over 2 years ago - EricMusco - Direct link
Hey folks,

I wanted to share some of the new features and changes coming in 7.0 that we havent talked about yet. There is a lot to share and the team is really excited to share them with you, some of these we have been eager to talk about for quite some time! Read on .

Daily and Weekly Mission Reset
First, were making some changes to how Daily and Weekly Missions reset. Currently, uncompleted Daily and Weekly Missions sit in that characters logs until the Mission is completed. Once the Mission is completed, that character can no longer pick up the Weekly again for that week (or daily for that day).

In 7.0, uncompleted Daily and Weekly Missions will be removed from players once the Daily or Weekly reset time passes (currently Tuesday, 12:00am UTC). The primary reason for this change is that we are restructuring the way we present content each week. Weekly Missions will rotate in availability each week in 7.0, and we want to ensure that all players are on the same Weekly Missions each week in order keep those Mission areas feeling dynamic and filled with other people to group or share Mission credit with. This should result in content like Heroic Missions being completed more quickly and efficiently. You can still access Missions that arent a part of the rotation if you choose, they will just have reduced rewards.

Alongside this change we will also introduce a number of quality of life improvements, including auto-completing Missions where we are able to when characters are on the turn-in step.

Economy Adjustments
We have been studying and measuring economic indicators around the games economy, specifically in regards to Credit inflation. What this means is that more Credits are being created in the economy than are being spent, which drives the GTN prices upwards over time on all items. One of the steps were taking to address this is the reduction of credits awarded by completing Conquests.

Were also planning on removing Solid Resource Matrix items from Conquest rewards and instead putting them on Jawa vendors available for purchase with Jawa Junk.

This will help address Credit creation issues in the economy. We will be sharing more details on these changes in a follow up post in the near future.

Shared Tagging
Another big improvement supporting the new weekly content rotation is Shared Tagging.

When we refer to tagging, were talking about who gets credit for defeating an NPC (Mission credit and ability to loot primarily). Currently, the default tagging behavior is tied to whether or not the player is in a group or not. So if you are grouped with other players, and someone in that group does damage to an NPC, credit is shared for the entire group.

For 7.0, we are changing this default behavior to be tied to the faction instead. So if a player is attacking an NPC, and another player of the same faction helps kill the NPC whether grouped up or not, both players will share Mission credit and loot on that NPC.

In some cases, we will allow credit to be shared with any player regardless of faction. The first content that will take advantage of this open tagging will be World Bosses. This should minimize griefing opportunities and really encourage players to help each other out in order to defeat these bosses!

As an added bonus, weve also updated the rules for tagging to include healers. In addition to dealing damage to an NPC in order to tag it for credit, healing another player who has damaged that NPC will also grant credit.

Combat Change - Vanish
Currently, Vanish allows players to circumvent intended game mechanics, especially ones that require a target. It also allows for players to revive out of combat, and change their ability/discipline in the middle of an encounter. Vanish abilities are being slightly redesigned to remove unintended use, specifically dropping from combat and reviving in specified situations.

For all Flashpoints and Operations, Vanish abilities will instantly drop all threat and allow players to enter stealth at max level, however, players will no longer exit combat. This restriction does not apply to the open world PvE/PvP or Warzones.

We understand the benefit of resurrecting more frequently in group content, so we are removing the Operation wide lockout timer from combat rezzing. As a balance measure, we've made it so only healing disciplines have access to combat revives. We'll be monitoring this and will adjust the cooldown as needed.

Weapons in Outfitter
Finally, were excited to share details with you around one of the most requested features of the past several years: Weapons in Outfitter!

Beginning in 7.0, youll now be able to use Weapons in a similar way to Armor in our existing Outfitter system. This means you can have one weapon equipped which will determine the stats applied to your character, and stamp the appearance of another weapon of the same type via Outfitter.

Weapons have several properties that are unique to them as compared to Armor. They can have unique audio, Color Crystals, and Weapon Tunings. The weapon assigned to the Outfitter slot, or slots for dual-wielding combat styles, will determine which of these customization options are seen and heard in the game. If a weapon is not assigned to an Outfitter slot, the game will use the options from the currently equipped weapon instead.

The team has been working very hard to make these features a reality, and were eager to get them into your hands! You will be able to check some of this out on PTS in the next patch, keep an eye on the PTS forums for more details.

-eric
over 2 years ago - DavidStaats - Direct link
Hi all!

I wanted to take a moment to pop in and help clarify some of the conversation we are seeing regarding 7.0 and perceived Conquest changes.

There is some conversation regarding us decreasing the values of Conquest Objectives across the board. While there are some Conquest Objectives which will see some small balance tweaks, they are confined to very specific Objective types (mostly relating to World Bosses and Star Fortresses) and are by no means wide-spread. The Conquest Points for Heroics, Daily Areas, Defeat Enemies 1 and 2, Operations, and nearly 90% of every other Conquest Objective is remaining exactly as you see it on the live server today.

To address some of the values we have seen called out specifically in this thread, here are the values which are currently on our development server and planned to release with 7.0:
  • Black Hole Weekly:
    • 4,300 (10,750 at full 150% SH Bonus)
  • Operation: Completion
    • 100,000 (250,000 at full 150% SH Bonus)
  • : Heroic Missions
    • 2,000 (5,000 at full 150% SH Bonus)
  • : Defeat Enemies
    • 1,650 (4,125 at full 150% SH Bonus)
  • : Defeat Enemies 2
    • 3,350 (8,375 at full 150% SH Bonus)

Note that all values above are the same values you are seeing on the Live server now.

Please remember that the values you see in the Conquest window are reflective of the existing Stronghold bonus you possess on that server. If you are used to seeing a specific Conquest value on PTS which you do not see on Live, please double check your Stronghold Bonus as that could be causing confusion you wouldnt typically see once you hit the full bonus.

Hope that helps!
over 2 years ago - JackieKo - Direct link
Hi everyone,

Wanted to clarify a few things the team has seen pop up in this thread:
  • Converting the turn-in steps to Autocomplete on Daily and Weekly missions is only being done when the turn-in step is a 'Return to Dropbox' type of step. It will not be done to any turn-ins with a cinematic or otherwise.
  • In some cases it makes more sense to keep tagging rules to the old system where only a group shares credit and looting. Encounters such as Dreadtooth and Ancient Threat will continue to use group tagging rules.
  • The auto-sorting of the inventory on PTS is a known bug, and not the desired behavior. You should expect inventory to work as it does in the Live game today upon 7.0's release. We will update the Known Issues thread in the PTS forum to reflect this
Jackie
about 2 years ago - EricMusco - Direct link
Hey folks,

Quick update on one of the features slated to launch with Legacy of the Sith; Weapons being added to Outfitter. Unfortunately, this feature will not be shipping alongside the expansion and instead will be coming in Game Update 7.1.

We have made this decision due to the feature not being ready for PTS testing this week; it is important to us that we get your thoughts on it before it goes in-game, especially since we know how excited everyone is to see it come to life in SWTOR (as are we!). You shouldnt have to wait too long before seeing it though! Our goal is to get 7.1s PTS started in February; we're currently targeting the week before, or the week after 7.0s launch.

Thank you for your patience. We know you are just as eager as we are to enjoy this added level of character customization!

-eric