On Bounty Hunters and Jedi

I have spent much of the last two years covering Star Wars Galaxies and interestingly enough I have never touched on the Bounty Hunter versus Jedi debate. Perhaps it's because one of my former colleagues was very opinionated on this issue (a little biased too towards Bounty Hunters). Maybe not. With a couple of recent changes, however, I felt it is time to weigh in.

I would first like to preface the rest of this article by saying this: I am not a Bounty Hunter or Jedi and I have no plan to become either. Historically, as well, I've held little to no interest in becoming either profession. Also, before it is raised, no one I know are Jedi or Bounty Hunters and they also have no intention of becoming either.

With that out of the way the real issue can be tackled here.

First of all, let's look at this problem historically. The development team at SOE had originally planned for Jedi's to be rare, but that didn't work out (in fact early in the game no one could actually become Jedi, period). Slowly, but surely, changes were put in place which allowed for Jedi's to exist, although rare.

Ultimately this early stage of Jedi was ideal. Jedi's were extremely rare not only in the server's data, but in appearance as well. There was serious, harsh penalties to Jedi death: skill box losses. Put aside that, simply becoming a Jedi took a very, very long time.

But of course this system was deemed unfair, and rightfully so.

This system did appeal to the hardcore gamers and really only them. A casual players aspirations to become Jedi, even if they put in a lot of work, were almost nil. It simply was not going to happen.

So the system changed and although it still does not appeal to casual gamers fully, it did meet some of their concerns. Namely, the hill did not seem so large anymore, we were told how it was done, so now it was at least "possible" in everyone's eyes.

It really shows now: Jedi are everywhere.

I will not, in this editorial, raise complaints on how wrong this is, when you consider the time line, but keep in mind that Jedi are still difficult to attain. Yes, you see plenty but these are folks who have worked tremendously hard to get to where they are and by all means they deserve it.

Now onto Bounty Hunters.

I was around since the very beginning, since beta, and obviously launch. Back then, I did know Bounty Hunters and I know it was a long, frustrating experience sometimes getting all those skill boxes to reach Master Bounty Hunter.

However, that was then and this is now.

Put aside the "re-spec Bounty Hunters" (those who used the skill re-spec given after the combat upgrade) the profession just isn't all that hard these days to level up and reach Master. If I wanted to I could probably reach Master Bounty Hunter in a month or so without too many problems. A new player, perhaps, would take two or three months. No matter which number you use - even if it's longer, perhaps 6 months - one thing does remain: Jedi's worked harder for their profession.

Put aside my opinion that Bounty Hunters shouldn't be able to take bounties on Jedi (I'll save that argument for another day) players should be rewarded based on the amount of work that they put in. This is exactly the rationale in most MMORPGs with levels but more specifically raid loot. If you put in the hours to reach that level cap, or near it, then work yourself into a raiding guild, spend the hours organizing and then raiding, then you should be rewarded as such.

With all of that said, why should the Bounty Hunter be more effective [in combat] and have so many more pros then Jedi (read: high tier loot only available to them) when it only takes a much smaller amount of time to level?

I want to clarify something right now: contrary to what I just wrote, I don't believe Jedi deserve the best loot in the game (that is just unreasonable). Do I believe Jedi's should be the most powerful class in the game, within reason? Absolutely: they spent a year or more grinding out the character so they deserve some tangible advantage in return.

So do I favour the Jedi? I suppose. But I believe this is the only rational way to look at this enigma of a situation that still hasn't been addressed. I understand completely that there needs to be methods of keeping the Jedi population in check but what is in place right now doesn't seem to work, and there are a few reasons for that.

Since Jedi skill box loss was removed, the Jedi population has grown larger and larger. Subsequently the Bounty Hunter population has grown larger and larger. This situation has a major difficulty besides not keeping the Jedi population under control: it has the capability of turning a significant portion of the population into either Jedi's, or more likely, Bounty Hunters. Especially with the loot that Bounty Hunters are receiving these days. In addition, we still see a high Jedi population so that problem hasn't been addressed. Also strengthening Bounty Hunters, which seems to be common, isn't solving the problem either.

Perhaps Bounty Hunter's need new tools to cut down on the Jedi population. Who knows? But given the reason why skill box loss was removed [for Jedi's] don't count on any new tools in the foreseeable future.

Not only that but every second of every minute of every hour that Star Wars Galaxies runs on the servers the story of Star Wars is slowly being eroded. Yes, we must allow that there was in fact Jedi after the "Jedi purge" as illustrated in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith but they were in fact hiding, out of sight and not battling in the space ports of Theed and Coronet.

But is all of this bad?

I've heard discussions for months and months that the timeline of Star Wars Galaxies needs to move forward, which would solve the lore-breaking aspects of the current Jedi population. In accordance to the Expanded Universe, which most of you should be well versed in, there are plenty of Jedi and what we see is allowed. This is in fact one thing I wouldn't be surprised to see in the future, perhaps in the next two or three expansions.

Put aside the lore-breaking aspects that I have been so famously known for to defend there are ways to fix the whole Jedi versus Bounty Hunter debacle that is fair to all parties involved.

As I have stated before I believe work put in should equate reward received. With this in mind, there are ways to re-work the Bounty Hunter profession in order to allow what we're seeing [Jedi bounties], though this is most likely going to be unpopular. What I propose is to perhaps allow for Bounty Hunters to take Jedi missions only when they have put in sufficient work, relative to what a Jedi had to do.

So how is this done?

A long-winded "Bounty Hunter quest" perhaps is one way to answer it. Make it similar to a trials of such. First have the Bounty Hunters grind (and yes we love this word) for a year or so on NPC and eventually PC missions before Jedi missions open up. To me this, or something very similar, is the only way I can justify the Bounty Hunter's strength relative to that of the Jedi (which is a big problem still since the Bounty Hunter's have a distinct power advantage over the Jedi).

Though before we read into any of this in great length what needs to be focused on, in my mind, is for Jedi's to be balanced in proportion to Bounty Hunter's and I'm the wrong guy to ask about that. If it were up to me, Jedi's, not surprisingly, would be stronger than Bounty Hunters.

After all, wielding the lightsabre and controlling the force should give a distinct advantage, shouldn't it?