Official Q&A Thread for March 16th, 2012 Q&A Blog Post

[ClutchJedi]

Is there any plans on making higher tier commendations, battlemaster tokens or unassembled rakata pieces, exchangeable to a certain different vendor for a specific mod you would want? I think this would be a good idea to give a incentive to players wanting to obtain repeat gear to maximize there characters how they so choose to buy obtaining the mods the want more effectively. For example: A player really wants endurance, power and surge rating. They have all the higher end gear but settle for a 56 mod because this is the one they want to maximize rather then using the 58 mod it comes with that’s less in their mid. They have the 56 mod with 34 power and 48 surge. It would be a great upgrade to actually obtain the 37 power and 51 surge. Edited March 7, 2012 by ClutchJedi

[Fingolfin]

Is there any plans to modify the resolve system? Specifically concerning roots and snares?

[Koranes]

as it stands JK tanks are the least favored, this is due to 2 major factors, resource starved at times and second almost Zero energy defense. Are there plans to address the JK tanks so that they are inline with shadow and vanguard? Edited March 7, 2012 by Koranes

[SuperGrunt]

Can we get an option to send out guild wide mail please? Guild leaders need to be able to be able to pass out more information then is available in the short login window. Having a guild website helps but it is difficult to put in that short login message window enough info to express the need to go to the guild website.

[YuvalZiv]

Can we expect a barber shop feature added, that will be unlocked through the legacy system? Are there any plans to add it?

[GreymaneAlpha]

Tab-targetting is exceedingly awkward and unintuitive. It almost always picks targets out of line of sight or behind you, instead of preferentially selecting targets directly in front of your character.

 

Is this going to be improved on? Right now, I see difficulties in targeting as the number one "skill-cap" limiter in PvP.

[Ancen]

During the summit, it was mentioned Ilum is going to be undergoing major redesigns. I also have heard of a "Galactic Operations" type of RVR-oriented PVP being looked into. Will Ilum's redesign tie in with this (and if not, will it remain a style of open-world PVP zone), and what kind of timeline are we looking at for each of these two features (a few months, several months, a year)?

[gildorxix]

Partially moddable premium (green) items were removed as they essentially lied to the players: an item missing a mod slot would never be able to match a high end non-moddable item. Instead, to compensate for the loss of diversity, orange versions of all green armors was created and given to the crafters. So, yes, if you see a green armor you really like, you still can have that appearance until end level. It does take a bit of work - you either need to become a crafter yourself, befriend one or trawl the GTN

 

My understanding with this statement made before launch was that all green items appearances would be possible to achieve as moddable through reverse engineering. Is this a feature that is still in the works or has it been scrapped?

Edited March 8, 2012 by gildorxix

[Saverick]

Can we get audio cues for abilities not activating? Such as distinct sounds for things like Cooldown Incomplete, Target out of Range, Not Enough Resources to Activate (IE Rage, Force, Ammo/Heat, Tactical Advantage, ect ect)

 

I regularly find myself spamming abilities when they don't activate the first time i press the button. Most of the time I can't tell why the ability isn't activating because in an intense fight i don't have the time to look for the ability on my hotbar to find out why. Being able to learn the difference between distinct audio cues would be a great improvement to the game.

[Felioats]

With PvP and hard mode/ops gear becoming reverse-engineerable to learn custom (orange) schematics for it, so that we can subsequently crit-craft for an augment slot, will this functionality one day be extended to all gear? Or perhaps all artifact-quality gear? Social gear?

 

Or is something else coming that would render this unnecessary?

Edited March 8, 2012 by Felioats

[Giolon]

If SWTOR is about allowing players to play their Star Wars fantasies as mentioned at the Guild Summit, why shouldn't players be able to create any species/class combination that they want from the get go? As the proposed Legacy system stands, a new player who wants to, for example, REALLY play a Chiss Jedi Knight would first have to level up either a Chiss character to level 50 OR level high enough with another character in order to purchase the unlock.

[Coachie]

Is alacrity working as intended? If not, are there any changes planned?

[carows]

Can we get something like guild abilities such as a mass raise, % of cash drops go to the guild bank, etc?

[Claymaniac]

Will there be an overhaul to the achievement system? Currently there is no way to track progress towards them and most of them seem to just happen. Maybe even add more objectives? Survey a planet's map, etc. Reasons to do stuff other than sit in the fleet all day.

[Chessack]

I would like to know if there is any chance we could get cross-factional chat in custom chat channels. I understand the reasons for regulating it in general and other global arenas, but since we can lock, password protect, and moderate our own custom channels, there should be no reason to prohibit cross-factional chat if we desire it. My guild is dual-factioned, and trying to coordinate things is a nightmare without this functionality. Is there any chance that we can get cross-factional chat on moderated channels sooner rather than later?

[Iliac]

Any chance of getting the ability to stop the @#%@# $#*&$ crew skill mission complete window from poping up when in combat?

[Manoog]

Are there any plans to allow custom versions of non-custom schematics to be created? For instance, I'd love a suit of powered ultramesh armor for my Powertech, but the closest I've seen available in custom armors all have... less than ideal color schemes.

[Talonious]

I have gotten a group of my real world friends to travel the TOR world together. We have one member who is lower level than the rest of us by 2 almost 3 levels. We have been trying to figure out how XP is distributed because we would have thought he would catch up, but in many cases us higher level characters get more XP in missions and flashpoints than he does. We want him to catch up because he is playing our tank and healing him is a struggle sometimes. Can you explain how this is supposed to work? Or if there is anything we can do to help?

 

Thank you for your time.

[bizcuits]

Are there any plans to address low population servers and merge them to increase playability for these servers?

[Wren_Atticus]

Are there any planned improvements for Scrappers/Operatives? Specifically, any plans for a gap closer, increased sustained DPS, or increase damage absorption on our shield?

 

We rely heavily on stealth, yet in PvP it is hard to get back into stealth unless you are constantly avoiding battles. In Hutt Ball, we have less advantage than any other advanced class. We are a melee class with no way to get in close fast. One or more of the above changes would go a long way towards making us more viable out of stealth.

 

PS- There is a reason we are the least played classes. Perhaps some improvements would change that?

Edited March 8, 2012 by Wren_Atticus

[Sandriell]

Will the UI update include any new chat functionality? Two of changes I would like to see include a way to see when an inactive chat tab has new activity (make the tab title glow or something), and making each tab persistent in the chat channel you are talking on.

 

To elaborate on the second one, have it so that if I am on tab A and talking in the General channel and I switch to tab B and talk in the Guild channel, when I switch back to tab A, it should be set back to General channel. Likewise when I switch back to tab B it should stay Guild channel. Persistence.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Sandriell

[cidtheslayer]

I went out and paid a little more than I normally would for a pair of headphones by getting the Razer headphones for Old Republic.

 

What are the plans for the 'ambient lighting' function on the headphones and increasing the level of the razor in game crystal in line with the pre-order ones?

 

Many thanks in advance!

[yoshter]

When will other playable Races become available? For example (Togrutta, Nautolan, Qel Dor etc.)

 

The initial statement prior to guild summit led us to believe this would be a legacy perk. Turns out "races that are in the Game that are not yet playable". Means unlocking playable races for other classes.

[kjng]

Concerning the character transfer to Asia Pacific servers in Australia, will the majority of the Asia Pacific players actually be able to make that transfer? It seems odd that you have left out the bulk of Asia Pacific countries in the Asia Pacific region.

[JDBoston]

We heard quite a bit about the changes coming to many of the crafting skills and crew skills in general at the guild summit, but I didn't hear any changes to the UI itself. I am constantly refining gear for my guilds many ALT characters and it's a mess trying to sort through what's the best version of this item slot for this level.

 

What I would like to see is have the base name and then when you click on it you can see what upgraded versions you can make of that item if any. Even if they were placed in an expandable tree or something similar. I just need some way of telling if I need to reverse engineer that helm into two final purple versions.

 

When your a craftaholic like myself you want to be able to make absolutely everything at a moments notice. Any details you can share on changes to the UI or general crafting system beyond what was covered at the guild summit?

 

On a related note, when they went over that each popup screen will be resizable does that mean I can have say my Biochem crafting screen super big and take up most the screen and mission screen take up just tiny bit or are all the crew skill screens tied to a shared scale ratio.

 

Thanks for considering this.