Development Cycle Archive
Thread: On Mandalorian Armor
Shug_Ninx wrote:During our recent Dev Chat, we hinted at the fact that Mandalorian Armor will be added to the game via a new dungeon we're working on now. This caused some confusion among some players who thought that Mandalorian Armor was already in the game... Let me clear that up.Short Answer: Mandalorian Armor has existed since launch, but we haven't given you a way to find it/make it/buy it...The Long Answer: We've had the Mandalorian Armor assets for some time (since well before launch), but we've always struggled to find a good way to integrate the armor into the game. Like Jedi, we didn't want Mandalorian Armor to become commonplace - it's supposed to be rare armor worn by an elite crew of mercenaries (who, by this point in the timeline, have been all but wiped out). We knew that bounty hunters would covet a suit of "Boba Fett's armor," and would feel "cheated" if just anyone could make, buy, or recover Mandalorian armor. So, there was some back and forth before launch about how to best implement the armor, and the best choice seemed to be by folding it into some kind of dungeon or quest progression. As many of you also know, however, we're sensitive to cutting crafters out of the economy - we didn't want there to be an over-abundance of "uber-loot" items that remove the combat professions' dependency on crafters (as the game has evolved, we've become more open-minded about the types of loot we can drop, but we're still cognizant of the crafters' needs). During the race towards launch and in the weeks that followed, we just didn't have time to devise a dungeon or series of quests that could provide Mandalorian armor in a compelling manner (with a good backstory, which is really important to me, especially in this case) *and* remain true to our design goals regarding crafters.A few months ago, a LucasArts employee who plays the game religiously started a grass-roots crusade to get Mandalorian armor into the game. I was sympathetic, but we had so much on our plates already. Fortunately, during a review of the dungeon assets in development, we discovered a rundown mine that nobody was sure how to populate. To me, it seemed like the perfect hideout for a gang of mercenaries - and thus, we decided that it would become the lair of the Death Watch, an offshoot of the Mandalorians. I'm not going to give away too many details, but I'm really excited about the direction for the dungeon and I think it's going to make both powerful combat characters and skilled crafters happy...Stayed tuned in the coming weeks. Before you know it, you'll be battling your way through Death Watch assassins and soldiers in search of one of the most iconic outfits in the Star Wars lore. Just make sure you know a good Armorsmith...Haden BlackmanLucasArts Producer
Seriously..... can't we leave crafters out of this one? Just make it a looted armor or whatever. It's annoying to find a schematic or weapon/armor enhancement then have to running to a crafter who will then most likely charge you an arm and a leg for it to be made and there's the ever popular "Hey, I'm going to steal this." Crap.
No, I've never been scammed, yes I know plenty of armor smiths who would do this for me for free, but it still is a pain in the butt to keep asking people to do stuff for you when it's something that you found yourself.
For instance - quite possibly the hardest weapon to get in the game - Nightsister Energy Lance. Takes a schematic, only dropped by elders or the ns queen herself ( I believe ) and some ns vibro motors - only droppable by the ns queen. Take into consideration how extremely RARE both of these drops are then you have to go running to a weaponsmith to get the weapon fabricated. That much I understand, but then in lies the problem. The schematic still has a number of charges on it that you cannot access until you get more motors which, once again is extremely rare. So said weaponsmith could do this for someone else and charge an arm and a leg to that person thus essentially stealing your money.
Money isn't a big deal to crafter's because like many, are rich. However, many of us who play pure combat classes cannot afford these losses and our money only comes when infact we do PvE and find the ocassional "uber loot".
I won't digress into the huge problem of NO REWARD in PvP right now but you can see where I'm going with this......
I parused the internet and found this website:
http://home.neo.rr.com/scottbrown/korbin/man.htm
Basically what the site says is this.
The death watch is a group that wanted to rid the mandalorians of the galaxy, the death watch found that the mandalorians were too much to take down, and hired the help of the Jedi Order to go to the planet Mandalorian. When the Jedi nearly caused the mandalorians to extinction, the last mandalorian to survive was Jango Fett.
This would bring us to the conclusion that the Death Watch is now in possession of the Mandalorian technology, a.k.a Mandalorian Armor.
It's not stated though how much of the Mandalorian technology still exists. For all we know, it could be around 60 years at least, since this event happened. There could be hordes of resources that the Death Watch kept for themselves.
If this information holds true, this would lead us to believe that a schematic created by the Death Watch is definitely feasible, and the Mandalorian Armor is not as rare as some people make it out to be.
NoxDenosis wrote:
With that note, what makes BH more skilled at using a LC over a Commando? why dont you tell me that?
I would humbly suggest that this armor come with a very high cert in order to wear it. Something along the lines of a Master of an Elite Combat profession. I See BH and Commando mentioned quite a bit which makes sense since they take a lot of skill points to attain. But to be honest, master Rifleman, Carbineers, Pistoleers, squad leader, and TKAsalso show a fair amount of devotion to the combat arts.
What I find strange is that thereare no armor certs at all. My weaponsmith/DE who can't hit thebroad side of a barn could wear 80% 3x composite if he wanted to (and could have done so as a noviceArtisan). This to me makes no sense whatsoever. Armor (especially powered or hard-platearmor) is bulky and difficult to stand up in, much less run around in without extensive training.
I'd like to see you all get some armor certs in place (very high certs in the case of Mandalorian) for armor before you unleash the madness that will be the race for Boba's armor on us.
Shug_Ninx wrote:
During our recent Dev Chat, we hinted at the fact that Mandalorian Armor will be added to the game via a new dungeon we're working on now. This caused some confusion among some players who thought that Mandalorian Armor was already in the game... Let me clear that up.
Short Answer: Mandalorian Armor has existed since launch, but we haven't given you a way to find it/make it/buy it...
The Long Answer: We've had the Mandalorian Armor assets for some time (since well before launch), but we've always struggled to find a good way to integratethe armorinto the game. Like Jedi, we didn't want Mandalorian Armor to become commonplace - it's supposed to be rare armor worn by an elite crew of mercenaries (who, by this point in the timeline, have been all but wiped out). We knew that bounty hunters would coveta suit of "Boba Fett's armor," andwould feel "cheated" if just anyone could make, buy, or recover Mandalorian armor. So, there was some back and forth before launch about how to best implement the armor, and thebest choice seemed to beby folding it into some kind of dungeon or quest progression. As many of you also know, however, we're sensitive to cutting crafters out of the economy - we didn't want there to be an over-abundance of "uber-loot" itemsthat removethe combatprofessions' dependency on crafters (as the gamehas evolved, we've becomemore open-minded about the types of loot we can drop, but we're still cognizant of the crafters' needs).During the race towards launch and in the weeks that followed, wejust didn't have time to devise a dungeonor series of queststhatcould provide Mandalorian armor in acompelling manner (with a good backstory, which is really important to me, especiallyin this case)*and* remain true to our design goals regarding crafters.
A few months ago,a LucasArts employee who plays the game religiously started a grass-rootscrusade toget Mandalorian armor into the game.I was sympathetic, but we had so much on our plates already. Fortunately, during a review of the dungeon assets in development, we discovered a rundown mine that nobody was sure how to populate. To me, it seemed like the perfect hideout for a gang of mercenaries - and thus, we decided that it would become the lair of the Death Watch, an offshoot of the Mandalorians.I'm not going to give away too many details, butI'm reallyexcited about the directionfor the dungeon and I think it's going to make bothpowerful combat characters and skilled crafters happy...
Stayed tuned in the coming weeks. Before you know it,you'll bebattling your way throughDeath Watch assassins and soldiers in search of one of the most iconic outfits in the Star Wars lore.Just make sure you know a good Armorsmith...
Haden Blackman
LucasArts Producer
I LOVE YOU!!!
The Idea of Mandalorian crafted by AS, but also loot (ie. RIS) is quite appealing to me I pray you, one thing: good resists and/or stun. oh, and none of that stat shifting junk... meet these requirements, and no matter how hard it is to make, everyone will be happy with you. (well you might have to do something to appease the bh's but that's another story)
the only way i would give my blessing to this is if it was only wearable by master bh, like how the certs for blasters are done. face it in the books it stats that fett tracks down those that have this armor. Maybe that can be another way to keep the numbers down by giving the bh count which if they surpass causes fatt to spawn and attack them. at which point the player is killed or he drives fett off; this would also add a nice feature to bh as they could sqaure off against fett
nagyt
jd2134 wrote:
the only way i would give my blessing to this is if it was only wearable by master bh, like how the certs for blasters are done. face it in the books it stats that fett tracks down those that have this armor. Maybe that can be another way to keep the numbers down by giving the bh count which if they surpass causes fatt to spawn and attack them. at which point the player is killed or he drives fett off; this would also add a nice feature to bh as they could sqaure off against fett
nagyt
I'll go one-up on the certification proposal and say that only mastered soldiers can wear it, which is what the Mandalorians were. Of the professions in the game I would consider to be professional soldiers are: Commando, Squad Leader, Rifleman, Carbineer, Pistoleer, Swordsman, Pikeman. I view TKs as martial artists, and fencers more as sportsmen. Since we all know that Jango and Boba, bounty hunters, wore the armor as well, the BHs should probably be included. Therefore the cert should go to masters of:
Commando
Squad Leader
Rifleman
Carbineer
Pistoleer
Swordsman
Pikeman
Bounty Hunter
To see a master dancer in the Theed cantina boogying in a full suit of Mandalorian armor would be devestating to the feel and immersiveness of the game, IMO.
Also, a question: will the armor pieces fit over a flightsuit, or is the flightsuit part of the skin on the model? I know, for instance, that armor pants (and I believe bracers), can't be worn over a flightsuit without removing that layer.