Development Cycle Archive

Thread: Live Issues Publish 9: Secrets of the Force

ChelseaRorec
Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:32 pm
#612



Issue:Weapon certification ie you can be certified to use for example the DH17 carbine in your skills sheet but on the weapon it says you are not certified..equiping the weapon results in reduced power.


This has happend to me twice .. once on chimaera with the laser carbine and once on farstar with the DH17 carbine.


Also getting a red square around my mineral serveyer and ubese shirt even tho they are in prefect nick pre patch.

Server:Chimaera/Far Star

Planet:tatooen


Location (x,y):mos eisley



Your profession:marksman




12 PT Armour Smith
Padded Armour Specialist
Seshemw
Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:37 pm
#613



ScottyFL wrote:
TH, I have a couple of basic questions that I've never really seen directly answered:
Jedi can wear armor, but they cannot use Force Powers while doing so;
While wearing armor, can they still:
1. Equip their saber while wearing armor.
2. Get normal xp, not force power xp, just normal xp, while using their saber on creatures in PvE.
Really would like a definitive answer on this one, it affects my and so many other people's game styles.





Here's a direct answer:
You can equip your saber. But it treats it as an uncertified weapon if you have armor on.
You could try to get xp like this, but good bloody luck.



--
Nivis Nix [TLC] - Rori
Master Sergeant - Imperial ground forces, detached
Seshemw
Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:40 pm
#614

Critical issue: 'graceful' logouts don't seem to work at all (for Jedi).

Logged a normal character out in her own scout camp. She was gone (out of game) in less than a minute.
Logged a Jedi out in a hotel. He was in game 4 minutes later.
Logged a Jedi out in a scout camp, six minutes later he's still in world.

Ok, I understand the vulnerability window for logging out in the wilds, out of a camp. But wth? Hotels are supposed to be instant-out. Camps are supposed to be instant out. Is it intended that Jedi get to hang out, vulnerable to bh attack, until the full linkdead timeout (something like 30 minutes) unless they can find a private structure?



--
Nivis Nix [TLC] - Rori
Master Sergeant - Imperial ground forces, detached
LeBob
Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:50 pm
#615





LeBob wrote:





LeBob wrote:



Issue: Jedi should not be allowed to be neutral since the Emperor would never allow the public use of the force except to further its own cause.


Given that Jedi are not allowed to be neutral, they should receive a TEF for any use of the force or activating a light saber for the reason mentioned above.

Server: every

Planet: every


Location (x,y): all


Your profession: N/A


Instructionson how to recreate the bug: allow my subscription of SWG to continue






QFE


Welcome to KOTOR Online!








SWGEntertainer.com
Emperor Palpatine (from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"):
"Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic. Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."
-I support ATK people and playstyles.
Account cancelled as of June 23, 2005

Daker-Naritus
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:00 pm
#616






eldo21 wrote:

_____________________________-

This is especially trus considering that at least three different devs (including you) have stated that the new jedi robes are intended to "replace" conventional armor for Jedi.

_________________________________



but it doesnt... and it wouldnt be fair to let everyone one switch stuff out fast but not jedi... remember my jedi has normall skills now too.








The problem being: Jedi don't wear armor...their lightsaber is their armor.


When you become a "jedi" you join a cult of people who all wear the same robe and don't believe in using conventional weapons and armor. That is star wars law.



However, I am not saying that jedi should be "armorless" in the game. Of course jedi should have armor. The solution to the problem is to give % resistances to jedi robes, with the percents increasing as you get better robes.


That is my main beef about the patch. The developers implement a whole new clothing item, jedi robes, but are too dense and close-minded to stray from the 5 current types of armor to differentiate jedi from other characters.


If the devs were using their brains, they would have nerfed the use of conventional armor by jedi, and just added resistances to jedi robes. Instead, they (1) allowed jedi to wear conventional armor even though they aren't supposed to; (2) created a new bifurcated armor system for jedi, whereby jedi have to (a) wear conventional armor and use no force powers, or (b) wear a robe without resistances and use force powers; and (3) burden the 99% of total players that are NOT jedi with an armor delay.


If the devs were using their brains, they would have chosen the simpler solution: (1) Nerf jedi use of conventional armor; (2) give resistances to jedi robes that are balanced in the scheme of the game (probably a little less than conventional armor resistances, but more than conventional players when paired with jedi's other resistances).


It's a simple,narrowly-tailored solution to the problem that does not screw the other 99% of players in the process.
MrSclod
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:05 pm
#617






Daker-Naritus wrote:





Thunderheart wrote:

The 3 second delay during combat was put in because of the armor and weapon equipping macros. Some of the problems associated with "instant armor" areinstances like theJedi "armor macro" wherebya Jedi could press a single toolbar button that would unequip all of their armor instantly, allow the to then use their force powers and then press that button again and re-equip all of their armor instantly. There are other situations in the game where players were getting unfair heals and weapon advantages because of this.







TH,


I STRENOUSLY disagree that there are ANY battle advantages to armor switching macros, and I think the devs REALLY screwed the pooch on this one...



First, let's talk about jedi. Jedi armor switching is a moot issue. There is NO reason WHATSOEVER, to nerf 33 classes just because it is unbalancing for one, single class (jedi) to macro switcharmor.


This is especially trus considering that at least three different devs (including you) have stated that the new jedi robes are intended to "replace" conventional armor for Jedi. If allowing jedit to have conventional armor is THAT unbalancing....do the obvious thing and take it away. There is no reason to burden 33 classes with an armor delay, when the problem could be easily fixed by preventing jedi from wearing conventional armor that you have already "replaced."



Second, let's look at combat advantages. *looks around, and finds none*


As an initial matter, consider the following... When a person takes their armor off they are reducing their encumberance penalty. HOWEVER, they are also taking over 50% more damage. Even the worst armor in the game (bone) has light armor attributes, thereby reducing armor by 50%. I will stick with this number, because I don't know what armor values will be after the combat balance.


Now, There are only 3 possible "advantages" a person could get from an armor switching macro:


(1) Reduced specials costs: You cannot kill any mob worth killing in one hit. You shoot repeatedly, taking between 1 and 5 seconds or so between shots.


Here's the kicker...Specials costs hurt NOT because of one single shot, BUT because they quickly build up after MULTIPLE shots. Singly, specials costs are minimal, they only have an effect after several shots.


For you to get any benefit from encumberance penalty avoidance, you will need to have your armor off EVERY time you shoot to prevent build-up. BUT, when you have your armor off, you are taking 50%+ more damage every time you shoot.


In this circumstance, the constant need to remove your armor for every single shot, paired with the 50%+ more damage you are taking totally negates any benefit you are getting.


The devs are totally wrong on this one, and the delay does nothing.



(2) Reduced Healing Costs: This only has a real combat effect with self healing. Most players can only heal from 200 to 400 points at a time.


Healing goes into the combat queue, so it is really hard to time when the heal is actually going to happen. This means that you HAVE to take armor off a couple of seconds before you heal, and then you have to wait a couple of seconds for the heal to actually take place.


Over that 3-5 second process, you are getting hit for 50%+ more damage the WHOLE time.


For any battle in which your HAM bar is actually getting depleted enough to need healing, you are fighting something that is hitting you for at least25 to50damage per second with armor on. That is a range of75 to250 damage over the 3-5 seconds you have to have your armor off to get the healing benefit. HOWEVER, you take double damage with armor off so you are ACTUALLY taking 150 to 500 damage over the period you have your armor off (about the same as the healed advantage) in addition to having your mind reduced for the heal.


The devs are totally wrong on this one, and the delay does nothing.



(3) Increased regeneration: When you take your armor off, you regenerate faster. HOWEVER, regeneration (even at uber buffed levels) is slow. There is no way that the regeneration you get from removing armor can outweigh the 50%+ more damage you are taking, and you have to have your armor off for an extended period of time for it to work.
The devs are totally wrong on this one, and the delay does nothing.



As a final point, it is important to realize that over 50% of the encumberance penalties associated with armor come from the (1) helmet, (2) chestpiece, and (3) pants.Over 50% of the time that a mob or player hits you, they are hitting you in the (say it with me) (1) helmet, (2) chestpiece, and (3) pants.


According to you, the delay is 3 seconds. 0 seconds for Helmet + 3 seconds for chest + 3 seconds for pants = 6 total seconds to get those pieces equipped.


For most purposes, the REAL delay to get a combat "benefit" as you describe it is SIX SECONDS.



What does this mean?


That means that the developers are annoying the hell out of 99% of the player base over "unbalance" that is cause by:


(1) The 1% of Players that are Jedi


(2) An unfounded myth that armor macro switching during battle gives you any real benefit.


AND most importantly


(3) A change that really only equates to a 6 second delay.



Outside of battle, I NEVER takemy armoroff during battle because it is SILLY to do so. Any player who has any idea how to play the game KNOWS it is a bad idea to take armor off during battle.


In fact, the boards have been filled with people saying "yeah, the delay isn't a big deal, because I NEVER TAKE MY ARMOR OFF DURING BATTLE."



The question becomes: Why are you nerfing players with a delay that only wastes their time equipping armor OUTSIDE OF BATTLE, where armor doesn't matter anyway?


Whyare burdening every player in the game with yet one more game disturbing delay that does NOTHING?


Why are devs being so clueless about this, and why can't they see that the solution is 10 times more annoying and game-breaking than the alleged "problem" itself?


Why?






What a waste of forum space.Quit complaining about your win button being taken away.You are wrong on alot of what you wrote sorry to say.




Adofo Sclod
Imperial Hunter&Gunfighter
MasterRanger,Pistoleer-
Sunrunner

CHiP2sum
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:07 pm
#618






Thunderheart wrote:






Welcome to the Publish 9: Secrets of the Force thread. This thread is for commenting on general live issues, asking questions andreporting known issues.We’ll post this thread once right after a publish and then again mid-way through the process.


We're seperating this from the weekly roundtable discussion so we can give each topic a little more focus. The last Live Issues thread can be found here.


It would be very helpful to include in your post:



Issue: DELAY SWITCHING WEAPONS/ARMOR



Server: ALL

Planet: ALL


Location (x,y): ALL



Your profession: TK/DOC



Instructionson how to recreate the bug: NOT A BUG--A FEATURE!



Thanks



6:30 :: Problem with






Any items placed on the bazaar between Tuesday’s Publish and Friday morning can never be automatically fixed. They will have to be un-listed and then re-listed by the auction owner.





6-29 :: Some Live Update Updates from today:




Veteran Reward: Nobody received the Veteran Reward Picture that was to have been granted to characters who were more than 30 days old. These will be granted tomorrow (Wednesday). We apologize for the slight delay.



No problem, nice--but hardly as irritating as the rest of this patch.



2) Vehicles/ Droids accessible from Toolbar: This was an erroneous message that should not have been in the update notes just yet. This has been removed for the time being, but it will be available in publish 10 or sooner.



Will be nice, but I think this is unimportant since my toolbar doesn't have room for it anyway.



3) Badges: Clarification: There is no separate tab on the Character Sheet. Character badges are now located on the "personal" tab of the character sheet in the middle box instead of the examine window.



This is an extra feature that is nice (albeit confusing at first) but still unimportant in gameplay fun factor.



4) Weapon Switching/Combat Cue: Update notes mention that switching weapons during combat goes through the combat command queue. This is not currently visible. We are investigating this now.



This is a cure for a scratch on your hand by cutting off your arm!!!



5) Junk Dealers and Loot Kits: Players can get the kits by visiting Junk Dealers that are located in Combat Guild Halls and request a “loot kit". Players can gain the loot kits by conversing with the Junk Dealer and selecting, "What sort of items do you have that you are looking to get rid of?" Once players decide which loot kit they would like, they may begin collecting the parts. Not all junk dealers are offering Loot Kits.



No room in my Doc's inventory for the things I need let alone junk.



6) 0/0 Items: Items with condition 0 have red box around them, some are still usable with the condition 0. We are investigating this now.



ubese shirts???



7) Vendor/ Bazaar Resources Display: The name fields for resources on the bazaar no longer include the amount of the resource or the name. We are working on a fix and it will most likely be in a Thursday’s hotfix.



THIS WAS IN TEST CENTER AND REPORTED!!!



8) Personal Shield Generators: There are reports on the forums about inconsistencies. If you have information on how to reproduce this problem, please post it here in this thread.



THIS HAS BEEN A PROBLEM FOR A LONG WHILE! REPEATEDLY REPORTED.


Jedi - Multiple Death and XP: There are reports of confusion with Jedi experience loss on multiple deaths. If you have information on how to reproduce this problem, please post it here in




N/A to me as no jedi except on Test Center.


Twin Force CrystalsInformation: There was some confusion on Twin Force Crystals. Twin Force Crystalsare converted to power crystals, not color crystals. This is working as intended. Also, a Jedi must have the Initiate box before able to tune crystals.



See answer to9)


Message Edited by Thunderheart on 06-30-200408:26 PM





I now see why all 5 of my friends quit playing and let their subscriptions expire--everyone of them had a limit on how many things that were nerfed/changed, and/or removed one more bit of fun or made something actually painfull to do in the game rather than MORE FUN. I am rapidly reaching that point as well. Causing my friends to quit playing by stupid decisions is the biggest factor, but the nerfing of CH was the first item that started removing the "fun factors" from this game. I knew that the CH was not viable profession and still slogged thru making master and then nearly immediately gave it up due to all the nerfs, but at least there were alternative professions to try and other things to do--with the last few patches there reallyare no work arounds (no player stat migrating anymore, and the huge delays being constantly added) and I expect that the coming combat changes will be MY final straw. I fully expect those changes to make the game so un-fun as to be worthless as a viable form of entertainment. /crosses fingers hoping against all odds it ain't so


I have been sticking it out mainly because of my enjoyment of the movies and hoping for a game that would capture the flavor of them while still being new and different at the same time--a tough job in anyones' universe. And---of course hoping that the Jump to Lightspeed would be a great added "fun factor" making up for the many losses in this area for me. I realize that my style of play may not be the norm, or the what the devs had in mind when creating the game, but I was having fun and that is the only thing that was/is important to me as a must have quality in a game that has to becontinually paid for.


The bugs that have been in game for such a long time and not fixed are another irritation, but not a game breaker in and of themselves--they ARE another straw tho...


Kaleborn
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:07 pm
#619


TH and other Devs:

Okay, the previousfew posters and so many before them have done a good job of covering some of the ingame technical reasons

on how this armor/weapon speed 'correction' was a poor decision. Sorry for the negative start to this post, but it's on my chest, has

to be released. If you just look at the response how can there be any doubt that the changes were ill-conceived, heavy-handed and

most important: ill-TIMED. You keep on speaking of 'combat balance', but why saddle us with this sweeping gameplay-affecting

change months BEFORE the balances go into affect that make these changes viable?


I have to ask you: How many people were quitting in frustration specifically over the bugs/exploits you claim to have fixed with this

patch? How many people are being pushed over the edge BECAUSE of this change? Perhaps not a sound question to be basing

game design decisions; but let's be honest, you guys have a business to run. To so recklessly adversley affectpeople's actual

and PERCEIVED (equally as important) gameplay experience months before mitigating changes are put in place that might make

such changes palatable is truly remarkable...to say the least.


Amongst all the technical reasons why such changes are not sitting well with people, I have a real problem with them because

you have made NO effort to explain said changes in any interesting, creative, roleplaying purposes. Seriously, you guys have

roomfulls of creative, intelligent, highly paid designers and the best you can come up with for a change that OBVIOUSLY changes

gameplay for nearly everyone is: "Equipping armor and weapons also has a delay associated with it. This is to prevent combat system

exploits that were occurring."


A blanket X second increase for no other reason than to correct exploits. It's a visible game-altering change that SHOULD be fully

entrenched into the logic and continuity of the virtual universe we're inhabiting. Pistols should take less time to equip then a flamthrower

or rocketlauncher. A slender one-handed sword should be more readily accessible than my massive Vengeaful Hammer of Darth Nerfus.

Call is Equip speed, whatever. Just come up with something a little more elegant than "to fix an exploit". Incorporate it fully into the profession's

skill base. IE:


--Every weapon is given a base Equip speed. This cannot be modified by crafters, but is intrinsic to the weapon type (D&D has employed something

like this for years, seems to work fine). As a professional get's more experience in his or her career that person get's better at using/drawing/wielding

his chosen weapons. Either tie that improvement to Weapon Speed bonuses already in place as we level,or somenew +EquipSpeed skill. Bounty Hunters as a class would get a higher equip speed bonus per level than other classes so they can switch between one of THEIR pistols and rifles faster than a Pistoleer / Rifleman could. This is because that class is DESIGNED to do so. Alternatively make equip speed totally profession-based. This gives each class another goal and sense of accomplishment as they level. Makes it more palatable and enmeshes it wholly into the nature of the game's design. Does this solve your exact exploit problem? Mabye mabye not, pikes are large weapons that should definately take some time to 'pack away' and replace. As would T21, commando gear etc. Other game mechanics might need tweaking to compensate


Armor: This change, as it stands, was the most grievous (at least to me ). This absolutely has to be changed. I don't say reversed, just changed. If you're insistent on putting in equipment delays then PLEASE at least TRY toshoehorn these into the logic of the game world with some degree of finesse. I'm starting to ramble, but here's some ideas:


1) No delay outside of combat. When the X ain't there, no delay. It's the only reasonable course. Player: "Okay DM, we're out of combat, the goblin hordes are dead. I take my armor off" DM: "Ok, done".

2) Once in combat youCAN'T change armor (this is too inflexible, and quite frankly not as fun as...)OR It takes time (ie: losing a couple 'rounds of attacks' to keep the D&D analogy going.

3) Shorten the time for each piece, the current 35-45 seconds in the combat environment as it stands is just too long. AND MAKE THAT CHANGE INTERRUPTIBLE BY *PEACE*.This so you can throw down an emergency heal, rebuff or whatever(the game is not turn-based as D&D is so allowances have to be made for the ever-changing conditions of real-time combat).


So I can hit the macro, watch my gloves, left bracer and helmet come on, realize OH CRAP!

Something big is about to swing at me, STOP putting armor on, switch to a fast weapon in

desperation (no time to bring out the Vengeful Hammer of Darth Nerfus) and ready my finger over

the 'healing potion' just in case. So there I am, armor in dissaray, possibly an unsuitable

weapon in grasp, reaching awkwardly for the stimpak, but still gamely facing the charge

of my adversary as best I can...The roleplaying element of all that is great, gameplay-wise

it makes sense, and hopefully it's enough to stop the macro exploiters of the world, WITHOUT

causing enormous grief to the 99% of the rest of the galaxy. I'd settle for that.



Sorry if this post had an overly negative tone, but these changes--as implemented--were obviouslyquite reactionary in nature and very clearly their impact on the various classes was notthought through. Or if they were putting them in NOW was quite ill-advised. As so many have said, if it's 'going to get better with the Balance' why put it in NOW in the first place?


Respecfully,

Mik
Daker-Naritus
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:11 pm
#620







MrSclod wrote:

What a waste of forum space.Quit complaining about your win button being taken away.You are wrong on alot of what you wrote sorry to say.






It's not a "win button" dufas....that's the point.


NO ONE macro armor switches in combat, because there is no advantage to it.


The only thing this really changes is adding yet another delay to non-combat armor switching, which is not unbalancing in any way, shape, or form.



It was nerfed because of a "combat advantage" that DOES NOT EXIST.



99.99999% of the people who are using macros to switch armor are doing it because it takes too long to physically click the radials for all 9 pieces of armor to equip your armor. They use it as a pure time saver, not a combat "winner."


This nerf returns people to the days when they were clicking radials, because of the new 30 second delay. It is a change with no real purpose other than to annoy players.

Message Edited by Daker-Naritus on 06-30-2004 09:15 PM

CPark
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:22 pm
#621


Will the bazar fix also reinstate reporting the number of items sold when a crate is sold through a vendor and an email is set to the vendor owner? After the publish a crate is reported as one item -- the count within the crate no longer appears. For those of us who like to keep track of that kind of thing it makes it hard to know how many items were actually sold.
Kurtzgirl
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:41 pm
#622

Hey TH-


I did the TREFix thing, it scanned all files and repaired 0 files and the game is still doing a full scan.... what now? I asked a CSR and they said that I was the second person to come in on their shift with the same problem and there are no other work arounds except waiting the 20 minutes.





Victoria Marie
Master Tailor--Master Pistoleer
Body by Victoria--A Tailor Shop--New Thebes, Tatooine
"Everyone's been getting into my pants since 2003."


Exp24
Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:50 pm
#623


Issue: Mark of Honor spawn broken. Pirates bugged, can't attack them or converse with them. This is likely due to the TKM that knocked down and dizzied the pirate leader. Solution: max out the Pirate Leaders def vs. knockdown.


Server: Lowca


Planet: Tatooine


Location: Doesn't really matter.


Your Profession: Master Rifleman, Master Swordsman, Teras Kasi 4004


Instructions on how to recreate the bug: Get a TKM, go up to the Pirate Leader, knockdown/dizzy him and proceed to spam unarmedhit3.

The pirate leader apparently only takes 3000 damage, and then talks to you. But if knocked down he'll obviously take more damage and become bugged. Instead of despawning he just stands there and does nothing. Max out his def. vs knockdown!!! it's so simple.
MrSclod
Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:02 pm
#624






Daker-Naritus wrote:







MrSclod wrote:

What a waste of forum space.Quit complaining about your win button being taken away.You are wrong on alot of what you wrote sorry to say.






It's not a "win button" dufas....that's the point.


NO ONE macro armor switches in combat, because there is no advantage to it.


The only thing this really changes is adding yet another delay to non-combat armor switching, which is not unbalancing in any way, shape, or form.



It was nerfed because of a "combat advantage" that DOES NOT EXIST.



99.99999% of the people who are using macros to switch armor are doing it because it takes too long to physically click the radials for all 9 pieces of armor to equip your armor. They use it as a pure time saver, not a combat "winner."


This nerf returns people to the days when they were clicking radials, because of the new 30 second delay. It is a change with no real purpose other than to annoy players.


Message Edited by Daker-Naritus on 06-30-2004 09:15 PM






Im sorry but there are so many things that you wrote in your post that I do not know where to star...Hmm players only being able to heal anywhere from 200-400 damage,I dont think so!


Im a novice medic...Thats it! With decent Stim-B's I can heal ,on average 300 and 500 at any given time on two of my pools.


Oh just being able to switch on the fly to suit your defense up against someone who happens to be using a weapon that was unexpected is another.


Hmm what about making the game more of a programming introduction by forcing people to use macros like these to stay competitive...No it is a game ,both casual and Powergamers alike play it and it should not be about my macros better then yours it should be about skill...Oh how I can't wait until JTL hits




Adofo Sclod
Imperial Hunter&Gunfighter
MasterRanger,Pistoleer-
Sunrunner

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