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

[Anoat]

The expansion is released for everyone on October 27th. You can only get the early access on October 20th if you were a sub from Aug. 10th-Oct 19th. So you can't just sub on Oct. 19th and get early access.

Also, BW confirmed today about the stat consolidation as well as some other info on new stuff including level sync:http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20151002

10.02.2015
Combat Changes in Fallen Empire

With the launch of Knights of Fallen Empire, we are planning quite a few general changes to combat. This includes everything from how some stats work to a new feature called Level Sync. Let’s jump in and talk about these changes.
Stat Changes

We have reworked some of our stats with the goal of helping in itemization as well as cleaning up some lingering imbalance between stats. These changes will reduce the amount of items that you find in game which simply don’t apply to your character. No more throwing items away because it has the wrong main stat, or hating that you have to get both Critical Hit Rating and Surge just to make the stats effective. These changes include:

The four primary stats Strength, Willpower, Cunning, and Aim have all been replaced by a single stat called Mastery. For all intents and purposes, Mastery acts identically to the primary stat it replaced.
Endurance now gives slightly more health per point once you hit level 65. We felt that health totals were a little low compared to offensive output.
The stat Surge has been removed. Surge has now been rolled into the Critical Rating stat. This means that Critical Rating now determines both your change to critically hit, and the damage bonus you receive when you critically hit. Due to this change we have tweaked the values that this rating converts into. Generally an equal rating prior to Fallen Empire will result in less critical hit change and damage from before, but this is simplified by only having one rating.
To ensure that Critical Hit Chance is never a wasted stat, any abilities that automatically critically hit now convert any Critical Hit beyond 100% into additional critical damage.
Base weapon accuracy has been increased from 90% to 100%. All non-basic attacks already had 100% Accuracy, so this change brings basic attacks up to par.
Lastly, we have rearranged how we distribute ratings on items. Now, Power and defense share the first rating slot on modifications, while the rest of the stats (Accuracy, Alacrity, Critical, Absorb, and Shield) will share the second rating slot.

Planet Level Sync

We have added a new system to the game called Level Sync. What this system will do is that when you are on a planet, but above the target level of that planet, your level will automatically be lowered to that planet’s level. Ex: If you are level 60, and you return to Alderaan to do some Missions, your character will be scaled down to be level 32.

While you are under Level Sync the following things are adjusted on your character:

Stats
Armor
Weapon Damage

However, while under Level Sync we will not take away any abilities or passive effects that you have. Also, while under Level Sync you will earn scaled experience. So if you are a level 60, killing level 30 mobs, you will gain experience appropriate for being a level 60 . This enables a player to go play any of the content in The Old Republic and get rewarded appropriately for their time investment. Did you miss out on the heroic area on Tatooine? No worries! Now you can simply head there and check it out without dramatically stopping your progression.
Experience and Grouping

We have also made some changes to how grouping and experience works. We felt it was important that we let players group up with whomever they want while still being able to make progress. With that in mind, we have made the following adjustments:

Experience is no longer split between members of a group. This means the size of the group no longer impacts how much experience your character will earn.
The experience earned is now based on the level difference between the highest level character (after level sync) and the level of the NPC.

Temporary Ability Bars

We can now grant players access to a temporary hotbar, with abilities on it that are only available for a short time. The most immediate use of this hotbar will be for the ability Throw the Huttball. Now, when you have the Huttball, a temporary ability bar will show up so you no longer need to have your throw on your normal hotbar. Similar to your normal hotbar, you can assign your own keybindings to these buttons. This will open up new possibilities for us to do some more interesting content in the future!
Ability Replacements

Speaking of trying to reduce some ability bar clutter, we can now actually replace older abilities with things that are direct upgrades. This usually occurs when a Discipline unlocks a new ability that is just a straight up replacement (Lethal Shot for Snipe as a Virulence Sniper, as an example). The new ability will take the same spot on the hotbar as the old ability. Whenever you abandon your discipline, the older ability will return to you.
Companions

Like we covered in the PAX Prime Livestream, Companions have gotten a significant overhaul. You can watch the stream here, but here are a few quick highlights:

Companions are now summoned from the Companions and Contacts/Alliance window.
Companions now all have 3 roles you can choose from on the fly, DPS/Healer/Tank, and different ability sets based on that role.
Companions that use the same weapon type will share the same ability sets (so every companion that uses Blaster Pistols will have the same ability sets).
Companions no longer generate any stats from gear, their stats are purely based on the level of the companion, so you can dress them up however you want. Accordingly, equipment slots that didn't have any effect on visibility have been removed from companions. Companions will still need a weapon in order to activate their abilities, but the stats of the weapon won't matter.

In Fallen Empire player, Companions will continue to be a huge part of your personal story. All of these gameplay changes are to enhance their functionality.

As always, please let us know what you think about the changes we've made, and thank you.

Rob Hinkle
Lead Systems Designer

[Rulke]

I subbed back in Sept sometime. SOR should become available to me the 20th then it sounds like, thanks.

[Anoat]

I subbed back in Sept sometime. SOR should become available to me the 20th then it sounds like, thanks.

Errr...no. The early access is only if you subbed from the period starting Aug. 10th thru Oct. 19th. So if you subbed in September, you won't be eligible for it. Gotta be subbed for the entire window.

[Rulke]

Souka.

[Matthias]

My ping started going to hell again, so once again I reinstalled even though I still don't really get why that makes a difference. But it did, back to 4 bars. Am I going to have to reinstall periodically to stay playable or is there something I can do to fix whatever it is that's degenerating without reinstalling?

[6souls]

I haven't touched this since MGSV came out, when was the new launcher added? Pretty sleek design.

[Rulke]

Like a day or so ago

[Anoat]

Changes to Core Worlds and crafting:
http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20151005

Core World Changes

Drawing inspiration from the success of last year’s 12x XP boost and the more recent Epic Story XP Boost, in Fallen Empire we’ve altered the core leveling experience from 1-60 for all players, making it quicker and more story-centric. Our goal is to create a tighter leveling experience that alleviates the fatigue associated with having to complete dozens of Missions per planet and that allows players to focus on the core storylines of their characters and companions amid the backdrop of the Great Galactic War.

To accomplish this we’ve established a new critical path, reducing the number of Missions players are required to complete in order to progress along with an adjusted experience curve. Additionally we’ve made a number of changes to Heroic Missions and re-classified Missions not considered part of the critical path as Exploration Missions. Here is some more information on those Mission types:

Critical Path: Should you choose, these are the only Missions you need to do in order to level from 1-60 without falling behind or getting too far ahead of the curve. These are also the Missions we consider most critical to the story of The Old Republic from level 1-60.

All Class Missions and the core story arcs for each planet are part of the critical path and we’ve updated these Missions to be easily recognizable on the map due to their purple triangle icon. They also have a purple display name in your Mission Log. Additional Missions on the critical path will retain the classic gold triangle icon and Mission log text.

Heroic Missions: On all planets up through Makeb the existing Heroic Missions have been revised in several ways in order to make them more accessible to all players:

All repeatable missions, including Heroic Missions, now have their own Mission icon: a gold triangle with arrows on it.
Heroic Missions have been adjusted to be completed by groups of 2+. This means that former [Heroic 4] missions have had their difficulties reduced.
Barring a few special exceptions, Heroic Missions no longer need to be turned in at an NPC or Mission Dropbox. On completion of the final step of a Heroic Mission, the Mission completion dialog will appear immediately in the field.
The first step of each Heroic Mission should give you a Heroic Transport item. Using this item (from your Mission Items inventory or the icon next to the task in the tracker) will transport you to a safe location near the site of the Mission.
While Heroic Missions may still be acquired from NPC’s in the field, you will also find a new Weekly Heroic Mission Terminal just outside of the spaceports of all planets up through Makeb. Accessing this terminal will allow you to easily acquire all the Heroic Missions for that planet.
Heroic Missions are now repeatable weekly and feature all new rewards!

Exploration Missions: Rather than cutting the missions that are neither Heroic, nor part of the critical path, we’ve created a new category of Exploration Missions. The ability to see or obtain these missions is disabled by default, but can be toggled on via a check box on the Map screen. These Missions are represented by a triangle with a star next to it.

Once activated Exploration Missions will still provide the same kinds of credit, experience, and item rewards you’re used to getting, allowing you to augment your leveling experience if you want too. With our new level sync you can even choose to do these Missions later without feeling vastly overpowered.

New Mission Iconography Quick Reference:

Purple Triangle: These are critical path story Missions: your class Missions, planet story arcs, certain Flashpoint story intros, and more, including the new Knights of the Fallen Empire Chapters.
Gold Triangle: These are critical path side Missions along with additional ones such as the Missions to unlock Flashpoints.
Arrow Triangle: These are repeatable Missions including Heroics.
Star Triangle: These are the Exploration Missions, optional Missions on each planet that can be completed at any level. Access can be toggled on via a check box on the Map screen.

Our goal with these changes was to allow you to level up in The Old Republic quickly, and by only requiring you to see the main story content from your Class and each Planet. Of course, if you want to level through group content such as Warzones, that option is still there too. We hope you all enjoy all of the changes we have made throughout The Old Republic on your journey from levels 1 to 60.

Brian Audette
Senior Content Designer

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20151006

Crafting Changes in Fallen Empire

In Knights of the Fallen Empire, we are making quite a few adjustments to how Crafting will work. In this blog we will cover each of these changes and how they will affect your character in Fallen Empire. Ultimately we had a handful of goals for our crafting changes:

Balance the Crafting skills, so that the benefits of all Crafting skills are relatively equal.
Improve the quality of Crafted items, so that Crafting is a valid method to gear yourself.
Ease the barrier of entry, making Crafting easier to understand for our newer players.

Let’s get started.

General Crew Skill Changes
While leveling in Star Wars: The Old Republic, we want to ensure that Crew Skills are a way to help supplement your experience. We have made a few changes to help streamline your experience with Crew Skills from 1-65, including some quality of life changes:

The Crew Skill cap will remain at 500, there is no cap increase in 4.0.
The Crafting skill “groups” have been removed and are no longer needed to improve your Crafting skill.
Example: when you hit 400 Crafting skill, you do not need to visit the trainer to move the cap up to 450.
All Crafting has been organized into 8 Grades . This is to help clarify the different crafting tiers, allowing crafters the ability to easily determine what crafting materials they need for what items. All existing Items and Missions have been adjusted to fit into these Grades. Here is a detailed breakdown:
Grade 1: Level 10-16: 0-80
Grade 2: Level 16-24: 80-160
Grade 3: Level 24-32: 160-240
Grade 4: Level 32-40: 240-300
Grade 5: Level 40-46: 300-350
Grade 6: Level 46-51: 350-400
Grade 7: Level 51-55: 400-450
Grade 8: Level 55+: 450-500

Crafting Skill Changes
Every Crafting Skill has received new patterns that will fall into one of the 8 Grades. In most cases, these items are improvements over what you were able to craft previously. With this change, all existing Schematics that are not part of Fallen Empire have been moved to the “Archives” category in your crafting window . These older schematics are still available to craft in case you still have a need for them. Here are some of the other changes affecting Crafting:

There are no longer any Premium (green) items to craft. All craftable items now start as Prototype (blue) quality.
Reverse Engineering items no longer gives a random item. Instead, the item reverse engineered will give an improved version of that item.
The chance to get an improved item from Reverse Engineering has been increased.
All crafted armor is Adaptive.
Nearly all schematics require a new Premium (green) crafting material called a Component. This new Component is made by combining two existing crafting materials along with two vendor purchased materials, all of which are of the same Grade as the component. A unique Component exists for each skill and each Grade.
Example: An Armormech crafter wants to craft a Grade 6 Chest Piece (Level 46). This is a Prototype (blue) quality armor and requires 4 Ciridium and 4 Durasteel Armor Assembly Components. The player will need 2 Durasteel, 2 Zal Alloy, and 2 Thermoplast Flux to craft each component. Once they have the 4 Components and 4 Ciridum from Underworld Trading, they will be able to craft their chest piece.
If a player chose to, they could level up exclusively by crafting Components!
In most cases, Crafting times have been greatly reduced. This will enable crafters to craft more items to coincide with the faster leveling.
To match the above listed changes. Augments have been reduced to 8 tiers. The MK8 Augment Kit is now the highest Augment Kit. Existing MK9 and MK11 Kits will turn into MK8 when Fallen Empire launches.

Along with these general changes which are affecting Crafting, there are some more detailed changes which impact very specific Crafting Skills . These changes are to balance the six different crafting skills with one another, in light of the stat changes in 4.0. Here are those changes:

Armorings can no longer be crafted by Cybertechs.
New Resistive Armorings (Endurance) are now exclusive to Armormech.
New Versatile Armorings (Mastery) are now exclusive to Synthweaving.
Enhancements can no longer be crafted by Artificers, and are now exclusive to Cybertechs.
For these specific examples, these Crafting patterns have been completely removed from their respective Crafting Skill.
Due to the Primary Stats being converted to the Mastery Stat, the following changes have been made to Augments:
Armormechs can now craft Shield, Absorb, and Mastery Augments.
Synthweavers can now craft Alacrity, Defense, and Critical Augments.
Armstechs can now craft Accuracy, Endurance, and Power Augments.
All previously reusable Biochem Consumables are no longer reusable. This is to balance the crafting skill with others and to encourage a market of these crafted items.
All low level Biochem stimulants have been improved! Their duration is increased to 8 hours and they are now made in batches of 6-8 depending on the type.
Droid Armor has been removed from the game, as all companion armor is now strictly for appearances, and droid appearances are not modified by their armor.
All previously reusable Cybertech grenades are no longer reusable. They are now more powerful than their Prototype equivalent. This is to balance the crafting skill with others and to encourage a market of these crafted items.

One of the other considerations for Crafting is how it will affect the Elder Game. We have made quite a few changes to what crafters can do at Elder Game:

Elder Game Crafting:

All Modifications acquired from Operations can be Reverse Engineered for their Schematics.
Operation Gear can no longer be Reverse Engineered.
Crafters can now make gear equivalent to Story and Hard Mode Operations gear:
This gear can be acquired from their respective Trainer.
This crafted gear, when Reverse Engineered is equivalent to Story Mode Operations gear.
When this Story Mode equivalent gear is Reverse Engineered, a player can acquire the schematic to craft Hard Mode Operations equivalent gear.
This new gear has a guaranteed Reverse Engineer chance.
This new gear is sellable & tradable.
This new gear requires a new Crafting material that can only be acquired by completing your personal Conquest goals.
This gear does not have set bonuses.
Relics cannot be crafted in this method.

Harvesting and Mission Skill Changes
Similarly to the Crafting Skill changes. We have made adjustments to both Harvesting and Mission Skills, including some quality of life changes:

All unlocked Crew Skill Missions are now fully visible and no longer randomized.
Crew Skill Mission unlocks have been aligned with the new Grade system from above.
Crew Skill Missions will now grant slightly more materials than they did previously.
Harvesting Nodes can now be harvested regardless of your skill level.
Harvesting Nodes will now grant Skill Increases regardless of the Node or your skill level.
Harvesting Nodes grant different amounts of materials based on the player’s skill level. Players that are below the skill level of the node will receive fewer materials, and those higher than the node will receive more.
All Harvesting Nodes now have a chance to grant both sets of materials for their respective Grade.
Archaeology Crystals now grant Fragments and Crystals in addition to Color Crystals.
The completion time for Crew Skill Missions has been greatly reduced.

Crafting Material Removal
Along with all of the other changes we are making, we are going to be removing many of the current crafting materials in the game. When Fallen Empire launches, any of these materials that you have will automatically convert to their equivalent counterpart. Example: Plasteel is being removed from the game. If you have 100 Plasteel when Fallen Empire launches it will turn into 100 Plastoid.

The following Materials are being removed from the game:

Advanced Power Implant Processor
Alien Artifact Fragment
Alien Data Cube
Aluminium
Amorphous Carbonite
Augmentation Kit MK-10
Augmentation Kit MK-9
Augmentation Slot Component MK-10
Augmentation Slot Component MK-9
Bacterial Strain
Biological Compounding Chemical
Biometric Crystal Alloy
Blue Goo
Bondar Crystal
Chanlon
Cosmic Trace Particle
Diatium
Double-Pulse Implant Processor
D-Package Implant Processor
Enriched Durasteel
Eralam Crystal
Exonium
Exotic Element Equalizer
Exquisite Yellow Crystal
Flawless Yellow Crystal
Immaculate Yellow Crystal
Impeccable Orange Crystal
Impeccable Yellow Crystal
Inert Virus
Laminoid
Luminescent Cell Culture
Mass Manipulation Generator
Matter Transubstantiator
Medicinal Fluid
Molecular Stabilizer
Neurochemical Extract
Neutronium
Obsolete Crafting Material
Perfect Orange Crystal
Perfect Upari Crystal
Perfect Yellow Crystal
Phond Crystal
Plasteel
Precious Yellow Crystal
Prehistoric Artifact Fragment
Pristine Yellow Crystal
Psychoactive Compound
Quick-Growth Agent
Rakata Energy Node
Red Goo
Resinite
Rybcoarse Implant Processor
Self-Perpetuating Power Cell
Single-Pulse Implant Processor
Synthetic Energy Matrix
Synth-net Implant Processor
Toxic Extract
Universal Catalyst
Unknown Microorganism
Vial of Stabilized Isotope-5
Viral Residue

We hope that you are looking forward to all of these changes and more, coming in Knights of the Fallen Empire.

Ahmad Zabarah
Senior Designer

[Anoat]

TOMORROW BITCHES if you are a sub and met all the requirements*
http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1020...e-early-access

[Rulke]

Going to turn off global chat for the next month. I won't get the release till the 27th and even then I will be starting on SoR. Going to spend the next week finishing up misc stuff, hoarding some credits just in case and making sure I can streamline everything I can before my sub ends.

[6souls]

I'm going to play the expansion for the next week then shut off my sub around the 27th and save for Fallout. I'll come back after the holidays.

[Matthias]

*Knights of the Fallen Empire content is only available to players who are eligible for the four Knights of the Fallen Empire subscriber rewards by having been a subscriber on August 10th, August 31st, September 30th, and October 19th, 2015. All other subscribers will be able to access the content on October 27th, 2015.

i feel like this sentence was more complicated than it needs to be. so early access is available to people who have been subscribers since august 10th?

[AidenCarby]

Alllllllmost want to come back and check this out.

[6souls]

Maintenance doesn't end for a couple of hours, but the patch is up, 8.7GB.

[Rulke]

Alllllllmost want to come back and check this out.

Wait a month to see what reactions are, or better yet, wait till next year after all of the new chapters are out, then sub up and play through them.

[Rulke]

Haha, I can't play because the planets my characters are located in aren't fully downloaded yet. -_-

[Anoat]

[Matthias]

I can't seem to get into the game right now. When I click "Play" from the launcher, the launcher disappears but nothing loads. But doesn't matter, as it seems I didn't qualify for early access, so my characters are stuck at level 55. Nothing to do til the 27th I guess.

[6souls]

Log in for the first time since before maint, skill tree reset and all of my companion's sitting in my inventory. I'm going to hate logging into all of my other toons. On the plus side, they added 2 character slots for subs.

[6souls]

Gear that was or is on your companion cannot be desynthed. If you try to, you lose it. Just sell.