I think I've finally given up on space-flight.
When asked about the navigation system, Rich Vogel said in an article: "Think of the map in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. That's kind of what our navigation will be for traveling around in your spaceship."
We've seen Mass Effect 2's travel system, and it's not space flight. It'd be better to describe space travel in Mass Effect as interacting with a graphical menu. An icon of a ship follows your cursor as you move it around to select the planet you want to load to. Upon selecting your destination, you get a loading screen. If you cancel out of the menu at any time, you'll find your ship has not moved an inch: You were just interacting with a menu screen.
This is drastically different from the Jump to Lightspeed expansion for Star Wars Galaxies. In SWG, the ship shakes as you pilot it and really moves. You can switch your view from inside the cockpit to outside while you fly towards the Imperial Star Destroyer in the distance. Group members inside your ship can move freely around, or find a nice window to watch as the stars, nebula, enemy ships and space stations fly by.
Now normally, a single developer quote isn't given too much credit because the person could have phrased their statement poorly, been mis-quoted or mis-spoke. However, there's reason to believe that this statement was dead-on the money. Approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds into an interview with Sean Dahlberg, he referred to Rich Vogel as "The Canary" because he "sang about something yesterday".
Sad to say, it doesn't look like TOR will have a very interesting space travel system.
Now if you'll excuse me, I must go QQ more.
-Suzina
The Hope Cinematic trailer is now available for download here.
"The Battle of Alderaan. The Republic's gravest hour. Recently promoted to Darth, Malgus launches the first of many surprise attacks that would become his trademark during the Great War, perfectly timing the assault with a feint that pulls the Republic fleet light-years away. Thousands of assault droids and hundreds of Sith set the heart of the Republic ablaze, and Alderaan's few defenders are swept away with ease.
Unknown to Darth Malgus, small groups of Republic Troopers are stationed on Alderaan, some recovering from wounds, others are awaiting orders. As these brave soldiers take to the forests and mountains to fight a guerilla campaign against Malgus's forces, the Republic fleet rushes back to repel the invasion. With time running out and Alderaan's capitol threatened, it falls to Havoc Squad, the elite Republic Special Forces unit, to coordinate one last desperate stand against Malgus' vastly superior numbers."
Update June 14th:
IGN mentions a pretty robust pvp system mentioned at E3 detailing customization, fluff type rewards and as a means to introduce players into more social activities. At the same time the system will include fully functional gear.
Update June 15th:
- Another short article on SWTOR PVP has been posted at 1up.
- Also, check out the G4 half hour coverage today (Tuesday) at 2:00pm pacific, 5pm EST.
- Tomorrow (Wednesday) the devs said on Twitter there will be another big announcement.
- Maximum group size is 4
- Starships confirmed!
- War Zones
I thought for sure that this would confirm space, but really only Starships were confirmed, and based on their size and they way they described it, it could just be your house where you keep all your companions.
UPDATE - June 16th:
- There will be multiple ships for different classes. "Trooper ships, Smuggler ships, Jedi ships ect..." as seen on the Dev tracker. Possibility of 12 ships total according to tor-aid.com
- Live IGN feed starting at 6:40 EST, Live footage of SW:TOR.
- Clarification of Three Days Worth of Coverage
- Advanced Classes Begin @ 10
- Bioware to attend many more conventions this summer. Next Stop SDCC.
- Video Tutorials Hinted at being available prior to release of game.
- Double Bladed Lightsabers Gone from Sith Warrior Holonet
- Much, much more . . . stay tuned for Transmission 39!