Bounty Hunter Archive
Thread: PROPOSAL: Bounty Hunter Reputation System Comments Please
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Kelb
Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:30 pm
#1
DISCLAIMER: This is a first draft proposal. I have thrown together a few ideas here that I think would benefit the Bounty Hunter profession. I think this idea has great potential, but I would love to hear comments and suggestions on how it could be improved. I have attempted to keept the scope limited, as I would like SOE to see this as a really feasible idea. Thanks in advance for your help.
Purpose:
This proposal aims to add more depth to the Bounty Hunter Profession, and making available some recognition for those exceptional and accomplished Bounty Hunters who are very successful at hunting Jedi (and potentially other player marks). This would help to make a distinction between those (PvE) bounty hunters who have adopted the profession for its excellent defenses and damage-dealing abilities and the dedicated (PvP) manhunter.
[This may have the added benefit of alleviating the common complaint that Bounty Hunters should have something to lose in their Jedi encounters as a balance to the potential xp loss that faces the Jedi.]
Overview:
Each time a Master Bounty Hunter completes a mission, he will be awarded the usual amount of "Bounty Hunter Experience" and an equal amount of "Bounty Hunter Reputation".
In order to access missions for players on a Bounty Hunter Mission Terminal, a Bounty Hunter must have a certain amount of Reputation (the specific amount will vary depending on the nature of the player bounty mission in question). If the Bounty Hunter does not have enough Reputation, he will need to rebuild his good name, by running NPC bounty missions.
Upon completion of a player bounty mission, the Bounty Hunter will as with any other bounty, gain both experience and Reputation. When a player bounty mission ends with an unsuccessful disposition, however, the Bounty Hunter will lose an amount of Reputation determined according to the specific disposition and the nature of the bounty mission.
A variety of special perks should be made available for purchase by Bounty Hunters who have attained a great enough amount of Reputation. These items would be bought and paid for using Reputation as currency.
Gaining Reputation:
After attaining the Master Bounty Hunter skill box, a character will start gaining Reputation at the same rate he/she gains Bounty Hunter Experience.
This is functionally similar to the fashion in which master pilots currently receive Pilot Prestige, but different in that a Bounty Hunter should continue to receive Bounty Hunter Experience which can be converted to Force-Sensitive Experience should the player choose to do so. Reputation is not experience and therefore could not be exchange for Force-Sensitive Experience.
Successful completion of any bounty mission (player or NPC bounties) will result in gaining Reputation, however if a bounty hunter's reputation exceeds 10k, he/she should not gain more from NPC bounty missions. In the event that bounty missions versus smugglers and other bounty hunters are implemented, they should not allow the bounty hunter to elevate his experience above 50k or 100k respectively.
Reputation Needed to take Player Bounty Missions:
In order to take a bounty mission for a player target, the Bounty Hunter must have a Reputation at least equal to the total amount of Reputation which could be gained by successful completion of the mission.
Proposed Changes to the Bounty Hunter Mission Terminal UI:
Ideally, the user interface of bounty hunter mission terminals should be adjusted. Just as standard mission terminals have tabs for "deliver" and "destroy" missions, the bounty hunter mission terminal could have tabs for "standard" (NPC) and "high-risk" (PC) bounty missions.
The "high-risk" tab should only display missions that the Bounty Hunter is eligible to take (i.e. has a good enough Reputation to qualify for). Ideally, this tab should also only display missions for targets that are currently online.
Unsuccessful Mission Dispositions:
There are four types of unsuccessful mission dispositions. "Failed", "death", "timeout", and "abortion". The specific dispositions and their impact on Reputation are as follows:
- Failed: Another bounty hunter completed the mission resulting in a "Mission Incomplete" message. This outcome is sometimes unavoidable, therefore in the case of a "failed" mission, a bounty hunter is neither rewarded nor penalized. This results in no change in his/her Reputation.
- Death: The bounty hunter is defeated by his/her target. While being killed by a mark is not good for a bounty hunter's reputation, he or she has at least attempted to carry out the contract, so the penalty is the loss of one half of the total amount of Reputation that could have been gained for a successful mission completion.
- Timeout: The bounty hunter fails to complete the mission within the allotted time (72 hours). A bounty hunter who accepts a contract and holds it but never hunts his/her mark is a poor bounty hunter, and earns a poor Reputation. In the event that the mission times out, the bounty hunter is penalized by the loss of an amount of Reputation equal to the full amount that could have been gained by successfully completing the mission. Additionally, (if player bounties on BH and Smuggler get implemented) a bounty hunter who holds a mission, may stand a chance of having a bounty issued for him/her. [Can anyone suggestideas how this could be implemented to minimize the possibility of timeouts because a mark doesn't come online or leave his/her house, etc? Perhaps a kick-door option fora BH whose mark is in a private structure? Admittedly, I'm reaching here.]
- Abortion: The bounty hunter chooses to abort the mission. Only the worst bounty hunters abort missions. Such a bounty hunter cannot be trusted to complete an important contract, and their Reputation reflects this. A bounty hunter who aborts a mission is penalized by the loss of an amount of Reputation equal to twice the total amount that could have been gained by successfully completing the mission. Additionally, (if player bounties on BH and Smuggler get implemented) a bounty hunter who gets in the habit of aborting missions, will be very likely to have a bounty issued for him/her. [Yes this sucks when you realize that your mark is your Guild Leader's alt, but noone ever said a bounty hunter's life was an easy one. Besides think of the great RP potential here.]
Added Perks for a Good Reputation:
A variety of perks could be made available to those bounty hunters who gain a good reputation. A few ideas follow:
- Special Titles such as "Manhunter" (25k Reputation), "High-Risk Bounty Specialist" (50k Reputation), "Elite Bounty Hunter" (100k Reputation), or "Jedi Hunter" (200k Reputation) could be available to qualified bounty hunters.
- Gadgets could be made available for purchase using bounty hunter reputation (or alternatively could be certified to bounty hunters who have certain prerequisite levels of reputation). Such gadgets could include a wrist-mounted flamethrower or hold-out rocket darts (such weapons need not be unbalancing - stats might be equivalent to a good scatter pistol, but think about the cool factor).
- Personal Informants - Perhaps a Bounty Hunter with sufficient reputation could use certain NPCs other than just SpyNet Operatives as his own private informants. This could be classes of NPCs (e.g. Bartenders or same-faction troopers), or perhaps the BH could convert a specific static NPC of his choice (e.g. the chassis broker in the Bestine Starport or Victor Visalis in Bestine) to function as his personal informant.
- [Need some more ideas for cool perks ... anybody have some suggestions?]
[added comments on the "Timeout" mission disposition]
Message Edited by Kelb on 07-07-2005 10:09 AM
Hav0c
Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:31 am
#3
Very good ideas but I think our other 'normal' brothers and sister Professionsneed some love as well before anything like this gets looked at.
Kelb
Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:12 am
#4
bump to rise above the "OMG PUB 20 SUX0RZ!!!!11!!111one!111!" posts
[this may not have been the best timing for posting anything that doesn't relate to the sky falling]
Cloake
Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:08 pm
#5
I dont have any ideas on how to make it better cuz i'm tired but i thought it was generally a good idea so i'll give ya a /bump 
Cpl_Fisher
Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:17 pm
#6
only prob I see with this is afk jedi in space or private structures.
Trebal
Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:59 pm
#8
wow. i am impressed. This is a great idea. All of it. I esp like the Tag reward ideas
RAMBOW
Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:11 pm
#9
mmaness
Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:26 pm
#10
Lots of this has been said before....
Only problem I have is being penalized more for taking higher marks may cause more low lvl paddy ganking... just my 2 cents.
I like the idea of getting more content but I think all proffesion should have some degree of end game, maybe not on par with the jedi end game, but a end game none the less (using a system similar to this).
Message Edited by mmaness on 07-07-2005 05:26 PM
lbfoofoo
Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:54 pm
#11
the main problem with the system is that a lot of master bh don't hunt jedi ever. I know several MBH who don't have any desire to hunt jedi.
Kelb
Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:28 pm
#12
RAMBOW wrote:
This is an older thread about an End Game Idea for BH... some of it is inline with this thread
Thank you Sir, I believe I read your post at some point and some of my ideas may have come from it.
Thisproposal is the result ofputting together some ideas that I have seen mentions of here on the forums, some that friends have mentioned in game or on TS, and some of my own, and then trying to shape them into a cohesive concept that could add some optional high-level content without months of coding.
mmanesswrote:
Lots of this has been said before....
Only problem I have is being penalized more for taking higher marks may cause more low lvl paddy ganking... just my 2 cents.
I like the idea of getting more content but I think all proffesion should have some degree of end game, maybe not on par with the jedi end game, but a end game none the less (using a system similar to this).
Message Edited by mmaness on 07-07-2005 05:26 PM
I could be wrong, but I was thinking this would actually make low lvl paddy ganking less common. It is intended to introduce a strong encouragement for completing (successfully or not) the mission you draw from the terminal, whether that winds up being a paddy or a knight.
I am more worried about being penalized for taking marks that stay offline or unavailable in a private structure / space ...
I hadn't realized that was a problem. I would hope that this is structured in such a way as to be 100% voluntary content. No BH should ever be forced to hunt other players, butI seenothing wrong with adding some content for those who do.
lbfoofoohopped through the forest saying:
the main problem with the system is that a lot of master bh don't hunt jedi ever. I know several MBH who don't have any desire to hunt jedi.
Kelb
Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:10 pm
#13
mmaness wrote:
Lots of this has been said before....
Only problem I have is being penalized more for taking higher marks may cause more low lvl paddy ganking... just my 2 cents.
I like the idea of getting more content but I think all proffesion should have some degree of end game, maybe not on par with the jedi end game, but a end game none the less (using a system similar to this).
Message Edited by mmaness on 07-07-200505:26 PM
I just realized what you mean about the low-lvl paddy ganking and I see your point ... maybe there should be an inverse relationship between the potential reward for a mission and the potential penalty ... (i.e. failing a low-level paddy mission would hurt your reputation more than failing a high-level jedi mission)
I will have to think about what the exact equation should be, but I'm sure that is doable. Anyone have a suggestion?
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