Development Cycle Archive

Whole Quest ideas
If you are talking about the quests which you take to unlock the slot then the most obvious would be a very long quest to discover that you are part of a liniage of force-sensitives or to uncover the blood lines of another unnamed character and their intricate history dating back through a long long line of Jedi heritide. Given the fact that you open a seperate slot it makes more sense to actually use your primary character to uncover the mystery and history of this second character you'll unlock and then control sort of like a continuation of the story in the first person. For this to be a quest truely worthy of the Jedi slot it needs to have a truely great story with all the classical links to how a Jedi deals with their inner termoils and the nature of the Force. Having to unlock the story about the ancestors of this character you might become means it can be a tale going back generations, back through the Clone War and maybe even further back to the final battles of the Sith. Once you have unlocked these tales and unwraveled a mystery about this family does the slot become available.

NPC’s players might interact with throughout the quest
To be frank the best place to start any quest about a story that goes back generations is with a droid, maybe it's a quest from a junkdealer who gives you this droid head which was found on an abandoned ship or something. You then activate the memory core and find it talking to you and slowly you're lead through quests first to assemble the droid itself and then to one of it's former masters. From that you are given seemingly simple tasks but slowly realise that this old man used to be part of the Old Republic and a veteran of the Clone Wars who fought alongside the Jedi. Maybe he was actually one of the clones who somehow broke from his mental conditioning and realised how he was fighting for a dictatorship government who was obsessed not with freedom but control. It would be nice to have this guy as a likeable sort who is hunted by the Empire because he has military secrets or something, having him killed off or vanish with only a final message found where you usually met him would then lead you down through Underworld contacts and seedyBothan Information brokers. Put simply it has to go through all aspects of the SW universe as you peice together this puzzle, only then will it feel like a true Starwars mystery that spans planets. cultures and various organisations.

Progression quests and trial ideas
Can we please have a combat or non-combat alternative to each quest. Simple as that, put simply if you're told by an NPC that someone you need to speak to has been captured by Jabba the Hutt and needs freeing then you should have alternatives. You could go in blasting or go there to negotiate for his release. Maybe he has a debt that needs paying off for example or has information that you'd need talk to him to get. Convince him that giving up the information is better than the alternative. Or maybe you can actually gather the information yourself since he isn't willing to give it up. It would take longer to design but having alternatives to combat should always be needed, detailed interaction and consequences with NPCs would be valued as well. Take a look at how these kindsof things were handled in Kights of the Old Republic since they did the NPC interaction with perfection.

What skills a Jedi might use on these quests
Saddly the current Jedi skills are poorly lacking, I would suggest things like using the Jedi Mind trick to convince someone to let their prisoner go or using the Force to protect someone else from a lethal barrage of blaster fire however such abilities do not exist. The Force has so many uses but isn't properly reflected in the current system at all. That is before we look at the fact that both Light and Dark sides of the professions are actually identical in the powers they get. Light Jedi Masters throwing Lightning, I don't need to explain what is wrong with that

Player interdependencies and cooperation’s
A Jedi and someone training to be a Jedi always had to do these things on their own, never did any Padawan take their trials with someones help. The fact is that the path of a Jedi is a lonely one, maybe that is for the best as relying on others leads to attatchments, attatchments lead to fear of loss, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hatred, hate leads to suffering. You know what I mean. Throughout all of the SW stories while the Force has always been a great power it also requires a deep commitment and an inherant loneliness, the only times when they weren't alone always meant that the character used to tread alot onto the Dark side. Luke was so attatched to his friends that he gave up his training, slipped into the darkside more than once and in the EU fell to the darkside many times. Kyle Katarn slipped back and forth because of his attatchment to his partner. Not to mention all of the older Sith Lords who began as Jedi feel because of how they wanted to protect friends or try and pull someone back from the dark side because of the fear of losing them. No, someone strong with the Force needs to travel the path alone.

Jedi Titles earned through the quests from Force Sensitivity to Jedi master
To be frank I think that when someone unlocks their FS slot they have utterly zero Jedi powers or knowledge. The FS character should be essentially like any other character however they have permadeath, if they are skilled enough to survive and follow quests towards first starting their Jedi training then the second they become a Padawan they need to gain significant power as a reward. During the pre-padawan stage they simply are 'force-sensitive' able to see the ghost of Jedi who had died and this is where your first quests begin, certain locations such as Ben Kanobi's hut on Tatooine would allow you to see these dead Jedi and complete tasks to prove that you are worthy to become a Jedi. Construction of a Lightsabre was one of the key trails needed to become a Jedi Knight and thus a Padawan wouldn't be able to build one. Their first lightsabre would always be one found or given by someone else, it would need to either not decay at all or decay are a very slow rate and they should always be able to go back for more, maybe you need to gather the materials for them to be made and give them to an NPC. Buta padawan under no circumstances should be able to make one, it's simply goes against everything we know as only someone with command of the Force is able to manipulate the crystals with such precision.

Once they have constructed their first lightsabre they need to face the darkside, this might not be a case of fighting a dark jedi as Luke had to do however they need to face that darkness and it's something all Jedi had to do. When Anakin was sent to the trials to construct his first lightsabre he had a vision where he battled Darth Maul. After the vision ended he realised he had constructed his lightsabre during it. I would suggest something similar, maybe the Padawan goes into that force crystal cave on dantooine and discovers that those rocks aren't actually there but an illusion. They can walk right through and deep within the cave is something like a gnarled tree which is tainted with the spirit of a defeated Sith much like the cave on Deghoba where Yodo killed a Dark Jedi and hid there behind that dark presense. The Padawan faces a dark side version of themselves, if they defeat it then their path into becoming a Jedi Knight leans towards the Light. If they lose they stand a greater risk of falling to the darkside.

As they rise through the middle rank of being a Jedi Knight this conflict between the lure of the darkside, the quick and easy path with the promise of power to destroy and the Light which takes time, patience and with passive abiltiies needs to be constant. the current Jedi skill trees simply do not work. The Light and Dark side force powers should be seperate trees and seperate skills allowing for someone to choose between them as exp is gained, natually the exp requirements for darkside powers are lower than the Light side ones however they can only be used to destroy, never to heal, never to protect. Only to empower. A dark and light side faction point system wouldn't hurt either, moving so far into the dark means you cannot take light side skills however the darkside skills should always be there to tempt though who try to stay in the Light. Only by improving factional standing into the Light and turning from the darkness can you again draw powers and skills from the Light side tree.

A jedi master trial needs to be taking an apprentice, this is another fact of the SW lore. It wouldn't surprize me if the trials involve helpping a Force Sensitive NPC and guide them towards following the side of the Force which you follow. Typically though as the final step to becoming a master you really need to defeat a Jedi Knight who follows the opposite side of the Force which you do. For a dark jedi it's a proof of power, for the Light it's proof of the ability to want to remove evil and resist the dark urges once more. One thing to bear in mind is that it's said as someone grows stronger in the Force the more difficult it is to resist the Dark side. So perhaps as you rise through the skills towards Master the difference in the exp needs between the Light and the Dark become greater and greater, the temptation needs to be harder all the time and the choices in the missions much more difficult to seperate as to what is clearly the right choice and which is the wrong.

i remember as i did start the game there was a nice mission on tatooine... i did 3 or 4 tasks and in the end there was some mechanic spiders they told me they watch about me... after such a initial quest the way to the jedi shout now become reality... the things which this players does should calculate in what kind of jedi he becomes... so the path to the jedi to open the slot should make sence what kind of jedi im later dark or light... the faction system gives good option to make so. he is aggresive he attacks often other players then i would prefer to put them on the dark side not importent it is/was an imp or reb.

the first step for the jung padawan should be to find a master. for this task at the beginning guids some npcs to some tasks or missions... but this missions need some ways to complete it makes it complex i knew but so every one could find a own way to become what he is in the end. so the fight on the small line between good and evil should every time there. not all things are fighting i think not so... light jedis fight when they have no other way... dark jedis fight when they want... so the player needs the option to use the force to get aggresive npcs friendly, the dark side kills them and it is done...

What I think would be nice to see would be the following:

The quest for the Force sensitive slot would be a quest system based on Jedi Faction. The person doing the quest would have to complete each random quest and each time he completes the quest he will either get positive Jedi faction to start out as a rebel or negative Jedi faction to start out as a Dark Jedi. The faction reward would depend on the Jedi's actions.

Some examples would be:

1.) A hooded stranger walks into the cantina and sits down in a corner by himself. When you walk up to him and start talking to him a group of bounty hunters walk in the door and attack the Jedi. If you succeed in saving the Jedi's life you get 250 Jedi faction points. If you die during the attempt then nothing happens.

2.) While walking in the plains of Dant you see a lone storm trooper. As an Imperial you stop to talk to him to offer your assistance. The stormtrooper tells you that Darth Vader sent him to get some help as hes fixing to raid an underground Jedi council meeting. Twenty minutes later you come back with 5 of your best friends and meet up with the trooper. After following the trooper to a waypoint you see a pitched battle going on with between Darth Vader and four Jedi. If you manage to kill the remnants of the Jedi council you lose 250 Jedi faction going towards starting as a dark Jedi.

Make each of these quests totally random in where they appear and make at least a hundred of them where people wont be able to post spoilers so soon. Have the quests also keyed to the first person that talks to them and nobody else will be able to get the reward but them. This would prevent people from killstealing the npc's or people letting the person die only to snag the quest reward.

Also once you get Jedi have the Jedi trainer npc give out random quests. Each of these quests would either give Jedi clothing, Jedi Skill attachments or Lightsaber components. Some topics for the quest could be being sent to another planet or a certain point on the planet your on to investigate a disturbance in the force or have it where Jedi's of opposing factions get missions to kill other Jedi's for around 100,000 Jedi xp per mission completion and a reward.

MAKE IT FUN!

=============================
you want it rare? How rare?



Find a csr or two, give them master jedi titleness and have them randomly log on on random timespaces of no less than a week next to a randomly chosen player from the database.



For your sake, i hope the csr assigned to do that is a roleplayer.

And i also presume you can take it from there on.
=================================

Great idea.

I'm totally asking to get flamed here, but what the heck not?

It would be SO INCREDIBLY REFRESHING to have a small live team log in to play up such quests one server at a time. Given the dedication of the hologrinders, it seems that a lot of players feel entitled to the FS character slot. If you devise ANY system that is static in any way, people will figure it out and beat it to death.

How about something like this:

It's Tuesday morning, so =insert server name here= is up on the list. Your crack team of roleplayers (a crack team, not a team on crack, please ) logs into the game on a random planet (how about Tatooine).

They ride off into the wilderness (there's plenty of open space on each of the populated planets) and set up a camp. Just to be reasonable, they should set up a camp along a travel route, such as between large cities. Then they'd... hang out. Just hang out until some inquiring passer-by stops and says hello and chat for a bit, or helps to heal their visible wounds with woundpacks or some music. Be creative.

This would encourage players to

a) stop clicking their heels to get from point A to point B--the often convenient but terribly boring shuttles--and explore the wilderness not only to collect badges, but in order to find an adventure. Isn't this Jedi thing supposed to be an awesome adventure?.

b) interact with, and help other players outside of the starport "selling my crap" spamming. no one knows if the camp with the wounded hunters is a group of fellow players, or something more! this game sure could use some friendly interaction.

The Jedi team could tailor the experience to each character by being able to see their faction standings, and inventing random questions and goals for that player. The best thing about this is that you don't have to code an impossible variety of quests that would be dependent on each unique player's faction distribution. What matters is that they have a good time, and enjoy the unique experience of starting this long adventure among real people, not some chat-box spamming npc.

The interaction between the random player and the "Jedi live team" is the unique component, and the Jedi team can decide if the person they're talking to is mature and knowledgeable enough about the game to undertake the Jedi path. The Jedi team will be the ones to start the journey, and they will then assign the player to an npc trainer who will provide them with challenging and interesting npc quests.

This will keep the growth of the Jedi population in check. For example, does the player base want someone who runs by the wounded campers and spams "FULLY STOCKED VENDOR AT -4342 6512 KRAYT PeRlZ AND MORE LOW PRICES!!1" to be a Jedi? not likely. The Jedi team can determine a players merit (and you can decide on the common-sense guidelines), and they can simply roleplay along without initiating a character into the Jedi path.

As long as you (SOE) make sure that there are strict guidelines to prevent favoritism and abuse on the Jedi team end (such as giving friends/guildmates the location to the camp, etc.), this could work out great.

To those who will cry "but I want my jedi slot, and I pay my 15 bucks": suck it up. being a jedi is the end-all in this game, and if you play your cards right, go exploring, and don't act like a smacktard, then you might just get what you want. Unlocking the jedi slot should have more random chance and mystery to it than trying to figure out your "silent profession." It's a shame that this mechanical and monotonous process is exactly how the jedi system works today.

Have where you must learn from someone who has already opened their FSCS through class systems. E.G. Ones quest is to find a jedi (from like some NPC jedi that randomly appears or something) that already exists and when you do he gets the ability to train novice padawan or help you open up your FSCS. And have the missions o difficult or so Focused on a jedi that is already in the SWG universe that you have to find one and do missions "train" under them. Or instead of getting the mision from and NPC to find a jedi to "train" under, now your holocrons tell you that instead of them telling you how to open up your FSCS which would be opened a different way, a very hard way (like certain random appearing NPC that gives you a quest that leads to a theme-park , like the first mission is from him and he directs you to the NPC jedi on dantooine who gives you secret missions to open up your FSCS.) Also, now instead of having a seperate character for FSCS it is the character you are on so that people who really want to be jedi can be focused on that character ( people that have already opened their FSCS still keep the second slot for reasons of spreading jedi to those who "think" they can pass the trials.). Hrm.....medidate on this I will.........(j/k) I will think about it more in-depth and give a better response...

1. Make it FUN!!!!!

2. Whatever system you come up with, launch as much of it as possible at once. No more half-hearted or partial updates. Decide on a system and get it out there.

3. Balance the Jedi system so the rewards justify the grinding.

4. Please explain the whole visibility concept or redesign. Doesn't sound much fun when you do anything with your force powers/lightsaber and you get TEF'd immediatly. Obi-Wan was able to use minimal force powers (Jedi Mind Trick) and even slice off the arm of an alien in the cantina at Mos Eisley.....the patrons in the cantina hardly batted an eyelash. Vader didn't show up, stormtroopers weren't breaking down walls to get to Obi-Wan, and no bounty hunters showed up with a claim on Obi-Wan's head.