Drysdale Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Have the devs ever discussed this issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SajmanPeetee Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Not that I can remember, but can't really see any purpose for it other than RP. I mean if you wanted to play a Marauder on the Republic side they have that, its called the Sentinel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guardian_titan Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 How is this an issue? Plenty of people play both sides to see the story. Limit players to one side and they only see half of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothear Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Unlikely to happen because of:- a. The issues with class story would prevent it prior to level 50; b. Probably would require a story quest to do it so would force people who didn't want to to do it just to play the story; c. Increases the number of class quests required to be written in any expansion; d. Depending on how they've coded the game it may be difficult to allow classes to cross to other the opponent only places, Korriban, Dromond Kass etc.. Strangely though I hear that if you go full light side as an IA you basically defect at the end. That being the case it would be interesting to see how any further class story handles this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBlue Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's a neat idea from a roleplaying perspective, but think about what this would require: 1) 8 new class stories - you're not going to continue the same class story as before 2) 32 new companions - assuming the first is given, you're not going to meet the same companions in the same circumstances 3) 8 new voice-overs for all conversations - the imp voices for the rep quests and vice versa 4) 4 new hangars in every space-port 5) 4 new trainers in every capitol city - and why would they allow Sith/Jedi trainers in opposing capitols? (Although they let Darkside/Lightside vendors set up shop, so maybe that's not an issue. ) 6) This would have to be done for any new classes as well I'm sure there's more that would have to be considered. The devs would essentially have to commit a game's worth of development on an option that would only cater to people who wanted to RP defecting from their faction. Not to mention completists clamoring for 32 character slots so they can play all the story-lines on each advanced class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drysdale Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm far from a RP'er. I have a Merc on one server that I transferred to a server where all my friends are Republic. I just want him Republic so I can PvP/PvE with them. I would assume it couldn't happen until you've completed your story to avoid story hangups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blondesolid Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I was thinking how amazing it would have been to be able to switch over as well while lvlng my light side sith warrior. Those conversations with Jaesa just had me pumped up for an epic heroic 8+ class quest for my defection and betrayal to the empire. I know it will never happen, but man, i really was excited for a bit lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooperal Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's a nice thought. I've had it myself. But lets face it. It's hard to imagine that it's anymore than an overly complicated novelty to implement. With the time it would take to gather and make enough resources to hide the "half baked" feel, they could've instead implemented all sorts of cool things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drysdale Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Wouldn't be that hard to do, as long as it was a post-level 50 quest line. That way it wouldn't conflict with the main story line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtonewbie Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 (edited) If your only reason is to x-fer so you can play with friends, you dont need a story or quest to do that. I posted in a thread about this in the suggestions forum. People tried to say that a story would need to be made, how would you train a republic inquisitor, or that the mechanics for mirror classes are too different. But thats now how it should work...when you transfer you go from being a Imperial Assassin, the a Jedi Shadow. Below is a good question someone asked about the main obstacle you would encounter and my reply along with some stuff i underlined in their quote to emphasize key points. Mechanically, how would this work? How would companion missions work if you no longer have access to the planets where those quests take place? What happens to your class quest? How do you start getting the other side's missions? How is balancing done in PVP? Where do you go to learn new class skills? There's no Inquisitor trainer on the Repuiblic fleet. As an aside, we can't compare this to WoW. In WoW a Priest is a Priest, regardless of Horde or Alliance. Also, WoW does not have the class stories like in TOR. These here are the main things that would stop transfers. Not the fact that this isnt WoW, or a quest would need to be done to facilitate the move, or that class mechanics dont match. In WoW making the change is a simple matter of going into the database and changing cell entries. If SWTOR has a similar database thats good, but the problem will be with the class quest and companion transfer. Changing gear and classes is the easy part, you go into the database change the cells and you are now your mirror class. If you were a Sith Assassin before, then after the transfer you are a Sage Shadow. You wouldnt be a Republic Sith Assassin that has nowhere to go for class training. You would have to do something like limit transfers to people who have done all their class quests and have all their companions. Either that or allow transfers once a character has completed a chapter, but has not started the next one. But even then you have companion loyalties to worry about and the levels you get them at. Do you reset them all to zero? do you match them up for the companions in the order that you get them? IE first companion has 5001 loyalty, so after transfer the first companion on the other faction gets the 5001 loyalty. Then there are companions who join the players at different planets/levels for the mirror classes. If a feature like this were implemented to make it easy for BW I think you would have to complete all class missions, have all companions and be ok with having their loyalties reset to 0. If you want to be able to transfer at any level then it will be a bit harder. Edited July 2, 2012 by swtonewbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyvid Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Honestly by the time this would happen you would have a trooper level 6 times over.. I would just reroll now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawginole Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 How is this an issue? Plenty of people play both sides to see the story. Limit players to one side and they only see half of the game. I think the OP is talking about literally changing factions. So as part of the whole Dark/Light side points thing, like if you were on Republic Faction and went for full 10,000 Dark Side points, you could choose to literally take and play your Jedi (or whatever) on the Imperial Faction side. This would likely be really difficult in regards to further story quests as the level cap is increased. If not for that it probably would be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelCawdro Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 They've discussed it many times, stating that it would essentially require them to double class story content, both retroactively and going forward. Thus, it's not going to happen, and furthermore that it doesn't need to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OsarionRDM Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's been done already in EQ2, and the system was pretty cool actually. Here's how their system worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadBlue Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 (edited) Wouldn't be that hard to do, as long as it was a post-level 50 quest line. That way it wouldn't conflict with the main story line. BioWare would have to take this into account for every expansion then, as well as voicework on flashpoints, dailies, operations etc. in addition to adding hangars and whatnot in existing content. It just doesn't make sense to double the class-specific work on every expansion just for people who want to switch sides. All companions would have to have variant storylines as well - both pre and post 50 content. It's not like your Imp companions are going to send you to Dromund Kaas on missions once you've switched from Imp to Rep. And if you hadn't maxxed out their storyline before switching sides, unless their storylines had been rewritten, you wouldn't be able to complete them. If they added a switch faction service that allowed you to change your advanced class to the mirror class on the opposite faction, that might work. It would certainly be a lot less work for BioWare than accounting for betrayal in-game. Actually, even then, accounting for switching companions and assigning which companions are "mirrors" as far as affection and relationships go would be a pain. Edited July 2, 2012 by MadBlue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caladhir Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Well... Imperial Agents can, at the end of their storyline, if they have done their choices correctly during the acts, defect and work as a double agent for the SIS. No actual faction switching though. You still are imperial-side as far as the game is concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancaglon Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's been done already in EQ2, and the system was pretty cool actually. Here's how their system worked. EQ2 was designed this way from the start, and as with WoW's paid service, doesn't have a huge amount of "story" to untangle -- the classes are the same, and your faction-specific gear basically just gets converted to the other-side equivalent. SWTOR can't do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelCawdro Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 EQ2 was designed this way from the start, and as with WoW's paid service, doesn't have a huge amount of "story" to untangle -- the classes are the same, and your faction-specific gear basically just gets converted to the other-side equivalent. SWTOR can't do that. It's not that it can't, but if it did, it would be betraying itself - betraying its one, unique aspect that should be preserved and lauded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumuji Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Can safely say that will never ever happen if only for the story reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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