Image Designer Archive

Having reached a total of 3 pages on the bio-engineer forum and having had everyone say it was a fantastic idea (and in some cases saying it's perfect) I figured I'd post the information onto the other profession forums that are part of this new concept which helps solve an issue that is already starting to occour... people wanting to change their species without losing their current character and all that hard work. It's really a very simple request from the players which I put into a focussed idea which increases the markets for a number of professions while also providing a money sink which the develoeprs are always saying they need more of. On the whole the idea is almost flawless except for some things which need to be carefully considered but aren't issues that can't be worked around.

The full topic is at the following URL: http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bio-engineer&message.id=11553&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

The actual idea is quoted below, the reason why I'm posting this on all of the profession forums that would be involved is that this seems like the ideal solution to the issue and we want to rally as much support for this concept as possible. So please post your concerns and/or approval here and hopefully we'll get it submitted to the developers for serious consideration.

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This wasn't an idea I proposed a while ago but some people rejected it because they felt it fell into the catagory of the image designer, I argued that it actually falls more fittingly into the catagory for bio-engineers but none the less I could see their point. As SWG expands to include new player species types I can see folks wanting to change to these new species without giving up all of the hard earned effort they spent on their current character. It's not unfair to say that you can change your appearence anyway in the game and that a species change is really not any different from a gameplay and balancing point of view. Also this idea will open up more business for imagine designers, architechts, master artisans and bio-engineers as well. Let me explain.

Lets say that Tosk Lightwalker is a transhodan who is sick of the alien penalties associated with being in the empire and wants to switch to being a human. However they have invested alot of time building their character into a master bounty hunter and doesn't like the idea of having to delete this character or play on another server away from their friends in order to be happy with being in the Empire. So in comes this new ability for the bio-engineer to change someone's species with the help of several of the other professions.

Step 1. First of all after the bio-engineer and Tosk have arranged to go through with this the bio-engineer needs to own a gene-sequencer device. This looks exactly the same as the clone template machines seen in the cloning facilities where people store a clone to be activated if they die.

Step 2. The gene-sequencer is a very complex peice of machinery which requires master artisan components and can only be put together by a architects who has tech furniture 4. The bio-engineer also needs to synthesize a human dna template for use in the sequencer.

Step 3. Tosk the transhodan goes into the house/lab of the bio-engineer. And steps into the gene-sequencer. The Bio-engineer then has to load the human dna template into the sequencer. Depending on the skill of the bio-engineer the process will either trasnform the transhodan into the default appearence of the human or they'll fail and have to try again.

Step 4. Assuming things work the transhodan now looks like the default human. In order to get allowing how they want they now have to visit an image designer to get their features changed. Tosk has also reverted to the default stats of a human as well. The change is 100% and they cannot go through another species switch for 24 hours (due to physical stresses on the body)

The market potential

On the whole you're looking at expanded business not only for the under used image designer but also for master artisans. Architects also benefit from the furniture line now having a higher perpose than decoration. Bio-engineers gets something other than tissues or clones to play around with. The gene-squencers would also require maintaince and alot of power each time they are used to change someone's species thus increasing the flow of money to people who sell the power sources.

The money sink

The developers are always saying that we have too much money and they'd like to introduce new money sinks. Well the gene-sequencer is the ideal solution to having money flowing out into the virtual abyss. The successrate for changing someone's species would be based on the quality of the dna tample made, the bio-engineer themselves plus the quality of the gene-sequencer as well. Thus there's alot which factors into the successrates meaning there's alot of risk for failures. Since the sequencer would need power, maintaince plus the template you're looking at something which can result in money flowing out with nothing in return. Something the developers are working very hard to introduce with the inclusion of the casino games, the gene-sequencer is just the same as the roulette wheel or someone trying to slice a locked container which then fails. The loss of the power, the wasted upkeep from maintaince and the dna template would be enough to slowly drain some of the money from the economy. As long as the process is suitable expensive.

The conclusion

Sooner or later the new player species are going to come in. Players are going to see something new they want to try out without the risk of deleting their character which they worked so hard to build. In the long run the majority of players will complain enough to make SOE allow for species changes and they know it's a reasonable request since they already allow us to drop skills and alter what our character is on a whim. Species changes which also add a market AND a money sink are an ideal solution to a very simple request.

Thank you for you time.

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Just to summerize for you image designers, the fact that some folks would want to change their species when they get bored with their current one means that you'd see a significant increase in the number of people needing your services if this method is used. With people being reset to their default appearence for that species you're looking at a complete work over which often isn't something you see people asking for at the moment. I know that image designering isn't the most popular of busniesses so increasing the demand for your services would help make it look like a more desirable means of income. One way or another it means that the IDs are still an intergral part of someone changing their current species, something that many felt was holding back the original idea. In this new concept you have the bio-engineer dealing with the logical genetic side and the IDs dealing with the actual appearence after the process.

I think this is a great idea. I would love to see more inter-profession activities like this. And of course, the increased need for Image Designers is always welcome in my opinion. I would love it if we could somehow actually have a useful effect on the game, rather than just cosmetic. -Kiri

Question:

What keeps this process from being abused by players to reach mastery in a profession by using the race with the most advantage in learning that profession, and then switching to a race that has none of the disadvantages that compensated for the learning advantages?

Did that make sense?

I would like to see a species change available to the Image Design profession. There are a couple of snags with implementing it, though. I've mentioned them before here, but I'll say so again in this thread:

1. Abuse. Mostly this is about people who want to change species every 20 minutes simply because they have the cash. I'm going into the medical center now, make me a Zabrak. Okay, I'm going out on a destroy mission, make me a Bothan. In order to rein in abuse, there should be a penalty or some kind of mandatory downtime associated with this. Read on:

2. Different amount of total stats. Wookiees start with more total stats than humans. In order for this to balance out properly, they'll need to migrate more quickly to the target species than the current stat migration. My proposal is that upon species-change, all stats go to 150(or whatever thenew speciesminimum is)and the player can now migrate them into their desired positions. This solves #1 above, by giving the player minimum stats. It makes him very weak post-change until his system recovers. (It also takes the stat controls out of the Image Designer's hands, we have no business changing other people's stats for them.)

3. Getting paid. Because IDs don't have secure trade, it's difficult to imagine wanting to spend an hour with someone doing a total makeover and then find out the person doesn't have any money, or only wants to /tip 100 for all that work. In order to do this, first IDs need secure trade, period. I wouldn't want to contemplate the kind of work it'd take, and the non-existent reward, for a service I can't trade securely for.

4. Division of labor. The bioengineer should make a device (like an injectable DNA resequencer species cross-flabbelizing kerphlibbitz thingy) or a species template, which the BE can create but not use. This gives the BE a piece of the action. Something similar could work for gender, though perhaps that should be between ID and Doctor (not BE).

Escia

Brillant idea

Well, let me be the voice of dissent then LOL.

Honestly, I don't care for the idea. For one, it's just weird. I mean, Hi, I'm Bob the Wookie, and then tomorrow I'm Bob the Trandoshan. Weird. Does Bob the Wookie have deep seated emotional issues that can only be addressed by becoming a Trandoshan? Was Bob really a Trandoshan born into a Wookie body? And yes, I know we're talking about a galaxy long long ago and far far away, but even with advanced technology you can't turn one species into another, at least, not without a lot of reaching. The whole thing is just weird, and, well, sort of dumb, in my opinion.

My other beef is that people just get too stuck on one character anyway, without ever exploring what's out there. I'm very very attached to my Twi'lek that I have on Kettemoor. In fact, I really can't seriously imagine playing someone else. However...I can't do all the professions that I want to try (because of skill points), so if I want to try out the Combat Medic, for instance, that means either I give up all my hard work (bleah) or try out a new character. And in doing so, maybe I'll see what another race has to offer. Honestly, if you're so unhappy with Bob the Wookie being a wookie, but you love Bob's skills, why not try out something new on a different server? There are plenty to choose from, even eliminating those that seem to be made up of uber-dudes and l33t speaking dimwits. Maybe you'll find a place you like better, someplace you wouldn't have found without leaving your comfort bubble.

At least make it so that we can't use the bio-engi thing on just anyone, as in, like that guy suggested, let the BE's make a schematic, but it only works for a certain player decided by the BE. This makes more sense anyway, it's like, if you were to take your right shoe to some place to get it not only resized, but to become a left shoe, they wouldn't just pull out a schematic for the pieces or something, they'd at LEAST measure it and some such..this would also require the BE to be there instead of just some master BE mass-producing schemmies and selling them so that this becomes more easier than using a Stim A....

I like the idea of more co-operation between professions...however, I don't personally agree with race changes....just doesn't seem right to me. You chose your race....and I think we should be stuck with it.

Change the way you look all you want...but a wookie is still a wookie (and looks like one), a human is still a human (and looks like one), etc.

Others have pointed out the 'Abuse' angle on this idea and their correct.

It's been pointed out that a person unhappy with their race doesn't want to lose all their hardwork...fine...start an alt on another Galaxy. Why should someone who used a race to their advantage to advance, devalue my 'hardwork' by changing to my race? If they're that unhappy, advancing a new character (or deleting and rerolling) is no big deal.

If (and thats a big IF) I were to agree with this, I'd want to see some sort of permanent disability (lower total HAM, etc) such a drastic process would inevitably harm them on a fundamental level.

The real reason we will never see species changes, Altared, can be summed up in one word: eBay.

The developers don't want to make it easy or desireable to max a character and sell it on eBay, because then the buyer would have a cheap, in-game way to make the character into his dream race/gender. Not giving us this ability won't prevent the eBay thing from happening, but they can always hope to stifle the sale of characters this way.

Escia

As much fun as it is to change facial features, hair, etc. don't expect to be handed the right to change someone's species. If that were to happen people would expect to be changed into non player races next, or even monsters. Remember that this is the only game so far that you can even change your hair in. Choose your race and gender wisely and come see the Image Designers if you need a haircut or a nose job.