Bioware, tonight's stream is your last chance.

[Kirtastropohe]

For tonight's stream, we really want to focus in on what is coming in the future (content especially). With that in mind I want to try to address the questions you raised since they may not come up on the stream.

 

1- Right now we are not planning on changing Bolster back as it was an intended change. I posted our reasoning here.

2 - We are definitely looking at all of the GC gearing changes we made yesterday to see where our next steps are. The rate of components earned from PvP is one of those areas we are investigating.

3 - The intent of using this method to purchase the upgrade is that it would work almost identically to how it worked before with Warzone -> Ranked upgrades. Again, we are keeping our eyes on costs and the rates of earning Components to see where changes need to be made.

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

5 - Components can be most easily compared to WZ Comms and although WZ comms weren't legacy, you could move them around through the BoL consumable. We are talking about Components and the possibility of making a similar change in the future. No promises, but it is definitely a part of the discussion!

6 - Command Rank being Legacy wide creates some problems at the same time that it is solving some. We know that we need to help out players Legacies in Galactic Command and are looking at a lot of different options. I am hoping to have some information really soon (I was trying to avoid saying that word). Potentially on the stream today, but more likely next week.

-eric

 

It will be disturbing if the current outrage and continued frustration of the player base is going to be largely ignored in favor of talking about future content. Don't get me wrong. We totally need another Op and more content. I'm very grateful and happy there is some stuff coming in the future, but to be frank, you have bigger fish to fry at the moment. If you don't get things under control, many of the players watching your stream won't even be around when you release the content.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Kirtastropohe

[invertioN]

2 - We are definitely looking at all of the GC gearing changes we made yesterday to see where our next steps are. The rate of components earned from PvP is one of those areas we are investigating.

 

wth are u investigating? is the team kinda slow ?

[Zasszz]

I'm very grateful and happy there is some stuff coming in the future...

Yeah, more bugs, no fixes to problems that need fixing after 4 years, more grinding and probably more problems that werent problems until then.

[Barnard]

How about, thanks for actually responding? Seriously, the last couple days have seen more communication from Eric than in the last few months.

 

We want them to communicate more, then when they do, we bite their head off.

 

/facepalm

 

It's called damage control. A rather significant amount of people have left the game in the last 2 months.

[lordcrimmeh]

Classic (Forged Alliances/Shadow of Revan) Lana customization ought to be fairly trivial to implement, yeah? I can definitely say that is one thing I would love to see.

[PlasmaJohn]

How about, thanks for actually responding? Seriously, the last couple days have seen more communication from Eric than in the last few months.

Responding... yes. It's an attempt at damage control. Communication? LAWL. That requires a dialog. There's no dialog, it's all one way. Pretty much "this is how we want it and you'll like it."

[Gwena]

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

 

Wow, I think this is the first time that you guys have deigned to acknowledge the desire of players to customize the KotFE companions! Better late then never, I guess. I sincerely hope you will implement this sooner rather than later (or worse, never).

 

However, in regards to Shae, this statement makes no sense. You DID implement customization for her! It isn't a matter of if you could implement it for her or not, because you clearly CAN. And it must not have been that hard to do, considering that you did it on accident, and all of the (applicable) vanilla companions have this functionality. I understand that it won't be so simple for characters like Lana that have a unique "my-armor-is-my-body" model, but surely you have the dev-power to make some new customization kits for the KotFE companions that use standard PC body models?

 

Issues like this make it difficult to have much faith in the competence and intentions of whoever is in charge of decision-making on the dev team. I just don't understand you guys sometimes.

[YlliyaXor]

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

 

You already have a solution, make the default look their underwear like you did with Master Ranos.

[mmmbuddah]

Anyone know the link to the stream before hand?

[OneHit]

That's the part about the gearing system I fail to understand. Why do people care about gear in this game now at all? They have not put any new content in the game that needs better gear for years. If you haven't seen the content before I can understand that but if you have been playing for a while then who cares?

 

This game isn't worth a sub longer then a month now. It's like dlc content. Go do the chapters then unsub and wait for the next dlc called a expansion and sub for a month again.

 

 

Sounds like. this is true for you and the content you do, but for pvp'ers. if you aren't full 242 then you are at a disadvantage to some one who is. I haven't done much for ops lately (since the devs are at war against operations and anyone who mentions them or the lack of them) but i imagine some of the HM NiM stuff is challenging.

 

you sir are the rare solo/story pro that recognizes that you don't need to wear the best gear in the game to play.

 

I wish EA would hire you. Cause this whole 5.0 rng garbage is to appease people in your situation who believe they should get the best gear in the game for doing none of the work.

[OneHit]

Lets not lose sight of the fact that this bolster deal was kinda sketchy too. since they never really talked about it. and then sneaked it into the patch. I would like to believe them but they kinda have this history of lying to us

[Lium]

It's called damage control. A rather significant amount of people have left the game in the last 2 months.

 

A post is a post. Period. BioWare is absolutely terrible at engaging and interacting with this community. The fact that Eric has been posting over the last few days - whether it's damage control or not - does not change the fact the he is posting.

 

If he or anyone else at BW did more of that, the forums wouldn't be as toxic as they are now. I mean they would still smell really bad. Just less bad.

[OneHit]

It will be disturbing if the current outrage and continued frustration of the player base is going to be largely ignored in favor of talking about future content. Don't get me wrong. We totally need another Op and more content. I'm very grateful and happy there is some stuff coming in the future, but to be frank, you have bigger fish to fry at the moment. If you don't get things under control, many of the players watching your stream won't even be around when you release the content.

 

 

No sir. Some of us have been waiting for this stream since before kofte. and they have been putting us off about operations since then. refusing to even mention it other than this is the stream they will talk about. we need to stick to one game breaking decision at a time. rng is going to have to wait a week

[Andryah]

A post is a post. Period. BioWare is absolutely terrible at engaging and interacting with this community. The fact that Eric has been posting over the last few days - whether it's damage control or not - does not change the fact the he is posting.

 

If he or anyone else at BW did more of that, the forums wouldn't be as toxic as they are now. I mean they would still smell really bad. Just less bad.

 

History suggests otherwise though. No amount or type of communications has ever toned down the toxicity... other then to temporarily put egg on peoples faces who say they never communicate.

 

That said.. they DO need to up their game on communications, AND stick with it. They always backslide after a month or two.. and I believe that is largely because Eric is the only voice facing customers now days.. and it's been that way for a long time. The forum is at best a part time effort for Eric, and I don't think a lot of players realize this.

[jockjon]

I think this was a great post which really sums up how many people feel. I liked how it was short and to the point and absent threats of quitting etc. It gets to the heart of what has gone wrong to the game for me which is:

 

a) No new MMO content for way too long which is eroding or has destroyed many in game long standing communities

b) A relentless grind to get back to where you were in the game (PvP or PvE) without genuine substantial new content

 

I sincerely hope the announcement today gives me hope that at least MMO content is coming in the near future that gives me a reason to stay.

[Ruskaeth]

1 - Bring back bolster as it was before 5.1 (you really killed my motivation to play)

I don't think anyone complained about how PvP went. Did I just miss it? Did they "fix" something needlessly?

 

2 - Reduce the grind lowering the costs to get gear using Components

Meh.. PvPers sort of got stomped on here. PVE players can get tier 3 gear directly when they themselves are tier 1.

3 - Remove the SHELL needed to buy T2 gear using Components, many of us sold the old shells and now we're screwed. If it was cheap like 4.0 when you reduced Wz commendation costs i'd never complain. But this time I have to deal with RNG again to get those shells.

This is an amazing point. +1

4 - Bring back Shae Vizla customization.

Noticed a thread about this. Did not understand so many people loved they could customize her. Again, did BioWare concentrate on fixing something people actually enjoyed? How typical. BW: if your players get engaged with something outside your scope of design...say thank you rather than ruining their engagement.

5 - Make Components LEGACY, so this game becomes alt friendly again.

Those aren't? Oh wow..

6 - I think this is asking too much but make Command rank legacy, this would finish many many complains from the playerbase.

I wish. But the 5.1 change is beneficial to PVE players mainly.

 

5 years sub to a game that now is just RNG + Mindless grind, it's not fun anymore.

Agree 100%.

[Twofangs]

Genada .. knows where it's at .....

[TUXs]

5 years sub to a game that now is just RNG + Mindless grind, it's not fun anymore.

Had a great friend quit the game last night - he'd been here from day-1 with me...he logged on to give us all of his stuff and logged off for good. He was an avid alt player and a guy willing to do whatever the group needed him to do...he said the exact same thing to me...it's just not fun anymore and no new Op or any new content will make it 'fun' with the way things are.

[ImmortalLowlife]

Shae wearing armour we want her to wear was not damaging the game in any shape or form, seriously Eric and the Dev team!

 

It wasn't like the gear would play any part of her overall stats since du'h the system isn't set like that anymore, what you have done is removed the nose to spite the face!

 

That is a poor example of running a game, you might as well just make ALL the sodding companion none customizable since clearly you have no reasoning to give us the players what we would like in the game.....

 

Quoted for truth... Y'all seem determined to make sure y'all piss off EVERY TYPE OF PLAYER BW!

 

I'm probably gonna be done after this stream. There's way too many good games being released in the next few months, and I'm not gonna keep supporting a company who doesn't listen.

[Sundragon]

For tonight's stream, we really want to focus in on what is coming in the future (content especially). With that in mind I want to try to address the questions you raised since they may not come up on the stream.

 

1- Right now we are not planning on changing Bolster back as it was an intended change. I posted our reasoning here.

2 - We are definitely looking at all of the GC gearing changes we made yesterday to see where our next steps are. The rate of components earned from PvP is one of those areas we are investigating.

3 - The intent of using this method to purchase the upgrade is that it would work almost identically to how it worked before with Warzone -> Ranked upgrades. Again, we are keeping our eyes on costs and the rates of earning Components to see where changes need to be made.

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

5 - Components can be most easily compared to WZ Comms and although WZ comms weren't legacy, you could move them around through the BoL consumable. We are talking about Components and the possibility of making a similar change in the future. No promises, but it is definitely a part of the discussion!

6 - Command Rank being Legacy wide creates some problems at the same time that it is solving some. We know that we need to help out players Legacies in Galactic Command and are looking at a lot of different options. I am hoping to have some information really soon (I was trying to avoid saying that word). Potentially on the stream today, but more likely next week.

 

-eric

 

1. I completely agree with Bioware's response. Do not change bolster. In fact, I think we should get rid of bolster entirely. Gear should matter.

2. The rate are fine as an EXTRA method of gaining gear. People complaining seem to think it is the primary method. I hope you clarify it for people who seem confused.

3. Everyone who has played this game knows to save the shell. People who didn't save the shell are careless or perhaps trying to game the system.

4. Bug fixes are always good.

5. Glad you guys keep thinking about this possibility.

6. I don't think any kind of legacy deal should be done at this point. Many people play alts and have already earned GC XP on different alts. No need to change this.

[Setokai]

For tonight's stream, we really want to focus in on what is coming in the future (content especially). With that in mind I want to try to address the questions you raised since they may not come up on the stream.

 

 

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

.-eric

 

maybe as an alternative and this only a suggestion eric, giving Lana a classic Shadow of Revan customization, as well as utilize the customization slot on many of the other Kotfe/Kotet companions:D

[MeNaCe-NZ]

1- Right now we are not planning on changing Bolster back as it was an intended change. I posted our reasoning here.

 

The reasoning was flawed and I still think the truth of the change is lacking. The majority of people don't want gear based PVP - they just want to have fun and know they and their opposition are on a level playing field stat wise.

 

It's quite clear the only reason for keeping stat based gear and bolster is to draw out the grind on getting that far.

 

 

3 - The intent of using this method to purchase the upgrade is that it would work almost identically to how it worked before with Warzone -> Ranked upgrades. Again, we are keeping our eyes on costs and the rates of earning Components to see where changes need to be made.

 

Can you PLEASE pass on to the PVP/Gearing ( whoever comes up with these idea ) team that they now need to consider PVE when making these sort of changes

Now expertise is gone and you have 1 set of gear you have to balance out how gear is earned via the activities because right now PVE players can earn gear far faster than PVP players and thus get an advantage at PVP.

 

 

4 - Shae being able to wear armor was a bug, which is why we changed/fixed it. We do know that there is a desire for characters like Shae, Lana, etc to be able to be customized like other Companions and we are always looking at when/if we could implement this.

 

But WHY can't you implement it? It was already implemented through this "bug" so what is the reasoning here?

 

 

6 - Command Rank being Legacy wide creates some problems at the same time that it is solving some. We know that we need to help out players Legacies in Galactic Command and are looking at a lot of different options. I am hoping to have some information really soon (I was trying to avoid saying that word). Potentially on the stream today, but more likely next week.

 

What sort of problems? Technical problems?

 

Whilst it's great the increased amount of communication and most of us understand you are only passing on what you yourself get told it is important to note you have to consider how the community will react to your posts.

 

Right now a lot of this sounds like making up excuses because the higher up don't want you admitting to us it's due to the "thrill of the hunt". e.g. your statement on legacy wide problems just sounds like "if we did that people wouldn't grind longer" as opposed to specific details on the problem is creates.

Think of the dialogue there - you specify the problem and perhaps the community comes up with a solution - at the least it's more specific feedback for the developers to try solve the problem and they know they are acting in the best interests of the community based on that feedback.

 

The smoke and mirrors lately is coming across as rather disingenuous especially when in the streams Ben seems to get flustered and let the cat out of the bag with "thrill of the hunt" and statements implying he wants us playing how he wants as opposed to how we want to play.

 

It's easy then to see why the community is becoming quite inflamed over 5.x.

[ArostheJedi]

I hope they talk about how forums are not representative of what players actually want. I'd like them to say that RNG and command crates are here to stay.

 

This new system is the dumbest thing I have seen since launching this game. Why change the formula of what mmo raiding is all about? There is NOTHING better about grinding dumb exp for boxes which don't give you anything anyways. And NOW, its ok we listened, the last boss will drop something again. And the others in the raid might. BS period. Most people only stay in this game, cause its Star Wars, cause honestly, there is no other reason to stay. Think of all the things they do and break to get us so mad, so that we will be ready to jump into the next Star Wars mmo, which don't kid yourself, is being made now.

[DanNV]

Had a great friend quit the game last night - he'd been here from day-1 with me...he logged on to give us all of his stuff and logged off for good. He was an avid alt player and a guy willing to do whatever the group needed him to do...he said the exact same thing to me...it's just not fun anymore and no new Op or any new content will make it 'fun' with the way things are.

 

I'm in your friends world. I used to fill in with whatever the group needed. Now, one story, one character, the grind fro hell, it's just not fun.

[DrewFromPhilly]

If anyone is expecting anything other than vague, non-committal, empty promises they haven't been paying attention.