Feedback: Rishi Stronghold (Final PTS)

[Everrgreen]

Hey folks!

 

First off, I want to thank you all for your feedback throughout the PTS cycle! Although we won't be able to address every point of feedback, your input has significantly improved the quality of this update, and we look forward to repeating the process for more of our releases in the coming months.

 

A key piece of feedback we've definitely seen and investigated is the addition of a "house" or "cantina" type of building to the stronghold; unfortunately, that just isn't something we can feasibly add to the stronghold at this point. I know this may seem like a simple request, but it would actually require significant development and testing time to implement at quality. That said, we are taking this particular piece of feedback to heart and will make sure that future strongholds include those types of spaces where it makes sense.

 

I also want to clarify that although this is the last build we have planned for PTS, it does not represent the final build that will be going live as update 5.9.2. Additional fixes and changes that are not in the final PTS patch notes will be included in the full update, such as the PvP toggle. The comprehensive patch notes for 5.9.2 will be released a bit closer to the update going live, which is still planned for July 31.

 

Thank you for posting your response. While I’m very disappointed that a building better suited to decorating/using is off the table, I’d rather know now than continue holding out hope for a building at 5.9.2 rollout and being even more disappointed and feeling like it was not even considered.

 

The new walkway to the beach, the walkway around the PVP arena, bind points, sand on the beach, garbage removal, and additional hooks are all welcome improvements and help a great deal with visual appeal and function. The sand on the beach is such a great improvement. The shadows are visible, the texture is nice, but best of all it brightens up the whole scene.

 

The big room in the staging area STILL needs more floor hooks. The hidden cave needs more wall hooks, The quarters on the ship need ceiling hooks.

This^ would make the existing buildings more useable and would be appreciated. Edit - please add some medium floor hooks in the hidden cave, and maybe change the centerpiece to 2 or 3 large floor hooks with medium hooks all around.

 

Nice cinematic for the return from the ship. The elevator for the ship awning is a good addition. On top of the awning, you might consider adding medium hooks around each of the large hooks to either side of the middle row (not making them centerpiece hooks as that would remove the small hooks).

 

I appreciate the opportunity to share my opinion about the SH when it could still be modified. The improvements that have been made do make a difference.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Everrgreen
adding info

[Selkcun]

Love the beach. Turquoise water would look nice. Looks polluted. The Copero bar looks nice on the beach with some Rishi huts and a jukebox and fireworks. Beach party! Add a couple of Chieftain huts and you got an overnighter. Then fly up to the ship for the concert or the big fight! House? meh. I've got other strongholds to call home. This is a vacation spot. Still needs at least one waterfall. Running down on the beach would look nice. Good job team. I know it was hard work and hard to please everyone but it makes for a nice alternative to the other strongholds. Add a house if you can someday but not a priority for me.

[Selkcun]

I'm not a PVP'r but a ran with some testers today a couple of times through the arena. Everyone was so busy fighting we didn't have time to try out everything. I saw a comment while fighting that someone accidentally triggered the jet launcher thingy and thought someone pushed or pulled them. lol. We thought there were going to be jump pads but I guess it was those jet launchers things instead. I never saw it. I was too busy laying on the ground dead. As for the patrol carrier, I read a comment earlier that someone didn't like the fact that you can take the hut ball straight to the goal without using the scaffolding deco at all. I agree. Should block that straight line from the hut ball stand to the goal when this deco is in place so we will use the scaffolding. At least put a hook at the top or those four stairs so we can block it our self with a wall deco or something if we want. Love the cut scene blasting back to the hideout. Edited July 21, 2018 by Selkcun

[Screaming_Ziva]

Love the beach. Turquoise water would look nice. Looks polluted. The Copero bar looks nice on the beach with some Rishi huts and a jukebox and fireworks. Beach party! Add a couple of Chieftain huts and you got an overnighter. Then fly up to the ship for the concert or the big fight! House? meh. I've got other strongholds to call home. This is a vacation spot. Still needs at least one waterfall. Running down on the beach would look nice. Good job team. I know it was hard work and hard to please everyone but it makes for a nice alternative to the other strongholds. Add a house if you can someday but not a priority for me.

No fair, I already did that:

 

https://imgur.com/a/KfYe851

 

I couldn't believe I actually found somewhere to use all of my Rishi huts.

 

I just wish we had some better tiki torches than Oriconian Standing Torches.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Screaming_Ziva

[Lunafox]

Love the beach. Turquoise water would look nice. Looks polluted. The Copero bar looks nice on the beach with some Rishi huts and a jukebox and fireworks. Beach party! Add a couple of Chieftain huts and you got an overnighter. Then fly up to the ship for the concert or the big fight! House? meh. I've got other strongholds to call home. This is a vacation spot. Still needs at least one waterfall. Running down on the beach would look nice. Good job team. I know it was hard work and hard to please everyone but it makes for a nice alternative to the other strongholds. Add a house if you can someday but not a priority for me.

 

Except they didn't please everyone. Decorators were left out in the cold, without even one decent building to work with on the planet. It's decorators who asked for Rishi and they do something like this. When I go on vacation, I'd like a nice place to stay in. With this Rishi I have to content myself with passing out on the beach, do I? Or sleeping in sewer tunnel?

[JediBoadicea]

Except they didn't please everyone. Decorators were left out in the cold, without even one decent building to work with on the planet. It's decorators who asked for Rishi and they do something like this. When I go on vacation, I'd like a nice place to stay in. With this Rishi I have to content myself with passing out on the beach, do I? Or sleeping in sewer tunnel?

 

I totally understand that the Rishi SH was not to everyone's liking, and I sincerely sympathize. I'd been dreaming about Manaan for years and what we got there was ultimately rather disheartening (partly in design but particularly in the abysmal hook placement), so I know how it feels to have your dreams not quite realized.

 

That being said I must second what I've seen others say elsewhere and add that I don't feel it's fair to say all "decorators" are left out in the cold or disappointed. While there are many things (particularly with hook layouts) that I would wish to see differently with Rishi, I consider myself a "decorator" and I feel I'll be able to make plenty of use out of the Rishi SH. If 21 active strongholds, 8 personal guilds w/ 8 ground strongholds and 3 guild ships, and almost every single one of those strongholds fully decorated, doesn't qualify me as a "decorator" I don't really know what would.

 

I feel the dev team needed to take a lot of really important feedback and suggestions from us, and not all of our suggestions or concerns were incorporated or addressed, but I appreciate their opening the PTS to us and I hope lessons learned will be carried forward in the future. I do like to think it might still be possible, as I've mentioned in other posts here, to add another phased expansion to the Rishi SH later down the line, but even if it doesn't happen I still really like what Rishi gave us. It's not perfect, and it won't please everyone, but I'm going to have a lot of fun decorating a scoundrel-y Outer Rim underworld market here. (Always presuming they raise the SH cap and I can actually acquire it!)

 

Not every "decorator" imagined a vacation resort on Rishi; some of us imagined a tropical Mos Eisley and those people are going to have fun with it. "Decorators" are not all one blanket mold, any more than "players" are of a single mind in an MMO. Yes, we have a love for decorating in common, but for some people a "home" is important while for others it doesn't matter at all because maybe they were looking for a Mos Eisley, or a space station, or an exogorth's gullet. (For the record, I would totally buy an exogorth gullet SH.)

 

I do think it was a little short-sighted to not include a more "habitable building," if only because it's unfortunately emblematic of a disconnect between designers and player desires/needs that has troubled strongholds for a long time, but I hope this PTS experience with Rishi is the start of the dev team getting better insight into what the players are asking for, and I hope it won't stop here.

 

If this conversation has proved anything it's that the player base who likes strongholds is varied in their tastes, but universally hungry for more. I stand by my previous suggestion that more frequently released but smaller strongholds, in a variety of the game's planetary settings (Tython, Korriban, Alderaan, Voss), would probably make most stronghold enthusiasts happier. (With the exception of Copero. If you were to make a Copero stronghold you could make that one as vastly huge as your heart desires and I'd be juussssttt fine with that. )

Edited July 22, 2018 by JediBoadicea

[ZionHalcyon]

First off, thank you for the answer, I do appreciate it. I suppose, what I can take away from this is that we're wasting our time asking for a proper housing structure for Rishi. I really don't understand why you would choose to omit a home for people to decorate. The Rishi SH is one that people have asked for, for years, myself included and never once did any of us imagine in our wildest dreams that you guys would go with the slummiest of slums when there are so many nice locales and attractive structures.

 

Does this mean you will make another Rishi for decorators? At this point, if you're declining us, then keep Rakata Prime in mind and for the love of god, it has to be beachy with oceans and lovely plants and a great house.

 

I really don't understand why you would forget your decorators. We spend money, we promote and post our creations on a variety of social media and websites, all of which is free advertising for the game. We show the joy we get out of playing with the strongholds and yet you choose to cater to a demographic, that to my knowledge has never once requested a 'pvp centric stronghold'. I'm very disappointed and honestly, there isn't anything for me to do in the game during the content drought. No story, no proper stronghold...what incentive do I have to remain?

 

They screwed up Manaan. They screwed up Rishi. Why should we have any faith in them when they haven't gotten a single stronghold right since Yavin?

 

It's like they actively enjoy not giving players what they want...

Edited July 22, 2018 by ZionHalcyon

[Savyl]

Hi everyone, I hate to give this Rishi stronghold a big fat thumbs down but for me it was a colossal disappointment.

 

Aesthetics are lacking to the point that there is nothing to aid the imagination for an immersive experience that many of have come to expect from previous content in SWTOR. I know it's supposed to be more of a pvp type of stronghold but all I see is a huge unattractive compound that goes on forever yet has nothing to give or show other than some nice coding for pvp. Developers obviously did not put their heart into. Would have been nice to see more development of the cove.. beaches, forrest, bridges and walkways. I give up on ever getting a forrest or swimmable water. I guess I gave up on swimmable water with Manaan.. another sad story in strongholds but at least with Manaan it was lovely to look at. Rishi is just one industrial looking cluttered mess.

 

Sorry to be such a negative here but I'm giving my honest opinion.

 

Thanks for letting us try/test it out because now I know I won't be wasting crédits on it.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Savyl

[Mongorr]

I like the improvements and the fact that you listened to our feedback and at least implemented what seems to be feasible at this time. I love the changes to the beach, but due to the limitiations mentioned in this thread (building, wall hooks, etc.) I will still have a hard time to make this work (if I try at all).

 

With all the centerpiece hooks, especially on the beach, I really think we urgently need other breakdown layout options for those with small and medium small hooks that still cover the entire hook (instead of having a tiny large hook equivalent in the middle). The layout with the large hook in the middle surrounded by medium hooks is just too limited.

[Estelindis]

After logging in and checking out the stronghold changes, I'm reiterating a small point from my initial feedback post (as it hasn't been changed).

 

Patrol Carrier: Captain's Quarters

Because of the gap between the hooks in front of the central wall, we can't put decorations right in the middle of that area (a frustration for us who like symmetry). I would like an additional medium hook to be placed in the middle and the existing hooks to move away to either side (which would have the added benefit of letting us put decs in the previously barren corners). Alternatively, just apply the layouts from the port or starboard quarters, which don't have the gap between hooks in front of their centre walls.

 

______

 

I am also still noticing very loud sounds of some unseen beast playing ambiently? It sounds so loud that it feels like it must be right beside us. I assume it's a bug.

 

______

 

Further, I still don't see any hazard decorations anywhere? I thought we were supposed to be able to place these in our custom huttball games?

Edited July 22, 2018 by Estelindis

[DuchessKristania]

 

If this conversation has proved anything it's that the player base who likes strongholds is varied in their tastes, but universally hungry for more. I stand by my previous suggestion that more frequently released but smaller strongholds, in a variety of the game's planetary settings (Tython, Korriban, Alderaan, Voss), would probably make most stronghold enthusiasts happier. (With the exception of Copero. If you were to make a Copero stronghold you could make that one as vastly huge as your heart desires and I'd be juussssttt fine with that. )

 

If they gave us Copero, with a big beautiful building, with those elegant gazebos and waterfalls,Copero with a big walled in garden area full of hooks, with the bridges, and vines. If they gave us Copero with not a hint of the ugly warehouse, with the tastes of people who want something elegant and pretty in mind, I would forget this Rishi SH ever existed and happily spend cash I shouldn't on packs for decos. Copero is my top of the list SH dream. I play Chiss more than any other race and if I could have a place to make their home and headquarters it would have me singing the praises of the devs long after this game became a thing of the past.

 

Maybe the devs need to start using the Stronghold section of the forums and asking players what they would like when a new stronghold is on the table. I think there's a real disconnect between the team and the players who are into decorating. I'm talking about hook placement, layouts, the radius of hook movement. There have been some incredibly well thought out posts in the feedback section that have said exactly where, how, and why hooks should be in certain places. I do appreciate the feedback they took to heart, but I think they're just not getting it in other areas.

[TonyTricicolo]

If they gave us Copero, with a big beautiful building, with those elegant gazebos and waterfalls,Copero with a big walled in garden area full of hooks, with the bridges, and vines. If they gave us Copero with not a hint of the ugly warehouse, with the tastes of people who want something elegant and pretty in mind, I would forget this Rishi SH ever existed and happily spend cash I shouldn't on packs for decos. Copero is my top of the list SH dream. I play Chiss more than any other race and if I could have a place to make their home and headquarters it would have me singing the praises of the devs long after this game became a thing of the past.

 

Maybe the devs need to start using the Stronghold section of the forums and asking players what they would like when a new stronghold is on the table. I think there's a real disconnect between the team and the players who are into decorating. I'm talking about hook placement, layouts, the radius of hook movement. There have been some incredibly well thought out posts in the feedback section that have said exactly where, how, and why hooks should be in certain places. I do appreciate the feedback they took to heart, but I think they're just not getting it in other areas.

 

The Stronghold Section of the forums doesn't even have an icon. That is how low we are on the totem pole. LOL

[DuchessKristania]

The Stronghold Section of the forums doesn't even have an icon. That is how low we are on the totem pole. LOL

 

Yeah, it's a pity because the strongholds really are something I enjoy. I'm not sure Rishi is one I'll be buying though. IF they make some of the suggested changes to already existing buildings then It will likely tip the scales in favor of, but if not, it seems a waste of my credits to buy a SH that doesn't have much to offer me. I don't know, we'll see what happens. If they have something more elegant and residence friendly coming in the future I'll probably just hold on to my credits and buy that instead.

 

I think initially, this SH is going to hurt in-game PvP because people will be playing in their PvP stronghold. I don't know if it will have a lasting impact or not. I don't mind PvP, or any other game functions being added to strongholds, as long as those changes don't continue to impact the residential aspect of them. Perhaps in the future they should consider making customizable arenas instead of PvP strongholds, and just have them be two separate things.

Edited July 22, 2018 by DuchessKristania

[Lunafox]

I really want to reach a compromise with you guys, please, couldn't you make the tower by the beach into a home for us? It could be like the silo room on the bottom, with a door and some windows and some stairs going up to the upper part which could have another room, and then the top part of the tower which could have a balcony we could go onto?

 

Please? Even if you can't do it for next update, maybe you could do it after that? So that you have more time?

 

Just consider it. It can't be that hard to turn that tower into a home? It's right on the beach and everything, it's not even something you'd have to make from scratch. Please Charles? Eric? The tower is pictured below.

 

And also, thank you for the bridge and ramp that heads toward the beach, I appreciate that.

 

https://i.imgur.com/BjOMKwt.jpg

 

PS. Make the new 'wall' decos fit for narrow medium hooks, so we can build with them.

 

PSS. TonyTricicolo is right, the Stronghold forums deserve to have an icon. At least show us we decorators matter a little.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Lunafox

[AscendingSky]

No fair, I already did that:

 

https://imgur.com/a/KfYe851

 

I couldn't believe I actually found somewhere to use all of my Rishi huts.

 

I just wish we had some better tiki torches than Oriconian Standing Torches.

 

I'd recommend getting your hands on some Mandalorian Floor Torches or Odessen Braziers if you're looking for more of the 'tiki torch' vibe. Zakuulan Temple Torches would be passible too I think. If only the devs would increase our limit on Rishii Idols (hint hint Charles!), those would be a good fit too, but sadly 10 of them really wouldn't be enough to work through the whole stronghold.

 

I totally understand that the Rishi SH was not to everyone's liking, and I sincerely sympathize. I'd been dreaming about Manaan for years and what we got there was ultimately rather disheartening (partly in design but particularly in the abysmal hook placement), so I know how it feels to have your dreams not quite realized.

 

That being said I must second what I've seen others say elsewhere and add that I don't feel it's fair to say all "decorators" are left out in the cold or disappointed. While there are many things (particularly with hook layouts) that I would wish to see differently with Rishi, I consider myself a "decorator" and I feel I'll be able to make plenty of use out of the Rishi SH. If 21 active strongholds, 8 personal guilds w/ 8 ground strongholds and 3 guild ships, and almost every single one of those strongholds fully decorated, doesn't qualify me as a "decorator" I don't really know what would.

 

<snip>

 

Not every "decorator" imagined a vacation resort on Rishi; some of us imagined a tropical Mos Eisley and those people are going to have fun with it. "Decorators" are not all one blanket mold, any more than "players" are of a single mind in an MMO. Yes, we have a love for decorating in common, but for some people a "home" is important while for others it doesn't matter at all because maybe they were looking for a Mos Eisley, or a space station, or an exogorth's gullet. (For the record, I would totally buy an exogorth gullet SH.)

<snip>

 

I completely agree with this. I am an enormous decoration enthusiast myself. I like to say that "Better Homes & Spaceships" is my favorite minigame to play on TOR (followed by Space Barbies). I built up a huge pile of credits in-game specifically so that I could buy every decoration I could ever want and design my strongholds as I pleased. I'm the designated stronghold designer for my guilds. My friends routinely ask me for advice to help them decorate their personal strongholds because they know of my passion for it and they like what they've seen me do. And I can unequivocally say that Rishi is absolutely a stronghold for decorators as well as PvPers.

 

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm disappointed that EA decided to go so heavy on the grunge and decay. More island paradise and less slum would have been ideal. A more 'livable' building in some corner of the stronghold would have been awesome. That being said, there's still enormous potential in the Rishi SH design as it stands. No, it doesn't really work for a luxurious beach estate like a lot of people hoped for... but Rishi is not and never has been a tourist planet. It's a tropical hive of scum and villainy. A lot of people I know in game (all in the RP community with me) who were hoping for Rishi are thrilled that they'll finally be able to give their mercenary company/pirate crew/Mandalorian clan/etc. an appropriately thematic base of operations.

 

The Rishi stronghold will also be a great place for roleplayers to run events and storylines. This is something I have done a lot myself. While a few of my strongholds are permanently set up as residences for particular characters of mine, other strongholds have been solely used as settings to hold my events. It's great to be able to custom design a setting for an RP event. For one thing, it really helps you get your players immersed in the story. For another, I can change decorations out on the fly to reflect IC actions during the scene, such as replacing a regular turret decoration with a damaged one.

 

As it's currently set up, Rishi offers a lot of flexibility for creating setups for RP events. You have the beach area if you just want to run a fun little party social gathering. You've got the cove hideout area that you could turn into an underworld market, a pirate haven, the ruins of a wrecked craft your players are searching for a treasure or just salvage, etc. And then you have the separate ship section that you can build into a military transport, a hijacking scenario, a gladiatorial arena, and so much more that springs to mind. You can even run a traditional Final Fantasy style airship battle scenario on the top just for fun! Who wouldn't love that? I've got a ton of vehicle and creature decorations that would go great with that idea!

 

Yes, the Rishi stronghold is far from perfect. Yes, there are changes I wish they would make to it. Yes, I would be happy to wait more time if it meant we received another expansion to the stronghold that would diversify the potential uses of the SH even more. And yes, I do think there was a big disconnect here between the wishes of the players and the choices of the devs. All of those are fair criticisms.

 

But to be fair to the devs (and this is coming from someone who is extremely critical of EA in general and the people running this game in specific), decorators already have several strongholds that work great as homes. Coruscant and Dromund Kaas (both literally designated apartments!), and Tatooine (It's literally called a homestead!) are the easiest to build that way, but both Nar Shaddaa and Manaan are also doable as a residence with the right layouts, and even Yavin is passable if your characters are the type to 'rough it' a bit. The Umbara train is the only personal stronghold option I'd say at this point completely doesn't work for what people would generally consider a home.

 

I'm not saying we shouldn't push for changes to Rishi up until the very end, to try to make the SH useful and appealing to as many players as possible. But everyone needs to keep in mind that just because something might not appeal to you in particular, that doesn't make it automatically bad or impossible for anyone else to find it appealing. Just because you're a decorator and you don't like the Rishi SH, you shouldn't say that it's absolutely not for decorators, only for PvPers. And so on and so forth.

 

Which brings me to my last point: PvPers deserve some love too. Now, I hate PvP myself, but a lot of people love PvP and their playstyle is just as valid as mine. And I know a Rishi SH that had been built as nothing but a luxurious beach estate wouldn't have made sense to set up as a PvP enabled SH. Even if they're not traditional decorating enthusiasts like some of us, they deserve to have nice things too. PvP doesn't get a lot of care and attention in this game from the devs. This upcoming patch is the first one in a long, long time that's focused on PvP. We shouldn't be resentful about them 'getting' this and claiming we're somehow losing out, because we're not.

Edited July 23, 2018 by AscendingSky

[Nmyownworld]

First off, I want to thank you all for your feedback throughout the PTS cycle! Although we won't be able to address every point of feedback, your input has significantly improved the quality of this update, and we look forward to repeating the process for more of our releases in the coming months.

The opportunity to test out the Rishi Stronghold on the PTS is appreciated. Thank you. I hope future updates are on the PTS, with the same give and take between players and devs.

 

I love the change to the beach sand. The bridge from the landing zone to the beach is great. Thanks!

[DuchessKristania]

Is there any way we can have one of the buildings edited to be more home friednly? My proposals would be to rework the floor in the Hillside Room, divide it into more than one room and if that is not possible, cover the floor in hooks that are compatible with the new wall decos so that we can add our own walls without Mcgyvering everything. I have managed this but it severely limits how I can decorate the rest of it because several hooks have to be used to create a full wall. Large wall hooks would also make a welcome addition so that banners could be placed inside. A ceiling hook so that we can choose our own lights, and adding rug hooks in several places so that if we do divide it into smaller rooms we can put rugs in those created rooms.

 

Another possiblity that would be pretty awesome is if you made the high platform in the hideout fully enclosed instead of having b broken walls. Or, perhaps enclosed the original spawn in zone. There are things that can be adjusted to make some of the existing buildings more habitable. I don't expect a month delay, though it would be welcome if you could add a new building in that time, but surely it wouldn't cause a huge delay to just make something that's already there a better home.

[TonyTricicolo]

Hillside room, if tweaked by adding more hook options, can work nicely. For that matter, the elevated platform, if enclosed like you propose can work just as well. Though I'd prefer a door as an entrance so I'm leaning slightly more towards the Hillside room. Lunafox also suggested to remodel the tower on the beach and that is also a great idea. I'm thinking of more of an instanced area over looking the entrance/initial pvp area which would be accessed by an elevator terminal. I'd be content with anything mentioned. I love that we're coming up with presentable ideas. My fingers are crossed, hoping the devs get proactive and accommodate us. Edited July 23, 2018 by TonyTricicolo

[DuchessKristania]

There is more than one way to accommodate those asking for a better building. I think many of us have demonstrated a willingness to work with what's there, even if it wouldn't be ideal. If any of these ideas make their way into the final build I'd really like to hear from the team, either in a comment here or in patch notes. Touring strongholds when it goes live is an option but we won't be able to see if the hook layouts were changed, and I don't want to buy the SH only to discover that it was a waste of credits that could be saved for a place more suited to my taste. The key with this topic is communication. I've appreciated what has been communicated, but I'd really like to see a response to the proposed changes to existing buildings. Edited July 23, 2018 by DuchessKristania

[Screaming_Ziva]

I'd recommend getting your hands on some Mandalorian Floor Torches or Odessen Braziers if you're looking for more of the 'tiki torch' vibe. Zakuulan Temple Torches would be passible too I think. If only the devs would increase our limit on Rishii Idols (hint hint Charles!), those would be a good fit too, but sadly 10 of them really wouldn't be enough to work through the whole stronghold.

I really like the Odessen Braziers but they only fit on small hooks and the beach area hardly has any small hooks (the main hook arrangement doesn't have any small hooks). The Mandalorian Floor Torches are nice too but suffer from the same issue, they have to be placed on a small or medium hook. For some reason, I have 30 Rishii Idols but I think I like the Oriconian Standing Torches better so I'll probably stick with those.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Screaming_Ziva

[JediBoadicea]

If only the devs would increase our limit on Rishii Idols (hint hint Charles!), those would be a good fit too, but sadly 10 of them really wouldn't be enough to work through the whole stronghold.

 

Yes, pleeaaassseee! I've been hoarding these in cargo holds across tons of characters in the hope that someday that cap would be raised and I could finally unlock them. It's completely silly for these to be capped. Especially with a Rishi SH about to be in our hands!

 

The Rishi stronghold will also be a great place for roleplayers to run events and storylines. This is something I have done a lot myself. While a few of my strongholds are permanently set up as residences for particular characters of mine, other strongholds have been solely used as settings to hold my events. It's great to be able to custom design a setting for an RP event. For one thing, it really helps you get your players immersed in the story. For another, I can change decorations out on the fly to reflect IC actions during the scene, such as replacing a regular turret decoration with a damaged one.

 

As it's currently set up, Rishi offers a lot of flexibility for creating setups for RP events. You have the beach area if you just want to run a fun little party social gathering. You've got the cove hideout area that you could turn into an underworld market, a pirate haven, the ruins of a wrecked craft your players are searching for a treasure or just salvage, etc. And then you have the separate ship section that you can build into a military transport, a hijacking scenario, a gladiatorial arena, and so much more that springs to mind. You can even run a traditional Final Fantasy style airship battle scenario on the top just for fun! Who wouldn't love that? I've got a ton of vehicle and creature decorations that would go great with that idea!

 

^^^ All of this, completely. I am excited for Rishi as a decorator (again, still with the desperate hope that the remaining issues with the hooks can be addressed), but especially so as an RPer, and I have already heard from multiple RPers I know who feel the same way. I also use several of my 21 strongholds as stages for RP sets, tearing down and rebuilding them to fit the event, adjusting decos on the fly as things change on the ground. The potential for the Rishi SH to be used like this is phenomenal, and that's in part because of the more run down design of it.

 

Always provided the devs address the issue of stronghold caps so that I can actually unlock this, I am very excited to get my hands on it!

 

Which brings me to my last point: PvPers deserve some love too. Now, I hate PvP myself, but a lot of people love PvP and their playstyle is just as valid as mine. And I know a Rishi SH that had been built as nothing but a luxurious beach estate wouldn't have made sense to set up as a PvP enabled SH. Even if they're not traditional decorating enthusiasts like some of us, they deserve to have nice things too. PvP doesn't get a lot of care and attention in this game from the devs. This upcoming patch is the first one in a long, long time that's focused on PvP. We shouldn't be resentful about them 'getting' this and claiming we're somehow losing out, because we're not.

 

I might argue that PVPers have had more love than, say, Ops groups, but I also don't want to make the perfect the enemy of the good (and the Machine op has had a lot of great stuff in it). Also I think the studio has made a real effort (whether or not always successfully) in the last year+ to address both of those groups, with this upcoming update being part of that.

 

Speaking as a decorater, and an RPer, and someone who runs Ops, I am actually excited to make use of the PVP functionality. I PVP too (not as much as the other things, but still some), and one of the especially nice things about making the SH a place where you can PVP is that it offers a place for people who might be interested in some light PVP but don't want to deal with the toxicity that can often be found in normal PVP queues/matches to actually engage in some controlled PVP with their friends/guilds. I know that I already have in mind ways I can use the PVP functionality both in RP events and in PVP events for my non-RP guild. (Now if we could have a way to custom-match GSF I would be over the moon. )

 

And I stand by something I said earlier: if an additional demographic of players can be enticed into a greater interest in strongholds via this Rishi SH, then that is all to the good. More player interest means more resources and attention devoted to that area of the game, and strongholds need that. It's not just about getting more strongholds (though of course we're all ravenous for as many as we can get), it's about correcting long-standing bugs, making badly needed QoL improvements, re-examining a lot of what's currently in place and adjusting it, and closing that disconnect between the dev team and the player base about what is/isn't priority or game-breaking. This feedback with the Rishi SH touched on a lot of those issues, but more attention is definitely needed.

[Screaming_Ziva]

Always provided the devs address the issue of stronghold caps so that I can actually unlock this, I am very excited to get my hands on it!

Personally, I don't see why someone would need (or want) multiple copies of the older strongholds. I deleted all of my extras because it was cluttering up my stronghold screen.

 

But, obviously, the "cap" really isn't 10 so I don't know why they don't do something to allow people that still have all of their old strongholds to purchase the new one.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Screaming_Ziva

[JediBoadicea]

Personally, I don't see why someone would need (or want) multiple copies of the older strongholds. I deleted all of my extras because it was cluttering up my stronghold screen.

 

Given the unrelenting passion other people in the thread have expressed about wanting a "home" on Rishi (I don't share it, but I can sympathize), I think it's reasonable to assume that some people might like having more strongholds to make more individual homes for individual characters.

 

For myself, it comes down to having more than one idea for how to use a stronghold space. I have one Coruscant SH set up as a high-society club, another Coruscant SH set up as mercantile complex, and a third Coruscant SH set up as a Jedi enclave on Coruscant. Similarly I have one Nar Shaddaa SH set up as a home for a character, another NS SH set up as an underworld Nar Shaddaa slum district, and a third NS SH set up as a Hutt's palace. I have one Tatooine SH set up as a shared home complex for multiple characters, another Tatooine SH set up as a remote and arcane desert temple, and a third Tatooine SH set up as a scrapyard work camp. I could go on with what I did with Manaan or Yavin or Dromund Kaas or all my guild strongholds (a starfighter squadron HQ and a senatorial office complex just to name two for guild Coruscant SHs), but I think my argument is clear.

 

And none of that even takes into consideration what RPers can use SHs for, as mentioned in posts above this one. Having SHs free to make RP sets on demand is a godsend. And what if an idea for a RP event arises that could really, really use another Tatooine SH for the setting... but I don't want to lose all the work I did on my existing Tatooine SHs? What's the harm in letting me pay real $$ for another SH slot unlock if I want to buy a 4th Tatooine SH? Or what if I make a new character that I end up really loving and I totally want to make a home for them on DK but my existing DK strongholds are already in use? Again, what's the harm in letting me pay real $$ for another SH unlock? Profit for everyone.

 

But, obviously, the "cap" really isn't 10 so I don't know why they don't do something to allow people that still have all of their old strongholds to purchase the new one.

 

That's really what it comes down to for me. Back in the olden days we assumed (had to assume, it was never explicitly stated) that the cap might have something to do with game limitations, that the game couldn't actually support us having more than 5 or whatever strongholds. But now we know that for sure it can support us having up to 35, and further that it can support us having multiple copies of the same SH. If it can't do more than 35 well... okay... but then at least no one who is under 35 should be capped until they reach 35.

 

And if all it takes to allow people to unlock duplicate copies of the same SH is some SH listing/interface coding then it seems like a very worthwhile investment to me if it means bringing in more profit. It might be more complex than that (game fixes usually are), I don't know, but it's still worth considering. At least in the crossover RP/Decorator community I personally know, just about everyone has said they would love to be able to buy duplicates when they want them. (Not everyone was already a monumental freak like me who had strongholds on multiple servers because I just couldn't stop myself, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't love the option if it was made available to them via a simple purchase.)

[DuchessKristania]

 

For myself, it comes down to having more than one idea for how to use a stronghold space. I have one Coruscant SH set up as a high-society club, another Coruscant SH set up as mercantile complex, and a third Coruscant SH set up as a Jedi enclave on Coruscant. Similarly I have one Nar Shaddaa SH set up as a home for a character, another NS SH set up as an underworld Nar Shaddaa slum district, and a third NS SH set up as a Hutt's palace. I have one Tatooine SH set up as a shared home complex for multiple characters, another Tatooine SH set up as a remote and arcane desert temple, and a third Tatooine SH set up as a scrapyard work camp. I could go on with what I did with Manaan or Yavin or Dromund Kaas or all my guild strongholds (a starfighter squadron HQ and a senatorial office complex just to name two for guild Coruscant SHs), but I think my argument is clear.

 

 

Actually, it isn't all about making Rishi a home, though that was my initial plan for the SH. I have some strongholds that aren't homes. Tatooine has been turned into a desert springs type resort, lol. I just find the lack of a proper building very limiting in what I can use this SH for. I far prefer decorating interiors over vast outdoor spaces with limited hook layouts. The ship is too dark for my taste, and fairly industrial as well. I just want a better building to decorate and have fun with.

 

Or to see the flexibility of the new wall decos increased. I could actually forget about a better building entirely if those walls were something I could mess around with. I'd probably spend hours coming up with uses for those. Something that would help increase their use would be the addition of smaller hooks on top of all of the larger hooks. I hate how many of the decos that fit on the plain purple large hooks, centerpiece, and starship hook often do not fill the space. I'd have a blast creating little rooms and hidden places with those walls if I could actually put things in those hidden spaces I create.

 

Also, and this is not in response to you personally, just an observation of mood. There seems to be an assumption that those who want a proper building consider themselves more valid as decorators than those who are not concerned with a proper building, or that the desire for a proper building in some way signals a resentment for the PvP element being added. I think these are both unfair assumptions and while I can see where posts from one or two people might feed that, it's not a sentiment that has been expressed by all the people asking for a better building or adjustments. In my opinion the type of decorator or player that you are is not related to a desire for a better building. A better building does not impair anyone's ability to use the SH the way they want, nor should it. So, I'm not entirely sure why that keeps getting brought up. I PvP sometimes, I make non-home strongholds, I still want to see improvements made to one of the existing buildings if a new building is out of the question.

 

I continue to bring it up because I am passionate about this aspect of the game and feel strongly that the improvement of the buildings in this stronghold is something that would enhance it for every kind of player. Charles said a new building isn't possible, but also said this was not the final build. In that vein I've adjusted my request and offered specific thoughts and feedback on how to improve the current buildings to appeal to a wider variety of player.

Edited July 23, 2018 by DuchessKristania

[Mireleni]

I think the changes thus far to the Rishi stronghold have been great. I also would have preferred larger indoor areas and buildings that don't look so rundown, but I understand the design and plan to do my best with what we've been given. Here are a few notes on things that I thought could be improved (apologies if anything has already been said--I haven't read through all the pages here).

 

- I would prefer a bit more symmetry in the hooks in the open pvp area. Specifically, there is a medium hook to one side of the large hook in the middle, but on the other side (towards the water) there is nothing. I think there used to be a built-in junk pile there, but now that that's cleaned up, could we get a hook there?

 

-There's a footstep sound effect I can hear when in camera bot mode, which doesn't really make sense.

 

-I know this is the Rishi stronghold, but instead of having the built-in Rishi standing banners on the bridge going up to the high platform, it would be nice if we had small hooks right next to the bases of those banners so we could choose our own banner and slide it over to that spot. For the bridge that goes over the stream, it would be nice if we had small hooks on the corners of those platforms as well so we could similarly put banners on those corners.

 

-This isn't about the Rishi stronghold specifically, but please fix the Hanging Vines wall deco (from Nathema Conspiracy), as there are many good places for them here.

 

-In the Sun Room, instead of the lights that look like the Republic Wall Sconces, why not put small hooks there and let us choose our own? Similarly, in the Hillside Room, instead of the built-in ceiling light, why not put in a ceiling hook and let us choose our own?

 

-In both the Sun Room and Hillside Room, it would be nice if we could get some small/medium narrow floor hooks for the entry hallway. Maybe a couch or a plant there? Also a rug hook near the door would be nice--I know some rugs are too big for the space, but the small rugs would be perfect. Anything to make these hallways a little more inviting.

 

-Both of the Crew's Quarters have large metal gratings on the floor, which seems less than ideal for what would be living space on the ship. If we had another couple rug hooks (to the left and right of the current one in the middle), we could at least cover that up with rugs. Or change it to a solid floor.

 

-Along the path leading from the beach to the cave, there are hooks on the left side that are tilted to match the terrain. This makes sense if you're putting something like a pet there, but it doesn't work for a lot of things (standing lamps, banners, torches). Maybe consider having them horizontal? Or maybe give a tilted hook and a horizontal hook near each other so we can choose what to use?

 

-When you implement the option to allow or not allow pvp in the strongholds when it goes live, will there be an indication to players browsing the stronghold listings whether there is/isn't pvp in the stronghold?

 

That's all for now. Thanks for incorporating so much of the feedback so far. I'm really excited for this stronghold!