Star Wars The Old Republic Classes Guide

Star Wars The Old Republic Classes Guide
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The Old Republic

Gamers have been awaiting LucasArts and BioWare’s MMORPG like no other RPG before it. Blizzard is probably shaking in their boots given that the one game that could easily thwart World of Warcraft is the galactic space opera that has kept sci-fans enthralled for decades. Gamers who are interested in partaking in the experience might want to first get acquainted with some of the gameplay features and functions first, which is why here at Bright Hub we have you covered with a Star Wars The Old Republic classes guide, giving you a glimpse into what the class types are and what you can expect from them.

Classic Character Archetypes For A Classic Franchise

Sith ready to attack

The game contains many of the classic MMORPG archetypes that we’ve come to recognize and love (or hate) as part of the MMORPG growing experience. The typical restrictions of tanks, DPS attackers, mages/crowd controllers and healers all make an appearance in The Old Republic, however they’ve been adjusted to the character archetypes of the Star Wars lore. Hence, you won’t see a smuggler tanking or a Republic trooper healing teammates for the win. No, no instead the classes have been broken down to fit into the sort of class expectations associated with Star Wars characters that actually make sense. So Jedi can be healers or DPS, while heavy troops work as tanks and bounty hunters can be DPS/off-tank to help neutralize or condense on mob activity.

Many of the character classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic also play multiple roles, so as to open up a little bit of freedom on how players can party and team with each other, rather than requiring the exact same classes for all scenarios. The character classes that have been revealed for the game thus far include Bounty Hunter, Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent, and Sith Inquisitor for the Sith Empire; and the Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular for the Galactic Republic.

Bounty Hunter And Trooper

Heavy trooper

The Bounty Hunter and the Trooper class are the opposing forces of the same kind. While Troopers may lack some of the gadgets and gizmos hidden up the sleeves of Bounty Hunters, both classes allow for heavy tanking and heavy firepower.

The Bounty Hunter has the ability to equip a number of tertiary weapons and skills, including jetpacks, flamethrowers and blaster pistols.

The Trooper class is more of a classical tank class with a heavy blaster rifle, an auto-cannon, some nifty shield devices and grenades, of course.

It might seem like the Trooper gets the short end of the stick by comparison but that’s not really true given the game’s still large cache of customization available for each class.

Sith Warrior And Jedi Knight

Sith warrior

This is a very typical comparison of two classes who are very, very similar to one another. The biggest difference between the Sith Warrior and Jedi Knight is that the Sith focuses on dark-side powers such as choke and lightning, while the Jedi Knight focuses more on push, shields and pull.

The Sith Warrior is primarily DPS with the ability to off-tank. At higher levels gamers can probably expect to full-tank with the right stat and equipment adjustments

The Jedi Knight fits into the exact same category as the Sith Warrior, sporting the ability to dish out high amounts of lightsaber damage, while also being viable to off-tank in case the Trooper runs into some trouble.

Imperial Agent And Smuggler

Imperial Agent

The Imperial Agent and Smuggler are probably SWTOR’s most original character classes. They might best be compared to perhaps an archer or a ranger from other MMORPGs, however even then the comparisons are slim.

Imperial Agents have the ability to wield blaster pistols or rifles and can conveniently use wall-hugging or turret shields to get out of a sticky situation. The Agent’s best asset is the ability to cloak and stealthily avoid being detected.

The Smuggler class is a unique counterpart to the Agent, insofar that they have their own ships and can also wall hug, they also have the ability to dual-wield pistols which can disarm enemies or use remedial health packs making them a sort of off-healer for endgame content.

Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular

Using force

These two classes are sort of no-brainers. We’ve covered the DPS classes, the tanks and the off-healers, so that only leaves room for one more classic archetype: healers. Don’t worry, though, considering that this is Star Wars the healers in The Old Republic aren’t the typical pansy-pants healers who can’t fend for themselves. In fact, the healers in SWTOR are closer to the over-powered melee healers in Allods Online.

The Sith Inquisitor relies more on ranged dark side force attacks while still being viable for healing teammates and dishing out damage all at the same time.

The Jedi Consular works more as a full-healer with off-CC capabilities, allowing players to keep the team alive while disorientating foes at a distance using force powers. Both the Inquisitor and the Consular wield lightsabers, however their melee capabilities are limited in comparison to that of the Sith Warrior or Jedi Knight.

Character Storylines And Outcomes

It’s time for a battle

Given that this is a BioWare game you should already expect a nicely detailed story outline for the game. What you may not have known is that each character class has their own story arc that can also be influenced by other character classes based on partying and individual player decision making.

The dialogue system is also a shared mechanic among party mates that allow players to dynamically influence the conversation using a _Mass Effect-_style dialogue system, with various outcomes determined by a player’s character class and their response.

You can find more guides for Star Wars: The Old Republic right here at Bright Hub or visit the Official Website to learn more about the game.