SWTOR’s Game Producer Keith Kanneg updated the community on the status of his highly anticipated Roadmap. With any luck, he hopes to publish it by the end of this month, if not sooner.
Despite the delay, I am impressed by Keith’s level of communication and transparency about his progress with the Roadmap. He gives us explanations and not excuses.
His post is a perfect example of what I look for from the developers. He explained why the roadmap is delayed and took responsibility for it. He provided an updated timeframe on when we can expect it. He surprised us by throwing in a few nuggets of information on features coming in Game Update 5.2.2, along with an estimate on when 5.2.2 will go live. We’re looking at mid-June. Here’s Keith’s full post below.
Let’s talk about some of the features coming in 5.2.2. If you listened to Episode 36 of my podcast, then you heard me talk about some these as they were data-mined from PTS game files.
The Nightlife Event Returns
Sing it with me now. “I love the nightlife. I got to boogie. On the disco–” Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea, but I do love the Nightlife event.
The event didn’t happen last year so it’s overdue. Keith mentioned new rewards, and rumor has it that one is a Gamorrean Guard companion and another is a new Thuvasaur mount. In case you’re wondering, Thuvasaurs are Dewback like creatures.
Just like real gambling, the Nightlife event is designed to suck your bank account dry. Start saving those credits now.
Companion Influence
Companions will now gain influence from standard Crew Skill missions.
THANK. THE. FORCE.
I shared my thoughts on companion influence on Episode 7 of my podcast. I’ll save you the time of looking it up. At the end of this post is the Youtube version of that episode cued to start at my companion influence tirade.
In short, I’m not a fan. In slightly longer, the influence system runs counter to the idea of running with whatever companion feel like at any given time.
I hope the amount of influence gained from standard Crew Skill missions is worthwhile. Actually, I hope they gave this task to an intern who screws it up by making a 20-second level one mission grant as much influence as a 30-minute level ten mission, and I hope the amount of influence gained is a lot. And by a lot, to quote Theron Shan, I mean a lot-a lot.
New Speeder Piloting Ranks
Game Update 5.2.2 will introduce two new speeder piloting ranks as characters perks. We can boost our mount speed to 120% and 130%.
For five years I’ve lived happily with speeder rank three. At no time did I wish I could go faster. Even today I’m content with speeder rank three. Once we have speeder rank four and five, I will no longer be content with speeder rank three; and therein lies the problem.
Speeder ranks 1-3 are free. Sure you can pay credits or coins and get them a few levels earlier. I paid for Speeder rank three once and then cried like a baby when 10 minutes later I was at the level to train for it through questing.
Speeder ranks four and five will cost money or coins and with today’s inflation, they will likely cost millions. Will I part with my money? Of course.
I hope they adjust the refer-a-friend mount to move at Speeder rank five. One of the great things about that mount is it goes 110% regardless of your piloting skill. With new speeder ranks, it probably won’t.
Tier One Gear
In 5.2.2 you can purchase Tier one gear for Command Tokens. This is a great change. I talked about this on Episode 36. If they decide to introduce a fifth tier of gear then this paves the way to adjust the ranks so 1-100 grant Tier 2, 101 – 200 grant Tier 3, 201 – 299 grant Tier 4 and rank 300 grants Tier 5. And, of course, there’s going to be a Tier 5 right?
Galactic Starfighter
Galactic Starfighter is… getting… some love? I’m only just beginning to dabble in GSF. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it like I do PvP. GSF is probably the most ignored thing in SWTOR right now. Maybe this is stepping stone to actual gameplay changes? One can dream. One can dream.
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