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Masterwork Gear Changes in 5.10


EricMusco

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Hey folks,

 

For those of you who are familiar with current Masterwork gearing plans from PTS, you will notice some changes. Otherwise, this may be an introduction to how all of this will work in 5.10. Throughout this post when I refer to Masterwork gear, I am referring to the new 252 and 258 item rating gear being introduced in 5.10. Based on our initial implementation there were a few key things we wanted to address:

  • Getting Masterwork gear solely from PvP was more difficult than we would like.
  • The implementation encouraged working directly to 258 while skipping 252. We don’t have a problem with this, but it made getting any gear upgrades more challenging and expensive than desired. By “stair stepping” up to 252 and then 258 there can be constant progression that isn’t as expensive as trying to jump straight to best in slot.
  • We needed more opportunities for players to get Masterwork Data Crystals and gear overall.
  • Players had no long term value in getting 252 since they could not be upgraded to 258.

 

Before we dive into the way MW gear acquisition will work in 5.10, just a reminder that 258 gear can be crafted by gathering materials from a variety of sources, including Master Mode Gods from the Machine. This ensures that the new MM in 5.10 is a very valuable source for progression Ops players. Outside of crafting, there are two ways of acquiring MW gear, by turning in MW Data Crystals to a vendor for 252 / 258 or by receiving 252 gear directly. Let’s cover each of these methods and within each, the separation of PvE and PvP where applicable.

 

Masterwork Data Crystals

There are two places where you can purchase MW gear:

  • Lord Fural / Major Pucenisco on Ossus – 252 Gear
    • Requires Ossus Reputation rank between Outsider and Hero, depending on gear piece
    • Each piece costs 2 Masterwork Data Crystals

    [*]Lord Bay’lor / Captain Anfel on Ossus – 258 Gear

    • Requires Ossus Reputation rank of Champion or Legend, depending on gear piece
    • Each piece costs 3-4 Masterwork Data Crystals and a matching piece of 252 gear

Here are the ways in which you can acquire MW Data Crystals per week:

PvE

  • 1 Crystal – [Weekly] Masterwork Data Crystal – This Mission is to defeat both world bosses -or- earn 50 Group Ranked Arena Points
  • 1 Crystal – New rotating Weekly Mission (50% chance of being a PvE objective)

 

PvP

  • 1 Crystal – [Weekly] Masterwork Data Crystal – This Mission is to defeat both world bosses -or- earn 50 Group Ranked Arena Points
  • 1 Crystal – New rotating Weekly Mission (50% chance of being a PvP objective)

Both

  • Rare chance of MW Data Crystals dropping out of Command Crates at Tier 3 and up
  • 1-2 Crystals – Turning in Unassembled Components

252 Gear Drops

In addition to being able to purchase gear for MW Data Crystals, there are a two places where you can outright acquire 252 gear.

  • [Weekly] Daily Area Ossus will allow you to choose one of the 3 Artifact Lockboxes:
    • Artifact Lockbox (Lower Body): Waist, Legs, Feet, or Relic
    • Artifact Lockbox (Tech): Main Hand, Offhand, Head, or Ear
    • Artifact Lockbox (Upper Body): Chest, Wrists, Hands, or Implant

    [*]Once you are in Tier 3 of Galactic Command there is a chance that an Artifact Lockbox containing one random 252 piece can drop from Command Crates.

 

Additional Changes

There are some other changes to help support Masterwork Gear (mostly targeted at PvPers). They are:

  • We increased the current 252 disintegration rates from PTS. 252 gear will disintegrate into 175 Unassembled Components in 5.10 (up from 9 to 45).
  • To help PvPers get the required Reputation for the MW Data Crystal vendors, we are adding Rep rewards to Ranked PvP Missions:
    • [DAILY] Arena of Death!: 2 Geonosian Power Cell
    • [DAILY] My Kind of Scum: 1 Geonosian Power Cell
    • [WEEKLY] Go Berserk!: 4 Encrypted Data Disks
    • [WEEKLY] Time for Pain!: 2 Encrypted Data Disks

TLDR – If a player simply does two Weekly Missions of their chosen playstyle they will be able to acquire a minimum of two 252 pieces per week (or upgrade one 252 piece to 258). This does not include crossing over into both PvP and PvE, any MW Data Crystals or drops from Command Crates, or purchasing any crafted versions of this gear, which can speed up your acquisition rate of MW gear.

 

Let us know your thoughts on the changes to acquiring Masterwork gear in 5.10!

 

-eric

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Despite the jump in reputation from hero to champion to gain 258 gear, this looks a lot better than what was on PTS prior.

 

That said, any thoughts on how crafting 258 works on PTS with the Forgotten materials or how to acquire alternative item modifications such as the 258 versions of Warding Mod B or Lethal Mod B?

Edited by RikuvonDrake
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Will 258 MH/OH be added to the Masterwork 258 vendor?

 

I like 252 pieces being added to the Ossus weekly (although why can't we just pick a particular piece? why is there always some RNG?). I like reputation for doing ranked.

 

I suppose it's good to add getting MWS from ranked but you're basically asking people to do content that you're expected to have BiS for... for BiS acquisition. There's no progression like in NiM GotM where the first boss is a little easier and you work your way up to further bosses while bettering your gear along the way. But it's better than nothing. Kind of wish it was added to solo ranked too but maybe more people will do grouped now.

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This is worse than before now it will take even longer to get 258 since you have to waste master work crystals on 252 to even buy it not sure that you were getting the point of why people were complaining about getting 258 pvpers just wanted it as fast as pve players instead your logic is to make it worse for both pve and pvp players by requiring 252 to buy 258 it makes no sense.
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Will 258 MH/OH be added to the Masterwork 258 vendor?

 

I like 252 pieces being added to the Ossus weekly (although why can't we just pick a particular piece? why is there always some RNG?). I like reputation for doing ranked.

 

I suppose it's good to add getting MWS from ranked but you're basically asking people to do content that you're expected to have BiS for... for BiS acquisition. There's no progression like in NiM GotM where the first boss is a little easier and you work your way up to further bosses while bettering your gear along the way. But it's better than nothing. Kind of wish it was added to solo ranked too but maybe more people will do grouped now.

 

It's group ranked because they want to artificially increase how active it is rather than just encouraging people who are pvpers to play group ranked.

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make

 

them

 

legacy

 

bound

 

Or atleast provide reasoning why you would go the "screw you with all your alts" route again just like the abomination gearing was at the start of 5.0.

 

EDIT: and with them I mean the masterworks crystals obviously

Edited by DarthYun
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Thanks for the update Eric, I have a few questions.

 

1-2 Unassembled Component turn ins

^ Does this mean it is now capped? Will cost after turning in one still go up?

 

Will mainhands and offhands be available for purchase via upgrade?

 

Will mods and enhancements still be bound to piece type?

 

Will players have the ability to purchase specific mods and enhancements of their choice? Such as if a dps or healer wants to buy a different enhancement for min/maxing? Or if a tank wants to run a different set of enhancements or different mod variations?

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This is worse than before now it will take even longer to get 258 since you have to waste master work crystals on 252 to even buy it not sure that you were getting the point of why people were complaining about getting 258 pvpers just wanted it as fast as pve players instead your logic is to make it worse for both pve and pvp players by requiring 252 to buy 258 it makes no sense.

 

thats what you get for crying. now its equal, but worse for both. thanks pvp com. god i hate these people so much...

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I have a question on this disintegration. Is this the disassemble from the button on the inventory page or is this only apply to the command crates? I get a piece of gear from a lock box then I assume there is no disintegration button. I know you can disintegrate from the command crates but it appears as you can get the gear from other places and if you get a piece you don’t need how do you disintegrate it?

 

Side note, though I know it makes sense from a high tier elder game standpoint (ie MM GotM), I’m still a little sad this is only applying to ranked pvp. I usually don’t do ranked because I actually enjoy 8v8 more plus more pops.

Edited by Ld-Siris
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This is the worst of all worlds.

 

I literally lose money from not subbing because of the number of referral links I have but I'm done with this mess.

 

Keith, you've messed up. This is beyond stupid and somehow despite this studio making terrible decision after terrible decision, I'm still shocked by how stupid this one is.

 

Good luck playing space barbie because that is literally all this game is now.

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Well at least now we can upgrade from 252 to 258 :)

 

I think its fine this way, I also feared how this would influcence ranked pvp as people might get gear too fast. This way it should be slow for all I hope.

 

Currently on the PTS you could go to 258 directly, now it's the same cost except you have to have a 252 piece to trade in. So it's worse for 258 than it is on the PTS.

 

And the boxes with a piece of gear is a good idea in theory, but I see myself with 7 belts trying to get that damn bracer, Galactic Command all over again.

 

Recommendation - nuke the trade in component for 258s, let people buy them outright if they want to, add a vendor that will give you crystals for 252 shells that you have so if you get 7 belts it's not a nightmare.

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First, and again, thank you for pretending to listen to the issues we had.

 

Next, you still refuse to address my primary point. why add gear at this point in the game, considering that:

 

1. You purposefully overtuned HM gods in the first place, anticipating no NiM would ever exist. Now that it does, you are rescaling HM to be a "proper" HM. Thus, if existing NiM is completable in 248, NiM gods should be too. If you are choosing to make it harder, so that it requires more gear, again why? New gear tiers with no new level caps make no sense.

 

2. The "grind keeps people around" argument, from my perspective, is complete and utter nonsense. I am attempting to get it through your obviously abnormally thick skill, Musco, that should I stay, I am doing it IN SPITE OF the gear grind i will inevitably end up participating in. I am NOT doing a gear grind because I enjoy it, and by extension, this is NOT retaining me as a player - frankly at this point my guild and the lack of another game I care to play are doing that. To expand this argument from purely my perspective, at one point prior to the pvp changes that destroyed my guild's playerbase, I had about 10-15 active players on any given day. We're down to 2-6 because of the previous changes. This is a 40-87% decrease in active and subscribing members. Guess how many of those (previously subscribing) players are returning? None.

 

3. The encourage NiM/bring back NiM argument is equally nonsense. These players left due to a lack of regular new content and a very small pool of players to chose from. The former is still true, as any new NiM raids will be few and far between, and the latter is merely amplified as the talented player population decreases.

 

4. If you must add this futless grind, why must it be seperate from the existing system that took absurdly long to reach a manageable level? I can only assume your intention is to encourage players to play the new content so that you can call it a success. To this I wish to repeat my point on the gear grind: simple participation does not equal pleasure or long term retention. To retain players long term, you must keep them happy. Just because I am doing something DOES NOT mean I am ENJOYING it. Thus, if simple, short term numbers are your measure of success, you are measuring success incredibly poorly, and the consistent decline in members is extraordinarily explanable.

 

My personal opinion is that this is being done for a very simple reason. Specifically Mr. Kanneg wants it done. As someone who deals with orders from above on a daily basis, I can guarantee to you that this is very often the least effective method of morale improvement. You cannot force your will on someone and expect them to enjoy it. You must inspire or motivate them to partake and be a part of the comminity. Forcing Mr. Kanneg's desire and trying to tell us we like it or leave will merely result in more people leaving, however you attempt to sugar coat it Musco.

 

On the more specific topic at discussion here, i am glad you are shortening the grind. But given that you are increasingly tying the gear to simpler, possibly soloable, pve content does little to make me believe this gear was ever only intended for the 1%.

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Dear Eric, I read your post. It doesn't sound the least bit encouraging to me to even have a look at this new level of gear. Nothing what you wrote sparkled motivation in me to go for it. On the contrary. I feel discouraged.

 

A PvE mission with a 50% chance that it is a PvE mission? I don't even know what to say to that.

 

I will just play (and hopefully enjoy) the new story and planet and just ignore the new gear. I won't touch GotM MM, so I won't need it anyway.

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Hey folks,

Based on our initial implementation there were a few key things we wanted to address:

  • Getting Masterwork gear solely from PvP was more difficult than we would like.
  • The implementation encouraged working directly to 258 while skipping 252. We don’t have a problem with this, but it made getting any gear upgrades more challenging and expensive than desired. By “stair stepping” up to 252 and then 258 there can be constant progression that isn’t as expensive as trying to jump straight to best in slot.
  • We needed more opportunities for players to get Masterwork Data Crystals and gear overall.
  • Players had no long term value in getting 252 since they could not be upgraded to 258.

 

  • That could have been fixed by increasing the UC drop rate, which would ALSO discourage people from stockpiling now
  • Your proposed way does nothing to make the gear less challenging; it just gives an extra hoop to jump through before being allowed to jump through that same high hoop. 258 gear was 4-5 MC's on the PTS... now it's that plus another 2 you have to pay in 252 gear and a higher rep requirement.
  • Not going to argue this one...
  • Players had no long term value in 230's, nor 242's once 248 dropped. 240/246 likewise had no value (ever) since it couldn't be upgraded, but it was great for casuals to get and be "almost BiS". If anything 258 should upgrade from 248 shells, not 252.

 

If you made 258 upgradable from 248 shells those that have been grinding to 248 (esp recently) wouldn't feel like they wasted their time, *and* it would still time limit players via rep req and MC's needed to upgrade, all without making them jump through gear that's basically worthless (because the stats aren't much better than 248) just to force an extra step on everyone.

 

I was assuming you'd make 252's the catch up mechanic, letting new players buy it directly with minimal grind (like you can 230's for new alts)... Ideally I'd suggest making it purchaseable with high numbers of tokens instead of MC's, giving those things a use again and (like I said) giving newer/more casual players a way to not feel "too behind" to start playing now. Christmas is coming and the winter holidays... and people will come out of the woodwork to give the new planet a try. A long gear grind may make many simply not bother.

 

Bottom line is, you just made 258 *more* annoying and *more* expensive to get, and added unnecessary gear grind at the back end of an expansion.

 

 

 

 

 

TLDR – If a player simply does two Weekly Missions of their chosen playstyle they will be able to acquire a minimum of two 252 pieces per week (or upgrade one 252 piece to 258). This does not include crossing over into both PvP and PvE, any MW Data Crystals or drops from Command Crates, or purchasing any crafted versions of this gear, which can speed up your acquisition rate of MW gear.

 

Let us know your thoughts on the changes to acquiring Masterwork gear in 5.10!

 

-eric

 

For a single toon, we need 14 pieces.

 

So to get to 252 we need nearly 2 months, and another FOUR months to get 258 if you don't include praying to RNGsus or throwing an army of alts at the problem.

 

More for Min/maxing, and twice that for poor tank mains, that need to combine a full set of DPS gear into the tank one to make it resemble a proper stat distribution.

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Recommendation - nuke the trade in component for 258s, let people buy them outright if they want to, add a vendor that will give you crystals for 252 shells that you have so if you get 7 belts it's not a nightmare.

 

I like this idea to be honest it would mean you can still get a shard from doing the weekly like how it was, 252 would still be useful since it'd be easy to get, and makes getting duplicates not frustrating. Make it so you can only trade-in once a week if you're worried about people getting a bunch of pieces in crates (lol I bet they're super rare anyways).

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Let us know your thoughts on the changes to acquiring Masterwork gear in 5.10!

 

-eric

 

I was tempted to report your post as it made me burn several brain cells just by reading it. This is the dumbest **** you could come up with. It will serve well as kek fuel though in some future examples as to how to F up gearing in a game...

Edited by giorgo
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Yeah...I'm going to stick with not bothering with this gearing system. Period. This is ridiculous.

 

Part of the problem is you've gone from handing out gear to everyone through a yawnfest RNG grind that any button mashing story casual can do to adding an even worse grind. It is reasonable to bottleneck the top gear for the players that need it (NIM Raiders and Ranked PvPers) but you've honestly made the grind for them even worse.

 

The only solutions I can think of atm are to either remove 252 gear completely or make it significantly easier to get 252 gear (eg. a lot cheaper) while keeping 258 gear as is.

 

I really hope you guys come up with something better for 6.0 cause my god, this system coupled with the Galactic Command sham is complete garbage. If we could just rewind to how things were in 4.0 (especially in regards to PvP gearing), that'd be a good place to start for coming up with a better gearing system for 6.0.

 

Adding separate PvP gear would solve a lot of issues and I really hope you guys do this for 6.0. Again, look at how gearing was in 4.0 and replicate that. Earning gear for the content type (PvE or PvP) you do by doing the content type you do just makes things easier for everyone. This 'one gear for all' system we've had for 5.0 simply does not work.

 

PvPers have drawn the short straw for gearing throughout all of 5.0. This has to change. There are no 'ifs' or 'buts'. It just has to change in 6.0.

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