Photo-Receptor Focus on: SWTOR Wish List

By Maer

Over the course of writing this column, I’ve mentioned things I’d like to see in the game.  Since we just recently chatted about the good and bad in Legacy 1.2, let’s now look at what we’d still like to have in the game.  Here’s my own Wish List.  This week, anyway.

More after the jump…

10.  Barber Shop – Yes, yes, I’m still singing this song.  I want to be able to change the style and color of my hair.  I like contrast in colors and my choices for hair color for a Sith Pureblood were all rather dark.  I wanted light and I’d like some other styles.  I only have a few styles I actually like and I tend to use them more than once.  Not good.  More colors and styles for all races, please.

9.  More Costume Choices – I love outfits.  I love color and diversity.  I don’t feel I have either one, yet.  The colors are drab for the most part.  I don’t expect us to get pirate outfits and such because they don’t fit in the SWTOR universe, but there has to be something that will give us more choices.

I like to be able to hold guild costume contests.  I can’t do that in TOR.  I’d also like to see the modded pieces have better style and color.  I have yet to find my Level 50 outfit that makes me feel good.  My Columni gear is just sad.  And makes me look fat.

8.  Better Speeders  – I’m still riding my first Level 50 speeder because none of the others makes me want to hurry up and earn commendations to get them.  I bought one of the boats, but only because of the status, not the look.  I’d like to see more variety in styles and again brighter colors.  Also speeders need to be faster.  Lots faster!

7.  More Pets – What I have are awesome.  They’re cute.  I want more.  I want pets that fly behind me.  I want colorful pets, too.  (Someone give Bioware the box of 120 crayons and take out the blacks, greys and browns, please.  They can have them back later on, but they need to master use of the reds, blues, purples, etc. first.)

6.  Props, Please! – Toys! I need toys.  Balls for games, special drinks that give fun effects, picnic baskets – something, anything that can be translated into fun times at guild events.

5.  Special Events – I loved the Rakghoul event, even though I missed part of the achievements.  I think we need more of these.  We also need better explanations, so we know what all is out there to do.  Google failed me in getting all of the information until too late.

4.  Annual Events – We need these.  Recurring events, with multiple tasks, quests, bosses that we can participate in and look forward to each year.  Eight to ten a year minimum would be good.

3.   Flight on Planets – Yep, I want to fly.  At max level, I want to skip over what I ran at Levels 10, 20, 30.  I want to soar above it all.  We have space travel.  Flying should be available.

2.  Crafting Improvements – We got a start at this in 1.2.  That trend needs to continue.  And gathering needs to be more fun, so I’ll want to spend time doing that.  The whole crafting thing was a great idea that just needs something to punch it into being fun.

1.   Merge Servers – We’ve dropped players from the usual attrition after a new game launches.  Even though we had several very large guilds on the Republic side at launch, we are now very light on that side on our server.  It’s time to consolidate and merge us with another server that has a high Republic presence.

That’s my Top 10 Wish List and my two credits.  What’s yours?

Ready…set…discuss…

 

Highlighted Guild

• Demonic Sith Lords – Sith Empire
  

Through this article and website, I have had the great privilege of meeting some amazing guilds, full of creative and talented folks all with one thing in common…enjoying Star Wars: The Old Republic. This week is no exception. Dugra, an officer in the Demonic Sith Lords, emailed me about highlighting their guild. I have to admit, seeing the word demonic in the name had me raise an eyebrow. However, I went about checking out their guild and they are really a great bunch of folks…even if they are the anti-“fluffy” named guild. As we will find out they love playing this game and having fun, especially when they are extinguishing those on the light side.

More on the Demonic Sith Lords & their journey on the Dark Side after the Jump…

 

 
Before we get into the interview, here is another look at one of the creatively “dark sided” members in DSL. Glidingdragon created this video through editing cinematics and combining the voice from the Deceived audio book and if you pay attention to the ending there is an audio clip from Knights of The Old Republic.

 

• Guild Q&A:

How did DSL get its start? Is this the only game the guild is playing?

We first met in another guild from the same server. Lolita, Keiarra, Zena, Fulliz and I ran together all the time. We moved through the ranks to officers and were in charge of doing guild runs and other activities. We decided that even though we did like being in a large guild and enjoyed putting activities together why not try it on our own and create more of a unionized guild. We decided to take the plunge and venture out on our own to build the Demonic Sith Lords and create a more democratic guild. At the moment this is the only game ourselves and our members play.

 

 

What faction, server and type of server are associate with Demonic Sith Lords?

We play for the Empire on a PVE server called Icebreaker. However for those that like to switch it up a bit and try something different we have a Republic guild on the same server, however that is not a main focus for now.

 

As a fairly new and smaller guild, how has would you describe the guild creation process in SWTOR compared to other games? Are there some areas you think Bioware can help guilds with some improvements?

The guild creation was easy as it is in most MMORPG’s. The hard part was that our server is a small one to begin with and there are two large guilds that dominate our server for now. So getting new people to join can be a difficult task. However we feel that we have really lucked out so far in recruiting dedicated members’ that fit in well with our criteria. I would like to see Bioware add some guild navigation options, so new players can see what guilds are on the server and what type of guild they are so it’ll be easier for them to find their perfect fit and since we don’t have macros we can keep from spamming too much in trade chat. That gets kind of annoying.

 

With a somewhat “ominous” guild name, is there a backstory to the name? Does your guild tend to play more towards the “Dark” side when making in-game choices?

There really isn’t a back story to us choosing our guild name. Of course since we play more towards the dark side we wanted to pick a name that would fit that. We love the dark side and if you’re busy slaying a light side player you want them to know exactly what side we represent and a cute fluffy name doesn’t exactly go well with that.

 

What has the guild been doing to attract new members? Does the guild hold in-game events? If so what type of events and how have they gone over with the members of DSL?

Well I think we have a couple of things going for us that attracts new members. One being the fact that we have our own website that is always updated and our members’ interact with each other, and the other being we have vent that is always being used and it’s a lot easier for our members to get to know each other and which players they would like to do more activities with. We do hold in-game contests for our members. We just finished a contest where we asked members to create a guild logo picture. We had them post it on our site and the one that had the most likes won 200k in credits. It was a great opportunity for members to get involved and show they’re creativity. It was also a chance for the guild leaders to see who is more artistically inclined. So that if we want to get more guild art out there we know who has the passion for it. We’ve had all kinds of ideas including naked fist fighting, and who can get the most “purple” loot from drops and gathering missions. You can always see what new contests or events we have going on our website.

 

Are there areas in SWTOR that it helps being a smaller guild? Have there been any situations where smaller numbers have hurt your guild?

Being a smaller guild has its pros and cons like with everything in game. The pro being since we are a small guild it’s very easy for new members to really get to know older ones and that we can have easier interactions and conversations with each other. I think the biggest thing we have going for ourselves is that we are very social and inviting to all. No matter what your rank or level everyone is treated like a friend. The downside of being small is that it’s harder to get same lvl ops, flash points and high level world boss runs together. We pride ourselves in being fair and doing things for all levels, but when it comes time to do higher level things we sometimes come up a man or 2 short.

 

In your forums, one member has started a class guide for Sith Inquisitors – Sorcs. Is this something the guild is going to try to get for every class, advance and roles?

That project was started by one of our newest member Kilzsoftly. Who has since been promoted to an officer in the short time she has been with us. She came up with the idea to making class builds and rotations even more accessible for our members. We realize that just because you can play an internet based game not everyone is internet savvy, so why not cut out the guess work or “googling” and put all the information members need on our site.

 

 

How would you describe your guild to potential new members looking for a Sith guild? What are some of the rules and requirements of members?

Demonic Sith Lords is a very laid back guild that combines being social with being a hardcore player. We are an adult (18 and up) drama free guild that prides ourselves in treating all with respect and courtesy. We all have lives outside of the game and know that playing games is a way to relieve stress for some. So why not come to comfortable place and beat the crap out of monsters and other players in a healthy and safe environment. We help each other out in game and are there if people need to vent about their day. However we are not babysitters and are not responsible for others happiness or advancement in game. We all started from the bottom and while some help is available to our members it’s important for them to also be independent in all in-game aspects, such as making money, crafting and leveling.

 

 

What is your main character’s class, advance class and level? Have you enjoyed your character’s storyline? Do you find the class stories refreshing to the MMO genre? Have you started getting your Legacy benefits unlocked?

I am a lvl 50 Sith warrior tank spec, The warrior story line was fantastic kept me on my toes the entire way through when I wanted to take a break the story just kept pulling me back to see what happened next, I have unlocked all of my legacy benefits having the credits to afford them is not the easy part, From what I have heard and seen all the class story line has had people making alts to see all the story lines and the sweet justice at the end of all the story lines.

 

 

What are some things that drew the guild members to choose to play SWTOR? What are some things the guild would like to see changed or added to the game to keep the game growing?

Story content mixed in with hard core star wars fans. Well more content maybe some better realistic graphics, more guild perks like buffs or even guild ships that we can host guild meetings in etc. Other than that Bioware has done a terrific job at making this game and they are keeping up with problems in the game.

 

Is Demonic Sith Lords recruiting? Are there specific classes or advance classes the guild needs? If so how is the best way to contact and/or apply to the guild?

Well this was an easy question! Lol The answer is yes we are always looking to add to our guild and to be one of the best ran guilds on ICE BREAKER. We do need more DPS and healers but all are welcome. We are doing a lot of exciting stuff for our members and content. We have officers on most times, and players are more than welcomed to contact Dugra, Dreadmac, Lolita, Zena or Kilzsoftly. You can also check us out at our website and use our application to apply for the guild.

 

I want to thank all of the members of the Demonic Sith Lords, especially Dugra for all his help and sharing their guild with us here on Guild Checkpoint. He and the entire guild were gracious enough to welcome me in their website…even if it was a bit “dark” lol. I appreciate the guild helping get the needed info for the article. All the best to the members of Demonic Sith Lords!

Are you in a guild or a leader in a guild and would like to share it with the community? If so please contact me and see if we can tell the community about your guild. Just like Dugra, from this week’s guild, did submit your guild’s website and some basic information in an email to me at, jason@corellianrun.com. Look forward to highlighting more guilds here at Corellian Run Radio. Thanks and see you next week!

 

 

Hello TORWarriors and welcome to another round of questions and answers from the community and BioWare.  Obviously some people asked some questions about future development and like always, BioWare completely ignored those questions preferring to answer questions about current game mechanics.  This week seems to bring up topics of economy, mentoring systems and what the was on the writers minds when doling out companions to the different classes.

So read on dear readers and at the end, give us some feedback into your thoughts about this weeks Q&A.  Cheers!

BioWare – May 4th, 2012

We’re back with a selection of answers to your community questions! Please note that in some cases we’ve combined multiple questions into one, and we that have edited some questions for clarity.

As a reminder, we previously suggested a shift in focus in your questions. As development plans are always subject to change, questions about future features will often get vague answers which can be repetitive and sometimes annoying. With that in mind, the development team is more interested in questions about current in-game features or systems, or questions about why development decisions were made. You’re still welcome to ask questions about future features and we’ll continue to answer them where appropriate – just expect the occasional ‘soon.’

We have now opened an official thread for next week’s Q&A, which will stay open until 2pm CDT on May 8th, 2012 (12pm PDT/3pm EDT/8pm BST/9pm CEST/5am AEST). We welcome your questions in that thread and hope you enjoy the answers below.

If you want to discuss any of the answers given, please use this Forum thread!

DarthZaul: Other than the planned Hutt takeover of all GTNs (which will make them all neutral), do you have further plans to improve the economy? Below level 49 it is almost nonexistent. The crafting changes in 1.2 were supposed to improve it but instead they just gave people more incentive to RE everything they make instead of put it on the GTN. I had to make enough characters with different crew skills to create a self-sufficient Legacy economy, making all my own armor, mods, and stims/medpacks because there are none available to buy.

Damion Schubert (Principal Lead Systems Designer): It sounds like there is a legitimate hole in the economy that someone who has a whole bunch of crew skills could be taking advantage of (hint hint). In all seriousness, a key part of selling your wares in any MMO is understanding supply and demand. In most MMOs, the economy flattens out because all the crafters take the 500 pairs of boots that they craft and plop them on the auction house, which drives the supply wildly way above demand, which pushes the prices down to be below the cost of materials and makes it so that selling stuff isn’t economically worthwhile – which kind of destroys the ‘I’m a successful shop owner’ vibe that aspiring crafters are hoping for. A huge part of the reverse-engineering feature is that it encourages players to remove these excess goods from the economy, which hopefully will bring supply and demand closer to what they actually should be, and should create more space in the GTN without lots of competition. That being said, we can always do better, and I’m sure this will be something we will tweak further in the future.

Dzkiller: I’ve been looking for purple-colored crystals for my Lightsaber for a while now. I want to know where and how we can get it because I’m tired of walking around with a red Lightsaber for my Sith Sorcerer while the Character Progression video for the Inquisitor showed a Sorcerer with a purple Lightsaber.

Damion: We really wanted purple Lightsabers to not be trivial for anyone to get — some things, a player should have to work for a little.  That being said, this seems like an excellent opportunity to use some of the awesome fansite resources on the internet.  The truth is out there!

Giand-Amazone: I´m a guild leader, and as a guild leader I want to be able to send out mails to my whole guild. Right now this is only possible by sending out mails one by one to all of my members, which is very tedious. Will there be an option to send out mails to the whole guild at once?

Damion: We have plans – it was one of the more requested features to come out of the Guild Summit, and we took feedback from the guild leaders very seriously.  So it’s in the works, but we have no ETA at this time.  When the feature comes, expect it to have constraints on the amount that it can be used to prevent it being used to spam and to keep data storage under control.  In the meantime, the MOTD (Message of the Day) remains the best way to communicate to players, and the guilds I run with use it to direct players to their own website.

Lorroc: Are there any plans to introduce a mentoring system in SWTOR? In some other MMOs, this mentoring system lowers the stats and armor of high level characters and grays out abilities that they didn’t have during lower levels so that they can help their lower level friends.

Damion: I’m a big fan of ‘down leveling,’ and I’ve been pushing to add something like this for a long, LONG time.  Plus, you just can’t ignore the master/apprentice relationship as being a core part of the Star Wars experience.  So yeah, this is coming — someday.  And, as always, it will have a couple of unique twists that I think people will enjoy. 

AbsoluteGrndZero: When we get adaptable social armor, will current social armor be changed, or will we be forced to rebuy social armor that is currently sitting in our bank unused on medium-heavy characters?

David Hunt (Systems Designer): Existing gear will be updated to use the adaptive gear weight. This will go live at the same time as augment tables, meaning the social gear you own now will be viable combat gear regardless of your primary armor weight.

DarkElvis: In the Q&A for April 27, you addressed a question about loot drops taking classes into account and how you added the bias into the endgame Flashpoints. Is there any way for this bias to check not just the base class but the advanced class as well? I would say this most affects Sith Warriors and Jedi Knights, who wear different classes of armor depending on their AC choice. Example: our normal Flashpoint group is a Powertech, Sniper, Marauder, and Sorcerer. It seems any time Sith Warrior gear drops, it’s heavy armor, so only a Juggernaut could use it. Our Marauder has actually gotten very little gear from the endgame Flashpoints because of this. So is there any way for it to bias to Advanced Class, mainly to benefit Sith Warriors / Jedi Knights? Thanks in advance!

David: The bias actually uses base class or advanced class as appropriate. For example:

Medium Strength Armor = Marauder / Sentinel
Heavy Strength Armor = Juggernaut / Guardian
Strength DPS trinkets = Sith Warrior / Jedi Knight
Strength Tank trinkets = Juggernaut / Guardian
Offhand only Lightsabers = Marauder / Sentinel

This could be due to a bug in the endgame Flashpoints drops that should have been fixed in patch 1.2.2. If you keep seeing this issue, please send a bug report with as many details as possible. Which bosses you killed, what items dropped, and what your group composition was: these would be the most useful data points. There’s some room for this to occur due to randomness, but it should be limited in endgame content.

Nyjin: Greetings, Ware of Bio! In a Dev Tracker for upcoming crew skill changes in 1.2, it was mentioned that new schematics were going to be put into the game in order to allow for more customization. These schematics were supposed to be of lower-level armor and be obtained through Underworld Trading and Investigation missions. So far, nobody on the forums, myself, or my server have seen any new schematics. Can we get a confirmation on whether or not these made it into the game?

David: We’ve been gradually adding more customization-related schematics to various places in the game. Most of these have been for Custom (orange) armor, but some of them have also been for color crystals. Underworld Trading provides several sets of orange armor – you have a chance to get one of these when you have a mission success. Those schematics already cover a substantial portion of the low level appearances we have available now, but we’re looking for places where we can put more. For the specific 1.2 schematics, the investigation schematics are for new Armstech weapons. There’s an empty orange version of every weapon type except for the Lightsabers. In both cases, there’s a level 20 version (“Custom-built”) and a level 50 version (“Elegant Modified”). Treasure Hunting has the Lightsaber versions of these schematics for use in Artificing.

There’s a major update to Underworld Trading schematics in 1.3 – it’s possible that the upcoming crew skill change was actually referring to that, the gradual introduction of more orange armor sets or other steps being taken to opening up more armor to be viable in 1.2 and 1.3. We’ve added a whole bunch of orange waist and wrist schematics to Underworld Trading in 1.3 We’ve wanted to open this up to players for awhile, especially because some outfits really need the belt in order to look right.

DannerSwa: What was the reason why “Unify” was strictly linked to chest and not designed to let the player choose which slot to unify to? I may like the color scheme of the gloves over the chest but would still like keep the current chest model. Was this an oversight, conscious design decision, or just too complicated to implement?

Daniel Erickson (Lead Game Designer): Conscious design decision. The chest piece is by far the hardest to get in each outfit and the primary acquisition driver. It also “owns” the outfit’s color palette. It’s important to remember that “unify to chest style” does not solely mean “match color.” The design is to give good looking outfits that match the design and color layout of the set the chest piece came from—not to pick one color and make a monotone eyesore.

jalapena: Does BioWare think that item and money sharing between characters at least on the same faction is a bit cumbersome? My question really stems from my frustration of always having to email myself money and items. Here is an annoying scenario that drives this question. I log in to character A and start a companion to craft or go on a mission for materials for character B. I log over to character B to play while the mission or crafting takes place, it would be nice if the item just showed up in my ‘account bank’ and can get it without logging in and out three times to get the said resources to my second character. I think email might be a comfortable and familiar way, but with a game that clearly encourages alternate characters, maybe a new way of sharing resources like money and materials is needed.

Daniel: No argument here. The first steps towards this goal were loosening up the rules on moving items and credits between Legacy characters. Our long term goal is to make more of the progression systems Legacy-wide.

Blackholeskipper: Any chance of seeing alternating skins for PvP Warzones in a future update? For example, if you’re playing the Alderaan map, maybe it could show a summer setting or a night time setting instead of the original. This wouldn’t affect the gameplay or balance at all since it’s just a re-skin.

Daniel: Definite possibility. First we want to finish introducing some core Warzone gameplay types then we’ll look at refreshing some of the older Warzones.

cycao: I was wondering if there is any plan to implement dueling on the fleet. I feel if you remove the restriction on dueling on the fleet it will be a nice way to pass the time.

Daniel: This is a popular request and one we’re actively looking into. Right now we’re making sure performance will stay solid if the fleet breaks out in a duel-fest so it may be restricted to a certain area when/if it comes.

McGrizzly: Any plans to expand Legacy to be across servers (i.e. tied to your account not the server you are on)?

Daniel: This is something the Legacy team would love to do. It’s a huge amount of infrastructure work, however, so it won’t be coming soon.

Llloralei: You know all those color crystals that some specs get that they end up not using? How about using them for speeder slots for an underbody glow or a body trim color on your speeder?!

Daniel: Sold, it goes on the list!

SteppeMerc: I was wondering if you would be able to go into how the writers and devs decided which class got what companion, and when in the game. What went behind your thinking, and what sort of inspiration did you draw on? For instance, I assume that the inclusion of a Wookiee companion for a Smuggler was obvious, but how did you decide the others? For instance how did you decide that a Jedi Knight would get a force using follower before the Sith Warrior, etc? Thanks!

Alexander Freed (Lead Writer): Companions (and their distribution) was one of the very first subjects writing tackled on the game–we had a pool of “Star Wars companion concepts” written up before we’d even finalized our list of classes! As you mention, some of the choices were obvious–we wanted a Wookiee, and it was an easy choice to give him to the Smuggler. Some of the ideas, on the other hand, never did quite fit in–the idea for a Killik companion was dismissed, but became the later inspiration for Vector.

After the easy ones were out of the way, we looked at each individual class story and tried to introduce companions that would provide insight into or contrast the main storyline at the right time. Vette provides a lighter counterpart to the dark Sith Warrior story, but Quinn follows quickly to push the notion of the Sith Warrior as a military leader. Yuun is great fun, but he’s a little too weird to throw at the Trooper right away–the Trooper had to be grounded in the world first before Yuun could really make an impact.

LordAshuman: Would you be able to explain the thought process behind the recent damage boost to Snipers/Gunslingers and buff/nerf prioritization in general? (Not complaining about balance, just wanting to know why them over other classes that could possible use tweaks.)

Austin Peckenpaugh (Senior Designer): The damage boosts to Snipers and Gunslingers that you’re referring to was actually a targeted weapon damage boost. We found an error in the assumptions we use for the mathematical interactions between weapon damage and defense chances. Without going into the boring specifics, we found that weapon damage (especially in abilities with high costs, high cooldowns, or high activation times) could be somewhat underappreciated. When we change our assumptions and come up with a new model like in this situation, we have two diametrically opposed goals: 1) to propagate all necessary changes to the game so that it’s using our most recent math, which opposes the second goal 2) maintaining balance without blindly following our math. We altered the abilities that would pick up a significant enough change to be worth making without having a negative effect on the balance of the game. The list you’re referring to is the result.

Class change prioritization is a bigger topic. Without getting too long-winded on the subject, what we’re aiming to do with any class change is get a class or spec as close to target as we can. These “targets” are objective math-based goals that apply identically to all like-roles. By that I mean that all DPS specs have the same target because they are all the same role: damage dealing. Tank roles have their own targets, and healing roles have their own targets. When someone is off target (too high or too low), we try to find non-invasive ways of bringing them closer to target. We don’t try to bring classes closer to target because we’re mean – we do it because the global game math assumes everyone hits their target. When someone doesn’t hit their target, it has an adverse effect on the game at large. And since rebalancing the entire game to accommodate an outlying spec is completely infeasible, we address the outlying performers with class changes, individually, as appropriate. It’s an ongoing experience that we’ll never be done with, so prioritization is based on what we feel is the most egregious in any given patch. How we identify outliers and how we determine which is the most egregious is… another bigger topic.

Lorrimar: With Game Update 1.2, Artifice patterns were added for +41 stat color crystals for blue & red off the daily vendor as well as blue & yellow off the PvP vendor. Many people are wondering what happened to the green and orange crystal patterns. Rumor is that the orange patterns are a random drop from high level mobs & chests, but I have yet to read or hear anything about anyone locating a pattern for the +41 stat green color crystals. Can you confirm that the orange patterns are now high level world drops & can it be confirmed that the green color patterns are in the game somewhere?

Patrick Malott (Systems Designer): Currently, there are no PvE green Lightsaber crystal schematics that provide +41 stat color crystals. Orange Lightsaber crystal schematics for +41 PvE stats drop off Primal Destroyer – the Rancor world boss on Belsavis. There are currently no PvP orange Lightsaber crystal schematics that provide +41 stat color crystals. The PvP green Lightsaber crystal is on the PvP items vendor for 500 Warzone commendations. It is not sold as a schematic. Players buy the crystal directly.

alricka: What’s the system behind the Gathering and the Missions crew skills? What I mean is this – how does the system decide what item I get? Is it random or is it dependable on something? For example, why some Underworld Trading Gift missions get me military gear while others get me courting items? What I want to know is what’s the logic behind it? Does it matter what the mission’s description says, does it matter which companion I send along with their affection and proficiency etc.

Patrick: When running a specific mission, like for companion gifts, it is random on what the mission returns as a reward. Rarer rewards tend to return less often than more common rewards. Critical mission success usually bumps up the quality of the item returned. Companions with higher affection and specific companion trait critical bonuses increase critical mission success.

Hey there TORWarriors!

I was ambling around the forums today and happened upon a little request coming from BioWare’s Amber Green:

Amber Green – General Discussion -> UI Feature Feedback Request
Hello everyone. Now that you’ve been able to use the UI Customization features implemented with Game Update 1.2, the developers would like to request your feedback. In this thread, please post to let us know what UI features or functions you would like to see implemented in the future.

We are already working on a few areas based on your feedback, such as additional hot bars and more customizable buff bars. While we do not have an estimate for when these features will be implemented, we are hoping that more great ideas will come from you!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. We’re looking forward to seeing your suggestions.

Reading this got me to thinking that I should ask specifically how you guys like the user interface customization feature.

I know I’ve said it here before that I love the new UI.  Especially the fact that I can have a different, easy to use interface for all of the many facets of the game that I play.  I have a PvP interface, aptly named “My PvP Interface”.  I have a solo grind interface and a group interface.  There’s just so much that you can do with the interface right now.  I understand though that in the beginning it can be a bit overwhelming looking at all those colorful boxes, but I promise you, spend a few minutes experimenting and you will grow to love the new user interface.

For those that know the interface like the back of your hand but feel that there’s something missing, head over to this forum thread and let BioWare know your ideas and as always, let give us your own feedback here, we enjoy reading your thoughts.

Hey there TORWarriors!

I was ambling around the forums today and happened upon a little request coming from BioWare’s Amber Green:

Amber Green – General Discussion -> UI Feature Feedback Request
Hello everyone. Now that you’ve been able to use the UI Customization features implemented with Game Update 1.2, the developers would like to request your feedback. In this thread, please post to let us know what UI features or functions you would like to see implemented in the future.

We are already working on a few areas based on your feedback, such as additional hot bars and more customizable buff bars. While we do not have an estimate for when these features will be implemented, we are hoping that more great ideas will come from you!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. We’re looking forward to seeing your suggestions.

Reading this got me to thinking that I should ask specifically how you guys like the user interface customization feature.

I know I’ve said it here before that I love the new UI.  Especially the fact that I can have a different, easy to use interface for all of the many facets of the game that I play.  I have a PvP interface, aptly named “My PvP Interface”.  I have a solo grind interface and a group interface.  There’s just so much that you can do with the interface right now.  I understand though that in the beginning it can be a bit overwhelming looking at all those colorful boxes, but I promise you, spend a few minutes experimenting and you will grow to love the new user interface.

For those that know the interface like the back of your hand but feel that there’s something missing, head over to this forum thread and let BioWare know your ideas and as always, let give us your own feedback here, we enjoy reading your thoughts.

I doubt I’m the only Star Wars: The Old Republic player, and BioWare fan, who listens to more than one TOR related podcast. Obvious bias aside, I love the TORWars podcast. I’m also a fan of, and an avid listener of at least ten other SWTOR podcasts. Each podcast brings a unique perspective to a passionate, thriving MMO community, and of course, gives me something to listen to when my kids wake up in the middle of the night.

I’ve never been to Canada, but I’ve listened to “Canada’s premiere SWTOR podcast,” Keyboard Heroes, since the beginning. The cast consists of three hosts: two Canadians, Stock AKA Kalan, and Brooks AKA Sydor, and one American that those of you who have been in the community a long time will know as Dimbo the Mayor. I think what makes this cast unique, is not only their well informed and passionate perspective on SWTOR and the community as a whole, but the hilarious banter between the Canadians who have known each other since they were “knee-high to a duck.” Add Dimbo’s experience with the game that reaches a year prior to launch, and you get a little of everything you’d want in a truly entertaining SWTOR podcast.

Before I get to why you should listen to their latest cast, if you have never listened to Keyboard Heroes, check one of my all-time favorites called “Hobo Doctor.” It’s a great place to start as it posted just after early access, and I promise it’ll have you in stitches.

Since SWTOR’s release, a few of the podcasts out there have soured on the game for one reason or another, and others have just gone away completely. The guys at KBH are snarky and sarcastic, but it’s obvious that they are still playing, and thoroughly enjoying the game. Yet another reason their podcasts are worth a listen.

About a month ago we informed you that the gentlemen over at Keyboard Heroes, Nothing Gaming, and Swath Radio were joining forces with TGN SWTOR. Three episodes ago, after Keyboard Heroes migrated over to TGN, the podcast became a vidcast. Minor technical issues aside, I’m a huge fan of the new format, and of course, if you’ve never seen a Canadian before, now’s your chance!

Keep in mind that just like Nothing Gaming and Swath Radio, Keyboard Heroes isn’t a “clean” podcast. You are guaranteed to hear more than a few F-bombs, crude jokes, etc., so if you are sensitive to any of that, consider yourself warned.

KBH’s latest vidcast features a lengthy interview with BioWare’s David Bass. While there aren’t any crazy reveals in the interview, Sydor does manage to press just hard enough to get Bass to admit that we may see world events like the Rakghoul Plauge a few times per year. The banter between Sydor and Bass is pretty funny as they discuss the frequency of major game updates, the SWTOR Razer Keyboard, fansites post-launch, internal testing of new SWTOR content, and Bass’ not-so-fast responses to Kalan’s Quick-Fire challenge.

I’ve included KBH’s latest episode with David Bass below, but pop on over to keyboardheroes.ca for previous podcasts, vidcasts, and links to their guild on the Vulkar Highway server.

As usual TORWarriors, leave a comment below and let me know what you think of these crazy Canadians (and the one non-Canadian), and if you like what they’re doing over at KBH and TGN SWTOR, be sure to let them know they should keep up the good work.

Hello, TORWarriors! It’s been a few weeks since we’ve last heard from the shady side of the galaxy, and as a proud Gunslinger myself – I couldn’t in good conscience allow that.  So at least for the near term, I’ll do my best to bring you all updates about those who put their faith in the blasters at their sides.

He makes this look *good*.

This week, I wanted to start with a bit of a survey, if you will. Someone recently mentioned to me that they had a hard time getting into the Smuggler class because overall, it felt a little too much like a “space cowboy” and not enough like the smuggler/blockade runner that many of us associate with Han Solo in the movies. For me, this was a fair point – except the difference was, the space cowboy aspect actually improved the class for me. In addition to being a huge fan of Star Wars, of course, I’m also a devoted Browncoat. Firefly is another really fantastic set of characters set in space (though I believe technically science fiction rather than fantasy, as if memory serves Earth existed in that universe). When I think of space cowboys, it reminds me of aspects of this other beloved galactic franchise. In fact, in many ways I think you can easily see a fit between the Firefly setting and The Old Republic smuggler – especially the gunslinger. Both have a bit of the old West/wild frontier aspect, exploring parts of the ‘Verse most civilized folks avoid, living by wits and a little on the grey side of the law, and frequently engaging in questionable activities to turn a profit. So for me, while this is not Star Wars cannon, it still works.

We look trustworthy, right?

I think to some degree, this was a necessary choice for BioWare. When I say that, I don’t mean necessary in that they had to channel shows like Firefly per se, but that there isn’t a tremendous amount of material to draw on for the smuggler class in the movies the way there is for the other classes (except Imperial Agent). The six Star Wars movies are filled with examples of the Jedi classes – Jedi Knights and Sith Warriors battling on space stations, in dusty fields, and all over the galaxy. You have Masters of the Force such as Emperor Palpatine and Yoda channeling its energy to electrocute or lift entire spacecraft into the air by the power of their thoughts through the Force alone.

It’s when we get to the non-Force classes that the designers need to expand their thinking to create and develop concepts and stories. After all, in the movies, Troopers are – well, not the ones we have in game. In fact, they’re all pretty much Jango Fett. However, we also know a lot about the life of a soldier through history, and actual writings. In fact, those who have served in any military around the world will often comment how remarkably little has changed over the millenia. The same issues my husband had to deal with in Afghanistan were startlingly like the ones the British dealt with a century ago, which were remarkably like the ones the Macedonians and Greeks dealt with a couple millenia ago. Good commanders, bad commanders, dealing with periodic corruption or self-interested individuals, missing their families, believing in their cause, sometimes questioning their cause, willing to risk their lives for their beliefs….These things are perennial. So while we may not have a huge amount of source material in the movies for Troopers as individuals – we have a wealth of inspiration to draw on for the life of a soldier. One could make a similar argument for bounty hunters – after all, mercenary is maybe the fourth oldest profession, and while the mercenaries themselves have been less inclined to record their experiences for posterity overall – those who served with them often did, so again – there’s a lot of material to draw upon for coming up with good Bounty Hunter material. Plus, both Troopers and Bounty Hunters in the movie have exceptionally iconic armor, which makes costume design fairly straightforward.

Switch the horses for droids, and you've got Ord Mantell.

This brings us to the Smuggler. The Smuggler really only has two sources in the movies to draw upon – Han Solo and Lando Calrissian (three if we count  Greedo). In game, they do include armor looks that match both of these pretty closely – the early armor Smugglers get is straight out of Episode IV, complete with the navy pants and yellow stripe down the side, and some of the mid-20s and early 30s armor sets are modeled after Lando’s ensemble on Cloud City, including the proclivity for capes. Even so though – that still leaves us about 30 levels to fill with unique designs and outfits…and not a lot of actual Star Wars movie material to draw upon there. This leaves us with two options – Expanded Universe work, or non-Star Wars work. In my opinion, the game designers have drawn upon both to bring to life the story of the Smuggler – the Scoundrel stays a bit closer to the Han model, using their wit and tricks to dodge direct attacks and with concept art that reminds one of Han in the movies – and the Gunslinger, more of a Firefly/Old West inspired fast-draw shooter, eyes covered under a dusty, wide-brim hat, blasting away in a blaze of glory with both hands on their weapons.

Scoundrels of a feather flock together

So, what do you think, all you Smuggler-types out there? It’s clear that we have both blockade runner-type smugglers as well as space cowboys in The Old Republic. Do you like both models, or wish the space cowboy would stick to games like Fallen Earth? Do you enjoy the Firefly inspiration to the Gunslinger side of the class, or not? Tell us what you think!

HoloNet Links #44

Have you seen this Jedi Master?

The Jedi Master was last spotted prior to Patch 1.2 and Rakghoul Outbreak. This reporter went in search and started at the Jedi Temple on Tython. After surveying the on-going struggle with the Flesh Raiders, I made my way to the Jedi Temple. Everyone seemed to be going about their business as usual. I was told to meet the very Jedi Master, Master Muheeda, I was seeking to receive training. Upon reaching the upper level of the temple and making my way to the Holocron Library, I saw Master Muheeda…or was it?

More on the Jedi Master Mystery, UI feedback wanted & much more after the Jump…

 

 

Immediately the difference was quite clear…Master Muheeda had grown hair, in fact gray hair, his eyes were a different color and he now had facial hair…wait a minute he was not even a Rodian!!!

 

I questioned the Master about his specie change. He would only shake his head. As any good reporter, I had to find out the truth…so I continued to question this so-called Master Muheeda.

 

 

This must have struck a nerve, ah ha now we will get answers…or in this case he poised himself to attack a member of the press, namely me! Luckily for him I had another meeting to conduct back on Coruscant with a member of the Galactic Senate.

 

The case still remains a mystery. If you have any information on the whereabouts of the “real” Master Muheeda, or have noticed any other missing people in the SWTOR Universe, please contact me in the comment section below.

 

• Bioware wants your feedback on UI Features

Below, Amber Green has started a thread in the forums for you to give Bioware your input on the User Interface. They are also interested in ideas for additions to the UI system in future updates. As before, please make your voice be heard on what you would like to see added to the UI, but be sure to make your suggestions in a constructive manner

AmberGreen General Discussion -> UI Feature Feedback Request

Hello everyone. Now that you’ve been able to use the UI Customization features implemented with Game Update 1.2, the developers would like to request your feedback. In this thread, please post to let us know what UI features or functions you would like to see implemented in the future.
We are already working on a few areas based on your feedback, such as additional hotbars and more customizable buff bars. While we do not have an estimate for when these features will be implemented, we are hoping that more great ideas will come from you!
Thanks in advance for your thoughts. We’re looking forward to seeing your suggestions.

 

Star Wars Community News & Events

• Corellian Run Radio’s Weekly Nav Coordinates

This past week we did not have a podcast, but good news…Carla has her computer back!!! That means you all should be hearing a new podcast from Corellian Run Radio very soon! In the meantime please take some time to check out the great articles from the past week. Take a moment to leave our authors your feedback in the article comment thread. The writers love getting your comments, feedback or ideas for future articles. Maer’s article has really sparked some interesting feedback and we would like to hear your thoughts also.

04/27 Operation: Information – Explosive Conflict Review by Ghoztt

04/30 Guild Checkpoint featuring Defenders of The Faith by Jason Taylor

05/01 My Two Credits: Legacy – The Bad by Maer

05/02 Force Lore: Satele Shan Part 2 by Daniel Sperelli

Remember tomorrow is the 4th of May, or better referred as May the 4th Be with You day. Be sure to wear something that shows your Star Wars love, or maybe you have something more elaborate planned. One way you can show your Star Wars to fellow fans on May the 4th Be with You…send them an e-card from starwars.com. We would love to hear how you plan on celebrating in the comment section below!

 

• Republic Trooper article on Combat Medic Changes
  

There have been many changes since Patch 1.2 has been released. Many of us, probably have not read all the patch notes as in-depth as we should. One area that is sometimes overlooked is class updates, especially if it is unclear or maybe not your class. This past week Mike Kern, from RepublicTrooper.com, wrote a great article about the changes to the Advance Trooper Class – Commando, specifically dealing with healing/combat medic changes. Mike does a great job of looking at each of the changes and breaks down exactly how it will impact the Commandos out there playing the role of healer.  Here is a quote from Mike.

“This patch changed my Medic in one very fundamental way. I found myself DPSing a whole lot less and concentrating on healing a whole lot more. It has taken me away from a “dual class” to a more focused class. I have to carefully consider my healing rotation and throw out my damaging abilities on the rare occasions I can spare the Ammo.”

If you want to read more of his in-depth article and more of his conclusions head over to RepublicTrooper.com and read his article.

 

• SWTOR video

Guns & Roses’ song Civil War is used in this week’s video selection. Highlighted in the video, by Boshodoman, are the many conflicts throughout the game starting with Ord Mantell. It does a great job of being an entertaining music video with in-game footage, but also brings home the meaning of the loss that goes with any war or conflict. Now, I am not about to make a political statement, nor do I think that was the full intent of the video. That said it does cause a person to think about it a moment, just like the game has you thinking about the tough choices you make in the game. I am all about having fun and enjoying things for the sake of enjoyment, but it never hurts to think a bit about what each of our choices lead to both in-game and in everyday life. Okay, now without any further “soapbox” debate.

 

That is it for this week’s HoloNet Links. Is there a particular link, story, video, or topic related to SWTOR you would like us to highlight? Maybe you or someone you know deserves to be highlighted in our SWTOR Community Spotlight if so please email us at corellianrun@gmail.com or you can leave your links and suggestions in the comments below, or in the Facebook group.

I want to thank everyone for their well wishes for our wheelchair rugby at Nationals! This is a great community…May the Force be with you all! See you all next week.

Greetings TORWarriors!  Last Inquisitor Weekly, I talked about the Matrix Cube M7-R3.  The week before that I talked about the philosophy behind Inquisitor stat prioritization.  Continuing that trend, this article is also about end-game Inquisitors and diminishing returns formulas.  We have some control over the stats in our gear because we can swap out mods from other sets.  To best take advantage of this, we must understand the stats important to Inquisitors and their diminishing returns soft-caps.

If that introduction didn’t scare you off then you may just be a theory-crafter after all!  However, before I get into all the number-crunchy goodness, I want to take a moment to thank Empire guild for helping me get up to speed with advice on stats for 1.2.  Empire guild is the top-op guild on my server (Shien).  Their latest accolade is securing the world-first for the 8-man story-mode: Operation Explosive Conflict.  I was invited to come help heal in their 16-man hard-mode attempt and was pleased to see Inquisitors in every role of the trinity.  Each of the Inquisitors I witnessed had stat totals pushing multiple soft-caps.

The diminishing returns formula on stats will give you less benefit-per-point the more you stack a stat.  When you are wearing high-level gear that has a lot of the same stats on it, you may reach a “soft cap”.  This is a point where you get so little benefit for increasing a stat that it’s effectively wasted points.

Lets examine Surge as an example.  Surge increases how much damage your critical hits do by increasing your crit-multiplier.  At 200 Surge, you’ll have about 72% crit-multiplier.  At 250 Surge, you’ll have just under 75% crit-multiplier.  That’s a jump of 3% from 50 points of surge. Adding another piece of gear with Surge on it will take you to 300 Surge and give you 76% crit-multipler.  That’s only one additional percent for the same amount of Surge.  After 300 Surge, it barely moves your crit-multiplier at all.

Once you reach a soft-cap with a stat, you can keep your eye out for upgrades or enhancement mods that have other stats.  If both your Surge and Crit are at 250, adding 50 Surge and 50 Crit will boost your damage per second more than adding 100 Surge.  Stats like Crit and Alacrity have higher soft-caps so you don’t need to worry about over-stacking them until you have about 350.

Hello TORWarriors and welcome to today!  I hope that today has been very good for you if you’re ahead of this time zone and that it will be very good for you if you’re behind this time zone. Today I bring you something slightly special in hopes that you can help me caption it.  Who doesn’t like some good Mon Calamari?  I do, all fried up and salty. Mmmm, tasty.  Aww, I kid, I’m sure they taste more like fried frog anyway, ewe.  As always I’ve taken the liberty of making the first caption.

If you’re not familiar with ‘Caption This’, there are rules that must be followed.

One) This is rule number one.

B) When in doubt, refer to rule number one.

Tres) Groom your bantha often otherwise their hair gets all tangled and frankly,  they look cuter in a puppy cut.

Without further ridiculous interruptions, here we go!