Sadly, you're absolutely right. Even if Bioware turned the world upside down and went three times to the galaxy's core and back in order to please their playerbase, people would keep complaining and moaning. It's ludicrous how unsatisfied with everything some people are.

 

Sure, there's stuff that is bad and needs to change with criticism of it being valid. Crafting and gearing for example, those need changes. But what tires me endlessly is when people keep expecting SWTOR to produce the same amount of content it did when it was in its prime and don't adjust their expectations to the new reality that SWTOR doesn't have the manpower or resources to do that anymore.

 

What people also seem to fail to realise, is that Rise of Skywalker is coming in December. It's logical Disney doesn't want anything big happening around the realise of Episode 9.

This is merely your opinion.

Other people have other opinions.

Guess what? If a customer isn't satisfied, they will not buy the product whether they tell you about it or not.

So how about you stop being the forum police and respect other posters the way they respect you?

Has anyone called you names for being happy with a tiny smattering of content compared (not to SWTOR's own history) to other MMOs that are available to play right now? Has anyone made you feel poorly for enjoying the game that you love? Then why should you mock or call names to people who don't feel the same way as you?

Hey everyone,

 

It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort.

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.

 

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
  
• It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
  
• We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
  
• You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
  
• Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
  
• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

 

We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

Glad my commentary made its way back - good on ya Keith. Keep this level of communication up, and thank you for the heads up!

Hey everyone,

 

It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort.

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.

 

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
  
• It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
  
• We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
  
• You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
  
• Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
  
• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

 

We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

Thank you Keith, appreciate you checking in. Let me say that I think new content releases every 3 months or so is a great idea. That way we get to continue enjoying fresh things instead of having to replay the same 8-year old stuff over and over.

Also, please ask the team to look into making all content more valuable compared to hammer station and red reaper. This situation has devalued virtually all of your content (Dxun included) and doesn't really harmonize with your statement that "What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system." This isn't happening right now, but it's a great goal.

Thanks again for letting us know that more content is in the works!

There is truth in what you say, but there's also truth in the fact that people can ask too much.

 

If I go to a restaurant that serves fish and suddenly start demanding a medium rare, big meaty steak, then I'm asking for the impossible at that restaurant and will never get what I want there.

 

The same goes for SWTOR. Yes, there is a lack of communication that has been present in this game for ages. I can't even remember when someone didn't complain about this and most of the times, the criticism directed at communication was warranted. But in light of SWTOR's resources and manpower, I feel like people are too often demanding big bloody steaks at a restaurant serving fish.

Well, like I was arguing in my other thread, there will always be people who ask for more communication, and then crap all over it when it does happen.

However, BioWare needs to learn to tune those people out. NOT the people offering constructive criticism mind you, or airing frustrations from perhaps not the best gameplay design choices. But the people who seem to get a personal thrill over crapping on BioWare, else are so jaded that NOTHING will make them happy other than to watch everything burn.

Every game has those people. But I think in the past, it scared them off from communicating.

At least this time, they did it - they built up all that goodwill leading into Onslaught, and now they aren't wasting it by doing BioWare as usual and not saying Jack until March/April. This is a huge change from how BioWare did things in the past.

And perhaps for some its not enough (will it ever be?), but I'll take BioWare making baby steps towards keeping the playerbase engaged. And this post was a huge step in the right direction.

Oh, and as an addendum - most people IN-GAME are talking about how they like the new gearing system, at least on Satele Shan server....

Frankly, people complain about a lack of communication from Bioware, not realising that most of the time they're the reason why the devs avoid the forums. I remember all the times that Charles Boyd or others came to the forums and were outright attacked by posters for the most ludicrous of things. There's a reason why I keep hearing most players are avoiding these forums like the plague, because people here are constantly malcontent and hostile to anything that disagrees with them. So are we surprised the devs stay away from communicating with us here?

Oh, I don't know about that. The Devs in the past did some of it to themselves too by attacking the playerbase. And Charles caught hell for a really weird attempt at retconning the differences between Vanilla Emperor and Valkorion.

And in the end, the feedback, though harsh, got the point across as since Ossus, they've been walking that Retcon back to the Emperor's original motivation of devouring the galaxy to become a force God.

Thing is now, I think they finally figured some measure of it out now. Eric has never been more active, and in the appropriate areas for a community manager, than he is now since Keith took the helm. Communication has never been better since Keith's tenure (although the initial foray was rough and led to some of that combativeness between player and dev in the forums, which was not a good look and led to some radio silence until the announcement of Onslaught at the beginning of the year).

I feel like they've found the appropriate balance now, and have figured out how to react to player feedback better. I'm sure it will only improve under Keith's direction going forward.

Your bitterness is anything but warranted as it makes you come across as incredibly spoiled. You just received an expansion for the game, whether you consider it one is irrelevant, which the devs poured in time and resources. Frankly you're being thankless in this case, because the team that Bioware has is much smaller than it used to be and their resources are fewer than they used to be. They could have also released nothing, nada, no new story, no new content. And yet, they did, for people who can't even appreciate the small stuff apparently.

Stop making excuses for a business. Like any business organization, SWTOR has a budget that is entirely up to it's managers/owner/investors. You have no idea how much capital they have available to work with. They may have more than enough money to hire additional developers, invest in bold new projects, etc. However, like any business, decisions revolve around maximizing revenue. This means deliberately investing the minimum resources possible to produce the minimum amount of content required and looking for ways to maximize the amount of money made from game systems that are cheaper to design and maintain.

This isn't a family going through hard times. It's a multi-million dollar company with shareholders who likely make more money than you will ever see.

And, as will any business, if customers feel that quality is lacking, they will make it known. This isn't being spoiled (in most cases), it's simply about saying, "you know what, this current situation isn't worth $15 a month to me." This is actually valuable when expressed by enough people (and backed up by actions) because it gives business owners insight into their target base's frame of mind.

So, you know what? If they are going to treat me as just as number on a sheet, then I will treat their business the same.

Of course, let me make a clear distinction between talking about "the game" (SWTOR) and individual devs. Obviously there are some very hardworking devs on the team, and they may honestly put in some very hard work (the art department obviously outdoes themselves every time, same thing with whoever is in charge of designing cartel market armor sets and items). This has absolutely nothing to do with discontent about the direction the game was taking in the past or now.

Showing disdain at the idea of a 3-4 month period between a large content patch and the next content patch (over Christmas) isn't going to make EA any more or less likely to reinvest in the game. Do you think the Devs are like "well I think our budget is enough, more would only make things worse"? They obviously want to deliver the most content they can and would like as big a budget as possible.

 

So when Keith comes on here and describes a plan to deliver a small dose of content in a month and a larger does in 3-4 that seems like a pretty big step. They can't snap their fingers and deliver 6.1 next month and no amount of whining is going to change that. What it may change is their interest in making these kinds of announcements in the future.

 

Again, that's not saying people shouldn't post criticism. Someone posted about how there is no mention of PvP rewards being altered to work with the gearing system better. That's a legitimate criticism. Being upset that the next content update isn't coming out before Christmas really isn't.

I wasn't showing disdain at the fact that content is being spaced out or that it's not coming out to xmas. It take time to make things, its how thing are handled and have been handled in the past. Alot of the problems that are happening now or that people are upset about was voiced on the pts forums to what seems like no avail or to the point people feel like issues were simple brushes over. And while there where good QOL changes, it nice Keith spoke up and post which is always appreciated it just feel more often then not it the village to get the torches and pitchforks to storm the castle before things get changed .

Wonderful to hear from you Keith, and to get a glimpse of what's to come. I have to say, I'm really enjoying the expansion so far and I've even started doing some content I normally don't bother with, like dailies, especially on Onderon because I'm in love with that planet. I'm not someone who cares much about endgame gearing but I like how this system works. Keep it up and thank you for posting. Thanks to Charles as well for being so active elsewhere and helping wherever he can, and Eric and the other devs who've been trying their best in the past weeks to give us a smooth experience. I really look forward to seeing where our story goes next because that had me hyped most of all and I loved the little bits of class flavor.

The rest of you... please can we just appreciate (or hate it if that makes you feel better) Keith's post without these inane debates filled with personal opinions, assumptions, backseat driving, and negativity about who's right and wrong, what goes on in the devs office, what Keith's intentions are, arguing with those who are less pleased than you are and so forth? Meatbag bickering rarely encourages continued conversation with the devs and threads have been shut down before because people went OT this way. You guys have a dozen other threads concerning the same gripes and opinions, keep it there and leave this for the people who enjoy Keith's post or have questions/comments/concerns related directly to his post.

Keith, I and other people have been critical of the lack of communication the past couple weeks so I want you to know that this is REALLY appreciated. Thank you. This is precisely what we needed to hear from you.

It's important for all of you on the team to remember that we're all very passionate about the game you make. When we see things that are blatantly obviously a problem for the player base (crafting being completely broken; the Odessen stronghold aggro; trash mobs in FPs being harder than the bosses), that's why we get so vociferous... because we love it and we want the game to continue for a very long time.

Well then.....Let's hope the "new" server is better than the old one. Will we get the few days credited? 4 days more subscription? That would be a nice gesture.

Does the story continue with 6.1?

Hi Keith,

 

Is one of the bugs that is to be squashed the "Follow Target" command not working? I use it so my autistic grandson can play along with me. He does not interact much, he mostly watches but he insists on having his own computer to "play". This command allows his toon to follow mine without him using the keyboard or mouse a lot. He gets upset if I reach over and use his keyboard too much to keep up with my toon.

 

Thanks!

 

Robert aka "Keryyn"

We use this feature (or did) for a guildmate who is visually impaired. It makes life much easier for all of us to move through a zone when there are areas in the game that are too dark for her or don't offer enough contrast. It'd be really good to have that fixed.

Hi Chief Keith or isit Keith Chief? I forget but anyways overall it's great in terms of needed change and ideas but half baked.

My list of proposed changes would be crafting, credit sinks, make Kai whatever his name is a vendor that only requires Tech fragments making you ultimately wait for the deal for stuff, set bonuses are kind of lack lustre (not enough opportunity to mix & match as well as the bonuses for increase stat is lazy) maybe adding weapons to outfit designer and adding weapons (MH/OH) to set bonuses would add more diversity in the gearing.

I'm assuming you guys will probably be adding another tactical slot?

Finishing this post of there's one actual thing I want in game is a AOE Force Choke... You know The False Emperor: Darth Malgus Empowered Force Choke animation yes give me that!

Hey everyone,

 

It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort.

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.

 

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
  
• It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
  
• We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
  
• You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
  
• Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
  
• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

 

We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

Sorry I was so late reading this (actually Sat AM now). Some RL stuff to take care of.

Although there are a few points I'm almost certain that some of us would like to see more details on … just reading this does indicate that someone on staff has not only been following a few of the threads … but has passed that information on.

For that: Thank You !

Bugs squashing: I've been around games for a while now... That seems like one of the most unappreciated and yet the one job that is endless (for just about any game). Thanks for the efforts there was well. Keep after it ! Don't give up.

I'm hoping that a two thumbs up for the improvements in this released (particularly in the art department) has been passed on the those who have been doing the work. (just my personal thanks on that... I really love 3-D modeling .. and appreciate the upscaled works this time around ! )

I will be watching for a number of items you have pointed out that are coming up ! Sounds promising !

Any additional information that you can "share" ( like maybe up coming SH's that might be in the works) … other fun tidbits .. are always appreciated.

OH !! While I'm thinking about it … Hearts and Minds .. that worked pretty darn good ! If you have a v2.0 (for lack of a better term) … that you could squeeze in along the way … that would be cool too. If not .. I understand !

Again .. thanks for the update. Much appreciated !

Best Regards

Ol Buzzard

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

It's nice to know that BioWare have recognised there are some "issues" with crafting currently. Hopefully the feedback from players will be taken into account.

I know you guys mostly get criticism on the forums or suggestions about stuff that needs changing but I think this thread is a great opportunity to tell you and the rest of the devs how much I have enjoyed the new expansion. I think that the gearing system is the best its ever been and I'm so glad you took the time to delay the expansion and take all the feedback from PTS into account. New tactical and set bonus items are a great addition and the only thing preventing me from testing all of them is that I'm stuck between using my tech fragments for gearing alts or exploring all the options on my main which is a great way to keep me playing.

I think having more tech fragments and gear from dailes and pvp to balance it a bit more with flashpoints being king right now in terms of time to reward ratio is the only suggestion I would have. I feel like the game is in a great spot and the rest of my year is basically going to be devoted to Star Wars with swtor, Ep9 and Mandalorian coming. Would love to see some armor sets or tie ins that take inspiration from those sources. Star Wars fans are divided on a lot of things but I think swtor has done everything right recently by listening to the fans and players and as someone who has played from launch I can't believe it is 8+ years since beta and I still love the game and feel like it is just as fun and gives me the same feeling of being transported into the SW universe that I had on day 1.

Well, thanks for the maintenance in the middle of the night, that was really nice.

I've quite enjoyed the Onslaught story so far, that was really nice too having an actual choice at the end whether to stay independant and keep the Alliance as it is or go back to what you were before if that's what your character wanted (good way to satisfy everyone here).

Nice new areas, even if Onderon is quite laggy for me.

I was also happy to get some companions back, and happy that Tharan is comming next (i'd have liked to be able to get him at least on all my pubs toons though)

I won't comment on crafting as i'm not a crafter, and on gearing as i haven't done much except the Onslaught story, so haven't seen much of it.

There's one thing that's bugging me though with the new difficulty bump, i'm stuck on the 3 sentinels fight on Iokath, traped in an endless fight as whenever i'm about to destroy the 3rd one another one is poping, which is really annoying.

I don't want to skip to Ossus, but i can't end this fight, so that's a character i can't play right now, and i'm not taking any other character who is not beyond that point right now, which makes quite a lot of them who are pretty much unplayable right now...

This is merely your opinion.

 

Other people have other opinions.

 

Guess what? If a customer isn't satisfied, they will not buy the product whether they tell you about it or not.

 

So how about you stop being the forum police and respect other posters the way they respect you?

 

Has anyone called you names for being happy with a tiny smattering of content compared (not to SWTOR's own history) to other MMOs that are available to play right now? Has anyone made you feel poorly for enjoying the game that you love? Then why should you mock or call names to people who don't feel the same way as you?

Funny you should say that, because it's exactly people who express negative opinions who keep calling me a white knight, a shill and what not, for being positive about something that I love and would want to see me gone so as to have only negativity around. So, don't be surprised I respond in kind, because the respect you speak of has been lacking often and frequently.

Because there is a difference between "hey, I dislike this part, for this and this reason" which is the proper, reasonable way to express criticism, and the completely unreasonable "the devs hate us", "they're out to destroy the game", "the game is dying". Sure, that may be someone's opinion, but I am not obligated to take those kinds of opinions seriously, because frankly they're ludicrous.

Put some of that respect you speak of towards the devs. Maybe not you specifically, but others who grossly lack respect towards the developers - of which there are sadly many - should.

Again, you're making sweeping generalizations imo to promote your own need for strict positivity. Which is fine, i hear ya, so np. But honestly, most players are either busy enjoying & playing the GAME...or....they just aren't as consumed by Forum fodder as other types of players are.

It's actually commentary that I have heard and seen, not just a generalisation. I've frequently asked someone for example "hey, did you see this or this on the forums?" and most replied with "oh no, I avoid that place because it's a bad environment". So, I base it on actual feedback that I saw and heard, ingame and outside in other places like Discord or Reddit, not because I want only positivity. I express criticism about SWTOR myself as well, for example, I hate KotFE and KotET and won't shy away from letting people know I really, passionately detest those two expansions. But I strive to provide constructive criticism as to why I hate them so much, what I dislike about them and what I'd change to make it better. And luckily, there are quite a few posters who express criticism in a similar, reasonable fashion. But most don't, most simply go and shout "the devs hate us", "the game is dead/dying" or express really insulting posts aimed at the devs which are absolutely unwarranted. Because even in my hatred of KotFE and KotET, I would't go and assault the developers over it.

• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

From where I'm standing, the correct tool for these "adjustments" is the informatic equivalent of a large flamethrower or even several sticks of dynamite.

It's currently a complete disaster, and "some adjustments" carries the implication of "we'll tweak a few oddments here and there but otherwise leave it alone".

Primary candiates for the informatic dynamite:

• The half-million credits to unlock per-character access to each 601+ crew skill(1). This one should be just removed. End of line.
  
• Blue FP/Op materials to craft green trash items. That's ridiculous. And no, changing the materials to green is not a fix. The fix is to not predicate green trash crafting on FP/Op participation (not even via-GTN someone else's participartion).
  
• Purple conquest materials to craft blue trash items. That, too, is ridiculous. Blue trash isn't good enough to merit conquest participation.
  
• 5% research chance for grade 11 stuff. Just say, "No." Combined with the punitive cost of crafting trash items (see above), that's just adding injury to injury.
  

I would in no way describe myself as a dedicated crafter, but now I'm a "can't be bothered to even try" crafter.

That said, when I read the post on the Dev Tracker, I was expecting a *lot* more hostility to certain parts, so maybe I'm wrong.

(1) Bug: it's listed on the trainers for lowbie crafters / gatherers who aren't even *close* to 600, but, sort of obviously, can't be bought until you actually reach level 600. If you feel the need to keep a fee for this(2), (a) reduce the fee by deleting zeroes, and (b) remove it from characters who can't buy it.

(2) There isn't such a need, but if you feel it anyway, remove one or more zeroes from the price.

Hey everyone,

 

It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort.

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.

 

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
  
• It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
  
• We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
  
• You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
  
• Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
  
• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

 

We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

Current issues:

Lack of rewards for playing solo ranked and esp team ranked caused lack of players queuing ranked pvp and i always same faces in ranked. Team ranked is dead at all. I know many people were crying about mat farmers ruining pvp but it is delusional since without them (mat farmers, learning players etc) ranked is dead and just becomes a wintrading field. Please add some viable rewards to ranked quests.

Crafting should be easier and less expensive. No need to demand conquest matrix as mat for high grade crafting because it slows the process of crafting on weeks and forces players to join big guilds for conquering large planets.

Continue to work on class balance since ranked pvp is full of deception sins and concealment operatives for various reasons which were written on pvp forum.

Bugs. Tonnes of buggs: last journal quest on onderon, holotraverse ability often pushing players to africa in ranked pvp, visual buggs when some walls dissapear, companions dying on meksha etc etc. Fix pls

From where I'm standing, the correct tool for these "adjustments" is the informatic equivalent of a large flamethrower or even several sticks of dynamite.

 

It's currently a complete disaster, and "some adjustments" carries the implication of "we'll tweak a few oddments here and there but otherwise leave it alone".

 

Primary candiates for the informatic dynamite:

• The half-million credits to unlock per-character access to each 601+ crew skill(1). This one should be just removed. End of line.
  
• Blue FP/Op materials to craft green trash items. That's ridiculous. And no, changing the materials to green is not a fix. The fix is to not predicate green trash crafting on FP/Op participation (not even via-GTN someone else's participartion).
  
• Purple conquest materials to craft blue trash items. That, too, is ridiculous. Blue trash isn't good enough to merit conquest participation.
  
• 5% research chance for grade 11 stuff. Just say, "No." Combined with the punitive cost of crafting trash items (see above), that's just adding injury to injury.
  

 

I would in no way describe myself as a dedicated crafter, but now I'm a "can't be bothered to even try" crafter.

 

That said, when I read the post on the Dev Tracker, I was expecting a *lot* more hostility to certain parts, so maybe I'm wrong.

 

(1) Bug: it's listed on the trainers for lowbie crafters / gatherers who aren't even *close* to 600, but, sort of obviously, can't be bought until you actually reach level 600. If you feel the need to keep a fee for this(2), (a) reduce the fee by deleting zeroes, and (b) remove it from characters who can't buy it.

 

(2) There isn't such a need, but if you feel it anyway, remove one or more zeroes from the price.

As long as I get all stuff abundant by playing(heroics/fp) just ONE alt up to rating 306 gear, 600+ crafting has totally lost its meaning. No matter what ressources you need to build them. So it does not even matter, if you have to pay those 500k or not. Unlike you I am an active crafter, but as you utterly disappointed from the 600+ trash.

Generally speaking: I am a returning (german) player with the founder batch I just set my abo to max, because I enjoy most of the current game even more than at release times. I am more than happy to hear from you, Keith, happy about Tulak Hord and happy, there is someone how cares and adresses the community, offering updates soon. If only there would be a german speaking community Bot/Twilek/somthing, adressing the concern of those german customers, who are not able to voice their opinion in this part of the forum

Funny you should say that, because it's exactly people who express negative opinions who keep calling me a white knight, a shill and what not, for being positive about something that I love and would want to see me gone so as to have only negativity around. So, don't be surprised I respond in kind, because the respect you speak of has been lacking often and frequently.

Negativity is a thing these days. It's rather a fashion. It's part of what i call "rthe heavymetalization of media", including badmouthing colourfulness.