Comms and 2.0

[G-Seven]

Why is the new system just as convoluted as the old? While we have eliminated the cumbersome individual planetary comms, we still have just as many end game comms to manage.

 

Planetary

Classic

Basic

Elite

Ultimate

 

This new system is unnecessarily complicated and poorly designed. It should be just as simple and user-friendly as PvP.

Edited April 2, 2013 by G-Seven
Correction: Currently, there are just as many end game comms to manage.

[Kyleslater]

Why is the new system just as convoluted as the old? While we have eliminated the cumbersome individual planetary comms, we still have just as many end game comms to manage.

 

Planetary

Classic

Basic

Elite

Ultimate

 

This new system is unnecessarily complicated and poorly designed. It should be just as simple and user-friendly as PvP.

 

I would probably fine with it if it wasn't for such low caps

[Heezdedjim]

In the end, putting these weekly limits on in-game currency is there in order to help maintain balance between the players. It helps to ensure that players that for whatever reason, are able to play the game 20 hours a day dont make obsolete the players who only play a few hours a day. Quite honestly, it's also there to help save players from themselves to try and eliminate reasons to play 20 hours a day.

 

The overall limits are there to make sure that people do not hoard in-game currency and break the economy. If people have 10s of thousands of planetary comms and the game designers put new gear into the game, they have to stuggle with how much to charge for it. Too little and everyone buys it all in the first day and complains it wasn't enough.....too much and it takes new players too long to earn each piece and they get frustrated. It's all a matter of trying find a balance.

The caps are there for one reason only: To enforce a minimum calendar day commitment (i.e. subscription dollar spend) that you have to make in order to fully gear one character to level X.

 

If you read the recent interview on massively about how F2P Saved SWTOR, you'll see that Bioware's recurring nightmare with this game is having people blow through content they thought would last for months in just weeks or days. This is exactly what happened, according to James Ohlen: "Within four and five weeks, we suddenly had close to a half a million people at the endgame." They are now scared that the expansion they spent six months making will be "done" in a day or two by the same people who got to endgame in a month after launch. And they only way they can see to put the brakes on that is to choke people down to a snail's pace with a weekly throttle on the grinding.

 

The only problem is, it's not going to slow anyone down that is truly devoted to grinding 24x7. It will piss them off, but it won't stop them. It will just force people who play 24x7 to roll lots of alts in order to keep grinding . . . and given the obvious plague of altaholism that this game already suffers from, that's not all that surprising. If they truly want to stop people progressing at all except on their fixed time frame, then they will have to finally come to grips with and disable legacy mod smuggling. If a stealth patch mysteriously breaks the ability to trade or mail Bound to Legacy gear with mods inserted (while leaving you free to shuttle the gear around as long as it is empty), then you'll understand why.

 

For the same reasons, it won't actually "balance" anything you think it will, because people who play all day long will still have the ability to pile up loads of comms; they just need more toons to do it.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Heezdedjim

[Darslk]

Have any devs said what will happen to unassembled pieces? Should I turn them in for money?

[Kyleslater]

I have no problem playing alts and I probably will continue to do that. BUT I DON'T LIKE BEING FORCED TO DO THAT.

 

I mean I have 8 imperial toons already. And I am tempted to buy another slot just so I can level another. Yes I can count to 12... 4 pub toons half of which are 50 so not everything on my account is 50.

 

Having said this there is a very high likelyhood I will hate this new planet and spend most of my time doing section x dailies across several toons..

[Kyleslater]

Have any devs said what will happen to unassembled pieces? Should I turn them in for money?

There will be a vendor on zhiost shadow (imperial side) that you can hand the pieces into for crates of comms more or less depending on what level the piece is

I am guessing there is a similar one on the republic side but I didn't care enough about my pub toons to check. so No don't turn them in yet.

[potatman]

My biggest concern is with the old gear tokens. While we can turn them over for Classic Coms easy enough, it causes us to hit the cap too quickly. IIRC, Campaign tokens gave 150 Classic Coms in PTS. When I turned in two of them in PTS, it caused me to hit my weekly cap of 200, and flushed the remaining 100 down the toilet.

 

This concerns me because my main has over a dozen tokens waiting to be turned in (Most are Columi, but still). This means that I will be hitting the weekly cap for at least 2 months just trying to convert my pre-2.0 gear tokens, and will have no reason to do any of the 50~54 elder game content in that time period. This is true for my primary alts as well, but to a much lesser extent.

 

IMHO, the gear tokens should go towards the one time 800 Com overflow cap, and not towards the weekly 200 Com cap. A dev response would be nice on this one.

[Shadodragon]

I just have a few clarification questions:

 

1.) Let's say I log in on the 9th, and find I have 600 Classic Comms. Over the 400 normal limit, but well under the temp limit of 800. I then turn in a bunch of dailies that I saved from the night before to kick start my leveling. Since I'm over the normal limit of 400, will I lose the Classic Comms I would normally earn from those dailies, or will I still earn them as I'm still under 800?

 

2.) To follow up to question #1, if I can continue to earn Classic Comms while being over 400, but under 800... how long will this window of opportunity last? Wouldn't I just be able to then earn up to 800, spend a few and then return to earning them while never dipping below 400?

 

3.) I have several pieces of unassembled Columi and Rakata gear in my vault. Similar to my 1st question, if I come into 2.0 w/600 Classic Comms, will I be able to turn those in for comms without first having to drop down below 400 comms? And whether I can of not, do the comms earned from turning in these pieces count toward my weekly earnings?

 

4.) Lastly, let's say I have an alt that comes into 2.0 with 390 Classic Comms, but they too have unassembled Columi and Rakata pieces, AND have a full quest log of dailies and weeklies. Will my alt be able to exceed the 400 normal limit even though they didn't initially come into the patch above it?

[potatman]

I just have a few clarification questions:

 

I think I can answer most of your questions based on the patch notes and what was in PTS.

1.) Let's say I log in on the 9th, and find I have 600 Classic Comms. Over the 400 normal limit, but well under the temp limit of 800. I then turn in a bunch of dailies that I saved from the night before to kick start my leveling. Since I'm over the normal limit of 400, will I lose the Classic Comms I would normally earn from those dailies, or will I still earn them as I'm still under 800?

Post 2.0, you can't earn a single com if you are over the 400 cap, regardless of the source. The overflow cap is only in place for converted coms.

2.) To follow up to question #1, if I can continue to earn Classic Comms while being over 400, but under 800... how long will this window of opportunity last? Wouldn't I just be able to then earn up to 800, spend a few and then return to earning them while never dipping below 400?

No, see #1.

3.) I have several pieces of unassembled Columi and Rakata gear in my vault. Similar to my 1st question, if I come into 2.0 w/600 Classic Comms, will I be able to turn those in for comms without first having to drop down below 400 comms? And whether I can of not, do the comms earned from turning in these pieces count toward my weekly earnings?

No, reason #1 again. And more irritatingly, the converted gear tokens not only have to be under the 400 total cap (even though they should be overflow), but also count towards your weekly 200 cap. IMHO, they should not count towards the weekly cap and BW should add an exception so that they don't count towards the cap before 2.0 goes live. See my post above for more details.

4.) Lastly, let's say I have an alt that comes into 2.0 with 390 Classic Comms, but they too have unassembled Columi and Rakata pieces, AND have a full quest log of dailies and weeklies. Will my alt be able to exceed the 400 normal limit even though they didn't initially come into the patch above it?

Again, unfortunately no. No coms can be earned in anyway, shape or form over 400 once 2.0 hits.

[Jerqa]

Just curious... How come the Planetary Comms are being limited to 50 max? Couldn't that be raised a little bit to maybe 100 or so? Not referring to the overflow but the general amount going forward.

 

Thank you.

[Shadodragon]

I think I can answer most of your questions based on the patch notes and what was in PTS.

 

Post 2.0, you can't earn a single com if you are over the 400 cap, regardless of the source. The overflow cap is only in place for converted coms.

 

No, see #1.

 

No, reason #1 again. And more irritatingly, the converted gear tokens not only have to be under the 400 total cap (even though they should be overflow), but also count towards your weekly 200 cap. IMHO, they should not count towards the weekly cap and BW should add an exception so that they don't count towards the cap before 2.0 goes live. See my post above for more details.

 

Again, unfortunately no. No coms can be earned in anyway, shape or form over 400 once 2.0 hits.

 

Makes sense.

 

Not what I was hoping to hear... but pretty much what I expected. Thanks for the info.

[Falensawino]

I've noticed a lot of questions about the upcoming changes to Commendations. To help you make your spending decisions before Game Update 2.0, here are a few of the patch notes:

 

 

• Commendations from individual planets have been converted into a single "Planetary Commendation" type. Vendors that previously traded items for specific planet commendations now trade the same items for Planetary Commendations.
   
  
• Tionese Crystals have been converted to the new "Planetary Commendation" type and no longer drop from any content.
   
  
• Daily, Tionese, Columi, and Black Hole Commendations have all been converted to Classic Commendations. Missions and loot that previously awarded these commendations will now award Classic Commendations instead.
   
  
• Daily, Tionese, Columi, and Black Hole Commendations in your inventory will be converted to Classic Commendations at the following ratios:
  
  • Tionese Commendations - 6:1
    
  • Columi Commendations - 4:1
    
  • Daily Commendations - 4:1
    
  • Black Hole Commendations - 1:1
    

 

Please keep in mind that these aren't all of the notes with regards to Commendations, but I hope the info above helps anyone who is confused and trying to make sense of what's going to happen.

 

Few questions

 

1. What's the conversion ratio for Planetary commendations. Will it be 1:1 for every planet in the game?

 

2.

so, Dulfy.net is reporting that grade 7 ship part schematics will be removed from Mission Support Vendors,

source article : http://dulfy.net/2013/02/22/swtor-commendations-system-in-patch-2-0/ SPECIFICALLY this image called "Conversion ratios & Chart": http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/swtor-old-to-classsic-comm-conversion-21.jpg

 

sub-question C is the only one that requires an answer.

• a. Where will these grade 7 ship part schematics be available for purchase after 2.0.?
  
• b. which commendation type will be required to purchase level 7 ship schematics after 2.0?
  
• c. will the level 7 ship schematics be removed entirely?
  

 

nevermind, question #3 has been answered; in the other topic, by a player who was able to use the PTS

----------my feeble attempt at putting a strikethrough the answered question--------------

[strikeout][strikethrough]<span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><strike>

3. Will the new weekly cap on Planetary, Classic, Basic, Elite, Ultimate commendations... be.. Per character or Per Legacy? (like how reputation weekly cap works)

 

I directed a question like this (#3) to EricMusco in another topic but I don't expect him to answer it there, link to single post for reference: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=6088474&postcount=153

[/strikeout][/strikethrough]<strike></span></strike>

 

 

Edited April 3, 2013 by Falensawino

[Mowermanx]

Few questions

 

1. What's the conversion ratio for Planetary commendations. Will it be 1:1 for every planet in the game?

 

2.

so, Dulfy.net is reporting that grade 7 ship part schematics will be removed from Mission Support Vendors,

source article : http://dulfy.net/2013/02/22/swtor-commendations-system-in-patch-2-0/ SPECIFICALLY this image called "Conversion ratios & Chart": http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/swtor-old-to-classsic-comm-conversion-21.jpg

 

sub-question C is the only one that requires an answer.

• a. Where will these grade 7 ship part schematics be available for purchase after 2.0.?
  
• b. which commendation type will be required to purchase level 7 ship schematics after 2.0?
  
• c. will the level 7 ship schematics be removed entirely?
  

 

3. Will the new weekly cap on Planetary, Classic, Basic, Elite, Ultimate commendations... be.. Per character or Per Legacy? (like how reputation weekly cap works)

 

I directed a question like this (#3) to EricMusco in another topic but I don't expect him to answer it there, link to single post for reference: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=6088474&postcount=153

 

The only one I for certain is 3, and that is per character.

[Falensawino]

The only one I for certain is 3, and that is per character.

Thank you, another PTS player also answered the question in the other topic

 

I edited my post, put question #3 in

tags because I couldn't use [/s] (strikethrough)

[DarkFireShadow]

I am confused here, they are going to pool ALL of the commendations into one so instead of having 300 commendations on 1 toon and 150 on another they are combining them together for ALL toons in my legacy?

[Mowermanx]

I am confused here, they are going to pool ALL of the commendations into one so instead of having 300 commendations on 1 toon and 150 on another they are combining them together for ALL toons in my legacy?

 

No, theres no legacy crossover with any of these comms.

[DarthVengeant]

The caps are there for one reason only: To enforce a minimum calendar day commitment (i.e. subscription dollar spend) that you have to make in order to fully gear one character to level X.

 

If you read the recent interview on massively about how F2P Saved SWTOR, you'll see that Bioware's recurring nightmare with this game is having people blow through content they thought would last for months in just weeks or days. This is exactly what happened, according to James Ohlen: "Within four and five weeks, we suddenly had close to a half a million people at the endgame." They are now scared that the expansion they spent six months making will be "done" in a day or two by the same people who got to endgame in a month after launch. And they only way they can see to put the brakes on that is to choke people down to a snail's pace with a weekly throttle on the grinding.

 

The only problem is, it's not going to slow anyone down that is truly devoted to grinding 24x7. It will piss them off, but it won't stop them. It will just force people who play 24x7 to roll lots of alts in order to keep grinding . . . and given the obvious plague of altaholism that this game already suffers from, that's not all that surprising. If they truly want to stop people progressing at all except on their fixed time frame, then they will have to finally come to grips with and disable legacy mod smuggling. If a stealth patch mysteriously breaks the ability to trade or mail Bound to Legacy gear with mods inserted (while leaving you free to shuttle the gear around as long as it is empty), then you'll understand why.

 

For the same reasons, it won't actually "balance" anything you think it will, because people who play all day long will still have the ability to pile up loads of comms; they just need more toons to do it.

 

I am curious why the heck Bioware cares if someone paying 15 bucks a month "blows through" the game in a few days. They are still playing the game aren't they? Yes. They do this to alts don't they, and most likely have quite a few toons? Yes. Bioware is still getting the 15 bucks a month from the individual, so what on gods earth does it matter for?

 

Why does it freakin matter if someone wants to get through the new content in 2 days? I fail to see why anyone would freakin' care. Forcing people to play limited amounts or have the ability to only earn limited amounts per week will just put people off the game and make them play less. I am one of them, I may just cancel my sub on and off as well if I am LIMITED on what I can do. Why should I continue to pay 15 dollars a month for something that limits me continually? I pay one month, and unsub the next, Etc. So, you'll only have me paying 6 months a year instead of 12.

 

This "nanny state" coming from Bioware is really pissing me off. I am fed up with other people telling someone who paid good money for a game HOW to play the game. As long as it doesn't effect others, mind your own business.

 

Someone getting from 1-50 in a few days does NOT effect anyone else. PERIOD!

 

A guy who wants to earn 350 comms in a week does NOT effect anyone other than himself.

 

Honestly, every single new thing I hear in SWTOR is just putting me off more and more. I really am fed up with this mandating people in a game they paid for. Bioware, your not my mommy.

 

Either raise the caps, or your going to get backlash like you have never seen. I guarantee it.

Edited April 3, 2013 by DarthVengeant

[potatman]

Why does it freakin matter if someone wants to get through the new content in 2 days? I fail to see why anyone would freakin' care.

 

Because there are people (like) who are inclined to unsub as soon as they get their alts geared. This way they made it impossible to gear up within a month, so subscribers will need to pay for two (or more) months to gear up instead of just one month.

[Kyleslater]

Because there are people (like) who are inclined to unsub as soon as they get their alts geared. This way they made it impossible to gear up within a month, so subscribers will need to pay for two (or more) months to gear up instead of just one month.

 

Well i'm tempted to unsub because of the restrictions and go find a game without or god forbid get a life. I dunno I'll have to see just how annoying the cap is and if I can reach the cap on more then 3 toons within a 24 hour period then yeah the cap is going to be annoying as hell.

[chriscshunter]

Let me put things into perspective...

1 Black Hole Comms = 1 Classic Comms

BH /Classic= 61's

61's in 2.0 = Tionese Now

30 BH Comms on Bracer Reverse Engineered = 1 or 2 Mol Stabs

Mole Stab Now = 60-70k

Mole Stab 2.0 = 10-30k

 

So you have 3 choices

 

1) Save your BH comm's so you can be geared in trashy tionese

2) Save your BH comm's so you can sell your stabs as vendor trash

3) Or spend them now and make the most gain by selling them stabs!

 

Everyone better be blowing your comms now while they have value, because very soon they wont be worth more than crap. And the gear will be dropping in EV/KP SM anyway, so get some creds while you can...

Edited April 3, 2013 by chriscshunter

[slafko]

The only problem is, it's not going to slow anyone down that is truly devoted to grinding 24x7. It will piss them off, but it won't stop them. It will just force people who play 24x7 to roll lots of alts in order to keep grinding . . . and given the obvious plague of altaholism that this game already suffers from, that's not all that surprising. If they truly want to stop people progressing at all except on their fixed time frame, then they will have to finally come to grips with and disable legacy mod smuggling. If a stealth patch mysteriously breaks the ability to trade or mail Bound to Legacy gear with mods inserted (while leaving you free to shuttle the gear around as long as it is empty), then you'll understand why.

 

For the same reasons, it won't actually "balance" anything you think it will, because people who play all day long will still have the ability to pile up loads of comms; they just need more toons to do it.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they implemented a weekly cap on play hours.

Edited April 3, 2013 by slafko

[Brillat]

Caps have been there, but they were NOT so bloody low. Not even close to being this low. You can only essentially buy 2-3 pieces of armor a week now. Good freakin' luck gearing your companions now.

 

Before 2.0 you could gear a toon up to Campaign lvl gear within a week of hitting 50....with 2.0 god knows how long it will take now. It's REALLY disconcerting and putting me off.

 

Tell me about this mysterious" balance" putting caps on things brings? What does it matter if some guy want's to play 20hrs a day and earn everything? If that's what he chooses to do, that's his business. How does that effect ANYONE else? It doesn't. Save players from themselves? How is that your business? Is this the nanny state of gaming now? People pay 15 bucks a month for a reason and should never be told they are limited on how much they can play or earn in the game. EVER.

 

From the perspective of someone who plays at a hgh level, but only has maybe 10 hours / week to game, it does affect other players if people can 'earn everything' too fast. If there is no cap, people with limited time get outgeared too rapidly to meaningfully participate in high-end raiding or PvP (and frankly, I'm strongly hoping they put a weekly PvP comm cap in, too, perhaps with 'extra' WZ comms being converted into credits or only exchangeable for medpacks / adrenals not gear ....) at the beginning of an expansion.

 

If you want to play 100 hours / week, and 'cap out' your raiding comms in 10, then you get 90 hours to level or gear alts. Or craft. Or RP. Or explore planets and geather lore and holocrons. Or do many of the other things the game offers beside the gear treadmill. Or .. you know ... get out in the fresh air. Or go on a date. Or learn Chinese.... I hear that 'RL' game has no time cap ...

[Laurreth]

I wouldn't be surprised if they implemented a weekly cap on play hours.

 

I think you just won some kind of badge.

[DarthVengeant]

From the perspective of someone who plays at a hgh level, but only has maybe 10 hours / week to game, it does affect other players if people can 'earn everything' too fast. If there is no cap, people with limited time get outgeared too rapidly to meaningfully participate in high-end raiding or PvP (and frankly, I'm strongly hoping they put a weekly PvP comm cap in, too, perhaps with 'extra' WZ comms being converted into credits or only exchangeable for medpacks / adrenals not gear ....) at the beginning of an expansion.

 

If you want to play 100 hours / week, and 'cap out' your raiding comms in 10, then you get 90 hours to level or gear alts. Or craft. Or RP. Or explore planets and geather lore and holocrons. Or do many of the other things the game offers beside the gear treadmill. Or .. you know ... get out in the fresh air. Or go on a date. Or learn Chinese.... I hear that 'RL' game has no time cap ...

 

I play and raid at high level myself. And I played and put in MY TIME to do it.

 

So your saying people who can play more should be gimped because of other people cant? Is this communism now? The gestapo of MMO? It DOES NOT effect YOU (or anyone at all) if other people can gear 10 times faster than you. I don't buy your childish excuse. "earn too fast". Since when can you EARN something TOO FAST? If I spend MY time doing it, what right does anyone else have to tell me not to? How is it your business? So YOU can't raid yet because you don't have the time to play much to have earned the high end gear yet, that's not my problem. And its childishly selfish to want other to be gimped because of you. I really don't care if other people can gear fast and raid fast. I don't play games to set around worrying about other people's progression and gear. Without those high end people you wont know what stuff may work better for you and what to work towards.

 

It's not your business if others want to play all day and not "get out in the fresh air or go on a date". That statement in itself is rude and shows an utter lack of maturity. To think YOU have a right to tell others what to do with their time and how much to play a game is beyond ridiculous. Your not someones mother. This isn't Nanny MMO. Mind your own business and play the game how much you choose and how you choose. Your trying to dictate to others HOW they should play their game and progress...when you flat out have no right. Your kind of invasive mentality is ruining this game. It's going to make people quit. Your essentially wanting other people to suffer penalties because of you and how you live your life. Its ridiculous, selfish, and childish.

Edited April 3, 2013 by DarthVengeant

[Laurreth]

1) Save your BH comm's so you can be geared in trashy tionese

2) Save your BH comm's so you can sell your stabs as vendor trash

3) Or spend them now and make the most gain by selling them stabs!

 

Everyone better be blowing your comms now while they have value, because very soon they wont be worth more than crap. And the gear will be dropping in EV/KP SM anyway, so get some creds while you can...

 

I think you would be better off playing EVE. If you want to play Excel for a credit purse, that's where it's at.

 

Let me put things into perspective:

 

Right now, it takes me several weeks to get a Blackhole or Campaign piece or armouring, because I spend most of my time in PvP, and Blackhole commendations are ultra-rare drops with that playstyle, even if you do a bit of Blackhole or Section X on the side. (Doing only Blackhole, getting the full BH set would take about a year…) That said, my main is borderline viable for any "endgame" content.

 

With the conversion, I'll suddenly be able to use all of my so far completely useless PvE commendations to get from a weird columi/rakata mix to mostly campaign. It's a real boost.

 

Recommending "everyone" to get rid of their commendations is ultimately a very, very arrogant statement.