Checking In!

[Tsillah]

^This. It's true - you gave us a huge variety of mods to play with and minmaxing is a lot of fun. But level lock makes most of the decisions completely irrelevant and even actively hinders what many consider normal aspects of gearing (i.e. the Focused Retribution and Serendipitous Assault Relics are affected by the stat cap).

 

Overall great job tho, apart from level lock this might be my favorite expac so far

What do decisions have to do with ops?

 

They are level locked at 70 but when you get some gear and that boost that goes up to 30, the sm ops are easier than ever before.

 

So what is the issue? Are they too easy? I agree but they can solve that without making them 75.

 

But the capping of stats is not an issue. I did DP yesterday and SaV today. It was horribly easy. In DP the last fight, half the bosses didn't go to the middle in the last phase cause we had Bestia below 15% before all the bosses were even down again.

 

Today in SAV the first boss we killed at the first shield spot, the second boss we killed at his second spot (so after the first teleport), etc. Even Styrak we ripped through like there's not tomorrow. So I really don't give a crap about the stat capping with lock because it's easier to do SM ops than before 6.0. The player DPS compared to before is insane once you're geared and know what you're doing.

 

My problem is that I'm probably going to stop doing SM ops now because they are so easy, it bores the crap out of me. That sort of overkill is only fun once or twice for me. I've now had it twice. I hope HM will be better.

[DarkEcIipse]

You want to ask them who they are to say people are happy well the same can be said for you. Each person has their own sphere of influence and it depends on who they play with and when. For some they like the gearing, some don't. No one can tell the other they are wrong because no one has talked to everyone in the game nor played with them off. So I would suggest each side stop jumping down each other's throat.

 

No it can't because I never said I think people are happy or not. I am only speaking for myself not the entire server of Malgus. Go white knight somewhere else...

[Tsillah]

Negativity is a word used by the ignorant. It's called criticism and it is much more important for feedback reports than all the numerous useless "I ❤️ you Bioware" threads you people seem to take pride in posting frequently. Get over yourselves.

You may have to get over yourself a little bit as well I fear. There is a distinct difference between negativity and criticism. And if people love something they have an equal right to be positive as others have to be negative.

 

This is not about me agreeing or disagreeing with your points or theirs, this is me pointing out that you're applying a bit of a double standard here.

 

Calling people snowflakes and ignorant is definitely more about negativity than criticsm for example. I am a strong proponent of criticism, albeit constructive and not so much of negativity. I don't see criticism as some negative when done right. So I make a clear distinction between criticism like "This sucks because I hate it" and "I think crafting costs are too high because the missions can fail and there are not enough places to gather". Just as examples. The first one I definitely place under the header of "negativity" and the second is fair crticism and therefore positive.

 

Calling people names, as you have done here, is not positive in any case and it helps nothing to further your points either. So the question becomes if you really want to make a case or just want to be in an argument. If the latter you're doing fine, if the former then your actions don't match with the outcome.

 

That's my view on this in any case. Ignore it as you please.

[Rolodome]

You don't have the data Bioware does, you don't have the percentages, the stats nor the complete information that the devs do. You only base this statement on the fact that you see negativity here and immediately assume it has to be everyone's opinion. As a matter of fact, people ingame on genchat and in groups seem to be positive about the new gearing changes on the Darth Malgus server. True, crafting is being criticized, but gearing is receiving a positive response. So far, most if not all of the negativity comes from a fixed group of players on these forums.

 

Besides, just because something that you don't like is true, doesn't mean it's a lie. Sure, maybe you want for it to be a lie, but you don't get to determine what is truth and what is false, no single person does. As I said, you have incomplete, one-sided and subjective information on the matter while Bioware has the numbers, percentages and stats with a full set of the data. They have the complete picture to determine whether something is liked in the game or not, you and I don't. So, if Keith says that the gearing changes are liked by a majority of the playerbase, then I am inclined to believe the party that has the most complete, objective and factual set of data.

I'm not a fan of calling someone a liar without evidence and I think it's fair to call that out.

 

However, the statement in question has no claim of being remotely empirical. It's a very general "Like many of you," which leaves an enormous amount of wiggle room for accuracy. "Many of you" could mean a majority number or it could just mean "a number that is high enough to be considered many, but not necessarily any particular percentage of the given total."

 

And I don't think it makes sense to assume that Bioware has anything resembling a complete or empirical picture on how liked various features of the expansion are. It's possible that they've done some data gathering, such as surveys; reading the forums, twitter, reddit; possibly reading in-game chat or looking for certain keywords and phrases in it. None of this would mean they have anything resembling a complete picture, especially after such a short amount of time, nor would it mean the picture is necessarily accurate. Data without careful effort to frame it without bias can easily become a tool of confirmation bias, rather than an accurate picture of reality. Which is, incidentally, why I take it with a grain of salt when someone says "people are happy on x server in-game." What that probably means is some people have observed some other people being happy with some things. There is likely truth in it, but It says nothing about overall percentages and whatnot.

 

There is little we can go by for accuracy on this type of stuff, ourselves. For example, when the game was turned into 5 servers, we could look at that as an indicator that the content and design choices preceding the decision had not parsed very well with players; that the game had shrunk to an extent that Bioware felt it was best to consolidate servers again. Other than markers like that, or attempting to track numbers of people logged in by hand, there's not a lot to go on.

 

Bioware may have access to things like login numbers outright that we don't, but they still aren't much of an indication on their own.

 

I wouldn't Keith say is being a liar with that statement. He is just being PR man. Leaving things ambiguous enough that it would be easy for him to claim he meant something else if confronted with facts that supposedly contradict the statement, while also painting a particular picture for the reader. It's not a lie, but it's not empirical either. It's just wishy-washy PR speak.

 

I mean, consider this: If they had a complete picture and that picture showed that an overwhelming majority of players enjoyed the expansion, that'd be the kind of thing they'd find a way to highlight, wouldn't it? Instead of relying on weasel words. (And no, that's not an insulting term I made up in this moment - weasel words are a thing. I undoubtedly use them myself sometimes, though in my defense, I'm not representing a company/product and am generally just trying to avoid getting bogged down in pedantic arguments that lose sight of the larger picture.)

[Lunafox]

Happy holidays, Keith. Thank you for your communication.

 

Firstly, I enjoyed the expansion for the most part. The new worlds were interesting as were some of the NPCs we met along the way. As always, I request more interaction with our love interest companions...always more Theron and more Malavai (seeing as there was none with the latter). Thank you for Scourge, I've been nagging and hoping along with many others for many years, so I'm grateful we can finally romance him. More please.

 

I honestly don't care much for the gearing system, I'm not really into experimenting and mathing my way to better armor. That's boring to me. I'm still a bit clueless about these amplifiers and such. I'm consoling myself by thinking, well, I'm a filthy decorator and story player; I don't pvp or raid, so maybe it doesn't affect me overly much. So long as I can do my beloved story play, I'm fine I suppose. Maybe I'm in a minority, but I liked how things were in SoR where we just earned currency and choose what we wanted/needed off a vendor for our class. It was what it was, and I didn't have to worry about complicating factors to make it better. Complicating any system in the game makes it tedious for me.

 

I'm intrigued by next week's 'little surprise'. I hope it's enjoyable for a story/decorating person like me.

 

Again, thank you for the update and communication, but I would appreciate a simpler system for gearing and crafting.

[OlBuzzard]

You want to ask them who they are to say people are happy well the same can be said for you. Each person has their own sphere of influence and it depends on who they play with and when. For some they like the gearing, some don't. No one can tell the other they are wrong because no one has talked to everyone in the game nor played with them off. So I would suggest each side stop jumping down each other's throat.

 

^^This^^

 

There is a vast difference between criticism over decisions and or game design ideas that need improvement.

** armor / gearing : may or may not be that good of a system (items that could use correction and how the new approach would be better) … In this case the RNG debate has been and is continuing to be a topic of discussion.

 

All to often some (one both sides of the discussion) have either been blindly in support of RNG … or exceedingly blunt, perhaps even brazen, crass or in some cases even openly demeaning when refuting the shortcoming and often impractical points of RNG based drops … let alone RNG based vendor items.

 

BTW... please note this is just one example … there are a number of hot topics right now. There's a way to demonstrate dissatisfaction and provide accurate … even strong criticism without names, terminologies, innuendo laced with crass deliberation intended to offer … nothing !

 

AS for the topic of gearing in SWTOR …

 

I personally don't see the current system changing that much. I would like to see less RNG at the vendors. That said I would also like to strongly encourage the development team to see what can be done about the "re-rolling" cost / RNG / hope for stats you can actually use …

 

And of course crafting.

 

Even though I'm not personally into crafting that much. However, It's no great secret from players on this board who are that there is a HUGE bubble brewing on this subject. I'd hate to see that one burst and make a mess of things ! And I'd dare say .. if it does burst … things WILL get messy !

[Ylliarus]

I find it hard to believe that the only place we can find criticisms of 6.0 is on the forums, specifically by a cabal of malcontent naysayers.

 

I can only report on what I see and read, not what I don't. Just like you base your statements on your own observations, I do so with mine. If only I did have omniscience, that would have been grand, but since I lack that trait, I say what I see and observe. Do I claim to be infallibly true? Absolutely not. But what else can I base my opinions on if not my own observations and experiences?

 

Great two snowflakes... Who the hell are you to say people on the Darth Malgus server are happy with the gearing? I must have missed the memo that you're the delegates of our respective servers. The increase in cost to roll their gamble amplifiers are ridiculous. The inflated prices on the decor stronghold vendors are *********** insane.

 

Negativity is a word used by the ignorant. It's called criticism and it is much more important for feedback reports than all the numerous useless "I ❤️ you Bioware" threads you people seem to take pride in posting frequently. Get over yourselves.

 

Did I say I assumed the role of ambassador for the Darth Malgus server? No. What I did was report my observations and use it as a counter to what someone else is saying. From the way you respond to me, I have a feeling your problem is more with the fact that I do not share as much in your negativity as you'd want of me and others. I understand that you might feel frustrated with some of the new changes - so am I, mind you - but demanding that everyone shares in your negative opinion is not the way to go about handling it.

 

Does Onslaught have problems? Yes, absolutely, the crafting system is absolutely horrible and needs to be overhauled to how it used to be. There's also the many bugs that shouldn't have been in the expansion in the first place or fixed much earlier. But frankly, the gearing system isn't as bad as people make it out to be in my opinion. And this opinion is something I have seen and read a lot on the Darth Malgus server, both in genchat and in groups. Does that mean that it applies to everyone? No, of course not. But I form my opinion and statements on the basis of what I observe and experience, just as I stated earlier in this post. If you want me to form these from an omniscient perspective, I will sadly have to disappoint you, as that is beyond my abilities as a mere mortal.

 

So before you call me a snowflake or react angrily at the fact I don't share your opinion, consider that your viewpoint is not the only one out there and definitely not the only truthful one. Neither do I claim to hold the infallible truth in my hands, but I form my opinions and beliefs on the basis of what I see and observe. That's what we all do and that's why everyone will have a different and unique opinion on a topic. Hating on those that differ from your own and calling them "white knights" is as useful as using a flashlight in broad daylight.

 

So am I going to tell you likewise to "get over yourself"? You do seem to apply double-standards as has been pointed out by others, but I am not going to respond in kind this time, because what would be the benefit of it? Instead, I am going to say that I hope you'll be able to get over your issue with being unable to handle that people will sometimes like what you dislike and that neither side is wrong because of it.

 

Calling people snowflakes and ignorant is definitely more about negativity than criticsm for example. I am a strong proponent of criticism, albeit constructive and not so much of negativity. I don't see criticism as some negative when done right. So I make a clear distinction between criticism like "This sucks because I hate it" and "I think crafting costs are too high because the missions can fail and there are not enough places to gather". Just as examples. The first one I definitely place under the header of "negativity" and the second is fair crticism and therefore positive.

 

When I speak of negativity, this is exactly what I mean by it. I'd never count constructive criticism under the term 'negativity', because it is from constructive criticism that one can learn to better something. But comments, posts and utterances such as "the devs hate us", "the game is dead/dying" or "you're lying" have no constructive element about them and - from my perspective - are just spread for the sake of spreading negativity. So, of course I am going to look down on posts like that, because they add no value to the discussion, but only create and propagate toxicity. Not to mention the deplorable insults that people throw at the devs. No matter how much you might hate something, it's never justified to insult someone because of it or assault them verbally. But constructive criticism? Yes, please, let that continue to flow! I myself have lots of constructive criticism that I have uttered or still will at some point, and I'm saying that while considering myself something of a SWTOR devotee.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Ylliarus

[DreadtechSavant]

Its pointless to argue. Some people were never going to be happy with any news. Releasing early 2020 only makes sense since the Christmas holiday is coming up and they weren't going to do major development then. The fact that they are releasing new heroics and a new alliance alert during that time is already the most we could have expected.

 

Some people will moan no matter what Bioware says.

 

Very true, some have a very long history of nothing but complaint threads. Not sure about that particular player but certainly far too many like it. They can always just leave and move on to a game they do like if they are even capable of actually likening something.

 

Anyway back to the topic and Keith's opening post, any changes to crafting will be good but I have to agree with some who mention this was brought up several times on the PTS. However better late than never I guess. I look forward to the " There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday."

 

Over all I loved the story if keeping to original class but the saboteur story just grates a little, my characters just would not do that, Still it was always going to be like this going back to Imp vs Reps which is why I personally rather it had not. Overall though at least we get the option of keeping the alliance for players who want it & the option of returning home for the others that never liked the alliance. . A fair trade off at a push.

 

Best wishes going forward BW

 

@DarkEcIipse

BTW I play on all severs but Darth Malgus is the one I play on most, I don't have a issue with gearing. So to use your own words DarkEcIipse Who the hell are you to think you speck for me? You don't represent Darth Malgus anymore than I do, you represent yourself and only yourself. You don't care for it, that's fine if that's your opinion of the new gearing, It's not mine. Other players can hate it as much as love it, don't have to share your opinion of it.

Edited November 10, 2019 by DreadtechSavant

[Lhancelot]

*Mic Drop*

 

Crispy.

[DarkEcIipse]

About the writing of in depth criticisms. Well who actually cares? Bioware sure doesn't when their producer writes things like " Like many of you really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing."

 

May as well be tone deaf.

 

I won't even bother repeating the problems of the crafting system... because who cares. Anything I write against it will be considered toxic and negative. Amp system is extremely flawed. Increasing the price for every time you roll? Really? There so many different stats that people will be at it forever anyways. Cryptic's Star Trek Online has similar RNG rolling gear system and they have fixed prices. Is this Bioware's brilliant solution to fix the game's economy? Scaring any new players and punishing the players that didn't cheat? Newsflash it won't

 

Here more toxic negative useless criticism:

 

Ninja patching the stronghold decors vendors! Brilliant! Screw players that like basic decorations for their SHs! That way we can encourage people to spend real money on our cashshop! Genius!

 

To add salt to wound we can even re-sell the NERFED Contraband Slot Machine for 1500cc! You heard that right folks! We even kept the % of gaining any cartel market certs to below 0.01% and increased the prices for the machine tokens from 750 credits to 5,000 credits!

 

Gain a sense of pride and accomplishment as you spend 5,000,000 million credits gaining absolutely nothing but sore fingers and wrists by clicking our g̶a̶m̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶k̶b̶o̶x̶ ̶ I mean--- our surprise mechanic machine!

Edited November 11, 2019 by DarkEcIipse

[TrixxieTriss]

And folks - this. This above right here. This is why communication is so important. I know there were cynics in my other post calling for what Keith did here who were trying to say it wouldn't happen and wouldn't matter.

 

This post here proved me right.

 

THIS is why you communicate. What Keith did isn't for the cynics who live to crap on all things bioware and yell at anyone who has a less negative tone than they do. It's for people like the person who posted the above - who have concerns, genuine questions, and just want to feel heard and feel like the game is an active thing ongoing.

 

I hope the devs see this too. Keith's post MATTERS. And it was well done, if brief. Expectations managed, and it boosted consumer confidence in the product, even if by a little.

 

Exactly this ^*.

 

We need the continued communication from Bioware. When the team or the community manager goes afk on important issue, people get frustrated and unsubscribe.

 

We don’t always need a massive post, but something from Eric to let us know our concerns aren’t being ignored will certainly help.

[Nuffmeister]

Thank you for the check in Keith.

 

First an apology. From what I was reading on the forums about the PTS I was very worried that this expansion was not for me or my playstyle and I said as much. I was quite wrong, and for that I am sorry.

 

I have started a brand new Nautolan Marauder and began with my class story on Korriban. I play solo mainly and with heroics and my xp armour set I was level 75 by the time I left Balmorra. I enjoyed the harder fights, though some did feel a bit tedious with the mobs soaking up damage.

 

My renown level is very very slowly creeping up and for the most part the crates rewards are pretty meh. I was stuck at i276 rating for awhile before upgrades from story missions and conquest started to kick in higher gear, and now the progression to better gear seems to be coming a lot faster.

 

I have just started SoR and I have to say I am pretty happy with this expansion, barring crafting (which is a WHOLE other kettle of fish). I have not tried the new content, but I look forward to it. I am savouring the journey.

 

TLDR: I am quite happy with this expansion, good job and I look forward to what is coming up in our games future.

[DarkEcIipse]

I understand, it's sometimes easier to respond in memes and avoid responding to the actual content I wrote. It's okay, I'll assume I made too much sense and this was the only way you could reply.

 

But come, let us be mature and end this jumping at one another's throats. Let's agree to disagree with one another and ignore one another's posts from now on, because we won't find mutual ground to stand on, apparently. How does that sound?

 

It was humorous relevant response and answered what you wrote at the same time. Not because it was easier but because it answered your ramblings about me painting you as a monster, using a Star Wars reference was just a bonus. You accused me of twisting your words when all I did was quote what was there. Those were your words. I didn't change those quotations or imply a different meaning to what they said.

 

"I'll assume I made too much sense and this was the only way you could reply."

 

You can think that you're SWTOR celebrity for all I care. It doesn't change that you're acting delusional right now if you honestly believe that. I bet you believe your infallible as well... while at the same time claiming everyone makes mistakes. LOL

 

"Let's agree to disagree?" I am pretty sure that we have been in a disagreement this entire time. If you want to concede the argument and ignore my responses you go straight ahead.

 

because we won't find mutual ground to stand on, apparently.

 

I already got some ground to stand on thanks. *cough* Highground! *cough*

 

How does that sound?

It sounds like:

 

Edit: I am not saying everything in the patch was bad. I like the gear drops. I enjoyed the direction of the story even though the content was way too small. Amp system and crafting are horrible. New race is nice but the faces aren't great and don't represent the cool npcs faces. Vendor signs are terrible and obstructive. The ninja patch to increase the prices on the vendors/stronghold decor vendors is shameful and I am disgusted they would think people wouldn't notice. They nerfed the selling of trash too which isn't helpful at all.

 

Just because I didn't list all the positives doesn't mean I don't have any. So you can be happy that I like some parts of it.

Edited November 11, 2019 by DarkEcIipse

[JaeOnasi]

Over all, I like playing the game very much, or I wouldn't still be here after 8 years+beta. I get my money's worth from my monthly sub.

Hey everyone,

 

It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon,

 

Communication is A Good Thing™. More of it would be even better. I get that business leadership doesn't want to over-commit, things have to be vetted before being released, the lawyers want you to consult them before even basic things like inhaling and exhaling, etc etc etc, but keeping people informed is essential. If I went even a couple weeks without communicating with my patients, I'd be fired.

 

Yes, it sucks when people yell at you (and sometimes yell at you for utterly stupid things), but that's part of the job dealing with the public. Those of us who work with the public have to put our Big Boy/Girl/Whatever Pants on, suck it up and deal with it.

 

Here's the thing--when you (collectively) respond, I _think_ concerns have at least been heard. You're not required to agree with me on everything obviously--I don't know the backend coding stuff and how it makes things possible or not possible to implement or change. I'm cool with that. And I understand my place in the world as a gaming peon, so I live with that.

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion

 

I LOVE Onderon. My guild roleplays, and my RP toon was set up as an Onderonian before Onslaught had been even breathed as a possibility, so I totally geeked out. The planet is gorgeous and the decos look great. Mek-sha looks cool. The style isn't my cup of tea, and going up the ramps with the turning camera makes me a bit dizzy sometimes, but it's quite interesting to look at, and I appreciate the tremendous attention to art detail. Some of us even geeked out over the little details on the red Onderon carpet--I kid you not. And I'm art-impaired. Pat yourselves on the back for me for all that.

 

More decos and outfits and dye types, please.

 

and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306.

As one of the high-level employees, I would HOPE the team would just give you a tricked-out optimized amplified 306 6-piece set and a kill stick right off the bat on at least 1 toon. If they didn't, they kinda tortured you.

 

I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system.

My initial experience with going from a gold 258 (nearly) min-maxed geared Infitrator able to do some NiM content to a 270 green no-set bonus gear at 75 making my accuracy, dps, and endurance take a dive into the crapper and then having trouble with trash mobs on story mode ops was Not Fun.

 

Being able to buy with credits (a la the Tier 1 vendor in 5.0) or exchange the old 258 gear for at least _something_ with a set bonus might mitigate some of that frustration. Our guild has to run people through a bazillion rounds of Hammer Station and Athiss to get them geared up before we can even do story mode Ops now. At least it's a LOT faster to get from 270 to 306 than it was to get from 230 to 248 before Ossus.

 

The average group of sub-280/290 range ilevel geared 8 players is currently not able to do Story Mode, rendering it inaccessible for a group of new(er) Ops players just gearing up. Note I say average. Experienced Ops gamers are a different story. Something needs to be re-tuned there--whether adding some purchasable sets off the bat, or changing the stats on the 270-286 range, or tuning down some of the mobs in story mode Ops, at least maybe in EV/KP so that new and average players still have a place to start that is a challenge but isn't impossible to beat.

 

The level syncing capping of power/mastery is really affecting gearing for the pre-Onslaught content vs Onslaught activities. So, if I want the uber-optimal gear, I'm going to end up needing two sets of gear--one for pre-Onslaught FP/Ops with about a bazillion points in crit instead of the optimal amount of crit and the rest in power/mastery, and one for the Onslaught content with min-maxed stats that the calculus theorycrafters come up with. Sure, I could rip mods out of one set, but that's freaking expensive, and after blowing all my credits trying to level my crafters (see below), move a few mods around, and burn through replacing amplifiers, my 50 million credits are shot. *Looks at empty coffers and cries.*

 

My experience with a couple toons at or very near full 306 is improved. I like the theory of amplifiers but not the insane costs. I like the theory of all the different types of mods/enhancements, but there seem to be a whole lot more than we really needed. But more is better than less for variety, I suppose. Tacticals are cool. New set bonuses are interesting, although I'm sure the theorycrafters will have everything figured out for BIS in about 2 more nanoseconds.

 

I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

I've submitted about 7 bug reports so far. I try to make them entertaining instead of cranky, at least.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019.

 

PLEASE fix the Force Potency/Recklessness bug. Having to wait half a GCD to hit Force Breach so that the stacks of Breaching Shadows aren't consumed without proccing Force Breach is killing dps. Even more frustrating is forgetting to wait the .75 seconds after several years of hitting Force Breach right after Force Potency assuming it's procced and realizing "Oh, crap, it didn't proc AGAIN, just wasted that Force Potency...." And in a tough Vet/NiM boss, where the margin for error can literally be that extra crit Force Breach hit, it matters. (humor mode on)Plus, my infiltrator already has an inferiority complex comparing his DPS to top Plasmatechs. He doesn't need any help to make his numbers look worse. (humor mode off. Sort of.)

 

Please fix the stronghold/guild ship bugs so that we can summon non-guildies there again. Our guild has four guildships (two for each faction) because we have a lot of players and need overflow space. Being able to summon to each others' guild ships and guild strongholds and our personal strongholds for role-playing is essential. We have this wonderful Rishi stronghold that we can do group PvP on, but we can't invite non-guildies to it anymore.

 

Quick travel keeps killing my companion. I fear poor Theron can only take having his heart defibrillated so many times before perma-dying.

 

Despite your best efforts to fix the final ship log on Onderon, someone keeps stealing the damn thing so that it doesn't show up.

 

Kai Sykken gave me the cold shoulder and refused to face me, so he didn't stay fixed from the patch.

 

A number of harvest nodes on Onderon seem to be spawning inside the rock walls and the center of trees, making them inaccessible.

 

I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.

If it means the Server Maintenance Strike Force can wipe out more bugs like the Force Potency bug, a couple days extra to fix more bugs would be welcome.

I hope the 'surprise' is good. Surprises in medicine are (almost) never good, so I tend to cringe when I hear about surprises.

 

Patch 6.0.2 will be our last update for 2019 and we’ll target its availability mid-December. It’ll have additional bug fixes along with the following:

• Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
  
• It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
  
• We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
  
• You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
  
• Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
  
• Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
  

 

Could we please have something besides Life Day trees drop when we pelt Overheated Droids? I mean, there are only so many stronghold hooks I can put my stash of about a couple thousand trees on. My Tatooine stronghold is a Life Day forest (on the plus side, when we needed 100% decoration for the SH bonus, all those Life Day trees were a big help toward that goal. Bonus: Life Day trees require no water, so they're an ecologically sound alternative on Tatooine to real Life Day trees. I like to think they're solar powered). Credits, free amplifier re-rolls, more credits, crafting mats, and other useful goodies would be nice. Be the Lifeday Oprah of SWTOR this year.

 

Tharan returning: 1. YAY!!! 2. Will Holiday be coming, too? Will she promise not to electrify Tharan's bunk after a night out?

 

More Mek-sha activities would be great--it seemed far less finished than Onderon did in that department.

 

Crafting changes: If the changes you mention make crafting easier, faster, cheaper, and more useful, then Hallelujah thank you Jesus. Who ever thought that making green things to make blue things to make purple things to make gold things should be forced to buy a round of drinks out of his own pocket for every player who's had to try to create things under this system. LOTRO used to do that with cooking--make basic stuff to make intermediate stuff to make advanced stuff to make the final product. They finally got smart and changed the system to something that isn't so mind-numbingly tedious. Please learn from their example: my Sith Lord wants to Force Choke his in-game enemies and do missions. He does not want to make and reverse engineer 5 bazillion assembly components to get one medpac. That's just about as fun as getting audited by the IRS or having hot pokers stuck in my eyes. (Note: do not stick hot pokers in your eyes. I don't want to get sued. And try not to get audited.)

 

1,500,000 credits as an entry fee to just start making/harvesting stuff at 601 for a single toon made me say naughty things. Now try paying that on my four other toons who had the different crafting skills maxed and then a few more characters who have gathering and mission skills maxed to be able to farm mats on top of all the new gear expenses. REing hundreds of green things to get schematics for blue things to make thousands of those to get schematics for purple things to make tens of thousands of things for the gold schematics had me making socially unacceptable rude gestures at the game. I mean, crafting already is minimally useful as it is (ever see anyone running around in crafted armor and weapons except for RP costumes? No? It's because the stats suck and you can't put mods in them....)

Making Iokath recombinators so expensive? Also not cool.

 

Suggestion: let us craft decos (like ESO for example). That could be fun for those that enjoy that kind of thing. Let us craft things that could have far more usefulness than just a few mods, augments, and medpacs/stims would be greatly appreciated, too.

 

Now, if by 'changes' in crafting you mean "things that we'll make sound just as good as the new crafting but cost players more so that there are even MORE humongous credit sinks in 6.0," I will NOT be A Happy Camper.

 

I can't speak to PvP stuff. My method of PvP is "Go there for the missions and conquest xp, die a lot, hope I get some hits in, and pray my hand arthritis doesn't act up in the middle of a match."

 

We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event! Thanks everyone for making Onslaught a success. Keep your thoughts, concerns, and ideas coming as those are an invaluable source of feedback for the team.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

Happy Holidays to you, too, and thanks to the whole team for the hard work.

Edited November 11, 2019 by JaeOnasi

[Lhancelot]

Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.

 

 

Since it's important we stay on topic, I'd like to comment on Keith's statement about Crafting. It's nice he has acknowledged the state it is in, hopefully now that he and others that matter seem aware of it's completely broken state it might get fixed.

 

Thanks Keith, for actually responding and admitting Crafting needs attention, to put it mildly. To put it more bluntly, I never seen a crafting system gutted and destroyed so badly on a MMO before.

 

I mean crafting in it's present form is 100% broken. I don't understand how it made it off PTS and to Live, with the amount of critical feedback players left regarding how Crafting was on the PTS. Crafting should have never been left in this unfinished, unpolished mess that it is in!

 

I have to assume the devs simply lacked the time to polish it before they rolled it out, and instead used their time to try to get gearing straight as well as all the tacticals and amps along with so many other new features the game had added. I view 6.0 as extremely ambitious with so many system changes, not so much regarding actual content that can be digested, though.

 

 

Bitraider problems.

 

Hey Keith, why don't you guys revisit your game launcher and Bitraider specifically? I never had issues with it, but have read for years how some players are unable to log in due to the launcher and Bitraider causing problems with the game. Well, guess what? I am one of those people now, and never realized how ridiculous this problem is.

 

If you guys know it causes problems for a portion of your playerbase, why don't you guys fix it? I have uninstalled, re-installed 4 times now, and I STILL have this problem with Bitraider getting automatically added to my SWTOR files, which essentially corrupts the launch so that it gets stuck on "Verifying" files indefinitely. It just sits there at 0%.

 

Only way I have "fixed" this, is to uninstall then reinstall the game, yet, the fix is temporary because some how the game seems to add Bitraider files during any of the launches I run on the game when I log in to play. Yes, I know people like Owen offer instructions on how to remove files, delete them, add files to fix this, but why can you guys not fix this internally so players do not have this problem? I find this ridiculous and have to wonder how many players have actually tried to play SWTOR, only to run into this issue only to give up and not even bother. If logging into the game proves impossible unless hours are spent "fixing" it, this is something that BW/EA should fix!

[ElZaguero]

for example, I hate KotFE and KotET and won't shy away from letting people know I really, passionately detest those two expansions. .

 

For all my complaining about 6.0, (I think it's more bad than good), there were parts of KOTFE and KOTEX I really liked. The stompy walker part was great! But then again, I love walkers, and the Daily on Iokath to kill a walker with a mouse droid makes me laugh in delight every time.

 

So I liked at least 35-40% of KOTFE/KOTET very much, yet I despise much of the latest patch, dislike intensely what they did to Crafting, loathe and detest the new gearing system and how it's so grossly unfair in giving more to those who already have more, while inflicting pain on those who have less to begin with.

 

Bottom line? We all have our opinions.

[_NovaBlast_]

Hey everyone,

 

 

Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.

 

We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion.

 

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Keith

 

Hi Keith

 

I unsubbed because I WAS NOT happy with what you did in 6.0.

 

I assume you are part of the "like challenge" "niche " camp because that is the only way you could have enjoyed this.

 

In case you didn't see it I have copy and pasted the long version of unsub feedback form as I had to cut a lot out 2000 characters was not enough to fully express my disdain even though I gave you credit for 2 things that I was happy about the cons completely outweigh the pros.

 

**Side note **

I remember the days when Kira could fight anything and destroy ...the most fun I had in swtor was soloing a heroic 4 or flash point and letting Kira just destroy everything while I just sat back and healed her then you took away their item stats.

 

then came level sync which basically prevents you from being op down to just being able to survive.

***

 

So yes keith there have been several times someone in SWTOR has stopped me from " playing my way" and having fun

 

Also worth mentioning ,,

"harder challenge people can do alot to make the game harder "

easy mode people can't do anything to make it easier

 

Here is the long version of unsub report below

***

 

First I will start of by saying you did 2 things right and I do appreciate it .

 

1. Kira is finally back.

for a moment ..then back to...no interaction.

 

2. No story content locked behind group / pvp play

 

I am still unscribing because you got Two deal breaker things majorly wrong which was also described by a fellow posters

 

1 The biggest things is not enough companion / li interaction as someone else has pointed out as well

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=970768

 

and other threads like it

 

To make me happy personally the minimum of these points would have to happen..

• every expansion should have as much flirts, affection cutscenes and conversation as the original class stories did.
   
  
• they should also have comments when talking to quest npc as well like in the class story
   
  
• in a perfect world they would have have a repeatable cutscene and "affection" tab as well ( mass effect 2 end game cabin type)
  

 

2 you make diametrically opposed statement statements like "play your way " and ...harder content get better rewards ....

 

Logically Risk / reward effort /reward should not be a factor in a "play your own way system"

 

If someone finds their primary source of "fun" in content that takes "strategy" "knowing how to play " knowing mechanics" and 60 min of smashing buttons to clear one piece of content

 

.... why are they any better or deserve "better rewards" than people who don't??

 

The Motivation should NOT be "better loot" the PRIMARY reason they should be doing is because they enjoy doing it because that is the way they "Choose to play"

 

Level sync defeats the whole purpose of gear because you can never be "overpowered" anymore and raising difficulty content in a broad you are basically saying..." your fun is wrong if you don't like "challenge and want reward without "effort and "risk"

 

Why are you discriminating against someone who like to feel like they are a powerful unstoppable hero and can clear a veteran FP just solo with their companion smashing everything into oblivion without out every mob taking 5 min or the flash points IN STORY MODE taking 30 min or more to complete.

 

IoNonSoEVero's Avatar

IoNonSoEVero

10.28.2019 , 02:55 PM | #9

REPORT POST QUOTE

*shrug* to each their own. I just know I'm not even bothering with daily areas and heroics anymore because they are no longer fun or worth doing. I'm playing through Onslaught on my characters and have already unsubscribed. I have nothing to do with my main anymore. She can't do the daily areas like Section X because the H4s have been returned, the veteran flashpoints she did for fun are no longer doable, and I find no fun in "danger" in taking three times as long to see a mob go down or watching my health bar decrease.

 

The change has also made it easier for players to be harassed and ninjaed by others since you can no longer click the objective first and then fight if you want to live, so anyone can swoop in and steal it.

 

As a solo player they have sent a very strong message that players like me are no longer welcome in the game

 

I have read through some of IoNonSoEVero post and generally agree with the ones that I have read and consider them to be a poster of high quality.

 

So there you have it Keith one players personal opinion ( and a quote from another ) of 6.0 you literally took one step forward with the main story being soloable ....but you took 2 steps back with the other points that I mentioned.

 

The game is simply not fun for me .. if you want an example of a fun MMO ESO would be a game to look at there are higher level stuff that you need to group for but ...with no companion...I am to a point now where I can clear some group content completely solo.. just smash though...that's fun and its the type of fun I had once upon a time in swtor

 

please fix both points and maybe if you do it right you will get me back as a regular sub.

 

***********************

 

INB4 ** REEEEE** MMO means group ..i joined a mmo not single player game

 

LOL I see the MMO = group people are still alive and well.....one of the reasons i left this forms . Iseem to do better solo in ESO without a companion than i do here.....is ESO not a MMO ?..MMO means multiple people can play in the same environment at the same time ...it does not mean players MUST play together for it to be a "MMO" as I stated with my ESO example

 

INB4 REEEE harder group content deserves better loot because effort /risk reward etc

 

harder content and raids are niche and the PRIMARY you should be doing such content because you enjoy it ..not because there is better loot... if you don't dont hard content because it "pays" the same as easy content ..then you are proving my point ...you are not doing it for "fun and challenge " you are doing it for better loot.

 

Ib4 REEEE "group ques would die if everything could be done easy /solo"

 

1. that statement itself proves my point completely .. like harder content it would simply show what people are doing for other reason than "enjoyment"

 

2. if you want to do such que instead of forcing people to do it for reason other than enjoyment ..the onus should be on the players to put the work in to find other player who have the same interests and not really on a que in the first place

 

IB4 REEE swtor is not a dating sim......

 

i guess you haven't played the class stories or any bioware game ...im a m just asking for continuation on what defines most of biowares games.

 

I know i probably missed a lot of the reeee and flames form certain niche factions of this form this post will attract but those are my response to the major onesI think will pop up

[Darev]

I posted quite a bit on the PTS forums about many topics / changes with 6.0 and I won't go into that list again here, however the changes were a reason why I canceled (then renewed for the last week of conquest, then canceled again) my 2nd account...which is still canceled mainly because /follow is broken.

 

Crafting, which hopefully you're able to fix to everyone's satisfaction, was changes for some unknown reason.

 

I'm not talking about the credit cost of training. Every higher level has seen an increase in costs. However this jump was rather large.

 

What I'm mainly referring to is the requirement of rare crafting mats that are found in combat content only (flashpoints / operations / whatever) for green/blue items.

It's been said before. Green ingredients for green items. Blue for blue. Purple for Purple

 

That's pretty much how it's been since the start of the game and, again, changed for no obvious reason.

Your crafting fixes that you're looking for begin with that.

 

They continue to reduce the number of mats needed back down to the "standard" 2/2/2 formula also used since pretty much the start of the game.

 

You can put the deconstruction schematic chance back up to where it is for all of the earlier levels.

 

Those 3 things would go a LONG way to "fixing" what you broke with crafting for 6.0.

 

 

 

On a separate/personal note...

Fixing /follow will get me to resub my 2nd account

[Goreshaga]

Why are you discriminating against someone who like to feel like they are a powerful unstoppable hero and can clear a veteran FP just solo with their companion smashing everything into oblivion without out every mob taking 5 min or the flash points IN STORY MODE taking 30 min or more to complete.

On this i fully agree.

Taking more time to kill mobs is not fun, it's just plain boring to me.

It's not even challenging, well excpet the parts that are so broken they're unplayable for the more casual players who just want to enjoy their stories.

 

One of my friend just told me he had to give up on the end of KOTET and skip directly to Ossus because after dying a lot he could not pass the part on Iokath where you're in the big droid and have to defeat wave after wave of smaller droids.

I'm in a similar sitution on Iokath too, but with the Sentinel fight where you're in Malcom/Acina's walker, that fight has NO end, i die pretty much after killing every droid and whenever i'm finally about to destroy the last one, another one pops and kill me. I don't want to skip so for now that's a character that's unplayable. And i have many more character who have not started KOTFE or KOTET yet, so they're probably unplayable as well.

So if something could be done at the very least for these droid/walker fights where you don't have your class abilities and no companion, that would already be something nice.

 

As said many times this bump in difficulty didn't make the game more challenging for the player who want more challenge (especially when they already have the best gear available) but made it unplayable at some points for people who enjoy easier content.

Someone who wants more challenge always have ways to make it more challenging by running harder content, taking off their gear and putting their companion on passive mode.

People who want eaiser content for whatever reason, can't do anything to make it easier...

Edited November 11, 2019 by Goreshaga

[DawnAskham]

Thanks for the feedback - though IMO you all really need to step up your interaction with the community.

 

Onslaught shows the best and worst of this game and the development team.

 

Great new areas, decent story leaving you wanting more, many positive changes, and even some new group content all speak well to the development team.

 

Unfortunately, too many new systems and changes show either an overly ambitious desire to add / change more than you could reasonably handle, or some weird designs on where to take the game.

 

Crafting - a botched and incompetent release if I've ever seen one, if you didn't have the time and resources to make the magnitude of changes made without screwing it up, you should have just copy / pasted the formula that has worked since the game's inception.

 

UI changes - specifically the changes to color and icons of gear in inventory is horrid, also shrinking the icon and text to fit the little color codes nodes on the side is useless - I don't care what color mods are inside, I want to know whether the gear is set, a special bind to legacy piece (like event gear), or trash.

 

Amplifiers - interesting concept, poorly implemented. Many feel useless or too specific, cumulative cost can get out of hand fast, and the buy / return / buy / return option to fish for marginally useful variants against a long list of useless variants is a colossal waste of time.

 

Crafting mats tab - Great idea, nice for storage, terrible for actually managing materials (at a minimum, should have a filter for material grade).

 

Leaving content at 70 - not raising existing content to cap while adding new content at 75 just adds another level of pointless complexity to everything given the way (poorly) level sync handles down scaling.

 

Overall I'd give the expansion a 7/10 for a short subscription to run through the new story, and 3/10 if wanting to do more than just complete the story a couple of times.

Edited November 11, 2019 by DawnAskham

[swiftrav]

Just saw this and thought I'd post this an MMO reviewer thoughts on SWTOR onslaught. I know most reviews can be taken with a grain of salt and I mostly agree with that statement but I though the cons he list were spot on and echoed what other players have said.

https://www.mmorpg.com/star-wars-the-old-republic/reviews/star-wars-the-old-republic-onslaught-review-1000000538

[hillerbees]

Hi Keith,

 

Glad that you popped by. Love when you guys communicate with us, its not often enough in my opinion. You'll always get my respect when you address genuine concerns of players.

 

I like that you've made the ordinary stuff a little more difficult. Of course there are plenty of things that need fixing that players better than me will mention and I hope you get around to addressing problem areas and making the game the best it can be.

 

Looking forward to seeing whats in store for us in 2020 and glad that the game is still here and appreciate everything you, Musco, Charles, Daniel and all the guys behind the scenes are doing to keep things interesting.

[santafaye]

ty for the post but when do we get the rest of the story im wondering why cant bioware give us a complete expansion instead of a hour here and there and not sure but you do know we have romances with more then just lana and theron anyway love the story just waiting for the rest of the story ..ty for your time

[Jdast]

Keith,

 

Great to hear from you. One of the things I appreciate about your posts is that it is clear you play the game. You understand, as many of us do, that crafting needs changes. I appreciate you telling us that changes are forthcoming.

 

For me, the other changes I care about are more QoL changes.

 

1) Tech Fragment Cap.

 

I believe you that you have multiple characters at 75. So do I. (I'm guessing you have the power to check!) We both know there is an easy way to avoid the TF cap by storing gear on an alt to take advantage of the 2 hour Kai Zykken window. It's annoying.

 

The cap should be raised. It exists only in theory and makes us in practice waste time to avoid it.

 

2) Amplifiers

 

There are games we can play here too to get what we want and minimize the cost. It's annoying.

 

3) Level Lock / Stat Capping

 

I understand that retuning every encounter up to level 75 is a pretty big undertaking. But you metaphorically brought a nuke to a gun fight. You did some retuning on the PTS. I think a bit more is needed here. By definition, you are asking players to acquire two different sets of BiS gear. It's annoying.

 

Please don't take this as a negative -- I love this game -- in fact, I'm about to buy some more CCs now. Presumably you can check how much I've played since Oct. 22. That should indicate my level of happiness.

 

Many thanks for the feedback. Oh, and crafting sucks right now! But you already know that.

 

Cheers,

 

Dasty

Edited November 11, 2019 by Jdast

[Tsillah]

Hi Keith,

 

Thanks for the message. I am looking forward to crafting changes because right now all there is to craft is augments (which are horribly restricted due to conquest mat costs and low schem chances) and biochem has stims etc.

 

That's it. Oh sure there are a few schems available for tacticals which are also cost prohibitive so now that I've leveled up my crafters I'm bored. I can try a few schem attempts for augments a week and trying to get the bioschems. There is nothing else to do with crafting that is any use. I suggest allowing crafters to make amplifiers which solves the RNG concern and gives crafting purpose.

 

I do worry about gearing overall. In two weeks I got all my 9 characters in 306 gear and am getting the set bonus shells. Then there is the optimisation of mods in the meantime. But I fear that there is little reason to do content anymore after that because I'll be done. SM Ops are also ridiculously easy now. DP last boss we got Bestia below 15% so fast it broke the fight because two bosses didn't get to the middle because not all of them had come down yet. SaV's Styrak we burnt through like there's no tomorrow either. And the Dxun op? Haven't done it yet but I guess there's nothing to get there except 306 gear at best? So why do it in HM and NiM?

 

I though originally 306 was going to be the baseline needed for Dxun and that you got better gear there for HM and NiM consecutively. I guess I was wrong but that makes me wonder what the point is.

 

So I'm really wondering what there will be left to do in a month or two since that's about the time I think all my characters will be geared up and doing FPs and Ops will have become essentially pointless.

 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the ride so far but I'm worried that in a month or so that'll be that.