A Question for James Ohlen and Daniel Ericson

[Darth_Malady]

"We're also going to be listening to the community, and seeing what they want to see in the game. We always are listening to the community; you are the people who decide what kind of changes we need to make to the game. Because this game is for you guys."

 

So now I have to ask you, Mr. Ohlen, by "listening to the community," did you just mean the PvP and PvE community? I ask this because since the beginning of beta, we the RP community have been asking for:

 

1. Chat Bubbles

2. Furniture you can sit in, and not just 1 chair on your starship

3. Color matching for gear

4. Better face/body customization

5. Player housing

6. RP events/content

7. More social gear

8. Craftable social gear

9. Story vendors ala SWG

10. More accessable RP areas for cross-faction RP

11. Cross-faction communication across /yell /whisper and custom chat channels

12. Name Enforcement on RP servers, if anything at least enforce your own naming policy outlined in the EULA, which you have not been doing

13. More ways to obtain social points, specifically via actual role-play content

14. Choices actually affection our story

15. A barber shop/plastic surgeon to recustomize our appearances with added content

16. Furniture and trophies to decorate at least our ship

17. Allow more than 4 players into a ship instance

 

To name a few. When asked at NY Comic Con what is Bioware developing for role-players, Daniel Ericson replied "How about the greatest Role Playing Game of all time?" I seriously have to ask, what has the development team done to encourage or even stimulate role-play in SWTOR?

 

We had two large updates since launch and not one of them had any content or fixes geared toward the role-play community. As I see it, none of our requests were listened to or even implemented. If you are truly listening to your community, dont ignore the other 1/3rd who have their own playstyle just as popular and equally fun in its' own right.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Darth_Malady

[mrfoughtforever]

This is the kind of post and mentality that gives RPers a bad name. The entire game was made for us. It's a role-playing game. When you log on, you're playing the role of the character you chose and you get to play through a dynamic and engaging story. That's clearly what he meant. We are not entitled to a bunch of perks and extras, nor should we be.

 

Would I love to see some small, aesthetic changes for hardcore RP? You bet. Not having them isn't going to make me quit the game, however. After 7 years of WoW, I'm used to making do with what we get. Frankly, I'm enjoying the heck out of ToR, and will continue to do so, even without all the RP staples and perks you're advocating.

[Guildrum]

1. Chat Bubbles

I am confident these are coming.

 

2. Furniture you can sit in, and not just 1 chair on your starship

Why? Aside from Cantinas, cannot imagine why you would need this.

 

3. Color matching for gear

Tried it, had issues, are going to put it back in.

 

4. Better face/body customization

I am thankful for what we've got. In WoW, you had about 10 faces to choose from.

 

5. Player housing

coughshipscough

 

6. RP events/content

So Bioware must now give you your RP as well?

 

7. More social gear

These will come as more patches/expansions come in.

 

8. Craftable social gear

Que?

 

9. Story vendors ala SWG

the heck is a story vendor?

 

10. More accessable RP areas for cross-faction RP

Aside from battles between Republic and Empire, what would we do in cross-faction RP events? Only Nar Shadaa would truly be off-limits for battle.

 

11. Cross-faction communication across /yell /whisper and custom chat channels

Why? We are at war! Why would we be talking on the same chat/channel? /yell makes sense though.

 

12. Name Enforcement on RP servers, if anything at least enforce your own naming policy outlined in the EULA, which you have not been doing

The naming policy goes across all servers. Have you been reporting obscene/copyright breaking names? If not, how do you expect them to do their jobs?

 

13. More ways to obtain social points, specifically via actual role-play content

And what if one could consider /wave ing at another player RP? Would they get RP points for that?

 

14. Choices actually affection our story

Sorry. If Player A chose to kill someone Player B chose to let live, and it had a total effect on the story, they'd be separated for a long time, because they can't be in the same place while one person's NPC is not there while one's is.

 

15. A barber shop/plastic surgeon to recustomize our appearances with added content

It will come in time.

 

16. Furniture and trophies to decorate at least our ship

Would be cool, but unnecessary.

 

17. Allow more than 4 players into a ship instance

Sure.

 

 

Why are you so rude about this? I mean really, Bioware certainly has their work cut out for them. And RPers are the minority in the whole MMO trinity, PVE-ers, PVP-ers and RPers. It would only make sense to appeal to the majority groups.

 

The lack of specific attention has also helped the RP community improvise a bit, and that's how we've gotten our reputation. We take what we can get, and do what we can with it.

 

If you are truly listening to your community, dont ignore the other 1/3rd who have their own playstyle just as popular and equally fun in its' own right.

It's actually more like the remaining 1/6, with a significantly less, but still somewhat popular playstyle.

 

Roleplaying basically is making something out of which, there is nothing. We are stimulating a virtual galaxy out of nothing but lights and pixels, our the pixels REALLY romancing, or are we just perceiving and imagining it? Are we REALLY in a Galaxy Far Far Away, battling against the Malicious Empire/Decadent Republic, or are all of these just numbers?

Edited January 28, 2012 by Guildrum

[trailermaster]

Well 7 years of wow and you should be ready for a new gaming company to not operate as badly as blizzard did. I would hope that Bioware could actually implement changes that people have been asking for specially since they boast about that being one of their strong points. I don't think that this gives RPers a bad rep because a lot of those things would be nice to have whether you enjoy RPing or not. Clearly there are a lot of improvements need to be made and a lot of things that they SHOULD be implementing into the game eventually. The game has ONLY been out since DECEMEBER try to keep that in mind. I won't expect a lot of things to be implemented until it hits the 6 months to a year mark. The game is very fun and playable but if they choose to ignore very key factors that people are asking for i think it will go downhill after the first year. As long as they listen to the players and implement things that players want they will do fine but they actually have to stick to what they boast about being so good at. Keep listening to the players needs and delay stuff like "rise of the rakghouls" for things that players are ACTUALLY ASKING FOR. Yeah new content is fine and dandy but players would much rather have their needs and wants met. Just like i would very much like to play my Inquisitor but can't because i can't make their hair look like Batusai the Manslayer's hair.

[trailermaster]

I am confident these are coming.

 

 

Why? Aside from Cantinas, cannot imagine why you would need this.

 

 

Tried it, had issues, are going to put it back in.

 

 

I am thankful for what we've got. In WoW, you had about 10 faces to choose from.

 

 

coughshipscough

 

 

So Bioware must now give you your RP as well?

 

 

These will come as more patches/expansions come in.

 

 

Que?

 

 

the heck is a story vendor?

 

 

Aside from battles between Republic and Empire, what would we do in cross-faction RP events? Only Nar Shadaa would truly be off-limits for battle.

 

 

Why? We are at war! Why would we be talking on the same chat/channel? /yell makes sense though.

 

 

The naming policy goes across all servers. Have you been reporting obscene/copyright breaking names? If not, how do you expect them to do their jobs?

 

 

And what if one could consider /wave ing at another player RP? Would they get RP points for that?

 

 

Sorry. If Player A chose to kill someone Player B chose to let live, and it had a total effect on the story, they'd be separated for a long time, because they can't be in the same place while one person's NPC is not there while one's is.

 

 

It will come in time.

 

 

Would be cool, but unnecessary.

 

 

Sure.

 

 

Why are you so rude about this? I mean really, Bioware certainly has their work cut out for them. And RPers are the minority in the whole MMO trinity, PVE-ers, PVP-ers and RPers. It would only make sense to appeal to the majority groups.

 

The lack of specific attention has also helped the RP community improvise a bit, and that's how we've gotten our reputation. We take what we can get, and do what we can with it.

 

 

It's actually more like the remaining 1/6, with a significantly less, but still somewhat popular playstyle.

 

Roleplaying basically is making something out of which, there is nothing. We are stimulating a virtual galaxy out of nothing but lights and pixels, our the pixels REALLY romancing, or are we just perceiving and imagining it? Are we REALLY in a Galaxy Far Far Away, battling against the Malicious Empire/Decadent Republic, or are all of these just numbers?

PLEASE STOP COMPARING THIS GAME TO WOW yes it's better we know that does not mean you can't request things you actually want in the game. We are happy the game is better then wow so lets keep making it better.

[Guildrum]

PLEASE STOP COMPARING THIS GAME TO WOW yes it's better we know that does not mean you can't request things you actually want in the game. We are happy the game is better then wow so lets keep making it better.

 

.... Wow...

 

I make one reference to WoW, which has actually become a standard in MMO's over time. I am not saying you cannot suggest things, but claiming that after 3 patches, that "James Ohlend and Daniel Ericson are blatantly ignoring the RP community" is absolute BS. The entire idea of this post is that it's trying to get in the face of the developers over a standard lack of them doing our roleplay for- I mean "support".

 

Moral of the story- Make suggestions, be polite about it, don't be pushy and let them work at the pace that they need to to make sure that it actually works. And guess what? It may take more than 1 month to do, but it will get done, and better than something that's rushed because of constantly annoying pressure by the community.

Edited January 28, 2012 by Guildrum

[Genocidalx]

How can you not compare this game to WoW? The differences are few, otherwise they're identical games at their hearts, unless you guys are really duped by graphics...

[Hrisskar]

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who treat roleplay as some sort of social powerplay, in which sitting in a cantina with the "best looking" gear one can possibly obtain, or having the "best decorated" house one can possibly afford, earns you the right to troll the roleplaying community channel with more adolescent sexualised flirt/**** jokes that just smack of nerdy virginity.

 

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who pass the buck when it comes to addressing the problem surrounding accessibility and fulfillment in roleplay. It's always the fault of the OOCer, whose mere exists offends them, or the fault of the game, which doesn't treat them as gods. Never is it their own fault for isolating fresh faces if they are not amused by the channel cliques' bad taste in humour. Never is it their own fault for making no effort to actually engage with the setting, instead devoting all their time to social events like gatherings in the cantina, or markets and parties which merely stagnate and further divide budding communities. Never is it their own fault for refusing to take responsibility for helping the wider roleplaying population, instead lazily waving off new blood into joining one already bloated and dull guild, or sending them away if they don't buy into the repetative "luls" of the cantina crew.

 

It's not about the mechanics of the game, it never has been. At best it's fluff. But if you are so determined to make the argument that without fluff, you cannot roleplay, then you are the problem.

Edited January 28, 2012 by Hrisskar

[Soultranna]

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who treat roleplay as some sort of social powerplay, in which sitting in a cantina with the "best looking" gear one can possibly obtain, or having the "best decorated" house one can possibly afford, earns you the right to troll the roleplaying community channel with more adolescent sexualised flirt/**** jokes that just smack of nerdy virginity.

 

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who pass the buck when it comes to addressing the problem surrounding accessibility and fulfillment in roleplay. It's always the fault of the OOCer, whose mere exists offends them, or the fault of the game, which doesn't treat them as gods. Never is it their own fault for isolating fresh faces if they are not amused by the channel cliques' bad taste in humour. Never is it their own fault for making no effort to actually engage with the setting, instead devoting all their time to social events like gatherings in the cantina, or markets and parties which merely stagnate and further divide budding communities. Never is it their own fault for refusing to take responsibility for helping the wider roleplaying population, instead lazily waving off new blood into joining one already bloated and dull guild, or sending them away if they don't buy into the repetative "luls" of the cantina crew.

 

It's not about the mechanics of the game, it never has been. At best it's fluff. But if you are so determined to make the argument that without fluff, you cannot roleplay, then you are the problem.

 

Wow.... generalise, much?

 

These are all Quality of Life improvements. They may be 'fluff' to the main game content, but to the roleplayers, it actually matters to have the ability to interact with the environment/NPC's if they so wish.

 

Granted, I don't think we need to go so far as to have all the furniture interactive (you want that, try Second Life), but being able to sit down in a bar or lean on a wall or counter is a Good Thing.

 

For an example of a very roleplayer friendly game, look at CoH. It has all sorts of things that have absolutely NO outcome on gameplay, but add to a roleplayer's acting repertoire. The devs of that game didn't have to put them in, but they realized early on that players would use their game as an engine for storytelling and in-character interaction, so they implemented a whole ton of them, and add more all the time. SWTOR could have the same or a similar feature set, if the devs realize that people do want to use the game engine for a roleplaying purpose beyond what is already 'written in'. We're also seeing a lot of players from SWG, which WAS much more of a sandbox/roleplay friendly system... and while they would prefer not to see massive nerfage as what happened with SWG, they also want to see the cool RP toys they once had.

[ExileZab]

Love how non-role players were the first to respond. Out of the OP's list, the two that matter most to me are...

 

Being able to actually sit on ALL chairs, couches etc.

 

Character customization equivalent to DAO.

[Darth_Slaine]

Love how non-role players were the first to respond.

 

I don't recall seeing any non-RPers commenting in this thread.

[Kharnis]

I am confident these are coming.

 

Same, though it does make one wonder why these aren't in the game yet, yet the devs felt the need to allow people to /emote while travelling by taxi.

 

Why? Aside from Cantinas, cannot imagine why you would need this.

There are more than just cantinas that can be RPed in, and more than just cantinas that have chairs.

 

Tried it, had issues, are going to put it back in.

Exactly. On this, we have to be patient.

 

I am thankful for what we've got. In WoW, you had about 10 faces to choose from.

Better than WoW? That's not really a great defence. That's like saying getting kicked in the stomach is better than getting kicked in the knackers. It may be true, but that doesn't mean either one is good.

 

coughshipscough

A bare bones housing at best.

 

So Bioware must now give you your RP as well?

How is providing RP events considered "giving us RP as well?" By that logic, Bioware shouldn't have provided warzones since that would be Bioware giving us PvP as well.

 

These will come as more patches/expansions come in.

I think this is a given, and I'm not sure why the OP included this.

 

Que?

Yeah, another case of "I'm not sure why the OP included this." The only thing I can think of is a complaint about a lack of moddable gear that differs in looks. In which case, the OP may have a case, but only if the claim of "every green item in the game has a corresponding orange item" turns out to be a lie or misleading statement by Bioware.

 

the heck is a story vendor?

It's a vendor found in SWG. This vendor sold items that allowed players to either put on a story for others to watch, or incorporated purely cosmetic (ie. non-game impacting) events, such as a starfighter battle occuring in the skies above the players.

 

Aside from battles between Republic and Empire, what would we do in cross-faction RP events? Only Nar Shadaa would truly be off-limits for battle.

You could have summits, a prelude to inter-guild rivalries, diplomatic events, or just general stand around and RP with each other. Battles don't have to be the only interaction, you know.

 

Why? We are at war! Why would we be talking on the same chat/channel? /yell makes sense though.

/yell and /say are already cross-faction enabled. I agree that this is all that's really needed.

 

The naming policy goes across all servers. Have you been reporting obscene/copyright breaking names? If not, how do you expect them to do their jobs?

Agreed. I'm always uncomfortable when people have the power to report what they think is "non-RP," or "not RPish enough" when it comes to names.

 

And what if one could consider /wave ing at another player RP? Would they get RP points for that?

Obviously, the parameters would have to be decided at a later time, but going to the extreme of "/wave will get you social points" is undermining your argument. That being said, this would be a rather large undertaking, and not something that Bioware could bring in any time quickly, something that I hope the OP would recognise and understand that it probably won't be happening.

 

Sorry. If Player A chose to kill someone Player B chose to let live, and it had a total effect on the story, they'd be separated for a long time, because they can't be in the same place while one person's NPC is not there while one's is.

There are arguments to be made for both sides of this line of thought. Like you, though, I think Bioware probably made the right choice on this, even if it is a little disappointing.

 

It will come in time.

Probably, but they were very uncommitted on this in an interview just prior to release. I can understand why the OP is not convinced this is going to happen, especially not soon. That being said, it's only been a little over a month since the game was launched (including the EGA). I'm not sure why people need to change their character's look this soon.

 

Would be cool, but unnecessary.

Pure opinion, that I disagree with. This would be a very welcome addition to the game, and would help to curb the calls of "we need player housing" that the OP and others are making.

Edited January 28, 2012 by Kharnis

[sanctified]

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who treat roleplay as some sort of social powerplay, in which sitting in a cantina with the "best looking" gear one can possibly obtain, or having the "best decorated" house one can possibly afford, earns you the right to troll the roleplaying community channel with more adolescent sexualised flirt/**** jokes that just smack of nerdy virginity.

 

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who pass the buck when it comes to addressing the problem surrounding accessibility and fulfillment in roleplay. It's always the fault of the OOCer, whose mere exists offends them, or the fault of the game, which doesn't treat them as gods. Never is it their own fault for isolating fresh faces if they are not amused by the channel cliques' bad taste in humour. Never is it their own fault for making no effort to actually engage with the setting, instead devoting all their time to social events like gatherings in the cantina, or markets and parties which merely stagnate and further divide budding communities. Never is it their own fault for refusing to take responsibility for helping the wider roleplaying population, instead lazily waving off new blood into joining one already bloated and dull guild, or sending them away if they don't buy into the repetative "luls" of the cantina crew.

 

It's not about the mechanics of the game, it never has been. At best it's fluff. But if you are so determined to make the argument that without fluff, you cannot roleplay, then you are the problem.

 

Wow. Seriously, this was perfectly described. Hats off to you! Three cheers to doing things outside of taverncraft.

[sosolidshoe]

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who treat roleplay as some sort of social powerplay, in which sitting in a cantina with the "best looking" gear one can possibly obtain, or having the "best decorated" house one can possibly afford, earns you the right to troll the roleplaying community channel with more adolescent sexualised flirt/**** jokes that just smack of nerdy virginity.

 

The ones barking on about being badly done to are usually the ones who pass the buck when it comes to addressing the problem surrounding accessibility and fulfillment in roleplay. It's always the fault of the OOCer, whose mere exists offends them, or the fault of the game, which doesn't treat them as gods. Never is it their own fault for isolating fresh faces if they are not amused by the channel cliques' bad taste in humour. Never is it their own fault for making no effort to actually engage with the setting, instead devoting all their time to social events like gatherings in the cantina, or markets and parties which merely stagnate and further divide budding communities. Never is it their own fault for refusing to take responsibility for helping the wider roleplaying population, instead lazily waving off new blood into joining one already bloated and dull guild, or sending them away if they don't buy into the repetative "luls" of the cantina crew.

 

It's not about the mechanics of the game, it never has been. At best it's fluff. But if you are so determined to make the argument that without fluff, you cannot roleplay, then you are the problem.

 

Yeah dude, totally, rules are so like, mainstream. Me and my brosefs don't even use dice anymore, and we got rid of our DM and rulebooks and stuff ages ago 'cause having someone define the world for us was just so, like, limiting man. We all just sit in a circle and free-form it, it's so much more rewarding to do everything in your imagination, not like those total dweeboids who need stats and crap like that, lolz.

 

Get a grip. Requesting that players who RP get some "quality of life" additions to the game is not even slightly unreasonable, and on top of that, your argument is ludicrous; if the mechanics are "fluff", why do you even need an MMO? Why not just play a MUD or forum-RP, or go really oldschool and do a play-by-post; you could use regular mail as well, just to prove that you're a "proper" roleplayer who doesn't need any fancy modern crutches to support them.

[Guildrum]

Love how non-role players were the first to respond. Out of the OP's list, the two that matter most to me are...

 

Being able to actually sit on ALL chairs, couches etc.

 

Character customization equivalent to DAO.

 

I roleplay. I am pretty sure the other replier RPs too.

 

I just don't see why the OP thinks it necessary to give these innocent suggestions in such an angry and quite honestly, unnecessarily antagonistic tone.

[fungihoujo]

Chat bubbles would be nice to keep track of where people are talking from- that's my biggest peeve right now for big events especially.

 

Chairs I think would be a nice addition- most of the suggestions would be nice, when they can be added. At the moment though, they've pretty much given us more than any other MMO has at launch, so I can't complain.

[Xerxex]

I agree with the poster above. Out of the whole list of the OP, speech bubbles and more sittable chairs are about the only things I'd say we really, really need. I'd love to see ship customisation but I can perfectly understand that's not going to get introduced for a while. I hope for the first expansion! (along with space PvP and stuff)

 

As for more character customisation; Would be nice but also not really neccesary. We already have tonnes of options. They could give use some sliders (like changing nose length, jaw width, etc.) and more haircuts. I'd especially love some longer haircuts for males and females! (Why can't my JK look like http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100814043447/starwars/images/thumb/2/2f/Exar_Kun.png/720px-Exar_Kun.png?! ) That said, I heard some rumours the legacy system will have more customisation options?!

 

Do you really think it's reasonable to demand "story vendors" and player housing, etc. etc. from Bioware? I don't want to be rude, but you sound a little bit like a spoiled kid to me! Why don't you enjoy the lovely quest lines and the lovely weather on Tattooine instead?

 

Long story short: Stop complaining and start roleplaying!

Edited January 30, 2012 by Xerxex

[inama]

My thoughts and opinion on RPing: I think there is a lot of interpretation on what RP is, ranging from just playing a character on a game is role play, to people that almost live a role (is meant to illustrate the range...). I bet the people that made the first MMORPGs thought of role play as playing a char, and leveling by choice (talents / skills and whatnot), not the immersion into a character and wanting to play a game and maybe live like someone else for a few hours (and whats wrong about that?).

 

I feel the miscommunication happens when people think they speak about the same thing, or claim to represent the same thing, and argue about it for pages and ages, instead of recognizing that everyone has different taste.

 

As for Hrisskars comment; there are people around that behave like you describe, but please dont think everyone that wants what the OP asks for is like that?

 

I can understand the OPs wishlist, and I do want some of those things, but in the end, is the money that decides. If people that dislike how the game functions, RP wise, and they leave the game in droves, the devs might change it a bit, but I doubt that will happen any time soon.

 

Also, if sitting on chairs and being able to switch chat bubbles on and off ruins something for other people, it wont be implemented. I cant think why it would though, so why the hostility against people that would like something like that? Just asking. I do understand that hostilites might ensue over my comment, but I dont mean it to be offending at all.

[thewatcheruatu]

I honestly see most of this stuff (except for chat bubbles, which are sorely missed) as being extremely trivial at this point (i.e., slightly more than a month after release). I agree with the poster above who said that posts like this make us all look bad. There's nothing at all wrong with asking for these features, but the sense of entitlement on display with regards to features that are very remote from the core gameplay makes it a little difficult to take the original post seriously. Edited January 30, 2012 by thewatcheruatu

[Zavia]

I agree with the intent of the OPs post and would like to see more done for the RP community. How many here got a feedback link here recently? If you did then please let your RP concerns be heard in that link, and also through feedback in game (not sure where that would go under though).

 

If you do not agree with the OP, or do not think any more support for the RP community is needed then feel free to feedback that to Bioware as well, but I ask that we not go through another 50 pages of people just repeating themselves over and over again like has happened in other threads.

[Yuuj]

Post like these don't make us look bad as a whole. OP is just like the PvPers that speak on behalf of the entire PvP community who all unanimously want X to change to Y.

 

A lot of the chances he suggested are actually detrimental to the roleplay experience.

 

Player housing/Furnishing/Trophies/Increase number of players on ship: This is actually a sore subject for a lot of people. There are some people who want it and some people who don't. Personally, I think it already exist in the game via our ships, and let me tell you what impact that has on RP. It effectively limits the amount of interaction players have with eachother by creating separate zoned housing that, let's face it, people would prefer to RP in rather than open areas.

 

I don't think there is a single person in here who can disagree that they would spend a majority of their time RPing inside of their ship if they could invite more than four people on to it. This just get's worse when you can start decorating your starship. You limit the amount of interruptions that you would have and it allows for a more private setting.

 

More RP Content/Story Choices Impacting Storyline/Etc: This is where the guild master/story teller/dungeon master in me gets a little furious. I'm sorry but I don't believe in other people making RP for me and I certainly hate when people look to me as the sole source of RP and storylines. We don't need Bioware holding our hand and giving us events to keep us satisfied.

 

It is the responsibility of every roleplayer to make a character interesting enough to stand on it's own with the capability of creating fulfilling roleplay. It is NOT to create a character and leech off of other peoples storylines or sit around and wait for RP to fall into their lap.

 

This really does just make us look like a bunch of children waiting around for Mommy and Daddy to entertain us.

 

Also, I hate to break it to you, but we aren't the only Smugglers/Agents/Jedi/Sith/Etc in the world. We've all done the same story quest and we can't ALL be the person who killed X or saved Y from destruction. There has to be a separation from the game's story and your character's story. Sure, you can adopt bits and pieces from it to make your character more interesting but every Smuggler couldn't have had their ship stolen by the same guy, and every Sith Inquisitor can't be the apprentice of the same Sith Master.

 

More Accessible Cross Faction Communication Areas/Yell/Whisper/Custom Channel Communication: This is murky water. Honestly, I don't like the idea of making cross communication easier between two warring factions. I especially don't like the idea of having designated areas for Sith and Jedi to hang out and chat it up. You can argue that all of our characters aren't loyal to our faction, but most competent people won't sit around, drink coffee, and chat with their enemy even if they don't share their factions ideology.

 

I can see this causing a slew of issues. Republic trading information with Empire, getting outted, and refusing to accept/having zero consequences for their action. There was no central hub for the Empire and Rebels to hang out in the original trilogy, and the Separatist and Republic didn't get together for tea and biscuits in the new trilogy, because honestly, the concept is completely stupid and while I understand why someone would want it (Oh em gee, more RP!) I don't think anyone's character would actually be stupid enough to actively go out of their way to talk to their enemies.

[stjerneodd]

The OP was rude? I must be spending too much time reading the pvp forums because it seemed pretty rational to me. But you know what the pvp'ers get for all their whinning? Results, often not the results they want but yeah.

 

OK maybe I missed a button on my ship but how is my ship player housing? Besides having a storage locker (on some ships in very strange places), I'm not seeing it. I can't modify it in or out, can't have more than a few people in it, I can't even control when the thing takes off.

 

I think what the OP meant by craftable social clothing was to have the ability to colorize it when it is crafted, that is what I thought anyway. *shrugs*

 

And for those that say BW made this game for rp'ers look at the stories, well you are right, the single player part of the game does have a good story, just like someone pointed out earlier, the same story as thousands and thousands of other players. Now unlike Mass Effect, instead of going through it by myself I get to watch a bunch of other people to the same thing and can stand in line to spike that computer system. Not sure how that is great rp but whatever.

 

I certainly don't think it hurts to have threads like this just to keep BW aware that we do exist even if we are not the biggest mouths on the forums. I've got a list two pages long of things I'd love to see, of which I think realistically maybe two will ever come to pass. So far they are doing a good job with this game imho, but there are definitly limits to what they can do with the desicions they made early on, like sliders when creating a character. There just seems to be too many things that would effect, all the cut scenes, clothing fittting. But maybe I'm wrong, I admittedly know nothing about coding besides that it is a word.

 

Threads like these are made out of frustration more than anything else, frustration at the lip service which BW has become an expert at. I've learned the hard way that you can make no assumptions at what they say, they say the minimum and if you expect more than that out of any statement you are setting yourself up for dissappointment (can you say deluxe edition items). So my expectations are very low which means I haven't been dissapointed much in the last couple of weeks, well except for rise of the zombies...errr...rakgouls (sp?) *facepalm*

[Darth_Malady]

I do not think I was being rude. I was simply calling out development on their promises. They claim to be listening to their community, but they are not listening to the 1/3 of their community that has been asking for the things on the list since beta.

 

Many of you who disagree and say I give RPers a bad name are the same people who settle for scraps development throws at you. I am a voice. You should be backing it if you want things done. Most of you act like if you make demands they wont be honored. Look at the PvP and Raid community, they make demands every day and look how much content they get. Entire patches dedicated to their style of play.

 

The squeaky wheel gets the oil and many of you need to squeak louder. I don't know about you, but I am tired of seeing RP servers being PvE servers with a RP tag. I want our servers to stand out from all the rest so that when a new player rolls on a RP server they are amazed at the difference. You do not get those kind of results by being silent and passive.

 

I encourage all of you to raise your voice and be heard. Many of you may think the list is trivial, but it is the trivial things that make life more pleasant. For many of us true role-players, role-play is our end game with PvP and PvE being "fluff."

[Akmadan]

So now I have to ask you, Mr. Ohlen, by "listening to the community," did you just mean the PvP and PvE community? I ask this because since the beginning of beta, we the RP community have been asking for:

 

1. Chat Bubbles

2. Furniture you can sit in, and not just 1 chair on your starship

3. Color matching for gear

4. Better face/body customization

5. Player housing

6. RP events/content

7. More social gear

8. Craftable social gear

9. Story vendors ala SWG

10. More accessable RP areas for cross-faction RP

11. Cross-faction communication across /yell /whisper and custom chat channels

12. Name Enforcement on RP servers, if anything at least enforce your own naming policy outlined in the EULA, which you have not been doing

13. More ways to obtain social points, specifically via actual role-play content

14. Choices actually affection our story

15. A barber shop/plastic surgeon to recustomize our appearances with added content

16. Furniture and trophies to decorate at least our ship

17. Allow more than 4 players into a ship instance

 

I agree with 1 & 7. Chat bubbles for easier communication, not only for RPers mind you. And more RP stuff, good clothes like.. Swashbuckler back in wow? Just not ****-ish looking. You know, normal rags and clothes, robes and/or dresses.

[Guildrum]

I do not think I was being rude. I was simply calling out development on their promises. They claim to be listening to their community, but they are not listening to the 1/3 of their community that has been asking for the things on the list since beta.

This is the online equivalent to someone saying, "Here, when I get the time, I will make you some cookies" or whatever, and a couple hours later, while they are still busy, you go up to them and start demanding your cookies.

 

Many of you who disagree and say I give RPers a bad name are the same people who settle for scraps development throws at you. I am a voice. You should be backing it if you want things done. Most of you act like if you make demands they wont be honored. Look at the PvP and Raid community, they make demands every day and look how much content they get. Entire patches dedicated to their style of play.

We have voices mate, we don't need people to speak for all of us. That said, we also need to be patient, PVPers and Raiders don't get everything they want a month after making the suggestion.

 

 

The squeaky wheel gets the oil and many of you need to squeak louder. I don't know about you, but I am tired of seeing RP servers being PvE servers with a RP tag. I want our servers to stand out from all the rest so that when a new player rolls on a RP server they are amazed at the difference. You do not get those kind of results by being silent and passive.

Because we aren't crying about every feature we think should be in-game, we are therefore not being "voices"? That's just dumb. We need to be patient, and let the developers get everything in order first. To be honest, I'd rather my quest mobs stop evading in the middle of combat rather than getting new social gear.

 

Edit: And the best way to make people "wowed" by RP servers are to be different, RP servers ARE PVE or PVP servers with RP tags, the difference needs to be in the community rather than the functionality.

 

I encourage all of you to raise your voice and be heard. Many of you may think the list is trivial, but it is the trivial things that make life more pleasant. For many of us true role-players, role-play is our end game with PvP and PvE being "fluff."

Okay. Just be smart about it, think and I am okay with this. You see, we have to accept the fact that compared to raiders and PvPers, we have a small community, and while our suggestions would (relatively) not require too much to do, there are priorities that the devs have to face. And as I said before, I'd rather my mobs stop evading in the middle of combat before I can sit in a Cantina chair. Edited February 2, 2012 by Guildrum