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Dallas Cantina Meet & Greet Q&A Notes


Dawginole

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Attended the Dallas Cantina event Friday night with some guildies. I was able to meet Eric Musco, Amber Green (Yowza!) and a few of the devs. There were a couple of people recording the event on phone cams, so hopefully some of those make the rounds so you can hear the exact questions and answers that were ask but I can paraphrase some of the things that stuck with me.

 

As with pretty much EVERYTHING in the SWTOR universe, nothing had confirmed dates and you can pretty much stick SOON™ by everything. As a renowned journalist I forgot to take notes and all of this is from memory. So I'm sure I forgot 75% of it.

 

-SSSP: Super secret space project is definitely still in the works. And I quote: "IT IS AWESOME!" But no details given.

 

-Guild Ships: This is one of the devs pet projects. He has been working on it for a very long time and swears it will be amazing. But they don't want to release something without the bells and whistles.

 

-Guild Stuff: Other guild stuff mentioned was an increase in the number of guild bank tabs/slots as well as a way to auto collect a tax of some kind that goes into the bank. Lots of stuff on the "wall of crazy".

 

-Housing: In the works, on the wall of crazy.

 

-Legacy Messaging: If you remember, the last patch prior to 2.1 introduced a bug that caused any messages being sent to a player that just logged off and back onto an alt to automatically go to the alt. This immediately went on the wall of crazy to be implemented properly at a later date so that if you are talking to someone and log to an alt you will get to continue your conversation.

 

-Knights/Warriors: The thought process behind alacrity was that if GDC decreased then the player could not only attack faster to increase dps, but it would also decrease the cool down on rebuilding focus/rage as well since alacrity doesn't recharge "energy" for that class like other classes. They realize it's not working as intended and are working to fix that.

 

-Subscribers: Let's just say a few posts after 2.1 got their attention. They fumbled the ball on the wording of the Jeff Hickman blog post and are currently in meetings to determine how they can show subscribers more love. They promise that you will never be able to "buy power" from the CM and I was personally guaranteed the ship parts fiasco would never happen again. The CM will be strictly for vanity items and buying access to content for F2Pers.

 

-F2P: Contrary to popular belief, F2Pers are NOT the ones buying the most stuff from the CM. It was never clarified whether this means the bulk of purchases is strictly coming from subs or from a combination of subs and preferred status players. (Though this does beg the question of whether F2P is even beneficial if its still subs and sub CM purchases supporting the game.) They are tentatively (TENTATIVELY!) considering removing the limit on the amount of WZ's a F2Per can play in a given week, BUT only if they determine a way in which it doesn't negatively affect subs.

 

-Crafting: So 2.0 introduced some quirks in crafting. (Duh.) They know this and are working on it. The comments on the GUI for crafting being designed around a potential mobile platform was reaffirmed to me. Unfortunately, the web team (not like the web PR team, but the guys who do like web integration for billing/cartel market, etc) are in charge of that and no one from their team was present. I was told that likely, the mobile platform would first introduce an armory and then would add features like access to crafting missions and GTN, etc. But that is all hypothetical right now, so I wouldn't expect this for some time.

 

-2.2: The next patch is going to be a huge content update. No details given.

 

-PvP: Some time post-2.2, and I'm paraphrasing, PvPers are going to be really really happy. It was not explained whether this would be a new WZ or Open World PvP or both or something entirely new. But it sure sounded like a patch focused on PvP'ers. (About time!)

 

-Classes: If you were curious, class balance questions were off limits. So nothing to see here.

 

I may remember more later and will add it if I do. One thing that was really reinforced in my mind after talking to all these folks was that while I'm sure there are some jerk head accountants around somewhere making life hard, the folks at this event are die hard about this game. They play the game, they love the game, they work on the game, and they support themselves and their families on the game (Amber Phase Walked for us so they even live the game!) . So they want to see it succeed.

 

Good stuff all around. Thanks to BW for being willing to put on these events for their fans and giving us free food, drinks, game stuff and pets.

 

p.s. When's BioConn?

 

p.s.p.s. Jeff Hickman, I love joo! :p

Edited by Dawginole
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Some time post-2.2, and I'm paraphrasing, PvPers are going to be really really happy.
Never.

Gonna.

Happen.

 

The PvP Messiah™ could descend from the heavens and personally bless the work of the devs as the supreme work of PvP within not only an MMO but all of gaming throughout all of history both past and present and the PvPers would still not be happy.

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Attended the Dallas Cantina event Friday night with some guildies. I was able to meet Eric Musco, Amber Green (Yowza!) and a few of the devs. There were a couple of people recording the event on phone cams, so hopefully some of those make the rounds so you can hear the exact questions and answers that were ask but I can paraphrase some of the things that stuck with me.

 

As with pretty much EVERYTHING in the SWTOR universe, nothing had confirmed dates and you can pretty much stick SOON™ by everything. As a renowned journalist I forgot to take notes and all of this is from memory. So I'm sure I forgot 75% of it.

 

-SSSP: Super secret space project is definitely still in the works. And I quote: "IT IS AWESOME!" But no details given.

 

I would just like to point out that Jeff Hickman in one of the few video blogs they did referred to that xmas speeder as "Awsome"...so forgive me if I would rather wait and see if it is actually awesome before I buy into any hype from the company.

 

Also if something is mentioned but then they say it is on the wall of crazy...it will be years before it is in game...if ever.

 

The -FTP section...while it would be nice to have more people in WZ's and such going that route makes me feel my sub is even more worthless if a FTP player gets more for nothing.

 

And 2.2 is supposed to be less than 4 weeks away and it is "huge" but of course no details given...it would be nice to be surprised but I cannot see anything "huge" coming in so short a time after Makeb.

Edited by DarthBrundleFLY
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-sssp: Super secret space project is definitely still in the works. And i quote: "it is awesome!" but no details given.

Will cost CC

-guild ships: This is one of the devs pet projects. He has been working on it for a very long time and swears it will be amazing. But they don't want to release something without the bells and whistles.

Will cost CC

-guild stuff: Other guild stuff mentioned was an increase in the number of guild bank tabs/slots as well as a way to auto collect a tax of some kind that goes into the bank. Lots of stuff on the "wall of crazy".

Will cost CC

-housing: In the works, on the wall of crazy.

Will cost CC

-legacy messaging: If you remember, the last patch prior to 2.1 introduced a bug that caused any messages being sent to a player that just logged off and back onto an alt to automatically go to the alt. This immediately went on the wall of crazy to be implemented properly at a later date so that if you are talking to someone and log to an alt you will get to continue your conversation.

Will cost CC

:D

 

...I kid ofcourse

Edited by AgexKol
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I would just like to point out that Jeff Hickman in one of the few video blogs they did referred to that xmas speeder as "Awsome"...so forgive me if I would rather wait and see if it is actually awesome before I buy into any hype from the company.

 

Also if something is mentioned but then they say it is on the wall of crazy...it will be years before it is in game...if ever.

 

The -FTP section...while it would be nice to have more people in WZ's and such going that route makes me feel my sub is even more worthless if a FTP player gets more for nothing.

 

And 2.2 is supposed to be less than 4 weeks away and it is "huge" but of course no details given...it would be nice to be surprised but I cannot see anything "huge" coming in so short a time after Makeb.

 

You noob. Makeb had a seperate development team. 2.1 was solely on the CM team. And 2.2 is being worked on seperatly aswell.

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im a subber and proud of it. i do make alot of purchase thru the CM.

 

so housing might be on the way sometime. i hope it a faction base housing. as for pvp im happy for them not a big pvper myself.

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You noob. Makeb had a seperate development team. 2.1 was solely on the CM team. And 2.2 is being worked on seperatly aswell.

 

Makeb was well into development before the game even launched....lol. How long then did it take to get released and lets not forget that they pulled chunks of it out after F2P launched to keep their 8 week cadence, so what may have been a sizeable expansion turned out to be merely a DLC.

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Interesting read. Sad to see companions are still being left out (though understandable). Very happy to see Guild Ships make a return to spotlight. So for player housing. When they said "In the works. Wall of crazy", does that mean they are working on it or moving up (priority) in wall of crazy? Edited by Idunhavaname
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-SSSP: Super secret space project is definitely still in the works. And I quote: "IT IS AWESOME!" But no details given.

 

I truly hope this has a strong PVP element is being done without the PVP-centric gear stat mess, so that it can be based on how you spec your ship and your skills in dogfighting... but we'll have to wait and see.

 

-Subscribers: Let's just say a few posts after 2.1 got their attention. They fumbled the ball on the wording of the Jeff Hickman blog post and are currently in meetings to determine how they can show subscribers more love. They promise that you will never be able to "buy power" from the CM and I was personally guaranteed the ship parts fiasco would never happen again. The CM will be strictly for vanity items and buying access to content for F2Pers.

 

I remain hopeful that this is correct and that they'll make good on these promises...

 

-2.2: The next patch is going to be a huge content update. No details given.

 

This would be awesome. But I have to say I'm in the same boat on this as some others. If we just saw a "HUGE" expansion with Makeb that we had to pay $10-$20 for, I cannot imagine that this "free" update will be any more sizeable or even comparable to Makeb. That said, I hope the idea of a "huge" content update doesn't include repeatable content, unless it's some kind of randomized task system where we can choose from a list of available "jobs" to accomplish those and gain credits as a replacement for the endless dailies grind.

 

I can imagine a "huge" update (if that word applies) might include a few mini-games for those of us at end game... swoop racing might bring me back as a subscriber instantly... but I guess we'll see in June...

 

-PvP: Some time post-2.2, and I'm paraphrasing, PvPers are going to be really really happy. It was not explained whether this would be a new WZ or Open World PvP or both or something entirely new. But it sure sounded like a patch focused on PvP'ers. (About time!)

 

I hope so. It would be awesome if this too would include the removal of the PVP-centric gear stat. But I doubt that. Maybe if it is some compelling OW-PVP that might also be enough to placate my interests for a bit.

 

I'm much more comfortable waiting for these knowing I'm somewhat of an outsider at this point, and can just walk away for a time and wait to see what they come up with. But again... I hope they are dead-on about all of these, and that we're wowed and amazed... We'll see...

 

Thanks again to the OP for the initiative to speak of these things with the Devs and to bring us the grubby details. It is much appreciated!

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There are some really interesting things in there. Guild ships through me for a loop. I guess I just don't see why exactly but its not a bad thing.

 

PvP stuff coming? Cool!

 

I still would love to know what's up with space. Maybe that's 3.0?

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Interesting read. Sad to see companions are still being left out (though understandable). Very happy to see Guild Ships make a return to spotlight. So for player housing. When they said "In the works. Wall of crazy", does that mean they are working on it or moving up (priority) in wall of crazy?

 

who knows that might be part of 2.2

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I'm really not getting my hopes up for the SSSP being anything all that interesting. All we know about it is that it's something in space and it's a secret. :p

 

Good to know they haven't abandoned the guild ships idea.

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I was also there, great event! From what I recall, Damion also said that after the response to the Cathar, they have already started looking for other races people want to see. I also remember his saying that the dye packs appear to have been a huge success financially, which essentially translates to more content down the road.
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Forgive bad typing, sending message while using phone. :)

 

I was also there and have a couple more things that i picked up while chatting with them one on one.

 

Amber is very much a fan of new playable races, and specifically mentioned the Voss as a race - with the next sentence saying "probably will not happen, as it makes no sense for the game story."

 

According to her, Lucas said "there are no Wookiee Jedi" so dont expect them either.

 

Stressed that any changes or addons they make can have far reaching effects, as the game is officially considered SW canon at this point, so they cannot rewrite history.

 

In a chat with Eric, he also said server transfers are in the works and will be live not with 2.2 but soon after that, likely before "the next major patch afterwards."

 

Name changes and such will remain on CM and not be free to subs because of community reasons - if a player can be a ninja/etc, then change name 5 mins later, it will negatively affect other players.

 

 

To expand on the fp/wz restriction changing, he stressed that any changes made to improve quality of life to f2p players should not negatively affect the value of a sub, and if they remove f2p restrictions they will look to balance with increased value to subs - maybe harsher comms caps for f2p if restrictions are lifted. Said the overall goal would be retain value of the sub while improving queue times for all players.

 

Q&A directly stated they are adamantly "opposed to any scheme of pay for power' ie p2w. Stated goal is that cartel market will be appearance based or extras only.

Edited by SturmUndSterne
clarificztion
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I try to stay really positive about the game, but every time the wall of crazy is invoked, I fear the feature has been exiled to the plane of Limbo. A few are rescued from the plane by intrepid heroes of Dev, but most will languish until their pained cries of "make me reality" fade into the abyss.

 

I'm a bit surprised at Amber's Lucas wookie Jedi comment though. Lucas' support of The Clone Wars series is well known and there are wookie Jedi there.

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In a chat with Eric, he also said server transfers are in the works and will be live not with 2.2 but soon after that, likely before "the next major patch afterwards."

 

haven't they been saying that since 1.5 or 1.6?

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I'm a bit surprised at Amber's Lucas wookie Jedi comment though. Lucas' support of The Clone Wars series is well known and there are wookie Jedi there.

 

There have been two Wookiee Jedi created since the implementation of his "No Wookiee Jedi" rule. Both were approved directly by Lucas - they weren't created independently. Now that Disney ihas ownership, we'll see if the trend continues, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kennedy upholds it. Wookiee Jedi were poised to become common, and stopping that from happening was one of the few decisions Lucas has made in the past 20 years to make me happy.

Edited by CelCawdro
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