The Perfect Weapon
This is a repost from six months ago, when I left due to the poor state of tradeskillz. I've noticed that though many things have been changed for the better, this item is still an issue...
Originally posted by Yeshua <--ME! Now Moesis
"The perfect weapon
There has been a lot of talk lately about possible ways to improve the trade skills.
Many people have brought up the fact that Funcom claimed that players would not have to kill MOBs or NPCs to be a functioning member of the AO community. I can remember something on the box about being able to role-play as an ordinary citizen of Rubi-Ka. Well, as it stands, this is hardly the case. Everyone who plays has to kill in order to advance at reasonable pace. The game is heavily biased in favor of players who would prefer to kill. Any true pursuit of trade skills is a side note to the “main event”. This boxed in approach to role-playing is not only suffocating, but contrary to what was promised by Funcom as well. The concept of role-play needs to be broadened. Why have even 100 different professions, if ultimately we are all really just assassins. I want to be creative, constructive, connected. I want to fabricate the perfect weapon, and stamp my name on it, so everyone will know! I want to make armor that an enforcer would KILL for. I don’t want to grab a recipe book, and drudge around looking for parts to make a weapon that no one wants. The approach that Funcom has taken toward trade skills doesn’t do them justice. There is great potential, but they haven’t scraped the surface. Funcom has the ability and the framework to do something extraordinary with AO.
If we consider the way that implants are made, we can see the framework that I’m speaking of. There are a number of implants, and each has three (3) slots (faded, bright, and shinning). There are several different clusters that can go in each of these slots dependant upon the implant itself, and all of this is governed by a simple QL system. The resulting implant is modified by what is put into it. There is no “Recipe Book” for a “Shinning E=mc^ Head Implant”. Players are required to use their creativity and work through the problem to make something that is useful out of raw materials. In the same way, the processes for weapon, armor, robot, and clothing manufacture could be modified to allow for the same amount, if not even more freedom. Imagine being able to obtain a QL 100 rifle construction kit. It has 5 slots, because it’s a “big old riffle”, (the pistol kits only have 3 slots, shotguns have 4). You have several different parts that can be put into the slots, and each part modifies the attributes of the riffle in some way. Maybe you want longer range, so you put on a “high accuracy barrel” in the barrel slot. Perhaps, you want more power, so you slap in a “nano regulated high pressure compression chamber”. Each of the components have to be a certain QL, just like implants and clusters, but the finished product would be something more than any other RP game has ever provided. Players would no longer simply interact with the simulation; they would have the ability to actively change their world through the act of creation.
This level of interaction could be incorporated into all kinds of trade skill processes, and it would revolutionize the player’s experience. I envision an entire trade community dedicated to improving on weapons and armor designs. Clothing guilds that feed the growing fashion community. Engineers that actually engineer devices, instead of simply manufacturing them, according to specifications.
I am not a programmer, at least not in RL. However, I wouldn’t think that these ideas should be so hard to implement. Like I said, the frame is already there. Funcom just has to put some flesh on the bones. More “good” content is always desirable, and this level of interaction would make a lot of people very happy.
BTW, why not put me on payroll, I’d love to make real money for ideas like this..."
You can go here to view the original thread...
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...0&pagenumber=1
Great idea!
) but It´s boring as hell to see another soldier with a div-9, or another fixer/doc/trader with a manex (FC don´t nerf them cause I said this please!!!), and the list goes on.
Hmmm
ok
