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Tait/Eric, some of us would like to talk to you about the Slot Machine changes.


OddballEasyEight

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Thank you for the clever bait-and-switch. There should never be anything that you can use to attain game improving items that improve your quality of life, at the expense of ridiculous price-gougers. It was broken to a minor degree and now its absolutely destroyed, and while the economy will suffer for a few weeks the gougers will be back on top, we applaud your sense of dishonesty in seeing one relatively insignificant problems out of many blatantly obvious problem and overreacting to one. Meanwhile, the bugs, lag, real exploits, and glaring deficiencies are unaddressed.

 

 

There, fixed that to better reflect what I am sure you meant. Or at least for accuracy.

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Speaking of booze, there will be a $15 cover charge but 3 free drinks.

 

Once inside people will discover those drinks are 99.99% tapwater, with a .001% chance at a Bud Light.

 

They'll serve BudlIght for the first hour, and after that they'll put in your proposed mixture having only realized after the fact that alcohol might intoxicate the crowd.

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So I have a few suggestions to fix this.

 

They could change drop rates as follows....

 

fail - 24.993%

token - 26%

green rep - 20%

blue rep - 15%

purple rep - 5%

green mat - 6%

blue mat - 2%

purple mat - 1%

certificate - 4%

mount - 0.007%

 

This would drastically reduce high end scraps without nerfing them out of existence, increase the mount chance to the one during the NarShadaa Nightlife event, and push certificates up to the level they should be. It also keeps failure level below 25 percent like it should be.

 

Now, if they choose to keep scrap levels at current levels (which, IMO would be fine)

 

fail - 24.993%

token - 30.55%

green rep - 20%

blue rep - 15%

purple rep - 5%

green mat - 0.2%

blue mat - 0.15%

purple mat - 0.1%

certificate - 4%

mount - 0.007%

 

Now this doubles old cert drop rate, making it the main prize along with rep tokens, and rolls the extra percentage into the token drop. The failure rate remains below 25 percent.

 

And here is a third option, if they wanted to go the route of adding a "lucky" buff.

 

fail - 35%/24.993%

token - 20%/26%

lucky buff - 10%

green rep - 16.999%/20%

blue rep - 13%/15%

purple rep - 4.5%/5%

green mat - 0.2%/6%

blue mat - 0.15%/2%

purple mat - 0.1%/1%

certificate - 0.05%/4%

mount - 0.002%/0.007%

 

Now, this setup would provide the current numbers, but would boost the numbers as shown in the second set if you hit a "lucky buff", that would last for a certain period of time. This is the best option IMO...it gives players the incentive to roll for a chance to get better numbers...not as good as they were, but much better than they are.

 

This reduces the chances from a pure reset to one of the sets above, which averages out a lower amount overall, but nowhere near as bad as it is now....and players have an incentive to roll.

 

This would be the option I would choose to make everyone happy.

Edited by LordArtemis
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So, how exactly could you guys post something like this:

 

 

 

And then change the drop rates of the machine to these extremes:

 

EDIT: Removed the new slot machine chances because, apparantly, posts with those were being removed...

 

I did an experiment to see if those numbers were true or exaggerated and here's what I got for exactly 100 coins:

 

 

 

 

So going through exactly 100 coins I got 0 jawa junk, 0 droid parts, 0 scavanged scrap, 0 certificates, 0 mounts, 26 green rep tokes, 13 blue rep tokens and 4 purple rep tokens.

 

This just screams of knee-jerk reaction to the whining on the forums.

 

I'm not saying the machine shouldn't be changed (I suggested changing the odds of getting the jawa scrap to the same as the rep tokens earlier), but this has made the machine completely uninteresting for anyone who has maxed out the rep for that pack.

It's not even a slightly viable option for crafters any more.

 

The coins cost me 75.000 credits.

My return on selling the rep items was 36.000 credits.

And there was absolutely no gain from it whatsoever.

 

 

So I ask you, how did it go from "there's nothing wrong with the machine, it's working as intended but we'll look at the drop rates of Jawa Junk because of the feedback on the forums" to "we have changed all the droprates so that you will get hardly any jawa scrap of any sort from the machine and we've also increased the price of using the machine"

 

I'm just curious as to how you arrived that that solution.

 

Because right now the machines are pointless to most of us. They certainly aren't "a fun idea based on the positive feedback from the Nightlife event".

I seriuosly doubt anyone will use them at all now.

 

Most likely it wasnt just the folks on the forums. I'm sure they have data on how many crew missions are ran in their analytics some where, if not they be slacking. I'm also sure that they saw a very dramatic drop in the number of crew missions. The changes were basically inevitable as it destroyed a good part of the game, aka crew missions and gathering from wild nodes. I'm quite entertained by all the ranting and raving though so continue on please

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There, fixed that to better reflect what I am sure you meant. Or at least for accuracy.

 

What I said was 100 percent truthful and accurate. Those that choose not to see the issue with the machine are wearing blinders and only see short term gains instead of the long term consequences. To not ascertain that the machine would get nerfed after the massive price drops in rares is a mistake on the players part if they purchased the machine in hopes of profit. It should have never been put in the game is it was and that was a mistake that they acknowledged and fixed. Thanks!

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If I lived near the next Cantina event I would stock up on torches and pitchforks and sell them at a profit near the entrance, if you get them for a good price by buying them in bulk you could turn in a nice little sum for minor efforts!
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What I said was 100 percent truthful and accurate. Those that choose not to see the issue with the machine are wearing blinders and only see short term gains instead of the long term consequences. To not ascertain that the machine would get nerfed after the massive price drops in rares is a mistake on the players part if they purchased the machine in hopes of profit. It should have never been put in the game is it was and that was a mistake that they acknowledged and fixed. Thanks!

 

So you're saying that the buyers are responsible for having the foresight to predict what BW will do, even while BW is saying that everything is fine, and make their buying decisions on said foresight? Tell me, what have you ever bought that you told the poeple you were buying it from that you 'knew' they were going to completely change the item, and you knew how the item would be changed, and you still wanted it after the changes, and you knew this all before they did?

 

You're beyond rediculous. You can't expect consumers to know a company is going to switch their items out after purchase, especially after said company said the items were perfectly fine. 200+ years of US consumer cases of precendent alone, not to mention some commone sense should tell you how far off base you are. Everyone that bought a machine in any form should be offered the opportunity to refund it. They didn't get what they were told they were buying. Simple as that.

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Thank you for making an item about gambling actually about GAMBLING than farming.

 

Putting things into a slot machine indefinitely should ultimately always result in a net loss since the odds are always in favor of the house.

 

Odds so in favor of the house sees the casino close because no one plays there knowing they can't EVER win anything. And as mentioned, no one has to buy the machine first to play. Poor analogy is poor.

 

If they put a casino on the fleet and provided the machines and all we had to do was buy tokens? Then your statement holds weight. As is, nope... it does not.

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So you're saying that the buyers are responsible for having the foresight to predict what BW will do, even while BW is saying that everything is fine, and make their buying decisions on said foresight? Tell me, what have you ever bought that you told the poeple you were buying it from that you 'knew' they were going to completely change the item, and you knew how the item would be changed, and you still wanted it after the changes, and you knew this all before they did?

 

You're beyond rediculous. You can't expect consumers to know a company is going to switch their items out after purchase, especially after said company said the items were perfectly fine. 200+ years of US consumer cases of precendent alone, not to mention some commone sense should tell you how far off base you are. Everyone that bought a machine in any form should be offered the opportunity to refund it. They didn't get what they were told they were buying. Simple as that.

 

It isn't foresight, it's common sense. Everyone could see the consequences of what the machine would/has done and why it needed to be changed from day 1. Like I said, blinders.

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It isn't foresight, it's common sense. Everyone could see the consequences of what the machine would/has done and why it needed to be changed from day 1. Like I said, blinders.

 

 

Yes a lot of people, but soon after it hit the forums, eric made a post putting a lot of those speculations to rest. THATS the point, don't think for a second that after that post. the sales of those packs went through the roof.

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It isn't foresight, it's common sense. Everyone could see the consequences of what the machine would/has done and why it needed to be changed from day 1. Like I said, blinders.

 

The problem that most are upset about is not so much the purple mats but they are using coins and not getting much of anything. A change in the mats was expected but not so much that they are not getting hardly anything at all now. This I believe is what a lot of people are upset about.

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What I said was 100 percent truthful and accurate. Those that choose not to see the issue with the machine are wearing blinders and only see short term gains instead of the long term consequences. To not ascertain that the machine would get nerfed after the massive price drops in rares is a mistake on the players part if they purchased the machine in hopes of profit. It should have never been put in the game is it was and that was a mistake that they acknowledged and fixed. Thanks!

 

Please explain to us blinders wearing people what the long term consequences would have been. I assume that you have a very clear overview about the market and about economics and you know the exact numbers and ways players are playing this game?

 

I remember very long and detailed posts about how the market will completely collapse when the strongholds and the decos get introduced. These predictions were 100% wrong with everything!

 

How many people would run the machines as excessively in 4 weeks from now as they did for a couple of days during the last week? You really think it would continue this massively? Is your prediction based on that thought?

 

Don't confuse the 1% no-life-players (yes, I said it!) and the 1% botters/macroers/cheaters with the 98% playing this game properly, please.

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It isn't foresight, it's common sense. Everyone could see the consequences of what the machine would/has done and why it needed to be changed from day 1. Like I said, blinders.

 

You realize most of the people that abused this machine are the same people that sit for hours on end every day clicking crew missions to sell mats on the GTN right?

 

The same people calling for nerfs, were the same people abusing to the point where it was going to get nerf. Blinders indeed, better take yours off so you can see the rest of us aren't wearing them.

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Ironically, what Bioware has done here is REINFORCE what people have already decided is best in this game: exploit early, exploit often.

 

Yes yes officially this is not an "exploit" since they said it isn't. But come on: people who got the slot ran thousands of coins through it for huge gain, knowing it couldn't last. They exploited it, and have been rewarded handsomely.

 

Yep - pretty much. I sold 4 machines in the last 19 minutes before nerf patch for about 7.9million. And I don't feel the least bit bad about it now given how bad the machines i kept for myself perform, lol.

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So it appears that paying customer's wallets are low hanging fruit in the eyes of Bioware. First you tell us the slot machine is not bugged and working as intended, knowing it would entice customers to spend more money buying cartel coins in hopes to get their own slot machine to partake in the excitement. now nerfing the drop rates to unreasonably low numbers to where paying customer's feel cheated and ripped off. I understand the need to protect the economy in game etc but come on really, you had to destroy the one thing that you gave us as a "fun" item. So you are quick to "fix" something that you yourself said was not broke and working as intended but you drug your feet on fixing the ability lag and exploit that came with the release of 3.0 and angered many more customers.
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So I have a few suggestions to fix this.

 

They could change drop rates as follows....

 

fail - 24.993%

token - 26%

green rep - 20%

blue rep - 15%

purple rep - 5%

green mat - 6%

blue mat - 2%

purple mat - 1%

certificate - 4%

mount - 0.007%

 

This would drastically reduce high end scraps without nerfing them out of existence, increase the mount chance to the one during the NarShadaa Nightlife event, and push certificates up to the level they should be. It also keeps failure level below 25 percent like it should be.

 

Now, if they choose to keep scrap levels at current levels (which, IMO would be fine)

 

fail - 24.993%

token - 30.55%

green rep - 20%

blue rep - 15%

purple rep - 5%

green mat - 0.2%

blue mat - 0.15%

purple mat - 0.1%

certificate - 4%

mount - 0.007%

 

Now this doubles old cert drop rate, making it the main prize along with rep tokens, and rolls the extra percentage into the token drop. The failure rate remains below 25 percent.

 

And here is a third option, if they wanted to go the route of adding a "lucky" buff.

 

fail - 35%/24.993%

token - 20%/26%

lucky buff - 10%

green rep - 16.999%/20%

blue rep - 13%15%

purple rep - 4.5%/5%

green mat - 0.2%/6%

blue mat - 0.15%/2%

purple mat - 0.1%/1%

certificate - 0.05%/4%

mount - 0.002%/0.007%

 

Now, this setup would provide the current numbers, but would boost the numbers as shown in the second set if you hit a "lucky buff", that would last for a certain period of time. This is the best option IMO...it gives players the incentive to roll for a chance to get better numbers...not as good as they were, but much better than they are.

 

This reduces the chances from a pure reset to one of the sets above, which averages out a lower amount overall, but nowhere near as bad as it is now....and players have an incentive to roll.

 

This would be the option I would choose to make everyone happy.

 

Artemis,

Do you know what .007% represents in odds? or were you just putting numbers down like the programmer that made this goof in the first place did and then trying to make them add up to 100%?

 

.007% = 0.00007

 

That means, theoretically, if you were tog et perfect distribution of random numbers for every 100,000 spins you would get the number for the vehicle 7 times.

 

So less than 1vehicle every 10,000 spins or more than 10 times worse odds than receiving a Kingpin Rancor which was difficult enough to receive that people went apoplectic over it.

 

4% odds for a cartel market cert. Now, aside from the argument peole have abouthow their 'exclusivity' of faction based items has been just gutted, you're talking about 4 appearing for every 100 spins. so, stretching the odds out here to match the hardest to obtain item (100,000 spins = 7) your talking 100,000 spins = 4000 certs.

 

Dropping this into the realm of 'stacks' (99 tokens)

 

Fail - 24.993% -- or, about 33 spins will be a failure.

token - 26% -- 25.7% of all spins results in a free spin meaning you get about 35 total free spins from 99 tokens

green rep - 20% -- About 27 Green Rep (13,500 credits)

blue rep - 15% -- about 20 Blue rep (about 20,000 credits)

purple rep - 5% -- about 7 Purple rep (about 17,500 credits)

green mat - 6% -- about 8 green mats

blue mat - 2% -- About 3 Blue mats

purple mat - 1% -- About 1 Purple Mat

certificate - 4% -- about 5 certs.

mount - 0.007% -- 0.00938 vehicles. Or about one every 107 stacks of 99 Tokens.

 

now.. lets make some basic assumptions. Lets say you can't sell the stuff from the cartel certs.

You spent 74,250 credits to get the above results.

Selling the reputation items, presuming you are max rep, nets you 51,000 credits.

Cost then for your ONE purple mat = 74,250 - 51,000 = 23,250 coins.

 

You could probably shave this down some by selling the greens and blues but realisitically, not very much, so cost per material is significantly higher than the cost for the material gathered via crewskills.

 

Now, you can conceivably vendor your now much richer Cartel Certificate Drops. Since you made them richer though the market will be saturated sooner. So, we'll call it a wash for now. But still, in the early stages and conservatively estimating 10,000 profit for each Cert after expenses like GTN fees, you're making an additional $50,000. So now cost per purple mat is a negative 26,750.. or rather that you get an expected profit of 26,750 credits AND a purple mat.

 

So the crafting resource is still essentially free if we count in the market certs OR its a bit too expensive if we don't.

 

So it looks to me like you're basically just taking the existing numbers and playing with them some until you come up with something you think looks good to your eye, but doesn't really have any real thought to the expected results from the probabilities you present.

 

This is likely the same mistake the developers made when initially designing the item and then later 'fixing' the item.

 

What needs to be done is to balance the probabilities so that, given perfect distribution and assigning an arbitrary value to the cartel market certification (I recommend making it worth 3 times a purple rep token, this is 7,500 which is less than 10k but I really believe that the market on bartenders and dancers would top out quickly and because I believe the majority of the certs will be used to purchase BoP stuff for the players characters -- EDIT TO CLARIFY: or, per comment later in this thread, convert their value to 0 credits by making every Cartel Cert purchasable item BoP) the expected costs from the entire stack put the number of purple results cost at @ 150 to 200% of the cost of current highest tier materials would cost via companion missions.

 

I believe it is perfectly fair to 'value' each purple obtained though off of the cost of the most expensive material available on the Jawa Vendors. So, since it may take 2 purple material to get 1 of the top tier Grade 11 mats, if that mat takes 10,000 credits to earn a single example, on average, via crew skill missions, each of the purple Jawa Junk should have 'cost' the player @ 7,500 credits to earn. at the low end and $10,000 at the high end through the slot machine.

 

This would likely indicate that the best strategy here for BioWare is to come up with a system that increases a players feeling that they are winning (including free spins) but reduces the number of tradeable items received so that in the end, their cost to receive a number of jawa Junk items is equal to about $15,000 to $20,000 credits out of pocket. A truly honest crafter can tell us what the real cost per grade 11 artifact material is and the odds then adjusted accordingly.

 

This can not be merely throwing numbers up and saying 'this looks nice'!

 

That was done, TWICE, and both times have been abject failures.

 

ALSO, the red headed step child of the new walker/speeder needs to be addressed. Is it considered acceptable that with your 0.007% odds getting the speeder with absolutely perfect distribution of the odds would cost the player somewhere in the ballpark of 2.5 million credits after they sellback rep items but not counting cartel certs???

 

Kind of steep IMO. So Dropping it down so that it doesn't take 107 stacks of perfect distribution of potential results to receive the new vehicle is likely smart.

 

The issue here then is a way to feed the player more wins wihout increasing the payout values. This increases the fun factor of the object and makes it _feel_ rewarding while not affecting the game economy etc.

 

So, I per my initial suggestions PRIOR to the current version of the Slot machine, I would throw in more winning chances but for items that are not considered tradable/convertible into credits. Which is why I suggested that the slots also drop items from the cartel packs/shipment they represent with these items all being 'Bind on Pickup' or potentially, Bind to legacy on a timer where once the timer expires the item converts to bind on pickup. This allows you to share the won item with anyone in your legacy, but not outside of it and you cant sell it for cash. it is important though that the item be 'Bound on pickup' though in its final state. We don't want to make cartel goods all bound to legacy.

 

This provides for multiple advantages.

 

You greatly pad winning percentages with stuff. This increases the fun perception of the slot machine and makes it feel like you are 'winning' without actually affecting the cash value of the convertible items. It gives you, as the developer, an area you can introduce statistical result wiggle room to increase or decrease the rate of return on the slots based on your economic needs.

 

It provides a method for you to assist players in filling out their cartel collections for packs that are long 'discontinued' and infrequently on sale. While this may cut down slightly on cartel market sales of old packs when they are introduced, it allows you to fully retire some old packs and have the appearance to be focusing on new content and not just trying to make a buck on old stuff. Its also just a cool thing to do for your players.

 

it gives new players a means to access these old cartel shipments and means they never have to make the choice between saving to buy an old cartel pack, or buying the new cartel packs. it allows them to put greater importance on the 'new' stuff you are producing.

 

it helps create a money sink for the economy as there is a real credits cost and even ater they have received all the rep they need, and perhaps they don't need crafted items/mats, they still have a reason to come spin the wheel and try to fill out their collections.

 

yes, by being bind on pickup or bound to legacy on a timer and then bound on pickup you will receive some things you just want to throw away but the thrill of winning the item counteracts the disappointment of finding out it is useless, just like the free buffet you earn with your slots points outweighs when you realize the buffet is just 'ok'. ;)

 

I think it is worth considering, now that you can achieve Cartel Market Certificates from the Slot Machines, that ALL Cartel market Certificate Items be made 'bound on pickup'.

 

This allows you to remove from the potential equation that cartel market certs are worth anything at all as the player can't sell them for a currency benefit and this makes your calculations of the costs to earn Jawa Junk much much easier.

 

Please don't just throw numbers up and say ;that looks good' though. Instead, start from a premise/goal of 'we want to make grade 11 materials accessible to our community without damaging the existing game play mechanics' and then work towards fairly achieving that result.

 

If the cost to purchase the Jawa Junk through the slot machines ends up being 150-200% the cost of the materials when gathered traditionally, I think you will have solved both issues.

 

The rest then is just manipulating the odds on the slots so that they feel rewarding while essentially costing the character however much money you determine the reasonably expected number of dropped Jawa Junk should cost.

 

Padding wins with non-tradable/non-convertible to currency but meaningful prizes keeps the slots fun and keeps them an activity that players might gather to do together as a social activity as well.

 

And loosen up the odds for the 'reskinned' mounts but feelperfectly justified in having the odds quite long for any sort of truly unique item you allow to be a random prize such as the Ultra Rare items from the cartel shipment the slot machine represents.

Edited by EnkiduNineEight
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Sure not, same as here. You can win the ultra rare mount on the first roll.

 

Except in Vegas you don't have to buy the slot machine before you play, so that "ultra rare mount" which costs 100k in the Yavin vendor is hardly worth the 3 million you paid for the slot machine.

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Yes a lot of people, but soon after it hit the forums, eric made a post putting a lot of those speculations to rest. THATS the point, don't think for a second that after that post. the sales of those packs went through the roof.

 

No, he did not.

 

He said they were not an exploit. meaning = Do not worry, we're not going o prosecute you for ill gotten gains from the current mechanics of the slot machine.

 

In his next breath he said, (paraphrased) we are going to look at the results of the current mechanics and _will change them_ based on our review.

 

So they told you right up front that if it was determined the results were too generous, they were going to tune them back, just don't feel like you are being a cheat/exploiter for using the item in its current form.

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No, he did not.

 

He said they were not an exploit. meaning = Do not worry, we're not going o prosecute you for ill gotten gains from the current mechanics of the slot machine.

 

In his next breath he said, (paraphrased) we are going to look at the results of the current mechanics and _will change them_ based on our review.

 

So they told you right up front that if it was determined the results were too generous, they were going to tune them back, just don't feel like you are being a cheat/exploiter for using the item in its current form.

 

Okay, let's go with that. But how do they go from one extreme to the other. When the Slot Machine was introduced, they set the statistical odds to win any of the potential rewards. Based on these initial odds to win, they also knew that it would be easy to win any of the potential rewards. Now what they may not have known is the impact that these odds would have on the economy/market in the game. So they look at the numbers and see that the odds are just too good (which they knew) and so they decide to go the other extreme by reducing it to make it virtually impossible to win any of the crafting mats.

 

It doesn't take a genius to deduce that when you make it very easy to obtain certain drops it will have some impact on the economy/market. They even stated themselves that they saw that the market at the time was not where they wanted it to be with respect to Grade 11 crafting mats:

 

Let’s talk about the changes coming to the Contraband Slot Machine. When we were going into 3.0.2, we wanted to make Grade 11 materials more accessible to more players than they were at the time. As you know, we simultaneously put in the Contraband Slot Machine, which afforded you a fairly good chance to get Jawa Junk and other Jawa vendor scrap parts. This had two effects:•It had the risk of taking the Grade 11 material costs in the economy, in the long term, to a price below where we would like

•It created a situation where it could be more profitable to completely ignore crew skills by use of the Slot Machine

 

They wanted to make Grade 11 crafting mats more widely available and they achieved it. So now that they have reduced the odds as much as they did, how are they making Grade 11 materials "more accessible to more players" if that was the original intent of making Grade 11 mats more widely available through Slot Machines? Give it a few more weeks and the economy/market will adjust back to the way it was before.

Edited by zalio
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No, he did not.

 

He said they were not an exploit. meaning = Do not worry, we're not going o prosecute you for ill gotten gains from the current mechanics of the slot machine.

 

In his next breath he said, (paraphrased) we are going to look at the results of the current mechanics and _will change them_ based on our review.

 

So they told you right up front that if it was determined the results were too generous, they were going to tune them back, just don't feel like you are being a cheat/exploiter for using the item in its current form.

 

I'm going to go over your numbers. I still feel, like it did in the past, you are value adding cartel certificate decorations sales to purple mats to inflate their value (just a personal opinion) which I absolutely do not do in my calculations.

 

I will compare out numbers and see why were are not meeting up....but I can assure you, the numbers are NOT arbitrary. However, I am not against raising the mount drop percentage, or changing certain items from the embargo vendors or decorations as BOP as long as the items that are set that way that are collectable would remain so.

Edited by LordArtemis
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