Great job on balancing the flashpoints guys! I think you all nailed it. I will imagine we will have responses bellow saying they are now to hard or I can't solo this or that but I think this is how the group content was meant to be. - after running vet mode hs I tested master mode hs again and then boarding party, then traitor and blood hunt. In vet mode players have to use some dcds smartly in certain situation to not die - I think that is great. In master mode the entry level (early/old) flashpoints are pretty straightforward and doable I think by semi-experienced pugs, while the new flashpoints are noticeably harder and need a well coordinated group to get through especially some bosses. I think this is right.

My only criticism would be in regard to item or tech fragment drops between old / middle / and the newest flashpoints. As mentioned above - not all flashpoints are created equal and the newer ones do on average require much more time and effort to complete as they are now - so I do not know how you will handle this fact. They are noticeably more challenging but that I think is refreshing to many players to do them as they are now and it would be a shame to dumb them down. On the other hand I think not many people will run them as they are now because they are way more challenging than stuff like hammer station. Maybe break up the flashpoints into three tiers and adjust rewards based on where a flashpoint falls. As I said, really early old flashpoints are pretty simple (Foundtry, HS, Cademinu etc). Czerka-Rakata-Blood hunt, Rishi is probably somewhere in the middle. And from Lost Island to all the new flashpoints (Chiss / Umbara etc) I would but into pretty advanced tier as they are now.

Great job on balancing the flashpoints guys! I think you all nailed it. I will imagine we will have responses bellow saying they are now to hard or I can't solo this or that but I think this is how the group content was meant to be. - after running vet mode hs I tested master mode hs again and then boarding party, then traitor and blood hunt. In vet mode players have to use some dcds smartly in certain situation to not die - I think that is great. In master mode the entry level (early/old) flashpoints are pretty straightforward and doable I think by semi-experienced pugs, while the new flashpoints are noticeably harder and need a well coordinated group to get through especially some bosses. I think this is right.

 

My only criticism would be in regard to item or tech fragment drops between old / middle / and the newest flashpoints. As mentioned above - not all flashpoints are created equal and the newer ones do on average require much more time and effort to complete as they are now - so I do not know how you will handle this fact. They are noticeably more challenging but that I think is refreshing to many players to do them as they are now and it would be a shame to dumb them down. On the other hand I think not many people will run them as they are now because they are way more challenging than stuff like hammer station. Maybe break up the flashpoints into three tiers and adjust rewards based on where a flashpoint falls. As I said, really early old flashpoints are pretty simple (Foundtry, HS, Cademinu etc). Czerka-Rakata-Blood hunt, Rishi is probably somewhere in the middle. And from Lost Island to all the new flashpoints (Chiss / Umbara etc) I would but into pretty advanced tier as they are now.

There are going to be a bunch of story guys saying veteran can only be played by group and will be extremely pissed off,

I do hope Bioware have considered this and will think about offering them a toned down SM version or some of those players are going to leave the game. Which is the last thing this game needs,

Does a particular class or spec feel too strong? Too weak?

Don't know. operative smuggler rolling 6 times in a row only thing I heard looks broken for pvp.

Do any of the new abilities feel particularly strong? Too weak?

The inquisitor consular ones only really work with lightning/TK Assassin/shadow stuational

Is there a set bonus that feels too strong? Too weak?

Any 2 piece set bonus. I mean 23 points from 1199 alacrity and not the 2% it says it will give. Needs to be reworded reworked or just removed as too weak.

Is there a tactical that feels too strong? Too weak?

tested two sets and four tacticals had a 2000 dps difference between the tacticals two were general tact and two for only assassin. Awakened Flame beat out Blade of elements.

Is there a specific set bonus and tactical combination that is over powered?

Don't know

Are there any encounters that feel out of balance?

Have not tested the trouble spots yet.

Will try to remember the walker or see if I can get in one of the harder flashpoints.

Hammer Station felt better and we needed to use the medical stations thingies a time or two.

Hammer Station Veteran mode as solo player: Impossible to even make it past the first bigger group of droids. Not even remotely close. (I play as a healer with Z0-0M level 50 DPS.)

During PTS phase 2 I was able to solo this flashpoint.

Just pointing this out regarding the huge difference between phase 2 and 3, since you ask for feedback about balancing.

Since I so far haven't been able to find someone to group up for this fp on the PTS, I cannot continue testing it.

That said, it is very obvious that 6.0 is meant to change the shift of this game fully to group content.

That's fair and square, but I can already say that I'm obviously not a target group for you anymore. It's a pity to say this after all these years, but if what I experienced on the PTS during the last weeks goes live, it's time for me to say goodbye to this game. I hope others enjoy this shift in the game direction more.

Hi Eric,

Hope all is well.

I have previously been on the forums complaining about the 6.0 content and gear. Let me start of by saying that phase three feels much much much much better. Gearing makes more sense now and I don't feel like I want to log off. Prices of some things may need to be tweaked but that is for a different thread probably.

With regards to FP's. I did a few runs of the FP's and they do feel better. A lot better than phase two. I would say that you are almost spot on with these changes. Perhaps a tad easier (not like crazy easier. Maybe easy enough for 2 players to run VET mode. Other modes feel good imo), although if it will make it too easy I think I prefer it being a bit more challenging with better rewards (if that makes sense).

Regarding abilities being OP. I have not really noticed anything, although I haven't really played the PTS for a period of longer than 2 - 3 hours. I would say that I have been Star Parsing and my DPS seems on the low side but that may be for a number of reasons such as gearing, new stats, new rotation (kinda) and so on. So overall I haven't really experienced anything that makes something too OP. Ity also may be since the FP's are still in balancing stages

On the other hand I have really come into problems with new abilities. Especially on my sorc assassin and merc. The new abilities seem lack luster and especially on the healing side of the merc and sorc I dont ever end up using the new abilities for example with the sorc, it just doesnt make sense for me to switch target to the boss in the ops/fp's just to build stacks of the volt rush and then lose a player (perhaps even the tank since I stopped healing and decided to DPS). For DPS on the merc and sorc things may be different but for heals it makes no sense to force us to DPS so I just leave it out my rotation. Perhaps may I suggest a new heal ability for heal specs? Not sure how that would work but it seems more useful imo. Regarding the assassin's the ability is cool and works well with some tacticals but I just dont think its better than low slash. Therefore I haven't added it too my rotation either. I think maybe the new abilities should have a overall look at since they definitely need tweaking.

Overall I am impressed with what has gone on with the PTS phase three however, I think the classes need a bit more ummfff. Gearing and content now feels good but my class feels stale a bit. Need the new abilities to engage me more and feel rewarding to use. Rn it they just feel a bit forced.

Have a good day eric. Would love to hear some feedback from you on my thoughts if possible. Even just a hi! I'll fan girl a lot :D:D

Since I so far haven't been able to find someone to group up for this fp on the PTS, I cannot continue testing it.

If you are finding it hard to find a friend just q in group finder. Im getting pops every 3 minutes on the PTS

Well from my experience on the PTS doing Hammer station (Solo) on vet mode. The boss fights feel fine. You need to pay attention to mechanics on the last boss far more, or you may not survive.

With that being said, from a Solo standpoint I saw 2 trash pulls that for solo'ing players could be very difficult to pass. The 1st major pull in HS (droids pull you out of stealth), I had to sacrifice my company, and stealth out to pass this fight. It felt way to overtuned as a Solo player, if your in a group I suspect this trash pull will be fine.

The 2nd pull as a stealther if you are smart and wait for the patrol to head back the other way you can still sneak by, but for non Stealth characters this pull will also be difficult. (this is the trash pack shortly before the 2nd boss right before you go up the ramp to the upper level).

The only concern I have is this. BW wanted to add this new Scaling tech so they wouldn't have to rebalance all of the older content when new expansions come out in the future. Doesn't increasing all FP's/Ops to 70 defeat this purpose? When future expansion come out you'll still need to keep raising the FP/Op's levels or they'll becoming easier with each and every expansion. Wouldn't it be easier to build in alterations to the scaling tech so we have Less Power/Mastery/endurance then we had in phase 2? Maybe even lower our Acc/Alac/Critical so it would sync in more with what was appropriate for when each FP or Operation first came out?

There are going to be a bunch of story guys saying veteran can only be played by group and will be extremely pissed off,

I do hope Bioware have considered this and will think about offering them a toned down SM version or some of those players are going to leave the game. Which is the last thing this game needs,

Then they should raise the FPs to 70. That you can run them only from 70. It is extremely annoying with 70s high. It just does not work. A high-ranking 20's can not do the same thing as a real 70's.

At the end ... Will most of them run away as soon as these FPs open.

Just ran solo/story mode Esseles on my lvl 17 Shadow with lvl 4 Qyzen. Did all of the bonuses, including the bonus boss.

What a pain! I'm not sure if you guys changed the droid's capabilities or the difficulty increase is a result of the companion healing nerf, but everything took about twice as long to kill. Throw in more than a single gold enemy, and a fight would take ages.

It got to be so tedious that I stealthed through about half of the trash, especially the gold mobs. The bug in the one room where your companion and the droid get stuck behind the door aboard the Imperial ship killed me as I tried to dismiss/resummon Qyzen. That's the room with two silvers, the spawning enemies behind a door and several enemies that love to stand on the consoles.

The major boss battles were long, but doable. What hurts most is the trash. And this is a starter flashpoint for players fresh off Ord and Tython. New players aren't going to have the credits to splash out at the fleet gift vendor, so they'll probably be running a companion as lame and underleveled as mine.

Please reconsider the companion healing nerf or buff player levels in these story mode flashpoints. I'll probably be skipping them from now on if you don't.

Then they should raise the FPs to 70. That you can run them only from 70. It is extremely annoying with 70s high. It just does not work. A high-ranking 20's can not do the same thing as a real 70's.

At the end ... Will most of them run away as soon as these FPs open.

As a test I stuck my companion on passive, let myself take some damage and popped a medstation in Hammer station Vet mode to see how much it heals for since you increased the bolster to 70, and the Medstation did not heal me at all. May want to check this bug out and fix it before 6.0 launches.

I was on the 2nd boss of the instance at the time.

Downloading latest version of PTS now. I really hope SM Flaspoints remain solo friendly. Otherwise little point in having 3 versions.

Then they should raise the FPs to 70. That you can run them only from 70. It is extremely annoying with 70s high. It just does not work. A high-ranking 20's can not do the same thing as a real 70's.

At the end ... Will most of them run away as soon as these FPs open.

Don't agree with the raise to level 70's. Doing that removes so much from the lower levels.

I do agree that lower levels even with boaster is not the same as an actual level 70. Not sure what the answer to this will be but maybe have Master Mode level 70. Vet could still be groups but for those levels below 70. Story Mode should be solo-able, At the end does it matter what other players are doing if you are not part of the group? Yes I know doing the way I mention would take a lot of work and with 6.0 only 3 weeks away it's a tall ask.

I'm confused (and concerned)... did they make story mode FP's too hard to solo? Because that defeats the entire point of story mode. Story mode is for soloing.

And I'm sorry, but it's 2019, and there's absolutely no excuse why Hammer Station, Athiss, Cademimu, Mandalorian Raiders, CWG, Lost Island and Kaon Under Siege don't have story modes. Get with the program, devs.

Well with the level bump and pet healing nerf. Can't solo any more, so in other words you broke it.

Sounds like they fixed it to me.

That's fair and square, but I can already say that I'm obviously not a target group for you anymore. It's a pity to say this after all these years, but if what I experienced on the PTS during the last weeks goes live, it's time for me to say goodbye to this game. I hope others enjoy this shift in the game direction more.

Heaven forbid you group up for group content. Most of the flashpoints have story modes with the god bot for the story. The other modes should not be soloable.

Just ran solo/story mode Esseles on my lvl 17 Shadow with lvl 4 Qyzen. Did all of the bonuses, including the bonus boss.

 

What a pain! I'm not sure if you guys changed the droid's capabilities or the difficulty increase is a result of the companion healing nerf, but everything took about twice as long to kill. Throw in more than a single gold enemy, and a fight would take ages.

 

It got to be so tedious that I stealthed through about half of the trash, especially the gold mobs. The bug in the one room where your companion and the droid get stuck behind the door aboard the Imperial ship killed me as I tried to dismiss/resummon Qyzen. That's the room with two silvers, the spawning enemies behind a door and several enemies that love to stand on the consoles.

 

The major boss battles were long, but doable. What hurts most is the trash. And this is a starter flashpoint for players fresh off Ord and Tython. New players aren't going to have the credits to splash out at the fleet gift vendor, so they'll probably be running a companion as lame and underleveled as mine.

 

Please reconsider the companion healing nerf or buff player levels in these story mode flashpoints. I'll probably be skipping them from now on if you don't.

Just tried Hammer Station and not really solo friendly at all now as it was before on PTS a week or so ago.. Also the reward was OK before given time spent doing the Flashpoint. Now well just not, takes too long, to much repair costs, end reward? well did not get that far this time but assume its the same. In a mix of 244 to 270 gear augmented, plus a stim. Once this go's live most of my character won't have this gear plus at least to start with will be level 70 not 75.

So all in all guess flashpoints will remain groups only for most players. I am talking about the flashpoints not listed under solo-able. Was hoping that the rest of the flashpoints would again be available to solo players. sad to see that for these there is still only Vet & Master mode and no Story Mode.

So Now going to try a solo-able listed in/under solo activity. I will try Esseles see if I do any better than you did JainiaDral or just as bad. Post later after I've done or failed it. lol I will try both story and Vet mode. Solo on a level 10 and vet on my level 75.

Don't agree with the raise to level 70's. Doing that removes so much from the lower levels.

 

I do agree that lower levels even with boaster is not the same as an actual level 70. Not sure what the answer to this will be but maybe have Master Mode level 70. Vet could still be groups but for those levels below 70. Story Mode should be solo-able, At the end does it matter what other players are doing if you are not part of the group? Yes I know doing the way I mention would take a lot of work and with 6.0 only 3 weeks away it's a tall ask.

Then they should just make it easier.

Did you ever play Nathema at the age of 20 and 30? Veteran mode is the idiot mode for a group. He should therefore be feasible even for small players. The master mode is much easier. He only goes open with healer and tank. And all are between 65 and 70.

Flash point balance feed back runs

I ran 3 seperate flash points with my wife. Jugg and Merc all in veteran mode in non mod 306 gold gear, lightsabre and off hand were 306 and not Augments. (No tactical for me)

Level 50 Shae and Z0-0M. Both on heals

Hammer Station.

* Definitely an increase in damage from standard mobs and silver mobs. They are also harder to kill with either more health or a higher defence? (I noticed a lot of misses with 110 Accuracy.

* Gold Star mobs are slightly hard to kill than pts 2 and do about the same damage.

* White Star non boss fights are grindy. No increase in damage, just a longer to kill,(bridge cannons took ages to kill)

* White Star bosses do slightly more damage than before and also take much longer to kill,

Conclusion : impossible to solo for 99.99% of players (if at all). Standard and silver grade mobs are the ones doing more damage and they are usually in a group, so they can hit really hard if you don’t cc some or can AOE hard.

If it wasn’t for the increase in those standard and silver mobs, you could still do veteran solo (if you could before), it would just take longer.

Gear drops were all for our class specs. So well done there, BUT, they weren’t even 306 gear. Still 298 to 300 for my wife in 304 gear. And 300-302 for me in all 306 gear. Not even any horizontal gearing for either of us. Zero mod’able gear drops, but lots of lower lvl mods.

Mandalorian raiders

* Standard and silver mobs a little harder than usual to kill and some more damage. (Keeps you your toes, but balanced)

* Gold Star a little more damage and health. Perfectly balanced IMO.

* 1st White Star bosses have similar damage to normal, but harder to kill

* 2nd boss fight, 4 gold star guys seem perfect.

* 3rd boss fight balanced.

Conclusion : Mandalorian Raiders seems balanced. If you could solo it before, then you should still be able too as long as you mitigate big groups of trash mobs.

It was harder than live, but still enjoyable as a two man group with comps.

Other feed back : there were some bugs. At times my wife could see mobs I couldn’t and I couldn’t off tank for her if she needed me. This happens about 4 times. Even a big gold droid that was off to the side wasn’t visiable to me and I made the comment you must have removed it. She asked me if I needed new glasses and pointed to it on her screen, but it wasn’t on mine,

Gearing was plentiful and on class spec. But once again nothing at our lvl dropped. Everything was 2-4 lvls lower than our iRating and zero horizontal gearing opportunities, ie no mod’able gear dropped.

Korriban Incursion (veteran).

* All standard, silver and gold mobs harder to kill, but doing similar damage as live.

* 1st White Star boss took a lot longer to kill and I expected him to rage before we ended up killing him (but I think that was our fault). Luckily he didn’t rage.

* 2nd White Star boss (droid), no probs, seems balanced, it takes about as much damage to kill as master mode on live, but without the hardcore mechanics and damage output. Longer to kill, but fun.

* 3rd White Star boss nearly killed both of us and comp healers in one hit after his AOE stun. I think if he crit harder we’d have died and we all had full health while we were stunned.

He took a bit to kill and a few more of his AOE stuns + burst, but they didn’t do nearly as much damage as the first one (thank god).

Conclusion : Over all, it’s close to balanced. My only “scare” was that last boss, but it’s playable with two people. Running it solo would be a different situation. But you’ve got SM to fall back on if you want to solo, so I think veteran is balanced enough like it is.

Gearing got a tiny bit better in ilvl, I actually got a 306 Sabre, but it had an accuracy enhancement (come on, really? Who thinks up this gearing). I got a couple of 306 parts. But not mod’able amor,

My wife got a generator, so that’s still not 100% fixed, she also got 302 pieces, but nothing better than she had.

*** Lastly for those wondering about refined Isotopes, I “needed” each drop and ended up with 36 from 3 flash points. So that’s one thing that’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

The other feed back is chapters, so I’ll post that in another thread.

I have questions regarding the new sync being used for FPs. When this game first launched, there were several tiers of Flashpoints each with its own level requirement.

Esseles/BT - 10

Hammer - 17

Athiss - 21

MR - 25

Cad - 29

Taral / BP - 33

Maelstrom / Foundry - 37

Collicoid - 41

RR - 45

D7 - 49

Ilum / False Emp - 50

The design philosophy behind these decisions was obviously that they would become progressively more difficult. Do(es) your sync equation(s) take this into account? If you keep metrics indicating the number of times (in the aggregate) that an account has run an individual FP or Op? If you do retain this data, do(es) the equation(s) also take it into consideration?

Since we have been actively encouraged to always use the boost station during testing, has your internal and private test server testing been sufficient to ensure that 4 lvl 10's running BT aren't going to get ROFL-stomped by the game? Or four level 15's running D7 aren't going to be obliterated by trash?

It may be a wise idea to bring these tiers back if you want to crank up the difficulty. Bring in Story Modes for all FPs that do not have them--or else I fear new players will be in for a very rude awakening.

EDIT: Please do not present equations and attempt to explain how they work to me. I am a military historian; not a mathematician. I took the GRE in September and scored 81 and 88 percentile on the writing and verbal sections and a 17 percentile on the math. If someone else participating in this thread or lurking is good with math, have at the equations. I am merely approaching this from a logical perspective--of making sure all variables are being incorporated.

Then they should just make it easier.

Did you ever play Nathema at the age of 20 and 30? Veteran mode is the idiot mode for a group. He should therefore be feasible even for small players. The master mode is much easier. He only goes open with healer and tank. And all are between 65 and 70.

That make zero sense. Nathema was always a level 70 as you have to be that level before you reach it. Hammer station was original for level 16's so seem pointless making it a level 70 when level sync came to the game. You can still pick Hammer station up as a quest on Taris as that was originally set for that planet's level. So many of the now level 70 flashpoints were originally much lower so your statement is nonsensical. Making it easier but still for level 70''s still removes it for lower characters. Was not talking about flashpoint set after chapter 3. Just go back to how it was before level sync.