Spoils of War Changes – PTS Phase 2

[fushnchips]

rng ist not exciting.

 

But Ben Irving said it was

[DragoshNashu]

Kai Zykken Vendor

Some of the concerns we are seeing is that the Tech Fragment cost is too high, a desire to have expanded inventory to include left side gear and weapons, more items in general, or even a static inventory for purchase. Our intention is that Kai is meant exclusively as a supplementary system. If you feel like you need to look to Kai as a primary mechanism to get gear then we believe there are clear problems we need to work out in the rest of Spoils of War. That said, we are absolutely exploring a number of the great suggestions we have seen for Kai improvements.

 

From how low the chances to get good gear are right now, Kai definitely feels like a main mechanism. When you have 1 mod, 2 or 3 (for dps) enhancements and 1 armoring that are BiS, and 10000 other variations that are not desirable, plus the very low chance to actually get moddable gear, it speaks for itself...

(not even mentioning left side, only good part are the relics, because even if you have low chance, there are a lot less items in the loot table)

[ottffsse]

I think you guys should make a system where

 

-ops bosses drop set slot pieces based on the boss just as now.

-increase tech fragments in inventory to something like 10000 limit instead of 3000.

 

Other than that better rng and drop rates as well as getting tech fragments faster can solve a lot of the issues. I say this ONLY because in 6.0 all gear is legacy bound so grinding different sets for alts/ other classes will be easier than 5.0 - so speed should be pretty comparible to getting bis dps / tank/ heal gear to what it is now. - or maybe even slightly faster with the right strat and if you are only playing dps/heal and not tank classes etc.

[commanderwar]

Thanks for the response, theses are good step in the right direction. However I feel that you should stop worrying about alts and stop giving us mods that are for the alts. If I want to gear an alt I will go to that character and do flashpoints, ops, ect.. The drops that my character get should be for my spec IMO.

 

However, I currently do not understand the 6.0 philosophy concerning augments. At what point does BW think characters should augment their gear? And what do you see as the typical cost for doing so? Some of the main complaints against having non-modded gear and so many tiers to leveling gear is going to be the cost and frequency of keeping your gear fully augmented.

 

As always, just my two cents and thanks for listening!

 

indeed, though they did state that they are going to increase the amount of gear that is modifiable, (not in this build).

 

One additional change we are looking into (not in this build) is to convert more of the expansion gear to be moddable instead of the static gear it is today.

 

But I hope it's most of the expansion armor, augments are important.

[Elssha]

First and foremost, thank you for said lengthy post!

Loving the communication.

This is a great first step to fix the system.

If I may;

Kai Zykken Vendor

Some of the concerns we are seeing is that the Tech Fragment cost is too high, a desire to have expanded inventory to include left side gear and weapons, more items in general, or even a static inventory for purchase. Our intention is that Kai is meant exclusively as a supplementary system. If you feel like you need to look to Kai as a primary mechanism to get gear then we believe there are clear problems we need to work out in the rest of Spoils of War. That said, we are absolutely exploring a number of the great suggestions we have seen for Kai improvements.

 

This right here is the issue.

 

Players are naturally looking to the least RNG path (still not free of it, mind you!) to save themselves from the worst thing in games right now.

I understand you want there to be RNG and I feel that is fine in supplementary systems (like current RNG in GC boxes), but not in the main (primary) system... or at least not without a system that lets you gear without RNG.

 

Not having such an option just leads to frustration and seeming endless grind (exactly because you can't plan even a rough estimate of what you need to do to get what you want, so naturally people think up the least bad option when not presented with a good one.

 

In a system that can only look at exactly what you are playing we had concerns that it may really limit a players ability to gear for an alt.

I disagree.

I think this system makes it very easy to move the gear you have to whatever alt you want to gear.

Most people gear up a main and make it usable, first, then look into getting alts up to scruff. This just makes it harder to focus on your main and makes it take longer for those of us aiming to do serious endgame to be able to even start.

We have greatly increased the likelihood that an item purchased from the vendor will be tailored to you.

This, even more-so than the above, should be 100% aimed at your class and spec.

We're already buying boxes that have a multiple possible set bonuses and tons of non-SB/non-moddable trash just for our spec.

If we want it on an alt, we can move the gear on that alt and buy the boxes on it. Simple.

[Balameb]

Eric, i apreciate the coming changes, i really do. But there are things that still don't go quite right.

I think it does not matter how much more loot you give us, it will still be RNG. You are insisting in this idea that because gear drop like crazy from everywere we will get what we want easy. We won't. You are failing to consider all random involved and combined with a huge amount of posible outcomes "thanks" to the new itemization. We used to have a SINGLE set bonus. Now we have like 6+ per class and a lot more general. And this is also valid for the amplifier "reset" issue, you really need to take a look about chances of getting targeted set pieces duplicates. Getting one will be already difficult, two or more?

So, please consider making Kai vendor fixed. There needs to be at least ONE way to get what we need that do not involve RNG. Right now this vendor has 3 problems:

* It is not always available

* It does not have everything

* It gives you RNG stats.

That RNG stats may be solved by having more mods to change as needed, but the first two you need to reconsider. If you really want a "cool factor" of changing stock merchant, use it for the pets/mounts/cosmetics. You are currently wasting a lot of space with several vendors that give the same complement drops of Command Crates that people have been disintegrating for over a year or even two.

 

About the tech fragment vendor. If i'm not mistaken, the tooltip says it gives gear for my discipline. But it gives everything, its not a matter of %chance%, is just wrong.

 

The way i would like it to be is:

General loot: RNG (with better chance of being usable)

Tech vendor: Per slot (discipline/class filtered) RNG.

Kai: Fixed availability of all (in multiple merchants, being in one is a pain to navigate even with limited stock).

 

About gear Tiers.

Since the system now looks at your current item rating when determining loot drops, this is creating a friction point where you may be getting held back by one piece of gear. Ex: You are wearing full 270 except for one or two pieces which brings your avg iRating below that to 268. This situation will cause a lot of the gear that drops to be 270 instead of something higher, meaning a lot of drops aren’t actually upgrades.

I think something is off. Yesterday i was using the tech vendor and my experience was worst than that example. I was arround 275 with a mix of 274/276/278 with only one piece 273 and i got several 270s. That is not one piece held me back, that was something else.

BTW: please fix the belt/gloves item that gives no gear. I needed to use the full RNG version a lot just for a chance to get upgrades on those, makes testing difficult. And the full RNG box should be cheaper, not more expensive than the fixed slot ones.

 

• Ossus turned out not to be the best testing ground, we would want you to be able to harvest nodes faster than you did.
  
• We want to increase the crafting materials earned from Flashpoint and Ops bosses.
  • This change is actually in the next PTS build.
    

  [*]Times for schematics and missions need to be reduced.

  [*]Jawa Junk prices aren't likely to change, but we want to increase gains of Jawa Junk.

  [*]Want to make adjustments to the Conquest Materials requirement or inflow.

PLEASE change the jawa junk prices for grade 11. 200 is just insane. Make it 20 or 30. PLEASE

I prefer that to more jawa junk gains. But in that regard there probably a need to adjust the proportion of purple ones, seems too low. I know it should be more rare, but it feels too off considering the "needs" of each one.

Back to 200 per grade 11, one full stack of junk (9999) cannot even buy you 50 mats. Going to jawa vendors feels like a third world latin american country currency that you need stacks of bills if you are to buy simple things with cash. (i'm not trying to make fun of latam countries, i'm argentine). Unlike real countries, you have the chance to lower the cost of an item without penalty to someone, so do print more bills to meet the high price.

 

And one thing i noticed that i found no sense. The credit price increase of white mats for grade 1 to 10. Why? Increasing that would only help people with more "spare" credits now to buy large amounts cheaper. Just leave those prices like they are in live.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Balameb
correction

[Hayden_Davies]

[*]You are now more likely to receive a side-grade or upgrade from Renown Crates and the Tech Fragment vendor.

[*]Increase the number of loot drops received.

[*]Players should see an increase in Tech Fragments earned overall.

[*]Increased the chances of receiving mods from loot drops.

[*]Increased the overall quantity of mods that drop.

[*]Higher chance to get rare, moddable gear.

[*]Random mods can now be purchased from the random Tech Fragment vendor.

[*]Players will notice a larger quantity of loot at higher difficulties.

[*]Personal loot now has a higher chance to drop for your current character.

[*]Group loot will now take the current group composition into account.

[*]Added completion rewards for winning an Unranked Warzone and playing Solo/Group Ranked.

[*]Increased the Renown and Tech Fragments earned from completing a Warzone.

 

people do not want your garbage RNG system. you said you will listen to feedback so listen. delay the game. erase this garbage before it kills the game.

[LordAppius]

Hey folks,

 

This is going to be a fairly lengthy post, so strap in. We really appreciate all of the feedback you have shared with us about loot acquisition. The majority of it has been highly detailed and very constructive so keep that coming! We mean what we said at the start of this process, we want to get everything on PTS and in your hands so that we can get your feedback and ensure that we have the time to make the necessary changes. Today’s set of changes may not cover everything or get it to perfection just yet, but we hope that you see it as a step in the right direction.

 

This thread’s format will cover a topic, the feedback we are hearing from you, and then what we are (or aren’t) changing, and why! Let’s dive in…

 

TLDR - Based on your feedback we are increasing loot drops, giving more mods and moddable gear, increasing tech fragments earned, and increasing the likelihood of side-grades and upgrades on drops.

 

The Quantity of Item Ratings / Tiers

We have seen concerns about the total number of item ratings that there are from the start of the expansion to best-in-slot. Although the quantity is high, that is not where the focus should ultimately lie. Our intention here is simple: you should be able to go from the start of level cap to max item rating fairly quickly. The goal is to make sure the speed of progression feels rapid and constant, regardless of the item ratings you need to go through to get there.

 

For now, we are not making any changes directly to the amount of item ratings, but we expect that due to the other changes we are making below you will find yourself progressing quicker than you did at the start of Phase 2.

 

Progression Through Item Ratings

Since the system now looks at your current item rating when determining loot drops, this is creating a friction point where you may be getting held back by one piece of gear. Ex: You are wearing full 270 except for one or two pieces which brings your avg iRating below that to 268. This situation will cause a lot of the gear that drops to be 270 instead of something higher, meaning a lot of drops aren’t actually upgrades.

 

We agree this can be a frustrating experience and so we are addressing this in two ways. We are adjusting the item ratings that can be dropped in some content so that you are more likely to get a side-grade or upgrade than you did previously. We also agree that you’re not getting enough loot to begin with, so we’re going to be increasing the number of drops you get from all content (so more chances for upgrades and more tech fragments).

 

Non-moddable items

We have seen a number of concerns around the amount of items that are dropping that are both non-moddable and/or do not contain mods. Since many players rely on mods for their current gearing we are making a few changes here.

 

In the short term we are making three changes. Moddable gear can already drop but it is pretty rare overall. We are increasing the drop rate for that gear across the board. Second, we are greatly increasing the frequency of mods dropping and the quantity that you will receive over time. Third, random mods can now be purchased from the random Tech Fragment vendor.

 

One additional change we are looking into (not in this build) is to convert more of the expansion gear to be moddable instead of the static gear it is today.

 

Higher Difficulty Content Not Rewarding Enough

That feedback is pretty self-explanatory so no need for extra detail here. We are making two changes to address this. First, as mentioned above, we are going to start dropping more gear across the board. Second, we are going to make sure there is a larger difference in the number of drops between the difficulties so that running Veteran, for example, feels more rewarding than Story.

 

Too Many Drops Not for Me!

In general we are seeing a lot of feedback that there is too much gear that is not dropping specifically for you. For example, you may feel like you’re seeing more tank drops than you would like to given that you are playing DPS. Or that the group drop at the end of your Flashpoint dropped for a Powertech and you were a group of four Sorcerers.

 

Some of this was intentional. In a system that can only look at exactly what you are playing we had concerns that it may really limit a players ability to gear for an alt. To alleviate that we set a % of all your personal loot drops that should not be tailored to your spec; while non-personal group drops don’t take the group composition into account at all. From your feedback, it sounds like we leaned too far in that direction…

 

Two changes for this PTS update. First, we have increased the % of personal items that are tailored to your character. You can still get items that are not for you as we do want some amount of items available for alts, but that % is quite a bit lower now. Second, the group loot drops will now look at your base class to determine what drops. This may mean you won’t get something for your currently assigned spec, but it will be relevant for someone in the group.

 

Kai Zykken Vendor

Some of the concerns we are seeing is that the Tech Fragment cost is too high, a desire to have expanded inventory to include left side gear and weapons, more items in general, or even a static inventory for purchase. Our intention is that Kai is meant exclusively as a supplementary system. If you feel like you need to look to Kai as a primary mechanism to get gear then we believe there are clear problems we need to work out in the rest of Spoils of War. That said, we are absolutely exploring a number of the great suggestions we have seen for Kai improvements.

 

For now, we are going to hold off on any changes to him. We want to see how he feels in a world where the rest of the system is being more generous with more loot drops, more Tech Fragments, and better odds at upgrades. We will keep monitoring though and may still make changes to Kai in a future PTS update so keep the feedback coming.

 

Random Tech Fragment Gear Vendors / Renown Crates

A lot of the feedback here was pretty similar to Kai (and our response is similar as well). However, one additional thing that was raised is that too often you would buy an item from the vendor only for it to not even be for you. We have greatly increased the likelihood that an item purchased from the vendor will be tailored to you. Also, as mentioned above, this vendor now has a much better chance of any item purchased from it being a side-grade or upgrade instead of being below your item rating (Renown is receiving this same update as well).

 

Amplifiers

We are hearing concerns around the randomness of the system and its cost being prohibitive. One clarification is that part of the design assumes that you may not get one single item and hold onto it forever (if you care about amps). Ex: if you get the set chest that you want, we would expect you spend some time and credits to reroll the amp until you feel it becomes too expensive. The system is going to give you a tremendous amount of loot over time which can likely include another copy of that same chest. That would give you a “reset” ability to roll amplifiers if you chose.

 

We do hear these concerns though and so we are going to monitor them along with the other changes we are making as we are completely open to making changes to all things Amplifiers. Keep in mind that amplifiers are also still working on being fully implemented and so we want to ensure that is the case before we make too many substantial changes.

 

PvP Rewards

We are increasing the rewards earned from playing PvP, details will be posted in the PvP Rewards feedback thread.

 

That should cover most or all of the changes coming in this next PTS patch. We hope that this shows our willingness to make changes to the system as a whole and your feedback is instrumental in getting us to the best place it can be! Stick with us on PTS and keep your feedback coming. Keep in mind that this in no way a comprehensive list of everything we are exploring. We know there are a number of changes we can make beyond what is listed above that we are actively exploring, just not for this PTS build.

 

Look for this PTS patch tomorrow or Friday. I will let you know when it is live.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

PS - In "patch note" form

• You are now more likely to receive a side-grade or upgrade from Renown Crates and the Tech Fragment vendor.
  
• Increase the number of loot drops received.
  
• Players should see an increase in Tech Fragments earned overall.
  
• Increased the chances of receiving mods from loot drops.
  
• Increased the overall quantity of mods that drop.
  
• Higher chance to get rare, moddable gear.
  
• Random mods can now be purchased from the random Tech Fragment vendor.
  
• Players will notice a larger quantity of loot at higher difficulties.
  
• Personal loot now has a higher chance to drop for your current character.
  
• Group loot will now take the current group composition into account.
  
• Added completion rewards for winning an Unranked Warzone and playing Solo/Group Ranked.
  
• Increased the Renown and Tech Fragments earned from completing a Warzone.
  

 

So let me see if i get this right, probably i m just confused since "the thrill of the hunt" was to much for me during a black period of this game. We, the players, ask for less rng, right? guess so, cause ppl are complaining. So Bioware adds amplifiers, something i never understood the point, since i had to waste a good deal of money to have what i want instead of paying like 200 k or whatever, to get the amplifier i desire. When Bioware says they will understand palyers and follow feedback what happened to NOT GIVING MORE RNG TO THIS GAME ????

 

From what i see and tested on the pts ( and matt i ve to say you are probbaly the reason i keep playing it since your operations are cool. A few days you were runing next to me on the pts and i ve saw you and greeted you ).

 

What i feel is that 6.0 is going to be lacklusting because there is not enough content. One raid, one flashpoint and story that will be over in 2 hours, if we take the runing around. The daily missions will be generic, so far i don't see a point on spending much time on onderon since there isn't much to do there....

 

Last expansion was in what, 2016 ? and 3 years later this si what we get, one asteroid (probably as big as section X) a planet that is smaller than rishi and one raid that is currently bugged so we can't progress. Well.... ah taking our vanila companions and adding them again is not new content, lets just clear that out ....And lets be honest here, since no dev will admit it, it has been a travesty what has happened with companions, taking almost 4 years to deliver all fo them and the ones that returned after the events of zakuul (god bless that is over) were rushed and brought in a ridiculous way......

[JMNeves]

I just feel like not enough people have said this: WE DO NOT WANT MORE RNG

 

We need there to be a clear path to gearing without getting a single unintended piece. Not one. Any RGN into it makes it feel like it's an endless system, specially because now we'll have multiple set-bonuses for each spec. "Oh boy, I finally have enough tech fragments to buy this box and it's going to complete my DPS set and it'll be so cool.... aaaaaand it's a piece I don't need".

 

I mean no offence, but it feels like you guys didn't learn anything from when the command crates were first implemented.

 

There should be a vendor for each class - make it expensive if you must - that allows us to buy specific pieces. Similar to the old days of 2.x with the (I think they were called) Ultimate Commendations.

 

Renown sounds great in theory, but as long as we don't have a clear path free of RGN we'll keep looking for more objective ways of gearing. Like that Kay-whatever vendor with random weekly inventory. His inventory is random and the items are expensive, but we are 100% sure of what we're getting. That's what we want. We don't want to be 100% that we're getting a headpiece for the class we're playing, no. We want to be positive it's the exact piece we're after.

 

tl;dr - look at what was done with gear during 2.x and copy that with renown on top, eliminating the multiple commendations what existed. Perfection.

[DreadtechSavant]

Thanks for the update.

 

One thing not mentioned is the 160000 per renown pack. This is way to high even for a secondly system to get gear. A rank 300 command pack was around the 5.5k. Renown 160000 that is a huge 154.5k increase. Is this going to changed?

 

Most of the changes look good but until we actually test it? Still the theory of the changes look good.

 

 

As for the post above, not all of us have an issue with RNG. Same player(s) will be one ones saying they have nothing to do after a week.

Edited September 4, 2019 by DreadtechSavant

[Citrienne]

Too Many Drops Not for Me!

In general we are seeing a lot of feedback that there is too much gear that is not dropping specifically for you. For example, you may feel like you’re seeing more tank drops than you would like to given that you are playing DPS. Or that the group drop at the end of your Flashpoint dropped for a Powertech and you were a group of four Sorcerers.

 

Some of this was intentional. In a system that can only look at exactly what you are playing we had concerns that it may really limit a players ability to gear for an alt. To alleviate that we set a % of all your personal loot drops that should not be tailored to your spec; while non-personal group drops don’t take the group composition into account at all. From your feedback, it sounds like we leaned too far in that direction…

 

I wanted to address this part in particular.

 

With legacy left side gear and a legacy currency like Tech Fragments, this statement doesn't make sense. I can acquire left side legacy gear items from playing any toon and just reuse it on all my alts. I can get legacy TFs from PvPing my favorite toons all day, my sorc for example. If I want to set bonus gear/tacticals for my PT that I rarely play, I simply log onto my PT, go to the vendor, and buy something with the legacy Tech Frags that I grinded on my sorc.

 

Legacy left side and legacy currencies completely take care of alt gearing with nothing else required.

 

The % chance to drop gear not related to current character/role/spec can be removed completely from the game.

 

Now, if we're talking that the entire system surrounding Tech Frags is all supposed to be completely supplementary, then I would like it laid out exactly what the intended path for gearing is for the following types of players:

 

• PvP Regstar
  
• PvP Ranked Player
  
• Crafter
  
• Conquest Crafter (crafts to get conquest)
  
• Conquest Player (does content to get conquest)
  
• PvE Casual (GF stuff mostly)
  
• Progression Raider
  
• Solo content Player (storyline, etc)
  
• Achievement farmer
  
• GTN Wheeler/Dealer
  
• RPer
  
• Fleet Chat Whiner (wpm in fleet chat generates TFs?)
  

 

Supplementary gear systems should be specific, tailored, and expensive, NOT expensive and RNG heavy. The cost for outright buying a Serendipitous Assault relic should be enough to give me pause about whether or not I should buy it or grind it. Time investment vs money investment. RNG gearing destroys this because the time investment is variable and sometimes super long when grinding it and you'll get extremely frustrated when RNG is not in your favor and it ends up taking way longer than just buying it outright.

 

And anyway, you're not really using a "supplementary" gear system when you fail to roll a Serendipitous relic because of RNG until the 35th pull (which happened to me on the PTS with Takanna a few different times). In fact, my luck with the Serendipitous relic has been overall abysmal in every tier of gear I have moved up to on the PTS. I was frustrated even when I had infinite money and infinite Tech Frags on the PTS. Imagine how frustrated people would get when spending actual credits and Tech Framgents they grinded out on live server.

 

I think the devs need to take a step back and ask themselves what they're trying to accomplish with the expansion and the gearing system rework. What is the purpose of a gearing system rework? Is it to make max tier gear easier or harder to acquire? Is it to spend more or less of time/money/effort to acquire the gear? Is it to make the gear more or less customizable? Is it to make alts harder or easier to gear?

 

What of these things would make the players happy? Did my gearing system successfully accomplish these? How do I expect the players to respond to my gear redesign efforts? What am I going to do if they don't respond in the way I expect/want? What am I willing to compromise on? If the players really hate a certain aspect of my gearing system, am I willing to capitulate or am I willing to take the player exodus hit? What am I willing to do to keep the game alive?

 

As for me -- I want to play content I enjoy, not spend all my time grinding content I don't like in order to acquire the wrong gear piece or currencies that only give me a slim chance of getting the gear piece I want. I want to say "I need my Serendipitous Assault relic", and then I go grind content that will give exactly that to me, or give me the currencies where I can go to a vendor and just buy it directly.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Citrienne

[Darev]

This has already been posted, even in this thread, numerous times.

 

RNG should not be the primary path to gear.

We told you that at the start of Galactic Command when you wanted us to gear via command crates.

You got the message and made it supplementary, giving us specific drops from specific bosses in ops.

You got the message when you let us turn in Unassembled Components for specifc gear.

 

 

So what happened?

You already KNOW that we don't want the RNG based gearing system.

You've KNOWN this for over two years now.

 

Why put everything in reverse?

 

This isn't you making a "new" mistake.

This is you making the same mistake all over again.

 

 

Copying from what I posted to Eric's twitter post...

 

One of the main issues wasn't the SPEED of gear acquisition but the method. The speed many people were complaining about was the symptom of the disease that is RNG. Increasing the pace doesn't fix the core problem

 

Also, in you comments about crafting you didnt mention anything about the rare mats being needed in basic green gear. Change the amount all you want, we should not need to do MM FPs to get mats to craft greens of any level

[Kaizersan]

people need to start holding Keith's feet to the fire and instead of directing feed back to Musco direct it to Keith instead because it seems that he isn't getting the message that players don't want Thrill of the Hunt 2.0.

[KhazadSanci]

Thanks for the feedback and update; it is always good to know that you are at least reading what we are saying. However, I think as evidenced by the replies so far, you still don't quite get what the real issues the (paying) players of your game have with what's on the PTS right now with regards to gearing.

 

Maybe all the feedback wasn't entirely clear. For your player base, Play Your Way™ does not mean "Get dozens of items that are entirely useless to you until maybe, just maybe, you get something that you can use". Being "Alt Friendly" does not mean "We will give you items that are useless to you, because maybe an alt can use them?". "RNG Protection" is NOT provided by an equally RNG vendor.

 

You say that you want players primary source of gear to be from playing the game. I agree. But that means that, while playing, we need to get gear that is relevant and useful. What do these terms mean?

 

Relevant - The gear we get should have the stats that our spec needs. DPS Classes should get gear dropping with Alacrity, Accuracy, and Critical. Tanks should get gear with Defence, Shield, and Absorb. Healers should get gear with Alacrity and Critical. DPS should not get Tank Gear, and vice versa. Similarly, a Sorc should not get a shield or generator, and a sniper should not get a lightsaber.

 

Useful - The gear we get should be of an iRating that is useful to us. I do not want a piece of gear lower than my current iRating. Gear at my iRating, or higher than it, is fine, because at worst it changes nothing, and at best is either a straight improvement or else provides different stats.

 

An RNG gear system is acceptable ONLY when the drops are both relevant and useful because then, at the very worst, RNG does not harm you. Drops from bosses and other content should largely fulfill these principles; some true RNG with regards to Tacticals and Set bonuses may be fine from these drops, however.

 

The RNG protection, in the form of vendors, MUST fulfill these if they are to be "RNG" vendors. It is entirely unacceptable for an "RNG Protection™" Vendor to give you gear below your current iRating, or that is unusable by you.

 

Given this, you may ask, how do we have alt friendliness? By having a legacy currency that cna be used to get gear that will be relevant and useful to the given alt. That is, if the RNG Protection vendors give gear that meets the two aforementioned criteria (again, relevant and useful) by spending legacy currency, then alt gearing is dealt with perfectly - especially given that relics and left-hand sides will be BoL.

 

So to reiterate this and every other thread, we DO NOT want more RNG. We want less of it and, if we must have some RNG, then let it be RNG that ONLY works in our favor.

[Jdast]

Supplementary gear systems should be specific, tailored, and expensive, NOT expensive and RNG heavy.

 

This sentence best encapsulates my thoughts as well. I just don't know why you tinkered with 5.6 which you introduced in Nov. 2017. I could play what I wanted, even with the character I wanted, and I still knew that if RNG was not shining favorably upon me, I was still advancing my ability to purchase the item I wanted.

 

Statistically speaking, you are going to have winners and losers in the new system. That isn't some psychic prediction -- it is mathematically true.

 

The losers will not be happy.

 

Dasty

 

P.S. And why annoy people with Kai only being available on the weekends? Doesn't impact me, but if he only changes weekly, keep him up the whole week. I would love to be the fly on the wall when someone says on Sunday night, "Oh honey, can you take out the garbage? I forgot to check out Kai!"

Edited September 5, 2019 by Jdast

[KendraP]

I think the primary complaint is going to fall on deaf ears, but I agree with the point I have seen several people make:

 

I want a clear path to get the specific item I want, without relying on complete random happenstance. IRL I dont do something because it may or may not help me; I do something because it has a clear objective. Gear is the same way to me. I dont want utter randomness.

 

That said, I am almost certain they're not going to do anything more than twaddle the numbers.

[Exly]

RNG is crap, the people who spend hours grinding this game to get gear hate it, me included. It is so demoralising to get something that is useless to you after spending so much time to try and get a piece of gear. Make a direct route to get gear otherwise so many players are going to leave

 

I agree, rng gear grinds do suck. I thought that they should have learned this lesson when they got so much negative feedback when 5.0 launched, but now they are doubling down on their belief that rng is exciting for 6.0. I makes me wonder if they will ever learn.

[TonyTricicolo]

The RNG is a deliberate form of conditioning to subconsciously get us so used to gambling that we'll no longer object when we spend money in the cartel market.

[Syroe]

I think the primary complaint is going to fall on deaf ears, but I agree with the point I have seen several people make:

 

I want a clear path to get the specific item I want, without relying on complete random happenstance.

 

After reading your feedback, I must surmise that you think the RNG is slightly skewed towards unrewarding and would like to get *checks notes* more random drops than you are currently getting. I was worried you were going to suggest bringing back targeted grinds for gear you actually had an interest in using. Phew. Dodged that bullet.

[IoNonSoEVero]

Thank you for the comment, Eric. It's heartening to see that the team is reading and listening. But you're still avoiding what everyone else has mentioned: a system of gearing based entirely on RNG is frustrating. This system with its multiple tiers and sets, combined with RNG, is way too complicated.

 

Up to 65 there are vendors where we can buy mods for our toons, no questions asked and no drama. At level 70 there's a vendor where we can do the same with purple 230 gear once we have Command tokens, and it's all gear wer can rip the mods out of, and then up to 248 with the UCs and Command tokens. Why not add something for at least the basic level of gearing for 75?

 

I don't want a random mod from a vendor or drop. I want to be able to walk up to a vendor and get the equivalent of that purple 230 gear without drama, guessing games or an arm and a leg. I don't want to have to waste tech fragments to get something I may or may not be able to use, or gear with random stats. I want to be able to keep using the lightsabers and blasters I have chosen specifically for my toons (and in some cases purchased from the CM) instead of being forced to use unmoddable weapon drops.

Edited September 5, 2019 by IoNonSoEVero

[TheDenniR]

Damn it, stop with your RNG system and leave it as it is currently!

You want to play the game for fun and it is not fun for most players ... you kill the game by yourself!

Edited September 5, 2019 by TheDenniR

[Darev]

I think the primary complaint is going to fall on deaf ears, but I agree with the point I have seen several people make:

 

I want a clear path to get the specific item I want, without relying on complete random happenstance. IRL I dont do something because it may or may not help me; I do something because it has a clear objective. Gear is the same way to me. I dont want utter randomness.

 

That said, I am almost certain they're not going to do anything more than twaddle the numbers.

 

I agree. I don't see them making the changes away from RNG in just 6 weeks.

 

And while the tone of my posts is generally....sour...I'm not aiming it at any specific employees.

For all we know their bosses / corporate overlords are the ones pushing RNG.

[Erarth]

Eric, thanks for the communication, it’s encouraging to see the move, but I agree with the others that have posted here that there is still too much RNG in this system. I like to have a specific path to get the gear pieces I’m looking for, which is essentially where 5.0 wound up after the last attempt to introduce an RNG dependent gearing system. We should also have a consistent and predictable source of gear with known (not RNG) mods.

 

Also, I understand the concept that I can use off-class drops on my alts (and I have over 20 alts) but if I want gear for those toons I’ll play them.

[KainrycKarr]

WE DO NOT WANT RNG. REDUCE RNG. WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU GUYS TO GET THAT WE DO NOT WANT MORE RNG.

 

Honestly, what is the obsession with RNG? LET US GEAR IN A LINEAR, CONTROLLABLE FASHION.

Edited September 5, 2019 by KainrycKarr

[well]

I took leave once an went to Italy. Cost me 16000 Lira for a cup of coffee. Doing big numbers for all the aspects of crafting is not a good idea. The (KISS) method works pretty good. Keep it simple stupid/Soldier.