Star Wars: The Old Republic Developer Blog

BioWare's official Star Wars: The Old Republic website has been updated with a new developer blog entry penned by lead combat designer Damion Schubert. In it, we learn about the design process that was taken in order to breathe life into the Trooper class.
With the Trooper, we took a lot of inspiration from Stormtroopers and Clone Troopers from the movies. We knew we had an archetype that inspired a lot of fans, but, to say the least, the classic movie depictions are not exactly heroic roles heck, Episode IV Stormtroopers probably couldn't hit the wall in a 10x10 room. This is improved to some degree by the new Clone Wars animated series that has come out, but you're still not talking about fantasies on par with playing as Obi-Wan.

And while we didn't want to bog ourselves down too early with MMO details, we couldn't ignore balance and fairness, especially in PvP, which raises a central question: How does a Trooper hold his own against a Sith? Sure, the Trooper can be at a pretty severe disadvantage if he finds himself within melee range of a lightsaber-wielding maniac, but if a Trooper engages any other class on his own terms, he should have better-than-even odds.

It turns out that a Trooper facing off against a Force user isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. Lest we forget, it was the Clone Troopers who established that Jedi were mortal during Order 66.