I unsubbed last week and it's 3 weeks to go till it runs out

here is mine and I won't be resubbing due to Cartel Market Wars and other things that have really killed such a wonderful game - 31 days then RIP

Welcome to the forums Keith, where you release information and 98% of the comments are negative whining.

 

I imagine this can be very dispiriting, but please know an overwhelming majority of your players appreciate the work and the constant updates.

Agreed. We're likely in the minority on the forum, but I think the ideas are flowing, and a lot of people are more optimistic now than before. That only lasts as long as Bioware deliver, but I'm hopeful that my fave game can still deliver long term.

I think that, taking into account that Keith asked for fair reflection from the forum, he has got fair reflection. Not vitriolic anger, but feedback. It seems like it's 3 points players have raised. Class changes, decorations for SH's, and lastly "The 242 issue".

I'm gonna put my head on the line and say that for once people aren't raging "boo! Too little, too late. you suck, I'm unsubbing!" and more providing the fair reflection that was asked for. If that fair reflection is ignored, the players will be upset I guess. Cue raging. I think the positive will happen and compromises will be found. Dropping down to 236 from 242 isn't life-changing for BW. Adding more deco's gains won't be too hard to implement. Class changes will always be subjective, so that one will divide opinion no matter what. I think Keith has got what he asked for, and can now do what he needs. Fingers crossed we all end up happy.

[*]Crisis on Umbara – Our story will continue in a new Flashpoint coming on the planet of Umbara. This Flashpoint will launch with all 3 difficulties, Story, Veteran and Master. For Umbara’s Master Mode we are trying something new, and depending on how well it goes, we may do something similar for all Master Mode Flashpoints. Specifically, a player will need to have an average gear rating of 242 to use Group Finder. We won’t prevent pre-made groups from going in directly, but this will prevent under-geared players from slowing down your group. We’re adding a new average rating identifier on your character window which will be based on the items you have ‘equipped’.

[*]Umbara Stronghold – This is the most unique stronghold yet, as you will be able to decorate your own moving train. You’ll need to complete the flashpoint a few times to gain access to the stronghold. Look for more details about the Stronghold in an upcoming post.

I'm looking forward to a new solo mode flashpoint, but I am leery about it counting as a story advancement. Iokath was poorly done and I have little hope that Umbara will be better. Please prove me wrong! Quinn and Elara are missing the meaningful romantic reunions that the other returned love interests got. That needs to be addressed and they need to be repeatable!

The gear gating for MM won't affect me since I gave up on gearing awhile ago. It's just another nail in the coffin of me doing harder group content.

The Umbara stronghold sounds truly interesting and I would be really excited about it if I had some decorations left to put in it. Manaan has sucked up most of my decos and I'm still only at 76%. Please, please do something to make more decos more readily available! Tweak the hooks on existing decos so they can fit on more hook types. Add new decos to older vendors. (Why were there no new decos for the Iokath rep. vendor and the DvL vendors?) Bump the drop rates on bosses back up. Fix the drops on HM Star Fortresses. Put some in command crates. Get cartel market certificates back in circulation. Allow duplicates to be bought for credits from a collections interface.

[*]Companion Customization – Senya Tirall can now have her weapons and armor customized. Also, Lana, Koth, and Senya’s hairstyles are available for purchase to customize your character.

I'm glad Senya will join the ranks of customizable companions, but I'm rather disappointed she's the only one. I was guessing Arcann would be included as well, though I'd have been even happier to be able to customize Nico. Don't forget about the Star Forge companions! And many of the returned companions now have armor baked on that doesn't work with covert armor.

Yay for more hair! Hopefully they work for most species and that they don't suffer from black looking washed out like most of the other newer hairstyles. Next up could you look into adding more skin tones, hair colors and eye colors for every species? I think that would be an easy way to increase variety.

In my opinion, it's not black and white, but somewhere between this. Look at me: I am an endgame raider. My whole playstyle is aligned to Ops. However, I also played the chapters (okay, just once), I also purchased some Cartel Market Packages in the past and I am also into Strongholds. I am playing actively GSF and PvP and I took part in Galactic Conquest and achieved the Conqueror of the Galaxy some months ago.

In your description, I would be part of an unimportant minority. From my point of view, I am participating in many parts of the game. In some activieties, I'm putting more effort, in others less. I am surrounded from people, who have similar views of the game. However, in my raiding group, there are just two members, who are only here to play ops.

 

What I try to point out: There are different types of gameplay. Some just do Ops, others are just doing solo-pve. And others are participating in parts of the game, that belong to both, solo-pve and group-content. MMO doesn't just mean the diversion of content, but the variety of players and playstyles.

You've actually articulated what I meant to get at - that there ARE a variety of players and play styles, and one can't be held up as more important than the other. There are those who won't do ops/group content at all, those who live for it, and many people in the middle who do both, as you said.

But I think that for those in the middle, if all they're given is one sort of opportunity - say, ops - they may get bored. For those who lean strongly to one side or the other, if they're not given the content they enjoy, they will eventually quit.

And it's my hope that BW won't forget those of us who are most interested in solo content and the characters/story that have already drawn us in, and won't discard us. Look at all the convos here about companions, strongholds, cosmetic changes, characters and plot points. Look at all the people who take it even further with creative expressions of their own about the characters. These things matter to many players.

I hope with the average gear rating you will be excluding augments because the 228 rating would definitely lower the average gear.

Also cant wait for this to see Umbara and what you guys did with the planet I was very fond of that clone wars arc.

The nerfs are actually happening to force people to reroll, level and grind to stretch content again. The balance excuse is total BS.

.

And that is exactly what it is. Why put any effort into making much new content if you can just scale back players so they have to grind again to do what they have been doing for, sometimes, years.

"Balance". Right. Sorriest excuse ever, but there are always some who will believe it.

..... as you know, we’re really trying to provide you with more insight than ever before, and I’d like to know what other information you’d want to see in the Roadmap.

Hey Keith.... I would love it if when you release the next quarterly Roadmap update... that you also include some "preliminary" views into the quarter after that. Not to the same detail of course... but some teasers of things you have planned coming 5-6 months from now. Why? because a 3 month roadmap is not enough insight for some players to make long term plans and commitments toward continuing to subscribe.

I understand this is a two edged sword.... as some players will immediately take a dump on whatever you publish.....but I really think it needs to be added to the backend of a fresh roadmap posting.... as it gives more insight into the directions you are moving the game in. It demonstrates to the objective forum reader that you are not just making things up 3 months at a time. It might even quell some of the drive by hyperbole about the game being in "maintenance mode".

Of course an actual one year roadmap would be fantastic, but I would be happy to see a 3 month + "probable 6 month put" on your roadmap plans. AND.. AND.. it is completely fair to let you update that farther reaching put on the roadmap as your plans change too.

Roadmaps should be living breathing documents between service provider and customer, not just a periodic sign-posting. And "living" infers a longer, though less precise, put on what is coming 6+ months down the road and updating that too quarterly as you dial in final plans.

Please make it happen.

Class balance – The following Disciplines are receiving changes (details will follow in the next few weeks):

• Lethality / Ruffian
  
• Concealment / Scrapper
  
• Medicine / Sawbones
  
• Fury / Concentration
  
• Carnage / Combat
  

So only nerfs, no buffs to sorc & pt, really? I think balancing should be your first priority after bug fixing at the beginning of a new content (with new level cap). But first you are waiting for ages and now you are still don't get it done? I honestly doubt there is a "combat team", are you sure this is not just one guy, working for about 20 minutes a week?

Don't get me wrong, I mostly like all the new game features and new content and I appreciate all the work, but maybe you should check your priorities.

The rating requirement for Master Mode flashpoints canNOT be 242, that is far too high. It should be 236, or 230+augments. 242 isn't even necessary for the hardest FPs such as Lost Island and Rishi, and any wipes for players in 236 gear or above are caused by lack of skill which vote-to-kick can deal with.

Additionally, it'd be really nice if the classes that have overtuned DCDs got their DCDs nerfed. Bioware literally gave Merc players free Ranked rewards for this season, and that is not fair to other players at all. Likewise, some classes such as Lightning Sorcs would really like not being one-shot by everything that moves.

The rest looks good though.

I'm curious about this: Will this be a train that has simply multiple panorama options, or a train that is actually constantly just animated to move on a railway system like the one during the season 4 Clone Wars Episode?

 

However, I'd really like a discussion topic on decorations at this point. I appreciate that we are getting so many new strongholds, but I think this really makes a discussion about decoration acquisition necessary. So many simple decorations are horribly overpriced at this point, and I think having a discussion about how this acquisition should be handled would be greatly appreciated. A little example: I can't even buy a simple bartender decoration or a simple spacer kitchen because they range from anywhere between 5-10 million on the Progenitor. Alright, admittedly I easily could, but a ten million price for something so basic as a kitchen decoration is absurd. At this point, buying a new stronghold is slightly "unfavourable" because I can only fill it with basic chairs, soldiers and tables anyway.

 

Is there any way that we could see more "direct" stronghold bundles on the cartel market, and preferrably with some different decorations? A staff bundle, a basic appliances?

I totally agree. Clearly you guys recognize a lot of us want and like strongholds. But there does need to be equally more attention to decorations. That needs to be a discussion topic. Also there are at least 5 well contributed threads already on the forums with good ideas about decorations. Devs please read those and let's discuss how to make more decorations easier to get.

Also I'm honestly shocked we're getting another stronghold so soon. Don't get me wrong if it's been done well I'm happy about it. But how little attention to detail that was obvious in the Manaan stronghold makes me concerned about this one. I'd rather more time spent doing them right than get several in a year.

I still want to know if the entire stronghold is one moving train, OR a moving train is just a part of a stronghold on the ground.

I wondered this as well, but I didn't want to seem illiterate once again so I didn't ask!

[*]Crisis on Umbara – Our story will continue in a new Flashpoint coming on the planet of Umbara. This Flashpoint will launch with all 3 difficulties, Story, Veteran and Master. For Umbara’s Master Mode we are trying something new, and depending on how well it goes, we may do something similar for all Master Mode Flashpoints. Specifically, a player will need to have an average gear rating of 242 to use Group Finder. We won’t prevent pre-made groups from going in directly, but this will prevent under-geared players from slowing down your group. We’re adding a new average rating identifier on your character window which will be based on the items you have ‘equipped’.

Hello Keith,

I hate this focusing on flashpoints and operation. I agree that it must be part of the game, but know you let stand the solo players in the rain.

If anyone will focus on operations and flashpoints, he played better World of Warcraft, since September they released more flashpoins and operations in a single add-on then SWTOR in the last 5 years. So in my opinion the player base in SWTOR is not mainly focusing on that content, they use it, they love it, but they are not so focused on it than in other games.

So why only continuing the story in a flashpoint? Why not also a great, open area for exploring with a quest line and some dailies or weeklies. Such an area could be developed slowly, access to new parts of the area could be gained by continuing a long lasting background story.

Think about new ways, give the community a tool like in Neverwinter Nights to create own content in a given setting with restricted rewards. I think your dev base is to small to provide all of us with the content of that type each group want., so use the power of Star Wars fans to help you.

Have a good time

Michael

Hey Keith,

I'm not sure what I should think of BW answering in the Forum on the weekends but hey more Communication.

I translated you Post here to German here:

http://www.swtor.com/de/community/showthread.php?t=928145

there are still a lot of Players who don't speak English and have an own Board, if the France and German Boards could get something in the direction of an weekly update that would really help.

And thanks for what you and your team are doing here.

I know we'll continue to improve the game, we'll continue to refine every area, we'll add new content regularly for a wide variety of different play styles - some will get strongholds, some will get PvP, GSF, Operation Bosses, New Flashpoints, Story, and more. I also know we'll make mistakes along the way, and you'll be able to help us course correct, yet I still want the Dev Team to take chances, to push themselves and strive to be better and provide a lot of fun for all of us who play this game.

Speaking of which and about you and your team taking those chances you mentioned, how about taking a chance that no other producer took so far (even though they promised it...) and finally (re-)implement an option to enable chat bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote chat (check the link, there is lots of information you may need there) to improve social communication between players in the game so people can look at the beautiful characters in the 3D space instead of focusing the tiny chat window and try to figure out who the speech belongs to if they choose to do so?

Be the producer that goes down in history that had the balls and finally got it done!

Here is the post where SWTOR's then-GUI developer goes into detail a little bit and explains that you guys know how to fix and implement them and what's needed, it's up to you, Mr. Kanneg, to pull the trigger and slot it into one of the patches:

Since you're a GUI guy, would you be the person to work on chat bubbles as well?

 

I don't have much else to say on the topic than what was already said in that thread.

 

I can get a bit more technical on the topic though. As it was said before chat bubbles were a huge performance hit on the game when we had initially implemented them in beta. We're talking upwards of 400Mbs of video memory used on chat bubbles alone. Nameplates had the same issue. We fixed nameplates but have not had time to do the same with chat bubbles. If you played in beta and saw our initial implementation of them they weren't very pretty or as fully featured as we'd like them to be. So, yes, we would like to implement them again, but when we do we want to do it right.

You'll notice that 400Mbs of video memory is peanuts nowadays with even lowest-end video cards having access to 2GB of video memory. Back during beta it was a problem, since the standard video card had 256-768MB of memory (although there were high-end models with 1-3GB as well). So the memory/performance issue isn't really an issue anymore, especially if it's fixed correctly and a toggle on/off option so those that actually have performance issues with it can turn it off just like any other performance hungry option like anti-aliasing, shadows or nameplates.

The last time we even heard anything official about it was back in August 2015 at a Cantina tour:

August 6th, 2015: Gamescom Community Cantina Tour, Cologne, Germany August 6th 2015

Michael Backus (Lead Designer): "I'm gonna be honest about this question right now. I...before I came to Germany sat down with the engineers to talk about chat bubbles. Uhm...there is...I'm not gonna get too technical but there is (CL Form?) in engineering and there is a performance issue with chat bubbles and I'm investigating a way to solve that because I really, really would like to give you guys chat bubbles!" *pauses for huge applause from the crowd and the other devs on the panel*

Eric Musco (Community Manager): "We know it's been requested, so we're just always trying to find a way to get to get it in."

Michael Backus (Lead Designer): "I promise you we're investigating it and I promise as soon as you...as soon as we know it's a thing you guys will hear a big announcement about it."

Eric Musco (Community Manager): "I would bet that'll be the perfect kind of thing we would announce potentially on you and how a cantina as part of the questioning of our point answers, right, because it has been asked for in every cantina since we've been doing them over the years.(...)I'm saving it for the cantina, yes - I've claimed it! I've stated the claim."

Audience shout in: "If you make chat bubbles make them an on and off preference!"

Eric Musco (Community Manager): "Oh we will, oh we will."

It's about time words are followed up and promises kept. And please let us know what your plans for chat bubbles are and don't leave us in the dark for months and years again.

Help us, @KeithKanneg, you're our only hope!

Hey Keith,

 

I'm not sure what I should think of BW answering in the Forum on the weekends but hey more Communication.

I translated you Post here to German here:

http://www.swtor.com/de/community/showthread.php?t=928145

 

there are still a lot of Players who don't speak English and have an own Board, if the France and German Boards could get something in the direction of an weekly update that would really help.

 

And thanks for what you and your team are doing here.

There are even more people who don't speak English and don't even have their own board. I'm pretty sure that the only reason we have a German and French board and servers is because otherwise your governments wouldn't allowed the game to be sold there. Honestly, I don't get this attitude that people feel they should get something many other people don't even have a chance of getting. You have a board, you can communicate to each other in your own language and if you want the latest news, then yeh...English is the way to go.

Personally I think it's sad that in France and Germany you guys don't seem to learn English that well in a more and more globalised world. I think it's a basic necessity to learn English for anyone in the western world. And no, I am not English, I had to learn it as well next to my own language.

Personally I think it's sad that in France and Germany you guys don't seem to learn English that well in a more and more globalised world. I think it's a basic necessity to learn English for anyone in the western world. And no, I am not English, I had to learn it as well next to my own language.

I don't agree. I think globalisation is one of the worst things ever and hey if anyone wants my Money, than he should speak with me in my own language.

I've also read some of you are tossing in the towel and are leaving us. That obviously saddens me as the game is better when everyone works together. I have valued your input, have tried to understand your frustration while working with the team to get your concerns addressed. Not everything is as it seems, but I respect your decision and look to earn your business again in the near future.

Keith---

While I hate a lot of the updates that have came with 5.0, I still enjoy the game. I've personally seen a renewed commitment to operations which I like.

English is the way to go.

 

Personally I think it's sad that in France and Germany you guys don't seem to learn English that well in a more and more globalised world. I think it's a basic necessity to learn English for anyone in the western world. And no, I am not English, I had to learn it as well next to my own language.

I'm a bit biased here, generally learning English should be taken more seriously here, yes.

But there are two points on the other side, there are a lot of Players who didn't hat any chance to learn English in School, and BW advertise the Game with this Languages.

There are even more people who don't speak English and don't even have their own board. I'm pretty sure that the only reason we have a German and French board and servers is because otherwise your governments wouldn't allowed the game to be sold there.

However, the French and German speaking population in the world (not just France and Germany!) are used to getting their entertainment delivered in their own languages, because the synchronization/dubbing industry there has been leaps and bounds ahead of those of many other languages and big emphasis has always been put on it.

In most other languages, the best you get is sub-titles for foreign language films and entertainment like PC games, while they get fully synchronized/dubbed in German/French and the people that speak these languages have been used to it for many decades. Thus many people are used to and prefer games to play in their native language. Those will buy a fully translated and dubbed/synchronized game over one that's only available in a foreign language.

I myself prefer to play my games (as well as watch movies and TV series) in their original language (I myself credit playing original English versions of games like X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Monkey Island 1 & 2, Loom, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, etc. as a kid for speaking the English language as well as I do, so I can only recommend kids to play games in foreign languages and learn them - the more languages you understand or even speak, the better!).

Coincidently, people speaking German and French are also among the largest gaming- and especially PC-Gaming- markets in the world, so it's a no-brainer for companies to translate their games into those languages to increase profit.

Bioware/EA has been doing it in a rather unsatisfactory way, however, especially in recent years since they have abolished with the full German and French community forums and moderators as EA apparently cut down on the budget for German and French language versions. This leads to them often forgetting to translate new content (even bugging some new content and quests to be unplayable due to it unless you switched to the English client - sounds unbelievable but it has happened a lot) or making huge mistakes in translations in recent years where the translation sounds comical at best (which makes some people believe it was done with Babelfish or other auto translators).

The game was originally advertised as fully supporting these languages, so it's understandable for those players to criticize the direction it's been going.

Let's get back on topic here, though, there is no need to derail this discussion any further.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll take up a number of the points you raised with the team, including the 242 for Master Mode on Umbara. You also asked about Legacy Currencies, additional class balancing, Strongholds, and more, so I'll update the Roadmap to include many of those items, along with any additional insight, where possible.

 

There's a lot of criticism in this thread, a lot of good ideas, some confusion, a bunch of frustration. and a ton of passion about SWTOR. I've also read that we don't play the game, have no understanding of MMOs, and most of decisions are the opposite of smart. I get it and I think most of you know realize we're not going to please everyone, and no matter how many changes we make, someone is going to be unhappy and call us out.

 

I know we'll continue to improve the game, we'll continue to refine every area, we'll add new content regularly for a wide variety of different play styles - some will get strongholds, some will get PvP, GSF, Operation Bosses, New Flashpoints, Story, and more. I also know we'll make mistakes along the way, and you'll be able to help us course correct, yet I still want the Dev Team to take chances, to push themselves and strive to be better and provide a lot of fun for all of us who play this game.

 

I've also read some of you are tossing in the towel and are leaving us. That obviously saddens me as the game is better when everyone works together. I have valued your input, have tried to understand your frustration while working with the team to get your concerns addressed. Not everything is as it seems, but I respect your decision and look to earn your business again in the near future.

 

Hope everyone is taking full advantage of the bonus CXP week. Have a great weekend.

 

Keith---

I also forgot about cross-server queues or sever merges (one of these things must be done ASAP), pls include this

And rethink tanks on warzones because 50 % guard skank tanks are way too opped

Oh and can we have a new warzone? It is time for a new wrz lol.

There's a lot of criticism in this thread, a lot of good ideas, some confusion, a bunch of frustration. and a ton of passion about SWTOR. I've also read that we don't play the game, have no understanding of MMOs, and most of decisions are the opposite of smart. I get it and I think most of you know realize we're not going to please everyone, and no matter how many changes we make, someone is going to be unhappy and call us out.

 

-

Bring back the old season rewards! It would make more players happy than unhappy. And I have few ideas, which I gathered by consulting lots of players who also want the rewards back just like me, to make it work.