Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (Week Ending 4-12-04)
Thunderheart wrote:
StarchMonkey wrote:
We need a way to Buy/Sell/Exchange Data
I think we should have a feature in our Datapad that allows us to create data disks of "information". This could be waypoints, or clues for quests, advertisements for shops,invitations toIn-Game eventsor anything else you wanted. I think something like this would help add to roleplay and address the issue of having to get data outside the game, like from websites and such. Also it would give explorers another outlet for sharing their finds. An explorer could provide clues to a quest, or a waypoint to a neat POI, or locations for badges and such. This would add a great deal to the game I think.
Also this could introduce a schematic for data disks possibly for Droid Engineers as another consumable item for them to produce.
Agreed. This is an idea thats been around for a long time and I've been pushing this issue. Its coming, I just don't know when yet.
Defense modifiers have no clear explanation of effectiveness. For example, I've heard rumors of a defense cap of 120 to ranged and melee combat. However, I have not seen any official statements in the patch notes.
Now take a template I've been tinkering with lately. It uses defenses from multiple trees to boost my character's Dizzy defense. Without food or SEAs, his Dizzy Defense is at 90. This is an effective counter to all the new Carbineer upgrades. Also very effective against melee fighters who spam dizzy attacks, then use knockdown or posture changing attacks. With SEAs, the test character can achieve 115 in Dizzy defense. Sadly, this concept only works in theory, as dizzy still lands on the test character quite easily.
Now take Poison resists. I can wear a belt with +10 to poison reisists. A robe with +10 to poison resists, and SEAs totally in +25 to poison resist. This gives a grand total of +45 to Poison resists. Sadly, poison still lands on the test character with little effort.
On another test character, I set defense to knockdown at +120 and defense to posture change to +130 through various professions. With SEAs, the total knockdown defense was +145. I lacked the posture change SEAs to further test the second part of this theory. Sadly, it was easy to knockdown and posture changethe test character.
Now, adding food into this equation. With food, I was able to withstand all of these attacks with a much higher effective rate. The only exception was poison. The Genosian Bio lab Disease & Poisons are simply too strong and totally unbalance any organized PvP in SWG. However, that's another discussion I'll save for this coming week.
And so my questions are as follows:
Is it the intent of the developers that we not "dabble" in professions to customize our fighters in the GCW?Adding further this question, is it intended that we simply pick one combat profession (ranged or melee) and a secondary profession with no relation to the first? (ie TKA/Doctor since they share no defenses and are able to work independantly of each other)
Is it inteneded that we only use food as true defense modifiers for pvp and pve encounters?
If the answer to both questions is 'no', does anyone (that has access to true test numbers) have the authority to further discuss these issues in forum?
As stronger poisons and diseases are introduced into the game, will stronger defenses to these attacks be added? To remain competitive currently, every guild needs atleast 4-5 combat medics to even compete in any form of organized fighting. And when both sides have an equally effective amount of combat medics, the best you can hope to achieve is that both sides die at or about the same time.
Will the current food system be changed so that when a player dies, they will no longer carry over the filling effects of whatever food or drink they previously used?
Lemme ask you. How many SF designers do you have compared to the number of D&D type folks at SOE? DE was the only profession that did not fit the Fantasy RPG mold, and thus, the profession looks like complete crap.
So how are you planning to fix it? How about getting ahold of some SF guys? There is no good way to squeeze DE into the Fantasy game that SWG has become. You've got some real catching up to do.
Criminal/Third Faction
My greatest ambition in SW:G, before ever having picked it up, was to emulate the business and practices of smugglers/mercenaries like Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and the rest of Zahn's wonderful cast. I was utterly dismayed to find that I couldn't choose a criminal faction, or even work as an announced member of a Hutt cartel.
How to implement:
Strictly speaking, it would have to be a wholesale faction, albeit with its own perks and drawbacks. I'll detail below:
1. Covert/Overt - A distinct departure from the black and white factions of Rebel and Imperial, this faction would have the ability to declare Overt and fight either Imperials or Rebels. This would add another dimension to a very static GCW, by way of turncoats, guns-for-hire that you actually had to pay well, and mercenaries willing to straddle the fence for the highest bidder. Obviously, this leaves them open to a lot of retaliation from both sides.
2. Faction Perks - Being criminals, it would make sense that they have access to a wealth of black market weaponry and armor. However, being a criminal ensures that you generally pay quite a bit more for what you're looking to buy. Have piecemeal Imperial armor, run-down support bots/walkers scavenged from junkyards, unreliable (but powerful) weapons, and more in that same vein. Dirty, hard-to-get, but it gets the job done. Sometimes. And it might even work after the first time you turn it off.
Faction Perks could be made available (and varied in price) depending on what criminal NPC factions the player has good (or poor) standing with. Perhaps being a Criminal with high Hutt standing earns you a bigger response (more damage, frequent random spawns)from other cartelsoff ofTatooine, but you have access to goods at a lower rate.
3. Criminal Record - Think being scanned for sliced items is a pain? Try being a Criminal Faction member with good standing in more than a few cartels. You aren't going to pay a fine here, folks. You're either going to gun your way out of town, or die a branded, burnt, and blasted con.
4. Thief's Honor - Inasmuch as Rebels and Imperials recieve backup when NPCs of their own faction witness a fight they're in, criminals could get support from factions that they have good standing in. Very immersive, in that you'd find players frequenting the actual towns that their cartels operate in, or trying to draw in opponents towards known spawns for that handy backup. (Not that anyone on the planet is going to get help from Meatlumps. Those poor bastards.)
5. Space Expansion - This needs consideration with a third faction. Modified ships that can't pass Imperial standards, and cost too much for Rebels, should be commonplace on a Criminal's hangar. Hotwired, juiced, and customized to be both inconspicuous and dangerous, these often burn out controlpanels as much as fire turbolasers. "Would it help if I got out and pushed?"
Just some ideas there. I REALLY wish the Devs would get this in priority. I think it's one of the biggest pieces of Star Wars errata missing. It's what we loved about Han, before he turned Rebel for his princess. It's what we pored over Zahn novels for. It's why you're going to see a hundred Jade's Fires flying around space in four or five months. Don't dismiss this, whatever you do.
I wish you guys would finally implement the Mercenary Side. If i remember right in Beta a DEV said it would be implemented a few weeks after going live - however we never heard something offical about it again.
What i also miss is the End-Game of SWG. While it's mainly PvP now there should be much more sense in it. For example i switched from TKM to MBH because the MBH has some kind of End-Game (Hunting Jedi). More professions need content after reaching Master Title - while the crafters can "fight" their economy war most of the combat professions have no clear objective once the profession is mastered.
As a BH i would also like to see the possibilty to hunt other players - just not Jedis. We had a good discussion with alot of people in this thread http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bounty_hunter&message.id=189131
you might want to take a look there as well, the final concept looks pretty well.
- Leedo
While your at it, why don't you all send the people who spawned the April Fools dragons down to some of the dungeons where people using loot macros on containers and have them spawn a dark jedi or two.
Angetenar wrote:
...While your at it, why don't you all send the people who spawned the April Fools dragons down to some of the dungeons where people using loot macros on containers and have them spawn a dark jedi or two....
5*, that would be awesome. or put miinefield next to the containers.
With player cities the urban sprawl has lessened some but it is still very prevalent, random houses and cities strewn across the countryside. While I do not want to detract from player cities I feel many folks belong to one simply to have a home to store their goods. Theed and other major centers are crawling with players, so unless the Devs have plans to remove the cities let’s take advantage of them! Allow players to rent apartments in the pre-existing buildings already located and currently used as decoration. Here are the basic ideas (in no particular order):
* Empty buildings (no entrances) allow people to rent apartments of various shapes, sizes and views.
* The apartments are instance-based, ala the Corvette dungeon, and accessed via a menu system. The idea being, they do not exist until someone attempts to enter them at which point they’re spawned into the world. There are not fixed numbers of apartments per floor, we’ll bend the idea of floor space for the ease of housing resources.
* Renters pay a maintenance fee equivalent to houses.
* Players cannot browse the list of residents, they would have to know the name of a resident and enter it into a dialog box. Then the resident would need to have their apartment set to public or the specific individual on the access/admin list.
* Differing views from your windows! Imagine having a ‘penthouse’ equivalent in Coronet. Or a basement retreat with no windows and darkness short of that single candle.
Those are my thoughts. My apologies if someone has posted this concept before.
Do something about the ridiculously unbalanced combat system. And I'm not talking about PvP, I'm talking PvE. I am sick of getting my butt handed to me by cows and pre-Bronze age nomads.
My play time is erratic, so I seldom can get with a group for high-level content or even hunting on the adventure planets. Fully buffed, a 3/3/3/0 BH, I should be able to do more agianst the critters I find here. But they are decked out with unbelievable HAM to go with their ridiculous resistances. In 1/2 an hour, I'm cloning and lost all my buffs. Funny, my stomach is still full.
Part of the problem is that the BH profession is combat ineffective, but that is an issue you should be fully aware of. Regardless, with my character's skills and weapons, I should expect to be able to take down a herd of cows. If they didn't have 10K-20K HAM and 40%+ resistance to everything.
Casual players are locked out of high-level content. This is damn irritating and must be fixed.
I'm done venting.
Here is my suggestion: allow masters to regain some (all?) skill points. The way I see it, the longer you do something, the easier it is to you. So, why not do this in SWG?
I propose that after gaining master, the XP would still have some meaning. For combat professions, for example, after gaining 1 mil XP, you'd get one skill point back. After gaining another 2 mil, another skill point, 3 mil, 4 mil, ...
For crafters, the numbers should be lower, of course, yet still high. I'm not saying it should be easy to get those skill points, just possible. A friend of mine wouldgive an armto have just one more.
Because it would take so much XP and the reward is relatively low, I don't think anyone would actually grind these. Maybe 1 or 2, but really, who is going to grind, say, 15 mil xp? It would be more like a reward for sticking with a profession for such a long time.
Thoughts?
I could earn 2 to 3 sp a night with your system.
xsO wrote:
Here is my suggestion: allow masters to regain some (all?) skill points. The way I see it, the longer you do something, the easier it is to you. So, why not do this in SWG?
I propose that after gaining master, the XP would still have some meaning. For combat professions, for example, after gaining 1 mil XP, you'd get one skill point back. After gaining another 2 mil, another skill point, 3 mil, 4 mil, ...
For crafters, the numbers should be lower, of course, yet still high. I'm not saying it should be easy to get those skill points, just possible. A friend of mine wouldgive an armto have just one more.
Because it would take so much XP and the reward is relatively low, I don't think anyone would actually grind these. Maybe 1 or 2, but really, who is going to grind, say, 15 mil xp? It would be more like a reward for sticking with a profession for such a long time.
Thoughts?