Slicing Lockbox Changes Intended?

[Ferretfur]

Maybe the new patch today will correct the slicing issue and put it back to what it was.

[Fuzzytoad]

Maybe the new patch today will correct the slicing issue and put it back to what it was.

 

That'd be nice, but it's more likely to fix the sound issues and the WZ reward issue..

 

Of course, a Dev could just tell us what's going on, but that makes too much sense.

[cindalkitty]

So, as someone with maxxed Biochem and Synthweaving, I look at it this way -

 

Synthweaving requires Archaeology and Underworld Trading.

 

Archaeology and Underworld Trading give me:

- the ability to craft things I can sell or use or RE.

- companion gifts I can sell or use.

- 5 types of mats I can sell or use.

- the ability to farm 3 types of those mats out in the world instead of spend money on missions.

- (a chance at) schematics I can sell or use.

 

Slicing gives me:

- 1 type of mat I can maybe use and can only get by paying for the missions. (no farming. no RE)

- the ability to slice lockboxes out in the world.

- (a chance at) missions/schematics I can maybe use, or sell.

 

 

To me, this is why Slicing isn't a typical gathering skill. It's still thoroughly one-dimensional as far as "gathering skills" go. While Treasure Hunting and Diplomacy aren't too much better, they at least have Companion Gifts and tie directly to a crafting skill. One could drop lockbox missions from TH and I doubt anyone would care. Losing lockbox missions in Slicing, though? *insert slide whistle noise here*

 

 

Meanwhile, if I have Slicing, and I am also a crafter, I have to buy the mats of whichever gathering skill I don't have, reducing the potential profit from selling whatever items I craft. Even with the changes to augments, there's no sound reason for crafters to pick up this gathering skill. Lockbox returns, at least, make up for the potential need to buy mats in order to craft things.

 

With such dismal returns on lockboxes, there's much less incentive to bother running those missions. As it is, they could have just dumped augment mat missions into Underworld Trading or Treasure Hunting, shoveling Companion Gifts missions into some other existing gathering skill, leaving the augment crafting up to the professions that use UWT or TH, while putting sellable Wealthy Yield crafting missions in, say, Diplomacy, since the light/darkside points thing is what it is, and dropped Slicing from the game entirely.

 

My experience in MMOs is that devs don't like things taking up space that people don't use. The fact that they changed augments and bothered to include Slicing in this change makes me think they do still want Slicing around and to be used.

 

 

Given how homeless it remains, though, despite the change... unless the augment market can actually stand on its own like Armoring/Modifications/Enhancements (...heh), and I'm not holding out hope on this simply because augment slots aren't guaranteed like the other three and augment crafters can cushion the price of buying augment mats by REing their augments, Slicing should at least be able to break even on normal Lockbox missions, as opposed to being the 50% or greater loss my returns have been today on average. If only to give them (and, therefor, Slicing) more of a purpose.

 

 

Aaaand they shouldn't nerf things without a line of text in the patch notes, if that is actually what this is.

Edited April 13, 2012 by cindalkitty

[Kaistorm]

I am hopeful that the present abysmal return rate on lockbox missions is just a bug that will soon be fixed. If it is not a bug however, I will be extremely irritated that Bioware would release a sneaky, stealth nerf to Slicing. If a decision to nerf features in the game is truly justified, then be completely open and above board about it and make sure that the changes are announced ahead of time. At the very least, be brave enough about the decision to include it in patch notes.

[Stevil]

I hope this is a bug.

 

I don't remember reading anything about slicing missions rewards being reduced in the patch notes. Hopefully we will get some confirmation soon.

 

It was fine the way it was and no changes were necessary if intended. I really hope this isn't a 'stealth nerf' as the devs have promised to be transparent.

[SpatterJack]

There is clearly a negative change with Lockbox-mission returns. The question is, was it intentional or is it a bug ?

 

It may well be an "unintended consequence" of the other changes that were made to mission crit frequency and rewards. There are a few of those mentioned in the patch notes, and those other changes may have "broken" Lockbox missions. If so, let's hope for an early fix.

 

However, it may also be further "economy balancing" on the part of BW. Crew skill mission schematics sell for very good prices on the GTN. Pre 1.2, you could run Lockbox missions back-to-back with a very good chance of breaking even. But if any of those missions critted, you had a mission schematic that you could sell for a very tidy profit. So, in a way, Lockbox missions offered the chance of good profits, but no potential losses. Perhaps BW noticed this fact...

[kittyfertz]

WOW. I noticed this the other day, and assumed that I was just having a lousy day with missions.

 

Yes, I am probably the poorest smuggler in this game; lately I have had next to NO money. I'm doing very well to keep about 20-30,000 creds. I literally had to sell almost everything I had just to u/g a skill - and I'm not talking about Speeder 2, which, at this rate, I might as well give up on.

 

I've gotten a few tips from my guildies, and have been trying to sell things via GTN, but haven't had a lot of luck for the last week or so. I haven't been finding many lockboxes & such, and my missions have yielded me about 1000 credz each - which is ridiculous when I'm paying more than twice that for a lot of them.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to proceed, but... *shrug*

[kittyfertz]

Two issues I'd love to see fixed:

 

1. Don't let the return of a companion form a mission interrupt a fight. Can you please fix it so that the missions completion/reward pops up after fighting has ceased?

 

2. The silliness over companions' remarks about their success/failure being incorrect. I know that this has been discussed, but it still isn't fixed.

[theCombat-Wombat]

Two issues I'd love to see fixed:

 

1. Don't let the return of a companion form a mission interrupt a fight. Can you please fix it so that the missions completion/reward pops up after fighting has ceased?

 

2. The silliness over companions' remarks about their success/failure being incorrect. I know that this has been discussed, but it still isn't fixed.

 

1. The companion mission return box can now be toggled off when in WZ's. Its in your Preferences, but cant remember where as the server is still down.

 

2. Haven't really trialed this to see if it is fixed as after I realised slicing (lockbox) was broken, I stopped wasting money.

[Fuzzytoad]

That'd be nice, but it's more likely to fix the sound issues and the WZ reward issue..

 

Of course, a Dev could just tell us what's going on, but that makes too much sense.

 

well, patch notes are up..

 

*sigh*

[DerekMiller]

lol a 4hr mainenance and 110mb dl for

 

"1.2.0a Patch Notes

4/13/2012

General

 

Addressed an issue that could prevent characters from being deleted.

Made improvements to the CS ticketing system."

 

glad to see that things got fixed...........

Edited April 13, 2012 by DerekMiller

[Zalaina]

I just wish the devs would actually answer these questions but, I guess that is too much to ask for.

 

 

 

Totally agree, this is where other games really show Biowares immaturaty in the MMO market. Devs should be scanning these for feedback and presenting comments/replies where they can. Especially after a big patching impacting the game like this.

[PutinDoesJudo]

Get lockboxes for the mission crits only.

 

Otherwise, sell sliced tech parts. The profit margin is huge, and I mean it. Lots of people want augments, we have the keys to those augments. Exploit it.

 

It's far easier to sell sliced tech parts, than it ever was to sell an augment.

 

What I'm trying to say is... slicing is making more money than it ever could before, can you dig that?

Edited April 13, 2012 by PutinDoesJudo

[Eliandal]

What I'm trying to say is... slicing is making more money than it ever could before, can you dig that?

 

 

Yes, we can dig that. Can you dig, however, being just a little upset that yet again a nerf was applied with no communication?

[Fuzzytoad]

Get lockboxes for the mission crits only.

 

Otherwise, sell sliced tech parts. The profit margin is huge, and I mean it. Lots of people want augments, we have the keys to those augments. Exploit it.

 

It's far easier to sell sliced tech parts, than it ever was to sell an augment.

 

What I'm trying to say is... slicing is making more money than it ever could before, can you dig that?

 

The only problem I'm seeing though, at least on my server, is that nobody's buying the tech parts. Mainly because there's hardly any Augment schems for sale.

 

Nobody can figure out if you get augment schematics from box missions or tech mission. We're all hesitant to test box missions because of the huge loss in credits.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Fuzzytoad

[Temon]

The only problem I'm seeing though, at least on my server, is that nobody's buying the tech parts. Mainly because there's hardly any Augment schems for sale.

 

Nobody can figure out if you get augment schematics from box missions or tech mission. We're all hesitant to test box missions because of the huge loss in credits.

 

So far I have found a total of 3 augment schematics. All of them came from Tech Part mission crits. The last success I had actually gave me 2 aug schematics from 1 mission.

 

The rate of success is very low from my results yesterday; I think I ran approximately 30 missions throughout the day and as I said, I only critted 2 times.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Temon

[poypoyking]

 

Nobody can figure out if you get augment schematics from box missions or tech mission. We're all hesitant to test box missions because of the huge loss in credits.

 

I haven't gotten any augment schematics from lockboxes, but I have gotten plenty from tech missions. It isn't a fair sample though, I have been avoiding lockbox missions.

[Ferretfur]

Well, i sent an in-game bug report ticket about it and got the following reply...it looks quite hopeful in that they say they are looking into it and not "oh yeah, that was intended."

 

I advise everyone else report it as a bug using the in-game reporting to make sure they are really aware of the scale of the problem.

 

 

 

Greetings xxxxxx,

 

I am Protocol Droid W5-S1, Human-Cyborg Relations.

 

Thank you for contacting us regarding lockbox mission return modifier seem to have dropped less than 40-50% of the mission cost every time.

 

Your case been escalated to one of our specialized teams. Please be advised that this ticket will disappear from your ticket view.

 

Please be advised that issues like the one you encountered may take some time to resolve, so for the moment we are unable to give you a firm resolution time frame.

 

With the assistance of our specialist team, we hope to have this issue resolved for you as quickly as possible. We would ask for your continued patience while we make every effort to fix this problem for you, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

 

We will be back in contact with you once we are in a position to update you further.

 

Galactic Support is our specialty…

 

Sincerely,

 

Protocol Droid W5-S1 (aka Edvan)

Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

[Gharlane]

I didn't slice for money...I was happy to break even. I sliced for crafting missions for my other crafters to use and the drop rate for them was like 1/10 of what it was before 1.2. Maybe I was just having the worlds worst streak of luck...we'll see.

[Fuzzytoad]

So far I have found a total of 3 augment schematics. All of them came from Tech Part mission crits. The last success I had actually gave me 2 aug schematics from 1 mission.

 

The rate of success is very low from my results yesterday; I think I ran approximately 30 missions throughout the day and as I said, I only critted 2 times.

 

Thanks!

 

That's good to hear.. Now I can safely ignore the lockbox missions.

[RC-Scorch]

Just wanted to add my support to the (admittedly low) hope for a dev response. If credit box missions don't return what you put into them, why bother? I admit that I haven't done the math, but my experiences yesterday showed that even with crits it didn't even out. Great idea to reduce inflation, I guess?

[DonJuansen]

I will make sure to report this lockbox return thing as a bug as well then.

 

On how to get augment schematics; in my experience they come from critical Tech slice part missions. I had a 340-discovery crit on me earlier giving 2 (different) green Armstech augment schematics, UWT 340, credit case and the slice mats.

 

In response to people saying our income will be less luck-based, more constant or even saying the monopoly on slice mats is a great thing: At the moment my income from Slicing is non-existent, more like a creditsink. The only way to get credits is still luckbased, because i need crits for augment schematics and mission discoveries.

 

Slice mats do not sell at all, because of two reasons.

1) Augment schematics are hard to come by (crit results) and put on GTN for ridiculous prices on my server.

2) Most people do high level missions resulting in high Grade slice mats. These high Grade blue and purple mats are used in the blue and purple high level augment crafting schematics. These schematics come from RE on green/blue augments, which are mighty expensive to get by and scarce in general. See what's going on here?

 

We will have to see in the long run when schematics are more widely known whether our monopoly on slice mats is gonna be any good.

 

Oh, and on my server people have rat brains and are putting the slice mats on AH for way below the cost price of the mission itself.

[Fuzzytoad]

I will make sure to report this lockbox return thing as a bug as well then.

 

On how to get augment schematics; in my experience they come from critical Tech slice part missions. I had a 340-discovery crit on me earlier giving 2 (different) green Armstech augment schematics, UWT 340, credit case and the slice mats.

 

In response to people saying our income will be less luck-based, more constant or even saying the monopoly on slice mats is a great thing: At the moment my income from Slicing is non-existent, more like a creditsink. The only way to get credits is still luckbased, because i need crits for augment schematics and mission discoveries.

 

Slice mats do not sell at all, because of two reasons.

1) Augment schematics are hard to come by (crit results) and put on GTN for ridiculous prices on my server.

2) Most people do high level missions resulting in high Grade slice mats. These high Grade blue and purple mats are used in the blue and purple high level augment crafting schematics. These schematics come from RE on green/blue augments, which are mighty expensive to get by and scarce in general. See what's going on here?

 

We will have to see in the long run when schematics are more widely known whether our monopoly on slice mats is gonna be any good.

 

Oh, and on my server people have rat brains and are putting the slice mats on AH for way below the cost price of the mission itself.

 

Agreed, and now that I know the schems definately come from tech missions, I'm anxious to get back online and start running rich techs in all the ranks..

 

And yeah, the same thing is going on in my server.. a couple of green schems up for over 200k(insane) and TONS of rank 5 mats for sale for less than mission cost...

[gophur]

@alodar

 

Sorry if you answered this already but the signal to noise is pretty thick here.

 

Were you able to determine what is any the increase in success and criticals was from improving companion affection?

 

I'm wondering if the changes seen here for high end missions isn't really a change to focusing more on affection for improved results.

 

I'm seeing something similar in my crafting. My high affection characters seem to have dramatically increased their critical returns.

[apeiros]

Thanks!

 

That's good to hear.. Now I can safely ignore the lockbox missions.

 

Other crafting schematics and missions still only come from lockboxes, at least as far as I can tell. Rate of schematic drops does seem to be way down. Of the 60 odd odd missions I ran yesterday I received only 3 schematics, 2 augments from a wealthy grade 3 slicing mission and the other was still a damn grade 4 beam generator.

 

I found 2 lightsaber schematics from treasure hunting running less than a dozen of those missions and with no +crit companion bonuses.

 

Tech parts may be good money in the near future, but right now since hardly anyone has any augment schematics the parts are not selling.

 

26 of the 60 missions I ran were Moderate or Abundant for a total cost of 24335 credits. returns were 30367 credits. 6032 credit profit (spread over 3 characters), with a whopping 232 average return on those missions.

 

A total of artifact level crafting missions; UWT grade 6, TH grade 6, Slicing grade 3, and Bio-analysis grade 3. UWT, TH and slicing missions I used myself, the bio-analysis I probably cannot sell as usually only grade 6 missions sell on my server.