Pilots and space combat

Lord.Bachus · March 2010

In SWG you could pilot your own X-wing and engage in space combat... How will this be handled in SWTOR?

I really hope they have planned something along these lines. it would really add to the game, but can't find any news about this.

Xondar123 · March 2010

There was a developer interview with some dude from LA posted in this very forum where the guy said there would be space in the game at launch.

This interview mentions something about space travel: www.massively.com/2008/10/23/swtor-overview-part-2/

This Q&A says "we're not talking about space combat yet" which could mean anything from "it won't be in at launch" to "it's fully in at launch and puts EVE to shame, we just can't talk about it:" pc.ign.com/articles/100/1007266p1.html

This one says outright that they do have space combat, they just aren't talking about it yet: www.gamesradar.com/pc/star-wars-the-old-republic/preview/star-wars-the-old-republic-hands-on/a-2009070610215182000/g-20081021163120143024/p-4

Auzy · March 2010

....that would be awesome

But honestly, whats star wars without space?

KilorTheMeek · March 2010

Do want... even if it's not a cornerstone of the game, there should be space combat... this is Star Wars after all...

Teala · March 2010

If they have space combat they'll probably have little green lines in space showing players where they need to fly. ^_^

Anubisan · March 2010

I would expect the space aspect of this game to take the form of the ship in KOTOR or Mass Effect. It will probably act as a sort of base for each character and will allow you to travel around the galaxy. I seriously doubt it will include any form of reactive piloting or combat at launch. However, it will provide a form of player housing... which will be very cool in its own way.

This is of course only my prediction and I do not claim it to be fact.

Xerith · March 2010

I agree that space combat plays an integral part of the Star Wars universe and it would feel rather odd without it, especially seeing how many of their own time line videos involve massive space battles between the different groups.

I hope at launch we have at least the ability to pilot our own ship from planet to planet, and not rely on some sort of npc shuttle to move around. I hope as well that the ships are customizable at least on a basic level and allow for some level of creativity.

Full fledge space combat would make for a great first expansion.

Lord.Bachus · March 2010

This is an interesting write up about Star wars MMO's and space combat. Gordon Walton is a developer at bioware now, but he used to work for SOE on SWG.

[quote] Gordon Walton: So when I worked on Star Wars Galaxies, we did an expansion called Jump to Lightspeed, which added all the space elements to Star Wars Galaxies. It was a huge expansion and an awesome space experience, actually.

But what we found was that a lot of the players who were playing the game that we had were not thrilled by us having space -- because they knew it came at the expense of adding more stuff to the stuff they were already playing. So it wasn't positive for retention, because the game was a very different game. It was a 3D space game. And in fact, a whole lot of people who play RPG type games don't really do the 3D thing that well -- it isn't their strongest suit. That was part of what we found out. The control scheme had to be different; everything had to be different. It was not as advantageous to us as we had hoped.

And in fact, we had a backlash of some anti-retention from the current customers that we already had because they were enjoying the game they were playing and wanted more of that, or wanted that fixed more than they wanted to fly around space in the Star Wars universe. It wasn't that flying around space in the Star Wars universe wasn't cool: the problem was that they wanted more of what they were already doing.

So all things that you do, no matter what you do when you're changing the game, you're going to have hopefully intended (consequences), and you're also going to have some unintended consequences. The rule that we kind of violated there, for me, was that we did too big of a jump from what was available. So customers want change, and they want the game experience to change over time, but they typically react badly to huge changes to the game. You leave people behind, and they don't have the time to kind of warm up to it.

I think it is about the on-ramp. The on-ramp is a big, steep, huge set of stairs that you kind of have to climb up -- where if you walk up gradually, then you tend to bring more of the audience along with you. Because again, it isn't one audience that we have; it is a whole bunch of little micro-audiences that are motivated completely differently from what we think on the side of those of us who make the game. They are motivated differently. The ones that are just like us we understand perfectly, and unfortunately they are a minority.[/quote]

Maughann · March 2010

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

This is an interesting write up about Star wars MMO's and space combat. Gordon Walton is a developer at bioware now, but he used to work for SOE on SWG.

[quote] Gordon Walton: So when I worked on Star Wars Galaxies, we did an expansion called Jump to Lightspeed, which added all the space elements to Star Wars Galaxies. It was a huge expansion and an awesome space experience, actually.
But what we found was that a lot of the players who were playing the game that we had were not thrilled by us having space -- because they knew it came at the expense of adding more stuff to the stuff they were already playing. So it wasn't positive for retention, because the game was a very different game. It was a 3D space game. And in fact, a whole lot of people who play RPG type games don't really do the 3D thing that well -- it isn't their strongest suit. That was part of what we found out. The control scheme had to be different; everything had to be different. It was not as advantageous to us as we had hoped.
And in fact, we had a backlash of some anti-retention from the current customers that we already had because they were enjoying the game they were playing and wanted more of that, or wanted that fixed more than they wanted to fly around space in the Star Wars universe. It wasn't that flying around space in the Star Wars universe wasn't cool: the problem was that they wanted more of what they were already doing.
So all things that you do, no matter what you do when you're changing the game, you're going to have hopefully intended (consequences), and you're also going to have some unintended consequences. The rule that we kind of violated there, for me, was that we did too big of a jump from what was available. So customers want change, and they want the game experience to change over time, but they typically react badly to huge changes to the game. You leave people behind, and they don't have the time to kind of warm up to it.
I think it is about the on-ramp. The on-ramp is a big, steep, huge set of stairs that you kind of have to climb up -- where if you walk up gradually, then you tend to bring more of the audience along with you. Because again, it isn't one audience that we have; it is a whole bunch of little micro-audiences that are motivated completely differently from what we think on the side of those of us who make the game. They are motivated differently. The ones that are just like us we understand perfectly, and unfortunately they are a minority.[/quote]

The really sad thing is, for my money, JTLS was probably the best thing that happened to to SWG. It was polished and well thought out. Of course, by the time it came out people were already macro grinding for jedi....that's what killed SWG if you ask me, the NGE was merely a misguided attempt to spread the population away from the cantinas at Theed, Coronet and Mos Eisley.

impulsebooks · March 2010

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

This is an interesting write up about Star wars MMO's and space combat. Gordon Walton is a developer at bioware now, but he used to work for SOE on SWG.

[quote] Gordon Walton: So when I worked on Star Wars Galaxies, we did an expansion called Jump to Lightspeed, which added all the space elements to Star Wars Galaxies. It was a huge expansion and an awesome space experience, actually.
But what we found was that a lot of the players who were playing the game that we had were not thrilled by us having space -- because they knew it came at the expense of adding more stuff to the stuff they were already playing. So it wasn't positive for retention, because the game was a very different game. It was a 3D space game. And in fact, a whole lot of people who play RPG type games don't really do the 3D thing that well -- it isn't their strongest suit. That was part of what we found out. The control scheme had to be different; everything had to be different. It was not as advantageous to us as we had hoped.
And in fact, we had a backlash of some anti-retention from the current customers that we already had because they were enjoying the game they were playing and wanted more of that, or wanted that fixed more than they wanted to fly around space in the Star Wars universe. It wasn't that flying around space in the Star Wars universe wasn't cool: the problem was that they wanted more of what they were already doing.
So all things that you do, no matter what you do when you're changing the game, you're going to have hopefully intended (consequences), and you're also going to have some unintended consequences. The rule that we kind of violated there, for me, was that we did too big of a jump from what was available. So customers want change, and they want the game experience to change over time, but they typically react badly to huge changes to the game. You leave people behind, and they don't have the time to kind of warm up to it.
I think it is about the on-ramp. The on-ramp is a big, steep, huge set of stairs that you kind of have to climb up -- where if you walk up gradually, then you tend to bring more of the audience along with you. Because again, it isn't one audience that we have; it is a whole bunch of little micro-audiences that are motivated completely differently from what we think on the side of those of us who make the game. They are motivated differently. The ones that are just like us we understand perfectly, and unfortunately they are a minority.[/quote]

this says to me that BIO needs to have things like space flight and space combat in at launch so that they DON'T have to do a jump to lightspeed kind of expansion later and change the player experiance in a huge way. Like he said, keep the changes coming in a steady flow, not huge chunks of change all at once.

If space combat is in at launch, and I really hope it is even in a small way, then i feel players will learn the game and enjoy it. Over time they will expect more content and of course some will be space and some will be on land. Win win

greed0104 · March 2010

Originally posted by Teala

If they have space combat they'll probably have little green lines in space showing players where they need to fly. ^_^

Hurp hurp hurp Smuggler/Imperial Agent cover, I got that. Is this all you got? Sad. The fact that you have been repeating the same mess while being countered at every last word you hang on has me confused why you keep returning. Again, and be sure read this time while not straining yourself and make sure it sinks into that skull of yours.

The reasoning behind the cover icons is probably to give you an accurate idea as to what is usable for cover. This tree may not be usable for cover while the one 20 feet from it is. Are you going to knock Splinter Cell now for showing you what's interactive? Maybe they should add green lines and connect them to conclusions for you.

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