How to swtich from light to dark (or vice versa)?

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.

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.

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!

What attracts someone to the Light or Dark side?

With this question, I dont mean the actual characters, I mean the players - us. Why do some people love to play as the good guys, fighting for justice and honour and others (like myself) love to play as the bad guys who find it amusing to torture small (in game) creatures? Obviously this is a pretty big decision in the KOTOR world as it determines your entire story arc. You had different crew members and a different ending depending on whether you chose the light side or dark side of the force.

Like I said in a previous post, I hope that we all start off on the same footing (as a neutral character) and through our decisions we end up on a different faction. So my idea is that you don't chose your faction when you create your character (like Age of Conan or Tabula Rasa) but eventually end up on a faction (in the same way as WoW or CoH/CoV) i.e. a clear divide of who is on your side and who isnt. Now as far as I'm aware, this "evolving" onto a faction hasnt been done before (correct me if you know a good example of this). I think it would work really well.

So what makes someone want to play as the good guy? I think they want to be the hero. They want to be like the heroes from all the millions of stories, movies, comics etc that they idolize and they want others to idolize them. Fortune and fame (selfish reasons) might drive some others but mainly it's because they want to be the next Superman or Luke Skywalker. Doing what is right for the good of the world / galaxy. How satisfying it must be to be sent on a mission to thwart a bad guy and beat him down / kill him / or just lock him up for the rest of his miserable unworthy life.

OK, I must admit, I found it really hard to write that last paragraph. My skin is crawling just reading it back to myself. I hate the goody goodies. They're so smarmy and just. I cant describe the number of times I've wanted Lex Luthor to shoot Superman with a Kryptonite bullet or just to be on the safe side, throw him in a Kryptonite tipped man-size blender.

So why do I want to play as the bad guy? Why did I go through both KOTORs insulting everyone and destroying anyone that got in my way? Why did I revel when instead of converting a dark jedi back to the light side, did I pursuade them to join me as my apprentice? Well partly for me it's the break from the norm. There are very few movies/games/books where the bad guys win and it gets old. I hate it that you work out the ending in the first 10 minutes of a film because the good guy is bound to win. Why wont someone make a film where the bad guy is triumpant at the end, ruling over the world as an evil tyrant? Now there's a film I'd go to see!

For others, it's simply the break from reality. In their everyday lives they are good people, acting the way society wants them to act, helping grannies across the road etc. I think that's why the GTA series has done so well. It's a completely "normal" city with buildings, cars, police and pedestrians but it allows you to do whatever the hell you want! And if that means telling the guy in the car who just gave you the one finger salute what you really think of him, then you are able to do so however you'd like.

I currently play as a Dark Templar in Age of Conan so by my characters very nature, he's meant to be dark and sadistic. Although when I'm talking to an NPC and I'm given a choice, if I chose the evil way, it hinders the storyline, sometimes making me fail the quest. I want to know what my characters life will be like if I choose the evil way and the KOTOR series allows me to do that.

I don't want to be idolized as a hero, I want to be feared and worshiped as a tyrant and Dark Lord. I can't wait to force choke, lightning and destroy the Jedi in my path.

Will everyone be a Jedi?

That is the ultimate question that seems to be on everyone's mind. There are plenty of choices available outside of the "Jedi class" as far as I can see: Manalorian and Wookie might be two examples where non-Jedi classes could be based. I, as well as many others, would love to play as a bounty hunter. The one main problem with these other classes is balance. As I said in a previous article, Force users are meant to be uber and godlike, so how can a regular joe compete with that? Jango and Boba fet put up a fair fight against the Jedi in the films and off the top of my head manage to kill at least one Jedi without breaking into a sweat. They are meant to be the most elite bounty hunters in the galaxy though. Do we really want to boost up all other classes to match a Jedi? I think we definitely do NOT want to do this. That would take away from being a Jedi. Some classes would be close and others would be further away.

If we look at the previous KOTOR games, everyone played as a Jedi. From this point alone it would make sense for everyone to play as a Jedi. Would this give enough variety though? There are plenty of skills available for Jedi to train in that includes blasters, weapon skill/damage, defense, force powers etc. Even Sith were known to heal their own wounds and raise others from the dead (healer archetype?). So there might be enough variety if everyone was a Jedi, but would everyone want to be a Jedi? Like I said before, to be the next Jango Fett with his rocket pack and batman utility belt is enough to get people's mouth watering.

Force users during the KOTOR timeline seemed to be in ample supply. And that's a good thing. I remember just starting out in KOTOR I, killing mobs on my merry way. Then you have to fight the first dark Jedi and the stakes were suddenly raised. Then later on in the game you might be faced with 2 or 3 Jedi at the same time; that was great! Playing as a dark Jedi was great fun to choke hold one while I beat the other down with my light sabre. There would definitely be no problem lore wise to have a million force users running around if the time line was set up well enough.

If we look at Star Wars Galaxies (before the combat upgrade), very few players had the chance to play as a Jedi. I know this changed a lot through the course of SWG's life but I really only wanted to mention that Jedi were unlocked. They had to complete an unknown set of criteria in order to unlock the Jedi which meant you were either very lucky or you did everything you could in the hopes you would unlock these unknown requirements. As far as I know, they did it this way to fit in with the lore. They set it between episodes IV and V where there were very few Jedi in existence.

And the last game I want to have a look at for ideas is Jedi Knight II. In one of the multiplayer modes, most people started off as normal soldiers using a variety of blasters, rifles and rocket launchers. Then occasionally you were selected to become the Jedi. You had access to all of your force abilities and your light saber and you tried to hunt down the lowly soldiers. You were more powerful when you became a Jedi but there were enough soldiers to back you up if you were against the Jedi. So what if, during the MMO, there were Jedi who were purposely overpowered but if you rolled a non-Jedi, you had a million NPC characters backing you up. This might work well in large scale PvP and especially so if you didn’t have character names over your heads. That way you would be indistinguishable from the other soldiers so any Jedi would have to cleave through random NPCs in order to work out which one you were.

As far as I know, no MMO has tried anything like my last suggestion so it is untried and tested. At the end of the day though, a KOTOR game would not be a KOTOR game if it didn’t have Jedi/Sith involved. Good luck Bioware with whatever you decide.

Why I am interested in KOTOR MMORPG

Let me be honest here. If I had to chose between Fantasy and Sci-Fi, I'd chose Fantasy. I don’t really like turn based games like the final fantasy series or Baldurs Gate. I don’t know much about the in-depth Star Wars lore. Wow, I sound like I love the KOTOR series!

OK, so I feel like I need to explain these 3 points to you...

I like sci-fi in certain circumstances. I feel like due to the massive amount of sci-fi television programs that have been made, they all end up the same cheesyness. If done correctly, sci-fi can be very good indeed. I think warhammer 40K did a very good job of making a believable space reality and so did star wars. What was it exactly about these? I don’t know, but something just works.

Turn based games drive me crazy. I hate having to wait for the opponent to react to my last attack and hate waiting for my next attack to be ready. Fortunately, KOTOR had the timing just about right for it not to feel too much like a chore every fight I got in. And there was always the ability to not stop combat if you preferred. With 3 crew members always fighting and moving around, it felt more like a real battle: frantic and unpredictable. I’m guessing that the MMO will not be turn based. It’ll be interesting to see.

I'm not one of these die-hard star wars fans that dressed up as obi-wan and camped outside the cinema when the films were released. Saying that, I love all of the films (yes, even episode 1). I've played plenty of the star wars games and enjoyed those too. Despite this, I haven’t done any novel reading to really get in the depth of the lore. I'm starting to do my background reading using Wookiepedia. I love the star wars universe for many reasons: One of which is the idea of jedi and sith. These elite individuals can be so god like and uber and have such different goals. And to make it even better, in a society that relies on long range weapons, they use hand to hand weapons! In KOTOR you had the opportunity to become one of these individuals, starting off as a regular Joe.

What struck me most about the KOTOR games was that every action you took led you down a different path. It's quite unique. I'm sure there are other games out there that have done similar things but I haven’t played them. I loved that I could be a b***ard during my conversations and that it contributed to my path. I specifically remember a quest to "help" a dark jedi. You were meant to try to woe them back to the light side but if you were so inclined, you just destroy them and your excuse was that you saw them as a threat. Love it! It was also a neat feature that eventually people started to notice that my face was messed up because I had been warped by my evil nature.

Simply put, the KOTOR way of thinking is just perfect for an MMO and I cant wait to see what they make of it. I have extremely high expectations and I hope that the game meets them.

What’s the best way to announce a game?

My guess is not to have your CEO confirm it and then for the community manager to deny that it ever happened! Well that’s what BioWare has done. In my first blog I linked the Portfolio.com interview with Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello where he gives a definite yes to the question: “Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online?” Now, if you go to the BioWare official forums you will see 30 pages worth of comments regarding the “announcement” where Chris Priestly, the Community Communications Coordinator states:

“There have recently been rumors about the BioWare MMO. Once again, these are just rumors and we do not comment on rumors.”

Interesting. What the heck is going on?

Now as it happens I know someone from a forum I frequent who says that he served the CEO of an independent gaming company at the restaurant he works at and they got talking about games. During the conversation he mentioned that he knew that KOTOR MMO was being worked on. Now this was back in November and I suppose the same sort of thing happened with Portfolio.com, the only difference being the interviewer from Portfolio.com is an interviewer from Portfolio.com!

If I was working on KOTOR MMO, I’d love to tell everyone what I was working on, especially the long time fans. Unfortunately, games companies usually have to do things by the book in the form of official announcements and Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA).

So where do BioWare go from here. Well they definitely need to do some crowd control. Speculation and distrust is going to keep going up when people on the forums specifically ask if the Chief Executive was a liar and the community coordinator says no comment over and over again. How can they not release an official statement?

Anyway, I'm going to keep blogging as though it still is official, even if it is denied. The game is too perfect not to be made into a MMO.