Hello Star Wars the Old Republic community. This is a concept idea for adding another dimension to combat in Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR).

Time and time again I see queries in general chat with a new player asking what stats he/she needs for class X or specialization Y. A frequent joke that people come up with is “stack presence bro it will help.” Obviously for PVP purposes it will not. However the concept got me wondering; what if it did? What if there was another class in SWTOR which was purely support in nature? One which used presence as an important statistic?

This gave me the idea of a combat support role which might give combat (in both PVP and PVE) a more complex dynamic. This would mean supplementing the current trinity of damage, tank and healer in group activities. It could instead be damage, tank, healer, and support. Some of your will be thinking “healer and tank is the support dummy what more do you need?” Allow me to explain. Bio-ware has already dabbled with this idea since development. There are abilities within the game which benefit the group as a whole as opposed to just the player who activated it. Some examples are the marauder’s predation ability (speed increase to group) or the commando’s supercharged celerity ability (increased alacrity to the entire group) for a set amount of time.

Imagine a class which specialized in that field; a class which gave many benefits to the group simply by being in close proximity to the support player. The support class could for instance bestow increased force generation on an ally, or increase movement speed for a set time. There could even be an ability which gave a limited damage boost to all damage per second (DPS) players within a certain radius of the player who activated it. Maybe, the ability to pass reserve energy cells or medpacs in combat? I think the potential for creativity here is almost endless which could spice up PVP and PVE group activities even more. I know some of you are going to say that this will just make balancing even more difficult (or even impossible). I respectfully disagree. With carful thought and consideration I think that such an addition could be added without upsetting the “balance” (not that there really is any) and making the game even more fun.

What do you think of another combat dimension? Would it make the game more fun and exciting? Feedback and constructive criticism is encouraged. Have a good day SWTOR community. May the force be with you.