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Interview: Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills
harvest151
Member UncommonPosts: 217
Interview: Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills
Via: The one and only DarthHater
Interview: Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills
We caught up with Star Wars: The Old Republic's Lead Writer Daniel Erickson after last week's EA Winter Showcase and asked him to explain in his own words what the Crew Skills system is. He was gracious enough to provide us with expanded insight regarding the unique crafting system Damion Schubert hinted at during our interview with the system's lead designer.
Interview
The crafting system in Star Wars: The Old Republic we call Crew Skills is something we worked on literally for years trying to solve some of the big puzzles. There are a lot of us who are big crafting fans, including myself, but we really wanted to make sure we preserved some of the core concepts around SWTOR such as you play a hero of Star Wars. You are doing big, heroic, and exciting things. You are not sewing. You are not making shoes. You are not hanging out trying to get some thread together.
We went through a lot of versions of how we work with this, and one of the things we kept coming back to was companion characters. One of the issues with companion characters in past BioWare games has always been that you have a limited set of who you can bring in your party at one time. For most people, they pick the couple of companions they really like, and everybody else ends up back on the ship. These came together into a great kind of synergy for us and became the Crew Skills system, which is a combination of wanting crafting, but we don't want to make your character mundane and we need something for your crew to be doing. So alright, we have a perfect match.
The Crew Skills system is three sections. Gathering is going out and grabbing stuff from the environment and your typical harvesting skills, but with a Star Wars flavor. You're doing bio analysis, actually scanning things, getting DNA sequencing from things, etc. One of the interesting things when we talk about missions is that there are also missions for gathering. I can gather in three ways: I can be right there physically, and I can see something and pick it up. Or I can say, "Hey Vette -- you pick that up and I'm going to do something else" while I keep fighting.
One thing that is really fun is when you're in a combat area that is pretty dangerous, and you're able to distract someone. Let's say there is someone in the area that you couldn't normally kill; you could throw yourself into combat and fight with them to keep them off your companion character while they harvest something you wouldn't normally be able to get... and then run!
And the third way of gathering is... actually, every gathering skill comes with a mission skill for gathering. Let's say I don't have Vette and I have someone else with me; I can actually call back to my ship and say, "Hey Vette! Why don't you go find me some of this material? I don't care where you get it -- just go." So that is gathering. The second part of the Crew Skills is crafting and that is really the traditional crafting system. You have a crafting table which is on your ship. Up to five of your companions can work on it at once. You say to yourself, "I have all the components I need. I now want to make something. But I'm not going to make it -- my companions are going to make it."
Interview: Daniel Erickson on Crew Skills - Crew Skills Part 2
Each of your companions has different bonuses to all the Crew Skills, so some of the companions are better at different things and your Affection Rating with them can actually adjust that as well. I look through my stuff and say, "Today I'm taking Companion Number One with me. So Companion Number Two, you're going to work on this thing."
All of the Crew Skills have different timing for them. I'll talk about that more when we talk about Missions because it is important to remember this is not something that you are going to click, wait ten seconds, and then click again. We're not sitting around spamming anything. You're going to make a big item... you're going to do something... it is going to take hours. But you're not impacted by this -- you're going off to do something else. Your companion character though is now hooked up with this.
The third part is the mission system, and this is where it really gets different for us. The mission system is the ability to take several different Crew Skills, and we talked about a couple of them, so I'm going to talk about those but there are a bunch of them and each of them does something different. The two we talked about today were Diplomacy and Treasure Hunting. And this is the ability to say, "I have Diplomacy. I'm going to open up my menu. I'm going to look through my Diplomacy skills." Each one of them is a different story or idea.
We're going to say I'm Dark side... what Diplomacy does is get you Light side and Dark side points. It is spreading your influence out in the greater galaxy by your people. I'm playing Dark side, I'm playing an Inquisitor; in my mind I'm already the Emperor. I'm going to take my companion characters and sort of spread my wrath. I find a Diplomacy mission... I look through them... that is a Light side one. I don't want that. Ah, here we go. There is a minor governor of a smaller system that is refusing to capitulate to the Empire. I'm going to call Kim Vaal. I'm going to say, "Hey Dashade, why don't you go, um... convince him?"
I'm going to look at how much time it takes, and the great thing with missions is that they can go from five minutes to about 23 hours depending on what they are doing. And you are kind of taking a risk because you don't know... obviously, the more time it takes, the bigger possible reward. But every mission you do has variables on the rewards, and the ability to basically crit on the reward. You might get something incredibly amazing and there is sort of a scale of it. So I'm going to send him off.
Treasure Hunting is a different one, and unsurprisingly, is about loot. Vette is a treasure hunter when we meet her and she has a bonus for it. I'm a Sith Warrior and I want stuff. I'm going to send her out... but I'm going to need her in about ten minutes because I'm about to go run a group with my friends, but they aren't online and I'm waiting around. So I'm going to say, "Hey Vette, go see what kind of loot you can get for me in five minutes. Alright, scoot!" Because at least we're doing something. It gives you an ability to one, keep all of your companion characters going; and two, have something to do.
The big hits are you don't have to be at the ship to do it -- they're back on the ship. You don't have to be online to do it. Even if you are busy and you can't come in for a few days, it is going to make sense to log in for five minutes, go through your stuff, put everyone on 23 hour missions or 23 hour crafting pieces, and then sending them out. And for people who are traditionally not crafters and not excited about that stuff, the mission system still gives them something they can do. They can take all mission skills instead, and that doesn't involve quite the complexity and discipline that maybe traditional crafting would.
Comments
In the games I play, I enjoy the crafting element. This? I don't know, it sounds new and fresh and, honestly, excitiing. I'm not sure about the idea of them thinking that players don't want downtime though. Sometimes, I just feel like gathering mats and it sounds like I might have the option to do some limited gathering. But it's not a gamebreaker for me if I can't gather and craft like I normally would. They make it sound like you truly are some epic person with underlings following you around doing anything you ask.
It would be kinda cool if you sent one of your companions that you don't have a lot of influence with out on a diplomacy mission and they came back and said "Meh, it didn't work out like you hoped. Maybe if I like you better I would have tried harder." Now that, that would make for some interesting situations.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
it sounds like the last mission of ME2, only totally separate from what you're doing. you basically pick the right person to send and off they go, aside from that there is seems to be no player skill element in this.
Or am i missing something? Like, given that we're using the same companion, is it possible for me to better at doing diplomacy missions than someone else?
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Well, in truth, most crafting and gathering doesn't take skill at all, it usually just takes time. As for diplomacy missions, some characters will be better at diplomacy then others, but as stated the more experience they have at these missions the better the outcome will be. If you constantly have your diplomacy characters out working on that skill, then yes you could very well be much better at diplomacy then someone else. In that sense we have a broader range of missions that these characters can run, and bonuses on top of that for each character.
I don't know for certain but its doubtful these companion skills will be pooled. Meaning if we have 1 companion with a bonus to gathering that we have gathering pretty much the entire time, they may skill up in that and bring back a bunch of stuff. But if we are trying to increase our efforts we may want 2 or 3 companions gathering different materials at a time, so in that respect I think we can see some complexity in the way the system could possibly be implemented.
A straight crafter might have all companions gathering and crafting repeatedly, while someone else might stick to diplomacy, or try treasure hunting to increase the amount of random rewards or diplomatic influence.
Whereas it is different from regular crafting systems where you physically run and do the work, here you seem to be micromanaging your team much more closely with the opportunity of increased rewards depending on your focus.
Its the same, but different, and I actually like the sound of this system quite a bit more.
Now do we go on the missions with the companions or is it companion only? Say if we use treasure hunting, do we choose what we get or from what I am gathering from this, is it random? And what if I want to craft something specific (weapons, etc..) And won't this ruin player driven economy? and will we need a stimulus plan if it does?
In Bioware we trust!
The companions will go on missions by themselves. For instance lets say you have 6 companions. You take one with you, and send 5 on missions to do gather, or treasure hunt. You have one companion with you. While on a mission you see something you want to pick up, you send the companion with you to go do it while you keep the mob guarding it busy.
You choose what you want to craft, and what you want to gather. If you need 50 sheets of scrap, you can send someone out to collect that, though it may take a day to get it all, it keeps you from having to do it. If you needed it quicker you could probably send all your companions to get it, but that would tie them up from doing other things.
I don't think it will change the economy that much, in fact I feel it would most likely bolster it. You still need to work up your skills to craft better items, or randomly find something really good. Everybody won't be on the same playing field all the time.
In the event the economy does go south though, yes we would have to have some sort of interplanetary stimulus plan. Stimulus plans will be decided on by votes from each of the factions and then fought over in open world PvP until one side is the victor. The winning faction will then utilize their stimulus plan for the galaxy
Well played!
In Bioware we trust!
Expand the example a bit though....
You send out 5 companions to "do their thing", and you go adventuring with Vette (she's already been pointed out as the treasure hunter) you run into a Treasure Node, either you can gather it, or Vette Can.
We can speculate that:
A)Vette, since it is her speciality may get 10 items from it, where you might get 3, or she might have a higher chance to get a better quality item.
We Know:
Each companion has something they do well, so maybe Vette can do Bio-Analysis but since her specialty is Treasure Hunting, maybe she sucks at Bio.
So maybe you go adventuring with Vette, and you run across a Bio node, and you have to call to the ship to have your "Bio companion" go after it.
Maybe none of that is what happens. I would hope that there is enough of a time sink, even automated that it would be very hard for a person to excel at more than 1 or 2 types of crafting. Again, total speculation.
I think thats one of the most ingenious things about this system. Its more of a time vs quality vs quantity thing here.
If you have one companion doing each of these things, you will eventually be good at diplomacy, treasure hunting, and gathering with a specific character. That single character will be able to do that specific task very well, but your character as a whole will only really be doing something on a smaller scale.
Lets expand this to an end game scenario using the system they are talking about. (educated guesses here btw)
To make it simple we have 4 companions. One gathers, one crafts and one treasure hunts. The last companion you take with you. As you grow in level, each mission you send your companion out on will take longer and longer, as you need more materials to craft higher level items, and finding better items for higher levels will take a longer time.
So lets say in the end (max level) EVERY mission you are sending your characters out on are 23 Hour missions. (because you want to craft high level items) Production as a crafter would be extremely slow. In order to gain all required high level material you may need all of your companions gathering, but if they aren't geared for gathering at a high level they may not be able to gather the same kind of stuff in a reasonable amount of time.
It sounds like its going to be a tough judgement call for those that want to be good at one thing in particular. Crafting will still take a lot of dedication. To be a crafter ONLY, the rewards would be, creating items at 3 times the speed of someone who does a jack of all trades build. Possibly the level of items crafted as well. It sounds like a mix of SWG and Fallen Earths real-time crafting system.
A single person might be able to craft most stuff for themselves over a very long period of time, a true crafter could create very high level stuff in a very short amount of time and sell it, but be lacking in other areas like diplomacy.
It's my belief that this is a very retrograde stap by Bioware in the development of the game. I don't know whether Erickson's been badly briefed or whether he just doesn't understand how or - more importantly - why people like to craft. He's missing out the key elements that make crafting enjoyable - exploration, experimentation and the social aspect that comes with - producing and selling. It's an idiotic misstep and, for me, is another piece of evidence that Bioware, for all it's strengths and skills in other areas, fundamentally misunderstands what MMOs are about.
"It would be kinda cool if you sent one of your companions that you don't have a lot of influence with out on a diplomacy mission and they came back and said "Meh, it didn't work out like you hoped. Maybe if I like you better I would have tried harder."
And you call that "exciting"?
Actually I think they understand it quite well. They took the partial system in SWG that everyone seemed to love -- crafting without actually having to craft, and they merged it with the idea of utilizing real-time crafting which is one of the most loved parts of crafting in FE. Then they added a number of other skills that you very rarely ever see in games like diplomacy and treasure hunting.
Still you are your own diplomat, and you hunt your own treasure, but this adds to an ability that you already enjoy doing.
To you MMOs must be about long term grinding and boring repetition. I can easily see how you won't like this system in that case. Like everything else they've announced, you don't like this either. I wonder why you still bother commenting.
Yes. Should I go with Strategic Thinking for 300, or Chance to Fail for 500, Alex?
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Firstly, before you could put SWG on 'auto-craft', you had to put together the best tools, the best materials and the best schematics. To do that you had to trade, survey, explore and harvest - doing that was often dangerous and exciting. Then once you had experimented, you could build a schematic - then you could programme your factory to build a limited run of that schematic. After that, the schematic was exhausted and the crafting process began once more.
Secondly, in this game, there is no crafting. There's just orders you give to your NPC stooges. You don;'t explore, you don't survey, you don't even harvest or mine. You don't even have to leave your spaceraft.; It's a joke.
Thirdly, this is a free forum and we're allowed to draw our own conclusions about whether a game is good or bad, whether you're going to go ahead and buy it or whether it's going to turn out to be one of the greatest fiascos in MMO gaming on which no-one should waste a dime.
Well said!
I love all the "OMG, this is just WoW with a Jar Jar skin" comments, yet when they announce something different, people flip to "OMG, thats the bestest part of <insert game>".
Personally, I hate crafting. If I'm bored, I explore. I know others who ONLY craft, and I hope this system, when viewed in its entirety, pleases them too. But until I see it ALL, I won't pass judgement.
Just because you don't do the crafting yourself doesn't mean theres no crafting. Players actually can gather materials when they are out in the world, or physically send their companions to do so in real-time. Perhaps you missed that in the interview. Secondly there is crafting in the same way there has always been crafting. You are still skilling up your crafting by actually forcing NPCs to craft. They won't automatically do this without you. Its almost the exact same system in FE, you set your items to craft and forget about it for however long and when its ready, you complete it and start another one.
You don't have to leave your starship if you don't want to, but if you never leave your starship you won't have any companions to begin with, so thats a problem in itself. Once you get your companions, you might not ever have to leave your starship, but if all you are going to do is craft then why would you anyways? In other games you just sit around doing the same repetition anyways, leaving only to gather materials -- which you still have the option of doing in this game. Not really a stretch there.
The system in TOR sounds really great. Your companions are literally extensions of yourself. They are not only your extra arms and legs, but they can also be your conscience and your survival tool. It compounds on systems just barely prevalent in other games and makes it into something truly unique to this title.
And, lastly you can spend your time however you want. I don't know why you want to continue to try and bash a game you obviously can't, won't, and don't understand, but you are entitled to your own opinions. I'm always happy to give my opinions on your opinions, so I'll always have that I suppose.
lol that picure. When you look at you think duh duh duh!!! dramatic chipmunk look
Which one? (and it can't be Star Wars)
The one of Daniel Erickson
/facepalm lol. Click the link above
I knew I left it too ambiguous.
As a fairly dedicated crafter i'm personally looking forward to this system. Sounds interesting. Gathering sounds like if you want basic mats you set up your companions to auto harvest but the rarer stuff you will need to find it on your own and gather it which would make me happy as i like to explore off the beaten track. Hopefully the crafting designs are more modular in nature.
Wonder if we can equip our companions with specific gear to help them harvest/craft/diplomacy. Maybe build droids to help them in their tasks.
After reading this, I like companions more. The only issue I have with companions right now is pvp related. I am still not sold on companions in pvp.