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Star Wars: The Old Republic: Item Modification & You
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Emmanuele Lusinchi has posted a new article on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums that goes into pretty decent detail on how items will be modified in the game.
The post was written in response to the last patch notes published in which Lusinchi remarks, "So, it turns out some of the patch notes regarding our modding system were probably poorly written (by me, I must add) and generated quite a lot of concern. I’ll try to explain the changes better and, while I'm at it, explain the logic for those changes."
Lusinchi goes into great detail about what was wrong with the system including such things as too many modifications that had to continually be upgraded every few levels which, he opines, "was a pain in players' backsides".
Then Lusinchi outlines all of the forthcoming changes to customization including:
Customize anywhere any time without a work bench
Reverse engineer and create blueprints and purple mods
Mods can be extracted from custom items
Some mods are now common to all items
There's a lot to read so head to the Star Wars: The Old Republic forum to check it out.
Comments
I just read it.
Lots of info to clarify any doubt.
"There's a lot to read...." Massive Understatement.
As they haven't released much info on the Mod system to those of us who didn't Beta, I'm kinda lost on some of what he said. Overall, my take is that this will help out the crafting professions and add a nice "appearance" layer for those who want to look their best and stand out from the crowd.
I also got the impression that this would allow crafted gear to be top tier, but only in conjunction with raid drops. I'm not sure what to make of that yet. Possibly just misunderstanding the way it works.
As a final point, it seems to me that he's also saying the Mod System is going to be pretty raw at launch.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Yeah, same.
It seems orange items can be fully modded and have their mods taken out without destroying them. But you can't do this with purple gear which already has a part of their slots filled with mods which can't be replaced.
Right?
My brand new bloggity blog.
The way I took it was most any mod can be removed BUT all gear will not have mods. More stuff has been added that just has stats that are not on mods and those stats are not able to be moved around. I guess we will see next week.
So what are workbenches used for now? Are they being removed?
Hmmmmm....... I took it as the Purplez had mods that couldn't be extracted, but could be replaced. I'm still a bit puzzled by some of what he said.
End game artifact quality (purple) gear is now partially moddable. Why moddable? Because that allows the players to customize stats such as critical, etc. to their exact desire. Why only partially? Because mods are now extractable... Think of it this way: it is easier to defeat the first boss from an Operation than the last boss. So we want to reward the players with the best possible loot for defeating the last boss and that loot is typically the Chest piece of a set. The first boss drops less interesting stuff, say boots. This may sound old school, and it is. But by doing so, we ensure that both players that get rewarded by looks and those rewarded by stats are properly rewarded for taking on the most difficult challenges.
Now, if purple gear was fully moddable, players would simply farm the first boss, acquire 5 pair of boots, extract the armoring, mod and enhancements from the boots and slots them in their favorite Custom items. That actually sounds cool, but it really isn’t. Letting players extract the armoring mod from the purple items would trivialize end game gear progression and stop rewarding successful and dedicated players for their efforts.
So, instead of letting that happen, we prevented the Armoring, Hilt and Barrel from being extracted, but we also made sure of dropping purple Armoring mods of equivalent power as Operation loot. This means that players going the mod route can still take their favorite orange armor and make it as good as a operation purple armor (with some temporary caveats).
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
That's what it sounds like. So you need to get all the items in a Operation run for a full set. But you can also get purple mod drops to make orange items of purple level. If you find enough to fill all the slots. I would think comendation drops could be used to buy purple mods from Operation venders as well?
The only issue will be wih end game items. And I am sure that will change and mature with time. But I like the mod system, so I am fine with this and encouraged that the devs will adjust the system as we play.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
The problem with this system is people will still be required to look like clowns during progression though raids until they can get a full set of purple mods to build the appearnce they want. Up until you start raids you can customize your apperance and once a group has a zone on farm status and people can start getting mods for gear you will have to wear the best gear you can find regradless of how it looks.
And if you think the first couple named in a operations zone will drop purple mods for the locked gear slot you are crazy. If that was the case people would just farm mods instead of purple gear. No mods with those locked stats will come off end zone mobs only.
I understand the issues they are trying to solve but there has to be a better way like locking mods in question to a item slot like boots only or requiring some form of transfer operation to convert the apperance of the item.
If you didnt experience any of this stuff first hand, it wont really make much sense to you, better to just not try to figure it out and be surprised when the game launchs and you get to fully experience it
Mess with the best, Die like the rest
I must admit, I maybe understood half of it. It sounds all quite complicated, and I wonder, why? I mean, why make something so complicated when we already HAVE a simple solution to the problem: an appearance slot. The issue is: people don't want to look like clown. They want to keep a certain look. Fine. But why make a simple issue so damn complicated?
Make a frigging appearance slot and save us all this complicated mod rubbish.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I like customizing my gear. If I want pvp gear I can slot burst, while for pve I slot sustained. Even better, i get to look good either way. This system sounds great so far.
The following is a copy/paste post of mine from another thread where the op was asking about appearance slots and item modification and their comparison to one another.
[ Love the mod system. I got a really cool-looking chest piece from a heroic quest completion that was modded. A couple levels later I got an upgraded chest piece that looked like crap, so I took the mods out of the new chest piece and put them in the chest piece that I liked, an voila, my old chest piece now has the same stats as the newer one, and I can keep upgrading the mods until I get a new piece that I like better.
I would call this innovative as I have not seen this in any other mmo. Granted, I haven't played ALL mmo's, so I guess I could be wrong...
Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. Did the same thing with my blaster pistols. Found one that looked pretty cool, then found another that matched,( dual-wielding gunslinger ftw !) and just modded them up as well. ]
Hope this will maybe help any confusion as to what the mod system does and why there is no need for an appearance tab.
Edit: to add link to thread I copy/pasted from- http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4578150#4578150
Thats a big ass wall of text, but loads of really good info. Glad i got to play the beta so i actually get what they are talking about (mostly!)
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
O man that is huge. I tried beta but i would lie if i say i did understand everything. I think it is huge plus, players was always crying in the past because of poor modifications of items and i think they will get something good now
You know, it does sound a little complex but all in all, it sounds star warsy. I like the idea that you can further engineer your equipment. I bet in actuallity it isnt that hard to do and one can pick it up quite quick if that is what they are into, aka crafting nerds like me.
Because appearance slots are stupid, that's why. They basically allow a player to get that one nice set of appearance gear early level, and then never change their gear the rest of the time in game, all the way to level cap. At least with the modding system, it serves two functions: It allows you the same opportunity to customize your look but makes you work a bit harder for it than the idiotic and overly easy appearance tab, and it also allows you to customize your gear for actual stats.
It's not complicated. The only thing actually needed is some common sense in how to use it. I think it's a great system, and I much prefer it to the appearance tab. But it seems like Bioware can't seem to do anything right by some people. The same folks that complain that the game is too dumbed down and easy are the same ones throwing a fit about the mod system being too complicated. It's comical.
And unfortunately, the common rage with appearence tabs would be to dress up in full top tier armor, and switch to appearence tab to wear nothing but underwear.
It's not complicated when you fully understand it and get to use it. That was a lot of text but the "complicated" parts are very easy to understand in game if you think about it for a minute.
Basically you need to work a little bit to look like you want, nothing major, I'm pretty certain you'll also feel better, looking the way you do, when you decide on the look and then fix the look for you, not just select an appearance for every week day from a list you've gathered, I hope it will never come to that, because the current system ties crafting and trading to the appearance aswell, which promotes socializing and helps the economy too.
The positives outweights the negatives heavily imo and also benefits the game as a whole a lot more than the easy way out-appearance tab.
Good point. I am all for the crafter and there touch on the world
Since the items in this game are so very basic, this system is as basic as you can get, not alot of complicated anything. Too bad it isn't introduced earlier, so everyone doesn't look like a generic clone of everyone else (don't get me started on the terrible creation screen.
It starts as soon as you get to your capital planet. Actually, come to think of it, it starts on your factions fleet base when you do the first FP. Also if you go Cybertech you can start making mods immediately, that is if they don't change it before launch.
An A-Tab serves only one function, while the mod system serves two, allowing you to customize both appearance and statistics. And an A-Tab is an incredibly lazy approach which is purely mechanical, with no in-game justification. BioWare is better than that.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I haven´t beta tested so forgive me if i´m a bit misguided into reading the wall of text, but i agree with previous posts, it seems a sistem where you can look how you want if you work a bit more for the mods, gives everyone a reason to get a bit into crafting and also makes the economy more interesting as only some ppl will have some crucial upgrades that everyone needs... so far beats the appearance tab for me.
If I wanted to THINK I'D study quantum physics! =P
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Its seems some people really misunderstand the system, essentially it allows any level orange item to remain viable all the way to endgame should you prefer its appearance.
For every drop in game, there is a corresponding blueprint that allows crafting of an orange item identical in appearance with 4 open slots. These orange items have no stats of their own; they are essentially appearance items if they have no mods in them. However, the mod system allows you to upgrade the items stats through mods as you level, enabling you to maintain the look that you like for your char, while also being viable for your level.
As for the partially slotted items, previously, these crafted orange items produced purple epic level gear, with a full set of purple level mods applicable to the patterns level, removing the need for crafting separate mods by other proffs. Now those automatic mods are no longer present and the items coloured orange; while many purple mods remain craft able by the appropriate professions, some mods are now drop only, found in items with a single slot. This gives the owner of the single slot item the option of removing that mod to use elsewhere should they find it more desirable to do so, but doing so will be the only way to obtain that particular mod. In addition, the purple level clothing and weapons from high level bosses will still be perfectly viable in their own right having stats built into their pattern in addition to the mod item contained within.
I should also point out for those that don't know, mods are not restricted to a single stat, the more desirable epic mods have up to three.
There, I hope that clears up at least some of the confusion.
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