Constructive Feedback (Or at least an attempt at it)

[jereellison]

Earlier today, Eric posted the following:

 

I can see from reading over this thread (and some others) that there are some questions around this new Reputation so I wanted to hopefully clarify a few points in this thread.

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• Reputation is based on money spent! - Although to an extent this is certainly true as the Reputation is gained by opening Contraband Packs, keep in mind that if you do not want to spend Cartel Coins on packs you always have the option of purchasing them through the GTN from other players. I know this will not diffuse the notion that it is a "pay to Reputation" but it is an alternative to spending Cartel Coins if that was your primary concern.
  
• Pay To Win - When designing a system for the Cartel Market this is always something we are very aware of. With this new Reputation system almost all of the items you can get have no stats and are purely cosmetic items or Adaptive shells. The only exception is the level 43 armor which was previously found on the Cartel Market.
  
• Exclusive Items - As a part of this Reputation there are three vendors found on the fleet, only one of these vendors contains items exclusive to this organization (which again, has no stats on it). The other two vendors contain items which are either found in packs from Shipment One, or were previously a part of the Cartel Market (which are most likely all available from other players on the GTN). These items all cost credits, Cartel Market Certificates, or both.
  

 

I know these clarifications will certainly not alleviate all of your frustrations. I want to note that the design philosophy behind this Reputation was to specifically thank the players who purchase the best-selling items on the Cartel Market, the packs. I hope those clarifications can alleviate some of your concerns, however, please keep the feedback coming. As you explore the system we want to hear your thoughts and will be keeping an eye on this thread.

 

-eric

 

I think that it may have gotten lost in the void, however, so I wanted to repost it with my initial response (below), as a way to give them what they want: Constructive feedback. I also hope to point out that this isn't about gear, it's about content that is not available through any form of game play.

 

You've asked for constructive feedback, so here are my thoughts on each of the 3 points.

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1.) Yes, the Cartel Packs can be sold on the GTN, and therefore made available to anyone able to grind the money. But I know of no other game that something like this happens, where subscribers are forced to pay more for game content. Our concern is not that we have to pay for it, but that as subscribers we have to pay for it. Making these rep items more readily available through in-game means would alleviate this, especially if they are made tradable.

 

Look to Lord of the Rings Online as a great example. That game has more reputation factions than I care now to count, but as a free-to-player, you can max rep with each. It might not be easy, and it might take a while, but it's realistically doable, without having to grind a total of 80 million credits for that reason alone. Reputation is rewarded directly through daily quests (same as with LS/DS points and affection), with the possibility of gaining smaller rep items while progressing through the quest areas.

 

That might be an idea to consider.

 

2.) I do not speak for all, but know I speak for some when I say "Pay to Win" is not always about stats. For many of us, the concept of "Winning" is tied to completion, just as some people would tie their "Winning" to having the best gear in the game.

 

These Cartel Packs and their associated rep items are another form of completion for some of us. Gaining rep, achieving titles, watching our little bar fill up, these are all small victories for us, victories that are unrealistically available to us, right now.

 

So when we say "Pay to Win," at least some of us mean "Pay to Further Access Game Content as Subscribers."

 

3.) I have no contest with this third point. I think a well-done micro-transaction system (again, see LotRO) is one that specializes in cosmetic gear. But any good micro-transaction system also only specializes in cosmetics and time-savers, like the experience boosts. (Neopets is another great example of micro-transactions done well, as everything is cosmetic or designed towards saving time, while the actual game content, even significant plot stories, are all available for free.)

~~

I hope this has been more constructive, and helps better explain the specific issues I, and presumably many others, are having with this latest pastch.