Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Publish 6 Feedback: Imperial Crackdown
Hlicalanthe
Wed Feb 25, 2004 12:48 am
#313
frylee85 wrote:You know its bad when the Rebels ENJOY the crackdown.Enough said.
You know it's bad when a player looks forward to changes with the caveat that it diminishes another's enjoyment.
Rather than taking issue with some rebels killing the CD NPCs, how about you go overt and help them out? I wouldn't be surprised if you actually had some fun. The CD isn't the sole responsibility of Imperial N-PCs; but too many of the Imperial PCs seem to think the purpose of the CD was to keep Rebel PCs "heeled" and to remove most PvP risk from Overt Imperial PCs.
Shidevie
Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:28 am
#314
Is the Reb faction farm going to be ending soon? ST's need to be buffed up or add some comparable ways to farm faction for the Imp's. Also, haven't seen a ST in a cantina in days, is this a bug or was this removed?
Athenis
Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:05 pm
#315
about that whole "crackdown" thing, what are you talking about?...you put imp presence in the dumbest places...they should be in coronet, theed, and those kind of cities...and the crackdown isnt much of a crackdown...please put some in theed....maybe u will get some of the spammers out of there...and the overt rebels too...at least on corbantis that is...its so pointless to be an imp in theed...
frylee85
Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:32 pm
#316
Sorry, pal, but I am overt. It's obvious that something is wrong. You cannot argue that.
Hlicalanthe wrote:
frylee85 wrote:
You know its bad when the Rebels ENJOY the crackdown.
Enough said.
You know it's bad when a player looks forward to changes with the caveat that it diminishes another's enjoyment.
Rather than taking issue with some rebels killing the CD NPCs, how about you go overt and help them out? I wouldn't be surprised if you actually had some fun. The CD isn't the sole responsibility of Imperial N-PCs; but too many of the Imperial PCs seem to think the purpose of the CD was to keep Rebel PCs "heeled" and to remove most PvP risk from Overt Imperial PCs.
IdrisTycho
Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:12 pm
#317
Here's an idea that might make some sense out of a few issues like:
- Lag due to over crowding of cities or planets
- Smuggler Gameplay being stale without any organic sense to it
- Contraband scans being too infrequent and completely random (I haterandom)
As planets or cities get over crowded with players, INCREASE the odds that a player buying a shuttle ticket to thatregion will be scanned for contraband.
As planets or cities get full, put a risk rating on the ticket vendor (a number or color on the display), indicating a state of alert for that region. Players traveling to regions in a high state of alert must obvioulsy go through extra security, and thus the scans make sense. If a player is caught with contraband his ticket is confiscated, regardless of faction. Obviously rebels would suffer additional penalties like death. 
Well, atleast they will be forced overt.
To reduce the number of checks in a player's inventory, the scan would happen immediately upon ticket purchase. This is pretty much the way things work in real life, so its not so unusual. In fact the game could load some imperial troops next to each ticket vendor so that on a successful scan the troops would already be there ready to pounce.
Repercussions:
- Big centers of commerce might start to spread out to other planets. People wont do ALL of their shopping in Coronet since in order to get there they might have to risk scans. This might move players out to the player cities since player cities won't have the same risks, or at least might have reduced risks. Maybe a city could decide how their shuttle port will work with regard to the alert rating.
- Smugglers might get hired to move contraband from one planet to another, especially if that planet is only reachable through Coronet. They might be hired to simply group with people traveling to the same destination. Smugglershouts, "Who is going to Coronet? 1000 credits to join my group!"
- Players traveling to areas where the server is already overloaded will get very high chances for scans if not 100% chance. This will reduce the load on servers that are already suffering. Thus it willreduce lag.
Hlicalanthe
Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:43 am
#318
frylee85 wrote:Sorry, pal, but I am overt. It's obvious that something is wrong. You cannot argue that.
Hlicalanthe wrote:
You know it's bad when a player looks forward to changes with the caveat that it diminishes another's enjoyment.
Rather than taking issue with some rebels killing the CD NPCs, how about you go overt and help them out? I wouldn't be surprised if you actually had some fun. The CD isn't the sole responsibility of Imperial N-PCs; but too many of the Imperial PCs seem to think the purpose of the CD was to keep Rebel PCs "heeled" and to remove most PvP risk from Overt Imperial PCs.
Sure I can. Just because you're overt doesn't mean you're actively helping protect the towns with groups of Imp NPCs. Feel free to add more than "but I am overt," as I didn't say just becoming overt would bring enjoyment. If you are indeed helping the NPCs out, but are failing to make any difference (which I'd find hard to believe if you have an understanding of how the NPCs are distributed throughout the town, and use a little strategy to lead insurgents into a group of them), how about you rally your other overt Imperial friends into helping out?
Of course, my statement stands regardless: "You know it's bad when a player looks forward to changes with the caveat that it diminishes another's enjoyment." The intent of the CD wasn't to diminish anyone's enjoyment, but to improve immersion in the SW universe. It's too sad that some people were hoping otherwise.
Rufkin
Thu Feb 26, 2004 5:27 am
#319
They need to use the specials they have access to. That should fix all the problems. All NPCs need to use the skills their professions allow.
Skarragon
Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:52 am
#320
Hi!
First: I did not read all the Thread, so if something was written earlier, I'm sorry.
I play a Bothan Ranger on Gorath, and I'm hunting on the remote planets most of the time. Because of that it might happen, that my character has not been scanned by imperials yet.
When i visited Kor Vella yesterday i recognized a lot of more Stormtroopers there, but none of them tried to scan me or sth like that.
From the Films i remember Stormtroopers in Groups of 4 or 6. The Stotrmies in Kor Vella were standing solitary around at every house. Most of them an easy Target for a fast Killer. Not very impressive
I would like to see Small Groups of Stormtroopers roaming the Streets of a Town scanning peoples standing around. Give these Groups a little more HAM, so that they could be a match for a maxed an buffed Solo Player and maybe a little chalenge for a Goup of Players.
There don't need to be 50 STs standing around, but maybe 4 or 5 Groups per City on diferent routes. Maybe like the Roaming Keep Guards in DAoC.
Oh, and for the remote Planets and Regions: Maybe more Probe Droids searching for Rebs and contraband.
-Skarra
First: I did not read all the Thread, so if something was written earlier, I'm sorry.
I play a Bothan Ranger on Gorath, and I'm hunting on the remote planets most of the time. Because of that it might happen, that my character has not been scanned by imperials yet.
When i visited Kor Vella yesterday i recognized a lot of more Stormtroopers there, but none of them tried to scan me or sth like that.
From the Films i remember Stormtroopers in Groups of 4 or 6. The Stotrmies in Kor Vella were standing solitary around at every house. Most of them an easy Target for a fast Killer. Not very impressive
I would like to see Small Groups of Stormtroopers roaming the Streets of a Town scanning peoples standing around. Give these Groups a little more HAM, so that they could be a match for a maxed an buffed Solo Player and maybe a little chalenge for a Goup of Players.
There don't need to be 50 STs standing around, but maybe 4 or 5 Groups per City on diferent routes. Maybe like the Roaming Keep Guards in DAoC.
Oh, and for the remote Planets and Regions: Maybe more Probe Droids searching for Rebs and contraband.
-Skarra
DrydenKrieger
Fri Feb 27, 2004 1:33 am
#321
The crackdown is unfair for one purpose: The rebels can't fight back. Now, I don't mean in direct combat, but you can't go out and actually participate in the war with any real effect. We have enough rebel players on Lowca that we could very easily slay Darth Vader, Emperor Palapatine, and any other imperial storm trooper goon that decided to come out our way. My problem is, if you're going to force a war on players, then allow us the opportunity to FINISH IT. Otherwise we're just following some prescripted destiny. I understand that for the sake of the star wars storyline we need some scripting, but if you truly want a real online roleplaying game (and not just shoot kill etc) then you need to allow the players to control their destinies. With the sheer numbers of rebels out there, Vader should be dead by now. Hell, I've killed enough storm troopers to litter a planet with their armor. But oh well, the probot scans aren't that bad. If storm troopers do come in they're pretty easy anyways. As they should be. They're only grunts after all.
Right now it just seems like a convenient way to pick on rebel players and consequentially have it justified by every fanatical Imperial out there. In a real war, you don't have to wait for the next publish to go shoot someone. You can do it anytime you like if you have the proper amount of firepower. My main point is, before publishes like the Crackdown are implemented there should be a counterattack to them. Not, ok you guys get picked on for a month now k thx. We've got the arms, armor, and able bodies to stop the imperials -- just point us in the right direction and actually let us do it.
quietwolf832
Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:58 pm
#322
I have to say that the Imperial Crackdown is good.
But, it could be better....
Here's a few things I have experienced as a result of the "Crackdown".
The day the "Crackdown" went into effect I saw, as I was exiting the starport in Coronet, 4 AT-STs and numerous Stormtroopers & Darktroopers fighting with a handful of Rebel players. (My first thoughts were "wow" the crackdown is going to be fun)
Since then I have seen only 1 probot, which was approximately 500m away from the starport in Moenia. (Since I'm a covert rebel carrying "tons" of contraband, I evaded it.)
Seen several "Crackdown" patrols out in the wilderness that just stand there or just move about in a 20m radius. Upon being attacked, no reinforcements are called for or show up.
The lone Stormtrooper who shows up in the cantina and threatens/taunts covert rebel players is very well done. However, only 3 Stormtroopers come to his aid if he is attacked.
The only time I have witnessed an Imperial shaking down a covert rebel. Was when a Overt Imperial player dressed in a TIE fighter pilot suit & helmet was telling a covert Rebel master summugler to move along, because the covert rebel was shouting out he was available for slicing while standing in fron of the starport in Coronet. The Imperial player eventually got bored, due to not having the ability to enforce his commands.
I and everyone I know have never been scanned for contraband, even though we openly carry contraband.
Several items have been declared as contraband, but everyday you can see players loudly hawking their wares in open public places without fear of repersial and you can find contraband items for sale on public vendors in Imperial controlled cities.
Here are some ideas that could make the "Crackdown" better....
The Empire should have a more visible and bigger force in areas that they should have under their control. For instance, since Corellia and Naboo are big travel hubs, it is logical to assume that the Empire should have the starports on these planets under their control (especially the capitals. ie. Theed & Coronet)
A bigger, more visible force could entail an AT-ST, squads of Stormtroopers and turrets. (Covert scanner in Theed with a pair of turrets would be great too.)
Along with this bigger and stronger force, there should be mandatory scanning of contraband items.
There should be more probots scouring the countryside looking for Rebel forces and contraband.
When an Imperial squad/probot is attacked, they should get reinforcements, lots of reinforcements.
Players hawking contraband in open public places should be harrassed by Imperial forces.
Contraband items should not be allowed to be placed on public vendors in cities under the control of teh Empire. (If someone attempts to do so, the items they are placing should be confiscated and they should immediatelybe approached by a squad of Stormtroopers.)
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts on the matter.
In closing,
The Empire should beOPPRESSING Rebel forces, not be some sort of nusaince or faction farm.
Emod19
Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:56 am
#323
Every publish thus far has brought in just barely enough content, balances, changes to keep me interested in the game to keep me interested. But I'm afraid I'm hitting my limit. I understand this game was originally intended with more casual players in mind, and while thats been somewhat successful, even casual players are finding there's not enough to the game.
- Difficulty Encounters are too easy... and thats unbuffed. With doctor buffs, nearly every encounter, save perhaps 4-5, becomes laughably simple. Soloing is the most efficient way for money, xp, and even faction. While soloing or quick "mission" play should be available, this should never be the best method in a multiplayer game.
- Crackdown Because of the above issue, this publish in particular had a reverse effect. What was supposed to make life more difficult for Rebels, has made it amazingly easy to farm faction points. I have still yet to be scanned (though I am imperial... does it tell you when scanned?) that I know of.
- Themeparks One of the main features this publish was revamped themeparks and quests. While the reward have been very cool thus far, the quests still are soloable, trivial and terribly short. I can honestly say these are the worst quests I've seen in an MMORPG to date. Runnign back and forth between 2 points and occassionally killing a few NPCs is not a great design... though the stories associated with them are decent, I admit. Why not increase the reward and time required and actually have us travel the galaxy? Why is Jabba's slicer just out in the middle of the Tatooine desert. Why not have him live in a nearby city or planet?
- Goals We still don't have nearly enough "goals" available for Achiever type play styles. Yes, we finally have some more drops that can be incorporated into new items (kudos dev's I love this), but they're still far too few and more over too easy to obtain, putting them on the fast track to being ubiquitous. But in general we still have only two unique dungeons, The Warren and the Geo-Dung, that offer anything different from your standard vanilla dungeon (ie Drall caves = Spiderclan caves with slightly different graphics). I know there was a backlash against EQ for the style of play it encouraged and required, but it seems that in the attempt to avoid "EQ in space" we lost sight of what it was that made EQ fun. There should always be something out there that you'd like to do but due to money, skill, etc have yet to do.... thats what keeps people logging in each night.
- Communication You guys have done a much better job regarding communicating ideas, with the last several publishes. Many of the problems are being discussed and it really seems like you're listening. But why is the topic of this Publish being ignored? We're telling you that the Crackdown has been a joke and is helping rather than hindering Rebels, yet not one post? That right there is the biggest failure I've seen with this publish. Are droids intended to be perfect smugglers? What is the current stance on this "forced-PvP?" We're giving you feedback, we'd just like to know whats being done with it, because from the looks of it, you guys are alreadying moving on to the next Publish before this one is even working correctly.
Jackdeth101
Mon Mar 01, 2004 9:57 pm
#324
I haven't taken the time to investigate this thread (it is REALLY long at this point), so if I repeat what someone else has said, my apologies. That said, here goes....
The Imperial Crackdown was an awesome idea.... For a few days. However, since the crackdown first showed up, the numbers of imperial troops I've seen has dwindled to the point that I almost never see them anymore. Actually, I can't recall the last time I've seen a stormtrooper in a city, it has been at least a week or more. I'm a rebel, and I was looking forward to having to "run the blockade" of imperial troops (and players) in order to conduct business. I mean, after all, as the storyline goes, the rebels need to do all they can to hide their presence, right? Well, it is back to business as usual. The crackdown seems to have been (very) temporary.
Perhaps I misunderstood, but I had thought the crackdown was supposed to have troops in the "occupied" cities all the time. With the huge number of rebels on the server (at least in my galaxy), I'm sure it only took a matter of minutes to wipe out the stormtroopers, with some hindrance from player imperials. Now that there isn't any troops to spot rebels, the imp players have gone back to doing whatever they were doing, instead of laying ambushes.
I just thought it would be fun to circumvent ambushes, sneak past NPC troops and generally live the life of the wanted criminal. I'm bummed that the crackdown was so brief. I hope it comes back again, so I can feel like a rebel, and so this game would feel like there is a real war going on.... Just an opinion.
Heff
Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:21 am
#325
Greetings,
I know this post will not be read by many, but I felt after a month of playing the Imperial Crackdown I must post my opinion on this subject. (Not like it matters anyways).
Publish 6: The Great Imperial Crackdown. More like the Great Imperial Flop. I am an Imperial, and currently live on Lok. I have not seen an Imperial scanning droid ever on that planet. So I move off the planet to Tatooine. I am figuring I will see a great deal of Imperials walking through the cities. I was completely mistaken. I counted at least 10 over Rebels in Bestine, and not one Overt Imperial. This is the great crackdown? Having the Imperial cities controlled by rebels? I could not pass judgement so I went and ventured off to Theed. What did I see? I saw a lot of stormtroopers. I mean at least 100+. I was finally seeing the great imperial crackdown in work. Or so I thought. 10 Rebels were farming them. After seeing that I left the city and went back to Lok.
So let me get this straight. For the Imperial Crackdown, you basically upped the spawn rate for 100 weak STs for rebels to kill. I have played EQ for 5 years, and this reminds me of the GM events that were held. The Gm would just spawn a significant amount of NPCs to run around and they would call it an event.
This is not fun, this is not an event, I feel it’s weak in the Star Wars story line.
As you know that was only apart of Publish 6. Other fixes, and additions included.
Chef Profession Revamp: I like the Chef Revamps.
Vehicle Enhancements: Useless, they Fade after awhile
Buffing and Attribute Modifiers: It took you almost 8 months to put this in?
Star Wars look and feel: Not at all. I don’t think adding a few Star Destroyers make me feel like I am actually living in Star Wars.
GCW Bugs Fixed:
ATST more resistant against fire, but still has a weak rating against Kinetic...go up and punch an M1A1 and tell me how much it hurts.
Imperials are more Prevalent in the Cantinas: I went to 3 cantinas all in major cities. (Coronet, Bestine, and Theed) In Coronet I never found one Imperial in there overt. In Bestine the Cantina was empty! In Theed the cantina had less then 10 people in it. BTW never saw one ST in there.
Players are no longer able to shut down a faction HQ if they have declared only within the last 5 minutes: Sure but they can shut it down when they are dead, and has been an issue for sometime.
Increased the maximum possible range for turrets to 80m: Can be bypassed
So this is what I think of Publish 6...its horrible. I would rather you fix most of the bugs, then add new content. I can list many bugs that were around since launch (Group Tef Bug, Geometry Hack Bug)? Are you ever going to fix these? We never get any response to these bugs.
For my final opinion:
Now let us break down the game into 4 sections: Crafting, Combat, GCW, Jedi. 75% of the game is being redeveloped. Combat, GCW, and Jedi systems are going through major changes. I have lost a lot of confidence in Lucas Arts, and SOE for developing a game that only has a 25% functionality. This is a big problem.
I am waiting around for publish 7 for one reason. Faith, I feel that something will happen for the better, but if it does not, you will loose yet another player.
Elyria Un'xia
(Waiting for publish 7 to see if I Cancel)
I know this post will not be read by many, but I felt after a month of playing the Imperial Crackdown I must post my opinion on this subject. (Not like it matters anyways).
Publish 6: The Great Imperial Crackdown. More like the Great Imperial Flop. I am an Imperial, and currently live on Lok. I have not seen an Imperial scanning droid ever on that planet. So I move off the planet to Tatooine. I am figuring I will see a great deal of Imperials walking through the cities. I was completely mistaken. I counted at least 10 over Rebels in Bestine, and not one Overt Imperial. This is the great crackdown? Having the Imperial cities controlled by rebels? I could not pass judgement so I went and ventured off to Theed. What did I see? I saw a lot of stormtroopers. I mean at least 100+. I was finally seeing the great imperial crackdown in work. Or so I thought. 10 Rebels were farming them. After seeing that I left the city and went back to Lok.
So let me get this straight. For the Imperial Crackdown, you basically upped the spawn rate for 100 weak STs for rebels to kill. I have played EQ for 5 years, and this reminds me of the GM events that were held. The Gm would just spawn a significant amount of NPCs to run around and they would call it an event.
This is not fun, this is not an event, I feel it’s weak in the Star Wars story line.
As you know that was only apart of Publish 6. Other fixes, and additions included.
Chef Profession Revamp: I like the Chef Revamps.
Vehicle Enhancements: Useless, they Fade after awhile
Buffing and Attribute Modifiers: It took you almost 8 months to put this in?
Star Wars look and feel: Not at all. I don’t think adding a few Star Destroyers make me feel like I am actually living in Star Wars.
GCW Bugs Fixed:
ATST more resistant against fire, but still has a weak rating against Kinetic...go up and punch an M1A1 and tell me how much it hurts.
Imperials are more Prevalent in the Cantinas: I went to 3 cantinas all in major cities. (Coronet, Bestine, and Theed) In Coronet I never found one Imperial in there overt. In Bestine the Cantina was empty! In Theed the cantina had less then 10 people in it. BTW never saw one ST in there.
Players are no longer able to shut down a faction HQ if they have declared only within the last 5 minutes: Sure but they can shut it down when they are dead, and has been an issue for sometime.
Increased the maximum possible range for turrets to 80m: Can be bypassed
So this is what I think of Publish 6...its horrible. I would rather you fix most of the bugs, then add new content. I can list many bugs that were around since launch (Group Tef Bug, Geometry Hack Bug)? Are you ever going to fix these? We never get any response to these bugs.
For my final opinion:
Now let us break down the game into 4 sections: Crafting, Combat, GCW, Jedi. 75% of the game is being redeveloped. Combat, GCW, and Jedi systems are going through major changes. I have lost a lot of confidence in Lucas Arts, and SOE for developing a game that only has a 25% functionality. This is a big problem.
I am waiting around for publish 7 for one reason. Faith, I feel that something will happen for the better, but if it does not, you will loose yet another player.
Elyria Un'xia
(Waiting for publish 7 to see if I Cancel)