Gearing Changes in 5.1.1 and 5.1.2

[HelinCarnate]

Ok so changing to additive and having +250%. So normal rewards would be say 1000 the new reward would be 3500? 100% +250%=350% Am I following this correctly?

[Velgar]

• Our goal is to really encourage players to play multiple types of content for the best rewards. We want to encourage playing a diverse set of content, not a singular activity (although you can always still do that if you prefer)

[*]The PvP Daily and Weekly Missions now reward a batch of Unassembled Components.

• This is one of the changes we are making to help players in getting Unassembled Components faster. It also incentivizes dabbling into PvP often.

 

The originally stated goal was to reward people for playing what they enjoy and want to play. Now that has morphed to herding people into content that you want them to play for whatever reason that might help your metrics. I am not going to start pvping just because you want me to. I have done pvp in various games, including this one, I detest it. Trying to bait me back into it just annoys me. The same goes for OPs, done a lot of raiding in my time in various MMOs, including this one. I am tired of it, not fun anymore. Your bait does not change that, it just annoys me.

[louisfriend]

also. as another idea/feedback.

 

if we're going to be netting a cmd crate every 30 minutes or less. Is it possible to bump up the default stash/storage of the cmd stash

 

even at current levels, I horde a little too much in my cmd stash, and often worry about going over the limit. mainly it's schematics, i need to dbl check if i have already, and don't want to waste the time dbl checking it so often.

[Bidli]

Goooood.. Gooood.

 

Like these changes. Keep the good work. Make SWTOR a better and more enjoyable game

[OasisKid]

Seems very friendly for PVPers. That said can you please not kill what is left of the people who enjoy raiding.... Why not put loot back in operations for the people who raid two nights a week.... Seriously you may have screwed up with "highlighted" HM operations but please I implore you.... Every Operation from EC on to TOS SM HM or NIM should drop a piece of gear.... REALLY you are killing the game for those who don't have 1000+ hours a week.... Make Operations more worth while with gear pieces

[louisfriend]

Ok so changing to additive and having +250%. So normal rewards would be say 1000 the new reward would be 3500? 100% +250%=350% Am I following this correctly?

 

 

it depends.

 

the 100% is references as the static, default amt.

 

so.. if you did something. and it paid out 1000 cxp. that's the 100% If your cxp boost equation was. 100% + 250% event bonus. then you'd be at 2500 or 250% of normal. now... if you had 100%-base + 250% event + 100% boost thinige. then you'd be at net gain of 350% of "bonus" so... 3500 total cxp.

 

or in a more game centric sense/example every time you do a warzone, you're likely to ding a lvl. (as 1k cxp from a warzone... isn't that uncommon) if it's base +event+ boost+ whatever extra (dvl bonus etc) OR probably similarly. every fractured run will be at cmd rank. ...or at least that's what i'm curious to see if is possible, as that will be *******. dinging a cmd rank every 8 minutes or so.

 

etc

Edited February 3, 2017 by louisfriend

[DHTarez]

Remind me again in which previous expansion top tier gear dropped from things other than Nim bosses?

How far back do you want to go?

In 1.2, hard mode Lost Island final boss dropped the Rakata chest piece (set bonus top tier). So there is a place a non-operation non-nightmare boss dropped top tier gear.

Edited February 3, 2017 by DHTarez

[RswanBing]

"Flashpoint CXP rewards are also below where we would like them be to and so we have added a much larger CXP bonus for completing their respective Missions."

 

So rewards where below where you would like them to be. Hum... That's a strange way to put things, and a little bit dishonest. Cxp rewards were at the level you WANTED and CHOOSED when you released 5.0, I don't remember that it was another team working, you were already in charge, if you made such little rewards it was because you wanted them this way.

 

It's a good thing you started listening players and reacting, but just assume your past decisions please. You are fixing your mistakes, not making basic adjustement you wanted to make at first, as you're trying to make it sound now. You're changing EVERYTHING in your gearing system, he already doesn't look like what it was in 5.0 and you dare calling these things "adjustements".

 

Hypocrisy at his best, nothing has changed.

Edited February 3, 2017 by RswanBing

[casirabit]

In this set of changes, not yet. We are still looking into Crate contents to see where changes should be made. It would be a much more substantial change from our side to update the contents and so although we are definitely open to doing so, we wanted to take these steps first.

 

-eric

 

Eric,

 

I would suggest having the gear drop better and have set gear drop a bit more instead of the jawa junk and the orange gear (to be honest 90% of that gear is not very good). I would suggest this so people can actually get what they need instead. I do like the fact you are making it bind on legacy which means we can share it with our alts.

 

I would also look at doing this sooner than April.

Edited February 3, 2017 by casirabit

[Sargrith]

4.0 is a poor example to use.

 

They jumped the shark in 4.0 with their free fall approach to gaining high end gear. Which does not justify the state of GC/Cxp right now.... just that it was just a bad a move as GC in 5.0 has been, though in the opposite extreme.

 

Well my answer still covers his question fully and truthfully. I wasn't commenting on whether it was good or bad just that it did indeed include a method to get top end gear not related to doing NiM mode ops.

 

What I want, is to get the gear from what I am doing to be able to do the next level of activity. Maybe put it this way, If I am running HM FPs it would be great if the gear I got had me ready for SM Ops. When I run SM Ops I will get the gear I need for HM Ops and so on. That method has to be somewhat reliable. Not I have two people with command rank 55 and one has 8 set pieces all different (6 tank and 2 dps) and the other guy has 3 and worse yet all helms.....

 

And these command tokens....they are an abomination. Get them out of anything to do with turning UA and UC into gear.

 

They seem so unrelenting on altering RNG.....sometimes I really do wonder why the deathgrip on it so tightly.

[Talon_strikes]

Yeah... the idea of incentivizing one form of content over another in todays MMOs is generally a bad idea. They really should have learned this by now.... and in some cases they appear to have figured it out... yet they keep going overboard... particularly with respect to PvP... .. probably to try to squelch much of the ongoing complaints that generally always come from avid PvPers.

 

What they should be doing is creating a balanced incentive across all content, such that players play what they like, rather then grind on what they don't like. And I use the term "grind" here deliberately... because in general, players playing what they like and have fun doing does not devolve to feeling like a grind, but feeling forced by incentives to do content the player does not feel is fun IS in fact the basis of feelings of weariness over "the grind".

Nice cognitive bias there about PvP'ers.

 

You do realize PvP'ers have been the playerbase that has been catered to the least (possibly a close-second to RP'ers)?

[Sargrith]

How far back do you want to go?

In 1.2, hard mode Lost Island final boss dropped the Rakata chest piece (set bonus top tier). So there is a place a non-operation non-nightmare boss dropped top tier gear.

 

 

So true...but Lost Isle was a nightmare back then.....curse you EL for making me run it a million times....curse you and of course thank you for it because it was such a blast and such a challenge back then.

[menofhorror]

Good changes. Perhaps I'll resubscribe in April with 5.2

[Czajja]

I really dont know why ppl are surprised that they will not fix it, these are the same ppl who said that NiM ops shouldnt drop top tier gear but HMs should:cool:

[Toraak]

Eric, I see in your post your looking to increase the number of Unassembled components in ranked, and non ranked PvP matches. Does this include GSF as well, since GSF has the same number per match as ranked warzones?

[Paratusin]

You said that we gain 1 command level aprox every 30 mins, but I've noticed that pvp players tend to get far less cxp than pve players. is this 30min time only for pve players? or are pvp players supposed to be included in this? also, on my server (harbinger) rep side losses aprox 80% of the time. taking these pieces of info into account, how long do you think it will take, average, to earn 1 command level as a pvp player? Edited February 3, 2017 by Paratusin

[jedcjedcjedc]

All these changes and people still complain about everything. It just goes to show people will complain about everything. Hand them t3 242's to every alt on their acct and they'll find something to complain about. the system is fine it just needs a few slight tweaks.

Yeah... the idea of incentivizing one form of content over another in todays MMOs is generally a bad idea. They really should have learned this by now.... and in some cases they appear to have figured it out... yet they keep going overboard... particularly with respect to PvP... .. probably to try to squelch much of the ongoing complaints that generally always come from avid PvPers.

 

What they should be doing is creating a balanced incentive across all content, such that players play what they like, rather then grind on what they don't like. And I use the term "grind" here deliberately... because in general, players playing what they like and have fun doing does not devolve to feeling like a grind, but feeling forced by incentives to do content the player does not feel is fun IS in fact the basis of feelings of weariness over "the grind".

wait what? there are actually some people who believe PvP is more incentivized than PvE? Let me know when they change the gear pieces in Ops to 5 components, and if your team wipes you only get 1-2 components. Oh and also, you need about 200 of those for one piece of gear. Then you can speak to me about PvP being more incentivized than PvE

 

@EricMusco most of the system is fine now, but we still need a few more things. gear items drop in crates that don't seem to be able to be bought from the gear vendors such as some of the different kinds of relics. The RNG is fine because you have a method of getting the gear you need through the vendors while you are getting extra things through the GC crates. If you have some items that are not included in the vendors though, it is left completely up to the RNG, and given that they are the new rare gold border items, they are very hard to find drops.

 

Another thing we need is a 242 mods/enhancement vendor. For example, say our 242's have power and crit, but we want to gear for alacrity and crit, we don't seem to have a method to do that currently. Naturally you don't want people skipping the process and just buying 242's to put in their 208 gear, so one thing you could do is make the pieces from that vendor require a certain gear level to use so they can only be put into t3 pieces.

[Wildtee]

The PvP Daily and Weekly Missions now reward a batch of Unassembled Components.

 

Will this include GSF?

Edited February 3, 2017 by Wildtee

[PlasmaJohn]

STO may be fun if you like space missions. Though there are planet missions where you can take 4 of your crew members most of the missions I ever got was space. I hate space so I stopped playing STO because of that.

I like space a lot and STO was attractive for many reasons. But like I pointed out they just laid off a bunch of folks including one of their very active community managers. After Wildstar's team got gutted layoffs are a giant red flag for me. I'll keep my eye on it but for now I'm keeping my distance.

 

I may still look into EVE but from what I can tell there's sod-all for group PvE and 90% of the game is a massive Lord of the Files simulation (sandbox pvp).

 

I almost always have 2 or 3 MMOs in my play rotation at any given time. I will mainly play one, and play the other ones as change of pace and to mitigate burn-out on any given MMO, or if I find I am becoming frustrated with my main MMO.

I only have enough attention for one at a time.

 

The real challenge for other MMO choices is that for many players, SWTOR is still a strong preference for the IP, the approach to story, the smooth leveling experience through all classes. Honestly, I have yet to find one since SWTOR launched that would make me put it on "alternate status" in my play. And over the years, it is not uncommon to see returning players comment in the forum that they have a much better appreciation for SWTOR after taking a break for a while.

Part of why I wound up back here was because of the streamlined levelling and 4.0 roughly solved the issues of grouped play with mixed levels. While functionally the same, 5.0 kinda broke that feeling. Playing a levelling alt now feels like I'm gimping my main and the other 70's I'm a little more serious about.

 

That said.... SWTOR is NOT the go-to MMO in my view if PvP and/or Raiding is the only thing you really like to do. But I do not believe either of these content segments represent a "majority interest" in the player base.

The only majority (according to WoW analytics) is that most players at least dabble in multiple interests.

 

Ignoring the group content drought, 4.0 SW:TOR was "good enough". I tend to be hardcore on time spent but casual on difficulty. What I look for now is a good social experience. I still have that here but the studio's fumbling around is making things a bit tenuous.

[Hierodule]

In this set of changes, not yet. We are still looking into Crate contents to see where changes should be made. It would be a much more substantial change from our side to update the contents and so although we are definitely open to doing so, we wanted to take these steps first.

 

-eric

 

I put this in suggestions but can you send reputation tokens only for Organizations you haven't maxed? Or select an Organization? or bias towards unfinished Orgs?

 

(I'd like to finish the Space Mission Rep)

[Psychopyro]

I appreciate you taking the time to come and explain this and lay it out for us. The leveling changes may be ok. I assume the cap is still going to be in place to keep people from pushing T3 and also allow alts and new 70s to stay on a semi-level playing field?

 

I am still concerned about the massive randomness of the crates. I understand, but at the same time, some of us are having really REALLY bad luck with this thing. Do you guys have like a hidden luck stat or something. OK bad joke... Still, to tell you just how bad my luck is, I'm CR 60 now, 2 set pieces (plus 1 MH and Relic), and wanting to pull my hair out. I've been in multiple raids and the RNG hates me there too. 3 of those runs had 6 pieces total drop, myself and one other person got the short end of the stick each time...

 

My other concern is PvP... With the cap in place to getting gear, I'm a bit concerned with the bolster problem. Getting screwed cause of gear, not fun. Especially with some of the unnoted changed *cough* shadow DR nerf *cough*, and not having any changes to the blatantly OP of some other classes.

[jedcjedcjedc]

I appreciate you taking the time to come and explain this and lay it out for us. The leveling changes may be ok. I assume the cap is still going to be in place to keep people from pushing T3 and also allow alts and new 70s to stay on a semi-level playing field?

 

I am still concerned about the massive randomness of the crates. I understand, but at the same time, some of us are having really REALLY bad luck with this thing. Do you guys have like a hidden luck stat or something. OK bad joke... Still, to tell you just how bad my luck is, I'm CR 60 now, 2 set pieces (plus 1 MH and Relic), and wanting to pull my hair out. I've been in multiple raids and the RNG hates me there too. 3 of those runs had 6 pieces total drop, myself and one other person got the short end of the stick each time...

 

My other concern is PvP... With the cap in place to getting gear, I'm a bit concerned with the bolster problem. Getting screwed cause of gear, not fun. Especially with some of the unnoted changed *cough* shadow DR nerf *cough*, and not having any changes to the blatantly OP of some other classes.

I am rank 102 atm and have also only got 2 pieces, but just recently got my third, a t2 relic. (not the relic I wanted to use, but that is one of the points I mentioned in my previous post). However I also Have turned the two pieces I got in t1 to t3 pants and a t2 working on t3 belt. just keep upgrading the pieces you have and you'll more than likely find another before you get everything to t3

[Gwena]

As a primarily solo player that enjoys story and PvE, my main beef with the CXP system is how painfully slow progress is (doing chapters, star fortress/FP's, and heroics). I also like alts, so overall the system is discouraging to me as-is. So consider me mollified by these incoming changes!

 

Now, I am by no means a fan of RNG gearing, but don't think I'll mind much if it is sped up. I can definitely see how it irritates the heck out of some folks though, so I hope you do something more to appease them as well.

 

In regards to the crate contents, I think they need some changes. I won't discuss the issue of statted gear (as I feel others can do a better job of that), but the "fluff" needs some work too. Some suggestions:

 

1. Have cosmetic armor drop in upper, lower, and supplementary boxes instead of as individual pieces. Perhaps even consider dropping some of them as rares in full set boxes. A partial or complete set is more exciting (and, often, useable) than just getting, say, gloves or a belt.

2. Add more cosmetic items. The current variety is lacking. Focus on additions to the top tier as players will ultimately get the most crates from that due to the rank cap.

3. Consider adding full (boxed) legacy armor sets as rare tier 3 drops.

 

Thanks for the communication, and I hope you will consider my suggestions as well as the many other good ideas in this thread.

[Sargrith]

Will this include GSF?

 

I hope not.....

[Psychopyro]

I like space a lot and STO was attractive for many reasons. But like I pointed out they just laid off a bunch of folks including one of their very active community managers.

No they didn't, he was promoted. He oversees all US communities now. He was just trying to juggle that with STO and it was getting to be to much...

 

 

The only majority (according to WoW analytics) is that most players at least dabble in multiple interests..

 

It's like this for most games. While I can't talk to specifics about what was seen in SWG and EQ2, I can at least attest to the fact that while a good bit did dabble, the fall off after dabbling was pretty dramatic. The hardest part of balancing any content is keeping your base engaged while trying to make it bigger. Even WoW could probably attest to that part.