Beta Update 4

By FFG_Sam Stewart, in General Discussion

Hello playtesters!

Our forth update (third update with book changes) is now live .

Wha HOO!!

I may have broken my F5.

Edited by Thebearisdriving

Nice! Now the duelist talent makes sense!

Apparently there is not going to be a change in the Parry and Reflect talents :(

Edited by Yepesnopes

Whoho, looked forward to this the whole week!

Why does soresu defender need two improved parry? I know we have been wanting to see them get a defense buff but I don't think this is what we had in mind. :D

I still think an always-on boost die for Duelist's Training against opponents where it'd really be useful (particularly a Nemesis) starts making the talent too good for only 10 XP. For 15 XP I wouldn't be as concerned, so maybe swap it with one of the many instances of Parry that are on Row 3.

Interesting that the Knight-level play option got changed to allow up to 3 ranks in a skill and only a minor reduction in the starting number of credits.

And very interesting updates to the Holocron and Mentor. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that, and I'm pretty sure I've got some players that won't be happy since I allowed the Mentor benefit to apply to Force skills purchased at character creation. Then again, I'll probably just hand-wave it for that group and let them enjoy the XP refund, which if memory serves really wasn't that much since most of them only started with a single Force power at character creation to begin with.

Edit: Kinds sad to see Resolve and Unrelenting Skeptic (particularly the second one) go away though. Protector changes are pretty interesting though.

Edited by Donovan Morningfire

Why does soresu defender need two improved parry? I know we have been wanting to see them get a defense buff but I don't think this is what we had in mind. :D

I wonder if it's meant to be Improved Reflect, since it's connected directly to an instance of the Reflect talent.

Edit: According to Sam, guess I was right ;)

Edited by Donovan Morningfire

Quick doubt: the document says the Soresu Defender gains improved parry, while the site says its Improved Reflect. Which one is it?

My apologies, that should be Improved Reflect. I'll make the change in the PDF as soon as possible.

Maybe it's just my document, but I like that FFG is using pink for the most recent changes, rather than red. Not sure why that amuses me so much.

Edited by kaosoe

I would've liked to see Supreme Reflect in the Soresu Defender, instead of Improved Reflect.

Soresu is all about defending , whereas Shien is about counter-attacking. And it would make sense for a master of Soresu to be able to Reflect with less effort (less Strain expenditure,

Otherwise, I really like these updates, especially for the Protector (I'm playing a Guardian/Protector, and so I'm excited to get those talents into the rotation ASAP!).

Maybe it's just my document, but I like that FFG is using pink for the most recent changes, rather than red. Not sure why that amuses me so much.

I think they did that so the text in the new side-bar is a bit more visible.

I would've liked to see Supreme Reflect in the Soresu Defender, instead of Improved Reflect.

Soresu is all about defending , whereas Shien is about counter-attacking. And it would make sense for a master of Soresu to be able to Reflect with less effort (less Strain expenditure,

Well, Soresu Defender already has Supreme Parry, and to be far we do see Obi-Wan making a number of reflected blaster attacks in the prequels, and his Form studies have been mostly Soresu with elements of Shii-Cho and Ataru influences from his training under Qui-Gon.

I'd have liked to see Ataru Striker get Improved Reflect as well, but them's the brakes. Guess if my 'saber-wielders want to play blaster tennis, it's into the Shien Expert spec they go.

I think that Improved Reflect would make sense for Shii-Cho Knight, if that specialization had any ranks at all in Reflect :-p For example, switch out 2 ranks of Parry for Reflect, and replace the Djem-So-flavored Improved Parry (which appears in a few other trees) with Improved Reflect.

In the lore, Ataru is noted for its disadvantages against blaster-wielding opponents...so Improved Reflect would really not be appropriate.

If the likes of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were using FaD specializations, I would expect that they got their rudimentary blaster-deflection training from Shii-Cho. I suppose it's a debate of whether Improved Reflect (blaster bolt redirection) is "rudimentary" :) But Ataru...it just doesn't fit.

EDIT: Added the "for example" in an effort to be helpful ;)

Edited by awayputurwpn

VICTORY!

For various definitions of victory and for however long lived it is.

Maybe it's just my document, but I like that FFG is using pink for the most recent changes, rather than red. Not sure why that amuses me so much.

I like the pink font. It really makes it pop! ;)

I'm actually quite sad about the dark side users got a buff, nothing big but still i feel they had plenty enough with 7 sides on the force dice. The drawback was fine, emotional strain ( the destiny point flip doesn't count, it evens out anyway)

I'm glad the Unrelenting Skeptic went away from the Shadow tree though.

I'm actually quite sad about the dark side users got a buff, nothing big but still i feel they had plenty enough with 7 sides on the force dice. The drawback was fine, emotional strain ( the destiny point flip doesn't count, it evens out anyway)

I'm glad the Unrelenting Skeptic went away from the Shadow tree though.

I would have preferred replacig the -20 morality option with -30 morality, over buffing the dark side. Being 1 session from the dark side doesnt matter, as you are ALWAYS 1 session from the darkside, if you do something like kill all the jedi younglings. Better to have an option to START on the quick and easy path.

Edited by Rakaydos

I would've liked to see Supreme Reflect in the Soresu Defender, instead of Improved Reflect.

Soresu is all about defending , whereas Shien is about counter-attacking. And it would make sense for a master of Soresu to be able to Reflect with less effort (less Strain expenditure,

Otherwise, I really like these updates, especially for the Protector (I'm playing a Guardian/Protector, and so I'm excited to get those talents into the rotation ASAP!).

I'd like to see Shien drop Supreme Reflect, and Soresu gain that in addition to Improved Reflect. I can't see a practitioner of Shien sitting back batting away shots.

I'm actually quite sad about the dark side users got a buff, nothing big but still i feel they had plenty enough with 7 sides on the force dice. The drawback was fine, emotional strain ( the destiny point flip doesn't count, it evens out anyway)

I'm glad the Unrelenting Skeptic went away from the Shadow tree though.

I don't think the buff is huge, and it still comes with a penalty.

Why are you glad Unrelenting Skeptic is gone? I thought it was a neat talent.

I just think that Unrelenting Skeptic was to neat in the middle of the Shadow tree. Nothing wrong with the talent, maybe a bit good for a 15exp talent just, and the shadow already has so many diverse talents.

I'm not thrilled with the way the specialization trees got rearranged.

Protector : I liked Resolve here, but I guess it didn't make a ton of sense. Did Circle of Shelter really need to become much more difficult/expensive to reach/purchase? It goes from 90 XP to 120 XP, although you're picking up Dedication along the way now.

Soresu : Did they really need to shuffle Dedication around to get Improved Reflect in there? Thinking the whole Soresu tree could use a revision. How about this?

Parry Defensive Stance Side Step Reflect

| |

Grit -- Soresu Technique -- Toughened -- Grit

| |

Confidence -- Improved Parry Improved Reflect --Defensive Circle

| | | |

Parry -- Defensive Stance Side Step -- Reflect

| |

Supreme Parry -- Dedication -- Strategic Form -- Supreme Reflect

Could swap R1C3 Sidestep and Toughened to keep the 5 XP Toughened. It looks kind of light with only 2 instances each of Parry and Reflect, but it also looks more appropriate overall as the Soresu Form to me, balanced between melee and ranged defensive techniques.

Liked the changes overall for reasons already expressed. Surprising changes are surprising, but also self-explanatory.

Well, Soresu Defender already has Supreme Parry, and to be far we do see Obi-Wan making a number of reflected blaster attacks in the prequels, and his Form studies have been mostly Soresu with elements of Shii-Cho and Ataru influences from his training under Qui-Gon.

I'd have liked to see Ataru Striker get Improved Reflect as well, but them's the brakes. Guess if my 'saber-wielders want to play blaster tennis, it's into the Shien Expert spec they go.

Just out of curiosity. For people like me that have only seen the movies and read the Heir to the Empire trilogy (I tried a few other books but I gave up due to their poor quality), where do all this names, categories and so on come from? Where does it appear which technique a famous Jedi or the other has studied? Is this in books or in a certain official SW webpage?

Thanks

I miss Unrelentic Skeptic :( but like it. Nice mods ;)

Well, Soresu Defender already has Supreme Parry, and to be far we do see Obi-Wan making a number of reflected blaster attacks in the prequels, and his Form studies have been mostly Soresu with elements of Shii-Cho and Ataru influences from his training under Qui-Gon.

I'd have liked to see Ataru Striker get Improved Reflect as well, but them's the brakes. Guess if my 'saber-wielders want to play blaster tennis, it's into the Shien Expert spec they go.

Just out of curiosity. For people like me that have only seen the movies and read the Heir to the Empire trilogy (I tried a few other books but I gave up due to their poor quality), where do all this names, categories and so on come from? Where does it appear which technique a famous Jedi or the other has studied? Is this in books or in a certain official SW webpage?

Thanks

I believe those names (or the forms at least) first appeared in a Star Wars Insider article at some point during the creation of the prequel trilogy - but I may be wrong of course. First the various lightsaber forms appeared simply numbered 1 through 7 I think, although I do think they had names, the names took some time to be established it seems.