Development Cycle Archive

Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (Week Ending 3-22-04)

Breestan
Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:58 am
#248
I find it fantastic that wookie finally get something else to wear, since they have such limited choices in what they can wear. So while the art team is on the subject of armor, how about reminding them that the Twi'lek currently don't have any sort of lekku armor. Really, this is a visual thing, but honestly, those Lekku ARE their brains and extensions of the nervous system etc.


Helmets are to protect the head from serious injury. Seems silly for a twilek to protect his forehead but not his Lekku. Leaving them open like that makes the lekku a perfect target. You want to take down that commando? shoot him in the brain. It's wide open.


Either Twi'lek need specific Lekku protecting helmets (either alone or matching current armor types). Or when they put on an existing helmet, it automatically adds the visual of protecting their Lekku. Either way, something needs to be done.... as it is, Twi'lek look like they don't care about protecting their sensitive Lekku.




Tekoa Dia'koh *** Irys Eo'Nel
Master Dancer and Image Designer
:: The Lunatic Dawn :: Redemption, Lok, Ahazi *** Mos Eisly, Starsider
And proud to be a Galaxy Girl!
Calehan
Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:44 pm
#249
To Devs:


Concerning Badges:

Here is the deal... Let me preface by saying I've been gone from the game for four months because of deployment to Iraq. Still here in Iraq, but playing again

When I left, badges were verysignificant.Still are, IMO, but the explorer badges have made the badge system cumbersome. If you look at any bio, the location badges clutter everything to the point ofthe badgesare now not interesting at all.


Suggestion: eliminate the location badges from the observable bio. Still keep them on the personal bio, but eliminate the location badges when observing another character.INSTEAD, make the exploration badges observable. So when someone reaches novice, expert etc. they get a badge.

This way, you still get exploration badges, but the badges seen (so no clutter) will just be if the person actuallyhas accomplisments with exploration. That way, the badges become an accomplishment again.


Your thoughts?



Calahan
KnightOfOingo
Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:56 pm
#250
As a long time armorsmith, I think a few things could be changed in the armor system and the GCW that would adress a lot of player concerns and desires.


First,I think armor should be far more limited in what it protects. Not its effectiveness, but how many things it could protect against.I would like to see each armor only have one or two special protections and be vulnerable to everything else. These vulnerabilities could be countered with layers, but no armor would cover every damage type or nearly every type. Thus, picking layers would be a much more strategic choice as most armor would have no more than 4 protections (most would have only one or two). Everything else would be a vulnerability. This will make different armors useful on different occaisions and might add some variety. Also, layers will become even more strategic in their application and diversity might be valued over stacking. Armor that is attacked with a damage type it is vulnerable to shouldloose the full damage of the attack to its condition even though it stops none of the damage, reflecting the harmvulnerable attacks would do to armor.


Second, I think armosmiths (and all crafters for that matter) should be able to purchasefaction specific schematics from recruiters for schematic points. Armor produced in this way could be customized (within a range set by theme) and experimented on, have layers added, etc. However, it would still bear the restrictions of having to be overt to be worn.Further, should a crafter ever leave the faction, the schematics would immediately be removed. Thus, unaffiliated orcross-faction armor could not be produced (i.e.only Rebels can make Reb armor). Obviously weapons, droids, and installations could receive a simmilar treatment and really give crafters a place in the GCW.


Finally, I would like to see some optional player-created enhancements for armor, particularly helmets. These items could be produced by Bio-Engineers (rebreathers that are built into armor to counter poison, a filter for disease), Weaponsmiths (a targetter that adds to accuracy), Droid Engineers (a covert detector that identifies faction but doesn't allow attacking), or any one of a number of creative items. Each helmet could only have ONE of these choices, so again customization becomes key. The real fun would be in specializing armor to meet the needs of different users.



Those are my ideas to liven up the armorsmithing area a bit. Hope they haven't already been suggested to death

Shaemiw
Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:03 pm
#251

www.geocities.com/swconcept001


Please read and give any feedback.


Devs please read


thanks
Justuss71
Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:52 pm
#252

Hello Developers,


I am pleased with the game and excited about the dynamics of it. This is a game that grows and grows. With that being said, here are two main things I would like to see done to the game :


1) Player City Terrain - I and more than likely everyone else believe that there should be some kind of special terrain for player cities. It makes no sense that a group of people would build a city only to use grass as its streets. We need to have some way of altering land. Consider it terraforming. We need a way to flatten out land and to make it a certain paved terrain that we desire. Design a system that allows cities to do that at some cost or another. I am sure with this feature, every city on every server will begin customizing their cities to give them their own personal touchs. The fountains, statues and parks are nice but they're all the same and every player city looks alike. We would like more ways to personalize our cities and one main point is theterrain.


2) Furniture Customization - Architects need more craftable furniture and the ability to customize the furniture that they craft. Player houses are beginning to all look the same with the same pieces of furniture in every home. Because we typically only have twofloorplans of houses to choose from for a particular style, we need at least some way of adding our own personal customizations to our homes. Architects should be able to craft more kinds of furniture and be able to color the furniture they produce.


Thank you if you took the time to read this and no thanks if you didn't.


Good Day,





Justuss Sophiticus
WolfwoodCross
Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:14 pm
#253
Here is a Sample Mission using the above Mission Editor Example


- Wolfwood Accepts a Mission!

- Mission Parameters - Seek Out Obi Badogi in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

- Wolfwood Travels to the Cantina, when he approaches the Waypoint, Obi Badogi appears

- Obi sends Wolfwood to go and destroy a Swoop lair, in the hopes of retrieving a Blaster thatthey stole from him.

- Wolfwood destroys the Swoop Lair. Destroying the Lair triggers "Angry Swoop Leader" to Spawn!

- Wolfwood kills Angry Swoop Leader and loots a Locked Container from him.

- Wolfwood goes into town and finds a friendly Smuggler to unlock the container for him. Inside is the Blaster!

- Wolfwood returns the Blaster to Obi Badogi and receives a Weapon Powerup as a reward!

- Mission Complete!

- Wolfwood goes to the local Junk Dealer to sell the drops he aquired from the Swoop Gang.


That is just a minor sample Mission to illustrate how 2 NPC's and a Lair are all used for one Mission, and how static mission specific drops can be placed for a purpose of driving the Story of the mission.


Shaemiw
Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:46 pm
#254

ATTRACTING ARTISANS*******


k this is my compiled set of ideas that would appeal to the declining amount of artisans in our community.


Enter the workshop:


The workshop is parallel to the doctors hospital and Entertainers need for the Cantina. The workshop is the center point for none artisan professions to go to look for things that they need to be built instead of hopelessly looking around for an artisan. Workshops will also be a place for extra boosts to the overall outcome to the creation being made.


THE CRAFTING PROCESS:


Im going to use Droid engineer as an example for a crafting process.


1. The Droid engineer builds all the parts necessary for said droid. The time to build these parts are the same as they are now.


2. The Droid Engineer starts the crafting session with the bigger stationary crafting station located in the workshop


3. The DE then places all the parts where necessary and clicks create.


4. The DE's creation is then set in a quo** that includes other players crafting projects. Once the DE's crafting project reaches the end of the quo and begins crafting, the object takes A LOT more time to create, I mean a lot, BUT yields the same ratio of xp. For example, if it takes 10 times the time to craft, the DE gets 10 times the xp.


5. While the quo is being done, the DE can create a second set of parts that can be added to the crafting stations quo. This way, the DE can just set up all the crafting the DE's resources allow and just walk away while the crafting is being done.


This allows for less grunt work and grinding, and it makes a little more sense. Lets face it, it takes to many MSE droids to reach tier 1.


This way it allows for the DE to pursue other things while his/her creations are being set in a quo for creation.



Now, the crafting stations would be numerous to avoid cluttering and so that there arent to many quos in one machine. After the creation is finished, the DE can just go back and retrieve the finished item. Only when the DE has finished the said droid can he get the xp.


I believe this workshop idea to be a great solution to the decline in Artisan professions, as it would make it reasonably easier to get the xp needed and it would cool to hang out in the workshop. Not to mention, other players can go their to inquire about creation requests and a place for artisans to bark their advertisements.


AarinStar
Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:28 pm
#255
Mobile guild halls. When the space patch comes out, it should be a new alternative to the guild halls. It would be a large starship that would require multiple people to operate. You could have specific tasks such as pilots, turret opperators, mechanics, captains, and lazy bums who just walk around the ship. When you arrive at the planet, you could land at an allied guild hall or division of your own. It could be multiple variations of the blockade runners (space port starships). I don't think that they should allow players to get a hold of ships such as Star destroyers or the large Mon Col ships, though. You could enter the ship when landed on a planet and use it as a normal guild hall. It would have the terminal and areas for your crew to relax. I don't have high expectations that this will become a reality, but it would be cool.



Aarin Star
Elder Pistoleer-CIA-Bounty Hunter

RoastEwoK
Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:23 am
#256

Something interesting i found in the doctor forums.


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=doctor&message.id=40115


They bring up the idea of "automated" Bacta tanks, you know, the kind a player get's immersed in, and gets healed. They're craftable and ONLY placable by master docs in a player hospital.


I see this as a GREAT idea to make player-hospitals useful.




Zeloph

I AM NOT IN Lambda Lambda Lambda!!

Jindain
Sun Mar 21, 2004 5:42 am
#257
NEW DRIODS !!!!!! COMBAT DRIODS!!! NEW ART!!! PLEASE



Jindain of Bria

Imperial Ace
Master Brawler
Master Pikeman
KnightOfOingo
Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:48 am
#258

The Damage Gap



I find one of the least Star Wars like elements of SWG to be the vast gap between PC and NPC HAM and the damage that either can inflict.


The base "grunt" faction pets are usually at least five times the HAM ofan unbuffed PC and many of the humanoid targets one can encounter can have many times the HAM of even a totally buffed-out player. Too often fighting (both PvE abd PvP) becomes a matter of who can land the first hit or combo and combat passes far too quickly. More balance between PC and NPC HAM levels as well as a reduction of damage vs. HAM would present a more compelling system that would resemble the movies a bit more.

SilasErr
Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:45 am
#259
From last week's thread...


I'm certain that this has been covered before, more than likely in several different places here on the boards, but here it comes, short and bittersweet:


VehicleModifications - Speed, handling, durability: the three main elements to a vehicle's performance that players could be given the abilities to improve to varying degrees. This can be acheived either through direct crafting via experimentation and additional vehicle modules (a la droids), or by player applied modifications, similar to weapon powerups or skill attachments. The ability to improve baseline vehicles would serve to aid virtually any player who utilized a bike or speeder for transportation, however the main reason for these mods would be, of course... racing.


Vehicle Racing -There are enterprising players whowould like nothing more than to sponsor orparticipate in vehicle races in-game,but unfortunatelythis simply cannot be done competitively with the vehicles currently available. Pods would be great, and I can only assume that they will be implemented somewhere down the line, but for now I would be satisfied with the swoops and speeders we have, especially if the groundwork for such an enterprise could be established.With the addition of the above concept of 'boosting' vehicles to perform better, an entire sub-culture of racers would inevitably grow from this, not only as a social aspect to bring players together - for sport or prize money - but also creating anotherservice tothe economy in the form of performance vehicles and the associated infrastructure of parts and labor to keep them running well. Races could be run on established tracks, such as the Mos Espa circuit seen prominently in Episode I, future courses to be laid out by SWG developers, or player-established routes through a unique system of checkpoint markers similar to the waypoints used currently in-game.


Bets and Wagers - Gambling in Star Wars Galaxies is currently limited to the Lugjack Machines and Jubilee Wheels found in the majority of major cities' Hotels, but there are plenty of areas into which the ability to place bets and wagers can be expanded, vehicle races being a prominent example. Creating a system to receive wagers, track the progress of a given event, and pay out credits to winners is already in place with the gambling machines currently in use, although this system is simple inexecution comparedto what might be necessary for something involving players in competition with each other. I envision a specific profession - most likelya Master Entertainer - would have the ability to place three types of Judges: a Racing Judge, a Dueling Judge, and a Contest Judge.The first two are pretty self-explanatory concerning their application, but the Contest Judge would be useful for managing bets, wagers and votes for competitions other than racing or dueling that might be organized by players (i.e. dancing routines, trivia, etc.). Judges would be placed similarly to both structures AND vendors, meaning that they could be placed either within structures or in the wilds, giving great flexibility to those who wish to hold such events. Judges would only remain in place for a set number of hours, determined by agraduated fee paid to it by its owner/manager. Only one of each type of Judge could be placed during one day on a server (server up to server down the following day), and ALL Judges would be removed during daily server maintenance. Contestants would register with the Judge before the start of the event, and each type of Judge would determine the winning contestant based upon specific parameters:


Racing Judge: Final lap completed or final checkpoint passed in sequence

Dueling Judge: Opponent incapacitated

Contest Judge: Greatest number of votes received


How does betting credits fit into this? Simple. Each Judge would have the ability to service players who wanted to bet on one or more of the registered contestants in a given event. I would recommend that any type of handicap, 'spread', or other factor affectingwagersbe left out, both to keepcontests honest and betting simple for players to understand. A maximum wager should be put in place, in the same manner as the existing gambling machines operate, but additional prize money could be contributed by the player hosting the event or the MEntertainer managing the Judge.


The primary challenge to this type of system is to keep the cheaters and exploiters from running their own rigged events in an effort to generate credits for themselves or others. Maximum wagers during events, a fixed multiplier for payouts, and a set number of Judges during server cycles would keep this type of exploitation down, but you can't plan for everything.


To close, the addition of vehicle performance modification, and a system that players can use to run vehicle racesor other events that would encourage bets and wagers would be most suitable for this game, and would certainly be worth the effort, from the individual player up to guilds and player cities. Thank you for reading.

keetrock
Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:35 am
#260
Hey there...has it ever been thought of to give more choices of Stormtrooper armor (Faction Perks), ie Scout, Commando, Desert, etc instead of the standard issue items?
Page 20 of 22
Previous Next