Development towards implementing a new feature is always a tough challenge. Being a Dev myself I understand the need for constructive and actionable feedback. I wanted to convey my feedback to the team regarding my experiences with the new Starfighter aspect.
First congrats on getting the system implemented I know a lot of blood sweat and tears goes into a implementation of a new game mode, so congrats on getting it implemented and launched live.
My experiences with the starfighter aspect of SWTOR.
- Joystick, gamepad, and keyboard support - This is something I was rather shocked and disappointed with that was not a feature that was implemented with a space combat sim game mode. Not everyone enjoys nor is proficient in flying around in 3D space with a mouse. I was completely expecting to be able to remap the keys and controls to my joystick or game pad, this feels like something that is very much missing and I hope comes in the future.
- Game Balance - This feels very off, and from the several games I played it was apparent that the community of players was gravitating to the LCD (Least Common Denominator) of ship choices rather quickly. Players have access to the Scout class ships, Starfighters, and Gunships. Being that there are these 3 classes there should be some balances between their interactions that should require a balanced play. From what i can gather from each of the ship classes, Starfighters should be able to vaporize scouts, Gunships should be able to vaporize Starfighters, and Scouts should be able to kill Gunships. This is what was communicated to me from the roles and from looking at the stats. For the most part this looks like the case except that Gunships aren't vulnerable to scouts at all. The speed advantage that scouts get is marginalized by the distance that they are from a gunship and the gunships defensive abilities. The further a target is away the less aiming correction is needed to hit it so scouts are vaporized before they are able to get too close. While sometimes they can close in quickly to try and engage they are not able to finish the deal. Gunships have some primary defensive actions that are constantly used to ensure their survival. The first is that they are able to sprint away from the fight. This is a problem because the further away the Gunship is the larger its advantage. So even if someone is able to close in, the gunship is very easily able to create the distance advantage and shoot at a target that is unable to shoot back. This alone is not the only problem. Gunships are very resilient and take large amounts of damage to kill, combined with healing abilities from crew this makes them even more un-killable as they are able to create the time necessary with their distance escapes for these abilities to be reused once an opponent once again closes with them. As a result the best location for a gunship to sit is out in open space with no terrain around as they will be able to see everything coming from a large distance and can always escape to another far off point. The combination of these things is causing the Gunship to be the LCD of the ship selection. If the Gunship's strength is supposed to be centered around its range then it needs to be more vulnerable to the scout, who is the counter to that range via his speed. Scouts are very effectively countered by starfighters and the balance between those ships doesn't appear to have the disparity that the gunships do. A few balance suggestions regarding the gunship, if you want to keep the survivability from its health, shields and abilities, then introduce a min range on the snipe shot and reduce its speed and escape capabilities. This will allow the scouts to harass the gunships and allow time to get assistance from a teammate. If you want to keep the escape abilities and not introduce a min range then lower its health and shields to be more in line with the scouts and keep the power of the shot high with a reasonable cooldown on the shot rate. This way if someone is able to close the gap to the gunship it is vulnerable at close range and can be eliminated. Either of these will allow the scouts to harass and/or kill gunships effectively, but keep the gunships effective against the slower starfighter role.
- Customization of Starfighters - Crew, Components, Visuals - This was an element that was fun to interact with and do. I enjoyed picking the color markings and patterns for my craft. I also enjoyed choosing between my companions for who would be best to help with my starfighter. The choosing between components that get equipped on my starfighter also presented itself with some interesting choices.
- Gameplay Map - I enjoyed the map from a combat perspective, there were a lot of ways to fly around and through terrain that made for interesting dogfights (when not getting sniped away by the gunships). I enjoyed the capture mechanic of the satellite towers and the steps needed to capture them.
There is a very high potential for this to be a fun experience for players but in its current implementation it is frustrating. The imbalance that currently exists in the game balance is strong enough to outweigh the elements of the game that I did enjoy. I look forward to future iterations that will remove my frustration and give me a fun interactive experience. Congrats again on getting this new feature into the hands of the public.
-Regards
A fellow developer.
