Discussion Topic: Game Update 5.4 and the Next Roadmap

[darthscotty]

I would like to see a frank discussion about what your plans are for returning the old companions. Give us some of your ideas for returning them. Allow us to give you some feedback on what we like and what we don't like. Charles mentioned in one of his posts that he knows people are about out of patience on this issue and he is right. I think it would be nice to allow us to give you our thoughts and what we would like to see. The new flashpoint and Stronghold are nice and appreciated however, it is answers on our old companions that I really want some answers too.

[LordAppius]

Disappointment.... Bioware you never fail to deliver that in large quantities

 

By a few times you mean 25 ?

 

Gear rating ? Well i guess Bioware is like those players that think gear makes a good player.... Shady way to force players to get gear in order to play the game

Edited July 22, 2017 by LordAppius
Bioware's poor decisions

[Estelindis]

Love the sound of the new stronghold - and was not expecting one at all so soon after Manaan.

 

Once you are finished with the SH releases, I'd love to see you turn towards some SH QoL issues. But for now, roll on the SHs!

[Thaladan]

just nerf maras and operatives to the ground, thx in advance.

 

ps : operatives more.

[Psychopyro]

I'm sorry but the gear rating requirement is a BAD idea....

 

It's just going to lead to people not playing content or worse, not ppl are going to say if your gear rating doesn't equal this you can't go even for SM groups for ops and stuff....

 

Sorry, but PvE gear requirements of top gear for FPs is stupid to the highest order... Hell I can out DPS people in full 246 gear in 236... Skill can over come gear in FPs to a point. Punishing ppl for crappy RNG is unfair at best. I've still not replaced a good chunk of my 236 cause I have not been blessed by RNJesus with 242 and I'm already CR 253.... And I don't have the components to trade in for 242 because I don't want to PvP right now....

[ThadiusMoor]

[*]Umbara Stronghold – This is the most unique stronghold yet, as you will be able to decorate your own moving train. You’ll need to complete the flashpoint a few times to gain access to the stronghold. Look for more details about the Stronghold in an upcoming post

 

I sure hope this isn't going to be another "5-room" tiny stronghold with terrible layouts again...

 

Manaan was such a huge disappointment.

 

Please don't give us another disappointment.

 

Being a train, I sure hope this will be a long train of at least 10-15 cars long, with exceptional layouts that allow the flexability to make it actually look like a LUXURY train.

 

Also, please don't make the scenery loop on a very short turn-around. Give the background scenery a very long loop so it always looks like you are actually going somewhere that isn't a small circular track going round and round...

 

The small stronghold folks got their tiny place with Manaan. Now we want a massive one next.

[Setokai]

Hey everyone,

 

 

 

 

s.

[*]Class balance – The following Disciplines are receiving changes (details will follow in the next few weeks):

 

[*]Carnage / Combat

.

 

Keep in mind, our goal for this year was to put us on a track of providing new and challenging multi-player content, while addressing all the gameplay systems in SWTOR. It does mean spreading content out over the year, but I still believe having access to content sooner is more desirable than having to wait a year to get it all at once.

 

Chat with you all soon.

 

Keith

With the upcoming change for that sentinal/marauder spec, would it be possible to see an upgrade to force choke/force stasis?

[themachinemann]

great work keith. sorry people are salty about the gear thing and their fave class not getting a buff, but you're delivering a lot in this patch. the stronghold sounds great, and looking forward to qol and balance changes.

 

it's definitely true that gear doesn't make a player good (same as gear or valor for ranked) but it's an easy way to weed out those that want to be carried. if I go into a mm fp and a player has, say, 230 gear with no augs, I die a little inside. They might turn out to be amazing but it's the rare exception. If people don't want to get a group but would like to gear alts, they can simply move their 244-248 set from another character... or, as eric made clear, get gear with ops or unassembled components as the primary source rather than relying on rng crates.

that being said, 242 is higher than required for most (all) mm's and will reduce the number of players in groupfinder but see what happens.

[Eshvara]

the great **** nerfs will continue

 

As they should! Though not for all classes. I also think operative concealment should be left alone.

[Aries_cz]

Umbara Stronghold – This is the most unique stronghold yet, as you will be able to decorate your own moving train. You’ll need to complete the flashpoint a few times to gain access to the stronghold. Look for more details about the Stronghold in an upcoming post.

 

Choo choo, motherf**kers!!

[RevorteX]

The new Stronghold you will introduce is sweeet! Thumbs up for that!

 

Increasing Unssambled components for PVP is also a good news for us pvpers,who grind for vendor gear that way ^_^.

 

Class balance - Why is not the DPS Sorcerer still not among the list? The class is in need of serious maintenance and changes to be viable. Please consider adding it.

 

The need of 242 gear to complete the hardest content will only bring negativity from players who have lower geared toons but have enough skill to complete content even when entering GF. Please reconsider this.

[Mewsy]

I hope hope hope the Zakuul SH is still in the works, I've spent a few hundred mil collecting Zakuulan decos lol.

 

On another note, I think 242 is too high. Maybe 234 or 236?

[Icykill_]

[*]Class balance – The following Disciplines are receiving changes (details will follow in the next few weeks):

• Lethality / Ruffian
  
• Concealment / Scrapper
  
• Medicine / Sawbones
  
• Fury / Concentration
  
• Carnage / Combat
  

[*]

 

Keith,

Once again you have left Lightning Sorcs off the list. You know they need help with DPS output.. everyone has been telling you for 6 months... both PVE guys and PVPers have been pointing out why they need help... but last patch you not only ignored their dps output, you went and nerfed their healing and defences so now they are both rubbish in dps output and being able to stay alive.

 

"PLEASE FIX LIGHTNING SORC"

 

It's things like this that have finally made me unsubscribe after 5 years on continuous subscription. It runs out next month and I will be sorry to leave. But you guys just do not get how badly you have ruined the game with 5.x... while you take one step forward to fixing it... you take two steps back...

 

Anyway.. I hope you read the feed back I wrote when I unsubbed.. you've got access to my details.

When your most loyal subscribers keep unsubbing you need to pay attention as to why. I'm not sure how much longer the game will survive if your long term loyal player base keeps leaving. It's not like the population is increasing and seems to get smaller with everyone of these patches.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Icykill_

[Shirvington]

We are making changes to daily and weekly mission rewards for PvP with the intent of substantially improving Unassembled Component gain for players who complete both Ranked and Unranked missions.

 

Just make UC Legacy already. Stop dancing around it, buffing it here or there. Just make them Legacy.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Shirvington

[Rzfk]

Gotta love the Nerfs, as if it was not already bad enough that most Australians cannot get higher then 8K DPS they go ahead and nerf our DPS down to below 7K DPS. I wish for once that DPS in the game could just be left alone. but you know americans have to screw it up for the rest of the world.

 

if our original DPS from 1.0 was left alone everyone would now be doing 25k DPS or higher but because americans always break things and have to cheat and Hack our DPS is still no where near 10K DPS.

 

it will probably take another 5 or 6 years before Australians can actually do the required DPS for level 70 content.

[Icykill_]

So are you guys going to take a smarter approach to your class balance changes and release them on the PTR to see how they would actually affect more than just one aspect of the game(this requires you to actually take our feedback)? Or are you just going to nerf nerf nerf and call it good making content slowly more difficult to complete(more so than it already is since you basically have to have certain classes that were untouched in order to meet the current dps checks)?

 

I see you guys changing a lot and just throwing it in our face instead of asking us, the community, what we think of the changes and how maybe some should be switched.

 

Oh, they asked... and we gave them feed back... but they've just totally ignored it... not sure why they even bothered asking when they knew they didn't mean it.

[matthobbit]

Here's my thoughts:

1. I'm super excited about the new stronghold.

2. Gear restrictions on master FPs are a great way to drive people away from playing the game. Especially people who know the FP mechanics and can do them just fine with low gear.

3. WHERE ARE THE $&$$ LIGHTNING/TK BUFFS!?!!

[scardera]

I'm having that person's same issue on harbinger for the operations and daily area boss. Finding very, very few (or none at all) public / non-guild only groups going during the times of the day which I can play (Aussie afternoons/evenings) and it's meant to be one of the more populated servers. I'm never saying "don't release more group stuff" I'm just "where's the people to do this group stuff with without requiring me to leave my amazing but small guild community". ie- group finder never popping and rarely seeing anyone at all asking for more people for their group.

 

it was easy to form ops group on JC until 1 month ago its now mostly gold seller and troll on fleet

[Jedi_riches]

OK so you left tk sage and lightning sorc off the balance once again so obviously this is the level you seem to want all classes to be does that mean you are nerfing operations since we don't meat the dps checks.

[Rheshalea]

Adding my voice to those who have talked about the new Stronghold and decorations.

I bought Manaan and did a decent enough job decoration it until I got to about 80%. After that I resorted to cramming it full of Zakuulan Prototype Medical Probes.

I'd like to avoid ever doing that again because of the Conquest bonus. Decoration drops need to be a thing again, the more and easier to get, the better. Having suitably themed (per planet) decos drop even from trashmobs on a low % chance would keep deco hunters p(l)aying for ages, with higher droprates and maybe slightly different looks from said planet's heroics and FPs and OPs and what-have-you.

Also, decos from Alliance crates and Command Crates. Please.

Decos from Light/Dark vendors.

Decos from crafters - I'd prefer a special "advanced" crafting crew skill that would use materials from all gathering skills, but simply adding directly craftable decos to the existing crafting skills would be nice too. And armorstands/weapon frames we can use to display our favourite armor/weapons.

[Icestar]

A new stronghold, there is still hope

[AllisonLightning]

OK so you left tk sage and lightning sorc off the balance once again so obviously this is the level you seem to want all classes to be does that mean you are nerfing operations since we don't meat the dps checks.

 

If they are 'adjusting' based on 248 gear, my tip is to just not release a gear tier that people can then bring into PvP... I mean they brought up my healer class now, interruptible, lesser burst and overhealing by design (we don't get cute abilities that only work on damage taken) and generally granted the title of most balanced healer by PvP players when they aren't just demanding we all get nerfed into the ground.

 

I'm frelled off because Keith made that joke about the super buff he'd like for us and they've just put this down without any word as to what they plan to do to the entire Operative/Scoundrel class. (The Sorcerer/Sages had class wide HPS/defence nerfs but they weren't announced openly)

 

Hey all,

For example, notice that Operative/Scoundrel healing isn't on this list, yet. Hmmmppffft. They should be in the list, as I want to see my healers indestructible and completely outperforming all other healing classes! Alas, I know we won't do that, but I'd love it, even for a month!!!

 

Keith---

 

This makes me feel ambushed. It's my class and I wouldn't drop it for anything but I expect there not to be comments like this when there's going to be a change. We're considered trash for Ranked and while as long as Objective play isn't a part of Ranked, I have no interest in that but take it in mind we're considered second rate for the ranked arenas compared to the other healers. As this is his healer class, I especially expect him to be honest and upfront like they promised to be.

 

I don't really want a buff either because I know my class is in an okay place and don't trust it not to make us in a position where we'd actually need a nerf. Having our utilities and DCDs touched doesn't sit well with me either because it'd be purely as a way to reduce DPS survivability and they didn't touch the DPS Mercenary/Commandos other than to screw with their heat management (DCDs intact so PvP players are still in straits)... and Operative/Scoundrel healers have to manage energy, so that getting affected is dangerous as well.

 

They need to bring Expertise back because I'm damn sick of gearing becoming an excuse for class changes and an excuse for DPS who couldn't kill a healer playing blindfolded.

Edited July 22, 2017 by AllisonLightning

[Tsillah]

Crisis on Umbara – Our story will continue in a new Flashpoint coming on the planet of Umbara. This Flashpoint will launch with all 3 difficulties, Story, Veteran and Master. For Umbara’s Master Mode we are trying something new, and depending on how well it goes, we may do something similar for all Master Mode Flashpoints. Specifically, a player will need to have an average gear rating of 242 to use Group Finder. We won’t prevent pre-made groups from going in directly, but this will prevent under-geared players from slowing down your group. We’re adding a new average rating identifier on your character window which will be based on the items you have ‘equipped’.

Although I agree that player skill is the biggest bane in the GF, I do recognise that you cannot regulate player skill. I think it's good that you're trying this. However, I do have a question for you. I've played this game since the original beta (give or take a few breaks) and I wonder if you have something that will actually make FPs interesting to me again as an elder player. Let me explain.

 

In the past it felt rewarding to do FPs. For the last 2 years or so I find FPs no longer interesting for two reasons: 1) Pugs are often terrible. You are adressing this point with this idea. 2) FPs are no longer rewarding. At first they were rewarding because you got decent gear rewards that you more or less needed to start doing ops and there were armour skins that were worth getting. That stopped being the case because the cartel packs are the main source for skins now and the skins that you can get in FPs are now sub-par and often variants are available elsewhere. The gear rewards are crap and GC doesn't reward you but it gives you a chance on a reward. So at this moment, I applaud this change, but still have no inclination to do FPs. Decoration drops could've helped but the low drop chance doesn't make it work.

 

Umbara Stronghold – This is the most unique stronghold yet, as you will be able to decorate your own moving train. You’ll need to complete the flashpoint a few times to gain access to the stronghold. Look for more details about the Stronghold in an upcoming post.

A cool new idea because it's moving and there's a different way of acquiring it. At least I will have a reason to do this new FP (as per my comments above).

 

Unfortunately this cool idea is overshadowed by two things that plague me as an avid decorator. First of all the hook placement. Please pay your intern more to place the hooks with more intelligence and symmetry. Secondly, the decoration rarity is taking the fun out of and makes it more and more difficult to execute new themes and ideas as we get more strongholds. We have a max of 6 strongholds, my personal rating is getting close to 200k and I just don't have enough flexibility with the numbers of decorations I need to properly decorate more than 3-4 strongholds. I mean properly. I don't mean putting 200 soldiers, imperial banners and datacrons in every stronghold...I mean properly themed decorating. I really wish you addressed hook placement and decoration rarities. It would make the experience so much better.

 

Companion Customization – Senya Tirall can now have her weapons and armor customized. Also, Lana, Koth, and Senya’s hairstyles are available for purchase to customize your character.

I honestly don't care much about these companions but I see it as a positive thing for many other players.

 

Quality of Life – Companions can now be summoned while moving.

I want to be excited about this but I wonder if it's gonna cost me 2 million per character to unlock or if this will simply be applied to the overall game. Guess which option will not excite me?

 

A new feature on the in-game Preference screen has been added for higher graphic settings to improve the realism of contrast and shadows.

Shadows have always been an iffy thing in this game, so I'm looking forward to this.

[Renata_Roselli]

More nerfs, nice!

[nyrkverse]

Class Balance:

 

It's interesting how people are assuming that class changes mean nerfs only as last round a few of the disciplines being looked over were actually buffed.

 

Concealment in particular doesn't seem like a prime candidate for nerfs to its dps nor does Fury for that matter. I guess we'll see.

 

As for Carnage, I'm sure it's going to be nerfed but, IMO, the discipline is overperforming in good hands only and hopefully you will take this into account.

 

Gear requirements for the new FP in master mode:

 

I'm going to assume the new FP will be tuned for 242 gear and won't have any bolster? Because otherwise requiring an average of 242 gear seems quite excessive, especially because gear is hardly ever the issue. Currently, the game does a terrible job helping and encouraging players to learn their classes better and a gear restriction is not going to help with that at all.

 

As for extending this 242 gear requirements to the rest of the MM flashpoints, that goes way beyond excessive. The players that fail them now don't fail because of gear, ever.

 

On a somewhat selfish note, it's going to be nice to have a harder than average FP again (bit like the early incarnations of Blood Hunt and Battle of Rishi or Lost Island back in the day). But if Umbara is really going to be more challenging than the other FPs, please make the rewards for completing it reflect it. It needs to have something that makes it worth it to run instead of more mindless zerging through Hammer Station once the novelty of it has worn off.