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So... are we gonna be able to pick (story) faction in 5.10?


Pietrastor

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So... are we gonna be able to pick faction in 5.10? At the very least for story purpouses? Or were the Iokath/Nathema choices totally pointless? I mean, at this stage my Agent defected/sided with the Republic THREE times. My Sith pick Rep/Jedi/light-side any chance they get. It would be so off-putting if they were forced into Imp-supporting/patriotic storyline....... Edited by Pietrastor
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So... are we gonna be able to pick faction in 5.10? At the very least for story purpouses? Or were the Iokath/Nathema choices totally pointless? I mean, at this stage my Agent defected/sided with the Republic THREE times. My Sith pick Rep/Jedi/light-side any chance they get. It would be so off-putting if they were forced into Imp-supporting/patriotic storyline.......

 

They said there would be "options" for people who want to fight for the opposite faction.

Edited by OldVengeance
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IIRC it was mentioned in another thread here that the devs (Charles Boyd maybe) said that the final, definitive choice on your faction has not happened yet. That makes it sounds like you will get a choice and that it will stick.

 

I'm still bummed about not having the Alliance/neutral as a choice, but that ship has sailed.

Edited by IoNonSoEVero
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I actually do hope we'll be able to permanently switch factions, with a nice big warning box that lets us know when we're making the final choice.

 

I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

 

Is there somewhere I can check on a character to see how they decided on Iokath and Nathema?

It's been awhile since I played some of those toons and I can't remember what I decided for all of them...

Edited by Xina_LA
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I actually do hope we'll be able to permanently switch factions, with a nice big warning box that lets us know when we're making the final choice.

 

I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

 

Is there somewhere I can check on a character to see how they decided on Iokath and Nathema?

It's been awhile since I played some of those toons and I can't remember what I decided for all of them...

 

On nathema, no. But for Iokath you can always run Traitor among the Chiss solo, depending on who you sided with you'll hear a different message. Republic will be about how Vowrawn became Emperor and for Empire it'll be about how the Republic has a new Chancellor.

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I actually do hope we'll be able to permanently switch factions, with a nice big warning box that lets us know when we're making the final choice.

 

I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

 

Is there somewhere I can check on a character to see how they decided on Iokath and Nathema?

It's been awhile since I played some of those toons and I can't remember what I decided for all of them...

 

The best way to check for Iokath would be to check your companion console and see which one's still alive. Acina or Malcolm, or which of Elara/Quinn you have (assuming you're not a Sith Warrior, since Quinn will hop factions). I don't think there's a way to check on the Nathema choice.

 

IMHO the alignment shouldn't matter. I like the idea that there's diversity. A light-sided Sith Inquisitor is still given a Darth title because whatever their alignment, they've been strong enough to defeat Thanaton, get a Dark Council seat and serve the Empire. I can however see there being distrust or criticism, like the way Satele and others will comment on a dark sided Jedi Knight.

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The best way to check for Iokath would be to check your companion console and see which one's still alive. Acina or Malcolm, or which of Elara/Quinn you have (assuming you're not a Sith Warrior, since Quinn will hop factions). I don't think there's a way to check on the Nathema choice.

 

IMHO the alignment shouldn't matter. I like the idea that there's diversity. A light-sided Sith Inquisitor is still given a Darth title because whatever their alignment, they've been strong enough to defeat Thanaton, get a Dark Council seat and serve the Empire. I can however see there being distrust or criticism, like the way Satele and others will comment on a dark sided Jedi Knight.

 

True, I forgot about the Alliance contacts.

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I am quite happy with my Iokath choices --- BH and Smuggler went / stayed with Republic -- stayed there after Nathema too ...

now ---- my Agent and JK haven't been played past Copero .... I'm waiting .. JK went Empire --- Agent went Republic (and would like to stay there ) --- I will wait those two out for now ....

I hope we can change again ... JK wants to go back to Republic

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I actually do hope we'll be able to permanently switch factions, with a nice big warning box that lets us know when we're making the final choice.

 

I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

 

Is there somewhere I can check on a character to see how they decided on Iokath and Nathema?

It's been awhile since I played some of those toons and I can't remember what I decided for all of them...

 

I would hate that. It leaves no room for nuanced or neutral characters, only extreme archetypes. Your Jace Malcom types for example would be too DS for the Republic by that standard despite being utterly devoted to it, as would sith who act honorably because killing the weak is beneath them, etc...no, I'll stick with making my own choice thanks. I doubt many people are going to switch their extreme maxed out DS, baby-eating sith or their utterly pure and selfless jedi to the opposite faction but if they do, just let them have their disjointed and ill fitting fun. It shouldn't force someone else's DS1 trooper who kills all imperial soldiers, sith, and traitors but helps and spares innocents into siding with the Empire she hates and has been fighting for years, etc...

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I actually do hope we'll be able to permanently switch factions, with a nice big warning box that lets us know when we're making the final choice.

 

I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

 

Is there somewhere I can check on a character to see how they decided on Iokath and Nathema?

It's been awhile since I played some of those toons and I can't remember what I decided for all of them...

 

you add an alignment restriction and how many would go for it? both pubs and imps have light side and dark side members in their ranks. Garza may have meant well as a general but her actions were ultimately for the most part down the darkside route while Darth Marr was willing to entertain more light side options in his choices to maintain a more flexible approach to his leading the empire and defending it, even if it means working with the enemy to take another more powerful enemy out and the two sides part in peace.

 

there are a lot of shades of gray in a number of characters, but generally speaking alignments aren't mutually exclusive to factions.

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all of my toons are LS V's --- even the Imps .. and I like it that way too .... ( Mako is just too cute and she is my BH's moral compass anyway )

I don't know -- is it just me, or do I hope I see some more Darh Marr thinking in the empire ? --- remember both Satele AND Marr said the Sith and Jedi codes were flawed ( and they are imo ) --- so are we just going to totally ignore THAT part of the story too ?

Have we even learned anything about how stupid both sides were and let the Eternal Empire just run all over them -- helpless ... remember the force sensitives of Zakuul ?

-- and how they kicked our bums all over the place ... have we learned anything?

Edited by Tashia
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I would hate that. It leaves no room for nuanced or neutral characters, only extreme archetypes.

I don't see it that way at all. There's no real support in the story for Neutral. If you're Light 1 or Dark 1, that's not an extreme archetype.

 

I really think it's going to ruin the feel of the core worlds if they allow anyone and everyone to run around.

 

There are supposed to be consequences for our choices. For example, if you play a Dark-side Jedi Knight, they don't make you a Master. Sure, they don't kick you out of the Republic, but they do talk about trying to redeem you. If you play a Light-side Sith Warrior, you are constantly forced to hide your true beliefs, and it goes poorly when your companion tries to recruit like-minded individuals.

 

Why in the world would Coruscant law enforcement put up with a Dark-side Sith Warrior wreaking havoc on their lovely planet? Why would high-ranking officials on Dromund Kaas trust or promote a Light-side Jedi Knight who continually shows mercy and weakness?

 

How is the Jedi or Sith Temple special if anybody can hang out there, regardless of ethos and behavior?

 

I really think allowing cross-faction movement without any story-based restriction is just going to make this a "Generic Space MMO" and deliver a terrible blow to the Light-vs-Dark Star Wars setting we have now.

Edited by Xina_LA
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The thing is, especially once you get beyond the class stories, your alignment doesn't even necessarily reflect your character's decisions. Since you get LS and DS points for every enemy you kill, every crew mission you do and every heroic you complete, unless you are toggling the LS/DS buttons constantly, your character is eventually going to drift to Light V or Dark V. Even if they get some story decision points to bump them in the other direction those are quickly lost because everything gives you alignment points.

 

Right now every one of my characters makes a mix of LS and DS decision, but are DS or LS Vs because I've left the toggle where it is.

 

So doing this only on alignment isn't accurate at all, aside from any story considerations. And the truth is that you do have a lot of PCs who have made a mix of light and dark decisions, so where do they fit if you're going to gatekeep?

 

Both sides also have people of all alignments, too. The Empire had pragmatic Sith like Darth Marr who are willing to work with the Jedi to get something done as much as they had Darth Jadus. The Republic had people like Garza as much as people like Satele.

 

I'd thus far prefer it if it were like Koth and Elara and the Nathema NPCS: ie, your decisions are what drive the consequences. Have the NPCs react to your character changing sides, or killing lots of civilians, ore refusing to give aid to Zakuul, or deciding to leave Theron behind, or saving Arcann. Tangible choices that NPCs can react to. That is not keeping them out, but NPCs perhaps casting aspersions on them or refusing to work with you or whatever.

Edited by IoNonSoEVero
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I don't see it that way at all. There's no real support in the story for Neutral. If you're Light 1 or Dark 1, that's not an extreme archetype.

 

I really think it's going to ruin the feel of the core worlds if they allow anyone and everyone to run around.

 

There are supposed to be consequences for our choices. For example, if you play a Dark-side Jedi Knight, they don't make you a Master. Sure, they don't kick you out of the Republic, but they do talk about trying to redeem you. If you play a Light-side Sith Warrior, you are constantly forced to hide your true beliefs, and it goes poorly when your companion tries to recruit like-minded individuals.

 

Why in the world would Coruscant law enforcement put up with a Dark-side Sith Warrior wreaking havoc on their lovely planet? Why would high-ranking officials on Dromund Kaas trust or promote a Light-side Jedi Knight who continually shows mercy and weakness?

 

How is the Jedi or Sith Temple special if anybody can hang out there, regardless of ethos and behavior?

 

I really think allowing cross-faction movement without any story-based restriction is just going to make this a "Generic Space MMO" and deliver a terrible blow to the Light-vs-Dark Star Wars setting we have now.

 

I was half asleep when I read that this morning and I misinterpreted it. I thought you meant "all LS characters of any level should be forced to be in the Republic, all DS characters of any level should be forced to be in the Empire" so if you had a DS1 trooper they'd be forced to switch to the empire or a LS2 agent forced to switch to the Republic and so on despite their loyalties. I see now that you mean Republic characters should be DS if they want to switch sides and Imperial characters should be LS if they want to switch sides. I disagree that the game doesn't have story support for neutral characters though, I find that most of the characters I play as realistic people end up neutral or DS/LS 1. The pure LS/DS characters are unrealistic archetypes.

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I also hope that there's some kind of Alignment restriction, though. I can't see the Republic being willing to accept a dark-side Sith, for example. Hopefully the game will tell us that we can switch IF AND ONLY IF we get our Alignment straight... dark-side for Empire to show we aren't weak and light-side for Republic to show we're not villains.

This is a bad idea because:

The thing is, especially once you get beyond the class stories, your alignment doesn't even necessarily reflect your character's decisions. Since you get LS and DS points for every enemy you kill, every crew mission you do and every heroic you complete, unless you are toggling the LS/DS buttons constantly, your character is eventually going to drift to Light V or Dark V. Even if they get some story decision points to bump them in the other direction those are quickly lost because everything gives you alignment points.

 

Right now every one of my characters makes a mix of LS and DS decision, but are DS or LS Vs because I've left the toggle where it is.

Alignment is a unrealistic score to take and have it affect your possibilities in a story scenario, since the system threw such a strong emphasis on maxing either side for bonus Command XP points. People maxed their alignment for grind convenience not for RP.

 

Rather, the story decisions we have made would make more sense to have a restriction of some kind over.

Like some point system for each decision and if you have scored too many mercy points you cant join empire, or if you've allowed too much collateral damage Republic won't accept you.

Like, letting or stopping Kaliyo from wreaking havoc on Zakuul in her chapter could have points for both decisions, did we rescue imp or rep ally from Gemini ship, and whether or not you spied on everyone on the alliance, and/or how many companions you've killed or forgiven.

Both options could be open for those who didn't score high on either factions check-list.

 

Then the question would remain what happens to those people who choose to skip kotfe.

Edited by Kiesu
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I disagree that the game doesn't have story support for neutral characters though, I find that most of the characters I play as realistic people end up neutral or DS/LS 1. The pure LS/DS characters are unrealistic archetypes.

You are correct. I wouldn't want anyone to be forced to change factions, but I wouldn't want to see people allowed to change factions if they're an incompatible alignment. If asking people to be Light or Dark is too much, perhaps we should just say. "If you are LIght 3 or higher, you can't go to the Empire, if you are Dark 3 or lower, you can't go to the Republic". That would respect roleplay while still allowing most people to move if they choose.

 

What I mean by lack of support is this...

* It's very hard to stay Neutral. The game really pushes you to move towards Light or Dark alignment.

* IIRC, there's no special dialog, choices, or cut scenes for being Neutral.

* There aren't any vendors with rewards for people who are of Neutral alignment.

 

For those who are saying Alignment isn't a roleplay factor because it's now tied to so many different things. it's true that Light and Dark are no longer a pure reflection of your story choices. However, when we're playing story chapters, that is the roleplay part of the game. So being able to do something major in the story should still be tied to the only (semi-) roleplay based statistic on our character sheets -- Alignment.

Edited by Xina_LA
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You are correct. I wouldn't want anyone to be forced to change factions, but I wouldn't want to see people allowed to change factions if they're an incompatible alignment. If asking people to be Light or Dark is too much, perhaps we should just say. "If you are LIght 3 or higher, you can't go to the Empire, if you are Dark 3 or lower, you can't go to the Republic". That would respect roleplay while still allowing most people to move if they choose.

 

What I mean by lack of support is this...

* It's very hard to stay Neutral. The game really pushes you to move towards Light or Dark alignment.

* IIRC, there's no special dialog, choices, or cut scenes for being Neutral.

* There aren't any vendors with rewards for people who are of Neutral alignment.

 

For those who are saying Alignment isn't a roleplay factor because it's now tied to so many different things. it's true that Light and Dark are no longer a pure reflection of your story choices. However, when we're playing story chapters, that is the roleplay part of the game. So being able to do something major in the story should still be tied to the only (semi-) roleplay based statistic on our character sheets -- Alignment.

 

In the Sith Inquisitor story there are three different titles one can potentially earn: Nox (DS), Imperius (LS), and Oculus (neutral). If you make a mix of DS and LS decisions before you meet Jaesa in the Sith Warrior story, she will tell you she is confused by that, and you can tell her, "nothing's black or white." In the smuggler story there is also a neutral ending if you kill the Voidwolf but make some other dark side choices.

 

It's true that the story part of the game is the RP part, but when that is influenced by outside factors, it's not something genuine to use.

 

In the class stories, the majority of the alignment points come while questing for your class or planetary stories, and it makes sense to use them for titles and recognition (ie, Nox or Imperius; a Jedi being denied something for being DS). But since KOTFE, the majority of the places we're getting those points has nothing to do with the story.

 

In the past year we've had exactly two story segments (Copero in November and Nathema in May). Unless someone's stowed their character away and only made those story decisions, they've been racking up DS or LS points on the grind and other activities for a year.

 

Why should major story decisions be based on something that was not earned in the story? To me it would be like a story decision being based on one's PvP record or social rank.

 

Also, from a story standpoint, again, both factions have people that could arguably be of all alignments. The Republic accepts defectors and always has the idea that every Sith can be 'redeemed' by converting to Jedi; the Empire also accepts Jedi defectors and is pragmatic enough to work with anyone who can help them.

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