Old Republic Classes 8/19 Update

[Drakhon]

The abilities that SWTOR-Station has listed are presumably the base/common abilities as they're visible on the trainer at level 2. This (click the US/UK flag in the top right if it's in German) only lists one heal for the Inquisitor, for instance, but there most likely are more as part of the Sorcerer's spec tree.

Also, the Inquisitor seems to have a lot of control abilities as is expected of the Consular. We'll have to wait until they finish posting all the classes, but there seems to be more parity between the sides than we've been thinking.

[Vasan]

Yeah much more postive about core gameplay and class parity after I saw this skill information the other day. They seem to have added more information, at some point.

It does seem to indicate that the parity issue is based more on lacking or misleading class information, explaining why some of the dev team didn't want to release the class list in the first place. Few skills seem similar to some old warhammer favorites and some of the better skills in champions.

All the cc's have been a bit worrying, however, but I understand they are aware of how much we all hate stun locks. They can deal with cc overlord with reduced potency, reduced duration, immunity times, longer times and a few classes do have cc resistance skills. Still, scary to see more pbae stuns, knockdowns and damage effects. Even more concerning to see white lion pull come back in the form of "grapple". Grappled and flamethrowered would be a nasty pull in, knockdown, dot combination.

Look forward to seening how they further define the inquistor class(sorcerer) based on control, healing or damage. Suppose the sith assassin class is interesting as well, if you like that sort of thing.

Inquisitor does receive one heal before the classes spilt, then a few more I believe after. What they are exactly we will see. Debates also exists on if the smuggler/agent class will be a backup or main healer. Hope it's another main healer, honestly. Inquisitor heal is 1.5 seconds I believe, and smuggler was 1 second, and at half the force/energy cost. No idea in reduction in heal value.

[Drakhon]

They're putting up one class per day as they have to "transcribe from their notes". Only 6 classes were playable from what they say, though.

Escape (Rank 1) - Level 18 - 500 Credits
Instant - Cooldown: 1 mins 30 secs
Removes the Agent from any stun, fear or movement impairing effects.

Tenacity (Rank 1) - Level 18 - 500 Credits
Instant - Cooldown: 2 mins
Removes the Trooper from any stun, fear or movement impairing effects.

Unbreakable Will (Rank 1) - Level 18 - Credits: 500
Instant - Cooldown: 2 mins
Summon the unbreakable will of the Sith, immediately freeing you of all incapacitating and controlling effects.

Assuming the Inquisitor's different description is just because they're not to the tooltip homogenization phase, it looks like everybody gets a stun/fear/snare break on a short-medium cooldown much as they all get an out of combat self heal and rez (Revive). Not a complete counter, of course, but mitigates some amount of CC.

I find it interesting that they gave stealth to the Shadow/Assassin. I do not think it will be permastealth for them or the Smuggler/Agent, but stealth has always been a complaint point.

[Vasan]

Looking at the nature of the inquistor's early skills, it will be interesting to see how the specific assassin's skills mesh. I am prehaps most interesting to see what skills they will use in combination with their stealth. I can see the smuggler's stealth skills being a more obvious fit with their based, ranged skill set.

CC wise it seems to be that ranged has a few cc tricks, prehaps to keep melee away, but the tanks are prehaps overly loaded down with a broad amount of cc. At least all of the mez abilties break on contact and most non-tank stuns seem brief. Still the bounty hunter skills looks brutal. An ae knock down rocket blast, cone flame attack with stun, five second mez, heavy dps attack on stunned, snare, aerial rocket attack, shield ability, stealth remover, grapple/pull and finally, elemental debuff (the horrible, horrible debuff to own damage type). Just to clear, some of those abilities will be in different advanced skill trees, it's most likely one or the other.

Bounty hunter appears to be a good class to play, at this stage of testing.

Hard to tell why some skill values are all over the place, I don't honestly believe every single healing class has a different casting heal time.

[Vasan]

Some of the class roles and dynamics bring up some interesting points and questions.

For instance, there is a clear advantage from being a ranged tank, and not a melee one, more so with the ability to snare, and otherwise cc mobs. The appearance of ranged bosses and melee bosses that seem to “hop” to players might mitigate this somewhat, as would cc immunities.

But yet the actual character dynamics seem to influence tanking. The sith warrior relies on a rage system to build up skill points to pull off his more powerful attacks. The bounty hunter merely builds up heat that he is required to vent. It’s easy to assume the bounty hunter can queue up his most powerful heat building attacks, fire them off, use his dump heat skill, and then repeat. And all the while the sith warrior is still climbing the ladder of rage building. More upfront dps, equals more taunt.

Still it seems the sith has abilities to compensate for this. First the sith can use stances that increase the rate of rage build up, so as to string up powerful dps quicker than one might assume. Also it remains to be seen what the effects “heavy armor” and darkside auras bring to bear. Will they be better then the bounty hunter shield abilities? Prehaps lasting longer or merely a passive boost? So many questions, so little information.

[Vasan]

Consolidated Class Abilities List | 01.06.2010 , 04:57 PM

Game Mechanics and Consolidated Abilities List

Updated with information from Multi Player Demo 8-8-2010

Caveats: The Dev’s have repeatedly stated that what we have seen are still placeholders. The game is still in flux. My guess is they can give you a basic “feel” for the class, but that’s about it.

This information represents snapshots of the game at several different moments in time.

Notation
The first number listed is the ability’s range in meters (unless the ability is self only).
X-Ym = X meters minimum range, Y meters maximum range
AoE = Area of Effect
PBAoE = Point Blank (Character Centered) Area of Effect
OOC = Out of Combat
CD = Cool Down time for an ability in seconds. The CD starts once an ability is activated.
GCD = Global cool down timer = 1.5 sec
DoT = Damage over Time
dmg = damage
CC = unknown Crowd Control
Channel = An ability the character executes exclusively over a period of time. Interruption cancels the ability.

Notes
Damage:
Damage seems to fall into bins on a linear scale (the exception is Force Choke)
Damage bins from smallest to largest = low(.5x-1x), moderate(1x-2x), high(2x-3x), v. high(3x-4x), extreme(4x+)
Damage also seems to scale ~ linearly with characters level
For rank 1 abilities, x~30
A level 30 SW's Force Choke does ~ 3.3 times at much damage a level 8 SW's the Force Choke.

Notes on Channels:
It appears Force Choke can be resisted which shortens its duration
If appears the SI can cancel Lightning Drain into other abilities

Ability Progression:
The number of abilities as shown by unique icons is consistent with characters receiving 3-4 abilities at level 1, and then 1 ability every even level for the SI and SW.

Types of Crowd Control
Sleep = opponent cannot act, breaks on damage
Stun = opponent cannot act, does not break on damage
Root = prevents opponent from moving
Knock Down (KD) = opponent is knocked to the ground and cannot act until they get up
Pull in= opponent is pulled to character
Flying = A Bounty Hunter can use his jet pack to fly with certain abilities. This puts him out of the range of short range attacks.

Ability Pacing Mechanics
Action Points (AP) are used for the Sith Warrior (Called Rage) and the Jedi Knight
Maximum number of AP = 12
AP pool drains at 1 point/5 sec OOC
Some abilities build AP (positive AP numbers)
Some abilities cost AP (negative AP numbers)

Energy (E) is used by Smugglers and Imperial Agents
A pool that regenerates at a fixed rate
Size of energy pool = 100
Regeneration rate = ~ 3 energy/.5 sec in combat
Regeneration rate = ~ 5 energy/.5 sec OOC
Some abilities restore Energy when used

Force Points (FP) are used by Sith Inquisitors and Jedi Consulars
The size of the pool may increase with level. A level 30 Sith Inquisitor had ~600 FP
FP regenerate in combat, but at a slower rate than energy does
Some abilities recharge FP (positive FP numbers)
Some abilities cost FP (negative FP numbers)

Note: The FP for the JC in the multi player demo looked more like an energy system than a mana system. The pool was ~ 100, the regen rate was 5-6% per sec. The pool supported 2-3 major abilities before being depleted. This was significantly different than the SI in the E3 solo quest demo. There, the SI had a large slowly regenerating pool.

Heat (H) is used by Bounty Hunters
Heat sounds like it’s mostly an energy system. You have a pool (Heat Capacity/Energy) that starts out full (Heat Capacity/Energy). The pool regenerates in combat (Heat Capacity/Energy). Ability usage eats up your (Heat Capacity/Energy). So what’s different? Potentially:

1) Heat Capacity in Mass Effect regenerated faster when your weapon was hotter (the hotter your weapon was, the more rapidly it cooled down). This actually favors running your systems hot for DPS.
2) There is a specific in combat ability (Vent Heat) on a 1 min timer that regenerates a significant amount of heat capacity.

These are the Bounty Hunter level 6 abilities
Missile Shot - AoE damage + KD/High Heat
Flame Thrower - AoE DoT + Stun/High Heat
Rapid Shot - Normal Blaster Fire/Low Heat
Electro Dart - 8 sec sleep/Low Heat
Rail Shot - Finisher like Heat Shot, requires incapacitated opponent/Low Heat
Vent Heat - timer based ability (1min) that restores heat capacity/Purges Heat
Recharge and Reload OOC heal

At low levels, the new system should favor firing off damage + CC ability (missile shot or Flame Thrower) followed by a finisher. At that point you evade and harass the enemy while your system heat discharges and repeat. Vent Heat acts to enhance both your capacity for emergency escapes and your finishing power.

Ammo (A) is used by Troopers
Basic attack does not consume ammo (Unlimited blaster ammunition)
Special munitions attacks like Grenade consume Ammo
Ammo pool = 12
6 Ammo can be refilled every 9 sec with Fast Reload in combat or by your Channeled self heal

Damage Types (so far):
Kinetic
Fire
Energy


Universal abilities
OOC Heal [15s channel self heal/OOC only/60s CD], All classes get an OOC heal, channel heal that heals self and companion, restores pacing mechanics to full except AP]
Revive [10m/5s cast time/Revives a fallen Player or Companion/Common to all classes, unknown if restricted to Out of Combat usage]
Stimpack [restored ~ 25% of health in demo/ stack of 5?/does not activate GCD/30s CD]
OOC Single Target Revive for Companion Characters and PC's (This was seen for the SI, it may not be universal)
Summon Companion Character
Call Shuttle [Home Point Recall/10s cast time/30min CD]

Abilities by Class
Trooper: Ranged Tank/ Ranged DPS
ACs: Heavy Weapons (Very Heavy Armor-Heavy Weapons)/”Super Soldier”(?)
Main Stats: Agility, Endurance, and Cunning.
Fast Reload [Self/Restores 6 Ammo/9 sec cd]
Hammer Shot [30m/multi-hit/moderate dmg]
Rifle Grenade [30m/5m AoE/high dmg/knock back + 2s knock down/4 sec cd/-4 Ammo]
Full Auto [30m/up to 8s channel/moderate dmg for up to 8 sec/stun during channel/-? Ammo per sec channel]
Stock Strike [4m/low dmg/5s knock down/30s CD]
Firebomb [5-30m/AoE/5s moderate DoT/5s stun/?s CD/0 Ammo]
Sticky grenade [5-30m/AoE/3s delay/very high dmg vs target, moderate dmg vs others/3s panic on target followed by 2s AoE knock down/?s CD/-?Ammo]
Carbonite grenade [?-?m/AoE?/dmg?/?s Freeze on target (does not break on damage)/?s CD/-?Ammo]
Weapon Buffs [self/at least 3 different buffs, one at a time? color coded red green blue, blue may augment damage/?s CD/-?Ammo]
Personal Shield? [self/gold colored cylinder surrounds Trooper momentarily, it appears to be a damage shield/?s CD/-?Ammo]

Unnamed Abilities:
Battlefield command buffs enhance companions and party members making parties stronger and more flexible.
Ability to call in air strikes.

Bounty Hunter: Ranged Tank/Ranged DPS
ACs:?
Rapid Shot [30?m/multi hit/4-5 blaster shots low? dmg/Low H]
Rapid Fire with two pistols [30?m/channel?/?dmg DoT?/?s CD/?H]
Rail Shot [30?m/Finisher like Head Shot, requires incapacitated opponent/?s CD/Low H]
Wrist Rocket [30?m/5m AoE/moderate? damage + KD/15 sec CD/60 H]
Rocket that fires from backpack [30?m/?m AoE?/?dmg ?s KD?/?s CD/?H]
Death From Above [?m/AoE?/4s flying/v. high? dmg v target moderate? dmg v. others?/?s CD/? H]
Electro Dart [25?m/8 sec sleep/Low H]
Flame Thrower [10?m/ cone AoE/ moderate? DoT + stun (channel duration + 3 sec)/7s channel/15s CD/25 H]
Carbonite Spray [10?m/cone?/dmg? freezes/stuns target ?s/?s CD/?H]
Cable Grapple [30?m (>20)/pull in + ?s KD/?s CD/?H]
Rocket assisted charging strike [30?m/?dmg + ?s KD/?s CD/?H]
Vent Heat [self/Purges all heat/60 sec CD]

Sith Warrior: Melee Tank/Melee DPS
ACs: Juggernaut (Tank)/Marauder(DPS)
Force Charge [10m-30m/low? dmg/immobilize target for?s interrupts target/15s CD/does not go on GDC/+3 AP]
Assault [4m/3 hit/moderate? dmg/+2 AP]
Force Choke [15m/6s channel/high (see notes) dmg DoT/stun/30s CD/+1AP per sec]
Viscious Slash [4m/high? dmg/-3 AP]
Smash [5m PBAoE up to 3 targets/moderate dmg/5s stun/15s CD/-6 AP]
Impale [4m/extreme dmg/3s KD/-8 AP]
Saber Throw [15?m/3s animation/? dmd/?AP]
Force Push [15?m/KB? and KD ? sec/? dmg/?AP]
Rising Strike [4m/?m AoE? or ?m cone?/? dmg AoE KB and ?s KD/?s CD/?AP]

Passive Blaster/Melee attack deflection: Appears to work against default attacks

Unnamed abilities

Oblique strike + overhead kick
Multi-hit overhead strike (Dual wield)
Oblique kick + oblique slash (Dual wield)
Cross Slash (Dual wield)

Imperial Agent: Ranged DPS/Support/Cover Class/Stealth
ACs:?
Rifle Shot [30m/2-hit/2 shots cause medium damage]
Sleep Dart [30?m/?s sleep/?s CD]
Toxic Dart [30?m/? dmg DoT/no aggro until target drops to 50% health]
Shiv [4m/Moderate?/High? damage strike followed by small DoT/-40E]
Portable Cover [?m/creates cover point]
Show Cover Locations [Toggle/Shows cover location in world]
Take Cover [evasion buff~ 50?% reduction in enemy hit rate/ requires cover point/0? energy]
Snipe [30m/Shoots target with sniper rifle for high? dmg/1s Channel/cover only/-40E]
Laze Target [debuff/enhances damage on target/cover only/+E?]
Exploding Probe [buff/adds ? dmg to sniper shot/?s KD/?E]
Orbital Bombardment [?-?m/?m AoE/? dmg/?s knock down]
Stealth Belt [buff/increases stealth rating]

Unnamed IA abilities
Drone that scans with green light, possibly a healing ability

Sith Inquisitor: CC/Melee + Mid Range DPS/Support
ACs: Ranged/Melee-Ranged Hybrid
Saber Strike [4m/3 hit/dmg appears to be strongly related to weapon dmg]
Shock [15m/high energy dmg/6s CD/-60 FP]
Lightning Drain [15m/3s channel/very high dmg DoT/stun vs weak enemies or 50% movement slow vs. strong enemies during channel/15s CD]
Back Lash [buff/15 sec 50% dmg resistance/120s CD/-60FP]
Whirlwind [15m/15s sleep 1 target + ? dmg ?m AoE DoT up to 6 targets/120s CD/-50 FP]
Electrocute [15m/moderate dmg/6s stun/30s CD/-90 FP]
Discharge [15m/moderate dmg/4s root/requires charged saber, consumes charge/double saber only/20s CD/-90FP]
Overload [10m PBAoE/up to 5 targets/low? dmg/4s knockdown/12s CD/-120 FP]
Lightning Hold [15?m/8s? sleep/short CD/?30 FP]
Vicious Saber [buff (30?sec)/charges saber/melee attacks do high dmg vs incapacitated targets/double saber only/-30FP]
Force Storm [15?m/?m AoR/?dmg ?DoT ?s?stun/?s CD/?FP]
Lighting Push [15?m/2? sec cast time/?dmg large ?m KB ?s KD/?s CD/?FP]
Dark Gift [30m/heal/2?s cast time/moderate hp restored/-60 FP]

Passive Blaster/Melee attack deflection: Appears to work against default attacks

Unnamed SI abilities
Melee attack with a FP cost between 50 and 90 FP
Melee attack with a FP cost of 120+ FP

Smuggler: Range DPS/Support/Cover/Stealth (Scoundrel AC)
AC’s: Scoundrel (Stealth-Support)/Gunslinger (DPS-Persuade)
Flurry of bolts [30m/multi-hit/low? dmg/0?E]
Burst [30m/3 hits/moderate dmg /In cover becomes Flash Grenade/30 E]
Dirty Kick [4m/low dmg/5 s stun/12s CD/cannot be used in cover?/25 E]
Headshot [30m/high dmg/incapacitated targets only/12s CD/0 E]
Portable Cover [?m/creates cover point]
Show Cover Locations [Toggle/Shows cover location in world]
Take Cover [evasion buff~ 50?% reduction in enemy hit rate/requires cover point/0 E]
Flash Grenade [30m/5m AoE/6s sleep on up to 5 targets/20s CD/cover only/30 E]
Thermal Detonator [30?m/5?m AoE/?dmg ?KB ?s KD/?s CD/cover only?/?E]
Charged burst [30m/3 hits/moderate dmg/2s KD/only from cover/45 E]
Barrage [30m cone?/up to 6 targets/2.5s channel/moderate dmg/12s CD/cover only/0 E]
Stealth Belt (for Scoundrel AC) [buff/increases stealth rating]
Heal (Scoundrel) [30?m/2?s cast time/heals moderate? dmg/?s CD/?E]

Unnamed abilities
Blaster Shotgun (For Scoundrel AC, could be item, ability, or a mixture)

Jedi Knight: Melee Tank/Melee DPS
ACs: Tank/DPS
Force Leap [10?-30?m/low? dmg/?s KD/?6s CD/+3?AP]
Force Push [15?m/? dmg/KB? ?s KD/?AP]
Master Strike [4?m/3? hit/? dmg/2nd hit ?s stun/-?AP]
Saber Throw [?m/3s animation/? dmg/?AP]
Slash [4m/multi-hit/? dmg/+2 AP]
Leaping Overhead [4m/?dmg chance of ?s KD/?s CD/?AP]
Spinning Slash [4?m/2 hit/?dmg/?s CD?/?AP]
Charging Slash [?m/2?s use time/appears to be a follow up to Master Strike, perhaps a finisher for incapacitated targets/?s CD/?AP]
Hilt Strike [4?m/?dmg appears to be an interrupt/?s CD/?AP]

Passive Blaster/Melee attack deflection: Appears to work against default attacks

Unnamed JK abilities
Oblique Leaping Overhead Attack

Jedi Consular
ACs: Support+Healing/CC
Mind Maze [?20m/ no aggro from surrounding targets/?s sleep/?35]
Force Push [15m/moderate dmg/3s KD/15sCD/-30 FP]
Force Pull [?15m/pull in/?FP]
Force Slam [15m/moderate dmg/?s stun/8?s CD/-60 FP]
Force Repulse [?10m PBAoE/up to ? targets/? dmg/?s KD/?s CD/?FP]
Blade Dance [4?m/?m PBAoE/?s channel?/? dmg may act as interrupt/?FP]
Benevolence [30m/heal/2s cast time/moderate health restored/-45 FP]
Flying Oblique Slash [4?m/?dmg appears to be interrupt/?s CD/?FP]
Low thrust [4m/Appears to do moderate damage/?20s CD/+30 FP]
Clear Casting Self Buff?

Passive Blaster/Melee attack deflection: Appears to work against default attacks

Unnamed JC abilities
High Kick to Low Saber Sweep - Moderate to High damage attack

Low horizontal Swing - Appears to do low damage, applies status to JC and opponent
Deflections ability that limited to walking speed (Single Saber)

[Vasan]

Additional Game Play Information

Health
Health seems to go up by a fixed amount per level
For Light Classes (Smuggler, IA?, JC, SI?) level 1 health should be ~ 230 and it should increase at ~ 36 per level
For Heavy Classes (SW, BH, Trooper, JK?) level 1 health should be ~ 325 and it should increase at ~ 41 per level

Movement and Positional Play
Player Movement:
There are 3 movement speeds, Walking, Running Sprinting. None of them are limited by a pool.
Running speed is ~ 6.5m/s
Speed running backwards is ~ 5m/s
Troopers with heavy weaponry may be limited to walking speed

Free jumping:
Free jumping is in the game
The character's facing can change while airborne

Falling:
Falling damage is in the game

Attacking while moving:
Characters appear to be able to run while using their instant abilities, verified with Trooper and BH abilities.

Collision detection:
Collision detection is currently enabled (alt least in PvE vs. NPC’s) but the collision radius is small

Target selection:
Targets are selected and characters appear to auto-face nearly instantaneously when an ability is activated. It appears that there is no activation cone for abilities, only a range. In particular the melee abilities and deflection of Force users appears to be independent of facing, and it looks like the upper body will turn to allow the continuous/instantaneous tracking of targets regardless of relative position.

Projectile velocity:
Projectile abilities like Fire Bomb or the BH Rocket ability have velocities of 30m/s and 20m/s respectively

Interruptible animations:
Animations are interruptible. If a Jedi Knight force pushes an enemy, a Jedi Consular could use Force Slam on the enemy while it was still airborne from the Force Push. Also, if an enemy dies during the middle of a multi-hit maneuver, the remaining animation for the multi-hit will cancel. This also has implications for sequential CC. In the one example we have so far, subsequent CC overwrites prior CC.

Obstacles, Breaking LoS and the Cover Mechanic
Breaking LoS:
Any class/mob can use a sufficiently large obstacle to break LoS between themselves and an opponent.
When LoS is broken between you and an opponent, you cannot hit the opponent and they cannot hit you.

Cover Mechanic (easy and intuitive in practice, hard to explain in words):

How do I use Cover in Practice?
You can toggle an ability that identifies all cover points in sight with hovering grey arrows
When you target an opponent, Hovering Green Arrows will show where you can Take Cover relative to that opponent.
Run towards the Arrow you want to Take Cover at
When the Arrow turns into a Translucent Green Gumby like figure (~ 10m), use your Take Cover ability. You will automatically Take-Cover at that Cover-Point.
Now you are harder to hit and some “Cover” only abilities will become available
If you see a Translucent Green Gumby at a better place, use your movement keys to swap your current location for the one the Gumby is at.

What is Cover in Detail?
Cover has a specific meaning within SWTOR. It represents an integrated and environmentally dependent suite of abilities and effects accessible only to the Cover Classes (Smuggler and IA). The terrain in SWTOR is littered with intuitive looking cover points.

Terms:
Cover-Points: Specific locations that exist around certain obstacles that Cover Classes can interact with using their Take Cover ability.
Relevant: Effective against targeted enemy, Indicated by Hovering Green Marker
Takeable: Can currently Take Cover at, Indicated by Translucent Green Stick Figure

How do I know which Cover Points will protect me?
If a given Cover-Point is Relevant for your character against a particular opponent, then if you succeed in Taking Cover at that point, you will receive the Cover Mechanic's evasion-bonus against that opponent.
Whether a Cover-Point is Relevant against a particular opponent seems to be determined by whether the Cover-Point is "between" you and that opponent.
When a Cover-Point is Relevant, a green marker will hover above its location
If you are concerned about cross fire, to be certain of your Cover effectiveness, you will need to select each of the opponents you are concerned about and determine which Cover Points offer the best Relevance.

What do I have to do to Take Cover?
A Cover-Point becomes Takeable when you are within range of it (~ 10m in the demo) and pointed towards it (It’s probably reasonable to assume that only one player at a time can benefit from a single Cover Point).
If you have not Taken-Cover, only one Cover-Point will appear as Takeable.
At Takeable Cover-Points, the hovering green marker is replaced by a translucent green stick figure in the Cover-Pose your character will assume (either Kneeling or Back pressed against the cover while standing)
As a note, these unique Cover-Poses are likely to allow the player and others to quickly visually identify if you have Taken-Cover
When a Cover-Point becomes Takeable, the Take Cover ability will become selectable
When you select the Take Cover ability the character will dive roll to the Cover-Point and assume the associated Cover-Pose

What are the effects of Taking a Cover-Point?
When an IA/Smuggler has Taken-Cover at a Cover-Point the following occurs:
The IA/Smuggler receives an evasion buff (In the demos this reduced the damage the Smuggler was taking by ~ 50%) against the opponents that particular Cover-Point is Relevant against.
Since Taking-Cover does not break LoS, the IA and Smuggler can attack from Cover and be hit by ranged attacks while in the Taken-Cover state
Cover-Only abilities become selectable if their other requirements are met
Abilities not-available in Cover become non-selectable
Some adjacent Cover-Points will become Takeable.
You can move to Take-Cover at these adjacent Takeable Cover-Points without breaking the Taken-Cover state (most likely by using the ordinary movement keys)

Items and Inventory
Inventory Slots (14):
Armor: Head, Chest, Bracers, Hands, Belt, Legs, Feet.
Weapons: Ranged Primary, Ranged Secondary, Main Hand, and Off-Hand.
Auxiliary Items: Ear, Implant, and Heirloom

Item Durability:
Items have a durability statistic, but durability loss has not been observed.

Mob AI
Aggro Levels as indicated by in combat UI indicator:
Out of aggro range
Mobs "looking at you" (blue)
Aggro/in-combat (red)

Proximity Aggro:
It appears that being in melee generates a high level of threat, perhaps greater than damage equivalent to 1/3 of a minions health at low levels.

Cover, LoS, and Range:
Mobs make intelligent use of cover, LoS, and Range

Feign death:
Some mobs can feign death. These were identifiable by a small difference in the death animation. If you do not hunt them down they will attempt to sneak up on you later.

Fleeing and returning to fight:
Mobs can run away in the middle of combat and hide behind obstacles. If you do not hunt them down they will attempt to sneak up on you later.

[Vasan]

Strength
Melee Damage
Glance Absorption

Agility
Ranged Damage
Ranged Critical

Cunning
Tech Damage
Tech Critical

Willpower
Elemental Damage Reduction
Internal Damage Reduction

Presence
Healing
Companion Health
Companion Damage

Making the healing stat increase the power and thus the usefulness of pets is a great idea, much like making strength not only melee damage, but also damage reduction

Sample Character Sheet (bounty hunter)

Stats
Str - 23
Agi - 28
End - 30
Cun - 30
WP - 11
Pre - 11
Health - 400
Armor - 5
Alignment - Neutral

Ranged
Damage pri - (17-30)
Bonus Damage - 3
Accuracy - 90%
Crit chance - 11.39
Tech Bonus Damage - 3
Bonus Healing - 3
Critical Chance - 11.5
Energy Regeneration - 10/sec
Accuracy - 100%

Defense

Damage Reduction - .4%
Defense Chance - 5%
Glance Chance - 10%
Glance Absorption - 31.2%
Resistance - 0

PVP
Bonus Damage - 0
Trauma Ignore - 0
Critical Damage Reduction - 0
Critical Chance Reduction - 0
Damage Reduction - 0

Agility modifies Critical Chance.
Bonus Healing is modified by Presence.
Cunning modifies Bonus Damage.
Damage Reduction percentages given versus current level, and are broken down into four categories: Energy, Kinetic, Internal, and Elemental.
Armor Bonus formula displayed as (EN/KIN)+0.4
Willpower Bonus formula displayed as (ELE/INT)+0.3
Armor Bonus seems to negate Energy and Kinetic damage.
Placeholder (?) formula for Defense Chance Versus Melee and Defense Chance Versus Ranged is 5.0=5.0+0.0
Placeholder (?) formula for Glance Absorption Versus Melee and Versus Ranged is 30.5%=30.0+0.6
Hovering over Resistance tooltip says CUT -PLEASE REMOVE ME
Expertise Rating is possibly modifying bonus damage for PvP.
Triage Rating is a modifier for Trauma Ignore.
Hardiness Rating is a PvP stat, and seems to modify critical chance, critical damage, and damage reduction similar to Resilience.

(information from darth hater and toro)

[Drakhon]

Developer Blog: Designing the Advanced Classes System

Not a whole lot of new information exactly aside from specific names of abilities and spec paths for the Smuggler, but it's nice to see some of their thought process when developing this system.