Posted by Lethality in News | 16 Comments
GameStar.de Talks Operations With Gabe Amatangelo w/ Screenshots
It seems German magazine GameStar.de was able to score an exclusive interview with BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo to discuss Operations, which is BioWare’s take on raiding in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The September issue which is out now would seem to be a perfect lead-up to gamescom, which happens in Cologne, Germany next month. Perhaps we’ll get more details on Operations there? Time will tell!
For now, you can find more information in a thread on the official forums started by user Cebo, who also posts some scans of the article’s pages! He was able to provide a partial translation that confirms both 8- and 16-man raid sizes.
There seems to be a furious effort underway to get it all translated, so if you can help out, hop on over!
Some items of note coming out of the thread:
- 8- and 16-man raid sizes
- Different difficulty settings per size
- Loot commensurate to difficulty
- Badges to purchase items
- “Loot bags” – each player receives from boss
- Area control and capture the flag style Warzones
- 4 and 8 player warzones (per faction)
- Open world PvP objectives confirmed
- Possibility for armored combat vehicles (even though Daniel Erickson told us no)
Stephen Reid comment on Loot Bags:
‘Loot containers’ (name is still a work in progress!) do indeed exist and are designed to alleviate the frustration some feel around high-level loot drops.
As it’s currently implemented, at the end of a key encounter within an Operation, upon looting a high-level opponent, everyone in the Operations group will get an individual container which has a chance to give you a random piece of loot that’s specific to your class. It could be part of an armor set, a weapon, and so on. If you don’t get loot, you’ll get commendations which can be used to purchase gear.
Please note, this feature is currently in Game Testing and may well be modified before launch.
[UPDATE] New screenshots added below. Molten Core confirmed!
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the concept of loot bags per user interest me and troubles me, does the bag drop BOA, BoE or BOP items. My hope is mixed. The badges BoA or BOP, the class items BOP but mats, schematic, trinkets for bragging and things to adjust character …. these need to be thought of as how they can help or hurt the Econ depending on the Bo? decision.
I think the best way to go would be both loot bags and raid loot. So you down a boss, and each person can loot a bag. Within the bag is a badge and the chance (RNG) for an item that is applicable to the class of the person who looted it. This item in the bag, as well as the bag itself, is BoP.
In addition to the bag, the boss himself has a few pieces of loot that the whole raid can roll on. This could include schematics, crafting mats, and other fun stuffs (mounts, pets, etc).
This way everyone gets something, with a chance for that something to be what you really want. And bosses could have a loot table with extra fun stuff that is best for overall guild progress and wider applications to the group. Just my thoughts though.
I really like the sound of the loot bags idea. I can’t wait to hear more on them and how they work.
I am EXTREMELY excited over the raid sizes. Now it will be much easier to get a consistent group of players together for raids. I always thought that 10-man groups were good, but always ended up having to fill in the last spot with someone out side the group. As well, it will be easier to split groups off for more raiding.
My only question is whether SWTOR is going to avoid what WoW did with having a permanent Raid ID per person per raid instance, no matter the size. I would rather have the option to do both sizes than to be limited to only one size per raid ID.
I too am intrigued about “loot bags.” Will you not know exactly what the contents of the bags are until you turn them in?
I love what we’ve seen so far from this article. Has me very excited for operations and I can’t wait to see/hear more about it. I don’t understand why some people see loot bags as a horrible thing. Everyone getting something, with each person having a chance of that something being what they really need, seems awesome to me. I tried to get in on the debate on the official forums, but such bullish pig-headedness (some sort of bovine hog hybrid apparently) just drove me away.
Oh, and Molten Core confirmed indeed! :)
All good points Raz, I think the addition of mini bosses for WoW with loot bags for the holiday stuff was a good spring board for ppl who don’t normal “LFG” to take a chance.
Adding a blended loot format would allow the raid groups to still generate some inclusive/competitive momentum with rolls and still get specific class items into the loot-flow
As well, I think it makes it a bit easier to get raid members “caught up” without setting the raid back too far, in terms of progress.
Loot bags can be good or bad, it depends on how they’re done. The one problem I have is, let’s say I’m a healing Sorc, and I get DPS Sorc items. That’s no good to me, I’d rather this stuff drop on the boss so that the DPS sorc who’s my buddy can get that item. If you make any equipment BoE, then it might as well drop off the boss because that’s the way raid guilds will treat it.
That’s assuming it only uses class and not AC in generating loot. While that could be the case, as much emphasis as they have placed on AC makes me kind of doubt it.
I would think (hopefully) it is more likely that you as a healer sorcerer might end up with dps sorcerer gear. Which while not immediately useful, is at least potentially useful if you like to dps as an off-spec.
I mean, otherwise you could also end up getting a double-ended saber since you are an Inquisitor. Seems that the best way to avoid these issues is to use AC and not base class. Should be easy enough.
could be a trade between people present for a limited time, all in all i think it one sweet idea, screw tanks/healers getting gear prio and then dumping guild when they meet a progressed guilds numbers
Bah! Reading your post again I see you addressed that specific issue. Oh well, sorry ’bout that. Yeah you could end up with gear you don’t need but I still feel it’s better than other loot methods.
How i’ve come to understand higher end loot, is that it’ll have slots and enhancements. The stats will be modifiers added on by the player, allieviating the need for hard stats on gear. Meaning, i’ll loot a chest piece, from my bag, with armor value appropriate for an Inquisitor and I will get to choose which stats to slot it via gems or stats tapes (whatever they are in swtor).
Quote by Georg:
There’s more to this:
The mod system in our game is extremely extensive. You can already keep weapons and armor that you like up to date, stats, wise, for long stretches of the game.
For most items, most, in some cases all, stats on an item come from it’s mods, which can be replaced throughout the game.
I hate gear drop that relies on luck or greed/need system. Need/Greed should only be for schematics and crafting material. Gear should be obtained collecting tokens… this is that fairest way… you play, you kill a boss you get a token you repeat 10 times you get your gear so you know exactly which gear and when you are going to get it. NO GEAR LUCK DROPS PLEASE.