Star Wars: The Old Republic dev discusses flashpoints, testing and launch

Bioware associate producer Cory Butler has talked about upcoming Star Wars MMORPG, The Old Republic. Don't know what a flashpoint is? Find out inside.

In a recent interview with Star Wars-themed site Darth Hater, Butler explained the narrative impact of flashpoints and what players should expect from them.

"Flashpoints in Star Wars: The Old Republic are action-packed, story-driven adventures that put a group of players up against difficult foes in sticky situations. Every Flashpoint begins with an exciting story and contains difficult decisions which have meaningful impact on the challenges you'll face, the enemies you'll fight, and the outcome of the flashpoints."

He also talked about Bioware's gamer-assisted test programme, noting that both character creation and difficulty balancing have been tweaked as a result of feedback from the community. Butler said that opportunities still exist to join the ranks of testers and issued instructions on how to go about being considered for the programme.

"Those interested in testing The Old Republic need to be a registered member of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. Once signed up at www.starwarstheoldrepublic.com, they simply need to check the box indicating that they are interested in becoming a tester and follow the instructions provided. To be eligible for possible selection as a game tester you must be 18 years of age or older."

As for launch day, Butler said everyone involved in the project is determined to deliver a smooth experience come the big day and that the team have been "working on plans and backup plans and backups to the backup plans for quite some time now, so we're ready to execute all these plans at launch."

Star Wars: The Old Republic is aiming for a 2011 launch on PC.

Thanks, Joystiq.