[2021] Upcoming Guild Conquest Updates

Hi everyone,

We wanted to let you all know of some updates we are making to Conquest as it pertains to Guilds and Guild Contributions. This update will specifically touch two main aspects of Guild Conquests - when a new character joins a Guild, and when any characters are removed from a Guild - and how Conquest Points will be handled.

New Character Grace Period
When a new character has accepted an invite into a Guild, that character will begin a Grace Period with the Guild. During this time, that new character can still earn their own Personal Conquest goals and rewards, but their Conquest efforts will not be calculated into the Guilds Conquest efforts until the next Conquest event. As such, new characters will not immediately appear in a Guilds Conquest Leaderboards, and will not be eligible for the Guilds Invasion Reward.

When new characters view the Guild Invasion screen, they will see a message indicating that they are currently unable to contribute towards their new Guilds Conquest score, and must wait until the next Conquest event. Similarly, when viewing the Guild Roster page new characters who are unable to contribute will be indicated as such, allowing Guild Leadership to get a better picture of who cannot actively contribute.

It is important to note that this Grace Period is per character, and not account. If a player already has a character in a Guild, and is bringing an alternate character into the Guild, the Grace Period only applies to that alternate character, and not all characters from that Legacy. Equally as important to note is that this Grace Period will also apply to all new Guilds being formed.

Joining a Guild is an important aspect of our game, and we want to ensure that both the Guild and new members are given time to assess each other properly, without the pressures of reward systems potentially interfering in that period.

Character and Guild Separation
When a player is removed from a Guild by the Guild, their Conquest contributions will now be removed from that Guild as well. In the event the character leaves a Guild on their own accord, the points they contributed to a Guilds Conquest will remain with the Guild for that Conquest.

When removing characters, Guild Leadership will now be provided with a notification informing them that removing the member will result in a loss of that members Conquest contributions. Again, it is important to note that this is per character, and not account.

Guild Commendation Reward
As a result of the changes mentioned above, the time frame in which a Guild will earn their Guild Commendation Invasion Reward is being changed. Guild Perk Rewards will now be tallied at the end of a Conquest event rather than during it, and as such the Commendation Reward from Invasions will be given when the subsequent Conquest begins.

We want to ensure that character and Guild separation is done in a healthy and amicable way.

As always, thank you to everyone who has sent in feedback regarding how the current system was being used. We feel these changes will allow players and Guilds to build healthier relationships when experiencing this aspect of SWTOR, and are aiming to have these changes in an update in the near future.

EDIT: Added Guild Commendation Reward section.

Hi everyone,

Friendly reminder that this conversation has spiraled a bit and we want to ensure that replies and comments to the OP are on topic. There is a lot of conversation that is revolving around Crafting and Botting. We realize that these are important aspects/concerns to the game, but are asking that conversation revolve around the three topics that were covered in the OP.

Additionally, thank you for reporting the problematic posts and bringing those to the attention of the moderation team. As a reminder to everyone on the forums, please refrain from attacking each other and/or falling into call out behavior. Those types of posts are not permitted and does not foster a healthy environment for anyone.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

As a reminder to everyone on the forums, please refrain from attacking each other and/or falling into call out behavior. Those types of posts are not permitted and does not foster a healthy environment for anyone.

Thank you!

Hi all,

I wanted to take a moment and address a few points we are seeing in this thread.

With regard to the changes we made recently to Crafting based Conquest Objectives, these changes were made because there was proof of exploitative behavior, both provided by the community as well as within our own data.

While this was largely related to the Crafting: Inventor Conquest Objective, we also saw indication that this same behavior was also affecting and was possible with the Crew Skills: Harvesting Conquest Objective and had the potential to reach further into all other avenues of Crafting based Objectives. As Chris mentioned, many of these activities were found to be repetitive in nature such that they could be automated in ways which violate our Terms of Service. Because many of the Crafting based Conquest objectives were open-ended (aka Infinitely Repeatable), this combination had the potential to cascade. We needed to close these systems off, hence changing them from Infinite to Weekly/Daily.

While addressing the issue above, we took into consideration players who enjoy Crafting and wish for it to remain a viable means for earning Conquest. By increasing the number of required crafts for the Weekly, we were able to appropriately balance the Objective to provide more points than if we had done a 1:1 conversion (for instance, if we had simply changed the previous Craft 50 to a Weekly). We then created Crafting: Inventor 2 as a means for players to earn additional Conquest points through the Crafting system. This was in an effort to alleviate the change in repeatability, while still providing means for Crafting to be used for Conquest contribution. You can now earn more Conquest for crafting less items than before the update, as exampled below

• 1 Weekly Objective = 6,400 Points for 100 Crafts
• 7 Daily Objectives = 7,700 Points for 350 Crafts
  • For a total of 14,100 Points for 450 Crafts.

Previously in order to earn 14,100 Conquest Points through Crafting, players would have needed to have crafted ~950 items.

This has not been the first time we addressed Infinite repeat objectives. In the past, we made a change to the formerly Infinite Repeatable Chapters: Defeat Skytroopers 2 to a Daily Repeat to also address exploitative behavior we were seeing. Crafting was not and has not been explicitly singled out. We are always assessing Infinite Repeat Objectives offered and their potential for negative behavior, while also considering their benefit, or lack thereof, in the greater game.

I also want to come back to the points I made in my original Guilds and Conquest post.

Guilds are a large factor in not only our game, but in any game with a social backdrop to it. We took into consideration the negative impact the behavior we were seeing had on new players whether they be new to the game or new to Guilds. Changes were made to ensure that players were joining the right Guild for the right reasons including the departure from said Guild.

I would like to note a few takeaways based off of feedback we received;
1) Players use(d) crafting (and specifically the lower point Crafting: Inventor) to tip a character nearing their 50k Personal Conquest just enough over the goal without taking up other potential objectives for your remaining characters.
2) There is a desire for a healthy number of lesser point filler objectives which can be used multiple times over larger point objectives to help ensure that the first point is covered.
3) There is a wish for Crafting to remain (and be more of) an integral part of the Conquest experience.
4) Players want to see change in how Conquests work, specifically with Leaderboards.

This feedback does not fall on deaf ears. We actively discuss ways we can address both the viability and importance of crafting in Conquest, address the notion of not wanting to tip far over the 50k Personal goal to ensure you have room for alternate characters, and how we can make Conquest a competitive yet fair system for Guilds of all sizes. We will continue to take your suggestions into consideration while also taking a look into the larger picture of Conquest and how we can continue to improve it.

As always we appreciate your feedback, and ask that you continue to be civil and respectful in your discussions, and keep the threads on topic.