7.4 Livestream coming October 18th!

[KyraMalakai]

15 minutes ago, codydmaan said:

So the update live stream said "Virulent" gear from r4 can be upgraded to 344 at the vendor. However what about the blue Hazardous gear that is 340.

From my understanding virulent gear will not go higher than 340 but you can convert it for rakata 342 and then upgrade it to 344, they did not mention hazardous gear but it might be something like that.

[JackieKo]

Hi all, 

I've got a few questions and answers from the team that I will share below. 

When is 7.4?

• As we get closer to the release itself, stay tuned for a specific release date. As we noted in the livestream (and noteworthy since the update contains a new Life Day reward), 7.4 is a holiday release.

Can we have the option to replay the class missions so we can see the lighting updates with our existing characters?

• This is definitely the kind of thing we have chatted about internally as something we would love to do, but making the original Class stories replayable or even viewable again is pretty monumental in scope. Not planned currently.

What will be done with HM R-4 Hazardous gear (from blue tokens.) Will this gear just stay as is or will there be an option to convert it to Rakata gear as well? Similar to Virulent gear

• There isn't an option to convert Hazardous to Rakata. That said, we'll be keeping an eye on feedback that comes in from players and data we collect to determine if adjustments are needed.

Regarding GTN, there was mention of the deposit becoming a fee. Does that mean it will no longer be refunded if the item doesn't sell?

• That is correct. 

What’s happening with PvP? 

As mentioned in the stream, PvP Season 4 will be starting on November 7th. Players can see the PvP Season 4 rewards now because they went in with 7.3.1. In similar fashion, Season 5 rewards will be going in with 7.4. We’ll have more details about Season 4 before it goes live. 

When it comes to matchmaking, we want to reiterate what Musco posted a while ago. Getting players into a match in a timely manner is going to be the highest priority when it comes to queuing for PvP. As a reminder: 

• We will try to match up players by their group sizes. We want to encourage matches of premades vs premades, etc.
• There are role limits per team. No more than 2 healers or 2 tanks per team in a Warzone.
• Players always have a hidden MMR (rough skill ranking) that we use to match them against other players.

To reiterate further, although matchmaking takes these rules into consideration, it will break them over time to get players into matches given the priority is to get players a pop. Any adjustments we make will be made based on the data we see and collect over time. 

Will the Dark vs Light event ever come back?

• There are currently no plans to bring back the DvL event. Reminder, that many of the DvL rewards are available in the game, notably on the Galactic Seasons vendor for GS tokens. 

When is the next Double XP event?

• No set date yet, but we anticipate running an event similar to last year’s timing. 

What about twitch drops for the next stream? Would it be hard to implement?

• Twitch drops are not possible right now as there would be some heavy lifting on the backend for us. We’re leaning more towards using a raffle tool for the next stream.

I did see other questions floating around and will try to get some answers next week! 

[Nee-Elder]

10 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

I've got a few questions and answers from the team that I will share below.

I did see other questions floating around and will try to get some answers next week! 

If you're allowed, please answer my ( and many other pilot's ) question i asked on page 1 here:  https://forums.swtor.com/topic/931603-74-livestream-coming-october-18th/?do=findComment&comment=9782693  ...about  GSF.

Thankyou.

[codydmaan]

10 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

Hi all, 

I've got a few questions and answers from the team that I will share below. 

When is 7.4?

• As we get closer to the release itself, stay tuned for a specific release date. As we noted in the livestream (and noteworthy since the update contains a new Life Day reward), 7.4 is a holiday release.

Can we have the option to replay the class missions so we can see the lighting updates with our existing characters?

• This is definitely the kind of thing we have chatted about internally as something we would love to do, but making the original Class stories replayable or even viewable again is pretty monumental in scope. Not planned currently.

What will be done with HM R-4 Hazardous gear (from blue tokens.) Will this gear just stay as is or will there be an option to convert it to Rakata gear as well? Similar to Virulent gear

• There isn't an option to convert Hazardous to Rakata. That said, we'll be keeping an eye on feedback that comes in from players and data we collect to determine if adjustments are needed.

Regarding GTN, there was mention of the deposit becoming a fee. Does that mean it will no longer be refunded if the item doesn't sell?

• That is correct. 

What’s happening with PvP? 

As mentioned in the stream, PvP Season 4 will be starting on November 7th. Players can see the PvP Season 4 rewards now because they went in with 7.3.1. In similar fashion, Season 5 rewards will be going in with 7.4. We’ll have more details about Season 4 before it goes live. 

When it comes to matchmaking, we want to reiterate what Musco posted a while ago. Getting players into a match in a timely manner is going to be the highest priority when it comes to queuing for PvP. As a reminder: 

• We will try to match up players by their group sizes. We want to encourage matches of premades vs premades, etc.
• There are role limits per team. No more than 2 healers or 2 tanks per team in a Warzone.
• Players always have a hidden MMR (rough skill ranking) that we use to match them against other players.

To reiterate further, although matchmaking takes these rules into consideration, it will break them over time to get players into matches given the priority is to get players a pop. Any adjustments we make will be made based on the data we see and collect over time. 

Will the Dark vs Light event ever come back?

• There are currently no plans to bring back the DvL event. Reminder, that many of the DvL rewards are available in the game, notably on the Galactic Seasons vendor for GS tokens. 

When is the next Double XP event?

• No set date yet, but we anticipate running an event similar to last year’s timing. 

What about twitch drops for the next stream? Would it be hard to implement?

• Twitch drops are not possible right now as there would be some heavy lifting on the backend for us. We’re leaning more towards using a raffle tool for the next stream.

I did see other questions floating around and will try to get some answers next week! 

Thank you very much for the update on "Hazardous" blue 340 gear. !

If the team would concider the option to convert the blue gear to 340 rakatta (instead of 342 from purple) I beleive that would make alot of people very Thankful. Since most of the community is running 340 blue gear "especially tanks" since 340 blue is better then 340 purple for tanks. 

 

Please concider that option 🙏 thanks!

[frutepy]

What about our gold implants? Will those be able to get upgraded past 334?

Edited October 20, 2023 by frutepy

[jstachj]

18 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

What will be done with HM R-4 Hazardous gear (from blue tokens.) Will this gear just stay as is or will there be an option to convert it to Rakata gear as well? Similar to Virulent gear

• There isn't an option to convert Hazardous to Rakata. That said, we'll be keeping an eye on feedback that comes in from players and data we collect to determine if adjustments are needed.

 

This is one aspect of the gearing change that I really hope you reconsider. When R4 came out a lot of players transitioned entirely to either Virulent or Hazardous Gear. While doing WD and Kan farm is reasonable enough, I'd venture to say a majority of 339 players have the 3 pieces that drop from dom as blue 340s and have deconstructed the equivalent 336 rakatas, What this means for these players is that we'd either have to spam NiM bosses hoping for the correct drop that we can then upgrade, bait the correct piece and start the upgrade grind for those pieces all over again, or find people willing to do enough dom farm to replace the pieces they already did the grind for. None of those options are great

I know you don't want to treat the blues the same way you'd treat the purples, and that is fair. I know it's been suggested already to allow 340 blues to be traded in for 340 rakatas instead of the 342 you get from purples, but genuinely I'd even take an IR downgrade to 338 over the nothing we'd currently get.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

30 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

Hi all, 

I've got a few questions and answers from the team that I will share below. 

 

Regarding GTN, there was mention of the deposit becoming a fee. Does that mean it will no longer be refunded if the item doesn't sell?

• That is correct. 

 

You do realize that this is a colossal mistake. This will KILL the GTN. I guess Trade Chat will become very active once this happens. So much for the GTN. Great job guys. If your plan was to kill off the in game trade channel? You have succeeded brilliantly, way to go, congratulations.

[Whykara]

3 minutes ago, NeoBlakkrstal said:

You do realize that this is a colossal mistake. This will KILL the GTN. I guess Trade Chat will become very active once this happens. So much for the GTN. Great job guys. If your plan was to kill off the in game trade channel? You have succeeded brilliantly, way to go, congratulations.

How on earth will this kill GTN. The fee is like a hundred credits, you're being ridiculous. Trade chat will be as active as it always is, GTN is just much more convenient, especially now since player to player trades get taxed as well.

[Whykara]

39 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

I did see other questions floating around and will try to get some answers next week! 

I appreciate the post, thank you! I hope posts like this can become a weekly thing. It's nice to have answers to (some of) our questions. 

[codydmaan]

1 minute ago, Whykara said:

I appreciate the post, thank you! I hope posts like this can become a weekly thing. It's nice to have answers to (some of) our questions. 

"A this week in swtor" dev post would be kinda dope

[CadeStive]

5 minutes ago, codydmaan said:

"A this week in swtor" dev post would be kinda dope

Agreed @JackieKo this should be a thing honestly.

[SentinalMasterWW]

48 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

What’s happening with PvP? 

As mentioned in the stream, PvP Season 4 will be starting on November 7th. Players can see the PvP Season 4 rewards now because they went in with 7.3.1. In similar fashion, Season 5 rewards will be going in with 7.4. We’ll have more details about Season 4 before it goes live. 

When it comes to matchmaking, we want to reiterate what Musco posted a while ago. Getting players into a match in a timely manner is going to be the highest priority when it comes to queuing for PvP. As a reminder: 

• We will try to match up players by their group sizes. We want to encourage matches of premades vs premades, etc.
• There are role limits per team. No more than 2 healers or 2 tanks per team in a Warzone.
• Players always have a hidden MMR (rough skill ranking) that we use to match them against other players.

To reiterate further, although matchmaking takes these rules into consideration, it will break them over time to get players into matches given the priority is to get players a pop. Any adjustments we make will be made based on the data we see and collect over time. 

Than why isn't limiting premades down to 4 people on this list? I see so many 6-8 man premades. All of this gets thrown out the window when a 6-8 man premade Qs. I've been part of one before and its completely absurd. 

#1. We actually had to split the team into smaller groups because the Matchmake could not figure out how to balance. 

#2. The MMR more than likely doesn't work when Premades join, If there is one Big Premade Qing, than all of this is thrown out the window. 

 

[LanceDefender]

Amd still nothing about locked Arcann DvL customisations due to unobtainable currency. 

Good job not gonna lie. It's so hard to give these two items to GS vendor, no?

[Jazulfi]

55 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

Twitch drops are not possible right now as there would be some heavy lifting on the backend for us. We’re leaning more towards using a raffle tool for the next stream.

I didn't have a query in the list but have to respond to this by saying it's a TERRIBLE idea. Confess I don't really know how Twitch works but if you're worried about viewer retention, surely it would be better to give out a code somewhere near the end, and delete it after 6 hours (or whatever)? But then, I don't know how these things work or indeed what the purpose truely is. If it's to do with getting a bigger random audience with the draw of freebies, then I guess the current plan is ok. If it's player satsifaction then just give everyone a code.

Raffles are terrible, They make the vast majority of people feel disappointed and the chat stream goes even more mental with people spamming The Code. Yuck. I'd rather a live stream where the info was the main event, not distracting people more to the chat, or chat being spammed with rubbish.

 

[TrixxieTriss]

6 hours ago, JackieKo said:

 

• We will try to match up players by their group sizes. We want to encourage matches of premades vs premades, etc.

Any adjustments we make will be made based on the data we see and collect over time.

You guys seem to refuse to acknowledge your matchmaking is broken. FYI, you’ve had 11 months now to look at this data 🤦‍♀️

Have you even considered that the majority of your player base is mostly solo centric players these days & they don’t want to have to form premades? What about these solo players? Why should they have to suffer bad matchmaking against premades? If you aren’t going to give premades & solo players seperate queues, how about a compromise 🤷🏻‍♀️

Having large premades & small premades & solo players in the queue means matchmaking struggles to make matches fun or fair & it just pops matches as fast as possible with no thought to skills or quality or fairness. Which is not fun at all & turns people off PvP entirely.

And even if you are in a large premade, you might wait a long time for a pop if you’re the only one in the queue. And if you’re a solo player, you often get back filled into already started matches against premades. 

This isn’t enjoyable for anyone participating, which makes people not want to play for fun (check out your own data of player participation between seasons & compare it to participation before seasons was added).

I’m sure I don’t need to repeat all the feedback pvpers have been posting about this issue in the PvP section because you are reading ALL of it already… correct???

Why not just admit that 5-8 man size premade groups in war zones was an experiment that didn’t go as planned & revert them back to a maximum 4 man size. This would actually take the strain off the matchmaking system & also make it pop faster and be more fair for solo players. 

And if you do revert the premade size in war zones, then please also make the Arena premade sizes 2 man maximum. This would allow for faster & better matchmaking than having 4 man premades sit in the queue for ages & then be put against solo players. 

My points above have all been discussed extensively in the PvP forums & other social media. Those small changes I’ve suggested is something most pvpers agree needs to happen if you want PvP to remain viable. Because at the moment, it’s not enjoyable & you are driving players away from PvP & the game. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by TrixxieTriss

[Spikanor]

1 hour ago, JackieKo said:

Will the Dark vs Light event ever come back?

• There are currently no plans to bring back the DvL event. Reminder, that many of the DvL rewards are available in the game, notably on the Galactic Seasons vendor for GS tokens. 

what about the Dark vs Light system that you guys have remove in 7.0 when is that comming back now since if i read the question from last time you told it was comming back so when is that now since it was more a waste to remove it in the 7.0 expension.

[sharpenedstick]

13 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

You guys seem to refuse to acknowledge your matchmaking is broken.

I don't think they have any sense of what the pvp and gsf queue experiences are like. To take it further, I don't think they are particularly familiar with the basic game play experience, because I doubt they actually play the game.

It's fair to say that there's no solution to the various issues that will please everyone. But flailing about because you don't have a vision for the future is way worse for the game than picking a direction. That is something these devs absolutely do not understand, which is why all we get are inept half-measures.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, Whykara said:

How on earth will this kill GTN. The fee is like a hundred credits, you're being ridiculous. Trade chat will be as active as it always is, GTN is just much more convenient, especially now since player to player trades get taxed as well.

Depending on the fees. If they decide to jack up those fees higher than now or make them a higher percentage of the total, then yes, people who are selling high value items will stop selling via the GTN to avoid the fees.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, SentinalMasterWW said:

Than why isn't limiting premades down to 4 people on this list? I see so many 6-8 man premades. All of this gets thrown out the window when a 6-8 man premade Qs. I've been part of one before and its completely absurd. 

#1. We actually had to split the team into smaller groups because the Matchmake could not figure out how to balance. 

#2. The MMR more than likely doesn't work when Premades join, If there is one Big Premade Qing, than all of this is thrown out the window. 

 

Exactly this @JackieKo 👆

Please consider reducing the premade sizes for War zones back to 4 man limit & also reducing the Arena premade size to 2 man limit. 

[Lord_Malganus]

17 minutes ago, sharpenedstick said:

I don't think they have any sense of what the pvp and gsf queue experiences are like. To take it further, I don't think they are particularly familiar with the basic game play experience, because I doubt they actually play the game.

It's fair to say that there's no solution to the various issues that will please everyone. But flailing about because you don't have a vision for the future is way worse for the game than picking a direction. That is something these devs absolutely do not understand, which is why all we get are inept half-measures.

+1000.

[Samcuu]

25 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

 

 

26 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

(check out your own data of player participation between seasons & compare it to participation before seasons was added)

Wouldn't you think that if they've got the actual hard data, if they saw a massive drop off or an issue forming they'd change it? They know the opinions it's been discussed ad nauseum. We know ur opinion, you have anecdotal evidence that pvp is less popular. My anecdotal evidence tells me it feels the same in regs than before they introduced seasons. Who knows what the real data says, but logic would dictate that they aren't seeing an issue occurring like you seem to think. Either that or there's something more malicious at play. 

Anyways I dont disagree with you completely, best change that could be made is max groups of 4 (I disagree about arenas you should be able to queue full trinity comps if you so choose, maybe just make it like 4 man ranked and if there's no other 4 man premade it just doesn't pop). 

To add on to your point, cross server queueing would be an immense addition and would really go a long way to alleviate the matchmaking problem. 

[frutepy]

@JackieKoWill the class-specific implants be upgradeable to match the new armor ratings?

[Samcuu]

5 minutes ago, frutepy said:

@JackieKoWill the class-specific implants be upgradeable to match the new armor ratings?

Pretty sure they said in the live stream the implants are going up to 340. 

[Saeten]

2 hours ago, codydmaan said:

Since most of the community is running 340 blue gear "especially tanks" since 340 blue is better then 340 purple for tanks

"...most of the community..."  This is not accurate at all. Most of the community is running 336 modded gear. Very few have done any R4 or R4 grinding.  I agree that folks should be able to trade in 340 blue for something instead of the small return of items from deconstructing. But, to go from 340 blue to 340 rakata purple would be a disaster for gear leveling.  Take it a notch down or two like 334 or 336 rakata.  340 blue to 340 rakata would be equal to turning in Columni 336 for Rakata 336.

[Kazuone]

Thx for all these answers