Development Cycle Archive

Wow 37 pages of ideas, i can't say i have read them all so maybe someone else has done these ideas??

Ok guys here's my penny!

Ok Owen-Lars,

that is a novel idea and i do like it, however, (still hoping that the devs read this and let us know their intentions), IF, and unly if some system such as your idea is implemented, I, and many others, will immediately leave the game if our reward is a measly 250 FS XP out of 50k!! I think i speak for many others when I say that when the Holocron system is turned off the "so called REWARD" for those of us who have ground 10+ professions after the silent holo had better be damn good and pretty close to giving us the answer to HOW DO WE UNLOCK. I have spent thousands of hours mastering professions and if the system simply goes away and I get a statue as a reward My head will explode and I'll be on the phone a few minutes later cancelling my subscription.

The reward for grinding out Holo profs MUST be substantial once the system in place is turned off...

...otherwise, I love your idea.

PS. read the above posts as this idea has been thrown out (using other words) by a few pple.

"i played MUDs long ago and when ya wanted to be remorted you had to pass the GAUNTLET.

The gauntlet was a serie of fights going from very easy to deadly.

To win you had to kill all mobs in a given amount of time.

To access to gauntlet you had to provide a list of items (some easy, some hard to get) and an amount of cash. That was to avoid people trying the gauntlet 10 times in a row.

You could add a gauntlet type quest."

I'd hate to see this kind of quest put into place. There is a reason that i stopped playing The 4th Comming and started playing SWG.

While i'm not quite sure what kind of quest SHOULD be put into place in order to unlock your force sensitive slot, I'd like to keep in mind all the people who have been grinding holos up until this point. We were told that we'd get something for our efforts, and i'm just affraid that it'll end up being a sum of money or a badge or something.

If there is to be some kind of Jedi quest, perhaps people who have been grinding their silent holos could be started in the middle of it or something... or maybe they could be allowed to continue grinding if they so choose. I know a lot of people who have spent a LONG time grinding out professions that they absolutely hate, just in the hopes of unlocking their Jedi. I've talked to many who feel the same way that I do about the upcomming changes to the Jedi profession, and all we ask is that we have something to show for our work.

Originally posted 12/7 in the Jedi forum. It is my vision of what I wanted Force-Sensitivity and the Path to Jedi to be. I reposted it all to show the context of the releveant info, and I will highlight in bold the stuff that is more accurately on-topic.

This thought was originally presented by SenDerlo on the Discussion Boards here:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=903757

His arguments and reasonings are sound IMO. However, the thread got a little off topic with all the back and forth flames and such, so I wanted to repost here and get some more input (hopefully constructive).

Original Post:
New Starting Profession – Force Sensitive!
By Derlo Sen (Naritus)

I’m not going to start be rehashing the current Jedi system. There are enough posts devoted to the promise and the problems of the holocrons and skill mastery. This post is intended to give the Devs an idea for a different way the system could work.

First, we all need to accept the reality that the majority of people in the game want to experiment with a force-sensitive character. They don’t all want to be Jedi. But to some degree, most players want to play around with Force powers. Some want to dabble in it, some want to pursue it exclusively.

Sound familiar?

Sounds a lot like the concept for every other character class, doesn’t it?

Drawing from several sources (SWG, the table-top RPG, movies, fanfic, etc.), I have the following suggestion:

New starting profession – Force Sensitive.
The force sensitive has access to basic powers of the Force. At low levels, they are extremely weak – slight healing enhancements, slight speed enhancement, item crafting bonus, etc. The kind of thing any citizen of the galaxy could do if they had a very minor affinity towards the Force.

As your character develops, you can choose how much time to devote to following the ways of the Force. Just like any other profession, the more you devote to it, the fewer skill points you have to devote to other areas. Perhaps you will choose to become a Master Marksman who can Force Pull your adversaries off their feet. Perhaps you will choose to become a Master Bounty Hunter who gets a slight speed boost from Force Run 1.

The downside to being a Force Sensitive to any degree is obvious. First of all, it is expensive, requiring the most skill points of any tree. After all, mastering the ways of the Force takes time and devotion. Secondly, you are a marked man/woman. The same forced-PVP rules apply. If you use your powers too much, Vader gets wind of it and sends a Bounty Hunter to track you down.

So how do you become a Jedi? Well mastering Force Sensitive is the first step. After that, well, the Developers can go nuts, because now you have satisfied the basic urge of the players to have some connection to the Force. The same people who want to be Master Commandos, Master Bounty Hunters, Master Creature Handlers can now try to figure out how to do make that leap from Master Force Sensitive to Novice Jedi or Novice Dark Jedi.

No more thousands of people competing for the big prize. The Force enters the game in the way it should – the substance that binds the universe together, and flows through all living things.

What you do with it is your choice.

And that’s my 2 creds. May the Force be with you.

My Take on it (to include the post by another that I think is more in keeping with the overall concept):

ideas wrote:

Great idea.

The Force Sensitive basic profession doesn't even need anything that seems like a power. Those who are Force Sensitive but not trained (in the fiction and movies) are just a bit more intuitive, talented, etc. They don't have anything resembling Force Run or Force Push, they just seem a little better than their peers. Even Little Orphan Ani from Episode I doesn't do anything magical, he just has great instincts and reflexes that seem to make him an excellent Pilot.

Force Sensitive could just provide minor bonuses to different skills. +10 Artisan Assembly here, +10 Pistol Accuracy there, representing the idea that your connection to the Force help out a little.

At best, "powers" might mimic the skills of other professions, perhaps /diagnose appears on the tree not from medical training but from an intuitive connection to other living people.

---

I agree.

Make FS Profession be like this.

4 trees, each one devoted to a particular skill group: Medicinal, Ranged Weapons, Melee Weapons, & Crafting.

N. FS gives no bonuses and costs25 skill points to learn. Must 'learn' it from a Jedi Master (whom you must find, good luck there, random location spawn on a timer), that tells you something like, "You should learn the ways of the Force," gives you the opportunity to select, 'I wish to learn more about that path,' or, 'I dont believe in those simple tricks and non-sense. No one controls MY destiny.' Then the NPC either disappears (if you choose to follow and have the skill points avail) or bids you goodbye and wishes you well on your travels (in the case of not enough skill points or declination of Force Sensitive profession).

Really, the best way to do this is to list this 'trainer' as something like a Fortune Teller or Seer or Palmist, in a merchant tent and you pay like 5cr to have your palm read, again, random location spawn that jumps all over the galaxy and goes away from the location for a minimum period of time (like weeks) after allowing the player to become aware of Force Sensitivity.

You then gain FS XP similar to how you gain Combat XP, but far less in comparisson. You get a small portion dolled out based on the CL of what you defeat, or in the case of crafters, the complexity of the item you create. Since the Crafter side of this would be easier and faster to accumulate, the amounts would have to be much lower in comparison.

To advance in each tier, you can train from the respective normal trainers. Medicinal requires Doctor, Ranged requires BH trainer, Melee requies TKA trainer, Crafting req. Artisan Trainer; or alternately you can find another FS char to train you anything but Master.

Tier 1: (5skill points each + 150k Force Sensitive XP)
Medicinal Tree: +3 to Medicine Use, Injury Treatment, Injury Treatment Speed, Medicine Assembly, Medicine Experiementation, Wound Healing (dance/music)
Ranged Tree: +5 General Ranged Aiming, General Ranged Defense, Creature Knowledge, Terrain Negotiation
Melee Tree: +3 Melee Damage, speed, accuracy, toughness (all sub categories), Dodge
Crafting: +5 Artisan/ Droid/ Weap/ Armour/ Food/ Structure/ BE / Clothing Assembly/Experimentation/ customization/complexity (as applicable), Hiring

Tier2: (5 skill points each + 250K FS XP)
Same as Tier1

Tier3: (5 skill points each + 350K FS XP)
Medicinal: +10 Wound Treatment speed, +5 to all others as above
Ranged: +10Heavy Weapons accuracy / speed (all sub categories, to incl LLC)
Melee: +15 Def v. State (all sub categories), Counterattack
Crafting: as above, and decreased vendor fees, decreased maint fees

Tier4: (5 skill points each + 450K FS XP)
This is where you get the abilities. These abilities cause ripples in the Force that make you TEF targetable to those who see you do it, and possible to show up on the BH terminals.
Medicinal: Minor Force Heal (Restores a wounded or damaged living being to full health, causes mild Mind Wounds), +10 Wound Treatment Speed

Ranged: Minor Force Push (works on Target up to 30m distant; moves target away by variable amount from 10-60m, can also cause KD, or other state effect [low percentage random chance, chance increases as distance of push increases])

Melee: Minor Force Pull (works on Target 45m-64m distant; brings target to the character, no more than 10m distantto the character); Force Hold (range: 10m; immobilizes Target for 3 sec, has 45sec use timer on it)

Crafting: Legendary Success (When a Crafter gains this ability, he has a chance of creating a Legendary Success on crafted items. These items cannot be made into schematics. All stats on these items are improved by 15-30% and a special, limited use, ability is added to weapons [such as poison, disease, etc.] The chance of success is based on the crafter's ability as well as the materiels used and experimentation points used. The Crafter may choose to actively use this ability, increasing his chance to create a Legendary Success by [5%], but if he fails the assembly is a critical failure.)

Master FS (5 skill points, 1200 app XP [?])
Ability: Sense Force User (used like Areatrack, this ability can be used to seek out other Force Sensitives. The greater the ability of the Force User, the further awaythe Master FS charactercan sense them. Active use of the Force thru use of Force abilities within the last 5min also increases the distance of sensing. Thru use of this ability, the Master FS can seek out a Jedi or Dark Jedi to train with.) One may not want to use this ability too near the Emperor's Retreat, lest one may attract too much unwatned attention!
Schematic: Lightsaber (this gives the Master FS the ability to construct one, but not the cert to use it. A non-certified user of a lightsaber has a chance of causing his own demise.)

Master FS leads to N.Dark Jedi and N.Jedi professions (each requiring35 skill points at Novice, and 10/7/5/4 per tier at each level, and 6 skill points for Master = 145 total skill points + the 105 from Master FS profession = 250 total) which also requires the Master FS to have constructed his own Lightsaber to achieve. Novice Jedi/ Dark Jedi gives the Lightsaber Certification. The best way to moderate these in the various galaxies is to limit the number of Jedi/Dark Jedi NPC's there are on a server at one time. Keep in mind that these Jedi/ Dark Jedi are like all other NPC's and can be killed by other players. Only FS players can converse with them (and Dark Jedi are still just as likely to kill you than talk to you, unless you show a lot of promise!).

Once the character becomes aMaster FShe is susceptible to the Char wipe. The char gets 3 deaths for free, without wiping. The fourth drops him back down to Novice Jedi (or Dark). The fifth drops him down to FS Master. The sixth wipes the FS profession completely (which can be devastating to the Master Jedi, who would have invested all of his skill points at this stage, thus being reduced to being exactly like a beginning character back at 250/250 skill points!). As a result, Master Jedi should be fairly uber, and should require something like 20+ players and their pets to take him down.

FOR THE DEV.S

A COMBINATION OF ALL THE IDEAS ON THE PREVIOUS 39 PAGES.

I have read all posts before this one, which took me several hours. Here is my synopsis of what a great Jedi System would be:

CHANGES FOR THE CURRENT JEDI PLAYER:

#1) Make a Test Jedi Server that would allow anyone to start a FS character from scratch. This "fake" test server would allow people to play with the idea of jedi, without losing the realism of Jedi on the Live "Realistic" Servers. THis is also a great way for the devs to trouble shoot bugs that are in the Jedi system.

#2) The best way to control Jedi population and be fair to the players is not permadeath, but rather to have a time suspension of 20 days for any Jedi that are killed. In other words, if you die as a Jedi , then you can't play that character for 20 days (or 10 days, 30 days, etc..whatever seems fair). Afterall, the players can just log on their original player and play them until the 20 days is up.

AND

Put a cap on how much exp a Jedi can gain in a week (or day). This way a grinder can get the exp in 2 days, or a casual player can get it in 7 days, but in the end, they all have the same exp. This would allow Jedi characters to roleplayer more knowing that there is no reason to rush at getting exp. After a Jedi caps his exp in a week, then he can roleplay for the remainer, or log on their regular character and play him/her.

#3) Make Light-Sabers a new type of damage.. like "laser" damage or even "light-saber" damage instead of kinetic. In addition to not having any armor that would have any defenses against this type of damage. These posts are right... Light Sabers should cut through composite armor like a hot knife through butter.

#4) A Jedi's character profile should be seen as a mirror image of what their original character has in it. Therefore, Jedi characters would not be so easily identified. All the badges and text fo the regular characters profile would show up on the Jedi's profile automatically.

CHANGES TO THE FS UNLOCKING SYSTEM:

There should be special types of FS exp that a character must gain to unlock his/her slot. In my version, there are4 classes of FS exp, each obtained differently. Class A, B, C, and D forcesensitve exp are the 4 types, explained below:

Class A fs exp-- is gained whenever a profession is Mastered. Each profession can be worth about 1,000 fs exp, and you need 10,000 exp to fill this bar. Seriously, anyone who has mastered 10 professions (or 3, or 6, or whaterver is fair) has done alot in the game. Also, those that like Healing can do all the Medic Professions and some combat. If you like Crafting, then you can do all the crafting professions available, then some medic and combat professions. BUT, there are two catches... First, you can only gain additional class A fs exp30 days after you master a profession. So for those that master a profession in one day, now you get to roleplay that profession for another 29 days atleast before you can get class A fs exp for mastering your next profession. Second, POSITVE ENDING: Once you complete all your Class A exp, then the game allows you to completely regain a prior Mastered Profession, or combination there of. This way, a player doesn't have to feel they had to GIVE UP their personally liked profession. And actually, you could go back to the profession you liked the best. Or maybe use a holocron to "recall past knowledge" of a profession.

Class B fs exp-- this exp is gained by exploring the game. Such as, some exp for visiting POIs, doing quests, or themparks, or declaring residence, or gaining rank in the imperial or rebel alliance.

Class C fs exp- Is based on quests on a month to month basis. Just like the Acts of Aldeeran, every month there would be a quest involving a Jedi theme. There would be a Light Side Quest and a Dark Side quest, and the player would get to pick which one they want to do. You only get some exp per quest, and then you have to waituntil next month for another quest to come out for more exp. This will also help stop the GRIND of the above two A & B classes, because you can't unlock your FSCS until you get enough fs exp in all Classes (A, B, C, D). This Class C Quest based exp would be on a obvouis time guide to deter grinding. Once you finish your quest for the month, you go back to getting class A and B fs exp.A bonus in immediate implication of this system would go to current players based on how long their accounts have been active. So a player who has been here since the beginning would get bonus class C fs exp right away added it this fs exp bar.

Class D fs exp-- Once a profession is mastered, that player will get class D fs exp everytime he/she does something that would gain them exp in thatmastered profession. So a Master Rifleman would get class D fs exp when using a rifle in combat. A Master Dancer would start to get class D fs exp as he/she danced after becoming a master. This would encourage players to stay with one profession at one point in the game and really enjoy it. Also, there could be a cap on how much class D fs exp you could get in a week to prevent people from grinding all the time.

PRIOR WORK: Players who still have holos or who grinded more than 10 professions could be substituted additional fs exp for each holo turned in or profession mastered, but no more than a certain amount of fs exp in each class (say no more then 15% of total exp in a fs class).

This allows for a very well rounded character and is someone I believe should unlock their force sensitive slot.

FORCE SENSITIVE CHARACTER:

There should be a so-called "Force Sensitive" profession tree before one becomes a Light-Saber wielding killer. WHen you unlock your FSCS, you get a character who is force sensitive, but cannot use the force really and cannot wield a light saber. This character would be where the long line of quests come into play. Maybe even have a few skill points they could have (like 50), in addition to minor force abilities they would get in this profession tree. The ONLY way to get exp in thisstage would be to complete the unique Jedi-related quests. A player could only do one quest evey 30 days. So, after completing a quest, one would have to wait 30 days to do the next quest. In the meantime, they would go back to playing their other character. If they fail the quest, then they have to wait 48 hours to repeat that quest.

All this is very confusing... exiting, and confusning.

I suppose most would consider me a 'Power gamer' in the fact that i am seriously holo grinding, and did so from day one of playing the game. I have seen my character change, and have had to drop skills that i liked to make room for more holocron grinding .. let me tell you this is not fun at all, and at the moment i see my Player Character only a s a Vehicle to unlock my FSCS. I have been playing for 1 and a half months and am on my fourth holocron. So now the whole system is going to be changed?? .. i have spent time and credits mastering proffesions i did not want, and already i see that holocrons are being nerfed.. i tried to sell an extra one i had only to be told that i could not remove it from my main inventory. Therefore holocrons can NO LONGER be traded. they are being supressed, imo to make room for another system, which to me is fine, and should make things more interesting than grinding boring proffesions.. but what of those of us that have gone whole heartedly into becomeing a Jedi? .. most other Jedi's i meet are unwilling to even speak, let alone give tips.. the system has Jedi's so terrified of revealing who they are, or even carrying a Lightsaber in public that they are few and far between, and met with differing oppinions.. most of my friends hate them.. most others choose the easier option of becoming Bounty Hunters to kill them.. after all "If you can't BE a Jedi.. KILL a Jedi"

I'm not meaning to rant i know this forum is supposed to be about ideas, but you are now no longer to trade holocrons and it never said anything about that in the updates, what else are you changing in the game without letting us know? .. am i now continuing to grind my last, then silent holocron in vain??.. i certainly hope not.

Either way, whatever you are doing to change the system do it fast.. i dont want to have to continue playing this game with the current class i hold thanks to a stupid holocron.. tell me that i dont need to grind so that i can select a class i would like to play for once.. theres nothing more annoying than having to drop master heavy swordsman for a poxy master marksman skill.

For me the game will only begin once my FSCS is unlocked... plse dont make me have to wait for months to really play it.

Those of you out there that hate Jedi's or are worried about them growing.. dont be. i have NEVER seen a player Jedi aggro anybody.. the only aggro Jedi's i have seen were NPC Dark jedi Masters who somehow roamed into the starport on dantooine mining outpost and started flooring everybody.. yes everybody! they are powerfull and are supposed to be so, but with the possability of being hunted by bounty hunters i for one will not be deathblowing anybody 'just because i can'

Think about it.

Jagz.