7.0 Follow Up

[robwettengel]

The problem with the "vision" is that it lacks consistency. I had believed that 6.0 was THE gearing vision and that the gearing system was never going to be touched again because it was such a departure from gearing previously. I was under the impression that subsequent xpacs would just see new gear tiers being put into the game. Two years later, the "vision" has become the opposite of 6.0.

 

Is this all being done because you are chasing after how game company Q runs its MMO on the Team's own initiative? Or is it because other BW producers suggested it--in some all-hands meeting--and it caught on in the minds of one or more of your superiors who mandated a portion or all of these changes? Or was it an EA meeting? I'm just really curious as to the impetus for these changes because it is such a radical departure from 6.0.

 

We go from gear raining down from the sky to XP raining down from the sky. Advancing five levels for the pittance of story content we received strikes me as a joke. The gained levels are not at all commensurate with the amount of effort that went into them. If this is the future of leveling; then leveling is fundamentally broken.

 

The stat cap is ludicrous. Higher irating should ALWAYS = kill stuff faster.

[BishopSMASH]

Let me get this straight. You think the people who enjoyed 6.x gearing are responsible for 7.0 gearing? Are you suggesting 7.0 gearing was designed as a punishment for solo and casual players enjoying access to good gear for playing the content they enjoy, and that the raiders who resented not having exclusive gear for their preferred content had nothing to do with it?

 

Your inferences are not really clear, at least to me. People who enjoyed the 6.0 gearing system are not mutually exclusive from any other kind of player. Raiders, soloers, casual players, and so on, all had their gripes and their praises for the system. Personally, I enjoyed 6.0's system as it gave me a ton of different sets to play around with in raids, as well as the tactical system being new. I know many raiders who also enjoyed 6.0's system. How are solo and casual players punished now, but weren't in 6.0, by the gearing system?

Edited March 6, 2022 by BishopSMASH

[Exly]

I keep seeing the argument that the only people that should be able to obtain good gear are the people that need it to do the content that they like to do. I think that argument is completely missing the point.

 

People do not live their lives just to get out of it only what they need. People like things like good food, nice clothes, nice cars and houses. So, in real life they don't only buy the most basic version of those things. The buy the best that they can afford when they want to.

 

Who am I to say that someone who likes fine wines shouldn't drink what they like? I mean water is all that they need to drink to survive after all.

 

Arguing that people who are playing a game don't need something is ridiculous in my opinion. You might as well argue that they shouldn't be allowed to play the game since it isn't something that is necessary in order for them to survive.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Exly

[BishopSMASH]

I keep seeing the argument that the only people that should be able to obtain good gear are the people that need it to do the content that they like to do. I think that argument is completely missing the point.

 

People do not live their lives just to get out of it only what they need. People like things like good food, nice clothes, nice cars and houses. So, in real life they don't only buy the most basic version of those things. The buy the best that they can afford when they want to.

 

Who am I to say that someone who likes fine wines shouldn't drink what they like? I mean water is all that they need to drink to survive after all.

 

Arguing that people who are playing a game don't need something is ridiculous in my opinion. You might as well argue that they shouldn't be allowed to play the game since it isn't something that is necessary in order for them to survive.

 

Where else do you "continue to see" that argument besides from me? And to that end, I'd point you to my response to you on page 21, specifically the first paragraph. I'm not really arguing that it should be that way. Is it my preference? Yes. But I'm not arrogant enough to think it's my way or the highway, and I'm not pursuing that line of reasoning.

[Loopita]

The scaling situation is a lot worse than I expected. This plus the broken companions just makes solo/conquest/story content a lot less enjoyable than it used to be.

 

Stats in Fleet:

Acc: 110.06%

Crit: 36.59%

Alac: 7.42%

 

Stats in Tatooine:

Acc: 115.65%

Crit: 27.97%

Alac: 2.35%

 

Change:

Acc: Gain 5.59%

Crit: Lose 8.62%

Alac: Lose 5.07%

 

Screenshots here:

https://imgur.com/ZbgPjPf.jpg

 

Absolutely brutal.

 

We are getting MASSIVELY NERFED now when scaling down.

 

Probably similar things are happening to companions.

 

FULL DETAILS HERE:

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=1003396

 

this has got to be fixed our im out. We shouldn't be nerfed into oblivion when scaled down in a lower level zone. It's like the gear we have and influence levels our companions have do not even matter. It's crazy.

[robwettengel]

Keith,

 

For years now, the Team has been making old content relevant again via level-scaling (to fetch Alliance Crates initially) and now by adjusting damage outputs and presence. You're very much thinking inside the box to give something for level 80s to do. I want you to think a bit bigger. Think of repackaging content, so it is recycled in a new way for the player.

 

Would it be possible to take all of the bosses from Prologue-Echoes of Oblivion and throw them all into something like the Eternal Championship? This would all take place via the Force transferring the PC to some sort of "Force area" where we would face these dead bosses--sequentially. Vemrin, Zash, Hunter, the original Havok Squad, Lord Draahg, Baras, Vaylin, Arkan, Vitiate, Tenebrae, Valkorion, General Rakton, Lord Paladius, Kilran, etc. A legacy that has Legendary status would have all this "Force Championship" unlocked at level 80; and be able to go through each of these fights on all Level 80 toons. Metrics for bragging rights and rewards could include tracking the total number of bosses defeated and the amount of time it took to defeat each; and include additional chronological stats like the average and median amounts of time per fight. New attacks for the Vanilla bosses would likely need to be devised.

 

EDIT: The player could decide which origin story's adversaries to face each time and whether or not the order in which they appear should be randomized. There could be daily, weeklies and perhaps even monthlies established around this concept.

Edited March 7, 2022 by robwettengel

[JianSarys]

Just finished Guild Wars 2 expansion that came out on the 28th of Feb. I recorded the story parts. 5 hours worth of dialogue, and much that I missed. THAT is what you can an expansion. Not sure why in SWTOR, one of my favorite games, we get this horsehockey excuse called expansion. You guys are lower than Hutta Ghetto atm. Actually you have been going downhill since 6.0, but this is inexcusable.

[Nuffmeister]

 

*Snip*

 

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.

 

- Keith

 

 

Sorry if I missed it, but what exactly is the "Vision™". The things you say are upcoming look pretty good, but what is the overal Vision™ for the game and who does it include? Is it more content for all playstyles to work towards an end game or is this like Anthem 2.0 which is just something to say to keep people subscribing?

 

Not trying to be hostile here, for once i'm trying to be optimistic, but I have no idea where you want to take the game.

[robwettengel]

Sorry if I missed it, but what exactly is the "Vision™". The things you say are upcoming look pretty good, but what is the overal Vision™ for the game and who does it include? Is it more content for all playstyles to work towards an end game or is this like Anthem 2.0 which is just something to say to keep people subscribing?

 

Not trying to be hostile here, for once i'm trying to be optimistic, but I have no idea where you want to take the game.

 

The "Vision" appears to radically change from xpac to xpac, which doesn't make it much of a consistent philosophy over time. This is may be caused by chasing industry trends or input from outsiders--other people at BW (from colleagues and superiors) and/or from EA. The pandemic could also be to blame. Maybe in order to keep the Team together--remember some of these folks have been coworkers for 12 years at least--they decided to do all this redesigning so they could point to more tangible work product to justify the essential nature of their individual and collective jobs and the "vision" stuff is just cover.

[Exly]

Where else do you "continue to see" that argument besides from me? And to that end, I'd point you to my response to you on page 21, specifically the first paragraph. I'm not really arguing that it should be that way. Is it my preference? Yes. But I'm not arrogant enough to think it's my way or the highway, and I'm not pursuing that line of reasoning.

 

I don't normally even notice who authors most of the posts that I read, and I'm not up for a homework assignment to go back though all of the post in all of the threads that I have read, or to document every time I see some online chat about this subject. So please know that at least in this case I am not making my posts about anyone in particular, and I'm only trying to address the ideas expressed.

 

I get it that you have a different stated preference than mine (if I read the above post correctly), and I feel that if that preference is the only one expressed, that it will embolden the decision makers, and that could lead more decisions like this to be made in the future. That's why it is important to me to make my posts, and to make my position known.

[Totemdancer]

The "Vision" appears to radically change from xpac to xpac,

 

It would appear that a blind person who can’t hear or feel, has as much “Vision” as the leaders of this swtor team. Except the blind person’s “Vision” is kept in a vacuum, that we will never be able to see or hear what they hear and or feel what they feel because they can’t communicate it to us.

 

The difference is Bioware has the tools to communicate and they choose not to. They use spin and marketing jargon and double down on poor decisions instead of expressing their “Vision” in real communication or finding out if the players can adequately experience their “Vision”.

 

That is what the problem is and why they are failing. This team hasn’t learnt how to communicate it properly and just when staff do learn, they leave or get promoted to a different team and the process has to start all over again (and I don’t mean JackieKo). It’s why we feel like we’re on this merry go round of old mistakes being rehashed all the time.

 

It’s the team leaders who need to learn to communicate their “vision” to the players and to learn to understand if that “vision” is something the players want, like or will hate. They live in a vacuum of their own ideas and egos and the players be damned. They don’t care about or respect the players at all.

 

At least the Blind person in my opening paragraph has a reason for not being able to communicate, Bioware doesn’t. This game will never replenish the players it has lost over the years. It’s an old game that has old technology behind it. EA and Bioware aren’t willing to invest the funds to upgrade the engine or redevelop the game so it runs properly. They will never get the influx of new players they are hoping for and they should except that.

 

Instead Bioware should be trying to accommodate their existing player base and making the game the best it can be for the majority of those players. With as much story, content and QOL improvements that they can afford. Which would actually bring back older players and some newer players. Instead of this extreme risk taking type of development that drives players away in the hope they get new players. It never works and we always end up with less players each time they do it.

 

Even us die hard players who’ve been loyal subscribers for 10 years have finally had enough of it. When your biggest fans and loyalists start leaving and telling you you’re wrong, you know you’re doing the wrong thing.

 

Keith, Chris or anyone at EA or Bioware still reading this, I’ll leave you with a segment of and interview and quote from Elon Musk:

 

Elon Musk strongly values feedback, positive or negative.

 

In the interview, he was quoted to have said, “really pay attention to negative feedback and solicit it… Hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.”

 

There are just too many reasons why you should prioritize feedback as a leader. This can range from helping to boost transparency, create a clearer picture, conduct performance evaluations to make improvements.

https://aboutleaders.com/elon-musk-leadership-style-13-strategies-for-excellence/

 

So Bioware, use our negative feedback and turn it into a positive to make the game better for the players. Don’t ignore it and only listen to the positives because you’ll miss the bigger picture and continue to lose players .

Edited March 7, 2022 by Totemdancer

[Ghost_Spectre]

Hello SWTOR Community, I wanted to offer some insight about what's been happening since the release of our expansion on February 15th.

 

I must say, now that I've had a few days to mull this over, your post is nothing more than damage control. And you've failed miserably in doing that. You are sticking to this no matter what happens to your player base or the monetary cost that it is already hitting you with. Since 7.0 dropped, in 20 days, you've lost 44% of the Steam players that stopped playing the game. How many of those were subscribers? Probably all of them since being subbed to this game was required to play 7.0. That's roughly $126,000/month. How does it look from the PC platform? I bet it's more.

 

You show up 20 days later to "offer your insight," I should say, from some hidden place, to address us now? I know you have the metrics telling you how many people have unsubbed. Coupled with Steam, I believe you've lost a large percentage of your long term monetary income. Your CM, which you've sabotaged with this update, will not staunch the monetary bleeding you're experiencing.

 

7.0 is a failed update, your damage control post here, has failed, spectacularly so. To make matters worse, your direct competitor, FFXIV, will be releasing brand new content in Mid-April with all new MSQ, side quests, dungeons, Raids, and much, much more. They know to keep their player base satisfied. BW has operated the exact same way since 4.0. I call it Trickle down content release. It took you 2 years to give us an 7.0 you call an expansion? It's anything but an expansion. It's a contraction if anything.

 

It's time to face reality. Your attempt to force your vision (nightmare) on us by fundamentally altering the game, it's mechanics, and the very foundation this game was designed with, is a failure, obscenely so.

 

I'm sure EA is watching very attentively. I'm sure they'll pull the same stunt with y'all as they did with the original crew when they released Update 1.2. That which ultimately lead to 80% or more of the original crew being let go.

 

It's time to admit this "venture" failed. To salvage it, one would surmise that you revert back to the last version of 6.0. Keep the Legacy of the Sith, Combat Styles too. But the mechanics, skills, modable gear, and the rest must be reverted back to. You don't want renown in the game? Turn it off. You don't want any FPs being farmed? Limit them to 3 a day per character. Return Conquest to what it was, but leave the 100k CXP. Open it back up, do away with "bound to legacy" trap you have so each alt a player has can utilize conquest to its fullest. You don't want money or xp being awarded? Turn them off.

 

This is how it should've been done from the outset. However, you not only changed the dressing, you replaced the plumbing with something so complicated it affected every aspect of the game because of Alpha version Hero Engine that is looks like spaghetti code. Minor tweaks were required to make changes. Y'all took a freaking wrecking ball to clear it all away, replacing with something that looks like an apprentice low level coder and artist student designed and put through.

 

Right now, I can tell you with assurances, that for everyone one unsatisfied, upset, enraged, and disappointed customer are telling 16 people of just how bad things are for SWTOR. And with each individual they tell, will in turn tell 16 people. This will gone on exponentially and it will be embellished with person repeating it. This is what happens when a customer believes they've been screwed over a product they've loved and their loyalty trampled on, all for a Future Vision that turned into a nightmare.

 

Mind you, a customer who is satisfied, only tells 8 people and because it's not an outlandish tale, it dies between the second and third group. Bad PR burns bright and long, good PR burns dimly in comparison and has a short half life. That's the nature of Public Relation and Customer Satisfaction.

 

Right now, you have a hellish fire of a conflagration PR for this game, BioWare, and EA. I see it on Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, and the other social media platforms. The question is, are you willing to do what is necessary and right to put this fire out? Staying the course believing this can be fixed, knowing the major issues "some" players are having, will lead to even greater problems for everyone involved in this update. Worse for the players who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars in support over the last ten years.

 

Finally, what you've done with 7.0 is what was done to SWG with NGE. That game died. Is this what you want for SWTOR? I most certainly hope not.

[Kiesu]

Devs. Explain me something:

 

Why cant we share Weekly Operation quests anymore? what is the logic behind this change?

 

Did you think it would be fun experience to gather a group, be ready in position to summon everyone for raid just to hear "Wait I need to get my weekly!" "Wait I dont have weekly" "Can anyone share weekly?" "Wait forgot weekly." "Wait need to go back to fleet for weekly."

...I could have given them all the quest with one button press but NAY! It's leg-day for everyone now for no reason.

 

 

Why can we not change loadouts in Group Finder?

 

I used to be able to que as both DPS and TANK on my juggernauts, and use fieldrespec to play whichever role popped first. Now I cannot since if I que, I cannot press the loadout buttons "Cannot do that while qued to activity!". You made a whole new system, hyped it as super easy to use and increasing user friendliness, but in-fact we do absolutely nothing with it. Its even less flexible system than we had before. Why did you think this was a good idea? You NERFED pops by not allowing multi-role ques. Not to mention you cant even que as tank spec while doing heroics as dps spec at the same time waiting in que. Logic?

 

 

Why is class balance all over the place?

 

It was so good in 6.0, what happened? How can you have such a good starting place and wreck it so completely. 6.0 had the best class balance game has ever seen, pretty much every spec was competitive, differences were marginal and mostly ignorable. Now we have crazy differences between performance of classes, and even specs. Ironically, you made my favorite spec OP which I should be happy about (fury) but the contrast is so stark I cant be happy about it. Please raise other classes to my level, people are quitting after seeing the noodle damage their classes now do. It is not fun. Especially most ranged specs are just peashooters now, and knowing first had how melee-unfriendly a lot of your mechanics are, this is nonsense.

 

 

Why do dailies just VANISH out of my log if not completed in time?

 

We were doing heroics the other day before reset. Middle of a phase, reset time hits, POOF. Mission gone. All progression lost. We're sitting inside the instance like "what just happened?". Just needed this one mission for weekly and now we need to go all the way back to base, pick the same quest again, cant even travel to it again because the teleporter is still on cooldown, run all the way back, do all the progress again. Fun! NOT.

 

 

There is NO bolster for MM FPs, they are all lv 80 instances now, yet lv 70 characters can que for it.

 

Hey Bioware, do you know how your combat system works? Like if you are trying to hit a mob ten levels higher than you, you probably miss 90% of your attacks? Yes? Ok then, tell me how you thought a bunch of lv 70 would ever clear a MM FP full of lv 80 mobs without a bolster?

 

 

People are STILL not getting loot on some bugged characters....

 

...and they're not even getting compensation for it. It's been a month, and some guildies have not been able to loot ANY boss loot for the entire time, and customer service isnt giving them even any compensation loot. I would quit at this point too if it happened to me not gonna lie. It is a huge progression issue to have this happen to your character. (their tickets have been answered as "we know the problem, wait till we fix it." No ETA, no compensation, no nothing). Are you trying to make people quit?

Edited March 7, 2022 by Kiesu

[Syal]

 

I know that doesn't address being shoe-horned into content, but I hope it does provide the insight as to why we decided to make these changes. What I have noticed in-game is there are a lot more players in the areas, and with share tagging of mobs, I'm finding I'm not waiting around for respawns.

 

 

You are just all wrong with 7.0. Excepted story and second role, the rest can be garbage.

Just have to see the steam charts... players are more leaving then coming.

[eabevella]

Just canceled my 6 month subscription that has been running after a few months of trying SWTOR out a few years ago.

 

You know what the last straw is?

Just found out how infuriating it was to try to dress up my toon and the unify color didn't work at all lol

 

No story. Gearing is ****. Now I can't even play space barbie?

 

Pffff it's fitting that my sub runs out on April First (lmao what a joke). I'll be back when you fix the unify color bug and deliver the weapon in outfitter option.

 

You know what I feel the worst about? My guild mates who had taught me raiding and always want to get me into HM raiding. They are the best "MMO" part of this game.

[silviaslack]

we heard loud and clear from 6.0 feedback that farming one particular piece of content (like Hammer Station, or a particular Weekly above all others) because it was the fastest way to gear up, but it just wasn't fun.

[...]

we moved to a system that virtually guarantees upgrades to gear by just doing the featured content each week. At the end of the day it results in a quality over quantity philosophy.

 

This is a "cat-and-mouse game" you'll never win because you're vastly outnumbered by people playing your game extensively to research the most efficient way to reach their goals.

 

They'll indeed complain it's boring but they'll do it regardless. You "nerf" one farm, some more pop up immediately after. It's a never-ending chase.

 

I feel like the solution you tried in 7.0 creates more problems than it solves.

 

For example, there are new players feeling let down because they want to play the entire story in order but they can't, because not all leveling flashpoints have a story mode and those they want to do are not on the groupfinder. If you're set on keeping restrictions, could you please at least add a solo mode to all FPs that currently don't have one? That would help immensely, at least new players.

 

And no, telling new players they should go to the fleet, form their own group and walk to the entrance, is not a good way to welcome them, especially those coming from other games, where using a groupfinder tool for any kind of group activities is a no-brainer.

 

As for veterans, I am well aware that I can still play whatever I want, all heroics are listed on terminals on the fleet for example, regardless of the weekly rotation, BUT I still believe having restrictions on the groupfinder is detrimental from a "psychological" point of view. It makes it look like there's very little to do outside of playing the story, not all players are willing to go out of their way to find things to do in your game, have you considered that?

[DarthSpekulatius]

BIG Thank you for telling us these details.

also Thank you for the work you do on the Game, there's plenty to like about 7.0 and once the Bugs are fixed plenty to Love about it.

 

We did make key changes to the way we approach rewards in 7.0. We rotate content (including Flashpoints available in Groupfinder and Weekly missions for Daily Areas) for a couple of reasons. First, it allows all reward calendars to be aligned. Conquests, Galactic Seasons, and the Featured weekly content all line up, which means players can make progress towards multiple rewards at once.

 

Second, we heard loud and clear from 6.0 feedback that farming one particular piece of content (like Hammer Station, or a particular Weekly above all others) because it was the fastest way to gear up, but it just wasn't fun. In 7.0, we rotate content to mix and match some of the shortest and longest flashpoints and weeklies each week. As a result, there is more variety in the type of content the gearing system rewards players for completing.

 

Please, below LV 80 (or maybe below lv 60...?) change Groupfinder back to match you for story relevant content, instead of / in addition to Endgame based weekly rotations.

I guess that level Based Groupfinder clashes with the extremely fast leveling and synching allowing you to vastly outlevel the planet you are on, especially if you like optional content, but Flashpoints always were a great mixup from running between questgivers.

Please allow low level Players to always que for FPs that are Level-appropriate, or if you can do that, Story appropriate FPs regardless of the weekly that is supposed to keep Endgame fresh. If you can mix and match maxlevel and low level Players into highlighted FPs that's fine, if it would require two ques that have the same FPs in it but one is only available if you have a specific Level that is also fine, assuming you can list for both at the same time.

Long quetimes are not an Issue when your are busy doing the story anyway.

 

Instead of gathering a sheer quantity of items to sort through to find an upgrade in 6.0, which required more and more efficient runs to maximize the amount of gear acquired, we moved to a system that virtually guarantees upgrades to gear by just doing the featured content each week. At the end of the day it results in a quality over quantity philosophy.

I'm still hoping for a configurable auto disintegrate feature (maybe a list by name and iRating?) even with the vastly reduced Loot. But I'll make myself unpopular here and say tanks for reducing the Inventory management chore, I like it.

Please put Vanguards/PTs not getting any Boss & weekly loot whatever they do on top of your priority list.

But the other edge cases that can cause the bad luck protection to cause no loot to drop until the player has understood the bad luck protection and applied a workaround are almost as bad even though it can be mitigated by having special knowledge. I don't want a mostly fine Loot system design to be permanently smeared as "the worst one we've ever had" by Bugs.

 

When content is not in rotation, it is still available and rewards are still offered, but to a lesser degree. For example, all Flashpoints are accessible by walking into their entrance, however since Groupfinder is the delivery method for ensuring upgrade rewards, not all Flashpoints are available in Groupfinder each week unless they are featured.

 

For Daily missions, we have Weekly mission wrappers ('do 6 dailies') for each area, which are the delivery method for larger rewards. These weekly missions are only available when the rewards are available, which is if they are featured that week. However all of the dailies associated with these missions are still available at all times, and still reward items relevant to gearing or upgrading gear, just at a slower rate than the featured content.

as stated above regarding FPs, that is fine for Endgame but Please change it for Players below max Level.

It's not even about getting Gear People just need some means to signal: "I'd be down for x, anyone else interested?" without having to spam the same Massage in chat over and over.

but the Groupfinder needs improvements for max Level Players as well as low Level ones.

maybe I'm crazy but didn't there used to be a Groupfinder thing that could match you up for planetary content?

I barely ever used it thanks to having an active Voicechat and usually doing whatever someone in it wants to do, but now with H2 being mandatory for aquatics I'd like some means to quickly find a random group for them.

when the highlighted weekly is inefficient people in my Voicechat will just do the fast ones and relogg or do something else. on that note can you please remove "xxx has entered LFG" from system messages. that might also fix that Problem for me, as it is, LFG is unusable for me.

 

All of that boils down to featured content is about aligning different reward tracks such as conquest and Galactic Seasons, plus mixing up content with short and long completion times together to prevent some of the issues that awarding all content equally brought to the table in the 6.0 era.

 

I know that doesn't address being shoe-horned into content, but I hope it does provide the insight as to why we decided to make these changes. What I have noticed in-game is there are a lot more players in the areas, and with share tagging of mobs, I'm finding I'm not waiting around for respawns.

I'm waiting for clicky respawns all the time,... it's fine, Shared tagging is real nice. I'm certainly asking for the arm after you reached out a hand here.

 

now that I've figured out how easy it is to kickstart gearing with GSF I'm getting enough aquatics without feeling burnt out on H2s.

 

some wildcard whishes:

I would like Legacy wide Loadouts for Gear something like

"Tank" that includes everything except main/offhand and Implants

"Healer" "

"DPS" "

these things shouldn't need to be put into the Legacy Bank to be sent back and forth with how the guaranteed upgrades only check what you are wearing not what's in your bank / Inventory, if you mess up even slightly during the unequip & reequip process you'll waste a lot of weeklies, It would be user error but that won't keep people from being unhappy about it.

per character Loadouds shouldn't be removed for top end Optimization but before we hit max iLVL I'd really like something that maximizes qol.

 

as well as copyable GSF Loadouts to keep multiple characters synchronized, throw an error and highlight the first Module missing if I try to load a Loadout with things that character doesn't own. If an entire ship is missing just keep the slot empty.

Not having some reliable means of having all my ships behave how I expect them to behave is really frustrating.

[Mankall]

All that is left for me to say to this, whatever 7.0 is supposed to be:

 

"Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake?"

Edited March 7, 2022 by Mankall

[juliushorst]

All that is left for me to say to this, whatever 7.0 is supposed to be:

 

"Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake?"

 

...and Rukh is already right behind SWTOR's back...

[Ghost_Spectre]

...and Rukh is already right behind SWTOR's back...

 

Hey, go to Square Enix and see what they have for update 6.1 coming mid-April. Something that SWTOR players drool for and never see in a single year let alone 2. And this is after the massive Endwalker 6.0 Xpac too.

[iopseal]

 

Right now, I can tell you with assurances, that for everyone one unsatisfied, upset, enraged, and disappointed customer are telling 16 people of just how bad things are for SWTOR. And with each individual they tell, will in turn tell 16 people. This will gone on exponentially and it will be embellished with person repeating it. This is what happens when a customer believes they've been screwed over a product they've loved and their loyalty trampled on, all for a Future Vision that turned into a nightmare.

 

Mind you, a customer who is satisfied, only tells 8 people and because it's not an outlandish tale, it dies between the second and third group. Bad PR burns bright and long, good PR burns dimly in comparison and has a short half life. That's the nature of Public Relation and Customer Satisfaction.

 

Right now, you have a hellish fire of a conflagration PR for this game, BioWare, and EA. I see it on Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, and the other social media platforms. The question is, are you willing to do what is necessary and right to put this fire out? Staying the course believing this can be fixed, knowing the major issues "some" players are having, will lead to even greater problems for everyone involved in this update. Worse for the players who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars in support over the last ten years.

 

Finally, what you've done with 7.0 is what was done to SWG with NGE. That game died. Is this what you want for SWTOR? I most certainly hope not.

 

Yea word of mouth has been so overwhelmingly negative for this expansion and once popular opinion has formed around a subject it's hard to shift. I said this before but I think that they are committing the same mistakes as the SWG dev team concerning the handling of negative feedback, thinking it will just blow over but now their player base is shrinking.

[LordPaulusCobris]

I must say, now that I've had a few days to mull this over, your post is nothing more than damage control. And you've failed miserably in doing that. You are sticking to this no matter what happens to your player base or the monetary cost that it is already hitting you with. Since 7.0 dropped, in 20 days, you've lost 44% of the Steam players that stopped playing the game. How many of those were subscribers? Probably all of them since being subbed to this game was required to play 7.0. That's roughly $126,000/month. How does it look from the PC platform? I bet it's more.

 

You show up 20 days later to "offer your insight," I should say, from some hidden place, to address us now? I know you have the metrics telling you how many people have unsubbed. Coupled with Steam, I believe you've lost a large percentage of your long term monetary income. Your CM, which you've sabotaged with this update, will not staunch the monetary bleeding you're experiencing.

 

7.0 is a failed update, your damage control post here, has failed, spectacularly so. To make matters worse, your direct competitor, FFXIV, will be releasing brand new content in Mid-April with all new MSQ, side quests, dungeons, Raids, and much, much more. They know to keep their player base satisfied. BW has operated the exact same way since 4.0. I call it Trickle down content release. It took you 2 years to give us an 7.0 you call an expansion? It's anything but an expansion. It's a contraction if anything.

 

It's time to face reality. Your attempt to force your vision (nightmare) on us by fundamentally altering the game, it's mechanics, and the very foundation this game was designed with, is a failure, obscenely so.

 

I'm sure EA is watching very attentively. I'm sure they'll pull the same stunt with y'all as they did with the original crew when they released Update 1.2. That which ultimately lead to 80% or more of the original crew being let go.

 

It's time to admit this "venture" failed. To salvage it, one would surmise that you revert back to the last version of 6.0. Keep the Legacy of the Sith, Combat Styles too. But the mechanics, skills, modable gear, and the rest must be reverted back to. You don't want renown in the game? Turn it off. You don't want any FPs being farmed? Limit them to 3 a day per character. Return Conquest to what it was, but leave the 100k CXP. Open it back up, do away with "bound to legacy" trap you have so each alt a player has can utilize conquest to its fullest. You don't want money or xp being awarded? Turn them off.

 

This is how it should've been done from the outset. However, you not only changed the dressing, you replaced the plumbing with something so complicated it affected every aspect of the game because of Alpha version Hero Engine that is looks like spaghetti code. Minor tweaks were required to make changes. Y'all took a freaking wrecking ball to clear it all away, replacing with something that looks like an apprentice low level coder and artist student designed and put through.

 

Right now, I can tell you with assurances, that for everyone one unsatisfied, upset, enraged, and disappointed customer are telling 16 people of just how bad things are for SWTOR. And with each individual they tell, will in turn tell 16 people. This will gone on exponentially and it will be embellished with person repeating it. This is what happens when a customer believes they've been screwed over a product they've loved and their loyalty trampled on, all for a Future Vision that turned into a nightmare.

 

Mind you, a customer who is satisfied, only tells 8 people and because it's not an outlandish tale, it dies between the second and third group. Bad PR burns bright and long, good PR burns dimly in comparison and has a short half life. That's the nature of Public Relation and Customer Satisfaction.

 

Right now, you have a hellish fire of a conflagration PR for this game, BioWare, and EA. I see it on Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, and the other social media platforms. The question is, are you willing to do what is necessary and right to put this fire out? Staying the course believing this can be fixed, knowing the major issues "some" players are having, will lead to even greater problems for everyone involved in this update. Worse for the players who have spent thousands and thousands of dollars in support over the last ten years.

 

Finally, what you've done with 7.0 is what was done to SWG with NGE. That game died. Is this what you want for SWTOR? I most certainly hope not.

 

Well explained and 100% true...

My month resub is almost over with just 1 or 2 days or playing this 7.0 nightmare...

I will not resub again until i see REAL Changes happening to this situation...

 

I keep saying the same... ppl vote with your wallet... and do your solene vow...

Don´t give them nothing but the dirt... Respect must be earned... also the money must be earned...

 

Right now they don´t have any from me...

 

Best Regards,

 

LPC

[robwettengel]

Keith,

 

The greatest problem you and your Team have is grossly overreacting to "problems" that you perceive to be present in the game. I can only conclude that when you have your Leads in a meeting, that every suggestion they make about correcting "problem x," you decide that all of these fixes are going to be included.

 

Having a higher item rating should always mean that enemies die faster. No exceptions. However, for some reason known only to you and the Team, you have capped stats, even though level sync in sub-80 content is a thing. On top of this, enemies now hit harder. If you thought the game was too easy, why not just buff enemy health or their damage output? Why did you and the Team decide to cap our stats, including presence (reducing companion effectiveness), and buff the adversaries we face? The level sync already is already one nerf, so now you have added on another (or two more if one wishes to view companions separately). And then there is the ability pruning--nerf number three.

 

I consider all of these nerfs to be tantamount to using a tactical nuclear weapon to kill a single fly.

 

Wouldn't it have been more logical to run each of these nerfs through the PTS one at a time to gather quantitative and qualitative data from players?

 

As for daily and weekly rotations, I saw a solution that we go back to having several tiers like we did back before Tactical FPs came along. Something has to be done because I refuse to go into groups on FPs with lowbies because the later FPs are not designed for lowbies to play successfully, since they lack the firepower of level 80 players. Because of this power discrepancy, wipes will happen because the lowbie player does not have enough abilities, and bolster is insufficient to replace this inequality in a Toon's total dps on FPs like Nathema, Traitor, Umbara, Blood Hunt, etc. It also doesn't make sense for every FP in the same mode from BT to Elom to grant the same daily/weekly rewards.

 

I recommend taking the average run-time of BT/Esseles and assign this value 1 Time Increment (TI). Then you go through Athis, MR, HS, and on up to Elom and see how the average completion time for those. FPs that take 2 TIs to complete should receive 2x rewards, 3 TI should get 3x rewards and so on and so forth. This will incentivize players to run the harder content. However, should this notion of rotating flashpoints only be limited to level 75+ instead of it being for all levels? It would stop my skittishness over doing FPs.

 

Groupfinder should be for all group content--not just the items you want in the weekly rotation. Put the weekly rotation in the top-most tier to separate it from the others.

 

 

Can you please write up a 1K- to 2K-word statement that will actually explain to us just what you supposed "vision" for the game actually is?

 

EDIT: You all earned a lot of props and respect from me with your modifications to the Rishi SH. That has now all been used up. 7.0 has burned all of it to ash.

Edited March 7, 2022 by robwettengel

[Nee-Elder]

This is a "cat-and-mouse game" you'll never win because you're vastly outnumbered by people playing your game extensively to research the most efficient way to reach their goals.. You "nerf" one farm, some more pop up immediately after. It's a never-ending chase.

 

I feel like the solution you tried in 7.0 creates more problems than it solves.

 

And telling new players they should go to the fleet, form their own group and walk to the entrance is not a good way to welcome them, especially those coming from other games, where using a groupfinder tool for any kind of group activities is a no-brainer.

 

QFE x 2 ^

 

Keith,

 

The greatest problem you and your Team have is grossly overreacting to "problems" that you perceive to be present in the game.

 

Can you please write up a 1K- to 2K-word statement that wil lactually explain to us just what you supposed vision for the game actually is?

 

Why bother? Just look at whatever his "vision" has gotten us to so far, in this the *10th Anniversary* year of SWTOR. Think about that for a second: Other than a few "contest" deco paintings---where most of the work was done by the PLAYERS ---the Dev Team has brought us loyal $ubscribers BARELY any special content. Barely. In the 10th Anniversary year. Think about that, Keith.

 

And when you're done , please answer my very legitimate (and very appropriate, since this is STAR Wars) question from page 1 here: https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=10015131#post10015131

 

SWTOR deserves more than empty promises, EA spin, & Cartel re-skins on repeat.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Nee-Elder
really frustrating Keith , especially you obviously AVOID questions from beta-testers like me

[juliushorst]

It's nice to see Keith returning on Monday to address our concerns! /s