Ok, here is a way that you can add some repeatable variable missions to the game without VO requirement.

You have plenty of mission terminals throughout the game. You also have a holocommunicator, and I am going to suggest something similar for personal use.

I would suggest you add a mission generator, one that will spawn certain mobs in a specific area on a planet, with a minor boss character using a summon trigger. The idea is that you would click on the mission terminal, and missions would be listed for you to choose from. The mobs and mini-boss would be randomly generated but level specific to the planet of course.

The mission can update using a "personal terminal" that lists text dialog...the idea is the missions are secret, so there is no vocal communication. Text is received to keep the communication completely secure.

Call them spec op missions or something to that effect, and they would be specific to your class and offer class based drops equal to general drops from the regular world.

You can offer different scenarios...vs 6 plus boss, 8 plus boss, 4/4 plus boss, 6/6/6 and objective, etc. Try to avoid gather quests as those tend to be pretty boring, as well as animal missions (unless you want to offer profession specific missions).

This is a way to offer reasonable content as far as development cost, and gives some variety and filler on the planets.

The main goal is to provide the generated content without requiring VO...

...now if you guys are slick, you could pull some of the voice work already in the game, like certain general responses and the like, as well as alien dialog (after all, any words can be attributed to alien dialog) to allow conversation choices in this generated content. I think generated content with at least one short conversation would be a home run.

This also, in the future, could be the basis for a mission editor/mission creation system for players.

Side note: This can also work to provide bounties for BH players (NPC characters of course) and Smuggling missions for smugglers, as well as specific agent and trooper missions. Naturally Sith and Jedi can receive missions directly from the Jedi Council/Sith Order.

Ok, here is a way that you can add some repeatable variable missions to the game without VO requirement.

 

You have plenty of mission terminals throughout the game. You also have a holocommunicator, and I am going to suggest something similar for personal use.

 

I would suggest you add a mission generator, one that will spawn certain mobs in a specific area on a planet, with a minor boss character using a summon trigger. The idea is that you would click on the mission terminal, and missions would be listed for you to choose from. The mobs and mini-boss would be randomly generated but level specific to the planet of course.

 

The mission can update using a "personal terminal" that lists text dialog...the idea is the missions are secret, so there is no vocal communication. Text is received to keep the communication completely secure.

 

Call them spec op missions or something to that effect, and they would be specific to your class and offer class based drops equal to general drops from the regular world.

 

You can offer different scenarios...vs 6 plus boss, 8 plus boss, 4/4 plus boss, 6/6/6 and objective, etc. Try to avoid gather quests as those tend to be pretty boring, as well as animal missions (unless you want to offer profession specific missions).

 

This is a way to offer reasonable content as far as development cost, and gives some variety and filler on the planets.

 

The main goal is to provide the generated content without requiring VO...

 

...now if you guys are slick, you could pull some of the voice work already in the game, like certain general responses and the like, as well as alien dialog (after all, any words can be attributed to alien dialog) to allow conversation choices in this generated content. I think generated content with at least one short conversation would be a home run.

 

This also, in the future, could be the basis for a mission editor/mission creation system for players.

Not a bad idea i like it

Thanks, I appreciate that.

The idea is to provide repeatable content while keeping the development cost low.

So its basically a bounty mission. There are terminals already that offer heroic quests and other missions similar to what you are suggesting.

However, its not player made, and its not repeatable, or as repeatable as you are suggesting it to be.

The problem is you have a list of secret mission that trigger an effect in the persistent world and that boss is open to everyone, and a lot of people would have access to that mission meaning some will take away from others or they can do the same quest. If they take repeatable bosses from other players that means you have to make a lot of bosses, spawn randomly, which is still fun and doable, and if not and they are shared then that is the same as the terminal box for quests.

So being able to do them repeatedly with different bosses in different locations sounds fun, but still a bit of work to set up and offer enough that it is varied. Also if the boss is not evident in the persistent world, but is activated to be unlocked, that takes away from the appeal of a bounty in the persistent world and is more of an instanced fight in the open world such as a heroic for example.

I like however the idea of bosses, and mini bosses, and it being repeatable. I think its a nice idea, and should also involve player made content as well. And would like to see how it can apply player made content.

So its basically a bounty mission. There are terminals already that offer heroic quests and other missions similar to what you are suggesting.

 

However, its not player made, and its not repeatable, or as repeatable as you are suggesting it to be.

 

The problem is you have a list of secret mission that trigger an effect in the persistent world and that boss is open to everyone, and a lot of people would have access to that mission meaning some will take away from others or they can do the same quest. If they take repeatable bosses from other players that means you have to make a lot of bosses, spawn randomly, which is still fun and doable, and if not and they are shared then that is the same as the terminal box for quests.

 

So being able to do them repeatedly with different bosses in different locations sounds fun, but still a bit of work to set up and offer enough that it is varied. Also if the boss is not evident in the persistent world, but is activated to be unlocked, that takes away from the appeal of a bounty in the persistent world and is more of an instanced fight in the open world such as a heroic for example.

 

I like however the idea of bosses, and mini bosses, and it being repeatable. I think its a nice idea, and should also involve player made content as well. And would like to see how it can apply player made content.

Thanks for the feedback. You make a good point, and I instantly though about making it instanced, to which you made another good point...not as appealing if it isnt in the open.

A solution to this would be to have it spawn when you get close. This way it cannot be farmed by other players (at least not easily) but would still be open world. Of course some of them could also be instanced, some could even use mobs already placed in the world...you simply get a bonus for going after them directly.

There are plenty of mobs and bosses already on the maps.

heh, thanks.

Ok, a few more thoughts. First, the "boss" or target can be spawned when you get to the target area. This way noone "steals" it from you.

Another idea is that this sets up the framework for eventual player created missions. If the system was designed to insert certain general responses in cutscenes and generate dialog in text form otherwise, it would be possible to allow players to build limited missions this way.

I think I might expand on that idea later.

/signed and bumped

Thanks. I am hoping that the upcoming "bounty" missions are generated missions along the lines of this suggestion. We will see I suppose.

Thanks. I am hoping that the upcoming "bounty" missions are generated missions along the lines of this suggestion. We will see I suppose.

It seems your suggestion made an example for current Bounty Contract event. Well done really

It seems your suggestion made an example for current Bounty Contract event. Well done really

It would be nice to think that, but I doubt my suggestion had any influence on the current bounty contract event.

At any rate, I hope to see an expansion of the event in the future.

This is actually a pretty novel idea, I'm surprised random mission generation hasn't already been conceived.

There are a few problems that might exist with the idea, but I think they can be surmounted.

The two main issues, IMO, is how the target or objective is spawned in the world and of course the voice combined with text....you would probably need a solution to both.

For the target or objective, I would suggest either they have them spawn in instanced areas...there are plenty all over the worlds in the game that could be used....or just have it spawn when you get close.

To the voice bits, I think that can be achieved mostly by simply using assets that are already in the game in creative ways. There is a HUGE amount of VO already in the game, including alien dialog, and much of it is reused. This could be one way to avoid the expense of adding more VO to serve the system.

I would suggest it would be mostly text based. There are missions in the game that have portions of text in them.

Phases could work, but may prove a little restrictive in the degree of randomness of each mission. I don't see voices being much of an issue. As you said if it's necessary to use them, there is more than likely reusable dialogue.

Phases would be one way to deal with the problem of folks killing the objective for a mission, but not the only way. They could, perhaps, just have the spawn appear when you are close.

Sorry for posting in an old thread but I love this idea. One of the things I loved about Anarchy Online was the mission generator. If you haven't played it, you could curtail the experience to your liking through sliders which included things like:

Difficulty,

Good<->Evil,

Stealth<->Head On,

Open<->Hidden,

Physical<->Mystical

Order<->Chaos

Credits<->XP

Additionally, several different types of mission were available such as Kill Target, Find Item, Use Item, etc and rewards were completely randomized. After the mission was "pulled", the player was sent to a randomized instance to complete the objective generated by the editor.

I loved it and I can see a similar and more elaborate system working very well in a game like this. I'd love to see something like this where the content is scalable from solo to 16 players.

I would suggest you add a mission generator, one that will spawn certain mobs in a specific area on a planet, with a minor boss character using a summon trigger. The idea is that you would click on the mission terminal, and missions would be listed for you to choose from. The mobs and mini-boss would be randomly generated but level specific to the planet of course.

Actually I'll make it simpler. Make the "spawned" mission one that isn't normally available to you, e.g. Trooper class missions if you're a Sith Assassin. Bioware doesn't even have to make new content, just apply a one-time unlock to existing locations / mobs.

Actually I'll make it simpler. Make the "spawned" mission one that isn't normally available to you, e.g. Trooper class missions if you're a Sith Assassin. Bioware doesn't even have to make new content, just apply a one-time unlock to existing locations / mobs.

I think this would be awesome also. Why not even combine the two ideas? More repeatable-and-not-always-the-same-twice kind of content would be awesome in my opinion. One advantage I can see with by randomly creating missions is that after the initial development, new content for it is created procedurally and therefore doesn't require development time.

The most important part, IMO, is to use current voice assets and/or text to avoid the need for VO work. This way plenty of missions can be added, using some kind of generator system to allow random generation and there is no additional development cost with respect to VO.

Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it.

It would be nice to think that, but I doubt my suggestion had any influence on the current bounty contract event.

 

At any rate, I hope to see an expansion of the event in the future.

And of course, a year later, same bounty contract week.

The most important part, IMO, is to use current voice assets and/or text to avoid the need for VO work. This way plenty of missions can be added, using some kind of generator system to allow random generation and there is no additional development cost with respect to VO.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it.

I suspect that you overestimate the cost of VO work. It isn't free, but it isn't that expensive either. You might be surprised at how little many of those voices really cost.

I suspect that you overestimate the cost of VO work. It isn't free, but it isn't that expensive either. You might be surprised at how little many of those voices really cost.

A fair point...I do believe one of the devs publicly stated VO cost was not that high. I still think, however, it would be possible to use current VO assets. There is a huge pool to chose from, not to mention the alien dialog and the ability to use text.