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Winter/Spring 2018 Roadmap Update


KeithKanneg

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Hey everyone,

 

I think for all of us, this Roadmap process we started last year could stand a bit of improvement. Instead of providing information every 90 days or so, it’s taking a lot longer to get you any information about what we’re planning, and honestly, that needs to change. I’m still reticent about communicating details beyond 90 days, but I do want you to be comfortable with our direction and where we are headed.

 

With this in-mind, we’ve decided to use the Forums as the means to get you the information about the next couple months versus waiting for a Roadmap. This will allow us to be more responsive to your questions, address your concerns, and maintain a better dialog going forward. It also helps us (especially me) to stay available and not make it seem like we’ve disappeared into the ether. Here is what you can expect in March and April this year (2018):

 

March 13 – Game Update 5.8 - Command Authority

Operations:

  • Izax, The Destroyer - The 5th and final boss from the Gods from the Machine Operation. There will be two modes with Izax; Story and Master mode. This also means we will not be offering a full Master Mode for all bosses in the Operation. This was an especially difficult decision for me to make, as I have loved the interaction between developers and our raiding community. Yet, based on what we’re planning for this year and beyond, it’s better to focus on the upcoming group content.
  • However, we are going to run a special Izax event for those who are worthy enough to defeat him. Everyone who does will have an opportunity to receive a new achievement, a special and unique Title, and a new and very enticing Legacy-based reward.
  • Note, we’ll deliver the Title and Reward when we launch Game Update 5.9 – The Nathema Conspiracy.

 

Conquest Revamp:

  • We have all enjoyed receiving our rewards each week! Ok, in reality, we’ve had our fair share of issues this past year, but going forward, we want Conquests to be a consistently fun activity for Guilds and individual participants.
  • As a result, we’ve made substantial improvements to the Conquest system including a new interface, new daily objectives, new missions, and more. Most importantly, we have rewritten the backend system to ensure you benefit from your weekly efforts. Look for details in an upcoming blog or forum post.
  • A new Conquest Vendor will appear for those who complete their personal conquests each week. It’ll initially have Decorations and a new Companion boost called the Commander’s Compendium which will increase your active companion to influence level 50. More on this below.

Companions:

  • Arcann Romance – Everyone’s favorite former villain has had a change of heart and may be more “available” than he was previously.
  • Companion Return: Vector – Imperial Agents will see the return of Vector Hyllus! Easily the best member of the Killik hivemind.
  • Companion Return: Ashara Zavros will return to the Sith Inquisitor’s side. How will things go with her former master?
  • Commander’s Compendium – Personally, I like having various companions with influence level 50 available and depending on the fight, I might want a ranged DPS, or a melee type healer, or whatever. I also like the various animations and barks from a variety of our companions. We are introducing a new companion gift that can immediately raise the influence level of your companion to 50, but it’s expensive, requires some crafting, and requires you to complete your Personal Conquest objectives before you can purchase it from the vendor.

 

Cartel Market: We improved the way we operated the Cartel Market last year based on your feedback. The team is looking at making additional big changes starting with Game Update 5.8. We’ll give you more details when we’re a few days away from release.

 

April – Game Update 5.9 - The Nathema Conspiracy

Flashpoint:

  • This year’s story has shown the final ramifications of the path that Valkorion first chose when he devastated Nathema, so it’s only natural that we go there to bring that story to its exciting conclusion.
  • We’ve added powerful new Augments for those who need additional stats to help take down Izax in Master Mode. Or, you simply want to be OP! In this new Flashpoint, we’ll provide legacy-based Crafting Patterns (Bind-on-Pickup – BOP) which will drop randomly off mobs and Bosses. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you may also find a Bind-on-Equip (BOE) version of the same patterns. We’ll follow up with the materials needed to craft the Augments.

 

Operations:

  • Izax offers an amazing new reward
  • We are providing a new vendor just outside the Gods from the Machine Operation offering special items to those players who have earned an achievement for killing Izax, The Destroyer.

 

Companions:

  • Companion Return: Felix Iresso – The Jedi Consular’s loyal soldier has had a rough time these last few years – can the Consular help him?
  • Companion Return: Mako and Akaavi - Bounty Hunters and Smugglers are reunited with this duo, who’ve been working together during the players’ absence.

 

Subscriber Rewards: We have a series of Subscriber promotions throughout the next few months… look for details in your email, on the Launcher, or on the SWTOR website. For example, the February Share your Love of SWTOR started yesterday and ends February 27, 2017.

 

Beyond April – Discussion Topic!

As we look back to 2017 and now beyond the conclusion of the traitor storyline, we are planning to continue delivering content in the same manner throughout 2018. When you look at the total year, you received a wide variety of both multi-player and solo activities including a new story, Strongholds, Starfighter updates, a new Warzone, two new Flashpoints, and a new Operation, along with many Quality of Life improvements.

 

We heard feedback from some of you indicating you missed having a more “traditional” expansion and you’d rather wait so it all comes at once. I like having updates released regularly versus waiting long periods of time in-between patches. Although this remains our current plan, we are also laying out what we’ll include in a 6.0 Game Update. We’ll keep you informed of our summer, fall and winter plans throughout the coming months.

 

We look forward to expanding more on what you can expect in 5.8, 5.9, and beyond! As often as we can, we will be around in the thread to answer your many questions about those updates. Looking forward to having some good discussions.

 

--- Keith

 

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Ermagerd!!! ARCANN ROMANCEEEEEE ITS HAPPENING!!😰😰🤗🤗:D

And so soon too, thank you!!!

We heard feedback from some of you indicating you missed having a more “traditional” expansion and you’d rather wait so it all comes at once. I like having updates released regularly versus waiting long periods of time in-between patches. Although this remains our current plan, we are also laying out what we’ll include in a 6.0 Game Update.

--- Keith

 

 

So this means we'll continue to get snippets of story and updates of content like we are now? Not to be nitpicky, but the part where you say, "I like having updates released regularly instead of waiting for long time in between" kind of bugs me. does this mean we wont get traditional expansions anymore because the team likes it the way it is or am I missing something?

Edited by Eshvara
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watch it be poorly written

Nobody can ruin this for me, No matter how hard a person may try.:rak_03:

Question about the Arcann romance, will this be an alliance alert, or do you just go to him and click on him? Or something else.:rak_02:

Edited by Eshvara
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  • Dev Post

Hey folks,

 

With the roadmap in front of you feel free to shoot us your feedback and questions in this thread. We are gonna sit back and let everyone digest and get questions out for a bit before we start responding. Expect quiet from us for a couple of hours and then we will be in here addressing your questions.

 

Roadmap day!

 

-eric

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Keith, I understand that you probably can't tell us much about IZAX's special rewards just yet, but I do have two questions I hope you can answer:

 

1: Will this special reward be time-locked? Your post seemed to imply that we would have to defeat IZAX prior to 5.9 to receive this prize. I was thinking something like the Dread Fortress and Dread Palace special titles that were rewarded during their "Nightmare Power" events in 2014.

 

2: Will this special prize be offered for both Story Mode and Master Mode?

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Hey everyone,

 

Conquest Revamp:

  • We have all enjoyed receiving our rewards each week! Ok, in reality, we’ve had our fair share of issues this past year, but going forward, we want Conquests to be a consistently fun activity for Guilds and individual participants.
  • As a result, we’ve made substantial improvements to the Conquest system including a new interface, new daily objectives, new missions, and more. Most importantly, we have rewritten the backend system to ensure you benefit from your weekly efforts. Look for details in an upcoming blog or forum post.

 

--- Keith

 

Keith, this revamp is about a month away - how soon do you think we should be looking for the blog post? I'm very interested in hearing more about this.

 

Also...Release the content as it's finished...you can't afford to go a year while you save it all up or a "big" release unless you have filler content to feed us during that time, which I don't believe is possible.

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Looks like I might resub before the current sub-time even runs out. Ooor I might wait until April and see if the returning subs are getting the 2-minute cutscene treatment as well, in which case my break will be longer...

Good to see there's more content coming, but I'm honestly not thrilled enough to immediately resub.

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I am extremely dissapointed there will be no master mode for gods from the machine.

 

I hope the:

Yet, based on what we’re planning for this year and beyond, it’s better to focus on the upcoming group content.

won't be the empty words of that have been repeated time and time again on these forums and still echo around to this day.

 

A terrible start of my weekend.

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Are the special rewards for killing Izax the same for story and master? Specifically the legacy one whatever that is?

 

Also as far as feedback while I like having more frequent, smaller updates for things like adding a new warzone, a new ops boss, companion returns, etc. I'm not sure I like the way the traitor arc story content has been dealt out. It's similar to the pre-SoR story flashpoints I guess but I like that a lot better when you're able to play through it all and not have to wait. Similarly with the traitor arc it feels like too long between the story bits and since they're in a flashpoint there's like 5 minutes worth of story in each one, if that, and no clear idea of when we'll get an actual resolution. It also doesn't help that it deals with a character a lot of people are attached to and leaving his fate up in the air.

 

So unless it's a fairly self-contained story like the HK-55 bonus chapter or some of the later KOTFE chapters that were about recruiting a companion I don't know if I like it being spread out so much versus waiting for a big story update. I mean I like the traitor arc so far as a whole but it gets frustrating having to wait and then when an update comes you can't help but be disappointed because it's not enough.

 

So yeah I like smaller frequent updates for some things but I think other times bigger but slower updates might be better.

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Hey folks,

 

With the roadmap in front of you feel free to shoot us your feedback and questions in this thread. We are gonna sit back and let everyone digest and get questions out for a bit before we start responding. Expect quiet from us for a couple of hours and then we will be in here addressing your questions.

 

Roadmap day!

 

-eric

 

Overall the updates sound good, except one thing: Another new augment tier.... :(

 

Also, when will season 9 end ?

Edited by DavidAtkinson
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