Those Healers Need Protecting!

I spend most of my time in SWTOR PvPing these days and my main character is a Jedi Knight Guardian.  He's got a balanced tank heavy spec that is able to do some DPS as well but he's more than capable of holding a base or protecting a healer. The problem is, at least on my server, that we're seeing less and less healers wanting to heal. They are complaining that none of the tanks want to do their job. So where have all the tanks gone?

The majority of the Guardians in the guild that I am in are switching to what they call a LOL sweep spec. This spec allows them to do large amounts of damage to groups of people at once by completely specing into all the AOE sweep abilities. Unfortunately this prevents them from being able to be proficient guards and the healers die faster than they can heal. Due to the nature of the Guardian play style, in the past, the Gaurdians were the last true tanks that healers could rely on to protect them. Now that the LOL sweep spec has become popular though, healers are dying as soon as they engage in combat in PvP. Healers are now swapping to DPS spec so that they can last longer in PvP. As a result we are seeing greatly unbalanced teams - sometimes for the good - and sometimes for the bad. I was more than happy to get seven straight wins last night and it was obvious that our opposition was made up of an attempted LOL sweep team with no healers.

In a PvP team you would ideally have a balance of two tanks, two healers, four DPS. In SWTOR, as in other games, certain classes were designed originally to be better in certain roles, Guardian being a heavy armor spec and limited to melee range was far more effective taunting and guarding than attempting to do DPS. Unlike Powertech Bounty Hunters that could do a reasonable amount of ranged DPS and have a good amount of survivability the melee restriction of Guardians gave them a DPS disadvantage due to range restrictions. So Guardians were concentrating on getting their medals by guarding and intercepting and taunting. This has all changed with the LOL sweep spec. Now they are effective AOE damage BUT unfortunately they are ineffective at guarding, leaving healers wide open.

Should there be more awards for protecting and guarding and healing players? It is obvious that DPS classes have a distinct advantage for achieving high medal counts in PvP. Is it this advantage that is forcing tanks and healers away from their role? Do Bioware need to rethink the allocation of medals for both healers and tanks to make matches more balanced? Obviously, the balance needs to be precise, since matches made up of four tanks and four healers can take forever.

First Look at the New Planet Makeb Video and Pre Order Loot!

Today BioWare and LucasArts are excited to announce that all players who pre-order Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - Rise of the Hutt Cartel will receive an exclusive title and two new in-game items* once the Digital Expansion launches:

The Dr. Oggurobb Hutt Holostatue: Train under the illustrious Hutt scientist Dr. Oggurobb with this portable training device that he created in his own image.

"Scourge of the Hutts" Title: Republic and Imperial forces that adorn this title will be revered across the galaxy.

The Makrin Seedling Mini-Pet: Get your very own Makrin Seedling to follow you around and creep out your enemies! Possessing bark-like skin and grass-like nerve-rich tissues that blend in perfectly with Makeb’s environment, the Makrin Seedling has a distinguishing and eerie look!

And

Get your first look at the brand new planet Makeb featured in Rise of the Hutt Cartel and pre-order the Digital Expansion now to receive exclusive in-game rewards!

Gree: Will you sing for your Galactic Reputation?

With Patch 1.7 bringing Galactic Reputation into SWTOR, how will it change our play styles? 

If you have played any MMO you will know that reputation grinds can be both rewarding and monotonous  SWTOR has survived over a year of popular existence without it but now it's coming to the game. Could this be the missing elements for end game players? Have you found the daily quest rewards to be lackluster? How will this reputation grind change how we perceive end game?

From the screenshots of the preview of this new feature, it looks like we'll be provided with four unique reputations:
The Gree Enclave
Imperial First Mobile Fleet
Imperial Guard on Belsavis
The Voss

Now these may branch out to be six across your legacy because the Imperial and Republic are separate. It has not been made clear yet whether you will have separate reputation for your character's faction, even though reputation will be shared across your legacy.

Reputation has six unique levels which will (obviously) unlock new rewards as you level up. This will provide a unique way for subscribers to acquire cool new gear to brag about. But will Bioware make us sing for our rewards? How many months will it take to become a Legend and how awesome will the rewards actually be for our efforts?

I actually enjoyed reputation leveling in other games like WoW. It provided an extra level of achievement that you were rewarded with, apart from credits.BUT - the rewards can make or break the reputation grind. I can see reputation bonuses being a hot seller on the Cartel Market for people who prefer to hand over cash to speed up the grind.

What type of things do you want to see from your reputation and how long do you think it should take?

Ilum PvP is Back! Are you ready to Help the Gree?

Patch 1.7 will be the rebirth of Ilum PvP so no more standing round on the Station hanging for that next Warzone Pop!

Adventure with other Level 50 players or journey alone to assist the Gree in their continual pursuit of information. Those who are brave enough to help the Gree will be rewarded for their service.

Events are available to Free-to-Play Players and Subscribers at no additional cost.

NEW RECURRING EVENT: RELICS OF THE GREE

• Explore Ilum's contested area in the Western Ice Shelf to uncover the mysterious purpose of the Gray Secant, an enormous ancient Gree starship.
• Get ready to face a powerful opponent that awaits you at the center of this ancient vessel.
• Earn exclusive Gree technology, including highly-advanced weapon and armor!
• Look for opportunities to join this recurring event throughout the rest of the year. More details to come!

NEW SYSTEM: GALACTIC REPUTATION

• Check out an all new exciting way to progress your character.
• Advance through six ranks of increasing prestige: “Outsider”, "Newcomer", "Friend", "Hero", "Champion", and "Legend".
• Earn Reputation Points by completing missions for allies such as the Gree and the Voss, or for military divisions within the Republic and the Empire.
• Galactic Reputation is tied to your character’s Legacy, so enjoy earned Reputation Points and ranks across all characters in your Legacy!

Additional Character Slot for 600 Cartel Coins

Are you and Altoholic? If so today is a good day for you! all so  Republic players can now get Imperial officers uniforms and Sith can look like smugglers if they are crazy that is.. we all know Sith outfits look way cooler than Republic street gear. check it all out on the market now!


Cartel Market Update: January 10th, 2013
Hi everyone! This week, the Cartel Market is being updated with all of the new items that you’ll find below.

Newcomer Bundle (on sale for 405 Cartel Coins)
The Newcomer Bundle offers a wide range of items to help new players expedite their adventures. This bundle offers a free speeder and other items at a discounted cost.

Skip Tracer's Cartel Pack (360 Cartel Coins)
A unique assortment of items from across the galaxy. Each Pack contains rare bonus items found nowhere else!

Interstellar Privateer Armor Set (1,440 Cartel Coins)


The Interstellar Privateer Armor Set is a collection of adaptive gear with no modifications. This armor set is available to any class.

Clandestine Officer Armor Set (1,440 Cartel Coins)

The Clandestine Officer Armor Set is a collection of adaptive gear with no modifications. This armor set is available to any class.

Additional Character Slot (600 Cartel Coins)

This will unlock an additional Character Slot on all servers.

Discounts
Additionally, this week’s discounts include:

30% Discount on Gamorrean Axe: 245cc
33% Discount on Fleet Pass (Single Use): 60cc
35% Discount on Life Day Bundle (Limited Time Offer): 2,400cc
50% Discount on Newcomer Bundle
Expiring Discounts & Items
Finally, don’t miss out on the following items and discounts that will be expiring or removed with our next Cartel Market update!

30% Discount on Gamorrean Axe
33% Discount on Fleet Pass (Single Use)
35% Discount on Life Day Bundle
Czerka LD-1 Celebrator
Life Day Robes
Life Day Holo-Tree
Life Day Orb
Life Day Tinsel Bomb
Life Day Bundle
Imperial Fireworks x10
Republic Fireworks x10
Fountain Fireworks x10
Finale Fireworks x10
Fireworks Bundle x12

Star Wars: The Old Republic – State of the Game #2

A nice way to tell us a lot without giving away anything thanks Jeff! Wait What?????

Hello again everyone!

It has been an amazing couple of months since my last State of the Game blog. It feels like a good time to jump in again and give you a brief rundown on how we are doing, what is coming up next, and to tackle some issues head on. Let’s start with some comments about now and the future:

As you can probably imagine, the launch of the Free-to-Play option with our new Cartel Market has been an amazing event for our game. The game is incredibly healthy with an ever increasing number of players who are actively playing (the servers are rocking!). Having said that, we know we haven’t gotten everything perfect, and we are still working hard to make The Old Republic everything you guys desire. More than anything we wanted to get folks back in and playing the game, and bring back the excitement and camaraderie - we feel like we've made great strides over the last 6 months towards these goals. All signs point to a very bright future for our game!

Speaking of the future – we have two excellent updates coming your way in the upcoming months. In our Game Update 1.7 you should look forward to some interesting changes to a special PvP area that you have all been asking about (sorry for being cryptic, but this is technically not announced yet), as well as a visit from some old friends, The Gree Enclave (though maybe not in a way you would expect). And later in the spring, our Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel! The team has been working for a long time on this, and is very excited to get it out to you. We have greatly expanded on the original concept with several new systems, 5 new levels, a big new planet, new storylines, new skills and abilities and more beyond that. Keep your eyes open for more information over the next several months.

Now for everyone’s favorite section – Hot Topics. I will try to be as frank and open as possible.

Topic #1: Elder Game Content – What is our intent for keeping level 50’s occupied? Answer: Introducing new content and activities for the elder game is a top priority in the coming year. 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.

Topic #2: World PvP – What happened to making Ilum better? What is going on with Open World PvP? Answer: We have not forgotten Ilum! I think you will see (fairly soon) the answer to this question in the game itself - something big is coming to the Western Ice Shelf, but it’s quite a departure from what was there before. As for pure Open World PvP…well, that’s a more difficult proposition. We are dedicated to providing excellent PvP experiences to our players, but we intend to focus our energy on PvP Seasons and new Warzones. We will be experimenting with a different approach to Open World PvP, something that encourages organic PvP in contested areas in a new and interesting way, but do not look for massive new Open World PvP this year (outside of what I mentioned above). It is still on our design wall, but is taking a back seat to other forms of PvP.

Topic #3: Character Copy to Public Test Server (PTS) – What is taking so long? Answer: As of the writing of this letter, we are in focused, internal testing on character copies for PTS. You should expect to see this come within the first part of this year. It will provide free character copies to PTS at any time (with possible restrictions dependent upon our testing needs at any given time). This will also lay the foundation for our new live character transfer system that will be coming later this year.

Topic #4: Same Gender Romance: Any news on this front would be great… Answer: First of all, I want to apologize that this is taking so long to get in the game. I realize that we promised SGR 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!

Whew! I think we got through this State of the Game pretty well. The team and I will continue to scan the forums, read the boards, and listen to feedback. We’re dedicated to giving you the game that YOU want to play and are making changes and improvements at a rapid pace to keep up with your desires. Please keep posting and keep talking about The Old Republic. Together we will continue to care for and expand this fantastic game.

Until next time,

-Jeff Hickman

-Executive Producer, Star Wars: The Old Republic


So Sorry you didn't want to let the Aussies know what is going on with the Dead servers over that side of the world :( but thanks for all the things you didn't tell us! :)