Bolstered SM's? Oh boy. I can only imagine the type of reception this will get.

Actually, this is GENIUS.

Operations need much more exposure. How they are going about it is the right move. It will also make the stories therein more accessible to common players, and more content exposure is a GOOD thing.

Besides, consider that those doing hard and nightmare modes tend to be in guilds to get that done anyway - if people are concerned about people not knowing what to do, well, my response is you normally don't PUG hard and nightmare modes, or do so at your own risk.

So I see this as a HUGE win. Its smart and really, raiders (of which I am one) really have nothing to fear from it.

It becomes relevant from the moment you make it sound far more complicated than what it actually is, at least when next to stuff such as GSF, which was added AFTER the game was released or the complexity of multiple systems coming together that allow people to PvP and do Ops.

 

So yes, it is relevant. Much so.

You miss the point. Of course they are capable of doing both Pazaak and Slot Machines. That's not what we're discussing though.

We're saying from this point forward, which would be easier, Pazaak or Slot Machines.... And I'm answering the question. The complexity of Operations has nothing to do with it. Of course they're capable of doing either/both, but that's not the question. It's which will take the least time and resources to make.

Well, time to enjoy the sunshine till September 9.

Yep a nice summer outdoors before my life ends for Destiny !!

It becomes relevant from the moment you make it sound far more complicated than what it actually is, at least when next to stuff such as GSF, which was added AFTER the game was released or the complexity of multiple systems coming together that allow people to PvP and do Ops.

 

So yes, it is relevant. Much so.

No, no it's not. GSF was an entire expansion. It is nonsensical to say "There is PvP in the game, which is harder to program than pazaak" when talking about the merit of slots. They are completely unrelated.

I want pazaak in the game, but slots are trivial compared to pazaak. It doesn't matter that there are more complex systems than pazaak, those have been written and pazaak has not. No one is saying pazaak shouldn't be written.

I'll put two and two together for you.

 

Strongholds is coming in 2.9. It will have things to be unlocked for credits or cartel coins.

 

Slot machine "event" requires credits to buy tokens to play it. It functions to drain credits from the players before Strongholds arrives.

 

Folks are more likely to buy cartel coins for Stronghold unlocks and other housing-related, uh, "content," if the Slot machine credit drain is successful.

Okay.... that doesn't address my question. Why not keep the credit drain in place during Galactic Strongholds? What's the point of removing it near/during Galactic Strongholds? If it's successful, than why remove it?

I'm asking why is it only temporary, not why does it exist in the first place.

Not to mention this...

 

 

Pffffffffff... Seriously....

You know what's coming too.

"I waited till 2.9 for Forged Alliances, and all I got was this crappy flashpoint."

You know the next overhyped chapter will be a single flashpoint, or maybe, maybe 2 flashpoints.

I admit, when it comes to story and figuring out how to release it, these devs completely own the definition of "underwhelming".

No, no it's not. GSF was an entire expansion. It is nonsensical to say "There is PvP in the game, which is harder to program than pazaak" when talking about the merit of slots. They are completely unrelated.

 

I want pazaak in the game, but slots are trivial compared to pazaak. It doesn't matter that there are more complex systems than pazaak, those have been written and pazaak has not. No one is saying pazaak shouldn't be written.

glad to see someone else gets it. slot machines are easy. they take no time. yeah Pazzak can, and proably will, be done, but it'll take time in comparison.

You know what's coming too.

 

"I waited till 2.9 for Forged Alliances, and all I got was this crappy flashpoint."

 

You know the next overhyped chapter will be a single flashpoint, or maybe, maybe 2 flashpoints.

 

 

I admit, when it comes to story and figuring out how to release it, these devs completely own the definition of "underwhelming".

New class stories? Frak that. Off the window, lads.

New operations? Frak that. Have a new difficulty setting for nine(!!!) months old Dread Palace.

New flashpoints, that could be both tactical and trinity-driven? Frak that too. Here's a new event for you to grind; You have to wait until August for them story-driven Forged Alliances.

My faith is wavering more and more, with each passing day. I don't even believe we'll be getting the new Makeb-like expansion this year or a new Operation before late-October.

Game Update 2.9 will include the next exciting chapter in the Forged Alliances story arc, and we have a lot of folks working on something very big for later this year that I have yet to give details on.

Will that "big thing" be story content? Because I for one would like story content. I'm not particularly excited about a slot machine mini-game that's probably going to run on Cartel Coins.

Can we talk about story content?

Okay.... that doesn't address my question. Why not keep the credit drain in place during Galactic Strongholds? What's the point of removing it near/during Galactic Strongholds? If it's successful, than why remove it?

To me, Casinos sounds like a Promo/Pre Event for Strongholds.

It's not like they've done it already, in a far smaller scale than Pazaak would be, right?

 

* looks at GSF *

 

Ohhhhh, right. It's actually far bigger, as scale is concerned.

You're forgetting that the forums don't represent the majority of the playerbase. I doubt as many of SWTOR players actually played KOTOR/KOTOR II as is portrayed on these forums, meaning the target audience would be smaller. Dedicating resources to a minigame that most people would get bored of within a few days would be a stupid business decision.

Bruce, your team really, really needs to add NEW content to the end game sooner than your "roadmap" implies. By new content, I'm mostly referring to operations, but I'm also referring to anything that improves gear for the end game player. Some will say that the new flashpoints should be counted as end game content, but that's really only true for the most casual of players...the once a week players...the ftp player that you don't make any money on any way. Your subscribers have consumed that FP content and it's old and stale, because it doesn't advance your character.

As a reminder, the existing end game operations include one that is almost 2 years old, one that is over a year old, and 2 that are 9 months old. This roadmap says you are planning to make this old content more accessible, which over the life of the game will serve you well. Kudos to that. But you don't need this overly easy and stale content to be more accessible today. Down the road, sure...but not today. If I were in your shoes, I would have saved this feature for the next level cap expansion, at the earliest...or even the first major update AFTER that expansion.

Another thing your team seriously needs to get it's arms around is how you've made the existing level 55 HM FP's all but meaningless. NONE of them provide meaningful end game gear as a result of the Oricon Story arc, combined with crafted gear at current prices (ears, barrels, and implants are all quite cheap and easy to buy to gain access to SM Ops). If I may suggest, if you wanted to refresh old content, adding a way to get a (underworld level please) relic via HM FP's, to get the BAD PVErs out of PVP at end game would be a useful allocation of resources, in my opinion. Likewise, I would even be in favor of having MK-9 Kits be a HM 55 FP reward. Some crafters might not like losing a few customers, but I'd rather see more augmented gear out there as a result of this type of improvement.

TL;DR- None of the roadmap is "bad". Much of it is simply not what I would consider the highest priority for the state of the game today.

Thank you for the update. It sounds interesting for the summer considering it is summer and a lot of people will have other things to do outside the game so not having a major expansion or more operations or flashpoints in the summer might be a good idea.

I.E. Vacations, summer cook-outs, enjoying the warm weather (after the extremely cold summer) doing things with friends , etc.

Why put anything major into the game during the summer months when the summer is normally going to be vacations and things to do even for the people that work at Bioware.

Have a good week and a great weekend.

Still seems decidedly thin on core-game content. No new FP's or ops? Not even a new daily area/reputation grind?

Yup, really hope part of Forged Alliances contains some new Operations.. Part 1 was underwhelming with it being extremely easy.

Killed the dread masters so many times at this point that I could do it in my sleep.

You're forgetting that the forums don't represent the majority of the playerbase. I doubt as many of SWTOR players actually played KOTOR/KOTOR II as is portrayed on these forums, meaning the target audience would be smaller. Dedicating resources to a minigame that most people would get bored of within a few days would be a stupid business decision.

And you're also forgetting and / or brushing aside that it is rather unlikely that the difficulty to program or code something like Pazaak is nowhere near as complex as working on something such as GSF, for sure.

Also, I don't remember ever saying these forums represent the majority of the playerbase, if only I stated the exact opposite numerous times in the past. If I have though, please point out where.

To me, Casinos sounds like a Promo/Pre Event for Strongholds.

Do you think it will be re-released/revised for a permanent stay with the release of Strongholds, or removed temporarily/permanently?

It would be a nonsensical shame to see a feature exist solely for building hype for an expansion, only to be removed when said expansion comes.

Nar Shaddaa Casino. For the first time, players are invited to the casinos on Nar Shaddaa to try their luck on the slot machines. Credits can be used to purchase tokens, which in turn can be used on slot machines. Lucky winners will receive certificates that can be traded in for unique rewards that will only be distributed during the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event. This event will run from June 10th to August 19th.

Why not have Pazaak brought back from KOTOR for the Event. A huge oppurtunity to buy packs of cards for CC and etc...?

I was waiting for this question to pop up as I figured someone would catch the Chevin event missing from the list. As it stands right now, the Chevin event was a one time event and will not be returning. When you see lists like the one above we are looking at our recurring events, which are those we designed to come back with some frequency.

 

I know that will be sad news for some but I wanted to make sure that was clarified.

 

-eric

Makes sense, as the Chevin Event was meant as a precursor to the Gree event, but to get at the heart of it:

Will we

a) Ever see a return of the rewards from the Chevin Event?

and

b) Ever see a return of the mechanic used in the Chevin event that generated cutscenes in existing spaces, ala Nar Shadaa, in newer, upcoming events?

First, I appreciate the update on where things stand. Thanks, Bruce.

Second, do you folks who cherish your precious forums think that they are going to tell you everything they have planned or are working on for future release? Get real.

Lastly, if you guys have such great ideas on how to run the game, take your l33t coding skillz and move to Austin and get a job. Otherwise you're just talking to hear your own voice. You aren't covering any new ground, just like at every Cantina Event where the same people ask the same tired questions that they have heard "no comment" on before (or have already been answered previously).

Why not have Pazaak brought back from KOTOR for the Event. A huge oppurtunity to buy packs of cards for CC and etc...?

It's been addressed several times already in the thread.

The only answer I can give is that Slot Machines are much easier to program than Pazaak.

Of course, the demand is much much higher for Pazaak, and I would argue that the demand is so proportionally high for Pazaak that it makes more sense to me to use this Casino Event and/or Galactic Strongholds as an opportunity to finally deliver on a feature that's been highly requested since launch.

However, I'm not a Bioware dev of course, so I can't answer the question fully/with all the info.

First, I appreciate the update on where things stand. Thanks, Bruce.

 

Second, do you folks who cherish your precious forums think that they are going to tell you everything they have planned or are working on for future release? Get real.

 

Lastly, if you guys have such great ideas on how to run the game, take your l33t coding skillz and move to Austin and get a job. Otherwise you're just talking to hear your own voice. You aren't covering any new ground, just like at every Cantina Event where the same people ask the same tired questions that they have heard "no comment" on before (or have already been answered previously).

No, but we expected more than an update on 2.8. This was touted as a roadmap, and the last roadmap had 3 updates planned out (including 2.8, which is the only one we got today).

Yeah, are you really trying to say that the only people who have a right to talk on these forums are the developers of the game? No one here is talking to hear their own voice. We're discussing with other players, and hopefully some of the developers are reading our comments.

God forbid people have questions.