Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (Week Ending 4-12-04)
hmm any chance well see something new not on the list of new droid modules announced?
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.
If i can add my 2 cents to that 
i always wanted Paper and books in swg i never though of disks as the poster had pointed out heh.
Additoinaly you should be able to Encode the disk, and have the encoded Disk Sliceable. you should not be able to use molecular clamps or at least you should not be able to Guarentee a 100% success rate of decodeing it, you should have to be a master smuggler to encode or decode a disk. perhaps like the datapads in the genodungeon just though i might share my thoughs
FalgornLightfoot wrote:
I am a Bounty Hunter on Chimeara - Europe, and in my opinion, because of my profession choice, I am getting significantly less from the game than other players.
FirstlyI do not want to drop Bounty Hunter. Its whatI got the game to play, andI know there are a great many people out there that feel the same.
As a result of my choice,I cannot remain as Master Bounty Hunter, and master any other profession at the same time. As such my game content is severely restricted in a way that no other profession must suffer.
As a result of my choice,I have virtually no defence, so to solo any medium - high level quests alone is out of the question. As such, my game content is severely restricted in a way that no other profession must suffer.
As a result of my choice, when I choose to go overt, I must fight in a very limited way to survive. The amount of skill points I spend, do not reflect my skill in combat. As such, my game content is severely restricted in a way that no other profession must suffer.
For me personally to stay as a Bounty Hunter (and indeedstay in the game) I respectfully request that one of the upcoming mini publishes involves some kind of Bounty Hunter content revamp.
I know that Jedi Marks have only just been included. And i do not mean to sound ungreatfull, but the chances of acquiring a mark and actually being able to find / kill one, are pretty slim. Not that this is not an unwelcom inclusion. but its not enough for a profession thats game content is severly limited.
Please, consider the following:
1. New Bounty Hunter content. Alter the grind.. try some Bodyguard missions.. escort missions, so much in this game is varied and ingenious.. please just direct 1% of that talent at our professsion.
2. A bounty hunter should be able to hide from radar. At least then we can sneak up on ppl. (MASK RADAR)
3. Smugglers feign death. Other players have defences to keep them alive.Can Bounty Hunters have some balance with this. Our offensive ability's are good but not the best. Any chance for some sort of "quick escape" skill. I dont want to be Ultimate in combat. I even like somewhat that in combat currently a Bounty Hunter has to be really clever to survive. But still.. no defences in a world of combat medics and flame dot's.. high lvl melee defences and ultra tough dungeons, can make a bounty Hunter feel out of place, and outmatched.
4. PLAYER BOUNTIES :
The esiest way to initiate this is to make it factional (at least at first)
perhaps Break it down Like this:
Add to Factional Terminal the Option to Choose Bounty Missions. A player that gets a certain amount of negative faction. Or gains a certain amount of Faction in a short amount of time, Heruns the chance of Ending up on these Mission terminals.
Neutral, Rebel, Imperial Bounty Hunters can take EITHER Imperial or Rebel Bounties: And in this the Benefit to a Bounty Hunter staying Neutral is personified:
NeutralBounty Huntervrs: Rebel / Imperial player : Bounty Hunter does NOT get a TEF, and can attack the Mark in a group without concern.
Imperial Bounty Huntervrs: Rebel Player : Bounty Hunter getsa TEF, but also earns faction from completing mission.
Rebel Bounty Huntervrs: Imperial Player : Bounty Hunter getsa TEF, but also earns faction from completing mission.
Imperial Bounty Hunter vrs: Imperial Player : Bounty Hunter does not get a TEF but looses faction.
Rebel Bounty Huntervrs: Rebel Player : Bounty Hunter does not get a TEF but looses faction.
A methoodof providing players with the opportunity to initiate Player Bounty missions is as follows:
If you die in factional pvp, You can now choose an option at imperial / Rebel faction recruiters to :
1. Report Rebel Insurgent
2. Report Imperial Opressor.
You can report ANY ONEopposing fation player that has killed you since your last login, to this recruiter. If more than 4 different players report the same Individual, this person is added to the terminal. When You report this player, and option will come up "would you like to fincance investigation of the offender" You can then sweeten the deal by donating credits, that will add to the Bounty difficulty but also to the payout.
Your complaint is deleted in 24 hrs of reporting it, and your credits returned to you. If the mark is killed, the 40 faction you lost from dieing in pvp is returned to you.
If a player that is being tracked by a Bounty Hunter, is grouped with a faction friendly Smuggler, the efficiency of the Bounty Hunters tracking is reduced.
Why does A Bounty Hunter Have scout Skills?
The answer "was" so that we could access mounts, vehicles etc, in the wild, and also, on some conceptual level, use traps on our targets. Unless the dev's plan on adding Rogue Sharnaff as possible marks, Idon't see the need for master scout anymore. Instead these skill points could be re-distributed amongst elite ranged combat professions in the following manner.Give the Bounty Hunter greater access to some defences and some more specials, whilst using the remainder of their points, in a mannor befitting to what a Bounty Hunter should be. A single profession, that takes elements fromall (ranged)combat professions to make them very very efficient at 1 on1 encounters.
Re-Align stats:
Scout: 4-0-0-0
Carbineer:0-0-4-0
Pistoleer: 0-0-4-4
Medic: 4-0-0-0
Novice Bounty Hunter. (include PLAYER TRACK / MASK RADAR / PLAYER EXAMINE = Gives Armour stats)
Master Bounty Hunter.
In relation to Mandalorian Armour. Im not suggesting that this should be MBH only, because of the famous Bounty Hunters that wore it.The Star WarsExpanded Universe does hint that it had some Light Saber resistant Qualities. AsBounty Hunteris the only proffession in the game that fights jedifor a living, Mandalorian Armour should have Very Very High Kinetic resistance, but lower than average to everything else, and only be certified to Master Bounty Hunters. Im not suggesting that other class's cant wear it, But im suggesting that like equiping a weapon your not certed for, it has little or no Benefit.
As for Allowing Commando to wear it, Your openly giving this armour to Teras Kasi, an already over powered profession.
Most Bounty Huntersthat complain are metwith the opinion.. "if you dont like it.. drop BH"... I dont want to do that. When i do, it will be when im deleting my character.
So to the developers. Right now, I really like this game. And its getting better. But I dont feel that im getting the same value for money as non Bounty Hunters. If you disagree fair enough.. but im not alone in my convictions.
The Jedi system has a Visibility Rateing if it were not bugged it could also be a example for Overt Rebels in imperial cities and overt imperials in rebel cities ETC
If you raid a Rebel city too many times some rebel BHs might want to hunt you down and viseversa for imperials
at least it might cut down on the endless killing of rebel and imperial npcs that can not defend them selfs from the overpower'd players =p
i love being a BH and really would like to have a reason to keep it.
Vulnerability- Acid & Electricity
Quest Enhancements:
Players have a list of every person they have done quests for, and whether or not they have completed that person's quests. This list should also indicate when an existing NPC is willing to offer a new quest (--the player has either unlocked more dialog from that NPC by doing some other quest or new content has been added). This list should be as advanced as possible, ideally including the dialog from the quest (different for each person based on what they responded with), the location of the Quest Giver and the date it was completed.
Quests that open after you've done a percentage of other in-game quests (similar to theme parks, but not necessarily of a particular theme -- Bug Bomb, Krayt Skull, those are steps in the right direction).
Badges awarded for percentage of (or number of, whichever works best) quests completed.
Bartenders give you the name and location of the next quest-giver you are capable of doing [based on faction, profession, level of difficulty and proximity]... for a price or item the bartender wants. Smugglers get an advantage here based on Underworld skill level.
Player-created quests -- the ability to place a bounty on another players head for a given reason and the ability to place an order for a certain item with a set price.
A subquest system where each creature drops a type of creature-specific loot. For example, a Spiderclan Spider drops a Spiderclan mandible, a Talusian Tortur drops a Talusian Tortur tongue, etc. Architects have the ability to create a Display Case where the creature-related loot can be placed. When such an item is placed in the case it cannot be removed -- a new updated display case is created (to prevent a house from reaching its maximum item limit from a particularly overzealous collector). Every time a fifth item is added, the case increases in size by a few percent, eventually becoming large enough to cover an entire wall. When examined, the display case lists all the different items stored inside -- a veritable trophy case, if you will.
Quests for NPC characters who collect mentioned creature-specific loot. (Bio Engineers who study these pieces, Trophy Hunters who want you to add to their collection, etc).
-kneight incendiary
Concealing and falsifying identity.
This is something I have thought of should be available in swg for a long time, and have yet to see a forum or thread in dedication to this.
The fact that you can see someone’s characters details when they are examined. I know this will seem aimed at Jedi’s and bounty hunters, but I think it can have overlapping effects on other game play stuff and role-playing.
I think this is a big point and if changed, can add a more atmospheric feel to the game in general, not just for Jedi’s and bh's. I will explain why I think it is good for the game first and then maybe ideas as to how it could be done.
Jedi are in hiding. For one I am a bounty hunter, and although I have never seen a Jedi mission on the terminal, I already have a good list of all the Jedi’s on our server (mailed to me from another bounty hunter) if I stumble across him, all I need to do is tell the bounty hunters and they will come flocking. If it was more in a real star wars environment, Jedi will be trying to conceal themselves, using false names, concealing clothing etc. I think if a BH had a mark on a Jedi, who he has never hunted before, do you not think it would be a lot better if he was to turn up at his mark location, but not know who he is, having to examine people and taking a guess as to who to attack, (with npc's being about who they can also attack), instead of just turning up seeing a name and start shooting. If they were to attack the wrong person they fail and the mission has ended. It also highlights that yeah, fair enough if a known Jedi is walking about in broad daylight with no cloak, or no amour, and has used his powers to show off, then people will recognize him, but if he was wearing cloaks or concealing amour as a Jedi, u could not always pint point who it is. There are hundreds of people running about with say composite amour and cloaks (people will were a Jedi cloak just for to wear it, even if they are not Jedi). Overall depending on the quality of concealment, whether it is a bounty hunter hunting a Jedi, or another profession seeing a Jedi in action, they should not be able to identify who it is straight away depending on the Jedi’s efforts at concealment (which I will explain more below in as to how to approach this)
This would also be good for other professions as well. For example, a well known bounty hunter. In reverse, it can add a bit of mystery to a person. If there is a "bounty hunter" going about killing people, and is a well known Jedi hunter. then they would get a reputation and people will make up names for them themselves, almost creating a legend. You could be talking to say "john" the tailor one day and not realize he is this master bounty hunter hunting loads of Jedi’s and vice versa for commandos, Jedi’s and high rank gcw players. It would also make Jedi’s more careful as to who they talk to. Same in pvp fighting, someone can be shouting abuse at someone else, creating friction and challenge to a duel, it would be more fun to not know how good the guy is you are challenging. Also in parts of battlefields, being in a storm trooper suit or a rebel suit in battle would hide your identity, and for all you know, you could be talking to an imperial about this event afterwards that had just killed you and you never knew it. It is deceitful but that’s how real life is, and it would add more atmosphere I think. Even if it is just to change your identity for a short while if you want. Also it could give image designers a new aspect to their profession.
Now on to the point of how to do it. I think it can be done through a verity of options, and u can choose to pick one or 2, or them all. I think if each character has the ability not only to hide their professions mastered, and places visited, I think they should also have the ability to hide their name if they choose too. Basically I think examining should act similar in the rolling dice in which combat works. Depending on your skill level, items created, items bought and items equipped will raise or lower your chance of being detected. I will list these ideas below
False Documents and papers
These can be created by a crafter whom you trust or you have already contacted while concealed. They can create false documents which lets you change name for a period of time like a buff. Now depending on the quality of the documents made etc will affect as to how easily people can see they are false and detect you. It also adds another aspect to being searched by stoormtroopers for false documents. If you are caught, u can be attacked, and if rebel/Jedi; have a tef for a while. These crafters can then sell the identity of a person to the empire or bounty hunters if they choose to highlighting the fact that you cannot trust everyone, and that other professions can have a role in the ongoing struggle between the empire getting rid of Jedi’s.
Image Design.
I know image designers have the ability to change the look of a person as they see fit, but maybe give them the option to have another skill. Everyone is going on about how this profession is becoming useless, so why not give them an active role in the gcw war? We know they can change the look of a person but how about letting them change the way a character is detected. It could be explained in game as some sort of dna modifier, etc for a short period of time also. This means if you are a Jedi detected by a BH, or a rebel given a tef by a stormtrooper, then u can run and find an image designer who can change your identity. Again depending on the skill of the image designer will depend on how long this concealment will last and and how good it is in detection. Another great thing which you could do for this is, once the the image designer has changed your new identity, they could have a schematic of their new make up which they can sell on a bazaar to bounty hunters, or the imperials for certain amount of time after creating the change. Again highlighting the fact that you cannot trust everyone and those other professions can have a role in the ongoing struggle between the empire getting rid of Jedi’s
Clothing and amour
This is basically a generic thing which will give all clothes and amour a rating of concealment. Obviously it will not be full proof and there were will be a chance of you getting detected. If you saw a character who you have never seen before, entirely concealed, you should not be allowed to identify them 100% if they have taken of that clothing. I think however if you have been successfully identified by anyone, then your concealment level will drop very quickly to everyone else (spread of word type thing) and is easier to examine. It will also make people who are trying to conceal themselves have to buy a new set of amour/clothing once they have been found.
Overall this will make it expensive to change identity, for example if someone is in front of you when u take of your concealment; it will up the chance of being detected. False papers and and image design can put that back up with new amour. I think this will give many professions a chance to join in not only hiding/detecting Jedi but also another part of the profession which they never had. It means that Jedi’s will have no choice but to do this, making it harder and more expensive for them, but also will make others think twice about it before forking out that kind of money. It also means, if you come across someone concealed, are they Jedi? are they a bounty hunter? do I examine them? I have discovered who they are, is it worth keeping a note of their name and telling others? Could the game develop into image designers and crafters conspiring with bounty hunters to get Jedi’s? or vice versa? It will add a more, “who can you trust" aspect to the game as a Jedi and other professions.
It would add a certain role-play to the game which is not really used, and create conspiracies, legends, hunts for people, bounty hunting more interesting and getting other professions into a part of the game they are not much involved in.
Just a different idea here, what do the rest of you think?
M
I trust the Devs have come up with some novel approach to rivaling camping tactics. But how about assigning loot according to the difficulty ratio between the player group/individual and the enemy they encounter. Thus forcing everyone to keep playing harder dungeons/quests.
Thunderheart wrote:
ETgamer wrote:
Not sure if this is where it's supposed to be, but I'm a little worried about the coming Mandalorian armor that will be available via dungeon... chiefly, with the amount of camping we'll see with this thing, considering the overwhelming amounts of popularity that the rare armor has to back it up.
I'm not sure how this problem can be solved.
I think we have a pretty good solution. Im excited to see how it works out. Im pretty sure it will be fairly rare, but in any MMO, when a stream of smart players tries to untangle these problems, there are always solutions that no one thought of. The folks on TC were a big help with the Corvette.
- Privacy ...let us decide who is able to see if we connect and if we are online . A stealth mode would be fine .... just a little button which prevents everyone from seeing our online status. i guess a lot of crafters and mayor would welcome this .
- Filters for the mission terminals.
- please think about why on a couple of servers arraged pvp battles are going on and in each of these battels CM's are banned ...... maybe there is something wrong ... and maybe this dont have time until the combat rebalance
It seems Act III was a great success. People seemed to enjoy it immensley. When I left Leia to help protect the Imperial ambush of the Rebel stronghold one of my friends shouted out "This is more like it!". He's absolutely right, that kind of event was great. Anything to take us from the grind of mission terminals is a great thing. Would it be possible to introduce more of these styles of mission into everyday gameplay?
Medics and Entertainers could even be given missions to find another player team member or two to help NPC's fight off wave upon wave of enemies, while in the protected building NPC's and even the players come to get healed by the player. The event's could balanced so that it would be possible for a healer to just about play by him/herself. The NPC's defending would be wiped out without any assstance, while with the help of a healer they could just about manage to get out of it alive.
Implementing some crude command such as 'Help me!' which would be discussed and initialised in conversation with the NPC's would divert all defending NPC's not being attacked to target the Entertainer's attacker.