Average rep ratio from contraband packs?

[ScarecrowES]

BioWare, being the smart company it is, puts one of the only chest pieces I might actually want to put on my character within the inventory of cartel rep vendors... thus requiring me to buy packs for rep if I want to have any hope of actually being able to obtain it. Now, normally I find these sort of systems abhorrent, but I also see the potential to make some in-game cash and acquire for myself some specific rare items I might be interested in to, while I'm at it... but I'm not sure yet if the actual real money investment is worth it, because I simply have no idea how much rep you can obtain, on average, for buying packs. I only need "newcomer" status, so 7500 rep in total, to get the item I want.

 

So the question I have is... If I buy packs individually, but in "large" quantities (more than a few, but less than a hypercrate), what is the rep return on investment I could expect? Would it be reasonable to say a minimum average of 1 green trophy's worth of value (270 rep) per pack? Do blues and purples drop frequently enough to raise that expectation significantly, or do certificates drop often enough to lower it? Is there any added benefit to investing in a hypercrate as opposed to individual packs? For instance, does it include additional rep/items for the hypercrate, or merely the 24 packs the crate contains? Just how many packs, do you think I'd have to buy to get approx 7000 rep?

[Kilora]

BioWare, being the smart company it is, puts one of the only chest pieces I might actually want to put on my character within the inventory of cartel rep vendors... thus requiring me to buy packs for rep if I want to have any hope of actually being able to obtain it. Now, normally I find these sort of systems abhorrent, but I also see the potential to make some in-game cash and acquire for myself some specific rare items I might be interested in to, while I'm at it... but I'm not sure yet if the actual real money investment is worth it, because I simply have no idea how much rep you can obtain, on average, for buying packs. I only need "newcomer" status, so 7500 rep in total, to get the item I want.

 

So the question I have is... If I buy packs individually, but in "large" quantities (more than a few, but less than a hypercrate), what is the rep return on investment I could expect? Would it be reasonable to say a minimum average of 1 green trophy's worth of value (270 rep) per pack? Do blues and purples drop frequently enough to raise that expectation significantly, or do certificates drop often enough to lower it? Is there any added benefit to investing in a hypercrate as opposed to individual packs? For instance, does it include additional rep/items for the hypercrate, or merely the 24 packs the crate contains? Just how many packs, do you think I'd have to buy to get approx 7000 rep?

 

 

The only thing I can really say --

 

Hypercrates are worth it if you're spending that much. 24 packs for LESS than the cost of 24 individual packs. Think of it as buying in bulk.

 

You could easily guarantee 1 green trophy per pack. I believe you ALWAYS get a rep token, unless you get a Certificate. In 24 packs, I had 7 certificates, but also quite a few blue/purple rep tokens. It seems the majority of people weren't as lucky with the certificates as I was, but I'm not sure whether or not they've changed them.

[Wefi]

nope, i didnt get a rept, but i got one of them certs in one pack.

[ScarecrowES]

The only thing I can really say --

 

Hypercrates are worth it if you're spending that much. 24 packs for LESS than the cost of 24 individual packs. Think of it as buying in bulk.

 

You could easily guarantee 1 green trophy per pack. I believe you ALWAYS get a rep token, unless you get a Certificate. In 24 packs, I had 7 certificates, but also quite a few blue/purple rep tokens. It seems the majority of people weren't as lucky with the certificates as I was, but I'm not sure whether or not they've changed them.

 

Do you think, or is it your experience, that a single hypercrate's worth of packs can get you that much rep? Could it be done in fewer packs?

 

In terms of pricing, I've noticed that the hypercrates are priced somewhat slyly... if a single pack sells for 320 coins, the hypercrate will sell for 7,680 coins, which is the price per pack x24... but will then sell at a 10% discount, to make you feel as though the savings were better than what they are... though in truth it's just the 10%. Essentially, it's a buy 22, get 2 free system the way it's written up. However, you're still essentially spending $60 in real money, which is where my concern is. Maybe it's worth if I can get my rep where I need it, get the few cartel items I really want from the packs, and make a good amount of cash in the game while I'm at it... but if I can't, there's little point to it.

[Plicitous]

You can also get rep from the cheaper pack too -- I once got a purple from the pack that was around 180 CC's (Regulator, I think it's called?)

[itsmymillertime]

Isnt all the vendor chestplates available on the gtn?

[ScarecrowES]

Isnt all the vendor chestplates available on the gtn?

 

I believe the Cartel rep vendor items are all bind-on-pickup, and thus couldn't be resold on the GTN. I've never seen the particular chest piece I want on the GTN, nor any of the others, since they stopped being sold individually in the cartel market.

[Greenify]

Do you think, or is it your experience, that a single hypercrate's worth of packs can get you that much rep? Could it be done in fewer packs?

 

In terms of pricing, I've noticed that the hypercrates are priced somewhat slyly... if a single pack sells for 320 coins, the hypercrate will sell for 7,680 coins, which is the price per pack x24... but will then sell at a 10% discount, to make you feel as though the savings were better than what they are... though in truth it's just the 10%. Essentially, it's a buy 22, get 2 free system the way it's written up. However, you're still essentially spending $60 in real money, which is where my concern is. Maybe it's worth if I can get my rep where I need it, get the few cartel items I really want from the packs, and make a good amount of cash in the game while I'm at it... but if I can't, there's little point to it.

 

 

 

I never noticed that.

[ColsonJade]

Well if you need. 7500 rep and you have 0.

 

Now assume you get the min. of 1 green per pack for 270 rep.

 

7500 / 270 =27.8

 

So if you ONLY got greens it would take 28 packs.

 

Odds are you wil get enough blues and purple that 1 hypercrate will get you the rep you need.

 

 

Math FTW

[Tommot]

In my hypercrate of the new pack I got 6 greens, 13 blues, 2 purples, 3 certificates. Seems like there might be a higher chance of getting blues.

[ScarecrowES]

I ended up merely buying 5500 coins and distributed that out to pick up about 10 of the 320 packs and double as many 160 packs... I ended up with far more rep than I could need... zooming past the about 7000 rep I needed, and adding, I think, another several thousand on top of that. I needn't have worried... in fact, I purchased more of the better packs than I anticipated I would be able to.

 

However, just as anticipated, the actual loot received was largely junk and mostly not worth even keeping. Out of the entire purchase the only "valuable" items were the Cathar Honor Sword and the Aratech Nethian. I did, however, manage to get my chestpiece from the vendor, and I'm very happy about that. It is, however, a lot of real money to pay for very little practical benefit.

[Beddlam]

It is, however, a lot of real money to pay for very little practical benefit.

 

You just summed up the cartel pack business model

[ScarecrowES]

You just summed up the cartel pack business model

 

Well of course... Much like the current stock market system, cartel packs are, in effect, legalized gambling - amd ;ike in any casino, the house ALWAYS wins.