The Contraband Slot Machine

[Nataph]

This is rather a disappointment. I was looking forward of having all the cartel reputation slot machines at my stronghold but its current state is horrible for playing. Too much time and money spent on something that eventually ends (reputation). While I understand the drop rate at the beginning was far too much, nerfing it by too much made the machines unplayable. Let's meet at a middle instead of where it is today please.

[Kianabamin]

This is rather a disappointment. I was looking forward of having all the cartel reputation slot machines at my stronghold but its current state is horrible for playing. Too much time and money spent on something that eventually ends (reputation). While I understand the drop rate at the beginning was far too much, nerfing it by too much made the machines unplayable. Let's meet at a middle instead of where it is today please.

 

I know, seriously. I was creating a casino look with Slots all around and some gaming tables, and wanted to put several of these slots and then the next ones that would come out and make it a "Functional Casino". I got NPC's all around playing, I'm sure many people were decorating the same way. Next I was hoping for a decoration of a revolving speeder to put in the middle of the casino floor. But now it's all broken and they won't tell us squat.

[GoldSting]

More reputation machines are fine by me. The one out there is working well enough at that purpose.

I agree one hundred percent. Even if I can't make a return off of the slot machines, I can at least get some cool stuff I never had the chance of getting before. Plus it's super hard to get Cartel reputation after the packs that have them go away. Never did I think my legacy would own Revan's mask and Nihilus' Mask, but here we are.

[Kianabamin]

I agree one hundred percent. Even if I can't make a return off of the slot machines, I can at least get some cool stuff I never had the chance of getting before. Plus it's super hard to get Cartel reputation after the packs that have them go away. Never did I think my legacy would own Revan's mask and Nihilus' Mask, but here we are.

 

Ok so now you have all the rep you wanted, are you ever going to drop a coin in that slot again?

[hooty]

Good to see this thread back on page 1 where it belongs. No retreat, no surrender!

[eartharioch]

Ok so now you have all the rep you wanted, are you ever going to drop a coin in that slot again?

 

He personally might not, but for many people, one of the draws of the machine was that it gave people who didn't have them have a reason to visit other people's strongholds and guild ships. While many of the current players may have maxed out the rep maxing it almost useless for them, new players (and many returning players) may not have maxed the rep, so it's still useful for that.

 

If BW puts out a rep slot machine every few months (when the rep is 2 yrs old, like the Contraband one), it would be great way to let players gain old rep while still encouraging new pack/crate sales (to get the certs).

 

The slot machine is still a viable decoration, it's just no longer a solo money maker, which is what a lot of people want[ed].

[AdrianDmitruk]

He personally might not, but for many people, one of the draws of the machine was that it gave people who didn't have them have a reason to visit other people's strongholds and guild ships. While many of the current players may have maxed out the rep maxing it almost useless for them, new players (and many returning players) may not have maxed the rep, so it's still useful for that.

 

If BW puts out a rep slot machine every few months (when the rep is 2 yrs old, like the Contraband one), it would be great way to let players gain old rep while still encouraging new pack/crate sales (to get the certs).

 

The slot machine is still a viable decoration, it's just no longer a solo money maker, which is what a lot of people want[ed].

 

As one of the people who placed a slot machine into my Nar Shaddaa "minicasino," I don't get those visitors anymore. People won't/don't visit just for the rep. My place was hoppin' before the orbital nerf though.

 

At the very least, I wish they would make it like the Nightlife event, where you could win bind-to-legacy items from the packs in question, with odds in the same general area as the Nightlife event (it's been pointed out many times that they misplaced the decimal point with that "win a mount" that you can just buy off the yavin rep vendor instead).

 

I'd love to have the "social" element of the slot machines back in my stronghold. But for that they need to actually be worth playing...which can (hopefully) be done through bind-to-legacy goodies.

[Kianabamin]

As one of the people who placed a slot machine into my Nar Shaddaa "minicasino," I don't get those visitors anymore. People won't/don't visit just for the rep. My place was hoppin' before the orbital nerf though.

 

At the very least, I wish they would make it like the Nightlife event, where you could win bind-to-legacy items from the packs in question, with odds in the same general area as the Nightlife event (it's been pointed out many times that they misplaced the decimal point with that "win a mount" that you can just buy off the yavin rep vendor instead).

 

I'd love to have the "social" element of the slot machines back in my stronghold. But for that they need to actually be worth playing...which can (hopefully) be done through bind-to-legacy goodies.

 

Exactly, they are not much fun for anyone anymore, but with very little work they could be fun for EVERYONE again!

Why can't they just admit they screwed up and Fix the odds and add more stuff!

[AdrianDmitruk]

Exactly, they are not much fun for anyone anymore, but with very little work they could be fun for EVERYONE again!

Why can't they just admit they screwed up and Fix the odds and add more stuff!

 

Another consideration is that during the time of the Nightlife event, I did not feel like I could afford to participate, because I exclusively PVPed at the time and PVP doesn't exactly pay the bills in this game.

 

Now, with conquests, I find myself crafting a lot more and make around a million credits a day from that. I can afford to play the game now in ways I couldn't then. Which makes me wish for Nightlife-like slot machines (that actually have prizes worth winning!) even more.

[Muljo_Stpho]

during the time of the Nightlife event, I did not feel like I could afford to participate

 

I may have mentioned this before (buried who knows how many dozens of pages back in this thread now), but I actually made money during the Nightlife event. I actually ran dailies way WAY more often than I ever had before (and more than I have since that event ended as well) and I moderated myself so that I only spent something like half of what I pulled in from dailies runs on the slots. I knew the event was going to be around for a few months so I was in no rush to get all the big prizes in one day like others seemed to be trying to do, and somewhere around 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the event I did manage to get a rancor mount out of it (along with a few copies each of the speeders and a bunch of the other prizes like legacy weapons for many of my characters and whatever else).

 

I walked away from that with millions more credits than I started instead of coming out of it many millions poorer than I started like so many during the event were complaining was happening to them in pursuit of that rancor drop. Anyone else could have done the same if they practiced some moderation against any significant money-making activity they could come up with (whether that's dailies or crafting or GTN flipping or whatever else). Don't spend more than you can make. (Granted, if you really were just playing warzones and doing nothing else it's true that that probably wouldn't have been enough coming in to support a pace with any real chance of winning the big prize during the duration of the event. You definitely could have gotten some gold certificates for some of the other prizes though.)

Edited May 14, 2015 by Muljo_Stpho

[branmakmuffin]

While many of the current players may have maxed out the rep maxing it almost useless for them, new players (and many returning players) may not have maxed the rep, so it's still useful for that.

No one is disputing that. The point is that, other than that, it has no purpose other than a decoration that charges 750 creds to go "zing."

[AdrianDmitruk]

*richsplaining* (Granted, if you really were just playing warzones and doing nothing else it's true that that probably wouldn't have been enough coming in to support a pace with any real chance of winning the big prize during the duration of the event. You definitely could have gotten some gold certificates for some of the other prizes though.)

 

Yeah during that time I almost exclusively PVPed. The only reason why you would ever find me doing dailies around that time was if I was truly desperate for credits to augment a new tier of gear or if I wanted to make a new alt--the 2M or so it'd take to fund it would've represented about (at least) a month's income otherwise at the time.

[EnkiduNineEight]

He personally might not, but for many people, one of the draws of the machine was that it gave people who didn't have them have a reason to visit other people's strongholds and guild ships. While many of the current players may have maxed out the rep maxing it almost useless for them, new players (and many returning players) may not have maxed the rep, so it's still useful for that.

 

If BW puts out a rep slot machine every few months (when the rep is 2 yrs old, like the Contraband one), it would be great way to let players gain old rep while still encouraging new pack/crate sales (to get the certs).

 

The slot machine is still a viable decoration, it's just no longer a solo money maker, which is what a lot of people want[ed].

 

I think actually that most of the people who want it back don't want it to be a 'money maker' just something that is more fun to use.

 

Its got near zero 'fun' to it at this point.

[-Snakesan-]

The slot machine lost its usefulness once I capped on reputation. Even if a mount is still able to drop from it, the time and credits needed to encourage a "reliable" drop is far too demanding for folks like myself with limited playing time.

[Kianabamin]

I think actually that most of the people who want it back don't want it to be a 'money maker' just something that is more fun to use.

 

Its got near zero 'fun' to it at this point.

 

When I first wanted one and played it, I was playing for the Cartel Certs. I still have stacks of the Jawa Junk and droid parts and whatever, I don't really craft so I don't use it.

So yeah, it was never a Money Maker for me, it was a way to get some cartel certs so I could get some decorations.

So I would be happy if it just dropped random decorations!

[EnkiduNineEight]

I'm just disappointed in the community management team in their communication. I am disappointed in their QA team's and coders because I can't see how this was released in its initial format at all. It smacked of someone having no clue how the game worked at all. Everything about this has been a misstep and its focused my awareness on various other missteps the games management/producers are making.

[Shwarzchild]

Wow I didn't realize this thread was still such a hot topic. In all honesty the fact that this is still around confuses me. Don't get me wrong I respect everything people are saying, and appreciate the fact that people will feel strongly about things that I don't even notice anymore. In my mind it was a fun...extremely useful....vanity item. Its gigantic nerf, regardless of if I liked the nerf or not, didn't really break the game for me or anything. It just was an "ah well, fun while it lasted" type thing, and on I went on my merry way. I mean at the time yeah this discussion was intense, and interesting. Now, I guess I wonder what the point of it all is? My fear is that we don't get any future slot machines because we can't shed the past. Bioware has a crazy wall, and so do I where I have an emote/rep/ deco spitting slot machine as a top 5 small fun item I'd love to have. Mainly I just want it to spit out emotes.

[Heat-Wave]

I'm just disappointed in the community management team in their communication. I am disappointed in their QA team's and coders because I can't see how this was released in its initial format at all. It smacked of someone having no clue how the game worked at all. Everything about this has been a misstep and its focused my awareness on various other missteps the games management/producers are making.

 

^ This is the truth...

 

It shouldn't have been released the way it was, then it shouldn't have been nerfed the way it was... It shows devs who don't know what they are doing...

[Kianabamin]

^ This is the truth...

 

It shouldn't have been released the way it was, then it shouldn't have been nerfed the way it was... It shows devs who don't know what they are doing...

 

No, This ^^^^^^^^^ is the truth!

And that is the whole point now of this thread.

It's not a question of was the Slot machine overpaying in Jawa Junk and such, yes, it certainly was.

It's not a question of did a change need to be made, yes, it certainly did.

It's a question of Why did they put it out the way it was, tell everyone it was supposed to be that way, then DRASTICALLY change it and tell us DIDDLY SQUAT and run and hide? Stupidity is the only thing I can think of. I guess they are just plain stupid, and there is no cure for stupid that won't land a person is jail.

Oh well, 250 pages later and nothing is ever going to come of it.

I did my share. I'm done. That's it, I'm not going to say anything else, nope, not another word, fini, kaput, yup, I'm not going to go ramble on and on anymore........maybe, like if I have to make 7 more posts myself.

Edited May 15, 2015 by Kianabamin

[DakotaDoc]

obvious statement/

The fact this is obviously important to the community is obvious. What is also obvious is the fact that this NURF went too far, and yet there has not been one peep from Bioware on it.

 

Stated for the obvious.

/obvious statement

Edited May 16, 2015 by DakotaDoc

[Chimpopo]

Well, the original inception was too good to be true... could never have lasted in that state.

 

Yes that may be true, but it has gone from too good to be true, to completely useless and Bioware refuses to address the error. There has to be some middle ground.

[Muljo_Stpho]

I've got an experiment that I've just started with a new character (named Risktaker). This character was created for the sole purpose of sitting in the stronghold harvesting from the encrypted terminal and turning all of his "free money" into chips for the slot machine. That is ALL this character will do.

 

I'm still building up the rep on the server that I'm trying this on, but my plan is to only consume the green rep and to vendor the blue/purple rep. After just a few sessions with the encrypted terminal (multiple harvests in one of them) I had 25 tokens and decided to burn them up, and since the character's one purpose was to spend all his money on gambling chips anyway, I turned the money from blue/purple rep sales back into tokens again for extra spins.

 

This lead to me going into a spreadsheet to crunch some numbers on the type of scenario that I've come up with here (except that here I'll just assume the sale of all rep items instead of leaving some to be consumed). Starting with a ridiculously large hypothetical sample size of 100,000 tokens (75 mil initial investment) and making straightforward assumptions about the output (example: 20% chance to get token back = 20,000 out of those 100,000 tokens become re-spins) and iterating through 7 re-spin cycles (apply the odds again on the 20,000, then apply the odds again on the 4,000 that turn up as re-spins out of that 20,000, and so on until there are no more re-spins). I then took the total output of that sample and found the value of the rep items (gets over 40.9 mil back from the initial 75 mil investment) and then said "what if I dump these credits straight back into buying tokens again?" So I found the overall output of that second sample and dumped its rep back into buying tokens, and so on and so on through more than a couple dozen samples to get down to the point where sample sizes were too low to produce many rep items to sell.

 

After setting up all of those calculations, I summed up the overall output of non-rep prizes from all of these hypothetical samples. For that unrealistic initial investment (nobody will actually dump 75 mill into this, it's all hypothetical) and with this plan of continuously replenishing your token supply with all of your refunds from vendoring the rep items, my numbers would predict 550 green scrap, 412 blue scrap, 275 purple scrap, 137 certificates, and 2-3 mounts. I could simplify that by saying that you might expect 200 green scrap, 150 blue scrap, 100 purple scrap, 50 certificates, and 1 mount for every 27.25 mil initial investment that you burn through and recursively reinvest down to nothing like I've described. Or you might expect 4 green scrap, 3 blue scrap, 2 purple scrap, 1 certificate, and 0 mounts for every 545k initial investment that you burn through and recursively reinvest down to nothing like I've described. (Or 1 purple scrap for ~273k initial investment. Or 1 blue scrap for ~182k initial investment. Or 1 green scrap for ~136k initial investment.)

 

It's just a really tedious process to burn through a ton of reinvestment cycles to maximize the non-rep output of your initial investment.

 

It still seems to me like it's a task better left up to "free" money gained from a stronghold slicing terminal rather than risking money you've earned from any actual game activity on it. But even then... At 2k-10k harvested once or twice a day (technically could be 5 times (almost but not quite 6 because of the time spent harvesting before you pick up resource exhaustion again) if you were REALLY on top of when exhaustion was going to wear out every time, which I know I'm not going to do) I can expect it to take, oh..... Maybe 3-4 months For my character Risktaker to get one cartel certificate by using his "free" money in this way.

 

But I figure it's probably better to spin for "free" expecting absolutely nothing and maybe occasionally get a nice surprise out of it rather than pouring tons of credits into it and getting hung up on the whole lot of nothing being purchased thanks to the low drop rates.

 

It would still be nice to see some sort of revamp to make it more interesting and offer something to win in the short term (prize tickets to be redeemed on bind on pickup / bind on legacy items like they did in the Nightlife event) instead of having it only being near-impossible odds to win anything interesting. But in the absence of that, this silly plan is how I'm justifying any use of the machine in its current form.

[The-Kaitou-Kid]

It would still be nice to see some sort of revamp to make it more interesting and offer something to win in the short term (prize tickets to be redeemed on bind on pickup / bind on legacy items like they did in the Nightlife event) instead of having it only being near-impossible odds to win anything interesting. But in the absence of that, this silly plan is how I'm justifying any use of the machine in its current form.

 

Some kind of ticket system would be the best solution for the slot machines in my opinion. Remove the Jawa scraps and Cartel Certificates completely, add prize tickets that can be used as alternative currency at the rep vendor for that specific machine. I don't know how difficult that would be to implement but it'd solve a lot of the issues with the slot machines as they are now and were before since everything from the rep vendors are Bind on Pickup. Would make the prices vary obviously, as they do now for certificates and such, so one item could be 5 tickets (and perhaps an amount of credits) while another would be 10 (and a larger amount of credits if applicable).

 

Could also have the machine drop the items themselves, gives it more of an RNG aspect to getting a specific item which honestly kinda fits with everything around the slot machines if I'm being honest.

 

As it stands now, what you're doing is pretty much how I look at it. I only buy tokens with credits I pickup from an Encrypted Terminal every now and then.

[Max_Killjoy]

They had to nerf the Jawa Junk drop rates

 

No they didn't -- they just gave in to the deafening whinefest from the players who made all their credits selling materials for bloated prices while hiding behind a laughable "this will kill crafting!" mantra.

[Neglience]

No they didn't -- they just gave in to the deafening whinefest from the players who made all their credits selling materials for bloated prices while hiding behind a laughable "this will kill crafting!" mantra.

 

Just farm your own mats, out of your text i can read that it is really easy. That way, it is no longer a problem for you.