Producer's Road Map 2014

[Blitz-wing]

Where the **** is the road map for the Remaining Stages of Sniper Re-Balancing!

 

 

Orbital Nerf to the *********** MAX!!!!

 

 

More to follow........LATER?????

 

 

*******

Edited February 5, 2014 by Blitz-wing

[ODTONE]

and beautifully ruin the smugs airstrike...

[Karkais]

I for one am not opposed to new storycontent as such. I just don't want it to be tacked on yet another operation/flashpoint to cap the existing progression curve where you get rewarded yet another tier of gear which you need for it and for the next yet another operation that comes in the next yet another update.. Edited February 5, 2014 by Karkais

[Valkyriez]

Sad when the only thing I'm even remotely excited about is the double xp weekend. Yippee. I can level alt number 22.

 

Your roadmap team needs to seriously wake up and realize what this game needs is an extension of individual class and companion stories, and player housing and crafting for household decorations. You could even sell some decorations on the cartel shop.

 

To be quite frank and blunt here, I don't give two ****s about your Galactic Starfighter and the stuff you add to it. Pfft.

So much for your road map. Sorry. Guess I'll be letting my sub lapse out. Not paying for those 'offerings.'

 

Ironically I don't care about any of the suggestions you made either, weird how that worked out.

[midianlord]

Revert the butchery you've done to XS Flyby/Orbital Strike. Like, immediately.

 

Or, remove it from the game entirely --just like HeadShot, Shoulder-Slam, and those other old abilities, remember those?--and replace with something worthy of being a new top-level icon for two iconic classes with two iconic stories.

Edited February 5, 2014 by midianlord

[Tealkman]

 

1. So what about the Guild Ships?
   
2. New quest chains like the Seeker Droid or Binoculars where you actually need to think and solve problems?
   
3. New Class maybe?
   
4. Some new player experience would be nice, getting so tired of the same old BORING things being repeated over and over again.
   
5. Here is a suggestion, fire the people that comes up with these bad ideas and get some new thinkers into the development team.
   

 

Soon to be EX SWTOR player if this keeps up.

[Justbee]

only NiM modes until june ? srsly ?

 

ur kidding right ?

 

oricon ops shall last another 4 month ? and u release NiM Modes fpr about 3-5% of all raid players and paint it as content ?

wow....u must be kidding....sorry but u wont keep the pve raiders all in game with that slow release of operations and real new content. but hey pls more cool gsf stuff *yawn* at least 1 of my guild is still hardcore playing it, bet he will keep his aub as long as he find some other dudes to fly with him.... bad road map, very disappointing

[redfurry]

Thank you for posting the roadmap, it is good info.

I am always looking for new and different ways of leveling alts; so the tactical FP, more variety in GSF, the new Huttbap map and the double XP weekend are great news for me

 

The new FPs for 2.7 and the new storyline sound awesome! And the "biggest update to date" and two digital expansions look very promising, I'm liking many of the speculations.

 

But the change in release cycle may be the biggest news of all. I firmly believe that the one problem that cripples this game is the amount of new bugs introduced with every update - not only it consumes time, but drains the developer's morale and gives impression of poor communication (the devs were surely aware of all those bugs reported on PTS, but could not correct them all in time for the deadline). More time for fixing bugs without the added pressure of being live bugs, will hopefully invert the trend and pave the way for awesome (and working!) new features every patch.

[Devinia-Hex]

An expansion like Rise of the Hutt Cartel was pretty big all the voice acting and options that go into that the cut screens etc so if they are bringing something like that and and some new instances and warzone it shows they are working to keep updates coming. The storyline updates are my favorite but I'm Mass Effect fan. It looks good to me.

[NoFishing]

I for one am not opposed to new storycontent as such. I just don't want it to be tacked on yet another operation/flashpoint to cap the existing progression curve where you get rewarded yet another tier of gear which you need for it and for the next yet another operation that comes in the next yet another update..

 

So you are saying you don't want to play an mmorpg then?

[Kimyrielle]

So you are saying you don't want to play an mmorpg then?

 

I know that you were being sarcastic, but there is really no written law that max level content in MMOs needs to be a boring gear treadmill where people farm scripted instances ad nauseaum that play the exact same way every single time you do them.

[NoFishing]

I know that you were being sarcastic, but there is really no written law that max level content in MMOs needs to be a boring gear treadmill where people farm scripted instances ad nauseaum that play the exact same way every single time you do them.

 

I was being a bit sarcastic, but also pointing out that gear treadmills are a part of the genre. Note that I said mmoRPG. A key part of any RPG is character and gear progression.

[Kimyrielle]

I was being a bit sarcastic, but also pointing out that gear treadmills are a part of the genre. Note that I said mmoRPG. A key part of any RPG is character and gear progression.

 

To a certain degree what you said is correct, but there is no reason why the idea of progression (which is indeed a part of the RPG genre) needs to be reduced to gear ONLY. There are many other ways to progress a character, that usually get neglected by MMO developers. Mind you, "progression" doesn't necessarily need to mean "making them stronger" all the time, it can be other fun things like learning new crafts, new skills, or such mundane things like furnishing a house or starship. Why the only form of progression used in max level MMO content is usually "gear progression" is beyond me.

[DanNV]

To a certain degree what you said is correct, but there is no reason why the idea of progression (which is indeed a part of the RPG genre) needs to be reduced to gear ONLY. There are many other ways to progress a character, that usually get neglected by MMO developers. Mind you, "progression" doesn't necessarily need to mean "making them stronger" all the time, it can be other fun things like learning new crafts, new skills, or such mundane things like furnishing a house or starship. Why the only form of progression used in max level MMO content is usually "gear progression" is beyond me.

 

Very true. And, if they actually did some of that instead of new tiers of gear, the older content is still available and at least somewhat of a challenge. As it is, once you add new gear, the old content becomes easy and people stop playing it unless they are levelling. That means a lot of time and development work gets shelved every time they add new gear somewhere. Somehow, it doesn't make sense to me. If you're gonna add new gear, add it when you add a new level cap and content for that new level cap.

[Okamakiri]

Mind you, "progression" doesn't necessarily need to mean "making them stronger"

 

Yes it does. If you want a no progression game, go play GW2. But even they bailed on that idea of "no gear progression" when they started losing players left and right, and they quickly introduced Ascended gear, obtainable in most grindtastic fashion.

[Okamakiri]

only NiM modes until june ? srsly ?

 

ur kidding right ?

 

oricon ops shall last another 4 month ? and u release NiM Modes fpr about 3-5% of all raid players and paint it as content ?

wow....u must be kidding....sorry but u wont keep the pve raiders all in game with that slow release of operations and real new content. but hey pls more cool gsf stuff *yawn* at least 1 of my guild is still hardcore playing it, bet he will keep his aub as long as he find some other dudes to fly with him.... bad road map, very disappointing

 

NO! It'll be 7-8 months before new OP. They're only opening NiM DP in June, and they're bound to leave it up for at least 2-3 months before they release a new OP. So no new OPs before Aug-Sep, maybe even October time frame, a year of milking the same ten encounters. Completely unacceptable.

[Kimyrielle]

Yes it does

 

It's odd that you would say it that way, for I have you already proven wrong by naming several examples of character progression that doesn't make a character any stronger and are still a staple in at least some MMOs.

 

It's even odder that after disagreeing with me on the gear progression thing you write another post complaining about how horrible it is having to farm the same 10 encounters over and over - a symptom in MMOs directly caused by them overfocusing on vertical gear progression, instead of at least adding a component of horizontal/non-stat increasing progression content at the same time.

 

People on the internet...

[NoFishing]

It's even odder that after disagreeing with me on the gear progression thing you write another post complaining about how horrible it is having to farm the same 10 encounters over and over - a symptom in MMOs directly caused by them overfocusing on vertical gear progression, instead of at least adding a component of horizontal/non-stat increasing progression content at the same time.

 

Actually it is the opposite. Up until DF/DP BW has been producing a new op at a rate of every 6 to 8 months. This will be closer to a year-long gap while they focus on things like GSF and "tactical" flashpoints, neither of which factor in any way to the gear progression. I'm not opposed to any of the things you mentioned getting added or made better, but not at the expense of PvE story and operations, which they have lost focus on.

Edited February 5, 2014 by NoFishing

[HKtheindomitable]

Very true. And, if they actually did some of that instead of new tiers of gear, the older content is still available and at least somewhat of a challenge. As it is, once you add new gear, the old content becomes easy and people stop playing it unless they are levelling. That means a lot of time and development work gets shelved every time they add new gear somewhere. Somehow, it doesn't make sense to me. If you're gonna add new gear, add it when you add a new level cap and content for that new level cap.

 

Agreement: This is very true.

 

Statement: Unfortunately you have those meatbags who believe that progression only means getting new gear and will stop playing the game because things are not being provided at the rate they think it should. Because most MMOs are set up that way, that's the mindset of the majority of players.

 

Conjecture: It is possible however that if they did change things up a bit, and make it so that the new gear doesn't make the new Ops super easy all the time, most players will still play the game because of the challenge.

 

Statement: That is the true meaning of progression. Getting past the difficulties of new content and learning how to succeed at them every time. Getting new gear so that everything is practically a cakewalk is not the only important thing. Yes, some times new gear is good because it gives another goal to work towards, or progress to.

 

Recitation: However, new gear shouldn't be the main focus for progression. As was mentioned, new gear at each level cap, or even new gear at the new level cap, and then again between the previous and next level cap at most. Make the new Ops and Flash Points a real challenge.

 

Commentary: Corrupter Zero was a huge challenge. Taking him down in Hard Mode was fun when we finally accomplished it. Defeating Dread Master Styrak in Hard Mode was fun when we finally accomplished it. Defeating Operator IX was fun when we finally accomplished it. What's even better is when these are accomplished without anyone being defeated and/or hitting the enrage timer. The new gear is just a small bonus.

[Kimyrielle]

Actually it is the opposite. Up until DF/DP BW has been producing a new op at a rate of every 6 to 8 months. This will be closer to a year-long gap while they focus on things like GSF and "tactical" flashpoints, neither of which factor in any way to the gear progression. I'm not opposed to any of the things you mentioned getting added or made better, but not at the expense of PvE story and operations, which they have lost focus on.

 

The rate on which they're churning out new operations with is irrelevant as long as they tend to add new tiers of gear at the same time (which they do) - in that case it will always be the "same 10 encounters" people farm, only for a shorter period of time. I dunno about you, but killing the same 10 mobs for six months or killing the same 10 mobs for a year is almost equally boring. It's just too much of the same in either case.

 

I am not as completely opposed to gear progression as I might come over as here, but they addition of new tiers needs be made carefully to avoid people getting stuck with only 1-2 instances to play at a time (I think we all agree that this is a bad thing!). Someone referred to Guild Wars 2 earlier - yes they introduced tiered gear too, but it's -barely- more powerful than the previous tier and thus will not render any existing content trivial. They also completely ruled out another tier for the foreseeable future. Which IMHO is the way you can do it without harming the game too much in terms of power creep. SWTOR's excessive focus on gear progression with comparatively rapid release intervals of new tiers is actually one of my bigger pet peeves with the game.

 

Also - from my perspective, they focused on "raiding type" content (ops and FPs) waaay too much in the past, at the expensive of other types of content. We got no meaningful continuation of the story content, no player/guild housing and too few new open world areas/planets to really matter. SWTOR's endgame is the typical "go raid or go home" stuff, that leaves PvE players who don't wish to participate in mindless farming of scripted bosses mainly with rolling yet another alt. I realize that some people love raiding, and there is nothing wrong with that. But they really should find a balance between different types of content and story/open world PvE clearly got the short end so far.

Edited February 5, 2014 by Kimyrielle

[NoFishing]

Also - from my perspective, they focused on "raiding type" content (ops and FPs) waaay too much in the past, at the expensive of other types of content. We got no meaningful continuation of the story content, no player/guild housing and too few new open world areas/planets to really matter. SWTOR's endgame is the typical "go raid or go home" stuff, that leaves PvE players who don't wish to participate in mindless farming of scripted bosses mainly with rolling yet another alt. I realize that some people love raiding, and there is nothing wrong with that. But they really should find a balance between different types of content and story/open world PvE clearly got the short end so far.

 

Well this roadmap contains less of what I want, and none of what you want, so I guess we're both going to be disappointed.

[Okamakiri]

It's odd that you would say it that way, for I have you already proven wrong by naming several examples of character progression that doesn't make a character any stronger and are still a staple in at least some MMOs.

 

It's even odder that after disagreeing with me on the gear progression thing you write another post complaining about how horrible it is having to farm the same 10 encounters over and over - a symptom in MMOs directly caused by them overfocusing on vertical gear progression, instead of at least adding a component of horizontal/non-stat increasing progression content at the same time.

 

People on the internet...

 

The only thing "odd" is your self delusion of somehow being right and me being wrong. I guess I should've prefixed my "Yes it does" with a "For a majority of players". The "no gear progression" approach has been tried, and at best has resulted in a niche following. You pointed out a few examples of HOW it can work, but not WHERE it actually worked. I've heard it all before. I won't go as far as to call your opinion wrong (technically there is no such thing as a wrong opinion), but it certainly is in the minority.

 

When developers add new content, there are a couple of scenarios how it can be consumed:

- In a no gear progression game, players will take part in this content for the fun aspect of it. They might do it once to a few times if they enjoy it. Eventually they'll get bored of it and look for something new to play. Possibly a new game all together (see GW2 active population since release). A small number may continue to grind it for cosmetic reasons, but unlike power, cosmetic upgrades are a matter of opinion, hence very selective. What you may consider awesome looking, someone else might consider hideous, and vice versa.

- In a gear progression game, player will also take part in new content for the fun aspect of it. They will also do it once to a few times for fun before getting bored with it. However, they will continue doing the content even when it's no longer fun because it offers a different form of fun, which is the ability to improve their character.

 

Gear progression extends the lifetime and relevance of content, giving devs sufficient time to create something new to keep you entertained. In a game like GW2, it's literally impossible for devs to produce new content as fast as players can consume it. Which is why for over a year they've been producing nothing but the horrible living story crap that has driven a large portion of the player base away from the game completely. It's also why they went back on their word about no gear progression, and introduced Ascended gear tier, in hopes of keeping power progression people interested.

 

There have been many articles, written by people that share your opinion, attacking gear treadmill MMO design and discussing how it exploits players psychologically with a "carrot on a stick". However, at the end of the day, this design has been around for decades, it works, and most importantly, the players DO enjoy it. If they didn't, there would be a lot more games like GW2 out there.

 

Back on topic, no new ops for a year is unacceptable BW. There should be a completely new OP at most every 6 months, with a NiM mode released half way through that cycle.

[Kimyrielle]

The only thing "odd" is your self delusion of somehow being right and me being wrong. I guess I should've prefixed my "Yes it does" with a "For a majority of players". The "no gear progression" approach has been tried, and at best has resulted in a niche following. You pointed out a few examples of HOW it can work, but not WHERE it actually worked. I've heard it all before. I won't go as far as to call your opinion wrong (technically there is no such thing as a wrong opinion), but it certainly is in the minority.

 

Well, instead of calling me "self-delusional" for interpreting your words the way you wrote them.... maybe next time write what you mean, then people might not misunderstand you?

 

There have been many articles, written by people that share your opinion, attacking gear treadmill MMO design and discussing how it exploits players psychologically with a "carrot on a stick". However, at the end of the day, this design has been around for decades, it works, and most importantly, the players DO enjoy it. If they didn't, there would be a lot more games like GW2 out there.

 

And yet here you are, complaining about not having a whole lot of different battles to fight. Which, as I said about, is a direct consequence of the very game design you claim "works". Well, if it's all that perfect and people enjoy it, what are you complaining about?

 

Again, I am NOT saying there shouldn't be gear progression at all, only that it it's bad idea making it the main focus of the entire endgame the way SWTOR and some other games do. The truth is always the middle ground.

 

PS: While I don't wish to derail this thread into a debate about GW2, in contrast to your claim there is no indication that its playerbase is declining at all, much less what could be the cause of it. if it does. Please at least stick to facts you can back up.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Kimyrielle

[Akomo]

Very nice!

 

Bioware will need to step up their game as competition is getting tight in this market now. Other companies are releasing content every 8 weeks now on a regular basis.

[Sharmen]

After a conversation with one of your customer services on the phone Techie I thought that we were going to get more levels 55+ now getting tired of doing same dailies and warzones seems that albeit game is great you are not concentrating on the game play apart from the battle ships which seems to be what you are working on at this time would love new quests on existing planets or new ones .. this game is great for those that love to become space pilot and do space missions which are quite difficult but just feel that as a subscriber since start of game I feel somewhat let down sorry !!.....