You probably won't find the actual cards at Gamestop, but ask one of the associates at the register to sell you SKU 608001; it's the 2400 CC for $19.99 and currently you get the Juvenile Tyrant Rancor pet and the redemption code and instructions just print right on the receipt. Here's Dulfy's guide to getting all the different Juvenile Rancor.

Bump because I hope someone at EA/BW reads this and takes it to heart and to action...

Your logic is quite flawed here actually. Even if we were to over-generalize the situation and look at just the main draw of the packs (the "slots" in the packs dedicated to the new armor, weapons, emotes, toys, crystals, vehicles, and now companions that make up the gravy of the set), we used to be able to pull two items out of a pack and now we only get one; so based on that alone we lost 50% of the value of the pack. To further devalue the contents, they also re-evaluated all the rarities in the new Gold, Silver, and Bronze designations; even without a large sample to say for sure I'm guessing we're currently averaging about 5-10% Gold (I've heard plenty of reports of even lower results, which is shameful even for the RNG Gods), maybe around 25-30% Silver, and about 60-70% Bronze garbage (to be fair, it's only garbage when everybody gets four or five of the same item out of a hypercrate, but that's happening). Making matters worse, if you get a Decoration out of a pack, you get NOTHING from the current collection; when you're only pulling one item per pack this is a bit of a low blow. If there were some variety to what deco was pulled that might ease the sting a bit, but how many scorch marks, piles of debris, and wrecked speeders do we really need in our stronghold? Again they've ensured the RNG Gods are not kind with their insert odds. Now let's actually look at the COST of the packs. Sold individually, they used to be 320CC but were often on special for 250CC. The new packs at 200CC only represent a cost reduction of 20-30%. 20-30% less cost for 50% less stuff sounds like a sizeable price increase to me. In fact, it's 25-60% more expensive to buy packs right now. Given the frequency of packs at 250CC before that number is definitely closer to the 60% price increase figure. Hypercrates only solidify my point even more: 5400CC for 48 items in the old crates (112.5CC per item) versus 5400CC for 30 items in the new hypercrates (180CC per item); again that's a firm 60% price increase. Imagine if you went to the movies and suddenly all the concessions were 60% more... wouldn't you be a little outraged? Now let's actually look at the rest of the raw deal. In the first Alliance set you only got the two slots, one item from the current collection or deco, and then the companion gift. They've since added the jawa junk item in a third slot, but what happened to Cartel Reputation? Where did Credit Boom/Explosions go? Most people complained about them but there were also xp boosts. Many people feel the Cartel Reputation items were the saving grace of the packs; even if you didn't get anything great otherwise, you would pull either a rep item to improve your reputation with that cartel "faction", or a cartel certificate you could use to buy stuff once you got your rep up. Now that's gone and there's nothing to look forward to from those vendors and no way to earn certificates to buy the stuff still offered by those vendors. Long story short (too late), the value has been decreased significantly; if you're still buying packs and crates at these prices, you're one of the guys PT Barnum famously said were born every minute.

These are precisely the posts I expected to see. I hope EA/BW is paying attention to this and the Cartel Market sales because I think we're showing our opinion in the only way that matters to them: with our wallets.

Since the Cartel Pack change when 4.0 rolled out, reducing the pack contents to 1 Collections Item and 1 Companion Gift, I've been unhappy with the value I've gotten from the packs and have stopped buying. I posted another thread detailing what I'd like to see in the packs here. Now the new Force Alliance set is out and they've added a 3rd slot to the pack containing the jawa scraps again, but I still don't think it's enough and have yet to buy any packs or crates (normally I probably would have busted a couple hypercrates already). Has anyone else changed their buying habits since the Cartel Pack changes, or am I over-reacting to the change?

The general consensus would seem to be that the new Alliance Packs are a considerably lower value than previous Cartel Market packs, and some have gone so far as to call it a cash grab. I, for one, have significantly altered my buying tendencies, as I imagine many have. I'm not going to get into the Gold/Silver/Bronze packs here... there's plenty of complaints going on about those that I'll save my thoughts for another thread. I know there's a dev thread that's stickied that is specifically soliciting feedback on the new pack structure, but it's a couple weeks old and several pages deep, so I figured another new thread couldn't hurt. I pretty much just want to see what everybody thought about the pack/supercrate/hypercrate pricing along with the assorted pack contents. Price-wise, I'm kinda in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp, so I thought the old pricing of 320CC with the occasional 250CC sale price was fine, and 5400 for a hypercrate with 24 packs was reasonable (I really liked the bonus box included in the last couple hypercrates; I'd like to see this continue). These prices would assume the pack contents would be adjusted to include more items. Ideally, I'd like to see packs going back containing 5 items. The item slots would be as follows: Armor Box 2nd Armor Box or other item from current set Companion Gift or Cartel Certificate/Reputation Jawa Junk item or Deco XP Boost/Dye/Credit Boom/Misc As implied by the above list, I'd like to see the Cartel Reputation system return (I think most would agree). To clarify, the XP boost I listed in the 5th slot would specifically be either a Major or Minor General XP Boost... no more of the specific xp type boosts as those were pretty much useless. Were the packs to return to the before established pricing and have contents similar to what I list, I know I would go back to actively buying crates with each set released. What does everybody else think?

Survey taken... I'm glad they're seeking feedback. I pretty much imagine a rewards structure like what SWG had... that was pretty much what I put in for the last question.

No... at least not that I'm aware. Seeing the change to the new packs and the old packs retired and replaced by the Bronze, Silver, Gold specific packs makes me wonder if they're just phasing out the Cartel Reputation system. I hope they rethink that because it gave me more incentive to buy packs rather than just GTN the stuff I want. Maybe it will return with the next set... hopefully (not holding my breath).

Yeah I was thinking it might be something like this... I play windowed fullscreen, and I can get my start bar to show over my game screen sometimes when I tab back and forth...

Looks like it just unlocks more quests and rewards. Here's the guide from Dulfy: http://dulfy.net/2015/10/21/swtor-alliance-specialists-and-companion-recruitment-guide/

stand Now you stand corrected.

Abraham Lincoln abolished people pets a long time ago...

I've been an active buyer of Cartel Packs since the system rolled out, and I always liked the reputation vendors they would introduce with each new set. I feel like the reputation system was another way to reward players for buying packs, and players were encouraged and more likely to buy more. I reached Legendary reputation with each set and I have a nice stash of Cartel Certificates ready to spend on a new Alliance Reputation vendor... but there is no vendor I'd like to see a new reputation vendor to represent the new set and the return of reputation items and cartel certificates to the new packs. The only change I'd like to see with the system is some way to convert the rep items to cartel certificates once Legendary reputation was achieved... but otherwise, just bring it back...

I think they're done bringing back old packs now that they have the Bronze/Silver/Gold Cartel packs which contain items culled from all the past packs. In regards to the lack of a new Reputation Vendor and Cartel Certificates in the new set... I find this to be my biggest disappointment with the new Cartel system. I'm more upset about that than I am the new pricing structure and pack contents (which both kinda suck too).

Maybe fix that darn Improved Power Conversion module so it stays in my starship when I zone... ...and while they're at it they can increase crafting resource and component stack sizes to 999 and add more tabs to Cargo Bay and Legacy Storage...

Is Theron running around looking for mustache rides?

Not sure what your problem is, but it's certainly not a global one... I'm currently downloading at almost 7MB/s and I'll be all patched and ready to go in probably an hour or so. Call your ISP, check your networking hardware or settings... the problem is on your end.

I've been a Razer guy for years now, and although I've never tried the Naga (it looks too "busy" for my tastes), I'm currently in love with my Ouroboros. The form factor of this mouse may not be for everybody, but it's really versatile with adjustable palm grip and detachable side panels to widen/narrow the footprint, and it's able to operate wireless or wired. For a more traditional mouse design, the Mamba TE looks pretty beastly, and it features Razer's Chroma color control too.

NYC http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/7hbcd PAX http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/7hbcc

This would be a good time to increase the number of Cargo Bay and Legacy Storage tabs as well as increase the stack count of materials to 999...

I think he means that many of the decorations are just re-purposed assets that have been in the game since launch. I don't mind so much, but it's hard not to notice when the "new" tree decoration is really just a tree that's been chilling on Tython since launch.

I tinker around with the app on my tablet, but I won't spend any actual money on it. The 25k free credits every day and the bonus 25k after 7 consecutive days signing in is enough for me. I like looking at the cards, as they feature both screen grabs from the movies and exclusive art from like Ralph McQuarrie sketches and the like. The way they monetize the app has some features I'm locked out of since I don't spend actual money, like exclusive versions of card packs and chase card opportunities. All in all, it's a worthwhile diversion if you need a cheap Star Wars fix... I'll leave it up to you if it's worth plunking down any actual money...

An option to list items for 7 days would be perfect. If changes were being made to the GTN I'd also love to see sales history for an item to help normalize selling prices so neither side gets a raw deal.

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