Droids as a new class.

[Hunterkat]

I know, you think I'm nuts, but think about it. Droids would make a awesome new class for the game. They could fill almost any roll and the story possibilities would be endless. My reasons for having a droid class stem from comments I've read against have a playable droid race and what my responses to those would be so I'll list it from those.

 

1. Sentient droids are not in keeping with the SW story.

 

This is completely wrong. Even in the movies droid are a thinking intelligent part of the SW story. R2D2 showed so much life he was a actual part of the story. On several occasions he went far beyond his programming and showed emotions like friendship, fear, and even bravery. In TOR free thinking sentient droids are all over the place. From companions for the Knight, Trooper, Agent, and HK himself these are very free thinking droids who are emotional beings. Then there are the droids you run into all over the galaxy.

 

 

On Drummond Kass you have droids in Gratham's estate who were once humans. On Nar Shaddaa you have the droids of the Free Droid Enclave and the hacker Zero was a droid himself who the Empire thought was a humanoid. On Corrusant the Droid representatives from the Gree are very much 'alive' and treated as such by the Republic. In Directive 7 we have a whole group of independent droids lead by a power mad overlord whose goals of galaxy wide domination would make almost any Sith jealous!

 

 

Free thinking sentient Droids are all throughout the SW story from TOR all the way up to the movies.

 

2. The Empire/Republic would never allow a free thinking droid race to exist.

 

This is what would make a droid class story so interesting, their struggle to gain acceptance or to force it upon the meatbags around them. All through the story there could be ones who fear them, want to control them, or just outright ignore them as nothing but a machine. This could be a story of epic proportions!

 

3. You can't have a romance with a droid.

 

If a few fade to black scenes are all that is standing in the way of a droid class I can do without them. Besides, droids are very adaptable! There maybe a few companions out there who might find romance with a droid to be... interesting

 

4. Droids would not be able to use the armors in the game.

 

This would be the big downfall in the game for a droid class. many of the armors would not fit or look right on them. How your character looks at creation would be their look for the rest of the game. But on the upside, the droid armors made by cybertech and found in world would now be more useful! A droid class would be a special class. You couldn't have a human or Sith droid, it would only be a droid race. It would have to be a humanoid looking droid to match current animations and story scenes but it could be anything from a ship droid look to Scorpio look. While there would be limitations once in game the character creation could be very diverse.

 

That's my ramblings for a Saturday afternoon, what do you think?

[MajikMyst]

Actually no.. Droids wouldn't make an awesome class.. Your little essay there forget about the simple reality of humans taking orders from a droid.. It shouldn't happen..

 

I see no reason that a non biological being should ever be made into a playable class.. Droids have always been the property of biological beings in Star Wars.. Not the other way around..

[CrazyMcGee]

Actually no.. Droids wouldn't make an awesome class.. Your little essay there forget about the simple reality of humans taking orders from a droid.. It shouldn't happen..

 

I see no reason that a non biological being should ever be made into a playable class.. Droids have always been the property of biological beings in Star Wars.. Not the other way around..

 

I disagree. Droids would be awesome. There's been a few other threads on this too and it's not as unprecedented as you seem to think.

 

Saying "droids have always been property" would be like saying "Pureblood Sith can't be Jedi". It's not common, you don't find it much in any of the lore, but it exists in SWTOR and many people choose to play that way.

 

Droids is totally viable and I'd love it as an option. And of course, as with anything, those who don't think it works could choose not to play. I don't have a toon of every species, but I would love droids and I see it getting suggested more and more, so I'm hopeful.

[Hunterkat]

Actually no.. Droids wouldn't make an awesome class.. Your little essay there forget about the simple reality of humans taking orders from a droid.. It shouldn't happen..

 

I see no reason that a non biological being should ever be made into a playable class.. Droids have always been the property of biological beings in Star Wars.. Not the other way around..

 

I actually like your reaction to this suggestion. It is much like the reaction I would want to see in the story. The prejudice against a sentient race of robots would be the biggest hurdle for them to over come. Even the very accepting Jedi would have trouble with this concept. The story would have to have them thrust upon the galaxy in a way that they could not refuse them outright. My suggestion on this is the Gree.

 

The Gree are a powerful race who seem to use sentient droids as their representative. They also don't seem to be taking sides in the Empire/Republic wars. If a powerful threat to the galaxy was coming, say the return of the Infinite Empire, I could see the Gree sending their representatives to both sides to help stop them. Neither side would really want to upset the Gree and refuse this, but that wouldn't mean they would like it.

 

Initial reaction would be for the droid to be treated just as any other tool, a machine for both sides to use. They would have to break out of this stereotype and stand their ground. then would come fear of them or a desire to control this 'rogue' droid. From there the story could go anywhere. Done right I think it could be one of the best stories in the game.

[ApocNizmith]

Actually if you ever played "Star Wars: Universe" the pen and paper RPG, there were droids that refused to submit to mem wipes known as "Berserkers" and were a PC class, and you see Cybernetic system "Droids" such as General Grievous in the story lines in the books as well as in the movies. A free-thinking droid, where uncommon, are not outside the content of the Star Wars universe, and I would personally love to see this in action! BUMP! Lets see it happen!

[CrazyMcGee]

Also, what about Directive 7? We already have canon SWTOR droids who have decided to throw off the yoke of humanity and make it on their own.

 

Droids will no longer be subjugated by your prejudice and neither will this thread!

[gorstram]

As a race, yes. As a class? No.

 

We've gotten all of the 1-50 content we're going to get. They won't go back to the drawing board to give us another class. They'd have to re-record a bunch of VO, create new crew members, write quests for all of them. It won't happen.

[metalfenix]

I'm not entirely sure we should add droids as a race (much less a class). To begin with, I cannot imagine a droid using the force, so it would be limited to be troopers/smugglers/BH/agents? and we already have the cyborg race, wich bioware messed up bad, real bad. Do you think they can do it better with a droid race? Edited October 20, 2013 by metalfenix

[AlexDougherty]

The main problem with a droid race is the force, droids can't use the force, therefore can't be Jedi/Sith, not without breaking licensing conditions.

 

This means the games coding would have to be changed, because at the minute once a racial unlock is unlocked all classes can be played as that race. This is a bigger aspect than you might realise. Also technically droids couldn't be part of your legacy, since the legacy is a genetic one, making them stand alone characters, but this is actually a minor point.

 

I know people want them, but these two facts mean EA is never going to do a droid race.

[CrazyMcGee]

The main problem with a droid race is the force, droids can't use the force, therefore can't be Jedi/Sith, not without breaking licensing conditions.

 

How wrong you are.

[AlexDougherty]

How wrong you are.

 

Hate to break it to you, but despite being on Wookiepedia it's non-canon, canonwise droids can't use the force.

[CrazyMcGee]

Hate to break it to you, but despite being on Wookiepedia it's non-canon, canonwise droids can't use the force.

 

Wait, wait, wait... You're saying the internet lied to me?

 

I don't understand. I mean, I googled it. It's on the internet. You're destroying my whole world view here!

 

Also, seriously, Skippy is pretty much the cutest droid ever and that was the cutest story ever, so it has to be true.

[AlexDougherty]

Wait, wait, wait... You're saying the internet lied to me?

 

I don't understand. I mean, I googled it. It's on the internet. You're destroying my whole world view here!

 

Also, seriously, Skippy is pretty much the cutest droid ever and that was the cutest story ever, so it has to be true.

 

Yeah, it was a cute story. Sadly it's out the window.

 

George Lucas stated that the story was non-canon, and that no droid will ever use the force, and I'm certain he left codicles in the sale of Star Wars preventing it from happening.

 

Which is a shame, I personally have no problem with droids, but it's never going to happen. On a brighter side there's nothing preventing EA creating a race that puts it's brains in robot bodies, but the trick is phrasing the suggestion in a way that doesn't get Doctor Who suing.

[raphaelw]

The main problem with a droid race is the force, droids can't use the force, therefore can't be Jedi/Sith, not without breaking licensing conditions.

 

This means the games coding would have to be changed, because at the minute once a racial unlock is unlocked all classes can be played as that race. This is a bigger aspect than you might realise. Also technically droids couldn't be part of your legacy, since the legacy is a genetic one, making them stand alone characters, but this is actually a minor point.

 

I know people want them, but these two facts mean EA is never going to do a droid race.

 

Wasn't Grievous a jedi/sith droid in the movies?

Doesn't your legacy allow for non-kinship relationships between your characters?

Droids can be a playable race! Not R2D2 or C2N2 styled droids but unique cybernetic droids like Grievous or a new HK series could play any class

[Icebergy]

If Bioware made droids a playable race, I would lose a ton of respect for them and for this game.

[AlexDougherty]

Wasn't Grievous a jedi/sith droid in the movies?

Nope, he was a cyborg, which is why he had coughing fits every so often, also he just used lightsabers, he wasn't a force user.

 

Doesn't your legacy allow for non-kinship relationships between your characters?

Yes, but the basis is still genetic, a common ancestor + the force, allowing the abilities to manifest. But as I said this is a minor point, very few people would get annoyed.

 

Droids can be a playable race! Not R2D2 or C2N2 styled droids but unique cybernetic droids like Grievous or a new HK series could play any class

 

I wish, playing T4 in Kotor2 was fun, but it won't happen.

[Hunterkat]

For those of you arguing about Droids using the force, that is why I suggest a droid class, not droids as a playable race. They would not use the force, they would use the abilities of their class. No other race can be a droid, only a droid and droids can't be any other class.

 

This would also fix any problems that might come from armors, they don't look right, fit, or cover up the droid parts. The only ones who would be able to use a true droid look would be this class and it would be the only look a droid class could use. You would 'build' your droid at the character creation screen and outside of using the designer kiosk that is how they would look all the way through. This would also make cybertech more valuable as all those motors and parts they make would now not just be for companions.

 

Content wise, yes they would have to make a whole new Class story but as for planet missions, not a lot of them have anything in them that distinguishes them from one class or race so they wouldn't have to be changed at all. And the ones that do pretty much is in how they are greeted. It wouldn't be the monster change that you think it would be.