Myfness Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 My Dear Devs, one and all.... It's been two years now, and I'm still subscribed, still playing this game on a fairly regular basis. In that time there have been many ups and downs, things I've been excited to see, changes I've worried over, and things that frustrated me to the point of logging out for the night. And having to re-spend my skill points I don't know how many times as things have been tweeked for what we all hope is the better. The Storylines of the Eight Classes are great, they're very well plotted, written, animated and performed. After two years though, the same story lines for starting characters, it starts getting a little tiresome. This is where most MMOs fall down, they don't really progress their storylines, their starting points, their over-arching, game wide plots. It's expensive to do all of that work, it's a lot of man hours in a host of departments. Days, nights, weekends, holidays lost. The biggest themes in the Star Wars Universe are The Fall and The Redemption. It's no small part in making Star Wars an attractive place to imagine oneself. These themes are timeless, and recur over and over again. A hero that's never been tempted is boring, a villain that's utterly lacking in humanity isn't compelling. To that end, I recommend that you create a set of new classes. Since the Fall and the Redemption are the interesting parts, they should totally be apart of the story line from the beginning. My recommended overall arc goes like this: Act One starts on Tython/Ord Mantell or Korriban/Hutta, there are New Missions, New Masters, New Employers, New Goals. The seeds of the Fall/Redemption should be planted here. Bad situations, worse choices, and moral dilemmas that leave a character spiraling away from their birth cultures. It culminates in that ultimate choice, give in to the Darkside or seek a better way in the Light. Act Two should begin with them in their new lives in either the Republic or the Empire, and the fall out from the chaos they've created for themselves. It should end deep in struggle, as the character is scrambling to prove themselves to their new faction. In the end, did they make the right choice for themselves? Like The Empire Strikes Back, it should end on a down note, full of self doubt. Act Three is the more established character succeeding and becoming the Hero to the faction they have chosen for themselves, eventually becoming integral to the struggle of either the Empire or the Republic. You might also consider adding new planets and moons, like Ryloth, Yavin IV, The Forest Moon of Endor, Bespin/Cloud City and Dantooine, either as locals for the new class quests, or for further expansion, should you choose to add and Act Four to the current class missions, which I would also recommend at some point. Here are a few ideas for new classes: Darkside/Fallen The Fallen Jedi (Knight/Consular) - The Darkside has many alluring traits, the lie of true power, the appearence of freedom, the ability to follow one's passions to the fullest extent of excess. And there's another side to Imperial life too, the seemingly overwhelming force, how can the Lightside and the Republic possibly stand against the tide? The Pirate - As likely to disable another ship and take it's cargo, as they are to simply bluff their way through blockades and con others out of their cargo in various spaceports, the Pirate answers to no one in particular and holds to no real Imperial agenda. The Coin rules their actions and the motto of "Do unto others before they do unto you" helps to hold their personality together. They might even feign working for the Republic on occasion to get their stolen cargo across the galaxy through the Republic's shipping lanes. Imperial Marine - When you were a Trooper, fighting against the advanced tech and troups of the Empire and hosts of Seperatists and Rebels, did you ever think you'd end up in Grey and Black? Defection can go both ways, as the tragic events of Havoc Squad have proven. But even swearing allegience to the Emperor, how can you possibly ever be trusted fully? Lighhtside/Redeemed The Enlightened Sith (Warrior/Inquisitor) - When the clouding of the Darkside is lifted, what kind of life can a Force wielder who survived the trials of Korriban find in the Republic? Will they turn to the Jedi Order, or will they live on the fringes trying to sort out what's morally right without guidance? The Skip Tracer - Essentially a Bounty Hunter who works for the Republic, hunting down lowlifes, criminals and traitors. Their lives are dangerous, often short and all too often glamourised to be way cooler than it actually is. Republic SIS - Intrigue, danger, secrets and the unknown fate of the Republic often lie in the hands of those who work in the shadows. Perhaps before this less than luxurious gig you were Imperial Intelligence, and now you must always strive to prove yourself a better person than your past, knowing that there will always be those that never trust you, no matter how hard you try to wipe that Drommund Kaas accent from your voice. However, if this is untenable, then perhaps at the end of Acts One and Two, there is a choice that could be made, Fall/Redeem or Stay the Course. It still means writing a mess of new missions, getting the Voice actors to come and record new lines, animating a slew of cut scenes and animations and fights, coming up with mish-mashed skill trees and powers and quirks to help make the classes unique and not just shadows of the original eight classes. To me it seems easier to add new from scratch, from the start, rather than going back and updating and changing so much of that already exists in the Classes. It could be daunting, but I think it could become essential to the survival of This Game. New content is great, adding levels to the cap helps keep people playing, new flashpoints, new space battles, new dogfights....But what really gets them engaged, interested in staying, interested in spending their hard earned dollars and euros, is Story. Stagnation is your enemy. The logistics of what I suggest can be a nightmare for the game servers, the programme itself and the download time. It's essentially doubling the content of the game as it stands. So I propose that it be broken up into chunks. Fallen Knight/Enlightended Sith Inquisitor one quarter, then the Fallen Consular/Enlightended Sith Warrior the next, Skip Tracer/Pirate the third quarter, and rounding out that year could be the Republic SIS/Imperial Marine. I would love to play those storylines, the fallen heroes, the redeemed villains....adding to the richness and depth of this game. My subscription would remain intact, even through the Shiny promise of a new MMO. Naturally, I'd have to purchase more character slots, and so many others would have to as well. It will create that magical "need to have new stuff", therefore more micro-transactions, equals more money in the long run. I personally call it a good investment, particularly if you want this game to continue for as long as WOW and DDO have. Thank you for two years, here's hoping there are many, many more to come! Myfness..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Locke Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 I love this idea, getting to play a fallen Jedi or an enlightened Sith, a Bounty Hunter with a conscious or an Imperial Marine, would be amazing. I know that the game allows you thru choices to pick the opposite alignment choice and gain darkside points as a Jedi or lightside points as a Sith, but to actually change sides and play a a Fallen Jedi working for the Imps or a Bounty Hunter bringing in republic war criminals and profitiers, that would make having to start at level one almost pleasurable. You could make it an unlock you get after maxing out a class, you open its turn-coat counter part, or I would even be okay with this as an expansion I had to buy, with not only the new classes but new races and worlds only available to those that buy the expansion. I would be the first yelling, "Shut up and take my money", for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myfness Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 Well, at least for a little while, until we all play them to death in a couple of years or so.... Myfness.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KotWR Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Nice idea's would love the imperial Marine addition but alas I don't see it happening. I'd like to see it happen just like I'd love to see some closure to personal stories to what we have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myfness Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 I'm hoping for an Act 4, myself. Continuing the storylines, progressing the relationships with the Companions, friendships, romance, rivalries....maybe even the loss of a Companion or two along the way. There are so very many things that could be done for the High Level Characters, but I hope they really consider doing something interesting for the lower level/starter toons. It's starting to feel like a chore to get a character off the starter worlds, the capitol worlds and the first few planets beyond them, because I've done it nearly every way possible, so very many times. There are hosts of possibilities on how to solve that problem, like offering to start a Character at Level 10, with a basic set of equipment and certain amount of starter money. And while there's something vaguely appealing in the "Veteran Status" option that DDO has, it always feels a little cheep and thrown together when I start a character that way, even though their interface for that process is pretty brilliant. It could be a Legacy Unlock thing. You can unlock doing that per class by finishing out Act 3....but they'll prolly make it a Coin buy if it ever gets implemented. I have no doubt that coding this would be easier than writing, producing and introducing my new class idea, but I think it would be a stopgap measure. Either way, I hope they do something..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AhsokaTanorules Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I am also all for the continuation of lore. Galactic Star Fighter does nothing for me and I heard Disney is going to make the same thing anyway next year. At this point I wouldn't care if EA got really lazy about it and simply made new classes with the same exact gear and move patterns as other classes. (i.e. Republic senator as a JC clone or SIS as a smuggler clone) so long as new stories and new companions were made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynlath Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I too have been on the game since day one of it being released for sale and have continued to support the game through its dark days and its good days and I agree they need to progress with something new not just one class or one race, but come out with several......and for the love of god, I'd kill for the different races to sound different from each other instead of just the class. I mean every gender sounds the same for their class kind of boring. But new classes would be a large step in the right direction the game needs to move on its starting to get stale or has been for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Moonshadow Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Actually the biggest themes in Star Wars is the stars and the wars. Hence the name. "Hey man, how's this for an idea? People killing each other in the name of government and religion..." "Boring." "...in SPACE?" "OH MY GAWD YOU ARE BLOWING MY MIND, MR. LUCAS!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericc Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Nice... lots of thought into this one... I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myfness Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 I too have been on the game since day one of it being released for sale and have continued to support the game through its dark days and its good days and I agree they need to progress with something new not just one class or one race, but come out with several......and for the love of god, I'd kill for the different races to sound different from each other instead of just the class. I mean every gender sounds the same for their class kind of boring. But new classes would be a large step in the right direction the game needs to move on its starting to get stale or has been for awhile. While it would be great to get some new voices in the mix, it's a ton of work. You have to cast each race (17, including the faction unlocks), in each class (8), for each gender (2), for a grand total of (17x8x2=272 total voice actors, minus the 8 we have now =264). They have to all have the time to do the studio work, then the animation team has to match the lip movements to the rhythm and meter of the individual voice actors in each and every cut scene. And that's just what we've already got available to us, it's probably just not feasible to do in a retro-fit sort of fashion, amasing as it would be. However, I'd love a voice modulation option in character creation, one that helps to individualise the experience just that much more. For example, if I'm playing a Jedi Knight with the Size 3 body style (Superman, essentially), having the soft spoken voice doesn't always fit my vision of the character. I want a deeper voice, something with more gravitas. I'd love to be able to change the timbre of the voice, which is likely easier to do than have a different person entirely voicing. Myfness..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marb Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 An interesting idea, thanks for sharing it. One thing I took away is the possibility to pair off the force users and tech users, a better alternative to forcing all 4 classes to share the same exact story chapter. Makeb worked for the tech classes, but felt like a hackjob for the force users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nempo Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 They have flat out said at the cantina events that they aren't looking into continuing the class stories in any forseeable future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AhsokaTanorules Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 They have flat out said at the cantina events that they aren't looking into continuing the class stories in any forseeable future. If that is true this game is truly doomed. Their lore content was the only reason that I as a 6 year WoW player swotched sides. At this point even Rift has more lore content than this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexxarLoh Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I support that idea of adding new classes and story. Infact, I'm tinking tat for the Jedi Knight and sith, the fallen or the enlightened one can be a higher level job advancement for the existing Jedi and sith classes. /Signed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myfness Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 Anything is better than nothing. Nothing is stagnation, and stagnation is death. Just adding warzones and dogfights and ops and space battles is like adding breadcrumbs to meatloaf, it's filler. There needs to be an ever evolving agenda to really keep people interested, not just placated. If they don't want to do an Act IV, fine. Then they need to come up with something else that's story related. Even if it's a paid expansion.....Story is the egg in the meatloaf, it's what binds everything up, holds it together. Without the meat (The Theme/SW Universe) is just that, meat. Without it, I might as well be playing Tetris. Myfness..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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