Archives for 2012

Through The Mist: More On 5.04

Through the Mist is a regular column from Luke Le Page covering everything World of Warcraft. If you’d like something covered in a future column, drop us a line!

Firstly I wanted to apologise for the delay between columns, it has been a pretty busy time for me.

By now, we have all had time to adapt to the changes made by Blizzard in 5.04, and just in time with Mists just around the corner. There have been a lot of polarised opinions about the new talent system within the community, but it seems to be settling (for the majority of classes) now that people have had time to familiarise themselves with builds.

The first thing I did with 5.04 was log all of my characters in and assign their new talents. Having played the beta quite a lot, I was fairly familiar with where I wanted to go with each character so it didn’t take me long, I would like to mention that a lot of players on my realm where struggling to grasp these new talent trees at first.

Still, I had something of a learning curve actually putting the new talents to the test using Blizzard’s Looking For Raid function, I won’t get into the merits or lack thereof regarding this feature but it definitely served my purposes well when it came to trying out their new builds outside of a guild raid. It took a little while for me to really get into the rotations, having only really played a handful of dungeons on beta – most of my time had been spent levelling various classes and exploring. Once I found a rotation I was comfortable with, I barely noticed the differences. Sure there are a few new abilities such as Dispatch to work into rotations, but it seemed to be a fairly seamless merge into the new system.

I noticed, as did most classes, a fairly strong increase in DPS. This of course is because most of the new abilities and talents are attuned to Level 90 stats. With our current stat budgets we’re at the top end of performance for this expansion and will likely see lower relative dps at 90 than we are currently seeing.

I have also enjoyed the changes to Holy Paladin and I am tossing up on who to level first and progress into raiding for MoP.

So how did your experience of 5.04 go? Are you enjoying the changes or do you hate them? Did it have any  effect on which characters you want to level?

SWTOR 1.4 Hits The Public Test Server

It’s always just a bot exciting when new content hits the Public Test Server and this time is no different. For those of you who like a test-drive, you can now check out all the changes in 1.4.

We’ve just posted the full patch notes and we’ll be dissecting them in detail over coming days. There’s also a nice landing page for the update, which you can see here.

In the meantime, there’s also a developer dispatch on the new Terror From Beyond Operation to coincide with the release of 1.4:

So there you have it: are you excited for 1.4?

SWTOR 1.4 Patch Notes

SWTOR 1.4 has hit the Public Test Server and we have the patch notes in full for you right here. Enjoy!

Highlights

  • Terror from Beyond, a new Operation, is now available! Travel to the remote planet of Asation, where the Dread Masters have commandeered an ancient Gree Hypergate in order to unleash untold horrors upon the galaxy. Terror from Beyond features 5 powerful new boss encounters that can be challenged in 8- and 16- player Story or Hard Mode, offering some of the most challenging group content yet!
  • A new set of PvE gear is available! Dread Guard gear is now the most powerful PvE equipment in the galaxy. It can be acquired from deep within Terror from Beyond (Hard Mode).
  • Significant changes have been made to crowd control to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. See the Classes and Combat section for details.

Classes and Combat

General

  • The crowd control gameplay has been adjusted to address the amount of control a player can be subject to at once. The majority of this change comes from reduced ranges on a number of crowd control abilities, as well as some adjustments to area of effect knockback abilities. To complement these changes, some small Resolve system tweaks (found in the PvP section) have been put in place to polish the system as a whole.
  • The ground targeting reticule is no longer cleared when a channeled ability completes channeling.
  • Players no longer receive the error message “You cannot cast while moving” when moving, stopping, and then immediately using a ground-targeted ability.
  • When a player is defeated immediately after applying a damage over time effect to another character, the player is no longer occasionally put back into combat after being revived.

 

Jedi Knight

General

  • Force Sweep’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes more quickly.
  • Force Stasis has a new animation.

Sentinel

  • Guarded by the Force now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
  • Zen (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Zen consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Focus for each charge consumed.
  • Valorous Call can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Centering

    Focus (Sentinel)

    • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
    • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
    • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
    • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
    • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Guardian

Focus (Guardian)

  • Zephyrean Slash has been redesigned. It now gives Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Blade Storm, and Dispatch a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep and Zealous Leap by .5 seconds per point.
  • Swift Slash now additionally affects Dispatch.
  • Saber Strength now additionally affects Dispatch.
  • Singularity: Stacks of Singularity now additionally reduce the Focus cost of Force Sweep by 12.5% per point per stack.
  • Inner Focus now additionally causes Combat Focus to generate 2 Focus per point.
  • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Sith Warrior

General

  • Smash’s timing has been adjusted; the ability now executes more quickly.
  • Ravage’s audio now plays reliably when the ability is used.

Marauder

  • Undying Rage now lasts 4 seconds (down from 5 seconds).
  • Berserk (Shii-Cho Form) has been redesigned. Now, while Shii-Cho Form is active, using Berserk consumes 1 charge every .5 seconds, generating 2 Rage for each charge consumed.
  • Frenzy can no longer be activated when you already have 30 stacks of Fury.

    Rage (Marauder)

    • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Battering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
    • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
    • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
    • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
    • Shii-Cho Mastery’s armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Juggernaut

Rage (Juggernaut)

  • Overpower has been redesigned. It now gives Assault, Sundering Assault, Vicious Slash, Force Scream, and Vicious Throw a 50% chance per point to reduce the active cooldown of Smash and Obliterate by .5 seconds per point.
  • Brutality now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
  • Saber Strength now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
  • Shockwave: Stacks of Shockwave now additionally reduce the Rage cost of Smash by 12.5% per point per stack.
  • Empowering Rage now additionally causes Enrage to generate 2 Rage per point.
  • Shii-Cho Mastery: Armor penetration has been increased to 15% per point.

Jedi Consular

General

  • Force Stun now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
  • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
  • Force Wave now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes more quickly.

Sage

  • Force Mend: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.

    Seer

    • Valiance now additionally increases the healing of Force Mend by 15% per point.
    • Egress has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.

    Telekinetics

    • Mental Alacrity now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
    • Telekinetic Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
    • Telekinetic Wave has a new animation.
    • Kinetic Collapse: The Incapacitation effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage.

Shadow

  • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Kinetic Combat

    • Elusiveness has been redesigned. It now requires Double-Bladed Saber Defense and increases the Force recovered by Double-Bladed Saber Defense. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Resilience by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.

    Infiltration

    • Infiltration Tactics: When Find Weakness activates, your next Shadow Strike deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
    • Celerity now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
    • Masked Assault now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Masked Assault causes Shadow’s Respite to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
    • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Kinetic Field no longer provides this effect.
    • Kinetic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build a Kinetic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
    • Situational Awareness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
    • Deep Impact is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Humbling Strike is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spinning Kick to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Subduing Techniques.
    • Clairvoyant Strike: Using Project no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Spinning Strike during execute phases.
    • Clairvoyant Strike now correctly increases Project’s damage with 1 stack.

Sith Inquisitor

General

  • Electrocute now costs no Force and has a 10-meter range.
  • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30).
  • Overload now costs no Force and affects targets in a 15-meter cone in front of you. This ability now executes more quickly.

Sorcerer

  • Unnatural Preservation: This new ability allows you to heal yourself for a moderate amount. It costs no Force, is instant, and has a 30-second cooldown.

    Corruption

    • Dark Resilience now additionally increases the healing of Unnatural Preservation by 15% per point.
    • Fadeout has been redesigned. It now causes Force Speed to remove roots and snares and grants immunity to roots and snares for its duration.

    Lightning

    • Polarity Shift now additionally provides immunity to interrupts for its duration. It has improved visual effects to demonstrate this effect.
    • Lightning Effusion no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Speed.
    • Backlash: The blindness effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage. The visual explosion effect now plays on the correct target.

Assassin

  • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Darkness

    • Lightning Recovery has been redesigned. It now requires Lightning Reflexes and increases the Force recovered by Lightning Reflexes. Successful shielding, parries, and deflects now reduce the active cooldown of Force Shroud by .5 second per point. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.

    Deception

    • Duplicity: When Exploit Weakness activates, your next Maul deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
    • Avoidance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
    • Darkswell now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit stealth. In addition, Darkswell causes Dark Embrace to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
    • Fade now additionally reduces the damage taken from area effects by 15% per point and reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point). Entropic Field no longer provides this effect.
    • Entropic Field has been redesigned. Critical hits now cause you to build an Entropic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. This effect stacks up to 3 times. This skill is now located in tier 5 of the skill tree.
    • Resourcefulness is now located in tier 6 of the skill tree.
    • Cracking Blasts is now a 2-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Magnetism is a new 1-point skill in tier 6 of the skill tree. It causes the target of your Spike to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends. It requires Static Cling.
    • Voltaic Slash: Using Shock no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Assassinate during execute phases.
    • Static Charges now correctly refers to the damage dealt by your next Surging Charge’s Discharge.
    • Voltaic Slash now correctly increases Shock’s damage with 1 stack.

Smuggler

General

  • Defense Screen: This ability’s tooltip now mentions that it absorbs damage up to a moderate limit and that it does not break stealth.
  • Flash Grenade no longer has an Energy cost.
  • An issue that could prevent players from taking cover correctly has been corrected. This issue could cause the error “Unknown Effect Result” to display.

Gunslinger

  • Scrambling Field has a new icon.
  • Pulse Detonator’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes more quickly.

    Saboteur

    • Hot Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.
    • Incendiary Grenade’s appearance no longer incorrectly displays 2 grenades in the air. Some timing issues with the throwing animation have been addressed.

    Sharpshooter

    • Trickshot is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Charged Burst, Aimed Shot, or Quickdraw.

    Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger)

    • Wounding Shots has a new animation.

Scoundrel

  • Disappearing Act now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Scrapper

    • Fight or Flight has been redesigned. It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Disappearing Act.
    • Flee the Scene now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Disappearing Act by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Imperial Agent

General

  • Flash Bang no longer has an Energy cost.

Sniper

  • Ballistic Shield has a new icon.
  • Cover Pulse’s timing has been adjusted; it now executes more quickly.

    Marksmanship

    • Followthrough is now usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Snipe, Ambush, or Takedown.

    Engineering

    • Calculated Pursuit: This ability can now only be triggered once every 20 seconds.

Operative

  • Cloaking Screen now has a 2 minute cooldown.

    Concealment

    • Energy Screen has been redesigned. It is now called “Ghost.” It finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth and allows Sneak to be used out of stealth, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. It still removes the penalty to healing done and received caused by Cloaking Screen.
    • Advanced Cloaking now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. It also now reduces the cooldown of Cloaking Screen by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Trooper

General

  • Hold the Line now has more noticeable visual effects.
  • Cryo Grenade now has a 10-meter range.

Vanguard

Tactics

  • Pulse Generator: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
  • Shock Absorbers now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.

Assault Specialist (Vanguard)

  • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
  • Incendiary Round’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
  • Assault Plastique’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.

Commando

  • Due to changes in the Commando skill trees, all Commandos have had their skill points refunded.
  • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.

    Gunnery

    • Concussive Force: Stockstrike now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
    • Cover Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
    • Charged Barrel: Each stack of Charged Barrel now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Advanced Medical Probe by 20% per stack.

    Combat Medic

    • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Bomb by 50% for 3 seconds.
    • Potent Medicine is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Frontline Medic is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Trauma Probe, firing Hammer Shot at an enemy now triggers your Trauma Probe (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.

    Assault Specialist (Commando)

    • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.

Bounty Hunter

General

  • Electro Dart now has a 10-meter range.
  • Unload has a new animation when used with a single blaster pistol.

Powertech

Advanced Prototype

  • Prototype Flame Thrower: Each stack now causes 20% additional damage. This can stack up to 3 times.
  • Stabilized Armor now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Damage reduction while stunned has been increased to 15% per point.

Pyrotech (Powertech)

  • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.
  • Incendiary Missile’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.
  • Thermal Detonator’s range has been reduced to 10 meters.

Mercenary

  • Due to changes in the Mercenary skill trees, all Mercenaries have had their skill points refunded.
  • Disabling Shot is a new ability that interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds.

    Arsenal

    • Afterburners: Rocket Punch now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back.
    • Pinning Fire: This ability’s snare has been increased to 70%.
    • Tracer Lock: Each stack of Tracer Lock now additionally reduces the activation time of your next Healing Scan by 20% per stack.

    Bodyguard

    • Kolto Residue now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Missile by 50% for 3 seconds.
    • Warden is now a 3-point skill with the same overall effect.
    • Peacekeeper is a new 2-point skill. While protected by your own Kolto Shell, firing Rapid Shots at an enemy now triggers your Kolto Shell (this can only happen once every 3 seconds). This does not trigger if your health is full.

    Pyrotech (Mercenary)

    • Sweltering Heat’s snare has been reduced to 30%.

Companion Characters

General

  • Players can now use “match color to chest” for their companions, and can choose to show or hide companion head gear.
  • Companions no longer have their weapons drawn on the player’s starship.

Companions

Gault

  • Memento Marketing: This conversation is now only available on the player’s ship.

Lord Scourge

  • Legends: Affection gained during this conversation is now properly granted to Lord Scourge (instead of Rusk).

Tallos Drellik

  • The conversation for “Failure” now grants affection gains and losses correctly.

Vector

  • Agents on the conversation “The Lost Colony” now properly receive affection rewards for the dialogue.

Crew Skills

General

  • Several gathering nodes that were previously inaccessible (for instance, some that were underneath terrain) can now be harvested.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

General

  • While participating in a Flashpoint conversation, using Esc to cancel a conversation and then pressing the “x” button to close the window no longer causes the player to exit the Flashpoint instance.

Operations

General

  • [WEEKLY] Deadly Operations now awards 30 Daily Commendations.
  • [WEEKLY] Galactic Operations now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
  • [WEEKLY] Galactic Crisis Points now awards 10 Daily Commendations and 8 Black Hole Commendations.
  • Explosive Conflict now awards 10 Black Hole Commendations and crafting materials.

Eternity Vault

  • Annihilator Droid XRR-3 can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
  • Characters no longer occasionally become invisible when moving through the lava tunnels.
  • Corrected the location of a misplaced Ancient Power Source during the Soa encounter.

Explosive Conflict

  • Ugnaut Engineers’ “Firebomb” now correctly displays visual effects on the ground for the full duration of the effect.
  • The console that deactivates Colonel Vorgath’s minefield is now positioned in a more accessible location.
  • Damaging Toth and Zorn too quickly no longer causes their health threshold mechanics to overlap (in all difficulty modes).
  • Chests in Explosive Conflict no longer contain Black Hold Commendations. They now have increased amounts of credits and crafting materials.
  • Bosses in Hard Mode now drop 5 Black Hole Commendations each.
  • A number of changes have been made to Explosive Conflict’s Story Mode in order to make it more accessible for pick-up groups:

    Toth and Zorn

    • Frenzy now increases damage less per stack.
    • Toth now waits longer before using area of effect abilities after jumping.
    • Fearful now increases damage taken by a lower amount.
    • The amount of time before Toth and Zorn enrage when one dies has been increased.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 6 minutes 30 seconds.
    • Damaging Toth and Zorn too quickly no longer causes their health threshold mechanics to overlap.

    Firebrand and Stormcaller

    • The activation time of Incinerate Armor, Double Destruction, and Defensive Systems has been increased.
    • Incinerate Armor no longer increases damage taken in addition to its armor debuff.
    • Shield generators can no longer be damaged by players.

    Colonel Vorgath

    • Probe Droids no longer use Cleave.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased to 4 minutes 30 seconds.

    Warlord Kephess

    • The time before Baradium Bombers explode has been increased.
    • The damage for the Pulsar Power Droids’ rail shot has been decreased.
    • Kephess’ damage in the final phase has been decreased.
    • The damage from the Trandoshan Warrior’s reflective shields has been decreased.
    • The enrage timer for the encounter has been increased.

Karagga’s Palace

  • Bonethrasher can now be attacked more reliably with abilities that require standing behind the target.
  • Proximity Pulse Mines no longer spawn during the G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator encounter in Story Mode.

Group Finder

  • Players participating in a Group Finder group now have the ability to teleport to the Group Finder instance at any point.
  • Players who leave an active Group Finder instance can now be returned to the location they were in when they used the “travel now” dialog option to travel to the instance.
  • Once players reach a checkpoint or defeat an Operation boss, they may choose to exit at the normal area entrance when leaving.

Items

General

  • A majority of offhand items can now be modified. Shields, Generators, and Foci accept Armoring modifications, and Vibroknives and Shotguns accept Barrels. Additionally, they can contain Color Crystal, Mod, and Enhancement slots (though the Color Crystal slot does not currently impact the visuals of the item). Note that there are some exceptions – not all offhands can be modified.
  • Bind on pickup and Bind on Legacy items can now be traded for up to 2 hours between players that were eligible to loot the item.
  • Items purchased from a vendor can now be sold to any vendor for full purchase price (in commendations) for up to 2 hours. Stackable items and mission items cannot be traded or sold back for full value. The 2 hour time is terminated if a mod is added or removed or an augment slot is added. Bind on Equip items cannot be refunded (in commendations) if they are traded, mailed, put in a guild bank, or listed on the GTN.
  • Lockboxes’ 2 hour timer terminates when the lockbox is opened.
  • The formula that determines extraction costs for modifications has been adjusted. Costs to remove Premium and Artifact quality modifications have been reduced substantially. The cost to remove Prototype modifications has been decreased slightly.
  • The Heavy Sonic Disruptor can now be drawn correctly by characters.

Missions and NPCs

General

  • Several cinematics throughout the game have been improved. In many cases, animations have been cleaned up and missing or extraneous characters have been addressed.
  • Some instances where the player would enter or leave a mission phase unexpectedly have been corrected. This could, in some cases, cause a player to become stuck.
  • An issue that could cause a glow effect to be applied to a player’s starship holoterminal several times has been corrected.

World Missions

Alderaan

  • Hive Mined: Imperial Mine Inspectors now run away and despawn correctly when freed.
  • Paladins: Players can no longer accidentally attack Duke Charle Organa while fighting the Wolf Baron.
  • Revenge Served Cold: Line of sight issues with the Thul Cryo Dragoon have been corrected.
  • Thwarting House Thul: Looting Deral Thul’s Cybernetic Implant now works properly when the player is in a group.

Balmorra

  • Big Guns: Mission indicators now direct players to the correct locations.
  • Coms Away: The post-mission ambient dialogue from Fixer 66 now properly relates to the player’s choices.
  • Data Corruption: This mission no longer progresses if the player cancels the action while uploading the virus.
  • Flush out the Snipers: Enemies for this mission’s objective now have an appropriate name (“Resistance Sharpshooter” instead of “Gold Neerbray Commando”).
  • Salting the Fields: Each player in a group must now use the Soil Devastators separately.
  • Storming the Front: The medical supplies item is now displayed in the mission tracker during the step “Heal the Wounded Republic Defenders.”
  • Wild Fire: The mission log text now correctly instructs players to return to the Troida Military Workshop Hangar.

Corellia

  • The item “Anti-rad Injector” associated with Glow and Counter Eco-Terrorism now properly removes stacks of radiation poisoning from a character over time.
  • Asset Liquidation: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Coronet Shipping Invasion: More Imperial forces in the Coronet Shipping Docks now count towards completion of this bonus mission.
  • Counter Eco-Terrorism: Objective items related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Criminal Crackdown: Usable objective items and enemy NPCs related to this mission now respawn more quickly.
  • Forced Labor: A Drall Engineer no longer runs through the force field when rescued. Usable objects related to this mission now respawn more quickly.

Hoth

  • Imperial Interference: This bonus mission is now the appropriate level (previously, it was lower level than its main mission).
  • Razing the Ice Fortress: The step “Speak to Seeker Kabath” now directs the player to the correct location.

Ilum

  • Darkness on Ilum: multiple encounters related to this mission can no longer be activated at the same time.

Korriban

  • Allegiance: Players can now consistently complete this mission while in a group.

Nar Shaddaa

  • Back Alley: This mission now correctly provides a lockbox in its reward choice.
  • Recruitment: The Jedi Master now spawns reliably.
  • Zero Protocol: The step “Return to Commandor Stron” now has an appropriate map link.

Ord Mantell

  • Take Back Drelliad Village: Separatist Defenders and Separatist Heavy Gunners now grant credit towards the objective “Dispatch the Separatist Forces.”

Quesh

  • The Republic Commando and Medical Officer on Quesh now properly show mission indicators if a player is the appropriate level for Quesh.

Taris

  • Bashun’s Bodyguards: This bonus mission now activates correctly for Imperial Agents. It is a bonus mission for the mission Cathar Assassination.

Tatooine

  • Shields Down: Players now receive kill credit for Shielded Mark V Junk Droids if their companion deals the killing blow.

Voss

  • A Selfless Act: Log entries for this mission now reflect the proper mission steps.
  • Dark Rites: Dark Mastery: This mission now correctly awards affection points for Companion Characters.
  • March of Time: Monument text now remains on screen for a longer period of time.
  • Signal Fires: Gormak Tower Guards no longer pre-emptively despawn during this mission.

Class Missions

Jedi Knight

  • Vault of the Gormak King: Players can no longer re-enter the Gormak Vault phase once this mission has been completed.
  • Weapon of the Jedi: Players who did not properly receive the “Jedi Weapons” Codex entry will find it unlocked.

Sith Warrior

  • Ambush: A Republic Strike Droid in Darth Vengean’s Flagship no longer becomes invisible.
  • An Army of One: Players can no longer destroy Commander Naughlen’s barricade before they reach the mission step to do so.
  • Bringing up the Rear: The map note for the task “Defeat the Imperial Rear Guards” now displays correctly.
  • Choke Point: The map note related to the mission step “Rendezvous with Lieutenant Dargus” now displays correctly.
  • Distress Call: Halidrell Setsyn now has a mission indicator on the appropriate mission step.
  • General Durant: The conversation with General Durant is no longer forced upon completion of the mission step “Confront General Durant.” Lieutenant Pierce no longer enters combat during this mission.
  • Power Play: The fight with Darth Vengean now only resets if Lord Draahg is killed.

Jedi Consular

  • Deep Cradle, Dark Heart: The conversation with Sophia Farash now triggers correctly.
  • Nightmares: The step “Find Doctor Kerrian” now directs players to the correct location.
  • Old Blood: The mission step “Enter Bekvalen Hall” now has an appropriate map note. Hollow Voice now uses the correct language.

Sith Inquisitor

  • The Dark Council: The step “Defeat Darth Thanaton” now points the player to the correct location.

Smuggler

  • Eco-Terrorists: This mission now correctly provides a Premium Skill Barrel 8 in addition to the reward choice.
  • Heist of the Millennium: The Droid head now has the appropriate model, and it is now more obvious that players are removing a piece of it.
  • Into the Fire: The conversation with Lokir-Ka no longer auto-triggers again if the player uses Esc to end the conversation.
  • The Endless Abyss: This mission now correctly provides a Prototype Artful Mod 14 if you do not keep the blaster.

Imperial Agent

  • Imperial Agents who are simultaneously on the “Travel to Nar Shaddaa” step of Kaliyo’s mission “What You Do for a Partner” and the “Closing the Deal” class mission can now satisfy both mission steps by traveling to Nar Shaddaa.
  • The Assassin’s Prize: Players can no longer accidentally leave Denri Ayl’s mission area.
  • The Sky Burns: Players no longer see this mission progress until the beacons are fully planted.

Trooper

  • Public Relations: Sergeant Jaxo can no longer die during one of the steps requiring the player to speak with her. Re-opening the door after closing it during the bomb sequence can no longer cause this mission to become blocked. Players can no longer infiltrate Port Raga until they have spoken to Jaxo.
  • Welcome Party: Colonel Gaff’s conversation no longer begins automatically when the player approaches.

Bounty Hunter

  • Electrocution: Jicoln’s electric floor now properly stuns players, and its debuff has an appropriate icon.
  • Honor or Glory: The conversation with Toran is no longer forced if the player uses Esc to cancel the conversation.
  • Meeting the Admiral: The last step of this mission no longer directs you back to Hangar Bay 59 if you helped the Admiral.
  • The Alderaan Target: All companion affection changes during this mission are now properly applied at the end of the mission.

NPCs

  • The Nightmare Pilgrim can now be respawned every 30 minutes (down from 2 hours).
  • Intelligence Officer Breerdin no longer treats all alien characters as Chiss.
  • Corsec Blaster Droids on Corellia are no longer invisible.
  • Members of the Black Sun and Coruscant Security now engage in combat appropriately in several areas on Coruscant.
  • Several common NPC Boss encounters have had their loot adjusted to be more in line with their rarity.
  • Conquest Droids on Balmorra no longer attack other Imperial NPCs that enter their range.

PvP

General

  • Level 50 daily Warzone missions (No Quarter and March Them Down) now only require 4 Warzone completions (down from 6). Winning a Warzone still counts as an extra completion.
  • The Resolve system has been adjusted in the following ways:
    • When a player becomes immune to control due to Resolve, his Resolve meter will not start decaying until after all the current controlling effects expire (instead of decaying immediately after the immunity begins).
    • Players under the effects of a control ability now build less Resolve for other control abilities that target them. The exact amount of Resolve the player builds is based on the time remaining on the ability currently controlling the player and the relative strength of that ability’s effect. If two stuns of similar strength (such as Electrocute and Debilitate) target a single player at the same time, the second ability would generate very little Resolve. However, if the two effects were applied so that the duration of their effects overlapped very little, each effect would grant its full (or nearly full) Resolve to the target.
    • A new Codex entry can be found in the Game Rules section to help players who are unfamiliar with the details of the Resolve system.
  • New Recruit MK-2 gear is now available. This gear replaces the Recruit set, which is no longer available.
  • Unranked Warzones now backfill empty player slots more frequently.

Warzones

General

  • Leaving a Warzone queue from the queue window now properly closes the “join Warzone” dialog.

Huttball

  • Frogdogs now hear voiceover when they score their second point.
  • The maximum time limit in Huttball has been reduced from 15 minutes to 13 minutes.

Novare Coast

  • The fire rate for each of the turrets has been increased from 8 seconds to 9 seconds.
  • Players are no longer required to press Spacebar to exit the loading screen before this Warzone.

Voidstar

  • In the event that neither team breaches the first set of doors, the winner of the match is now the team that scored the most kills.

Space Combat

  • Items that grant repeated upgrades of the same type are now correctly accounted for.
  • Power Conversion Module abilities now appear in the correct quickslot during Space Combat Missions for Imperial Agents.

UI

General

  • The title row in panels such as the Guild Roster and who list no longer occasionally disappear.
  • The “inspect” window now closes when the inspected character is too far away.
  • The “promote” and “demote” buttons are now more visible in the guild UI.
  • Players can now set their moods, altering your character’s facial expression. You can find these moods in the emote browser near the chat window.
  • Activating multiple UI panels in very rapid succession no longer causes the game to become unresponsive.
  • Players can now use shift+right click to equip an item directly on their active companion.

Chat

  • PvP messages (such as becoming flagged) can now be toggled off in chat tabs.
  • The description of the chat preference “Group Awareness Ping” now more accurately describes its effect. The tooltip now reads: “Plays an audible tone when your name is said in a Group chat channel. If you have heard an audible tone in the last 30 seconds, you won’t hear one.”

Maps

  • The accuracy of the Promenade map on Nar Shaddaa has been improved.
  • The map for the Dark Temple Approach on Dromund Kaas now better reflects the world.
  • Several areas where the map would incorrectly transition to a new map have been corrected.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Jedi Consulars arriving on Balmorra are no longer facing their ship door upon entering the spaceport.
  • The Dromund Kaas Nexus Cantina rest zone has been slightly adjusted.
  • The Fernell Research Facility on Balmorra now displays the correct name.
  • Trees and large moving objects now cast animated shadows in the game world. Shadows are smoother, and players will notice improved self-shadowing. Additionally, the shadow system has been optimized to increase performance. Players utilizing AMD Crossfire or Nvidia SLI options will see a boost in performance. To see these changes, the shader settings and shadow settings must be set to “high.”
  • Several minor art issues, like floating objects, seams in the terrain, and issues with disappearing geometry have been corrected.
  • Many places in the world where players could get stuck have been fixed.
  • Several typographical errors have been corrected.
  • An issue that could cause display problems after changing a video card out has been addressed.
  • Players performing certain emotes while riding the Jawa Balloon on Tatooine are no longer teleported back to the balloon’s start position.
  • Changes to the Grass Quality slider in the options now apply immediately when the player presses “OK” or “Apply.”

SWTOR Server Downtime September 11 2012

A three-hour maintenance is the plan this week, here’s hoping it doesn’t extend as long as last week’s.

Time conversions for you:

AEST: 5pm-8pm
AWST: 3pm-6pm
NZST: 7pm-10pm

The full details from BioWare:

Scheduled Maintenance: September 11th, 2012 | 09.08.2012, 03:41 PM

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for three hours on Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 5AM CDT (3AM PDT/6AM EDT/11AM BST/12PM CEST/8PM AEST). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than three hours, but could be extended.

This maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

Time: 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 5AM CDT (3AM PDT/6AM EDT/11AM BST/12PM CEST/8PM AEST

All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than three hours.

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

Blizzard Start TV Spots for Mists of Pandaria

Blizzard in the US have started promoting the upcoming expansion on TV, with two different advertisements taken from the first cinematic released a bit over a week ago.

Here are the two ads:

For the avid and active WoW player there’s not much in there to get excited about, but we’re obviously not the audience. I also think it might have been good to show a second or two of actual gameplay.

What do you think?

WoW 5.04 and Overheating Issues: Fix On The Way

Update: Blizzard have mentioned a fix is on the way in Beta, 5.0.5 (16048):

So good news there!

—————

There’s been a bit of discussion on the Battle.net forums and elsewhere on some issues with the WoW 5.04 client causing a computer to run very hot i.e at 100% or more of CPU usage. I can vouch for this myself in that I’ve seen my Mac laptop running at 128% of CPU usage (don’t ask me how that works) when playing the game proper.

Here’s my CPU usage sitting at the login screen (click on image for full-size):

There’s a number of threads discussing the issue – this one being a prime example. Initially it was thought it was affecting Macs only but there’s increasing reports of PC users copping the same. Additionally, some Mac users, including me, are seeing the stuttering / graphic line effect occur sometimes when opening in-game windows such as the talent window etc.

There’s no word from Blizzard on the issue yet that we’re aware of, but we’ll update this post once there is something substantive.

Over to you: are you experiencing any big heating issues since the 5.04 update?

GW2 Game Status Update: 8th September 2012

Another day, another game update with a nice bunch of fixes, particularly with some storyline steps.

Interestingly, you can now also choose to not be prompted to join your home world if you’re wanting to play on overflow indefinitely.

The update in full:

 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Account Security
Hackers have lists of email addresses and passwords stolen from other games and web sites, and collected through spyware, and are systematically testing Guild Wars 2 looking for matching accounts. To protect yourself, use a strong, unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you’ve never used anywhere else!
When accounts are hacked and then used for botting or spamming ads for gold sales, we ban the accounts until we can return them to their rightful owner. If you login and see the message, “this account has been permanently banned for a violation of the User Agreement,” and if you’re not a gold seller, it’s likely that your account was hacked. Please contact customer support using the instructions below.
If you see email authentication messages in your inbox asking you to approve a login that you didn’t initiate and from someplace you don’t recognize, that’s a sign that a hacker knows your account name and password, and is only being prevented by the email authentication feature from accessing your account. You should immediately change your password to a new, unique password that you’ve never used anywhere else.
You can find more tips for keeping your Guild Wars 2 account secure in this article.
Customer Support
Our customer support team is still prioritizing hacked accounts and other blocking login issues over other types of support requests.
Hacked accounts – If you submit a support ticket for a hacked account, ensure it is properly prioritized by following these instructions. Clearly state that it is a hacked account, and provide as much information as possible, including your account email address, your account display name or character names, and your 25-digit Guild Wars 2 serial code.
Email authentication – Email authentication allows you to approve or deny each login attempt from a new location, which can help protect your account even in the event a hacker discovers your password. However, some customers are finding email authentication messages are being filtered by their email provider or are otherwise having difficulty receiving these messages. You can now turn off email authentication by following these instructions. If you turn it off, be especially sure to use a unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you’ve never used anywhere else.
Password resets – If you’ve lost your password, you can now reset it by following these instructions.
Last Night’s Update
    • Fixed the issue with parties not staying together as they travel into dungeons.
    • Fixed issues with the storyline steps “A Light in the Darkness,” “Estate of Decay,” “Explosive Intellect,” “Rumors of Trouble,” “The Lost Chieftain’s Return,” and “Tribunes in Effigy.”
    • Added an option to stop queueing for your home world, for players who want to remain on an overflow server indefinitely without being asked.
Today’s Back-End Work
    • Fixed PvP tournament rewards.
Tonight’s Update
    • Will add the ability to report in-game mail.
    • Will reset monthly achievements for players who have been stuck at 100%, to help those whose achievements didn’t reset correctly on September 1. (Note that daily achievements reset each day at 00:00 GMT and monthly achievements reset on the first of each month at 00:00 GMT.)
    • Will include fixes for various blocked events and skill challenges.
Reporting exploits
If you discover an emergency game-breaking or economy-breaking bug, do not exploit it, but please notify us immediately at this email address: exploits (at) arena (dot) net. You may also use this email address to report suspected security vulnerabilities. Thank you to everyone who has sent reports. However, note that we cannot respond individually to emails to this address.
Worlds & Overflow
We’re increasing world capacity as necessary to handle all the new players coming into the game.
During this initial surge of high concurrency, and especially while most characters are low-level and thus playing in the same starting areas, it’s common for players to be directed to overflow servers. To play with a friend on a different overflow server, form a party together, then right-click on the friend’s portrait in the party list and click “join”. We expect the use of overflow servers to naturally subside as players spread out more through the world.
Next software updates

The next software update will be tonight at midnight Seattle time. We don’t expect significant downtime; however players may experience some connectivity issues at this time.

Oceanic Soap Box: Remembering The Fallen

I thought that this week, we’d get a little sentimental. It never hurts to take some time to remember lost comrades – and it applies in the MMO sphere as well. What prompted me was the announcement over the past week that City of Heroes will be closing.

It’s an MMO that’s been around since 2004 and like any game of that longevity, it has a devoted following. All too soon it’ll become one of those games that we remember we ‘used to play’.

So on that note, let’s talk about games that have closed / become no longer playable. For me a standout is Raid on Bungeling Bay on the Commodore 64. I got to play at once for around 20 minutes at my parent’s friend’s house and spent the weeks (and months) afterwards obsessing about it. I’d still love to give it a try although I’m pretty sure I’d find it disappointing now.

Which games do you miss most? It doesn’t matter whether it’s PC/Mac/Console/Handheld/Online – let us know what used to float your boat!

SWTOR Update 1.4: Class and Balance Changes

The latest developer update from BioWare features Senior Designer Austin Peckenpaugh. He covers in some detail some interesting changes coming in Update 1.4.

There’s quite a bit of reading below, but it’s well worth doing if you’re interested in what’s coming up. In the crowd control section alone I found there’s some pretty significant alterations on the way. I for one will miss Force Wave as it currently is, but I can see why changes are being made. I love that Force Speed is getting a cool-down reduction though!

Anyway, have a read through and see where you’ll be impacted:

Crowd Control and Resolve Changes

Our goal for crowd control in The Old Republic is to provide abilities that allow the player to take control of a fight, turn the tables, and feel great for taking charge. We know that this can be improved, so I want to explain our philosophy and our motivation for change before going into detail on the changes themselves.

Prior to Game Update 1.4, it was simple to control a target from a great distance and do so instantly, often as a surprise opener or from an unseen location off-screen. The way control abilities were designed encouraged this behavior, and the resulting gameplay could be frustrating.

In Game Update 1.4, we’ve made adjustments to the range of control abilities under a new philosophy. We want control to be something more readable, more predictable, and less chaotic in effect. To achieve that, control needs to require a setup, an activation time, or be close range such that the controller must overextend or broadcast their intentions in some way.

In Game Update 1.4, you’ll notice the following changes:

  • Electro Dart and Cryo Grenade now have a 10-meter range.
  • Electrocute and Force Stun now have a 10-meter range.

Whirlwind and Force Lift still have an activation time and still have a 30-meter range. Plasma Probe and Incendiary Grenade still require an effect and still have a 30-meter range. Mind Trap, Mind Maze, Sleep Dart, and Tranquilizer still require stealth and still have a 10-meter range. Dirty Kick and Debilitate still have a 4-meter range and still have the shortest stun cooldown in the game. Flash Bang and Flash Grenade still have a 30-meter range and are exceptions to this philosophy, as they provide essential gameplay for the Sniper and Gunslinger.

In addition, while Overload and Force Wave make for great escape abilities, they have done so previously at a cost to the overall PvP experience. What we want for these abilities is to create distance between you and your target(s), but what frequently occurs is a bad experience for incidental nearby enemies that aren’t your intended target(s). Jet Boost and Concussion Charge behave similarly, but they are limited to the Mercenary and Commando. Changing them has a less effective impact on the game, and those Advanced Classes play better with a stronger ability on a longer cooldown.

  • Overload and Force Wave have been redesigned. These abilities now knock back all targets within a 15-meter 120-degree cone in front of you. Furthermore, these abilities now knock back all potential targets instantly; they no longer wait for an animation note at the end of the ability animation.

We’ve also made adjustments to the Resolve system in Game Update 1.4. We’ve adjusted the gain logic of Resolve such that simultaneous and overlapping control effects no longer linearly add together their Resolve gain values. Instead, using a crowd control ability on an already controlled target now applies reasonable Resolve gain values by comparing the incoming control effect to the greatest of existing control effects.

As a result of these Resolve changes, unorganized teams will no longer pay huge penalties for overlapping control effects at critical moments. For example, it can frustrate players when pickup groups accidentally make a Marauder immune to Control because two or more teammates tried to stun him at once. The resulting unstoppable wrecking ball that the attacker transforms into made for a pretty poor experience for players trying to escape him. Additionally, we don’t like it when a Huttball ball carrier gets “fed” full Resolve by a disorganized pickup group trying to stop him from scoring by simultaneously landing multiple Control effects.

Ability Changes

We’re confident that these changes create a more predictable, readable, and ultimately enjoyable PvP experience. However, none of these changes are possible without next addressing the “holes” introduced to existing class gameplay. Obviously, reducing the range of stuns and turning Overload and Force Wave into cones demands some buffs to classes that relied on those abilities to escape attackers.

Mercenaries and Commandos:

  • Mercenaries and Commandos now have a 30-meter interrupt, Disabling Shot. This ability interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for the next 4 seconds. This ability can be trained at level 18.
  • Afterburners/Concussive Force: Rocket Punch/Stockstrike now immobilizes the target for 4 seconds instead of knocking it back. Damage caused after 2 seconds ends the effect. The knockback previously caused by this skill generated enough Resolve that it was actually detrimental to the Mercenary/Commando’s ability to further escape the attacker.
  • Tracer Lock/Charged Barrel: Now each stack additionally reduces the activation time of your next Healing Scan/Advanced Medical Probe by 20% per stack.
  • Kolto Residue: Now additionally snares enemies struck by your Kolto Missile/Kolto Bomb by 50% for 3 seconds.
  • New Bodyguard/Combat Medic skill, Peacekeeper/Frontline Medic: While protected by your own Kolto Shell/Trauma Probe, firing Rapid Shots/Hammer Shot at an enemy triggers your Kolto Shell/Trauma Probe to heal you on a separate 3-second rate limit.

Sorcerers and Sages:

  • Force Speed now has a 20-second cooldown (down from 30) for all Consulars and Inquisitors.
  • New Sorcerer/Sage ability, Unnatural Preservation/Force Mend: Heal yourself for a moderate amount. Only usable on yourself. Instant, costs no Force, 30-second cooldown. This ability is trainable at level 18.
  • Dark Resilience/Valiance: Now additionally increases the healing dealt by Unnatural Preservation/Force Mend by 15% per point.
  • Fadeout/Egress has been redesigned. Now causes Force Speed to remove all roots and snares and grant immunity to roots and snares for the duration.
  • Polarity Shift/Mental Alacrity now additionally grants immunity to interrupts for the duration. Improved visual FX to demonstrate this effect.
  • Backlash/Kinetic Collapse: The incapacitation effect caused by this skill no longer breaks on damage.

Stealth Gameplay Adjustments

Prior to Game Update 1.4, stealth classes and specs had an “infiltrate and eliminate” focus that effectively served solo or small team gameplay, but the specs that focused on stealth (Infiltration/Deception, Scrapper/Concealment) weren’t valued very highly for group gameplay.

In PvE, Infiltration/Deception’s burst wasn’t highly valued, and Scrapper/Concealment had difficulty moving quickly between targets. In PvP, the community has made it clear that they want more from stealth specs than “lone wolf” gameplay. In the case of Infiltration/Deception, the spec’s fragility was of great concern to many players, insofar as it didn’t encourage the spec to contribute well to lengthy fights or lend support to teammates.

Scoundrels and Operatives:

  • Disappearing Act/Cloaking Screen now has a 2-minute cooldown.
  • Energy Screen has been renamed to Ghost. Fight or Flight/Ghost: Now this skill finishes the cooldown on Sneak when you exit stealth mode. Furthermore, this skill allows Sneak to be used out of stealth mode, increasing movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. This skill still removes the healing done and healing received penalty caused by Disappearing Act/Cloaking Screen.
  • Flee the Scene/Advanced Cloaking now additionally reduces the cooldown of Sneak by 7.5 seconds per point. Now reduces the cooldown of Disappearing Act/Cloaking Screen by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).

Shadows and Assassins:

  • Force Cloak now has a 2 minute cooldown.
  • Infiltration Tactics/Duplicity: Now when triggered, your next Shadow Strike/Maul deals 30% more damage and costs 75% less Force. This cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds, but each rank after the first reduces this rate limit by 3 seconds.
  • Celerity/Avoidance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Speed by 2.5 seconds per point.
  • Masked Assault/Darkswell: Now additionally finishes the cooldown of Blackout when you exit Stealth mode. In addition, Masked Assault/Blackout causes Shadow’s Respite/Dark Embrace to reduce all damage taken by 25% while active.
  • Fade now additionally reduces damage taken from area effects by 15% per point. Kinetic Field/Entropic Field no longer provides this effect. Now reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 15 seconds per point (down from 30 seconds per point).
  • Kinetic Field/Entropic Field has been redesigned. Now critical hits cause you to build a Kinetic/Entropic Field, increasing damage reduction by 1% per point per stack. Stacks up to 3 times.
  • Humbling Strike/Magnetism is a new 1-point skill. Causes the target of your Spinning Kick/Spike to be slowed by 70% for 3 seconds when the knockdown effect ends.
  • Clairvoyant Strike/Voltaic Slash: Using Project/Shock no longer consumes the buff provided by this ability. This change was made to better synergize with Spinning Strike/Assassinate during execute phases.

Future Game Updates

 

As previously stated, classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic will continue to undergo constant evaluation. Many future changes will be similar in scope and purpose to what I’ve described in this blog – to address usability issues, improve quality of life, and make the most non-invasive changes we can to correct emerging balance issues.

As far as any specifics go, nothing for future Game Updates is locked down well enough to comment on.

Already there’s been some significant feedback from the SWTOR community on the Resolve changes in particular, so there’s been a further response from Peckenpaugh to address that:

First of all, please do keep in mind that reading about changes and experiencing them can be different. We are looking forward to your feedback once you’ve had some time to see these changes when the PTS becomes available!

In the live game, being affected by two stuns simultaneously only controls you for 4 seconds, but it gives you full Resolve. To be plain, this makes escaping a rampaging melee player very, very difficult. It’s directly related to concerns we see regarding overpowered melee and them being inescapable. Going immune after only 4 seconds of control strongly favors the one being controlled.

What this change actually does is make “wasted” control not build extraneous Resolve. Once this change goes live, two well-coordinated players will not be able to control a target for any longer than they ever were able to before. In the live game and after this change, the optimal control strategy is and will continue to be “player B uses his control after player A’s control has worn off.” The only change is that two uncoordinated players aren’t unduly and additionally punished for wasting their control.

Consider the following examples under the new system:

ex. A: Player A stuns the target for 4 seconds. 1 second after the stun is applied, player B stuns the same target for 4 seconds. The target is controlled for a total duration of 5 seconds.

  • Player A stuns the enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = 4 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • 1 second later, player B stuns the same enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = existing 4s + new 1s = 5 seconds | enemy gains 200 Resolve
  • Enemy gains a total of 1000 Resolve for being controlled for 5 seconds
  • Resolve gain rate = 200 per second of stun

ex B: Player A stuns the target for 4 seconds. 4 seconds after the stun is applied, player B stuns the same target for 4 seconds. The target is controlled for a total duration of 8 seconds.

  • Player A stuns the enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = 4 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • 4 seconds later, player B stuns the same enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = existing 4s + new 4s = 8 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • Enemy gains a total of 1600 Resolve for being controlled for 8 seconds
  • Resolve gain rate = 200 per second of stun

Consider those same examples under the old system:

ex A: Player A stuns the target for 4 seconds. 1 second after the stun is applied, player B stuns the same target for 4 seconds. The target is controlled for a total duration of 5 seconds.

  • Player A stuns the enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = 4 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • 1 second later, player B stuns the same enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = existing 4s + new 1s = 5 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • Enemy gains a total of 1600 Resolve for being controlled for 5 seconds
  • Resolve gain rate = 320 per second of stun

ex. B: Player A stuns the target for 4 seconds. 4 seconds after the stun is applied, player B stuns the same target for 4 seconds. The target is controlled for a total duration of 8 seconds.

  • Player A stuns the enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = 4 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • 4 seconds later, player B stuns the same enemy for 4 seconds | effective control duration = existing 4s + new 4s = 8 seconds | enemy gains 800 Resolve
  • Enemy gains a total of 1600 Resolve for being controlled for 8 seconds
  • Resolve gain rate = 200 per second of stun

The only difference here is that the enemy is never treated to undue Resolve gains. Resolve gain always matches the amount of absolute control time. Two coordinated players can control a target as long as ever, but no longer than ever before.

So there you have it – what’s your take on the changes? They seem a nice improvement to me overall – do you agree?

GW2 Game Status Update: 6th September 2012

There’s another update on live issues for GW2.

Some are the ongoing account security / customer service areas, but there’s a range of stuff beyond that. The update is replicated in full for you below:

Account Security

Hackers have lists of email addresses and passwords stolen from other games and web sites, and collected through spyware, and are systematically testing Guild Wars 2 looking for matching accounts. To protect yourself, use a strong, unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you’ve never used anywhere else!

Customer Support
Our customer support team is prioritizing hacked accounts and other blocking login issues over other types of support requests.
Hacked accounts – If you submit a support ticket for a hacked account, ensure it is properly prioritized by following these instructions. We’re resolving prioritized hacked account tickets within 72 hours. If you have an older hacked account ticket that has not been resolved, it may not be properly prioritized, or the ticket may not contain enough information for us to address it quickly. Please update your existing ticket, clearly state that this is a hacked account ticket, and provide as much information as possible, including your account email address, your account display name or character names, and your 25-digit Guild Wars 2 serial code.
Email authentication – We will soon provide a secure method on our web site for customers who are having trouble with email authentication to disable it for their accounts. We ask that you use this new self-help system, and only submit a support ticket if that doesn’t work for you.
Password resets – We will soon provide a secure method on our web site for customers who have lost their passwords or whose passwords aren’t working to reset their passwords. We ask that you use this new self-help system, and only submit a support ticket if that doesn’t work for you.
Support forums – The official support forums are now online, and we have a new forum for players helping other players.
Trading Post
The Trading Post is now available to all players. Items and gold deliveries that have been delayed should arrive soon. Please check your “pick up” tab.
Parties & Guilds
We’re working on capacity constraints causing issues with parties and guild functionality, including symptoms such as party members not appearing on the map, parties not staying together as they travel between maps or into dungeons, and guild manipulation not working. We deployed fixes in last night’s update and will deploy additional fixes in tonight’s update.
Note that guild upgrades and guild influence are world-specific. If you move your account to a new world, you’ll see the upgrades and influence that your guild has on that new world, not the upgrades and influence you previously saw on the old world.
PvP Tournament rewards
We’re still working on the issue with missing PvP tournament rewards.
World v. World event rewards
Event rewards for Dolyak caravan escort events in World v. World will be disabled until further notice.
Storyline steps
In tonight’s software update we will fix issues with the storyline steps “Fury of the Dead”, “Grisly Shipment”, and “In The Ruins”.
Downed mode camera
In tonight’s software update we will improve the downed mode camera to maintain a more consistent distance taking race into account.
Reporting exploits
If you discover an emergency game-breaking or economy-breaking bug, do not exploit it, but please notify us immediately at this email address: exploits (at) arena (dot) net. You may also use this email address to report suspected security vulnerabilities. Thank you to everyone who has sent reports. However, note that we cannot respond individually to emails to this address.
Worlds & Overflow
We’re increasing world capacity as necessary to handle all the new players coming into the game.
During this initial surge of high concurrency, and especially while most characters are low-level and thus playing in the same starting areas, it’s common for players to be directed to overflow servers. To play with a friend on a different overflow server, form a party together, then right-click on the friend’s portrait in the party list and click “join”. We expect the use of overflow servers to naturally subside as players spread out more through the world.
Next software updates
We’ll perform a significant update tonight at midnight Seattle time, during which the game will be unavailable for approximately one hour.

We’ll perform maintenance on the Guild Wars 2 wiki tomorrow night, during which time the wiki will be unavailable for approximately one hour.

GW2 Support Forums Now Live

In a gradual ramping up of its forums, Guild Wars 2 now at least has support forums live.

You can access them here.

ArenaNet state that more forums will be put live once “we’re satisfied with performance under load” (source).

It’s a start and if you’re wanting to get some issues communicated, you now have another way of doing so.

SWTOR Patch Notes 1.3.7

The servers are back up after one of the longer maintenance periods I’ve seen, and standing amongst the smoke is a brand new patch.

It’s a fairly small one to boot, although the changes to the Group Finder will please a lot of people.

The patch notes in full::

 

1.3.7 Patch Notes

9/5/2012

Flashpoints and Operations

General

    • Players will no longer be prevented from traveling to their group’s in a Flashpoint or Operation due to the instance being full.

Group Finder

  • Group Finder now retains a character’s role selections when joining or leaving a group.

Items

General

    • Muse Vestments no longer clip incorrectly with character heads.
    • Helmets, circlets, masks, and visors now display correctly on Miralukan characters, hiding the Miralukan mask.

Legacy

  • Legacy names are no longer unique. New Legacies that are created are now able to use a name that is already in use on the server. All players will be able to rename their Legacies once, at no cost, in a future update.

UI

  • Made minor cosmetic changes to the Character Selection and Character Creation UI.