Last Friday, March 20, 2009, Bioware officially and overtly announced the Bounty Hunter as a playable class in The Old Republic.  In addition to a bunch of information came a slew of videos, screen shots, concept art,  and wallpaper that we will soon be adding to our galleries.

The class profile on the official site reveals the Bounty Hunter to be, as we know, very dangerous individuals.  They are called Jedi-Killers because of their advanced weaponry and masterfully made armor, most of which is purchased off the black market.  They say that it is not unlikely for a Bounty Hunter to spend a vast amount of credits on a new blaster while others would buy an entire star ship.

It is also said that Bounty Hunters are frowned on for their means of completing tasks, but are simultaneously sought for their brutal efficiency when it comes to dealing with a target that has fallen off the radar.

The Bioware Bounty Hunter looks alot like the traditional Mandolorian Bounty Hunter  based on the concept art and screen shots that are up.  On the class profile page, it shows a Bounty Hunter engaging his/her jetpack while using their wrist mounted flame thrower.  Sounds alot like our good friend Boba Fett.

Speaking of Bounty Hunting, I cannot help but think back more to the days of Star Wars Galaxies.  The Bounty Hunters in SWG were able to utilize a fairly unique style of PVP th at consisted of them obtaining a quest to take out a certain Jedi, only the Jedi was no NPC, it was one of the few players in the server who was determined enough to unlock their force sensitivity.  The Bounty Hunter would buy tracking droids, both short and long range, and track down their player Jedi target, confront them, and hopefully kill them.  Since Jedi were so difficult, Bounty Hunters would normally travel with a group of people to aid them in taking out the Jedi, usually giving them a cut of the profits.

This leads me to wondering if Bioware will be implementing a similar system involving hunting down a Jedi/Sith and eliminating them for credits and fame.   I must admit, that though the normal styles of PVP in MMORPGs (Battlegrounds and World PVP) are quite alot of fun, they do get a bit old after a while.  I would love it if they were to add a “hunting” mechanic to World PVP to breathe new life into it.

Whatever the case is, this news of the Bounty Hunter Class has doubled my anticipation for this game, I cant wait!