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The Next PTS Patch and Future Changes


EricMusco

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Hey folks,

 

There is another PTS patch coming today that will make some additional changes to Spoils of War. Let’s talk about everything that is changing and why; I will also call out the portions that are in today’s patch vs what is coming later.

 

TLDR - Gear will now drop only for your current Discipline, random vendor will now always give upgrades (with proper targeting), and we are adding supplementary vendors that sell set bonus shells and tacticals for tech fragments.

 

Gear for My Main Only

As stated in my previous post we wanted to ensure that players had some capacity to gear off-stats or alts while playing. Your feedback has made it clear that getting gear drops that aren’t meant for your current character is frustrating, so we are changing it. But, we also want to give you the choice to get alternate gear as well. Here is what is changing on this front:

  • All personal loot will now look only at your Discipline.
  • All group loot only looks at base/Advanced Classes.
    • This is in today’s patch.

    [*]We are going to implement a toggle on your character portrait which will allow you to select what Discipline you want that gear to drop for.

    • Ex: You’re playing on your Operative as Concealment, but you really want to focus on getting Medicine. You can switch your toggle to Medicine and you will receive that Discipline’s gear instead of Concealment.
    • This will be in a future PTS patch.

 

Random Tech Fragment Vendor and Vertical Progression

The random Tech Fragment vendor’s intention was to be a supplementary way to get gear that would help protect you from a streak of bad luck. Since this vendor is also random it is leading to frustration where you use the vendor seeking an upgrade, and instead it is either for the wrong spec or too low of an item rating. We’ve addressed the gearing issue above, so let’s discuss receiving a lower rated item: Here is what is changing:

  • Any item purchased from this vendor will now always be of a higher item rating than your character’s currently equipped item rating (this is not by slot, but the average displayed on your character sheet).
  • This means the best use of this vendor is to spend fragments on whichever item slot has your current lowest item rating gear. This would effectively guarantee an item rating increase for that slot (unless it is at max item rating, of course). For example: if your currently-equipped boots are item rating 270 and your character’s average item rating is 274, and you buy new boots from this vendor, those new boots are going to be above item rating 274.

 

Just to reiterate, the ‘random’ vendor is intended to be a mechanism to help address “vertical” progression (meaning your path from the start of level 75 to max item rating). To address concerns about horizontal progression, such as getting the exact sets or tacticals you want, read on...

 

Working Towards Specific Drops, Not Random

Although the underlying system of Spoils of War is there, it is clear that there needs to be a mechanism to work towards getting the exact item(s) you want. Our intention is that this type of system would need to be supplementary, but the current solutions we have in place are not enough.

 

I want to add some clarity to a system that is already in place to assist with this. Each content type will drop specific gear types, depending on difficulty. Example: the final boss of Master Mode Flashpoints have a 100% chance to drop from a pool of mostly tactical items and some set bonuses for the group. They don’t only drop in Flashpoints, but if you are targeting a specific type of drop, you can hone in on it by running specific content. To be clear, Daily Areas, Conquest, Flashpoint, Operations, Reputation Vendors, Crafting, and PvP all will have these focused loot drops. Now, we may need to focus this more so that you have more control over drops, so please keep the feedback coming on that front. Also as a reminder, these are just bonus drops in addition to all of the personal loot you will get which can also contain any set and tactical item.

 

Let’s talk about what is coming next. We are going to add vendors to the game that will sell all set items and tacticals for Tech Fragments. This is not meant to be a primary source of acquiring the gear but it will ensure you can get exactly what you want over time. Since this is meant to be supplementary, expect higher pricing on it.

 

Kai Zykken will remain in-game as a vendor with his current functionality. His purpose will now be to have a random selection of items that will be at a reduced price from what is on the standard vendors. This still gives you a compelling reason to check his wares every week as you might be able to get exactly what you want, but at a reduced rate from what you would normally pay.

 

Since these vendors were not available in the initial implementation of the vendors and Tech Fragments, expect when they are implemented in a future PTS patch there will likely be a shakeup in Tech Fragments acquisition / costs. Again, this is not in today’s patch.

 

Thanks all! As always, this is not a comprehensive list of everything we are tracking and working on, so look for additional information as PTS progresses and keep your feedback coming!

 

-eric

 

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Hey folks,

 

There is another PTS patch coming today that will make some additional changes to Spoils of War. Let’s talk about everything that is changing and why; I will also call out the portions that are in today’s patch vs what is coming later.

 

TLDR - Gear will now drop only for your current Discipline, random vendor will now always give upgrades (with proper targeting), and we are adding supplementary vendors that sell set bonus shells and tacticals for tech fragments.

 

Gear for My Main Only

As stated in my previous post we wanted to ensure that players had some capacity to gear off-stats or alts while playing. Your feedback has made it clear that getting gear drops that aren’t meant for your current character is frustrating, so we are changing it. But, we also want to give you the choice to get alternate gear as well. Here is what is changing on this front:

  • All personal loot will now look only at your Discipline.
  • All group loot only looks at base/Advanced Classes.
    • This is in today’s patch.

    [*]We are going to implement a toggle on your character portrait which will allow you to select what Discipline you want that gear to drop for.

    • Ex: You’re playing on your Operative as Concealment, but you really want to focus on getting Medicine. You can switch your toggle to Medicine and you will receive that Discipline’s gear instead of Concealment.
    • This will be in a future PTS patch.

 

Random Tech Fragment Vendor and Vertical Progression

The random Tech Fragment vendor’s intention was to be a supplementary way to get gear that would help protect you from a streak of bad luck. Since this vendor is also random it is leading to frustration where you use the vendor seeking an upgrade, and instead it is either for the wrong spec or too low of an item rating. We’ve addressed the gearing issue above, so let’s discuss receiving a lower rated item: Here is what is changing:

  • Any item purchased from this vendor will now always be of a higher item rating than your character’s currently equipped item rating (this is not by slot, but the average displayed on your character sheet).
  • This means the best use of this vendor is to spend fragments on whichever item slot has your current lowest item rating gear. This would effectively guarantee an item rating increase for that slot (unless it is at max item rating, of course). For example: if your currently-equipped boots are item rating 270 and your character’s average item rating is 274, and you buy new boots from this vendor, those new boots are going to be above item rating 274.

 

Just to reiterate, the ‘random’ vendor is intended to be a mechanism to help address “vertical” progression (meaning your path from the start of level 75 to max item rating). To address concerns about horizontal progression, such as getting the exact sets or tacticals you want, read on...

 

Working Towards Specific Drops, Not Random

Although the underlying system of Spoils of War is there, it is clear that there needs to be a mechanism to work towards getting the exact item(s) you want. Our intention is that this type of system would need to be supplementary, but the current solutions we have in place are not enough.

 

I want to add some clarity to a system that is already in place to assist with this. Each content type will drop specific gear types, depending on difficulty. Example: the final boss of Master Mode Flashpoints have a 100% chance to drop from a pool of mostly tactical items and some set bonuses for the group. They don’t only drop in Flashpoints, but if you are targeting a specific type of drop, you can hone in on it by running specific content. To be clear, Daily Areas, Conquest, Flashpoint, Operations, Reputation Vendors, Crafting, and PvP all will have these focused loot drops. Now, we may need to focus this more so that you have more control over drops, so please keep the feedback coming on that front. Also as a reminder, these are just bonus drops in addition to all of the personal loot you will get which can also contain any set and tactical item.

 

Let’s talk about what is coming next. We are going to add vendors to the game that will sell all set items and tacticals for Tech Fragments. This is not meant to be a primary source of acquiring the gear but it will ensure you can get exactly what you want over time. Since this is meant to be supplementary, expect higher pricing on it.

 

Kai Zykken will remain in-game as a vendor with his current functionality. His purpose will now be to have a random selection of items that will be at a reduced price from what is on the standard vendors. This still gives you a compelling reason to check his wares every week as you might be able to get exactly what you want, but at a reduced rate from what you would normally pay.

 

Since these vendors were not available in the initial implementation of the vendors and Tech Fragments, expect when they are implemented in a future PTS patch there will likely be a shakeup in Tech Fragments acquisition / costs. Again, this is not in today’s patch.

 

Thanks all! As always, this is not a comprehensive list of everything we are tracking and working on, so look for additional information as PTS progresses and keep your feedback coming!

 

-eric

 

 

Ihonestly think this is all a really good step in the right direction! implement it correctly and it should work.

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Eric, thank you for these changes and thank you for posting them. This communication is amazing and it's highly appreciated.

 

THANK YOU. Just, thank you for listening to the cries of No RNG. It's not perfect, but it's so much better than the first iterations. Something I would like to bring attention to is that the tech fragments, being a legacy currency, is too low at 3k max. Also, the amount of tech fragments dropping in master mode flashpoints felt very low.

 

I cannot really give detailed thoughts without trying the PTS, but do expect another post on this thread regarding the gear acquisition changes when this goes live.

 

But, once again, THANK YOU.

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Big step in the right direction for you to acknowledge and address the "vertical progression" that we really don't want to be the primary element.

 

I am excited to hear about the additional changes you plan to make as we move into phase 3 related to the "horizontal progression" that got us hyped for 6.0 in the first place, set mixing, amps, etc

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THANK YOU!!!

 

That is really a BIG step in the right direction for 6.0. In terms of general gearing will probably solve most if not all of the rng issues. Looking forward to test it.

 

Please don't forget to also increase the 3k cap on tech fragments. That is a really low number. Command tokens had the same cap what we only have cheaper things to spend on and also we could keep large amounts in stash before claming. With tech fragments having all more expensive things, we really need to be able to have more.

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Thank you all so much for listening to and acting on our frustrations with the PTS gearing system. The changes listed here will go a long way in helping us to gear our characters in 6.0

 

Gear for My Main Only

As stated in my previous post we wanted to ensure that players had some capacity to gear off-stats or alts while playing. Your feedback has made it clear that getting gear drops that aren’t meant for your current character is frustrating, so we are changing it. But, we also want to give you the choice to get alternate gear as well. Here is what is changing on this front:

  • All personal loot will now look only at your Discipline.
  • All group loot only looks at base/Advanced Classes.
    • This is in today’s patch.

    [*]We are going to implement a toggle on your character portrait which will allow you to select what Discipline you want that gear to drop for.

    • Ex: You’re playing on your Operative as Concealment, but you really want to focus on getting Medicine. You can switch your toggle to Medicine and you will receive that Discipline’s gear instead of Concealment.
    • This will be in a future PTS patch.

 

 

Adding this toggle to the character portrait is going to be, quite possibly, the best change coming in 6.0 for the gearing system. With 5.0 I would queue up as a Tank/Healer for faster Queue pops and run a bunch of flashpoints to stock up on Crates/CXP packs and then switch to a DPS discipline to open it all to gear up that discipline (or vice versa on the rare occasion DPS was more in need, or doing Solo content). So having this option will make it easier to gear up an off-discipline with out any "Oopsies" involved. I love this addition and think it's a much better choice than the previous setup with % chance of dropping off spec pieces. So huge thumbs up from me :D .

Edited by orangenkaiser
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Woah, they actually listened.

 

Thank you for taking into consideration what players were saying and actually moving the gearing system into a good direction. The system as it was earlier this week definitely put a downer on myself and my guildmates in regards to our anticipation for the upcoming expansion, but these changes will definitely make me excited to see how everything rolls out when 6.0 is dropped.

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This is definitely a step in the right direction. I do think, however, that the big thing that needs to be addressed is the amplifier system. Personally, I think that there should not be the amplifier system. It makes everything so much more needlessly complex than it has to be. But this is good. Remove the RNG, please. Don't be like Battlefront 2, which is what I was worried that this game was headed towards with the Spoils of War system.
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@Eric what about people not being able to loot items that don't fit the current class they are playing because ninja looting is a pain so if your on a Sniper and lets say a tactical drops for a sniper but a Sorc needs on it maybe a blocking system would work nice if they want items for a sniper then they should play on a sniper.
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Eric, thank you for these changes and thank you for posting them. This communication is amazing and it's highly appreciated.

 

THANK YOU. Just, thank you for listening to the cries of No RNG. It's not perfect, but it's so much better than the first iterations. Something I would like to bring attention to is that the tech fragments, being a legacy currency, is too low at 3k max. Also, the amount of tech fragments dropping in master mode flashpoints felt very low.

 

I cannot really give detailed thoughts without trying the PTS, but do expect another post on this thread regarding the gear acquisition changes when this goes live.

 

But, once again, THANK YOU.

 

I agree with the fact the cap for Tech Fragments is WAY TO LOW. Being a legacy currency it needs to be at least 10k-20k so we can save them up for alts or set pieces as needed.

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It occurs to me to suggest that they've heard all the cries of "No RNG for gearing" and given us "Less RNG" and "Directed RNG", neither of which are "*No* RNG".

 

I'd really like for the Renown crates to never, ever do either of these things:

* Be empty.

* Contain one object, an empty green shell.

 

And before you say it, no, I'm not kidding. I saw both of these things the other day.

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It occurs to me to suggest that they've heard all the cries of "No RNG for gearing" and given us "Less RNG" and "Directed RNG", neither of which are "*No* RNG".

 

I'd really like for the Renown crates to never, ever do either of these things:

* Be empty.

* Contain one object, an empty green shell.

 

And before you say it, no, I'm not kidding. I saw both of these things the other day.

 

Yep, I saw that empty renown crate and the empty green shell renown reward myself too. Multiple times on my 6 hours of testing the other day. Great feedback, thanks for bringing that up!

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It occurs to me to suggest that they've heard all the cries of "No RNG for gearing" and given us "Less RNG" and "Directed RNG", neither of which are "*No* RNG".

 

I'd really like for the Renown crates to never, ever do either of these things:

* Be empty.

* Contain one object, an empty green shell.

 

And before you say it, no, I'm not kidding. I saw both of these things the other day.

 

Yea this is completely true and definitely needs to be pushed.

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thanks Musco.

 

Can we get some clarity as to "personal loot" vs "group loot"? From the few times you've mentioned it, it sounds like if our group kills an FP or Ops non-final boss, that the loot will be "personal loot".

 

Does that mean I don't have to roll on it and it automatically goes into my vault? Or does that mean everyone can still roll on that item? Does that mean everyone in the group gets "personal loot" per boss or will only one person in the group get "personal loot" per boss?

 

From what I saw in VM Hammer Station and SM Karagga's Palace, nothing has changed and that everyone could still roll on all the loot for all the bosses.

 

- vicadin

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While it is good to see that you are looking at the overwhelming feedback on this and making changes it still makes me ask.

 

If the vast majority of the community is against RNG as the primary means of progression, and it has already proven to be a disaster in previous expansions, why is the the staff at SWTOR so determined to continue using a system that is disliked by, and has cost them, thousands of players?

 

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

 

It appears that the developers are stuck in this loop. RNG didn't work before so lets do something totally different and use RNG that didn't work before. I truly hope this system works out to be something fun and interesting, but you will have to forgive me if I seem a bit skeptical.

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The issue now is that since absolutely required elements are not there until a future patch, it has killed pretty much any reason to go onto PTS today. All we're able to test today is a somewhat adjusted version of a highly undesirable mess. Edited by cyrusramsey
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thanks Musco.

 

Can we get some clarity as to "personal loot" vs "group loot"? From the few times you've mentioned it, it sounds like if our group kills an FP or Ops non-final boss, that the loot will be "personal loot".

 

Does that mean I don't have to roll on it and it automatically goes into my vault? Or does that mean everyone can still roll on that item? Does that mean everyone in the group gets "personal loot" per boss or will only one person in the group get "personal loot" per boss?

 

From what I saw in VM Hammer Station and SM Karagga's Palace, nothing has changed and that everyone could still roll on all the loot for all the bosses.

 

- vicadin

 

@vicadin

 

From earlier posts from Musco and what the intent is, you will always have your personal loot on all bosses in flashpoints and operations. There will be group loot that everyone can need/greed for on final bosses in flashpoints. I think it'll be for each boss in an operation, but I can't remember if I read that or if the standards of every boss drops group loot in 5.0 and earlier is affecting my memory.

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Thank you for listening to our concerns and at least partially addressing them. Even with these changes I am not looking forward to the new gearing method at all and expect it to be a much worse system than we've seen previously (for my goals -- get good enough gear to get back to raiding asap), but the changes announced were a massive step in the right direction. Even if some of the changes aren't implemented yet, it's very nice to know that they're coming. I'll definitely provide more feedback once I've played with the changes some/once they are implemented, but expect that this will help make gearing in 6.0 a lot more tolerable, which might be the best that can be hoped for given that shoving rng into as many things as possible seems to be a design directive.
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