tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post3653126779796419645..comments2024-03-26T20:47:12.919+00:00Comments on Going Commando | A SWTOR Fan Blog: Social Implications of Galactic CommandShintarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-49968731592961128592016-12-11T17:21:47.885+00:002016-12-11T17:21:47.885+00:00One of the recent livestreams, I believe they said...One of the recent livestreams, I believe they said that crafting was supposed to be a backstop for bad RNG. Which would be fine, if you could either get statistically-equivalent Ian Argenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03704336044732061128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-1325012823761581302016-12-11T14:51:03.887+00:002016-12-11T14:51:03.887+00:00My own view is that crafting always should have be...My own view is that crafting always should have been the primary gearing system for statted equipment, and drops for cosmetics and a minor accelerant for gear. To which goal the CXP system could have been tuned. Other than the terrible interface on vendors for comparing gear, I rather thought the system for obtaining PvP gear was pretty decent, and would have preferred a revamp of the vendor interface and keeping the one of the data crystal currencies, and expanding the gear available for it. Then add CXP as the primary method of obtaining crystals, remove gear tokens, and add CXP crates for the chance of gear acceleration and a source of cosmetics. <br />Then you have extremely fine grained control of gear acquisition rates, and CXP crates are all upside, no downside.<br />Now, maybe this was mooted and found wanting, but BWA has repeatedly demonstrated they can't let go of 10 year old design tropes, but try and rehash them instead.Ian Argenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03704336044732061128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-84429170517173366792016-12-11T09:43:02.125+00:002016-12-11T09:43:02.125+00:00I might just write a full post about crafting late...I might just write a full post about crafting later. While expensive, as a raider, getting upgrades through crafting is actually <i>easier</i> than through CXP, because the randomness of Galactic Command can screw you over so much. But just crafting everything because the "intended" gearing system isn't working is not satisfying either.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-41360588449296641202016-12-11T03:37:47.894+00:002016-12-11T03:37:47.894+00:00I get the impression Crafting was supposed to be t...I get the impression Crafting was supposed to be the backstop for bad RNG. Only they made the crafted stuff somewhat hard to get, and they (once again) made crafted gear statistically inferior to dropped gear. And, the insistence on limiting set bonus to dropped gear, and making set bonus a critical part of end-game rotations for DPS resource management and Tank taunting IS NOT HELPING.Ian Argenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03704336044732061128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-57724624910105764322016-12-11T03:35:46.266+00:002016-12-11T03:35:46.266+00:00The lack of a "hard" anti-RNG safety net...The lack of a "hard" anti-RNG safety net is a major failure of the system; IMO. They need to have a hard-stop for RNG "failures," and it needs to be not terribly far down the RNG curve. The system they have now, thre's as much "downside" as "upside." That's no good. Ian Argenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03704336044732061128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-39762207421107354062016-12-04T14:57:14.719+00:002016-12-04T14:57:14.719+00:00To be honest, 1 out of 4 sounds pretty good based ...To be honest, 1 out of 4 sounds pretty good based on some of the things I've been reading... *g* I've been keeping a diary of my own first week of CXP earnings that I'm planning to post on Wednesday.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-11640260962917622782016-12-04T13:42:33.860+00:002016-12-04T13:42:33.860+00:00My Sith Warrior discovered that you can open a box...My Sith Warrior discovered that you can open a box and NOT get a set piece at all. In fact, he discovered that fact 3 out of 4 times!<br /><br />The "thin" progression we had is actually a good thing because it allowed people to just focus on what they wanted to do. Faced with a classic JRPG grind, some of those "casual raiders" are going to quit.The Nicksternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-6114987015603114362016-12-03T23:52:36.215+00:002016-12-03T23:52:36.215+00:00Another possibility that occurred to me is that BW...Another possibility that occurred to me is that BW might be trying to boost the crafting economy. It would be in a weird way, to be sure, but crafted gear would be one path to fill those holes, plus it would be yet another incentive to run ops, etc. to get the crafting mats.<br /><br />I'm probably wrong, but they've made odder decisions in the past.Pallaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01052537793722183657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-17484751330075173852016-12-03T19:54:36.134+00:002016-12-03T19:54:36.134+00:00No, on the phone. I should not type comments when ...No, on the phone. I should not type comments when I'm drugged. ^^Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-3259956431420275882016-12-03T16:19:18.397+00:002016-12-03T16:19:18.397+00:00You can do story mode operations with less than 22...You can do story mode operations with less than 228 mods; we've been running them this week with our old 224 gear. However, I suspect that stepping up into hardmode will pose difficulties - and if so, it will be annoying to be held back by grind and RNG.<br /><br />It's going to be worse in PvP because the gap between long-time/lucky players and new ones will be an actual power gap there too.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-67934544499643595292016-12-03T16:15:26.929+00:002016-12-03T16:15:26.929+00:00In person? You went to visit Bioware? :-o Either w...In person? You went to visit Bioware? :-o Either way, this type of "product placement" is more than welcome. :)Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-72039162972491923782016-12-03T14:10:39.342+00:002016-12-03T14:10:39.342+00:00I'd love for there to be some sort of failure ...I'd love for there to be some sort of failure protection like Pallais mentioned; I think it would take away a lot of the concerns the community has about Galactic Command! It is something we actually were able to take up in person earlier this week with the devs and will discuss tonight on Corellian Run Radio. /product placement *hides*Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-17958609335920071012016-12-03T14:03:03.858+00:002016-12-03T14:03:03.858+00:00^Have to agree with Shintar here. They want to pro...^Have to agree with Shintar here. They want to provide more for people to do, but forget that this will result in large differences in gear between people and hence will make getting into group play for new players harder.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-83566305712492198502016-12-03T13:14:02.213+00:002016-12-03T13:14:02.213+00:00One of the key questions is:
Can you run storymod...One of the key questions is:<br /><br />Can you run storymode ops in 228 mods?<br /><br />From reading blogs I get the impression that there's a class of social player that wants to focus entirely on Operations. Any other game activity is just getting in the way. Same with PVP'ers, they want to focus entirely on Huttball.<br /><br />As a filthy casual I'm free to ignore the system, because 228 mods let's me do the thing I'm interested in. Everybody should have that freedom.The Nicksternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-23503021750573474192016-12-03T12:04:38.990+00:002016-12-03T12:04:38.990+00:00This sounds remarkably like the gear treadmill I w...This sounds remarkably like the gear treadmill I was on as a WoW BG player. If you weren't willing to run arenas --or you weren't in an (active) guild-- you'd face endless grinding just to keep up with the better players in BGs. And by the time you'd finally catch up, the next update would drop and the BG season/gear would change.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-77005718629488015862016-12-03T10:11:59.764+00:002016-12-03T10:11:59.764+00:00Yeah, it would help to reduce the randomness someh...Yeah, it would help to reduce the randomness somehow, either through something like what you described or by opening up drops for distribution somehow, at least among your legacy. But those 300 ranks remain a terrible grind.<br /><br />I'm oddly reminded of the <a href="http://trollshaman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/i-hate-valor-point-cap.html" rel="nofollow">issues WoW had with the valor point cap</a>. I think Bioware meant well by not having a cap that most people are ever going to reach (though yes, points to that insane grinding guy for proving them wrong as to it being impossible to hit), but from a social point of view it just plays absolute havoc with a player base that's not used to this kind of thing.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-56907995460651513472016-12-03T10:06:01.262+00:002016-12-03T10:06:01.262+00:00To me it (sadly) feels more like they genuinely do...To me it (sadly) feels more like they genuinely don't really get what they've unleashed here. They are only used to players complaining that they have run out of content and that there isn't enough to do. So they gave us a system where almost no-one could honestly claim to have nothing left to do for a long time... but it's so grindy that it's going to cause problems with burnout at the other end of the spectrum.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-19152812863289210632016-12-03T06:10:30.478+00:002016-12-03T06:10:30.478+00:00I wish there was some sort of 'failure protect...I wish there was some sort of 'failure protection' so that you knew after a certain time you would get a weapon or set piece. Though given RNG you might still get duplicates.<br /><br />Another idea would be to drop a set piece token every 10 levels and a weapon token every 50 levels. That way you could fill in gaps as you needed or pick up off-set items on a predictable pace. At least we could see a carrot while we grinded out ranks. That said, given someone already legitimately hit the 'unhittable' weekly cap (Rank 100! in 3 - 4 days) Bioware might not be too receptive to this idea.Pallaishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01052537793722183657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-29386974358743509972016-12-03T01:13:33.868+00:002016-12-03T01:13:33.868+00:00It does genuinely feel like BioWare are trying to ...It does genuinely feel like <i>BioWare</i> are trying to 'sap' its most dedicated players' free time with this system. One can't really indulge in other games if you also want to maintain a consistent watch on your Command Rank.<br /><br />Of course NeverWinter has its similarly grindy Campaigns, but at least you knew where the path would be taking you. You knew that after a weeks' worth of playtime you'd be getting this or be getting that.<br /><br />Command feels like it's trying to provide both investment and incentive in a similar way, and yet it just can't work as long as the RNG exists.<br /><br />I don't have much of a problem with increasing incentives to dedicate time to a game, but it should never feel punishing to be doing something other than playing <i>BioWare's</i> 'long-game'. Yet as you say that's exactly how some people can't help but feel.Calphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15809660484854758097noreply@blogger.com