Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (6-21-04)
groovysplat101
Sat Jun 19, 2004 5:20 am
#118
We have architects, correct? Except, they're not. Architects design houses, not make them. It would be good if the architects could have "drag and drop" floor plan componants, which they stick together inside the shell of a building. You could have a "Small Tatooine Top Floor", for example, with a "Small Tatooine Ground Floor" underneath, and a "Small Tatooine Basement" underneath. It would fit into the same 2 plots as a small tatooine house, but it would be three times the price. Inside, you could pick where walls and doors were. You could put, if you wanted, a lift to go to basement levels. If you wanted, you could have it so you had a large house underground, but only a small one on the surface.
Also, apparently, there were "vehicle garages" on buildings in the original beta. Maybe, instead of storing items in your datapad, you stored them in your garage? When you add a speeder to your datapad, it says "Control Device Added", or something like that. That would imply that the datapad is able to summon the speeder, but not create it. So the speeder must be somewhere. You could have a garage on your house, which your speeder parks in (if you don't have one, it'd be stored in the datapad, or in a designated "car pool". The garage would be capable of storing one speeder only. While it was in the garage, you could repair it, and maybe make upgrades (Smugglers slicing vehicles, vehicle upgrade kits, etc). Or, if it were in your garage, it could automatically get repaired, for free. But there'd only be room for 1 speeder in there. The rest would be stored in the hypothetical "car pool".
When JTL comes out, you could do something similar to a vehicle garage, but with a hanger. One fighter in a hanger, where it automatically repairs...but gradually. You can work on the fighter, adding upgrades, maybe changing the paintwork without using a "customise fighter" tool, etc. It would only be able to store a fighter, though...no putting YT-1300s in.
The hanger, and the garage, would count as "extensions" on your house, costing plots of land. The hanger could have a ramp to the surface if it was on the first basement floor, and a straight forward door if it were on the ground floor. The hanger would, hypothetically, have doors that opened to expose it to the sky...so the hanger could either go on the top floor, or next to the house, underground.
It might work better if you bought a block-sized "Large" space in which to build, and then added in rooms like furnature. Architects could provide these. They could be based on a grid system. You choose where to put the room, and it gets placed there. You could, if it were done like this, have multiple garages for multiple speeders. You could designate owners for each room/garage/hanger if it were a shared property. If you were to calculate how big a "plot" was, you could then buy anywhere from 1 to 10 plots, and then work within that, moving upwards and downwards. It might be worth restricting the maximum building height to two stories above ground, and maybe three or four below. However, you wouldn't necessarily have to have them all matching up. You could have several buildings spread over your plots on the surface, linking together a network of underground facilities. It would make the buildings thing far more customisable, and would give the Architects more to do.
Buying a house/building would work like so:
1. Buy the deeds to a plot, or plots of land (for the sake of arguement, a plot is 10x10 meters).
2. Find the location for your plot(s), and place them, as you would a building at present. The area within that is now yours. No other buildings can exist above it, so if there were any already, you wouldn't be able to build.
3. Buy a room or a structure from the Architect. These could be things such as "Generic Turret Room", which would be one of the circular rooms seen at the corners of the Large Generic House (Style 1). You could build walls between, and the top story would automatically generate a roof. Inside, you could then place a corridor, or a staircase, or something. You could add a terrace on the roof, perhaps with stairs leading down the side of the house. You could buy a hanger room, and place that, or a garage room, which you would orientate so the door was in your wall. For a considerable sum, you could purchase gun turrets to go on top of your "turret" rooms. You'd buy entrances. You'd buy doors. You could even choose the colour that your house was inside. You could add lifts to access different areas. You could buy a "locked" door, which would only be accessable to those on the list, or one that required a console to unlock (such as the one in the lift). You could even develop a "secret doorway" build into a bookshelf, where you need to "use" a book on the shelf, in order to make the bookcase swing open, and reveal the door, or rather the controls for it.
This system would allow all sorts of versatility. You could have, for example, a shop with an extra basement storeroom. You could have a house on the same site, that was linked to the shop by means of a corridor that ran underground to the store room. You could have heavily customised guild halls. The possibilities are vast.
One thing that it would be wise to include would be the ability for someone else to own a plot of land connected to yours. You would have to give them some sort of right to join on to yours, obviously. However, it would allow all sorts of things, such as members of a guild buying a garage and/or hanger, joined onto their guildhall. Or, members of the same squadron could work together to construct a base, complete with hangers, for them to use as HQ.
The Hangar option would be good if a hanger could act as a starport. However, that is unlikely to happen. In this case, the hangers would merely be a place to look at, repair and modify fighters easily, without getting in people's way. If the fighters were already there, no lag would be generated by them being summoned. The lag would only affect those in the room at the time, of which there would be very few. Seeing as ships in JTL will take the strain off the starport system, it would be wise to take the strain off the lag generated, as well.
I need to stop coming up with ideas. :/
Also, apparently, there were "vehicle garages" on buildings in the original beta. Maybe, instead of storing items in your datapad, you stored them in your garage? When you add a speeder to your datapad, it says "Control Device Added", or something like that. That would imply that the datapad is able to summon the speeder, but not create it. So the speeder must be somewhere. You could have a garage on your house, which your speeder parks in (if you don't have one, it'd be stored in the datapad, or in a designated "car pool". The garage would be capable of storing one speeder only. While it was in the garage, you could repair it, and maybe make upgrades (Smugglers slicing vehicles, vehicle upgrade kits, etc). Or, if it were in your garage, it could automatically get repaired, for free. But there'd only be room for 1 speeder in there. The rest would be stored in the hypothetical "car pool".
When JTL comes out, you could do something similar to a vehicle garage, but with a hanger. One fighter in a hanger, where it automatically repairs...but gradually. You can work on the fighter, adding upgrades, maybe changing the paintwork without using a "customise fighter" tool, etc. It would only be able to store a fighter, though...no putting YT-1300s in.
The hanger, and the garage, would count as "extensions" on your house, costing plots of land. The hanger could have a ramp to the surface if it was on the first basement floor, and a straight forward door if it were on the ground floor. The hanger would, hypothetically, have doors that opened to expose it to the sky...so the hanger could either go on the top floor, or next to the house, underground.
It might work better if you bought a block-sized "Large" space in which to build, and then added in rooms like furnature. Architects could provide these. They could be based on a grid system. You choose where to put the room, and it gets placed there. You could, if it were done like this, have multiple garages for multiple speeders. You could designate owners for each room/garage/hanger if it were a shared property. If you were to calculate how big a "plot" was, you could then buy anywhere from 1 to 10 plots, and then work within that, moving upwards and downwards. It might be worth restricting the maximum building height to two stories above ground, and maybe three or four below. However, you wouldn't necessarily have to have them all matching up. You could have several buildings spread over your plots on the surface, linking together a network of underground facilities. It would make the buildings thing far more customisable, and would give the Architects more to do.
Buying a house/building would work like so:
1. Buy the deeds to a plot, or plots of land (for the sake of arguement, a plot is 10x10 meters).
2. Find the location for your plot(s), and place them, as you would a building at present. The area within that is now yours. No other buildings can exist above it, so if there were any already, you wouldn't be able to build.
3. Buy a room or a structure from the Architect. These could be things such as "Generic Turret Room", which would be one of the circular rooms seen at the corners of the Large Generic House (Style 1). You could build walls between, and the top story would automatically generate a roof. Inside, you could then place a corridor, or a staircase, or something. You could add a terrace on the roof, perhaps with stairs leading down the side of the house. You could buy a hanger room, and place that, or a garage room, which you would orientate so the door was in your wall. For a considerable sum, you could purchase gun turrets to go on top of your "turret" rooms. You'd buy entrances. You'd buy doors. You could even choose the colour that your house was inside. You could add lifts to access different areas. You could buy a "locked" door, which would only be accessable to those on the list, or one that required a console to unlock (such as the one in the lift). You could even develop a "secret doorway" build into a bookshelf, where you need to "use" a book on the shelf, in order to make the bookcase swing open, and reveal the door, or rather the controls for it.
This system would allow all sorts of versatility. You could have, for example, a shop with an extra basement storeroom. You could have a house on the same site, that was linked to the shop by means of a corridor that ran underground to the store room. You could have heavily customised guild halls. The possibilities are vast.
One thing that it would be wise to include would be the ability for someone else to own a plot of land connected to yours. You would have to give them some sort of right to join on to yours, obviously. However, it would allow all sorts of things, such as members of a guild buying a garage and/or hanger, joined onto their guildhall. Or, members of the same squadron could work together to construct a base, complete with hangers, for them to use as HQ.
The Hangar option would be good if a hanger could act as a starport. However, that is unlikely to happen. In this case, the hangers would merely be a place to look at, repair and modify fighters easily, without getting in people's way. If the fighters were already there, no lag would be generated by them being summoned. The lag would only affect those in the room at the time, of which there would be very few. Seeing as ships in JTL will take the strain off the starport system, it would be wise to take the strain off the lag generated, as well.
I need to stop coming up with ideas. :/
Spacesloth
Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:26 am
#119
I like that I can search for master doctors and master smugglers etc. Problem is half the time or more these guys are not interested in buffing or slicing and so on. I think it would be nice to have an option to turn on a flag when you slice or buff etc (other than a macro'd shout) to let people search a wide area to find people that are interested in doing these things. Would benefit the guys doing it as well. I know if I wanted to slice something for people when I was mastersmuggerl the thing I did was turn on my master smuggler tag ..I wish I had a *currently slicing* tag I could turn on when I wanted to slice.
Thx for listening.
KardenTyrell
Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:43 am
#120
- Terrain Negotation -
With the upcoming LOS changes, I think also a new factor for terrain should be installed. Terrain with a certain altitude cannot be walked over, but you have to climb over it to cross it(prone). This way making High terrain a preferable area when it comes to ambushes, rangers and scouts will have an easier time crossing those kind of areas. Mounts and vehicles will play a bigger part in crossing these terrains, or people will simply look for a route going around a mountain.
This could also something cities can benefit from, or perhaps also introduce a new schematic for ladders, or Bridges or Stairways
This could also something cities can benefit from, or perhaps also introduce a new schematic for ladders, or Bridges or Stairways
LunaticFringer
Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:17 am
#121
Lunatic Fringer Here,
Ok, aside from the petitioning to show rank on our character bios and in overt status, we should also see Rank shown on the Uniforms! Now, we know that there is enough solid content that shows what the ranks insignia looks like; so it shouldn't be that hard to implement.
Here's a suggested way to do it too:
For each rank you earn on either side you automatically get a Uniform with that rank on it put in your inventory. You can wear this while overt or covert either one. Either have an autoupdate for the rank on the uniform; or just give out a new uniform with new rank with each rank achieved. This also presents a great opportunity to put Full Rebel and Imperial Uniforms in game through means of the Rank system through our Factional Recruiters.
An alternative is to use the same concept for the Special Edition Glasses and some Armor types.Re-construct the Imperial Uniform and construct a Rebel Uniform with a Radial menu to display Rank. What would probably have to be done is list all ranks on the menu but only allow it to display the rank you are at the moment.
Well, yet another start to an idea and one I think would improve the looks from time to time to see a few acknowledged Captains and Privates alike roaming around.
The Lunatic Fringer
Fori_Rista
Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:38 am
#122
I think we need something to make the cities more exciting because right now they are dull. I agree with making it so people can have shops and rent the buildings in the cities. If the stores were in the cities then people would not have to go out looking for stuff to find empty vendors and over priced items. Also maybe some way to make some of the player cities more exciting.
I also think it would be cool if there was a way to show ranks.
Savauge
Sat Jun 19, 2004 8:57 am
#123
State of the Game - From A Player's Perspective for the Devs
*or whatSWG,Publish 10, etc. looks like froma player'sperspective
Hi there Devs & players alike!
SWG is a great MMORPG, and I do thank the Devs for all their hard work. When I went to Fan Fest, it was evident the Devs mostly had a lot of passion for the game. Personally, I've tried almost all the MMO's out there, and SWG is my choice!
That being said,
From a "player in the trenches" aspect, I help lead a guild of about 70 active players who are a mix of combat and crafting professions, and PvPers. With a guild this size, we typically have all the major crafting professions as well as major combat profs. With that preface, in many ways our guild environment is a microcosm of what happens when something is changed or enhanced in SWG.
Over the past few months, we've seen:
- A Chef revamp that made folks regrind just to make the awesome stuff! Player base response was to pay Chefs whatever they wanted. I believe GreenMarine planned this revamp, well done.
- Cool enhancements to the UI like the Group "closest wp monitor".
- Some very well designed challenges in the Corvette and DWB.
-A DE publish that caused the most veteran, consistent DE's to resign their profession. This was mainly due to a lack of any true meaning for the DE profession's output - droids. Other than mobile crafting stations and the occasional combat R3, we still don't see a lot of droid use in the game.
- A mini-ID revamp. Simply put, on Ahazi, we've seen ID's become more scarce than even before ID revamp. And the result is a very frustrating wait sometimes for players waiting for a needed stat migration.
- Increased focus on Jedi revamp, to the exclusion of almost all else recently. Honestly, most players I know do not have Jedi. It has been shown by your own posts Jedi are a very tiny % of the population. Yet, the Jedi revamp has superceded even the once-hoped-for GCW revamp. I'd ahve to say most of the people I know are looking at Publish 9 as the "anti-regular-player Publish" since there won't be a lot for the rest of us.
- GCW revamp cancelled/postponed past JtL - This sent shivers through the table I was at at Fan Fest that GCW is so far down the timeline in the Dev's timetable. From a player's perspective, our entire guild and the friendsI know were hoping for a refined, mature GCW revamp that makes the GCW the "elder game" for vets and the true faction war for PA's and cities.
- A major CraftingRevamp that was revoked the following day due to unexpected negative response from the player base.
Now, all of this above most players have experienced to varying degrees. With this in mind, Publish 10 (Combat Revamp) is now just around the corner.
I have to ask the Devs a few questions on this, but first here is what is going through the player base as to the direction of Publishes: Due to the last few profession revamps, and the only noticeable player favorite being Chef, all are cringing at what Publish 10 could mean to the players.
Players who have combat templates mastered have spent hours learning each and every special and it's effects on PvE and PvP, and then redesigning their combat and enhancing with expensive weapons and armor. Now, the unknown Publish 10's repercussions are already being discussed in game/in forum. The debate is getting pretty intense already, with people on both sides of the fence as to why this is a good or bad thing. The most common player thought is: remove the exploited weapons/items,fix the too powerful professions, and be done with it. Unfortunately, the Devs responses at Fan Fest and in the Forums here have made it clear that they will need to revamp all crafted combat related items in the game, including pre-patch items along with the Special revamp and HAM revamps. Publish 10 was jokingly referred to by almost all Devs at the Fan Fest as the "Combat Nerf" not Revamp.
My impression at Fan Fest of the Devs' motivation behind the "Combat Nerf" was stated in one panel there very clearly - a Dev stated that all of combat has been broken and unbalanced from the very beginning of the game a year ago. A Dev said they want to fix all of combat at one time and do minor tweaks after for bugs and unintended consequences until it's where the Devs want it to be. The way the revamp was described, it will be sweeping and touch all professions, all skills, and all players.
Imagine the result to dedicated combat veterans when the character they've had for months is now going to be worthless to them. The combat they're used to, the items they've invested in, most will be changed dramatically. Worthless is a strong word, but look at it from the player's viewpoint. And it is being generally expected that combat profession grinding and xp will be effected so that grinding through a profession will take much longer after Publish 10. If this is true (like in the ID revamp), then it will take dramatically longer than people are used to, to grind into another profession.
For the most dedicated combat veterans, who have put months of hard work into refining their combat strategies, a pre-Nerf mourning is already taking place. For obvious reasons, they are assuming their love of the game (combat as it is now) has become an unknown quantity. The idea of going into Test Center to try the Nerf out is a good one, but realistically, the majority of players can't grind an elite profession on TC and still have time to test it properly. Because of these factors, this "mourning" is already becoming a serious issue.
So, my questions to the Devs:
1- This Combat Nerf once released will have a huge, sweeping effect on the ground game. In other MMORPG's (most noticeable AO & AC2), vast amounts of players cancelled their accounts when a similarly sweeping combat rebalance was implemented. It is being implemented from a Dev viewpoint of "it's been broken so long, we need to bring it into the originally planned scenario we had". Have you really, truly put yourselves in the shoes of players who love the game as it is and thought about the consequences?
*I am not "threatening to cancel" my own account, but trying to speak for what will inevitably happen. It has happened many times in other MMORPG's and will happen in SWG with Publish 10. Human nature is that when you've spent a ton of time in something you lvoe to develop it, and then it is gone, there is a void and a "mourning" that can cause people to cancel.
2- Regardless of the "combat tables are skewed we must revamp all of it" response we've gotten on this, have you thought about what will happen if the Combat Nerf is as unpopular as the Crafting revamp was, when you had to remove it the next day? And is there any possible way to simply remove all exploited items and fix overpowered professions, instead of the wholesale Nerf?
3- Have you thought of the effect on veteran players who have been waiting for an "elder game" to spend their time on, and now they will have to reinvent their characters?
We all realize this is your baby too 
And that a sincere amount of effort and pride of what you have designed in SWG is a big part of the motivation here. Not to mention, having a ground game that is solid for JtL's release. I guess we are all scratching our heads wondering why it has to be such a humongous step backwards (in our minds) versus what we had hoped would be profession revamps and exploited item/situation fixes.
And that a sincere amount of effort and pride of what you have designed in SWG is a big part of the motivation here. Not to mention, having a ground game that is solid for JtL's release. I guess we are all scratching our heads wondering why it has to be such a humongous step backwards (in our minds) versus what we had hoped would be profession revamps and exploited item/situation fixes.So as not to seem entirely negative, I must say JtL looks fantastic and I look forward to it!
Thoughts from a concerned SWG fanatic.
Thanks!
Outspoken
Sat Jun 19, 2004 9:57 am
#124
I would like to see more skill points available.
Perhaps skill points could be earned in some manner such as by the age of the character. I think it is ridiclulous that I have to give up 15 points for novice scout just to be able to harvest. I thought with the harvesting droids coming out I could drop scout, but was informed that this was not so. The same goes for medic. 15 skill points for 5 of medicine use- BAH!
Perhaps skill points should be separated into crafting based and fighting based professions.
Life would not be so boring if I did not have to make the choice to become a pure crafter or a pure fighter to do one well.
I, along with many people I know, have purchased multiple copies of the game and opened accounts to meet our needs and interests. While this is fine with Sony I am sure, the next game where I only need to run one account will be getting my business.
Why can't we have multiple characters per server as in Everquest?
This also would be a solution.
Sign me a hopeless MMORPG addict,
Longg Live (Master Architect/Artisan) Lowca
Strikin Kiltlifter (Master Medic/Marksman) Lowca
Lucye Love (Master Dancer/Musician) Lowca
ChrisElstone
Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:41 am
#125
Just a small one from me. When purchasing tickets for travel shouldn't a "round trip" cost less than purchasing two one way tickets? Just a suggestion. thanks for reading.
Dzed
Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:47 am
#126
This has probably been suggested before, and I apologize in advance.
I would like to see in-game email accessible outside the game via webmail or the like. I'm a mac user at home, and I'm one of the few that don't have broadband available to them. I have a pc at a friend's house who is willing to share his cable connection. This being said, being able to access in-game email outside of the game would make my life much simpler.
I would like to see in-game email accessible outside the game via webmail or the like. I'm a mac user at home, and I'm one of the few that don't have broadband available to them. I have a pc at a friend's house who is willing to share his cable connection. This being said, being able to access in-game email outside of the game would make my life much simpler.
Timithos-Chau
Sat Jun 19, 2004 2:25 pm
#127
More thenone character slot is a bad idea. We've played all those type MOG's before. SWG is the first one to be daring and innovative enough to allow only one slot. This concept greatly increases player interaction.
I've been tempted to create an armorsmith because I'm either unhappy with what is available, or want a stab at created the best armor for my own personal use at least. But no, I resisted that temptation and now I get to interact with a few good armorsmths and provide them with an income and satisfaction in their profession. What happens in other MOG's is almost everyone creates just about all the crafted items themselves (UO, AC1). They may sell them to other players for a while, but when they realize how bad business is due to everyone crafting everything for their own personal use, they go out of business. Thus, its hard to find anything available, so the next player gives up looking and begins crafting for themselves like everyone else.A similar situation is happening in the Shadowbane mog except the problem isn't so much multiple character slots.Everyone is allowed to own npc crafting buildings/vendors, so again they make everything for themselves and then shut down.
The bottom line is if you introduce multiple character slots, than a lot of professions will be debilitated or destroyed from lack of demand by other players.The crafters would be hit the worst. Multiple characters slots cater to loners. If you want to be a loner in a massive multiplayer game, then go buy another subscription. You actually have 3 options for adding more characters: 1) Play another galaxy, 2) sign up for another account, 3) gain another slot by unlocking a jedi. Those options are enough.
Timithos-Chau
Sat Jun 19, 2004 3:00 pm
#128
One thing that is really hurting player interaction is the lack of benefits in grouping and camps. As it stand now, players only group for the following reasons: 1) epic missions, 2) "solo" grouping, 3) Pvp groups 4) desperate role-players who crave "fun", and 5) noobs that don't know any better. The only groups I get into now are solo groups and pvp groups. (I'm still not into big missions.) To me, being in a group for pve is a big let down of penalties. First off as a master fencer, I can solo almost everything in the galaxy, so I don't need help. Second, why would I want to have my xp and credits all split apart? Third, since non-combatants can't make xp off creatures, what is the point of coming along? (oooh to make 1000 xpof medical xp, while their buddies rake in 50k in the same amount of time? ooooh such incentive. No thanks, I'll find someone to "tumble" for me.)
Now some would say, ok so lets make the creatures harder so that you can't solo half the stuff in the galaxy. I agree, except that's only a partial solution, because then I'd be forced into a pathetic group and be baraged with a bunch of disincentives. Sorry, i'd much rathergo back to a starter planet and kill bull ronto's all day then waste my time in a group that provides very little progress.
That is why I think grouping and camping need major revamps. All the penalities need to be removed and more bonus incentives need to be added. In groups we need better xp share, better credit share, better loot share, better harvesting share, etc. In camps we need better healing xp, better entertaining xp, better xp for use of crafted equipment while at the camp, etc. Even the entertainers and medics in a camp should start receiving atiny xp/credit/loot incentive for creatures killed. A camp should also attract spawn according to the power of the group which includes the Scout creator. The activity of grouping and camping should be THE hot spot to be for the greatest benefits.
PS, lol This reminds of me of the time I joined a group of 20 players killing Krayt Dragons and after finally taking a dragon down in 25 minutes, I would get less then 1000 xp and over half the time ZERO XP!! I never bothered with a large Krayt goup ever again. In fact, from that day forward, the only time I grouped to kill the same creature was with guildmates to help them level while I healed them. And I'll only do that if its just the two of us. Once a third person joins up, its pointless to "help" two penalized players.
Purple
Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:00 pm
#129
Hypertuna wrote:
Imperial Academy: When a new player starts they are thrown into these cities knowing no one, unless they join in with a friend. You are harassed when you ask stupid questions and although the entry droids are good and allow you to get a start they don't really provide what your looking for. I think with joining the academy option allows the players to come together as a group like a group of newbies who join in meet in a room and go on missions together and work as a team with the earning automatically split up between them.They can duel each other as practice, you can craft items for each other, heal each other, and other such tasks but you get the feel of starting fresh without all these mastered characters running around proving how puny you are. As for more experinced characters they can act as helpers to help the newbies by training them and going on more advanced missions with each other. At some point you will get the option to sneak away and join the rebellion, stay with the empire, or set out on your own. Then if you choose the factions you join new groups of people who act together to perform missions or even go into battle against each other on battlefields. This would make gain faction points more exciting and give some purpose rather than the endless killing of random spawned "camps".
Woo! I built one of these on Chilastra! I own and operate it on Tatooine; except mine is more based on teaching about the Empire. I.E. lectures on politics and the like, history of the Empire.
Now, my suggestions:
1. I want a payroll for soldiers in the Empire! Where's my cut of Imperial Military spending? Why aren't I getting a paycheck in the mail every couple of weeks?
2. A roleplay server. I'm sick of people laughing at me when I walk around in character and tell them that their violating Imperial law here or there.
3. Basically all the other stuff that has been suggested above.
DURLOCK ACIBOR
Purple
Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:03 pm
#130
And another thing! Your rank has some visible manifestation on your faction uniform.