Darth Hater

With Game Update 2.0 arriving on the PTS this week, players have been pretty adamant about testing it out, and there's been no shortage of feedback.  Fortunately for us, the developers and CS staff at least appear to be listening, and providing a pretty consistent dialogue regarding changes, bugs, and feedback.  For the full round-up of the most pertinent stuff, as well as to discuss it, hit the jump.

Low Level PvP Gear Might Remain

One of the first interesting posts I'd come across was with respect to level 20 and 40 PvP gear apparently being removed from the game.  A few people spoke up, and as a result the gear may remain in the game so that people still have the look of it.  I know that cosmetic appearance is important to a number of players, especially in a game that's as story driven as this one is.  While the concern may not be readily apparent to some, especially given that it's low level gear,  I like to see this kind of response from BW acknowledging the concerns of players.  The full thread is here, with the BW response on the first page.

RobHinkle

We should be able to keep this gear available, if you guys want it. Obviously we already had thrown the note up without removing the gear, but I don't think the intention in removing the gear was anything other than just to try to clean up some of the extra vendors in the fleet. Since you can now trade in Warzone Commendations for the new Planetary Commendation and get leveling gear that way, we didn't feel like the 20/40 gear had a need.

I'll double check with the items guys to make sure there wasn't another reason we wanted to remove them.

 Changes Coming to Darkness and Kinetic Combat in Next PTS Build

It seems that many players were vocal about some of the changes presently on the PTS with regards to Darkness and Kinetic Combat, specifically to do with Force management.  BioWare stepped in and had this to say:

APeckenpaugh

Hey guys. I wanted to mention that the next PTS build will have some changes to Darkness and Kinetic Combat that should help address Force management and do a better job of encouraging a fun and effective rotation.

I also want to mention that these changes were inspired by forum posts, so thanks for the continued feedback.

 The full thread is here, for those interested.

Collectors Rest Easy After Data Error

Popping by the official forums to put some folks at ease, William Wallace responded to a poster that was baffled by the inclusion of the Korrealis mounts in the collection and vehicle meta achievements.

WilliamWallace

Including discontinued mounts in the collection achievements and the meta vehicle achievement was a data mistake. We'll reconfigure the vehicle achievements to make sure they are all currently achievable in game.

Thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming!

 Please visit the full thread here, if you wish to add to it in any way.

Cumulative Tracking for Achievements is Being Examined

This bit of updated news hit home for me; I'm working on providing a few more in-depth guides for some of the more involved achievements, and after breaching the first tier of the meta, I'd noticed that my kills were reset, rather than becoming cumulative (i.e. kill 50, then 100; I would kill 50, and then additionally be required to kill 100).  Putting fears at ease, including my own, William Wallace drops by again to save the day.

WilliamWallace

Good morning!

Looking at the data, it appears there is currently some unintended inconsistency across achievements in whether or not kills are cumulative or reset after each rank. For example, the Flesh Raider kill achievements on Tython reset when you start new ones, but the player kill achievement you reference doesn't.

My intention is for them all to be cumulative, so you will start the second tier of the kill achievement with your kills from the first achievement. Identifying the problem achievements and working on a fix for that right now.

Thanks for testing!

 The thread itself started as a discussion of the achievement system as a whole, and can be found here.

Conclusion

I would invite you all to test and report as much as you can tolerate over the next several weeks, as we're a crucial element in how successfully the launch will go.  As you've seen with these brief examples, feedback is being taken into consideration and acted upon.  Having said that, I'd like to remind everyone that when providing feedback, especially to the devs at BioWare, please attempt to be as constructive as possible.  I understand that there may be something(s) about this game that really gets you frustrated, but flying off the handle and reacting rashly will only get you disregarded.  So, with that in mind:

• Be courteous and respectful; These folks are more likely to listen to us if we sound like rational, well-adjusted adults, as opposed to whining and entitled children
• Be specific; Simply saying something is bad isn't usually adequate, at least not as an actionable suggestion.  Try to provide examples of how ________ hinders your enjoyment or ability to play the game.  Cite specific examples, take screenshots, whatever you have to do to nail your point home.  Baseless claims won't get anyone very far.
• Be supportive of your fellow players; As is often the case, we can accomplish much greater things when acting as part of a whole, rather than a discordant collection of individuals.  If someone else has reported a bug, go check it out and see if you can replicate it, and report your findings.  Communicate with them, as well as other community members, and perhaps a solution will be discovered.  At any rate, the more information the developers have, the more likely they are to solve the issue.

Just observing those few steps when providing feedback or interacting with developers and fellow players will get you quite a bit further than simply complaining.  I believe that we all want to see this expansion do well, and in order to do that, we all need to have a hand in ensuring that it's the best possible place for us to be.  I personally take pride in knowing that I've affected the outcome of something like this in a positive manner, and I think that it strengthens the community as a whole.  So, bearing that in mind, have a great weekend, and keep an eye out for more Game Update 2.0 information over the course of the weekend.  Thanks for reading.