The Old Republic is getting a localised reputation system, which will see players rewarded for completing certain faction-based tasks. Don’t expect to be able to turn the whole of Hutta hostile, though – the numbers only go up.
Each in-game organisation will have its own Reputation track, divided into six ranks – Outsider, Newcomer, Friend, Hero, Champion, and Legend. Reputation points will be earned via new Reputation Trophies, gleaned from certain faction-based missions, and the amount of points you can earn for each faction will be restricted to a weekly total.
The rewards are twofold. First, you’ll be able to visit faction-specific vendors and buy items restricted by reputation rank. Second, you’ll earn Legacy Titles to fit the blank space that’s been floating under your in-game name for a while now. By achieving Friend rank with The Voss, to use BioWare designer Jesse Sky’s example, you’ll unlock the legacy title ‘Honored Voss-Friend’.
Legacy titles, along with everything else about galactic reputations, are shared between all the characters you’ve linked up via your in-game family tree. “The consequences of your character’s actions can span generations,” says Sky, “and heroism is hereditary”. What that means in practice is that all of your Legacy characters contribute reputation points to a shared pool. Oddly but functionally, reputation points gained with a light side faction will transfer over to their dark side opposing force when playing with a dark side character, and vice versa.
“Your Reputation Rank measures the impact that characters in your Legacy have had on the conflict – even if they were on the opposite side of the war,” clarifies Sky. “You will never lose Reputation Points by aiding one side of the conflict – you will only increase the notoriety and political significance of your Legacy in the conflicts to come.”
The galactic reputation system will be hooked up to four organisations at launch, and attached to the following missions:
The Voss -[WEEKLY] Defending Voss-Ka,Voss Heroic Missions
The Gree Enclave -“Relics of the Gree” Event Missions,”Relics of the Gree: Event Bosses
Republic Hyperspace Armada -Hard Mode Space Missions
Republic Fifth Assault Battalion -[WEEKLY] Section X Crisis,Section X Missions
Imperial First Mobile Fleet -Hard Mode Space Missions
Imperial Guard on Belsavis -[WEEKLY] Section X Crisis,Section X Missions
As is the way with modern SWTOR, subscribers get a percentage more than everybody else – 50% more galactic reputation points, to be exact.
In essence, what we have here is another set of bars to increase alongside your XP, legacy XP, and dark side or your light side points, and yet another specialised vendor to reward persistence. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – but it’s another system in a mix that’s starting to look a tad homogenised.
I’m hopeful that, now the systems are in place, BioWare can play with the possibilities a reputation system allows for – unique NPC responses, safe-areas-turned-hostile and whatnot. For now, at least, it’s another yardstick for progress and another tangible reward for some of the game’s harder recurring missions.
Do you think galactic reputations will change the way you play?