Patch 1.2 is out.

[Shatter]

So I just read that if you have say a full set of PvP BM gear, when 1.2 goes live your gear will change to the new stats with much higher expertise, etc...grats.  However if you have full BM gear and modded it in any way, you wont get the stat change and subsequently f*cked.  To top it off the new "recruit" level gear will be better then your modded BM stuff.  Here is an example pic:

This is insane! Can you please point me to the thread where this is being discussed? I need to follow the developments very closely...

There are a couple:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=370963&page=4
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=372522

[Falconeer]

I am only halfway through the whole threads, but apparently a Dev stated:

4. Restoring the original mods into the item, before 1.2, will cause them to upgrade at the time of the patch.

Which I think means that if you put the original mods back in the BM item, they should all get updated seamlessly as if you never modded touched it. Hopefully.

[Sky]

Because everyone keeps the old mods? 

[Falconeer]

I am a hoarder, so i did. "Just in case". I mean, there's no point in destroying them anyway, so I kept them. But yes, it's still a supershitty things on Bioware part to punish people (no matter how much) for modding their equipment CONSIDERING THE SYSTEM is meant exactly for that.

[Ingmar]

Punish? Really?

EDIT: This really just sounds like a technical limitation to me. "Punish" makes it sound like they're deliberately screwing people over, which is certainly not true.

[Nebu]

But yes, it's still a supershitty things on Bioware part to punish people (no matter how much) for modding their equipment CONSIDERING THE SYSTEM is meant exactly for that.

Apparently it's only ok to swap out enhancements in ways that don't highlight their shitty itemization.  

I think cunning gear with shield on it is my favorite so far.

[caladein]

I'm having trouble seeing an elegant way to deal with upgrading customizable gear actually.

1) "Default gear is changed to new version, everything else left intact."  Screws over players who modded the gear without saving the mods, which isn't a reasonable expectation.  Also probably the easiest to do.

2) "All gear is changed to new version."  Screws over players who want the gear with the stats they put in it.  Also depending on the implementation, it encourages gaming the system to allow holding on to the old mods to use somewhere else in addition to getting the gear.

3) "All mods in gear are bumped up to the new level."  Probably the best solution from a player's perspective, but potentially overpowered (as "bad" itemization is often intentional).  Also can be gamed in some awkward ways.

4) Variations on "Strip all mods on gear and place in inventory, give players updated ones in the mail."  My favorite option that ignores the fact that giving away free stuff often isn't brilliant design, but much like talent resets it would cause a lot of complaining over having to put everything back again.

[Nebu]

I'm having trouble seeing an elegant way to deal with upgrading customizable gear actually.

How about

5)  Understand your stats model and consider the ramifications of your system in development and beta so you don't need a miracle patch to keep your playerbase from jumping ship.

 

[Falconeer]

Punish? Really?

EDIT: This really just sounds like a technical limitation to me. "Punish" makes it sound like they're deliberately screwing people over, which is certainly not true.

Look, I understand that I exaggerate, or to put it simply my choice of words is sometimes overdramatic. But if you are one of the players that have to earn his/her Battlemaster equipment again -and that's no joke- while some others won't, and that's just because you used one of the feature of the game without a hint of exploitation, you definitely feel punished, or at least treated unfairly. You and the time you put towards legally getting that stuff by following the rules of the game.

[Nebu]

Can we admit that, prior to the level 50 only bracket, most Battlemasters were a joke anyway?  Most players got battlemaster by killing ungeared 1-49's or kill trading in Ilum. 

I'm happy that the patch will make PvP gear easy to get.  The faster pvp has a level playing field, the better. 

[Nevermore]

4. Restoring the original mods into the item, before 1.2, will cause them to upgrade at the time of the patch.

The problem, of course, is that if you hand modified your gear, we ultimately have no way of knowing what your intention was. Maybe you wanted to use the mod you removed somewhere else, maybe you just wanted to replace it. We cannot make any assumption as to the intention of individual users when modding the item, preventing us from upgrading already modified items post fact.

I don't see how that's unreasonable.

[Falconeer]

Or, they could just convert the mods to the new version. (58) mods are not too hard to track, are they? Or they could just upgrade untouched BM equipment to the new version, and simply flat out add +25 expertise to any existing level 58 mod that comes from a pvp item, even if you have it sparily in your inventory. They are easy to track since they are very different from PvE ones. And if they think that by doing this some mods would get too powerful, just transform "untouched items (with mods) to the new version, and add a "consolatory" +15/+20 expertise (less than the intended +25 but better than zero) to any spare BM mod you have hanging around.

I mean, Ingmar, I know they are not doing this on purpose, and the patch is still in testing, but I am sure they can come up with something better then "oh, sorry", and I certainly hope they will, even if the worst case scenario is not gonna affect me cause I kept all the mods.

[Ingmar]

Aren't the mods exactly the same as PVE ones pre-patch? So there's no way to know the source of one that has been removed?

[luckton]

I saw the 1.2 Legacy system video.

I'm not sure how I feel about allowing skill intermixing, especially this early in the game's post-launch cycle.  I mean, what's the logic in my IA using Force Choke?  I never saw Han Force Push a bitch off a cliff.   

[Sjofn]

So don't use it.

[ajax34i]

You pick the ability (and probably can't undo your choice once made), and it's a 20-minute cooldown (shared with your heroic moment ability)... I wouldn't pick Force Choke or Force Push.  I might pick a combat rez.  I'm not sure what else is worth taking as a 20-minute ability.  Stealth?

[DraconianOne]

Can you use heroic moments in flashpoints if you have your companion out? That's the only place I can see a combat-rez being useful given its usage limitations. You won't get to use it while solo questing otherwise.

[Kageru]

I mean, what's the logic in my IA using Force Choke?  I never saw Han Force Push a bitch off a cliff. 

Coming up with new, in character, abilities would be :effort:

[cironian]

Well, there are several characters in TOR alone who quit jedi training (or were kicked out) and became something else. Plus a bunch of independent force users. So your character could well have that ability.

And of course if you cant make an ability fit your personal back story, you really don't have to use it.

[eldaec]

Force abilities are easy to retcon in. I'm more intrigued to see how you give a jedi full auto or death from above.

[Sky]

Punish? Really?

EDIT: This really just sounds like a technical limitation to me. "Punish" makes it sound like they're deliberately screwing people over, which is certainly not true.

Doubt your commitment to sparkle motion, do I.

[Minvaren]

Force abilities are easy to retcon in. I'm more intrigued to see how you give a jedi full auto or death from above.

Genndy Tartakovsky got away with it...   

[luckton]

Force abilities are easy to retcon in. I'm more intrigued to see how you give a jedi full auto or death from above.

Genndy Tartakovsky got away with it...   

Bad example.  Tartakovsky can get away with anything, since he still has my heart he stole from not finishing Samurai Jack.   

[Riggswolfe]

You don't choose your legacy force ability. There is one per class. For example, I think a bounty hunter gives flamethrower to another character as a legacy ability.

[amiable]

Healing was too good, so we had to nerf it:

The reason for some of the changes is in fact to increase the challenge level of top end content by tightening class balance. Healing through top end content was, as a fact, not tightly balanced enough in the past and a prime contributor to the fact that our top end difficulty content was just not providing the challenge level people expected.

This encapsulates both the medpac change (without being able to make safe assumption about the availability of optional healing, it is impossible to strike a reliable balance that doesn't require people to shell out hundreds of thousands of credits for item based healing) as well as the class changes.

[Sjofn]

I'm always of two minds on the healing thing. On the one hand, if it's too easy, I hate it. On the other, everyone else in the world likes it being easy. 

[Nevermore]

The class buff unlocks occur when a character finishes Chapter 2. At that point, that character's class buff is unlocked for all characters of his legacy.

Each class' buff applies all of your unlocked class buffs with a single click. It's not 4 buttons you have to keep on your quickbar. One click, all the buffs.

An example: I have an Imperial Agent that finishes Chapter 2. The Agent unlocks his class buff for my legacy. I now go log onto my level 1 Sith Inquisitor. When my Sith Inquisitor casts Mark of Power, it ALSO applies the effects of Coordination, since I have unlocked the Agent's buff.

Furthermore, to get the full set of buffs, you only need to unlock 4 classes. Unlocking the buff for Agent and Smuggler still only nets you a single buff effect, so you can't stack their +Crit bonuses together. (Because that might be a wee bit overpowered. Maybe.)

This is nice.  I was worried we'd have even more buttons when getting the other class buffs, but they actually consolidated these!

Of course, once everyone has the all-in-one superbuff it kind of makes me wonder what's the point of having buffs at all when everyone has the exact same ones?

[Fordel]

Most people won't have that. Finishing Chapter two is like level 40 for most people.

[Minvaren]

Hmmm, need to get two more characters to 50 for all the buffs...

(eyes the L25 Gunslinger and the baby JK)

[Sky]

Overview of 1.2 UI customization:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTAfjTxguB0

[Sjofn]

I will ALMOST have the fattest buff of all ... I should probably get to work on my IA, since my gunslinger is not going anywhere without Ingmar's trooper, and Ingmar has not been leveling his trooper.


EDIT: Oops, wait. I WILL have the fattest buff of all, Joshua is totally into chapter 3! I forgot!

[Fordel]

I don't even have my alt far enough for a second buff yet :(

[Ingmar]

I am so ready for this patch to hit, do we have a date yet?

[Minvaren]

Last rumor was mid-April.  The PTS patch notes are dwindling to almost nothing (mostly flashpoint fixes, it seems) since the initial 1.2 hit there as well.

As the 3-month subscriptions will start lapsing by the end of April, I'm expecting it before then, with huge fanfare when Patch Day is announced.

[Nevermore]

Overview of 1.2 UI customization:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTAfjTxguB0

That seems to have everything I could have asked for, including saving profiles to load onto all my characters.