The Contraband Slot Machine

[Halinalle]

Thanks! Sounds like I need to buy up my grade 11's before the removed from the junk vendor..

 

/first!/

 

Not going to pay 200k per augment.

 

You could have always crafted your own stuff without having to "bow to price gouging scumbags". You just apparently chose not to.

 

Y u mad bro?

 

How?

- 1 purple per month from TH and UWT each

- Diplomacy? Implants are mostly useless especially for tanks and the fact that you can just get 186 implants from vendor instead.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Halinalle

[Sashandra]

lol, not an exploit but this has had a far greater negative impact on the game economy than any exploit to date has. After getting a new character to drommund kaas I went, at level 17 and using the credits I had, played the slot machine and went from 27k to 1.8 mill in a couple hours. I had to pause and wait for sales from my first round on the machine since I started with few credits. This was done during the price crash (so a few hours before this post).

 

This is the worst addition to the game to date

[Jeweledleah]

lol, not an exploit but this has had a far greater negative impact on the game economy than any exploit to date has. After getting a new character to drommund kaas I went, at level 17 and using the credits I had, played the slot machine and went from 27k to 1.8 mill in a couple hours. I had to pause and wait for sales from my first round on the machine since I started with few credits. This was done during the price crash (so a few hours before this post).

 

This is the worst addition to the game to date

 

how is this the worst addition exactly? seems like economy is booming if you can make nearly two million in couple of hours on a lowbie.

[Sashandra]

how is this the worst addition exactly? seems like economy is booming if you can make nearly two million in couple of hours on a lowbie.

 

that is the problem... you shouldn't be able to make that kind of money on a lowbie. This is going to abused to kingdom come by gold sellers. Think the spam is bad now? wait until they have alot more inventory to try to push. This is also going to lead to greater inflation on items of desire (vanity, mounts, etc) since so many have more credits. MUDflation at its worst

[Glower]

lol wrong thread Edited January 17, 2015 by Glower

[Jeweledleah]

that is the problem... you shouldn't be able to make that kind of money on a lowbie. This is going to abused to kingdom come by gold sellers. Think the spam is bad now? wait until they have alot more inventory to try to push. This is also going to lead to greater inflation on items of desire (vanity, mounts, etc) since so many have more credits. MUDflation at its worst

 

you are forgetting one little thing. this machine doesn't generate credits. it takes them out of the game. profit you are making right now? is credits from other players that at one point were generated through actualy in game activities like questing, killing mobs etc. this machine cannot lead to this inflation simply because it DOES NOT GENERATE CREDITS on its own. even if you vendor all the vendorable stuff from this machine, you still get back less then what you put in.

 

and yes, a lowbie with a know how? could generate that kind of money. not every lowbie has a know how or established legacy etc etc.

[wolfyde]

that is the problem... you shouldn't be able to make that kind of money on a lowbie. This is going to abused to kingdom come by gold sellers. Think the spam is bad now? wait until they have alot more inventory to try to push. This is also going to lead to greater inflation on items of desire (vanity, mounts, etc) since so many have more credits. MUDflation at its worst

 

Except that the entire assumption that is based on, that the slot machine adds money to the economy, is a complete fallacy.

It in fact removes credits from the economy; those 50k per stack of coins do not go to another player, they are gone (minus what you make back from selling the reputation items back to an npc, that is the only change I'd make to the machine; get rid of the monetary value of the rep items).

 

Everything you gain from selling on the GTN what you won from the machine, be they mats or crafted goods, is money you gain from other players, money that was already present and circulating in the economy.

No new money is added to the market by the slot machine.

[Citruzz]

It's not funny anymore. This slot machines are totally absurd. It's a welcome opportunity for gold sellers and bot users. It has a massiv impact on ingame economy. Evey single material on every grade is going to be dumped. Crew skill missions for blue or purple materials are totally useless by now, especially wealthy missions. why waiting ~4h for 3-5, if you could get 300+ in the same time + a lot of green, blues and other stuff. It is totally imbalanced.

[wolfyde]

It's not funny anymore. This slot machines are totally absurd. It's a welcome opportunity for gold sellers and bot users. It has a massiv impact on ingame economy. Evey single material on every grade is going to be dumped. Crew skill missions for blue or purple materials are totally useless by now, especially wealthy missions. why waiting ~4h for 3-5, if you could get 300+ in the same time + a lot of green, blues and other stuff. It is totally imbalanced.

 

Either you haven't read any of the previous posts, or you don't comprehend the mechanics at work.

See 2 posts just above yours, for starters.

Once more; the slot machine does not add money to the economy.

[OddballEasyEight]

lol, not an exploit but this has had a far greater negative impact on the game economy than any exploit to date has. After getting a new character to drommund kaas I went, at level 17 and using the credits I had, played the slot machine and went from 27k to 1.8 mill in a couple hours. I had to pause and wait for sales from my first round on the machine since I started with few credits. This was done during the price crash (so a few hours before this post).

 

This is the worst addition to the game to date

 

It's only been a negative effect for those who profit millions off the inflated prices.

For the average player, the effect has been positive.

 

Once the market stabilises, spamming the machine won't be very profitable except for getting mats for crafting.

[OddballEasyEight]

that is the problem... you shouldn't be able to make that kind of money on a lowbie. This is going to abused to kingdom come by gold sellers. Think the spam is bad now? wait until they have alot more inventory to try to push. This is also going to lead to greater inflation on items of desire (vanity, mounts, etc) since so many have more credits. MUDflation at its worst

 

It's not inflation.

I linked the definition to you in another thread, so I won't link it again, but it's not inflation when it's only money trading hands.

For it to be inflation, money has to be created.

Selling mats on the GTN does not create money, it simply moves money from one player to another.

In fact, it even removes money from the economy by the taxes, thus decreasing inflation.

 

You really need to read up on what inflation really is before you start saying stuff like that.

[Jeweledleah]

It's only been a negative effect for those who profit millions off the inflated prices.

For the average player, the effect has been positive.

 

Once the market stabilises, spamming the machine won't be very profitable except for getting mats for crafting.

 

yep. pretty much.

 

and honestly? we had significant market changes before. back in a day, I used to make some pocket change by crafting low level non class specific belts and wrists. and then cartel market was introduced and social vendor stuff became adoptive... and market for belts and wrists died out. did the game die? nope. did economy die? nope. people found new ways to make credits off GTN, people who did dailies, continued to do dailies... and life went on.

 

[Citruzz]

Either you haven't read any of the previous posts, or you don't comprehend the mechanics at work.

See 2 posts just above yours, for starters.

Once more; the slot machine does not add money to the economy.

 

Did i say something about money?

[Sashandra]

It's not inflation.

I linked the definition to you in another thread, so I won't link it again, but it's not inflation when it's only money trading hands.

For it to be inflation, money has to be created.

Selling mats on the GTN does not create money, it simply moves money from one player to another.

In fact, it even removes money from the economy by the taxes, thus decreasing inflation.

 

You really need to read up on what inflation really is before you start saying stuff like that.

 

I said "MUDflation" which has a different meaning to "inflation"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudflation since you like wikipedia

 

The cost of gaining the jawa scrap items is lower than the cost of running mission for mats, thanks largely to the price return you gain on selling rep items, particularly in the case of purple mats. This leads to a devaluation of previously gained mats, which due to price wars between players selling items leads to a lower cost for the finished product. Players that buy may be happy, but this then controls the way mats need to be acquired in order for a crafter to remain competitive.

 

Yes, this is simply money trading hands, however now with easy methods for getting credits, (dailies, leveling, pvp, ops trash) the amount of credits going into the economy vastly exceeds the amount being spent in the money sinks that are designed to create a balance.

 

Now, since you like to tell people to read up on things before talking about them, try to realize that what exists at the moment is actually deflation. Deflation in the value of good, where the same amount of currency buys more.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation

 

So, buy reading the definitions of inflation, deflation and MUDflation, which of the 3 is accurate?

Edited January 17, 2015 by Sashandra

[LordArtemis]

I really dont know why you bother to keep talking about it, Eric has spoken, very clearly that they will double check the jawa junk and its effect on the economy, and that's it.

I doubt it will be touched but if they do, it will be to tone the jawa junk down a little and that will be the end of it.

Then in the future, a new pack we will see another machine with different prizes, and somewhere down the track they may do another rep but I don't think we'll see many rep ones too often.

Its the perfect vehicle for a money sink, and top points to BW for implementing it.

 

...and I am not sure why you are telling me this. I am aware of all of that, im not denying any of it. In fact I agree completely.

[LordArtemis]

I would add one point....there is one way it adds credits to the economy. If you are maxed in rep and decide to sell the tokens to a vendor you are generating credits.....

 

But, the amount you generate is likely somewhere around the amount you spent. it is unfortunate you can sell them for credits IMO, because it would be a more effective credit sink if you could not.

[wolfyde]

Did i say something about money?

 

By mentioning gold sellers, yes, you implied money.

Equally by injustly claiming the imbalancing effect of the slot machine. An MMO economy can not get imbalanced by a decrease of the rarity of certain mats. Profit margins are affected, sure, and the distribution of the available wealth will shift whilst the market adapts to new prices. New prices, by the way, that will make the baseline rating of 60 gear more democratic and more readily available to a larger number of people. Which is a good thing to all but the GTN whales who see the market through glasses tinted with greed.

 

You have a point about the effect on crew missions, sure. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as over the lifespan of a game some systems can get replaced or complemented by others.

I, for example, am still running crew missions whilst I'm playing on my toons, and send them out just before I log.

I still click on resource nodes in the world. The existing gathering systems are not rendered obsolete by the slot machine.

And I'm still enjoying my crafting

[wolfyde]

I would add one point....there is one way it adds credits to the economy. If you are maxed in rep and decide to sell the tokens to a vendor you are generating credits.....

 

But, the amount you generate is likely somewhere around the amount you spent. it is unfortunate you can sell them for credits IMO, because it would be a more effective credit sink if you could not.

 

I agree, that's the one thing I'd change about the machine to maximize it's efficiency as a money sink, remove the monetary value of the reputation items.

Edited January 17, 2015 by wolfyde

[wolfyde]

edit: double post, woops Edited January 17, 2015 by wolfyde

[Sashandra]

I agree, that's the one thing I'd change about the machine to maximize it's efficiency as a money sink, remove the monetary value of the reputation items.

 

or just halve the rate of gain for them, since you seem to get 60-70% of the cost back in just rep items (RNG depending), a reduction would be more than enough to lower the price of stuff but not carve the guts out of every mats and crafting market.

 

Its meant to be gambling, not pull the lever for loot, the odds of not getting anything are rather too small.

[OddballEasyEight]

I said "MUDflation" which has a different meaning to "inflation"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudflation since you like wikipedia

 

The cost of gaining the jawa scrap items is lower than the cost of running mission for mats, thanks largely to the price return you gain on selling rep items, particularly in the case of purple mats. This leads to a devaluation of previously gained mats, which due to price wars between players selling items leads to a lower cost for the finished product. Players that buy may be happy, but this then controls the way mats need to be acquired in order for a crafter to remain competitive.

 

Yes, this is simply money trading hands, however now with easy methods for getting credits, (dailies, leveling, pvp, ops trash) the amount of credits going into the economy vastly exceeds the amount being spent in the money sinks that are designed to create a balance.

 

Now, since you like to tell people to read up on things before talking about them, try to realize that what exists at the moment is actually deflation. Deflation in the value of good, where the same amount of currency buys more.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation

 

So, buy reading the definitions of inflation, deflation and MUDflation, which of the 3 is accurate?

 

You used the word inflation, yourself.

"This is also going to lead to greater inflation on items of desire"

 

Sure, you said MUDflation too, but that wasn't what I was commenting on.

Prices of vanity, mounts, etc won't go up drastically because of the slot machine. Because no new money is being made (at least not in any larger quantity than it was before). In fact, the slot machine is a credit drain and the more people use them, the better it works (at the moment, judging from the amount of whining about how people are abusing it, it should be sucking the credits out by the tonne).

 

So no, this isn't inflation.

 

MUDflation, sure... the mats are suffering from that at the moment, but it's not going to be a disaster.

And it's certainly not going to lead to deflation on vanity items and other cartel items.

Because people are not getting richer, the wealth is just being redistributed.

[OddballEasyEight]

Did i say something about money?

 

Hard to say that "it will have a massive impact on the economy" without talking about money.

[Kissakias]

1. treasure hunting crafting missions before costs 100k, after slot machine cost 9k-10k each

2. dark projects materials cost a lot, after slot machine cost almost nothing with the big drop rate of blue and purple junks

3. all certs was very hard and very expensive to get, now is like doing 10 bounty per hour.

4. rep need many many many packs to reach legend lvl, now just need 5 hours from 0 to legend.

 

slot machine, bugged or not, has destroyed the economy of the game

some players lived from selling mat missions

some players lived a bit from selling OPs mats loot that used in dark projects

some players lived from crafting general

Edited January 17, 2015 by Kissakias

[xDanekx]

Hey folks,

• 
  
• We added the Slot Machine as a fun idea based on the positive feedback from the Nightlife event, so spend those credits to your heart’s content!
  

 

-eric

 

Ofc - http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=758421

[OddballEasyEight]

1. treasure hunting crafting missions before costs 100k, after slot machine cost 9k-10k each

2. dark projects materials cost a lot, after slot machine cost almost nothing with the big drop rate of blue and purple junks

3. all certs was very hard and very expensive to get, now is like doing 10 bounty per hour.

4. rep need many many many packs to reach legend lvl, now just need 5 hours from 0 to legend.

 

slot machine, bugged or not, has destroyed the economy of the game

some players lived from selling mat missions

some players lived a bit from selling OPs mats loot that used in dark projects

some players lived from crafting general

 

1. This is a good thing. Crafters can get materials cheaper, thus everyone can get crafted items cheaper.

2. This is also a good thing. Dark projects will be cheaper, thus everyone can get their dark projects items cheaper.

3. Certs were never hard or expensive to get. You just had to buy cartel packs with real money. Now you don't. Good thing.

4. Sure, but only for this one cartel reputation that is 2 years old and would nowadays cost you a fortune in credits to get by buying embargoed cartel packs off the GTN. So this change is a good thing.

 

Some players adapt and thrive.

Some players don't and whine.

 

Seriously.

I used to make a living from selling Mandalorian Iron back in the day.

Should bioware never have introduced any higher-tier materials just so I could keep making a living that way?

No.

 

You adapt to the market or you are a failure.

 

Oh and btw, people can still make a living from all of what you listed, it's just that they'll have to get used to making less money from that.

If they want to stay at the same level of income, they'll have to adapt.

 

The only ones this is "bad" for is the people who were gouging the market with overinflated prices on mats and crafting.

For the average-joe (or average crafter for that matter) this is a good thing. Prices are going down (and will go up again and stabilize at a reasonable level) and that means more people can afford the good stuff.