Alex-Modny
Latest
SWTOR's Spoils of War update offers casinos, tweaks group finder
In Star Wars: The Old Republic's most recent dev blog, designers Chris Schmidt, Alex Modny, and George Smith discuss the major game systems headed to servers with the 2.8 Spoils of War update -- specifically, the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event, PvP tweaks, and the story mode ops group finder. Nar Shaddaa casinos will feature slot machines that award special buffs, weapons, armor, cosmetic abilities, and mounts -- like a ridable Rancor -- to lucky gamblers. Participants in Galactic Starfighter matches and Warzones will begin receiving double rewards, and two new ship variants, the Assault Bomber and Skirmisher Gunship, will become available. In an effort to reduce queue time, the group finder will utilize the 16-man story mode difficulty for operations and bolster gear rating for all players. Rewards will also be increased. Read the full dev blog at the official site.
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR PvP rant 2013
I will not pretend that I see the whole picture. All I can see is the situation presented to me. And from my perspective, PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic is broken. This decision doesn't come lightly. I don't believe that I'm making a hyperbolic statement, either. The flaws within SWTOR PvP exceed and trample on the positive parts of the PvP game. Despite being one of the most balanced and fun parts of the game in December of 2011, changes to the system have caused this part of the game to become less and less fun over time. What happened? If PvP used to be enjoyable and now it's just a drag, what changed? The unfortunate answer to that question isn't a simple one. We can't point to one action or one flaw that broke the system that everyone used to enjoy. I went so far as to say that the team at BioWare needs to stop working on PvP because it's taking the team away from expanding on the things that actually work. In fact, PvP changes ruined high-end PvE for some classes like Shadow/Assassin tanks. From my perspective, the team working on PvP is focused on the wrong aspects of the game. I will break it down the best I can.
