Faction changes would the Devs consider this?

[Angrydwarf]

Greets everyone I'm sure there have likely been previous posts regarding this topic. However I tthought I would bring up the topic to satisfy my curiosity. What I envision would be something akin to a quest which esentially allows your to change factions from Republic to Empire and vice versa. personally I like the idea of being able to level a character and complete the story line for say Jedi Knight then perform this epic quest which would be a story line of how my character fell to the dark side.

 

This should not be a difficult endeavor to complete, however i see a lot of merit in making the game replayable with out having to reroll a new character every time. I like at least having the option to choose to change sides. This also falls in line with cannon and should not affect game mechanics as most dark/light side characters are essentially mirrored on the other side. I realize they are not exact cross overs such as the Bounty Hunter and the Trooper however each class would have a story line to explain the change from a Trooper to a Bounty Hunter or a Smuggler to an Agent. I think this small change would generate some player interest and perhaps help bolster player numbers. In addition to this perhaps also consider adding a Bounty board to each planet that allows players to post a bounty for help on heroic quests or for class quests and players coulld earn bounty prestige which unlocks a vendor in the Cartel Bazaar similar to some of the current events mbut more persistent.

 

I have recently seen a few complaints about lack of help for heroics and a few global chat offers of credits for help on planetary quests patticularlly heroics and class quests. This proposed game mechanic could bridge that gap and infuse some more interest in the game. It could also help to manage the frustrtion many players are experiencing. The days of players voluteering to help a struggling player are fast dimminishing and this could be a way to provide an incentive to rekindle players helping players. I would be curious to see how others feel about thse ideas or what the devs would think about it. I would hope that they could see an oportunity to inject some new and unique content to compete with other MMOs. I continue to subscribe and participate because of the amazing story lines and depth of content. However in order to stay competetive and continue to captivate the players I believe the devs should consider creative content that allows players some flexibility with their characters, especially considering the time and effort invested in levling and developing a character to end game content.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Angrydwarf
spelling and grammar fixes

[Andrellma]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7418124&postcount=113

[Lunafox]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7418124&postcount=113

 

Thanks for posting that up. I'd missed it completely. Being able to defect, one way or the other always had a lot of appeal to me, in terms of story. Guess it won't happen...but hopefully they can find a way to add a defection story. Perhaps cut screens unlocked through reputation gain, or something.

[Angrydwarf]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=7418124&postcount=113

 

I'm sorry but this is a lazy excuse. You could easily creat a script that resets these values and you generate new values at the completion of the faction change quest. This is would certainly make it possible. It sounds like the devs do not want to do the extra work for such an undertaking. In my honest opinion it sounds more like they do not feel the effort is worth the return on investment. I'm sure a savy programmer could write this script in a month. It's the testing and integrating they perceive as not doable. Very disappointing considering faction change is an integral part of Star Wars cannan and would add a new and likely desirable aspect to the game. I'm sure faction balance is also an argument however simply limit how often you can faction change. So a player can only change once every 180 days.

 

Perhaps enough people showing interest will influence the devs to explore the option and possible ways to accomplish a faction change.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Angrydwarf

[Falensawino]

I'm sorry but this is a lazy excuse. You could easily creat a script that resets these values and you generate new values at the completion of the faction change quest. This is would certainly make it possible. It sounds like the devs do not want to do the extra work for such an undertaking. In my honest opinion it sounds more like they do not feel the effort is worth the return on investment. I'm sure a savy programmer could write this script in a month. It's the testing and integrating they perceive as not doable. Very disappointing considering faction change is an integral part of Star Wars cannan and would add a new and likely desirable aspect to the game. I'm sure faction balance is also an argument however simply limit how often you can faction change. So a player can only change once every 180 days.

 

Perhaps enough people showing interest will influence the devs to explore the option and possible ways to accomplish a faction change.

That easy huh?

 

World of Warcraft's faction change paid service isn't as rosy as you think.

reddit.com/r/wow/comments/2oaa88/psa_be_thoughtful_before_faction_changing/

Hello there!

 

I just did a faction change from Alliance to Horde and everything didn't go as planned, first off:

 

The Transmog gear I farmed days for from the bunker (Iron Horde Scraps) didn't transfer at all, they remain alliance cosmetic transmog gear. I talked to a GM and they do not transfer these things since they are BoA.

 

Followers, all of my followers got random abilites and most of them changed traits:

 

I now have 12 followers with "Danger Zone" ability and only one with "Wild Aggression". I had 3 Scavenger trait-followers but now only one.

 

Bodyguard reputations reset, I no longer have any rep with any bodyguards.

 

These problems are the ones I have noticed so far.. I'm so sad.

 

Here's another faction change warning, this one is too long to quote.

reddit.com/r/wow/comments/2n8vdp/if_youre_thinking_of_doing_a_faction_change_and/

 

It sounds like the devs do not want to do the extra work for such an undertaking

More like, if it ain't broken, don't break it.

[LadyVix]

I'm sorry but this is a lazy excuse. You could easily creat a script that resets these values and you generate new values at the completion of the faction change quest. This is would certainly make it possible. It sounds like the devs do not want to do the extra work for such an undertaking. In my honest opinion it sounds more like they do not feel the effort is worth the return on investment. I'm sure a savy programmer could write this script in a month. It's the testing and integrating they perceive as not doable. Very disappointing considering faction change is an integral part of Star Wars cannan and would add a new and likely desirable aspect to the game. I'm sure faction balance is also an argument however simply limit how often you can faction change. So a player can only change once every 180 days.

 

Perhaps enough people showing interest will influence the devs to explore the option and possible ways to accomplish a faction change.

 

What you propose is much more complex than simply changing sides, and the cost of implementation would far exceed the benefits. So many things are tied to your class and the decisions you made during the leveling process. It's not as simple as doing a quest and automatically changing from Jedi Barsen'thor to member of the Dark Council.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Faction change ? Republic would be empty, then.

[psandak]

I'm sorry but this is a lazy excuse. You could easily creat a script that resets these values and you generate new values at the completion of the faction change quest. This is would certainly make it possible. It sounds like the devs do not want to do the extra work for such an undertaking. In my honest opinion it sounds more like they do not feel the effort is worth the return on investment. I'm sure a savy programmer could write this script in a month. It's the testing and integrating they perceive as not doable. Very disappointing considering faction change is an integral part of Star Wars cannan and would add a new and likely desirable aspect to the game. I'm sure faction balance is also an argument however simply limit how often you can faction change. So a player can only change once every 180 days.

 

Perhaps enough people showing interest will influence the devs to explore the option and possible ways to accomplish a faction change.

 

OK, let's look at this piece by piece:

First you have class story. As someone else already pointed out, how do you managed to go from Barsenthor to Dark Council member, or defeater of the Emperor to the Emperor's Wrath, or from a hero of the Republic to winning the Great Hunt. The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

 

Second you have companions. Do you REALLY think Elara Dorne or Kira Carsen want to go back to the Empire? Do you REALLY think Skadge or Xalek would switch sides with you? OK so, you get your mirror's companions instead (i.e. a BH would get Aric and Elara, etc), but wait how do they know you in the first place? You are level 60 and you just get 5 story related companions for no reason other than you switched sides. The fix for that is when you switch sides you get no companions - you have to go through the class story to get them. But in that case you might as well make a new character.

 

Last you have NPCs you have impacted. This aspect comes into focus with SoR. The class story bit involves an NPC you dealt with earlier in the class story. The Rishi class story does not make sense if your character switched sides after act 3.

 

I agree the code to change sides creating a quest line is not tough to do. But the scenario is not as simple as that. Story is an integral part of your class, and because this game is story driven that aspect has to be taken into account. Even you see that by the fact that you are requesting a quest line to change sides rather than simply flipping a switch.

[gblXsw]

OK, let's look at this piece by piece:

First you have class story. As someone else already pointed out, how do you managed to go from Barsenthor to Dark Council member, or defeater of the Emperor to the Emperor's Wrath, or from a hero of the Republic to winning the Great Hunt. The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

 

Second you have companions. Do you REALLY think Elara Dorne or Kira Carsen want to go back to the Empire? Do you REALLY think Skadge or Xalek would switch sides with you? OK so, you get your mirror's companions instead (i.e. a BH would get Aric and Elara, etc), but wait how do they know you in the first place? You are level 60 and you just get 5 story related companions for no reason other than you switched sides. The fix for that is when you switch sides you get no companions - you have to go through the class story to get them. But in that case you might as well make a new character.

 

Last you have NPCs you have impacted. This aspect comes into focus with SoR. The class story bit involves an NPC you dealt with earlier in the class story. The Rishi class story does not make sense if your character switched sides after act 3.

 

I agree the code to change sides creating a quest line is not tough to do. But the scenario is not as simple as that. Story is an integral part of your class, and because this game is story driven that aspect has to be taken into account. Even you see that by the fact that you are requesting a quest line to change sides rather than simply flipping a switch.

 

I agree with this. Sure, it would be really cool if there were possibilites in the story to defect to the other faction, but in a story driven mmo - imo - you can't just switch out colours, it has to fit, it has to grow organically and has to take into account all the things that your defection would impact on and conflict with. I cannot imagine how they could now implement a faction change mechanic that I would be satisfied with without them having planned for it from the very start of developing the stories.

 

Perhaps in swtor 2...