Our RP vs. The Movie Arc.

[Sai'nu]

Since this was hit upon what say we go ahead and vent out all of our personal RP views versus the story laid out in the movie in 'this' thread. Not saying we'll actually resolve anything here; but it may be interesting to see what we're all thinking in different areas. If this becomes personal in any way... please take it to PMing the 'personal problems' with each other.

I think some of our biggest topics we could roll around here are as follows:

-Continuity of Jedi in the Game.
-Should we consider this an Alternate Universe as far as the Setting goes?
-What 'rules' of engagement should we really abide by as a community in game? ((beyond our forum policies obviously))
-How far are we willing to take the Rebel vs. Empire debate given some of the other 'spins' on our given play setting in game?

These are only 'some' of the things I think we've all been poking at since launch. Personally... I have to struggle to turn on and off my ooc/ic switch in game because I try to tune out what I don't think would happen during the Movie Story Arc during this setting. Aka... a dev error in continuity vs. setting for myself. This would be why I RP my toons as Jedi but don't actually have the template. One but many of my own lil quirks with it. Let'er rip my friends.

[Jabe Adaks]

I'll bite...

Episode three leaves off with Obi-wan and Yoda turning off the signal that brings the Jedi back to the temple on Coruscant. So, we can assume some Jedi are saved and that Vader likely has more hunting to do after Episode III. That's my interpretation at any rate. As far as playing on Gorath goes, that means they actually spared the lives of a few hundred thousand Jedi.

As far as Rebel RP goes...

I have taken some time to digest the argument that Rebels should be really quiet and never admit to their political alignment. Unfortunately this is not a realistic expectation in game. I mean look at Rebel faction perks, bases, etc... they are all emblazoned with Rebel insignias that are as big as the banners the Imperials fly. You average player is given no reason to believe the Rebellion is a force in hiding. So what you get is a server full of Rebels that play no differently than the Imperials.

Seems to me if SOE was worried about continuity, they'd have a GCW storyline going on (like they did at one point) and have new FMV's after each publish that would set the mood as the player enters the game.

I guess what I am saying is that there's no point in paying attention to the movies and trying to adapt your RP style to it. If I cared about canon, I would have never ran the replicant war event. Rebels can afford to be more overt and in your face right now, because Gorath is Rebel territory. Jabe stopped pulling out his ATST and wearing faction clothing a long time ago. Why? Because Jabe is an Imperial and should be afraid of the outer rim right now. Its a balance of power that is not tethered to Star Wars canon - nor should it be.

Galaxies is not Star Wars, its just a variation of Lucas' vision.

Jabe

[Isleh]

Well.. one thing SOE could do is get rid of the Cries of Aldran faction bonus.

That would help the Empire some.

Regarding Jedi, one thing I noticed in "A New Hipe" when Ben pulled his lightsaber in the Mos Eisley cantina, Most of the patrons shrugged it off very much like most of us do now.

Most people attribute this to "It's a rough crowd" but if the crowd is that rough, where most are wanted by the Empire or someone else, would you stick around and finish your drink while Storm Troopers start walking through the crowd asking questions?

Unless it happened a little more than the Empire liked to admit.

Palpatine <hands steepled>: "Lord Vader... What do you mean that some of the Jedi "Got Away".... "
Vader: "Obi-won and Yoda disab...."
Palpatine: "No excueses! Do you relize I have sent out a press release saying that all the Jedi are DEAD! On my own personal letterhead even!"

[Kyanus]

Palpatine: "No excueses! Do you relize I have sent out a press release saying that all the Jedi are DEAD! On my own personal letterhead even!"

Palpatine: I had to decimate three planets alone for the printing costs! And you know these media outlets, it'll take them weeks to send an addendum to the Outer Rim! For all we know, they could think Jedi walk around Tatooine all the time! Bad Vader; no cookies for you!

[Ekade]

I still have problems with the Rebels having the upper hand over the Empire. The Empire being THE power in the galaxy is something I cannot let go of. The Empire really defines the galaxy we play in.

To me, you have to redefine what the Empire is if you want to say it is possible for the Rebels to be a greater military power and still have an Empire. The Empire rules by force, but more importantly by threat of force. Your planet gets out of line? Best case you have a Star Destroyer or 2 parked in orbit. Worst cast.. you got Deathstar!

If the Rebels are a superior military, the Threat of Force does not exist. As such, the Empire has no way to maintian power.

Basically I am saying that the Empire cannot be an empire if it is not perceived as the most powerful military entity in the galaxy


If you are going to redefine the Empire and the galactic civil war.. you may as well redefine every other iconic element of the SW universe like jedi, space-ships, weapons, the laws of physics..

..erm.. nevermind.

[Sai'nu]

You all bring up very in depth and valid points. To me, it would seem better if the Devs could work in an 'alternate universe' story arc based upon 'who' is winning on a server. Otherwise; step up the difficulty of NPC Empire as it were. Or a more looming effect of the occasional Dev actually comming in with Darth Vader and attacking known Rebels in public. Perhaps 'pushing' your clone off planet so we don't get the entire 'clone center camp' effect going on.

Indeed, cannon vs. game mechanics seems to be a real issue. Even our player perceptions on what should and should not be vary from player to player. Keep'em comming gang. Maybe we can use this to define the 'swgTales' Universe. A 'guideline' to our community after we work out some of the opinions.

[Ekade]

The core game mechanic that causes the worst problem for realism is this..

Death is meaningless.


Actually.. for PvP I would love to see instanced battlefields that don't allow you to clone back into the battle. I am getting off topic.


A while ago I took a long look at what the RP community on Chimaera did with their guild-wars and such. They did have some rules posted on "death" to make it seem a little more harsh and realistic.

When there are consequences, people behave much differently.

[Sai'nu]

Actually, your right on topic!

Instanced death would do this game wonders in certain spots where groups are required. Like on the battlefield as you point out. Hopefully as part of the long awaited GCW publish they've promiced this will bring back battlefields and throw in something extra on how planets are won and controlled by the player community. The 'death' on battlefield could be a serious tide turner in all actuality if they apply it to battlefields.

[Ekade]

Actually, your right on topic!

Instanced death would do this game wonders in certain spots where groups are required. Like on the battlefield as you point out. Hopefully as part of the long awaited GCW publish they've promiced this will bring back battlefields and throw in something extra on how planets are won and controlled by the player community. The 'death' on battlefield could be a serious tide turner in all actuality if they apply it to battlefields.

Yeah.. I think a functional battlefield system with actual implications would make the GCW ROCK.

Who has the most Bases = Flawed method for determinging who is winning GCW. Why? The side with the greater numbers wins by default.

Now, have the "winner" of the GCW determined by who is winning more of these instanced battles, and ensure that numbers are equal in these instanced battles.. NOW you have something.

Meaningful battles... Suddenly tactics are important. Skill and leadership are important. Each move, each LIFE on the battlefield is important!

Doesn't that sound kick-butt?

[Ekade]

And furthermore... (( stealing shamelessly from WoW.. ))

Give rank to players based on their PvP performance, not based on killing countless numbers of NPC's.

Case in point.. Ekade is a Rebel Colonel. I mean seriously.. wtf is that?

[Zannon]

Personally, I'd like to see it where the Imperials got an unfair advantage in the game. 75% of the populations on every server are Rebel, so why not give the Empire some help?

1.) Re-Do the random scan system. Make the scans on non-imperials more frequent and make it so that rebels with high FP balances or high faction ranks are more likely to get caught. Also make it so you get caught and forced Combatant more often.

2.) Add more random Imperial patrols to the game: Dewback patrols on Tatooine, Biker Scouts on bikes on other planets. Have Probe droids wander around planets. If they spot someone that's a combatant or attacking Imps, then it calls for reinforcements...and where the reinforcements land depends on where the rebel that was observed is (that way you can't just kill imp and run away with no consequence).

3.) Give Imperial squad leaders and Master BH's the ability to call up to 4 faction pets at a time for PVP.

A heightened NPC presence for the Imps would give the game a much more SW feel...you'd see a lot more NPC vs NPC battles going on outside cities. I remember when the game first came out, I'd see them all the time and would run and go overt to help out my side. It was a lot of fun and I think bringing that back would be great.

[Hashum]

As far as I'm concered the SW universe in SWG consists of about 250 people (those registered here) and lots of extra's.

I agree with Jabe on the Jedi issue, and really have no problems with it at all, I mean I seriously hardly ever see a Jedi. I mean we're talking like maybe 1 Jedi a day that I see, and I usually travel heavily. So that at least is less of an issue for me. But I do agree there is a visibility problem, but I don't think it's a population problem.

As to the GCW the way I justify that is simply by the fact the Rebellion just completed a stunning victory over the Empire, destroying their most powerful weapon, and after such a victory I think it's only natural that the troops would be more bold and start really standing up to the Empire because now they know or believe they can win.

[Krusshyk]

As far as I'm concered the SW universe in SWG consists of about 250 people (those registered here) and lots of extra's.

I agree with Jabe on the Jedi issue, and really have no problems with it at all, I mean I seriously hardly ever see a Jedi. I mean we're talking like maybe 1 Jedi a day that I see, and I usually travel heavily. So that at least is less of an issue for me. But I do agree there is a visibility problem, but I don't think it's a population problem.

As to the GCW the way I justify that is simply by the fact the Rebellion just completed a stunning victory over the Empire, destroying their most powerful weapon, and after such a victory I think it's only natural that the troops would be more bold and start really standing up to the Empire because now they know or believe they can win.

I guess you haven't been to Theed post-CU...It's like an all night rave. Lousy kids and their liquid dancing and glowsticks. All that's missing is the mouth guards.

[Ekade]

As to the GCW the way I justify that is simply by the fact the Rebellion just completed a stunning victory over the Empire, destroying their most powerful weapon, and after such a victory I think it's only natural that the troops would be more bold and start really standing up to the Empire because now they know or believe they can win.

That is one point of view.

The movie view would be .. "Hey, we popped the deathstar.. but every other asset in their military arsenal is intact. Lets go hide on some remote iceball planet and bide our time. Oh, and the first thing we do is come up with an evacuation plan because when they find us, they are bringing the whupass. And we can't repel firepower of that magnitude"


And yeah, I agree with Zannon's thoughts on having a greater imperial NPC presence in cities and such. For my immersion, I want to see more Empire.

[Hashum]

As far as I'm concered the SW universe in SWG consists of about 250 people (those registered here) and lots of extra's.

I agree with Jabe on the Jedi issue, and really have no problems with it at all, I mean I seriously hardly ever see a Jedi. I mean we're talking like maybe 1 Jedi a day that I see, and I usually travel heavily. So that at least is less of an issue for me. But I do agree there is a visibility problem, but I don't think it's a population problem.

As to the GCW the way I justify that is simply by the fact the Rebellion just completed a stunning victory over the Empire, destroying their most powerful weapon, and after such a victory I think it's only natural that the troops would be more bold and start really standing up to the Empire because now they know or believe they can win.

I guess you haven't been to Theed post-CU...It's like an all night rave. Lousy kids and their liquid dancing and glowsticks. All that's missing is the mouth guards.

That's too bad, I'm of the firm believe Jedi shouldn't be able to fight in cities. There should be a radius outside the city they must reach before being able to ignite their sabers. Or at least receive harsh penalties be it NPC attacks, Visibility (this should mean something), or FRS XP loss.