LordTurin
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Posts posted by LordTurin
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70 will be the most likely to be popping.
He does say any toon level 10+, so I presume there will be devs in lowbies and midbies too.
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For regular warzones they said in the roadmap that each team will match tank againsthealer if counterparts are not found, so I guess that somehow extended to the ranked queues, but yes, this is unfair.
Yeah, regs that's fine, certainly not optimal, but ok, what ever, gotta get that queue popping. But definitely not in yolos.
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Yup, have a couple nights where you devs will play and do a "fight the devs" night a couple of nights. That worked really well getting people to test out Odessan.
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It doesn't appear that there is much disagreement that fleet numbers, when controlled for time-of-day, server, etc. are declining. It doesn't appear that anyone is strenuously arguing that point. In fact, it seems that nearly everyone agrees with it. This is worth underscoring - the consensus appears to be that fleet numbers are down.
So what does that tell us? Some people take this point to make the very flawed, and tired, argument that "the game is dying". It's an argument not worth responding to for numerous reasons.
Still, others try to make the less-flawed (but still dubious) argument that all we're really seeing is a shift in player activity from fleet to other areas. I.e., that fleet activity is a poor barometer of game activity. This is what we really need to focus on, because given that fleet activity is declining, there are only two possible explanations:
- people are leaving the game (or not playing) faster than new players are coming in, or
- the relevance of the fleet has changed so much (since the "measurements" began) that fleet activity is not (any longer) a reliable metric of game activity
Note, these aren't mutually-exclusive.
Very quickly on point 1, it's undeniable that this game has seen a continued net loss of players since the very beginning. Any number of proxies can be used to corroborate this (fleet numbers, forum numbers, third-party sites, numbers of servers, etc.). So it's kinda silly to deny that this is continuing to happen. But that =/= "game is dead", and not by a long shot.
As to option 2, I think based on all the data points that have been gathered, this is a very fair point - but incomplete. It's unquestionable that the "center of gravity" has shifted away from the fleet. But the problem with this as a complete explanation, for me at least, is that even when this activity shift is "controlled for" (i.e. from numerous data points after these activity shifts should have settled to new normal, it's still clear that fleet activity is declining). This is why saying that fleet activity is a useless measure really doesn't hold water. If properly controlled for, fleet activity remains a useful surrogate for game activity. Is the fleet/was the fleet the "social hub" of SWTOR? Probably not, but in any event that's been a strawman anyway.
Tl:dr: 1) Fleet activity is declining, 2) it's partially due to players leaving the game, 3) it's partially due to changing game patterns, 4) still, when properly controlled for, fleet activity is still a decent proxy for game activity, 5)and none of this == "game is dying"...
This is exactly right! Certainly compared to earlier in the game history, when there was not much else to do, or other places to go to get important quests, fleet was a good representative of server population (let's say 10% of the online population was on fleet at any given time). Now, there are lots of other places to go, and lots more things to do, so fleet population only represents 1% of the server population.
So the difference is the multiplier, it used to be total server population was 10x the fleet population, now its 100. That doesnt mean fleet inst a good barometer, it's just a barometer requiring a different multiplier to get a good idea.
And as you pointed out, there hasn't been anything in the last 6 months or so that would change people's behavior in game, so a decline in fleet is a good barometer for decline kn game population.
Note: all this started up when the DM, the European server, saw a huge drop a couple weeks ago, coincidentally right when the most watched sporting event in the world started playing. When thatsnover of things remain low it's a problem, but close to half the world's population turnes into the World Cup, so there is the explanation for the recent population drop.
- people are leaving the game (or not playing) faster than new players are coming in, or
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Satele Shan is the endgame PvP/PvE server, Star Forge is the RP server.
No.
There are no server types now. Further, only one of the three servers merged into SF was an RP servers, the others (especially JC and SL) were PvE servers. SF has an incredibly healthy PvE community, and from what I've heard the PvP is quite good too. SF is definitely not just an RP server, it's a "do whatever you want cause all of our communities are in good shape"* server.
Annecodatally DM is better for lowbies, but that seems dead everywhere so who knows.
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I've noticed that the people who hate proving grounds tend to be tunnel vision players who think they're good because they did 3.5 mil damage at the end of a match where they lost spectacularly because they're incapable of playing objectives.
Proving Grounds is great. It requires strategy and intelligent use of class abilities to quickly move around the map to attack/defend keypoints which change, every round. It's a good match type and I have no problems with it. If you just want a mindless killing spree, the ranked queue can always use more people to get pops a little faster. If you're not playing arenas, you shouldn't expect to rewarded just for mashing Massacre, all match long.
Final advice to all haters: git gud & lern 2 playy
This. Probably my favorite WZ.
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Hey, have recently come back to the game from before the story / normal / hardmode, CXP stuff, etc was implemented. Have a shopping list of items i would like for appearances, some of which used to drop from Hard Mode DF / DP (Dread forged gear). Will the ops still drop these items or will they only drop the T1-4 stuff that i can see on the fleet now? The GTM seems to have only 1 or 2 of the bits i need, so looking for people who can craft them doesn't look hopeful and I'm skint so would sooner farm them if i can.
Thanks
The HM Ops basically just drop Tier 3 gear (Tier 4 for Machine Gods), and the occasional special item (corrupter blade off Corrupter 0 is still a drop in HM). Dread Forged Gear does not drop from HM Ops.
The same look as the Dread Forged Gear may have been moved over as a drop for Heroics now, I know a bunch of old armor sets were, but someone else will have to tell you as I'm not sure.
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I didn't say everyone should have the exact same stats. If you want to respond to other people's posts maybe read what they write.For ranked they could make it a prerequisite to wear a preset gear outfit so everyone had the same stats.
/5char
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I have it set for IP verification so the only way to vote twice would be to change your IP or use a different device with a separate IP than what was used to vote.
Edit: On a side note, it is a rather satisfying feeling knowing that the highest number is 2163390x and i'm 163560 overall. Makes me feel old too. Meh, not so satisfying now that I think about it...
Or just change your IP and then vote... you've made it clear the you dont consider the results scientific, and that the results aren't what you were looking at really, but trust me when I say strawpoll is anything but hack proof.
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Which, in all honesty, makes me wonder why one of my guilds is getting more and more insistent on every piece of my gear being augmented (even though they settle for 228 augs instead of the new "Superior" ones). Where does bolster end and extra stat points begin?
So you only get bolster for slots that are filled. So no augments=no bonus stats for the augment slot. That being said, if you know your class well enough, you shouldn't need it, but I assume your guild is using it as a quick and dirty skill check/dedication check (presumably if you augment your gear you at least kind of know what you are doing, and are willing to put the effort in to improve).
Which leads to the crux of what I'm looking into: Do the cost of ripping mods at 145k to 150k credits per piece of gear, become cost effective? Will it reduce my total expenditures vs. augmenting and repairing gear?It does, but from a purely credit perspective it takes some time. Obviously, the cheapest way to play is one toon in one spec, and that's it. However, if you are playing multiple toons, especially on opposite factions and in mirror classes, putting everything you can in legacy gear will be expensive up front, but you will only have to make that investment once, and you only have to augment the gear once. It also allows you to consolidate all the gear drops you get into one armor set, so when you are playing both sides, you can basically gear up the set twice as fast assuming you take advantage of lockouts and whatnot.
I'll keep this all in mind in case I'm asked to dps on my operative, although the fact that I don't play either toon that often should relieve me of some responsibility on that mirrored-class pair.It works the same for any class that can do more than one role. You play a Juggernaut and a Guardian, and normally DPS on the Jug and tank on the Guardian? Well with legacy sets it's easy to tank on the Jug and DPS on the Guardian.
Fortunately none of my guilds are true min/maxers, except maybe the truest progression raiders, and I don't take part in that anyway. I just don't, as a player, have the reflexes or timing for it.Fair enough, than as I said it's not something for you to worry about. Being off by 50 crit points doing SM ops, or even HM ops, or 99% of NiM ops tbh is just not going to make a difference anyway.
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I have one toon of each advanced class, sixteen total. I have all active crew skills for as close to self-sufficiency as possible.
Not all my toons do Ops. Although I do try to have as many of my toons available for Ops as I can. I like to have some degree of flexibility for the guilds I'm in.
I'm trying to determine cost effectiveness because my entire legacy is near bankrupt from raising companion influence, buying certain mats I just can't seem to acquire through missions (like purple mats), and repair bills. I just can't handle chain-grinding heroic missions, and I'm out of the house and unavailable for play between 3 and 9 pm local time most Thursdays and Fridays, and I'm almost never available for play, pretty much the entirety of all Tuesdays. I can't play for longer periods of time on the remaining days for various RL reasons. I don't know where to get all the extra credits from, and when my repair bill is as much as five times larger than the mission / Op payout, that's a lot of various other expenditures that have to get delayed. My entire legacy is struggling to make ends meet.
It's been suggested to me to maintain only eight legacy-bound armor sets. That is, my Mercenary goes nekkid while my Commando is raiding, etc.
I see the pros of this: Fewer pieces to buy augment slots for, fewer augments to put in, both my mirrored classes can cover the repair bills for half as many pieces of gear.
The biggest con: ripping mods from 236 and 242 golds. It's 45k to as much as 50k, three times, for each piece of gear. (Since I never play HM's, except the occasional KP or EV, and relatively low command levels for most of my toons due to my having been out of the game for two years starting shortly after 5.0, I have no 248 pieces and probably won't for a long time.)
Another con is whether my Sentinel and Marauder both need the same stats due to different specs. Do Combat and Fury both need the same plateaus of alacrity and crit? And what about my Powertech being a tank, but my Vanguard being DPS? Also, my Operative is a healer (even though I rarely play that toon), and my Scoundrel is a DPS.
Do the pros make this plan more cost-effective? Does it catch up with, and outweigh, the cons?
1. If you mostly do SM ops, and at most KP/EV HM, then don't worry so much about gear. As long as you have set bonus, bolster will take care of most of the stat differential anyway.
2. The idea of only have 8 sets is that you have the gear in legacy gear (at least the 7 armor slots, head, chest, belt, hands, pants, boots, and bracers) and you can just pass those back and forth. Then you only have the five left side gear pieces (earpiece, 2 implants, 2 relics) and mh/oh (which for all the force using characters, the mh/oh you can pass back and forth for those as well as long as they are in legacy weapons).
3. If you Operative is a healer and your Scoundrel is a dps, then you would need 2 sets of gear (for the set bonuses). But if you plan things right, and make sure to put the accuracy on the set bonus armor pieces, you can keep the left side (earpiece, implants, and relics) and weapons (mh/oh) the same on both sides regardless of spec, and then just swap out the set bonus armor pieces depending on the spec you are playing (this would also allow you to play dps on your operative and heals on your scoundrel with little extra effort).
4. Right now, pretty much every dps class/spec requires the same stats. There are some really really really small difference for optimal play, but you should not worry about them at all.
Anyway, hope this answered your concerns. If anything isn't clear, just let me know and I'll be happy to clarify.
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I was referring to the loss of the various mobility abilities (leap, speed, roll etc) which, from what I've read, they still intend to remove for ball carriers?
Nope, they nixed that after feedback (specifically they were going to apply hinder to the ball carriers, which would prevent high mobility abilities from being used).
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There is a good chance that when moddable gear is put into this game it has to be designated as legacy gear at its creation rather than later. So I'm not convinced it's a simple thing for them to do.
Of course the real issue for you is weapons and I'm quite impressed (not in a good way) that in a game where endgame gear has been so trivialized, meaning that it's ridiculously easy to get, that you are unable to get some extra sabers modded so you can swap em around.
Not going to call you entitled or lazy but I am tempted. It seems that putting in a little effort is too much to ask these days and this game in particular asks VERY little effort for endgame gear. In fact the gearing reward system is the hard part, not gaining the tokens and currencies to get endgame gear.
But hey, they've made the game way too easy already so maybe they want to take that extra step for you as well.
Endgame gear has not be trivalized... getting a 248 mh is actually a pain to do, so we are either stuck with using the few legacy mainhands (mostly for lightsabers since those are the ones that work on mirror classes) instead of the fancy cartel stuff, or spend hundreds of thousands of credits ripping mods out to transfer them across our legacy. Ripping out 248 mods is expensive.
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Your poll isn’t set up correctly.
I’ve tried to set these polls myself over the years and if you don’t phrase the question correctly to allow people to answer properly, then the results will be skewed and become worthless.
I suggest you read some of the feed back form people in this thread about what needs to change to make the poll work.
Until then, you will get a skewed result that are meaningless.
(And before all of my haters say I made similar polls in the past, I did actually listen to your feed back and it’s why I’m offering the same advice to the OP that you gave me).
Polls like this generally are worthless anyway. I've voted 5 times already just using my computers/phones/tablets/etc (voted on both sides mind you, so that my particular cheating doesn't skew it).
Pretty much there is no way for us to know the actual answer to OPs question. BW is the only one who has the data. But even the question of group vs solo doesn't tell us enough, because a good additional question is which group does a better job of convincing their friends to come play the game? Because even if there are 3 times as many solo players as group players, if every solo player brings in 7 people to play the game, and every solo player brings in one, encouraging group content is actually the better option anyway.
Now obviously I dont know what the numbers are here, but just pointing out, polls like this are pretty worthless to a company in terms of determining their future direction.
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Been away for a month or so and just found out about these proposed changes to Huttball and just one question... why the hell are you messing with probably the best thing created in this game's history?? I understand small tweaks to cater for advancements to new skills and abilities but the whole hinder changes are just stupid and taking a whole lot of life out of it.
Majority of the current playerbase don't even know (or care?) how to Huttball anyway and I can't help but feel you're just dumbing it down to cater for their inability to learn how to play it properly.
Ugh. Please don't.
They aren't doing anything with hinder... that was a proposed change that they decided against after community feedback.
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But it is a Friday night. I played yesterday when it was your Thursday night and it was very different. 24/7 “may” happen on Friday or Saturday night, but it’s not the norm for the rest of the week. You can’t gauge it on the weekend alone.
Check the post that he made yesterday at 5:30am. I'm pretty sure that the screenshots he posted at 5:30 am on Friday morning EST were not taken Friday evening
. I leave it up to your deductive reasoning skils to figure out when those screen shots were taken, but I'd guess it wasn't over the weekend. In fact, I'd guess it was probably the Thursday night that you are saying you played.. I mean he could have taken them last Friday, and just saved them just to mislead everyone, but I have my doubts that he did that.Side note, I think you should probably start posting screen shots of fleet when you keep claiming it's dead. It mostly seems you are basing dead or not on PvP pops, but it's pretty confusing for all of us to keep track of whether you are playing imp or pub (something that will be moot in a couple weeks) or 70 or midbies or lowbies (and PvP pops for midbies/lowbies are really not a population issue, but a encouraging people to play those levels issue).
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Tanks are a little more in demand then healers, but it's whatever you enjoy playing more is really the way to go. And also what you are better at. A good healer is definitely more in demand than a subpar tank.
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Starforge is fine for me... what server are you on?
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How could you like such a thing? 😱 PETA is coming for you!!! ✝
Fine fine fine...
Better?
:D:D -
I'm trying to think of something that we could replace rock-tossing with that would be cooler than lightning (well, technically most things would be physically cooler than lightning, but you know what I mean) and not coming up with much.
1. Let's toss rainbows!.... Gay as I am... no.
2. We could levitate cows at our enemies! Yes! Oh wait... PETA would get involved.
3. Aha! We can turn our enemies into pillars of salt! No one's done that one before I'm sure!
[long pause while thinking up more]
[minor pause following]
[and another]
[okay it's just one big long pause]
4. How about we just make them insta-explode? 100% lethallity, no crit check, can't be resisted. Sounds Sithy.
5. Got it! We make them all suddenly fall in love the little squirrel running past and the enemy forgets to fight.
Hm. Rock tossing. Not a fan, it's kind of uninspired.
Help me here, people. We need rock-tossing alternatives (and yes I've already thought about whipped cream).
I like the tossing cows at them.
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Right now this change doesn't seem like it will encourage tanks to wear tank gear instead of dps gear. Checked on both my jug and sin, and basically naked (with shield generator) vs fully geared the shield chance drops from 50% to 30%. Maybe instead of the stances giving a flat 15% shield increase, make it so they double the effect of every point of shield granted? Quick mafs, that should come out to about 50% at the end of the day, probably need a little tweaking, but that would really encourage tanks to wear tank gear, as only wearing a shield generator would give them barely 10% shield chance, and at that point you may as well bring an actual dps.
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I assure you, I'm not back peddling on anything. But your quote of mine wasn't what you claimed it was...please stop lying.The more I think about this question, the more I need to correct my assessment...it's not dying, it's purposefully being killed.
Man, 30 seconds with the search function and it's amazing what you find...
Dude, stop pretending you haven't been saying the game is dying. You have been. I'm not sure why you're pretending you've not been you're welcome to your opinion of course. But after 6 years, dont be surprised that folks dont take you that seriously when you talk about it.
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I complete agree. Cleanses can change the outcome of fights but I only see 1% of the community doing them and even less as dps hence why I made this guide. To remind players what they can cleanse and to actually incorporate it in combat.
But isn't it better to just let the healer stay stunned, and then force him/her to either let someone die, or pop their cc break in the first ten seconds of the match, and then rage at them when their team loses? I mean that's what usually happens right?
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Quoted from another thread the relevant part to DM fleet being low:
Given that is the European server, and the World Cup is currently on during prime time, and that's apparently a big thing in Europe, I would actually be very surprised if we didn't see a dip. There is no corresponding dip in the US servers because A. Soccer (football) is just not a big a thing here (I have to actively search out scores to find out how the matches went, instead of it being top news on things like Google News or other news aggregators) and B. The US choked hard and didn't even make it to the World Cup, so even those tangentially interested in Soccer (football) like myself aren't changing our behavior at all (but if the US was in the World Cup, I would definitely be watching that instead of playing SWTOR).If the world cup ends and there is no rise in population, then people should worry. But not while literally the most watched sporting event in the world is going on.
Note, in 2010 and 2014 an average of 3.2 billion people watched the World Cup. So literally half the world's population is doing that instead of whatever other leisure time activity they did (or work, apparently a lot of places in Europe close for World Cup matches). So yeah, a population decline right now should just not be a concern.
. I leave it up to your deductive reasoning skils to figure out when those screen shots were taken, but I'd guess it wasn't over the weekend. In fact, I'd guess it was probably the Thursday night that you are saying you played.. I mean he could have taken them last Friday, and just saved them just to mislead everyone, but I have my doubts that he did that.
:D:D
Expertise
in PvP
Posted
Except they didn't use expertise to balance classes in pvp. They could have, just give various classes a bonus/penalty to expertise and tweak it to balance, but literally all expertise did was create an artificial difference in gear for PvP and PVE. If they bring it back, and then use expertise to balance classes (i.e. sorcs get full 100% expertise, mercs get 95% expertise) than that would actually be great (I have been advocating for this for years). But if they just bring it back for the sake of PvP and PvE have different sets of gear, I'm gonna be annoyed. There is no reason to do that, it's just PvPers complained about it taking too long to get full 248s just doing PvP, so make it easier to do that, but dont re-complicate the only part of gearing they actually made easier in 5.0.