The gear system on PTS is nothing like what players have been asking for. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is RNG on top of RNG and it is glacially slow to acquire. The RNG "protections" are also RNG based, except for crafting which is prohibitively expensive. The challenging content giving better gear is not working because it is also heavily RNG with all of the static green trash for every imaginable spec. being tossed in. The current iteration of the new gearing system makes Ben Irving's first version of GC look great in comparison.

 

Well, I don't know, maybe you've seen someone asking for significantly more RNG in gearing and 10x the expense to buy anything, but I haven't.

You should post this on the PTS forum. The devs are asking for this type of info from players -- assuming this is firsthand experience.

But I think a lot of gear will be acquired from Operations bosses, so if you don't raid, it seems like gearing will be slower. This is how gearing was before Ossus by acquiring 242 tokens HM raids.

The gear system on PTS is nothing like what players have been asking for. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is RNG on top of RNG and it is glacially slow to acquire. The RNG "protections" are also RNG based, except for crafting which is prohibitively expensive. The challenging content giving better gear is not working because it is also heavily RNG with all of the static green trash for every imaginable spec. being tossed in. The current iteration of the new gearing system makes Ben Irving's first version of GC look great in comparison.

 

Well, I don't know, maybe you've seen someone asking for significantly more RNG in gearing and 10x the expense to buy anything, but I haven't.

Don't bother with him. Purposefully disingenuous, wrongful consumer blaming, revisionist and obnoxious all to top it off. There's been a clear disconnect between player wishes and the execution of said wishes in quite a few forms regarding this game, its content and consumption and that's if BioWare's acting on them at all (they tend to reinvent the wheel when it's NOT necessary).

You should post this on the PTS forum. The devs are asking for this type of info from players -- assuming this is firsthand experience.

 

But I think a lot of gear will be acquired from Operations bosses, so if you don't raid, it seems like gearing will be slower. This is how gearing was before Ossus by acquiring 242 tokens HM raids.

I'm still setting up on the PTS so this is mostly based on reading the PTS forums. The raiders giving feedback are far from happy with how RNG based the loot from Ops bosses is at the moment.

Actually, gear is for everyone. BiS gear is for end game group content. There are also different levels of difficulty in solo content. The vast majority of players will get pasted trying to run FE/ET in master mode if they aren't reasonably geared up. If you can do them naked, good on you, but that is far from the norm.

 

 

 

The gear system on PTS is nothing like what players have been asking for. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is RNG on top of RNG and it is glacially slow to acquire. The RNG "protections" are also RNG based, except for crafting which is prohibitively expensive. The challenging content giving better gear is not working because it is also heavily RNG with all of the static green trash for every imaginable spec. being tossed in. The current iteration of the new gearing system makes Ben Irving's first version of GC look great in comparison.

 

Well, I don't know, maybe you've seen someone asking for significantly more RNG in gearing and 10x the expense to buy anything, but I haven't.

The forums were riddled with people complaining about how much they hated Ossus gearing, despite it taking less than 15 mins per week to get your gear progression done. People here have always complained and been ungrateful of what they have that they fail to realize the alternatives can be so much worse. It doesnt take much foresight to have seen this happening, butbits what they wanted - something different than the easiest system ever - Ossus.

The forums were riddled with people complaining about how much they hated Ossus gearing, despite it taking less than 15 mins per week to get your gear progression done. People here have always complained and been ungrateful of what they have that they fail to realize the alternatives can be so much worse. It doesnt take much foresight to have seen this happening, butbits what they wanted - something different than the easiest system ever - Ossus.

Complaining about how boring it is to run Ossus over and over and over again is no where near the same as asking for a heavily rng based gearing system, especially after years of the player base nearly uniformly saying they don't like rng gearing. It is actually possible for people, developers included, to learn from past mistakes and not make them again in the future.

You make it sound like the 6.0 gearing system is intentionally designed to punish the player base for daring to complain about how boring it is repeating the same content every week on every character.

Complaining about how boring it is to run Ossus over and over and over again is no where near the same as asking for a heavily rng based gearing system, especially after years of the player base nearly uniformly saying they don't like rng gearing. It is actually possible for people, developers included, to learn from past mistakes and not make them again in the future.

 

You make it sound like the 6.0 gearing system is intentionally designed to punish the player base for daring to complain about how boring it is repeating the same content every week on every character.

The same players complaining about gear grind are the same players who complain about nothing to do. I am sure BW wish they could bring out a new OP every other week but they just cannot. The same players complaining about RNG are the same players who tell others they should have to earn there gear but OH they should be able to pick and choice because they are so special because they do group play.

I felt GC was the best thing that happen for gear until Ossus which I felt was a step up. The same players complaining also complain just about everything else. There are many things I personally would change about this game, getting gear is not one of them. If I can fully gear out well over 50 characters I am sure the rest of you can too.

I do agree with you on PTS, Having been on the PTS this last week, well.... I wonder how many will regret the constant ************ about gear. Well... so wish I could say more but its all on the PTS forum. As someone else has said that talk is for PTS forum.

Complaining about how boring it is to run Ossus over and over and over again is no where near the same as asking for a heavily rng based gearing system, especially after years of the player base nearly uniformly saying they don't like rng gearing. It is actually possible for people, developers included, to learn from past mistakes and not make them again in the future.

 

You make it sound like the 6.0 gearing system is intentionally designed to punish the player base for daring to complain about how boring it is repeating the same content every week on every character.

Sorry to be the bearer of obvious news, but the element of RNG will never be removed from this game. It is necessary to extend, in no specific time frame, the usefulness of the content they deliver. The RNG is mitigated, though, by having more alts, especially with all new gear being legacy.

Sorry to be the bearer of obvious news, but the element of RNG will never be removed from this game. It is necessary to extend, in no specific time frame, the usefulness of the content they deliver. The RNG is mitigated, though, by having more alts, especially with all new gear being legacy.

Nowhere did I mention removing RNG. Though this very game has had systems in the past that didn't rely on RNG. Earning commendations (crystals) worked just fine for keeping the content useful.

Having alts and legacy gear is not a mitigation to rng. If you have a 1% chance of getting the right piece of gear with the right set bonus on it, it is going to be 1% no matter how many alts you have. Being able to pass gear you didn't need off to an alt is nothing but a consolation prize.

There are mitigation systems in place, but right now they are either too expensive, or too heavily dependent on RNG themselves, or both.

The same players complaining about gear grind are the same players who complain about nothing to do.

Nope. Not really.

+ Just totally irrelevant.

"Hey guys, I'm bored."

Well here's a pile of rocks. Just take them from here and move them over there. When you're finished take them from there and move them back over here. Tada. Boredom fixed.

"Well I guess that is technically something to do."

That'll be $15 a month.

You should post this on the PTS forum. The devs are asking for this type of info from players -- assuming this is firsthand experience.

 

But I think a lot of gear will be acquired from Operations bosses, so if you don't raid, it seems like gearing will be slower. This is how gearing was before Ossus by acquiring 242 tokens HM raids.

Well not entirely since it was easy to get 242 tokens also via UCs and in Tier 3 command boxes. And well let's be honest, EV and KP HM aren't exactly HM and you can get most pieces there already. So I kinda get your comparison but it's still a way off from what it was before Ossus.

Ossus did drive the final nail in the rewards for HM and NiM Ops however and I do hope that 6.0 will make that change. In the end it's fair to make crafting more difficult in order to give it a fair balance with the effort progression raiding takes. Crafting, after all, is just time and resource consuming, it's not as such difficult to do.

Eric or Keith,

Are we thinking Tuesday, October 22nd at Midnight Pacific Time? Please say yes.

Eric or Keith,

 

Are we thinking Tuesday, October 22nd at Midnight Pacific Time? Please say yes.

I'd imagine it'd be the 22nd...at whenever the servers come up from maintenance...