Just about everyone who has dropped into Star Wars: The Old Republic has wondered just what the heck that Legacy system found next to their class leveling screen is and what it will do when BioWare adds its full functionality to the game. Luckily, Game Director James Ohlen has revealed that not only does it give players’ characters residing in the same server a surname, but unlocks abilities and perks for each of them to use as well.
To explain why a Legacy system was created for the game, Ohlen detailed why legacies are so important to Star Wars in the first place:
“The Legacy tree is basically a family. So think of Star Wars, it does have a lot of family elements in it. The most famous family relationship in cinema almost is Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. So with the Legacy system, you can make your characters the sons, daughters, brothers, friends of your main character. All of the characters you have within the family tree that you’ve created, they all gain experience.”
Experience for a player’s Legacy will be gained by partaking in battles, while having multiple characters rolled on the same server and account will increase the amount of experience earned. Completing Flashpoints and Operations will also earn players Legacy experience.
In addition to the abilities and perks, those who have unlocked their Legacy by completing Act 1 and after full functionality is granted will be able to acquire “bind on Legacy” items. The perks themselves can range from new attacks to customizing the experience of other character’s on a player’s account.
“You create a Jedi Knight, you level him up to level 40 and then you decide you want to try out the Smuggler,” said Ohlen. “Because you’ve already got the Legacy open, you’ve got some Legacy levels, you’ve got some Legacy points… you can actually buy some perks for your Smuggler character, so he might, for example, be able to buy a speeder bike at a much earlier level than your first character, allowing you to travel through the world faster.”
The way that future alts gain experience can also be tweaked through the Legacy system. Say a player prefers partaking in PvP with his or her second character, he or she “might” be able to customize it so that the alt gains more experience by taking on members of the opposing faction.
As for members of this extended family ever actually meeting, Ohlen stated that BioWare is hoping to make it possible.
“Obviously that’s kind of the dream,” he replied. “If we do something like that, it will definitely be in the future.”
Those who only like rolling a single character and sticking with it won’t have to feel forced into creating new toons. Ohlen has assured the public that there will be Legacy benefits for those types of players as well.
“We’re being careful, because we don’t want to make it a requirement for you to have certain Legacy abilities to finish a high-level Operation, but there will definitely be perks for players who just keep with their single character,” he explained.
The Legacy system will continue to be fleshed out as BioWare brings more updates to the game. Until then, enjoy gaining experience and levels in order to fully enjoy the system when it does.
[G4]
Wow, really neat feature. I’m still waiting to pull the trigger on the game for a bit though.