SWG Stratics dev chat

[Guest DarthMaulUK]

This took place last night (Wednesday) and of course, nothing major was asked/answered

 

DMUK

 

[02:01] Brekkee We'll be starting shortly

[02:03] Brekkee Good evening and welcome to another great Stratics House of Commons chat, tonight our guests are the developers of Star Wars Galaxies!

[02:03] Brekkee Please send your questions to [QT]Sprite OR [QT]Elm - to do so type /query NICK and type in the window that pops up. Questions sent to me or the developers will not make it into the lineup. Full logs of the chat will be up on http://swg.stratics.com shortly after the chat.

[02:03] Brekkee We'll start with a brief introduction from the developers, now would be a good time to send those questions.

[02:04] TH Good evening everyone, I'm Thunderheart SWG's Community Relations Manager. We're happy you could join us tonight!

[02:04] Lord_Pall Hi! I'm Dan Rubenfield, Lead Designer on Star Wars Galaxies.

[02:05] SWG_TSlothrop Hi folks. I'm Dallas Dickinson, Sr. Producer for SWG at SOE.

[02:05] Juliot I am Julio Torres, Producer for SWG at LucasArts. Hi there !

 

[02:05] Brekkee *BioEngine* What do the new character statistics reflect concerning combatand non-combat gameplay?

[02:06] Lord_Pall We've got a variety of new Stats

[02:06] Lord_Pall Luck - Makes you Lucky

[02:06] Lord_Pall Stamina - Adds 8 points of action, 2 points of Health

[02:06] Lord_Pall Constitution - Adds 8 points of health, 2 points of action

[02:07] Lord_Pall Precision - Ranged Combat damage/attack ability

[02:07] Lord_Pall Strength - Melee Combat Damage/Attack Ability

[02:07] Lord_Pall Agility - Defense for both Ranged and melee

[02:07] Lord_Pall I believe that's all of them

 

[02:07] Brekkee *Pix_Intrepid* can you give us any kind of ETA on the 2nd character slots?

[02:08] SWG_TSlothrop We are working on it now, and will get it out as soon as possible. I can't give you a date yet, though - there is a whole lot of testing that needs to be done.

[02:09] SWG_TSlothrop Giving everyone a 2nd slot is a big risk to our Database, so we have to be careful

 

[02:09] Brekkee *varlorg1* Many thought and still think that the radial menus were useful pre-NGE because it made for an easy interface, can we expect to see them again post NGE?

[02:10] Lord_Pall We would like to move away from User Interface interaction as the mechanism for item usage. It's immersion breaking, and confusing for a large number of people. So ideally you would never have to use a radial menu.

[02:10] Lord_Pall That said, they're going to remain in the game, but we are taking care to minimize their usage in the future.

 

[02:11] Brekkee *TheFitz* Greetings, just want to get my first question in. What is SOE's response to the fact that many people who had a much higher combat level are now stuck with lower combat levels because of the conversion and thus unable to wear any of their equipment or use any of their weapons?

[02:12] TH That is a bug that we are going to address in an upcoming hotfix...

 

[02:13] Brekkee *fatguy* When will the new hotfix for item respecs be released?

[02:13] SWG_TSlothrop This will be fixed in the next hotfix.

[02:13] SWG_TSlothrop It has been fixed internally and is just in testing.

 

[02:14] Brekkee *Phaelyn* It's been noticed that properly trained CL 10 pets can still fight alongside their owner, and that babies still spawn. Is this an indication that we may see Creature Handler return in the near future?

[02:14] Lord_Pall No. Creature handler will not be returning.

 

[02:14] Brekkee *Mankind00* Will crafted goods come back to the stage where they compare to loot & rewards in the future of the game? At the moment, it seems they are no where near this.

[02:15] Lord_Pall Long term, crafting items will be comparable to some loot items. They will also represent a more convenient method of obtaining specific items for adventuring.

 

[02:16] Brekkee *Obliteration-Bloodfin* Can you elaborate on the planned addition of "collision detection" and talk about some planned game features that take advantage of it?

[02:16] SWG_TSlothrop We are looking at upgrading the interactivity with the game world, including better collision, better Line Of Sight, and even REAL JUMPING

[02:17] SWG_TSlothrop This is a long-term initiative, so it will be a while before it shows up, but it will really make the game a lot more actiony and fun - much more "Star Warsy"

 

[02:18] Brekkee *Zeto-Starsider* Why continue with the NGE even though the overwhelmingly negative response? I personally know of ALOT of people quitting over this.

[02:18] SWG_TSlothrop Actually, we have had a pretty positive response to the enhancements.

[02:19] SWG_TSlothrop Certainly, many veteran players have had issues with it, but this is really just the nature of change.

[02:19] SWG_TSlothrop Most everyone else sees that we are finally delivering on the fantasy of Star Wars

 

[02:20] Brekkee *Mankind00* Many Traders dislike that they are forced to go with a discipline they may not like, for example Weaponsmith & Armoursmith, can we expect to see this looked at in the future to allow traders to mix & match more?

[02:20] Lord_Pall We are not planning on allowing traders to mix and match the crafting professions.

 

[02:20] Brekkee *ProPain666* Currently Experience in groups is slow going solo and in groups, do you have any changes in mind to speed up the leveling process?

[02:21] Lord_Pall We are in the process of investigating XP gain for both solo players and groups. Currently I'm leaning towards it being on the slow side but special care must be taken with this type of change.

[02:21] Lord_Pall We would rather take a very slow and regulated approach to this to avoid future XP "nerfs".

 

[02:22] Brekkee *Obliteration-Bloodfin* The class changes have much of the community concerned about the lack of character diversity. Are there any plans in the near future to address this, such as adding "talent trees" to classes a la World of Warcraft so that not every character of a given class is exactly the same?

[02:23] SWG_TSlothrop We have a couple of great future plans to address this issue. Things like talent trees and other forms of alternate skills are part of what we are considering.

[02:23] SWG_TSlothrop But yes, we are working hard to add more diversity into the progression.

 

[02:23] Brekkee *DarknessFromAbove* why did you as in SOE choose to do NGE

[02:24] Juliot Actually it was Booth LEC and SOE that wanted the NGE

[02:24] Lord_Pall Both LEC and SOE you mean

[02:24] Lord_Pall

[02:24] SWG_TSlothrop We saw that the existing SWG game did not deliver on the promise of Fast, Heroic, Start Wars action. This was the best way to get back to what makes Star Wars great.

[02:25] Lord_Pall The decision to go forward with this change was not taken lightly.

[02:25] SWG_TSlothrop (Star Wars )

[02:25] Lord_Pall We prototyped this system and demonstrated to the entire team multiple teams. We had countless meetings, discussions, playtests, focus groups, etc

[02:26] SWG_TSlothrop The overwhelming feedback, internally and externally was that this new system felt MUCH more like what they imagined a SStar Wars game would be.

[02:26] Lord_Pall Yes.

 

[02:27] Brekkee *Mankind00* Many people feel that combat is currently too fast, which not only makes it look strange, but also can make it very dull, can we expect to see any adjustments in this?

[02:28] SWG_TSlothrop Faster, more action-based combat is what Star Wars is all about. We will certainly be adjusting the gameplay, but we think that allowiong players to actually control every shot/swing is far more exciting and interactive.

 

[02:29] Brekkee *Obliteration-Bloodfin* Are there any plans on making the UI more customizable, preferably xml based and community moddable like most newer MMO's?

[02:29] SWG_TSlothrop Not at this time. We want to make sure that players have a directed experience, and making sure the UI stays in one spot, at least in the short term, helps a lot with that.

 

[02:30] Brekkee *Proator* How are each race attributes calculated? example a lvl 80 trando has 12220 health with 80 to sub stats and a wookiee lvl 82 has 12300 health 82 sub stats

[02:30] Lord_Pall Race does not alter character stats.

 

[02:31] Brekkee *Anon773* There are several players who have neither expansion and are wanting to experience quest rewards at level 80. Are there any plans to give mission terminals XP rewards to them at any point? This would greatly benefit the playerbase that do not have the repeatable quests from RotW and ToOW.

[02:31] SWG_TSlothrop We will continue to add Missions at all levels of the game, so high level players will certainly be able to advance through missions rather than hunting.

 

[02:32] Brekkee *Memento* In the future, will the 9 professions (not only jedis) have access to new skills or specializations?

[02:33] Lord_Pall We are going to try to add new abilities for all professions, not just jedi.

[02:33] Lord_Pall Ideally, every class would get something new every publish. I cannot promise that we will achieve this, but it's our goal.

 

[02:33] Brekkee *Enyde_Grencha-Ahazi* Question for SWG Dev: Will you be increasing Jedi's buffs and abilities such as Saber Block and increasing our armor so we can stand up against NPC's and Players our own level?

[02:34] Lord_Pall We're constantly examining and re-examining balance for both PVP and PVE combat.

[02:34] Lord_Pall Jedi are definitely under our magnifying glass at the moment, but we want to guarantee that we've solved other significant issues before we alter the core class abilities.

 

[02:35] Brekkee *Yoto* The combat channel has not been working since the NGE beta, do you have an ETA for it's return?

[02:36] Lord_Pall It will not be returning. NGE signifies a move away from the textual and numerical based combat that we have had in the past.

[02:36] Lord_Pall The combat channel was removed during the transition to the new combat model and will not be re-added.

 

[02:36] Brekkee *Akademik* When will the new armour protection on jedi robes be implemented?

[02:37] Lord_Pall I saw this working on Blinxdev's machine yesterday, so it will be published Soon.

 

[02:37] Brekkee *Darkangel* What exactly is gonna happen for the trial users that use the new trial system ? Theres way to much packetloss and lagg to even get through the tutorial is there gonna be a fix for this ?

[02:38] SWG_TSlothrop Packet loss and loop times are our number one priority right now. We will have a first fix for this in the next hotfix.

 

[02:38] Brekkee *[FA]Aphrodisiaque* Are the developers planning on removing armor certs for the different classes? if not, why does my spy icon wear ubese, the video shows a spy in ubese, and yet spies are only certed for battle armor? i mean, c'mon they're doing reconaissance, why not wear recon armor?

[02:39] Lord_Pall We are examining a dramatic softening of the armor certification model that we currently use, but I do not have an ETA.

 

[02:39] Brekkee *MGyyver-Intrepid* Are there any plans to allow unlimited respecs to CL1 to change professions without losing your character, and if not, why not?

[02:40] SWG_TSlothrop We changed ADKs to PRK (Profession Respec Kits) for this exact purpose

[02:40] SWG_TSlothrop You can use them to drop down to CL 1 without losing your name/stuff/house/etc.

 

[02:41] Brekkee *Anon176* Where are the veteran rewards in NGE, and what 130 new quests are there?

[02:41] SWG_TSlothrop The quests are spread out all over the game, so I can't tell you *exactly* where they are

[02:42] SWG_TSlothrop The vet rewards are: Elder Buff (coming in the next hotfix), Elder Titles, Blue Glowy for Jedi, LS Crsytal and Robes for Jedi - along with the 10 Respecs

[02:42] SWG_TSlothrop And an additional Character slto is coming

[02:43] Lord_Pall slot

 

[02:45] Brekkee *WCMI92* Do you plan to balace Jedi so it is as good as the other ranged profs in NGE?

[02:46] Lord_Pall I'd like to think of our professions, not as "balanced" from the DPS or numerical standpoint, but from the enjoyability stanpoint.

[02:46] Lord_Pall I want everyone who plays a profession, be it jedi, commando or entertainer, to not be jealous of other professions abilities, but instead be happy that they chose the profession they are currently playing

[02:47] Lord_Pall We're going to keep an eye on all of our professions, including Jedi.

 

[02:47] Brekkee *Aliesha-Sunrunner* Presently enemies can damage you far far outside the range a player can return the attack and can even hit you through walls and through fellow NPCs. Is this working as intended or is it something that will be fixed?

[02:47] Lord_Pall There are a number of reasons why this is happening.

[02:48] Lord_Pall The first, and most major, is the lag that we are currently experiencing.

[02:48] Lord_Pall The Mob could potentially be 20-30 meters from where you are seeing it, even if it is damaging you.

[02:48] Lord_Pall Our first step is to improve the server performance. Subsequent changes will revolve around the collision system and so on.

[02:49] Lord_Pall So yes, this will be fixed, but it's a long process to fix it 100%

 

[02:51] Brekkee *Zaran1* When will something be done about the low population servers? You shouldn't have to pay in order to be on a galaxy with no people.

[02:51] Lord_Pall The first step was the launch of the NGE.

[02:51] Lord_Pall We don't want to merge gameservers until we see how these changes affect our server populations. So far the response has been tremendous.

[02:52] SWG_TSlothrop We are also directing new players to the lower population servers.

 

[02:53] Brekkee *stall* What other sections of the game we expect to be added/revamped in the future (the new player tutorial was great!)

[02:54] SWG_TSlothrop With the New Combat system and our focus on directed, story-driven questing, we are going to make sure the Galactic Civil War becomes a far more important part of your play experience...

 

[02:55] Brekkee *Kaebora* What are your plans for End Game PvPing, Since the removal of the FRS most of us seem bored, and questing alone cant fix it.

[02:55] Lord_Pall PVP is a huge long-term focus for us.

[02:55] Lord_Pall We want to ensure that players continue to have activities and content to engage in even after they hit level 90.

 

[02:56] Brekkee *Werewolf* When will mountable unicorns be implemented?

[02:56] SWG_TSlothrop Unicorns - Publish 28... I guarantee it!

[02:56] SWG_TSlothrop And pixies

[02:56] SWG_TSlothrop and elves

[02:56] Lord_Pall Hooray!

[HUGOMAND]

Yeah, I read that on MMORPG.com. I hope they mean what they say, I really want to believe them.

[Trahern Valley]

*snark*

[SirLancelot]

Interesting. We shall see.