SWG-FR.com: All jewelry sets are now available with the Exar Kun instance. What kind of rewards are you planning for the next heroic instances?
Thomas Blixtev Blair: For now, we aren't going to extend the heroic jewelry sets any further maybe in the future, but not now. We created a bunch of new art in Echo Base that we want to make into new and interesting rewards.
Talking about Exar Kun instances the elemental damage system that kills one of the last bosses (Wrath) is not that exciting for most of players since once you figure out how to do it, it's really easy. Will this system still be used on the next instances, or will the commando get a new cold elemental-type weapon?
I certainly understand your comment, and this can be true of many of the heroic encounters. They are very difficult until youve figured out the pieces of the puzzle. The challenge is mastering the manner of execution, which impacts how well you perform. I remember during one of our play tests, the programmer who was assigned to take care of Wrath couldn't quite get the timing down and kept getting us killed, which shows that just knowing how to get through the puzzle is only half the battle timing is everything. After a few practice runs, he did get better, though practice makes perfect. I would expect to see commandos having more choices in their elemental weapons starting with Game Update 5, so stay tuned!
Jump to Lightspeed and space is one of the leastused in-game features. Is there any chance well see heroic instances in space (instead of just transport for the ISD)?
This is one of our greatest challenges. We want to make heroic instances that have broader appeal, but they are one of the most detailed development initiatives and take a lot of time to implement. We want to invest our time into areas that benefit the most players. For example, the new Meatlump theme park introduces content with a broader focus. Weve geared it toward mid-levels, but we also put in paths so advanced players could enjoy the content as well. I can't rule out putting a heroic instance in space, but I just don't see one anytime soon.
We were disappointed when they saw the new Elder Jedi cloaks, but I understand that you want to "cut with the past." But since the Elder robe is the last souvenir the Elder Jedi will have, is there any chance to see his stats improve to get the same results with the new cloaks?
The difference between the old and new Jedi cloaks is not as great as you might think; the new cloaks have a tad more stats, whereas the Elder robes have an offensive proc attack effect. Which is better? It depends on your play style. The new cloaks are nice because they show the great things we can do with new textures to enhance existing wearable assets. As for future cloaks, we don't plan to increase the stats on the Elder items every time we add something new to the game.
At the moment, the best weapons are the schematics in heroic instances. With the next improvement to crafters, how will you find a balance between "instances weapon" and "classic weapons?"
We have added new enhancement loot drops that go hand-in-hand with the heroic loot, which give the weapon appearances from heroics a slight edge in the crafting process. However, you can still make fantastic classic weapons with the right resources. For example, I had fantastic materials and good experimentation rolls for my T-21s, but only so-so materials and average experimentation rolls for my Elite Tusken Rifle. The T-21 ended up being a better gun because of it.
A new group interface will be live soon. Are you planning to have larger groups? Or link groups to group leader? Or does the game simply use this group size?
Right now our focus is on groups of approximately eight players, and we have been structuring all of our content on that size. For that reason, we really do not have tools to support meta groups. Unless, in the future, we decide to add raid content that requires larger group sizes or meta groups, there really isn't a good reason to take all the steps to put them in. It would just make our current content way too trivial.
Hoth will be implemented in-game, but theres still mystery surrounding it. Will this be a cross-server PvP zone, or is it going to be a new instance?
Right now, we are planning to build two versions of this instance one with an Imperial win condition and one with a Rebel win condition. The challenge is building two completely different instances that have unique experiences and events based on which side you are playing.
We hope to build the victory conditions that are affiliated with key moments in The Empire Strikes Back. While it would be cool to make a third PvP version, we first want to deliver polished versions for both the Rebels and the Imperials. After the initial encounters go live, at some point, wed like to create a PvP version that delivers on that type of experience.
