Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Weekly Rountdable Discussion (Week Ending 2-1-04)
Hello, Thunderheart.
I've never posted in a forum six pages long before due to the fear that my post would not be read, so I hope you will still see my post.
Perhaps you have read some of the sarcastic and biting posts I have made in the past about various concerns and suggestions I have had for the game. I apologize for being this way, I simply grow frustrated when I feel my concerns are not being valued. I hope that they will be valued in here, and I promise not to be a jackass.
My concerns:
1) I really feel that SWG is in desperate need of a roleplaying server. I know for a fact that many would love to roleplay, yet cannot because role-playing is not respected in the non-roleplaying community. Some have said thiswould be too hard to police, but one must realize that a role-playing server is often policed by it's own players.Others have expressed their concerns at how much of the expanded universe they would be allowed to integrate into their role-playing on the role-playing server or servers.I really don't feel this should be an issue,forthe stories of the players are all unique, and do not (or should not) be involved in the stories of main characters from the movies and/or the EU. However, if onetruly feels this is an issue,there could always be a "GeekRP Server" and an "Uber-Geek RPServer". 
Anyway, I have expressed my concern for this issue many times, and have yet to get aresponse of any use. Please consider my pleas.
2) I amnot a Jedi,but am hoping the revamp of the Jedi profession will allow me to become one. (I am horrible at grinding professions, especially when I know I have to.) However, will this newpath toachieving theFS Slot stillkeep Jedi rare? Will the removal of perma-death still keep Jedi rare? I really do feel that the path to theFS Slot needed re-doing, but does perma-death? I think I trust you devs, but I'm a little afraid that the removal of perma-death will keep the Jedi from being a rarity. Please prove me wrong.
3) Please put more lighting in the cantinas. They are way too dark and depressing for a place that people go to feel better about their lives. This isn't nearly as important as my other concerns, but I still think it would contribute to the overall atmosphere of the game.
4) Could you please make missions for medics/doctors? Perhaps a mission for a medic/doctor could be like the following:
- A Crafting/Delivery Mission: The medic/doctor is given a medicine schematic that must be crafted and delivered to an NPC. Just like an artisan mission, except that the Crafting XP is Medicine Crafting XP.
- A Healing Mission: The medic/doctor is given a waypoint to an NPC is either badly wounded or badly damaged. The NPC is resting in a camp, thus allowing the medic/doctor to heal him.
These aren't very exciting mission concepts, but perhaps you could liven them up.
5) I think perhaps you are doing this already, but could you please make NPC missions less mundane? It is sovery boring to have the same concept of beinggiven a waypoint to deliver something or being given a waypoint to kill something. Is there not anything else that you could do to make NPC missions less...boring?
Those are my suggestions. Please hear them. Thank you for you time, Thunderheart, and may the Force be with you. 
The easiest to comment on is the proposal of changing the path to jedi. It kills me that this is proposed no less than one month from the boon of holocrons this holiday season. I don't understand why you would offer everyone a roadmap for becoming a jedi, only to repave the road and tell them that while their efforts will not be lost, they're going to need a compass instead. And so soon afterwards. We know how tasty that carrot is, we want it. Now that we understand how long the stick is, it seems like You (SOE) are getting a new pole.
I'm still amazed that there are professions that have bugs reported form month 1 that have not yet seen a fix. I know from being an AS that the shifting stats of PSG's has been a top 5 issue for a very long time. It's a trivial thing, really, but that it's a TOP 5 bug, month in, month out, it astounds me that it's not fixed. It's a bug that players feel is a high periority, why is it not Yours?
On to combat changes.
I really wish I understood the development process over there. I often see balance changes and process changes geared towards a minority that drastically affects the majority. Often it seems that a significant problem that can be addressed in many ways is dealt with in the simplest of manners - and if it feels to me that it's not the most elegant solution, or even a desirable one. The two salient changes are stacked DOTs and Melee/Ranged Defense (or so called min/maxing).
Perhaps my problem is that I don't understand the origen of the problems, or the scope of them. But here's my take on this changes, and how I fear it will affect me, a dedicated player (since launch, too many weeks of on time logged).
I am a very dedicated PvE type of player. PvP holds little or no interest to me. I enjoy exploring. I am a very social player, and leading moderate sized hunting groups successfully is incredibly rewarding.
My fear is that the combat pass is geared with a focus towards balancing PvP and the classes to each other. The removal of stacked bleeds (wait, two pistoleers can't stack healthshot1 for two bleeds, why can two commandos stack burning?) and the removal of stacked cross profession melee/ranged defense scary changes.
My larger fear is that the methodology of taking away and then giving back some time later leaves out the "giving back later" part of the equation. But I digress.
I'd have to say that one of the reasons that bleeds are currently so powerful when stacked is that they are not affected by armor. That is, 1000 points of bleed damage will make the target bleed 1000 points - whether it's a durni or a krayt dragon. It's pretty simple. If a light armored target with 50% defense is hit with 400 points of damage (from a non AP weapon) as a bleed shot, it should bleed for 100 points (light armor reduces to 200, 50% effective to 100), not 400. Suddenly 4 different health bleeds are not as excessive to high end creatures. And a low end target that could be hit by 4 different bleeds would be dead anyway.
I feel that the reasons that stacked cross prof defenses are so overpowering is that players can't cross prof stack accuracy. Provide them a path to high accuracy. Let the players determine which is more important - damage, accuracy, or defense. If the system is truly balanced (and I believe that it can be under the current system) then it won't matter if someone chooses a path that gets them 255 ranged defense if someone else can pick up enough accuracy from different profs adn skill enhancers to get 255 accuracy. Or so much damage increase that the one time out of 20 that they do hit, it's so lethal as to make it worth that path.
Tt bothers me very much that we are encouraged to branch into multiple professions and are then rewarded with brands of exploitist, min maxers, or whatever else. It frustrates me to no end that this feels like this targets and detracts from a minority of players and does not offer some alternative. Taking away without giving back, as it were. Especially when the rewards for mastery are still not enough.
And im sorry, but I don't feel the path towards an improved combat system is done by stripping away and building back up. You (SOE) are trying to bring people back to the game, and bring in new players. I can't imagine how I would feel coming back, looking around at all the wonderful new content only to be hamstrung shortly after signing back up by reduction of my abilities.
There simply has to be another way to affect stacked defensive mods in PvP AND PvE such that both are possible, nay, enjoyable to all.
My opinions are based on the fact that on Valcyn I play a master brawler. I've mastered Teras Kasi and am in the process of mastering each of the other brawler branches. As I pass through each branch, I retain the defensive lines. My melee defense is up around 130. My defensive acuity is 96, and while at master pikeman with 115 block, I never once saw a block in combat spam. As I near master swordsman, I've yet to see a counterattack in combat spam. I still do a decent job of "tanking: with help of enhancements, food, and good doctors/combat medics. And I find that I can no longer log in without getting tells from people asking where I am hunting and if they can join. This leads me to think that I do well with my path, and that people enjoy grouping with me.
EvilDrider wrote:Morning TH...
I think one of the major points to bring up is.. Contraband!
As a jedi and with another character who uses lots of sliced armor and spices, is there any way we can get some clarification on what is or is not contraband.
I assume that Spices and all sliced items are illegal.. as they should be. However what else is?
Im not telling - - thats part of the fun of the game.
Smugglers have been asking for more to do since launch, and what happens?
Dev Meeting: "Lets make spices and slices illegal. We will confiscate sliced items and spices at the starports! yeah!! That is a great idea!"
Result: Who is going to spend money on spices to have their rank busted, the stuff confiscated, or get themselves attacked? Who is going to risk a 150K suit of Composite on slicing only to have it destroyed? Answer? No one.
I have to admit, this is lame. I am usually not one for complaining, but I had to say something. Smugglers want more to do, and you end up taking away the two forms of income they have. Great work!
How again is this the "fun of the game"?
Lastly, Thunderheart, you may genuinely be unaware of this, but we put a lot of effort into this game. GAME. We do it to have fun, not as some surrogate for real life (at least most of us). Having the effort flushed down the toliet feels bad enough. But having a member of the Dev team saying this is "the fun of the game" is like a slap in the face.
Why stop there? Lets have Imps take away skill boxes next. What fun! Oh! And imprisonment too! Have your character sit in a jail cell for two game weeks as punishment! That would be loads of fun! (I really hope you all know I am being sarcastic.)
You have to see this.
At the time, scouring every corner of the galaxy was fun regardless of it's FSCS connection (or not, as we soon were made aware of) - but when you've got to a point in the game where you've done pretty much everything there is to do, and still haven't unlocked FSCS - it's extremely frustrating. New themeparks hold interest for a few days at the most, for players like myself. We need a whole new planet!
I'd have to become a crafter to do part 1 of the quest... and a kickass combat prof to do part 2 of the quest. Something like that would be extremelyinvolving, and worthwhile. The path to Jedi should be an involving, difficult, yet interesting - individual and personal journey, not something attained by feeling like you are forced to grind every profession until you are so bored, Jedi is the only thing left in the game that's holding any interest.- Please make the changes confidently and carefully..
- Allow enough time for those are currently hologrinding (and close) to complete their grinding..
- Make it CLEAR what the changes will involve pertaining to hologrinding (so that those who are halfway have a choice on wether or not to continue grinding asap, or wait for the changes)
- And please give us another planet.
/baitBreath
/crossFingers
TIA, Aax
TK42I wrote:My Five Cents this week:I am not certain that the method for gather AP XP to get master is doing for the game what it was intended to do. Instead most players just start auto-yelling outside Coronet starport for two days until they get it or have a PA buddy lend them xp as they give away points during a holo-grind. In some of the early guides there mentioned universities in the NPC cities. My suggestion is that you make Universities a major building. Players who need AP would go there and get bonus xp for training in that location.To add a more star warsy feeling to the game, perhaps individuals could only learn 2 or 3 languages. In order to understand all of the languages they would need a protocol droid standing next to them.PEX: I'd love to see you and your gang ride around in Jabba's sailing barge on Tatooine for a player event.
I like this idea
5 stars
So, the "crackdown" will include scanners for carried items. Don't you guys seen enough naked people running around town? This is going to make things even worse... not better.
-Hyssthi
Reyune Edredis
Xplorer Corps
Running Blade Resources }
(-6272, 6776)
Jaxian Bay, Naboo
RohmEnari wrote:
Hey TH, just another quick question. When will we be getting the option to move items up and down in our homes as opposed to having to place them on stairs to get them at the appropriate height? This has been something that has been an annoyance from day one. There are those that actually enjoy decorating up their PA halls, houses, merchant tents, and the like and due to this inability to have total freedom in doing that, it becomes a real chore and it shouldn't be like that. Again, any information on this subject will be appreciated.
Soon. Its high on the list- - I think maybe we'll be able to get "up and "down" at least added to publish 7. The schedule is still firming up but it looks pretty good.
In the meantime, here is a macro that I set up that makes a lot of things really easy...
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- Move your tool bar to one of the layers you don’t use a lot. (I use toolbar level #4 myself).
- Press ctrl-A to pull up your “Abilities” window
- Select the “Macro” tab
- Press the “New macro Button
- In the box where it says, “Macro Text”, add your movement. For example:
- /rotatefurniture left 90
- /rotatefurniture left 180
- /move forward 2
- /move back
- Name it in the name box
- Pick an icon and add it to the list.
- Then drag the icon to the tool bar and moving things become much easier by using the customized buttons you just made.
This should help out until the new graphic interface is added. "Nudging" gets real easy.
Also, another big request is "Player City Chat"....
What players can do in-game right now as “city chat” is:
- City members can fly their cursor over the chat window and right click.
- Select “Join Chat Channel”
- Give your chat room a name (Like “Mos Eisely Chat or what ever your city name is)
- Give your chat room a title (mychat, citychat, etc)
- Select “Private” and/or “Moderated” and click “ok”
Then instruct all of your players to:
- /chatroom join
Also, whenever you need to know the commands, type /chatr and the list of commands will come up.