Indeed, this was requested during both test phases, why is it still 1035?

A few surprises, no extra floor though And please raise the hook count

Mark my words, if they add it I'll be in here thanking them on my knees and proclaiming to all that I was wrong

As expected. This next post is my final PTS review and I'm sorry to say it's not a positive one. As such I've used spoiler tags to hide it so you can easily scroll past it if you wish to. If you do decide to take a look at my mad ramblings, you've been warned!

I have said this before, and I’ll say it again. Expecting impactful changes was always a dream, and I’m sorry to say it to those who wish for a second floor and more rooms like me but it’s not going to happen, stop dreaming. What we have aside from a few hook changes is what we get. I also don’t think Eric is to blame, this feedback idea may very well be his and he tried to get our voices heard, so kudos. I also think it’s not the stronghold developers fault. The release date for this stronghold has probably been planned loooong ago, deadlines. They need to release a certain amount of content with their next story patch, and leaving this stronghold out might make that seem too light. Now, I think the premature release of this stronghold is a mistake, and not just cause in it’s present form it is disappointing to me. An Alderaan Palace has been pointed out since strongholds began (feel free to check my post history). I too would have liked the main hall to be twice as big like Coruscant, or see that second floor, or at the very least a corridor with some more side rooms from the elevator. If there’s one stronghold that really had to be a hit it’s this one. Feedback on most issues is left ignored, the second floor has been the most requested feature. Question now is, why even get feedback if there wouldn’t be time for major changes people would like to see? The only message this sends is, ultimately your voices do not matter. The signal this sends to the decorating community is horrible. This stronghold’s release needs to be pushed back and have some of these issues addressed. Making a statement you’re delaying it cause you want to do right by the community will serve you well not just with decorators but a wider audience. People (and I’m throwing my hat in too) have already said they’d pay more if it means getting the stronghold later with added features so more $$$. Also bigger strongholds mean more deco’s needed, more bundles sold, more $$$. I hope whoever set this release date sees there’s merit in reconsidering and allow it to be postponed.

3 more bugs Northern Lodging central floor hook, whatever you put down there, it doesn't show. No tiles, no carpet, nada. The corridor right outside Northern Lodging some Alderaan floor medallions don’t show properly, as you can see in the screenshot below I placed 2 in the same corridor for comparison, one to the back is fine, the one In the front is not. There are no elevations to account for this. https://imgur.com/43veVSH Taking a look out the window and you can see the door and any deco's you placed there. https://i.imgur.com/r7CXB5F.png I also thought I’d include a picture of the now-famous bugged door. https://i.imgur.com/gvOwmm3.png Places for additional hook placement Northern Lodging also has one corner that doesn’t have a small hook, all the others do but this one is the only one left out. Can we remedy this please? https://i.imgur.com/HodWiLN.jpg There are currently no hooks on the bridge or before it on either side. This would be a perfect spot for banners, guards, lights, twi’lek dancers, please add some medium-rare or medium hooks here, please. https://i.imgur.com/QOa6JeV.jpg At the front of the staircase towards the entrance, there are currently no hooks, I believe both on the ground as on the elevated railing we would benefit from some medium narrow hooks and a medium one on the ground in the middle. https://i.imgur.com/etVS9gl.png Same here, medium narrow hooks where the arrows are, why medium narrow and not small, keeping the options open, a lot of deco’s need at least medium narrow to work, and we can convert them to small. This essentially goes for the whole front stairway to the entrance, medium narrow https://i.imgur.com/FsSfHDm.png Don’t get me wrong, If there was ever a stronghold where less can be more it’s this one, excellent architectural details, but to me places like this need hooks, I want the option. 2 plants to the side for example. This place could use some medium hooks. A floor hook wouldn’t be a bad idea either, think of how nice a tile would be there to cover some of that concrete. https://i.imgur.com/kw2Tvfs.png Not a single hook in sight. Medium hooks would be welcome along the road, medium narrow, or small hooks would be an asset in the water, won’t someone please think of my Giz’ka! https://i.imgur.com/E1lngV9.jpg My Agent and troopers would approve of centerpiece hooks here, just sticking out a little to be clickable. I always imagined a valley with such an esteemed/reviled resident would need to be well defended. You could put anti air turrets or other weaponry here, rakata ruins, a training arena, the list goes on. These areas already look fairly flat so adding a hook should be doable no? https://i.imgur.com/hos9LlW.jpg A popular request, this place could use a large wall hook. https://i.imgur.com/9bZ31Vs.jpg And PS: We still need more rooms, 4+

So I spend 10 hours decorating past weekend, and I have to once again restate there are not enough rooms. The way I see it we need a bare minimum of 3-4 more. Atm, I have to choose between a barracks and an armory. A lab or a medical bay, a security office, a spa, let alone a cantina or an operations center (like Rishi’s carrier bridge). A meeting room, a map room/library. We need that second floor, if it’s too difficult to rework the grand hall to make that 2 story then please consider adding another stop in the elevator to another floor with a corridor and 5 rooms. 2 rooms on each side of the corridor for a total of 4 that can be copies of the existing rooms of the grand hall. And a 5th larger room (and I’m talking as big as the Rishi carrier bridge). This area wouldn’t need windows (you can even put it in the basement) and can copy existing elements already done on the stronghold, the 4 smaller rooms are for the sake of argument copy-pastes followed by the larger room. As for placement, another elevator stop would be one option. Another I feel I should mention is right across from the corridor the elevator is in, which could serve as another door leading to this new section. Now to expand a little, in the large room. Ideally, it would have 3 centerpiece hooks at the center, and 8-12 large hooks to the sides of those, 6 on either side. Large wall hooks to the sides for monitors and room for medium hooks between the large and centerpiece hooks, a bit like Yavin’s big temple.

Bug When you move from the throne room to the balcony overlook the hooks in the corridor vanish, they can still be clicked and deco's can be added but the actual hook isn't visible.

From what I understand they are planning a February release date for this? I know you can't please everyone but a second floor, or at the very least more rooms seems to have been the most consistent thing requested since it first hit the PTS. Why ask for feedback and then not use it. If I'm being completely honest whenever I look up into the great hall and see those arches where second-floor railings could be from another floor, it looks like it was once available to the past tenant, but has been hastily bricked up. It doesn't scream Alderaanian opulence to me at all. A complete rework of the great hall is, without a pushback to the release date (which I would support if it gave us what we want btw) likely unrealistic but we do have an elevator and I don't see how it can't lead to another floor somewhere that houses more rooms, a corridor with side rooms, a large round library (copy existing artwork), or that tower room some have asked for. I also support raising the hook limit, 1035 remains far too small, these limits have been an eye soar since I first started decorating our guild ship (while on that subject, I could use 300+ more there as well) and provide too many limitations. We get more decorations released, what's the point if we can't place them, not to mention putting down extra ones, I have 60 statues of the serene pilgrim put aside just for Alderaan. If the conquest bonus is an issue then keep the "basic stronghold cap" but allow it to be modular with an option to go over it, so, for example, Rishi has 1600 hooks, you fill 1600 you get that strongholds bonus, but if you choose to you can fill up 2000 hooks or something. Possible bug Inside the room designated “Northern Lodging”, I cannot seem to click the large right wall hooks (facing them from the entrance). Can anyone confirm this doesn’t work for others? Also, the Alderaan floor tiles from the Alderaan deco bundle do not come through on some floor hooks, on some they appear fine, on others you only see them stick out halfway through.

Only a preliminary post O boy o boy Better but in it’s present state I’m not convinced I’ll get it honestly. A few points. The throne room I do not understand why the elevated platform only supports a medium hook and 4 small hooks, if ever there was a place to have at least a large hook placed this is it. Decorations like Throne of Enlightenment are part of the Alderaan themed decorations as I like to call them, but it doesn’t fit here, an Alderaanian throne, that doesn’t fit the throne room of the Alderaan stronghold… Lack of rooms & second floor Yes, I am saying it again, we need more rooms inside the palace, this place is Huuuuuuuuuge from the outside and then we get inside and “ow, this is it”. Ideally I’d have loved to see something like the Senate tower on Coruscant. A second floor accessible by a staircase, and 4 more rooms similar to the ones currently connected to the grand hall. Perhaps as a minimal substitute the elevator can lead to another floor with another grand hall and adjoining rooms, though the hall can be the normal size ceiling wise? It would give us more rooms to decorate which I feel is sorely lacking. That door on the side of the mountain retreat is already there, how about making that into a room, or have it lead to a basement with a few more rooms or something, again more rooms. Hook count and placement This place needs a higher hook count, and more hook placements, I am missing a lot of small and medium hooks outside, especially the front courtyard. I’d appreciate the ability to make a starship hook before the ancient ruin, I need a central spot to finally put that Ossan Orrery. As for the amount of hooks, I filled up Rishi, which means if I move main strongholds I’ll have to pick and choose with what I take with me, I hate that. Statue of the Serene pilgrim, another Alderaan themed decoration, it would look great in the great hall on the elevated parts to the side, currently those have 2 small hooks next to one another yet you’re not able to turn those into medium rare hooks making the placement of this deco impossible. It’s a minor change that doesn’t even require moving anything, 2 small hooks next to one another have always been able to turn into a medium narrow hook, yet here this isn’t an option?

What is your general feeling on the Stronghold? WOOOOOHOOOOOOO after all these years finally an Alderaanian Palace!!! I am overjoyed, truly a warm felt thank you to the Dev team for this. There are a few additions and modifications that would truly make it an exceptional residence for our characters. Are there any specific rooms you like, or don't like, and why? Please be specific. The Study, Drawing Room, and Guest Chamber are too dark, there are not a lot of decorations that can improve on this (especially older lights) so if you could brighten up these rooms, that would be appreciated. Does the Stronghold feel too big? Too small? Why? Absolutely too small. This is a Palace, it’s supposed to be huge. More rooms, I love to give rooms a specific function, a droid repair bay, a medical bay, an armory, a detainment centre, a jedi library, … the amount of rooms is in my opinion severely lacking in all current strongholds, even Rishi, and needs to increase, this can be accomplished by adding a second floor above the main entry area. If you’re looking for a number, 5 more rooms at bare minimum. Preferably in the palace itself. The entrance area is just the right size, although it could do with more decoration hooks around the starship hooks presently there, and some areas like outside the Killik cave are too barren. If you could change one thing about the Stronghold, what would it be? The large entryway area would enormously benefit from adding an additional floor, making it resemble the seat of House Organa, or the Senate tower on Coruscant. From the outside the building looks huge, it would only make sense and give us much more rooms to tinker with, not utilizing that second floor seems like such a loss of opportunity! Does the increased hook density feel too cluttered? No, more options are always nice, it gives you the freedom to decorate as you see fit, be it cluttered or spartan, to each their own, but for me more hooks are never bad, quite the opposite! Besides you only see them while decorating anyway. Does the number and placement of hooks feel to restrictive given the Stronghold's decoration cap? Hook count needs to go up, new deco’s are constantly added and if you want me to keep spending… well just saying You can never have too many hooks and there’s really no harm in adding more. 1000 is (and I can’t stress this enough) way, way, waaaaaay too little for strongholds of this size, I’d say at bare minimum you need it to match Rishi, especially when more hooks are added to areas that are currently a bit spartan. Anything else you want to add? A few points: • I really, really, really, (yes really) want a large room, whatever do I mean you might ask? I mean I want it able to fit the Ossan Orrery decoration indoors without it clipping the walls. (Yes that big). BIGGER!!! (sorry). That could be turned into a gigantic library, I already reserved 50 jedi library deco’s • Relevant for this and all other stronghold, please raise or remove the limit on NPC decorations, we have so many companions now, and I like to dress mine up into their own cartel store sets with cartel store weapons, but I only do this for the companions I can use as stronghold decorations, is the cap reached, I won’t bother with the rest of the companions. • I must agree with those that wish to see a couple of rooms in a tower of the main estate. And yes, in addition to the second story of the main hall and its rooms. Maybe even one with a glass ceiling, I want an arboretum. * More medium narrow/medium hooks to the sides everywhere, some deco's like my jedi archive ones can't be placed against the wall. * The hooks in the corridors on the elevated platforms are currently small hooks, I'd really love it if these could be medium narrow. Statue of the Serene pilgrim was practically made for this stronghold, and would look great there, or other statues for that matter, but it will require at least medium narrow. * Same is true on the elevated platforms in the main entry hall, presently it's 2 small hooks next to one another, this should really be a medium narrow hook so you can place a statue there was well. * I can live with the droids and speeders, but if it's possible, Thranta's would be pretty neat.

Maybe an update on this bioware, I know it was once said you would look into it but we never really heard anything back. As it stands now 2 / 5 personal strongholds have a higher hook count then the flagship............ For myself I would love it if you doubled it to 1400. On average I need about 50 decorations for a small room, if I want to make it look nice. At present I have to leave 5 rooms open because I keep hitting the hook limit.

Not a medium hook, a medium narrow hook, a lot of the hooks on Yavin are medium narrow hooks, yet most recent decorations are medium or even large as is the case here.

Sadly this is not possible at present.

This needs a endorsement! More titles, more choices, always nice. Besides the idea of obtaining the title itself is quite unique and would encourage more classes to try different play styles like healing.