Chapter 1.2 Testing

[Cozdragon]

March 19th, 2020
This is a culmination of all Test Center notes between March 7th and March 19th:
Added:

• Redeeding a Harvester or Generator with sufficient maintenance and an empty hopper will no longer ask for a code to redeed the installation. This will allow crafters to more easily move their harvesters when a resource shifts.
• Bounty Hunters' Guild backpack.
  • 65 Slots
  • Unique appearance.
  • Drops as a 2 use schematic, craftable by Master Tailors
  • No stats.

Changed:

• Commando:
  • Flamethrowers no longer do a 1.5x damage modifier against PvP targets who are knocked down. (No PvE changes)
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapon Single Attack 2 to Master Commando.
  • Removed an additional 5 Special Heavy Weapon accuracy from Commando. (15 total in Chapter 1.2)
  • Moved 5 Special Heavy Weapon Speed and 5 Special Heavy Weapon Accuracy to Explosives II (2xxx) in Commando.
  • Moved 5 Special Heavy Weapon Speed and 15 Special Heavy Weapon Accuracy to Explosives IV (2xxx) in Commando.
• Rogue Bounty Hunter Level 4 BH mission now drops a Bounty Hunters' Guild backpack schematic instead of a statted backpack.
• Player City Bazaars now show the skill and city rank requirements on their deeds description.

Fixed:

• Desync issue when cloning to Tansarii Point Station from off planet that would cause objects and NPCs in the station not to load until softlogging.
• SEA Removal Tool:
  • Description displaying the chance to retrieve an SEA is now more accurate.
  • Skill mod names are now better formatted for easier reading.
  • Tool may now have use counts, no player facing changes.
• Listing an item on a vendor will now reset it's rotation. This prevents the ability to purchase an item and unknowingly having a rotation set by the seller that could place the item below the floor.
• Squad Leader's will now correctly receive XP on some planets in some locations, most notably the northern section of Naboo between the cliffs and the coast.
• Tatooine Vista collection items now display the correct menu "collect" name.
• Invasive Species Droid now properly drops its third loot group.
• Gamorrean Battleaxe from Jabba's Themepark is no longer disabled.
• Fixed a naming inconsistency when adding charges to the Sarlacc Trash Can or Harvester Resource Extractor.
• Fixed the description for the Place Bazaar skill in Politician.
• Improved Installation Beacon efficiency.

March 6th, 2020
SEA Removal Tool:

• The SEA Removal Tool has received an overhaul.
• You may now pick what SEA you would like to attempt to retrieve from a piece of armor or clothing.
• Player's skills and armor/clothing repair skill mods now determine the success to extract an SEA from a piece of armor or clothing.
• You are guaranteed to retrieve at least one SEA regardless of skills or skill mods, skills and skill mods increase your chances for each subsequent SEA retrieval.

The following increase the chance for extracting an SEA from a piece of armor:

• Novice Armorsmith.
• Master Armorsmith.
• Armor Repair skill mod.

The following increase the chance for extracting an SEA from a piece of clothing:

• Novice Tailor.
• Master Tailor.
• Clothing Repair skill mod.

The follow skill mod increases the chance for extracting an SEA from a piece of armor or clothing:

• Force Sensitive Luck

The following skill mods can no longer be extracted using an SEA Removal Tool due to their inclusion in Bio-Engineered clothing and ability to be crafted with high stat modifiers:

• Dancing Wound Healing
• Dance Battle Fatigue Healing
• Music Would Healing
• Music Battle Fatigue Healing
• Medic Wound Healing
• Medic Would Treatment Speed
• Healing Range
• Med Use
• Creature Taming
• Creature Agro Taming
• Creature Harvesting
• Camping
• Stun Defense
• War Cry

March 5th, 2020
Added:

• Duplicator Hint Data Disk:
  • Obtained as a random drop from any of the mobs in the high end Taanab dungeons, these Data Disks will give you the combinations for the Duplicator Prototype. When you loot the item, no combination will be encoded onto the disk. One you use the disk, the combination is permanently encoded to be viewed an unlimited number of times. Possible combinations are broken down into 3 rarities: common, uncommon and rare. Slicing the disk with a Smuggler will yield the possibility for a better combination.

Changes:

• You may now call a pet inside of a private structure which you have admin rights to.
• Norulac Raider Captains no longer have a chance to wield stun batons.
• Schematics obtained from the Pandath Loot Kit Vendor now have increased uses.
  • Expanded Travel Pack: 1 use to 2
  • Tank Farms: 1 use to 3
  • Camping Chairs: 1 use to 3
  • Camping Cot: 1 use to 3
  • Mining Table: 1 use to 3
  • City Planters: 3 uses to 5
  • City Torches: 3 uses to 5
  • City Pavilions: 3 uses to 5
• Commando:
  • Note: We are changing the skill trees in Commando to curve the uses of Flamethrower in conjunction with the Bounty Hunter profession. Due to the introduction of Special Heavy Weapon skill tapes and the skill point reduction of scout from 15sp to 5, we've made some changes to balance this profession combination choice.
  • Moved Carbine abilities and skill mods to the Heavy Support Weapon tree.
  • Lowered Carbine Speed and Accuracy skill mods in the Commando profession from 60 speed and 70 accuracy to 30 speed and 40 accuracy. (Be real, you never used it anyways...)
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapons Accuracy skill mods to the Heavy Assault tree (xxx0) in Commando.
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapon Cone Attack 1 special to Heavy Assault III (xxx3) in Commando.
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapon Single Attack 2 to Special Heavy Weapon IV (xx4x) in Commando.
  • Moved 5 Special Heavy Weapon Speed from Special Heavy Weapon IV to Master Commando.
  • Removed 10 Special Heavy Weapon Accuracy from the Commando profession.
  • Commando skill box descriptions reflect the above changes to the profession.

Additional Notes:

• Acklay Bones now have names to indicate theirs stats:
  • Acklay Bones: Normal common Acklay Bones (Vanilla)
  • Sharpened Acklay Bones: Old "Rare" Acklay Bones
  • Gleaming Acklay Bones: Common Acklay Bones with high stack cones.
  • Crushed Acklay Bones: Mix between common and sharpened, chance for slightly higher damage and use count but with a wider range and lower min damage.
• SEA Removal Tool: We are investigating further changes.

March 4th, 2020
Loot is now dropping for the Acklay Cave and Instance Encounters.

The Acklay instance is now based in the Geonosian caves, opposite the room where the Acklay spawns. Please note that the instance loots should be slightly lower quality. If you are ejected from the instance you will also be ejected from the geo caves. I will place taxis for the Geo cave from Bestine, Coronet and Moenia starports on test for those who don’t have fast travel.

Info required from players:

• Are drop rates too high, about right or too low?
• Can you also check the quality of the bones and post details of their quality if they seem unusually high or low.
• Does being ejected from the instance eject you from the geo cave?
• Please can you try and break it, find ways of exploiting it or getting around it and report back if you are successful!

Changes:

• Avoid Incap is now a 15sec buff, and 30 sec cooldown. Force cost is 600.
• Bounty Hunter missions can only be held by 2 players at a time
• Squad leader buffs now have a range of 120m.
• SEA removal tools: If you have less than 4 mods one will be retrieved at random. If you have 4 or more mods then you will retrieve 2 of them.

Info required from players:

• Is this working as stated?
• Please can you try and break it, find ways of exploiting it or getting around it and report back if you are successful!

Many thanks to all of you who help out with the testing phases.

[Aeghwhyn]

Info required from players:
Are drop rates too high, about right or too low?
10 attempts so far, only got RIS Schems and Acklay Hides, a bit sad
Can you also check the quality of the bones and post details of their quality if they seem unusually high or low.
As stated above, cant tell yet
Does being ejected from the instance eject you from the geo cave?
Seen this too late, but the escape rope works just fine.
Please can you try and break it, find ways of exploiting it or getting around it and report back if you are successful!
Tried everything i could imagine to mess with it, (un)luckily everything worked out so far. Have had some LoS issues, but i blame my sometimes crappy connection.

So far, all is well. Just out of curiosity: Are the upcoming changes all fix or is this stuff up for discussion?

[Orlaf]

Squad leader buffs now have a range of 120metres.
Please consider making a check for overt status only, let pve squadlead remain planet wide.

SEA removal tools: If you have less than 4 mods one will be retrieved at random. If you have 4 or more mods then you will retrieve 2 of them.

This will be a huge problem and a point of protest for alot of people, people farm alot of time just to get 1 set of tapes and work months to get their jedi taped out.

I understand you guys have a bigger plan in mind but please consider making this one of last changes or just reviewing this change entirely. This is huge for veterans and even bigger for newbies who are trying to get their foot in the door.

Some bad things thatll happen when this change is put in live without supporting structure are -

stupid price increase on all jedi and defense tapes as well alot of ca tapes.

People rage quiting because they lost their 10m jedi tape.

Economy of other items will change completely because of how expensive tapes will get.

[iceman2kx]

I agree with Orlaf. I do not understand the purpose of the SEA removal change. I'm assuming it's so people can stop getting the BE tapes, but as Orlaf already mentioned, people farm months or fork over tons of cash for these tapes. Right now I have a hat with +25 Jedi State Defense, +25 1-H LS Acc, +25 2-H LS Acc & +21 Force Regen. You are saying I will use a SEA tool and I will lose some of these?

Can a team member at least elaborate why before implementing such a radical change? I don't feel this change is needed at all.

[iskilopedope]

I am also concerned about the SEA tool losing my tapes. I have 3 Jedi fully taped and a BH/Jedi fully taped. It has taken me over a year and a half to both buy, and farm these tapes. If this is the direction you are going, to only really allow two tapes per piece of clothing, can we get a “vet gift” to remove all of our tapes before this implementation?

[Neko 308]

I find all the randomness to be frustrating enough as it is. Hearing about this change that will now randomly destroy two, three, or even all of my painfully-acquired skill tapes when I need to remove them to change outfits or armor crosses the line for me. Yes, by definition that was stated, the SEA Removal tool will extract 2 tapes at random if you have 4 or more mods. This means, it might trash all four of my tapes and give me back the relatively-worthless BE mods instead.

This is completely uncool! It is already not fun or enjoyable having to mindlessly grind the same mobs over and over again. It gets so boring.

Next are we going to add a random chance for your harvesters or houses might be destroyed instead of re-deeded? Perhaps a random chance that the next time you call your speeder or pod racer it will blow up and be disabled?

This game does not need to be more difficult to play and achieve ones goals. Random loots and the slim chance to get something shiney should not be the highlight of the game. The fun isn't in the hours and hours of mindless grinding and AFK camping. I wish we'd see more clearly defined reward system than all this random-generated stuff. Should not have to kill the same mob 25x just to get that one piece that's needed to make an item.

My guild was doing Tanrat hunts but people stopped going because the loots stopped dropping. After the loot "adjustment" we saw disappointment after disappointment as one by one we'd fell empty Tanrats, or they'd give just stims which nobody in the group could use, or occasional low-quality tissues. Guildies won't group any more, they'd rather go solo them so they don't risk a good loot drop going to someone else in the group.

Same thing with Hydrostation and a couple of the other dungeons we've been on. Last dungeon we ran through it and there were no bosses. We couldn't tell at first that the bosses were missing. Going through the dungeon without bosses does not reward with hardly anything, unless you are a naked Ithorian, then you'll likely come out with a new wardrobe.

[Blade28r]

Agree with what others have said about the SEA removal tool; however i completely disagree with reducing the amount BH's that can take a mission. Jedi are meant to be hunted, and limiting the amount of BH's to take a mission will easily be exploited. Please reconsider this.

I love the AI cool down, that was needed.

[Sereya]

On the Acklay instance:

- The instance looks great and worked perfectly (no issues with entering/exiting)
- I like that you can either get teleported outside (waiting out the timer) or go back to the entrance of the instance (by using the ladder)
- I was only able to squeeze in 7 test runs, so I can only provide a very small anecdotal sample of the loot. I'll update this when I have time to do more:

• Run 1: cube stack, sword core schem

• Run 2: acklay hide, chitin armor piece

• Run 3: 3 stack of "gleaming" bones, 97-140 damage, stim

• Run 4: cube stack, +14 AA

• Run 5: cube stack, stim

• Run 6: 4 stack of regular acklay bones. 59-124 damage, stim

• Run 7: 4 stack of regular acklay bones, 88-124 damage, kliknik stim

Again, very small sample here, so I may have just gotten lucky with the frequency of bones. But to me this seems a bit high; I'd rather see bones less frequently and more good-but-not-great loot (like mid-range SEAs). Otherwise I think we're going to be overloaded with bones on the server in a week or so.

On the other changes:

- Avoid Incap: excellent change.
- 2 BHs per mission: no real thoughts on this change, but I do have concerns about folks exploiting this to have friends hold a mission indefinitely
- SL buff changes: excellent. Much needed change for both PvP and PvE
- SEA removal tools: I do not share the concerns others have about this; I quite like it.

Thanks team!

(Edited to reflect more runs)

[Xordium]

I think the squad leader change will have a really big impact in changing this game from being Star Wars. Yet again melee will be able to carry on with impunity but this is heavy nerf to ranged templates which are already inferior. When I think of star wars I think of blasters and jedi - not swords, tkas and fencers. That doesn't mean they don't have a place (fencer doesn't either really bar low end mobs) but I think the point is ranged should be at least half of what you see and it isn't already.

The only way to do high-end content as a pistol template is to either trick the AI with creature handler or use a SL.
The only way to do high-end content as a rifles template is kind of the same but you do get the benefit of a dizzy.
The only way to do high-end content as a carbine template is to have a dream about it I guess because that doesn't happen.

Also, if a squad leader was actually a squad leader it would be warranted. But what do they offer that benefits a squad - accuracy to characters that already always hit, primary and secondary defenses that will always be bypassed as you don't make a squad for nunas (death bunnies maybe), clear dizzy and stun which is nice, and a burst run again nice. And does the SL themselves benefit from these?

You need to make a squad leader benefit a squad but not impinge on those that aren't in a squad it shouldn't become mandatory eg loot for every squad member one loot roll each. So if you are in a squad you don't lose out on drops compared to solo. Shuttle to squad leader - again benefits a group but doesn't impinge an individual.

I would prefer it if SLs were actively played - I have one but I don't think it's right he's there spamming macros - in the same way I wish doctors were actively played. However, if SL range goes to 120m you've just killed my style of play and looking at it I don't see too many other pistoleers around.

Also, I think we just need to ensure loot drops more. People are just grinding away to get things to then have fun with them. This isn't a F2P where you need to keep people on the hamster wheel for financial reason. Just give us the stuff and let us blow the hell out of each other with it.

In regards to the BH being restricted to 2 I don't agree with this at all. When there are very few templates already that are successful then you need to tackle the ones that seem to be causing the problems. If those templates are always the culprits then you need to think do Jedi have a defence to that (they do) why don't they use it (they're PVE specced) and then you either need to come out and say tough luck lads your fault you chose a template you knew would die or alternatively look at rebalancing to allow jedi to have both.

Before making wide sweeping changes it may be worth asking people not what do you play and why but what would you like to play and why? If you find jedi don't want PVP then really it makes little sense to force that on them (and this is coming from a BH) but if they don't want to be PVP then they need to accept they will be weaker at it. Likewise if people like me want to shoot things with pistols and be effective at it then give us the tools - if we are happy to ditch something else for it then that's what we have to do.

If you ask the jedi what their PVP and PVE templates are and if you get a direct correlation then you could simply do the following - eg Novice Jedi - 1 x BH, Each Master = +1 BH, PVE box - no +BH, PVP line + BH - that way they PVP jedi who attest to love their PVP get their PVP and the people who just want to PVE get minimal hassle. I know people would exploit this but they will anyway. People are opting in then they can't complain - I'd say you're opting in anyway but that's not a consensus view and I accept that.

[Tyclo]

March 5th, 2020
Added:

• Duplicator Hint Data Disk:
  • Obtained as a random drop from any of the mobs in the high end Taanab dungeons, these Data Disks will give you the combinations for the Duplicator Prototype. When you loot the item, no combination will be encoded onto the disk. One you use the disk, the combination is permanently encoded to be viewed an unlimited number of times. Possible combinations are broken down into 3 rarities: common, uncommon and rare. Slicing the disk with a Smuggler will yield the possibility for a better combination.

Changes:

• You may now call a pet inside of a private structure which you have admin rights to.
• Norulac Raider Captains no longer have a chance to wield stun batons.
• Schematics obtained from the Pandath Loot Kit Vendor now have increased uses.
  • Expanded Travel Pack: 1 use to 2
  • Tank Farms: 1 use to 3
  • Camping Chairs: 1 use to 3
  • Camping Cot: 1 use to 3
  • Mining Table: 1 use to 3
  • City Planters: 3 uses to 5
  • City Torches: 3 uses to 5
  • City Pavilions: 3 uses to 5
• Commando:
  • Note: We are changing the skill trees in Commando to curve the uses of Flamethrower in conjunction with the Bounty Hunter profession. Due to the introduction of Special Heavy Weapon skill tapes and the skill point reduction of scout from 15sp to 5, we've made some changes to balance this profession combination choice.
  • Moved Carbine abilities and skill mods to the Heavy Support Weapon tree.
  • Lowered Carbine Speed and Accuracy skill mods in the Commando profession from 60 speed and 70 accuracy to 30 speed and 40 accuracy. (Be real, you never used it anyways...)
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapons Accuracy skill mods to the Heavy Assault tree (xxx0) in Commando.
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapon Cone Attack 1 special to Heavy Assault III (xxx3) in Commando.
  • Moved Special Heavy Weapon Single Attack 2 to Special Heavy Weapon IV (xx4x) in Commando.
  • Moved 5 Special Heavy Weapon Speed from Special Heavy Weapon IV to Master Commando.
  • Removed 10 Special Heavy Weapon Accuracy from the Commando profession.
  • Commando skill box descriptions reflect the above changes to the profession.

Additional Notes:

• Acklay Bones now have names to indicate theirs stats:
  • Acklay Bones: Normal common Acklay Bones (Vanilla)
  • Sharpened Acklay Bones: Old "Rare" Acklay Bones
  • Gleaming Acklay Bones: Common Acklay Bones with high stack cones.
  • Crushed Acklay Bones: Mix between common and sharpened, chance for slightly higher damage and use count but with a wider range and lower min damage.
• SEA Removal Tool: We are investigating further changes.