On June 6th, BioWare posted a community blog about some of the class and balance changes coming our way in Game Update 1.3. You can read the full blog here. The in-progress PTS patch notes in reference can be viewed here. Some interesting information was revealed on the blog concerning the changes being made to tank classes and DPS classes.

The classes hit the hardest this round include the Assassin/Shadow, Juggernaut/Guardian, Sniper/Gunslinger, and both Bounty Hunter/Trooper trees. Austin Peckenpaugh, Senior Designer, goes into some detail about why changes were made, and what BioWare’s long term goals for various balance issues are. Major balance adjustments can often be frustrating no matter the side of the spectrum a player’s character may be on, and it isn’t often that the community sees the reasoning behind decisions made. It’s a very nice to see some of this reasoning.

Before anyone asks, let me get one thing out of the way ahead of time: I’m no theorycrafter. I am, however, pretty good at reading neat stuff around the internet. I’m also what most people would probably consider an experienced tank in MMOs who’s now gone quite casual. It leaves me more time to find neat stuff to babble about, right?

My babbling for today is based on the information detailed in this thread on the official forums. The information was originally discovered on the sithwarrior.com forums, which is a pretty nifty place for all things having to do with SWTOR theorycrafting. Players there have been putting in some time and research and have found out a few interesting ways in which threat works in The Old Republic. Check it out!

Welcome to SWTOR Mechanics 102.  Previously we discussed Primary and Secondary Attributes with SWTOR Mechanics 101: Attributes.  But what about the backbone of the game itself?  The things that make SWTOR tick.  For many newbies these are simply open ended questions.  However for the veteran MMO player many preconceived notions that have carried over into SWTOR need to be dispelled.  These are your new “laws of reality”.