Star Wars Galaxies: HanseSOE answers Jedi expertise questions

HanseSOE Weapon damage is added to Force Throw. The 5% bonus (10% maximum) is significant.[/b][/font]

AragornSoS Well, seeing as how Jedi is the ONLY profession that's had ANY complete revamp to date, and walked away with a TON of stuff on that, I don't think its entirely inappropriate for this expertise pass to be a combination of some "rebalancing" of where some of those special beneifts are (like snare immunity / DoT immunity etc) ALONG WITH the addition of a bunch of additional buffing / special capabilities.

Or did you all really truly believe that the Devs were going to do an etire new SECOND revamp and "buff up" for Jedi before any other profession even has a FIRST pass? Come on... let's be realistic here. This is appropriate and anythnig else would have been pointless. This puts the "special" additions to those skills where they should have been in the first place, and balances things out pretty nicely. I'm personally looking forward to taking my up-and-coming jedi-for-testing thru this and seeing how she does.

Now if they REALLY wanted to make it interesting... make the choice of a faction and/or the choice of dark or light side paths actually have CONSEQUENCES! *gasp*. Nothing more out of place than a "rebel jedi" who acts worse than the most evil, vile sith out there.

HanseSOE A fictional tie-in for the light/dark powers would be fun! It's not something we scheduled for, so we'll have to see what the GCW tree does for us. Thanks for your constructive post!

SniperRedFox Could you add the ability in the future for a Jedi to dabble in both branches of that expertise tree?

In the Star Wars Universe, and in general, the whole idea of Star Wars is bringing a balance to the force. The force cannot lean too much to one side over another. A way to represent that balance would be to let the character balance himself in a grey area that uses both Dark and Light elements.

HanseSOE There are no restrictions on how you spend your points, aside from your level. You can spend points in both Light and Dark.

DarthINSANUS First, lety me state that I like the concept, and the extreme effort put into it is very pleasing.

However, there are a few glaring problems that need to be addressed.

Please answer these questions, which I feel are very important.

Seeing as how the entire game is based on ranged, how are Jedi going to be able to survive in pv , and NOT use abilities such as..Unstopable force...without it, EVERY professions snare will basically make kiting Jedi the easiet thing to do EVER. Did you guys forget that jedi have to be w/in 5 m to attack ? So basically ALl jedi will have to have this abaility, or die VERY easily.

Hermetic Touch also....If Bh still has there traps with bleed...and medic (which is already the best fighting class for pvp) still has their area fart cloud bleed..Then w/out this move, any Jedi coming into that 5m range (if they get that lucky) will be wasted in no time at all by the DOT. You see, other professions can stay out of those "danger areas" and still do damage and attacks. By removing this ability to Jedi, and making it nigh impossible for them to get into that range to begin with...then making it when they do they either have this move or die..is IMO just plain wrong.

SO based on the above statements,how is it possible for a Jedi to be able to survive in this game of ranged combat, when snaring them kitting and obliterating them if they DO happen to get into range will be the norm.

EVERY Jedi will HAVE to have force run break.
EVERY Jedi will HAVE to have the dot heal
EVERY Jedi will HAVE to have a snare.

And the reason why, is because they can onlyu do damage w/in 5 m.

The reason that other professions do NOT need these moves is, when they get snared and kited they still have moves. When they get dot, it was because they put themselves into a bad combat postiton.
They dont "need" to snare an enemy to fight them, only tp tactfully fight them or keep them from runing away.

By moving all these things around, it still wont be much different that what we have now...

I would liek to see someone tell me they plan to PvP, or be effective in PvP without HAVING to take the skills mentioned above.

You guys pulled a few moves and adjusted last publish, now your doing the same thing. Pulling things we already have , and in this case NEED, and forcing us to spend points from the long awaited expertise system to get those skills we have/need just to be able to play...

HanseSOE From the powers I've been testing, you are outlining an aggressive damage PvP build to spend your points on Force Throw, Force Choke, Force Lightning, and Force Shockwave. You would get four abilities that are ranged. We're looking into range limitations on those powers, so I do not have the exact distances on them. Although, the distances should be farther than five meters.

ArkonPhoenix Ah, one more thing, now if we spend expertise points on a higher level of the same ability, say force choke. Would we be able to use the lessar ability in conjunction with the higher one? Meaning seperate timers and action costs or one skill and it will only do the highest skill you have?

I would prefer every skill to be its own entity and let the player decide how to use it, not to make things complicated, but keep the intrest of experinced players.

HanseSOE If you purchase Force Choke at any level, you can use the lower level versions of Force Choke (if there are any). So, all powers have an associated attack at the most efficient build to get them.

An example: You are level 10 and have 5 points to spend. All abilities in the first and second tiers are available to you for spending points on. Thus, Force Choke has an associated attack at level 10.

The same is true for Force Lightning. An associated attack is available at level 18 (although, you still keep your attack below level 10 and do not need to spend points to get it).

Ian_Guage Will all Professions have a Dark/Light system or just Jedi? It seems to me that Jedi really has more under the hood than the other Professions are capable of having. That being said, how can you say other Professions will have more when they probably will only have a "General" type system? Will all Professions recieve a "Path" like system as well as a "General"?

And please, dont give me any of that "You'll find out about each Profession when its closer to time to put them in." BS. This is an easy question that you should be able to answer.

Oh yeah, and for what its worth - This Expertise System looks exactly like WoW's Talent System. I hope the Designers got a nice vacation out of this. Clearly they worked hard to create it.

HanseSOE While we haven't decided on all trees for all the professions, Bounty Hunters do not have Dark and Light trees to spend points on.

anubusx77 I see the Elder Buff icon used for Forsake Fear.

Does this mean that you're renegging on the Elder Buff and taking away our pre-NGE Jedi achievement status and bonus?

HanseSOE The icons used are what we have available to choose from and are not tied to previous systems / powers.

Ledford What I think alot of us wants to know is, Will we be able to dig into the Light and Dark and Neutral trees?

For instance, lets say I want Force Choke, and Lasting Aura...would I be able to do that?

HanseSOE Yes, you can.

Tactical_Dave
I gotta say most of the comlink is pretty confusing for me (like the SW Battlegrounds advancement tree a few years back). On the other hand, some of it looks pretty encouraging. Roots are back? I like that.

All those people whining about buying back abilities you already have: Have you thought that the devs might have to integrate the existing abilities into the new trees somehow? It is yet another new system. It's better to integrate the existing abilities into the new system than attaching a new system onto the old one. How well this is done will be the determining factor for SWG's future. I see the abilities are being re-arranged for sure, but I don't get the impression there are nerfs in this particular pipeline.

So what are you complaining about? Give it a chance. Playtest the changes before you make any knee-jerk negative judgments.

HanseSOE You're right about the integration of existing powers within the trees. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised, when we open up testing on this feature.

Thanks for the positive post, Dave!

Carnia Root is comming back?!?!?!?!?!?!

HanseSOE Yes, currently there is an ability in the tree to root an opponent with Force Choke. This is subject to change, but we're not considering taking it out, at the moment.

Jadan1 EJ, i have a few questiosn i hope you can answer about the abilities.

1. at force throws maxim capability, is it just as strong as it is now?

HanseSOE It does much more damage and is a good ranged attack. It scales with the light saber you fight with.

Jadan1 2. will saber block have a different cooloof timer depending on how many points you use? will it always be the same timer it is now?

HanseSOE Saber Block's cooldown is not going to change with point spending.

Jadan1 3. what is force shock. right now its just some mid level damage move, but i see you have it as a tier 5 move. does it do any better dmage then it does now when at maximum?

HanseSOE Force Shock is now Forck Shockwave. It is a new line of attacks that does a cone of AOE damage.

Jadan1 4. is maelstrom a force lightening move?

HanseSOE Yes. It is in the Force Lightning cooldown group.

Jadan1 5. the force choke series, at maximum damage, does it do the same amount of damage that the hihgest ability in that series does now?

HanseSOE Damage is being balanced. Since Jedi have more top-end attacks, we're working on balance with the damage.

Jadan1 6. will there be any new animations coming with these abilities?

HanseSOE Some existing animations will be used (new channel meditation ability) and there will be new particle effects.

Jadan1 overall i think these answers will help my decisions in the future, but i still do wish you guys could consider atleas 5 extra points in the skill points.

Jadan1 Hanse, can you answer these questions?

1.is there any way we can get a DOT on one of these abilities? so if we are getting kited , we can atleast know the opponent is taking some damage.

2. the snare breaks are huge, i cant stress that enough. this doesnt need to be in the expertese tree. we need this.

3. u already know my issue about having more points.

4. can "cloud minds" work against pvp in some sort of way?

5. how about a knockdown effect for" force throw" again?

6. can we get lower timers on "saber block" with extra points?

7. how about letting us quest to get a few extra skill points.

HanseSOE 1) Jedi are not getting DOT's (so far), in this publish. We may revisit them, if we find kiting a major issue during testing.

2) We'll test this.

3) The diversity with the current point spending is adequate. I've tested that part of the trees.

4) I'll look into it, but doubtful.

5) Force Choke is getting a root chance.

6) No powers are final, in the list. The communication is subject to change. Saber Block is definitely going to be re-evaluated, but I can't promise any changes.

7) Questing for expertise points is not being considered.

pussycat Hanse, does everything have to be balanced for PVP? Last time I checked, the majority of SWG players didn't regularly engage in PVP... Sure, PVP'ers can be very vocal on the boards, but that doesn't mean that most of the players want everything balanced with PVP in mind... does it?

HanseSOE We would like to consider all playstyles, when adding new features to the game. The fun thing about the expertise trees is you can spend points with a PvP build or a PvE build.

SWGHottieThe problem is the timers are too long and the abilities not damaging enough and too expensive in action to be a ranged Jedi. I had a ranged Jedi before, see the template guide in my sig link. I was master powers/master enhancer/healer 4-0-4-0. It allowed me to roleplay and play the style of Jedi i wanted: a follower of the Sith with no lightsaber. Now the NGE is forcing me to use a lightsaber and I hate it. I never wanted to be a melee class, and being a BH is not the same as being a Jedi. I'm a roleplayer. I'm a Sith.

I will give the expertise tree a shot and try to rebuild my old template with whatever weak skills we have now, but I know that I will have a laughable skillset. I was not uber before, but now I won't be viable. I'll have to swallow my pride and fight with a flashlight, once more...

HanseSOE All the powers are changed, with this update. We've only posted expertise changes, so far.

Schadwe13 Wow, not to be rude but you need to think about what you just wrote, Hanse. Those ranged attacks you talk of are ACTION DEPLETING. Ranged classes can shoot their weapons as their base attack without using action. Jedi can attack at 5m as their base attack without using action. If you assume that Jedi have ranged attacks with lightning, chike, etc, then you'd better make those skills cost ZERO action, otherwise, please DO NOT count them as basic Jedi attacks.

HanseSOE Correct. I referred to them as powers and not standard attacks. They do cost action. However, Force Throw (currently) costs 50 action.

ArianSix HanseSOE,

The problem with the expertise system is that you're taking away stuff that we *NEED* then we have to spend points again to get them back.

Anti-Snare/ForceRun. We need this. Jedi are not effective out of 5m so we have to be able to counter snares and catch our targets. Not having this is suicide as we can't do much with guns.

Anti-Dot healing. We also need this. Medics, BH, taps, etc all come into effect within our 5m range. We're the only class that *has* to be subject to these area attacks. Now we need to spend points to get this ability back or, once again, it's suicide in PvP.

The expertise system is a cool concept, but it doesn't really work when you take stuff that we need away only to force us to get them back.

A huge chunk of our expertise points will be spent on getting back the "basics" that were taken away.

HanseSOE This is exactly what we'll be testing. Remind me to duel you without anti-snare and without any healing point spending, when it goes on test.

Bakunin13 Will you please knock it off with the damn particle effects already. Out of all the crap that came with the NGE, this is what I hate the most. I despise having my screen completely filled with those garbage particle effects so that I cant even see whats going on.

HanseSOE We're aware of this issue and are taking your request into consideration for the particle effects being added.

MsNiL Questions:
What is the "base" heal for a level 90 Jedi? Will it be equal to other professions 15 sec 3000 heal, or will it still be the old 25 sec 5000 heal?

HanseSOE 1250 Action for 5000 HP and a 25 second cooldown. If you maximize the point spending in the tree, you should heal yourself 10000 HP. The healing line is quite powerful.

MsNiL Will we keep our original "90" in Strength, Agility, Luck and Precision?

HanseSOE Yes.

MsNiL Will Cautious Nature and Remorseless Nature add health/stamina on top of what a regular Level 90 character have?

HanseSOE If you use a stance/focus, yes.

MsNiL What is the base duration of the snare before purchasing Wracking Energy?

HanseSOE Zero.

MsNiL Can you describe exactly what Anticipate Aggression is?

HanseSOE A move where the Jedi is so efficient in combat that he/she uses up energy less and avoids attacks. It reduces damage and adds action from all attacks.

MsNiL Will expertise bonuses be boostable with equipment further on?

HanseSOE This is not currently being implemented and no plans to do so, at this time.

Excellent questions!

CardaJowol Can I ask whether we will be getting new titles in the expertise trees? like Dark Jedi Master? or Dark Jedi Knight?

HanseSOE There are no new titles being added with these trees. I would like to see diversification, but the trees themselves are a huge amount of work to implement.

EcNerWal hey hanse

i know this is way out of context for this section, but you appear to be the only dev who is willing to talk to us players today. so i just want to ask you real quick, will there be any type of announcement about whats going on with Restuss. many servers are finished in case you all haven't checked out the rest of the forums. now we were told that the game would shift into phase 2 during the next prime time. but not just mine, but several other galaxies have been finished since sunday and just waiting. now i'm not saying you have to have all the answers on this, but can you please tell someone over there that an answer or announcement is required at this point. the feeling across the board is that you all are just ignoring us and that will only make things worst, so if you could just take 5 minutes if at least to merely say hey, we understand there is a problem, we didn't expect it but we are working on it. something to let us know that you are at least addressing this concern, seeing how this is a one time event i think it should be everyone's main obligation to see that everything goes over well. or else you will continue to lose the loyalty of your customers.

HanseSOE I have oversight on Jedi expertise trees only. I'll pass your comments on, though.

Jadan1 2. is it possible saber block will have a quicker cool down timer condsidered?

HanseSOE Saber Block's cool down is not being reduced, currently.

Jadan1 3. what is a "cone of AOE"

HanseSOE Force Shockwave is a Jedi attack that does damage infront of the Jedi in the shape of a cone (AOE = Area Of Effect).

Jadan1 5. what does that mean? does that mean its a mid level attack? that wasnt a very direct answer.

HanseSOE All Jedi attacks are from low levels to high levels, with this change (ie: Force Shock was a level 50 attack in its own cooldown group, now it is Force Shockwave that has attacks from low levels all the way to level 90).

Jadan1 6. does this mean that the we wont see any combat animations? and honestly we would rather have better combat animations then does particle effects, trust i think i can speak for everyone on that, lol.

HanseSOE I'm with you on animations. You'll have combat animations, but the change in combat speed is impairing them. I haven't tested them yet, so I can't give a definitive answer on how well they're turning out.

Wildcat92 Questions:

1. Will the current buffs (stances) remain outside expertise?

HanseSOE Yes, but expertise enhances them.

Wildcat92 2. Will the current saber strikes (single hit and AOE) remain outside expertise and remain about as they are now?

HanseSOE Yes, but you are getting more saber strikes/sweeps evenly distributed for smoother level progression. Expertise enhances them, too.

Wildcat92 3. I think 45 SP's are too few when that won't even train you half the boxes, I think 50 would be more appropriate.

HanseSOE We're balancing the trees with 45 points in mind. 45 is our current maximum target for all trees. We are not considering increasing this.

Wildcat92 4. What will force run be like with the full point spend?

HanseSOE You'll be able to run four seconds more than currently possible. No other changes.

Wildcat92 5. What will the duration of the movement force cloak be with the full cloak spend, and will the cooldown be shorter than it is now? If not, why not, as cloud minds would seem to do just as effective a job with a lot less SP spend.

HanseSOE I haven't tested this yet, so I don't have a definite answer.

Wildcat92 6. What about the ability to break cloak (ie our sense danger ability to sense cloaked spies and Jedi)? Currently in live it basically doesn't work at all.

HanseSOE Sense Danger is unchanged, so far.

MsNiL Does the +40% for Heightened Speed make us more 40% faster than currently possible, or will people without Heightened Speed move 40% slower than currently possible?

HanseSOE Blasted! I missed that one. Yes, you'll run 40% faster, too.

HanseSOE Thanks Vapor for posting our expertise information!

Remember, all information in the post is subject to change. If you call me a liar later on, I reserve the right to spend all your expertise points on a hidden option that makes your character grow huge bunny ears.

This post thread is a partial update on what the Jedi are getting. The special attacks are being reworked, as well.

I've got to get back to work, so I'll miss posts (I read 100 pages of posts, already!) after this point.

Thank you to everyone that posted constructive criticism and ideas!

Eniko WHAT? This is redicoulus. Now jedi will be able to beat every other proffesion every time, because they can practically heal fully every 25 seconds, with mininam action cost. Jedi v Jedi fights will now never end.

HanseSOE We'll see. I highly doubt it, though (need testing - like I said, these statistics are not finished). If you spend points in the healing tree, you won't dish out as much damage as someone that goes full damage with Dark powers and bonus damage from the General tree. Not to mention you will be missing an entire attack line (minimum).

kanezfanPlease answer my question, why do you guys refuse to give us innate armor and innate SB? Why? We all want this. Why do you guys always just say no to what we want?

HanseSOE We're focusing on expertise tree abilities. We've listed the abilities that are under development. You are getting damage mitigation that armor would give you, if you spend points for it. Innate armor is not being considered.

tallefjant1 If you are aware of the issue as you say, why did you guys add new particle effects then ? There has been numerous posts on the forums that you guys claim that you read that we don't want the particle effects, we want the old animations back or new ones. The current ones are ugly, the particle effects are just cluttering things up.

HanseSOE I'm speaking in terms of this next publish. I've only worked a little on the previous publish and this one. I'm quite new to the team, so I don't have information on why previous choices were made for particle effects.

Whew! Props to HanseSOE for wading through all 100+ pages and taking time to answer some of the most pressing questions.