do what you promise Bioware...you'll find that were not that hard to please.

Suggested species in no particular order.

 

 

• Falleen
   
  
• Iktotchi
   
  
• Anzati
   
  
• Ugnaughts
  

Edited January 27, 2013 by Coinspinner

Making an alien race fully human playable is a huge amount of work, at least if you want to give players the level of customization options that they have come to expect. It takes a lot of work to make all of the customization options work together and look good, while still ensuring people still can find looks that are unique to each other.

 

The Togruta provide a unique problem in this regard, in regards to the tentacles. Yes, the Twi'leks have tentacles too, but they are typically behind the player, whereas the Togruta's canonically drape across the front of the character. This means that they struggle to work with the existing animations and gear without clipping -- indeed, the first screenshot you see for Ashara if you google her is one with her chin ridiculously clipping through her tentacle. While this may be acceptable for a companion who is frequently offscreen while fighting, or NPCs who we can dress and pose carefully, its much more problematic for player characters who need to be able to wear anything and perform any animation and still look good. (The Twi'leks clip somewhat as well, but much art was tweaked to make this a lot less prevalent than it otherwise would have been)

 

I'm not trying to pour cold water in the species discussion. Quite the opposite - if the Cathar do well, I hope to expand your options even more, and we should know the answer to that 'soonish'. I just don't want anyone to think that just because an alien is currently in the game as an NPC, that it is trivial to turn it into player art -- it's a TON of work to do that, and do it well.

 

I am not sure that all races need to have as many of the customization options as the current ones have.

 

A few less customizable but easily identifiable races would add a great deal to the variety of characters in game. Gand, Rodian, Kubaz, Nautolan, Troguta and others already exist in game files. Five races with limited customization easily outweighs one with great customization when you are trying to create diversity. Even if everything is locked to skin color changes and male/female. Even without great customization there would be plenty of interest in those races. Now I haven't done my research to see if each of those races can speak basic, but I am sure other races exist which could fill any holes. And if in the future you find one of the new races is extremely popular, then you could add additional customization options.

I am not sure that all races need to have as many of the customization options as the current ones have.

 

A few less customizable but easily identifiable races would add a great deal to the variety of characters in game. Gand, Rodian, Kubaz, Nautolan, Troguta and others already exist in game files. Five races with limited customization easily outweighs one with great customization when you are trying to create diversity. Even if everything is locked to skin color changes and male/female. Even without great customization there would be plenty of interest in those races. Now I haven't done my research to see if each of those races can speak basic, but I am sure other races exist which could fill any holes. And if in the future you find one of the new races is extremely popular, then you could add additional customization options.

 

I agree there must be a cheap way to add some alien species. I am sure some people would still pay to just be able to play the speices they want to play even if limited to body type 2, a handful of heads, helmets toggled off and some clipping issues.

Also I would like to add that I recently did a FP where there where two sorcers one in a helmet and the other without. The voices sounded completly different and the one in a helmet sounded like a Kel'dor. It seems like the voice is already avaliable for Kel'dor so I assume they would be cheap to add especialy is character customisation was limited.

Have a look at the long running poll on new races. Wookiees and Droids have a lot of votes, last time I checked Wookiees had the most votes.

 

Cel Cawdro's Ultimate "Community Desire for Species" Poll is the thread name. BioWare doesn't like for us to link to other topics so I won't provide a link. I can update that wookiee is no longer the top vote getter in that poll but it is still very popular with the third most votes.

 

Yeah you DO realize majority of these polls are free access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit right? Where even the most jaded troll can vote just to go "ha ha! lewwwwser! this game sucks!" I wouldn't call that "desired species" in the community. Besides, DID YOU WATCH THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL?! 20 MINUTES OF NOTHING BUT WOOKIEES! GAAAH! My head hurt from that! So no thanks to Wookiees, unless they were sidekick roles just like the Smuggler class, THEN it'd be cool. I want mah Chewbacca, not to BE Chewbacca, thank you! Not to mention, Droids only act based on programming, they can't "think", hence it'd be a little redundant given there's 3 conversation options which you have to, you guessed it, THINK about.

 

 

On another note, Devs, can we get started on being able to lower/raise the hoods on characters BEFORE we get into new species? Soon as that's taken care of, my vote is on Torgruta, Natuolan, Kaleesh, Rodian, Devaronian, Falleen, Kel Dor, and Cerea as new species to play as, all of which haven't been done yet.

 

Though it would be nice to include for the human species, the various sub-species in the customization like Kiffu, and the Tholothians. But first and foremost: HOOD LOWER AND RAISING!!!! THIS IS A COSMETIC MUST!!! We're halfway with the hide headslot and unify colours, now we need to be able to take our hoods off! lol

Edited January 27, 2013 by Timarick

Personally, I disagree. Although it completely depends on how it's done.

 

For example, myself I do not speak Japanese. Can I watch anime? Yes, most definitely. Heck, I even prefer it watching subbed over dubbed. Not understanding the language, doesn't make me want to punch in the screen.

 

Nor do I truly speak French. Sure, I can order a beer, buy some bread, etc. whilst in France. But a conversation? No, that's too far. However, I most definitely do not mind watching movies in French with subtitles. It by far makes me want to punch in the screen.

 

And the same goes for some languages in SWTOR. For example Jawa's making their sounds, are all fine to me. I most definitely wouldn't object to playing as one of them.

 

But there's also some alien language spoken by some which sounds like some sort of mutant fly is doing the talking. I most definitely wouldn't want to listen to that every quest no.

- Fully voiced MMO

 

- People demanding Wookiee race

 

How do you think this will play out? Sure, it sounds good saying it, but the devs are right. It gets annoying REALLY fast since the only thing coming out of your mouth will be, "RAWWWWAGGGGH." Again and again. Forever.

Edited January 27, 2013 by TalkingDinosaur

Although many of these races ARE NOT primary Galactic Basic speakers (a.k.a.) English. In the movies, several of them maintain the prowess to speak G.B./English like Twi'leks, etc. I am sure there are plenty of races that speak G.B. and a few heroes fighting for the galaxy would most likely be speaking English/G.B. I mean I would imagine an Imperial Officer, I don't know errr Kaleesh like General Grevious, could speak G.B. so I find it makes perfect sense to include these races which are not primary G.B. speakers but do maintain the vocal anatomy to speak said language. Like Twi'leks, come on BW work your magic! lol

-Kel Dors pub side

-Kaleesh imp side

 

I think that would balance out the awesome factor. They both can speak basic, have basically the same face when it comes to male and female, and have in-game models already. I don't care if I can't wear head-gear, I am a consular after all. We don't like our headgear anyway.

I wish the people who constantly demand wookiees, would spell wookiee right.

 

It was spelt Wookie, then they changed it, so either it right IMO. Wookie(e).

Although many of these races ARE NOT primary Galactic Basic speakers (a.k.a.) English. In the movies, several of them maintain the prowess to speak G.B./English like Twi'leks, etc. I am sure there are plenty of races that speak G.B. and a few heroes fighting for the galaxy would most likely be speaking English/G.B. I mean I would imagine an Imperial Officer, I don't know errr Kaleesh like General Grevious, could speak G.B. so I find it makes perfect sense to include these races which are not primary G.B. speakers but do maintain the vocal anatomy to speak said language. Like Twi'leks, come on BW work your magic! lol

 

Even in Tor we find Kel'dor who speak basic and those that dont, same goes for Gran and a load of other popular species. We also encounter Zebreck, Twi'lek and Chiss who can't speak basic but understand every word. Non basic speach for aliens other than Hutt and Wookies was done to save money. I think the majoirty of requested species could and should be added.

- Fully voiced MMO

 

- People demanding Wookiee race

 

How do you think this will play out? Sure, it sounds good saying it, but the devs are right. It gets annoying REALLY fast since the only thing coming out of your mouth will be, "RAWWWWAGGGGH." Again and again. Forever.

 

I understand your point, but i am am just as over hearing "murder and mayhem await" from my inquisitor.

 

The thing is when i re-roll a class that i have already played, i would take gibberish over the same VO as before. At least that gives me another VO option. (I am rolling females to avoid this but i would rather roll a male, not alt heavy yet.)

 

I seriously doubt other players are going to care when i play with them since there is only a 25% chance i will speak at all in a convo. Most flashpoints have little talking TBH.

Making an alien race fully human playable is a huge amount of work, at least if you want to give players the level of customization options that they have come to expect. It takes a lot of work to make all of the customization options work together and look good, while still ensuring people still can find looks that are unique to each other.

 

The Togruta provide a unique problem in this regard, in regards to the tentacles. Yes, the Twi'leks have tentacles too, but they are typically behind the player, whereas the Togruta's canonically drape across the front of the character. This means that they struggle to work with the existing animations and gear without clipping -- indeed, the first screenshot you see for Ashara if you google her is one with her chin ridiculously clipping through her tentacle. While this may be acceptable for a companion who is frequently offscreen while fighting, or NPCs who we can dress and pose carefully, its much more problematic for player characters who need to be able to wear anything and perform any animation and still look good. (The Twi'leks clip somewhat as well, but much art was tweaked to make this a lot less prevalent than it otherwise would have been)

 

I'm not trying to pour cold water in the species discussion. Quite the opposite - if the Cathar do well, I hope to expand your options even more, and we should know the answer to that 'soonish'. I just don't want anyone to think that just because an alien is currently in the game as an NPC, that it is trivial to turn it into player art -- it's a TON of work to do that, and do it well.

 

 

And I take it you think our characters are really customizable now? Pretty sure a little fluff game like gw2 has gotten you beat on that statement. I don't ever want to see your whiney statements about how it's a lot of work to make these races. We pay you a boat load of money for what you do. Now quit your bellyaching, and get it done!

f you choose that, your dialog options should be 1) gupta butu ooshoo 2) zupta gogo oonu or 3) zushin gutu orto to every dialog wheel...

I actually said that aloud and it sounded like a Rodian lol. And I agree, Rodians can't speak basic. So they shouldn't be added.

Making an alien race fully human playable is a huge amount of work, at least if you want to give players the level of customization options that they have come to expect. It takes a lot of work to make all of the customization options work together and look good, while still ensuring people still can find looks that are unique to each other.

 

The Togruta provide a unique problem in this regard, in regards to the tentacles. Yes, the Twi'leks have tentacles too, but they are typically behind the player, whereas the Togruta's canonically drape across the front of the character. This means that they struggle to work with the existing animations and gear without clipping -- indeed, the first screenshot you see for Ashara if you google her is one with her chin ridiculously clipping through her tentacle. While this may be acceptable for a companion who is frequently offscreen while fighting, or NPCs who we can dress and pose carefully, its much more problematic for player characters who need to be able to wear anything and perform any animation and still look good. (The Twi'leks clip somewhat as well, but much art was tweaked to make this a lot less prevalent than it otherwise would have been)

 

I'm not trying to pour cold water in the species discussion. Quite the opposite - if the Cathar do well, I hope to expand your options even more, and we should know the answer to that 'soonish'. I just don't want anyone to think that just because an alien is currently in the game as an NPC, that it is trivial to turn it into player art -- it's a TON of work to do that, and do it well.

 

Do we have any more info on just when Soonish will be are we talkig 1.7 or are we talking Rise of the Hutt Cartel or are we talking later than that? Will we know what species will be next if Cathar sells well as I have no interest in Cathar but want a Gran ot Kel'dor would I be throwing away my money to buy them only to get another near human species?

 

Also of the top alien species clearly Togruta and Nautolan have huge clipping issues and Rodian can't speak basic so thats out is there any chance of getting a Kel'dor, Mon Cal or Kaleesh? I left out Voss because they are near human and lore means we peobably wont see them ever.

 

478 - Togruta

391 - Nautolan

233 - Kel Dor

157 - Rodian

139 - Mon Calamari

94 - Kaleesh

Edited January 27, 2013 by Izorii

And I take it you think our characters are really customizable now? Pretty sure a little fluff game like gw2 has gotten you beat on that statement. I don't ever want to see your whiney statements about how it's a lot of work to make these races. We pay you a boat load of money for what you do. Now quit your bellyaching, and get it done!

 

You and your ilk are precisely the reason that the developers rarely come to the forums. And never speak of anything truly substantial on that odd occasion that they do. You managed to belittle their work, belittle them personally, take credit for their paycheques acting like that gives you clout and work in a Guild Wars 2 reference for old time's sake all in a tiny post.

 

Not constructive. Not helpful. Not cool.

Edited January 28, 2013 by CelCawdro

You and your ilk are precisely the reason that the developers rarely come to the forums. And never speak of anything truly substantial on that odd occasion that they do. You managed to belittle their work, belittle them personally, take credit for their paycheques acting like that gives you clout and work in a Guild Wars 2 reference for old time's sake all in a tiny post.

 

Not constructive. Not helpful. Not cool.

 

i can't say i agree with this. just look at how the wow community abuses the wow devs, yet they post very frequently. if they can't handle a little tough talk... they should NOT have a community job.

Edited January 28, 2013 by ganondorq

i can't say i agree with this. just look at how the wow community abuses the wow devs, yet they post very frequently. if they can't handle a little tough talk... they should NOT have a community job.

 

The developers do not have a "community" job. Their participation is completely optional, and very rarely do we give them reason to act on that option. And define "tough talk." Because all I see are people attempting to bully their way to what they want simply because other games, such as WoW, indulge that tendency.

Edited January 28, 2013 by CelCawdro

Jawa = republic

Free conclave droid = Imperial

 

problem is, im not really motivated to care about races becuase there no gameplay effect to them, and more jsut cosmetic~ (hell, npcs dont even react to your race, other then saying if you are/are not human)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rodian

 

Rodians can speak basic:rod_wink_g:

And I take it you think our characters are really customizable now? Pretty sure a little fluff game like gw2 has gotten you beat on that statement. I don't ever want to see your whiney statements about how it's a lot of work to make these races. We pay you a boat load of money for what you do. Now quit your bellyaching, and get it done!

 

ROFL!!

 

Gw2 couldn't carry TOR's jock strap.

You and your ilk are precisely the reason that the developers rarely come to the forums. And never speak of anything truly substantial on that odd occasion that they do. You managed to belittle their work, belittle them personally, take credit for their paycheques acting like that gives you clout and work in a Guild Wars 2 reference for old time's sake all in a tiny post.

 

Not constructive. Not helpful. Not cool.

 

God forbid the devs have to work for their salary, eh......