7.0 Follow Up

[ObscureEmpyre]

7.0 is a foundational update to the game. The fundamental refactoring of all abilities and Advanced Classes into Combat Styles, the addition of the long-requested Loadouts feature, and the beginnings of new UI/UX and Itemization constitute the most significant systemic changes made to SWTOR since launch. These are only the first steps toward the ambitious and inspiring vision we have for SWTOR's future. We are excited to continue bringing this vision to life in the ongoing updates and additions coming to the game this year and beyond. More story will be coming including new locations to explore, a PvP revamp, and more visual and modernization improvements are also underway. It was always intended that 7.0 would receive multiple updates in 2022 and beyond to celebrate ten years of SWTOR.

And, this would be why I unsubbed the day after 7.0 launched. As per the usual, you're making the game that you want to make, and not the game that the players want you to make. Have fun with that.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

Weapon skins? I know it was planned, and it seems like a small thing amid all the other fixes, but I have weapons I spent real money on sitting in my inventory with no way to show them off unless I want to continue to use 306 gear.

 

Which is exactly what I am doing. Just like when Ossus first appeared, I am completely ignoring this disaster that is the "Us Four and No More" gearing system of 7.0. I'll just keep using what I already have on, especially given that I have yet to see any green up arrows on any gear, including 320. What a complete waste of time.

[Jesseriah]

Thanks for the update Keith, very appreciated.

 

Theres only one thing I really don't quite understand, and its about combat styles.

It would have been absolutely amazing if we could mix and match skills from 2 classes, instead we can only switch between them. Are there any plans that one day we will be able to mix skills?

[eabevella]

You don't get the meaning wrong. I included this screenshot in my last post and, while I didn't mention it there, I'll say it here: that screenshot was taken on a level 25 character. So it's not just the text saying it, flashpoints no longer have a minimum level requirement.

 

It's a really bad idea, being done to avoid admitting that the rotation system was also a bad idea.

 

I just realized from your screenshot that this week's FP rotation except Athiss are all potential Pug Killers.

Imagine getting anything out of that list that's not Athiss with 3 lv20s lol

[Exly]

SWTOR is a ten year old game that is very dear to all of us, and we look forward to continuing the journey of a series of updates to make the game the best it can be.

 

- Keith

 

 

I used to feel this way, but the foundational changes in 7.0 changed things for me. Also, the game was better before you took a sledgehammer to it, and I am not happy with your vision. It will take a lot of work just to get back to being as good as it was, let alone being the best that it can be.

Edited March 4, 2022 by Exly

[Benbrada]

It's unfortunate that the "Elom Flashpoint when fighting Malgus" issue is a tough one to find. It's blocked me unfortunately and I'm not sure if I wanna auto-level an alt to try it again yet. Being a software developer myself I know how these difficult to reproduce issues suck to fix.

[Morten_Venisse]

Dear Keith,

I hope you're courageous enough to read past the sarcasm and actually be enough of a professional to actually understand and address the points that have been made here (and across the forums since PTS launched so many months ago) by those not simply lauding you for doing something that is your duty and should've been done long ago.

 

What do you mean by "player facing"? Just the bugs (and design fails) that can literally be seen in the graphics or also the broken or atrocious mechanics that players have so far noted by doing your QA for free?#

What are the bulk of these 200+ fixes doing then if so few of them are worth mentioning to us and can even be noticed by us?

 

How is it that your Dev environment is so misconfigured that it doesn't reflect Live? If we're being asked to download a complete install of the game for a new release then why are the Live servers not built (sans dev tools that are not needed for playing the game) to reflect the OS patch and driver levels of the Dev environment? Given you've taken the time to sing your own praises for one bug hunt perhaps you can indulge us with a technical enlightenment about how BW managed to create this incongruency?

 

Why can you not publish a full list of all bugs and their status? You can hide the detail on any exploitables but just showing us know how big of a list would perhaps win you some relief from criticism. (All bugs that are still affecting gameplay with date of first reporting, regardless of when they entered the game since 2012.) Even better show us the order in which they are being addressed.

 

How about picking out all the major contentions raised on the forums and saying what can or will be changed to address them and what won't, perhaps because of the impending plans (you have conceitedly kept secret)?

That would show that you are considering (and have considered) everything that has been raised as a concern by the people paying the people who are paying your salary (and bonus).

 

More than enough time has elapsed since 7.0 landed on PTS for you to be FULLY cogniscant of all the points raised by concerned players, not just the vocal forum ones, have you seen in game chat? The people you have taken more money (and effort) from and paid relatively little goodwill back to despite all the FREE testing so many have done for you.

It is incredibly telling when you only thank above those who fawn over your "artistry" and fail to thank even more profusely those who took and continue to take the trouble to find things, despite all the silent contempt your team has shown, that aren't working right in your incredibly imperfect (not just "slightly" less good than you thought it went in the executive suite).

As the current vernacular goes, "READ THE ROOM".

As long-established best practice for management and success goes, acknowledge what your paying customers are telling you, show you understand all the issues they have raised, explain what you're going to do about it.

Either that or openly admit that you have no intent to engage respectfully and meaningfully with us.

I'm sorry I can't congratulate you on this long overdue communique because you continue to fail to show due respect for the people who have kept this game viable for 10 years.

[Exly]

Thank you for the hard work! Glad you decided to release some note about the release of the expansion and the direction of the fixes. It made me feel safer to renew my subscription.

 

I think that is the point. By giving people hope, they can get them to keep paying subscription fees. I still don't trust them though, and will wait to resub (if I ever do) until they actually make things better.

[Balameb]

We are currently targeting March 22 for 7.0.1

So. Basically you are taking over a month to fix things that should have worked properly since day 1?

[Varindran]

Hope they do a Fix to the character stats in PVP environments. 326 pvp gear is losing a ton of stats in PVP instances. Makes the time we spent gearing up worthless.

[MillionKnive]

While It's nice to finally see some sort of response, I had to re-read this a few times because I was sure I would see some sort of comment about fixing the fact that our cartel weapons (you know, the really expensive items in the cartel store) are sitting collecting dust. Surely you just forgot to add in the bullet note about the weapon outfitter....

[Barnacleboy]

I'm legitimately shocked to finally hear from the devs.

 

Something I noticed most about the complainants about 7.0 were things like bugs and the length of the story, all while most the positive things were like, "oh the music in the new area is nice" or " It looks pretty and well done."

 

But the thing about it is this, if the game play is good the graphics don't matter. Examples being 8 bit speed runners, Mario 64 runners. That alt-f4 game. The 8 bit platformer game that, if you fall you start over. (I forget the name of it right now)

 

Right now, the game play is lackluster. For players that are starting now, sure whatever they don't know what they don't know. But for the rest of us that played all the recent content, played through 6.0 up until 7.0... the game is in a terrible state. literally every class feels bad to play. They are hollow shells of their former selves. The unneeded skill choice dilemma is absurd. The stealth nerfs or removals completely of tacticals is the icing. The horrible idea of implant "legendaries" that are just 3% damage increase or reduction. Really, you should just revert the gear to 6.0 standards if not, then you need to significantly improve the impants. Even when were spend the currency to upgrade the ilvl the bonus stays stagnant. It's poorly thought out and implemented.

 

Something that swtor had done extremely well over the years that other games, including WoW, failed to do was to make every advanced class fun to play. Each time I would start a new class They would become my instant favorite. 7.0 is moving away from this trend. The high octane playstyle of the jugg/guardian was neutered. When from big block v8 to a hybrid. Assassin used to be a bursting machine. Snipers were turrets from hell, locking down any area within reach. Mercs were beasts in objection based pvp. Bioware devs said hold my beer and **** the bed.

 

Then the gearing. pff, forget about it. Devs must have looked at shadowlands and thought, wow that's convoluted.... I can be more convoluted. Who would have thought that an expansion could be worse than shadowlands?

 

I'm not even a fan of star wars. I only bought this all those years ago because the other players I pvp'd with in WoW wanted to check it out. So we all got those original collector's editions. Space wizards are cool and all but I'm not one of these die hard star wars fans. I specifically play because the classes and the pvp maps. Somehow swtor managed to have the most fun maps I've seen. Dude, huttball, best game within a game I've seen. That's because each class brought something to the table. Now that has been removed. That being said, swtor pve even roped me in, most fun I've had raiding was in swtor. Even questing is enjoyable. But the game play now is just killing it.

 

6.0 had me staying up all hours of the night

7.0 gave me back my solid sleep schedule.

[Lyriel]

Secondly, we know that 7.0 was not a smooth transition for some players

Epic understatement is epic. Also, it doesn't seem to have been a smooth transition for you guys, either.

so we have been very busy since launch day resolving issues, minimizing any downtime, while fixing key issues without requiring a game patch. For example, during our first 72 hours, we identified critical bugs such as the issues with keybinding resets, empty gear boxes, and combat styles on characters not displaying properly and we corrected them all.

By "we identified" I think you mean "many, many players reported" - including well before the actual launch of 7.0. It's not like you weren't told, in so many words, about some of these. Though I guess I didn't see anything on PTS about the real cute bug where someone's primary class was switched to one of the opposite faction, stranding them on the opposing fleet with no recourse. You're saying you entirely fixed that one?

 

Oh, and you definitely did not correct them all. Your own list still identifies empty gear boxes of various gear types still to be corrected with the upcoming patch. It's dishonest to make that claim when you put the lie to it a couple of paragraphs later.

<snipped list, etc.>

We are also working on putting together some preliminary PTS Patch Notes together, so everyone playing on PTS will have an understanding of what bugs are fixed. Jackie will post them in these forums once they are available.

That will be good to see. Thank you in advance for at least this much visibility.

We know that progress for some players is being halted in the Elom Flashpoint when fighting Malgus. Since the initial report that has come in, the team has been looking into the bug to understand why players are experiencing it. Here’s a little glimpse under the hood to give you some insight into why a potential fix is being tested on the PTS. <snip>

The information on this bug was great! Thank you. It is nice to get a more complete picture of the problem and some idea of the ways you're trying to address it.

As of this post, this patch will include at least 200+ fixes of varying degrees. The player facing fixes will be reflected in the patch notes. Because we are implementing all of these fixes in one push, we want to ensure the necessary time is allocated to test them all to quality. We are currently targeting March 22 for 7.0.1, but we will update you all with a confirmed date as we get closer.

I am guessing there is a one-to-many ratio of things on the Known Issue list to what you internally classify as a bug, since there are only 85 bullet items on the current Known Issue list. If that's the case, it might be helpful to give us that information (at least for the player-facing ones) so we can understand the relationship between the list and what is being tested/fixed.

 

I question why all the fixes are going to be pushed in a single push. Some of these issues are literally game-breaking for your customers (e.g., the Ryzen fix). Why are those not a higher priority to get tested and pushed ASAP? And there are of course the risks of pushing so many things at once, again - a lesson you should've learned from 7.0's launch if not long before. It's not that I begrudge time to test the fixes 'to quality' (though I reserve the right to question your definition of that in light of the supposed testing that already went into 7.0...). Obviously everyone wants fixes that actually fix issues. It's just that some bugs are more impactful than others, and this approach does not acknowledge that.

7.0 is a foundational update to the game. The fundamental refactoring of all abilities and Advanced Classes into Combat Styles, the addition of the long-requested Loadouts feature, and the beginnings of new UI/UX and Itemization constitute the most significant systemic changes made to SWTOR since launch. These are only the first steps toward the ambitious and inspiring vision we have for SWTOR's future. We are excited to continue bringing this vision to life in the ongoing updates and additions coming to the game this year and beyond. More story will be coming including new locations to explore, a PvP revamp, and more visual and modernization improvements are also underway. It was always intended that 7.0 would receive multiple updates in 2022 and beyond to celebrate ten years of SWTOR.

Ah, there it is. The expected double-down.

 

No mention of any feedback regarding these fundamental systemic changes being taken into account, or even acknowledged. Message received - you couldn't care less about even considering how your paying customers might view them.

 

And yes, we knew you were planning updates throughout the year. It's the same with every expansion, honestly. But the absolute paucity of content delivered in 7.0 or on the near horizon (since 7.1 is primarily delivering things originally promised with 7.0 in the July Livestream announcement) is depressing. It doesn't feel very celebratory to have less content as part of the anniversary than in the last expansion, or to wait until several months after the anniversary itself to get even that, much less wait until after the 'yearlong' celebration window is over. I mean, the anniversary was in December 2021. Going past 2022 is so disconnected from that date that trying to tie to it is ... lackluster, to be charitable.

 

Not only does the launch of Legacy of the Sith begin the journey into updating the game, but this update also opens the doors to new players who have never experienced SWTOR before. 7.0 is meant to invite new players to the game while also bringing new experiences to returning and veteran players.

Obviously we don't have your numbers on new players. But I can tell you personally as a veteran player the new epxeriences you have brought me have not been enjoyable. I do not enjoy the new UI. I do not enjoy the limitations on content available every week. And I really, really do not enjoy that the little bit of new content we can experience is so bug-ridden. Falling through the world every ten minutes, for example, does not make a Flashpoint a good experience.

SWTOR is a ten year old game that is very dear to all of us, and we look forward to continuing the journey of a series of updates to make the game the best it can be.

 

- Keith

 

A 'journey of a series of updates' has to be one of the saddest (and sadly accurate) ways to characterize playing this game.

[Choloe]

during our first 72 hours, we identified critical bugs such as the issues with keybinding resets, empty gear boxes, and combat styles on characters not displaying properly and we corrected them all.

 

I've reported that keybindings and quick bars after swapping Combat Styles is still broken to all ****.

 

No matter how many times I save a Loadout, the quick bars blow up to something I have to manually reset, and my Discipline almost always resets. I've submitted a bug report, but this makes the new Combat Style(s) useless.

 

So, was that supposed to be fixed in the quote above??

Edited March 4, 2022 by Choloe

[Galbsadi]

For example, during our first 72 hours, we identified critical bugs such as the issues with keybinding resets, empty gear boxes, and combat styles on characters not displaying properly and we corrected them all.

 

No you didn't. People are still having empty gear boxes in all content to this day.

[Exly]

So. Basically you are taking over a month to fix things that should have worked properly since day 1?

 

Exactly. According to an earlier dev post, the standards for product release has 4 levels. 7.0 launched with a mix that met levels 1, 2 and 3. This expansion should never have been released in its current state based on their own stated standards. So many know issues. Even after they make their 200 fixes, they will still have a lot of work to do to make things ready to meet their level 1 standard.

 

LEVEL 1. Content is complete and shippable

LEVEL 2. Playable/functional. May have known issues and bugs.

LEVEL 3. Partially available. Likely to see WIP markers or placeholder UI where applicable, etc...

LEVEL 4. Not available to be tested

[Choloe]

Weapon skins? I know it was planned, and it seems like a small thing amid all the other fixes, but I have weapons I spent real money on sitting in my inventory with no way to show them off unless I want to continue to use 306 gear.

 

They've already answered this - it's coming in 7.1 - When is 7.1? That's a completely different question with no answer to it at this point.

[Sarova]

I think that is the point. By giving people hope, they can get them to keep paying subscription fees. I still don't trust them though, and will wait to resub (if I ever do) until they actually make things better.

Exactly this (see the quote in my signature).

As for all of this:

Hello SWTOR Community,

 

I wanted to offer some insight about what's been happening since the release of our expansion on February 15th. First of all, thanks to all the players who have shown Legacy of the Sith and our new cinematic trailer a lot of love. Many teams came together and worked very hard to make both possible. A small handful of us were able to spend launch week in an in-person ops room. Watching players react to the trailer and then start pouring into the servers will remain a fun memory for me.

 

Secondly, we know that 7.0 was not a smooth transition for some players, so we have been very busy since launch day resolving issues, minimizing any downtime, while fixing key issues without requiring a game patch. For example, during our first 72 hours, we identified critical bugs such as the issues with keybinding resets, empty gear boxes, and combat styles on characters not displaying properly and we corrected them all.

 

Since those initial fixes went out, the team has been reading reports and feedback coming in and making additional adjustments; at this point, further changes will require a full patch. In this upcoming patch, which we are labeling as 7.0.1, you can expect the below changes and much more to be included. Here are some of the most reported bugs we will be fixing in 7.0.1:

 

• Adjusted contrast in inventory screen
  
• Rakata Med-Tech’s weapons and offhands can now be upgraded at the Operations Gear Upgrade vendor, as intended
  
• Rakata Force-Lord’s weapons can now be upgraded, as intended
  
• The Category Filter in the Ability window is now showing all the categories. The Vehicles category now appears when the list is opened
  
• The following now contain loot: Tionese Requisition Cache, Noble Decurion Chest, World Boss Equipment Crate
  
• The Decurion Gear Containers and Decurion Gear caches now contain gear for all combat styles/disciplines
  
• Unifying colors on individual armor pieces is now correctly saved when leaving the outfitter window
  
• Galactic Seasons Reward Level 67 for Subscribers now correctly grants the “Sliced Cybernetic Visual Enhancement Implants” Legendary Companion gift for Fen Zeil, as intended
  
• Fixed an issue preventing players with Ryzen HS processors from viewing the list of available servers
  
• Companions and invited NPCs no longer despawn during the Graul boss fight in Secrets of the Enclave
  
• Veteran Mode Flashpoints in Group Finder can now be queued by all players at level 15+. Story Mode Operations in Group Finder can now only be queued by players level 80, as intended
  

 

Players can currently preview many of these changes on our Public Test Server (PTS) that was opened earlier this week. We are also working on putting together some preliminary PTS Patch Notes together, so everyone playing on PTS will have an understanding of what bugs are fixed. Jackie will post them in these forums once they are available.

 

We know that progress for some players is being halted in the Elom Flashpoint when fighting Malgus. Since the initial report that has come in, the team has been looking into the bug to understand why players are experiencing it. Here’s a little glimpse under the hood to give you some insight into why a potential fix is being tested on the PTS.

 

We have experienced this bug when playing on our live characters, however, this bug does not present itself on our development servers. Reproducing a bug on development servers is step one in resolving any issue as it allows us to dig deeper into the source of the problems.

 

The biggest offender of this issue is when Malgus is pulling or pushing the player. This creates one of two possibilities: something in the game is causing the player to take a substantial, unintended spike of damage which kills them, or the movement of their character is causing them to hit something we call a “death volume”. This is a space built into all environments that if a player enters, kills them instantly. In this case, this area is used as a mechanism to ensure players don’t ever get stuck in the environment. We have done explorations of the death volumes, combat triggers, the ballistics on Malgus’s attacks, and none of these appears to be the culprit. The bug remains so our hunt for a fix continues. As this issue only wants to rear its ugly head on live servers, we have made a couple of tweaks, most notably to death volumes, which you can help us test right now on PTS!

 

As of this post, this patch will include at least 200+ fixes of varying degrees. The player facing fixes will be reflected in the patch notes. Because we are implementing all of these fixes in one push, we want to ensure the necessary time is allocated to test them all to quality. We are currently targeting March 22 for 7.0.1, but we will update you all with a confirmed date as we get closer.

 

7.0 is a foundational update to the game. The fundamental refactoring of all abilities and Advanced Classes into Combat Styles, the addition of the long-requested Loadouts feature, and the beginnings of new UI/UX and Itemization constitute the most significant systemic changes made to SWTOR since launch. These are only the first steps toward the ambitious and inspiring vision we have for SWTOR's future. We are excited to continue bringing this vision to life in the ongoing updates and additions coming to the game this year and beyond. More story will be coming including new locations to explore, a PvP revamp, and more visual and modernization improvements are also underway. It was always intended that 7.0 would receive multiple updates in 2022 and beyond to celebrate ten years of SWTOR.

 

Not only does the launch of Legacy of the Sith begin the journey into updating the game, but this update also opens the doors to new players who have never experienced SWTOR before. 7.0 is meant to invite new players to the game while also bringing new experiences to returning and veteran players.

 

SWTOR is a ten year old game that is very dear to all of us, and we look forward to continuing the journey of a series of updates to make the game the best it can be.

 

- Keith

 

All it does is reinforce what many of us have been saying about the focus on new players rather than offering veteran players anything much that will hold our interest along with making obtaining gear a job grind. Didn't wow make this mistake too? It also hints at what some of us thought about story (which I'm guessing will be 2-3 hours of non-story stretched out over the entire year). And there's not one mention of the weapons outfitter slot failure and our wasted CM money. As for 200+ fixes? I want to see EVERY. SINGLE. ONE listed please (I bet neither early Koth's crew on the gravestone or lack of companion customisations in their Iokath returns are in the fix list). It would have been good if there had been acknowledgement that most of the bugs/breaks/issues were fed back via the PTS long before 7.0 launched. The fact that many of us put a lot of time & effort into doing the things that were asked of us on the PTS and ensuring our feedback was as constructive as we could make BUT it was all ignored/dismissed really grates on me. It also reinforces for me that they are only interested in positive feedback/cheerleader posts so they have no real idea what people are upset about in 7.0. Finally, for people who have been saving their affected crates due to the no loot issue, will loot be retrospectively added to those saved crates? I was asked this the other day and had no answer.

 

Edit: Re; the weapons outfitter. I checked to see if they said it was definitely coming with 7.1 or whether they were aiming for it to be in 7.1. Looks like it's definite according to this post.

When is 7.1? That's a completely different question with no answer to it at this point.

I'm calling July/August and hoping I'm way too late. No-one wants me adding "told you so" to my signature!

Edited March 4, 2022 by Sarova

[griffenberg]

I read your post and it has cemented everything in my mind

 

10 years as a sub since day 1 of early access

6 months as a beta tested prior to launch

 

When I get home from work tonight I will be cancelling my sub

 

Congratulations your "ambitious and inspiring vision" will kill this game dead

[khamseen_air]

They're just waiting until 4:55PM on Friday so they don't have to actually read any of the replies.

I really couldn't have predicted this any better.

 

Frankly, this is a lacklustre response to the on-going issues. Making us wait yet another three weeks (at least since you say it's only a target) is just beyond the pale.

[Rujopetteri]

Just one question: Since the horrific UI changes currently on live physically prevent me and many others from playing the game due to giving us headaches, migraines and/or motion sickness type effects but you plan to implement the fix nearly a month from now, are you going to reimburse the month and a half of paid playtime we're losing because of this?

[mirrordances]

[*]Adjusted contrast in inventory screen

 

The inventory screen is indeed terrible and needs fixing, but this is an extremely underwhelming item on your list.

 

How about a (very overdue) major update/revision to the Interface Editor? Including extremely basic options like control of text size and color in areas other than chat, a dark-on-light option at the very least for those of us whose eyes scream at the default color scheme (which is even worse since 7.0), an inventory without huge amounts of wasted space in between slots (causing constant misclicks), the option to control how many slots per row/column in the inventory (I loathe the change to 8-per-row and want to change it back), and many other suggestions you could easily crowdsource.

 

I'm a subscriber. I've been playing SWTOR for 7 years and I don't want to stop. But I feel like these terrible interface changes, with NO improvement in customization, are a slap in the face. Almost literally - they make my eyes sting and burn while I'm trying to play! The game as it is now is in fact, no hyperbole, headache-inducing.

 

(The forums are terrible too but I don't often venture here and can at least use my zap colors script to make it readable. There's no way to make the GTN or in-game text on windows like, ironically, Customer Service, readable without strain.)

 

Mirrordances

[MaximusRex]

Keith, thanks for the update, but these are unacceptable excuses for an unacceptable expansion that PTS testers told you was unacceptable.

 

PTS asked for another build to test before 7.0 went live and Jackie said there wouldn't be one.

 

We were told that 7.1 would be out quickly, especially important because cosmetic weapons and the repeatable content that a MMO expansion is supposed to have are in that patch. Now we are told the first bug patch won't be out until 7.0 is over a month old, and no launch date in sight for 7.1. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

What are you doing to address the terrible new convoluted disposable gear system? It is confusing as heck how to gear, PvP/GSF rewards are too good compared to PvE rewards for gearing, and you have gear for such a short amount of time it is cost prohibitive to augment it. What are you doing to address these issues?

 

Class revamps have stripped us of key abilities, iconic Star Wars force abilities like Push, Pull, and Choke, and placed other abilities into a group of choices where there aren't any real choices. My Immortal Jugg has had any movement speed boost that he had control over replaced with Rule of Two which requires my guarded target to get hit when I need a speed boost. And I can't just take Mad Dash because Saber Reflect is a must have as a tank. Chilling Scream/Piercing Chill could have been left and helped with the speed boost and Immortals poor AOE aggro control, but you removed that as well. What are you doing to address class issues?

 

You don't even mention the server performance that was always terrible and is now abysmal. Ops bosses won't move properly, abilities won't fire off but still activate the global cool down, desync is rampant. What are you doing to fix that?

 

If you can't figure out why Malgus is unpassable on live, why haven't you turned off the offending abilities until a fix is found so that we can complete the 20 minutes of story that you interspersed with mob grinding?

 

Level scaling and companion scaling are also very bad currently, and not mentioned. I am working on Manaan today on my Medicine Operative. It was fine when I started, but now I am 78 and am struggling to kill a gold with Anri as DPS. I have seen even low levels say that leveling and companions are much more grindy than before. What are you doing to address that?

 

Limiting what weeklies are available has been a terrible experience so far. Last week our casual alts ops group had no Story Mode Ops content we could complete and get a weekly reward chest. This week's Galactic Seasons event is Seat of the Empire, which somehow doesn't include Korriban and Droumund Kaas, but also the only weekly available was Taris. Taris took forever to complete because everyone was doing it in the middle of the day and I had to wait forever for respawn of mobs and clickable items. I could have done a planet not on the weekly that was on the objective, but I need the tokens from the weekly and don't like to waste my time. I can't imagine how terrible it would be during prime time. What are you doing to address these problems?

 

Where is the content? This is supposed to be an expansion, but there is barely more content than any of the recent content patches, and most of it is annoying and broken. Manaan besides having a story with the depth of a puddle is more a mob grinder than a story anyhow. I see you and others try to excuse it as there will be more content patches over the year. Well, that is what a MMO is supposed to do and doesn't make up for the expansion not having any content itself. You owe us hours and hours of story content that should have dropped with 7.0. Where is it and what are you going to do about it?

 

I have subbed to and played this game since pre-launch, and this is the worst and most disappointing shape the game has been in, with no light at the end of the tunnel. I have also been playing MMOs almost 20 years and this is the worse expansion I have ever seen by far. I have barely been logging in when normally after an expansion I would be playing like crazy. Playing any content right now is aggravating, be it bugs or terrible server performance, you don't know if your time will be rewarded or wasted. There isn't any new to do or explore. I want to know what BioWare intends to do to fix it.

[KeithKanneg]

Hello Keith, I appreciate the update as well as the breakdown of your investigation as to why Malgus' relentless assault seems to kill us. While its very unfortunate it hasn't been fixed yet its good to know a lot of effort went into investing why it happens, multiple avenues were attempted in order to try to find the reason and hopefully the adjustments made into these death zones help solve the issue. I shall test it myself later in the PTS.

 

I agree about wanting to have it already fixed, but I also know we haven't stopped trying to replicate it so we can get it resolved. We have tons of data, but if there's any additional clues you can send us, or possibly a video of your particular encounter, that will help. I am truly sorry it's taking so long to get this and many other changes released. Thank you for your and everyone's help on our Public Test Server.

 

[casirabit]

Keith,

I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and guess you mean well but changing how we can do weeklies was wrong. I do not like being "shoehorned" into a particular weekly just because they are on the rotation for the week. I prefer to pick and choose the ones I like and the last time I tried that I got very little for doing it that way because it wasn't on the rotation. Sorry, not sorry if this is the way you want to run the game, fine but don't expect everyone to like it. I am already down to playing maybe once a week and unless there is some sort of change to encourage me to play like I used to, I don't see that changing, except my sub.

Edited March 4, 2022 by casirabit