Development Cycle Archive

I guess we will get no Friday Feature today.

Since we did not pay the $89, we should be punished.... so I guess this is fair.

Updated from TH's response six (or so) weeks ago, update at the bottom.

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DVader539 wrote:

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LLJK_Griz wrote:

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Thunderheart wrote:

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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

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The correspondents and I have looked at this many times. Sorry, but its not an easy change. 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.

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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?

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First off, thank you TH for a response to this issue. Before you read anything else in my response, please understand I am directing no anger at you, since I know you are only fielding the question, and are not responsible for the error nor ignoring the error.

With that said, LLJK_Griz makes a very valid point. If it's not an easy change, then how did the Tusken Rifle change it's damage type? If it was unintentional, then I'd like to meet the unlucky guy who by-mistake did the complex job of reprogramming it. If it was intentional, then I'd like to meet the doofus who went to all that complex work to screw up a weapon. Or is this a case of "if you had a dozen programmers sitting at a dozen terminals typing randomly, in twelve days they would reprogram a complex variable of this game"? of course that last one was a joke. I hope...

Finally, what bass-ackwards logic made the Dev team make a weapon's stats not variable-entry based? That being, a weapon's code is a string of numbers, each number representing a stat. Like 1=energy damage, 2=heat damage, 3=kinetic damage, etc. Then a seperate function takes certain numbers during a fight and puts them through an equation set to figure out damage and such. If the Dev team made it any more complex than that, then please hire my service of logical thinking. I'll sell you my services at a good price since I'd enjoy making this game better. (p.s. I'm serious.)

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After discussing this with my fellow Riflepeople, the idea of the T21 being blast damage is debatable. But a very good point was made.

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T21 ws only blast for a few days and IMHO it should stay energy cause a blast rifle would be overpowered for the stuff that is sposed to be what commandos are made for taking out.

However the fact that within a week the T21 was changed from Energy to Blast and back to Energy does show just how full of [balogna] old TH is with his responces to us idiots that play this game

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Oh, then we got this little doozie last Friday...

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Keldarin wrote:
I just went through the revision history of those weapons [spraystick, tusken rifle] and they have never had those damage [acid, kinetic] types.

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Now, please... this is complete BS. If the Dev team has screwed up, please admit it. Don't treat us like morons and try half-arsed lies. My reply to this was...

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First off, an article from bloodfin.org

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ranged attacks generally do blast damage (unless the weapon is an acid rifle or lightning rifle - i expect some common sense here) ... however there are 2 guns which do kinetic damage - the tusken rifle and the striker pistol

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And then a weaponsmith's guide from swgcraft.com

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Q. What are the damage types for each weapon?
A.
Heat: EE3 Carbine, E11 Carbine, FWG5 Pistol
Cold: SG82 Rifle
Acid: DXR6 Carbine, DX2 Pistol
Stun: Tangle Pistol, Jawa Ion Rifle
Kinetic: Striker Pistol, Tusken Rifle
Energy: All others

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And finally, the piece of evidence worth a thousand words from swgcener.com
A screenshot of a King Tusken Rifle with kinetic damage!


Proof that the Devs lie and the Tusken was kinetic!

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Thunderheart wrote:

The answer is that it never was kinetic. If it ever was seen that way, it was some sort of odd bug. In the data tables themselves, they've never been listed that way.

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Your "answer" is false. I cited three different sources in my original post that say the Tusken Rifle was Kinetic. Would you please care to prove those sources wrong before denying the claim in total? If you are indeed drawing your info from your data tables, then those data tables (that no one other than SOE employees have access to) are in conflict with several sources of info, including the players, which anyone can see and compare. I put out a small survey, and got minimal results, but the end result was that 9 out of 10 players who were around before the Tusken Rifle was changed from Kinetic remember the Tusken Rifle as Kinetic.
I'll be the first to admit, the sample of players I got was not enough to draw a good conclusion, but frankly it only adds to the mound of evidence I've gathered from verifiable sources. You only offer hearsay evidence.
And even if your data tables were correct, they are inconsistant with the system of the game. The parts that assemble the Tusken Rifle are ones that express that the rifle would be a slugthrower, a kinetic weapon. Not to mention according to Star Wars lore, which this game is loosely based upon, the Tusken Rifle is a slugthrower. Kinetic damage.

This is getting real old. I'd expect this behavior from a forum Troll or a immature pre-teen poster. Not a Dev. Please look at the facts and give a truthful answer.

"The Tusken Rifle not dealing kinetic damage is like the Devs deciding that TKM doesn't have enough damage types and therefore make the Vibroknuckler deal acid damage. It's wrong for oh so many reasons, despite the good intentions."

my .02.....I think (oh and I am a RANGER) the game ROCKS! Yes, there are dynamic things happening because no ONE person knew what everyone was going to do or act like in this game! ie GAME PLAY MAY CHANGE!!! Yes, I would like a whole bunch of things for my RIFLE/RANGER!! <hint> BFG!!! Anyway.....the only thing that dissapoints me!! I thought there would be alot more FACTION SKIRMISH's!! I mean I was picturing all EMPIRE STRIKES BACK opening scene fight!! And it has not happened. Maybe Im in the wrong places, but I dont see no real incentive to becoming a certain FACTION and trying to rule the GALAXY!......EVERYONE IS TO BUSY HOLOGRINDING!!!!!! I even became a SQUAD LEADER in the begining to LEAD SQUAD's....now I run around being FAT DUMB and HAPPY harvesting MEAT for DOCS to BUFF so everyone can do the GEO CAVES one more time!!!!

OK I am sure this is a known issue but it was the first time I had seen this happen in game myself. We were raiding a base and had the base on countdown. Some imperials walked into the base covert, they then proceeded to go overt and were killed immediately. They then waited 5 minutes and had a covert doctor rez them. When they were rez'd they used a macro to turn off the countdown. I think this is an exploit for two reasons, 1) If you are dead the time you are dead should not count towards the 5 minutes you need to be overt to shutdown the timer and 2) when you are Rez'd you should be groggy for 1 full minute and unable to do anything yet they could still use a macro to shutoff the timer.

My question is, is this indeed an exploit as I believe it is? The Imps want me to show them in writing that this is an exploit, just wanted to get the overall player's opinion and maybe an opinion from a CSR. Thanks.

I have seen many posts about what the game does not do and what i want to do as a player and the devs wont give it to me.

The DEVS have given you a dynamic world to function in. BE dynamic in response.

Example, I read the locked thread about the corvette and how it was too tough and that no one can complete it and so on. Our guild decided that it was a problem we would tackle and solve. Without exploits. We have done it over 3 dozen times. We willb e doing it several more times. I have all three badges for the rebel missions as does most of our guild. We have 9 AV 21's assembled or ready to assemble and every member in our guild as well as their alts have schematics.

What do we do different? We assemble after each mission and go over what worked and what did not. What may work next time and then formulate a plan with adaptability built in in case of surprises. We work hard for the rewards and we get them. We do not ask the devs to make it easier and give up.

You get out of a game what YOU put into it. The developers give you a medium to work with. Use it and expand upon it. Do not ask for things to be handed to you on a platter.

This game rocks. All you need do is go out and have fun. Find what interests you and expand upon it.

My 2 credits worth

All I have to say is that I am tired of Nerfing. I can't stand it. I've been playing since the vicheles first came out, which is not nearly as long as most people here. But so many professions have been nerfed because that is the simple solution to the problem. This makes it really hard on us players.
If we just master a profession and then you nerf it we have to start all over again. I don't play around the clock so it takes me a while to master a profession but either way you still get the same about of money from me as the people who play around the clock. I have just as much as in this.
The real solution is to make other professions better or ad some new armour or compentents that will make the "uber" profession less uber. In the real world, in real combat skills/weapons become useless when another better weapon is made or a better defense it - Not when they stop making it the same way. It really is horrible.
I will be forced to quit this game and close down my accounts if more professions are nerfed. Will this ever end? Will you get it right? I understand that programing is diffucult and time consuming but do it right the first time and don't fix thing that arn't broken.
Honestly this game was release pre-maturely. It needed to be tested more and the professions equaled out a bit.
I'm trusting you to not make me quit. That would be a sad, sad day.

Oki,

Oki i havent so much whining in my life.....the game is a game not whine galaxies.....the spawn on planets are fine,and hes answer was just fine.....you guys need to worry about is using TERMS and partying up for big spawns....you dont understand there is places where rancors spawn and where big animals and monasters spawn....reason be you gotta party up , the game is suppost to be relying on each other and helping each other.......so be happy take some pie and have fun cause i mean just be thxful a game like this is out cause i dont know any game that isnt broken or has bugs......Just wait till JTL comes out youll have a new set of bugs and problems.....

Can we get a focus thread up for lag/proformance issues on the live servers?

My #1 problen right now is lag on Dantooine. It's becomeing normal to have 3 to 5 second delay on commands. This it like playing a game in slow motion all the time. Can we get something done about this.

I think we're going to need a whole publish to opt-ing code. The game is becoming very lacking in response times. This should be worked on before JTLS comes out not after wards. For the betterment of the game and new players coming in with JTLS.

I played Earth and beyond during the time where the Dev team was moved and broken up. A few publish made the game very lag for a lot of players. I think was the start of the down fall of E&B and I would hate to see that start to happen here. It's not like the design team and development cycle isn't hard enought on this game already. Proformance issues can be a killer.

I'd like to see some guild management tool put in the game, for setting members rank permissions and such.
Personally I'd like to see at least 4 ranks,
Leader: Total control.
Officer: Can except sponsored people in as Recruits and send guild wide Email.
Member: Can sponsor some one to join.
Recruit: Have access to guild chat.

Shilyin good idea

QUESTION????????

What happened to the DANT hardware upgrade. Problems when it was done, but after lastest publis sort of settled down, for a week or so DANT was wonderfull, very smooth.

Now its worse than ever. SO what happened?

Starport Wait Times. 10 minutes is Way too long.

If you've been paying attention to the World of Warcraft Beta, there are no wait times for long distance transport mechanisms. WOW is serious competition for SWG, I suggest that you compete.