Image Designer Archive

Without a doubt, Star Wars: Galaxies has the most exquisite and complex character creation of any MMOG to date. And for the first time, character creation options have been made available post creation to everyone via a player profession. When asked what Image Designers love about their profession, the following reasons are given:

• The ability to make each player look unique


• The satisfaction of having enhanced a player’s gaming experience


• The creative process involved in achieving a desired look


• The flexibility of being able to match a player to their outfit, mood, or personality


• The great potential for role-play, both as a professional and customer

ToP cOmMuNiTy CoNcErNs

Exp progression

It is far more efficient to grind through the profession than work on customers.If the grinding route is taken (and it must be if a casual player wishes tomaster the profession in a minimum of twoto fourmonths) the progression isimmersion breaking, repetitive, and tedious.ID’ers often report alt tabbing out of the game to surf, or reading/watching TV while waiting for the timer to countdown.

ID’s who wish to get exp by working on customers exclusively have two things against them. A customer wanting a makeover (not stat migration) will only provide 300 exp (or 100 exp if only cosmetic changes are done) sinceexp does not stack. ID’s are therefore more likely to want to spend 2 ½ minutes working on a second account or friend (if they can find one willing to sit still for 60+ hours) to get 300 exp or working on themselves (as many casual players do) for 150 exp, than to work on a customer’s full makeover for 10 -30 minutesto get 150 or300 exp.I have heardseveral reports (both in forum and in game)of people giving up their dreams of mastering ID after a few days under the new exp/timer system.

Another issueis that there are few useful abilities at the lower tiers of ID, so up and coming ID’s have a hard time competing with Masters. Additionally, some species don’thave anything they can do on themselves until ID II wheneye color is granted.

Lastly,there are onlythree types of experience now,with the step upsgranted at ID II (body modification = 150exp or 300exp) and Novice ID (stat migration = 2000 exp after Publish 9). There is no expincrease as skill increases, as is true for other professions.But experience requireddoes increase at the same rate as other profesions, thus making it much harder to get upper level boxes.

Stat migration

Public city tents are currently the only place stat migrations can take place.Some ID's are not doing stat migration because the tents are inconvenient to access (sayon a different planet than their residence) or because their playtime is limited and they spend a great deal of time involved in crafting or combat (in locations other than public cities).Requests to alleviate this issue include player-city-placeable tents, private-home-placeable terminals, and droidmodules.

Players are having difficulties finding ID's to migrate their stats. While the above suggestions would help, another would be to add planet registration to both public and player city tents, and also to terminals or droids if ever granted.

Otherreasons some ID's are avoiding stat migrationare the ten minute timer attached to it and the negative reactions of some customers at having to pay for the service. There have been several reports of ID's being verbally harassed when informing a player they charge for the service, or when informing a player of what that charge is. Many players while not verbally abusive have no interest in socializing with the ID migrating their stats and go afk or chat with friends leaving the ID to sit alone for ten minutes. Ten minutes is too big of a time sink. And unlike the comparable case of a starport wait, the ID has no choice but to stay put in the tent for the entirety of the wait. Also, while a player sits through (or not) the ten minute timer once, an IDmayhave to sit through several in a row. One way to alleviate this would be to lower the stat migration timerand put the rest of the time on the customer side.

New Art Content

The new colors,UI, tent,and holo-emoteshave all had a part in increasing business for ID's. That said our profession is one that is highlydependent on new and freshart content. There is of course also the fact that any new art contentfor Image Designers has the potential to positively affect every player.

Master Perks

MID's feel that they should not have a timer outside the tents as they no longer need to earn exp, and the timers were put in place to slow down exp progression. At the very least they would prefer that there be no timer when ID'ing themselves. One of the most fun aspects of the profession for ID's is the ability to change one's own look, and now even something as simple as a lipstick change requires a 1 minute timer wait. Another frequent request is for MID's to be able to migrate their own stats.

1. New hairstyles + Wookiee fur styles (ability to move Zabrak horns & hair independently)
2. Tattoos & Scars
3. Hip/rump sliders
4. Particle effects as originally planned (hair accessories, glitter, streaks, fountains, etc)
5. Dual-colored hair (streaks, tips, highlights)
6. 3D facial hair for males
7.More tattoo patterns(for species that already have them: Mon Cals, Twi'leks, Zabraks)
8. New makeup choices (Blush, eyeliner, dramatic eyeshadow patterns, natural lip colors for males)
9. Piercings
10. Ability to create logos (for PA's, spaceships, vehicles, clothes, etc)

Message Edited by Kwee on 06-14-2004 09:05 PM

Message Edited by Kwee on 06-14-2004 09:06 PM

Message Edited by Kwee on 09-06-2004 01:24 PM

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Sir_Voor wrote:

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4.Exp progression issues
a.More exp granted per change
b.Less exp needed per skillbox
c.A way for exp to stack for customer work

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I'm not sure how to put this in only a few words, but the fact that exp pre-ID does not increase as you get more boxs, like it did or like it does in all other professions needs to be stated.

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Looks good! If I had to nitpick though...

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Kwee wrote:

17.Last name changing

They said this isn't going to change, for legal and technical reasons.. not that I don't think we should ask for it anyway, just that I think that number 18 and possibly 19 is more important.

18.Force sensitivity enhancements

19.JTL - Ability to dye/decorate spaceships

20.A way to partially macro ID

This exists already. You can macro ID except for a single step(i.e. moving the sliders/selecting colors)... do we really want to turn this into a totallyAFK profession?

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Sir_Voor wrote:

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4.Exp progression issues
a.More exp granted per change
b.Less exp needed per skillbox
c.A way for exp to stack for customer work

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I'm not sure how to put this in only a few words, but the fact that exp pre-ID does not increase as you get more boxs, like it did or like it does in all other professions needs to be stated.

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Kwee wrote:

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Sir_Voor wrote:

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4.Exp progression issues
a.More exp granted per change
b.Less exp needed per skillbox
c.A way for exp to stack for customer work

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I'm not sure how to put this in only a few words, but the fact that exp pre-ID does not increase as you get more boxs, like it did or like it does in all other professions needs to be stated.

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Do you mean that exp doesn't increase with skill?

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Yes I think that is a good short way of putting it

d. Exp doesn't increase with skill

I'm not sure what "c. A way for exp to stack for customer work" means?

Also i think if your IDing dozen of different customers you should get more exp then for IDing then same customer over and over again.

P.S. my main issue with exp is"gride vs play" or "Fun Factor". Not all but a large % of players don't play or have fun getting to master, griding to MID is the norm.

Message Edited by Sir_Voor on 06-09-2004 09:52 AM

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KeyTokikoMima wrote:

Looks good! If I had to nitpick though...

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Kwee wrote:

17.Last name changing

They said this isn't going to change, for legal and technical reasons.. not that I don't think we should ask for it anyway, just that I think that number 18 and possibly 19 is more important.

18.Force sensitivity enhancements

19.JTL - Ability to dye/decorate spaceships

20.A way to partially macro ID

This exists already. You can macro ID except for a single step(i.e. moving the sliders/selecting colors)... do we really want to turn this into a totallyAFK profession?

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That's about it! Good work Kwee, and thank you!

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Warplex wrote:

By definition, an image designer modifies the image of a person (i.e. makes a hobo a model). What does painting a starship have to do with image designing? I wouldn't go to a plastic surgeon/beautician/personal trainer/tattoo artist to get my car painted a different color or have my house redecorated, would I?

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Kwee wrote: