(Chapter 12 Spoilers) The Attuned Weapon Buffs

[blingdenston]

One of my favorite aspects of SWTOR is the customization allowed for characters in their looks and loadouts. A plethora of heads/hairs/skins/species...the Moddable tier of gear and the Outfit Designer...all of these are wonderful things that have greatly increased the longevity of this game for me.

 

I find the 'Attuned' weapons you gain near the end of Chapter 12 offensive, though, because they appear to be a rather ignorant misstep to remove that liberty from our characters. I choose all of my character's outfits and weapons carefully, trying not to duplicate looks to give each character a distinctive, personal flourish. Being forced to equip a weapon chosen by the devs and not myself is antithetical to this.

 

I've heard speculation that this is to ensure that the common complaint of Agents and Troopers using their 'invisible outside of cutscene' sidearms in the final confrontations, that doesn't wash for me. Why do we need to use these specific weapons? What makes this lightsaber's animations any better than the others I've been using throughout my career? What about folks who've paid out the wazoo for rare weapons like the Stronghold Defender's weapons, or the Unstable Arbiter saber? Why shouldn't they have the right to use their preference?

 

I'll leave aside commentary on the story itself, and I don't have the insight nor the experience to understand all of the factors that went into this decision. It's an unwelcome one, though, and goes against the spirit of customization that I prize throughout this game. If others are displeased, I ask them to comment here and let the Devteam know our concerns and comments.

[HaoZhao]

I was getting worried for a moment that I thought we were going to go a full day without someone overreacting to this. Crisis averted.

 

 

It's a tiny buff that will be applied in one fight against one target. If you like your current weapon better, then just use that weapon and go without the buff. Just like every other boss from this story, the fight will be pathetically easy. I run the story in PVP gear and I still find it to be without any challenge whatsoever. Not having that buff isn't going to make a difference and you're still going to breeze through Arcann like he's nothing.

 

This isn't an issue worth complaining over.

[Sarova]

So if we delete or permanently cargo store this weapon it won't matter? There won't be some error message like "must-have-pug-ugly-buff-weapon-equipped-to-fight-Arcann"?

[Podge]

being able to "outfit designer"-equivalent the mainhand/offhand slots would be a nice QoL improvement to have.

 

Can they do it without breaking the entire planet? Maybe.

Can they be bothered to do it? Probably not, especially given all the armour clipping issues, and even the freaking hairstyle clipping issues that they can't fix.

 

I'll have it one a character or two, but my 224 mainhand is in a legacy saber anyway so I'm not about to rip those mods out to stick them in a fugly mainhand that's only intended for story purposes. Arcann/Vaylin will be perfectly killable in whatever chapter we actually get down to business regardless of the weapon you're using.

[Jacob_Cora]

If we are going to be forced to use that weapon it will be for a "5 minute" fight against Arcann. It's not such a big deal. 5 minutes of fashion discomfort is nothing..., in my opinion. Edited April 17, 2016 by Jacob_Cora

[JediAkemi]

So if we delete or permanently cargo store this weapon it won't matter? There won't be some error message like "must-have-pug-ugly-buff-weapon-equipped-to-fight-Arcann"?

 

To be on the safe side, I'd put it in your inventory each time you start a new chapter of KotFE, just in case he shows up

[Nomaad]

If we are going to be forced to use that weapon it will be for a "5 minute" fight against Arcann. It's not such a big deal. 5 minutes of fashion discomfort is nothing..., in my opinion.

 

Pretty much this. And besides, it's not like beating Arcann is going to be remotely near any kind of challenge whatsoever anyway,

[Tessie]

Everybody who completes the chapter will receive a weapon with this new bonus applied. There's no reason for the developers to make it an object based buff, rather than just being part of the story. You aren't able to skip chapters, so the developers could have just known that every player who enters the fight requiring the buff has it.

 

If they want it to be a story based object, there is no reason the cut scene couldn't show you switching to that object. If they required it to be an object, it could of been an item that existed in your mission items tab, and just applies its buff to your mainhand weapon.

 

What will be very frustrating is if the buff doesn't actually do anything and players jump through hoops to try to use it for no real benefit.

[JediQuaker]

As has been said, you only need this weapon for some future fight with Arcann. You probably don't even need to upgrade the mods that it comes with, except to add a color crystal. (Most of mine have been upgraded to 208s, but not all)

 

Here's a tip: Keep the "Arcann" weapon in your inventory. Drag it's icon to a convenient place on a skillbar. When you click this skillbar icon, the Arcann weapon will be swapped for your currently equipped one.

That way, you don't need to worry about being caught off guard should you run into Arcann.

You can also put your normal weapon on a skillbar and then just swap back and forth whenever you want by clicking.

(You could do this with other weapons as well.)

Edited April 17, 2016 by JediQuaker

[TheLightMaster]

I am on the contrary (as a Warrior) pissed that you only get 1, why? Thanx, EA!

 

Anyway, it says that it gives power abilities when making decisions in cut scenes, my best guess, it might affect outcome of the conversations with Emperor in you head, like fights with him for example. My question is, is it worth equipping it every time when doing story, or is it not going to alter any cut scenes?

[ImmortalLowlife]

To be on the safe side, I'd put it in your inventory each time you start a new chapter of KotFE, just in case he shows up

 

That's pretty much my plan. Keep it with me, and switch b4 the fight.

[BULLWINKLEXX]

What will the special ability buffer be?

[Ornithopoda]

What will the special ability buffer be?

 

That depends on which conversation option you picked when you created the weapon.

 

Endurance will give you healing.

Transcendence will increase your movement speed.

Sacrifice will deal additional damage when you get hit.

 

These buffs will only apply when you are fighting Arcaan (whenever that finally happens).

[BlitzJG]

That depends on which conversation option you picked when you created the weapon.

 

Endurance will give you healing.

Transcendence will increase your movement speed.

Sacrifice will deal additional damage when you get hit.

 

These buffs will only apply when you are fighting Arcaan (whenever that finally happens).

 

What about affects on future choices.. has this been further elucidated months later?

[ForjKlahaa]

The first time I did chapter 16 I used the ugly weapon with the buffs. This time, I thought f-ck it and just used my regular weapon and the fight was just as easy/annoying with the shield mechanics. I'm pretty sure I got the healing buff anyway. I was being healed... I'm sure of it... or maybe I'm just having an aneurysm.

[Nempo]

Everyone remember that buff and forgets the 2nd one!

 

When you choose whose philosophy to use. I've always used both mar and satele's philosophy together, the buff you get is a damage reflection shield that helps speed the fight up. No idea what buffs you get if you only use one of them.

[americanaussie]

Might just be me but I loved the design on the hilt of my light saber. I loved the weapons. Don't use it if you don't like it. it's a free weapon for completing the quest.

[jimmorrisson]

The Shield is the only thing that matters and it appears from the patch notes to have been nerfed.

 

I would like to have The Shield in general for Jedi, Warrior, and perhaps SageSorc

[Kallie]

The Shield is the only thing that matters and it appears from the patch notes to have been nerfed.

 

I would like to have The Shield in general for Jedi, Warrior, and perhaps SageSorc

 

I don't see anything about a nerf.

[BlitzJG]

Everyone remember that buff and forgets the 2nd one!

 

When you choose whose philosophy to use. I've always used both mar and satele's philosophy together, the buff you get is a damage reflection shield that helps speed the fight up. No idea what buffs you get if you only use one of them.

 

Yeah that and the whole note about future choices making a difference, we still don't know what that means?

[Victor_Nite]

I'm going to keep this new weapon on one of my characters for now, because as we get into the next expansion it might have further use given what Satele, Marr, and Valkorian say at different points. But it may not matter at all, and if that ends up being the case I will likely switch back to the weapons I was using on my characters, minus that one character I tend to "scout ahead" with so to speak. I am very interested to see where they are going with the Force talk and especially how it will affect non-force users beyond what we've already seen up to chapter 16.