We stopped by BioWare's E3 booth to get the latest news on Star Wars: The Old Republic's raids, an epic Alderaan quest and more!

Star Wars: The Old Republic has become a yearly ritual at E3 – stop by BioWare’s booth, drool over the latest CGI trailer, and get endlessly teased by the morsels of gameplay on display. For those keeping score, it’s been nearly three years since the game was announced. The news recently broke that its release date was pushed back to late 2011. Thankfully, BioWare has doled out a continual stream of new information to keep us happy and docile, like the recently revealed Advanced Classes page.

At E3 this week, Bioware focused on three main game features: raid content, the Galactic Cold War, and an epic quest on Alderaan. Keep reading after the jump for details from our visit to the booth.

Operations

The Eternity Vault promises to be Star Wars: The Old Republic’s first raid, which BioWare is calling an “Operation.” Taking place on the snowy planet of Belsavis, players must fight their way to the heart of a mysterious complex and eliminate a danger that threatens both Sith and Republic factions. A two-minute trailer of the operation showcased dozens of Jedi, Troopers, and Smugglers surging forward to take down base defenses.

Eternity Vault Trailer

BioWare promises that the Eternity Vault will contain a myriad of sub-objectives that will challenge even the most coordinated guilds. Seeing an army of lightsaber-wielding Jedi swarming a target was definitely one of the coolest moments during the VIP demo that we received. However, while in-game, scripted footage of the operation was impressive, I found myself wishing that BioWare had shown us some raw video that went beyond two minutes of cinematic polish.

Naturally, developers were tight lipped about the number of operations Star Wars: The Old Republic will initially ship with, along with the maximum number of players an operation can accommodate. Players can take part in operations once they hit level 50.

Alderaan

During the demo, we stopped by Alderaan to take part in an epic quest to dispose of a rogue Republic general. This phased fight really showed off the advantages of having a balanced group. Many of the sub-objectives required to defeat the General involved class-specific tasks. For instance, a Jedi Consular ripped up chunks of the floor and flung them at susceptible targets. To disable the shield emitters protecting the General, a Smuggler requisitioned a missile launcher dropped by one of the General’s lieutenants. Finally, a Trooper laid down suppressing fire to add range DPS while a Jedi Knight tanked all the mobs that spawned to protect the main boss.

True to form, BioWare avoided completely spoiling the quest by ending this segment of the demo just as the main fight was about to begin.

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