Official Q&A Thread for July 20th Blog Post

Are there any plans for allowing training in different weapon types?

Considering weapons are really just shell you put your mods into, none are more powerful than the other, the system is skill-based. I would love to see my Powertech wield a Blaster riffle, my Operative a blaster pistol (like in all cinematics) my Vanguard a Techsword, my Mercenary a Techstaff..... you get the point, more versatility!! And for those saying that it would not fit the lore or the actual content, think about all our companions; Kaliyo =blaster riffle, Malavai=blaster pistol, Vector=electrostaff, Torian=techstaff, Skadge=techsword......

Would it be possible to keep a new questions thread open at all times instead of leaving it closed for the majority of the week? For instance, you closed last week's questions thread on Monday afternoon, but you didn't open a new thread until you posted the completed Q&A late Friday afternoon. This schedule ends up excluding your weekday forum audience (myself included) from stopping by to ask questions.

So when you close this July 20 Q&A questions thread next Monday, would you please consider immediately opening a new July 27 Q&A questions thread on that same Monday? That way, your Monday-Thursday night forum audience doesn't have to set a weekend alarm clock reminder just to be a participant in this exercise.

Thanks!

With Windows 8 only 3 months away (October), I have two questions: 1) Will SWTOR support Windows 8 at the new OS's launch? 2) Windows 8 is designed to take advantage of touch-screen PCs (desktops in addition to tablets). Will there be any UI options for touch devices in the pipe?

Thanks!

Do devs believe that the Merc version of the Pyro tree and the Powertech version of the Pyro are roughly comparable? It seems to most players that there is a fantastic gulf between the utility of flame burst, in its auto-application of a damaging DoT and proccing rail shot, compared to the uselessness of power shot. Especially on a 2 second cast.

Last time you'd mentioned the role you saw for the Deception Assassin. As my main is a Vigilance Guardian I was wondering if we're in line with how you see us. I ask this because a lot of Guardian tanks I see are using Vigilance as the majority of their points, and during such encounters as Toth and Zorn I take a lot more damage than other melee because of no AOE damage reduction. With that in mind, is the spec performing properly as a DPS spec when it lacks a usual DPS tool for survival and appeals so strongly to tanks.

I don't see how Deception Assassins could be a problem to anyone, when, for example, I can just use anti-CC, pop Freezing Force and Force Push 'em and be on my way, (or pop Enure+Blade Warding+Combat Focus+Sweep+Awe+Take Leap distance -> Dead Assassin) Not so with operatives who can burst me down to half heallth before I can even move, because even if I use my anti-CC on operatives, half the time because of this game being married with animations rather than the actual casts, my Guardian just stays stuck, disoriented.

Since Deception Assassins only have one ability to close gap with, they are a joke in PvP are a joke. What's the idea of only having high burst DPS when you have no utilities besides it? Stealth doesn't help much, it lets your opponent get out of combat and get full health before round 2. Every other high burst DPS class has other tricks in their sleeves, Sentinel/Guardian can leap. Powertech can grapple, Operatives stealth to you, getting the opener 99% of the time and have too many excellent CC abilities, which bug half the time, rendering the opponent's anti-CC useless.

I wonder if BioWare ever tests these specs out themselves, or if they just watch normal PUG WZs and try to figure out what to do based on that.

TL;DR: Deception Assassins are currently a joke in high-end PvP, and they either need more CC, or something besides Force Speed to close gap with.

what determines the op leader in a pvp pug?

Are there any plans for players to be able to use Tracer Missile with the old pre-1.2 animation?

Does the development team feel that tank gear is appropriate for PvP?

Currently it seems more popular to wear damage gear while in a tank stance, and my own experience seems to confirm this. The last time I tested it I got 300k damage and 120k protection in damage gear and 120k damage 150k protection in tank gear. There is a noticeable (small) increase in survivability, but with ranked teams now becoming more established that extra damage is really helpful; taking out an opponent quickly can save more damage than staying alive a bit longer, and it seems like the biggest factor affecting survivability is expertise rather than tank stats.

Question: You have stated that future species will be comunity decided, with pros and cons for each suggestion. I am guessing it will be time frame, locked romances, locked classes and possible subtitiles instead of voice over. Have the Dev's seen the poll already in place http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=479757 and what do they think about the top 5 choices would these all be possible and do we have any hope of seeing them before the end of the year.

Extra info: I am sure I am not the only one who feels in limbo where I dont want to make any new characters because I dont want to ruin the class story if a species I want to play comes out, and I also dont see much point in doing much grinding of end game content because I would lose it all if a species I want comes out I will re roll and lose everything. I know this makes me the perfect player a guy who pays but hardly plays eventually I will wise up and release there is no point in paying if there is no chance a species I want to play will be introduced.