Development Cycle Archive

� Pt 34.) Thank you for this information and planning on making that change to faction and droid pets. Very good job. And in addition it will make more of a bonus to advancing in rank.

� Pt 3

I don't agree with most, if not all these changes.

However, instead of SOE's "Continuity be damned!" approach how about you go ahead and nerf Rancors with this as well. I don't care if you add in something which is basically a Rancor in a different shell(body), but Rancors are special in Star Wars. I also think it would be nicer if the building size pets were shrunken a tad.

Grey_Ghost

� Pt 3

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Danderson wrote:

Since Creature Wars vs Star Wars has already been discussed (and most people agree that SWG should not look like this), I will give my opinion on one of the developers' favorite subject - class balance.

I am usually one to refrain from calling on changes to a class (either buffing it or nerfing it). I am a believer in everything becoming a bit more static so that people can better plan their character. However, if there are still to be fundamental class changes, and the developers want to bring balance to the classes, here is my opinion on balance.

/put on flame resistant suit

/stand on soapbox

I will do a comparison with a Master Bounty Hunter (pure combat class) and a Master Creature Handler (not a pure combat class since they can make additional money be selling creatures to non-CH, but I'll ignore that for now)

Doing some very quick calculations, a Master CH requires 106 skill points and a Master BH requires 217. I believe that a Master BH is approximately a level 25 (correct me if I am mistaken) - i.e. a level 25 creature cons white to a MBH. Even with a level 15 pet (assuming levels are additive - a bit oversimplifying I know, but still in the ballpark) a MBH could be a level 40 (25+15). That is 5.4 skill points per level (217/40). A MCH can have 60 levels in pets, thus are 20 levels more powerful than a MBH. This is 1.8 skill points per level (106/60).

Now when you take into account that CH is not a pure combat class (i.e. they can sell pets to non-CH and they will be able to sell creature mounts soon), there is a definite balance issue here. Now there are other arguments not taken into account (e.g. creatures only do kinetic damage, creatures can have better protections than existing armors, etc.), but the comparison still holds.

Now, am I calling for CH nerfs or BH buffs? No. I'm not even convinced that classes should be balanced. However, the developers have stated class balance as one of their top priorities. If this is the case, and if people want to see fewer pets and CHs, then something needs to me done.

So, is lowering the CL of non-CH pets the answer? No. Raising droid levels? Perhaps. Even so, this does not balance the classes (unless CHs can't use droids). Possible solutions could be one or more of the following: a) do nothing, b) make pets smaller, c) nerf max pet levels, d) require more skill points, e) buff other classes, f) turn CH into a merchant class (creature mounts), g) turn CH into "Droid Handlers", h) many other things we have yet to think of.

Developers need to decide 1) how they want the game to look and 2) how much class balance they want. They need to act quickly. Few things are more frustrating than planning you character, building your character, then having your character fundamentally changed by a patch, and having to replan your character. The longer they wait, the more upset customers they will have.

/remove self from soapbox

/double check flame resistant suit

-BS

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Amen to that, brother.

� Pt 3

I have given this some thought as well. How about instead of giving people things instead unlock "hidden" schematics that certain ranks can purchase so that not only do you have to have a rank but you also have to have done the quest.

One thing I would love to see is different animations. I have heard many people yelling (myself included) for things like a couples code. No I don't mean anything X rated, I mean things like dancing. Why not include this here as a reward for completing an "Entertainers" quest. The ability to dance with someone else would be one heck of a popular quest let me tell you.

Other than that I would love to see high quality resources given as a reward for completing a quest, skill modifiers (tape modifiers), High Quality power-ups, and maybe even one time bonuses to a certain statistic (ie 25 extra health, action or mind).

Natanial Storm

� Pt 3

ack how the heck did the above get posted here sorry about this.

Natanial Storm

� Pt 3

Non-CH must stay at CL 15 or EVERYONE will be part CH. I will not give up my $hitty Rock Beetles and I will not settle for a Spat for a mount. I pay for this game to be fun (and I pay way too much for no content for crafters). The little fun I can have now as a crafter has been taken away now. I'm going to drop skills now and become a "dabbler" CH that you're sotrying to avoid, simply so I can survive long enough to go empty my harvesters on a n00b planet, less than 1000m from a city.

YouDevs just don't get it. At all.

� Pt 3

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Thunderheart wrote:

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BlindTyldak wrote:

TH: is there any reason why "follow other" and "patrol" can't stay in? They're awesome RP commands and they work well, not to mention they hurt no one. Just toss them in some level 3 or 4 boxes with the proposed changes.

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they're staying in

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Great i liked those commands, now how about making "friend" command work right. (unless it does and i just cant make it work)

KStarfire

� Pt 3

Ok, seems a lot of you are 'status symbol' happy. The purpose of a quest is to perform a difficult task or series of tasks. The reward for such tasks should reflect the difficulty involved. So saying, Grunda paintings are ok for a one shot quest, but, are totally inappropriate for a multipart quest. It is my understanding that there are, or will be, long drawn out quests that will require a great deal of time and effort on the part of a player and/or players. These type of quests should be considered 'growth' quests. Therefore, the reward for such a quest should be the 'growth' of the character. Stat increases, additional pool points, or even unique '5th' trees for their chosen profession(s) should be considered. So saying, the problem of Uber items can be avoided by insuring that the items or skills awarded to the '5th' tree are still in balance, but only available to the person who persevered through the difficult quest. If a 5th tree is awarded the player still has to spend their pool points on it to get to it. This will also create the prestige by having craftableitems (for crafting classes)available from those people only. Non crafting skills would give improved abilities to those professions(such as extra attacks, special moves etc). The additional pool points will be 'in balance' simply because the points are spent on existing professions. The benefit for the player is an increased choice of professions. The player would still have to earn the experience for them like anyone else. These are examples of what a reward Should be fora difficult quest. *I* would spend the needed time to gain such a reward.

Spryte [Haven] - Master Artisan - 4,3,4,4 Architect - Corellia - Scylla

� Pt 3No I dont think you get it moron. The point of a CH is to handle creatures, am I wrong? The name implies this at least. If you are not a CH then you should not have a creature. maybe a small lvl 5 dog or something, but not a creature to bring into battle. I'm sorry if you pay to play for fun, but the fun is the challenge. You are one of those people that buys a game and puts it on god mode. You can't handle a challenge and therefore you expect everything to be handed to you. Now shut up and either become a creature handler or don't and group with one. The point of online games is to play with other people, not to solo. If you want to do that go buy a PS2 and play the single player games. Now stop whining and make the most of the new challenge. As a CH I am pleased to see that the effort I put into becoming one is going to pay off. I could have easily been a Master Rifleman and had a creature which wastes all the efforts of CH's in becoming CH's

Thank you DEV team for finally making it worthwhile to become a CH.

Roomie Unhappy (Eclipse)

� Pt 3

Oops sorry about the above post... Wrong Thread..

� Pt 3

my only problem with patrol staying in is that people pull out three earth shaking pets...patrol them at the starport shaking your screen and log out to the connection screen and just let them patrol all day long...

� Pt 3

ok, after reading the response here I am much mollified, disregard previous post in part.2.

Only thing I don't really care for is that the transfer command is now at master, too high up in my opinion.

Enrage/embolden still in and yet they are more useless than befriend/patrol unless they are getting a fix/upgrade, I would rather have the stay command given an animation to pets like having them sit or lie down, NOW THAT would be CH RP instead of having Trick2 "looks much cooler" now.

But everything else looks great, I especially like the fact that you are at least trying to make faction pets based on Rank. Tho these things should have been done MUCH earlier on.

Anyway a much happier CH goes off to play SWG some more and stops his ranting.

� Pt 3

TH are we getting the BE clone changes introduced at the same time as these CH changes? The ability to tune pet CLs will make a big difference to finding the perfect CL fit for the new CL limits and adding special attacks to clones will fit nicely with the new CH commands. As we are lacking a BE correspondant at the moment, any chance on a comment?

Gan'Son

Master BE,

CH(3,3,2,4)