Full of a weeks worth of fun!

The breakdown:

Published on May 17, 2013

Gaddock Teeg discusses the latest and greatest happenings in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Links to all stories covered after the break.

Patch 2.1 Notes: http://bit.ly/18Jriip
Patch 2.1 Trailer: http://bit.ly/17s6vAR
MMORPG.com Interview w/ Cory Butler: http://bit.ly/13hrY8S
Unbound Collector’s Edition Dye: http://bit.ly/17s66yn
Obsolete Crafting Mats: http://bit.ly/16hu7st

05.17.2013

Gree In-Game Event Returns

The ancient Gree starship, Gray Secant, returns to Ilum between May 21 and May 28 bringing with it great rewards, including unique armor, pets, weapons, and more!

Join with friends for another chance to earn valuable Reputation points and become a living Legend as you fight for the Gree’s grand mission. This is a great time for players at level 45+ to jump into the event before the event returns at level 55 in the future.

Visit the in-game News Terminal located on Carrick Station or Vaiken Spacedock to get started on your adventure!

SEE ACTION-PACKED MISSIONS:

Some of the cool things the Gree dish out!

See the Relics of the Gree Event Blog and the Galactic Reputation Blog for more details.

Stay connected to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!

And it’s a new Loading Screen, sponsored by the Committee to Find Nok Drayen’s Treasure!

There’s no such thing as a perfect video game. No matter how well a game’s devs predict what their players want, no matter how far they bend over backwards to accommodate every single option for playstyle and customization, there will always be features available in one game that won’t be available in others, or they may not be implemented in a similar fashion. What that might cause for a player is a bit of frustration if they, like me, play multiple games.

Naturally, no MMO publisher is going to copy directly off of another game and just slap a new paint job on a feature. It would be foolish to demand such cookie-cutter behavior, but I will admit there are some features I wouldn’t mind seeing in Star Wars: the Old Republic that are more along the lines of minor quality of life and convenience, rather than ‘the game is horrible without this feature’. It’s also worth noting that this particular boulevard is a two-way street. Other games could benefit from adding in some of the features we have in SWTOR.

Here’s a list of stuff I come across when I’m flitting from game to game that would be nice to have consolidated if I were to ever create my own perfect MMO experience.

• Auto-loot. One of the newer features of Lord of the Rings Online, you automatically loot whatever drops from any mob you kill. If your bags are already full, a temporary holding space is created for the extra goodies. If auto-loot isn’t an option, one of the cool things about SWTOR is that the beams of light at least give us an idea what kind of loot we’re getting… although it would be nice if silver and gold or champion kills always awarded at least a green or blue, depending on the mob.

• Area loot. I first experienced this in SWTOR, and was highly amused to see it appear in World of Warcraft not too long thereafter. I miss this in other games I play, especially if I’m running a low level dungeon and tend to nuke several mobs at once.

• Add-ons. When I’m playing any game other than WoW, I seriously miss my add-ons such as Healbot, ArkInventory, Auctioneer, Carbonite, and Auditor. Perhaps the one I use the most is ArkInventory, which allows me to check the banks of all of my toons on the same server as well as the guild bank. It also adds info to tooltips when you hover over any item to report how many of it, and which toons I have it on. It also allows a restack of items in case you have multiple stacks but none are maxed out. As a crafting nerd, this is insanely invaluable to me.

Yes, I have lots of stuff in my characters’ banks…

• Macros. While I don’t use too many macros within other games, they can be very handy. My favorites are the macros you can code up for performing music in Lord of the Rings Online, although I’m not very fond of players choosing to import non-theme real life songs into the game and playing Metallica on bagpipes while standing on the mailbox in Rivendell, for example.

• Open Tap. This feature is making the rounds into various games, but I first came across it in LotRO. This allows for multiple people to attack the same mob and everyone gets their own separate loot from the kill, regardless of whether they just tagged it once at the beginning to annoy it or whether they were doing the most DPS on it before it died. Marvel Heroes has an open tap system… no, it doesn’t grant Wolverine unlimited booze, although I’m sure he wish it did.

• Click, Go, and Activate. Not exactly sure what the LotRO folks call this, but they have a system where you can right-click on a distant useable object such as a mining node or item you have to pick up or activate for a quest, and it makes you run or ride to the node and start using it as soon as you get to it. It’s not a perfect system, because the terrain might prevent you from getting to the object, but I really do miss it in other games when I’m doing a lot of farming.

• Corpse Run. One thing that’s missing from LotRO and SWTOR that I don’t like about WoW is the infamous corpse run. LotRO and SWTOR give you an option to resurrect on the spot (albeit with certain limitations) without having to run all the way back. Depending on where you died in Azeroth, that might be a bit of an adventure to get back to your corpse to resurrect without having to resort to using the spirit healer and simply taking the hit on gear damage and resurrection sickness for ten minutes. If you do the corpse run, you also don’t get a 10-second stealth buff to run out of the way of the mobs that killed you and get to safety. Cue up the Gothsicles’ ‘One Second Ghost‘. I won’t tell you how I fell out of vanilla WoW‘s Teldrassil in Darnassus as a fresh-faced newbie in 2006 (before they added a ‘Return to Graveyard’ button) and landed on a limb halfway down the tree and had to deliberately jump and time my clicking of the resurrect button because I was too stubborn to use the spirit healer. And then glide as a wisp all the way around to Ru’theran Village (twice) and finally managed to time it right. Nope, I’m not going to tell you about that story…

I died with an axe and the Tankard O’ Terror in my hand. Good times.

• Auto-Turn to New Target. One of the things I love about SWTOR is the fact that my toons will auto-target someone new when I’m fighting multiple enemies and pivot to face them. My Sentinel can be flailing with her twin sabers, and as soon as that guy dies, she automatically changes direction in time with the system picking a new target. One of the things that annoys me about LotRO is that their ‘must be facing target’ abilities are stricter than TOR‘s, and without that auto-turn, I keep having to click multiple times to get my Champion to focus on a new enemy and often get hit a few times first.

• Health and Non-Health Stat Regeneration. One of the things that makes me a bit unhappy with Marvel Heroes in the beta is the simple fact that unless your character is wearing gear that has a health regeneration stat on it, your character doesn’t regain any health after battle. Unlike WoW and many other games, they also don’t have foods and drinks you can consume to regain your pools. In MH, you can either go back to a waypoint where there’s a healer or use a SHIELD medi-kit, which most folks use like we use medpacs in TOR. I think SWTOR has the best system out there. You’re out of battle, hit your regeneration ability, boom, done.

So, my fellow TORWarriors, these are some of the convenience features that I like to see in my ideal gaming experience. What are some of the things you’ve seen, either in SWTOR or other games, that you miss when you’re not playing that game?

Jeff Hickman, Producer extraordinaire.

Let me give you a bit of background. First, let’s start with an excerpt from Jeff’s blog post from last year:

via Jeff Hickman 7.31.2012

“Starting this Fall, there will be two ways to enjoy the game. First, you can continue as a subscriber, which gives you unlimited access to all game features and future Game Updates at no additional charge. Second, you have the option to play free to Level 50, with game play restrictions that limit game options and access to certain game content.”

At the time, many people believed in a very literal interpretation of those famous typed words. These folks are now trying to hold BioWare and Jeff Hickman accountable. Some subscribers are upset and are addressing the issue head-on in a recent forum thread.  Some have gone as far as calling Jeff and BioWare liars.

Here’s an example of some of the vitriol:

Dawginole via SWTOR Forums 5.17.2013

“That couldn’t have been written any more clearly. All additions to the game, even after the implementation of F2P, would remain free to subscribers. This was written to subscribers to belay our fears in the transition. It was done so to maintain our trust. Your 2.1 update is in violation of this guarantee and you have violated the trust established between you and your subscribers when you decided to move to F2P.”

DesmoLegacy via SWTOR Forums 5.17.2013

“When you manage a professional business and open a direct communication channel to paying customers and lie it tends to destroy your credibility.”

That, fellow TORWarriors, is the controversy in a nutshell.

Allow me to share with you my thoughts and insights into this issue. Should we be holding BioWare accountable for a statement written last summer? I don’t know. Do I think that BioWare is actively lying in order to take advantage of their customers? No, I don’t.

I do know that when F2P was announced I was a firm believer that Subscriber or not, we were going to be paying for some in-game items because that’s how most F2P games are. You could hear the audible cry through the SWTOR crowd when it was announced the game would go F2P, because we, the player base, knew. We knew that when this happened the game would change for some players.  If players like the items offered up on the Cartel Market, the game can turn into a money sink, and this has been true for some Subscribers. It’s simply the nature of the beast.  The items on the Cartel Market are meant to be desirable.  They’re meant to tempt players to buy them. All players, including Subscribers.

I find myself thinking that much of this controversy surrounds the Cartel Market itself.  Virtually everything on the Market is a luxury item. Players simply don’t need them.  BioWare has very much kept to the promise that this is not a Pay-to-Win game. The items that are in the Cartel Market do not, for the most part, influence fair play.

Moving on, if you read through the thread, you’ll read both sides of the story. At about page 22, Community Manager, Eric Musco addresses the community and tries to clarify much.

A little clarity for the masses.

Again, my personal thoughts: I do agree that the monthly stipend is something that Subs should take into consideration before they complain about how much they’re not getting for free. However, I do have to disagree with Eric on one arguably small point. The constant movement of items in and out of the Cartel Market (even with many items priced at a discount prior to removal) forces Subs to buy some coveted items in the short term. If the Sub doesn’t buy the items he/she wants or needs, there is a risk they’ll become unavailable when the items go off-market while the subscribing player is trying to save up the coin. In order to minimize this risk, the subscriber is left with only one choice: buy more Coins using real-world cash.

The reality is that this is the way the system is designed to work in all games, not just SWTOR. Making items coveted, and making everyone want to drop some Coin to get the items right now, is the point of F2P. That’s where EA is making a good portion of their dough.

Remember friends, these are luxury items.  That’s what this controversy is really about.

If BioWare wanted a sure-fire way to make subscribers a bit happier, this is one sticking point they could address.  How?  One, they could increase the monthly subscriber stipend.  Two, they could give a time frame before taking items off the market.  Three, they could give subscribing players a few more freebies (e.g., one free Cathar character, etc).  This gives subscribers a bit more free content, while keep the Cartel Market viable.  It also allows subscribers more than ample time to plan, and to save up their  monthly allowance money.  This three-step approach might help put this controversy to bed.  Keep in mind, however, that this system is designed for the developer to make money and guess what? According to EA’s last quarter report, it’s working.  This means that these kinds of changes may not be immediately forthcoming.

Is there an easy solution to make all parties happy? No, there never is. Does the above controversy mean that BioWare has actively lied to the players?  No, that’s just taking things too far.  Is this a game-breaker? I don’t think so.

However, your opinion, my fellow TORWarriors, may be very different from mine. I’m anxious to hear your thoughts and insights, so share them in the comments section below.

Is there an easy solution to make all parties happy? No, there never is. Does the above controversy mean that BioWare has actively lied to the players?  No, that’s just taking things too far.  Is this a game-breaker? I don’t think so.

BioWare’s Cory Butler give the thumbs up for more content-driven updates in the coming months.

Welcome to Game Update 2.1: Customization | 05.17.2013, 07:36 PM

Howdy, folks. Cory Butler here to follow-up on some of your concerns that have been surfacing in the forums and on social media sites around Game Update 2.1: Customization. First, it’s important to know that 2.1 will not affect the cadence of our game update schedule. 2.1 was the second half of our Cartel Market implementation plan. So, do not expect to see this type of Market-driven update on a regular basis. This release was comprised almost entirely of cosmetic options that have no impact on combat balance or gameplay. Vanity modifications are the kinds of things, in general, that we’ve always planned to offer in the Cartel Market for purchase by all players and in some cases, like with Appearance Designer changes, discounted for subscribers — having said that, we’ve heard some frustration from subscribers that, even with these kinds of offerings, we ought to do more to recognize subscriber status. We hear you loud and clear. Please stay tuned.

To continue on the point of content cadence, I know in a separate post Eric discussed a bit about our cadence and that our plan is for all of you to see content within an 8-week window from Rise of the Hutt Cartel’s launch, I would recommend reading his post for more details, here. What I do want to do is assure you that we have many more things in the works here at BioWare that aren’t Cartel Market features, and are the exact types of content you folks have been asking about. I cannot go into specifics yet but we are definitely working on things like new Flashpoints, Operations, daily hubs, events, PvP, and even the super-secret space project! Game Update 2.1 is just one of the many Updates you will get from us this year and I am really excited about what is still to come and I think you will be too.

Until next time — see you in-game!

There you have it folks, the last of the Market-driven updates for a while. Now, on to bigger, more interesting updates in our future. And what’s this about the super-secret space project? I thought we all forgot about that!

If you needed to know…here’s your answer!

I don’t know how I feel about this one. Should gear below level 15 be dye-able? My initial thought is that as a player, you’re going to be out of that gear much sooner than you think, so no, BioWare shouldn’t waste the time. However, the other side of the coin is also understandable and why shouldn’t lower level players be able to customize their gear according to their own liking? If you want to catch the rest of the thread, hit this link here. Lend us your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.

Yes….yes they do.

Short answer is yes, they do listen, but it’s not always easy to implement what the players want. There’s technical aspects to this game that those who aren’t game designers aren’t familiar with. Here’s what Musco so eloquently says in response to one forum post:

Via Eric Musco

The very simple answer to this question is that yes, we absolutely listen to player feedback! However, the answer is technically a lot more complicated than that.

I think sometimes players on the forums wish that the process was just as simple as “I want X thing to be like Y” and that we can simply just change it to Y. Unfortunately it is a lot more complex, but I think this could be a good post to give some insights into what player feedback looks like on our side.

It happens very often internally where we, the community team, will raise issues to the development team that we have seen from player feedback. This is anything from a bug to just a general amount of criticism on a certain feature. What we help to provide is player feedback in as constructive a way as possible. This way it will give the developers perspective on how you folks are reacting to a system, both the good and the bad, and what you think can be changed to improve it.

This is where it gets complex, we provided player feedback, but that is just one small component of everything that goes into when a decision is made. From there, our developers can then grab metrics to see if the player feedback is supported through data. As a random, made up example:

“Players are complaining that the Assassin skill “I kill stuff” is worthless and no one uses it, it needs to be replaced.”

Our developers could pull skill information on every Assassin in our game and validate what % of players are using that skill, or not using it. With data and feedback in hand, the developers also have to consider a few other components, how will it affect the company (if it is tied to monetization), how much development time will it take, if we use development time for this change will it affect something else? In this example if the developers see, using data, that 93% of all Assassins use “I kill stuff” than we can see that most likely it is just a perception issue that the skill isn’t good. However, it doesn’t mean the player feedback is wrong, it just means that we have two pieces of the decision making process that don’t agree and more research is needed.

It should also be stated that sometimes there is feedback or ideas that come to us via player feedback that we ourselves love. However from the development side they are very difficult, time consuming, or simply just not possible. Sometimes this can be even be for things that appear like very simple changes to our game when in fact they are quite the opposite!

One of our roles as a community team is to pass on your feedback and to act as your voice in these discussions. What is important to understand is that player feedback is just one of many components that go into each decision. I also would note: remember that something like the forums are actually just one small component of player feedback. The community of our game is the forums, social media, and the many, many other players in-game who don’t talk about SWTOR on either of those mediums.

I hope that gives a bit of insight into what happens with player feedback when it is received. I know it can be frustrating to feel like your feedback isn’t always listened to but I assure you that your voice has a seat at the table.

-eric

Eric Musco | Community Manager
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Not the bug BioWare’s looking for.

Here’s what Amber Green says in a reddit post:

via K0h4ku 9 points 1 hour ago

Is it me, or is Leia getting hotter every year?

There are a few interesting little insights about how much of the script is written at this point (hint: very little) and other aspects of the film.  The best bits, however, come from the audience Q&A with Abrams about the upcoming film.  Truly, deeply epic.

BTW, I agree that Chewy and Leia should do it in the next Star Wars film.  Absolutely.

Even R2 and the Daleks want a truce!

Here’s an exerpt:

Rival Star Wars and Doctor Who fans had to be separated by ‘the force’ after police were called to a fight at a sci-fi convention between the two squabbling groups.

The family event, hosted at the University of East Anglia, threatened to head towards the dark side after the dispute erupted between members of Norwich Sci-Fi Club and Norwich Star Wars Club.

More than a dozen fans from both groups – including several in fancy dress – were involved in a bitter exchange outside the venue, sparked by the arrival of Jim Poole, treasurer of the Norwich Sci-Fi Club.

Read more…

The dispute between the two attending groups is long running. It centers around the organization of annual events attended with the animosity between the two groups escalating in recent weeks using various social media sites. Both clubs have their reasons for attending events and are both deeply offended by the other and police have ordered them to stay in a galaxy far, far away from one another.

Now, being a fan of both genres, I’m feeling a bit bi-polar about the situation. Doctor Who isn’t better than Star Wars and Star Wars isn’t better than Doctor Who. A person can like both. Can’t we Who Heads and Force Freaks just get along? Or must we always commit to feeling that ones Doctor trumps ones Darth or vice versa? What’re your thoughts homies? Shout out below!