IGNPC: Naturally, the Jedi question is on a lot of minds. We know that you balance the power and numbers of the Jedi with extra danger and obstacles. Tell us a bit about how this works and why you'd prefer to keep Jedi scarce.

Haden Blackman: Basically, becoming a Jedi is meant to be a major achievement in the game. Without giving away too much, by achieving specific things in the game with one character, you can basically unlock a second, "Force Sensitive" character slot on that same server. We're not revealing how this second character slot is achieved (although I'm sure players are going to figure it out, probably more quickly than we anticipate, and post the "secret" online). Your Jedi character lives in a world of constant danger, and when a Jedi dies, he's permanently dead (your other characters will respawn at a cloning facility). Jedi are also targets for NPCs and potentially other players. This will make surviving as a Jedi long enough to advance to Jedi Knight or Jedi Master status very difficult.

We know that players are going to master the Jedi system eventually, and that's probably fine as the servers mature. However, at least initially, we really wanted Jedi to be scarce both to serve continuity and design. During this time period, there aren't very many Jedi out in the galaxy, so it didn't feel right to have most of the player base become Jedi (which would be the case if Jedi were a starting option or even moderately easy to obtain in-game). We also didn't want to "dumb down" Jedi in order to balance them against other types of characters. Jedi are portrayed in the films (especially the prequels) as incredibly powerful and skilled. We knew that Jedi didn't necessarily need to start out as formidable as the film Jedi, but they needed the potential to become that powerful. So, they need to be rare so they don't completely unbalance the game. Finally, we really wanted a significant goal for players to achieve in the game, something that might be considered the pinnacle of achievement. Becoming a Jedi Master is going to be both difficult and rewarding, and I imagine that playing as a Jedi character will become part of the elder game.