Development Cycle Archive
Thread: IC4: Path of the Jedi
Have loot that gives you waypoints to different NPC who in return gives you a new waypoint and a mission. this mission should lead, in a logical manner to other characters. This way you (the player) gets sucked into a compelling long term story arc, but just so that not everyones arc is the same there should be different ones depending on who your starting npc was... have tree stories evolve from the starting npc and let it branch---
the way to accomplish this is to write a story that makes sense and then having the NAMES in the story change depending on the NPC names involved.
And whats gonna happen to us who already have a FS slot.... will this be removed?
1) there should be a series of special NPCs that are on the planets, whether in remote areas or regular citizens of NPC cities who are secretly in search of the next jedi. If the NPC feels you have what it takes to become a jedi, ( this would be based on some internal experience total that you guys would have to keep track of based on skills players have aquired, missions they've compledted, theme parks, etc. ) The NPC will ask them to perform a few tasks for them. Upon completion of the small set of tasks, the npc will discuss the ways of the force. and speak about the way of the jedi. then of course, they will ask you if you wish to persue the life of a jedi. If you say yes, they will send you to someone else who will start you on your training as a Padawan.
to keep people from camping the starter NPCs all the time, thier location and name should change after each server up.
2) The person you are sent to to begin your training as a Padawan will only accept a set number of students to train. maybe 3. And there should be no more then 20 of these trainers per server initially. which means no more then 60 jedi per server. ( one thing most players will agree on is that no one wants to see a server over run with more jedi characters then regular characters. And the path to jedi should be tough enough where most wouldn't want to try for it in the first place.)
second thing is , it should be some very remote place that can only be reach by a shuttle which will land at a private port only accessible by jedi trainees. The Shuttle port wont even show on the map for anyone who isn't training. a Shuttle is the only way in and out of this training area. This will keep people from camping the "entrance" so they can score themselves some Jedi kills. Maybe some remote island on Yavin 4.
3) The Padawan training should be a series of quests to aquire certain items for the teacher that they for some odd reason need and you have to gather them for them. It should also consist of Advancement in certain trees of regular skills. Maybe the Assembly and Experimentation trees of Droid Engineer and Weaponsmith. After all, these guys should have some background knowledge of droids and weapons before they can build lightsabers and fix an Astromech. They dont need to retain these skills unless you plan on giving them enough skill points to. They just need to do these skills to satisfy thier teachers training. the skills can be dropped later on as they become more attuned to the ways of the force and the role of a Jedi.
4) Upon completeing all the needed quests and skills required by thier teacher, they will be given a final series of tasks to perform based on what they've learned so far. This will be the trials to move on to the next level of thier jedi Training. Jedi Initiate. If they pass the trials , they move on. if they Fail the trials, they have to start over again with the teacher and redo everything. if they fail a third time at the trials. they're done and have no chance of becoming a jedi with that particular teacher ever again. They would have to find a new starting NPC and go through everything all over again.
5) Jedi Initiate: this teacher will begin thier training in minor lightsaber construction techniques and how to fight using one. This teacher would send them on a new series of quests to gather parts for the construction of this lightsaber as well as a few missions for the rebel alliance. some of the components needed could even be rare resources that can be gathered with a harvestor but may not be spawning right now. causing the player to wait a week or 2 for it to spawn, or having to find a player who may have some of it for sale.The rebel missions could consist of rescuing a prisoner in some small imperial installation, or a mission to gather some data disk with important Imperial info on it ( maybe plans to a second death star. )
6) the jedi initiate trials should be a series of quests or tasks similar to the padawan ones, but much tougher. And this time, the player only gets one shot at it. if they fail, they're sent back down to the padawan trainer to start over again.
7) every title after initiate should be longer and tougher to obtain.
8) Once a Player reaches Jedi Master, they will aquire the ability to train up to 3 students, increasing the servers jedi population by 3 for each player who achieves jedi master status. Once the initial 20 NPC trainers are full, new recruits would be sent to a player Jedi Master instead of an NPC one. The player wouldn't actually create thier own quesats, a series of quests would be presented to them in a menu. and they would select which ones they want to send the recruit on. when the recruit completes one, the player Jedi master recieves a message saying the quest was done and the player can continue onto the next step of thier training. I also feel that the number of Players able to train new jedi should be capped at 20 so that theres no more then 120 jedi per server at any time. all 120 can achieve master. but only 20 will have the distinction of being a teacher of the jedi.
Well my post if for after a jedi becomes a jedi.
from what i understand you must pass through initiate to hit padawon. and so on and so forth.
well my idea/suggestion would take a complete revamp of the system *but most of the suggestions do*
I understand that in this era jedi are SUPPOSED to be few and far between, but i notice in the movies that a Jedi of any class excels faster in their learning when grouped with a jedi of greater power than the. IE Master/Pupil idea. Make it so that for a Jedi who is one skill set below mastering their proffession possibly be required to train initiates from initiate to padawon, or even just their skills so that the Knight can advance in their skill sets. Also, when a padawon/initiate is grouped with a more experianced jedi, give them greatly increased experiance bonus's for basically everything they do to advance. weather it be force use or sabre fighting or whatever.
I also think that with the re emergence of jedi, that some of the scripted events for them, or even quest based events. make it so that the jedi can create a new order of jedi council. Where only someone who reaches master jedi and has found the npc/person who is responsible for assigning the quest to be initiated into the council.
The devs would initially have to set it up through npc's for masters to get the quest. But have a set number of members for this player association of the Jedi Council, say 8-10 people at any given time. The only way to become a member is 1- if there is an open slot and 2- you are the first to complete the set of tasks to join.
Now comes the issue of "WHAT IF A JEDI SELLS HIS SPOT ON THE COUNCIL TO MAKE CREDITS???" well if you ask me, this shouldnt be possible, so the only way someone could be removed from the jedi council would be permadeath/set all skills to 0. which would mean that all their hard effort would be removed.
next grip "WHAT IF SOMEONE IS ON THE COUNCIL AND NEVER PLAYS, IT ISNT FAIR!" well, set it up so that the council must meet 'x' amount of times a month at various pre determined locations. if someone misses 2 meetings, they are removed from the council without any nerfs *ie just moved down to jedi master instead of council member* and now they have to fight their way back into the council just like every other master out there *as if there are so many, but one day there may be enough to fill a council*
just some thoughts, let me know what you think
Yoshua Acero
bria-MasterMedic/MasterDr/StrugglingHeavySwordsman (holo1-dr complete, holo-2 master swordsman currently working on)
Well hello fellow community,
First off I would like to say thanks to the Devs for actually taking the time to listen to us, in such an important matter.(At least to the 98% of us who feel Star Wars is about Kick A*& Jedi)
First off I would like to say that as a casual gamer. I really deep down want a chance to become jedi. I have grinded myself to the silent cron. But I dont feel that the current system is geared towards Casual gamers.
FS Quest: I believe that These quest should follow a path which the devs set for us at the beggining. Meaning we get some components from different Quest, IE. Themeparks. One faction. Also show some sort of compassion towards another. Maybe some light and dark side points.
Let's be honest..No matter how hard they try Quest will be camped. All we can do is try to make sure that new players and old get to try the different parts of this game.IE. Travel,Fighting,Grouping...etc..
Padawan Quest: I believe that focus of grouping with stronger Jedi should start to come into the picture. Also we need some sort of good and bad actions. Not so much Factions. But lets be honest a lot of people will get Jedi and there should be something that shows their support on the war of good and evil.
Also this way it can set you up for Force cost on different side of the force.IE. If you are jedi using lighting the cost being a heck of a lot more than that for the dark side. Plus with this Light side and Dark side points it can make the transition from good to bad something that requires Work and sacrifice.
Light Side-Dark Side Quest: Just massive focus on the actions of good and evil. IE. Assasinations, Being a Hero. Each side having a certain "PERK" for their choice. Light side being good with healing, force run. Dark Side being strong Lighting and Grip. Also using Dark Side should cause wound damage and good deal of Fatigue. But Dark side should level faster than Light. Why do you ask this? Well unless I am wrong I thought light side is slower but can benefit from the force. Dark side is faster to learn and master but takes its toll on the body.IE Faster Aging(but we dont have that)
Master Trials: Just a huge focus on grouping teaching, Hell A dam good bonus if you group with a master of xp for both the Padawn,Knight, and Master. Maybe be maxed on either the Dark side points or Light side. Cant be neutral. All master should have helped weaker Jedi get to another level.
Now I know my ideas might have been said before( I refuse to read all of the replies) and some might be stupid. Before I leave I would like to say one more thing. Ok we all know that Jedi were rare.. But come on I am willing to bet that most gamers whether Power Gamer or Casual to very little. Love Jedi and want a chance at it. Reading the Jedi forum you will see that most Jedi are weak from Inate to Padawan. So why not give people a chance at it after some exploration of this game. Most casual gamers want something to show and trust me a skill loss after so much work will keep that side of the population down. Which I believe is said to be the majority. Thanks for your time.
I still think you guys should check with Lucas Arts and see what you can borrow from Knights of the Old Republic. I'm sure you guys would rather do your own thing but if something works it works. No doubt about it, KOTOR worked hehe.
The jedi quests should have options thatreflect the kind of jedi you are.Light and dark jedi should be able totake the same quest and handle it according to their style.Eitherescort/protect the messanger to his destination or kill him because he is weak.
I think this would fit in well with the RPG aspect of the whole MMORPG thing SWG is supposed to be. At this point I think this is what SWG lacks, game provided RPG content.SWG has all of the necessary resources to be the best Star Wars game ever; it just needs quests with options. I think that this is what truly makes an RPG an RPG. The decisions you make should affect your in-game character.
Maybe we could possibly add known Jedi characters to guide the wannabe Jedi. Say, you get so much Jedi XP for doing the quests, you are able to speak to certain Light or dark side tuned Jedi.
These could be theapparition of Obi-Wan in his house, Yoda on Dagobah(if Dagobah is added as a planet(would be good high level hunting)), Vader, Palpatine, etc.
Just pulling this out of my arse!
Some of this may have been said before but i can't read all the post and make sure im not mentioning previously suggested things.
Quest ideas.
The jedi quest i believe should start aftger the completion of the faction theme parks. THis being so because they both end with force sensitive characters calling the shots. Maybe at the end of the quest you have luke skywalker ( being a rebel ill use this as an example) ask you a series of questions that you must answer. once answer he sends you on several quest for various jedi related items, such as a crystal, obi wans journal, and a holocron ( not a holo in the sense that we knowbut more like the holocrons from the jedi order.) once the player has accumulated these items, the jedi quest start. Luke will then tell you to visit a remote area on some planet and an npc will spawn much like the bh mark only he is not able to be attacked. this npc could be a jedi knight in hiding. this jesdi would then send the player on several missions like maybe 20 doing task for him. and once the player had "earned his trust" the jedi says that he is ready to be come a jedi and the slot opens" once the jedi character is created he starts in several diferent starting areas not in cities like normal players. he then recieves a message via the force to find his jedi master and the long path begins. now the xp thing remains the same the jedi must level in order to gain enough xp to learn a skill and once that is done he must perform a mission or task in order to prove he can be trusted with the knowledge. if the jedi fails the mission a 6 hr timer is put into effect and the jedi must wait to try again. however there is no cap on xp. so 18 boxes a tier and 3 tiers makes 54 missions of increasing dificulty before becoming a jedi. also the ap points need to be gotten rid of.
Darkside Lightside
i propose a new faction style. this is jedi faction. the force is not good or evil that is the wielder. so the jedi player will start off with 0 jedi faction. on missions he will have situations were he must choose. if an npc dies he may loose faction if tyey live he gains faction, negative faction is the darkside and positive is the light. the player then makes a choice at the level of apprentice on whether he goes light or dark based on his previous missions.
these are my thoughts
Im not going to go into every detail about How i think becoming a jedi will work because chances are it probably wont get implemented. What I will let you know is that Becoming a Jedi needs to be something that is earned. something that someone can work towards to. As far as i see it the system you incorporated into the game today is mostly just irrational luck. whether or not you do your required profesions is a bloody joke. Ive seen people mastering 6 profesions and open the slot ive seen people master 24 profesions and no FF*@& slot?
You need an incentive to keep players in the game, there needs to be a visual reference that players can associate with and say ok thats how close I am to unlocking my FS slot. If you do not have this you will keep loosing customers.
Duplolas wrote:
How about assigning weights to the badges and calculate badge points. The FSCS opens when you reach so many badge points.
This factors inthe progress of current holo grinders, because profession badges should net a lot of badge points.
This allows you to leverage all existing (and future) contentthat give badges.
Badge weights would be relative to time to achieve.
Would not promote camping, would promote exploring all the content in the game.
Simple and builds on existing game mechanics. So can you get this into Publish 7? Heeeee
To Thunderheart and DEVS.
Listen guys and gals, I have been trying to obtain my jedi slot since my beta experience ended and day one in release, and im on prof 17 and 18. I thought sure it had to do with badges, so i camped the mark badges for weeks off and on. Anyway what this chap up above has came up with I feel is a great start for the new system. Assign points to badges, and mega points for profession ones/themeparks/specials.
Look, how bout the amount of badge points you have determine how these new quests npcs interact with you, and how far or close you are to opening your slot via the quests. This way ppl who have grinded and have several badges could be at the last step per say, and only have to go kill a certain npc, ect for a final. But make the quota very high, and location badges not worth too much, (cause they are easy) Or perhaps have the new quests grant you badges for more points.
Ok also no matter what you all decide I as a player and consumer am trying to bear this out. Look I want my slot and really I have mixed feelings on changing it. I know it is a better way to open it via quests but really you need to make sure we who have worked this long get our reward. I spent alot of time when im not working ect to reach this cause I am a Star Wars fan, and mmo in general. Trust me it WILL NOT break the game to have more jedi around. The population will flux and change over time, and when you get new players each year everything will balance out. Just crackdown on Jedi players harder. I feel permadeath was good as it kept it hard. Since you have changed it maybe you should add more negatives to dieing than just lose one skill.
This may be too simple but when the publish 7 hits maybe you could have a quest(s) for us who are post silent to get a holocron that tells us our last profession to master. From then on just turn the old system off. You may have a wave of alot of fresh jedi, but like i said this won't break the game. You can only play the role of jedi for so long before you want to try new things with your main character, you see. Thanks for listening