Image Designer Archive
Thread: Image Design and Cyborg Parts (an idea)
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Faith77
Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:02 am
#1
Forgive me if this has been posted or brought up by someone else before, I tried doing a search for previous posts on this subjectbut of courseits not that rare 10% time of the day where the Forum Search actually works for us. But thats another story for another day. 
Anyways my idea comes from me being a female gamer who loves both her combat (PvE or PvP don't matter)and her image for role playing purposes. My problem is since RotW was released, to be the best in combat (especially in PvP) one needs to buy, quest, loot cyborg parts to up your skills to be competetive. So basically we went from a world where 85% of the players were wearing Composite Armor to a world where 85% are going to have ugly fish hooks for both arms. For a gamer like me, this is unacceptable! I refuse to ugly up my character's avatar no matter how good the bonus these monstrous body parts give (and boy does that 80m rifle range hurt when you're fighting someone who has one of those arms). Then it hit me, "what was the name of that profession that got no loveafter the combat upgrade and could use some new options so they willbe sought after for other reasons then dying Ipwned'u's hair blue for the 12th time?" ahh yes the Image Designer!
What if ID's had the option to perform "plastic surgery" on those ugly metal cyborg arms/legs and make them look normal again (much like luke's hand at the end of The Empire Strikes Back) but still be a "cyborg" arm that still gives the cyborg items bonus to the wearer? This option would allow those who want to roleplay they have a ugly arm to keep the cyborg graphic and to allow those that don't want to change their appearance to still get the item's benefits. To make a Image Designer more important, you could also put a timer on how long/how much damagethe "plastic surgery" on the arm has before it "decays" and the player needs to see the ID again to get their humanoid look back (timers should have been in ID for a long time, Player A gets their hair done, 2-4 weeks later the hair has"grown out" or lost its "dyed color"where its time to see the ID again to keep their appearance or they revert to their day 1 created appearance).
Now for this towork there are a few things that would need to be done to keep balance.
1.Even withthe cyborg arms/legs hidden by the ID, the arms/legswill not be able to wear armor still. This is importantotherwise everyone would just go out and turn the cyborggraphic off to double up on armor again to that body part. We make up some excuse (be warned I'm going to become adorky chick herefor a second) thatbecause of the armor's "ray shielding", the cyborg body part can't wear armor or it will suffer from interference. If possible the person could wear armor on their arms/legs(forappearance reasons) but the system could do a check and if the armor is over a cyborg body part then the armor would just act as clothing and all armor stats would beoverwrittenwhile on that body part. I don't know how coding works or if that is even possible, but if so I throw it out there.
2.Thecyborgitem user couldweargloves/pants but only if they are regularcrafted clothing with no add-ons, clothing to that body part would be appearance only(no bio clothing allowed to that part of the body).Like the above, this is for balance reasoning. Like above, if possible the sytem could do a check and negate the bonus on clothing items on the cyborg body part making them just regular clothing for appearance purposes. Again I konw nothing about coding or if thats even possible.
Well thats all I had on this idea for now, I look forward to reading your add on's, critiques, flames, or to just call me a dork for coming up with thatwholelame "ray shielding" idea (that was actually my dorky brother's idea, but I don't blame you if you don't believe me and think I'm just trying to save face!). 
NJ62
Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:36 am
#2
Originally we wanted something to do with cybernetics. But then stat migrations came along, and the already-small population of ID's felt the pressure of performing a "needed" service. Often I was asked "why should I pay you because 1) it's something that I need 2) it costs you nothing and 3) we used to be able to do it ourselves." I can't speak for most ID's, but I for one feel that another "necessary" skill would need to be VERY carefully implemented to prevent harassment of the ID community and to ensure that players would be able to find ID's to perform the necessary service.
Iasoadi
Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:43 am
#3
I love this idea! I've had quite a few requests to change the appearance of those ugly arms and this would definately bring a bit more trade along. Also, I presume this wouldn't be hard to code as they just use the default arm art but keep stats.
I also quite like the idea of timers on hair dye, would bring some repeat business etc. but obviously quite a long period of wear to make it worth doing.
masterim-doublea
Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:25 pm
#4
BINGO!!!! you said it, i want to have the goos stats and to be a good combatant but i dont want to replace my nice flesh and good looking arm, but i want......
DEVS YOU HEAR ME DO THIS OK. THX
Gothywench
Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:59 pm
#5
NJ62 wrote:
Originally we wanted something to do with cybernetics. But then stat migrations came along, and the already-small population of ID's felt the pressure of performing a "needed" service. Often I was asked "why should I pay you because 1) it's something that I need 2) it costs you nothing and 3) we used to be able to do it ourselves." I can't speak for most ID's, but I for one feel that another "necessary" skill would need to be VERY carefully implemented to prevent harassment of the ID community and to ensure that players would be able to find ID's to perform the necessary service.
Just as normal, I am in 100% agreement.
Iasoadi
Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:24 pm
#6
Sorry but I dont see this as a 'necessary' skill such as the stat migrations. Rather it is simply a another design choice that a player can choose to have if they wish, just as with hair styles etc. There is no benefit to having a normal looking limb as oppossed to the metal cyborg ones other than the player's happyness with the way they look. In fact, many gamers would like to show off their new limbs I presume, almost as a badge of honour, and therefore would not choose to visit the ID for a 'normal' limb which appears no different to other players. It simply adds to the makeover service we provide to the image concious community.
I may be totally misunderstanding this, but thats my perception of the concept.
Thanks
NJ62
Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:24 pm
#7
Well... hm. Obviously removal of cyber-limbs is not "necessary." However, the player community will have some sort of resentment toward the scenario where "my character looked exactly as I wanted, the game put on a cyber limb, and now I have to track down a dang ID just to put me back to normal." Putting back to normal would be seen as necessary for some people, would see their natural limb as something the game unfairly took away, and would see the ID visit as an imposition. In no other game does your physical appearance change in this way, and players are rather attached to their physical appearance. I suspect that continued trips to an ID to keep an appearance as it was created at char creation would not go over well.
Cereah
Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:42 am
#8
One thing about cybernetics is the inhability to put armor or clothing on it. For balance issues this new "with plastic skin" cybernetic shouldn't were anything.
I don't think it would happen.
But, I will love they give us the hability to alter de cybernetic color (both frame and trim).
Adding colorization features seams not difficult for them, they allready do it for armor and droids post launch. Anyway aesthetyc issues aren't high priority to the devs. (I'm waiting for furniture colorization for ages).
TechnoCan
Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:31 am
#9
Altering the color and appearance of the cybernetc limbs sounds more like something an Artisan or DE might be able to do... As ID I don't feel like a mechanic...
Faith77
Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:56 pm
#10
The reason I came up with this idea wasn't to give ID's a replacement for stat migrations, it was just to give them a new option that made sense from a role play point of view. I'm a female gamer, I'm a female gamer who loves PvP, I'm also a gamer that loves role playing and having my character look a certain way (I am always changing outfits and changing appearance when I can actually find a ID). My problem is that in order for me to stay competitive in PvP I am eventually going to have to break down (or forced)and get a cybernetic limb(s). I'mthankful that the CU got the mass majorityofmy server out of composite armor, but now I am sick of seeing every other player wearing a cybernetic limb (and most who I talk to say they only have the limb because of its stats and not for its appearance, which they think is ugly in most cases). I figured instead of just pressing for a radial menu to turn the cybernetic graphic off (much like SOE had done for EQ2 with its helmets/hoods), it would make more sense to give ID's the option to be the ones to turn it off as it is an appearance change. I personally would be more happy with a radial menu on the item because it would probably be hard to find a ID on my server since they are rare already.
Thanks for the honest input, I'll press for the radial menu with the others who feel the way I do.
Shaizann
Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:40 pm
#11
Interesting how PvP has always been somewhat of an arms race, and now i't litterally an 'arms race'. 
In any event, I never minded stat migrations, but I know the vast majority of the IDs did not care for them. Having something thats 'necesarry' tied to us is generally a bad thing though. And, as you're finding out, any advantage in MMOPvP is anecessity. There is no 'nice to have' either it is needed to become uber or it is not. Nothing else matters, and the closer one can get to an 'I win' button, the better. Ok, I'm being a bit long winded, but...what I'm saying is I agree with n'Jessi. A 'needed' feature (even a percived need) has to potential to be really miserable for the majority of ID folk.
YuriaTayde
Thu Jun 16, 2005 5:32 am
#12
I would love this, I'd KILL for one of those range increasing arms (wait,I kill things all the time already... uh, you get my point anyway though) but I'd never even consider lossing an arm for it. It's not a "needed" thing as everybody can live without, just think of it as an increase of business and reason to hide your tag once in awhile! Lol, okay...
Another idea that crossed my mind, the thought of it being mechanics and ID = not mechanic was brought up. Well, how about this, somewhere in the artisan or bio-engineer class would be the ability to craft "plastic limbs", then the ID would buy one of these and simply attach it to the cybernetic arm (and for explain-everything-ness, being IDs they'd also paint the plasticlimb to match the body. Gotta explain it, same as with holoemote chips. This is why only IDs would be able to attach them.) And to further this, maybe the plastic arm has clothing like traits, not in the idea that it can just be taken off whenever ya want, but in the fact that it'll eventually break, and in rare cases maybe offer (very limited) protection... depending on the artisan who made it...
Final note; don't make basic ID effects temporary, when I first made my char, well, it was embarrising. If I EVER reverted from my carefully fine-tuned sexy bothan body to that, I would kill myself. And I just can't afford ID prices, 5-20k is alot of money for me, far too much to be spending every week on the frustration of trying to explain EXACTLY how far each of my bars were...
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