Principal Lead Combat Designer Damion Schubert talks about creating the Trooper class.
It was a tense day in the combat design pit. We had completed the first pass of our new character class, the Republic Trooper, and had made it available for the team to play. As part of the process of class development, we run internal playtests and gather feedback from volunteers who offer their time. After our first such playtest with the Trooper, we anxiously gathered around a computer, watching survey results trickle in.
We were somewhat nervous. The Trooper is a true design challenge. He has no Force powers to lean on; he doesn’t have a wide array of sexy lightsaber moves. While heavily armored, we didn’t want that armor to provide the Swiss army knife flexibility built into the Bounty Hunter’s power suit. The Trooper is simpler–he has a really big gun and a variety of ways to wreak havoc with it. How would people respond?
They responded well–far better than we imagined, in fact. The scores that day were the highest we had seen to date. It turns out there are a lot of people who like to blow things up. And that’s what the Trooper does best.
When we start designing classes, we want to start with the experience–what should it feel like to play– what should it feel like to play as a Jedi or a Bounty Hunter? When doing so, we often touch upon character archetypes seen in the films: what would it be like to play the Han Solo experience, the Boba Fett experience or the Darth Vader experience? We were still concerned about how these classes would fit into an RPG advancement system and fulfill certain MMO needs, but first and foremost, our top concern as we were designing the Trooper was “Will playing this make me feel like I’m a Trooper?”
With the Trooper, we took a lot of inspiration from Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers from the movies. We knew we had an archetype that inspired a lot of fans, but, to say the least, the classic movie depictions are not exactly heroic roles–heck, Episode IV Stormtroopers probably couldn’t hit the wall in a 10x10 room. This is improved to some degree by the new Clone Wars animated series that has come out, but you’re still not talking about fantasies on par with playing as Obi-Wan.
And while we didn’t want to bog ourselves down too early with MMO details, we couldn’t ignore balance and fairness, especially in PvP, which raises a central question: How does a Trooper hold his own against a Sith? Sure, the Trooper can be at a pretty severe disadvantage if he finds himself within melee range of a lightsaber-wielding maniac, but if a Trooper engages any other class on his own terms, he should have better-than-even odds.
It turns out that a Trooper facing off against a Force user isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. Lest we forget, it was the Clone Troopers who established that Jedi were mortal during Order 66.
The writers were more than happy to help us out here–story-wise, you’re not playing just any Trooper, but rather a rising star of the Republic Special Forces unit known as Havoc Squad. The fact that the Trooper was not a faceless red-shirt, but rather the crème de la crème of the Republic Army, gave us a lot of leeway to create a compelling and visceral fantasy for the Player to experience.
The Trooper has evolved over time since that first playtest, but at the core he remains the same: a dedicated soldier who believes in military precision, tactical superiority and above all, a whole lot of firepower. With his impressive arsenal of assault rifles and grenades, the Trooper is the best ranged damage dealer the Republic has to offer.
That’s not all the Trooper is about, though. He’s got the ability to adjust his combat capabilities to meet different challenges. He’s got an array of morale-themed party buffs designed to strengthen himself and his party. He’s got just enough control to be able to maintain range and keep the fight on his own terms.
But really, what’s the Trooper about? A simple philosophy: “Happiness is a warm gun.”
damion schubert | trooper
COMMENTS
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"volunteers who offer their time" I volunteer! I volunteer! |
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you r stupid, wat is a trooper gonna do to a sith, but die it will take an army to kill one order 666 see ya in Hell !!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Shows how ignorant you can be... I hpe we land in the same server... Go sith warrior and i'll go Trooper. After i pawn you i don't wanna hear how BS the game is and that your going back to WoW to play ur pally! |
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anyone know which planet u start on as a trooper |
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I'm pretty sure it will be ord mantell because all trooper footage is from there. |
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Naw,but probably a place like Balmorra or somthing. |
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Devador
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yay! now to wait for the bountyhunter page :D |
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i am gessing you will start out at ordmantel as a troper becuse as it stated in the developer walkthrow. the republic was fighting some sepretist so that will probobly be your first mission |
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I think I'll make my character a trooper |
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There is nothing more pleasant than cutting of the enemy by the lightsaber. |
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trooper is totally gonna be my main class(assuming we can make more then one character per server) just look at tat gun i think right now trooper is the most OP class atm (think about republic commando) FOR THE REPUBLIC!!!! |
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I have a great Dev suggestion. Age restricted servers and full PVP on the dark side. Just browsing 17 pages of this gives me the trigger finger shakes. With Age restriction, at least there's a hope of decent group play. With full PVP, every time a jerk arises, he'd be slaughtered out of hand, repeatedly. Then he could go carebear on the Republic side and cry to the other weenies about the mean bad guys! Lol, ok a bit tongue in cheek but at least I used punctuation and checked my spelling :) |
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woohoo! |
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Skigo
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Wow that's pretty sweet. Now im not so sure I want this or a bounty hunter. either way its gonna be sick. |
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This is definitely going to be an alt for me! |
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i thought happiness was a big gun. a very very big gun... |
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I like the whole fact about big guns and grenades but what about mines? I'd like to leave some mines on the ground so I can watch Empirical players blow themselves up. |
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I have wanted a jedi since I 1st hear about the game :-). But i will try out the classes with this BIG GUNZ:D i think its so funny to destroy the whole area with a gun when you fighting:D |
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i have a feeling a lot of people will be jedi or sith... don't get me wrong it would be bad @ss but i think im going to be a bounty hunter : ) |
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I agree, the combat videos for the bounty hunter looked awesome, will definitely be my first choice as far as class goes, unless they release some amazing class that blows it out of the water (highly doubt it). I know people will say jedi knight or sith warrior but personally I think the bounty hunter and smuggler will be two of the more exciting classes to play. |
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i hope they have kamas for the troopers. that would be sick. then you could look like commander fox or any other clone leader that had them. it makes troopers look like their not just wearing spandex haha but ill still play as a trooper regardless |
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That would be awsome |
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning... that smell... that gasoline smell... smells like... VICTORY!!!! |
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Dont know about u guys but I think the Trooper class sounds AWESOME ! Just walking around shooting every sith ***** :D |
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do any of u know if this game is actually playable or not because i am new, and i really want to actually play the game online. |
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this game is still in devlopment if youve seen the recent news the beta signup has started so that means beta will start in about a month beta normally last 5months and then 1 more month for the company to patch things and finalize everything so that being said swtor should be out by Q2 of 2010 (spring-fall) |
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NabooRoyalGuard
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GAME DESIGNERS MUST READ!!!!! |
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Don't feed the trolls |
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Failure. There is something like ten times the number of Pc's in use over all consoles combined. |
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You know you could just bite the bullet and buy a PC. Or you could wait another 10 years for consoles to catch up with PC's spec's and be able to run MMO's. However I understand what you mean about the market. Maybe you should post a blog like this for XBOX OR PLAYSTATION. |
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yeah...an mmo should never be on a console |
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U do know that no console will be able to handle this game, its and mmo not a 6 houred xbox game |
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"Havoc squad"... I like the sound of that. |
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you do know that many online games have been put on game consoles right? |
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I think this is going to be one of my favorite classes next to a jedi. |
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sith trooper jedi knight anyone know the rest |
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Dude, the troopers republic. |
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anybody have any ideas on some differnt classes comin up |
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Reminds me a lot of Star Wars Galaxies the Commanod there can ahve a lot of grenades land mines and armor. Its a cross betweeen a Juggurnaut and a tank. They also have heavy weapons that are free targeting, so you dont need to be facing an enemy, you can just fire away like a maniac. Also they are generally area of affect or cone of effest, so any one in the area of affect is hit. They also can apply DoT (Damage over time) affects and have splash damage. If they had those aspects that would be cool. However here there is more of a video game type feel. If you have ever played star wars galaxies you know that its more of a turn based feel rather than a video game. You can jump to higher or lower places in SWG but obviously you have much more interaction with the environment. I also wonder if there will be space combat. You jsut cant have a star wars game without space combat. I mean honestly, you need to be able to fly around in a star fighter for this game. Also i hope that instead of simple character design they actually get teh oppurtunity to change what you height, weight, muscle mass, etc. will be. That is something i did not appreciate about WoW. I am looking forard to this game. I wonder what the Crafting will be liek if they have any. IF its like Wow where the crafting is mixed with combat then this hsould be interesting. IF its specifically jsut liek shop stuff then i will be let down. You nee a palye rrun economy in an MMO if you want it to be impressive. You also need easy acces tom mounts. Another problem with WoW. You could only acces you mounts through a stable. I prefer to press a button and have it appear at my side. I also hope fro different species, only being able to play as humans would be terrible, itsthe different species that make these games fun. |
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Others may disagree but i think that they really got it with the trooper. It's like being an elite commando! |
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Indeed. |
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if i can actually comment on the blog itself...if i were to ever play as a trooper id either do it as like a just for fun Halo thing or i would play as the koopa type. those are the best kind of troopers. |
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NICE BEATLES REFERENCE! =D |
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Speaking about upgrading the weapons, have you all checked out the concept art? For some weapons it shows three variants. Perhaps this is a glimpse at the upgrade system? I wonder if they will detail individual upgrades (scopes, grips, stocks, even color)? That way they all wouldn't look the same and just have different attributes, like that other game.... And speaking about the Trooper vs. Jedi/Sith I believe it was someone famous who once said, "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." |
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At range a trooper will own a sith at close range the jedi will own the trooper if they make the classes balanced correctly. It's an mmo so balance is the key. Overall all the trooper looks amazing and even with the BH and smuggler released i'm still looking at playing a trooper that heals if not then a jedi/healer. |
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if you win at range against force-users, engage at range! if they are dead-set on getting close to you wait till they force jump to you then hit them with a stun grenade and back up to range then shoot the hell out of them |
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I hear the excitement about mandelorians and wookies but we have to remember that they are races not classes. also read about bounty hunters if you havent yet they talk about the mandelorins being involved. cant wait for this game. i think trooper is gonna be my first class. |
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i hope they put a wookie class in that would be so awsome |
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ALRIGHT IM SICK OF THIS! peaple always underestimate the completly awesome heavily armored trooper they rock the can take down a jedi and sith combined order 66 the story in star wars tthe force unleashed! and several other instances all the classes are balanced and i personally hope that this trooper class is about strategy and skill not highest lvl or greatest attack there ALL CLEARED UP OK sorry if i freaked out a bit..........lol |
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High-five. |
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