Pikeman Archive

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Our goal is to get that balanced out so that players don't get hammered if they dont min/max the skill defenses. Right now its hard to get involved with PvP because power games have learned how to game the system and get unfair advantages and force specific templates.
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My immediate reaction is that instead of punishing someone for "gaming the system" you figure out how to make the system reward players for working within it's context.

In terms of being constructive - The simplest is to truly reward players for mastery. Or even better offer cross mastery benefits/titles. IE: a master of a melee prof and a ranged prof (fencer and pistoleer - since both offer dodge). Mastery of a novice prof an elite prof (marksman and pistoleer, brawler and pikeman). Something that goes beyond the rewards listed at "master marksman" and "master pistoleer" Heck, make it an elite-elite prof that is just an investment of sp (and ap or cross platform xp).

My deeper reaction is that "gaming the system" is a perception problem. That you see someone using your ball and having fun with it, and your initial reaction is take it and go home. This game is fairly unique in that it lets players experiment with different skill sets and abilities. As such, someone will always find an edge to work and you will always be trying to take away the the edge from them. A much better approach is to see how the edge is acquired and offer other ways to get to that point. Don't lower the bar on the people who figure out that high ranged defense is useful. Raise the bar by giving paths to high accuracy. My perception is that the reason that melee or ranged defense is so useful is that by "min maxing", it's possible to get to a point that exceeds accuracy that can be gained by a single weapon prof - and since accuracy doesn't stack..

Give players the ability to truly choose their path. The triangle of cheap, fast, quality could well work for profs. Accurate, damaging, defensive. Pick two. Or pick one to be the very best at that one thing at the sacrifice of the other two.

Perhaps my problem is that I don't PvP - this game has a lush environments and rich content that I enjoy leading groups to. I have no interest in PvP, nor will any incentive you offer raise that interest. If the incentive is such that I will lose out on seeing that lush and rich content, I'll go find someone else's ball to play with - it's probably shinier anyway.

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Q-3PO wrote:

We havea pikeman profession?

Kidding, kidding, kidding, I am so kidding. Please don't hurt me TH.

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Just having some fun.

I dont think they should rid the game of stacked defenses, but they should defenitly cap it the number off.

In a skill points based game devoting your time into certain areas, such as combat, should enhance your skills further. Why wouldnt an unarmed fighter who has trained in the art of sword fighting not gain any advantageover a person who has trained in unramed combat and making pet meds? Sure the styles of swords and unarmed combat are different, but the extra training in avoiding blows, hightened reflexes and so forth would most defenitly be an advantage over someone who has not trained in multiple styles of combat.

Example 1:

Darth Mual - Not only was he a Sith Lord, but he was also a Tera Kasi. Wouldnt you say his training in Tera Kasi gave him an advantage indefending himself?

Example 2:

Emperors Guards - Not only trained in the use of thepolearms, such as the force pike,they were trained in the basics of all melee comabt and some forms of ranged combat. This made them some of the fiercest warriors and a great very difficult enemy to defeat.

Example 3:

Qui - Gon Gin - A Jedi Master, who was bested by a man who was not ONLY trained in lightsaber combat but also in the Art of Tera Kasi. Seems that his opponent had an edge over him for some reason or another.

i agree completely, the cap idea gives everyone who wishes to boost there stats the ability to do so, but doesnt limit everyone to the same template. my big thing is PVE, not PVP. i only want the extra defenses for going after bigger creatures without having to get buffed everytime i walk out my front door. i am capped a xp's and have been for awhile.. guess we can yell all day and the change will still come. oh ya, i didnt know this was the pikeman board, this thread came up under dev tracker..

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Thunderheart wrote:

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electricnomad wrote:

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Thunderheart wrote:

Its true - - no more Defense stacking after the combat rebalance is done.

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So SWG is no longer a skill-based game, but a class-based game?

Seriously, the whole idea that you could stack skills and mix and match your template was one of the defining features of SWG. Is that all gone now? Are we forever pigeonholed as one particular profession with profession-specific bonuses, and no mixing and matching? From my perspective, it seems like you just eliminated a big part of character customization. Even something like institutiong a soft cap for defenses/offenses and then only counting 50% of the stats above that soft cap would have been a more welcome change, but a wholesale hard cap on stacking is the death knell of a skill-based game.

If you stick with that, that's one less defining feature for SWG, and one less reason why SWG is different than any other game on the market.

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No this is definately still a skill based game.

Our goal is to get that balanced out so that players don't get hammered if they dont min/max the skill defenses. Right now its hard to get involved with PvP because power games have learned how to game the system and get unfair advantages and force specific templates.

We want to make it so that all the various templates are important and useful, and not just a specific grouping. All template choices should be valid for this premise to remain intact...

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And actually did not answer the question

Here's a complaint I have because, truthfully, this doesn't make a lot of sense.

By your exact wording, TH, this means that defense bonuses (what little they are) from Master Brawler will not stack with defenses in TKA, Fencer, Pikeman, Swordsman, etc. And the same holds for Master Marksman. Could you, please, clarify what you mean by this rather than keeping us all hanging?

Thanks!

Hahah, legwand

antares
master pikeman

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nolan007 wrote:

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Thunderheart wrote:

No this is definately still a skill based game.

Our goal is to get that balanced out so that players don't get hammered if they dont min/max the skill defenses. Right now its hard to get involved with PvP because power games have learned how to game the system and get unfair advantages and force specific templates.

We want to make it so that all the various templates are important and useful, and not just a specific grouping. All template choices should be valid for this premise to remain intact...

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Thisno defenses will stack change will destroy the unique character templates.... so, basically, we're all just cookiee cutters templates now? That's crap.

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And they are not cookie cutter now? The cookie cutter just has a different shape currently. Get over it, stacking defenses should go.

Men, I can't believe that these are Pikemanboards... I have never seen so many people down there.

At last we shallhave hope. At last we shall bemadebetter.

you guys heard of the secret dev move they get at Nerfing Offensive Tactics 1?

its called Feign Intelligence and it rox