Development Cycle Archive

I know this is probably a little late, but I just went up in the corvette and as a 3/4/4/4 BH was one of the few people who survived and did any amount of damage, not to say that I was doing good but the point is I went up with 2 other BH and being the only one with level 4 BH carbine I was going on dizzy/knockdown duty(granted my team didn't know what this meant so it kinda shows the disorganization of the group) but I could not get knockdown or a dizzy to stick, is it even worth trying or should I just be spamming lightning single 2 all over the place?

ThunderHeart Please read this one... great ideas here!!

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Rikalonius wrote:

It has taken me a couple of days to formulate what I want to write. I discussed my adventure to the Corellian Corvette with some of my Galaxies friends. One, who has played a number of MMORPGs said something fascinating upon hearing my complaint of the high level NPCs. He said, "It is like that in every game." You know, he is probably right. He identified a clear problem hidden behind a glossy star wars veneer. Like the recent Lucas movies themselves, which are rich in appearance, but poor in content, so seemingly mimicks the game title labeled "Coaster of the Year," by gaming magazines. I think the Corellian Corvette is really just a microcosm of what is wrong with the whole game. The Corellian Corvette is just another "Dungeon,” in the classic sense of the word. Only the "Dragon" is a Corsec Special Forces officer, in my case. A fearsome beast that can absorb 10 minutes of continuous attacks from hardened combatants in their magical armor, yet still incapacitate or kill most them before she finally is slain. Is this Star Wars? I'm here to plead with you devs, to think outside the dungeon. Reach for a better mix between first person shooter and skills based roll play.

In all your Star Wars research, did you not see Jar Jar Binks fall 3 battle droids on his own? Why then does it take two master Bounty Hunters, two Teris Kasi Masters, two Master Docs with combat skill, and a partridge in a pear tree to defeat just one. You can make things harder, and more strategy orientated without resorting to the same old "dungeon" mentality. Do Navy Seals, training to board an enemy ship, every hear "And you'll have to surround each enemy combatant and blast away for 5 straight minutes with your MP5 until he is dead?" I don't think they do. One person, many post before said, rightly, "This isn't Star Warzy." And he was right. But my momma told me I should have a constructive alternative if I'm going to criticize. So here it is.

1. Make NPCs human, or at least humanoid. When I fight Bounty targets they are pretty tough, but they normally only have about 10K of HAM, and good resists. Make the NPCs tough enough to go head to head with a mid level elite profession fighter over a short period of time. 10 shots or so. This way you actually feel as though you’re fighting another enemy character instead of a Dragon. Then, bring on the rush. You want strategy and tactics, then keep spawning these 10K NPCs as the team maneuvers and fires its way down the passageway, just the like the Storm Troopers did aboard Tantive V. It would still be skills based game, and a squad leader might even be important, but it would feel more like you were actually attempting a takedown on an enemy vessel.

2. Keep a strict timetable, but get rid of that evil cloning penalty, what are you thinking? You should have another room just outside the Corellian Corvette that represents the boarding ship. Clone there and return to the fight. Even have a NPC of your faction waving you on to get back in the fight. Get rid of decay and clones wounds during the missions and remove the ability to rez. When you die, you clone back at your ship and run back through the breach point towards your party. I think this would put much more fun back into an event that in my opinion was absolutely not fun. I don't like it in the nightsister caves, but I'll accept it there, because they are evil force using witches. But I really hated it here, just sitting, tapping Lightning Single 2 for 30 minutes.

3. Place triggers throughout the ship. If you don't have a slicer,then you have to slug your way to the bridge to activate another area. Or a droid engineer can program an astromech to slice for you, or a weaponsmith can activate a heavy weapon to blast through the door. The current setup is just plain lazy! Allow numerous ways to accomplish the same task, so that a variety of characters can, and have to be involved. I agree completely with the idea of being able to take over sickbay and have enhanced regen while in that area. Again, allowing droid engineers and slicers to do their part to commandere the equipment. Personally I think evey character type should have a hidden "easter egg" task, that doesn't prevent the mission from being accomplished, but has a small reward if it is uncovered. This would ecourage numerous plays though the ship. Oh, and ban pets! That doesn't mean the CH is useless, especially in light of what I just outlined. Let's be real, Rancors are not used inside starship corridors as a means of room clearing.

I know a few you will have your reasons for not liking my ideas, but I think many more would agree with them. I'm interested in seeing feedback here, since I doubt I will see any from the development team. The Corvette map itself was great. A well done representation of the scenes from the first movie. Very engrossing, especially the bridge and the engine room. But the Dungeon mentality, for me, and it appears many others, ruins the experience. Remember, think outside the Dungeon.

Sincerely,

~the guy that really wants to keep playing.

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Rikalonius wrote:

<snip>

1. Make NPCs human, or at least humanoid. When I fight Bounty targets they are pretty tough, but they normally only have about 10K of HAM, and good resists. Make the NPCs tough enough to go head to head with a mid level elite profession fighter over a short period of time. 10 shots or so. This way you actually feel as though you’re fighting another enemy character instead of a Dragon. Then, bring on the rush. You want strategy and tactics, then keep spawning these 10K NPCs as the team maneuvers and fires its way down the passageway, just the like the Storm Troopers did aboard Tantive V. It would still be skills based game, and a squad leader might even be important, but it would feel more like you were actually attempting a takedown on an enemy vessel.

Wonderful idea, but the number of enemies and all the information that goes with them, who is shooting who, where everyone is, all the blaster shots etc, would mean that only those with ultra high end machines would be able to run it. Imagine a bad day in coronet, then multiply it by ten. Don't get me wrong i love the idea of being swarmed by hundreds of enemieswith realistic toughness, but that doesn't work in terms of data and graphical processing (and space can you imagine the number of corpses piled up in the corridor by the end of that fight)

2. Keep a strict timetable, but get rid of that evil cloning penalty, what are you thinking? You should have another room just outside the Corellian Corvette that represents the boarding ship. Clone there and return to the fight. Even have a NPC of your faction waving you on to get back in the fight. Get rid of decay and clones wounds during the missions and remove the ability to rez.

These are the punishments for dying, death should mean something, while i prefer the old MUD approach of having to run back to your corpse (and everything stays on your corpse) in a certain timespan and worrying about someone spotting your corpse and looting it while your onthe way, that is not how SWG works... clone wounds and decay are part of the suffering of dying. You don't need to die if you run the corvette carefully, and rezing negates these penelties anyhow.

3.<snip> Oh, and ban pets! That doesn't mean the CH is useless, especially in light of what I just outlined. Let's be real, Rancors are not used inside starship corridors as a means of room clearing.

I agree with pets that are larger than the corridors, looks stupid and ruins immersion.

I know a few you will have your reasons for not liking my ideas, but I think many more would agree with them. <snip>

I like some of your ideas, dislike some others, but remember the guys designing this game are all professionals, whatever you may think, they know what works in a game like this or they wouldn't have their jobs... If "Dungeons" are like this in all MMORPGs then there is probably a good reason for it, otherwise no-one would go into them and things would change.