A War On All Fronts: A Preview of the new GCW

Intro​

The Galactic Civil War is a core part of the story of Star Wars, and in SWG, it's the best example of what a sandbox game can be. It's part of a persistent world, it's never a linear, repeated experience, and it's completely player driven in a way that will create unique stories that can only happen in a game like this. Systems like this have a chance to provide never-ending, ever changing things to do, in a community driven way. No heroics, no theme parks, no battlefields ever can hope to achieve that. That's why the GCW is so critical to getting right. It's one of the pillars of SWG, and it's time to expand that experience to as many people as we can.

In this Developer Diary, we'll be sharing the full scope of changes that are coming this year to the GCW, why we've decided to pour everything into this update, and why we're excited for everyone to be able to play it.

History​

Star Wars Galaxies, and especially SWG Restoration, has had a lot of GCW updates.

Our server began with the system that we inherited from SOE: The galaxy map is divided into regions, and people could increase the control of their faction by earning GCW points or being flagged for PvP while in one of those regions. There wasn't much on the other end of this though: Control levels affected world spawns of NPCs, prices on factional vendors, and occasionally travel cost penalties for officers of the opposing faction. That's really about it. It did add the feeling that your actions had an impact on the world, but that impact was mostly just a 1v1 leaderboard. Basically all of the rewards were in the individual GCW officer ranks that your GCW points went to, rather than derived from their impacts on the region scores.

With Publish 1.1, we went in a new direction. We wanted the state of the war to really matter beyond symbols on a map. We wanted to create a real competition between factions, something that would actually give people something to fight over. We wanted to reward that hard fought competition with huge, highly limited bonuses. We wanted to create an actual war between factions that would require coordination and cooperation within those communities to win out.

We achieved those goals, and more… but obviously, that's not where the story ends.

The strengths of this system were also its biggest weaknesses. This system gave something for people to fight over, so much so that they would actively avoid any of the actual intended game mechanics that were meant to drive it; they would just optimize for whatever could bring victory with the least resistance, even if it wasn't fun. The rewards from the system were so powerful that a single player could carry a team, and it would inevitably snowball that into a faction full of Generals; this made them nearly unbeatable on the battlefield, and prevented those limited slots from being earned by the other side. The war between factions truly felt like a war, with innumerable players losing sleep, friends, sanity, and patience with the game (not to mention the developers). The system created some of the highest highs of the server, the most fun that the game could have… but the ever present pendulum would inevitably swing to the lowest of lows, too.

What followed was a series of updates, patches, tweaks, and redesigns, all to attempt to shore up those weaknesses. We improved the incentives, we constrained the environments, we did as much as we could to ensure that PvP combat was as central as possible to the game mode (since PvP is fun!). It has helped the GCW remain relevant and central to the game for all this time, but the core weaknesses remain, because they are inextricably linked to the central mechanics that also make it work. Meanwhile, the game mode excludes many of the people that would otherwise get the most out of it. Not everyone plays this game for PvP, and those that do hate it even more when others get PvP benefits without the actual PvP.

Sometimes, the high highs are worth the low lows. Sometimes, forcing people into content they wouldn't try otherwise can lead to discovering something they actually end up loving. After two years though, the system remains as polarizing as ever, and isn't really living up to what we know it could.

So, it's time to change it up again. The original SOE design had a lot of the right ideas, but was obviously far, far too shallow. This next Publish is returning to some of those ideas, but with a sweeping new system that's even bigger than before.

Goals​

Our primary goals for this update are as follows:

• Open it up: Expand the participation in the update to people of all playstyles, rather than keeping it constrained as a PvP-only feature. You should be able to find a way to contribute to the war as a casual, a degenerate, a crafter, or an entertainer. Let all sorts of players contribute equally, communally, towards their common goals
• Fix the incentives: Winning the war should not snowball the faction. Rewards shouldn't be limited to very few players, and come with game-warping power. Galactic domination should come as a result of things people actually want to do, rather than be the only reward that actually matters. Create forward progress and momentum, never allowing actions to completely nullify progress made previously.
• Preserve what works best: A desperate call for help that turns into a big group battle. A coordinated effort to make huge gains on a planet. Finally winning a weeks-long struggle over the galaxy. Swinging back the pendulum when it seemed like all hope was lost. Recruiting new people and turning them into loyal soldiers.
• Add tons of new content: There should be lots of ways to build up factional power across all the planets, for all different playstyles. All that content should be focused on actually being fun and rewarding on its own, and different enough each time to keep feeling fresh.
• Bring more thematic and story elements: The Rebellion should feel like rebels, and the Imperials should feel like an empire. The reason for a dynamic system like this is to create more opportunities for players to create their own story, and for those moments to have a lasting impact on the history of the server…

What's Going Away​

Before sharing what's new, there's some important context about what mechanics no longer apply in the new system if you've participated in it before:

Officer ranks and control score​

Our goal with officer ranks is mainly to remove the limited slots and complex mechanics so that everyone can progress their characters. The Officer Ranks will now be a shared way for everyone to represent their commitment to their faction, and there will be other ways to specialize within that (more on this in the next section).

1. Officer ranks will now be gained regardless of planetary/region control status, and there will be no limits to the number of players at each rank.
2. Players no longer elect to defend a region, or see declared regions.
3. Armor bonuses from officer ranks will be removed, and weapon bonuses reduced.
4. Players will no longer be forced to be SF or On Leave as an officer.
5. Power levels and placement of officer rank abilities are lowered.
6. Comlink devices to call NPCs will be disabled.

Zone control mechanics​

Planets and region scores are simple in their mechanics but complex in their results. Things like "entrenchment", having to dump massive effort in to earn a couple percentage points, and everything coming down to a 51/49 split are the main things we wanted to address. In addition, we want to ensure that zone control is the result of gameplay, rather than the goal itself. These changes set the stage for new mechanics described in the next section.

1. Planets and regions will no longer be driven by a percentage-based score for each side. Instead it will just use the raw scores that keep going up for each faction (you'll see why below).
2. Watchtowers will no longer grant passive score while controlled, nor give out tokens, and instead will just be used to make bases go vulnerable.
3. Bases will no longer block scoring for the opposite faction, but passively score for the owning faction instead (more below).
4. Destroying/defending a base will no longer grant any control points.
5. PvP kills will no longer grant any control points.
6. Scores will no longer decay every week, but reset on specific occasions (more below).

Planetary Vulnerability​

Vulnerability and planet selection was a fun strategic part of the war, but with the expanding nature of the war, we needed to adjust how these work in order to allow for more multi-pronged strategies.

1. Instead of one or two planets being exclusively vulnerable to control score changes, all seven planets are active.
2. Planets will no longer be voted on in order to be assaulted- it will happen automatically based on some rules (next section). This will no longer be referred to as a "vulnerable planet", but an "engaged" one.

With all this, the stage is set for a new Galactic Civil War….

The New War​

Enough introduction. Let's finally dig into what this new system is about:

I. Factional Power​

Rebels and Imperials earn points towards Factional Power in each region (as before). However, instead of it being a binary control with entrenchment displayed as a percentage where the only thing that matters is 51%, it is instead shown as two competing scores. Points will accrue on all planets at once (no more vulnerability windows), at various rates, as players play the game and contribute in a wide variety of ways. Things like invasions, rotating open world PvP zones, (new), delivery and interception missions (new), faction mission terminals, intelligence and counterintelligence (new), space battles, and more all contribute to factional power on those planets.

Each side's power level can grow at the same time, which means exactly what you think it means: each side is getting stronger and stronger, fighting over the same area, until it hits a breaking point.

The overall goal for each side is to reach a cap of 1 million* total power on at least four of the seven planets before the other faction does. This will be a sum of all the points on each region in a system.

II. Crackdowns and Uprisings​

Every Sunday, at 7pm GMT (the current GCW reset time), each faction will begin their next assault. These assaults have unique effects for each faction, affecting both the current scores on each planet and also the rates that those scores accumulate in the future.

The Empire sees the rebellion growing like a weed, and has the ability to initiate Crackdowns on 2* planets a week. Crackdowns reduce the Rebel power score on that planet by a fixed amount (i.e., 100,000*) and a temporary 1.5x* scoring bonus for Imperials that week.** However, these crackdowns foment dissent among the galaxy. Each planet that did not have a crackdown receives a small permanent boost to Rebel scoring after the week concludes. This is called the Dissent Bonus.

The Rebellion sparks an uprising on 1* new planet every week. An uprising on a planet grants a one-time bonus of points (i.e., 200,000*), and also a temporary 2x* bonus to all Rebel scoring on that planet for the week.** However, this Empire propaganda material and political power to fight their terrorism, which gives them a large permanent bonus to scoring there going forward. This is called the Propaganda Bonus.

** These one-sided temporary bonuses will only apply to non-competitive, non-event-based content. For example, space battles won't be affected by them, but faction missions will. This is to prevent any "content denial" incentives that might discourage people from participating if it meant a higher score for the other side.


Every week, each military decides on the planet(s) to initiate a crackdown or uprising on. This is determined automatically with the following process (not voted on):

1. Imperial crackdowns rely on ISB intel to determine the most valuable targets each week. Each planet has an intel meter that fills each week as players complete intel missions (new). At the end of the week, the Empire will select the 2* most valuable targets from among the planets which filled their intel meters. However, there's a wrinkle…
2. Rebels can work to fill counterintelligence meters on other planets, also through intel missions. If a planet has a full counterintelligence meter, then Imperials may see that planet as a valuable target to crack down on, even if it is not. Imperials will always select at least one genuinely valuable target, and then the other(s) will be influenced by counterintelligence. Since they are not guaranteed to work, if unselected, the counterintel meters will remain filled for the next week.
3. After Imperials begin their crackdown, Rebels will initiate an uprising on whichever planet it is strongest, but can't repeat the same planet twice in a row, and they can't select a planet that is being cracked down on by the Empire. If a planet has 80%+* Rebel cap, or 100% enemy cap, or was selected the previous week, the next strongest planet will be selected.

This creates a push and pull, where Imperials try to stomp out the resistance that is growing on the planets before they reach the cap, and the Rebels work to distract them as they work towards their true goals and earn bonuses on their targeted planets. The bonuses from each week keep stacking, and the net result is that eventually planets will have such high bonuses that scoring accrues faster and faster, until planets hit the max score and one side claims victory.

*All numbers are subject to change and should be treated as placeholders. We will run simulations and do heavy heavy testing to make sure this is mathematically balanced and fair. In addition, the week-end bonuses will include a self-balancing mechanic which evaluates the past week's scores and adjusts the applied bonuses to give extra help to the underdog faction that week.

A [REDACTED] event occurs when one faction reaches 4* planets with max score, giving them a themed event which will have a lasting impact on the game. After the event, all the planet scores will be reset, and the next arc will begin.

III: [REDACTED] events​

No it's not really called Redacted, but these events intentionally have some explanation gaps. Some details will be revealed later, some will always remain undisclosed.

[REDACTED] events are the ultimate goal for each faction. Once a faction ends a week with four or more planets in their control, a [REDACTED] event occurs. These are story-based, server-wide events that represent a climax in the war. A turning point, where the tensions building in the galaxy spill over into a conflict that has permanent consequences.

These events will come in a few different flavors, depending on which planets were claimed, and which side won. These events will be centered around one specific planet, will change the mechanics of the game in some way for that week, and have a new weeklong challenge for each faction. Some examples might be:

• Imperials have instituted Martial Law on Corellia and laid claim to all resources on the planet. Transport and delivery missions pay out double.
• Naboo's royal family has pledged public support for the Rebellion and the Empire wants to make an example of them. Invasions run 24/7 in Keren.

At the end, participating players will earn large bounties of GCW tokens and such, but the larger bonus will be paid to the faction that earned the event in the first place.

And finally, after every [REDACTED] event occurs, a new cycle will begin. The scars from the previous cycle will not go away quickly though. At the beginning of every cycle (which we expect to be every 2-3 months), the following will apply:

1. A small scoring bonus will be applied to a planet, for the next cycle, for the faction that won
2. A new entry on “memorials” that will be placed in major cities in each planet, documenting the events and the officers at the time
3. Mysterious, permanent impact on the world, signifying the scars that were left by the battles, and the faction that was responsible for it. There will be lots of ways this manifests, and it will be up to players to discover. These will not impact the balance of the GCW, and should be seen more as world building.

IV: How Points Are Earned​

By Playing The Game.

Since this system no longer directly impacts PvP, the ways to achieve score are also no longer tied to PvP. Basically anything faction and location related will contribute to scores. These include:

• Participating in or winning a new open world, rotating PvP zone
• Participating in or winning a Space Battle
• Participating in the build phase of an Invasion
• Participating in or winning an Invasion (which will be just PvE focused now)
• Running a factional terminal mission
• Completing a Restuss quest
• Running an intel or counterintel mission (new entertainer-enabled missions)
• Generating supplies for the Empire/Rebellion (new crafting missions)
• Transporting supplies to another location (new space/ground, PvE/PvP missions)
• Intercepting supplies being transported (PvP-only aspect of transport missions)
• Anything else GCW-related we add now and in the future

You may have noticed there's some new stuff in there! We'll be sharing more about Restoration's new PvP zones and Supply missions at a later date.

All these point earners will be balanced as best as possible to ensure that no one or two methods are able to outpace all the others, or that any form of farming will become dominant over event-based group content. The goal is that there's a mix of things to do at all times, whether you want to group up and push forward on a new planet or hop into whatever is happening at the moment.

One other thing to highlight:

Factional bases​

Player placed bases will be the primary passive scoring mechanisms now. In addition, PvE bases will return. PvE bases will be bolstered with turrets, while PvP bases will retain shields. Both bases will grant passive point ticks to the region they are placed in, only one of each type (PvP/PvE) can be placed in a region at a time, and a player can only place one base. PvP bases will score at twice* the rate as PvE bases.

Base vulnerability will be controlled through the Watchtowers on each planet. There will be one PvE and one PvP Watchtower. The towers must be controlled for a certain amount of time by a faction in order to unlock access to a base on that planet (flipping back and forth won't reset each side's progress, but the progress requirement will be much longer– several hours). All watchtowers will be active at the same time, but will not grant payouts for guarding them.

V: Balancing Mechanics and Mercenary Helpers​

The big risk with this system is that one side has a really slow start, and then it's far too difficult to catch up. And of course, player base participation and population will play a sizable role. So, catchup/underdog mechanics will again play a part in this. The permanent bonuses that apply at the end of each week (Dissent and Propaganda) will be initially balanced mathematically: Dissent will give a 20% bonus to 5 planets and Propaganda will give a 100% bonus to 1 planet. However, those will be adjusted based on that week's total point accumulation by each side. If one side earned far fewer than the other, their bonus will be larger going forward.

In addition, Faction Mercenaries will have a much bigger part to play. New dynamic missions available exclusively to neutral players will pay well for:

1. Flagging up and getting PvP kills for the side that has fewer people online
2. Earning points through PvP zones/invasions/missions/etc on the side that's losing galaxy-wide

The rewards may also scale with the amount that that side is behind. These mercenary missions will grant credits and Mercenary tokens that can be used to purchase smuggled GCW gear on the black market, from a certain shady pirate. For the scoundrels out there that have no loyalty to faction or friend, and just looking out for their own skin, this is your way in.

Bringing it all together​

This is obviously a massive overhaul, and might be hard to recognize at first. The game is going to look very different both from all these new mechanics, new progression systems, and also just all of the new content to participate in.

That said, if you did enjoy parts of the outgoing system, there are more similarities than you might realize:

1. There's going to be a rotating "hot spot" that encourages flagging up. It's just going to be in the new rotating PvP zones, or in Restuss, which will actually have more things to do than just stand around.
2. There are still going to be calls for help and spontaneous group fights. Base busts and delivery interceptions are still going to create opportunities for people to group up and earn points, or stop others from doing so. They're just going to be things that happen in between other activities, and the consequences won't be quite as drastic.
3. There's still gonna be "active planets", but they're going to be determined by the Rebel and Imperial weekly score bonuses; that's where they will want to focus their efforts each week, and it will keep shifting to keep things fresh
4. There better not be any content denial. All power score mechanisms should simply reward participation and winning objectives. Event-based scores (like space battles) should be more impactful than things that you can grind, as well, so dodging those won't be efficient. Participation bonuses will increase the more players exist *on both sides*. If there's even a hint of content denial that scoring will be swiftly removed.
5. There will still be PvP-specific ranks, but they will be separate from the GCW, so that it can also tie into things like RvB Battlefields, Bounty Hunting, and even Guild Wars. This isn't the focus of this Developer Diary, but here's what you need to know for now:
   1. All PvP activities will earn a new type of PvP Prestige XP. There will not be any other way to earn this rank.
   2. That XP will advance you on a seasonal ladder, with individual ranks and tiers with different rates of progression and decay.
   3. The top rank can only be earned by one player at a time across the entire server
   4. The higher your rank, the more PvP-specific rewards are earned, from combat strength to exclusive vanity titles and cosmetics, group buffs, and advantages with PvP objectives.
   5. Above a certain tier, you'll be flagged for PvP at all times.

The goals changed, and the ways to reach those goals changed, but the content is going to be the same or better. If we did it right, that's all that should matter. Most importantly, this can be something that anyone can get involved in, not just people who hate themselves enough to PvP.