Many people these days have their personal deliveries sent to their office because they want to guarantee someone is present to accept the delivery. Today is no different when the Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector’s Edition arrived via UPS at the office. So sitting here in a cramped cubicle surrounded by co-workers that really do not even show up on any Nerd/Geek/Tech scale and are not even aware of where I sit on that scale; a choice must be made. Does this package get opened now or later?

The work environment is a tricky place where you have to balance professionalism, camaraderie, and a sense of decorum. When there are no co-workers that share your passion for Star Wars or anything resembling video games, do you think they would look at you funny when you pull out a large statue of Darth Malgus?

You might be lucky if you work somewhere where they might be accepting of your Geek side, but what happens when you squeal like a girl when you pull out that statue? Will you really be able to live that down? I’m not sure I could. This collector’s edition is something special that might just need the privacy of your own home to open up and enjoy. The only issue is the strong pull of an unopened box sitting at my feet that I’m not sure I’ll be able to withstand until the end of the work day.

So the question today is: If you received your SWTOR Collector’s Edition at work, in front of all your coworkers, would you open that box in all of it’s glory?

We’ve known for some time that you will be able to gear up your companions with gear. This is new for any major MMORPG release to date. Everyone is used to collecting gear for their own character and then selling off or vendoring gear that they don’t need or want. With Star Wars: The Old Republic you’ll find that this isn’t the case any more and players will have to start thinking differently.

You will be introduced to your first Companion Character early in your adventure. But as you become more seasoned, more will rally to your cause. As you travel with your Companions and get to know them better, they will not only become more powerful but they will also introduce you to a unique series of quests and rewards. Furthermore, you will be able to enhance your companions by equipping them with various gear.

While we’ll all have one companion early on in the game, everyone will eventually get a whole crew of players. This means everyone will have to gear up a whole crew of companions and that means more gear than players are used to organizing. Players will have to start thinking about a hand-me-down system. If you’re a Bounty Hunter, and a random item drops that you can use and typically you would either sell or trash the older item. Now you will be able to actually make use of it by giving it to your companion that can use similar equipment types. Every time an item drops, you’re going to have to first think, “Do I have any companions that can use this?”

Finding new equipment is now a double upgrade. Not only do you benefit from new gear, your companions will as well.

This will most assuredly effect the player market. There will be an increased demand for items, whether they are player made or drops. The crafting system will, no doubt, benefit from this. There will most likely be a higher demand for those green/blue items that player can craft in the mid-levels that most often get skipped over.

The only question remains is if my ship will have a big enough closet for all of this stuff!

Welcome to Don’t Drink and Force Push, a brand new column by Jason Dodge, a/k/a/ Draegan, that will hopefully bring you something worth reading in the days ahead. What I’m going to attempt to do here is bring you some community news, musings, and whatever I feel like on a (mostly) daily basis. Now you might be wondering why I titled the inaugural post “Wookies and Cream”, and it’s a good question. Unfortunately I don’t know why, but I thought it sounded funny.

In any case, the news of the previous few days is that BETA! is starting this weekend. I’m sure everyone who got invited for the first time are extremely excited and those who got left out are cursing their names even as I type this. I’ve BETA! tested many MMORPGs to date, and I’ve always loved doing so. You get your hands on the game early, play for free, and generally see what the heck everyone is talking about. Most people who do get to try it out make their final decision on whether or not they’re going to buy the game as well.

I think Star Wars: The Old Republic’s BETA! is in a different category. The game is extremely story-centric as we all know and a lot of the gameplay and enjoyment is going to be derived from that if KOTOR is any sort of guideline. Does testing early ruin the game for anyone? Heck, even the different leak sites out there spoiler the NDA breaking infoz. I can safely say that playing and viewing the game at PAX 2011, outside the gameplay, almost everything ties your character to the story, even killing 10 womprats.

Now I’m sure all gamers just want to play and I don’t blame them at all since I’m one of them. However, does the fact that the game is fully story drive affect the way you’re going to play the beta if and/or when you get in?