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[Dave]

In the wake of the spectacular failure that was Star Wars Galaxies, the next Knights of the Old Republic game will be an online MMORPG.

My opinion of KOTOR 2 was mixed but positive in terms of the sheer lightsaber slaughtering fun. The first Knights of the Old Republic, while amazing in some ways was way too linear (KOTOR 2 has more sidequests, but in all honesty it too suffers from a lack of sandbox play).

I was originally very excited about Star Wars Galaxies. I love the setting, I liked how they handled the Rebel vs. Imperial stuff, I liked that it was skill-based rather than stat-based. I wasn't, however, keen on shelling out a monthly fee, so I got my kicks from KOTOR 2 instead. It was very, very tedious to become a Jedi in the first version of SWG (and Jedi could be permakilled after 3 deaths). It was a huge investment of time. For a pay-by-month, it was too huge of an investment, in my opinion. The changes Sony later implemented (the Combat Upgrade and the New Game Experience) gutted the original game and made Jedi too easy. Honestly, I think the only solution (apart from preventing ANY Jedi) is to make the Jedi very, very rare (no permakill) AND create one server where it's easy to be a Jedi and they're all hopping all over the place. That way players could choose the playing experience they'd prefer.

KOTOR 3 is a different situation because Jedi were everywhere in that era. I'm guessing the servers will be Jedi vs Sith 24/7. I don't know what they'll do to balance the other character types. Jedi/Sith *should* be more powerful than other characters, so maybe you balance it with gameplay elements...certain quests that only non-Jedi can complete. Also it will be BioWare's baby, not Sony's.

I'm not big on pay-by-month or subscription based gaming even though I realize it's the future of gaming (and even though I probably wouldn't mind if I had that cash to burn). I'd be happier if you could play on free servers like Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty have. Hell, I'd probably pay for my own server if KOTOR 3 allows it. That would be great, but I won't hold my breath.

[Deb]

My children would never see me...