Politician Archive

WIth the lose of city /warn an officialmayor's power is limited to destroying the city, or acting as a outdoor landscaper...

The politician class only allows for placing structues and removing them. Offering a city specilization is great, but how does that enhance the mayor's day to day playing of the game? "ohI just instituted experimentation....woo hoo...now what?"

Combat and crafting prof. are able to use more interactive options/commands as they level, what does a mayor's levelingdo once all the main civic buildings are placed?

-Ability to engauge in "bigger and better" outdoor beutifical projects that cost thecitizen base more money in taxes.

-Ability to inactone city specilization, that cost thecitizen base more money in taxes.

The mayor however can only move parks and fountains around so many times before that gets boring... Anda specilization does not make "mayoring" easier or more fun.

Before Player cities went live, there were mayors who already played in the game, they just didnt have pretty parks to place, or 70+ skill points wasted. They helped run their communities and created roleplay events, enacted laws etc... Many of those previous "non-offical" mayors thought the politician class would enhance their ability to perform the above actions as well as give them neat new structures to spice of their cities.

There are a number of mayors I know who are already trying to escape thiswaste of skill pointsand many more will join them. That is unless the dev's re-think the curretn system and skill trees..

I would suggest that a mayor who achieves a new level doesn't just get to place new types of structues or enact a new specization, rather each tree should be policy related to enhance the mayor's game as well.

- Have onetree for most Structures and speciliztions, but include a skill that allows mayors to reduce the maintence cost of buildings by preforming some action..."Ie content quest to go to petition the Emperor for lower taxes" Maybe this would have to be done on a regular basis. maybe it would take more than just the mayor to complete these types of missions. Maybe this would give the mayor a job besides moving fountains around.

- Have another "new"tree that allows the Mayor to deligate different"powers" to other players.. This would help create a atmosphere of community invovlement and help create roleplay situations.

- Have a tree that relates to public and galactic policy. ie different level that offer different city faction aliegnments..example.."Oh this city is now part of the Hutt Faction, and will show up on the map as such...plus now Hutt related NPC's will spawn here for content quests as well as making it a target for the Hutts enimies.." Same could be done for imp/reb or any other number of factions. Make it so a faction based city that comes under attack and if it loses the battle that would result in the current mayor LOSING xp. Now the mayor must work to get the citizen base involved in the of the city. Make the "faction" a city belongs to auto TEF to oppossing factions.... ie reb/imp citizens in a declared reb/imp city would always be "overt" while in the city. THis type of city would get certain perks...ie citizens of an imp city would get a FP discount on purchases in that city...but in return the citizens do offer themselves up to more PVP. This would increase the Star Warsy feel of this game 200%

-Have a final tree that lets the mayor control what actions take place in their city...maybe a city is puratain and the language filter is always on...maybe the city is violent and players can engauge other players on a whim....maybe the city is totally peaceful and no combat can be initiated by a player in public areas. etc..

Right now being a mayor is a burden without any real use.Even the egotists who proclaim,"oh its my city, I build it... I am the ruler....blah..blah...blah" will become just as bored as the rest of those striken with the foul disease of "mayordom" when they realize the title confers no power or ability.

Shoot out some thoughts!!!

Varnax Despin

Free Haven

Sorry, I don't agree with any of this - 1 star I'm afraid to addto yourcollection

I find the role rewarding as part of my Role Playing approach to the game - SWG is an MMO RPG, not an arcade game.

Being Mayor adds a level of depth to the game and helps to make it enjoyable for many.

The city I run, Darkfire, has had over 5500 visitors this week and each evening the Cantina is full of people who have come to enrich their gaming pleasure by avoiding people who play this game like an arcade game, and approach it in the way it should be - an opportunity to Role Play in the Star Wars universe. We have nearly 100 residents who obviously agree, and get a lot of enjoyment from being in the environment.

More importantly, if you and your friends don't have what it takes to be a politician, then don't tell us about it -WE REALLY DON'T CARE- go and do something else or buya different game - there a wide range of professions available, and no one has been forced to do any of them!

Some people will get their fun killing things, others by interacting with others - being a Mayor lets me do both!

Yours,

"Duke" Duvivier,

I am sorry that you dont agree with any of my ideas or statements. I do however appriciate a reply rather than just a silent 1 star.

Congrats on your city, it sounds great. I am glad your city is thrivingand your cantina is sobusy ...I am curious what skill lvl gives the mayor an official visitor head count? or do you stand outside and write down the name of every person who comes to town?

Question: Outside of the title over your characters head and the ability to place objects in your city? what has the politician class given you to enhance your game that was not already there?

Many cities had operational cantinas and medcenters before the PC went life...they just looked like houses for some reason... All the additions, registering on the map, placing civic buildings, etc.. are all surface items with to real depth.

You are right about 1 thing, its the players that create vibrant atmosphere. I thought,I guess foolishly, that the politician class should enhance the players ability to RP etc...not just give them a few newbuildings to play with.

Varnax Despin

Free Haven

VarnaxDespin, I orginally started as my cities mayor before offically turning the job over to another guild member. I agree though, this branch should have a lot more to offer. Maybe even allowing the Mayor to customize building shapes and color. I enjoy interacting with everyone in my city but thats all this profession seems to give. Maybe I was expecting more from it after they made us wait this long for it. Maybe now that citywarn is gone it has taken more away with it then the Devs orginally thought.

The idea behind this profession is great but it needs more things added in. 100% agree

>> that the politician class should enhance the players ability to RP

The point you are missing - and will probablyl never get - is that it doesn't take any in game skill level to "enhance a player's ability to RP".

Reroll me a newbie characterl, novice any profession (235/250) skill points used, and I could play that character happily for a month without ever taking another skill. I'd guarantee you that dozens of people (in whatever city I chose to live in) would know who I was and something about me.

They'd be willing to go to bat for me and defend me against the "bad critters" on the city's borders.

Varnax,

I agree that as a class on it's own there are not a lot of things to do. Duke Delano Duvivier is really missing the point. your post after his should help me a little.

Here are the things i've found exciting(good and bad about it so far.

The hour before an election and several people leave the city and you're one short to next lvl.

The election itself win or lose.

getting to place xp points

gaining new things to add to the city.

showing off your new additions to the city

receiving complements on new additions

receiving complements from people not living in your city

all but the last two happen within 24 hours, then you wait a week to get excited again.

I just wish we had more to do in-between the elections

maybe give as a way to campaiging to gain xp.

thats my 2 Imperial Credits.

Varnax -

It strikes me that your expectations for the class were set by your imagination and not by reading the FAQ before spending skill points on Novice Politician. I will apologise up front if that statement appears harsh, as it is not intended to be. Your initial remarks seem well outside the expectations I, myself, had in entering the profession. As such I find myself not nearly so dissapointed.

The tangible contributions unique to the politician are enough to satisfy me at this stage of the game. We would not have a local bank, mission terminals, or clone center near our homes were it not for the populace pulling together behind the goals of the mayor. Those cities large enough to support shuttle ports, particularly on planets such as Lok with POIs far removed from the lone starport, would have even greater tangible evidence of the contributions that player cities and their politicians can make.

But really the most rewarding element for me it is the recognition of being a mayor by people in the game who I respect. Outside of the class benefits (or lack thereof) the mayor can be a focal point for all members of the community. This may turn my chat window into a nightmare at peak times, but I can direct people to interesting locations, help them network within our community and others to find goods and services they need, give them goals (such as the acquisition of a GCW base or playing big brother to a newbie), and much much more. The reward in being a politician is being of service to the community, IMHO. If you are looking for a good rewards vs. skill point investment I would humbly submit that you might be better persuing another profession.

Please do not take any of the above as a flame. Burnout happens in all professions, and anyone with power gaming desires would be frustrated with the slow advancement and low functional rewards of this class. There are certainly times when I find it frustrating myself (how many conversations is one person supposed to be able to keep track of at once, anyway?). You may be in the wrong profession though, and better suited to just having an informal town and/or a guild, and invest your skill points in things you enjoy more.

- Acroyear

Ewach said,

The point you are missing - and will probablyl never get - is that it doesn't take any in game skill level to "enhance a player's ability to RP".

__________________________________________________________________________________

Ewach,

I agree that a proffesions skill level doesnt totally control a players RP ability...but doesoffer a sense of character. If a bounty hunter had the same skills as a marksman, only with a different title, they would for all intesive purposes just be a marksman. The Bounty hunter title would just be purely for a person to RP that title. As skills in all proffessions aredifferent they can have an impact on how a player RP's.

The current politician class offers the ability to place objects in a city, and choose a specilization... all other politician type activities are left in the hands of the player as they were previously before the prof. went live. The skills dont help differintiate one mayor or city from the next. IMO it would be nice if a mayor actually had some skills that wouldhave a substantive effect the political and social atmosphere in their town instead of players having to completly imagine such abilites and pretend they exist.

I an not so foolish to think a game system will create RP, but it can serve to enhance it. Give players more options and freedoms in how they can customize their towns in ways other than decorationis all I am saying.

Varnax Despin

Free Haven, Valcyn

Acroyear,

I think he has a very valid point. His suggestions sound very interesting also.

I don't think i understand your point. Are you suggesting that they not make any changes to the class? You don't want to develope the class and give us more things to do?

help me understand.

---

VarnaxDespin wrote:

"Duke" Duvivier,

Question: Outside of the title over your characters head and the ability to place objects in your city? what has the politician class given you to enhance your game that was not already there...?

---

Well, thanks for your response - let me articulate some of the benefits I have seen, and why I think that your argument is too simplistic.

First of all,NO profession in this game is a standalone profession - it has been designed to allow us to mix and match skill-trees from different professions.

This gives those players with an interest in doing so a chance to have a main profession and a complimentary profession - Politician is only ever going to be a support profession. If you already enjoy the game and the profession you have, Politician may support this.

In my case, I am a Master Merchant... being a Politician allowed me to put a shuttleport near my shop! The result? 5500 visitors in the first week, each paying 100cr towards the City funds and an average of 200cr to my personal funds through additional purchases. It has enhanced my main profession in this regard in a way that NO OTHER profession could.

Secondly, it has MASSIVELY enhanced the role-playing element and, as I keep reminding people, this is an RPG, not an arcade game. RPGs do not have an end-point, nor the same 'power-up' structure of simple games- they require people to use their imagination. Let me give you 5 specific examples:

1. People need zoning rights to live in our city. To get them, they must convince myself, my wife or a member of my militia of their suitability - in role. This has lead to some very, very amusing interactions, including the person who had to admit that they were a Jedi who wanted somewhere safe to hang out (whoops!),other role-players claiming to be on the run from the galactic authorities, opposing forces trying to grief our city by sneaking in 'new' characters, etc... The role of Mayor forces people to interact with me.

2. As Mayor, there is a specific person for people around me to complain to, bring ideas to and lobby. There was a rumour that I was going to raise taxes and several people came to see me to explain why I shouldn't. If people feel that there is an individual that can provide what they need (whether it is a trainer or a mission terminal) they will naturally want to interact with that player. The role of Mayor has strengthened my character's power and authority, enhancing it. When I was a newbie with a CDEF, getting people to call me Duke was hard!

3. The CitizenMail function provides a powerful function to drive RP storylines and content - how else could you email a group of 100 people who might be in opposing factions, different guilds and different places? This ability is FUNDAMENTAL to RPing. The role of mayor helps to drive interaction between players and a stronger sense of community than just a Guild could be including a wider range of players.

4. The Militia function also provides many opportunities for interaction and fun. We have used it on about 5 occasions, and in each case there were at least 10 people watching and cheering as a 'villain' was driven out of town or killed. The role of Mayor has given other players (the militia) another 'profession' that they find fun and exciting... (they'd better not take it out!)

5. Introducing variety and contentinto the game... I decided to start Darkfire right in the middle of Tatooine near the Squill Caves, 5k from the nearest city, on a rocky mountain range! Some people thought it was madness and said that no one would live there... We now have 100 residents! The very existence of Darkfire has fundamentally changed Tatooine and the way that players play. We get newbies who run 5000m through Squill and Tusken Raiders because they are bored of faceless cities around the existing newbies towns, and wanted to live in a different landscape where there wasALWAYS someone in the Cantina, and where we have houses overlooking valleys and ravines. The role of mayor has allowed me to introduce new content into the game - which is the sign of a great MMORPG. No other profession would let you do this.

Thirdly, it has given me and the people who live with me in Darkfire a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Darkfire started as a two houses that my friends and I could not leave as we were surrounded by Squill, Tuskens and Alkharan Bandits... Sometimes my friends will just say - 'how did we do it?! It's amazing...' No other profession gives you a chance to achieve someone that impacts so many other players.

SWG suffers from having a attracted a huge number of people who have never played an RPG before, and who were expecting something different. Those people will get with the programme, or leave!

In five years time, players like me will still be here, realising that a true MMORPG is only partly driven by functions and code, and the the bulk of the fun comes from other players.

The huge amount of negativity on these boards shows, unfortunately, the people like you are waiting for the Devs to give you something that blows you away... you have not yet understood that the Devs can only facilitiate that - the rest has to come from you.

I hope that helps, and I say again... If you do not want to be a mayor, don't become one. Don't criticise those who are getting enjoyment for it. And please don't spend your energy bashing the Devs at SOE who have done, and continue to do, a fantastic job with little acknowledgement from their customers.

Finally - come and visit Darkfire - you might just like it!

Yours,

I think he has a very valid point. His suggestions sound very interesting also.

I don't think i understand your point. Are you suggesting that they not make any changes to the class? You don't want to develope the class and give us more things to do?

help me understand.

Actually I think you have got the point quite well, but I can see where you might need to hear it a different way. I do not think we need anything beyond the bug fixes to the profession. A bazaar might be nice, but I'm not going to call for a revamp of the skill tree over that.

I'm busy enough, thanks. If the Devs put in a few more structures with interesting functions I would not complain, but I have to say I've already got a full plate and I really do not need much more.

We've got around 35 residents in my town. I log in and my chat window usually has a few remarks from folks already, and a number of emails waiting for me, and that is above and beyond my tailor/artisan business, my harvester runs, my factional missions, and those Binarye Pirate base missions I love pulling from our local mission terms. I rarely get time to run those, or the factional missions, because I am very very busy being the mayor. And it isn't just roleplaying the part of a mayor, it is actually overseeing the development of the town and helping its citizens achieve their personal and group goals. Demonstrating leadership, as it were. There is nofeature in the developer bag of tricks that is going to make me any more effective at that.

My plate is full. I'm very surprised to hear another mayor say they need anything more to do, or that they want more from the profession. Perhaps my citizens simply have more demanding expectations of me. I can hardly make it out of town limits to do a harvester run from time to time without getting called back to attend to some matter. My average daily in-game time is about seven hours a day and I am busy that whole time.

That is about the best I can do, SithGauntt, to make anyone understand where I am coming from. Perhaps you could help me to see your position though. I mean, really, where do you find any spare time to be bored?

- Acroyear

Duke,

in response to your points:

-Placing a shuttle nxt to your vendor and making access to your wares convient, is a great. For the cities that are long distances away from existing NPC shuttleports this makes the game more enjoyable as there is better/quicker access andthus more time to focus on other things. I never disputed this.

-Zoning rights are a means of controling a cities development. They give players "real" power to inact policy and create a flavor for their town.This isexactly the types of abilities I would like to see more of in the class as stated in my original post.

-A title does not force anyone to interact if it grants few or limited powers..I know many mayors on the Valcyn server that had this same RP interaction without the title prior to the patch.

-People will call you duke, respect you, or any other number of possiblities with or without the title. The title does not makeplayers respect/awe etc..unless the title confers some real power to the individual playing it. As of now I see the politicians power as very limited.

-You said, "The role of mayor helps to drive interaction between players and a stronger sense of community than just a Guild could be including a wider range of players." The role of mayor was around before the politician class went live...at least on my server. People have been playing this role since the day Archs started popping out homes. The title mayor doesnt make this happen, people interacting does.

-You said, "The role of Mayor has given other players (the militia) another 'profession' that they find fun and exciting... (they'd better not take it out!)" These types of events have also been taking place prior to the politician class going live.

I am glad you are proud of "your" city, I am equelly proud of the city/community I am involved with. And to be fair, I did not criticise you or any other mayor for the enjoyment or lack their of I might percieve in this class.

I thought I was offering some positive ideas on how to enrich a proffession thats powers only appear to focussedon the infrastruture of acity. I think it would be nice if a mayor could run on issues that could then could be inacted, rather than RP all issues and pretend solutions then exist.

If you think I am bashing the dev's you are wrong, I find this game to offer much more possibility than any other I have seen, in regards to a player being able to perform actions and do as they will. That does not mean it cant be better..IMHO the politician class can be alot better.

Take care,

Varnax Despin

Free Haven, Valcyn

I know where the original poster is coming from. Back when the Politician skill was being discussed pre-release, there were a lot of other things that came along with it, such as asassination skills (for Political asassinations) and bonuses to combat (which became Squad Leader). The original idea for the Politician class really did include "stuff to do". I never even considered becoming a Mayor for either of the listed things, and I'm far from bored and love my job very much, but yes, it could have something else to make it more "lively" for when the work is done.

~~Shabhaii, Mayor of Tombra, Naboo
www.cityoftombra.com
The REAL BT
"The FS system only rewards the Veruca Salt's of the MMO world . . . not the Charlie's"