Developer Q&A - 10/2

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CG_SBCrumb
685 posts EA Community Manager
edited October 2019
Hi Holotable Heroes,

The team is getting ready for the Q&A at 12:30pm PT today. We've got a bunch of questions that we answering already from the survey and hopefully be able to get more questions from the thread live!

Today's Categories:
Who's Here Today:
  • Nick Reinhart/Tophat - Live Producer
  • CG_Erik - Player Lifecycle Producer
  • CG_SvenGG - Sr. Game Designer
  • CG_Vyeking - Creative Director
  • CG_Cyanides - Data Analyst/Lead Product Manager
  • CG_SBCrumb - Community Manager/Puzzle Acolyte

EO7nmOA.jpg

Kicking off in a few minutes! The team is just sitting down and running through questions from the survey and the thread.

EDIT: Adding answers from the team now!

EDIT: About 10 minutes left but we've got a ton of good questions we want to answer so we are going to run longer than normal

EDIT: Thanks for the amazing Q&A folks. Hopefully we answered some of your hard ball questions today. We are going to start wrapping up but I'll post the rest of the responses that I've got so far and let these folks get back to work.
Post edited by CG_SBCrumb on

Replies

  • CG_SBCrumb
    685 posts EA Community Manager
    edited October 2019
    TOPIC: Economy

    Q: Will it be possible to upgrade 4-dot mods to 5-dot mods?
    • A: CG_Erik - We don't have plans for this at this time.

    Q: Why did you choose to put signal data on nodes without character shards as well. All this does is create a further divide between new and old players. You have to choose between farming shards for much needed characters, or farming data for relics.?
    • A: CG_Tophat - This is intentional as we did not want low level accounts to farm resources they cannot use at that time in their lifecycle. There's an argument to be made that it helps them prepare once they get to G13, but lower level players are heavily focused on the resources they need now and not end game goals initially. Why not put them on nodes with character shards? In short, we wanted you to make that hard choice. Do you continue to grow your roster or do you double-down on the characters you have is a fundamental choice you have to make for progressing in SWGOH.
    Post edited by CG_SBCrumb on
  • CG_SBCrumb
    685 posts EA Community Manager
    edited October 2019
    TOPIC: Content

    Q: We want a sandbox mode or a way to practice our teams against guild mates teams. Why won't you give us on the community's top requests?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - This is not only a popular request from players outside the studio, but is one of the most popular feature requests from players inside the studio. An engaging sandbox feature is an important part of the future feature set for SWGoH and, while we cannot tell you exactly when this feature will make it to the holotables, we can tell you with certainty that a plan for this feature is 'in-the-books' as the saying goes.

    Q: Hi, could you please tell us when we will be getting new content and a way to help with the gear problem that has gotten significantly worse for f2p or small spending players since the release of relics?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - New content, and, more specifically, new content for all players, is a major priority for us this year and next. It does take us awhile to make new content and we've been working on large content efforts for the better part of this and last year. As a result, content that is smaller in scope (and more accessible) has taken a backseat. A significant portion of our efforts in the coming year will be around making new ways to play SWGoH, and for those new ways to play to be fun and engaging for all players.

    Q: Will we get any new content for ships to help give some variety to the mode?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - Yes, yes, yes! Our plans for the upcoming year include new ways to play and experience SWGoH, and in ways that include ships. Additionally, you can expect ship battles to appear in the next Epic Confrontation, GAC, and, yes, our upcoming raid (in the present plan).

    Q: Will ships ever come back to Grand Arena? Also, will there be a shake up of ships diversity?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - Yes, near-term, future championships will include ships as well as 3v3 modes.

    Q: Will there be a new raid before the end of the year?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - Before the end of 2019? Sadly, no. In the first part of 2020? That's currently the plan. We are also working on ways to build both solo and guild content more quickly.

    Q: Have you guys thought about making GA defense presets? Like so you can set loadouts for different defenses you might want to place and when the GA setup phase starts you can select which you want to place and your defense with be automatically placed. Instead of having to place each team separately.
    • A: CG_SvenGG - We are actively tracking pain points in the Championships user experience and putting together a holistic solution to improve the feature while respecting and supporting its competitive core. This includes improving the efficiency deploying units and planning tactics and strategies in advance.

    Q: Could content ever come from the Extended Universe/Legacy books? (Ie: tie defenders, nogri, Zinj, Kyle Katarn, Corran Horn, Dash Rendar)?
    • A: CG_Tophat - Maybe? We're not actively thinking about those characters right now. With episode IX, Disney+, and still missing other beloved characters from the main canon - it'll be awhile before we start picking at this content,

    Q: What qualifies an event as an "epic confrontation"?
    • A: CG_Tophat - Internally, we think of Epic Confrontations as requiring specific characters, some amount of story, and puzzle elements.


    Q: Now with all the g13 and relics in the game. We are growing more stronger to the point where it's faster to complete raids. Is there a new raid in the works? Will there be any Mythic Tiers for Rancor, HAAT & hStr?
    • A: CG_Tophat - Just hinted at it above - but we're in early stages of development. We've talked a lot about Mythic Tiers for the legacy raids - right now the biggest hangup is the decision between a new raid and re-hashing the old ones. If we do re-hashes of the old ones, we have some concerns about how we make them "more compelling" and instead of just making them more difficult. We learned a lot from the HSTR and we want to make sure we don't just amp difficulty and instead add new fun factors. Once we start adding new fun factors then we end up in the discussion points about new raids. That's a very long winded way to say - we prioritize new raids - we're currently working on a new one.

    Q: For long time players like myself who have completed all legendary events, there is a real shortage of events or activities to do right now on a daily basis. Do you have plans to create or add more day to day events that would require playing rather than hitting them sim button?
    • A: CG_Tophat - We've talked about this before, but we've been building more system wide events like GA, TW, and TB instead of more specific events. We want to come back to more daily events, but we think the TB, the raid, and some other things we're working on (beyond the Epic Confrontation) are more pressing

    Q: Will light side Geonosian territory battles include a creature to fight like Acklay in Dark side?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - Yes! You can plan to square-off against the Reek in a battle that is similar to the Aklay fight. Additionally, you can expect to do battle with the fearsome Nexu.

    Q: What era of Star Wars are the next toons coming from?- Resistance animated series ?- Rise of Skywalker ?- Fallen Order?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - CG_Tophat may have covered this already, but, if not, we are presently focused on characters and content surrounding Rise of Skywalker as well as Episodes 7 and 8.

    Q: Hey there CG! i was wondering, since you have so many current Characters out and some on the way as well as more gear, is it possible that you are going to add some more stages in like Cantina battles or lightside and Darkside battles??
    • A: CG_Vyeking - You'll see more raid and solo/guild content features outside of the tables first as our focus for the most part of the coming year will be on building dynamic, replayable content.

    Q: Are there any plans to bring fleet/ship content up to parity with character content? Currently, there are no Fleet Mythics for Chimera or Han's Falcon, no Fleet Assault Battles, and no Fleet Omega battles. ?
    • A: CG_Tophat - If you mean 180 something ships? Probably not. However, it's not a dead part of the game to us. One of the things we've been working through is how to make sure that's it not as dominated by a single meta given that there are a fewer number of ships. We looked at GAC and realized that if we add ship nodes to it (which we're going to be doing soon) we can create more interesting matchups if we have more Capital Ships. Our strategy right now is to introduce more Capital Ships so that there are more "leaders" for ships. Our hope is to roll out a couple more this year (fingers crossed, no promises) and then work on introducing more individual ships. The raid we're in early stages (very early, no promises) on too has a ships phase in it.
    Post edited by CG_SBCrumb on
  • CG_SBCrumb
    685 posts EA Community Manager
    edited October 2019
    TOPIC: Game Mechanic Questions

    Q: Does Han Solo's shoots first stun on both hits? Does he stun twice then? Why? He applies 2 stacks of Ferocity to Darth Revan lead Sith Empire for example on his first turn. Shouldn't just the first shot stun the target and the second bonus attack just do damage?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - Han Solo’s unique ability “Shoots First” allows his Basic attack to apply Stun during his bonus turn at the beginning of battle. Additionally, this ability allows him to attack again the first time he uses his Basic attack each turn. The combination of these two effects creates a scenario where he uses his Basic attack twice in the same turn, thus applying Stun twice.
      Thanks, CG_Aurok for your help answering this question!

    Q: How does crit avoidance interact with crit chance? If yoda has 150% crit chance and traya has 70% crit avoidance, does yoda have an 80% chance to crit?
    • A: CG_Vyeking - The provided example is correct - the chance to critically hit is simply (Critical Chance – Critical Avoidance).

      Fun fact: This means that negative Critical Avoidance (such as from General Grievous’ leader ability) can increase your chance to critically hit (-20% Crit Avoidance on a character means attackers have +20% Crit Chance against that unit).

      Thanks, CG_Fugitive for your help answering this question!
    Post edited by CG_SBCrumb on
  • Reserved
  • Iy4oy4s
    2853 posts Member
    edited October 2019
    Got any of them new raids?? *scratches neck*

    Oh, and does LSGTB have super Uber macho high tenacity like the dark side does??
    Post edited by Iy4oy4s on
  • How many characters will come out before the end of the year?
  • HK22
    643 posts Member
    Question 1: Are there any plans to bring fleet/ship content up to parity with character content? Currently, there are no Fleet Mythics for Chimera or Han's Falcon, no Fleet Assault Battles, and no Fleet Omega battles. With the possible addition of vehicles to the game, I find it hard to get excited about that possibility when the current space vehicles are severely neglected (by comparison) and would have doubts that ground vehicles would be in a similar state.

    Question 2: Have you guys discussed revamping Gear Donations for guilds? Is there any possible of opening up all purple gear for donations and possible opening gold gear for two pieces?

    Question 3: Have you guys thought about doing a sort by equips feature? For example, I get a complete MK3 Holoprojecter and want to see who needs that piece. Instead of having to go to the character and clicking on the item and looking at the pictures of characters it would be nice to be able to sort by equips so that everyone is side-by-side.
  • Is there a plan to implement a new game mode ? Yes there are events and things but these are like one a day. There needs to be something than can be continuously played throught the day IN ADDITION to whatever else is going on. Heres an idea , you like to reskin , reskin Grand arena .. Where you use your allys character as 6th slot .. Would make Allies relevant. But also not instead of normal GA .. Alongside .. P.s. Death star fleet raid anytime soon ? Or is all your work going towards this unannounced new project ? Fisherman never say " I know there's alot of whales here but lets go check over there instead" ... Love the game I wish you still did
  • LunaticWoda
    70 posts Member
    edited October 2019
    Question 1. When can we expect new game modes Like super rough like 3 months 6 months a year?
    Question 2. I know a lot of folks have been frustrated with the lack of content this quarter. Can you help explain maybe some of the trials and tribulations of the lack of maybe characters or new things?
    Question 3 Any plans to be able to filter mods in a reverse way? Such as be able to filter to sell all mods that dont have a certain stat such as lets say...speed?

    Thanks!
  • QUESTION 1: are we getting any mando love !?
    Reskinned question- I mean question 2: when are you dropping this event ??
  • QUESTS

    A) ***WITHOUT*** leaving the guild they are in, how are players suppose to complete achievements & prestigious quests (see below) that are tied to both the light side and dark side Hoth Territory Battles when their guild is ***ONLY*** willing to do the Geonosis TBs?

    B) As you probably already know, powerful guilds tend to only want to do GeoTBs only. This does not sit well with some players. Have you considered giving guilds the choice or opportunity to do a “bonus” Hoth LS & DS TB, perhaps once or twice a year? This would certainly help players complete some of the quests & achievements (see below) that are strictly tied to the Hoth TBs.

    1) Achievement, The Frozen Rebellion - Earn 45 Stars in a single Hoth LS TB map.
    2) Achievement, The Frozen Empire - Earn 48 Stars in a single Hoth DS TB map.
    3) Fulcrum Quest 3/4, Defeat Hoth Rebel Assault phase 6 Rogue One mission (only available Hoth LS TB)
    4) Bounty Hunter Quest 1/7 - Defeat 50 Wampas with Boba Fett present (Only reliable place found for Wampas is the Hoth DS TB)
    5) Bounty Hunter Quest 3/7, Win 12 Battles with IG-88 in Territory Battles (Only works with Hoth DS TB, does not work with DS Geo TB)


    Bounty Hunter Quest 3/7, Win 12 Battles with IG-88 in Territory Battles. Since this quest only works with the dark side Hoth territory battles, why haven't you "fixed" this bug by simply renaming the text to read "Win 12 Battles with IG-88 in Hoth dark side Territory Battles"? Renaming the text (in every language of course) would surely be simpler than fixing the code behind it.


    Guild Quest, Raid Attempts - Do 4 attempts in the Pit raid. ***WITHOUT*** leaving the guild we are in, how can we do this quest if our guild ONLY wants to sim the rancor raid?


    Bounty Hunter Quest 4/7, Complete Galactic Bounty event tier IV. This quest only can be completed by beating tier 4 of the Galactic Bounty I event, not Galactic Bounty II event. The quest's description does not mention I or II so the description is vague because of this. Do you (CG) ever have any plans to fix this bug by either updating the description to reflect "Galactic Bounty I event" or making either event applicable? I thinking adding an "I" after the word "event" would surely be far simpler.


    Why are we limited to only doing a maximum of three prestigious quests at the same time? Why can't we do them all at the same time?


    Are there any plans on creating any new quests?


    EVENTS

    Are there any plans for Galactic Bounty I/II events to happen more often then once every ~45 days (on average)? Perhaps have each one run once per calendar month? Is a Galactic Bounty III event in the works?


    MISC

    Some older toons are not available in any store (apart for crystals). Baze for example. Since he and most of these older toons are not meta, is there a possibility that the energy requirements to farm them could be lowered (again, I am referring to the ones NOT found in stores)? You had recenty done this for Vet Solo & Chewie. Kudos.


    Have you ever entertained the idea of letting the fans of the game vote on which toon they would like to see next in the game?


    QUALITY OF LIFE (QOL)

    Some battles that we have already achieved 3 stars in are starting to get tedious. All of the eight round assault battles come to mind. Are there any plans to allow us to sim all battles that we have already achieved 3 stars in?


    At the moment, there are three prestigious quests that are tied to the ranking in the HAAT (Tank) Raid. The relevant part of the quest is listed below.

    Jedi Knight 4/4 - Earn rank 10 or higher 5 times in the HAAT Raid
    Jedi Master 1/4 - Earn rank 3 or Better 3 times in the HAAT Raid
    Jedi Master 4/4 - Earn Rank 1 in the HAAT Raid

    In the eventuality that the Tank Raid becomes simmable, will there be any special consideration for the players trying to do these quests or will each player have to ask their guild's leadership NOT to sim the tank raid at least 9 times? Perhaps simply ***designating*** everyone as 1st place and give them 5th, 10th, 15th or whatever rewards?

    If a player already has the Tank Tamer title (for being in 1st place in the HAAT/Tank raid), why does the player need to prove themselves yet again when they get to Jedi Master 4/4? The game already knows they have done this at least once already.
  • When is (insert specific character) coming out? JK.

    But seriously. Hondo.
  • Why no Battlefront 2 love like Iden Versio?

    What does TVF eat for breakfast (couldn't resist)?

    But most importantly, can we get a Jawa portrait??????
  • Kix is coming right?
    This is... SPARTAAAAAAA
  • TVF
    34950 posts Member
    What does TVF eat for breakfast (couldn't resist)?

    I really hope this gets answered. I'd like to know it myself.
    The CGDF requests that CG takes away everyone's Extra Life Charity Event rewards. We don't deserve them. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • HK22 wrote: »
    Question 3: Have you guys thought about doing a sort by equips feature? For example, I get a complete MK3 Holoprojecter and want to see who needs that piece. Instead of having to go to the character and clicking on the item and looking at the pictures of characters it would be nice to be able to sort by equips so that everyone is side-by-side.

    I can respond to this one! This overlaps a bit with one of the other questions I answered about crafting gear that @CG_SBCrumb will be posting about, but it's a bit different.

    One of the features (item inventory) I'm exploring some designs around could include this functionality pretty easily as a reverse direction of the character gear flow. I'll make sure to add it to the idea list.
  • Ultra wrote: »
    Relics

    1. Can we get a signal data heist like we got mod salvage heist after mod salvage introduction?

    2. Can we get Signal Data added to GAC weekly rewards prize pool?
    Crumb wrote:
    Historically, it’s been our preference that when we release new features we include an expansion of our gear system, along with some new characters and ships.

    3. Why release Relics now? Like gear, its an expansion of character progression, so why release it without a new feature? Wouldn't it have been better if Relics was introduced with LS TB's release? Why release relics without completing the relic ability feature? Are we going to see more relic levels with LS TB? Can we expect more relic levels added twice a month or more?

    4. It was mentioned somewhere that not all toons will be getting relic abilities. It might invalidate a lot of our investment in current toons if true. Can you release a list of toons, or an ongoing updated list of toons that will get relic abilities like the dev tracker?

    GAC

    y77fwxxwuby6.png

    1. Currently, it is difficult to reach kyber at Division 1/2. Can the difficulty of reaching kyber be reduced to match up other divisions OR can the difficulty of obtaining kyber in earlier divisions be increased? The game is currently encouraging players to stop at Division 3 for maxium rewards and punishes players to invest in toons or ships that would inflate raw GP

    Epic Confrontation

    1. Will the next EC toon require GET Mk I or Mk II currency? Will it unlock at 5 stars?

    Malevolence

    1. Will it require GET Mk II to unlock and 7*?

    Events

    1. Can we get assault battles for every in-game faction tag?



    Great to see you again @Ultra !
    Development Manager for Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
  • Ultra
    10890 posts Moderator
    Can we get shirtless Kylo Ren for one of the November GAC portraits?
  • How will you make Gear 12 more accessible/faster to farm now that G13 AND relics are in play?
    Go Pens!
  • TVF
    34950 posts Member
    CG_RyDiggs wrote: »
    Ultra wrote: »
    Relics

    1. Can we get a signal data heist like we got mod salvage heist after mod salvage introduction?

    2. Can we get Signal Data added to GAC weekly rewards prize pool?
    Crumb wrote:
    Historically, it’s been our preference that when we release new features we include an expansion of our gear system, along with some new characters and ships.

    3. Why release Relics now? Like gear, its an expansion of character progression, so why release it without a new feature? Wouldn't it have been better if Relics was introduced with LS TB's release? Why release relics without completing the relic ability feature? Are we going to see more relic levels with LS TB? Can we expect more relic levels added twice a month or more?

    4. It was mentioned somewhere that not all toons will be getting relic abilities. It might invalidate a lot of our investment in current toons if true. Can you release a list of toons, or an ongoing updated list of toons that will get relic abilities like the dev tracker?

    GAC

    y77fwxxwuby6.png

    1. Currently, it is difficult to reach kyber at Division 1/2. Can the difficulty of reaching kyber be reduced to match up other divisions OR can the difficulty of obtaining kyber in earlier divisions be increased? The game is currently encouraging players to stop at Division 3 for maxium rewards and punishes players to invest in toons or ships that would inflate raw GP

    Epic Confrontation

    1. Will the next EC toon require GET Mk I or Mk II currency? Will it unlock at 5 stars?

    Malevolence

    1. Will it require GET Mk II to unlock and 7*?

    Events

    1. Can we get assault battles for every in-game faction tag?



    Great to see you again @Ultra !

    First I can't get my paycheck (continuing issue) and now this. I'm not sure I want to be CG_TVF much longer.
    The CGDF requests that CG takes away everyone's Extra Life Charity Event rewards. We don't deserve them. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • Ultra
    10890 posts Moderator
    CG_RyDiggs wrote: »
    Ultra wrote: »
    Relics

    1. Can we get a signal data heist like we got mod salvage heist after mod salvage introduction?

    2. Can we get Signal Data added to GAC weekly rewards prize pool?
    Crumb wrote:
    Historically, it’s been our preference that when we release new features we include an expansion of our gear system, along with some new characters and ships.

    3. Why release Relics now? Like gear, its an expansion of character progression, so why release it without a new feature? Wouldn't it have been better if Relics was introduced with LS TB's release? Why release relics without completing the relic ability feature? Are we going to see more relic levels with LS TB? Can we expect more relic levels added twice a month or more?

    4. It was mentioned somewhere that not all toons will be getting relic abilities. It might invalidate a lot of our investment in current toons if true. Can you release a list of toons, or an ongoing updated list of toons that will get relic abilities like the dev tracker?

    GAC

    y77fwxxwuby6.png

    1. Currently, it is difficult to reach kyber at Division 1/2. Can the difficulty of reaching kyber be reduced to match up other divisions OR can the difficulty of obtaining kyber in earlier divisions be increased? The game is currently encouraging players to stop at Division 3 for maxium rewards and punishes players to invest in toons or ships that would inflate raw GP

    Epic Confrontation

    1. Will the next EC toon require GET Mk I or Mk II currency? Will it unlock at 5 stars?

    Malevolence

    1. Will it require GET Mk II to unlock and 7*?

    Events

    1. Can we get assault battles for every in-game faction tag?



    Great to see you again @Ultra !
    Great to see you too buddy!
  • TVF
    34950 posts Member
    Ultra wrote: »
    CG_RyDiggs wrote: »
    Ultra wrote: »
    Relics

    1. Can we get a signal data heist like we got mod salvage heist after mod salvage introduction?

    2. Can we get Signal Data added to GAC weekly rewards prize pool?
    Crumb wrote:
    Historically, it’s been our preference that when we release new features we include an expansion of our gear system, along with some new characters and ships.

    3. Why release Relics now? Like gear, its an expansion of character progression, so why release it without a new feature? Wouldn't it have been better if Relics was introduced with LS TB's release? Why release relics without completing the relic ability feature? Are we going to see more relic levels with LS TB? Can we expect more relic levels added twice a month or more?

    4. It was mentioned somewhere that not all toons will be getting relic abilities. It might invalidate a lot of our investment in current toons if true. Can you release a list of toons, or an ongoing updated list of toons that will get relic abilities like the dev tracker?

    GAC

    y77fwxxwuby6.png

    1. Currently, it is difficult to reach kyber at Division 1/2. Can the difficulty of reaching kyber be reduced to match up other divisions OR can the difficulty of obtaining kyber in earlier divisions be increased? The game is currently encouraging players to stop at Division 3 for maxium rewards and punishes players to invest in toons or ships that would inflate raw GP

    Epic Confrontation

    1. Will the next EC toon require GET Mk I or Mk II currency? Will it unlock at 5 stars?

    Malevolence

    1. Will it require GET Mk II to unlock and 7*?

    Events

    1. Can we get assault battles for every in-game faction tag?



    Great to see you again @Ultra !
    Great to see you too buddy!

    I'm right here guys. I can hear you. Despite the PM tagging.
    The CGDF requests that CG takes away everyone's Extra Life Charity Event rewards. We don't deserve them. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • One more question for the lolz... Regular Mountain Dew or Baja Blast? And by this I mean how much Dew do you devs drink on the regular?
  • Hey there CG! i was wondering, since you have so many current Characters out and some on the way as well as more gear, is it possible that you are going to add some more stages in like Cantina battles or lightside and Darkside battles?
  • Any chance we can get a Princess Leia or Leia Organa portrait? Our dear, departed Carrie Fisher deserves at least this small remembrance.
    Also: Luke Skywalker portrait, please!
This discussion has been closed.