Community Q&A – Feb 10th 2012 Blog Discussion

[DarkoDon]

They confirmed dual spec...

 

Whiners got their candy.....*sigh

[QuaziPance]

What always amuses me about forums is they think they are the majority of players when really we are just the extremely Vocal minority. Most people are playing the game having fun and stoked at being jedi and bounty hunters etc.

 

Yeah I have to agree with this completely. The feelings I get from talking to people in game is always positive. Then on the rare occasion that I check the forums, they are always "No one is playing this game, everyone hates it, bioware sucks".

 

I hope bioware is noticing this as well. So that they don't just cater to the forum crowd. It seems that they are doing a good job of focusing more on the majority which just wants to play the game and have fun, which is cool. I know a lot of developers tend to take the forums too seriously, which is never a good idea.

 

So, if devs are listening, go wander around in game, talk to people playing, they are happy. Don't listen to rage-filled forum crowd.

[Abrazarboles]

Oh my god. Really nobody asked for the optimization of this game. The resources that this game spend are a crazy. And everyone of the Q&A must have a NASA PC. The Alderaan WZ it's a mess. Low fps for the lasser turrets. The GPU gets 80ºC and nobody cares? Really, REALLY take a look for this...

[Lesrach]

That's one big hideous feature. Given most JK gear consist of 3-4 models colored in different tones of brown I've already handpicked my all black gear that I was hoping to wear when they make gear fully customable. With the "hue to chest" option all of that goes out the window.

 

The simpler solution would be dyes and remodelling, but no, BW had to be "innovative" *sigh*

 

I really would like to be able to take all mods out of ie pvp gear and so that one of the mods would have expertise in it. Then I'd be able to use my picked orange gear at lvl 50.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Lesrach

[fixit]

I want to know is this.

 

Why does Agent healers have be the worst healers in game by a huge margin with a myriad of broken talents that never ever get fixed? And why do you slap us with massive nerfs every patch for no real good reason? For teh lolz?

 

Sick and tired of you ignoring this class and nerfing it into oblivion.

 

Whoops, this will get ignored. If it was a sorc or sage question, it would be answered 5 minutes ago. Must please those masses, right?

Edited February 15, 2012 by fixit

[pnuk]

Hey Star Wars the old republic is amazing, but as anything in life it still requires improving.

My main concern is that I believe that the TOR universe is too small. I would suggest bringing out new planets (an extra planet for every level group) and/or simply creating more items. I would also recommend that you make an expansion pack where war finally breakes out. I would love to see some new classes and races. There should be a few more operations too. I believe that expansion comes with time and so far this is very very good. I also see that the main reason the TOR universe is so small is because BioWare put a lot of emphasis on the quality of the game (excellent job btw), and I respect that but to keep players attracted to mmos you guys gotta make this thing bigger. I see that TOR is slowly losing members. I would recommend to keep making comic books etc. to attract people of different groups. The more members would really make the game better because then a person wouldnt have to wait a millenium to finally get a group together for a flashpoint or op. PVP is great thanks.

[pnuk]

I want to know is this.

 

Why does Agent healers have be the worst healers in game by a huge margin with a myriad of broken talents that never ever get fixed? And why do you slap us with massive nerfs every patch for no real good reason? For teh lolz?

 

Sick and tired of you ignoring this class and nerfing it into oblivion.

 

Whoops, this will get ignored. If it was a sorc or sage question, it would be answered 5 minutes ago. Must please those masses, right?

 

buddy we agents (in my opinion) are the best class. Check out our spaceship, the best. We have the best cc. I dont know what your talking about our heals are amazing and if you would be dps we would own them all. The main problem with most agents is that they have the attitude of sith. They would love to go and kill instead of help people. Instead of sneaking their way past mobs they want to go and shoot them. If your having trouble with agents, blame yourself.

[Ratatooey]

All I can say is that they really ought to knock it out of the park with Legacy. My 20 some odd levels seem pointless, and what they are talking about is unerwhelming

[Thundartwothree]

With the upcomming rated and ranked Warzones, how is or does Bioware plan to address the current rampant amount of Hackers/Bots/Exploiters? And plan to make a legitimate ranking system where it would be so far askew due to these factors.

 

While on the subject, what if any punishment is done to offenders of said behaviour?

 

Its become so prolific on a number of servers including my own, I constantly see several people I have myself reported, blatantly hacking/exploiting, that I have begun to wonder if infact there is any punishment or even a way to prove on Biowares end in a technical manner if these offences have even taken place?

 

I would suggest that people abusing these eploits/hacks ect ect have all valor reset and all gear gained in the act of using said hacks be removed on the first offence and an out right lifetime ban on any future offences.

 

In the end Bioware may lose a number of accounts and profit banning these players, but that cannot outwiegh the number of players who play legitimatly leaving due to the inability to enjoy themselves.

[SGTSITH]

sir i know there are a lot of people out there that are unhappy with the sir name they picked including me

 

when can we expect a name change option

[Tuscad]

I found it to be decent. I was not let down Q&A.

[Aram_Darksun]

The answer about the legacy system seemed to imply many (though not all) of the features would only be applicable to new characters.

 

Are we in essence to be punished for already having made characters which will now miss out on options we may have otherwise chosen?

 

From what I understand many of these perks are appearance options (which a species largely is) so wouldn't a barber shop alleviate a lot of these issues?

 

For arguments sake say all perks were already implimented. It seems very short sighted that most of these perks you want for character creation have to wait until you get the legacy level on characters who obviously have to have been already created.

 

In light of that surely a barber shop or some way to utilize these options has to have been considered.

 

This is further compounded by the fact that the character you may want most to have these options is likely your first character too.

[Madwooki]

Why was the terrible fps issues on Illum or anywhere there is combat with say 20 people not answered?

[baMvalO]

there is gona be any DPS meter?? for raids and FPs

[Slaunyeh]

My only TOR issue so far has been the un-unbindable CS ticket button. I'm ecstatic that it was even acknowledged, let alone fixed ASAP.

 

Hurray!

[Xelestial_Dragon]

For a new 50 with not too many complaints, I found this to be a very interesting summary with a lot of cool changes. If I spent a lot of time on the forums complaining and looking for info I guess I'd be disappointed, but they're already doing A LOT of work very quickly. I guess as a WoW player I got used to things being addressed years later if at all instead of 2 months later.

 

Granted some of this stuff should have shipped with the game (target of target, guild banks) I am overall pleased and confident they'll continue to try to deal with the hundreds of issues in the game as soon as they can.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Xelestial_Dragon

[Nicolettexiv]

now get cracking on those server transfers.

[Nicolettexiv]

The answer about the legacy system seemed to imply many (though not all) of the features would only be applicable to new characters.

 

Are we in essence to be punished for already having made characters which will now miss out on options we may have otherwise chosen?

 

From what I understand many of these perks are appearance options (which a species largely is) so wouldn't a barber shop alleviate a lot of these issues?

 

For arguments sake say all perks were already implimented. It seems very short sighted that most of these perks you want for character creation have to wait until you get the legacy level on characters who obviously have to have been already created.

 

In light of that surely a barber shop or some way to utilize these options has to have been considered.

 

This is further compounded by the fact that the character you may want most to have these options is likely your first character too.

 

Which is unfortunate, as that's likely the character that also earned all of those legacy levels.

 

I'm concerned as I've already filled up my character sheet; so if a new race unlocks.. I'm SOL.

 

Although, the legacy system will supposedly unlock abilities, items, etc in addition to a new race/class combination. I just read an interview with Reid in which he says you will get new emotes unlocked, including a /dance that makes your companion dance as well. So clearly some is just fun fluff that will apply to all legacy characters of a certain level.

 

I do want an appearance modification option though.. my hair style is really cramping.. my style. Maybe not the old timey barbershops of wow, but more in line with the appearance change options in SWG.

[bloomfireblade]

now get cracking on those server transfers.

 

yes that would be something usefull aside the bugs that still have not solved

[Kaladorei]

god this game is dead.

 

after reading that...it will be f2p soon...

[Beaverreaverr]

More starship battles, keep the same daily system, just make tonnes more of em, right now that is the best part of the game in my opinion... Thankx:)

[jokerkendo]

I'm posting here since a thread I found via google was closed and directed me to this thread for my comments.

 

Regarding the answer given on Advanced Class respeccing, specifically that it wasn't planned. I know that Bioware wanted to make at least some difference between their class system and those of WoW. Making a non-alterable class decision is NOT the way to do it.

 

We've come through years of MMO's that have made player freedom more and more accessible. Now we come to a stage where you make a decision on which advanced class you wish to play- And be locked into that. That's it, no possible way to reverse the decision, you're in, like it or lump it?

 

Now I know that this isn't an issue with some folks. I know there'll probably be plenty of people telling me "if you don't like it, leave" or "Just level another character to go the other spec." Bioware has encouraged us to post on these forums if there's a game issue we don't like, however, so the aforementioned type of players opinion holds little meaning as I'm bringing my dissatisfaction to an avenue where the devs may be able to see it.

 

Now on to my thoughts:

 

Why was the decision made to make it impossible to respec away from an advanced class if we discover we don't like it? It's a Deevolution of the MMO process. It hearkens back to the days of Diablo 2 and the "Oh [expletive] I sneezed and put a point in the wrong skills, argh, argh, argh I have to delete now!" though admittedly not to that extreme. Its a step back in character design and the fact that Bioware doesn't see an issue with it is a bit obtuse.

 

My wife doesn't even want to play anymore, after anticipating the game for years and breathlessly waiting for it to launch. She detests the idea of being forced to pigeonhole her character. She even had an opportunity to beta test for a bit and never saw the forced speccing, er.. enforced.

 

Why do we have to choose? Respecs are available, Bioware... Please go that extra step and allow us to choose another advanced spec if we so desire. I'm not asking for something extreme, such as turning a level 50 Sith Inquisitor into a level 50 Smuggler, just for the ability to have freedom within our chosen class.

 

::edited to clear up formatting issues::

Edited March 7, 2012 by jokerkendo

[Sapphix]

I'm posting here since a thread I found via google was closed and directed me to this thread for my comments.

 

Regarding the answer given on Advanced Class respeccing, specifically that it wasn't planned. I know that Bioware wanted to make at least some difference between their class system and those of WoW. Making a non-alterable class decision is NOT the way to do it.

 

We've come through years of MMO's that have made player freedom more and more accessible. Now we come to a stage where you make a decision on which advanced class you wish to play- And be locked into that. That's it, no possible way to reverse the decision, you're in, like it or lump it?

 

Now I know that this isn't an issue with some folks. I know there'll probably be plenty of people telling me "if you don't like it, leave" or "Just level another character to go the other spec." Bioware has encouraged us to post on these forums if there's a game issue we don't like, however, so the aforementioned type of players opinion holds little meaning as I'm bringing my dissatisfaction to an avenue where the devs may be able to see it.

 

Now on to my thoughts:

 

Why was the decision made to make it impossible to respec away from an advanced class if we discover we don't like it? It's a Deevolution of the MMO process. It hearkens back to the days of Diablo 2 and the "Oh [expletive] I sneezed and put a point in the wrong skills, argh, argh, argh I have to delete now!" though admittedly not to that extreme. Its a step back in character design and the fact that Bioware doesn't see an issue with it is a bit obtuse.

 

My wife doesn't even want to play anymore, after anticipating the game for years and breathlessly waiting for it to launch. She detests the idea of being forced to pigeonhole her character. She even had an opportunity to beta test for a bit and never saw the forced speccing, er.. enforced.

 

Why do we have to choose? Respecs are available, Bioware... Please go that extra step and allow us to choose another advanced spec if we so desire. I'm not asking for something extreme, such as turning a level 50 Sith Inquisitor into a level 50 Smuggler, just for the ability to have freedom within our chosen class.

 

::edited to clear up formatting issues::

 

Short answer... advance classes are two different classes. You pick your actual 'class' at level 10.

 

I understand the terminology is confusing but base class has nothing to do with the actual 'class' system. They share a small amount of quests through their story but that in no way warrants a complete class change considering all players of the same faction will have a majority of the same quests.

 

I hate that this ruins you and your wife's desire to play. I even agree with you in some ways about the evolution of how classes are defined in MMOs. I wouldn't say that SWTOR de-evolves but rather stays the same. In all honesty I think future MMOs would be a lot more flexible with their class systems but at the moment SWTOR nor the community is ready for that.

 

I think the discussion runs deeper than we all are willing to admit. Some players see advance classes as nothing but a spec and they are severely disappointed when they can not respec. Other players see advance classes as the actual class and would be infuriated if others where allowed to respec.

 

It is hard to transcend to the idea that you choose your class at level 10 because we make the decision in-game rather than at character creation. Doing that leaves players always wondering 'what if' instead of committing them to that class taking the good with the bad. If they didn't like the class, they would just re-roll instead of asking the devs for the ability to switch to another class.

 

You have to understand that if they allow AC respecs it would reduce their class system down from 8 to 4. This would damage the integrity of their class system. I'm certain that Bioware wanted to give us 16 full stories for each of the classes they had planned but time and money was a major factor. Perhaps in the future they would release content that would be directed towards your advanced class rather than your base class.

 

I personally think they could solve this problem by allowing a paid service that would swap your AC. I would see that as taboo as changing factions was in that other game. When it was first mention, it received a lot of criticism but players accepted it because it was limited to a server process instead of an in-game mechanic.

 

Again, I'm truly sorry that you are disappointed. I have ran into issues in SWTOR that has let me down as well but all I can say is just hope for a better future. Once Bioware has ironed out the wrinkles they can start adding more polish. I personally would rather see them start defining the advanced classes separately rather than blending them together.

[SillyTurtle]

Honestly, switching ADVANCED class is just, no. It's bad. Like the above poster said, you are practically bringing 8 classes down to 4. You are defeating the purpose of this MMOs design.

 

Not to sound mean or rude, but you have to accept the choices you make in life. I know (blah blah blah) this is a video game and not real life but the same still applies. Discipline is needed in these sorts of things from both a creative standpoint and mechanics of the core gameplay. They say to make your choices CAREFULLY. Maybe some should take the process more seriously and research each side to choose the best choice for you. Don't yell at Bioware for YOUR mistakes, its not fair. Take some responsibility.

 

Every character you make is an individual. If you don't see it that way, I guess thats fine but it just makes it harder for you to accept it. Advanced classes are treated as 2 entirely different classes, just with shared abilities. Again the above poster said it best, you don't even choose a class until level 10 technically. SI, SW, Trooper, Smuggler... those are just empty shells basically until you train them in whatever advanced spec.

 

Now switching specs is a whole different story. I have seen countless posts about this, however either people are using the wrong words and want dual spec, or people are intending to say “dual advanced class”. It seems it's more of the first. At first, I was always against this in any MMO I would want to play. However after lots of thinking, based on the design of advanced classes, dual specing within that class would be ok in my opinion. I'm starting to embrace it now. It's nice to know regardless of spec, that person is still a Sage, or still a Marauder - and not a completely different class like other MMOs where its 3 trees per class and each tree defines you.

Edited March 7, 2012 by SillyTurtle

[Meleen]

Honestly, switching ADVANCED class is just, no. It's bad. Like the above poster said, you are practically bringing 8 classes down to 4. You are defeating the purpose of this MMOs design.

 

Not to sound mean or rude, but you have to accept the choices you make in life. I know (blah blah blah) this is a video game and not real life but the same still applies. Discipline is needed in these sorts of things from both a creative standpoint and mechanics of the core gameplay. They say to make your choices CAREFULLY. Maybe some should take the process more seriously and research each side to choose the best choice for you. Don't yell at Bioware for YOUR mistakes, its not fair. Take some responsibility.

 

Every character you make is an individual. If you don't see it that way, I guess thats fine but it just makes it harder for you to accept it. Advanced classes are treated as 2 entirely different classes, just with shared abilities. Again the above poster said it best, you don't even choose a class until level 10 technically. SI, SW, Trooper, Smuggler... those are just empty shells basically until you train them in whatever advanced spec.

 

Now switching specs is a whole different story. I have seen countless posts about this, however either people are using the wrong words and want dual spec, or people are intending to say “dual advanced class”. It seems it's more of the first. At first, I was always against this in any MMO I would want to play. However after lots of thinking, based on the design of advanced classes, dual specing within that class would be ok in my opinion. I'm starting to embrace it now. It's nice to know regardless of spec, that person is still a Sage, or still a Marauder - and not a completely different class like other MMOs where its 3 trees per class and each tree defines you.

 

It seems to me that a lot of people are dead set opposed to something that in no way affects them. I am fully aware of the terminology involved in it (advanced class vs respeccing within a class) even though some people seem to want to linger on the linguistics as opposed to the meaning.

 

Advanced class switching is bad. I keep seeing people say this, saying it lowers the value of the classes, etc, sky is falling, blah blah blah. But I've sat in general chat on a number of nights, watching people try to get groups together only to see them fall apart because they couldn't find a tank or healer. Yeah, that's really gooood for the game.

 

When it comes to advanced class respeccing, I'm aware there are many strong opinions, though I frankly don't see why people who'll not be overly affected by it continue to mindlessly slam their foreheads into their keyboards to spew the same. "NAO, CUZ I SEZ SO ITZ BADD!@1" and various variations of it.

 

Hell, even if they set it so you could only switch your advanced class with a class (please, no inane arguments about trading a smuggler for a jedi knight here) once per month, I'd be down with that. But setting something simple in stone with a "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" engraving on it is not a step back, it's a major leap.