Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - Road Map 2017

[chaharbagh]

If they're not a new species, I'd guess they're a variation on the Vurk (the species of the Jedi that Jango kills in front of Dooku in Ep II).

 

Sellexith may be a Vurk, but what is Grenkk? Grenkk looks like a cross between a Gen'Dai and a Vurk.

Edited June 15, 2017 by chaharbagh

[Yezzan]

..... So you're saying rewarding content is bad? How exactly is rewarding OWPvP any different than rewarding PvE? What does dumbing down NiM have to do with this?

 

Ok. Firstly, I was not suggesting that there shouldn’t be any rewards for OWPvP. As far as I know, there are already achievement titles and conquest rewards for killing players in PvP combat. Moreover, the prevailing argument from PvP-ers has always been akin to this:

 

The reward for open world PvP is the satisfaction of winning on your own terms. Not with equal teams and bolstering like in a warzone... but with your team mates, or solo, against who you choose to fight against. If it's a game breaker for you that there aren't rewards for doing open world PvP, then either don't do it or play on a PvE server instead. It's fun... you don't need to get commendations to have fun.

 

Source: Open World PvP Rewards???

 

The basis of my argument is that PvP-ers never really much cared about “rewards,” since it’s, mostly, intrinsic rewards that motivate these type of players.

 

If OWPvP shouldn't have rewards because it "baits" casuals into getting ganked, then what exactly is the difference with NiM? NiM has rewards to "bait" casuals into getting ganked by bosses who they have no hope of beating, doesn't it? What is this ridiculous double standard, "It's okay to reward this type of content that I am okay with, but don't dare reward someone else's content"?

 

Casuals do not do NiM. As far as I know, you cannot queue for NiM operations; you have to form an Ops group. No one is going to allow you in their Ops group, if you are a “bad,” unless its guild mates who are trying to show you the ropes (and NiM wouldn’t be the place do to that). Almost every Ops group request, on Fleet, asked you to link achievement or parse. The rewards are necessary, because NiM is where you get the best gear, which helps to meet DPs checks, beat enrage timers, among other things. The gear is not, so much, a reward as it is a necessity. So, it’s not a “ridiculous double-standard” as you put it. Would you wager that a group of PvP-ers, in no gear, can and will beat a group of casuals in top-tier gear? I’d wager that they can. But, I’m pretty sure you cannot clear NiM in no gear.

 

And yes, we (PvPers) are in fact saying that we (PvPers) need rewards for doing PvP. This game has one of the grindiest PvP endgames in existence. ..This is in fact true for ALL gamemodes. Everyone aside from pure RPers need incentive to stay in their own content. Take away the gear grind and rare platinum drops from NiM, and all of a sudden the NiM community will die. ..NiM suffers simply because HM + PvP is the faster and easier grind to do.

 

OWPvP was dead even when it was super easy to get a full set of Ranked PvP gear. Every PvP-er had a full set of top-tier PvP gear the moment the patch hits, because they just saved up tons of Wz commendations to meet the gear upgrade. There was no further incentive to do PvP wzs besides having “fun” and gearing up their alts ( plus the occasional conquest rewards, which is a PvE thing anyways).

 

And most of all, if your wildly inaccurate assessment of how "PvP is a niche community" was even remotely true, why is it that Ilum PvP becomes extremely active every time the Gree Event comes around and why did Bioware specifically attempted to implement a PvP world, despite it apparently not being played by anyone? Why does Bioware release new Warzones, Ranked reward, PvP class balance if it's so niche that simply labelling an instance PvP causes it to die? Why is it that we somehow have 25000 Ranked players on the leaderboards, in a game with 200k-500k subscribers? (And Ranked is a small fraction of the PvP community, so the number of PvPers is, in all likelihood, in the 100k-200k range) Maybe the situation is a lot more complicated than the "I don't like PvP = no one likes PvP = PvP dies and deserves it" you'remaking it out to be?

 

I have several toons on the Leader boards, maybe they are between numbers 24,995th and 25,000th but they are there. That doesn’t make me a PvP-er. It simple means, I tried ranked PvP a couple times. I just wanted the season tokens, plus the Unassembled Components. As for Ilum, it has a PvP area; the entire event is not PvP. And as soon as ‘casuals’ get killed at the pylon two times, in a row, by the same idiots, they just go back to the PvE part. Plus, it has a variety of quests that appeal to all: there is an Ops for raiders, and then there are daily quests and Heroics for PvE-ers. The PvP area, hardly, has anyone in it.

 

Not because I disagree with your point of view, means I hate PvP. As a matter of fact, a good PvP match is far more rewarding, intrinsically, than completing a master mode FP. The problem with PvP is not the activity itself, but the caliber of players who favor this activity. The argument that PvP-ers are ‘disagreeable’ has always been the bone of contention from players, who do not consider themselves to be true PvP-ers.

 

Bioware recognizes that OWPvP is simply another gameplay style that will enrich their game with variety… dev specifically said they're interested in hearing our suggestions about OWPvP, and whining that the content you will never have to touch has somehow personally slighted you.

 

Errmm, actually, I flagged most of my toons, but in most cases, the instances only have 2-6 people max. As I said, not because I disagree with your PoV means I do not PvP or go to these instances, even just for the heck of it. PvP-ers do NOT need an incentive to PvP and the “lack of incentive” in OWPVP is not why it is an under-utilized area of game-play. If there are 25,000 PvP-ers, here, why aren’t the instances full or more people? You can resort to whatever personal attack you want but PvP-ers have always been the problem with PvP.

 

OWPvP was not badly implemented. PvP should appeal to PvP-oriented players. Why is it not appealing to (you) PvP-ers? Because no rewards? Really? And if they add, say, daily and weekly quests for OWPvP, will that make a difference? I’d wager it wouldn’t. Bioware can’t fix players and that’s the problem. Why do players ‘hate’ PvP? There are a few who dislike the activity itself, but would still engage in a friendly sparring, now and then; but, the majority who dislike this activity is largely because of the toxic attitudes and lack of sportsmanship from PvP-ers. There is enough irrefutable evidence in these forums to support this argument.

 

How to engage the entire community in OWPvP? Make PvP an incidental activity instead of the Primary focus. Yes, Devs are asking for suggestions but they can’t do what is necessary, because it’s gonna cost them. Giving rewards won’t solve the problem of lack of player engagement in OWPvP.

 

You need a daily PvP activity: Empire vs Republic. Create 3 bosses.

 

First boss is Republic and Imperial players must kill it, and Republic players must defend it .Second boss is Empire and Republic players must kill it while Imperial players must defend it. Both bosses spawn in the same location, 50 meters way from each other. Players must coordinate between defending and taking down the opposition. Whichever side boss dies first gets a buff to kill the final boss. Boss will have loot and there is server-wide buff for all players of the fraction that won. The bosses will be in instances, all participants will be flagged for PvP in this instance but there will be a safe zone. If you enter safe zone while in combat you get a debuff. The first two bosses will grant a special buff to all in the instance, when they die (if reps kill imp boss, reps only get the buff and vice versa), which allows access to the instance for the third boss (there is no PvP in here, just killing the boss). Players do not need to be in a group for this activity.

 

Next one is weekly event: Fortress (Dark Vs Light) guild battles.

 

This one is only for guilds. Participating guilds must pay a registration fee. Guild flagships will be used during the siege of the fortress. Guilds will battle to control the fortress; breaking down doors and killing NPCs. Create Pylons in this area to fire on guild ships. Charge pylons/ defend pylons, kill certain NPCs to access fortress. Whichever guild kills the fortress Master occupies the fortress for the entire week. Gets buff on all maps and reduced repair costs, and increased price of selling stuff to NPCs.

 

Flashpoints: Barge in.

 

Players have the option to have others barge in on their FP and contest them for the loot and rewards. Rewards are increased by 150%. For example, if a group is ding Hammer Station, and is flagged for the barge in, another group can enter the FP and try to kill them. They will have to follow the normal Progression of the FP, like killing x boss to move to the next phase of the FP.

 

Spawn NiM bosses in Open world. Loot is the same.

 

Have two weekly event bosses. Drop tier 4 gear. (spawn announced server-wide). For example, Darth Vox is attacking the Republic base in Voss-Ka. Republic Players must defend the base!

 

 

WARZONES should have an area for spectators, especially death matches.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Yezzan

[EzioMessi]

Ok. Firstly, I was not suggesting that there shouldn’t be any rewards for OWPvP. As far as I know, there are already achievement titles and conquest rewards for killing players in PvP combat. Moreover, the prevailing argument from PvP-ers has always been akin to this:

 

 

 

Source: Open World PvP Rewards???

 

The basis of my argument is that PvP-ers never really much cared about “rewards,” since it’s, mostly, intrinsic rewards that motivate these type of players.

 

I don't disagree, PvP is about intrinsic rewards for many players. However, in the current system, where 1. There's always a massive grind to go through 2. People can choose to be PvP immune, the players aren't finding the intrinsic value even in the game mode they always liked.

 

I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, because you'd think intrinsic reward would hold its own value, but it is what it is (hell it doesn't even make sense to me). A classic case study for OWPvP would be Jung Ma, my home server. Before they introduced PvP/E instances, you were almost ALWAYS guaranteed to find a massive 25v25 brawl happening on Outpost Thorazan on Tatooine. Once they introduced the instances it died. Instantly.

 

Why? I don't know really. Rewards didn't change before and after. Players didn't start liking/disliking the gameplay before/after. Unless the 25v25 was always happening between people who DIDN'T want to PvP? That doesn't make sense, because any time such big numbers got involved, the big guilds were involved, and they would set the rule that no one there can gank someone who just wants to pass through the outpost. Meaning anyone was free to leave without ganking/harassment. So why choose to stay? What exactly made players CHOOSE to stay in the brawl when the brawl was open to leaving, but CHOOSE to leave the instance entirely when provided the option?

 

The only difference was, that there were players PRESENT to PvP with, and that usually is all it takes to get a brawl started. Once started, it won't stop till one side dies completely, but it's starting it that's tough. By providing players the option to just switch off PvP on PvP servers, they effectively killed OWPvP because PvP ISN'T about fighting others when its convenient, it's about there ALWAYS being a threat of fighting. Now the only thing they can do to fix it is to make enough questlines and rewards that push players into PvP instances, and of course leave these questlines and rewards as optional.

 

 

Casuals do not do NiM. As far as I know, you cannot queue for NiM operations; you have to form an Ops group. No one is going to allow you in their Ops group, if you are a “bad,” unless its guild mates who are trying to show you the ropes (and NiM wouldn’t be the place do to that). Almost every Ops group request, on Fleet, asked you to link achievement or parse. The rewards are necessary, because NiM is where you get the best gear, which helps to meet DPs checks, beat enrage timers, among other things. The gear is not, so much, a reward as it is a necessity. So, it’s not a “ridiculous double-standard” as you put it. Would you wager that a group of PvP-ers, in no gear, can and will beat a group of casuals in top-tier gear? I’d wager that they can. But, I’m pretty sure you cannot clear NiM in no gear.

 

While obv naked vs geared PvP doesn't have quite the same gap as naked vs NiM PvE, the gap still exists. That's all I am saying. Obviously NiM should drop the highest tier gear, but both PvP and PvE should drop cosmetic rewards too. In fact I would be perfectly happy if Bioware went back to the system where PvP didn't drop the highest tier gear AT ALL, as long as it gave us enough to kill the advantage of hihg-tier gear in PvP (I miss Expertise )

 

 

OWPvP was dead even when it was super easy to get a full set of Ranked PvP gear. Every PvP-er had a full set of top-tier PvP gear the moment the patch hits, because they just saved up tons of Wz commendations to meet the gear upgrade. There was no further incentive to do PvP wzs besides having “fun” and gearing up their alts ( plus the occasional conquest rewards, which is a PvE thing anyways).

 

Well there was incentive to do warzones still. Crafting + Credits + Med/Adrenals + Commendations for alts + Ranked Commendations.

 

The point still stands, Bioware could come up with a system that makes willingly click on the "Queue PvP" button, they should similarly come up with a system that keeps people present in the PvP instances.

 

 

I have several toons on the Leader boards, maybe they are between numbers 24,995th and 25,000th but they are there. That doesn’t make me a PvP-er. It simple means, I tried ranked PvP a couple times. I just wanted the season tokens, plus the Unassembled Components. As for Ilum, it has a PvP area; the entire event is not PvP. And as soon as ‘casuals’ get killed at the pylon two times, in a row, by the same idiots, they just go back to the PvE part. Plus, it has a variety of quests that appeal to all: there is an Ops for raiders, and then there are daily quests and Heroics for PvE-ers. The PvP area, hardly, has anyone in it.

 

The Ranked PvP thing was just an approximation, that's the best we can guess at without asking Bioware for their metrics. If you have a better approximation for how many PvPers the game has, please share it, because I am genuinely curious to see how significant a population we are here.

 

In Gree Event Ilum, while the PvE instance is obviously more populated, I have never seen it empty. Even as late as 3 am, it always has at least 10 people online, and during prime time it's brimming with activity, including people going for the easier version of the Heroic, and going for the PvP mission that allows you to avoid mid entirely. The point is, by just having people present there, the PvP happens, and judging by how common calls for "LFG for mid" or "someone wanna help me kill those gankers?" are in chat, it is pretty active.

 

Not because I disagree with your point of view, means I hate PvP. As a matter of fact, a good PvP match is far more rewarding, intrinsically, than completing a master mode FP. The problem with PvP is not the activity itself, but the caliber of players who favor this activity. The argument that PvP-ers are ‘disagreeable’ has always been the bone of contention from players, who do not consider themselves to be true PvP-ers.

 

 

 

Errmm, actually, I flagged most of my toons, but in most cases, the instances only have 2-6 people max. As I said, not because I disagree with your PoV means I do not PvP or go to these instances, even just for the heck of it. PvP-ers do NOT need an incentive to PvP and the “lack of incentive” in OWPVP is not why it is an under-utilized area of game-play. If there are 25,000 PvP-ers, here, why aren’t the instances full or more people? You can resort to whatever personal attack you want but PvP-ers have always been the problem with PvP.

 

Toxic attitudes are basically always gonna be there in an MMO. The problem may seem exacerbated in PvP, simply because there are just more players present, and they're fighting EACH OTHER, which gives them a lot of chances to be a piece of sh*t to someone, but it's not like it doesn't exist in PvE either. Hell, go to the PvE subforum here, there's an entire thread on "The Weird People you Meet in Group Finder" and it's filled with stories of trolls, toxic people. People again put up with that because there's enough content and rewards in PvE to keep them engaged despite the trolls.

 

OWPvP was not badly implemented. PvP should appeal to PvP-oriented players. Why is it not appealing to (you) PvP-ers? Because no rewards? Really? And if they add, say, daily and weekly quests for OWPvP, will that make a difference? I’d wager it wouldn’t. Bioware can’t fix players and that’s the problem. Why do players ‘hate’ PvP? There are a few who dislike the activity itself, but would still engage in a friendly sparring, now and then; but, the majority who dislike this activity is largely because of the toxic attitudes and lack of sportsmanship from PvP-ers. There is enough irrefutable evidence in these forums to support this argument.

 

You can "wager it wouldn't" but the Gree Event shows that simply having an event with rewards is enough to bring people INTO the PvP zone, and that is all it takes for a brawl to start.

 

How to engage the entire community in OWPvP? Make PvP an incidental activity instead of the Primary focus. Yes, Devs are asking for suggestions but they can’t do what is necessary, because it’s gonna cost them. Giving rewards won’t solve the problem of lack of player engagement in OWPvP.

 

You need a daily PvP activity: Empire vs Republic. Create 3 bosses.

 

First boss is Republic and Imperial players must kill it, and Republic players must defend it .Second boss is Empire and Republic players must kill it while Imperial players must defend it. Both bosses spawn in the same location, 50 meters way from each other. Players must coordinate between defending and taking down the opposition. Whichever side boss dies first gets a buff to kill the final boss. Boss will have loot and there is server-wide buff for all players of the fraction that won. The bosses will be in instances, all participants will be flagged for PvP in this instance but there will be a safe zone. If you enter safe zone while in combat you get a debuff. The first two bosses will grant a special buff to all in the instance, when they die (if reps kill imp boss, reps only get the buff and vice versa), which allows access to the instance for the third boss (there is no PvP in here, just killing the boss). Players do not need to be in a group for this activity.

 

Next one is weekly event: Fortress (Dark Vs Light) guild battles.

 

This one is only for guilds. Participating guilds must pay a registration fee. Guild flagships will be used during the siege of the fortress. Guilds will battle to control the fortress; breaking down doors and killing NPCs. Create Pylons in this area to fire on guild ships. Charge pylons/ defend pylons, kill certain NPCs to access fortress. Whichever guild kills the fortress Master occupies the fortress for the entire week. Gets buff on all maps and reduced repair costs, and increased price of selling stuff to NPCs.

 

Flashpoints: Barge in.

 

Players have the option to have others barge in on their FP and contest them for the loot and rewards. Rewards are increased by 150%. For example, if a group is ding Hammer Station, and is flagged for the barge in, another group can enter the FP and try to kill them. They will have to follow the normal Progression of the FP, like killing x boss to move to the next phase of the FP.

 

Spawn NiM bosses in Open world. Loot is the same.

 

Have two weekly event bosses. Drop tier 4 gear. (spawn announced server-wide). For example, Darth Vox is attacking the Republic base in Voss-Ka. Republic Players must defend the base!

 

 

WARZONES should have an area for spectators, especially death matches.

 

All good points, many other PvPers (including myself) have raised the need for including objectives in the Open World that go beyond the simple "murder 10 people". The added variety and the PvPvE dynamic makes for a far richer experience than murdering people and looting their corpses. The murder people option would only work if PvP servers were still a thing, which they just aren't anymore.

 

However, the OW objectives must be in a section of the Open World where players are required to flag PvP on, much like the Southern area in the Gree Event. Otherwise it'll just become another world boss for people to farm in the PvE instances, choosing to not do PvP as its too inconvenient.

Edited June 15, 2017 by EzioMessi

[chaharbagh]

Still waiting for the answer to my question.

[Yezzan]

I don't disagree, PvP is about intrinsic rewards for many players. ........

 

I have to agree that OWPvP shouldn't have the option to toggle/flag one's self for PvP. The entire map should just be a PvP zone. However, we have to account for the disruptive behaviors of toxic players. There has to be safe zones and there has to be penalties for grieving. I can throw out some suggestions:

 

OWPvP Penalties:

1. Safe Zones - No attacking of players in Safe Zones. These would be any base (area) that has a speeder. If you attack someone in a Safe Zone you get a debuff that will cause the guards to consider you an enemy combatant and they attack you.
   
2. Level Restrictions - If you attack a player that is 26 levels below you, you get a penalty. A debuff* is applied that Reduces certain Attributes
   
3. Kill Restriction - You can only kill a player once ( in one hour) and receive rewards. If you kill the same player more than once, in one hour, there will be no benefit whatsoever.
   
4. Combat Restriction - You cannot enter a safe zone while in combat. Guards will attack you and you get a debuff*
   

* There will be different types of Debuffs:

If you attack a player ONCE ( as in one single hit) in a safe zone, you will get a debuff that reduces your movement speed by 50%, and you cannot sprint or use movement speed abilities ( like force speed, hydraulics overrides, transcendence, etc) for 10 minutes. The guards will not attacked you but they will be paying attention to you.

 

If you attack a player more than once, in the safe zone then you get a debuff that reduces your movement speed by 80%, and all defense and dodge abilities by 30% and you cannot use movement speed abilities; and the guards will attack you. The debuff lasts for 3 hours.

 

If you kill a player in a safe zone, a bounty is placed on your head. A server wide announcement will alert everyone that you are a wanted criminal and should be taken in dead or alive. You will get a debuff that allows any player to attack you anywhere you are for 24 hours ( spent active in game). You will also receive a debuff that prevents you from using any skills at all, another one that makes you disoriented ( your movement is messed up, down is up, up is down, right is left, etc etc) and movement speed is decreased by an additional 10%: all these, additional debuffs will last for 2 minutes.

 

You do not get a debuff for the kill restriction, meaning you may kill a player over and over in a non-safe zone area without penalty.

 

For the level restriction you will get a bounty placed on your head and the relevant debuff that goes with it.

 

For the combat restrictions you will get the same debuff as you would if you had attacked a player in the safe zone multiple times; guards will attack you.

 

All debuffs will disappear if you are killed by another player or guards. If you kill yourself by, say, jumping off a cliff or usig an exhaust zone, then the debuff will not disappear. You MUST be killed by another player or a guard NPC. You cannot do group activities while you have the debuff ( such as queuing for FPs and warzones, etc).

 

Put PvP patrol NPCs to "enforce" the rules. They will attack any player that has a penalty. Some one their attacks will cause the player to become disoriented as well.

 

 

Other things they could do is to Set up a Duel arena in a neutral zone. Let's say, Nal Hutta. There is no PvP flagging here. You have a duel registration board, you sign up and you get match up for a 1v1. The arena is not in an instance, so people can come and watch. Spectators will be able to see your health and resource bar. It will pop up once they are ring-side.

 

The also needs to come up with another points system for OWPvP that works similar to ranked rating, it goes up and down based no kills and deaths. You get a character flair to show your "rating" and it allows you to buy certain cosmetics gear.

 

They could also introduce an apprenticeship system. Where a player can take on an apprentice after reaching a certain level and achieving a certain objective. For Example, a Sith Warrior who has achieved the title of Lord and is level 30 can take another player as an apprentice. The apprenticeship will last util that player has become a Lord and has reach level 30 or the apprentice or master can rescind the arrangement after 72 hours. Can explain this more but it will take another post.

 

As I said there are a lot of things that can be done to make PvP interesting but it is gonna cost BW money and that the tough sell.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Yezzan

[Ylliarus]

In regards to character customization and QoL improvements mentioned in the Roadmap, could we perhaps see more items added to the Adaptive Gear vendor? There are still a lot of amazing and beautiful armour sets that were removed when KotFE hit from planetary vendors etc. which I think would be a very welcome sight to see with many players who loved them. One such armour set could perhaps be the Darth Baras one with his mask, but then designed in such a way that both male and female versions of the outfit are unrevealing (an issue I talk about this this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=924787 ). But still there are a lot of armour sets missing that were available before that still haven't had their return into the game and are terribly missed by the community. Seeing them returned to the mentioned vendor, or another one, would be a gigantic and epic QoL improvement Edited June 16, 2017 by Ylliarus

[EzioMessi]

I have to agree that OWPvP shouldn't have the option to toggle/flag one's self for PvP. The entire map should just be a PvP zone. However, we have to account for the disruptive behaviors of toxic players. There has to be safe zones and there has to be penalties for grieving. I can throw out some suggestions:

 

OWPvP Penalties:

1. Safe Zones - No attacking of players in Safe Zones. These would be any base (area) that has a speeder. If you attack someone in a Safe Zone you get a debuff that will cause the guards to consider you an enemy combatant and they attack you.
   
2. Level Restrictions - If you attack a player that is 26 levels below you, you get a penalty. A debuff* is applied that Reduces certain Attributes
   
3. Kill Restriction - You can only kill a player once ( in one hour) and receive rewards. If you kill the same player more than once, in one hour, there will be no benefit whatsoever.
   
4. Combat Restriction - You cannot enter a safe zone while in combat. Guards will attack you and you get a debuff*
   

* There will be different types of Debuffs:

If you attack a player ONCE ( as in one single hit) in a safe zone, you will get a debuff that reduces your movement speed by 50%, and you cannot sprint or use movement speed abilities ( like force speed, hydraulics overrides, transcendence, etc) for 10 minutes. The guards will not attacked you but they will be paying attention to you.

 

If you attack a player more than once, in the safe zone then you get a debuff that reduces your movement speed by 80%, and all defense and dodge abilities by 30% and you cannot use movement speed abilities; and the guards will attack you. The debuff lasts for 3 hours.

 

If you kill a player in a safe zone, a bounty is placed on your head. A server wide announcement will alert everyone that you are a wanted criminal and should be taken in dead or alive. You will get a debuff that allows any player to attack you anywhere you are for 24 hours ( spent active in game). You will also receive a debuff that prevents you from using any skills at all, another one that makes you disoriented ( your movement is messed up, down is up, up is down, right is left, etc etc) and movement speed is decreased by an additional 10%: all these, additional debuffs will last for 2 minutes.

 

You do not get a debuff for the kill restriction, meaning you may kill a player over and over in a non-safe zone area without penalty.

 

For the level restriction you will get a bounty placed on your head and the relevant debuff that goes with it.

 

For the combat restrictions you will get the same debuff as you would if you had attacked a player in the safe zone multiple times; guards will attack you.

 

All debuffs will disappear if you are killed by another player or guards. If you kill yourself by, say, jumping off a cliff or usig an exhaust zone, then the debuff will not disappear. You MUST be killed by another player or a guard NPC. You cannot do group activities while you have the debuff ( such as queuing for FPs and warzones, etc).

 

Put PvP patrol NPCs to "enforce" the rules. They will attack any player that has a penalty. Some one their attacks will cause the player to become disoriented as well.

 

 

Other things they could do is to Set up a Duel arena in a neutral zone. Let's say, Nal Hutta. There is no PvP flagging here. You have a duel registration board, you sign up and you get match up for a 1v1. The arena is not in an instance, so people can come and watch. Spectators will be able to see your health and resource bar. It will pop up once they are ring-side.

 

The also needs to come up with another points system for OWPvP that works similar to ranked rating, it goes up and down based no kills and deaths. You get a character flair to show your "rating" and it allows you to buy certain cosmetics gear.

 

They could also introduce an apprenticeship system. Where a player can take on an apprentice after reaching a certain level and achieving a certain objective. For Example, a Sith Warrior who has achieved the title of Lord and is level 30 can take another player as an apprentice. The apprenticeship will last util that player has become a Lord and has reach level 30 or the apprentice or master can rescind the arrangement after 72 hours. Can explain this more but it will take another post.

 

As I said there are a lot of things that can be done to make PvP interesting but it is gonna cost BW money and that the tough sell.

 

I do like the idea of harsh punishments for griefing, but I see two small problems in there.

 

1. If you kill a player over and over, I do agree that its griefing in many cases. But there are a lot of cases where I have had prolonged duels between two groups, where respawned players came back in. This happened in the latest Gree event for me, where my group was attacked by a Guardian tank, Sage heals and Operative DPS, and they were able to turtle long enough that whoever died would respawn and attack us. In this case, there was no griefing involved at all, it was two groups going at it over and over again (we did eventually whittle down all of them long enough that 2 of them died, the third barriered, and I popped a speed boost to disengage with my group). Now I'd be mighty annoyed if the players I killed 7 times only dropped rewards the first time, so there should be a condition for that rule; if the respawned player attacks the person that killed them, then they will drop a reward because they engaged in willing combat. If the original attacker attacks the respawned player, no reward will be dropped, to discourage griefing.

 

2. Base attacking is fun though. I would rather they make the base guard NPC possible to defeat, so that fights can happen in base, and players who want to disengage can easily do so during the respawn stealth timer. However the guard NPCs should basically grow in numbers and strength over time, to the point that if the enemy has spent long enough in the base, they'll get instakilled and it'll act as a soft reset for the defenders.

[casirabit]

Keith,

 

Is there a reason we don't get command points in one of the dailies on CZ-198, the ant-toxin recovery. We get it for killing the elite but we don't get any command points in killing the Mutated specimens.

 

Thank you.

[chaharbagh]

Keith,

 

What species are Grenkk and Sellexith? I've been waiting for an official answer.

[fifteendollers]

Hey Keith, when will you be selling the original Tracer Missile animation?

[chaharbagh]

The species of Grenkk and Sellexith, anyone?

[Vlanzche]

That is not in our plans for this year. It may be something we can consider in the future, so I'll add it to our growing list of ideas.

 

-Keith--

 

What else is being considered ? In particular, anything else that will actually benefit the Foundation of this MMO as opposed to useless ThemeParks Content that'll be abandoned after a few months

 

( i.e. Something that'll constantly be relevant / " Universal " )

[KeithKanneg]

What else is being considered ? In particular, anything else that will actually benefit the Foundation of this MMO as opposed to useless ThemeParks Content that'll be abandoned after a few months

 

( i.e. Something that'll constantly be relevant / " Universal " )

Ummm...my comment was in response to PvE version of GSF. But, to answer your question, we are in the process of providing more MMO content which includes updates for the variety of game systems offered by SWTOR including, Flashpoints, Operations, PvP, GSF, story updates, companion changes, just to name a few. Those efforts should benefit the foundation of this MMO, although t do enjoy themepark content, too.

 

What I'm also hoping is by the increased dialog, weekly discussion threads, and regular ole, "what a great idea" type of messages, we'll deliver lots of changes enjoyable for a wide range of different play styles.

 

--Keith-

[fifteendollers]

Ummm...my comment was in response to PvE version of GSF. But, to answer your question, we are in the process of providing more MMO content which includes updates for the variety of game systems offered by SWTOR including, Flashpoints, Operations, PvP, GSF, story updates, companion changes, just to name a few. Those efforts should benefit the foundation of this MMO, although t do enjoy themepark content, too.

 

What I'm also hoping is by the increased dialog, weekly discussion threads, and regular ole, "what a great idea" type of messages, we'll deliver lots of changes enjoyable for a wide range of different play styles.

 

--Keith-

 

Hey Keith, when will you be selling the original Tracer Missile animation?

 

You can give me an answer now or I can keep asking till the end of time.

Edited June 17, 2017 by fifteendollers

[redkungfu]

Is it possible to combine GSF, PvP, and Flagships into one giant PvP match? Imagine a Battlefront-esque scenario where each team commands Flagship with the options of manning the turbolasers or launching an assault on the enemy Flagship in a star fighter. Players could land in the enemy vessel and switch to PvP on foot, battling the defenders inside the enemy Flagship. Is this type of gameplay even possible, and if so, is it something you would consider?

[KeithKanneg]

Hey Keith, when will you be selling the original Tracer Missile animation?

 

You can give me an answer now or I can keep asking till the end of time.

It's like 2:30am here in Texas, but I wanted to make sure you didn't keep asking until the end of time...If we were to do something like that, it would be the most expensive Cartel Market item known to exist EVAR, as you'd likely be the only player to actually purchase it. But, if you'll promise to stop asking, I will seriously look into it. Deal?

 

Keith---

[fifteendollers]

It's like 2:30am here in Texas, but I wanted to make sure you didn't keep asking until the end of time...If we were to do something like that, it would be the most expensive Cartel Market item known to exist EVAR, as you'd likely be the only player to actually purchase it. But, if you'll promise to stop asking, I will seriously look into it. Deal?

 

Keith---

 

I'll pay whatever it takes. Deal.

[KeithKanneg]

Is it possible to combine GSF, PvP, and Flagships into one giant PvP match? Imagine a Battlefront-esque scenario where each team commands Flagship with the options of manning the turbolasers or launching an assault on the enemy Flagship in a star fighter. Players could land in the enemy vessel and switch to PvP on foot, battling the defenders inside the enemy Flagship. Is this type of gameplay even possible, and if so, is it something you would consider?

That's one of those 'Wow, great idea type messages", but on this one, I'll have to consult with Charles to see what it would take. Sounds like organized Open World (well, Starship world) PvP and we'd need to figure out how to provide the proper incentives so everyone would want to participate.

 

---Keith

[Yezzan]

Is it possible to combine GSF, PvP, and Flagships into one giant PvP match? Imagine a Battlefront-esque scenario where each team commands Flagship with the options of manning the turbolasers or launching an assault on the enemy Flagship in a star fighter. Players could land in the enemy vessel and switch to PvP on foot, battling the defenders inside the enemy Flagship. Is this type of gameplay even possible, and if so, is it something you would consider?

 

Would have to be a PvP ops with NPCs and about 32 players; 16 on each team.

[Glzmo]

That's one of those 'Wow, great idea type messages", but on this one, I'll have to consult with Charles to see what it would take. Sounds like organized Open World (well, Starship world) PvP and we'd need to figure out how to provide the proper incentives so everyone would want to participate.

 

---Keith

How about fun?

For some reason, Bioware's "incentives" always contain grind, RNG and milking players, when in reality, making it incredible fun for everyone involved is the only true incentive you need (Newsflash: Grind, RNG and milking players actually ruins fun, which Bioware doesn't get, otherwise we wouldn't have the awful command system or command ranks would at least be legacy wide by now instead of getting a measly, expensive little 25% boost for the legacy...).

 

Maybe this scenario could be used to finally have organized PVP where one group (or guild if it was to take place with guild ships - if it's group vs. group or a guild without a ship, generic ships could be used) challenges the other.

On a side note, it would also be nice to have access to private PVP matches in general (without rewards) where groups can challenge each other and choose the warzone that is used, maximum score, time, etc.. Imagine if we could finally make hutball a proper "e-sport" with hutball teams challenging each other in one of the huttball arenas (what everybody hoped for when huttball was first mentioned - huttball isn't all that much fun if you use it as standard PVP grind queue match, but organized with actual teams and characters that fit the setting would be wonderful)!

Edited June 17, 2017 by Glzmo

[LtGeneralGezlin]

First of all, Keith... I love that you are on the forums, posting at 3AM Austin time. But, part of me likes to hope you are either on the fleet, playing the GTN game, or doing those annoying heroics with bad respawn times like the Mutations Heroic on Taris, or the Possessed Hunter Heroic on Dromund Kaas.

 

Which leads me to my second question. Has there ever been talk about either tweaking the respawn times for those Heroics, or putting them behind an instanced wall, just to make finishing them, and the GC dailies easier?

 

Also, I would be willing to make a crate full of Wookiee Cookiees for the whole studio if we can get some more KotOR armors in game. I have an addiction... eh, I mean... a collection to complete!

[Yezzan]

I do like the idea of harsh punishments for griefing, but I see two small problems in there.

 

1. If you kill a player over and over, I do agree that its griefing in many cases. But there are a lot of cases where I have had prolonged duels between two groups, where respawned players came back in. This happened in the latest Gree event for me, where my group was attacked by a Guardian tank, Sage heals and Operative DPS, and they were able to turtle long enough that whoever died would respawn and attack us. In this case, there was no griefing involved at all, it was two groups going at it over and over again (we did eventually whittle down all of them long enough that 2 of them died, the third barriered, and I popped a speed boost to disengage with my group). Now I'd be mighty annoyed if the players I killed 7 times only dropped rewards the first time, so there should be a condition for that rule; if the respawned player attacks the person that killed them, then they will drop a reward because they engaged in willing combat. If the original attacker attacks the respawned player, no reward will be dropped, to discourage griefing.

 

2. Base attacking is fun though. I would rather they make the base guard NPC possible to defeat, so that fights can happen in base, and players who want to disengage can easily do so during the respawn stealth timer. However the guard NPCs should basically grow in numbers and strength over time, to the point that if the enemy has spent long enough in the base, they'll get instakilled and it'll act as a soft reset for the defenders.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Duels in open world has no penalty, except for the level restriction, where, for example, a level 70 cannot go to Korriban and wail on level 10 players. The one hour restriction on rewards for kills ( rating, etc) is to prevent grieving and win trading. I mean, what's to stop two friends from going to an area in the open world and kill each other and rack up rewards and rating? So the restriction is to plug any loop holes and encourage players to kill different people.

 

For the base attacking, the guards are kill-able. So you will not get a penalty for going to a base and attacking guards, the penalty is for killing people in the safe zone. So, you Empire players go to a Republic base, the guards would automatically attack as per usual, however, those Empire Players cannot attack any Republic Player in the safe Zone without the penalty. They would need to implement a safe zone buff with an onscreen notification that you are in the safe zone and the same when you have left the safe zone.

 

A single player would not be able to kill a guard because guards should typically have a passive health regen while in combat.

 

Guards should also be 20 levels about their planet's max level.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Yezzan

[Icykill_]

It's like 2:30am here in Texas, but I wanted to make sure you didn't keep asking until the end of time...If we were to do something like that, it would be the most expensive Cartel Market item known to exist EVAR, as you'd likely be the only player to actually purchase it. But, if you'll promise to stop asking, I will seriously look into it. Deal?

 

Keith---

 

Get some sleep or you'll burn out 😴

[Icykill_]

Is it possible to combine GSF, PvP, and Flagships into one giant PvP match? Imagine a Battlefront-esque scenario where each team commands Flagship with the options of manning the turbolasers or launching an assault on the enemy Flagship in a star fighter. Players could land in the enemy vessel and switch to PvP on foot, battling the defenders inside the enemy Flagship. Is this type of gameplay even possible, and if so, is it something you would consider?

 

Sounds like one of the WoW battlegrounds, especially the one with the air ship and you parachute into the enemy castle 😊

[Icykill_]

Thanks for the feedback. Duels in open world has no penalty, except for the level restriction, where, for example, a level 70 cannot go to Korriban and wail on level 10 players. The one hour restriction on rewards for kills ( rating, etc) is to prevent grieving and win trading. I mean, what's to stop two friends from going to an area in the open world and kill each other and rack up rewards and rating? So the restriction is to plug any loop holes and encourage players to kill different people.

 

For the base attacking, the guards are kill-able. So you will not get a penalty for going to a base and attacking guards, the penalty is for killing people in the safe zone. So, you Empire players go to a Republic base, the guards would automatically attack as per usual, however, those Empire Players cannot attack any Republic Player in the safe Zone without the penalty. They would need to implement a safe zone buff with an onscreen notification that you are in the safe zone and the same when you have left the safe zone.

 

A single player would not be able to kill a guard because guards should typically have a passive health regen while in combat.

 

Guards should also be 20 levels about their planet's max level.

 

True, but I do love those lvl 70s from your own faction who camp the start planets and try and trick people to duel them by spamming the duel button. Killing them at lvl 14 is the most fun I've had in ages lol