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SWG..How Jedi should be selected
Sonictempal
Member Posts: 55
Completeing 5 professions is how it was when i first started SWG...I never liked that and often thought some sort of random selection would be as true to the story as possible. Granted alot of players would hate not being in control of their Jedi future, but random selection would make a jedi truly special. Just curious what others think the best method would be.
Comments
You know, there were a whole lot of theories as to how one became a jedi when the game launched.
Some believed that you had to tip people a certain amount.
Some believed that you had to have a certain number of badges.
Most, believe it or not, thought that the CSRs and Devs would go incognito in the world looking for friendly people, helpful people, people who got into character, and people that acted like a jedi should.
...And you know what? This belief, I suspect, was one of the things that made it a great place to play. Because people were always wondering if "God was watching," ie, the Devs were observing, and they didn't want to do anything that would upset them.
When it became a rote grind, people became assholes. Why? Because being good takes you away from the grind.
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"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
i liked the idea of the village and the whole force sensitive aspect of it
you needed some ammount of badges
also explored some ammount of POIs
mastered 1 basic and 1 normal profession
and randomly maybe a few hours later or few days later an old man would come up to you and give you a quest that takes you to "the village"
you then did some quest and you became force sensitive (an extra set of skill points and skills you could place points in related to your field)
like a crafter would place points in increasing quality of the stuff you build using the force subconciously)
then you would get 1 quest every month (1 chance to finish the quest)
after 3 quests (3 months of not failing or abandoning the quest) you became a padawan
a padawan was still weaker than master professions and had a lightsaber TEF (temporary enemy flag, off topic: god i loved the TEF system in SWG) if someone saw you weilding the lightsaber (imperial or rebel or neutral) you became hostile to them.
the jedi xp was cut 1/3 and dying made you loose xp. after you finished the 4 padawan trees (instead of master padawan you became jedi night) you are now as a novice night as powerfull as the master professions 4 trees later becoming a master jedi you would be able to solo pvp entire groups (back then groups where made of 20 people) (all while keeping the light saber TEF against everyone (including your party)
thing is that if you died as a master you lost alot of XP, and titles where retroactive, basically you could die enough times to become a padawan. (which was better than the 3 death and its permadeath and your character became a blue glowie that could just chat walk and run, which was removed i think 4-5 months after launch)
(im not going to get into the BH system since it was broken and flawed)
i liked it for 1 reason only, you had GREAT POWER, but there was also GREAT PENALTIES
it followed the "the bigger they are the harder they fall" mentality.
I thought SoE really captured the essense of Jedi by requiring you to kill thousands upon thousand of creatures.
Seriously though I liked when it was unknown and kept people guessing. Beatnik's point about a "god-like dev" watching people was pretty cool as well.
But ultimately I'd rather there were no Jedi PERIOD. Star Wars is a rich enough universe IMO that we don't always have to have Jedi.
well technically, SWG is set between EP 4 and 5 where only very few jedi existed. i always thought all few of them should have remained NPC and hidden
at some point it became the clone wars all over again.
i never wanted to be a jedi, i just used the force sensitive to enhance my smuggling/rangerism
I liked the Village and its quests, too; but I don't think there should have been player Jedi at that point in the time line. I would have liked to see it handled more like the regular profession structure: Fill (at least) 4 Force Sensitive branches and you can become a Force Adept (in place of a master box) after undertaking a quest. There would be at least one Adept box for each of the FS branches, so the ones available to you depend on which branches you take. The Adept boxes would have a few things in common (saber weapon certification and some basic saber attacks) but otherwise would have a unique skill set (some specific skills being shared by some other Adept boxes). There would be no new skills beyond what was in the Adept box, but they would become more potent as you gained more Force XP. The death penalty would be loss of Force XP, and loss of the Adept box if it dropped too low. There would be no loss of the underlying FS branches.
There would also be no multiple tiers of sabers. Any Adept can craft one, and you get bonuses for using one that you crafted yourself. But it uses Weaponsmith experimentation, so you are better off getting a trusted Master WS to make it for you. As with Adept skills, the saber gets more potent the more Force XP you gain. Any WS can craft a saber (if given a one-use schematic by an Adept) but sabers can't be put on the Bazaar or any vendor. I'm thinking in Pre-CU terms here, so anyone can use a saber (like Han Solo on Hoth in ESB) with the usual non-certified penalties (plus you get Force XP and the TEF!).
I've always been a fan of the Original Trilogy (Prequels are laughable).
That said, I didn't mind the inclusion of playable Jedi in Pre-CU / Pre-Publish 9 terms. Back when Jedi were actually revered by the players.
But here's my "daydreaming" about Jedi in SWG. The game could've taken off with the great idea that Jedi are hunted, and take off with it. What could've been done is the following (again, more of a wishlist or dream):
1. Make Jedi more easily accessible, just like a normal profession (wait, don't shoot me yet).
2. Make Skillpoint / Skillpoint costs of acquiring higher Jedi skills and abilities much more costly.
3. Much, much larger XP requirements to progress. Remember, the Jedi Order and Academy is gone. Its member destroyed to the point of near extinction. There's not exactly established schools or Knights & Masters laying about to teach.
4. Retain Permadeath - 3 deaths and that Jedi toon is DEAD, period.
5. Power... Padawan types? Very vulnerable, "normal" Profession Masters should be able to take care of them. Knights and Masters however should be quite deadly.
6. Saber TEF and visibility to the Empire should make life as a Jedi, regardless of rank, be dangerous. The galaxy in the age of the Empire is not a safe place for their kind.
7. No Imperial Dark Jedi or whatever. Retain the key foundation of Jedi extinction and Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine being the only force users of the Empire. Maintain the Dark Side's original "purity" with these 2 characters in the Empire.
8. Related to 6: Visibility exposes the Jedi to very well paying missions for Bounty Hunters to kill Jedi. Bounty Hunters should have the best, self sufficient tools to track Jedi over longer distances and the Empire rewards those that bring down her enemies.
9. Related to 6: Visibility brings an alert to all Imperial players, Overt or Covert, on the planet, and a chance for an alert to go out to Imperials on other planets. This alert gives limited tracking of the Jedi, but lasts shorter and not as reliable as a dedicated Bounty Hunter. The best tracking is of course by Bounty Hunters or an Informant providing updates...
10. Related to 9: Informants. Imperial Coverts who receive the alert on a Jedi and actually find them and stay within relatively close proximity (within sight) can broadcast updates to the Imperial network. Imperial Coverts that never come out to fight the Jedi but whose information brings about their demise are still well rewarded. Imperial Overts are naturally engaging the Jedi target, so they too can reliably broadcast the Jedi's whereabouts.
11. Imperial Overts, players openly serving the Empire, gain a more substantial monetary and faction point reward for killing the Jedi in battle than Coverts that don't engage. What better way to show the might of the Empire with one of the Emperor's loyal men putting a blaster to a Jedi's temple and pulling the trigger?
12. Imperial Overt Officers and senior enlisted wearing uniforms or armor of the Empire can expend faction points to call in support via NPCs. Stormtroopers, Imperial Army, Planetary Security Forces, etc. They'll follow the Imperial player for a bit of time or until the Jedi is killed.
13. Getting out of view of anyone will allow the Jedi to escape Imperial pursuit, but not necessarily Bounty Hunters who have their own means of finding them.
14. A detected Jedi will randomly get the chance of Darth Vader finding out and personally seeking that Jedi out to kill them. Naturally he'd have an entourage of Imperial troops. You do NOT want to be found by Vader...
15. No Saberblocking heavy blaster shots (turrets, AT-ST, even AT-AT blasts). That was idiotic.
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The whole intent is to play both sides of Star Wars. Give the chance to play a Jedi. But going down that road will bring a very dangerous playing lifestyle. The galaxy isn't a safe place for them, and the Empire is ALWAYS watching for you. This also brings the "Thrill of the Hunt" for the Jedi, the Bounty Hunters, and any loyal Imperial.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Couldn't agree more with this. The game was great when it was all theory and mystery, noone REALLY knew how people were becoming jedi, even the ones who had were kind of clueless, it made the community probably the best in any game ever. Then it turned into a grind, and everyone went their seperate ways, avoiding friends and guilds just to grind that next profession.
Oddly, I enjoyed the game so much more when I was a sniper working for the Empire, living in my little house on Tat, next to my neighbor who was an armorsmith, and didn't give a damn about Jedi.
As soon as I started chasing the Force, the game lost it's magic, and became a chore.
No doubt.