Alignment and PFO

[Benoc]

I'm wondering what role alignment will have in-game. The FAQs say yes you can be a bad guy so alignment must be in the game, do you think it will be a static stat or dynamic like in the various Star Wars games. Will people of opposite alignments get to work together, be in the same guilds and more importantly have different missions. Thoughts?

[Scott Betts]

Benoc wrote:

I'm wondering what role alignment will have in-game. The FAQs say yes you can be a bad guy so alignment must be in the game, do you think it will be a static stat or dynamic like in the various Star Wars games. Will people of opposite alignments get to work together, be in the same guilds and more importantly have different missions. Thoughts?

I don't think that the ability to be a "bad guy" necessarily means the game will include an alignment mechanic.

[Onishi]

Scott Betts wrote:

I don't think that the ability to be a "bad guy" necessarily means the game will include an alignment mechanic.

No but there have been hints as to the possibility of an alignment system

Ryan Dancey wrote:

Consequences

If a character attacks another (assuming the two are not at War), several things happen:

* The attacking character's Alignment may shift
* If the victim dies from the attack, the attacker may be assigned a Bounty
* The attacker will be Flagged as a Criminal
* The members of the victim's Party, Settlement and Player Nation will be alerted to the attack if they are in the same Region and will be able to use Fast Travel to get to the battle site to render assistance quickly
* If the attack takes place in territory protected by a lawful, neutral or good NPC Faction, a team of NPC Marshals will be dispatched to destroy the criminal.

The intention of this design is to permit the potential for a player to attack another, but for the consequences of doing so to escalate the closer the attack occurs to territory that enforces laws against murder. At some point the speed of the retribution for such actions should discourage all but the most egregious criminal activity.

Player Settlements, of course, are responsible for enforcing law as they see fit. :)

[kryvnus]

I would assume that alignments will be a sliding scale for each axis that is affected by actions taken by the player. This would allow them to implement effects like detect good/evil and protection from good/evil. I could understand if they wanted to get rid of it altogether and allow individuals to define their own morality (and I'd welcome that) but they are probably likely to keep alignments in the game.

[HalfOrcHeavyMetal]

Something else to consider is that certain alignments might make players more or less vulnerable to certain NPC enemies and effects.

Evil Cleric uses Unholy Blight on a Good-aligned PC. "Ack! I'm dying!"

Evil Cleric uses Unholy Blight on a Neutral-aligned PC. "OWWWWW! Gods damn it, that hurt!"

Evil Cleric uses Unholy Blight on a Evil-aligned PC. "That was supposed to do ....?"

[LazarX]

Given that Pathfinder Online seems to be a Grey on Grey morality world, I really don't think that alignment SHOULD play a function in this game as opposed to social player on player interaction, given that this IS a game of PVP, and regional conflict.