just about every ship in the sto boxes are more powerful and better than defaults.

you what? i'm talking from there point of view not ours... like i said its ment to look random to the end user, lets say 1000 lock boxes, if 999 of them are just fluff and the 1 is the "die for item" the item to drive the sales. there is still a chance no matter how slim, that 1 item may never see light of day or penetration is such no one see's it in game. the exact opposite is needed however, market penetration they want you to see the item, that is what drives the sales. that's why sto spams your screen with "lucky winner" in fact i wouldn't be surprised if it was all fixed, and the odds are changed accordingly. Example, Item A comes out, first few hours, the drop rate 1/50 then next day up it to 1/100 after all you don't have to post the odd's so no one knows if your fixing them to meet your own gain. and the silly punters will give u a quid a go regardless. i know if i ran something smiler that's what i would do... that's why we have laws on gambling, and on odd's etc.

i never said it is guaranteed for the player.... i said the actual model is not "random" it just shows itself to the end user has random. there is no way a business model like this would work for any company if it was just all random. why take the weeks of man hours to put a item in a lockbox if theres a random chance it will never be seen in game... it doesn't work like that. why advertise the new latest must have item, if there is a chance no one will ever see it... You all say it is random for it to be random they has to be a chance of nothing, gaming company's want u to see that new item ingame, they want you to see it and want it, they want you to spend money on it..... there is nothing random about that. business models are not based on randomness, and make no mistake these lockboxes are a business model.

the only data is data from players.. and untill company's give us odds then thats all we have. ofc it is random but we talking about a business model, are u telling me that these company's use this model based on randomness? doesn't make business sense to me and when these company's go to the board room are they giving them predictions based on "randomness" thats where odd's come into play to stop this kind of behaviour from casinos. you think those who do scratch cards want u to have a 1 in 5 chance of winning? if they had it there way it would be 156 in 1 chance of winning. and if people wasn't being conditioned to spend money on these boxes then the game would go bust. so it is IN the GAME interest to FORCE you and at the same time condition you into thinking it was a free choice. maybe a tad tinfoil hat, but i have a masters in business, and there is no way on this planet it is totally random

who ever change the font should of change they glasses first

156 was the average it took to gain anything of decent quality out of the sto boxes, now tell me how long it will take u to get 156 keys the free way? even someone that subs to sto would have to save longer than a couple of days.... there is no way in sto you can gain 10 keys for free in 2 days... and even if you could 10 keys if alot different to the 156 you would need.

interesting, well i've been in contact with a few people over the last week. this is one reply i received today with a nice telephone meeting booked for tomorrow. that's from the commission, i think it means we already seen what's going on and we are watching. i think its just a matter of time before these company's start getting there hands smacked. just a matter of US players keeping the heat on. after all without our money these company's are nothing.

i'm happy to see this thread is still going on, and without much flaming either. personally going by what's in game at the min, we already have loot boxes only difference is these are not locked at the moment. So those who think lock boxes are a good idea, i have a question for you. how many useful items have you got out of the already in game drop boxes? personally i've had about 1 item in 10 that's been useful the rest i think of has just credits. (stats i want but armor class thats useless!) now how would u feel it you was to be charged for the same loot boxes. the other thing that makes me think, is maybe the whole time f2p was on the cards, after all like i said loot boxes are allrdy in game and will be giving them some good stats to base lock boxes on.

the only answer people can give is by experience in other games and generally the answer is The more lockboxes tht sell the more and more the game starts to be moulded around them. after the first few months lockboxes become the media of choice of releasing content.

A. a pack of cards contain a pack of cards, regardless if one of them cards has a higher face value, but lets face it there is not a single set of cards in production with any special cards with a Monterey value, that would be a lottery and has such gambling, here in the UK and also in some states in the US. and if it does contain some kind of lottery the UK loophole is "no purchase necessary" so you are not forced to gamble 1000000 of packets to have a chance. B a lockbox is more in common with the packaging of the said cards than the actual cards, after all u open the lock box to find your product. that product could be anything and is chance based by % in a way to bring in a income much like a fruit machine. the card debate has no place here..... more place in a thread saying something like " i opened 50 lockboxs and only got a blues, i wanted a orange!" then by all means counter that with "you buy a deck of cards and u have a chance of getting a rare" the card counter holds no water at all, i've yet to seen a valid argument on that side anyway but in little replys on forums. the other aspect too, have u ever seen a casino with just one fruit machine? in a casino its the income, much like its going to be for the bioware/EA which means put fruit machines on every inch of floor space and just give them room to walk around.

nothing to do with bioware now, its all about profit and share holders. we are just cattle waiting to be milked.

don't people seem to understand a pack of cards is just that, its 1 product you buy a pack of cards and you get a pack of cards. You buy a lockbox or a key to unlock the box and it can contain anything.... thats like buying a can of pop and not knowing what your drinking till its open.... i dont like apple flavor pop, i wanted a coke... so i got to keep buying cans of pop till i get my coke? I JUST WANT TO BUY THE CAN OF COKE!!!!!!! it has nothing in common with a pack of cards, and there isn't a single educated source backing that up, not a single article online puts lockboxes in the same league as cards.... what about if them pack of cards all had the same packaging... so when you went to purchase the cards u want, you would have to take a chance and hope your packet matches your other sets. only way of knowing is by taking the chance and purchasing the blank package. just because they could be 20 different collections it doesn't matter right? afterall you just set out to buy a pack of cards... and thats what u got regardless if the cards are for a different set

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/05/17/the-perfect-ten-the-truth-about-lockboxes/ year of the lockbox uprising?

huh? u buy a packet of cards and you get a packet of cards regardless what face value in the pack, you still purchase a packet. U get a lockbox and you have no idea what your getting, i am not going to get the same everytime i purchase a lockbox.... Regardless what is printed on a card, it is still a card. collectable maybe but a card none the less. a lock box is a virtual container "which may contain a rare item" how would u feel if u bought a packet of your cards and released when you get home that packet is empty with no cards... or perhaps it contained no cards and had a packet of mints with a "sorry try again" note and its only after printing a card is considered rare and starts to have a monetary value.

f2p players will be the majority why would you want to silence them in a mmo? that would harm the game more than do good imo

a important thing i want to mention on this. When you buy a set of cards, you buy a set of cards, yes the face value of the cards are random but your getting a set of cards none the less. A lockbox is random, you have no idea what is in the box it could be a nice shiny item you WANT or a med pack that you Don't, if i had 1 box with a car key in it and a 2nd with a lemon and i charged people money to take the chance and pick a box i would be breaking the law by not having the correct licence. money is only allowed on games of skill according to UK law, ( 2 people can play for money in a game of darts for example but for someone outside the game it would not be allowed and would require a licence) anything that involves "chance" or 3rd party is gambling. i think thats all the ways i'm able to describe gambling..lol

prevention is why we have laws to govern minimum age. and "what they are doing" has been reshaped, painted and given a new name, so maybe they don't know wht they are doing. kinda like someone developing a addiction? noone is on about stopping, what people are saying is we have minimum age laws for a reason. and that reason isn't because we want to stop people having fun or because we just don't like it so you can't play it too. the reason is because younger minds are more open to addiction, and addiction not only effects the user but the others around the user and society in general.

it isn't the fact kids need protection, its a fact protection is allready in place and game company's are using grey areas and loopholes to get around them. take this example. how would you feel if lets say your child is able to register a account and bet money on a random event and spent lets say 30.00, then month after he spend 50.00 for the next fad, when you look you relies the payment method was in your name, but the account is in the name of your child? parents fault? you thought it was just some game and you was paying for a subscription like most other games, you didn't know some random pay to spin game using real money was in the game. there is really no difference between going into a casino and paying for chips to place bets and playing a video game and buying a virtual chip to spend on a bet, loads of company's already do this legally and within the law, they do not take advantage of grey areas and try to get away with it before everyone catches up. and it should not be even thought about has central to f2p business model.

so we should give up gambling laws, and let children under-age gamble? it doesn't matter if the prize is worth 0.1 or 10.00 it is still under-age gambling. is that person going to stop if they don't get what they want from the first box? 2nd? 3rd? 4th? 5th? 6th? 7th? 20th? what about the month after when the next item comes? after all noone going to want to open any boxes unless it has some really fat loot. In fact its worse, because it will be taking advantaging of young developing minds which is exactly the reason we have gambling laws to protect children. do you really think the big casinos care if a child was betting or not? no they don't. but governments and parents do and there is a lot of medical evidence to support the fact teenage and younger minds are very susceptible to these mini "highs" the idea is going to be simple, spam every player with loads of boxes and make them want to pay to take a chance. these are not just simple keys to a lock door, these lock boxes are nothing more than a pay per roll which is exactly like the 100's of legal casino games. i spend 3 days a week working for a gambling charity its bad enough seeing those in the 20's totally taken over by the buzz, but if its going into video games, then a matter of years a gambler will be about 16 then

the odds on main items are so low, the other payment system is nothing than a charade possibly in place just to aid with loophole in laws. the other area of concern though is if this is being done to benefit the game and us etc etc, then why don't these company's release information on the winning odds if it was a casino it would be a requirement and a gester of good faith

u can buy boxes with random things in them for real money, most gambling websites do that type of game. however they are controlled by law game odd's and age limits, and so far this game doesn't require age verification and it even saves card information, ideal for your child to run up a bill? ideal to expose them to the thrill of gambling? if like others say and nothing been decided, then now is the time to debate it. if lock boxes do come, the general trend if random fluff + super rare items, people are going to gamble money in a chance for that super rare item, regardless what random fluff is added. i've never understood that side of the argument, a fruit machine may give a prize of 0.20 but its still the 15.00 you aim for and play for.

so it is true swtor is joining sto in the lockbox debate? some investigation's have already started regarding the issue of this grey area of gambling. wouldn't swtor be shooting itself in the foot? the amount of bad press and general nasty taste of sto should of been enough to put them off surely? going f2p so soon from going retail is already a sign of a major flop, but going down the lockbox road is surely just to take advantage of short term playability with a mindset of "rob them quick before they leave" what happened to the mindset of "give them content and they won't want to leave" ?

lol most posts in this thread are just rubbish. ati have more problems in games??? depends on the game and if nvidia paid the company off.... for each game ati fails on i can show one that nvidia failed on..... Crossfire compatibility? in 4 years of using crossfire this has never been a issue, the only issues with crossfire is game devs, which to some degree ati address with drivers and profiles. those who just hate on ati are either nvidia fan bois, or have no idea *** there on about.

paying money on a random event or outcome of a event is gambling imo, this is a video game and minors may play. its irresponsible considering how gambling can ruin peoples lives and imo should be if it isn't illegal. its indeed muddy water on the other side, all workforce will now be only doing bug fixes and premium content.