Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Publish 6 Feedback: Imperial Crackdown
Forum player communication has been a problem and I'm glad it is being addressed. But in game player communication is far worse, with a complete lack of documentation concerning major games systems.
Well, here's my initial report.
I went to the Theed cantina. Less than a minute later, a ST spawned outside and came in to do his searches. He didn't find anything right away, but apparently a rebel covert took exception to his presence and attacked him. He called in two other STs, I and another covert joined in, and the STs were taken out (though I was incapped). No imperial overts were around, though I was surprised that no imperial coverts took the opportunity to db me (thanks either to the fact that they were all afk entertainers, or that they didn't realize the ST hadn't db'd me).
I decided to wait around to see if I could determine the spawn frequency; within 20 minutes of the first spawn (not 20 minutes after the last ST was killed, but 20 minutes after he first spawned) another spawned. Again, a rebel covert attacked before anyone was "discovered", and I and another joined in; so all that happened was a few TEFs and dead STs. Again, no overt imperials were around (it was about 1:30am EST on a Thursday morning, so not too surprised there).
So I decide to head to Moenia to see if I could actually find out what happens if the ST is allowed to do his search. I'm still TEF'd, and waiting at the nearby shuttleport for the next shuttle to arrive. Low and behold, I see a blue pip approaching on my radar, and it's a hurt (HAM damage) overt imp returning. (sarcasm) Of course, it wouldn't make sense for a covert rebel to jump an overt imperial (/sarcasm), so I wait to see what he does. I prepare myself for the inevitable attack, and think I'd have a good chance. Then he does the obvious: pulls out an AT-ST and runs to me. So I burst run out of there, and come back a minute later when I lose the TEF.
This is the type of gameplay that I'm against. Too many overts play so because they get the first strike and often surprise on TEF'd PvEers. This is wrong, and should be discouraged. Instead, this crackdown will encourage this playstyle. If an overt has the ability to attack a TEF'd player, a TEF'd player should have the ability to attack the Overt. And if anyone should have an automatic first strike, it should be the covert.
Anyway, on with the report.
So I make my way to Moenia. First thing I notice, is that the recruiter is gone (expected) but so are the mission terminals (not expected). It seems the Imperial frame-of-mind purpose of this crackdown of making play "easier" for imps and "harder" extends to making it even harder for new players to join.
I enter the cantina, and there's only two other people: one, an afk "neutral" entertainer, and the other a covert rebel. I sit down, and wait... and wait... a couple minutes go by, and think I remember that not every city is going to get these... so I get up to leave, but see a yellow blip spawn outside, which just happens to be a ST. Well, at least I know Moenia will have them. So I wait to see what happens.
The ST enters and starts talking the usually l33t dude smack you expect only to hear from 12 year olds, though I am surprised by a couple of quotes: "rebels seem to think they're above the law," and "the rebels might as well work for Jabba the Hutt. At least be honest about your illegal activities." This is surprising, because the Imps are the ones who think they're "above" the law, and the Devs agree by allowing many of them to use contraband. Rather than suggesting the rebels to work for Jabba, I suggest the Devs change the dialogue to suggest that we work for the Empire.
Onwards...
So the dialogue continues, and not much seems to be happening. Another covert enters, and asks if we should take him out. I say, "sure" (thought I had already passed the scan, so there was no point in waiting longer... I believe that assumption was wrong, as I'll show later). So we attack, he calls in a couple others. I'm incapped and immediately db'd that time, and the other covert doesn't make out any better by the time I reclone and return. From a distance, I see the STs "despawn", and I go to the hospital to heal my and the others wounds (neither of us had cloned in Moenia).
We go our separate ways, I returning to the cantina again. Not a minute later, another ST spawns outside (again, it's been about 20 minutes since the prior spawn). This time, I sit through extensive smack-dialogue, waiting to see what happens. I'm beginning to think this is how it works: there's a 25 sec or so timer, at which point the ST scans a random person. If the scan doesn't show positive (i.e., either the target has no contraband, or the scan simply fails) some random dialogue occurs. At least 6 statements were made before I apparently failed a scan, and he attacked and two others spawned.
I didn't receive any notice about being turned overt, though did get a TEF. Oh, so maybe TH did misspeak about being made Overt! So I run out, and luckily for whatever reason the STs don't follow. But then I think, let me just check my status; I hit ctrl-c and sure enough, I'm now declared. The TEF wears off in a couple minutes, and I'm still declared. I took a quick swoop ride to my mountain retreat, and am waiting to see whether the overt status may wear off by itself. It's been at least an hour, so it seems to be permanent.
So not only have they made a covert PvEer overt, but they've made it even harder for me to go back covert, as there was no recruiter in town that I could find. Even if we find there's a recruiter in one of the buildings (as I expect), it still means a minimum of 60 minutes as overt. Of course, you have the option to simply allow a PvPer to kill you (now that there's no decay or insurance loss, all you lose is fp) or allow a mob to do so (all you'll lose is insurance and decay); but these are unacceptable methods for returning covert--and giving incentive to allow yourself to be db'd certainly doesn't make things more "Star Warsy".
Again, I call on the Devs to reverse this decision ASAP for all the reasons that have been discussed in this and other threads.
And to those Imps that complain that they haven't seen any STs doing searches, have you even spent more than a couple minutes in a cantina? The spawn rate seems to me to be about every 20 minutes. While rebels seem to be taking advantage of this for now, it's only a matter of time before overt imps start camping the cantinas. And I'm sure my being signed on off-peak had something to do with the lack of Imperial overts in Theed, as well.
Yeah I guess the crackdown is all cool and well, but! I cannot login. I have been playing on euro-chimaera all the time I have been playing and ever since the update I haven't been able to login. Well actually I have got to as far as the login, but when the Connecting to Galaxy -window pops out, it cannot get through. Now before you all start yelling firewall on me, I have yet another interesting point: Bloodfin works just fine. Actually I was so bored that I started a brawler there. But none of the 3 euro servers lets me (thats chi, far and inf, are there more now?). I sent an e-mail to support@swg, but the reply was an automated one, and I got pretty pissed for that. I mean come on! I'm paying you guys 15e/month and all you can reply me with is an automated message? Please. Now do attend to this problem, I am missing out on all the action and I doubt these downdays will be taken out of my monthly bill.
p.s. I sure hope this hasn't been addressed somewhere, if it has I'd be more than happy for any links anyone could provide me.
Is there any thought to implementing a simple fix like this?
Velashur
Master Squad Leader
Starsider
What crackdown? All i've seen so far is a rebel FP farming patch.
Okay, a detailed version of one aspect of the crackdown:
I wandered around Mos Espa, one of the alleged new strongholds,with three friends for a few hourslast night. All of us are Rebels. All of us were carrying contraband. I was the only Smuggler, and had 12 sliced items and about 6 crates of spice, not even counting all the other contraband I had in my droids. One guy had 8 sliced items on him.We didn't get scanned one time in maybe 3 hours of poking around town.
We got bored and waited around in the cantina. To test things, we disbanded before we headed there, just to see what would happen, since I was the only Smuggler.
The guy who got there first has a Stormie appear and start harassing him. No scan, just the cantina harassment. We arrived just in time to see the Stormie walk to the door and poof.
So we waited around in the empty cantina for a while (later, it occurred to me that everybody must have been at the Geonosian bunker getting the new weapon schematics, or otherwise scrambling to get new loot rather than check out the crackdown). We got pretty bored. At one point, a CSR warped in to look at the sleepy situation. I hope he saw that nothing was happening to four Rebels loaded to the gills with contrabandand reported that to his boss.
Afterthe CSRleft, we just started duelling each other for fun. Just after the 4th duel or so, a Stormie shows up to harass a friend of mine.
This time I didn't wait to watch the harassment, I just opened fire immediately. What happened, in addition to the KDed Stormie immediately spamming "Checking in on some suspicious individuals" about 6 times, was that a few aggro Stormies appeared near the front door, one appeared near the back door, and another appeared in one of the corners of the main room. The Stormieswere dispatched quickly and turned into decoration for bar patrons, who suddenly appeared after they heard shooting.
OneVERY important detail about the reinforcements:
When I attacked the Stormie in the cantina, the reinforcement Stormies aggroed on at least one of my Rebel friends, even though he was not grouped with anyone at the time and even though he was Covert.
I'm not sure if the reinforcements act as a de facto Covert scanner or what. All I know is that I started the attack without being grouped with him, and the Stormies came in and started shooting him.
So my impression is that this Imperial Crackdown is more like the Imperial Letdown. If this was supposed to make anyone fear carrying contraband, or even just to make the Empire seem more frightening, it's a big flop so far.
I don't know about the other servers, but the Imperial Crackdown on Flurry needs to be renamed the Imperial Letdown. The only Imperials I saw fighting Rebels in Bestine were overt player characters (I heared there had been AT STs that were obliterated as soon as the server loaded). I went inside the new government building and all of the Imperial NPCs had been slaughtered. I went to Kor Vella on Corellia and didn't see a single Imperial walking through the city or the Imperial base. Same for Kaadara. It looks like all the Crackdown did was give the Rebel Alliance morekills and more faction points.
There wasn't a "Imperial Crackdown" feeling to it at all.
The only thing I can give a thumbs up to was the Theme Park rewards.
Very, very, disappointing.
electricnomad wrote:
Moving contraband = smuggling.
The lack of universal penalties gives Imperials better smuggling skills than Smugglers.
You've read it before, but you've never addressed the concerns after weeks of posting about it. This isn't a mechanics question, this goes straight to the heart of profession identiyt and skillpoint investment. So testing isn't even needed on this - the system is fundamentally flawed because Smuggler abilities - in fact, THE Smuggler skill, which is contraband movement - is now available for Faction Points rather than skill points.
No other profession in SWG has been intentionally imbalanced and sacrificed on the altar of GCW balance. Smugglers are supposed to move contraband better than anyone, but you have reduced them to slicers, spiecrs, and bodyguards.
Any explanation or justification for this radical turn of events? Any way to wiggle out of this nasty precedent you are setting? How will you answer future Imperial claims to be "above the law" and finally implement any actual contraband or smuggling into the game?
Imperials can't protect other people in their group....smugglers supposedly can.
--ddtd
I am a rebel and i have to say i did not see much of a change. I traveled to several cities. I also went hunting for badges and was all over the wildernessI didn't see a single trooper. I was sort of expecting to see more. I really was prepared to sneak around more. I was reading some of the thread and perhaps there needs to be less troopers to cut down on the spam of them talking and the fps dropping. Maybe less troopers but make then tougher. I did like the Star Destroyers Parked over AH. That was cool.
I was not scanned though and i wanted to see what happened if i did get scanned. Good start though.