SWTOR to Launch with 15 Flashpoints, But Likely No Dungeon Finder
During a panel at the New York Comic Con today, Star Wars: The Old Republic devs answered a number of questions and revealed some further information regarding BioWare’s upcoming MMO.
To begin with, Stephen Reid reiterated that each class would have several hundred hours of gameplay, and each class story would be unique, which means no class quest will ever be duplicated.
Next up, Daniel Erickson announced that SWTOR will launch with 15 flashpoints – tightly scripted dungeons for groups of four players. When asked about the possibility of a dungeon finder, James Ohlen said such a tool, “Works for established games, (but is) not in yet.”
Another snippet of information from James came in the form of the following statement:
Visual change of morality paths is in. Staying away from morality locking abilities, maybe later. Don’t want to gimp you.
In a thread on the official forums, folks are already arguing about exactly what that means. While it seems abilities unique to dark/light side characters are no longer available, whether your character’s appearance will change due to alignment remains a hot topic of debate.
UPDATE: Dark side appearance change is confirmed. No appearance change for light side.
Operations, SWTOR’s version of raid content for 8/16 players will have hard modes, and at least one operation besides the already announced Eternity Vault is in development. Incidentally, BioWare revealed a new Games Systems page today, from which you can learn more about operations, guilds, classes etc.
Some features that likely won’t be available at launch include minigames such as pazaak from KotOR and a player bounty system, although these are under consideration for a later date.
The other big reveal the devs had for the lucky audience was the announcement of a global release date of December 20th, 2011, and a new trailer, which was covered here earlier.
Source: Darth Hater
