SWTOR Autumn Roadmap 2017

[IoNonSoEVero]

The instances referenced here would be content, not the number of people on a planet/fleet/etc...

 

For example, the Possessed Hunter HEROIC on DK, is not instanced, with a 5 minute respawn on the target. Because some people don't group up, it can take a long time to actually do this.

 

I can't see them redoing the instances for the Saving Face HEROIC on Corsucant or the Mutations Heroic on Taris because there are already instances tied to those heroics, but they could definitely fix the respawn timer on the enemies.

 

Even grouping won't necessarily help. With Possessed Hunter, for instance, okay, now you've got ten groups instead of ten single players fighting to get the target first. Instancing seems the only way to make heroics like those doable.

[DarthSpuds]

Well, Keith did spend quite a while answering questions after the stream.

 

Yes he did, and that is appreciated.

 

However, if you were unable to participate in the Stream you seem to have missed any chance of getting questions answered.

 

The First and Primary avenue of communications between Bioware and the Players should (indeed MUST) be these Forums.

 

Unfortunately that has never once been the case in the entire history of the game.

 

All The Best

[Costello]

Yes he did, and that is appreciated.

 

However, if you were unable to participate in the Stream you seem to have missed any chance of getting questions answered.

 

The First and Primary avenue of communications between Bioware and the Players should (indeed MUST) be these Forums.

 

Unfortunately that has never once been the case in the entire history of the game.

 

All The Best

 

Agreed.

 

And it shouldn't be PM's either.

 

If they are going to have more communication it should be on the forums where everyone can read what is said and all questions are answered. As it stands it seems questions are cherry picked so as to only provide meaningless answers, I am sure if someone to asking Keith what his favorite colour was that would get a response because it looks like communication but doesn't tell anyone anything interesting.

 

And sure I get it, be political, answer the questions you wished people had asked and not the difficult ones, but then you are just ignoring the issues and doing nothing to fix the problem. But at least everyone will know your favorite colour is blue while you wonder why you went from having to open more servers at launch to now being down to five.

[Suzsi]

Respawn times are not the way to fix the issue of kill stealing.

 

Lets say the game does better after the mergers (I know its unlikely as people will be pissed at the loss of their name, rp servers or whatever else) and there are lots of people about. Your out doing a quest kill 10 of this and then one of that. You are having fun killing away then you get to the one of that and there is a queue. So you stand in line and 8 minutes later your up, and then someone steals your kill. Okay only a 2 min wait, only when that spawns someone steals your kill, you waited inline patiently and now your being screwed. Sure your pissed at the kill stealer but more pissed that the game lets them get away with it and actively encourages it, his not wasted 10 minutes to try and complete the quest, his off to the next thing. While you who waited patiently are punished. That its a two minute wait is less annoying than the fact that you are wasting your time cause the game is so stupid it only allows the first person to attack a target credit.

 

So far better the kill/credit system is redesigned to allow anyone that does say 3% damage to a target gets credit.

 

In the secret world legends ( formerly the Secret World ) any damage to a quest target gets credit so anyone around trying to do the same quest who hits the targ even once gets credit. It works very well and eliminates all issues of kill stealing.

[Kalarie]

After reading the roadmap very carefully one thing is clear....

 

Absolutely nothing new for the Collector's Edition Vendor, or VIP or Security Key Vendors for that matter. The CE vendor AKA a constant reminder of broken promises from the very beginning.

[Totemdancer]

Hey Eric, I saw an idea on Reddit on how to help with the concern people have regarding character limits and being able to create new characters without deleting ones they already have and I’ve expanded on it. (Credit to Busty-Merc)

Totally hear you on this, and it is a fair concern. We are looking at two numbers to potentially increase. First, maximum chars allowed per server (currently 52) and the amount of "default" char slots a sub has (currently 12). Hoping to have some locked down details to share in the next couple of weeks, with the ultimate goal of largely alleviating the issue you presented above.

 

The option would be to count how many empty slots people currently have across servers they currently have characters on and are active. Then add that on top of the total number of merged characters on each of the 5 remaining servers as long as the number of empty slots doesn’t exceed the number of opened slots.

 

For example : You have 30 slot already open -

* You have 30 filled on Harbinger, 25 filled on Bastion and 20 filled on Begeren. Which means you have 15 total empty slots to go on to Satele Shan.

* You have 25 filled on TEH, 20 Shadowlands, 10 POT5, 10 Jung Ma and 5 Jedi Cov. Which means you will have 30 empty slots to add to Star Forge because the amount of empty slots would have been more than the previous opened slots.

* Say you have zero characters on each of the EU servers. In that case the opened slots would still be 30 or what ever the new minimum is.

 

If Bioware were to decide to increased the minimum base slots per server above the amount of opened slots you already had, then you would have more to add to the server, but still based on the formula above.

For example :

* You had 30 slots already open and the base slots is increased to 40.

* You would be able to add the extra 10 slots to those examples above. ie, Satele Shan would go to 25 empty slots, Star Forge and the EU servers would go to 40 empty slots.

 

Eric and Keith, I feel this is the most fair way to proceed so that people who have already paid for more characters slots aren’t disadvantaged and those who are currently under the default amount of slots don’t lose their current empty character slots they already have.

I hope that made sense. If I didn’t explain it correctly or you have questions, please feel free to PM me

 

Edit: I think I’ll create another thread to discuss this particular topic because people might have ideas I haven’t thought of to refine this solution,

[Darkrebellord]

So the servers are merging that to me means this game is just about dead in the water it is like when company tells you for months it is running great but in the back ground you are watching your fellow colleagues job descriptions change then they disappear out the door and you finally find out the company has gone under and their is no money left.

 

This was due to the company losing customers because the company didn't want to hear what was wrong with it and only appease to those that were close to them.

[casirabit]

Keith:

 

On the dark and light vendor can you please put some decorations, other items there. I have already gotten everything from that vendor so it makes my dark/light tokens useless to me and I doubt I am the only one.

 

Thanks.

[DarthScruffy]

Keith:

 

On the dark and light vendor can you please put some decorations, other items there. I have already gotten everything from that vendor so it makes my dark/light tokens useless to me and I doubt I am the only one.

 

Thanks.

 

So much this.

[Mikel_p]

Hey...

I was wondering about legacy storage in the new merger...Is there any chance that if u have legacy bank on multiple servers that the tabs will stack into 1 legacy bank? say i have 6 tabs open on Jedi Cov and 5 open in Ebon Hawk that i will end up with 11 on the new server? probably wishful thinking but consider we pay cartel coins or credits... it would be nice to keep what we paid for...

[DanNV]

So the servers are merging that to me means this game is just about dead in the water it is like when company tells you for months it is running great but in the back ground you are watching your fellow colleagues job descriptions change then they disappear out the door and you finally find out the company has gone under and their is no money left.

 

This was due to the company losing customers because the company didn't want to hear what was wrong with it and only appease to those that were close to them.

 

Unfortunately, this is about it. They needed to merge servers 2 years ago to have a real affect.

[iFenris]

In the secret world legends ( formerly the Secret World ) any damage to a quest target gets credit so anyone around trying to do the same quest who hits the targ even once gets credit. It works very well and eliminates all issues of kill stealing.

 

ESO does something similar, I used to farm a world boss for easy levelling and there would usually be like 40-60 people there and it worked out great.

[Costello]

I appreciate that this is a very similar feeling to the people that watched Episode One and then got disappointed that it didn't magically transport them back to 1977 when they watched Star Wars for the first time and to be blown away by the visuals the story the magic. I want every update to transport me back to early access and logging on, creating my sith warrior meeting up with my friend and exploring Korriban.

 

I forget what it was like to compete with others for kills, 6 slugs meant running around looking for slugs. Or having massive shoulders or all medium armour being horrible looking till you got to the black hole gear. In my mind, I want to go back to a story where I'm a sith warrior not some generic outlander and I keep hoping that I will see the road map taking this route. Now my friend and many more beside have quit playing long ago, some cause the end game was nothing like the leveling experience others because grinding out ops every week became very dull, some just because a different game offered more.

 

Now the big thing in 5.5 is nerfs and server mergers. Which leaves little to encourage my friend from early access to come back. Come back, your class will be worse! But also if the server mergers work you will have to compete with others to complete quests! But more you will also almost certainly have lost your characters name (unless its awful and no one else wants it)!

 

While 5.6 seems to mostly focus on group play, this likewise doesn't seem to appeal to returning players, sure some people may like it. But it seems unlikely someone returning to the game without decent gear or much experience will want to jump into PvP or end game group content.

 

So when I see the roadmap I wonder what the goal is, who is Keith aiming his new direction of content at. We know the final part of the story will be in a flashpoint, so no specific solo content through to 2018. So while I know my own hope the game will ever be able to return me back to early access with my friend and I playing through the Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor (+many many world quests) enjoying an amazing story spanning iconic worlds is like wishing a movie can transport you to 1977. I'd like to know what the end goal of this road map is. Who is it to appeal to and how will that help the game, the subscription numbers or even the player base.

 

Over the last 2 years the game has become more instanced based, log on complete whatever content is added in its own little bubble and then log off. This seems to be the same path, an op boss locked behind an instance, a flashpoint locked behind and instance, and 2 pvp maps that are stand alone locked behind instances. There seems to be little open world or massive multiplayer about it. The content could easily be seen in a co-op addition to a single player game than an MMO and is this the crowd it is aimed at. If so is it a realistic prospect that its worth charging a subscription for. If that is the case come next year will the last 5 servers be turned off or is there a plan to restore the game to the early days when you and a friend could explore these amazing worlds and amazing stories.

[IoNonSoEVero]

In the secret world legends ( formerly the Secret World ) any damage to a quest target gets credit so anyone around trying to do the same quest who hits the targ even once gets credit. It works very well and eliminates all issues of kill stealing.

 

But on the other hand doesn't that also raise the possibility that someone could, say, hit a World Boss once and then run away or sit back and let everyone else do the work - and get the same credit as much as the people who actually did the work? I'm used to people being horrible about this stuff in SWTOR, so that's what I'd envision. Maybe modify that so you have to do at least 10% damage to get credit?

[Mikel_p]

Just a small question for the Devs... Is the server merger going to clear out our outfit designer tabs similar to a character transfer? technically our characters are all going to a new server...so thought i would ask...

[Eshvara]

Just a small question for the Devs... Is the server merger going to clear out our outfit designer tabs similar to a character transfer? technically our characters are all going to a new server...so thought i would ask...

 

They stated in the roadmap that outfits remain unchanged.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Eshvara

[GreySpawn]

Probably missed the answer, but what will happen to our command crates in cargo/inventory on implementation of final patch? Will they obey new rules(1 more slot, disintegrate stuff into unassembled), disintegrate or remain the same? In short - is there a point to stock up?

[casirabit]

Probably missed the answer, but what will happen to our command crates in cargo/inventory on implementation of final patch? Will they obey new rules(1 more slot, disintegrate stuff into unassembled), disintegrate or remain the same? In short - is there a point to stock up?

 

Keith answered that back on this page:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9428804#edit9428804

[GreySpawn]

Thank you.

 

Anything about disintegration of the items in the command stash? Will only post-patch items disintegrate into unassembled components or old ones will also?

[iFenris]

But on the other hand doesn't that also raise the possibility that someone could, say, hit a World Boss once and then run away or sit back and let everyone else do the work - and get the same credit as much as the people who actually did the work? I'm used to people being horrible about this stuff in SWTOR, so that's what I'd envision. Maybe modify that so you have to do at least 10% damage to get credit?

 

I think if I remember in ESO, if you stopped attacking the boss after an X amount of seconds it will think you have "left combat" and therefore no longer eligible for credit.

[darkfunifuteur]

will private chat channels follow on new servers ?

[Thunderisaclone]

This may have been answered already but was not clear after reading development tracker>

 

Currently, a Premium (Subscriber) account is allowed a maximum of 52 characters per server. Following the United Forces update, accounts with more than 52 characters on a server will be accommodated. You will still be able to access and play each of those characters. However, if you wish to make any new characters after that point, you will need to delete characters until you are back at or below the cap of 52.

 

For Free-to-Play accounts, this process will work a little differently. Following the United Forces update, if your account has characters beyond the Free-to-Play limit of 2, then all your characters will be set to ‘deactivated’. This allows you to log in and choose which characters you would like to activate and play.

 

So what happens to subs if they end there sub but re-sub at a later date?

 

Will they regain access to all of there characters or be reduced to the number of character slots they have?

 

Such as I have lets say 30 slots available. After the merge I will have lets say 70 characters. As a sub I get access to all 70 characters.

 

I then end my sub. so fall to the preferred number of character slots which would be 22? 24? so need to pick which ones I want to activate.

 

The above I get and understand.

 

However you have not said what happen if someone re-subs at a later date. Do they go back to just the 30 character slots out of the 70 character they have on the new server? or do they regain access to all 70 characters?

 

Can you please answer this question. I know the whole community will have an opinion on this, but I really only want the facts and not other player opinions based on nothing.

[Krazhez]

Hey Keith or Eric.

 

About names, I get the lay out you've put up, inactive of 90 days and if they're also under level 10 they'll auto lose a name dispute. That's great, I win some of my names on some servers with no competition because of this.

 

However what are you doing about people who've achieved past level 10? There are inactive people with my names that probably haven't played since 1.0 or even beta. I think the chances are slim they have more play time than me, but some of my alts don't have THAT much playtime really will most likely be beaten, so it's possible for someones main from 1.0 to win a name over my alt. I'd hate that a lot.

 

Hopefully people who've not played in 180 days regardless of level? Might auto lose a name dispute? Or would you like this to be intended, the players who don't play anymore but achieved over 10 to reserve names if they played more ages ago?

 

Any further information specifically on people above level 10 with same name disputes would be greatly appreciated!

 

I read that as separate criteria. "To limit the challenge of duplicated names we will proactively remove names from characters that have not been played within the past 90-days or more and which are below Level 10." I know 'and' is in there, but I read it, that under level 10 will lose, and 90days plus inactive will also lose to someone that's active.

But clarification would be nice.

[aeemnrsu]

November 8, 2017 is a Wednesday.

Is that a typo or is the update (and very probable server outage) one day into the SWTOR week?

[DieAlteHexe]

You know, it may sound crazy, but in real life there are people who actually prefer to live in a small village than a big city.

 

I'm serious....these people exist.

 

I live outside a village with 80 residents. It's bliss. Peaceful, quiet, no crime. Pretty sure some folks would think it a living hell but we love it.

 

And we don't like crowded servers. We'll see what's what after the merges.