"secret space project" why no news?

Don't worry man, free-roaming PVP space game is coming. Erikson said so himself in some podcast a few months back. Can't believe no one here picked up on this.

Source? I'd be ecstatic to hear this.

Well lets hope so, but at this point I doubt it (especially as I can't think of a competeting MMORPG in this context).

SoE was never worried about it, because something like JTL took a LOT of resources and so wasn't likely to be copied, even though in those days there were more sci fi/sci fantasy MMORPGs about.

What it did do was generate a lot of interest and keep people that might not have hung around about for a year and a bit.

That's probably because he didn't say any such thing.


Plus, of course, we where told about 4 months ago now that there'd be more details on the SSSP in a "couple of months".

I Agree one thousand times and more.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I am looking for in this SSSP is listed below:

Space PVP - A fundamental feature for Space. We need designated areas that we can fly into and have battles with other players in Space. To be able just dog fight with other players and / or try to fight over control of certain areas of Space. You can expand on this so that if one side has more control over the Space then could get certain benefits like Access to better Faction related Items or more Faction presence in certain areas. More Faction Presence could be either in Space and / or on the ground. A lot of possibilities can come from Faction Battles and trying to gain control of things for your Faction. Hence and Idea for Faction Control. This idea stems from the Galactic Civil War in SWG. Some of you may be familiar with it.
Example of Faction Control: In SWG this Idea was based around Ground PVP. I would like to see it expand to Space as well. Say if in Space PVP that one Faction has won the majority of the Space Zone for say a Week Period then the following Week that Faction would have Certain benefits. Certain Fraction items, better Items, that could be opened up for purchase at say a Faction Vendor or something. Also for the PVP Zones more NPC Faction Presence could be granted. To go even further they could make it where say a PVP Moon or Planet that the PVP Space Sector is near could benefit from which Faction has more Control over the PVP Space Sector. What could happen is that a PVP Moon or Planet would have its NPC Faction Presence dictated by how the PVP Space for that area is turning out. I can see this making it just as important for a Faction to try and make sure that they PVP battle in both Space as well as on the Ground. Tie them together sort of speak.
I will give my idea of what PVP Space could be like below.

Free Roaming Space - Areas of Space where we can fly our ships in any direction we want. No Rails and Total Control. To be able to just Pilot around Space and look for things to do or to just relax and have fun. These would be PVP and PVE Sectors except around the Fleet Stations where that would be just a Relax Area with no enemies to attack and we could use to just fly around in and travel between the Station, Ships, and Planet they are orbiting.
Example of Fleet Sector: This would be a smaller zone in size. The Ships and Stations could be protected by Shields for if we were to run into them and we should not be able to Fire Weapons at all while in this zone. They could make it so when you select a Ship or Station that it could bring up an option to Dock and an cut scene could come up showing you docking. For Planets if you pilot to close to them then an option could pop up to land and the cut scene for landing would pop up if you choose to land.
Example of PVE Sectors: These would be Open Space where you can Fly around and do missions. Things Class Missions or Fraction Missions. Maybe even a random Mission s for some odd Alien you met in the Corner of a Space Stations. Examples of Class Missions would be like Smuggling or Bounty Hunting. Those are self explanatory. Examples of Faction Missions would be doing things for either the Empire, Republic, Hutt, Trade Guild, Black Suns, ect., etc.,. You get the picture. You could also have Flash Points spread out as well in the form of Capitol Ships and Space Stations. Just Fly up to them and select them.
Example of PVP Sectors: When you Travel to a PVP Space Sector you will be confronted with a Space Zone where each side of the Space Zone is controlled by a certain Faction and the middle is the PVP Zone. You will automatically become Flagged as PVP if you enter that Center Area of the Zone that is for the PVP Battles. You will not become Un-Flagged until you are safely in your Faction Controlled Space and you Select to not be PVP; or you leave the PVP Space Sector by Hyper Space or Dieing. This would be so that you can chase down those enemies that either are fleeing toward there Faction Controlled Space or that fly into there Faction Controlled Space during a Dog Fight. This PVP Zone could have both Factions of PVE that also Spawn in and Battle against each other as well as other Players within the PVP Zone. Also the Faction Controlled Zones should have really High Level NPC's to protect it. This would keep the Entire Space Zone active and make it feel like a real Battle instead of just being Empty Space when Players are not as present. After all we want it to feel exciting and what better way than to make it seem like you are still in a real Star Wars Battle so there would be a more intense battle in the middle of the section with activity in the Factions Control sections.
That is the Idea I have for PVP Zones/Sectors.

Ability to have other players join us on our ships - To be able to invite other players aboard and either just hang out or join in in fights by manning Turrets and repairing damaged Systems.

More Ships - We should have a wide selection of ships to choose from and use. There are so many different ships in Star Wars that it amazes me that we are stuck to using only one and a certain one per class. It doesn't seem right in Star Wars. For example, not all Smugglers and Bounty Hunters in Star Wars had the same type of ship. We should be allow to choose a ship that reflects our taste. These could be anything from small Fighter, to Cargo Ships, and even Larger Luxury Ships like Yachts. You can see that I am reflecting some JTL here.

Crafting Ships - Always good to have another crafting profession to choose from. It would open up the possibility to allow for a more unique way of playing Space. Like in ground MMO's we hunt for better gear such as Armor and Weapons the same can be said for Space. We already have the crafting of Equipment for Ships now we would just need Ships themselves to be Crafted. It would add the same benefits that other Crafting professions do.

Customizable Ships - This would be like selected Paint jobs on the outsides of Ships to distinguished them from others and give a unique sense of taste. Sort of like with Characters Customization's but for ships. Maybe even some decorating on the Inside.


Anyways that is what I am expecting, or at least hoping for. Yeah I know its a lot but hey, it is what I would like to see.

And please list the MMO games that were capable of competing with the JTL release back when it was announced.

Thanks!

Maybe he didn't spell it out in so many words. But yeah, essentially he did. In fact I found the link: http://moseisleyradio.com/category/m...-radio/page/2/

Scroll down to podcast 72. The relevant part starts at -5:50. Below is the transcript. I underlined the really, REALLY relevant part so that its underlying meaning doesn't escape you, as it did the (clueless) interviewer.

INTERVIEWER: "Also, I've got a couple of other little quick questions: have you guys ever considered… allowing it so that you can change the appearance of your starship, so that way it kind of stands out, and it's a little unique and different from every other starship that's in the game."

ERIKSON: "Definitely. Ship customization is a passion for a lot of people. Uhm, there is a TON of things at work for space…entirely, I will say: I don't know why I want to turn my ship different colors if nobody else can see it."

While that's not conclusive evidence it is an extremely good sign. Thank you very much for the source man. +999999 dkp.

Don't know if this necessarily refers to the SSP but it gives us hope that they are looking at some sort've 3rd space.

Thanks man. Though, the way I see it it's about as conclusive as it gets: players being able to see each other out in space = PVP and, since PVP could never practically be done on rails, PVP = Free Roam.

By the way I think this represents a massive waste of resources on Bioware's part. But whatever, at this point I'm glad to see anything new come out at all, and I'm sure this will turn out to be quite a hit with surviving subscribers.

So, this was said in, what, May 2012? And even at that, it is pretty darn speculative that "I don't know why I want to turn my ship different colors [U]if nobody else can see it" means 3D space with PvP. It could simply mean that player ships will become visible in hangars (maybe even explorable) by other players.

Then again, THIS WAS SAID IN MAY 2012, was it not? Pretty sure many projects have been scrapped and/or re-evaluated since then.

However, I WOULD LOVE TO BE PROVED WRONG HERE! Bring on that new super secret space mission Bioware!