Gaming Update #40
News on Star Wars Battlefront Blast Mode gameplay, information on the upcoming "go-live" for the DBGaming Channel's Gaming Bot. Also included is Cluster rebalancing for SWTOR, Destiny, and Diablo 3. As well as the usual Gaming Competitions that are currently open, Crescents awarded, and Pendants of Blood from the past weeks.
Star Wars Battlefront Blast Mode and Alpha Test News!
A few days ago a new post went up on the Star Wars Battlefront website with details on the Blast Mode gameplay, more commonly known as Team Deathmatch. Players can choose to either play as the Empire or Rebellion in this game mode. The premise of this style of gameplay will be the first team to reach 100 kills winning, or whoever has the most kills in a 10 minute round. In DB terms, that makes it fairly easy to assign a CF value to...
Last month there was an Alpha Test conducted on Star Wars Battlefront for PC. Unfortunately the NDA limited people involved from telling us anything more than "There was an Alpha Test and I was part of it.". However, through Sith trickery I managed to get Arden/Kz'set to divulge the specs for his PC which he used during the Alpha Test. It is important to note that these WERE NOT the minimum specs for participation in the Alpha Test, and we still don't know the minimum specs for the game. As soon as EA Star Wars releases the official minimum specs I'll be running a poll to see where most people will be playing this game, which will assume they either already have one of the supported platforms or are in the process of buying one. Fine print aside, here's the specs for Ardens machine which was able to run the Battlefront Alpha Test:
- FX-8120 (8 core 3.1 ghz)
- 8 GB RAM
- Nvidia 730 2gb video card
The only review we could get from the (rightfully) tight lipped Verpine was, "I'll be buying it." That's good enough for me though! Still hoping for an Open Beta in the next few months.
DBGaming and Fist-o-Matic
If you've spent any time in the DBGaming channel in the last month or two you've noticed a new Bot which likes to remind you to log in to it. We're wrapping up the finishing touches on the Fist-O-Matic now and will have a full description of the commands and capabilities of it coming later this month. For now, a brief explanation of what the Fist-o-Matic is going to do for you.
- After logging in to the Fist-O-Matic and entering yourself into a platforms que you will be matched with another person also in that platforms que. This will eliminate much of the drama and confusion related to challenges and match dodging.
- Upon matching there will be a 5 minute window which requires a response from both parties who were paired to play. If one or both do not respond they will be kicked from the DBGaming channel for idling. This will help people better use their gaming time, so they aren't waiting 30 minutes for a person they challenged but had to go AFK to do something all of the sudden to return.
- Fist-O-Matic will also be able to report your match results to the website, through a command that you can issue to it on IRC.
TOR Cluster Balancing
Flashpoint balancing within TOR remains relatively accurate to the standard (5 min per Cluster). We did find a discrepancy among operations though and will be making the following changes to the base (8 person) awards:
- EV,KP, and EC: Decreasing from 8 CE to 6 CE
- TFB: Decreasing from 16 CE to 8 CE
- SnV: Decreasing from 16 CE to 12 CE
- DF and DP: Decreasing from 20 CE to 9 CE
No change to the existing Ravagers and ToS Operations at this time. All changes were based on in game time to completion for the associated raids and will be going live on the Gaming Submission tables shortly after this report is posted.
An additional change which remains in discussion among the Fist Staff is to apply the Members Present table to TOR Flashpoints and Operations. If this were to be added we would drop the bonus associated with running the 16 person version of the Raid.
- 2-3 Members: 1.0x modifier (no change)
- 4-5 Members: 1.1x modifer
- 6-9 Members: 1.2x modifier
- 10+ Members: 1.3x modifier
Expect more on this last section in my next report.
Destiny Cluster Balancing
Several changes for Destiny are in the works. Mostly related to Strikes, Raids, and Prison of Elders.
- Crota's End Raid: Decreasing from 20 CE to 12 CE
- Prison of Elders 28: Decreasing from 8 CE to 6 CE
- Prison of Elders 32: Decreasing from 16 CE to 9 CE
- Prison of Elders 34: Decreasing from 20 CE to 12 CE
Additionally, we will be dropping Hard Mode Strike and Nightfall Strike modifiers. The Strikes will be worth the same amount of CE regardless of the difficulty they are run on. Again, all changes were based on in game time to completion for the associated raids and will be going live on the Gaming Submission tables shortly after this report is posted.
Diablo Cluster Balancing (not going live today)
I've been spending some time on the Diablo 3 Public Test Realm for Patch 2.3 in the past few weeks. There's been a few changes which are being made that lend themselves towards an entirely new system for rewarding Diablo 3 activity. This would totally replace the existing "Cluster per Elite" system, and allow the Daily Cap to be raised or potentially eliminated.
In the next Patch players will be able to run regular Rifts without requiring a Rift Key Stone. The Keystone of Trials which drops from regular Rift Guardians will be replaced with a Keystone that allows you to open a Greater Rift of a level of your own choosing, up to a difficulty based on the last successfully run Greater Rift. Additionally, Torment 7 through 10 will be introduced. The Greater Rift Selection screen also shows a difficulty description next to several Greater Rift Levels (G Rift 10 is Torment 1, G Rift 24 is Torment 6, G Rift 45 is Torment 10). Those are the key changes which apply to this system, there's lots of other cool things (like Kanai's Cube) which I won't get into here. Based on these changes this is what I'm proposing:
- Regular Rifts from Torment 1 to Torment 5 Difficulty award 2 CF for completion
- Regular Rifts from Torment 6 to Torment 9 award 2.5 CF for completion
- Regular Rifts at Torment 10 award 3 CF for completion
- Greater Rifts from 10 to 23 award 2 CF for completion
- Greater Rifts from 24 to 44 award 2.5 CF for completion
- Greater Rifts above 45 award 3 CF for completion
Reasoning is as follows: Anything below Torment 1 is so trivial that in a group no one should be running it. Additionally due to loot drop restrictions there is no reason to play below Torment 1 as certain key items to nearly every build are required and they will not drop if you aren't playing in Torment difficulty. Leveling characters are not considered in this, as a Level 1 character can be powerleveled to 70 in less than an hour with help from an existing 70 with moderate gear. Finally, let's be honest, adding in the crazy low level option is just asking for someone to run 3 minute Normal Rifts all day long to rack up a huge amount of CEs.
Target to advance in a G Rift is 15 minute completion. Members should rarely be spending over 15 minutes in a Rift, which is why CEs stop going up at 3. Ideally gearing up (G Rift 10-23) you're going to wait to shoot for a Rift you can complete in 10 minutes or less, which is why the CE for it is set at 2. The 2.5 is meant to be an increase in reward to encourage folks not to just farm a G Rift 10 at 5 minutes a Rift. And 3 CE is for the current end game Rifts that people are running which will most likely be taking 15 minutes or more.
Last time I proposed something like this there were many unhappy people. Since that time I've had a decent amount of those opposed to this system change their minds in favor of it, which is why its back on the table. Leave some comments with your thoughts please.
July's Gaming Stats
Total Members vs Environment and Members vs Others activities reviewed and approved by Fist Staff:
- TOR: 110
- Destiny: 78
- Diablo 3: 61
- Star Conflict: 46
Total Member vs Member activities reviewed and approved by Fist Staff:
- Pazaak: 84
- Jedi Academy: 28
- Starcraft 2: 13
- TOR Duels: 2
July Gaming Competitions
- SWTOR Varmint Hunter Collect the most varmint parts to win. Proceeds go to the DB Guild Bank.
- Star Wars Commander: Conflict at Boonta Eve (Apple & Android) Reach the highest league you can to win.
- Star Wars Online Collectable Card Game Open Lots of details on this comp, read the competition entry for the full explanation.
- Star Conflict PVP Collect the most CFs in Star Conflict to win.
- Mobile Gaming: Cytus) Obtain the highest score to win. Clusters of Fire for participation.
- God of Destruction Highest amount of casualties wins.
- Diablo 3 Season 3 Greater Rift Ladder (Non-Seasonal Characters) Complete the highest Greater Rift on a Non-Seasonal character to place and win. Diablo is talking about the next season coming soon, it is already available on the PTR. Get involved in this while you still can!
- Diablo 3 Season 3 Greater Rift Ladder (Seasonal Characters) Complete the highest Greater Rift on a Non-Seasonal character to place and win. Diablo is talking about the next season coming soon, it is already available on the PTR. Get involved in this while you still can!
Gorefest
This month's Gorefests will be run on the following dates:
- Friday 14Aug2015 - Sunday 16Aug2015
Pendants of Blood
Starting 22Mar2015 the Weekly PoB has been awarded for matches from Sunday to Friday. A second PoB will be awarded for Saturday matches, consider this a "Gaming Day". Time will be based on GMT just like competitions, so Friday at 7pm EST the "Gaming Day" will begin and conclude at 7pm EST Saturday. Following completion of the Gaming Nights project this may change back to a Sunday-Saturday one per week reward. The wiki has not been updated with this new schedule for that reason.
- 04Jul2015: Only 4 members competed, need 5 for PoB. This day's matches will be rolled forward.
- 04Jul2015 - 10Jul2015: DJK Kelly Mendes of Clan Plagueis, PVP Score of 10.37 (66 Matches Played, 37 Matches Won)
- 11Jul2015: Only 4 members competed, need 5 for PoB. This day's matches will be rolled forward.
- 11Jul2015 - 17Jul2015: DJK Bentre Stahoes of Clan Naga Sadow, PVP Score of 12.03 (30 Matches Played, 19 Matches Won)
- 18Jul2015: Guardian Duelist Sa Ool of Clan Odan-Urr, PVP Score of 6.13 (24 Matches Played, 13 Matches Won)
- 19Jul2015 - 24Jul2015: Dark Jedi Knight Jorm (The Jester) Na'trej of Clan Scholae Palatinae, PVP Score of 27.92 (39 Matches Played, 33 Matches Won)
- 25Jul2015: Sith Warlord Andrelious J. Mimosa-Inahj of Clan Taldryan, PVP Score of 7.35 (36 Matches Played, 23 Matches Won)
- 26Jul2015 - 31Jul2015: Obelisk Prelate Dox Romanae Tarentae of Clan Tarentum, PVP Score of 27 (27 Matches Played, 27 Matches Won)
- 01Aug2015: No members competed, need 5 for PoB. This day's matches will be rolled forward.
Competition Results
And now, some Crescents for gamers:
GMRG Gorefest: July 2015
- 1st Place - Guardian Duelist Sa Ool
- 2nd Place - Sith Warlord Andrelious J. Mimosa Inahj
- 3rd Place - Dark Jedi Knight Athrun Zala
Star Wars App - Force Training
- 1st Place - Jedi Knight Suur (115 Stars)
- 2nd Place - Jedi Knight Justin Wayne (114 Stars)
- 3rd Place - Dark Jedi Knight Bentre Stahoes (55 Stars)
Star Wars Commander: Incinerator Tournament (Windows)
- 1st Place - DP Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor
- 2nd Place - DJM Howlader Taldrya
Star Wars Commander: Heroic Defense Challenge II (Windows)
- 1st Place - DP Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor
- 2nd Place - DJM Howlader Taldrya
Star Wars Commander: Starship Tournament (Windows)
- 1st Place - DP Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor
- 2nd Place - DJM Howlader Taldrya
Star Wars Commander: Double Reward Tournament (Apple & Android)
- 1st Place - JK Suur
- 2nd Place - DA Strategos Thanatos Entar Arconae
- 3rd Place - JH Darkblade
Star Wars Commander: Triple Reward Tournament (Apple & Android)
- 1st Place - DJK Licah Fox
- 2nd Place - DA Strategos Thanatos Entar Arconae
- 3rd Place - JK Suur
Monthly Mobile Gaming: Sokoban
- 1st Place - Jedi Knight Rangel
- 2nd Place - Protector Djasei Brevis
- 3rd Place - Sith Warrior Lucyeth
Useful Gaming Links
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I really like the proposed CE changes for group size in TOR. I've never really thought that most of the 16 man content was much more difficult than the 8 man stuff, and in many cases 16 man makes it easier by allowing you to more easily hide undergeared folks. Promoting members playing with one another in larger groups seems like a far better thing to reward as opposed to just running "harder" content that often times isn't.
Additionally, really like the proposed CE changes for Diablo. Special highlights for making the top torment level its own CE award level. I never really liked the idea that people could run T4 and get the same awards as T6 in the current model.
Only question I have on Diablo 3 Greater Rift awards is...do they go up with larger groups as the difficulty of the Greater Rifts themselves change based on the number of people in them?
I agree with the Diablo for the same reasons listed above^. I also agree with most of the Destiny changes except one: Nightfall being dropped to the same level as other strikes. I understand that every now and then one can be run quickly, but most of the time it takes quite a while to run it. The completion times at the end that are submitted do not take into account the time you spent on every previous try that the fireteam had wiped on, resulting in starting completely over. My suggestion would be keeping a Nightfall modifier, even if it was lowered.
Outside of that, well done! Nice balancing, and I look forward to the new Star Wars!~
The D3 and ToR changes both sound excellent. Great job, Val! As for me, I'll definitely be getting Battlefront on PC.
Interesting. I do have to wonder though, for folks like myself who seem to have troubles keeping connected to IRC sometimes, how will the Fist-bot deal with this? Just kick me out of queue? I have mixed feelings about the Diablo 3 changes, but I am not going to rock the boat. It sounds like it will make things better overall, so I will trust y'all. I am new to that particular game and so change is spooky and makes silly spooky ghost-like sounds
ToR? Same thing. Mixed feelings. However, I am content to sit and see how it plays out over a longer period of time.
/2pennies
Kordath - Right now there isn't any modifier for higher group size in D3. The reason for this is that each additional member in a party causes monster health to increase by 75%. So at 4 members you fight monsters doing the same damage as you normally would, but have 3.25x as much health. Realistically, in a larger group you should be killing faster than alone.
Rulvak - Will keep an eye on the Nightfall specifically. Turning this back on with a lower modifier is crazy easy to do.
Bentre - Good question! So good I don't know the answer! I will consult with James on this one before inserting my foot into my mouth trying to answer it here.
Sounds good! Look forward to seeing how all of it goes!