With a live stream on May 30 BioWare revealed a lot of details about the serious changes coming to the gearing methods in SWTOR’s 6.0 Onslaught expansion. The new system has both positives and negatives. Because nothing is perfect in this world, join me for a more in-depth look behind the news announcement. Let’s find out why this system is good for SWTOR and how can it hurt and disappoint the players at the same time!
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I made this post into a video. If you prefer to watch and listen instead of reading, the video is available at the bottom of the article.
THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT SPOILS OF WAR
Can you remember the last time a SWTOR expansion did not introduce massive gear changes? Yeah, BioWare keeps experimenting with new ways and new systems since ~ 3.0. Some of them have been met with applause, while others have been openly criticized by the community.
The Onslaught expansion brings yet another BRAND NEW AND FRESH GEARING SYSTEM. It’s so different than any of the previous ones that it almost feels like someone from Anthem‘s dev team came to the SWTOR devs and told them RNG loot is good.
Expansions in MMOs are always changing the game significantly. That’s the proven and working formula to keep players engaged and bring old ones back to check out the new stuff and how the game has changed, evolved.
Me and most of the active players at the time of Knights of the Eternal Throne’s release did not like the Galactic Command. It was a big intrusion for the game and mostly in a very negative way.
In 6.0 BioWare is moving this system to the sidelines, where it should have always been. They are introducing a very new and different method of gearing up and that’s great to hear, because you and me both will have something new to explore beyond the new 5 levels worth of story content and the upcoming Operation.
If you are not a fan of PvP or only prefer to do dailies, or perhaps you are a Flashpoint addict, you should be happy to hear that EVERYTHING YOU DO IN 6.0 WILL REWARD YOU WITH GEAR. It’s fun to read and hear how players are already speculating that Uprisings will get their spot in the light.
No matter what or where you do, you will always have a chance for new gear to drop. Whether it will be a direct drop from an Ops boss, a random drop from a special mob or a purchase with the new currency, the important thing is that the game will focus on rewarding you for the way you play and not force you to go there and do that, because it’s new (hint – Ossus as the most fresh example!)
The new gearing system promises to provide you with a very deep PERSONALIZED BUILDS AND VARIETY OF ITEMS. The fact alone that a brand new gear slot comes into play, is enough. No? How about the announcement of completely new set bonuses, which will also be multiple per class and advanced class? Still no? What if we throw some Amplifiers into the mix?
It’s important to note that while all these new things I described in the previous paragraph are awesome, most of them are meant to be additional bonuses. Amplifiers, for example, are confirmed to not be taken into account for the PvE balancing for 6.0.
These three GOOD THINGS will have to meet up and clash with another three BAD THINGS, agreed? Let’s do it!
THE BAD THINGS ABOUT SPOILS OF WAR
I will leave the most obvious (if you have read my stream overview article, linked above, by the way) for last and start with the fact that we get YET ANOTHER NEW GEARING SYSTEM. How many? Why can’t BioWare stop and pick one, then stick to it for good. This would allow both new and old players to get used to it and not bother re-learning “the same thing” every time they return or an expansion launches.
While having a new system was also mentioned as good above, it has its bad side for many players as well. You have just gotten to the sweet spot with your characters, you have established some patterns for how you gear up, perhaps you even start planning ahead and saving some resources. Then – boom! Everything is new, the old is scratched and thrown away.
The Spoils of War is also NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED AND EXPANSIVE in a way I can’t yet describe with exact examples (just based on the announcement itself). Why do we need all of this diversity? Why do we need set bonuses attached to shells instead of how it has always been – to the armorings? I think I may be able to give you a good answer to that in a moment, Bare with me, we’re not there yet.
The new Tactical Items slot and all of this RNG that comes with the perks and amplifiers might end up making things chaotic. Not to mention it would be very time-consuming to discover and learn what different perks you can have, how they work (or don’t) together and which combinations are the best choice for your class and for you personally.
SWTOR is a casual MMO and it’s BioWare’s fault for transforming it into one. Reasons? I don’t want to get distracted from the topic, so I’ll just throw in one here – no operations and attention to the EndGame for over three years. Casual MMOs don’t need complex and complicated systems.
Now we arrive to the most important topic of all. The Spoils of War will be a HUGE CREDIT AND TIME SINK the way it is shaping up. Being able to persionalize your build and stuff your character with the exact perks and boosts you need for your gameplay style, is awesome, but before you can say “I’m done with this character” you’d have to go through an enormous amount of randomness.
The fight against the RNG Gods will be an uphill battle for sure. You have RNG on the Tactical items as well as the Amplifiers. You can re-roll for better stats, that’s perfect, but it will cost you and I am throwing a guess here that this is how BioWare hopes to fix SWTOR’s completely broken GTN economy.
The set bonuses being attached to the shells now is yet another potential credit sink. You can perhaps easily pick the set bonus you wand, save up on the currency and purchase it from that special vendor, who will only appear on a schedule. One set bonus may go well with one set of Tactical and Amplifiers, while another one wont. The game of optimizing your character will force you through a lot more mods-swapping than ever before.
RNG is needed in an MMO like SWTOR. Otherwise everyone will be ready in a few weeks and get bored. However, it is silly to tell the community that you want to get rid of RNG and then a few years later re-introduce it stronger than ever.
A FEW MORE WORDS
That last segment was considerably longer, have you noticed? I am really, really worried about the Credit sink issue that may arise. It could potentially break the economy even more and introduce Cartel Coins into the battle for credits and re-rolls.
Overall I am happy with the Spoils of War. We still don’t know enough to judge the system based on facts or personal experience, but I wanted to throw this blog post in front of you. Originally I only wanted to talk about the Credit Sink issue, but decided to draw the line and come up with a more balanced post. Plus, the system is not even on PTS yet, so it would be unfair to completely trash it because of the Credit Sink problem, which may even turn out to not be as huge as I fear. This depends on us, actually!
We will have access to PTS some time in June (eventually) and we will be able to provide feedback! Don’t hold back. Tell the devs about everything you like or dislike. I often transform your comments and discussions here on VULKK.com and under my videos on YouTube to provide as feedback to the developers. I can’t say (NDA and stuff) how much and what exactly has been influenced and when, but I can tell you this – we/you prevented something very bad from happening with the Spoils of War already!
Below you can check out the video version of this article. Don’t be silent! Let me hear what you think of Spoils of War! Let BioWare hear what you like or dislike, because we will be playing with it for a long time in the future.
