Legacy Perks Blathering

So… new stuff is coming via the legacy system, including:

Unlock combat abilities for other characters via legacy system

the class’s buff
a signature spell such as force lightning (Thankfully usable during “heroic moment” only so you could only use it with a companion out – whew!)

Unlock race/class combos via legacy system
Improved crew skill abilities purchaseable
Stuff on your ship (mailbox, GTN, vendor)
Unlock a “small stat boost”
A bunch of other social/cosmetic stuff

My thoughts on all this junk in no particular order.

I Was Here First

The legacy system creates a tiered community where people who are there first are privileged and have access to significant benefits.

“On launch day blah blah”

“On the first day of early access blah blah”

“I was in beta and blah blah”

“Well in alpha it was blah blah”

And then you are ready to punch those pretentious assholes in the face because being there first doesn’t mean shit right now. Or does it?

First you have the founder title. Then there are legacy perks that have to be earned by being on the server a long time (well, a long time AND doing stuff during that time, but you know what I mean). Isn’t that just reinforcing that people who are there first are better than everyone else?

Barriers to Entry

In SWG, hitting max level in crafting didn’t mean ANYTHING because you were only as good as your mats. And the mats that were available shifted every week. So if you weren’t here 3 months ago to harvest that awesome blahblah iron, your stuff will never be as good as the stuff made by the dude who was here 3 months ago and did harvest the blahblah iron.

See where I’m going with this? How can I, as a normal just-hit-50 Jedi Knight, compete with a Jedi Knight who, due to a an alt, has the smuggler buff too? There would be a long haul to catch up.

And, when there’s an advantage to be gotten… the high-end raiding guilds will want it. Especially the “small stat boost” because a buff is a buff. These perks will become “mandatory” for the hardcore weirdos out there.

Mobility

What if you want to play with a friend on a different server? Nope, no perks. You start from scratch. Not only your character from scratch, but your legacy as well. That’s a major deterrent to mobility. Unless you want to shell out extra money for a transfer. Yay..?

Things That Are Generally Dumb

I get that people want to play all the races, and to a certain extent that works. Why not have a Mirialan bounty hunter? Or a Rattatouille smuggler? Sure, that makes sense.

But it seems a little strange to see a bunch of tentacled sithies wandering around on the Republic Space Station. Yes, you’re a special snowflake. Get their canon-violating red heineys off my damn space station.

Oh right, I won’t be on the space station. I’ll be in my ship with my mail and GTN terminal. I won’t have to interact with you peons. You know, I was in beta…

I don’t know, I think you’re looking at this overly negatively right now.

I don’t see why early adopters getting some minor perks is a bad thing. I mean, a title? Imba. I don’t know if you’ve seen the recent WoW talk about the revamped Scroll of Resurrection, but I’d take rewarding the loyal players over incentivising inactivity any day. Also, I’m not sure how that’s so different from any other advantage that people gain by playing for a long time anyway, such as having multiple alts with different professions, being able to twink their lowbies etc.

You say, “How can I, as a normal just-hit-50 Jedi Knight, compete with a Jedi Knight who, due to a an alt, has the smuggler buff too?” Compete at what exactly? Getting into a hardcore raiding guild that can’t get for the lives of them recruit a smuggler? I’m really struggling to imagine a scenario where this would seriously matter.

I agree with the mobility thing in so far as it will make rerolling on a different server seem very daunting if it’s not just about building up one or more new characters, but about building a whole new legacy. It would be nice if they could have at least part of the system carry over across servers somehow. Maybe by letting you take your three favourite perks with you or something? 😛

I agree that some of the race combos are a bit strange but I wouldn’t worry too much about the potential effects of this just yet. Just because people can roll certain race/class combos that doesn’t mean that they’ll actually do so by the dozen. Also, on a side note, I have to admit that I don’t even notice the race of many people’s characters at first glance, due to everyone being human-shaped and all the helmets and hoods being very good at hiding the face.

The only thing that makes me a bit sad is all the ship additions because I don’t really want everyone to hole up in their ship all the time. I like hanging out on the station where it’s busy and I’d like it to remain busy.

Either way, I think from what we’ve seen so far it doesn’t look like legacies will bestow significant power on anyone. There’s certainly a risk there in the long run, but the currently announced benefits really don’t sound like a big deal to me.

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Comments

Legacy Perks Blathering — 15 Comments

Targeter on March 9, 2012 at 9:48 am said:

I agree about the races that don’t really belong; a Pureblood Sith Jedi Knight (while intriguing) violates canon in so many ways that arrest warrants can be issued.

I mean, of COURSE I’m going to make one but THAT’S NOT THE POINT.

I’m more excited about two things:

1) My Chiss Imperial Agent is level 50
2) I get the free Agent buff and I can make Chiss anything. Chiss is clearly the best race. This is unassailable fact.

So, Chiss Consular? Check! Chiss Smuggler? Check! Chiss Inquisitor? Check!

Chiss Sith Warrior? … hmmm.

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- Njessi on March 9, 2012 at 10:02 am said:
  
  Well you can argue quite a few things working – and working well.
  
  -Sith inquisitors start out as former slaves. That could be ANY species really.
  
  -Bounty hunters and smugglers are independent and again, could be any species. Well, maybe not pureblood on the republic side, that’s still just too weird.
  
  -Cyborgs are just modified humans, so they could easily be any class.
  
  Where it starts to break down is, as I keep mentioning, those red tentacled idiots on the republic side. Also, Miraluka are attuned to the force – does it make sense for them to be a non-force class? Do Chiss ever have force sensitivity (seriously, I don’t know, I am not very up on canon)? Would the Republic army (trooper) allow a Rattatouille general – I could see the jedi taking one in but the army?
  
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  - Targeter on March 9, 2012 at 10:24 am said:
    
    The Rikkitikkittavi aren’t necessarily an ‘evil’ race so I could see the Reps taking a few; sure they’re warlike and stuff but I mean, they can’t all be evil bastards. Right? Maybe? And Miraluka … I mean, at some point one of them has to look around and say, “You know, this Force shit is for the birds. Gimme a gun, I’m for hire.”
    
    But really, Chiss on the Republic side? I’m sold. My Knight will be Pureblood, and my Consular or Smuggler will be Chiss. Or hell, maybe both. That’s just awesome right thar.
    
    Seriously considering making an all-Chiss lineup and calling it the Killaz from Csilla (I added that ‘z’ to be more street, you know, to make myself cool. Yo.).
    
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- RogueWarrior76 on March 9, 2012 at 12:12 pm said:
  
  If you are reading the Dawn of the Jedi series by Dark Horse Comics you’ll actually see some Sith pureblood Jedi.
  
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  - Njessi on March 9, 2012 at 12:14 pm said:
    
    And in the jedi knight story, you may see a sith pureblood converted sith-to-jedi (depending on the choices you make.) But I get the feeling that it’s VERY rare. And go go nerdlore that I would have NEVER found 🙂
    
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Feliz on March 9, 2012 at 11:08 am said:

re: I was here first. That should only be an issue if you let them make it one. And there’s always this answer: I did all this while you were watching T.V.

While a Chiss Jedi Knight would be cool, where’s my Cathar Smuggler? Cough…lookatmypicture…seemyname?…Cough

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- Njessi on March 9, 2012 at 11:11 am said:
  
  Yeah cause if you had a cathar trooper, you’d have to battle Aric Jorgen for the sunny nap spots.
  
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Rohan on March 9, 2012 at 5:57 pm said:

Take a look at Rift’s alternate advancement system. The bonuses there are so small, that even thought they are strict bonuses, they’re pretty much negligible.

It’s an example of how a system like this can work, without realistically impairing players.

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Lyrestra on March 9, 2012 at 7:42 pm said:

“Oh right, I won’t be on the space station. I’ll be in my ship with my mail and GTN terminal. I won’t have to interact with you peons. ”

I don’t know about others, but my chat is turned off anyway when I’m on the fleet. Doesn’t make much difference, as far as social interactions go.

But I do agree about a Pureblood Sith being able to be a Jedi. That just doesn’t make much sense.

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- Njessi on March 10, 2012 at 7:21 am said:
  
  I do confess that I peoplewatch on the fleet. Hairdos, clothes, what companions they have out and how those companions are dressed… Every so often I see someone with SERIOUS dark side corruption (definitely not the norm on republic side) and I’m like oooooo.
  
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Shintar on March 9, 2012 at 8:34 pm said:

I don’t know, I think you’re looking at this overly negatively right now.

I don’t see why early adopters getting some minor perks is a bad thing. I mean, a title? Imba. I don’t know if you’ve seen the recent WoW talk about the revamped Scroll of Resurrection, but I’d take rewarding the loyal players over incentivising inactivity any day. Also, I’m not sure how that’s so different from any other advantage that people gain by playing for a long time anyway, such as having multiple alts with different professions, being able to twink their lowbies etc.

You say, “How can I, as a normal just-hit-50 Jedi Knight, compete with a Jedi Knight who, due to a an alt, has the smuggler buff too?” Compete at what exactly? Getting into a hardcore raiding guild that can’t get for the lives of them recruit a smuggler? I’m really struggling to imagine a scenario where this would seriously matter.

I agree with the mobility thing in so far as it will make rerolling on a different server seem very daunting if it’s not just about building up one or more new characters, but about building a whole new legacy. It would be nice if they could have at least part of the system carry over across servers somehow. Maybe by letting you take your three favourite perks with you or something? 😛

I agree that some of the race combos are a bit strange but I wouldn’t worry too much about the potential effects of this just yet. Just because people can roll certain race/class combos that doesn’t mean that they’ll actually do so by the dozen. Also, on a side note, I have to admit that I don’t even notice the race of many people’s characters at first glance, due to everyone being human-shaped and all the helmets and hoods being very good at hiding the face.

The only thing that makes me a bit sad is all the ship additions because I don’t really want everyone to hole up in their ship all the time. I like hanging out on the station where it’s busy and I’d like it to remain busy.

Either way, I think from what we’ve seen so far it doesn’t look like legacies will bestow significant power on anyone. There’s certainly a risk there in the long run, but the currently announced benefits really don’t sound like a big deal to me.

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- Njessi on March 10, 2012 at 7:23 am said:
  
  Yeah, you do need to keep the existing playerbase happy, and I agree that loyalty rewards to me are LESS annoying than this scroll crap. Wait, people who quit for a while could get a free 80 and a free transfer? And I know that one of my guildmates who still plays just PAID for a transfer while keeping her subscription active. It feels like a bit of a slap.
  
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Theo on March 10, 2012 at 12:44 am said:

I suspect you could re-read your comments from this possible bioware perspective: what can we do to keep our player base and grow it? give rewards and buffs to ppl to retain them, make hanging around beneficial, etc.

ofc legacy helps players, but it grow Bioware’s pockets as well!

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- Njessi on March 10, 2012 at 7:20 am said:
  
  True, but on the flipside you could run into the problem WoW was having that it was so difficult for a new player, most of them would quit before getting to level 10? something like that. So they revamped the new player experience. By keeping existing subscribers happy, and letting them progress over a long timeline, it makes it less and less attractive for someone to jump in “late in the game.”
  
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  - Aboo on March 14, 2012 at 1:38 pm said:
    
    WoW has the same problems that every overly popular MMO gets. No one wants to start over. The fun and fascination with a game is driven by the experience the player has with the environment and the other players during his/her journey to “the top”. Whatever that may be for them.
    
    But once you’ve done it once, no one wants to do it again. So new people coming into a game that’s been in production for 5+ years, they have no one to experience the game with. And don’t kid yourself, being “in chat” with someone is not the same. Or EVE would be a lot more popular.
    
    Reply ↓

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