The Contraband Slot Machine

[LordArtemis]

Or maybe you'll get tired of missing it all the time, and that would be an even finer day.

 

I think you'll meet disappointment long before I will eartharioch...things are moving in my direction after all, not yours.

 

The wind simply isn't in your sails.

Edited February 4, 2015 by LordArtemis

[DarthTHC]

To clarify, I do only have one machine, and I can't spend more than one crafting session in front of it before I am bored to tears.

 

It sucks, but it's actually faster than the travel-dance on a per-item basis. So I can spend more time hating the stupid mission UI or less time bored in front of slots. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

 

So hours and hours of standing in front of it is not an option for me. I understand it is an option for some, but I would speculate that is NOT the norm.

 

Buying mats on the GTN is the norm in my view. I would bet on that all day.

 

I think I'd take that bet for anything up to 100 million credits. Then again, that assumes I'm the "normal" crafter. I almost never buy mats on the GTN. I started to consider buying green mats once I ran out, before slots made them free, because that seemed to be the less expensive way. But for artifact level materials, missions was the only rational method of acquisition.

 

Folks that do not like to pay will not pay for coins any more than they would pay for mats. They will scavenge as they always have.

 

That leaves those that normally run missions or want the rep/embargoed items, gold sellers and perhaps those that wish to exploit in some way, and those that would normally engage in material selling on the market....hardcore crafters if you will.

 

Wow, I haven't sold materials on the market in a very, very long time. But I used to. It was much more interesting to do in SWG where I actually was the "resource baron" that I've been accused of being here. But I digress...

 

I don't know yet how the market will shake out, but I can't see selling mats in this new era of slot machines being profitable enough for anyone but gold sellers to bother with.

 

I sort of think that I'll use the slots to gather all my mats, you know, since the game pays me to do it that way, and then sell crafted goods. But we'll have to see if the value of the crafted goods even at "zero" materials cost is worth my time and effort. It will be an interesting few weeks to see if there's a nerf or not and how the economy settles down either way.

 

All of those folks combined are a minority IMO. That is why I feel it is likely this has not had an impact yet, and will likely not a measurable impact in the future. Much like any other move that folks said would destabilize the economy.

 

You know, I haven't yet checked my server's market to see what the prices on things are, except CM personnel decorations. That lack of caring was driven my my belief that BioWare has to adjust these things, wanting to take advantage before they did, and the secure knowledge that regardless how many times I pulled the lever, each one was guaranteed profit.

 

I wonder how prices are. Might take 5 minutes out to look tonight.

 

Unified comms. Gear sales on the CM. Speeder sales on the CM, Crystal sales on the CM. There was no market crash.

 

There might have been a market crash. It might vary server by server. Have to look at what the usual crafted items are selling for now.

 

It would actually be pretty cool if there wasn't a crash because it means profit margins just got that much higher. I doubt it though. I suspect prices on the typical crafted items tonight will be half or less what they were last Thursday or so.

 

All of those changes, from my perspective, only hit those folks that were making money in those areas, and I would speculate most of those folks moved on to other more profitable venues.

[DarthTHC]

Thats a fair point I think. But one could still contend it is not as convenient as hands free...though that is probably stretching it a bit.

 

Crafting missions are not hands-free. How often do you have to travel to get the missions you want? Me, I'm pleasantly surprised the few times I don't have to travel.

 

And how long does all that take 5 bad missions, travel, abandon one at a time to get the good missions thing take? And remember that every once in a while the RNG HATES you and you get to travel 2, 3, sometimes 4 times.

 

Now try it with 12 mission runners.

 

These slots are the bomb-diggity.

Edited January 19, 2015 by DarthTHC

[LordArtemis]

It would actually be pretty cool if there wasn't a crash because it means profit margins just got that much higher. I doubt it though. I suspect prices on the typical crafted items tonight will be half or less what they were last Thursday or so.

 

I am not going to point for point, because I would rather leave your opinion to stand on it's own merits and not argue back and forth as we have in the past.

 

Instead, I will only put forth two points.

 

1) I do not think you are the typical crafter. I think you are one of the pros. I think your revenue that you have stated more than once stands as proof of that....and I say that not as an AH HA, not as a "disregard this guy" point, just wanted to point out that is how I see it.

 

2) I was a TKM/MD on Bria back in the day, famous for my Meds and Buffs. Used to sell them at Crevasse Nebula. I'm trying to get back up to my prior level in the SWGEmu. Its tough starting from scratch.

[LordArtemis]

Crafting missions are not hands-free. How often do you have to travel to get the missions you want? Me, I'm pleasantly surprised the few times I don't have to travel.

 

And how long does all that take 5 bad missions, travel, abandon one at a time to get the good missions thing take? And remember that every once in a while the RNG HATES you and you get to travel 2, 3, sometimes 4 times.

 

Now try it with 12 mission runners.

 

These slots are the bomb-diggity.

 

Well, here is my normal resource gathering routine.

 

I am out an about with one of my gatherers....he has slicing, bio, scav of course. While I am running crafting mat missions (cheaper than buying them from a vendor) I am out grabbing nodes, killing creatures and bots, slicing here and there for extra cash.

 

In the mean time I have already logged in and sent out all available crew members on all of my alts on secondary crew missions. I finance them by running Black Hole when they run out of cash...45k in 12 minutes.

 

By the time I am done with my run, I have a few stacks, around 30 to 40k in coin and a few crafting mats. I log out, log in my alts, grab the mats, send them out again, repeat.

 

In two hours I get 120k (not counting BH runs, that is crafting revenue only), 2 stacks of each alternate crafting material (4 stacks total, approximately mind you, sometimes more, sometimes less) and around 30 to 40 pieces of blue, 20 to 25 pieces of purple.

 

The ONLY time I use the machine is when I am standing and crafting gear to RE for aug kit parts to make MKs.

 

Now, you have put forth some situations where you could make more than that, and get more than that. But I am almost positive you had to stand in front of that machine the whole time.

 

I was out an about.

 

To me that is MUCH more fun.

 

Not to mention that EVERY TIME i have stood in front of that machine I have lost money. Sometimes more, some times less.

 

I did sell one decoration item BTW finally. Still stuck with the rest. I am going to keep trying. I had to discount it, but at least I got some money out of it.

 

So far I have spent around 500k on the machine, and I have gotten back about 280k on it....without selling mats (Ill try that next)

 

So for me I have lost 220k for 2 or 3 hours total, and ended up with LESS mats than I would have if I had been scavenging....well, less greens to be honest.

Edited January 19, 2015 by LordArtemis

[eartharioch]

I think you'll meet disappointment long before I will eartharioch...things are moving in my direction after all, not yours.

 

The wind simply isn't in your sails.

 

You are likely correct, Ellsworth. But it's one thing to be happy with changes in a game, and another to express happiness in other peoples' disappointment. And wanting things to get so bad that anybody who disagrees will leave and quit disagreeing with you is pretty pathetic.

Edited January 19, 2015 by eartharioch

[LordArtemis]

You are likely correct, Ellsworth. But it's one thing to be happy with changes in a game, and another to express happiness in other peoples' disappointment. And wanting things to get so bad that anybody who disagrees will leave and quit disagreeing with you is pretty pathetic.

 

Now now. I didn't say I would enjoy your disappointment. I said would enjoy your absence. There is a big difference.

 

But...I really didn't mean it. I mean what I say when I say I enjoy our chats. I always felt you could trade snark with the best of them.

 

I used to be a hardcore player eartharioch. I miss the days of permadeath and player looting, if that tells you anything. The difference between you and I, if I were to speculate, well, one difference perhaps is that I decided to change with the times and embrace the "casual", so to speak.

 

I believe you are clinging to the past. I, and folks like me, will not the be architect of your disappointment eartharioch.....you will.

 

Because I believe you refuse to accept change.

 

But I do respect the absolute fact that you stick to your guns, and I fully expect you will continue to hold me to post on every issue...

 

And believe it or not I look forward to it.

 

If you took offense to my comments, I apologize and will refrain from that kind of dialog in the future. I thought you and I had an "understanding" of sorts, being as we are "philosophical enemies", so to speak.

 

Don't take that to mean I do not understand your views or that I lack respect for them....you poke fun at me, I poke back. That is all that is.

 

I remember what it was like to watch MMOs become something that was a pale shadow of their former selves. I remember what that felt like. I do not wish that on anyone.

Edited January 19, 2015 by LordArtemis

[DarthTHC]

LA - that's the second time you've said that in this thread... that you don't think someone else has / could change.

 

What do you think is so special about you that you can change, as you did from hardcore to more casual, that doesn't exist in anyone else so they can't?

 

Rhetorical question. No need to answer me. Answer yourself though.

[Natharon]

The fix you need to make is simple, take grade 11 mats off of the jawa vendors.

[DarthTHC]

The fix you need to make is simple, take grade 11 mats off of the jawa vendors.

 

Or make the slots stop dropping them. Either way.

 

But I think leaving them on the Jawa vendors actually helps demand, probably only very slightly, for CM sales since gambling packs can drop them. Plus it adds a bit more oomph to the top-10 conquest rewards.

 

 

For those who think THIS is self-serving, I would be willing for the game to remove 100% of the Jawa Junk I have in inventory if the slot machines are adjusted to never drop scraps again. Heck, I'll delete it myself.

[wolfyde]

I remember what it was like to watch MMOs become something that was a pale shadow of their former selves.

 

Same here, I remember being hunted and trashed by a PK in UO, and then gathering a lynching mob to try and hunt him down, the vast crafting complexity in SWG, needing a full raid of people to get into Malmohus in DAoC to even have a chance at leveling on to max level, losing experience on death, etc.

 

On the other hand I'm also realistic about the times changing and -my- times changing.

I was a student when mmo's sprouted as a genre, and had all the time in the world to spend on them, but as I got older and got jobs, I simply no longer could invest that same amount of time.

So the movement to more casual gameplay and cashshops is perhaps deplorable from a principal standpoint, but practical present-day me is glad I can still enjoy some of what appealed me in the genre initially without having to dedicate my entire day to it.

 

Totally off topic lol, sorry, a surge of nostalgia

[LordArtemis]

Same here, I remember being hunted and trashed by a PK in UO, and then gathering a lynching mob to try and hunt him down, the vast crafting complexity in SWG, needing a full raid of people to get into Malmohus in DAoC to even have a chance at leveling on to max level, losing experience on death, etc.

 

On the other hand I'm also realistic about the times changing and -my- times changing.

I was a student when mmo's sprouted as a genre, and had all the time in the world to spend on them, but as I got older and got jobs, I simply no longer could invest that same amount of time.

So the movement to more casual gameplay and cashshops is perhaps deplorable from a principal standpoint, but practical present-day me is glad I can still enjoy some of what appealed me in the genre initially without having to dedicate my entire day to it.

 

Totally off topic lol, sorry, a surge of nostalgia

 

I remember being reviled and hunted in games, being put in "game jail", losing money, my possessions and XP when I was killed, having someone kill me and then LOOT me. I remember the days when you had to be aware of your surroundings....anything could happen.

 

It was like the real word in a way. You felt...on edge. And everything you had you worked VERY HARD for.

 

I fought for a long time against the tide, but eventually I took the "if you can't beat em, join em" approach and embraced casual play.

[eartharioch]

Now now. I didn't say I would enjoy your disappointment. I said would enjoy your absence. There is a big difference.

 

I didn't say that you directly stated that you would take pleasure in my disappointment, I inferred it from the tone you used when discussing it.

 

If you took offense to my comments, I apologize and will refrain from that kind of dialog in the future. I thought you and I had an "understanding" of sorts, being as we are "philosophical enemies", so to speak.

 

Don't take that to mean I do not understand your views or that I lack respect for them....you poke fun at me, I poke back. That is all that is.

 

I'm ok with snark in general, so no worries. I just see too many forum discussions end up with one camp saying the game would be better of without the other camp, and I don't like that kind of extremism. I usually consider it the 'net equivalent of wishing somebody was dead. There aren't a whole lot of things I won't say while joking, but that's usually a place I won't go. But that's more of a personal thing, so I'm fine writing this as you accidentally hitting a nerve.

 

I used to be a hardcore player eartharioch. I miss the days of permadeath and player looting, if that tells you anything. The difference between you and I, if I were to speculate, well, one difference perhaps is that I decided to change with the times and embrace the "casual", so to speak.

 

I believe you are clinging to the past. I, and folks like me, will not the be architect of your disappointment eartharioch.....you will.

 

Because I believe you refuse to accept change.

 

You are actually making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about both me and the game. I am definitely a casual gamer, and I came here from single player games -- I didn't play any of the older games with permadeath and player looting. So there is no past "what MMOs used to be" for me to be clinging. And I don't understand why you think that I am unable to (or refusing to) accept change. I clearly indicated that if I don't like the changes, I'll just change games (I have plenty of stuff bought from Steam Sales that I haven't played). I don't take the changes the devs make personally, and I wouldn't leave complaining bitterly about "EZ-MODERS" (if you look at my posts, you'll see very little of the hate that I see in many other posts).

 

But most importantly, I think you are reading too much into the devs "intention" and "direction" lately. Almost everything about which I've complained recently is about what I believe to be poor implementation of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

 

I don't think the devs intended for the slot machine to be used the way it is being used. I think that separate teams designed the machine and added the Grade 11 mats to the Jawa Vendors. I don't think that either thing alone would have caused the effects on [mission skills and mission mats] about which I am complaining. I fully expect them to do something to reduce the [iMO] negative effects. I do not think that the devs intended the slot machine to be a replacement for or even serious contender with mission skills.

 

SoR was released at the beginning of December. If the devs were intending to change the crafting system, they would have done it then. They wouldn't bother making Grade 11 mats if the only thing people were going to "run missions for" is Jawa Junk -- schematics could just all use Jawa Junk directly. They wouldn't make new missions for crew skill levels 450-500 and then gate the ability to learn those levels to buying access (requiring the purchase of SoR) from the trainer. They wouldn't have done all that work if they were planning on making it obsolete six weeks later.

 

So it seems a bit far fetched for you to see my dislike of what happened as a refusal to adapt to the devs changing vision of the game.

Edited January 19, 2015 by eartharioch

[LordArtemis]

I didn't say that you directly stated that you would take pleasure in my disappointment, I inferred it from the tone you used when discussing it.

 

I'm ok with snark in general, so no worries. I just see too many forum discussions end up with one camp saying the game would be better of without the other camp, and I don't like that kind of extremism. I usually consider it the 'net equivalent of wishing somebody was dead. There aren't a whole lot of things I won't say while joking, but that's usually a place I won't go. But that's more of a personal thing, so I'm fine writing this as you accidentally hitting a nerve.

 

You are actually making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about both me and the game. I am definitely a casual gamer, and I came here from single player games -- I didn't play any of the older games with permadeath and player looting. So there is no past "what MMOs used to be" for me to be clinging. And I don't understand why you think that I am unable to (or refusing to) accept change. I clearly indicated that if I don't like the changes, I'll just change games (I have plenty of stuff bought from Steam Sales that I haven't played). I don't take the changes the devs make personally, and I wouldn't leave complaining bitterly about "EZ-MODERS" (if you look at my posts, you'll see very little of the hate that I see in many other posts).

 

But most importantly, I think you are reading too much into the devs "intention" and "direction" lately. Almost everything about which I've complained recently is about what I believe to be poor implementation of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

 

I don't think the devs intended for the slot machine to be used the way it is being used. I think that separate teams designed the machine and added the Grade 11 mats to the Jawa Vendors. I don't think that either thing alone would have caused the effects on [mission skills and mission mats] about which I am complaining. I fully expect them to do something to reduce the [iMO] negative effects. I do not think that the devs intended the slot machine to be a replacement for or even serious contender with mission skills.

 

SoR was released at the beginning of December. If the devs were intending to change the crafting system, they would have done it then. They wouldn't bother making Grade 11 mats if the only thing people were going to "run missions for" is Jawa Junk -- schematics could just all use Jawa Junk directly. They wouldn't make new missions for crew skill levels 450-500 and then gate the ability to learn those levels to buying access (requiring the purchase of SoR) from the trainer. They wouldn't have done all that work if they were planning on making it obsolete six weeks later.

 

So it seems a bit far fetched for you to see my dislike of what happened as a refusal to adapt to the devs changing vision of the game.

 

Instead of hitting each point (which is unnecessary) I will just say fair enough, I will take care to avoid going the "door in the butt" route and look forward to more biting commentary from you in the future.

[EnkiduNineEight]

LA,

 

One thing I have noticed in your recent posts is that you are talking about your opinion, your fun, what you consider fun, etc.

 

None of this has any relevance to the topic of discussion when it comes down to the slot machines, their mechanics, and their rate of return.

 

I get that you don't find it fun. That's fine. I don't find it fun to jack off a machine as well. Its boring. Mind numbingly so. But does that change the mechanics of the operation? Does this change the expected results if one has a machine? Does the game determine you are bored and change its operations appropriately?

 

NO.

 

So, the Slot Machine is going to behave exactly like it is coded to do whether you are bored or not. Whether you want to use it or not.

 

This means, someone who is not bored, or someone who is amply motivated, can turn around and use the same machine you don't think is a problem because you get bored with it, and they can use that machine and the current mechanics and make a mint. They are getting paid to use the machine. Prices for the reputation items are static, they are unchanging, and you're good for 55-65% of your investment in tokens back just selling these back to a vendor. You're going to average 2 CM Certs a stack. These are easily converted, conservatively into 50k (2 certs * 25k credits) more. As other have pointed out, you can go down to 10K and still make more money selling just the reputation items and the CM Cert Decorations. So now you have more money than when you started, AND you have a bunch of crafting materials.

 

Now, I get.. again.. you;'re bored.. but not everyone will be. Some will be decidedly not bored because they are incapable of boredom.

 

So, someone, somewhere, is using this slot machine tirelessly/endlessly to amass stacks and stacks and stacks of materials. All of which are gathered at a cost that is _negative_ EG.. they are getting paid to gather theses resources.

 

Now, who is going to be the resources baron? Who is going to be the the big cheese on the gtn? well, like the real world, its going to be whoever wants to push out all their competitors by making a razor thin margin. (See Wal*Mart)

 

Now, just as with wal*mart apologists will say.. they provide a valuable service and goods are cheap!

 

But at what cost?

 

In a game like this, the cost is the people who decided they can't compete in a section of the game they enjoyed, get bored, let their subscriptions expire.

 

For those people who do want to craft, even after the markets been completely changed they'll want a slot machine. If they can't get one or access to it, they are going to be paying more for materials than someone who has the machine. Doesn't matter HOW they are doing it, they will ALWAYS pay more for materials than someone using the slots.

 

Now, eventually everyone who is subscribed could have the maximum number of cartel coin purchased decorations. And so you're now adding a cost to the mats. They are no longer free, but they are still cheaper and more reliably obtained, then any other method except gathering, which doesn't gather all the mats you would need. So slot machine still wins there.

 

So it doesn't matter that YOU get bored with it. What matters is the mechanics of the toy serve to make the toy a necessity. It has become a 'pay to win' item. If you do not have one, you are disadvantaged.

 

This is absolutely the wrong sort of thing to have in a cartel pack and it absolutely requires adjustment in order to change it from being a necessity to being a fun to have item.

Edited January 19, 2015 by EnkiduNineEight

[LordArtemis]

I think I get your point. Perhaps I am looking at this with blinders on.

 

I suppose I just assumed that most would not "game" the device, like most do not "game" the game. And I didn't want to see something changed because some folks may "game" it.

 

Well, actually that is not entirely true....I did post in the past that I thought the scraps were unnecessary...but that was just for me personally. I also suggested they should raise the price to 2k per instead of 500c.

 

I think it was clearly a bad idea to put materials on this machine in the first place. It was better than nothing, but it allows them to continue to ignore crafting. It is lazy IMO.

Edited February 8, 2015 by LordArtemis

[ivanhedgehog]

You either misunderstand the machines are are deliberately misrepresenting them.

 

massive hyperbole snip

 

]

 

gathering missions are free, you can sell all the stuff you get to get back the cost. crafting missions are the ONLY thing you can do while logged off. make them only advance while that character is logged on for "fairness". slots are not as efficient as crafting missions because only 1 of a accounts toons can be logged in doing it, I can have 22 toons gathering per server at a time 24 hours a day, while the slot machine is in use, that account can be doing nothing else.

yes, bait and switch will affect market sales. it is obvious as the hand in front of your face that people will be pissed off if they destroy the actual utility of the slot machine. would people be pissed if their walker mount suddenly was changed to just a deco? yes they would.

[ivanhedgehog]

I don't think the drop rates are wrong. The amount of drops makes it fun.

If there has to be tweaking it should be what junk drops instead of when it drops.

 

People make an issue mostly about [scrap: Jawa Junk] (the purple one). As I see it, the green one seems to have about 40% chance, the blue and purple both around 30%. So my suggestion is the same amount of scrap, but if tweaking is needed put it in the further chance category.

 

Scrap: Scavenged scrap (green) - 60% (or try 50% first)

Scrap: Assorted Droid Parts (Blue) - 30%

Scrap: Jawa Junk (purple) - 10% (or try 20% first)

 

I think that should at least reduce the whining and make the market a little more stable without making the slot machine feel worthless like a nerf would do. The power of tweaking over nerfing.

 

the market isnt stable because people had a LOT of jawa junk from conquest and cartel packs to use up. they need to give it a month to shake out. the mat barons are crying because their cash cow isnt making as much milk as they wanted it to.

[DawnAskham]

...

 

But most importantly, I think you are reading too much into the devs "intention" and "direction" lately. Almost everything about which I've complained recently is about what I believe to be poor implementation of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

 

I don't think the devs intended for the slot machine to be used the way it is being used. I think that separate teams designed the machine and added the Grade 11 mats to the Jawa Vendors. I don't think that either thing alone would have caused the effects on [mission skills and mission mats] about which I am complaining. I fully expect them to do something to reduce the [iMO] negative effects. I do not think that the devs intended the slot machine to be a replacement for or even serious contender with mission skills.

 

SoR was released at the beginning of December. If the devs were intending to change the crafting system, they would have done it then. They wouldn't bother making Grade 11 mats if the only thing people were going to "run missions for" is Jawa Junk -- schematics could just all use Jawa Junk directly. They wouldn't make new missions for crew skill levels 450-500 and then gate the ability to learn those levels to buying access (requiring the purchase of SoR) from the trainer. They wouldn't have done all that work if they were planning on making it obsolete six weeks later.

 

So it seems a bit far fetched for you to see my dislike of what happened as a refusal to adapt to the devs changing vision of the game.

 

I totally agree with your sentiment.

 

Like many things I'm disappointed and annoyed at these days, most seem to stem from a lack of management and quality control on the part of Bioware, most likely due to a small overworked staff trying their best to keep up but failing at times due to resource constraints and poor processes to catch things like the slot before they go live.

 

I really don't see this as a test on how far to push the CM, nor any sort of nefarious plot to destroy crew skills, nor even an attempt to change crew skills, but rather another item hurriedly pushed out with limited testing and little foresight into how it would impact the game.

 

...

 

So it doesn't matter that YOU get bored with it. What matters is the mechanics of the toy serve to make the toy a necessity. It has become a 'pay to win' item. If you do not have one, you are disadvantaged.

 

This is absolutely the wrong sort of thing to have in a cartel pack and it absolutely requires adjustment in order to change it from being a necessity to being a fun to have item.

 

I concur, and I don't feel this is their intent, so I imagine it is only a matter of time before it is changed, though seeing as they still haven't fixed quite a few rather large 3.0 launch bugs, I am not hopeful it will be anytime soon.

Edited January 19, 2015 by DawnAskham

[Mariojediwookie]

gathering missions are free, you can sell all the stuff you get to get back the cost. crafting missions are the ONLY thing you can do while logged off. make them only advance while that character is logged on for "fairness". slots are not as efficient as crafting missions because only 1 of a accounts toons can be logged in doing it, I can have 22 toons gathering per server at a time 24 hours a day, while the slot machine is in use, that account can be doing nothing else.

yes, bait and switch will affect market sales. it is obvious as the hand in front of your face that people will be pissed off if they destroy the actual utility of the slot machine. would people be pissed if their walker mount suddenly was changed to just a deco? yes they would.

 

You have no idea what you are talking about and these conversations are beginning to get ridiculous. The Devs don't NEED to guess at anything which appears to be what you are doing when calculating the advantages of the slot machine. They know exactly what the slot machine can do and is doing. Just the fact you said you can run missions on 24 toons 24 hours a day LOL. All you people realize you don't just press one button and everything is done right? It's not like a slot machine.

 

To compare what I can do with my three slot machines that surround me in an hour to the crew skills, lets just say I couldn't produce that in a WEEK. Nice try, but I actually have played the slot machine and craft/gather. Again, the devs have real numbers of what the machine is doing so you can stop feigning ignorance.

[TheGreatFrosty]

You have no idea what you are talking about and these conversations are beginning to get ridiculous. The Devs don't NEED to guess at anything which appears to be what you are doing when calculating the advantages of the slot machine. They know exactly what the slot machine can do and is doing. Just the fact you said you can run missions on 24 toons 24 hours a day LOL. All you people realize you don't just press one button and everything is done right? It's not like a slot machine.

 

To compare what I can do with my three slot machines that surround me in an hour to the crew skills, lets just say I couldn't produce that in a WEEK. Nice try, but I actually have played the slot machine and craft/gather. Again, the devs have real numbers of what the machine is doing so you can stop feigning ignorance.

 

This.

 

I am a prolific crafter/alt gatherer switcher etc.

 

Through three slot machines, I've made more in the past 2 days than I have since the launch of SoR by at least four fold.

[ivanhedgehog]

The fix you need to make is simple, take grade 11 mats off of the jawa vendors.

 

or leave it as is and let the complainers adapt or die out. like so many others have been told to(sometimes by the same people that refuse to adapt this time)

[ivanhedgehog]

You have no idea what you are talking about and these conversations are beginning to get ridiculous. The Devs don't NEED to guess at anything which appears to be what you are doing when calculating the advantages of the slot machine. They know exactly what the slot machine can do and is doing. Just the fact you said you can run missions on 24 toons 24 hours a day LOL. All you people realize you don't just press one button and everything is done right? It's not like a slot machine.

 

To compare what I can do with my three slot machines that surround me in an hour to the crew skills, lets just say I couldn't produce that in a WEEK. Nice try, but I actually have played the slot machine and craft/gather. Again, the devs have real numbers of what the machine is doing so you can stop feigning ignorance.

 

you can run 22 crafters 24 hours a day. the gold sellers already are. the devs will decide what they want. they will decide if pissing off the cc buying customers is worth giving you back your cash cow.

[DarthTHC]

the market isnt stable because people had a LOT of jawa junk from conquest and cartel packs to use up. they need to give it a month to shake out. the mat barons are crying because their cash cow isnt making as much milk as they wanted it to.

 

I have acquired 10x the Jawa Junk this weekend than I had by placing top 10 in all the conquests my guild has done that for (every one, natch) and all the packs I've opened (1 hypercrate of each new pack for the past 8, except the current one) combined.

 

I'm making a profit. I haven't bothered to stop and craft anything or post anything to GTN besides CM personnel decorations yet because I'm too busy taking advantage of this broken machine while it's still paying me to gather crafting materials. If enough time passes without the devs saying they'll nerf it, or when the devs nerf it, then I'll start making and posting stuff again.

 

And believe me, when I do that, my profit margins will be higher than they ever have, because my COGS will be negative. And this will be true even when I'm the one selling all the stuff, meaning I had the lowest priced item of its kind on the GTN at the time someone wanted to buy... tens of thousands of times.

 

Or are you one of those odd ducks that buys the highest price item? Hmm?

 

These slot machines help me, as a crafter, more than you could possibly imagine. They make it super simple for me to make a steady profit on "normal" items and they encourage me to get into markets with little competition that I can completely control because I have both the resources and the know-how to do it. And now, because I don't have to manage resource gathering missions, I have a lot more time to do it, too.

 

The fact that they drop stuff at a rate that makes crafting infinitely more profitable for me is absolutely not the reason I dislike them.

Edited January 19, 2015 by DarthTHC

[LordArtemis]

I do think that the machine trumps crew missions.

 

I also think that some of the claims with respect to the machine are overblown for dramatic effect.

 

I do not think some of the results posted are typical. And I DO think Bioware does have the numbers and will judge accordingly.

Edited January 21, 2015 by LordArtemis