Community Q&A – March 30th 2012 Blog Discussion

[CDSzafraniec]

Apparently, in order to satisfy the playerbase, Bioware should have...

 

- Made a new Op with 700 bosses.

- Not nerfed healers so we can continue to roll the 'too easy' flashpoints and ops that people complain they are able to clear too quickly.

- Offer 30 character slots while decreasing their focus on making you roll alts

- Offered server merges when Bioware has already said they are trying to figure out how to let people transfer with their legacy intact, which is the main reason people don't want to reroll

- Make solo crafting viable while still giving people a reason to grind pvp and pve content when you can just craft equal gear.

- Done a survey to find out what every player thinks looks good and put that in the game.

- Redo all their visuals on armor for hoods.

- Any same gender stuff in this thread? Did I miss it?

- Went back in time and done all of this already.

 

I think I hit the major points. So just go ahead and get on that, bioware.

[Kheldras]

Players have expressed some dissatisfaction with endgame armor sets – can you comment on your plans for future endgame appearances?

 

Daniel Erickson: We have heard the community loud and clear when it comes to armor sets. What we’ve heard the players say is, “I don’t care how high level I get, I still want my core sets to look and feel like Star Wars and like my class - cooler but not crazy. Keep the crazy to optional gear.” I will warn that creating new armor is a part of our game with long lead times so it will take a set or so before players see a strong shift in direction but we’re already working on some stuff I love and I think players will too.

 

WHAT A SURPRISE.... Did we sign up for a Star wars game or what? NO ONE could have forseen this, just lets put up WoW-Reject designs.

 

But its nice it got heard.. even if they will puke out 1-2 non-starwars looking sets, before they get back to STAR WARS in a STAR WARS game...

Edited April 2, 2012 by Kheldras

[kodrac]

Apparently, in order to satisfy the playerbase, Bioware should have...

 

- Made a new Op with 700 bosses.

- Not nerfed healers so we can continue to roll the 'too easy' flashpoints and ops that people complain they are able to clear too quickly.

- Offer 30 character slots while decreasing their focus on making you roll alts

- Offered server merges when Bioware has already said they are trying to figure out how to let people transfer with their legacy intact, which is the main reason people don't want to reroll

- Make solo crafting viable while still giving people a reason to grind pvp and pve content when you can just craft equal gear.

- Done a survey to find out what every player thinks looks good and put that in the game.

- Redo all their visuals on armor for hoods.

- Any same gender stuff in this thread? Did I miss it?

- Went back in time and done all of this already.

 

I think I hit the major points. So just go ahead and get on that, bioware.

 

LOL spot on! If only people paid attention to anything outside themselves...

[Nuadin]

I assume Legacy only works with your characters? Not that I care about any of the bonuses but me and my brother both decided to roll bounty hunters and do a Brother Sister combo. It would be cool to represent this. Us both being brother and sister out of game, its nice having it represented in game as well.

 

I assume nothing like that will be in affect? I know its a silly question but I didn't even think it was a possibility until Legacy was explained in more detail.

[Aloro]

I'm unclear how orange items will be different from purple items post 1.2. Both will be "shells" from which you can take, or into which you can put (I believe) armoring/mods/enhancements. Both can have augment slots if crafted.

 

So what's the difference?

[Aloro]

I assume Legacy only works with your characters? Not that I care about any of the bonuses but me and my brother both decided to roll bounty hunters and do a Brother Sister combo. It would be cool to represent this. Us both being brother and sister out of game, its nice having it represented in game as well.

 

I assume nothing like that will be in affect? I know its a silly question but I didn't even think it was a possibility until Legacy was explained in more detail.

 

A legacy is limited to one account and one server. The devs have said they'd like to allow more relationships on family trees in the future, so this might be one such feature, but I'd be amazed if any mechanical benefits were granted, based on a relationship to another char. That'd be too easily exploited.

[varrangian]

What I get from this:

 

1) They're going to charge for additional character slots.

 

I get that impression too. The only reason this bothers me is because legacies are server dependent. So if you want to take full advantage of the legacy system and all its options you will have to either have more slots (and it looks like pay cash for them) or do the same work more than once to unlock things on a second server.

[Aloro]

I get that impression too. The only reason this bothers me is because legacies are server dependent. So if you want to take full advantage of the legacy system and all its options you will have to either have more slots (and it looks like pay cash for them) or do the same work more than once to unlock things on a second server.

 

Let's not get worked up about sheer speculation with absolutely no evidence to support it.

 

We don't know how the slots will become available. We don't know if it'll be through the legacy system, or bought with credits, or accomplished in game somehow, or will require a one-time cash outlay, or what. We only know that more slots will be available in the future.

 

Once they tell us how the slots will be implemented, THEN everyone can come unglued and start ranting and raving about how Bioware destroyed the game. At least at that point, irrational anxiety will be expected. Right now, it's just too early.

[varrangian]

Let's not get worked up about sheer speculation with absolutely no evidence to support it.

 

We don't know how the slots will become available. We don't know if it'll be through the legacy system, or bought with credits, or accomplished in game somehow, or will require a one-time cash outlay, or what. We only know that more slots will be available in the future.

 

Once they tell us how the slots will be implemented, THEN everyone can come unglued and start ranting and raving about how Bioware destroyed the game. At least at that point, irrational anxiety will be expected. Right now, it's just too early.

 

While the aspect of how said slots will be attained is speculation the fact remains that as it stands now, you cannot take full advantage of the legacy system on a single server. The limit of 8 characters and the fact the legacies are server dependent mean that many of the options are simply not attainable or realistically so without forcing people to repeat work they've already accomplished.

[Urkanan]

I didn't like it =(

 

things that caught my eye:

 

we’re going to extend this Q&A into next week as well

 

"Fair warning: we will use next week's Q&A for marketing of 1.2 again, even though we were cheeky enough to put one purely 1.2-related question in last week's Q&A too."

 

 

The Neutral Legacy reward will not be coming in Game Update 1.2 I’m afraid, as true grey alignment advancement did not make the cut.

No surprises here. I currently don't care about grey alignment, and still love BW and the game, but it is starting to itch that so many core mechanics are so deeply unfinished =(

 

Fear of being left out of core mechanics and perks is keeping me from playing my toons. I would be alright with it if devs were less obscure about design. I've learnt this usually hides big bloopers: see race customizations not being retroactive on existing toons after over 3 months of live game, and no plans to fix this in the near future.

 

 

We are 100% committed to providing more character slots per server in the future but unfortunately we’re not ready to talk about how that will work

"We reserve the right to charge for this".

I'm ok with this as a means to control and lighten the toll on their resources.

 

 

 

You can use Reverse Engineering on Operations gear but not PvP gear.

Battlemaster appearances require Valor even though normal Battlemaster items do not. This is because the recipes to produce Battlemaster appearances do not require PvP activity, while purchasing Battlemaster gear requires PvP commendations.

 

It is not currently possible to trade Bind on Pickup items for Reverse Engineering.

Together with an extract of next answer:

 

• Reverse engineering an item with mods leads to empty orange equivalents of the end game items. This can be done after the mods are extracted and used in a different item!
  
• The item you learn to create is commonly Bind on Equip, as we want to encourage a more lively market on the Galactic Trade Network.
  

Does this mean that endgame appearances are "commonly BoE"? Are these appearances limited to "Story Mode colors"?

 

Yes: that undermines "freedom of choice" for looks =(

No: Isn't it kinda biased that you can look like a bad*** raider without raiding, but can't look like a bad*** PvP'er without doing PvP?

 

No, I don't want to take endgame PvE gear looks away from casuals. I don't wanna be special.

I just want the pvp people not to be =(

 

 

We have also heard at the Guild Summit and through community feedback on the Forums that many players have built up a significant stack of custom appearances for future use in their cargo holds and would really like to upgrade these with an augment slot to make them fully competitive as end game gear. We absolutely support this and will be introducing the ability to do so in a future Game Update.

 

I'll hold my breath on this one and hope for them not to redo the way crafting works for this.

 

Apparently "augmented gear is not required, it only puts you above the curve". Not that I like the crafting crits system; I just dislike displays of inconsistency just to please whiners.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Urkanan

[Urkanan]

I'm unclear how orange items will be different from purple items post 1.2. Both will be "shells" from which you can take, or into which you can put (I believe) armoring/mods/enhancements. Both can have augment slots if crafted.

 

So what's the difference?

 

There are no effective differences.

 

I have always wondered why this game is not simply "shells" and mods, with the mods carrying the quality and rating of the item.

[varrangian]

There are no effective differences.

 

I have always wondered why this game is not simply "shells" and mods, with the mods carrying the quality and rating of the item.

 

Certainly would make for a more elegant and diverse system.

[TheLowDown]

DUMB!!! Why does the empire get force Choke for there legacy ability but all we get is stupid force sweep an not force stasis!! THATS NOT EQUAL BIOWARE!!! Once again thx for showing what side you preferr more!! Just Like Blizzard with always preferring the horde over alliance!

[TheLowDown]

There are no effective differences.

 

I have always wondered why this game is not simply "shells" and mods, with the mods carrying the quality and rating of the item.

 

There talking about the purple epics as in Tier gear for the set bonuses. Those will not have augment slots so craftable will actually be better. if you can be that lucky an have the cash.

[TrooperLPN]

In the future, if possible, could you make it possible that, instead of needing multiple people to do heroics, we could just bring along more companions? This also applies to flashpoints.

[TrooperLPN]

Could you make it so that companions have equal gear? What I mean is instead of having to choose between Aric Boots, Elara Boots, and M1 parts, we could just choose gear for all companions? Whenever I wish to play with a companion I haven't played as since the third planet, I don't want the game to be impossible.

[varrangian]

Could you make it so that companions have equal gear? What I mean is instead of having to choose between Aric Boots, Elara Boots, and M1 parts, we could just choose gear for all companions? Whenever I wish to play with a companion I haven't played as since the third planet, I don't want the game to be impossible.

 

The worst is if you roll a JK and don't use T7 after lvl 14 or whatever, then you find out the hard way you needed to keep him geared.

[Eaglerhino]

What about changing ur AC? I swear i had to reroll as a GS because my SS wasnt the type of gameplay I personally enjoyed. Now im lvl 24 and I could have been 30-35 by now! If you can respec, then you should be able to change your AC:(

[Aloro]

There talking about the purple epics as in Tier gear for the set bonuses. Those will not have augment slots so craftable will actually be better. if you can be that lucky an have the cash.

 

No, I was asking about purple "shell" items in general, not about end gear specifically, and not about the mods that go into the shells.

 

If it's true that there's no functional difference between a purple and an orange item post 1.2, that'll free up crafters to make a LOT of different appearances.

 

That'll also mean it'd be really helpful to have a GTN search category that includes both orange and purple items.

[Aloro]

There are no effective differences.

 

I have always wondered why this game is not simply "shells" and mods, with the mods carrying the quality and rating of the item.

 

Thanks, that's pretty interesting to me as a crafter.

 

As to why they didn't make everything shell based, that was explained by a dev quite some time ago. I don't have a link, but my recollection was that green and blue items are for more casual players; you get those in the course of just questing and they're easy to use and upgrade. Orange items provide a lot more flexibility but also more planning, which can be offputting to a novice.

[-Kelerak-]

Server transfer, server transfers!!!

I will be able to transfer from US to EU servers???? Come on Bioware, tell me this.. Dont need to know when.. JUst if will be possible OR NOT.

[Urkanan]

Thanks, that's pretty interesting to me as a crafter.

 

As to why they didn't make everything shell based, that was explained by a dev quite some time ago. I don't have a link, but my recollection was that green and blue items are for more casual players; you get those in the course of just questing and they're easy to use and upgrade. Orange items provide a lot more flexibility but also more planning, which can be offputting to a novice.

 

I saw that explanation. Didn't sell to me why the combination of both systems is simpler than this:

 

1) Only shells and mods exist. Mods include armoring, mods, enhancements, augments and barrels.

 

2) All moddable armor is orange (transparent), mods come in green, blue, purple. "Non viewable" armor (ear, implant, relic, focus and shield offhands) comes in greens, blues, purples as well.

 

3) Low lvl armor only has armoring/barrel slots. As you level up, gear obtained has also mod slots. As you level up more, it also has enhancement slots.

 

 

 

I fail to see how saying: "armor shells dictate your look, the mods you put in dictate your stats. Mods come in different qualities, with increasingly better stats" is any harder to explain to a new player than the current system. Just look at how many of us seem to have doubts about it...

[Aloro]

I fail to see how saying: "armor shells dictate your look, the mods you put in dictate your stats. Mods come in different qualities, with increasingly better stats" is any harder to explain to a new player than the current system. Just look at how many of us seem to have doubts about it...

 

People coming over from WoW or LotRO will immediately understand blue and green items. But sure, I think there's something to be said for a system where all items are orange shells (i.e. no green or blue items would exist; purple will be the same as orange anyhow), and item mods can be green/blue/purple.

[DrumDeity]

Wait... I saw the color-changing feature in the 1.2 video and nothing has been mentioned about it. How exactly will this work? Will it cost credits?

[Vinsable]

If one person creates a "Legacy" name, can another person use that name with permission of the originator?

PS What You See Is What I'll Be "Vinsable"

Edited April 3, 2012 by Vinsable
Type-O