Varied PTS thoughts

[Alteri]

Played a Sith Sorcerer under the Warrior line. Made it to the end of chapter three so as to try the secondary combat style.

 

I had only made Dark IV so I was bound to the sith side. (It is my current understanding that you need to have Dark/Light V in order to switch sides for your secondary?) This had me thinking. There has never been a benefit for being 'gray' - although years ago I'm sure I recall someone saying there would be. I think now is the perfect chance. If you are able to stay below 2.5 on the morality meter, you have proven yourself to be pragmatic and open to alternative solutions other than strictly Light/Dark side defaults. Staying in the gray area could be the perfect reward for those that aren't 'fully committed' to being either completely good or evil and would make more sense for them to dabble in the other sides ways. This is my primary thought I wanted conveyed.

 

Going forward, I have a concern about economics and new players. While being a veteran MMO usually means you have a stable player base, with the changes being offered in 7.0 it is conceivable that new players might join, and I do mean new - not the friend that finally came over type, but the ones that have never played before. Charging credits for primary bag space seems prejudicial to new players. Also for them, getting well geared by the end of chapter 3 may have taken all their resources, but if they select a secondary that doesn't mimic their primary in equipment requirements, they'll run the additional expense of collecting and modding a second set of gear. That gets pricey! I just hope thought is given to how 7.0 will impact the truly new player.

 

Also, the removal of the light/dark toggle... If it were left solely to the dialog options to alter your standing, I would gladly accept that. However, anyone with the diplomacy crew skill will still be able to increase or modify their faction. Why go back to the past while advancing to the future? Give everyone a shot at manipulating their standing!

 

Otherwise, there were aspects that I encountered, but mostly they were already tabled so I won't drone on. I just really hope someone, somewhere, looks at this first bit and mulls it over.

[Sikssix]

Played a Sith Sorcerer under the Warrior line. Made it to the end of chapter three so as to try the secondary combat style.

 

I had only made Dark IV so I was bound to the sith side. (It is my current understanding that you need to have Dark/Light V in order to switch sides for your secondary?) This had me thinking. There has never been a benefit for being 'gray' - although years ago I'm sure I recall someone saying there would be. I think now is the perfect chance. If you are able to stay below 2.5 on the morality meter, you have proven yourself to be pragmatic and open to alternative solutions other than strictly Light/Dark side defaults. Staying in the gray area could be the perfect reward for those that aren't 'fully committed' to being either completely good or evil and would make more sense for them to dabble in the other sides ways. This is my primary thought I wanted conveyed.

 

Going forward, I have a concern about economics and new players. While being a veteran MMO usually means you have a stable player base, with the changes being offered in 7.0 it is conceivable that new players might join, and I do mean new - not the friend that finally came over type, but the ones that have never played before. Charging credits for primary bag space seems prejudicial to new players. Also for them, getting well geared by the end of chapter 3 may have taken all their resources, but if they select a secondary that doesn't mimic their primary in equipment requirements, they'll run the additional expense of collecting and modding a second set of gear. That gets pricey! I just hope thought is given to how 7.0 will impact the truly new player.

 

Also, the removal of the light/dark toggle... If it were left solely to the dialog options to alter your standing, I would gladly accept that. However, anyone with the diplomacy crew skill will still be able to increase or modify their faction. Why go back to the past while advancing to the future? Give everyone a shot at manipulating their standing!

 

Otherwise, there were aspects that I encountered, but mostly they were already tabled so I won't drone on. I just really hope someone, somewhere, looks at this first bit and mulls it over.

 

This is interesting. I believe that would benefit those who want to be neutral. However I think it would be tricky because what about those who are trying to obtain full light or dark? Would they benefitting from the gray when they are trying obtain full sides and what not. I do like that idea and I believe it should be some how implemented.

 

As for the economics and new players I am a bit concerned. Especially the new player ordeal. If you want new players onto the servers, there needs to be some form of tutorial to show people what to watch for and play for, while there is a button to click on for this tutorial, I believe they could've done a much better job, then again I like it when some new players ask for assistance on what to watch out for, I simply like helping.

 

Dark/light toggling on dialog or conversations, I believe that would be a bit much for BW to do considering you would have to write all new dialog as well as hire the VAs and also to make sure the conversations flow well.

 

I believe this input is valuable and should be looked into well.

[Pricia]

I'm confused about your "getting well geared by the end of chapter 3" comment. There's absolutely no reason to spend any money on gear in the game. Also, with adaptive gear, the only thing that a player would have to buy is weapons for their secondary combat style.

 

But yeah, getting credits is going to be harder now with the removal of credit rewards from conquest.

[Alteri]

Thank you for your considerations - In regards to those that want to go fully Light/Dark, there are already benefits in place. Light/Dark side vendors have had items with morality requirements for quite some time, but as far as I'm aware (and I could be wrong) there have never been items for upper level players without morality requirements, for purchase. It had always been (again, as far as I'm aware) Light/Dark requirements that have scaled with the level of the item. So, for instance, if it was a level 65ish item, it might require Light/Dark IV to equip. I have plenty of characters that are at level cap that are still 'neutral' plus or minus a thousand on either side. Clearly, not the end of the world, I have items in all their slots, but BioWare being so dialog driven, why not provide an opportunity to those that defy convention?

 

As for ways to spend credits, woah - I'll be the first to admit, I am both an alt-aholic and a fashion whore. Not only do my characters have to look nice, I want plenty of them. With that in mind, I can afford to equip and outfit my roster. But for a new player... There should never be a expectation on basic game play. Let the player pick and choose how successful or driven they are. I don't normally get too involved with Ops content and accept that I'll never get the drops that come of it, but even casual PvP and heroic +2 / +4 content will require a reasonable investment into your characters equipment. Meanwhile, if that new player decided to take a finished product craft? Also, earlier, I asked if anyone still did 'social runs'. I have an end game sith that's never really 'mingled' and was thinking I might raise my social meter. Sadly, nobody was interested. While it's conceivably soloable for a new player with a companion and a bot - that offers no social reward. Lastly, this is complicated by the fact that as a truly new player, you won't necessarily know you are given most of what you need.

 

Understand, I'm not asking for give-aways, or freebies or what have you. I want people that come to SW:TOR for the first time, without patrons, to still feel like they can be successful, useful, and enjoy themselves. As long time players, I can be easy to forget the current state of the game, of chat, and of how helpful others might be. Let's give them every chance we had when we started, and then some!

 

BioWare has already one-upped Darkpaw by delaying 7.0 until it worked. They're ahead of Amazon (even ten years in) in so many ways, but I think with this new expac - they can take it even further! Maybe it's too late to alter the trajectory, but if they at least considered some of what not just I, but other play testers have said, I think we'll have at least another 10 years of fun to look forward to!