Development Cycle Archive

Thread: In-Concept Open Discussion (6-7-04)

JaggaHanna
Thu Jun 03, 2004 1:16 pm
#92


1- Redesign the music trigger system to provide soundtrack to at least 50% of gameplay time. There are plenty of unused tracks, especially from the original trilogy. Star Wars, as in most George Lucas' films, is about continuous music to enhance the atmosphere.

2- Imperial presence: Empire towns should be heavily guarded by NPCs. Cantinas should have security agents. Starports guards should scan and inspect any arriving player. Cantinas should be included in the patrol route. It should be almost impossible for covert rebel agents to cheap shot an imperial in town and leave safely. Empire officers should react to GCW like stormtroopers, not just sit there and watch. NPCs should also be able to make use of vehicles in town on their patrol routines. Large or small pets of agressive nature of should be forbidden in town areas. Summoning them causes the guards to shoot them down. Imperial outposts should have their inner areas flagged as medical centers. Imperial players should be able to heal Imperial NPCs. Overt Imperial players should be able to be hired as town guards. In order to populate empty towns all over the maps, cities should have different types of available trainers and different types of available structures. Bazaars and banks should be made available in smaller towns as well. Starports with heavy imperial influence could be compensated by new illegal starports in which rebel alligned players and smugglers can arrive more safely. Heavy imperial influence will help the player population to scatter more.


3- Adding schedules to most NPCs seems like an impossible task at this point. However, adding schedules to the most proheminent ones would help towns feel more lively. Currently, only guards have patrol routines and adequate behaviour and that does wonders to the environment. Perhaps making merchants travel, quest giver NPCs and trainers wandering between waypoints, in addition to full schedules to featured characters (the ones from the canon). Throw in random dialogues between NPCs and make them react differently to different types of situations, such as creature encounters, reacting to town battles by taking out their own blasters and jumping in, fleeing and seeking help, hiding inside structures, etc...


4- Encourage players to roleplay by offering badges for remaining in-character, promoting in-context events in their towns, writing good bios, avoiding unattended macroing. Presently there is probably no staff member assigned to supervising roleplaying activity, but a PR employee should definetly sponsor the few players who make the world feel like how it was designed to be. No matter how many features are added, ultimately, it will be up to the players to make up the atmosphere. Encouraging roleplaying is the only way to do it.


5- Adding more Star Wars NPCs on fixed or temporary positions (meaning they spawn occasionally for a determined amount of time). All with schedules and waypoints of their own. Some instanced mini-zones could be created for them and available for player exploration. These mini-zones could be accessed through faction points, money sinks or toggled by ingame events. They'd be places for meeting and quest giving NPCs. I suggest the following: Nar-Shadaa, Cloud-City, Thrawn's Imperial Star Destroyer (only accessible to high ranked imperials), Rebel space station (only to high ranked rebels).



It is very important those NPCs are heavily scripted. Static NPCs add nothing in therms of SW content to the game (some of them might already be there, correct me if I'm wrong):


-Bossk (bounty hunter, ESB) - Tatooine


-Lando Calrissian (ESB, RotJ) - Cloud city


-Admiral Daala (imperial commander, SW:JS) - Talus


-Dengar (bounty hunter, ESB) - Dathomir


-General Dodonna (rebel general, ANH) - Rebel space station


-Davin Felth (stormtrooper, ANH) - Tatooine


-Borsk Fey'la (bothan rebel, SW:HttE) - Rebel space station


-4-LOM (bounty hunter, ESB) - Dantooine


-Garindan (bounty hunter, ANH) - Tatooine


-Hethrir (Vader's apprentice, SW:CS) - Lok


-Garm Bel-Iblis (rebel alliance founder, SW.FR) - Corellia


-IG-88 (bounty hunter, ESB) - Nar-Shadaa


-Mara Jade (emperor's hand, SW:HttE) - Naboo


-Dannik Jerriko (criminal, SW:ANH) - Tatooine


-Talon Karrde (smuggler, SW:HttE) - Lok


-Exar Kun (sith, SW: DA) - Dathomir


-Labria (spy, ANH) - Tatooine


-Lobot (bodyguard, SW:ESB) - Cloud city


-General Crix Madine (republic general, SW: RotJ) - Rori


-Mon Mothma (rebel alliance founder, SW:RotJ) - Rebel space station


-Shug Ninx (imperial pilot, SW.E #3) - Imperial Star Destroyer


-Nien Numb (rebel pilot, SW:RotJ) - Rebel space station


-Captain Gilad Pellaeon (imperial captain, SW:HttE) - Imperial Star Destroyer


-Rillao (Vader's apprentice, SW:CS) - Lok


-Lak Sivrak (hunter, SW:ANH) - Tatooine


-Mako Spince (SW: DE #3) - Cloud City


-Pter Thanas (imperial officer, SW:TaB) - Dantooine


-Grand Admiral Thrawn (imperial grand admiral, SW:HttE) - Imperial Star Destroyer


-Brea and Senni Tonnika (SW, ANH) - Tatooine


-Triclops (Palpatine's banished son, SW:MMY) - Dathomir


-Vima-da-Boda (jedi knight, SW: DE #3) - Nar-Shadaa


-Winter (Leia's assistant, SW:HttE) - Corellia


-Salla Zend (smuggler, SW: DE #3) - Nar-Shadaa


-Zuckuss (bounty hunter, SW: ESP) - Nar-Shadaa


On a side note, the planets I'd like to see on a future expantion: Hoth, Geonosis, Mon-Calamari (or Kamino), Ryloth (twi'leks), Kothlis (bothans), Trandosha (trandoshans)


I doubt Coruscant would be possible to implement on a MORPG, since the entire planet is one city. Doable only if not all places are accessible, which is not the case. You can't get away with texture backgrounds.


NPC employing players


Playing a novice medic (one of the few who have chosen not to exploit to advance) I always find myself out of credits and actively taking on Missions from the terminal to be able to keep up with all the costs of profession advance. Obviously I spend most of time going from point to another for a few credits and wonderinghowtheeconomy is fragile on lower levels, since there is no demand foritemsmade by novice players and basicresources arenot valuable in the market.

With startingplayers bringable to take on all the branches of professions to be self-sufficient, no wonder why economy balance only comes for more stablished characters. In order to mend that, why not give new players an easier access to credits so they don`t need to touch other professions? If new players could work on their profession of choice and be able to afford resources instead of searching for their own, they would not need to spend skill points on other areas.


Here`s the idea for a few classes:


Medic employment for income and dedication to the profession


There would be an NPC inside each hospital (or faction facility) that could employ the player. When a player is hired, he gets two options: (Medic on duty), (Surgeon on duty). This would be a flag that displays the according overhead text.


Medics get credits (or faction points) after healing 10 different patients of damage. Surgeons get twice the value after healing 20 different patients of wounds. The idea is that medics spend less time in the hospital and are paid less, surgeons spend more time and are better paid. You can only pick one at a time. This way you can choose how much time you`re willing to commit for a certain period. Leaving the hospital resets the counter and the flag.


Faction facilities (rebel and imperial outposts) can only hire faction members. The Empire pays more and the Alliance provides XP bonuses instead of credit bonuses. Both facilities also offer faction points to these services.


Note: In order for this to work, tumbling would have to be fixed so that we don`t have a limitless number of master medics over a few hours of gameplay. This is greatly ruining the balance of the profession, since there is no way for players playing right to compete with the exploiters.


Artisan employment


Large town market tents would be added to major towns. An NPC takes orders from players. Playerscan browse from a pre-setlist of player craftablesthe goods they wish to order. Orders have a time limit to be taken by an Artisan, otherwise they`re dropped out of charges.


Artisans can browse the list of ordersandchoose a product to make. They have a deadline to assemble the product and deliver it to the NPC. The player who originally placed the order will receive an e-mail message notifying his order is ready to be retrieved. Products have a fixed price on town markets. For bids and price fluctuation, the Bazaar continues to the main mechanism for trading. The market only deals with clothing, food items, droids, vehicles, weapons and armor.


Upon delivery of the product, the Artisan is rewarded with credits. Faction facilities also employ artisans. However it works differently: An NPC provides options for mass production orders. To take one of these Orders, you need to be a member of the faction. There would be order for armors, weaponry and vehicles. Delivering the order within the deadline awards some credits and faction points.



Scout employment


Add tanner shops to the game that reward the player with credits every time hides and bones are brought in. These go for a fixed price.Add butcher vendors that reward the player every time meat is brought in. These go for a fixed price. The Bazaar is still the choice for sales onhigher prices.


Trophy collectors across the galaxy will have demands fortrophies from certain creatures and their hide.


Cook employment


Cantinas and Faction facilities can employ cooks to prepare food with massive orders. Faction facilities can only employ faction members, but pay better and with faction points.


Faction Facility Storage


Any faction member can deliver the following storage products to an NPC in trade for faction points: Food, weaponry, armor, vehicles, medical supplies, hide, droids.Points will be capped after you reach a certain faction rank, making no longer possible to advancethroughthis job.

The quality and type of productdonated will result in more or less faction points given.


Everything that is added to the storage of a facility is stored by the server. By completing faction missions, the player receives a token that can be switched through the NPC to supplies according to his faction rank. Lower ranks get ordinary supplies, higher ranks get better supplies, provided they`re available in the storage. To gain a token for completing a mission, you need to be already a member of the faction.


Tailor employment


Faction facilities could employ tailors to manufacture massive orders for imperial and rebel uniforms. By delivering the order within the deadline, the tailor is awarded with faction points and credits.


Mail service


Tired of journeying from one place to another,from one planet to another,to retrieve an item froma personor to give someone an item you own? Need to storesomething important at home without the need to return there now?Hire a player courier. Major towns would have terminals which players can use to store an item (limit up to 5 items) and select the destination terminal they would like the item to be delivered to. The cost is fairly cheap. Upon placing an item in the mail system, the player receives a serial number used to retrieve it.


Players who talk to the NPC coordinator are flagged as couriers and can pick up orders on these terminals for delivery. Couriers cannot make use of the mail system and place orders for delivery (to prevent credit earning loophole).


The courier chooses the order to deliver from the list and is given a generic "package" item. A timer limits the deadline for the delivery. Failing to deliver the product in the destination terminal will delete the package.
Upon reaching the destination terminal, the courier deposits the package and gets a fixed credit reward (not the value of mailing) which should cover the expenses with travelling and give some profit. The placed item is then transferred from the original terminal to the destination one and the generic package item is deleted. There it`ll wait for a set amount of time for retrieval, before being destroyed. (5 days perhaps?)


To retrieve the item the recepient must know the serial number given in the time of the order. If you wish to mail another player something, make sure you tell them the serial number to retrieve it.
Later with the smuggler revamp, master smugglers can have a small chance to break the code and intercept the item, adding a slight risk to mailing.


Guide services


Scouts can use a tracking device, made by Artisans, to locate two types of special "sites" (see below which types). These will show as waypoints in the map. By reaching those areas, the guide can store the location in a datapad add-in device, also made by Artisans. These datapad add-ins can then be sold in the Bazaar or traded with other players. Without the add-in device, the waypoint is useless, so regular marking will not function.


A)Hunting site - Using theadd-in will activate a spawn of creatures in accordance to the player`s "level", calculating the potential creatures that could be handled. In case of higher level players, instanced areas could be generated.


B)Resource - Using the add-in activates one or morewaypoints from whichspecific types of resources thatcan be harvested to maximum potential.


The maker of the deed is unable to activate his own deeds to avoid exploits. These sites adjust themselves to the player`s capabilities and can be used by anyone, at any level of experience (except the Scout who made them).


Useful campsites


Campsites are no longer abandoned when the Scout steps away from it. Instead, they are based on timers that improve as camping skill increases (starting at 5 minutes). Leaving the camp starts the timer, re-entering the camp cancels the timer. You no longer lose ownership over camps. They either decay or not. Any player can only have one camp set at any time, they need toset it offin order to build a new one (that might be in already).


Currently, camps can be used to heal wounds, to allow entertainers to heal battle fatigue, to keep creatures away and allow safe-login. That`s good functionality already, but it seems to not please most players.


A new functionality could be added: Staying in camps for a certain amount of time allows you temporary buffs to health and action, capped to a certain limit. So not only players will desire to build a camp toheal wounds, but they`ll want to remain in it for a certain amount of time. Ability to leavethe campto journey around the vicinity without the risk to see it decayed in a matter offew minuteswill also offer a hunting party the option to return to it and re-buff every once in a while.


Only the maker of the camp can cancel the timer by returning to it. If the owner leaves and does not return, the camp will decay even if other players are inside.


***


Other than that all other suggestions made by Limbonik:



1. Make use of the Skywalker Sound archives.

  • Music for cities; I hear music everytime I land at Nym's. Where's the rest of the love?
  • More than one choice to "battle" music.
  • Music keyed to factionally-aligned base destructions.
  • Ambience
  • Background "chatter". (e.g. Cantinas, Hospitals, Starports, Bazaars, etc.) There is also a starport loop that has been in game since release and has yet to be keyed to play.
  • Beeps, bells and whistles
  • Fix "wrong sounds" on weapons.
  • Only one Corellian Corvette between every planet? No? Alter the pitch/tone for variance. Also, address the scale issue.
  • Stormtroopers should be saying "Move along," "Nothing to see here," and "Hey, you there!" for starters. They did once, they can be made to do so again.
  • Is there an enviornment in Star Wars Galaxies? Other than Lok,I haven't heard it.
  • Where is my Imperial March music?

2. Factionally-aligned crafters:



  • Armoursmiths: Republic/Imperial armour.
  • Weaponsmiths: Republic blasters are in the game, where is the Imperial Blaster?
  • Tailors: Republic/Imperial Uniforms.
  • Droid Engineers: Faction specific droids. RX-7 (Republic) and RA-7 (Imperial Death Star Droid) as examples.

3a. Droids> Pokèmon



  • 10 available droid-types, but how many creature-types are available as pets?
  • Droid CL should be higher than CL. Creatures have a will; Droids are a pre-programmed set of routines with no "will to live"
  • Allow either more than one droid out at one time, or remove the formation commands from the radial menu. It looks horrible to see that on a menu when it is useless.
  • Return the Pre-nerf, "Legacy" Probots armour. If you can't do this, than do this to everything. I have houses I built when I was an architect that can't be placed on planets other than what they were created for. If you can go in and remove armour from a droid that old, then you can modify everything else old to reflect new. You nerfed the pre-nerfs, then raised the level of the combat probots. Now my pre-nerf is't even the same level of power as a combat model, it's less.

3b. Make droids do what they should do.



  • Protocol Droids should translate languages. Remove the ability to learn languages, or make them cost skill points.
  • LE Repair Droids should repair droids. This droid should be callable no matter the other droid you have out, so you can actually repair your own droids, and not waste money on a droid that repairs everyone elses droids but your own.
  • Power Droids should recharge droids (this is currently implemented and fine.) This droid should be callable no matter the other droid you have out, so you can actually recharge your own droids, and not waste money on a droid thatrecharges everyone elses droids but your own.
  • Surgical Droids should heal players. Make this a Doctor/Combat Medic droid only.
  • Binary Load Lifters should allow you to carry a larger amount of items inside of it automatically. Make this droid work as a harvestor and/or resource "container".
  • R2 astromechs should give a bonus to slicing and to later inclusion of X-Wings.
  • R5 astromechs should give a bonus to the later inclusion of Y-Wings.
  • Probe Droids should be Imperial only. Their primary function isn't combat, it's recon. Give the Probot the ability to travel to xx / xx waypoint, and provide the ability to "view" from the Probots current location, in a 360 degree view. Rebels should have the same type of droid available to them, but it should not be of Imperial design.

3c. AT-ST



  • Give us a way to repair our AT-ST already. It's not a Pet so I can't heal it, it's not a Droid so I can't repair it and it's not a vehicle so I can't take it to the garage. It's not a pet, droid or vehicle, it's a burden.
  • Give us the option to trade in our AT-ST. Some of us purchased ours at the start of the game, and would not have bought one had we known how bad you were going to screw them up.

4. Addition of Hutt faction (the game is programmed for it already.)



  • Rebel and Imperial forces may attack known (or overt) Hutt aligned faction players.
  • Hutt aligned forces may attack Rebels and Imperials that are known (or overt.)
  • Placement of a new negative faction system.
  • Introduction of "Player Bounties/War Crimes"; Once a player hits -5000 faction(if a new negative systemwere implemented,) a mission would be given out randomly to 3 players to kill them. In order to prevent a bounty (Hutt) or a war crime (imp/reb) from occuring, players could seek out an NPC and pay them X amount of credits in order to "raise" their standing with said faction. Negative faction should also "decay over time," giving a player the choice between spending credits to keep on slaughtering, or "taking a break" from their crimes.

5. Addition of new "faction capture points."



  • These points contain Cloning, Insurance, Healing, Missions and a "Declare" terminal.
  • These points cover a radius of 1-300m. Faction who controls capture point receives a bonus to defense while in the area of the capture points.
  • Doors on any entrance for the control point.
  • Doors must be destroyed whichX of time.A Master Smuggler can slice thru it 50% faster.
  • Each point captured counts toward the /GCW
  • Capture points to execute "NPC events." (think Bestine Political Quest.)
  • Allow "Detention Center" feature w/i control points. Similiar to the warning of Battlefields, a player could be given the choice to take part in a "prison break" feature, or could also pass on the feature, if they did not want to feel "punished" by the game for error.

6. Addition of "animated" Load screens (or small .AVIs).


  • Instead of a Picture of a Jawa with information on Selonians maybe we could find a tad more "immersion" to chuck in.
  • "animated" load screen depicting planet lift-off/landings
  • "animated" load screens depicting town-to-town shuttle flights. (small video plays of flying over the vast, vacant deserts on Tatooine as Mos Eisley appears on the horizon, etc.)

7. Variety is key.



  • If you must use a solitary corvette model as our only planet-to-planet ship, can we at least have different coloured stripes/markings based on planet? At least try to make us think there's more than 1 corvette out there.
  • Shuttles should vary in striped/markings colour as well.
  • Spaceports shouldn't look the same on every planet. Are all spaceports pre-fabs from the same manufacturer?

8. Scripted Events. (Yes, these sorts of things are background...but vital for immersion sake.)



  • Tatooine: Sandcrawler should be moving across the desert from the Jawa Fortress to another point, then return. Imperial Patrols should be found patrolling outside of cities/deserts with Dewbacks. Slave-1 should be seen arriving to/leaving Jabba's Palace. Sand Skiffs dumping hapless victim into Sarlacc, etc.
  • Endor: Imperial Speederbike patrols should be seen all over theplanet. Ewok hunting parties raiding enemy camps, etc.
  • Dantooine: Imperial presence should be more visible. AT-ST patrols, AT-PT/AT-AT patrols.
  • Dathomir: Larger, sweeping Imperial presence near the Prison. Nightsisters dropping slaves into the Lesser Sarlacc, etc.
  • Corellia: Larger, sweeping CorSec presence. Shuttles arriving/leaving Hidden Rebel Base, etc.

9. Armour



  • We have lots of armours, and only Composite is used. Are the players the only ones who notice this?
  • Armour should slow (speed/dodge/etc) players down. Wow...an encumberance that doesn't encumber speed?
  • Armour should only cover a few types of DMG max. This prevents a world of BLAND. This will also help foster a bit of variance between players. (e.g., Armour protects against (2) DMG types. One for 60% and the other for 40%.)
  • Imperial armour needs to stay human-specific. You've screwed way to much continuity wise to just screw everything else up.
  • There needs to be species-specific Imperial factional armour (Veers wears the non-ST variant in the movies) to replace the Stormtrooper armour for aliens.
  • There should be a species-specific armour for each alien race.

10. Player Cities



  • Return /citywarn to us already.
  • If you will NOT return /citywarn, give us the option of NPCs that will enforce our city for us.
  • Give us pavement. (seriously TH, we can afford a City Hall but not roads?)
  • Give us bridges.
  • Give us walls.
  • Give us the ability to remove players from our city. (I suggest a council profession that ties in with Mayor so we can govern and responsibly vote out someone, and not the ability to just boot them with no say.)
  • Remove the ability recently added to allow a player to undeclare residency in a city.
  • If a player removes themselves as a "citizen" of the city, they should be forced to move from the city so we can recover our lot space w/o losing our City Rank due to poor planning on the development end.
  • Example of above comment: 8 players "quit" the game and never come back - but paid 6 mos maint. We can't remove those houses and lose space needed to refill the city to keep out City Rank. Since we can't remove the houses or recover our player count, we lose our City Rank at next election, and then we lose more radius in the city, effectively booting active players and civic buildings from our City, costing us millions in credits lost in civic buildings due to a poorly conceived, poorly implemented "Lemming-based" system.
  • Cities are democratic-only, and yet we live in a Dictator-controlled Galaxy?

11. Add Imperial/Rebellion Banners as faction-purchased items from the Recruiter.


12. Immediate Concerns/Priorities needed in order to at least make this game playable.



  • Bugfixes > New Dungeons.
  • Bugfixes > Content. (When issues like the Imperial Hat and Necklaces not displaying graphics have been in game since launch and it's been almost a year into the game...they should take some kind of priority.)
  • Hotfix covert/dead/feign death base shutdowns.
  • Hotfix "poison/disease" decay incap for Combat Medics.
  • Hotfix "Greater than 64m" poison/disease throwsfor Combat Medics.

13. Implement Vehicular combat.


If I sat down and really thought about it, I know there's a lot of things I could add to this list. But I'll be happy with having some of the important things looked at.



HEGEWIZARD
Thu Jun 03, 2004 1:37 pm
#93
Nice post JaggaHanna.



Deric-Radiant-MBH ~~~ Tainted-Valcyn-MTKA/Smuggler (Reb. Pilot) (jedi in training)***Niba-Valcyn-SW/WS (Nuetral Pilot)***Mech-Valcyn-DE
From those who are about to die, We salute you!
"Look at the non smuggling, smuggler mommy!!!"
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?

Razorshadow
Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:43 pm
#94
Sorry if this as been said before, I am new to these forums because I culdnt sign in, but here goes:


Why not create a new mini-game with cards, like the ones in the final fantasy games, like have star was monsters on them and famous characters for the rare cards. The krayt dragon could be really rare, like three on each server. Also a new profession tree for card makers. I know of the current situation and the time you have is spread out, but this is open In-concept discussion after all. Also make card arenas where people can meet for compatitions on credits and items for the winners.


Hope this Topic is the right place to put this idea, I didnt read the posts previous, so sorry if its annoying to you....




\/ Zowona Loikonta \ /
TKM#MASTER|SWORDSMAN#MEDIC HUNTER#COLLECTOR
Bacoby
Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:13 pm
#95

Hi there,



I don't know why I am posting this because it is obvious to me that SOE could care less about what players think about changes to the game but here goes anyway. I have heard that there is a plan to first of all fix the merchant exploit where you can keep benefits of higher levels in merchant even after surrendering the box which is a good thing and I am glad it is being fixed but as part of this I have also heard that there is a proposed limit of 150 items on a vendor now if this is not the case then ignore the rest of this post. On the other hand if it is true that SOE plans on limiting the amount of for sale items on a vendor to 150 then this is one of the most ridiculous ideas to come out of the developers of this game that I have ever heard of. WHAT would be the point of this to maybe stop people from using their vendors as storage devices? Well in your infinite wisdom you have decided to ruin the entire profession just to stop the few who are exploiting this. So I guess you have decided to make everyone that is a merchant pay for this? I for instance have over 450 weapons for sale on my vendor right nowwhy should this be considered a bad thing I am not using it as a storage device I am using it as a shop which is what I THOUGHT it was supposed to be? What would a Wal-Mart or for that matter even a corner grocery store look like with only 150 items on the shelves? All this will do is convince me that this game is not worth 15$ a month because the developers in their infinite wisdom want to nerf everything until noone is happy. Someone please explain to me what on earth SOE is thinking with this horrible idea? Up to now I have actually agreed with some of the things that are planned i.e. the combat rebalance but this is absolutely the most ridiculous idea I have heard in quite sometime. Please tell me why I should be punished for using my factories to make runs every so often of around 400-500 weapons and go and put them up for sale rather than having to have 5 houses to store my stock this at least allows me to be somewhat self sufficient as I am able to keep harvesters and factories and a house but apparently not for much longer.. Now WHY is this a good thing for the game? I have a feeling at this rate I will be tired of this game very quickly.



Sincerly,


Very upset CUSTOMER


Tent
Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:00 am
#96
HEGEWIZARD
Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:18 am
#97

Yaa... You go Tent!!!!!!!


5star rating for... from me.....





Deric-Radiant-MBH ~~~ Tainted-Valcyn-MTKA/Smuggler (Reb. Pilot) (jedi in training)***Niba-Valcyn-SW/WS (Nuetral Pilot)***Mech-Valcyn-DE
From those who are about to die, We salute you!
"Look at the non smuggling, smuggler mommy!!!"
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?

GaeBek
Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:27 am
#98
Sooner or later, I'd like to see some new planets.


1) Bespin

2) Coruscant

3) Mon Calamari


Without getting too obscure, that's going to be it for my list right now.


I realize that there are going to be technical issues for implementing these planets, but they'd still be cool.



Lamar Calrizzian-
Master Artisan, Expert Weaponsmith, Master Merchant, Lady's Man Extraordinaire
Owner/Operator of "The Calrizzian Colt.45 Saloon" Cantina and Vehicle Dealership franchise, serving the greater Bestine and Dragon's Hold areas.
-664,-4168 on Tatooine (Radiant)
Dragon's Hold on Lok (Radiant)
Draethyl
Fri Jun 04, 2004 3:18 am
#99
I personally would like to see a revamp of the spawn rates of certain areas in the game. As it stands now if your a partial user, work during certain key periods of times or dont control the spawn(ie you kill and time) that you dont get to enjoy these area's nor reap the at times huge benifits that these areas have to offer.


Lets take Krayt Dragons, Lord Nyax and Sister Stronghold for example, Krayt dragons are limted I believe by number of spawns for the day. The generally from what I have seen respawn after or shortly after the reset. I have gone out during all times of the days and I have seen nor been given the opportunity to kill all but a small hand full of these beast. They have been taken by those who know and can come at the times that they are spawning and because of this those groups get to reap the rewards of that area. They also tend to be the same people over and over leaving the vast majority of SWG out of the loop and eternally at a disadvantage to the few. Same goes witht the Sister Strong Hold those who can log in during that time control the area. Lord Nyax is a different story but the same theory still applies. Everyone who kills Nord Nyax knows that he spawns roughly 3.5 hours after he is killed. So if you kill him you control him, by this I mean that chances are people are not gonna wait possible 3.5 hours to kill Nyax so they tend to leave. Since you killed him you are free to go do what you like and then return shortly before he spawns and kill him again. Thus, though you have limted these areas(which isnt a bad idea) you have created a system of demand for those items but one that is being vastly controled by the few.


I would suggest a change that not only limits certain areas that you wish to control but also allows everyone more a potential of opportunity at enjoying these areas then what you currently I have.


For example,Lets use Lord Nyax for this.....Instead of making him spawn once every 3.5 hours. Decided on a min and max time that you want him to spawn in. Lets go with 10 minutes min and 3.5 hours max......

Now with those numbers create a RANDOM time that he will spawn in so it can be at any time from 10 minutes up to 3.5 hours until he respawns after his death.


This would fix so much with people always getting the loot from him cause they can time his spawn. If those people leave and he spawns 30 minutes later chances are they wont get him when they come back.


Krayt Dragons for example, you can have your set number of Krayts that spawn during a game day but instead of making the spawn all at once devide them up and have the spawn equally throughout the 24 hours till reset.


The sister Strong hold well allow it to spawn more often but randomly throughout the day that way everyone has more of a chance to go to this area and enjoy the entire game rather then the few who are growing fat from knowing the times and areas while about 99% of SWG are being limited in what they can aquire by buying those items from those in control.


wickedHangover
Fri Jun 04, 2004 5:22 am
#100
I know I've asked this before, but it was a long time ago.


How many gubbers have I killed?


well not just that, but how many missions have i taken, aborted, completed?


How much money have i made total off missions, the bazaar, etc.


How many times have I cloned, been sent to the clone center?


I'm just curious, as broken as these message boards are, it still tells me how many posts I've submitted and how many minutes i've spent online. I would like some Grand Theft Auto stats for my SWG toon.





clockworkorangeclockworkorangeclockworkorange
clockworkorangeclockworkorangeclockworkorange
clockworkorangeclockworkorangeclockworkorange
Vrossk
Fri Jun 04, 2004 5:43 am
#101
Greetings Thunderheart, This is really my first time posting on matters such as this, but I have had a few ideas since the launch so please, bear with me as this may seem to be a bit random.


- One of the things I personally would love to see is Player Bounties. I have an idea of a way they could possibly be implemented. In my idea for player bounties, Mayors of Cities have the ability to place bounties on players per request by their citizens. They would have to place a minimum amount of creds for the price on the players head, and also, they would only be able to have one outstanding bounty at a time. This way, it gives Mayors a much larger and more interesting role in the player society, and also it can help avoid abuse by keeping a check on who can place bounties, and limiting the number of bounties. Also, it would make sense that mayors, powerful political figures would have the ability to place player bounties, this would improve the ability for mayors to RP and/or have more people interested, thus having more contested elections within player Cities.


Thats really all I can think of as of this moment. Please, if anyone has any questions comments or clarifications, feel free to leave them and I will get back as to them as soon as possible.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tybalt Kisagrou

Tera Kasi Master

Proud Member of Avarice
rYsyn
Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:51 am
#102




Caramina wrote:


This rancor is resistant to all damage types, but, for example if someone can stun this monster - it would become vulnerable to kinetic. If it was dizzyied it would become vulnerable to blast, if kd - vulnerable to everything. ALL for the period of time it is under the state. OR, when stunned it is vulnerable to HEADhit, when dizzyied its vuln to LEGhit. (all examples)





That is a REALLY good suggestion! You could even take it as far as saying it applies to PvP combat, as long as the STUN or BLIND effects do not last that long, maybe 20 secs.


Great idea!!!



Rysin Lexicon - Bounty Hunter


* Cancealed due to the NGE *


Concept for an SWG II


Bowoci
Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:01 am
#103




CIEBrandon wrote:

Everyone needs to chill with all their ideas, with about a week left till patch 9 is scheduled to go live all the focus needs to stay on it untill it is live. Their are MAJOR issues with this patch that need to be adressed and fixed. As it stands now with the focus entirely on it it will be a miracle if this gets resolved in time.


So please everyone not involved in patch 9 put your thoughts on hold for a bit. Even if you arent a jedi this patch will influence EVERYONE in the game in one manor or another.


This patch can make or break this game and needs to be done right. ATM it is going to break it unless many issues are resolved.






Uh... this is an "In-Concept" Discussion Thread... for players to throw out their ideas for things we would like to see in the game.


And to tell ya thetruth... the Dev's aren't looking at this anyway.... so their precious resources won't be side-tracked from the ALL IMPORTANT Jedi Revamp


They're all goin to FanFest to whoooop it up w/ all their unsatisfied customers;X





Bowoci ~ Elder Enemy of the Republic ~
Peele Notoo ~ Medic ~
Ymina ~ Master Shipwright - +2 Engine/Chassis/Weapon Exp ~
Notoo Shipyards - New Justice, Lok - West of the Shuttle
-I support crafting in SWG!

yimaz
Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:23 am
#104

This will be the third and final volume of Great Threads in Smuggler History. But in fact, this is the opposite of the original premise- it is Smuggler history, as it has been written by the Devs.


For Volume III, I will presenta compilation of all the significant posts the Devs have made concerning Smugglers in SWG, allowing you to trace the progress of the profession since launch. I'll primarily let the threads speak for themselves, though I'll provide context wherever I think it might be useful to readers.


Please refer newer Smugglers to this thread if they'd like to get an in-depth understanding of the way in which Devs and Smugglers have interacted since launch.









26 August 2003 - Devs make their first detailed promise to overhaul the profession




Blair wrote:


Smuggler
We are going to look at and probably revise the Underworld skill set.
We'll fix bugs with slicing 4.
Spices will get experimentation values (for withdrawals, etc).
Feign death causing the player to take too much damage and to be unusable when moving will be fixed.
We'll add more stuff to the master box. (Probably additional slicing features)
The bug with not being able to eat spice will be fixed.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=417746&highlight=smuggler#M417746







9 September 2003 - Devs promise action aftera 1,010-post filibuster by Smugglers on the old SWG Discussion Forum




Holocron wrote:

On his way out the door, he tossed this over his shoulder:



1. Underworld Branch


- I think we are going to try and replace most of these skill boxes with something more usable, since these just aren't very fun. The main issue is finding the time on the schedule to implement some new smuggler skills.


2. Slicing


- We'd like to add slicing code to more types of terminals.


- The problem with weapon slicing giving better results than advanced weapon slicing has been fixed. Slicing 2 had a bonus that Slicing 4 was supposed to have.


3. Dirty Fighting


- Some unarmed moves would be good to add and probably fairly easy. We will look into it.


- We will look into adding combat bonuses to this tree.


- We'll fix last ditch to be balanced with similar moves and we'll look into the other smuggler moves to improve their usability.


4. Spices


- Experimentation never had any impact on spices, so the UI stubs for these were removed. Adding experimentation systems to crafted items takes time, but we'd like to add one to spicing at some point.


- The effects of spices still need to be balanced to other buff consumables. Also, effects like burst run, etc, can be added, but require more development time.


5. Master


- 25% off faction perks is very very useful to any smuggler in PvP, but we will look into possibly adding nonPvP bonuses to this box.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=19942&highlight=smuggler#M19942







16 September 2003 - Smugglers are distinguished as needing the most love




Q-3PO wrote:

We're dedicating a designer (Green Marine) next week to looking into fixing some of the bigger issues of the smuggler. (Yes, we are also looking at issues with the other professions, the smuggler just seems to be the one needing the most love at this moment).


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Development&message.id=552985&highlight=smuggler#M552985







6 November 2003 - Devs tell Smugglersthat the profession willbe "augmented" "immediately"




JustG wrote:

There is a lot on our plate, and we are regularly going to provide you with as much information as we can about what is going on. Our priorities and tasks feed in from a variety of sources, and there are very many items on the design priority list. We will not be able to get to all of them with the next few pushes, but we want to take on a number of things that will make the game better, immediately. These include:



  • Professions Augmentations
    Droid Engineer
    Smuggler
    Merchant
    Chef

http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/team_comments.jsp?id=59306&page=Team%20Comments[look for Gary Gattis's Letter to the Community" at the bottom of the list]







5 December 2003 - Devs state that "Smugglers are getting some attention soon."




Thunderheart wrote:

Smugglers are getting some attention soon. Everything is getting more attention now that Player Cities, Mounts and Vehicles have been added.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Developers&message.id=15023&highlight=smuggler#M15023







20 December 2003 - Devs state that Smugglers will be overhauled, and that the community should offer some ideas on what we want





Thunderheartwrote:

Both San and I agree that you guys need more of an answer and here it is. The smuggler isn't going to be just "fixed". Its in re-development. Smuggler is an important profession and needs more than a little attention.


Here is what I need from you folks. Since Smuggler is "In Development", I hope you folks can work together to put together some reasonable ideas togetherfor the types of directions you would like to see the Smuggler profession change/develop. . . .


. . .I will take that information to the producers so that your desires and ideas can be accounted for when the development process moves to the next stage.


The best recommendation I can make is to keep your ideas realistic. Come up with ideas using the system as you know it as opposed to inventing things from a "blue sky" approach.


I very much look forward to seeing your input.


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=42882&highlight=smuggler#M42882








23 December 2003 - Devssay thatcontraband scans are too tough to implement




Thunderheartwrote:

The thing is that smugglers essentially are a "space based" profession (at least the way we think of it)and giventhe inherent client/server limitations, its atough proposition any way you look at. For instance, lets say Imperials do a search for contraband at starports. Can you imagine the lag if we even did an item check for everything inevery player's inventory as they entered and exited a starport? And then there are the guys that run back and forth across that threshold just to lag things out. This is one tiny piece of a larger puzzle. It has to be a cool game mechanic and work in the game system and in a big MMO environment.


The key here is that while I was in beta and I knew everyone (I actually have almost all of it saved on my hard drive, but doing a search on "smuggler" with 12 gig of materials would be insane). Further still, that was a while ago. I want to hear YOUR ideas and Ive worked with the devs and correspondents to focus communication so that correspondents can get me information and also in a way that I can both share it with the devs AND catalgoue it.


Its all a process and we're working on it and its going to take time. The devs want to make a good game, you and I want to play a fun game and as a community, I believe we can make this whole experience very cool.


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=43562&highlight=smuggler#M43562







21 January 2004 - Devs promise revamp post within the week




Thunderheart wrote:

"Smuggling" really is a spacey kind of profession and doing something on the ground really needs to be thought out.

With that being said, Im working on the Smuggler and Squad Leader profession revamp posts this week. Im just taking the time to put together some really nice posts so that the answers that players put forth can be easily handled and used by the dev team.


Currently, people don't say, "hey we're going out hunting, lets make sure we have a smuggler". That shortfall is something that needs to be included in the revamp thread.


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=dev_archive&message.id=19680&highlight=smuggler#M19680







27 January 2004 - Devs institutecontraband scan ideathat had beendismissedas impossible 5 weeks prior





Thunderheart wrote:

... I pushed very hard (I spent a couple of days pushing this issue) and the devs added bonuses to the Smugler Underworld Tree


A small victory, but you asked and its in. Here's how it works:


1. The system counts up your contraband and does the "scanning roll".
2. If the system "sees" the contraband (having made a successful scan roll), it checks to see if you are a smuggler. Depending on what level of Underworld a smuggler has, they get a progressive chance to "escape the scan". If the smuggler roll succeeds, then the player will get a message that reads, "You have successfully avoided the scan."


So if you want to get spice or sliced armor and weapons from one place to another and not get harassed by the Empire, then smuggle it

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=51541&highlight=smuggler#M51541







3 February 2004 & 11 February 2004 - Devs thank the Smuggler community for endorsing a system whereby Imperials move contraband better than Smugglers




Thunderheart wrote:

Based on community input, we have made the following changes to the Imperial Crackdown penalty schema. Thanks go to San Tsu and the Smuggler community and Jester and the Galactic Civil War community.

[Thunderheart then proceeds to describe the system --hugely controversial and now known to Smugglers as "Imperial Immunity" --whereby anyone who invests some Imperial Faction points is able to bypass contraband scans better than a Master Smuggler. I would post it all, but Thunderheart used a strange script and it takes forever to clean it up for posting purposes.]


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=dev_archive&message.id=801&highlight=smuggler#M801

Updated on 11 February 2004:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=dev_archive&message.id=22484&highlight=smuggler#M22484







7 March 2004 - Devs institute Fred Sanford minigame so Smugglers can sell trash





Thunderheart wrote:


One neat new addition to Publish 7 is with the Junk Dealers. Smugglers who have underworld can now take their Junk to the Jawa Traders camp and they can sell their junks to the Jawas up there.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=137614&highlight=smuggler#M137614







8 March 2004 - Devs reiterate the idea that selling trash counts as "smuggler stuff"




Thunderheart wrote:

... the change to smuggler's [adding the Fred Sanford Trashman minigame] was a small one. Its just me working with the team to fit smuggler stuff in where we can until the revamp - - thats when the beefy changes will occur.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=138096&highlight=smuggler#M138096







8 March 2004 - Devs promise a"pretty high visibility" revamp plan that incorporates the Smuggler Correspondent and the community






Thunderheart wrote:

You can expect pretty high visibility from the Smuggler thread. Ill do a takeaway and work with the correspondent and the community when we move to In development with it...


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=dev_archive&message.id=30240&highlight=smuggler#M30240




Yimayz Samoot
Master Smuggler & Master Pilot
Captain of the Auto de fé

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