Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (Week Ending 2-16-04)
TH-
How bout finnishing up with the entertainer questions, answering the dancer/ music ones. What happened? I thought you were going to be working on this. It was a great idea, but the lack of follow-through has only made the problem worse. Are you coming back over?
i know that the vehicle customization tool is forthcoming, however what if we were to take that idea and bring it to the next level?
the exciting thing about watching Anakin in the Mos Espa race where he won his freedom was partially due to short bursts of accelaration. You have already provided us with the coordinates to re-live the race, but we lack the "individuality" of vehicles to really make it fun. What if artisans/mechanics (new elite prof?)had the ability to experiment with vehicles in regard to speed or vehicle health, as well as create "vehicle powerups" to allow for speed boosts or other short term improvements.
Another lacking facet to vehicle ownership is vehicle combat. Again, what if the mechanic had the ability to add weaponry and/or shield generators to enable "chariot" races or even tactical assaults on Faction bases. This idea would even help weaponsmiths & Armorsmiths because it would create more content for them at the high-end or master skill levels by giving them access to more schematics.
Vehicle combat could enhance many professions. Skills could be added tovariouscombat professions at varying levels to reflect expertise in vehicle combat (i.e. gunner line in rifleman, artillery in commando, or even marauder in carbine).
I'd like to bring up (once again) the concept of "reasons to keep Master". I have been Master Droid Engineer for 3 months now, and not a holo-chaser. There is really no reason for me to use my DE skills any more. Masters have little reason to use their skills. Our XP caps out and then becomes meaningless.
Halmet wrote:
How about small HAM increases with each skill box gained. Maybe even limit this to elite professions only.
I've got a question about the process.
Why are Smugglers having their skills given away in exchange for Imperial Faction Points? This is a major new change in the skillpoint system, since it enables Imperials to access all 250 skillpoints and then gain the equivalent of another full line of skills - in this case, Underworld from Smuggler. In fact, an Imperial who invests in some rank gets better smuggling skill than a Master Smuggler. It would be bad enough if an Imperial would have better contraband movement abilities than a Noviec Smuggler, but allowing guaranteed success that exceeds even a Master? That's just poor gameplay.
There are other ways to give perks for rank, such as a few small skill mods, or the ability to call more Faction pets. But swiping a profession's core ability - smuggling, ie moving contraband - is just not a good way to balance the game, and this move will devalue the skillpoints that Smugglers invested in their profession.
For more information, go to the Smuggler forum, where this has been an intensely-discussed issue since it was announced. This isnt' a Rebel versus Imperial issue, it's a Smuggler versus non-Smuggler issue, and any other profession would feel the same if their skills were being taken away in exchange for Faction Points.
You need to come to the Smuggler forum and work with us rather than stonewall during controversy. The Devs said that 2004 was supposed to be the year of better communication. Despite a few threads like this one, which just seem to be openings to vent, I haven't seen it happen.
eyeodragon wrote:
you know that screen you get when you are about to lay down a structure? you can still see you, creatures and other players on that screen a squad leader should have a "battleoverview" command witch will pop him into this screen, with icons over the heads of his squad so he can get a feeling of where everyone is, he should also be able to use all his specials from this screen including selecting a target and using volley fire. this is a much wider view of the battle feild than you could possibly get with zooming all the way out and lookign down. also this is different from the overlay map in thaty you can actualy select ojects you see and interact witht he directly from this view
the code for most of this is there in your structure deployment system, now just adapt it for squad leader in combat.
That would be AWESOME!!!!
This is something I believe could be a quick fix that would be greatly appreciated by many.
Include the entryway stairs of player cantinas as part of the main room.
The entry way and mainroom seem to be consider by the game as seperate rooms(doesn't allow items to be moved across the border).To those who do not know this is how items are placed on walls, stacked or suspended from ceilings. I am not certain, maybe it means that the stairs need to be moved in further or the room's border redefined. This would allow greater design flexibility by providing a little more elevation in item placement. The lack of elevation available in the player cantinas was of some disappointment to those of us who get into decorating the various buildings.
Iwould love to see an up/down command or new items/furniture, but this could be a easy nice fixto makeone of the most frequently visited player structures, more unique to one another.
SakeO
I'm waiting for the inevitable "It's more complicated than that" response, but please explain WHY
Not to mention the 3-hour server-reset time each night.
DubVee wrote:
One thing I would love to see fixed is the "slingshotting" that occurs when a character dismounts a vehicle or mount (especially if coming to a fast stop). Is it not possible for the game code to simply stop the vehicle at the time of dismount and then place the character right beside it? I don't understand why a character should ever dismount and land 100m+ away from a vehicle. For example, when the character dismounts a vehicle that is located at position x,y, place the character at x+1, y+1.
I'm waiting for the inevitable "It's more complicated than that" response, but please explain WHY
i would atribute this to some sort of position sync bug between the server and the client, but i have had times where i have been placed 100m strait up in the air then when i take one step i land next to my vehicle, i have screen shots of me floading above a city like a bird. also some times you can bethrown upwards of 500m foward when dismounting then one second later get sling shotted back to within 30m of your vehicle.... it would be interesting to know why this happens
Zonnend wrote:
Please improve the bazaar functionality. Specifically:
- Allow browse access to the bazaar from anywhere. You shouldn't be able to purchase / sell, but at least see what's available... It would make sense with continuity: this is a technological universe, and folks should have access to this type of data from anywhere.
I'll do you one better: make those data terminals that artisans sell actually useful. Buy a terminal for your home or PA and be able to browse the bazaar at home.
Take if further, if you like. Make it so that you can buy shuttle tickets ahead of time buy choosing your starting point and destination.
Also, we need wall art for our homes when up/down is introduced (Publish 7, right? Right?). It would be technologically infeasible at this point, but it would berather coolif we could take screencaps and have artisansturn those into custom wall art for us.