Thursday, September 5, 2013

What I want from SWTOR's Space Project

It's time to get a little selfish, and possibly unrealistic.  I have a long history with space combat and Star Wars.  It all started way back when on my Dads computer playing X-Wing and then later Star Wars on the ol' Genesis 32x.  I actually don't remember too much, except the awesomeness of flying round shooting tie fighters with backdrops of Star Destroyers.

1)  Capital Ships.  Star Wars has always had amazing capital ship designs.  Star Destroyers especially stick out in my mind.  Any space system has to include some epic ships to fight around.  I'm not asking to control them (although that would be amazing), but they should be involved somehow.

I also remember breaking out the joystick to plat these games.  I still have one around the house somewhere.  There were no hot-key abilities that just worked.  It was all up to how well you handled your craft.  One could argue that there should be these kind of abilities, as Jedi have been known to influence battles with their powers.

2) Skill Based.  I just say skill, instead of normal MMO target based abilities.  The fight should come down to whose a better pilot instead of rotation and what happens to be on cooldown.  From what we know so far, it doesn't appear that gear will come into play ( that's just a guess though).

Then there was Star Wars Galaxies and their Jump to Lightspeed expansion.  I never got into space too much, but dabbled in it a bit.  What I really remember from it was the variety of ships.  You had all the classics and a bunch of newer ones.  Not only could you pick from iconic ships, but you could customize them with gear.

3) Variety.  Right now, based on our limited information, it seems there are just three kinds of ships for each side: light, medium, and heavy.  I'm sure they will get cooler names, but I would love to see more variety in what ships are offered.  Obtaining new ships should be part of the fun.

4) Customization.  I know I said I wanted it to be skill based, but customizing your ship is a lot of fun.  If done correctly, it can add a lot of depth to the game.  Sounds like something that should be crafted and BoE to me.  Just imagine a Shipwright crafting profession... drool...

I honestly can't remember the purpose of space in SWG.  I think it had some greater effect on the PvP side of things.  I could be wrong though.  I know there was a segment of players who spent all their time in space fighting each other, just because.

5) Purpose.  Since it is looking like the new space system will be PvP, it'd be nice if it meant something.   This is just one of those 'not well thought out wishes' kind of things.  To really mean something, it'd have to be a static area and not an instance.