BioWare’s Chris Schmidt, lead designer for SWTOR, revealed the studio’s short-term and long-term plans for the next batch of PvP improvements coming to the game. The dreadful performance in warzones and the maps rotation issues are both being addressed in an upcoming patch with a temporary fix while the team continues to develop a more stable solution for a more permanent solution!
It’s been two days since SWTOR lead designer Chris Shcmidt posted his initial reveal on upcoming PvP changes. While most of his post addressed the latest (from yesterday) Patch 6.1.2b, his new post reveals the long-term focus of the PvP dev team.
Yesterday’s update focused on changing the mission rewards for participating in Warzones. Now it’s time to tackle performance and map rotation!
SWTOR PvP Pefrormance issues and fixes
In his most recent post Chris talked about the performance issues quite openly. He did not hide that this is a major issue for the devs as well and a short-term solution to the problem includes the removal from the rotation of the warzones known to have these issues.
The most noticeably bad maps in this regard are Vandin and the Quesh Huttball warzones.
“In the short term, in the upcoming patch 6.1.2d, we will remove the Vandin and Quesh Huttball maps from rotation until we can solve the performance issues with those particular maps.”
The long-term solution includes a deep-dive and investigation, which is most likely going to take a significant amount of time. I mean… SWTOR’s PvP performance issues are not new and they have been following the game since its release.
“Longer term, we are profiling the root of performance issues in general (de-syncs, hitches, slide show experiences) across the board in order to provide you with a smooth, fun experience. No ETA on this, but we have already begun in earnest and are committed to fixing it.”
Yeah. Let’s make it a Christmas present, perhaps? Or does it seem too optimistic? What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Where is Patch 6.1.2c then?
I would like to note that the mention of patch 6.1.2d in Chris’ post is a bit strange. He’s focusing on PvP, though. It’s likely that 6.1.2c will not focus any major or even worth talking about PvP changes.
What is most likely to be included in the “c”-lettered one are fixes and improvements to the glaring bugs and issues the newly returned Nightlife 2020 Event is currently experiencing. Some of them are actually “game-breaking” in the sense that players cannot complete certain missions.
BioWare posted a list of known issues that the devs are working to fix:
- Some players can be kicked out from their conversation by other players who choose the fighting option in the “Counterfeit Tokens – Mek-Sha” Mission.
- [Imperial side] The “Red Zone” map from the “Counterfeit Tokens – Mek-Sha” Mission displays incorrect information.
- There is no reward attached to the email sent by Yan Pengu when completing the “Counterfeit Tokens – Mek-Sha” Mission.
- A wrong error message is displayed when there is no target selected when using the Mission item to complete the “Buy In, Sell Out” Mission.
- The NPC to complete the step “Travel to Marked Site” from the “Counterfeit Tokens – Nar Shaddaa” Mission is not visible.
- Some Emperor’s Grace Slot machines can display being stuck in a winning state, preventing players from interacting with them.
- Some Kingpin Slot machines are not interactable.
PvP Map Rotations and Player Preferences issues
The dev team is attempting to answer the request for a more balanced match queues. It’s literally impossible to enjoy all maps equally.
Unless you are a hardcore PvP player, you would most likely have limited time to enjoy your game each day/week. You would not want to be stuck with an unpleasant map to play on.
Here another big factor comes into play. The Deserter buff will arrive to the Unranked games theritory with the release of 6.1.2d.
“We hear you that you would rather choose which maps or modes to play, to avoid the ones you don’t like and play what is the most fun for you. In particular, Odessen Proving Grounds comes up often as one of the least popular modes, in particular in Unranked since it can be difficult to coordinate team play in a random queue situation.”
The Odessen Proving Grounds leads the list of unpopular warzone maps and with quite a substantial margin too.
Right now BioWare uses a priority method for the map rotations that revolves around the map, not the match type.
As a work-around of this problem, the devs are deploying a short-term solution, which involves a switch of priority of map and match type.
There are four match categories based on the type of gameplay the warzone demands of you:
- Capture Point
- Alderaan Civil War
- Novare Coast
- Yavin Ruins
- Huttball
- Nar Shaddaa (Original map)
- Quesh
- Vandin
- Odessen Proving Grounds (OPG)
- Ancient Hypergates
- Voidstar
Arenas are excluded, because in Unranked they are only going to be considered if the queue is light and there aren’t enough players to fill up the 8v8 ranks.
This would usually happen in a low-level queues and in odd-hours. At least on the most populated servers. On a low-pop server this is happening far more frequently.
“In the short term, in the upcoming patch 6.1.2d, we will adjust the map rotation to favor match variety over map variety. What this means is that you will have an equal chance to have a Capture Point, Huttball, Ancient Hypergates, or Voidstar match type pop.
The exception is OPG, which we hear from y’all is the least popular match type currently. We aren’t removing it completely from the rotation for now, but the likelihood that match type will pop will be very small. Longer term we will take a hard look and address the issues with OPG that makes it less popular.”
The longer term solution includes a rework and probably a redesign of the Odessen Proving Grounds warzone map and its objectives. It should not demand such a high team coordination.
“Longer term, we agree that a welcomed and healthy addition to the game would be the ability to choose which match types and/or maps you want or do not want to play. As with any new feature, this requires investigation and an assessment of the scope of work before we can commit to a timeframe, however that work has already begun. We are committed to this feature and will update y’all with more information, especially on timing, when we have it.”
It is unlikely that we will see such a feature in-game. Being able to choose which maps to play on is something even a game with very healthy population would struggle to support.
SWTOR’s latest expansion Onslaught was way back in November of 2019 and the next one is not yet even announced. There are hints at something big coming to SWTOR in 2021, but nothing confirmed yet.
With the population most likely dropping even further now during the Summer months, despite the “stay at home” initiatives and self-isolation period, it is unlikely that BioWare’s investigation will prove a “pick your own warzone” feature to be a good idea for the health of the queues.
I think it is more likely that an alternative tool be developed. One that allows you to select your own preferences, the game will take your preferences under consideration. But it will ultimately place you in a queue anyway and if your wish cannot be fulfilled, you will still have to play into whatever pops up next.
A note on Ranked Replica Rewards
To allow more players to be able to purchase the upcoming rewards that are replicas of previous Ranked Seasons rewards, the currency for these items will not the seasonal Ranked PvP Tokens, but the non-seasonal PvP Reward Tokens.
In a future update this currency is going to be converted into a Legacy-wide currency. This means that you can play on whichever character you want and soon (or not so soon?) you will be able to combine all your tokens and purchase things in bulk from the vendors.
As stated in my article about the Ranked PvP Season Rewards, the Replicas are coming in waves. Not all will be released at the same time. As Chris said in his most recent post, nothing has changes – “stay tuned for the rollout plan there”.
For what comes next, check out the SWTOR Roadmap for 2020. BioWare discussed their plans for the second half of the year on a dev live stream on July 21. I have it all covered, of course!
