Jedi Archive

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Acip wrote:

just let it go...

some of you are under the delusion that SOE actually gives a care about us or what we want. either quit complaining and work with it, or stop sending your $14. unfortunately, I dont think anyone at SOE cares enough to give us any other options.

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mindspat wrote:

I'm getting tired of "I don't want to work to build my charater! I want a free jedi with uber lightsaber! I pay SOE and owe me!"

It's old, learn to accept the game and play it in it's broken state.

The issue will be corrected with the replacmnet of the lightsaber system where you will no longer be required to have 4 pearls to be competative.

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Um, did you even read my letter? You're reading an awful lot into it that's not there at all. In fact, what you wrote is the exact opposite of what I said.

I thought it was pretty obvious that my goal was to build my character. I don't want to be handed a complete Jedi toon out of the box, so to speak. I want to find rare pearls and crystals, craft superb tools out of the best resources I can unearth, and build upmy toon patiently through diligent effort.

My point was simply for the devs to make those tools and resources available again. Right now, they are not. At all. And that is simply wrong, because it is a game-balance issue on several levels of the game.

Even if a premium pearl was a rare loot drop that only rarely tuned up to be worth using, at least it was available before the Combat Upgrade. Now,they arenot available at all, other than in a few greedy players' vending machines for insane amounts of money. And with the currentdrought of krayt-dragon spawns on my server, it's pretty much impossible to even loot a "Good" pearl.

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Kev0r wrote:

Instead of spending time crying about the lack of premiums, I have spent time with other jedi looting crystals and pearls for them to tune. It's taking a long time, but no longer than it took me to loot premiums pre CU from the overcamped POIs on tatooine and dathomir.

Pre CU jedi didn't just magic up a set of 4 prefect premiums; it took me 6 months of looting them pre CU, and I even kept swordsman/doc for all that time, even though I hated the template. I bet that during 6 months from now, I could loot a set of post CU crystals and be able to tune them to similar stats as a pre CU saber

I tuned a premium to -2/-2 0FC a few months back, and a colleague yesterday tuned a fair to 105/105 -5FC.

So maybe head out and get what you can, instead of complaining about what you can't get. It's in line to be fixed, so moaning about it won't help the situation at all.

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Been doing just that. I live close to the Tuskens-vs-Jawas battle near the Krayt Graveyard, and I've been jumping into that (mostly Poor crystals, if any), as well as making runs out to the Nightsister POIs on Dathomir. I've also tried the Force wielders on Dantooine from time to time, but no luck so far with them. Force costs on the crystals range from -2 to -4. So it's not as bad as it could be, but definitely not up to the level of my unlocked alt's damage output, a MBH/MCM with DPS's around 420-440 on his weapons. And as a single-ranged-mastery template, he's small potatoes. Heck, I haven't even really tried all that hard to equip him with top-shelf tools, just a few looted weapons like a proton carbine and a nice lightning cannon given to me by a grateful weaponsmith for helping him kill Mellichae. I hear stories of people with huge T-21's and power hammers, and can only wonder if the screenies are real or Photoshopped.

But you're dead-on about the numbers game, Kev0r. I've tuned probably 50 crystals so far, netting four mediocre tunes.I have two sabers, one ADK'd. The statson the ADK'done are at least mediocre now, with high force consumption -- Modified DPS 376, FC 36, modified speed 1.8 (if the devs ever get around to fixing the speed-mod bug). Ikeep a secondsaber for spin groups, upon which I spent all my experimentation points on efficiency: FC 20, Mod Speed 2.01, Mod DPS of 225, and four low-damage crystals with force costs ranging from -6 to -9. Whenever I use this second saber, I can't help but think this is how the other half lives.. at least, as far as Force consumption is concerned. Definitely enough to give me a sense of the tactical advantages owned by those with perfect crystals in their sabers.

But again, Thunderheart's comments in the Stratics chat make it clear that the removal of high-grade crystals from the game was indeed an intentional "stealth nerf." Unfortunately, it's one that affects some players and not others. As such, it was a bad move.

"Currently, premium pearls are not dropping. We will be bringing them back when we figure out a favorable implementation of them...."

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Iakimo wrote:

I just sent the following PM to Thunderheart to get off my chest a nagging concern about why premium pearls might not be dropping. I'm posting the text of it here, to share my thoughts with the Jedi community as well.

Thunderheart:

You wrote in this week's House of Commons chat:

"Currently, premium pearls are not dropping. We will be bringing them back when we figure out a favorable implementation of them...."

Elsewhere, I have read comments from SWG representatives indicating a desire to move high-endpearls and crystalsaway from a random/static-spawn loot-drop/loot-farming model, to a quest-driven model similar to what we find in the "Rage of the Wookiees" expansion.

Taken together, these two sentiments point in an ominous direction.

Thunderheart, what's a 'favorable implementation?' You're not implying that I will have to actually buy the "Trials of Obi-Wan" expansion to gain access to premium pearls, are you?? That I will only gain these tools, so vital for my character to measure up in his competitive environment, by buying A NEW EXPANSION??

If that's what you have in mind, shame on you!

Thunderheart, you really need to come up NOW (as in, before ToOW is released) with a 'favorable implementation' of a method for us plebes to obtain high-grade pearls and force crystals. If you're reserving such a method for exclusive distribution via this expansion, I would consider it to be grossly unethical and manipulative. This game NEEDS a method available to ALL players to acquire high-end pearls and crystals -- regardless of whether given individuals buy new content or not. This is a basic game-balance issue, and it needs to be universally available to all players.

Sincerely,

"Iakimo"

(real-life name deleted for this post)

I want to say that myinference that the devs might be reserving premium pearl/crystal drops as loot for high-end quests for the upcoming expansion is pure conjecture on my part. However, IDO consider our current dilemma deplorable, and one that raisessuchquestions by it's very nature as anactive, unresolved game-balance issue.

Tha lack of current high-end crystal/pearl drops doesn't just affect Jedi-vs.-Jedi balance, but the Jedi-vs.-Bounty Hunter balance as well as the larger PvP scene. As long as players can craft items like power hammers and T-21 rifles that eclipse the damage output of post-CU lightsabers, and as long as skilled armorsmiths can find ways to craft armors that outclass Jedi protectons and attack capabilities, the developers' stated game-balance goals will be unrealized, and Jedi will remain the weak, potential-capped orphans of the game.

Let's hope Thunderheart visits this thread and offers us some substantive input on this critical issue.

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I would think that is what the "In Concept" forum is for. If they would give us a hint it would be helpful.

Message Edited by AvataroftheSith on 09-23-2005 12:27 PM

I'm getting tired of "I don't want to work to build my charater! I want a free jedi with uber lightsaber! I pay SOE and owe me!"

It's old, learn to accept the game and play it in it's broken state.

The issue will be corrected with the replacmnet of the lightsaber system where you will no longer be required to have 4 pearls to be competative.

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mindspat wrote:

I'm getting tired of "I don't want to work to build my charater! I want a free jedi with uber lightsaber! I pay SOE and owe me!"

It's old, learn to accept the game and play it in it's broken state.

The issue will be corrected with the replacmnet of the lightsaber system where you will no longer be required to have 4 pearls to be competative.

---

Um, did you even read my letter? You're reading an awful lot into it that's not there at all. In fact, what you wrote is the exact opposite of what I said.

I thought it was pretty obvious that my goal was to build my character. I don't want to be handed a complete Jedi toon out of the box, so to speak. I want to find rare pearls and crystals, craft superb tools out of the best resources I can unearth, and build upmy toon patiently through diligent effort.

My point was simply for the devs to make those tools and resources available again. Right now, they are not. At all. And that is simply wrong, because it is a game-balance issue on several levels of the game.

Even if a premium pearl was a rare loot drop that only rarely tuned up to be worth using, at least it was available before the Combat Upgrade. Now,they arenot available at all, other than in a few greedy players' vending machines for insane amounts of money. And with the currentdrought of krayt-dragon spawns on my server, it's pretty much impossible to even loot a "Good" pearl.

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mindspat wrote:

...The issue will be corrected with the replacmnet of the lightsaber system where you will no longer be required to have 4 pearls to be competative.

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mindspat wrote:

There's a new build in the store for lightsabers.

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Iakimo wrote:

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mindspat wrote:

...The issue will be corrected with the replacmnet of the lightsaber system where you will no longer be required to have 4 pearls to be competative.

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Hmmm... not another fundamental change to a core weapon system? Is this going to eliminate the logical underpinning of the whole model of 1st-through-4th-generation lightsabers? [Casts a wary eye at the crypt containing the scrapped Head/Body/Leg-Hit combat model...] Yet another dumbing-down of theprocess for gaining excellent equipment is NOT what I have in mind. It's alreadyannoying enough that Combat Medics don't even have to craft their poisons anymore....

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