Gearing Changes in 5.1.1 and 5.1.2

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Hey folks,

 

As I mentioned earlier this week, we have quite a few changes planned for gearing over the next few Updates. Let’s go over what they are, when they are happening, and why!

 

Thanks for the detailed update Eric, some feedback as follows...

 

 

• All Command Experience Points (CXP) gains, CXP Boosts, and CXP Legacy Perks are now additive instead of multiplicative.

 
Concerning to see the rate dropping but I guess we have to trust that indeed everything in the future will be catered to ensure this is not as nerf as you mention.
I'm fairly certain most people assumed it was additive anyway so the multiplicative effect would have been a bonus that went largely unnoticed.
 
 

New CXP leveling event. This event will run until Game Update 5.2 in April. During this event all CXP earned will be increased by 250%.

• The goal is that you will earn one crate every 30 minutes or less. The 30 minute time-frame is for a Tier 3 crate (meaning 1 and 2 will be even faster).

 

Nice change my criticism here though is that's quite a long time to wait. Why can't we have this now?

Being that by then anyone playing regularly ( 4 months since 5.0 launched ) will alreay be well into their GC levels making this event by this stage moot. Also I believe you mentioned new op boss having guaranteed drops on gear so CXP could become even less relevant.

 

My concern is there are new GC tiers coming in April that are unannounced and someone got the silly notion in their head that this event will make that all ok.

Let me make this SUPER clear - if they add more tiers to GC you will get a riot on your hands.

That is the worst possible thing anyone could do for this game If there is talk of this happening please do whatever you can to dissuade them.

 

On the other hand a reshuffling of GC would not be so bad. 300 levels, 5 tiers ( so 2 new tiers but still 300 levels ) would be much better than what we have now.

 

This is one of those things you need to tell your bosses they want to discuss with the community first to get feedback though because you don't want a repeat of 5.0 launch where the changes came in, almost everyone universally hated them but they went ahead and put them in anyway and we find ourselves in this rather messy situation of having to tweak GC so much and add new currencies.

 

Make it clear as possible to them ( producers, whoever ) the best way to approach any massive changes to GC that could be viewed as negative is to pitch them first and see what people think well in advance so there is time to adapt before it's too late.

 

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

 

Nice step towards helping legacy CXP. Is there any way then to perhaps consume these on a toon that isn't 70 and it just banks the CXP for when they ding 70? Would save on having to store them up. Just an idea.

 

 

[*]We are introducing a new 100% CXP boost in addition to the existing 15% and 25% boosts. This boost can be purchased from the Command Token vendor or the Cartel Market. This boost only works up to Command Rank 180 and lasts 2 hours (Command Tokens) or 3 hours (Cartel Market).

 

Nice addition. Good that it's not a P2W change where the CM item rewards extra EXP, just time. No issues with that.

 

 

• [*]We will be rebalancing the CXP rewards you earn from Operations. Boss kills will now award more CXP than they did previously. The Operations Weekly has had its CXP reward greatly increased.

 

Have to wait and see. The problem with operation "CXP per hour" is what happens when people wipe? It's tough to balance because people can spend so long doing an activity for pitiful for rewards where others can fly through and get really good time to exp ratio.

 

 

[*]Group Finder Daily CXP Rewards are being added. Completing the Daily Group Finder Bonus will award you with a bonus CXP Pack.

[*]The completion Mission for Flashpoints have had their CXP values greatly increased.

[*]The Flashpoint and Uprising Weekly Missions have had their CXP rewards increased.

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

[*]We have increased the Unassembled Components that are awarded to players after completing Ranked and Unranked Warzones.

 

These will also have to be a wait and see the impact. The changes could be really useful if large enough or really pathetic and unnoticeable.

 

All in all some good steps forward. I would love to get some information though on what is happening in 5.2 in regards to tiers and GC - is it staying the same or could there a trap about to be sprung on us again?

 

Might sound like conspiracy theory/tin foil hat sort of stuff but after 5.0 going forward as it did regardless of what everyone said back to you I would hate to see this happen again in light of the positive steps BWA are taking to try and improve the game from the sorry state it's been in since 5.0 dropped.

 

Thanks.

[Wayshuba]

Why will editing these numbers take one month?

 

Because they can only be edited downwards in four days. Otherwise, going up benefits paying customers so it has to be down slowly.

[DarthDymond]

3.0

 

 

3.0

 

That's the last time you made this game decent. Stop what you're doing now. Cancle your future plans. Its sucks. It's sucked for the last 3 years. Try and mirror what you did in 3.0. When you get to oricon stop.

 

3.0. Thats when you made a decent game. I don't think we can be any clearer

Well, first off Oricon was in the 2.x cycle (2.4 I think).

 

Second: no, no, no, no, no.

 

4.0 was far better than 3.0, and while 5.0 hasn't been as good as 4.0 was it's still better than 3.0.

[omaan]

Hey folks,

 

As I mentioned earlier this week, we have quite a few changes planned for gearing over the next few Updates. Let’s go over what they are, when they are happening, and why!

 

Game Update 5.1.1 – Coming February 7th

• All Command Experience Points (CXP) gains, CXP Boosts, and CXP Legacy Perks are now additive instead of multiplicative.
  
  • This change is being made to setup for the greatly increased CXP gains that are possible in 5.1.1 (if you love math click the spoiler tag below for what this means in greater detail)

  [*]New CXP leveling event. This event will run until Game Update 5.2 in April. During this event all CXP earned will be increased by 250%.

   

 

First of all i was thinking that your "every 30 min a new crate" is a permanent feature not only during some event! Why do you make this game worse for new players? They will come after event and see everyone is geared and outpowering them.

Secondly, this "additive"'feature looks like a nerf really which is not good! You made this change because of the event? Is this change temporary and is on only during the event or this nerf is permanent?

Thirdly, how much this 100% boost will be costing? I don't like to hear that it will be also available on CM because it means that it will be damn expensive from a vendor...

Forth, i heard that with new patches there will be new tier 4-5 gear and command lvls, if it is true, are you joking? You expect players to grind dam more? Players can't get even full 236 set not mentioning 242 lol and you are going to make more gear to grind! In that case 230 gear must become free (for credits) or it will be a disaster.

Edited February 3, 2017 by omaan

[PlasmaJohn]

One class having a bad day does an entire expansion define.

That was also the era of the "heal-to-full" debacle.

 

And btw ... the content drought would be 4.0. There was no content drought in 3.0.

Perhaps you forgot about "we'll never go another 14 months"? Seems like there were quite a few unsubs prior to that as well. Now had they said anything about the 3.0 release in the first quarter me and mine may not have left. But no they had to keep mum to preserve their PR "punch".

[Ottoattack]

Well, first off Oricon was in the 2.x cycle (2.4 I think).

 

Second: no, no, no, no, no.

 

4.0 was far better than 3.0, and while 5.0 hasn't been as good as 4.0 was it's still better than 3.0.

 

3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 sucked. 3.0 at least had group content and dailies. 4.0 and 5.0 mediocre story and uprisings

 

1.4 - 2.4 was the game peak. Afterwards things fell off a cliff.

 

Back to the topic at hand, you would think that even at the population messily stat that GC generated more than 1,000 posts of backlash that swift action will be taken. But no.. some stubborn arrogant dev still thinks its the players not understanding (or appreciating the system).

Edited February 3, 2017 by Ottoattack

[Barnard]

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!

Edited February 3, 2017 by Barnard

[DarthDymond]

3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 sucked. 3.0 at least had group content and dailies. 4.0 and 5.0 mediocre story and uprisings:rak_02:

 

1.4 - 2.4 was the game peak. Afterwards things fell off a cliff.

Nah, 1.x > 4.x > 5.x = 2.x > 3.x.

 

None of them have sucked by any means, and even 3.0 was better than most MMOs on the market, but repeating 3.0 isn't the way for this game to move forward.

[Wayshuba]

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!

 

Problem is.. it is mainly the RNG of the crates that is making people quit... thus the alternate gearing in 5.1. Increasing CxP level still does nothing if it takes 20-30 crates to get one decent piece of gear. In other words, no matter how much they increase/speed up the CxP levels, it does nothing to eliminate the frustration of 95% of the crate being complete junk.

[jedcjedcjedc]

If people don't have enough components or unassembled pieces to complete their set with whatever they're missing by the time they're reaching 300 (or most likely even sooner) they're definitely doing something wrong. Are you a raider? you can get your gear pieces through the raids as well as GC crates. do you do pvp? you can use the components to buy any piece you are missing.

[Barnard]

Problem is.. it is mainly the RNG of the crates that is making people quit... thus the alternate gearing in 5.1. Increasing CxP level still does nothing if it takes 20-30 crates to get one decent piece of gear. In other words, no matter how much they increase/speed up the CxP levels, it does nothing to eliminate the frustration of 95% of the crate being complete junk.

 

I agree. Faster boxes of crap to destroy faster isn't worth it. I am just saying, if anyone thinks this is Bioware trying to make things easier for players, they are only fooling themselves. This was probably always planned.

[Barnard]

If people don't have enough components or unassembled pieces to complete their set with whatever they're missing by the time they're reaching 300 (or most likely even sooner) they're definitely doing something wrong. Are you a raider? you can get your gear pieces through the raids as well as GC crates. do you do pvp? you can use the components to buy any piece you are missing.

 

As a raider, I've seen 8/30 bosses drop gear. Raiding is no panacea to RNG crates.

[Ellscry]

Please consider making these changes for GSF as well. All incentives to bring people in are appreciated, and honestly needed.

[BelenUmeria]

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!

 

THIS.

 

Bioware is not making real changes to the system and zero changes to the RNG. They are just stringing people along offering nods to try and calm the unrest.

 

People called it 4 months ago where they were saying that Bioware would slowly increase the speed and act like they want to address concerns without actually addressing the core concern of the system: RNG gearing.

[Ottoattack]

Nah, 1.x > 4.x > 5.x = 2.x > 3.x.

 

None of them have sucked by any means, and even 3.0 was better than most MMOs on the market, but repeating 3.0 isn't the way for this game to move forward.

 

Between 1.4 and 2.4 there was:

 

5-6 daily areas.

5 operations.

2 FPs.

2 WZs (counting arenas as 1 WZ).

Multiple story archs (though this would be a weaker point).

 

If you count 1.3 add 1 ops and 1 WZ.

 

And that was in ~1 year.

 

Remind me again what content does 4.0 and 5.0 has? Mediocre non-repeatable story. What else? SF and Uprisings, which are super mini FPs? That was great content? You are easy to amuse my friend.

[DanNV]

If people don't have enough components or unassembled pieces to complete their set with whatever they're missing by the time they're reaching 300 (or most likely even sooner) they're definitely doing something wrong. Are you a raider? you can get your gear pieces through the raids as well as GC crates. do you do pvp? you can use the components to buy any piece you are missing.

 

Have you looked at the time it will take to get pieces from Ops or PVP? I mean done the math on the number of hours required? People who play a couple nights a week will spend a year or more at it. What's the point? I'm out, other members of my raid team are out. It is possible BW has killed the last raid team in a founding guild that had members who thought they'd be here until the game shut down. It takes real work to chase away that kind of player. 4.0 and now 5.x have managed to do it.

[GalacticKegger]

That was also the era of the "heal-to-full" debacle.

I remember the Youtube memes. At least it got fixed in short order and it certainly wasn't a deal breaker.

Perhaps you forgot about "we'll never go another 14 months"? Seems like there were quite a few unsubs prior to that as well. Now had they said anything about the 3.0 release in the first quarter me and mine may not have left. But no they had to keep mum to preserve their PR "punch".

3.0 was incredible for content, just very little followed the release. Hence the drought issue which by the way coincided with Ben Irving being given creative control after Dallas Dickinson resigned. 4.0 turned our MMORPG into a single player RPG that relied on recycled content for group end game. And 5.0? Well, after 4 damage control Livestreams within 8 weeks of its release ... here we are!

 

Honestly, Disney needs to stop Bioware from killing themselves (and us), rebrand this game into a KOTOR 3 RPG franchise they can handle, and find a REAL MMO developer for a new REAL Star Wars MMO.

 

Because this whole thing is embarrassing.

Edited February 4, 2017 by GalacticKegger

[AdjeYo]

Here is a more extreme example to see where this gets complex:

CXP + legacy boost + CXP boost + highlighted activity + DvL Bonus

100% * 10% * 25% * 20% * 15% = 189.75% CXP earned

Aside from the changes, I'm thoroughly appalled by this notation. If you're boosting multiplicatively, you'd want:

100% * 110% * 125% * 120% * 115% = 189.75%,

for 100% * 10% * 25% * 20% * 15% = 0.075%.

 

Setting that aside, I'm glad changes are being made to relieve some of the terribleness of the current system. I'd really like to see more unassembled components dropping (maybe boop up the drop rates on bosses before the last boss) and having them legacy bound would be very great indeed.

Edited February 3, 2017 by AdjeYo

[Decidion]

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

 

Well cool, let us know when you get it fixed so its worth subbing again, because earning 100 crates (vs 10) of junk is still junk. Its like working for $0/hr and your boss says "I'm going to triple your salary!"

[LordTurin]

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

 

Hey Eric,

Any chance you guys could start the 250% cxp event early? Would be nice to be able to enjoy that this weekend.

 

[MeNaCe-NZ]

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!

 

Wow that would probably kill the game.

Honestly I'm looking forward to 5.2 because I figure I can do the new boss SM/HM with my current gear tier ( tier 1 heh ) and not bother getting anything better.

 

If they then added in new tiers and increased the difficulty of the future content in line with the higher gear I'd be done. I can't bring myself to get to tier 2 let alone any further.

 

That would be the final straw for me and would be utterly idiotic in light of some positive steps taken lately.

 

I too share your concern but at this stage I'm hopeful it might not be the case. As I said in my previous post I could handle more tiers if they redid the whole tier structure ( 5 tiers per 300 levels instead of 3 - I could live with that ).

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Well cool, let us know when you get it fixed so its worth subbing again, because earning 100 crates (vs 10) of junk is still junk. Its like working for $0/hr and your boss says "I'm going to triple your salary!"

 

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.

[AdjeYo]

While I'm very excited about changes to the CXP system, please don't forget about class balance either, there are some classes that are in desperate need of attention.

[Groncho]

While I'm very excited about changes to the CXP system, please don't forget about class balance either, there are some classes that are in desperate need of attention.

 

All sorc's should be deleted

All Pt's should be deleted

Edited February 3, 2017 by Groncho

[Lundorff]

How can you possible flip-flop so much on PVP:

 

We think that getting a full set of PvP gear is too much of a grind. This is so much the case that only about 2% of PvP players have a full Dark Reaver set. Having at least Exhumed gear is a barrier to entry to being successful in PvP for the majority of players, so we looked to reduce the time and cost of getting there. We have reduced the entry PvP gear costs by roughly a third, and a full set (not min/maxed) will now cost about 4075 Warzone Commendations. For the Dark Reaver/Ranked set we didn’t reduce the price as much, but Ranked Warzone Comms will no longer be used to buy them; pieces will now be purchased with Warzone Comms and the previous tier gear piece. (Ranked Warzone Comms have been removed from the game, but we’ll touch on that more in the Ranked Reward changes found below.) A full Ranked Gear set will now cost about 16,525 Warzone Comms, much less than the current price of around 29,000 Ranked Comms. The exact prices are still being finalized, but this is the spirit and intent of the changes to PvP gear prices that you'll be seeing. In addition, the character cap for Warzone Comms will be raised to 200,000 and the Daily/Weekly Missions will have increased Credit rewards. These changes will make it easier and faster to gear up and get to a competitive level in PvP. Our hope is that the reduced grind makes for a more enjoyable Warzone experience.

 

http://www.swtor.com/blog/pvp-economy-and-ranked-rewards-restructure-game-update-3.3

 

Was unsubscribed prior to this post and I certainly remain unsubscribed. Why anyone would remain in a game that has so little respect for its customers is beyond me.