Development Cycle Archive
Thread: IC4: Path of the Jedi
Stryke <SAS> 
A coupleidea's forJedi missions (light or Dark)
biwanLight) Mission objective is to locate NPC that is being temped by the dark side. find the NPC and interact with it answering questions. Different answers have different resultsie.. returning to the light or falling to dark.
:emperorDark) Mission objective is to locate NPC that is needed to be turned to the dark side.(almost same as the above idea)
either missions can be completed without combat, just depends on your answers.
just my 2 credits
Thunderheart,
I keep hearing from alot of SOE staff "We are changing the unlock method due to desire of the player base..... etc..."
Where are you guys getting this information????? How about a poll like you guys do on other things? I would bet money that if you polled everyone about changing the way to unlock you would be forced to see that most of us dont want it. Not unless you are just adding a "new" method and leaving the old in place. I think I speak for many when I say "We dont want to be compensated in the new system! We want to finish the old system!!"
Seriously lets see you throw up a poll and see what happens. I know you wont but hey, I have to ask anyway!
Wow this would be so much easier if your main character could become a Jedi....you could have a KOTOR situation where you discover your character has Force sensitivity, but I digress
I'm coming up with some of these ideas as I type and will seperate them into topics.I'm going to focus on Light side Jedi in this but theres no reason you couldn't take these ideas and turn them Dark.
Unlocking Force slot
Ok, most everyone agrees the current system isn't very good and there are many in this thread about what makes a quest "interesting and good" as opposed to what makes a quest "repetitive and bad" so I'm not going into that specifically.
I'd like to see unlocking your slot as something that still fits in with the game's theme. We've already established that, since its not your main character becoming a Jedi, you can't have the "I sense the Force in you." experience. What could be done, however, is have an NPC that is a Jedi in hiding or, at the very least, a paritially trained Jedi/force senstive tell your main character that they've had a vision about you. In that vision they see you playing an important role in bringing someone to the Force (this unknown person would of course be your unlockable slot). You havemay not meet this person but instead accomplish somequests that will set up the circumstancesof this person'srealization of their Force powers. Perhaps this hidden Jedi would like to train this new person but needs help in setting up and gettingin a situation where they'd be able to train (this wouldn't be hard to believe that the Jedi needs outside help sincehe/she is being hunted).
A series of quests could insue, like finding Jedi artifacts that would be usefull in training,scouting a "safe haven" area forfuture training, craftingotherusefull items, etc. You could conceivably have sets of quests for each profession and have the player choose which quests they want to do, based on their skills. Completion of these quests could provide bonuses to your Jedi's training (if, for example, you found a safe haven to train, the Jedi would later train your force character there and you might get bonuses for being there, or you find a Holocron that the Jedi will later use to help train your new character and you can recieve some sort of training enhancements for that).
After your finished, the slot would unlock and when you create your new character, your Jedi Trainer will be the Jedi your main character just got done helping. The quests you did to help the Jedi will follow through and in some ways effect how your new character trains.
Jedi Training and Force Powers
I think some people had some good ideas when they said to look at the movies, games, and books for training ideas. We know we haven't seen the full extent of Jedi training from any one of these things but, if you put pieces together, you could probably form a huge set of quests, all very Jedi like, to train towards mastery. Learning the Jedi code, investigate local bad situations, construct a lightsaber (more on that below), help people in trouble, face a trial (always a cave isn't it? 
), etc. If you make the system very dynamic you could have some quests very customized for each character...to make it feel like its "their" Jedi trial they're facing and not the same thing as 12 other Jedi waiting in line.
Once again, using my system you could have all sorts of training bonuses that are directly derived from what your main character was able to help your Jedi trainer with in preparing for the training.
As for Forcepowers...some of you should really read some of the books or, at least, some summarys on them Yes, I know many of you don't consider them canon but I point out that Lucas used some of the material from the Expanded universe (like the name "Coruscant") and he or his company approves the topics and ideas of the books so he must consider them at least partially canon.
In any case, I think the current system has a good start here. There are certain powers that are considered Light and some are considered Dark.... and yes some are considered Universal (doesn't matter if your Light side or Dark side...Force Push, Lightsaber throw, etc.). The idea that they're considered these things though doesn't make them that. Most of the newer games and books (approved by Lucas...I know what you were thinking ) point out that its not the powers themselves that are Light and Dark, its how you use them. Force Choke for example, Vader used this to kill people - Dark Side....Luke used his in ROTJ presumably to just knock out the gaurds (I say presumably only because it doesn't stay and show them waking up later) - Light Side. Only difference was intention..Luke didn't want to kill them simply to kill them. Yes, he could have used other Force Powers, like pushing them into a wall to knock them outor trying to do a Mind Trick but I think he wasn't trying to draw attention and the Mind Trick thing doesn't work on everyone.
Another example, this one from the books. Force Lightning - Dark side version is for torture, pain, and ultimately death. Light side version is used to stun enemies.
In the end, it seemsits much more about attitude and intent of the Jedi than it is powers. I suspect mostJedi aren't trained in things as lightning more for the idea that there wouldn'tbe too much use forit (nothinga Jedi couldn't accomplish with other powers...or simply not getting into a skirmish in the first place) and that it could beabused but that doesn't make itDark.
Lightsabers
The current system in this I half like and half hate. Lightsabers are supposed to be very diverse and complicated to make. Each one is supposed to be unique to the Jedi that made it.Now, thereis a good selection of hilts already...thats good, keep adding more someday . Crystals though, and the overall forumals, could use work. As it stands, Krayt dragon pearls are hands down the best. Most other games that involve lightsabercrafting and pearls have the krayt pearlsas really good too but not hands down the best.
If you read that Young Jedi series where they're making their lightsabers for the first time you'll notice that they try to choose gems on color and personal ties. You might pick one from a piece of jewelry thats a familyheirloom, for example. Another person might choose a gem because of its uniqueness to their planet of origin. You also have to choose on imperfections and such...gems with imperfections leadto faulty lightsaber operation.
So here is my idea here. Havecertain crystals give "extra" bonuses for something. Example - if your given a special gift from someone in a quest and it hasgems in it, allow the Jedi to extract the gems and choose one they want for their lightsaber. The gem may havea special bonus because its being used to craft this particular Jedi's lightsaber. Another example, you find a crystal Naboo and your Jedi character is from Naboo. This crystal could have a different extra bonus because its a gem from your homeworld.Also include quality of the gems as this could help balance this.No one wants yet another krayt dragon pearl situation..where you feel you HAVE to use a gem from yourhomeworld to compete. Well, perhaps the gem you found on your homeworld is of mediumquality and you found a gem on Tatooine of high quality. Yes, the one from your homeworld, Naboo, has a bonus for youif you use it butits medium quality lowers some of the stats. The Tatooinegemhas a highquality, however, with better overall stats but no bonus. You'd then have to make a choice on which one you wantto use.
The point is, have crystals be worth it...not just krayt dragon pearls. Heck, allow for ultra rare drops or ultra rare mining oppurtinities to find crystals even better than dragon pearls.
Finding the crystal should be a task in of itself. Some Jedi have to look far and wide, some are given them, some are given jewelry at some point that they use the gems from. You could include all of these systems...perhaps with the higher quality gems being found instead of given.You'd go someplace, mine some gems (maybe through the surveying/sampling system), polish them up (through a crafting process), then choose based on quality, colors, and stats.
Jedi crafting should play a bigger part in all of this. Why make it only the crystal that has stats? Why not make the hilt construction more in depth. Ok, so you want this particular lightsaber hilt...you need a superconductor, a completed crystal (from the process I described above), buttons, power source, casing, amplification device, etc ( I don't know the exact names of all these, I'm sure there are multiple sources out there that describe the basic necessities of a lightsaber). Each of these components can be found and each have their own stats to help increase durability, effectiveness, or whatever else you want to include. Want a hilt thats made out of a Rancor tooth, like Tenal Ka's? Get a Rancor teeth as trophies and find one with good stats to use as your hilt.
Lightsaber upgrading I don't have much to offer on...you didn't see it in the movies much and I haven't read about it in the books really other than replacing broken pieces. Some Jedi, like Corran Horn, had special crystals designed to change the shape, length, and color of the blade for different circumstances. KOTOR uses secondary crystals to enchance the lightsaber...the main crystal doesn't do anything more than give the blade's color.
Thats my ideas so far. Please, I'd like to hear feedback on this If I can think of anything more I'll post it later.
Dotren
LeBob wrote:
Flatfingers wrote:
There is a simple and well-known two word sentence that tells you everything you need to know about Jedi: "Power corrupts."
I think you're referring to the passage in George Orwell's Animal Farm: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely"
reference
Orwell is certainly relevant, but more from 1984 than from Animal Farm.
"Power corrupts" is actually a quotation of Lord Acton. The famous quote from Animal Farm is "All animals are equal. (But some are more equal than others.)"
Good stuff, definitely. 
--Flatfingers
The first and most important thing is that to become a Jedi shouldn't involve any grinding... SWG is a "Role-Playing Game" and so to become a Jedi should be about playing your character, not crunching numbers.
My first suggestion would be to have a delay on how soon you can start to try to open your FS slot, maybe 6 months from character creation and 150 hours of in game time.
Once a player has met the time requirement they can start to try and open their FS slot, travelling the galaxy (Visit at least 4 planets?), completing specific quests (There are plenty of others with ideas for what these quests should contain) and probably mastering at least one advanced profession (but any advanced profession... The player should be playing their character to meet a specific concept, choosing professions that fit that concept, and not just shifting professions in the hope they will open their FS slot). Doing all of these (and possibly other things) not just any one.
Opening your FS slot should take time and dedication, but it should be possible for anyone to achieve, those who want to grind their way through 20 professions and those who want to master 2 basics and 1 advanced to fit with their character concept and then play their character in the Star Wars world.
But it should involve some playing of the game, if you just stay in the same town and grind through all the professions you should not open your slot... you are not playing the game...
Devs please remember this is a Role-Playing game and no matter how many munchkins you get playing it should first and foremost reward role-playing.
777erc wrote:
hmmm... the personal jedi thing sounds cool, but there were no jedi hanging around helping out the new guy. And the bh camp jedi trainer would cause a problem. Maybe have a blue glowy should up and direct a person to a random npc's whichnormaly gives quest, butinstead of the normal questthe jedi potential wouldget a jedi quest.
It would also be nice if the player was not able to choose the dark or light side, but the choices the player would make with npcs would decide.
See evidence of vader's hunt for the jedi would also be nice to see. Maybe in the later missions vader might even show up. Making the jedi mission a "run for your life" kinda thing.