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The Old Republic's Trooper is a Monster
Tearing through enemies as the Republic's heavy weapons expert.
October 20, 2011
I wasn't sure what to expect with the Trooper class. He doesn't get a light saber, he can't channel the Force, and he isn't especially mobile during a fight. For the first few levels I was staving off a mild sense of disappointment. Sure he had heavy armor and carried a big gun, but how can I possibly feel like a powerful character when right beside me Jedi Knights are running around with glowing kill sticks and ForceLeaping their way to victory?
At level 18, I feel silly for doubting the Trooper. After a large number of his abilities were unlocked, it became obvious this class was seriously dangerous. He can wear all armor types, though is best dressed in heavy gear to deflect as much damage as possible while he sprays blaster fire across battle zones. Initially his abilities aren't especially exciting. He gets a Hammer Shot, his core attack, that fires off a volley without consuming his ammunition -- his class-specific resource. Most of his abilities do consume ammo, which slowly regenerates as he fights, and can also be swiftly replenished with a recharge ability that's limited by a cooldown.
Though he gets a few single-target damage bursts, like a channeled Full Auto ability that lets you unload rapid fire energy bolts for a short while, gradually it becomes apparent that one of the Trooper's biggest strengths is delivering devastating area of effect damage. His Mortar Volley, which lobs out a succession of explosive rounds, does heavy damage and knocks over whole clusters of weaker enemies in the process. In practice this means you can approach a group of three of four trash mobs, flatten them to the ground with the mortar volleys and kill them before they have a chance to even get up. I don't know how much this ability might be tweaked before the game officially launches, but right now it's incredibly effective, and saves a lot of time while clearing hostile zones on the way to a primary quest objective.
The Trooper gets a lot of other cool abilities as well. His Sticky Grenade is acquired early on, and though it only attaches to a single target, it will detonate soon after, knocking over lesser enemies in the area as well as dealing damage. If you lob the grenade at weak foes, it has the bonus effects of causing them to flail around like they're trying to swat away bees. And by bees, I mean the explosive stuck to their chest. Aside from serving as a nice touch of detail, the affected enemy also won't attack while flailing around, letting you take a few free shots before the fireworks start.
That's not the only explosive in the Trooper's ability list. The Cryo Grenade affects only one target, but has the advantage of freezing them in place for a short duration. Combine this with a few of the other skills, and it doesn't take long to realize how deadly the Trooper can be. Open a fight against a group of weak mobs with a Cryo Grenade to freeze one, follow up with a Sticky Grenade to cause another to panic, then trigger a Mortar Volley to knock them all over and inflict severe punishment. Then when they're all floundering around under the mortars, the Sticky Grenade will explode, piling on the damage.
The Trooper may not use the Force, but is still deadly.
Depending on which advanced class you pick, more options are opened up. At level 10 you can branch your class one of two ways. The Trooper can become a defensive-minded Vanguard, or a damage-dealing Commando. I went Commando, mostly because it meant I could then use the obscenely oversized assault cannons, which when stood on end are about three quarters the size of my character model.
Surprise surprise, I was rewarded with yet more area of effect attack options. The Hail of Bolts ability can blankets an area with blaster fire for a sustained period of time. Used directly after the Mortar Volley, it was incredibly effective at knocking out weak enemies. A Plasma Grenade was eventually made available, that detonates and spreads fire to additional targets to burn them over time for even more damage. By the time I stopped playing the beta, I felt confident going into any encounters, and was impressed with how much more powerful I felt at level 18 than I did even at level 10.
An unexpected side effect of choosing the Commando advanced class was receiving a few healing abilities. I have two at level 18, both of which are pretty effective at keeping me (and party members) alive during standard fights. I can combine them with a Reactive Shield ability that temporarily limits incoming damage, as well as No Retreat, which restores health over time and has a long cool down (essentially the Trooper's panic button), to prove especially hard to kill. In fact one third of the Commando's skill tree (which works just like World of Warcraft's talent tree) is dedicated to healing buffs and abilities. I'm really curious to see how heavily armored, heavily armed Troopers will fare in the live game with a healing specialization, especially in PvP. It seems like the class gets a little bit of everything. Despite not having a light saber or Force powers, I by the end of my time with the beta I didn't feel like I was missing out.
As if that wasn't enough, the Trooper can swap between different firing modes. Called 'Cells', only one of these modes can be active at a time to give the Trooper added bonuses to all blaster shots. I favored the Plasma Cell over the Armor Piercing Cell, because it added a percent chance to ignite targets for a short while, inflicting damage over time. It also lets me use High Impact Bolt, a single high damage shot only usable against targets taking damage over time or who were incapacitated.
The Commando advanced class in action.
If you're a seasoned MMO player, you'll know a lot of these behaviors don't exactly work as well in tougher encounters. Against bosses and in Flashpoints, The Old Republic's version of dungeons, spamming area of effect attacks was a great way to kill the whole party by inadvertently pulling in all kinds of additional enemies. A lot of the knockdown and stun effects also don't work on stronger enemy types, meaning the grenade skills and Mortar Volley aren't quite as advantageous. Even so, damage dealing is the Commando's specialty, and I was still able to output quite a bit of punishment with my single target attacks.
Companions factor into the combat to a far greater degree than I expected as well. Every class in The Old Republic gets unique companion characters, AI-controlled fighters who can be fully equipped with gear and level up alongside you. They come with all kind of skills, and can be extremely helpful during a fight, adding additional damage or providing much needed healing. If you don't really care what they do, you can basically just set them on auto-pilot and the computer will take care of their ability use. If you'd rather have more control over how they behave, you can pull their skill bar onto your primary skill pane, then trigger and trigger the commands manually, essentially letting you play two characters at once. Or, if that sounds like too much work, you can specify which companion abilities you'd like the companion to use or ignore, then hand control back over to the computer. As a nice bonus, they can also be deployed while grouped up in a Flashpoint if one of your party members randomly decides to bail out or take an extended bathroom break.
I've focused mostly on gameplay so far and haven't touched the story, and honestly I'm probably not doing you much of a service by explaining exactly what happens. It should be enough to say the Trooper's storyline is full of double-crosses and opportunities to severely irritate NPCs. Your companion will chime in throughout the course of the adventure, and will agree or disagree with some of the decisions you make, affecting their affection rating. I'll expand on the story angle in another story, but for now I'll say the emphasis on character interaction and providing context and motivation for your quests has a big impact on the experience. I felt like my Trooper had a greater purpose than simply killing 4 droids in a particular area for a quest reward. Many quest goals are still pretty standard for the genre, but at the same time the narrative wrapped around each quest is so well presented with voice-acting, detailed character animations and dialogue choices that it's easy to get swept up in the fiction and forget about the menial kill and collect quest goals.
When the game goes live in December I plan on rolling a Sith Inquisitor and picking up the Sorcerer advanced class so I can specialize in healing, but I'm glad I gave the Trooper a shot. It's a surprisingly powerful class that's a lot of fun to use, and now I'm more excited for The Old Republic's launch than ever.
Also, I know this is a minor point, but I love the armor and weapon designs in the game so far. My Trooper looks like he walked off the set of a Star Wars movie, and there's a hilarious 1970s vibe to a lot of the environments of the game and the clothing and hair styles. For instance, I customized the appearance of my Aric Jorgan companion – an intensely serious warrior – with cartoonishly large sideburns. Hopefully the weapon and armor designs further along the leveling path continue to impress, because for me that's a big part of what keeps me hooked on item-driven MMOs like The Old Republic.
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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!
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