SWTOR

[kondratti]

Treating it with disdain wont stop it from happening.  The devs need to deal with it properly, otherwise it will be a major problem.

And just how, pray tell, do you expect them to 'deal with it'?

All they can do is provide an immersive, solid, fun gaming experience for all the classes.  Beyond that?  Not much.

For whatever reason, your post cracks me up.  SERIOUS BUSINESS I TELL YOU. SERIOUS!

Nah, not really... I have little interest in SWTOR anyway, way too much story for me.  Just that if people think that a whole of 12yos wont fuck up a PvP game by all flocking to the cool side... (which they will), they are mistaken.  The devs will either decide to do something or they wont.

Bioware can go on about how all the classes have a rich playing experience... blah blah..  But we all know that wont happen.

[Lantyssa]

I kinda consider myself a Star Wars nerd and I still play light side, mostly because it's a harder path. Sith is easy, be a dick and call it a fucking day.
Playing with power AND responsibility is a lot fucking harder.

I'm firmly in the middle and played both sides against one another.  Even the non-Rebel/Empire factions.  I can't count how many times Lan switched sides, when she bothered to get involved at all.

Even though I'll have to make an initial pick, I'm holding out hope I can still be kind of mercenary and play by my own rules in SWTOR.

[tmp]

Darth Maul says hi.

5:1 sith/jedi ratio.

Darth "i'm in this movie for 10 minutes so a kid Jedi has something to cut in half" more like.

the guy has the same drawback Malak has -- no matter how cool they try to make him, ultimately he's still just a basic henchman with acute case of Dumb Evil, that's there so the good guys have something to kick about.

[Surlyboi]

I kinda consider myself a Star Wars nerd and I still play light side, mostly because it's a harder path. Sith is easy, be a dick and call it a fucking day.
Playing with power AND responsibility is a lot fucking harder.

I'm firmly in the middle and played both sides against one another.  Even the non-Rebel/Empire factions.  I can't count how many times Lan switched sides, when she bothered to get involved at all.

Even though I'll have to make an initial pick, I'm holding out hope I can still be kind of mercenary and play by my own rules in SWTOR.

And that's the kind of play I highly encourage. That's the way my ex played SWG as well. Morally ambiguous and a good foil to my
goodie-two-shoes smuggler/jedi. Sadly, players like you are in the minority.

[DLRiley]

Darth Maul says hi.

5:1 sith/jedi ratio.

Darth "i'm in this movie for 10 minutes so a kid Jedi has something to cut in half" more like.

the guy has the same drawback Malak has -- no matter how cool they try to make him, ultimately he's still just a basic henchman with acute case of Dumb Evil, that's there so the good guys have something to kick about.

And that affects the 5:1 sith/jedi ratio how?

[Sky]

Even adding the Darth Maul race was  And the "It's a trap!" race. Don't add things to the game that aren't epic or happened in the Prequels. It's hard to believe how much the Prequels fucked up the SW lore for me.

If they are going to go the pvp route  , there should be three factions, Planetside. Not to beat on that old horse again, but if they had the worldy aspect of SWG on top of the combat of PS, with the three sides being Empire, Rebel, Hutt (smugglers/bounty hunters), it would've rocked.

Sadly, players like you are in the minority.

The ultimate failing of mmo. The herd of achievers who just click through quest text and will endure all kinds of boring design to get the best gear/easiest levels. LCD who claim to aspire to greatness but actually aspire to the least.

[tmp]

And that affects the 5:1 sith/jedi ratio how?

Are you sure over 80% of players want to play dumb cannon fodder?

edit: though as counter-point i'll concede the background story they're showing so far for the game goes a long way to present the Sith side as the ones who get the upper hand. That isn't likely to have much of positive effect on the faction balance.

[WindupAtheist]

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.

[Hayduke]

I often prefer to play the evil characters, just because they have more personality and better looks.  But I guess Star Wars is very different, maybe because at a basic level I'm more familiar with the series.  Star Wars has a fundamental lack of good villains.  There's Vader, and that's about it.  If this was Cape Fear the MMO, hell yes I'd want to play a Max Cady clone.  But in Star Wars all the compelling characters are go-good team types.  Darth Maul and Boba Fett ooze about as much personality as acoustic ceiling tile.

[tmp]

There's Vader, and that's about it.

This, and then even Vader got pretty much assassinated in the prequels...

went and looked at their timeline thing meanwhile. It appears they're painting the smugglers as more of a kick-ass grey middle ground characters than full-blown good guys -- even when the smugglers do something that could be considered heroic they do it simply because of the involved piles of money. I suppose it can have quite a bit of appeal for people tired of the basic good/evil that's Star Wars settings otherwise.

[Surlyboi]

Even adding the Darth Maul race was  And the "It's a trap!" race. Don't add things to the game that aren't epic or happened in the Prequels. It's hard to believe how much the Prequels fucked up the SW lore for me.

If they are going to go the pvp route  , there should be three factions, Planetside. Not to beat on that old horse again, but if they had the worldy aspect of SWG on top of the combat of PS, with the three sides being Empire, Rebel, Hutt (smugglers/bounty hunters), it would've rocked.

Sadly, players like you are in the minority.

The ultimate failing of mmo. The herd of achievers who just click through quest text and will endure all kinds of boring design to get the best gear/easiest levels. LCD who claim to aspire to greatness but actually aspire to the least.

Exactly. I need to design an MMO that attaches electrodes to the player's nuts. Whenever some min/maxer plays, it shocks the shit out of their yarbles. That would alleviate 85% of the problem.

[Oban]

Exactly. I need to design an MMO that attaches electrodes to the player's nuts. Whenever some min/maxer plays, it shocks the shit out of their yarbles. That would alleviate 85% of the problem.

It would probably have the opposite outcome and increase player retention.

[Surlyboi]

Hence, the 85% figure. That other 15% would play endlessly.

[UnSub]

Hence, the 85% figure. That other 15% would play endlessly.

And boast on forums how many times their nuts had been shocked and how you just can't play hardcore, n00b.

[Fabricated]

It would be terrible gameplay wise but fairly canon and interesting if as a Sith you could get benefits from betraying your fellow Sith players off and on. The way you move up the ladder as a Sith is killing the guy above you. Inter-faction PVP!

The number advantage wouldn't be so bad if a good portion of Sith players were killing off their betters for fabulous prizes at inopportune moments.

[DLRiley]

The potential for griefing has reached over 9000 

[Surlyboi]

It would be terrible gameplay wise but fairly canon and interesting if as a Sith you could get benefits from betraying your fellow Sith players off and on. The way you move up the ladder as a Sith is killing the guy above you. Inter-faction PVP!

The number advantage wouldn't be so bad if a good portion of Sith players were killing off their betters for fabulous prizes at inopportune moments.

I would so play that, just to watch the sith self-destruct. The tears would be awesome.

[schild]

Would you polish your armor robe with their tears midichlorians?

[Triforcer]

That is a wonderful idea- allow the Republic people to PvP with the opposite faction only, but allow Sith to PvP with everyone.  That would keep Sith numbers down 

[Surlyboi]

I'd wash my Obi-wanderoos with them.

And a small portion of tide with bleach.

[Koyasha]

I remember this very concept being strongly agreed with for the EQ 'faction pvp' server where you had good evil and neutral factions.  I can't remember whether they actually implemented it or not (I seem to recall they did, but I could be imagining things) where good and neutral could only kill other factions, but evil could kill other factions AND each other.  In fact, I'm almost sure they did, I remember some comics about it when they implemented it.  No idea how that worked out.

As mentioned though, gameplay wise it probably wouldn't be a great idea.  Even story-wise it's hard to implement because players would constantly be pvping each other without solid good reasons.  And of course there's the whole 'you killed him but he's not dead' aspect that comes in with these games.  Imagine the Sith Academy on Korriban from KOTOR1, but with all the guys you murder/betray just coming back the next day none the worse.

[Sky]

And boast on forums how many times their nuts had been shocked and how you just can't play hardcore, n00b.

[AutomaticZen]

So a Sith raid wouldn't just break out in an argument over loot in TeamSpeak, but would also break out in a fight in the raid itself?

That'd be hot.  Add corpse looting for recently acquired items, and you have the greatest 'roll for the item' scheme ever.

[March]

So a Sith raid wouldn't just break out in an argument over loot in TeamSpeak, but would also break out in a fight in the raid itself?

That'd be hot.  Add corpse looting for recently acquired items, and you have the greatest 'roll for the item' scheme ever.

Galactic Loot Dog-Pile.  Yes, I definitely see a winner here. (no green).

I never really played EQ, so can anyone comment on Koyasha's post?  It has always struck me as one of those cool-on-paper sort of ideas, but I wasn't aware that anyone put it in to practice.

[Cadaverine]

If he's referring to the Sullon Zek server, then no, it was just each faction vs the other two.

As far as Sith being able to pvp each other, I think it'd be a cool idea, particularly if they tied advancement in the Sith ranks to killing the player(s) above you at some point.  It would make for a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, though.

[Hayduke]

Tallon and Vallon they had four teams (shorties, elves, humans, evils), but there were no true intended mechanics for in-faction fighting.  Whatever internecine conflict that arose on the server was through creative use of gameplay mechanics (exploits some would call them).  But you're right it was a response to the changing balance of the game.

In original the evil team had the best zones, best pvp classes, and a plurality of the playerbase.  So the other three teams fought together against them.  The first expansion curbstomped the evil team, but people didn't want to stop 3v1 and things got out of hand.  People started forming guilds of all teams (Pandemonium) which broke that down.  You couldn't directly attack someone on your own team, even if they're healing or buffing your enemy (immortal healing).

[Ashamanchill]

This sith on sith violence sounds like one of the coolest ideas in recent MMO history, so it will never be implemented. 

[5150]

He's like a bad penny. He always turns up.

Quick, name the movie!

Lethal Weapon 2? (or was it 3?)

/derail

[Koyasha]

If he's referring to the Sullon Zek server, then no, it was just each faction vs the other two.

Yeah, took a bit to look into it, apparently this was under consideration at the time ( http://www.gucomics.com/comic/?cdate=20010712 being the comic I recall) but it was never implemented.

[schild]

Homosexuals don't exist in the Star Wars Universe.

Interesting tack.  I can't think of any gay heroes in the Expanded Universe off the top of my head, but I'm surprised the CM just came out and said "no".

Sooooo...... EA doesn't know how to let something disappear. Good thing the internet never forgets. Or at least, I don't?

This Saturday, EA is hosting an event for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization.  GLAAD is facilitating a panel on Homophobia & Virtual Communities which will spotlight key issues and include the perspectives of both gaming companies and LGBT gamers.  Discussion will revolve around the state of the problem in these communities, policy solutions that have been developed to address homophobia – what’s working as well as what’s not, plus challenges and opportunities.
 
 Confirmed panelists include:
 
Flynn DeMarco (Alias: Fruite Brute), Founder of GayGamer.net
Dan Hewitt, Senior Director of Communications & Industry Affairs for the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
Caryl Shaw, Senior Producer in the Maxis Studio (Electronic Arts, Inc.)  
Cyn Skyberg, VP of Customer Relations at Linden Lab
Stephen Toulouse (Gamertag: stepto), Program Manager for Policy and Enforcement on Microsoft's XBox LIVE
Moderator: Justin Cole, Director of Digital & Online Media, GLAAD
 
Event details are as follows:
WHAT:    Homophobia in Virtual Communities - Highlighting the Problem and Working Towards Sustainable Solutions
WHEN:    Saturday, July 18th, 2009, 11am-1pm
WHERE:   Electronic Arts, 250 Shoreline Drive Redwood City, CA 94065

Oh, right, the most important part:

The event is free of charge and open to the public.

[Lantyssa]

Damn.  Wish I had more notice on that.

[Lucas]

Yeah, Bioware (Austin), THAT'S THE WAY!!! 

New addition to the community management team, Alyson Bridge:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=50788 (presentation post, third one)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3346456/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHuqYSmunzg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoe-PRnfjaM

[Cyrrex]

Chicks named Alyson always end up be at least somewhat hot.  I find that interesting.

[HaemishM]

My eyes just rolled so hard I think I sprained an ocular nerve.

[Soln]

Sachant and Ashen Temper vaping a non-existent game back in 2006:  http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/78431