Official Q&A Thread for June 22nd Blog Post

[mattyboi]

Currently Celerity, The increased sprint speed legacy perk is not in the 1.3 update on the PTS. Was this removed due to balance reasons and will we see it return possibly in a future update?

[Izorii]

What other species are currently being considered to be brought into the game as playable?

[Blinkinsage]

Is the damage a vanguard does compared to what the tool-tip says, going to be brought up to what the tooltip says it does?

[Gruug]

This is in regards to upcoming 1.3. I noticed when I moved my level 50 character over during 1.3 that the augment slots I had on my character were removed. The augments were "refunded" to my inventory (no problem). Is this how it will work when 1.3 goes live? Or, will the slots remain? I am concerned that all my augment slotted gear will become less then they are (no slots) for a while until people obtain the skills and materails to craft high level kits. Edited June 16, 2012 by Gruug

[JeramieCrowe]

(As you can see in my signature), Almost every character I have actually has a different surname. Are there any plans, at all, in allowing us to have a per-character non-unique surname for our characters who are a part of the overall Legacy?

[ChiPhiZD]

My question pertains to server transfers and PTS "perks".

 

1 - Is there anything being discussed with relations to allowing people to move characters from a struggling server to a server in which they already have an end game player? For example, I have my first two level 50 characters on a server with an extremely low population but now I currently play on the Tomb of Freedon Nadd. So my question to the developers is this, Since I can only play one character at a time, even if I move a maximum of 7 characters from an "origin" server to a "destination" server in which I only have one character, why would that be a bad thing? I would only have one character physically logged into the game at any time. FYI my specific instance would be from a NA PvP server to an EU PvP server. Oh, and will that be allowed in the near future, or should I start leveling up again?

 

and

 

2 - I really enjoy playing on the PTS but I struggle with how there is mixed messages or lack of messages when dealing with the "PTS Titles". Both in testing for 1.2 and now 1.3, there is/was no definite answer to whether or not someone fulfilled their title requirements and frankly, the way the information relayed specifically for the 1.3 PTS titles is very confusing. Is there any plans to help players have a notification of PTS perk fulfillment, a quest or email notification for example? It would truly help send additional people to the PTS if they knew a quest was there to track their progress. I for one, believe I have done my 1.3 PTS requirements, but will be very disappointed if I do not receive the titles when 1.3 goes live.

Edited June 16, 2012 by ChiPhiZD

[Darth_Victus]

Two Questions!

 

Are there any thoughts/plans in the near or distant future to implement a system in which players can influence their companions to either be light or dark side?

 

P.S. This would be a really awesome future if ever implemented!

 

 

Also, are SGRA (Same Gender Romance Arcs) still in the works for a later addition?

Edited June 17, 2012 by Darth_Victus

[GarrickBlackSun]

Will we possibly be getting any more character slots or SGRA anytime this year with the new content or is that a rather long way off, like say the first expansion or something sometime next year?

[Daitenzin]

Hi.

 

I have a couple of questions about the 1.3 Assassin/Shadow nerf. There is a lengthy thread on the PTS board which raises some interesting points found here http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=473439. This has become a fairly touchy subject for the community and as yet there has been no further comment. Some examples and figures about Assassin's current performance can be found in that thread. For the sake brevity I'm going to stick to imperial faction terminology though this equally applies to the Shadow class.

 

From an operations perspective Assassins are already the weakest tank largely due to their already lower damage reduction causing them to take damage the most unevenly. Additionally in this setting where they are taking damage at a much higher rate their self healing is less valuable since the amount of damage mitigated passively will increase when a tank is taking more damage but self healing remains unchanged. So these are my questions.

 

-Out of all the sources of "passive survivability " why was their armor rating and hence damage reduction chosen to be lowered when this is already their most serious liability as a Tank?

 

-Does the team have any concerns about how these changes will affect how Assassins will perform as tanks compared to the other tanking options in an operation situation? While Assassin's may currently outperform PTs and Juggernauts in 4-Player content the community is having difficulty following how the reasoning given for these changes scales to operations.

 

Thanks

[LordSunhawk]

What is the status/outlook for same gender romance options with companion characters?

[Vitas]

Currently there's no way to distinguish whether a quest given by an NPC is either a normal one or a heroic until after obtaining it. Could there be a much simplier way to help players keep track of heroics? There could be a blue icon above an NPC which denotes a heroic and even better, a green one for previously completed ones.

[donselar]

On the promotion video you put up you say that there will be an increased level cap. Does this mean we can expect extended class story? Will we have to completely restart as far as gear? Any info on this you know will make everyone happy.

[Glzmo]

In the February 17 Q&A you promised us an update and ETA for chat bubbles after the Interface Editor was implemented. At the Guild Summit, Daniel Erickson said that the performance problems with chat bubbles are fixed, which is the last information we got over 3 months ago. The Interface Editor was implemented two months ago. Could you please deliver on your promises and tell us what the ETA (targeted Patch) and current status of chat bubbles is?

Thank you very much!

[ZORG]

I know the PTS test notes aren't final but.... The PROPOSED changes to shadow tanks will kill most shadows and basicly start collecting mothballs. Why not just bring up the guardian up to be on par with the shadow tank? I know many people who have spent many many months working on there shadows and now feel like there useless if the proposed changes go through.

 

I agree shadow tanks are best in game and wouldn't want a guardian to tank... So why nerf? Why not buff Guardian?

[SajmanPeetee]

Are there any plans to introduce a character perk for exp reduction?

[tekhiun]

Question:

Will there ever be a change in damage distribution to the madness/ balance tree ?

 

 

Comment.

I dont see the advantage of having two dots that last for 18 seconds when most battles last less than 10. In my humble opinion the top tier skill of this tree should be more like the the top tier skill for the rage tree available for sith warriors or being a cast ability that works in the same way as crushing darkness and can also be insta casted via wrath., ofc the total damage dealt would be the same and the cooldown of that abilitiy should be increased (no more than 15 so it fits the rotation).

 

To expand on why i think this needs to be reworked:

 

Around 40% of the damage in the optimal rotation comes from spamming force lightning , and only 36% from all 3 dots where 20 comes from crushing darkness,13 from a affliction and only 3% from creeping terror. Comparing to lets say a marauder, where 44% from the damage comes from dots , which tick much faster and to powertech which has a more even damage distribution but even so the dots can do over 1000 critical dmg , which is about 40% more than the ones on sorcerer (Even though the sorcerer is using better gear).

 

This and the fact that sorcerers have inferior armor rating compared to those two classes makes playing a pure damage sorcerer not viable in pvp anymore.

Edited June 16, 2012 by tekhiun

[MasterVaako]

Here's my question.

 

Before patch 1.2 went live, you had on the PTS some very special new skins for the Sith Purebloods' eyes (the predatory ones, with slim pupils) i heard the reason they didnt make it to the live servers were that those who unlocked sith purebloods for the republic side, found it weird to have "evil" eyes. But then I thought of the pureblood lore: it says that purebloods were born with an innate Darkness, and of sorts that they were (are) a manifistation of the DS of the force, isnt it then only logical to have sinister eyes? (and come on, those skins were the best! ;D) perhaps you could make those a special skin, for the purebloods that go 10k DS points?

 

TLDR: Why did you take out those eye "skins" and could we see them back in some way, perhaps as an opitional choice?

[discbox]

Are there any plans to improve the item preview? E. g. give us a 'zoom in' on armor, or a preview for weapons...

 

-----

can you make sword in box light sword so sword come out when opened? then if sword is back after sword, use light saber on box, and saber will be boxed after sword is out.

Edited June 16, 2012 by discbox

[Crimson_Merc]

In nearly every MMO out there exists the ability to change your character's appearance after character creation. I know the community has been wondering when this would be implemented and if so, would you take a nod to Star Wars Galaxies and implement something closely related to an "Image Designer" be it an NPC or a new crew skill. Thank you! Edited June 16, 2012 by Crimson_Merc
Wanted to add more

[DarthZaul]

On a scale of 'soon' to 'not this year', when will the game allow addons? Edited June 17, 2012 by DarthZaul

[decrypter]

With ranked warzones coming in 1.3 , can we expect to see Guild emblems and in game guild rankings in 1.4 ?

[Mixxathon]

Are we going to see an 'SWTOR Armory' (something like the one that 'other game' have had for ages, only better) and if so, when will it go live?

[Costello]

To do with Threat Generation as you answer a question mentioning this every week, when will we see new species and contnent? We just have had server transfers so thinking I must be on a low pop server I move and find roughly the same number of people about on my new server. Only now obviously the server I was on will have less people. So when will we see more reasons to log in than currently on offer to help increase server pop and hell make it worthwhile to keep subscribing.

[Thyferra]

Since we are going down from 217 servers to about 30.

Will those 187 dead servers be merged or shut down in the future?

[joyeuxnoelle]

Star Wars: The Old Republic has a number of platforming elements (particularly when it comes to datacron hunting), but the world generally seems designed in such a way that discourages platforming and exploring; most natural semi-vertical surfaces (here I'm talking about, e.g., rock formations with faces that are more or less horizontal, not mostly-vertical cliffs) can't be climbed, for example - even those that look like they should be climbable - and there are many, many places in which exploring players can get stuck, even in places where platforming is not only encouraged but required. (Two early examples from the path to Datacron 2: at the beginning, it's possible (and easy!) to get stuck behind the barrels leading to the path; and at the end, as you jump from the mezzanine platform to the sign, it's possible (and, again, easy) to get stuck between the mezzanine and the sign.)

 

In short, the world of SWTOR is a world that has a few elements that actively encourage players to explore, but in general would far rather keep players On The Approved Path and discourage exploration.

 

What is the overarching design philosophy for the SWTOR world, in terms of platforming and exploration? Are you keeping a record of where players are getting stuck, so that those "gaps" can be fixed? And do the world developers see exploration and platforming as a desirable quality for players, or are the existing occasional elements (like datacron hunts) the only concession they're willing to make in a game world whose guiding principle seems to be "Stay Off The Grass"?