Weekly Dev Q&A for Fridays

[Fabricated]

Scoundrel/Operative and BH/Trooper healers could be fixed if one of their primary healing stats also affected their resource generation. This is only from observing them healing in raids however; it seems like Trooper/BH/Scoundrel/Operatives can heal "average" damage for literally forever but 1/2 waves of spike damage and they're done unless people can survive long enough for them to stand around until their resources come back.

Healers need help from the other players.  Know when to use interrupts and when to blow defensive cooldowns.  With Ops and Merc healers especially.

Hmm, I'd agree for most fights but in some of the raid fights you just can't avoid taking huge damage randomly. Soa for example summons ball lightnings that chase you forever on hard/nightmare and you pretty much have to run them out of the raid and eat them for some pretty sizable damage. Also players who are mind-trapped usually need heals ASAP after being busted out.

The first boss of Kagarra's Palace is basically uncontrollable and WILL cleave the fuck out of 2-3 people on 8-man and 5-6 people on 16-man. The Bounty Hunter duo in kagarra's also like to dish out massive random damage too. Sages pretty much drop their aoe heal and bubble and sail through it while our operatives/troopers spam for their lives.

[Wolf]

Well I said that 3 times already at different points - there's a reason why the brewmasters are getting a mana bar in their healing spec.

[Paelos]

New Dev Q&A up for the 24th, my summary follows:

1 - Will you be putting in a LFG tool? What will it feature, how will it work, and when will it go live?

A - We are working on it. We are trying to offer flexibility and speed with the tool. Details soon.

2 - Will you implement quick travel to your ship?

A - No, we don't think it's necessary.

3 - Will new emotes be added?

A - They are planned. Legacy system will unlock them in 1.2, including a dance with your companion.

4 - Biochem is dominating endgame due to gear from crafting not matching up with pvp/pve drops. Do you look into this?

A - Absolutely. 1.2 will add endgaming crafting including expanded reverse engineering (up to 4 pages of patch notes on this topic). This also includes extracting base mods from purples.

5 - Will you put in mini-games like pazaak?

A - It's not on the horizon.

6 - Will you put in something that compares mods in armor better?

A - It's a convenience feature. As such, it's low priority.

7 - How will you fix performance issues in open world pvp and WZs?

A - We have an internal strike team! It's a crucial initative. We should see drastic increases in 1.1.5. Buzz words!

8 - Will you add a companion loot roll option?

A - Maybe. Don't hold your breath.

9 - Can I get a different ship? I like mine but I want more.

A - It's too hard for us to do. We'll give you the ability to customize your ship more at somepoint. Deal?

[Sky]

Quick travel to ship - really needed imo. When it's more efficient to burn a fleet pass than trudge back through, say, Coruscant's epic spaceport? I don't mind the trudging for the most part, but getting to and from the ship is a pita.

Looking forward to the crafting changes. I think. I'm kind of scared, honestly.

Companion loot roll, c'mon guys. It's more useful than 'deconstruct', ffs.

[01101010]

2 - Will you implement quick travel to your ship?

A - No, we don't think it's necessary.

 

Orbital stations you fuckers... not necessary my ass. What is not necessary is having to flight path to the space port, run through it, since you know... no speeders allowed, then zone over and run through that to your ships front door. And god forbid you get to a planet with an orbital station.

...not necessary... fuck you.

3 - Will new emotes be added?

A - They are planned. Legacy system will unlock them in 1.2, including a dance with your companion.

^^
This is the shit that is not necessary. Back burner that stuff...

[Bandit]

Well the answer was a bit less direct than "not necessary"....

LthalSavy: Will there be any way to implement a quick travel to your ship?

Georg Zoeller: Not in the short term, but it's something we've been discussing on and off. Currently, given how easily available fleet travel passes are on the Security Vendor, we don't think adding this is necessary.

and more directly to orbital stations rather than quick travel to ships...

Zennis: Has there been any discussion to streamlining the Space Port process? Perhaps allowing speeders in the Space Ports besides the Fleet?

Brian Audette (Senior Designer): We've absolutely heard what the fans are saying and have been exploring options to address these issues. While we are still investigating allowing speeder use in Space Ports, we've also been looking for other ways to get people from point A to point B with greater haste. One such feature will specifically affect planets that have Orbital Stations instead of Space Ports such as: Tython, Korriban, Hoth, and Belsavis. We'll be adding an option for players to go directly to their ships from the surface shuttles as opposed to having them run through the Orbital Station to their airlocks. This feature and some additional tweaks will start showing up in Game Update 1.2.

I am more hopeful with the "we've been discussing on and off" part as it is a pain in the ass.

[Ingmar]

Quick travel to the ship would be nice but I don't think it is crucial, plus it would break some story things. Maybe something they could give you as a reward for finishing your storyline, though?

EDIT: And yeah, you people should know better than to trust Paelos's summaries.   And you should ALSO know better than to think that the animators who make new dances have anything to do with making stuff like quick travel work!

[Paelos]

Guys you can shoepolish it all your want on the front end, the important part of the direct quote was exactly: "we don't think adding this is necessary"

The only place I took some shots in the summary was all the buzzwords they used in their performance question.

[Bandit]

But you missed the whole question about orbital stations, which 01101010 was raging on about...

[Paelos]

But you missed the whole question about orbital stations, which 01101010 was raging on about...

Hmm, for some reason that didn't show up when I pulled up the notes. My bad! I missed the first two questions. There's also an animations question which tells you nothing.

[Rasix]

Anyone want to shell out $15 for a WoW sub for Paelos? 

[Lantyssa]

Quick travel to the ship would be nice but I don't think it is crucial, plus it would break some story things. Maybe something they could give you as a reward for finishing your storyline, though?

They could do it like Korriban:

Orbital Station
Imperial Fleet
[Where You Currently Are For Some Odd Reason]

Clean it up a little so options that aren't available don't show up or are greyed out, your current location is greyed out, and if you have a quest then it is indicated as they do now.

Also an option to choose which ship you get on and which instance you enter if you are grouped.  They are all over the place on that.

[Bunk]

Zennis: Has there been any discussion to streamlining the Space Port process? Perhaps allowing speeders in the Space Ports besides the Fleet?

Brian Audette (Senior Designer): We've absolutely heard what the fans are saying and have been exploring options to address these issues. While we are still investigating allowing speeder use in Space Ports, we've also been looking for other ways to get people from point A to point B with greater haste. One such feature will specifically affect planets that have Orbital Stations instead of Space Ports such as: Tython, Korriban, Hoth, and Belsavis. We'll be adding an option for players to go directly to their ships from the surface shuttles as opposed to having them run through the Orbital Station to their airlocks. This feature and some additional tweaks will start showing up in Game Update 1.2.

That pretty much handles my major pet peave regarding getting to my ship. Yea, some of the Spaceports are a little huge, but it was the multi loadscreen Oribital Station runs that were a real pain.

[Nebu]

Maybe, with a little luck, they'll realize that running back to the middle of Drummond Kas just for one line of text 6 times during the class storyline is a MONUMENTAL FUCKING WASTE OF TIME!

[Sky]

Drummond Kas

Watchoo talkin' bout, Nebu?

[Paelos]

I can't confirm this because I wasn't in the beta, but our Guild Leader who was told me that orbital stations didn't actually exist in beta when he was testing. They were added into the game when there was an outcry that it wasn't immersive enough.

[Merusk]

Yet another reason small, closed betas are useless for mechanics development.  Implementation, checks and general "hey does this shit blow up?"  Fine.  After that just open it up or release since you'll be overhauling the whole damn thing once it hits your actual customer base anyway.

[Lakov_Sanite]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most. It means they are unwilling to look outside the typical diku box in any meaningful way.  Audio quests and storylines are nice but they really arent that different or new.  Shit, even blizzard is starting to realize this and adding pokemon to their game.  People WANT fluff and bioware seems to think that pvp/raiding is where they need to be aiming their guns. 

I'm sure swtor will do ok, make a profit(if the .5 million subs = profit is accurate) but man, they could be doing a lot better.

[Evildrider]

Sorry but the Pokemon stuff isn't going to bring back all the people leaving.  I left cuz of ToR, but also because Cataclysm pretty much sucked and MoP is a joke of an expansion in my eyes. 

[Ingmar]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most. It means they are unwilling to look outside the typical diku box in any meaningful way.  Audio quests and storylines are nice but they really arent that different or new.  Shit, even blizzard is starting to realize this and adding pokemon to their game.  People WANT fluff and bioware seems to think that pvp/raiding is where they need to be aiming their guns. 

I'm sure swtor will do ok, make a profit(if the .5 million subs = profit is accurate) but man, they could be doing a lot better.

In the short term that IS where they need to aim their guns. The fluff will come - hell the legacy system is all about fluff.

[Sky]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most.

What are the legal ramifications for hosting an online gambling service?

[Evildrider]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most. It means they are unwilling to look outside the typical diku box in any meaningful way.  Audio quests and storylines are nice but they really arent that different or new.  Shit, even blizzard is starting to realize this and adding pokemon to their game.  People WANT fluff and bioware seems to think that pvp/raiding is where they need to be aiming their guns. 

I'm sure swtor will do ok, make a profit(if the .5 million subs = profit is accurate) but man, they could be doing a lot better.

In the short term that IS where they need to aim their guns. The fluff will come - hell the legacy system is all about fluff.

I agree with this, everyone in my guild wants more/better pvp and pve.  No one complains that there is no pazaak or mini games.

[Lakov_Sanite]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most.

What are the legal ramifications for hosting an online gambling service?

For fake money? There are no legal issues.  If that were the case then puzzle pirates would have been shut down a long time ago.  Also of course guilds want better pvp/pve that's all there IS once you hit 50.  Focusing on diku pvp though is already a losing battle and wow has proved catering to your 1% hardcore raiding segment doesn't work out well.

swtor would have had 10mil subs if it was released 5 years ago instead of wow, or hell even right after wow came out. Problem is the game doesn't exist in a vacuum and it's not 2005.  People's tastes are evolving and changing, even people who like diku are getting sick of the same old thing.  They could spend most of their time(and by all accounts are) refining their pvp and end game pve but that is only going to satisfy a small segment of players.

[01101010]

It's actually the pazaak answer that disappoints me the most.

What are the legal ramifications for hosting an online gambling service?

Good question. Late in my FFXI career, I noticed in Jeuno a lot of Japanese players were using /random (which rolled a 1-100 die and popped up your results and those around you with a "So-and-So rolled a #!") to gamble with gil. Not really sure how the pay outs worked as I never joined in, but I think to get in the game you paid one character who held the gil and if you won, he paid you out. Very simple numbers game, but it got bigger as the game went on. Players will find a way.

[Sky]

For fake money? There are no legal issues.

http://www.ige.com/

[Ingmar]

For fake money? There are no legal issues.

http://www.ige.com/

What does that have to do with gambling?

[Paelos]

Nothing. People like to make the very huge leap that in-game currency has real value, and therefore allowing people to gamble in credits has cash implications.

This sort of falls to pieces when you read the EULA and see that under no circumstances do you have a right or ownership of those credits as a user, and selling them in any form is a direct violation of the IP. So, in legal terms credits have no market value. You are gambling with play money, which many sites do freely.

[CmdrSlack]

Unless you add Second Life into the equation. It did, after all, shut down in-world casinos because $L were freely traded for $USD, and LL got nervous.

[Paelos]

This week I'm going to look at the thread and see what I would like answered out of the questions posed. Here are the ones I hope they address:

1 - Will we be able to change our Legacy name in the future?
2 - Tons of questions about same-sex romances.
3 - When can we expect to see multiplayer space combat?
4 - When will macros become available in the game?
5 - Are there plans for passenger vehicles?
6 - When are you going to do Chapter 4 storylines?
7 - Any plans to update your targetting system functionality?
8 - Any plans to expand upon the achievement system?
9 - Do you plan to allow commendation trading between Legacy characters?
10 - Will you include functionality to switch between gearsets once you release dual spec?

[Lakov_Sanite]

1 - Will we be able to change our Legacy name in the future? ---- Don't hold your breath
2 - Tons of questions about same-sex romances. ----- We don't want to piss off conservatives.
3 - When can we expect to see multiplayer space combat? ---- Easier said than done.
4 - When will macros become available in the game? ---- Maybe but we feel squeemish about giving players tools
5 - Are there plans for passenger vehicles? ---- Sorry too hard to code.
6 - When are you going to do Chapter 4 storylines?---- hahaha wait...you're serious?
7 - Any plans to update your targetting system functionality?--- - We don't think it's a problem, lrn2play
8 - Any plans to expand upon the achievement system? ---- We never put that much thought into it in the first place.
9 - Do you plan to allow commendation trading between Legacy characters? ---- And make you grind less? hah good one.
10 - Will you include functionality to switch between gearsets once you release dual spec? ----- Once we release dual spec.....sure.

[Fabricated]

I wonder if RP is ever going to make it to the raids...probably not I imagine.

[ajax34i]

I'm gonna say we will, just about at the same time as they finally fix all the raid bugs.  Which is perfect, really.

[Sky]

If Lankov can play, so I can I! Without the snarky doucheness.

1 - Will we be able to change our Legacy name in the future? - I imagine it will be fee based if ever
2 - Tons of questions about same-sex romances. - Will probably go in, in a tame form - politically charged issue they're smart to avoid imo (even if I personally support it)
3 - When can we expect to see multiplayer space combat? - wall of crazy, but one of the more probable things on your list
4 - When will macros become available in the game? - RIFT IS SO AWESOME - PUSH BUTAN
5 - Are there plans for passenger vehicles? - Yes
6 - When are you going to do Chapter 4 storylines? - First expansion has been in development since release
7 - Any plans to update your targetting system functionality? - They've said a tentative yes for stuff like Target's Target, but probably not click-to-heal
8 - Any plans to expand upon the achievement system? - What achievement system?
9 - Do you plan to allow commendation trading between Legacy characters? - No, based on the removal of trading up commendations (ex. 10 Korriban for 1 Kaas)
10 - Will you include functionality to switch between gearsets once you release dual spec? - Probably way down the line, don't hold your breath

Most of this stuff has been covered or can be sussed out from other sources.

Apologies for the snarky doucheness when considering Rift's awesome macro system.

[Lakov_Sanite]

So, pretty much what I said?

I mean I'm sure a lot of things will EVENTUALLY make it into the game but nothing about this dev team inspires the confidence that it will be done quickly or done well.

[Bunk]

Its pretty amazing to me how times have changed as far as our expectations go for "timely" when it comes to patches, updates etc.

Imagine there was a bug in SWOTR that let people stack mushrooms next to your ship to break in and steal everything out of your cargo hold, and then imagine that that bug would remain for years before it was addressed. (if it ever was)

Yes, I know comparing to UO is a stretch, but still. The mantra used to be, don't play a new MMO in the first what 3 months? six months? if you were bothered by bugs. SWOTR had people screaming about the end of the world that bugs weren't being fixed, during the damn prerelease week.