light/darkside choices, extremely shallow.

[Greyfeld]

From an Imperial Agent standpoint what other options are there? You chose not to pay his bribe. That leaves killing someone who could expose you or paying them through another method. Are you supposed to ask him nicely not to turn you in for nothing?

 

Killing him = darkside

Him living = lightside

 

Not sure I'd completely agree. Not to mention only giving a darkside option then leaves you stuck with darkside options. There is always a choice.

 

The "light side" and "dark side" options are currently bogus. You can be a jerk throughout an entire conversation with no drawback, then choose the light side option at the end and it won't make a whit of difference.

 

What I'm talking about is having LS/DS options pop up based on the previous chat options you've chosen in the conversation. If you've shown a tendency toward violence and killing during the conversation, you're going to end up with dark side options to choose from. If you've shown compassion and caring during your conversation choices, you end up with multiple light side options to choose from. If you've shown a mixed bag, you get one or a couple of each LS/DS options at the end of the dialogue tree.

 

It's a matter of making dialogue choices feel more realistic and make more sense, instead of the ridiculousness of cramming way too much context into three different options that currently plagues the dialogue system.

[ClayPeopleCry]

I agree they should have really taken from the movie quote of "only a Sith deals in absolute." I think while playing on the side of the Empire the choices should be a blunt good or evil response. But when playing on the Republic side the lines between good and evil should be blurred. It would tie in better with the movies. Edited December 29, 2011 by ClayPeopleCry

[DarkSeverance]

this is through regular play of the game.

You have two things working against you which is what makes this hard, none of this is because of the design in the game. The biggest factor is time, the second factor is not all the information has been found out.

 

I hate WoW comparisons but this is the easiest way to give an example. WoW has been out for 7+ years. I can logon right now and search for a good item via AH and probably find it pretty easily. It isn't because the game is designed that way, it is because the game has been out that long. This game is technically 18 days or so old. That is hardly enough time for multiple drops, etc to create a surplus of items. Most items first drops, get used immediately because no one has them.

 

The other issue is information. I can easily go to wowhead and do a search. Not only that there are probably pages of comments on where the item is, how to get it, what is better or an equivalent item until you get it. Now if you go to torhead, very few items have comments or information at all. That is because it was filled with a datamine, has yet to be filled with information from players.

 

These are neither issues that changing items or adding more items into game adjust. Over time most people won't be looting their very first drop from a boss or finding a chest or getting a mission reward to equip themselves. It'll be extra gear which goes on the Galactic Market. Over time more information will be readily available making the attaining of such items easier.

 

Ok technically 3 things working against you, one being an actual game mechanic. Over time the Galactic Market will be upgraded to actually make it efficient and more people will actually use it.

[XenonParsec]

Ok technically 3 things working against you, one being an actual game mechanic. Over time the Galactic Market will be upgraded to actually make it efficient and more people will actually use it.

 

Ok, I think you got the point I was trying to make, and I understand what you're trying to say.

 

I'm sure that will be the eventuality, and already I can "grind" my alignment when repeating FPs or heroics that I would've made a DS choice in anyway, but I feel the appropriate options shouldve been available on release (after all the option was there in kotor).

 

Whether it gets easier in the future or not with a thriving economy to bypass what's available on vendors, it's still a wonky work-around to get decent gear just so you can play the story the way you prefer. As it stands right now, I'm the most evil Revanite to wear the title I think :/

[DarkSeverance]

The "light side" and "dark side" options are currently bogus. You can be a jerk throughout an entire conversation with no drawback, then choose the light side option at the end and it won't make a whit of difference.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I am being serious when I say this. I am a jerk most of the time to quite a few people I know with no absolute drawback. Because most of the time I'm still a decent and fair person. None of those things really have any drawback.

 

Yes everything is scripted, but you can't really make the game dynamic without backing yourself in a corner. For one gamewise you are talking about another extra 100+ hours of voice time just to account for it. For another you aren't allowing for redemption if after awhile you start only giving multiple darkside options. By only giving one option, both providing darkside you have actually removed all choice... even if you chose to make darkside options up to that point.

 

We are also talking about a philosophy that isn't based on reality. The problem with making a reaction constantly adjust to darker each step, without a light redemption is because eventually you get to the point where everyone just shoots you. Now isn't viable for a game at all.

 

There are some instances where I have been given 2 lightside options and a darkside option. There have also been some times when I've been given 2 darkside options and a lightside. As well as 2 lightside and then neither option. What triggers those mechanics I'm not sure. I don't know if they are somehow related to the choices you make or just those particular stories. There haven't been enough testing either way for people to really prove this.

 

I can understand cramming too much context into three options. It doesn't always feel viable. But part of storytelling is to have to direct things towards a certain direction. Even in a table-top roleplaying game there truly isn't an open option. Eventually to tell a story a GM has to direct it somewhere.

[DarkSeverance]

Whether it gets easier in the future or not with a thriving economy to bypass what's available on vendors, it's still a wonky work-around to get decent gear just so you can play the story the way you prefer. As it stands right now, I'm the most evil Revanite to wear the title I think

I can understand that. But it is never an easy way for new MMO's. The simple option would be to include it in a vendor. However that kind of defeats the whole purpose of drops and crafting. And you can't do it to start out with, then months later remove the vendor.... gamers would freak that you removed a feature, as we've already seen on the forums from other things.

 

The easiest way is to adjust drop rate. But it has to be done in such a way that suddenly everything is flooded with certain things. WoW has always adjusted drop rates when needed and I'm sure BW will do the same. At this time though, it is still much too early to determine where everything stands. Especially if you make changes for what seems like the majority (vocal majority) but is really a minority. Then those people end up leaving in a month once their free month is up anyways. Now you've made changes to cater to an audience that may not of even been the primary target and to satisfy someone who doesn't support the game anymore.

 

It is always a 2 edged sword. Most major changes I don't expect to happen until 2-3 months later. By then there will be a better picture of their market, audience and what needs to be done. Plus until then I would hope most of their work would be towards bug fixes first.