Update on Roadmap

[kodrac]

You mean, the state companions have been in since the end of the class stories? I dont' get the fake nostalgia for the "amazing companion interactions" of Makeb through SoR. It really hasn't been there; you get a line or two once or twice, and you get their combat chatter. Wheee.

 

At any rate, you specifically mentioned "high influence." That's a mechanical function of a companion, not a story one. If you want the influence back, use the terminal. Influence isn't a story thing; it doesn't change how they act in-story. And never really did, even back when it was affection and gated conversations. You didn't get different conversations based on affection, you only changed the timing (to the detriment of story flow sometimes). Even today, your decisions shape your interactions, but not the numeric influence number. Influence is pure mechanics, and has no story relevance.

 

i don't get it either. Companions do nothing inside or outside the story anymore. It's all pre-determined and pre-scripted no matter who you have in your long list of companions. In vanilla they had different lines depending on which companion was with you at the time. In SoR you at least saw them in the cutscenes but that was it. Now they don't even do that. There is zero choice in which companion you have with you and which ones speak. Until they actually start being interchangeable parts of the story again it's all a big meh.

[TUXs]

I agree. Keith's dad was visiting, and he wanted to spend time with him. I don't understand why anybody would have a problem with that.

 

What I don't understand is why his staff couldn't get the work done in his absence. I understand that he would not publish anything without his stamp of approval, but why the long delay? There is more to the story than a couple of days away from work to spend time with family. In other words, I like being told the truth, but I prefer the whole truth, not just the part that makes him look like a good guy.

I don't know how things work at Bioware, but...I assume Keith puts together an internal "road map" that he and the staff feel is feasible. They probably need to submit that to EA and Lucas Arts for approval, and they probably revise the hell out of it...this process probably happens quite a few times before he can release it as "Here is our plan...". It's not like he gets to just decide what they're doing next...he can direct them where to go, but he needs support and approval to do so.

[TUXs]

You mean, the state companions have been in since the end of the class stories? I dont' get the fake nostalgia for the "amazing companion interactions" of Makeb through SoR. It really hasn't been there; you get a line or two once or twice, and you get their combat chatter. Wheee.

 

At any rate, you specifically mentioned "high influence." That's a mechanical function of a companion, not a story one. If you want the influence back, use the terminal. Influence isn't a story thing; it doesn't change how they act in-story. And never really did, even back when it was affection and gated conversations. You didn't get different conversations based on affection, you only changed the timing (to the detriment of story flow sometimes). Even today, your decisions shape your interactions, but not the numeric influence number. Influence is pure mechanics, and has no story relevance.

QFE Ian!!!! Whether they come back via the story or the terminal, they act EXACTLY the same way...as in...they don't do ANYTHING any longer.

[HiltoftheDragon]

Its bad when a games forum becomes more entertaining....to some... than the game itself. In this case i just shake my head at some of the peoples statements in this thread.

 

Thank you Keith and the folks behind you for the update. I will continue to stick around for a while longer and wait patiently for more news to be posted.

 

/salute

[iowaboynca]

Because he has no staff, BW is now single person operation.

 

Well at least 2...I mean we have seen Charles and Eric in the same place at the same time...

[masterceil]

Well at least 2...I mean we have seen Charles and Eric in the same place at the same time...

 

Smoke and mirrors!

[DakhathKilrathi]

Holy crap, GSF changes?

 

Thank you for that. Anything at all (and any communication at all!) is more than we've had in years, and it sounds like you guys are even listening to our suggestions. Thank you. Those changes should help!

[Tarbuch]

Holy crap, GSF changes?

 

Thank you for that. Anything at all (and any communication at all!) is more than we've had in years, and it sounds like you guys are even listening to our suggestions. Thank you. Those changes should help!

 

And it only took 3 and half years to act on the feedback.

[DakhathKilrathi]

And it only took 3 and half years to act on the feedback.

 

That's okay. We'll take what we can get.

[Tarbuch]

Well at least 2...I mean we have seen Charles and Eric in the same place at the same time...

 

Eric is community manager (aka talking head), nothing to do with product management/development.

Can't recall who Charles is, but doubt that he'd be anyone that influences product development/management.

 

We all can remember that class balance cannot be started before the one and ONLY developer comes back from parental leave (was given as an excuse for lack of balancing some months ago).

No idea if said person is back as of yet, since 5.2.2 does not have any class balance fixes mentioned.

And no, the end of month roadmap will not come into fruition until end of summer, around begining September even if that has any mention of class balances.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Tarbuch
typo

[josephxp]

Hey everyone,

 

Wanted to provide an update on my first Producer Roadmap, but getting it published is taking longer than I anticipated. Partly my own fault, as my Dad came to visit and I took a few days off over the past couple of weeks to spend time with him. This ultimately slowed my progress but I am back in full swing now and pushing to get the roadmap completed.

 

I honestly thought I would have had the roadmap done and communicated already, but, I realistically need more time to finalize it. Translated: That means end of this month, but with full intention of delivering it sooner. <sad face> This is not something I wanted to tell you, but I promised to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening.

 

While you continue to wait, here’s a few highlights of Game Update 5.2.2 scheduled for mid-June (yes, in 2017):

 

• The Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event returns with old and some awesome new rewards
  
• New Character Perks to increase your speeder piloting speed to 120% and 130%
  
• Companions will gain influence through standard crew skill missions
  
• Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).
  
• We made a variety of changes to Galactic Starfighter – primarily aimed at reducing the cost, increasing requisition rewards, and offering all players a Gunship and Bomber as standard ships (available in your hangar).

 

I will continue to pass on roadmap updates as I have them. We do have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to sharing it you.

 

---Keith

 

I LOVE KEITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

OMG just made my day as i wanted to transfer a guy to harbi and cant access my main server because harbi is down.

 

TY for Nightlife to be back,

TY for the crew skills increasing influence,

TY for letting us know when we can use command tokens to purchase base gear,

 

And most importantly to me THANK YOU KEITH for giving love to GSF players!!! I know many new players will be happy to start off with a gunship and bombers or Vet's like me when we want to make a new character and play GSF

 

Your First 100 days of being the new head honcho will be far more successful that Donald Trumps!

[Exly]

I don't know how things work at Bioware, but...I assume Keith puts together an internal "road map" that he and the staff feel is feasible. They probably need to submit that to EA and Lucas Arts for approval, and they probably revise the hell out of it...this process probably happens quite a few times before he can release it as "Here is our plan...". It's not like he gets to just decide what they're doing next...he can direct them where to go, but he needs support and approval to do so.

 

I get that, but that's not what he said. I agree that we have only been given limited information, but that still means that we only got the part of the news that made him look like a good guy, and the rest of the information was left out.

 

In other words, he gave us a reason for a couple of days of delay, but then told us that it would be a couple of weeks until he delivered what he said he would. In doing so he may have told us the truth, but he did not tell us the whole truth, and that is why I need to see more out of him before I start to trust him.

 

On top of that I still wonder why he couldn't delegate the project to create a draft of the roadmap for his (or whoever's) approval so that his time away did not result in a delay. It would be sad to me if the reason was that he didn't have anybody working for him that he could rely on to assign this type work to in his absence.

[americanaussie]

Thank you so much for the update. Spend time with your dad, life's too short not to spend time with those we love. I haven't seen my dad in a year so if he were in town or I was home, I wouldn't be in game or work either.

[Andryah]

Eric is community manager (aka talking head), nothing to do with product management/development.

Can't recall who Charles is, but doubt that he'd be anyone that influences product development/management.

 

We all can remember that class balance cannot be started before the one and ONLY developer comes back from parental leave (was given as an excuse for lack of balancing some months ago).

No idea if said person is back as of yet, since 5.2.2 does not have any class balance fixes mentioned.

And no, the end of month roadmap will not come into fruition until end of summer, around begining September even if that has any mention of class balances.

 

Charles is Creative Director for SWTOR. Prior to that he was a Lead Creative Designer. So he very much has his fingers on the games ongoing direction and development. My guess is that he actually is most accountable to the Studio Creative Director (James Ohlen).

 

But in reality, I expect like most large software products..... there is no actual single accountable person... as it is essentially a collective effort. Even the producer is not able to do all be all.

 

If you are looking for where the buck stops though... it would be the Executive Producer or Studio GM as I'm sure they are the main interface with EA and Disney and has final approval on all ongoing development. Studio GM is currently Jeff Hickman.

[grania]

Partly my own fault, as my Dad came to visit and I took a few days off over the past couple of weeks to spend time with him.

 

Oh that's nice

 

I like the sound of companion influence from crew skills. I'm not sure what kind of rp sense it makes but I'll take it~!

[MandFlurry]

there's no mention of class balance because class balance is a pedestrian game maintenance thing that you guys are always working on....r-right keith?

 

please just kill trauma regulators, defensive safeguards, and ruthless aggressor

 

p.s. in all seriousness I like how you've been communicating Keith

 

We need Class balance, as long as they keep the PvE and PvP totally separate. On the Pve side. Now Sorc and Sage is nerfed to frag, then the terrible idea that the took away Lightning away from assassins was totally wrong, and doesn't fit with the Lore.

 

I think that most people want their Companions back first, i sure do. But if they can do Content, Companions and Class balance that would be great, but realistically I don't think they have the reources.

Edited May 9, 2017 by MandFlurry

[josephxp]

We need Class balance, as long as they keep the PvE and PvP totally separate. On the Pve side. Now Sorc and Sage is nerfed to frag, then the terrible idea that the took away Lightning away from assassins was totally wrong, and doesn't fit with the Lore.

 

I think that most people want their Companions back first, i sure do. But if they can do Content, Companions and Class balance that would be great, but realistically I don't think they have the reources.

 

More is coming later on, so i would assume next update on the roadmap will have class changes to them.

[Tarbuch]

Charles is Creative Director for SWTOR. Prior to that he was a Lead Creative Designer. So he very much has his fingers on the games ongoing direction and development. My guess is that he actually is most accountable to the Studio Creative Director (James Ohlen).

 

But in reality, I expect like most large software products..... there is no actual single accountable person... as it is essentially a collective effort. Even the producer is not able to do all be all.

 

If you are looking for where the buck stops though... it would be the Executive Producer or Studio GM as I'm sure they are the main interface with EA and Disney and has final approval on all ongoing development. Studio GM is currently Jeff Hickman.

 

OK, what you are saying Charles being the Creative Director for SWTOR, he then is the main culprin of the RNG crate fiasco, Ben was just the fall guy that took the flak for Charles's failure.

[Ceinwyn]

Updates are fine overall.

 

• Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).

 

Are you still looking to make the command system more alt-friendly and is so, how? The above kind of helps but it's still a ****** grind.

[DarthSpuds]

Charles is Creative Director for SWTOR. Prior to that he was a Lead Creative Designer. So he very much has his fingers on the games ongoing direction and development. My guess is that he actually is most accountable to the Studio Creative Director (James Ohlen). .

 

Why promote the author of by far the least creative Class Story to the position of Creative Director?

 

Someone at Bioware, or higher up, has taken the initial steps of solving the Lead Producer problem; someone now needs to step up and do the same for the Creative Director problem.

 

All The Best

[FlameYOL]

Thank you Keith for the update and for being honest as to why the roadmap is not here yet.

[Ottoattack]

I dont get the positivity in this thread. First, communication came late with a personal excuse, which no body cares about cuz this is a company and should not be relying on one person (no matter who) availability. Then the next patch is coming in more than a month with no content or class balance.

 

Just cuz Keith is new producer and posted in this thread, does not mean jack when the content of the message is empty. I just unsubed cuz I do not see anything coming in the next 2-3 month.

[Glocko]

That was a really depressing update..Guess the three thousand threads about what people care about were overlooked

[dscount]

While you continue to wait, here’s a few highlights of Game Update 5.2.2 scheduled for mid-June (yes, in 2017):

 

• The Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event returns with old and some awesome new rewards
  
• New Character Perks to increase your speeder piloting speed to 120% and 130%
  
• Companions will gain influence through standard crew skill missions
  
• Full Tier 1 gear available from existing Fleet vendors using Command Tokens – this means you can obtain a full bonus gear set for under 800 Command Tokens. You will be able to choose the type of gear you want to purchase (DPS, Tank, or Healer).
  
• We made a variety of changes to Galactic Starfighter – primarily aimed at reducing the cost, increasing requisition rewards, and offering all players a Gunship and Bomber as standard ships (available in your hangar).

 

I will continue to pass on roadmap updates as I have them. We do have an exciting year ahead of us and I look forward to sharing it you.

 

---Keith

 

Well done sir! That was an AWESOME update and comical even. (June 2017)

- New rewards you say... maybe rewards will be real again?

- Yeah more speed!

- Love seeing my companions actually GET some influence while I send them out doing tasks. Very Cool

- OMG a real change everyone can get behind on Tier 1 purchase of gear. TYVM

- GSF is getting some love (Thank you) - I shall now raise the price of those ships I'm selling.

[Korenus]

I dont get the positivity in this thread. First, communication came late with a personal excuse, which no body cares about cuz this is a company and should not be relying on one person (no matter who) availability. Then the next patch is coming in more than a month with no content or class balance.

 

Just cuz Keith is new producer and posted in this thread, does not mean jack when the content of the message is empty. I just unsubed cuz I do not see anything coming in the next 2-3 month.

 

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