Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Should Force Sensitivity be a known path or a mysterious one? (II)
EfuAby
Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:36 pm
#807
I think all these people saying the path should be known and easy to get are only thinking about themselves and their own jedi slot, not the state and future of the game as a whole, and what's best for it
JTL Blows the entire scheme of what the concept of the game was originally. It's going from MMORPG To XWing VS Tie Fighter. And you think THAT isn't going to effect the "state" of the game in the future? C'mon now. I still think more people will be in the stars not even worrying about their FS slots then on planets running around. What's best for the game is people staying interested and NOT becoming over frustrated. How many people have you known leave the game due to professions never being fixed? I've known quite a few...and it's really sad. Jedi profession remaining mysterious WILL cause people to stop playing their characters and just stick to JTL or move on to Eq2. Jedi is something that everyone wants to be....thinking about themselves as an entire community = change is needed so that everyones dream can be realized.
If you want a fix do this:
Max the amount of jedis that can be on the server at any point in time duringa day. Tally up the amount of jedis there actually are on each server...their playing time...and Average it out to get the amount to be allowedon eachserver capacity. That way there isn't a disgusting number of jedi running around at any point in time. (that should keep those kids that don't want it to be all jedis happy) If people have a jedi slot and can't play they still have their other character to play on ...hopefully keeping the server player count pretty stable.
EfuAby
Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:41 pm
#808
"I think all these people saying the path should be known and easy to get are only thinking about themselves and their own jedi slot, not the state and future of the game as a whole, and what's best for it" ...
Should've been quoted. My apologies.
Cafa
Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:26 am
#809
Please, JustG, NO HERMITS!
9 days now looking for that damn hermit. This is not fun.
TheIronYuppie
Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:48 am
#810
Make it known, but only allow a player to have ONE of his or her characters on one server to be Force Sensitive.
So if I have a character on Scylla, Tarquinas, and Intrepid. I have to pick which of those three i want to persue Force Sensitivity. Then the other two will not be able to become Force Sensitive.
This will let everyone have a Jedi, but limit it slightly so not every server is completly overrun by Jedi.
DArKFUrY
Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:37 pm
#811
I think the path to become force sensitive should be known to all. Making something secret or mysterious takes too much time, for players to figure out, there should be guidance and direction to become force sensitive. All living beings have some level of force sensitivity, i.e.intuition, bad feeling about something. Its just making the journey from force sensitivity to padawan should be the hardship. I am tired and I'll try to think of more or even rewrite this better.
nakedandfearless
Tue Jul 27, 2004 8:34 pm
#812
Hell, just give everyone a Jedi character. That's what everyone is whining about anyways.
Virtuell
Tue Jul 27, 2004 10:58 pm
#813
Should the method of becoming Force Sensitive (not the path from Force Sensitivity to Jedi) be a mysterious, unknown mechanic orone that is visible and known to everyone?
Since there are (too) many FS ones out there already, it is problaby good to have a known path.
HagakureL
Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:52 am
#815
I have a feeling if you make it mysterious someone will eventually figure out what you have to do. And then once that is known its going to become a grind.
I think once you have mastered an Elite profession your path to force sensitivity should begin. It would involve doing quests for your elite profession be it crafting/combat. I think those quests should unlock special abilities for the player, i.e. maybe add a few new specials for combat professions or some new schematics for crafting professions. These quests should be story driven and tailored to each profession. At the end of these quests I feel you should have a better understanding of your profession hence unlocking your Force Sensitivity.
I just know that a known directed path will have more content and story to it over a mysterious one.
murphy7
Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:56 pm
#816
I vote that the path from start to force sensitivity should be known, and that for many reasons that have been stated in this thread already, but to summarize:
- it's been let out of the bag once already, and closing the barn-door now is spiteful to a good number of players, both those new to the galaxies as well as those who are just now getting around to treading the path towards Jedi
- it's not likely to remain secret for long
- a known path is not necessarily an easy one, nor one that can be travelled to its end with alacrity
Similarly, I am pretty vehemently against an exteneded grind. The hologrind was execrable, and replacing this with a POI grind or badge grind or such is just that: replacing one grind with another.
What I would like to see for a system, was a series of quests that a character had to complete that might start with being contacted by email after your character has matured in some manner ( I like having Mastered an elite profession for this benchmark, mainly because they indicate some proficiency with certain aspects of the game; another might be having spent out over 200 skill points on character development, something measureable).
The initial contact might be made by email, urging the character to meet with the NPC someplace at which point the quest is embarked upon. Initial quests should be simple, but ramping up in difficulty the further along one is.
Once a quest is complete, I would like to see a calandar timer start, such as one might have to wait until the next month for the next quest. There may be seven or so quests in the sequence. Exceptions to this may found through exploration (one might find a randomly spawned NPC with a FS quest for them to do), and/or holocrons (giving a location to spawn one of these random NPCs with an FS quest). However, the most someone could speed up the process in this manner is cutting it into just under half (if there were seven quests in the sequence for example, one might preemptively find four of them through holocrons/exploration). People who have been grinding professions would be commensurately credited along the path, to the point of needing to complete a number of quests out of the total similar to the number of professions they had left to complete out of their total.
The benefits to a timed system is that it (1) it neither unduly favors the powergamers nor the casual gamers; the former has outlets to speed up the process while the latter needs not concern their every playing moment with the path, once a quest is complete teh next one will be known, it's only a matter of time;(2) similarly the powergamer cannot overbalance the system by finishing all the quests in a week such that an extension is created that pushes the path outside the realm of reasonability for the casual gamer (3) these quests can be oriented based on the profession composition of the player's character at the time; perhaps they have taken a break from hunting in the wilds to take up the romance of the road asan itinerant musician, the quest can reflect this by being pertinent to the player's current skill set; (4)there is downtime from the path,which for some may encourage exploration to shorten the path, others to take a more vested interest in the GCW,or even take a break and visit the sun and familty. 
Twolast commentsabout such a questing system:
- Each quest should be soloable; not that you have to solo it,but from a standpoint of a characters personal journey, they should beable to complete thatjourney without putting together a posse of Fibroplast-encased ruffians to just have a chance.
- NoFS quest should involvecamping a rare spawn for the "Krayt Liver Juice of Jedi Nirvana"; camping a spawn for holocrons or similar hints might be another story
Just some ideas.
Scuzel
Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:47 pm
#817
Im not sure if you are reading this far down the list, but if you are, here is my oppinions:
The new system should avoid making the aspiring jedi group reliant- Nothing in becoming a Jedi should force you to group. It may require you to be good at something, such as an advanced weapon skill, nothing like the Death Watch Bunker or the Corvette.
Jedi in this time frame were in hiding, even those whom were discovering the path on their own.
The ‘Path’ should include many subtle things. Things like Exploration badges, or random minor quests. The mystery should lie within which combination furthers you a long your path. Things that would represent knowledge.
I think the old system of ‘unlocking’ a jedi (which now would equate to unlocking skill points?) should remain in tact as an alternate for several reasons.
Some people enjoyed the exposure to the other professions while on the ‘path’. I wouldn’t have minded if it stayed the same. If we weren’t rushed to unlock before the ‘cut off’ date it would have been much more enjoyable. Perhaps I could have stayed Master at some of those professions more than a few hours before working on another.
You really shouldn’t totally revamp a system while (probably) thousands of people are actively working toward a jedi. That’s just not nice. So our penalty of not playing day-and-night is we lose a second slot (the equivalent of a new account, free) That just alienated the ‘casual’ player, which was a target base for this game.
You should keep the profession mastery unlocking a second slot, only without the second slot being force sensitive while implementing your other Jedi Skill Point unlocking system.
I wouldn't mind seeing the new system make you master a specific profession. With Bounty Hunter's points changed to that of the Commando's, any starting profession, or any of the elite professions branching from those skills could be mastered without losing your main profession. The system would obviously need to be very dynamic. It may not be worth the development time.
The new system should avoid making the aspiring jedi group reliant- Nothing in becoming a Jedi should force you to group. It may require you to be good at something, such as an advanced weapon skill, nothing like the Death Watch Bunker or the Corvette.
Jedi in this time frame were in hiding, even those whom were discovering the path on their own.
The ‘Path’ should include many subtle things. Things like Exploration badges, or random minor quests. The mystery should lie within which combination furthers you a long your path. Things that would represent knowledge.
I think the old system of ‘unlocking’ a jedi (which now would equate to unlocking skill points?) should remain in tact as an alternate for several reasons.
Some people enjoyed the exposure to the other professions while on the ‘path’. I wouldn’t have minded if it stayed the same. If we weren’t rushed to unlock before the ‘cut off’ date it would have been much more enjoyable. Perhaps I could have stayed Master at some of those professions more than a few hours before working on another.
You really shouldn’t totally revamp a system while (probably) thousands of people are actively working toward a jedi. That’s just not nice. So our penalty of not playing day-and-night is we lose a second slot (the equivalent of a new account, free) That just alienated the ‘casual’ player, which was a target base for this game.
You should keep the profession mastery unlocking a second slot, only without the second slot being force sensitive while implementing your other Jedi Skill Point unlocking system.
I wouldn't mind seeing the new system make you master a specific profession. With Bounty Hunter's points changed to that of the Commando's, any starting profession, or any of the elite professions branching from those skills could be mastered without losing your main profession. The system would obviously need to be very dynamic. It may not be worth the development time.
PitchControl
Wed Jul 28, 2004 8:52 pm
#818
Becomming FS should be a combination of factors, not grinding in to proffesions...
An amount of badges you collected for example 75
Certain quest you have to do... (trough npc that spawn random every day and move around, like in the hermit quests)
Certain dangerous new mobs and beastyou have to kill... or difficult missions you have to do or rare items you have to craft for crafters and entertainers
an amount of combat xp you have collected for players with an combat proffesion
an amount of dancing/healing/crafting xp for non combat players
The path to fs should be the way likeSWG should be played... doing quest, collecting loot, and lots of fun...
There should be a way to see your progress in the way to become FS, like ameter that shows you how mutchFS expierence you have collected.... but it should be updated once a week...
There should be ingame tips to become FS, like the holocrons do that now...
Thepath to FS should be part secret part know....
Xerou
Wed Jul 28, 2004 9:20 pm
#819
Please keep whatever quests and missions u have set forth for becoming fs and also between fs and jedi, solable. The casual player doesn't always have time to be able to jump into groups or spend the time needed to find a group. If this game is to be friendly to the casual player then it must have solable aspects in all areas including that of becoming a jedi. I am new to the game but have been in mmorpgs for 3 yrs. I used to be a power gamer but no longer have the time to do that anymore. I know i speak for many casual gamers when i say it's nice to be able to jump on at any time and solo.