Quote EricMusco Quote: Originally Posted by Hey folks,



There is another PTS patch coming today that will make some additional changes to Spoils of War. Letís talk about everything that is changing and why; I will also call out the portions that are in todayís patch vs what is coming later.



TLDR - Gear will now drop only for your current Discipline, random vendor will now always give upgrades (with proper targeting), and we are adding supplementary vendors that sell set bonus shells and tacticals for tech fragments.



Gear for My Main Only

As stated in my previous post we wanted to ensure that players had some capacity to gear off-stats or alts while playing. Your feedback has made it clear that getting gear drops that arenít meant for your current character is frustrating, so we are changing it. But, we also want to give you the choice to get alternate gear as well. Here is what is changing on this front: All personal loot will now look only at your Discipline.

All group loot only looks at base/Advanced Classes. This is in todayís patch.

We are going to implement a toggle on your character portrait which will allow you to select what Discipline you want that gear to drop for. Ex: Youíre playing on your Operative as Concealment, but you really want to focus on getting Medicine. You can switch your toggle to Medicine and you will receive that Disciplineís gear instead of Concealment. This will be in a future PTS patch.



Random Tech Fragment Vendor and Vertical Progression

The random Tech Fragment vendorís intention was to be a supplementary way to get gear that would help protect you from a streak of bad luck. Since this vendor is also random it is leading to frustration where you use the vendor seeking an upgrade, and instead it is either for the wrong spec or too low of an item rating. Weíve addressed the gearing issue above, so letís discuss receiving a lower rated item: Here is what is changing: Any item purchased from this vendor will now always be of a higher item rating than your characterís currently equipped item rating (this is not by slot, but the average displayed on your character sheet).

This means the best use of this vendor is to spend fragments on whichever item slot has your current lowest item rating gear. This would effectively guarantee an item rating increase for that slot (unless it is at max item rating, of course). For example: if your currently-equipped boots are item rating 270 and your characterís average item rating is 274, and you buy new boots from this vendor, those new boots are going to be above item rating 274.

Just to reiterate, the Ďrandomí vendor is intended to be a mechanism to help address ďverticalĒ progression (meaning your path from the start of level 75 to max item rating). To address concerns about horizontal progression, such as getting the exact sets or tacticals you want, read on...



Working Towards Specific Drops, Not Random

Although the underlying system of Spoils of War is there, it is clear that there needs to be a mechanism to work towards getting the exact item(s) you want. Our intention is that this type of system would need to be supplementary, but the current solutions we have in place are not enough.



I want to add some clarity to a system that is already in place to assist with this. Each content type will drop specific gear types, depending on difficulty. Example: the final boss of Master Mode Flashpoints have a 100% chance to drop from a pool of mostly tactical items and some set bonuses for the group. They donít only drop in Flashpoints, but if you are targeting a specific type of drop, you can hone in on it by running specific content. To be clear, Daily Areas, Conquest, Flashpoint, Operations, Reputation Vendors, Crafting, and PvP all will have these focused loot drops. Now, we may need to focus this more so that you have more control over drops, so please keep the feedback coming on that front. Also as a reminder, these are just bonus drops in addition to all of the personal loot you will get which can also contain any set and tactical item.



Letís talk about what is coming next. We are going to add vendors to the game that will sell all set items and tacticals for Tech Fragments. This is not meant to be a primary source of acquiring the gear but it will ensure you can get exactly what you want over time. Since this is meant to be supplementary, expect higher pricing on it.



Kai Zykken will remain in-game as a vendor with his current functionality. His purpose will now be to have a random selection of items that will be at a reduced price from what is on the standard vendors. This still gives you a compelling reason to check his wares every week as you might be able to get exactly what you want, but at a reduced rate from what you would normally pay.



Since these vendors were not available in the initial implementation of the vendors and Tech Fragments, expect when they are implemented in a future PTS patch there will likely be a shakeup in Tech Fragments acquisition / costs. Again, this is not in todayís patch.



Thanks all! As always, this is not a comprehensive list of everything we are tracking and working on, so look for additional information as PTS progresses and keep your feedback coming!



-eric



Ihonestly think this is all a really good step in the right direction! implement it correctly and it should work.