Odessen Warzone and Rishi Arena is going through some changes on the SWTOR Public test servers. Here are a list of what has been changed this time:
Odessen Warzone
- Performed a small optimization pass on Odessen Warzone visuals.
- Designer Note: We are expecting a slight increase in client performance while in the Odessen Warzone with this update. The update included removing the VFX that plays your team’s color while in a Control Point area. We are still performing additional optimization passes but wanted to get this out into the wild to see how it played.
- Control Points are active for approximately 90 seconds, up from the previous 75 seconds.
- Designer Note: We found that players didn’t have enough time to react to changes during a round and that this would allow more time for attackers to remove defenders.
- In Round 1 only the three middle Control Points (Defense Cannon, Cantina, and Artifact Chamber) will have a chance to become active.
- Designer Note: This was clearly providing a large head start if the Control Points rolled in a team’s favor at the start of the game.
- Small walls and crates have been added around Control Point areas to provide Line of Sight blockers and collision.
- Designer Note: We want to preserve the King of the Hill playstyle, namely removing opposition from the Control Point area to capture it but we feel knockbacks are too powerful in the current iteration. One step we are taking is to place collision around the Control Point area to allow positional counter play.
- Grace Period and Capture Time has been increased to 4 seconds, from 3 seconds.
- Designer Note: This is our second step in reducing the effectiveness of pushbacks and other physical movement effects by giving the affected character more time to make it back before the Control Point swaps. This also means that capturing a Control Point takes longer. This is a potentially negative side-effect so we will keep our eyes on how this plays out, and what feedback you provide.
- There are now 7 rounds in total. Rounds 1-3 have 2 random Control Points active and Rounds 4-7 have 3 Control Points active.
- Designer Note: We saw that with 4 Control Points active (potential for 5) players were too spread-out and lead to situations where a team that was behind couldn’t stop the team that was ahead from scoring, only to potentially catch up. Less Control Points being active should help game flow and increase the value of the Activation Battle Mod.
- Battle Mods have had their held duration removed.
- Designer Notes: We feel the Battle Mods need more tactical play and time is required to set that up. Instead of increasing the timer (and keeping an ‘exploit’ with the Pass Slice ability) we decided to go whole hog and make them last until they are used or dropped.
- All Battle Mods now have a 3 second cast and suffer from pushback.
- Designer Note: Consistency between the Battle Mods was an issue and causing confusion. Making them the same lines up expectations and should result in a better player experience.
- Battle Mods now activate in Round 1 (previously after Round 1).
- Designer Note: There wasn’t enough action and spreading out in Round 1. Now players will have to spread out.
- A decal has been added to the Defense Cannon floor showing the Control Point area.
- Designer Note: Now 100% more useful for knowing where to stand when activating this Control Point.
- Characters that use Battle Mods will now receive objective points correctly, Attacker for Activate and Deactivate, Defender for Multiply and Speed Up
- Control Point mini-map icons now pin to the edge of the mini-map
- Control Point signs around the Warzone now change color based on the owner of the Control Point displayed.
- Warzone Daily and Weekly quests now complete on valid Odessen Warzone completion.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes a character would use an ability to move them through a Battle Mod but not receive the Battle Mod.
Rishi Arena
- Characters that die in the Rishi Arena will now remain dead until the end of the round.
- Designer Note: RIP Rishi purgatory.
