Basilisk Prototype Venture PTS Feedback Thread

[LittleEwina]

OK so I'm filling this as I progress.
The introduction to the mission looks pretty good and so is the cinematic part though I suppose it's no complete yet as Lane's lips don't move at all when she speaks and she doesn't seems to blink either.
I got 3 modules in my inventory. After I picked B3-S1 I got a message saying I have no access to daily area. I can't do anything else.

[WraithAssassin]

Have to chime in along with the other testers that i have NO access to Rhunuk missions at all despite the character i copied over being totally up to date on story (7.4). I did the intro mission talking to Lane, woke up Bessi and got the modules deposited into inventory with no use whatsoever because i had no access to dailies.

The Ventures achievement tab also made no appearance on my legacy window. When this is hopefully fixed, i'll test Bessi out and get along to doing the event testing as i have no working idea on what happens when time runs out with Bessi's field training. 

[The_Hightower]

13 minutes ago, LittleEwina said:

OK so I'm filling this as I progress.
The introduction to the mission looks pretty good and so is the cinematic part though I suppose it's no complete yet as Lane's lips don't move at all when she speaks and she doesn't seems to blink either.
I got 3 modules in my inventory. After I picked B3-S1 I got a message saying I have no access to daily area. I can't do anything else.

Yes, as said before, when copying a character to PTS the following daily areas are not accessible even on toons having unlocked them all:

- Oricon

- Ossus

- Onderon

- Manaan

- Ruhnuk

- Kessan's Landing

You can do the story mission(s) unlocking the daily area(s) on PTS which I did for Onderon and Ruhnuk to be able to test the Venture.

Side note:

The following daily areas are available on PTS albeit they are also unlocked by story:

- Makeb

- Yavin 4

- Ziost

- Iokath

 

 

[pikmin-killer]

I'm not sure if this gives any new info but accepting the Dailys before moving your char doesn't work either.

[JackieKo]

Hey everyone, 

Giving you all a heads up that we will be bouncing the Public Test Server within the next 15 minutes or so to deploy a potential fix that players are seeing with beginning the Basilisk Prototype Venture System. 

Thanks!

[JackieKo]

Hi everyone, 

The PTS is open again. We would like to hear from players who were having issues with starting the Venture system and if they can confirm if they are able to or not able to begin the Venture. 

Thanks! 

[WraithAssassin]

10 hours ago, The_Hightower said:

Next bug report:

I completed repair level 1 of the basilisk and one of the two repair steps of repair level 2. Weekly caps of all currencies are maxed out and I cannot do any further repair streps due to missing currency.
I can still do the missions "Basilisk Training: Ruhnuk Defender" and the corresponding missions for DPS and HEAL on further toons.
However, the achievement "Basilisk Training: Defender" (cf. below) and the corresponding achievements for DPS and HEAL do not progress.

Figured out why i don't have this menu at all and can't see achievements tied to Bessi, Legacy didn't carry over from PTS. Little annoying but guess i'll just have to copy my one from live servers to see it.

[LadyAdmiral]

UPDATE: Yes, my achievements were now available I had access to the ruhnuk dailies when I logged in, so I could progress bessie.

FEEDBACK:

• I feel like the quest is quite clear which I appreciate because the Ventures tab is intimidating
• DID NOT LIKE: So when I went to start playing with Bessie as Combat I saw that I needed to do 2 Ruhnuk dailies. I wasn't familiar with which ones were "faster" so I just grabbed *all* the Ruhnuk dailies and started wandering around doing them piecemeal. I eventually partially completed many of the quests, and eventually fully completed two and returned to Lane. Then she told me to keep training. Cool. So I went to use the Tank Training Module item, and it was greyed out. It told me the error. It told me something like "not enough missions available". So I guessed that it was maybe because I had picked up all the Ruhnuk missions already. So I had to drop some partially completed ones to be able to switch her to tank. This was 1) frustrating because it was confusing - my natural thought is to pick up all the dailies 2) frustrating because I had to reset progress. I dont think I would have minded if I only picked up 2 to start and never partially-did the other ones (awareness)
• After I finished Combat I wanted to try Defense. I clicked the defense module in the ventures tab. I see i needed to do "Basilisk Trainer: Defender - Compelte intiial defensive training mission with your basilisk prototype". I felt a bit confused about what this specific task was asking me to do. The more specific instructions were to 1) use the defensive module (and if it is greyed out, drop some ruhnuk missions) and 2) run 2 ruhnuk missions. It didnt even tell me if i would be on ruhuk again or not.
• I got a bit frustated after those two things and I didn't want to go back and test defense and combat so maybe I'll try again later lol.

[pikmin-killer]

all the things are here now and I was able to complete the "heal" training mission.

• The missions currently don't mention which training I am doing which caused me to "waste" most of the dailys I did because I had the Basilisk on the wrong Role. (I'm assuming the final build will have some text in the quest explaining which mission I'm currently doing)
• Once the 1-hour timer on the companion ran out, the Basilisk was re-added as a companion but without the timer (neither the one in the companion window nor the one in my 'Buff Tray'.

EDIT: After I finished the Training Mission that was active when the timer ran out the Basilisk disappeared and became unavailable but returned to normal with the timers active after picking it up again from the Lab

Edited May 3 by pikmin-killer

[WraithAssassin]

After playing through the introductory mission, did you have a good understanding of how to progress the venture? Yes i did.

Was anything confusing or unclear about how to repair your Basilisk Prototype? Not at all.

Was the Venture UI (in the Legacy Panel) clear and easy to understand? Were there any parts of it you had difficulty using? First, yes. Second, no.

What did you think of the Basilisk Prototype Companion itself? Is it something you would enjoy unlocking and using? Why or why not? Bessi's alright, it's a little painful to be gibbed of all abilities and be tasked to run heroics as a bonus. A comp with one ability to run a higher end heroic with isn't fun.

Did you encounter any issues that prevented you from progressing the Venture? Please describe them in detail. Aside from not having access to Rhunuk dailies for a few hours, no.

Did you encounter any other bugs or issues during your testing? No

What are your overall impressions of the Venture System and of the Basilisk Prototype Companion? The goal of "Using x spec abilities" needs a SERIOUS rethink. As it stands, you need to use the first ability 25 times (simple, if a little annoying with the heal being used only at 80% health or under), the second ability ONLY 50 times and the third ability ONLY 100 times. The third ability of 2/3 specs has the longest cooldowns. DPS especially since it's only used when an enemy is at a certain % of health.

My idea to remedy this is to make sure that ALL abilities count towards those objectives. Saves people having to do the third DPS move 100 times and have it be a slow and agonizing grind if the other two can also count towards that 100. 

I discovered this rather glaring issue while trying to get the tank spec from level 2 to 3. The charge no longer counted towards ability use, only the single taunt. So instead of BOTH counting up towards 50, it was a slow march around waiting for the single taunt to go off cooldown.

[Andertyne]

I am having an issue now where I can no longer resummon Bessie because I did the [DAILY] Unconventional Methods mission on Ruhnuk (because the quest removes all your companions). I also did not get credit for the quest because I did not have the companion out.

Edited May 3 by Andertyne

[toomanyluigis]

@JackieKo The mission "[DAILY] Unconventional Methods" does not count towards Basilisk Training missions.

[Richard_Rall]

Dear Devs, please fix inventory/legacy perks/other stuff extention! It's impossible to test something when even basic things are broken.

[The_Hightower]

8 hours ago, toomanyluigis said:

@JackieKo The mission "[DAILY] Unconventional Methods" does not count towards Basilisk Training missions.

It does not count because Bessie (and every other companion) is sent away when controlling the mouse droid and is not auto-summoned after completing the mission, i.e., when the quest reward pops up (it only count's for Bessie's quest if Bessie is summoned).

The easiest way to solve it would be to be able to complete the mission manually, i.e., to add the step of contacting someone by clicking on a quest item. This would at least allow to summon the companion again.

The more sophisticated yet complex solution would be that the companion (which was sent away at the start of the mission) is auto-summoned after completing the mission objectives (i.e., when relinquishing control of the mouse droid) and completing the mission, i.e., popping up the quest reward, after summoning the companion.

Edited May 4 by The_Hightower

[HobbesToo]

The Basilisk Training that is 0/ , 0/3... it looks like it can only be incremented by the character that starts the mission. I completed 1 training mission on character #1, when I switched characters to character #2 I launched the training mission, but didn't receive completion for 2/2. Once I switched back to character #1 I was able to complete 2/2 for the training mission.

[HobbesToo]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:58 AM, JackieKo said:

Did you encounter any other bugs or issues during your testing?

I noticed that the repair terminal would sometimes be glowing when I loaded into the instance but would stop glowing once I stepped into the room.

[Roccosan]

I did 2 training missions without problems now i cant summon bessy because my companion window is totally crahed and look like this, 

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/935047-companion-window-n-totally-messed-up/#comment-9814022

[HobbesToo]

Shatter Missile and Shockwave Generator are not advancing the Basilisk Research x/100. Only by using Pulse-Wave Cannon will the counter increment. 

This is happening while doing Makeb dailies.

Looks like progression in the Venture system has stopped at level 3.

Edited May 7 by HobbesToo
Added Makeb info, and added stopped progression

[Meshla_Naast]

Hi @JackieKo

I am leaving feedback here, as requested. - MeshlaMorut

Questions:

• After playing through the introductory mission, did you have a good understanding of how to progress the venture?
  • Yes, it seemed pretty straightforward.
• Was anything confusing or unclear about how to repair your Basilisk Prototype?
  • It seems that making the repairs requires a lot of research data. Is there any way to parse or sort out how many missions we would need to complete to accomplish each stage?
• Was the Venture UI (in the Legacy Panel) clear and easy to understand? Were there any parts of it you had difficulty using?
  • It is not immediately clear why the galaxy map button is included when most of the required missions are dailies.
• What did you think of the Basilisk Prototype Companion itself? Is it something you would enjoy unlocking and using? Why or why not?
  • Yes. It's a neat addition to the game's overall lore. Personally, I feel that the work to get it makes sense from a lore and in-universe standpoint. I'm a total lore nerd.
• Did you encounter any issues that prevented you from progressing the Venture? Please describe them in detail.
  • No. I was able to progress the Venture. I was not able to progress after the third planet (Ruhnuk > Belsavis > Makeb), as there was no quest marker over Bessie's head.
• Did you encounter any other bugs or issues during your testing?
  • There is a lack of storage space. Legacy unlocks of Cargo Hold and Inventory slots did not transfer to PTS (I have both fully unlocked across legacy). 
  • This is problematic when picking up the training modules, as each step provides several. See screenshot.
  • What happened to the transparent background on the floating map? It now has a background like when you open the world or area maps. It's rather jarring and blocks a large portion of the screen. Seems to be mainly on Ruhnuk and Dantooine. Other planets appear to have normal overlay maps. Screenshots are included below.
• What are your overall impressions of the Venture System and of the Basilisk Prototype Companion?
  • I think a bit more explanation on how to start the ventures would be useful.
  • Most times, there is a quest you can pick up or one that is auto-granted based on your character's position in the overall story arc. (Case in point - the date night missions)
  • I really am enjoying the overall arc with the bes'uliik. Digging into Mandalorian lore has always been a hobby of mine. 

Screenshots

PTS inventory (left) vs Live Server (Right)

 

PTS Floating map 

 

Live Server Floating Map

Edited May 9 by Meshla_Naast
Pic didn't attach.

[HobbesToo]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:58 AM, JackieKo said:

 

• What did you think of the Basilisk Prototype Companion itself? Is it something you would enjoy unlocking and using? Why or why not?
• The Basilisk Prototype Companion while cute doesn't seem to provide anything above and beyond what any other companion can do in-game. The only real difference is how the companion "levels up", every other companion uses the gift system while the Basilisk uses the Venture system. I was expecting more from the Basilisk. Perhaps it would have been similar to the combat support droid we get in some Flashpoints, B3-S1 could simultaneously tank/heal/dps, or send out on multiple crew skill missions. As for B3-S1 she is a great doggo-like companion that will know I will enjoy taking out for walkies in the galaxy. I hope there is more animations for petting, speaking, sitting, fetching, etc.
• What are your overall impressions of the Venture System and of the Basilisk Prototype Companion?
• I was expecting the Basilisk Prototype Companion to be more difficult to get and level up. It was stated in the latest developer stream by Eric that having a fully-upgraded B3-S1 would be similar to the "Wings of the Architect" mount, where its rarity is implied due to the time and difficulty it takes to get the mount. Well, from what I have seen it is too easy to upgrade B3-S1 and it will take no time what so ever for every player on the server to be running around with a fully upgraded B3-S1. The Wings of the Architect mount is a chance drop from a MM operation, by comparison a fully upgraded B3-S1 will take a few dailies to unlock. As for the Venture System it was a little difficult to figure out at first but after a few weeks its getting easier to understand. I didn't even realize there was a UI until @JackieKo mentioned it.

Thanks!

 

[LadyAdmiral]

 

Feedback PTS #2

0)

https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GNMA-2Xb0AACse_-1024x717.jpg

LOVE THE NEW SCREEN VERY CLEAR!

I wonder what it looks like on a non eligible character, cus my level 1 on hutta was eligible lol.

1) Um... are the repaair boxes supposed to escape out of their box. And the Defensive Prace on the right looks like it got unaligned too and the Repair Defense Module is on the line making it hard to read.

 

2) After I accept {Burc'ya Vaal Burk'yc} and speak to lane via holocom, I click the green "Lane's Lab" button and it does nothing. Sad lol. I was excited for it as I get lost easily in the short  tunnels of Ruhnuk. No error message given, no indication other than the "depress" state of the button after clicking.

 

3) Thanks for making it a purple main quest!

4) I STILL HAVE DOUBLE BESSIES LOL (first cutscene with lane in lab 

speaking to bessie also double

i guess this is maybe related to bessie's state from some of my other characters have done or partially done the bessie quests?

5) [Data Cache] the currency is listed as Binds on Pickup. But from PTS Testing Round #1 it seems to actually be Binds to Leegacy, increasing the count on one character adds to the count for all characters in the currency tab. I think this still is true for Round #2. The other [Data] currencies seem to be Binds on Pickup as well but actually are binds to legacy-wide.

6) So I've already completed Bessie's intial quest on multiple characters previously and got her to Repair Level 2 of 11. I hopped on a new character to play with her and do the quest, and it asks me to do all the same steps again for {Burc'ya Vaal Burk'yc} - once I "have" Bessie it asks me to do the Ruhnuk 2 daily quests. BUT. When I go to my Ventures, if I want to keep upgrading Bessie, I need to complete "training modules". ON my more advanced character, this sent me to another planet like CZ-198, but on my newer character I'm only sent specifically to Ruhnuk. I felt confused on whether these intial [Support Training Module: Ruhnuk][Defense Training Module: Ruhnuk] modules would count towards "Repair Level 2" or not.

EDIT: It did not count, I thought it would.  It did contribute towards her "Combat Practice" but not her "Training Modules: Combat". It also only gave me [Combat Systems Data][Prototype Data] x30, though I'm at the point where I need 50 to do upgrades lol. 

7) This lore object is still cursed to glow even after you have it. "Crate of Mysterious Tech" I only bring it up because it is very confusing to one of the Ruhnuk dailies which we'll be running plenty.

8 ) Bessie portrait still funky

9) Running around as a DPS with bessie as a DPS is hilarious. She's... very weak. And we die quick together. So I actually have to be careful??? She's endearing for sucking so bad as a companion.

 

10) TRAINING REMINDER QUEST YAY!

11) At this point I decided to try the "Lane's Lab" green button and it opened the Galaxy Map to Ruhnuk. Lol. I was expecting it to teleport me TO lane.

12) The order of these messages is funny. "Sorry you are decreased to zero, but you get 1" (I got zero)

13) After running 2 ruhnuk dailies on a new character after running it on other characters, and not having enough data to upgrade, I felt confused about where I was in my act of progression. Should I go run 2 more dailies on ruhnuk in another role, or stop wasting my time on this character and go run stuff on my original character instead, even though I wanted to play on this new one and Bessie is meant to be legacy-wide?

I now have the "data" currency to afford the items from the astromech, but which ones do i actually need, after clearly not having the right ones last time? I see three Training Modules all with the same name which increases my confusion and doubt that I am doing the correct thing to progress. [The difference is they cost Defense / Support / Combat data currency, but I think they are the same item?]

 

I THINK to progress my Ventures, I need to buy [Combat Training Module].

But I also need the same currency and to save it up to complete my quest  to "Begin Repairs", which in Bessie's currenct state, requires 50 (I only have 30).

At this point I get frustrated and feel unsure which to do next, so give up for the night. I regret not just sticking to my main character even though it seemed more fun to spread the bessie love around.

---------

For tracking, for version #1 of the PTS, here was my "instructions" or step by step of Bessie.

Spoiler

.

Quote

Starting Out

[This information is from PTS, and may change on live servers]

There is a special mission as soon as you land on Ruhnuk called Burc'ya Vaal Burk'yc. This will let you talk to Lane easily to start the Basilisk ventures. This leads to completing the mission "Starting Out" and gives you a Data Cache which will automatically open in your inventory and give you a support, combat, and defense training module for Ruhnuk, plus x3 of the new Data Chip currency in your currency tab.

Next, talk to Bessie the droid who is nearby in Lane's workshop, she should have a quest marker. This will complete the "Stabilized" mission and then Bessie will be beside you. From your inventory right-click on of the Training modules, it doesn't matter which one  - if they are not clickable, it may mean your character is not far enough to unlock Ruhnuk dailies.

Depending on which module you use, you will get new mission called something like Basilisk Training: Ruhnuk Protector - either way, it's your new Basilisk Training quest. It asks you to "Complete Daily Missions on Ruhnuk 0/2". I recommend leaving, going to the Ruhnuk quest terminal outside the door, and picking up ONLY 2 and the weekly. Don't pick up all the quests like you normally would when running dailies. 

• Along the way, make sure to also kill 25 enemies on Ruhnuk with Bessie out in her role, to complete a different non-quest objective
• When you complete 2 Ruhnuk quests, you'll get an item called [Collected Research] (since I had bessie as a healer, I got [Collected Research: Support]). The {Burc'ya Vaal Burk'yc} quest will tell you to go back and talk to lane.

• https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a5c2f02957.png Right-click the [Collected Research] from your inventory.  It will give you [Systems Data] x30 matching the role you picked and [Prototype Data] x30 in your currency tab. These are Binds on Pickup which means they are per-character not legacy-wide.

• To begin repair once you have "Data" currency, right-click the glowing blue terminal in Lane's lab. It costs [Systems Data] x30 matching the role you want to upgrade and [Prototype Data] x30 in your currency tab. Since I did Bessie as a healer I only have currency to upgrade her Support module right now. Because I had also already upraded her DPS yesterday, the Combat module was not available to upgrade on the terminal, just Support and Defense.
• Once you repair Bessie and talk to Lane again, that will complete {Burc'ya Vaal Burk'yc}.
• https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a5d919afa3.pnghttps://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a5dab2e1b0.png

  https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a5e7fafd9b.png

•  Since the quest is complete, it may not be entirely clear what you are supposed to do next. Although there's no quest, you can keep upgrading Bessie through the Ventures system.
• To get to the Ventures system, press Y on your keyboard to open your Legacy panel, and click Ventures -> Basilisk Prototype on the left.
• You'll have successfully completed one of the three support modules repairs. You can go repeat this for the other two (Comba,t Support, Defense) either on the same character or hop on a different character. I can't speak for later levels but it was fun to hop around between characters when I did Combat then Support. When you make repairs they do seem to be legacy-wide not per character.
• ?????????????????????????????????????????? [Data Chip] say they are Binds on Equip but seem to actually be legacy-wide?
• One you have done this for all three, Combat, Support, Defense, you will complete what is known as "Initial Repairs" and a new set of tasks will show up in the Ventures tab for all three modules.
• You'll get three new items called [Defensive Training Module][Support Training Module][Combat Training Module]

  https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a688234d59.png
  These look like computer chips.
  When you right-click these new modules, it will give you a new item called [Combat Training Module: -PLANETNAMEHERE-] - for example, I clicked Combat and got [Combat Training Module: CZ-198].
  When I right-click that new item it tells me to "Pick up Daily Missions on CZ-198" (it doesn't say how many, but I'm guessing 2 - once you actually pick up a mission, it tells you 0/2 for the quest {Basilisk Training: CZ-198 Agressor})

• Combat
  • <Basilisk Training: Aggressor>
  • <Basilisk Research: Combat Practice> use dps abiltiies 50 times
  • <Basilisk Research> do 2 missions
• If you go to the repair terminal, it now costs [Systems Data] x50 matching the role you want to upgrade and [Prototype Data] x50 in your currency tab instead of 30.

• https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a694384c4c.pngBessie keeps getting unsummoned when I change planet

• Using Abilities: Bessie will automatically use her Combat abilities.
  https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a69cae783f.png

  https://swtorista.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/img_663a69d684656.png

• As you can see she only has two "Combat" abilities. Her normal regular attack on the far left does not count I think.
• I think the idea is that you need to let BESSIE kill things, not kill everything yourself.

x

And for version #2, thanks for reading the feedbacks and making changes so quick that's cool!!!

[LadyAdmiral]

Feedback: The change to the text and instructions of the objectives is great thanks. It is much clearer. 

[LadyAdmiral]

PTS Round #1

Everything cute and fits well in the layout

PTS Round #2

A blue-bordered box was added to the background but it is not lined up well

and if you can not see it i made a dashed line where it is

[recalcitrantIre]

On 5/4/2024 at 12:44 PM, Richard_Rall said:

Dear Devs, please fix inventory/legacy perks/other stuff extention! It's impossible to test something when even basic things are broken.

seconding for more visibility on this issue, specifically the part where the button to access inventory module expansions is entirely non-responsive on the PTS

 

is there some deeper reason why account-level unlocks from the live servers don't transfer over to the PTS

[djbauer]

Quick Report on Defensive Training: Makeb and Training Modules: Defense for rank 2

1) I completed the requirements of Defensive Training: Makeb with Besi out
2) The mission was pending to be completed in the top right
3) Besi timed out and went back to Ruhnuk
4) I accepted the rewards, got collected research etc. but NO credit for "Training Modules: Defense". 0/2.
 

The module was in fact done and Besi had been there the whole time up until accepting the mission reward. I can only assume:

• This is bugged and Makeb Defensive Training specifically isn't counting for some reason
• This is bugged and Besi must be around to see you pick up your winnings for the training to count
• Worst Scenario: This is working as intended and Besi must be around for the reward acceptance even if the mission was completed with Besi present

As it stands if you're cutting it close, it's better to wait on Ruhnuk to recharge your dog before finishing up your last daily to ensure you're getting credit, which seems like an exorbant use of data chips for just taking a little longer. Making the objectives timed is fine and all but the rare risk of having the dailies not count is a rough amount of wasted effort on the player's end.