In this post, I wanted to put together an SWTOR guide on advanced classes. After all, since my previous posts about advanced classes, a lot of new announcements have come out about how they will work, which means of the previously information on this SWTOR guide has become outdated.
What is an Advanced Class
From what has been officially announced, every class will have two “advanced class” options available to it. For example, the Jedi Knight can become a Sentinel (DPS) or a Guardian (tank). This progression is not optional: you must choose an advanced class.
What this means is that there are really 8 classes for each faction in SWTOR, not 4. The Jedi Sentinel and Jedi Guardian both progress from the Jedi Knight, but they really are not the same class.
For example, the Guardian wears the highest class of armor, whereas the Sentinel cannot. The Guardian uses one lightsaber while the Sentinel uses two. You can think of a Guardian like the Warrior tank from WoW, whereas the Sentinel is more like a hybrid between a Combat Rogue and a Fury Warrior: the Sentinel is the top melee DPS for the Republic whereas the Guardian is not.
It has been made clear that players will be able to change their talents around within their advanced classes, but we do not yet know if players will be able to change their advanced classes. Current player polls on the official forums show that most players want advanced classes to be permanent, but an official announcement has not yet been made at the time of this writing.
Flexible Classes
The most recent announcement to the changes of the advanced classes are that most of the advanced classes now have multiple roles.
For example, six of the eight starting classes can progress into an advanced class which has a healing option. In other words, the Smuggler, Imperial Agent, Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter, and Trooper can all progress into an advanced class with some sort of healing capabilities.
Furthermore, every advanced class in the game aside from the Sentinel (Jedi Knight) and Marauder (Sith Warrior) can play at least two roles: DPS and Tanking or DPS and Healing. The Sentinel and Marauder are the only two classes which can only DPS and have no tanking or healing abilities. I will update this SWTOR guide if this changes, but this is likely to remain the case and I think it is a good thing that there are some DPS-dedicated classes.
Thoughts
This is the system that Rift uses and it has its pros and cons, which may not be evident at first. The rest of this SWTOR guide will be dedicated to examining those.
If you did not know, in Rift there are 9 different talent trees, and you can make your class by using any 3 trees. This results in a lot of different combinations, and every class in the game can be a DPS class plus a tank, healer, or both.
The major upside is that it is easier to get groups going when more classes can heal and tank. It also allows healers and tanks to play other roles.
The major downside is that this approach is a mess to balance. Rift PvP is very imbalanced in favor of certain classes. Buffing one class up may make PvE completely imbalanced, so it is a very slippery slope when it comes to tuning classes. This is likely to be a problem in SWTOR given that they are offering so many options to players. More options means that PvP is not likely to remain balanced. This could hurt subscriptions as Rift is now dealing with a lot of cancelled subscriptions due to poor game balance.
However, in SWTOR, there will be less options than in Rift so it should not be nearly as big of a problem. The real problem I see here is that this approach is just a band-aid approach over the real issue: most players do not want to play healers or tanks, so it is hard to fill groups.
In SWTOR, flashpoints (or dungeons) are 4-player instances which require 1 tank, 1 healer, and 2-dps to complete in “hard mode” (i.e. heroic mode). This means that 25% of all players need to be healers and 25% of all players need to be tanks.
In WoW, given that dungeons can hold 5 players, you only need 20% of players to rank and 20% to heal. In WoW, healers and tanks are also very hard to come by.
The end result is that in SWTOR there will not be enough healers and tanks, and giving people more options is basically saying to them: re-spec to healing or tanking, or forget about getting a group!
I think this issue would be easy to fix: flashpoints and instances could be built around group composition. It would be easy to populate a 4-person dungeon, tune if around 4-dps players, even in heroic mode. Allow players to select if their group is a “DPS group” or a “normal group” and have two subsets of monsters and bosses based on what players select. Given that you could re-use the same textures for each version, I think it would not take much work to change the enemies / bosses around based on group composition. You could even keep the same bosses (as not to mess with the story) but change their mechanics.
Enough with the rant; SWTOR guide out!
SWTOR Flashpoint Guide
November 21st, 2011 by Jack Matthews
Wondering what SWTOR flashpoints are? Here’s a quick description for you to quickly grasp the concept and an overview of the known flashpoints.
Flashpoints are what is more commonly known as instances. When engaging in flashpoints, gamers will have to fight waves of enemies to complete a certain goal and earn the corresponding rewards. In SWTOR, flashpoints are highly story-driven and lots of action can be expected. Like other game’s instances, you would take on flashpoints with a group of allies. Group decisions, strategies and how well you work together can determine the outcomes of our efforts. In order to obtain some of the best items, gamers will want to strongly consider SWTOR flashpoints.
During the course of a flashpoint, gamers will find themselves conversing with NPCs which drives the story along. At the very start, every player will be asked to select from a set of options, after which a dice will be rolled which ultimately determines the chosen path the group will take. Take note that decisions made by each player will have affect on either one of this dark side points or light side points.
There are currently a couple known flashpoints. For the Galactic Republic, very early in the game, you will come across ‘The Esseles’ flashpoint. Midway through, there’s the Taral V. For the Sith Empire, there’s first ‘The Black Talon’ early on and then ‘Boarding Party’ half way through. Directive 7 is an end-game flashpoint that will be available to both SWTOR allegiance.
The Esseles is a republic-only flashpoint that is available very early in the game. Story-wise, it’s majorly about defending securing a republic ship from the imperial agents.
Taral V is a 4-man flashpoint that is available to gamers after they reach level 32. So far, the estimate given is roundabout 90 minute to complete.
The Black Talon is an empire-only flashpoint. Aim of the this SWTOR flashpoint is basically to take over an uncooperative imperial transport ship in order to intersect a republic ship.
Boarding Party is another empire-only flashpoint that is available mid-game. The aim is to track down a run-away from the imperial prison in order to prevent an attack on the Sith Empire.
Directive 7 is the only currently known flashpoint that is available to both allegiance at end-game. The main objective is to fight against droids together (the forces of the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire) in order to defend themselves from a massive rebellion. This one would be a very interesting flashpoint.
If you’re looking for more than preliminary info, this SWTOR Guide is recommended. The manual is also available as part of a SWTOR Complete Guides Bundle; further recommended for serious SWTOR gamers.
Note: This is not a typical SWTOR guide article. In this article, I will be diverging from the tips and SWTOR guide help I usually provide and simply expressing my opinion on BoP loot.
I will come right out with it: I despise “bind on pick-up” (BoP) and “bind on equip” (BoP) loot. This mechanic, previously foreign to most MMOs and online games, has become a mainstay in all new MMORPGs.
This mechanic, introduced in Everquest and cemented in MMO culture thanks to World of Warcraft, has caused far more problems than good and does not adequately address the problems that is supposed to correct.
A “Bind on Pickup” item is an item that cannot be traded to another player once it has been looted. Nearly all dungeon drops in World of Warcraft are bind on pick-up. Every other item in game is “Bind on Equip”, meaning that it cannot be traded once it has been equipped. SWTOR looks to be following this same pattern as well.
In previous MMOs like FFXI and other games like Star Wars Galaxies, Diablo 2, and other games, no items (or only a handful) of items were BoP and most items could be traded. There were some downsides to this approach, but it was more in the way these games implemented this feature rather than the supposed superiority of BoP items.
Below, I will be exposing the myths about the BoP loot system, why it is inferior, and solutions to the suspected problems of having a free trade.
Myth #1: BoP and BoE Loot Protect the Economy
The favorite myth proposed by proponents of BoP loot is that by allowing open trade on the best items in game, this will “ruin the game’s economy”.
My question is: What economy? If players are not able to buy or sell the best items in the game, then what kind of economy are we talking about?
It will drive down the price of worthless items? Who cares, players do not want those items in the first place. Opening up the best items for trade on the open market actually creates an economy, one that is meaningful.
Myth #2: BoP and BoE Loot Protect Crafters
BoP loot does not protect crafters from preventing the economy from becoming “saturated” with loot. This is a ridiculous assumption. The only thing that protects crafters is allowing crafters to make some of the best-in-slot pieces. If BoP loot is better than crafted loot, you will not be able to sell anything as a crafter (example: Vanilla WoW offered crafters no good armor pieces compared to BoP loot, and as a result, players were unable to sell any armor).
With appropriate implementation, crafting can be bolstered, not hindered, by BoP and BoE loot. In FFXI and FFXIV for example, notorious monsters which are taken down by large groups frequently drop rare crafting materials. These items can then be used by highly skilled crafters to create the best items in game, which can then be sold for profit.
Example: One notorious monster which can be taken down by a raid of players in FFXIV drops 1 piece of skin, which can be crafted into 4 leather pieces. Each piece of leather can be turned into the best-in-slot helmet for one of the classes.
Guilds can easily take out this monster, craft items for players, and then let their crafters craft and sell items for profit.
(Note: Yes, I know FFXIV did not do well, but this was not due to the tradeable nature of loot but rather horrible lag, no content, extreme grinds, lack of balance, terrible UI and interface lag, unusual controls, no end-game, lack of an auction house, bad leveling system, etc., not free trade.)
Also, there is no reason they could not allow each craft to have 1 best in slot item to craft and sell with rare materials obtainable through solo play. Item augments can also be used to keep crafters involved.
I do not see how BoP items supposedly protect crafting anyway. If BoP items are better than crafting items, players will not buy crafted items but rather run dungeons for BoP loot. Crafters can be kept in the game by either allowing them to craft a few best-in-slot pieces and giving them item enchants to use on dungeon loot.
Myth #3: BoP and BoE Loot Protect the Game from Gold (Credit) Farmers
This is ridiculous on two fronts. Firstly, this is a blatant falsehood perpetuated by WoW elitists who have never played a game without BoP loot (explained below). Secondly, why should goldfarmers dictate the design of a game anyway? Why should player freedoms and features be taken away because some people might sell credits? Who cares; making items not tradeable hurts the game more than goldfarmers ever could.
If anything, freely tradeable epics would reduce the influence of credit-sellers. Why? Because credit sellers depend on credits being easy to get in order to do their work.
I think we can all agree on one thing: Credit sellers are notoriously terrible at the game. They work long hours and are unskilled and thrive off monotonous tasks like grinding monsters and AFK honor farming.
If high-end dungeons and raids drop the best item pieces, then these prices will fetch very large amounts of credits. Assuming these are tuned for even only decent-level players, credit sellers will be unable to “control the means” of credit production.
In other words, credit-farmers will not be able to assemble a team skilled enough to take down hard dungeons in order to farm the gear necessary to earn a lot of credits. As a result, they will have no credits to sell and will not compete in the market.
Gold farmers in other games like WoW depend on farming elemental materials, ore, and herbs in order to make the gold needed to sell to players. The most advanced ones will sometimes perform daily quests.
Counterpoint: Credit sellers will gather in SWTOR for credits and then sell those. Crafting is supposed to be good in SWTOR so these should fetch a decent price.
Response #1: True, but they will be doing that anyway. The best starship is supposed to be purchasable for credits according to the official site, so people will still be buying credits even with BoP loot. WoW has plenty of gold buyers who are just doing it to get vanity items, epic mounts, and good enchants. You cannot eliminate goldfarming entirely.
Response #2: True, but players will have access to the ultimate way of making credits: running raids and dungeons. They will always be able to make more credits than credit-sellers by selling gear if this was the case. This allows players who like to raid a great opportunity to make credits without having go farm.
Myth #4 – BoP and BoE Items Protect Content
Many players are under the assumption that some players will opt to skip dungeons and instead opt to farm or PvP instead and just buy pieces. This will allow players to effectively skip dungeons.
This is true. Players will skip dungeons and just buy items. My problem with that is.. why do you care? What is wrong with that?
I know that forum trolls love to say that MMOs are for large groups and that you should have to do dungeons if you want items. However, you do realize that most players, the vast majority of players who never venture on the forums or engage in discourse for a game that has yet to be released, have no interest in running dungeons? They might run a dungeon once, but who really likes to farm dungeons?
We are talking about the average Joe, the same average Joe that is putting forth most of the $$ that funds the game, does not care about dungeons. He wants to play by himself or at most with one or two of his buddies and wants to be able to progress his character meaningfully. The same average Joe who picked up KOTR on console and figured it would be cool to team up with a few of his real-life buddies in online play, doing dungeons and PvP in an interactive world.
How do you think our average Joe feels when he gets to the max level and is told he has to start grouping up with 3 (or even 20) strangers if he wants to get access to good gear? Do you think he will like that? Do you think that he will open this with open arms?
No, he will quit when he gets tired of not being able to meaningfully progress and the game will be out $12 or $15 a month.
The average guy works an average job and the last thing he wants to do when he comes home is be average in his free time on a video game. He wants access to the best items just like everyone else.
WoW realized this, and their response was to create tons of new ways to get epics: heroic dungeons, PvP, arena, raids, 10 man raids, 25 man raids, and the like.
This system creates what I feel is “loot saturation”. BoP loot, rather than protecting from loot saturation actually creates it. Do you know how exciting it is to upgrade from Season 5 to Season 6 PvP gear, grinding for +3 stamina and +3 top end to your weapon damage? Is that exciting to get an upgrade? It isn’t; with so many items and upgrades, keeping your gear up to date is a grind in and of itself and leads to burn out.
Case in point: Anyone who has run a raiding guild in WoW knows that it is a revolving door. Running dungeons over and over again is not fun for the vast majority of the population (even so-called hardcore players). It is a terrible system.
Proposed Solution
Instead, a simple solution would be to create small-group content (2-4 man) and large group content (10-25 man raids), have both drop valuable items, and allow people to sell the items. Give both types of content a few best in slot pieces as to promote both types of content.
Additionally, the actual drop rate for items should be lowered overall from what is seen in WoW. This helps prevent so-called saturation. Since items never go to waste since they can be sold on the Auction House, this is not a bad deal at all.
The only place where BoP loot makes sense is on quest rewards. Quest rewards are personalized sort of things and everyone has access to the same quests so it makes sense that these should bind to your character.
Example: If a 4-man clears out a flashpoint and gets a nice piece of equipment that no one needs, they can sell it on the auction house, split the profits, and each have 1/4 of the credits they need to get the item they really want, whether it be from small or large group content.
In order to include crafters, let rare crafting materials drop off monsters. These can be then sold on the auction house or kept in-guild. Crafters can purchase these, craft them, then resell the items for profit. Let these crafted items be best-in-slot for a few classes. Let crafters create item augments as well.
To the nay-sayers that say that this will make players stop running dungeons – why should players be forced to run dungeons if they do not want to? Remember that above all SWTOR is a video game and it is supposed to be fun.
What hardcore players consider fun (grinding dungeons) is not what 90% of the future player base will consider fun. The average player solos or wants to play with a friend or 2, explore the world, do a little PvP or space combat, craft, do solo missions and just mess around.
Don’t punish the casual, solo or small group player who does not want large-group content shoved down their throat. Doing so only results in the casual vs. hardcore mess that has hampered WoW since Molten Core. Let items be sold on the AH and all of these problems will go away.