What time on Thursday are the packs likely to be available for purchase? I gots to get me some Cassus Fett armor!

It's hard to tell from your grammar and spelling, but are you claiming to be one of the top scientists on the planet?

Legally, I think you're probably right. However, they're already violating the law by collecting a nonexistent tax. Who's to say they won't break the law even further and keep the money? Actually, though, the identity of the entity that eventually receives the money isn't the most important issue to me. I object to the money being collected in the first place.

The phrase "tangible personal property" is a legal term of art with a very clear meaning: "Property that has physical form and substance and is not intangible. That which may be felt or touched, and is necessarily corporeal . . ." Black's Law Dictionary 1456 (6th ed. 1990). Cartel Coins do not meet this definition. EDIT: even if the term were ambiguous (which it's not), the Arizona Supreme Court has held: "This Court has previously stated that where there is ambiguity, a revenue statute should be construed liberally in favor of the taxpayer and strictly against the state." [Citations omitted] Ebasco Services Inc. v. Arizona State Tax Commission 105 Ariz. 94, 97, 459 P.2d 719, 722 (1969). EDIT AGAIN: Re-reading your question and my answer, I think I may not have sufficiently addressed your concern. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of personal property: tangible and intangible. Physical objects like TVs, shoes, Xbox game cartridges, etc, constitute tangible personal property. Non-physical objects such as trademarks, licenses, downloadable software without physical media,etc. constitute intangible personal property. Like tangible property, intangible property can have value and can be bought and sold. States have the power to impose sales tax on sales of both kinds of property. My state, however, has chosen only to tax the sale of tangible personal property.

Arizona has a sales tax on the sale of tangible personal property within the state or shipped to the state. Tangible personal property does not include intangible property like Cartel Coins. Yet EA is charging an extra fee, which they're calling "sales tax," on the purchase of Cartel Coins by Arizona residents.

I have no problem at all with the Cartel Market. In fact, I like it. I only object to being charged extra money on the pretext of collecting a sales tax that does not actually exist.

This is within the control of Bioware (well, actually, Electronic Arts). It is not a state government problem. My state (Arizona) only collects sales tax on the sale of tangible personal property. Cartel Coins are not tangible personal property. Therefore, EA is improperly collecting additional money on sales of Cartel Coins to Arizona residents. It's no different than if EA tried to collect "sales tax" from Oregon residents (who have no sales tax at all).

Any update on this? I was going to buy more cartel coins in the near future, but I'm not willing to pay extra money for a nonexistent tax.

I also live in Arizona. Arizona has become much more aggressive in collecting sales tax in the last few years. I did a little research on this subject in 2011 (I think) when the state announced they were going to crack down on sales tax collection for online purchases. It's my understanding that Arizona sales tax does not apply to the purchase of intangible items, such as MMO subscription fees or purely digital content obtained by download. (Arizona sales tax DOES apply to online purchase of tangible items, e.g., purchase of a TV from an online retailer, as long as the retailer has a "physical presence" in the state, e.g., a retail outlet or a distribution center in the state.) So I agree with you that cartel point purchases should NOT be subject to Arizona sales tax. EDIT: I believe the operative Arizona statutes are: http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/42/05008.htm&Title=42&DocType=ARS and http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/42/05061.htm&Title=42&DocType=ARS Also, FYI, I purchased $39.99 worth of cartel coins on 1/30/13 and was not charged sales tax, so this must be something new. I heard that Amazon.com had signed an agreement with the State of Arizona agreeing to add sales tax to all Arizona sales, starting on 2/1/13. Maybe other companies also agreed to start charging sales tax effective that date. Even if they did, they shouldn't be charging sales tax on intangible property, because Arizona does not tax those purchases.

I did the exact same thing a few months ago. I submitted a ticket and was told that I cannot get the quest back, and that this is an intentional design decision by BioWare. The reasoning was something about our decisions having consequences . . . I can't remember the exact words.

That would explain the discrepancy, once rounding is taken into account. Thanks!

Never mind. HelinCarnate beat me to it.

I couldn't find an answer to this question, so I did some very limited testing. I thought I'd share the results in case anybody else might be interested. I tested using a Major Experience Boost purchased from the Cartel Market. I discovered three things: 1. Major Experience Boosts actually increase XP by about 20%, not by 25% as claimed in the Cartel Market listing. 2. Major Experience Boosts DO stack with the one Legacy XP boost I tested (Improved Exploration Experience). 3. Major Experience Boosts DO stack with rested XP. Here are the actual numbers from my test:

Never mind . . . I misread the OP. I agree with AlixMV, BTW.

When is F2P actually going to start?

In order to determine whether the plaintiffs had a viable RICO suit, the court analyzed several factors. One of those factors was whether the card packs constituted gambling, which is the part I quoted. The court held that the packs did not constitute gambling. For that reason (along with others I didn't quote), the lower court's dismissal of the RICO suit was upheld.

With regard to the legality issue in the US, here are a couple of quotes from Price v. Pinnacle Brands, Inc., 138 F.3d 602 (5th Cir. 1998). This was a RICO case, but it directly considered the issue of whether collectible trading cards are considered "gambling." It is fairly typical of the case law on this issue.

In the US, at least under current case law, this sort of purchase is not considered gambling, to the best of my knowledge. I cannot speak for other countries, whose laws are vastly different in some regards, particularly when it comes to industry regulation and consumer protection.

Cel-- I edited my post.

OK, but it's still not gambling in a legal sense, which I believe is what CelCawdro was focusing on. EDIT: or maybe not. Now I'm confused. But I still think you guys should define your terms with specificity before you argue about them.

I think this accounts for the difference in opinions in the last few pages of this thread. CelCawdro is discussing what gambling is in a technical legal sense, while the other posters are discussing what gambling is in a moral or common usage sense. EDIT: Just for clarification, I agree with CelCawdro that grab bags aren't legally gambling. But I also agree that they are gambling, in a moral sense.

I feel the same way about LOTRO's cash shop.

I believe Skodan is correct. A percentage of XP earned by characters is added to Legacy XP, but it's not a fixed percentage. Lower level characters contribute a higher percentage of their XP gain to Legacy XP than higher level characters do. However, the higher level characters still contribute more XP despite that discrepancy. * I'm at work right now, so I don't have access to actual figures, but here's an example of how it works (using completely made-up numbers): Let's say a level 10 character contributes to Legacy XP at a 50% rate for quest XP, i.e., for every 100 XP he personally earns from completing quests, the Legacy gets 50 XP. And let's say a level 50 character contributes to Legacy XP at a 20% rate for quest XP. Furthermore, say the level 10's quest completion is worth 200 XP while the level 50's is worth 2,000 XP. The level 10 will then contribute 200 * 0.50 = 100 to Legacy XP The level 50 will then contribute 2,000 * 0.20 = 400 to Legacy XP So, despite the level 10 contributing at a higher percentage rate, the level 50 still contributes more overall Legacy XP. Again, the above numbers are completely made up by me because I don't have the actual figures in front of me, but this illustrates how higher level characters can contribute more Legacy XP despite contributing at a lower percentage. I can provide some actual figures later today if you're interested. ------ * Just to complicate things further, different activities (e.g., mob killing, quest completion, map discoveries, PvP, Space Missions) contribute to Legacy XP at different rates. But I won't get into this now.

You forgot to mention that you must first circle the bed three times widdershins with your primary weapon drawn!