I'm only ever going to have 1 relic equipped on my character at any given time. Every relic has either a light side or dark side requirements aside from the ones that come from the datacron matrix assembler. 14 pages of relics on my server, and all of them have an alignment requirement.

 

This is my story; its the trademark advertisement slogan for SWTOR, yet it certainly seems like instead its the story Bioware is forcing me to play. There are only 2 right ways to play; a righteous light side hero, or a devious dark side murderer. Any other combination and you will be punished by being unable to access rewards, specifically the lack of an entire equipment slot. If you take the time to hunt down datacrons it will be only be one slot, but these datacrons are very tedious to reach and not every player will even know of them. For these people who decide to play the way they want to they will be down 2 equipment slots, because they didn't play the way they were forced to.

 

Its not even enough to have to add a neutral set of items, because that still forces the player to play one of 3 correct ways; dark, neutral or light. The entire concept of gear with any alignment requirement is counterproductive to the "play your own story" philosophy that SWTOR is based on and is being advertised as.

 

The entire concept of choice here is an illusion. Right now there is no choice, its either all dark or all light. The penalty for choosing otherwise is an entire equipment slot.

Man, I completely agree, I've been going on about this forever but it seems to be getting such little attention. Neutral gear, or at least neutral relics need to be added stat!

 

The most interesting and unique part of this game is utterly broken if we're being punished for making our own decisions. This thread needs to stay on the front page along with other major issues like skill delay, etc. Bioware NEEDS to do something about this.

 

Screw more flashpoints and operations, fix the most important and innovative part of your game before you lose subscriptions from all the people like you and I who have made their own decisions and are punished for it.

So, you basically want choices without consequences. Too bad you are asking for that in a game 100% based on the battle between dark and light.

BW said they will add more non-alignment gear. Furthermore, if you are playing this game with out picking a side, you are doing it wrong!

So, you basically want choices without consequences. Too bad you are asking for that in a game 100% based on the battle between dark and light.

 

Did you even read the OP?

 

He's talking about players being punished for playing the way Bioware intended you to.

 

 

Basically in order to not be gimped you need to currently pick the light side option every time, or the dark side option (My only choice is being a freaking goody-two-shoe saint, or an insane evil overlord?). Since this is the case why don't we forgo the option entirely and just designate a characters alignment during character creation, so lame >.<

BW said they will add more non-alignment gear. Furthermore, if you are playing this game with out picking a side, you are doing it wrong!

 

Picking a side? So you just hit the top or bottom option every time?

 

If that's doing it wrong why are we given 3 options...?

Protip: If it bothers you that much, get Diplomacy as a mission skill. It lets you get more LS or DS points for endgame stuff.

BW said they will add more non-alignment gear. Furthermore, if you are playing this game with out picking a side, you are doing it wrong!

 

its not even about the gear anymore, its the fact that we are being punished for making our own decisions.

 

If you play as either all light or all dark, then you aren't making your own decisions; you are making the decisions you are supposed to make. They aren't your own, the are the right ones you are supposed to make because you have to choose them to get any positive rewards.

So, you basically want choices without consequences. Too bad you are asking for that in a game 100% based on the battle between dark and light.

 

Ah, but isn't there always a struggle between the light and the dark side for control of ones mind and heart?

 

I think certain rewards should be withheld based on a characters merit. After all, if you don't come to the darkside, you can't have any of my cookies. But I feel even fencesitters can make their own cookies.

Picking a side? So you just hit the top or bottom option every time?

 

If that's doing it wrong why are we given 3 options...?

 

not every choice grants you points, and there is a fricken war going on. you don't stay neutral during a war. And all the choices are compelling, if you do not pick a side you are really just hurting yourself by restraining your natural character.

i've been responding to quest as i would if i was in the situation. and have noticed i side more to the light while i'm not getting MASS LIGHT or MASS DARK by making nothing but good or bad decision with a mix between the two eventually it will even out.

 

if you are intentionally playing neutral again like in another thread. you're doing it wrong.

 

in this narrative because there is no back story to your character. you're literally creating it. you can't be the jedi that blows up 10 planets because he saved 10. doesn't make any sense

 

and i for one hope they never put grey gear in the game.

Protip: If it bothers you that much, get Diplomacy as a mission skill. It lets you get more LS or DS points for endgame stuff.

 

It costs credits.

 

Why should he have to do this?

 

Alignment rewards should be PURELY COSMETIC, or they need to reward all the players who have used their own moral compass and picked both light and dark side decisions at different times (keeping them either neutral, or at Dark I/Light I).

Man, I completely agree, I've been going on about this forever but it seems to be getting such little attention. Neutral gear, or at least neutral relics need to be added stat!

 

The most interesting and unique part of this game is utterly broken if we're being punished for making our own decisions. This thread needs to stay on the front page along with other major issues like skill delay, etc. Bioware NEEDS to do something about this.

 

Screw more flashpoints and operations, fix the most important and innovative part of your game before you lose subscriptions from all the people like you and I who have made their own decisions and are punished for it.

 

huh you have been going about this forever the game has been out only a few days /facepalm

So, you basically want choices without consequences. Too bad you are asking for that in a game 100% based on the battle between dark and light.

 

Well... come on. Even in the novels and movies, a Jedi could instantly go full-on dark side because of 1-3 choices, and Darth Vader himself was redeemed by the light for one choice.

 

Many of the things that give you dark side points are silly moustache-twirling kinds of evil that don't make much sense for anyone to choose, even if you happen to be Palpatine, and other dark side things are more like just perspectives. Similarly, many light-side points are awarded for acting in a completely sanctimonious, holier-than-thou kind of way that are very distasteful.

 

So yeah, the light / dark isn't really doing a terrific job in the game. Particularly when rather good equipment is dependent on many of those quirky choices.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Imizael

Hey dude, I play neutral too. It's pretty fun cause I just pick whatever I want to. In beta, I tried picking a side but I felt like I was pigeon-holed into answering certain ways even if I didn't want to. So now I just choice what I want, sure I don't get relics but the enjoyment is worth it. If you know how to play your class really well, relics aren't going to make or break ya.

 

I also turn off the display that tells you a choice is light or dark. Oh and I've heard they're going to add neutral stuff, so I'm not worried.

Edited December 25, 2011 by ReSeNt

its not even about the gear anymore, its the fact that we are being punished for making our own decisions.

 

If you play as either all light or all dark, then you aren't making your own decisions; you are making the decisions you are supposed to make. They aren't your own, the are the right ones you are supposed to make because you have to choose them to get any positive rewards.

 

You're notbeing punished, you are complaining that your choices have consequences.

unfortunately - this has been bioware's issue since original KOTOR, possibly even before that. its just as bad in Mass Effect, except in SWTOR you cannot hack your light/darkside points like you can with ME paragon/renegade score.

 

I'm hopeful that they will in fact add more gear that has no alignment requirement, I'm personally even fine if it costs 3 times as much/is harder to get. as long as the option is there and its possible to pick choices as you see fit instead of min maxing them. right now I'm playing a character for whom its in character to take mostly lightside choices, but its not going to be so cut and dry with several of my alts.

not every choice grants you points, and there is a fricken war going on. you don't stay neutral during a war. And all the choices are compelling, if you do not pick a side you are really just hurting yourself by restraining your natural character.

 

I think I need to point out the difference between making a neutral decision in one scenario, and making a light and dark decision in two separate scenarios (leading to a neutral reading on the alignment scale).

 

Were talking about the second instance. If I choose to play a character who thirsts for revenge, but saves every innocent life he comes I'll end up making both light and dark decisions... and I'll be punished for it.

The entire concept of choice here is an illusion. Right now there is no choice, its either all dark or all light. The penalty for choosing otherwise is an entire equipment slot.

I hate to tell you this but that is the definition of choice. You can choose dark or you can choose light. Not choosing light or dark is the opposite of choosing, you are doing nothing, you are then not making a choice.

unfortunately - this has been bioware's issue since original KOTOR, possibly even before that. its just as bad in Mass Effect, except in SWTOR you cannot hack your light/darkside points like you can with ME paragon/renegade score.

 

I'm hopeful that they will in fact add more gear that has no alignment requirement, I'm personally even fine if it costs 3 times as much/is harder to get. as long as the option is there and its possible to pick choices as you see fit instead of min maxing them. right now I'm playing a character for whom its in character to take mostly lightside choices, but its not going to be so cut and dry with several of my alts.

 

Yet Mass Effect doesn't restrict gear based on alignment, and it isn't an MMO. Gear is vital in an MMO, and the fact that it's restricted based on the choices a player makes forces the players hand.

Yet Mass Effect doesn't restrict gear based on alignment, and it isn't an MMO. Gear is vital in an MMO, and the fact that it's restricted based on the choices a player makes forces the players hand.

 

no, it just makes it impossible to save certain people and/or preserve their loyalty. which is a different side of the same coin and is just as annoying

 

in other words - make it possibly to get gear that has no alignment requirement even through black market (especially through black market - that would fit the story I think) with Mass Effect, I'd take the return of separate persuasion skill, but I don't think its happening. oh well, at least I can hack my scores

not every choice grants you points, and there is a fricken war going on. you don't stay neutral during a war. And all the choices are compelling, if you do not pick a side you are really just hurting yourself by restraining your natural character.

 

I'm a bounty Hunter. I do stay neutral. Mostly, I make lightside choices, but if there's a darkside option that will result in an easier time for an even trade-off, such as overloading the electrical conduits on Hammer Station, then I'm choosing that.

World isn't black and white, perhaps when you are 14 years old it is.

Having no mercy to enemy, but being helpful to honest people will lead you to OPs situation, when he is at middle and it's sad that even this small "RP tool" is now brainless grind.

unfortunately - this has been bioware's issue since original KOTOR, possibly even before that. its just as bad in Mass Effect, except in SWTOR you cannot hack your light/darkside points like you can with ME paragon/renegade score.

 

I'm hopeful that they will in fact add more gear that has no alignment requirement, I'm personally even fine if it costs 3 times as much/is harder to get. as long as the option is there and its possible to pick choices as you see fit instead of min maxing them. right now I'm playing a character for whom its in character to take mostly lightside choices, but its not going to be so cut and dry with several of my alts.

 

In KOTOR, spell potency and cost was affected, but it was still balanced; one side cost less, the other cost more. You were never really punished at all for how you played.

 

In ME1/ME2 paragon/renegade scores affected dialogue options, but nearly all of the ones requiring scores were considered bonus choices. You were never stuck anywhere if you didn't have enough of either score, you just didn't get the bonus rewards or extra dialogue scenarios that happened when you chose the paragon/renegade dialogue choice. Yes in ME2 you were pigeon holed somewhat or else you could never catch up, but you aren't spending dozens and dozens of hours on the same character either. Here you just made another Shepard and played differently and you don't think more of it.

 

SWTOR is a complete different scenario though. I'm only 32 and I have 46 hours put into the game. I can't just restart and go the other way this time. I chose my path, it has been said again and again that when you make your choices you can't hit the reset button and start it over again. My punishment does not stem from the individual choices i've made for each situation, I really don't care if I killed some guy on Tatooine or spared the life of some poor chap on Alderaan. I'm being punished because I did what I wanted to in those situations, rather than adhere to the "right" way to play of being all dark or all light. That isn't how I want to play and thats what SWTOR is supposed to be, making my story and playing how I want to.

 

 

I know i brought up gear in my first post but that isn't really the root of the problem. The main issue is rewarding people for alignment choice is handled so poorly. Even if you add neutral gear that doesn't solve the problem it just adds neutral to being 1 more right way to play in addition to dark or light. You'll still be punished for making your own decisions unless you end up landing in neutral.

 

The best way I can think of to fix this is have social abilities and equipment that scale to whatever alignment you choose. Bring the scale from KOTOR back and have some bonuses go up while others go down based on your alignment.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Vrumpt

I chose my path, it has been said again and again that when you make your choices you can't hit the reset button and start it over again.

Like faction grinding in WoW when you make the wrong choice or want to reverse it, you can do the same here. Just do dailies and flash points and choose the Light/Dark side options to go back into the light. I've gone from Dark 2 to Light 1 without any issues.