Community manager Eric Musco posted on the official forums new information about the upcoming SWTOR 6.1 Class Changes. Marauders and Sentinels get a small “quality of life” improvement while the proposed Sorcerer and Sage changes are not going to make it into this update. Along with these news, there are a couple of notes on the development of the Alderaan Stronghold, currently available on PTS and being released with 6.1 as well!
Eric Musco brought somewhat good news to both the Marauder/Sentinel and Sorc/Sage communities with his newest post today. The community manager revealed on the SWTOR forums that the previously announced changes to Sorcerers and Sages will not make it into the next update 6.1.
In another post Musco mentioned upcoming more Healer changes, because the studio needs to make some adjustments for all healers to get them to their respective balance target numbers in terms of performance in combat.
The previously announced change to Sorcs and Sages was going to affect both the healing discipline as well as the DPS ones. That along with player feedback forced the developers not make a decision not to roll out the planned changes with 6.1, but instead push it further back for another update down the line when more adjustments will be made.
“… we are not going to make any of the listed Sorc / Sage changes in 6.1. These changes are part of larger changes that are coming for healers, however, as many of you pointed out it has knock on effects for DPS as well. For this reason we are going to hold those changes until a future patch when the rest of the changes are planned.”
Don’t rush to celebrate or rage just yet. None of these are final and you should always be prepared for a surprise in the last moment… or a bug. Until the update is live or the official patch notes are out, everything is possible.
Now, onto the Marauder and Sentinel changes. They have been somewhat under-performing in certain areas since Onslaught and 6.0. My favorite class is less fun to play now. At least that’s how I feel it. What about you?
Musco calls the change coming to Carnage Marauders and Combat Sentinels “quality of life”.
– ” The Fanged God Form tactical item now only removes the Hyper Buff when a damaging ability other than Massacre is used (previously the buff was removed on any ability other than Massacre, not just damaging abilities).
– “The Fanged God Form tactical item now only removes the Hyper Buff when a damaging ability other than Blade Rush is used (previously the buff was removed on any ability other than Blade Rush, not just damaging abilities).”
RELATED:
► SWTOR 6.0 Fury Marauder Guide by Anatessia
► SWTOR 6.0 Concentration Sentinel Guide by Anatessia
While there is still no date announced for the live release of Game Update 6.1, several parts of it are currently available on the Public Test Server.
The biggest new feature for 6.1 is the Alderaan Stronghold. This giant castle in the mountain shapes up to be one of the largest Strongholds ever build for the game. It has in-doors and out-doors areas, plenty of hooks and it even has a not-so-secret room.
It’s available on PTS right now and for a very very low price too. There are a few limitations and known issues, of course. It’s a testing environment and such things are to be expected.
In another forum post Eric Musco shared a couple of notes for last PTS patch:
- It is planned that you will be able to mount everywhere in the Stronghold.
- Apologies for the doors still being wonky, the patch we pulled for PTS just missed getting those fixes. Those will be fixed for live.
Update 6.1 will also bring a small story segment – a continuation to the narrative from where Onslaught ended. Creative Director Charles Boyd warned us during the December Developer Live Stream not to expect much of a story element in the first content update for the new year.
I would be surprised if what we get is more than a conversation or a cutscene that will tease something coming with the next SWTOR Story update.
The test server is going to remain active until “later this week” says Musco in his post from January 21st. This likely means that, as of the time of this publication, you only have a day or two left before the server is brought offline in preparation for the official release.
BioWare has a tradition of taking a week or two at least after a PTS phase is over before the tested game update is shaped up in form ready for the live servers.
Based on this and my personal experience I would not be surprised if 6.1 is announced to be coming on February 4th or perhaps 11th. Both dates are Tuesday, split by a week worth of time. As soon as an official announcement is made, I will let you know!
