Playable races leave something to be desired.

[SnoggyMack]

But who was it who decreed that this particular empire was as human-centric as Palpy's empire? Bioware.

 

Nah. Decisions like that go through Lucasarts. Don't forget Lucas.

[Ryelen]

In response to what the DEV said that is completely off base.

 

Disney, Pixar and a bunch of Authors have written plenty of fully engrossing stories and made movies where the entire cast of characters did not contain a single human. They have done this with everything from space Aliens to Robots to Insects and all the stuff in between. It is definitely possible to connect emotionally with a non human protagonist enough to fully suspend your disbelief and really care that a Trash Compacting robot is freaking Lonely.

[Muesliac]

Agree 100%, it's one of the most pathetic things about the game imo.

 

 

 

This is bullhocky of the highest order and, without exaggeration, the number one problem with sci-fi today.

 

This misguided notion that if it isn't 99% human that sci-fi fans - the people who LIKE strange alien monsters- will not be able to hold an interest in it as a person.

 

Number one problem with Transformers films? Too many humans. Number one problem with Transformers cartoons? Too many humans. Number one problem with Star Wars novels? Well, Karin Travis. But number two is, too many humans. And the same mentality now pervades SWTOR.

 

Personally, all 8 of my characters would have different races if only more exotic options exist. This is SCIFI. Humans are boring, humdrum, been there done that and bought the t-shirt.

 

StarWars is not SciFi. It's Space Opera (SciFi generally discusses some scientific concepts or incorporates things that at least are plausible with "real" science). But granted, that's just me nitpicking.

 

Secondly: I like SciFi, I like fantasy, I like Space Opera. I don't particularly like alien monsters as main protagonists. As sidekicks, okay. But name one mainstream (!) franchise where the main protagonist is completely non-human.

 

BioWare got one thing straight: If you want to involve someone (say, a human) in a story, you have to use concepts he is familiar with. The audience feels with their heroes. And thus, heroes mostly adhere to generally accepted concepts of, say, morality and motivation.

And a Trandoshan (who, by the way, the player gets to know quite well if he chooses to as Jedi Consular) simply has a very alien understanding to, say, killing to what is generally accepted.

 

Yes, there are people who relish playing something completely unlike anything human. But you are in the minority. Sorry.

And the effort involved (I remember the Lekku being a major pita for the designers) simply does not compare to the result.

 

 

Case in point? Take a look around your server. How many people do see playing as Human? How many other races? Might be different on your server, but on mine, for every alien race I see, I also see three humans running by. Every Chiss I see (not counting my own blue toon) is something to cherish and treasure - that's how rarely they are played. And why do I play a Chiss? Because their way of thinking is close to my own.

 

 

Yes, in WoW you can play troll and a gnome. But notice something? Apart from having a bit different body forms, they still are mostly human. And even then this method only works because every armour is painted on one of three meshes per race and gender, thus severely limiting creativity in gear design. And helmets on Tauren, trolls and so on mostly look way beyond the event horizon of acceptable design.

In TOR? Gear actually "fits" your character. Try it out. Take a helmet with some sort of shield in front of it (so you can't see the face beneath). Pan the camera until it's inside the helmet. Notice that the face is still there.

 

 

Yes, it is regrettable that BioWare does not include more alien races. But it is very understandable from my point of view. Bioware wants to give polished characters to their players. And that is why they -sadly for some of us- decided to cut some races. But who knows, they may still be coming in a later update or add on.

 

 

edit: @Ryelen: They did that by humanizing the non-human protagonist. Insects got human gesture and body language, human eyes (no more compound eyes). Heck, many even get dressed in clothes! Cars got mouths and eyes, and they all behave like a human would.

They're not alien. They're "human character in a slightly different shell".

Edited December 29, 2011 by Muesliac

[SnoggyMack]

In response to what the DEV said that is completely off base.

 

That works for Toy Story, but the dev has a point in the context of Star Wars. I really don't want to see Hammerhead make out with R5D4 ... or a Jawa get all hot and bothered for Prune Face. Just doesn't fit the story.

 

Ponda Baba is NOT the hero of this story. And according to his friend, he doesn't like me. He doesn't like you either.

Edited December 29, 2011 by SnoggyMack

[Erazimus]

next expansion: Playable JAWAS

 

Daswuteyemtalkinaboot ---

[Ryelen]

That works for Toy Story, but the dev has a point in the context of Star Wars. I really don't want to see Hammerhead make out with R5D4 ... or a Jawa get all hot and bothered for Prune Face. Just doesn't fit the story.

 

Ponda Baba is NOT the hero of this story. And according to his friend, he doesn't like me. He doesn't like you either.

 

Love interests are fine and dandy and all but they can illustrate the emotional connection between the characters through dialogue without having to animate Alien wingwongs or Intergalactic frenching if that is what you're worried about.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Ryelen

[Bozznii]

yeah.. and I cant even make my jedi zabrak look ******.. why all the limitations?

[Discotech]

You might get more HUMANOID races down the road, (e.g. Cathar, Togruta, etc...) but never anything exotic like Ithorians or Kel-dor. I think I'm going to make a point of linking this in each thread about this subject from now on. This is a quote from Daniel Erickson regarding this very subject:

 

wow how short sighted of Bioware

 

Yet again proving their vision of what they "believe" we want is completely incorrect and as far from our needs as those galaxies far far away.

 

They made great RPG's but they're really showing their naivity & noobishness in the MMO market

[Chokis]

I agree the race choices are a bit lacking - nothing gamebreaking of course, but it'd be cool to play as something a bit more different. I think it's all speculation but I've heard that as the Legacy system is updated, it may allow you to unlock new races.

[Ocopo]

I want to play as a Droid...Game already has droid armor and charecter screen..

Raging droid intoxicated by Mobil 1 oil!

[DarkSeverance]

In Star Wars the galaxy is mostly populated by humanoid races. In almost every book, movie the main characters have been a humanoid. One in about every hundred were probably a non-humanoid race. That doesn't mean they were part of the Republic or Empire but they weren't the dominant species. If they had those during the start, there were be tons of various aliens instead of a galaxy mostly populated with humanoids.

 

Not to mention the time period we are in. There are a lot of things that haven't happened yet which led to some of the other races we've seen or portrayed more. For example the Treat of Coruscant was signed in 3653 BBY. The Mon Calamari have only been in contact with the Galactic Republic in 4166 BBY, only 513 years before the Treaty signing and 166 years before the Great Sith War (4000 BBY). Although that seems like a lot of years. For Star Wars that is a very small amount of time. There simply weren't a lot of Mon Calamari in service with the Republic.

[SnoggyMack]

wow how short sighted of Bioware

 

I still think Lucasarts had more say in this than many folks want to consider.

[Swirly]

My favorite race was definitely the one with human like features.

[SaulGoode]

I really think they got Lazy and just put Cyborg in. Also some customization options need to be available like the Twi'lek Tails wrapping around and whatnot.

I think they should have picked different race than Cyborg. Hopefully they can put Togruta and other races that are humanoid but have those tentacly heads

Edited December 29, 2011 by SaulGoode

[DarkSeverance]

Also some customization options need to be available like the Twi'lek Tails wrapping around and whatnot.

I think they should have picked different race than Cyborg. Hopefully they can put Togruta and other races that are humanoid but have those tentacly heads

I would love to have some Togruta Jedi. But I don't agree Twi'lek should wrap their Tails around at all. The Lekku have their brains in them. They are also very sensitive. The only time they wrap it, is usually in more relaxed and comfortable environments, not during battles or fighting.

[Dezzi]

But if they gave us the cool, non-human races from the start, they wouldn't be able to sell them to us piece-meal later!

 

Edited December 30, 2011 by Dezzi

[DarkSeverance]

wow how short sighted of Bioware

Ithorians should never be a playable race. They are way too peaceful to be a Trooper or Smuggler. Although Ithorians have an affinity with the force, even as force users they were never on front lines fighting. Most are scholars, healers and help restore planets. There are very few actual aggressive Ithorians and the few that are were shunned from their society.

 

I would love to see Kel Dor's but also believe they should not be playable races. They were force users but they have a different philosophy than the Jedi, they follow Baran Do Sages. A few did join the order but it wasn't a common thing.

 

These are great background characters but shouldn't be playable races that litter the galaxy. Their roles and history don't fit into Star Wars.

 

The other thing to consider. Every race that gets added to the Republic, there should also be a new race added to the Empire. The unfortunate truth is the Empire looks down on aliens and there aren't many of them. Why do you think you see nothing but humans on Star Destroyers unless they were Bounty Hunters, Delegates, Diplomats, etc. The Empire believes in the pure stock of Humankind or at least those that will pass for it. The Sith Pure Blood are an exception and we all know why, because they have the power of the force. Even they are disdained by the Empire though.

[jimmybob]

I don't particularly like alien monsters as main protagonists. As sidekicks, okay. But name one mainstream (!) franchise where the main protagonist is completely non-human.

 

Well you heard the part about, number one problem with ALL sci-fi, right?

 

BioWare got one thing straight: If you want to involve someone (say, a human) in a story, you have to use concepts he is familiar with. The audience feels with their heroes. And thus, heroes mostly adhere to generally accepted concepts of, say, morality and motivation.

And a Trandoshan (who, by the way, the player gets to know quite well if he chooses to as Jedi Consular) simply has a very alien understanding to, say, killing to what is generally accepted.

 

Two things. One, a player can currently be a jerk Jedi or a kind-hearted Sith or a wishy-washy, back and forth anything. And yet playing a fluffy Trandoshan would somehow be worse? And two, we're again getting into the realm of, "they could have broken the mold and expanded things." I've always disliked how a lot of Star Wars paints aliens with such broad strokes. Who's to say there isn't a colony of peace-loving Trandoshans on a moon somewhere? Use your imagination and any character you make can be anything.

 

And the effort involved (I remember the Lekku being a major pita for the designers) simply does not compare to the result.

 

That may be a good argument for not making a lot of new models that need special things like that. The statement, however, does not explain why they couldn't include models that don't need any weird doo-dads, like the 20 they already have. Arcona, Ortolan, Weequay, Ongree, etc etc.

 

 

Case in point? Take a look around your server. How many people do see playing as Human? How many other races? Might be different on your server, but on mine, for every alien race I see, I also see three humans running by. Every Chiss I see (not counting my own blue toon) is something to cherish and treasure - that's how rarely they are played. And why do I play a Chiss? Because their way of thinking is close to my own.

 

You're assuming that if people want to play as humans more than almost-humans, people would also want to play as humans more than not-humans. Where is the logic in that? I have three human characters out of 8, counting a cyborg. Yet if they had even a few of the NPC races I mentioned, I'd have zero. The only reason I have some humans is because Mirialans are pitifully lame, to a greater extent than any other option, and Zabrak are -nearly- as done-to-death as humans are.

 

 

Yes, in WoW you can play troll and a gnome. But notice something? Apart from having a bit different body forms, they still are mostly human. And even then this method only works because every armour is painted on one of three meshes per race and gender, thus severely limiting creativity in gear design. And helmets on Tauren, trolls and so on mostly look way beyond the event horizon of acceptable design.

In TOR? Gear actually "fits" your character. Try it out. Take a helmet with some sort of shield in front of it (so you can't see the face beneath). Pan the camera until it's inside the helmet. Notice that the face is still there.

 

Obviously if you had some slug-monster, your pants wouldn't work. Nobody is denying that. But, again, all the alien NPC races currently in game wear clothes. They could wear the clothes just as well as our current options could. So, again, not seeing how gear visualizations is a good reason not to give me a Rodian Jedi.

 

Bioware wants to give polished characters to their players.

 

And even IF most people wanted to play a near-human, and Bioware thus didn't want to spend time and money giving alien characters 50 facial options like humans; there's no reason not to include more alien options that you already made for the game. Put a disclaimer up when choosing a Gammorean: "At this time, Gammoreans cannot wear helmet models, interact romantically with companions and have limited facial customization options." Perfectly acceptable. More options is better. Period.

[Dezzi]

The other thing to consider. Every race that gets added to the Republic, there should also be a new race added to the Empire. The unfortunate truth is the Empire looks down on aliens and there aren't many of them. Why do you think you see nothing but humans on Star Destroyers unless they were Bounty Hunters, Delegates, Diplomats, etc. The Empire believes in the pure stock of Humankind or at least those that will pass for it. The Sith Pure Blood are an exception and we all know why, because they have the power of the force. Even they are disdained by the Empire though.

 

SPOILERS

 

Some of the plot points in the game dispel this, actually. As it is, the Sith Empire is undergoing a sort of renaissance when it comes to xenophobia--they're becoming much more accepting or other species. Some of the characters you meet make mention of this (on either side of the debate) and in fact, the entire arc of the Sith Warrior plot on Korriban involves this issue and how the Sith are changing their view of non-humans.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Dezzi

[Eternety]

3 words, paid race change.

 

Micro transactions are coming it's just a matter of time.

[genghiscon]

The races were the only real thing that dissapointed me about this game. There are so many great, iconic SW races that should have been. At least give us Duros, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari...

[jimmybob]

Ithorians should never be a playable race. They are way too peaceful to be a Trooper or Smuggler. Although Ithorians have an affinity with the force, even as force users they were never on front lines fighting. Most are scholars, healers and help restore planets. There are very few actual aggressive Ithorians and the few that are were shunned from their society.

 

Errr. Never watched the original Clone Wars? Look up Roron Corobb. And you said it yourself: "MOST". Star Wars is all about exceptions and flying in the face of the odds, really.

 

I would love to see Kel Dor's but also believe they should not be playable races. They were force users but they have a different philosophy than the Jedi, they follow Baran Do Sages. A few did join the order but it wasn't a common thing.

 

Again, have you even played this game? You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Kel Dor Jedi. Just because a particular species has its own Force tradition doesn't mean every force-sensitive Kel Dor born in the entire galaxy is going to flock to the Sages.

 

The other thing to consider. Every race that gets added to the Republic, there should also be a new race added to the Empire. The unfortunate truth is the Empire looks down on aliens and there aren't many of them. Why do you think you see nothing but humans on Star Destroyers unless they were Bounty Hunters, Delegates, Diplomats, etc. The Empire believes in the pure stock of Humankind or at least those that will pass for it. The Sith Pure Blood are an exception and we all know why, because they have the power of the force. Even they are disdained by the Empire though.

 

By your own logic, the Empire will consider hiring a bounty hunter regardless of species. So there is no reason BH's couldn't have more species added. And bringing up my earlier point about exceptions, I'm not that far into any of my Sith characters but I've already run into two or three "alien" Sith. So even for an avid role player, I don't see adding new aliens to the Empire as much of a game-breaker.

[DarkSeverance]

Some of the plot points in the game dispel this, actually. As it is, the Sith Empire is undergoing a sort of renaissance when it comes to xenophobia--they're becoming much more accepting or other species. Some of the characters you meet make mention of this (on either side of the debate) and in fact, the entire arc of the Sith Warrior plot on Korriban involves this issue and how the Sith are changing their view of non-humans.

It doesn't dispel it, it validates it. It does through storylines and storytelling allow for the telling of the Sith Empire to change their views. But this is also what the Purebloods believed to be a thinning of their blood. One of the reasons they didn't liked more humanoid races because breeding wise, they didn't feel like it tainted their blood as opposed with aliens. None of this though happens overnight so you can't expect to suddenly see alien races all over in the EMpire. And ultimately it does fail... as a society what is known as the the Sith Empire falls and vanishes. The remnants of what was left later becomes reborn as Galactic Empire under Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

[SaulGoode]

I would love to have some Togruta Jedi. But I don't agree Twi'lek should wrap their Tails around at all. The Lekku have their brains in them. They are also very sensitive. The only time they wrap it, is usually in more relaxed and comfortable environments, not during battles or fighting.

 

Ah ok, I didn't know that, well how about on their shoulders? Would that work? But I think that would create some graphic glitches with armor.

[DarkSeverance]

Errr. Never watched the original Clone Wars? Look up Roron Corobb. And you said it yourself: "MOST". Star Wars is all about exceptions and flying in the face of the odds, really.

The Movies and the novels are all about exceptions. The game on the other hand isn't entirely that, as opposed to creating a more accurate picture of the galaxy. Adding a race that is supposed to be a 'small unique' amount never ends up small and unique.

 

Again, have you even played this game? You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Kel Dor Jedi. Just because a particular species has its own Force tradition doesn't mean every force-sensitive Kel Dor born in the entire galaxy is going to flock to the Sages.

They are that, prominent figures. Again it doesn't make them the norm. Our characters are the norm. If everything was to be like the movies, then everyone should be able to force choke, levitate, force push... but lorewise and storywise that isn't true.

 

By your own logic, the Empire will consider hiring a bounty hunter regardless of species. So there is no reason BH's couldn't have more species added. And bringing up my earlier point about exceptions, I'm not that far into any of my Sith characters but I've already run into two or three "alien" Sith. So even for an avid role player, I don't see adding new aliens to the Empire as much of a game-breaker.

Again these are background characters and there for flavor. When you add a race, it is not longer flavor or a background character... they become the representation as the majority.

 

Also it is expected to see mostly humanoid races. You have to leave something to be desired to be added in expansions. They might even invent some new races, write into the stories that probably later become wiped out with the Sith Empire... who knows. A good portion of this time period hasn't fully been written yet. Also a good amount of control still resides with Lucas and he is very particular about things ruining canon.