Development Cycle Archive

Thread: Weekly Roundtable Discussion (Week Ending 3-29-04)

SioBabble
Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:40 pm
#92






Kade_Deveron wrote:



5. The fact that players often lack need for a group as they can fightalmost any creature out there on their own.

Why do I want to group, it takes longer and people don't know what they are doing 75% of the time. I will admit that I prefer to group hunt, but it was more for the exp. than anything. Until the loot system and advantages for grouping are corrected, grouping will not be popular. Grouping also takes SO much time, that it becomes counter productive.


I agree on some points and disagree on others. Yes, the mission system and other aspects of the game encourage soloing and discourage grouping. At the same time, armor only makes the matter worse by making players virtually invincible to all but the highest level content.








I find it very interesting that the great issue of say 7 months ago was that CHs, using tanking creature pets, were committing the unspeakable sin of being able to "solo" red cons, and this terrible issue required the nerfing with nuclear weapons of the CH profession and the creatures they command, yet now that melee types, fully buffed and armored are routinely doing this there is no tremendous outcry to nerf the living snot out of every melee profession; in fact, since that time the melee profession have been buffed up to eliminate the CH profession's role as the provider of tanking power in PvE combat.


Apparently if a player with a suit of armor and buffs and melee skills takes down red cons, it's no big deal. However, if a CH does it with a GSP or a graul mauler, it's "imbalancing" and it's time to break out the nerf bats.




Tazz vonMannstein Baron-Administrator of Corellia, master navigator of Corellia, captain of the Gregarious Gurreck

Sio Babble MBH/MCH/Cabana Boy; master of Tyson, the GNORT OF DEATH

Jeffn Akbar Nerfed from here to Lok MD/MCM

Zanti Agaesia Bothan MBE, 12 point Master Chef, Havoc Squadron Ace pilot


Khristen
Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:45 pm
#93

Bringing up a few things that didn't get answered last week and a few things I've noticed or remembered this week....


-Any possiblity of a thug or mercenary faction for people who want to PvP without trying to fit into the morals of Empire or Rebellion?


-Factory crates that are stored in the hopper of a crafting station cannot be used during the crafting process. You have to put them into your inventory to pull items out during the crafting process.


-Player Cities need some kind of /citywarn function to give purpose to the militia beyond zoning and to keep the peace. /cityban doesn't do much to help because it doesn't prevent them from being disruptive within the city limits. I've heard there is some kind of substitute in the works, but is there any kind of time frame?


-Is there any possibility of giving the mayor of a city more control over citizens? At this point, once a person is a citizen there's nothing you can do to them if they become a problem. And people can "camp" the edges of a city and wait for the next city expansion to become a citizen without the approval of the mayor.


-Necklaces still do not display artwork. You have to drop them in a house and examine them in order to see what they look like.


-Any word on making more items placeable in a house? There has been lots of discussion regarding this, but I've never heard any kind of answer to it. Ideally, the number of items a house can hold should be relative to the number of lots it takes and not cap out (unless the number of lots it takes to place are decreased).


-It would be awesome if architects could color furniture similar to the way tailors color clothes. And opening up the other plant styles that are already in the game (just not craftable) would be awesome. Any chance of this happening?




| Khristen Lockslett Barezz |
| Galactic Senator |00

Owner of The KhrisNea Companylocated in Kor Spera,Corellia, Naritus-730, 1195
ThGilsRooc
Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:57 pm
#94




Naufragus wrote:

same issues week after week..but to recap



  • VEHICLE PAINT doesnt last long enough

  • LAMPS decay to quickly and when on a vendor or in a crate

  • LOK has no spawns

  • NECKLACES dont display

  • MISSIONS wont let some of us take them..says we are below the level which is BS




I thought it was ME. I live on Lok and I rarely see spawns anymore. I'm glad someone else noticed it. My buddy got back into the game after a departure. He was levelling scout and thought he'd run to Nym's from my house for the scout xp from masking. In the 7km run, he encountered two lairs and they were both missions. Back in the day, there were spawns ALL OVER. Kimogilas were all over. Where are they now? One cannot hunt on lok anymore. It's all missions.



Colonel Th'Gils Rooc
Webel Ace Pilot x2
I would ace more squadrons if they'd just fix the remaster bug.
Pulp Phantom
ThGilsRooc
Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:05 pm
#95




wickedHangover wrote:

On the issue of mission terminals, I think we need a higher cap on the mission levels we are allowed to take. In the past I've had to routinely group with others to get rancor missions that I can solo. But by myself the best I can pull by myself on a terminal is a baz nitch mission.


My opinion is that the missions should have tabs to select the difficulty of the missions you want to take. That way if I want to take level 50 missions I can, if I want to take level 80 I can. What's the difference if I get the mission by myself or by a group? Obviously if its too hard I'm going to die anyway.


I agree with Lok having virtually no spawns, what's the deal with that? I went to Lok in October and it was a frenzy of beasts everywhere. I could barely walk 200m north of the star port and was in the middle of a bunch of different things. Now I go there and can walk for 2000m and not see one spawn. This goes for other planets too, seems that the spawn rate on Endor is much lower than it should be. The only advanced planets that seem to have the right spawn rates are Dathomir and Yavin 4.


Bottom line is we need more creatures spawns on Lok, Endor, Dantooine, Rori and Talus. These are all planets that seem pretty baren while walking around them.


But more importantly, we need to be able to choose the level of the mission we want to take, there should be no filters involved at all. Let us kill ourselves as we see fit, PLEASE!!!!!



/agree; /applaud; /thank you for echoing my game dreams.




Colonel Th'Gils Rooc
Webel Ace Pilot x2
I would ace more squadrons if they'd just fix the remaster bug.
Pulp Phantom
JediJMan
Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:18 pm
#96

Yesterday I had some fun with StormTrooper NPCs. I argued with one of them. Yes you read that right. I was in Mos Espa, both my wife and myself, and a stormtrooper searched us. He found nothing on me and said move along, while she's high ranking and they appoligized for not recognizing her and let her go.


Later in the Cantina, a stormtrooper entered and started calling us Rebels and going on about how bad Rebels are and that he knew we were Rebel. We're both Imperial and argued the fact with the trooper. The NPC kept on until I started telling the trooper to go get some AI and that I would report him to Darth Vader. He finally said something about returning to his post and left.


Not much later this same NPC came in another time we were in the cantina. The NPC had the same talk going and this time I started playing with it saying things that seemed to key certain phrases. After a while I told him "Turn around and leave this cantina before Lord Vader has him put on trial" and he left without a word back.


So point of my post, this is really great! This needs more work though. I found it fun having interaction with the NPC like this. It really made for a feel of a "living" world. Is it possible for the developers to go further with this? Make the script more AI like and even go as far as have true interactive NPCs through the words and phrases you say. Basically a script no different than the emotion script and a little more added. Also there should be ways to prove to the stormtrooper what side you are on so you wouldn't get harassed for being a Rebel when you are not. Or if you are and try to say you are not a Rebel, you end up in an arguement with the trooper following you until he gets the last word.


Just more AI added to the NPCs in general anyway is what I'd like to see. This made for some great laughs and great fun.
JediJMan
Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:19 pm
#97


Yesterday I had some fun with StormTrooper NPCs. I argued with one of them. Yes you read that right. I was in Mos Espa, both my wife and myself, and a stormtrooper searched us. He found nothing on me and said move along, while she's high ranking and they appoligized for not recognizing her and let her go.


Later in the Cantina, a stormtrooper entered and started calling us Rebels and going on about how bad Rebels are and that he knew we were Rebel. We're both Imperial and argued the fact with the trooper. The NPC kept on until I started telling the trooper to go get some AI and that I would report him to Darth Vader. He finally said something about returning to his post and left.


Not much later this same NPC came in another time we were in the cantina. The NPC had the same talk going and this time I started playing with it saying things that seemed to key certain phrases. After a while I told him "Turn around and leave this cantina before Lord Vader has him put on trial" and he left without a word back.


So point of my post, this is really great! This needs more work though. I found it fun having interaction with the NPC like this. It really made for a feel of a "living" world. Is it possible for the developers to go further with this? Make the script more AI like and even go as far as have true interactive NPCs through the words and phrases you say. Basically a script no different than the emotion script and a little more added. Also there should be ways to prove to the stormtrooper what side you are on so you wouldn't get harassed for being a Rebel when you are not. Or if you are and try to say you are not a Rebel, you end up in an arguement with the trooper following you until he gets the last word.


Just more AI added to the NPCs in general anyway is what I'd like to see. This made for some great laughs and great fun.
DayWalkerRori
Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:38 pm
#98

More daylight hours and the nights are stil WAY TO DARK ty
chflamethrower
Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:25 pm
#99

again your wrong you said your friend mastered tk in 9 hrs doing gurks with hias armor.


1 first of all have you played a tk? i as a tk can solo anything naked if i so choose to so that doesnt help your case against the armor tk are strong against kinetic attacks so there fore this isnt a good use of an example and proves nothing


2 again you scream for armor balance when clearly there are more prssing issues than armor balance


people like you dont like the way things are balanced and you scream bloody murder again you didnt answer my question why should i be forced to group with you ? you will scream until they nerf comp armor then everyone will run back to creature handler until yuo scream about that one then ts back to finding the best armor and so on and so forth


3 why is it such a problem that i choose to go out and solo critters ? and again i say to this there are still places even with buffs and armor i cannot solo so there fore i cant see your complaint on changing armor or nerfing composite or making un useable to all


4 ill clarify my point why do you find it right for you to call for a balance in armor. armor doesnt make the person the skills they choose to use make that person i dont care how tough the armor is someone will always beat you so there is no need to balance it penalties suffered because of the armor is enough if anything they should lower the cost to wear it . everyone wears it because they choose to go out and solo rather than play as a group if im a rebel and my only choice is to group with imperials because no other rebels are on then how do i look. i should not beforced to group because your un happy with armor balance. not you should not complain i too have been in the games since the beginning and played when the only armor was bone so there fore ive earned the right to walk around in 80% armor and should have the right to choose to use it


5 the only way i would agree with balance is to make it usable only by elite classes like weapons are where your only allowed to use certain weapons until you reach a certain level but to make all amor equal is ridiciulous i dont want ot wear asuit of bone armor or chiton for that matter. and regardless of wether its nerfed or not people will still find a way to solo like it or not . if you dont like the balance i ask you this should we all be running around in no armor carring cdef carbines to bring everyone to the same level as everyone else? will this satisfy your balancing needs if this is the case then swg would no longer be around . so in closing i say deal with it worry about fixing things that need to be fixed instead of screaming for armor balance .


6 and lastly i dont hear you screaming for nerfing buffs no you blame the armor and ask for balance in that but yet fail to mention that with buffs you can solo anything too so where is the request for the balancing of doctors




chflamethrower
Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:39 pm
#100

one last thing i forgot to add. it sounds like during pvp you ran into someone with this armor and they ganked you pretty bad. so instead of blaming it on your lack of pvp skills you choose to blame it on the others armor. i say to this too bad so sad. i wear 80% kinetic composite with 69% resis to enrgy and 60% to everything else yet i still lose more often than i win but im not on the boards crying nerf or balance . why ? because i take blame for my lack of pvp skills . its not the armor bud its your skills . just like my english skills it sucks.
Simmeon
Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:43 pm
#101

Player Cities.



I'm not sure if this is how it was inteded to be or what but every time I go to a player city it's usuallya ghost town. It seems like a good idea I guess but I rarely see anyone in the player cities. I think for these to work better we as players should be given an incentive to go to the cities instead of hanging out in the star ports spamming their wares and advertising their vendors. After all the big uproar during beta about the player cities not going in and the big deal that was made about them finally coming out on live, it just doesn't seem like they are really that big of a deal to me. I mean I drop by once in a while to a vendor to buy something but most of the time I just try to find it on the bazaar. No telling how many times I've gone way out of my way to go to a vendor and the vendor is completely out of stuff so then I have to go over to the next vendor which is also out... It's easier to sit at the star port and listen to spam or just try to get it on the bazaar. Is this how it was intended? If we make vendors searchable through the bazaar, what purpose do we have for visiting a player city?


Simmeon
Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:44 pm
#102

Oh, and what's this about the people who were playing around Christmas getting two holocrons? I picked up the game in Feb of this year and I'm SOL I guess...
BlueTygur
Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:13 am
#103


Treasure map Report: The Great Un-Nerfing


I have always enjoyed doing the treasure maps. After Pub 6 they stopped working. When I saw the patch notes today that they are working again, I decided to try it, using the ones I had collected over the past 6 weeks or so (including ones that had given the "map is fake" message before).


I used 23 treaure maps. Here are the observations;


1) They all worked. I did have to restore the wp a couple times (seems to happen when a random combat intervenes?) but they all ended up leading to the treasure chest.

2) There were NO more resource containers (eg, 1 unit of copper). YAY.

3) There seem to be more items per chest. My average was about 5 items, range was about 3-6.

4) Maybe as a result of 2&3 above, the loot seemed better. Here is what I got:


3 locked containers

2 crystals (1 blue single,1 green twin)

2 Dot weapons

4 clothing tapes/armor attachments (including 2 which had +3 stats)

1 treasure map

assorted blaster/med/CM components, including one thing I had never seen before

(Crystalline clothing treatment). Any idea what that's for?


There was also the usual clothing items and CDEF weapons.


Conclusion: treasure maps are working well, and the loot has improved!


Cheer for the devs

chembelec
Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:19 am
#104

I've been trying to get a ruling on this for over a week, and have heard nothing. Please tell us if this is an exploit, or acceptable behavior.


I am a bounty hunter, and tracked a Jedi to his house. Now, if you have a tef, you are not allowed access into a house. If you get a Tef while in a house, you are booted outside. Many Jedi Have found a way to circumvent (expoit) this by being on the rooftop/balcony while fighting a friend and healing himself (thus gaining a TEF by using his force powers) and they are not booted. I believe this crosses the line of exploit because it inconvienced me by taking away several hours of my gametime tracking him down (and getting all buffed up), only to find him unattackable. It is a known bug that players use to their advantage at the expense of others (my time and creds). I believe that is the definition of exploit.


Please answer this question as many players are not sure if this is or is not acceptable.


Thank you for your time





Aleema Rar
SOE dictionary:
balance = nerf
improvement = dumbing down
enhancement = re-coding for xbox
veteran = the ones that will prolly cancel their accounts pretty soon
reward = something the new players don't mind not having
Page 8 of 25