Request: Can the devteam make cartel-market vibroknife and scattergun models/skins for Operative/Sniper and Scoundrel?

It's been almost 9 years but with all the buyable skins and gear ladders the offhand model is always the same, single model/vfx/sounds. How did the blaster rifle category get an acog, triple barrel model but the scoundrel off-hand left high and dry!?

I'm highly confident that EAware can cook something up with sourcebooks and references (life/stores/conventions/pinterest/artstation).

So is there an explanation why players only have one vibroknife/scattergun model to sling in abilities? Or can we get a win-win product deal down the line?

So is there an explanation why players only have one vibroknife/scattergun model to sling in abilities? Or can we get a win-win product deal down the line?

Speculation: mostly because the model we see is part of the ability. Blaster rifles (to cite your example, but the reasoning applies to blasters, sniper rifles, assault cannons, lightsabres of all kinds, and non-light blade/staff weapons) are visble all the time, whether they are drawn or stowed, and whether they are being used or merely held.

Having the model in the ability depend on the specific vibroknife (say) in use would mean that each ability would have one animation sequence per knife, or a plug-in model that would raise the complexity, cost-of-render, bugginess, etc. of the animations.

And one might ask the same question about the Focus, Shield and Generator items used by other classes. Why can't we see any sign of, above all, the shielding effect of a Shield?

Speculation: mostly because the model we see is part of the ability. Blaster rifles (to cite your example, but the reasoning applies to blasters, sniper rifles, assault cannons, lightsabres of all kinds, and non-light blade/staff weapons) are visble all the time, whether they are drawn or stowed, and whether they are being used or merely held.

Having the model in the ability depend on the specific vibroknife (say) in use would mean that each ability would have one animation sequence per knife, or a plug-in model that would raise the complexity, cost-of-render, bugginess, etc. of the animations.

And one might ask the same question about the Focus, Shield and Generator items used by other classes. Why can't we see any sign of, above all, the shielding effect of a Shield?

First let me say, "I agree... one One, Minor point." Can we see some visual feedback, as an aesthetic animation of Shielding effects? (preferably with a disable option for people on potatoes & hardcore pvp players)

Request Repetition: The original suggestion requests varieties be added as additional market products, similar to any other weapon type.

//TLDR: debunking ensues.

The model in the ability is an imported model, Such as an "object"; objects are very easy to change in OOP languages (OOP langs = anything after CoBOL; HeroEngine runs on C++) One just needs a new model to import.

To make a new model, see tools like Zbrush, maya, blender, Mudbox and teams like EA/BioWare Art teams.

Statement 1: "Speculation: mostly because the model we see is part of the ability. (...)"

The above contradicts reality. If Vibroknives cannot be changed due to involvement in ability animations, then Armor, blasters, and lightsabers cannot be changed due to involvement in ability animations, yet the opposite is true. This is because those "models" are objects in the HeroEngine & C++. HeroEngine and C++ are both modular. The same process that implemented the original model can implement a new model.

Statement 2: "(...) Blaster rifles (...) are visble all the time, whether they are drawn or stowed, and whether they are being used or merely held."

Whether an object can be hidden has no real link to whether it can be changed. Case in point? Helmets in the Outfit Designer. Just because any kind of parameter is hidden, graphically or otherwise, does not preclude modification. Statement 2 feels like an attempted distraction / strawman.

Statement 3: "[...] plug-in model that would raise the complexity, cost-of-render, bugginess, etc. of the animations."

Statement 3 depends on unnecessary assumptions: mainly projecting exaggerated expectations onto the original post. The original request is for scattergun / vibroknife variety to be added to the game, as an additional product, so both customers and corporation benefit. Bronze tier Cartel Market items would suffice this request.

Additionally, Statement 3 discusses animation "sequence per knife". No new animation, motion capture, or vfx is necessary. Again SWTOR runs on the HeroEngine and C++: both modular. Bioware is building off of previous, existing work, not re-handpainting each frame like Tom&Jerry.

//End Debunking.

Give EA/BioWare some respect. They are professionals. As professionals, they can execute, ensure quality, and perform.

Respect yourself too: As a customer, expect EA/BioWare to ensure quality, execute, and perform.

The original request requests varieties be added as additional market products, similar to any other weapon type.

Give EA/BioWare some respect. They are professionals. As professionals, they can execute, ensure quality, and perform.

 

[

They been given loads of respect....but then they started shafting people, bringing out buggy content. Breaking things, releasing things people didn't want, the list can go on, and on.

They are supposed to be professionals, but they don't always act that way. They've released content several times which wasn't executed correctly, was bad quality and didn't perform

Respect yourself too: As a customer, expect EA/BioWare to ensure quality, execute, and perform.

 

]

There's a difference between respecting yourself, and delusions. Just because we have rough idea of BW/EA's limitations, does not mean we don't respect ourselves. We know how bad they can be, we've been on this rodeo a long time.

//TLDR: debunking ensues.

Feel free to try.

The model in the ability is an imported model, Such as an "object"; objects are very easy to change in OOP languages (OOP langs = anything after CoBOL; HeroEngine runs on C++) One just needs a new model to import.

When lecturing someone who has been a professional programmer for more than thirty years (er, me, for example) about programming issues, please be sure to get your facts right.

When you say, "OOP langs = anything after CoBOL," you have to realise that C and Pascal, among others, are *after* COBOL, and neither of them is OOP.

And no, it's not an "object" in the programming sense. There probably *is* an OOP object associated with it, but the visual model isn't one.

To make a new model, see tools like Zbrush, maya, blender, Mudbox and teams like EA/BioWare Art teams.

Duh. That doesn't mean that making the dynamically-chosen model part of the animation is just an art thing. There would be programming changes required.

Statement 1: "Speculation: mostly because the model we see is part of the ability. (...)"

 

The above contradicts reality.

Depends on how you define "part of the ability". What I meant here is that it's part of the ability animation in the same way that the various parts of Boltstream (blob flows, flash and glow, etc.) are part of the animation.

And in any event, it's speculation. Neither of us knows what the real reason was.

If Vibroknives cannot be changed due to involvement in ability animations, then Armor, blasters, and lightsabers cannot be changed due to involvement in ability animations, yet the opposite is true.

Tsk. Your weapon and armour are *involved* in the animation (they move because of it), but they are not part of the *effects* section of the animation.

And the speculation was that the added complexity of making the visual depend on the specific knife you have equipped is why they didn't build it. There may have been some other reason that neither of us knows what it is.

This is because those "models" are objects in the HeroEngine & C++. HeroEngine and C++ are both modular. The same process that implemented the original model can implement a new model.

You're mixing two different things. And of course they *can* change it, but it means that the knife's appearance has to be part of the *effects* animation.

You're also lecturing me about programming again.

Statement 2: "(...) Blaster rifles (...) are visble all the time, whether they are drawn or stowed, and whether they are being used or merely held."

 

Whether an object can be hidden has no real link to whether it can be changed. Case in point? Helmets in the Outfit Designer. Just because any kind of parameter is hidden, graphically or otherwise, does not preclude modification. Statement 2 feels like an attempted distraction / strawman.

Sigh. Never mind. Believe what you want.

Statement 3: "[...] plug-in model that would raise the complexity, cost-of-render, bugginess, etc. of the animations."

 

Statement 3 depends on unnecessary assumptions: mainly projecting exaggerated expectations onto the original post. The original request is for scattergun / vibroknife variety to be added to the game, as an additional product, so both customers and corporation benefit. Bronze tier Cartel Market items would suffice this request.

OK, but *how does that relate to putting the model into the ability effects animation*?

Additionally, Statement 3 discusses animation "sequence per knife". No new animation, motion capture, or vfx is necessary. Again SWTOR runs on the HeroEngine and C++: both modular. Bioware is building off of previous, existing work, not re-handpainting each frame like Tom&Jerry.

Tsk. If you want the variable model to be visible during abilities, then eiither there is one (fixed) effects sequence per different appearance, or there is a way to plug the visual model into a single sequence that it otherwise fixed. There's really no other way to do it.

//End Debunking.

*Attempt* at debunking, please.

Give EA/BioWare some respect. They are professionals. As professionals, they can execute, ensure quality, and perform.

Give *me* some respect. I'm a professional, too. The evidence of nine years of bizarre bugs, things that break because other things changed, and so on, casts some level of doubt on their ability to "ensure quality", at least in the sense of doing it consistently.

Respect yourself too: As a customer, expect EA/BioWare to ensure quality, execute, and perform.

I'd love to expect that, except for that history.

The original request requests varieties be added as additional market products, similar to any other weapon type.

And it also asks that they be *visible* in-game, since there's no point in adding them to the market if they aren't visible.