Development Cycle Archive

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zg_tec wrote:

My guildmate had a nice idea for a Jedi Trial either at the Knight or Master Level.

You would enter an "instanced" dungeon solo. As you entered you would be stripped of your armor and your inventory would be cleaned out of everything except survey tools and a LS crafting tool. Since your armor would be stripped away , you would get temporary clothing of whatever type.

The first stage of this trial you would have to survey for the necessary resources to make a training saber. They would have maybe 2 - 3 of each type of resources with different stats so that you would have to check them all to make the best saber. This would require some knowledge of crafting.

The 2nd stage would involve killing some mild creatures with your training saber untilthe end of this stage where they would have a sort of "boss" creature which would require you to use your force powers since you have only a training saber. This would require great knowledge of your powers and what each is capable of. This boss would drop a standard crystal to upgrade your saber to the next generation.

The next 3 stages would be very similar to the 2nd with progressively harder creatures since you upgrade your saber in between each stage. Also each boss would require the use of different powers, some maybe even requireing you to use the creatures in the cave to help kill it. (If a Master Trial since a dark knight would not have animal specials) These stages may also be substituted with puzzles instead of combat or test of force skills.

At the final stage, with a 5th gen saber in hand, you would have to defeat a Juvenile Krayt Dragon (Since we have no armor couldn't be much tougher than this), And the dragonwould havea guarenteed pearl drop. So as a reward for completeing the trial, you would get your master or knight skillbox and a krayt pearl.

When you left the trial, you would get your items back , and only keep the pearl from the trial.. (you would lose the saber you made in the trial and the temporary clothing)

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I find myself agreeing with this idea. I think the quest to jedi should be somewhat personal and "unique", which I think can only be the case if you are on your own and there are different ways to go about the problem. What if these instanced dungeons had different wasy to go through them? For instance if you kill everything in sight you would become dark, whereas if you use diplomace to avoid battle you wouldfollow the footsteps of a light jedi(ie. talk to the npc's, analyze the problem they have [must be a relatively complex one in order for this to be realistic], and then try to solve the problem without force).

Another major point is that jedis, going back to the "it should be a personal quest" theory, should not be as dependent on their alt to obtain the loot they need to craft decent light sabers. The instanced dungeon idea is a much better idea that requires the jedi to actually work for their loot, instead relying on their alt to supply them with the required money. In order to make this challenging i suggest that you also have to get jedi xp outside of these dungeons, and that these dungeons should only represent milestones such as becoming a padawan, knight, guardion etc. That way leveling will require time as well as skill. finding a good balance to this may be challenging though, for a dungeon should be somewhat feared and challenging instead of "sweet, i leveled and now i get to complete some easy dungeon).

This is something about quests in general and how they shouldn't be .

Yesterday i started jabbas themepark and then i got a mission from the local chef to organize some special meat for jabba ... so lang so good .... but then i got a waypoint 1000 meters ago and a kaduu spawnt on tatooine ... hellllooooo this is insane . why not just an order to get a special meat and leave the rest to the player until he dropps that meat on the npc ? in this case why shouldn't i head to naboo find a kaduu and harvest the meat and then back to jabbas palace ?

Grandfather folks who have spent hours grinding professions. Give them something for their many profession badges earned in their quest for Jedi.

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Lucidiquew01 wrote:
OH YEAH! do not make our first chars a jedi! thats not fair! we didnt create the char thinking it was going to be the jedi! you mislead us! if anything delete the orginal char or give us a choice!

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Actually, Many people believed that the main character would turn into a jedi. Many in the beginning didn't know that the slot would unlock.

Some people believed the way you played, (*Faction wise*), in killing npc's or not killing them was a way to unlock your force sense. Kill friendly NPC's go dark, Kill Red Radar Con NPC's and go light.

Casper

Good Idea, but let's find a "Cheaper" way for everyone.

I love the idea of master/apprentice. So, we upgrade the existing Jedi (Holo Grinder) to either a Jedi Knight or Jedi Master. They keep this lvl on condition that they take on and traintheir apprentice (real player). They also get bonus to they crazy amount of Jedi exp needed to lvl up as long as they are with an apprentice. That way they stay ahead of their apprentice. This will also allow the jedi more protection against BH as there are 2 of them and one is a pretty high lvl Jedi.

Just a thought.

• Force-Sensitive Faction Points - Like other faction points, this one is simply a measure of how force-sensitive a character is. You have positive or negative faction, however there should be no limit to either extreme. FSFP are not viewable to any player. It is a hidden attribute for each player. You should not, nor should anyone else, know how "force-sensitive" you are. FSFP are earned and lost in various ways:

• Force-Sensitive Faction Points - Like other faction points, this one is simply a measure of how force-sensitive a character is. You have positive or negative faction, however there should be no limit to either extreme. FSFP are not viewable to any player. It is a hidden attribute for each player. You should not, nor should anyone else, know how "force-sensitive" you are. FSFP are earned and lost in various ways:

Force-Sensitive Faction Points - Like other faction points, this one is simply a measure of how force-sensitive a character is. You have positive or negative faction, however there should be no limit to either extreme. FSFP are not viewable to any player. It is a hidden attribute for each player. You should not, nor should anyone else, know how "force-sensitive" you are. FSFP are earned and lost in various ways:

1. NPC missions that do not reward players credits or loot. Missions that have an objective, to be completed, however more than one path to completion must be present. For example, you may take a mission that tells you to go out and retrieve something, but when you get there, the NPC offers you some choices. Maybe you do retrieve the item, maybe you don't, and you accept one of the alternatives by the 2nd NPC. You won't know which way grants FSFP or not. Certain paths will give positive FSFP, and certain paths will give negative FSFP, some will give none. There will be a limit of how much FSFP you can gain with NPC missions.

2. In-game actions. Certain things you do will gain you FSFP, and certain things will take away. For example, unprovoked killing of an NPC gives negative pts. Defending yourself against an aggro gives positive. Teaching a skill might also qualify. There are limitless possibilities for this, however it must not be readily apparent as to which bonus will be given.

3. Random effects by location. Say being in proximity to a force crystal (like the one in the NS cave) gives off a positive FSFP aura. Devs can code this into places, such as the Jedi ruins, Exar Kun temple, etc. Players seeking out Jedi relics, can gain SOME FSFP, but still - a limited amount.

4. Random effects by item. Loot drops. Undisclosed attributes within loot drops on some items will give a bonus. It must be fully random with all creatures/npc's, so it is available to any class of player.

5. Effect by time. This is the doozy. The longer you have positive FSFP, the more it grows on it's own, providing you don't affect it negatively. Since you never know whether you have it or not, or what level it is at, you can't know if you're headed in the right direction. The time effect needs to be very slow, for example, lets say each player starts with a FSFP of zero. It they earned (unknowingly) 1 FSFP, it could reach the threshold required for FS-unlock in say, 2 years time. Naturally, there needs to be a limit on how much effect by time can contribute to your overall FSFP. Likewise, having a negative FSFP value, you can continue moving negative over time if you don't reverse it. Then again, you don't know how to do that, so again, it's not a defined path - which is as it should be.

ONCE YOU OPEN THE FSCS:

This really is the part I had a lot of fun thinking of. Again, to keep some continuity with the SW universe, the entire Jedi system needs to be revamped. Jedi in the SW universe were in hiding, hunted, pursued by Vader, to the point where there were none left until Luke comes along. So as the Jedi begin to emerge in SWG, we need to keep their existence somewhat consistent with the times. First off, Jedi have no real posessions, no money, and really - no allies. They should not be able to join the Rebel or Imperial factions until a later stage in their development. Jedi do not all start out as "light". This is where it gets interesting:

Force-Direction Faction Points

Along with the FSFP I mentioned above, your character also has a Force-Direction faction point system (FDFP) which measures whether the character is to the light side or the dark side. These points are also earned throughout the lifetime of your character, however only become applicable once your character reaches an FS-state. Since your playing character is the one which is being attributed to FSFP, and FDFP, it is the one that opens the slot - not a 2nd character you create.

As with FSFP, FDFP is earned in much the same way, and is completely hidden to the player. The only visible indication of a player's Force-Direction (light/dark) is whether they ARE light or dark. Depending on your Jedi's FDFP at the time of the FS-unlock, so goes their affiliation with light or dark side. It is instantly apparent to YOU ONLY as to your orientation. Other jedi, depending on their skill level, can 'sense' your light or dark affiliation, however to non-FS players this is wholly transparent. Your player chooses by their actions whether they are light or dark - it is a conscious decision you make by the actions you undertake, and the choices you make. It's not something you pick on a skill tree.

Jedi XP

Aside from Light/Dark forces, your Jedi still needs to grow in experience and ability. Jedi Initiates should be very vulnerable, yet they should be somewhat unknown, and mostly immune to hunting by BH. They should not show up on mission terminals, nor lose their other already accumulated skills and abilities. As your character will have some very limited Jedi abilities, using them in conjunction with their other skills will grant xp as you go. Other tasks, such as training missions should be available to the Initiate. You do not craft lightsabers in this stage, nor use one. After a period of time and XP (yes, both), your character can qualify for Padewan.

You obtain Padewan status when you complete xp and time requirements for the Initiate stage, which will include the use and development of force powers and awareness. Padewan is the learner, under the tutilage of a Jedi Master. Padewans don't operate on their own, someone must guide them. Once at the Padewan stage, you have a choice: You can select an NPC as your "Master", or have an existing Jedi master player take you as a Padewan. You can also switch your choice if you choose.

To become Padewan, the Jedi initiate officially enters the order, and must abide by it's codes. This means surrendering your other skillsets, and relying strictly upon your Jedi skills. Now Padewans will earn xp using both force power, and executing Jedi skills. Your FDFP will determine some of the skills available to you. Padewans do not wear armor, they don't wield other weapons, and they are still affected by FSFP, and FDFP, however you must really go off the beaten path to do this, as each time you use a force power or skill, your FSFP will go up much, much faster than ever before, yet you will not lose it any quicker. Yes, you can still lose it, but chances are that unless someone never used a jedi skill at all, they would not fall out of force-sensitivity.

The items required for Jedi to craft sabers, robes (yes their own robes with skill mods), etc, should not be available to other players, or be obtained through non jedi-ish means. No, you should not have to kill a Krayt to get a pearl for a saber. The pearl and crystalsshould be a random loot drop for Jedi from the same mob's and NPC's as before. Jedi should not have to have a source of income to gain xp. The current system requires our Jedi to have an alt character, or a guild to support them. This is inconsistent with the SW universe.

Since a Jedi really has no value toward the rest of society - they can't craft, play music, dance, or earn money in other means (and they shouldn't be able to), they should have the ability to have some things given to them from one of 2 Jedi orders. The Jedi order for the light side, and the order of the Sith, or whatever you want to call it for the dark side. These are basically NPC/PC organizations only a Jedi Padewan can join. They can get info from the terminals there, which are accessable by Jedi only) and run missions (random spawns) to earn credits, food, xp, sabers, crystals, cloaks, etc. Life of the Padewan may also take on missions against the other side. NPC and PC missions against other Jedi, depending on FDFP. A Padewan is a capable fighter, and has solid defenses. I would put his capability on par with the one of the Elite professions - however the Padewan has a lightsaber that does damage far in excess of what high-end player weapons do. See below for more.

You should not be able to craft your way to Jedi Knight. There should be a time check involved (evens it out for causal players vs powergamers). A Padwan becomes a Jedi Knight by going through the Jedi trials. An instanced dungeon that they must complete alone to pass. It's gotta be hard, too, and objective-based. Complete it, and you become a Jedi Knight.

The Jedi knight is a powerhouse. Strong with the force, especially in defensive attributes. A few more offensive skills, and accuracy, but it's mostly the same lightsabers the padewan uses, but they know how to use it more effectively. The Knight should be very hard to hit with a ranged weapon, very fast, and capable of force combos much quicker than they have now, including defensive/offensive combos (force evade/counterattack KD). Time and xp and eventually the Knight can earn the right to become a Jedi Master. This allows them to take on a Padewan, and ascend higher to the Jedi plane. Master is not the top, they need to be able to go up more from there, to the point where they have such high-level force powers (not just combat powers - but the ability to see and affect the PC population, like ESP.)

One last item on Lightsabers and Jedi interaction.. Lightsabers should be a combination Energy/Heat/Kinetic weapon. It should do damage across all three pools, and it should cut through composite much faster because the lightsaber should be considered as a heavy armor piercing weapon.

Jedi interaction with eachother needs to be limited in a few ways. Jedi of the same FDFP side should be visible to eachother once their FDFP and FSFP level is of a certain threshold. below the threshold, the other Jedi look like neutral players. At a certain level, Jedi of opposing sides should be visible (because you can sense the other side in other characters once you get up high enough), and attackable at all times by opposing Jedi who can see them. Remember, the light jedi are hunted by the dark, AND by the Empire. Life for them should be difficult. Dark jedi are hunted by the light Jedi.

Ok that's my deal, sorry for the messed up other posts but this board somehow posted twice or so and I never even hit the submit button, so something is screwy with this board. Feel free to flame or comment, but this whole concept would work, it doesn't benefit the casual player or powergamer, and really opens up the FS possibiltiy to everyone - including non-combat classes, and doesn't rely on players giving up the role-playing attributes of the game, and immersion to grind out professions they will never use.

Oh.. as to how to measure where the folks who have been hologrinding are? Depending on how far along the current system you are - as in # of required steps taken (not professions mastered), you will be given the appropriate level of FSFP, and from there on out, it's up to you - you can go up or down, but the profession-mastery grind craze that has choked this game will be over. What level of FDFP will you have? Since there's no way to go back and create it retroactively, everyone starts with 0 - or neutral.

What to do with the current Jedi? They're moved into the new skill trees in exactly the same spot they are now, with the modifiers for dark/light attributable to how far they've climbed past the choice phase..

Hi All... I have an idea on the whole thing that tie things in with the whole starwars universe i have done alot of research on this online, at home and in-gameplay on SWG....And this is what i have come up with.

Force Philosophy- Dark and Light

The forcehas a Light and a Dark side to it. The light side represents peace, serenity, knowledge and goodnees from the heart. The Dark side is filled with fear, anger and aggression.

So the way i think this could be inclued in the game is:-

Is to use a player rating system on which a players actions could effect there journey to enlightenment.

Jedi: Protecting the weak = NPC quests from Hermits or citizens (could earn double points by not taking the reward)= Light side points (Blue)

Compassion = NPC quests from special people to seek out rare objects ( force related i.e. holos) and to give it to the NPC = Light side points (yellow)

Wisdom = NPC that asks you questions of your knowledge of the force but it only takes first answers = correct answers = Light side points (green)

Selfless actions = How you help others (i.e. newbie's) = light side points (orange)

Dark Jedi: Killing/murdering = NPC quests from Thugs or criminals = Dark side points (red)

Deception/persuading = NPC quests from special people to get/steal/persuade a person to give up there rare item ( or if you steal or he gives you item had it in, but you could get double points for persuading him to give it to you then when he does kill him) = Dark side points (purple)

Dark meditation = NPC question answering of the force and sith history = Dark side points(dark green)

Self greed/power = Doing special NPC quests for money and weapons = Dark side points (black)

Your Profession = Main Quest depending on your chosen Prof. before excepting your quest you will be asked witch prof. you wish to complete it in. ( chose wisely this will test your ability in that area and it will expect you to be a master of that profession) = Once completed you get half the force needed.This main quest will take about three to four weeks to keep.

You will need a good mixture of colour points depending if you want to be dark or light.When you have done this your force slot opens.

Once you have your force slot you have 4 skill lists like normal but you need three different types of exp..

1. Meditation - like combat exp it takes along time...however you can do more like improve focus or use a power at low level to help... and like a Teras Kasi you can heal wounds, health etc


2. Jedi - you get this from combat without lightsaber, healing others and using powers


3. Lightsaber - from using lightsaber

Once you have become a padawan, there should be more paths to take like:-

Guardians - Combat and mastery of lightsaber techniques = the ability to use all three different types of lightsaber techniques, to use a single bladed light saber as powerful as a duel or double bladed lightsaber and knowledge of basic force powers.

Consular - Less on physical and more on mental discipline = the ability to wield the force with focus and control, knowledge of all force powers and has less abilies with lightsaber ( needs to do quest for the schematic for double bladed lightsaber)

Sentinel - Balance between physical and mental = the abiliy to wield a lightsaber and the force at a balanced level by using two skill tree lines from Guardian and Consular Jedi tree lines

Each of these is different if your Dark or Light only in the powers you learn and title

They should have three levels Padawan to Knight to Master to beond ( some Sith and Jedis mastered lots of new techniques i.e. battle meditaion and body transfer when you die so that you do not loose and skills or points, dont know what a name could be for this... something like Legend of light or Dark Legend or Grand Master)

Three types of lightsaber techniques are:-

1. Normal - average attacks


2. Fast - fast moving quick atacks that can stun or disable enemies


3. Strong - high damage but slow can cause wound and dizzy effects

Force powers:-

Basic Advanced

Mind trick Dominate mind

Push Whirl wind

Shock Lightning

Choke Grip

Stun Disable droid

Heal Heal all

Absorb Drain

Protection Shield

speed

sense

To get new skills you must complete a quest/mission for that special NPC.

Also get normal missions from them to get rare stuff ( like pearls or crystals)

May be have two new planets opened up for them like:-

Korriban - for Dark Jedi - Home to Sith Temples, statues and Tombs of Naga Sadow and Freedom Nadd and more - near Yarvin

Dagobah - for Jedi - Home to yoda, a good training place like luke did - near naboo

Holos should hold skills or schematics for jedi and dark jedi to learn so that to become that third level ( un-named master) like grand master - to do that you need to learn all skills from dark side and light side. So that if you choose Guardian you dont miss out on using lightning attack plus it makes it more fun to hunt for holos each one having something different on.

They also must be able to make armour, cloths, bracers and amulets to protect themselfs or.....( will write up the rest on a artisan threed)

7. The powers of the Jedi are numerous and should be reflected in 7 trees divided once the initate reaches completion.

The Dark side: Initate to Darkjedi Appentice to Darkjedi knight to Darkjedi master

The Light side: Initate to Lightjedi Padawan to Lightjedi Knight to Lightjide Master

Te initate should hold nutral powers. Things like improved speed and stamina,dodging the base combat defenses when they reach the first tree in the light the defenses increas and the dark increases the attack power. Esther side can be dabbled in but for the most part one should be more dominated than the other. There should be a presence of a player unknowing which "Faction" they are falling too say they reach a level in either and they are un able to aquire there full potential in in either unless they sacrificea power to be able to gain more in their chossen side. Powers can be learned from the ultra rare holcron Sith/Jedi or from teachers or writings, Perhaps the quest givenwith the hint of aquiring dark knowedge and that the path to obtaining it is far more dagerous than the actual power its self. The player finds themselves choosing to fall from the light to gain the dark.

Intermission: Ok force powers to help a jedi hide from the bounty hunters

Jedi mind trick 1: The power takes the jedi off the BH terminals for a small amount of time. Maybe10 mins and they can't use it again for 20. This however does not take them of missions already aquired by BH. Maybe even have them look different on a radar. The jedi should be the only ones that could effectivly find another jedi other that a BH.

Jedi mind trick 2: "I'm not the man your looking for." This power is used once the bountyhunters have started attacking. Its used vs their MInd if its low the target can not attack the jedi formaybe 10 mingiving the jedi time to get away. But if the Mind is high then they can't do it and must fight. Maybe they can be used when jedi are scaned by Imperials seeing as lightsabers sould be high contraband they can tell them this with little to no ill effects.

Intermission over.

8: Ok Ben Kenobi had a house. Master Jedi Yoda hade a house. Let the Jedi have a house. Let them be able to have other professions but they would be sacrificing their jedi powers and bonuses to have said profession. Make the Jedi powers a high skillpoint cost.

9: Ok hate me. Flame me to death. Perma death is the best thing for Jedi. No skill loss no communities of jedi running around. Yes this would keep the jedi pop to a minimum. Give intiates 5 deaths then padawan4 then knight 3 then master 2 for a cumlative 14 deaths. To fix it make the Jedi Uber powerful they should be the melee combat masters. They should be kicking tale all over the place. High defenseno armor high jedi meditaiton buff for all three ham bars and a weapon that can intimdate as soon as its drawn. Yes Jedi kick tale. But they can be killed and when they do theyre should be a good reason they died. This means teams of bounty hunters and not just one or two. TKMs should be afraid of them. But heres the deal you don't wip out the lightsaber or use force powers in public in fact they should be livin a hermit life ondifficult planets not near bestine. when they travel they keep a low profile. If imps around they can fire on light Jedi if Rebs around they can fire on dark jedi.

10: The bounty hunters and Jedis hate each other with a passion. Ok we got BH campin the clone terminals and the jedis heading into water or locking themselves inside. I've already stated some of my ideadsand most of this post kinda has to do with alittle of this issue. BH hunters just killing jedi for the heck of it but honestly if the jedi are really this weak killing 3 or 4 jedi is really not that impressive. Make them harder and then come talk to me.Allow the Bh the ablity to slice doors or give it to a smuggler (except I don't see them really working together) to player house for a limited amout of time. Just entry not hey I can get into someones house and f with their stuff no just to get the job done.Maybe the slce give the bh a TEF to anyone. I wouldn't want anyone brakeing into my house. As for the camping give the jedi mind tricks a try or may be they can't show up on the terms for say 20 mins after dying nor can they be attacked by a BH.

11: Ok this is really no big deal but perhaps you become on with the force after reaching master with this system in place they can become a blue glow they don't fight the can't own things but they can teach or help other jedi on their quests. I think this is an awsome idea but really has no effect

12: The Jedi should be teaching and helping each if a jedi reaches knight they can take on a student when they do so the padawan or intiate gains more xp when grouped with his teacher his teacher gains the apprenticship points. Maybe the teacher earns more exp if they teach them powers in their "faction".

Anyway I thought I might share these Ideas with the community and I hope to get some feedback wether its the devs or not but I'll keep adding more to the bourds in good time. Cheers all