Bolster questions have been answered from Bioware (PLEASE READ!)

[Caeliux]

Already we have too many threads, and more people will post and think Bioware has not commented yet.

 

Here it is, now stop making threads until another comment about Bolster comes from Bioware.

 

Hey everyone!

 

I was able to spend a bit of time today talking to Rob Hinkle and Alex Modny about the PvP changes and although they are busy right now working on getting solutions to some of these issues, I wanted to pass on some explanations on what is going on.

 

What is the purpose of “naked” bolster? So I want to clarify why Naked Bolster exists. For Bolster we need to have a system that impacts Warzone players from level 10 to level 55. To do this we want to make sure characters are on as even a playing field as possible. However, when you were leveling up your main, when did you get your first helmet, implant, or relic? In the level up game we have certain points where characters have not yet received certain items and we don’t want to punish these characters because they don’t have access to certain items while higher level characters have plentiful access, so they both get bolstered up to the same level to create a more equal playing field.

 

Ex: We want to make sure your level 11 without a helmet is getting some stats for their head slot to be equal to the level 25 with a helmet.

 

With that being said, we do not intend for naked Bolster to be better than wearing gear of any type. This is a bug with the system that we are adamant on fixing and attempted to fix on PTS. The truth is that when we fixed one aspect of the system we opened up another edge case. Last night when it became apparent we had not done enough to fix the issue we started an investigation (yes at 3am CDT in the morning) and have been working all day on a plan of attack to shore up this system so that it is fun and balanced for all parties.

 

More specifically the issues we have discovered are how the Bolster system handles Relics and diminishing returns. Currently on live, Bolster is giving too many stats to the Relic slot, meaning if you don’t use a Relic (naked Bolster) you will get more stats than the Relic itself would give. Actually different stats entirely since most Relics have Endurance and a proc effect. This means that taking off Relics will give you more primary damage stat and secondary stats and you will probably lose Endurance. How Bolster looks at Relic slots needs to be redone so that stats it assumes are present or should be present are more in-line with Relics that are present and we are working on that currently.

 

The other issue we found in our investigation is that Bolster’s diminishing returns are too generous and giving out too many stats over the course of a set. Our item system uses a diminishing returns formula on each individual stat on a mod, so that putting more and more of a stat on a single mod costs more “item budget.” The Bolster system follows the same formulas, but because it gives more frequent smaller values that are added together, each stat takes a less harsh diminishing returns hit. Taken over the course of an entire set, the result is that a fully Bolstered character tends to have gained some small values in each stat and rating over actual items. To fix this we need to massage some numbers to make diminishing returns affect Bolster stat gains more drastically.

 

It is important to note that “naked Bolster” is never intended to be better than wearing gear, this is a bug and is going to be fixed.

 

How does this affect level 55? Bolster will bolster characters up to right below Partisan gear, the new level 55 PvP set gear. This is working correctly from what we can see and means that the Elder Game will not have this issue of “naked Bolster.” Partisan and Conquer gear are still highly valuable and give better stats than Bolster so that max level PvP should be intact as we designed, it is just unfortunate that the system has bugs in it that make getting to that point frustrating.

 

Because of the bolster changes and general changes to 2.0 combat math you will see larger numbers during combat. We have given out more health with levels which means more damage to counter it. Also, in 2.0 the gear gap has been closed significantly. In pre-2.0 the gap was roughly (very roughly!) 80% difference between Recruit and fully augmented Elite War Hero gear. Closing this gap means that PvP battles will be on a more equal footing but you might be experiencing damage and heal numbers you hadn’t seen before the patch.

 

Hopefully this post has addressed some of your concerns about the current state of PvP following Game Update 2.0. Again, naked Bolster being as strong as it is right now is a bug and is not intended design. We have outlined above what our current plan is for addressing it but this is always subject to change. I will do my best to keep you all updated on how and when these changes will happen. Thank you all for your questions and feedback.

 

-eric

[Azarai]

To summarize wall of text:

 

We saw what you all said on the PTS about how jacked bolster was. We twiddled our thumbs in other aspects like the Cartel Market and realized we didn't have enough time to fix what had been broken since 2.0 rolled out onto the PTS. We rolled it out anyway knowing good and well it was messed up and now we're backtracking.

 

MY BAD BRAH!!

[EmperorDarkstar]

I'm happy with the changes. You are not meant to have pvp gear before 55 now so that is why our current WH gear is useless. Once time passes and all the WH people are 55 and getting the new gear then it won't be that bad. We are now supposed to be using only pve gear pre-55. The only problem is the naked bug. As soon as they fix the naked thing then all will be well. Just give them some time to work on it, im sure it involves a lot of analyzing and time to fix the code

[Caeliux]

Bumping to make sure people have read this.

[Jeeses]

bump so bads know whats actually happening

[Aelaias]

Incidentally, I found that wearing pve stuff is better than being naked, at least on sub-50 characters. On the other hand wearing ANYTHING with expertise, including recruit will get you buffed to the level of wh/elite with 19k health or so. I took out expertise crystals from my weapons and it jumped up about 300 points to cap or very near it. So go with pve gear until 55.

[Avicii]

Incidentally, I found that wearing pve stuff is better than being naked, at least on sub-50 characters. On the other hand wearing ANYTHING with expertise, including recruit will get you buffed to the level of wh/elite with 19k health or so. I took out expertise crystals from my weapons and it jumped up about 300 points to cap or very near it. So go with pve gear until 55.

 

Exactly what I found as well as a level 40 sin my 2 exp crystals lowered my total exp. also the maxtrix relics augmented was better then no relic vs the level 30ish relics I had better stats removing that one. Meh it wasn't too bad HPs are double as is dmg more or less.

 

I didn't try the 29 and under bracket but I imagine as a lowbie it isn't too bad.

 

I think as noted by others if you are a good player you still standout regardless. Once they fix the naked bug they can tune bolster if needed.

[LanceGabriell]

I don't think that the bug is only based on naked or relics...or diminishing returns on mods

7 of my tionese pieces (rest naked) > naked (EWH SS) > full augmented WH/EWH (3 EWH, including Stalker Saberstaff)

 

more importantly my Tionese DBLS > EWH SS. Is this because my EWH has 4 mods (augmented) with more stats and therefore the diminishing returns kick in?

 

Maybe I'll post some pics this evening when I get home.

[funkiestj]

Already we have too many threads, and more people will post and think Bioware has not commented yet.

 

Here it is, now stop making threads until another comment about Bolster comes from Bioware.

 

If BW would take on some volunteer mods, we could do what some other forums do and create containment threads, (volunteer) mods could move new thread posts into the containment thread (e.g. all the bolster threads).

[Illyean]

good news they are on the case, now we wait, naked, killing each other

[Osy-]

With all the cartel armor and such, I find it to be BS that any toon from lvl 10 on does not have a helmet or runs around with any empty armor slots (except implants and relics). Why are they catering to the cheap, lazy ppl??

[Caeliux]

Bumping so people will know comments already have been spoken.

[Coltraine]

Nice to see Eric come clean the way he did and that they're working on the naked bolster thing. However I've been running naked WZ's practically since the PTR opened with patch 2.0, and regardless what they say it's inexcusable that this has made it to live servers.

[Ashenshuggar]

There really is no excuse for not having armor in a slot at low level. You can buy a full set from the damn social vendor at social 1 which is easy easy to get to by level 10-12.

[Yelloweyedemon]

Well the problem isn't the 'naked' bug, the problem is the amount of bolster given to lvl 55 WZ's. Every serious PvP'er wont stay below 55 for more than 5 days...

 

But if the bolster in lvl 55 WZ's bring everyone pretty much on par with the ones that have the new pvp gear, then there WILL be a problem for obvious reasons...

[Lord_Huxley]

Thank you for posting this as I probably would have missed it otherwise. Good to hear they are looking at it. We'll see where we go now.

 

Only other change I wish they would make would be to remove bolster completely from rateds. Leave it for regular 55 PVP but true endgame PVP (rateds) SHOULD be a gear grind.

[SilverMagnum]

I did some experimenting on this with my SS GS yesterday in some WZs as I leveled (from 50-52).

 

And I noticed the following gear 'progression'

 

Full Dread Guard (WITHOUT RELICS. THIS IS IMPORTANT) was my best gear set. 1975 Expertise and just under 2600 Main Stat. 32% Crit, 79% Surge, 98% Accuracy. 24k HP (not that it was ever an issue) and hard hitting (I saw Aimed Shot and Takedown both crit for over 10k, in every game I got the 6k medal in the first minute of play)

 

Naked with Just Dread Guard Weapons was second best. A slight stat drop (same expertise, a bit less on the secondary stats, 2350 main stat)

 

Naked with Just EWH weapons. This was a bigger drop. lost nearly 350 expertise and over 200 cunning down to 2150

 

PvP Gear (EWH mixed with min-maxed WH) - The worst gear of all. Major drop in stats across the board.

 

Summary:

 

I have not experimented with wearing leveling greens or greys or empty moddable shells. I plan on doing so today on my sentinel because I just hit 50 on her and can just rip all the mods out of her Tionese gear which is now worse than useless.

 

The most important thing I discovered is that you should never have any relics equipped. Also, as many others have stated, make sure you have no expertise on your gear.

 

Hope this helps and good hunting

Edited April 10, 2013 by SilverMagnum

[Kaerwolf]

I'm happy with the changes. You are not meant to have pvp gear before 55 now so that is why our current WH gear is useless. Once time passes and all the WH people are 55 and getting the new gear then it won't be that bad. We are now supposed to be using only pve gear pre-55. The only problem is the naked bug. As soon as they fix the naked thing then all will be well. Just give them some time to work on it, im sure it involves a lot of analyzing and time to fix the code

 

It is by no means a good or even valid reason to give me the "**** YOU-finger with the complementary mocking grin after having spent a lot of time and effort in gearing up for my toons with EWH sets.

 

The new pvp system is bad, from so many aspects.

 

In fact my only regret right now is that I just payed for a 6-month subscription a month ago. Figure out what happens after that...

Edited April 10, 2013 by Kaerwolf

[darthwretch]

granted the dmg number are overpowered and in terms as being an healer practicly unhealable (target is dead befor the heal is casted 8) maybey course they are all running around nacked? other then that i luv this bolster!!!!

thing i would change is that players die to quickly,there is no chance of an good battle,that should change

 

 

aswell as± BIOWARE PLS MAKE IT SO THAT LVL10S GET THEYR INTERRUPT,THIS SHOULD HAVE CHANGED AGES AGO!!

[Zadtro]

Yes bolster really needs to be sorted. As a lvl 50 marauder i went into pvp and a lvl 30 assassin had 29khp and i have 19k and its like is no one else seeing this so people suggested taking bits of gear off to see if you hp improves and it has. I get more stats from wearing nothing, i get put up to 24k hp without gear on.

 

I agree with people dieing to easily, i know i am dps but still a tank shouldnt be able to run around and take on more then 3 people and loose half their health, they have too much damage reduction and damage for balanced pvp.

[Smuglebunny]

All I do is pvp. So the game is ruined for me. I worked daily to get my EWH gear to pvp till 55.

 

ruined. I cannot play. I expect from yesterday to the day its fixed to be refunded. Or the days added. YOU KNEW it was messed up and still put it live. I CANNOT PLAY. Feel free to ignore me, Ive subbed since Jan 12'

 

No longer.

[Atramar]

All I do is pvp. So the game is ruined for me. I worked daily to get my EWH gear to pvp till 55.

 

ruined. I cannot play. I expect from yesterday to the day its fixed to be refunded. Or the days added. YOU KNEW it was messed up and still put it live. I CANNOT PLAY. Feel free to ignore me, Ive subbed since Jan 12'

 

No longer.

 

and you didn't read any patch notes? We knew what gear is gonna happen and that bolster will be introduced since late feb 2013... if you bought gear on monday afternoon thinking you will be rocking out 30-54, then you Sir, got served.

[Smuglebunny]

and you didn't read any patch notes? We knew what gear is gonna happen and that bolster will be introduced since late feb 2013... if you bought gear on monday afternoon thinking you will be rocking out 30-54, then you Sir, got served.

 

 

Naked shouldn't be better than my gear no matter WHAT my gear is and they said IN THE FIRST POST might I add that this is a bug that has not been fixed even after being discovered weeks ago.

 

I should have expected naked lvl 45's to be bolstered ABOVE a lvl 50 with full EWH?

 

Your post makes zero sense. I read all notes when they come out.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Smuglebunny

[Atramar]

Naked shouldn't be better than my gear no matter WHAT my gear is and they said IN THE FIRST POST might I add that this is a bug that has not been fixed even after being discovered weeks ago.

 

I should have expected naked lvl 45's to be bolstered ABOVE a lvl 50 with full EWH?

 

Your post makes zero sense. I read all notes when they come out.

 

While agree that naked pvp is wrong, grinding full EWH and min maxing it, RIGHT before expansion, is asking for trouble. .

 

Naked no, but I would expect blue 45 ish level to have stats similar to EWH 50-54. By one simple reason:

people who were 49 and below, day patch hit live, never had a chance to buy it. EWH should not be BIS for pvp 30-54.

It is to avoid twinks who didn't buy expansion, and will stay 50 forever with their min maxed EWH gutting every one who didn't had a chance to have similar gear..

 

Yes, Bolster IS broken. Yes, it sucks. But, it is not puttign you on disadvantage. go naked and be equal to every one else.

Unless you cannot play without gear advantage.

[Smuglebunny]

Its been EWH for a while, just recently got boots to make a complete set, ive never min maxed armor on any toon. I have 9 50's and a lvl 36 operative.

 

The first thing I did was get naked, this has nothing to do with being mad that my gear isn't making me stronger than others in fact ive been winning a lot on imp side which is unusual on my server.

 

But pvp is crazy and its because of an admitted failure. Its not fun. I could win every game its just very wonky and random.

 

You seem to think im angry cuz my gear doesn't make me better. Im angry cuz a known bug that could have been dealt with before going live is making pvp random and un-fun...besides the first 3 WZ's...then the novelty of having NO IDEA whats what wears off quick.

 

I want it fixed. Cuz for 1 toon problem solved when I hit 55 But I have 10 toons...

Edited April 10, 2013 by Smuglebunny