Hood Toggle has been "in the works" since February, 2012

[Jeweledleah]

I bought Field Respec in case I ever needed it...I've tried using it, and while I have to say I wouldn't want a refund, it's because I still think it might eventually come in handy. Currently, it takes way too long to use, and I hate having to delete and re-add things to my quick bar, especially since if I'm in a time crunch, which has been every time somebody has asked me to respec on the fly, I tend to make mistakes which actually make things worse for the group than had I not respecced at all. Basically, it's good for solo/level testing, but its not ready for prime time.

 

Flat out, if it's a choice between using the Field Respec or dropping group, I will drop group. So dual-spec isn't be a *quality* of life improvement for me, it would be an *existence* of life necessity.

 

To be honest, Field Respec is one of the laziest and worst features ever added to this game. At launch, you could respec once a week for free and it got progressively more expensive. This encouraged selecting your skills carefully and taking the time to get used to your selection (arranging quick bars, etc.) before deciding to change to something else.

 

It also made it so that your spec was semi-permanent. If you showed up as dps, or heals, or tank, it was understood that that was what you were going to be. Now, too many people just look at your AC and assume that just because you can respec in 10 minutes that you should know how to play every spec your AC has, or at least the most popular one. As a Concealment OP who is sick of being asked to respec as heals, I extend both of my middle fingers to you in salute to your suggestion that Field Respec is superior to either no respec or a proper multi-spec.

 

heh. to each their own. but it takes me 2 minutes tops to respec/redo my bars, equip appropriate gear. not 10. 2. moreover. not only do I still select my abilities carefully, I used to switch roles even back when only way to respec was on a fleet. and if someone is expecting you to respec and not play the role you have chosen to play? screw them, they are not worth the bother.

 

here's something you can do. SAY NO. no I don't want to heal, no I don't play other specs, no I don't have the gear for it. it actualy works! we used to have a concealment operative in a guild and guess what. he said he didn't like to heal, he wanted to play dps.. and "gasp" he did. I play a healing operative. sometimes.. it would serve a group better if I could dps on her. but.. I don't. I have no gear for it, I don't know how either of the dps specs works. and guess what... she stays a healer, not a dps.

 

its not a difficult concept.

 

but you know what sucks though? when I do respec nowadays, I may do so to switch a few talents from PvE to PvP spec. I solo as hybrid, I play mostly as a healer or a tank, but occasionally.. on certain characters - I go dps. dual spec? means I can't do that. I have to pick 2 specs I can bring up and that's it.

 

maybe if they kept field respec as it stands AND added ability to save presets, but why just 2. WHY? when we already have so much more flexibility. multispec? yeah. its nice. but its not crucial to have.

 

I get it. you don't want to take 2 minutes to switch things around manually. but guess what. other people don't mind it. becasue of the flexibility the system offers them otherwise. and becasue functionality already exists? better spend limited, YES LIMITED resources on fixing things that have no alternatives of any kind.

 

you'd rather there was no respec at all? well.. here's my 2 finger salute to you RIGHT BACK. I like being able to play different roles on the same character and being able to do so while I'm already inside the instance. I have gone into a flashpoint as dps and switched to tank midway becasue circumstances demanded it and it helped us finish the run faster. ability to switched roles BY CHOICE allowed my group to have more flexibility in filling in occasional missing spots with pugs - many a time.

 

your inability to say NO is not responsibility of people who will be affected by inability to respec on a fly. even if they have to make every change manually.

[eartharioch]

heh. to each their own. but it takes me 2 minutes tops to respec/redo my bars, equip appropriate gear. not 10. 2. moreover. not only do I still select my abilities carefully, I used to switch roles even back when only way to respec was on a fleet. and if someone is expecting you to respec and not play the role you have chosen to play? screw them, they are not worth the bother.

 

here's something you can do. SAY NO. no I don't want to heal, no I don't play other specs, no I don't have the gear for it. it actualy works! we used to have a concealment operative in a guild and guess what. he said he didn't like to heal, he wanted to play dps.. and "gasp" he did. I play a healing operative. sometimes.. it would serve a group better if I could dps on her. but.. I don't. I have no gear for it, I don't know how either of the dps specs works. and guess what... she stays a healer, not a dps.

 

its not a difficult concept.

 

but you know what sucks though? when I do respec nowadays, I may do so to switch a few talents from PvE to PvP spec. I solo as hybrid, I play mostly as a healer or a tank, but occasionally.. on certain characters - I go dps. dual spec? means I can't do that. I have to pick 2 specs I can bring up and that's it.

 

maybe if they kept field respec as it stands AND added ability to save presets, but why just 2. WHY? when we already have so much more flexibility. multispec? yeah. its nice. but its not crucial to have.

 

I get it. you don't want to take 2 minutes to switch things around manually. but guess what. other people don't mind it. becasue of the flexibility the system offers them otherwise. and becasue functionality already exists? better spend limited, YES LIMITED resources on fixing things that have no alternatives of any kind.

 

you'd rather there was no respec at all? well.. here's my 2 finger salute to you RIGHT BACK. I like being able to play different roles on the same character and being able to do so while I'm already inside the instance. I have gone into a flashpoint as dps and switched to tank midway becasue circumstances demanded it and it helped us finish the run faster. ability to switched roles BY CHOICE allowed my group to have more flexibility in filling in occasional missing spots with pugs - many a time.

 

your inability to say NO is not responsibility of people who will be affected by inability to respec on a fly. even if they have to make every change manually.

 

I don't know what you mean by "my inability to say 'no'" -- I do say 'no'. It just sucks having to do so, because I'd really like to play more ops. If BW hadn't added Field Respec, people wouldn't ask such rude questions in the first place. [i know that BW just added some Bolstered SMs to GF, but I'm not looking for ez-mode. ]

 

I didn't say I wanted no respec at all, I said I wish BW hadn't added *Field Respec*. I like the ability to change my spec, but I think don't think it's necessary (or appropriate) to do it anywhere, such as in the middle of a heroic/fp/op run or warzone (yes, I know they recently removed that ability from warzones, I just wish they'd finish the job). If the game allows you to change spec 'on the fly', other players will expect that you can do it, and groups will base tactics around using it, and (imo) that both takes away from the challenge (being able to change spec on a per-boss basis within an instance) and makes it harder (since players are now effectively required to master all three specs of their ac regardless of whether they want to or not; not that I'm against learning, but not everybody has that much time).

 

When I think about dual-spec, I don't think of it as replacing the current respec system (so I do understand your objection to that), I think of it as being able to save one or more configurations (hopefully, if BW decides to implement this, they wouldn't hard code it to two specs) to swap with my current one -- dps-dps, dps-heals, or dps-tank.

 

It's not that I don't like to play different roles, quite the opposite in fact. I don't play different roles because the system makes it too difficult for me to do so. I'd like to be out do solo stuff (dailies/leveling), get a queue pop (pvp or pve), and be able to quickly change to an appropriate spec, but I can't because the system doesn't allow for it. Maybe your server is different (unlikely), but on mine, people start flashpoints the second they arrive and don't wait for other people (since most everybody outlevels the content) at all much less two minutes for you or ten minutes for me.

 

If you play all the time and memorize your stuff, Field Respec would be ok, but that doesn't help "regular" people. The ability to dedicate some time to set up my spec and try it out, and then save it until I actually get a chance to use it would be useful. Telling me to just look it up (even if it's my own notes and not a web site) and rearrange everything "quickly but carefully" when I finally do get a queue pop isn't.

 

[bTW, I hope I was clear, the two-finger comment was towards your suggestion, not you personally]

[Karkais]

I will take this moment to say, that personally I rank hood toggle above:

- cross server queues

- new planet

- level cap raise

- more abilities

- continuation of companion stories

- more "content" whatever that is

- more cartel shop crap

- new flashpoints

- events

- strongholds

- whatever else I cant think of right now.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Karkais

[LegoUniverseBC]

I'm glad they finally announced it's not in the works, now people can stop complaining about it.

[Deewe]

The way respec is implemented in SWTOR is just a filler. Consider it more a placeholder / quick fix than a full fledged feature.

 

In others AAA MMO with one button click you are

• Changing your talent build
  
• Changing your skills layout is the quickslot bars
  
• Swapping your gear
  

 

With the above I'd be pleased to group tank with my Sith Assassin or group heal with my Sage or Commando versus I only DPS with them. Same thing applies to PvP, I don't either as Switching gear and skills is cumbersome.

 

In the end the lack of proper multispec hurts everyone some because they won't use the game to its full extend, others as they'll keep waiting for people to fill in the needed role in a group or eventually queue for WZ.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Deewe

[TUXs]

Who is WE? I don't recall saying you or anyone else could talk for me.

We would be him and anyone else who agrees with him. He said "we", implying like-minded people, not YOU.

[Daekarus]

Well... Eric chimed in - it's not in the cards right now, but they would like to do it. Why is this thread still going?

[Anaesha]

Well... Eric chimed in - it's not in the cards right now, but they would like to do it. Why is this thread still going?

 

I could answer that but I'm trying to "play nice" today so I won't say anything that could spark anymore BS.

[Alec_Fortescue]

See? Nothing new. Pingo should've hasked about hood down robes and all instead I agreed with the reality of the hood toggle ages ago.

[Darth_Wicked]

Well... Eric chimed in - it's not in the cards right now, but they would like to do it. Why is this thread still going?

 

Possibly as an eternal reminder for Bioware that some do not forgive, nor forget?

[Vandicus]

Possibly as an eternal reminder for Bioware that some do not forgive, nor forget?

 

What? Did I hear someone say it was time to bring back the Collector's Edition vendor thread?

[Alec_Fortescue]

What? Did I hear someone say it was time to bring back the Collector's Edition vendor thread?

 

Yup. :]

[Elfa]

Chat bubbles most likely are too laggy. Cross server queuing? Not sure what the issue is there. Duel spec is totally do-able and would help save raid teams a minute or two here and there. As for hoods, I'm sure it can't be that bad to take a run at.

[Darth_Wicked]

What? Did I hear someone say it was time to bring back the Collector's Edition vendor thread?

 

Maybeeeee.

[Deewe]

Chat bubbles most likely are too laggy.

Read a post from someone who was in beta.

 

At the time chat bubble were activated and he said it needed something like 2 gig of video RAM to handle them the game maxed out. Still video cards have evolved.

 

So the checkbox is available to be activated. The devs just think people's RIGS won't handle it.

 

Found the source:

There was an on/off toggle during beta and Bioware already said they'd introduce them only with a toggle and that's what we're asking for here.

 

There wasn't really any "lag" in beta, the performance problems was that they ate up alot of video memory and caused low framerates if you didn't have a video card with large amounts of video memory (1GB or more).

I myself had video cards with 3GB of video memory on my main PC back in beta and never saw a noticeable performance drop with chat bubbles enabled even when lots of people were talking in /say around me.

I also tested on a laptop with only 512MB of video memory, where the performance naturally went down the toilet.

 

I think that with 2GBs of video memory or more being standard these days even an "unfixed" version of chat bubbles from beta would run reasonably well on most halfway modern machines. If they applied the same fix thex applied to nameplates before launch, that would allow them to run even better.

I'd love to see them put in at leas the chat bubbles feature they used in beta come Galactic Strongholds Expansion time, perhaps with the application of the fix they had for nameplates, and then improve on it later. It'd be much better than having to remain completely without chat bubbles much longer.

Besides, it's a toggle option anyway, so you could toggle it on/off like shadows or Anti-Aliasing for performance reasons if needed.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Deewe

[Alec_Fortescue]

Read a post from someone who was in beta.

 

At the time chat bubble were activated and he said it needed something like 2 gig of video RAM to handle them the game maxed out. Still video cards have evolved.

 

So the checkbox is available to be activated. The devs just think people's RIGS won't handle it.

 

Found the source:

 

Well, that was 2 years+ ago. Who the heck has less than 2gb vram right now? Nobody. Right...?

[LordArtemis]

Well, it's good to remind the devs that it is still on our minds from time to time. It was good to get a response IMO.

[TheKnightHawk]

However, I can tell you that our team also has interest in this as a feature and it is something we regularly revisit to try to fit into our development schedule. Unfortunately it just isn't something that is in the cards at this time.

 

-eric

 

So... I'm not sure if anyone suggested this idea or not (just skimmed the posts here), but how about you create an item to tide us over until you DO put the toggle on the development schedule:

 

Covert Hood Undoing Deerstalker (Feel free to change the name): This item is just like all the other "covert" items that are basically invisible armor. And just like a lot of hats/helmets out there, when you put it on your head the hood on your chest armor will drop/vanish. Want to see the hood reappear? Just toggle the "hide headslot" on your character sheet (which is already coded in the system and thus will take no added effort).

 

I realize it's not as good as a hood toggle. But there are a lot of people out there who would rather have no headgear at all than to have a hood. And it would take absolutely no design effort at all. Just take an item that already drops the hood (like most fancy hats), remove the visual part (like you did for the other covert items) and change the name. I guarantee this item will bring much happiness to many (though clearly not all) people.

 

And please do keep the hood toggle on your radar, as it's one of those quality-of-life things that makes players stick around longer :-)

[Aries_cz]

So... I'm not sure if anyone suggested this idea or not (just skimmed the posts here), but how about you create an item to tide us over until you DO put the toggle on the development schedule:

 

Covert Hood Undoing Deerstalker (Feel free to change the name): This item is just like all the other "covert" items that are basically invisible armor. And just like a lot of hats/helmets out there, when you put it on your head the hood on your chest armor will drop/vanish. Want to see the hood reappear? Just toggle the "hide headslot" on your character sheet (which is already coded in the system and thus will take no added effort).

 

I realize it's not as good as a hood toggle. But there are a lot of people out there who would rather have no headgear at all than to have a hood. And it would take absolutely no design effort at all. Just take an item that already drops the hood (like most fancy hats), remove the visual part (like you did for the other covert items) and change the name. I guarantee this item will bring much happiness to many (though clearly not all) people.

 

And please do keep the hood toggle on your radar, as it's one of those quality-of-life things that makes players stick around longer :-)

 

This would be easy, I personally call it the "twilek hack", a manual toggle that triggers the same behavior Twilek lekkus do (hood vanishes). However, I am frequently told by other proponents of "hood down" that that is not enough, and that they demand proper animation of pulling the hood down, showing the pulled down hood, etc...

[Darth_Wicked]

This would be easy, I personally call it the "twilek hack", a manual toggle that triggers the same behavior Twilek lekkus do (hood vanishes). However, I am frequently told by other proponents of "hood down" that that is not enough, and that they demand proper animation of pulling the hood down, showing the pulled down hood, etc...

 

Truth be told, Bioware implied more than once that something of the sort was possible.

 

^^ More than two characters actually do that, in-game.

[Jandi]

Well, that was 2 years+ ago. Who the heck has less than 2gb vram right now? Nobody. Right...?

 

A lot of people, trust me. (not me, mind you). Jumping the game requirements up like that would lose them too many players.

[Aries_cz]

Truth be told, Bioware implied more than once that something of the sort was possible.

 

^^ More than two characters actually do that, in-game.

 

Well, sure but that obviously includes swapping of armor models as well. And I do not think that we have all hooded armors with hood down version.

And even if we did, it would still mean rigging every hood on every hooded armor with bones to move properly, because this "move camera away" trick could not be used. And that is lot of work.

 

In my mind, the twilek hack is an easy way to create some sort of "in between" state, with added bonus of being idiot-proof. Because I am sure there would be people clicking on "pull hood down/up" million times in a row and then complaining they got stuck in long animation loop...

[Darth_Wicked]

Well, sure but that obviously includes swapping of armor models as well. And I do not think that we have all hooded armors with hood down version.

And even if we did, it would still mean rigging every hood on every hooded armor with bones to move properly, because this "move camera away" trick could not be used. And that is lot of work.

 

In my mind, the twilek hack is an easy way to create some sort of "in between" state, with added bonus of being idiot-proof. Because I am sure there would be people clicking on "pull hood down/up" million times in a row and then complaining they got stuck in long animation loop...

 

Sure it does. You don't actually see Malgus touching his hood but rather making a move with his arms and that's pretty much it. The camera cuts and when it shows him again, the hood is down.

 

Thus the use of the word "imply".

 

Regardless, my point is that they tease people continuously, even if only for dramatic effect, only to have our hopes crushed faster than

[Pingonaut]

Hey Pingonaut,

 

I know that hood toggle is something we have talked about intermittently at some cantina tour events but I know we haven't made a more "formal" reply about it on the forums. We know that this is a feature that some players really want to have as another method of customization for their characters. As it stands right now, this is not a feature we are actively working on. However, I can tell you that our team also has interest in this as a feature and it is something we regularly revisit to try to fit into our development schedule. Unfortunately it just isn't something that is in the cards at this time.

 

Hope that answers your question.

 

-eric

 

Thank you very much for this reply, Eric. I'm happy to hear something official and know what the state of it is. It's good to know that it is still thought about, even if it isn't being worked on right now. That's how Starfighter and player housing began!

[Elfa]

A lot of people, trust me. (not me, mind you). Jumping the game requirements up like that would lose them too many players.

 

Well, you make it something you can either use or not then.