Returning player suggestions, Volume 227

[danse]

Dear Devs: One more suggestions thread from a returning player. Yeah, I know. But I hope you find some of these points worthwhile.

 

Context: I left about months after launch. It was a bit much then with all the back to back nerfs to classes and crafting. Have to say you've done great things to improve, and overall I'm enjoying it these past 3 months.

 

Bulk of suggestions fall under "non-critical" and are, I'll admit, mostly annoyances. It would be great however if this were put on a list somewhere. Some of my points may not be accurate, and if so that's due to poor Googling skills when seeking answers.

 

1. Information. Bioware/EA continue with the model that customers should get information out of game. I'm guessing most people do not spend significant amounts of time reading this site, your Twitter and FB posts etc. Why is information not readily available in game for announcements you make? Call it a Dev's Announcements button or menu toggle. Put your Cartel sales, Bonus XP weekends details etc in that, with yellow text updates (i.e. you have new mail) calling out "New game announcements available".

 

2. PVP at 55. I had no idea you removed the starter PVP gear once available to 50s. Since I focus on PVE when I level, bam did I ever get the pain when PVP'ing started up again at cap. And I'm a heal spec so yeah, dogpile while naked was awful. Its better now, got some gear and off the auto die train but please consider a) starter gear again or b) preventing self-inflicted frustration by warning people on loading screens,"Hello PVE'R, make time to PVP while you level! Otherwise you'll be Bambi in a bear cage at max level."

 

3. Macros. Still not supported and apparently, allowed. Never understood this. The game is stuffed with more abilities to map than most humans can handle, but macros are not allowed. This is a bigger picture item but please consider a) allowing macros within a set policy framework or b) cutting down on those buttons and abilities.

 

4. Quest log limit. Know what happens when you hit cap? Your mini map lights up with new quests. Great, except for the ones I've already got. Great, except for area quests that add to the number. Great, except when I'm forced to stop what I'm doing and delete quests, every day til the max level basics are done to free up space. Please up that cap.

 

5. Fleet. The great mystery for returning and new players is: Where are the modification stations? Ask and you'll get the answer or be mocked. Either way the poor placement forces you to ask and see what you get, which is unnecessary. Please take them down from the Cantina area as no one uses that space anyway. Or, you could make them show up on mini map when toggled.

 

6. Oricon and Makeb. You certainly doubled-down on the theme park design philosophy, which is strange since (at least at launch and thereafter) so many wanted a more open world. Please consider a less "Call of Duty single player" experience and get us off the railroad in future content. Add in chokepoints if you're concerned about world pvp, such as it is.

 

7. Reputation caps. There's a reason for this and I have no idea what it is. Can't be because of the great gear it gets you, at least I've seen none at this point (cosmetic stuff, some ilevel 69 stuff, not bad but hey, nothing to cap over). Can't be to draw out the content, people run those dailies for the cash and comms.

 

8. Armoring locked to specific pieces. This goes against allowing players to choose how they want to appear. Don't much care for some of the 65, 69, 72 pieces but nope, the armoring isn't swappable. Appearance and functionality is equally important and in my view trumps all other concerns. I've heard there are workarounds in some cases but really, why on earth would I need to do that?

 

9. Ilum. It had it's faults, exploits and technical issues, but it was more enjoyable than anything I've seen yet for pvp - especially when each side had a full house (noting that Rebel side's definition of full house is very different from Imps, hello pop imbalance). Appreciate the new pvp maps but can we get something big like that again?

 

10. Trooper. I've played all class story lines, and none have more pointless travel and loading screens that the trooper. I recall 1, maybe 2 passes and frankly that isn't enough because Gen. Garza has you fedex'ing stuff all over the place, and back, and over there, go here, one more time come back to me etc. Thankfully that character is at cap now but the point remains, you missed this one in the cleanup.

 

Made it this far? Thanks for reading.

[DarthCasus]

Well...

 

Dear Devs: One more suggestions thread from a returning player. Yeah, I know. But I hope you find some of these points worthwhile.

 

Context: I left about months after launch. It was a bit much then with all the back to back nerfs to classes and crafting. Have to say you've done great things to improve, and overall I'm enjoying it these past 3 months.

 

Bulk of suggestions fall under "non-critical" and are, I'll admit, mostly annoyances. It would be great however if this were put on a list somewhere. Some of my points may not be accurate, and if so that's due to poor Googling skills when seeking answers.

 

1. Information. Bioware/EA continue with the model that customers should get information out of game. I'm guessing most people do not spend significant amounts of time reading this site, your Twitter and FB posts etc. Why is information not readily available in game for announcements you make? Call it a Dev's Announcements button or menu toggle. Put your Cartel sales, Bonus XP weekends details etc in that, with yellow text updates (i.e. you have new mail) calling out "New game announcements available".

 

While information could be distributed better, they shouldn't have to bombard players with news posts in game. I feel that if a player is serious about wanting to actually enjoy the game and future developments, a simple google search isn't too much.

 

2. PVP at 55. I had no idea you removed the starter PVP gear once available to 50s. Since I focus on PVE when I level, bam did I ever get the pain when PVP'ing started up again at cap. And I'm a heal spec so yeah, dogpile while naked was awful. Its better now, got some gear and off the auto die train but please consider a) starter gear again or b) preventing self-inflicted frustration by warning people on loading screens,"Hello PVE'R, make time to PVP while you level! Otherwise you'll be Bambi in a bear cage at max level."

 

While I don't pvp as often as I'd like to, I can't really say much on this. It's not really a necessity compared to other things that should have priority but if they could reinstate starter gear without causing an uproar, I don't see why not. Still, pvping while leveling is ONLY beneficial to the player so... What's stopping ya?

 

3. Macros. Still not supported and apparently, allowed. Never understood this. The game is stuffed with more abilities to map than most humans can handle, but macros are not allowed. This is a bigger picture item but please consider a) allowing macros within a set policy framework or b) cutting down on those buttons and abilities.

 

The number of abilities is fair as long as you know what's beneficial to your spec. Feel free to remove the useless or play with your UI a bit. It took me a while but I absolutely LOVE the way I set it up and I can easily keep track of what abilities I need.

 

4. Quest log limit. Know what happens when you hit cap? Your mini map lights up with new quests. Great, except for the ones I've already got. Great, except for area quests that add to the number. Great, except when I'm forced to stop what I'm doing and delete quests, every day til the max level basics are done to free up space. Please up that cap.

 

They stated this is a technical issue due to the engine so I'd chalk that up to a no.

 

5. Fleet. The great mystery for returning and new players is: Where are the modification stations? Ask and you'll get the answer or be mocked. Either way the poor placement forces you to ask and see what you get, which is unnecessary. Please take them down from the Cantina area as no one uses that space anyway. Or, you could make them show up on mini map when you (deleted this bit by mistake).

 

Agreed.

 

6. Oricon and Makeb. You certainly doubled-down on the theme park design philosophy, which is strange since (at least at launch and thereafter) so many wanted a more open world. Please consider a less "Call of Duty single player" experience and get us off the railroad in future content. Add in chokepoints if you're concerned about world pvp, such as it is.

 

It's a themepark game.

 

7. Reputation caps. There's a reason for this and I have no idea what it is. Can't be because of the great gear it gets you, at least I've seen none at this point (cosmetic stuff, some ilevel 69 stuff, not bad but hey, nothing to cap over). Can't be to draw out the content, people run those dailies for the cash and comms.

 

Time sink, keeps people playing.

 

8. Armoring locked to specific pieces. This goes against allowing players to choose how they want to appear. Don't much care for some of the 65, 69, 72 pieces but nope, the armoring isn't swappable. Appearance and functionality is equally important and in my view trumps all other concerns. I've heard there are workarounds in some cases but really, why on earth would I need to do that?

 

I remember reading a reason for this, something about people ripping mods from cheaper high e d gear and putting it in other armor slots? I dont know, it really doesn't bother me since I have various sets.

 

9. Ilum. It had it's faults, exploits and technical issues, but it was more enjoyable than anything I've seen yet for pvp - especially when each side had a full house (noting that Rebel side's definition of full house is very different from Imps, hello pop imbalance). Appreciate the new pvp maps but can we get something big like that again?

 

New pvp maps, yes. Ilum, no please.

 

10. Trooper. I've played all class story lines, and none have more pointless travel and loading screens that the trooper. I recall 1, maybe 2 passes and frankly that isn't enough because Gen. Garza has you fedex'ing stuff all over the place, and back, and over there, go here, one more time come back to me etc. Thankfully that character is at cap now but the point remains, you missed this one in the cleanup.

 

When the moon turns red.

 

Made it this far? Thanks for reading.

[Vandicus]

This is a feedback thread(that's generally well written to), so I'm only going to comment on one thing I think that you might not have understood.

 

Regarding a pvp starter set, the system now uses bolster to simulate a pvp starter set. The gap between naked bolster and regular pvp gear is supposed to be similar to the gap between recruit gear and regular pvp gear. From what I understand, there are a few issues regarding bolster, but it seems Bioware's intent has been to continue to mitigate the being "thrown to the wolves" at level cap nature of pvp. The way they go about it is just different. Mind you, I liked the recruit gear system since it gave me a free PvE set(although Oricon basically does that now as well).

[danse]

Thanks Vandicus. Good news is I'm aware of bolstering. Bad news is ouch, still feels like you're naked. That's probably due to my being a healer who gets a lot of love from the other side. Sweet, sweet love and a free trip back to the start point : )

 

Anyway, lesson learned, pvp while leveling. Its not how I choose to play (I focus on one thing, my bad) and it's not a burden. Thanks again.

[DawnAskham]

1 - What you are looking for is called a calendar, most games have them, this one doesn't, it should.

2 - Bolster is your Recruit Gear...hint hint better gear doesn't always mean better bolster.

3 - Basic macro functions should be standard, though fall-through priority ability macros like Rift's should not.

4 - Log limit is dumb, but supposedly an increase would degrade game performance.

5 - They should be on mini-map, didn't know some were in Cantina, always used the ones in Crafting ring.

6 - Oricon I like for what it is, a compact daily area. Makeb can die in a fire with the mob density and time wasted shuttling between rocks.

7 - Mini game designed to keep players coming back, rep rewards could be improved.

8 - Locked armorings and hilts / barrels are annoying and should go, normalize the slot prices instead.

9 - Large scale PVP was and will always be a giant clusterf*ck, don't miss it.

10 - Many stories have the same stupid run around crap that could be handled by a holocall, but it does what it was designed to do, waste your time.