COMBAT UPGRADE ARMOR SYSTEM: Currently in SWG we have a situation in which the majority of the playerbase can be invulnerable to most content in the game. A good portion of this invulnerability factor comes from the extreme defenses that players gain from their armor. Most players find it very easy to equip a set of armor that reduces eighty to ninety percent of incoming damage. There exists a few exceptions but this has become the standard for most players exploring in SWG. Armor appearance is also an issue that irks many of the players. We have a multitude of excellent artwork styles of armor available for use, unfortunately due to the extreme power levels of certain armor only one or two types of armor are ever used. This is also a sore spot with many of the designers and artists. We have come up with a system that will encourage players to use all of the armor appearances. For the combat upgrade to be successful we must change the way armor functions in SWG. We will also upgrade some outstanding issues with the entire crafting process. The goals driving the changes to armor in the combat upgrade are: *We want armor to protect players, while at the same time providing a series of tactical choices that can be made both prior to and during combat *We want to normalize the degree of protection that armor provides as well as add a heightened incorporation of factional armor into the field of play. *We would like to distinguish profession roles through armor appearances by the use of various hindrances and profession skill modifiers that mitigate those hindrances. The new system provides a much more interactive series of choices than currently exists with armor. These choices will begin with preparation, as players decide which armor to wear, and will end in quick, on the fly decisions on the battlefield over which weapon modes to use. Dividing armor into new categories and normalizing the degree of protection offered when the armor is crafted will alter the past situation where there was a clear \"always best\" and clear \"always worst\" armor choice.
DEFINING BASIC WEAPONS CHANGES: In the combat upgrade we have decided to alter the interaction between weapons and armor to provide some interesting tactical choices. To accomplish this end we have added several new features to weapons and armor. The primary change seen in weapons is the removal of the armor piercing system and addition of an energy level setting on a player's weapon. This energy level plays a very significant role when used against the various armor types. Below is a new chart illustrating the new energy levels: Energy Level Value Ranged Mode Type Melee Mode Type Mode Hand to Hand Mode 1 - Standard Damage Pulse-Wave Standard Mode 2 - Coherent Damage Coherent Bolts Vibration Mode 3 - Focused Engergy Focused Beam High Intensity
Weapons all have an energy level value and we will enable the players the ability to change this value for certain weapons on the fly. To provide different weapons with different utility certain weapons will have a mode switching option. While some weapons will have mode options many will remain single mode of fire weapons. The goal is to avoid a one best type of weapon or armor evolving. The mechanism to change the value will be through a radial menu option while weapon is unequipped. The terminology is slightly different on melee weapons yet the game play model will remain the same. For example a focus beam, which is designed to punch through assault type armor will share the same benefits as a melee vibro weapon set to high intensity versus assault type armor. Both are designed to puncture assault armors. Basic Hand-to-Hand damage when not wielding a weapon at all is slightly different from the other 3 modes in that it will have no inherent advantage or disadvantage versus armor.
ARMOR CATEGORIES: Under the new system, armor will be divided into four new categories: None, Reconnaissance, Battle, and Assault. Each category h
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RACE NORMALIZATION: Armor in SWG is also subject to a unique problem that is due to movie canon limitations. According to movie canon, certain player races cannot wear certain pieces of armor. For example, Trandoshans cannot wear gloves or boots, and Wookiees cannot wear boots. This has led to a situation where these races can get one-shot killed in combat because they have a form of what is commonly known as an \"armor hole.\" This happens because; in the code the body was divided into multiple hit locations. Once a target has been determined to have been hit by a weapon the engine determines what portion of the body has been hit, for example, the hands, bracer and biceps were all valid and separate hit locations The proposed system will remove the hands and feet as valid hit locations. Since they are no longer valid hit locations, we can turn glove and boot armor into a special armor type that has no stats other than durability. We will need a new type of armor clothing to prevent the additives of clothing enhancements and/or already disallowed bio components. These pieces will still remain crafted by armorsmiths. This should encourage the use of some of our least used races because they are no longer suffering a massive combat disadvantage.
ARMOR CRAFTING: The process of crafting armor is as equally important as how it works in combat. The new armor crafting system provides a way of normalizing the crafting process so that even our more problematic races such as Wookiees and Ithorians have armor that is comparable to that worn by the standard races. It also provides a way to allow armorsmiths to create factional and specialized quest armors without making them unbalanced relative to standard armors. As we look forward, this method will serve as a way for future developers to add new armor appearances that are balanced against the existing sets. Here is a basic flow chart to illustrate the new armor flow. Layers Segment (Stats) Cores (Stats Determined) End Item Armor Schematic (Appearance)= Up to 4 Layers \"= Basic = 1 Segment \"= Core�= FINAL ARMOR Standard = 2 Segments Appearance Items (Standard, Quest, Factional) Head Advanced = 3 Segments Synthetic Cloth Chest Reinforced Fiber Legs (Optional) Loot Drop Left Bicep (Optional) Loot Drop Right Bicep Left Bracer Right Bracer The entire crafting process is broken down into 4 major phases. Layers - The layer creation step is an optional step at which an armor crafter can tweak the specific protections of the armor. Eight of the nine damage types can be adjusted at this stage: Kinetic, Electricity, Energy, Blast, Heat, Cold, Acid, and Stun. As each specific resistance of a layer is adjusted upwards, the predetermined opposite resistance type will decrease. For instance, a smith making a kinetic layer can increase the kinetic value. As the kinetic value goes up, however, the energy value goes down. This creates a situation where players must choose specific strengths and weaknesses for their armor. An advanced series of layers will increase two opposed specific protections while decreasing three others. So, in the above example, a smith could use an advanced layer to increase both kinetic and energy values, at the cost of lowering three other protection types. Protection dependency values for layers are as follows: Standard Layers Raise This: Decrease This: Kinetic: Energy: Electricity: Blast: Energy: Kinetic: Blast: Electricity: Heat: Cold: Cold: Heat: Acid: Stun: Stun: Acid:
Advanced Layers Raise This: Decrease This: Layer One: Kinetic, Energy: Stun, Acid, Blast Layer Two: Heat, Cold: Acid, Energy, Electricity Layer Three: Blast, Electricity: Heat, Cold, Energy Layer Four: Stun, Acid: Kinetic, Heat, Blast Layer Five: Lightsaber: Stun, Electricity, Kinetic Segments - Segments are the basic component for any piece of armor. At the segment stage a crafter may experiment on condition, encumbrance, and general protection stats. An Armorsmith may also choose to incorporate u
ARMOR CRAFTING: The process of crafting armor is as equally important as how it works in combat. The new armor crafting system provides a way of normalizing the crafting process so that even our more problematic races such as Wookiees and Ithorians have armor that is comparable to that worn by the standard races. It also provides a way to allow armorsmiths to create factional and specialized quest armors without making them unbalanced relative to standard armors. As we look forward, this method will serve as a way for future developers to add new armor appearances that are balanced against the existing sets. Here is a basic flow chart to illustrate the new armor flow. Layers Segment (Stats) Cores (Stats Determined) End Item Armor Schematic (Appearance)= Up to 4 Layers \"= Basic = 1 Segment \"= Core�= FINAL ARMOR Standard = 2 Segments Appearance Items (Standard, Quest, Factional) Head Advanced = 3 Segments Synthetic Cloth Chest Reinforced Fiber Legs (Optional) Loot Drop Left Bicep (Optional) Loot Drop Right Bicep Left Bracer Right Bracer The entire crafting process is broken down into 4 major phases. Layers - The layer creation step is an optional step at which an armor crafter can tweak the specific protections of the armor. Eight of the nine damage types can be adjusted at this stage: Kinetic, Electricity, Energy, Blast, Heat, Cold, Acid, and Stun. As each specific resistance of a layer is adjusted upwards, the predetermined opposite resistance type will decrease. For instance, a smith making a kinetic layer can increase the kinetic value. As the kinetic value goes up, however, the energy value goes down. This creates a situation where players must choose specific strengths and weaknesses for their armor. An advanced series of layers will increase two opposed specific protections while decreasing three others. So, in the above example, a smith could use an advanced layer to increase both kinetic and energy values, at the cost of lowering three other protection types. Protection dependency values for layers are as follows: Standard Layers Raise This: Decrease This: Kinetic: Energy: Electricity: Blast: Energy: Kinetic: Blast: Electricity: Heat: Cold: Cold: Heat: Acid: Stun: Stun: Acid:
Advanced Layers Raise This: Decrease This: Layer One: Kinetic, Energy: Stun, Acid, Blast Layer Two: Heat, Cold: Acid, Energy, Electricity Layer Three: Blast, Electricity: Heat, Cold, Energy Layer Four: Stun, Acid: Kinetic, Heat, Blast Layer Five: Lightsaber: Stun, Electricity, Kinetic Segments - Segments are the basic component for any piece of armor. At the segment stage a crafter may experiment on condition, encumbrance, and general protection stats. An Armorsmith may also choose to incorporate u
To encourage various professions to wear the different armor types, new skill modifier reductions have been devised to reduce the affect hindrances. These hindrance reductions will be distributed at the appropriate boxes for each profession and will mitigate the hindrances that are hard written into the armors. The following skill modifiers will be added throughout the specific professions where it is deemed necessary.
New Skill Mods Basic Recon Armor Certification Recon Movement Mitigation +20% Recon Accuracy Mitigation +30% Recon Accuracy Mitigation +40% Recon Rate of Fire Mitigation +40% Recon Rate of Fire Mitigation +60%
Basic Battle Armor Certification Battle Movement Mitigation +30% Battle Movement Mitigation +40% Battle Accuracy Mitigation +30% Battle Accuracy Mitigation +40% Battle Rate of Fire Mitigation +30% Battle Rate of Fire Mitigation +40%
Basic Assault Armor Certification Assault Movement Mitigation +40% Assault Movement Mitigation +60% Assault Accuracy Mitigation +30% Assault Accuracy Mitigation +40% Assault Rate of Fire Mitigation +20%
Armor Hindrances will not be cumulative per piece like encumbrances are; the entire maximum hindrance will be assigned for even a single piece of armor being worn. This will remove any potential balance problems from min/maxing armor pieces. Additionally it should not be beneficial to mix and match armor pieces from different set types even when the player is certified to wear both types as the maximum hindrances from each individual piece will be applied potentially creating a hindrance that they can not mitigate.
CONVERSION OF EXISTING ARMOR: We do know that most players in the game currently have sets of armor that they use on a daily basis. We will be implementing a conversion process where old armor is converted from old to new. There are several challenges we must overcome to do so from the technical standpoint but we intend to ensure that if players have good armor in the current system they will have good armor in the new system. We will definitely try and ensure that all armor is converted per your choice to a type and appearance style that fits the new profession roles. This means if you were a Carbineer who previously wore composite you will have the option to change your armor into Battle armor. FACTIONAL ARMOR: We could not revamp the entire armor process without taking into consideration for the Galactic Civil War factional armor sets. As one can see in the crafting process, a player Armorsmith will be able to insert a crafted core into an appearance schematic. We plan on adding these factional appearance schematics as limited use draft schematics to the factional vendors.
The Armorsmith will be able to go and purchase for faction points from the faction recruiter the appearances he desires, and place armor cores within the specific appearance types. From this point he will place the completed factional armor onto an npc factional merchant from whom other players can come and purchase the armor from for credits and faction points. The credits will go the smith and the faction will be absorbed by the system. We felt this created a nice niche for the crafters within the GCW to support their factional side and was requested by the GCW correspondent. With the addition of the three new armor classifications we of course need new appearances for the different varieties of armor. The three types of armor will each get a different appearance.
PERSONAL SHIELD GENERATORS: In the previous armor system Personnel Shield Generators were fairly limited in use due to the speed at which they burned up. Because there is no penalty to wearing a PSG we still have to keep their condition fairly low, however we will try and increase it so they do not burn out as fast. The primary purpose of a PSG is a bit of added protection that you wear at the cost of not wearing a belt and the rate at which they burn out and become useless. Different from the previous system, the PS
New Skill Mods Basic Recon Armor Certification Recon Movement Mitigation +20% Recon Accuracy Mitigation +30% Recon Accuracy Mitigation +40% Recon Rate of Fire Mitigation +40% Recon Rate of Fire Mitigation +60%
Basic Battle Armor Certification Battle Movement Mitigation +30% Battle Movement Mitigation +40% Battle Accuracy Mitigation +30% Battle Accuracy Mitigation +40% Battle Rate of Fire Mitigation +30% Battle Rate of Fire Mitigation +40%
Basic Assault Armor Certification Assault Movement Mitigation +40% Assault Movement Mitigation +60% Assault Accuracy Mitigation +30% Assault Accuracy Mitigation +40% Assault Rate of Fire Mitigation +20%
Armor Hindrances will not be cumulative per piece like encumbrances are; the entire maximum hindrance will be assigned for even a single piece of armor being worn. This will remove any potential balance problems from min/maxing armor pieces. Additionally it should not be beneficial to mix and match armor pieces from different set types even when the player is certified to wear both types as the maximum hindrances from each individual piece will be applied potentially creating a hindrance that they can not mitigate.
CONVERSION OF EXISTING ARMOR: We do know that most players in the game currently have sets of armor that they use on a daily basis. We will be implementing a conversion process where old armor is converted from old to new. There are several challenges we must overcome to do so from the technical standpoint but we intend to ensure that if players have good armor in the current system they will have good armor in the new system. We will definitely try and ensure that all armor is converted per your choice to a type and appearance style that fits the new profession roles. This means if you were a Carbineer who previously wore composite you will have the option to change your armor into Battle armor. FACTIONAL ARMOR: We could not revamp the entire armor process without taking into consideration for the Galactic Civil War factional armor sets. As one can see in the crafting process, a player Armorsmith will be able to insert a crafted core into an appearance schematic. We plan on adding these factional appearance schematics as limited use draft schematics to the factional vendors.
The Armorsmith will be able to go and purchase for faction points from the faction recruiter the appearances he desires, and place armor cores within the specific appearance types. From this point he will place the completed factional armor onto an npc factional merchant from whom other players can come and purchase the armor from for credits and faction points. The credits will go the smith and the faction will be absorbed by the system. We felt this created a nice niche for the crafters within the GCW to support their factional side and was requested by the GCW correspondent. With the addition of the three new armor classifications we of course need new appearances for the different varieties of armor. The three types of armor will each get a different appearance.
PERSONAL SHIELD GENERATORS: In the previous armor system Personnel Shield Generators were fairly limited in use due to the speed at which they burned up. Because there is no penalty to wearing a PSG we still have to keep their condition fairly low, however we will try and increase it so they do not burn out as fast. The primary purpose of a PSG is a bit of added protection that you wear at the cost of not wearing a belt and the rate at which they burn out and become useless. Different from the previous system, the PS
PROFESSION ROLES: Why are roles important? Having a solid, well-defined role serves many purposes. It gives a player a clear understanding of how they are supposed to play the game and what strengths or weaknesses their character has. In an MMO it also helps define group play. Every distinct role that exists opens possibilities for more varied and interesting group gameplay dynamics. Without roles every character is essentially the same with a different appearance, this leads to a shallow game experience. On the other hand, well-defined roles add strategic and tactical possibilities and allow for interesting and dynamic gameplay. Ok, so roles are important, but doesn't SWG already have well defined roles? The profession roles are fairly well defined at a high, theoretical level but the actual implementation of those professions didn't end up with the roles as well defined, as we would truly desire. Many professions share similar abilities confusing the concept of who would fill a specific role. Additionally many profession abilities don't complement each other correctly and in some specific instances actually work opposed to each other. This results in unclear group roles and some cases creates situations where certain professions are unable to work together at all. One of the strengths of Star Wars Galaxies is its skill-based system. This system allows players to customize their character to fit the exact gameplay role and style they prefer. The very flexibility of this system led to many difficulties when creating and defining the professions. It's easy to look at a profession�s skill set and think of it in terms of a complete class, but this is not how the system works and would be an incorrect assumption. In a skill based system each skill should give a clearly defined bonus or ability and these abilities should not be duplicated if at all possible and doing so only dilutes the skills and creates potential problems. Professions were not intended to be complete character classes; they are only logical groups of similar skill sets with a common prerequisite.
Going back to this original philosophy made defining the profession roles a much easier task. It also gave us the added benefit of allowing the bonuses from taking multiple professions to work together in a much more meaningful way. The hard part was deciding how to adjust the professions so that each has a strong role and does not share key abilities with other professions. To more easily map out the profession roles we decided to create a visual map that helped set up the broad role definitions and then set the profession within it where they best belonged. ahref=\"http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/CombatUpgradeDiag.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/CombatUpgradeDiag.jpg But what exactly does this picture mean? We started with the broad gameplay elements that would define a role, Tanking (defensive ability), Damage Dealing (offensive ability), Crowd Control (battle flow abilities) and Healing. Then we decided what actual key abilities would exist in that core role. For example we broke Damage Dealing up into 3 key abilities, long-range damage ability, short-range damage ability and utility damage ability (namely damage over time-DoT and area attacks). By doing this we were able to give multiple professions the same core role but in different manners. This also worked perfectly with our goal for profession stacking because no one profession had all abilities related to a core role. If someone wanted to make a profession template that was the master of a specific role then they could take multiple key abilities in the same role to be the best at that specific role. Conversely a player could take abilities from separate core roles for a better-rounded character that is more versatile and less specialized. We also knew that this design gave us enough key abilities that no one character coul
Going back to this original philosophy made defining the profession roles a much easier task. It also gave us the added benefit of allowing the bonuses from taking multiple professions to work together in a much more meaningful way. The hard part was deciding how to adjust the professions so that each has a strong role and does not share key abilities with other professions. To more easily map out the profession roles we decided to create a visual map that helped set up the broad role definitions and then set the profession within it where they best belonged. ahref=\"http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/CombatUpgradeDiag.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/CombatUpgradeDiag.jpg But what exactly does this picture mean? We started with the broad gameplay elements that would define a role, Tanking (defensive ability), Damage Dealing (offensive ability), Crowd Control (battle flow abilities) and Healing. Then we decided what actual key abilities would exist in that core role. For example we broke Damage Dealing up into 3 key abilities, long-range damage ability, short-range damage ability and utility damage ability (namely damage over time-DoT and area attacks). By doing this we were able to give multiple professions the same core role but in different manners. This also worked perfectly with our goal for profession stacking because no one profession had all abilities related to a core role. If someone wanted to make a profession template that was the master of a specific role then they could take multiple key abilities in the same role to be the best at that specific role. Conversely a player could take abilities from separate core roles for a better-rounded character that is more versatile and less specialized. We also knew that this design gave us enough key abilities that no one character coul
Smuggler Primary Role: Crowd Control Specialist Secondary Role: Medium Range Damage Dealer Offense: Moderate (3) Defense: Minimal (1) Crowd Control: Very Strong (5) All's fair in love and war is the motto most Smugglers live by. Smugglers use what is generally perceived as dirty fighting to keep their targets off balance while they defeat them. Smugglers have very low defensive ability and only moderate offensive ability, but when combined with their unique fighting style they can comfortably hold their own. Smugglers are the preeminent Crowd Control profession. No existing profession fit well into this combat role so we needed to decide on a profession that could fill the role with minimal adjustment. The role concept seemed to fit well with the idea of Smuggler combat and added some additional depth to the profession.
Smugglers will be receiving a whole new line of abilities that allow them to temporarily remove an enemy combat threat so that it can be dealt with at a later time. Smugglers abilities combine well with many other profession abilities and will be vital in dealing with high-end group content. Carbineer Primary Role: Medium Range Crowd Control (Position Control) Secondary Role: Medium Range AE Damage Specialist Offense: Strong (4) Defense: Minimal (1) Crowd Control: Strong (4) The Carbineer is a medium range control specialists. He has potent abilities to keep targets at a distance and reduce their combat effectiveness. The Carbineer also has powerful area cone attacks allowing them to effectively fight groups of targets. Once an opponent is able to close with the Carbineer however they're quite vulnerable. Carbineer crowd control skills are specialized in controlling an opponent's position. Slowing an opponent's movement speed and pushing them back away from the Carbineer are potent abilities for controlling the flow of combat. These abilities combined with fairly strong offensive abilities, particularly when faced with a group of opponents leave the player with a very potent set of skills. Adding additional ranged skills from other professions only increase a Carbineers power and options on the battlefield. An alternative template combination may be to add one of the more defensive professions for a well-rounded combat character. Pistoleer Primary Role: Close Range Crowd Control (Attacker Control) Secondary Role: Opponent Damage Reduction (Attacker Mods) Offense: Weak (2) Defense: Moderate (3) Crowd Control: Strong (4) The Pistoleer is a lightweight combat specialist. They move quickly around the field of battle softening up targets and reducing their effectiveness. The damage output of the Pistoleer is fairly low but given time and careful tactical control they are still fully capable of taking out targets on their own. The Pistoleer's abilities truly shine though when combined with a well-organized group. Pistoleers are fairly similar in function as a Pikeman. They are more potent in their ability to reduce a targets combat effectiveness and make them slightly weaker in defensive ability. While Pistoleer skills may not create a significant power increase when added to many other professions skill abilities they do create a significant increase in tactical opportunity. As a versatile close to medium ranged combatant Pistoleer can benefit greatly from other similar ranged professions. For added defensive abilities a Pistoleer can add Teras Kasi or Bounty Hunter skills or for increased offensive and crowd control ability they may want to add Carbineer skills.
Commando Primary Role: Heavy Weapon Specialist Secondary Role: Medium Range Damage Specialist Offense: Very Strong (5) Defense: Moderate (3) Crowd Control: Minimal (1) The Commando is the specialist of Heavy Weapons. An entire line of unique heavy weapons is available in the Commando's arsenal. The Commando also receives many bonuses making them more proficient with standard weapons when combined with other profession skills. Whatever the da
Smugglers will be receiving a whole new line of abilities that allow them to temporarily remove an enemy combat threat so that it can be dealt with at a later time. Smugglers abilities combine well with many other profession abilities and will be vital in dealing with high-end group content. Carbineer Primary Role: Medium Range Crowd Control (Position Control) Secondary Role: Medium Range AE Damage Specialist Offense: Strong (4) Defense: Minimal (1) Crowd Control: Strong (4) The Carbineer is a medium range control specialists. He has potent abilities to keep targets at a distance and reduce their combat effectiveness. The Carbineer also has powerful area cone attacks allowing them to effectively fight groups of targets. Once an opponent is able to close with the Carbineer however they're quite vulnerable. Carbineer crowd control skills are specialized in controlling an opponent's position. Slowing an opponent's movement speed and pushing them back away from the Carbineer are potent abilities for controlling the flow of combat. These abilities combined with fairly strong offensive abilities, particularly when faced with a group of opponents leave the player with a very potent set of skills. Adding additional ranged skills from other professions only increase a Carbineers power and options on the battlefield. An alternative template combination may be to add one of the more defensive professions for a well-rounded combat character. Pistoleer Primary Role: Close Range Crowd Control (Attacker Control) Secondary Role: Opponent Damage Reduction (Attacker Mods) Offense: Weak (2) Defense: Moderate (3) Crowd Control: Strong (4) The Pistoleer is a lightweight combat specialist. They move quickly around the field of battle softening up targets and reducing their effectiveness. The damage output of the Pistoleer is fairly low but given time and careful tactical control they are still fully capable of taking out targets on their own. The Pistoleer's abilities truly shine though when combined with a well-organized group. Pistoleers are fairly similar in function as a Pikeman. They are more potent in their ability to reduce a targets combat effectiveness and make them slightly weaker in defensive ability. While Pistoleer skills may not create a significant power increase when added to many other professions skill abilities they do create a significant increase in tactical opportunity. As a versatile close to medium ranged combatant Pistoleer can benefit greatly from other similar ranged professions. For added defensive abilities a Pistoleer can add Teras Kasi or Bounty Hunter skills or for increased offensive and crowd control ability they may want to add Carbineer skills.
Commando Primary Role: Heavy Weapon Specialist Secondary Role: Medium Range Damage Specialist Offense: Very Strong (5) Defense: Moderate (3) Crowd Control: Minimal (1) The Commando is the specialist of Heavy Weapons. An entire line of unique heavy weapons is available in the Commando's arsenal. The Commando also receives many bonuses making them more proficient with standard weapons when combined with other profession skills. Whatever the da
And the snippet on our profession...
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Creature Handler Primary Role: Pet Handler Secondary Role: Versatility Offense: N/A (Defined by Pet) Defense: N/A (Defined by Pet) Crowd Control: N/A (Defined by Pet) Creature Handlers are the ultimate in combat versatility. While they have no innate combat capabilities of their own they are able to fulfill almost any needed role as long as they have a pet with the necessary abilities. The Creature Handler was a very difficult profession to determine the proper role for. Throughout the history of the game Creature Handlers roles and abilities have shifted quite a bit. We will protect the role of Creature Handler and make sure that they are balanced and have a solid position, however historically we know that many people become upset when a pet is required for a key primary role like tanking. Because of this reason we felt that it would be ideal to allow Creature Handlers to be the jack-of-all-trades and have their actual role in a group be defined by their pets. Depending on the abilities of the pet called would determine the role that the Creature Handler can fulfill in the group. We do recognize that right now only minimal specialization of pet abilities is possible through Bio-Engineer Cloning. We plan on enhancing Creature Handler taming and training abilities so that a Creature Handler can shift a growing pet's abilities to better fulfill a tank, damage dealing to crowd control role, however this task will not be able to fit within the scope of the initial Combat Upgrade publish.
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Combat Medic Primary Role: Medical Combatant Secondary Role: Combat Healing Offense: Strong (4) Defense: Weak (2) Crowd Control: Moderate (3) Combat Medics are the natural progression of Medics into the combat field. Their medical expertise turned to the goal of eliminating the enemy culminated in the creation of powerful medical weaponry that can quickly leave opponents crippled and powerless. They also have the ability to competently heal their allies while in the thick of battle. Combat Medic was an interesting profession to define. The initial design intent of the Combat Medic was to be the field healer. Doctor's healed in the hospital and CMs healed in the field. The addition of DoTs to the CM medicine line near the end of Beta changed everything. Over time Combat Medics have become more and more about their offensive abilities and less and less centered on their healing. The concept of Doctors staying in the hospital never worked as expected either because they had several key abilities that required their presence on the field. The split of medical duties on the field between Doctors and Combat Medics left some Doctors feeling underutilized. We discussed several options and finally settled on emphasizing the combatant elements of the Combat Medic. Combat Medics will retain their healing abilities but they will always be secondary to the capabilities of a Doctor. Over time additional combat medicines that increase a Combat Medics tactical opportunities and power will be added however this will not be able to fit within the scope of the initial Combat Upgrade publish.
Doctor Primary Role: Medical Support Secondary Role: Single Target Healing Offense: N/A Defense: N/A Crowd Control: N/A Technically Doctors are not a combat profession but have included them here because they are required to be in the field of combat fulfilling a support role. Doctors are the primary healing profession with the widest range of healing abilities for both short-term and long-term ailments. Damage healing abilities of the Doctor are specialized in single target heals while Combat Medics will remain the most versatile field healer with their wide range of area effect and ranged healing medicines. Doctors are also vital in the long-term support of combat units. Large combat groups engaged in lengthy battles will find their effectiveness dwindles over time due to accumulation of wounds and l
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Creature Handler Primary Role: Pet Handler Secondary Role: Versatility Offense: N/A (Defined by Pet) Defense: N/A (Defined by Pet) Crowd Control: N/A (Defined by Pet) Creature Handlers are the ultimate in combat versatility. While they have no innate combat capabilities of their own they are able to fulfill almost any needed role as long as they have a pet with the necessary abilities. The Creature Handler was a very difficult profession to determine the proper role for. Throughout the history of the game Creature Handlers roles and abilities have shifted quite a bit. We will protect the role of Creature Handler and make sure that they are balanced and have a solid position, however historically we know that many people become upset when a pet is required for a key primary role like tanking. Because of this reason we felt that it would be ideal to allow Creature Handlers to be the jack-of-all-trades and have their actual role in a group be defined by their pets. Depending on the abilities of the pet called would determine the role that the Creature Handler can fulfill in the group. We do recognize that right now only minimal specialization of pet abilities is possible through Bio-Engineer Cloning. We plan on enhancing Creature Handler taming and training abilities so that a Creature Handler can shift a growing pet's abilities to better fulfill a tank, damage dealing to crowd control role, however this task will not be able to fit within the scope of the initial Combat Upgrade publish.
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Combat Medic Primary Role: Medical Combatant Secondary Role: Combat Healing Offense: Strong (4) Defense: Weak (2) Crowd Control: Moderate (3) Combat Medics are the natural progression of Medics into the combat field. Their medical expertise turned to the goal of eliminating the enemy culminated in the creation of powerful medical weaponry that can quickly leave opponents crippled and powerless. They also have the ability to competently heal their allies while in the thick of battle. Combat Medic was an interesting profession to define. The initial design intent of the Combat Medic was to be the field healer. Doctor's healed in the hospital and CMs healed in the field. The addition of DoTs to the CM medicine line near the end of Beta changed everything. Over time Combat Medics have become more and more about their offensive abilities and less and less centered on their healing. The concept of Doctors staying in the hospital never worked as expected either because they had several key abilities that required their presence on the field. The split of medical duties on the field between Doctors and Combat Medics left some Doctors feeling underutilized. We discussed several options and finally settled on emphasizing the combatant elements of the Combat Medic. Combat Medics will retain their healing abilities but they will always be secondary to the capabilities of a Doctor. Over time additional combat medicines that increase a Combat Medics tactical opportunities and power will be added however this will not be able to fit within the scope of the initial Combat Upgrade publish.
Doctor Primary Role: Medical Support Secondary Role: Single Target Healing Offense: N/A Defense: N/A Crowd Control: N/A Technically Doctors are not a combat profession but have included them here because they are required to be in the field of combat fulfilling a support role. Doctors are the primary healing profession with the widest range of healing abilities for both short-term and long-term ailments. Damage healing abilities of the Doctor are specialized in single target heals while Combat Medics will remain the most versatile field healer with their wide range of area effect and ranged healing medicines. Doctors are also vital in the long-term support of combat units. Large combat groups engaged in lengthy battles will find their effectiveness dwindles over time due to accumulation of wounds and l
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Iakimo
- Field Biologist
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:31 am
- Location: Somewhere north of Bree. (\"Oh... real life? Erm... Huntsville, AL... I think...\")
Re:
[quote:d833964c93=\"ranja123\"]...My pappy always said \"don't fix it if it aint broke\", is it broke or am I way off base?[/quote:d833964c93]
Actually, the combat system has been broken in a way ever since Launch, back in 2003. According to a document early in the CURB discussions, the non-healability of Mind was a quick-fix solution to a problem discovered in beta testing, in which doctors could heal themselves indefinitely. The \"fix\" was to remove Mind healing from the scope of what could be boosted by stimpacks. This in turn caused a chain-reaction effect in which Mind became the be-all-and-end-all target of PvP attacks, which is where we are in the current combat system.
Personally, I think the proposed new system [i:d833964c93]could[/i:d833964c93] make for a better game, but it all depends on how well it is implemented. Key issues will be how well everything is balanced against other elements, and how well the devs do their homework in terms of working out ALL the details. Both are points that don't bode well, given the devs' history. Tellingly, they kept insisting that \"Jedi wouldn't be touched\" with this round (the CURB), since they're 'already balanced...' \" until some wag pointed out that with the abandonment of HAM-specific attack models, the whole premise of one-handed/two-handed/polearm-type lightsabers' differentiation was out the window (since one-handed lightsabers, like rifles, primarily target Mind, while two-handeds target Action and double-bladed sabers target Health). Eventually, Thunderheart acknowledged, \"Yeah, it's looking more and more like we're going to have to take a look at Jedi, too.\"
[i:d833964c93](Iakimo rolls his eyes....)[/i:d833964c93]
The biggest change is that the big 2500-or-so-HAM-boosting doc buffs are going to go bye-bye in favor of buffs that give maybe a ten percent boost, which means that places like Dathomir will no longer be the equivalent of a pleasant stroll in the park. However, it appears that players will gain a big increase in their Health stat as they advance, and that eventually (when they master an elite profession) their stat will be roughly equivalent to what they'd have when buffed. According to the latest public info I have seen so far, it looks like they're thinking that players will start out at 1000 Health or so as a newbie, then grow to roughly 3000 Health as elite masters. So, if I'd guess, I'd say that an elite-level player will be able to perform on a pretty high level in this new system. Probably not as high a level as we can currently attain when buffed on all nine of our current stats and decked out in our rule-them-all composite armor (which is also going bye-bye), but probably enough to make it quite a sporting endeavor to take on a rancor lair.
The big fear I have as a Creature Handler is that the devs will try to balance the game in such a way as to make Rancors seem like uber-opponents beyond the capabilities of any single player to kill. In such an environment, possession of a tamed Rancor would be wildly out of balance. Personally, I [i:d833964c93]don't[/i:d833964c93] think the devs intend to be [i:d833964c93]that[/i:d833964c93] draconian with their plans to nerf players' combat ability, but I do know that rancors come up a lot in the discussion threads as popular example of how ridiculous players' current capabilities seem. Commonly, the logic runs, \"Players should/shouldn't be able to just slaughter rancors out-of-hand....\" Fortunately, players [i:d833964c93]like[/i:d833964c93] to play at heroic levels of proficiency, so hopefully the devs will allow us all to retain at least a good measure of big-game-hunting ability.
I think we Creature Handlers need to lobby [i:d833964c93]as hard as we can[/i:d833964c93] for the following game-balance benchmark to be incorporated:
[b:d833964c93]Since Rancors are the iconic \"ultimate tamable pet\" (as seen in Jabba's Palace), this makes a good starting point for wher
Actually, the combat system has been broken in a way ever since Launch, back in 2003. According to a document early in the CURB discussions, the non-healability of Mind was a quick-fix solution to a problem discovered in beta testing, in which doctors could heal themselves indefinitely. The \"fix\" was to remove Mind healing from the scope of what could be boosted by stimpacks. This in turn caused a chain-reaction effect in which Mind became the be-all-and-end-all target of PvP attacks, which is where we are in the current combat system.
Personally, I think the proposed new system [i:d833964c93]could[/i:d833964c93] make for a better game, but it all depends on how well it is implemented. Key issues will be how well everything is balanced against other elements, and how well the devs do their homework in terms of working out ALL the details. Both are points that don't bode well, given the devs' history. Tellingly, they kept insisting that \"Jedi wouldn't be touched\" with this round (the CURB), since they're 'already balanced...' \" until some wag pointed out that with the abandonment of HAM-specific attack models, the whole premise of one-handed/two-handed/polearm-type lightsabers' differentiation was out the window (since one-handed lightsabers, like rifles, primarily target Mind, while two-handeds target Action and double-bladed sabers target Health). Eventually, Thunderheart acknowledged, \"Yeah, it's looking more and more like we're going to have to take a look at Jedi, too.\"
[i:d833964c93](Iakimo rolls his eyes....)[/i:d833964c93]
The biggest change is that the big 2500-or-so-HAM-boosting doc buffs are going to go bye-bye in favor of buffs that give maybe a ten percent boost, which means that places like Dathomir will no longer be the equivalent of a pleasant stroll in the park. However, it appears that players will gain a big increase in their Health stat as they advance, and that eventually (when they master an elite profession) their stat will be roughly equivalent to what they'd have when buffed. According to the latest public info I have seen so far, it looks like they're thinking that players will start out at 1000 Health or so as a newbie, then grow to roughly 3000 Health as elite masters. So, if I'd guess, I'd say that an elite-level player will be able to perform on a pretty high level in this new system. Probably not as high a level as we can currently attain when buffed on all nine of our current stats and decked out in our rule-them-all composite armor (which is also going bye-bye), but probably enough to make it quite a sporting endeavor to take on a rancor lair.
The big fear I have as a Creature Handler is that the devs will try to balance the game in such a way as to make Rancors seem like uber-opponents beyond the capabilities of any single player to kill. In such an environment, possession of a tamed Rancor would be wildly out of balance. Personally, I [i:d833964c93]don't[/i:d833964c93] think the devs intend to be [i:d833964c93]that[/i:d833964c93] draconian with their plans to nerf players' combat ability, but I do know that rancors come up a lot in the discussion threads as popular example of how ridiculous players' current capabilities seem. Commonly, the logic runs, \"Players should/shouldn't be able to just slaughter rancors out-of-hand....\" Fortunately, players [i:d833964c93]like[/i:d833964c93] to play at heroic levels of proficiency, so hopefully the devs will allow us all to retain at least a good measure of big-game-hunting ability.
I think we Creature Handlers need to lobby [i:d833964c93]as hard as we can[/i:d833964c93] for the following game-balance benchmark to be incorporated:
[b:d833964c93]Since Rancors are the iconic \"ultimate tamable pet\" (as seen in Jabba's Palace), this makes a good starting point for wher
Iakimo Wioga, Jedi Padawan
Former Master Bounty Hunter/Master Creature Handler
SOE SUCKS!!!
Former Master Bounty Hunter/Master Creature Handler
SOE SUCKS!!!
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Ness_Gorath
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:07 am
- Location: Gorath server here and there
[size=18][color=red]This is an important issue[/color][/size]
I belive the Creature nerf was a HUGE issue that killed combat in the game it was smart at the time not knowing the game would grow out of hand once people started making more money by mostly selling buffs and making better armor that people could now afford so CH took it harder and harder as the game grew.
I just want CH to be the way it used to be. I want to be feared again by people. I want to be able to take out 3 rancors again. Since armor is gunna be gone. Which is something they nerfed then. They should then jack up the res. and damage of pets. we should be level 150. we should be able to store a maximum of 30(32) pets or only be able to hold the 22 we can now but have a place to store extras like a stable or something you can buy. I want rares to be special again. They became lost in all these new add-ins to the game especially the npc spawn increase. I feel like my stalker and boar are just unique anymore, now that so many people have them. Another thing is these rares shold be ultimate beasts. A ch with a great plains stalker out (or 2 if they give us a higher level) shold be extremly scary to fight. The anoying agressive bug they fixed would come in handy like with this cause think.... u have 2 stalkers out and maybe lets say a crimson razor cat... how on earth do you think your gunna control all these pets out at once... takes skill. but if u can then that would help you.. especially if its your main combat profession cause then not only can u fight someone hard it is also a clever distraction and can be used with many strategies, which makes CH what it should be. I love being swordsman and fighting besides my pets. But the fact that they last about 1 min in the battle sucks so this would be great and i think that a bazillion of you out there agree with me.
Now they talk about fixing CH and group hunting. Having 3 more powerful pets out at once wont only benifit you, but instead you can have each one of your 3 rancors guard a certain group member and even Be-Friend one. That brings those 2 abilities back into the game. This would help the CH control his pets in a battle cause his group members can pretty much control each one of the CHs pets on there own without the CH doing all the work. I dont think i ever used Befriend in battle before.
The fact a CH can whip out 3 pets control up to high levels like 150 (this doesnt mean taming anything over level 70) would benefit the game for group hunters and CHs alike. And giving us more room or a place to store. face it, these are the key things alll of us CHs want and been asking for, They should give it to us, cause it would balance the game out alot!
IT would also be more fun if tamable creatures stats varied like in the old times, you know with ham and damage, this way CH duels would be fairer and pets would be somewhat unique. I miss that.
Otherwise all they need to do is fix battle strenght of creatures, The sound bug is still there, like my malignant squill still is silent, the Vitallity bug (vitality should be done away with) with creatures losing vitality as babies and in pvp. the /tellpet commands dont work, creature movement, like uphill movement and when cretaures randomly stop following you. and of caurse, the specials bug with knockdown and poison and disease not working on command.
those are the most important to me and alot of people i discussed this stuff with, we will have more mounts added in the expansion im sure, and it would be cool to have our mounts fight while we are on them, or those creatures everyone wants tamable be marked tamable, but these arnt concerns, they are just things we would enjoy. I think they should work on making us something again and giving us a better purpose and a strong tamplet. And fix those damn bugs that make us all extremly happy to have (rolls eyes)
any comments feel free to spit em at me im ready for anything and yes if<
I belive the Creature nerf was a HUGE issue that killed combat in the game it was smart at the time not knowing the game would grow out of hand once people started making more money by mostly selling buffs and making better armor that people could now afford so CH took it harder and harder as the game grew.
I just want CH to be the way it used to be. I want to be feared again by people. I want to be able to take out 3 rancors again. Since armor is gunna be gone. Which is something they nerfed then. They should then jack up the res. and damage of pets. we should be level 150. we should be able to store a maximum of 30(32) pets or only be able to hold the 22 we can now but have a place to store extras like a stable or something you can buy. I want rares to be special again. They became lost in all these new add-ins to the game especially the npc spawn increase. I feel like my stalker and boar are just unique anymore, now that so many people have them. Another thing is these rares shold be ultimate beasts. A ch with a great plains stalker out (or 2 if they give us a higher level) shold be extremly scary to fight. The anoying agressive bug they fixed would come in handy like with this cause think.... u have 2 stalkers out and maybe lets say a crimson razor cat... how on earth do you think your gunna control all these pets out at once... takes skill. but if u can then that would help you.. especially if its your main combat profession cause then not only can u fight someone hard it is also a clever distraction and can be used with many strategies, which makes CH what it should be. I love being swordsman and fighting besides my pets. But the fact that they last about 1 min in the battle sucks so this would be great and i think that a bazillion of you out there agree with me.
Now they talk about fixing CH and group hunting. Having 3 more powerful pets out at once wont only benifit you, but instead you can have each one of your 3 rancors guard a certain group member and even Be-Friend one. That brings those 2 abilities back into the game. This would help the CH control his pets in a battle cause his group members can pretty much control each one of the CHs pets on there own without the CH doing all the work. I dont think i ever used Befriend in battle before.
The fact a CH can whip out 3 pets control up to high levels like 150 (this doesnt mean taming anything over level 70) would benefit the game for group hunters and CHs alike. And giving us more room or a place to store. face it, these are the key things alll of us CHs want and been asking for, They should give it to us, cause it would balance the game out alot!
IT would also be more fun if tamable creatures stats varied like in the old times, you know with ham and damage, this way CH duels would be fairer and pets would be somewhat unique. I miss that.
Otherwise all they need to do is fix battle strenght of creatures, The sound bug is still there, like my malignant squill still is silent, the Vitallity bug (vitality should be done away with) with creatures losing vitality as babies and in pvp. the /tellpet commands dont work, creature movement, like uphill movement and when cretaures randomly stop following you. and of caurse, the specials bug with knockdown and poison and disease not working on command.
those are the most important to me and alot of people i discussed this stuff with, we will have more mounts added in the expansion im sure, and it would be cool to have our mounts fight while we are on them, or those creatures everyone wants tamable be marked tamable, but these arnt concerns, they are just things we would enjoy. I think they should work on making us something again and giving us a better purpose and a strong tamplet. And fix those damn bugs that make us all extremly happy to have (rolls eyes)
any comments feel free to spit em at me im ready for anything and yes if<
The things I would like to see that would not be all that much of an issue would be the following:
-get rid of vitality.
-get rid of tamed pets attacking everything.
-get rid of the timer on taking out pets. I can take out my T21 whenever I want, why must I wait to take out a pet?
-increase datapad size. There are several pets that I am attached to in it and do not want to let loose.
Those things would not be hard to fix and they would not dramatically 'unbalance' us.
The following are some things I would like to see, some of which, might be considered a little much:
-a MCH mount only item, ala Rancor, or even less likely a flying mount, Reptilian flyer, or giant peko-peko
-increase the lvl of our taming to at least 80, maybe 90.
-increase what we can tame now.
I realize we are a class that is often misunderstood. People see the pets and some of them are in awe of them. The truth of the matter is, at this point, our pets are nice to have in certain situations. They are NOT as great as we look on paper. Against an unbuffed person, yes, the high end ones are a threat, but lets be real, how many people are unbuffed for combat?
I see many debates about the pets and the roles they have. I seriously wonder if the devs ever played a CH and saw just how effective it was when compared to a stacker.
We could be so much more than we are, but I think the Devs are just not sure how to properly implement us.
-get rid of vitality.
-get rid of tamed pets attacking everything.
-get rid of the timer on taking out pets. I can take out my T21 whenever I want, why must I wait to take out a pet?
-increase datapad size. There are several pets that I am attached to in it and do not want to let loose.
Those things would not be hard to fix and they would not dramatically 'unbalance' us.
The following are some things I would like to see, some of which, might be considered a little much:
-a MCH mount only item, ala Rancor, or even less likely a flying mount, Reptilian flyer, or giant peko-peko
-increase the lvl of our taming to at least 80, maybe 90.
-increase what we can tame now.
I realize we are a class that is often misunderstood. People see the pets and some of them are in awe of them. The truth of the matter is, at this point, our pets are nice to have in certain situations. They are NOT as great as we look on paper. Against an unbuffed person, yes, the high end ones are a threat, but lets be real, how many people are unbuffed for combat?
I see many debates about the pets and the roles they have. I seriously wonder if the devs ever played a CH and saw just how effective it was when compared to a stacker.
We could be so much more than we are, but I think the Devs are just not sure how to properly implement us.
MCH/Master Scout/ Rifleman 2/2/1/3/ Ranger 0/0/3/0
(actually, i dropped the ranger and became a master rifleman before the NGE)
(actually, i dropped the ranger and became a master rifleman before the NGE)
What I think he meant was that \"/tellpet doesn't work with one letter commands\". Currently, \"/tellpet a\" does not work (at least for me), but \"/tellpet at\" works.
[color=#33CCFF:b375b202e1] Nyter:Genetics[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CCCC:b375b202e1] Tempest[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CC99:b375b202e1] Naboo, Edoras[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CC66:b375b202e1] 6228 -4316[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CCCC:b375b202e1] Tempest[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CC99:b375b202e1] Naboo, Edoras[/color:b375b202e1]
[color=#33CC66:b375b202e1] 6228 -4316[/color:b375b202e1]
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