The Senior Game Producer for SWTOR Keith Kanneg has been quiet for a long time on all fronts. Three weeks after the release of Update 6.0 and the Onslaught expansion, he posted on the official forums what could pass as a roadmap, but in reality it’s just a message to the players. He didn’t even bother to call it a roadmap, but instead put a “Checking in” title. Let’s see what he reveals and what you could find hidden between the lines here and there!
Do you remember when was the last official Roadmap posted for SWTOR? That’s right, it’s been a while! Keith Kanneg posted on the official SWTOR forums a message that I very much want to pass as a roadmap.
My mind tells me this was his intent when he (or his people) wrote it and passed it for approval. The information, however, is very scarce and so it is simply titled “Checking in”.
It has been a while since I put out a post so I figured I would stop into the forums and get an update out to everyone. I’ll provide you with a brief update about what’s coming soon, but first and foremost want to address the issues we’ve been experiencing with our Tulak Hord server this past week. It’s being very stubborn and every time we think we have it nailed, it decides to kick some players from various areas in the game and won’t let them back in for a while. Not a great experience for anyone and I apologize we haven’t fixed it already. We believe it’s an intermittent hardware issue, making it difficult to isolate, so we’re rebuilding that server and will deploy a new one later tonight. We’re going to have to take the European servers down, but we’ll look to get it done while most of you are sleeping. We will let everyone know when we’ve completed the effort.
It’s not just been a while since his last roadmap. Keith, who once promised better devs communication and activity, has gone silent for a very long time. He is also very reluctant to show up on stream. Not that we get those much lately any way.
Keith is always honest, though. Or as honest as the PR agents and whoever else up in BioWare and EA approves things for publishing. He admits that the Tulak Hord server issues have been a big let-down for the team and apologized in his message several times about that.
What he should apologize for, I think, is the insanely small amount of NEW content they put in Onslaught. My fears have turned to be true after all – the Spoils of War was way overhyped and BioWare did everything they could to draw the attention to that segment of 6.0 and somehow hope to mask the short new story.
Hey, don’t get me wrong. I liked the narrative. The Empire’s version of the new storyline is, as always, way cooler and more intense, but that’s not new, I think. If you play “the good guy” there are not many surprises or dramatic moments for you to start biting your nails.
Let’s talk about Onslaught! Like many of you, I have been really enjoying the expansion and all the changes we made for gearing. I now have quite a few toons up to level 75 and virtually all of them are at Item Rating 306. I’m spending time changing stats of individual items, playing around with amplifiers, and seeing what changes will make me feel OP. What feels good is being able to play anything in the game and benefiting from the new gearing system. I also have read many comments over the past couple weeks about areas you’d like to see changed, and as you’ll see starting with next week’s patch, we are addressing them and will continue refinements over the coming months. Keep the posts coming as they’ve been very helpful to the team.
The Spoils of War was a complete overhaul of how loot works in SWTOR with the idea that whatever you do, will reward you for your efforts. As if we could not have predicted the outcome – the oldest (and most boring) Flashpoint – HammerStation – became the most farmed and most rewarding place to get your new set(s) of gear. Again.
It’s a little strange that the Senior Producer of the game is just now “seeing what changes will make me feel OP”. Keith, did you not get involved with the development of Spoils of War? What’s going on here?
The later part of this quote up there is what worries me the most. With 5.0 BioWare spent several updates over the course of nearly a full year “refining” and tweaking a broken system and lacking class balance. Granted, Galactic Command was so very bad at launch, that it’s very unfair to even compare it to Spoils of War.
I hope the devs will not focus too deep into Spoils of War and forget that this game needs new content too. The expansion under-delivered when it comes to quantity. About the quality – I’ll leave it to each and every one of you to share your thoughts. I personally wanted more. I got a little less than what I was hoping for and a little more than what I expected based on the pre-release talk and reveals.
Patch 6.0.1 is coming in just a few days. The target release date is currently November 14. Unfortunately, Keith only confirmed bug fixes for this update. Well, some surprise too.
We are extremely pleased with the launch of the expansion. I don’t want to jinx it, but from the game standpoint, it has been very smooth with relatively minor issues all around (the Tulak Hord server being the exception). We fixed a number of bugs a week following the expansion and we have a number of additional bug fixes being released in next week’s patch likely on Thursday the 14th of November 2019. I know we usually release on Tuesday, but there’s a few items we want to include in this patch, so we gave the team an extra couple days. There is also a little surprise for everyone included with the patch, but we will let you know what’s up on Tuesday.
The next patch after that will also be the final update for 2019 for SWTOR. Update 6.0.2 is targeting mid-December. This gives the devs very little window to delay the release, because of the upcoming Holiday. That means we probably wont see new features released there. At least not important ones.
Here’s what to expect in the final update for 2019:
- Life Day returns and has new items for you to enjoy.
- It’s our 8th year anniversary, so the vendor will have some new items.
- We’re adding new missions on Mek-Sha, including new heroics.
- You’ll be able to recruit Tharan for your Consular and as he says, “It’s Tharan, not spelled the dumb way”.
- Ranked Season 12 for our PvP players begins and winners from last season will get their well-deserved rewards.
- Crafting changes – it begins! Yes, we’re taking a hard look at crafting and will make some adjustments starting with this patch.
Early in 2020 Update 6.1 is set to be released. It will be available for testing on the Public Test Server. You and me know very well that BioWare never releases story content for testing (well, not publicly anyway). This means that in 6.1 we might have a new Stronghold, a new Warzone or… do I dare hope for a new Flashpoint?
We have Game Update 6.1 planned for early 2020 making its PTS debut in December. When we’re ready to have you take a look, I’ll share more details about the update and give you a glimpse into our future plans for SWTOR. Don’t forget Star Wars™ Celebration is planned for August and in Anaheim, California next year. We’re already making our plans to be there. Would be great to meet a bunch of you at the event!
Really, BioWare? The way Keith phrased this, makes me want to believe that after many years of absence and being forgotten by EA, perhaps EA changed their minds and in 2020 we may see an official spot for SWTOR in the big event. Or… you know… regular Cantina event with some teases and a ton of gifts for the attending fans.
In case you are wondering when exactly Game Update 6.1 might come out, I seriously doubt that it will happen in January. A more realistic release date target would be middle of February at best. BioWare, of course, have not revealed any plans for it yet. As soon as something gets announced, you know where to find it!
For an end – if I sound both happy and annoyed in this post – that’s exactly how I feel. I am glad Onslaught is free to Subscribers, but it seems that each new expansion for SWTOR delivers less than the previous one. I really wanted them to surprise us with two big open worlds, but instead we got small daily areas stuffed with fetch missions to grind for your reputation. I am very happy that the Spoils of War system did not release completely broken. This could have had a disastrous effect on the community. Whatever you and me are unhapy with regarding Spoils of War, it will be patched, changed, fixed. We don’t have to start from the bottom like we did with 5.0’s Galactic Command.
