SWTOR: Planned Balance Changes for 7.1.1

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:

  • 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:

Madness/ Balance: 

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%. 
    • 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.
         

What will happen after 7.1.1: 


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.