Do away with gambling packs

[Sardonyyx]

Just let us buy the stuff we want from the collections tab at full price there's no need for gambling packs, they suck, they're taking everyone's money and they're getting crappy items from them. No other mmo has done something as silly as this, making their players pay money to get a chance at a rare item. If people have enough money you should let them buy the items they want. It's not our fault the game went f2p and EA wanted money still. we didn't want that, we didn't want the cartel market and we didn't want all these crazy super servers that lag all the time.

[Wolfninjajedi]

Gtn, you can buy the stuff there that you want. Don't need the gambling packs.

[Sardonyyx]

Gtn, you can buy the stuff there that you want. Don't need the gambling packs.

 

Sorry ,I'm not paying 5 mil credits that I have to use to pay my ridiculous repair bills, extract mods, or dump my money into whatever credit sink at the time, just to get an appearance item, which I then have to buy an aug kit for then pay to put it on, then extract from old pieces losing more money. Not to mention crafting, I have never seen such a lazy crafting system.

[Master-Nala]

They make the most money from the packs. It's like free (hell it is free) money. You aren't the first to ask for this and you won't be the last, but the fact is that they are not removing packs, they will make more of them.

[Capt_Beers]

Just let us buy the stuff we want from the collections tab at full price there's no need for gambling packs, they suck, they're taking everyone's money and they're getting crappy items from them. No other mmo has done something as silly as this, making their players pay money to get a chance at a rare item. If people have enough money you should let them buy the items they want. It's not our fault the game went f2p and EA wanted money still. we didn't want that, we didn't want the cartel market and we didn't want all these crazy super servers that lag all the time.

 

O rly? Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter and STO don't have gambling packs?

[TheNahash]

Just let us buy the stuff we want from the collections tab at full price there's no need for gambling packs, they suck, they're taking everyone's money and they're getting crappy items from them. No other mmo has done something as silly as this, making their players pay money to get a chance at a rare item. If people have enough money you should let them buy the items they want. It's not our fault the game went f2p and EA wanted money still. we didn't want that, we didn't want the cartel market and we didn't want all these crazy super servers that lag all the time.

 

Why do people just refuse to accept some facts?

 

OP,

There are people out there who want their possessions to be "special", unique and rare.

They feel like they've accomplished something in their lives if they have the best car IRL or even the most rare armor set in a video game.

These people are willing to give large sums of money to get that "super rare" items, both IRL and in the virtual world of a video game.

That is the reason people wait in line to get the new iPhone, even though they could either wait a few months for a better deal or just buy something that will cost much less but do pretty much the exact same things.

 

Now that we've established the importance of item rarity and vanity for some people, allow me to give you an example:

 

Eradicator's Mask: Available as a direct purchase from the CM. Sells for 300-700k. EVERYONE and their mother has it. So people don't really care for it anymore. It's not the "I gotta have it" item they'd be willing to spend money on and they know they won't make good money by just buying it to sell it on the GTN.

 

Revan's Mask: Super rare item from Cartel Packs. Sells for 7-15mil credits. At least at first very few people had it and even now not everyone can afford it. So people keep buying packs trying to find it. (or at least they did before they removed them)

 

 

The RL money Bioware/Ea makes from people trying to find the super rare Revan's Mask are far more than the money they made by selling the not-rare-at-all, just-click-it-and-there-it-is Eradicator's Mask.

 

So, in conclusion, random packs will continue to exist and they will remain the main source of income for the Cartel Market, as long as people remain egocentic beings that need to feel superior to others.

 

So, yeah... don't hold your breath on that changing anytime soon.

Edited June 26, 2013 by TheNahash

[theUndead]

Why do people just refuse to accept some facts?

 

OP,

There are people out there who want their possessions to be "special", unique and rare.

They feel like they've accomplished something in their lives if they have the best car IRL or even the most rare armor set in a video game.

These people are willing to give large sums of money to get that "super rare" items, both IRL and in the virtual world of a video game.

That is the reason people wait in line to get the new iPhone, even though they could either wait a few months for a better deal or just buy something that will cost much less but do pretty much the exact same things.

 

Now that we've established the importance of item rarity and vanity for some people, allow me to give you an example:

 

Eradicator's Mask: Available as a direct purchase from the CM. Sells for 300-700k. EVERYONE and their mother has it. So people don't really care for it anymore. It's not the "I gotta have it" item they'd be willing to spend money on and they know they won't make good money by just buying it to sell it on the GTN.

 

Revan's Mask: Super rare item from Cartel Packs. Sells for 7-15mil credits. At least at first very few people had it and even now not everyone can afford it. So people keep buying packs trying to find it. (or at least they did before they removed them)

 

 

The RL money Bioware/Ea makes from people trying to find the super rare Revan's Mask are far more than the money they made by selling the not-rare-at-all, just-click-it-and-there-it-is Eradicator's Mask.

 

So, in conclusion, random packs will continue to exist and they will remain the main source of income for the Cartel Market, as long as people remain egocentic beings that need to feel superior to others.

 

So, yeah... don't hold your breath on that changing anytime soon.

 

I agree with everything accept the highlighted part. I am a sub and I have spent money on the Cartel Market because there are things that I actually like. But it does not in anyway make me feel superior to anyone so I think it is a little harsh to say that buying packs makes one egocentric. I mean can't one buy the occasional pack because they saw something interesting?

[TheNahash]

I agree with everything accept the highlighted part. I am a sub and I have spent money on the Cartel Market because there are things that I actually like. But it does not in anyway make me feel superior to anyone so I think it is a little harsh to say that buying packs makes one egocentric. I mean can't one buy the occasional pack because they saw something interesting?

 

Of course they can.

I didn't mean to sound like I believe anyone who buys something they like from the Cartel Market is egocentric. That would be both totally inaccurate and, frankly, quite stupid because I do the same thing you do. And I apologize if it came out that way.

 

What I was trying to say is that some people are willing to spend lots of money to get an item that not everyone can get. Take that away and they lose interest and have no desire to spend the same amount of money to get it, because they wouldn't feel like they've accomplished something that not everyone else can.

 

Or, in other words, if someone buys something because they actually like it, then no, obviously we're not talking about egocentrism.

But when someone spends a lot of money to get something, very few other people can, just so they can retain that feeling of self-worth, then that's the egocentrism I was referring to in my previous post.

 

And, generally speaking, egocentrics are usually way more inclined to spend money to get that "Holy Grail" item than people who just like something but don't need to have it to feel superior to others.

[Sardonyyx]

Wile I understand the points I hate the system, lol. It's just really messed up how they went about it I guess.

 

I don't really feel the need for vanity Items in this game and I don't buy a lot of stuff on cartel market or any of those that are on the gtn except the occasional belt and bracers for my alts. I suppose its just what it is, they probably won't change it. It just seems a little wrong.

[BennettWHU]

I stopped buying the Cartel packs when I kept getting terrible items from them and was spending £11.98 a week on them. They're a good idea and some players have got more money than sense. EAware will never stop the packs, they make too much money off them and we all know EA's only priority is money.

[Vinak]

I wish the cartel market wasn't so heavily based on gambling myself.

 

When I spend X amount of cartel coints, I should get X amount of in game value. Not potentially waste X amount of cartel coins on random chance. The gambling model no doubt turns many people off from buying from the market in the first place. Instead making EA rely on people with a gambling problem to bring in most of its revenue.

 

They could easily profit from non luck based models. Like the buying and selling of carket coins directly from the GTN similar to the Plex system in Eve for example. players being able to buy coins to sell to other players would bring in huge profits for EA. Especially if they allowed us to buy subscription time and further expand what you can buy with cartel coins. Like the ability for us to buy and sell in game items with cartel coins directly.

[CarlosTrevisan]

They make the most money from the packs. It's like free (hell it is free) money. You aren't the first to ask for this and you won't be the last, but the fact is that they are not removing packs, they will make more of them.

 

/true

[theUndead]

Wile I understand the points I hate the system, lol. It's just really messed up how they went about it I guess.

 

I don't really feel the need for vanity Items in this game and I don't buy a lot of stuff on cartel market or any of those that are on the gtn except the occasional belt and bracers for my alts. I suppose its just what it is, they probably won't change it. It just seems a little wrong.

 

While I understand your feelings and your totally entitled to feel that way, I disagree with the idea that vanity is not needed. MMOs are such intreractive games that some people myself included use them to deck our our toons in great looking clothing and cosmetics because its cool and fun. So while I agree that some people take it to the extreme and it can be argued that too much dev attention is there, vanity in my mind must be part of this game.

[crqp]

Just let us buy the stuff we want from the collections tab at full price there's no need for gambling packs, they suck, they're taking everyone's money and they're getting crappy items from them. No other mmo has done something as silly as this, making their players pay money to get a chance at a rare item. If people have enough money you should let them buy the items they want. It's not our fault the game went f2p and EA wanted money still. we didn't want that, we didn't want the cartel market and we didn't want all these crazy super servers that lag all the time.

 

Yeah the but you shouldn't buy them then if you think you are gonna lose cartel coins should you? And it teaches you what the star wars universe was like.

[Soul_of_Flames]

I've bought many cartel packs but have never once spent any real currency on them. In fact, I've only put $20 into the cartel market because I was impatient when the Cathar came out to wait for them to hit the GTN.

 

Point is, you don't need to spend real money if you don't want to. Just wait for other players to put it on the GTN and you will be able to get whatever it is you're looking to get.

 

Also, it's not gambling if there is no chance for you to get returns on the money you put in. If, for example, cartel packs had a chance to grant you cartel coins, then it would be considered gambling. But the money you put into cartel packs does not have any chance to be returned to you, it's therefore not gambling. It's more of a grab bag than anything. It wouldn't be allowed in the game if it was actually gambling. At least not until the ESRB and other rating companies had another look at the game.