Star Wars TOR: My beta experience

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 4, 2011, 12:12 am

Have been playing this game for a few days now. I initially started as an Imperial Agent and specialized into an Operative at 10. I don't have hours and hours to commit to games anymore so I won't be levelling to max during the beta or anything, but so far my experience as been mostly positive.

The game plays like you probably already expect to play like. Although a lot of people say it is a mix of a Bioware RPG and World of Warcraft, I think it is a lot more like City of Heroes/Villains than WoW as far as combat mechanics go. There's no auto-attack. You have a ton of abilities to press and no auto-attack. If you don't press any buttons your dude doesn't do anything. You have little attacks with little or no recharge and big attacks that have cooldowns.

Where the game really differentiates itself is with the quest system. When you talk to a quest NPC the game takes you out of the world and you go through a fully voiced cutscene with conversation options (your character remains in the world with a little chat bubble over their head to indicate they are in a cutscene). You can't see anyone else but what's in the cutscene. If you've ever played Bioware's Star Wars games or Mass Effect it is the same thing with your dialogue options rewarding you with either light or dark alignment points. Alignment can effect what quests you can take later in the game, some equipment has alignment requirements and your looks can change (if you go mad darkside you start to look like a Sith). If you are in a party and doing a group quest, everyone in the group has a chance to participate in the conversation but you can only change your alignment with your own options. If someone chooses a darkside conversation option to shoot and NPC for pissing him off, the whole group doesn't get the alignment shift.

It is a pretty crazy way to go because adding new content will be a nightmare if they have to fully voice everything all the time, but whatever; it's not my game. I'm sure they will make unlimited money with this title.

You also get NPC party members in your group while you're questing. These NPC's participate in conversations and you can interact with them, equip them with items, make them go to town and sell off all your loot you don't want. They will even gather resources and do tradeskills for you. They are a permanent part of your character and level up with you and can gain or lose affinity towards you based on your dialogue options when they are around. My operation is a sassy bitch and my NPC cohort seems to like me most of the time. I'm not sure how they interact with you in PVE when you do group quests and raids because I haven't gotten there yet, but they will fight with you and tank or heal for you etc. and their contribution to the fights can be roughly equal to your own, at least at low levels.

The combat can be pretty fun with lots of loud star wars sound effects and the laser guns are fun to shoot. I'm not super happy with how the operative plays. It seems clunky because their best attacks seem to be range attacks but two of their combat trees are dedicated to melee combat. I only have two melee attacks right now (three if you count my stun on a 1 min cooldown) and I can't really use cover at all if I melee. If I stealth up to a guy and backstab him it does an okay amount of damage, but not much more than if I hid behind a crate and sniped him, so as a result I'm right in his face and not behind cover. This matters when I'm fighting harder stuff that can own me pretty fast. The whole way the operative plays seems awkward. I'll try a different character and see if they are any more fun.

If you have any questions go ahead and ask!

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » September 4, 2011, 7:33 am

Did Greedo shoot first?

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » September 4, 2011, 9:50 am

What type of settings are you running? Are there graphic options for multiple monitors or huge resolutions? Does it have voice chat built in?

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 4, 2011, 5:20 pm

It's beta so graphic options are limited to basic stuff like complex or simple shadows and view distance. I doubt it'll get more complex than that. My monitor's native res is 1920x1200 and I don't remember seeing anything higher than that. No built in voice chat and I don't think there's anything for multiple monitors. I'm not sure why you'd need that for a MMORPG.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 5, 2011, 11:03 pm

Still waiting to get into the beta. Maybe I'll get an email tomorrow.

Here's a nice skill tree calculator for all classes:

http://cakeculator.forums-betacake.net/

48 skill trees in total. 3 per class (16 classes. 8 per side)

Nice to hear the game plays more like City of Heroes than WoW.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 6, 2011, 10:34 am

Could have sworn I heard about some major class revamps being mentioned at PAX...been wondering what would come of that.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 6, 2011, 12:47 pm

Good god, some lamer on the SWTOR forums is saying beta invites should go out to East Coasters this weekend to keep their minds off of the 911 anniversary.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 6, 2011, 12:54 pm

This game will do just fine. No way it fails. Everything is familiar enough to a wow player, but different enough, and its star wars, that this thing will be a success. Now, if they could just figure out the end game so they could release this thing...

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 6, 2011, 4:47 pm

Kluden wrote:This game will do just fine. No way it fails. Everything is familiar enough to a wow player, but different enough, and its star wars, that this thing will be a success. Now, if they could just figure out the end game so they could release this thing...

It's being released in November whether they've given an exact date/confirmed or not (it's been speculated that release is for Nov 20th).

The major players in the MMO market have already rescheduled their games for early 2012 to avoid the SWTOR monster.

It's been announced that Tera and Secret World will be released April 2012. Guild Wars 2 hasn't said anything yet regarding release and still haven't started their beta but of all the games, they seem to be the farthest along in development.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 6, 2011, 5:21 pm

Winnow wrote:It's being released in November whether they've given an exact date/confirmed or not (it's been speculated that release is for Nov 20th).

Uh, who the hell would speculate that the game would release the Sunday before Thanksgiving?

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 6, 2011, 5:33 pm

I know they *want* to release preholiday...but it is what it is. The current state of the game is not release ready. Yes, its 2.5 months away from the date you mention, and they can make it, but they have a lot of work to do, and I would estimate at least 2 more builds worth of testing to do. that's a lot in 2.5 months.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 6, 2011, 10:09 pm

Boogahz wrote:
Uh, who the hell would speculate that the game would release the Sunday before Thanksgiving?

Speculators!

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 7, 2011, 12:28 am

I don't really seeing it as being ready before Christmas. EA and Bioware are very conscious about having a smooth launch and I'm sure they will sit on it if they have to. They know that they have to draw WOW players away and keep them after in order to maintain a playerbase the size that they want.

It's definitely not ready for launch. The classes are a total mess. Agents and Smugglers are not very fun to play and melee is not balanced with ranged. The leveling curve to 50 needs a ton of work. A lot of the class mechanics seem like they were very amateurishly designed and will need a passover by experienced MMORPG developers. Trade skills are not fun at all (take that with a grain of salt from me though and I have never come even remotely close to a game with trade skills that I enjoy).

It is still an awesome game though, and the first real contender to become a straight up WOW-killer.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 7, 2011, 12:53 am

Well, as long as they steer way the fuck off the WoW-trail, they have a chance. Rift had some promise, and was actually quite fun....for a while. Still, it was WoW + world events. And the graphics were tight. I think Rift got way too ahead of itself with its soul/class system....and copying like a whole lot of WoW shit!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 7, 2011, 2:36 am

I'll stick with the November release time frame whether it's ready or not. MMORPGs are never ready. It just has to be good enough to hook players for multiple months...more than the single month that comes with the game. These AAA MMOs take years to develop. Guild Wars 2 is already 4-5 years in development (2006) and they could probably go another 4-5 years and not have all the bugs worked out although as it stands, it's already better than everything out there, including SWTOR.

Aion is an MMO I still play a little of. Over the past year, the improvements in that game have made it the best MMO out there although I doubt many would care to give it another go. They improved the game play to catch up to the extremely high quality graphics of the game, which also got a complete overhaul, making them even better, along with great UI improvements. It's still a grindfest and failing enchantments and manastone socketing, which not only fail but end up creating an item less powerful than when you started doesn't sit well with me. I don't mind failing on percentage chance shit but when you spend millions of currency earned in game that took you a week to get and end up weaker than you started, it's just a fucked up system. Aion, and some other Asian (mostly Korean) games are king of rage quits for players. How can any game developer can think it's a good thing to have your players spend tons of time in your game and end up not just the same, but weaker is beyond me. Game makers need to balance their greed and grind tactics to keep you playing also realizing that busting your ass all week in a game should at the very least leave you no worse than when you started.

Also for SWTOR, and any other new MMO coming out, people have already had their "WoW" or "EQ" experience where everything about MMOs is new and addicting. It's harder and harder to keep the interest of players who have already been burned out on previous MMORPGs.

SWTOR's best window of opportunity is in November to collect the most subscribers. WoW lost one million subscribers over the past year and is in decline. I'm shocked that a game that uses textures comparable to the original Duke Nuk'em game survives at all. The general overall MMO player base has a lower attention span than the EQ years where there weren't a bazillion F2P games out. Tera, Secret World and mostly Guild Wars 2 will steal subs from SWTOR soon enough in the Spring of 2012. SWTOR has the MMORPG "fresh game" world to itself for 4-5 months if it releases in November, giving it a chance to hook players over more than a month's time as there's no other significant MMORPGs set to release. Tera is waiting an entire year to release in the North America (mostly because it failed hard in Korea). The more I experience of Secret World, the more hyped it seems with less substance which saddens me. Their treatment of the beta program has been horrible. I'm still holding out hope for that game. Good or not, they'll still pull subscribers and Guild Wars 2 is good enough to keep them. The Star Wars name will help but GW2 isn't something I'd want to go head to head with. I know I'd choose GW2 without blinking if they were released the same day. The biggest loser would be GW2 if it was a same day release with SWTOR. A staggered release helps both games.

Besides Rift, which was solid but blah, there's been a huge drought in AAA MMORPGS. A lot of the WoW lamers are waiting for anything decent to pull them away from the horror of WoW''s 60x60 textures. SWTOR will suck players out of WoW like WoW sucked players out of EQ. Of course, this means it has to be easy enough for WoW dumb asses and have optional graphics settings low enough for the Wal Mart working, budget-PC-bought-5-years ago crowd to play.

I fucking hate WoW. "No talent ass clown" should be the ultimate achievement in that game after you manage to squeeze your 50th mod into the UI, allowing you to defeat the end boss with less than 3 key strokes, freeing you up to say more stupid shit in vent/teamspeak to your guildies that think they've accomplishing something amazing using their mecha UIs.

Sorry, I don't mean to fuck up this thread. Looking forward to SWTOR and hope to play though multiple classes. The four man raids look like a blast.

Kwonryu DragonFist · September 7, 2011, 8:04 am

Kyo!

Where have you been!

It's been ages since you posted!

Missed you!

Up for trying a Bounty-Hunter -> Mercenary?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 7, 2011, 10:31 am

Winnow wrote:
Boogahz wrote:
Uh, who the hell would speculate that the game would release the Sunday before Thanksgiving?
Speculators!

If you're listening to those speculators, you're a bigger idiot than they are.

Asheran Mojomaster · September 11, 2011, 11:59 am

I've been loving SWTOR beta so far. I've only played my Sith Inquisitor (specced to assassin dps) to 28 so far, but servers are going down tomorrow to prep for a new build, so going to either try a Sith Warrior or Imperial Agent next.

I love both Dragon Age games, so I am loving the conversations in the quests so far, and the combat is pretty fluid when I'm not lagging. Honestly, it feels like November is too soon to see a release atm...they haven't even tested much of the high end content, and very few of the flashpoints. The space combat seems cool at first, but its really boring after that because of the rail system, and it is hard to aim and control your ship because your mouse is used for both at the same time.

Will know more when the new build comes up. Maybe it will polish a lot of the game and add more in to ease my feelings toward November.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 11, 2011, 9:20 pm

SWTOR Ship Guide:

http://youtu.be/4GLOn6nZblo?hd=1

Ship combat looks kind of goofy but otherwise interesting.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 12, 2011, 11:43 am

Well, new build this week. It better be one hell of a leap forward for a november release to happen for the end game stuff. damn resets though, so have to level em up again, that's kinda wonky.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » September 12, 2011, 12:37 pm

Ash, how long did it take you to get to that level? This wasn't just over a weekend was it? I'd hate to see the leveling speed be overly fast like it was with RIFT.

Asheran Mojomaster · September 12, 2011, 1:56 pm

Level 28 probably took me around 40-50 hours in game, maybe more. There is no /played that I can find. It is a bit quick at 5-20, but slows after that. I could have leveled much faster, but I spent a lot of time on tradeskills, selling items on the market, and listened to all the dialogue in every quest.

Each new planet seems to have a bit of a jump at first in exp then slows as well (but each new planet is for higher levels, so makes more sense to get better exp off lvl 20-25 quests at lvl 20 than off of lvl 15-20 quests).

If the exp rate stays around what it is at 28, or goes slightly slower, it will take a decent amount of time to hit 50, but won't feel like an EQ-style endless grind.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » September 12, 2011, 5:35 pm

The stress test 2 weekends past seemed to come with a lot more issues that they were expecting. Depending on how the next revision goes, and how fast they're able to push out the next stress test, they very well could still make November.

I'm assuming they can code, QA, and push out patches semi-weekly, as the leveling curve for normal people will allow them around a month before the bulk of serious casual players start hitting max level. If they're going to take the glacial patch cycle of WoW, then they need to push this shit back into Q2 2012.

Asheran Mojomaster · September 12, 2011, 6:25 pm

masteen wrote:The stress test 2 weekends past seemed to come with a lot more issues that they were expecting. Depending on how the next revision goes, and how fast they're able to push out the next stress test, they very well could still make November.

I'm assuming they can code, QA, and push out patches semi-weekly, as the leveling curve for normal people will allow them around a month before the bulk of serious casual players start hitting max level. If they're going to take the glacial patch cycle of WoW, then they need to push this shit back into Q2 2012.

I would agree with that. They can make November if they polish the low-mid end and pump out fixes and patches nonstop for the first few months. But, I think the better route may be actually pushing it to March \ April of 2012 to begin with and just expecting to release then.

We will see when the servers go back up with this new build.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 12, 2011, 6:31 pm

Well, I'm thinking they will be releasing this build and adding some 40's to everyone's account like they tried to do this past week. They need to get that 40+ content tested. This build will address all those "nuisance" bugs for the lower level stuff I'm sure, and some of those graphical glitches during conversations. That's my guess. I'm glad they wiped those 40's and hopefully will give new ones...I didn't like the two they gave me ;p

Asheran Mojomaster · September 12, 2011, 6:40 pm

Kluden wrote:Well, I'm thinking they will be releasing this build and adding some 40's to everyone's account like they tried to do this past week. They need to get that 40+ content tested. This build will address all those "nuisance" bugs for the lower level stuff I'm sure, and some of those graphical glitches during conversations. That's my guess. I'm glad they wiped those 40's and hopefully will give new ones...I didn't like the two they gave me ;p

I didn't get any 40s

so I am hoping they do this. I wanted to play around with the high end, and I'm willing to try whatever classes they throw at me.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 12, 2011, 7:07 pm

Yeah, they were in the middle of passing out two or more 40's to everyone, when they made the call to go to the next build, so it got a little fubared. I had a female trooper and a male sith inquisitor guy...didn't get to play him before the wipe. You get mad companions by 40 though, that's for sure.

They will do it again, or make leveling super easy, to get folks to upper levels.

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » September 15, 2011, 1:54 pm

Have numbers shown that it's actually better to release a mmo before the holiday's? Just doesn't seem like this game would be affected if they decided to tighten it up.
Doesn't realy matter to me anyway I guess, had no intention of ever playing it and still don't

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » September 15, 2011, 2:40 pm

I'm afraid I'll lose interest if it doesn't release before Christmas. I've mmo-less for over a month now and I am finally getting over the withdrawals. Pretty soon they won't appeal to me at all. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » September 16, 2011, 11:21 am

I hadn't played an MMO for over six months before the SWTOR beta weekend. It's like riding a bike. A bike that mainlines heroin directly into your brainstem.

Kwonryu DragonFist · September 17, 2011, 10:31 pm

Looking forward to November 2!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 23, 2011, 3:32 pm

Interesting video about companions in SWTOR

http://youtu.be/rWXODqFo3Z0?hd=1

Looks like they'll be pretty useful.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 24, 2011, 9:26 am

Monster patch notes for latest build:

[Show]: SWTOR 23/09/2011 Patch Notes

Highlights

• Players can now view (but not participate in) conversations related to other group members’ class missions.
• New social centers, the Vaiken Spacedock (Imperial) and Carrick Station (Republic), have been added. They are accessible upon leaving Origin Worlds and contain the Galactic Trade Market, vendors, class trainers, access to most Flashpoints and Operations, and more!
• Two new Flashpoints, Bringing Down the Hammer and The Tomb Opens, have been added to the game and are accessible via the Dropshiop Launch Hangar on the Vaiken Spacedock and Carrick Station.
• Significant changes have been made to many classes, Advanced Classes, and Skill Trees.
• Taxi points are now interconnected and may be selected from non-adjacent taxis.
• Many areas have received art polish passes.
• The Voidstar Warzone has been redesigned and is available for play again.
• Open World PvP objectives are now active in the Wester Shelf of Ilum.

General

• New social centers, the Vaiken Spacedock (Imperial) and Carrick Station (Republic), have been added. They are accessible upon leaving Origin Worlds and contain the Galactic Trade Market, vendors, class trainers, access to most Flashpoints and Operations, and more!
• Initial inventory size has been reduced.
• Tutorials for many in-game events have been added.
• Taxi points are now interconnected and may be selected from non-adjacent taxis.
• Chat is now filtered to remove basic profanity.
• Cinematics throughout the game have been polished.
• Art throughout Nar Shaddaa has been polished.
• All mission hubs on Corellia have undergone an art polish pass.
• Additional taxi routes have been added to Alderaan and Belsavis.

Companion Characters
• Companion Characters now get stuck less during combat.

Crew Skills
• Crew Skills that focus on item mod creation have been adjusted to account for the reduced number and types of item mods.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flash points

• Two new Flashpoints, Bringing Down the Hammer and The Tomb Opens, have been added to the game and are accessible via the Dropship Launch Hangar on the Vaiken Spacedock and Carrick Station.
• Several Flashpoint bosses have improved encounter mechanics
• Players now revive just outside of a Flashpoint instead of at their most recent checkpoint location.

Directive 7
• This Flashpoint has been significantly polished.

Itemization

• Bounty Hunter gear appearances have been adjusted to follow a new visual advancement strategy.
• Gear specifically tailored to healing and tanking below level 30 has been removed, and combat systems have been adjusted to reduce the need for it.
• Premium quality items drop more frequently.
• The required level on random gear has been reduced.
• The variety and frequency of Prototype quality items has been reduced.
• Itemization for the later stages of Nar Shaddaa has been revamped.

Item Mods

• The majority of items are no longer equipped with mods when they are received.
• Item mods have been significantly overhauled, The number of types of mods has been drastically
• reduced, and mods now have simpler names.

Items

• New lines of moddable items have been created. These items are orange in quality color and typically start with no mods installed.
• Item mods that adjust an item’s level have improved tooltips.
• The number of item mods given as mission rewards and as loot drops has been reduced.
• Social vendors on Origin and Capital Worlds have some “social toys” available for purchase
• A high-speed vehicle is now obtainable as a max-level social reward.
• Light and dark side vendors, which sell some moddable pieces of gear, have been added to the Vaiken Spacedock and Carrick Station.
• Mission rewards on Corellia and Belsavis have been revamped.
• Items with Companion requirements may now be purchased even if the Companion is not currently summoned.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

• Many usable mission objectives have received aft polish.
• Nar Shaddaa Bonus Series missions are now set to level 34 and are only accessible via the bounty
• boards on the Vaiken Spacedock and Carrick Station.
• On completion of Act 1, a mission directing the player to Vaiken Spacedock or Carrick Station has been added.
• On completion of Act 2, a mission directing the player to Vaiken Spacedock or Carrick Station to obtain the level 40 Alderaan Bonus Series has been added.
• Some new missions have been added to Voss, Balmorra, and Belsavis.

NPCs

• Several World Bosses have been updated with new mechanics (Grandfather on Balmorra, Ulgo Siegebreaker on Alderaan, R4-GL on Nar Shaddaa).
• Numerous boss battles on Voss, Quesh, Belsavis, and Corellia are now more challenging and unique.
• Additional ambient animations have been added to NPC5 throughout the game.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed a bug that prevented mission items from being obtained in some cases.

PvP

General

• Characters no longer automatically face their target in PvP combat.
• Several new PvP missions are now available and can be found on the bounty board in the PvP area on the Vaiken Spacedock and Carrick Spaceport.
• The duration of crowd control immunity granted by filling the Resolve bar has been increased.
• Manual PvP flagging now gives feedback in the Chat Window.

Open World PvP
• Open world PvP objectives are now active in the Western Shelf of Ilum (Note: rewards, zone control indicators, and some user feedback elements are not yet active).

Warzones

• Warzone team size has been set to eight players.
• Strategist and Tactician medals have been redesigned and are now awarded based on defensive actions in the Warzone.
• Players can no longer queue for Warzones before level lo.
• Groups of 4 players can queue for Warzones.
• Leaving a Warzone now instantly removes a player’s PvP flag.

Voidstar
• The Voidstar has been redesigned and is available for play again.

Huttball
• In the case of a tied game, the winner is now determined by which team is holding the ball when time runs out (or which team most recently held the ball).

Classes and Combat

Jedi Knight

• Some of this class abilities are now available for training at earlier or later levels than previously.
• Force Might’s duration is now 60minutes
• Force Stasis now has a 10-meter range.
• Blade Storm now has a 10-meter range.
• Pommel Strike, a high-damage attack that can be used on incapacitated weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Opportune Strike, a high-damage attack that can only be used on slowed weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Freezing Storm has been renamed “Freezing Force.”
• Saber Ward now additionally reduces the damage taken from Force and Tech attacks by 25% for the duration.
• The Jedi Knight now has more title possibilities available via the class story.
Sentinel
• Juyo Form now increases all damage done.
• Leg Slash now ranks up properly.
• Force Camouflage now has a duration of three seconds.
• Cauterize now has a duration of 15 seconds.
Combat
• Replaced Agility with Dual Wield Mastery, which increases the damage dealt by off-hand attacks.
Guardian
• Force Push now additionally knocks the target down.
• Blade Turning, which causes the first two seconds of Saber Ward to increase melee and ranged defense significantly, has been added.

Vigilance

• Unremitting now properly grants immunity to crowd control effects while active, and additionally grants immunity to interrupts.
• Overhead Slash has had its cooldown adjusted and its damage increased.
• Vigilance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Overhead Slash per point invested.
• Force Rush now additionally affects Merciless Throw.

Sith Warrior

• Some abilities have been moved and are now trainable at new levels.
• Unnatural Might duration is now 60 minutes.
• Force Scream now has a 10-meter range.
• Force Choke now has a 10-meter range.
• Pommel Strike, a high-damage attack that can be used on incapacitated weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Savage Kick, a high-damage attack that can only be used on slowed weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Vicious Throw, a high-damage saber throw only usable on enemies with low health, has been added.
• Saber Ward now additionally reduces the damage taken from Force and Tech attacks by 25% for the duration.
• The variant title for the “Lord” title (“Lady”), has been removed.
Marauder
• Juyo Form now increases all damage done.
• Crippling Slash now ranks up properly.
• Force Cloak has been renamed “Force Camouflage” and now has a duration of three seconds.
• Rupture now has a duration of 15 seconds.
Carnage
• Replaced Crushing Force with Dual Wield Mastery, which increases the damage dealt by off-hand attacks.

Juggernaut

• Force Push now additionally knocks the target down.
• Blade Turning, which causes the first two seconds of Saber Ward to increase melee and ranged defense significantly, has been added.

Vengeance

• Enraged Slash now works with Massacre.
• Unstoppable now properly grants immunity to crowd control effects while active, and additionally grants immunity to interrupts.
• Impale has had its cooldown adjusted and its damage increased.
• Vengeance now additionally reduces the cooldown of Impale.
• Savagery now additionally affects Vicious Throw.
Immortal
• Lash Out, which grants a change to return Focus when used in Soresu Form per point invested, has been added.

Jedi Consular

• Some of the class abilities are now available for training at earlier or later levels than previously.
• Force Valor’s duration is now 60 minutes.
• Mind Crush has had its Force cost, duration, and cooldown adjusted.
• Force Wave has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Force Speed has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Tumult, a high-damage attack that can be used on incapacitated weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
Sage
• Force Armor now scales properly based on bonus healing power.
• Revive’s debuff now affects all members of an Operation group.
Seer
• Penetrating Light now grants Force critical hit chance per point invested.
• Salvation has been rebalanced.

Telekenetics

• Mental Alacrity’s duration and cooldown have been adjusted.
• Psychic Projection can no longer occur more than once every 10 seconds.
• Tremors now stacks up to three times, and each stack increase Force bonus damage.
• Psychic Propulsion no longer breaks roots and snares.
Shadow
• Force Cloak, a new ability that allows the player to vanish during combat and exit combat, has been added.
• Deflection’s cooldown has been adjusted.
• Spinning Strike, a high-damage attack usable on enemies with low health, has been added.
Kinetic Combat
• Technique Mastery now additionally increases the duration of Force Technique Breaches.
• Nerve Wracking now affects Force Stun in addition to Spinning Kick.
• Force Break now increases Force Breach and Slow Time damage per point invested.
• Slow Time has had its damage output increased.
• Elusiveness now reduces the cooldown of Force Speed per point invested, and no longer reduces the cooldown of Deflection.
• Particle Acceleration now only works while Combat Technique is active.
• Mental Fortitude no longer increases Willpower.
Infiltration
• Masked Assault now additionally eliminates the healing penalty resulting from the use of Force Cloak.
• Fade now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak.
Balance (Shared Tree)
• Force Strike is no longer an active ability; it is now a proc.
• Adjudication no longer affects the critical hit damage of Force Strike; it now increases Double Strike critical hit damage to a greater degree.
• Mental Potency no longer refreshes the duration of Sever Force when Force Strike hits a target below 30% health.
• Will of the Jedi now increases total Willpower per point invested.
• Force Suppression no longer appears on the caser as well as the target.
• Pinning Resolve no longer reduces the cooldown of Force Wave.

Sith Inquisitor

• Some of the class abilities are now available for training at earlier or later levels than previously.
• Force Valor’s duration is now 60 minutes.
• Shock now stuns standard and weak targets.
• Force Lightning now immobilizes standard and weak targets instead of stunning them.
• Crushing Darkness has had its Force cost, duration, and cooldown adjusted.
• Overload has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Force Speed has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Tumult, a high-damage attack that can be used on incapacitated weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.

Sorcerer

• Static Barrier now scales properly based on bonus healing power.
• Reanimation’s debuff now affects all members of an Operation group.

Corruption

• Seeping Darkness now grants Force critical hit chance per point invested.
• Revivification has been rebalanced.

Lightning

• Polarity Shift’s duration and cooldown have been adjusted.
• Lightning Barrage can no longer occur more than once every 10 seconds.
• Tremors now stacks up to three times, and each stack increase Force bonus damage by 1%.
• Ethereality no longer breaks roots and snares.
Assassin
• Force Cloak, a new ability that allows the player to vanish during combat and exit combat, has been added.
• Deflection’s cooldown has been adjusted.
• Assassinate, a high-damage attack usable on enemies with low health, has been added.

Darkness

• Charge Mastery now additionally increases the duration of Lightning Charge Discharges.
• Nerve Wracking now affects Electrocute in addition to Spike.
• Mounting Darkness now increases Discharge and Wither damage per point invested.
• Wither has had its damage output increased.
• Lightning Recovery now reduces the cooldown of Force Speed per point invested, and no longer reduces the cooldown of Deflection.
• Energize now only works while Dark Charge is active.

Deception

• Darkswell now additionally eliminates the healing penalty resulting from the use of Force Cloak.
• Fade now additionally reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak.
Madness (Shared Tree)
• Raze is no longer an active ability; it is now a proc.
• Claws of Decay no longer affects the critical hit damage of Force Strike; it now increases Thrash critical hit damage to a greater degree.
• Fanaticism no longer refreshes the duration of Creeping Terror when Raze hits a target below 30% health.
• Will of the Sith now increases total Willpower per point invested.
• Deathmark no longer appears on the caser as well as the target.
• Oppressing Force no longer reduces the cooldown of Overload.

Smuggler

• Some abilities have been moved and are now trainable at new levels.
• Many new skills have been added, and existing skills throughout all trees may be located in new tiers or have been otherwise adjusted.
• Dirty Kick no longer deals Force damage and has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Take Cover no longer functions if the character is rooted.
• Distraction’s base range is now 0-15 meters.
• Quick Shot’s range has been adjusted.
• Lucky Shot’s duration is now 60 minutes.
• Orbital Strike has been renamed “XS Freighter Flyby.”
• Cheap Shot, a high-damage punch that works on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Headshot, a high-damage blaster show that works on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Show Cover now persists through death, does not trigger the GCD, and has a 1.5 second cooldown.
Gunslinger
• Crack Show now additionally increases the range of Quick Shot, Distraction, Weakening Blast, and Wounding Shots.
• Flourish Shot’s cooldown has been adjusted.
• Hunker Down now grants immunity to all crowd control except for effects that specifically break cover (such as Diversion).
• Aimed Shot has had its energy cost adjusted and deals less damage.

Sharpshooter

• Diversion is now capable of driving any enemy from cover (including Entrenched targets).
• Speed Shot is now a Smuggler base class ability.
• Trickshot, a powerful shot that is enabled after using Charged Burst or Aimed Shot, has been added.
• Rapid Fire, a self-buff that immediately finishes the cooldown on Speed Shot and makes the next Speed Shot incur no cooldown, has been added.
• Cover Screen now provides a 20% benefit to all defenses (melee, ranged, tech, and Force).
• Piercing Rounds has been renamed “Sharp Aim.”
• Surprise Attack has been renamed “Snap Shot.”
• Auto Aim has been renamed “Quick Aim.”
• Between the Eyes has been renamed “Slick Shooter” and now increases the critical hit chance of Charged Burst, Speed shot, and Trick Shot.
• Master Gunslinger has been renamed “Deadeye” and now affects Speed Shot, Quickdraw, and Trickshot.
• Ballistic Dampers now correctly absorbs attack damage once very 1.5 seconds.

New Sharpshooter Skills

• Steady Shots increases the damage dealt by Charged Burst, Speed Shot, and Wounding Shots.
• Sharpshooter increases ranged and tech accuracy.
• Percussive Shot causes Aimed Shot to knock targets back.
• Trip shot reduces the cooldown of Leg Shot.
• Spacer reduces the activation time of XS Freighter Flyby.
• Burst Volley: Aimed Shot has a chance to grant Burst Volley, which stacks to increase alacrity while active. Each subsequent Charged Burst increases stacks.
• Foxhole increases energy regeneration while in cover.
• Recoil Control reduces the energy cost and cooldown of Trickshot.
• Lay Low reduces the cooldown of Hunker Down and XS Freighter Flyby.
Saboteur
• Sabotage no longer requires line of sight to the target.
• Shock Charge has had its duration and cooldown adjusted and its damage increased.
• Overload Charges has been renamed “Sabotage” and now requires the target to be affected by Shock Charge. Its cooldown has been adjusted and it now finishes the cooldown on Defense Screen and Cool Head.
• Incendiary Grenade has had its cooldown and duration adjusted.
• Multi-Charges has been renamed “Contingency Charges.”
• Grenadier has been renamed “Arsonist” and is now a two-point skill.

New Saboteur Skills:

• Saboteur’s Utility Belt reduces the cooldown of Flash Grenades and Thermal Grenade.
• Bravado increases max energy per point invested.
• Independent Anarchy increases damage dealt by Sabotage Charge and all area attacks per point invested.
• Cool Under Pressure causes Adrenaline Probe to heal you when activated.
• Underworld Hardships increases total Endurance per point invested.
• Dealer’s Discount reduces the energy costs of Sabotage Charge, Shock Charge, and Incendiary Grenade per point invested.
• Sapping Charge causes Shock Charge to snare the affected target.
• Insurrection increases the number of Contingency Charges and causes them to restore energy when they detonate.
• Pandemonium grants Pulse Detonator a chance per point invested to make the next Charged Burst instant.
• Riot Screen reduces all damage taken while in cover per point invested.
• Seize the Moment causes Sabotage to reduce the energy cost of your next Sabotage Charge or Incendiary Grenade per point invested.
• Hotwired Defenses increases the amount of damage absorbed by Defense Screen per point invested.
• Blazing Speed causes damage dealt by Speed Shot to apply a stacking damage over time effect to target per point invested.
Soundrel
• Upper Hand is a new passive ability. Blaster Whip grants the Upper Hand, increasing damage dealt and enabling theuse of Exploits.
• Blaster Blazing is a new passive that increases the damage of Quick Shot.
• Pugnacity, a buff that restores energy overtime and requires the Upper Hand, has been added.
• Kolto Pack now requires the Upper Hand and has had its cooldown removed.
• Blaster Volley now requires the Upper Hand and no longer has a cooldown.
• Disappearing Act, an ability that allows a Smuggler to enter stealth during combat, has been added.
• Heartrigger Patch’s debuff now affects all Operation group members.

Scrapper

• Sucker Punch now requires the Upper Hand and has no cooldown.
• Pyrotechnic Round has been replaced with Flechette Round, which causes bleeding, has no cooldown, and requires the Upper Hand.
• Element of Surprise now increases the critical hit chance of Back Blast and Shoot First per point invested.
• Advanced Cloaking has been renamed “Sneaky,” and now affects movement speed at all times.
• Ambush has been renamed “Sawed Off” and now reduces the cost of Blaster Whip.
• Flying Fists has had its damage bonus increased.
• Fight or Flight now restores energy when you dodge or resist an attack and removes the penalty to healing done and received after using Disappearing Act.
• Knockout now gives Shoot First a chance to knock the target down.

New Scrapper Skills

• Browbeater increases the damage dealt by Vital Shot per point invested.
• Survivors Scars increases all healing done and received per point invested.
• Scrappy increases damage dealt by Blaster Whip, Quick Shot, and Sucker Punch per point invested.
• Brawler’s Grit increases Endurance per point invested.
• Shifty-Eyed increases stealth detection and defense per point invested.
• Surprise Comeback causes Pugnacity to restore health per tick.
• Round Two causes Flying Fists to have a chance to immediately re-grant the Upper Hand when it hits a bleeding target and reduces the energy cost of your next Sucker Punch.
• Flee the Scene reduces the cooldown of Disappearing Act and increases movement speed after using Disappearing Act.
• Turn the Tables increases all damage dealt to bleeding targets.
• Underdog’s Luck increases the amount of energy restored per tick of Pugnacity and increases critical hit damage dealt by all scattergun abilities and Blaster Whip.

Sawbones

• Advanced Kolto Pack has been renamed “Kolto Pack.”
• Bedside Manner now increases Cunning instead of Presence.
• Black Market Medicine has been renamed “Smuggled Technology,” which powers up cast time heals and instant attacks.
• Field Medicine now correctly modifies pushback.
• Emergency Medpac now requires the Upper Hand and has no cooldown. Its healing has been reduced.
• Slow-Release Medpac has had its duration adjusted.
• Medpac Mastery now gives Slow-Release Medpac ticks a chance per point invested to grant the Upper Hand.

New Sawbones Skills

• Exploratory Surgery reduces the activation time of Underworld Medicine and gives Underworld Medicine a
• Chance to grant the Upper Hand per point invested.
• Anatomy Lessons reduces the energy cost of Dirty Trick, Tendon Blast, and Vital Shot per point invested.
• Keep Cool increases the energy recovered by Cool Head per point invested.
• Healing Hand increases healing done while the Upper Hand is active per point invested.
• Scartissue reduces all damage taken per point invested.
• Prognosis: Critical increases the critical hit chance of Diagnostic Scan per point invested.
• Sedatives reduces the target’s damage per point invested after Tranquilizer wears off.
• Patient Studies causes Diagnostic Scan critical hits to restore energy per point invested.
• Scramble increases movement speed while Dodge is active.
• Homegrown Pharmacology increases the healing done by periodic effects and Emergency Medpac per point invested.
• Emergent Emergencies gives Emergency Medpac a chance to re-grant the Upper Hand when used on targets with low health.
• Med Screen increases all healing received per point invested while Defense Screen is active.

Dirty Fighting (Shared Tree)

• Dirty Fighting has been split into separate trees for each Smuggler Advanced Class: Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger) and Dirty Fighting (Scoundrel).
• Hemorrhaging Blast has been redesigned. It now debuffs the target with a stack of charges that increase the damage taken from a Smuggler’s bleed effects, depleting the charges when bleed damage is taken.
• Wounding Shot has been redesigned (and renamed “Wounding Shots”). It is now a channeled ability that deals additional damage for each of the pIayer’s bleed effects present on the target.
• Fighting Spirit now also reduces the cooldown of Cool Head.

New Dirty Fighting Skills

• Black Market increases alacrity per point invested.
• No Holds Barred increases critical hit chance per point invested.
• Holdout Defense increases the damage dealt by Blaster Whip per point invested.
• Dirty Escape reduces the cooldown of Dirty Kick per point invested and increases movement speed after using Dirty Kick.
• Flash Powder reduces the accuracy of all targets per point invested after Flash Grenade ends.
• Mortal Wound causes Vital Shot to have a chance per point invested to tick twice.
• Open Wound increases the duration of Vital Shot.
• Bombastic increases the damage dealt by Thermal Grenade and Shrap Bomb per point invested.
• Cheap Shots increases the damage dealt by Quick Shot and Wounding Shots per point invested.
• Feelin’ Woozy causes Shrap Bomb to have a chance per point invested to reduce the movement speed of all targets.
• Black Market equipment increases the critical hit chance of all periodic effects per point invested.
• Dirty Trickster causes Surrender to have a chance per point invested to remove all movement impairing effects when activated.

Dirty Fighting (Gunslinger)

New Dirty Fighting Skills

• Re-open Wounds now increases the critical hit chance of Wounding Shots and Speed Shot.
• Hold Your Ground reduces the cooldown on Defense Screen and Pulse Detonator.

Dirty Fighting (Scoundrel)

New Dirty Fighting Skills

• Rough and Tumble increases Wounding Shots’ pushback resistance and lowers the cooldown of Wounding Shots and Back Blast.
• Smuggled Defenses reduces the cooldown of Defense screen and smuggle per point invested.

Imperial Agent

• Some abilities have been moved and are now trainable at new levels.
• Many new skills have been added, and existing skills throughout all trees may be located in new tiers or have been otherwise adjusted.
• Take Cover no longer functions if the character is rooted.
• Distraction’s base range is now Q-15 meters.
• Coordination now has a duration of 60 minutes.
• Orbital Strike, an area damage ability, has been added.
• Overload Shot has had its range adjusted.
• Toxic Dart has been renamed “Corrosive Dart.”
• Eviscerate, a high-damage knife attack that works on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Headshot, a high-damage rifle shot that works on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.
• Show Cover now persists through death, does not trigger the GCD, and has a 1 .5 second cooldown.
• Evasion now grants 1QQ% melee and ranged defense and has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Debilitate has had its cooldown adjusted.

Sniper

• Advanced Targeting now additionally increases the range of Overload Shot, Cull, Weakening Blast, and Distration.
• Shatter Shot’s cooldown has been adjusted.
• Entrench now grants immunity to all crowd control except for effects that specifically break cover (such as Diversion).
• Ambush has had its energy cost adjusted and its damage decreased.

Marksmanship

• Diversion is now capable of driving any target from cover (even Entrenched targets).
• Series of Shots is no longer a Marksman-only ability, and has been moved to the base class ability progression.

• Followthrough, a powerful shot enabled after using Snipe or Ambush, has been added.

• Rapid Fire, a self-buff that ends the cooldown on Series of Shots and makes the next Series of Shots incur no cooldown, has been added.
• Ballistic Dampers now absorbs the correct amount of damage.
• Between the Eyes now increases the critical hit chance of Snipe, Series of Shots, and Followthrough.
• Cover Screen now provides 2Q°Io melee, ranged, tech and Force defense.
• Master Sniper has been renamed to “Imperial Assassin” and now affects Snipe, Series of Shots, and Followthrough.

New Marksmanship Skills

• Imperial Demarcation reduces the cooldown of Leg Shot.
• Steady Shots increases the damage dealt by Snipe, Series of Shots, and Cull.
• Marksmanship increases ranged and tech accuracy per point invested.
• Heavy Shot causes Ambush to knock targets back.
• Sector Ranger reduces the cooldown of Cover Pulse and the activation time of Orbital Strike.
• Sniper Volley grants Ambush a chance per point invested to trigger a stacking increase to Alacrity.
• Sniper’s Nest increases energy regeneration while in cover.
• Recoil Control reduces the energy cost and cooldown of Followthrough per point invested.
• Pillbox Sniper reduces the cooldown of Entrench and Orbital Strike per point invested.

Engineering
• Detonate Probe no longer requires line of sight to target an enemy that is affected by Interrogation Probe. Its cooldown has been adjusted, and its use now finishes the cooldown on Shield Probe and Adrenaline Probe.
• Interrogation Probe’s duration and cooldown have been adjusted and its damage has been increased.
• Plasma Probe’s duration and cooldown have been adjusted.
• Augmented Shields now increases the amount of damage absorbed by Shield Probe.
• Hot Pursuit has been renamed “Calculated Pursuit.”

New Engineering Skills

• Engineer’s Tool Belt reduces the cooldown of Flash Bang and Fragmentation Grenade per point invested.
• Energy Tanks increases max energy per point invested.
• Explosive Engineering increases the damage dealt by Explosive Probe and all area attacks per point invested.
• Vital Regulators causes Adrenaline Probe to heal you when activated.
• Vitality Serum increases total Endurance per point invested.
• Efficient Engineering reduces the energy costs of Explosive Probe, Interrogation Probe, and Plasma Probe per point invested.
• Inventive Interrogation Techniques causes Interrogation Probe to snare the affected target.
• Imperial Methodology increases the number of Cluster Bomb charges and causes Cluster Bombs to restore energy when they detonate.
• Stroke of Genius grants Cover Pulse a chance per point invested to make the next Snipe used instant.
• Deployed Shields reduces all damage taken while in cover per point invested.

• Energy Overrides causes Detonate Probes to reduce the energy cost of your next Explosive Probe or Plasma Probe per point invested.

• Electrified Railgun causes damage dealt by Series of Shots to apply a stacking damage over time effect per point invested.

Operative

• Tactical Advantage is a new passive ability. Shiv grants Tactical Advantage, increasing damage dealt and enabling the use of Tactics.
• Skirmisher is a new passive that increases the damage of Overload Shot.
• Stim Boost, a buffthatrestores energy overtime and requiresTacticalAdvantage, has been added.
• Kolto Infusion now requires Tactical Advantage and has had its cooldown removed.
• Cloaking Screen, an ability that allows an Imperial Agent to enter stealth and exit combat during combat, has been added.
• Resuscitation Probe’s debuff now affects all Operation group members.

Concealment

• Laceration now requires Tactical Advantage and has no cooldown.
• Acid Blade now requires Tactical Advantage and has no cooldown.
• Veiled Threat has been replaced by Concealed Strikes, a skill that increases the critical hit chance of
• Backstab and Hidden Strike per point invested.
• Advanced Cloaking has been replaced by Infiltration, which affects movement speed at all times.
• Waylay now additionally reduces the cost of Shiv.
• Overwhelm has been renamed “Collateral Strike,” and is now a two-point skill.
• Second Wind has been replaced by Energy Screen, which restores energy when an attack is dodged or resisted. It also removes the penalty to healing done and received after using Cloaking Screen.
• Slice has been renamed “Pin Down.”

New Concealment Skills

• Imperial Brew increases the damage dealt by Toxic Dart per point invested.
• Survival Training increases healing done and received per point invested.
• Surgical Strikes increases damage dealt by Shiv, Overload Shot, and Laceration per point invested.
• Inclement Conditioning increases Endurance per point invested.
• Scouting increases stealth detection and defense per point invested.
• Revitalizers causes Stim Boost to restore health per tick.
• Tactical Opportunity causes Collateral Strike to have a chance per point invested to immediately re-grant Tactical Advantage when it hits a poisoned target and reduces the cost of the next Laceration.
• Advanced Cloaking reduces the cooldown of Cloaking Screen per point invested and increases movement speed after using Cloaking Screen.
• Culling increases all damage dealt to poisoned targets per point invested.
• Meticulously Kept Blades increases the amount of energy restored per tick of Stim Boost and increases the critical hit damage dealt by Shiv, Acid Blade, Backstab, and Hidden Strike.
• Jarring Strike gives Hidden Strike a chance per point invested to knock the target down.

Medic

• Surgical Probe now requires Tactical Advantage, has no cooldown, and has had its healing reduced.
• Clever Diagnosis has been renamed “Imperial Education.”
• Endorphin Rush now increases energy gain through Adrenaline Probe per point invested.
• Persistence has been renamed “Surgical Steadiness.”
• Kolto Probe has had its duration adjusted.

New Medic Skills

• Incisive Action reduces the activation time of Kolto Injection and gives it a chance to grant Tactical Advantage per point invested.
• Precision Instruments reduces the cooldown of Debilitate, Sever Tendon, and Toxic Dart per point invested.
• Medical Consult increases healing done while Tactical Advantage is active.
• Chem-Resistant Inlays reduces all damage taken per point invested.
• Prognosis: Critical increases the critical hit chance of Diagnostic Scan per point invested.
• Sedatives reduces target’s damage per point invested after Sleep Dart wears off.
• Patient Studies causes Diagnostic Scan critical hits to restore energy per point invested.
• Medical Engineering gives Kolto Probe ticks a chance to grant Tactical Advantage per point invested.
• Evasive Imperative increases movement speed per point invested while Evasion is active.
• Medical Therapy increases healing done by periodic effects and Surgical Probe per point invested.
• Surgical Precision causes Surgical Probe to re-grant Tactical Advantage when used on targets with low health.
• Med Shield increases healing received per point invested while Shield Probe is active.

Lethality (Shared Tree)

• Lethality has been split into separate trees for each Imperial Agent Advanced Class: Lethality (Sniper) and Lethality (Operative).
• Weakening Blast has been redesigned. It now debuffs the target with a stack of charges that increase the damage taken from an Agent’s poison effects, depleting the charges when poison damage is taken.
• Cull has been redesigned. It is now a channeled ability that deals additional damage for each of the player’s poison effects present on the target.

New Lethality Skills

• Deadly Directive increases alacrity per point invested.
• Lethality increases critical hit chance per point invested.
• Razor Edge increases the damage dealt by Shiv per point invested.
• Slip Away reduces the cooldown of Debilitate per point invested and increases movement speed after using Debilitate.
• Flash Powder reduces the accuracy of all targets per point invested after Flash Bang ends.
• Corrosive Microbes causes Toxic Dart to have a chance per point invested to tick twice.
• Lethal Injectors increases the duration of Toxic Dart.
• Targeted Demolition increases the damage dealt by Fragmentation Grenade and Corrosive Grenade per point invested.
• Cut Down increases the damage dealt by Overload Shot and Cull per point invested.
• Lethal Purpose reduces the cooldown of Adrenaline Probe and gives damage over time critical hits a chance to restore energy per point invested.
• Adhesive Corrosives causes Corrosive Grenade to have a chance per point invested to reduce the movement speed of all targets.
• Vanish reduces the cooldown of Escape and Evasion per point invested.
• Lethal Dose increases the critical hit chance of all periodic effects per point invested.
• Counter Strike causes Countermeasures to have a chance per point invested to remove all movement impairing effects when activated.
• Devouring Microbes increases poison damage dealt to targets with low health per point invested.

Lethality (Sniper)

• New Lethality Skills
• Razor Rounds increases ranged bonus damage and reduces pushback while channeling Cull per point invested.
• Hold Your Ground reduces the cooldown of Shield Probe and Cover Pulse per point invested.

Lethality (Operative)

New Lethality Skills

• License to Kill increases Cull pushback resistance and lowers the cooldown of Backstab.
• Escape Plan reduces the cooldown of Shield Probe and Infiltrate per point invested.

Bounty Hunter

• Some of this cIass abilities are now available for training at earlier or later levels than previously.
• Many new skills have been added, and existing skills throughout all trees may be located in new tiers or have been otherwise adjusted.
• Hunter’s Boon’s duration is now 60 minutes.
• Death From Above no longer experiences pushback.
• Kolto Overload is now available to all Bounty Hunters.
• Stealth Scan has had its cooldown adjusted.
• Shoulder Slam, a new high-damage strike that is usable on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added.

Mercenary

• Sweeping Blasters, an area attack with dual blasters, has been added.
• Fusion Missile, an area attack that sets targets on fire, has been added.

Arsenal

• Tracer Missile has had its activation time and heat cost adjusted and its damage increased. Additionally, heat signatures now make the target vulnerable to Rail Shot.
• Heatseeker Missiles have had their heat cost adjusted and their damage increased.
• Stabilizers now reduces pushback suffered with Power Shot, Concussion Missile, Tracer Missile, and Unload, and increases Aim per point invested.
• Missile tracking has been renamed “Target Tracking” and now increases the critical bonus of Riddle,
• Unload, Heatseeker Missiles per point invested.
• Afterburners now additionally gives Rocket Punch a chance to knock the target back per point invested.
• Power Barrier now procs off of both Power Shot and Tracer Missile.
• Terminal Velocity has been redesigned and now gives missile and Riddle critical hits a chance to vent heat.
• Light Em Up now causes Tracer Missile to apply a second heat signature.
• Kolto Vents is now a one-point skill that causes Vent Heat to restore a percentage of max health over 10 seconds.
• Tracer Lock is no longer consumed by Rapid Shots; instead it buffs Rapid Shots for a short duration.
• Barrage is now a three-point skill that grants Power Shot and Tracer Missile a chance per point invested to finish the cooldown on Riddle and increase the damage dealt by the next Riddle.
• Upgraded Arsenal now causes High Velocity Gas Cylinder to reduce the heat cost of Rail Shot.
• Unload has been replaced by Riddle) which is a channeled attack that hits up to three targets in a narrow cone.
• Riddle has been renamed “Pinning Fire” and affects the new active ability called Riddle (which was previously named “Unload”).

New Arsenal Skills

• Mandalorian Iron Warheads increases damage dealt by all missiles and Power Shot per point invested.
• Custom Enviro Suit increases Endurance and increases all healing received per point invested.
• Upgraded Arsenal increases the effects of Cylinders while they are active.
• Muzzle Fluting reduces the heat cost of Power Shot and Tracer Missile.
• Jet Escape reduces the cooldown of Jet Boost and Determination per point invested
• Power Overrides reduces the cooldown ot Concussion Missile and Thermal Sensor Override per point invested.
• Ironsights increases Aim per point invested.

Bodyguard

• Emergency Scan’s cooldown has been adjusted and its healing has been decreased.
• Savvy has been replaced by Hired Muscle, which increases critical hit chance per point invested.
• Med Tech is now a two-point skill.
• Stabilizers has been renamed “Surgical Precision System” and is now a two-point skill.
• Empowered Scans is now a two-point skill.
• Energy Overrides has been renamed “Power Shield.”
• Shielded Retreat has been renamed “Protective Field” and is now a two-point skill.
• Critical Triage has been renamed “Critical Efficiency” and is now a three-point skill that gives Healing Scan a chance per point invested to reduce the heat cost of your next Lesser Healing Scan.
• Cure Mind now also reduces the cost of Cure.
• Warden now increases the critical amount healed by all heals per point invested.
• Kolto Gas Cylinders has been redesigned, and now additionally causes Rapid Shots to heal a friendly target for 100% of your Tech Bonus Healing.

New Bodyguard Skills

• Critical Reaction increases Alacrity after getting a critical with an ability per point invested.
• Rangefinders increases the range of all missiles.
• Powered Insulators increases damage reduction per point invested while Kolto Gas Cylinder is active.
• Heat Damping reduces the heat cost of Jet Boost, Concussion Missile, and Electro Dart.
• Kolto Residue causes Kolto Missile to have a chance per point invested to leave affected targets with Kolto Residue, increasing all healing received.

Powertech

Shield Tech

• Replaced Supercooled Carbonites with Neural Overload, which causes Ion Gas Cylinder damage to snare the target.
• Carbonite Shield has been replaced by Oil Slick.
• Combust is now triggered by Flame Burst instead of Flame Thrower. It reduces the target’s damage dealt per point invested.
• Intimidation now increases damage dealt by fire attacks per point invested.
• Empowered Armor has been renamed “Rebraced Armor” and increases armor rating per point invested.
• Ion Overload is now a two-point skill that grants Rocket Punch a chance per point invested to trigger Ion
• Gas Cylinder and causes Ion Gas Cylinder to shock the target for periodic energy damage.
• Neural Overload is now a one-point skill that causes [on Gas Cylinder procs to snare the target.
• Super Charged Ion Gas now additionally increases the duration of Ion Gas Cylinder periodic damage.
• Flame Shield is now a two-point skill that causes shielding an attack to have a chance to finish the cooldown of Rocket Punch and increases the critical hit chance of Rocket Punch and Flame Sweep per point invested.
• Flame Surge now increases the critical hit damage of Rocket Punch and Flame Sweep per point invested.

New Shield Tech Skills

• Shield Vents increases shield chance and gives shield results a chance to vent heat.
• No Escape gives Grapple a chance per point invested to root the target, and targets revealed by your Stealth Scan have a chance to be rooted.
• Ablative Upgrades increases absorption per point invested and increases the effectiveness of Kolto Overload.

Advanced Prototype

• Immolate now deals single-target damage only. Its range and damage have been adjusted.
• Retractable Blade no longer has a cooldown, and its damage and duration have been adjusted.
• Flame Barrage now makes the next Rocket Punch free.
• Prototype Flamethrower has been replaced with Prototype Power Cycler, which causes Flame Burst to have a chance to build stacks that increase the damage dealt by the next area of effect attack.
• Penetrate Armor has been replaced by Prototype Cylinder Ventilation, which causes High Velocity Gas
• Cylinder to vent heat over time while active.
• Hydraulic Overrides now increases movement speed while active.
• Prototype Electro Surge now reduces the cooldown of Electro Dart and Carbonize per point invested.
• Prototype Blade Vents has been replaced by Serrated Blades, which increases the damage dealt by Retractable Blade’s bleed effect per point invested.
• Prototype Burn Enhancers now increases the critical hit chance of all fire effects per point invested.
• Prototype Weapon Systems is now a three-point skill and affects Rocket Punch, Flame Burst, Immolate.
• Iron Fist has been renamed “Hot Iron” and now affects Flame Burst instead of Rocket Punch.

New Advanced Prototype Skills

• Prototype Cylinders increases the effect of Cylinders while they are active.
• Power Armor reduces all damage taken per point invested.
• Pneumatics increases movement speed while High Velocity Gas Cylinder is active per point invested.
• Hitman reduces the cooldown of Quell per point invested.

Firebug (Shared Tree)

• Incendiary Missile has had its duration adjusted and its damage increased.
• Prototype Heat Bypass has been removed.
• Endurance has been renamed “Integrated Cardio Package.”
• Prototype Heat Dispensers has been renamed “Gyroscopic Alignment Jets” and now works will all incapacitated or immobilized states.
• Combustion has been renamed “Superheated Gas” and increases Combustible Gas Cylinder damage and proc chance per point invested.
• Infrared Sensors now increases stealth detection and melee and ranged defense, and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan per point invested.
• Molten Flurry has been renamed “Rain of Fire” and now affects Death from Above, Rapid Shots, and Rail Shot.
• Fanned Flames has been renamed “Burnout” and is now a three-point skill that increases the damage of all periodic fire effects and Explosive Dart on targets with low health per point invested.
• Rapid Venting no longer affects Determination.
• Explosive Daft has been replaced by Thermal Detonator , which deals very high damage after a short delay.

New Firebug Skills

• Sweltering Heat grants a chance for Combustible Gas Cylinder procs to snare the target per point invested.
• Degauss grants a chance per point invested for Energy Shield to remove all roots and snares.
• High Friction Bolts grants High Impact Bolt a chance per point invested to generate cells when it hits a burning target, and refreshes Plasma Cell if present.
• Energy Rebounder grants a chance to reduce the cooldown of Energy Shield when damage is taken per point invested.
• Automated Defenses causes critical hits to grant a chance per point invested to reduce the cooldown of Kolto Overload and Thermal Sensor Override.

Trooper

• Some abilities have been moved and are now trainable at new levels.
• Many new skills have been added, and existing skills throughout all trees may be located in new tiers or have been otherwise adjusted
• Fortification now has a 60-minute duration
• High Impact Round has had its cost adjusted
• Adrenaline Rush is now available to all Troopers
• High Impact Round has been renamed “High Impact Bolt”
• Pulse Round has been renamed “Pulse Cannon”
• Stealth Scan has had its cooldown adjusted
• Blitz, a high-damage strike that is usable on stunned weak, standard, and strong enemies, has been added

Commando

• Charged Rounds has been renamed “Charged Bolts”.
• Hail of Bolts, a new area cannon attack, has been added.
• Plasma Grenade, a new area attack that sets targets on fire, has been added
• Purify has been renamed “Field Aid’.

Gunnery

• Gray Round has had its activation time and cost adjusted, and its damage increased Additionally, gravity vortices now make the target vulnerable to High Impact Bolt.
• Demolition Round has had its cost adjusted and its damage increased.
• Deadly Cannon is now a two-point skill that increases critical bonus of Rotary Cannon, Full Auto, and Demolition Round per point invested.
• Concussive Force is now a two-point skill that additionally gives Stockstrike a chance per point invested to knock the target back.
• Charged Barrier is now a two-point skill that procs off of both Charged Bolts and Gray Round.
• Cell Charger is now a two-point skill that gives your rounds and Rotary Cannon critical hits a chance per point invested to regenerate an energy cell.
• Gravity Surge is now a one-point skill that causes Gray Round to apply a second gravity vortex.
• Kolto Recharge is now a one-point skill that causes Recharge Cells to restore a percentage of max health over time.
• Charged Barrel is no longer consumed by Hammer Shot; it instead buffs Hammer Shot for a short duration.
• Suppression has been renamed “Cover Fire”.
• Curtain of Fire is now a three-point skill that gives Charged Bolts and Gray Round a chance to finish the cooldown on Rotary Cannon and increase the damage dealt by the next Rotary Cannon per point invested.
• Special Munitions now causes Armor Piercing Cells to reduce the cost of High Impact Bolt.
• Full Auto has been replaced by Rotary Cannon, which is a channeled attack that hits up to three targets in a narrow cone

New Gunnery Skills

• Steadied Aim reduces pushback suffered on Charged Bolts, Concussive Round, Gray Round, and Full Auto and increases Aim per point invested.
• Havoc Rounds increases damage dealt by all round and Charged Bolts per point invested.
• Heavy Trooper increases Endurance and healing received per point invested.
• Special Munitions increases the effects of Cells while they are active.
• Muzzle Fluting reduces the cell cost of Charged Bolts and Gray Round.
• Tenacious Defense reduces the cooldown of Concussion Charge and Tenacity per point invested.
• Reserve Round reduces the cooldown of Concussive Round and Reserve Powercell per point invested.
• Ironsights increases Aim per point invested.

Combat Medic

• Bacta Infusion’s cooldown has been adjusted and its healing has been decreased.
• Combat Training has been replaced with Field Training, which increases critical hit chance per point invested.
• Advanced Medicine has been renamed “Quick Thinking” and is now a two-point skill.
• Reactive Overrides has been renamed “Combat Shield”.
• Shielded Retreat has been renamed “Med Zone” and is now a two-point skill
• Probe Triage has been renamed “Field Triage” and is now a three-point skill that grants Advanced Medical Probe a chance per point invested to reduce the cost of your next Medical Probe.
• Purify Mind has been renamed “Psych Aid” and now also reduces the cost of Field Aid.
• Potent Medicine now increases the critical amount healed per point invested.
• Kolto Cell has been redesigned, and now additionally causes Hammer Shot to heal a friendly target for 100% of your Tech Bonus Healing.
• Field Triage now reduces the cost of your next Medical Probe further

New Combat Medic SkillS
• First Responder increases Alacrity for a brief duration after a critical attack or heal per point invested.
• Rangefinders increases the range of all rounds.
• Treated Wound Dressings increases damage reduction while Kolto Cell is active per point invested.
• Efficient Conversions reduces the cost of Concussion Charge, Concussive Round, and Cryo Grenade.
• Kolto Residue causes Kolto Bomb to have a chance per point invested to leave affected targets with Kolto Residue, increasing all healing received

Vanguard

• Explosive Surge now correctly has no cooldown

Shield Specialist
• Neural Overload now causes Ion Cell to snare the target
• Smoke Grenade has replaced Defensive Surge
• Static Field is now triggered by Ion Pulse instead of [on Round, and reduces the target’s damage dealt per point invested
• Intimidation now increases the damage dealt by elemental attacks per point invested
• Empowered Armor has been renamed “Rebraced Armor” and increases armor rating per point invested
• Ion Overload now causes Stockstrike to have a chance per point invested to trigger your Ion Cell Ion
• Cell additionally shocks the target for periodic energy damage
• Defensive Measures now gives Harpoon a chance per point invested to root the target. Additionally, targets revealed by Stealth Scan have a chance to be rooted
• Super Charged Ion Cell now additionally increases the duration of Ion Cell periodic damage.
• Static Shield now causes shielding an attack to have a chance to finish the cooldown on Stockstrike. It also increases the critical hit chance of Stockstrike and Explosive Surge per point invested.
• Static Surge now increases the critical hit damage of Stockstrike and Explosive Surge per point invested.

New Shield Specialist Skills

• Shield Cycler increases shield chance and gives shield results a chance to vent heat.
• Ceramic Plating increases absorption per point invested and increases the effectiveness of Adrenaline Rush.

Tactics

• Fire Surge has been renamed “Fire Pulse”.
• Fire Surge now deals single-target damage only.
• Gut now has no cooldown and has had its duration adjusted and damage decreased slightly.
• Tech Assault now makes your next Stockstrike free (instead of an automatic critical hit).
• Pulse Generator now causes Ion Pulse to have a chance to build stacks that increase the damage dealt by your next area of effect ability.
• Pierce Armor has been replaced by Cell Generator, which causes you to generate cells while Armor Piercing Cell is active.
• Fire Pulse has had its range adjusted and its damage decreased.
• Hold the Line now increases movement speed while active.
• Blade Charger has been replaced by Serrated Blades, which increases damage dealt by Gut’s bleed effect per point invested.
• Demolition now increases the critical hit chance of all fire effects per point invested.
• Stabilized Armor has been renamed “Havoc Training” and now affects Stockstrike, Ion Pulse, and Fire Pulse.

New Tactics Skills

• Lockdown Tactics reduces the cooldown of Cryo Grenade and Neural Surge per point invested.
• Blaster Augs increases the effect of Cells while they are active.
• PowerArmorreduces all damagetaken per point invested.
• Battlefield Training increases movement speed while Armor Piercing Cells is active per point invested.
• Frontline Defense reduces the cooldown of Riot Strike per point invested

Assault Specialist (Shared Tree)

• Incendiary Round has had its duration adjusted and its damage per tick increased.
• Chain Reaction has been removed.
• Endurance has been renamed “Soldier’s Endurance”.
• Cell Phase Generator has been renamed “Parallactic Combat Stims” and now works with all incapacitation and immobilized states.
• Superheated Plasma now increases Plasma Cell damage and proc chance per point invested.
• Infrared Sensors has been renamed “Nightvision Scope” and increases stealth detection, melee and ranged defense, and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan.
• Rapid Recharge now affects Recharge Cells and Tenacity and reduces their cooldowns per point invested.
• Burn Down has been renamed “Rain of Fire” and now affects Hail of Bolts, Hammer Shot, and High Impact Bolt.
• Decimate has been renamed “Assault Trooper” and now affects Plasma Cell, Incendiary Round, Assault Plastique, and High Impact Round.
• Flame Assault has been renamed “Burnout” and now increases the damage of all periodic fire effects and Sticky Grenade on low-health targets per point invested.
• Rapid Recharge no longer affects Tenacity.
• Sticky Grenade has been replaced by Assault Plastique, which deals very high damage after a short delay.

New Assault Specialist Skills

• Sweltering Heat grants a chance per point invested for Plasma Cell procs to snare the target.
• Degauss grants a chance per point invested for Reactive Shield to remove all roots and snares.
• High Friction Bolts grants High Impact Bolt a chance to generate cells when it hits a burning target, and refreshes Plasma Cell if present.
• Reflexive Shield grants a chance per point invested for taking damage to reduce the cooldown of Reactive Shield.
• Adrenaline Fueled grants critical hits a chance per point invested to reduce the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush and Reserve Powercell.

Suuposedly new beta invites as well as re-invites from last weekend test are going out over the next week.

12/20/2011 release date announces. This year as predicted. A little close to Xmas though.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 24, 2011, 3:20 pm

A lot of those changes look pretty good. I'm fairly worried about the amount of buttons we'll have to press. Even at low levels, my operative felt like I had a lot of abilities I wasn't using mostly because it's inconvenient to be pressing buttons way far away from where my fingers are. Now it looks like every class is getting a bunch more to hit, as well as lots of reactives for two or three different scenarios. You're going to have to really pay attention for reactive abilities lighting up so you can use them effectively. Hopefully they will implement a UI for reactives like Rift has where an icon appears right on the middle of your screen when a reactive lights up that you can just click on.

Also, Jawa companion is the best companion.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » September 24, 2011, 4:20 pm

kyoukan wrote:Also, Jawa companion is the best companion.

I dunno, electrocuting the twilek slave girl every other conversation is pretty awesome.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 24, 2011, 6:48 pm

I gave up trying to play MMOs on a standard keyboard a long time ago.

Above is the lower right part of my screen in Aion. It's an end game setup. You can get by with less for most of the game but in the max level zones, I need all five of my taunts, three shields, bodyguard, etc to get through them as a tank class. Aion does have the icons that pop up on your screen for chained attack skills.

Been using this since the tail end of EQ. It looks goofy but it's a huge help. Logitech has a huge controller out but even with my hands, which aren't small, it's too big to reach everything, the keys are all in rows with no spacing or way to tell where your fingers are, which defeats the purpose of a controller. It takes some getting used to. I use third party programming software called Pinnacle Profiler to set it up. With the Saitek, you can easily feel where the keys are. The very top row is angled up toward you, the spacing between the far left row of keys helps to identify where your finger placement is. The little joystick rocks. Very sensitive with barely any pressure required to move it. I map it to WASD, making running around, jumping, as well as all skills, executable using one hand, freeing up the mouse for camera roaming, and in my case, marking mobs for CC etc.

I use the Logitech G700 for my mouse. Again, it's ergonomics which make it better than the competition (the other mouse out there that has 12 buttons in 4 rows stuck to the side of the mouse seems like a poor design). The G700works great with your thumb below the buttons and when not using them, the design is outstanding, allowing you to rest your thumb in between the four buttons and just barely put pressure up/down/back/forward to activate the buttons. The top three buttons are also curved, making it easy to feel where your fingers are in relation to them.

The problem with controllers is that there's an excellent chance you might hate them. I've tried others but come back to this setup and even then, I bought third party programming software to get the most out of the saitek...and Logitech drivers suck ass so you need to fiddle with those as well on the mouse.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 24, 2011, 11:15 pm

If a game has too many buttons that must be immediately accessed with using more than the left half the keyboard and a 3-4 button mouse, then their UI is too clumsy and their game mechanics are inelegant.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 25, 2011, 4:20 am

Perhaps there's a way for the 4 button pushers to play SWTOR while giving others that want to take the time to dive a little deeper into things the opportunity to do so. I haven't read up, but are there no macro capabilities in SWTOR?

Guild Wars 2 has a nice system where the buttons adjust automatically depending on the weapon and environment you're in. It looks like there will be 5 buttons that adapt to your weapon/environment and 5 buttons that are static.

Either way, the standard keyboard wasn't designed for MMORPGs or gaming in general. It sucked back in the EQ days and nothing's changed to make the standard keyboard any better these days. Game controllers, gaming keyboards, and gaming mice are a good thing. Moving around using a mini thumb joystick is worth it alone over arrow/wasd or point and click movement. Tera and some other combat oriented MMOs can use Xbox style controllers.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 25, 2011, 6:28 pm

Part of good game design is to conform your game to the limitations of the default control mechanism.

There is no macro system in TOR yet; I would fall over dead of shock if they did not implement one before launch. RIft had an excellent priority based macro system where you could list reactionaries and cooldown abilities first in the macro and they would fire off if they were ready and ignore them if they weren't. The downside to that however is just putting all your abilities in 1-2 macros and just beating on one button to fight.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » September 25, 2011, 7:09 pm

That is what I didn't like about Rift. I prefer a bit more customization and programmability. Spamming gets old! Eq2 wasn't so hot, but at least you could chain two spells or combat arts. I like the adaptive UI idea for stances or modes or whatever.