Winter/Spring 2018 Roadmap Update

[Rrusalka]

I realized that my original response was a lot of opinion and feedback and that the questions part might be lost in the TLDR, so I have repeated those in reduced format to just include the questions bit in the hope that it will be easier to answer, and therefore more likely to get a response. Cheers!

.

 

Both are really well thought out and worded posts. From all the posts I read through that first version sums it up pretty damn well.

 

-Persephone

[Eshvara]

trillions of innocent people dead because of that psycho. he deserves to hang for his crimes!!!

 

I'm glad you could, in your story. What happens in mine is my business. I can't say I'd particularly care if he killed 30 Trillion more. They are NPC's, this is fiction, I treat it as such.

 

Maybe it would have been different if he killed my favourite companions directly, or people important to my character. Which was something Vaylin did and had much more of an impact.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Eshvara

[ThomasStarWars]

I'm glad you could, in your story. What happens in mine is my business. I can't say I'd particularly care if he killed 30 Trillion more. They are NPC's, this is fiction, I treat it as such.

 

dont get so nerve-struck because of my opinion!

[Eshvara]

dont get so nerve-struck because of my opinion!

 

I thought we were just sharing opinions here, but okay! Back to what's important.

 

Yey for Arcann romance, thanks again for putting it in 5.8!

[Jdast]

Two quick questions, one comment:

 

1) For new augments, do they still fit in MK-10 slots?

 

2) Did you mean Bind on Legacy instead of Bind on Pickup for the crafting recipes in new FP for said augments?

 

Comment: Not disappointed in Roadmap because it was what you guys foreshadowed. Forewarned is forearmed, though I completely agree that it is better to call it "Update vice Roadmap" since many of us come from sectors (in my case government and private) where roadmap has a very different meaning than applied here. With that said, agree with the gist of PennyAnn's comment that the ability to only forecast a couple months out suggests you guys are living paycheck to paycheck, metaphorically speaking.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you though for the Companion Compendium. There was a fierce debate over on Reddit about whether this was pay to win. I didn't think so, and think even less so now. But, and this is not a lie, on a couple occasions I poured myself a nice martini (or two) and started binge watching a program and just clicked a button for several hours to level up a few companions -- that is hardly compelling gameplay.

 

In the end, my subscription will remain intact, but need to hear more about 6.0 before buying any new CCs.

 

Dasty

Edited February 16, 2018 by Jdast

[DarthSpuds]

I'll try to explain again in the hopes that you will understand.

 

Well allow me to retort.

 

I have a Male Consular who happens to be Straight.

 

I have access to JUST TWO potential LI's - Lana and Nadia - end of.

 

What is it that is too difficult for you to understand about that?

 

All The Best

[LordFell]

I've made several edits to what Keith has written, but these are all organizational; I'm confident that I haven't changed the context of anything he has written.

Conquest Revamp:

• We’ve made substantial improvements to the Conquest system including a new interface, new daily objectives, new missions, and more. Most importantly, we have rewritten the backend system to ensure you benefit from your weekly efforts. Look for details in an upcoming blog or forum post.
  
• A new Conquest Vendor will appear for those who complete their personal conquests each week. It’ll initially have Decorations and a new Companion boost called the Commander’s Compendium which will increase your active companion to influence level 50. More on this below.
  

These look like good changes, both in terms of giving players something that we'll like, and also in the quality of life improvements; at least in that people who have successfully completed their Personal Conquest and also Guilds that have placed in the Top Ten will hopefully no longer have to fight with Customer Service to get their due rewards.

 

I wonder if your "backend fix" could also fix how the Conquest (& Stronghold) banner CONTINUES to just... loiter around, and frequently straight up lock in place until we reload the screen. Especially infuriating if you're in a cut-scene and the "This Planet is owned by the SWTOR Forum Trolls" banner is right over everyone's faces.

 

 

Companions:

• Arcann Romance – Everyone’s favorite former villain has had a change of heart and may be more “available” than he was previously.
  

I couldn't disagree with this more strongly. To quote a famous Jedi Master "every word in that sentence is wrong." Either in accuracy, or in the overall sense of what is Good or Right. I understand that voice acting is done, and the coding is probably underway, but... a LOT of people don't want it. We are violently opposed to this even happening. To clarify the difference... I never found Nadia Grell interesting, I don't personally want to see her get an expanded romance arc in an upcoming expansion... but I don't mind if those people who do want this get it. Conversely, everything about Arcann is bad; he was badly written, and he fails as a potential love interest -he might be "Redeemed" (doesn't feel like it to me) but he'll NEVER be redeemed enough for a Light Side character, and if he's redeemed at all, why would a Dark Side character want him?

 

So, sure, it's too late to put a stop to this, and I find that unfortunate. You should have put your voice acting budget to better uses (like, giving Andronikos, Corso and Risha a return WORTHY of them (they did NOT get that)). But, please (please, please) throw us this one bone... for most of my characters, Arcann is DEAD. For those that let him live, this was primarily a choice for Senya's sake. If people who want to romance Arcann are getting that option, please give those of us with living, but unwanted, Arcann companions the option to EXILE him.

 

...also, slightly related, is if "they" get to have Arcann as a romance option, how about giving us Senya as an option? Initially she had a few Flirt options, and I decided to pursue that on my femme Trooper, but it turned into nothing. You can't argue that she's not a major character; she was the star of your last cinematic and currently adorns the loading screens.

How about we get ALL the LIs back before you dump Arcann on us?

Related to above.... a huge problem I have is Priority and Timing. Arcann should have been LAST and LEAST.

 

 

• Companion Return: Vector – Imperial Agents will see the return of Vector Hyllus! Easily the best member of the Killik hivemind.
  
• Companion Return: Ashara Zavros will return to the Sith Inquisitor’s side. How will things go with her former master?
  
• Companion Return: Felix Iresso – The Jedi Consular’s loyal soldier has had a rough time these last few years – can the Consular help him?
  
• Companion Return: Mako and Akaavi - Bounty Hunters and Smugglers are reunited with this duo, who’ve been working together during the players’ absence.
  

I hope that my Smuggler will get both Mako AND Akaavi... and of course, vice versa for my Bounty Hunter.

For ALL companions listed, I really hope there's more to it than the pittance .... well, to be honest... the pittance we're expecting. Two Minutes of Chit Chat?

...also, other companions (Torian, Scorpio) who used Tech Staves in the past now use Sniper Rifles. PLEASE don't inflict that on Akaavi or Vector. My Smuggler/Agent characters REALLY APPRECIATE having a companion who is a Melee Tank.

 

Operations:

• Izax offers an amazing new reward
  
• We are providing a new vendor just outside the Gods from the Machine Operation offering special items to those players who have earned an achievement for killing Izax, The Destroyer.
  

Nice to see this Operation, finally, stagger to the finish line. I still don't quite get why Izax is Master Mode and others aren't?

...it would also, really, really, really be good if someone could go an unify what all the modes are called. I mean, we have Story and Solo and Veteran and Master and sometimes Nightmare? Or... something? And sometimes one source (like our Quest Log) doesn't match up with the actual options available are.

 

Subscriber Rewards: We have a series of Subscriber promotions throughout the next few months… look for details in your email, on the Launcher, or on the SWTOR website. For example, the February Share your Love of SWTOR started yesterday and ends February 27, 2017.

Subscriber rewards have continued to spawn a firestorm of threads and butt-hurt, especially since a glitch in the Launcher erroneously advised people they could get HK-55 again by subscribing. It would be great if you guys could make some sort of omnibus solution to what's become a pretty toxic issue.

 

Beyond April – Discussion Topic!

We heard feedback from some of you indicating you missed having a more “traditional” expansion and you’d rather wait so it all comes at once. I like having updates released regularly versus waiting long periods of time in-between patches. Although this remains our current plan, we are also laying out what we’ll include in a 6.0 Game Update. We’ll keep you informed of our summer, fall and winter plans throughout the coming months.

For me, when I say I'd like to see Traditional Expansion, I mean Open World Planets, with exploration quests. I feel like Zakuul, Odessan, Nathema and Asylum were wasted real estate, with nothing but instanced, rail-road content. Ideally, I'd like to see something like Rishi -if I wanted to, I could go back to that planet and do a bunch of daily quests. I've done the Story Quests, so those are done... but also, there were Class Specific Story Quests here. This is what I would like to see.

 

But whatever, I don't think it really matters anymore.

...and yeah. I unsubbed, and I don't really see enough in the Roadmap to make me change my mind. Especially when I'm so very disappointed that you've decided to give Arcann a place in the ongoing story (instead of in the ground, as he deserves) and my cynicism that other returning companions will get more than 150 stingy seconds of activity.

[Estelindis]

Apologies as that may be confusing. Technically speaking, Izax is being released in SM and VM like all of the other Gods from the Machine bosses. However, he is being balanced as if he is MM difficulty. You might compare him to the old "hardmare" bosses back in the day.

 

Again, technically there is no MM Izax, but when you play VM it is going to feel like there is.

 

-eric

I'm not sure how I feel about this choice. On the one hand, it's good to put some really challenging now content into the game. On the other hand, it seems unfair for groups who've been working hard to progress Gods from the Machine in veteran mode and who mightn't feel up to master mode to be essentially walled off from completing the operation. (Some people like to push against absolute cutting-edge difficulty; others like something still hard but a bit more relaxed.) I feel like it would've been much better to have full VM and MM for all the bosses.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Estelindis

[ThomasStarWars]

I thought we were just sharing opinions here, but okay! Back to what's important.

 

Yey for Arcann romance, thanks again for putting it in 5.8!

 

next thing we'll be romancing valkorion!

[Eshvara]

next thing we'll be romancing valkorion!

 

Funny enough some of the Arcann haters actually desired that. Which is a whole different level of hypocrisy. But then again, I can't actually be surprised.

Anyway, this isn't an Arcann thread, I'll excuse myself.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Eshvara

[AngFour]

 

 

...also, other companions (Torian, Scorpio) who used Tech Staves in the past now use Sniper Rifles. PLEASE don't inflict that on Akaavi or Vector. My Smuggler/Agent characters REALLY APPRECIATE having a companion who is a Melee Tank.

 

 

 

:eek::eek:

 

OMG, I didn't even think about that! My IA NEEDS Vector to remain a melee companion. Their relationship is highly dependent upon how well he takes a punch for her. Currently their relationship is top notch.

 

It's IN CHARACTER for Vector to be melee. He even has his special Killik staff and everything because he was the Dawn Herald.

 

Please, please, PLEASE don't take away his staff. Please keep him melee!

Edited February 16, 2018 by AngFour

[Quraswren]

So let me get this straight...

 

The ops we were promised would be finished within a year (the first new one since 2014) is taking closer to a year and a half to complete, AND it won't include all the difficulty modes promised despite the extra delays and development time.

 

They're writing in a new romance for a mass murderer character to cater to a small vocal fanbase, while many classes' original love interests (male and female) are still as MIA as they have been since October 2015.

 

After they went through and nerfed the classes across the board to lower their DPS and eHPS to what the Keith and Eric called their 'intended numbers', they're putting out a SECOND tier of augments that let you go above their 'intended numbers', that you have to grind a new poorly made flashpoint to acquire schematics and mats for.

 

Amid rumors about Disney considering taking away the Star Wars license from EA, we can't get news of any changes or content to come further than 2 months into the future.

 

I haven't checked the forum in a few months, hoping to see some sort of improvement upon my return. Instead, communication has gotten worse, and there's even more writing on the wall.

 

Have fun with maintenance mode everyone!

 

BINGO ^

 

But here is another kicker for me. We went from a 90 day road map down to a 60 day road map that leads me to believe even bioware isn't sure what they will be doing to far out. bioware barely seems to have enough resources to get anything solid for just 60 days. No longer 90.

 

Compare this road map to last OCT. It at least went three months and even had what would be happening months after. The things going on at bioware must be extremely shaky right now to only be able to deliver, one OPS boss a year and a half late, one flash point most seem to want to get past ASAP and a revamped conquest so we can do old content again.

 

Thats summer for us. Thats the best they have for nearly 5 months of work. Thats not going to draw in new players and to be honest, it's pretty weak on player retention when it comes to playable content.

 

Let hope those monthly rewards are so over the top they resonate better than the content the road map mentions.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Quraswren

[Zboy]

This is certainly the most disheartening line of all. It's not even that I mind content trickling out. In fact that's much better than 6 or 12 months of nothing. However, this just makes me feel like the story parts are going to be delivered in the same manner... FPs. It was disappointing to have story delivered this way in 2017 and I hope there can be a change for future storylines.

 

Agreed, this was a total joke how awful the devs acted this year.

[olagatonjedi]

How do they not lose money if we unsub? I'm not being snarky, just not understanding how that works.

I broke it down in another post somewhere, but basically if you month to month sub for 8 months, and unsub for 4, you are still paying the equivalent of a long term lcommitment, ower cost subscriber. They will view you as commited just the same.

[Zboy]

BINGO ^

 

But here is another kicker for me. We went from a 90 day road map down to a 60 day road map that leads me to believe even bioware isn't sure what they will be doing to far out. bioware barely seems to have to have enough resources to get anything solid for just 60 days. No longer 90.

 

Compare this road map to last OCT. It at least went three months and even had what would be happening months after. The things going on at bioware must be extremely shaky right now to only be able to deliver, one OPS boss a year and a half late, one flash point most seem to want to get past ASAP and a revamped conquest so we can do old content again.

 

Thats summer us. Thats the best they have for nearly 5 months of work. Thats not going to draw in new players and to be hoenst it's a pretty weak on player retention when it comes to playable content.

 

Let hope those monthly rewards are so over the top they resonate better than the content the road map mentions.

 

^^^ This in a nutshell.

 

This is a joke. Might as well just say "WE HAVE NO STAFF AND NO LONGER CARE". Lazy add-ons, no care to add REAL CONTENT to keep subs. Also love the laziness "oh...we dont need to do a real roadmap so well just keep you updated here". Lets see how much longer Keith, Musco, and the devs dance around not telling us whats really going on and why the only "substance" weve gotten is an unfinished raid over a year and a half.

 

To me and I think many, this shows that this staff no longer cares, and that is disheartening.

[LordFell]

:eek::eek:

 

OMG, I didn't even think about that! My IA NEEDS Vector to remain a melee companion. Their relationship is highly dependent upon how well he takes a punch for her. Currently their relationship is top notch.

 

It's IN CHARACTER for Vector to be melee. He even has his special Killik staff and everything because he was the Dawn Herald.

 

Please, please, PLEASE don't take away his staff. Please keep him melee!

My Gunslinger is at the point (I mean, if I were actually playing) where he needs to start making the hard choice about whether to romance Risha or Akaavi. After running with Risha a bit... and finally switching back to Corso on Tank Mode (yeah, I can put Risha on Tank duty, but that just feels weird with a Sniper Rifle) I made the decision that it would be Akaavi I romance. I really, really prefer a melee companion that will charge in, and AoE/Taunt, and keep those targets out of my Gunslinger's face.

[Quraswren]

^^^ This in a nutshell.

 

This is a joke. Might as well just say "WE HAVE NO STAFF AND NO LONGER CARE". Lazy add-ons, no care to add REAL CONTENT to keep subs. Also love the laziness "oh...we dont need to do a real roadmap so well just keep you updated here". Lets see how much longer Keith, Musco, and the devs dance around not telling us whats really going on and why the only "substance" weve gotten is an unfinished raid over a year and a half.

 

To me and I think many, this shows that this staff no longer cares, and that is disheartening.

 

I think they care about as far as their pay check goes. This road map looks more like, This is the best they can do with what they have and it's little more than what we talked about 5 months ago.

 

So thats pretty sad all the way around. They can't seem to do road maps anymore, things are so bad behind the scene. Their communication is just terrible and we are to believe they will do better than a 90 day road map that is now 60 when it comes to communication? I don't see it happening.

 

Just the fact that we got little more than they told us back in October 2017 is pretty bad.

 

What really worries me is that 2017 was pretty bad when it comes to this game. Nerfs for nearly everyone. Little worth repeating new content and then keith brings this out: "As we look back to 2017 and now beyond the conclusion of the traitor storyline, we are planning to continue delivering content in the same manner throughout 2018."

 

OMG what a disheartening thought that is.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Quraswren

[NogueiraA]

Waiting for:

- 64bit client is now available!

- Game optimization is now available, performance got increased by at least 230% on Win7 and Win10.

- Swtor 2 is being developed by DICE + Bioware using Frostbite 3, EA is out and has zero participation on anything.

- Improved many QoL stuff for the game.

- 25 new world bosses, everyone that hits the boss will get loot. Added a new tab on Group Finder so you can instantly join an ops group that will be teleported to the boss location, the tab will show all the bosses timers and you can travel with 1 click. This mode also allows the Dynamic Ops Frame, making the DPS players appear on all healers Ops frame, this way the healers can work on everyone, not only their own Ops group. Tanks and healers will have a static position at the Dynamic Ops Frame.

- You can now "ask" to be invited to a party and everyone can vote to let you in if the party leader is AFK.

- If you wipe on a Flashpoint or Operation, the spawn point will be 30 to 50 meters from the boss location, you don't have to travel the whole map to get there again, meaning that your raid time will be better used to actually play the game, not some Nascar simulation.

-POD racing is now available and believe me, you don't need 1 year of gameplay to understand it and believe me even more... Server positioning will not be an issue even if you have 200ms connection to the servers.

- Gearing cost reduced by 60% because we want players to gear up fast.

- Added a new set of gear that only drops from Nightmare Mode Ops to reward who work really hard to learn stuff.

- Added a trainning area where you can learn Ops mechanics or how to PvP.

- Aded many TV screens throughout Fleet and all planets showing real-time pvp, raids and flashpoints. We want you to watch some Television while logged in!

- Deleted Yavin 4 and Hypergates Warzones.

- Should we let you kill Skadge?

[olagatonjedi]

I think they care about as far as their pay check goes. This road map looks more like, This is the best they can do with what they have and it's little more than what we talked about 5 months ago..

So you are holding against them the fact that you/others speculated the content before it was released or mentioned. Now its not new and exciting, and its their fault? Lol, you crack me up. Maybe less worrying about when and what the content will be until its actually released will allow you the enjoyment you so deeply seek.

[ceryxp]

Well allow me to retort.

 

I have a Male Consular who happens to be Straight.

 

I have access to JUST TWO potential LI's - Lana and Nadia - end of.

 

What is it that is too difficult for you to understand about that?

 

All The Best

 

Allow me to rebut.

 

Your particular character, a heterosexual, male Consular, has access to two LI's. So do a straight, male Knight (Kira and Lana), Trooper (Elara and Lana), Inquisitor (Ashara and Lana), and Bounty Hunter (Mako and Lana). While a straight, male Smuggler has three LI's (Akaavi, Risha, and Lana), and Warrior (Jaesa, Vette, and Lana), and Agent (Kaliyo, Raina, and Lana). By comparison, a heterosexual, female character of any class has access to three LI's: one story and two from FE/ET.

 

My homosexual, male Consulars, Inquisitors, and Knight have access to exactly two total LI's for all of them throughout the entire game and both are only available at end game: Koth and Theron. What is too difficult for you to understand? Your heterosexual, male Consular had choices. Throughout the class story you had choices. On Makeb you had a choice. With SoR you were given more choices. Then FE/ET added more choices. My characters did not have a single choice until SoR, Makeb for two of them, and those were only flirts which you don't consider applicable. A homosexual, female character has access to exactly one in the entire game: Lana.

 

Now, if you want to make an argument that Consulars, in general, have received very little attention from the Dev's (being that we have had exactly one companion return and our class is under performing in many ways) you'll get no argument from me. But attempting to equate your LI situation to an LGBTQ persons in this game because your particular character has few options is not going to fly with me or many others on the forum.

[QuinlanSaathis]

Allow me to rebut.

 

Your particular character, a heterosexual, male Consular, has access to two LI's. So do a straight, male Knight (Kira and Lana), Trooper (Elara and Lana), Inquisitor (Ashara and Lana), and Bounty Hunter (Mako and Lana). While a straight, male Smuggler has three LI's (Akaavi, Risha, and Lana), and Warrior (Jaesa, Vette, and Lana), and Agent (Kaliyo, Raina, and Lana). By comparison, a heterosexual, female character of any class has access to three LI's: one story and two from FE/ET.

 

My homosexual, male Consulars, Inquisitors, and Knight have access to exactly two total LI's for all of them throughout the entire game and both are only available at end game: Koth and Theron. What is too difficult for you to understand? Your heterosexual, male Consular had choices. Throughout the class story you had choices. On Makeb you had a choice. With SoR you were given more choices. Then FE/ET added more choices. My characters did not have a single choice until SoR, Makeb for two of them, and those were only flirts which you don't consider applicable. A homosexual, female character has access to exactly one in the entire game: Lana.

 

Now, if you want to make an argument that Consulars, in general, have received very little attention from the Dev's (being that we have had exactly one companion return and our class is under performing in many ways) you'll get no argument from me. But attempting to equate your LI situation to an LGBTQ persons in this game because your particular character has few options is not going to fly with me or many others on the forum.

 

This is a ROLE PLAY game or at least it was when it had story releases.

So you as the player need to step into the ROLE that the game creates for you in all aspects.

The game does not and should not have to cater to your ROLE in the real world.

[Quraswren]

So you are holding against them the fact that you/others speculated the content before it was released or mentioned. Now its not new and exciting, and its their fault?

 

Nope, no guessing or speculating. bioware told us back in October about the one ops boss, one FP and revamped conquest. I didn't have to speculate on any of it. My concern was that after 5 months the best they could offer was the extremely few things they told us about nearly 5 months ago and one of them nothing more than do old content again.

 

Lol, you crack me up. Maybe less worrying about when and what the content will be until its actually released will allow you the enjoyment you so deeply seek.

 

Maybe a better new content cadence would allow me to enjoy more than running old content again and again.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Quraswren

[ceryxp]

This is a ROLE PLAY game or at least it was when it had story releases.

So you as the player need to step into the ROLE that the game creates for you in all aspects.

The game does not and should not have to cater to your ROLE in the real world.

 

Riiiight, like you wouldn't complain if every romance option was same sex/gender forcing you to role play as something you're not. Of course, your argument is a non sequitur since you said it yourself, this is a role playing game, and the option to role play as LGBTQ has been asked for since beta and went ignored for years. But thanks for playing, here's your cookie.

Edited February 16, 2018 by ceryxp

[QuinlanSaathis]

Riiiight, like you wouldn't complain if every romance option was same sex/gender forcing you to role play as something you're not. Of course, your argument is a non sequitur since you said it yourself, this is a role playing game, and the option to role play as LGBTQ has been asked for since beta and went ignored for years. But thanks for playing, here's your cookie.

 

That is what ROLE PLAY is, playing something you are not.

 

And what part of

The game does not and should not have to cater to your ROLE in the real world.

Do you not get?

 

Just because it is asked for does not mean you will get it or should get it or can get it or or or....

Edited February 16, 2018 by QuinlanSaathis

[olagatonjedi]

Nope, no guessing or speculating. bioware told us back in October about the one ops boss, one FP and revamped conquest. I didn't have to speculate on any of it. My concern was that after 5 months the best they could offer was the extremely few things they told us about nearly 5 months ago and one of them nothing more than do old content again.

 

 

 

Maybe a better new content cadence would allow me to enjoy more than running old content again and again.

So.....they gave you exactly the content thwy told you they would......

 

And you absolutely needed it a few months before, and wouldve been ok with it if released earlier?

 

Doubtful.