Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews
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I know I'm not alone in my desire to play a grey character. I imagine most role-playing Smugglers and Bounty Hunters will probably want to do the same. Studio Director James Ohlen is one of those people, so he understood my plight. "That's my play-style too," he told me. "We've been investigating a lot of possible solutions."
The plan is to make the Light side and Dark side system more of a "customization," according to James Ohlen. Players who really delve into the Dark side of the force will begin to see their characters grow pallid, and look more and more Darth-esque. Light side characters won't see the same sort of transformation, as traditionally in Star Wars lore do-gooders don't undergo a physical transformation.
The gear with the alignment requirements is a continuation of this idea. I noticed that for every Dark side piece in the Commendations store there was a light side piece with equivalent stats. Rather than risk making one side more or less appealing for the hardcore gamer because of a stat imbalance, the difference will be in the way it looks. Republic-side Jedi who follow the dark path will, for instance, be able to obtain Luke Skywalker's uniform from Return of the Jedi.
That doesn't help neutral players like myself, but the solution may come soon. "We have a plan for [grey items]," Ohlen told me. "It's not in yet. It's something that's very near and dear to the hearts of the writing team in particular." Will neutral players have something concrete to look forward to by the Old Republic's launch in a couple of months? "We'll get a few things in," Ohlen says.
