Twitchy Questioning 10: The Question from U.N.B.S.N.

Multiplayer Livestream Summary - 29 June 2017
I'm filling for /u/The_hezy for a few weeks. This is more stream of consciousness because I was also asking questions in the Twitch chat, which I will post later.
Sorry this summary was delayed but I had some real life stuff to do.
Specific questions asked by me, Matobar, Biggy_dx, et al. are at the bottom.
The new Equipment this week is the Expert Package, pistol damage +10% & power recharge speed +15%, for 120 MF.
Firebase Aqua (both Day and Night) enters the regular map rotation.
So does Icebreaker Daytime.
Bastiaan is one vacation, so Billy is playing alongside Sarah, one of the software developers (coders) who worked on the User Interface (U.I.) among other things. Fernando is in the Twitch chat answering questions.
Others helping behind the scenes are Sean, Conal, and Mae.
Billy mentioned that because of the Canada (Canada Day, 150 years old!) and U.S.A. (Independence Day, 241 y.o.) holidays this weekend, Bioware decided not to roll out any new Apex missions. This is because a large portion of the player base will be celebrating or traveling.
Bioware removed the broken daily challenges (Tech, Biotic, Combat) from the rotation until they can figure out what is wrong with them. Other challenges such as enemy points or map waves will continue to rotate.
Their first game is on Aqua Night, which still looks GORGEOUS, on Bronze difficulty, vs. Remnant.
The team gets off to a rough start when two of the streamers die near the LZ (probably due to lag upon spawning in, is what it looked like).
Sarah notice that ammo prime enemies for combo detonations, which she did not know about. Billy acknowledged that often the in-game U.I. doesn't have enough room to explain how everything works.
Billy (on screen) and Fernando (in chat) appreciated the positive feedback about last week's 10 Wave mission. There were some hints that we'll get another one (see questions below). They will look at upping the XP/Cr rewards to match the time investment and difficulty.
Sarah enjoys the 'child-like' banter of the Krogan Engineer. This led to some questions about why the MEA MP characters don't chatter as much as the DAI MP characters did... to which I say, be careful what you wish for.
Apparently there is a frog somewhere on the Aqua map, but I missed it while reading the chat. The artists like to sneak in 'Easter Eggs' in various places.
The second game is still Aqua, but the Night variant, this time on Silver difficulty.
Fernando wrote that the team considered re-making ME3 MP maps, but still has some ideas for new maps first.
Billy and Sarah mention that Benoit (who played last week) and Josh (the level designer of Aqua) are the most competitive / best players on the BWE team.
The third game is still on Aqua. Billy takes position near the 'Hill of Destiny' (his term) to the back left as you face inward from the LZ. He mentions that is dangerous to try to hold your ground there because the enemies can gain line of sight on you from many angles.
Billy also mentions that in the playtest version of Aqua, the BWE team spent a lot of time on the roof, but now they hardly ever go up there.
By the time I had to leave, Billy was at 5 deaths. Fortunately he did not get synch-killed, unlike /u/Salsadips back on May 11. Never forget!
Here are the questions and answers I captured.
from BSN & miscellaneous
The Apex HQ app displays incorrect values for some weapons and powers, and has character skills in a different order than the game. Are you aware and will this be fixed eventually?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 yep, should be addressed soon
Many power descriptions are misleading at best, or incorrect at worst. Would it be possible to tie power descriptions to the game code, so we have accurate information on how powers actually work?
Billy: if descs get too long, gets cumbersome in the menus. Anything you write (string) you put a 20% buffer on it for other languages whose translations might be longer than English...
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 looking into those
On a related note: rtrnofdmax: DiscoBabaloo Can you comment on power descriptions in the Apex app that don't match the game? For example: Escape artist says it should grant cloak on melee kills, but doesn't.
DiscoBabaloo: rtrnofdmax yep, those should be addressed in next updt
vtiiiii: DiscoBabaloo There's been quite a few complaints (including myself!) about the invisible, google and robot doges and their interrupts seem too constant and frustrating. Any possibility of them being toned down a bit, or if we have to mash them off, then it works as a melee that can kill them outright?
DiscoBabaloo: @vtiiiii we're looking into that as part of the balancing
ME3 had a one year window of weekly support in the form of balance changes, patches, and new content. Can we expect the same timeline from MEA?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 falls into the 'future' content thing, we'll talk about it when we can for now, we're still here
ichimaru360: DiscoBabaloo would it be possible to add alternate versions of each difficulty? Like have a Gold S difficulty which goes up to 11 waves and still have the normal 7 wave gold.
DiscoBabaloo: @ichimaru360 not exactly, but given feedback we're looking to see what we can do along those lines
Galebazz: Fernando any chance that you will slightly increase UR appearance in packs? Rn you get 2,5 for 1 million credits
DiscoBabaloo: @galebazz we're looking into a few things, nothing specific yet though
Can the U.I. text size be made adjustable, primarily for console users? The current text size is too small to read on TVs from more than a few feet away.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 prob not adjustable on the fly, but we'll see if we can improve
Could you apply more consistency in U.I. button use and related screen focus? Examples: on PC, squad view changes from ‘V’ to ‘spacebar’. On XB1, after you exit squad view, focus moves to a character instead of saying on squad view.
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 most of those we should have already (tracked) but we're still prioritizing fixes (and new content)
When you exit a lobby you don’t want to be in, can there be a ‘cooldown’ that prevents you from immediately re-entering that same lobby when you Quick Match or Custom Search?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 hmm, i'll take a look. It might slow matchmaking quite a bit :/
WolfBuster: DiscoBabaloo @bioware any plans on adjusting the Venom to allow us to be able to hold charge while jumping , Dashing , or using a skill that involves movement
DiscoBabaloo: @wolfbuster on the list to review
WolfBuster: What do you think of adding 10%-20% combo dmg bonus to Barricade rank 5b to make it a reasonable choice over 5a's perk
DiscoBabaloo: That sounds like a lot , but I'll have to look over the numbers
Siran77: DiscoBabaloo Is it possible to show the modifiers of the APEX mission in the apex App itself? This way I could decide better if I want to send a team from the app or play it later myself
DiscoBabaloo: @siran77 i'll pass that on to the app team
[Billy mentioned he likes the Scorpion pistol, so I asked:] In ME3, some types of weapons (ex. Falcon, Scorpion) automatically ammo-primed enemies, which gave those weapons a special niche. Would you consider creating / adjusting similar weapons in MEA?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 hypothetically speaking, if there's more weapons, we could look at that
Boosters: why did you decide to allow only 2 Boosters to be equipped in MEA, when in ME3 it was 3?
DiscoBabaloo: JRandall0308 just a design / balancing choice along with equipment
from reddit courtsey of /u/Matobar
Answered questions in Twitch Chat (shoutout to /u/vtiiiiiiiiii, @ichimaru360, @galebazz, and @m104_1000 for their questions!)
Matobar: DiscoBabaloo If we do missions with additional waves in the future, will we see better payouts. People thought the Kett mission's Credit reward was too low
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar yes absolutely (if we do them cough cough)
Matobar: Any chance of adding additional ambient sound to the game, such as the enemies talking to each other or better bullet/melee impact sounds? The map can feel eerily quiet right now, especially Destroyers, Fiends, and Hydras.
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar probably not, but will put it on the list to look at
M104_1000: @bioware is there anything that can be said about the issue of the gold nameplate for combat mastery not being rewarded and instead rewarding another biotic nameplate instead?
DiscoBabaloo: @m104_1000 will look into it
vtiiiii: DiscoBabaloo Invasion doesn't work with Tech Sabotage - is this intentional?
DiscoBabaloo: @vtiiiii will have to confirm w designer for that
ichimaru360: DiscoBabaloo would it be possible to add alternate versions of each difficulty? Like have a Gold S difficulty which goes up to 11 waves and still have the normal 7 wave gold.
DiscoBabaloo: @ichimaru360 not exactly, but given feedback we're looking to see what we can do along those lines
Matobar: Adding the Behemoth to last week's Kett mission was awesome! Can we see more of him in our missions please?!
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar ya, was great seeing the feedback on that mission, so we'll look to do more like that I think
Galebazz: Fernando any chance that you will slightly increase UR appearance in packs? Rn you get 2,5 for 1 million credits
DiscoBabaloo: @galebazz we're looking into a few things, nothing specific yet though
Matobar: Some issues the game has seem to stem from Frostbite (such as the sound-cutting-out glitch). Do you guys know if anyone has been tasked with adjusting the engine to make it easier to work with/more suited for games like yours?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar ya, there's constant chatter back to the central fb team (and other EA teams) - but not sure what the latest is with that, will have to follow up again
Matobar: Also, that Kett APEX mission had some serious performance issues on later waves that impacted a lot of people's games. Any additional information you can give on this?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar yep, we're aware and working on that
Matobar: Can Bioware see how far along its players are in maxing their Manifests? Is this something that is considered when discussing things like new Weapons, Mods, or Characters?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar yes, and yes to some extent
Matobar: Pistols are seen as being better versions of heavier guns right now (such as Hornet out-performing most Rare ARs.) Any planned adjustments in this area?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar yep, each pass we focus on a few areas at a time Common enemies (Raiders in particular) are really good at acquiring targets immediately once they're in view, or switching between targets with no pause in between, and then unloading with pin-point accuracy. Are they intentionally this fearsome regardless of distance?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar hmm, what difficulty?
Matobar: DiscoBabaloo I assume it's Gold
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar all enemies are on gold, but i'll get the team to take a closer look and see if anything changed for raiders in particular
Matobar: Really neat bit of feedback: Give Havoc Trooper shield regen per kill, or something else to synergize with her increased hover duration. Thoughts on this?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar will float it past the team but i think the focus of the kit was more on offense so its a bit of a tradeoff
Matobar: Any updates on returning old Equipment to the Item Store? People who got the game later than others missed out on cool stuff like the Juggernaut Shields.
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar yep, all the equip will rotate through the store, a few items each week
vtiiiii: DiscoBabaloo There's been quite a few complaints (including myself!) about the invisible, google and robot doges and their interrupts seem too constant and frustrating. Any possibility of them being toned down a bit, or if we have to mash them off, then it works as a melee that can kill them outright?
DiscoBabaloo: @vtiiiii we're looking into that as part of the balancing
Matobar: DiscoBabaloo The Asari Duelist Melee is wonky, because it's extended by a teleport, which lessens the DPS you get from spamming it. One creative solution to this is giving her an AoE melee, because the animation shows her swinging in an Arc. Thoughts?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar i'll confirm, but pretty sure that'll break a bunch of other things :/
[Note that Krogans already have AEO melee, so I'm not sure why the Asari Duelist would break anything if she gained an AOE melee. - JRandall0308]
Matobar: Support ability challenges take a lot longer to complete than other challenges do. Is this intentional?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar depends on the abilities & team play but invariably it may be slower than run & gun
Matobar: How many colonists left the Nexus with the Exiles, and why haven't we killed them all yet?
DiscoBabaloo: @matobar not sure... pretty good banging?!
Billy (on stream): There's no pretty good banging in Multiplayer... is there? That would make for some very different objectives.
from GameFAQs courtsey of /u/biggy_dx
Ascendants are heavily impacted when there is a noticeable level of lag. This can lead to needing to kill multiple orbs before taking the shield down, Ascendants without orbs, and/or teleportation sync-kills (ala Fiend teleport sync). Can this issue be remedied?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx ya, still looking at further improvements for latency etc - not specific fixes to ascendants per se, but should improve overall and help with that too
The Angara Avenger doesn’t seem to benefit from the Stealth Grid melee damage bonus. There is evidence to suggest that this may be due - in part - from the strike taking too long and the Stealth Grid damage bonus expiring. Can adjustments be made here to improve this skill combo?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx i'll put it on the list to review again
Certain rank evolutions in abilities, like Fortify 6A and Backlash’s rank 6 evos, leave a lot to be desired. In addition, the community often finds itself never needing to take either of these abilities to max rank. Can these later ranks be made more viable?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx part of the balance items we continue to look at - not sure offhand what the plan is for those but it is something the team is looking at
With the recent buffs to the ammo capacity of certain weapons (such as the Thokin and Carnifex), would it be possible to see a similar buff for the Sidewinder pistol?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx possibly, the team is continuing to do balance passes, i'll make a note for them to look at that
Why does shield gate operate on an invulnerability timer instead of gating a single projectile?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx easier / less risky to implement
Is it possible to make challenges repeatable (similar to how they were in ME3), or will they continue to stay completed forever (ie. A cap on challenge points)? In addition, could we see more variety in future challenges (outside of earn X points)?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx ah, right now no plans for that, but we can investigate what that would take
With the addition of armor light customization, can we also get a skin tone or facepaint color option?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx possibly
Any chance of the companion app coming to Windows Phone? Will the companion app ever offer ways to earn credits for MP, like mini-games or something along that line?
RESPONSE - DiscoBabaloo: @biggy_dx i'd have to check w the app team
[Note that, unfortunately, Windows Phones have a tiny market share (< 1%) so that is likely a factor. -JRandall0308]
[end of summary]