The SWTOR thread

I used the first link - and found some interesting surprises ! Do not use of you want to be spoiler-free ! ;) (Might be true for the second link as well, which I didn't follow. ;) )
 
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The official info drop (spoilers, scroll at the end for the FAQ and other legal info) and trailer. Looks like more info is coming as well.

It release on OCTOBER 27TH, include the first 9 new chapters and is free for subscribers and include Shadow of Revan for free. Increase level cap to 65. The other chapters will release monthly in 2016 (need to be subscribed to have them for free).

The x12 Epic Story Boost will end on October 19th.
 
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Apparently, the new expansion story will (still) not be class based, and it will be entirely solo driven. Meaning friends can't take part in the story.

Absolutely and totally stupid.

They're trying to take a mess of an MMO and turn it into a half-assed singleplayer experience.

Make a PROPER KotOR 3 - using the Frostbite engine. That would be a good idea.

This is like the worst of both worlds.
 
All that being said.. wow, what an amazing trailer! I loved it!
 
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All that being said.. wow, what an amazing trailer! I loved it!

I'm sure it will help sell the expansion.

The actual story content is likely a couple of hours - and the rest will be the usual filler grind.

I have no idea what people see in that kind of experience given the limitations of the MMO mechanics, and the terribly clumsy engine.
 
I'm sure it will help sell the expansion.

The actual story content is likely a couple of hours - and the rest will be the usual filler grind.

I have no idea what people see in that kind of experience given the limitations of the MMO mechanics, and the terribly clumsy engine.

I'm not so sure. It seems to me they're almost ignoring raids, pvp and so on in this expansion in order to create this story experience:
- Five new companions will be available, with very different allegiances
- You are able to recruit help and additional companions from an expanded cast, including companions who were previously exclusive to other classes.
- To recruit help, you will need to travel around the galaxy and do missions to make yourself favorable to them.”If you want to recruit a character who’s favorable to the Mandalorians, you’ll be able to do missions for them. You want to recruit a character who hates the Hutts, you’ll do missions to build your alliance standing against them.”
- Still a MMO, just very streamlined.
- We are still doing flashpoints, operations, raids bosses, and pvp but it is all about story this year.

I'm not sure what to make of all that, but it doesn't sound like their previous expansions, or any other MMO expansion I've heard of for that matter. I have no idea how it will work out though, but I'll try it out at some point.
 
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I'm not so sure. It seems to me they're almost ignoring raids, pvp and so on in this expansion in order to create this story experience:

I'm talking about side quests you have to do to gain XP/access to the main quests, which was always part of this horribly grindy approach to content. If you play the class story missions in SWtOR exclusively, you'll find that they're actually a tiny, tiny part of the experience. The vast majority is travelling and grinding side quests full of filler combat.

I'm not sure what to make of all that, but it doesn't sound like their previous expansions, or any other MMO expansion I've heard of for that matter. I have no idea how it will work out though, but I'll try it out at some point.

I think it will work in terms of generating sales, but once people realise how little story there is - they'll be aware of the issues.

If you think about it, it's an incredibly cheap way of producing "content". Everything is already in place via the engine, so you just need to buy some voice actors - and that's pretty much it.

It's likely much cheaper than creating new flashpoints and "real" content. Especially since they don't have to involve multiple players in any of the conversations.
 
Me, I'm totally fine with it being soloable.
 
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There was a new Cantina event and that means new code sharing for a mount (and stuff).

Link found here. The codes can be used 50 times (instead of just 5 like the last time).
 
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Does anyone have an idea what's going on with SWTOR ? Is this merely an regular update or a deeper problem ?
 
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Looks like either a DDOS attack or an hardware issue. The website is back in business though (was down earlier).
 
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SWTOR will be down for 2 days : Monday & Tuesday.

Patch 3.3 is coming then as well - together with the Togruta species.
 
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SWTOR will be down for 2 days : Monday & Tuesday.

Patch 3.3 is coming then as well - together with the Togruta species.

I think you might have slightly misunderstood/misread that, Alrik. It looks like two days because of the different timezones but it's actually "only" 12 hours from 03:00 GMT to 15:00 GMT on July 21.

The announcement (I have highlighted the relevant EU times):

Hey everyone!

I wanted to let you know that we will be performing maintenance for Game Update 3.3 starting on Monday, July 20th, 2015.

Date: Monday, 20 July 2015 - Tuesday 21 July 2015
Time: 8:00PM PDT, Monday, July 20th (0300 GMT, July 21st) - 8:00AM PDT, Tuesday, July 21st (1500 GMT, July 21st)
Version: 3.3

Game Update 3.3 will include the new Yavin IV Galactic Stronghold, the Togruta species, and the PvP Currency and Rewards revamp. Full Patch Notes will be posted on Monday, July 20th. If there are any updates during the maintenance period, they will be posted on the SWTOR Twitter account, as the website will be offline.

Thanks!

-Tait
 
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Oh, how much I hate this time zones thing !!!
 
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I'm just reading through the terms of service of EA.,

A few formulations struck me :

The parties agree that the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) shall not apply to this Agreement or to any dispute or transaction arising out of this Agreement.

Location. If you are a resident of the United States, arbitration will take place at any reasonable location convenient for you. For residents outside the United States, arbitration shall be initiated in the County of San Mateo, State of California, United States of America,
and you and EA agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of that court, in order to compel arbitration, to stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.
 
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I received a warning from an SWTOR forums moderator - because I pointed out to the fact that for several months - half a year or even longer, which means for several PvP Seasons - the same old FOTM classes dominate SWTOR PvP.

A rather cynical discussion about that is taking place here and another one, a bit more specific, but even more cynical, here.

teclado said:
Of the top 100, 28 are not of the big 3, and 11 of those 28 are not op/sco (numbers based on me just now glancing at the boards, so there may be an error).

sorc/sin/PT = 72% (3/8 or 37.5% of classes)
op/scou = 17% (1/8 or 12.5% of classes)
other = 11% (4/8 or 50% of classes)

So, 50% of the classes occupy 89% of the top 100. The other 50% occupy 11%. I'm not a statistician, but that seems like it might be indicative of something.

I don't know why the tiers are based on rating opposed to some predefined percentage of a given class. Example, set tier 1 for commandos as top 5% (ish???) of all commandos. So now, commandos are competing on an equal playing field for tiers (versus other commandos). You can completely eliminate class balance from the tier equation. So, a commando might get tier 1 with a rating of 1250. A sorc with a rating of 1600 might not get tier 1. A sorc may say, "but my rating is better, therefore I am a better player!!" Well, your class is better. I wasn't aware that this was supposed to measure class balance, but instead player skill.

And this is going on for 3 PvP Seasons now.
 
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Some thoughts of mine on the current PvP meta in SWTOR :

Assassins and Operatives were never really changed that much during *all* seasons so that their "dager" they impose on others has always been there.
What I mean is this : Combination of high burst duelling capabilities with stealth. In my opinion, each one of both *on its own* isn't creating any OPness. No way.
But in my opinion - personally - *both combined* are able to do that.

In terms of "how to defeat", both classes are - again, this is my personal opinion - both classes are "difficult to master", or, in other words : It is difficult to master beating them. Because of their many capabilities.

And because of the concept "easy to play, difficult to master", some classes are "easy to defeat", while others are "difficult to master them getting defeated". I hope that was understandable what i wanted to express.

And because "easy to defeat" is something *everybody* is capable to, the great masses of players won't have any problems defeating those classes which are easy to defeat.

Because of the "… more difficult to …" thing, far fewer players are able to master beating those classes which are more difficult to beat. At least if played by good players.

If this meta is true, then there is not only a large disparity in player numbers who play "easy to play" classes vs. "but hard top master" classes,
then there is also a large disparity in player numbers who can "easily defeat" vs. "hard to mater to defeat" some classes.

Hope I could express what I mean. It's a bit difficult when English isn't the 1st language, you know … ;)

One special example are classes which are - again this is my personal opinion - "easy to play, easy to defeat". Commandos & Gunslingers are those classes, imho.

Before the Revan Expanstion, I think, Sages were a class which was "easy to play, hard to master, easy to defeat" in general. Of course, "difficult to get defeated" if someone was able to kite a LOT.

There opens up an even different meta on that :

Classes played by players with high skill vs. classes played by players with low skill. We already know this ixists, but most players here in these forums don't give much on the problem of classes played by players played with lower skill. Because at level 55 - now 60 - it doesn't matter to them anymore.

A class "easy to play but hard to master" just won't get the same results when being played by a person with lower skill. Sounds logical.

But : The different meta is that classes "hard to shutdown" just won't get as much easily shut down by players with lower skill as well !

So, if classes which are "hard to shutdown" are played by LOTS of people - then the far smaller number of players REQUIRED to have a so much higher skill thahn the majoity has to properly shut down / defeat / beat a class won't be able to cope.

High number of "hard to defeat" vs. small number of "people actually capable of doing that"

compared to

High number of "easy to defeat" vs. large number of "people actually capable of doing that".

Maybe that's where the current problems of Commandos & Gunslingrers come from ?

Posted here : http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8355845#post8355845
 
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Changes coming to companions in 4.0

This stuff is retroactive:
- Companion effectiveness is going to be based upon the player character level (Presence stat and Influence) and not their gears. Gear will be cosmetic for those that can wear it.
- All companion will be able to fulfill the 3 roles (tank, dps, healer)
- Companion lose their crafting bonuses, now it's all influence based.
- Affection is renamed Influence and work a bit differently

The first two should have been in the game a long time ago. It's super annoying, unless you are a Trooper, to gear you companions for their roles every few levels.
 
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