Development Cycle Archive
Thread: 19 Answers 4-29-04
Thunderheart wrote:
DeQuosaek wrote:
Can anyone verify?
Also, shouldn't the issue really be something like, "Combat Medics have no reduction in damage in PvP?"
The correspondents are helping me verify the details now....
I have extremely mixed feelings about the "revamp" - most are centralized on the fact that it sounds like things aren't totally changing yet most of my "problems" with the current state of the skills we have could fall through the crack and remain beyond the revamp.
* "tweak spices" - in my eyes they need a helluva lot more then a tweak to solve my biggest problem with the way they are now is that there is no reason to want to use most of them, and certainly none until you hit spice 4. To fix this needs more then what I would call a tweak. Nevermind the consideration of experimentation on which this front I am pro.
* slicing changes - it sounds like they could very easily skip right by all the little things I find wrong with slicing - from the conceptual act described by the text, to the lack of intuitiveness on the use of clamps, to the total worthlessness of FANs, to bugs with laser knife crates.
* dirty fighting - new moves are promising, don't get me wrong, but it sounds like we're going to have to wait for the combat balance to see changes in our current ones - not to mention our ineffectiveness when not combined with additional skills in that weapon class. The problems might just be doubled given things like lack of vibroknuckler cert and the like. I also don't see my core problem with the inability to use my moves with a bowcaster equipped not being addressed, but if there's unarmed moves I can pretend I put the bowcaster down and decided to rip some arms out of sockets instead.
* underworld - not much to say definitively here yet, my main gripe is that its a waste of skill points if you're not a GCW colonel. Guess i'll have to wait and see on that one. I also still have a big problem with the way other faction standings mean nothing to a smuggler - don't see this changing. (personally, i never cared much about the lang aspect of it)
Positives:
* underworld needs more "stuff" and I'm leaving it open that their new content might be enough to make the skillpoints worth it - but I just don't know yet.
* it sounds like there's not going to be any more unrewarded and misplaced pistol xp to get up the underworld boxes.
* smuggling people could potentially work.. as long as the SE doesn't totally nerf our skill
* there is the potential for some actual justification for the unarmed pre-req... and maybe, just maybe as a TKM/smuggler I might get as much benefit in the combo as smuggler/master pistoleers do currently
* there's something in our master box.
* no mention of bad things that could happen to slicing like crazy interfaces turning us into automated slice droids or experimentation.
DeQuosaek wrote:
Are we sure that the Combat Medic's range is not being misinterpreted?
Example: Let's say I have an Area Poison that has an Area of effect 32m and there isenemyA is 64m away AND enemyB is 96m away and the poison is thrown at enemyA and also affects enemyB. I think enemyB might see that the CM is 96m away and assume the poison was thrown that far, when that isn't the case.
Can anyone verify?
Also, shouldn't the issue really be something like, "Combat Medics have no reduction in damage in PvP?"
Thunderheart wrote:
Specifically, when and how are the developers planning to address the TEF system in PvP, most notably the large amount of abuses associated with Group TEFs allowing covert first strikes and endless conflict at clone centers? Have the many varied player suggestions for dealing with the issue been taken under consideration for this aspect of the GCW?
Inevitably, there will always be abuses in any PvP system and will always be flashpoint situations that represent the “front line” where players re-spawn in a game world. Highly combative players are conditioned to seek the place where the “combat chain” is weakest and attack it. As such, there is an ongoing effort to change these types of combat variables. Specifically, the group TEF questions will be addressed in the GCW revamp and unfair base exploits are a constant work-in-progress.
In short, yes we agree it is an issue and plan to address it in the GCW revamp.
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I'll keep my fingers crossed. Until then, I guess we remain covert?
mythronde wrote:
TH, can you kindly answer on which professions, if certs will be added, will be able to use mandalorian armor? BH's would love to have some lovin' sooner than later if you know what I mean
Certs for Mandalorian armor will be: Bounty Hunter, Commando, Ranger and Squad Leader 
Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter Profession is worth 217 skill points; where as master rifleman, master TKA, or master swordsman only takes 92. Beyond upcoming overall speed/damage/HAM changes in the Combat Rebalance, what are the developer's intentions for Bounty Hunters specifically and is a Bounty Hunter Meant to be able to match anyone who has spent 217 (In augmenting Combat Professions) points evenly in a One on One Combat, if that is not possible is it possible to lower the requirements for BH as the Scout line does not provide any benefits to the profession?
One thing we want to address “prior to” or “as part of” the combat balance is to actually achieve the original design status of high offense/low defense of the Bounty Hunter instead of low/low. The point of discussion we are at with the BH Correspondent is that a High/Medium would be better for a BH to accommodate for the lack of variability in their skill sets and skill point allocation options and will be some of the first changes to the BH skill set in the CB sandbox.
The Bounty hunters do not have the flexibility of other professions to combine their skill set. Therefore it is difficult to balance the bounty hunter profession against various combinations that take the same amount of skill points. We are looking to rectify this during combat balance and also by working with the BH correspondent when the combat balance gets into full swing.
Further complicating the balance of Bounty Hunters is that while their flexibility is severely limited they can still benefit greatly from the acquisition of additional combat skills that share prerequisites with the Bounty Hunter profession. If we balance the power gained for the 217 skill point cost to reach Master Bounty Hunter to be the same as spending 217 skill points in other combat professions like Commando and Teras Kasi then Bounty Hunter may be overpowered after purchasing additional Pistol or Carbine skills. All things need to be considered when determining the proper balance of a profession.
so instead of removing the archaic and inane scout restriction, which does absolutely nothing to serve the bounty hunter, we need to wait for a rebalance that potentially could never work properly due to the complications with dabbling? complications that we've seen before, let's see...8 months ago.
removing scout is a simple fix TH. it allows for real bounty hunters like you see in the movies, not the unimaginative carbon copy bounty hunter you see now. from there, it'd be easy to tweak the bonuses required at the master bounty hunter box.
you said it youself, balancing it is complicated, why not go with the easy solution? why hold on to a design that was flawed from the start? or if the intent is to hold steadfast to that design, then why not take dabbling out of the equation entirely and create all new weapon lines for the BH to pursue? hell, at least that would be something original and easier to balance.
and we could at least be placated with some kind of acknowledgement that the scout requirement is only there to fill up our skill points...i mean, to just ignore that aspect of the question? thanks.
AnXdiety wrote:
Something i am really wondering with this Jedi revamp is why they are not divulging the information with us to allow us to get it right the first time rather than coding and re-coding and then re-coding again and again. This was the issue with the crafting changes. You spent how many weeks coding and re-coding these changes just to have them veto'd by the community.
Maybe if you spoke and told us the plans before they are coded we could get the code monkeys to code the proper thing the first time. That's the entire point to communication. Not listen to us, then do something else and have us whine and complain only to cause more work. If its being coded would the system not already be known, and why cannot it be told before its coded for feedback?
Learn from your past examples. Look how you nerfed CH's into oblivion. Look how you unbalanced combat with the defence mods when you finally fixed the melee professions. Look how you gimped commando's numerous times with the DOT nerf, and giving other classes better weapons than we can currently use (exploiding droids are cheaper and easier to make than rocket launcers /shrug).
As it stands right now you can't give us information until the work is already done and on test center. How is that productive to your development cycle? End this constant cycle of nerfings and give us actual answers that we can see and hope for. That is the major thing this community needs is hope. We've lost a lot of it with the all the false promises over the last year we have been playing.
Thunderheart wrote:
mythronde wrote:
TH, can you kindly answer on which professions, if certs will be added, will be able to use mandalorian armor? BH's would love to have some lovin' sooner than later if you know what I mean
Certs for Mandalorian armor will be: Bounty Hunter, Commando, Ranger and Squad Leader
Wow I'm sure people will be interested in knowing that. Why didn't one of those professions use it for their questions
So basicly you're saying you're adding a new dungeon in a game with 30+ professions and only 4 are going to benefit from it? What's the point?
Thunderheart wrote:
mythronde wrote:
TH, can you kindly answer on which professions, if certs will be added, will be able to use mandalorian armor? BH's would love to have some lovin' sooner than later if you know what I mean
Certs for Mandalorian armor will be: Bounty Hunter, Commando, Ranger and Squad Leader