Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO - Part 4: Return of the Topic

Any ETA on the new information about KotFE? | 09.02.2015, 10:44 AM

Hey folks!

I know there are some questions about when you are gonna have some new Fallen Empire information, so here are some scheduling tidbits on what you can expect.

Our plan right now is that starting this week, over the next four weeks, we will be releasing three Class related blogs each week. One blog, will cover the Class changes which the mirrors are receiving. The other two blogs will be a full recap of those Classes stories, told from the SWTOR Encyclopedia. So, for this week you will be getting:

The Class changes coming to Knights and Warriors*
A recap of the Sith Warrior story.*
A recap of the Jedi Knight story.*

*The schedule this week will be a little different from the next few weeks.

We will then mirror this over the next three weeks for the other set of Classes. I will let you know if for some reason that changes. I know there are other questions pending, and we are working on other posts and blogs to cover those topics as well. You will see those published over the next few weeks as we move towards the launch of Fallen Empire! Thanks.

-eric

...and the Drama continues:

Class Change Forum Topic

Of course, like a good friend of mine says, "Never let yourself get too comfortable if you want to have a long interesting life." It's good to shake the dust off now and again even if it makes a few people sneeze

Conquest Changes in Fallen Empire | 09.08.2015, 10:32 AM
Hey folks,

In Fallen Empire we will be making changes to Conquests so I wanted to let you know about what is being adjusted. One thing that we noticed in looking at Conquests is that not as many players as we would hope are completing their personal targets. We feel this may be because the targets are too high, requiring more time to complete than many players may have available. Because of this we are adjusting the target points for rewards in some Conquests:

All Conquests which previously required 35,000 target points have had that target number reduced to 20,000.
Titans of Industry will remain at 25,000 target points.
Total Galactic War will remain at 50,000 target points.
Trade Emporium will remain at 25,000 target points.

Note that Guilds will still compete, as normal, for the top 10 on each Planet once these targets have been reached.

In looking at our data and in seeing playing feedback, one thing we have noticed is that many Guilds are primarily using the repeatable Crafting objective to gain points for Conquests. Although we want to include Crafting as an essential part of the Conquest effort, we don’t want that objective to be the “only best answer” to Conquests. Due to this we are making the following changes:

The Objective “Conquest: War Supplies” is no longer repeatable and is set to reward 2,000 Conquest Points for any Conquest that included that objective.

These changes will be reflected in Knights of the Fallen Empire when it launches. Thanks everyone.

-eric


EricMusco
EV and KP Nightmare Removal in Fallen Empire | 09.08.2015, 10:24 AM
Hey folks,

Around launch when we implemented the Nightmare versions of Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace, they were not quite the same as the Nightmare modes you are used to now. Basically, those old Nightmare ops were simply the same Operations with more health, that did more damage.

With the changes we are making in Fallen Empire, all Operations will now be at max level, this means the differences between Hard and Nightmare EV and KP, just don’t stack up against the difficulty differences found in other Operations. Because of this, we are going to be removing Nightmare Mode Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace from the game with the launch of Fallen Empire. This will raise a couple of questions about things like Titles and Achievements so here are a few details of the change:

Any unique drops that were found in these Nightmare Modes will now drop in Hard Mode.
The timed run Titles for Nightmare Mode can no longer be earned in Fallen Empire.
Any Achievements which you have earned for these Nightmare Modes will be moved to a new Archived section under Operations, and can no longer be earned.

If you would like to get the timed run titles or NM achievements, now is your chance! Get in there before Fallen Empire launches. Thanks everyone.

-eric

Maintenance: 15 September 2015 | 09.11.2015, 02:20 PM

Hey everyone!

We will be taking the servers offline on September 15th in order to perform maintenance. As there are no client-side changes, there won’t be a version number or download associated with this maintenance.

Details:
DATE: September 15th, 2015
TIME: 3:30AM PDT (11:30AM BST) - 9:30AM PDT (5:30PM BST)
VERSION: N/A

Thank you for your patience as we maintain Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

-Tait

Sith assassin and jedi shadow wear light armor which does make a difference. I think its harder to tank on them then on the heavy armor tanks.

@Trail_Mystic

You should consider getting Treek, if you don't already have her. She's a formidable healer and tank.

Hey folks,

As I mentioned in my previous post, the plan for getting Nico in Fallen Empire was that you would recruit him into your Alliance as you were playing through the storyline. However, knowing the concerns about how you access Nico, we are also going to send you a token in the mail which will allow you to have Nico right away. If you want to get Nico as a part of playing through Fallen Empire, you can still do that. Just delete the token from your mail and you will get him naturally. On the flip side, if you claim the token we will still let you do his recruitment mission later on, you will just already have him.

This way the decision is in your hands on whether you want to get him as a part of the recruitment, or if you just want him right away. And it is worth repeating, that Nico is only accessible to those subscribers who qualified for him.

Hopefully that clears up any confusion (which I created ).

-eric

I disagree, the Republic is entirely corrupt. While the empire isn't. The capital city of the Republic except for the Senate Tower which is under guard, is a giant slum. Most of the Republic's capital is run by gangs. On the other hand the Empire's capital has no criminal eliminate. On the Republic captail planet you fight republic criminals, inside the city. On the Empire's home world the foes are ouside the ctiy in the wastelands or in the haunted sith temple, not in the city.

Commendation Changes in 4.0 | 09.22.2015, 01:35 PM

Hey folks,

I wanted to let you know about what changes are coming to Commendations in Fallen Empire, this way you can plan accordingly. Simply put, only the names of some existing Commendations are changing. There are no conversion rates or anything this time around.

Basic Commendations will now be called Common Data Crystals
Elite Commendations will now be called Glowing Data Crystals
Ultimate Commendations will now be called Radiant Data Crystals
All other Commendation names remain the same.

Again, there are no conversion rates pre/post Fallen Empire. Thanks!

-eric

Introducing the SWTOR Answers HQ Page | 09.28.2015, 03:43 PM
Hi everyone!

I wanted to let you all know of an upcoming to change to the Customer Support forum – namely, that they won’t be around anymore. We are creating a new Answers HQ page for SWTOR at answers.ea.com. This move from the existing Customer Support forum will allow players to help players in a better capacity, with EA employees monitoring replies and ensuring correct and useful information is promoted, in an environment where active and helpful players are rewarded.

As part of this, non-subscribers will also be eligible to receive web-based support by utilizing the Answers HQ page! We are currently planning for this transition to occur on October 5th. As of this date, these forums will be in read-only mode and the link to the CS forum will redirect to the new AHQ page. At a later date, the forum will be removed completely.

We look forward to seeing you on the new page!

Tait Watson

Companion Affection Achievements in Fallen Empire | 10.06.2015, 12:34 PM

Hey folks,

I wanted to pass on some information regarding changes to Companion Achievements in Knights of the Fallen Empire. As many of you know, Affection is being changed to Influence to coincide with your Character's Alliance. Due to this, we are going to be removing all of the "Reach Max Affection" Achievements from the game, along with the Achievement points which they have granted. We didn't want to create a situation where a very large number of Achievement points was no longer accessible. You can click the spoiler tag below to see a full list of all of the Achievements being removed.

As a note, the Achievements for "Loyalty to the [Class Name], which were granted for maxing Affection for all of that Classes Companions are going to be changed as well. Now, you will complete that Achievement by completing the "Kill x enemies with x as your active Companion" Achievements. To make up for the loss of Achievement points made via these changes, we have also adjusted the following:

We have increased the point values for the “Kill 1,000” Achievements from 5 to 20.
We have added a new “Devotion to the [Class]” Achievement for completing all of the “Kill 1,000” Achievements for a given Class/Faction. When completed, you will be granted the Imperial/Republic Squad Commander title respectively.
We have added “Kill x” Achievements for both ship droids.

Thanks!

-eric

Companion Affection Achievements in Fallen Empire | 10.06.2015, 01:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by azudelphi View Post
Will the new Squad Commander and Devotion to X titles be retroactive if we have the kill 1000 enemies achievements pre-4.0?

Edited to reflect both titles.
Yup!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pietrastor View Post
Does it mean there won't be any new Influence achievements either (i.e. "Reach Influence 10 with Lana")?
That is correct, there are no Influence Achievements planned to be live in Fallen Empire. However, we certainly could add them in the future (and have them be retroactive).

-eric

GTN Cancellation Note | 10.16.2015, 02:28 PM
Hey folks,

Quick heads up, on Tuesday when we have our maintenance to deploy 4.0 and Early Access of Fallen Empire, all active GTN sales will be cancelled. This will be treated like any other cancellation and the item/deposit will be mailed to you. We wanted to make sure you were aware of this so you aren't alarmed when we come out of maintenance on Tuesday.

-eric


TaitWatson

Maintenance: October 20th, 2015 | 10.16.2015, 02:21 PM
Hey everyone!

All servers and SWTOR.com will be unavailable on Tuesday, October 20th as we deploy Game Update 4.0: Knights of the Fallen Empire Early Access!

Date: Tuesday, October 20th, 2015
Time: 2:30AM - 8AM PDT (1030AM - 4PM BST)
Version: 4.0.0

Patch Notes will be available on Monday, October 19th.

Thanks!

-Tait

Event
Oct-20 Bounty Contract Week
Nov-10 Rakghoul
Nov-24 Bounty Contract Week
Dec-8 Gree
Dec-15 Rakghoul
Dec-22 Bounty Contract Week
Jan-12 Rakghoul
Jan-26 Bounty Contract Week

Get Converted! (Fallen Empire Conversion Rate Info) | 10.19.2015, 08:36 AM
Hey folks!

Here is some information on the conversion rates of items and crafting materials that are being changed. Before I jump into the giant list, here are some other notes:

All Droid gear will be changed to a "Valuable Droid Part" which you can sell to vendors for credits.
All old Operation Gear tokens will be changed into a lockbox which contains Glowing Data Crystals.

However to unlock all of them you may need to log onto all your characters. For me that takes awhile.

If you have HK-51 there is a funny cutscene where a NPC mistakes that assassin droid for the body guard droid HK-55 and 51 doesn't know what "meatbag" is. If you have Treek she leaves the party in disgust that there is nothing to hunt. If you have both you get both.

Meatbag is HK-55's slang for non-droids, sentient beings and animals. Shame 55 and 51 cant actually meet.

Hey folks,

Here is a wrap-up of the things we talked about on the Producer Letter Livestream…

Chapter 10 – Anarchy in Paradise will be launching on February 11th. Along with Chapter 10, will be Game Update 4.1 which will include Fighting for the Eternal Championship, Bowdaar as an unlockable Companion through Alliance, and updates to Crafting. We will have more details on those changes in January.

We have a whole host of new subscriber rewards for you as well:

Be a subscriber on January 11th and receive HK-55 as a playable Companion when 4.1 launches on 2/9.
Be a subscriber continuously from January 11th through the launch of Chapter 16, and receive an entire bonus Chapter where you will play as HK-55!
Be a subscriber on the 1st of each month, and receive 2 days of early access to any Chapter which launches that month. This includes Chapter 10 in February.
There will also be additional monthly subscriber rewards throughout Season 1, most of which will be themed around HK-55.


Throughout the month of December, we will have plenty of things going on as well. The Gree, Rakghoul, and Bounty Contract events will each run for a week. Log in any time from 12/8 to 1/5 to receive our 4th anniversary rewards, including an HK-51 Stronghold Decoration, more information later this week! We will also be running Life Day and Double XP, more info on those tomorrow.

We hope you enjoyed the stream and want to thank you all for tuning in. If you have any questions about the stream or anything else, throw them in this thread and I will work with Ben on getting them answered. Thanks!

-eric

Updated Event Schedule | 01.08.2016, 08:11 PM
Hey folks,

During the month of December, it was our goal to run all of our recurring events week over week. Unfortunately we hit a bug related to our scheduling and some of them didn’t run properly, including the Rakghoul Plague. We have isolated the issue and will have it fixed in Patch 4.0.4 on Tuesday. With that, we wanted to adjust the event schedule for January to give everyone an opportunity to run all of our events that they missed in December. Here is our updated event schedule for January:

1/12 – 1/19: Relics of the Gree
1/19 – 1/26: Rakghoul Plague – Tatooine
1/26 – 2/2: Bounty Contract Week

Thanks everyone!

-eric