Star Wars Galaxies: 100 Suggestions to make SWG 100 Times Better

100 Suggestions to make SWG 100 Times Better

It isn't 100, at least not without your help. I've been cruising the discussion and galactic civil war boards quite frequently, reading a lot of good ideas, and formulating some of my own. I love this game, and I love Star Wars. The decisions made and policies implemented however, make me scratch my head and wonder "Why?". I think the following would help.

BTW - I haven't touched balancing classes nor do I want to. I'll leave that to you!

Combat

• Reduce the role of pets to that of support. Mold the player as the main effort or the hero. Lower NPC statistics or raise PC statistics.
• Retract emphasis on fancy weaponry such as flamethrowers, acid rifles, lightning canons etc. Emphasize the standard weapons we saw in the films: lasers and blaster pistols, carbines and rifles.
• Lengthen combat to increase strategy, tactics and overall enjoyment. Instant incaps aren't fun, and I'd argue it probably isn't challenging for the victor.
• Instead of having to be in a city or camp to instantly retrieve your NPCs, you should be able to call them anywhere. However, it should take time for your NPCs to reach your location, roughly a minute or two depending on your location. Instead of whipping them out of your pocket, they are "deployed".

Civil War

• Distinguish between government recruiters/missions (delivery) and military recruiters/missions (destroy). Move Imperial government recruiters/missions to Capitol building. Move Imperial military recruiters/missions to an Imperial Garrison (Outpost/Fort). Move Rebel government/military recruiters/missions to a hidden Rebel Base. (a template could be an altered Warrens, or an Echo Base graphic)
• Starports will be present in both the Imperial Garrison and Rebel Base. Both starports will only be accessible by members of their own faction. Members will receive either a non-tradeable Rebel/Imperial passkey upon enlistment with either of the factions. This passkey will serve as their permanent ticket to travel freely to any Garrison or Base in the galaxy. Starports in Garrisons or Bases will not show up on the planetary map. Starports are not for commercial purposes and only allow flights to other Garrisons and Bases, not cities on planets.
• Disallow animal pets to be used by faction members. The Civil War is to be fought through conventional means. Troopers, vehicles and starships are the only allowable "pet". Although there are some animals, they come in the form of beasts of burden, such as Imperial Dewbacks or Rebel Taun Tauns.
• Provide an overall balance with an underlying imbalance. Make the Empire a huge power, but make it slow and cumbersome. Make the Rebellion a small power, but make it stealthy and lightning quick.
• Make the Empire easy to play in, and make the Alliance a challenge. You'll find a good deal of Rebels who joined to be tasked with overthrowing a huge power, not being it almost instantly.

Imperials

• Issue an Imperial Uniform upon enlistment.
• Maintain race penalties, but only for achieving rank. Grand Admiral Thrawn didn't acquire ISDs 3 times more expensive than another Grand Admiral.
• Ban/increase race penalties for Alliance affiliated species such as Wookiees, Mon Calimarians and Bothans. (Empire has less PCs/Heroes. Rebellion has more PCs/Heroes)
• Lower the price of some faction perks (Armor, Stormtroopers, Furniture) while maintaining the price of others (Darktroopers, AT-STs, Installations)
• Toggle the number of faction pets a player is allowed. Provide up to 7 Stormtroopers per PC, 3 Storm Commandos/Darktroopers per PC, and 1 AT-ST per PC. (Empire has more Support Personnel)
• NPCs should be of lesser quality to that of Rebel NPCs, as are most conscripted/clone soldiers versus freedom fighters.
• Use rank as a means to access better equipment. Darktroopers should become available at Warrant Officer and AT-STs should become available at Lieutenant/Captain.
• Fix the command hat.
• Fix Imperial Storm Commandos, and make them look like real Storm Commandos (Black Scout Troopers)

There should be many perks to being in the Empire. The Empire should be so strong that Imperial players become arrogant, overconfident and lazy in their decadence.

Rebels

• Issue a Rebel Uniform upon enlistment. To create a unique spin, issue more than one type randomly. ESB Echo Base style (brown vest over white shirt), ANH Trooper Style (black vest, blue shirt) or ROTJ Death Star II Style (brown vest over blue shirt) Rebels didn't have one standard uniform, they were an Alliance of Planets with their own customs/traditions. Contrast Rebel Diversity with Imperial Conformity.
• Create a vehicle of decent ability. It should not par/exceed the AT-ST, but it should not be terrible either. The vehicle should be as expensive, with the same/higher rank requirement, and should be limited to 1 per player.
• Lower the price of some faction perks, however make sure the Rebel prices are always higher than Imperial prices.
• NPCs should be of higher quality (not much) to that of Imperial NPCs. Volunteers fighting for freedom and liberty against a tyrant. Some characteristics
• Fix Rebel Armor. "Hey buddy. Nice HEAD!"

There shouldn't be many perks involved in being a part of the Alliance. Don't Rebels want a challenge? Don't Rebels feel let down the mighty oppressive Empire was defeated this early in the game? I certainly would if I were a Rebel.

AT-ST

• Should be vehicles.
• Should have a believable opposition, such as a rocket launcher, not a flame DoT.
• Should consist of one durability bar, not the HAM bar, and should be repairable by a (Droid) Engineer.

Cities

• At least 50 % of cities on planet are to be designated as Imperial controlled cities. The capitol city of a planet will always be an Imperial controlled city, as will larger cities.
• Imperial controlled cities are to be equipped with multiple police units in order to deter city combat. These multiple police units are modified Stormtrooper NPCs not available for requisition by PCs. They work in groups of 6-8, are an extremely high challenge level, and consist of an extremely high HAM. They do not patrol, rather they remain stationary at access ways such as city gates, shuttleports and starports.
• At least 25 % of cities on planet are to be designated as Non-Imperial controlled cities.
• Non-Imperial controlled cities are not equipped by any police units and are considered safe havens for Rebels. While not a declared Rebel city, there are rebel NPC sympathizers/undercover agents who may occupy, to a lesser extent, a similar role as Imperial controlled city police units.
• Vehicles/Starships must be docked. (Lag)
• Animal Pets must be stored. (Lag)
• Trooper Pets may be stored. (Lag)
• Open up buildings in the city for players to buy, lease and sell and use for residential/commercial reasons. The current city is used for travel, healing and the purchasing of goods. Not everyone wants a player city, and not everyone wants to run out into the wilderness to purchase their goods. City stores are prime real estate and good for business.

Buildings

• Use the hotel! Add a casino and sporting avenue. Create an MGM Grand of Star Wars to which can be used for PVP Duels (Boxing/Gladiatorial Combat), Gambling etc.
• Cantinas need to be re-thought. The current system has 30 + players stuffed into the front of the cantina, and this creates no atmosphere and lag. Sitting in chairs (pending they don't reposition you across the room, or disallow your 360 vision.) or standing by the bar are necessary in order to receive healing abilities from Entertainers. Several stages strategically positioned through the cantina are to be used in order for the Entertainer to give any healing ability with their music/dancing.
• Allow players to "own" and administrate Cantinas and Medical Centers. Allow them to add on a cover charge, to which can be put to paying Entertainers/Doctors to operate. Limit to one Cantina/Medical Center per person. Add maintenance fees so if the player is not profitable they lose control of the facility.
• Bazaars need to have adverts as well as eliminating the 3000 price cap. Some cities should have updated Bazaars, or some sort of Stock Market/Commodities Exchange. You'll have to ask an Economist about that though, because I have no $%^##$ clue how most of it works!

Cloning

• Imperials may only clone in Imperial controlled cities/Imperial Garrisons. Rebels may only clone in Non-Imperial controlled cities/Rebel Bases. Neutrals my only clone in Imperial controlled cities/Non-Imperial controlled cities.
• Cloning in a non-designated 'closest' Cloning Centers will result in rot.

Death

• Option to pay. "You have died. Our medical staff will take "extra good care of you" for a price of 10 000 credits. Yes or no?"
• If no, then 50% rot is applied and the player is taken out of fighting shape for a while.

Item Decay

• Item decay should only occur when the item is in use, or is damaged. No 20 % penalty should be fined on the players. As one person put it: "This is a game, not my second job"

Soloing

• Take creatures being exploited and make them immune to the exploiter. For example, there are many who are angry about AT-STs soloing Krayts. A simple solution would be to make Krayts invulnerable to AT-ST fire.
• If this doesn't work, limit the top soloed animals to designated areas like Battlefields, where certain pets can not be used/called.
• If that doesn't work, do not provide any XP/Loot.

Language

• Understand native tongue plus an additional 2 languages. Languages take work to acquire, and perhaps depending on your mind abilities you can learn them faster. But the bottom line is I want to see Wookiees go "Rorrr wrrorrr grwwll" if I don't understand them.
• Protocol Droids would be available, but so expensive that only the 4 richest European kings could buy them. (Kidding, but still fairly expensive ... they know billions of languages/codes)

Force Sensitivity

• I have no intention of being an FS player, but I'm a little disappointed in the scavenger hunt for Holocrons that is commencing. Hard work shouldn't be the only prerequisite for becoming a Jedi. The people may occupy the Jedi slot should be approved by someone to avoid any l33t d00ds wielding lightsabres. I'd like to Force Sensitive Quests be done to determine the level of hard work, but I'd also like to see some moderation from people who know what they are doing, and who can determine if the player would make a good Jedi. Call them the Jedi Council, and when there are Jedi players in game perhaps they can offer their input as well.

Travel

• 5 minutes, not 10. Time is money, yet instant travel is spoiling.