This is something I feel super strongly about, I have advocated this since the change 6 years ago (proof in this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=654023&page=2)

 

The change ruined the Sage class for me, I'm really not kidding, and to this day I do not have a Sage. Shadow is not the same, and it still makes me sad now.

I request and suggest, with all my SWTOR gravy, that there should be an option to toggle this to the old, slow, delayed and lovely animation (+ bring back Upheaval for all specs using Project, at least in animation, not damage levels...)

> I don't care if I'm worse

> I don't care if people use their cooldowns before the rock gets there

> I don't care if someone else gets the kill first instead of me

 

I just want to play the class I loved, using the ability that made it for me.

 

PS. I don't know if there are other classes out there wanting old animations back, but if there are please contribute - if lots of people are asking for this they're more likely to implement the code to allow options like this for all. I know many in the Sniper community dislike Penetrating Blasts compared to Series of Shots.

I can't imagine having a toggle would be an easy thing to code in, and they aren't going to change to a slower animation (no matter how cooler it looks) as the pvp'r alone would explode over the forums, followed by the NiM raiders, etc. (not picking on anyone, just that if it slows down people in these groups, it can cause them major hassle), In a 'normal' pve settings, the slower animation probably wouldn't matter too much.

I can't imagine having a toggle would be an easy thing to code in, and they aren't going to change to a slower animation (no matter how cooler it looks) as the pvp'r alone would explode over the forums, followed by the NiM raiders, etc. (not picking on anyone, just that if it slows down people in these groups, it can cause them major hassle), In a 'normal' pve settings, the slower animation probably wouldn't matter too much.

 

Nobody needs to explode, it would be entirely optional... unaffecting anybody who doesn't want to use the old one.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Cotlu-Hunlon

I started thinking of all the things they have taken off a class that I once loved, then realized there's so many it's not even worth trying to write them down.

Nobody needs to explode, it would be entirely optional... unaffecting anybody who doesn't want to use the old one.

 

That would be true, if they could program a toggle easily enough. The exploding would happen if they reversed it without the toggle lol

That would be true, if they could program a toggle easily enough. The exploding would happen if they reversed it without the toggle lol

 

Then if they do this, they will have to do it for every single ability ever changed that this is requested for it. So the likely hood of a toggle or change back is 0.

 

I've seen threads for Tracer Missile animation, Ravage animation, etc all requesting similar changes. While I understand why, it's just not something I ever see happening.

Or maybe you should just deal with it and not expect the game to cater to you 100%.

 

Did I like the old Project or Ravage/Master Strike animation better? Of course. But I totally understand that flashy moves are of a particularly minor concern when the game is run on an extremely error-prone engine and all it leads to is even more bugs and exploits.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Phazonfreak

I would highly appreciate it too if they give us back some of the old animations. Master Strike/Ravage was such a nice star wars like ability/animation, same with the upper mentioned.

Then if they do this, they will have to do it for every single ability ever changed that this is requested for it. So the likely hood of a toggle or change back is 0.

 

I've seen threads for Tracer Missile animation, Ravage animation, etc all requesting similar changes. While I understand why, it's just not something I ever see happening.

 

That's the beauty of it, it provides more choices and options, and if they write the code to allow animation choices for abilities, it would be transferrable to any class. Everyone could be offered some choices for changed abilities.

 

Ravage is different since that's a change from a 3 second channel into an instant, they never could have fit that old animation into that time sensibly (although the new one is hilariously rapid anyway...). This shouldn't affect Ravage, as the whole ability was changed. This is just an animation option (with the accompanying slower travel time).

Edited April 2, 2020 by Cotlu-Hunlon

That's the beauty of it, it provides more choices and options, and if they write the code to allow animation choices for abilities, it would be transferrable to any class. Everyone could be offered some choices for changed abilities.

 

Ravage is different since that's a change from a 3 second channel into an instant, they never could have fit that old animation into that time sensibly (although the new one is hilariously rapid anyway...). This shouldn't affect Ravage, as the whole ability was changed. This is just an animation option (with the accompanying slower travel time.

 

That's the thing is that they would have to do this with every ability that has been changed and the ravage animation while linked to the old 3 sec cast is still something that is requested to have back. I just don't see this happening for a multitude of reasons such as resources, ROI, possibility of bug or other exploit issues, limits on the code, priority over other things, etc.

As odd as this is, this made a difference for me too. I liked the old rock animation. It would be super cool if we could choose our animations for all moves. Imagine a Sin with spinning kick animation. But, I doubt this is possible or worth the effort.

Or maybe you should just deal with it and not expect the game to cater to you 100%.

 

Did I like the old Project or Ravage/Master Strike animation better? Of course. But I totally understand that flashy moves are of a particularly minor concern when the game is run on an extremely error-prone engine and all it leads to is even more bugs and exploits.

 

As odd as this is, this made a difference for me too. I liked the old rock animation. It would be super cool if we could choose our animations for all moves. Imagine a Sin with spinning kick animation. But, I doubt this is possible or worth the effort.

It's not just me though, clearly by some of the responses, this is about greater choice for all. This was bad enough of a change, that I completely have left the class alone since.

The Project change is just my particular greivance, shared by some, but as demonstrated many people have a large desire to have a different choice on some animations. The game is supposed to be fun, and for some a large part of that is the combat feel and experience, and I don't think it should be cast aside.

It's not just me though, clearly by some of the responses, this is about greater choice for all. This was bad enough of a change, that I completely have left the class alone since.

The Project change is just my particular greivance, shared by some, but as demonstrated many people have a large desire to have a different choice on some animations. The game is supposed to be fun, and for some a large part of that is the combat feel and experience, and I don't think it should be cast aside.

 

I understand, but you could very well turn this argument around if you for example come from the perspective of a dedicated PvP player. They also want to have fun. Personally I have never really done PvP except the odd warzone match for a specific reward or achievement. This part of the game does not interest me in the slightest, but I can still understand that the changes were critical to make PvP a little less broken and can accept that change.

 

As much as I liked the old animations and acknowledge that they were nice to look at, but in the greater state of things they are pretty inconsequential and had to be streamlined. An option to choose animations would be nice, but I just don't think the effort would be worth it and it would be as easy to implement as you might think without breaking more stuff in the game.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Phazonfreak

That Is Soo Kool!! I Like It!

That Is Soo Kool!! I Like It!

 

Ahaha, that's perfect, thank you for posting it here

That comment section is hilarious, I'd forgotten about the 'imperial bias' that used to get moaned about in 1.x

 

And even then, look there's a comment 7 years ago preempting what was to come:

"It’s a big deal to some, but I don’t want then to **** up the animation like they did with overload and force wave! I play this game cuz I like to play as a Jedi and throw firkin rock with my mind. The animation looks realistic and great, and I wouldn’t trade that in exchange to avoid a slight possibility that 1.5 seconds will impact a win or a loss in a pvp activity."

Making my first post here again after a looooong time, but would maybe the simplest solution to please all parties be to put the next QOL update dev time into a set of up to eight "new" abilities, one per class for fairness, using existing assets where possible (I assume the "old" project still exists as code and art) as purchasable and/or subscriber available perks, to optionally replace various abilities "streamlined" since launch?

 

That way, there's no need for a messily coded toggle or for messing with the effect time, since they're functionally separate abilities, just sharing a usage cooldown. It would work in the same way as choosing to use ball lightning rather than shock, on an Assassin, for example.

 

This way, PVPers and raiders who value balance and maximised efficiency first aren't adversely affected, while those who value immersion, visuals, and a more quirky bit of fun more get the choice too.

 

Leave the balance of boss fights alone; if I choose to use "old project" against a boss because it looks cooler and end up dying before it kills the boss, that's my problem, just like if my Sage chooses to get in close just to use her saber for once for the look of it.

Leave the balance of boss fights alone; if I choose to use "old project" against a boss because it looks cooler and end up dying before it kills the boss, that's my problem, just like if my Sage chooses to get in close just to use her saber for once for the look of it.

 

Unless of course you are part of a PUG and your entire team wipes because you prefer to use a flashy animation instead of an effective one. I can almost picture it how fleet chat will evolve into something like: "LFM KP boss new animation only".

 

My point is that these things are exactly the reason for the animation change. They did not do it because they suddenly woke up and realized that they don't like it anymore, there were critical reasons for the change regarding their game engine. And since this is not a Single Player game without competitive gameplay where you can let it slide, they had to do something about it.

I am quite certain that the next abilities that will get the animation and/or ability axe will be the roll for the Agent and Smuggler and the instant teleport for them and the Assassins/Shadows, because their interaction with collision and vertical movement is extremely buggy and broken.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Phazonfreak

Unless of course you are part of a PUG and your entire team wipes because you prefer to use a flashy animation instead of an effective one. I can almost picture it how fleet chat will evolve into something like: "LFM KP boss new animation only".

 

I certainly wouldn't want to risk lowering the tone of the erudite social discourse and genteel conversation which typically holds away over fleet chat.

 

With a mild to moderate increase in seriousness though, I take your point, although really, there's little additional risk. There's no mechanical reason why a max level Sith Assassin couldn't stroll into a warzone pug cheerfully twirling her old single blade lightsaber (it was a present from Mummy Zash, you know!) and rocking a social armour bikini (well, probably not in one of the snowy warzones) without any mods in it, on account of them thinking it looks better. For Operations and Warzones, at least, the abilities could be gated behind the preexisting lockout that prevents Heroic Moment being used there.

 

For Flashpoints... maybe gate it to a "You must have an active companion to do this?" Or to Story Mode, but I have no idea whether an ability gate already exists in code that would permit that.

Making my first post here again after a looooong time, but would maybe the simplest solution to please all parties be to put the next QOL update dev time into a set of up to eight "new" abilities, one per class for fairness, using existing assets where possible (I assume the "old" project still exists as code and art) as purchasable and/or subscriber available perks, to optionally replace various abilities "streamlined" since launch?

 

That way, there's no need for a messily coded toggle or for messing with the effect time, since they're functionally separate abilities, just sharing a usage cooldown. It would work in the same way as choosing to use ball lightning rather than shock, on an Assassin, for example.

 

This way, PVPers and raiders who value balance and maximised efficiency first aren't adversely affected, while those who value immersion, visuals, and a more quirky bit of fun more get the choice too.

 

Leave the balance of boss fights alone; if I choose to use "old project" against a boss because it looks cooler and end up dying before it kills the boss, that's my problem, just like if my Sage chooses to get in close just to use her saber for once for the look of it.

That's a brilliant idea!

Thank you for thinking of another solution here, that surely seems so much easier to implement - re-adding the old ones as new duplicate abilitties, that share a cooldown / effects, with the appropriate tooltip saying "This is a slower alternative for cosmetic reasons to be interchangeable with Project etc"

Really love it!

the simplest solution would be to not introduce this mechanic, lots of time spent changing an old ability for a very very tiny portion of the player base for a rarely used ability in a limited amount of possible situations. there is some program u can use to adjust ability animation, some people have used it to get the old ravage animation back for example, why don't you just use that

 

this game has enough ability bloat already, not seeing the point of making it even worse

Edited April 3, 2020 by RikuvonDrake

the simplest solution would be to not introduce this mechanic, lots of time spent changing an old ability for a very very tiny portion of the player base for a rarely used ability in a limited amount of possible situations. there is some program u can use to adjust ability animation, some people have used it to get the old ravage animation back for example, why don't you just use that

 

this game has enough ability bloat already, not seeing the point of making it even worse

 

Ability bloat? It certainly does not, and in no way it could be said it does now compared the base game - there were all the PvE moves for stunned mobs they used to have that disappeared, the Slice Droid abilities, lots of things they just took out without replacement like Unload for PT, Flamethrower on Merc, Telekinetic Throw + Mind Crush for Shadows, the stealth boost abilities (Blackout) etc...

My ability bars are comparatively empty compared to what they used to look like.

 

What is the program for old animations, I haven't come across this before. Sounds interesting..

Ability bloat? It certainly does not, and in no way it could be said it does now compared the base game - there were all the PvE moves for stunned mobs they used to have that disappeared, the Slice Droid abilities, lots of things they just took out without replacement like Unload for PT, Flamethrower on Merc, Telekinetic Throw + Mind Crush for Shadows, the stealth boost abilities (Blackout) etc...

My ability bars are comparatively empty compared to what they used to look like.

 

What is the program for old animations, I haven't come across this before. Sounds interesting..

 

Yes, there is ability bloat, why do you think that in each of the last three expansions there has been one or two abilities removed from each class when that class has gained a new ability? That's most likely the key reason this suggestion won't ever become a thing ingame, the developers have a different idea than you in regards to how many abilities is too many.

Yes, there is ability bloat, why do you think that in each of the last three expansions there has been one or two abilities removed from each class when that class has gained a new ability? That's most likely the key reason this suggestion won't ever become a thing ingame, the developers have a different idea than you in regards to how many abilities is too many.

 

Well even if you think that, which is fine - it's understandably subjective what counts as bloat - the idea I originally proposed was simply a toggle in the settings menu somewhere, and wouldn't change the number of abilities at all, and not affect you in the slightlest.

 

What was that animation change tool then?

Edited April 3, 2020 by Cotlu-Hunlon

I miss the old Project, but I miss having Project at all on my burst Shadow. If they're going to give us a toggle, please allow toggling of animations between "base" and "spec-specific" for any ability replaced by a spec. That energy ball taking the place of Project and Shock really reduced that spec's appeal for me optically, even though I still play it now and again because it's fun anyway. Edited April 3, 2020 by Aulus_Claudius

I miss the old Project, but I miss having Project at all on my burst Shadow. If they're going to give us a toggle, please allow toggling of animations between "base" and "spec-specific" for any ability replaced by a spec. That energy ball taking the place of Project and Shock really reduced that spec's appeal for me optically, even though I still play it now and again because it's fun anyway.

Yes - this is definitely something I've been desiring too...

That upheaval Project delayed burst looked and felt so good,

for a reminder

 

And as said before, the Series of Shots animation is so much better than Penetrating Blasts.