Developer Blogs

Hello everyone. My name is Austin Peckenpaugh, and I’m a Senior Designer on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, responsible for class design and combat systems. As such, I’m here to shed some light on the changes to the Jedi Knight class in Game Update 2.0.

We’ll be writing about recent class changes coming to The Old Republic, but this time we’re going a little more in depth and taking on one class (for both factions) at a time. If we haven’t covered your class yet, do not despair; it will be covered in the coming days.

Combat Systems

Alacrity Improvements: One of the big changes to combat systems is the way that Alacrity works. Prior to this update, Alacrity came with a tradeoff for some classes, and it was nearly useless to other classes. The faster you attacked, the more resources you would spend, and that only worked if you had channeled abilities or abilities with activation times.

Now, Alacrity will increase the activation speed of all abilities, including instants. We haven’t just shortened the global cooldown, either. When activating any ability quicker, its animation will also play quicker. This makes some attacks look and sound very cool. Furthermore, Alacrity increases resource regeneration by the same rate, helping you to recuperate resources more quickly as you spend them more quickly. For Knights and Warriors specifically, attacking faster means generating resources faster. Now more Alacrity is strictly a good thing.

DoT Improvements: We’ve changed the way we evaluate damage over time effects, so it should now be less costly to keep your DoTs up and to spread them around.

Shield Improvements: We’ve changed the way shields work to allow them to absorb any incoming kinetic or energy damage regardless of the source (melee, ranged, Force, tech – doesn’t matter). This has significantly increased the importance of shields, and the game has been rebalanced to account for such a major adjustment.

Accuracy Matters: In 2.0, all Elite (gold star) and tougher enemies will have additional defense chances against Force and tech attacks. As a result, Accuracy Rating will play a pivotal role in optimizing your sustained damage in boss fights. Prior to 2.0, Accuracy Rating was valued very differently from class to class (or even spec to spec), and while it’s still different for each class or spec, that difference is now much smaller. In effect, all damage-dealing roles will find Accuracy Rating much more useful than before.

Sentinel

Twin Saber Throw (New ability): This ability throws both sabers forward, dealing high damage to everything in their path. Upon striking a target, that target is additionally slowed by 50% for 6 seconds. 18-second cooldown.

Below are some additional details on changes made to the Sentinel’s skill trees. Many more skills than the ones mentioned here have changed; these are really just the highlights.

Watchman

Watchman has always had a strong rotation with good sustained damage and utility. We didn’t want to mess with the formula to Watchman’s success, so we just made them better at doing what they already do.

• Weakening Wounds: This new utility skill causes your burning targets to deal less damage.
• Zealous Ward: This new utility skill causes you to heal for a percent of your maximum health when attacked while Saber Ward is active.
• Inexhaustible Zeal: Increases the maximum stack size of Juyo Form and Merciless Slash by 1. With this skill, Juyo Form stacks up to 6 times and Merciless Slash stacks up to 4 times, ultimately giving Merciless Slash a 6-second cooldown.
• Burning Focus: Burning Focus will help give you the Focus you need to fuel more Merciless Slashes. Your direct damage attacks that critically hit a target have a chance to build 1 Focus.

Combat

Combat has been criticized for being a little too simple to play. While they have lots of fun utility, their core rotation was a little boring. However, some players like a more relaxed playstyle, so it’s important to us that we don’t change things too much.

To that end, we’ve helped unlock Combat’s most fun utility (Transcendence, right?), and livened up their core rotational gameplay with a deadly new proc effect.

• Saber Screen: Sentinels in general have great survivability tools, but their passive survivability is very low. In large part, this is intentional, but Combat receives very few survivability boosts even for a Sentinel. With Saber Screen, each time your Ataru Form procs, you gain a stacking damage reduction buff.
• Contemplation: With this new skill, whenever you use a “rest” ability (Introspection, Carbonite Chamber, etc), you generate Centering over the channel duration. This lets Combat front-load a Zen, Transcendence, or Inspiration without having to use Valorous Call!
• Hand of Justice: When your Ataru Form triggers, you have a chance to gain Hand of Justice, which finishes the cooldown on Precision Slash and Dispatch and makes your next Dispatch free and usable on any target at any health level.

Focus (Sentinel)

Our intentions with Focus Sentinels in 2.0 are to continue to support their viable sustained damage, but to lessen the burst potential of Force Sweep. This isn’t solely about correcting issues though, so we’ve also added some gameplay improvements and better utility to Focus.

• Changes to Force Sweep: Force Sweep hits for significantly less in 2.0, reducing Focus’s on demand burst. However, Force Sweep is now responsible for less of Focus’s overall damage output, so these changes don’t negatively impact Focus’s sustained damage.
• Singularity Acquisition: Singularity is no longer acquired from Force Stasis. Now, stacks of Singularity are acquired from Zen (in Shii-Cho Form) and damage dealt by Force Exhaustion.
• Focused Resonance: Previously, this skill increased the critical damage of Force attacks by 30%. In 2.0, it increases the critical damage of all attacks by 15%.
• Redistributed Damage: Damage has been redistributed from Force Sweep into other abilities, reducing Force Sweep’s contribution to your overall damage while increasing that of other key abilities.
• Focused Resonance: As previously mentioned, Focused Resonance now affects all abilities by a lesser amount.
• Force Lash: Slash deals additional energy damage as Force damage.
• Heightened Power: Increases all damage dealt by 9% (at 3 points) for 6 seconds after using Force Sweep. This does not apply to the Force Sweep that triggered this effect.
• New Utility: Focus had previously been a one-trick pony, with the thought being that the burst it provided effectively served as its utility. With that way of thinking behind us, Focus has received some new and improved utility skills.
• Second Wind and Jedi Enforcer: Second Wind has been replaced by Jedi Enforcer, which increases the damage dealt by Rebuke and increases its duration.
• Pulse: Now reduces the cooldown of Force Stasis.
• Incisor: This new skill gives Force Leap and Zealous Leap a chance to slow the target by 50% for 6 seconds.
• Agility Training: This skill now makes Zealous Leap usable while immobilized.
• Force Health: Reduces the health spent by Guarded by the Force and causes Twin Saber Throw to generate Focus.

Guardian

• Visionary: Previously, Forms would enable through various skills the generation of Focus when attacked. These skills have been removed or repurposed, and Guardians now gain this effect through this new passive ability.
• Sundering Strike: Now has a 15-second cooldown, generates 5 Focus, and reduces the target’s armor by 20% for 45 seconds. Previously, Sundering Strike was a very high maintenance ability. It was unfortunate that maintaining high Focus and quickly applying stacks of Armor Reduction were more important than dumping off that Focus and getting to deal some damage. With the new Sundering Strike, fewer of your global cooldowns will be tied up in maintenance, affording you the time to actually spend your Focus without worrying about constantly maintaining your Focus levels.
• Saber Reflect (New Ability): Reflects the damage dealt by all incoming ranged, Force, and tech attacks back to their source. Lasts 3 seconds. The damage dealt back to the source is capped by a value determined by the ability’s rank.

Below are some additional details on changes made to the Guardian’s skill trees. Many more skills than the ones mentioned here have changed; these are really just the highlights.

Defense

We found that a lot of players were dissatisfied with the top of the Defense skill tree, forgoing Guardian Slash and other skills for other options in Vigilance or Focus. We like it when it’s because players see low-hanging fruit they’d rather have, but we really don’t like it when it’s because players find their capstone ability underwhelming. Therefore, we’ve really beefed up the value of high tier skills and Guardian Slash in the hopes of making players feel better rewarded for fully investing in the Defense tree.

We also want players to feel like they’re not missing too much when they finally let go of the skills from Vigilance or Focus. To achieve this, we’ve really improved the Defense Guardian’s command over the battlefield, giving them distinct and powerful utility that’s totally unique to the tree.

• Guardian Slash: Now deals area damage to adjacent enemies if the primary target is affected by your Armor Reduction. Additionally, Guardian Slash enables the use of Riposte and increases your damage reduction by 3% for 20 seconds.
• Guard and Thrust: Reduces Riposte’s cooldown while Saber Ward is active.
• Lunge: Now additionally increases Riposte’s critical chance while in Soresu Form.
• Battlefield Command: Being attacked while in Soresu Form reduces the active cooldown of Force Leap.
• Jedi Warden: Now reduces the cooldown of Force Push and reduces the Focus cost of Freezing Force.
• Guardianship: Now places an absorption shield (similar to Blade Barrier) on all allies, excluding you, in range of your Challenging Call.
• Cyclonic Sweeps: This is now a 1-pt skill. Reduces the rate limit by which Visionary can generate Focus by 3 seconds. Additionally reduces the Focus cost of Blade Storm, Cyclone Slash, and Guardian Slash.
• Expeditious Protector: When your guarded target (an ally under the effects of your Guard) is attacked, you gain a speed boost for 6 seconds.
• Daunting Presence: Force Leap finishes the cooldown on Force Kick. Additionally increases the duration of Saber Reflect and causes Saber Reflect to issue high threat to all engaged enemies within 30 meters.
• Beacon of Might: Increases the damage dealt by Hilt Strike and Guardian Slash, and reduces the cooldown of Riposte and Warding Call.

Vigilance

Vigilance is a fun, satisfying spec to play, so we didn’t want to mess with it too much. However, we have implemented some gameplay improvements and given Vigilance a deadly new proc to liven things up.

• Plasma Brand: This ability no longer requires your Armor Reduction effect to be present on your target.
• Keening: This new skill increases the damage dealt by your burn effects and triggers when dealing damage with Master Strike or burn effects. When triggered, Keening finishes the cooldown on Dispatch and makes your next Dispatch free and usable on any target at any health level.
• Force Rush: Force Rush no longer affects Dispatch. We removed this effect because it lead to the awkward gameplay of waiting to get both procs before using Keening, which made Keening feel less awesome and less immediately important. Because Force Rush now only affects Blade Storm, Force Rush’s effects have been increased. Now, Plasma Brand, Overhead Slash, and Dispatch have a 50% chance per point to grant Force Rush, which increases the critical chance of your next Blade Storm by 25% per point. Stacks up to 2 times. With 2 points at 2 stacks, Blade Storm has a 100% chance to critically hit.
• Unremitting: We’ve decided to make Unremitting exclusive to Vigilance Guardians (more specifically, Guardians in Shien Form). This is functionality that can be too good in the hands of other Guardians, but we like it too much for Vigilance to reduce its effectiveness. We understand some players will be unhappy with this change, but that’s why Defense and Focus have been given so much additional and unique utility.
• Preparation: At 2 points, this new utility skill finishes the cooldowns on Force Leap, Combat Focus, and Saber Throw when you exit combat. We want Vigilance to feel as front-loaded as possible (within reason of course), and to achieve this we want to make sure you have all of your fun focus-filled tools at the start of every new fight.

Focus (Guardian)

Our intentions with Focus Guardians in 2.0 are to continue to support their viable sustained damage, but to lessen the burst potential of Force Sweep. This isn’t solely about correcting issues though, so we’ve also added some gameplay improvements and better utility to Focus.

• Changes to Force Sweep: Force Sweep hits for significantly less in 2.0, reducing Focus’s on demand burst. However, Force Sweep is now responsible for less of Focus’s overall damage output, so these changes don’t negatively impact Focus’s sustained damage.
• Singularity Acquisition: Singularity is no longer acquired from Force Stasis. Now, stacks of Singularity are acquired from Combat Focus and damage dealt by Force Exhaustion.
• Zephyrean Slash: Zephyrean Slash now additionally reduces the active cooldown of Combat Focus, allowing Combat Focus to be used with greater frequency.
• Focused Resonance: Previously, this skill increased the critical damage of Force attacks by 30%. In 2.0, it increases the critical damage of all attacks by 15%.
• Redistributed Damage: Damage has been redistributed from Force Sweep into other abilities, reducing Force Sweep’s contribution to your overall damage while increasing that of other key abilities.
• Focused Resonance: As previously mentioned, Focused Resonance now affects all abilities by a lesser amount.
• Force Lash: Slash deals additional energy damage as Force damage.
• Heightened Power: Increases all damage dealt by 9% (at 3 points) for 6 seconds after using Force Sweep. This does not apply to the Force Sweep that triggered this effect.
• New Utility: Focus had previously been a one-trick pony, with the thought being that the burst it provided effectively served as its utility. With that way of thinking behind us, Focus has received some new and improved utility skills.
• Pulse: Now reduces the cooldown of Force Stasis.
• Intervention: This new utility skill gives Force Leap, Zealous Leap, and Guardian Leap a chance to grant Intervention, which makes your next Freezing Force cost no Focus and activate with a 0.5-second global cooldown.
• Agility Training: This skill now makes Zealous Leap usable while immobilized.
• Force Guard: Reduces the damage taken from Force attacks and causes you to build Focus when you reflect Force attacks with Saber Reflect.

Game Update 2.0: Scum and Villainy and the Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel are now live with the changes above. Please keep in mind that we are always looking at class balance so let us know how you like the changes we have made. I hope the information I could share with you today has helped shed some light on what’s changed and why we changed it. Thanks for reading!