Development Cycle Archive

I have an update for you on the Jedi Punchlist items. The first items are new Punchlist items and I’ve updated some of the older issues throught the post and towards the bottom of the list I included some cool info from Shug_Ninx:

Crafting stations in the enclaves.

I understand this would be very convenient, but the Weaponsmith crafting station with its current art asset dramatically takes away from the look and feel of the enclaves and it doesn’t passthe Art team'squality test. There are no current assets available at this time. This is a feature request that will have to get tacked end to the far end of the schedule, but I’ve talked to the team about doing that in the long term and they agree. Don’t forget, Jedi will be able to have lots so you can craft in your home and you can also have a crafting droid too.

Ability to drop the Force Sensitive Skills once we hit Jedi Knight.

I’m sorry, but this is not going to change. We’ve discussed this a lot and basically what you are asking is to have the ability to “drop the novice profession” to have more skill points to spend on elite profession skills. No profession has this ability. It would be like being able to surrender Novice Marksman Skills in order to have more points to spend on Pistoleer, Commando or any of the other elite professions that are built on top of the novice profession.

Lightsaber experimentation yields extremely low results, is this intended?

The range of lightsaber experimentation is a small range. It’s not like standard weapon crafting where you might see dramatic ranges depending on abilities and materials. The total range of possibilities is much smaller because we wanted to raise the power levels of low end lightsabers so that novice Jedi aren’t stuck with a lightsaber that can’t really compete with the higher end. One thing to keep in mind is that while it is a smaller range, it will be a pretty good advantage over the long haul to have a lightsaber that has those slightly improved stats.

(It should also be noted that multi-sliced sabers will not deconstruct).

Please consider either adding a quest for color crystals or removing decay just on color crystals. Our number one issue has always been loot components being required in lightsabers. The condition loss on the damage crystals/pearls will already have us hunting for them quite a bit, there's no need to add color crystals on top as they are required just to draw your lightsaber.

The team has increased the color crystal drop rate as much as can be persuaded until we get some live server feedback. We have however persuaded them to include a random color crystal for all converted Jedi for the publish next week, so when you convert your Jedi, you’ll get a color crystal. So next week, there will be your initial freebie and also all the other color crystals already in the economy. We can definitely look at this in the future, but for now, crystal drops are going to remain at their current rate.

*** Please make sure your inventory has room (many slots) and please spread the word.

The ability to color the Robes would be a welcome addition. Even an extremely limited palette would be great, considering we will be wearing those robes for the rest of our gaming life as Jedi.

This was implemented as non-hueable because of art and design restrictions. For the robes to work like armor they had to be created in the engine differently than the other virtual clothes items. Changing the colors once they already exist (as opposed to picking a color during the crafting process) is not possible at this point. This makes it a feature request that would go onto the category of dye kits for armor because they have similar development. This is something that we can revisit in the future. FWIW, there is one issue to consider here and that color also denotes rank. If you change your color, you’d be hiding your rank and that has the potential to lead to some ugly situations. That will also have to be considered.

Please remove boots from the Wookiee robe models.

The robes are a one piece item and would take a lot of work. I’m sorry, but the code doesn’t support an easy switch here. This item is a lot of work and in the future when we can revisit these items, we all feel its more important to pursue getting hoods onto the cloaks.

Please fix the double death penalty (losing 2 deaths on disconnect+killed) This happens with some regularity and is really going to hurt people if they are losing XP each death pre-knight.

Fixed. The penalty is only calculated on cloning now.

Consider increasing the spawn time of the uber camped mobs like the Acklay/Spider etc.

The team said they would consider this, but if I had to guess, Iwould say this happening would go in the “slim chance” category.

Allow people to board shuttles even if in combat On TC2/3 Jedi with force run can engage an overt and dance out of range without attacking to grief them into not being able to shuttle.

No, we cannot allow this. It opens up too many opportunities for grief and PvP exploits.

Allow tailor crafted robes to be wearable over Jedi Robes. And if the art time to produce 120+ hooded robes for all species combos is not possible, please consider allowing tailors the abillity to craft a simple hooded cloak for each needed species that all players can wear. That should only be 6 basic hooded cloaks as wookies already have one. Again, definitely not a priority but a cool suggestion that all players would enjoy.

Each player avatar has a few layers in which clothing can be added. Unfortunately, the Jedi Robes and cloaks take up the same slot. From a technical point of view this would not work inthe same way boots can’t go over boots, etc. The idea of having a single robe type (which would still require 5+ models) is a pretty good idea. I’ll follow up with Ood_Bnar and see what is possible there.

Dismantled my lightsaber when my inventory was full, not sure if that prevented me from getting some pearls back?

*** Please note and please spread the word: It would be prudent for all Jedi to make some room in their personal inventory to prevent any unforeseen technical difficulty in the process.

Can one of the Devs please address the issues of G-4444 not being giving Rank 0?

In Jedi Archives 1 you said all G-4444 were considered master. Yet to get to the Jedi master you need a FR Rank of 9. Don’t see you giving this to us.

In Jedi Archives 2 you said the follow:

Once a player has dedicated all of their skill points to their Force skills they will be able to begin the Jedi Knight Trials. There will be two quest series to choose from, one for the Light Side and one for the Dark Side. Completion of the Trials will give the Jedi a Force Rank of zero as well as a new robe and will allow them to begin the progress through the Jedi Ranks to become one of the most powerful Light Jedi or Dark Jedi in the game. This is the end of the Jedi PvE advancement series. A Jedi may choose to remain here if they wish. Existing 4-4-4-4 Guardians will begin the game where this path ends. This to me even means we should giving Rank 0 to start. So why do all the G-4444 after long months of grinding on the old system, and then waiting around 3-6 months for revamp, have to now spend another 2-6 weeks camping and running around to do Knight Trials.

We put up a follow up post. The reasoning for this change can be found in Keldarin’s follow up on the issue here:

Post Fan Fest response concerning Jedi Conversion

Lastly, in the last Punchlist notes when asked about not having low melee defenses, I made a comment:

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Thundernerf wrote:

Jedi are not being designed to be the perfect solo character that can defend against all other classes. Jedi are not “scrappers” and by definition, Teras Kasi was developed specifically to fight Jedi at close range. This will be especially true when Jedi are given the ability to block ranged attacks back at their opponents. Melee attacks are something the Jedi should be wary of.

---

Well, the comment has been discussed quite a bit and in the words of D. Duck, “Shoot me now”. My intention was to offer a brief explanation that there have to be class balances. “Back in the day” during pre-launch, TK was discussed as the counterbalance to Jedi and my reference harkens back to that.

Vortexala harassed me in the correspondent forum by saying:

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vortexala wrote:

Is this a concept that the Development team firmly believes in?

Are they willing to enhance this aspect of the Teras Kasi Artist in the near future? Or was this just a hurried example put out there to showcase Jedi vulnerability to all Melee professions?

---

To which I replied, "Vort - - this is Star WarshistoryTeras Kasi is a martial art that was specifically designed to combat Jedi. It’s been twisted a bit today and I'll follow up with that."

Vortexala replied:

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I realize that it's part of the Star Wars history (at least, that's what I've read about on the TK forums), but that history doesn't seem to jive to the way the Profession in SWG. I'm simply wondering if the Devs will actually give TKAs a bit more focus towards the whole 'Watcher of the Watchmen' ideal(as well as perhaps an in-game backstory similar to the '19 Questions' for TKA that I posted).

---

With all of that being said, here are the important parts:

• 
  
  No, TK is NOT being balanced by the developers as a SWG profession specifically to fight Jedi. I apologize for the confusion. (This was an old pre-launch discussion point).
  


• 
  
  Melee blocking in the game while not visible is accounted for in the final reckoning. If melee attacks go through, there are innate Jedi Defenses that will protect against this.

Finally, I wanted to go to the source to find out what its all about so I asked Shug, “so what IS the final word on TK?” and Shug_Ninx says that it has not been officially established that it was developed specifically to help combat Force Sensitives/Jedi.

Here is all the data we have on the subject (Thanks Shug )

• A form of hand-to-hand combat, roughly translated into "steel hands, that is taught in the Pacanth Reach, a remote star cluster in the Outer Rim. A mystical form of martial arts, teräs käsi, has long been practiced on the planet Bunduki, where it is taught by the Follower of Palawa. Its practitioners also study history, philosophy, and metaphysical subjects. [SOTE]

• Arden Lyn is a master of teräs käsi. [MTK]

• The patterns of movements are based on the hunting characteristics of various beasts throughout the galaxy and are given names like Charging Wampa, Rancor Rising, and Dancing Dragonsnake. Darth Maul practices the deadly art of teräs käsi. Riding Bantha is a teräs käsi wide stance. The förräderi half twist stance allows the fighter to spring in any direction. The Death Weave is another attack. [DMSH]

• ÄSLAJÄ, BUNDUKI - The Force was not with Jedi Knight Joclad Danva tonight.
  In the evening air of the final purple-hued moon of the season, the formerly undefeated Danva was humbled in teräs käsi combat by new Palawa Band champion Phow Ji. Ji ended the exhausting 47-minute bout with a rancor-rising, aryx-slash, nexu-grin combination.

• "Joclad's failure is just further proof that this ‘force' is nothing more than a myth perpetuated as an excuse to retain power," said Ji (19-0), the home-planet favorite. "Enlightenment and strength is not the exclusive domain of a recluse tower on Coruscant."

• A deferential Danva conceded the contest, but insisted the Force did not fail him. "The art of teräs käsi is about control and mastery of one's self. The Force is the power of all living things," claimed the Jedi. "To go outside of myself and call upon the Force during the Palawa quest would violate the purity of teräs käsi. Phow was superior this day within the confines of the discipline."

• Earlier, Danva and Ji defeated quarter final and semi-final opponents with relative ease. Notable combatants included locals Chaq-Quaj Ee (19-3), Beru Slee (76-5), Celjo Mi (22-7), and surprising finishes for offworlders Lungrolph Isher (Krish 10-12) and Talon Slyter (Draethos 36-19).

• In a quarter-final contest, popular Epicanthix fighter Dux Pike suffered a fatal shenbit-bonecrusher blow from Phow Ji. Pike is survived by his wife and infant twin daughters. [HN.COM55]

We’ll have a Jedi Archives 4 tomorrow and I’ll do my best for more Punchlist follow up next week.

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager

Nice

Jakkin Darkstrider - Master Rifleman/ Master TKA - Sunrunner
"This utopia seems to be more of a Fruitopia"


Combat Balance Proposal Discussion
Jedi Quest System Proposal

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager

Awesome as always TH!

Any word on if right before the Publish you can release the conversion numbers (ie the number of skill points we get based on current skills) in a tree or grid format like we have seen floating about the Jedi boards?

Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Community Relations Manager

How about you make the skills actually DO SOMETHING FOR US THEN. Other novice professions give mods, etc that work for us.

Things like the Enhanced Reflexessurvival line grant us creature knowledge and harvesting yet WE CANNOT HARVEST RESOURCES. I mean, its pretty funny asking us to waste skill points on things that dont WORK.

Thunderhart your comparison of the 24 FSskills to Novice professions is flawed. Novice professions still help thier elite counterparts. The 24 FS skills do practically nothing to help the Jedi that requires them. A Dancer could use his Dances learned in Entertainer for example. A Jedi cant use his surveying skills or melee accuracy from the FS skills. That is why we want the points back. We want to put our points into something we can actually USE.

woops, TH already said he will bring up that point, my bad

I appreciate the update TH.

I still think the skill point dispersion is a poor implementation at the 8/6/4/2 rate. If the powerful skills are at the lvl4 box, then dabbling in a 2 and 4 should be a viable jedi option. This is the main reason folks want to drop the 'useless' force sensitivity skills- to dabble in one other tree. Perhaps to make it more balanced, you remove the skill point cost (or reduce to 1) on the entry skills, then make them along the lines of : 4/4/6/8 which would allow a nicely balanced jedi to dabble in all 5 skills, but still only excel in the 1, or excel in 2 and then have no or little dabbling the others. There are just so many ways I can see this to be worked to be fair, and FUN, which is almost as important.

Still no mention on robe resists? The Defender tree offers fairly weak 'inherent resists' that many other professions already enjoy, but they can wear armor. I was reading up on Jedi, and heck, was playing some more Knights of the Old Republic - Jedi used to wear armor regularly in the Mandalorian wars, since it was a ongoing battle. Later they stopped wearing robes after the war as they had a lightsaber to block most incoming fire and melee attacks. The option was always available. In game terms, KOTR introduced that basic saber moves would be permittable wearing armor, but certain powers required no hindrance or interference of armor- healing and powers, for example. This would allow some Jedi 'warriors' to be the lightsaber/defender specialists, and then Jedi 'healers' to be the robed support/healing/traditional jedi we see in villages and towns. This would fit well with why the Emperor did not wear robes. He was confident in his mastery of the lightning powers to deal with enemies.

PvP/PvE balance wise: I don't believe the Dev team has done enough PvE testing with lower level testing, and has been getting too used to 'maxed out Jedi' , failing to appreciate just how much work it takes to get there. There is a totally different perception on something given to you on a platter, vs having to work for it and do the 'grind'. And why my main Fencer/TKA is still far far tougher in PvE then a Jedi maxed on defence and saber, with not much else they could take points in, is extremely disappointing.

In any case, lack of robe resists/protection is still my #1 complaint and going to be taken into account when I write my final review of the Jedi revamp when this goes live. I will be using quotes from the Dev team in the past, and references to community feedback on how we would rate the Revamp. We're getting there, but still a few sticky issues such as skill point balance and reasonableprotection/resists for a jedi going a powers/enhance route.

Ren

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Oblivion - LVL 90 Elder Jedi (Pre Pub 9 Jedi)
Grebacca - LVL 90 Elder Commando
Farim - LVL 87 Elder Bounty Hunter
Dark-Stalker - Elder Armorsmith/Weaponsmith

Does this mean robes will have typical armour resists (versus kinetic, energy, etc) whether hidden or not?

_Whit Anexus________
http://www.aartanridge.org.uk
FarStar - European Server
Unlocked Fri. 18th June 2004

Jakkin Darkstrider - Master Rifleman/ Master TKA - Sunrunner
"This utopia seems to be more of a Fruitopia"


Combat Balance Proposal Discussion
Jedi Quest System Proposal