Onslaught Expansion Discussion Thread

[OlBuzzard]

I think the reason it worked in Legion is because part of the lore and a main feature story-wise was the development of artifact weapons. The way they tried to continue the trend in BfA with Azerite gear is atrocious and one of the main criticisms they've been facing. But Legion had plenty of problems too including the acquiring of Legendaries and having the ones you get depend on RNG. That was a mess.

 

But in general, gearing has progressively gotten worse in that game. Warforging, titanforging, the removal of tier sets, loot distributions, and so on. That's why I think SWTOR would do better to maintain their own system rather than copying a failed one. Of course, we don't know enough details yet to validate these concerns, but I do hope the devs are listening and tread carefully with the changes they're making to gearing.

 

You nailed it ! Even if some of us don't have the ability to regurgitate the technobable and some of the specifics... this should undeniably be a matter of concern before it blows up like the "shell" game. Grinding endless for hours and still not have enough bits and pieces to put togeather one decent piece... that is just plain NUTS !!

 

Use to ... even if a player had to grind to save up.. we could use our custom gear for the appearances we enjoyed, buy the individual mods needed and build them as we progressed through the game. Now it's anybodys guess what drops. Then we take thousands of whatever the current currency is to convert over to one or two pieces of something else to eventually to buy something else that converts to ... Never mind !

 

Hopefully they will get it right this time. Maybe they can even clean up the crafting process a little so it makes sense. I finally gave up on that since it takes too much time to grind out everything else.

 

No .. this is not passing judgement. They have admitted that the system needs work. Soooo... let's see what happens.

 

Here's to a genuine hope. One that we are looking forward to with anticipation !

[fabsus]

during the last years, bigger changes were discussed and concerns presented, mostly in a constructive way.

it was ignored by bioware, mostly too.

 

can we expect that to be in a different way this time?

could you please give us a detailed overview on how the system is changed,

that we can do out theorycrafting and start a constructive discussion?

or is that already set in stone?

[OlBuzzard]

during the last years, bigger changes were discussed and concerns presented, mostly in a constructive way.

it was ignored by bioware, mostly too.

 

can we expect that to be in a different way this time?

could you please give us a detailed overview on how the system is changed,

that we can do out theorycrafting and start a constructive discussion?

or is that already set in stone?

 

New XP's have always ushered in "new gear" ... in almost any game. All too frequently it turns out to cause a lot of hardships for players and grief toward those who developed it.

 

There is little question in my mind that someone has put a lot of time and effort in the process of bringing that new armor / gear / etc .. into the game and make it work. Often times there are additional "balance issues" that enter into the equation to compound the overall discussion.

 

Another realsitic part of this formula is the feed back that has been posted in the forums over a prolonged period of time now. This is not the first dance for SWTOR in this regard. Noone is suggesting that it is an easy matter to grapple with. That said ... surely there is a solution where players can expect to see a more equitiable return.

 

I do believe that additional, specific information should be provided or perhaps more direct Q&A dialogue established that might give better insight and feed back before the release.

[Nemmar]

It is funny to me how cynical some people seem to be in this community.

 

I understand given how things went for years, but you have to be able to see that things changed. There is a dedicated swtor team that not only is making new content and the type of content the game needs, but has been fixing the broken parts of the game.

This is what should have happened after release, but never did. I don't know why nor how, but it's only happening now and i couldn't be happier. I can love SWTOR again.

 

Your cynicism is not gonna make the game better when you can't even recognize when the right steps are being taken. If you want to help your favorite game, you need to see that and spread the info of what happened.

 

 

Anyways, really excited about the xpac. Even though there should've been a trailer to go with it. Maybe it will be at E3? Who knows?

 

My only complaint is that i really want and think the game would greatly benefit from a new class. It doesn't need to have a new story. It can just be a class that starts at level 70 and goes straight into the Ossus storyline as the alliance commander. Either that or a short introduction and into the new stuff.

 

You guys are doing the right things devs. I know many people are simply no longer willing to listen though and the game will need a SWTOR2 to bring people back in big numbers. Maybe once you finish revamping all the old parts of the engine and vanilla game, or just cut the vanilla game out and sell it as a single player game and have SWTOR2 pick up from there.

But, at the moment, things are going in a good direction and i can only hope for success and growth to happen.

 

Oh another recommendation i can give is to not listen to people talking about ability prunes. Players enjoy their buttons and prunes have spectacularly backfired in WoW. The depth of classes is a strong point of this game, i wouldn't walk away from that when your competition is lacking in that department.

I left some feeback some time ago about how i enjoyed the PvE space missions with our personal airship. I know not everyone found them popular, but i definitly did and i think they give a much needed Star wars flair that should be in the main storyline quests and make the whole thing come alive. If you want to do it with starfighter tech, it's alright as well. I just want to grab my ship and fight those star wars epic space battles in the storyline just like they do in the movies.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Nemmar

[Monumenta]

I hope this new gear slot totally upends everything, like amulets that give force powers, shield generators so smugglers can tank, stealth generators, proton packs, rocket launchers, everything, something that radically changes gear and class post lvl 70. I wanted a new class, maybe this will be just as good.

 

The rest sounds cool too, hopefully there will be new pvp and gsf maps and uprisings as well, and the stories will be class specific, and there will be some kind of cross promotion marketing blitz with ep9.

[Elessara]

It is funny to me how cynical some people seem to be in this community.

 

I understand given how things went for years, but you have to be able to see that things changed. There is a dedicated swtor team that not only is making new content and the type of content the game needs, but has been fixing the broken parts of the game.

This is what should have happened after release, but never did. I don't know why nor how, but it's only happening now and i couldn't be happier. I can love SWTOR again.

 

Your cynicism is not gonna make the game better when you can't even recognize when the right steps are being taken. If you want to help your favorite game, you need to see that and spread the info of what happened.

 

 

Anyways, really excited about the xpac. Even though there should've been a trailer to go with it. Maybe it will be at E3? Who knows?

 

My only complaint is that i really want and think the game would greatly benefit from a new class. It doesn't need to have a new story. It can just be a class that starts at level 70 and goes straight into the Ossus storyline as the alliance commander. Either that or a short introduction and into the new stuff.

 

You guys are doing the right things devs. I know many people are simply no longer willing to listen though and the game will need a SWTOR2 to bring people back in big numbers. Maybe once you finish revamping all the old parts of the engine and vanilla game, or just cut the vanilla game out and sell it as a single player game and have SWTOR2 pick up from there.

But, at the moment, things are going in a good direction and i can only hope for success and growth to happen.

 

Oh another recommendation i can give is to not listen to people talking about ability prunes. Players enjoy their buttons and prunes have spectacularly backfired in WoW. The depth of classes is a strong point of this game, i wouldn't walk away from that when your competition is lacking in that department.

I left some feeback some time ago about how i enjoyed the PvE space missions with our personal airship. I know not everyone found them popular, but i definitly did and i think they give a much needed Star wars flair that should be in the main storyline quests and make the whole thing come alive. If you want to do it with starfighter tech, it's alright as well. I just want to grab my ship and fight those star wars epic space battles in the storyline just like they do in the movies.

 

The difficulty with starting a new class at 70 as the Alliance Commander is that our current classes are the Alliance Commander because of everything they did before (vanilla storylines, RotHC, SoR). They would have to create some kind of backstory and auto-choices to make a new class fit in the story going forward. I think the best we could hope for regarding new classes is they somehow make them fit into the current class stories.

[Ainiv]

Well, it is smaller than I initially anticipated but it was probably my bad with not having well adjusted expectations.

I am just mostly looking forward to the political intrigue regarding the Empire. Especially its current Sith rulers.

Also of course really want to see the missing companions return, this is as good time as any to be honest.

 

The more unrealistic, dream scenario I have reserved towards the expansion is finally the ability to defect, especially for the Jedi. Perhaps having some ceremony where you officially renounce your Jedi ways and get a cool Lord title.

 

Should also mention the Lvl cap increase, if that means new abilities/ability upgrades then heck yes! I think that can always be exciting and possibly push the meta to a more diverse direction. Especially keeping my fingers crossed for Sage/Sorc DPS.

[Eveleria]

Taking these new items, players will be able to pair them with numerous new set bonuses to choose from, including general sets that can be used by everyone.

 

Anybody else beeing concerned about sets and set bonuses that are usable by every class? Sounds like a nightmare to balance and like something that could inevitably cause even more issues for pvp and pve. Same for the tactical items for everyone.

[QuiDonJorn]

Other then the new op very poor and looks like anyone will be able to clear it in no time. And oh boy look at that another race for microtransaction money.

 

Episode 9 and this are just the final nails in the coffin.

 

yeah, ...thats it.

 

More ops and flashpoints rather then story

 

This is an MMO this solo story needs to go asap.

 

What you want is a different game entirely,...have you tried WoW?

I hear that game has tons of raids and little to no story.

You should try it.

[SiegePro]

Anybody else beeing concerned about sets and set bonuses that are usable by every class? Sounds like a nightmare to balance and like something that could inevitably cause even more issues for pvp and pve. Same for the tactical items for everyone.

Not really. Despite the pretty animations, the baselines for the class roles have gotten quite homogeneous (remember when there was a meaningful difference between a ranged and a melee tank?). Some of their side abilities are different, but if you’ve taken a tank spec “here’s your guard, here’s your ST taunt, here’s your AoE taunt, here’s your pull, here’s your gap closer, here’s your close AoE with high threat... here’s your +60% armor, +10% accuracy, -10% damage stance/cell.”

 

The same can be said of the other main spec types; DoT, Burst and Heals. There’s enough skills which at a mechanical level are basically the same thing with a different name/FX you could probably already build a universal set bonus for the particular spec type (ie. use X power for 2% bonus to damage for 15 secs, triggered every 30 secs.”... every use of Y power reduces the cooldown of Z power by A seconds.”)

 

Given the way they seem hellbent on enforcing certain gear values (see the enhancements in the 252/258 gear and their efforts to make it ever more difficult to gear a tank spec for solo play) I wouldn’t be surprised if a new gearing system doesn’t just do away with defense/shield/absorb as distinct stats and just have power/accuracy/crit automatically turn into defense/shield/absorb when you choose a tank spec; because god forbid you be able to practice your tanking rotations while doing solo content at less than a glacial pace outside of a genuine group.

 

Honestly, what I’d love out of tactical gear would be the ability to adjust your “spec” but not your spec skills. Let a darkness/kinetic combat spec with its true mix of Force and lightsaber attacks be a DPS spec with the right tactical module... or a heal spec by changing its depredating bolts into a friendly “charge up” and wither into an AoE heal with a different module.

 

Let infiltration’s heavy melee focus and building stacks work like a tank spec if it has one module. Let the DoTs play a tank (DoT+high threat = aggro target) or a DoT-focused healer.

 

Let the heal trees work like a tank with a tactical module that turns its heal skills into strong self-heals and taunts or into DPS by changing them from heals to toxic compounds that target enemies.

 

That would be a real “play your way” I could get behind.

[Rion_Starkiller]

"One of the ways that we’re adding this depth is with an entirely new type of gear slot – Tactical items. These build-defining items directly alter your abilities and playstyle. Taking these new items, players will be able to pair them with numerous new set bonuses to choose from, including general sets that can be used by everyone."

 

New gear slot... so like an enhancement?

Build defining/ability altering - this seems very difficult to balance. How are you going to make every potential build defining item good but not too good?

Numerous new set bonuses - we are getting a choice of set bonuses? Multiple for each class? Spec specific?

General sets that can be used by everyone?

 

I wonder how this will be implemented too. But TBH, I'm happy for more complex gearing. Yay!

(I bet something will be horribly broken and exploitable at launch though.)

 

It seems like they will implement a unique pvp set bonus that you can acquire through pvp.

 

"These item sets can be acquired through multiple paths. Acquire your gear no matter how you choose to play: Player vs Environment, Player vs Player, Galactic Command, and Crafting are all viable. New set items, Tactical items, and more open a pathway to limitless depth allowing you to play your character exactly how you want!"

 

I like the idea of multiple paths...

Does this mean the new expansion is adding these new set "items" and "tactical items" in lieu of a tier increase? I.e. is 258 still going to be the max? If so, will it remain locked behind Osssus? I'm very confused and concerned...

 

Reference: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/article/20190413

 

They're adding +5 levels, so I would be very surprised if they didn't add a new tier of gear, imo.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Rion_Starkiller