Greetings my fellow TORers, I've been playing since early access and have slowly been leveling while taking care of many real-life events, but during my time playing I have noticed the brilliance of this game but also several areas where it could be vastly expanded not just to make it a more enjoyable player experience but also a game that has a longer life, too.

 

While none of these suggestions are desperately required, I feel as though they are merely a collection of nice none-essential but possibly game enhancing ideas.

 

And so, without further a due, here are my suggestions for improving TOR as a whole:

 

 

 

 

A Suggestions Forum

 

Sadly we do not appear to have a suggestions forum here on the site, which is a shame as thus far I've noticed Bioware are listening to player suggestions for in game features then contemplating introducing them, guild ships being an example, so my first suggestion is simple, a suggestion forum!

 

 

 

Improved Space Flight

 

Currently the space flight feels a bit rickety, which is fine because TOR has just launched and space isn't exactly a major part of the main story, at least not yet. However I would still like to give my suggestions on how space flight can be improved to make it a whole end-game experience of it's own, plus give more depth to flight.

 

When we get our ships for the first time we hear a rather wonderful tune, the sight of our ship and off we go into the galaxy, for the first time with independence, except we're not really. We actually end up floating in space with the only options of flight being "press a button to warp" or "do an on-rails minigame" which, given the fact they didn't have to include a great deal of space flight on launch is brilliant however it could do with more.

 

I suggest we stick with the same landing/taking off styles, the only way hangers can work is instanced however I also suggest once we are up floating happily in space we can go and sit in our wonderful captain's chair and instead of just warping, we instantly get the choice to free-fly around a zone in space about the size of the imperial fleet above the planet, want to land? Fly on down toward the world! Want to go somewhere else? That's simple too, use the hyperdrive as you would per normal.

 

So what's the point to this? Well besides immersion I feel it could open a huge variety of content, perhaps allow us to actually visit orbital stations for repairs after a dangerous mission or allow us to go out and investigate asteroids, perhaps even give us warp points to contested areas of space, essentially it just makes the space aspect feel less like a simplistic singleplayer RPG and more like a vast open-world MMO where you are literally allowed to fly your ship however and where ever you want, keep the on rails missions but perhaps only as mini-games.

 

Instantly with this addition we have a whole host of new end game content, perhaps include more ships to purchase, visible upgrades, gear you can get from taking part in world pvp in space.

 

 

 

Player Housing

 

Surely we have this already with our ships? In a way we do, but it's far too limited, while it's true we do all have our own nice little home in the stars, the problem is it lacks individuality and purpose, I feel like my Fury Class ship is "Sith Warrior #27891's Ship" instead of "My Ship."

 

The problem being, every other player of my class has a carbon clone of my ship, some may not see a problem with this and that's fine but we're all different, personally the major part of an RPG of any type is making it as much mine as I can and if I were able to purchase a wider variety of ships, perhaps move furniture around or even buy new furnishings and decor as well as change the style it's self then I'd definatly feel that it was mine. Imagine inviting your friends to your brand new ship that's twice the size of your last one, freshly furnished and decorated exactly how you want.

 

But why stop there? Guild Ships have been heavily hinted at already, something that started out as a suggestion that was too good to ignore, I'd imagine every crew member would want their own individual quarters, they'd want to decorate their ship based on their style, for example a guild mainly made for bounty hunters wouldn't be sitting inside an imperial starship, nor would they want their ship to look exactly like the next guild on.

 

This brings me to the idea of expanding end game even more, perhaps being able to trade certain currency in for furniture and decorations, maybe even equipment, I'd sure love to make my own conference room with the holoterminal in the center of the room, so if I wanted to decorate my on-purchase-bare guild ship then my and my guild could all start amassing this currency then cash it in to buy some new furniture, be it rare and expensive or cheap and common, hell even expansion rooms would be fun.

 

Another part I want to mention with this is physical housing, but instanced. Physical housing in an MMO is something I've rarely seen done properly, perhaps instead of cluttering a map with homes we could instead fly up into space with our shiny new ship, then return down but chose to land in a different area, an instanced area where you have a home or maybe even an instanced zone where you and your friends have homes, allowing you to build a small community, I've always loved the idea of a guild of sith arriving upon their lavished private palaces in purpose built cities, so why not allow us to? We could purchase different home types and even customize them to our hearts content following the above "grind to make your home better and more unique" style.

 

As for why? It gives people something to do beyond the normal "grind for gear", after all it's the same concept but with rewards that you can share with others be it just visually or in actuality, don't want to get furniture as a reward? You don't have to, let everyone do their own thing, be it decorating their character or their home/guild ship.

 

 

 

Neutral Rewards

 

This is something I've noticed has been heavily requested, dark side and light side characters get all the rewards they want, including things that only they can use, as such those in the middle are often left out, although being in the middle may be the only way they wish to play their character.

 

How could this system possibly work though? Surely you have to tip the scale at some point, well we do have measurements of Light Side and Dark Side points, plus the scale to show how far overall we are going, so Neutral Level 1 could require say 300 - 500 points in light and dark each, giving some leeway, so if I had 700 light points but only 500 dark side points I'd still be what ever grade of neutral I am, however if I fall to 400 dark side then obviously light side will take control.

 

 

 

Social Improvements

 

Perhaps not the most vital thing to the games survival but honestly it adds a lot, the reason I favor MMO's to other games is because it's a community, however currently the community is in a very odd grey spot.

 

While the instanced zones are being merged to allow us to share our experiences with other players, we still lack simple social interactions, pretty much all of the emotes in the chat list are basically pre-written /me commands with no animation or sound at all.

 

To make this worse speaking in public chat is clouded and muddled, it appears in the chat box and the chat box only, there's no chat header above us nor even an indication via animation that we've just said something aloud, which often makes communication with those around you as pointless as whispering in a parade.

 

 

 

More Variation Of Pets/Companions

 

When I first heard we'd have class based companions I instantly felt a sense of dread, I saw players running around with the exact same companions as everyone else trailing behind them, however Bioware really did something smart by giving us aesthetic choices, such as simply changing the colour of T7 to re-inventing an entire characters race and style, plus the ability to clothe them as we wish.

 

However, I still feel this could be built upon by allowing more drastic changes, nothing over the top such as changing species but rather changing the models, so Khem could become less gigantic or your marvelous battle droid could change it's appearance to be a sleeker style build.

 

This also tags along with the idea of more decently sized vanity pets, sure miniature pets are cute but I much rather prefer those that are at least the size of an astromech with much greater variety too.

 

Why? Once again: expand the playtime of the game by giving you more to get.

 

 

 

More Reason To Go To Cities

 

The fleet has nearly everything we require, hell it's crafting bench is only a taxi ride away and as such it's drained away the cities populace, perhaps it's time to move a few flashpoints into cities along with some specialty vendors.

 

 

Enhanced Crew Skills Quests

 

I LOVE the way TOR has handled professions, it allows me to keep playing the game without having to stop every five minutes to mine or fight with my friends over who gets which resource, it also allows me to get the resources I need while socializing with friends, allowing me to still make progress in the game while sitting back and relaxing.

 

However an interesting thought popped into my head... what if we could actually see the quests our companions go on and have an effect on them? Perhaps with the bonus of doing a crew skill mission yourself you can speed up the collection time from 12 minutes to 4 minutes and have a way to keep yourself entertained if you're waiting for parts to mod your weapons and/or armour before heading off to a Flashpoint.

 

 

 

Player Moderators

 

Always a sketchy territory, being a player moderator and such is true in any game, however they can prove extremely valuable if picked properly, although I highly doubt TOR needs any player moderators it would certainly help greater enforcement of server rules (If/When RP servers finally gain RP-Specific Rules) and even give customer service a break if a player moderator is able to assist a player nearby.

 

As I said, I doubt this will ever be neccisary let alone implemented, but it's still something to think about, especially if a refined enough system of choosing player moderators is put in place, it could greatly help cut the costs of customer service and allowing Bioware to put that money into more in-game content.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

Well, there you have it, a bunch of ideas that have been buzzing about in my brain for the past few days, some I favor more than others but all of them I think have a fair chance to help increase the enjoyment and longevity of this wonderful game!

 

So, do you support my suggestions? If so which ones and why? If you have an opinion then please voice it, feedback is key! If you like the ideas here or the ideas of any of the posters then please share this thread in your signature or by showing it to friends, the more the merrier! Also please feel free to share your own ideas and suggestions, after all Bioware are listening to us, so let's tell them what we want.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Sereneth

I love these ideas, Bump

I love these ideas, Bump

 

Glad to hear!

****, someone who actually has logical input for as to what they should put into the game and not something simply because it was in their previous MMO? Did I die and go to heaven? Please have a free bump from me. Edited December 29, 2011 by Kemosobe

Great ideas!

 

Could throw in Random Developer Events as well, like they did in SWG.

 

 

/Server Message/

 

*Imperial and Republic forces are currently fighting on planet X*

 

Could turn it into a temporary PvP zone with the winning side getting some commendations, or something like that. Shouldn't be a problem spawning NPCs and adding various stuff to the area, seeing as how much they bragged about the Hero Engine.

Wow how long did this take you to write?

 

Also, good job.

I support & agree w/ everything on the OP's list 100%.

 

Especially the player housing and trophy system.

 

I would also like to see increased variation in the lightsaber/blaster colors. Off-shades of red/orange, cyan, and green - perhaps randomly craftable via proccing on a rare/epic quality color crystal? Or by adding ingredients to an existing color crystal?

 

Oh yeah, and more content. Keep it coming please.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Seattlite

Good ideas, you should post them in the suggestion forum... Doup!

 

Yeah, I like the ideas. Specially the suggestion forum one... We really need one :S

****, someone who actually has logical input for as to what they should put into the game and not something simply because it was in their previous MMO? Did I die and go to heaven? Please have a free bump from me.

 

I sharn't turn away a free bump! Thanks for your comments!

 

 

 

Great ideas!

 

Could throw in Random Developer Events as well, like they did in SWG.

 

 

/Server Message/

 

*Imperial and Republic forces are currently fighting on planet X*

 

Could turn it into a temporary PvP zone with the winning side getting some commendations, or something like that. Shouldn't be a problem spawning NPCs and adding various stuff to the area, seeing as how much they bragged about the Hero Engine.

 

Oh! Didn't think of that, It would certainly be interesting, be it in a main questing zone, perhaps a bit outside of it or even off in space, hell I'd love to get a report of an ongoing battle then fly over to Hoth or where ever and do my bit.

 

 

 

Wow how long did this take you to write?

 

Also, good job.

 

Hard to tell really, I kinda lost track of time while writing it up, and thanks.

 

 

I support & agree w/ everything on the OP's list 100%.

 

Especially the player housing and trophy system.

 

I would also like to see increased variation in the lightsaber/blaster colors. Off-shades of red/orange, cyan, and green - perhaps randomly craftable via proccing on a rare/epic quality color crystal? Or by adding ingredients to an existing color crystal?

 

Oh yeah, and more content. Keep it coming please.

 

Thanks for your support! And yes, player housing is something I've always felt really secures a game as an MMO, after all it's just a physical form of guilds.

 

As for the variation in crystal colours, I know exactly what you mean! I've had a few friends looking for an aqua/cyan crystal only to be disapointed by it's lack of existance currently, as for crafting it, I think your ideas are pretty solid, although good old faishioned rare drops could work too.

 

 

 

Good ideas, you should post them in the suggestion forum... Doup!

 

Yeah, I like the ideas. Specially the suggestion forum one... We really need one :S

 

Thanks! Yeah, I feel I'm going to have to spend a while bumping this thread to get past all the other ones, be they rants, other suggestions or even just pure general discussion!

 

Still, let's hope we get a good old suggestions forum soon, it could give light to some of the best ideas yet!

100% Support from me too.

 

Player housing would really add to the game, and while i'm fairly happy with how the space combat sequences are at launch, they aren't enough to keep me as interested as I could be. I'd find myself playing much more of them if they were more free-form flying, than just another On-Rails shooter.

 

I'm not sure if we can or not, I'm still not all that far into the game yet; But I've sadly seen nothing to suggest we can craft items from scratch, just modifications for already existing items.

I've also not seen anything to suggest we can craft droid pets (I'd love to craft an Astromech pet), these are features i'd very much like to see implemented in the future, if it isn't already and I've just not seen it yet.

 

However, my biggest problem so far is the lack much variation of Color Crystals. Aqua in particular.. it seems odd to me that we can have a Black - Yellow Saber, but not the basic and more commonly seen color of Luke's saber in A New Hope.

100% Support from me too.

 

Player housing would really add to the game, and while i'm fairly happy with how the space combat sequences are at launch, they aren't enough to keep me as interested as I could be. I'd find myself playing much more of them if they were more free-form flying, than just another On-Rails shooter.

 

I'm not sure if we can or not, I'm still not all that far into the game yet; But I've sadly seen nothing to suggest we can craft items from scratch, just modifications for already existing items.

I've also not seen anything to suggest we can craft droid pets (I'd love to craft an Astromech pet), these are features i'd very much like to see implemented in the future, if it isn't already and I've just not seen it yet.

 

However, my biggest problem so far is the lack much variation of Color Crystals. Aqua in particular.. it seems odd to me that we can have a Black - Yellow Saber, but not the basic and more commonly seen color of Luke's saber in A New Hope.

 

Oh hello you! Nice to see you on the forums.

 

Craftable droid pets, making sabers from scratch and more colour crystals, sounds perfect! And yes, aqua aqua aqua, why can't we have it yet? Ah well, hopefully we'll get the chance to soon!

 

 

That reminds me, I've got an idea for some saber options.... time to get working in Blender!

 

A Suggestions Forum

 

Improved Space Flight

 

Player Housing

 

Neutral Rewards

 

Social Improvements

 

More Variation Of Pets/Companions

 

More Reason To Go To Cities

 

Enhanced Crew Skills Quests

 

Player Moderators

 

Final Thoughts

 

 

They all seem to be good ideas to me.

 

Edited January 1, 2012 by KrelosDarksky

I like your player housing idea. The ships need to be customizable and we should be allowed to bring other players on board. Also, housing on the actual planets like in SWG would be nice too.

 

That said, I hope BW uses the next few patch cycles for nothing but fixing bugs and improving the UI. That should be first priority. Get all the old BETA bugs out, make the UI customizable and then go from there.

This glorious thread needs to be bumped

Outstanding, could not have written it better myself, and glad I did not have to

you write good, someones an english major

Excellent ideas. I would like to see more space combat and free form flight.

+1 Bump

Bump!

 

I wouldn't even mind if they created a planet solely for players to develop. Give Republic one side and Imperials another or something, and let us go wild like The Sims (or maybe like SWG? Never played that, though).. Guild ships as a base, player-controlled planet, open-space exploration .. what fun!

Asking for SWG things in tor.. sure why not

Bump!

 

I wouldn't even mind if they created a planet solely for players to develop. Give Republic one side and Imperials another or something, and let us go wild like The Sims (or maybe like SWG? Never played that, though).. Guild ships as a base, player-controlled planet, open-space exploration .. what fun!

 

 

why have that? coruscant and nar shada are city planets, have us rent an apartment there

I agree with everything here (fantastic post) except.... keeping the space combat part. It needs to be gone gone gone and replaced with a propper system where you have full control of your ship.

 

Things I want to see added here are:

 

Group missions and PvP

 

I might be alone on this, but I want it to have more depth -- X-Wing or Tie-Fighter style, and not just shoot guns and missiles. I want to have to manage my resources between shields, guns, and speed.

 

Have people man your turrets, or man the turrets of your guild ship (this will give the on-rails people something to work with ).

 

Customize your ship in much the same way that the OP talked about (not only cosmetic stuff, but I agree these are important).

 

Choose your loadout -- are you a heavy bomber or a dogfighter?

 

The group missions should be of the type where you need to coordinate your efforts to take down your target.

 

 

 

At any rate. This game has such huge potential. It just worries me a bit that the space combat is going in the direct oposite direction that I would like it to. I agree that the game is new and hence it hasn't been implemented fully. I'm just very concerned in the direction this particular part of the game is going.

 

Peace, and enjoy the game. I know I am.

Whoa! So many new posts, looks like I've got a lot to get through, thanks to all of you though!

 

 

They all seem to be good ideas to me.

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad you like them.

 

 

I like your player housing idea. The ships need to be customizable and we should be allowed to bring other players on board. Also, housing on the actual planets like in SWG would be nice too.

 

That said, I hope BW uses the next few patch cycles for nothing but fixing bugs and improving the UI. That should be first priority. Get all the old BETA bugs out, make the UI customizable and then go from there.

 

Thanks! And yes, I do believe major game issues should be ironed out before we head onto large-scale content implementation.

 

 

 

This glorious thread needs to be bumped

 

Glorious? Awwwwe! Thanks.

 

 

Outstanding, could not have written it better myself, and glad I did not have to

 

Thanks you!

 

 

you write good, someones an english major

 

Thank you! Sadly I've not, I suppose I just write a lot.

 

 

Excellent ideas. I would like to see more space combat and free form flight.

+1 Bump

 

Me too! Free form flight just makes the game feel so much more expansive than it already is, thanks for the bump too.

 

 

Bump!

 

I wouldn't even mind if they created a planet solely for players to develop. Give Republic one side and Imperials another or something, and let us go wild like The Sims (or maybe like SWG? Never played that, though).. Guild ships as a base, player-controlled planet, open-space exploration .. what fun!

 

Thanks,

 

Oh, a planet just for player cities... that would be an interesting experience! And it could easily get rid of the requirment for many separate small instanced zones!

 

 

Asking for SWG things in tor.. sure why not

 

SWG had a lot of good and bad stuff within it, most of which I felt just wasn't implemented correctly while playing, I'm sure Bioware will do a much better job with the franchise.

 

 

why have that? coruscant and nar shada are city planets, have us rent an apartment there

 

Apartments... That is something I've never ever seen in a game, be it MMO or not! And it would certainly give those who wanted an urban-style enviroment a proper place to do so!

Edited January 3, 2012 by Sereneth

Good suggestions. Would love to see these in game soon

Awesome thread, Bump.

 

Also.. Guild banks!...

 

Bump. Hehe.

I agree with everything here (fantastic post) except.... keeping the space combat part. It needs to be gone gone gone and replaced with a propper system where you have full control of your ship.

 

Things I want to see added here are:

 

Group missions and PvP

 

I might be alone on this, but I want it to have more depth -- X-Wing or Tie-Fighter style, and not just shoot guns and missiles. I want to have to manage my resources between shields, guns, and speed.

 

Have people man your turrets, or man the turrets of your guild ship (this will give the on-rails people something to work with ).

 

Customize your ship in much the same way that the OP talked about (not only cosmetic stuff, but I agree these are important).

 

Choose your loadout -- are you a heavy bomber or a dogfighter?

 

The group missions should be of the type where you need to coordinate your efforts to take down your target.

 

 

 

At any rate. This game has such huge potential. It just worries me a bit that the space combat is going in the direct oposite direction that I would like it to. I agree that the game is new and hence it hasn't been implemented fully. I'm just very concerned in the direction this particular part of the game is going.

 

Peace, and enjoy the game. I know I am.

 

Couldn't quite fit this reply onto the last post, I have to say it's got a lot of brilliant ideas, and thanks for your opinion on my thread!

 

Oh, ship resources, this could be a LOT of fun! And I especially like the dashing about, manning turrets and everyone having their own job aboard a ship too, it would certainly give guilds or even just a group of friends something to do.

 

As for the customization, I think it's fairly crucial to the success of the space aspect of TOR, after all there's more than eight cars driving about outside, isn't there?

 

The loadout idea would certainly give us more variention even more so and could make certain 'ship roles' come into play outside of the standard tank/healer/dps system.

 

And I agree, the game has fantastic potential and is pretty much in it's infancy at this point, however it's all down to what Bioware chose to include with future content that could be key to it's long term success.

 

 

 

Good suggestions. Would love to see these in game soon

 

Thanks, me too!

 

 

 

Awesome thread, Bump.

 

Also.. Guild banks!...

 

Bump. Hehe.

 

Thanks! I didn't realise we hadn't got guild banks, well, I suppose they'd be guild cargo holds! Certainly something that wouldn't be an unwelcome addition.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Sereneth