Here

Hey everyone,

• The Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event returns with old and some awesome new rewards
  
• New Character Perks to increase your speeder piloting speed to 120% and 130%
  
• Companions will gain influence through standard crew skill missions
  
• Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).
  
• We made a variety of changes to Galactic Starfighter – primarily aimed at reducing the cost, increasing requisition rewards, and offering all players a Gunship and Bomber as standard ships (available in your hangar).

 

I will continue to pass on roadmap updates as I have them. We do have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to sharing it you.

 

---Keith

I think Verain made the suggestion of giving free Bombers and Gunships back in Feb. Which means they must be lurking every now and then in the forums!

... I just eyerolled so damn hard. All new characters start off with a strike, a scout, and a GUNSHIP, standard...

No they don't.

Only players who were subscribers during the December early access for the original release of the GSF update get the gunship free on their characters.

Everyone else just gets a T1 strike and a T1 scout.

The question is, (they didn't say) which GS, and which bomber they intend to give out. I personally believe the quarrel/Mangler should remain a subscriber reward.

If they gave the quarrel/mangler out, it would set a bad message to people for later Subscriber rewards. Why sub for a reward if they're just going to give them out later for free.

The question is, (they didn't say) which GS, and which bomber they intend to give out. I personally believe the quarrel/Mangler should remain a subscriber reward.

 

If they gave the quarrel/mangler out, it would set a bad message to people for later Subscriber rewards. Why sub for a reward if they're just going to give them out later for free.

Subs at GSF launch have enjoyed that advantage for over 3 years now. As one of those people I am completely willing to give up that 2.5k fleet requisition advantage for the better of the overall SWTOR community.

Subs at GSF launch have enjoyed that advantage for over 3 years now. As one of those people I am completely willing to give up that 2.5k fleet requisition advantage for the better of the overall SWTOR community.

Your missing the point Lendul. If they make available any sub reward, then they have no ground to stand on for future sub rewards. They'd have to make them all available to people at a later date.

Your missing the point Lendul. If they make available any sub reward, then they have no ground to stand on for future sub rewards. They'd have to make them all available to people at a later date.

Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaares. Do you want to see GSF increase in activity or not? If the answer is yes then they HAVE to make the entry barrier 10 times easier and encourage alt-GSFing. No one gives a crap about 3 years old "exclusivity" of a sub reward seriously.

Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaares. Do you want to see GSF increase in activity or not? If the answer is yes then they HAVE to make the entry barrier 10 times easier and encourage alt-GSFing. No one gives a crap about 3 years old "exclusivity" of a sub reward seriously.

I hate to break it to you, but giving out ships won't bring more people into GSF. That is why they are increasing req, and reducing costs.

If they want to help GSF with alts, then they need to do one simple thing. Faction Wide hangers. This may also help with getting people past that barrier, because it won't be per character anymore. The reason this will work better is once a ship is mastered, every character (in that faction) on your account will have it mastered. So you can fly on any character you desire.

I hate to break it to you, but giving out ships won't bring more people into GSF. That is why they are increasing req, and reducing costs.

 

If they want to help GSF with alts, then they need to do one simple thing. Faction Wide hangers. This may also help with getting people past that barrier, because it won't be per character anymore. The reason this will work better is once a ship is mastered, every character (in that faction) on your account will have it mastered. So you can fly on any character you desire.

Of course it won't magically increase the activity on its own. But it's part of the necessary solution, along with granting "welfare" requisition pack, legacy hangars etc.

It's kind of a shame that the first sliver of GSF news we get in over 3 years is already being received with some derisive commentary. It'd be nice if people could take a pause from the same old nitpicking and simply acknowledge that we are finally seeing something from the Devs after such an agonizingly long time.

I think most of us have learned to quell our optimism for any new development on GSF, but maybe this small move is a precursor of better things to come. Will bug fixes be next? I'm starting to get curious about Keith's pending roadmap. Dare to dream...

This is great.

New people will get to experiment with other ships rather than be forced to focus on only one or two ships at once.

Whatever the case it would seem there is an uptick in people playing GSF and Keith is starting to find ways to improve it's playability to the casual player.

Yeah it sucks for those of us who bought our bomber but getting one wasn't nearly as hard as upgrading it. If Keith is reading this thread I hope he knows one of the very best things you can do for GSF is create a couple of new maps preferably around the robotic planet of Iokath or Odessen.

Well you can get a Gunship and Bomber right after doing the introduction mission. You get 5k req and can buy the 2500 req bomber and 2500 req GS.

Yes, but the reality is that a lot of players don't know to use that 5000 fleet requisition in that manner.

The proposal is a form of hand holding, and maybe in some ways its better to let a person stumble a few times and scrape themselves a bit rather than pushing them in a wheelchair everywhere. The problem here is that its far too easy to fall into the trap of using the fleet req either to upgrade your existing ships (which, for most players at this stage are likely only the T1 scout and T1 strike) or buy a single higher tier ship that may or may not be effective in the meta: "Hey I LOVE the engines and wings on that Clarion ship, it looks just like an x-wing, let me spend my fleet req on THAT." Given the types of comments I see in the chat when I watch twitch streams of various streamers, and the people that write into, or perhaps are guests, even hosts, of podcasts, I think its safe to say that the majority of people who play do not read the forums.

Regarding GSF, I think its safe to say 60-80% of new players to GSF do not read the forums and have no idea what the meta is or how to upgrade their ships correctly. They would have no idea how ineffective strikes are, let alone how bad some of the stock T3 strike components are (not that stock T1 bombers are any better configured, but I digress.) Think about it: if all you had to go on were the flavor text descriptions of each ship in your hangar, and you just got this windfall of requisition, and you were new to GSF, it would feel natural to upgrade your stock strike. Most people, newly jumping in to GSF, would try flying a strike first and upgrading it first because they'd assume it is tankier, and more forgiving, than a scout, or any of the other tier 1 ships. Its too easy to spend requisition, and it is well within the purview of developers to either steer players away from bad choices that are disguised as appealing lore-based flavor descriptions, or make adjustments to the component menu, so that people don't start down the path of unlocking and upgrading charged plating on a T1 strike.

It's kind of a shame that the first sliver of GSF news we get in over 3 years is already being received with some derisive commentary. It'd be nice if people could take a pause from the same old nitpicking and simply acknowledge that we are finally seeing something from the Devs after such an agonizingly long time.

 

I think most of us have learned to quell our optimism for any new development on GSF, but maybe this small move is a precursor of better things to come. Will bug fixes be next? I'm starting to get curious about Keith's pending roadmap. Dare to dream...

Yeah, its being met with derisive comments, because other then in the increase req and reduced costs, they're not making it better in any way. All they're doing is saying, "Have some free ships new characters." That's not what GSF needs. GSF needs new ship classes, new maps, and new battle modes. That's what GSF needs.

Yes I am aware that 5.2.2 is not a major patch, but all these changes could have waited for 5.3, and had all or some of what I listed above, in addition to this, and no one would have complained about not getting this measly little req buff sooner.

Yeah, its being met with derisive comments, because other then in the increase req and reduced costs, they're not making it better in any way. All they're doing is saying, "Have some free ships new characters." That's not what GSF needs. GSF needs new ship classes, new maps, and new battle modes. That's what GSF needs.

That depends on your point of view, doesn't it? If you are strictly talking about veterans, who only play the game for GSF, then sure, GSF needs all those things.

But if you are talking about new player retention, I think these are improvements for which people have asked. There is at least one thread a week about the gear gap, or some variation on that theme.

I agree with you that GSF could use the infiltrators (re?)introduced, a new map, a new game mode, but it also needs some improvements to be new player friendly. These changes are for the latter, because they are low hanging fruit. When, for example, there are at least as many simultaneous twitch streams about GSF as there are about ground pvp, then they might decide to invest some time into the deeper changes you mention.

Take for example JoeNeverFails. He's got over a hundred people watching his stream at any given time and hundreds of followers. In the summer when the expansion to FFXIV comes out he will be playing that in place of or in addition to SWTOR. But right now he streams SWTOR 8-12 hours a day. This is how advertising and marketing and promotion takes place these days. If he shows a stream where he is piloting and enjoying himself, other people may try it to. We already know more people are playing it because the CXP and UC yield is great. They didn't come to try it out because there is a new map, or a new ship class, they came out to try it because the right carrot was dangled in front of their faces. Bioware can keep them if they don't feel completely useless every time they enter a match.

I used to be like you. I used to think double requisition weeks/weekends never did anything for GSF playerbase size. I thought the tie-in to the ground game with conquest would help the playerbase. Maybe it did somewhat. I used to reply to threads stating what GSF needed was more rewards: stronghold decorations, armor appearances, titles, etc. I thought last summer's DvL event before 5.0 launched would get more participation. Again, like conquest, a modest effect.

Then I saw what happened when the right incentive was presented along with a prolonged double xp/double CXP/double req event. Its our version of a magical happening really, a renaissance for GSF.

Yeah, its being met with derisive comments, because other then in the increase req and reduced costs, they're not making it better in any way. All they're doing is saying, "Have some free ships new characters." That's not what GSF needs. GSF needs new ship classes, new maps, and new battle modes. That's what GSF needs.

That depends on your point of view, doesn't it? If you are strictly talking about veterans, who only play the game for GSF, then sure, GSF needs all those things.

 

But if you are talking about new player retention, I think these are improvements for which people have asked. There is at least one thread a week about the gear gap, or some variation on that theme.

 

I agree with you that GSF could use the infiltrators (re?)introduced, a new map, a new game mode, but it also needs some improvements to be new player friendly. These changes are for the latter, because they are low hanging fruit. When, for example, there are at least as many simultaneous twitch streams about GSF as there are about ground pvp, then they might decide to invest some time into the deeper changes you mention.

 

Take for example JoeNeverFails. He's got over a hundred people watching his stream at any given time and hundreds of followers. In the summer when the expansion to FFXIV comes out he will be playing that in place of or in addition to SWTOR. But right now he streams SWTOR 8-12 hours a day. This is how advertising and marketing and promotion takes place these days. If he shows a stream where he is piloting and enjoying himself, other people may try it to. We already know more people are playing it because the CXP and UC yield is great. They didn't come to try it out because there is a new map, or a new ship class, they came out to try it because the right carrot was dangled in front of their faces. Bioware can keep them if they don't feel completely useless every time they enter a match.

 

I used to be like you. I used to think double requisition weeks/weekends never did anything for GSF playerbase size. I thought the tie-in to the ground game with conquest would help the playerbase. Maybe it did somewhat. I used to reply to threads stating what GSF needed was more rewards: stronghold decorations, armor appearances, titles, etc. I thought last summer's DvL event before 5.0 launched would get more participation. Again, like conquest, a modest effect.

 

Then I saw what happened when the right incentive was presented along with a prolonged double xp/double CXP/double req event. Its our version of a magical happening really, a renaissance for GSF.

Someone frame this post and hang it on Wall of Crazy at Austin so they see it everyday and implement more changes that encourage new/casual players to try and keep engaging in GSF. Legacy/faction hangars next, PVE starfighter missions after (especially as part of the core storyline of new expansions), and only then new pvp GSF maps/modes.

If you are a veteran that wants these things then you should be happy that they are doing things to help new players. New players are the means to your end. The devs have candidly said that more people will have to play GSF before it will get the level of development you want.

That is a double edge sword right there. If they don't develop it more, no matter how many carrots they dangle, eventually the donkey is going the other way. I am sure most people now with the cxp, do their 1-2 matches a day, wipe their hands, and say that was slightly better then doing nothing, as they go back to a more populated aspect of the game.

Dangling a carrot, even a nice carrot after 3 years is not going to attract people to it. If they really want people to play GSF, they need to get out of this loop of

Devs: "We'll develop GSF more if more people played it."

Players: "We'd play it, if you developed it more."

BW needs to bite the bullet and develop GSF more or say they're never gonna touch it again. Making it easier to gear up ships is nice, but in the long run, for players who actually care about gsf, gearing up a ship wasn't that hard in the 1st place.

Someone frame this post and hang it on Wall of Crazy at Austin so they see it everyday and implement more changes that encourage new/casual players to try and keep engaging in GSF. Legacy/faction hangars next, PVE starfighter missions after (especially as part of the core storyline of new expansions), and only then new pvp GSF maps/modes.

Well, you know, its funny right, because I never in a million years would have predicted the behemoth that is Galactic Command, let alone that a ground end game gearing system would increase participation in GSF. So, I won't go so far as to suggest a pve-version of GSF ought to take priority over a new GSF game mode, but I won't discount the possibility it could be even more successful than galactic command in revitalizing GSF.

And, I'll make this prediction: expect some more Cartel Market related starfighter things before the New Year. There's no way they will pass up an opportunity to monetize more of the game. Such as, but not limited to, new skins for T3 ships, new color modules, engine reactants, blaster gas canisters, and paint jobs. I especially predict the Zakuulan interceptor will be a re-skin of the T3 scout and the Koth/Theron shuttle will be a reskin of the T3 gunship.

Extra ships will help initial req gains if new players get as far as the dailies and weeklies.

Someone posted a 25K req token the other day. - which is enough to buy a few basic upgrades, but doesn't give more than you can do in a few matches with the daily and weekly payouts, so it's really only a small boost.

If they can't revamp the ships, then maybe reword some of the tooltips might be a start. ( "don't buy this, it's rubbish" )

However a flood of newcomers might just end up cannon fodder for us vets, or simply encourage a lot more GS and Bomber spam.

But overall, it's at least something. If we get just 20 or 30 new players on each server it'd be a start, and the eye of Sauron turns this way for a brief second, so that's good too.

Shame the golden age of GSF has long passed us by. But still a small hope for a renaissance. - Yay!