Taugrim's MMO Blog

BioWare revealed many key features for Patch 1.2.

Here are some of the notable takeaways from the livestream. My comments in italics.

Quality of Life Improvements

• Sprint (out-of-combat movement buff) will be available at level 1. Thank. Freaking. Goodness.

UI Changes

• Customization
  • You can move / re-position elements
  • You can resize individual elements or the entire UI
  • You can export your UI settings (XML file format), so you can share them with other players. Unfortunately you can not export keybindings
• They are adding Target of Target as a UI element
• Companion bar will be separate instead of an overlay
• Mouseover targeting is not making it into 1.2
• No ETA on macros. What they are ruling out are macros that affect combat directly
• No ETA on API for addons
• No plan on adding a separate bar for Stealth, just as there is in Cover

General PVP

• Valor Rank will not be a gate / requirement for gear – it’s merely a measure of how long you have been PVP’ing. Unarmed Brawling combat will be unlocked at higher ranks. It appears it will be more for Prestige and for fun
• Stats on PVP gear are getting re-worked. My hope is that with the changes PVP gear will be the best option for PVP for each slot, which is not the case now. Right now the DR cap is too low for Expertise, which makes slotting all PVP gear a waste
  
• Tab targeting is being worked on. So many people have complained about this, so it’s good that BioWare is looking at it
• You can target players by clicking on their nameplate. BRB need to rename character to “Tau” and guild to “Mvn”

Rated Warzones

• You have two options for queueing for Rated Warzones
  • solo for 8v8. I think having solo queues for Rated Warzones will be hilariously fun. People in the chat over on GAMEBREAKER speculate that this will be a lot of Assassin/Shadow and Operative/Scoundrel, and I’d throw in Sentinel / Marauder as well. Those 3 classes are the strongest for soloing and most difficult to shutdown in terms of their DPS. Regardless, it will be an entertaining option while you are waited for guildees / friends
  • 8-person group for 8v8. Finally, we can run full 8-person groups! The catch of course for smaller guilds is having 8 players available and online that make for a functional comp. As Leiralei tweeted, it would also be great for smaller guilds if you could queue as a 4-person team, and get paired up with another same-size team.
• There will be a “pre-season” for Rated Warzones at the start of 1.2, and the the “regular” season will begin. What this means exactly is not clear, but some people are speculating that pre-season will be used to bracket people at the start of the regular season. TBD.
• Rating will be at the individual level, as opposed to the team level. Prior to this announcement, I was concerned that Rank warzone teams would have a fixed roster, a la WoW’s Arena. The issue here is that creating teams with fixed rosters can create schisms within guilds and you need the same team members online to be able to run. Having the rating at the individual level will allow for much more flexibility
• Best-in-Slot PVP gear will come from Rated Warzones. I have mixed feelings about this. IMO titles / bragging rights are sufficient reward for the cream of the crop. Giving them a gear advantage will make PVP even more faceroll, especially against lesser-ranked opponents in whatever context. When Blizzard largely removed the Arena Rating requirements for epic PVP gear in Cataclysm, it created a much more level playing field, where outcomes were determined based on skillful play and coordination (and composition)

Multi-Spec

• They are targeting Dual Spec shortly after 1.2
• You have to manually click gear to swap sets, i.e. no predefined gear sets

PVE Difficulty

• Normal Mode is being replaced by Story Mode
• Nightmare Mode Operations will drop different loot and have additional mechanics compared to Hard Mode Operations

Companions

• Regarding same-gender relationships
  • They don’t want to just take the existing storylines / voiceovers and re-work them – that isn’t storytelling
  • They did have some romance relationships that did not make the cut due to budget reasons
  • They will come out with same-gender relationships with the Story Updates later this year

Population / Distribution Numbers

• Overall population breakdown across all server types
  • 57% Empire
  • 43% Republic
• The population is more lopsided on PVP servers, but Georg did not say by how much
• Not surprisingly, Sith Inquisitor is the most popular class, with almost one-fifth of the entire game population

UPDATE (2012/03/07): Dulfy took in-depth notes from the livestream, so check out her post. She has a kick-ass blog, so make sure to follow her on Twitter.

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Twitter: @taugrim
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GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/

The 0/12/29 spec for Bounty Hunter Powertech / Trooper Vanguard is a heavy DPS spec with good CC capability.

Here are links to the spec: Powertech | Vanguard

I did not take the 31-pt talent Thermal Detonator (Assault Plastique). TD (AP) is an excellent ability and hits for ~50% harder than the base Explosive Dart (Sticky Grenade). That being said, keep in mind the ability has a 15-sec cooldown and I decided to go with the interrupt talent instead.

As Powertech and Vanguard Advanced Classes are mirrors, I reference the corresponding Vanguard talents and abilities in parentheses below.

Spec Strengths

1. Strong sustained and burst damage mechanics:
   • +6% total Tech Crit Chance
   • +6% Crit Chance for fire (Elemental) attacks. Keep in mind all of our fire attacks are Tech attacks, so this stacks with the previous bullet point
   • 60% armor penetration and 30% armor penetration for the talents for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt)
   • The proc-reset talent for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt)
   • +9% damage to burning targets for key abilities including Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt), Rocket Punch (Stockstrike), and Rapid Shots (Hammer Shot)
   • +30% Crit damage bonus for Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt), Incendiary Missile (Incendiary Round), and Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell)
2. Good CC capability:
   • Interrupt with a 6-sec cooldown instead of the base 8-sec default. This is very helpful for shutting down healers / casters
   • Ranged pull on a 35-sec cooldown instead of 45-sec. In Huttball I use the ranged pull to disrupt EFCs and to pull people into the acid and fire pits

Spec Weaknesses

Spec’ing is all about tradeoff decisions. As such, here are the things you give up with this spec:

1. Limited mobility. This spec lacks Charge capability from the tanking tree and the passive movement buff and on-demand unstoppable sprint in the middle tree
2. Guard capability, since this spec is most effective at DPS’ing when running Combustible Gas Cylinder (Plasma Cell)

Narrated PVP Footage

The following video contains gameplay footage of my Vanguard with this spec and includes real-time commentary from me and my team mates:

http://www.twitch.tv/taugrim/b/305733320

Our <Maven> premade consisted of:

• Ris’ek 26 healing Sage: this is Justin Lowe, co-founder of darthhater.com and my co-host on GAMEBREAKER’s SWTOR The Republic show
• Tamgros 38 Shadow: this is Matt, my co-host on GAMEBREAKER’s RIFT The Sanctum show
• Talac 42 healing Sage, later replaced by Liral a lowbie healing Sage not from our guild, later replaced by Swartz 43 DPS Commando

We won 10 consecutive matches (including a lame 11v8 in Alderaan) as I completed my 50 warzone weeklies for the first time. Speaking of gear, in the video I started with 3 pieces of Champion gear, and during the stream I acquired another 2 pieces. So far I’m 5 for 11 on bags

If you are looking for more in-depth information on Powertech / Vanguard, check out my Guide on Powertech / Vanguard Mechanics and PVP.

Let me know your questions and feedback.

UPDATE (2012/01/19): based on exphryl’s (and others’) feedback I swapped out Degauss for the Infrared Sensors (Nightvision Scope), as the talented Stealth Scan ability provides far more value than the movement-breaking effect from Degauss.

Follow Me

Twitter: @taugrim
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/

http://www.twitch.tv/taugrim/b/305231415

We won this match in 4:59.

Both sides had 50s:

• Republic had 2
• Empire had 2+

The 50 Sages from <Vendetta> said this was the fastest win for their guild ever. Ditto for me.

To top things off, I had some DIAF- and acid-pull kills

I’ve been streaming all day – either PUG or sub-50 premade – and things have gone well. Right now 50s have a faceroll advantage, but sub-50s can still make a difference and outplay 50s.

EDIT (2011/01/12): OK, this wasn’t the fastest Huttball I’ve been a part of. We won in 4:40 in a guild premade back on Jan 1st when I was level 31. But that was a premade and we likely didn’t face multiple 50s.

Today I launched the first “show” on my TwitchTV channel.

Here is the link to the recorded broadcast:

In this episode, we cover:

1. The most frequently asked questions for me from Beta
2. Schwag & Giveaway announcement
3. Live Q&A and discussion

Please let me know what you think – positive and constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated.

I will be streaming SWTOR game footage (PVP and PVE) once I get into Early Access and my guild Irony gets sorted out as far as where we’re playing. You can expect a lot of ad-hoc streams this week, and hopefully by next week I’ll have a regular schedule.

Information about our guild is in the broadcast, so I won’t say more – watch the recording.

As discussed in the episode, my CafePress store is now up at cafepress.com/taugrim. Let me know what products I’m missing that you would purchase.

I’m going to order a t-shirt and hoodie tomorrow, just need to pick the designs / colors I want to wear.

Follow Me

Twitter: @taugrim
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/

I wanted to share with y’all an exciting milestone. During my 15th session of streaming, my TwitchTV channel cracked 100k views and 1k followers:

With the NDA lift for SWTOR on November 18th, I’ve been streaming SWTOR PVP action every day with live commentary.

Much of the traffic is due to my having access to General Testing, which is a limited pool of people compared to the Weekend Tests – i.e. there are a limited number of people who can even stream at this time.

That being said, viewers have been providing very positive feedback for my stream, and this has been a huge encouragement to me

Being a resource to the gaming community has been my passion for 6 years, but until recently it’s been a hobby not a vocation – what I’ve been able to do has been limited to free time outside of work. Recently I made the leap to “give it a go” as a full-time job.

Your support is essential in making this a financially viable and sustainable job transition, and to the extent I do this full-time the more content I can contribute to the community. Therefore here are my asks of you:

1. Spread the word on social media and on the SWTOR forums, and tell your friends and guildees
2. Stick around through the commercials on my stream. I want to create a positive viewing experience so I won’t be spamming them
3. Keep giving me the constructive feedback. In just a week I’ve learned so much from you about streaming and SWTOR

Thank you!

Taugrim

Follow Me

Twitter: @taugrim
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/