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[Milly79]

Dp

you're disgusting.

Spoiler

 

[Proxy]

Anyone online that can toss me an invite for GAF Empire?

 

[Milly79]

Sure, what's your name? I can do it in about 5 minutes or so.

 

[Proxy]

Sure, what's your name? I can do it in about 5 minutes or so.

Thanks. It's Karria.

 

[Trouble]

Man when are Sylas and Jaina going to reroll over to the winning side?

I'll stick with the side that wins for the next 3,000 years, thx. ;-)

 

[markatisu]

Community Q&A 3/23/12

We’re back with some answers to your questions from the development team. As always, in some cases we’ve combined multiple questions into one. We have also edited some questions for clarity.

We’ve seen lots of questions throughout the community focused on the release of Game Update 1.2, especially after its release to the Public Test Server. To help answer some of those questions, next week’s Q&A will be devoted to Game Update 1.2, with questions drawn from across the Forums. With plenty of questions to choose from, we won’t be opening a dedicated Q&A thread for the subject. After next week’s Q&A, we’ll open another thread as usual.

Looking forward to future Q&As, we had some feedback from the development team which we wanted to share. While questions about future potential features in the game are always welcome, many times the answers will be non-specific, as development is always fluid. We don’t want to disappoint you with continuously saying ‘soon’ in reply to these questions.

Instead, the development team would appreciate more questions about features or systems currently in the game, or questions about the philosophy behind why development decisions were made. The development team feels they can really give you some in-depth answers to these sorts of questions, and overall we feel they will be more interesting answers than talking in vague terms about future features. This is not an attempt to shy away from questions about any aspect of the game, but rather a request to delve deeper into design philosophies and to get some more information on how things currently work in-game.

To sum up: a special Q&A next week drawn from existing Game Update 1.2 questions and back to the usual Q&A format the week after. As for this week, if you want to discuss any of the answers in this Q&A, please use this Forum thread!



Mksaccount: Are there any plans on adjusting rage timers in hard mode Flashpoints?

Gabe Amatangelo (Lead Endgame & PvP Designer): The team continues to tune Flashpoint bosses based on metrics and feedback. Bosses that are a ‘spike’ in the progression curve (e.g. when a second boss might be more difficult than the last) are being addressed in one way or another, be it increasing their enrage timer, decreasing their health, extending the cooldown of control abilities, etc.



Bendog: Are there any plans to make the lower level planet commendations ‘Bind to Account’? It would be nice to hand them off to another character.

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): We've talked about it, sure. It's something we considered as we added in the Legacy System. However, right now we know that other aspects of the Legacy System will act to speed up the leveling experience for alternate characters. We want to see the state of the game in terms of leveling speed and itemization power after the core Legacy System goes live with Game Update 1.2 before we potentially make that change.



BurdoThePious: Is there a reason why the Commando / Mercenary Advanced Classes do not have an interrupt ability (eg. Mind Snap, Distraction, Force Kick)?

Georg Zoeller (Lead Combat Designer): Yes. The lack of an interrupt ability on these Advanced Classes is a purposefully designed weakness in their ability arsenal. At the current time, adding an interrupt to the Commando/Mercenary would increase their combat utility, especially in PvP, beyond what we are comfortable with.

That said, this issue is one we’ve re-evaluated with every major patch and will likely continue to revisit in the future. It is not inconceivable that an interrupt may be added to these Advanced Classes in a future update, especially if more PvE content is introduced that relies on a certain number of interrupts being available in a group.



Niktika: Can you please explain some of the reasoning behind the healing nerfs? It almost seems like every healer is up in arms regardless of their class.

Georg: Sometimes it's hard to hear this, but the change to healers you're referring to was, quite simply, a result of them being too good. When one healer is close to target performance and the others aren't, it's natural to think that the logical course is to buff the underperformer and leave the over-performers alone. I want to dispel that notion and explain why it isn't always possible.

All specs for all roles have a target performance. This is what drives the balance of the game: soloing, Heroics, PvP, Flashpoints, Operations... everything. When those targets aren't hit, we can't just ‘bring everyone up’ to the highest performer without negatively impacting the balance of the game and creating unsustainable inflation in our combat system. Frankly, it's also a lot more work to change all end game content in the game to compensate for an over-performing role than to bring the role back in line. The hard but simple truth is that Sorcerers and Sages had better Force management than we intended (e.g. a well-played Sage was almost incapable of running out of Force) and Mercenaries and Commandos were significantly over target in their healing performance.

After considerable testing, we're more confident than ever that all healing roles are both closer to target performance and closer to one another than ever before, leading to a much tighter balance on end game content. The community will be able to confirm this using the new combat logging feature in Game Update 1.2.

I know trying to ‘sell’ a downwards adjustment (AKA nerf) to anyone affected is like selling the need for a tax increase to people. When you are on the receiving end of it, you're not going to be happy about it. It may appear massive to you, even if the overall impact is limited. You likely won't care that it's 'for the greater good of the game' and, if you decide to disagree with our action, there's little we can do to sway you.

Based on the feedback brought to us so far from testers playing on PTS along with metrics and combat logs gathered from our guild testers, we are going to make additional adjustments before Game Update 1.2 is promoted to the live servers. For example, we reopened the internal debate about having an in-combat resurrect ability for Mercenaries/Commandos based on PTS feedback regarding the new Operations, in light of the higher utility value this ability brings to the table in 1.2. We're listening to your feedback, too, and rebalancing some of the changes made to healing based on data gathered from PTS. Look out for a future update to PTS for more details.



Pzljug: When are you guys going to finish the Timeline on the Holonet?

Stephen Reid (Senior Community Manager): When the Timeline series was begun we weren’t entirely sure how many timelines would be needed to detail relevant backstory for The Old Republic and left ‘blank spaces’ on the Timeline that, we thought, would all be filled in with Timeline entries. Ultimately, we feel we’ve detailed all the relevant backstory required, so no more Timeline entries going back into earlier history are planned. However, we know how much players enjoyed the lore details, style and presentation of Timelines, so we’re planning to continue that with a different series (currently unscheduled!) which will detail other aspects of the lore of The Old Republic.



Suzume_Bachi: If I unlock the Pureblood Sith species for all my future characters via the Legacy System, will I be able to create a Republic Pureblood Sith Smuggler, and will that Smuggler have Punish to I can smack around Corso Riggs?

William Wallace (Senior Designer): Players creating characters with the new species/class combinations allowed by Legacy will get that species’ unique ability. So yes, your new Sith Pureblood Smuggler will have the Punish ability, and can use it on Corso Riggs as much as you like. Poor Corso....



DevTheSith: Can Bounty Hunters get a [Name] The Mandalorian title (or if it’s already in game, where is it)?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): Currently, there is no such title available for Bounty Hunters. It may be added as part of a future content update, but we’ve got no current plans to add it to the existing game.



Alericus: I am wondering how the ‘vote to kick’ system for PvP matches will work. I have a concern it will be abused by pre-made teams who want to control the team. Can you clarify how this system will work?

Gabe: Any player can vote to kick an AFK player through the Ops frame context menu. This will not initiate a vote prompt, but rather must be actively sought out by multiple players. Once a player has received several votes they will receive a prompt indicating that they’ll be kicked from the Warzone in a few seconds if they do not engage in combat or defend an objective. A player who is kicked from the Warzone in this manner will be returned to their original location before they queued, and will not be able to queue up again for several minutes. We’ll continue to fine tune the detection logic, but gradually, with an eye towards protecting the innocent bystander player.



Mataoh: A lot of guilds have a second alt guild for the opposite faction - is there any plan to allow some sort of cross-faction chat so both guilds can communicate with each other in game?

Damion: This was something that came up a lot during the Guild Summit and is an idea we're taking seriously. However, no design is locked down in stone and I don't have any sort of ETA as of yet for when something like this might happen.



joetacticSW: Can we have a ‘Loop music’ feature or some other way to make our experience less quiet?

Damion: Interesting idea. Let me give it some thought!

 

[bjb]

The Q&A's are so embarrassing it's not even funny.

Can't believe they actually pick these questions - when the game has SO many other problems / concerns.

 

[theta11]

The Q&A's are so embarrassing it's not even funny.

Can't believe they actually pick these questions - when the game has SO many other problems / concerns.

My guild has a bet pool on how many questions are already answered either in previous Q&As or at the guild summit. I won this week.

 

[Giolon]

The Q&A's are so embarrassing it's not even funny.

Can't believe they actually pick these questions - when the game has SO many other problems / concerns.

I thought both the Commando interrupt and the Healing nerf questions were great ones to answer. So is the question about getting commendations to be BoA for alting.

Not every question is going to be controversial or about the sky falling. They've been doing far better with these than any other MMO developer I've ever interacted with.

 

[gatti-man]

The Q&A's are so embarrassing it's not even funny.

Can't believe they actually pick these questions - when the game has SO many other problems / concerns.

We get it you think the game is doomed and needs major work. I found the q&a interesting.

 

[bjb]

We get it you think the game is doomed and needs major work. I found the q&a interesting.

Yeah man that holonet question sure was compelling.

 

[gatti-man]

Yeah man that holonet question sure was compelling.

As someone that actually watched those and noticed missing episodes yes it was interesting.

 

[markatisu]

Yeah man that holonet question sure was compelling.

I actually was wondering about the status of the holonets, I liked how they were providing a backstory. Its too bad they are not continuing them as they were.

Apparently I was not the only one lol

 

[Izayoi]

Any impressions on the new raid yet?

 

[BattleMonkey]

Yeah man that holonet question sure was compelling.

You must have been raging at the guild summit when they had the roleplaying panel

 

[StudioTan]

You must have been raging at the guild summit when they had the roleplaying panel

That was 45 mins that they could have spent talking about why they suck so much!

 

[Cystm]

Dp

you're disgusting.

Spoiler

That would be one way to bring in even more subs. It would even make Morn happy:

My character just got laid.

Off screen.

Moving on..

This game really needs an MMO champion (data mining, singular source of game updates/news) and a model viewer (for customized hi-res screenshots and movies.) stat.

Anyone that is hardcore into WoW (or ortherwise frankly) checks MMO-C often. For me, that was everyday. It is an informative self-perpetuating hype machine, and this game would only benefit from it. Darth Hater is sub par in comparison and the low res in-game model viewer screen shots are incredibly inadequate.

Edit: Looking over my post, I just realized the Machinima horrors people would create with the model viewer...

Dp

lol. Obligatory *NicholsonHeadNod.gif*

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I have only won 1 WZ as Repub since Friday afternoon. WTF.

 

[Zafir]

I use a combination of SithWarrior(Theory crafting/data mining) and Darth Hater(News, talent trees, item information). Would be nice if they were all in one place though I suppose.

 

[gatti-man]

I have only won 1 WZ as Repub since Friday afternoon. WTF.

Repubs suffer during the weekend. All your noobs get on hehe now you know what its like on empire side during weekday nights.

 

[HBroward]

I was just watching a video of the new operation, and YOU CAN USE YOUR SPEEDER INSIDE THE OPERATION. I was very excited to see that. Now make it retroactive to the previous Ops Bioware.

 

[weremichael]

I was just watching a video of the new operation, and YOU CAN USE YOUR SPEEDER INSIDE THE OPERATION. I was very excited to see that. Now make it retroactive to the previous Ops Bioware.

How about a link for the lazy??

 

[Moaradin]

The UI customization in 1.2 is really good. You can change pretty much everything. Here is what I'm rolling with for now.

I've seen some cool ones on Sithwarrior.

 

[HBroward]

How about a link for the lazy??

Here you go.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

The UI customization in 1.2 is really good. You can change pretty much everything. Here is what I'm rolling with for now.
http://i.minus.com/j272ynWAa5H8X.bmp[IMG]

I've seen some cool ones on Sithwarrior.[/QUOTE]
That's a really nice layout right there. I might make that my UI once 1.2 comes out.

 

[cpp_is_king]

The UI customization in 1.2 is really good. You can change pretty much everything. Here is what I'm rolling with for now.

I've seen some cool ones on Sithwarrior.

The only thing I care about is something that I'm almost certain is not there - the ability to bind the same key to multiple quickslots. This might seem weird at first, but think about someone who frequently switches between PvE and PvP. You need an entirely different set of skills on your bars. And naturally, you're going to want the most common PvP abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press buttons, and the most common PvE abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press button. In other words, different abilities bound to the same key depending on what build you're going with.

As far as I can tell there is literally just no solution in the game for this short of manually rebinding keys every single time you go from pvp to pve, so for that reason I actually have never done more than 2 warzones.

 

[vaelic]

when is 1.2 due out?

 

[markatisu]

Sometime in April 1.2 will roll out, it's on the test server now

 

[gatti-man]

The only thing I care about is something that I'm almost certain is not there - the ability to bind the same key to multiple quickslots. This might seem weird at first, but think about someone who frequently switches between PvE and PvP. You need an entirely different set of skills on your bars. And naturally, you're going to want the most common PvP abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press buttons, and the most common PvE abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press button. In other words, different abilities bound to the same key depending on what build you're going with.

As far as I can tell there is literally just no solution in the game for this short of manually rebinding keys every single time you go from pvp to pve, so for that reason I actually have never done more than 2 warzones.

Um that is pretty odd. My Naga plus 123 above wasd covers pretty much all the bases. Maybe relax and just pvp for fun? Since you have no pvp gear it really wont matter anyways youre going to get raped.

 

[Cystm]

The only thing I care about is something that I'm almost certain is not there - the ability to bind the same key to multiple quickslots. This might seem weird at first, but think about someone who frequently switches between PvE and PvP. You need an entirely different set of skills on your bars. And naturally, you're going to want the most common PvP abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press buttons, and the most common PvE abilities to be bound to the easiest-to-press button. In other words, different abilities bound to the same key depending on what build you're going with.

As far as I can tell there is literally just no solution in the game for this short of manually rebinding keys every single time you go from pvp to pve, so for that reason I actually have never done more than 2 warzones.

That should be something that happens with duel spec. At least duel spec did that in WoW, I see no reason why they would not have the same thing happen here.

To refrain from double posting, I will edit this in here:

Dulfy has a new breakdown for gearing up for PvP in 1.2 It is in-depth and an excellent source of information.

 

[CzarTim]

The loading in this game can be infuriating sometimes. Some of the larger planets can take 5 minutes to load

 

[BattleMonkey]

The loading in this game can be infuriating sometimes. Some of the larger planets can take 5 minutes to load

It is annoying and one of the main things I want to see improved upon, though never had any take up to 5 minutes

 

[cpp_is_king]

Um that is pretty odd. My Naga plus 123 above wasd covers pretty much all the bases. Maybe relax and just pvp for fun? Since you have no pvp gear it really wont matter anyways youre going to get raped.

Well, look at it this way. In pve there is probably an ability rotation that you use above everything else. You like the abilities in that rotation to be on your main hotkeys. For me those are the number keys, 12345, as well Mouse Button 4 and mouse wheel down. The reason being that I have to move my fingers the least amount of distance to reach those keys than other keys.

In pvp you use a totally different set of abilities, but I would like my pvp rotation to also be accessible via 12345, Mouse Button 4, and wheel down because again, they are the easiest keys to move my finger to.

There's simply no way to do this right now.

 

[StudioTan]

Well, look at it this way. In pve there is probably an ability rotation that you use above everything else. You like the abilities in that rotation to be on your main hotkeys. For me those are the number keys, 12345, as well Mouse Button 4 and mouse wheel down. The reason being that I have to move my fingers the least amount of distance to reach those keys than other keys.

In pvp you use a totally different set of abilities, but I would like my pvp rotation to also be accessible via 12345, Mouse Button 4, and wheel down because again, they are the easiest keys to move my finger to.

There's simply no way to do this right now.

Why do you need to use a completely different rotation? Maybe it's because I'm DPS but I'm pretty much using the same abilities. There are only a few extra that I use that I rarely have a need for in PVE, but my main rotation is the same.

 

[gatti-man]

Well, look at it this way. In pve there is probably an ability rotation that you use above everything else. You like the abilities in that rotation to be on your main hotkeys. For me those are the number keys, 12345, as well Mouse Button 4 and mouse wheel down. The reason being that I have to move my fingers the least amount of distance to reach those keys than other keys.

In pvp you use a totally different set of abilities, but I would like my pvp rotation to also be accessible via 12345, Mouse Button 4, and wheel down because again, they are the easiest keys to move my finger to.

There's simply no way to do this right now.

Naga mouse has 12 buttons I use 9 plus 123. It has a learning curve but is very much worth it.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Why do you need to use a completely different rotation? Maybe it's because I'm DPS but I'm pretty much using the same abilities. There are only a few extra that I use that I rarely have a need for in PVE, but my main rotation is the same.

Because PvE abilities are just not the same ones you're goign to be using for PvP. In PvP you're going to be using things like stuns, bleed effects, trinket effects, anything that breaks movement impairing abilities, things like that.

I guess once dual specs are in the game this will basically be a necessity because you'll be able to switch trees giving you a completely new set of abilities to use.

Right now there are a bunch of abilities I have as a gunslinger (Flash Grenade, Thermal Grenade, Vital Shot, things like that) that are just almost useless in PvE but are great in PvP.

How you fight a raid boss and how you fight people in pvp are just totally different I guess.

 

[Blu10]

I just picked this up after giving the free trial a whirl. It seems like it is mass effect with better graphics, story, and setting. I'm assuming there is not a very good end game since there hardly seems to be anyone on the capital planet... is that a correct guess?

 

[bjb]

I just picked this up after giving the free trial a whirl. It seems like it is mass effect with better graphics, story, and setting. I'm assuming there is not a very good end game since there hardly seems to be anyone on the capital planet... is that a correct guess?

The end-game is pretty shallow at the moment. It consists of two shitty raids and heroic flashpoints.

I will say, however, that the new operation (currently on the PTR) is pretty cool. I've been pugging it the past two nights, and it's as if it was designed by completely different people.

No matter what, just make sure you pick a decent server. As many are simply dying. The Fatman and Harbinger both come to mind.

 

[Blu10]

The end-game is pretty shallow at the moment. It consists of two shitty raids and heroic flashpoints.

I will say, however, that the new operation (currently on the PTR) is pretty cool. I've been pugging it the past two nights, and it's as if it was designed by completely different people.

No matter what, just make sure you pick a decent server. As many are simply dying. The Fatman and Harbinger both come to mind.

Yep... can't remember my server but 17 people are on corisar now. Are the flashpoints decent at least? Although I am wondering if I will even find people to group with.

 

[FieryBalrog]

I just picked this up after giving the free trial a whirl. It seems like it is mass effect with better graphics, story, and setting. I'm assuming there is not a very good end game since there hardly seems to be anyone on the capital planet... is that a correct guess?

what

 

[bjb]

Yep... can't remember my server but 17 people are on corisar now. Are the flashpoints decent at least? Although I am wondering if I will even find people to group with.

Flashpoints are fun, but they'll get repetitive quickly. Especially on Heroic difficulty.

If your server sucks just reroll before it's too late. The Fatman seems to be where majority of the rerolls are taking place right now.

I'm sure there's a WestCoast counterpart. If you're EU then I have no idea.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I just picked this up after giving the free trial a whirl. It seems like it is mass effect with better graphics, story, and setting. I'm assuming there is not a very good end game since there hardly seems to be anyone on the capital planet... is that a correct guess?

The capital planet is not where players hang out, it's simply the capital in the lore, but it's just the 2nd planet early in your story. The main player hub is the fleet station where you go to after you finish your class story on the capital worlds (Coruscant, Dromund Kass).

End game is standard MMO faire, only 2 raids currently which many have already ran through, but lot of guilds still running them. New Raid being added in a few weeks.

 

[markatisu]

We have been on The Harbinger since Early Access and never regretted it. It has a lot of AU players so its pretty full regardless of the time of day

 

[gatti-man]

If you like pvp the engame will be tolerable. Its a pretty hefty grind so it will take a while for you to get through.

 

[arimanius]

Finally got 2 million credits. Now I need to decide which vehicle to buy.

Anyone have Korrealis Baron? I've never seen one in game. Actually most people on my server just have the pvp vehicle.

 

[gatti-man]

Finally got 2 million credits. Now I need to decide which vehicle to buy.

Anyone have Korrealis Baron? I've never seen one in game. Actually most people on my server just have the pvp vehicle.

I do its blue and yellow. Its my favorite vehicle.

 

[arimanius]

I do its blue and yellow. Its my favorite vehicle.

They are removing it with patch 1.2 like the other Korrealis right?

edit* Found the dev posting. It's being removed.

 

[StudioTan]

Yep... can't remember my server but 17 people are on corisar now. Are the flashpoints decent at least? Although I am wondering if I will even find people to group with.

17 people on Coruscant is about what I see on my server which is a middle of the road one, somewhere between 10-30 depending on the time of day, but as others said it's just a quest planet, not the hub. On the republic side on my server the Fleet has between 50-100 people in the evenings.

For end game it really depends on what you like to do and how much you play. Personally I never feel I have nothing to do because I enjoy doing a bit of everything. I've set goals for myself of getting certain vehicles or orange gear that I want, outfitting my companions, finding datacrons etc. I didn't follow any guides for the datacrons because I want to explore on my own and find them.

I don't mind doing repeatable daily quests because sometimes I just want to zone out and I find it relaxing.

I've been having a lot of fun PVPing and this is the first MMO I've ever spent more than an hour PVPing. I like it because all the Warzones are focused around group objectives so even though I generally suck 1v1 I can be very helpful to the group.

Other nights I'll do space missions. They're mini-games but I enjoy them. They're planning some big space revamp or expansion so it'll improve but for now it's a decent time waster.

I also do a bit of crafting but I've been holding off on this until 1.2 hits because that'll bring a bunch of improvements.

My guild does raids twice a week and on other nights we might run a couple of Flashpoints, although there are still some I haven't done.

So for someone like me that plays about 10-20 hours a week there is still enough to keep to me busy, but I'm not the type to burn through content.

 

[KePoW]

The loading in this game can be infuriating sometimes. Some of the larger planets can take 5 minutes to load

Literally 5 minutes or are you exaggerating? I've never had a load time of more than 1 minute (although that's pretty long already).

 

[KePoW]

Well, look at it this way. In pve there is probably an ability rotation that you use above everything else. You like the abilities in that rotation to be on your main hotkeys. For me those are the number keys, 12345, as well Mouse Button 4 and mouse wheel down. The reason being that I have to move my fingers the least amount of distance to reach those keys than other keys.

In pvp you use a totally different set of abilities, but I would like my pvp rotation to also be accessible via 12345, Mouse Button 4, and wheel down because again, they are the easiest keys to move my finger to.

There's also Q, E, R, F, Z, X, C, V

What do you do with those keys? I use all of them as ability keys (along with 1-5, various mouse buttons). Oh also F1-F4.