Star Wars The Old Republic Comic-Con Panel Wrap-Up

Today, it was Star Wars The Old Republic's turn on the New York Comic-Con hot seat.  Hosting a panel today, a lot was revealed about BioWare's upcoming MMORPG Star Wars The Old Republic.  On the panel was Daniel Erickson, James Ohlen, and Cory Butler.  I'm going to start off by sharing some really good news for SWTOR fans in Europe. The global release date for Star Wars the Old Republic is December 20, 2011 for everyone!

Star Wars the Old Republic is set 3,000 years before the movies and 300 years after Knights of the Old Republic.  As we already know, each class features several hundred hours of gameplay, with no duplicate quests among classes.

It's no secret that BioWare is aiming for as smooth of a launch as possible, even going so far as to limit the number of copies sold at launch.  But beyond that, BioWare has definitely taken the time needed to test TOR.  As of now there have been 4.8 million testing hours logged during the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta test, along with 200,000 posts on forums a week.

So let's get down to the game.  Daniel Erickson noted that there is going to be 15 Flashpoints (the SWTOR equivalent of dungeons/raids) at the launch of SWTOR.  Each of these flashpoints are "tightly scripted" dungeons.  "There will always be a flashpoint avail all way thru the leveling experience", meaning a player can level up soley through Flashpoints.  Erickson stated that more on info on Flashpoints will be revealed closer to launch. 

From there, the panel shifted to Operations in which a specific image showing a Hutt appeared.  Is there a new Operation with Hutts?  We'll have to wait and see.

Also named were the three Warzones at launch: Alderann, Huttball, and Voidstar.  Voidstar is inspired by Episode 4.  In it, each side takes turns attacking and defending four objective points.  It should be noted that bright gold and purple lightsabers were seen in the Voidstar preview video.

Some notable questions were also answered during the Star Wars The Old Republic Panel.  Here are a few answers to some questions you may have had.

• Fleets are the main launch point for flashpoints, auctions, and best vendors
• Star Wars The Old Republic Collector's Edition has access to VIP fleet whenever visitng your city
• Daniel Erickson stated, "Writing is done for TOR and I still have a job." This means expansions are being worked on!
• There are small bosses aside from the end game bosses being huge droids and rancors
• Severe Lightside and Darkside points will alter the look of your character, but will not affect skills
• Pazaak and other minigames will not be in the game at launch.  Maybe in the future, though
• If you wish to change your character alignment you can "repent" by completing diplomacy missions, running dailies, etc.
• No different lightsaber types for lightsaber users.  "Lightsaber types are restricted by class and defines the class."
• Dungeon finder "words for established games, not in yet"
• There is an NDA lift date
• No option to purchase valor ranks with cheap currency

That pretty much wraps up all of the questions that were answered during the Star Wars The Old Republic Comic-Con panel.  Did any announcements surprise you?