Official Q&A Thread for April 20th, 2012 Q&A Blog Post

[emoryshe]

A very quick question. When the game lunched when you were looking at gear from venders, ect it would show your current equip gear, and your compaions, and then show the stat changes for both, has that been removed from the game, or is it being updated?

 

thank you...

[dwgagner]

With the BTL (bind to legacy) equipment that you can purchase and trade among characters, will it be possible to trade Imperial BTL equipment to Republic legacy characters? If so how is it done as for as far as I know you cannot send mail to the opposite faction.

[TheLowDown]

When will 1.2 be here? Thats all i want to know!!! you guys are loosing poeple by taking sooooooo long!

[Teknation]

Any incite on guild space station and/or capital ships.

I mean, would guilds have to gather resources and send there companions to work on it for it to even be completed. This would require guilds to be active to even create it plus require contribution from every crew skill to complete. Guilds most defiantly needs to earn these privilege if implemented.

[pathaid]

I would love to be able to experience my class story again without having to level the same class to 50 all over again (limited character slots also makes this impossible within one legacy for those that want to play each class). Are there any plans to add a feature that will let us repeat our class stories? Such a feature would be even more welcome as a recap before an expansion to the current stories.

[CitizenofArathor]

What´s the design philosophy behind the permanent open doors in our (player)ships?

 

I'm asking, because imo it would look so much better if these doors can open and close when you go through them.

Having moving parts in the enginroom, the humming of machinery, flickering computer screens and with closing and opening doors, every compartment in the ship will make it feel more like a ship rather than a typical surface dwelling.

[qwinnet]

I struggle to find a reason to run FP's beyond Esseles and Hammer Station. The XP and gear is little better than what can be obtained from questing. The point of dungeons in other MMO's is to provide challenging group content and provide better rewards than solo efforts. You have provided the challenging content but no better rewards. Why should I spend an hour or two in an FP when I can get better XP and gear questing? It gets worse at L50. Two OPS runs a week will gear you better and faster than running HM FP's. Most groups can clear reg EV or HM EV to SOA faster than running any HM FP. I see no purpose to running HM FPs. Why should I do these?

[Malevous]

Will you be implementing a feature to preview how a weapon looks on a character?

[pipda]

When will the bug with the in game, currently live and implemented LFG tagging system be fixed? The one where it resets at a loading screen to just LFG and the player has to go reset it.

 

Much noise over server merges and LFD tools being wanted. Whatever the end state is why not fix the one tool we have now. Maybe more people would start to use it then.

[Vagessel]

Is BioWare intending to implement a microtransactions store? Yes/no

 

If yes, can you comment on when is it expected to be brought in?

 

Lastly-optional question- what sort of items or services are you planning for it?

[vandana_]

What are your plans for expanding space combat? What direction will the expansion take? Will we be able to fight large scale battles like in X-Wing / Tie Fighter games series? Will there be full-scale space exploration?

[Shimmer-Holler]

Can we improve companion AI?

 

Every Tom, Dick and Harry MOB in the game has an AoE Fire spitting droid (Thing that hovers over the ground and pulses fire damage/dot at a diameter larger than its cast circle even though it’s an instant cast). My companion just stands in it requiring far more micromanagement than I desire.

 

My companion wants to stand next to me in combat (Mobs too). I’m getting tired of getting dizzy in combat as mobs just get in a circle and rotate counter clockwise a step or two every second or two. It’s like the mob is trying to get behind me, but my companion isn’t smart enough to position himself opposite of me. Stupid tank pet loses agro for a second and comes to stand right next to me and then taunts so I have move to behind the mob (Some IA/Smuggler attacks actually need for the player to be behind the mob).

 

Dumb tank fires Flare Gun (AoE Taunt) before he gets to the mobs or when there is just one mob present. Some sort of ability prioritization would be nice too. Clicking an attack, watch for the interrupt and micromanaging pet abilities and position isn’t very much fun.

 

Most of this will help the casual player as well as the players that do dailies daily.

[Agonisis]

Is there a plan to REALLY look at imperial operative/scoundrel DPS, and make them a viable addition to both pve, and pvp. Currently most of our key abilities cannot be used in HM+ raids, and the class has been taking a huge hit every patch. At the very least could we get some explanation as to why this happening other than teams of operatives, and working as intended. because in MHO that a load of garbage.

[Tilaar]

I am also one of the many Scoundrels (and probably some Gunslingers as well) who are wondering why Corso’s Harpoon Shot will be removed in 1.2 For my Scoundrel’s playstyle I rely heavily on this ability. Does this mean I will have to stop using AoE and make sure Corso doesn’t use any AoE either? Also, the harpoon is what makes Corso unique. Personally I don’t see any reason to give him the same ability _two_ of my other companions have already (of those two, one has the same role as Corso, so again, why remove his harpoon? ). So I would love to see an official reaction on the how’s and why’s of this change. Thank you in advance.

[OGilligan]

General consensus seems to be that the Jedi Guardian is impaired when it comes to tanking multiple mobs. There do not seem to be enough tools to maintain threat on multiple enemies. The tentative patch notes do not seem to address this problem (if anything, the Guardian's AoE tanking ability seems further reduced). How do you plan on addressing this deficiency in the Guardian tank? Is it your intent for the Guardian to be solely a "single target tank?" --> This question of course extends to the Sith Juggernaut as well.

 

Thanks for all the good work!

[DeedeeDuck]

will the appearance cutomization allow you to use all different colors for armor?

[Praemorior]

I'd love it if the game had a repeating background music. Why is there none? The game feels too silent when exploring.

[eregorn]

I was thinking about guild bank and come up with idea. why dont we have "Family Bank"? Edited April 10, 2012 by Sireene
multi-question - PM'd

[Felnarn]

Do you have any plans for adding Space Combat PvP/Coop options to the game?

 

Example: Same "set" path idea you use for solo ship combat, but opposing paths may intersect allowing players to shoot each other when not concentrating fire upon enemy NPC assets, or in coop you could create incredibly tough battles that require good teamwork to resolve?

[Ch_Zero]

Will there be an alternative to tab targeting, or clicking enemy players?

 

Also! for playing objectively in warzones can we implement something so we don't have to click?

 

such as Voidstar doors, Huttball, and Alderaan speeders and flags?

 

Kinda get's sloppy.

 

i would like a keybind alternative, and possibly an option for tab targeting adjustment.

[djloukota]

The daily mission on Ilum “Defend the Shipment” get bugged out on a weekly basis, at least on my realm (shadow hand). So the only way to be able to do that mission is for a few hours after a server restart. Sabotage is also able to be “bugged out” as well.

 

Scuttlebutt says that these missions are “bugged out” on purpose as a form of protest “for BW to fix the problem”.

 

I would have thought by now that the issue would have been resolved, in one of the previous patch, but it hasn’t.

 

I assume that BW is aware of the problem with these mission, (if not now you are) so when can we expect these missions to be fixed?

 

TL;DR: “Defend the Shipment” from “Sabotage”

[MasterPromithes]

Has there been any talk of adding new planets to travel to? and if so what planets are you considering adding? If a new planet is added, will new playable species also be added? As you have said since the release of the game, you will be constantly expanding the universe when can we see the planets that we went to in KOTOR and KOTOR 2 thaat are missing such as Kashyyk, Telos, Manaan, Dantooine, ect? As a life long fan of Star Wars i would really like to know what is coming in terms of star map development.

[Trietxan]

I noticed that there are full purchasable sets of BoL gear that include orange bracers and belts which have previously been extremely rare. In 1.2 will we expect more orange bracers and belts that will also be craftable for a chance at creating an augment slot on them? Edited April 10, 2012 by Trietxan

[Freor]

I'd also like to know why aren't companions, the Bioware speciality, used in endgame content - and also why do they always have to count towards group size limit. With the very low 4-player size it limits their use even more. And furthermore, as many people have already asked here, what future plans are there to give companions more use, specially for level 50 players (like the flashpoints with full crew etc).

[AllisonBerryman]

Thanks for posting your questions! We'll start selecting questions now - look for our blog with answers on Friday! Make sure to check out the Community Blog for our previous Q&As and other informative posts.