Official Q&A Thread for July 20th Blog Post

(Answer to Shadow Problems from last week)
First, as to whether or not they're operating close to what we envision, the answer is "depends who the operator is." From the videos, logs, and anecdotes players provide us, it's really very much the answer for all specs - some people "get it" and play it to its potential, and some people don't. Frequently, the ones who "don't" are hitting brick walls because their expectations for what a spec should be like or should be capable of are different than what the spec is designed for.

In the case of Deception Assassins, we see and hear about a lot of players expecting to go toe-to-toe with tough enemies. They expect that since they're a melee spec, they should have the survivability they need to withstand the frontlines. That's true for some melee specs, but that's not what Deception Assassins were designed for. Deception should epitomize "hit-and-run" and "lone wolf" gameplay. Obviously that's less the case in Operations boss encounters, but if this is a question of sustained DPS, the short answer is that they hit within the same 5% "grace window" targeted by every DPS spec in the game.

In solo and PvP environments, Deception is meant to be a high burst, high mobility, shutdown spec. When played properly, they provide some of the highest burst and highest pressure in the game. However, Deception is not a great partner. He can't take hits, his shutdown requires that he set the pace of the fight, and his escapes leave allies open and vulnerable to counterattacks. I say that, but I've seen players dash my expectations and turn Deception into a spectacular teammate. Unfortunately, I've seen many more players try to facetank and fail. Assassins have a great team support role - Darkness; they also have a great well-rounded, high utility role - Madness. We left Deception to take the opportunity to do something fun and very different, but that comes with the risk of missing player expectation. If you like Deception and you want to pull it off, my suggestion is that you pick your fights and plan ahead, but I'd also warn that Deception is a spec of extremes - I would not describe it as "well-rounded." -end quote.

That still does not answer the question i want to ask.

My questions were, and still are... 1) Why are DPS shadows (Balance and Infiltration) in PvP inferior to other classes, due to higher survivability, damage, and utility of other classes, in some cases all three apply to once class. All i read is that the only way you should bring a shadow into rated is if they're a tank spec or hybrid tank. That is not right. 2) What will be done to increase the DPS shadow specs' viability in rateds?

If we are a lone wolf, as you say, i want some lone wolf content. Yep, 1v1 PvP arenas and 1 person raids. Sounds kinda hard to make, right? A better idea would be to re-work Infiltration to be based on the team-play mentality of this game, unless of course you guys just don't care and want all shadows to roll tanks to be viable in PvP.

When will I be able to Join my Guild on Dalborra given BW placed me on Vornskr with my guild at launch and refuses to allow me to transfer there despite having the ability to do so. Thanks

My question has to do with the iPhone/Android app. Right now, there's an extra screen just to choose that you want the security key when that is the only function of the app. Are there plans to implement something else such as crew skills or holonet/codex? I would be excited to have something when I'm not able to sit down and play the game.

Do you think the game will now go in the right direction with your lead developer "Stepping down"

Does the last Dev answer mean that deception assassins are not meant for end game content at all?

No one wants to play lone wolf in an MMO....
lone wolf in pvp does not work, the current ranked pvp teams are way to organised to let 1 squishy dps pick on their healer.
Maybe in a full PUG team in pre 50 pvp can u harass a healer and maybe even kill it.

lone wolf in Ops...does not work.
The only solo part in the current Ops are the solo fight in eternity vault.
Even in flash points, there are no lone wolf events, making the whole class obsolete.

I picked the assassin class because i loved the double bladed light saber and the whole melee fighting inspired by darth maul, even have a zabrak as race just for it.
Guess i get to play like darth maul, get killed off at episode 1 and watch the rest of the game on youtube.

I've wanted to ask this for some time! The Mandalorian Blockade music that plays at the main menu is not the same version that used to play earlier on in the beta! I've always loved the older version for its crescendo and overall more powerful build than the current version plays (it used to almost bring me to tears it was so perfect). Would whoever is responsible for changing the music of the game be able to shine some light on this, and perhaps post the old (original?) version of The Mandalorian Blockade on Youtube or elsewhere?

When can we expect to see serious improvements to Artifice? Example: one thing everyone wants that we can't provide as an artifice is a variety of PvE color crystals, such as purple and white in addition to the basic colors. Since the game is supposedly heavily focused on having your character look the way you want, being able to provide another layer of that through artifice (and without arbitrary restrictions) would be a big boon to the profession.

The way Campaign gear is set up, some DPS classes have the Armoring with more Endurance instead of their main stat. (Commando instead of Reflex for Mercs in this case) This makes it frustrating to min-max your stats, as we're stuck using Rakata shells in order to get maximum stats.

Can we expect this to change in the near future/what was the reasoning behind this?

Space combat...
Why do the capital ships keep firing after I've destroyed all their guns?
Why do the capital ships keep firing accurately after I've destroyed their targeting array?
Why do the capital ships keep maneuvering after I've destroyed their engines?
Why do the capital ships not explode after I've destroyed everything targetable on them?
What do the capital ships shields actually do? They don't seem to protect their guns or engines or targeting arrays.

You guys had mentioned that after 1.3, you would be start churning out content at a much faster pace and start releasing updates on a monthly schedule. Has something changed and that will no longer be the case? It takes nearly a month for you guys to test content so if you are still going to abide by your monthly standards, the next patch would need to be on PTS nearly immediately after the previous patch was released for thorough testing.