Star Wars: The Old Republic Random Question/Discussion thread - F2P

[Calina]

I know the game has problems, and it is sad to hear that they dumbed it down so much, that really stinks. I am still going to play, it was enough fun for me to get sucked into.

My question today is, is there going to be any reason to play on a PvP server besides screwing around with other faction? There is PvP mini games, and some places (Tatooine?) where there is free for all open world PvP, so what would cause you to want to play on a PvP server unless you really enjoy camping lower lvl people or something? When I was on Balmorra and Nar Shadda I never saw anybody from the Republic, I didn't go looking for them but I never saw anybody. What server type are you guys going to be rolling on?

Also, had a lot of fun playing an Imperial Agent Operative, healing spec, this final beta weekend. Got to lvl 22. Once you get a feel for your healing rotation you can really pump out the heals without running out of energy, even doing Hammer Station with 3 DPS and me as healer I didn't have any real problems. That is a really easy flashpoint so it's not a really fair test, but it was easy to heal. Digging Agent storyline, still torn at what my first guy will be at launch. I really enjoyed playing Juggernaut, but I might go with Jedi Guardian instead of Sith side, also really enjoyed Smuggler and Agent storylines and gameplay. Never tried doing any force user DPS, just tanking and healing, so I will have to try that out, but I think I will do either a smuggler or jedi tank to start. I think I will start on Republic side, I have played the first 20 lvls to death on Imp side.

Just 10-15 more days till we get to play for real!

I played on a PvP server 1-50 on my first beta build months back and it was chaos unless you love being camped by someone 10+ levels over you for hrs on end id advise agents it but once you get high enough you can do the same and let me tell you it is insanely fun spending hrs and hrs ruining someone's day with no accountability just killing them over and over and cause when you attack them you go into combat mode they can't quick travel away or anything so there is almost no way for them to get away from you unless you let them or they log out for a while hoping you leave the area.

There in lies the problem with PvP servers when there are no rules or systems to discourage such behavior enjoying them game yourself only really comes when your making someone else miserable.

[Meyor]

I played on a PvP server 1-50 on my first beta build months back and it was chaos unless you love being camped by someone 10+ levels over you for hrs on end id advise agents it but once you get high enough you can do the same and let me tell you it is insanely fun spending hrs and hrs ruining someone's day with no accountability just killing them over and over and cause when you attack them you go into combat mode they can't quick travel away or anything so there is almost no way for them to get away from you unless you let them or they log out for a while hoping you leave the area.

There in lies the problem with PvP servers when there are no rules or systems to discourage such behavior enjoying them game yourself only really comes when your making someone else miserable.

I am sure I will find a guild to play with on whatever server I end up on, but this is my concern, as I do spend most of the time playing by myself. Having some bored lvl 50 camping me on a lvl 30 planet or something will get old quick. As I don't enjoy doing that myself very much, I think I will play PvE server, still plenty of opportunities for PvP. Thanks for verifying my thoughts!

[Ohemgee]

I might reconsider the PvP server as well. But I'll sure as fuck play PvP often.

[Meyor]

That's just it, there are plenty of options for PvP, if you play single player like a kotor game, whats the fun in getting ganked by somebody thats higher lvl and boerd...

And you know there is going to be plenty of people that get to lvl 50 with nothing else to do most of the time but screw around like that.

[Calina]

I might reconsider the PvP server as well. But I'll sure as fuck play PvP often.

This is why I actually still have an active preorder the more "controlled" pvp warzones and ilum/tatooine are very fun. Get all the PvP you want when you want it and not have to be constantly looking over your shoulder while questing for someone sneaking up to gank you for hours till you give up playing for the day and log off.

[vrumpt]

On the topic of item modding

source

We will be posting a detailed description of our item modding strategy soon. It should answer a lot of questions/concerns.

Gonna be nice to hear what they have to say about it. Hopefully they continue to open up afterwards but i won't hold my breath

[Zerocool]

Another dev quote on the UI:

Originally Posted by StephenReid
Here's one: the UI team are still working and there are improvements coming, but you will not see a radical overhaul pre-launch.

There are still quite a few UI issues generally, and those are being addressed and fixed as a priority - but improvements have not been forgotten about.

[Rulke]

Question about early access if anyone knows or has been following closely. With "info to come", are there stages of this? Like some people will get in on the 15th, some the following day, the day after etc?

[Calina]

Question about early access if anyone knows or has been following closely. With "info to come", are there stages of this? Like some people will get in on the 15th, some the following day, the day after etc?

Yes they have stated it will be a staggered server opening based on when you registered your preorder code. The info to come is the date each of us get in.

[Ohemgee]

I'm sure they'll email us before.

But can we download the entire game now or is that available later?

[Calina]

I'm sure they'll email us before.

But can we download the entire game now or is that available later?

Best answer I can give is to watch this thread on the forums:

Prepare Your SWTOR Client for Early Access and Launch

[Meyor]

You guys get the email today that said to delete everything before launch? I was pretty sure that it was confirmed you could use the last beta build and get it patched to launch, but I followed the email instructions and went ahead and deleted, better safe then sorry.

[Rulke]

You guys get the email today that said to delete everything before launch? I was pretty sure that it was confirmed you could use the last beta build and get it patched to launch, but I followed the email instructions and went ahead and deleted, better safe then sorry.

No such email for me, but then again I only got into testing on the Nov 25th session.

Edit, according to info on the link that Calina posted, you might have jumped the gun. Apparently Bioware sent that email early/premature before posting a thread with the info.

For those of you with a SW client still installed, this is probably the more important info:

To verify that you have the launch version installed, you can check for the "assets_swtor_main" version file in the following location on your computer: \Program Files (x86)\EA\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic (assuming default installation). If you have that file present, you do not need to reinstall the game client.

[Meyor]

Oh well, I am sure they will give us a day or two before we get early access to get everything ready, never had any real time issues with the beta downloads, and I re downloaded for each beta anyway. Thanks for info, hopefully some other people can use it.

[Ezek]

I was able to patch up to the latest version and actually launch the game, which I knew was the actual launch build when all the fancy logos and whatnot started playing one after the other. Didn't bother to uninstall it after seeing that and I'm glad I didn't, I have said file in my install directory.

[Zerocool]

This sounds pretty good. I'm glad they're restricting forum posting to subscribers only. Should clean up some of the trolling.

This Saturday, Dec. 10th, the Forums will become unavailable as we make preparations for launch. When they become available again, you'll notice many exciting changes!

First of all, we'll have many new forums available where you can discuss all aspects of the game, from Crew Skills to PvP. The Guild Hall forums will be expanded significantly and will include new "Looking for Guild" forums, class forums will contain sub-forums for each Advanced Class, and we'll introduce a new Story and Lore forum for discussion of the game's setting and story. To encourage constructive community building, you'll also notice a "New Player Help" forum and a Community section that includes areas for regional check-ins and meetups, all kinds of fan creations and role-playing, and forums for server event organization. These are just some of the new forums we'll be introducing. We're looking forward to all the great discussion!

Another new feature we're implementing is our Community blog, which will appear at the top of www.SWTOR.com/community. We'll use this blog for important community announcements, updates, and to post articles of interest to our community members, so make sure to check it out frequently!

The launch Forums will be a fresh start: all threads, posts, and private messages will be removed and warnings and infractions on your account will be deleted. If you have any special posts or private messages that you would like to save, please do so now! When Early Game Access begins, only those who have redeemed their Pre-Order Code will be able to post on the forums, though everyone will be able to view them. Then, when the game officially launches, only those who have active game time will be permitted to post.

As we move forward, we will continue to improve our community forums. You can expect to see new features that make it easier to find developer posts and several updates to our skin to make everyday use of the forums easier for everyone.

We're very excited about the changes that are coming, and we can't wait to work with you to make the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ community a great experience for everyone!

[Meyor]

I hope it helps, I would rather saw my leg off with a lego than try to get anything useful from those forums at present.

[Ohemgee]

Any ideas on what you're rolling as come launch day?

I'm probably going to cave in to the inner fanboy and go Jedi Sentinel.

http://www.torhead.com/calculator/sk...R0fGzZhZG00M.1

I really wanted to be a Commando, but I can't find myself liking the support healing role for too long without wanting to produce big numbers.

http://www.torhead.com/calculator/sk...MR0fdkqZrcZc.1

[Calina]

Any ideas on what you're rolling as come launch day?

I'm probably going to cave in to the inner fanboy and go Jedi Sentinel.

http://www.torhead.com/calculator/sk...R0fGzZhZG00M.1

I really wanted to be a Commando, but I can't find myself liking the support healing role for too long without wanting to produce big numbers.

http://www.torhead.com/calculator/sk...MR0fdkqZrcZc.1

Id advise agents going sentinel unless you like dieing a lot. Sentinel gives new meaning to glass cannon. I played it in last 2 builds after they started to rework the job and even with the "improvements" its slow to level cause you spend so much time healing between fights and after you die and expensive as hell if you don't want to die every fight and only sometimes cause you need to use a med pack every fight(starts out cheap 250 each and progressively gets more expensive as you level at 50 4-5k a pop unless you make your own). By the time I got to 45 when build ended am fairly certain I had spent more on med packs then I did on all the armor prices combined all that way 1-45.

Commando can be nearly as good a DD as sentinel depending on how you spec it(straight DD spec or healing spec) but has far better survivability cause you can cure yourself even without going a healing spec. Just remember to let your leader know how your speced and you wont be main healing. Pretty much every class in the game that has a healing spec suffers from rdm complex in that cause your class can heal they assume that is how you are speced. An if you go commando or just trooper in general be ready to run around looking like a clown in miss matched brightly colored armor. With the state the mod system is in right now and the removal of "match armor to chest piece color" you pretty much have no choose but to upgrade your armor piece by piece as you level and every piece of trooper armor is white/"random bright color" you will never have a matching set till you build an endgame set. now while that goes for every class trooper gets it the worst by far cause of the general armor design.

[vrumpt]

dev post is up on item mods and modding in general. Much clearer with what they are doing now, and i'm pretty excited for it.

So, it turns out some of the patch notes regarding our modding system were probably poorly written (by me, I must add) and generated quite a lot of concern. I’ll try to explain the changes better and, while I'm at it, explain the logic for those changes.

To start with, we’ve introduced a new color and item type: the Custom items. Those are shown with an orange border and are fully moddable. This change is purely cosmetic. What we have done is take all fully moddable Prototype items (blue) and simply changed their icon color. This helps us create a better and more unique identity for fully moddable gear.

Since other games have used orange to signify truly rare and epic gear, let me clarify that orange in Star Wars: The Old Republic has nothing to do with 'epic' gear. (And for those curious, our version of 'epic' is a very deep purple, bordering on a rich blue). The orange we use is actually the old bronze color we developed a long time ago when our color coding was based on metals (bronze, silver, gold, platinum, etc).

Custom gear is actually pretty common: it can be obtained through class quests around level 8, as social gear, as space quest rewards and as light side / dark side gear. It is also the typical gear found in Flashpoints and as rewards for Heroic missions. Several pieces can be acquired using planetary commendations.

The second change introduced in the latest build is the locking down of the base mods (Armoring, Barrel, Hilt) and color crystal mod on the Artifact items (purple). To explain this change, I need to also explain the history of the the modding system...

So, the first version of the modding system had many issues. It is amazing that a system that is only a few months old is already quite misremembered, but that’s because while the system implementation was less than stellar, players really liked the concept that tried to shine through and now remember it much more fondly that it truly deserves. The main issues of the old system were as follow:

- There were too many different modifications. Sure, the mods had a lot of flavor and made sense: triggers and scopes for guns, underlays and overlays for armors, power cells and crystals for Lightsabers, etc. But in the end, keeping the mods in all gear up to date every few levels was a major pain on the players’ side. Remember, at that time, mods could not be extracted - so a replacement for each and every one of those mods had to be individually located every few levels. And let me tell you, creating and maintaining all those tens of thousands of mods on our end was also not exactly sustainable.

- Some items only had a few mod slots. I know everyone by now remembers a 'perfect' world where everything was moddable, but that simply wasn’t the way it worked. Most premium (green) items did not have a full set of slots and which slots weren't present was a bit random. So, you could find a purple trigger and get all excited about fitting it on your moddable gun - until you realized the gun mysteriously had a scope slot, but not a trigger slot. Of course, your next gun could have a trigger but no scope. This left many players scratching their heads.

- Once slotted, a mod could not be removed. This had a very perverse effect: players would find a really good mod - say a purple overlay - but would really hesitate in slotting it into an armor. What if they find a cooler looking armor next level? Many players would end up saving their good mods for later and ended up over leveling them.

- Mods that were crafted or purchased were most of the time inferior to the mod already slotted onto a prototype (blue) item. This made the entire mod system somewhat useless. One of the main reason was that crafters could not create good mods. Reverse engineering - the main method to obtain prototype and artifact (blue and purple) crafted items - did not work on mod.

- Modding was only done at a workbench. This made it rather cumbersome as the players had to hunt down a workbench before they could fit a new mod into one of their items.

So, to summarize: in the old system, you could not take any piece of gear, fit it with the best mods and keep it all the way to the end levels: a lot of the green gear did not have all the slots, the mods that could be obtained were for the most part... not good, and you could not extract better one from existing gear.

So... things had to change. Because despite all those warts, some of the players who tested the system really liked the concept: that a player could find an appearance they really like and work to keep it relevant all the way to end game. So, we knew we were on to something and we also knew the old system was just not delivering.

Those changes took time to implement. Some of them concerned large amounts of data and some required new code. Unfortunately, not everything could be implemented on time for each testing build and, in some of the builds, testers were exposed to a very raw and partially completed new system. However, today, we are close to where we want to be - but not quite there yet (more on that later).

So, the changes we made are:

- Item modding can now be done anywhere at anytime. No workbench required.

- Crafters can now reverse engineer mods and create blue and purple mods.

- A new Custom quality (orange) was introduced to legitimize moddable items as their own quality and type. This isn’t a big deal but does clarify things a little.

- Mods can now be extracted from a Custom item. This is the single most important change and has many, many consequences. However, we feel that being able to slot a mod and then extract it back truly opens up the system and makes it a lot more fun, easy and safe to experiment with. I’m not 100% happy about how the system interface and GUI works today (it is still a bit clunky) but at least it is functional.

- Rather than have a whole bunch of unique mod types, some mods are now common to all items. This greatly helps players who are 'going the mod route’ to stay relevant and competitive as they now have a much higher chance to find exactly the mods they need, level after level, be it from a crafter, at a planetary commendation vendor or by extracting it from another item.

- Partially moddable premium (green) items were removed as they essentially lied to the players: an item missing a mod slot would never be able to match a high end non-moddable item. Instead, to compensate for the loss of diversity, orange versions of all green armors was created and given to the crafters. So, yes, if you see a green armor you really like, you still can have that appearance until end level. It does take a bit of work - you either need to become a crafter yourself, befriend one or trawl the GTN.

(Note: recipes for those orange appearances are discovered through Underworld Trading missions.This allows us to have a truly large number of those recipes without overwhelming the crafting trainer inventory. As a side effect, this opens up class quest green armor appearances from other classes as well as long as you fulfill the armor requirements.)

- End game artifact quality (purple) gear is now partially moddable. Why moddable? Because that allows the players to customize stats such as critical, etc. to their exact desire. Why only partially? Because mods are now extractable... Think of it this way: it is easier to defeat the first boss from an Operation than the last boss. So we want to reward the players with the best possible loot for defeating the last boss and that loot is typically the Chest piece of a set. The first boss drops less interesting stuff, say boots. This may sound old school, and it is. But by doing so, we ensure that both players that get rewarded by looks and those rewarded by stats are properly rewarded for taking on the most difficult challenges.

Now, if purple gear was fully moddable, players would simply farm the first boss, acquire 5 pair of boots, extract the armoring, mod and enhancements from the boots and slots them in their favorite Custom items. That actually sounds cool, but it really isn’t. Letting players extract the armoring mod from the purple items would trivialize end game gear progression and stop rewarding successful and dedicated players for their efforts.

So, instead of letting that happen, we prevented the Armoring, Hilt and Barrel from being extracted, but we also made sure of dropping purple Armoring mods of equivalent power as Operation loot. This means that players going the mod route can still take their favorite orange armor and make it as good as a operation purple armor (with some temporary caveats).

- Some crafting recipes that allowed the creation of moddable armors and weapons have been replaced with non-moddable versions. Why the nerf? Because those recipes were no longer properly balanced once we allowed mod extraction. It became far cheaper and faster to create an item for the sole purpose of extracting every mods out of it than creating mods in the first place. This also allowed nearly every crafter to create every type of mods, which wasn’t very balanced either. Instead, the crafter can now make a non-moddable item for those players that enjoy that and, thanks to newly introduced recipes, a moddable (but empty slotted) version of the item.

Now, with those changes, we are closer to an actual implementation of our modding philosophy than ever before. Is it perfect? No, not yet. There are still some imbalances here and there (and I trust this community to let us know loud and clear if we miss any) but it is close and the remaining issues are on their way to be fixed. Of course, it would help to clarify what that philosophy is:

To put it simply, we want moddable items to offer an alternate and optional loot system that allows players to customize their look and their stats with more freedom and without penalty for doing so.

However there are many times where it will be easier for a player to just put on whatever stuff they just looted and not care about the way it looks. Keeping a specific outfit or weapon “up to date” or obtaining a specific look may require additional time and dedication, such as finding a crafter that can create that specific smuggler shirt or that rare color crystal.

I hope this clarifies things a little. As always, we are very much interested to hear what you all have to say on the system, but at least you now have a bit more information to go on - and of course, in a very short time, you will all be able to test this on the live servers.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who have been helping with the test of the game and offered your very passionate opinions - on this subject and others. Testing a beta isn’t easy. Things changes all the time, some stuff isn’t finished and nothing seems to make sense without the benefit of knowing what’s going on behind the scene. So thanks again and I hope to have the chance of meeting each and every one of you in game.