GSF Discussion: Itemization

[TRFWesVos]

Hey folks,

 

This week, we are creating three separate forum threads for GSF discussion. You can head to this thread to get links to each of them.

 

In this thread, let's focus on itemization. For a long time we have made it a point to keep Galactic Starfighter as a separate progression from the rest of SWTOR. Command XP has helped a great deal by giving GSF players a method of progressing their characters while playing Starfighter, beyond the XP you already receive.

 

One thing we are considering is adding more ways for GSF players to enhance their "ground game" characters. This would most likely be through a vendor where you could purchase items. What do you think of this idea? What types of things would you want to see on the vendor?

 

Be as specific as possible! Let us know your thoughts.

 

-eric

 

1) Definitely need the ability to display our mastered ships in our strongholds. If we master a ship, we should get it unlocked as a decoration. Maybe even add a room onto strongholds that is designed as a hangar bay? Also, the ability to display mastered ships on a guildship would be excellent, too. There are already hangar bays on the guild ships; letting GSF guilds display their ships there would be a huge perk.

 

2) Various flight suits available for purchase would be great for those of us who play GSF and RP. I know that some of us get the generic suits as a subscriber reward, but some variation would be nice.

 

3) Before the change to requisition, I would have said add legacy requisition tokens, but I'm not sure they're needed now. Still, they might be nice to have for those of us who have multiple toons and don't like starting from scratch.

 

4) Ship customization. Paint jobs, laser colors, etc., should be available to be purchased for those who have mastered ships. These should be custom and different from what's on the CM, so as not to cut into the revenue stream. Included in this, I'd like some way to display kills on the paint job of each ship. So if I get, say, 100 kills with a scout, I should be able to paint that on the nose of my scout.

 

5) Related to that, GSF achievement decorations for strongholds would be great. Just something small, but it would go a long way to decorating a pilot room.

[Verain]

I actually don't think paint jobs, ship colors, laser colors, or booster colors should be available anywhere except the cartel market. I feel other ship customizations should ONLY be available from play: for instance, if there was an ability to unlock something that would randomly pick between two unlocked blaster colors with each shot, that could be something available to veteran players. Likewise, something that lets you put a symbol by your name, or on your ship, could work that way. Something that lets you change the animation or look of existing weapons slightly, such as different skins for mines, slightly different trails for missiles, or some way to make a railgun look a bit different (but not in a confusing way- no ions that look like plasma). Something that adds a bit of graphical flair visible to all during an engine maneuver, whatever.

 

Basically, when you have cartel stuff and player stuff competing for the same slot, you end up arguably making a statement about the game when you select that. Make some kinda slot for player-earned graphic customization to optionally represent prestige, instead of having a Prestigious Laser Color or whatever.

 

Ships lack permanence. You can't ever put your ship in front of your character and your friends. You can't comment on your fellow pilot's paintjobs unless you fly against them and have them targeted, or are sniffing each other's butts at a satellite. Engine glows look fantastic on your screen, but are almost absent on all other ships (you can't even easily tell a ship is boosting by their trail, a change that would have balance implications at this stage of the game I guess). You can't enter an instanceless shared space with friendly pilots and zip around a model of the Republic or Empire Fleets. The ships only exist in the one mode, and you can't access that without your pvp hat on.

[phalczen]

I actually don't think paint jobs, ship colors, laser colors, or booster colors should be available anywhere except the cartel market. I feel other ship customizations should ONLY be available from play: for instance, if there was an ability to unlock something that would randomly pick between two unlocked blaster colors with each shot, that could be something available to veteran players.

.

 

Except that using the existing tech of paint jobs, color modules, gas canisters, and engine reactants are low hanging fruit, relative to what you are suggesting.

 

However all your ideas are pretty cool and it would be great to have them. When the game launched we didn't have character flair or weapon tunings but they were able to add them so who knows, maybe some of what you propose can be done with existing tech or minimal revisions.

[Pietrastor]

I hope this isn't too late to give my suggestions...

 

1. Add personal Fleet Hangar/Ship Stronghold purchased & expanded with GSF Fleet Requisitions. It would be thematic, appropirate, connect GSF & Strongholds, promote both systems and provide Fleet Chat access for personal stronghold space (players have been asking for this since Guildships were added). The stronghold should definitely also have 5 docks/bays for currently selected 5 Starfighters to display (along with actual selected customizations) which would make better and more visual use of GSF customizations.

 

2. Kuat & Space Fleet/Armada Reputation Tokens for GSF Daily/Weekly quests. Self-explanatory.

 

3. Remove Fleet Commedations and PVE on-rails space equipement, add Class Ships to GSF Interface and let them be upgraded with Ship & Fleet Requisitions so that both gameplay systems share at least the currency and gearing scheme if they can't share the gameplay (on-rails in PVE vs. free-flight in GSF)

 

4. Earning Influence for our co-piloting companions for each match (similar to recent addition of Crew Skills granting Influence).

 

5. Alliance Alert with two Rep/Imp companions to aquire by playing X amount of GSF matches. Same as M1-4X/Pierce with Warzone matches.

 

6. Allow Encryptions & Frameworks used to expand Guildships to be purchased with Fleet Requisitions, as an alternative to crafting/GTN/Commander hunting. I mean it just makes sense. Should've been in the game since Strongholds launched.

 

7. Allow all of the Class Ship perks/enhancemenets (mailbox, GTN, cargos etc) to be purchased with Fleet Requisitions as an alternative to credits/CCs. Again it just makes sense.

 

8. More GSF/Space-themed outfits, weapons, mounts, pets, flairs & decorations purchased by Fleet Requisitions is obvious. But don't just add it one-way. Make ground-game drop/reward players with Paint Jobs, Engine Colors for GSF too so that both ground and space components promote and showcase each other. That's how it was done with Strongholds. You're always reminded of the Strongholds when some decoration drops.

 

And last but not least, the 9. "Wall of Crazy" - Space PVE redesign in GSF free-flight fashion

Edited July 30, 2017 by Pietrastor

[Toraak]

I hope this isn't too late to give my suggestions...

 

1. Add personal Fleet Hangar/Ship Stronghold purchased & expanded with GSF Fleet Requisitions. It would be thematic, appropirate, connect GSF & Strongholds, promote both systems and provide Fleet Chat access for personal stronghold space (players have been asking for this since Guildships were added). The stronghold should definitely also have 5 docks/bays for currently selected 5 Starfighters to display (along with actual selected customizations) which would make better and more visual use of GSF customizations.

 

2. Kuat & Space Fleet/Armada Reputation Tokens for GSF Daily/Weekly quests. Self-explanatory.

 

3. Remove Fleet Commedations and PVE on-rails space equipement, add Class Ships to GSF Interface and let them be upgraded with Ship & Fleet Requisitions so that both gameplay systems share at least the currency and gearing scheme if they can't share the gameplay (on-rails in PVE vs. free-flight in GSF)

 

4. Earning Influence for our co-piloting companions for each match (similar to recent addition of Crew Skills granting Influence).

 

5. Alliance Alert with two Rep/Imp companions to aquire by playing X amount of GSF matches. Same as M1-4X/Pierce with Warzone matches.

 

6. Allow Encryptions & Frameworks used to expand Guildships to be purchased with Fleet Requisitions, as an alternative to crafting/GTN/Commander hunting. I mean it just makes sense. Should've been in the game since Strongholds launched.

 

7. Allow all of the Class Ship perks/enhancemenets (mailbox, GTN, cargos etc) to be purchased with Fleet Requisitions as an alternative to credits/CCs. Again it just makes sense.

 

8. More GSF/Space-themed outfits, weapons, mounts, pets, flairs & decorations purchased by Fleet Requisitions is obvious. But don't just add it one-way. Make ground-game drop/reward players with Paint Jobs, Engine Colors for GSF too so that both ground and space components promote and showcase each other. That's how it was done with Strongholds. You're always reminded of the Strongholds when some decoration drops.

 

And last but not least, the 9. "Wall of Crazy" - Space PVE redesign in GSF free-flight fashion

 

I 100% am against number 5. The alert for M1-4X and pierce were terrible for PvP. you'd get people to afk for 20 matches being utterly useless to the group and ruining GSF for the rest of us.

[Pietrastor]

I 100% am against number 5. The alert for M1-4X and pierce were terrible for PvP. you'd get people to afk for 20 matches being utterly useless to the group and ruining GSF for the rest of us.

And queues started popping faster and a lot tried PVP for the first time thanks to the quest and kept playing PVP after finishing it, turning into great participants. People will afk and leech for any reason that's beneficial. The only way to avoid it would be NOT adding any incentives to play GSF which is the exact opposite of the point of this thread and what Bioware should be doing.

 

So yes, AFKers and leechers are part of the deal but they're great minority and the benefits of growing population far exceed the negatives of it.

Edited July 31, 2017 by Pietrastor

[Toraak]

And queues started popping faster and a lot tried PVP for the first time thanks to the quest and kept playing PVP after finishing it, turning into great participants. People will afk and leech for any reason that's beneficial. The only way to avoid it would be NOT adding any incentives to play GSF which is the exact opposite of the point of this thread and what Bioware should be doing.

 

So yes, AFKers and leechers are part of the deal but they're great minority and the benefits of growing population far exceed the negatives of it.

 

Great minority? when that alert came out I saw nothing but leechers in PvP, and from everyone of them made comments along the lines of I can't wait until my 20 matches are up so I can never do this again. It was not some huge increase in participation, they did the 20 matches and split.

 

Edit: not to mention some of your other idea's aren't bad, I just don't agree with Forcing participation through Companion alerts. (It does lead to I don't want to be here, so i'm not trying attitudes).

Edited July 31, 2017 by Toraak

[MingusPho]

I think the best way to tie gsf to the ground game would be by adding group pve missions similar to ops. These could by instituted like weekly lockouts or periodic events such as rakghoul. Reward drops from defeating certain pve ships in combat (bosses) could provide armors, decos, dyes or anything really.

[Pietrastor]

Great minority? when that alert came out I saw nothing but leechers in PvP, and from everyone of them made comments along the lines of I can't wait until my 20 matches are up so I can never do this again. It was not some huge increase in participation, they did the 20 matches and split.

 

Edit: not to mention some of your other idea's aren't bad, I just don't agree with Forcing participation through Companion alerts. (It does lead to I don't want to be here, so i'm not trying attitudes).

But you can qualify almost anything as 'forcing someone to do something' with this kind of criteria and going by this logic PVP/GSF/Ops shoudn't reward or allow access to anything because that may technically possibly bring in a player who goes into PVP primarly for the specific reward instead of PVPing for the purpouse of PVPing, or GSFing, or OPSing.

 

C'mon. This is a multi-facet game. It should promote and heavily incentivize players to participate in all kind of content. Not to mention, talking specifically about ground PVP - there will always be complaining, whining, trolling etc. in chats. I mean really, everyone knows PVP is the most troll and big-mouth-prone section of community in every online game so yeah, you can't even know if those "I'm only here for M/Pierce" comments were real or just hardcore PVPers on their alts getting their daily dose of chat nonsense. Not to mention - anecdotal evidence. I did Pierce/M1 quest on 6 characters and only saw comments like this few times. Far more often I saw "I'm first time for M1/Pierce but will try to do my best" comments

Edited August 4, 2017 by Pietrastor

[Toraak]

But you can qualify almost anything as 'forcing someone to do something' with this kind of criteria and going by this logic PVP/GSF/Ops shoudn't reward or allow access to anything because that may technically possibly bring in a player who goes into PVP primarly for the specific reward instead of PVPing for the purpouse of PVPing, or GSFing, or OPSing.

 

C'mon. This is a multi-facet game. It should promote and heavily incentivize players to participate in all kind of content. Not to mention, talking specifically about ground PVP - there will always be complaining, whining, trolling etc. in chats. I mean really, everyone knows PVP is the most troll and big-mouth-prone section of community in every online game so yeah, you can't even know if those "I'm only here for M/Pierce" comments were real or just hardcore PVPers on their alts getting their daily dose of chat nonsense. Not to mention - anecdotal evidence. I did Pierce/M1 quest on 6 characters and only saw comments like this few times. Far more often I saw "I'm first time for M1/Pierce but will try to do my best" comments

 

Guess you got a lot luckier then I did. I saw comments like that many times a day for 2-3 weeks when that alert was new. And I disagree with 1 of your idea's only. The rest would tie GSF into the rest of the game. I just do not agree with Companion alerts for GSF (as I didn't like them for M1-4X for the same reasoning). Honestly if you have such a problem with someone disagreeing with 1 of your points, it's your problem you'll need to deal with. I've given my reasoning for why I disagree with that one point, and have no issues with the rest. I'm done with this argument as it's not going anywhere.

[Pietrastor]

Guess you got a lot luckier then I did. I saw comments like that many times a day for 2-3 weeks when that alert was new. And I disagree with 1 of your idea's only. The rest would tie GSF into the rest of the game. I just do not agree with Companion alerts for GSF (as I didn't like them for M1-4X for the same reasoning). Honestly if you have such a problem with someone disagreeing with 1 of your points, it's your problem you'll need to deal with. I've given my reasoning for why I disagree with that one point, and have no issues with the rest. I'm done with this argument as it's not going anywhere.

It's not end of the world to me lol But pretty obvious why I defend that one and many people mentioned it - you gotta admit, a companion reward is a big one, people just can't resist pokemoning them and it would be a big drive for GSF. Not saying it has to be core-story companion, could be a kickass droid or 5 existing GSF co-pilots made available as ground troops, but a companion incentive proved extremly effective for pretty much all kind of content in the game. I mean, I'm hurting my fingers on that stupid slot machine to get the pig

Edited August 4, 2017 by Pietrastor

[Storm-Cutter]

I'd want my ship customisations ( paint job, colours, blaster colours, engine reactant ) as a decal on the back of a pilot's jacket or coat, or as a SH deco.

 

My friends rarely see the customisations, unless I whizz by them at close range. My enemies only see them in the target window when they target me. I'm proud of my cosmetic choices and want to show off to the galaxy that I'm the one in the red and gold Bloodmark, or the Teal and Black Sting with the SI-02 paint jobs.

:hope_01::hope_01:

[SeCKSEgai]

To log in nearly a year later and see things purchased show as never purchased makes it very difficult to have enough confidence in a product, especially when dealing with support to resolve said issue is hardly pleasant and no guarantee.

 

For example, when my ship is showing a skin that its had for ages yet lists it as never purchased and an unavailable option without rebuying, or co-pilots no longer available despite having purchased them in the past - those were bugs nearly a year ago when I left. Then I come back to find even colors from both blasters and ships are affected....

 

For a mode that's clearly not a priority in the business model, it sure manages to get broken a lot for hardly being touched.