Faster Speeder Piloting Ranks

[Zenuim]

The current level cap is 60. The fastest Speeder Piloting Rank 3 is too slow:

Speeder Piloting Rank 3: 110% @ level 35 with CM legacy perk, level 40 subscriber, level 50 free-to-play / preferred access

 

New level cap for 2015/2016 will be 65 & a faster Speeder Piloting Rank could be considered overdue:

Speeder Piloting Rank 4: 120% @ level 45 with CM legacy perk, level 50 subscriber, level 60 free-to-play / preferred access

 

Why not keep this going for 2016/2017? The new level cap will be 70:

Speeder Piloting Rank 5: 130% @ level 55 with CM legacy perk, level 60 subscriber, level 65 free-to-play / preferred access

 

In 2017/2018:

Speeder Piloting Rank 6: 140% @ level 65 with CM legacy perk, level 70 subscriber, level 75 free-to-play / preferred access

 

Until the game ends, do the same thing every 2 years.

[DOHboy]

The current level cap is 60. The fastest Speeder Piloting Rank 3 is too slow:

Speeder Piloting Rank 3: 110% @ level 35 with CM legacy perk, level 40 subscriber, level 50 free-to-play / preferred access

 

New level cap for 2015/2016 will be 65 & a faster Speeder Piloting Rank could be considered overdue:

Speeder Piloting Rank 4: 120% @ level 45 with CM legacy perk, level 50 subscriber, level 60 free-to-play / preferred access

 

Why not keep this going for 2016/2017? The new level cap will be 70:

Speeder Piloting Rank 5: 130% @ level 55 with CM legacy perk, level 60 subscriber, level 65 free-to-play / preferred access

 

In 2017/2018:

Speeder Piloting Rank 6: 140% @ level 65 with CM legacy perk, level 70 subscriber, level 75 free-to-play / preferred access

 

Until the game ends, do the same thing every 2 years.

 

well there is a limit to how fast speeders can go, its called the render distance and how much can be drawn before you start driving off the edge of the scene. the speed of something and its duration are directly a result of how fast and how far you can draw a scene and not have a visual effect on the game.

 

we already have taxies for faster travel and unlimited quick travel, faster speeders are not necessary especially given the above limits. ok idea, just limited in scope.

[SteveTheCynic]

There are apparently other issues related to recognising that your character has or has not passed into / out of / through activation zones for e.g. disturbing foes or acquiring area quests. As the speeder goes faster, it becomes easier to avoid activating these zones.

[PavSalco]

Technical limitations.

[Zenuim]

I understand there are rendering limits. However, if the game can render taxi trips, they should be able to render faster speeders. Will SWTOR ever be released in a 64-bit version? That may help game performance overall.

 

Activation zones are another issue. On Ziost, in the People's Tower Plaza, there is the Custom Speeder, which gave me this idea in the first place. That Custom Speeder invalidates the activation zone issue, since the possessed mobs attack if you get too close with the Custom Speeder - even at increased speed.

 

There are plenty of huge areas, like the Dune Sea on Tatooine, where there are no activation zones and only one taxi. However, that activation zone is still an issue. So, why not restrict that the same way regular mounts are treated today?

 

So, let's compare this to normal speeder travel. When you enter an activation/phased area, a message appears:

Mounts are not allowed here. You will be

dismounted if you don't turn around!

A similar mechanism can be implemented for faster speeder travel. Let's say you're traveling faster than 110% when you hit an activation area. A message could appear on the screen:

Mounts are automatically reduced to 110% in this area!

[James_Mcturney]

I understand there are rendering limits. However, if the game can render taxi trips, they should be able to render faster speeders. Will SWTOR ever be released in a 64-bit version? That may help game performance overall.

 

Activation zones are another issue. On Ziost, in the People's Tower Plaza, there is the Custom Speeder, which gave me this idea in the first place. That Custom Speeder invalidates the activation zone issue, since the possessed mobs attack if you get too close with the Custom Speeder - even at increased speed.

 

There are plenty of huge areas, like the Dune Sea on Tatooine, where there are no activation zones and only one taxi. However, that activation zone is still an issue. So, why not restrict that the same way regular mounts are treated today?

 

So, let's compare this to normal speeder travel. When you enter an activation/phased area, a message appears:

Mounts are not allowed here. You will be

dismounted if you don't turn around!

A similar mechanism can be implemented for faster speeder travel. Let's say you're traveling faster than 110% when you hit an activation area. A message could appear on the screen:

Mounts are automatically reduced to 110% in this area!

 

Yup, and god how angry i was when people said "it will glitch the game, stop asking for impossible bua :'( " and then i got to ziost speeder part. ¬¬

NO MORE EXCUSES NOW. "Speeder" is TOO SLOW.

Edited August 2, 2015 by James_Mcturney

[Obsidian_Stone]

Faster speeds and actual mechanics..like accelerating and decelerating.

[MartinSPT]

Faster speeds and actual mechanics..like accelerating and decelerating.

 

Also turning radius and incline negotiation features would be nice.

[Obsidian_Stone]

Also turning radius and incline negotiation features would be nice.

 

I like where your head is at. And if we really want to get crazy, different speeders/mounts have different attributes, top speeds, turning, SWToR equivalent nitro boosts...and cool physics so you can jump off things.

[SteveTheCynic]

I like where your head is at. And if we really want to get crazy, different speeders/mounts have different attributes, top speeds, turning, SWToR equivalent nitro boosts...and cool physics so you can jump off things.

You *can* jump off things in your speeder, even now, without all that stuff. 'Course, depending on where you jump off from, it might not be a good idea. There's a spot on pub Tatooine, up from Salara (?sp), where you have the canyon full of sand people, with the two sides that overhang the top. There's one spot where it looks like you might be able to jump across from one side of the canyon to the other. Sadly, with a +100% speeder, you don't quite make it, and it is far enough down that you end up at the Salara medical droid.

 

(In reality, of course, the speed limit for speeders might be related to preventing people from jumping across that kind of gap.)

[Godsfearme]

I love how people speculate on technical limits of the game like they are the developers. Reality check, your not.

 

Also there are so many in-game moves that temporarily increase speed beyond speeder speeds that your 'technical limits' argument makes absolutely no sense. Furthermore the ziost speeder completely invalidates your activation distance limits because it worked just fine. The only limit real limit was the fps drop I saw during the boost phase which could suck for players with cruddy computers but that is no reason to not introduce a new skill rank.

 

Personally I think the speed boosts the OP posted were too low. You based your percentages on the previous increases, which is logical but you didn't consider that the speeds were too slow to begin with therefore the jump should be larger to compensate. The proposed 120% is much slower than the ziost speeder even accounting for the delay between pulses. Furthermore, I don't think you should be able to travel faster using abilities, even temporarily, than you do while mounted, so I would suggest a new limit of at-least 150% or closer to the ziost speed which estimating was between 200% and 250%.

[DOHboy]

I love how people speculate on technical limits of the game like they are the developers. Reality check, your not.

 

Also there are so many in-game moves that temporarily increase speed beyond speeder speeds that your 'technical limits' argument makes absolutely no sense. Furthermore the ziost speeder completely invalidates your activation distance limits because it worked just fine. The only limit real limit was the fps drop I saw during the boost phase which could suck for players with cruddy computers but that is no reason to not introduce a new skill rank.

 

Personally I think the speed boosts the OP posted were too low. You based your percentages on the previous increases, which is logical but you didn't consider that the speeds were too slow to begin with therefore the jump should be larger to compensate. The proposed 120% is much slower than the ziost speeder even accounting for the delay between pulses. Furthermore, I don't think you should be able to travel faster using abilities, even temporarily, than you do while mounted, so I would suggest a new limit of at-least 150% or closer to the ziost speed which estimating was between 200% and 250%.

 

you do realize those were over very short duration and distances right? meaning it was living within the already rendered space, given enough speed and distance you very well could start running into problems before things stop rendering. You might not notice it right away, but mobs, crafting nodes etc might just never render or show up on the map. No I'm not a game developer, but I understand the limitations of rendering distance and time to render and speed at which a person can travel.

 

if your distance/speed = travel_time If you travel_time <render time, you'll start to see things fall and yes given those crappy frame rates is exactly the problem. have you ever logged into fleet and seen people just hovering or not seen any people at all. guess what, those things are not being properly rendered fast enough, not take that even farther and you might not see anything if going fast enough or far enough to beat the rendered area.

[Bossmas]

Speeders do need a fair bit of work so the feel more like well speeders.

[Gonalius]

As speeders are now, long trips can often leave me waiting 5-10 seconds for mission objectives and enemies to spawn in front of me when I reach them. I can only assume that faster travel will mean these problems will occur more frequently.

[Godsfearme]

No I'm not a game developer, but I understand the limitations of rendering distance and time to render and speed at which a person can travel.

 

There is a big difference between understanding the concept and see the actual results of coding changes that involve testing and implementation. You can sprout useless theory all you want but until a developer implements and tests changes you will never know how worthless your theory is. Until a dev responds with an official comment I fell like you guys are trying way too hard to stick up for Bioware when there is no proof that they have even looked into the issue. Also failed rendering issues can be easily be fixed by increasing rendering distances if that is actually an issue a developer finds.

 

The only argument I've seen that currently has any merit is the one with people having crappy computers, but it only has a modicum of merit. The game was originally developed in 2011. These are the recommended specs:

 

Processor:

 

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better

 

Operating System:

Windows XP Service Pack 3 or later

 

RAM:

 

Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM

Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM

 

Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

 

ATI X1800 or better

nVidia 7800 or better

Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

 

DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only)

Internet connection required to play.

 

If you can afford $15 a month for the game you can afford the $150 to $400 to get a better computer. Its been four years the specs are ridiculously easy to obtain today. Try telling me with a straight face you have had a daily driver pc for over 4 years that has not been replaced or upgraded that does not vastly exceed the recommended specs. Also, why do the games developers need to pander to specs that are over 4 years old. If it was actually an issue, which I doubt it will be, if the developers actually do testing than they can just limit low specs pc's artificially. If you think you are going to run into issues at speeds 30% higher than current than you are already running into problems with your low spec computer which is no reason for other players to have to have their experience reduced.

 

I've never played it so I don't know anything about it besides the chart I'm reference but here are the mounted movement speed increases for WOW:

Apprentice Riding 60%

Journeyman Riding 100%

Expert Riding 150%

Artisan Riding 280%

Master Riding 310%

310%. I know the game engines are totally different, but there are obviously ways to deal with any of the issues presented so far. I'll just reiterate, until a dev actually looks into the issue any technical limitations arguments are worthless.

[REVAN_cz]

Well id like to have faster mounts,but seems there is problem and limitation with game engine.

 

Becoz if the developers tryed do faster mounts i bet they discovered problem that mounts did stuck to textures after move fast ahed around 100 + meter the speeder/mount did stuck and cant move for some time,after around 30 secounds and the devs did been able move again,but after next 100 meter the same problem,so there is pattern why there are not faster speeders,its game engine and programing limitation.

And some people already mentioned this too.. but source of this information is unknown for me.

 

Originaly in game there not been speeders at all,so there not been counted with adding speeders to game in original design,so that is big bump on the road.

And when first speeders been released they did can do only 90 % speed and everyone can learn riding on it with reaching level 25.

 

So if the devs want add something to game,they are carefull to not broke hardcoded unchangable things.

And it they want do some serious changes.... well lets just say that would require do whole game from scratch ...

[Godsfearme]

As speeders are now, long trips can often leave me waiting 5-10 seconds for mission objectives and enemies to spawn in front of me when I reach them. I can only assume that faster travel will mean these problems will occur more frequently.

 

I don't think you grasp the concept of going faster. While your unrender content may increase in frequency since you got there faster you won't actually wait longer for the content. If anything you will wait less overall because your computer spent less time rendering the environment your drove past and more time rendering the mission objectives.

[Monumenta]

Speeders should act more like speeders.

[branmakmuffin]

I know the game engines are totally different, but there are obviously ways to deal with any of the issues presented so far. I'll just reiterate, until a dev actually looks into the issue any technical limitations arguments are worthless.

OK, you keep holding your breath waiting for a speeder speed increase that will never happen.

[StarkillerVB]

I understand there are rendering limits. However, if the game can render taxi trips, they should be able to render faster speeders.

 

Funny thing about taxis, they follow an 'invisible path', therefore they can go faster since there really isn't much to render. The taxi loads it's path the moment you enter it, that's why there is a brief delay from accepting your destination and hoping into the taxi. During that little process, you're system is loading the 'invisible path', so there is no rendering issue and it can run at an increased speed.

[SteveTheCynic]

you do realize those were over very short duration and distances right? meaning it was living within the already rendered space, given enough speed and distance you very well could start running into problems before things stop rendering. You might not notice it right away, but mobs, crafting nodes etc might just never render or show up on the map. No I'm not a game developer, but I understand the limitations of rendering distance and time to render and speed at which a person can travel.

The Ziost speeder is arguably too fast, but for a different reason. The top-speed boost makes it hard to steer, and hard to stop where you want. If, on Ziost, you don't want to fling yourself the full length of the medical droid platform, you have to be very careful.

 

(Well, actually, it's considerably further than the full length of the platform, which makes a particularly funky way of dying. <<<==== The voice of experience.)