I watched most of the livestream of today’s Guild Summit events… there was a TON of good information in there.. Legacy information, UI changes, Guild changes, PvP information, new PvE information… all kinds of stuff!

First, release timeframe.. 1.1.5 hits with maintenance on 3/6.. and 1.2 is currently planned for sometime in April (that’s as specific as BW was willing to get today).

One of the things shown today, was a trailer for the 1.2 patch, to highlight a bunch of the contents.  BioWare hasn’t posted it yet, fortunately, the internet to the rescue! A youtube user by the name of Santaflubber was able to record it off the livestream.  It’s pixelated in parts, but you can still see the important stuff (Chiss Smuggler, Pureblood Sith Jedi, Agent (maybe Smuggler) using Force choke!)

To save some room on the front page… the rest of the updates will be after the jump:

The first panel we saw, was the Operations and Flashpoints panel.. here’s what I scribbled down for notes:

Operations/Flashpoints

38% of levels 50s have tried an operation

First ones had bugs, hoping new ones are more polished on release.

New Op “Explosive Content” is the first Tier 2 operation instance

New Drinking game.. every time a TOR developer refers to Operations as ‘raids’..drink!

“Explosive Content” will not have a nightmare mode on launch..still working to make it more nightmareish

Normal mode, is now story mode.. seems to be aimed at non-progression groups.

Orange gear will be more viable.

Trying to smooth out/improve endgame progression via Flashpoints

“Lost Island” will be the continuation of the story from “Kaon Under Seige”

LFG tool (same server only) planned for post 1.2 (1.3 maybe?)

That’s it for the notes on the presentation..we then hopped into the Q&A for Operations

Going to paraphrase Qs and As since I wasn’t able to transcribe them word for word…Where I could, I listed who gave the answer in parenthesis.

• Q:  Can Operations trash mobs drop credits to help pay for repair bills?
• A: (Georg) No – will show credit distribution later, do have plans for repair costs so people don’t feel broke all the time.
• Q: Separate lockouts for Hard and Nightmare modes?
• A: (Gabe) No.  Hard/Nightmare share a lockout..Story on a separate so can be ran casually
• Q:  Difference between 8/16 man Ops incentive wise?
• A:  8/16 should be the same difficulty, right now just getting more loot in 16 (bonus chances for mounts/recipe drops)
• Q: Timestamped achievements for Boss kills?
• A: (Gabe) Yes. (Damion – I think) was in a guild in another game that got the first kill by 5 minutes, wants people to be able to experience that in TOR.
• Q:  Not a huge difference in gear between tiers, is that changing?
• A: (Georg) 1.2 will bring another tier of PvE and PvP.  1.1.5 will have color crystals with new/different stats…trying for better separation between PvE and PvP gear.
• Q:  Metrics for Ops (DPS meter/threat meter)
• A:  (Gabe)  Would rather rely on in-game visual cues.. those metrics will be there eventually.  (Georg)  1.2 will enable chat log feature to say what you killed/were killed by.. combat log will be able to be written to disk – not available in game.
• Q:  Crafting compete with end-game drops?
• A: (Georg) Yes.
• Q: Space game’s future?
• A: (James) – Secret project going on for space…nothing to say now
• Q:  Enrage timers seem to lock groups to 1 tank, 2 heals, 5 DPS..changes planned?
• A: (Gabe) plan was to require 2 tanks, didn’t work out but are moving that way.
• Q:  Any “split goal” encounters like seen in movies?
• A: (James) We’d like to do that in the future
• Q:  Better UI tools for Ops management?
• A: (Gabe) Yes
• Q:  Ready check?
• A: “We don’t have a ready check?”  (Gabe) – we know staples are missing, want to get them added.
• Q:  Hard modes for flashpoints that don’t have them?
• A:  (Gabe) Yes..no ETA
• Q:  Ops level schematics from reverse engineering Ops drops?
• A:  More later, but yes.
• Q:  Another flashpoint difficulty?
• A:  No…new flashpoints will be added and will be harder.
• Q:  Dynamic/open world Ops?
• A:  1.2 will have open world Op bosses.

That was all the Q&A for this section.. PvP panel was next..

PvP

Panel notes:

Warzones are popular 50%+ play them daily.

New WZ coming in 1.2 Novare coast

Same faction vs same faction

majority control objective

need 2/3 shields controlled to damage objective

Ranked PvP!  (seems ranking will be based on individual performance, not team)

New WZ dailies – require medals to complete, not WZ wins

18 new medals – objective based, don’t want people farming medals

Vote to kick — with measures to prevent abuse

New tier of PvP “War Hero”.. more PvP focused stats so less desirable for PvE

New color crystals, PvP crafted gear, entry level PvP gear will be added.

Existing WZs will get ‘training mode’ that allows same faction vs same faction

Cross-server WZ queuing which will also include ability to queue for specific WZ

Illum has issues

Outlaw’s Den is popular

Going back to the drawing board with Illum in 1.2, removing PvP quest, will bring Illum back later more fun and engaging

Rewards getting moved to WZs

Going to make Outlaw’s Den easier to get to quicker

Working on mirror class imbalances (animations, timing, etc).. also have a team looking for and addressing speed hackers/exploiters

Q&A time!

• Q: PuG only WZs instead of PuG vs Premade?
• A:  System already tries, but makes some sacrifices for time.
• Q:  With gear changes that are coming, DR change on expertise?
• A:  Yes, all stats rebalanced
• Q:  Response time issues?
• A:  Few issues, optimization with ambiance for example, some issues don’t show until live with hero engine.
• Q:  Return to battling over objectives?
• A:  goal is to have it be objective based
• Q:  Allies/Adversaries from guild launch, any use in game?  Bounties?
• A:  PvP team wants bounties..no ETA… Adversary system – on the wall of crazy.  Post 1.2 ability to challenge another 8 man team in a WZ will be added
• Q:  Commendation issues for Battlemasters?
• A:  Ranked WZs will reward commendations directly.. different gear color for different ratings
• Q:  Large PvP guilds suffer with only 8man content
• A:  Want to do large warzones, limited to 8 for now
• Q:  Guild vs Guild PvP?
• A:  Ranked WZ in 1.2
• Q:  Targeting problems in PvP
• A:  Improvements to tab-targeting are coming..clickable nameplates coming later.  No auto-facing in PvP
• Q:  BiS PvP gear?
• A:  Ranked WZ plus crafted gear now that you can take all the mods out of endgame items.
• Q:  Defense/Shield good for PvE, pointless in PvP…getting removed?
• A:  (Georg)  If you give up defense for damage as tank, leave yourself vulnerable to highest damage classes.. probably won’t be able to get rid of defense in ranked PvP, you’ll need it.
• Q:  More PvP dailies?
• A:  Focus on dailies going away.. PvP gear not limited by daily.
• Q:  Dynamic events.. PvE only?
• A:  not talking about dynamic events yet.. do plan to eventually add rewards for random killings in world PvP

Legacy System

This is the panel I was most interested in seeing today.. LOTS of good stuff out of it!

Originally designed to touch every system in the game – too risky at launch.. so we got a pretty bar!

1.2 will add Family Tree..automatically updated with all of your characters in a Legacy.

Level 50 with any species, unlocks it for use with ANY class.

Humans give a presence bonus, since they can already be any class

Finishing Chapter 2 = unlock class emote & class buff (i.e when you cast class buff on alt, get your main’s class buff too)

Finish Chapter 3 = unlock heroic abilities for use by other classes (force choke was example given)

Complete all companion missions (for each companion type), unlock longer duration/shorter cooldown for heroic ability… stat boosts..presence buffs

Alignment abilities!

Social rank will unlock various emotes

can unlock or purchase (for very, very large sums of credits) most Legacy rewards

everything is retroactive (that’s why they gave us the pretty bar!)

quick travel/emergency fleet pass – shorter cooldowns unlockable

Jetpack = short duration sprint for Bounty Hunter.. (rocket boots for everyone else)

Sprint = Level 1 (for everyone… this seems to be non-legacy related)

Training dummies on your ship!

Repair droid on ship (upgrades to ship droids sold here too)

Mailboxes and neutral GTN on ship

Token drops for legacy weapons/armors for low level alts

BoE becoming Bound to Legacy

Customize the alt experience

Q&A Time!

• Q:  Server transfers/legacy system?
• A:  System will ‘merge’ the two (if moving to server with existing characters) higher level legacy wins
• Q:  Share legacy name between players?
• A:  No
• Q:  Republic force choke/species transferable to current alts?
• A:  Yup, unlocks are cross faction.  No on species changes for current alts..only for new characters.
• Q:  Class specific weapons for other class? (sith warrior using double bladed lightsaber)
• A:  No.. just class abilities
• Q:  “Barber shop” to change appearance, hair style, etc?
• A: “short term” plans to add.
• Q:  Legacy buffs solo or group?
• A:  Group.. allow you to create unique groups without missing buffs
• Q:  Legacy banks?
• A:  Yes..inter-faction mail too!
• Q:  More character slots?
• A:  Not at this time suggestion noted.
• Q:  Endgame gear transferable to alts?
• A:  No..Legacy items added
• Q:  Dual spec as legacy reward?
• A:  Multi-spec is coming..just not in 1.2 (note:  I was unclear if this answer meant it’s attached to legacy, or for everyone)
• Q:  Legacy cap?
• A:  Level 50 currently
• Q:  Crafting advantage (my ‘dad’ was a biochem, shouldn’t I know how to use it?)
• A:  Crafting moving towards more BoE.
• Q:  Companions part of family tree?
• A:  Not right now
• Q:  Cosmetic ship upgrades via Legacy?
• A:  Coming, not necessarily from legacy
• Q:  How can an Agent use the force?
• A:  SW canon has shown force ‘powers’ run in the family….
• Q:  Legacy heroic abilities impact on World PvP
• A:  It’ll make it more interesting.

Economy/Crew Skills

My notes on this one are a little sparse.. but, here’s what I got:

Majority (80%) of players have less than 400,000 credits.. less than 1% have 10 million

12% Inflation

57% Empire, 42% Republic (assuming some decimal places in there..since that only adds up to 99%)

Smuggler/IA lowest played classes.. Inquisitor most played (lightning is cool)

Smooth leveling curve..no huge spikes/drops

Repair costs too high

30 people dedicated to taking care of credit farmers.. report spammers

Crew Skills liked, only BioChem useful at endgame

1.2 will improve crafting mods (RE, upgrades for ship droids)

Goal is to have every crew skill provide end game benefit.

Speeder costs going up, training going down.. Cybertech will make BoE

Average crafter is richer, and looks better.

Q&A!

• Q:  Cheaper to remove mod if you have that crew skill?
• A:  No
• Q:  Give all crew skills social purpose (force players to interact)
• A:  Customizable gear only from crafters
• Q:  Why do only Biochem items require skill..others don’t?
• A:  Moving away from that to encourage more training.
• Q:  Kolto grenade for Cybertech?
• A:  Good idea
• Q:  Same armor looks different on different characters (color)
• A:  Intentional design to keep factions looking different.
• Q:  Every crew skill have viable consumable at endgame?
• A:  Not a huge concern right now do to coming augment change.
• Q:  Longer crew skill missions for epics or better return?
• A:  Good idea
• Q:  Crafting dailies?
• A:  new resource nodes added to existing areas.
• Q:  Multiple companions on the same mission, to reduce time?
• A:  Good idea, not currently..goal is to keep the UI simple.  Single use missions can’t fail anymore