With Game Update 1.5 live, BioWare held another of their Livestream Q&A sessions earlier today starting at 3pm CST.
For those unable to watch the stream live, full notes can be found after the jump. Video of the stream is available above.
Update: Livestream over, notes from the Q&A are available after the jump. Video embed is available above.
Executive Producer Jeff Hickman took the time today to discuss the recent track record of Star Wars: The Old Republic with the first part in a new recurring series of posts called State of the Game. In the post, Jeff covers a wide range of reasons which made BioWare move to a Free-to-Play option model and also answers a few of the burning questions that have had the community at large wondering about the team's commitment as of late. For the post in full, hit the jump.
Caution: It's rather lengthy.
With yesterday's announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic introducing a free to play model later this year and the EA Earnings call, there was a lot to process. Darth Hater has gone over the facts, pulled out the most important details, and presents a feature to answer the pressing questions.
If you have any questions that remain unanswered, feel free to ask them in the comments section and we'll do our best to track down the answer.
Following the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic going free to play, MMORPG spoke with Jeff Hickman and Matthew Bromberg on a variety of topics surrounding the move. While there is not much new to this interview, players should be interested in a few discussion points. The first of which is their commitment to content going forward.
They plan on releasing these every six weeks, and they'll include different sorts of content each time: warzones, operations, public events, and so on (even a mix of all three might be possible). And while there's no set price point for each update, they plan to break it down into different options enough so that PVP folks can focus on buying the content they want, and dungeon folks can focus on what they want, while others can buy everything in one package if they want as well.
They also have a brand new event for all subscribers coming in August which is a public world event like the Rhakgoul Invasion.
Every six weeks is a strong commitment considering the current track record up until this point, but if it happens then great. Also of note is the announcement of Matthew Bromberg as GM of the studio. Up until now we had not heard who would be taking over as GM (beyond Greg Zeschuk taking over temporarily) with the shakeups at the studio going on since Gordon Walton’s departure back in February. Matthew Bromberg’s last venture was Major League Gaming that he grew from being a start up to what it is today. There is much more to discuss in the days ahead with the team and we’re hoping to get the opportunity at the various conventions throughout the rest of the year. When they happen, we will be sure to let you know.
For now, if you would like to read the full interview, head on over to MMORPG.
Executive Producer of Live Servers Jeff Hickman posted an update concerning the Ilum issues that have taken place over the last several days since patch 1.1, Rise of the Rakghouls. Hickman explains that contrary to the belief of many players, they will not be implemented a mass rollback for those who took advantage of the valor gains. Instead, they will be reviewing each case and take action if deemed necessary to those might have gained an unfair advantage. You can read the full blog post below.
After Game Update 1.1 went live, we discovered that the Open World PvP area on Ilum was not working as our PvP design team intended. As many of you know, large groups of players began capturing the Ilum control points, then 'camping' at the enemy's base. This led to a very frustrating experience for a number of players who were unable to leave their base and fight back against their attackers. It was not a fair gameplay experience. In addition, some players on the attacking side gained more Valor points than designed for the time they spent in PvP.
The amount of Valor granted from these activities was significantly more than intended and we are now carefully investigating players who were on Ilum during this period, and present at some of these 'camping' events. I can reassure you that those who were involved and who gained an unfair advantage over other players inappropriately will be carefully reviewed and action will be taken to restore game balance. This could include Valor adjustments or account actions in accordance with the severity of the issue.
We have made the decision not to enact a mass 'rollback' of Valor points for all players in the game, or even on Ilum. This would unfairly penalize some players who may not have been present during this event. Rest assured though, anyone and everyone who is found to have exploited the situation to an unreasonable degree will be investigated and actions taken as needed. Our in-game metrics are able to give us precise details on where players were, what they were doing and what rewards they gained.
We take any sort of situation where one group of players gains an unexpected or unintended advantage over other players very seriously and will act to ensure that all players can have a fair and fun game experience.
Thanks for your patience while we worked to resolve this issue. Our team worked diligently to get a patch ready to address this and other issues, and we're already seeing the results in improved battles on Ilum. As always we welcome your feedback and will continue to improve moving forward!
Jeff Hickman,
Executive Producer – Live Services
