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

[Dantrag]

I consider myself to be a pretty skilled pvp sorc and if I get caught alone by a marauder I usually get toasted if they are similarly geared (ie full champs/some bm). Thankfully I don't let myself get into those situations too often and I can just go along trolololing my way to 250k dmg/200k healing. Also, everyone I see is butthurt about sorcs but rarely do I hear people complaining about mercs when they pretty much do exactly the same dmg/healing in a wz.

As a Merc its damage or healing, not both. We can't heal with the our dps cylinders in. And without being speced either way we suck at the other one.

[Intervention]

I think the biggest issue with Sorc/Sage is that there is just way too much utility for staying alive than other classes.

And some abilities are just way too strong *cough* sprint *cough

[Intervention]

As a Merc its damage or healing, not both. We can't heal with the our dps cylinders in. And without being speced either way we suck at the other one.

I'm not super familiar with Sorc/Sage trees, but I can imagine Hybrid specs can pull of some decent numbers. I've played sawbones smuggler all the way to 40 and have done 100k+ healing without the top tier ability, kolto cloud. As well on my level 14 Vanguard I've pulled 75k+ damage, there is a possibility that a mash of talents can pull some good numbers under the correct hands.

[Eldelphia]

I think the biggest issue with Sorc/Sage is that there is just way too much utility for staying alive than other classes.

I think staying alive as a Seer-spec'd Sage is the best thing I can do honestly. I can't DPS effectively (although I can snipe/ranged), I can make a nuisance of myself by slowing/stunning etc and that certainly helps. However I am pro at running away/escaping/buffing so I live to heal another 50k . Having a ball right now but that's about to end. I'm 49 Sage and at 50 I go back to the bottom of the heap and join the big boys.

[Dantrag]

This game is too funny.

Gear > Class > Skill.

As a now 42 Assassin in Hutt Ball I'm probably one of the best ball carriers on my server. Tank speced for 20 second sprint + my tech/force immunity + defensive buffs if I have a little back up or I'm not 100% focused by 5-6 people I can almost always score. Fastest game we had was 3 1/2 min 6-0. Fastest I've scored was 45 seconds. Inqis and Couslers are just too fucking OP in PVP.

[AzazaelFenrir]

Was wondering what people are doing for the droid in KP (the towers one) to be able to single tank it? Do you just have another DPS classes with a taunt ability? Tank doesn't taunt at all? Just not sure how to make this a single tank fight.

[Ezek]

Nothing special, really; we just use a Shadow tank, 1 healer up top, 1 healer on the bottom. Never really had any issues, I even came on my Vanguard the first time we killed it since we figured we'd need to tank swap for the debuff until we found out it was completely unnecessary. I'm guessing Assassins and Shadows are more of an avoidance tank so the armor debuff doesn't hurt them as much as the other two tank ACs.

[Intervention]

Gear > Class > Skill.

I'm not sure gear is that big of boost pre 50, I did some comparisons between a bolstered low level character wearing just greens and the same character wearing some purples. There wasn't much of a difference between them besides the extra stats, example if the purple gives 6 surge rating there was only difference would be the 6 surge rating.

For sure the level you are plays a big role on how effective you are due to abilities and talents. I started leveling a vanguard lately, and there was a huge difference in survivability once he hit 14 for the tank stance and guard. I've never had an issue doing good enough damage on higher level characters wearing quite a bit of under leveled greens.

The only time I've ever seen an issue was when the 50s with champion gear were steam rolling everyone, for sure gear was a huge influence on who won those games.

[Dantrag]

I'm not sure gear is that big of boost pre 50, I did some comparisons between a bolstered low level character wearing just greens and the same character wearing some purples. There wasn't much of a difference between them besides the extra stats, example if the purple gives 6 surge rating there was only difference would be the 6 surge rating.

For sure the level you are plays a big role on how effective you are due to abilities and talents. I started leveling a vanguard lately, and there was a huge difference in survivability once he hit 14 for the tank stance and guard. I've never had an issue doing good enough damage on higher level characters wearing quite a bit of under leveled greens.

The only time I've ever seen an issue was when the 50s with champion gear were steam rolling everyone, for sure gear was a huge influence on who won those games.

I meant at 50's. Even then gear > class > skill. But then again it could be class > gear > skill. Either way, skill is almost pointless. zZzzzZ for Assassin, I just the ball and score /shrug.

[Takie]

So half my guild got bored & quit... anyone's guild still raid & need a tank/dips?!
It'd take me a while to reroll lol

[Greedouw]

never mind, apparently we missed a pylon

[Trichocyst]

I have a guild on Mask of Nihilus people are welcome to play with. We're still working on getting more people to 50, but at the very least, we're not going anywhere.

[Daemonxel]

So half my guild got bored & quit... anyone's guild still raid & need a tank/dips?!
It'd take me a while to reroll lol

Seems like this is happening on alot of servers...most of my guild is just waiting to see what happens with march patch....if its like previous patches then they are all uiting for lineage, tera or GW2

[Grey Jorildyn]

My community's guild is looking for vanguards and scoundrels atm on Hedarr Soongh. I can put you in contact with GL if you like.

[Greedouw]

My community's guild is looking for vanguards and scoundrels atm on Hedarr Soongh. I can put you in contact with GL if you like.

Hello fellow Hedarr Soonghian

[Greedouw]

Duel Spec incoming!

[Agito]

Since the servers always seem to be so very empty, even when they're labeled as "heavy" population and no chat that let's you talk to everyone in the game world. A cross server dungeon finder is pretty much required if this game doesn't want to lose more subscribers than it already has. There's not much point to playing if it's a pain in the ass to get 3 other people to do a hardmode flashpoint with you when you're a healer. The developers kept their developement team intact so shit shouldn't be this bad and buggy 2 months after release.. We need quality of life stuff and the existing game to be polished before they spam us with more bug ridden content.

[Lucavi]

Its seriously that empty already? Hahahaha...

[vrumpt]

First weekly Q&A about stuff. And things. Figured most people missed it seeing as how everybody avoids the main swtor site like the plague.

http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-feb-10th-2012

Alkapwn: Could you elaborate about what specific benefits the Legacy will offer? I know that I am not alone in the fact of putting off making an alt (and hence losing out on gameplay) because I wish to know what kind of character creation options will be available. All we have to go on now is "The legacy system will unlock new character creation options, including new species." Does this mean species that have been unavailable for that specific class, or that have been unavailable to play in the game as a whole?

Daniel Erickson: Game Update 1.2 will bring you the first big step in the Legacy System but it’s important to understand that the Legacy System will continue to grow, bringing new options to new characters (alts) and some fun options for elder game players as well. Legacy is definitely not just for new characters! The species that will be unlocked in Game Update 1.2 are species currently in the game that will become available to classes and factions where you haven’t seen them before. New species are in consideration for the future but we don’t have any details to share right now. Look for more specific details in the near future as we head toward Game Update 1.2.

Jeunedorsk: What will happen in the future for PvP (Ilum, new Warzones ?)

Daniel Erickson: We’ve been pleasantly surprised at how popular PvP is in The Old Republic and we’ve been doubling down on our efforts to bring exciting new content and systems to the PvP community. Right now there’s a new Warzone planned for Game Update 1.2 which we’re already testing internally and really enjoying. We can say it’s enabled for same faction vs. same faction play, so if you’ve been playing a lot of Huttball, expect some variety soon! Also coming in 1.2 is the pre-season of our Warzone ranking system, bringing better matchmaking which means better PvP. In the future expect a ton more PvP news as we expand and polish what has proven to be one of the most popular aspects of The Old Republic. We’ve got big plans.

AeonKwiz: Are you planning on adding Social Gear for Medium and Heavy Armor characters?

Daniel Erickson: Yes! Expect to see the first new gear coming in Game Update 1.2 and some dramatic changes to the social gear system just around the corner afterward.

MrGerbz: What kind of measures will you take to improve the community, population, and faction balance of each server?

Daniel Erickson: Faction balance is always a concern and something we watch carefully across all servers. It’s also something you can never fully account for programmatically as it is different on each server. We have many servers where the differences are small enough to be negligible and then others where either the Empire or the Republic has a huge numbers advantage. The Legacy System will take some first steps towards incentivizing players to look at what the other side has to offer and we will continue watching the most extreme servers to see if additional steps are needed.

Shotgun-clavy: When are character transfers going to become available? And are server transfers a real possibility?

Daniel Erickson: Character transfers between servers are definitely going to be available in the future and we’ll announce details as soon as we have firm dates.

DarthNhiilus: Are you going to implement housing and guild features (like guild banks, guild ships)?

Daniel Erickson: Guild banks are coming in Game Update 1.2 and like PvP, guild features are a priority for the development team with a strike team focused on nothing but top guild concerns and requests. Guild capital ships are a huge undertaking, though, so expect to see more quality of life style guild features roll out before you and your allies start building your destroyer....

Seltron: What is the preferred method for providing feedback to the development team, and why (e.g. In-game tickets, forums, [email protected])?

Stephen Reid: Every method of feedback you mention will ultimately make its way to the development team; we get feedback from everywhere (including off-site sources such as Twitter, Facebook, fansites, podcasts and the like). In-game metrics are also always being gathered and analyzed, so that essentially ‘passive feedback’ is given by players every time they log in. With that said, the Forums are always a good starting place for feedback; everything is read (even if we don’t always immediately respond to threads) and the Community team regularly reports out player concerns and thoughts. As always, the more constructive your feedback is, the better for the development team.

Venomlash: I was excited as anyone about the Magenta Adegan crystals, but I'm not a huge fan of magenta. Will there be more rare items of this nature?

Daniel Erickson: Absolutely. In the near future expect to see not just rare items but limited availability items, more treasure hunts and some big surprises for the community to discover and work together to figure out.

Buddytonto: When you made the blog post about the balancing act of what to fix, what to balance, and when; got me thinking about how the items are prioritized, as it didn't really explain that?

Daniel Erickson: How we prioritize bugs is a complicated question and one that can be maddening from a player point of view. The answer is as complicated as the question but I can give a high level view. First comes anything that blocks the critical path of a class story for any reason. If you can’t progress, your game comes to a screeching halt so that always takes precedence. Next is the question: how many people are being affected and what is the damage being done? Half the population being slightly irritated loses in priority to ten percent of the population having their game crippled, for example. The last consideration, and the most opaque to players, is how hard the bug is to fix. There are fixes that look complicated and are nothing more than a database entry that went rogue. There are fixes that look easy and take months of untangling code. What we can promise is that we never ignore bugs or decide something is good enough as-is.

Aurozia: Will there be a dual specialization system in the future? Will there be a possibility of changing advance classes as well?

Daniel Erickson: We have no plans for switching advanced classes - which we see as fundamentally different class designs- but dual spec is in the works and coming soon.

NommNomm: Are you still planning on giving us an option to make our chest item colors match the rest of our armor?

Daniel Erickson: The new and vastly improved ‘Hue to Chest’ system launches with Game Update 1.2 and there are more customization and quality of life improvements along those lines hot on its heels.

USLeatherneck: Will Bioware implement Target of Target (including a visible cast bar above the portraits) in the new UI?

Gabe Amatangelo: Yes. Target of Target on primary target and party frames will be part of Game Update 1.2. Primary target already has a visible casting bar on live right now. In Game Update 1.2 target of target frames will have visible casting bars as well. Additionally, there will be various customization features in all of those frames (e.g. repositioning).

Annexes: In the EU our keyboards are a little different than in the US, and I´m wondering if you guys are going to make the "bug report" shortcut key unbindable?

Daniel Erickson: Yes! This will be addressed in a weekly patch in the very near future.

Simoon: Will you be adding the option to choose what Warzone you enter a queue for?

Gabe Amatangelo: Not until we introduce cross server queuing. If we were to allow players to choose their Warzone before they could queue across servers, then it would negatively affect how often every player would see a Warzone – and for every player that loves a certain Warzone there is another player that hates it. The population would end up divided by their Warzone choice, negatively affecting the time it would take for a specific Warzone to become available for anyone. With cross server queuing we will still have a preference to match players of the same server, but those players who choose specific preferences such as these will likely end up in a match with players in the larger Wargroup.

Many people asked: How are you planning on expanding the endgame experience?

Gabe Amatangelo: We are going to continue to introduce new Flashpoints, Warzones, and Operations on a regular basis. The story line will continue with all of the above as well as in solo-able missions. We will continue to evolve Crew Skills and crafting. We’ll be introducing the Legacy System soon, as Daniel mentioned. Additionally, we have exciting PvP features planned, the first of which includes pre-season Ranked Warzones in Game Update 1.2.

Thanks for all of your questions, and thanks to Daniel and Gabe for answering them. If you’d like to put forward a question for next week’s Q&A, please visit this Forums thread!

[AidenCarby]

OK but when do we get to play as jawas?