01/08/2019

Adventures on the Onslaught PTS: Phase 1.5


With Onslaught due to launch next month (!), BioWare have been providing us with a steady flow of details regarding Classes, their new Abilities, and their various Tacticals and Set Bonus pieces. Last week they opened up the PTS, allowing people to test out the changes for Inquisitors and Warriors, before bringing it down within that same week to prepare for the inclusion of Agents. The PTS is currently open in "phase 1.5" of testing, although it will probably be brought down again next week to prepare for Hunters and phase 2.

I missed the initial batch of testing due to being on holiday, much to my disappointment. I was able to keep up with what people were saying on the testing forums, but both their reports and the official word of BioWare was not enough to really sate my interest. Notably, we knew what the ultimate tiers of the various Set Bonus items were going to be but the lower tiers were still a mystery - BioWare had highlighted that they would mainly be stat boosts and left it at that. Additionally, we didn't know how many of these sets would or wouldn't have six pieces.

Speaking of Set Bonus and Tactical items, the only ones that had been listed were specific to Classes; we'd already been told that there would be several items which everyone could use, but we weren't informed about any of these. Granted, considering the sheer potential of 'generic' items, this is likely because all the options aren't yet finished, but it would still have been interesting to receive official word on those which were ready to go. 

Then what about the Companions? BioWare had been hinting that they'd like to give Companion re-balancing another go, given how lackluster or powerful certain characters are, but there had been no indication of whether or not they'd even started this. 

So, when the PTS came back up on Wednesday, I happily launched myself into it. I'm in the fortunate situation whereby the Classes 'ready' for testing are those which I have the most experience with (sorry, Hunters) so when it came time for BioWare to list all the sets and Tacticals, I already had a good idea in my head of which items I was going to try out.

In this overview, I will also be listing just extremely generic findings as well as Class-specific ones. If you want to know what these are but have no interest in reading about Classes, you need merely look for the screenshots of the Imperial Fleet as that will be the cutoff point for Class details.

~~~

Classes: Generic

Disclaimer: Because all of the stuff on PTS is for Imperials only, I will be using purely Imperial terminology. 

When it comes to Advanced Classes, I cannot claim to have a good grasp of 50% of the ones ready for testing on the PTS. I am aware of the various abilities but not exactly what they do, so any changes or augmentations via Sets and Tacticals completely fly right past me. Since I have a good amount of experience with Juggernauts, Sorcerers, and Snipers I will be focusing mainly on these three Classes.

That doesn't mean I won't be touching on the others in some form, though.

To start with, let's talk about: 

Set Bonus items

Set Bonus pieces have seen a radical change in Onslaught. Due to the inclusion and encouragement of mix-and-matching, Set Bonus pieces no longer provide more than one 'substantial' benefit. In the case of a full six-piece Set Bonus, the first two tiers will purely be things like +2% Crit Chance, +2% Shield Rating, or +2% Mastery. A four-piece Set Bonus will offer both a single stat boost and a more substantial benefit. Generic Set-Bonus pieces tend to be four-piece items (although there are some exceptions such as increasing Defense by 112, 230, and 10% while under 50% HP in succession) while the Advanced Class-specific ones are mainly the ones which offer the full six-piece in one go.

There are simply too many Set Bonus items to list at once, but I thought I'd best provide a couple to give you an indication of how these Sets look. 

Berserker (Generic)
  • (2) +2% Critical Rating.
  • (4) Increases Power by 25%. Decreases Armour by 50%.

Force Bound (Sith Warrior)
  • (2) +2% Accuracy Rating.
  • (4) Enemies affected by Intimidating Roar have greatly reduced accuracy for 6 seconds after Intimidating Roar wears off.

Revitalized Mystic (Corruption Sorcerer)
  • (2) +2% Alacrity.
  • (4) +2% Endurance.
  • (6) Healing a target with another ability while Resurgence is active on them has a chance to cause an extra Resurgence tick for half. Refreshing Resurgence on a target refunds some Force.
While this list is small, it should give you some indication of what BioWare intend for these various sets. If the Juggernaut doesn't have a six-piece you like, for example, just take a four-piece generic set you like and combine it with the two-piece from another generic set. That way, you get both a Set Bonus which is to your liking but ideally a statistic boost which suits you as well. Presently on the PTS multiple Sets do not stack, so I cannot offer a verdict on how effective mix-and-matching really is.

There are quite a few sets which offer the same +2% Accuracy Rating as Force Bound. Some are generic but others are specific to certain Advanced Classes. What this essentially means is that if you're lucky and the 'best' Set Bonus (or matching thereof) for you provides that extra Accuracy you won't need to worry about getting as many Augments for your DPS characters. However, if a certain Class has a really nice DPS 6-piece Set Bonus which lacks that +2% Accuracy, you need to gear that character differently to account for it. I also feel the need to point out that there are very few Sets which have that 2% Accuracy gain in the first tier. 

The point is, with all of these Set Bonus pieces providing so many different benefits there are no 'magic numbers' to aim for which remain the same across all the Classes. It also doesn't help that we don't know whether or not these stats are finalised or whether they're still balanced for Level 70. Certainly at the moment you need far more base Accuracy Rating to come close to hitting the cap of 110% than you do on Live. It is also worth noting that we do not have immediate access to any Legacy buffs such as Companion conversations or buffs from completing Class Stories.

Essentially, Set Bonus pieces now are intended to cater to different personal tastes. However, that's not to say that there won't be a meta which evolves in due time, and it is also apparent even at this stage that certain Sets will see far more use in PvP than they do PvE and vice-versa. 

~

Tactical Items

Much like Set Bonus items, Tacticals are mainly designed to cater to personal choice. As such, I can't really comment on the majority of them. As indicated when they first announced them, they can make quite a big impact on how certain specs play, but there are also those which don't offer a game-changing impact but only provide a small, but still useful, benefit. 

BioWare have provided a useful set of lists of available Tacticals for each Class currently ready for testing, which I shall link below:


One major change since these posts were written: Writhing Terror, renamed Tempest of Rho, now gives Lightning Strike a 100% chance and Force Lightning a 20% chance to make Creeping Terror tick twice whenever they deal damage. There probably are others which have received similar changes, but I for one am not aware of them.

The generic Tacticals are an interesting bunch. Presently on the PTS there are nine of them, which are as follows:
  1. A Breath of Fresh Air: Every third Activation of your basic attack restores 10% of your Class Resource.
  2. Biorhythm: Dealing damage increases all healing done. Healing increases all damage done. Stacks up to 5 times. Only one effect can be active at a time.
  3. Durasteel Wall: Successfully shielding an attack while under 80% health increases your Shield Chance and Absorb Amount by 1% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 25 times.
  4. Greased Lightning: Dealing damage increases all damage done for 2 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
  5. Krall's Accord: Cycles between enhancing Mastery, Accuracy, Power, Defense, Critical, Absorb, Alacrity, and Shield. In that order.
  6. Luck Always Changes: Your critical chance with Melee, Ranged, Tech, and Force attacks and healing is increased by 1% each second. This effect resets on a successful critical hit.
  7. Reliquary of Time: Reduces cooldown of on use relics by 5%.
  8. Rolling Boil: Increases Mastery by 5% when a relic triggers.
  9. The Life Warden: Taking damage below 20% health will rapidly heal you for a large amount. 10 minute cooldown. 
~

Disciplines

Disciplines aren't changing much at all in Onslaught. The Utility options have been moved around again, and we'll gain a ninth Utility point to slot, but this is about it for the changes. With this ninth Utility, players have to choose a third Utility within the first tier to be able to advance to the others. 

Yeah, that's about it!

~

Amplifiers

Amplifiers aren't yet instated in-full in terms of being able to roll a new stat. However, there are a couple which are in-place already. Unfortunately, as much as there are some which can roughly be worked out what they might mean (e.g. +0.39% Armormech Potency possibly increasing Critical chance for that Crew Skill), there are those which are just plain baffling.

-2.29% Featherweight, for example. What the absolute flip does that mean?

~~~

Classes: Personal Experience

As I mentioned in the opening blurbs, I already had a good idea of what Tacticals and Sets I was wanting to try out. The only real exception to this is my Sorcerer, and that's mainly because none of the Inquisitor or Sorcerer-specific Sets really appealed to me. In this section, I'll list the various Classes I play, the items which I gave them, and the experience(s) I've had with each one.

As a general rule, I chose to look at items which offered a purely consistent benefit and, if possible, augmented my single-target damage alone. This is the philosophy which I will also adopt when Onslaught goes Live.

~

Sith Juggernaut (Vengeance)

I quite like the new Warrior ability, Rabid Furor (named Furious Focus in the BioWare post). It boosts the damage of as many subsequent abilities as there are available charges by 25%, although Shatter doesn't seem to actually consume a charge. Since all four charges refuel steadily rather than all at once, this ability can either be used all in one go or to boost only a single ability at certain times, provided you only use it with one available charge.

I was not enthused at all about the Juggernaut-specific Set Bonus pieces. I don't use Retaliation at all as a DPS, even when soloing stuff (largely courtesy of using a Tank Companion) so the six-piece which increased its damage by 10% after taking damage during Endure Pain is utterly worthless to me. Plus, it sits counter to my "Sets / Tacticals must ideally offer a consistent benefit" outlook. 

The Set Bonus which makes Threatening Scream increase damage reduction by 5% for each enemy hit is certainly decent for PvP as well as for Tanks in PvE, but it's not really my thing as a PvE DPS.

With both of those options not really an option, I chose a nice little Set from the generic-Warrior side of things: Descent of the Fearless.
  • (2) +2% Mastery
  • (4) Dealing damage has a 5% chance to build a Rabid Furor charge. Can only occur once every 5 seconds.
I chose this one because I think Rabid Furor works best when used all in one go, so anything which negates its recharge time and gives a charge early is worth a look. This is also why I chose the Higher Focus Tactical, which makes Enrage build a charge of that ability.

Since Descent is a four-piece, this means that I have to combine it with another set to essentially get a six-piece. There are a few nice ones to choose from to fulfil this purpose, but I think I'll probably go with the Force Bound bonus from earlier just to get an extra 2% Accuracy. As already mentioned, sets can't be mixed properly on the PTS currently so I have no idea yet how that will play out.

I'm still hoping for a Vengeance-specific set bonus at some point, though. 

With regards to how the spec plays with the loss of the current Live Set Bonus, there's not a lot which feels totally different. The loss of the guaranteed Impale crit is a shame, but the 2% damage boost from Sundering Assault can be lived without (indeed, it no longer means I have to be careful when I use it to not get that buff at inconsistent times!) and so too can the increased Critical chance for Blade Barrage.

~

Sith Sorcerer (Madness)

Unlike the Warrior's new ability, I cannot say that I like Volt Rush, the new ability afforded to Sorcerers. On paper, it at least seems quite decent. It deals more damage the more Energize stacks you have on yourself (30% per stack), and there are quite a few Tacticals and even a Set based around the ability. However, as a Madness player, I can see absolutely no uses for that ability in my rotation or any reason to take the Madness-specific Tactical that revolves around it. 

So, to start with; Set Bonus. As mentioned earlier, I was not a fan at all of the Inquisitor and Sorcerer sets. There are a couple which give a little boost to Sorcs for using Force Speed (either giving a charge of Volt Rush or reducing the cooldown of Polarity Shift and extends the latter's duration if used immediately after Speed) which are okay, but it feels like these sets are turning a utility ability into an offensive cooldown. 

Yeah, Sorcs already have a lot of utility and defensive abilities, I know, but I don't really want to see people being too slow to react to an attack and dying because they had already used all of their other defensives and have Force Speed on cooldown due to using it to bolster another ability. 

When looking at the generic Set Bonus items, there was one which I had seen people mention on the testing forums that they had found worked well for Madness. This is the Berserker Set Bonus I listed earlier, the one with the four-piece that increases Power by 25% but reduces Armour by 50%. Having tested it, I can see why people like it; combined with the Tempest of Rho Tactical, my Madness Sorc was parsing a full 1k higher than my Virulence Sniper.

However, this Set will be worthless in scaled content since Power is still set to a fixed value when scaled down. Considering what BioWare are trialling out (more details on this in a bit) this Set will thus be more of a detriment than a benefit in more places than just low-level planets. 

I still haven't found a complete Set that I think would truly work well, so I think I'll probably test out using three stat-boosts when that functionality becomes available. Unless Madness gets a nice Set Bonus that isn't related to Volt Rush, of course!

While the Sets aren't really my thing for Sorcs, the Tactical is, to me, an extremely obvious choice. Tempest of Rho just has the potential to add so much extra single-target damage; in the few parses that I've done, these extra little procs have amounted to almost 75% of Creeping Terror's total damage. Wow.

In terms of what the spec loses compared to Live with the change of Set Bonus, there's a fair amount. We lose a 15-second cooldown reduction to Polarity Shift and a third stack of Force Potency, both of which are very useful on Live. The cost reduction of Force Lightning can easily be lived without considering that BioWare made Madness incredibly Force-positive in 5.3. 

~

Sniper (Primarily Virulence)

Okay, so in both of the previous instances I've had at least one issue somewhere with the gearing. My Sniper, however, does not suffer from such issues.

To start with, though, the new Sniper ability. Hololocate is Phase Walk by another name, just with twice the cooldown when used to return to the marked location. Yup, Snipers get this too now. As if Assassins needed another reason to loathe us. 

For the Set Bonus, there is one that stood out to me immediately: Precise Targeter.
  • (2) +2% Endurance.
  • (4) +2% Accuracy Rating.
  • (6) Laze Target gets 3 charges and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.
Unlike on Live, where it gets two charges with the six-piece, Laze Target will no longer stack with itself, either automatically or through repeated activation. To make use of another charge, you need to activate the ability again once the previous charge has been consumed. Essentially, what this Set Bonus does is make Laze Target a faster-recharging and, occasionally, burstier variant of its original unaugmented form. 

Much like Rabid Furor, you can choose if you want to use all charges at once (so to speak) or to only use each stack as they recharge. Since there is no way to negate the recharge time of Laze Target, I myself tend to use the ability when each charge replenishes itself. 

For Tacticals, I actually have two to choose from. Unlike my other two main Classes, where I only play one spec exclusively, I do occasionally switch to another spec, in this case Marksmanship, when needed for certain fights. For Virulence, I take the Culling Shots Tactical (Weakening Blast damage increased by 50%) and for Marksmanship I take the Corrosive Followthrough Tactical (Corrosive Dart deals more damage and Followthrough refreshes its duration - !).

I know some fellow Virulence Snipers out there may be questioning why I take that specific Tactical and not the one which causes Corrosive Grenade to spread Weakening Blast and Lethal Shot to do splash damage to those afflicted by the grenade. My answer is quite simple: I do not believe that the Poison Splash Tactical offers a truly consistent benefit. To get the most use out of it there are times when extra GCDs will need to be used to get Weakening Blast to spread to other targets. Plus, this Tactical is not useful at all for single-target fights. 

Also, Virulence has decent enough AoE as it is in my opinion.

As much as I said I didn't have any issues with the Set Bonus pieces compared to my Juggernaut and Sorcerer, the Sniper does lose a far nicer benefit from their current six-piece than either of them do, in my opinion. Target Acquired no longer replenishes 15 Energy upon activation. Considering how easily starved a Sniper's rotation can be, this extra Energy could be really useful at times. It's not something which can't be worked around, but it's still sad to see that benefit disappear.

Plus, as much as we can activate Laze Target faster than we can on Live in both forms, we are going to see proportionately fewer charges of that ability consumed in long fights. Is that going to be much of a DPS loss? Probably not, once you factor in the increased damage from certain Tacticals, but it's still something to be aware of.

~

Classes: Conclusion

While I have only had proper 'reason' to experiment with only a few specs and Classes on the PTS, it is apparent that there's going to be a lot to get used to. We still don't know whether stats are behaving properly, what it is specific Amplifiers do, or even what additional Sets and Tacticals may yet be released. There's certainly enough to be getting on with for the time being, but there's also a fair way to go until things are truly ready for release.

It is also worth noting that we are all currently working with 'vanilla' characters. Unless you literally do everything again, you'll have no Datacrons, no Perks, nothing. We will eventually get the ability to copy characters over between phases again, so we will at least be able to experience Onslaught at its full potential (any Datacrons on Onderon and Mek-Sha notwithstanding, of course) but until then we've just got to do with what we've got. 

I am mostly-content with what I've been able to get for my Juggernaut and my Sniper, and I hope that I'm able to find an 'ideal' set for my Sorcerer before the expansion launches. This is all something to keep a resolute eye on, and I only hope that my next holiday later this month doesn't prevent me from taking part in the next major PTS phase.

~~~

Generic Findings

New Icons

If you've been following several other SWtOR Community people out there, you may have seen these before. If this is your first glimpse into the PTS, there are brand new icons for mailboxes and even vendors, as well as revamped icons for missions. 







It may not be much, but it's nice to see even the little things get updated every once in a while!

~

General Fleet Updates

Alongside the new icons, the Fleet Quarters have also received some updates. Most noticeable are the taxis which can be found dotted around, allowing for quick transport between each section.


Staying in the Galactic Trade Network quarter, Legacy Cargo Bays may now be found within the Cargo Bay section...


...additional GTN terminals can be found besides the standalone terminals...


... and the Light and Dark Side vendors have moved away, finding a new home besides the Galactic Command vendors. The Dark Side shop is presently closed off, but the Light Side shop is now the new home of the Appearance Designer.

Next question, when can we get a ponytail that actually looks as good as that icon's does?
Within the Crew Skills section, the area which used to house the Cartel Reputation vendors before shutting its doors for about five years has finally opened up again. It now houses the Crew Skill items vendor and the trainers for the six crafting skills. The leftmost bay contains the gathering skill trainers, and the mission skill trainers have set up shop in the middle bay of the three. 


Finally, the Fleet Quarters now have new signs above each entryway which also provide a description of each area. 





It bothers me how I couldn't get the GTN and Crew Skill quarters descriptions to line up in the centre as I could the Combat Training and Supplies ones...

~

Inventory

The inventory hasn't changed too drastically, although we are yet to see the new Crafting Bag implemented properly so this may yet see an overhaul as the builds progress.

Also here you can see the new icons for Adrenals, Stimpacks, Augments, Enhancements, Earpieces, and Implants.
The item window which appears when you hover over an item has been given a massive overhaul. It now provides a clearer indication of item quality and a more visual representation of the items you have collected of a certain set.


~

Companions

I don't think Companions are quite ready for the expansion yet. Even at Influence Level 50, Healer and DPS Companions have 177,798 HP and Tanks have 194,521 HP. For comparison, my DPS characters all have over 260k HP in full 306-rating gear. Furthermore, DPS Companions have less Accuracy at 75 than they do at 70. I know we're missing almost 600 Presence, but Presence can only do so much for a Companion!

Both of these abilities as seen on Influence Level 1 Companions.
There are two different abilities for DPS and Healer Companions compared to Live. All Healer Companions, Force and Tech, now gain access to their very own version of Kolto Shell which replaces the current Preventative Measures. Some Ranged Tech Companions (only those which wield a single pistol) have traded in their channelled AoE for an instant Thermal Grenade ability.  

This isn't the only disparity between the DPS ability sets, however. The standard channelled AoE attacks deal a proportionately-similar amount of damage on the PTS as they do Live, while the Thermal Grenade's tooltip indicates it's meant to be pulling almost the same numbers that Shae Vizla's AoE is meant to be pulling. Unfortunately, Shae's AoE is still horrendously overpowered, but this may change in a later PTS build?

I hope it does, at any rate. 

I haven't yet tested out Companions in-combat, and I likely won't until it is known whether or not they are due for a substantial upgrade. 

~

Group Content

BioWare have highlighted certain bits of group content that they would like to see tested with the latest PTS update; more specifically, they have revealed their intent to try out new scaling technology. Despite being deemed 'ready', Eternity Vault, Hammer Station, and Karagga's Palace have not been scaled up to Level 75. Instead, when a group of players enters any of these environments they are scaled down to Level 70. These are so far the only locations where scaling takes effect.

BioWare are presenting this as a way of negating having to constantly update Operations to the newest Level Cap, and it is unknown exactly how many Operations and Flashpoints will see this new technology introduced. It's purely in its infancy at this stage and will require more thorough testing and updating; right now I'm seeing people saying EV and KP are very easy, even compared to Live's status.

I myself have done one Hammer Station run on my Sniper. I pulled threat on pretty much anything and everything and so died to the Tunneller. Scaling tech is all well and good, but at the moment it can still result in players operating at a level which is far above the actual maximum level the content was built for and just blitzing through it effortlessly. Where's the fun in that?

As with most things in this PTS, this is something that really needs to be watched throughout the course of subsequent builds. I myself intend to get a few guildies online so we can test out how these changes are without having to worry about PuGs, but there will of course be other opportunities for this in later phases.

Curiously, some Flashpoints such as Cademimu are still set at Level 70 but are surprisingly tough for a full group of unscaled-down 75s in 306-rating gear even with this apparent five-level difference.

I'm guessing in this instance the numbers in terms of damage output are right but the levels aren't 'updating' properly...?

~

Renown

The finer details of Galactic Renown, the new version of Galactic Command, aren't yet implemented. However, some aspects of it are in-effect, such as values for missions and mob kills and the total number of Renown points needed to level up in it. Due to the lack of immediate access to Character and Legacy Perks, we can't really test how it will be for Live, but I do not think it will be much different from where we are now.

So, to start with. To reach each subsequent Rank in Renown, you need to earn 62,000 Renown points. Based on what I've seen, it is apparent that this multiplier is also applied to all points you gain, but I don't know what the equivalent of each value is. 62,000 Renown might be idental to 5,400 Command points, it may be higher, it may be lower. Again, something that will only become more apparent as time goes on.

~

Conquest

With the advent of passive-Conquest, I was keen to see an increase to personal requirements. Happily, BioWare are implementing such a change with 6.0; at the moment, personal requirements are set at 50,000 points. I was personally hoping for a return to 35,000, but this figure isn't set in stone yet so anything can happen.

Objectives have also seen a massive hike in points, keeping them in line with the hike in personal requirements and setting them to be truly relevant once again. For example, the Dantooine: Critical Missions objective, which presently gives 2,000 Conquest Points as a base, gives 6,825 Conquest Points as a base value on the PTS. 

Planetary Yields have also seen a change; Small Planets are down to 500,000, and Medium and Large Planets are up to 2,000,000 and 5,000,000 respectively. I'm dubious about this particular change since it means that smaller guilds may well struggle in future events, but we'll see what we shall see.

I kept quiet when it came to the change in the Conquest system a month and a half ago, resolving to see what changes 6.0 would bring before I offered my own thoughts. Seeing what they're doing on the PTS, I'm pleased with my decision in retrospect. I'm curious to see what happens for Conquest later on in the PTS and whether or not any more drastic changes happen.

~

Conclusion

It's difficult to know what to make of all of these changes at the moment. There's a lot to delve into but there's also so much more that needs expanding upon. Of course, a lot hinges on the testing that's going on right now, so we'll just have to wait and see exactly how BioWare adjust things in later builds.

There's not really a lot to say about the more generic stuff, but I'm still pleased to see small things like the icons get a new look as well as to see the Fleet get a bit of an update with some vendors moving around a bit. 

When it comes time for people to start focusing on gear when this goes live, I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of people getting very confused by just how many things there are in Onslaught. Does my Class need this set-bonus, what about this Tactical, is this Amplifier combination viable?

Of course, looting and Renown rewards still haven't been implemented properly. That's going to add an entirely new level of complexity to all of this. 

I'm curious to see how far BioWare push this new system of gearing. The Tacticals and the different number of Set Bonus items theoretically allow for a good amount of potential, and even with the different options available to us now it's clear that there are still a few alternatives which could and perhaps need to be created at some point for specific Classes.

But first, we're still to get Hunters and their Sets and Tacticals on the PTS. Once that's out of the way we can look forward to receiving more information about Amplifiers and what they actually do and eventually pave the way for characters from Live to be copied over so that we can see what they can do with what there is.

For those of you also testing out the PTS, what's your verdict on all that's going on?

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