Yesterday we got a dev tracker reply from Jason Attard, Senior Game Balance Designer, courtesy of Allison Berryman. It was regarding modifications in endgame loot and how stats are distributed:

Originally posted by AllisonBerryman (Source)

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I talked to Jason Attard (Senior Game Balance Designer) and he was able to shed some light on modifications in endgame items and how stats are distributed.

Our goal is that a highly-skilled player can complete content without needing to swap mods on their gear, but spending the time and credits necessary to optimize the mods should still make a noticeable difference.

When we generate mods for endgame gear, we generate all the mod variants at a given item level and then run a process that combines the mods with endgame shell items to create the items needed for an Operation. This process helps us ensure that the stats are useful for Advanced Classes and roles, but it doesn’t generate gear that is completely optimal for every spec. We always manually check the results and tweak items where necessary.

We have had some problems in the past with gear that stacks a single rating too much and with incorrect armorings being assigned to some items (high Endurance gear should go to tanking items, Aim/Cunning/Strength/Willpower should go into DPS and healing items), and we’re continuing to refine the processes we use to make more useful gear. In future tiers, you’ll see many issues with mod allocation corrected!

The last bit is especially interesting, and may explain some of the current stat ratios we’re seeing on our Operation loot tables.

Many years ago, when I first tried World of Warcraft before Burning Crusade came out, my friends and guildmates were quick to tell me that upon hitting level 60, the game was just beginning. The notion boggled me and my MMO noob-ness at first. I was more familiar with single-player RPGs and the whole “the journey is everything” cadance that drives them. Hell, in my favorite RPGs I still get kinda sad running through that last dungeon, because I know the end is inevitable. And sure, endings are always great to see, but they’re… you know, the end.

It didn’t take me long to realize what my guildmates spoke of in WoW. My leveling journey ended, but the adventure of obtaining endgame gear was just beginning. Running vanilla instances that took organized groups and a decent chunk of time. Crafting gear, and farming materials for consumables. Testing out the good ol’ raiding life. I quickly fell into the raiding routine, and loved every bit of WoW’s endgame for a number of years, until endgame became more of a fruit-of-the-month club and less of an actual adventure.

Originally posted by EmmanuelLusinchi (Source)

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The current situation with end game gear and item modifications isn’t final and, in fact, many community members like yourself have correctly guessed at what our plans to correct the current design are.

Since this is a fairly important issue to many players, let me disclose more details about what is currently in the work regarding purple items and mods:

- All partially moddable purple items will be made fully moddable again, allowing the removal of the armoring, hilt and barrel.

- The set bonus of end gear purples (PVP and PVE) will be transferable to custom items.

- Some item modifications will be restricted to a certain item type. For example, some item modifications will only fit on helmets, while other will only fit on chests, etc.

As usual, the caveats about unfinished work apply, but this should give you and the community a very good idea of our intentions. We are serious about making custom gear an entirely valid alternative to end game gear and we support the players’ ability to customize their appearance all the way to (and including) end game.

This is excellent new as it opens up gear choices and looks for players. SWTOR is very visual and a distinct look for many individuals is a very important thing.