Please, allow FACTION DEFECTION as a part of end game!

[Kelvarn]

I'm not the one who posted that in the other topic/attended the event; that's someone else with the same avatar. You're still grossly underestimating the difficulty, though.

 

Technical dffculties aside, writing an expansion (rather, writing the expansion's 2 [if faction based] or 8 [class based]) stories around the sole factor of defecting or not sounds really boring, too. Basically you're just catering to people who do want defections and saying "well, you're along for the ride, so just whatever" to people who don't. I'd probably cancel my sub if they did that.

 

I added a little to what I had previously posted. Might answer this, might not. Going to take the time to say it anyway:

 

Yes, it's more difficult to write an expansion. Especially one that has a branch for each class. Yes, it will (to a certain extent, depending on where that branch is) double the work.

This is why I say make it an option. Not necessarily an after thought, more of a possibility, based upon decisions you make during the course of the story progression. Kind of like they did with the Sith Warrior, for Jaesa.

 

That way, people can go either side, if they so choose. No one is forced to go one side or the other. No one is taken on a story they don't want to go. They just play as they normally would, and through certain choices, get to choose the other side.

 

Is that so bad that you would unsub over it?

[Lesaberisa]

Would I unsub if they wrote an entire expansion largely revolving around defection?

 

Not fure sure, no, but I would strongly consider it. We get limited story additions as it is, even less when it comes to anything related to our character or class. Basically none for companions, other than scrpted lines at specific locations on Makeb (woohoo ). Waiting months for an expansion only for it to be written to cater to a select group of players would be very annoying, especially when they've said that writing the stories is time-consuming/difficult, so asking for 2/8 stories to be written specifically to address one small group's wishes means you're asking for those resources to be taken from everyone else. Sorry, but if we're only getting limited updates, I want a story I enjoy, and nothing I've seen in this topic hints I'd be even remotely entertained by a "Will they or won't they defect" storyline.

 

Further, as demonstrated by the ideas in this topic, it'd dilute the story we do have. There's a lot of handwaving in this topic - "they can write something to have [class] defecting make sense", "you can figure out why [companion y] would join [faction]" type statements that ignore the real difficulties the developers face in addressing these factors(well, addressing them properly, it's of course possible that they just ignore logic/story and do it anyway).

 

Lastly, it's important to remember that our individual stories/decisions are meant to fit within a larger framework; my knight may be snarky and more fond of a rock than she is of Doc, but she's also the Hero of Tython that fought

the Emperor's host

. My friend's knight married Kira and also hated Doc, but he's also still the Hero of Tython.that fought

the Emperor's host

.

 

It really makes zero sense for a Knight with their canon history to suddenly decide "Hey, the Empire is pretty cool" and have the Empre accept it all of 1-2 planets of story later.

 

All that aside, since you don't seem to believe that technical difficulties would be an issue. Here's what Eric Musco posted about no gender change:

 

Character customization will not allow for players to switch their gender. Although this seems like a simple appearance change there are a lot of factors tied to gender in our game. Gender affects everything from gear selection all the way to companion romance and dialogue choices throughout the game.

 

Hope that answers your question![

 

That's just gender.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Lesaberisa

[Chocobo_Kramer]

Good idear.

[Sarafain]

Have you seen Skyfall and to a lesser degree Iron man 3. The story was dirty for lack of a better word without getting into details.

I've finished 3 story lines, Inquisitor, Warrior and Agent. I'd say the agent story touches on the "dirty" side of the faction but the other 2 do are about "becoming the master". There is no quest you choose to stay with the empire. I see nothing wrong with the story of the next Xpac or a patch that gives this kind of "dirty" story and at the end you have the choice to stay or go.

 

In regard to the gender change, Musco did not say it can't be done, he said it may seem simple but it's not. The Technical director mentioned by lesaberisa again didn't say "impossible" he said nightmare. It comes down to resource management; would the SWTOR community like to see new content or switch genders/defection, not hard to guess where resources will go.

 

In regards to "mirror class" it's about aesthetics, that's right the look of a class not the abilites. Would you rather throw rocks or shoot lightning, fire rockets or have a BFG, 2 Pistols or a rifle, etc (ie. don't know how to compare Warr's to knights).

 

Also to some degree you started Empire, your buddies have decided to play republic, you're now stuck for a month re-rolling, then trying to catch up to gear.

 

So aside from the heinous nightmare of coding and re-coding it can be done.

 

So better question: What class would you switch?

[Allronix]

The logistics on this could be a first-rate pain in the butt to implement.

 

That being said? My Hunter REALLY wants the Republic to start hiring.

[ZirusZero]

Have you seen Skyfall and to a lesser degree Iron man 3. The story was dirty for lack of a better word without getting into details.

I've finished 3 story lines, Inquisitor, Warrior and Agent. I'd say the agent story touches on the "dirty" side of the faction but the other 2 do are about "becoming the master". There is no quest you choose to stay with the empire. I see nothing wrong with the story of the next Xpac or a patch that gives this kind of "dirty" story and at the end you have the choice to stay or go.

 

In regard to the gender change, Musco did not say it can't be done, he said it may seem simple but it's not. The Technical director mentioned by lesaberisa again didn't say "impossible" he said nightmare. It comes down to resource management; would the SWTOR community like to see new content or switch genders/defection, not hard to guess where resources will go.

 

In regards to "mirror class" it's about aesthetics, that's right the look of a class not the abilites. Would you rather throw rocks or shoot lightning, fire rockets or have a BFG, 2 Pistols or a rifle, etc (ie. don't know how to compare Warr's to knights).

 

Also to some degree you started Empire, your buddies have decided to play republic, you're now stuck for a month re-rolling, then trying to catch up to gear.

 

So aside from the heinous nightmare of coding and re-coding it can be done.

 

So better question: What class would you switch?

 

Who said it would be class switch? Pretty much the same on everything, just swapping out factions.

[Sarafain]

Who said it would be class switch? Pretty much the same on everything, just swapping out factions.

 

Earlier in the thread the were posts thinking that we were just asking for a faction change (I'm guessing to avoid re-rolling), some still say that if you want a republic bounty hunter just roll a trooper. I'm attempting to make it clear that most what the more then just the mirror abilities they want the look of the class.

[XDoggStrafe]

don't know how to compare Warr's to knights

Screaming or throwing energy blades would be a good comparison there.

 

As for faction defection? I would like this idea, I really would. But I also see the serious problems it raises. First off, I'm going to go under the impression most people (who are in favor of defections) want to simply have their faction change from republic to empire, or empire to republic. Not exactly a problem by the sounds of it, your character would retain their voice, their gear, their specs, all that fun stuff you like about them... but they become officially part of the opposite side (I'm not gonna get into the Jedi/Sith thing, honestly, they're the same thing, with a different philosophy on their powers). Well, there's where the problems begin, first off, our Companions. Companions are tied deeply into the story line (I'll avoid spoilers as best I can here.) but I doubt

Khem would want to jump ship to the Republic to help you slaughter Sith lords

. Just like I'm fairly certain

Pierce wouldn't jump at killing Imperial soldiers either (Hell he mentions it on a mission with you.)

. So, that's obstacle one. Well, we can hand wave that, they leave you...So now you're down...say 2 companions per class. Well, we can get them back in the expansion right? Or get replacements. This .. kind of works. It would require a well thought out story, one that involved having to write in meeting these abandoned/betrayed companions for your mirror class. And that's even assuming they match up. But as someone pointed out earlier... now we have the issue of your characters story line. We know that the Jedi Knight

Kills the Emperor's host.

Why would he join the empire? Even dark side, I don't see him joining the Empire. What about the Warrior? He

Becomes the Emperors wrath and kills the enemies of the Emperor...like Baras.

I'm sure even my light side Marauder has no intention of joining the republic. My inquisitor? Well, because of the romance options with Ashara, he no longer has a reason to leave the empire. He

apparently will rebuild it from the inside out to be better.

.

 

That's just companion and story line related. I haven't even touched in on the amount of money it'd cost, and the resources it would take to hire on most of their staff to come in and re-read some lines. And remember, this is just for prior content, nothing new at this point is added. Then they'd have to pay voice actors for the defection story line. And hire writers for said defection story line. Ultimately, It's a nice idea, but it's a lot of work...and work means money. And Bioware/EA won't spend that kind of money to give us this, when it's easier to churn out content that'll please more people at half the cost.

[Shadowcaper]

Honestly, I was expecting to be able to defect when I got the game. I mean... this is Star Wars: how many stories revolve entirely around people who've defected from Empire to Republic or vice versa? And I'm not just talking about Jedi falling to the Dark Side and Sith seeking redemption

 

But... this is something that should have been introduced during the initial design stage, because now it would require a lot more work to impliment. People have already mentioned why it wouldn't work because of companions, so I won't go into that. Same with needing to re-voice lines of dialog, and potentially collecting more datacrons than people who don't defect.

 

But there's also the social aspect: if you defected, you couldn't remain in your current guild and you'd completely lose your Friends list . So your decision to defect would be governed by social aspects rather than a desire to choose how your character's story progresses. Basically, the basic framework of the game would have to be completely stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up in order to make defections work in a fun and interesting way

[ban-canal]

quick and simple I HATE THE IDEA i see its potential but i would become one of those hate swtor fanatics

[MajikMyst]

My biggest issue with faction changing is what to do with the companions.. I have not seen a viable solution to the companion issue.. Ignoring their story would be a huge mistake.. Bioware should not ignore story to appease a few people that just want another convenient gimmick to take part in.. There really is no need for faction changes to begin with.. They just seem to be more trouble than they are worth..

[Haggardbr]

Let's keep the subject alive!

[MajikMyst]

Let's keep the subject alive!

 

So you will bump you thread, but you don't want to deal with the problem your idea poses..

 

Let's just say that faction defection is never going to happen until the issues with the companions is solved.. Seriously.. We need to be realistic about this.. If we really want to see this happen.. Then we need to be constructive with our ideas and thing things through..

[Layno_Maul]

No. This cannot happen. Then people would pretty much be FORCED to do light side or dark side. What if the feature suddenly came and someone finished the story and stuck to being neatrul, then they couldn't try it out and would have to start all over again. No no and NO

[Kelvarn]

I had been posting similar to this, in a different thread.

I still think it's a good idea, so long as it's part of the story.

(No, there should be no tie in with light/dark side)

However, someone was telling me that one of the lead designers said it can't be done.

(Yes it can, they are just too lazy to work as hard as it would take to do this)

The best way to do faction defection is to make it a choice, as part of a story line.

(FYI, they won't do it, because of how much work would have to go into the game from that point forward)

[SuperGrunt]

I did read your post.

 

As for the class, it's pretty much a gunslinger with a rifle and different animations. All the animations are already in the game programming.

 

As for voice overs, they had to hire people to voice over RotHC main NPCs, so they could do again...

 

This idea could be another expansion pack too.

 

You forget that they charged for RotHC, and have since stopped charging for the DLC they call Expansions. Not to mention the fact that you fail to realize that BioWare has stated, multiple times as a matter of fact, that Faction Change will not work with this game, not now, not ever.

 

To be quite honest, if you want to be on a certain faction but as the opposite advanced class, that is called Roleplaying. just give your characters a backstory. Play as a Light sided Sith, or a Dark sided Jedi. FFS people the only difference in most cases are animations, and weapons for the Tech classes. The only things you don't have control over are the animations and weapons. Create you characters with similar names, use Legacy gear, and you have everything that you need.

Edited May 2, 2014 by SuperGrunt

[RedVale]

Whats the Issue with voice overs? You think your agent is going to suddenly stop being british? just because they went to the lightside? ANd they could keep there same dialogue for all flashpoints Edited May 2, 2014 by RedVale
change

[illgot]

why not? Make players finish their story first so there are no conflicts.

 

From what I understand they are not doing any more story development based on class right?

[Nataph]

I do not like this idea. Reason.. PvP winning goes from one faction to another, it ebbs and flows. a few months pubs are losing then later they are winning. People would defect to the winning side and just like other games that PvP with only 2 realms, it becomes one sided and no one will play the losing side. Therefore the losing side will only become worse.

[theUndead]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7418124#post7418124

 

Read Eric's response. He pretty much said that it will never happen. So can we drop this now?

[Codedrago]

It could become a SIS agent!

 

 

Depending on how you played your IA story, you already defected. Just staying as a spy.