I would like to change my 55 consular to a inquisitor. I dont think its cool to change let say a tropper to a agent.. but the mirror image of each class to its counter.

Why would you do that. Getting tired of winning in PvP ?

I like this. Could turn my smuggler who I'll probably never play into a sniper .But it won't happen because this game is all about the story. Which if they put this in you should be able to like still be 50 with the same gear and switched over to the other faction. But you start off from the beginning of the story and it's like all scaled to higher level and is a lot harder. So it'd atleast be a challenge.

I doubt this will ever happen. There are too many issues, not the least of which is the quest chain. Quests are totally different for each faction, and because the quests are designed to lead you by the nose through the game, what would you do with the quests for the new faction?

/bangs head against wall.

 

.....Why can't you just level up an alt?

Cool Concept but like everyone said everthing is based on story.. However attack and animation are something that would be cool if they corilated with if you where light side or dark side. light side not able to have lightning animations and dark side can. so. if your a light sided inquisitor your moves would look like a counsilor.... and vice versa.

They could restrict it to level 50 players who have completed Chapter 3, then give you a small "defection" storyline and send you off to Makeb from there. With class stories officially gone from 50 forward, it becomes a lot more reasonable to have faction swaps going on in terms of storytelling logistics.

 

The idea wouldn't be to turn a Smuggler into an Agent, but instead to have Imperial Smugglers or Republic Agents. That way, you don't have to fuss with resetting quest flags; everything you did Chapter 1-3 "really happened", you're just switching sides now.

 

Or, I guess you could change a Smuggler into an Agent, with the plot understanding that this Agent is "new" and not the same as that Agent who's "old" and leveled 1-50 as an Agent.

 

The biggest obstacle I see, funny enough, is figuring out what on earth to do with Companions when you faction swap — there's really just no sensible way to explain your crew hanging around with you through a defection. Nor does it make any sense to instead inexplicably pick up 5 total strangers post-swap.

They could restrict it to level 50 players who have completed Chapter 3, then give you a small "defection" storyline and send you off to Makeb from there. With class stories officially gone from 50 forward, it becomes a lot more reasonable to have faction swaps going on in terms of storytelling logistics.

 

The idea wouldn't be to turn a Smuggler into an Agent, but instead to have Imperial Smugglers or Republic Agents. That way, you don't have to fuss with resetting quest flags; everything you did Chapter 1-3 "really happened", you're just switching sides now.

 

Or, I guess you could change a Smuggler into an Agent, with the plot understanding that this Agent is "new" and not the same as that Agent who's "old" and leveled 1-50 as an Agent.

 

The biggest obstacle I see, funny enough, is figuring out what on earth to do with Companions when you faction swap — there's really just no sensible way to explain your crew hanging around with you through a defection. Nor does it make any sense to instead inexplicably pick up 5 total strangers post-swap.

 

I agree with

/bangs head against wall.

 

.....Why can't you just level up an alt?

 

Just level an alt. The whole game would have to be rewritten from the ground up to make this happen. It would cost a whole lot of cool updates for the next year to impliment this "feature" that most people wouldn't use.

 

Off the top of my head, it would affect questing, companions, class specific gear, guilds, friends, GTN listings, your location (would suck to suddenly be Republic in an Empire city), etc etc etc... And you would have a different ship without explanation as to why...

Edited May 7, 2013 by Glowrod

You could answer the Customization Kiosk with: "Why don't you just level up an alt?"

 

It's not a very good answer. People know they can do that, but they want this instead because it's cool to them, it preserves "their" character, gear, whatever.

 

In determining whether it's plausible or functional as a concept on its own, leveling an alt is an irrelevant non-issue.

You could answer the Customization Kiosk with: "Why don't you just level up an alt?"

 

It's not a very good answer. People know they can do that, but they want this instead because it's cool to them, it preserves "their" character, gear, whatever.

 

In determining whether it's plausible or functional as a concept on its own, leveling an alt is an irrelevant non-issue.

 

Except it doesn't exactly preserve their Character because the Player Character that changes sides will lose their Weapons (for Non-Force Users), their Companions, their Class Ship, any Class Specific Gear that they are wearing/wielding, their Voice Actor/Actress and everything that they've done as that Class. They also lose access to their Capital & Origin Worlds.

 

Oh and their is a huge difference between changing your Character's Appearance/Species and changing sides.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Altyrell

Was reading what ppl was saying, all good points. Yes ppl can make alts but then you loose all of the money you spent getting double xp for warzones, mission, your mailbox, repair bot, GTN on ship etc etc you loose that all.. making that alt. that is one of the reason why i would like this in game.. i am sure its ways to work this out that would make it work

Unlikely to ever happen just because of the work involved story wise yes they could write up a quest chain to do it, but you have all the issues with non force based classes changes in Main hand off hands, voice actors actors. companions, etc.. if changing your toon from male to female isn't doable for tech reasons do you really think Bioware is going to do all the work to do faction change, with out being able to see a profit from it.

Except it doesn't exactly preserve their Character because the Player Character that changes sides will lose their Weapons (for Non-Force Users), their Companions, their Class Ship, any Class Specific Gear that they are wearing/wielding, their Voice Actor/Actress and everything that they've done as that Class. They also lose access to their Capital & Origin Worlds.

 

Oh and their is a huge difference between changing your Character's Appearance/Species and changing sides.

Sure, it is logistically overwhelming. I agree with a lot of the observations about why this is a particularly challenging feature request, potentially hopelessly complicated.

 

All I'm saying is, when BioWare assesses this request it's not about "Oh just go make an alt". They see a demand for something, they see people will pay money for something, they're willing to implement it if the cost:benefit analysis plays out. We see this with Cathar, with Appearance Kiosk, with Group Finder, etc.

 

I'm not trying to be difficult, it just seems more productive to discuss the logistical concerns and why it would or would not be a plausible feature for them to work on, instead of just dismissing something out-of-hand because there's an alternative solution. People know that — they're asking for this one because they don't like the alternative, same as saying "You don't need Group Finder, just spam Fleet general chat".

Edited May 8, 2013 by SW_display_name

/bangs head against wall.

 

.....Why can't you just level up an alt?

 

I think for me its less about not wanting to roll an op and more about making the light/dark side points worth something. The fall and redemption of people is a Star Wars staple and when you finally reach the max in either dark or light, you should have the opportunity to change fall or be redeemed.

 

You could achieve this by either starting the character off at the beginning of the other side's story for that class at your current level but without any companions or ship, or perhaps create a new series of missions that simply moves you over with your companions intact.

I think for me its less about not wanting to roll an op and more about making the light/dark side points worth something. The fall and redemption of people is a Star Wars staple and when you finally reach the max in either dark or light, you should have the opportunity to change fall or be redeemed.

 

You could achieve this by either starting the character off at the beginning of the other side's story for that class at your current level but without any companions or ship, or perhaps create a new series of missions that simply moves you over with your companions intact.

 

Except it wouldn't work based on Alignment Points because a Light Sith Inquisitor is STILL in the Empire at the end of Chapter 3 just as a Dark Trooper is still part of the Republic Military at the end of Chapter 3. And even if it was based on Maxing out Alignment then what happens if the Player Maxes out the Alignment before the end of Chapter 3 [or before fully completed with Makeb]? That causes a whole mess of a problem.

 

IF you are just going to start at the beginning of the other side's Class Story, then why not just create said Character of that Class? Companions wouldn't remain intact regardless of if they put in a new series of Missions because those Companions are SPECIFIC to that Class meaning Vette is a Sith Warrior ONLY Companion she wouldn't be able to become a Jedi Knight's Companion.

All good points, again.

 

But I think it's going to keep boiling down to answers like:

• This sounds more fun
  
• This sounds cooler
  
• This feels more Star Wars-flavored (redemption / corruption)
  

 

It's a "fantasy request", I guess. Something unlikely for the devs to ever pull off successfully, but something people will keep daydreaming about because it sounds awesome.

I doubt this will ever happen. There are too many issues, not the least of which is the quest chain. Quests are totally different for each faction, and because the quests are designed to lead you by the nose through the game, what would you do with the quests for the new faction?

Lol for one second I thought your Sig said "Pie the Force". /facepalm

 

Still a beginner in Aurabesh

The choices are (not that there will be a choice):

 

1) BW spends the next year redesigning the game so that you won't have to spend 2 weeks leveling an alt. This would include no more cool features for a year, and you still wouldn't see the feature for a very long time.

 

2) You spend 2 weeks leveling an alt.

They could restrict it to level 50 players who have completed Chapter 3, then give you a small "defection" storyline and send you off to Makeb from there. With class stories officially gone from 50 forward, it becomes a lot more reasonable to have faction swaps going on in terms of storytelling logistics.

 

The idea wouldn't be to turn a Smuggler into an Agent, but instead to have Imperial Smugglers or Republic Agents. That way, you don't have to fuss with resetting quest flags; everything you did Chapter 1-3 "really happened", you're just switching sides now.

 

Or, I guess you could change a Smuggler into an Agent, with the plot understanding that this Agent is "new" and not the same as that Agent who's "old" and leveled 1-50 as an Agent.

 

The biggest obstacle I see, funny enough, is figuring out what on earth to do with Companions when you faction swap — there's really just no sensible way to explain your crew hanging around with you through a defection. Nor does it make any sense to instead inexplicably pick up 5 total strangers post-swap.

This is the only way it could work but there are still problems.

 

There are no Voice Overs recorded for the hypothetical Republic Agent for, say, Malestorm Prison FP. Or Essels. Or Republic Ilum storyline. Either they would have to record some new VOs for the old content (FPs at least and daily areas), or restrict access to it. Obviously access to any leveling content on any planetary arcs from lvl 1-50 would have to be restricted from the get go, just too much new VOs would have to be recorded.

Was reading what ppl was saying, all good points. Yes ppl can make alts but then you loose all of the money you spent getting double xp for warzones, mission, your mailbox, repair bot, GTN on ship etc etc you loose that all.. making that alt. that is one of the reason why i would like this in game.. i am sure its ways to work this out that would make it work

 

I would like to make one corrections:

 

Mailbox, GTN, Repair Bot (one on the ship that sells the items for the droids for crafting) you get across your legacy no matter the faction as long as the characters are on one server.

 

I only paid for those once and I have it on all my characters (imperial and republic) even my new one that just got her ship so that is incorrect you don't loose those when you create a new character.

Edited May 9, 2013 by ScarletBlaze

The choices are (not that there will be a choice):

 

1) BW spends the next year redesigning the game so that you won't have to spend 2 weeks leveling an alt. This would include no more cool features for a year, and you still wouldn't see the feature for a very long time.

 

2) You spend 2 weeks leveling an alt.

Now you're being silly. Different teams work on different things, and they would make a "smart" cost analysis before starting work on it. If it was going to take 1 year of development time away from every other possible feature, you can be reasonably confident they would not do it.

 

Bioware's choices are:

1. BW works on it internally and finds a solution that makes it possible without disproportionate time investment on their part. Since people are interested, they implement it when their schedule allows.
   
2. BW doesn't find that solution. They table the idea on their "Big List of Stuff We'd Love To Do" and come back to it periodically to see if they have any new ideas.
   

 

Your choices are to either wait for this hypothetical breakthrough, or decide it would be faster to level an alt because you want it guaranteed and right now.

 

In any of those cases, posting to say: "I would like this feature" is neither wrong nor unhelpful. You should let them know if you want to be able to faction-change. That helps them decide whether they should keep examining the problem for possible new angles.

Edited May 9, 2013 by SW_display_name

I would like to make one corrections:

 

Mailbox, GTN, Repair Bot (one on the ship that sells the items for the droids for crafting) you get across your legacy no matter the faction as long as the characters are on one server.

 

I only paid for those once and I have it on all my characters (imperial and republic) even my new one that just got her ship so that is incorrect you don't loose those when you create a new character.

 

 

 

you are right about the Mail box etc, but what i was saying also was character perks that i do not want to spend more money on for a alt. I seen someone said it takes 2 weeks to lev a alt? i don't know about that. Work, Family, and just getting sunshine and air stops me from getting to lev 55 in 2 weeks. One more thing why not just have a Quest that you can pay for with cartel coins that gives you a nice quest line to make sense. Keep all your crew members and voice etc etc and go over to the other side...maybe even break the only rep can be ST/jedi/ etc.. not to crazy right? "revan" was on both sides right?

Now you're being silly. Different teams work on different things, and they would make a "smart" cost analysis before starting work on it. If it was going to take 1 year of development time away from every other possible feature, you can be reasonably confident they would not do it.

 

Exactly my point. This "Feature" would be such a huge undertaking that it won't ever get done. And even if they did, it wouldn't be "content", and relative to the total population of subscribers, a very small percentage of people would ever use it. It would require the programming staff to touch just about every program in the game, including your companions, guild status, ship, friends, achievements, equipment, quests, etc.

 

And people are tossing out casually, "Oh, just make an Empire Vanguard, what's the big deal?" Well, I highly suspect that the game was not designed to have an empire vanguard. It was designed to have four primary classes on Empire and four on Republic.. While they are very similar, they are not identical. This would require that the programmers also touch the classes and combat systems.

 

As I said, it would be a huge programming project, probably equivalent to designing a major expansion from the ground up. The difference being that a new expansion they can charge for and everyone can enjoy, but the option to defect would be a feature that wouldn't make money and hardly anyone (relatively speaking) would use it.

 

Would it be an interesting feature? Perhaps. But given a choice between a major expansion or two, or a feature that won't make any money and won't hardly ever be use, I'll take the expansions any day of the week.

It's just not practical.

 

There are two ways it 'could' happen, in terms of game mechanics. Neither one is feasible.

 

1) Your character "becomes" the mirror class when defecting.

So... do your companions stay with you - there are as many versions as there are companions in game as to how feasible or otherwise that is - or do you magically somehow acquire a set of the mirror class's companions.

 

When does it happen? i.e. do you transfer to, effectively, the same relative point (and how on Earth would you work that out) in the mirror class's class -and- companion quests? Or do you start out entirely from scratch in your mirror class's class and companion stories, acquiring them all over again?

 

If that, then you'd be vastly outlevelled for most of the content, unless you did it so ridiculously early that makes no odds. I doubt scaling it to level is really practical- the paradigm would have to be pretty complex given that the class stories don't normally scale to level- i.e. if you're having difficulty with your end of chapter boss, it's normally possible to level up and come back to him or her.

 

2) Your character doesn't change class, but changes alignment only- this would require a whole branching chain of story, as well as altering friend or foe on all aligned NPCs relative to you.

 

Massive amount of work, it'd probably only be possible to add it in at the *end* of your class story, as a chapter IV- and of course, you'd then have to have *another* line for people who *didn't* want to defect- since making something like that the *only* chapter IV progression choice would be insane... so we'd be talking something that's pretty much the size of a full-on expansion significantly more content heavy than RotHC, to bring this about... again, not *really* practical.

 

 

To be honest, I think the closest you're ever going to get is by re-rolling an alt with a near-identical name but a few accents added to change it, and with the same appearance, and then RPing him or her as "My Agent, gone rogue and working as a smuggler in Republic space", or some such. Or 'my smuggler, captured and enslaved only to 'break out' mentally and be discovered with force powers, and be shipped to Korriban to be trained as a Sith Inquisitor' or some such.

 

Yes, I know the voice actor shift would be weird- but- I'm afraid that's the best you're likely to get.