What Does BW Intend To Do With The Alliance Specialist System and Crate Rewards?

[DarthSpuds]

Better than the 12x EXP event, IMO, where 12x EXP only applied to Class story, so the metrics were skewed to show how players were playing story more than other stuff. 12x EXP event didn't even have a reward for finishing all of the classes in it. That was old content from years before that as well. *shrug* At least DvL rewards you for doing the hamster wheel.

 

I agree that DvL is indeed better than the 12x EXP event, and has better rewards.

 

But that is like saying something that is very-poor (DvL) is much better that something that is appallingly-poor (12x EXP).

 

Yes DvL is "better" in that comparison; but it still isn't "good", heck it's not even marginally satisfactory.

 

All The Best

[LyraineAlei]

I agree that DvL is indeed better than the 12x EXP event, and has better rewards.

 

But that is like saying something that is very-poor (DvL) is much better that something that is appallingly-poor (12x EXP).

 

Yes DvL is "better" in that comparison; but it still isn't "good", heck it's not even marginally satisfactory.

 

All The Best

True true, which is why I described it as the hamster wheel.

 

But alas, DvL/12x EXP is wandering away from the topic

[IanArgent]

This is the problem with their chapter per month model. People expect something every month to "justify" their sub. You are getting full access to the game, unlimited credits, full access to warzones, operations and everything else granted for a subscriber.

 

This. There's always slack time in any episodic game's schedule.

[Tsillah]

My guess is they will raise the cap to 50 with KotET, because they can and for no other purpose than to have a number people can aim for, because reasons and OCD.

[Tsillah]

This is the problem with their chapter per month model. People expect something every month to "justify" their sub. You are getting full access to the game, unlimited credits, full access to warzones, operations and everything else granted for a subscriber.

 

I have to amend that. It's the combination of the chapter per month mode IN COMBINATION with a general drought of new things to do in every other aspect of the game for about 2 years now.

 

Both those things make people wonder what they're paying a sub for. I have a lot of single player games without a credit cap,a ccess to the game etc. The sub pays for all you say but with new content in the actual MMO side of the game, the reasons for paying a sub or even playing the game are dwindling the long anyone plays the game.

[Rolodome]

Very good, I got a good laugh, reading that hearing Corso's voice.

I laughed so hard. Reread the whole thing 3 times and still kept laughing. The whole dialogue is brilliant on so many levels. You should stop whatever it is you are doing for a living and apply for a job as writer at BW, seriously.

You just made my day.

Best LOL moment I have had in weeks.

Even now the rest of the house is wondering what I am laughing about.

They wouldn't understand.

 

All The Best

Enjoyed this so much!

 

Thanks

Aw, thanks guys. <3 Glad you enjoyed it so much.

 

Writing is actually one of the main things I'm working on career-wise, just not getting paid yet. If BW had a studio in my state, at this point in my life I'd probably apply in a heartbeat.

[DreadtechSavant]

Actually it is now 11:36 on August 31st. So starting in 30 minutes we are literally paying a sub for nothing that's been announced. What are we getting in September for our current months sub? Note, the HK chapter was for subbing all year through August, not September.

 

Something like the alliance specialists could absolutely come into play right now. No reason to wait for the next expansion to make use of something that was a feature in this one. Literally, it's like a stronghold that decorates itself. It's visually neat, but has no current function.

 

How is that any different to any other time between xpacs?

 

No difference at all, don't like it end sub until more info does come out or until its release date. The alliance specialist are for many still not cap out, I am sure a lot have more than one toon and still working towards the level 20 cap (i sure am) On top of that if BW did do something now you would be one of the first complaining there nothing to do once the xpac is released as you would have already done half of it. So yes it does have an effect. Don't say you would not complain because your post shows you already am, that won't change next time round.

 

 

 

"This is the problem with their chapter per month model. People expect something every month to "justify" their sub. You are getting full access to the game, unlimited credits, full access to warzones, operations and everything else granted for a subscriber."

 

This...(by lightSaberAddiCt)

.... same as it always was prior to 4.0, before RotHC, Reven, Zoist, Starfighter.

 

The only difference is in your head.

Edited September 1, 2016 by DreadtechSavant

[CorellianWannabe]

This is the problem with their chapter per month model. People expect something every month to "justify" their sub. You are getting full access to the game, unlimited credits, full access to warzones, operations and everything else granted for a subscriber.

 

As the companion 'rewards' thread showed, that apparently isn't enough to maintain their 'loyalty'. Their entitlement demands more.

[CorellianWannabe]

You want them to.. but they do not need to. They will share when they are ready, not when players demand.

 

EVERY MMO studio provides some form of filler content to tide players over at the end of one expac and prior to the next one. Last year it was 12X. Clearly, this year in the lead up to the next expac.... the filler is the DvL event.

 

And I know a lot of players thumb their noses at the DvL event... but IMO it makes a nice change of pace leading up to 5.0. A lot of veterans have not run the old story arcs or planets for some time now, much less the older expac content.... so even though they complain... it is kind of a refreshing diversion when they actually stop complaining and actually participate. Of course any player that ran prior content to tedious ad nauseam levels would not feel this way... but that's not every player.

 

No, the filler is the FE 'story'. An hour of trash combat and cutscenes each month, peppered with meaningless 'choices'.

No wonder they needed to bribe players with yet another hour for paying for six months.

 

BTW, shouldn't the 'filler event' actually, you know, function? Instead of having a bug that stops progression in its tracks?

[Mowermanx]

Until you need 8 cargo hold slots for the crates because you have reached 9999 in each stack, nope

(I'm about half way there at the moment)

 

OMG!!! You need help!

[annabethchase]

How is that any different to any other time between xpacs?

 

No difference at all, don't like it end sub until more info does come out or until its release date. The alliance specialist are for many still not cap out, I am sure a lot have more than one toon and still working towards the level 20 cap (i sure am) On top of that if BW did do something now you would be one of the first complaining there nothing to do once the xpac is released as you would have already done half of it. So yes it does have an effect. Don't say you would not complain because your post shows you already am, that won't change next time round.

 

 

 

"This is the problem with their chapter per month model. People expect something every month to "justify" their sub. You are getting full access to the game, unlimited credits, full access to warzones, operations and everything else granted for a subscriber."

 

This...(by lightSaberAddiCt)

.... same as it always was prior to 4.0, before RotHC, Reven, Zoist, Starfighter.

 

The only difference is in your head.

 

They announced a 4 week content cycle. I am holding them to that. It's only been a few months, way too early to break it.

 

It doesn't have to be a story chapter. It could be a flashpoint, or new EC bosses, or whatever. But I know if all I get in September is HK chapter I already paid for I'm going to be disappointed. If there's nothing in October, I'll unsubscribe. Just holding them to what they said.

 

Also, feel free to point out if we've ever went 3 months between a content patch before. That's what you're looking at if you don't qualify for HK. And that's at a minimum, could be even longer.

 

Also, how in the world did they end an expansion without any new repeatable content? When chapter 16 dropped, I was done in 2 hours. 2 hours does not hold anyone for 3 months. That's not being greedy, that's just simple truth.

Edited September 2, 2016 by annabethchase

[Storm-Cutter]

This. There's always slack time in any episodic game's schedule.

 

If you play - on average - 2 hours a day and the episodic story takes you an hour..... That's um....59 hours slack time every month.

 

Okay, once you've done your weeklies and a few dailies and a few of the quickest heroics..... that's still 40-50 hours a month slack time....

 

Point being, that filler is filler- but re-grinding old content is the worst kind.

 

- Back on topic, once my specialists were at rank 20, I just stopped. - The only heroics worth doing are the 5 or 6 really quick ones for the credits and comp gifts to help companions on varying alts who are still leveling.

 

Apart from the achieve, there was really no point in getting the specialists to rank 20 - it hasn't made the slightest difference so far.

 

HYLO: Thanks for the crates captain.

CAPTAIN: No problem, want any more?

HYLO: More are always welcome - so long as you bring no more than five at a time - I heard what happened the other day. - Ouch!

CAPTAIN: Corso!

CORSO: (Grumbling) Work....work....work....

HYLO: Now that the farm boy is out of the way.....You do know I'm just selling the excess crates for credits don't you, captain?

CAPTAIN: I suspected as much....When I saw the unstable arbiter's lightsabre in a display cabinet in your office.

HYLO: Shh! (thinks) Okay captain, I'll cut you in.....Say fifteen percent?

CAPTAIN: Twenty.

HYLO: You drive a hard bargain, captain. Okay. (shakes hands) Twenty. -Fly safe!

[PatT]

I have zero patients, which makes my correspondence degree from the Virgin Islands School of Dentistry and Fish Husbandry seem a real waste.

 

ROFL! That was great.

[PatT]

The DvL can't really be classed as an "event" and it's barely "filler".

 

People are thumbing their noses at it because they see through the PR spin and see it for what it is - nothing of substance, based on content that was old 3 years ago.

 

People complain because it is not in the least diverting, it is frustrating and boring, and it was old content 3 years ago.

 

Try and dress it up all you like, but content that was old 3 years ago is still old now, no matter what new reward they have invented for doing it.

 

All The Best

 

DvL is even more transparent than that. It's so we all make new chars, 8 of them, and they can proudly tout all the millions of new characters made this year...see the game is still going strong. They're saving that for a shareholder meeting.

 

meh.

[IanArgent]

KotFE has more single-player story time than SoR (by length of cutscene) and probably more than RotHC. It was just spread out over 10 months rather than released in one big mass. Speaking for myself, it's no less linear than SoR's storyline, and each faction's storyline in RotHC seemed at least as linear.

 

The Star Fortresses may not be your cup of tea, but they're repeatable content along the scale of a flashpoint, and TEC contains the boss count of a couple of Ops; even if its a different presentation.

 

Complain about the quality of the content of KotFE all you like, I may or may not agree with you (the best parts of KotFE I'd stack against any other part of the game, but the worst are the worst in the game, IMO.) But quantity? KotFE has as much raw content (laid out somewhat to very differently) as either of RotHC or SoR.

[Transcendent]

The Star Fortresses may not be your cup of tea, but they're repeatable content along the scale of a flashpoint, and TEC contains the boss count of a couple of Ops; even if its a different presentation.

 

Yet they don't seem to be on groupfinder. Heck, they should have updated groupfinder to include;

 

- Heroics (selectable by planet).

- Heroic Star Fortresses (selectable by planet).

- Solo+ TEC.

 

Then it would count properly as group content imo. Instead of having to spam chat on fleet for Heroic groups, or Odessen base for Heroic SF (for those who can't solo them or just want fast runs), or Zakuul Cantina for a quick easy TEC weekly.

 

They also should have updated the quick travel terminals by now to include certain places (such as Ziost for the dailies / weeklies). It hasn't been done yet.

 

This is the perfect time for BioWare to do these QoL changes, in the downtime between content releases (HK bonus chapter doesn't count, that's a long term sub perk for those of you who could stomach all those terrible HK rewards for a companion some of us didn't want to see returned... ). As well as fixing all the minor bugs that have been hanging around for ages.

[Nempo]

Those hood down versions are greens, or old green armor that was craftable at one point. Unless it is a special character's armor (in which case it is CM) most the rest of the npc armors are just greens. But don't forget level locks customs that can only drop off mobs in certain places. Corellia has rather unique chest peices that drop only there for example.

[IanArgent]

Yet they don't seem to be on groupfinder. Heck, they should have updated groupfinder to include;

 

- Heroics (selectable by planet).

- Heroic Star Fortresses (selectable by planet).

- Solo+ TEC.

 

Then it would count properly as group content imo. Instead of having to spam chat on fleet for Heroic groups, or Odessen base for Heroic SF (for those who can't solo them or just want fast runs), or Zakuul Cantina for a quick easy TEC weekly.

 

They also should have updated the quick travel terminals by now to include certain places (such as Ziost for the dailies / weeklies). It hasn't been done yet.

 

This is the perfect time for BioWare to do these QoL changes, in the downtime between content releases (HK bonus chapter doesn't count, that's a long term sub perk for those of you who could stomach all those terrible HK rewards for a companion some of us didn't want to see returned... ). As well as fixing all the minor bugs that have been hanging around for ages.

 

Not going to disagree that the groupable content for KotFE needs better groupability. Especially since one of my hot-buttons is the utter uselessness of GF for pugging ops. And, for that matter, the priority transit terminals need to be updated to include Odessen and Zakuul, at least.

 

Not entirely sure that the old Heroics need a group-finder feature, though, they were retuned to be solo content with a cash boost for grouping, and I'm not sure they really need to be easily puggable.

[LyraineAlei]

Not going to disagree that the groupable content for KotFE needs better groupability. Especially since one of my hot-buttons is the utter uselessness of GF for pugging ops. And, for that matter, the priority transit terminals need to be updated to include Odessen and Zakuul, at least.

 

Not entirely sure that the old Heroics need a group-finder feature, though, they were retuned to be solo content with a cash boost for grouping, and I'm not sure they really need to be easily puggable.

 

Shhhhhhhh! If all the heroics were added to GF, the Macrobinoc and Seeker Droid H4s would be added! People (without guilds or friends) would finish them (without having to offer to pay players)!

 

Odessen, Zakuul, Rishi need to be added to those terminals. Though I just use N and then "Go to contact" most of the time.

 

/nothing else to add to the content of the thread

[denavin]

... maybe I am being a bit hard..

 

Yes you are being a lot hard on the OP. They asked a valid question and did not demand anything nor make a stink about anything. It would seem that you are the one with no patience.

[peter_plankskull]

Shhhhhhhh! If all the heroics were added to GF, the Macrobinoc and Seeker Droid H4s would be added! People (without guilds or friends) would finish them (without having to offer to pay players)!

 

Going to have to report you now... forgive me... but

 

 

IF I CAN't FINISH IT, THEN NO ONE CAN!

 

[LyraineAlei]

Going to have to report you now... forgive me... but

 

 

IF I CAN't FINISH IT, THEN NO ONE CAN!

 

Hey! That's not very nice!

 

I know you're joking.

 

Anyway, back to the crates and stuff- maybe KotET will have us gathering those things again to build up more parts of the alliance. Rebel cells and stuff, maybe rebuild stuff from the results of Chapter XVI?

[peter_plankskull]

Hey! That's not very nice!

 

I know you're joking.

 

Anyway, back to the crates and stuff- maybe KotET will have us gathering those things again to build up more parts of the alliance. Rebel cells and stuff, maybe rebuild stuff from the results of Chapter XVI?

 

Spoilers on chapter 16 of KOTFE.

 

Nothing needs to be rebuilt, at all. No one on the ground was attacked, and nothing was destroyed. Unless you're talking about rebuilding more manpower if you lost the ship that koth steals.

 

 

 

[LyraineAlei]

Spoilers on chapter 16 of KOTFE.

 

Nothing needs to be rebuilt, at all. No one on the ground was attacked, and nothing was destroyed. Unless you're talking about rebuilding more manpower if you lost the ship that koth steals.

 

 

 

I assume people died. We need more people. ANd to build more space for all those people we keep recruiting to have a home on our base.

 

Or to build up yet another base because it's cheaper to just have one story where Choices Matter (tm)*

 

 

*For exactly three seconds.

[peter_plankskull]

I assume people died. We need more people. ANd to build more space for all those people we keep recruiting to have a home on our base.

 

Or to build up yet another base because it's cheaper to just have one story where Choices Matter (tm)*

 

 

*For exactly three seconds.

 

 

Nope... no one died... only Theron, Koth, Lana, Tora, Senya, and two companions of either Gault/Vette/Torian get any of the action, Kaliyo may state how she was jealous of all the action you got if she's alive. Sadly, not a single main character died in this chapter, let alone a ally of your side, the only people who died were the nameless Knights of Zakuul.

 

 

I don't mind tedious tasks if the payout or reward is satisfying, but it just isn't with the alliance and KOTFE. Literally none of the alliance you could of done in between chapters matters, you could have all 6 star fortresses floating about with a mostly empty base with no resources and it changes nothing of the story, not even a small dialogue off comment.