Jump to content

Sorcerer, Assassin, and Level 80 Game Scaling on PTS!


JackieKo

Recommended Posts

  • Dev Post

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to our fourth phase of PTS featuring the Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles and level 80 game scaling. In case you missed it, we go through a bit of the philosophy behind the updates we’re making to Combat Styles in this article. As with the previous Combat Styles that have been released through PTS, we are still focused on streamlining ability sets in order to enable more player choice and maintain the unique identity of the class. All the constructive feedback we have been receiving from players who have dived into PTS has been helpful in identifying what experiences are crucial to players.

 

Alongside the Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles available for testing, the following will also be available for players to test:

 

  • Character copy will be available but support is limited to the Combat Styles already implemented in PTS (Guardian, Sentinel, Sniper, Operative, Sorcerer, and Assassin)
  • Level 80 will be available but limited.
  • There will be new packages that will boost players to level 80
  • Game scaling is available only for planets, daily areas, story mode Flashpoints, and chapters.
  • Game scaling is NOT available for old operations (Ops outside of 7.0), or Veteran and Master modes in Flashpoints
  • There will be vendors available that have 328 gear. They are located on each Fleet in front of the Spoils of War Vendor. There are a lot of items on these vendors, so please use the filters for your Discipline to easily navigate through them. Please note that there is a known issue associated with the filter labels.

 

Please keep in mind the following reminders:

  • Set bonuses are not enabled during this phase of PTS. Gear will still grant you their stats, but the set bonuses will not work.
  • Note the WIP markers on the UI.

 

How to access the PTS server and test out the new Combat Styles

  • First, ensure you are on the PTS server by following the steps here.
  • Though character copy is available for all the currently available Combat Styles, note that all PTS characters have been deleted in order to ensure 7.0 compatibility.

 

Steps for players NOT using character copy:

 

  • Create a new Sorcerer or Assassin
  • Walk outside of the cantina and you will see the PTS Fleet Transport Droid
  • Speak to the droid, and select yes to travel to the Fleet.
  • Head up to the main Fleet level
  • Go to the Combat section and then to the Agent subsection (4803,4536)
  • Talk to the CD-3 Combat Specializer Droid
  • Press K to select your Discipline and go through selecting your abilities/passives from the Ability Tree. (Please note the WIP markers)
  • Talk to all of the vendors to gear your character
  • Talk to the Onderon Dreams: Travel Agent Droid to travel to Onderon
  • Head to the Onderon Mission Board (-725, -291). Special Note: Speeder Piloting Level 3 is granted through this terminal.
  • Because you may not have a ship, there a droid next to the Onderon Mission Board that will teleport you back to the Fleet

If you are using character copy, head straight to the fleet, select your Discipline and gear accordingly.

 

Your feedback on the new Combat Styles and game scaling will help us determine if we are on the correct path to achieving our goals of making the class feel less encumbered and customization more concise. Please note that all feedback threads that have been created up until now have been compiled into one post for convenience. The entire list (including Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles) can be found here.

 

Game scaling feedback can be left here.

 

Lastly, the known issues list and changelog has been updated. See the post here for more details.

Edited by JackieKo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to our fourth phase of PTS featuring the Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles and level 80 game scaling. In case you missed it, we go through a bit of the philosophy behind the updates we’re making to Combat Styles in this article. As with the previous Combat Styles that have been released through PTS, we are still focused on streamlining ability sets in order to enable more player choice and maintain the unique identity of the class. All the constructive feedback we have been receiving from players who have dived into PTS has been helpful in identifying what experiences are crucial to players.

 

Alongside the Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles available for testing, the following will also be available for players to test:

 

  • Character copy will be available but support is limited to the Combat Styles already implemented in PTS (Guardian, Sentinel, Sniper, Operative, Sorcerer, and Assassin)
  • Level 80 will be available but limited.
  • There will be new packages that will boost players to level 80
  • Game scaling is available only for planets, daily areas, story mode Flashpoints, and chapters.
  • Game scaling is NOT available for old operations (Ops outside of 7.0), or Veteran and Master modes in Flashpoints
  • There will be vendors available that have 328 gear. They are located on each Fleet in front of the Spoils of War Vendor. There are a lot of items on these vendors, so please use the filters for your Discipline to easily navigate through them. Please note that there is a known issue associated with the filter labels.

 

Please keep in mind the following reminders:

  • Set bonuses are not enabled during this phase of PTS. Gear will still grant you their stats, but the set bonuses will not work.
  • Note the WIP markers on the UI.

 

How to access the PTS server and test out the new Combat Styles

  • First, ensure you are on the PTS server by following the steps here.
  • Though character copy is available for all the currently available Combat Styles, note that all PTS characters have been deleted in order to ensure 7.0 compatibility.

 

Steps for players NOT using character copy:

 

  • Create a new Sorcerer or Assassin
  • Walk outside of the cantina and you will see the PTS Fleet Transport Droid
  • Speak to the droid, and select yes to travel to the Fleet.
  • Head up to the main Fleet level
  • Go to the Combat section and then to the Agent subsection (4803,4536)
  • Talk to the CD-3 Combat Specializer Droid
  • Press K to select your Discipline and go through selecting your abilities/passives from the Ability Tree. (Please note the WIP markers)
  • Talk to all of the vendors to gear your character
  • Talk to the Onderon Dreams: Travel Agent Droid to travel to Onderon
  • Head to the Onderon Mission Board (-725, -291). Special Note: Speeder Piloting Level 3 is granted through this terminal.
  • Because you may not have a ship, there a droid next to the Onderon Mission Board that will teleport you back to the Fleet

If you are using character copy, head straight to the fleet, select your Discipline and gear accordingly.

 

Your feedback on the new Combat Styles and game scaling will help us determine if we are on the correct path to achieving our goals of making the class feel less encumbered and customization more concise. Please note that all feedback threads that have been created up until now have been compiled into one post for convenience. The entire list (including Sorcerer and Assassin Combat Styles) can be found here.

 

Game scaling feedback can be left here.

 

Lastly, the known issues list and changelog has been updated. See the post here for more details.

 

Hi Jackie,

 

Can we get a response please to the fact the expansion is launching in 2 months, and we're only now testing max level, without set bonuses and tacticals? Obviously, both of those things make a huge difference to our feedback, but we can't feedback what we can't test.

 

Can we also get some kind of incentive for player to test the PTS because currently unless paying customers are going out of their way to organise groups there is none.

 

TLDR can you make a PTS that's actually a PTS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • There will be vendors available that have 328 gear. They are located on each Fleet in front of the Spoils of War Vendor. There are a lot of items on these vendors, so please use the filters for your Discipline to easily navigate through them. Please note that there is a known issue associated with the filter labels.

 

 

Out of curiosity, is 328 going to be the new max gear rating? Or is that just the new baseline for lvl 80?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jackie,

 

Can we get a response please to the fact the expansion is launching in 2 months...

 

From where did you get the idea that 7.0 was launching in 2 months? Today is 15 September, 2 months from now is mid November. They said holidays 2021, which for everyone not in the US that means Christmas, so it is more like 3 months yet with a release somewhere around 14 December (21 December at the latest).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From where did you get the idea that 7.0 was launching in 2 months? Today is 15 September, 2 months from now is mid November. They said holidays 2021, which for everyone not in the US that means Christmas, so it is more like 3 months yet with a release somewhere around 14 December (21 December at the latest).

 

Holidays could also mean Thanksgiving and considering SWTOR usually takes an extended break (usually a month) from Dec-Jan it could be November so it is possible the person might be right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We really need more dev responses if this PTS is going to actually be useful. Outside of just the issues with gearing and the effect it has on balance that can't be replicated in testing currently, there's been a lot of feedback that's just been completely unanswered.

 

For example, and it's even harder to ignore this now with the addition of Sorcs and Assassins, Sentinels are still the only class without any form of dedicated hard stun. Sorcs and Assassins both have access to two dedicated stuns (2 baseline for Sorc, 1 baseline for Assassins. EDIT: Assassins are actually at 4, 2 baseline). Both Agent classes have to spec into their hardstun at early levels, but it's still there. Sentinels don't have one at all. Period. If there's some balance or design reason, it'd be nice to know what that actually is instead of just leaving us in the dark on why only one of the classes is completely without a hard stun. Are you going to actually rebalance all solo PVE encounters around the fact that one of the classes (and only one so far) no longer has a hard stun?

 

We can't effectively test and give you feedback if you don't give us even the slightest hint at what your design goals are specific to the classes at hand. Just slapping them on the PTS and maybe silently making changes is not good enough. We need more detailed design goals from the onset before we can effectively give you feedback. Again, maybe there's a reason why Sentinels have less abilities than the other classes and no access to any kind of hardstun, but we can't read your minds, Bioware. We don't know what those reasons are unless you tell us.

 

The communication for this PTS iteration, at least since Sentinels went up, has been unacceptable. These are massive, sweeping changes. We need to have more of a dialogue here so people can know what the intent is when stuff like the above is done or the quality of the feedback you get it is going to suffer. You absolutely cannot continue burying your heads in the sand when you get negative feedback.

Edited by The-Kaitou-Kid
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is probably not the place to post this, but I'm a newb who apparently can't find where to report issues not pertaining the game scaling for the PTS server.

 

A few issues I've found

1. Character portraits and the gear/outfit designer are warped - doesn't affect gameplay unless you have a bunch of rpers

2. Insulating blast appears as a new ability on your bar as opposed instead of as stacks when using thundering blast.

 

Still testing things out, but I love what's been done for both the Operative and Sorc healers so far!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Related to the question about Sentinels, when will Guardians be reassessed and reworked to deal with the fact the vast majority of feedback about it has expressed concerns about ability losses that are A) disproportionate to those of most other classes, B)Strip away much of the class's core identity- notably, the loss of saber reflect as well as utility and mobility are recurring issues in feedback?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My real big CONCERN is taking AWAY many abilities we've come to know and LOVE, with many of the standard Classes you used to get.

 

Adding flexibility of LOADOUT it's really NULLIFIED, or made worst, if we loose abilities we Loved for each class!

 

Even if they take even 10-20% of the former abilities we LOVED about each class! Then MOST would rather have it the OLD way, and create a NEW character if they want a different weapon! Maybe we're all panicking over nothing?

 

:rolleyes: yet almost very sad... sadly anything we say once we do, is always 2-3 months too late -- cause they never ask for feedback at the time they invest in decisions. :(

 

Anyways that's the thought of myself and several friends, and what I've heard from many...

Edited by Strathkin
Grammar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still don't understand why BW think there was a need to take skills away from us. Who asked for that?

 

I get it that it is difficult to balance between pvp and pve. But than make some tacticals PVE only if they are to powerful in pvp (e.g. Grit Teeth).

 

But there are also nightmare pve players. And of course some of the operations were possible without some newer skills. What I am seeing. BW is incompetent to balance the older OPs and so take away the skills to make it more difficult again.

 

It is so bad and I hope we will not lose a lot from this player base because I want this game to be played actively...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Balance/TK Raider -

 

Lightning feels exactly how it already does and whiles that's not "bad" since they're sitting in a great spot for DPS on most fights its still kinda disappointing that nothing major happened here. I'm not a fan that it feels like 2/3 of each talent pool after level 20 of Lightning and level 30 Madness are completely geared towards pvp only or make no sense as to why they're even there.

 

3 Lightning examples that come to mind

 

1. Lv30

Off Balance (Thundering Blast immobilizes targets for 2 seconds. This can occur once every 9 seconds.)

= Useless in PvE

Insulating Blast (Thundering Blast grants a stack of Insulating Blast that increases damage reduction by 4%. Stacks up to 3 times.)

= Useful in PvE

Dark Embrace (Thundering Blast deals bonus damage to stunned targets.)

= Useless in PvE

 

In PvE content you cant really make use of immobilization or extra damage on stunned units except for specific adds like the Charger in Dxun or droids in Gods. I understand having more situational talents but it just feels bad when you're building a spec, I'd rather have something actually interesting that changes how the class is played which seems to be how you're wanting to style these changes.

 

2. Lv50

 

Lightning Barrier (Your Static Barrier crackles with electricity, shocking attackers for energy damage when it absorbs direct damage to you. This effect does not affect Static Barriers placed on allies and cannot occur more than once each second.)

Sith Defiance (Increases damage reduction by 3%.)

Backlash (Static Barriers you place on yourself erupt in a flash of light when they end, blinding up to 8 nearby enemies for 3 seconds. This effect breaks from direct damage.)

 

I'm not going to bother stating what's useful and not useful in each content because its pretty obvious. What I'm concerned about is why we're losing 3% of our damage reduction for because the other two choices are beyond better. Its like it wasn't even considered what was thrown in here because you wanted 1 or 3 to be chosen depending on the content and that's disappointing as a theory crafter and active subscriber that we're getting a watered down talent tree. I'd rather you just make an actual talent tree again like 1.0 because those were at least extremely fun to spec out and you felt like you were rewarded for every level you gained.

 

3. Lv 70

Extrication

Volt Rush

Force Barrier

 

Why Why WHY are you making us choose between a situational save (the raids you NEED extradition you don't need force barrier for), a completely useless ability, and force barrier?? At a minimum at least make it so volt rush might be in contest for it?

 

All in all while I like the few actual changes for Lightning/Madness (not going to type out the balance part, its virtually the same) if we're going to get this illusion of choice situation I'd rather just have the old talent trees from v1.0. This is why games like FFXIV don't have choices in the first place, you clearly have a vision of how you want the classes played I just don't understand why you need to disillusion people with choices that effectively only make a character worse since theres one "obviously better" option of each 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...