Development Cycle Archive

TH,

I think this is headed towards the right direction as far as making the whole "Jedi Experience" more enjoyable. The forced PvP is a GREAT Idea. And I'm very interested in the underground councils. It sounds like we are moving into a totally new timeline here, and we can truely create our own story.

But I'm a little concerned at how current Jedi will fit into this. I've been playing since the first day of release, and my goal was to become aa Jedi. I finally reached my goal when I mastered my 32nd profession just last week. So I'm a little nervous with the current statement of "all players will be force sensitive". Here are my main questions. Any clarification on these would be greatly appreciated.

1. Will my current Jedi, and his skills "be swept away like the old Republic"?

2 Will someone that just bought the game be as far into "force sensitivity" as I am?

CRYSTALS and PEARLS SHOULD NOT BE IN THE ECONOMY, WHY DO I HAVE TO KILL A MILLION MEATLUMPS WITH MY MAIN TO LEVEL MY JEDI.

WHY ARE NON JEDI PLAYERS ABLE TO EVEN LOOT THESE JEDI COMPONENTS?

THIS IS KILLING OUR ECONOMY, HAVE YOU SEE THE TRADE FORUMS, PEARLS GOING FOR 5-10 MILLION CREDITS!!!!!

I AM SO UPSET, AFTER GRINDING 27 PROFESSION AND I NEED TO SIT AND CAMP MEATLUMPS JUST TO MAKE A FREAKING LIGHTSABER?

Here is a question I have about moving to the new system......

Considering every server has a jedi at guardian status, how will new Jedi that must PvP to gain experience be able?

Basically you get into a powergamer vs causalgamer scenerio where the later is doomed to noob Knight.

You login with your new Jedi with a crystal lightsaber and proceed to get wasted by a high level guardian with an all pearl saber that has been double sliced.

That would be fun for about 30 mins.

The main ongoing problem with the GCW and PvP in general is unblanced professions, targeted mind attacks, damage types ie stun that arent able to be equally protected, Mind DOT attacks that suffer no 75% damage reduction pentality.....

Until the basic mechanics of PvP are addressed this new system will suffer the same fate as the GCW.

Are we looking at Rifleman/Combat Medic/Jedi ? Is that what this means?

Throw a mind posion, couple head shots with a jawa ion cannon, pull out the saber and deathblow?

As long as the basic combat professions have no balance, composite armor only weakness is stun and mind cannot be healed this is what the player base has to look forward to.

Ramhorn

Ummm, this is just a direct paste from what is on the main website? Were you supposed to give us more information than this or what? I just hope that you guys truely capture a good essense of the Light and Dark sides because having a Light side Jedi going around killing things for experience simply breaks with the canon so drastically. It would be so much better if Jedi actually incap the enemy rather than killing it outright. That would tie nicely into the light and dark sides since when you incap the enemy and it has a sliver of HAM left you gain 65% of what a normal player would from killing it. The Jedi player can then if they want perform a deathblow for that remaining 35% however in doing so they'll start moving towards the darkside.This adds another aspect from the canon in that the dark side is faster in how you progress through it.

One thing I would like to genuine see is that Light side points are gained naturally for simply playing and not doing anything wrong, however acts of hatred move you closer to the dark side. Only by doing benevolent missions and going for long periods of time without doing anything wrong can you move again towards the lightside. It might be worthwhile that a Padawan gains two types of exp, light side exp and darkside exp. Since a Jedi from either side can draw powers from all aspects of the force I don't think it's fair to limit a dark jedi to dark side powers and light jedi to lightside powers. Their allignment to the dark or the light is further effected by the skills they take not just the way they play the game and what missions they do.

So for example, a Jedi/Padawan gets 2000exp for defeating an enemy. If they are alligned strongly to the Light then that exp is split into 1500 light side exp and 500 darkside exp. Meaning its easier for a Light side jedi to learn Light side skills. If however they are in the mid-range between light and dark they get an even 50/50 split for the exp so they can learn light and darkside skills equally. Players should be allowed to learn ALL lightside and darkside skills but only master one or the other (perhaps a master tree beyond that similar to the current set up) as essentially the Sith follow this method of embracing all aspects not just one or the other. Naturally advancing like that would take a very very long time but the Jedi is supposed to be an 'end-game' profession.

I do concour that darkside skills should be about offensive skills and debuffs, the lightside should have defensive skills and buffs. That means a Light side Jedi should gave a counter for every darkside attack or debuff creating a genuine stalemate between skilled players of equal level when it comes to using the Force.

Whats the point in opening a thread that you "cant talk about"? if you dont give any information out about the proposed system there really is no need for this thread.

this thread is a copy of the in development from the web site.

pointless

Why was this even posted?

I'm sorry but what passes for communication around here lately just flat out gripes me to no end.

For ONE this is the exact same spiel on the main site - we've read this allready. This is completely redundant information and TWO it is every bit as vague, imprecise, potentially misleading and cryptic as always.

We're not sheep, we are PAYING freaking customers - you have something to say then SAY IT!

Why is it everytime there's a new announcement you seem to INTENTIONALLY create more questions than answers?

Enough with the cloak and freaking dagger allready.

TH...

I'm sorry this thread turned into a flame-fest. I think too many people read into things and have too many words that are misunderstood.

You asked for our input (not questions ), so here's one little piece from me:

I think the new system sounds really good. I know there's a lot more to it that hasn't been disclosed. And I know you have very good reason for keeping the lid on.

I'm a little unclear as to what the PvP area means, exactly. I would like to say that I would like to see a more dynamic approach to further advancement as a Jedi. For me personally... I don't PvP at all. It's just not my thing. Maybe I will one day. But I don't want to ever be "forced" into it. Can you setup the new system to incorporate ways for anyone to advance, depending on your playstyle?

I'll try to think more on this and post another thread later.

TH/Devs,

Basicallya cut and paste of a post I made on the Jedi boards, I hope you review it and it helps put some player perspecitves on the situation.

If the designers of SWG have the goal of making this game appeal to many different types of players then this is apotentially bad idea. Ultimately, I think most of the people who pay their 15 bucks a month to play this game do so in the hope of reliving some of their movie memories as themselves in these virtual worlds. And lets face it, Jedi is going to be a goal for most people. Likewise, anyone seeking Jedi will not want to be limited in their progression just because their favored playstyle isn't PVP. If there was a basis in the movies or the voluminous EU that jedi ranking and experience was based on killing other Jedi (lightside primarily) then there would be little ground to justify a complaint. But, quite the contrary, the light side of the force was mastered not through murder, but the pursuit of peace. Sure, some jedi may have learned more of the force by fighting and slaying the followers of the darkside or evil in general, but most, like Yoda and other Jedi Masters, did it through peaceful means (you can't tell me that Yoda achieved mastery by slaying dozens if not hundreds of dark jedi).

Here are some concerns that the Devs should seriously consider before implementing this.

1) Limited population of light/dark jedi on servers

By basing character progression on the availability of other players you create a serious bottleneck for advancement. Different playtimes may lead to little availability and the poor, few, fools who are available may find themselves the victim of one after another jedi seeking advancement. You can't convince me that it's considered a "good" act for a dozen light side jedi to continually kill the same one or two dark jedi's over and over again to progress. All this will do is cause that handful of dark jedi to quit or give up on Mastery, then gating the light side jedi.

As much as I hate to say it, there isn't going to be any way you can realistically limit jedis and still keep the playerbase asipring for them happy now. In the time frame the game is situated in it would have been better to save the Jedi as an expansion when the story had progressed beyond RotJ, but the cats out of the bag now. If your goal is to limit the amount of jedi in game now I don't have any answers for you but it's something I'll put alot of thought to and followup with another post in the future.

2) Supremacy going to the best equiped.

We all know how riddled the game is with cred dupers and exploiters who have profitted and become rich enough to drive prices for valuable good crystals/pearls so that most jedi can't even hope of getting them. Add to that the value of these items have turned places like the Krayt Graveyard into a total mess of bickering idiots. Unless the obtaining of crystals AND pearls are changed drastically what you may very well end up with is a handful of rich/well equipped jedi constantly owning any competitor that can't afford similar gear. Monetary issues should not be a concern for a Jedi when it comes to their saber and their abilities..

Yes, PVP isn't only about gear, but if you take two PVPers of equal skill, then the quality of armor/buffs/saber determines the winner. One of the things that greatly drew me to this game was that it wasn't a loot-fest like other MMOs out there. But, it is degenerating into that.

3) Supporting multiple playstyles.

By implementing this system, you are telling the achievers, explorers and other non-pvp playtypes that they can never achieve mastery. This will alienatemany of your players and I can guarantee you that the Star Wars license isn't enough in and of itself to keep these players. Five years ago that may have been the case but the market is getting flooded with many quality MMOs, not counting the expanding availability of other online gaming options such as Xbox Live. If you want to keep a large players base (and a large monthly income to SoE) you have to support multiple playtypes.

Personally, I'm not intimidated by the prospect of PVPing, but I don't feel like it has a place in progression to Jedi master for the light side. Perhaps for the dark side, but not light. I am intimidated by the fact that because I'm not a part of a huge PA (and therefore have the support of them for hunting/exping/loot farming) or have the credits to purchase crystals, much less pearls, I can't see myself ever being competitive in Jedi PVP. I'd love to do the hard work to progress to light side master one day, but with this system I just don't see it happening, baring some MASSIVE changes to saber crafting and PVP itself.

I think PVP should be one of the ways that Jedi progress to master, but it shouldn't be the only way or option available.

A suggestion: Include Jedi only content that gives xp awards on completion. You could even make this content Jedi-only, perhaps even single player if necessary, but I like the idea of thejedi duos/trios completing this content for xp purposes.Consider some of the missions that Qui-Gon/Obi and Obi/Anaken are sent on in EP 1 and 2. You could even make it into a similar system to BH missions, where an NPC (instead of terminal) gives a Jedi a mission to complete to earn master xp. To keep it restricted to jedi or single player only, you could make it instanced content like the new dungeons you are doing (to help prevent powerleveling of jedis). Of course this wouldn't be given out by a Jedi council, but there could be many ways to explain it... say the Force guiding the Jedi to people in need.

I hope this has given you, the Devs, some food for thought.