An ability rotation didn't seem ultra obvious as far as dps might be considered, but if you wanted to straight up waste away a single target then there is certainly a rotation. Just a matter of blowing certain cooldowns depending on the class you are playing. There were a lot of abilities for classes but not TOO many. It's not like a hunter in warcraft where you have more buttons than fit on all possible action bars. Most abilities are somewhat situational in how you use them. some crowd controls would unlock other abilities.

An example would be a particular ability could only be used on "stunned, sleeping, or burning" targets. and those are exact tooltip words if i am remembering right. so if the Bounty Hunter wanted to use his Rail Shot, he would first have to use the flamethrower or electric dart to stun or burn them to become an eligible target. Feels silly using a a CC option to up dps or cause mass damage but hey that Rail Shot is one powerful sucker. I think they had a sound of the game video based off it recently.

I'd say the gameplay itself, just running around questing and environment exploration are very similar to classic wow. But also with some of the newer type perks in wow, better quest tracking and mini map detail for objectives. Helping hands heh.

Gear is set the same as most mmo's. white, green, blue, then purple as a color progression for how good an item is for its articular level. Greens and higher all have stats on them as well. Oh and you can equip gear to your companions as well to increase performance, which is essential and very useful.

Strength - melee damage and crit
Agility - ranged damage and crit
Cunning - tech damage and crit
Endurance - health pool and regen
Willpower - Force power modifiers
Presence - this one buffs the effects of companions in the game. think of it as a commander effect stat haha

Head, chest, legs, wrist, boots, belt, and gloves as the main slots. shoulders being part of the chest graphic. Weapons slots and then like trinket and random stuff. didn't see much of the off pieces in beta.

When picking up quests or interacting with story elements and NPC's the best way to describe it is almost exactly like mass effect due to the full voiced nature of the game. Otherwise comparable to most any RPG type game. multiple choice answers.

The best is that most quests have multiple endings, 2-4 at times and you really get a very personal experience with the game. On top of all the choices you get each class has its own storyline to play through so in the end if nothing else you end up with 8 RPG's to play based off the 8 classes. Certainly some good bang for the buck. re-playability is always good for any type of game.

The release date not being announced yet is a bummer, but honestly, even though this was promised for Spring 2011... I'd much rather wait another year before getting a half finished bugged and glitchy POS failure of a game. better to see it fully ready than early

so yeah thats a big load of blathering from me, let me know if you have any more questions.

edit: and sorry for the late reply =p

Well they did it again this year, the trailer is nothing short of amazing.
http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/return

Yup. I will miss these once the game is out.

hey, thats what expansions are for, more cool cinematics. Pretty sure I like these shorts better than the prequels combined too haha.

they confirmed at E3 that it is still on track for a 2011 Release date, but still no actual date is confirmed. Beats 2012 tho at least hehe.

http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110610-0

Thats basically all the E3 videos (the important ones) in one place.

the Developer Walk through on Tatooine, despite the droning nerdy narration, is the most insightful, as you get to see the actual game, UI, questing, and basic functions in real time for the most part. The rest are just fun trailers that will get you hyped. Plus one of them uses a a musical piece by Two Steps From Hell, how can you complain?

Wow, that is some pretty sweet stuff!

I'm so excited for this game, but I am dying for more information of prestige classes. I still cannot decide if I'm going to go Jedi Knight-Sentinel, or Jedi Knight-Guardian...

I'll work on information for you on that, but the basics are literally whether you want to have 2 lightsabers and be a damage class, or a single blade for Tanking. Otherwise it's emphasis on certain force powers or melee skills between the trees. But I will get back to you with better information.

Awesome, thanks. Just from what you said there, I am leaning towards Sentinel.

Yeah the double sabers just sounds more fun, although I do enjoy being a tank most times heh.

I'll be playing Bounty Hunter still, likely as Mercenary for the dual wield if nothing else haha. Pretty sure I'll end up playing all of it anyway, for the class based stories if nothing else. But Bounty Hunter will be my Main for sure.

Sounds like a lot of people here are working on guilds for both factions too. Pretty sure the majority of my WoW guild and friends from that server will be making the switch, up to 30 or so of us likely. Sith Empire, all the way!

I HATE tanking. If I play a "Tank" class, I do so because I like it's load outs... That's cool about your Guild, my friend Craig and I are just making a guild for our close friends. There is way too many obnoxious people to just let anyone in.

I was playing DCUO, and was in a guild briefly, and on several difference occasions with different people, there was someone who would NOT help kill the main boss till the last second, and then would superspeed over and steal all the items.

I've been tanking on and off for so long, its just natural to me, but I also love to dps. It's healing I am just not made for. SW tanking is less conventional though, feels more like you're a dps still actually.

And I know what you mean about the random jerks who end up in a guild, but a truth I've learned after years of mmo's.... A jerk might be annoying at times, but if they play well, they still get the job done, and it always beats a scrub. It's one thing to be new to the game, but another to not be quick on your feet or think and act fast when needed. People who stand in fire if you know what I mean haha.

That said I'm not a fan of jerks much either, I just have more tolerance. Generally I like to play with my friends in these games, with progression not being as important as just having fun.

and in SW it's all fun, you'll see.

As this is my first MMO, I'm just going by what looks cool. Inquisitor is likely my first character.

So a few notes

Tanking feels more like dps in this game than most other mmo's, but also with more utility and capability in the ways of crowd control

Rocking two lightsabers and demolishing enemies is fun, lots of fun.

the PvP scaling in the warzones, works well for the most part, it has a very good balance. But all that it really does is scale the base damage of abilities to the highest maximum in the warzone. Someone with better gear will always have the advantage, because they have higher modifiers and stats off of armor. Otherwise Skill will ALWAYS win against gear in that situation.

The website is wrong about the shared spec for Bounty Hunters. Firebug is the Powertech class, and Advanced Prototype is the shared one. Arsenal in Merc tree is longer range rocket damag with emphasis on blaster fire vs Powertechs Firebug which is all about being up close for flame attacks, and a very strong melee blade attack. so you either pick 2 weapons and long range, or one weapon and short. I'd say thats the main choice unless u specifically want to heal or tank.

Imperial Agents get much better at levels 10 plus

Troopers with the giant cannon do a ton of burst damage, very hard to live through

Inquisitors and Consulars fair very well if you go shadow or assassin for the melee aspect.

The crew skills that involve crafting can be somewhat time consuming by design, but its not much of a slow down. it takes about a minute for them to make an item, in which time you are without a companion. Best to have them craft while you are traveling from quest to quest, or actually talking to npc's because thats the best and longest downtime.

Anything you craft can be reverse engineered to gain back materials used, which strongly helps leveling and the gathering process. You also learn new schematics and patterns this way.

Space Combat feels a lot like playing old Star Fox games but better graphics, and is a nice break.

Hmm and thats it for various tidbits right now unless there are questions

What is really cool is watching the cinematic trailers on my television is awesome. Sadly, I doubt I will be able to play this game on my TV, as I have a laptop, and am pretty certain that using a controller won't be the best option.

No real mmo is meant to be played with a controller, the closest you get are the computer mice with the overdose on thumb buttons.

It's all about hotkeys on the keyboard that you can setup in game

btw, new beta starts in the next week or so. Make sure to check those e-mails!

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/7 ... on-leaked/

one step closer to a date if you ask me

Possible ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ Collector’s Edition Details

PRetty cool,but a bit steep in price..but MOUSE DROID! I may get into it jsut for this

You didn't look at my link I take it =\