It is one of the things that I like and dislike about Galaxies. Believe me I love having my guild's city and all the trimmings, but lets face it, you have to be well established in the game to get a city. Currently most servers are capped on Galaxies. After the engee'ee egress, many cities were left barren and dead. Ghost towns. The landscape was so large to accomodate all of these towns that were now dead.
But I took pride in my guilds' towns. My guild takes pride in their cities. Many people spent a great deal of time decorating their homes. But again, this kind of setup requires lots of real estate, server space, and could lead to ghost towns.
Here's my thoughts on it. Give people a ship that can remain in game when they are not. That way people can visit their friends' ships and even leave items for them to use. Give guilds the option to set up guild landing zones. This way a guild can have the "town" without so much town. When an account becomes inactive for 90 days, have the ship disappear from the landscape. Maybe even guild hangars, with multiple decks(instanced decks) to take up even less real estate and cause less lag. I use my ship in Galaxies as my home, and my houses as overflow storage(got just a few crates of pixie:D). Seems to me that being spacefaring and all many would keep their stuff on their ships as their home.
Perhaps have high rise buildings that can be used as instanced housing within the major cities for those without a guild home.
Or should we just have no housing at all. What we have is what we have.
If they must have housing then a ship or maybe some sort of instanced apartment style setup would be the way to go. The housing thing in SWG was terrible. 3/4 of most planet maps were clogged up with damn houses.
Personally I'd be fine with no housing. It's mostly just filler to make up for the lack of real content.
See I think they kinda have to have some kind of housing. You will be able to have multiple companions(though only able to have one with you) so they have to have somewhere you "store" them. Like the ship in KotOR(s) and Mass Effect. See that was some of the fun of Galaxies as well. You get spiffy cool decorations for your house. The more I think about it, the more I like instanced housing.
But I would also like to have things like guild homes, or even guild hangars. That way you and your guild can have a central location for meeting up. Or even guild ships where you can dock with it in space(maybe instanced "travel to" locations). So a guild leader might might also be a fleet admiral on a flagship.
I like both of those ideas. I am hoping for the housing thing to be implemented - a nice new level of customisation for the character, after all! If we're going to be spending several hours on this thing, which I'll be doing to ensure I get my money's worth, I'd like to have something else to work at when I'm not busy killing things!:D
I am very fond of the guild idea. The ideas for the guild house and fleet are very appealing. Actually, if LF was to have a guild, it'd probably need a city for itself!:xp:
Knights of the Old Republic meets Martha Stewert? Argh... :eyeraise: Why do we need homes in a game? The Old Republic is about gallatic war. We are not playing a game called Surprise Home Makeover. :eyeraise:
As long as they don't have housing taking up space I'm not fazed either way. Like I said earlier, some sort of instanced-based housing where you enter an apartment block, military barracks, etc. would be the way to go. I seem to recall that Anarchy Online had something along those lines.
Personal instancing can take many forms, maybe they have come up with a new one? A ship at least seems a valid option, for that was one of the very well created parts of the earlier KoTOR titles. But who knows, maybe they have a galaxy up their sleeve? :)
I'd say ships and instanced apartments would be fine.
I also like ships and instanced apartments, maybe with guild-run fleets, assuming that space combat is an integral part of this game. While I love the idea of player built and run cities, I don't know whether this would be implementable.
I think the ships in perhaps an instanced hangar of some kind. If half the player world is going to use it, then you have to make it pretty impersonal, because you're not going to feel like it's "your place" when 70 people are all heading for the door. So if you just head to a generic "hangar door" and then end up on your ship, it keeps it both personal and impersonal enough to work.
besides, I think the whole "ship home" is sort of a staple of KOTOR.
I'd say ships and instanced apartments would be fine.
QFT
SWG (sorry I have no other mmo experience but swg) has about 90% of the universe as samey player cities with nothing to do but drive past, it's unneeded, apartments would be sweet, I wanna immerse myself in ancient Coruscant, not have a house in "Crabby town" discussing R/L crap, that's why I'm gonna go the single player/ Roleplay route, cause I dont wanna be pulled out of the game by R/L
Considering the fact we will be having companions unique to the class/player, there is no doubt in my mind that we will all have a private instance. From the Kotor feel, I'm leaning towards a ship.
I just hope we get a level of customization of the ship, even if we're the only ones that see it.
I think having our own ship would be cool, but player housing is kind of lame IMO.
The ships would be cool. They could have Guild Ships.
Actually, what if instead of guilds, they had crews?
The Crew Captain could find uses for his guild crew members, and assign them jobs, (I.E. Piloting, Turrets).
But the amount of members you could have in your crew would depend on how much room the ship had.
If your ship was full, you would have to upgrade or add a new room to your ship to add a new crew member.
It would add a whole new dimension to doing missions together.
Think about it, maybe the crew comes and drops off some shock troops, and then hovers over them while the turret operator covered the shock troops.
When somebody died, they could respawn in the med room on the ship. The time it took for them to respawn would depend on how good the ships medic was.
When the shock troops finished the mission, the pilot picks them up at an extraction point, and they fly off.
^
As cool as I think that would be, I'm just rambling, and it's highly unlikely anything like that would happen.
However, I think spaceships would offer a new fresh breath of air from housing or guild towns.
Oh, another thought that occurred to me: players could buy there own small ships, and harbor them in the Guild Ship.
That in itself would be a good reason to join a guild.
For example, let's compare a player advertisement to join a Guild in Guild Wars, A Guild in Warcraft, and a crew for the KOTOR MMO.
Guild Wars - "Join *Guild Name* today! We have full hall, 90+ active members, capes!
WoW - "Join *Guild Name* today! We have awesome tabard, guild bank, 100+ members. We run instances daily!
My Idea of a Ship Crew - Looking for a pilot to join the crew of the *ship name!* We have 9 active, fun, expert crew members! We have a large sized room and a spot in the hanger for your ship!
^However, in Star Wars, there are large ships. If a crew got prosperous enough, it could be possible to have 500 crew members in one ship - or more, or less. But you get the idea.
I personally, would like to be a smaller, tight-knit crew :P
^ And there I go again, rambling off, for something that probably won't happen XD
See I would love to have some method of being able to walk into another person's house(ship) because some people are very creative out there.
However, I don't want to run around through dead cities either.
I'd really like housing and ships.. Helps build a strong community.
However, I don't want to run around through dead cities either.
They should try to implement some sort of forfeit thing, as mentioned above. Maybe if you aren't online for three or four months, the custom housing/ship could save to your profile but be removed from the map? (In case you decide to come back.) That way, the maps wouldn't be cluttered with 'dead' housing, etc. but you also wouldn't lose everything you have made/customised simply because you can't get online.
Housing seems kind of pointless to me, but having your own ship would be nice.
Well, I don't know. I don't really have any experience with MMO's to really know if it really has an impact. Right now, I think a "Guild Hall" is the only thing I want. A personal Spaceship would be nice, but I wouldn't know what to put in there or what to do in there.
While I loved the housing system in SWG (an actual structure, not some instanced crap), it just goes to show how little this game will have in common with KOTOR. Darn MMO. If I need a place to stay, I'll just take some old abandoned apartment. That's KOTOR style. I should be on the move anyway, not busy decorating. Bah, I need to play K2 again. Can't wait for TSLRP to be finished.
Your idea is awesome SpartanPride. Capital ships like a Cruiser! The whole ship being customize-able (crew quarters, bridge, storage rooms, medical rooms etc) and with a hangar for personal ships. That would be excellent for a guild.
PS playloud we are all waiting for TSLRP. And our patience is being put in a tough test.
^ Thank-you XD
I think if they did that, I would be sold on the game XD
Umm... TOR is not Galaxies! >:(
If anything you'll start at an enclave, temple, or academy. Then you'll be given missions, which means you get a ship. You'll travel to other planets, meet up with other Jedi or Sith, and then fight!
The game takes place during a war. Not a time of peace. The idea of apartments on planets is stupid. That's why Galaxies is garbage.
If you want to house and interior decorator, play The Sims!
Housing seems kind of pointless to me, but having your own ship would be nice.
QFE
Umm... TOR is not Galaxies! >:(
Thank you Captain Obvious! Can we also point out that it is not JK KotOR, Battlefront, and a host of other games. Galaxies is not the only MMO to have player housing. It is also not the only MMO to have persistent housing. It is also not the only MMO to have persistent housing that can be decorated. So your point is moot.
If anything you'll start at an enclave, temple, or academy. Then you'll be given missions, which means you get a ship. You'll travel to other planets, meet up with other Jedi or Sith, and then fight!
Not if you aren't either a Jedi nor Sith. There are other professions in the game. And even if you start in one place does not mean that you will not have the opportunity to have some kind of housing at some point. Heck even KotOR had the ship as your "home"
The game takes place during a war. Not a time of peace. The idea of apartments on planets is stupid. That's why Galaxies is garbage.
If you want to house and interior decorator, play The Sims!
Galaxies may be garbage, but not because of the player housing. In fact the player housing and space are the two things that kept Galaxies alive as long as it has been. Cities build community. Community keeps people playing the game even when the rest of the game gets ripped apart and dumped in the trash bin.
Quite frankly, I loved The Sims. A whole lot of people loved The Sims for decorating houses and such. Keep in mind that some people may like to show off some prize they got from completing a hard quest. They may have an "I Love Me" wall in their house for all of the lightsabers they have "taken" from fallen Jedi. Trophy rooms to show off to others. Heck they may just want to have a "Safe House" where they can log off without being killed(since MMO's don't have a pause button). I mean I know I have been killed by a BH at least once while I was logged off in an open area.
Like it or not, there WILL be some form of housing, because there will be some place where you "store" your companions. It may not be the great housing as there is in many other MMO's, or it might just be your own ship. It might be a house in the Jundland Wastes. It may be an apartment on Coruscant. but you will have some place of your own. Whether others will see it or not, or whether it will be able to be decorated, or just a pre-packaged "home" where your companions stand around looking at the walls is all up for grabs, but there will be some place where you can call your home.
I think with every profession there shoud be a base in which you can stay in with your companions.If you wish to have your own home they are insead in a large apartment building
s which do not clog up the place.when you enter you are given a ist of the houses which you are aloud to vist
Okay, maybe I was a little rash. I apologize.
I do agree that in this game we'll have some sort of "base of operations". Be it an apartment on Coruscant or a Sarlacc pit on Tatooine. And I'm not apposed to notion.
I just think that Bioware will move away from some of the things that Galaxies had.
(Let's just hope they don't include dancing Wookies in this game.:) )
Okay, maybe I was a little rash. I apologize.
Thanks, And I appologize for my being rude. I'm just tired of hearing that same line repeated every time someone mentions anything in Galaxies.
I do agree that in this game we'll have some sort of "base of operations". Be it an apartment on Coruscant or a Sarlacc pit on Tatooine. And I'm not apposed to notion.
I just think that Bioware will move away from some of the things that Galaxies had.
(Let's just hope they don't include dancing Wookies in this game.:) )
I certainly hope they don't make a clone of Galaxies. I DO however hope they take some ideas from Galaxies and improve the implimentation. Do it in their own way, and not an exact copy of Galaxies. Heck I would like it if they made it so you could have only one house. Maybe even have it as instanced with a web page that you can show off your place should you want to. That makes it possible to have the apartment/house/ship while not affecting load times or lag(as persistent housing does). Those interior decorators get their place to decorate and show off, and it doesn't affect those that choose not to.
Though it really wouldn't help build community. It could be possible to have persistent guild towers, where a guild would have a tower in a city. But then that goes against what I just said haha..
Umm... TOR is not Galaxies! >:(
If anything you'll start at an enclave, temple, or academy. Then you'll be given missions, which means you get a ship. You'll travel to other planets, meet up with other Jedi or Sith, and then fight!
The game takes place during a war. Not a time of peace. The idea of apartments on planets is stupid. That's why Galaxies is garbage.
If you want to house and interior decorator, play The Sims!
I hate to burst your bubble but Galaxies takes place during a war, too, its the Galactic Civil War, (The Battle of Echo Base instance is proof of this; as well as Restuss, and the 4 GCW bases.) the difference is that the Rebel Alliance doesn't possess a strong military like the Confederacy of Independent Systems so it can't maintain a base out in the open like the Imperials can. They have to pretend like they don't exist. So, an ordinary city on the outside may actually be a military installation for the Alliance.
Anyway, my point is that player housing can be both strategic as well as decorative, so The Old Republic should take that into account in their cold war situation that turns hot the more you play.
If they must have housing then a ship or maybe some sort of instanced apartment style setup would be the way to go. The housing thing in SWG was terrible. 3/4 of most planet maps were clogged up with damn houses.
Personally I'd be fine with no housing. It's mostly just filler to make up for the lack of real content.
check out lotro for instanced housing. great idea but the current deco and deco method needs alot of upgrading
I agree with ships (something like the ebon hawk where u can live in) and apartment (buildings or like something underground) SWG housing sucks! srsly tatooine is no longer a desert thanks to SWG player cities! I never rly cared for houses... only used one to store stuff =p
I think it should some kind of instanced system that doesn't change the physical aesthetics of each world. I mean, there's nothing worse in my mind than thinking of the time spent by developers in creating beautiful locations and then have the capitalist gamers crashing into that scene, Borg-style. Plotting houses at random, and then leaving that particular place. Leaving a sad sight.
Instancing in some kind of form would be awesome. Either in a ship at a hangar, though that would only truly work if space-travel was added. Else they could make small apartments much like the slave-quarters seen on Tatooine in Ep. 1.
Well for the amartment thing they could have like check in desks at the front and it lets you choose to go to your apartment or a buddy can give you a house inivite or something.
I think it should some kind of instanced system that doesn't change the physical aesthetics of each world. I mean, there's nothing worse in my mind than thinking of the time spent by developers in creating beautiful locations and then have the capitalist gamers crashing into that scene, Borg-style. Plotting houses at random, and then leaving that particular place. Leaving a sad sight.
Instancing in some kind of form would be awesome. Either in a ship at a hangar, though that would only truly work if space-travel was added. Else they could make small apartments much like the slave-quarters seen on Tatooine in Ep. 1.
Agreed... and space travel WILL be added... its a star wars MMO ftw! just not at release
Well, that's also what I gathered from the latest interview. I just hope they take good time in implementing it. Stuff like that can be a game breaker.
Instanced housing/guild halls/lodge would be ok, but cities and housing would only make it cluttered and ugly, sure some people will make something absolutely beautiful but then again other people will make absolute abominations.
And also this is my first post here. Hello everyone, I look forward to outrages speculation for another year or so with you. =)
Hello, Najarana. ;)
Welcome, though I'm only 1 day old here. :)
Welcome to the forums Najarana (and Saenjaina)! I would probably agree with you than something like this would need to be instanced, but I have not played Galaxies recently enough to see what their cities are like.
Thanks Jeff. :)
From what I can recall there were quite a lot of cities standing empty in SWG. But it doesn't end at that. Keep in mind that even though a city might be active, i.e. that there is an actual active guild running it, doesn't necessarily make it a living city. The problem is that there isn't much that keeps people in the area. It might have all the functions of a capital city in terms of vendors etc., but I'd prefer chilling in a populated hub anytime.
The idea of of player created towns is great in itself. But in truth, I doubt that it will ever function well in a game environment. It started out as a 'must' back when MMORPGs really entered the gaming scene, because back then, MMORPGs were considered somewhat of a real life simulation. At least that's what they were promoted as. You had the freedom of choice resembling real-life. But in fact that's not what people really want. They just want to be entertained.
You get bored in real-life. But what's the point of being bored in-game?
Bottomline, instances are the way to go. Persistent worlds are awesome, but I think that the MMORPG community has become more tolerant in regard to instanced content. We've seen what games that aren't instanced are like. They aren't necessarily bad, but they aren't crucial anylonger either.
Sorry for all that rambling. I'm just procastinating from exam preparation. :)
Ranty-Ranty time!
IMHO, I think that the SWG interior designing was excellent, however, the massive scope of the millions of houses is ridiculous. What I would like to see is player ships being homes. I love the idea of capital ships being used as guild halls instead of planet based. (In fact, I would be willing to pay insane amounts of in-game money to be in control of my own star destroyer.)
If your a Jedi you get a small apartment at the temple in Tython.
Smuggler means you get an apartment on Ord Mantell
Trooper means you get a military barracks on ????
Sith you get a grove on korriban
You will also be able to buy your own ship in which to home yourself as well.
lUV THE GUILDSHIP IDEA!!!
Why not have the best of both worlds?
Everyone gets a BASIC ship in the beginning of their story. This is instanced and can be accessed from any starport. As in Everquest 2, you can give others permission to go into your ship. When you go into space, anyone on your ship has the option of going with you and manning turrets and such.
You can get new ships via questing and crafting. Better ships have nicer interiors and more storage space in addition to better weaponry, speed, armor, etc.
Guilds can set up a home base on a planet complete with a starport. Obviously, these would be extremely expensive. Perhaps they could take a cue from Age of Conan and make it permanently in a particular instance of a zone. Maybe those could be the same zones in which you set up harvesters to collect materials, again, like Age of Conan.
Well if I play this game I will play as a Bounty Hunter, so a ship is a must-have thing. An apartment or any type of house would be just a waste of the game. You will have to go-kill-talk-fly all the time so there will be no time for sitting in a house.
Well if I play this game I will play as a Bounty Hunter, so a ship is a must-have thing. An apartment or any type of house would be just a waste of the game. You will have to go-kill-talk-fly all the time so there will be no time for sitting in a house.
Thanks for clearing up for me, what I do and do not have time for.
People in guilds or w/e they decide to call them in TOR or Rp'ers would love to have a guild hall/house they don't have to make this game focus on pvp and pve like WoW did.
While the idea of actually having a home is really appealing (specially for pack rats like me). I do NOT want just rows and rows of empty houses from people that no longer play, while yes cities are sprawling monsters so it makes sense it is also incredibly boring to have to ride/run/drive/ooze past just rows and rows of houses to get home. So some form of instanced housing would be nice I think, also it would suck to come in late to the game and not being able to find a place to live as all the houses are occupied by people that stopped playing the game months/years/eons ago.
But having some form of home gets two thumbs up from me (still have fond memories of the house i had in Morrowind (yes i know offline single player but it is the feeling that counts). Where i had rooms set aside for all the different armours/weapons i had found. And bookcases filled with books and such. Really ads a LOT to a game, compared to say WoW where you just have a bank. (and tiny one at that).
I love the idea of having a space ship. I know I'm going to start off with the smuggler, so I would love the option of getting/upgrading my ship to make it faster--no, the fastest! I can't think of a real application for a fast ship--besides pride. Smuggler pride, what!?!
As far as houses go, I don't particularly care. And guild houses are nice for storage, but really, if you are going to go somewhere to party, go to the cantina. That way you can have a real bar fight! Well, a digital one :¬:
I love the idea of having a space ship. I know I'm going to start off with the smuggler, so I would love the option of getting/upgrading my ship to make it faster--no, the fastest! I can't think of a real application for a fast ship--besides pride. Smuggler pride, what!?!
As far as houses go, I don't particularly care. And guild houses are nice for storage, but really, if you are going to go somewhere to party, go to the cantina. That way you can have a real bar fight! Well, a digital one :¬:
I think you've said it best. A ship would be awesome!
A guild ship would indeed be very cool. Guild capital ships slugging it out against each other with starfighters flying around doing damage as well...probably a different game though.
At the same time I remember what happened once SWG really started guild cities in full swing. The towns other than the capital cities ended up becoming ghost towns and you had to travel way out in the middle of nowhere to find a vendor who may or may not have any armor left. That's why I'm a little iffy about houses and such. While it's great for storage/display/and vendors, it's not so great for keeping the sense of big worldness. Too many hubs in an area mean players spread out too much which means less of a social sense.
Admittedly though some of the more advanced guild cities were very cool...