My Revamp of Star Wars GalaxiesFollow

First, I would like define the term "Role-Playing Game," and what it means to me. To me, almost every video game on the market today is a Role-Playing Game. This is because in most current Video Games a player assumes the "Role" of a Character. A roleplaying game does not necessarily need to be defined by Statistics and number crunching combat. I believe Star Wars Galaxies deserves the PVP combat and gameplay style of a game akin to SOCOM, or even Lucasarts own upcoming Star Wars-Battlegrounds. That being said, I would also like to say there is no reason NOT to have stats and experience points and traditional video game RPG elements. I'm just trying to say it is not required, and a good development team should have that in mind. And now, on to my ideas for SWG. I apologize in advance if any sound like delusions of grandeur.


Overall Gameplay and Combat

As stated above, the gameplay style of SWG should be switched over from a RPG style turn-based approach, and given a faster-paced action game feel. This would allow success in combat to be the outcome of a players skill more so than just numbers vs. numbers combat. The game should play alot like a 3rd person action game seen on many console platforms. Squaresoft's "Kingdom Hearts" comes to mind as an applicable example of the gameplay style I am trying to get across.
A player should never have instant access to every single ability he has. Though realistic, it is an exceedingly unbalancing form of gameplay, unless every single ability is balanced in such a way so that it works out fine. It is much easier, a little more strategic, and creates player creativity when a player is limited to what abilities he can use. A player should have only up to 8-10 abilities macro'd at any given time. A player can use any ability they have learned, regardless of profession, as long as the requirements to use the ability have been met.
Also, in regards to the passive abilities of Professions, players should also be limited to which they can use. Once again, a player can set a specific number of passive abilities they have previously learned.
The HAM bar should also be changed, though only in it's usage. The stats should stay and work just the way they do now, however, only the Health Bar should ever count towards incapacitation. The Action and Mind bars should be used as Magic Points are used in a Fantasy type game. Your Action pool will only ever decrease when you use a Phyically challenging ability, and Mind should only ever decrease when you use any mentally challenging ability. Also, Wounds and Battle Fatigue should be done away with. It is realistic, but it forces players out of combat when combat should be the whole point of SWG.
Due to the HAM bar change, weapons would lose their HAM bar costs. The abilities themselves will now have specific costs, regardless of the weapon being wielded.
For an example of a basic control setup, all combat archtypes will have a simple Attack, which can either be chained for quick combos or charged for a harder hit (unless otherwise specified), a Defensive ability (dodge for Marksman, Parry/Counter for Brawler, and Force Shield/Lightsaber deflection for Jedi [see below]), and the Burst Run ability, which will drain your Action Bar the longer you hold it down/run for. Every player also has the ability to lock onto/Auto-face a target, once again unless otherwise specified.


The Galactic Civil War, Battlefields, and PVP combat

I will admit this idea is strongly inspired by FFXI's Mission based Storyline. Star Wars Galaxies should also have a storyline. This storyline should strongly follow the story of the Star Wars Trilogy, as well as Shadows of the Empire, and, perhaps, some of the novels revolving around the fledgling New Republic, and it's role reversal with the Empire. The storyline would unfold through players completing specific missions on behalf of their Faction. The story would also unfold for players only so fast and so much as they participate in it. They should start as far back as ANH, right after the destruction of Alderaan, and continue through the end of ESB. Future expansions can do missions in the order of Shadows of the Empire, then RotJ, then any following history they might want to add. As players complete missions, their rank within their faction will rise, allowing them special perks. This will help add a true feel of interaction and importance within not only the GCW, but in the history of the Star Wars Trilogy as well.
Battlefields can be incorporated into this as well. Players may have to converge on battlefields to take part in PVE/PVP combat in order to complete a specific Mission. These would be akin to classic "Boss" Battles. After a player is successful on a Battlefield, that Battlefield is now "Unlocked," and the player can then return to participate in PVE/PVP combat. Player can earn points for kills while on a battlefield that can be turned into their faction for powerful and rare non-tradeable items.
The new action oriented gameplay of SWG will give rise to a new aspect of it's gameplay - PVP as XP combat. Players looking for XP must be flagged by a Factional NPC for PVP combat. This flag will last only until a Player chooses to shut it off, or until they are "killed." They cannot, however, turn it off while in the middle PVP combat. Players can earn combat XP anywhere in the galaxy, though the best places would have to be the Battlefields. This will add another important factor to the battlefields, as well as importance for participating in the story driven GCW. While in PVP combat, any player can be incapped three times. There is no Deathblow ability. After 60 seconds, unless a player who can revives the incapped player, the player will get back up and have a brief moment of invulnerability. After that passes they can then start fighting again. Once they have been incapped three times, they will be sent back to their cloning point with their PVP flag off. However if they are on the Battlefield, they will be sent back to the nearest Battlefield entrance, also with their PVP flag off. There is no item decay on death, nor any other punishment. A player can only gain XP when he wins combat, so losing is bad enough as it is. It also is a blow to ones ego, which one should take into consideration.

Players can also earn another form of combat XP - Mounted XP. This will come from players winning PVP battles while riding landspeeders and Speederbikes/Swoopbikes. As players earn Mounted XP they can learn different maneuvers to use while riding and fighting on a Speeder.

This idea can also be incorporated into the Space expansion, where players would earn Space Combat XP. They to could then learn maneuvers and abilities for their fighters, and also be flagged for different ships and weapons.


Factions

SWG should implement a third faction, the Black Sun. Though never overtly seen throughout the films, the criminal syndicate is there. Having a third faction would help balance servers that are either too many Rebels or too many Imperials. The Imperials will always be at war with the Rebels and the Black Sun, Rebels vs. Imps and Black Sun, and Black Sun vs. Rebels and Imps.
From a Role-Playing vantage point, the Black Sun wants the war to continue, for if it does they can rake in millions of credits through illegal arms smuggling and the ilk. So if they are at the top on a server, it means they are basically playing the Rebels and Imperials like puppets for their own gain. They don't want the order of the Empire, nor the law of a newly formed Republic, but will certainly seek to exploit both.
Players should also choose their Factions at the point of character creation, and only after many trials will they be able to switch to another faction if they so choose. Faction Points should remain, and should be awarded to players for finishing missions from your Faction as well as killing any players of an opposing faction.


Professions

The game should focus more on self-sufficiency in PVP combat on a one for one basis, with an emphasis on a players skill being the over-riding factor of such things as "God" templates. Grouping should come from a need for survivability in a PVP world. SWG's gameplay should not be handled like a traditional MMORPG, i.e. Tank, Support, Healer, Nuker.
For my idea, a player must choose a Primary Archtype, and a Secondary Archtype. A player can then only learn the Professions of these two archtypes, the third will be alien to them. Professions from the Secondary Archtype will never be as powerful as the Primary, but will supplement nicely.
Because of the limit on macroable Abilities and Passive abilities, the 250 point system can be diregarded.
The same system of purchasing abilities from the skill tree will remain, only now a player can learn everything available to them. A player is also never to be considered to be any one specific Profession. They can however choose one of many titles awarded to them, like the current system.
At the character creation screen, after a character is created, a player has only 3 choices for Professions. These Professions will act as the archtypes for the professions and skills they can learn. These three would be Brawler (Melee Archtype), Marksman (Ranged Combat Archtype), and Scout (Support Archtype).

--The Melee Archtype

The archtype of warriors and frontline fighters throughout the galaxy. These sturdy professionals are meant to get in close and get the job done. Their abilities rely heavily on the Action Bar.

-Brawler - learns the basic modes of fighting hand to hand and with Melee weapons.
-Knifemaster - Skilled in the realm of knives and daggers for combat use. Has high speed but low damage. Can also dual wield for greater effect.
-Swordsman - Skilled in the realm of 1 and 2 handed swords. Have a medium speed of attack and medium attack damage.
-Pikeman - Skilled with various forms of polearms, staves, scythes, etc. Has a slow rate of attack but high damage output, and can swing their weapons to hit multiple enemies at once for less damage.
-Teras Kasi - learned in the killing arts of Hand to hand combat. Uses the body itself as a weapon. Has a fast hit rate, and medium damage

--The Ranged Archtype

Attacking from a distance, they rely less on physical prowess and more on distance. As such, they are not as strong or sturdy as a melee combatant. Depending on the ability used, they will use either the Action Bar or the Mind Bar.

-Marksman - learned in various ranged weapons combat.
-Pistoleer - learned in short range blaster combat. Fast hit rate but low damage. Can dual wield pistols for greater effect.
-Carbineer - Skilled in medium range firearms. Medium hit rate, Medium damage. Can burst shot multiple players at once for less damage, or precision shoot a single player for more damage.
-Rifleman - Snipers and Assassins of the game. Deal great damage from a distance, but can be easily defeated if discovered and put into short range combat. Also has a slow rate of fire.
-Commando - master of the heavier ranged weapons of the game. Has a slow rate of fire, can deal medium to high damage to a group of players, but must get into short range to do so.

--The Support Archtype

Not versed in the realm of combat, but designed more to supplement the combat archtypes. If chosen as a Primary Archtype, the character will see very little frontline combat. Relies heavily on the Mind Bar.

-Scout - learned in the ways of the wilderness, can track animals and forage, as well as heal the minds and bodies of Comrades.
-Slicer - A sneaky thief who can steal from enemies, slice weapons and computer terminals for personal gain, and can create various forms of narcotics for use as buffs.
-Entertainer - skilled in the arts of song and dance, Entertainers help replenish the Mind stat bar as well as improve the overall combat ability of a party.
-Medic - a master of the healing arts. Uses various medical techniques, as well as medicines made through Bio-Engineering to help heal the mortal wounds of comrades.
-Creature Handler - trainer of animals and aliens from throughout the Galaxy. Uses different animals for different purposes - tracking, foraging, as mountable steeds, and combat. Creatures can not excede certain sizes when in captivity, and cannot be sold to other players.


Bounty Hunting

Should not be handled as a profession, but instead as an aspect of the PVP gameplay of SWG. As players participate in the Galactic Civil War, they begin to earn more recognition from all sides of the battle. Eventually, if a players accumulates enough hate from an opposing side, the game will place a bounty on that characters head. Any player can then accept a mssion to attempt to retrieve the bounty, and if successful, will be rewarded the Credits earned for the kill. Only people who accept the Bounty mission can PK the Bountyhead. If a player can go long periods without being PKed for a Bounty, and they "lay low" from the GCW, the bounty will begin to lower and eventually disperse. The timing on the Bounty is only active when a player is Online, so a player can't just sign off and wait for the bounty to disperse.


Jedi

Like the movie says, "You must unlearn what you have learned." Taking this to heart, and throwing out the idea of Holocrons, any player can become either a Jedi or Dark Jedi by completing a series of quests. When completed, you will not unlock a "Force Sensitive" slot. Your current character will be flagged to become a Jedi/Dark Jedi. However, to finally do so, your character will "unlearn" all of his Secondary Archtype abilities, and his Primary Archtype will become Secondary, and as such, will lose any abilities that are to strong to be considered Secondary. This huge sacrifice will be the determining factor on who has the heart to become a Jedi, and who wishes to remain as they are. Also, Jedi should not be overpowerful. They should be balanced with the rest of the professions. The same rules for death, as stated above, will apply to Jedi, so no perma-death nor Blue glowies. There will be no need since they will be balanced.


Parties and Grouping

Players should be able to form Units of up to 6 players, and then form Raids up to 36 players. The current high number of players to form a single party makes it daunting to try and find a small group of players to group with. Think about it this way - With the exception of Obi Wan, the Millenium Falcon had a Unit of 6 - Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, Artoo, and Threepio. They could then join up with the Rebel Alliance for a Raid. But they were still effective on their own.


Squad Leadership

Should not be handled as a profession; any player should be able to earn leadership XP, as long as they are the leader of a Unit or Raid. As a player's group wins more group vs. group PVP combats he earns more Leadership XP, which will grant him different group related abilities. This would also give players incentive to go out and form groups, since you have to be leader of a successful group to earn Leadership XP.


Tradeskills and the Economy

Tradeskills should be held seperate from Professions as Skills, and have an independent rate of growth from them, meaning a character doesn't have to "be" the Tradeskill Profession to earn XP for it.
Also, by making Tradeskills into skills, and not professions, you open the door for more players to become interested in Tradeskilling. This will help break any monopolies held by Tradeskill Only classes. Another good way to promote Tradeskilling is to limit a players Inventory capabilities. If a player cannot horde every item, then they will be forced to sell, drop, or Tradeskill with the item to make room in their inventory.
Merchants being able to own their own shops is a great idea, but it is an unbalancing one. The Bazaar system was one of my favorite systems implemented in an MMORPG, but it has too much competition from player owned shops. Therefore SWG should simply choose one or the other, though the Bazaar system is the better, more user friendly candidate.
Every player should start with the jack of all trades Artisan Tradeskill. As a player gains tradeskill XP they can upgrade to the more refined tradeskills.

-Architect - Specializes in the contruction of homes, buildings and furniture.
-Armorsmith - Specializes in higher quality armor for various forms of combat.
-Bio Engineer - Creates medical equipment for Medics to use, and creates feed and genetic supplements to help augment both players and Creature Handler pets for short periods of time.
-Chef - Creates many different foods with varying effects on the player.
-Droid Designer - Manufactures droids for various uses.
-Tailor - Creates various garments for formal, casual, or working occasions. Certain Professions should work better in Tailored clothing then crafted Armor.
-Weaponsmith - Creates the and upgrades many weapons for various combat, from Blasters to Swords.


Image Designer
Should be handled by in-game NPC's instead of as a Profession or Tradeskill. Credit costs from the Image Designer should be in proportion to the degree a change being made to a PC.

Pod Racing

To help balance the economy, the game can implement many credit-burning Money Sinks. For example, Players can have the ability to customize and build Pod Racers, then enter the Racer into a race for an amount of Credits. Pod Racers are only usable in Pod Races, and not for travel. Winning Players can be awarded with Points that can be spent at the Pod Race Track for valuable items that cannot be traded or sold. The Pod Races would be fun and addicting, and offer great items for players as incentive for playing. Racers can also ante Credit vs. each other so Credit earning is a possibility, but only for the best racers. Very little Credits are earned from this game, but as long as its fun players will play and spend their credits. And if they spend their credits, they will have to go tradeskill to earn some more.




Well, while leaving out some minor details, this is the bulk of my idea. I've been toying with it for a while now, and I believe this is it's fullest incarnation. If you enjoy any or all of this idea, please feel free to let me know. I can be reached in-game as Sln Harvest (that's an L in Sln) on the Bloodfin Galaxy.

Sln Harvest, Zabrak of Bloodfin

I would just like to reiterate that I DID apologize in advance if any of my ideas were delusions of grandeur.



Actually, I left them in there. They are under the Scout(support) archtype. But there would be restricitions on size and quantity of creatures.



I expect the majority of players will have broadband connections, yes, though I believe the overall end product would be worth it. Dial-up and broadband cost the same a month, so it is beyond me why people pay for dial-up when they can get it(though I understand it is not everywhere yet).



Ironically, I mention this above directly. It IS realistic, however, it is extremely unbalancing. A player must choose which abilities they want to use, and then set them up accordingly. The current ability to make uber macro's for PVP and grinding is far worse than limiting a player.



Actually, by limiting a player you stimulate creativity. My Archtype approach is also meant to stimulate Self-sufficiency and solo play. However, a player will need to group with others out of necessity for survival, since the game would be a PVP world.



I don't understand people who have two accounts. My idea unfortunately doesn't take them into consideration. However, by being a game based on Player skill, even a player with only the basic attack and defense could kill an uber player, if they were THAT good. And in regards to the Mounted Combat XP, this is only in PVP combat, not in PVE. Also, since the game is based on player skill, even the lowliest of players could down a Speederbike, if they have the consumate skill. I would like to ammend though that Mounted XP Combat should only come from Mounted vs. Mounted PVP.



And that is why the sacrifice of "unlearning" would be so important. It would mean a player would have to throw out all of their hard work and start over again. The current Holocron system is only fair/conceivable to uber players who can spend 8 hours a day dual boxing and macro grinding professions. I myself am only a casual player, who now has no hope of even tasting what a Jedi is. Should I and other players simply be left behind because I can't spend the GIANT amounts of time required to "possibly" unlock my FS slot?



Thank you ^_^ kick @$$ idea, right?



The Pod Racing idea is more of a flight of fancy, to be sure. But it certainly would be a fun one, and as mentioned, would act as a great Money Sink in the economy. I believe I failed to mention it would be held at pre-designated Pod Race Tracks on each planet, so you won't be seeing people racing pods simply out in the middle of nowhere.



It's just that, in the world of my game idea, they are unnecessary. Every character would have a way of defending oneself. Even Support characters would have one of the combat archtypes as their secondary. The game is based more on PVP combat in my version, and EVERY character would have the ability to join in.
Character Archytpe combinations are as follows.
Melee/Ranged or Melee/Support
Ranged/Melee or Ranged/Support
Support/Melee or Support/Ranged

Characters could then learn any of the skills in the skill trees of their archtypes. It would follow the same rules as the current Skill tree system, only there will be no more 250 limit. A player would purchase skills with XP only.


I never even got into how their should be no Player Cities, because they are unbalancing, nor should their be Hospitals or Cantinas. If I go to Mos Eisley (my favorite city) I have no chance of having Battle Fatigue removed by a Entertainer or a Medic heal my wounds. They are all off in one of the many Player Cities. Now I can't use a couple game mechanics (hospital/cantina/city of Mos Eisley) and I have to find a way to one of the player cities. But which one? There is such a thing as too many. If a game makes a city a part of the overall game mechanics, they should limit how many cities there are. Now instead we have cities of varying usefulness, with no history or flavor, that have cropped up in the middle of nowhere to offer services to the above mentioned dual boxing macro grinder. What's a casual player to do!?

Cable/DSL costs about 40 dollars in my area.

Dial-Up only costs about 20 bucks. However, It is also about another 20 bucks to have a dedicated phoneline for dial up. So that makes it 40 a month for dial-up, therefore, equal.

Wow! When you said "deluions of grandeur" you weren't kidding :P

Obviously none of this will be implemented, because what you are talking about is another game completely. You would have a better chance of getting a Star Wars Quake mod (Hey, they did it with Star Trek!) than re-architeching a game from the ground up.

Ok, where to start...


Doesn't matter, the type of bandwidth you are talking about is more comparable to everyone having a T-1 pipe in their house. This isn't some server with a max of 32 players and a small (comparatively speaking) arena that they are confined to. You have to expect at least a 1K player load on a server farm that has not only hold a much larger world and more people, but also run it's own NPCs. So you can toss this idea out the window.

For those that are in doubt: Get 2 very capable game machines. Hook them up to the same DSL/Cable Modem line and log in with 2 different accounts. Have one player auto-follow the other. Then you will truley see how far off the client/server locations are(think 1.5-2.0 second delay or greater than 1000 ping). I know I was a bit surprised.

Your other point about the definition of Role-Playing Game is also off the mark IMO. I think it's a tad ridiculous to think of Quake as a Role-Playing game because I'm taking on the role of our Marine Hero or taking on the role of a pilot in my flight sim game or the role of "Master of X's" against my opponent whom wields power over O's in our friendly Tic-Tac-Toe game.

My view of Role-Playing is where you have a character that has his own personality that is apart from yours. He/She makes decisions that may different from you would choose because maybe he's paranoid, evil, naive etc. Your character should have a background. A past that explains why they are the way they are. Leading a crack special forces squad to victory (what everyone else is trying to do) with the code-name "Pheer D3m0n" just doesn't do it for me from a role-playing aspect, not that it wouldn't be fun mind you :-)

You do have some other interesting ideas that seem good, but with no hope of it ever being implemented, I don't see much point in discussing it.

-Ssark

Well, an RPG in my definition is nothing like what you propose.
The whole "number crunching" is THE main aspect of an RPG. If you don't like that, then maybe SWG isn't the right game for you. I for one would quit the day they made some Quake-clone of the game like you propose (though I can agree on a few of your proposed tweaks in gameplay, most of them would take the whole fun of the game)
I don't wanna run around and Hack'n'Slay all the time. Actually I did very little fighting in SWG. If I want Instant Action I play CS or BF1942:DC. Maybe those would be better choices for you.