This should have been a 3 faction game. If it was most of these issues would not have come to light.

The class system could have been created as follows:

Republic:

Jedis (both classes)

Republic Troopers

Republic Agents

Empire:

Siths (both Classes)

Imperial Troopers

Imperial Agents

Freelancers: or Hutt Cartel

Bounty Hunters

Smugglers

Rogue Agents

Rogue Troopers

Perhaps Rogue force users

I know I roleplay my bounty as if he hates the Empire.

I think PvP would have been much better with 3 factions.

You don't even need 3 factions if you allow for straight up guild vs guild.

Making things guild vs guild solves all the faction problems for PvP. You don't have faction imbalances with guilds and you don't have a gear grind necessary with guilds.

Just give guilds a few planets to play on and allow the rule set on those planets to be like Outlaw's Den. Allow guilds to build their own cities like in Shadowbane. Allow guilds to fight over resources on the planet...........Just make a better game for guild PvP.

You don't even need 3 factions if you allow for straight up guild vs guild.

 

Making things guild vs guild solves all the faction problems for PvP. You don't have faction imbalances with guilds and you don't have a gear grind necessary with guilds.

 

Just give guilds a few planets to play on and allow the rule set on those planets to be like Outlaw's Den. Allow guilds to build their own cities like in Shadowbane. Allow guilds to fight over resources on the planet...........Just make a better game for guild PvP.

Shadowbane was so far ahead. I loved that game, just technology needed to grow to really make that game awesome.

I must confess I love this idea...

I would seriously be hard pressed to pick a favorite side, there.

Rise of the Revanites.

Good call.

I think faction imbalance would be seriously alleviated if they would have added a mechanic that allowed people to change factions at level 50. I know most of my guild would probably flip to republic just to have more competition... But I refuse to switch from a class that shoots lightning (sorc) to a class that throws dirt on people (sage). If I could be a sorc on the Republic side, I'd be all for that.

Yeah, I'd do it.

I don't care for empire OR republic. Both are ******* on a sandwich if you ask me.

But that also means I'd play my sorc equally pleased on either side. Just don't make me fly one of those jedi tampons, I like my fury kthx.

This should have been a 3 faction game. If it was most of these issues would not have come to light.

 

 

The class system could have been created as follows:

 

Republic:

 

Jedis (both classes)

Republic Troopers

Republic Agents

 

Empire:

 

Siths (both Classes)

Imperial Troopers

Imperial Agents

 

Freelancers: or Hutt Cartel

 

Bounty Hunters

Smugglers

Rogue Agents

Rogue Troopers

Perhaps Rogue force users

 

I know I roleplay my bounty as if he hates the Empire.

 

I think PvP would have been much better with 3 factions.

Wouldnt work. there will always be a faction considered THE ADULT big boy (if youre not a chick or a kid hardcore faction) and the wimply kiddie faction. Hence the imbalance of games. 3 wouldnt solve the issue. there would just be 2 ADULT big BOY factions where everyone and thier mom would roll to b/c they think it would give them an advatage and there will be the poor low pop branded kiddie faction where everyone who isnt totally lifeless and perhaps take interest in the game more then trying to get an unfair advantage roll to.

cant be fixed, not when the options to choose a faction is so openly left to the community. but you cant take that away either.

3 faction was the balance in DAOC. First i think they would make the same here in SWTOR and was surprised they only make two faction.

With only two faction you must make a good balance for pvp, because you have always have a bigger side per server.

But it looks like they dont think about such a situation.

Well to be fair, with DAoC it kind of shifted around a lot.

I recall picking on hibs with my smiter cleric, getting nerfed to oblivion, being picked on by the mids and lastly picking on the mids with the hibs after the first expansion...

Still, 3 sides make the shift much less dramatic, since it's always 2v1 and rivaling sides often gang up on whoever's currently "the strongest".

Wouldnt work. there will always be a faction considered THE ADULT big boy (if youre not a chick or a kid hardcore faction) and the wimply kiddie faction. Hence the imbalance of games. 3 wouldnt solve the issue. there would just be 2 ADULT big BOY factions where everyone and thier mom would roll to b/c they think it would give them an advatage and there will be the poor low pop branded kiddie faction where everyone who isnt totally lifeless and perhaps take interest in the game more then trying to get an unfair advantage roll to.

 

cant be fixed, not when the options to choose a faction is so openly left to the community. but you cant take that away either.

But by introducing a 3rd faction you bring more options to the game to help balance over all. If 1 side is too big then the 2 other factions could conspire to team up and try and defeat the larger faction. It completely raises the bar for PvP by a power of 3.

Rather than making the third faction a hard choice I'd say let players go rogue/merc/third_party for warzone purposes only. That way BW doesn't have to build a whole set of storylines (at first) just to achieve balance.

If the zone is out of whack from a faction standpoint the game could automatically move or offer rewards to move to the over populated faction.

Wouldnt work. there will always be a faction considered THE ADULT big boy (if youre not a chick or a kid hardcore faction) and the wimply kiddie faction. Hence the imbalance of games. 3 wouldnt solve the issue. there would just be 2 ADULT big BOY factions where everyone and thier mom would roll to b/c they think it would give them an advatage and there will be the poor low pop branded kiddie faction where everyone who isnt totally lifeless and perhaps take interest in the game more then trying to get an unfair advantage roll to.

 

cant be fixed, not when the options to choose a faction is so openly left to the community. but you cant take that away either.

It worked for DAOC even though everyone claimed that it would be impossible to balance. As it turns out, if you were on a server that was dominated by Albion the Hibs and Mids ganged up on the Albs pretty regularly.

It worked out nicely.

Rather than making the third faction a hard choice I'd say let players go rogue/merc/third_party for warzone purposes only. That way BW doesn't have to build a whole set of storylines (at first) just to achieve balance.

 

If the zone is out of whack from a faction standpoint the game could automatically move or offer rewards to move to the over populated faction.

I could see that being viable. Allowing the over populated side the choice to choose if they want to go rogue or not. That could work.

Story-wise I like the idea.

Mechanics-wise, no dice. Balancing 3 factions is a lot more complex than two, and the way you have it broken down would be difficult.

Mirroring the classes helps, but there is more to balance than just stats (min-maxers begone). Gear, environments, perks etc all have to be fairly level, and the stories have to be equally appealing.

Also remember that this isn't WoW or LotR or DAoC. Each class has its own story, voice acting, etc. You just added 30% more voice acting and story writing, which is not possible to copy-paste or automate. In fact it's probably the most expensive part of the game's development, as it can't be procedure-based and it can't be assigned to less expensive staff.

Imagine the additional size of the download/install too.

Bioware's stated priority for this game has been the 4th pillar - story. Your proposal would require making story sacrifices for the possible improvement of PvP. Great idea for another MMO, but not for one whose claim to fame is its stories.

edit - typo correction and added reference to DAoC

Story-wise I like the idea.

 

Mechanics-wise, no dice. Balancing 3 factions is a lot more complex than two, and the way you have it broken down would be difficult.

 

Mirroring the classes helps, but there is more to balance than just stats (min-maxers begone). Gear, environments, perks etc all have to be fairly level, and the stories have to be equally appealing.

 

Also remember that this isn't WoW. Each class has it's own story, voice acting, etc. You just added 30% more voice acting and story writing, which is not possible to copy-paste or automate. In fact it's probably the most expensive part of the game's development, as it can't be procedure-based and it can't be assigned to less expensive staff.

 

Imagine the additional size of the download/install too.

 

Bioware's stated priority for this game has been the 4th pillar - story. Your proposal would require making story sacrifices for the possible improvement of PvP. Great idea for another MMO, but not for one whose claim to fame is its stories.

I just hope their claim to fame does not kill off what has the potential to be a great game.

Someone had the idea of just adding a 3 faction to battlegrounds which would not be as much an issue as adding an entire faction.

Agreed

Too bad this is all a pipedream

Well to be fair, with DAoC it kind of shifted around a lot.

 

I recall picking on hibs with my smiter cleric, getting nerfed to oblivion, being picked on by the mids and lastly picking on the mids with the hibs after the first expansion...

Still, 3 sides make the shift much less dramatic, since it's always 2v1 and rivaling sides often gang up on whoever's currently "the strongest".

the the 'shift' would cause the other two factions to gang up on the big one, thus why the system works...it doesn't matter that 'Albs' have 1500 and everyone else has 1000 if when the Albs start kicking everyones arse, the mids and hibs get together and beat the Albs back to the stone age. Balance achieved.