Game Update 7.3.1 coming soon!

[Cloneborg]

16 hours ago, JoeStramaglia said:

Removing Companion from the season leaves a pretty large hole in the reward structure. To make up for this we’re adding some new reward types, giving more of the seasonal reputation items, and adding a new item from the Cartel Market (which will bind on legacy).

But I don't care about the items, even that some of them look really nice, there is plenty of items already in the game, all I really care about is the companion, and I know that because I missed season 2 and 3 and those companions are unavailable to me now, and I don't give any rat ass about any of the items - weapons, armor, mounts, decorations, etx - but I wish I could get my hands on the companions and do their stories.

If the seasonal companions had a rich storyline associated with them one way to do it again would be to either create a new character OR be able to somehow reset it on a character that has already completed it.

I

[Cloneborg]

16 hours ago, MaximusRex said:

This is fair, but I want an Imperial Astromech that is the total opposite of T7 personality wise.  Please.

I bought some droids from the cartel market and gave them to my Empire dudes, it's pretty fitting, the only part I don't like is that they are "mute", we can't talk to them, and neither they have a background story, nor they have a current story that we can follow. Just "here is your new companion" and that's it!

[dinowoman]

11 minutes ago, Cloneborg said:

I'm sorry but that is just garbage! If you don't know how to utilize the companions that goes on you not the gamers! If you are able to see their role besides being a healer, tank, damage dealer and a crew mission doer. Each companion we get could have an elaborate storyline that could be as extensive as the storyline of the main class character that way players can do other things with the alts rather than follow the same quest-leveling path set for them with the class story quest lines. This game is STORY driven, it's the only MMO that I have played that utilizes companions TAKE that to the further places in the galaxy that we could possible go, let the companions open it for us, let their storylines lead us their, planets that we have never seen, creatures and characters that we have never heard, etc. Your game could be so much richer because of what you can do with the companions and the seasons are probably one of the best ways to do that besides doing the same conquest quests over and over season after season.

While that would be awesome, it's not feasible. A lot of players complain that we don't get frequent enough or big enough story updates for the player characters. With the staff and budget that they have, creating companion stories of that magnitude in addition would be out of the question, unless you want one new season maybe every year or so.

[Cloneborg]

12 minutes ago, dinowoman said:

While that would be awesome, it's not feasible. A lot of players complain that we don't get frequent enough or big enough story updates for the player characters. With the staff and budget that they have, creating companion stories of that magnitude in addition would be out of the question, unless you want one new season maybe every year or so.

What budget? Most of the time the story lines will involve visiting planets that have already been created, all they have to do is to have a list of places that we have to visit and the dialog associated with them, that means someone has to write the story, someone has to choreograph the events associated with it, and someone has to voice over the conversations. this is not the same as creating everything from scratch - the character models except for the companion, the environment, the ENTIRE game - no, all these stuff have already been created, they exist, the only thing that needs to be added is the companions storyline and that doesn't require as much work, as many people and as much of a budget! Now, occasionally they can add a new planet if they want and that would allow them to grow the size of the galaxy but even without a new planet the game's storyline will grow horyzontally, not vertically what we get with the expansions. And that would make their game unique as it will have so many companion driven branching storylines that could even intersect between the different companions, they will  make the game so much bigger, so much richer and not so much not limmited by the expansion constrains. A lot of possibilities "....a long time ago in a galaxy far far away".

[Eyvaera]

18 hours ago, BryantWood said:

Reworking Group Content Objectives:

With Season 5, we’ll be making changes to Flashpoint and Uprising objectives. Previously these objectives used a point system which allowed players to complete any Flashpoint and gain bonus completion for specific flashpoints. Throughout Galactic Seasons we’ve seen that this point system has a large potential to create bugs and makes it harder to understand how to progress the objective. We will be simplifying these objectives to remove the do any portion and the bonus boss portion.

Here’s an example of an objective from Season 4 and how that objective will appear in Season 5.
Season 4: Complete Flashpoints (1 point). Earn bonus progress for completing Depths of Manaan, Assault on Tython, Korriban Incursion, or Secrets of the Enclave (requires content) (4 points). Earn additional bonus progress for defeating their Bonus Bosses (3 points).
Season 5: Complete Flashpoints from the following list: Depths of Manaan, Assault on Tython, Korriban Incursion, or Secrets of the Enclave (requires content).

What, exactly, does this mean?

Last season, I could (either solo or with a friend) pick one FP from the list, and I would get (1) point for doing ANY FP, (4) points for doing a specific FP from the list, and (3) points for doing the bonus boss (if there was one). This got me the (8) total points for that weekly and was very convenient. It was doable during the one day my friend and I could play together, and it didn't result in unnecessary hours of FP grinding.

From what you're implying now (and do correct me if I'm wrong), we have the choice of ONLY the listed FPs (regardless of whether those are ones we're any good at, or can solo (some previously listed did not have a story mode, for example), or even have access to), and there's no bonus points for doing those and/or the bonus bosses?

So, are you changing the points/FPs needed to complete that objective down from (8) to (1)? Or (2)? Or are you reducing choice and ease of play in order to make us run through a now limited selection of FPs multiple times without changing the structure of the weekly? (Would we even be able to choose to run the same FP again or would we have to do the others?)

I'm gonna say it: I won't run through the same four FPs eight times. (Especially as there's usually at least one or two of those listed that I either cannot do or really do not want to run, thus reducing the variety further.)

So are you really asking us to run through the same few FPs repeatedly or does the objective have a changed pass rate? It would be great to know. Because honestly, even if the wording of the objective might've needed rewriting for clarification, the objective itself certainly did not need reworking.
 

[DWho]

10 hours ago, LD_Little_Dragon said:

 

What do you expect them to say?  It's the same developers, just a different publisher, so no reason to expect any great changes.

I don't recall the dev's saying much about EA either.

It's the same publisher, EA. The Dev team is the same dev team just under a different name, Broadsword.

[DIVAvonFarstar]

4 hours ago, Cloneborg said:

What budget? Most of the time the story lines will involve visiting planets that have already been created, all they have to do is to have a list of places that we have to visit and the dialog associated with them, that means someone has to write the story, someone has to choreograph the events associated with it, and someone has to voice over the conversations. this is not the same as creating everything from scratch ...

Undoubtedly, all this takes time, and the working time that is available monthly is also a limited resource. If something doesn't fit into the time budget, it can't be done.

[OlBuzzard]

48 minutes ago, DWho said:

It's the same publisher, EA. The Dev team is the same dev team just under a different name, Broadsword.

I rather suspect that EA is a larger corporation than some might think.  

As for BW and Bs ...think of them as very large filing cabinets in a large room.  There are several drawers to each.  Each containing hundreds of files ...  SWTOR is only one file.  It has simply been moved from one filing cabinet to another.  With that transition a number of personnel moved with that file.  With the move of that file came additional changes in management, directives, and (in all probability) ... a change in expense accounts that are available.  At the end of the day .. it's all still in the same room:  EA.  That is of course IF (and ONLY if) ...  Broadsword is in fact under the umbrella of EA.

With said changes in management a number of things can take place.  How those changes will affect the game remains to be seen.  While I do remain somewhat skeptical I am encouraged with the latest posts from the team.  As for everything else in the game.  I will wait and see what happens.

I still maintain that there is a huge opportunity for this game.  So many possibilities!

[Char_Ell]

7 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

At the end of the day .. it's all still in the same room:  EA.  That is of course IF (and ONLY if) ...  Broadsword is in fact under the umbrella of EA.

I'm not sure what "Broadsword is in fact under the umbrella of EA." is supposed to mean exactly.  Broadsword is not owned by EA but all they do is support MMO's published by EA.

Quote

Is Broadsword an Electronic Arts studio?

No. However, for purposes of DAoC, Broadsword will be operating the game on EA’s behalf to continue its success.  

source: https://darkageofcamelot.com/article/next-chapter-dark-age-camelot

[OlBuzzard]

12 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

I'm not sure what "Broadsword is in fact under the umbrella of EA." is supposed to mean exactly.  Broadsword is not owned by EA but all they do is support MMO's published by EA.

source: https://darkageofcamelot.com/article/next-chapter-dark-age-camelot

Actually that is exactly what I'm illuding to!  I was under the impression that Broadsword was more of an independent contractor (as separate entity). 

I that case .. the file is moved away from the filling cabinet ... out of the large room and moved to another room altogether!  

I hope that makes sense!

Thanks for clarification.

[Gibonski]

All the changes are great and all. But where is the sauce? 

No visuals for armor/ weapon/ mounts etc ?

Come on guys, we want to see the designs. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Gibonski

[DWho]

32 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

Actually that is exactly what I'm illuding to!  I was under the impression that Broadsword was more of an independent contractor (as separate entity). 

Based on them not having developed any games of their own in 10 years and supporting only EA MMOs, it seems likely they are not truly independent. Basically all of their income is coming from EA. I've worked under situations like this where you leave on Friday working for one company and come in on Monday working for another. Nothing really changes except for the signature on your paycheck. This is what I think Broadsword is, not a wholly owned subsidiary, but pretty close.

[juliushorst]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:50 PM, EricMusco said:

But we’ll see, let us know what you think.

1. I like companions. The more the merrier. So I dislike the decision to exclude them from this season and I hope they will return. Don't put them on my ship if you think it's getting to crowded, put them at the end of the reward track \ seasonal questline if you don't want the season to be centered around the companion or give people an option to reject the companion if they don't like them - but give me one.

2. I really disliked the idea of time-limited access to a storyline. I disliked it when you did it with Shroud of Memory and I dislike it when you do it now.

[Gwena]

I really like companions, but I'd rather have fewer higher quality ones, and if that means no more companions as GS rewards, so be it. And by higher quality, I mean companions that have armor slots so we can customize them, and preferably some that speak Basic. Not that I dislike the droids and gibberish-speakers, but we've gotten an awful lot of those lately.

On 8/17/2023 at 8:51 AM, JoeStramaglia said:

More explicitly, here is a list of new items that would have not been on the track prior to this change:

• More Seasonal Reputation items
• FIVE New Personnel Decorations based off of popular Armors
• A new unique consumable item that grants Jawa Intel to yourself as well as other players
• An exclusive new Pet
• A White and White Dye Module

This seems kind of okay-ish, maybe? The seasonal reputation items I find useless, as I never bother to max out the reputation as the reward has always just been a title that I'm not interested in/isn't worth that much trouble to me. So the Jawa Intel boost is kind of meh as well. The pet definitely has potential, but pets would be a lot more of an incentive if you guys would finally fix that bug that causes pets to poof every time we change areas.

Might I suggest some more new companion customizations for the "all class" companions as new season rewards? Arcann could really use some that are actually available (you could even just move the ones from the Dark and Light vendors to the GS vendor), Paxton doesn't have any at all, and even new hairstyle looks for Lana and Theron would probably be welcome.

[septru]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:51 AM, JoeStramaglia said:

But wait, there’s more!

 

Joe ngl, telemarketing salesman is not the vibe you should be going for. It comes across like you're trying to sell us a patch that otherwise has no content, as amazing! 

 

Honestly, kinda sad that you guys get all excited about this patch, as if any meaningful patch or content is an unrealistic dream. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by septru

[Diamaht]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:51 AM, JoeStramaglia said:

FIRST! 

Hello folks! But wait, there’s more!

1. We’re adding new rewards to take up the slots that would have been companion related
2. Season story will now be driven by Galactic Season Progress

We’ll continue to make changes here and evolve the format over time based on your feedback and data!

New Rewards:

Removing Companion from the season leaves a pretty large hole in the reward structure. To make up for this we’re adding some new reward types, giving more of the seasonal reputation items, and adding a new item from the Cartel Market (which will bind on legacy).

More explicitly, here is a list of new items that would have not been on the track prior to this change:

• More Seasonal Reputation items
• FIVE New Personnel Decorations based off of popular Armors
• A new unique consumable item that grants Jawa Intel to yourself as well as other players
• An exclusive new Pet
• A White and White Dye Module

We will continue to make adjustments here as we grow the seasonal reward structure based on your feedback and the data.

Season Story:

Although we won’t have a companion, there will still be character driven stories unique to each season. Progress in the story will be based off of special transmission items that are gained from the Seasonal Reward Track and mission completion. Players can progress on the track regardless of mission progress, you don't even need to do the missions if you don't want to. The unlocks work similar to the alert items we had with the companions except there are more of them, when you get to that unlock you get an item that can be consumed if you have completed the requisite missions before it.

The new season is a bit more lighthearted but also explores some intricacies in the dark side of the force. We hope you will enjoy it!

With all of that, I look forward to reading your feedback on all of these changes. There will be more coming in the future for Galactic Seasons 6 and onward!

May the Force Serve You
Joe
 

Is there any way to add season points, or progression, as a reward for completing parts of the seasonal quest line?

I think this would incentivize and reward folks who participate in the actual story.

[Cloneborg]

10 hours ago, DIVAvonFarstar said:

Undoubtedly, all this takes time, and the working time that is available monthly is also a limited resource. If something doesn't fit into the time budget, it can't be done.

But that's the whole point!

Game developers, especially those that develop RPG type of games, which includes MMOs, have turned their games into some kind of a product that is manufactured in a production plant and chases some deadlines, because the customer wants their product at this date and that product must be done and shipped by then. They forgot that this kind of games are story driven which is the reason players buy them and PLAY them and not because they are going to be released at a certain date! So I am not sure as to why the creative process turns from "Let's create something new and exiting" and they take their time to do that to "we have a deadline and we can only fit so much" because this chasing of deadlines is what causes their products to be lackluster and to not  follow even their own benchmarks that they had set when the game was released which eventually turns the players away from the game temporarily or even permanently, thus reducing the income the companies make from that game AND ultimately leading to its downfall That philosophy is counter productive.

[Jdast]

34 minutes ago, Cloneborg said:

But that's the whole point!

Game developers, especially those that develop RPG type of games, which includes MMOs, have turned their games into some kind of a product that is manufactured in a production plant and chases some deadlines, because the customer wants their product at this date and that product must be done and shipped by then. They forgot that this kind of games are story driven which is the reason players buy them and PLAY them and not because they are going to be released at a certain date! So I am not sure as to why the creative process turns from "Let's create something new and exiting" and they take their time to do that to "we have a deadline and we can only fit so much" because this chasing of deadlines is what causes their products to be lackluster and to not  follow even their own benchmarks that they had set when the game was released which eventually turns the players away from the game temporarily or even permanently, thus reducing the income the companies make from that game AND ultimately leading to its downfall That philosophy is counter productive.

I take your point, but I've also seen the other side. At some point publishers, regardless of industry (magazines, books, movies / tv, gaming, music, etc.) need to make money. Deadlines are needed to keep the lights on and pay the staff who are also crucial parts of the machine. Without them the artists / creators will all too often delay, delay, delay until they believe they have perfected the product. 

Dasty

[Cloneborg]

3 hours ago, Jdast said:

I take your point, but I've also seen the other side. At some point publishers, regardless of industry (magazines, books, movies / tv, gaming, music, etc.) need to make money. Deadlines are needed to keep the lights on and pay the staff who are also crucial parts of the machine. Without them the artists / creators will all too often delay, delay, delay until they believe they have perfected the product. 

Dasty

This game is not a newspaper or a magazine where you have to print a new one every day, week or month, so you can't apply that logic to its development. I am not sure why you would add the books the movies and the music as nothing when it comes to developing and creating quality product ends well when it's rushed and deadlines are being chased. Also the business model of SWTOR  is such that the money the game makes doesn't come from new content, since the subscription makes that new content FREE, but it comes from the subscription itself and using real money to buy the cartel coins.

[Jdast]

28 minutes ago, Cloneborg said:

This game is not a newspaper or a magazine where you have to print a new one every day, week or month, so you can't apply that logic to its development. I am not sure why you would add the books the movies and the music as nothing when it comes to developing and creating quality product ends well when it's rushed and deadlines are being chased. Also the business model of SWTOR  is such that the money the game makes doesn't come from new content, since the subscription makes that new content FREE, but it comes from the subscription itself and using real money to buy the cartel coins.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree. Publishers, even in books, movies, and recording artists very often impose deadlines because unless you're a superstar like Adele or making your own movie you don't set the terms. And this is done for a very good reason: Not releasing content means you're not bringing in any money. While daily newspapers obviously have stricter deadlines there are still plenty of longer-term investigative pieces being written. Do you really think a newspaper editor is going to let a journalist investigate a story for months on end?

You're also mistaken about SWTOR and how it operates for a simple and fundamental reason: Players let their subscriptions lapse / or go on hiatus when there are significant content droughts. There is overwhelming evidence to support this point. All one needs to do is look at Steam charts which very often (not always) clearly show a bump in player activity coinciding with new content releases. This is true across the entire MMORPG landscape. Do you really think players are going to pay for subs when they aren't playing the game? I'm an altoholic so it may not apply to me, but I'm also not like a lot of players.

The evidence on this point is incontrovertible. Take, for example, the release of 7.0. A lot of players were upset because they resubscribed in early December to prepare for its launch only to have Keith announce that it was going to be delayed for two months one week prior to the originally scheduled launch date. Do you really think those players wouldn't have waited until February to resubscribe?

So setting reasonable schedules and doing your best to adhere to said schedules is a core aspect of any publishing-related industry -- and rightly so.

Dasty

Edited August 19, 2023 by Jdast

[casirabit]

4 hours ago, Cloneborg said:

But that's the whole point!

Game developers, especially those that develop RPG type of games, which includes MMOs, have turned their games into some kind of a product that is manufactured in a production plant and chases some deadlines, because the customer wants their product at this date and that product must be done and shipped by then. They forgot that this kind of games are story driven which is the reason players buy them and PLAY them and not because they are going to be released at a certain date! So I am not sure as to why the creative process turns from "Let's create something new and exiting" and they take their time to do that to "we have a deadline and we can only fit so much" because this chasing of deadlines is what causes their products to be lackluster and to not  follow even their own benchmarks that they had set when the game was released which eventually turns the players away from the game temporarily or even permanently, thus reducing the income the companies make from that game AND ultimately leading to its downfall That philosophy is counter productive.

There's a limit anyone  will wait for a product.  You can miss one or two deadlines but after that, you are going to start losing customers, and that is not something you want to do.  While they don't need to rush halfheartedly through getting the product out, they also should not keep postponing deadlines.   While most will wait for an expansion, for one or two deadlines, after that they will not. 

[black_pyros]

21 hours ago, Cloneborg said:

What budget? ... someone has to voice over the conversations

Forty Eight professional high pay rate voice actors being that someone.

[Cloneborg]

25 minutes ago, black_pyros said:

Forty Eight professional high pay rate voice actors being that someone.

Are you saying that the 500k+ monthly subscriptions they have since March 2022 can't pay for that? I read that that's the golden number that makes the game on the plus side.

[Spikanor]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:51 PM, JoeStramaglia said:

Removing Companion from the season leaves a pretty large hole in the reward structure. To make up for this we’re adding some new reward types, giving more of the seasonal reputation items, and adding a new item from the Cartel Market (which will bind on legacy).

why not use this wishlist threads from the cartal market section to fix the empty rewards slots then.

weapons wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/633960-the-official-weapon-wishlist-thread/

armor wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/635503-the-official-armor-wishlist-thread/

mount/speeder wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/744146-the-official-mountvehicle-wishlist-thread/

and stronghold decoration wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/672573-stronghold-decoration-suggestions/

then you kill 2 birds with 1 stone with it.

[Lord_Malganus]

5 minutes ago, Spikanor said:

why not use this wishlist threads from the cartal market section to fix the empty rewards slots then.

weapons wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/633960-the-official-weapon-wishlist-thread/

armor wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/635503-the-official-armor-wishlist-thread/

mount/speeder wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/744146-the-official-mountvehicle-wishlist-thread/

and stronghold decoration wishlist: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/672573-stronghold-decoration-suggestions/

then you kill 2 birds with 1 stone with it.

Great Idea!