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Reddit AMA Summary


DanielSteed

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Hello everyone!

 

Earlier today the team did an AMA about Spoils of War on the /SWTOR subreddit. Here is a breakdown of all the questions that were answered. I've broken up the all the questions/answers into multiple posts to make quoting segments easier.

 

 

 

Question - "1. Will you revamp tank gearing and/or defense scaling so that tanks don't have to mix and match DPS mods to perform adequately?

2. Will you change the interaction of alacrity and the GCD to remove breakpoints (e.g., by allowing players to have a GCD of 1.32s instead of only 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, etc.) and thereby open up more flexibility in gearing choices for different specs?

3. Will relics, especially tanking, healing, and alacrity relics, present a variety of viable choices?"

 

Answer -

1. We are not going to be revamping the functionality of stats. However, there will be a larger variety of stats on mods which should allow better control for what stats your character has.

2. We are planning improvements to alacrity but the details are still being locked down. Once we have more specifics to share we will.

3. This is something the combat team is actively exploring right now. Can you give us some more specifics on which relics you feel are not viable and why?

 

Question - "When you began talking about Tactical items I immediately thought about how it sounded similar to WoW: Legion's legendary system. The most common complaint about its legendary system was how RNG dependant it was where you could get some head piece or relic which was okay or you could get your BiS gloves that made your class playable for higher tier content. With there being no possible way to target a specific legendary and you being restricted on acquiring them it turned many players off of it and was one of the most consistent complaints throughout the expansion.

 

Do you feel that tactical items and how you acquire them will bypass these issues? Or are we going to get them at a rate where not getting the ideal one won't be a massive issue for too long?

 

Bonus question, what do you like on your pizza?"

 

Answer -

Let me offer some explanation around how we avoid this for tacticals.

 

  • All tactical items are on the same power level, they are meant to be horizontal progression. Although we know that some will inevitably pop up as the "desired" tacticals, they should all be roughly equal.

  • We have built in "bad luck prevention". As you get drops that aren't a tactical, the game will increase your chance of getting one.

  • We also have duplicate protection for tacticals so that once you get a tactical, we lower your odds of getting it again provided it is in your inventory/equipped (since you only need it once).

 

Also, pepperoni.

 

Question - "What restrictions are there going to be on acquiring gear for f2p / prefered players?"

 

Answer -

Most of the things we are talking about are in Onslaught so they would not be available for F2P (ex: Renown is at max level).

 

We are going to be improving how Preferred status players can get gear (who have access to Onslaught). We will be sharing those details as we get closer to launch.

 

Question - "If amplifiers won't be included in balance targets, will that make progression of the new operation too easy? Will top teams just agree not to use them? Or will the stat increase be too small to make a difference?

 

Also, interesting to know that Eric has been on the SWTOR team for 40320 years. Looking good for his age."

 

 

Answer -

They are not captured in any PvE balance targets except for Master Mode Operations. They don't make a huge difference to your character but they give you more options for really min/maxxing.

I have been graying since I was like... 17 :)

 

Question - "When crafting gear in 6.0 with relevant stats, how do we acquire materials? I believe in 5.10.x we can craft 258 items, but the mats only drop from NiM Gods, so basically unattainable."

 

Answer -

Endgame crafting gear will require the following materials:

  • Profession specific materials - earned from profession missions and harvests

  • A Conquest material - earned from completing conquests

  • A Content material - earned from playing content on any difficulty (FP, Ops, PvP)

  • A Legendary material - earned from reverse engineering legendary gear, scrapping legendary gear, or high level profession missions

Edited by DanielSteed
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Question - "So I'm someone who's played on an off since Beta (My CE Malgus is staring at the screen) and the latest break has been my longest yet.

 

So I'd like to know how this gearing system is going to affect me as a returning player? Is there some easy way to get caught up on how I'm supposed to gear for my old role? Are there systems which make it intuitive?"

 

 

Answer -

If you look at all the details of Spoils of War it seems pretty complex but I can simplify it quite a bit for you as a returning player.

 

When Onslaught launches make sure you are in the spec you want and then play whatever content you want. We will make sure you are getting gear relevant to your character from drops, crates, vendors, and Missions.

 

Play what you want, get stuff.

 

Question - "Will there be a new way of managing legacy armor?

 

I currently have about 7 sets of legacy armor for dozens of different characters and it takes a lot of my time pulling out the armor, putting it back in, and keeping all the sets organized.

 

I've spent hours and hours looking for missing pieces of legacy armor. Mistakes can be brutal."

 

Answer -

Our plan is to implement a type of "loadout" system where you can quickly switch between sets of user-defined gear without having to equip the pieces individually each time. To be honest, there's a good chance this will have to come in after 6.0, but it's absolutely a high priority for us for all the reasons stated here. As y'all have additional thoughts on the best ways for something like this to work, definitely keep sharing them!

 

 

Question - "With everything becoming bind to legacy, where are we at with weapons in Outfit Designer?"

 

Answer -

For Weapons in Outfitter, we're still in the same place we were, unfortunately - it's near the top of our priorities, but hasn't made it to the sweet spot of priority-vs-effort to make it in yet. But with gearing hopefully in a much better place with 6.0, maybe it can finally hit the top of the list :-)

 

Also, just for clarification, we aren't planning to put amplifiers on weapon shells until we implement weapons in outfitter.

 

Question - "Once we start acquiring amplifiers and tacticals, will there still be a reason to craft gear either for our main characters or our alts?"

 

Answer -

I think I understand what you're looking for here, but let me address this question from a few different angles and hopefully get the answer you're after :-)

  • Our overall goal is that you definitely have reasons to keep on crafting once your main is fully geared - whether that's to pursue different builds with set bonuses & tacticals, or to craft things for your alts as you called out.

  • For clarity, crafters will be able to create mods with amplifiers as well as tactical items; the exact spread of options is still being developed, and we'll look forward to y'alls feedback on that aspect.

  • With the legacy changes, crafting gear for your alts will be a great way to jumpstart their gearing.

  • We are also actively exploring the possibility of crafting-only tacticals.

 

Question - "Your testing schedule seems too short to accurately test all these new items wouldn't it be more effective to test more than one class at a time?"

 

Answer -

We agree! We don't plan to test all of the classes individually as we are the Inquisitor; our goal is to get a general baseline on one class + new abilities + new gear and make sure that's in alignment with both our expectations and y'alls; once that's done, we'll expand out to all other classes.

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Question - "I’d like to echo /kunderam's questions and add a few more regarding drops in operations.

 

– Will bosses drop actual gear or unassembled pieces you can exchange for gear based on your class and spec (as it is now)?

– Will they always drop items based on your current gear rating, or you’ll get better ones from harder modes (Veteran, Master)?

– Will bosses drop tacticals? If they will, then which bosses (all of them, only last ones), how much (1, 2, for everyone) and on what difficulties? Will these drops be regular or random (e.g. Brontes always drops a specific tactical, Brontes always drops a random tactical, Brontes has a chance to drop specific tactical, Brontes has a chance to drop random tactical)?

– What kind of rewards ops weeklies will provide? Gear, tacticals, Charles points, or only XP / RXP?"

 

Answer -

Looks like Tully already touched on most of these, but I'll throw in a few more answers:

  • We do plan to have tacticals that drop from bosses.

  • We're still determining the specifics in terms of which bosses drop them.

  • Our plan is that a specific boss would drop a specific tactical.

 

Question - "Your article states this:-

 

"The game will now take into consideration your current Discipline and the average power level of your gear to make you more likely to receive items that both work for your playstyle and are around the power level of the items you have equipped."

 

Will the difficulty of the content affect the drops you get or will, for example, Veteran FPs and Master Mode FPs drop the same items if drops are based on your current power level?"

 

 

Answer -

Short version: yes, the difference should impact the gear that is dropping, and in general, higher difficulty = better drops.

There's a much more complex answer for this, but that's forthcoming as we hash out the little details, stay tuned ;-)

 

Question - "Throughout the lifespan of SWTOR, the game has seen a plethora of different loot and progression philosophies over the years. Onslaught seems to really be challenging the current state of loot design, both acquisition and progression, once again. Could you speak to the overall mentality and approach for this new design philosophy regarding loot? If you could touch on what you're experimenting with and where you see the true value in the design approach, that would be excellent - thank you!"

 

Answer -

If I were to distill the overall philosophy for our approach to gearing in Onslaught, it's to make gear more fun and easier to acquire, with more interesting variety (adding horizontal progression instead of purely vertical) and more plentiful drops throughout the game, movable across your legacy. Essentially, play what you want, get cool gear, have fun :-)

 

Question - “Which currencies are you getting rid of? I really think it needs a streamline!

 

Currently I've got Light Side Tokens, Dark Side Tokens, Command Tokens, Iokath Power Shards, Relics of Ossus, Masterwork Crystal, Monumental Crystals, Alliance Recon Data, Fleet Commendations, Ranked PvP Reward Tokens in the top section”

 

Answer -

So, fully acknowledge that currencies have gotten out of hand as of late. Historically, currency was used to gauge participation in specific content. However, we should be much more diligent about how many unique currencies are active at one time. For reputation areas I'd like us to lean away from unique's and rely more on the Reputation requirement and a simple Credit transaction.

 

Currencies planned for deprecation (Credit conversion):

  • Unassembled Components

  • Command Tokens

  • Masterwork Crystals

  • Monumental Crystals

  • Alliance Recon Data

 

For the existing reputation currencies we'll be moving them to a new category on the currency window so they aren't competing for "End Game" Status.

 

Question - “So, just out of curiosity. You mentioned in the livestream that since the shells will have set bonuses instead of the armorings, does that mean that the shells will have the same boost in stats set bonus-wise regardless of item rating? Just as an example, if I had an empty chest piece, one that’s 248 and the other 252, would they both give the exact same set bonus? Would the amplifiers be different?”

 

Answer -

I'm really glad you asked this! Once you get you obtain a shell with a set bonus on, you effectively never need to get it again. Nothing changes depending on when it drops, the set bonus is just as good at iRating 288 as it would be at iRating 306.

 

Amplifiers rolls (and their max potential) are not impacted at all.

 

Ultimately what this means is, you get a setbonus item you love and a decent amplifier? Great. Check that box and lets move on. If the amp isn't so hot? Reroll it a couple of times until it is just right.

 

Part of the whole intent with this system is that you never feel that "The same thing again, just higher rating". When it comes to set bonuses.

 

To that point we're going to mitigate the chance you get a duplicate set bonus item.

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Question - “Will all loot become personal, including in operations? If so, will we be able to trade items with guildies who need them more?”

 

Answer -

Good question. The majority of loot will be personal. And for those not aware, personal loot means the treasure system has looked at you, evaluated your current character's potential, had a cup of tea and then provided you with an item. To that end, personal loot is *not* tradable with other players as the item itself was meant for you.

 

In addition, regular group wide loot will also drop from time to time depending on the content.

 

As you asked specifically about Operations: Each boss will drop at least one personal loot item for you. This is the item that cannot be traded with other players. At the same time the boss will drop group loot that can be needed / greeded among all Operation participants.

 

Question - “Hi guys! Thanks for doing this. Can you explain a bit more about gear drops in Operations? Currently, if you kill a boss you get a specific drop (with the exception of the Queen), both in terms of gear slot and tier (eg – 242 Boots). With the new system, it sounds like Ops bosses will still drop gear, but I’m not clear on how it will work. Will the gear drops still be:

  • Slot specific, or random?

  • Tier specific, or based on the power level of the toon that picks it up?

  • Class/Discipline specific?

  • Still just one (or in some cases two) drops per boss kill, or one for everyone?

Thanks again!”

 

Answer -

Allow me to bring the some clarity!

 

Operation bosses will drop both slot specific and random loot. For example:

  • Group loot will be rolling very specific slots (primarily for ease of setbonus / tactical acquisition)

  • Personal loot for each player that is more random in nature. This personal loot will evaluate your discipline and your item rating.

 

Both group loot and personal grants happen at the same time. This means that every player walks away from the encounter with at least one piece of equipment and whoever wins the group loot gets additional pieces.

 

Operation bosses will also drop the sole new currency of the expansion which will go toward the new vendors.

 

To answer Ollmich's question, the intent is that harder difficulties have better payoff but we'll into more detail how we aim to achieve this in the future.

 

I'm in full agreement with Reapov that Operation Weeklies need some love. And we may end up redoing this concept in 6.0 to provide incentive and payoff.

 

Question - "1. What happens to existing cosmetic shells and Crafting Schematics in Command Crates? Will these be made attainable elsewhere? Purchasable via Command Tokens and/or allow Reverse Engineering to learn how to craft items (especially the cosmetic items)?

2. Reverse Engineering being a bigger part of the upcoming gearing, will we see it usable on older gear? Breaking down gear that we normally couldn't (and learning schematics)? Something I've missed about crafting and gearing, learning those recipes to make stuff.

3. How will the legacy storage for crafting materials be organized and will there be a 'Deposit all crafting items to storage' button?

 

P.S. Would love to see some improvements to the crafting UI (having a learned tab, unlearned tab (including where to find those recipes) - yes, totally stolen from WoW, but iteration on things others have done is what WoW does. :p So, let's get SWTOR adapting more!)”

 

Answer -

Noice. Been looking forward to this question.

 

First, yes all cosmetics and schematics currently coming from Command Crates will be moved to a vendor so that these can still be acquired.

 

RE: Reverse Engineering older items. Right now we're discussing what we do here. Part of our PTS Phases will be dedicated to Crafting so we'll be looking for feedback and ultimately you may help us make this decision.

 

Legacy storage is exceptionally exciting to me and of course, there's a quick deposit all button.

 

We also would love to overhaul the Crafting UI, this isn't something we're going to get to in 6.0 but it's high on our list.

 

Question - “What will be the base gear rating at the beginning of Onslaught? Also will all of the new gear be Bind on Legacy?”

 

Answer -

We're still deciding exactly where the item rating will start and end in Onslaught. The intent is that every new item in 6.0 will be bound to legacy.

 

Question - “In 6.0, will there be new crafting mats introduced, or will we be using the same grade 10 mats?

Are the special mats that drop from MM Gods going to be used in any of the new schematics?”

 

Answer -

As with all expansions, it's a time where we can level the playing field for everyone going forward. Same deal with Crafting materials and as a result we will be introducing Grade 11 materials.

 

Just to highlight why transitioning away from previous grades are important as we add new gear: The lifetime that grade 10 has been the top dog massively surpasses all other materials. We did an analysis last week and we found accounts with more than 100,000 of every grade 10 material. (and before you asked, we checked. They aren't bots).

 

If we didn't transition away from this, it would allow players with these surplus materials to completely control the market uncontested and we're sensitive to the economy.

 

Question - “With Galactic Command becoming Galactic Renown, what will happen to the "Commanding Legacy" Legacy-Wide Unlock, and the Improved Command Experience I-V Character Perks? I know that the various Command Rank 300 achievements are being moved to Feats of Strength, but I didn't hear anything about that Legacy/Character Unlocks. Also, if we have a lot of the Command Boosts saved up, what will happen to those when Onslaught is released? Will they be converted to credits, or changed to a new boost?”

 

Answer -

Good call out here, here's where we are at:

  • Character Command Perks are converted into Renown Perks

  • Commanding Legacy: This is being converted to a permanent 25% boost to Renown Point for ALL ranks. It's losing it's stacking effect but now applies to every rank instead of stopping at the most valuable one (300).

  • Any Command Boost Consumables will be converted to apply to Renown.

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Question - “Will there be gear pieces that can be used in multiple set bonuses? Will relics, earpieces, implants have set bonuses on them?”

 

Answer -

Am I understanding the question correctly? Will there be a single item that grants credit to multiple different set bonuses?: No, currently we have no plans to do that.

 

Knowing that the paradigm is shifting quite a lot with this update we will start 6.0 by keeping Set bonuses on the items we already expect (Head, Chest, Gloves, Waist, Wrists, Legs, Boots). We've got our eyes on opening this up to other slots but only after thorough analysis of where we are at before we consider additional complexities.

 

 

Question - "1. If the new gearing system is a success and overly loved by the community does the bioware team have it in their interest to, over the course of after the expansion plan to add more set bonus/tactical items as new content comes out IE: Flashpoint/operations/ new pvp game modes

2. Will there be a new set of Augments to come with the new gear changes (Item level increase?)

3. Will there be PvP set bonuses and PvE set bonuses?”

 

 

Answer -

This is a good shout! it occurred to me we haven't been explicit in our support plans after 6.0. New Tacticals / Setbonuses being added post Launch is absolutely the goal.

 

We are leaning away from adding post launch vertical progression (the iRating climb) and instead focusing our efforts in the horizontal (Sets, Tacticals) aspect. This'll open up more interesting interactions and allow us to create more thematic rewards for new content.

 

There are new augments coming in 6.0 to go along with the new item ratings.

 

As for PvE / PvP Specific bonuses, right now there's bonuses that may be more beneficial to one content type than the other but there's no exclusivity or limiting of them.

 

Coming out of PTS we'll analyze if any changes need to be made here.

 

 

Question - “Will we see the same stat-point inflation in Spoils of War that we currently have with 258 gear (and if so will operations be re-balanced around it) or should we expect stats to be closer to how they were in 242/248 (in effect, not raw amount).

 

Second, what effect will these changes have on high-alacrity builds that are currently possible due to these inflated stat pools? Will they only be viable on classes with alacrity bonuses, or will we see set bonuses/tactical items/amplifiers that will allow them to run effectively.

 

Third, will alacrity be "fixed" in Sow and round to the nearest hundredth, or are we stuck with the disparate alacrity breakpoints?

 

Thanks!”

 

Answer -

The inflation and raw stat powercreep that came with 252 and 258 gear is something we want to lean away from. These ratings pushed the player far past where NPC's expected the player to be which had knock-on effects across the game.

 

You can expect iRating evaluation to be similar in effect to the 242/248's. Amplifiers, Tacticals and Set Bonuses are intended make up the difference both from a stylistic view and a min-maxing standpoint.

 

As Musco calls out we're intending to make improvements to Alacrity and we'll talk more about that in the near future.

 

Question - “What will happen to CXP packs? Will CXP boost consumables still be a thing? If so, will they be refreshable (the current ones aren’t, which often leads to them falling off at the worst of times). Will XP boost consumables impact Renown gain? More generally, how will all of the various boosts interact?”

 

Answer -

  • CXP Packs: Use these before 6.0! CXP Consumables will be going away. This delivery mechanism was a byproduct of the original CXP 5.0 launch that we weren't able to move away from. In 6.0 CXP (Renown) will be generated via content rewards, not consumables.

      • CXP Boosts: Rebranded to Renown Boosts. Everything they currently do stays intact in the new system. I'll try to get some eyes on the refresh-able issue and see what we can do here.

  • XP Boosts: Will impact Renown gain! Let me explain a little how this works below:

 

A portion of all Experience Points gained is converted into Renown Points. Any increases to experience points increases this. This Experience conversion is on top of the existing Renown Points. (Think of the XP conversion as a bonus on the existing values).

 

A renown boost will effect ALL renown gains. This means there's a world where an XP and Renown boost work together, if that's your thing!

 

Question - “What about existing command crates? What will happen with them? Also, the command tokens in your command stash? Will they convert into credits with the expansion or be lost?”

 

Answer -

Command Crates will stay as they are (Minus the CXP Consumable and Command Tokens). These crates will not scale with you and are still level 70.

 

 

Question - “Since the levels for Renown will all be equally good, does that mean the RXP it takes to get from level to level will remain static as well? (hopefully)”

 

Answer -

Yes, each level is static. There's no increase in Renown required when leveling up.

 

Question - “Since all new gear is no-legacy bound, would I be correct to assume that I will not be able to sell or buy it from GTN anymore?”

 

Answer -

Let me clarify this:

  • Anything that is currently dropping as Bind on Pickup will now be Bound To Legacy.

  • Anything that is currently dropping as Bind on Equip (Primarily crafted items) is now Bind on Legacy on Equip (BOLOE)
    This means anything you could have sold before, you still can do so. It just now has a legacy component once it is equipped.

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This is the best information distribution I've seen in the history of this game. I've never seen so many direct and clear answers provided. I actually like the vast majority of the answers for my playstyle, but would still equally be praising the clarity even if I didn't like how the answers would affect me.

 

Thank you for providing this information.

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Hi Daniel and Eric,

Thank you both for providing this information. It has been of great assistence to myself in helping me to understand the changes that are coming, but there are a couple things about which I was hoping to get some clarification.

 

Above, it was stated that Renown is at max level, but in another answer directed to the individual who is returning from a long break it was stated that they will be able to acquire gear "relevant to your character from drops, crates, vendors, and Missions" (someone returning from a long break may very well not be at the current max level), then later, when speaking to the interaction of XP and RXP boosts, and when taken together with what was stated during the stream, it gave the impression that one will be able to earn RXP prior to max level. The Renown system as described is that it will be a measure of one's play time, certain language was used about cantinas and bragging rights, and it will reset periodically. All things taken together give the impression that RXP will not be restricted to max level like the current CXP system, but it was specifically stated above that Renown is at max level. Can we get clarification on this. At what level does one begin to accrue Renown XP? Is it at level 1, which would make sense if it is going to be a measure of play time as stated in the stream? Is it at level 75, which means that current max level, level 70 characters, will not be able to earn Renown on day one of 6.0? Or will the Renown system be restricted to level 70+ characters so current max level characters will be able to begin working on Renown on day one?

 

Another question I have is regarding gear drops and the new currency. It was stated that personal drops will be for everyone participating in the content and implied that personal gear drops will be occurring in Flashpoints. At present it is possible for a level 70 to run a Vet FP with lower level characters. So, does that mean that the new gearing system will be across the board and apply to everyone from level 1 to 75? It was stated that personal conquest rewards will provide gear, and it is certainly possible for a sub-max level character to complete their personal conquest, which makes me wonder if the new gearing paradigm will apply to characters who are below max level. Additionally, will they be able to deconstruct the gear they receive and acquire the new currency or will that system be restricted to a higher level, level 70 or 75?

 

Thank you for the time you took to interact with the community and disseminate this information, and thank you in advance for your consideration of my above queries.

Edited by ceryxp
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Thanks for posting this. Just finished reading it.

 

Some parts have me optimistic, others have me concerned. Some of this will have to wait until it's actually in the game(or PTS) to truly know whether it's good or bad.

 

But I really want to stress how much better I think amplifiers would be if they could be manually applied somehow. Randomizing gear in this fashion and having to reroll it with credits doesn't sound appealing to me at all.

 

Switching specs or sending gear to alts means you'd often have to reroll yet again to max out performance each time. Is the whole point just to be a giant credits sink? You can say it's "optional", but no one wants to feel like their character is lagging in potential, least of all players taking on the hardest content and certainly not PvPers.

 

Also, based on how tacticals are going to be affecting abilities, having them all be roughly the "same power level" just doesn't seem possible. BiS tacticals will probably vary based on the situation one needs them for(AoE, single-target DPS, etc.), and it seems inevitable that 1-2 will rise above the rest in consistently performing the best for that situation.

 

So again, it's the same issue with WoW's legendary system in Legion. With no reliable way to target the specific tactical you want, it presents the same frustration. This isn't even exclusive to players aiming for max performance. The same issue would be present for players just trying to find the tactical that suits their playstyle. It seems some bosses will drop some specific tacticals though at least, which is nice.

 

Overall, a lot of these new(and borrowed) ideas sound great, but how they are actually applied in-game is going to be what defines them. The more these features are determined by RNG, the less attractive they become.

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Thanks for transcribing that for us Dan and a big thank you to Eric and Co for the AMA.

 

The questions and answers were a great idea (I hope this is done more in the future).

 

They answered lots of things, but the answers have also created some more questions and one I didn’t get the opportunity to ask for the AMA.

1. With the amount of new legacy gear, will you be expanding or increasing the size of our storage (besides the mats storage). ie, will you be increasing the amount of tabs for cargo and legacy cargo holds or will you be increasing the number of slots in each tab?

If not, is this something planned for the future? (Im already over maxed and using 31 Alts Cargo holds and 13 guild tabs for personal storage).

Edited by TrixxieTriss
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Question - "With everything becoming bind to legacy, where are we at with weapons in Outfit Designer?"

 

Answer -

For Weapons in Outfitter, we're still in the same place we were, unfortunately - it's near the top of our priorities, but hasn't made it to the sweet spot of priority-vs-effort to make it in yet. But with gearing hopefully in a much better place with 6.0, maybe it can finally hit the top of the list :-)

 

Also, just for clarification, we aren't planning to put amplifiers on weapon shells until we implement weapons in outfitter.

Do I read this as implying that y'all plan to bind a weapon-set to each Outfit slot? Please don't do it that way. Please have the weapon slots be selectable independently of the outfit slots, because my weapons are not part of my outfits.

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Part of the whole intent with this system is that you never feel that "The same thing again, just higher rating". When it comes to set bonuses.

 

You probably don't know this, but you just seriously showed how short sighted WoW devs are. That is exactly the big problem with their Azerite system. Advantage, SWTOR devs. ;)

That statement made me really happy.

 

This whole system is looking amazing, especially the bad luck protection.

Edited by Nemmar
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WoW that's an impressive number of questions and answers.

 

Do still have two concerns, along with a felling of disappointment that you are once again making already obtained materials, coms, gear etc worthless and either offering a few credits probably less than if you had received a credit payout from the mission than the now worthless gear or to be dropped into our new ESO crafting bag never to be seen again, or in fact just take up storage space while you wonder why you bothered getting it in the first place.

 

However the concerns:

 

1) You will never be able to balance all these tactical and sets if they make any real difference, so you will create a system where there is a must have and this will probably be the piece you stick behind NiM or Ranked PvP; because despite few people playing it and it not being cost effective you keep trying to find enough of a carrot to get people to play NiM and ranked PvP. As Others have said many many times in other threads, this is a game its meant to be fun, if the only way you can get people to play certain content is to make the reward a must have then you are missing the point that what you are trying to get people to play is not fun in and of itself. But ultimately creating an elitist system between the haves and the have nots and the link your gear in chat so we can make sure you can join our group.

 

2) While claiming that its play your way, Matt and if the combat dev ever came back from leave will make no effort to balance content for all tactical and set bonuses and assume that everyone will have the best set bonus. So I see Matt trying to explain to the last Pug group how to overcome a boss fight:

 

Matt: At this point your assassin has to use his shroud ability on himself and the healer to survive the attack.

Assassin: But I don't have that ability, its locked behind NiM ops or 15 weeks of grinding Charles Points, so I'll never get it. I took the Marauder saber throw ability cause I liked it and it looked cool.

Matt: ***, Marauders suck you don't want that, you need the Assassin Shroud ability, this fight is all designed around that ability.

Assassin: But I don't have it. I thought we could play our way and mix and match based on our play style and what we thought was cool.

Matt: Idiot. Okay the rest of you need to vote to kill this noob, put him on your ignore list so he doesn't waste your time and find an assassin with the right set bonus. Now on to the healers, they need the NIM set bonus….

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Hello everyone!

 

Answer - Let me offer some explanation around how we avoid this for tacticals.

 

  • All tactical items are on the same power level, they are meant to be horizontal progression. Although we know that some will inevitably pop up as the "desired" tacticals, they should all be roughly equal.

  • We have built in "bad luck prevention". As you get drops that aren't a tactical, the game will increase your chance of getting one.

  • We also have duplicate protection for tacticals so that once you get a tactical, we lower your odds of getting it again provided it is in your inventory/equipped (since you only need it once).

 

Also, pepperoni.

 

 

When you say in inventory you mean actual inventory or can the system check for what you have in storage as well? I obviously only will have one tactical equipped and I don't want to run around with an inventory full of tacticals if I am trying to get a specific one and avoid duplicates.

Edited by Kaze-Yama
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So, fully acknowledge that currencies have gotten out of hand as of late. Historically, currency was used to gauge participation in specific content. However, we should be much more diligent about how many unique currencies are active at one time. For reputation areas I'd like us to lean away from unique's and rely more on the Reputation requirement and a simple Credit transaction.

 

Currencies planned for deprecation (Credit conversion):

Unassembled Components

Command Tokens

Masterwork Crystals

Monumental Crystals

Alliance Recon Data

 

For the existing reputation currencies we'll be moving them to a new category on the currency window so they aren't competing for "End Game" Status.

How will the above change Ossus where the gearing for some players is dependent on Unassembled Components and Masterwork Crystals? Will everything just be available for credits off a vendor there in Onslaught?

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How will the above change Ossus where the gearing for some players is dependent on Unassembled Components and Masterwork Crystals? Will everything just be available for credits off a vendor there in Onslaught?

 

^ I second this question. Although we do have Ossus relics, so maybe that will be how? Relics and credits.

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WoW that's an impressive number of questions and answers.

 

Do still have two concerns, along with a felling of disappointment that you are once again making already obtained materials, coms, gear etc worthless and either offering a few credits probably less than if you had received a credit payout from the mission than the now worthless gear or to be dropped into our new ESO crafting bag never to be seen again, or in fact just take up storage space while you wonder why you bothered getting it in the first place.

 

However the concerns:

 

1) You will never be able to balance all these tactical and sets if they make any real difference, so you will create a system where there is a must have and this will probably be the piece you stick behind NiM or Ranked PvP; because despite few people playing it and it not being cost effective you keep trying to find enough of a carrot to get people to play NiM and ranked PvP. As Others have said many many times in other threads, this is a game its meant to be fun, if the only way you can get people to play certain content is to make the reward a must have then you are missing the point that what you are trying to get people to play is not fun in and of itself. But ultimately creating an elitist system between the haves and the have nots and the link your gear in chat so we can make sure you can join our group.

 

2) While claiming that its play your way, Matt and if the combat dev ever came back from leave will make no effort to balance content for all tactical and set bonuses and assume that everyone will have the best set bonus. So I see Matt trying to explain to the last Pug group how to overcome a boss fight:

 

Matt: At this point your assassin has to use his shroud ability on himself and the healer to survive the attack.

Assassin: But I don't have that ability, its locked behind NiM ops or 15 weeks of grinding Charles Points, so I'll never get it. I took the Marauder saber throw ability cause I liked it and it looked cool.

Matt: ***, Marauders suck you don't want that, you need the Assassin Shroud ability, this fight is all designed around that ability.

Assassin: But I don't have it. I thought we could play our way and mix and match based on our play style and what we thought was cool.

Matt: Idiot. Okay the rest of you need to vote to kill this noob, put him on your ignore list so he doesn't waste your time and find an assassin with the right set bonus. Now on to the healers, they need the NIM set bonus….

 

LOL where is that conversation happens exactly? In story mode pug ops? 😂😂 It's so clear that you don't run ops at all. You can run 16sm with 8m and clear it by wearing nothing but main and off hands. That's the bar for sm, even for gods sm.

If you know the tactics for hm, really doesn't matter what you are wearing anyways.

 

If you are on a nim team, you shouldn't be making this conversation to begin with.

 

"This ability looks so cool so I want to play this" said no NiM player ever 😂

 

Be better, and play the hard content or grind and get that item. Those two option is pretty fair imo.

Edited by lord-angelus
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How will the above change Ossus where the gearing for some players is dependent on Unassembled Components and Masterwork Crystals? Will everything just be available for credits off a vendor there in Onslaught?

 

Correct, the current plan is players will be able to get that gear with credits (along with reputation requirements).

 

-eric

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How will the above change Ossus where the gearing for some players is dependent on Unassembled Components and Masterwork Crystals? Will everything just be available for credits off a vendor there in Onslaught?

Correct, the current plan is players will be able to get that gear with credits (along with reputation requirements).

 

-eric

/thumbs up - thanks for that Eric :)

 

p.s. we need a "thumbs up" emoji for the forums

Edited by Sarova
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Correct, the current plan is players will be able to get that gear with credits (along with reputation requirements).

 

-eric

 

So to be clear, there is no point in gearing up with the Ossus weekly and Vet Mode Queen etc because come 6.0 as long as I have the reputation and a handful of credits (I take it not many as we know the conversion of crystals to credits will be poor, so the conversion the other way will be just as low) I can buy current top tier gear?

 

Just want to make sure I got that right, cause I'm sure the people wondering if they should buy the crafted weapons will be interested to know before making the purchase. As it would appear the only new content that gear will have had any use before it is the basic starting gear for a newly minted level 70 (give or take the rep requirement) will be the limited time event?

 

So the grind for two tiers of new gear will be obsolete before any significant new content drops and before starting Onslaught people should just pop to Ossus pick up the gear and be in the same place as people that have been grinding out crystals and 50 ranked warzones or vet mode queen fights? Cause that doesn't seem to give much incentive for people to bother gearing up over the summer. Are we looking for this Summer of SWTOR as being the Summer of PST, as there is little reason and less content to jump into the live severs?

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So to be clear, there is no point in gearing up with the Ossus weekly and Vet Mode Queen etc because come 6.0 as long as I have the reputation and a handful of credits (I take it not many as we know the conversion of crystals to credits will be poor, so the conversion the other way will be just as low) I can buy current top tier gear?

 

Just want to make sure I got that right, cause I'm sure the people wondering if they should buy the crafted weapons will be interested to know before making the purchase. As it would appear the only new content that gear will have had any use before it is the basic starting gear for a newly minted level 70 (give or take the rep requirement) will be the limited time event?

 

So the grind for two tiers of new gear will be obsolete before any significant new content drops and before starting Onslaught people should just pop to Ossus pick up the gear and be in the same place as people that have been grinding out crystals and 50 ranked warzones or vet mode queen fights? Cause that doesn't seem to give much incentive for people to bother gearing up over the summer. Are we looking for this Summer of SWTOR as being the Summer of PST, as there is little reason and less content to jump into the live severs?

 

When 6.0 comes out, Ossus gear will no longer be top tier. What will be the point in spending credits on it? This is the way of MMOs, expansions come out, level caps get increased, current gear is obsolete.

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Thanks for the clarification

 

But when can we (non-subscribers) get to re-recruiting HK55 and do the "The Shroud of Memory" bonus chapter? Everyone want to do the mission in the forums for years! AND you could put it as an Cartel Market item like HK-51 Sector X.

 

Also, that Bound To Legacy GTN, will that affect to Cartel items too?

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Question - "So I'm someone who's played on an off since Beta (My CE Malgus is staring at the screen) and the latest break has been my longest yet.

 

So I'd like to know how this gearing system is going to affect me as a returning player? Is there some easy way to get caught up on how I'm supposed to gear for my old role? Are there systems which make it intuitive?"

 

 

Answer -

If you look at all the details of Spoils of War it seems pretty complex but I can simplify it quite a bit for you as a returning player.

 

When Onslaught launches make sure you are in the spec you want and then play whatever content you want. We will make sure you are getting gear relevant to your character from drops, crates, vendors, and Missions.

 

Play what you want, get stuff.

 

Question - "Will there be a new way of managing legacy armor?

 

I currently have about 7 sets of legacy armor for dozens of different characters and it takes a lot of my time pulling out the armor, putting it back in, and keeping all the sets organized.

 

I've spent hours and hours looking for missing pieces of legacy armor. Mistakes can be brutal."

 

Answer -

Our plan is to implement a type of "loadout" system where you can quickly switch between sets of user-defined gear without having to equip the pieces individually each time. To be honest, there's a good chance this will have to come in after 6.0, but it's absolutely a high priority for us for all the reasons stated here. As y'all have additional thoughts on the best ways for something like this to work, definitely keep sharing them!

 

 

Question - "With everything becoming bind to legacy, where are we at with weapons in Outfit Designer?"

 

Answer -

For Weapons in Outfitter, we're still in the same place we were, unfortunately - it's near the top of our priorities, but hasn't made it to the sweet spot of priority-vs-effort to make it in yet. But with gearing hopefully in a much better place with 6.0, maybe it can finally hit the top of the list :-)

 

Also, just for clarification, we aren't planning to put amplifiers on weapon shells until we implement weapons in outfitter.

 

Question - "Once we start acquiring amplifiers and tacticals, will there still be a reason to craft gear either for our main characters or our alts?"

 

Answer -

I think I understand what you're looking for here, but let me address this question from a few different angles and hopefully get the answer you're after :-)

  • Our overall goal is that you definitely have reasons to keep on crafting once your main is fully geared - whether that's to pursue different builds with set bonuses & tacticals, or to craft things for your alts as you called out.

  • For clarity, crafters will be able to create mods with amplifiers as well as tactical items; the exact spread of options is still being developed, and we'll look forward to y'alls feedback on that aspect.

  • With the legacy changes, crafting gear for your alts will be a great way to jumpstart their gearing.

  • We are also actively exploring the possibility of crafting-only tacticals.

 

Question - "Your testing schedule seems too short to accurately test all these new items wouldn't it be more effective to test more than one class at a time?"

 

Answer -

We agree! We don't plan to test all of the classes individually as we are the Inquisitor; our goal is to get a general baseline on one class + new abilities + new gear and make sure that's in alignment with both our expectations and y'alls; once that's done, we'll expand out to all other classes.

If you dont mind clarifying the gearing process. When loot is dropped, will it will take into account a players ACTIVE role/spec? Or will it come available to "open" after switching to the spec that a player is looking to gear up?

 

For example, if i want to gear up my tank/heal spec, but i only run content as a dps, will I ever acquire tank/heal gear?

Edited by olagatonjedi
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