Producer Livestream Wrap Up thread

[Extinctionzone]

Hey everyone!

 

For those who weren't able to join us for the Producer Stream today, you can find a brief wrap up below!

 

Galactic Command

• We have been monitoring progress and feedback, and will continue making adjustments to Galactic Command.
  
• In Patch 5.0.1 we are raising the Command Experience gained from a number of activities, ranging from 50 - over 100% increases.
  

 

Dark vs. Light Event

• Rewards were delivered last week to players who reached the various tiers. Congratulations!
  
• We have heard your feedback regarding the Achievements, and we will be returning the Tier Level Achievements.
  
• We are fixing Master Ranos recruiting issues in Patch 5.0.1 on Tuesday.
  

In-Game Events*

• Life Day (Dec 13 – Jan 10)
  
• 5th Anniversary (Dec 13 – Jan 17)
  
• Rakghoul Resurgence on Corellia (Dec 13 – Dec 20)
  
• Bounty Contract Week (Dec 20 – Jan 3)
  
• Relics of the Gree (Jan 3 - Jan 10)
  

Coming to SWTOR Early 2017

• New Uprisings in January
  
• Master Mode Chapters in January
  
• Master Mode Uprisings in February / March
  

 

You can find the archived video of this stream - and all of the SWTOR streams - here!

 

Thanks,

 

Tait

 

*These dates have been corrected from those given during the stream.

 

For what its worth , thank you Ben & Charles, I have just finished watching the dev stream, and appreciate you guys fronting up. Dark vs Light cheevs getting restored (even though its months away) is important to me so thank you.

 

I'm also happy some immediate changes are coming to CXP, and that you are taking a serious look at it. ( it was a deal breaker for my subscription) I know you cant please everyone at all times, but at least you guys are being proactive on the front foot, attacked the issues and didn't let the venom get stronger over the Christmas break.

 

also respect for getting on board with the bingo. it took the edge off the nerd rage. :)That's about it.

 

its not so hard to log in and get some pew pew star wars action going today.

 

Cheers.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Extinctionzone

[DanNV]

I'll repost my comments from this http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9158423#post9158423 here:

 

So, you said you want to hear more from your paying customers. Here you go.

 

You say you are listening to us. Unfortunately, while you may be listening, you aren't hearing.

 

You think we don't like drop rates in Command packs. You missed the point entirely. We don't want RNG endgame gearing, at all. We didn't want it at launch, we don't want it now and we won't want it next week. RNG endgame gearing needs to go, at least for your endgame group players. If you want to keep it for those people who don't play end game content, fine, they need a way to get top end gear. But your endgame players want to know what we're getting, know how to get it and to move on to doing the content we want.

 

You say opening Command crates is "exciting". The word doesn't mean what you think it means.

 

From Google:

ex·cit·ing

causing great enthusiasm and eagerness.

"an exciting breakthrough"

synonyms: thrilling, exhilarating, action-packed, stirring, rousing, stimulating, intoxicating, electrifying, invigorating

 

Let me give you some words that describe it better.

 

For the first few, try "frustrating"

frus·trate

gerund or present participle: frustrating prevent (a plan or attempted action) from progressing, succeeding, or being fulfilled.

 

cause (someone) to feel upset or annoyed, typically as a result of being unable to change or achieve something. "it can be very frustrating to find that the size you want isn't there" synonyms:

exasperate, infuriate, annoy, anger, vex, irritate, irk, try someone's patience; More

 

By the time you have opened 20 or so, try "infuriating"

in·fu·ri·at·ing

making one extremely angry and impatient; very annoying

synonyms:

enrage, incense, anger, inflame;

 

I haven't gotten far enough to see what comes next, but I expect eventually it comes down to "any game but this one."

 

Think about this mess from the point of view of a player and substitute the words I gave you for "exciting" and you might get a clue as to what we're telling you.

 

The short version is that you have taken the fun out of the game. You've made it agrivating, frustrating and infuriating by not listening to the feedback you've gotten for 2 months now. We told you we didn't want RNG endgame gearing and you ignored us. We're still telling you we don't want RNG gearing and you're still ignoring us. Your announced changes are just peeing down our backs and calling it rain.

[Nkya]

Thanks for the effort, but the count is far to be here. With this system, gearing up remains an insane grind.

To fill all our 14 character slots, we need to drop many of the precious rare purple items we'll get.

 

Here is for instance the math to fill a Panini album with random stickers:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/how-much-cost-complete-euro-7772797

 

With 14 slots, we'll have to earn average 45.5 purple (meaning we have do drop 31.5, about 2/3 of our purple loot). With the current drop rate i estimate being 5%, average players will be fully geared after at champion level 910 per alt and per spec, after thousands hours of focused game, having to be repeated for every alt and every spec. On the way, players wanting to try the system will have be sickened by droping most of their purple for duplicate.

 

Veteran characters have still their 4.0 gear working okay, even if limited. But ]new characters are barred to have a good gear set for a few months!

 

The system is not working. The announced fix is not going to make it work. Sane people have to ignore the whole champion point system for gearing. Since it's the main point to maintain an active subscription, they're going to drop, sadly for a good reason.

 

To make the system working, I think purple should drop in every box in 50% of them. Then it needs maybe 100 hours of grind per character and spec which is acceptable for players wanting to play their alts. Other solution is to allow gear trading or purchasing (maybe buy a gear piece for some command levels)

Edited December 9, 2016 by Nkya

[Fraah]

[*]In Patch 5.0.1 we are raising the Command Experience gained from a number of activities, ranging from 50 - over 100% increases.

 

100%? On that stuff which you nerfed by 900% last week! Yeah, great, thanks.

 

You're putting lipstick on a pig. Until you accept that I want to eat a hamburger and not kiss a pig, my sub is staying cancelled....4 days left.

[Hichitsuki-hime]

My Dear Tait & Ben,

it was great seeing you guys again. I honestly wish to congratulate you on mastering the EVASIVENESS skill to the max.:D

While looking at chat i saw a lot of spam about:

#remove RNG

#explain RNG

#fix command crates

#bring companions back

#let me romance arcann

#NEW OPS

 

What did you say ?

-we're thinking about maybe making ops harder

-we're gathering data about RNG and thinking about maybe how to help people to get that last piece of SB they didn't get ( well what if they don't get ANY? or very little)

 

Having ranted a little about htat. My big question that i asked repeatedly to no success is this:

Why are there useless things coming up in command crates? Such as reputation tokens and other fluff. We use these crates to get gear upgrades. Seriously. WHY IS THIS RNG IMPLEMENTED AT ALL???

please please please consider explaining.

thank you very much, love you guys.

:D:D:D:D

[Voblat]

I've been here longer than every current bioware employee.

 

I have never really complained before, but the idea that an RNG that varies from nothing at all to BIS is utterly ridiculous. Not only that, it is exactly what cost half the subs 6 months after launch. I watched everyone I game with disappear once, and I stuck around because I play very casually and having the very best gear does not bother me.

 

However, this system is not 'exciting', it is annoying, aggravating, and most importantly, not fun. I have managed 20 GC levels, I have yet to receive anything at all that I can use. Nothing.

 

Not one companion gift. No Purples. Just greens and blues with wrong stats and not as good as the 208/216 purples I already have. And lots and lots of orange shells. They go well with the lots and lots of orange shells I got for doing the odessen box grind. Just so we are clear, that is sarcasm. Orange shells are also annoying when you are expecting something to improve your toon.

 

The other reason it is bad, and by bad I mean bad design, is it launched on the very day your last 'content' ended. That content required multiple alts. Now you want an insane grind to gear one toon, and ignore the alts. Pick a direction, stick to it. Anything else is bad design. This is bad design.

 

Ding a level, get a reward. That is the basics. If you don't understand why email Raph Koster, he made mistakes too, but he understands what makes an MMO work. Dinging a level and getting nothing ( and no, stuff you just destroy or sell because its useless is not 'something') and there is no incentive to keep going. Do it often enough and it becomes a disincentive to play. That is where I am now.

 

I am also lucky, all my toons are in 208/216 purples, I can do most content like that.

 

New players? New players are screwed when they get to 70, there is no real way to plan gear. If they want to do ranked PvP or raids, how are they supposed to reliably (important word) gear for it? They cannot and they will leave.

 

In short, can we have someone who understands MMOs on the design team please.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Voblat

[Frenesi]

My Dear Tait & Ben,

it was great seeing you guys again. I honestly wish to congratulate you on mastering the EVASIVENESS skill to the max.:D

While looking at chat i saw a lot of spam about:

#remove RNG

#explain RNG

#fix command crates

#bring companions back

#let me romance arcann

#NEW OPS

 

What did you say ?

-we're thinking about maybe making ops harder

-we're gathering data about RNG and thinking about maybe how to help people to get that last piece of SB they didn't get ( well what if they don't get ANY? or very little)

 

Having ranted a little about htat. My big question that i asked repeatedly to no success is this:

Why are there useless things coming up in command crates? Such as reputation tokens and other fluff. We use these crates to get gear upgrades. Seriously. WHY IS THIS RNG IMPLEMENTED AT ALL???

please please please consider explaining.

thank you very much, love you guys.

:D:D:D:D

 

They could have had bright future in politics, that's for sure. They are far more adept at bull******** people than at making games.

[Hichitsuki-hime]

I've been here longer than every current bioware employee.

 

I have never really complained before, but the idea that an RNG that varies from nothing at all to BIS is utterly ridiculous. Not only that, it is exactly what cost half the subs 6 months after launch. I watched everyone I game with disappear once, and I stuck around because I play very casually and having the very best gear does not bother me.

 

However, this system is not 'exciting', it is annoying, aggravating, and most importantly, not fun. I have managed 20 GC levels, I have yet to receive anything at all that I can use. Nothing.

 

Not one companion gift. No Purples. Just greens and blues with wrong stats and not as good as the 208/216 purples I already have. And lots and lots of orange shells. They go well with the lots and lots of orange shells I got for doing the odessen box grind. Just so we are clear, that is sarcasm. Orange shells are also annoying when you are expecting something to improve your toon.

 

The other reason it is bad, and by bad I mean bad design, is it launched on the very day your last 'content' ended. That content required multiple alts. Now you want an insane grind to gear one toon, and ignore the alts. Pick a direction, stick to it. Anything else is bad design. This is bad design.

 

Ding a level, get a reward. That is the basics. If you don't understand why email Raph Koster, he made mistakes too, but he understands what makes an MMO work. Dinging a level and getting nothing ( and no, stuff you just destroy or sell because its useless is not 'something') and there is no incentive to keep going. Do it often enough and it becomes a disincentive to play. That is where I am now.

 

I am also lucky, all my toons are in 208/216 purples, I can do most content like that.

 

New players? New players are screwed when they get to 70, there is no real way to plan gear. If they want to do ranked PvP or raids, how are they supposed to reliably (important word) gear for it? They cannot and they will leave.

 

In short, can we have someone who understands MMOs on the design team please.

 

well, green 228 crap is pretty frequent in boxes =) but like.... 39 boxes - ZERO any upgrade. kill me now

[Costello]

Is it because the vast majority of negative posts get moved off topic that Ben and Charles are blind to the reality of the game?

 

Is the chat during the live stream censored so they only get, 'great job guys' posts.

 

It seems the development team are so out of touch with where the game is. In the Dulfy write up it mention twitter being positive of the story. Seriously that is how they gauge the games success if people that may or may not even have access to the story or not be one person with multiple accounts likes the story. How about answering the masses of plot holes and bizarre choices that were made now the story is over. How was the Sith Emperor who was trapped on Voss and then pronounced dead by the sith and the jedi in fact living as a family man on Zakuul who worshiped him as a benevolent god who 5 years after his death was still mourned with people so overcome with grief, the same person and maybe a possible explanation as to his master plan cause Ziost suggested that he didn't really need a body. But no need to worry about that cause Twitter loved that you could kill companions.

 

As for future content, what you mean is repeating the same old events which are on continuous loop and a life day event which is buying cartel market wampa's and throwing snow balls. That is the best you have after 5 years, you could have had anything on Hoth played it straight and offered a decent even with a serious story. But no snowballs and reindeer.

 

That is before we even look at Master mode story, are you aware that trash take people down to half health in 1 second in veteran mode, their opening volley is that good. Sure it adds more challenge but the rng system knows the reward aint that good compared to story mode where trash mob can't take you below 99% health. So I can't see how you can up it for master mode which requires tier 3 bis gear which you gate behind this system, What is that something in the region of 500 story mode runs of chapters to have a chance of getting that.

 

It feels like its crazy down, the new story mode content is so easy that mostly it can be done with 2 attacks and completed in 10 hours. The new gearing system is repeating old content (up to launch content) to the point of abject misery and likely to take well over 1000 hours (outside of high pop servers running pvp participation win trading), while the new challenging content is heavily waited on the time/effort side rather than any reward you can get. Do they honestly believe this is going to work or what customers want to do in their spare time?

[Neoforcer]

Hey everyone!

 

For those who weren't able to join us for the Producer Stream today, you can find a brief wrap up below!

 

Galactic Command

[*]We have been monitoring progress and feedback, and will continue making adjustments to Galactic Command.

[*]In Patch 5.0.1 we are raising the Command Experience gained from a number of activities, ranging from 50 - over 100% increases.

Thanks,

 

Tait

 

*These dates have been corrected from those given during the stream.

 

 

You Guys are not listening to us on Galactic Command the drop rate on this system sucks i open 15 packs on my main not one peace of gear that is usable. Been rep skins and pets a green gear that less than my current set.. At this rate it will be 2018 before i get a set bonus not cool. My suggestion is play with the drop rate number first. Second rather then random drops of sets put a dang vendor back in with exchange for a token for a peace of gear That way i can choose what i want weather it be a tank set or dps set.... The RNG on this system is so bad i spent 80 mil on crafting mats and crafted my way out of tier 1 do you feel that is what we should be doing not fun...... Making this a craft to win model...

 

Not what makes a good MMO the person that suggested galactic command should be fired in all honesty. You turn the gearing system into wow never ending year rep grind in Burning crusade. No Amount of increased CXP is a fix for this mess. I love the idea of every one gets the same gear which has made bolster work great in pvp. I don't feel like the drop rate on rng should be .1% like rare mount drop rates for crying out loud. It great you want to encourage people to play all parts of the game. But this is no fun as is and just upping CXP is not the answer. Rather go play World of fail craft then this garbage.

 

 

If you cant ell we founders are not happy with this crap feels a lot like battle master loot crates the took us till 1.2 to get geared and that was like 4 month... Second your UI is full of bug i can note move my guild ship to tat because the menu is off the screen... THis is my rant we will not be happy with just gaining CXP faster The only peace of 230 gear i got was a healing relic as a sin out of 15 crates i guess i can heal with band aides ...

[Neoforcer]

well, green 228 crap is pretty frequent in boxes =) but like.... 39 boxes - ZERO any upgrade. kill me now

 

Tell me about it i had to bite the Bullet and craft my way to the tune of 80 mil just to get some gear that is usefull....

[Neoforcer]

Going to resort the screen shots the command creates i get and flood tait and erics forum inbox with there loot crate fails see how happy it makes them to see there failure of this galactic command RNG crap can you tell BW that were pissed off yet should go find a review and give this expac a 1 * review. Edited December 9, 2016 by Neoforcer

[Neoforcer]

* Tier bonus set gear in Crates but also in Token from bosses in Ops

* Story Mode drop T1

* Hard Mode drop T2

* Nightmare drop T3

 

This would be unfair to pvp sorry bosses should not drop tokens crates should only but remove the skin gear green gear and pets from pack. Rep and blue gear can stay it would allow you to get gear in a nice rate. Since tier 1 is 1 though 90 would takea while to get 234 gear.

[MegaTherions]

i will continue here with the things I said during the stream:

 

#removeRNG

#removeGrind

No one asked for Grind and RNG!!!

#removeCommandCrates

#waitingForSubToExpire

#BiowareNotListening

[darkfunifuteur]

In Patch 5.0.1 we are raising the Command Experience gained from a number of activities, ranging from 50 - over 100% increases.

Just for quest's rewards or packs and bonus packs too ?

[Ragbarber]

I just want my old companions back. I'm really sad we're not getting any more until next year at the earliest. And that's if we get them back at all!

 

This is why I don't even play the KOFTE & KOTET story with my main & favorite alts, I love my original comps!

And I don't need to become the ruler of the Galaxy anyway.

I just did it once with an alt I don't give a crap about.

[Yermog]

This is why I don't even play the KOFTE & KOTET story with my main & favorite alts, I love my original comps!

And I don't need to become the ruler of the Galaxy anyway.

I just did it once with an alt I don't give a crap about.

I'll do KOTET with my Trooper and my Hunter, they're the only ones who have their LI's back- and I'll go through it with my Consular who romanced Theron. But I got really attached to all my LI's, and it's basically been said that "it might not be possible" to get them back.

 

I'm an RPGer. I play games for story. Part of my story includes my toon's personal life, and now that a very important part of that has essentially been tossed aside, it makes me not feel like playing anything beyond the vanilla game at all. It's very disappointing.

 

Also, you can't show favorites amongst the LI's. Even if there's only a few fans for one of the LI's (I'm not wild about Felix, for example) there are people out there who are, and you'd be giving them the short end of the stick by ignoring him in favor of, say Quinn. Let's not make a ME3-romance-type mistake* here, alright?

 

*Those who romanced Thane or Jacob specifically know what I'm talking about. Also Jack to a degree.

[Galahard]

I am already crapping my pants about some encounters...

 

Zaamsk and Faedral in Anarchy in Paradise, the Battle Droid Atherna and his 2 Knights of Zakuul in Disavowed, the Ship Defense Droid and its Skytrooper Ambush in The GEMINI Deception, these were already a challenge in Veteran Mode

I agree, and do not forget: those are Elites, so grant 1 CXP!

Literally cost me a fortune to gear up and then repair cost to be able to beat them on veteran.

Make them at least Champions, as they are!

[-hans-gruber-]

So in summary

 

.Nothing about new Operations

.Nothing about new strongholds

.Nothing about the Hackers plaguing the TRE server in ranked

.Nothing about class balance, looking at you mercenaries

.Nothing about returning Companions

.Nothing about improving awful RNG of galactic command

.Nothing about improving alt gearing

 

But hey, they did mention the new cartel market items.

And that they are "monitoring" things. Is this the same monitoring you did for sorcs in season 7??

 

There is nothing left worth more than a months sub for the story content.

[Glzmo]

Dark vs. Light Event

[*]Rewards were delivered last week to players who reached the various tiers. Congratulations!

I didn't get any dark vs. light rewards delivered last week. Were they supposed to be in the mail? The companion wasn't in the mail either.

[kimiko_tomiyama]

Having read through the hate threads and seen the disconnect between what the community seems to feel and what the development team seems to be thinking is glaring.

 

After opening another crate and getting a repeat of the only piece of gear I’ve scored (a green 230 piece that is only marginally better than the 216 I was wearing and in some wears worse...) I’ve decided not to even bother with the command crap.. er crates.. they can pile in my auxiliary dump storage you call a command stash. If I could drop them, sell them on the GTN, or disintegrate them unopened, I would. Some of us aren’t gamblers. Your cartel crates and the 2 million dropped in your Nar Shadda Casino for stuff I have to sell at a massive loss or stuff in an unused vault convinced me that clearing the toilet is more exciting an experience that SWTOR gambling.

 

I am probably going to re- sub one more time as there isn’t enough time to finish the story parts I enjoy before the current runs out. Moreover, I haven’t found a replacement mmo as yet. I am looking though and when the next runs out, it will take a major overhaul to convince me to do so again.

 

You say “Play the game you want”, but it seems like “play the game in a specific way we intended”. Maybe “Having fun is ok as long as it’s the way we want you to have fun” is a better way to phrase it. Sure it’s your game and you make the rules. But it’s my choice if I want to spend money on it. And you are not convincing me that this has good long term value.

[Kirtastropohe]

I appreciate that they will make some changes on Tuesday, but they don't address the two fundamental issues we have as a community: 1) the crapshoot that is command crate opening and 2), the killing of playing alts. This reward system is going to kill the game...period.

 

I ran a raid with my group yesterday, and quite frankly, it was incredibly unrewarding, no pun intended. Getting nothing but schematics and exotic isotopes does nothing for me....nothing. I'm not a crafter. I don't enjoy it. Why the heck would I do a raid I've done countless times when the only rewards given are things I won't use, such as schematics, from bosses or CXP, which will only get me closer to crap crates that won't give me anything either.

 

You need to admit defeat on this new reward system and stop the bleeding before you kill the patient. If we want a random chance to win something, we'll go to Vegas or play the lottery. Games are reward based. At the end of the day, grinding tasks are only completed by people because there is a reward at the end of the tunnel. You've give us a system that has no guaranteed reward.

 

I have to admit to being extremely disappointed with the nebulous reaction we got from Ben yesterday. The dev response should have been something along lines of, "We dropped the ball on this. It's obvious RNG it's not what the community wants, but we feel the concept is critical to the success of the game, so we're keeping the system, but we clearly understand it is not where it needs to be. We promise to have solutions in place by the end of January 2017."

[Christie_Swift]

Hey everyone!

 

For those who weren't able to join us for the Producer Stream today, you can find a brief wrap up below!

 

Galactic Command

• We have been monitoring progress and feedback, and will continue making adjustments to Galactic Command.
  
• In Patch 5.0.1 we are raising the Command Experience gained from a number of activities, ranging from 50 - over 100% increases.
  

 

Dark vs. Light Event

• Rewards were delivered last week to players who reached the various tiers. Congratulations!
  
• We have heard your feedback regarding the Achievements, and we will be returning the Tier Level Achievements.
  
• We are fixing Master Ranos recruiting issues in Patch 5.0.1 on Tuesday.
  

In-Game Events*

• Life Day (Dec 13 – Jan 10)
  
• 5th Anniversary (Dec 13 – Jan 17)
  
• Rakghoul Resurgence on Corellia (Dec 13 – Dec 20)
  
• Bounty Contract Week (Dec 20 – Jan 3)
  
• Relics of the Gree (Jan 3 - Jan 10)
  

Coming to SWTOR Early 2017

• New Uprisings in January
  
• Master Mode Chapters in January
  
• Master Mode Uprisings in February / March
  

 

You can find the archived video of this stream - and all of the SWTOR streams - here!

 

Thanks,

 

Tait

 

*These dates have been corrected from those given during the stream.

 

Thank you!

This is AWESOME news and could not be happier. DvL achievements counter should be returned back to players and GC needs to be adjusted. IMO its a GOOD system and have no problem with it. Some people have been flamed by it but I have experienced other MMOs with similar platforms and will wait until this is more mature.

I have been enjoying SWTOR since launch and will continue to be here since you guys do seem to listen to feedback as opposed to other MMOs. We will see how this GC turns out but it does not bother personally at all. Its just a game and a pastime not real world

Edited December 9, 2016 by Christie_Swift

[Kyuuu]

Please keep ignoring the RNG BS you were all told not to do with crates, till your subs leave.

[Transcendent]

Coming to SWTOR Early 2017

• New Uprisings in January
  
• Master Mode Chapters in January
  
• Master Mode Uprisings in February / March
  

 

I wouldn't be geared for those.

 

Thanks for the summary though Tait.