Development Cycle Archive

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DarthMinos wrote:

Hey, TH, any particular reason we are downloading a rather large file when we log into the game today....and yet nobody bothered to tell us in advance it was coming, and it didn't appear as a message on the patcher?

I and many others are speculating that this is part of the next publish. However, if someone there would have taken a minute anywhere to post a message about this, we would have felt a lot better.

Something to keep in mind for next time.

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Regarding Stacking of defenses: Which ever way you decide to alter it can you post it somewhere with a detailed explination of what can and cannot be stacked, as soon as its decided. Im sure alot of people like myself are waiting for this info to decide which direction to go in.

My opinion is that some defenses should stack, itadds srategy to creating your character. And strickly combat persons should have a combat edge over crafter/combat.... or combat/doctor.

Thunderheart:

Are there any plans in the future to start a new server in the US? I realize there are already quite a few available, but i believe many would be interested in starting on a brand new galaxy, now that many things have been fixed, such as credit dupes, etc.... Just curious, as I would be very interested in starting a new character here. Thanks

If droids are not scanned by contraband scanners, this completely invalidates any bonus to avoiding contraband scans that are given to smugglers. All people have to do is put their contraband in their droid and store it in their datapad. If a player has 5 droids in their datapad, they can have up to 50 items of contraband stored and never have to worry about the scans. And they never have to contact a smuggler to do anything about it.

Two questions here:

1) Are droid inventories checked in the contraband scan?

2) If they are not, then why would anyone care to use a smuggler if they can just put their contraband in a droid?

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Syrae wrote:

My breasts show through {insert clothing item here}.

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"That's not a bug, it's a feature!"

(Oh, wait. I'm a MonCal. You're a Bothan. Okay, it's a bug.)

Is there any word on what will happen to those of us who got stuck in the krayt skull quest when Borvo was saying 'good' and now cannot go any further in the quest? There are a lot of us who would like to finish that quest, and all customer service can tell me is they are sorry that I am having trouble with quests.

Specifically, the problem came when trying to give the briefcase to borvo, he took it, but wouldnt dole out quests. Now that the entire series of quests has been fixed, many MANY of us who were stuck in the middle cannot restart, nor continue the quest. What I'm most afraid of is that whoever was working on it will think their task was completed when the quest was fixed from start to finish, however there are still those of us who cannot finish the quest. Perhaps being able to talk to thale and receive a new briefcase would do the trick?

Please fix the magic deathblow that most NPCs seem to have gained.

They don't incap at all anymore if they're a deathblow-type critter. You're dead before you hit the ground, no matter who else is fighting or what else is going on.

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MrRiflemaker wrote:

To Thunderheart:

Thunderheart I really do respect what you have done within these past months with trying to talk to the community and answering questions and really taking our ideas. My biggest dissapointment is in every post I read many possibilties are given, and your main response is that there is not enough time. Well let me tell you something I'm sure most the people in this community care about quality and not time. I say that you should concentrate ON QUALITY and not time. It really wouldnt matter to me if the droid invasion did not appear for another 3 months because I want it to be fixed and balanced and fun not just brought in because you ran out of time.

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I think a number of people think that although we were told that droids would undergo a big revamp in this publish, what we're getting instead is this Imperial crackdown. Personally, I am all for NPCs fighting randomly in cities, but I don't like this idea of getting scanned at all. It's hurting everyone, helping no one...it's good that the Imperials aren't getting that -500 fp anymore, but ultimately this doesn't make the game more fun for all or most, and there are other ways to make the game moreSW-ish. (That NPC fighting thing for example is one of those ways, and it doesn't force people to get involved in the conflict.) But I digressed from my original point--it's better to not promise something than to give one's word and then not be able to keep it. If there is not enough time, then we'll wait till the next publish...and much more happily so if we're not told that the change is coming in THIS one.

Also, while some of the changes to the combat system are good, like counting DoTs for looting permissions, some aren't, like limiting people to one bleed per HAM bar. Stacking bleeds allowed for more strategy and power in combat...why nerf that? Personally I would have liked it left the way it was before.

Please address "retrospectivity". If you make a significant change, it should go retroactive and not cause "pre-nerf" items to exist (I understand if this cannot apply when something is improved, like the new chef foods, but it really needs to if something is nerfed, especially something involved in competition like weapons or pets). There are a lot of pre-nerf things out there right now, like weapons,probots and extinct pets...having these items remain after a change creates a very unfair disadvantage for new players. Some items, like weapons, will wear out automatically with use and I suppose I can understand leaving them in (I don't like it, but as Blair said to me, it's a "self-correcting problem"). However, there are other items that are not designed to automatically wear out, and can create severe imbalance. For example, Bio Engineer pets will be changed in this publish so that they won't be overpowered anymore...no more non-CH pets with 9k HAM bars. But this MUST be applied to the existing bugged BE pets, or we're going to have some non-CHs who get CH benefits without investing the skill points, and pets are not designed to wear out with automatic use. We have seen pets get nerfed, and themechanism of change was not difficult...just find a CH trainer, easy as that, so we know it can be done! In addition, the results of exploits, like people being able to build walls of houses to fortify cities, should not be allowed to remain once these exploits are made unavailable. If multiple-sliced armor and weapons are being removed from the game, so should things like these fortress walls.

I especially liked a few updates. Not being forced to clone at a player city anymore, for one, will significantly lessen that ridiculous covert scanner-shuttleport-turret-cloning facility griefing tactic that I've already seen enough of. Covert protection has helped this somewhat, but it can be countered by placing a scanner right outside the range of a loading character so that upon movement, a TEF is obtained. This change will stop that from happening, since no one in his right mind would pay to clone at an armed enemy city anyway.

A new buffing system will help also. Sometimes it's confusing to determine what's a buff and what isn't...or know just how much someone has been buffed. A new UI will be welcome.

Getting rid of insured item decay, and all PvP decay,is awesome. You know what, THIS is going to increase the SW-ish feeling more than that crackdown! Finally, I will see a ton of Imps invading Anchorhead regularly...apart from the crackdown that is...and people will get back into the PvP that they had abandoned because of decay (I'm one of them!). I don't think we're going to see much of the suicide shuttle, though, because vehicles have made it quite possible to get around in very reasonable periods of time (assuming, of course, that the vehicle-vanishing bug has been fixed and people have the scout skill needed to unpack a vehicle in the wild). All the people who said death has no consequence don't need to panic. Removing insured decay from PvE is a great idea also, considering that a fair portion of PvE deaths are caused by crashing and getting killed while LD. Most irritating way to die of all. I opposed item decay from the start, and now I am happy to see this change. It shows that the devs are willing to make changes that the players want, and to a certain degree, admit that a change thought to be beneficial turned out not to be. I think I speak for all the players in saying that I appreciate when my voice is heard by those in charge.