Why disable the White Acute Module?

[Hyphendyer]

As the title says, Why disable the White Acute Module?

 

In patch 5.2 you removed the active effect for those people who still had a White Acute Module in their inventories. Why? What was wrong with it? Was it breaking anything?

 

To be fair, other than trying to force free to play players to reach max level faster so you can market end game content to them via the Cartel Market, I can't really see a compelling argument as for why the vendor for this item was removed in the first place.

 

For those who don't know, the White Acute Module was introduced during the first bonus exp event in order for players to avoid the ridiculous exp gains. Using the White Acute Module gave you a buff that massively reduced your exp gains back to almost vanilla levels for up to 8hrs, the item had no cooldown so could be kept up permanently. After the event I believe they removed the vendor that sold this item but if you were lucky enough to have purchased it at the time you could continue to use and transfer it between characters since the item was Bound to Legacy.

 

Leveling a new character using the White Acute Module and avoiding buying excessive modules from the Item Modification vendors felt kind of similar to playing vanilla swtor again, a challenge!.

 

Again I ask, why remove the use effect of White Acute Module? It's use was completely optional and did not in any way harm any other players.

 

Please bring this item back! Make it a collections item for all I care, give it for free to all subscribers and allow free to play players to use Cartel Coins to unlock it. Just please bring it back, allow us to experience the content the way it was originally intended. You can even make more money at the same time!

[americanaussie]

Because the extra XP event is over and no longer in effect?

[Nightblazer]

Because the XP / cxp event ended with patch 5.2 and as such it's not needed. The item is only for the bonus xp events.

[Hyphendyer]

Are you implying that exp gains are not massively increased compared to vanilla SWTOR?

 

Try starting a new character, complete all the missions on the first two planets, including exploration missions, then tell me that you're not way over-leveled. This problem just gets worse and worse as you complete more and more planets. The way I understand it, the White Acute Module reduced your exp gains regardless of whether their was an exp event or not, the buff gave you a hidden negative multiplier to your exp gains.

 

The White Acute Module is a way to avoid this problem without negatively impacting any other players.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Hyphendyer

[Lammia]

The module removed the XP/CXP bonus, and brought the rewards to the basic level. They are back to the basic level now. The module would do nothing. It would not reduce rewards further.

[Nightblazer]

The module was never intended to be used outside of the Bonus XP events. That was it's intention to turn off the bonus xp during the event. If it was for some reason kept or being used to lower xp further then it was being used outside it's original intent and this this time around they just removed the item.

 

Since we have level sync I just skip most of the planet missions. I have exploration missions disabled so I don't do them and it doesn't feel like I level too fast. I'm control still how fast I level based on what missions are done such as just doing only class missions and skipping planet missions doe example.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Nightblazer

[americanaussie]

Are you implying that exp gains are not massively increased compared to vanilla SWTOR?

 

Try starting a new character, complete all the missions on the first two planets, including exploration missions, then tell me that you're not way over-leveled. This problem just gets worse and worse as you complete more and more planets. The way I understand it, the White Acute Module reduced your exp gains regardless of whether their was an exp event or not, the buff gave you a hidden negative multiplier to your exp gains.

 

The White Acute Module is a way to avoid this problem without negatively impacting any other players.

 

You can stop with the big red text. The module ONLY removed the XP bonus event. It does NOTHING when active without a bonus event. Nothing. Got it? If there's no bonus then there's nothing to remove. We aren't discussing normal leveling rates. The module *****only***** removed the XP bonus. Is that clear enough?

Edited April 19, 2017 by americanaussie

[Andryah]

Are you implying that exp gains are not massively increased compared to vanilla SWTOR?

 

Try starting a new character, complete all the missions on the first two planets, including exploration missions, then tell me that you're not way over-leveled. This problem just gets worse and worse as you complete more and more planets. The way I understand it, the White Acute Module reduced your exp gains regardless of whether their was an exp event or not, the buff gave you a hidden negative multiplier to your exp gains.

 

The White Acute Module is a way to avoid this problem without negatively impacting any other players.

 

The module actually went inactive last Tuesday (the original planned date of the end of the XP/CXP bonus event). They jerry-rigged the servers to keep the XP going for another week, even though it was no longer reflected correctly in missions, or on the XP bar.

 

Note: the module only existed for disabling accelerated XP during the bonus period. It was NEVER an XP disable or brake for the currently coded xp rewards in game. I really do not know where you pulled that one from.

Edited April 19, 2017 by Andryah

[Darkside]

Are you implying that exp gains are not massively increased compared to vanilla SWTOR?

 

Try starting a new character, complete all the missions on the first two planets, including exploration missions, then tell me that you're not way over-leveled. This problem just gets worse and worse as you complete more and more planets. The way I understand it, the White Acute Module reduced your exp gains regardless of whether their was an exp event or not, the buff gave you a hidden negative multiplier to your exp gains.

 

The White Acute Module is a way to avoid this problem without negatively impacting any other players.

 

I agree. Leveling has gone off the rails into insanity long ago. Honestly it really detracts from the game, and I would argue that it makes players less connected and invested to their characters. Which in the long term, in my opinion, will cause them to be more likely to ditch the game. The white acute module should be available year round, and offered on the first two planets, as well as the fleet.

[americanaussie]

I agree. Leveling has gone off the rails into insanity long ago. Honestly it really detracts from the game, and I would argue that it makes players less connected and invested to their characters. Which in the long term, in my opinion, will cause them to be more likely to ditch the game. The white acute module should be available year round, and offered on the first two planets, as well as the fleet.

 

Why? It literally does nothing outside of XP bonus events

[Darkside]

Why? It literally does nothing outside of XP bonus events

 

I thought it was understood that they should add the functionality outside of the event so that it works for the normal xp gains.

[Silko]

I thought it was understood that they should add the functionality outside of the event so that it works for the normal xp gains.

 

Clearly not as it does not nor ever did. I agree that leveling is way too easy currently but this item is currently useless and ranting on about it won't change that. While leveling is too easy the main focus of the dev team should remain on end game content. So I rather the devs NOT spend time adjusting the current XP gains during the leveling process. There are plenty of ways to make the game harder for you that you can enact on your own.

[Darkside]

Clearly not as it does not nor ever did. I agree that leveling is way too easy currently but this item is currently useless and ranting on about it won't change that. While leveling is too easy the main focus of the dev team should remain on end game content. So I rather the devs NOT spend time adjusting the current XP gains during the leveling process. There are plenty of ways to make the game harder for you that you can enact on your own.

 

 

I don't get you. Why can't they simply adjust the value of the white acute so that let's say it gives a 50% xp debuff, and then let it be available on a vendor year round? How would that detract from anything else in the game? We should always be for more choices for everyone, and especially those that would take little to no development time. I'll never understand the self defeating negative attitudes for coming up with every reason why things can't/shouldn't be done.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Darkside

[americanaussie]

Put it in a suggestion box but my guess is it's a whole different beast. The one is just working with the boost code. The other would have to change base level XP.

[Hyphendyer]

The module actually went inactive last Tuesday (the original planned date of the end of the XP/CXP bonus event). They jerry-rigged the servers to keep the XP going for another week, even though it was no longer reflected correctly in missions, or on the XP bar.

 

Care to explain why me and my housemate were benefiting from the item for the last 5 days?

 

The item was still usable and the buff still visible until yesterday, when 5.2 went live.

 

Before 5.2 we actually tested it the difference too since we wanted to make sure it was actually working. We took note of the exp gains per kill and per mission completion with and without the buff active, the exp per kill without the buff was almost 3 times the exp. Even the exp upon completion in the mission journal would display the difference with and without the buff active.

 

Also my housemate still had an active buff this morning when he logged in, it lasts 8hrs after all. Exp gains were fine(read; small) even though you say the exp event was over and you claim the buff only affected the bonus exp. When the buff ran out he his exp per kill, per mission skyrocketed.

 

So if the buff only affected the bonus xp event gains and the exp event is over then how do you explain the differences in his exp gains?

[Hyphendyer]

Why? It literally does nothing outside of XP bonus events

 

It does work! The item may not be usable but the buff that the item applies does in fact affect exp gains outside of the event. Read my post above this one.

 

Enabling this item to work at all times and be available from a vendor on starting planets would take less than a hour or two of work. I'm not asking for the developers to adjust all exp gains, I'm asking for them to make an item previously available that already works, available again, that is all.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Hyphendyer

[Andryah]

Care to explain why me and my housemate were benefiting from the item for the last 5 days?

 

The item was still usable and the buff still visible until yesterday, when 5.2 went live.

 

Before 5.2 we actually tested it the difference too since we wanted to make sure it was actually working. We took note of the exp gains per kill and per mission completion with and without the buff active, the exp per kill without the buff was almost 3 times the exp. Even the exp upon completion in the mission journal would display the difference with and without the buff active.

 

Also my housemate still had an active buff this morning when he logged in, it lasts 8hrs after all. Exp gains were fine(read; small) even though you say the exp event was over and you claim the buff only affected the bonus exp. When the buff ran out he his exp per kill, per mission skyrocketed.

 

So if the buff only affected the bonus xp event gains and the exp event is over then how do you explain the differences in his exp gains?

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=918904

 

Just because you have a left over buff from the module on a character DOES NOT mean the module still works after 4/12. Besides.. we ALL get non-bonus XP event rates of gain in XP now (just as if we had the buff during the XP bonus event), so I really don't know what point you are trying to make with your examples.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Andryah

[Hyphendyer]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=918904Just because you have a left over buff from the module on a character DOES NOT mean the module still works after 4/12.

 

The module doesn't work now no(it did all the up to 5.2 hit), I didn't say it did, but the buff does. The module applies the buff yes but just because the module no longer works doesn't mean the buff doesn't, it just means that it's impossible to reapply the buff when it runs out.

 

Bioware chose to disable the module with the 5.2 patch, just like they could choose to enable it just as easily, if the module still worked I wouldn't have made this thread. I logged my assassin just now who still had an hour left on her module buff. I did some kills and missions with and without the buff.

 

Screenshots below of evidence that the module buff didn't negate the bonus event exp, it literally just gave us 60% less exp regardless of whether a bonus exp event is active or not. Why did they have to disable this item?

 

imgur: http://imgur.com/a/RQVgh

Edited April 20, 2017 by Hyphendyer

[Nightblazer]

Well either way this belongs in the suggestion box. This change was done as intended because the intended use and design situation for the item has ended.

[Icykill_]

As the title says, Why disable the White Acute Module?

 

In patch 5.2 you removed the active effect for those people who still had a White Acute Module in their inventories. Why? What was wrong with it? Was it breaking anything?

 

To be fair, other than trying to force free to play players to reach max level faster so you can market end game content to them via the Cartel Market, I can't really see a compelling argument as for why the vendor for this item was removed in the first place.

 

For those who don't know, the White Acute Module was introduced during the first bonus exp event in order for players to avoid the ridiculous exp gains. Using the White Acute Module gave you a buff that massively reduced your exp gains back to almost vanilla levels for up to 8hrs, the item had no cooldown so could be kept up permanently. After the event I believe they removed the vendor that sold this item but if you were lucky enough to have purchased it at the time you could continue to use and transfer it between characters since the item was Bound to Legacy.

 

Leveling a new character using the White Acute Module and avoiding buying excessive modules from the Item Modification vendors felt kind of similar to playing vanilla swtor again, a challenge!.

 

Again I ask, why remove the use effect of White Acute Module? It's use was completely optional and did not in any way harm any other players.

 

Please bring this item back! Make it a collections item for all I care, give it for free to all subscribers and allow free to play players to use Cartel Coins to unlock it. Just please bring it back, allow us to experience the content the way it was originally intended. You can even make more money at the same time!

 

I would also like it stay and allow you to reduce your XP earned in half. Obviously that is only for those who want to, but I don't think F2P or preferred should have access, only subs.

[Hyphendyer]

I would also like it stay and allow you to reduce your XP earned in half. Obviously that is only for those who want to, but I don't think F2P or preferred should have access, only subs.

 

I also thought that too, but then I realized that Bioware could implement a version of this item that is part of your Legacy Collections, unlocked via a Cartel Market purchase. This way Bioware gets to make more money from this change without locking it behind a subscriber wall. Obviously I would kind of expect subscribers to gain access to this automatically just like the other Cartel Market unlocks from being a subscriber though.

 

As for the amount of XP reduction, it currently provides a flat 60% reduction in XP regardless of whether or not a bonus event is active so Bioware wouldn't even need to change that. If the XP reduction is too severe for some players then they can just complete a few missions without it active to catch back up, simple.

[Diefenbaker]

Leveling a new character using the White Acute Module and avoiding buying excessive modules from the Item Modification vendors felt kind of similar to playing vanilla swtor again, a challenge!.

Not even in vanilla was leveling a challenge. It just took more time, that was all the challenge that existed.

[Hyphendyer]

Not even in vanilla was leveling a challenge. It just took more time, that was all the challenge that existed.

 

More time isn't the only difference and you know it, you most definitely weren't one shotting silver enemies and sometimes even close to two shotting golds like you can now unless you farmed like hell and had lots of money to burn to get full purple gear on a leveling character. Even then companions weren't anywhere near as powerful as they are now so you had even less power at your disposal.

 

The challenge back then was the fact that you couldn't just ignore all mechanics and enemies. Combat required more interaction and attention from the player than it does now. If you aggro'd too many groups of enemies there was actually a chance you would die if you didn't pay attention and prioritize your kills, stuns and interupts. That dynamic doesn't exist anymore with the over-leveling problem.

 

Now it's just "oh I need to get to the other side of this compound full of enemies, I'll just disregard all enemy locations and patrols and run straight to my goal, I'll deal with whatever enemies that are still following me when I get there since I know I'm not in any real danger of dieing" If you tried something like that in vanilla you had a *********** death wish.

 

With the over leveling currently on my sniper I can kill all enemies in an entire group, normal and silver enemies with nothing other than a single AOE Suppresive Fire. If there is a gold enemy in there I can open with an Ambush on him and AOE them all down from there, maybe I might need to use Takedown on the gold to finish but that's it. It's at the point were I don't even really need to think about the pull or target specific enemies most of the time, it's simply AOE down the group. Are you claiming that vanilla was the same as this?

 

The White Acute Module in combination with avoiding the Item Modification vendors goes a long way to restoring vanilla's combat dynamic.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Hyphendyer

[IanArgent]

Care to explain why me and my housemate were benefiting from the item for the last 5 days?

 

The item was still usable and the buff still visible until yesterday, when 5.2 went live.

 

Before 5.2 we actually tested it the difference too since we wanted to make sure it was actually working. We took note of the exp gains per kill and per mission completion with and without the buff active, the exp per kill without the buff was almost 3 times the exp. Even the exp upon completion in the mission journal would display the difference with and without the buff active.

 

Also my housemate still had an active buff this morning when he logged in, it lasts 8hrs after all. Exp gains were fine(read; small) even though you say the exp event was over and you claim the buff only affected the bonus exp. When the buff ran out he his exp per kill, per mission skyrocketed.

 

So if the buff only affected the bonus xp event gains and the exp event is over then how do you explain the differences in his exp gains?

 

Event bonus XP was 350% of "4.x normal rate" XP; so kills without WAM applied would have been over 3x XP compared to kills with WAM applied. Results are as expected.

 

(Event bonus was +250% XP and CXP, per repeated dev posts, it was originally supposed to be +150%, but someone made a maths mistake).

[Hyphendyer]

Event bonus XP was 350% of "4.x normal rate" XP; so kills without WAM applied would have been over 3x XP compared to kills with WAM applied. Results are as expected.

 

(Event bonus was +250% XP and CXP, per repeated dev posts, it was originally supposed to be +150%, but someone made a maths mistake).

 

I'm not sure what your intent is with this post and quoting me. My post here was in reference to someone claiming that the WAM was inactive since the 12th of april but me and my housemate were using and benefiting from the module all the way up till 5.2 went live. At which point we couldn't use the item anymore but were still benefiting from the buff applied before the patch, while it lasted anyway.

 

Were you just clarifying the bonus XP amount? because I know the WAM was supposed to negate a +150% XP bonus because even after the event ended the WAM buff was reducing XP gains by 60%.