PTS 2.0: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[TerraStomper]

A summary of what is great to mediocre to terrible about PTS 2.0 and SWTOR 6.0: Onslaught

 

The Good:

• 7th Personal Cargo Hold Bay
  
• 7th Legacy Cargo Hold Bay
  
• The beautiful design and environment of Onderon. It is fun to explore. Truly impressive. Kudos to the Bioware Art team.
  
• The PTS is stable. Not crashing.
  
• The ability for tanks to acquire Best-in-Slot gear
  
• The new Tactical Slot
  
• A 9th Skill point to work with
  
• The loot system framework is reasonably solid
  
• Amplifiers are great idea
  

 

The Bad:

• The Downgrade Process particularly the loss of set bonuses tied to armorings
  
• The loss of old set bonuses after 75. They will be missed.
  
• Some bugs. Most are minor, like scavenging grade 11 nodes often being silent about what they return. Or most grade 11 slicing nodes returning loot boxes containing nothing.
  
• Purchasing an Unidentified Belt from the fleet vendor deducts the tech fragments and returns nothing.
  
• Gear upgrades are locked behind two kinds of RNG (random stats for a chosen slot type, or completely random)
• The grade 11 crafting system -- whatever we craft requires too many materials to be worthwhile with many requiring materials that are out of reach, even for the most basic greens. Out of reach materials should be the realm of artifact and legendary items, not greens or blues.
  
• Reverse Engineering chances have been nerfed to 20% for greens and 10% for blues. And maybe 5% for purple.
  
• The gear acquisition process is very slow 71-74 and likely end-game too from what we can see. Tech fragments are currently very slow to acquire unless one can abuse Deconstruction or run group content continuously and win drop rolls.
  
• Flashing vendor and mail box icons on screen. There needs to be an option to turn them off or make them stop blinking.
  

 

The Ugly:

• Level Synch - its broken. Most Ops are too easy while Vet mode Hammer Station trash mobs can 2 shot if one isn't careful. Vet mode HS bosses are easy. Ossus is quite a bit more difficult than it was in 5.10, although not overly so until the part with Malgus -- it was fun watching him kill himself repeatedly on the trash. The golds in the trash packs cause the difficulty. They feel like they are tuned for 246-248 and augmented gear while Level Synch squishes us to about 242 unaugmented on Ossus. I do like the idea of Level Synch. Maybe it just needs more tuning.
  
• 236 and 240 augments are nerfed hard. For Level Synch'd content (and this includes level 70 master modes), 228 and even 208 augments are better than the 236 or 240 legendary ones at level 75. This had better be an oops. The 238 and 240 augments should not have been mucked with.
  
• Crafting MK-11 augments and MK-11 augment kits are out of reach, currently. This leave game balance insufficiently tested.
  
• DVL gear lose their XP set bonuses entirely.
  
• Renown Crates produce one random piece not tied to Discipline. Not even bonus companion gifts or consolation credits. Alliance and Command crates are in several ways better than Renown.
  
• Several tactical items and several new set bonuses do not work.
  
• Alliance crates no longer drop from planetary heroics at 75.
  
• Drops are slowish and their rewards are randomly generated. They can be inappropriate for the class, or appropriate but with inappropriate stats, such as a BH generator or offhand lightsaber with tanking stats. Or an assault cannon with tanking stats.
  
• Best-in-Slot gear is now locked behind RNG or have too expensive crafting requirements.
  
• The enormous time and credit sink that crafting now is
  
• Crafting material requirements multiply as grade 11 quality moves from green to blue to purple and finally gold
  
• Most crafted items are locked behind difficult to acquire or weekly obtainable materials, like the tier 3 Solid Resource Matrices tied to achieving weekly personal conquest.
  
• Most crafted items require an order of magnitude too many matrices and too many isotopes to be worthwhile.
  
• With the exception of the grade 11 medpac, grade 11 Biochem consumable item performance gains are a minor improvement compared with their grade 10 versions. The cost of materials to make grade 11s make them not worthwhile however.
  
• Amplifiers - if the gear stats are bad or inappropriate, a great amplifier bonus is meaningless. Amplifier bonuses can be meaningless too, like getting force-oriented amps on a merc shell. More random jeopardy.
  

 

Please chime in with the things you find good bad and ugly. I'll try to add them to this list. Perhaps this can help the Devs focus on what needs attention before launch while encouraging them for what we feel they got right.

Edited September 2, 2019 by TerraStomper
adding to the list

[nashbozard]

[*]Alliance crates no longer drop from planetary heroics.

 

That one jumped out at me. That's gotta be a bug, because otherwise the entire Star Fortress process is busted.

Edited September 1, 2019 by nashbozard

[ArreynGrey]

So looking at the cost of the new gearing process, I can see just not bothering to gear my characters. Honestly, that's what I did with the 252/258 gear-- I spend half my time on healer, I play several days every week, and I JUST picked up 252 gear for my healer. Up until now, I've just healed in DPS gear because I'm a good enough player to get away with it, and the rate at which we obtain the data crystal currency made gearing absurd. Trying to juggle life and swtor means it's taken me the whole summer to gear my main for both DPS and heals; my other characters are still in 234s to 248s. I don't want that kind of grind with Onslaught, too.

 

I agree that of course there should be some grind, to keep people from gearing all their alts in a day or two. But items are FAR too expensive for how slowly the currency drops, I hate the randomness of it, I hate that they've capped the currency (seriously, why?), just... I'm trying so hard to be excited, but the pointless downgrade process seems like it adds insult to the injury that is the cost of the new gearing process.

 

Listen, my favorite gearing process by far was the 204/208 pvp process. We did the content we were trying to gear for, got currency at a reasonable rate, and bought the gear we wanted from a vendor. Nothing hidden, nothing random. If we wanted to change up our stats (and "play your way," like you keep telling us we'll get to), there's the mod/enhancement vendor for that. We could also buy medpacks and adrenals with that currency, in case we had some to spare. The dropdown menus to sort by class actually worked on those vendors-- why do I have to scroll through ALL THE NEW GEAR IN THE GAME on this one vendor right now? Please fix sorting by class and spec on the gear vendor. Even sorting by "usable" still shows me assassin gear on sorc. But that bug aside, please take a lesson from the gearing system that worked in the past, and one I often see people expressing longing and nostalgia for. Why this love of RNG? Do you think that keeps us playing? It's the most frustrating thing in the world.

 

Like, don't get me wrong, I actually love the idea you can buy the gear piece you want, or you can get a random crate for a much lower cost-- that's actually really cool. But ALL the costs are so high right now, and from what I'm seeing/hearing, those random crates can drop things that are completely useless (my favorite example of this was a jugg who got a blaster)... that's too much of a gamble for me, especially with the price.

 

The point I want to make here is, at least for me, gearing my toon isn't the point of playing the game. I don't want "having good stats" to be a goal I'm struggling to reach. I don't know how many people are playing this game because they want to grind for gear, but I don't imagine that's what keeps most people coming back. Gear needs to be what enables us to play. It shouldn't be an obstacle. You want to motivate us to play? Give us fun content. Give us cool decorations, toys, mounts, companions, and cosmetic gear to grind for, to hope we get from random crates, to drop off endgame bosses and difficult content. I've got a guildie bugging us to push for MM Dread Fortress because he wants the wings of the architect mount. THAT is a great motivator, that keeps us playing, keeps us pushing, keeps us coming back. Not slogging through a grind of the same content over and over, hoping that maybe, just maybe this will be the time the random crate will drop the correct freaking relic.

 

One of the beautiful things about this game is all the awesome cosmetic things you can show off-- the flags, the titles, the decos, the ways to show off that you've achieved something meaningful. I miss a time in swtor where you got the gear as a matter of course so you could get on to doing what you really wanted to do: just play the game. Now, we have to be so consumed by the gearing process that playing the actual game to the fullest has taken a back seat to grinding endlessly for currency and praying for luck from RNGsus.

Edited September 1, 2019 by ArreynGrey

[Damask_Rose]

As a decorator who likes to take screen shots, I'd like to add in the new blinking neon green sign on top of mailboxes and vendors that can't be disabled. They are ugly, distracting and immersion breaking! Surely our players are not so very bad at reading maps that the whole game needed permanent blinking neon signs to point the way to every vendor from half a mile away?

[ZionHalcyon]

For me:

 

THE GOOD:

 

The framework of the loot system itself seems solid and they get what they are going for. However there is an issue I will put in the bad.

 

Amplifiers. I love them and they feel right.

 

THE BAD:

 

Not enough gear, not the right gear, not in the right spots. I did 5 runs of hammer station over The Weeknd, and while I feel tactical drops were about right, that was the only thing I felt right about with regards to gearing. For me, bosses should be dropping Blues not greens. Trash should be dropping Greens in flashpoints, at least in veteran. In master mode flashpoints trash should be dropping blues and bosses purples. And while I get with increased volume of gear why they aren't personalizing drops anymore, I think you can't really get away from that any further. People are too used to it so I really do think they need it to personalize at least one gear drop per person that only they can loot. At least per boss.

 

Unidentified belt bug. Bugs happen which is why it's test center but this does suck and need to be corrected.

 

 

THE UGLY:

 

Crafting, just way too damn expensive. No one is going to even try crafting at the values that developers have. But there's a sort of power creep with crafting where it just gets more and more expensive the higher you go overall. The philosophy behind it needs to be rethought. Greens at any level should cost the same roughly. Same for blues, purple's, and legendary. Only legendary should have astronomical prices. Purple should be expensive but attainable. Blues should be common but require a little extra piece from crafting missions. Green should be able to be made from just resources alone. Tone the values way down otherwise no one will bother. It's so out of whack that I don't think anyone even tried.

 

SOW VENDORS: the prices on these guys are just stupidly expensive. I didn't bother with them once I saw the pricing so I really couldn't give good feedback on it because I was Priced Right Out of even trying.

[LtGeneralGezlin]

Both OP and Zion have the same good/bad/ugly's that I had for the most part. Mine are... well... haha

 

Good:

1. The Stretchy Bug that plagues the Remnant Underworld Smuggler's jacket and the gears that look just like it is finally fixed, and that makes me happy because that is my favorite chestpiece for my Smuggler. (Of course, now that I mention it, it'll most likely be broken again in either phase 3 or in October.

 

2. Companions back on the ships. Although I seem to have a case of Double HK-51's and Treek's, so... there is that.

 

3. Onderon looks fantastic, and the dailies are fun.

 

4. The QoL changes to the fleet are welcome, especially the addition of the speeders and Guild/Legacy Cargo Holds. Can we add Legacy Cargo Holds to the rest of the planets in-game? There just needs to be some love to the VIP area on the fleet, maybe a Legacy Cargo Hold up there, and converting the BoP CE gear to BoL? (And some new CE Vendor items too? Haha)

 

5. Adding the Galactic Command Pets and Mounts to the Spoils of War Vendor to buy. But, where are the Tier 1-4 cosmetic armors?

 

6. The new Character Sheet UI looks great, but it seems to be missing the Hide Helmet and Color Match options for Companions.

 

Bad:

1. The gearing system, including the RNG aspect.

 

2. The 3000 limits for Tech Fragments. If they are the new "Command Tokens", It needs to be upped to... 10,000?

 

3. A number of planetary arrival cutscenes are STILL the old 1.0 versions or in the case of Ziost post RotE, just not in the game.

 

4. Making the Set Bonus' attached to the shells, especially for people like me who might have sold the Iokath/GEMINI Shells on Live.

 

5. Heroics no longer awarding Alliance crates at Level 75. The Heroics were a nice change of pace from having to slog through dailies at level 70. Now I have no real reason to do them at Level 75.

 

6. Dual faction armor keeps changing appearance in cutscenes (IE: Aric wears Trooper armor outside of cutscenes, but wears Bounty Hunter gear in cutscenes)

 

Ugly:

 

SOW VENDORS: the prices on these guys are just stupidly expensive. I didn't bother with them once I saw the pricing so I really couldn't give good feedback on it because I was Priced Right Out of even trying.

 

This. The prices are too much, especially for the SOW Pets and Mounts.

 

Obviously, there are somethings that I didn't add on here, that I mentioned elsewhere, mostly the gearing system, but that is a whole other post.

Edited September 2, 2019 by LtGeneralGezlin

[Aeternali]

I pretty much agree and have experienced the Bad and Ugly from these posts.

 

Seems the devs have never learned anything from past mistakes. They are making the same mistakes as inactive players return to the game for the expansion. It is critical that these issues be addressed and quickly, else people will quickly leave just after coming back.

[DreadtechSavant]

Well level sync for FP's in vet mode I like. It will bring back a lot of playable game to solo players. A lot has been taken of solo players over that last few years. All this needs is Vet & Master to be very different in difficulty

 

Same should applyy for OP's. OK not done one on PTS, but it may bring in a lot of new players who would not normally try it. To me it should have been done with the level sync as an option. So level sync for easy then back to level 75 for hard. Then on top a NIM version for hardcore players. Also the thread is asking the question "is it to easy" which means it not set yet. Post in that thread with your concerns. Remember you are only 1 player so BW will take the average over all who post.

 

Level sync is not the issue for me.

 

 

There is a lot I like many of which you have listed. yes also agree with some of the bad and ugly you mention. but a thread like does not help. you need to post each part of you lists in each of the threads set up for each part.

[DreadtechSavant]

That one jumped out at me. That's gotta be a bug, because otherwise the entire Star Fortress process is busted.

 

That did concern me too, just though it would be back in game when it go's live. It would be nice to get an actual reply to this. I have lots of heroic crates in legacy banks across 5 servers across 8 accounts..

[JattaGin]

Seems the devs have never learned anything from past mistakes.

 

^this. It makes me sad.

 

I don't like what I've seen and experienced so far on the PTS at all.

 

This whole system seems way too complicated. Even I, as a veteran, haven't fully understood it yet. What about new players? Is this new system helping new players getting more easily into the game? I highly doubt it.

 

How I see it is that there was no reason for BW to completely revamp everything again. All they needed to do was to make an expansion with a lot of new things to do and add some new endgame gear. Why they decided to make things so complicated - both, for the players and for themselves - is beyond me.

 

I don't like the new system so far.

[ZionHalcyon]

For me, the thing is I think the developers actually have some really good systems in place no. But the problem is the costs they have them calibrated for are way too much, and the loot drops are way too little.

 

Economics 101. Allow the market to be flooded and that will keep costs down and therefore they will see Stephen Tori about component power creep.

 

Cap augment rerolls to 50K, and you will still get a lot of currency out of the market while it still feels fair to the player.

 

The only system I see that needs tweaking is gear drops and Renown crates.

[Darev]

For me, the thing is I think the developers actually have some really good systems in place no. But the problem is the costs they have them calibrated for are way too much, and the loot drops are way too little.

 

Economics 101. Allow the market to be flooded and that will keep costs down and therefore they will see Stephen Tori about component power creep.

 

Cap augment rerolls to 50K, and you will still get a lot of currency out of the market while it still feels fair to the player.

 

The only system I see that needs tweaking is gear drops and Renown crates.

 

You actually like the design of randomized gear drops for upgrades?

 

RNG from vendors

RNG from mobs

RNG from ops bosses (no more tokens to get specific gear from specific bosses)

RNG for amplifies - both with getting them and with re-rolling.

 

They've gone RNG crazy this time around.