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The Old Republic
misrossk
Member UncommonPosts: 23
This thread is to show everyone one of the many great ideas someone in the Bioware community has for the new SW MMO being developed by Bioware, rumored to be called the Old Republic.
Quote: Posted 08/10/08 02:09 (GMT) by dsteve3
What kind of character do you want to play? Do you want to schmooze? Or tinker? Or explore?
Everyone is going to have to fight on occassion. I would suggest hit-and-run be the standard; slaughtering mobs should be unheard-of.
So no 'tanks-dps-AoE-CC-healers'. Everyone should have a real-world identity.
Reputation is a far, far better point-based system then levels. Look at the real world and think about reputation. Want a promotion? Want to get into the exclusive club? Want to do the fancy stuff? What's your rep and with whom?
I don't like 'classes' because anyone who has studied anthropology will tell you that Castes are a greater reality. Sometimes societies de-evolve into structures where individuals are labelled by their birth-right. Modern day MMOs are too chicken to use that.
So it boils down to what you want to do. I suspect most people will by 'hybirds'.
Schmooz: hang out with others in your immediate proximity and convince them to go your way. I think there is more potential here if we really look at the big history of the Star Wars galaxy. Control of the Galactic Senate is not as hard as it may seem; at least for a short while.
Tinker: make components, graduate to an understanding of parts then assemblies until you get that you can take apart the whole ship and know where every piece goes. Then, once you have mastered that, you can design ... "Science!" (Magnus Pike)
Explorer: thousands of systems means an intricate web of space routes. Whats the fastest way between here and there? Don't go to some website to find out, hire an explorer! Whats happenning out in that wierd trinary-star system that is sooo hard to navigate? Hire an explorer to find out! The info will be very valuable.
Remember; the schmoozers can only schmooz with those that are nearby. They need explorers to carry them around to convince others in other places (thousands of worlds...). The explorers will need tinkers to keep the machines running. Every thing breaks, and every breakdown means replacement parts. Tinkers need schmoozers to get the best prices/availability/quality.
/quote legendlore
This guy is on the right track of where the MMO should be. I believe that along with this stuff this guy posted, there should be full customization. SWG at release was heading the right direction for a SW mmo when it comes to skills/classes, but this MMO should go even further when it comes to class customization. Here is an example. There should 100s or even 1000s of seperate skills. These skills should range from being crafting related to social related to combat related. Here are few skills I can think up right now: repairing engines, repairing droids, ship piloting, pistol weapons, rifle weapons, carbine weapons, melee weapons, thrown projectiles, dancing, singing, entertainment, group leading, mobility, social awareness, weaponary control, party control, droid repair, ship repair, ship constuction, structural repair, building structures, droid maintaince(sry for spelling), exploration, leadership, influncal leadership, searching, guidance, weaponary repair, armor smelting, weapon smelting, weaponary control, armor fitting, force control, force sensitvity(maybe), force points etc...
Also, having the basic general attributes would be great as well, such as vitality, strength etc..
I should be able to make a Bounty Hunter who is good at repairing droids and decent at being able to treat people medically. I should be able to make a soldier who is decent at using rifles but not so great at using pistols, and he could be force sensivtive enough to wield it in my normal soldier routines. I should be able to make a character who has enough points in different areas of force sensistivity that I can be considered a jedi. Finally, I should be able to make a Force sensistive character who is great at flying ships and repairing droids who also happens to be good at dancing. I believe that we should be given a certain amount of points to spend on very specific and numerous skill and ablilties. That way, everyone will be very unqiue and everyone would feel different. There should not be any levels or predefined classes with roles like in WoW. Gaining experiance(however you can do it) would be based on what skill you were using to do what you were doing. So, if I repaired a droid, I should be able to put a point in Droid repair or anything that has something to do with droid repair such at droid maintance.
As stated earlier, I don't think that a character in this new MMO should be defined as a "class". It should be your choice of what skills/abilities you want your character to have. If this is the way it is done, having jedi as a "starting" class would no longer be a problem, since the specific skills and abilities for a "jedi-like class" would be seperate from each other and would require a combination of seperate specific skills in order to even consider happening. Of course, since the skills are specific and seperate, it would take time before you could reach that "state"(for lack of a better word, NO CLASSES). Also, since the skills are so specific and unique, you could make your "state" different from everyone else. For example you could have a character who is good and controling the force (lots of possible force powers to choose from), but cannot use it very effectivly (could mean not having alot of force points to use a force power), or having a character who is good and using the force effectivly and also being skilled with using a pistol.(includes pistol specifics such as pistol accuracy). All of the skills and abilities should not be defined by a class. And NONE OF IT SHOULD BE DEFINED BY A LEVEL. Please please please, do not add levels into this game. SWG's "levelless" enviorment made it feel like we were actually in the Star Wars Universe. Skills should ALL be UNIQUE and SPECFIC, because this is what most MMO players want: to be different from everyone else. Star Wars Galaxies was going in the right direction of what I am talking about. Although it had classes, they could still be combined with other classes like having a Rifleman/Medic, or Pistoleer/Squadleader. My idea is going futher beyond SWG's ideas and making things even more unique for players. I know its very unsusal, but MMO players like complexity in a MMO, if it is done right. People love WoW because its full of content, from beginning to end. WoW has classes with defined rolls, without any real unique feeling to it. Your just like the other druid in your group only you can cast spells better than he can. Make this VERY unqiue. Bioware, lots of players worldwide are looking to you right now to save them from the horror of SWG and streamline, cookiecutter MMOs like WoW. We all have faith in you, and you have never let us down. This entire community has created a 24 page thread discussing your new MMO, Bioware. Your pretty much (for most) our last hope for a great MMO.
Comments
While I'm the first to welcome new ideas to the genre or different ideas for that matter, I'd think it is a bit late to be making this "suggestion". IF the MMO BioWare is working on is actually The Old Republic, they have been working on it for nearly 4 years now and I very much doubt that they would implement a drastically different system from what they have at the moment (we've seen what happens when you randomly change the core-systems of a game, haven't we?^^).
Anyway, I'd just sit tight and see what BioWare comes up with. Albeit I am pretty sure it won't be the Level-Less, Sandbox environment many seem to desire. Earthrise however is just around the corner. That should be more to these people's liking.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
From my understanding, I believe that just started working on it within the last year or so. This is the engine they are using.(http://www.heroengine.com/) According to that engine and Bioware's response, they intend to build this MMO faster than usual using that engine. They intend this game to he be very story driven, while seamless at the same time. Im looking forward to it and I do feel that this is the last hope for many MMO players. Bioware has never failed at making a game.
I would guess that Bioware isn't going to develop a sandbox style MMO or anything remotely similar to SWG. This just isn't Bioware's style. More than likely it will have classes with feats/attributes/skills to choose from.
Linkage
Check the announcement. This was made March 2006. There other interviews that state that at the time, they had been working on the Title already, though how long exactly I do not know. Regardless, even if they started at exactly that date, it puts the game at over three years development time already.
Cheers.
PS: And BioWare has not failed yet, yes. But they have also always catered to a certain style of game. They are Story-Tellers, excellent Storytellers, but still Storytellers and that is not what Sandbox-People want, is it?
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Should Bioware do that, they would still get money from me. While it wouldn't be how I would want it, I know im not the only one who counts. If Bioware makes their MMO like the Kotor games, im 100% fine with that too. But, I do know that alot of people prefer open ended gameplay over classes/levels like SWG had. Either way, Bioware gets my money!
Not really true. In most industrialized nations, your social status is dictated almost entirely by your wealth, which in most cases is a product of your "profession."
In any case, Bioware's designers have already given the public a pretty clear idea of their design philosophy for an MMO, and it's very unlikely that they will be focusing on "social" aspects even to the extent the original SWG did. Instead, expect a very linear, story-driven game.
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im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
Not "a lot" of people played SWG, so it's hard to say that "a lot" of people prefer that style of game.
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im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
I did not have the attention span to read the OPs post. That makes me really sad cause I like talking about The Old Republic.
Im guessing this is about Bioware MMO right? Yeah can't wait for it!
I'm sure it will be very story and 'adventure' heavy - but I wouldn't say "Expect a linear story."
If I know BioWare.... and I think I do... I'd say "Expect a very multi-linear story driven game." They love 'options' and so do I.
I'm qute certain this will be the first MMORPG which really gives players quite a bit of customization and control over their character progression in the way of Stats, Skills, Feats, etc. as well as through NPC interactions using the conversation mechanics they're so well known for, allowing the game to feel like a 'choose your own adventure' game.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.