IMO Bounty Hunters and Smugglers shouldn't start with a faction.

[Achyra]

Having played the Smuggler storyline (darkside) I'm going to say there is no reason that I wouldn't work for the empire if they offered the creds. I'm a sick little twist, killing and betraying people left and right usually in the name of money. I'm not a "bounty hunter' of course, as I'm generally not hired to kill people, but to move objects and information, which is surely a service the Empire could use as well.

Personally I think IA should have been the mirror for troopers and BH/Smuggler should have been mirrors. They should have had their own spiffy planet to start in and, at level 10, you choose your faction. I suppose for ease you could still keep the BH 'title' as Imp and the smuggler 'title' as Repub (IE you pick your faction and become Bounty Hunter Whatshisface) And form there you would go about whatever storylines were crafted.


Ah well, whatever. I maintain that I'm not loyal to the republic, and took the option to rob them at the end of my storyline. Glory to my bank account!

[Lord Kristivas]

Having played the Smuggler storyline (darkside) I'm going to say there is no reason that I wouldn't work for the empire if they offered the creds. I'm a sick little twist, killing and betraying people left and right usually in the name of money. I'm not a "bounty hunter' of course, as I'm generally not hired to kill people, but to move objects and information, which is surely a service the Empire could use as well.

Personally I think IA should have been the mirror for troopers and BH/Smuggler should have been mirrors. They should have had their own spiffy planet to start in and, at level 10, you choose your faction. I suppose for ease you could still keep the BH 'title' as Imp and the smuggler 'title' as Repub (IE you pick your faction and become Bounty Hunter Whatshisface) And form there you would go about whatever storylines were crafted.


Ah well, whatever. I maintain that I'm not loyal to the republic, and took the option to rob them at the end of my storyline. Glory to my bank account!

That's the most absurd thing I've read in this post.

Bounty Hunters/Troopers are heavily-armored war machines. Smugglers/Imperial Agents are leather-quality-armored, cover-using rogues. Aside from the case where Gunslingers and Mercs use two pistols, they have NOTHING in common except they don't use the Force.

[fawny]

Well, I've made all the points and pulled all the quotes tht are out there. Some people obviously only want to think of Smugglers as greedy assholes, even though the wiki specifically states otherwise, as does the holonet entry on the swtor site. So, believe what ya will, but i'm with Torftw and the wiki on this one. Smugglers would not prosper under the empire, and this game is not sandbox.

No, you are the one who is thinking in an absolutist mind frame, believing smugglers only capable of good, no existing negative quality, BW's take was to not depict the Sith Empire as inherently evil, as well allowing capability of good or evil with every other class, including jedi. Han Solo's progression is only more dramatic because he was basically a "greedy asshole" as you say smugglers are not, before he became a hero of the Rebel Alliance too. By then, Han Solo was not your typical smuggler, I can not even acknowledge he continued the profession... star wars depicts all other smugglers that I know of as heartless scum, only in it for the money. Your poorly thought out opinion that a smuggler is stupid if he fights against freedom, that being represented by the Republic for you is also wrong. If there is an absence of regulation and taxing of goods, then there is no demand for smugglers, which means if the Republic ultimately wins the war, they would have less jobs to furfill. Some smugglers may object to serving the Sith Empire, but that has nothing to do with their occupation, it has to do with them perhaps being Correlian, human centric, not traitors to the republic, but still outlaws, but this does not encompass all smugglers. Even if you were right, smugglers have some kind of incentive to fight against the Empire, which they do not as articulated, it could just be blamed on short sightedness, no one believes themselves they are going to make a difference in a widespread galactic war, so in the end, credits would still decide aliegance, not calculating of a wise aliegance.

[fawny]

Well, I've made all the points and pulled all the quotes tht are out there. Some people obviously only want to think of Smugglers as greedy assholes, even though the wiki specifically states otherwise, as does the holonet entry on the swtor site. So, believe what ya will, but i'm with Torftw and the wiki on this one. Smugglers would not prosper under the empire, and this game is not sandbox.

Han Solo was indeed a greedy asshole, thats what made his progression more dramatic. More taxation and regulation means more jobs for smugglers to furfill, why would they not prosper? Even if you are correct, no smuggler would think that their contribution would be the difference in deciding who would be the winner of a widespread galactic war, so still, whoever payed the most credits would be the most relevant figure to that particular smuggler. (similar to how some hutts and outlaw bounty hunters enforce empire's interest, though they would be better off with republic winning, short sighted you may say) Smugglers who object to working for the Sith Empire, that is because they may be correlian, human centric, are not traitors to the Republic, despite being outlaws, has nothing to do with their occupation and about how they fear tyranny of the Sith ruining their financial prospects... or that some how the profession attracts more noble characters.

[Achyra]

That's the most absurd thing I've read in this post.

Bounty Hunters/Troopers are heavily-armored war machines. Smugglers/Imperial Agents are leather-quality-armored, cover-using rogues. Aside from the case where Gunslingers and Mercs use two pistols, they have NOTHING in common except they don't use the Force.

Because that's not the sort of thing that could have been changed/worked out in development? Obviously it wouldn't work now, as that boat has sailed, but to say it wouldn't have worked is absurd. Smugglers and BH's could have been medium armor with their tank spec being able to wear heavy armor (Like Warriors and Knights already do. Sent and Maur wear medium, but Immoral and Guard are able to wear heavy) Smuggler and BH would have kept the stealth element, and it would have been locked out from the dps/tank AC but allowed for the healing/dps AC. Troopers could have become the SIS, thus being downgraded to Medium armor and losing their tanking AC or IA moved up to heavy armor (which would fit with losing stealth better anyway) and had their story altered to being more 'Soliders of the Empire' and less 'Spy'. Or not; who says those who deal in infiltration can't wear heavy armor?

I honestly find the stories and ideals for Smuggler and BH are similar while the ideals of Trooper and Agent are very much in line. Your comment of 'they have nothing in common' is pretty absurd, since the only difference are based on game mechanics, something that could have easily have been totally different from what we got depending on the whims of the developers. I don't know if you think I'm saying it could be changed now, we're sadly stuck with what we have (Right down to terrible Republic Storylines.) and I'm sorry that daring to think about what could have been is so terribly offensive to you.

[Poodles]

Most of the confusion in this thread is that people are confusing the Sith Empire (EU and prequels) with the later Empire (original trilogy).

Also notice people haven't read the backstory to the classes. Namely Smugglers join the Republic because they broke blockades and saved worlds, thus getting pardons. Getting to bounty hunters, the Empire pays, s that's where they are. The Republic doesn't use bounty hunters.

Keep in mind that's the majority, of course you're going to have smugglers and bounty hunters working for both sides (even if it's not a government contract). It's like the discussion about undead paladins in WoW, yes they exist in lore, but because they're so rare, they can't be played.