Gearing Changes in 5.1.1 and 5.1.2

[GENXPS]

This Is so sad Eric I can fix this bs in a sec old system back in game but keep GC for the solo players and that will also make us mmo players a little easier gearing for us

[MeNaCe-NZ]

So, here's the rub. With the boost in CXP gains, you will reach GC rank 300 faster. However, you still have the same % chance of getting anything from a crate. So, when you hit GC rank 300, you will look at your gear and most likely will have less than a full set of tier 3 gear given most people's experiences. At that point, the character is subject to completing their set via the alternative gearing system, which is extremely tedious.

 

In other words, if the WHOLE POINT of Galactic Command was to provide a path to top-end gear, simply increasing CXP isn't solving the problem.

 

Then later, you'll probably change the drop rates in the crates, but by then many people will have already achieved GC rank 300 on their main characters, which makes the change in the drop rates pointless for those characters.

 

So, in this regard, it would almost be better to not gain GXP until the drop rates from the crates are adjusted (or the RNG is removed completely), AND THEN start leveling in GC rank. So how does one not gain GXP? Well, either play a non-level 70 character or simply cancel one's subscription until the drop rates in the crates are drastically changed or RNG completely removed.

 

If they get the PVP unassembled component part much better then that is your path to getting the gear pieces you are missing. Currently it's almost a more ridiculous grind than GC itself is so it will be interesting to see if this improves to a more reasonable rate.

 

Operations are still a sticking point because if you want missing gear from that that you need you ideally need to focus on beating a boss you might not be able to beat. This still needs addressing.

 

If you don't do either ... who cares? You will get the pieces when you get them from GC, you don't need them.

[Edyn]

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.

 

I'm one of these people who won't do content they don't want to do, especially when the reward is to gamble with a *********** crate. Funny thing is I rarely get CXP because, you know what? What I like to play in the game isn't even on the list of things that give CXP, and that's vanilla Class stories and planetary side-missions. None of these things are repeatable like the KOTFE/ET Chapters and thus won't award CXP (unless you blast to 70 first and then do them, but still it's a one-time completion.) The only time I participate in GC is whenever the husb wants to do something with my main, be it Flashpoints, heroics, etc. We used to do OPs, but not lately, and we tried all the original Uprisings and two of the new ones, but didn't find them nearly as fun as Flashpoints.

 

Interestingly enough, I don't raid anymore and I don't like to PvP, yet the GC system still has me miffed and taken away something I had before. Before 4.0, I was able to do the above mentioned activities, receive some Common Data Crystals, buy Companion Gifts and level my Companions so that they'd be more proficient in the FP's and Heroics I might be doing with the husb. Unfortunately, even now, I can't do that. First I have to hope a Companion Gift drops from a Command Crate, and then if one drops, I have to hope it's the right Companion Gift I'm currently looking for. Also, the Companion Gifts aren't even the highest tier, which is what I could buy before with Common Data Crystals. People are complaining about getting Companion Gifts when they don't want them? Well, here's the person who wants them and rarely gets them (in the only 18 or so crates I've managed to receive since 5.0 went live). This is precisely why I don't want to invest my time to gamble for what I want (GC) and would rather buy what I worked for (token system). If we were still on the token system, at least I can say I would have bought 18 top tier Companion Gifts with my time rather than simply received 18 crates of dog **** I never wanted.

 

The GC system is not more simple than a token system, nor is does it benefit the player (raider, PvPer, PvEer, solo) in any way. Anyone with half a brain can see this. With BW spewing this rhetoric that it's more, "simple" and, "exciting" means that they either had no idea what they were doing when they came up with this idea and have no idea why it wasn't received, or... they knew exactly what they were doing and thought their customers were stupid enough to buy into their Thrill of the Hunt™ propaganda, and thus drag out subscriptions, or... they're intentionally trying to run subscribers off for whatever reason.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Edyn

[AdjeYo]

All sorc's should be deleted

All Pt's should be deleted

 

They already pretty much did that with 5.0, didn't they?

[Decidion]

Working? I don't think there is any change they can make if you view a game like that. Time for you to actually go find something fun to do.

 

Sure, just because I don't view it the same way you do doesn't mean it can't be fun again. Learn to be less critical of others...unless thats what you see as "fun".

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Sure, just because I don't view it the same way you do doesn't mean it can't be fun again. Learn to be less critical of others...unless thats what you see as "fun".

 

Well how can changing GC make the game not work? You are implying you are finding the activities you partaking in more like "work" than actual fun.

 

That means you're either purely focusing on getting gear doing things you don't find fun ( for some odd reason, you know you don't have to get the gear right? ) or you find nothing fun.

 

Changing GC isn't going to help with the later.

[Moralist]

I agree with others who wrote about what you need quality, not quantity.

 

I have few questions. What i can do with 234 and 240 gear, it can't be upgraded with Unassembled components, so thats useless Tier. And if that's useless, why it drops in CXP crates? for what drops 228/232/238 green, 230/234/240 blue, 234/240 violet with set bonuses? For what drops reputation, i'm no need repitation in crates like other players, if I 'll need reputation i'll go to dailies. Gifts, who need gifts? 5 grade violet, i can buy it for 10k from vendor on fleet. Orange 6 grade gifts? you had problem with math? Before 5.0 it costs 30 green crystal(10 green crystals for 5 grade violet) 3:1 and now it costs 250k, 25:1. And it's normal? I think not. And after all these words main question, for what crates drops all that trash? more than 90% of it would be desintegrated, and maybe on first levels it could help with gaining CXP when you need 2000-2500 cxp for ll, but after 200 when you need 4500 cxp or more desintegrated trash is only drop in the sea. Desintegrate trash for more crates for more desintegrating, nice.

 

And how about class balance, I played sorc/sage alll the time, it's my favourite class and i don't wanna reroll to another. In PvE i can't do DMG as other classes in any discipline, I can only heal, but I don't like it. On WZs sorc DPS is easy target. And now words about class balance like usually you do after rebalance on major updates. Nice job, BW. First time i'm thinking to abandon my subscription.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Moralist

[DariusCalera]

I'm sorry Eric but I feel that your development team approached the issue from the wrong direction and that this shows a very large disconnect between your team and the players.

 

Most of the changes that the development team has made have been centered on the speed at which command crates are rewarded. Either by decreasing the cxp reward from mobs to the current plan to greatly increase cxp gains but these do not address the biggest issue for the players which is the actual content of those chests.

 

It's fine if these cxp gains allow someone to speed rush to a galactic command level of 180 but if that player gets very little, if any, useful gear out of those boxes then they aren't going to be a player for very long.

 

By the time I reached GC level 180 I had 5 duplicate belts and 2 duplicate legs. I could have been given all 180 crates from the very beginning and I still would have cancelled my sub if I had gotten those items.

 

The first issue addressed should not have been the speed of the cxp gain but the content of the boxes.

Edited February 4, 2017 by DariusCalera

[MishaCantu]

I'm one of these people who won't do content they don't want to do, especially when the reward is to gamble with a *********** crate. Funny thing is I rarely get CXP because, you know what? What I like to play in the game isn't even on the list of things that give CXP, and that's vanilla Class stories and planetary side-missions. None of these things are repeatable like the KOTFE/ET Chapters and thus won't award CXP (unless you blast to 70 first and then do them, but still it's a one-time completion.) The only time I participate in GC is whenever the husb wants to do something with my main, be it Flashpoints, heroics, etc. We used to do OPs, but not lately, and we tried all the original Uprisings and two of the new ones, but didn't find them nearly as fun as Flashpoints.

 

Interestingly enough, I don't raid anymore and I don't like to PvP, yet the GC system still has me miffed and taken away something I had before. Before 4.0, I was able to do the above mentioned activities, receive some Common Data Crystals, buy Companion Gifts and level my Companions so that they'd be more proficient in the FP's and Heroics I might be doing with the husb. Unfortunately, even now, I can't do that. First I have to hope a Companion Gift drops from a Command Crate, and then if one drops, I have to hope it's the right Companion Gift I'm currently looking for. Also, the Companion Gifts aren't even the highest tier, which is what I could buy before with Common Data Crystals. People are complaining about getting Companion Gifts when they don't want them? Well, here's the person who wants them and rarely gets them (in the only 18 or so crates I've managed to receive since 5.0 went live). This is precisely why I don't want to invest my time to gamble for what I want (GC) and would rather buy what I worked for (token system). If we were still on the token system, at least I can say I would have bought 18 top tier Companion Gifts with my time rather than simply received 18 crates of dog **** I never wanted.

 

The GC system is not more simple than a token system, nor is does it benefit the player (raider, PvPer, PvEer, solo) in any way. Anyone with half a brain can see this. With BW spewing this rhetoric that it's more, "simple" and, "exciting" means that they either had no idea what they were doing when they came up with this idea and have no idea why it wasn't received, or... they knew exactly what they were doing and thought their customers were stupid enough to buy into their Thrill of the Hunt™ propaganda, and thus drag out subscriptions, or... they're intentionally trying to run subscribers off for whatever reason.

 

Well said. I much preferred the crystals also, as a non raider, I never needed the set bonuses and such, 216 or 220 augmented was fine for what I wanted to do, plus the added bonus of buying companion gifts. I would rather they had left it alone, let the raiders get the top gear, as it should be, let the pvp people get what they need, and leave the rest of us alone to get gear that was more than sufficient for what we wanted to do. Clutching at straws has not served BW well with all these changes.

[NikSunrider]

In the current plan we are not increasing the Unassembled Component gains for GSF.

 

-eric

 

Eric, I am not sure this is the best of ideas. I understand there was a lot of discontent at the higher level of components awarded in GSF, but this very fact has also increased participation rates. Throughout 3.0 and 4.0, I seldom got 12v12 games -- and now I am getting a couple per day!

 

GSF IS challenging content, further to that, GSF is content that isn't beset by the same isues as ground PVP - wherein you actually have to contribute to get your rewards (no medals, no rewards, and medals are hard to get) and is definitely harder to wintrade, unlike ranked.

 

I will be the first to say that warzones need a boost in unassembled component game, as it stands now it takes on average 1940 to get enough for a full t3 set, however when you scale it up, please consider scaling up GSF as well.

 

GSF was the one thing that kept me subscribed in the two years we had no new ops or incling of such.

[omaan]

At this point, it is painfully obvious what Bioware's plan is. They are extending Galactic Command and slowly increasing the speed for players to reach a level that they won't feel too far behind the curve and quit. It's pretty common to plan the life-cycle of a release and increase the speed of rewards in relation to the next release. The 250% event ends when they plan on introducing new tiers. Speed everyone up to tier 3 and then drop tiers 4 and 5 on them.

 

In other words, move the carrot a little closer to entice the players to speed up and move it out again. Enjoy the treadmill of more tiers!

Totally agreed, my thoughts are the same. I think this trick will drive off all players who are still subbing.. especially this will harm the new players who comes to this game or old players who because of some reasons will miss the event, those players will abandon swtor as soon as they understand the whole grinding system. New tiers will be a huge mistake

[GrandLordMenace]

Fair enough, I am glad you asked the question! This way I could make sure it was clear on how it worked. Good choice in smiley

 

-eric

 

Regarding the changes, will the operations CXP packs be buffed down the road in 5.1.2, or are we safe to spend them in 5.1.1?

[gaelyoh]

Eric, I am not sure this is the best of ideas. I understand there was a lot of discontent at the higher level of components awarded in GSF, but this very fact has also increased participation rates. Throughout 3.0 and 4.0, I seldom got 12v12 games -- and now I am getting a couple per day!

 

GSF IS challenging content, further to that, GSF is content that isn't beset by the same isues as ground PVP - wherein you actually have to contribute to get your rewards (no medals, no rewards, and medals are hard to get) and is definitely harder to wintrade, unlike ranked.

 

I will be the first to say that warzones need a boost in unassembled component game, as it stands now it takes on average 1940 to get enough for a full t3 set, however when you scale it up, please consider scaling up GSF as well.

 

GSF was the one thing that kept me subscribed in the two years we had no new ops or incling of such.

 

In the current plan we are not increasing the Unassembled Component gains for GSF.

 

-eric

 

As an avid gsf pilot this is a huge cause for concern.... by choosing not to bring the amount of UC earned from gsf to the same levels as gpvp, you are essentially killing the community once again... Simply because there isn't enough incentive left to do gsf at all (take into consideration that pops generally takes longer than that of gpvp and that they are less frequent, matches in general are also longer than that of gpvp).

Edited February 3, 2017 by gaelyoh

[Divona]

Nothing in this addresses RNG gear or the quality of the boxes Eric...

 

This.

 

Faster boxes but elephant in the room stays the same. No thanks will invest my time elsewhere other games soon.

[ScottishDrunk]

You've still ignored most of you players and made a huge C-nut of the game.

 

You've had you last sub payment from me

 

I'm sick of giving you reasons why

You know why

Many many players have told you why

 

You are now clearly choosing to ignore us

 

I loved your game

 

But you've ruined it for me,

 

I wish you nothing but ill fortune

Edited February 3, 2017 by ScottishDrunk

[Kyuuu]

All the changes, yet the RNG crates 3month later still not fixed, There need to be some guarantee of set peices being droped.

[Qwurdilu]

All CXP Packs that you earn from drops and Missions are now Bind on Legacy.

 

can we please get cxp packs from warzones then? Otherwise i still see no change for pvp players who want to twink

[Kyuuu]

BW forcing people to do PVP when they dont want to just to get unassembled components is crapy way of padding your numbers to say people do pvp.

 

Now we have even more idiots in pvp cause they have no choice if they want those unassembled components.

 

I might like that pvp pops more but i hate playing it lately do to stupid in it now that dont care.,

[MeNaCe-NZ]

All the changes, yet the RNG crates 3month later still not fixed, There need to be some guarantee of set peices being droped.

 

Why? We never got guaranteed set pieces prior to 5.0 why on earth would we get them now?

 

What needs to happen is set pieces need to drop on EVERY operation boss ( random is fine ) and then it won't matter if you get RNG gear drops on the GC packs anymore.

 

That leaves PVP and they are adjusting the component drop rate - will it be enough though to actually make it viable?

Wait and see.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

BW forcing people to do PVP when they dont want to just to get unassembled components is crapy way of padding your numbers to say people do pvp.

 

Now we have even more idiots in pvp cause they have no choice if they want those unassembled components.

 

I might like that pvp pops more but i hate playing it lately do to stupid in it now that dont care.,

 

Sheesh now you're complaining about having too many people in PVP because they aren't good enough players? Seriously what the hell ... people will actually complain about anything now won't they?

 

Big issues heh.

[Kurj]

BW forcing people to do PVP when they dont want to just to get unassembled components is crapy way of padding your numbers to say people do pvp.

 

Now we have even more idiots in pvp cause they have no choice if they want those unassembled components.

 

I might like that pvp pops more but i hate playing it lately do to stupid in it now that dont care.,

 

I totally understand where you are coming from. I'm torn between being happy more people are PVPing and being frustrated for exactly the reasons you said. PVP has a steep initial learning curve, and if you don't really want to do it, it shows. The only thing we can do is offer to help newcomers and hope that they listen. That and try to shout at the wall instead of taking it out on them in game. All that does is drive people away.

[Deewe]

I'm one of these people who won't do content they don't want to do, especially when the reward is to gamble with a *********** crate. Funny thing is I rarely get CXP because, you know what? What I like to play in the game isn't even on the list of things that give CXP, and that's vanilla Class stories and planetary side-missions. None of these things are repeatable like the KOTFE/ET Chapters and thus won't award CXP (unless you blast to 70 first and then do them, but still it's a one-time completion.) The only time I participate in GC is whenever the husb wants to do something with my main, be it Flashpoints, heroics, etc. We used to do OPs, but not lately, and we tried all the original Uprisings and two of the new ones, but didn't find them nearly as fun as Flashpoints.

 

Interestingly enough, I don't raid anymore and I don't like to PvP, yet the GC system still has me miffed and taken away something I had before. Before 4.0, I was able to do the above mentioned activities, receive some Common Data Crystals, buy Companion Gifts and level my Companions so that they'd be more proficient in the FP's and Heroics I might be doing with the husb. Unfortunately, even now, I can't do that. First I have to hope a Companion Gift drops from a Command Crate, and then if one drops, I have to hope it's the right Companion Gift I'm currently looking for. Also, the Companion Gifts aren't even the highest tier, which is what I could buy before with Common Data Crystals. People are complaining about getting Companion Gifts when they don't want them? Well, here's the person who wants them and rarely gets them (in the only 18 or so crates I've managed to receive since 5.0 went live). This is precisely why I don't want to invest my time to gamble for what I want (GC) and would rather buy what I worked for (token system). If we were still on the token system, at least I can say I would have bought 18 top tier Companion Gifts with my time rather than simply received 18 crates of dog **** I never wanted.

 

The GC system is not more simple than a token system, nor is does it benefit the player (raider, PvPer, PvEer, solo) in any way. Anyone with half a brain can see this. With BW spewing this rhetoric that it's more, "simple" and, "exciting" means that they either had no idea what they were doing when they came up with this idea and have no idea why it wasn't received, or... they knew exactly what they were doing and thought their customers were stupid enough to buy into their Thrill of the Hunt™ propaganda, and thus drag out subscriptions, or... they're intentionally trying to run subscribers off for whatever reason.

You are not the population being looked into atm.

 

Which is sad considering so many players are into your shoes and they have much easy money to make with people like you.

 

Anyway, thx for taking the time to write your feedback.

[GalacticKegger]

... snip ...

 

The GC system is not more simple than a token system, nor is does it benefit the player (raider, PvPer, PvEer, solo) in any way. Anyone with half a brain can see this. With BW spewing this rhetoric that it's more, "simple" and, "exciting" means that they either had no idea what they were doing when they came up with this idea and have no idea why it wasn't received, or... they knew exactly what they were doing and thought their customers were stupid enough to buy into their Thrill of the Hunt™ propaganda, and thus drag out subscriptions, or... they're intentionally trying to run subscribers off for whatever reason.

God I hope Bioware is chasing away the MMO veterans to concentrate on turning this into the KOTOR 3 they're pretending every MMO Star Wars fan wants; in exchange for giving up the Star Wars MMO rights so Disney can find a developer who knows what the hell they're doing and doesn't have a selective hearing disorder. Because the current regime not only doesn't care about what their own MMO enthusiasts want, but they clearly want out of the MMO genre altogether.

 

Here is a genuine example of how listening is supposed to work. Look at what the players said they wanted ...

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=205792&page=7

 

... then look at the patches that ensued ...

http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/

 

THAT ladies & gentlemen is how devs listening to their players is supposed to work.

 

Eric ... your predecessors actually cared what their players wanted. What is up with you guys?

Edited February 4, 2017 by GalacticKegger

[SalsaChupacabra]

On the one hand I'm happy to see changes are being made to the system in a timely manner; on the other hand they feel too much like baby steps when a brisk walk is what's needed.

 

Overall, I'm in the minority with regard to the RNG aspect of the crates. It could use some changes such as getting rid of the useless green quality crap and ensuring that you don't get duplicate set pieces in a tier until you've gotten every piece of the set, but I don't have to be awarded a set piece every time I open a crate. The set pieces in tiers one and two should also be common enough that you have a full set and a bit more between the 2 tiers once you reach the rank 3 crates. They're not endgame gear unlike the 242's and shouldn't be so rare. Keep the rarity in tier 3 (though you should reasonably expect 2 or 3 pieces by the time you hit 300) and expand our options for getting unassembled components. As a player who hates PVP with a passion (too much macho EPEEN Bull**** and trash talk) I'd like to see unassembled components awarded for completing veteran/master mode flashpoints so the PVE non-raiders aren't forced to endure a playstyle that they don't like.

[Barnard]

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

 

This is such a crap answer. It would be about the easiest thing for you to change.