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The Spring of SWTOR - Game Update 2.7

Jean Prior Posted:
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Having skimmed the reaction posts, it seems that out of all of these changes, players are still upset about the nerf to the Smuggler/Agent big flashy XS Freighter Flyby/Orbital Strike and want that back.  They also were concerned about the change for Scoundrels/Operatives that changes Shoot First/Hidden Strike to a root instead of a knockdown.  Of course, some players were upset about the nerfing to Smash/Force Sweep for Marauders/Sentinels, and others were gleefully predicting the forum rage from players who utilized that ability frequently.  More than a few eyebrows were raised at what seemed to be a godmode proc for the Gunslinger/Sniper's Hold Position passive, granting 100% immunity to Tech and Force attacks for 3 seconds.  What was completely expected was that most of the negative posts came from folks in the PVP circles.  The most competitive players in any game tend to be the most vocally opinionated subset of that game's players, so this was no huge surprise.  To be clear, I'm not saying this is good or bad, merely pointing out that it exists.

Diving back to the Producer Roadmap now, let's go over the four bullet points of new content beyond class changes.  Firstly, Bruce Maclean listed that there would be two new Flashpoints on both Force-user starter planets.  We don't know what level(s) these Flashpoints will be, or whether they're part of this new initiative to have level- and role-neutral experiences.  The phrasing seemed a little curious.  While the lore-happy portion of me is glad to see a more intensive in-game story, even knowing we're not getting more class story, I still wonder what he meant when he said that the Empire and Republic will confront each other directly.  The conservative assumption is that he meant that Imperial players will take on Republic NPCs who have come to Korriban, or Republic players have to battle Imperial NPCs who showed up at the supposedly-secret location of Tython.  Given the Jedi can lose a planet in only a few years thanks to treachery from within (thank you, Count Dooku), I'm surprised the lore has allowed the location of Tython to remain a secret for so long.  However, what would make this far more intriguing for me would be if they turn this notion upside down and finally let Imperial players visit Tython in some fashion and Republic players get to visit Korriban, much like how we currently play Balmorra and Taris with slightly altered maps and different time of day on Taris, or also more like a certain instance in one of the Republic storylines that I won't spoil for the folks who haven't had a chance to play through Chapter 2 yet. 

The least interesting point out of the four was the one about Nightmare Mode Dread Fortress.  Players who like new experiences tend to want wholly new content, not supercharged versions of the stuff they already have.  On the other hand, the two other points in the list were interesting.  We've known since at least the Chicago Cantina Tour stop in August, if not earlier, that there would be a new Huttball arena, and I believe many folks thought it would be on Makeb.  However, it's going to be on Quesh, so I hope everyone brings their respirators!  The other one was finally a new Galactic Starfighter battlezone.  I have to say, having been playing just the two GSF maps since closed beta, I'm well and truly happy to get something new to play with, even if my piloting skills stink and I get roflstomped every time I pop onto my pilot characters. 

It's just over a month and a half until this new content will hit the live servers, and presumably it will pop up on the open Public Test Server beforehand.  BioWare also made a point of announcing that they would now be wiping the PTS every time between major update milestones (2.7, 2.8, etc.) to ensure that players are testing with their toons with the best new car smell to them.  Personally, I'm not really sure why they need to do this, because it was never that huge of a deal to simply re-copy someone over multiple times.  On the other hand, if this caused instability in the process, I can see it being necessary to clean house, I suppose. 

However, between now and then, there will be two Cantina Tour stops, and one at PAX East the week after the update goes live, so there will be plenty of opportunity for players near those events to speak face to face with Community Manager Eric Musco and whichever developers go with him.  One of the more interesting challenges to their question and answer periods is working out a question that they might actually be allowed to answer.  So, if you're planning on going to the Atlanta one on February 28th, or the Colorado one the weekend of March 21-23, give some thought to coming up with something that will garner an answer beyond 'I have no information to provide at this time', and you'll be golden!

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druidsfire

Jean Prior

Druidsfire is a video dame, streamer, and MMO nerd who likes a good bit of fantasy hack and slash on one side and a bit of building on the other side, whose favorite games include LotRO, DDO, WoW, Ark, No Man's Sky, and Eco. She also serves as the Digital Moot Facilitator at Signum University.