Thoughts on the future

[torak101]

One of the things that I feel SWG really needs to do is move forward. I understand that the devs said no new expansions this year, which is fine but really this game needs to distance itself as much as possible from the stigmas of its past.

I was wondering what anyone thought about what they would like to see in future updates and / or expansions.

 

Personally I would like to see Hoth as a PvP world. Snow speeders, Taun tauns, Walkers, the whole deal. Assaults on rebel bases, tripping walkers, mass casualties.

 

*Then maybe Dagobah. One thing that is disappointing is the legecy quest. It is one single linear quest track. There needs to be diverging quest lines for different classes and factions. Dagobah would be a perfect opportunity to give Jedi something to do besides stand in front of the startports making general nuisances

 

*Bespine would also make a good addition. Since the games "offical" timeline is just before ESB, it could be a place to do all sorts of interesting things seeing as it "doesn't have any Impirial influence" yet.

 

Either way, the game still has a lot of room to grow. The chapters appear to be on a very solid track. Chap 8 can't come soon enough for me. Ground wars is nice but be honest....Star Wars is about titanic space battles, good vs evil and the struggle between the rebels and the Empire...not about killing animals on the ground.

[BaronJuJu]

Hmmmm, I am hoping the space update will be nice, but I am a bit concerned. JTL is still set in the PreCU mode of play with the commands and such, so I am hoping that they don't go overboard with "updates". New ships (Frigates and captials for guilds would be interesting), parts, mission and so forth.

 

As far as other additions, Im not too sure. Droid Commander could be interesting and more content to the main planets is a must. Hoth would be interesting but I am afraid would turn into Restuss unless they put a cost into losing battles there and the other PVP zones, and I am not talking about losing access to a few stim packs. Lock down planets on the ground and in space and have the opposing factions fight to get the back. You know, a real GCW.

[Sehtii Hathor]

Yeah hoth would be really cool

 

But what I would love to see is Coruscant

[torak101]

Hmmmm, I am hoping the space update will be nice, but I am a bit concerned. JTL is still set in the PreCU mode of play with the commands and such, so I am hoping that they don't go overboard with "updates". New ships (Frigates and captials for guilds would be interesting), parts, mission and so forth.

 

As far as other additions, Im not too sure. Droid Commander could be interesting and more content to the main planets is a must. Hoth would be interesting but I am afraid would turn into Restuss unless they put a cost into losing battles there and the other PVP zones, and I am not talking about losing access to a few stim packs. Lock down planets on the ground and in space and have the opposing factions fight to get the back. You know, a real GCW.

 

Hmmm....I'm not sure what you mean with the JTL commands and such. It was always sort of a seperate thing.

From what I'm reading on the board it looks like they are going to try to get gunships in before capitol ships. Without a medium sized ship, space would be unbalanced.

 

You could do so much from a disign standpoint with Hoth. First, adding in the atmospheric speeders would change everything. Hoth would be mainly a vehicle vs vehicle fight. (as is evident in the movie) Speeders holding off walkers. But there is a ton more a creative team could do.

 

I like the sound of these new devs. They seem like they want to get down to making a game. Where were they 4 years ago lol............

 

I'm breaking out the joystick tonight wooo..hooo.........

[BaronJuJu]

What I meant by the commands was that the controls for Skill tree (Control+s), datapad (Control+D), etc are still set by the old preCU standards vice the NGE standards.

 

Gunships are fine but they need to give those POB ships a reason for being in space (POB specific missions, quests, etc). Right now, in my opinion, they are pretty much useless.

 

*Update - As far as planets go, Genosia may be an interesting planet to add. It has the possibility of collecting Clone War Relics, Jedi materials and technology for traders and more. Just a thought.

[kboleen]

I think SWG should move into the Empire Strikes Back Era. Han Solo kidnapped, Luke off learning to be a Jedi, Leia in mourning. And even introduce more aspects of the Expanded Universe; i.e. Shadows of the Empire. Something has to be done, these "hotfixes" and "chapters", though a welcome addition to the game, are testing my patience with this game.

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

The game has a small production team now, so anything new is a big challenge. The Beast master, for example has taken them almost a full year to prepare and test.

 

I really would like to see more of a 'risk' return to the game. If you die, you lose decay etc, and not use cloning as a 'free' transport system. The Galactic Civil War needs to be really ramped up and 'base busting' should be a dangerous mission, like it used to be with lots of NPC faction troopers and bases requiring you to be Special Forces before attacking it.

 

For me, I really think that different factions should NOT be allowed to team up, as in other MMOs and bring in a sense that you are enemies after all.

 

DMUK

[felastica]

My major desire for additions to the game is anything that brings in new players. New content/expansions would be great, but unless SOE does something to stop the shrinking player numbers and bring in new blood the game will die anyway.

 

I can see why SWG is not a high priority. It was launched at the beginning of the MMO market and during the release period of the new Star Wars films. It was probably rushed to market and since then has been (partially) rebuilt and lost most of its original programmers. Other MMO's have come to market, including some from SOE, and the hype around Star Wars has died down. SOE has other properties they are very keen to invest in and develop such as Vanguard. For these reasons I'm not sure an expansion pack is a realistic dream atm.

 

I don't believe we're doomed though. Star Wars is still a hot property and there is a huge potential player base. The devs have been doing a lo of work polishing and repairing the code damage done by the NGE. My guess though is for the game to really thrive and survive SOE needs to do a lot of work on repairing the reputation of the game in the gaming community. If the game is really worth working devs to death to fix and really full of good content, promote it more. Trade shows, game expo's, promotional events and so on. Is anyone from SOE going to be at Celebration Europe for example?

 

I guess the community could do more too. It feels like a lot of the negativity the used to be all over the SOE forums has died off a bit. I guess those that truly hated the NGE have finally just accepted the pre-CU is never coming back and stopped playing. But I reckon we can all make an effort to welcome new players and talk up the positive aspects of our game in the community.

 

There are definitely issues of balancing and mechanics in the game that need to be addressed, some more urgent than others. But thats true of every single game on the market, including WoW. But the thing that will make expansion packs viable and keep this game fun and interesting and not just a niche product for a small clan of hardcore enthusiasts is new faces.