This is the most receptive Dev team I have ever seen working on an MMO.

I think each topic is good for the majority of players and the message was underlined by a promising tone.

All around great news.

P.S. ignore any complaints which incorporate quiting/unsubbing. Complaining is what MMO players do. Period.

What about this.

You know if they have a system were it takes about the same time to get gear from pvp and pve and it has the same stats that is actually a good thing.

Like now the pvp gear is in 3 skill parts.

1. Battlemaster = raid Rakata

2. Champion = Raid Cant remember name

3. Centurion = Raid Cant remember name

Same stats for same tier.

Too late Bioware, I have already reset artifice for biochem. It's sad that it is the only viable crew skill for PVP.

If the article is correct, not for long. This is why I'm sticking with Synth , eventually it will be made not to suck.

I was already considering dropping Synthweaving for Biochem. Good thing I held off till I read this news.

Excited to hear about crit-crafted orange gear and the ability to pull out all the mods from current purple gear.

Hi,

 

I wanted to drop some notes on the changes made to the BioChem profession in the patch (1.1.2) that just went onto the Public Test Server, how they fit in the big picture and how we are proceeding forward with crafting professions in endgame in general.

 

First off, we removed the requirement to have the BioChem profession to use Energized and Exotech stims and adrenals. This was done to (a) remove pressure of players to pick up BioChem for optimal combat performance and (b) to open up the sale of BioChem products to a larger audience on the Galactic Trade Network.

 

Additionally, we've reduced the effectiveness of the BioChem exclusive Rakata Stimpacks to be equal to Energized stimpacks. Their intended benefit is the cost savings they provide over time, not an increase in power. We are also in progress of reviewing the creation costs of many consumables in the game against the economic realities (acquisition cost of purple mission materials on our live servers) and will likely make adjustments to these in the future.

 

It is our intention to gradually, over multiple patches, reduce the impact of situational consumables on endgame combat resolution and shift the factors which determine the outcome of combat more towards personal skill. As part of this effort, specifically for PvP, we are also working on changes that will reduce the gear related power difference between new characters at level 50 and players in full PvP gear. We feel that at the current time, this difference is too high.

 

On a more general note about crafting, our changes to make BioChem consumables freely tradeable are just a small first step as part of a larger scale effort to extend our crafting gameplay, for all professions, into the endgame.

 

Major changes are currently on schedule for the next major content patch, such as extractable basemods (armoring, barrel, etc.) from purple items, critical crafting successes on orange outfits, more bind-on-equip schematic drops for artifice and other professions, increased relevance of augments, better reverse engineering chance, and other improvements. We want to create significant incentive for players to engage in the crafting economy – as provider of goods or supplier - without requiring players to take up a specific profession as a ticket into endgame.

 

Long term, our plan is to evolve Star Wars: The Old Republic’s game economy to a more player driven model, strengthen and improve the GTN and embrace the game’s extensive appearance customization throughout the game. We have a long list of improvements planned for that but we’re also anxious to hear from you. Feel free to use this thread to give us your feedback on the topic!

 

Regards

Georg

Heya Georg,

Do me a favor and give your PvP team one single kiss on the right cheek, then 2 slaps on their left one.

The Good:

Yes, make it so the gear difference for new 50s isn't so brutal to overcome. I can always tell when I'm slaughtering a newbie - their lifebar doesn't so much drop as disappear. Just don't be nerfing my gear or some stupidity. Buff theirs if need be, or - better yet - give them a blue crafted PvP set they can buy/make.

The Bad:

For the love of all that's HOLY, give Gabe A. a dopeslap upside the head, or whoever the hell is the "mastermind" behind this absolutely horrible bag system. And, what's your next patch say: "We're going to buff the rate you gain crappy items, but make it even HARDER/MORE RNGed BASED to get the good ones? Are you ... UUGGGH... what the hell is the matter with you? How can you be so...

UGGH...

JUST... DOPESLAP GABE or WHOEVER the HELL is driving this one. It's beyond stupidity. It's... It's. Hell, you might as well just advertise for Guild Wars 2 with that change! Maybe Arenanet will pay you for it!

Please tell me why biochem is the only profession you guys are looking into. Seriously, every other profession is so godawful you would be a completely numbskull to choose it over biochem, yet you guys keep tweaking only biochem.

 

Armormech, synthweaving, armstech are a complete waste of time due to the fact that nothing you get is unique, every recipe you get can get gained as a full drop by doing hard modes or raids, you guys have put little to know effort into the crafting system. This change to remove the armoring from epics AFFECTS CRAFTING IN NO WAY!

 

Seriously, how is that even put into the profession changes. There are so many problems with crafting. You guys need to dig deeper and try harder.

try reading last paragraph allowing us to remove mods from epic gear, addtionally we can now CRIT on modable crafted items! that means we get an augment slot on crafted items, in addition to being able to slot it with pvp items! now if only were some nice looking crafted sets i might be excited =P

Bah. You're not going to make anyone drop bio by nerfing it repeatedly, it's still the only profession that's worth having (after you crafted whatever gear you wanted to craft for yourself) due to consumables. That is a longevity none of the other crew skills have. Sure, you can keep x profession to sell y good for profit, but for usefulness outside the cash flow area, bio trumps all and always will as long as that is true. (It could even be argued that due to reusables & with more upcoming sellable items bio may trump all in profit over time, too.)

Hey, you gave x profession the ability to make armor that's actually decent? I'll pick it up, craft a set and go back to bio. etc. Actually, if you make the aforementioned armor tradeable, I'll just buy a set and stay bio.

...nerf the pvp gear- that's one sure ticket way to lose this customer.

I already had to reset crafting professions that had been 400 due to waiting a month for some word...a tad too late on my part but that is something better for the future.

The pve>pvp gear though...no way- giving into raiders who swear that they are hardcore pvp'ers is the worst thing to do.

I'd love to hear what your planning on doing to help balance PVP, make Ilum playable, combat log, and dual speccing. Need these addressed.

..............................

Changes sound great to me!

The appearance system is broken as the game stands. We need way more control over the way our characters look.

Please tell me why biochem is the only profession you guys are looking into. Seriously, every other profession is so godawful you would be a completely numbskull to choose it over biochem, yet you guys keep tweaking only biochem.

 

Armormech, synthweaving, armstech are a complete waste of time due to the fact that nothing you get is unique, every recipe you get can get gained as a full drop by doing hard modes or raids, you guys have put little to know effort into the crafting system. This change to remove the armoring from epics AFFECTS CRAFTING IN NO WAY!

 

Seriously, how is that even put into the profession changes. There are so many problems with crafting. You guys need to dig deeper and try harder.

Hi,

On a more general note about crafting, our changes to make BioChem consumables freely tradeable are just a small first step as part of a larger scale effort to extend our crafting gameplay, for all professions, into the endgame.

 

Major changes are currently on schedule for the next major content patch, such as extractable basemods (armoring, barrel, etc.) from purple items, critical crafting successes on orange outfits, more bind-on-equip schematic drops for artifice and other professions, increased relevance of augments, better reverse engineering chance, and other improvements. We want to create significant incentive for players to engage in the crafting economy – as provider of goods or supplier - without requiring players to take up a specific profession as a ticket into endgame.

If you read that again he gives some information that they're working on several other factors regarding crafting. Currently though the "balancing" of Biochem seems to be the key but there are other things to change too. Biochem is just the current hot button profession much like slicing before so that's why there is emphasis on that. He never said that's the only profession change. Quite the opposite. He said there are several but didn't list all of them. He just gave a few examples.

"It is our intention to gradually, over multiple patches, reduce the impact of situational consumables on endgame combat resolution and shift the factors which determine the outcome of combat more towards personal skill. As part of this effort, specifically for PvP, we are also working on changes that will reduce the gear related power difference between new characters at level 50 and players in full PvP gear. We feel that at the current time, this difference is too high."

You have two crafting skills that are entirely based on situation consumables. The only way to accomplish your stated desired effect is to completly remove them from use in combat. Any effect these items have on combat will remain the "go to" until they are either phased out or replaced with something more powerful.

Same thing goes with your approach to pvp gear. As long as it remains in game fully pvp geared players with have a systematic advantage over players without said gear. Will class utility and roles be reviewed along with these changes?

 

As part of this effort, specifically for PvP, we are also working on changes that will reduce the gear related power difference between new characters at level 50 and players in full PvP gear. We feel that at the current time, this difference is too high.

 

It's my understanding the main purpose of expertise is to make it so people are not forced into PvE to play PvP. It separates out the two different aspects of the game.

A problem where PvP gear didn't have specific benefits over PvE gear has existed in other games, and can force people who PvP to PvE to get those items. There are already people using trinkets, some PvE gear to hit harder in PvP with the trade off of losing survivability. If PvP gear were to simply become less relevant, it opens up this potential gearing issue further.

I recommend allowing cheap crafted PvP gear which is close but not on par with the current Champion PvP gear. This will not only serve to foster a player driven economy, it will reduce the gap between Battlemaster gear and a new level 50, as well as not make Rakata (or other) top end PvE gear to powerful in PvP.

If you read that again he gives some information that they're working on several other factors regarding crafting. Currently though the "balancing" of Biochem seems to be the key but there are other things to change too. Biochem is just the current hot button profession much like slicing before so that's why there is emphasis on that. He never said that's the only profession change. Quite the opposite. He said there are several but didn't list all of them. He just gave a few examples.

I agree. Just like in any game, if one profession has a specific advantage over another, people will flock to the profession with the advantage.

The only way to allow BioChem to give benefits greater than those without the profession can get, without giving biochem a specific advantage, is to make the other professions have advantages that bring them up to par. This current fix is an easier short term solution.

There were posts on BioChem back in September beta specifically stating this problem existed (details exactly escape me but I know it's why I took biochem at launch). It's a shame it made it to live with such a huge advantage, because now it creates the sense people are "losing" something, even though the change is appropriate.

So, I spent all that money on Rakata recipes (25k each) and now they have exactly the same stats as the cheap ones (5k)?

Just asking...

I am rank 54 in PVP and have never exploited any valor ranks. (none of this ilum kill swapping BS). It's a long road i've been treading since launch, and I'm about to be rolling in the Battlemaster gear!

Don't nerf pvp gear! Instead just put in crafted blues, or enhancements that have expertise. Expertise enhancements could make custom gear viable in PvP for new players. Hell, maybe a custom piece of gear could be BETTER than a piece of Champion gear. (or is it the mods that expertise would be on? I get them mixed up)

Don't make PVP gear useless in comparison to PVE gear. I don't wanna raid every night for a month just to be viable again. Part of gearing up is getting rolled by 50s. It's the same way in every MMO that has PVP gear. The fact that Bioware decided to put in PVP gear means they should've known this from the get-go.

Gearing up doesn't even take too long if you do your daily PVP missions and nothing else.

I decided to play this MMO over any others because a lot of my friends are playing it. Half of us play MMOs just to PVP..

Remember, Bioware, MMOs have 2 end games. PVE and PVP. Don't forget that.

increased relevance of augments

Just give a crafting skill the schematic to make something like an Augmentation Device consumable which can be used by other players to put Augment slots onto their gear and we're in business. Heck, you could even throw in a Reusable Augmentation Device schematic.

Instant relevance of augments across the galaxy and people can finally get augment slots on the ton of existing non-augment slotted (custom/prototype/artifact) gear that's randomly dropped by mobs as well and could never get an augment slot otherwise. Simple and effective.

I for one would definitely seek out a player who can craft such items for me, so my coveted Jedi Battlelord gear can also be enhanced with augments.

Long term, our plan is to evolve Star Wars: The Old Republic’s game economy to a more player driven model, strengthen and improve the GTN and embrace the game’s extensive appearance customization throughout the game. We have a long list of improvements planned for that but we’re also anxious to hear from you. Feel free to use this thread to give us your feedback on the topic!

 

Regards

Georg

There is currently no such thing as "extensive appearance customization throughout the game".

"Extensive" is only passable for light armor classes due to the selection of social gears.

Palette swaps are NOT appreciated nor should they replace a proper gear dye/paint system.

Bounty Hunters for example have exactly as many different unique styles as you see in the progression video, and that includes the following,

-1 set of each pvp and pve end game gear.

-Around 5 other unique appearances including 2 sets of newbie appearances.

-Not all of the non-endgame styles are craftable as orange custom items.

-Nearly all of the bounty hunter's line of appearances revolve around the same boba fett'ish, where's the variety in that? There are other bounty hunters in the star wars galaxy, you've included them in the bounty hunter story, so there are other styles.

Start upping the amount of UNIQUE gear models/meshes instead of focusing on churning out more palette swaps. Then you won't need to worry so much about "matching to chest" not working well because you're lacking in variety.

All appearances save for the special ones (pvp/pve-raid token gears) should be craftable as orange custom items. You would have been far better off by not mentioning "extensive appearance customization" as that is a complete lie. I've resorted to cross-class dress for my bounty hunter (using sith heavy armors) because of a lack of non-fett style armors that doesn't make you look like you're level 10.

Two words,

Cad Bane.

Now take his coat and add in armored shoulder pads for missile storage and connect it to a jetpack that isn't just another round garbage can.

Or these two words,

Jewl'a Nightbringer.

Female siths could also use more work and less emphasis on the skin-bra selections, it's one thing to include it as a one off appearance, seriously, Indignation chestguard is ridiculous as a heavy armor chest piece for female juggernauts. I've voiced my opinion on how idiotic this set is for female siths since beta yet there's been no change to it or responses. It could have been a decent appearance if it wasn't so terrible, it really looks ridiculous on a body type 3 female.

You guys have a lot of work to bring us more UNIQUE gear appearances in the future, palette swaps to this extent are absolutely disgusting to see from a company like BioWare. Don't rename the same appearance just because you painted it with crimson instead of rouge, prefixes could have easily distinguish the level of the item if it was planned out. Item names should matter, not just filler while you keep churning out more items slightly more brown than the previous one.

Gear appearance selection is the MOST disappointing thing about SWTOR for me, and crafting doesn't make it better as there are no UNIQUE appearances you can craft like previously mentioned before the game launched.

Again, palette swaps = trash.

Do things right rather than getting it done, bring in more gear appearances soon and give the choice of colour/patterns back to the players and then I might think you're not lying about "extensive appearance customization".

We're running presets approved by BioWare right now, there's no "customization" when we can only pick "newb", "not as newb" and "endgame pvp/raid grinders" as appearance choices.

You want to be a really good MMO? Improve with the customizations, especially when it comes to giving players choices.

This is the most receptive Dev team I have ever seen working on an MMO.

 

I think each topic is good for the majority of players and the message was underlined by a promising tone.

 

All around great news.

 

P.S. ignore any complaints which incorporate quiting/unsubbing. Complaining is what MMO players do. Period.

Must be your first MMO. This dev team has ignored the community since beta and allowed bugs that they knew about MONTHS before launch get into the game. So far all they have done is nerf things, essentially taken away from the game, what have they added? What have they added that actually works that they didn't have to go back immediately and fix? Sorry, until they get a lot better at what they are doing I am not about to heap praise on their performance.