Elaeis's Suggestions for Strongholds Expansion and Improvement

[Sorrai]

Keith, I hope you and your team are reading this.

 

 

It has been almost 3 years since Galactic Strongholds launched back in August 2014 and during that time many stronghold enthusiasts have encountered quite a few frustrations and problems that are currently inherent within the system, including limited locale selection, an acutely frustrating hook system, and many inconsistencies with classifying and organizing decorations. Regardless, there is still tremendous potential for strongholds and I would really love to see some major expansion on this front.

 

The focus of my post will center around 3 major areas for improvement.

 

1) A revised hook system. Players would benefit tremendously if this were further expanded and improved. While I would prefer to see some sort of snap-to-grid interface instead of hook tiles, the ultimate idea here is that players need additional options for customizing their hook layouts without being restricted to the limited hook templates presently available in the game. Nothing is more frustrating to a stronghold designer than having their creativity hindered because of poorly laid out hook tiles. I can think of no finer example than the main temple of the Yavin stronghold, where only 5 large hooks are provided despite having enough space to accommodate 3 or 4 times that amount, or any combination of centerpiece hooks or even a starship hook.

 

Players should be given the option of designing their own custom templates that can allow for additional combinations of hook sizes to be arranged however we wish, including floor hooks.

 

I would also like to see the X and Y slider values further increased from 20 to at least 30 or 40, or possibly more. That may sound dramatic but for those of us who dream of having large bulky decos like a Droid Engineer Work Bench sitting flush against a wall, an increased value range would be a great benefit.

 

 

2) An improved, more accurate system for organizing and classifying decorations. This is an area where I have noticed a lot of inconsistencies that make the process of finding decorations time consuming and tedious.

 

The following is a wonderful suggestion by a forum member named Darkside to revise and streamline decorations.

 

Decoration Collections:

Trying to find what decorations you have unlocked, and what category and hook type it goes with while trying to decorate is borderline insanity. Please add a collection system like what we have now. That way we can visually see and quickly scroll through what we have unlocked, and what we still need. In the description of each deco list what hooks they use, and where the decoration comes from. Heck even let us sort by hook type from a drop down menu. This one improvement would have a massive increase on stronghold participation, which equals more money for you guys.

 

You can read his full post here.

 

 

3) A stronghold for every planet featured in the game.

 

Currently there are around 28 planets featured in the game. I would like to see a stronghold option available for each and every planet. Why stop with just planets? Additionally, I would love to see an option for Fleet housing on Carrick Station and Vaiken Space Dock, or living quarters aboard each faction's fleet vanguard vessel.

 

Yes, I understand that there are limitations from the coding side of things, which is why we presently can only have 5 active strongholds (bumped up from the original maximum of 4). What I'm talking about here is a major expansion on selection and options. Imagine a massive stronghold directory that lets you purchase a stronghold for every planet. Players would still be limited to keeping however many active strongholds that game can handle (5? 6? 10?).

 

Below are just some simple stronghold ideas for each planet:

 

A Jedi retreat on Tython

A Sith tomb on Korriban

A safehouse on Ord Mantell

A battle front on Corellia

A toxic lake on Quesh

A refinery on Balmorra

A corporate office on CZ-198

A castle on Alderran

A mansion on Makeb

A seedy apartment on Hutta

A frontier homestead on Taris

An underwater complex on Manaan

A remote outpost on Hoth

A crystal cave on Illum

A prison compound on Belsavis

A desolate ruin on Iokath or Ziost

A wilderness camp on Odessen

A Kaliyo-inspired apartment on Zakuul

An Alliance outpost on Iokath

A pirate cove on Rishi

A secluded grove on Voss

An oasis on Darvannis

A small living unit on Carrick Station and Vaiken Space Dock

 

 

Not every stronghold needs to be as expansive as Tatooine or Yavin 4. Many stronghold locales might work better in smaller settings, such as a Hutta apartment, consisting of only a few dingy rooms, or living quarters aboard each faction's space station. Strongholds could be classified into small, medium and large categories which would be priced accordingly.

 

 

Miscellaneous Ideas

 

A Save feature. Every stronghold would have an optional feature that would allow players to save their layouts and reload them at any time. Need to deactivate a stronghold but don't want to lose hours of time and effort in your design? No longer a problem. Just reload one of your scenes whenever you reactivate your stronghold.

 

A day and night setting. Daytime hours and evening hours available where applicable. It would be nice to see the Coruscant skyline in the evening or Nar Shadaa during the day.

 

Climate Options. Rain, wind, snow, fog, smog, sandstorm, thunderstorm, blizzard, autumn leaves—each stronghold could have its own unique environmental effects menu.

 

Texture skins. Would you like to see your Dromund Kaas stronghold dirty and dilapidated? Would you prefer to see your Nar Shaddaa sky palace painted in more lively colors? Provide more diverse texture options to help stronghold designers create evocative scenes.

 

 

Some may think I am dreaming big here, but considering it's 2017, humankind has sent rovers to Mars, and cars are starting to drive by themselves, I hope that what I outlined is within the realm of possibility for SWTOR. The Star Wars universe has always had so much to offer in terms of exotic locales, and SWTOR has been an important platform for fans to experience this fictional universe we love so much. Players like me would love the option of inhabiting more of the worlds we have come to know through the course of this game. My hope is that the dev team can rise to the challenge and give our community more creative outlets to explore.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Sorrai

[MingusPho]

I really like the idea of a small apartment on fleet. Player space is always one of my main concerns when trying a new mmo and it always determines whether i stay or not.

 

Having said that I was put off by the stronghold idea because they are too spacious---even without unlocking all the sections. Dont get me wrong, the size may be great for many, but all i need are three to four rooms and a convenient exit to some place I frequent---fleet, a daily area, my ship, etc.

 

Decorating is great because it adds a personal feel. On that note being able to display our expensive collection of cartel weapon and armors should be a priority along with a grid system (another brilliant idea in the original post). I hate those SH hooks and I know I'm not alone in this.

Edited May 5, 2017 by MingusPho

[Enoela]

I think the Idea is great! especially the one with the Texture options. It would be cool to be able to change the wall color or the overall look of the Stronghold. I am definitely not a role-player but I love to create new outfits all the Time (who want's to wear the same clothes for one year?) And for Strongholds it's the same for me. I love the Strongholds I currently have but sometimes I need a change of scenery And though it's a dataminde Information I would love to see a Zakuul Stronhold coming into the game.

Perhaps it's a bit to much to add a stronghold for every planet (even if everony has another taste) but it would be really helpful if we had the suggested "Backup system". I have re-decorated Yavin so often that at some point It wasn't fun anymore because i tried to redo all i did before i cleaned all up.

 

The revised hook system is more complicated I think. some new options would be nice for example the option to select a centerpiece hook at places where it's not suggested like in the entrance of Yavin. A big "Throne hook" would be better than all these small hooks. Only problem is that some Items would clip through walls (like a ship) so it doesn't make sense, but you could implement more options to pick off. something that is like a centerpiece but is for rooms only perhaps?

 

Anyway I like the suggestion made and I would love to see at least some changes made in the Stronghold area of the game. Even if some little things from the suggestion come into the game it would be much appreciated

[TheFreakinBear]

These are all fantastic ideas, hopefully this thread gets some traction!

[Saenorel]

Absolutely on all of this. I suspect some of it is quite out of reach, but if even a fraction of it came to be, it would make me happy. My Coruscant apartment is already separated into "apartments" to try and manage the space—a hook overhaul (or at least increase) would help with that immensely even if a smaller apartment/ship-style stronghold is never provided. I would like to particularly highlight the suggestion of increasing the value limits of the X and Y sliders. This area is lacking, and I feel could be a simpler (temporary?) solution to the current difficulty for players designing their rooms.

[Darkbloom]

Some great suggestions.

 

I would also really like it if there was a stronghold option that was much smaller in total size. Not all strongholds need to be massive.

[JakRoanin]

I'd love to customize colors for furniture rugs etc.

[Capella]

This is such a comprehensive suggestion list, and I really love it!

 

I like most of your ideas for the per-planet stronghold options. I'm especially a fan of the Alderaan castle since it's been something I've wanted forever. And the Makeb aesthetic is awesome enough that I'd love a mansion there.

 

I'd like to see Corellia get something a little nicer than a battlefront, maybe an executive suite in one of the corporate buildings that you could use as a comfortable base before you go fight. Or you could turn into a forward base for battle if you'd prefer.

 

For Voss, I also wouldn't mind a small apartment in the alien district. Look at some of the empty buildings we can wander into Voss-ka, that have 2 or 3 rooms of a simple but pretty layout. I wouldn't mind getting a small apartment like that to call our own, I can't imagine the Voss letting us have anything bigger.

 

I particularly like the idea of having them classed by size and giving us pricing options that vary via that. make it easier for F2P or new players to get a small stronghold and have them save up to earn bigger one laters. I might want an Alderaan castle as huge as Yavin, but a smaller Voss one closer to the lower area of Coruscant/Kaas.

 

 

As for your feature ideas:

 

The Save feature is a fantastic idea, especially if they do add more strongholds but keep us at a limited subset of them. If an Alderaan stronghold was released I'd make it my main even though I had to deactivate something. But while I might not always use my archaeological camp on Yavin IV, the Save feature would mean I could temporarily re-activate it, use it for RP scenes, and then shuffle it back into quiet inactivity for a bit.

 

I could see the day and night setting as useful, but I actually don't like the idea of it being automated (maybe I want to trigger a particular theme at a particular time, so that it's appropriate for an RP event or something). I'd like to see this suggestion merged with your Climate Options idea.

 

Basically, I'd love a "Stronghold Settings" panel when we go into Edit Stronghold mode. It could either be a menu like how we choose decorations, or a deco hook for "outside" that we drop various purchaseable or unlocked modules into. It would allow us to set both Time of Day and a Weather Effect.

 

Each stronghold would have unique setting options that make sense for it. Tatooine might have its current twilight time of day or an option for midday (like we see on the actual planet), and have sandstorm as a weather option. Dromund Kaas could have the rain turned off and have there be a rare day of sun. Yavin could have rainstorms or a full night mode.

[Kaveat]

+1 bump

[Xina_LA]

Great ideas! Here are my suggestions to add to the list --

 

As far as decoration collections go, what I'd like to see are two things:

1) FIX the decorations that have glitches, are in the wrong category, or have duplicate names.

2) Add a SEARCH box that will filter the lists (including the ALL lists) appropriately.

 

Here are some other things we need :

* Increase the movement distance on the X/Y axis to +/- 25 or even 30, to solve problems with large hook items.

* Increased limit of Felucia Stato decorations to match the stronghold limit (5+).

* Update layout of the Stronghold UI to be more space efficient, so we can show 6+ on a page.

* Ability to hold more than 5 keys to friend's strongholds.

* Legacy-wide stronghold keys, so we don't have to issue keys to every friend's newest alt.

* A way to grant access to all Friends and Guild members, even while we're offline.

* A way to let people from both factions visit our stronghold at the same time, regardless of which faction the owner is logged into.

* Gold keys for personal strongholds, so friends can help us decorate or prep the place for RP.

* Fixes for bugged stronghold hooks. Some are unusable. Some won't let you remove an item once it's hooked.

* More stronghold labels to support a wider variety of themes.

* The stronghold label window to have an "X" to close the window on mouse-over, just like the LvD progression bar.

* The ability to copy anniversary items (IE: posters, fireworks) to guild strongholds and flagships.

* Fix for the bug where other people's naked companions show up in our strongholds at random.

* Fix and improve the types of hooks that certain decorations use, to make them more useful.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Xina_LA

[Kissakias]

none of above

 

i prefer to add more rooms into the already SHs so can add more speeders in them. Now i got seperate them into 2 SHs

Edited May 9, 2017 by Kissakias

[SixVoltCar]

I've completed my Yavin, Tatooine, Dromund, Coruscant ones, and I don't like the Nar Shadaa one. I found myself lacking for choice from the beginning-- the Yavin temple is pretty, but it is not where I would put a stronghold.

 

I agree with all of the suggestions in original post.

[BlackSilverRoar]

A day and night setting and Climate Options - Most other MMO's and even a ton of console games have this; been waiting for this since this game came out. It is HUGE; I like to feel like I'm in an actual natural environment, that changes.

 

Let's not forget the Guild Ships! For a handful of guilds out there are able to open up all of the rooms; but, for most guilds <A> fully unlocked Guild Ship is a lost cause - thus why more people turn solely to strongholds

Give players a CHOICE: use encryptions OR credits OR cartel coins (in place of encryptions) to open Guild Ship rooms.

Guild Ships have been out for a long time, long enough, and only a few guilds have or can hope to have Guild Ships on both sides opened up.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Willjb

[JediBoadicea]

I support all of the OP's ideas, but want to call out a few specific ones:

 

I would also like to see the X and Y slider values further increased from 20 to at least 30 or 40, or possibly more. That may sound dramatic but for those of us who dream of having large bulky decos like a Droid Engineer Work Bench sitting flush against a wall, an increased value range would be a great benefit.

 

Please, please, please - this! Even an increase to just 30 would get us there. It's incredibly frustrating to not be able to put large decorations flush against walls, especially when some of the decos are only one-sided (meaning they face one way, with a flat or cut-off back). You can't even back these decos with other decos form neighboring hooks, because the slider values for those other hooks won't allow it.

 

A Save feature. Every stronghold would have an optional feature that would allow players to save their layouts and reload them at any time. Need to deactivate a stronghold but don't want to lose hours of time and effort in your design? No longer a problem. Just reload one of your scenes whenever you reactivate your stronghold.

 

I can't properly articulate or emphasize enough how amazing this would be, especially if we are not going to have the cap on number of active strongholds increased (although I desperately hope that cap will be increased as new SHs are released).

 

I imagine that one of the concerns/hurdles with this proposal could be the fact that an active stronghold has the decos being used in it "locked out" of your available deco inventory. Currently when you deactivate a SH those decos are picked up and returned to your available inventory. It would theoretically be possible, therefore, for someone to Save a layout, deactivate the SH, have those decos returned to inventory, use those decos somewhere else, then try to reactivate a Saved layout only to no longer have the necessary number decos available in inventory. However, a possible fix to this could be that Saving a layout keeps those decos locked out of your inventory, whether that SH is activate or inactive; only deleting the Saved layout would refund those decos to you. This would functionally be no different from having all of those Saved layouts as active strongholds, as regards deco availability. I can only speak for myself of course, but I would find that solution totally acceptable.

 

A day and night setting. Daytime hours and evening hours available where applicable. It would be nice to see the Coruscant skyline in the evening or Nar Shadaa during the day.

 

This would be so lovely, and it sounds like it would be one of the most simple enhancements to implement. I would love climate options too, but if nothing else just day/night would be wonderful.

[Sorrai]

This would be so lovely, and it sounds like it would be one of the most simple enhancements to implement. I would love climate options too, but if nothing else just day/night would be wonderful.

 

It would be nice if we had features like these added to a Settings menu for our strongholds. Having a day or night setting could be selected between manual or automatic settings. In regards to additional climate effects each stronghold could have specific weather affects specific to each planet. Tatooine could have a sandstorm effect, Alderaan could have snowfall, Yavin could have rain, etc.

[Lunafox]

I like the ideas very much.

 

I'd like to be able to add levels or rooms to my existing strongholds, Dromund Kaas in particular.

 

I also had the idea that instead of the devs placing the hooks, why not give us the power to put hooks where WE want them...they'd give us so many hooks to start off with, and then we could always buy packages of more hooks, but we choose where we place tiny, small, medium, large, centerpiece and starship hooks...and also give us the ability to layer hooks. So that we can populate our gazebos with people or pets for example.

[DivineLuster]

I'd Like to Say something. However first of all although i agree for the most part with what you are saying i much rather a Zakuul Palace and a Rishi Beach Resort. (and also a snow Stronghold is great with an aurora sky view) Edited December 11, 2017 by DivineLuster

[DivineLuster]

In regards to your post i'd like to add that many MMO's bring an illusion of options within this area of gameplay so for example zakuul would have an Kaliyo apartment option (small) a (Medium) size home and then finally a (Large) Zakuul Palace.

 

 

POINTS

 

1) Usually they do this so that not only is there options for everyone but also the Large Strongholds are usually for the Guilds and Veterans to boast and bring a sense of differentiation.

 

2) These 3 housing areas (small) (Medium) (Large) share a Instance or phase (residential and community Area where community events bring people together to increase Quality Of Life.)

 

3) Lastly, Realistically if it's too much to ask for all planets to have a stronghold what i would like to see however is a capital planet in each System (example zakuul in wild space, DK seat of empire, Cor core worlds etc) and for them to really boost Quality Of Life in each of these main areas including Strongholds, Events, Community Area etc

 

Having different Environmental and theme types with each Stronghold design is most important though. Example Rishi Beach Resort, Zakuul Palace, Narshaddaa sky palace seems more like club theme to me.

 

 

REASONING

 

Not only that is people who are not really as interested in devoting to strongholds as opposed to those that see Strongholds as a game credits time and money sinking priority have an opportunity to have a stronghold without stamping on others parade because people like to feel unique and seen as different for what they invest into within the game realm.

 

Also, We almost become a world within a world when it comes to content. Kind of like those who Craft vs those who fight bosses for creds and matt drops vs Pvpers etc giving another option that intertwines Hunters, Builders and Stronghold connoisseurs together.

 

By the way Crafting in this game should be changed to Mini games like final fantasy xiv RR to bring another form of entertainment option. The idea is to create an illusion of endless options in a world that people can immerse themselves into. i Say illusion because their doesn't have to be endless content just a false illusion of it.