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Let us change our Species for Zen
laro1984
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
First i appologize if this is the wrong forum wasnt shure were to post the idea.
Like written in the Titel i had the idea that it should be possible to change the players species, since from time to time Cryptic release new species it would be nice to give us the possibility to change them so we dont need to lvl everything again, iam not speaking about xp more about doffing reputation and so on
. Then we can play the Species we wanted to play from beginning but cant because it wasnt released back then.
It could cost some Zen (1k or so?) so we dont do it every hour or so.
Like written in the Titel i had the idea that it should be possible to change the players species, since from time to time Cryptic release new species it would be nice to give us the possibility to change them so we dont need to lvl everything again, iam not speaking about xp more about doffing reputation and so on
. Then we can play the Species we wanted to play from beginning but cant because it wasnt released back then.It could cost some Zen (1k or so?) so we dont do it every hour or so.
Post edited by laro1984 on
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I agree it be nice but probably more trouble then it's worth.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
Would be a good selling feature, I am sure. I have a couple of characters that are on hold and waiting for deleting. If I could buy a race change token I would likely buy that and change the character.
it is more complicated: all the informations about your toon is linked with his specie
You select a Faction.
You select a Species, Gender, and Career.
Think about what's restricted or tied to each of those, yeah?
Since this is about Species...
Appearance and Traits, eh?
Reset any stored costume slots (different species may have different options, so they would have to be reset to some sort of default for the species which should already exist since the species already exists).
Remove all traits tied to the old species. Add all traits tied to the new species.
Whatever the various dialogue options and the rest that might vary by species would check the new species just like it checked the old species, no?
Neither Species nor Gender, imvho, have the sheer number of issues that would be involved in trying to change Faction or Career (those just look like unbelievable nightmares).
Each time this one comes up, I'm just trying to picture how the container was created where Species/Gender has been made into this near impossible task. Don't get me wrong, would have to figure it would be an expensive option in the store...25, 30, or more...which could probably be why it wouldn't be done, cause folks probably simply wouldn't be willing to pay that much for it in sufficient numbers to justify the work done on it.
also re-boxing lockbox ships for 1000 zen +1
rubble rubble rubble..............
But that would probably break the game. I get it.
Race and gender? I don't think it's easier, but it's a lot less consequential.
There's no particular reason why it would have to be an expensive option. Like everything else in the C-Store, it would have exactly the price the company wants it to have. If they thought making it cheap will produce more revenue through volume, then they'd make it cheap.
I know I have two toons I'd like to switch to Alien...
but what virusdancer said
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
I've been wanting to have a vulcan on my crew, but my bridge officers are pretty bad at being vulcan in most of their dialogue. My captain would do a better job of it if I could change her from Betazoid to Vulcan.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=12376501&postcount=11
"our Species data is not currently set up in a way that would allow this to happen" is saying its impossible
Especially for faction changes, it would also introduce a monumental amount of bugs, the likes of which we've never seen before: costume errors, ship-access errors, unopened item-box errors, console-access errors, etc, etc. *shudder*
However that does bring us back to getting a better engine and dropping a years worth of season dev on porting to an engine that bloody works.
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
he said the data structures won't allow it (its impossible), then waved his hands about one day maybe
its entirely possible: create new toon, replay past purchases (ignore unqualifying), replay unlocks, replay accolades, etc, copy new toon over old toon. they just don't want to do it
When I first started this game I was using the boffs they give you at the beginning, including the vulcan science officer. She talked like a vulcan during the tutorial, but then they started using the standard comm officer dialog for her and it was jarring.
Then, a few months later, I created a KDF-Trill and everyone talked to him as if he were Klingon and all his Lethean and Nausicaan boffs talked like they were Klingon. Oh well.
A Faction change is much more complicated as it would very likely force a Species change, and also all ships you have that wouldn't be eligible for the switch. Not to mention restricted gear, and Accolades earned from playing episodes from your previous Faction.
Career change, I imagine, would be a big headache to do, but there's still an issue of Accolades earned from your previous Career. And I don't think resetting the Accolades would be a viable answer here, because, well, it beats the purpose.
STO Screenshot Archive
It comes down to cost-benefit analysis - how much work would it take to do this, and is the payoff worth the effort.
The answer for this one, so far, appears to be "lots" and "no".
I think the costume data is where it gets messy. They lack tech to delete or reset saved costumes and that would probably require a lot of work and a lot of risk with corrupted data.
Which is why I've always suggested linking trait loadouts to costume and making species change a "per costume" feature. There are actually new systems and features you can develop based on that.
It would still be a ton of work but it would be a ton of work that creates new systems and types of purchases.
No. Key part of why I say no, "making species change a per costume feature". This is one of the things that would make leave STO.
This. This I agree with. Maybe add any races that don't have racial outfits too.
Why would that make you do that?
There is a few reason, not sure if I can put it into words but I will try one.
A few people like to talk about Cryptic's "greed". Turning races, what I think is a big part of a character into the same thing as costumes is a line too far for me and yes I know you can bring up Alien characters but it is not the same.
Your idea takes away the meaning of picking a race. I would rather see race matter more. If race did ever become a "per costume" kind of deal I would take it as a sign that Cryptic's "greed" won and my dream is dead.
I knew bring up "Cryptic greed" would rerail the topic. Poor choice of words on my part. It is not a case of Cryptic's greed winning as much as it is a sign that race is now pointless.
Well, it depends on what the model is.
I'm thinking of races being handled more like bridge officer skills.
You unlock a qualification for a race. You go into the tailor. You select a costume slot. You select one of the races you have unlocked on a given captain.
You then get costume choices and, on the last tailor screen, a trait loadout option for the costume.
One thing by tying traits into the last tailor screen is that you can make traits that are tied into costume choices which makes costume more meaningful.
From there, for example, you could perhaps lax up on something like swimwear getting restricted to Risa. But your trait choices get influenced by the fact you're wearing swimwear. You're not going to be rated for cold resistance or a number of combat traits. You may, on the other hand, get a confuse or distract trait option that you don't normally get.
The traits selection would be the last tailor screen and would inherit trait options from both the species of the costume slot and the costume slot type.
You selected "Human" on the species screen and then "Cold Weather Gear" as the costume type? You get the option for cold resist trait.
The species would unlock one set of trait options. The costume type (or dare I suggest individual costume pieces -- for non-combat status) would unlock one set of trait options. Then your pool of traits could come from a combination of species, costume type, and unlocked traits.
Builds could be designed around synergies. So maybe anyone gets a "bonus to mind meld" when wearing a Vulcan robe as an option but a Vulcan in the robe has a build with synergy.
if you rush in and create a character without thinking it through realise you are going to be stuck with your choices or forced to loose much or all of the progress you have made or be stuck with a character you are not entirely happy with.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
I was perfectly fine and satisfied with my character choices.... 5 years ago.
But since then my preferences have changed, and I wish I could actually switch gender without having to start over and loosing all my character progression, especially since some Accolades are "impossible" to obtain on new characters.
I don't expect a simple species change for ZEN based on Bort's comments because you're talking about a season's worth of work for a lateral move.
But if you can come up with a new feature that would involve the same or marginally more work that would create new systems, new sales opportunities, grow sales, and/or conveniently mesh with other design objectives, I think some form of this can happen.
Part of the problem with a basic species change in the standard MMO WoW form is that it's a niche purchase... and it's either a one time sale (in which case it's hard to pay for the amount of labor it would take to redo the game DB) or it's something you buy all the time (in which case as a $10-25 service, it's highway robbery from the player POV -- and that's what a traditional species change would probably cost).
I think the approach needs to be, mechanically, for it to be like the new bridge officer skills in that you get "qualified" for a species and can switch between species an individual captain is "qualified" for. This is a make or break thing from a game design standpoint as I see it from the outside. It can't be a one time sale. You need people without alts to collect multiple species options on a single captain from a finance standpoint and you need it to be something that can be hotswapped between once unlocked from a player value standpoint if you intend to make it desirable to routinely change species.
So with that as a mechanical must, you have to design the system and the lore around that. I'd probably package it in game as "Species Infiltration Qualifications" or something like that and package it like the Enterprise Incident/Reunification, etc. But in practice, it's a species change. Thing is, if you're going to allow someone to routinely reassign their species, the lore mechanic that supports this is going down to sickbay or a Garak style tailor and having the doctor change your species.
From a mechanical standpoint, costumes are an issue which is why I favor trait loadouts and species selection by costume slot.
So if your human unlocks Bajoran then, they can flag any costume slot as either human OR Bajoran (with the appropriate restrictions in place) and once they select the species for that costume slot, they can select the traits for that costume slot before confirming their costume. And they can change the between unlocked species at no additional fee but the incentive will be to collect more costume slots and more species unlocks. You might limit the advanced tailor features to a special tailor NPC in sickbay who upgrades a costume slot into a full trait and species loadout slot and offers new species choices.