Unlike other MMOs, there should be the capability to switch between the 2 factions. Why? It just makes sense to fit in with the lore.
In WoW or CoH or WAR you have to choose your faction at character creation. You are either the good guys, or the bad guys. And that's it. This determines your story, your classes, your abilities, your racial home and the other players you will be playing with for the rest of your MMO life. Obviously you can change your mind and re-roll on the opposite faction, but this means you have to start from day one as a brand new character with no story, no equipment, no nuffin.
Throughout the Star Wars lore, there are many accounts of Jedi who fell to the Dark side (obviously the most famous is Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader) and almost the same number of Sith turning back to the light (Darth Vader again)! So for me, it only makes sense that in a KOTOR MMO, you are allowed to change your faction allegiance.
Now that is a pretty big commitment and shouldn't be done easily or off a whim. When you're leveling up, you should gradually gain more enemies on the opposite faction and more allies on the faction you're aiming towards. So how then do you suddenly make your enemies like you and trust you?
I think at some point you have to make a definite decision. Lets say you're a Jedi who wants to go bad, you have to swear yourself through a commitment to the causes of the Dark path to a Sith Lord.
Now there are those Sith who are still not going to trust you. And why would they? You've been killing them off for the past few years and now you want to be BFF with them? Ha! You should now have to do menial tasks for them to work your way up the ranks.
There may even be times when headstrong Sith want to kill you. If you fight them back, that might improve your score with the Jedi again so what do you do? I think you should submit to them. Allow them to beat you down for a bit until they can see that you are worthless and truly non-aggressive toward them. With the Sith it is a little different because you can still kill Sith and become one yourself, but if you're trying to become a Jedi and you're attacked by one (who doesn't know better), then you definitely have to submit to them.
I think turning from one side to the other has MASSIVE story line and game play potential and that's what BioWare have said they're all about. My idea needs tweaking but I think it's definitely do-able.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Different Level Caps
In an effort to keep force users much more powerful than the average clone I see 2 choices:
Like most MMORPGs, they could have the same level cap for all classes. Lets say there is a bounty hunter class and the level cap is 50. They would have to make sure that in a one-on-one fight, a level 50 Jedi should beat the same level bounty hunter 9 times out of 10. This is a simple balancing (or not in this case) issue. They just make the level 50 bounty hunter less powerful than a level 50 jedi. This might cause some problems with PvE levelling. Does that mean that a level 20 bounty hunter is killing mobs at level 20 whereas a level 20 Jedi is killing level 25 mobs? Or that the bounty hunter can only take on mobs of level 15 when they're level 20?
Balancing in WoW was always a hot topic and Blizzard is constantly shifting figures and abilities to attempt to make the classes perfectly balance. For a good long time, the Warlock was always known as one of the better (or should it be easier?) PvP classes. Even though all classes should be equal, inevitably not all are.
On the other hand, what if each class has a maximum level cap they can reach? Before you even pick your character at creation, it tells you what the level cap is for each one. For example, a Jedi or Sith might be level 50, a bounty hunter might be level 40 and other basic soldiers would be a mere level 20. This would make the game certainly interesting. Like I mentioned in a previous article, it would be great if regular soldiers could "blend in" to the thousands of other AI controlled soldiers. And having a level cap so much lower than the powerful classes may give players incentive to level up a couple of soldier classes for different gameplay. A player might spend 80% of their time on a Jedi getting to 50 and spend the other 20% reaching the level 20 cap for a soldier class. They may want a few different level 20 soldier classes for different things. One might be a sniper class, another might be an expert in engineering and another in rocket launchers. Then with your guild, you can do a soldier class raid an evening or two a week where you all jump on your alt classes and attempt to beat up a couple of Jedi "bosses". This could be a PvE raid or even a heavily weighted PvP scenario.
Level 50 Jedi on the other hand would find it extremely easy and rewarding to plow through masses of level 20 soldiers and may find that it takes 30 soldier classes to take them down. They also have to have a slower respawn time (in PvP) than solider classes to make it more fair.
Like most MMORPGs, they could have the same level cap for all classes. Lets say there is a bounty hunter class and the level cap is 50. They would have to make sure that in a one-on-one fight, a level 50 Jedi should beat the same level bounty hunter 9 times out of 10. This is a simple balancing (or not in this case) issue. They just make the level 50 bounty hunter less powerful than a level 50 jedi. This might cause some problems with PvE levelling. Does that mean that a level 20 bounty hunter is killing mobs at level 20 whereas a level 20 Jedi is killing level 25 mobs? Or that the bounty hunter can only take on mobs of level 15 when they're level 20?
Balancing in WoW was always a hot topic and Blizzard is constantly shifting figures and abilities to attempt to make the classes perfectly balance. For a good long time, the Warlock was always known as one of the better (or should it be easier?) PvP classes. Even though all classes should be equal, inevitably not all are.
On the other hand, what if each class has a maximum level cap they can reach? Before you even pick your character at creation, it tells you what the level cap is for each one. For example, a Jedi or Sith might be level 50, a bounty hunter might be level 40 and other basic soldiers would be a mere level 20. This would make the game certainly interesting. Like I mentioned in a previous article, it would be great if regular soldiers could "blend in" to the thousands of other AI controlled soldiers. And having a level cap so much lower than the powerful classes may give players incentive to level up a couple of soldier classes for different gameplay. A player might spend 80% of their time on a Jedi getting to 50 and spend the other 20% reaching the level 20 cap for a soldier class. They may want a few different level 20 soldier classes for different things. One might be a sniper class, another might be an expert in engineering and another in rocket launchers. Then with your guild, you can do a soldier class raid an evening or two a week where you all jump on your alt classes and attempt to beat up a couple of Jedi "bosses". This could be a PvE raid or even a heavily weighted PvP scenario.
Level 50 Jedi on the other hand would find it extremely easy and rewarding to plow through masses of level 20 soldiers and may find that it takes 30 soldier classes to take them down. They also have to have a slower respawn time (in PvP) than solider classes to make it more fair.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Light, Dark and Grey?
This is something that got me thinking the other day. Generally there are only 2 factions in most games (WoW, WAR, CoH etc) and it seems like a KOTOR MMO game will go this way too (Light and Dark side of the force) but what if, just what if there was a third faction: Neutral?
On second thoughts, I dont like the term Neutral for my 3rd faction - it implies they're passive, so I'll use Grey for the purpose of my imaginary idea.
The light side are generally here to bring peace and unity to the galaxy, the dark side is trying to rule with an iron fist but the grey faction is out for themselves. They have no cares for the light side nor for the dark. It might consist of bounty hunters, illegal traders and gamblers, and any races that just dont care for the affairs of others like Tusken Raiders or Jawas. I'm sure there are a load of people out there who would love to play as a Jawa!
I dont know if you'd start off on a faction from the very beginning or if you would have to strive to work towards one and I'm not entirely sure how you would strive towards a faction that is by their very nature selfish?
Maybe these grey area races would simply be represented by a reputation system (in a simlar, but hopefully better manner as WoW) where the more you do for them, the more they like you and conversely the more you are against them, the more aggressive they become towards you.
So I just thought I'd throw this idea out there to see what you thought. It's probably never going to happen in the KOTOR universe and it may very well be a good thing, but hey, that's what blogging is for - to allow me to say whatever is on my mind! Go Jawas!
On second thoughts, I dont like the term Neutral for my 3rd faction - it implies they're passive, so I'll use Grey for the purpose of my imaginary idea.
The light side are generally here to bring peace and unity to the galaxy, the dark side is trying to rule with an iron fist but the grey faction is out for themselves. They have no cares for the light side nor for the dark. It might consist of bounty hunters, illegal traders and gamblers, and any races that just dont care for the affairs of others like Tusken Raiders or Jawas. I'm sure there are a load of people out there who would love to play as a Jawa!
I dont know if you'd start off on a faction from the very beginning or if you would have to strive to work towards one and I'm not entirely sure how you would strive towards a faction that is by their very nature selfish?
Maybe these grey area races would simply be represented by a reputation system (in a simlar, but hopefully better manner as WoW) where the more you do for them, the more they like you and conversely the more you are against them, the more aggressive they become towards you.
So I just thought I'd throw this idea out there to see what you thought. It's probably never going to happen in the KOTOR universe and it may very well be a good thing, but hey, that's what blogging is for - to allow me to say whatever is on my mind! Go Jawas!
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