Quote :

We’re thrilled to announce the launch date of Sunday, April 14, 2013, for the release of the first Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel. Introducing five new levels of gameplay and the vibrant new planet of Makeb, Rise of the Hutt Cartel will be available for download beginning April 14 or for players who qualify for Early Access*, beginning April 9. To start the download, simply log in to the game and click Play.

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20130325
New video



Interviews with developers:
http://dulfy.net/2013/03/25/swtor-rise-of-the-hutt-cartel-interview-with-bioware-developer-brian-audette/
http://www.darthhater.com/articles/feature/23676-developer-q-a-featuring-bruce-maclean
http://torwars.com/2013/03/25/torwars-podcast-special-report-interview-with-rothc-lead-designer-brian-audette/
http://unknownregionsbrewery.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/exclusive-swtor-rothc-bioware-interview/
http://www.madsithassassin.com/2013/03/assassin-developer-interview.html

If we knock out the expansion in three days, I will be severely disappointed in BioWare.

The date is not a surprise and even though Early is 9th I prolly won't get on until 15th, but I guess I can play from my laptop.

Well Shy lets count things to do;

Level to 55 - 1 day for some, a few weeks for others, 5 days at a good pace is easy so let's go with 5.
The galactic quests - probably a day to do one so that's another 2 days
Ops - SM can be done pretty much immediately (probably even with DG gear), HM/NiM is gonna take a while but I don't see it being more than a three weeks for the best PvE guilds.

So yeah I think 3 weeks of content is about it. The grind for gear is what will be most time consuming, depending on whether they keep stat scaling you might need to get each piece like twice but you will want it at least once so that's 7 weeks minimum if you get a piece every week. Add the second tier that's 14 weeks minimum, add implants+earpieces and its 20 weeks. I guess you can skip one tier and buy from crafters but it will take a while for crafters to get schematics.

Add to that the time you will need to level all your toons from 50 to 55 and that's another 5 days per.

All in all the new stuff we will probably burn through (as always, I had my HK within 12h of release, completed TFB in a few short hours with below 8 people and got rep capped on the first day of Gree event) but the 'normal' stuff should keep people busy until 2.1 whenever that may be. Thinking about it Derpy isn't even full 63.

You make it sound like 3 weeks of content and 17 weeks of grinding the content.

Worth the wait.

Fluttershy wrote:

You make it sound like 3 weeks of content and 17 weeks of grinding the content.

Worth the wait.

What were you expecting, every MMO works like that, they can make quests like the binocular thing repeatable but the only reason people will repeat it is to get something from, i.e. grind.

They are also saying that there is a lot of story so the new content is probably gonna keep you a lot longer if you don't spacebar, but when was the last time you listened to side-quests?

Well, guess I'm getting a new main. Sigh. So long, Balance Shadow DPS, it was nice knowing you.

Derpy wrote:

Fluttershy wrote:

You make it sound like 3 weeks of content and 17 weeks of grinding the content.

Worth the wait.

What were you expecting, every MMO works like that, they can make quests like the binocular thing repeatable but the only reason people will repeat it is to get something from, i.e. grind.

They are also saying that there is a lot of story so the new content is probably gonna keep you a lot longer if you don't spacebar, but when was the last time you listened to side-quests?

I listened to all the side quests at least once. There is no point to skip it since you paid for it, may as well listen.

I think I am going to just take the content slowly and try to enjoy everything, rather than rush to 55 and run out of shit to do quickly.

Lyra wrote:

Derpy wrote:

Fluttershy wrote:

You make it sound like 3 weeks of content and 17 weeks of grinding the content.

Worth the wait.

What were you expecting, every MMO works like that, they can make quests like the binocular thing repeatable but the only reason people will repeat it is to get something from, i.e. grind.

They are also saying that there is a lot of story so the new content is probably gonna keep you a lot longer if you don't spacebar, but when was the last time you listened to side-quests?

I listened to all the side quests at least once. There is no point to skip it since you paid for it, may as well listen.

I think I am going to just take the content slowly and try to enjoy everything, rather than rush to 55 and run out of shit to do quickly.

Easier said then done. At least Hightail It unlocks at 51 (I think) so I don't have to wait long to roll around.

Ye both my first Pub and Imp I listened to sidequests but now I just listen to class Story lines. First time makeb I will probably take in in as well.

Do not think we will have enough people to do S&V in the first week but might as well schedule it and see.

Cloudchaser wrote:

Well, guess I'm getting a new main. Sigh. So long, Balance Shadow DPS, it was nice knowing you.

http://www.madsithassassin.com/2013/03/assassin-developer-interview.html

Derpy wrote:

Cloudchaser wrote:

Well, guess I'm getting a new main. Sigh. So long, Balance Shadow DPS, it was nice knowing you.

http://www.madsithassassin.com/2013/03/assassin-developer-interview.html

Seems legit. DPS Phase Walk should give anyone who stands in it increased damage reduction when spec'd into it as having a Shadow drop in on the tank seems pretty reasonable.

Fluttershy wrote:

Derpy wrote:

Cloudchaser wrote:

Well, guess I'm getting a new main. Sigh. So long, Balance Shadow DPS, it was nice knowing you.

http://www.madsithassassin.com/2013/03/assassin-developer-interview.html

Seems legit. DPS Phase Walk should give anyone who stands in it increased damage reduction when spec'd into it as having a Shadow drop in on the tank seems pretty reasonable.

Makes sense but the main reasoning behind the heal buff is that it synergises with the tank's spikeyness, outright boosts to DR or DPS must be carefully balanced as not to make a class needed for progression (Sents already kind of are but Inspiration is well balanced and on a long cd and is not a make-or-break ability)

Options:

Buffs

Damage increase - could make a Shadow necessary team member if lasting for the duration, could be akin to Inspiration, i.e. short lasting or maybe just 1% increase
Damage reduction - again could make a shadow necessary if lasting for the duration so it could be a cooldown like Slinger bubble or Transcendance, could also only apply to AoE damage and not effect the tank too much.
Healing buff - tanks already have it, so kinda cheap
Speed Boost - speed boost to where?
Accuracy/Crit Buff - in fact this would be pretty neat with the stat scaling but should be limited

Debuffs:

Essentially lowering bosses Damage dealt or accuracy.
Armour debuff - in fact this is fairly viable, well balanced and helps with Shadow DPS. It would also mean that you do not 'need' Slinger, Guardian or Mando.

Well, this should be fun. Looking forward to the new aspects that Makeb seems to be offering; I'm guessing that (seeing as it provides reputation points), most of the missions, save for the basic story, are weekly and daily missions, as on Ilum?

Not really related but it's a pretty good read.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/gdc-2013-james-ohlen-on-how-f2p-saved-swtor/

Shinjiro wrote:

Not really related but it's a pretty good read.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/gdc-2013-james-ohlen-on-how-f2p-saved-swtor/

I still love the game, but I feel that was a good read. It's something from the inside that admits fault as well other things you'd normally never see a company do. I dig it.

~D

Official 2.0 patch notes are out. Nothing mentioned that we didn't already know, for the most part.

2.0 Patch Notes

Here are my highlights:

• Some bugs were fixed, some.
  
• They spent a considerable amount of time re-balancing companion damage.
  
• Completely ignored mentioning Tactics and High Energy Cell in the Vanguard notes, this makes me believe the previous crippling nerf to the spec is still in place, or Bioware still has no idea what they want to do with it.
  
• Lost Island Hard Mode's difficulty has been significantly decreased, again.
  
• Hard Mode and Nightmare Mode of Explosive Conflict have the same level (63s) gear drops, meaning completing Nightmare is just for epeen/mounts.
  
• TFB is now 55, drops Arkanian in story and Underworld gear in hard, and all chests have been replaced with mobs.
  
• Level 51+ mods are now bound to the type of gear they're extracted from, itemizing just got a whole lot harder.
  
• Tangy now needs the Weaponmaster set bonus for PvP (super).
  
• Scoundrel healer's PvP 2pc is now pointless for PvE and the PvE 4pc gives 5 more energy to a spec that shits energy regen.

I have pretty mixed emotions about these patch notes. There are a few things I like, many things I find quite questionable, and a lot of changes or ignored pieces that make me want to headdesk. I guess I'll just have to wait for tomorrow to find out what I really want to know, like if crit is still borked and some class specs are just unplayable.

Gotta say, Makeb was a lot of fun. Sure, annoying in length in some parts, but finally seeing the end made it all worthwhile.
Also doing it with another person (whoo, Luna!) made it far more bearable than it would otherwise have been: protip, people.

Also first guildie to 54 hell yeah
(I'll stop boasting about this as soon as someone - probably Deka or Doomsday - hits 55 before I do, which is likely going to be the case; it's too much of an achievement in my eyes to pass over)