Hello everyone,

 

Please discuss the Meet the Developers: Rob Hinkle blog in this thread!

 

If you have any questions for Rob, please ask them here. In the near future, we'll have some answers from him for you!

Good to meet you Rob!

Hello Rob.

 

As a question, Do you guys plan on adding any rare items with unique equips, cosmetic or otherwise? Similar to how the Dread Guard's Corrupted Mask protects from a unique ability.

 

 

Example of cosmetic: Completing the Revan set gives you his glow aura from his Balance of the Force in the Foundry that offers no stat bonus or advantage.

 

While others being like.

 

Legendary Nightmare Mode drop: [Lightsaber of Tulak Hord] (made up item of course) Equip: chance to curse the target dealing force damage over time. Which could be extracted via hilt mod?

Edited January 17, 2013 by Magnusheart

nice info. would like to know how the various teams work together to make sure PvP doesnt trump PvE,. that seems to be the case for scrappers, which perform amazingly in PvP, but have been abandoned by the PvE crowd. Edited January 17, 2013 by dipstik

Hello Mr. Hinkle, since you mentioned you play a Lethality Sniper, I wonder if you have an answer to this.

 

One of the things that I find to be a problem currently is that if you have two Lethality Snipers in an Operation, they can consume each other's weakening blasts. This makes it a bit of a pain. Any plans of fixing this? Also, there seems to be issues with both AC's and Lingering Toxins causing players to still be in combat when they come back from death in both pve and pvp encounters.

 

Also, on the subject of combat logs, are there any plans on making them a bit more detailed for players? What we get in the chat window is very limited, and even what we get from uploading parses to web services seems a bit sparse compared to what I'm used to with other games. (I will admit this could also be the parser designer's fault, as I'm not really good and reading the raw logs myself)

Edited January 17, 2013 by chuixupu

If a video game was a board game, system designers write the rulebook.

The classes I spend the most time with are a Lethality Sniper and a Pyrotech Powertech

Ok. I see. So... Whose favorite is Rage Juggernaut? And... What's wrong with DD mercenaries?

The classes I spend the most time with are a Lethality Sniper and a Pyrotech Powertech, with the Sniper being my “main.”

 

Empire player.........

Yeah he would never have said commando/mercenary. Because then we would know he would be aware of

the giant issue with those two AC beeing the worst AC classes in the game for almost a year.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Lord_Karsk

calm, cool and collected ....

I have several characters and I pvp with all of them...sage/sorc lightning/telekintics spec is simply not competitive in pvp. I don't have logs or anything like that, all I can say is create one, use whatever gear you like that is available to the class log on a live server and play the class against equally gear people and tell me its balanced. play it one on one against your sniper or pyro if you like, let members of your team play it, see if they can make use of it outside of bubbling your team and stun knockbacks. its a very weak dps spec.

 

the game is pretty balanced I give your team that I just wanted to point out a error in one of your specs. have a good day.

Discovered the blog only today and realised it's an absolutely brilliant idea to share this kind of information with the game community. It was very nice to learn more about people who create the game, and more importantly, their philosophy and views on some questions.

 

Somehow it became even more enjoyable to play the game after reading about it's creators. =)

Hey Rob, thanks for sharing this stuff. Good insights for the uninitiated like me into how/why you guys do what you do. The PVP's fun, please keep up the goodness and variety.

 

It'd be appreciated if you guys considered the extinct species like Vanguard tanks and Commandos next time you're looking at PVP balance.

 

"The classes I spend the most time with are a Lethality Sniper and a Pyrotech Powertech, with the Sniper being my “main.”

 

I'll assume the Pyro is for days when you've read a lot of forum vitriol and want to melt us all

Edited January 31, 2013 by JovethGonzalez

Could you elaborate on the lack of rewards for killing players in Opvp? Could I suggest it as a way to open up Opvp? Or have you given up all hope of ever having a rewarding Opvp experience?

So i'm guessing no one at BW plays a Merc or Commando or they would've been fixed months ago

Rob mentioned lack of combat logs.

 

Does the team not take information, like TORPARSE for example, as solid evidence for classes underperforming? (in actual playing environments)

 

i have done extensive testing and provided substantial evidence on how specific classes, Mercenary specifically, is underperforming in both PvE and PvP realms.

 

while i understand the difficulties involved in class balance, and the tight rope walk needed to maintain proper balance, the proof is there.

 

as an early beta Mercenary Firebug, the utter lack of usefulness and playability of the Mercenary class in PvP, and it's underperformance in PvE (in direct comparison to its tank mirror) has finally made me stop playing a game i once loved.

 

now that i've got that outta the way...

 

Hi, Rob!

Edited January 18, 2013 by T-Assassin

Empire player.........

Yeah he would never have said commando/mercenary. Because then we would know he would be aware of

the giant issue with those two AC beeing the worst AC classes in the game for almost a year.

 

 

maybe he would never say commadno merc becuase he doesnt play one?

 

honestly what are you trying to say here, that he should lie about what class he plays to make you feel better? He is saying his favorite class, no politics behind it

maybe he would never say commadno merc becuase he doesnt play one?

 

honestly what are you trying to say here, that he should lie about what class he plays to make you feel better? He is saying his favorite class, no politics behind it

 

Talk about missing the point of my post . Guess you just dont get it

Edited January 18, 2013 by Lord_Karsk

Classes he plays... Sniper and Pyrotech Powertech - see where I'm going?

 

My question is: why hoods?!

Edited January 18, 2013 by Alec_Fortescue

I for one am shocked and appalled at the amount of time that is being devoted to the Polish community. I see it as a small market sector unworthy of an entire design team's efforts.

 

 

Good interview!

]

 

 

 

You're an intelligent person, so how could speak so positively about pvp ? You may have hit your arbitrary metrics, but have your metrics hit the mark ? Can I run a ranked team without bubble abuse or smash, can my friends bring their gunnery commandos or vigilance ? No, but at least you're happy with class balance, right? Too bad a great number of your customers disagree.

Great to meet you rob, Welcome to the community!

 

My best advice is to create/borrow a PVP system that has no need for balance, since balance is only required working on tall buildings and tightropes, you will save allot of headaches if you revamp it now.

 

Bottom line is...welcome to the scene from the matrix two were we are all dancing and sweating waiting for the machines to come get us

 

Be our morpheus.

 

Peace

Thanks for awesome commando/merc Design, Rob.

/sarcasm off

Always nice to meet someone who helped give us this great game!

A pleasure to meet you Rob,

 

I have to say since Update 1.2, I would argue class balance has been rather atrocious. I know from personal experience that class balance since 1.2 as well as cutting out world pvp in Ilum caused many of my gamer friends to quit and never return to this game. Powertechs/Vanguards are still extremely overpowered with their ability to stack DOTs as well as generate burst damage. Your nerf of placing a six second cooldown on how often these classes could proc high impact bolt has in no way impeded substantially the ridiculous amount of damage they generate.

 

Sentinels/Marauders are still extremely overpowered with their high damage along with their various defensive abilities (pacify, guarded by the force, stealth, etc.). Guardians/Juggernauts have an overpowered tree known as "Focus" (also the shared tree for sentinels/marauders) that allows one to do massive AOEs for 6000+ damage with their sweep/smash if they have enough sense to stack strength and power, which doesn't seem to have diminishing returns.

 

Shadows/Assassins are still extremely powerful (even though their armor rating and self heal has been nerfed) with their kinetic combat/balance hybrid that allows them to generate a mass amount of damage like a DPS class, while also tanking. Sages/Sorcerers have an extremely powerful hybrid in Seer/Telekinetic defense that allows them to essentially permanently stun players without fear of dying. Due to your recent efforts in lessening how much the resolve bar is increased by the bubble stun, it's even more deadly.

 

I could go on, but I have outlined the classes that are in particular the most prevalent in PvP and clearly the most overpowered from my own accounts. Now I understand that class balance is a delicate process. What you do to the class not only affects its performance in PvP, but also PvE, and such repercussions need to be considered. You also don't want to upset many of your subscribers by constantly changing and tweaking their classes.

 

This isn't about hurting someone's feelings though, but building a healthy, stable, and competitive game. I'm a huge fan of SWTOR as well as an avid PvPer (I have been here since early access and earlier being accepted into Game Testing). I'm not typing this as a way to get back at particular classes that I hate, because sadly enough I have a Guardian and a Vanguard (two ACs with extremely overpowered trees). As a person who enjoys competitive PvP that requires skill and team-oriented coordination, I want this game to be at its utmost best.

 

The way PvP is currently, if you want to dominate, you have to play particular classes. Just look at any of the top PvP guilds, especially those who generally queue for ranked warzones, you'll notice most if not all generally gravitate towards the same three or four advanced classes. I believe a lot of these problems can be rectified by placing diminishing returns on power, making shield generators functional in PvP, and overall slowing down the amount of damage that can be thrown out by players.

 

Having followed this game since October of 2008, I remember BioWare specifically talking about how they wanted to have longer, drawn-out battles, unlike most MMORPGs. You didn't want to be like the other MMORPGs where fights would last less than five seconds, and sadly, that is what SWTOR class balance has turned into. Take a look at what PvP was like before 1.2, when DPS didn't completely dominate and dictate PvP (besides operatives and mercenaries, however healers and tanks were more effective back then). This is just my opinion, however I'm sure others feel the same way.

 

All the best in constantly improving the game we all enjoy!

Edited January 18, 2013 by Aowin

Mr Street (of WoW) recently discussed how their PvP will go through some changes to address an 'artificial' gear-gap and also help with mid season catch-up. SWTOR seems destined to follow in their footsteps, with similar issues.

 

Keeping PvE and PvP separate seems like it's "the only way" they can both work but this also creates pretty significant divides. I know it's been discussed before (and likely will be many times again), I'd still like to take the opportunity to encourage the SWTOR devs to rethink this whole paradigm.

 

PvP and PvE are both aspects of the same game, treating them as two games in one is a major pita for all involved, particularly where players need to maintain multiple sets of gear (for each spec), often on multiple characters, all the while working on mods for each piece...

 

Where PvP players can't indulge in PvE (and vice versa) the game misses out to a significant degree on participation.

To which I expect the answer "that's what story modes and recruit gear are for"... that would be disappointing because it really is missing the point.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Kynesis

Mr Street (of WoW) recently discussed how their PvP will go through some changes to address an 'artificial' gear-gap and also help with mid season catch-up. SWTOR seems destined to follow in their footsteps, with similar issues.

 

Keeping PvE and PvP separate seems like it's "the only way" they can both work but this also creates pretty significant divides. I know it's been discussed before (and likely will be many times again), I'd still like to take the opportunity to encourage the SWTOR devs to rethink this whole paradigm.

 

PvP and PvE are both aspects of the same game, treating them as two games in one is a major pita for all involved, particularly where players need to maintain multiple sets of gear (for each spec), often on multiple characters, all the while working on mods for each piece...

 

Where PvP players can't indulge in PvE (and vice versa) the game misses out to a significant degree on participation.

To which I expect the answer "that's what story modes and recruit gear are for"... that would be disappointing because it really is missing the point.

 

I highly disagree, imo, they haven't segregated them enough, the amount of class changes made in the name of pvp has sapped heaps of fun out of the pve game, so many times in the game you have ranged npc's beating on you from 30 mtrs away, meanwhile you have slow debuff on you and creeping your way to 10 mtrs so you can start to attack them, its just ridiculous, all in the name of pvp.

Mr. Hinkle,

 

the vast majority of the pvp community that visits the forums feels dissapointed from the lack of replies from the PvP development team. Since you read the forums, would you be kind enouph to start replying to any constructive threads?

 

Also, any chance we get more Warhammer online Scenarios in SW:TOR? Ancient Hypergates is a success and personally, i 'd love a version of the Battle for Praag scenario revamped for the Star Wars universe. Perhaps in a Corellia setting, since its an urban enviroment and it matches the story of the planet?

 

Last but not least, the community needs a solid update on the future of ranked warzones/competitive play in general. Perhaps on the next "state of the game" article?

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited January 18, 2013 by Debaucher
typos