SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

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Hyde
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SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Hyde »

I spent some time watching the Guild Summit yesterday. It was interesting but LONG. The stuff below should help you get an idea of what just changed and is about to change.

They are doing a Q&A on their Facebook page related to 1.2 and future changes. And alot of changes that won't make it in 1.2 (like making more social / chat improvements) were brainstormed on the live session that sound very interesting.

...

Today's patch notes:

http://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/1.1.5/362012

Summary:
* a fair amount of PVP mechanics changes (including a buff to medals for healers)
* at least some sided color crystals are no longer restricted to a side
* some limited edition (removed from vendor but still sellable in 1.2) color crystals added
* some top-tier speeders are reduced in price in anticipation of being removed in 1.2
(1.2 will be making Tier 1 and Tier 2 speeder training cheaper, but Tier 3 more expensive)

...

Guild Summit summary of 1.2 update:

http://www.oldrepublic.net/412-swtor-gu ... ents3.html

Summary (not from me, stole from another forum):

-New flashpoint
-New operation (much more difficult)
-New warzone
-Warzone ranking system (ELO based) for solo and full 8-man group queue
-Multi-spec
-Full legacy system (loads of new perks)
-Entire rework of endgame crafting including RE tooltip which shows what will be RE.
-Crit-crafted gear will now be the best in the game which leads to:
-Migration to user-based economy
-Fully moddable end-game pvp and pve gear.
-Guild Banks
-New tier of both pvp and pve gear (Tier 3)
-High-resolution textures
-In-game events
-User friendly GTN (Searchable function)
-Fully customizable UI
-Match-to-chest gear matching system so you don't look like a clown.
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Bredin
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Bredin »

Good stuff in today's patch and really good stuff in 1.2! The oldrepublic.net page said that "early April is their aim for deployment" for patch 1.2.


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Hyde
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Hyde »

For the new color crystals:

"Geologist Breshin", in a room in the same quadrant as the GTN machines in the "Galactic Trade Market" on the Republic fleet.

+41 stat crystals in blue/green and one red / one yellow for 125K

+31 stat crystals in purple for 250K

+31 stat crystals in white for 1,000,000 (yep)

+41 stat crystals in white for 2,500,000 (yep)

+31 SCHEMATICS for Magenta crystals for 250K per (3 of them)

NOTE: Apparently at least some of these will NOT be available after 1.2 comes out. I'm guessing there will be crafted crystals that equal the +41 stats then. I think it is just the White crystals that go away as of 1.2.


...

"Archaeologist Unkorsa <Pre-Order Crystal Vendor>" (hallway north of the "Crew Skills" quarter on Republic Fleet)

Now sells +31 Black-Yellow crystals (100K each) and +41 Black-Yellow crystals (250K each) for people with the pre-order key.


NOTE: Yes, that means that you can buy Green/Light Blue crystals for +41 for 1/2 what the equivalent Pre-Order Crystals cost. Whoever thought this was a bonus for pre-order people is an idiot.
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Hyde
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Hyde »

The reduced price speeders are now added to "Barik <Speeder Vendor>" on Republic fleet in the the "Galactic Trade Market" quarter (previously they were only on vendors outside of the fleet, and should still be there as well).

Added:
Korealis Baron ... 2M credits
Korealis Commander ... 1M credits
Tirsa Prime ... 1M credits

These disappear from the vendors once 1.2 goes live.

Also of note: talk during the Guild Summit yesterday of non-speeder mounts (tauntauns, etc) in the future but not necessarily in 1.2.

PS. As you can guess, the White crystals and giant speeders are meant to be credit sinks.
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Chrisax »

-High-resolution textures
Considering how poorly the game performs ATM even on top end systems (compared to other games and compared to the overall poser of the system), I wonder what it's going to do.... :roll:
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Hyde »

Chrisax wrote:
-High-resolution textures
Considering how poorly the game performs ATM even on top end systems (compared to other games and compared to the overall poser of the system), I wonder what it's going to do.... :roll:
The game performs smoother than any other MMO on my system with AA forced on at 1920x1080 and max settings. Which is odd because I thought your system and mine were relatively similar on capabilities. I do have SWTOR on a SSD.

I know it has issues with older/slower PCs, but the high textures obviously wouldn't be for them.

The high textures actually already exist in-game, but they are only shown IF you set the game to high quality -and- then only during cut scenes. They chose to limit the open multiplayer areas to Medium (even if set to high) to avoid performance issues. So there really isn't alot of content creation time being used, they are just enabling a switch to allow high res textures when you have them set. I think they actually need to reinforce that fact so people don't think they are blowing a lot of time creating new stuff.

I'd like to at least try the high qual textures ... not sure my rig can handle them ... but even if it can't at least it is an option after more upgrades :)
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Chrisax »

I was maybe confusing but I never wanted to mean I had myself ISSUES running the game. :) It's all fine but it should be much better IMHO when I compare to other games on the same machine and when I think of all I put into my big box. My remark was not "it's bad for me" but "oh well it should be better even if it's fine". (OK called me spoiled.) But, unlike you, I have better performance in several others games than in SWTOR (even if it doesn't affect the gameplay at all.)

Currently though, I think I run AoC last Dreamworld Cheetah in Khitai lands (Khitai = total hell for systems) more smoothly than SWTOR and the degree of detail in AoC had nothing to do with the details in SWTOR, even if SWTORR starts using hi-res elsewhere than in videos.

And I don't even have SWTOR or AoC on a SSD (new 250GB SSD incoming in April though, want to test new models first :D ). That said, some audio might sometimes have a little "gap" and same when I run into a new zone I may experience a little micro-freeze sometimes, but that's data loading and the SSD will fix it. When I got a micro-free, it's a bit bigger in AoC though but almost always at the same places while it's more random in SWTOR.

On the other hand, I know many people have concerns with SWTOR performance. (Not sure if they really optimized settings... well i'm sure Fuze tried everything ofc.)

I know high-res are in videos. Not very impressive hi-res BTW.

Simply put: SWTOR needs optimization, and mostly options for small systems (the degree of customization is laughable) but it does the job and it's a nice engine for creating "technical" looking worlds for a MMO.
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Chrisax »

Not sure a RAM upgrade will help... of course it will certainly hel... but how much?!

On the other hand, a i5 should run the game well, in the appropriate system of course. We can ask around but I think several people (most people actually) have nothing better than an i5, by far.
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Hyde »

When I played in beta and early release, my system was very new. I have an application called Virtu which switched me between my i5 2500 integrated graphics and my 560 gtx.

Except ... for the first 2 days of playing on medium-low settings I didn't realize I had forgotten to configure Virtu to switch to the 560 for SWTOR, so I was really running on the i5. I was pretty upset at the crappy performance I got (COMPARED to the level of machine I now had) and people kept telling me my 560 should be able to handle MAX settings. Then I realized I'd been playing on the i5 for 2 days with very reasonable performance at 1920x1200 windowed.

So yeah, a good i5 will play the game fine. In fact, at the time I was running on an i5 2500 (Intel HD 2000 graphics chip) and not even my current i5 2500K (which has Intel HD 3000 ... and performs fine at medium settings). The IHD3000 feels about 25% faster than the IHD2000 ... and the IHD2000 performed well enough to not make me hate my life.

If you can wait for and afford a new Ivy Bridge CPU (I'll be switching fairly soon) that will buff performance by another 25% over the IHD3000. If not ... I've got an i5 2500 I can sell you for less than you'll find new ;) and if you wait until I get my Ivy Bridge I'll be happy to cut you the same deal on the i5 2500K.

(I'm switching up to the Ivy Bridge to get PCIE 3 enabled on my motherboard)

I'm not saying you won't lag nor that you'll get max textures ... but compared to the hell of your current machine ... the i5 is worthy and you can pick up an Nvidia 460 for around $100 ... a 560 for that in a few months ... meaning you can play on the i5 and upgrade the video later if needed.

I've seen people playing Skyrim (which is harder on the card, at least on my machine, than SWTOR) at mid-low settings on an i5 and being perfectly happy. Admittedly they hadn't seen better, and you have, but you've also seen FAR worse. Even if you dump SWTOR ... an i5 is going to make you happier in general.
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Re: SWTOR changes, patch 1.1.5 (today) and 1.2 (NOT yet live)

Post by Chrisax »

Gah... engine rework FTW....

That said, yes, we most often think of video when we see performance dropping but sound engines and sound drivers can actually cause very bad issues.
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