Star Wars: The Old Republic Sarlacc Enforcer Q&A
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GS: We also understand that the enforcer class is a powerful combatant, with such damaging abilities as "super death ray," "ambush," and fearsome damage-over-time skills like "digest" and "regurgitate." Give us a sense of the profession's role in combat. How will this class contribute to a group in battle?
DS: Well, this is a stealth class, so the soloing experience of the Sarlacc enforcer is going to be a little slow. [This character] spends a lot of time slowly sneaking into position before unleashing potent close-ranged attacks, such as "devour." But once exposed, the enforcer heavily relies on companion characters to lure enemies close, so he/it can unleash his/its close-ranged attacks. However, the enforcer shines in a group, especially when paired with a Jedi consular that can knock enemies toward him. At this point, the Sarlacc enforcer can use his/its powerful suite of damage-over-time abilities, like "digest" and "regurgitate."
Player versus player [combat] is where this class really shines. As you may know, we're really trying to make physics a big part of our game experience--many of our class abilities rely on physics. A lot of games use physics, but we felt with the enforcer, we could really do something unique. As such, any enemies that use physics-based abilities near this class will find that their physics arc is adjusted. For example, if bounty hunters use the "rocket jump" ability, they may find themselves drawn within the reach of the enforcer, at which point, the enforcer can use powerful snare attacks to immobilize the bounty hunter. Then, the enforcer can start using more powerful attacks.
Still, in our early play tests, the Sarlacc enforcer wasn't landing a lot of kills in PVP, so we added a slightly more controversial feature: Any enemies that you kill in PVP suffer permadeath. [Editor's Note: This means that if your character is killed, it is dead forever and may not respawn. Ever.] I know it sounds extreme, but it made things instantly more balanced and really captured the sense that your enemies are being digested over 1,000 years.
