Hi Eric

 

Was just wondering if we can expect to see scourge and Kira at some point in the 6.0 storyline? I understand that you guys have a lot of work to do as it is, but it has been a long time since we've seen them and was curious what your plans are for bringing them back

Hey folks,

That likely means that it can only affect a few different things:

• Travel
  
• Crafting
  
• Harvesting
  
• "Flurry” attacks
  
• Rest and recharge skills
  
• etc
  

-eric

 

My thoughts about general bonuses:

• Travel - increased runspeed, increased vehicle speed, lower cooldown on moving abilities, including Rocket Boost
  
• Crafting - high chance to crit, less materials for crafting
  
• Harvesting - more materials from node
  
• Crafting Missions - high chance to crit, faster missions
  
• Rest and recharge skills - faster rest, short damage buff in the end
  
• Exp/Cxp - something like Victorious Pioneer Set (from DvL event), maybe just lesser version
  

Edited April 20, 2019 by juliabee

Legacy!

 

Great to hear! This is excellent news.

The 1.5 sec immunity to exfiltrate/scamper for concealment and scrapper should be baseline to operatives/scoundrels, so available for medicine/sawbones and lethality/ruffian not just concealment.

 

This abillity its very powerful, perhaps arguably the most powerful passive in the game, and should not be limited to one spec, its a waste, all operatives and scoundrels have exfiltrate/scamper so it should come with the immunity as standard.

I had some further thoughts on potential Tactical Items and Set Bonuses, and how to provide reasons for collecting them:

 

A general trend I've seen since the introduction of Makeb is the implementation of a reputation faction with that planet and just about every other one afterward. If reputation bonuses can be adjusted to allow a specific bonus to a particular faction rather than just being general, why not create a general Set Bonus for each planetary reputation faction which provides a bonus to any gained reputation for that faction as one of its benefits when worn?

 

With level scaling involved, any such gear sets could be adjusted to be on-level for that specific planet, and have the full set potentially provide some sort of additional benefit or protection when facing that planet's World Bosses, to create an optional "soft" gear progression through content on a particular planet. And with the existing loot table systems demonstrated in lockboxes and Locked Supply Crates, a daily mission tied to completing repeatable missions on that planet could provide a chance to have a piece of the "planetary set" to drop, with a weekly mission which allows a guaranteed method to obtain a desired gear piece from that set (similar to Ossus, but without any random rolls involved).

 

Once a player reaches the Legend rank for that planetary reputation faction (or perhaps Hero), access could be granted to Tactical Items from the reputation vendors with a heavy thematic element associated with that faction and planet. Such items could potentially have a unique effect or be the same as another Tactical Item acquired elsewhere, but have completely unique audio or visual special effects. Additionally, Tactical Items could have a chance to drop from World Bosses which could be general in nature or class-specific, but only provide part of their bonus when equipped unless the full planetary Set Bonus is active, at which point they become quite noticeably stronger or spectacular in their results.

 

As for reputation factions which are not heavily associated with a specific planet, Set Bonuses and Tactical Items could be introduced in other ways: for example, reputation factions tied to specific Conquest events (ie. The Gree Enclave, T.H.O.R.N.) could provide Set Bonuses through reputation vendors instead of quests, with Tactical Items providing some additional benefit such as a method of countering the mutated Rakghoul strain debuff from certain World Bosses or other various things.

 

Finally, Crafting Schematics could be provided through reputation vendors to allow specific pieces in a planetary Set Bonus to be more easily acquired, but have both the schematics themselves and the gear pieces crafted locked behind a reputation requirement, with the requirement not present on gear pieces acquired through mission rewards. This would provide multiple methods of completing a Set Bonus, with the process made considerably easier for anyone who had finished up reputation for that faction at an earlier point of time (such as planets from previous expansions).

 

And lastly, Achievements could be added to the game which are tied to acquiring the complete gear set for a planet this way, with potential Legacy Titles to match for completing large numbers of Set Bonuses.

What about a tactical item that grants some degree of stealth? Like someone mentioned before here, maybe it could be to a lesser degree than native stealth classes. That's what I would like to see.

You will wear one tactical item which will most likely be a new item slot. This doesn't replace set bonuses at all, it is in addition to your set bonus. Think of tacticals like any other item (boots, relic, chest) it just happens to have a special effect on it (like extra power / utility to a skill, etc).

 

-eric

 

Will the Tac item slot count as an 8th piece of a set bonus? In other words, we currently have 2-piece bonus, 4-piece, 6-piece. Yet we have 7 set bonus slots. The Tac item could count as an 8th, while also giving its tac item bonus.

Will the Tac item slot count as an 8th piece of a set bonus? In other words, we currently have 2-piece bonus, 4-piece, 6-piece. Yet we have 7 set bonus slots. The Tac item could count as an 8th, while also giving its tac item bonus.

 

If they were to implement Tactical Items which require equipping an entire armor set to get their full bonus from (such as the planetary Set Bonus idea I suggested in my last post), I think this way would be the easiest method of doing so. The "generic" Set Bonuses we already have from random Artifact-quality armor piece drops on Ossus would indicate this is possible, due to the way they have distinct 2-piece, 3-piece, 4-piece, and 5-piece bonuses, compared to the usual 2-piece, 4-piece and 6-piece bonuses from class-specific armor sets.

 

If there's no upper limit to how many items can be part of a gear set, and if those items can be something other than armor pieces, then adding Tactical Items to those Set Bonuses should be fairly simple (hypothetically, of course -- I know full well how complicated programming can be, and that's not taking into account how complex it can become when MMORPGs are involved).

 

Or, as a change of pace, create "minor" Set Bonuses which involve non-armor equippable items and a Tactical Item. For example: an Earpiece, an Implant, and a Tactical Item might all be part of a 3-piece Set Bonus which is completely separate from any armor-specific Set Bonuses.

Edited April 23, 2019 by Avuras

Or, as a change of pace, create "minor" Set Bonuses which involve non-armor equippable items and a Tactical Item. For example: an Earpiece, an Implant, and a Tactical Item might all be part of a 3-piece Set Bonus which is completely separate from any armor-specific Set Bonuses.

 

The ear-piece and implants having their own set bonuses would be pretty good, with minor ones but still useful.

Tactical Item or Set Bonus for classes during the story (starting from level 1 starter worlds) that enabled them to use an item that only shows up on their character in cutscenes. Example: The Trooper and Agent use ONLY rifles/cannons, but in the cinematics the character is shown using a pistol that is never seen or used otherwise. It's really weird to see that. Have a tactical item or set bonus provided by all low level gear (a single item like ear or implant could be enough) that activates a temporary quickbar with a few abilities for that item (like the aforementioned pistol). (or just give us a "mission item" at the start that does that)

 

A tactical item that gives a chance to get back a companion gift when giving gifts to companions (especially the more expensive G6 gifts). Basically while giving Grade 6 Cultural Artifacts to Lana, you have a chance to get one back.

 

Crazy idea: A tactical item that generates 5 or 10CC for each FP boss defeated, and 10 or 20 CC for each Operations boss defeated. Or what about generating a sum of credits for the same thing, and then a large sum for "bounties" during the Bounty Contract event for defeating those bosses? Make that event even more worth doing and increase the incentive to do FP and Ops.

Tactical items for pvp which enables you to add single target damage reduction (for dps/heal) with lowers damage reduction from aoe, and opposite item, and have it so you can swap items when you die, that way you balance things out (I hope).

Regarding the idea of "minor" Set Bonuses in my previous post: I've given it some further thought, and I think that would work best if the general ability-based bonuses were restricted to armor-based Set Bonuses (and Tactical Items, obviously), with "minor" Set Bonuses restricted to Earpieces and Implants with a 2-piece/3-piece bonus structure focused around specific stat boosts. One bonus might give a small Critical Rating buff, another a Force/Tech Power buff, a tank-focused one might give a minor Energy/Kinetic damage reduction increase, with yet another providing a slight Internal/Elemental damage reduction buff.

 

And if Tactical Items are added to specific armor Set Bonuses, I think having any 8-piece bonus (presuming the usual seven armor pieces plus a matching Tactical Item) remain focused on the ability modified by the Tactical Item would be best. Even if the previous bonuses remain similar across multiple armor sets, the Tactical Item-focused bonus would almost certainly be unique if designed around that specific ability.

 

Tactical items for pvp which enables you to add single target damage reduction (for dps/heal) with lowers damage reduction from aoe, and opposite item, and have it so you can swap items when you die, that way you balance things out (I hope).

 

Personally, I think "balancing" one stat bonus with a separate stat debuff like this would be best to do with Set Bonuses rather than Tactical Items. If split incrementally between 2-piece, 4-piece, and 6-piece bonuses, then different armor sets with the same stats can be used to further personalize a PvP build.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Avuras

General set bonuses

My ideas are for set bonuses are

Increase GSF requisition by x percent

increase Valor experience by x percent

increase Social experience by x percent

Increase the amount of mats you get by x percent

 

Tactical items

Instant recharge health after battle (does not work in PVP)

Quick travel is instant

Increase mount speed

vender that sells stuff for credits are half price

the one basic attack changes to an AOE

increase sprint speed by x percent

Edited April 24, 2019 by commanderwar

One idea I thought would be item/set bonus which would boost certail level utilities by 25%, so example would be "skillful boost" which for commando could boost explosive round's root from 4 seconds to 5 seconds, this is for pvp mainly.

As a darkness assassin, I would like to have an option to have my Shock and Wither proc an ability that makes my Discharge do more damage instead of my Deprevating Volts. This would change my rotation obviously and it would be nice to throw that on and have an AOE-type build. On the other hand, another tactical item that made Wither do a lot more damage to just a single target would be nice for being able to have a rotation that focuses on a single target. I really like this idea of more items and more customization. Excited to see how it works out.

As a disclaimer I am more partial to enjoying the game for casual fun (dailies/story/general combat) so excuse suggestions that otherwise would be game breaking in more competitive scenes.

 

Personally enjoy many of the animations enemies have that player characters do not, so perhaps tactical items that switch out existing abilities animations and hit type/radius with those? Off the top of my head are the staff wielding 360 AOE and the force slam that Valkorion had (balanced appropriately). I'd assume it'd be somewhat lighter on resources to make good use of the various animations the humanoid enemies have, maybe polishing them up for player use.

 

Probably in the minority but I enjoy SWTOR for its somewhat fast combat and fun animations so things that feel notably different might be enjoyable to some. Assuming I understood tactical items correctly:

-perhaps augmenting a saber throw type ability to ricochet etc.

-Adding charges to some abilities to be used more often.

-For grenade type abilities perhaps having a random cycle of 3 varying effects that may occur, causing a slight shift in rotational priority for whatever grenade dot is applied etc.

-Force choke ending with a push perhaps

 

Have to agree with those who suggested themed set effects. A big thing with SW has always been location, so would enjoy having sets with themed effects etc. More coveted sets from ops or fps may provide a appropriately re balanced boss ability that may replace a similar ability (with down scaled animations etc.)

 

As having only dabbled in pvp long in the past, I must agree with separation or 'disabling' of otherwise strange sets/tactical items that would disrupt good pvp. Having a few sets/tactical items pre-approved for pvp is one way, or have all items rebalance themselves in pvp (more of a headache at the presumed scale of the number of sets Bioware has suggested though)

My impression is many people pvp so I'd take their concerns on board. Another may be to incrementally balance things for pvp as the game goes on (ongoing process) similar to what Warframe does in their less than popular pvp.

Batch rebalancing of sets/items every few patches etc. Just a few mediocre suggestions.

 

Agree however on some others' comments that suggest the limitations of tactical items as described by main post. Having it being underwhelming does risk adding a layer of complexity that may end up feeling needless and in the way. Also would like to warn against over-complication of sets and gear reward distribution; something that has recently damaged WoW to a large degree. Receiving gear too often that is useless can be a pain, and having 5 different sets in your bag isn't fun to manage. Unless you are planning to replicate the cosmetic loudouts but for set gear I suppose. Especially when targeting BiS or set pieces.

 

That being said, it's better to be more fun and creative than designing overly defensibly. Look forward to results

I would like to see tactical items that alter the procs or somehow enable a rotation to be entirely changed.

 

Also I would like to see something that applies all dots in one go, saving on gcds, this would be especially useful in pvp, where dot specs are slow to ramp up.

 

It would be nice to see tactical items that reduce a dots duration but enables the damage of the dots to be delivered over a shorter time, or enables the dots to do more damage at the start when applied then less over time, this would help the viablility of some dot specs in pvp. An generic example would be.

 

Dots>(higher damage at start) medium hitting abilities, then hard hitting ability (dots doing less damage).

 

This example does not alter overall damage, but enables the dots to do more damage at start where dot specs are slow to start dealing damage. It would enable dmg specs to be better duelers, and perform better in 1v1 encounters where burst specs excel.

A tactical item that allows you do change the height of your speeder mount, or at least causes your speeder to ride higher than normal.

 

A tactical item that allows you to fly a jetpack around fairly high in the air. But all combat abilities are disabled. Social abilities should still work.

 

Give tactical items (sill or useful) as rewards for completing event weeklies. But if folks missed it, they can buy it from a vendor with a token (prefabs, dark projects, a special token, something that takes some effort to earn), but not for credits (because that's too easy).

 

Yes the last one is similar to how STO does consoles or other items. However, SWTOR wouldn't be boring because you're not forced to do the same stupid thing 14 times, and there'd be no big reward for a currency (dilithium) that can be converted into CC to buy stuff that costs CC/real money to get CC. Even if there was, there is an allowance of variation in the missions, classes, and advanced classes to make it not boring and break it up between characters for those with many that would run many.

 

Getting that in-game reward (dilithium) on 7 characters doing the same thing 14 times on each one is super tedious. And the complete lack of any set reset time or indication when you can get the daily reward. That makes it worse. Which is why it bugs me to see folks whine about things in SWTOR being tedious. YOU DON'T KNOW TEDIOUS!!! YOU DERN KIDS!! BACK IN MY DAY GAMES HAD LIVES, AND YOU HAD TO START ALL OVER FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU DIED! NO RESPAWNING! AND RESTARTS DEPENDED ON HOW MANY QUARTERS YOU HAD!!!! DAG-GUMMIT! GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

 

...

I'm okay.

 

But really, SWTOR is E-Z mode by comparison. 4 days to get that weekly done would be a welcome thing. I'd gladly do bounties, Gree research, or hunt down Rakghouls, even (soon) Pirates to get something multiple times.

Hey folks,

 

I want to thank everyone for the continued feedback here and in the specific AC threads. I am continuing to gather all ideas and pass them on to the team so keep them coming. We know that you are all hungry for more details on itemization in 6.0. Stay tuned, that is one of the first topics we will start deep diving into.

 

Thanks all.

 

-eric

 

Please tell us as soon as possible about the fate of unassembled components. I'd still like to know whether I should be spending them now (for toons that don't really need the gear for anything) or if they're worth saving for 6.0

Please tell us as soon as possible about the fate of unassembled components. I'd still like to know whether I should be spending them now (for toons that don't really need the gear for anything) or if they're worth saving for 6.0

 

Agree. That would be very nice to know.

My Ideas for general set bonuses and tactical items are:

 

Two charges on stun breakers with the same CD or 25% less CD, that would be amazing for ranked, when getting stun locked and tunneled because your class can't stealth out, or pop a defensive which drops agro, such as reflective shield, or force barrier.

An armor rating buff a no brainer really, better survivorbility is good news to all damage and healer classes.

General speed buff, 20% more movement speed.

AoEs do X amount more damage.

You will not need unassembled components in 6.0, feel free to spend them. Most likely they will be converted to credits with Onslaught's launch.

 

-eric

 

Hi Eric,

 

Do you have an idea of what the Conversion rate to credits would be?

You will not need unassembled components in 6.0, feel free to spend them. Most likely they will be converted to credits with Onslaught's launch.

 

-eric

 

Eric, does this mean an end to Galactic Command? Should we be grinding those out for the achievements/schematics now?