Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).

Sir,

You may want to verify this before we actually get to this. You say bonus set gear, which means armor but knowing some people they will assume it means also implants, earpieces, relics, weapons and second hand items. Though it may not stop people from saying otherwise but it might, you never know.

So, at the end of this year, will they release a bunch of chapters all together rather than having monthly chapters? Or do we have to wait for the roadmap to find out?

That, I don't know. I have no clue when the next batch of chapters are due, just that they said a while ago that people preferred to get the chapters in bulk, rather than one at a time. Sorry. I hope the roadmap will let us know.

Legit just almost spit out my drink. When things get pushed back because a single employee takes a few days off work, you know you've hit peak skeleton crew status. This is BW's fault of course, not yours.

This 100x over ... it's just like the post a while back that class balance wasn't possible due to a person on maternity leave. If your organization is dependent upon one individual in any one function, your organization is a failure.

Haven't felt this upbeat about SWTOR since 2.0 and knowing that Keith actually plays SWTOR and see's what people are doing in game it totally makes sense that GSF is getting some TLC now. Every week new pilots enter the mix on Harbinger it's very cool they are giving the newer players the tools to hang with the veterans. Many matches are automatically lost because one side lacks bombers.

Nightlife event is a welcome return.

Keith Please: Consider updating the vendors items to all the events give us a reason to grind again! Any chance of returning the original 'even't the Chevin one? That would be a blast of nostalgia from the past...!

You appear to be "dug in like an Alabama tick" on this point.

 

I've followed your posts for a long Costello and I have to say... recently you read like someone who is burned out and needs a break from the game. Sure.. you can blame that on whoever or whatever, but at the end of the day it is up to you to manage your expectations as well as when and how much you play something like an MMO.

 

Take if from me, it can be very healthy to take some time off from playing an MMO after years. Either they start moving in the direction you want with the game, and you return feeling encouraged, or they don't and you take a break and either come back refreshed or move on to something more appealing.

On the first point it seems on forums in general if you should infer what someone is saying then you get met with 'Thats not what I said' or 'You can't talk for me' and if you question when they make a statement that seems to equate playing an MMO (Leisure time) with working on one (job) then everything is flipped around and the job because not real life and how you spend your leisure time becomes real life. Which seems at least to me puts the basis for your views on a very shaky foundation. Hell if I said I couldn't make a raid cause I had to work would anyone be saying well real life comes first.

As to the second, come the 23rd I shall be enjoying Morrowind. I find I am looking forward to it more and more hoping (perhaps) wrongly it will throw me back into the world of ESO as it was when I started playing. Power escalation has resulted in rushing through content as it is no longer a challenge and just getting the reward.

Equally I have reluctantly followed my guild to another MMO. One I don't consider as good as SWTOR as Im not a fan of walls of text. I had hoped with a new producer and a new road map that there may be something to bring them back. However this has sadly become apparent its not going to be the case, unless they are fans of delays.

Along with a server that used to be standard but is now always light, we had 6 imps on Iokath during peak play yesterday, I think a lot of people have decided to move on and possibly come back when things turn around. Personally with the state of the game at the moment and who know what to be coming by the end of the year if this will happen or there will be a game to come back to. Though like many before me I am losing interest and it would be a shame to take a break on a down note as it makes coming back so much less likely. But I don't consider myself that specially, its all the people that have left leaving most servers light that should be courted to get them to come back. However they wont even know the reason for the delay unless they bother to read the forums. And all things being equal regardless of if you agree with the reasons, if a road map has to be delayed 3 weeks does that make it seem like the team is going to be getting out vast amounts of content in the near future given what we have seen of the game of late.

Legit just almost spit out my drink. When things get pushed back because a single employee takes a few days off work, you know you've hit peak skeleton crew status. This is BW's fault of course, not yours.

I'm surprised this was overshadowed by the personal vs. professional responsibilities crap. I've also had a former guildmate tell me he lives in Texas and has been the studio and the crew is REALLY small. Obviously it isn't Keith's fault as you stated, but you really got to wonder how bleak the roadmap may look due to how small the studio is.

It's such a shame that big brother EA has no interest in investing in this game which has SO MUCH FREAKIN' POTENTIAL. Meanwhile you have publishers Activision and Square Enix both showering money towards WoW and FFXVI respectively and both games releasing major and actual expansions. EA should take a note from their rivals.

 

I'm surprised this was overshadowed by the personal vs. professional responsibilities crap. I've also had a former guildmate tell me he lives in Texas and has been the studio and the crew is REALLY small. Obviously it isn't Keith's fault as you stated, but you really got to wonder how bleak the roadmap may look due to how small the studio is.

 

It's such a shame that big brother EA has no interest in investing in this game which has SO MUCH FREAKIN' POTENTIAL. Meanwhile you have publishers Activision and Square Enix both showering money towards WoW and FFXVI respectively and both games releasing major and actual expansions. EA should take a note from their rivals.

Warcraft is Blizzard's flagship IP and WoW their flagship title; it makes a lot of money for Activision, they don't need to invest in it. Star Wars is an important IP for EA, but SWTOR isn't the flagship title for that IP, and makes enough money to get by. WoW's breakout success has never really been duplicated.We're 5 years or more in - EA isn't going to give BW:A any money they didn't earn, to keep pouring down a hole. Signs point to a small but steady income from SWTOR for BW:A, a chunk of which has to be allocated to the license and paying off initial investments. MMOs are pretty cheap to maintain and slowly expand, so I don't see the game going away any time soon, but for almost half the lifespan (once the material laid by from launch was done with and Revan's story was ended), the release cadence and material depth we have seen for the past 2-3 years? That may be it. BW:A planted all their seed corn a long time ago, and what we have is what they harvest year to year.

Warcraft is Blizzard's flagship IP and WoW their flagship title; it makes a lot of money for Activision, they don't need to invest in it. Star Wars is an important IP for EA, but SWTOR isn't the flagship title for that IP, and makes enough money to get by. WoW's breakout success has never really been duplicated.We're 5 years or more in - EA isn't going to give BW:A any money they didn't earn, to keep pouring down a hole. Signs point to a small but steady income from SWTOR for BW:A, a chunk of which has to be allocated to the license and paying off initial investments. MMOs are pretty cheap to maintain and slowly expand, so I don't see the game going away any time soon, but for almost half the lifespan (once the material laid by from launch was done with and Revan's story was ended), the release cadence and material depth we have seen for the past 2-3 years? That may be it. BW:A planted all their seed corn a long time ago, and what we have is what they harvest year to year.

I would be more inclined to think they don't want SWToR to be the Star Wars IP "Flag Ship" but EA has yet to release a game that has done much for the Star Wars IP. I would even go further and say that Star Wars IP games have a very difficult time living up to its fan base's expectations.

Sure BF made money because it was hyped but I played it for a few hours for a few days and never went back. SWToR has acquired much more money from me than BF....Considerably more actually.

Concerning Upkeep... I keep hearing the reference that MMO's are cheap to maintain? COmpared to what other type of game? Seems to me pretty much any other type of game would be cheaper to maintain, especially a game that did not require servers and a team (No matter how small) to "regularly update the game"... Unless you decide not to add content /wink at EAware.

I think this game is currently the Star Wars "flagship" game... For whatever reason they don't want it to be...

BF2 will likely be the same as BF... It will make a bunch of change up front but dwindle from mention relatively quickly unless it has more depth than BF did...

I really think MANY game developers are mostly missing the boat and do not understand what keeps people playing. We are in a place right now where the gaming industry is more concerned about how to manipulate money models than how to develop games the keep people playing through fun mechanics... and it has a nasty effect on a games fun factor.

I really think MANY game developers are mostly missing the boat and do not understand what keeps people playing. We are in a place right now where the gaming industry is more concerned about how to manipulate money models than how to develop games the keep people playing through fun mechanics... and it has a nasty effect on a games fun factor.

You know how it goes, "make them pay every year for the same crap that is polished a bit". The subscription based MMO model should/could/would earn more, but re-using the graphic motor from last year for example is cheaper than adding new content....

You know how it goes, "make them pay every year for the same crap that is polished a bit". The subscription based MMO model should/could/would earn more, but re-using the graphic motor from last year for example is cheaper than adding new content....

You gotta love when these design choices are made by accountants who don't understand the first thing about MMOs.

I really think MANY game developers are mostly missing the boat and do not understand what keeps people playing. We are in a place right now where the gaming industry is more concerned about how to manipulate money models than how to develop games the keep people playing through fun mechanics... and it has a nasty effect on a games fun factor.

The problem is not everyone likes the same thing.

(1) Some like pvp

(2) Some like raids

(3) Some like stories

(4) Some like a little of everything.

I am more the type of a story person with some group activities mixed in. Not a big fan of the raids as I prefer doing group activities with 2 or 3 friends instead of a large group activity. I have done some raids and just am not really thrilled with the people in large raids. I really don't need the attitude in a game, I get that already outside the game.

So there really is no way a game developer can determine what everyone likes when it varies with the person.

I don't think it's nearly that complicated. Balanced expacs line RotHC or SoR provided something for everyone. KotFE and KotET cater solely to one niche of the playerbase, and consist of content with low replayability. It's no surprise that the game is in the state it's in.

Very well said!

Agree with Kurj. The game up through the end of Ziost is *still* amazing. Since then, well, Odessen is nice as a collection of stuff, I actually really like OPG as a warzone, but all that the rest is really good for is grinding the first two chapters for CXP at this point.

I'm playing five alts through their class stories now, with another one in SoR. It's all great. But at Ziost, they are done. I have zero desire to take any of them through the KotFE/ET/Iokath drama. It's just not compelling story wise after the first couple times, and adds nothing to the endgame.

Agree with Kurj. The game up through the end of Ziost is *still* amazing. Since then, well, Odessen is nice as a collection of stuff, I actually really like OPG as a warzone, but all that the rest is really good for is grinding the first two chapters for CXP at this point.

 

I'm playing five alts through their class stories now, with another one in SoR. It's all great. But at Ziost, they are done. I have zero desire to take any of them through the KotFE/ET/Iokath drama. It's just not compelling story wise after the first couple times, and adds nothing to the endgame.

Exactly my case. This game ends at Ziost for me and I have no plans to go further.

I don't think it's nearly that complicated. Balanced expacs line RotHC or SoR provided something for everyone. KotFE and KotET cater solely to one niche of the playerbase, and consist of content with low replayability. It's no surprise that the game is in the state it's in.

^ This just about covers it.

Technically I guess I am one of the players that KOTFE and KOTET cater to - I mostly solo; but even I can see the problems created by catering almost exclusively to only one part of the playerbase.

If the last 3rd of KOTFE and the whole of KOTET hadn't been quite so badly written things would be slightly better, but only just.

All The Best

I would be more inclined to think they don't want SWToR to be the Star Wars IP "Flag Ship" but EA has yet to release a game that has done much for the Star Wars IP. I would even go further and say that Star Wars IP games have a very difficult time living up to its fan base's expectations.

For what it is, SW:Galaxy of Heroes is an amazing game. For what it is...

Concerning Upkeep... I keep hearing the reference that MMO's are cheap to maintain? COmpared to what other type of game? Seems to me pretty much any other type of game would be cheaper to maintain, especially a game that did not require servers and a team (No matter how small) to "regularly update the game"... Unless you decide not to add content /wink at EAware.

Once you've built the game, it's cheap to keep running, that's all I meant. The startup costs are sunk, but you've still gotten what you paid for. I'm not comparing upkeep of an MMO with upkeep of other types of games, I'm comparing upkeep on an MMO to development of a new game.

I think this game is currently the Star Wars "flagship" game... For whatever reason they don't want it to be...

It doesn't support or use the current movie IP. (Though it does appear to be getting mined for minor details in the current movie IP)

I don't think it's nearly that complicated. Balanced expacs line RotHC or SoR provided something for everyone. KotFE and KotET cater solely to one niche of the playerbase, and consist of content with low replayability. It's no surprise that the game is in the state it's in.

Did I mention in this thread that up through SoR they were still running on resources generated during the prelaunch phase? I know I've mentioned how from all I've heard about the SoR launch it was an epic disaster of biblical proportions. (I was playing, but still in vanilla content at the time, and not participating int eh forums).

How about fixing the Republic/Imperial banner decos that you have to be a certain rank in order to place in Strongholds not be tied to pvp?

Lots of people don't like to pvp and they just take up bank/legacy bank space because we can't add them to our deco inventory.

Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).

 

Sir,

 

You may want to verify this before we actually get to this. You say bonus set gear, which means armor but knowing some people they will assume it means also implants, earpieces, relics, weapons and second hand items. Though it may not stop people from saying otherwise but it might, you never know.

Seconding this question.

So gear wasn't a factor?

Class wasn't a factor?

Build wasn't a factor?

 

Oh wait, yes they were, I was PvPing a lot pre 5.0, actually once got 6 MVP votes in 10 matches in one afternoon and had an Officer from a PvP Guild try and poach me from my PvE Guild, so I must have had some idea what I was doing. And what I was doing was playing - at the time - just about the best class to PvP with because it had no significant weaknesses at that time; I didn't play it because it was the go to class for PvP at the time, I played it because that was the toon I was playing and I needed to do some PvP for a KOTFE Unlock. I started to enjoy it, and carried on for a few weeks.

 

So no you didn't have Skill vs Skill PvP pre 5.0 - because no MMORPG has ever, even once, delivered Skill vs Skill PvP; because Gear, Class and Build are - together - far more significant factors that Skill.

 

All The Best

OMG, not 6 MVP votes : you must be elite and an expert on pvp, especially if a pvp officer from a PvP guild recruited you... apparently playing the "best class" also made you an excellent player

I've been pvping in this game since launch (5 years), including 8 man team ranked.

I've seen all iterations of pvp in this game from early RNG gearing after launch, free pvp gear, pvp gear gaps, gear grind, Bolster not working and Bolster actually working, no or minimal gear gap, fast gearing, and just before 5.0 the ability to transfer WZ Comms directly to alts.

I've seen every class become OP and FOTM or so bad that no one played them.

I've seen class balance that was worse than it is now.

I've seen all the bugs, exploits and hacks.

I've got over 35 toons that I only pvp with them and 90% of them were only lvld in pvp.

I don't play classes when they become FOTM because I like a challenge 😉

When I say I want to play skill vs skill pvp, I want to have as many of those factors removed where possible. That means no gear gap or a very small one as to hardly be noticeable unless you are at the pinnacle of ranked pvp.

We can't do anything about class balance except learn new tactics to deal with things. That in itself is skill based, but isn't actually my point and I think you already know that.

As far as builds go, that is a personal preference and if people are too dumb to learn a build to make skill vs skill.. 🙄

I don't think you understand the meaning of skill vs skill pvp in this game. Just because it's an MMO doesn't mean there isn't skill involved or that skill vs skill pvp isn't a possibility or that we haven't had it before, we have, especially in ranked.

Bolster to 238 is fine as it is. You wouldn't want to give TIer 4 to anyone, right? I mean some of us grinded our butts off to get to tier 4 and full 248 and you want 244 bolster ? Hell no !

Hmm another person who needs a gear gap to be competitive? If you don't need it to be competitive why do you care about grind in pvp. Would you play pvp less if there was no grind. Most dedicated pvpers play for the sake of pvp itself.

I understand if you want to use the gear in pve. That's not an issue. We also don't want to remove the gear grind for people who want to use it in pve. We are happy to keep the ability to gear up through pvp. What we want is an increase in Bolster to remove the gear gap or close it so it's the same as it was pre 5.0

OMG, not 6 MVP votes : you must be elite and an expert on pvp, especially if a pvp officer from a PvP guild recruited you... apparently playing the "best class" also made you an excellent player .

Way to miss the point or what?

With that it becomes apparent you either won't, or more likely can't, understand what I have been saying, so I will bow out now.

All The Best