AdamLKvist Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I paid REAL money on packs for this slot machine. AFTER it was "working as intended". Now, it is absolutely worthless! Thanks..... some real honest business right there. If I go buy a TV at Best Buy should they be allowed to come to my house and replace my 52" with a 32" and keep my money? Awful business practice..... I understand you needed to make changes, but you really need to TEST these things out BEFORE you sell them for REAL MONEY. Between this and how long the Ravagers exploit was allowed to run rampant I've lost a lot of faith in you guys. Hey folks, We know that there have been many questions about the Contraband Slot Machine and its intent. Here are a few notes on it: The Contraband Slot Machine is not bugged. It is 100% not an exploit to use the Slot Machine. If you feel the desire to sell access to your Stronghold, that’s totally up to you. As a reminder, do not scam people as that is against ToS. 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! With that being said, we do hear the concern from many of you around the effects of the Jawa Junk’s drop rate on the economy. We are going to take a look at it and make changes accordingly. I will let you know once I know more. In the meantime, have fun! -eric You took a gamble, you lost. Stop with this entitled ********. Its right there, in their post, that they would potentially change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesh Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 "Change" and completely delete a part of the drops (yeah, every 10 stacks you get 1 jawa scrap...) are two different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarian Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 My return on selling the rep items was 36.000 credits. Wait...you can sell the rep items? They aren't BoP? Or am I misunderstanding something? I can't find any at all for sale on Harbinger at the moment. (Not that I need any, I was just looking out of curiosity.) Because right now the machines are pointless to most of us. Personally, the two things I was after from them were cartel reputation and certificates. If the certificates are now super-duper rare, that would be too bad...but, oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I expected them to change it. I didn't expect them to go with scorched earth........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Wait...you can sell the rep items? They aren't BoP? Or am I misunderstanding something? I can't find any at all for sale on Harbinger at the moment. (Not that I need any, I was just looking out of curiosity.) Personally, the two things I was after from them were cartel reputation and certificates. If the certificates are now super-duper rare, that would be too bad...but, oh well. They can be sold to vendors, s/he's not talking about selling them on the GTN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkerus Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) "Change" and completely delete a part of the drops (yeah, every 10 stacks you get 1 jawa scrap...) are two different things. And I think that summarizes most people's concerns. I truly believe we all expected some type of change to the drop rate to a more reasonable level but not a complete gutting so to speak. It's the reasonable person test. What would a reasonable person expect the drop rate to be? Half of what it was? A third? What has been done is beyond the change a reasonable person would expect because the drop rate now is essentially zero. It's not zero exactly but what is referred to as essentially zero because it now has zero impact on gameplay. Edited January 21, 2015 by Arkerus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) Wait...you can sell the rep items? They aren't BoP? Or am I misunderstanding something? I can't find any at all for sale on Harbinger at the moment. (Not that I need any, I was just looking out of curiosity.) You can sell them to a vendor. Personally, the two things I was after from them were cartel reputation and certificates. If the certificates are now super-duper rare, that would be too bad...but, oh well. They cut the cert drop rate to 1/40th of what it was before. So, yea, extremely rare now. Drop rates on everything but tokens and rep items was dropped to a fraction of a percent, the loss rate was almost doubled and the cost per coin was increased 50 percent. This was a slaughter. Edited January 21, 2015 by LordArtemis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmyownworld Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 I'm not one that goes around calling bait-and-switch, but after specifically saying these things were "working as intended" and then less than a week later doing an almost complete 180 on that position... well, something's not right there. This is what I'm wondering, too. I can understand a small adjustment being needed. I have to wonder how the slots went live, generated a lot of interest (and either revenue or credit sink), and then get nerfed to near useless. Did no one at BW considered the ramifications of the original drop rate on the slots? To insure that the Slot Machine is still an awesome item to strive for, we have added a faction specific walker mount as a very rare drop For me, sir, it does not make the slot machine, "an awesome item to strive for ..." The extent of the nerf makes the slot machine pointless since I already have maxed the rep, and makes me very wary about future ingame purchases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddballEasyEight Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 You took a gamble, you lost. Stop with this entitled ********. Its right there, in their post, that they would potentially change it. You should read that again. It states that they'll be taking a look at the drop rates of Jawa Junk (that's the purple jawa stuff if you didn't know, the ones you use for buying grade 11 rares), not the rest. So it would be expected that they would lower the drop rate of jawa junk. But they lowered the drop rate of not only jawa junk but also all the other jawa scraps. And the cartel certificate. And not to mention that they didn't "adjust" the droprate, they pretty much removed it completely. Changing the drop rate on something from 10% to 0,1% is rather drastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuriDogshin Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 That 'racket' works because those were small retail shops who wouldn't be able to afford fighting those suits in court. EA's legal team and whatever litigation firms they have on retainer are a whole other ballgame. Retainer? They might have in-house council on salary but I don't know of any law firms that have a retainer agreement with a large corporation. Big corporation get charged by the hour for anything related to litigation unless they handle it in house. In the very large corporations I have worked in, none of them handled litigation in-house. That's the underlying mechanic by which small-potatoes "non-practicing entities" (also called patent trolls) made a good living: send a letter alleging infringement, then offer to license the patent (usually low quality) for a fraction of the minimum cost of a law suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ariasfel Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 You took a gamble, you lost. Stop with this entitled ********. Its right there, in their post, that they would potentially change it. Far from it, if I was entitled I would have expected that slot machine for free. I was well aware they would adjust the drop rates, not nuke them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarian Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 You can sell them to a vendor. Ohhhh...duh. They cut the cert drop rate to 1/40th of what it was before. So, yea, extremely rare now. 1.../40th? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddballEasyEight Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) You can sell them to a vendor. They cut the cert drop rate to 1/40th of what it was before. So, yea, extremely rare now. Drop rates on everything but tokens and rep items was dropped to a fraction of a percent, the loss rate was almost doubled and the cost per coin was increased 50 percent. This was a slaughter. Yeah, the combined droprate of all the jawa scrap, the cartel certs AND the mounts is 0.5% In other words, there's a 0.5% chance that you'll get something other than rep items, coin back or loss on your coin. That's not good odds. Combine that with the god-awful loss rate and you'll see why nobody will waste any money on this. (especially since the walker mounts are just reskins of the regular ones) Edited January 21, 2015 by OddballEasyEight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkerus Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 You should read that again. It states that they'll be taking a look at the drop rates of Jawa Junk (that's the purple jawa stuff if you didn't know, the ones you use for buying grade 11 rares), not the rest. So it would be expected that they would lower the drop rate of jawa junk. But they lowered the drop rate of not only jawa junk but also all the other jawa scraps. And the cartel certificate. And not to mention that they didn't "adjust" the droprate, they pretty much removed it completely. Changing the drop rate on something from 10% to 0,1% is rather drastic. Normally, I would defend Bioware's actions but you are correct. This is a gross over reaction and even more troublesome because gamers spent real world money on crates to get this thing. A reasonable person would never have expected this type of change after what was posted in the forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Yes, the scraps have been removed for the most part. So have certs. And they added a nearly impossible mount to the mix. You have rep items and tokens remaining at decent drop rates. The loss rate skyrocketed to almost half of the time. This machine is now a torture device for anyone that has reached max rep IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Ohhhh...duh. 1.../40th? Yep. 1/40th. Pretty astounding, is it not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordArtemis Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Yeah, the combined droprate of all the jawa scrap, the cartel certs AND the mounts is 0.5% In other words, there's a 0.5% chance that you'll get something other than rep items, coin back or loss on your coin. That's not good odds. Combine that with the god-awful loss rate and you'll see why nobody will waste any money on this. (especially since the walker mounts are just reskins of the regular ones) I think if the cert rates were 4 percent, and the rest of the remaining percentage after slicing the scrap to the bone was pushed to the TOKEN drop rate, leaving the loss rate below 25 percent like it was before that would have been a change that most folks could have accepted....perhaps begrudgingly, but I think it would have flown when you factor in the mount. But this...this is plain ridiculous. I thought they were past dummy moves like this. I mean it was pretty foolish to release it as it was, but even more foolish to do this IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neoforcer Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) 693 coins got me 41 Prohibited Medical Supplies 68 Banned Holovids and 22 Confiscated Artwork. That's worth it right there right i say it once not worth the floor space in the stronghold. Nicely done BW i be pulling mine from my stronghold and placing some thing better looking then these things Edited January 21, 2015 by Neoforcer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeJarC Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 [somewhere in Austin, Texas] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Yeah, now they are just tools to get to max faction rep. Once you hit mex rep, they're pointless. Just another decoration to earn +100/+2 prestige. I have a hunch they will re-re-examine the drop rates because I seriously doubt they will be the money sink BWEA hopes they will be if they stay they way they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipacnaa Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) I expected them to change it. I didn't expect them to go with scorched earth........ Having been miffed by the total ballz up that was the 3.0 training fees where I had to pay again for stuff I'd previously paid for - now we get them go all nuclear on this ... Is there no middle way with these guys ... and in typical fashion there is no update from them... no communication since the "patch notes" .. nothing ... Edited January 21, 2015 by Zipacnaa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarian Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Yep. 1/40th. Pretty astounding, is it not? Glad I got all the certs I needed last weekend, then. And this doesn't make me particularly excited for the next slot machine. Looks like I may go back to writing off items that require certificates as unobtainable (as I did before this machine...) If they wanted an effective credit sink, I'd say keep the certificate drop rates what they were - or maybe decrease them a little - but increase the token price significantly. As it is, sounds like it's become more of a time sink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalli Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 While I agree that SOME of the Jawa scrap drops may have been a little high the change in their odds today is just terrible. You've gone from making something that was fun and rewarding to now just another thing to sit around in the house and maybe mess with every now and then. Many people are now only going to play this thing for getting the mount and then once they have it never fool with it again. Please consider going back in and redoing the numbers for something in between the two extremes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Having been miffed by the total ballz up that was the 3.0 training fees where I had to pay again for stuff I'd previously paid for - now we get them go all nuclear on this ... Is there no middle way with these guys ... and in typical fashion there is no update from them... no communication .. nothing ... Normally I don't get annoyed by their decisions (it is, after all, just a game), but these changes are completely silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Retainer? They might have in-house council on salary but I don't know of any law firms that have a retainer agreement with a large corporation. Big corporation get charged by the hour for anything related to litigation unless they handle it in house. In the very large corporations I have worked in, none of them handled litigation in-house. That's the underlying mechanic by which small-potatoes "non-practicing entities" (also called patent trolls) made a good living: send a letter alleging infringement, then offer to license the patent (usually low quality) for a fraction of the minimum cost of a law suit. Retainer was the wrong word, but corporations definitely have their go-to litigation firms that they have an ongoing relationship with. Anyone who tries to Patent Troll EA is not in for a fun ride, their in-house counsel definitely have a canned response to those attempts which would consist of their own mountain of cease-and-desist orders, threats of litigation, etc. And that's just what they'd start with before they turn things over to a litigation firm they work with. Again, there's a world of difference between going after a mom-and-pop shop and going after the third largest game developer in the world (a field that is particularly pugnacious when it comes to IP rights). (And the response letter probably won't even be as amusing as this one.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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