Galactic Command Gearing Roadmap - Coming This Week

[MeNaCe-NZ]

no cause it destroy SM ops cause they were bolsters 250 to which made people have unrealistic idea on how good people dps was, only to see hugh difference when there was no bolsters.

 

I still think bolster one the worst things they even put in the game.

 

Pretty sure I was talking about PVP...

[Costello]

Is this going to be retro-active?

 

It seems that anyone that has participated in the Galactic Command Grind over the last few months is getting a Jokes on you. You may have had to spend 3 hours for a rank and got nothing but junk, but if you had just unsubbed like a smart person you could get 6 crates in that time and be that much closer to tier 3.

 

If its not retro-active it really makes playing the game at the moment seem pointless.

[AscendingSky]

Is this going to be retro-active?

 

It seems that anyone that has participated in the Galactic Command Grind over the last few months is getting a Jokes on you. You may have had to spend 3 hours for a rank and got nothing but junk, but if you had just unsubbed like a smart person you could get 6 crates in that time and be that much closer to tier 3.

 

If its not retro-active it really makes playing the game at the moment seem pointless.

 

EAWare rarely compensates anyone retroactively, for anything, EVER. I mean, remember all those lost days of game time after each of the first couple of KotFE chapters dropped and there were game-breaking bugs and super long unanounced server maintenance periods. Did we get even a day of free play time for all that? NOPE. Yet another example of how they have a terrible business model.

[Qwurdilu]

Hey folks,

 

In one of my previous posts I highlighted that beyond the changes we made in Game Update 5.1 that there are more coming. By Friday of this week I am going to make a forum post highlighting a roadmap of changes you can expect to address the feedback you have raised around gearing in Galactic Command. These changes will be starting in the next few weeks and will go through to Game Update 5.2. They are intended to address the following:

• Greatly increase the rate at which you earn Command Crates. Our goal is that you earn one Crate every 30 minutes, or less (on average).
  
• Looking at improvements we can make to Unassembled Components and Unassembled Pieces.
  
• Make gearing more alt-friendly.
  

That isn't a comprehensive list, but it gives you an idea of some of the things we are looking to address based on your feedback. Just in case I was quiet about Galactic Command for a few days I want you to know that we are listening and more changes are coming. Look for my post later this week!

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

a crate every 30min is too much. Thats every other warzone. We will be full 242 soon and then theres no incentive to keep playing. Have you forgotten about the massive player drop midway through 4.0 when everyone geared the 7th toon and had no incentive to keep playing?

 

Instead of changing the system you should run some education lessons on who to effectively gear. Its completely astounding how many players dont know what to do with voidmatter catalysts and how to get them in pvp.

 

You should also prove that the difference between gear after bolster is pretty small. Way too many keyboardturning superbads blame gear once they lose

[AscendingSky]

a crate every 30min is too much. Thats every other warzone. We will be full 242 soon and then theres no incentive to keep playing. Have you forgotten about the massive player drop midway through 4.0 when everyone geared the 7th toon and had no incentive to keep playing?

 

Instead of changing the system you should run some education lessons on who to effectively gear. Its completely astounding how many players dont know what to do with voidmatter catalysts and how to get them in pvp.

 

You should also prove that the difference between gear after bolster is pretty small. Way too many keyboardturning superbads blame gear once they lose

 

It feels like you're not even playing the same game we are.

 

Also, gearing being 'too easy' (whether or was or not is debatable) was not the issue for people dropping subs in 4.0. A lack of any end game content for years was one of them--though only one.

Edited January 31, 2017 by AscendingSky

[TrixxieTriss]

It feels like you're not even playing the same game we are.

 

Also, gearing being 'too easy' (whether or was or not is debatable) was not the issue for people dropping subs in 4.0. A lack of any end game content for years was one of them--though only one.

 

People have been saying this to him in the pvp section. But apparently his way is the best and only way:rolleyes:

[Tsillah]

a crate every 30min is too much. Thats every other warzone. We will be full 242 soon and then theres no incentive to keep playing. Have you forgotten about the massive player drop midway through 4.0 when everyone geared the 7th toon and had no incentive to keep playing?

 

Speak for yourself. I geared 28 characters in 4.0 but I will say that the biggest issue in 4.0 was the priority system. Aside from EV and KP HM dropping 224 gear in those weeks, it was also added on top of the regular loot table instead of replacing it, effectively giving double gear rewards. That was just too much.

 

All they should've done with the old ops is make EV and KP tougher and take away the priority system.

 

And before you say that not everybody wants to gear so many characters, there is the issue of content drought. That's the other side of it. We should've had more actual content released during 4.0 itself. The combination of not making gear too easy to get together plus releasing more interesting content would've been good.

 

It appears they got that message now but sadly BWA are like an oil tanker and it takes them ages to change direction.

[AscendingSky]

Speak for yourself. I geared 28 characters in 4.0 but I will say that the biggest issue in 4.0 was the priority system. Aside from EV and KP HM dropping 224 gear in those weeks, it was also added on top of the regular loot table instead of replacing it, effectively giving double gear rewards. That was just too much.

 

All they should've done with the old ops is make EV and KP tougher and take away the priority system.

 

And before you say that not everybody wants to gear so many characters, there is the issue of content drought. That's the other side of it. We should've had more actual content released during 4.0 itself. The combination of not making gear too easy to get together plus releasing more interesting content would've been good.

 

It appears they got that message now but sadly BWA are like an oil tanker and it takes them ages to change direction.

 

I will definitely agree having EV and KP in the priority weekly op rotation was a bad idea. Those ops are by far the easiest in the game; you shouldn't have been able to get NiM level gear out of them. And I can definitely see your point about the 224s being added to the regular 220 drops also potentially being a bad idea. At the time, though, I didn't mind it, because I thought it balanced out the fact that NiM operations DIDN'T DROP ANY GEAR AT ALL for like the longest time, for some boneheaded reason. So the priority op was the only way you could get 224s back then.

Edited January 31, 2017 by AscendingSky

[Lunafox]

Command rank needs to be legacy wide. Every time I log onto an alt and grind for tier 1 gear I feel I'm penalised for not playing my higher tier main.

 

This. This is precisely what I've been asking for and hoping for too. I feel bad for wanting to spend time on lower toons, cause I feel that I should be compelled to always grinding on the main toon, and frankly that gets dull.

 

The rank needs to be for every toon and every little thing you do on the alts should count toward raising it up. Much like the Legacy system itself was and still is.

[Storm-Cutter]

Too little - too late. If you unsubbed over this, and wait a few months, you get the better end of the deal if you re-join...

'Coz I bet there'll be no hand-out to some players who have ground out 100,200 or even 300 CXP ranks already.... and stayed through this fiasco.

 

Somehow this reminds me of the final scenes of 'The Italian Job'

 

"Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea,"

 

 

as the gold slips further and further down the danger end of the bus....Threatening to tip it over the edge of the cliff

 

[Glzmo]

You could un-nerf the CXP payout for elites, too.

Yeah. It needs to be increased considerably. At least as much so that expensive 10% bonus at least gives you some increase!

 

I also think that everything that would give you regular XP while levelling should give you at least 1 CXP point, including taking down regular mobs.

 

All quest payout needs to be increased alot as well, especially weekly quest payouts in all daily zones and heroics (20 CXP is just laughable for the quests, considering how much you get for relatively quick PVP/GSF matches). Plus it wouldn't hurt if the Ilum daily mission zone was restored to what it was before it was removed.

 

Crafting things should award CXP as well and there needs to be a way to receive 230-242 schematics by simply crafting or via crew missions and not just operations and PVP dailies/weeklies. Right now it's just mind boggling that as someone that is mainly a crafter needs to do combat stuff to gain CXP ranks so you can receive higher end schematics when you are mainly a crafter!

 

I'd also suggest that everything that drops from command crates and is currently bound should become bound on legacy, including Unassembled pieces. And CXP/levels should become legacy wide, too. I understand that there may have been issues to do the latter in time for 5.1, but 5.2 should be more than enough time to iron out these issues and set CXP to legacy wide. If not, hire some better coders (they could also implement/fix the long awaited chat bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote player chat option while they are at it).

Edited January 31, 2017 by Glzmo

[Biomild]

Just make Unassembled Components legacy bound, that would help gearing alts and gearing in general a lot. And increase the amount you get or decrease the amount you need. And also make them drop in other end game content as well.

[Voblat]

Create an 'event' that rewards people for creating 8 alts (not even counting the other 16 most long term players had at a minimum just to see all the stories and advanced classes).

 

Then, on the very day that event ends, instigate a system that actively punishes you for playing more than one toon

 

2 months later, tell me that in another 2 months, you might have a plan to do something about it.

 

And that is why I have cancelled my sub after being here from early access. Here is a hint, rng boxes will impede progress even if we are given a box a minute. They are the core problem, and any fix that does not remove them will not help stop the sub number freefall that is patently going on right now.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Voblat

[Torvai]

First of all: Thanks for the increased communication, Eric. I hope that this isn't just some new years resolution that fades the further we go into the year, so keep it up. Or even improve on it

 

Secondly: As I understood it, the goal with GC was to make gearing easier and reward high end gear no matter what one is doing in the game. Pretty much everyone likes the idea behind that.

But my impression with this is, that with all the changes you guys made to adjust the new system, you now created the most complex system the game has seen until now. Quite the contrary to what you tried to achieve.

So here's a proposition for the next expac(Since I hope you don't want to keep or even reset the system then, hopefully?).:

Take the pre 5.0 PvP Gearing System and comission it to the whole game. Done. Easiest it has ever been.

 

Meaning you introduce some kind of commodations again, that are earned through everything once you reach max level. Naturally a heroic quest will reward less than an Op or pvp, just like its now with cxp.

Once you have enough comms, you go to a vendor, buy the piece of gear from tier 1 that you want and farm additional comms. Once you have enough, you get back to the vendor and trade the tier 1 shell and additional comms against the tier 2 item. And so on, depending on how many tiers you want to introduce. And also, just like it was back before 5.0, introduce another vendor that sells single mods and enhancements for the very same comms so you can min-max all you want. And, for it to be alt-friendly, give us the possibility to transfer the comms to other chars. Or better yet, just like the command tokens now, make them legacy wide.

This way, all the goals you had with the GC are reached. You can do whatever you like, you can go for the pieces you want, it's easy to understand for everyone, it's alt friendly.

And you can even adjust for gearing speed with prices/comm drops/weekly caps.

[NRieh]

1 crate per 30 minutes?..

Let's say I'm playing the game (and not speed-grinding Fractured).

Let's say that my que time is down to zero (which is normally 5-15 minutes depending on luck and\or timing) I'm not sure such rates can even exist.

[Vinak]

Someday Bioware will actually ask us what we want in the game rather than building something and telling us to like it after the fact. Edited January 31, 2017 by Vinak

[RahaylaCora]

Does someone there at Bioware Austin measure how much time are you wasting and still going to waste on this gearing system that is far from exciting, doesn't reward players' game time, nobody asked and seems to cost you more subscriptions than retaining them? Yours is a stupid way of wasting resources, time and brains. The misleading is strong on you.

[ScottishDrunk]

Put the system back the way it was

 

Everyone liked it

 

No one asked for it to be changed

 

 

If you do keep GC (don't, its awful) use it as a replacement for priority ops

 

Only you guys want this system, your players don't

 

We play the game, you don't

Edited January 31, 2017 by ScottishDrunk

[stoopicus]

Does anyone know if augmenting an implant that you got from doing warzones will prevent you from turning it in for an upgraded piece later?

 

verified - augmented gear trades up just fine. At least mine did. You can also change set bonuses - I traded Weaponmaster up to War Leader, for example.

Edited January 31, 2017 by stoopicus

[Storm-Cutter]

First of all: Thanks for the increased communication, Eric. I hope that this isn't just some new years resolution that fades the further we go into the year, so keep it up. Or even improve on it

 

Secondly: As I understood it, the goal with GC was to make gearing easier and reward high end gear no matter what one is doing in the game. Pretty much everyone likes the idea behind that.

But my impression with this is, that with all the changes you guys made to adjust the new system, you now created the most complex system the game has seen until now. Quite the contrary to what you tried to achieve.

So here's a proposition for the next expac(Since I hope you don't want to keep or even reset the system then, hopefully?).:

Take the pre 5.0 PvP Gearing System and comission it to the whole game. Done. Easiest it has ever been.

 

Meaning you introduce some kind of commodations again, that are earned through everything once you reach max level. Naturally a heroic quest will reward less than an Op or pvp, just like its now with cxp.

Once you have enough comms, you go to a vendor, buy the piece of gear from tier 1 that you want and farm additional comms. Once you have enough, you get back to the vendor and trade the tier 1 shell and additional comms against the tier 2 item. And so on, depending on how many tiers you want to introduce. And also, just like it was back before 5.0, introduce another vendor that sells single mods and enhancements for the very same comms so you can min-max all you want. And, for it to be alt-friendly, give us the possibility to transfer the comms to other chars. Or better yet, just like the command tokens now, make them legacy wide.

This way, all the goals you had with the GC are reached. You can do whatever you like, you can go for the pieces you want, it's easy to understand for everyone, it's alt friendly.

And you can even adjust for gearing speed with prices/comm drops/weekly caps.

 

Yup. This was pretty much the simplest form of gearing. - And alt friendly and you can adjust the accrual rate by raising the price of items or reducing the payout after the activity. - Keep it simple, stupid!

 

I had a half dozen characters in top pvp gear. before 5.0 . Now just the single one with tier1 set and 110 CMD Ranks. - see the difference....?

 

Quite why you have to buy an unassembled piece with three currencies ( previous tier, + two types of tokens) is beyond me. Then trade the unassembled piece for an assembled piece - another step altogether. SMH

 

IF you kept the tiers close together, so top tier isn't much advantage over basic, and fix bolster ( pfft!) and make the grind worthwhile- in other desirable stuff to collect, not junk to disintegrate, job done.

[Genada]

What a joke.

 

Go back to the old system. Why do you insist on putting in a system that is clearly hated by the players? Admit you made a mistake, restore the old system and move on. Really it's not that hard to do.

 

You people are like the morons that did New Coke, the main thing different between you and them is they didn't insist the customers were wrong and refuse to restore the old Coke. They quickly learned and reverted the changes they made. How in the world can you people be this dense?

[Rutigkille]

Well, I would like to see the "gear pieces" dropped from the command crates, being converted into (preferred amount) unassembled tokens and make these legacy wide. With this change you remove the RNG pretty much, and you can work towards what you want, for wich alt you want, and without being worried about the next Gear drop being the exact same you just bought.

 

I do like the Galactic Command system, and want it to stay. For me who likes both raiding, warzones and Gsf its lovely to do whatever Group content I want to do, whenever I want and still feel that its awarding.

[stoopicus]

In addition to components in crates, I want a fistful of them per warzone.

 

For a minimum baseline to even consider, start at one unassembled component per regs warzone medal. Give a bonus multiplier for winning but smaller than it is now - say 1.5x instead of 2.5x.

 

Cap it pre-multiplier if you want, but cap it much higher than 8. Like 16 minimum.

 

Figuring 10-15 medals average per match for people actually playing to win, this would be roughly 3x to 5x the current rate, which feels right to me.

 

Then also add them to the weekly and daily crates, and the CXP crates, as the previous poster mentioned.

Edited January 31, 2017 by stoopicus

[Wayshuba]

What a joke.

 

Go back to the old system. Why do you insist on putting in a system that is clearly hated by the players? Admit you made a mistake, restore the old system and move on. Really it's not that hard to do.

 

You people are like the morons that did New Coke, the main thing different between you and them is they didn't insist the customers were wrong and refuse to restore the old Coke. They quickly learned and reverted the changes they made. How in the world can you people be this dense?

 

You last line is a good question - what would make a business intentionally do things to upset paying customers.

 

Some food for thought (and this is complete speculation on my part):

 

What if the rumors of Visceral working on a new SW MMO are true? Set in the First Order (or slightly thereafter) order? If it were true, would make sense to use this game to see just how much EA can get away with in a new title when it comes to EAs beloved RNG crates. So blow this one up in an experiment to see the optimal balance in the new one.

 

Thing is, how many people burned by EA on SWTOR are even going to give EA another chance if that is the case?

 

If this is not the case, there isn't a single reason for doing this at all that makes any form of common business sense. I cannot fathom why a business would go out of its way to intentionally upset so many paying customers. Either it is an experiment or somebody in EA has an awfully big undeserved ego to let let go of this train wreck. Nothing else makes an sense.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Wayshuba

[Screaming_Ziva]

These changes will be starting in the next few weeks and will go through to Game Update 5.2. They are intended to address the following:

• Greatly increase the rate at which you earn Command Crates. Our goal is that you earn one Crate every 30 minutes, or less (on average).

I still don't see how this is going to be possible. As things are right now, aren't we supposed to be averaging one crate every hour according to them? Is anyone even currently earning one crate an hour without farming Fractured with a premade group of 4?