Just some thoughts about the coming new flashpoint:

I'm really happy that there will be a new flashpoint so please don't get me wrong but I think the resources the devs put into this flashpoint unfortunately will go to waste.

The reason for this is the current system/ state of the game where actually everything is about unassembled components...at least in terms of gearing. Doing flashpoints has become a waste of time for too many players cause besides cxp there is no incentive to do flashpoints.

The only incentive that matters are unassembled components and since flashpoints dont have that incentive most players will probably do the new flashpoint only once to see the story and then return to grinding pvp for farming components.

Just take a look at your own metrics...the unassembled components system has caused pvp to boom and flashpoints to die even more. Maybe you finally should consider to reward components for pve activities as well.

Components (the ability to work towards a specific gear piece) should be granted for time + effort spend no matter if in pvp or pve.

At least this would make playing the new flashpoint more than once, worth it and it also would give back the choice to players...the choice which content they prefer to spend their time + effort in without missing on the opportunity to work towards a specific gear piece.

Right now this choice is already made by the system...super easy accessible pvp versus hard to get into nightmare operations (thats not a choice, that's a bad joke).

Alternatively you could consider to introduce a new currency that works exactly like components but can only be obtained by spending time + effort in pve group activities ( if you really persist on keeping components pvp-exclusive).

Flashpoints are still very much worth it. CXP on a geared main can gear your alts or an off-spec, and FP's are a good source of conquest points.

Apart from novelty you don't need full BiS anyway, a 246/248 geared character is more than enough for everything the game has to offer.

Flashpoints are still very much worth it. CXP on a geared main can gear your alts or an off-spec, and FP's are a good source of conquest points.

 

Apart from novelty you don't need full BiS anyway, a 246/248 geared character is more than enough for everything the game has to offer.

I would say that if your character knows what they are doing then yes but unfortunately there are some people that don't know what they are doing and until they learn their abilities and what to do that sometimes the BIS equipment gives them a little more leeway on some of the missions, such as Master Mode. I have seen too many already complain they can't do defeat Vailyn or another mission lately and no matter how many times people explain what to do it doesn't seem to help. They claim it is impossible if you are light side and don't have that companion (and this is story mode), no matter how many people said they did it by paying attention to the mechanics.

Just some thoughts about the coming new flashpoint:

 

I'm really happy that there will be a new flashpoint so please don't get me wrong but I think the resources the devs put into this flashpoint unfortunately will go to waste.

 

The reason for this is the current system/ state of the game where actually everything is about unassembled components...at least in terms of gearing. Doing flashpoints has become a waste of time for too many players cause besides cxp there is no incentive to do flashpoints.

The only incentive that matters are unassembled components and since flashpoints dont have that incentive most players will probably do the new flashpoint only once to see the story and then return to grinding pvp for farming components.

 

Just take a look at your own metrics...the unassembled components system has caused pvp to boom and flashpoints to die even more. Maybe you finally should consider to reward components for pve activities as well.

Components (the ability to work towards a specific gear piece) should be granted for time + effort spend no matter if in pvp or pve.

 

At least this would make playing the new flashpoint more than once, worth it and it also would give back the choice to players...the choice which content they prefer to spend their time + effort in without missing on the opportunity to work towards a specific gear piece.

Right now this choice is already made by the system...super easy accessible pvp versus hard to get into nightmare operations (thats not a choice, that's a bad joke).

Alternatively you could consider to introduce a new currency that works exactly like components but can only be obtained by spending time + effort in pve group activities ( if you really persist on keeping components pvp-exclusive).

You're kidding me.... Unassembled components have driven PvPers OUT of PvP. They only work as a supplementary bonusto someone who does progression raiding, or as a path to get full 248s for someone already in 242s. Flashpoints aren't meant to be grinds for higher level players for anything other than CXP anyways, they're meant to provide medium difficulty group content (with uprisings being easy and Ops being hard).

I would say that if your character knows what they are doing then yes but unfortunately there are some people that don't know what they are doing and until they learn their abilities and what to do that sometimes the BIS equipment gives them a little more leeway on some of the missions, such as Master Mode. I have seen too many already complain they can't do defeat Vailyn or another mission lately and no matter how many times people explain what to do it doesn't seem to help. They claim it is impossible if you are light side and don't have that companion (and this is story mode), no matter how many people said they did it by paying attention to the mechanics.

I really do hate those claims so much. This is one of the main reasons I dislike the way companions are now. We're so used to companions being able to heal us through almost anything, or literally have damage powerful enough to kill bosses without our help, that a slightly different fight leaves many unable to win.

The Vaylin fight is not even that hard, and ironically, all the people complaining about it needing the best gear aren't even right. A 248-geared player will die just as easily as a 204-geared player if they ignore the mechanics of the fight. The only complaint I do have about the fight is that it is quite a bit more fast paced than all the fights in the rest of the solo story. Like her burst attacks are similar to Eternal Championship Nocturno/Drake Raven. Obviously this isn't a problem for anyone who regularly does endgame content, but it surprises those who don't.

You've told us that class balance changes are coming for some classes, can you indicate what problems you are trying to solve. For example:

Sorcerer/Sage - DPS currently under performing

Powertech / Vanguard - DPS and Tank specs under performing

Assassin / Shadow - Serenity under performing, Kinetic Combat over performing

etc...

Obviously we'd prefer to hear the full details of the changes you have in mind but if you are not ready to share that yet, can you at least give us an idea of the problems you are trying to solve for with class balance.

Now you did it.. they will now add a 3000 cartel coin legacy perk... The only thing Iwould bet gets delivered on time are those things that will be purchased via cartel coins. There will be no delay in that new stronghold... but class balance start looking at Xmas but by then all the focus will be in putting glowing red nose tauntans on the GM. They should put everything on there pay for new OPS, pay for abilities, make it the only place for schematics, health packs, etc.

It should be free. We shouldn't have to pay for something they need to fix so we can use our alts. They broke it with this gearing system and if they now want us to pay for the pleasure of playing our alts?

NO THANKS.. IF THIS LEGACY PERK COSTS ANYTHING.. 😡

That's the problem to, that people either don't get, or don't want to admit that Bioware can't give us "All" what we want, and it's a sad thing but very true. Right now because most people have left and that are still barely around want the New Ops, even though we Do have New Multi-player content called Uprisings, which i would love to do myself and they can be as good as an Operation for a some people i know.

 

For others the focus should either be Pvp, or Story lines like the the stories that turned us Originals on here because of the great storylines from the SWTOR Single game series along with then combat.

 

No matter what, most of us, including me are rarely satisfied and rarely ever have enough good things. Maybe it's society as well, as it always seem to get worse in that direction.

 

I love Storylines for all Classes, but also love some good Pvp and some PvE Ops and FP's. With ll these things i have done, I realize that this MMO 'needs' all of the above, but Bioware Austen does not have the resources at all it once had from even EA at 1 point.

It needs to be balanced, but the only way to balance it will require a few months of focus on group MMO content to make up for the lack of content in the last 3 years. Once those few months are done they can revert to a balanced setting where they should do something for everyone when they do a release.

The story guys just need to realise they aren't the only people who play the game and they've had all the attention and resources directed at them for many years. All they need is to be a little patient till Bio can push out some group content and then get into a balanced release cycle.

It's not??? @Eric, @Charles, ummm guys - Let's make sure this does happen and please toss away all salt shakers.

Keith, what colour roses should I send you 💕

*snip*

 

Hear, Hear! I was going to say something similar, but not as eloquently as you put it. There are absolutely going to be times where we say we want to do a thing, but we have to redirect and change course. When we realize we can't deliver, we'll tell you and explain what's up. Hopefulllllly, the change will be for the better, but in some cases, we'll have to refer back to your message.

 

Longer term, I'd like all of us to be in a position where we're comfortable with the direction of the game, you have a lot of confidence we are on top of your concerns, and you'll get to a point where you are willing to be flexible (a sneaky term for being understanding and agreeable). Not asking for anything right now, except dialog.

 

---Keith

That's what makes you stand out above the rest that have held your position. Knowing we crave communication and dialogue is half the battle. Actually delivering that communication gets you to 2/3rds. That last third is where things happen, but without the first two thirds, people lose faith and are never happy, especially if there is a concern that is ignored.

The saying usually goes, no news is good news... but for me, no news means you don't know there are icebergs out there.

I'd rather you deliver bad news than let us sink.

You're kidding me.... Unassembled components have driven PvPers OUT of PvP. They only work as a supplementary bonusto someone who does progression raiding, or as a path to get full 248s for someone already in 242s. Flashpoints aren't meant to be grinds for higher level players for anything other than CXP anyways, they're meant to provide medium difficulty group content (with uprisings being easy and Ops being hard).

I've pretty much stopped pvping because of it.. and I've been a dedicated pvper for 5 years and that's pretty much all I've done since I finished all the vanilla stories.. I tried the new solo stories and got to chapter 9 of the first one and gave up.. while the story wasn't bad, it was tedious and not challenging at all and the idea of doing it all on all 35+ alts was too much to bare.

I play pvp for the challenge of skill vs skill pvp, not gear vs gear. The current system has a massive gear gap from when you first enter lvl 70 till you can BiS. That wouldn't be that bad except for the time it takes to BiS gear. In the mean time you have people who are running around in god like gear and that is not a nice experience. Nobody wants to grind against gear gods because it's not fun. PvP should only be about skill vs skill. With the old gear you could gear up in 2 weeks and even less if you pvp'd as you lvl'd.

There have been a multitude of suggestions in threads and posts on how to address this issue and I'm surprised we've not had any feed back yet. But in case Keith hasn't seen them... here is mine

Increase Bolster to what the highest gear lvl is. At the moment that is 248. This will boost entry lvl gear up to a certain lvl they can be competitive in. People in BiS gear will still have gear bonuses and will still have slightly higher stats as we've seen how Bolster has done this in the past when we had pvp gear.

To make that BiS gear grind still relevant in pvp, keep all the current systems in place for acquiring said gear through pvp. But the gear itself is really only relevant so people can do pve content if they so choose. This way pve people will still want to pvp to get gear and pvp people don't have a massive gear gap. It's a win - win for everyone and those trying out pvp for the first time to gear up for pve won't have such a terrible experience and then stop playing it altogether.

Another suggestion for Keith is to make lower lvl pvp relevant again. The only way you are going to do this is to allow people to accumulate unassembled components from all lvls of pvp. The same as we did with pvp Comms. The amount doesn't need to be huge, but getting some would encourage people to play pvp as they lvl up. For people such as myself who only lvl in pvp, this would make a huge difference to us gearing when we hit lvl 70 and would also improve queue times in pre lvl 70 pvp, which are nearly non existent.

It needs to be balanced, but the only way to balance it will require a few months of focus on group MMO content to make up for the lack of content in the last 3 years. Once those few months are done they can revert to a balanced setting where they should do something for everyone when they do a release.

The story guys just need to realise they aren't the only people who play the game and they've had all the attention and resources directed at them for many years. All they need is to be a little patient till Bio can push out some group content and then get into a balanced release cycle.

I disagree with this (and from my perspective it will not be a few months, but more like a year or more, with little or no story content (depending on if there is an expansion this year and what next year's road map looks like)). I think what they release should be balanced, but that they should have started that balanced approach right away so as to keep to a minimum the amount of people unsubscribing or leaving. Also, they should in general put more resources into the game if they want a larger number of people subscribing.

I disagree with this (and from my perspective it will not be a few months, but more like a year or more, with little or no story content (depending on if there is an expansion this year and what next year's road map looks like)). I think what they release should be balanced, but that they should have started that balanced approach right away so as to keep to a minimum the amount of people unsubscribing or leaving. Also, they should in general put more resources into the game if they want a larger number of people subscribing.

I wish they could do all of that too.. but reality is they can't at the moment, especially because they have been and are driving away the largest part of the game's population for the last 3 years, the MMO players. They need to spend a large part of those limited resources to stop the rest leaving and to "try" and bring the others back.

I didn't read anywhere that said there wouldn't be anymore story this year and I certainly didn't read anything that said over a year. The road map is for this coming quarter, not 12 months. So we are talking 3 months to the next road map. You just need some patience like the rest of us have had to endure for 2-3 years.

I am happy to see the roadmap with both OPS and story content coming. Both are important. Here is a question and a suggestion:

- Can we get a real answer to the question of whether faction choice on Iokath will prevent us from re-recruiting some past companions in the future (other than Quinn or Elara)? As ridiculous as it is, I'm actually hesitant to progress some of my characters through that choice because of that possibility.

- Suggestion: One way to bring new life to older (but still great!) content would be to introduce achievements for doing the planetary story quests, bonus quests, and other side quests. It's kind of a strange omission that there aren't achievements for these.

I wish they could do all of that too.. but reality is they can't at the moment, especially because they have been and are driving away the largest part of the game's population for the last 3 years, the MMO players. They need to spend a large part of those limited resources to stop the rest leaving and to "try" and bring the others back.

I didn't read anywhere that said there wouldn't be anymore story this year and I certainly didn't read anything that said over a year. The road map is for this coming quarter, not 12 months. So we are talking 3 months to the next road map. You just need some patience like the rest of us have had to endure for 2-3 years.

I don't even see the problem here. The roadmap very clearly says there'll be a story update in 3 months. I know it's a flashpoint, but every "story compulsory" flashpoint has had solo mode for story players. It's literally just 3 months of waiting.

PvErs have had to wait 2.5 YEARS for ONE boss.... and they then had to wait severa months for the second boss. And PvPers got "new" content in the form of Iokath, which never has an PvP happening. Incredible isn't it?

Here's hoping they actually follow through on the roadmap's mention, of providing special rewards for PvP on Iokath.

You'll be able to buy a full set of gear for your alts, including set bonus, weapons, ear piece, relics, and implants with Command Tokens in a couple weeks. This doesn't fix everything about gearing (we'll discuss that in the coming weeks), but consider when we used to all earn crystals just to buy high endurance gear with no set bonuses.

 

To set expectations, this 25% Command Rank Perk is not going to be free. You don't need to buy it, but since it is Legacy wide, it'll be a one time purchase (credits or cartel coins) and I anticipate a worthwhile investment.

 

I do realize for those of us who play on multiple servers, we'll need to buy it and transfer a toon (which is cheaper than the cost of the perk) - it's how I personally handle keeping my Legacy current on all servers. There are a number of Perks and Achievements I'd like to see us make account wide, but we haven't fully investigated the effort, so I'll add that our growing list of ideas.

 

---Keith

Will this 25% perk, stack with the +10% character perk we may have purchased already, as well as the 100% boost from either CC's, or command tokens?

I believe that's what Musco is working on with the Combat team right now - to provide the overview changes for each class and get more specific as we get closer to the release date in mid-July. Eric can let us know in the next day or so what's up. @Eric - over to you!

Can you please respond to this as it is the biggest problem with pvp atm is that this game needs a proper team matching system so you don't get unbalanced teams and so that premades only fight premades and pugs fight pugs.

Can you please respond to this as it is the biggest problem with pvp atm is that this game needs a proper team matching system so you don't get unbalanced teams and so that premades only fight premades and pugs fight pugs.

Yeah no, if you're gonna bring the no-premades argument here, we're presenting the opposite side too. Premades are an entirely valid game mode, and anyone can form a premade, including the players complaining about them. Do not punish us players with slower queue pops, for playing with friends or even playing to avoid bad teammates.

I do however think an invisible rating system is warranted for unranked warzones, to allow players of equivalent skill to be match. That and ways to prevent class stacking, for example, don't allow a match to be made with more than 2/3 of a single class, and do not allow "troll premades" like 4-merc or 4-sorcheals to queue up (again by just preventing class stacking).

To set expectations, this 25% Command Rank Perk is not going to be free. You don't need to buy it, but since it is Legacy wide, it'll be a one time purchase (credits or cartel coins) and I anticipate a worthwhile investment.

---Keith

Keith,

You're not listening to your players on this topic. We wanted legacy-wide CXP. After making and leveling a bunch of alts pre-5.0, we want to play those alts and we do not want to have to CXP-grind on them after insanely grinding a main to 300. When your roadmap mentioned adding a legacy perk to address this issue instead of implementing legacy-wide CXP, I assumed you'd have perk levels like 6X and 12X CXP. A 25% boost is a joke, it does nothing for us. We can already buy a 2X boost, for gosh sake. Either go big on the perk, or don't bother.

Yeah no, if you're gonna bring the no-premades argument here, we're presenting the opposite side too. Premades are an entirely valid game mode, and anyone can form a premade, including the players complaining about them. Do not punish us players with slower queue pops, for playing with friends or even playing to avoid bad teammates.

 

I do however think an invisible rating system is warranted for unranked warzones, to allow players of equivalent skill to be match. That and ways to prevent class stacking, for example, don't allow a match to be made with more than 2/3 of a single class, and do not allow "troll premades" like 4-merc or 4-sorcheals to queue up (again by just preventing class stacking).

Looks like you didnt read my post I clearly stated that premades should only fight premades that means you can still premade but you will only get matched against other premades it's simple as that.

Yeah no, if you're gonna bring the no-premades argument here, we're presenting the opposite side too. Premades are an entirely valid game mode, and anyone can form a premade, including the players complaining about them. Do not punish us players with slower queue pops, for playing with friends or even playing to avoid bad teammates.

 

I do however think an invisible rating system is warranted for unranked warzones, to allow players of equivalent skill to be match. That and ways to prevent class stacking, for example, don't allow a match to be made with more than 2/3 of a single class, and do not allow "troll premades" like 4-merc or 4-sorcheals to queue up (again by just preventing class stacking).

Also the current system punishes players for not making premades so your point is invalid because your way is already punishing a majority of the players who pvp.

Keith,

You're not listening to your players on this topic. We wanted legacy-wide CXP. After making and leveling a bunch of alts pre-5.0, we want to play those alts and we do not want to have to CXP-grind on them after insanely grinding a main to 300. When your roadmap mentioned adding a legacy perk to address this issue instead of implementing legacy-wide CXP, I assumed you'd have perk levels like 6X and 12X CXP. A 25% boost is a joke, it does nothing for us. We can already buy a 2X boost, for gosh sake. Either go big on the perk, or don't bother.

that isn't going to happen because the whole GC system is a way to force you to sub your idea defeats that purpose.