Galactic Duct Tape: Patch 1.0.2 Analysis

Another extended maintenance period is upon us, and with it comes the newest patch for The Old Republic. As has been the trend so far, this is mostly a bug fix patch, with a few items that have given us pause for thought. The full list of notes for Patch 1.0.2 can be found below, but first let’s take a look at five of the more significant changes to the game this week.

1. The Darth title is now properly granted to Sith Inquisitors

This one is mainly a cosmetic fix, though given the extreme popularity of the class I’m sure this will be welcome news for a lot of players. Now if they would just implement a means of toggling player titles off in Warzones so that it’s not such a pain in the ass to heal in random groups we’d be all set!

2. Removed some high-level harvesting nodes from Tatooine, Corellia, and Ilum

While I could see where removing high level harvesting nodes on a planet like Tatooine or possibly even Corellia would make sense, why would you remove them from Ilum considering it’s an endgame planet?

As for Tatooine, we’ll need to wait until the servers come back up to confirm, but I’d imagine this will mainly impact Outlaw’s Den where you can commonly find skill level 340+ harvesting nodes. Considering this is an open PvP area on a mid-20s level planet, having those nodes there basically told players “we know this is a level 25 area, but really intend Outlaw’s Den to be used by level 50s who will come here, find nothing to do, get bored, and begin ganking low level players leaving the nearby outposts on PvP servers.”

In fact, you get a new quest at level 40 to venture to Outlaw’s Den, further reinforcing that this level 25 area is actually intended as endgame PvP content. Right next to level 25 outposts. On PvP servers. Really bad design decision if you ask me, but you didn’t!

3. PvP lockboxes now cost 70 commendations, contain more consumables, and always contain an item.

Ouch. While it was annoying that you’d typically get a few consumables per lockbox, the 30 commendation cost felt about right. At 70 commendations you’ll always get an item now, but why would you spend 70 commendations for random green vendor trash when you could spend 150 on an item specific to your class that has full mod slots? Or you could also just spend 70 and get 7 of the specific consumable you’re after rather than playing the commendation lottery.

Of all the things that needed fixes with the PvP commendation system, this definitely wasn’t one of them.

4. Commendations received via in-game mail are now correctly added to the Currency tab.

Given the high cost of inventory / storage upgrades, this is a very welcome fix. While I don’t really need the Dromund Kaas, Alderaan, etc. commendations sitting in storage at this point, I also couldn’t bring myself to throw them away to make room either. Hopefully this is a retroactive fix and adds previously received physical commendations to the currency tab as well.

5. The "Show Sith Corruption" option no longer toggles off when transitioning between areas.

Another cosmetic fix, but a welcome one at that. Now you can properly decide that you don’t want your character to look like they were eating a Big Mac while wearing a ski mask and got secret sauce all over their mouth and eyes!

The complete list of notes for Patch 1.0.2 can be found below. Have a favorite / least favorite from the list? Hop on your speeder and ride it down to the comments section and let us know!

General

• Guilds that are currently leaderless will have an Officer chosen and promoted to Guild Leader.

Classes and Combat

Sith Inquisitor

• The Darth title is now properly granted to Sith Inquisitors.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected an issue that could prevent players from taking cover when targeting large NPCs.
• Fixed a bug that caused some abilities with activation times to be interrupted when used from cover.

Crew Skills

Gathering

• Removed some high-level harvesting nodes from Tatooine, Corellia, and Ilum.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Cademimu

• General Ortol can no longer be pulled out of his room.

Maelstrom Prison

• Corrected an issue that could cause Kilran to behave incorrectly when defeated in cover.

Taral V

• General Edikar now has the correct loot in Hard Mode and no longer enrages in Normal Mode.

Operations

Eternity Vault

• Gharj can no longer be pulled out of his encounter room.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause choosing Nightmare Mode to not set enemies to Nightmare difficulty.

Items

General

• PvP lockboxes now cost 70 commendations, contain more consumables, and always contain an item.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected several PvP items that were Bind on Equip. They are now Bind on Pickup.
• PvP vendors on Capital Planets now offer the correct PvP items.
• Commendations received via in-game mail are now correctly added to the Currency tab.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Imperial

• Number One with a Bullet: Players who choose dark side options now correctly receive the mission First Strike after completing this mission.
• First Strike: Players who did not receive this mission will now receive it upon entering their personal starships.

Republic

• Death Cloud: Players can now complete the "Toxic Waste" bonus objective regardless of how quickly they complete this mission.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected mission steps on several planets that could cause client instability.
• Fixed issues with some missions that could prevent pending rewards from being accepted.

Space Combat

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused a client crash if a space station was destroyed in Space Combat.

UI

Maps

• Group members no longer appear on all planets on the Galaxy Map.
• Corrected an issue that could cause map notes to disappear after logging out and back into the game.
• Corrected some map notes that referenced the incorrect map.
• Updated map notes for "travel to planet" steps in class missions on Nar Shaddaa, Hoth, and Belsavis to indicate the planet's space station.

Bug Fixes

• Group members outside of a player's phase are no longer prompted to roll on items.
• The In-Game Customer Service Portal no longer appears to hang while the "updating" message is displayed.
• The Guild interface now properly displays the guild member list when it is sorted.
• The "Show Sith Corruption" option no longer toggles off when transitioning between areas.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

• Taxi rides are no longer occasionally interrupted, causing the player to be dropped from the taxi.
• Using the /dismiss command now correctly dismisses a vanity pet.
• Corrected some issues that could cause players to become stuck on the loading screen when logging into a character.
• Players can now use emotes while riding a vehicle.
• Fixed a bug that prevented some text-only mail messages from being received.
• Graphics preferences in settings files are now consistent with actual settings in use.
• Being in Do Not Disturb mode no longer prevents characters from being logged out for being away.
• Corrected an issue that caused poor performance on some machines in indoor areas with shadows enabled.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent players from being logged out for inactivity.