Georg Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer, was interviewed by the site GATEWars.
He begins his intervention by recalling that with Star Wars, they had to be part of the story. It has its advantages and disadvantages. He talks about his previous project, Dragon Age: Origins. In this game, there was everything from the universe to the rules of combat. Here in SWTOR, the universe is known. No need to explain what a Bounty Hunter is or the talents of the Jedi. It allows you to focus on the creative effort although it is sometimes complicated to combine the expectations of the fans with the balance of the game mechanics.
Here is the article above. I have sometimes shortened his answers (but not that much in the end). For the entire interview, this is where it happens: http://torwars.com/2011/09/01/torwars-interview-swtors-georg-zoeller.
Q: How do you create a combat system that will keep people interested and motivated for many hours a day, if not years?
Georg Zoeller: The options. Advanced classes allow characters to have multiple roles, and with talent trees we offer multiple types of playstyles with many depths.
PVP is not like other games based on the rock-paper-chisel approach. While some situations will favor one class over another, the designers have spent a lot of time making sure that player skill and situational awareness are the main factors in a game's outcome.
Of course, any game that wants to maintain player interest over a period of years must ensure constant additions of content and application. We are already working hard to be sure to meet and even exceed player expectations on this point.
Q: You recently revealed the stealth of Imperial Agents and Smugglers. It sounds intriguing and fun. Can you give more details on this? What will be the limitations? Is there a recharge time or can it be used regularly? Can a smuggler hide an entire 16 person operation?
GZ: The thug and the secret agent get, at high level, the temporary ability to overload their personal shield to cover an area of x meters around them in order to hide all the members of a group of 4, but not a entire operation group.
On the test server, the field remains active for 15 seconds and cannot be reactivated for 3 minutes after use. Characters who value this talent can specialize through the talent tree to decrease the CD to 2 minutes.
While initially the ability to generate a field was available to snipers and mavericks, balance testing on the test servers has led us to replace this ability with something more suited to them: these advanced classes earn instead the ability to create a large defensive screen (similar to cover) around their position that covers all of their allies from damage. While the stealth field is great for reaching an objective, the defense field is great for defending it.
Q: Will there be 2 versions of each talent, one for PVE, one for PVP? What is your opinion on the matter?
GZ: It is very difficult to ensure the universality of skills but it is important in order to avoid as much as possible having to rework your shortcut bar before going to PVP
When Gabe's team tried Huttball, we quickly realized that we had to give all classes at least some mobility capability to ensure everyone had the same playing area and the same tactical opportunity.
There are very few abilities that will not work in PVP, incompatible with playstyle and class balance (ex: the ability of Sith Inquisitors to sacrifice the health of their companions to heal themselves). In order to limit these abilities, a companion must be present, so they can be used in PVE or in small groups but neither in battlefields, nor in operations that do not allow companions.
Q: Compared to the previous question, which class will be the best for care? Is the Jedi Consular the best healer of all? Is the Bounty Hunter the best healer in PVP? What is the difference between PVP and PVE?
GZ: We want to give the player the choice. We make characters based on playstyle, not viability. We want players to take on the Bounty Hunters because it fits and their style of play and their conception of the Star Wars universe and not because they feel pressured into taking it to be a viable healer in their own right. PVP or PVP.
This means that we are doing our best to make all healers equivalent in PVP and PVE.
Q: What are the options for Ranged Tanks to keep their targets at bay?
QZ: For beginners, the fights in Star Wars are very distance oriented, most enemies will not come closer, they will engage the player from a distance and stay there.
For those who come in contact, you can attack him by running with your abilities of course, thus allowing to maintain a distance between the player and his target.
Abilities like Force Leap allow you to quickly move away a small distance in other cases, the Cryo Grenade (of the Soldier) can help you regain the distance.
Q: When we went to the "Fan Summit" in April, you said that the Jedi classes were the most popular and that fact was taken into account in the creation of the game. You also said when the game will come out, things will settle down when some players test other classes. Can you tell us what you have planned for the masses of Jedi at launch and the imbalance between Republic and Empire?
QZ: As discussed in April, we are in the realm of fantasy and what prevails in the Star Wars universe for most of our fans are lightsabers and the Force. As we were informed of this fact, very early on, we made the choice to create two classes of Jedi and two classes of Sith in order to offer all possible roles. This rippled through a number of other design choices as well.
While the majority of players will play either Jedi or Sith initially, we put the same effort, either for the story or the combat outlook, into every class. We ensure the balance of each class to guarantee the same efficiency.
Likewise, for the faction imbalance, the Beta figures do not demonstrate such an imbalance between the 2 sides. In fact, most test servers have a population difference of only 1 to 3%.
The imbalance, if it happens, will be based more on big guilds or individual preferences. We continue to look for fun ways to maintain population control based on these two elements. But there's not much you can do about it without infringing on the right of players to freely choose their server, it's something we don't want to do too much.
