Oh come on lol - 1 boss is not an Operation Jatta.

no, but its a step in the correct direction imo.

if they used this cadence they speak of, 2 months oper boss, since 3.0, we would have already 12/13 new bosses - ofc, its "IF"

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[*]Coming with Iokath is the first boss of a new Operation. Each subsequent boss will be released in the future with the entire Op being completely released this year.

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hahahahhaha guys releasing this 1 by 1 will not help you to keep people subs, pls be reasonable

hahahahhaha guys releasing this 1 by 1 will not help you to keep people subs, pls be reasonable

well, they will keep my sub..but ofc im not the whole sample of the universe of subs

• Two returning Companions: Quinn

Please oh please oh please make him killable. Pretty please. Or at the very least give an option to -not- recruit him. Note that forcing us to just leave an alert unfinished forever doesn't count (looking at you Bowdaar and Pierce. )

no, but its a step in the correct direction imo.

 

if they used this cadence they speak of, 2 months oper boss, since 3.0, we would have already 12/13 new bosses - ofc, its "IF"

How? 1 year for a freaking Op? This is not some fringe niche MMO that doesn't have fans...it's STAR WARS and it's the ONLY Star Wars MMO on the entire market and it's owned my Electronic Arts, the largest and most lucrative gaming company in the entire world...the game has both a subscription AND a cash shop...yet they can only do ONE boss at a time?

Who is this appealing to exactly? World boss fans? It's not an Operation...it's pieces of it strung together over a year...and it'll only be ONE Op at the end of that year. Who do you think that's appealing to exactly?

The Good:

A storyline on Iokath, choice of companion alert, and a staged release for a new Operations. Not bad. Not bad at all. Now if you can squeeze in an 8v8 wz and give GSF a badly needed maintenance pass I think you'd be well on the way to a sustainable content pipeline. If you can stick to this as an annual cadence I think you'll start to earn back some trust.

Would I prefer a whole new Op to be released? Of course. But I do understand the effort it requires to develop them. Just to pluck a silver lining out of this I'm going to predict that this will be one of the better QA'd Ops due to how it'll be rolled out.

The Fugly:

The concept that gear is an incentive is completely wrong. To paraphrase Dr. Demming: Unfair gear systems are a demotivator. RNG is anything but fair. The grind itself makes me just not want to bother.

Galactic Command as the primary gear path is an unmitigated disaster as was 5.1's change to bolster. Anybody with even a passing familiarity with PvP will tell you that a gear disparity causes significant harm to that playstyle.

Stop trying to shove GC down out throats. It's only going to make us puke it back in your face. Put bolster back to where it was in 5.0 ASAP. That's an easy "win".

Reasonable people want rewards commensurate with effort or skill and certainly not governed by a roll of the dice.

How? 1 year for a freaking Op? This is not some fringe niche MMO that doesn't have fans...it's STAR WARS and it's the ONLY Star Wars MMO on the entire market and it's owned my Electronic Arts, the largest and most lucrative gaming company in the entire world...the game has both a subscription AND a cash shop...yet they can only do ONE boss at a time?

 

Who is this appealing to exactly? World boss fans? It's not an Operation...it's pieces of it strung together over a year...and it'll only be ONE Op at the end of that year. Who do you think that's appealing to exactly?

Thank you everyone for tuning in! If you missed it, here is what we discussed.

 

On Tuesday we released Game Update 5.1 - Defend the Throne

• Master Mode Chapters
  
• 5 new Uprisings
  
• Galactic Command Gearing Changes -- We know that the changes in 5.1 are just the start. We are looking into simplifying, making faster, and making more alt friendly the gearing in GC. We are also looking into making getting through Command Ranks faster.

 

Coming in April, Game Update 5.2 which will include

• Brand new story arc on Iokath. The Empire and Republic are fighting over control of the planet and you, as the Alliance Commander will choose who to side with.
  
• Two returning Companions: Quinn and Elara.
  
• After completing Iokath's storyline, it opens up into a new daily area.
  
• Coming with Iokath is the first boss of a new Operation. Each subsequent boss will be released in the future with the entire Op being completely released this year.
  
• We are planning to have a PTS for 5.2 in the next few weeks. More details to follow.
  

 

-eric

What is the time line on the rest of the bosses? and what is in the future for ops? how many bosses can we expect to see each expansion?

Who is this appealing to exactly? World boss fans? It's not an Operation...it's pieces of it strung together over a year...and it'll only be ONE Op at the end of that year. Who do you think that's appealing to exactly?

Pushing out one Op is not the Holy Grail that'll bring back a flood of raiders. Demonstrating that their dev pipeline can produce content on a reasonable cadence will - slowly - improve BWA's reputation.

I'm not saying that the staged release is ideal, not by a long shot, but at least they're doing something. Because they've had balance and exploit issues in the past I prefer the way this one is being rolled out.

Should EA be funding this better? Of course, but the last two years have played merry hell with their ROI (return on investment). I do and I don't blame them for being a bit risk averse. IMO this is BWA's last chance. If this year can show a sustainable improvement in revenue then EA may increase their budgets for next year.

I dearly hope that EA has given them some sane revenue targets. Sadly it looks like they're still holding BWA's feet to the fire on number of subscribers.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... a new daily area (didn't we used to do these for crystals.... now we don't have crystals anymore) and an Op released in pieces. What a complete and utter joke.

Meanwhile, their competitor releases this for a patch in February: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/d90ea3ee6d083eaba4f22e5deefe934b0a0a464e

This for a patch in March: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/12ed915838dbdc22fe36871a2604f9b1d97b848d

The Far Edge of Fate patch is so large it has to be distributed over two months. And this is just meant to hold you over until the expansion releases.

And in June, releases an expansion that has:

• Level Cap increase from 60 to 70 (because they are actually going to have new level 70 zones and group content)
  
• Two new character classes
  
• Adding swimming and diving to the game (last expansion they added flying)
  
• Three new mega-zones (full zones, not one time corridors for use)
  
• A fourth residential district (more stuff on housing)
  
• 12 new dungeons (bringing the in game total to 59 4-man dungeons)
  
• 2 new 8-man raids (with four more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• 1 new 24-man raid (with 2 more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• A new primal (world boss)
  
• New gear and crafting recipes
  
• Expanded inventory
  
• Updates to the Battle System (the one complaint they have in the game is the combat seems too slow - they listened and so they are improving the system to be more in line with what players wanted).
  

All of that for close to the same amount of money you spend on SWTOR in a year.

But hey, they are going to give you a boss in April and might have the whole raid done in the same time their competitor has done eight full raids. Yeah, what an exciting deal.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... a new daily area (didn't we used to do these for crystals.... now we don't have crystals anymore) and an Op released in pieces. What a complete and utter joke.

 

Meanwhile, there competitor releases this for a patch now: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/d90ea3ee6d083eaba4f22e5deefe934b0a0a464e

 

This for a patch in a month: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/12ed915838dbdc22fe36871a2604f9b1d97b848d

 

And in June, releases an expansion that has:

• Level Cap increase from 60 to 70 (because they are actually going to have new level 70 zones and group content)
  
• Two new character classes
  
• Adding swimming and diving to the game (last expansion they added flying)
  
• Three new mega-zones (full zones, not one time corridors for use)
  
• A fourth residential district (more stuff on housing)
  
• 12 new dungeons (bringing the in game total to 59 4-man dungeons)
  
• 2 new 8-man raids (with four more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• 1 new 24-man raid (with 2 more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• A new primal (world boss)
  
• New gear and crafting recipes
  
• Expanded inventory
  
• Updates to the Battle System
  

 

All of that for close to the same amount of money you spend on SWTOR in a year.

 

But hey, they are going to give you a boss in April and might have the whole raid done in the same time their competitor has done eight full raids. Yeah, what an exciting deal.

Yeah, but we're getting ONE Op boss every 2 months'ish...so...um...um...

Seems half of you didn't listen when they said to give them "objective" suggestions on how to improve the command crates.

They even stated that if you write "RNG stinks" "Dump this system" etc that is not going to help them improve the system.

By them saying this have not figured out the system is here to stay. In a case like this, then it is time for people to actually come up with suggestions that might can improve the system instead of raging all over the forums saying "it stinks, etc." That is not doing any good.

What will do some good is some honest objective suggestions on how to improve it. "AND NO: SAYING DUMP IT, ETC IS NOT OBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS."

Yeah, but we're getting ONE Op boss every 2 months'ish...so...um...um...

Well, remember how many y'all got last year? And the year before?

Honestly I'm shocked that they're putting out any actual content this year. See... it could be worse!

Seems half of you didn't listen when they said to give them "objective" suggestions on how to improve the command crates.

 

They even stated that if you write "RNG stinks" "Dump this system" etc that is not going to help them improve the system.

 

By them saying this have not figured out the system is here to stay. In a case like this, then it is time for people to actually come up with suggestions that might can improve the system instead of raging all over the forums saying "it stinks, etc." That is not doing any good.

 

What will do some good is some honest objective suggestions on how to improve it. "AND NO: SAYING DUMP IT, ETC IS NOT OBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS."

There are HUNDREDS of direct suggestions on these forums, reddit and MMO fansites. They have chosen to ignore all of them, even going so far in their utter arrogance to say, "keep the feedback coming we are listening".

So you know why no one gives constructive feedback anymore - because it is less painful to slam your head into a brick wall.

There is a ton of constructive suggestions on what to do with the RNG, how to deal with the CxP, and they listened to a grand total of none of them. They didn't listen when the GC disaster was announced, they didn't listen to the extremely negative feedback when it was on PTS, and they sure as heck aren't listening now that it is live.

BW can put their smug comment of "give us feedback" where the sun doesn't shine, because that is how much they listen to it. So no one is going to waste their breath anymore since they do not listen.

And saying "dump It" when you had something that worked and now you don't IS A PERFECTLY VIABLE suggestion.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... a new daily area (didn't we used to do these for crystals.... now we don't have crystals anymore) and an Op released in pieces. What a complete and utter joke.

 

Meanwhile, their competitor releases this for a patch in February: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/d90ea3ee6d083eaba4f22e5deefe934b0a0a464e

 

This for a patch in March: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/12ed915838dbdc22fe36871a2604f9b1d97b848d

 

The Far Edge of Fate patch is so large it has to be distributed over two months. And this is just meant to hold you over until the expansion releases.

 

And in June, releases an expansion that has:

• Level Cap increase from 60 to 70 (because they are actually going to have new level 70 zones and group content)
  
• Two new character classes
  
• Adding swimming and diving to the game (last expansion they added flying)
  
• Three new mega-zones (full zones, not one time corridors for use)
  
• A fourth residential district (more stuff on housing)
  
• 12 new dungeons (bringing the in game total to 59 4-man dungeons)
  
• 2 new 8-man raids (with four more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• 1 new 24-man raid (with 2 more scheduled to be released over the coming year)
  
• A new primal (world boss)
  
• New gear and crafting recipes
  
• Expanded inventory
  
• Updates to the Battle System (the one complaint they have in the game is the combat seems too slow - they listened and so they are improving the system to be more in line with what players wanted).
  

 

All of that for close to the same amount of money you spend on SWTOR in a year.

 

But hey, they are going to give you a boss in April and might have the whole raid done in the same time their competitor has done eight full raids. Yeah, what an exciting deal.

Sorry to state the obvious but perhaps you would be happier playing that game instead of this?

Well, remember how many y'all got last year? And the year before?

 

Honestly I'm shocked that they're putting out any actual content this year. See... it could be worse!

This is true...

Sorry to state the obvious but perhaps you would be happier playing that game instead of this?

Yeah, tbh, I've been wondering about that too, so have a few others...it's not Star Wars and I know nothing about FF, but it's hard to argue with all they've done to please their customers.

"AND NO: SAYING DUMP IT, ETC IS NOT OBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS."

In many cases having a way to bypass GC is indeed the answer. PvP works best when gear is not a factor. Gear is preventing Ops players from playing the content they want to be playing. Unless the content you prefer is doable in non-set 230's you are faced with an enormous grind before you get to participate at the level you are used to.

Galactic Command has no business being the primary gear source for a large number of players. The 5.1 changes were done grudgingly and miserly. Austin is insistent that GC's core remains intact when that system itself has been shown to be harmful to retention.

GC will become irrelevant eventually. The longer it takes the more retention will erode. They cannot afford to drag their feet with "tweaks" and "tunings".

Unlike Koth, amirite?

 

-eric

Haha Eric, I didn't kill Koth on my smuggler p.

Are GSF adjustments in the pipe?

There are a lot of fights with 3 gunships or / and 3 bomber or more bombers and gunships. Who moves dies *Pew Pew Chess*. Scouts and Strike Fighter are sadly out of chances, if Gunships and bomber clusters or bomber hide mine spamming under the satellite.

some weaopons are to strong (Railgun, Burst Laser Cannon, etc)

usefull things are not accessable (Interdiction Missile, Retro Thrusters)

and some are nice but not really usefull (Sensor Drone, Weapon Power Converter, EMP Missile, Ion Missile etc)

or very hard to lock on (Torpedo, Concussion Missile, etc)

and still the cloakable ship is missing.

Keep the questions coming! I am taking them to the team to get answers. Just letting you know they aren't falling into a vacuum, answers are coming.

 

-eric

Can we get more stuff into alliance crates? like the deceiver boltblaster gear?

I'm trying really hard not to be a downer on this because things do sound promising.

At least You are giving us some new game content and it is a balance between Story, small group and Operations.

My concern is that the fact that you don't already have Ops or PvP content ready to roll indicates that you have been "all hands on deck" with what has been rolling out lately and it appears that the next releases will be all hands on deck patches as well.

For me this confirms the idea that you have a smaller staff than during past releases and that is part of the reason that the content drops are getting smaller. 1 boss at a time with it taking most of the year to complete the entire Op just feels all sorts of frustrating though... It's 1 boss, just 1. If you screw this up or launch it with game breaking bugs then I'm gonna have to call SWTOR quits. I'm sure you don't care, but I do.

The fact that you are being just a little more straight forward and slightly more transparent is nice, but you have a long way to go. I want to believe and I want to be optimistic, but your track record leaves me extremely skeptical. One of my guildmates coined the phrase skeptimistic (skeptically optimistic) and I think that describes the situation extremely well.

It's a good move putting the content on the PTS I hope plenty of us participate and that you actually listen to our feed back. I'll be on the PTS, I hope to see many others there as well. I believe that the PTS should be a permanent thing and all content should go there as soon as it is playable. Give the community the chance to give you feedback on a more constant basis. The time for being secretive and trying to surprise players is over. On one wants your surprises anymore, we want a game that works and your surprises have just generated more animosity the past 2 years to be honest.

Gearing still blows, not just because of the grind fest that CXP has become, but because the waters get muddied and the system gets even more confusing with each change. You wanted to give us a less confusing method of gearing that opened end game gear up to even the casual players. Well you are failing miserably on the less confusing part...

Here's an idea, why not name the gear sets after the Spec? Instead of Sage healer gear being called The Force Mystic's Set why not just call it The Seer Sage Set, so on and so forth. This would go along way in clearing up some of the confusion that folks new to endgame gearing often have. I don't think that the use of Comms and unassembled pieces made garing confusing, I think it was all the different gear sets and the naming convention.

Good luck, I hope it all works out because I enjoy playing SWTOR. As much as I want to go buy a Nintendo Switch I'd rather you produce something so awesome that I decided to sink that $300 into SWTOR and my PC instead.