Making a thread that confronts holo with it forces him to acknowledge the fs slot in some way. It would be very bad business to admit if they've been lying this whole time. If it's a lie he just has to go with it now until they implement it. Does anyone remember a certain fiasco in EQ..? It's been posted before but I think too many people just ignore it.
I find it interesting that the only thread Holo responded to about a question that's been asked several times was one where we mentioned that we didn't really care if we were partially lied to.
Later on, someone mentioned that the Jedi profession was taken out.
It's part of the business, really. Tell people what they need to hear. And as you said, everyone agrees to an ever-changing gameplay when they click "Accept".
--- Remember that before you criticize someone you should walk a mile in their shoes... that way when you DO criticize them you are a mile away, and you have their shoes.
I don't agree MINS, the people who have a leg up are the ones who have a very diverse play style that includes a little bit of everything.
Tough for powergamers since powergamers are focused only on obtaining experience. They're blind to other aspects of the game.
Easier for casual folk who spend a moderate amount of time playing and socializing with friends. Those are the people who have their hands in the FS cookie jar.
I bet the system is a list of 100 random events ranging from visiting pois, killing certain things, etc. And the reason they say there's a "recipe" is that 70 out of 100 of the objectives are the same, then the other 30 are random for everyone and alot harder, then you can unlock it with ether completing the 70 easier ones (the recipe) or the 30 hard ones, or a combination of the two. Of course the numbers are more than likely alot differant this is just a "off the top of the head" sort of thing.
Personally, I think this only got a response because it was posted in SWG Discussion, not in the Jedi forum.
It's still really great news to hear, and I'm really glad he posted that.
Anyway, here is the list of "how to win Star Wars Galaxies" that someone requested earlier in the thread:
"For years now the developers have given the cryptic answer “To Live in the Star Wars Universe”. Many people get this and have wanted to do just that for well over 20 years. However “Living” in the universe is too vague for some gamers (heck, most people don’t quite understand what the “point” of living in the real world is - I’ll give you a hint “to be good to one another”). So for the goal minded folks out there, here is the “Point” of playing SWG: 1) Learn the basics of the game for a while so you don’t appear to be a newbie. 2) Accomplish all the different types of missions, from the quick and straight forward Mission Terminals to the multi-legged and more varied NPC static quests. You may need to travel beyond your starting city to find the more involved ones. 3) Gain enough money to buy (or gain enough skill to make) a good weapon and other equipment that suits your character. 4) Finish a themepark such as getting all the way to Jabba’s Throne Room. Beat at least 1 “dungeon” on every planet. 5) By doing factional missions or joining battlefields, gain enough faction points to rise up through the ranks in the Empire or Rebellion. Make enough points to try out all of the perks. 6) Join a Player Association that fits your play-style. Help others members to accomplish their unique goals and they will help you with yours. 7) Keep tabs on your Badges. You want to get over 100 of these to consider yourself a success in SWG. 8) Spend all of your skill points to master several professions. (Be sure you surrender some skills and learn new ones to find the character combination best for you) 9) Search the galaxy to find the spot you want to call home and build a house there so you can leave your mark on that galaxy. (Be sure to furnish it as an empty house doesn’t count) 10) When you are done with all that, work on figuring out how to unlock the Force Sensitive slot. If you can do that (and very few of you will and it will take several months, at least), then repeat the process with your new Jedi character until you are able to get the Jedi Master title. When you have accomplished these 10 not-so-easy steps, you can say you have “won” the game”. There you have it. But please note, this list is subject to change as we add new content such as player cities, player vehicles, more quests, and full expansions. Now, of course, feel free to substitute any of the above with other activities you enjoy in the game, such as becoming a famous entertainer, well-sought after crafter, always in demand doctor or highly feared bounty hunter. Or just have fun exploring, fishing, dueling, getting married, attending parties, meeting new people, helping people stuck in step one or even hosting your own events for each other. Definitely try to Role Play (it isn’t hard, you don’t have to act goofy, just don’t bring real world conversation into the spatial chat).
You can unlock a force sensitive slot right now-- all the tracking is in place, and people are checking off items.
Well, let's speculate on what those items are, shall we!
Thank you for posting the list! Very interesting stuff.... Ok, going out on a limb, so lemme rant for a minute. I'm going to be making a LOT of assumptions, please bear with me.
10) When you are done with all that, work on figuring out how to unlock the Force Sensitive slot.
By this comment, we can probably assume that doing missions, upgrading your equiptment from the "newbie set", finishing a theme park, joining a faction and get up in rank, being a part of a PA, having under 100 badges, maxing out your character, and setting up a residence either:
Doesn't have anything to do with the FS slot.
Is necessary to do in order to take the next step towards opening the FS slot.
More importantly, this coincides with the "newbie note" you get when you create a character (which may, or may not, have been written by the same person) :
...Unlike many other games, there is no "one" way to play Star Wars Galaxies. You will be able to live in and interact with the Star Wars universe in a way you never have been able to before.
If you are looking for a little direction to get started, we recommend finding a local mission terminal to take some missions. After making some credits doing simple delivery or destroy missions, you may want to start upgrading your equiptment. Eventually you'll want to converse with non-player characters to find more interesting and lucrative missions or you may want to head to the adventure Theme Parks like Jabba's Palace on Tatooine.
After that, you goals (sic) are largely determined by what you are interested in. For example, you may want to join the Rebellion or Empire and work your way up through the military ranks. You may wish to master multiple professions and become renown throughout the galaxy for your skills. You may want to acquire, make, or sell the best equipment in the galaxy. You might want to explore the ten worlds and find a perfect spot to build your home. You may even want to try to unlock the secret to opening a second character slot that is Force-sensitive (warning: this is extremely difficult, mysterious and dangerous). The choice is really up to you...
However, the goals here are given slightly different priorities, which is possibly significant. The most obvious differences are the following goals: taking part in the GCW, taking part in the grander-scale crafting system, and setting up a home.
Perhaps these goals are not a necessity for every player, or they are part of the "uniqueness" that is set up. It could be based on your professions, or it could be that these are optional goals to achieve in lieu of others, making the FSS potentially accessible by everyone.
Also of importance are a particular series of quotes that the Developers believe to be their "Big Hints" that will assist the players who frequent the message boards in figuring out the system, given by Raph/Holo in April, 2001:
We will not be choosing who is Force sensitive randomly. If we did this, everyone would be Force sensitive because they'd all try over and over until they got it.
We will not be letting players choose to be Force sensitive at character creation. If we did this, everyone would be Force sensitive because who's gonna turn down power if it's offered on a platter?
We will not be making Force sensitivity be dependent on time invested. If we did this, everyone would be Force sensitive eventually.
Everyone can potentially become a Force-sensitive individual and eventually a Jedi. (Different quote, same time period, same theme: The game will never bar you from being a Jedi. It remains achievable at all times. [...] I think the ‘anyone can be President’ analogy is actually a pretty good one...)
We're not disclosing how we plan to do this, but I do think that given these four pieces of information, all you smart folks on this board can puzzle it out--and these aren't new pieces of information, either, you've had them for quite a while.
Oh, and just to restate--we believe our system meets all the above and still makes Force sensitivity very very very rare.
Lastly, because so many want to be a Jedi, we have to let everyone TRY. But it's going to be very very very difficult, and hence Jedi will be very very very rare.
I think the most helpful part about these quotes was their reasonings why they coded the FS system however they did......
Firstly, it has to be something that you can't repeatedly try over and over and over. By this admittance, we can assume it has many many parts, and that you can fail some parts. If you do fail, you cannot go back to try again, but perhaps a different objective is opened instead. So we can toss out any static quests that allow you to keep trying until you complete them.
Secondly, it will not be an obvious choice to make. We can assume, then, that any obvious Jedi references are right out. That's a near equivalent to simply opening up the option to become a Jedi on day one... it's still a silver platter.
Thirdly, it will not be something that you can do eventually. This, again, goes back to the first point, I believe. It will not be something you can do multiple times - there has to be some way to set you back.
(Which is also in line with the much earlier quotes that mention being disqualified. It wouldn't disqualify you from the system entirely, but perhaps disqualify you from a certain objective... or check on the list, if you will.)
Therefore, we can probably assume that maxing out your character is not a definite goal. It may be one of the objectives, but it is not a defining one, as it is something that, eventually, everyone will get.
Fourthly - potential. We can assume that it will not always be available for every combination of every class possible. If you were to surrender that Master Merchant and pick up some fighting skill, the potential is still there for you... just not at the time when you are a pure crafter class.
Considering the "Everyone can be president" analogy, it can only be true IF (blah blah)..... The fact that everyone can become Force Sensitive also could only be true IF you meet certain requirements.
It may be possible to do it if you are solely one type of class, but: (1) The Developers are banking on the fact that some players will not change their playstyle, (2) It is considered very hard, and very dangerous - it may be possible, but you may die many many many times attempting it.
I am going to assume that this is, at the least, a three-part system.
The first is to get acquainted with the world around you, and is necessary for everyone. These are the things that both sets of goals have in common:
Do terminal missions.
Upgrade your character to prepare for what will come later on.
Do NPC quests and missions.
Complete a theme park. (Either one on every planet, or just one - discrepancies exist.)
Travel some and get to know your way around the world.
The above steps, when completed, possibly open up a more advanced series of objectives, also able to be achieved by everyone:
Take part in the GCW - gain rank, try out the faction perks. (Did you know there were artisan, entertainer, and delivery faction missions? They take longer, but that goes along with the idea that powergamers will get it first. Casual players tend to shy away from combat.)
Advance your character. (Discrepancy: One goal list tells you to use all of your skill points. The other mentions mastering several professions. We'll take the compromise, and assume that at least one profession must be mastered.)
Have a home and declare a residence. Easy enough.
Become an active part of the economy, either by crafting or purchasing the items that artisans have crafted. As the system sends you an email whenever you purchase something from a vendor, and merchant xp is calculated by having people visit your vendor, this is easier to track than one might imagine.
Get badges. Not mentioned as directly in the email reference, but since badges are often given as a reward for missions/quests from NPCs, it was, in essence, mentioned. (This may be why people are so far off from the FS slot right now. Very few badges are known about, and two badges related to the story arc are available. This ties in with the idea that time is not the limiting factor, and also with the quote that they would like to delay the system indefinitely - if over 100 badges are, indeed, needed, this would place quite a bit of a delay in the hands of the developers.)
Join a PA - not mentioned specifically in the email, although later on it does mention that players are the best source of information. This may be an optional step: player interaction.
From here, it is very open-ended. However.... it is VERY dangerous. What, in game, is dangerous? This may clue us into what to do next...
Visiting and doing (something) on one of the Non-Starter cities such as Dantooine, Lok, Yavin 4, etc.
There could be tests to complete, dungeons to "finish", items to collect... it could be a lot of things. As I haven't quite reached this point with my characters, I'd like suggestions on parts of the game that this could be... Suggestions on what to do "now".
"Create a system that can't be ‘scooped’ and described on a spoiler site in detail. Again, I think this is covered in our current system. No two Jedi will have achieved that status in exactly the same way, and many players who become Jedi might not know exactly how they did so. Even if a player could pinpoint how she became a Jedi, there's no guarantee that another player would receive the title by following the same path." Haden, May 2001
The above quote is often mentioned whenever anyone lists a theory that has steps. I would like to point out that, at no time, does that quote specifically talk about Force Sensitivity... Just Jedi status.
Also, go look at the epic quest walk-through for any class in EQ. It is all exactly the same. The person you need always spawns at the same exact place, often on a cycle, you always get this certain item from them, etc. That is quite different from any system that involves unlocking steps, as this one does.
Analogies to consider:
Comparing the FS system to a recpie.
I'm sure that, at some point in time, all of you have cooked. With recipes, you always need to do one step before moving on to the next, or in the end, it will end up as a pile of inedible goop. If you do steps out of order, it may get equally as messy, and will be very difficult to discern where to go from your current point.
System of locking and unlocking certain checkpoints.
Have you ever read the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, when you were younger? I believe the FS path is very similar to that. If you take one path, you cannot go back and do something esle instead. As a developer stated about the FS system, "it is a definite progression".
Whew!
Ok, done ranting. Any opinions, or suggestions on what the checkpoints may be for the third step, in this theory? Any huge, gaping holes someone can point out for me?
" and two badges related to the story arc are available. "
Wait....huh? I thought there was only one for right now.
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Sylrus Legion
"The Smug Smuggler"
Do not expect to be applauded when you do the right thing, and do not expect to be forgiven when you err, but even your enemies will respect commitment, and a conscience at peace is worth a thousand tainted victories.
