Game Update 5.2: The War for Iokath Delay

[Leadplayer]

I see a lot of opinions there. I'm not furious. Why? Because I know programming. I know that it's one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It's also why I don't actually do it for a living. However, knowing what I do and such makes me understand when delays happen, it's for a reason. Not just cause they want to piss you off.

 

I'm sorry you planned time off, that really sucks.

 

As for the no new operations thing: They've been concentrating on story, which the game has been lacking for almost five years since launch. You can't please everyone all the time.

 

As for the gearing system, I personally like it. It lets you do what you want instead of having to ONLY do operations, and now that they've added a way to use tokens to get what you are missing from your sets, it's even better. I mean, yeah I guess if you are a player that ONLY does operations and that's it, then the new system would suck?

 

Well as difficult as it is, CCP and many other online game companies have a very high rating as far as new updates and pathces starting on time, being done on time, usually no real bugs maybe a few small ones and treating their player base like the MMORG players they are, at least let us know whats the problem? Believe it or not just giving a little information about the problem would settle most of your community. The issue is this, not upset about this patch, its been the last 5+ years still bugs some fairly major that have been here since launch. When there is a problem no explanation just oh sorry not gonna happen. As for the gearing system there was never a need for it. Simple conecpt if your a heroic/FP runner you DON'T NEED Bis raiding gear. If your a raider you don't need BiS pvp gear. But the millennials did their thing and now have a 6 piece 240-242 set to run vet mode content. What ever tired of fanbois giving their excuses. They are in the business of making games don't tell us how hard it is, if its too hard for them replace people. There are plenty some from CCP that could help clean things up.

[SirrSlaughterr]

Really?

 

You guys have had how long to get this right, now? This does not inspire confidence. This isn't okay. You can't announce and then delay a major update at the last second. Had you announced this delay a couple of weeks ago, that would be different.

 

I feel like, at a minimum, you owe all subscribers a free week of sub time to make up for the delay, when many people have already subscribed with the expectation and intention of getting involved in new content tomorrow. This is completely unacceptable.

 

You are joking right? What kind of baby do you have to be to have a reaction like this? To say it is "completely unacceptable" is absolutely ridiculous and Bioware owes and will give you nothing. It's one week and it won't kill you, relax.

[DrKlep]

You are joking right? What kind of baby do you have to be to have a reaction like this? To say it is "completely unacceptable" is absolutely ridiculous and Bioware owes and will give you nothing. It's one week and it won't kill you, relax.

Bioware does owe us something. They owe us what we're paying for. We're not getting it.

[khsolo]

Nothing makes me laugh more than people who have no damn clue what goes into programming or how a business is run acting like they do. Don't tell me you know anything about either, because you don't. If you think you do because you are a programmer or you own a business or whatever, then I feel more sorry for your customers than I do for us.

 

Now, let me explain why I say this.

 

When you go to a restaurant and the waitress brings you a Pepsi instead of a Sprite... what do you do? Do you ask the waitress to fix it (hopefully politely) or do you go storming into the kitchen and start cussing at the cook?

 

Of course, you probably DO cuss out the waitress when the cook screws up, don't you? Most people do. However, all it does is make you look like an ******e because the waitress didn't screw up your order, the cook did.

 

Now, how this applies to Bioware is that each department has their job. The developers working on Cartel Market content aren't working on the main content, and vice versa. Plus, much of the sales and such are on an automated schedule anyway. Bugs in THAT system are hilarious when they happen because once for like one hour the Harbinger server (only) got access to the Corsec Electrobaton a full six months before anyone else. It wasn't hotfixed or anything, it was just... wait what? Why did this happen?

 

Excelent post, cheers and be well

[FlavivsAetivs]

Thanks for the update Eric. Hopefully the bugs being fixed are worth the delay. Thanks for extending the CXP bonus in turn.

 

~ Eudoxia

[ChunkyGoodness]

The worst gearing system I have ever seen devised in a game..

 

This gearing system is merely a return to the champion bags that were the earliest way to gear for PvP for those who have been around long enough to remember those. It was hated then and removed as being too unwieldy and having to open way too many to try to get a full set.

[DarthNillard]

I think they put the Patch into a command crate and were hoping that the date they would get was 4/11, but thanks to the magic of RNG it came out as 4/18 instead

[Quraswren]

I think they put the Patch into a command crate and were hoping that the date they would get was 4/11, but thanks to the magic of RNG it came out as 4/18 instead

 

Thats funny.

 

Maybe fixing ME:A faces took people away from swtor.

[Selenial]

Nothing makes me laugh more than people who have no damn clue what goes into programming or how a business is run acting like they do. Don't tell me you know anything about either, because you don't. If you think you do because you are a programmer or you own a business or whatever, then I feel more sorry for your customers than I do for us.

 

Now, let me explain why I say this.

 

When you go to a restaurant and the waitress brings you a Pepsi instead of a Sprite... what do you do? Do you ask the waitress to fix it (hopefully politely) or do you go storming into the kitchen and start cussing at the cook?

 

Of course, you probably DO cuss out the waitress when the cook screws up, don't you? Most people do. However, all it does is make you look like an ******e because the waitress didn't screw up your order, the cook did.

 

Now, how this applies to Bioware is that each department has their job. The developers working on Cartel Market content aren't working on the main content, and vice versa. Plus, much of the sales and such are on an automated schedule anyway. Bugs in THAT system are hilarious when they happen because once for like one hour the Harbinger server (only) got access to the Corsec Electrobaton a full six months before anyone else. It wasn't hotfixed or anything, it was just... wait what? Why did this happen?

 

I agree with the sentiment that people need to stop making the Cartel Market jokes, they're obviously different departments and there's no reason to berate the developer team with useless jokes just to make you feel better. I do however majorly disagree with the sentiment in the rest of the post.

 

This isn't a singular mess-up that people are angry about, it's a series of events which display nothing more than ineptitude on the side of the developer team. Perhaps ineptitude is a harsh word, but the only other explanation is deception, and I'd rather believe they're messing up than intentionally hiding information from the community.

 

To use your waitress and chef example, I'll give you how I see this year as having unfolded so far:

• You enter your favourite restaurant. The restaurant was successful, enjoyed by many, but has randomly rebranded from a semi-successful Thai restaurant into a substandard Italian.
  
• You order a diet coke. You're told it'll be five minutes. Half an hour later your drink arrives.
  
• When your drink does arrive, it's Fanta. You send it back, the replacement does not arrive for another half an hour.
  
• The Lasagne you asked for comes out as a Spaghetti Bolognese. Same ingredients, massively different result. You send it back and are disappointed.
  
• You're told it'll be ten minutes until the lasagne comes out. Nine and a half minutes later, the waitress informs you that the chef will need another fifteen.

 

So yes, you're right. No point yelling at the front of house that the restaurant rebranded, it's obviously an executive decision. No point yelling at the interior decorator that the drink that arrived was wrong. People are however perfectly justified in complaining after this series of events, time and time again any action performed by the restaurant as a whole has been a let down.

 

All of these apply to the game in some way. So yes, while it might not be appropriate to scream that the end of the game is nigh when TOR rebranded into a Story-based MMO (wonderful idea), it's perfectly reasonable to call the developer team out on their inadequacies when everything they do is in some way, shape, or form, a let down. Their new gearing system was far too slow, and has had to be rebalanced several times. Their new operation had a single boss, and even then had to be delayed by a month, and then an extra week. These events on their own are excusable, but together pile up into an unfortunate mess that you cannot fault people for leaving. When do you complain, in your mind? Must you simply ignore the bigger picture?

 

Though I think we can all agree that any criticism needs to remain constructive, and not a witch hunt. I for one don't agree with the bashing Eric gets, since it seems to me he has very little authority over what he is allowed and not allowed to say. I respect that he has the willpower to stay in the position he has, most of his team seem to not manage to remain here too long...

[Rankyn]

Bioware does owe us something. They owe us what we're paying for. We're not getting it.

The ability to log in and play as a subscriber?

Last time I checked, that's exactly what you were getting.

[Jagaimee]

Bioware does owe us something. They owe us what we're paying for. We're not getting it.

 

You are paying for a subscription. Did they take away your subscription access and all that entails? No. They "owe" you a subscriber's access to the game - all KOTFE/KOTET chapters, full customization options, species unlocks, less chat restrictions. etc. etc. And you're getting that.

Unless they take away your subscriber's access to the game, your "they owe me" argument doesn't really have a leg to stand on.

(Edit: ...aaaand Rankyn said it two minutes before I did. You are a true online ninja. *bows*)

 

Would you rather they release the patch tomorrow as promised...even if it's filled with horrific bugs, new areas aren't accessible, the new raid boss instantly wipes everyone due to a glitch, etc.? Cue cries of "You should've waited a week to fix this!"

So they hold it back to fix bugs, to spit-and-polish everything, I don't know, but for whatever reason, they announce it the day before the update is supposed to go live.

Cue cries of "You should've released it 'on time'!"

They just can't win, can they?

Edited April 11, 2017 by Jagaimee

[LtGeneralGezlin]

The delay sucks, but some of you people are so entitled, it's... sad. Go to the SWTOR Subreddit, they love to hate on the game (Which is kind of ironic...)

 

Republic players can now obtain the “Makeb’s Mysterious Survival” codex from the Makeb Weekly Mission. This once again allows Republic players to obtain the “Loremaster of Makeb” Achievement.

 

The Imperial Scholar title and codex can once again be earned by completing “The Hate Machine” Mission on Korriban.

 

FINALLY!!! Now if they can just fix the Ziost arrival cutscene for Imperial characters who go to Ziost after the end of Rise of the Emperor, I'll be happy.

 

Custom HK-51 appearances will now appear properly during Chapter IX: The Alliance cinematics.

 

Cool, Now HK will look like he should when I get my Trooper started on KotFE/KotET/

[IshtarScorpio]

Imagine how messed up it had to be for it to be delayed.

 

When you consider some of the other buggy updates they pushed through...

[Amodin]

Hey folks,

 

We want to ensure our updates release at the highest quality possible and Game Update 5.2: The War for Iokath is no different. At this point in time, we are not satisfied with the quality of the Iokath update. For that reason, we are delaying the release of 5.2 by one week, to release on April 18th. This allows the team more time to make improvements to address some of the issues still pending. We did not make this decision lightly as we are very eager for all of you to get your hands on the new storyline, reunite with old Companions, or try your hand at taking down the God of Rage himself.

 

As soon as we know timing for the next maintenance I will post that information. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We do apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. We will post the patch notes either today or first thing tomorrow so that you know what is planned for 5.2!

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

You can't fix anything that's broken in game as it is - delay comes as no surprise.

 

Keep up the great (</saracsm>) work as always.

[mattjame]

Have to slightly disagree about Mercs/Commandos being too difficult to kill. I'm a Commando and I'll agree its almost impossible to kill Mercs in Warzones. But, those mercs can easily kill me. 27,699 Missile Blast damage? Where do they get that much damage from? Edited April 11, 2017 by mattjame

[stoopicus]

Hey folks,

 

Here are the 5.2 patch notes. Note that they are subject to change between now and next week.

 

-eric

 

Hi Eric,

 

I just read the patch notes and for Warzones the increased CXP per medal is nice. However wanted to point out what initially looks like a big mistake. The notes state that the difficulty of gaining medals for dealing damage, healing, and guarding have been increased. There was no mention of defender points so I am assuming it is staying the same. If this is true, what you have done is disincentivize people from actually doing things in WZs versus standing around farming defender medals, which is already a problem.

 

Any comment on that?

[DrKlep]

The ability to log in and play as a subscriber?

Last time I checked, that's exactly what you were getting.

 

If I wanted a static game that never changed or updated, I would be happy with any of the hundreds of games which are not MMOs. But content updates are part of the package of an MMO, and as a subscriber I am entitled to them. I am paying for the ability to log in and play as a subscriber, and I am also paying for periodic and timely updates with some sort of reliability that those updates will come when we are told they will come, and that they will not be suddenly delayed within hours of their supposed launch with no warning, no clear justification, and no compensation. This is not the first time BIoware has pulled this stunt, and even one time is once too many.

[Gianmarcoa]

What a shame ... at least they should give a week more subscription or a gift to the subscribers ... keep in mind the people that we have years in the game paying ...

[Nightblazer]

Where in their terms or the terms of any MMO like WoW for that matter state that as a subscriber your guaranteed timely updates or that you will have a minimum amount given for any updates or changes for an update. Sounds more like an expectation then anything BW or any MMO creator guarantees or promises. Edited April 11, 2017 by Nightblazer

[karriq]

Are you kidding me? I just took a 7 days vacation, to spend a several nights in playing new expansions. What i should do now? :\

[Darth_Xyphos]

Imagine how messed up it had to be for it to be delayed.

 

When you consider some of the other buggy updates they pushed through...

 

My thoughts exactly, would be nice to know what specifically they didn't think was up to 'standard'.

[stoopicus]

Eh. I think people should stop bagging on them for delaying this. I mean, if the alternatives were to push out some super buggy crap or bite the bullet and delay it a week, then they made the right decision. Of course, the communication could have been much better, like at the livestream three days ago

[Euboe]

I say leave them be! i mean everyone who says "oh they should of told us on Friday!" I mean really its a friday, no one wants to work on a friday. Everyone I know including myself half-arses it on a Friday. I mean its Happy Hour day for heck sake, these guys probably just wanted to get the day done with and go home to their families and start their weekend away from work. Also thats life for you springs to mind, we all have to calm down, not everything goes to plan.

 

I will agree turn back the XP and CXP boost event if you can, or offer compensation, free sub time, a new mount or some other premium item. Either way we all need to calm the f down! its not like they put a madman in the White House... oh wait we did that already.

 

-Euboe

[kimiko_tomiyama]

putting off a release because of bugs? I'm pretty critical of the developers and the course of this game, but this is one thing I hope to see more of.

[MikeCobalt]

Well well, this is very disappointing. I was actually looking forward to moving on from that whole "Knights" issue; maybe even SWTOR getting back to normal again.