Jump To Lightspeed Archive

We get snippets of short visual movies of cap ships, we hear about space mining shortly before its release, but I would really really like to see some sort of vision statement from the devs on where they see the future of JLS going.

Specifically, what I feel is the largest choke-point on JLS is that it is at most a small-arena subset with larger than life yet linear quests. Space is essentially a series of pockets attached to planets or stations (in the case of DS/kessel) that have little effect on the rest of the game, with the odd quest where you work directly for Darth Vadar or the Queen in Naboo or whomever in a larger than life yet very linear (and no impact to GCW or otherwise) quest.

The main hangup that I see, is that we want something that resembles SW canon, yet doesn't impede players of either major faction, and doesn't force PvEers into PvP play. To this effect, we have rebels and imperial pilots parked routinely around the same asteroids or same stations in space, with PvP combat occuring in small numbers in kessel and DS. (I've seen as much in kessel for some reason, I think perhaps because privateers can't grind FP in DS and go there).

Anyway, short of a vision statement, I wonder if we can get feed back on some key questions about the direction of space in SWG, such as:

* Is there a plan to introduce vette size ships as do-anything-anywhere POBs?

* Is there a plan to rebalance the current MPSs so they a use in space?

* Is PvP damage to defense ratios considered balanced by the Devs, or a problem they have not yet adaquetely addressed?

* Are the Devs in favor or against the idea of adding more "open space" sectors not tied to planets, perhaps requiring multiple hyperspace trips, to give a spatial dimension and sense of vastness to space?

* What are the top 5bugs being addressed by the JLS developers in order of priority?

There are so many ideas floating around these forums - and a good deal of them are quite well thought out - that I really wish we could get an idea of where the dev's see this part of the game going so the players can get a better idea of what to expect down the road. I remember how many people posted about the trouble with the interface for BHs to get the same mission on any given jedi, and pleading for when this would be revamped......only to find the devs were actually dead set against BHs hunting in groups, and would make it harder in the future.

Things I would like to see added to JLS:

* Change "Deep Space" to "Deep Space Battleground", and add numerous generic content (and largerly empty by comparison)true Deep Space Sectors around the outer parameter. Instead of being able to H to any of these sectors, make these sectors linked in a spatially. You enter one side, but cannot H to the next sector until you make your way past a large nebula storm in the middle, which is too dangerous to pass through in hyperspace. This would add a sense of dimension and make it feel less like we all have our own personal improbability drives.

* In Deep Sectors, NPCs have PvP configurations. Right now, PvE does NOT get anyone ready at all for a PvP experience, in deep space sectors, pit players against everything from A-wings to Kimos with mass-equipment configurations appropriate to what a player has that is T1-5. Anyone in a decent ship should be able to drop these NPC ships pretty quick, and of course these would not be 'waves of dozens at once' combat but fewer sparcer ships.

* In the farthest Deep Space Sectors, everyone flies overt. There are stations vaguelysimilar to the Freedom station that can be disabled and forced to surrender, and then can be docked at, and have their components replaced with player components. (Guns, multiple reactors and shields, etc). It would be tricky to set these up well, and would require a lot of testing to get right.

Part of these ideas are, because we cannot bring contested areas of space to the homewords without ruining those areas for non-pvp and new pilots. As it stands, Deep space and Kessel have no value added by maintaining factional space superiority. I think JLS is great but starving needlessly because it lacks a sense of depth. I am sure the devs all have ideas about the way it is and the problems they face and what they see as the future solution to work towards, but we as players are really in the dark on this.

---

Padren Talisan - Starsider pilot
Padrig Talsani - Corbantis