Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Weekly Roundtable Discussion (Week Ending 3-8-04)
DVader539 wrote:
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Fifth Link
Here's a real, real, real simple fix for you.
Spraystick is supposed to be Acid damage
Tusken Rifle is supposed to be Kinetic damage
T21 is supposed to be Blast damage
What he said, 
And also the FWG5 is supposed to be Kinetic damage as well.
I've been playing the game for a few months now and overall i really enjoy it. There have been some bugs that upset me (system freezes right after i get buffed, losing stuff to rollbacks, etc.) but for the most part I think everyone is trying their hardest to make the game better. There is just one thing that really upsets me in this game and that is the exploiters. It really sucks to have all of the good loot spots camped 24/7 but I can live with that, assuming i have the same chance as everyone else to get some loot. There seems to be rampant use of exploits among a small portion of the players and their behavior is effecting many other people.
My only request beyond your usual efforts to improve the game is this...take a hard line stance against exploiters. When an exploit is discovered make an official announcement about it and take extreme action against those who continue to make use of it.
I realize that some of these exploits are problems with the game design (geo lab bug with AOE attacks or strafe or whatever it is) but there are some people who think that just because it's possible to do something means it's OK to do it.
It seems like the community as a whole (at least from what i have gathered from the eclipse boards) has pretty much given up on the devs taking any action against exploiters but I just wanted to make my thoughts about it known and I figured this was a good place to do it.
Bardo Zuul
I just finished reading the entire set of posts on the forum and will try not to repeat anything that has been clearly defined. I have been playing a wookie on Gorath since august, started with a human artisan on release. I agree that the lack of armour is a huge problem. I need my Zabrak friend to tank while I sit back. At this point I seriously thought of rerolling and beginning anew with another species, but I have accomplished alot such as finishing CoA 1-3 which I could not redo. I do not want to throw away countless hours of gameplay when a simple racial fix can solve the problem. Speaking of a through collection of badges I would also like to be counted among the many that are awaiting word on the Hero of Tantooine quest.
Another major issue for me is the lack of ability to group for theme park missions. The first time I did the rebel theme park was before mounts or vehicles. A freind of mine and I ran to the rebel base on Corellia, spoke to C-3P0, got out waypoints, headed out the door, and ran in opposite directions. What was supposed to be a couple of hours worth of hunting together turned into the occasional hello back at the base. Why can we not do these missions with more than one player? There should not be extra loot, the group can decide who gets the X-wing suit amongst themselves (in my case as a wookie I'd be forced to pass on most things anyway) but faction points should remain the same for each member.
The last issue I have is that of holo grinding. I just started my 3rd holo, BH, and have not opposed the idea of trying 5 different professions. Some of them would be things I'd have never of tried. The issue though is the silent holo. If I spend the time to grind out 4 professions and then have to grind away hoping for the elusive 5th I think that is a prolem. The new proposal makes the holo grind even more frustrating. If I finish BH, why not stay there until the new quest system? The BH profession should make it easy to complete missions and it is a far more reasonable solution than grinding every profession in the hopes of finding the right one. I'm not a statistican but I believe the current system looks something like this:
Current Holo System Before Holos
1) Create brand new character Creat brand new character
2)Open First Holo Select profession that appeals to you
3)Grind out profession that may not interest you Achieve Master level in chosen profession
4)Open Second Holo Offer services in accordance with profession
5)Grind out profession that may not interest you Put time and effort into perfecting your craft
6)Open Third Holo Gather appropriate resources (Steel, weapons)
7)Grind out profession that may not interest youBe able to consistently provide HQ goods
8)Open Fourth Holo
9)Grind out profession that may not interest you
10) Silent Holo
Now at this point let's say that the Devs mention that you must master 5 professions to become a jedi, chances for Player 1 1/28, chances for Player 2 1/31. The player with the silent holo is really not that much further ahead than someone simply going after professions. A great help would be for the 5th holo to mention what tree the profession is in. For example, a jedi can captivate an audience or a jedi can heal the wounded. At least you could focus your final grind at three or four professions.
Chale Wookie on Gorath
I think overall about 20-30 percent of the bugs have been actually fixed (which is bad), while the rest of the bugs and skills are broken that's been in since the game has first been released. And don't forget the new buttload of bugs that are being introduced into this game publish after publish.
The contents are nice, but they run out fast. The bugs and broken professions should be on your top priority, and it seems you guys are getting all your priorites mixed up.
BTW don't forget, that fixing bugs, and broken professions would be a form of content.
Adrionys wrote:
Would anyone else be happy if they added NO new content, but fixed all of the known bugs and worked on game balance with Publish 7?
How about it, TH? Could we have an entire Publish devoted to nothing but bug fixes and game balance? That seems to be what everyone is calling for, anyway.
I agree with this, and sorry for the double post but I wanted to concentrate on the loot issue in the last post so here I will talk about some more ideas related to game balance and fixes.
1) The vehicle bugs haven't been addressed yet and continue to annoy. I'm referring mainly to the random disappearing of vehicles and the teleporting of your character upon dismounting. Having to save 15 skill points for Novice Scout just to counteract a bug is becoming a nuisance (I admit that I would be a scout either way, but some other people would not).
2) Brawler range really needs a reworking. I know the brawler profession players aren't going to be happy with this suggestion, but currently the range is too great. Unarmed Lunge 1--which a 0-0-0-0 Brawler can do--has a range of not 15 but TWENTY meters, and low level unarmed brawler moves can hit at 10 meters. Twenty meters, that's a pistol's ideal range and way too far for any brawler to hit...considering that a brawler is supposed to be able to kill you if he catches up to you, and a lot of PvP is done in close quarters (like Anchorhead for example) this high range really favors brawlers. This is part of the reason that people complain about KD/dizzy...not only is it usually an autowin, but once you get hit with the Lunge at 20m, the KD/dizzy will definitely follow easily. The argument against this is "if we don't do this then brawlers will all get kited all day". Think about it, brawlers aren't supposed to be able to hit at a gun's range, they're supposed to have to chase you to kill you. I can understand making the range greater than common sense dictates because of server lag, but 15 meters, or 20, is too great. Lunge should not have a range of greater than 10m.
3) Also, marksman range needs some redoing. The FWG pistolis too accurate at 64m (I hit with itat least halfthe timeagainst NPCs and I'm far from being a master pistoleer)and rifles can't hit past 64m (yet combat medic poisons can).
4) CM DoTs continue to be the crucial factor in a PvP battle. Why should CM poisons not be subject to the same PvP damage reduction as EVERY other type of attack?
5) Please return bleed shots to the way they were before. They are quite useless now as you will see on the profession boards. If a move is useless, why have it?
6) Thank you for removing PvP insured item decay. People are a lot more willing to PvP now.
7) Removing skill mod stacking is a good idea and will stop the current problem of a few "god" templates being unhittable. However, the new craze will become these skill-enhancing attachments; please allow crafters to make items as good as the looted ones. The +25 limit per skill mod is also a great move.
8) Maybe changing the Jedi system to a quest system will make cantinas what they were before, rather than filled with dance and music grinders spamming "please heal and tip me" all day. I for one left entertaining because of this, and maybe now I'll be more motivated to chill in cantinas again. Thank you. (Of course, this would involve a big project, and I for one wouldn't mind if this was delayed for a bit while the bugs are fixed.)
9) It'd be really good if we could get shorter shuttle waits, or none at all. Is it so hard on the server to not have a shuttle wait? Ten minutes is really a long time...especially when the shuttle leaves just as you're selecting your ticket.
10) This is a bit random, but why not give Image Designers their old abilities back? Let them change the old Eye Shape like they could before, and let them shave people's heads again.Why nerf them of all people? They're not fighting much, so where is the imbalance cited as rationale for the nerf? Besides, there is no planned revamp of this profession...at least don't take away what little they do have.
11) Make fixes apply retroactively.
I am curious as to why Stormtroopers run away hen attacked, yet low level (Imp civilian patrol, for example) actaully stay and fight.
I have chased these guys out 400m from the bases (Rebel missions).I have read the forums on Creatures, and one dev said "Some creatures are just cowards." Is this true for stormtroopers as well? Will this bug be remedied or is this as intended?
TH
We know its low priority but is still the BEST QUEST EVER........ PLEASE, please, please address the Hermit and His Collection of Badges!
HUNDREDS of players want simple answers to this quest.
Larra
If that is true, then why did the Tusken start off as kinetic and then mysteriously change to another useless energy rifle around publish 4? Why has it taken this many months of weaponsmith and rifleman correspondents complaining before we got ANY response on this?
Thunderheart wrote:
DVader539 wrote:
Here's a real, real, real simple fix for you.
Spraystick is supposed to be Acid damage
Tusken Rifle is supposed to be Kinetic damage
T21 is supposed to be Blast damage
The correspondents and I have looked at this many times. Sorry, but its not an easychange. Damage types have a relationship to damage and by changing the damage type, it also changes the damage modifiers (numbers) and throws them out of whack. This is something Im checking to see if we can address in the weapon balance part of the larger combat balance, but I don't know what the answer might be. And in any event, concentrating on these minor things before the weapon balance isn't productive. We'll want to look at things when the combat balance is on TC.
TH, can you get us an update on the panic shot nerf?
Runesabre said he would re-evaluate it this week, but we've heard nothing on it since then. The smuggler community really would like to know why you all are nerfing one of the few working parts of our profession, so any update on this matter would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
if the rifle bug would have been fixed, then their would be no reason to change dabbling as it stood. i stand by that over and over. aside from that its nice to see the major changes being put on hold or pushed back months and months.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=GCW&message.id=122164&page=1
whatever happend to all the hot fixes that started for the first few months? did they stop because after so much time has passed it only makes it appear that the game is horribly broken? for all these changes good and bad, it takes too much time to implement them.
it is discouraging to keep motivated to enjoy SWG when things some of the unbalancing issues that would appear to be relatively easy to fix, are simply put off until the next major publish leaving weeks at a time with whatever bug/exploit is around. .
The new visual buff system is very helpful, but there is something else that hasn't been done yet and needs to be: it is still hard for us to see how much damage we take to our buffed pools. Our personal HAM indicators do not show any white bar until the damage has taken out all of our buffed HAM, yet we see very clearly the damage to buffed HAM taken by our group members. How about changing our personal indicators to be just like group members', i.e. if our H and A are buffed, our M bar gets smaller relative to them? This way when we're in heated combat, we can immediately have a good indication of how our health is doing, without having to hit Ctrl+C or put our cursors on our HAM bars (which in itself diminishes our maneuverability because you can't move as well if the yellow arrow is up instead of the green circle).
Also, less importantly, how about a "tired" status indicator next to our HAM bars, like stunned, dizzy, blind, etc.? Since it takes about eight minutes to recover from a burst run, it is hard to know exactly how long we have until we can burst again. This can be solved by a somewhat elaborate timer macro, but those commands are esoteric and it would be much easier for the general player community to just see a simple status indicator up there.