Why is Bioware so silent on major gear issues from 5.10?

[Screaming_Ziva]

These are good questions, so let me try to address them.

 

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

-eric

 

This is BS. Exactly what "issue" does this resolve? You've basically just gimped players for zero reason with this change.

[kodrac]

It seems you want to have a game that only offers cookie cutter templates while on the other hand spending significant time on master mode content and epic gear grinds. It seems you are wanting players to work towards becoming less unique and less tailored to their play style while making this harder to achieve.

 

Good assessment.

[Qouivandes]

intended change?

why even have them removable. poor decision. now i really dont care if i get a new piece of gear or not.

[Stellarcrusade]

First of all, thank you Eric for clarifying the 2 issues. I really think there are dozens of other things from the patch that should be clarified. Also this clarification should be much faster so people know what expectations are for new features/bugs and it allows us to open up dialog about development decisions.

 

I must agree with everyone that #1 is a huge mistake. My guess is the MOTIVE for this was simply this: To slow down someone getting his chars to BiS even longer. This is a terrible way to go about it. It is a different discussion if the grind is too slow, but there are other mechanisms in place to slow down player progress that are much better than this.

 

This will put people at the MERCY of the RNG, and allow devs to ninja nerf the rate at which items pop, which is totally unacceptable. Example may be the 5.x command crates, I leveled up 6 characters to BiS, that ENTIRE TIME since the day 5.0 was released I never once popped a weapon. You obviously artificially lowered the pop rate of weapons.

 

The remedy:

You need to do one of the following to remedy this disaster:

1.) Change it so that mod/enhancements can be switched to any gear piece.

or

2.) Vendor to allow us to swap any gear piece for any other gear piece without additional cost.

or

3.) Eliminate RNG, we pop a SLOT (not piece, but slot) that we haven't popped already, and after player has one of everyone then it continues again but with an increased chance to get other relics/earpieces etc.

or

4.) Increase PvP bolster to 258 and call it a day.

 

You need to do one of the above, this is a serious problem that needs to be fixed. And no matter what, you need to make sure any RNG is NOT WEIGHTED so that people cannot ever pop a piece they need within a reasonable amount of time.

[WhiteOsprey]

Intended, but meant to be hidden, like we'd never notice or what Eric? It wasn't in the patch notes and the itemization Bioware picks is absolutely piss poor with absolutely worthless and wasted stats that make ZERO sense at all...what the hell were you guys thinking?

 

The only thing that makes sense TUX is that they wanted to extend the gear grind as long as possible because 6.0 is a lot further out than anyone was hoping for. I'd be happy to be proven wrong. The fact that its an intended change and they didn't say a word about it says to me they knew full well this would piss everyone off but they didn't care. I mean this was no secret on the PTS forums and they were silent.

 

To introduce a new and unreasonable level of grind at this stage of an expansions life without discussing it with the community is ridiculous IMO. Eric's post did absolutely nothing to explain why a big change like this was made out of nowhere. Bad form Bioware.

[Adric_the_Red]

Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR.

Players have been telling you for years what they want to see: MORE ability to customize their gear/stats, not less. And yet you go in exactly the opposite direction. "Want to put that enhancement with better stat balance from the duplicate pair of boots you just got into your gloves that came with a sub-optimal one? Sorry, you can only use it in boots. Oh, and you'll never, ever, in a million years get a pair of gloves with that enhancement in it. Why? Because we don't want you to." Edited December 20, 2018 by Adric_the_Red

[Solo-Jo]

Eric, can we just have 4.0 gearing back? No one wanted this grind for the sake of grind. This is not fun and further perpetuates the gear disparity in PvP.

 

Yeah pretty much this. Most of all get rid of the RNG for gearing!!!

[Kirtastropohe]

Binding mods and enhancements to the slot of the item is very uncool. Now, if you're doing that to try and address skank tanking or other issues with PvP, acknowledge it and everyone can help work to a solution that solves that problem but doesn't punish people trying to min/max.

 

To be brutally honest, you have so convoluted the process for getting gear, made warzones so unpleasant, and made it so expensive to obtain anything that I have given up on the prospect of gearing. I'll keep my gold 248s with their nonworking set bonus (please fix this!) and just suffer through being bolstered to 252 and at a slight disadvantage for warzones.

 

I totally understand the staffing is not nearly adequate for the game, I'm sure, and I feel for you. I love this game and know the people working on it work hard, but stuff is just brutal.

[Ner_idia]

As I've now re-rolled all of my level 70s to replay the vanilla content again, it's going to be about six months before I see end game again. And as I commented yesterday while on a starter planet:

 

When has there been a change (since 5.0 ) that actually helps the player base? Answer: None; every change that has been made has been opposite of what we, the player base, have been asking for.

 

So....par to course...and more subs going elsewhere.

[macmachado]

It came to my mind that devs want an oppotunity to close the game.

Game Over

[-Highsteel-]

These are good questions, so let me try to address them.

 

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

2 - This is a bug, I acknowledged it here. The reason we didn't fix it with today's patch is that addressing this issue is actually pretty substantial from our side. It will involve us not only fixing the items to work properly going forward, but we need to actually "change" the gear already in the wild to work together. That is the part that is challenging as we need to touch armorings that players are wearing without impacting the rest of their gear. We are working on a solution for this, but it is not something we could turn around in time for 5.10a.

 

Thank you all for your continued feedback. Bigger itemization changes will come and we will definitely talk through them with you when they get here (not soon™). Thanks all.

 

-eric

 

You would make a great politician. Thank god I understood your guys deceit and was prepared. Not hard to smell BS from miles away, just have to use your nose.

 

You bounded the mods to the piece cause you knew people min/maxed gear. Hell, this website would make these type of threads a sticky thread. You knew that once people got the 252 gear that certain enhancements wouldn't work. The fact that you made them bound but removable tells me you want people to grind for more, to get the correct enhancement, say from a healer spec.

 

You have zero argument as to why you would suddenly do so, other than what I just stated. Never been a prime example of Occam's Razor, than right now.

 

Such blatant incompetence and smugness. Just be up front, hell I'll still play.

Edited December 20, 2018 by -Highsteel-

[-Highsteel-]

I know this is going to sound rude, but isn't shouting "Stop messing with gearing" all the time not clear enough?

 

The pretentious minds disallows any input other than their own. So basically it is always a FU response back. They feel they are artist and we are the plebs, how dare you question our art.

Edited December 20, 2018 by -Highsteel-

[AscendingSky]

These are good questions, so let me try to address them.

 

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

2 - This is a bug, I acknowledged it here. The reason we didn't fix it with today's patch is that addressing this issue is actually pretty substantial from our side. It will involve us not only fixing the items to work properly going forward, but we need to actually "change" the gear already in the wild to work together. That is the part that is challenging as we need to touch armorings that players are wearing without impacting the rest of their gear. We are working on a solution for this, but it is not something we could turn around in time for 5.10a.

 

Thank you all for your continued feedback. Bigger itemization changes will come and we will definitely talk through them with you when they get here (not soon™). Thanks all.

 

-eric

 

Yet again Keith and his minions slip in some major nerfs without giving prior warning in any posts to players, or even putting them in the patch notes the day before. This is right up there in underhandedness with EA getting rid of the West Coast servers and only admitting to it after players had logged in and found their server ping quadrupled. What cowards. Eric, you swore months and months ago that any changes not put in patch notes was a bug. It's sad that Keith has made you a liar.

 

It's like you guys think players are stupid and won't notice the changes. Yet we always do, and then the devs always act surprised that players are--shocker!--upset that major nerfs were put into place without prior warning. Keith and company deliberately ignored the many, many threads on the PTS forum asking about the new bound nature of mods, and only now over a week after the content is live are we getting a confirmation that this is intended. Shame on you Keith. So much for your claims that you care about the players or their experience.

 

What's the point of even having removable mods in gear anymore if you can't, you know, remove them and move them around to where they're most useful? Oh, right, it's to extend the mindless, tedious, overly complicated, RNG-based grind you've put in place with this new gear tier. Why a new gear tier to begin with? Is it because EA literally has nothing else coming down the pipe for this game and you hoped to keep us distracted with the new shiny treadmill long enough to milk more subscription fees from the game before everything shuts down? Because I don't see any other logical reason for it.

 

The patch today fixed next to nothing, and now we're being told we're just going to have to live with all the bugs for the next 6-8 weeks while everyone goes on holiday? Why do something so stupid as dropping a major patch right before the holiday season when you know no one will be able to fix anything? This is something else EA keeps doing... and then they wonder why the sub count drops afterwards as a result, like with Galactic Command.

 

Thanking us for our feedback when you don't listen to it and haven't from the beginning is flat out insulting. I'm done.

Edited December 20, 2018 by AscendingSky

[DzastinBiberi]

These are good questions, so let me try to address them.

 

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

-eric

 

Mate, you were told many times, even in PTS forum thread about gearing, way before 5.10 that mods not being movable is a mistake and you were told politely to tell the devs to make them movable and not bound to gear piece slot.

 

And that was in a thread were you had posts. So "intended" is more like lazy, since you couldnt even respond to the same question in several threads. I can imagine missing one thread, two, three and missing that post among others, but to completly ignore threads about it and posts in the PTS thread where you posted, thats "intended" mate.

 

Its sad that BW keeps on not listening to their playerbase. Players are the one's that actually play and pay for this game, maybe ppl at BW should start listening for a bit, 'cause clearly, dev's are completly out of touch when it comes to what players want and what they get.

 

I'm playing this game for 5 years and I've seen alot of changes etc and the one thing that sticks out the most, is BW ability not to listen to their players.

 

Class

 

Hatred sins, not a single buff since 2.xx, even Deception feels like a tank compared to it.

 

Deception sins were in the right spot, not needing any nerfs, got hammered to the ground cause, and I'll quote you on this one "We felt that deception sins were OP".

 

Good thing you didnt feel the same about mercs, so it took you (not personally you) a YEAR to tune them down a bit.

 

The best joke yet was, here we got new augments to make up for those nerfs, well, you cant redo a nerf hammer with any sort of gear or aug, 'cause its nerfed from the skill tree, passive abilities.

 

Right now I feel like I'm wasting money on the company and her staff who are unable to listen.

 

I tried helping over the years with suggestions about what could be done to some classes so they could be on the same playing level as others, I tried reporting buggs, credit sellers, cheaters, scammers and so on over the years, only to realise that everything was falling on deaf ears, like this post will be.

 

Well, I'm done trying.

[Xina_LA]

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

Friction is a massive understatement. This is a vastly unwelcome change.

 

I'm the only person in my group that isn't seriously thinking of quitting over this. They were already frustrated, as casual and non-PVP players, about the complexity of gearing.

 

Players that I brought to the game in the last six months got upset about the process of gearing up, starting from level 1. I think the devs look at gearing from where long-time players are now through the next stage, without looking back to see how unreasonably complex the process has become, from start to finish. It is not consistent and it is not intuitive and it is not explained within the game itself.

 

In addition, there have been blow-ups when someone didn't realize that switching out an armor piece would break a set and lose the bonus. It is not well explained from within the game, you have to find out the hard way and then read about it on somebody's game guide web site. This change is only going to make things worse.

 

I honestly think the devs should be forced to delete all their toons and start over to get a fresh pair of eyes on how the game experience has evolved for new players, as well as people creating new characters. I'll bet you money that they'll be shocked how many bugs they encounter along the way, too.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to take those Cartel Coins off of my Christmas Amazon wishlist.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Xina_LA

[redkungfu]

These are good questions, so let me try to address them.

 

1 - This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

 

-eric

 

Are you *********** kidding me?! Are you Biofail ****tards actually trying to kill the dwindling remains of your player base? This is ridiculous.

[Xina_LA]

Are you *********** kidding me?! Are you Biofail ****tards actually trying to kill the dwindling remains of your player base? This is ridiculous.

And here I was worried that the servers would be full over the holidays.

[MrRuck]

This is an intended change. That being said, we know there is definitely some friction from this change and so keep raising your concerns/feedback which I can pass to the team. We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing. Please keep telling us what you would like to see in the future from gearing in SWTOR. We will continue to gather feedback and as we get into the next year, we will have active conversations with you about future gearing plans.

 

[ ... ]

 

Thank you all for your continued feedback. Bigger itemization changes will come and we will definitely talk through them with you when they get here (not soon™). Thanks all.

 

-eric

I know you're trying to reassure us but this reads more like a threat. Bigger than Ossus sounds utterly terrifying.

[JattaGin]

We have made no secret of the fact that we know we are due for some big itemization changes to address a variety of issues around gearing.

 

They have?

[Storm-Cutter]

I never could understand the business model of ticking off paying customers. Or reporting that you did so to your boss and their boss.

 

What is a lot more fun than gearing is watching the train wreck in slow motion over the next few weeks.

 

What players want in a gear upgrade:

• Simple
  
• Quick
  
• Inexpensive
  
• Rewarding
  
• Customisable.
  
• Easy to understand
  
• Easy to progress in stages.
  
• Accessible to all, not gated behind certain game modes or content.
  

 

THink about what we got in this latest patch and what we got in patches and releases past.

 

IMHO once you hit max level, they should hand out 5 sets of gear that is bound, but swappable so people can min/max. then you could spend time on making exciting and absorbing content rather than make another unnecessary progression. - That ' gear progression is content' model is so last century.

 

If you want end-game ops more challenging, don't hide behind stats, make it harder with harder mechanics, tighter timers and fewer recovery windows.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Storm-Cutter

[TUXs]

They have?

I'm glad it wasn't just me...I don't recall itemization being a big talking point...

[AscendingSky]

I'm glad it wasn't just me...I don't recall itemization being a big talking point...

 

Just another lie from Keith & company. They don't talk to us about anything or listen to our feedback. It's sad Eric is forced to be the messenger boy for their lies; I know none of this is actually his fault, he's just the go-between.

Edited December 20, 2018 by AscendingSky

[Ylliarus]

Just another lie from Keith & company. They don't talk to us about anything or listen to our feedback.. It's sad Eric is forced to be the messenger boy for their lies; I know none of this is actually his fault.

 

They've actually been mentioning itemization changes in multiple streams now, I distinctly recall them mentioning it. Maybe not specifically as "itemization changes" but definitely changes of that sort coming up. I even believe it's been mentioned in the latest Bad Feeling Podcast buvette and there is even talk of brining back the PvP stat gear like we used to have.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ylliarus

[eemo]

Can we please please go back to the way gear worked before,

PVP Gear-PVE Gear. No-one likes this Grind for Gear Game. This game is beginning to feel more like a job than a game. I love star wars but its getting to the point where its not fun. When they game first came out Grind was gone there was a story a real story. But it seems like you guys care more about gear now than a Great User experience. I mean cmon this is STAR WARS! Star wars! Please don't kill it with this gear grind.

From a Dedicated Fan,

Eemo sith warrior

 

Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the force as his ally will conquer.....

-Jedi Master Yoda

[Lhancelot]

This game is beginning to feel more like a job than a game. I love star wars but its getting to the point where its not fun.

 

When you reach this point, it's time to talk with your wallet. They don't care about anything else. Drop the sub, take a healthy break, and check in periodically to see if the game has improved.

 

That's why I stopped playing. When it became a chore, an activity that was not fun, it no longer was a game to me and I was forced to quit. I refuse to partake in activities for leisure that are not fun. Gaming is supposed to be fun.

 

At this moment, SWTOR is not fun for me. Time to take a break.