Conquest Changes Coming in 5.8

[MorseGod]

• The Stronghold bonus still applies but has been changed. Each owned Stronghold counts for a 25% bonus, up to a max of 150%. Sorry to all you “Stronghold full of chairs” owners out there.
  

 

Do the strongholds need to be fully unlocked? It's reasonable to give the bonus whether they are decorated or not, but to instantly put people who merely purchase strongholds on par with those who invested in fully unlocking their strongholds seems a bit unfair.

[kodrac]

Exactly what I was afraid of. I would like all the credits I spent on my now uselessly opened strongholds returned to me. I would also like Cartel Coins as compensation for all the now useless hours I spent decorating my four 100% completed strongholds. I expect to see pigs fly first of course, given EAware's track record of royally hosing their players, but I'll just throw it out there anyway since I feel as If I have just been robbed at blaster point.

 

I'm surprised it took until the end of the 10th page for someone to throw a temper tantrum and make demands.

Edited March 1, 2018 by kodrac

[Nightblazer]

Six empty Strongholds does mean 150% bonus, yes.

 

-eric

 

Exactly what I was afraid of. I would like all the credits I spent on my now uselessly opened strongholds returned to me. I would also like Cartel Coins as compensation for all the now useless hours I spent decorating my four 100% completed strongholds. I expect to see pigs fly first of course, given EAware's track record of royally hosing their players, but I'll just throw it out there anyway since I feel as If I have just been robbed at blaster point.

 

That's your fault for doing that. Strongholds made to decorate for asthetics, to be your personal home doe to look nice and as a social hub. Why should they compensate for that or any other MMO? I've seen other MMOs make things cheaper or changes and I never seen them compensate players so I wouldn't expect the same.

 

The point of a SH is asthetics and that is whatt they are doing. I don't have any sympathy for over spending when there were far cheaper ways to junk up SH

[TrixxieTriss]

Let me try to let it out with an example and see if I can make more sense of it. Let's say a Conquest has 3 planets that you can invade...

 

Planet 1

Low point requirement to complete

Low reward for completing that conquest

 

Planet 2

Medium point requirement to complete

Medium reward for completing that conquest

 

Planet 3

High point requirement to complete

High reward for completing that conquest

 

If you look at planet 1, since there is a lower point requirement to complete the Conquest, it is loosely targeted at smaller guilds. However, since it is easier to complete, it means less rewards. If a large Guild still wanted to go for it, they still can. It will obviously be easier for them with larger player contribution, but they would be sacrificing conquest rewards to do so (since planet 2 and 3 would reward more).

 

TLDR - Small planets mean small rewards, big planets mean big rewards.

 

So big guilds have to choose at the start and can’t swap once started to stop them from claiming all 3.

 

What about massive guilds that have 3-5 alt sister guilds and wil, go for all three to get the prestige?

 

Can we please get a guild member increase and allow these guilds to merge into on guild?

[Mdgshorty]

Hey folks,

 

In Game Update 5.8, we’re giving the Conquest system a pretty big overhaul. This thread is meant to talk through all of the changes that are coming and to answer any follow-up questions that you have! For starters, we wanted to resolve the reward delivery issues we have had in the past. While the team was in there, they decided to give the system a touch up.

 

The user interface (UI) is the first place you will notice changes, as the entire Conquest UI has been reworked. You will notice that the top bar has been updated to separate your Solo and Guild Conquests from each other. The solo tab will clearly list the current Conquest Objectives and your progress towards your personal goal. The Guild tab (called Guild Invasions) will show the planetary leaderboards and Guild rewards along with two new things. A section which shows a contribution leaderboard within your Guild and a button ‘Current Conquerors’ which is a list of what planets are being conquered by what Guild.

 

There are a number of changes coming to Conquest objectives:

• Completing objectives will now award credits, experience points, and Command Experience in addition to their Conquest points.
  
• Conquest point values for all objectives have been rebalanced across the board.
  
• In addition to one-time and repeatable, there are now also daily objectives. Some current objectives will change type with 5.8.
  
• The Invasion bonus for Conquest objectives has been removed.
  
• The Stronghold bonus still applies but has been changed. Each owned Stronghold counts for a 25% bonus, up to a max of 150%. Sorry to all you “Stronghold full of chairs” owners out there.
  
• Weekly Conquests are no longer on a set schedule and will be randomly selected each week. The exception to this rule is that Conquests that coincide with recurring events will still be on a set schedule (such as the Gree event).

 

On the Guild Conquest front, we have gone even further on changes. We have untied the Guild rewards from the Conquest leaderboards, with the exception of the Guild in first place as they will still receive the Conqueror title and planetary bonuses. A big change is that now every planet falls into one of three designated Invasion Targets. These targets differ by the minimum Conquest Points thresholds that we call “Planetary Yields.” These thresholds determine the minimum points a Guild has to earn to receive those Conquests rewards. The higher the yield the harder it is for the Guild to receive the reward, but also means a better reward.

 

We made this change to encourage more leaderboard competition among similarly sized Guilds, smaller Guilds going after smaller Yields, etc. Note that this is not a restriction, just a recommendation. If a larger Guild wants to go for lesser rewards in a smaller yield, they can, and the same is true of a smaller Guild trying to go for the highest yield.

 

This is an overview of the Conquest changes you can expect to see in Game Update 5.8! Let us know your thoughts and any questions you may have.

 

-eric

 

When it comes to the planetary yields, I do not like that there is no restriction on it because honestly, I think the big guilds are going to take advantage of this and go for the low yield planets. Here is how I think the restrictions could have worked:

• Small guilds (up to 100 accounts) - They can compete in small, medium and Large planets
  
• Medium (101-500 Accounts) - Can compete in Medium and Large Planets
  
• Large (501-1000 accounts) Can compete in only Large Planets
  

 

Please vary the yield so that one planet is not always the same yield every time that conquest comes around. Even better would be for each planet offer all three tiers, so for whatever tier your guild is in, is the one you would go for. So for example if its death mark week and Nar Shaddaa is an option, you will have the option to go for tier 1, 2, or 3 depending on what type of guild you are in.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Mdgshorty

[Azreail]

There are some good things in these changes you're making, but there are also not so many good things. Let's go over them in order, shall we?

 

(/snip)

 

Literally everything I wanted to say about these changes. Thank you Aryss.

[SelenaCat]

When it comes to the planetary yields, I do not like that there is no restriction on it because honestly, I think the big guilds are going to take advantage of this and go for the low yield planets. Here is how I think the restrictions could have worked:

• Small guilds (up to 100 accounts) - They can compete in small, medium and Large planets
  
• Medium (101-500 Accounts) - Can compete in Medium and Large Planets
  
• Large (501-1000 accounts) Can compete in only Large Planets
  

 

This would essentially make it impossible for the big, conquest-focused guilds to complete the Galaxy Conqueror achievement. Instead, you'd see the big guilds fracture into BIGGUILD-A, BIGGUILD-B, BIGGUILD-C with strict player number limits that would compete for multiple small planets instead, and then you haven't really done anything useful at all. Sure, the big guilds will still likely win whatever planet they choose to invade, but because they'll typically go for the bigger rewards unless a large enough number need a specific title, it still makes it much more likely that a medium-sized guild could walk away with a title for one of the planets -- something that almost never happens with the current system.

[olagatonjedi]

Hi Eric,

While I welcome some changes I think the 150% bonus just for having 6 SH's doesn't take into account those of us with 6 strongholds "filled with chairs" spent a minimum of 50-70 million unlocking said strongholds... Why should someone who bought a stronghold & spent nothing unlocking it get the same bonus..??

Because they changed the requirement.

[Kyrra_T]

When it comes to the planetary yields, I do not like that there is no restriction on it because honestly, I think the big guilds are going to take advantage of this and go for the low yield planets. Here is how I think the restrictions could have worked:

• Small guilds (up to 100 accounts) - They can compete in small, medium and Large planets
  
• Medium (101-500 Accounts) - Can compete in Medium and Large Planets
  
• Large (501-1000 accounts) Can compete in only Large Planets
  

 

Unless ALL planets 'can' be small, medium, and large yield (during different conquest events) your proposal would make it impossible for anyone who does not have Galaxy Conqueror title already to get it after these changes are implemented. Unless you are in a small guild of course.

 

I presume you are in a small guild and therefore do not realize that just being in a medium or large guild does not automatically mean that they already have the Galaxy Conqueror title.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Kyrra_T

[Sareeph]

I am curious if you had thought of a system to restrict the 'easier' planets.

Maybe the more you win you go up a system that will at some point block you from certain planets. But you will also go down in time if you loose/don't do it, just in case your guild drops heavily in players.

 

Either way, great work and I am looking forward to the changes.

 

When it comes to the planetary yields, I do not like that there is no restriction on it because honestly, I think the big guilds are going to take advantage of this and go for the low yield planets. Here is how I think the restrictions could have worked:

• Small guilds (up to 100 accounts) - They can compete in small, medium and Large planets
  
• Medium (101-500 Accounts) - Can compete in Medium and Large Planets
  
• Large (501-1000 accounts) Can compete in only Large Planets
  

 

If they make restrictions based on size or amount of conquests won, then you will block out guilds attempting to get achievements like Galaxy Conqueror.

[olagatonjedi]

Repeat the mantra:

 

I play a dynamic game. I play a dynamic game.

[Mdgshorty]

If they make restrictions based on size or amount of conquests won, then you will block out guilds attempting to get achievements like Galaxy Conqueror.

 

It won't if they rotate between small, medium and large yields.

[Mdgshorty]

I presume you are in a small guild and therefore do not realize that just being in a medium or large guild does not automatically mean that they already have the Galaxy Conqueror title.

 

I am in both small and large guilds and know what it entails. If they rotate the yields between planets, its still possible to get the galaxy conqueror title. So for example the first time for example death mark comes around, Nar Shaddaa is small yield. The next time it comes around it is medium and then the third time, it will be high so that the yield is never the same each time we get a certain type of conquest so guilds will all have a chance to win a planet.

[Rocketmanballs]

 

Sorry to all you “Stronghold full of chairs” owners out there.

 

 

-eric

 

You mean meat trees. Do you even play the game?

Edited March 1, 2018 by Rocketmanballs

[KendraP]

I just don't see the why the complaints that suddenly it's "easier" to get the SH bonus. It was a flawed design to begin with, so I'm actually glad they're doing away with the decorating requirement (and this is someone with 7 fully unlocked and non-meat tree decorated SH's).

 

Eh I can see the complaint. Less so if it's a matter of they have to pay to fully unlock it like I did. I have 6 fully unlocked and full strongholds, of which 3 are pure stuffed of random stuff to make it full. I don't enjoy decorating but put the time and credits in it to get the bonus. Especially on the credits side since some of those expansions were expensive.

 

That said. I don't mind if they make it to where people just need all 6 strongholds even if they don't have to unlock them. Having done it, when it's not something I particularly enjoy and as someone who doesn't have the time to farm credits, I can understand why they're pissed.

 

I'm more pissed about the random thing. The last thing we need is more "exciting" randomness. I'd be perfectly happy with a 100% set rotation. Prepare for a rant the first time we have crafting weeks 5 times in a row. I have better things to do with my weekday play time than crafting which I find incredibly dull.

[DmdShiva]

Do these HAVE to be done every day, or are the more along the lines.. If I have time to log in that day I can do them and get some credit towards my overall total?

 

I fail to see the difference between the 'repeatable' and 'daily' objectives, unless this is an incomplete description (as is normal for what we get dribbled to us), and the 'daily' objectives can only be done once per day, but can be done each day during the week -- so you can do it five times over five days, but only once per day, like the 'queue for a random flashpoint, must be eligible for the daily reward' objective works per character

[Sareeph]

It won't if they rotate between small, medium and large yields.

 

They have said there will be no set schedule for Conquest rotation. There are 15 differing Conquests if you count the 2 extra Rak Event planets. Add in that they repeat the Event Conquests which will be scheduled but unknown to us fairly often and you get something like a 5 month no repeat non event schedule. Are you suggesting that people trying to accomplish achievements should possibly have to wait 15 or more months as they cycle yields now just to add a balancing qualifier? Not sure how many would be happy with that.

[TryRoon]

Any possibility that you could also change the SH interface so we can order them the way we want (or you auto order them by which the toon went to last)? It's getting really old trying to go to the back just to jump to NS... especially since I have two and *their* order keeps changing, so the one I want is always on page 2 or 3, but never 1 Q_Q

I really like this idea, it is confusing sometimes trying to get the right SH that you want. I really like most of the changes you are making to conquest. We are a small guild but we work hard to make our goals every week and never get on the board. This will be a nice change.

[Kyrra_T]

removed...I'm obviously feeling cranky while deco'ing my train. Party trains are such a pain to get right. Edited March 2, 2018 by Kyrra_T

[Mdgshorty]

They have said there will be no set schedule for Conquest rotation. There are 15 differing Conquests if you count the 2 extra Rak Event planets. Add in that they repeat the Event Conquests which will be scheduled but unknown to us fairly often and you get something like a 5 month no repeat non event schedule. Are you suggesting that people trying to accomplish achievements should possibly have to wait 15 or more months as they cycle yields now just to add a balancing qualifier? Not sure how many would be happy with that.

 

I never said that it will be on a set schedule. The point is they need to make it fair for all guild. Right now, there are certain guilds that dominate multiple planets almost every week and I would think people would be happy if certain guilds would not be able to do that anymore. Even better would be if they had an option for all 3 tiers for each planet.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Mdgshorty

[Quraswren]

so you are saying you want a pay to win game? "I payed more so I win"?

 

No, I'm saying like the CXP bonus per toon, earn it and get the bonus. 5000 credits is a joke compared to the 8 Million or so for something like DK. There is no reason to demean all the players that saved up and collected 50+ million credits to fully unlock all the SH, just so bioware can make the bonus trivial to get for everyone.

 

Hell at that low cost you might as well just do away with the bonus entirely but at least with the regular prices it was a decent money sink that this game sorely needs.

 

But leaving the normal cost isn't even close to pay to win.

 

Sadly, biowares silence pretty much answers our questions on the matter anyway.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Quraswren

[LordTurin]

No, I'm saying like the CXP bonus per toon, earn it and get the bonus. 5000 credits is a joke compared to the 8 Million or so for something like DK. There is no reason to demean all the players that saved up and collected 50+ million credits to fully unlock all the SH, just so bioware can make the bonus trivial to get for everyone.

 

Hell at that low cost you might as well just do away with the bonus entirely but at least with the regular prices it was a decent money sink that this game sorely needs.

 

But leaving the normal cost isn't even close to pay to win.

 

Sadly, biowares silence pretty much answers our questions on the matter anyway.

 

Requiring players to fill it up with chairs for the bonus is silly. It basically forces players to choose between decorating as they want, and decorating for the bonus.

 

Making the requirement unlocking all the rooms for the full bonus is not silly though, and I hope they do that. It's as you mentioned, a pretty good credit sink, and does actually require some time and dedication to get that (chairs doesn't, I filled up Yavin with them, and it took me maybe 20 minutes) (well actually I used the ops trophy wall hangings, but close enough).

 

Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I actually figure the silence on this (since it's the only complaint folks really have) is because they are discussing that now, and want to have a conversation, and then get back to us on what they decide.

[Zarahemla]

Some of these changes are very welcome. But as GM and senior officer in 2 large guilds that focus on conquest and win planets most week on Darth Malgus, I'm most interested in any changes that will affect the running of GF last boss kills and crafting conquest weeks. Both activities are the mainstay of conquest guilds. Neither of them have been talked about in the changes. I'd be grateful if you could clarify if they will be affected at all. Thanks.

 

Aintiarna --- <Wardens of the Republic> --- <Untempered Dread>

 

This was my biggest concern as well. Running lock outs is the best way to win conquest, but it felt like an exploit to me. Here was my suggestion http:// http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=929445 # 27 to stop that "exploit."

 

TL;DR: Basically you get conquest points for killing a boss. So if Players want to farm the CXP by running lock outs, they miss out on the Conquest points from killing the other bosses in that operation. This would incentivize big guilds to run operations constantly (helping the community) rather than have a dedicated team of lockout runners.

 

Devs, do you like this idea, or do you like the lockout running that is going on?

 

Will the yields of any particular planet be fixed (i.e. Rishi is always a high yield, Ilum a medium, etc.), or will those be randomized as well? I can forsee problems getting the Galaxy Conqueror title if certain planets are always Low Yield, making them an unattractive planet to invade except when specifically hunting for achievements.

 

I would hope that the planet's yield would change, so Rishi is not always a high yield. This would allow small guilds to get the galaxy conqueror title, if they work hard and are patient by only competing in small yield objectives. Some elaboration from Devs would be appreciated.

 

Any possibility that you could also change the SH interface so we can order them the way we want (or you auto order them by which the toon went to last)? It's getting really old trying to go to the back just to jump to NS... especially since I have two and *their* order keeps changing, so the one I want is always on page 2 or 3, but never 1 Q_Q

 

I would also be in favor of this, as the two strongholds that I decorated "pretty" are both on the last page of my stronghold list.

 

Several people have asked about stopping the EXPLOIT of guild hopping for conquest points. It does not bode well that nothing about this has been mentioned in the patch notes. This is, however, a perfect time to implement some type of mechanism to prevent this.

 

Example: A new character joins a guild. A 1 week delay timer starts in allowing personal conquest to be added to overall guild conquest.

Example: A new character joins a guild. A 1 week delay timer starts so that character cannot earn conquest points until timer up.

 

Those are just 2 examples. There are MANY different options available to address this issue.

 

I wasn't aware of a guild hoping exploit. Shows how much I try to cheat the system. Basically I thought when you leave a guild, you lose all guild conquest points, so you are not eligible to get the guild rewards if the guild you left is a top 10 guild, and you lose the title if the guild you left is the #1 guild. In addition to you losing points, the guild you left loses any points you earned, because you are not longer in it. So joining a new guild hurts you (as you now have to start all over for conquest, and are locked out of the one time conquest objectives you already completed) and your old guild is hurt because it no longer has the points you earned while in that guild.

 

Devs if it doesn't already work that way, would this be a solution to that exploit?

[XhrisShan]

About the Strongholds changes:

So Stronghold hook placement percentage doesn't mean anything any more? Fine, that's okay.

But do the Strongholds still have to be on different planets? i.e. if I have 3 Coruscant Strongholds, will my bonus be 25% or 75%?

[Kyrra_T]

This was my biggest concern as well. Running lock outs is the best way to win conquest, but it felt like an exploit to me. Here was my suggestion http:// http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=929445 # 27 to stop that "exploit."

 

TL;DR: Basically you get conquest points for killing a boss. So if Players want to farm the CXP by running lock outs, they miss out on the Conquest points from killing the other bosses in that operation. This would incentivize big guilds to run operations constantly (helping the community) rather than have a dedicated team of lockout runners.

 

Devs, do you like this idea, or do you like the lockout running that is going on?

 

 

 

I would hope that the planet's yield would change, so Rishi is not always a high yield. This would allow small guilds to get the galaxy conqueror title, if they work hard and are patient by only competing in small yield objectives. Some elaboration from Devs would be appreciated.

 

 

 

I would also be in favor of this, as the two strongholds that I decorated "pretty" are both on the last page of my stronghold list.

 

 

 

I wasn't aware of a guild hoping exploit. Shows how much I try to cheat the system. Basically I thought when you leave a guild, you lose all guild conquest points, so you are not eligible to get the guild rewards if the guild you left is a top 10 guild, and you lose the title if the guild you left is the #1 guild. In addition to you losing points, the guild you left loses any points you earned, because you are not longer in it. So joining a new guild hurts you (as you now have to start all over for conquest, and are locked out of the one time conquest objectives you already completed) and your old guild is hurt because it no longer has the points you earned while in that guild.

 

Devs if it doesn't already work that way, would this be a solution to that exploit?

 

It isn't an exploit to change guilds. The points you earned for a guild stay with them. If you made personal conquest before leaving to switch guilds you can't earn it again. You can however get points for your new guild.

 

None of that is an exploit. It is NOT a flaw in the game that people can move freely between guilds. The reason that a person changes guilds is their own and has no bearing on whether they should be 'allowed' to change guilds.

 

FYI Exploit does not mean 'action that I do not like in game and should be barred because I say so.'

Edited March 2, 2018 by Kyrra_T