Game Update 1.7: Return of the Gree is coming soon!

[Lyriel]

Maybe they are trying to promote playing in a group or a guild...

 

I belong to a guild. I group on a regular basis. That does not mean I want to posse up and PvP to achieve PvE goals.

[moonshoter]

I see we have rep to grind with the Voss. However, what about those 50s who have already finished that planet? Do we go back and complete repeatable quests? I love rep, it gives you something to work on and hopefully... things like mounts, pets, special gear and more recipes.

 

The way it reads there will more in Voss to do even for those of us that have done everything we can in Voss .. I have in 2 50 and one 50 I just rushed to 50 so I d run him back ..

[aeterno]

I been waiting and waiting for some pvp balance changes, crossing my fingers that they make tk sage viable. And I also hope that u can gear whether u que in wz or open world

 

Considering Makeb comes with a lvl cap increase, new abilities & reworked talent trees I think it's a pretty safe bet we won't see any meaningful balance changes to the existing system. Effort better spent on getting the new system right.

[randiesel]

I mostly agree with this. Server transfers,name changes, more character customizations should have been included in this patch. As for class balance, sadly I am betting that wont come till the makeb expansion. Bioware is missing the boat on things people WILL pay money for. I just don't get it.

 

No, see that's where you're wrong.

 

They're not "missing the boat". They know full well about it, they just don't *********** care. Plain and simple. Don't *********** care.

 

Bunch of ******es, know knows what the **** they're actually doing with our money, because it's not helping out the majority of us.

[dayhak]

While I think you guys should be more focussed on all the bugs that are still present; some i remember reporting back in beta (I'm looking at you Collicoid flashpoint), this sounds awesome! Finally I have a reason for playing my 50's again. I'm gonna give bioware a pre-emptive thumbs up on this but I reserve the right to retract this thumbs up if this patch releases more bugs...

 

Also, I understand you want stuff on the Cartel Market to make money - perhaps it may be a good idea to lay off a few of your design staff temporarily, and hire some programmers on contract to fix the bugs that are all over in this game and seem to come with every patch. This game is amazing, but it could be Epic...

 

EAWARE, listen to your customers... Trust us, we want the game to succeed.

[LetoAtreidesII]

Please please please.. just stop this horrible and unreasonable complaint every time new content is announced. It is getting old and has been pointed out many times that this logic is completely flawed.

 

An MMO that stops to either fix bugs for new content, or stops making new content to fix bugs, has basicly admitted defeat. The game needs to continue doing both to stay healthy.

 

Man, that this is the first response to a long awaited announcement about the last content patch before RotHC just really rubs me the wrong way. How much of a whiner can you be.

 

Show me a game without bugs, and then you can make this complaint.

 

It is true MMO's should not STOP new content development to fix bugs and that all MMO's have plenty of bugs. The problem is that UNLIKE most MMO's, SWTOR's development is generating new bugs much faster than it can quash them while old ones go unfixed. They are piling up. This was not always the case with this game.

 

The problem was two-fold. First was the massive cut to the game's budget and staff last Spring. Before that happened, bugs were fixed at a decent pace. While not all bugs were fixed, they were at least fixed faster than they were generated. Major issues like a memory leak were actually resolved (mostly) in a fair amount of time.

 

The second was the introduction of the six-week major patch development cycle. The moment Bioware announced that, I knew what was coming, and everything that has transpired since then has justified my concerns. With reduced money and manpower, not only would each major patch see fewer existing bugs fixed, but with such a short development cycle there would not be enough time to ensure that new content and features are properly completed and tested before they are released, to say nothing of unintentional new bugs.

 

The result is that every patch will create more bugs than it fixes and/or introduce broken content. This is exactly what has happened. For instance, Heroic space missions, a major feature of 1.6, were broken when released and a month later they still have not been fixed. A large portion of the playerbase, that is, everyone using 32-bit Windows, cannot play this game without constant crashing due to a memory leak re-introduced in 1.4. Four months later, it still has not been fixed. It was fixed in about one or two months the first time around, before the budget cuts. It is offensive that you dismiss such major issues affecting so many people as "whining."

 

Most MMO's in my experience at least strike some semblance of balance between the fixing of old bugs and the introduction of new ones. Not so here. Here the bugs are piling up like cancer cells. Bioware has stretched the limits of their meager development budget and staff past the breaking point with this ridiculously short development cycle. And this wasn't always the case. The situation was pretty well balanced before 1.4.

 

Bioware needs to either adopt longer development cycles (or re-adopt them, rather) or put more money and resources into the game so they are able to do more in less time, or preferably both. However, since money and resources are not forthcoming due to EA's loss of confidence in this game, the only realistic option is to extend the development cycles. They should never have shortened them to six weeks to begin with. It was not realistic.

 

They could also, with their existing budget, redistribute their funds at least temporarily to address the imbalance. It is true that software development companies have different departments that do different things. So they can't have everybody in the company work on bugs. Artists and designers can't go through lines of code to fix bugs. However, what a development company can do is adjust the size and money they allocate to each department. They can lay off 10 people from the new content department and hire 10 people in the QA department.

 

Bioware needs to embrace the Blizzard philosophy of "we will release it when it is FINISHED" not "we will release it whatever state it's in to keep to the schedule."

Edited January 15, 2013 by LetoAtreidesII

[WeadonismyMaster]

blah blah blah.... how about we get a status update worked in on chat bubbles.

[Phrase]

I sub so I can ***** about all my special snowflake issues every time BW release a content update...wah wah wah...

 

Am I doing it right?

 

p.s. Bring on the PvPvE area; it's about time. Btw, any rewards offered through the event are, by definition, pvp rewards since they're attained through pvp.

[dayhak]

It is true MMO's should not STOP new content development to fix bugs and that all MMO's have plenty of bugs. The problem is that UNLIKE most MMO's, SWTOR's development is generating new bugs much faster than it can quash them while old ones go unfixed. They are piling up. This was not always the case with this game.

 

The problem was two-fold. First was the massive cut to the game's budget and staff last Spring. Before that happened, bugs were fixed at a decent pace. While not all bugs were fixed, they were at least fixed faster than they were generated. Major issues like a memory leak were actually resolved (mostly) in a fair amount of time.

 

The second was the introduction of the six-week major patch development cycle. The moment Bioware announced that, I knew what was coming, and everything that has transpired since then has justified my concerns. With reduced money and manpower, not only would each major patch see fewer existing bugs fixed, but with such a short development cycle there would not be enough time to ensure that new content and features are properly completed and tested before they are released, to say nothing of unintentional new bugs.

 

The result is that every patch will create more bugs than it fixes and/or introduce broken content. This is exactly what has happened. For instance, Heroic space missions, a major feature of 1.6, were broken when released and a month later they still have not been fixed. A large portion of the playerbase, that is, everyone using 32-bit Windows, cannot play this game without constant crashing due to a memory leak re-introduced in 1.4. Four months later, it still has not been fixed. It was fixed in about one or two months the first time around, before the budget cuts. It is offensive that you dismiss such major issues affecting so many people as "whining."

 

Most MMO's in my experience at least strike some semblance of balance between the fixing of old bugs and the introduction of new ones. Not so here. Here the bugs are piling up like cancer cells. Bioware has stretched the limits of their meager development budget and staff past the breaking point with this ridiculously short development cycle. And this wasn't always the case. The situation was pretty well balanced before 1.4.

 

Bioware needs to either adopt longer development cycles (or re-adopt them, rather) or put more money and resources into the game so they are able to do more in less time, or preferably both. However, since money and resources are not forthcoming due to EA's loss of confidence in this game, the only realistic option is to extend the development cycles. They should never have shortened them to six weeks to begin with. It was not realistic.

 

They could also, with their existing budget, redistribute their funds at least temporarily to address the imbalance. It is true that software development companies have different departments that do different things. So they can't have everybody in the company work on bugs. Artists and designers can't go through lines of code to fix bugs. However, what a development company can do is adjust the size and money they allocate to each department. They can lay off 10 people from the new content department and hire 10 people in the QA department.

 

Bioware needs to embrace the Blizzard philosophy of "we will release it when it is FINISHED" not "we will release it whatever state it's in to keep to the schedule."

 

This. Very much this. Hit it right on the head. As with all their games though, I don't think EA cares much.

[Glzmo]

Will Game Update 1.7 finally include chat bubbles? Edited January 15, 2013 by Glzmo

[RamathRS]

It is true MMO's should not STOP new content development to fix bugs and that all MMO's have plenty of bugs. The problem is that UNLIKE most MMO's, SWTOR's development is generating new bugs much faster than it can quash them while old ones go unfixed. They are piling up. This was not always the case with this game.

 

The problem was two-fold. First was the massive cut to the game's budget and staff last Spring. Before that happened, bugs were fixed at a decent pace. While not all bugs were fixed, they were at least fixed faster than they were generated. Major issues like a memory leak were actually resolved (mostly) in a fair amount of time.

 

The second was the introduction of the six-week major patch development cycle. The moment Bioware announced that, I knew what was coming, and everything that has transpired since then has justified my concerns. With reduced money and manpower, not only would each major patch see fewer existing bugs fixed, but with such a short development cycle there would not be enough time to ensure that new content and features are properly completed and tested before they are released, to say nothing of unintentional new bugs.

 

The result is that every patch will create more bugs than it fixes and/or introduce broken content. This is exactly what has happened. For instance, Heroic space missions, a major feature of 1.6, were broken when released and a month later they still have not been fixed. A large portion of the playerbase, that is, everyone using 32-bit Windows, cannot play this game without constant crashing due to a memory leak re-introduced in 1.4. Four months later, it still has not been fixed. It was fixed in about one or two months the first time around, before the budget cuts. It is offensive that you dismiss such major issues affecting so many people as "whining."

 

Most MMO's in my experience at least strike some semblance of balance between the fixing of old bugs and the introduction of new ones. Not so here. Here the bugs are piling up like cancer cells. Bioware has stretched the limits of their meager development budget and staff past the breaking point with this ridiculously short development cycle. And this wasn't always the case. The situation was pretty well balanced before 1.4.

 

Bioware needs to either adopt longer development cycles (or re-adopt them, rather) or put more money and resources into the game so they are able to do more in less time, or preferably both. However, since money and resources are not forthcoming due to EA's loss of confidence in this game, the only realistic option is to extend the development cycles. They should never have shortened them to six weeks to begin with. It was not realistic.

 

They could also, with their existing budget, redistribute their funds at least temporarily to address the imbalance. It is true that software development companies have different departments that do different things. So they can't have everybody in the company work on bugs. Artists and designers can't go through lines of code to fix bugs. However, what a development company can do is adjust the size and money they allocate to each department. They can lay off 10 people from the new content department and hire 10 people in the QA department.

 

Bioware needs to embrace the Blizzard philosophy of "we will release it when it is FINISHED" not "we will release it whatever state it's in to keep to the schedule."

 

This! The guy he quoted needs to be dragged out back and shot for his stupidity and blind loyalty.

 

No one ever said they expected this game to be bug-free. We do expect, however, for the dev team to handle their bugs at a reasonable rate. They are making bugs faster than they can keep up.

 

Also, our Known Issues list is currently over 70+ items long, many of which have been around since beta. While it is true that none of them are technically game breaking, this entire situation is simply showing the opposite of what they are saying. They are only fixing the game-breaking bugs, and ignoring the rest. They are simply doing the bare minimum to keep people playing.

[SinRMcSinR]

One thing sticks out to me:

 

Explore Ilum's contested area in the Western Ice Shelf to uncover the mysterious purpose of the Gray Secant, an enormous ancient Gree starship.

 

Keyword there: CONTESTED. Does this mean that its forced PVP for PVE content, similar to the old Wintergrasp Dailies in Wrath of the Lich King from Warcraft? (For people that weren't around then: Wintergrasp was a zone where it would flag you for PVP even on a PVE server. Every ~2:30 hours it would be like a battleground, between that time it'd be a high level area with daily quests to do for XP and Wintergrasp commendations, but it'd still keep you flagged for PVP)

[darklordpotter]

Unlikely. As far as I know, Legacy wasn't so it makes sense that this would fall in the same category, but I would love for BioWare to prove me wrong on this. I have so many alts...

 

Legacy levels started accumulating at the end of chapter one for your first character long before they actually did anything so they kind of were retrospective and certainly characters /companion conversations maxed pre 1.2 ?1.3? did grant the relevant unlocks. That said I would be deeply impressed if rep was retrospective. Perhaps they should award certain amounts of reputation for completing various land marks in the class stories because that could be made retrospective fairly easily as could valour ranks for pvp.

 

Other things I imagine grow more complicated completed world quests maybe

[warstory]

Considering Makeb comes with a lvl cap increase, new abilities & reworked talent trees I think it's a pretty safe bet we won't see any meaningful balance changes to the existing system. Effort better spent on getting the new system right.

 

If that's the case which i hope it's not I will finish gearing up(few pieces away from ewh) not renew till changes are made

[Orlesian]

Sounds interesting indeed.

[TalkingDinosaur]

Sounds interesting. I'm pretty excited to see the reputation system. So I can rub it in everybody's faces.

[ErosGyne]

So, no one remimber the slideshow ilum is when +20 players are in the same area PVPing?

If this event is PVP oriented on Ilum, i just hope they fix the ilum lag 1st, because if not, this could be the worst thing ever

but looks fun, lets see what tomorrow brings

Edited January 16, 2013 by ErosGyne

[MuratReis]

There's nothing I like more than a good mixture of pvp and pve. Whoever thought these two things should be separated is a fool.

[lollie]

So a crappy pvp update at the exclusion of the pve players. The new galactic reputation system is also exclusive for pvp players? Seems very off. You don't expect pve players on a pve server to flag themselves to do this content right? Edited January 16, 2013 by lollie

[Evgen]

I have a feeling the new area might work like sub 50 Warzones. Auto levelling everyone

That would open up the event and possibly boost the activity in the zone.

 

I'm not a big PvP guy, but I'm sure they knwo exactly how much PvP they can force on PvEers

Knowing that the bone they are throwing the the ganker dogs will please them more than it pisses off the PvEers.

It's all a balancing act.

[Envyyyyyyy]

To all the people complaining about having to PVP to get to a PVE Objective.... Unsub and leave. Please transfer to a PVE server in the future. You rolled on a PVP server you read the agreement and rules. No one cares about you since you already chose what you wanted.

 

I'm looking very much forward to this, and i'm glad to see so much change and new things in this game/community.

 

Stop complaining so much and just enjoy what they're doing for you. You cry when they don't do anything and you cry when they do.

 

The game is in the best state it has been since launch. If they fix pvp, add more events, and keep this dynamic up I see GW2, WoW, and other games losing players who will sub/resub to swtor.

 

See you guys on ilum!

[lollie]

To all the people complaining about having to PVP to get to a PVE Objective.... Unsub and leave. Please transfer to a PVE server in the future. You rolled on a PVP server you read the agreement and rules. No one cares about you since you already chose what you wanted.

 

What about those of us on pve servers already - the contested area will cause pve players to flag and get ganked. Any bright ideas or words of wisdom for the pve players on a pve server getting ganked? Maybe everyone but the gankers should unsub.

[pooks]

Legacy level 50 should grant some perks. What about that?

 

- quick travel ability with no cool down ?

- fleet pass with no cool down ?

- snazzy new vehicle ?

- title of some sort ?

- unlimited major xp boost stim for new alts ?

 

How about giving those who have hit legacy 50 get something in addition to adding this new reputation systeml? As it looks now, it is basically a slap in the face to those who achieve Legacy level 50 - you get SQUAT for your effort.

[Evgen]

To all the people complaining about having to PVP to get to a PVE Objective.... Unsub and leave. Please transfer to a PVE server in the future. You rolled on a PVP server you read the agreement and rules. No one cares about you since you already chose what you wanted.

 

I'm looking very much forward to this, and i'm glad to see so much change and new things in this game/community.

 

Stop complaining so much and just enjoy what they're doing for you. You cry when they don't do anything and you cry when they do.

 

The game is in the best state it has been since launch. If they fix pvp, add more events, and keep this dynamic up I see GW2, WoW, and other games losing players who will sub/resub to swtor.

 

See you guys on ilum!

On top of not knowing what you are talking about, I love people who complain about complainers!

Go hypocrisy!

[Envyyyyyyy]

Not knowing what i'm talking about? Please explain.... This happens on my server all the time and its a PVP server...

 

 

 

Now those that are on a PVE server, and it forces you to be flagged for PVP then I understand that will be frustrating, however you're in luck. This is an MMO it is very easy to get into ops groups and be protected. Problem solved, if its truly such a big deal that you unsub than this progressive game isn't for you. Being that a new event that wont hurt you or hinder you causes enough frustration for you to unsub...

 

 

Trust me having plenty of server 1st, and playing this game since beta I have a good grasp on this game.