Galaxy of Heroes Update

So I finally broke down and started a GoH guild called Heroes Errant. Open enrollment, all levels. Much to my happy surprise, not only can you trade mats with other guild members, but you can also chat with them, too. Pretty cool. And, in case you're wondering, my ally code is listed in the sidebar under Contacts. I plan to start this guild off slowly, then progress increasingly when SWU finally shuts down. I'm just starting to figure out GoH, so join up and maybe we can do that together!

Hoth SB

Okay. This was a funky Sector Battle. When it began, it looked like nobody was participating. And I don't mean just us. I mean globally. Despite the fact, of course, that the Event Crystal payout was doubled, I suppose we can attribute this lag to the fact that SBs on a Wednesday are unheard of, so it subsequently took awhile for the players to log on and catch up. And catch up they did.

More specifically, we caught up with practically 10mm VPs and, consequently, another planet under Major Influence in our pocket. Great grind, everyone! Congratulations are most certainly in order. Let's keep an eye out, as per usual, for the next IB on Hoth. Planet influence can disappear in a flash due to IBs, but the good news is that Major Influence isn't particularly difficult to nail down. I'm fairly sure only me and Kilgore earned our Major on Bespin, for instance.

As for this Hoth SB, in all probability it was the last we'll ever see. Unless, of course, Kabam really decides to play God and trigger another for shits-n-giggles. While this fact is daunting, I'm definitely satisfied with today's outcome, both for our cartel and personally. On the latter note, I earned Commander, ran 3 Imp Ops, finished and maxed the 6* Stormtrooper set, and finished the Legendary Snowtrooper set. It was a pretty good battle!

Good hunting, everyone.  

Putting the Imp in Improvements

As we know, Kabam promised to implement a series of improvements to the game on Monday. As they finally went live, let's discuss them.

Here's a repost of Kabam's list.

Supply Cranes: I've no idea. And, really, do any of us need 3* gear now? Seems a pointless gesture. Anyone who really needs 3* gear for PR purposes quit awhile ago.

Sector Battles: Great! Hey Kabam, why don't you trigger a SB sometime soon? Do we need to say pretty please with sugar on top? As for IBs, we've Major Influence on two planets now. Woot.

Raids: Kudos on the 30 Raid passes. And normal nodes do, indeed, have a significantly increased chance to trigger bonus nodes. The next point is sticky, since it only applies to Master Difficulty, so Vanity gear and Armor shards are still only for the really big fish. And Bonus Nodes do drop Event Crystals every once and awhile. A pity it's a pittance.

Force Content: I've been told that DG now drops like it's drunk. Finally! Also, I can attest to the fact that 4* Noble Gear drops often from the 100 crates.

Missions: Who cares? Oh, and by the way, I was wrong about Lando. The missions themselves have doubled drops, NOT the contraband crates. Guess it's back to the Anoat dog house, Lando.

Daily Login Rewards: You've gotta be fucking kidding me, right? These rewards are spectacular...for my level 88 alt. Yawn me to death, why don't ya.

In all, Kabam definitely made improvements, but they should have happened months ago. These changes really tell us that each and every player still has to grind, grind, grind 'till Kabam takes our Anoat away. Which is bullshit. At this point, they owe the players who still play -- without hacking the game, that is -- a lot more than this.

If I wasn't utterly disappointed in Uprising before, I most certainly am now. Not to worry, though. I'll continue to cut up some Imps before a million voices finally cry out in terror.

Just Another Manic Monday

A few quick hits:

1. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm traveling for the majority of the day today. Ugh. I'll sign on when I can to check in. Did I ugh? Uuuugh.

2. In light of my travels, as soon as I finish this post I'm going to promote everyone in Finis with any CXP to Officer. So, please  keep an eye out for KoB members who decide to jump and apply, as well as other players who'd like to join. As Officers, you have the power to accept requests! Feel free to recruit, too.

3. An IB on Bespin popped at 7pm EST today. I hit it. I think Kilgore was in on the fun, too. We now have Major Influence on Bespin. Enjoy the buffs, peeps.

4. When I started Finis, I honestly overlooked the blatant fact that we were all going to start a new cartel together.  How many of you have started a cartel? There's a first time for everything. Let's build something great before Kabam blows up the Anoat Sector forever. Those frakin' moofs. Oops, did I just write that out loud?

5. To all former KoB members: We've a couple of new Finis members who didn't jump with us. Please friend Brie and Mau, say hi, make them feel welcome with that good'ole Knighty charm.

6. Kabam promised improvements to the game on Monday. No improvements yet, folks, even though GT (Game Time) says 9/26. Check back at next refresh. That's RL (Real Life) 8pm EST. If no changes are implemented, then it'll be time to riot in the streets. By which I mean in the forums.

7. Am I missing anything? I think I hit it all, for now. Time to Officer-up the cartel, go pack, and get some rack time. Good hunting.

Sector Yawn

This morning I woke up with the expectation that we'd have a SB to hit, as has been the case every Sunday afternoon EST for quite awhile now. When I realized that the SB didn't even turn imminent and that, moreover, an IB looked closer to happening on Bespin, I had to stop and scratch my head. I also realized that I'd structured my life around SBs for an entire year. Every Sunday, like clockwork. I literally counted on it.

That's not to say that SBs consumed my life or anything else as dramatic. On Sundays, I do fairly obvious and, dare I suggest it, normative things. Make eggs. Take a shower. Do dishes. Go grocery shopping. And so on. Usually, I'll spend several hours during the day earning BPs with crew runs. Do a load of laundry, bank more BPs. Clean up the bathroom, bank more BPs. By the time I sit down to play, I'll easily have 250 BPs banked. After realizing that there wasn't a SB imminent today, I made a conscious effort to shrug off my disorientation by making a cup of coffee and writing. At least writing makes sense. 

In a KoB blog post, "Anoat IB Update 4," I noted that Kabam Support outlined how SBs and IBs fundamentally work. That is, the notorious Game Team determines the "rate and schedule" of these MMO battles. Ironically, as I write this someone in GC just said there weren't enough players active to trip the SB and, while that's a cutely dour thought, it's also wrong. Make no mistake, Kabam put the kibosh on today's SB. While I can make a number of assumptions as to why they did so, I'll go ahead and guess that it has something to do with the proposed improvements scheduled to go live on Monday. 

With that said, now that I've taken a few hours to reflect, I really believe that this kind of game manipulation is precisely how Kabam failed. Sure, they didn't listen to their player base enough. That's granted. More importantly, though, Uprising is designed to require an extremely high degree of commitment on the part of its players. The game, in other words, literally becomes part of a player's life. An active part. Or, well, not precisely active.  More interactive.

I don't think they ever understood this fundamental fact about their own product. If they did, then they'd also realize that randomly changing IB clocks or, more to the point, stymying a Sunday SB significantly comes to bear upon how real people live real lives in the real world. In another KoB post, "Focus on Your Regulars," I noted that Aaron Loeb, Kabam's President of Studios and Live Services, likened MMO games like Uprising to serialized television shows. At the time, it was an interesting analogy. But I now believe it's a misguided one. 

As players we don't simply sit down and watch the game once a week, religiously, as most television viewers do. There's an element of this to Uprising, certainly, as I clearly say in my opening paragraphs. However, the commitment to succeed at Uprising is just that. A television show has no degree of success or failure on the part of the viewer. Television's passive. One simply watches. On the flip side, Uprising isn't active, either. It's something more. Uprising requires interactive   engagement, interactive  participation, and interactive  thought. To succeed at Uprising, a player must make the game their own, with their own time and energy. Until Kabam both respects and regularly acts upon this fact, they will continue to fail their players. 

Upcoming SB

While Kabam has consistently shown that anything can happen, my best guesstimate is that the upcoming SB will occur on Hoth, about which I've a few thoughts. First off, let's all hope that RNGesus turns garbage into Snow Trooper gear for those of us who need to finish the set. Personally, I saw dupes drop on the last 3 Hoth SBs. That last piece is elusive!

More importantly, nobody can really project the player turnout for this upcoming SB. For all we know, every Endgame player -- and by Endgame, I mean Founder -- could show up to crush one last battle with every one of their alts in tow. On the other hand, many players have just flat out quit. The VP requirements for all SB ranks dropped significantly even before the shutdown announcement, so there's a fair chance that a high rank will prove easier to achieve from here on out.

That said, our current crew is comprised by the consistent core group of SB Captains from Knights of Bail. If we all achieve the minimum VP reqs for the previous SB, which was just under 900K, we stand a good chance to earn Major Influence on Hoth. That would be sweet, since, already, we've Minor Influence on Burnin Konn thanks to Budder hitting an IB earlier today.

Good hunting, everyone. See you on Hoth.

Much Ado About Lando, Redux

See ya, Kabam

I know, I know. I've posted about the Lando missions so many times now that you'd think I'd nothing left in the tank. Well, thanks Kabama. They provided the fuel for the present post. And, considering their track record, messa guess they do it again soon.

Anyway, the recent Kabam post on improvements to the endgame mention that Lando mission drops will double. Which means, of course, that the chances for useful mats and shards double as well. At least, that's in theory. We'll have to see how it works out in practice.

Suffice it to say, though, that I've started doing Lando missions again to bank Gunslinger Trophies. I bet -- and this is a daring bet, ladies and gents -- that the drops will not only double, but also yield much better swag. Like I said, we'll see.

Qui-Goner

Forum Post on the Shutdown

If you aren't already aware, there's a fantastic thread in the General Discussion forum started by Kabam Catzilla, "Star Wars Uprising is Shutting Down." It's worth the read.