SW: The Old Republic Part 4

[Guest Slinky]

I agree with the notion that TOR has skill bloat though.

 

I was pretty much running out of quick slots and I think I had 48 of them...

 

You had them filled with all your vehicles, pets, robot jukebokses and other absolutely necessary stuff for survival?

[Malcador]

6 isn't that bad, given UI scaling and a decent resolution. I forget how many my IA Sniper had but it wasn't unwieldly. My Paladin in WoW by comparison has far too many useful abilities

[alanschu]

I agree with the notion that TOR has skill bloat though.

 

I was pretty much running out of quick slots and I think I had 48 of them...

 

You had them filled with all your vehicles, pets, robot jukebokses and other absolutely necessary stuff for survival?

 

 

Nope. I have about 5 or 6 for the regularly used things like my vehicle. I was running out of convenient hotkeys as well (and their modifiers, Shift, Alt, numbers and letters).

[ShadySands]

pre-ordered it for both my wife and myself

[Hurlshort]

Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and Rift all do much more in combat with way less abilities. I don't mind having a lot of pre-planning and out of combat buttons, I had those galore in LotRO, but I shouldn't have 20+ combat skills. It's also about the quality of the skills, too many of them are very similar. I'd rather see some diversity in the build I use, like how in The Secret World you changed your abilities based on the situation.

[Hassat Hunter]

It's probably too late now though to revert back from the horrible WoW MMO-system to a better one...

[Hurlshort]

It's probably too late now though to revert back from the horrible WoW MMO-system to a better one...

 

Agreed, they'd really have to redesign the entire combat system, the way enemies act, and everything to modernize it.

[Malcador]

It's probably too late now though to revert back from the horrible WoW MMO-system to a better one...

 

What's horrible about WoW's system ?

[Hurlshort]

It's not so much that WoW has a horrible system, it's more that numerous games have improved on the system and it is a fairly outdated way to play an MMO.

[Malcador]

Hm, only game I played that was different really was GW2 and that got rather repetitive to me, regret that purchase, but the public quest and event scheme was good though. Rift, WAR felt similar to me when I played them.

[Spider]

Outside of pvp, no class uses more than 7 attacks. At least not when you have all of them. The reason you get so many is because some are shared from the base class and some from the advanced class are more aligned with certain skill trees.

 

As an operative healer, I have 5 healing abilities that I use with any frequency, + a sixth that is useless and a cleanse that is used rarely.

 

As an arsenal mercenary, I have a basic rotation of four different attacks, with a fifth thrown in every now and then, a powerful aoe attack when required, and if desperate the basic attack.

 

As an assassin tank, I use five attacks, with a fight thrown in with the target below 30%. There's also three defensive cooldowns to use and a couple of utility abilities.

 

The point is just because I have 10+ attacks on each character, it doesn't mean they're optimal, or even good, for that particular build. More abilities does mean there's a higher learning curve to playing your class well, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

[kirottu]

Jedi Shadow Balance has 7 attack rotation + 8th when the target is under 30% health and that is without shadow strike, which should be added(and put talents in) for PVE.

[Spider]

Damn, missed one spec when making my original statement.

 

I still don't think 8 different attacks total is that much to keep track of.

 

Now, if you also have to watch procs and buffs, some classes can get a bit overwhelming.

 

Carnage Marauder comes to mind, and from the looks of it, Balance Shadow is the same.

[Hurlshort]

I counted last night, and my Jedi Guardian has 21 abilities that are somewhat useful in any given fight. Yeah, only about 6-8 of them are critical, but that's still a lot of fluff.

[Raithe]

It's when you add in "Heroic Moment" and the various Legacy Powers that use it on one side-bar that things look really crowded.

You don't need to use them most of the time..but when you do, you need to be able to click fast..

 

 

Besides, there's something fun about my Jedi Knight getting into trouble with some boss , and using Legacy Force Storm, Legacy Choke, Legacy Flame Thrower and then finishing him off with a Legacy Dirty Kick...

[Guest Slinky]

I counted last night, and my Jedi Guardian has 21 abilities that are somewhat useful in any given fight. Yeah, only about 6-8 of them are critical, but that's still a lot of fluff.

 

That fluff of yours are choises to me

 

They give depth to the fighting. For example, one of the main reasons why I'm not interested in Guild Wars 2 is it's fighting mechanics, less abilities equals boredom to me. Faster pace doesn't do anything for me, I rather use the right skills the right time.

[Hurlshort]

That's why I prefer the Secret World system, which has a ton of abilities, but you combine certain ones to make decks. So you are making strategic decisions out of combat, and then the combat itself is fast paced.

[Malcador]

Could always switch your primary hotkey bar to suit a given situation as well, no ?

[Raithe]

Some more details on the Rise of the Cartel Expansion (taken from Developer quotes from Bio on the DevTracker forums)

 

http://www.darthhate...s-new-expansion

 

We think players interested in lore are going to really enjoy the story in Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and I'd like to share a few more details – this seemed like a good thread for it!

 

The people of Makeb have remained neutral in wars between the great political powers in the galaxy. Relying on their wealth, isolation, and an army of mercenaries, the citizens have enjoyed centuries of prosperity. However, in the midst of the current galactic conflict, the Hutt Cartel has recognized the planet as a crucial stepping stone to increase their organization's standing and reclaim the strength of their ancestors’ empire. They've hired Makeb's mercenaries away and have made the citizens prisoners in their own homes, forcing them to reach out to the Republic in a desperate bid for rescue.

 

The Republic recognizes the Cartel's seizure of Makeb as a bid for galactic power. With victory over the Empire seeming possible for the first time in decades, Supreme Chancellor Saresh is determined to respond to Makeb's request for aid to stop the Cartel before they can become an even greater threat and compromise the Republic’s chance for victory.

 

Taking advantage of the chaos erupting between the Hutt Cartel and the Republic, the Sith Empire makes their own bold play for the hidden power of Makeb, seizing their chance to regain some of the strength lost to internal struggles and at the hands of the Republic's military resurgence. They plan to outmaneuver all their enemies to usher in a new era of Imperial dominance.

 

We know you're all very interested to hear about how the new level cap is going to affect your class, and I wanted to share a little information about the upcoming changes with you. As part of the new content, every skill tree will be expanding and you can expect significant updates. Players will earn a new skill point with each level, and new skills will be available in each skill tree. Additionally, a new active ability will be introduced for each Advanced Class. We'll have more details about many aspects of Rise of the Hutt Cartel as we approach launch, so keep your eyes on the website and dev tracker!

 

Hi everyone! While we can't address every concern raised in this thread right now, we can reassure you that the gear you've obtained in our current endgame will continue to be relevant after the expansion is released, and it will provide a great bootstrap into the higher-level content offered by Rise of the Hutt Cartel. You won't be replacing your Dread Guard gear with gear you pick up as you level, and thanks to improvements in the way item power is calculated, we won't be handing out any entry-level gear at the new level cap. You'll hear more about RotHC as we approach its launch, and we'll continue to answer questions and provide more details!

 

To give you all a better idea of Makeb's scope, it's a planet of equal size to our larger planets and it contains a variety of areas – sprawling mesas, underground caverns, garden estates, and more. It introduces faction-specific storylines, new Heroic missions and bosses, repeatable mission series, and new Datacrons! The 5 new levels will occupy players for a fair amount of time, and there's plenty of content to get you there (including a lot of stuff tucked away for the explorers out there). Keep in mind that this announcement is just the start – as we approach Makeb's launch, you'll see more details about the content coming with Rise of the Hutt Cartel!

[Raithe]

And for more TOR updates.. http://uk.ign.com/ar...epublics-future?

 

Jeff Hickman, executive producer of Star Wars: The Old Republic recently posted a State of the Game update detailing what's next for BioWare's free-to-play MMO.

According to Hickman, the studio will be focusing on building out The Old Republic's end game content to give its level capped population more to do.

"We’ve got new Operations, new Flashpoints, new difficulty modes, new PvP areas, and of course, the entire Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel (which is targeted at our high level players). We have a plan mapped out for the upcoming year that will keep the elder game fresh and interesting for players of all types. Overall, we’re aiming to introduce a more diverse array of activities – more stuff to do with your Companion, more challenges to tackle with groups, and more reasons for guilds to recruit. We’ll also be improving our itemization, introducing new incentives to revisit existing areas, and a lot of other exciting things that will be revealed as we move through the upcoming year."

 

The post addressed a sore spot of SWTOR: Ilum's open zone PvP. Hickman stated that changes are on the way, and the resulting gameplay experience will be very different from what came before in Ilum. Regarding open world PvP, it sounds like BioWare will not make any major additions and instead give more attention to PvP seasons and Warzone arenas.

 

Hickman also commented on the status of same sex relationships in SWTOR.

"I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR [same gender romance] to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play. As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of. Secondly, I want to reveal today that we are adding SGR with some NPCs on Makeb and do intend on pursuing more SGR options in the future. More details to come."

 

[Malcador]

Heh, apologizing for this not being in the game sooner.

[Gfted1]

Are there "relationships" in the game now? All I remember from launch time was a few occasional fade-to-black moments with various NPC's throughout the game. Now they want to implement fade-to-black with same sex NPC's? With wasting resourses like that its no surprise the game is slowly tanking.

[NOK222]

[Malcador]

Hooray for obnoxiously large images. Cool story, too.

[Gfted1]

I find that one in the upper right hand corner hard to believe. How can they sanction your account for looting a container that anyone can walk up to? As far as I remember from my playing, there isnt any in game mechanic (level requirement) that prevents a person from looting containers. Or am I missing something here?