An Interview with Jesse Sky, Lead Operations & Flashpoint Designer

[carsonlees]

Hi Everyone,

Methodical recently had the chance to meet with Jesse Sky, Lead Flashpoints and Operations Designer. We were able to gain some great insight into the details and thought-process that goes into designing the content that we enjoy so much.

"Thanks for talking with us Jesse. Can you talk about what you learned from each of the three Operations currently out? How has that influenced future Operations?"

Our first two Operations, Eternity Vault and Karagga’s Palace, were built without a lot of player data or feedback to use as a frame of reference. By 1.2, we had a lot more data to work with, and a much-improved picture of how our player abilities differentiate SW:TOR’s end game from other MMOs.

Out of all the Operations, Denova had the longest QA / iteration cycle, and that’s become a core part of our development process. I think it really shows. When a mechanic doesn’t work, we do what we can to adjust it, but we’re not afraid to scrap it altogether.

"Can you discuss your design philosophy regarding the relative difficulty of bosses within the same Operation? For example, is it a design goal that each boss in an Operation be tougher than the previous ones? Do you intend for the last boss of an Operation be a large step up from all the other bosses, or do you prefer a more gradual difficulty curve?"

We generally balance bosses to be progressively more difficult over the course of a single Operation. However, our balance sheets are not always the best indicator of difficulty, especially as we increase our focus on mechanics. Some bosses require strict coordination checks, and that may pose a greater challenge to certain players than gear checks. We were surprised, for example, at how long it took players to down Toth and Zorn on PTS.

That said, we do want the final boss in a hard mode Operation to pose a greater challenge than the rest – we want to give progression guilds something to chew on for a while. It’s a delicate balance, because you don’t want ham-fisted gear checks artificially slowing your progression, but on the other hand, any pure coordination check can be overcome with enough practice.

"So far, all of the Operations have been linear in that you have to kill all of the bosses in a precise order. Do you have any plans for Operations with multiple branching paths or "wings" to allow players more control over the order in which they tackle bosses?"

It’s definitely something we’re interested in. Thus far, our Operations have been structured like traditional dungeon crawls in the interest of storytelling and communicating progression. It’s worked well, but at some point, we’ll have to change things up to keep it fresh.

You can read the full interview & article at http://methodical.enjin.com/devfiles.

[Leonard McCoy]

Going forward, Nightmare Mode will be a true difficulty mode in the sense that it will have its own balance sheets, its own loot rewards, and new mechanics. It gives you more than just bragging rights now; it’s part of the progression. And it’s going to be hard.

sweet can't wait

[Hostagecat]

If they can follow thru yeah its good news.