Races - can we have more player access?

[Stone_Bear]

Hi All!

 

I've been wondering for some time why we don't have access to some races e.g. Wookie and Togruta. Is there any chance we could have them for player characters? Wookies could start as young Wookies to balance the stats against other players and disciplines could opt for melee or range weps at lvl 10, perhaps. Togruta would be a great race because we see them dotted around the SW mythos in various formats.

 

Another whole class/race would be droids. I'd love to play a character as a droid and you could have your astromech, translator, assassin (IG-88 etc.). Skills could be in negotiation, trading etc and they could have Jawa or Ewoks as companions or even smaller droids. I know this might seem pedestrian compared to a hunter say, but some of the 'hero' storylines are a bit dull, so it could all balance out. It might require more resourcefulness in RP etc; more brain with puzzles and less just shoot and bash of the other characters.

 

What do people think? What do developers think?

 

God bless

Stone Bear

[IchibanSaru]

Togruta are the next playable race.

[Stone_Bear]

Do you mean they are planning to add them? Brilliant!

 

What do you think about droids or Wookies?

[IchibanSaru]

No real cosmetic armor treatment for the current existing in-game armor in regards to droids and wookies. A lot of resources would have to go toward redoing the armor sets for the wookie and droid... more than Bioware is probably willing to do.

[Celise]

No real cosmetic armor treatment for the current existing in-game armor in regards to droids and wookies. A lot of resources would have to go toward redoing the armor sets for the wookie and droid... more than Bioware is probably willing to do.

 

They could get something together for droids considering the cyborg parts you can get from the lockboxes and gtn, its not impossible to get some stuff together for droids, the problem with this is that droids are "property" of the republic or empire, they can be reprogrammed and droids don't have a connection to the force. I say its not impossible, but droids should be strictly limited to the non force user classes because that is where they could be the most use and some lines of voice over and text would needed to be added during the storyline to account for the droid because a republic trooper droid talking with Garza about promotions and medals and then you praise m1-4x, she then says that droids can not claim anything being property of the republic which would invalide your own career as a droid in the republic.

 

Wookies are a different matter, they need to have their own body scales which means building those race from the ground up i would imagine as wookies are generally much taller then any human, adding tonnes of custom roars, growls and noises for your own wookie playable during the storyline as wookies are unable to speak basic, but not to mention the armour, bowcasters and such.

[IchibanSaru]

They could get something together for droids considering the cyborg parts you can get from the lockboxes and gtn, its not impossible to get some stuff together for droids, the problem with this is that droids are "property" of the republic or empire, they can be reprogrammed and droids don't have a connection to the force. I say its not impossible, but droids should be strictly limited to the non force user classes because that is where they could be the most use and some lines of voice over and text would needed to be added during the storyline to account for the droid because a republic trooper droid talking with Garza about promotions and medals and then you praise m1-4x, she then says that droids can not claim anything being property of the republic which would invalide your own career as a droid in the republic.

 

Wookies are a different matter, they need to have their own body scales which means building those race from the ground up i would imagine as wookies are generally much taller then any human, adding tonnes of custom roars, growls and noises for your own wookie playable during the storyline as wookies are unable to speak basic, but not to mention the armour, bowcasters and such.

 

My point was that player droids would need an entirely new class of armor that would be unique to their chassis rather than being clothing as the current armor is. They could go the Treek or Khem Val route and simply ignore any cosmetics to the character, but players wouldn't accept that.

So Bioware would need to make a new class or armor, give it enough cosmetic variety to compare to the current player armor and dovetail into their current armor system. Droids for the most part, seem to have a somewhat standard silhouette in the SW universe. Colors and small parts change, but models seem to stay pretty consistent. and that wouldn't afford a lot of cosmetic variety that players have come to expect. Of course, the droids could be said to be a newly discovered sentient "race" that offers greater variety, but that moves away from playing a Star Wars droid and moves towards cylon territory.

I don't see them having the desire or resources to basically create augment and radically change their current armor system for a single race (droid) that uses it exclusively while none of the other current races can.

 

Just my 2 cents

[Hiddename]

Togruta are the next playable race.

 

Do we know when exactly ? is there a date ?

[IchibanSaru]

Do we know when exactly ? is there a date ?

 

No firm date, but word is they will be in the 4.0 patch or later. Perhaps late Spring or Summer?

[psandak]

My point was that player droids would need an entirely new class of armor that would be unique to their chassis rather than being clothing as the current armor is. They could go the Treek or Khem Val route and simply ignore any cosmetics to the character, but players wouldn't accept that.

So Bioware would need to make a new class or armor, give it enough cosmetic variety to compare to the current player armor and dovetail into their current armor system. Droids for the most part, seem to have a somewhat standard silhouette in the SW universe. Colors and small parts change, but models seem to stay pretty consistent. and that wouldn't afford a lot of cosmetic variety that players have come to expect. Of course, the droids could be said to be a newly discovered sentient "race" that offers greater variety, but that moves away from playing a Star Wars droid and moves towards cylon territory.

I don't see them having the desire or resources to basically create augment and radically change their current armor system for a single race (droid) that uses it exclusively while none of the other current races can.

 

Just my 2 cents

 

There is an entirely lore related issue regarding droids: droids are NOT sentient; they have ZERO free will; the Galaxy as a whole considers them tools to be used as their owners see fit; They are NOT a species unto themselves.

 

There are exceptions to the above. Artoo and Threepio are prime examples. But even then, when they fell into the possession of Owen Lars (Key note here: they were the PROPERTY of Owen Lars) he had no compunctions about wiping their memories/resetting them to factory specs. And while the Skywalkers and Organas treated Artoo and Threepio as "members of the family" (in the EU) at their core both droids knew they were property.

 

Even in the SWTOR realm: HK-47 was the property of Revan, and then became the property of Malgus, and then went back to Revan. HK-47 acknowledges that someone OWNS it. And HK-51, acknowledges it is the property of the player character. Even in the Directive 7 FP story arc, the DS choice (on the pub side) is to have ________ (can't recall its name)'s memory wiped. What's more interesting is that while it goes yelling and cursing you, it still goes without much fuss. That is because at its core it knows it is property and subject to its master's whims.

 

So how does that "lore" fit into a playable droid smuggler, trooper, BH, or Agent, not to mention Force users (when the Force is "an energy field that surrounds all LIVING things" (AKA: no such thing as a force using droid; and don't break out "skippy"...that story is SO stupid. But even accepting that tall tale as true, that is ONE exception among billions if not trillions of droids)?

 

As to wookies that's a simpler game mechanical answer: taller than humans and does not speak basic. BW has stated MANY times that species that are taller or shorter than human, and/or whom do not speak basic WILL NOT ever be playable. And wookies fall into BOTH of those categories. Simply put, the time and effort to rework all the cutscenes to converse in non-basic and/or have NPC heads look up or down to speak to the Player Character's face, is too much investment for too little return.

[Mephesh]

Togruta.. can't wait. Propably the most popular race in the entire SW-universe.

 

I have to disagree with droids beeing considered non-living things.

If their memory doesn't get deleted on a regular Basis, they tend to develop their own character. Some of those characters can even be considered a "living thing" and thus beeing guided by the Force. (See T7, HK-47, R2D2, C3PO) Them beeing seen as property makes free moving around impossible tho, thus droids will not be playable.

 

And about Wookies: Bioware could save time and money for synchronisations, because all that Wookies ever say is "Roar". Wookie power!^^ Zaalbar and Hanharr just beat the living crap out of everything in Kotor 1&2. Unfortunatelly, they are to huge to be able to wear armor. Just would make alot of work for Bioware.

 

I personally would like to see Nautolians (e.G. Kit Fisto) as a playable race. They can speak basic and have human size.

 

Rhodians would be to small and don't speak basic, sadly. I also guess they are to much of an insect in all their characteristics to be a playable race.

 

Kel'Dor (e.G. Plo Koon, Master Braga) would be nice to see, as they speak basic and have human size. And they are just look amazing with their breathing masks.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Mephesh

[Rabenschwinge]

Do you mean they are planning to add them? Brilliant!

 

What do you think about droids or Wookies?

 

Well, Droids and Wookies have been explicitely stated as examples of races that would never be. Partly for design reasons (devs stated things like: "it would be odd if you were talking to a freak and no one would notice" - there are only minor variations in how NPCs react to a member of different species and the devs felt like in case of all too alien species that would go too far, there should also be a normal human face which is able to display emotions in a humanly way), partly for game mechanic reasons (there must not be a difference in which kind of equipment the members of the race use), partly for limitations of the game engine (the species must work with the existing four female and four male body types, lest every single piece of equipment must be redisgned, the limitations to facial features are also tied to the game engine - if the features were very different every single animation would have to worked over to work with that different face).

 

The devs pretty clearly said "never" then. However, that weren't the same devs which are running the show nowadays, and the also said "never" to appearance tabs, which are going to be introduce the next few days, so the design reasons are probably irrelevant. But even if the problems with the game mechanics are addressed, the expressiveness of the face ignored that leaves the game engine problems.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Rabenschwinge

[psandak]

I have to disagree with droids beeing considered non-living things.

If their memory doesn't get deleted on a regular Basis, they tend to develop their own character. Some of those characters can even be considered a "living thing" and thus beeing guided by the Force. (See T7, HK-47, R2D2, C3PO) Them beeing seen as property makes free moving around impossible tho, thus droids will not be playable.

 

This is more about Galactic perception. Read the book "Coruscant Nights I" and you will have a better understanding (one of the characters is a "sentient" droid, and other characters have a VERY hard time accepting that).

 

Rhodians would be to small and don't speak basic, sadly. I also guess they are to much of an insect in all their characteristics to be a playable race.

 

How are Rodians small? Every instance of them out there (SWTOR, TCW series, Rebels series, movies) they are all human sized. As for speaking basic, while most speak huttese there are plenty of instances of them speaking basic.

[buubeariowa]

Instead of a droid race, I'd rather see a droid companion available to all from the next chapter where you can design the look of the droid. pretty simple, make presets, like colicoid style droid, assassin style, battle droid, etc. then you can change colors and such. not that hard. and as part of the next chapter you have to find something, not like HK where you go search for parts, but like you do quests and as a one of the rewards you get the parts.

 

Just a thought

[Shneb]

I feel like I'm alone in this but I really think it would be cool if the Duros were playable. They are pretty far from baseline humans which is cool, but still have humanoid features so they can still wear human armor.

 

But shneb that's a stupid idea. Duros can't speak basic and their big heads wouldn't fit in armor.

 

I refer you to Cad Bane. He had a more human like skull and could easily wear human headgear. He also spoke basic. Cad Bane is just one Duros but it still shows that Duros could speak basic and wear gear in the game.

[fidothegran]

No firm date, but word is they will be in the 4.0 patch or later. Perhaps late Spring or Summer?

 

Source?

[Ghisallo]

Droids simply can not be a player race. In either society they have zero rights, can be memory wiped etc. Even R2 and C3PO got memory wiped between the movies.

[nuclearmind]

Personally I still want Wookiees (will never happen) Droids (will never happen) Bothans (maybe... unlikely) Ithorians (one of my favorite races... will never happen) and Yoda's Race (Will. Never. Happen.). Miraluka are my all time favorite race- I am pretty sure they were included solely because of Visas Marr. Still, "seeing with the force" was one of my favorite memories of KOTOR II. Everything we get are basically, and will always be, basically, reskinned humans, and they have to speak "Galactic Basic".

[IchibanSaru]

Source?

 

It was an East Coast Cantina Tour quote about the addition of another race.

 

The date is speculation, but patch 4 is going to be significant from what Bioware has been alluding to. New planets. Costume Designer. Another main story chapter etc. They might hold the additional race for a later paid expansion, but the timing of the public announcement and the fact that the racial geometry and animation is already in the game (via the Sith Inquisitor companion) doesn't make it a stretch that it's sooner rather than later. They only thing they need to work out is graphics with visible head pieces.

[TyonYlle]

Togruta.. can't wait. Propably the most popular race in the entire SW-universe.

 

I have to disagree with droids beeing considered non-living things.

If their memory doesn't get deleted on a regular Basis, they tend to develop their own character. Some of those characters can even be considered a "living thing" and thus beeing guided by the Force. (See T7, HK-47, R2D2, C3PO) Them beeing seen as property makes free moving around impossible tho, thus droids will not be playable.

 

And about Wookies: Bioware could save time and money for synchronisations, because all that Wookies ever say is "Roar". Wookie power!^^ Zaalbar and Hanharr just beat the living crap out of everything in Kotor 1&2. Unfortunatelly, they are to huge to be able to wear armor. Just would make alot of work for Bioware.

 

I personally would like to see Nautolians (e.G. Kit Fisto) as a playable race. They can speak basic and have human size.

 

Rhodians would be to small and don't speak basic, sadly. I also guess they are to much of an insect in all their characteristics to be a playable race.

 

Kel'Dor (e.G. Plo Koon, Master Braga) would be nice to see, as they speak basic and have human size. And they are just look amazing with their breathing masks.

 

Dunno dude, I don't like the word, most, because I feel twi'leks can quite easily rival them as one of the most popular.

 

I oddly enough, would love to see Evocii (err, I'm tired, that's probably not how you spell it!) Quite easy for Bioware to incorporate since their another humanoid species.