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New SWTOR Forums are coming!


JackieKo

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Hi everyone,

 

I have news to share about changes that will be coming to the SWTOR Forums in that we are moving away from the current platform and will be utilizing a brand new forum platform beginning September 29th!

 

This migration will move out in phases as we build out a forum space that is uniquely SWTOR. First and foremost, I’m sure all you are wondering about what will be happening to the current content on the forums. They will remain as they are, as all are being converted over to the new platform. As with any project of this size, there could be things that may not appear correctly or may be missing, so if you notice that happening with your content, please let us know. And just like with the current forums, the new forums will still only be available for use to Subscribers but will be viewable by anyone.

 

The first phase

Launch will focus on functionality of the platform such as all of your normal day to day functions. It’ll be easier to create posts, follow topics, format posts, and add images/media. Note about the latter, there will be slight restrictions. A setting will be in place that a user must have 1) an active forum account for longer than 14 days and 2) have made at least 10 posts on the forums in order to upload any media. Additionally, should the system flag your media for any reason, it will be withheld for review. Only once it is approved will it be viewable by everyone.

 

Key features that will be immediately available after launch:

 

Streams aka Personalized Feeds + Tagging

One of the coolest features that will be available to all of you off the bat is the ability to create Streams (not in broadcasting terms). Think of Streams as Feeds. You will have the ability to customize what content you follow whether it be of specific topics, people, or even specific tags. As an example, you could follow my account, JackieKo, and see all the posts I made which will include game update info, bug report follow ups, and Off Topic posts. However, moving forward any post I make pertaining to the game itself that provides additional info to you all will be tagged as #gameinfo, #devupdate, or #update7.1.1 and you can customize your stream to only see posts with those tags.

 

Optimized Mobile View

We know navigating the current Forums on mobile is a bit of a hassle, so we’re looking forward to seeing how you all feel about mobile view post launch of the new Forums. As with any visual change, we encourage you to play around with the new format, and provide feedback of your experience.

 

Announcements + Alerts

We will gain the ability to place banners on the new Forums that will highlight unique Announcements. As an example, these could broadcast info about an upcoming PTS phase.

 

Alerts are more immediate pop ups that will be shown on your screen that can be dismissed easily. An example of when we will be using this feature is a reminder that a dev stream is about to go live.

 

As I wrote earlier, the above features will be live once the new Forums launch. I do want to stress that this is a space that I want all of you to feel a part of, so please offer constructive feedback on the best ways we can utilize these features to better serve the community.

 

In-Game Event Calendar (won’t be available until October/November)

Once this feature is ready to launch, you will have easy access to info about active Game Events! A calendar tab will be easily accessible on the Forums that will take you to the Event Calendar, so you have easy reference to event info at your fingertips. This will also be a space where we will add info about future contests and dev streams.

 

The second phase

The focus for this phase will be on the aesthetics of the new Forums outside of the general layout of it. We will be adding ways for players to earn points the more you utilize the Forums such as creating posts, browsing, liking posts, etc…Those points will earn you badges and ranks. Devs will even have the ability to reward unique badges to players whose posts are helpful, constructive, and informative. We are particularly excited about this feature and its ability to highlight high-quality posts that contribute to our community.

 

This will also be the time when we update the icons next to each sub-forum category.

 

I’ll have more info on the schedule of these additional features at a later time. We want to ensure the quality of the first stage and give players a chance to get used to the new format before adding more features. If you’ve frequented the Forums for a while, you’re probably wondering when these points will start accumulating for you. They will be applied retroactively from the time the new Forums launch. For new accounts made before the second phase rolls out, you will begin accumulating points after the first time you log into the new forums.

 

What’s the timeline on all of this?

The new forums will be live on September 29.

 

Beginning September 26th at 10am CT / 3pm UTC, the Forums will go into a read-only maintenance mode for 72 hours. This is to ensure that everything is imported correctly, and will give us time to do necessary testing. There’s 10 years of info that’s migrating over and an entirely new platform being deployed, so we are allocating 3 days to make sure everything is working correctly before opening it back up to everyone.

 

Should there be any unexpected and pressing updates to share with our players such as the new Forums going live earlier than anticipated, we will be updating everyone on our Twitter account.

 

The new Forums have been a long time project of ours and I’m really happy that we get to share this with all of you soon!

 

Best,

Jackie

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This sounds like Discourse? That seems to be the new wave for the past 5 years or so. I've used this on other sites and one thing I didn't like was the desktop view had too much wasted space. If you're using Discourse, I hope your customizations will make the desktop version shine. The current forums are too tightly packed, so there is room for more space, just not too much.

 

Things I'd Like to See:

1. Font Size Option - I'd like the option to change font size for the message body. My preference is 16 pt. The 14 pt on these forums is too small on modern screen, so I'd like the option to change that without forcing it in browser.

2. Upscale the custom smileys - I know the basic ones will probably be included, but for all the custom ones you guys made for the original forums, it would be nice if you could make them into vectors that look good at any size.

3. Site-Width Option - I'd like the ability to change how wide the message body is. Options: Default, Full Width, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%.

4. Light Mode / Dark Mode Toggle - Everyone has their own preference on this. I usually like things dark, but a lot of people like things light. You could have some neat styling and artwork for this because of the Dark Side and Light Side theme in SWTOR.

Edited by ThanderSnB
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I have news to share about changes that will be coming to the SWTOR Forums in that we are moving away from the current platform and will be utilizing a brand new forum platform beginning September 29th!

 

Excellent news , Jackie! ...And maybe now we can finally clarify the title of that pesky "Star Wars" Discussion section. :D

 

By the way, will the rest of the swtor.com WEBSITE remain the same? ( cuz certain links within are rather out-dated or completely non-functional ) -- And will we have to redo our forum 'sigs' too?

Edited by Nee-Elder
i really hope this means EA is gonna give BioWare more money for CONTENT soon....
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Here are some things I’d like to see

 

1. More interaction between the team and the community.

2. More ways to make suggestions (for example, being able to make videos to illustrate what the one making the suggestion is talking about)

3. More emotes.

4. Being able to use 3D models.

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Devs will even have the ability to reward unique badges to players whose posts are helpful, constructive, and informative

 

That is nice and I have a suggestion:

 

What about allowing devs (or however it will be done) to issue badges warning of specific posts being inflammatory? (lol)

(Yea, been around long enough to know that some love to create drama lol)

Edited by casirabit
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Hi everyone,

 

I have news to share about changes that will be coming to the SWTOR Forums in that we are moving away from the current platform and will be utilizing a brand new forum platform beginning September 29th!

 

This migration will move out in phases as we build out a forum space that is uniquely SWTOR. First and foremost, I’m sure all you are wondering about what will be happening to the current content on the forums. They will remain as they are, as all are being converted over to the new platform. As with any project of this size, there could be things that may not appear correctly or may be missing, so if you notice that happening with your content, please let us know. And just like with the current forums, the new forums will still only be available for use to Subscribers but will be viewable by anyone.

 

The first phase

Launch will focus on functionality of the platform such as all of your normal day to day functions. It’ll be easier to create posts, follow topics, format posts, and add images/media. Note about the latter, there will be slight restrictions. A setting will be in place that a user must have 1) an active forum account for longer than 14 days and 2) have made at least 10 posts on the forums in order to upload any media. Additionally, should the system flag your media for any reason, it will be withheld for review. Only once it is approved will it be viewable by everyone.

 

Key features that will be immediately available after launch:

 

Streams aka Personalized Feeds + Tagging

One of the coolest features that will be available to all of you off the bat is the ability to create Streams (not in broadcasting terms). Think of Streams as Feeds. You will have the ability to customize what content you follow whether it be of specific topics, people, or even specific tags. As an example, you could follow my account, JackieKo, and see all the posts I made which will include game update info, bug report follow ups, and Off Topic posts. However, moving forward any post I make pertaining to the game itself that provides additional info to you all will be tagged as #gameinfo, #devupdate, or #update7.1.1 and you can customize your stream to only see posts with those tags.

 

Optimized Mobile View

We know navigating the current Forums on mobile is a bit of a hassle, so we’re looking forward to seeing how you all feel about mobile view post launch of the new Forums. As with any visual change, we encourage you to play around with the new format, and provide feedback of your experience.

 

Announcements + Alerts

We will gain the ability to place banners on the new Forums that will highlight unique Announcements. As an example, these could broadcast info about an upcoming PTS phase.

 

Alerts are more immediate pop ups that will be shown on your screen that can be dismissed easily. An example of when we will be using this feature is a reminder that a dev stream is about to go live.

 

As I wrote earlier, the above features will be live once the new Forums launch. I do want to stress that this is a space that I want all of you to feel a part of, so please offer constructive feedback on the best ways we can utilize these features to better serve the community.

 

In-Game Event Calendar (won’t be available until October/November)

Once this feature is ready to launch, you will have easy access to info about active Game Events! A calendar tab will be easily accessible on the Forums that will take you to the Event Calendar, so you have easy reference to event info at your fingertips. This will also be a space where we will add info about future contests and dev streams.

 

The second phase

The focus for this phase will be on the aesthetics of the new Forums outside of the general layout of it. We will be adding ways for players to earn points the more you utilize the Forums such as creating posts, browsing, liking posts, etc…Those points will earn you badges and ranks. Devs will even have the ability to reward unique badges to players whose posts are helpful, constructive, and informative. We are particularly excited about this feature and its ability to highlight high-quality posts that contribute to our community.

 

This will also be the time when we update the icons next to each sub-forum category.

 

I’ll have more info on the schedule of these additional features at a later time. We want to ensure the quality of the first stage and give players a chance to get used to the new format before adding more features. If you’ve frequented the Forums for a while, you’re probably wondering when these points will start accumulating for you. They will be applied retroactively from the time the new Forums launch. For new accounts made before the second phase rolls out, you will begin accumulating points after the first time you log into the new forums.

 

What’s the timeline on all of this?

The new forums will be live on September 29.

 

Beginning September 26th at 10am CT / 3pm UTC, the Forums will go into a read-only maintenance mode for 72 hours. This is to ensure that everything is imported correctly, and will give us time to do necessary testing. There’s 10 years of info that’s migrating over and an entirely new platform being deployed, so we are allocating 3 days to make sure everything is working correctly before opening it back up to everyone.

 

Should there be any unexpected and pressing updates to share with our players such as the new Forums going live earlier than anticipated, we will be updating everyone on our Twitter account.

 

The new Forums have been a long time project of ours and I’m really happy that we get to share this with all of you soon!

 

Best,

Jackie

 

 

 

Galactic Strongholds community, I see you! I'm getting you your icon. :D

 

:D:D:D

 

Got to love it!!

 

I'll be looking forward to the new boards.

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Sounds exciting! Though it kind of sucks that this is coming along so late to the community as a tool of communication and remains locked off to subs for posting. Perhaps there could be a Preferred players section so it doesn't feel so.. exclusive? I don't say this for myself but what is the point of doing a whole remodel for maybe what 100 people who still actively use the forums? Even if its just the New Players, Roleplay, Strongholds, and or Guild Recruitment sections to keep them from being so dead and fractured between subreddits and subforums. Other methods of communication already exist, like other the subreddit and other social media, but they don't seem to get much attention beyond the usual announcements. Eric used to comment once in a blue moon on the sub, and that was nice. It felt like there were reasonable 'walls' - being the subscriber's forum that could filter out trolls and spam - but also alternatives where we still could be heard.

 

While I love the idea of the forums getting an updated version and having a renewed interest in modernizing, I have to ask for what? But besides that, are there plans or ideas for there to be a like function and swapping color pallets in case something is a bit hard on the eyes?

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First and foremost, I’m sure all you are wondering about what will be happening to the current content on the forums.

 

First and foremost I'm wondering why this is happening at all; Ten years with this forum it's odd that any resources would be dedicated to some sort of major overhaul unless some sort of major rebranding is underway.

 

Is there an official statement as to the why of all this, even if whimsy?

 

Thanks.

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This will be a day long rememberted, it has seen the end of Ke- George Lucas' Lucasfilm and now it will see the end of LucasArts.

 

This forum was the last remnant of the old LucasArts before the dark times, before the mouse empire.

 

this is what the old LucasArts forum looked like.

web.archive.org/web/20071005175348/http://forums.lucasarts.com/category.jspa?categoryID=10

 

very similar in most respects to today's swtor.com forum

Edited by Falensawino
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@JackieKo Will the new forum still go down in every maintenance? One thing I found annoying is that (if I'm not mistaken) in order to get updates on the current maintenance status (like "maintenance will take longer"), you need to have a Twitter account, since those updates are posted on Twitter.
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  • Dev Post
By the way, will the rest of the swtor.com WEBSITE remain the same? ( cuz certain links within are rather out-dated or completely non-functional ) -- And will we have to redo our forum 'sigs' too?

 

Any info about "Legacy Signatures" -- some of us have been around a long time.. ie since the forums were first launched.

 

Regarding the rest of the site, we don't have anything to share right now. But know that we're always having conversations around what we can update/improve. :)

 

It would be very sad if our veteran legacy signatures didn't port and got wiped :d_angelic:

 

Your signatures should carry over. They may look slightly different of course, but they should in essence remain the same. Like with anything of this magnitude, it is possible that something may not carry over smoothly. So as a just in case, I suggest saving your signature in a doc that's easily accessible and then copy and pasting it into the Signature field in your profile post launch.

 

What about allowing devs (or however it will be done) to issue badges warning of specific posts being inflammatory? (lol)

(Yea, been around long enough to know that some love to create drama lol)

 

Many of the features of this new platform encourages positive behaviors hence why we can award unique badges for informative, friendly, and constructive posts. The same guidelines and Rules of Conduct are still in place though! There are also other moderation tools in place to help us navigate heated topics and comments.

 

@JackieKo Will the new forum still go down in every maintenance? One thing I found annoying is that (if I'm not mistaken) in order to get updates on the current maintenance status (like "maintenance will take longer"), you need to have a Twitter account, since those updates are posted on Twitter.

 

This is somewhat tricky. I don't want to say that the forums will ALWAYS stay up whenever a maintenance is happening as there could be exceptions here and there, but for the majority of the time, players will be able to read forums even if the rest of our services are in maintenance mode.

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First and foremost I'm wondering why this is happening at all; Ten years with this forum it's odd that any resources would be dedicated to some sort of major overhaul unless some sort of major rebranding is underway.

 

Is there an official statement as to the why of all this, even if whimsy?

 

Thanks.

 

Good question! So, there are two primary reasons that we are updating the forums:

 

  1. Modernizing our game and supporting systems/platforms remains a goal of ours and the forums are just one example of that! By updating it to an entirely new platform it introduces a host of new functionality (for you and for us) and future proofs us so we can continue to update it going forward.
  2. With our forums being a very old and very custom version of vBulletin it was simply on its way to becoming unsupportable. Between choosing to stop supporting the forums (which would inevitably shut them down) or replacing them, we chose the latter.

 

Hope that addresses your questions, thanks!

 

-eric

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Y

Many of the features of this new platform encourages positive behaviors hence why we can award unique badges for informative, friendly, and constructive posts. The same guidelines and Rules of Conduct are still in place though! There are also other moderation tools in place to help us navigate heated topics and comments.

 

 

 

This really just reads like a way to silence criticism even if it is done constructively.

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Many of the features of this new platform encourages positive behaviors hence why we can award unique badges for informative, friendly, and constructive posts. The same guidelines and Rules of Conduct are still in place though! There are also other moderation tools in place to help us navigate heated topics and comments.

 

Makes sense. I think it might be a good change. There is one thing about constructive criticism and creating drama (which some have done). Thanks for the answer.

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This really just reads like a way to silence criticism even if it is done constructively.

 

Constructive criticism is welcome and always has been. We've stated that multiple times. If criticisms were entirely removed from the forums, the vast majority of the threads that currently exist would be gone, and we certainly wouldn't be moving forward with a new platform. I'm always on board with reading and gathering feedback that is helpful and constructive. My only ask has ever been that people are respectful to us and to each other.

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Sounds exciting! Though it kind of sucks that this is coming along so late to the community as a tool of communication and remains locked off to subs for posting. Perhaps there could be a Preferred players section so it doesn't feel so.. exclusive? I don't say this for myself but what is the point of doing a whole remodel for maybe what 100 people who still actively use the forums? Even if its just the New Players, Roleplay, Strongholds, and or Guild Recruitment sections to keep them from being so dead and fractured between subreddits and subforums.

 

We're having conversations about this! Just so that you all have an idea of what we're talking about, some of the factors to consider are the volume of posts which impact moderation time, the potential of opening up pockets of the forums to non-Subscribers (if so, which ones), and how we can use the gamification of the new forums to open up new paths for non-Subscribers to potentially utilize the forums. So there's a lot we're talking about, but we don't have details to share just yet. If this were to come to fruition, it will happen in a later phase. What's coming up first is ensuring that the migration is smooth and that Subscribers are in a good state before we move onto other phases. I'll be sure to update you all on this plan once we land on a decision!

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factors to consider are the volume of posts which impact moderation time,

 

As long as SWTOR isn't going non-profit and moderators aren't working for free, then imo players who want to post on the NEW forums should def. have to pay.

 

the potential of opening up pockets of the forums to non-Subscribers (if so, which ones),

 

Maybe just strictly within the all important 'Bug Reports' section?

 

Everything else should be read-only , unless you $ubscribe. ( ESO does this and it works pretty well there for the most part )

Edited by Nee-Elder
gotta go all or nothing imo , otherwise you open up can-of-worms with Free-loading TROLL types
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Hi everyone,

 

I have news to share about changes that will be coming to the SWTOR Forums in that we are moving away from the current platform and will be utilizing a brand new forum platform beginning September 29th!

 

This migration will move out in phases as we build out a forum space that is uniquely SWTOR. First and foremost, I’m sure all you are wondering about what will be happening to the current content on the forums. They will remain as they are, as all are being converted over to the new platform. As with any project of this size, there could be things that may not appear correctly or may be missing, so if you notice that happening with your content, please let us know. And just like with the current forums, the new forums will still only be available for use to Subscribers but will be viewable by anyone.

You realise if the "love threads" disappear there will be riots!! :D For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE preserve the QUINN thread! It is a 903 page thing of beauty :)

Edited by Sarova
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