So no doubt you noticed the forums are littered with complaints about bolster again! Surprise?

 

So what's the big deal this time? Turns out lvl 46 blue hilts/barrels/mods/enhancements give way better stats than Obroan! Isn't that fabulous?

 

But oh wait! This isn't a new issue. In fact, it was first found almost 2 weeks ago. Most of the players are still catching on to using the newest exploit and hence the **** storm is just arriving.

 

I know you are new to your role. But did you what is interesting about this newest bolster "exploit"? Nothing! Since the beginning of bolster, players have found PvE items that are better than Obroan to various extents. Let's recall some of the best ones, shall we? 54 purple ears/implants. Crafted unmoddable weapons/offhands. 53 blue ears/implants. Hundres of combinations of MH/OH mods/enhancements. Some of them have been fixed, some persist till this day.

 

Guess what? As long as your current bolster algorithms are used, no amount of "bug fixing" will solve the issue. Especially if most bolster "bug fixes" happen 1-2 months after it is discovered. Every time you fix something, 2 days later another "exploit" would be found.

 

Would be a funny day in the history of swtor when people realise lvl 1 white armor/weapons bolster to 2x the effectiveness of Obroan? I personally find that hilarious...ly sad.

 

So how do you solve this? Get rid of all the complications behind bolster. The concept of bolster (give casual PvPers a chance at competition in warzones) is good, but the execution is horrendous. Simply put, your current iteration of bolster does not work as intended.

 

But wait! All hope is not lost! If you follow this simple algorithm that I invented (and that any logical non crazy person would be able to come up with in 2 mins of thinking), bolster will work exactly as intended, with no chance to exploitation. You are welcome!

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2014 by ParagonAX

You sure about that? T-elos post 2 pages later that white damage is significantly lower using those mods.

 

here:

 

It seems I am getting significantly less weapon damage done in a bolstered environment using the blue 45s setup than compared to the 69,63,61 despite the character sheet and ability tooltips all pointing to a higher bolstered weapon bonus damage. If anyone else has tried this please feel free to share.

 

and Here:

 

Those are my screenshots.

 

Regarding the purple 46s, they bolster worse than the blues.

 

Regarding my testing, I've done plenty of warzones with both but due to the constant variables in warzones I couldn't determine a trend. Therefore I created an experiment with some controls, I sat with someone in a warzone and arranged to test it (max expertise target, no proccing power relics, and multiple tests with the two different weapons). You hit significantly less using the blue 45 mods in all slots of the MH on weapon damage attacks than compared to the 69,63,61.

 

Despite the character sheet and ability tooltips displaying the 45s mods in all slots to be the best for MH weapon it does not appear this way after my testing.

Edited January 23, 2014 by dmanlong

You sure about that? T-elos post 2 pages later that white damage is significantly lower using those mods.

 

1. Roll a healer/sorc with only yellow dmg.

2. Use 46s

3. ???

4. Profit!

 

And yes, I do know about the weapon damage bit. I was the first one to notice the decreased damage and asked T-elos to test them again. The even more ****ed up thing is that the damage does not correspond with the character sheet, which puts everything about this entire game in doubt.

 

You are missing the point of my post though, it's not directed at any specific "exploit" in particular, but the fact that this complicated bolster algorithm will never be fixed and exploits will continue to pop up unless BW changes how it works fundamentally.

Edited January 23, 2014 by ParagonAX

1. Roll a healer/sorc with only yellow dmg.

2. Use 46s

3. ???

4. Profit!

 

And yes, I do know about the weapon damage bit. I was the first one to notice the decreased damage and asked T-elos to test them again. The even more ****ed up thing is that the damage does not correspond with the character sheet, which puts everything about this entire game in doubt.

 

You are missing the point of my post though, it's not directed at any specific "exploit" in particular, but the fact that this complicated bolster algorithm will never be fixed and exploits will continue to pop up unless BW changes how it works fundamentally.

 

I understand your point, and I agree with you. The whole system is completely screwed up.

 

I am just tying to point out that only healers and possibly tanks can benefit from the 46s but they both would be sacrificing a lot of damage for a health and slight tech upgrade. The real problem is that we are using pve MH/OH instead of pvp gear.

I am just tying to point out that only healers and possibly tanks can benefit from the 46s but they both would be sacrificing a lot of damage for a health and slight tech upgrade.

 

No. Healers and sorcs should use 46s. They will be gaining ~2k health (sitting at 33k) and a large tech/force upgrade. Only white damage is ****ed for the 46s. Unless you like to snipe on an op healer or saber strike on a sorc, no loss there.

Edited January 23, 2014 by ParagonAX

I understand your point, and I agree with you. The whole system is completely screwed up.

 

I am just tying to point out that only healers and possibly tanks can benefit from the 46s but they both would be sacrificing a lot of damage for a health and slight tech upgrade. The real problem is that we are using pve MH/OH instead of pvp gear.

 

The system proposed by the OP would fix that. It would seem very reasonable to change any sub 2018 expertise set to fully augmented conq. Should make just about everyone happy.

The system proposed by the OP would fix that. It would seem very reasonable to change any sub 2018 expertise set to fully augmented conq. Should make just about everyone happy.

 

It should not equal conq. Why the hell even have conq then? Why not just raise the warzone comm price on obroan if conq is to be worthless?

No. Healers and sorcs should use 46s. They will be gaining ~2k health (sitting at 33k) and a large tech/force upgrade. Only white damage is ****ed for the 46s. Unless you like to snipe on an op healer or saber strike on a sorc, no loss there.

 

I knew it was a large health upgrade - 95 endurance but didn't think the damage was that high. How large of an upgrade is it?

Edited January 23, 2014 by dmanlong

I knew it was a large health upgrade - 95 endurance but didn't think the damage was that high. How large of an upgrade is it?

 

Between 30 to 50 bonus damage, I don't remember the exact number.

 

That's around +130 to +200 power, which is insane.

 

I am certain on the +2k hp (if u use both MH and OH).

It should not equal conq. Why the hell even have conq then? Why not just raise the warzone comm price on obroan if conq is to be worthless?

 

Because stock Conq (per the proposal) is not as good as min/maxed Conq.

 

Stock Conq has alacrity and all sorts of useless stats, but if you buy Conq with comms, you can min/max Power/Surge etc.

Because stock Conq (per the proposal) is not as good as min/maxed Conq.

 

Stock Conq has alacrity and all sorts of useless stats, but if you buy Conq with comms, you can min/max Power/Surge etc.

 

Hmmm. Well I would say that sounds reasonable.

Personally, I rather PVP gear be eliminated. We shouldnt revert back to the days of having people show up with zero EXP... Bolster actually does work as intended regardless of what gear combinations you use... Everyone is more or less the same, less augments. PVP gear is the problem, so why not eliminate it? Edited January 23, 2014 by L-RANDLE

Bolster actually does work as intended regardless of what gear combinations you use... Everyone is more or less the same, less augments.

 

lol wut? Assuming PvP gear is eliminated.

 

You show up in 78s with 900 expertise, you will get WRECKED by someone showing up in 46s.

lol wut? Assuming PvP gear is eliminated.

 

You show up in 78s with 900 expertise, you will get WRECKED by someone showing up in 46s.

 

It's easier to adjust the expertise nerf, than to balance bolster, PVP gear, and PvE gear.. Plus getting a lower tier PvE set for a person with 78 should not be a problem...

Bump.

EA/BW does not care. It's been how many months since Bolster hasn't been working as intended?

 

The only reply that they would give, is something we know already within a 500 word essay, that still would not do a thing to increase better gameplay. Face it folks, the "combat team/guy" is fail, period.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Pistols

EA/BW does not care. It's been how many months since Bolster hasn't been working as intended?

 

The only reply that they would give, is something we know already within a 500 word essay, that still would not do a thing increase better gameplay. Face it folks, the "combat team/guy" is fail, period.

 

Pistols back on the scene, gunz-a- blazin'.

 

 

:-)

EA/BW does not care. It's been how many months since Bolster hasn't been working as intended?

 

The only reply that they would give, is something we know already within a 500 word essay, that still would not do a thing to increase better gameplay. Face it folks, the "combat team/guy" is fail, period.

 

Probably there is no combat team. There is no change to justify a ground pvp combat team. The changes in arenas are environmental. There is no change in bolster. The changes of the class balance are PvE based.

Edited January 24, 2014 by Aetideus

Dismissing open world pvp, which pvp gear would obviously be better (maybe minus MH/OH with 78s) could someone shed some light on overally BiS in a bolstered environment in a formate of ...

 

Example (may not be true):

Earpiece = Obraon>53 blue>54 crafted purple>Conq

Implants = etc etc etc

 

This would greatly help me in deciding what pieces to upgrade when. Already rolling bolstered 2018 and not wanting to waste ranked comms along the way. Thanks in advanced.

The OPs suggestion is one good way to deal with the issue. The other is to just eliminate PVP specific gear entirely. But, to do that you'd have to change the comms in WZs so that you could get comms to purchase PVE gear through PVP. The top end PVE gear should be available through the top end WZs (so that would mean you'd have to do ranked WZs to get the comms for top end PVE gear (maybe even team ranked.)) BW would have to sort out comms and level of gear working down from there but it shouldn't be difficult. It would likely increase the participants in PVP, make balancing a lot easier (they wouldn't have to calculate in Experitse bonuses when trying to balance things out,) etc. One big advantage is you might actually get ranked queues to pop on the non-PVP servers.

It's roflstomping premades fault that bolster was introduced....or was it the gear gap....wait wait....was it pugs only wanting to play with pugs

If Bolster in 55 PvP was just a boost to Expertiece, that would solve 90% of problems, or if bolster was just removed entirely, but PvP gear was kept, so people would need to actually have skill + Gear to play PvP

I wouldn't go as far as a full stock set of conq. but i am for getting rid of bolster entirely at 55.

 

I like the concept of bringing back the old partisan gear. lets say a pack with the full set, at 55 with 40 valor requirement. another vendor added, allowing you to buy pieces to help min/max it for credits. also nerf the expertise values on all the pieces so a full set doesn't exceed 1950-1975 on expertise.

 

and a expertise gear check for ranked, min 2018. or you cant queue for it.

If Bolster in 55 PvP was just a boost to Expertiece, that would solve 90% of problems, or if bolster was just removed entirely, but PvP gear was kept, so people would need to actually have skill + Gear to play PvP

 

That would be a good way to keep watching the community shrink. Getting stomped while you try to get gear doesn't do much to encourage people to actually play. It does a lot to discourage new players, however.

Because stock Conq (per the proposal) is not as good as min/maxed Conq.

 

Stock Conq has alacrity and all sorts of useless stats, but if you buy Conq with comms, you can min/max Power/Surge etc.

 

It's still too much. At best bolster should buff to the equivalent of partisan. Bolster should never negate the effort, as minimal as it is, of what it takes to obtain even conq gear. The point if bolster was to give players a chance, not level the playing field. Given how little time investment it really takes to acquire stock conq gear, it's not too much to ask for people to do at the equivalency of partisan.

 

Given the current state of bolster and what it's buffing to, exp simply loses meaning except in wpvp.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Telaan