Star Wars The Old Republic what class you playing?

[rubberduck]

Thats not really the same though is it, if I want my character to turncoat and aid the bad guys by attacking the group I am with (or aid the good guys by attacking the group of bad guys I am with) then I should be able to attack my group. With as you rightly say the mobs realising that I have changed allegiance and helping me out against my former allies (healing me and so forth). Thats the kind of dynamics that we should be aiming for in MMOs after 15 years, would make for some awesome roleplay situations too.

What would be even better would be if a group of enemy players were also in the "dungeon" and upon seeing you betray your group they came to help you out and a battle ensued.

Nice idea but unfortunately if such a mechanism were possible then most groups wouldnt get far before beople started back stabbing, double crossing or just going crazy and shooting everything that moves to see what happen. I suppose this would limit you to only grouping with people that you knew and trusted which would be interesting but in terms of being able to play the game would be highly limiting.

The thing about betrayal is that in order to make it not too common, realistically you would only have to do it 3 or 4 times before no one trusts you, no one will group with you and everyone will attack you on sight. That probably wouldn't be too fun in the long run. I guess what I'm saying is that there has to be penalties for it otherwise everyone would be at it and any group play in the game would rapidly turn in to a farce.

Perhaps the ability to defect could be very rare and only something that is available as an option after a certain number of criteria have been met. Obviously this would limit your freedom to an extent but it is probably a good idea if certain mechanics are limited for the benefit of the game.

 

[Redman]

Absolutely, that would be perfect (along with the mobs realising you had changed allegiances and helping you out). Are they having such rules on their PvP servers though? Or are the PvP servers just going to be factional based PvP where you cant attack unless your target has flagged themselves in advance? Are they having PvP servers for that matter?

I'd be relatively suprised if there isn't one 'free for all' pvp server to be honest. Although it might be a bit of a nightmare for the first couple of months till it settles down a bit! I guess it depends on the image rights really, the problem is I can see Lucas putting a block on the two sides grouping together but I really hope not.

I'm hoping for true, free for all, open world pvp. In which case I'll be in heaven. I'll be fairly satisfied with a 'realm vs realm' (a la DAOC) system as long as there's some fairly large pvp areas, but I'd much prefer FFA.

 

[Tombstone]

Nice idea but unfortunately if such a mechanism were possible then most groups wouldnt get far before beople started back stabbing, double crossing or just going crazy and shooting everything that moves to see what happen. I suppose this would limit you to only grouping with people that you knew and trusted which would be interesting but in terms of being able to play the game would be highly limiting.

The thing about betrayal is that in order to make it not too common, realistically you would only have to do it 3 or 4 times before no one trusts you, no one will group with you and everyone will attack you on sight. That probably wouldn't be too fun in the long run. I guess what I'm saying is that there has to be penalties for it otherwise everyone would be at it and any group play in the game would rapidly turn in to a farce.

Perhaps the ability to defect could be very rare and only something that is available as an option after a certain number of criteria have been met. Obviously this would limit your freedom to an extent but it is probably a good idea if certain mechanics are limited for the benefit of the game.

I really dont see why it should be a problem, sandbox MMOs have used mechanics like that for a decade and a half. Maybe the problem isnt the mechanics but the people playing.

But to allow it to not be too harsh on the average player they could always make it so that you have to fulfill a series of Betrayal quests which would open the ability for you to change allegiance, you could then keep that allegiance changing moment as an active skill which you choose when and where you wish to use. It could be done as a one time use Betrayal skill.

Certainly its a lot easier to simply say, nope..we cant do it. But thats really not where MMOs should be after 15 years, we should be looking at making MMOs more dynamic, more dynamic terrain, more dynamic AI, more dynamic quests, more flexibility in player choices, we should be adding new features rather than simply reproducing existing features or reducing the number of features. Its criminal how stale the genre has become and even more criminal that an MMO released almost 15 years ago still has more freedom for the player and his/her actions than many newly released MMOs, thats not progression of the genre, which is what I want to see.

 

[Monkeymatt]

Thats not really the same though is it, if I want my character to turncoat and aid the bad guys by attacking the group I am with (or aid the good guys by attacking the group of bad guys I am with) then I should be able to attack my group. With as you rightly say the mobs realising that I have changed allegiance and helping me out against my former allies (healing me and so forth). Thats the kind of dynamics that we should be aiming for in MMOs after 15 years, would make for some awesome roleplay situations too.

What would be even better would be if a group of enemy players were also in the "dungeon" and upon seeing you betray your group they came to help you out and a battle ensued.

You say that but I am sure you would change your mind if you were in a dungeon and suddenly all of your group turned on you and a load of the opposing faction helped them to kick your bottom. That is the thing, It may sound good but when you realise you could have a few people suddenly turn on you without you having any chance to react, it doesn't sound that good.

 

[Tombstone]

You say that but I am sure you would change your mind if you were in a dungeon and suddenly all of your group turned on you and a load of the opposing faction helped them to kick your bottom. That is the thing, It may sound good but when you realise you could have a few people suddenly turn on you without you having any chance to react, it doesn't sound that good.

Actually I played UO for 4 years under exactly that situation and I still rate it as the best MMO I ever played. So no, I wouldnt change my mind.

 

[djkav]

The problem is you can't generally group and party along with the opposing factions. So you would have no chance to suddenly turn on your "friendly units".

 

[Swifty55]

I want SWTOR to have UO's Pre-Prub 16 PvP mechanics...


Wishful thinking... SWTOR is going to be a massive PvE game...

 

[Tombstone]

The problem is you can't generally group and party along with the opposing factions. So you would have no chance to suddenly turn on your "friendly units".

Well you wouldnt need to group with the opposing factions....think Lando Calrissian in the movies, you could be Republic, grouped with Republic players, but for your characters roleplay you could be planning that your character becomes a turncoat, so you complete the Betrayal series of quests, unlocking your one-use betray skill. Then at some future point whilst grouped with other players of your faction you decide to betray them (using up your Betray skill) and change allegiances to aid the other faction, thereafter being a member of the opposing faction.

 

[Tombstone]

I want SWTOR to have UO's Pre-Prub 16 PvP mechanics...

Indeed, that would be superb, I really do believe that its the UO level of player freedom and choices that we should be striving to build upon in MMOs, offering more features and choices rather than fewer. Evolution rather than repetition. Its not like this is a new genre still. There are lots of ways that MMOs can be made to be more dynamic, its just that too many companies cant be bothered to try.

 

[BombayMix]

Jedi Consular, because.I normally play that type of class.

And from experience they are excellent when you have NPCs to control. Allows you to stand at the back and get a tactically overview. Also, healing can be a key to success. NPCs healing can be a bit off.

 

[Davies_M]

I usually go healer the rare time I play an MMO, but the bounty hunter is looking appealing to me. The troopers look...odd...and the actions they do with the guns on the website looks like they belong in a circus.

I probably won't play it anyway, I always have these thoughts when an MMO comes out and realise I don't really like them that much xD

oh and what's up with not being able to be a droid?

 

[incubation]

Space combat trailer.

 

[Sleepery]

Oh good, I was really worried about having to steer AND shoot

 

[rubberduck]

I only glimpsed the trailer and without sound... Is all the space combat going to be 'on rails' like the old rebel assault games?

 

[Sleepery]

Yep. In fact, that looks remarkably like the first level from Revenge of the Sith in Lego Star Wars. Which my five year old son can do.

 

[Ev0]

Now my experience with MMORPGs is severely lacking, but would people say that something like Eve offers a good experience with regards to how PvP etc is handled?

You seem to be pretty free to do what you like, can attack anyone you like, but just be careful where you do it etc?

Could a model like that be implemented in a game like this, yeah you can fire off a blaster in a crowded town, but you'll then have the law and god knows what else bothering you right away?

I understand that's a very poor explanation but as said I've got little to no experience with these kind of games, but looking forward to this...

 

[Sleepery]

Eve is pretty much the wild west of mmo's. You can shoot, scam, backstab, steal, lie and cheat your way around the world. Even in policed space, there are multiple ways to attack someone, or trick them into attacking you first. It's a sandbox mmo - the world is put there for your to do you thing in it.

This is looks to be much more a themepark mmo - the whole experience is crafted to give you the illusion of freedom and progression, but the illusion breaks when you try to do something you're not supposed to - no shooting npc's that give out quests, for example.

It looks like it will be extremely polished and entertaining, but not a star wars universe where you can just go and live a virtual life.

Let's face it, the on-rails space combat is practically an undisguised themepark ride.