Gameplay designer for SWTOR, Shabir Dhillon took to the forums to explain some of the balance changes coming with game update 7.1.1 in Star Wars: the old Republic. This includes those for Lightning / Telekinetics, Madness / Balance, and Advanced Prototype / Tactics. Check it out:
Shabir here and I am a Gameplay Designer on SWTOR. I wanted to start by saying we appreciate everyone for taking the time and effort to give feedback on the changes. I wanted to explain some of the changes we are making in the upcoming patch:
Lightning/Telekinetics:
- Patch Notes:
- Convection/Clamoring Force – Critical hit damage bonus goes to 12% (down from 15%).
- Thundering Blast/Turbulence – Second arc of damage deals 20% of Turbulence’s damage (down from 25%).
- Storm watch damage decreased by 4%
- Halted Offensive/Power of the Force cast time increased to 3.0 seconds (up from 2.5 seconds). Alacrity still affects cast time.
- Decrease Halted Offensive’s/Power of the Force’s damage by 15%.
- Convection/Clamoring Force – Thundering Blast/ Turbulence grants Reserved Darkness/Reserved Light, making Dark Heal/Benevolence an instant cast and increasing its healing by 30%. Stacks up to 2 times.
- Thunder and Lightning/Incoming Turbulence ability mod have their damage increased to 10% (up from 5%) and includes Halted Offensive/ Power of the Force.
Developer Feedback:
- Lightning/Telekinetics is exceeding our DPS targets as a Ranged Burst spec role. For this reason, we are making the following changes:
- Halted Offensive/Power of the Force cast time increased to 3.0 seconds (up from 2.5 seconds).
- An increase to cast time allows players to not feel as if they have to hard cast this ability especially in situations that require mobility.
- Decrease Halted Offensive’s/Power of the Force’s damage by 15%
- This change was made to bring the ability’s damage into line to its intended damage value and bring the Ranged Burst spec’s damage correctly into line with the DPS targets.
- Convection/Clamoring Force – Thundering Blast/Turbulence grants Reserved Darkness/Reserved Light, making Dark Heal/Benevolence an instant cast and increasing its healing by 30%. Stacks up to 2 times.
- The change to the Convection/Clamoring Force passive is made in addition to the currently existing passive. The new buff is not replacing the old version of Convection/Clamoring Force. In the future, we will make changes like these much clearer.
- Thunder and Lightning/Incoming Turbulence ability mod have their damage increased to 10% up from 5% and includes Halted Offensive/Power of the Force.
- Halted Offensive/Power of the Force cast time increased to 3.0 seconds (up from 2.5 seconds).
Madness/ Balance:
- Patch Notes:
- Disintegration/Critical Kinesis – Death Field/Force in Balance and Death Brand/Shifted Balance grant Vitiate’s Malice/Warden’s Vigor, giving Force Lightning/Telekinetic Throw 20% Lifesteal for 12 seconds.
- Force Horrors/Drain Thoughts – Increase periodic damage to 20% (up from 15%).
- Lightning Barrage/Telekinetic balance – Force Lightning/Telekinetic Throw reduced damage changed to -20% from -25%.
- Tempest of Rho – Correctly applies 50% chance for Force Lightning/Telekinetic Throw to trigger periodic effects down from 75%.
- Developer Feedback:
- The change to the Tempest of Rho Tactical was designed to first bring it in line with its original power level. And in addition to that, changes were made to distribute that DPS back into the class itself.
- We also wanted to discourage players from prioritizing Force Lightning/Telekinetic Throw over Lightning Strike/ Disturbance when proced in order to get the best DPS output.
Advanced Prototype/Tactics:
- Patch Notes:
- Magnetic Blast/Tactical Surge damage reduced by 14%.
- Power Burst/High Yield Explosives mod stacks damage bonus reduced to 4% per stack down from 5% per stack. (total of 16% damage bonus to thermal det down from 20%).
- Serrated Blades damage reduced to 5% down from 15%. (combined into Prototype Rail/High Friction Bolts)
- Blood Tracker/Triumph damage increase to bleeding targets is reduced to 3% down from 5%.
- Lingering Heat/Superheated Cells damage reduced by 50%.
- Developer Feedback:
- Advanced Prototype/Tactics is exceeding our DPS targets as a Melee Burst spec role. For this reason we made the following changes:
- Magnetic Blast/Tactical Surge damage reduced by 14%.
- Magnetic Blast/Tactical Surge damage was reduced to lower sustain and reduce the amount of DPS this ability contributed to an overall parse.
- Magnetic Blast/Tactical Surge is intended to be a filler ability and not make up a majority of the DPS output on a burst melee class.
- Power Burst/High Yield Explosives mod stacks damage bonus reduced to 4% per stack down from 5% per stack. (total of 16% damage bonus to thermal det down from 20%).
- The change to Power Burst/High Yield Explosives mod was made to bring the mod more in line with the intended DPS increase a player should receive from a burst DPS mod.
- Serrated Blades damage reduced to 5% down from 15%. (combined into Prototype Rail/High Friction Bolts)
- Much like the Magnetic Blast/Tactical Surge changes this change was made to reduce the sustain of the spec.
- Blood Tracker/Triumph damage increase to bleeding targets is reduced to 3% down from 5%.
- Lingering Heat/Superheated Cells damage reduced by 50%.
- The change to Lingering Heat/Superheated Cells mod was made to bring the mod further in line with what a sustain mod should give within a burst melee spec.
- The change to Lingering Heat/Superheated Cells mod was made to bring the mod further in line with what a sustain mod should give within a burst melee spec.
What will happen after 7.1.1:
- We are going to be taking a look at the tank balance within the game as well as a variety of quality of life changes for various classes.
- We will be taking a look at other mods across classes and balancing them in order to make them more competitive with the go-to options players tend to take.
I just wanted to close by thanking everyone for their feedback and hope to keep seeing more of it in the future. I hope these notes added some additional transparency on the changes and that the feedback keeps on coming. And as always balance is an ongoing process and we will keep you all updated with class changes coming your way in the future.
