Suggestion: MAINs and SUPPORTs: Alts as Companions (General Spoilers)

[Zojak]

MAINs and SUPPORTs: Alts as Companions (General Spoilers)

7/31/2016

I apologize if this thread isn't in the right section. It seemed to fit here, but please feel free to move it to where it ought to go.

This suggestion is to come up with a way to incorporate our main characters with one of our alt characters to explore a deeper, wider storyline experience that adds a huge amount of replayability, enhances the gravity of our choices, and allows us to explore characters we enjoy more comprehensively, instead of in such a compartmentalized way. We would still be able to explore all our character's storylines on their own as MAIN characters, but additionally we'd be able to see how our characters interact as SUPPORT characters and how they'd respond to our MAIN character's decisions. Here's what I mean by MAIN and SUPPORT:

 

MAIN - The character you're logged into right now. Not the actual 'main' character on your account or anything.

SUPPORT - The alternate character (on your account) that is now participating in your story.

 

Contents:

• Introduction
  
• Feature Suggestions
  
• Q&A
  
• Summary/Closing
  

 

 

Introduction

Right now, when you logon to, say, your Bounty Hunter, your character's history is well known and unique. You compete in the great hunt, you encounter tons of captivating storyline, and you ultimately lend your skills towards shaping the galaxy in your own unique way. This story is told along side, say, your Trooper or your Sith Warrior, but the two don't step on each other and, in fact, sometimes intertwine. When we enter KOTFE, we slowly set aside the roles we played in the galaxy in favor of being the commander of the Alliance. But in a lot of ways, the way our characters behaved pre-KOTFE are kind of set aside. Except in really major circumstances, no one cares that the Bounty Hunter is the Champion of the Great Hunt, or that the Smuggler is (potentially) the King of Dubrillion.

 

So, as we recruit our various companions throughout the KOTFE storyline, we're given brief descriptions of those characters and summaries of their lives in the 5 years of our supposed absence. Here's an example of Aric Jorgan's:

 

When his commanding officer went missing in action at the start of the Eternal Empire's invasion, Jorgan assumed leadership of Havoc Squad. He was conflicted: he loved the Republic but disagreed with its willingness to kneel to Zakuul. Determined to protect the Republic in spite of itself, he began leading Havoc on unsanctioned strike missions deep in Zakuul territory.

 

Now, if you play a Trooper, you are Aric's commanding office that went missing, and your reunion with Aric has a certain tone to it. If you don't play a Trooper, then the 'commanding officer' that the description refers to is alluding to a character this isn't you, and that we will never meet and that, for all intents and purposes, is dead or never returned.

 

What if he did return, but in your storyline, he doesn't become the commander of the Alliance, he got out some other way. If you aren't on a Trooper, then having the former commander of Havoc Squad that helped shaped the galaxy on your team is a huge bonus, right?

 

Imagine, moving forward into Knights of the Eternal Empire, we can bring one of our alternate characters with us and progress their story, not as a MAIN character of the story, but as a secondary and invested SUPPORTING character to the story, like Lana, Koth, or Theron.

 

Feature Suggestions

Here are some key features this could offer us as players.

 

• 1. A Different Experience with Familiar Characters. Our characters are meaningful to us because of the decisions we've made with them. Imagine making a decision and then being able to make a support-level decision for your secondary character. A Bounty Hunter makes a certain decision, but the Trooper wants to try to do another option. Maybe they agree, maybe they're completely at odds, or maybe there's a compromise you can come up with.
  
  
• 2. Dynamic Story Directions. The combinations of characters means that replaying classes we already have, just to explore this synergy gives each class' replay value a massive boost. Playing a Smuggler and then having him be your Bounty Hunter's support for a time means that you'd want to explore your Smuggler's MAIN character decisions sometime too, perhaps as he might interact with different support characters.
  
  
• 3. Truly Unique Companions. While we do have a ton of new companions in KOTFE, which I love, everyone else has the same ones too. Now imagine running around and rarely ever seeing two people with the same companion. They'd have their alt's name above them and could even have special companion abilities that synergize with their class in a way normal companions don't have. We'd still maintain the Tank/Damage/Heal roles like we do now. But each role might have one visually unique ability that makes the Alt-Companion stand out and feel cool.
  
  
• 4. A Unique Experience, not Constant Repeats. When we level a class and then level that class again (perhaps to try a different specialization) we basically experience the same story twice. We can diversify this with our decisions, but ultimately it's the same. Playing a character ones as a 'main character' and once as a 'support' makes the characters distinctively unique.
   
  
• 5. Keeps Players Interested. The exponential increase in character-related directions means that players can experiment with all the directions and combinations. Some classes naturally can go together, like the Sith or Jedi classes, but what about when you have a Full Darkside Sith Warrior and a Full Lightside Jedi Consular? The decisions each would prefer differs. Their affection could depend on the trends you, the player, set while you've leveled them.
  
  
• 6. Pre-KOTFE Choices are Suddenly WAY More Impactful. As I hinted in #5, the choices you make could impact the ultimate approval rating of your ALT's reactions. Because both characters will be developed on their own for a time, then merge later, if they are at odds, perhaps they could even part ways if you make key decisions that go against their ways.
  
  
• 7. More Choices. With this idea, not only will you be making decisions that affect your party and your NPC companions, you'll also be making decisions on behalf of your ALT. As a SUPPORT character, they'll be invested in your decisions but with a mind of their own. We could have a system where you have a secondary decision wheel for them, or have them simply react based on your decisions.
  

 

Q&A

 

What if I want to level my Sith Warrior as a MAIN but I've made him a SUPPORT?

Well, either the feature progresses your Sith Warrior as a SUPPORT and you'd level another Sith Warrior, or (more likely for people), they two will still be separate, they'll just be a kind of 'guest' in your main character's storyline.

 

Would we have multiple ALTS or just one?

I mean, I really think this is a feature we can discuss as a community. My opinion on it would be to have just one of your Alts, so that we don't over-complicate it and so that our story exploration possibilities aren't smashed into one big story, so much as incorporating the story of another one of our characters. But this is all theory crafting so let's talk about it!

 

What if we want to change our SUPPORT character?

Well, perhaps the decision would be on the permanent side (think about a certain Gravestone-loving character), but with the possibility of bringing someone else in at the expense of the first. For example, my Bounty Hunter decided to bring in my Smuggler as his SUPPORT through some quest line, but then through my decisions, I want to pursue bringing my Trooper in instead. The process might either upset or in some other way remove my Smuggler from the mix to set out on his own again.

 

Will this affect my ALT when I play him?

Ideally, it would still be confined to your character, but would just be a way to explore the behaviors of your alts as they would interact with your mains.

 

Isn't there too many story possibilities?

I don't think there are. Just like now, the story would include the way certain classes interact with other classes. In-depth story-telling is kind of Bioware/EA's MO, isn't it?

 

What's an example of how this would look?

So, imagine you're on your Bounty Hunter, and you have your KOTFE compansions (of course, we don't know the end of the story yet, but let's assume a bit here). You enter the expansion and you've got the team together. You decide to bring in your Trooper. If we've still got Aric Jorgan, suddenly he's reacting! If it's a female Trooper, and the two are married, then suddenly Aric Jorgan has a compelling side story that you get to experience as your Bounty Hunter as he interacts with your Female Trooper. As you progress, your Trooper reacts to your decisions based on your light/dark side decisions on that character and Aric Jorgan and your other companions react as they normally would.

 

When you make decisions, either your Trooper also has a decision wheel you can choose from, or they react with the choice that their alignment would suggest.

 

When you go into combat, you have your Trooper, in the gear they're wearing when you login to them, as your companion (if you decide to have them out). They have the name you've given your Trooper, perhaps the title as well. Their casual voice responses behave just like companions do now.

 

 

Summary and Closing

I really think this kind if idea would bring a cool dynamic to the same system we already play and give us an other dimension of the story that we already love. With KOTFE, our story-based companions were more or less chosen for us. We always had to have a certain character out at certain times for the storyline. Wouldn't it be neat to watch how our characters interact with EACH OTHER in certain situations?

 

I hope we can have some dialog about this and can explore the idea together. I realize it isn't a complete suggestion yet and definitely has room to grow. My goal here isn't to write a feature that's set in stone, so much as offer a rough sketch/idea about a cool feature we might all enjoy. I'm no game designer, but I have played a lot of video games in my time and have done so enough to have my own opinions.

 

I'd love to hear more about your ideas on the matter. I ask that we keep the conversation constructive and positive. Let me know what you think!

 

As discussion continues, I'll be sure to update the main threat to include ideas.