SWTOR information gathered thus far from various sources

[Shilien]

I disagree. The basic, no resource, abilities are essentially white damage.

They really aren't. White damage is guaranteed damage that is always happening, a 'baseline' of your damage potential.

The resource free gcd costing ones are for when you either make a mistake or want to conserve for a bigger burst later. Completely different mechanics and effects.

It also varies by class, too, as some use them as 'filler' and some use them as 'builders'.

[Deleted]

Ranged would be like hunters of WoW in a way. They'll have their basic attack to fill up the resources and then they use their attacks to dumb them.

No auto attack is not a huge innovative, or α gamebreaking feature. It's like playing a casters of WoW where you use all of your GCD

[rhorle]

The resource free gcd costing ones are for when you either make a mistake or want to conserve for a bigger burst later. Completely different mechanics and effects.

And that is essentially what other games use auto-attack white damage for. White damage can happen without auto attacking so your definition is off to begin with. White damage is basic base line damage your class does that costs you no class resources to do. So you are conserving resources and using it as a filler. The basic no-resource attacks that classes in TOR have is the same as white damage in other games. The only difference is that in other games the white damage is an auto-attack, in TOR it has to be activated each time.

For example in WoW White damage comes from Shoot (wands), Throw, Auto-attack, Auto-shot. It has nothing to do with happening automatically but with no resource basic attacks. All white damage in WoW are abilities that consume no resource types. However just to be clear, not all resources that consume no resources are considered white damage.

[Deleted]

They really aren't. White damage is guaranteed damage that is always happening, a 'baseline' of your damage potential.

The resource free gcd costing ones are for when you either make a mistake or want to conserve for a bigger burst later. Completely different mechanics and effects.

It also varies by class, too, as some use them as 'filler' and some use them as 'builders'.

Question i've often wondered about TOR mate:

I saw many abilities have their damage listed in the description. With there being no standard attack then what is the point of weapon crafting?

As in, if the weapon has damage stats but they aren't figured into combat then is the Wep crafting just basically for different skins and not based on dmg output?


Possible example: My BH has a pistol. He's a BH so let's say at lvl 10 he has 4 attacks abilities. When fighting he has no standard attack but can only attack using the 4 abilities he has. Each ability does set damage (listed in it's description/tooltip). So if he's using a lvl 10 Czerka dart pistol (332 dmg) or a lvl 3 pistol (5 damage) he's still hitting for what the 4 attack abilities list as damage. Would this be an accurate example?

Seems like a dumb question I know but i've seen lots of attack specials with set damage numbers and so was wondering in that case what is the use of crafting weapons if not for cosmetic reasons only.

Example from SWG: My BH is lvl 10 let's say. He has 4 attack abilities at lvl 10. He has a crafted DC-15 rifle with 445 dps and a Bola carbine with 701 dps. Having a standard attack in SWG means there's a noticeable difference in using those 2 weapons regardless of the attack abilities...my Bola will do more dmg.

Never quite seemed clear to me from seeing all the Beta video's etc...just want to be reassured that wep stats mean something in combat. Any info on this from the testers would be great, thanks.

[Protoman]

To me, this is a fine example why we should be glad there is no auto-attack in this game. Without it, BioWare is forced to give every class something to do every GCD. This will ultimately make combat a lot more interesting.

Every class did have something to do. You listed warriors as an exception, but they were limited by rage, or rogues with energy....if they had unlimited resources they would be spamming something every gcd as well.....warriors did spam HS at one point, and rogues could spam SS if their energy regened fast enough (they almost do anyways).

Removing auto attack has no effect on ranged classes, and just devalues certain stats for melee imo. It's not a huge issue though, but it was really more of a reward for being melee and in range of enemy, made stats like haste more important, and helped proc stuff.

I saw many abilities have their damage listed in the description. With there being no standard attack then what is the point of weapon crafting?

As in, if the weapon has damage stats but they aren't figured into combat then is the Wep crafting just basically for different skins and not based on dmg output?

Your typical gun in an mmo has a weapon range and speed, which equal DPS which is usually easiest way to judge something. Auto attack, or shot will be the weapon range, and in white damage. Typically slower weapons (like 3.00 spd vs 2.00 spd) will favor higher end of the weapon range. Any abilities are usually first based off that weapon range, then modified by a % or +.

Ex: Plasma Blaster
dmg: 425-668
spd: 3.00 sec
DPS: 160.1 DPS


My guess is they will still design weapons like that for TOR, and give you an ability called "Basic Shot" or something that you can spam and does "Weapon damage +35". So it still factors in the weapons stats, plus slight modification, and is your basic spammable ability.....essentially auto shot. Then you have other abilities like "Burst shot" which would do 175% weapon damage on a cd, or "snare shot" which is 120% +25 wep dmag plus a slow ect.

So weapon stats won't be cosmetic, and you will probably see its base weapon damage in you first spammable ability.



--------------------------

Just saw the latest Q&A on Betacake.....some interesting info on there: http://www.betacake.net/2011/08/star...tester_20.html

Some quick things to point out from what he said:

-Don't expect a revolutionary mmo or you will be disappointed, this is basically a better version of WoW with similar features in a sci fi setting. If you go in with that expectation then you won't be disappointed, but if you expect a new twist in pve or pvp you will just end up complaining about something not being good enough
-decisions in world quests don't affect outcome, but class/dungeon ones do
-dark/light side affects titles and gear, like color of light sabers....but no change in apperance like scars and stuff
-companions and npcs will be less friendly but not ignore or leave you if you are of opposite side
-character control is as good or better then wow, tab target works
-flashpoints fun but can be tedious unless you coordinate dialogue choices and skip scenes on repeat playthrus
-gear has gem slots, items can be salvaged for mats
-no lfg finder, but prob dungeon ports to help group soon
-leveling diff supposed to be pretty easy, exp players can solo most quests

[Deleted]

@Jamos the skill damage that you see is not static, it is changed by various factors: character level, and, relevant to our discussion, weapon damage. I'm not in the beta, and I don't know if weapon damage is something that you see directly on your weapon as a stat, but generally everyone knows that higher level weapons have higher damage. Also, better weapons have better stats (aim, cunning, etc) which further increase skill damage.

[Gorthil]

Question i've often wondered about TOR mate:

I saw many abilities have their damage listed in the description. With there being no standard attack then what is the point of weapon crafting?

As in, if the weapon has damage stats but they aren't figured into combat then is the Wep crafting just basically for different skins and not based on dmg output?


Possible example: My BH has a pistol. He's a BH so let's say at lvl 10 he has 4 attacks abilities. When fighting he has no standard attack but can only attack using the 4 abilities he has. Each ability does set damage (listed in it's description/tooltip). So if he's using a lvl 10 Czerka dart pistol (332 dmg) or a lvl 3 pistol (5 damage) he's still hitting for what the 4 attack abilities list as damage. Would this be an accurate example?

Seems like a dumb question I know but i've seen lots of attack specials with set damage numbers and so was wondering in that case what is the use of crafting weapons if not for cosmetic reasons only.

Example from SWG: My BH is lvl 10 let's say. He has 4 attack abilities at lvl 10. He has a crafted DC-15 rifle with 445 dps and a Bola carbine with 701 dps. Having a standard attack in SWG means there's a noticeable difference in using those 2 weapons regardless of the attack abilities...my Bola will do more dmg.

Never quite seemed clear to me from seeing all the Beta video's etc...just want to be reassured that wep stats mean something in combat. Any info on this from the testers would be great, thanks.

I would assume it's similar to WoW, where the min / max damage on your weapon increases the skills damage.

[Deleted]

Very cool, thanks guys.

Reassured me as I'm planning on making thousands of weapons come launch. Have been a wepsmith for many years in SWG and so would love to be able to have a shop full of every known type/quality/skin on TOR.

Thanks again.

[Pantelija]

Just saw the latest Q&A on Betacake.....some interesting info on there: http://www.betacake.net/2011/08/star...tester_20.html

Some quick things to point out from what he said:

-Don't expect a revolutionary mmo or you will be disappointed, this is basically a better version of WoW with similar features in a sci fi setting. If you go in with that expectation then you won't be disappointed, but if you expect a new twist in pve or pvp you will just end up complaining about something not being good enough
-decisions in world quests don't affect outcome, but class/dungeon ones do
-dark/light side affects titles and gear, like color of light sabers....but no change in apperance like scars and stuff
-companions and npcs will be less friendly but not ignore or leave you if you are of opposite side
-character control is as good or better then wow, tab target works
-flashpoints fun but can be tedious unless you coordinate dialogue choices and skip scenes on repeat playthrus
-gear has gem slots, items can be salvaged for mats
-no lfg finder, but prob dungeon ports to help group soon
-endgame difficulty supposedly too easy for now

Latest Q/A was written by an idiot , half of stuff he said isnt true and its mearly a wild speculation , endgame isnt even in the beta atm so his word that endgame is easy and repetative is just a lie .

[sammiam]

Latest Q/A was written by an idiot , half of stuff he said isnt true and its mearly a wild speculation , endgame isnt even in the beta atm so his word that endgame is easy and repetative is just a lie .

Not to mention, Mr Reid indicated there would be multiple (more than 2) difficulty settings for raids, so It sounds like people should be getting their fill difficult content.

[Protoman]

Latest Q/A was written by an idiot , half of stuff he said isnt true and its mearly a wild speculation , endgame isnt even in the beta atm so his word that endgame is easy and repetative is just a lie .

I notice you say its not true but don't offer any real truth or corrections yourself. Are you in the beta? Can you tell me what is or isn't true? If you can't offer anything to make the facts more clear then your word is less reliable then his cause atleast he has some details.

He seems pretty legit and from what I have read from him and previous posts I believe him since the info is consistent from diff testers.

"Endgame" doesn't mean true endgame, just whatever dungeons and raids they were able to try at the level cap. Repetitive isn't necessarily bad....it's jsut the same trinity and playstyle you would be used to with WoW.......easy just means any experienced mmo player will have an easy time adjusting and prob able to solo the single player quests without difficulty.

You are taking offense but this is what he was talking about, people building up expectations when you just have to accept the game as it is. Especially when it comes to difficulty I have no doubt that 1-50 will be fairly easy to do until you reach level cap and can try "heroic" difficulties if they have those. Same was for Rift or any other game, if you have played one you have played em all the PVE is of little challenge.

Take Rift raids at release and now the difficulty has increased alot, I'm sure TOR will be exactly the same. The one raid they have on release will be an easy transiiton into raiding, then later down the road they release an actually challenging encounter, plus the hard modes for dungeons.

[rhorle]

Especially when it comes to difficulty I have no doubt that 1-50 will be fairly easy to do until you reach level cap and can try "heroic" difficulties if they have those. Same was for Rift or any other game, if you have played one you have played em all the PVE is of little challenge.

There will be heroic flashpoints including heroic versions (at level cap) for low level flashpoints.

From the Twitter gamescon 2011 Q&A:

"NiklasABerndt Niklas Berndt by Rockjaw
@Rockjaw #GabeQ we have heard about difficulties on operations but will there be any difficulties on the endgame flasints?
Rockjaw Stephen Reid
Hey there @NiklasABerndt -- Yes, there will be a 'hard mode' for some early level Flashpoints which sets them to level 50. - Gabe
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=380477

[Akio]

I notice you say its not true...etcetcetc snip

If you want to believe him, that's your prerogative, but multiple beta testers have said that he's full of it. I'm not going to bother giving you exact quotes because hey, you can research yourself.

[Deleted]

Science Fantasy is a legitimate genre. The difference between Sci-Fi and Sci-Fan is that Fiction usually cares about the technical details of the world it's created in, and fantasy is more concerned with the story. (Star Trek writers spent alot of time on the science of their world to make it plausible.) The details about how things work is what makes Star Trek Science Fiction. The science advisors would change the details of the story to make the science "facts" of that world more in line with our world's science.

If you just look at the Star Wars movies, they are mostly Science Fantasy. It's not just about the force, it's that the tech of the stories only exist to further the story along. If you don't believe me, consider this: The empire has enough money to build 2 death stars, why would they not put shields on their fighters? I mean, I literally just erased 5 more examples of the tech being used as a means to an end.

Now, it definitely has some western elements to it, but it's definitely on the science-fantasy end of the fiction genre.

Tie fighters are cheap and disposable, they do not care about survivability of their pilots when they have so many.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TIE/ln_starfighter

[rhorle]

Oh man, i didn't know that. Thats pretty sweet how you can turn your ship into like some major badass death machine that rains down hell from above. I figured the Space Combat stuff was alot simpler.

I know my ship is gonna become a freakin train from hell that will beat the Sith fleet like a mixed race stepchild

The video I was talking about wasn't from e3, it was actually from PAX back in March. Around 4:30 to 5:00 is where they mention ship upgrades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUGMZson6rw

[Protoman]

If you want to believe him, that's your prerogative, but multiple beta testers have said that he's full of it. I'm not going to bother giving you exact quotes because hey, you can research yourself.

Ignore endgame difficulty. I already said I misspoke and changed it in my post above, I was talking about the leveling content being easy, but I'm sure endgame raids and heroic dungeons will be difficult like any other game. Everything else he said and I listed seems true though and again no proof to show otherwise.

He also mentioned cyborgs as a race choice which would be awesome if they add it.

[Pantelija]

I notice you say its not true but don't offer any real truth or corrections yourself. Are you in the beta? Can you tell me what is or isn't true? If you can't offer anything to make the facts more clear then your word is less reliable then his cause atleast he has some details.

He seems pretty legit and from what I have read from him and previous posts I believe him since the info is consistent from diff testers.

"Endgame" doesn't mean true endgame, just whatever dungeons and raids they were able to try at the level cap. Repetitive isn't necessarily bad....it's jsut the same trinity and playstyle you would be used to with WoW.......easy just means any experienced mmo player will have an easy time adjusting and prob able to solo the single player quests without difficulty.

You are taking offense but this is what he was talking about, people building up expectations when you just have to accept the game as it is. Especially when it comes to difficulty I have no doubt that 1-50 will be fairly easy to do until you reach level cap and can try "heroic" difficulties if they have those. Same was for Rift or any other game, if you have played one you have played em all the PVE is of little challenge.

Take Rift raids at release and now the difficulty has increased alot, I'm sure TOR will be exactly the same. The one raid they have on release will be an easy transiiton into raiding, then later down the road they release an actually challenging encounter, plus the hard modes for dungeons.

He doesnt seem pretty legit , if u do some research u will see that 90% of stuff he has said is just a wild speculation and the rest is stuff we already know about
Not to mention he called SWTOR a WoW clone with fancy voice over.

First couple of Q/A's were legit and u could confirm said infos , after Betacake migrated to his new site he is just writtingsome very suspicious nonsense to keep people going on said site and the last thing he posted about Site pageviews is hilarious , only naive people could believe that .
Also the comment censorship and heavy moderation when someone mentions those things kinda gives u the picture of real situation.

[Deleted]

I notice you say its not SNIP

Trust us on this, that guy is full of crap. Most of use that have followed this thread from the start could have answered the same way he did, he gave nothing new away.

[Shilien]

That guy probably was/is in the beta, but that doesn't make him intelligent. Most of his answers are pure opinion and not fact. Especially the comparions to WOW crafting, what a joke that part was.

[Deleted]

That guy probably was/is in the beta, but that doesn't make him intelligent. Most of his answers are pure opinion and not fact. Especially the comparions to WOW crafting, what a joke that part was.

Not to mention how sarcastic he was, no need for such rudeness.