Tailor 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.

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.

Now you folks are probably thinking, what the hell does this have to do with us? Well it's really quite simple, if someone changes from one species to another they might need a completely new wardrobe. After all someone going from human to wookie is going to have to get rid of all their old stuff. Also when someone wants to change their species it usually means they want an all new image so even though they can wear all their current clothing they might want to still buy a few new outfits. In many cases a species change is wanted when someone wants to go for a new profession and benefit from the innate species skill mods. Either way you look at it though, they'll probably want new clothes and that means more bussiness for you folks.

Sounds good to me. I think the idea doesn't have any real game mechanics flaws--the question would be of it fitting in the SW universe... I'm sure this is discussed in the above-linked thread.

As for tailoring business, I'm sure it would be a boon. Are any tailors really having a hard time GETTING business? I never have...

-ave, master