Cartel Market Changes Coming in Fallen Empire!

[Reno_Tarshil]

If the price was halved to reflect that you're essentially getting, well half the items, then perhaps. It would need to be a significantly noticeable drop in price though (not the permanent 30% off that we see, more like 65% off the current pricing model)

 

Packs are either 250-300 cc depending on certain shipments. Each pack contains 5-6 items (sometimes 4) so if it's dropping down to two. I believe a fair price would be anywhere between 100-150 cc.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Reno_Tarshil

[Mowermanx]

Good additional info; appreciated. Still curious myself, what about Cartel Certificates in the new shipments?

 

He mentions rep will be in packs brought back, so you can bet the certs will be in those as well.

- Reputations from previous Shipments will still be made available through the packs on the GTN and Grand Shipment Packs that will return the the market from time to time.

[Transcendent]

Packs are either 250-300 cc depending on certain shipments. Each pack contains 5-6 items (sometimes 4) so if it's dropping down to two. I believe a fair price would be anywhere between 100-150 cc.

 

I agree with that pricing range. 120CC would probably be the ideal pricing for a single pack based on what they will contain.

[azudelphi]

He mentions rep will be in packs brought back, so you can bet the certs will be in those as well.

I guess I am curious if they can officially say new packs won't have any cartel certs... which would be annoying given the decorations and stuff that are walled behind them,

[DarthDymond]

I guess I am curious if they can officially say new packs won't have any cartel certs... which would be annoying given the decorations and stuff that are walled behind them,

Agreed, even if they're moving away from Reputation Vendors in general, the Cartel Certs are still useful enough that I would suggest they should be a drop possibility in the Companion Gift slot, the same way they are a possible alternative to the Reputation Items in the current Packs.

[forstyle]

Can you answer why you are changing the what the rep vendors have available if we max out our rep for that specific pack set? That's the only reason I usually purchase the packs/hypercrates to be honest, is to max out rep and get the stuff I actually desire out of a pack. After reading most comments on here and other websites swtor players frequent, that seems to be one of the main issues coming up.

[Eres]

So, there won't be reputations from new packs and no certificates? =[

why? I like reputation system. Can you at least leave certificates there?

Edited October 2, 2015 by Eres

[ghoul_drool]

Yes, the question regarding cartel certificates has not been answered. If they do not drop from the NEW shipment that launches in october with 4.0, will the decoration vendor and the rep vendors still use them as currency? Seeing as it's a very, very finitie supply now?

 

And if the answer is NO - if the decoration vendor and the reputation vendors no longer use certificates as currency because the steady flow of certificates has dried up, what are players expected to do with the cartel certificates they A) have now and B) might pull from older packs still in game? Aside from the obvious very rude suggestions pertaining to bodily cleanliness, of course.

[Cyberload]

What about cartel reputation? if it´s going to be removed, what about the current reputation vendors? will i have a chance to access them in the future if i dont have the appropriate reputation before 4.0?

[Genicia]

The devs being vague as **** and not telling us anything? Never thought I'd see the day! /s

 

Serious been like a normal *********** company and just tell us what the **** EXACTLY will change instead of be so worried we'll leave because I hate to tell you being secretive will make people leave quicker than announcing something ****** outright.

[ronniehenlau]

Hey folks,

 

Based on a lot of the feedback we have been seeing I noticed I missed a few details in the blog.

 

- Any existing pack in your bank/inventory will not be affected by any of these changes.

- Armor Sets from the Monthly Cartel Packs will come in 3 lootboxes (Upper, Lower, Auxiliary).

- Bronze, Silver, and Gold Armor Packs will contain full armor sets.

- The new Shipment will not have a reputation associated with it.

- Any item that was specific to a reputation (aka not available in a pack) will continue to be available for purchase from the associated Reputation vendor.

- Reputations from previous Shipments will still be made available through the packs on the GTN and Grand Shipment Packs that will return the the market from time to time.

 

As with all things Cartel Market, things are subject to change based on your feedback.

 

Dan Bunten

Cartel Market Producer

 

With no rep, does that mean cartel market certificates will not be viable for future stuff? I have a fair amount of those, but atm I dont really have anything interesting to spend it on.

[Rundin]

I am happy and sad with some of the changes. I like the addition of the collections fixes and streamlining of the tiered goods. I am sad to see the rarity go down on some items due to always being available and the content of the packs shrinking as well as the loss of reputation from the future packs.

 

I typically bought until I got everything I wanted (items/rep) from a series and sold the rest on the GTN, but ran out of things to keep me interested in purchasing them.

 

Overall, I am glad to see all changes as it means less spending for me. The only reason I splurged so much on packs was to get the reputation (I am a reputation hound) for items that remained unique to those with Champion/Legend reputation as well as the titles themselves.

 

I was honestly hoping for more unique reputation items as well as Legacy versions of the armor/weapons for the packs. This would have kept me purchasing well after I got everything out of the pack I wanted and this would not help inflate the market as many complain that the random availability packs/items did.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Rundin

[Gamazson]

Hey folks,

 

Based on a lot of the feedback we have been seeing I noticed I missed a few details in the blog.

 

- Any existing pack in your bank/inventory will not be affected by any of these changes.

- Armor Sets from the Monthly Cartel Packs will come in 3 lootboxes (Upper, Lower, Auxiliary).

- Bronze, Silver, and Gold Armor Packs will contain full armor sets.

- The new Shipment will not have a reputation associated with it.

- Any item that was specific to a reputation (aka not available in a pack) will continue to be available for purchase from the associated Reputation vendor.

- Reputations from previous Shipments will still be made available through the packs on the GTN and Grand Shipment Packs that will return the the market from time to time.

 

As with all things Cartel Market, things are subject to change based on your feedback.

 

Dan Bunten

Cartel Market Producer

 

What about those of us who spent time and effort mixing our reputations with the cartel vendors expecting both the exclusive and non-exclusive items to be available to us? For me that was a serious time commitment, others would have made a serious financial contribution to the game for it.

 

How are we supposed to be able to buy the exclusive items from the rep vendor if cartel certificates are no longer available from new packs? I spent mine on decor items recently, not expecting to never be able to acquire them again.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Gamazson

[Fordbird]

Just cracks me up how Tait used the term, "exciting new changes." From my understanding, the changes will indeed be exciting...for them. It honestly sounds like they'll be getting the same amount of profit for 40% of the product. I doubt too many purchasers of the new "2 item cartel packs" are going to be excited about being burned...lol

[Millardkillmoore]

- Any item that was specific to a reputation (aka not available in a pack) will continue to be available for purchase from the associated Reputation vendor.

 

This is the issue. I've already gotten packs in order to gain reputation for specific items on the rep vendors that will be taken away with this patch. Why exactly are you punishing those of us who actually bothered to max rep? Leave those items on there. This is completely unfair to people who paid real money under the assumption that they'd always have access to those items.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Millardkillmoore

[Alec_Fortescue]

Please DO NOT remove items from cartel rep vendors. Many of us have paid for hundreds $ worth of packs to gain access to those items. They should remain where they are!

 

I am glad to see so many people complaining about it. I hope this will be changed.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Alec_Fortescue

[OathboundCoH]

Bronze packs = chance at a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Item

Silver packs = chance at Silver or Gold Item

Gold packs = Gold item

 

Unless the price difference is significant I fear you may have inadvertently reversed the rarity of the items.

 

If I go for the gusto and buy gold packs I will at a later date need to shell out more effort and cash to fill in my collection holes of bronze and silver items that will now be at a premium.

 

I may be really confused here and just not understand the format yet.

 

This would depend on the weighting of the rarities vs the cost of the varied packs. Since no prices or drop rates have been released it's really not possible to say what impact this arrangement will have.

 

Frankly, I think we could use a little bit of an increase in the higher rarities vs the more common items. Many of the Ultra rare items are so stupidly expensive as to be an impossibility to anyone but hardcore players (or those who art blessed by the RNG gods).

[JattaGin]

Please DO NOT remove items from cartel rep vendors. Many of us have paid for hundreds $ worth of packs to gain access to those items. They should remain where they are!

 

I am somewhat neutral about the blog post in general.

 

But since it mentioned that things might change according to our feedback, I want to note that I also think that those rep vendor items should stay for the mentioned reason(s). You earned the access to those items at one point, therefore I think it would not be very customer-friendly to take that away.

[Potima_Wolf]

Just to get my head around the pack changes can someone confirm I'm reading this right:

 

The current HC Wild space contains 24packs +1 platinum pack.

 

Each pack contains

• Two rare with a chance for a super rare items
  
• One rep vendor item
  
• 1 boost (filler)
  
• scrap (kind of filler)
  
• 1 comp gift (cred gtn filler)
  
• One bonus rare item
  

 

So from packs currently we get 3 rare with a chance of a super rare and 1 rep item that can be considerd "big" and quite a lot of filler. New packs will be 1 (Super?)rare that can be considerd "big" and filler but with 5 more crates? Cause that seems like theres a LOT less stuffs?

 

Or is it actually an improvement and I'm missing summat?

 

What I'm seeing is HC are now kind of redundent and I should be buying Gold armour/mount packs becuase - "Gold Armor Packs will contain full armor sets."

 

Edit - All these changes totally depend on real monie prices of course. I'm hoping, and assuming, Gold packs will be way cheaper the HCs

Edited October 2, 2015 by Potima_Wolf

[EnkiduNineEight]

Why use gambling packs at all?

 

You'd likely see an increase in sales dollars and volume if you were to price your items a little less 'inflated' from present (these are decidedly not 'micro-transaction' prices) so while you may make less for each individual sale you'll make more because you sell significantly more.

 

Just allow us to buy those things we want. This also gives you good metrics of the sort of things people are really going for and what they really do not want, helping you design more desirable items into the future and thus encourage more click through sales.

 

By removing the gambling packs and allowing for direct sales only through your cartel market, you also likely would cut down on the RAMPANT credit card fraud/theft rings that are being used by the gold seller/gold spammer cartels. Just make everything 'bind to legacy' so they can not be resold in the GTN and there you go.

 

Any one of your folks with elevated privileges can see my record of Cartel Market Purchases. I'm not suggesting this as someone who doesn't use the market and just wants everything cheap.

 

If you keep the majority of your prices for items at less than a $1 equivalent in cartel coins and allow people to buy exactly what they want, you'll likely do FAR more business and engage far more of the f2p and preferred players in cartel market activities. As it stands presently, as I recall, your subs (which are a diminishing number) are responsible for 80% of the cartel market purchases.

 

And I am not sure I really appreciate the verbiage. We're giving you MORE chances (30) per hypercrate! but you've reduced the number of items from each pack down to 2. So, It doesn't 'feel' like I'm going to be experiencing much of a postive change for me as a consumer.

 

I am pleased with the interface changes. Being able to filter and sort and search is a useful function that I was baffled did not exist from the outset.

 

Price everything for @ $1 real currency (more or less, with various sales and specials) , make it bind to the purchasers legacy (Killing the gold spammer market/credit card fraud market), and you'll likely see a much better/sustainable marketplace... and you'll see exactly what things people are choosing to buy so you can make more like that and stop spending effort on things that are less universally desirable. And, it would be 'micro' transactions. Your costs for development on these things is super low. Its like you're running a pharma industry with a markup of 5000%. Pass that on to your users and they'll reward you with loyalty and more purchases.

[Osgorion]

Hey folks,

 

Based on a lot of the feedback we have been seeing I noticed I missed a few details in the blog.

 

You're still missing quite a few details.

 

 

- Armor Sets from the Monthly Cartel Packs will come in 3 lootboxes (Upper, Lower, Auxiliary).

 

And there will always be a higher dropchance for lower lootboxes than the other ones? More dropchance for a box of *not-so-fancy* armor set D versus *coveted* armor set A is already enough to contend with. Ending up not being able to complete them has already been cluttering the GTN for years now. (EG; Satele Shan belt anyone?)

 

It feels so similar to those stickerbook collecting schemes some companies do (in real-material-life).

So you got this book without pictures to fill out with stickers which you can buy in (random) packs. However, some specific stickers are produced less than others, 1 or a few of them even *much* less.

No matter what you do and even if you trade with friends, you'll end up buying alot more stickers than the stickerbook can even hold in number. Some people may even never see their book completed while having enough double stickers to *almost* complete several more books.

 

- Bronze, Silver, and Gold Armor Packs will contain full armor sets.

 

Out of a giant pool of "xx" (and growing) number of armor sets? Or will there be a limited known variety of armor sets in those boxes? (EG; Gold box A contains Gold armor sets of shipments 1 to 3, Gold box B contains armor sets of shipments 4, 5 and 6, and so on?)

 

Will there be an extra *hidden* rarity factor within the Bronze, Silver, Gold boxes (More chance to get a Xoxaan set than a Tulak Hord set for example within a Gold Armor Pack)? Or will the dropchances for the sets within them be Equal?

 

Even after dealing with those numbers, there will still be supply and demand to take in account on the GTN itself, as you try to sell the sets you already have/don't want. Some sets will be wanted more than others regardless.

 

- The new Shipment will not have a reputation associated with it.

 

Why not? This was an incentive to many players. And rewarding in a way to those who are willing to spend a bit more.

Will there be other/new incentives coming to take it's place or will this now become absent as a whole?

 

- Any item that was specific to a reputation (aka not available in a pack) will continue to be available for purchase from the associated Reputation vendor.

 

It's still taking away availability. Which means that your players, especially those that paid, are getting the short end of the stick. The only ones I see benefitting from this move is you, Bioware/EA.

 

Expressing myself politely. I feel you're doing us a disservice there.

 

- Reputations from previous Shipments will still be made available through the packs on the GTN and Grand Shipment Packs that will return the the market from time to time.

 

So instead of buying a re-sale of the packs to add to the REP you want, people will have to get lucky on that as well? Does this mean the Rep will be dropped at random among all the other available Rep?

 

How many packs would I have to buy then.. to say.. max the ICE reputation from start to finish?..

300? 500? 1000? More?

And the other reputation tokens that drop and are no longer of use to me? (I'm trying hard not to get sarcastic on this one and mention that a purple reputation item is worth a whole 1500 credits to vendors. (Green laughing smiley is so appropriate!))

 

As with all things Cartel Market, things are subject to change based on your feedback.

 

I do hope so. Your current changes do not seem so much as enticing, "at all".

 

PS: A few remaining matters that could use some more clarification;

 

- "The future of Cartel Cetificates" Where will they drop if at all and what will be the odds?

- "Jawa Scrap" How will the currently owned Jawa Scrap be handled (any changes there?)

Will there be more Jawa Scrap to be gained somewhere? If yes, how will that work?

Edited October 3, 2015 by Osgorion
Typo's

[SelinaH]

So that eliminates speculation. Players who bought, for example, Gold Scalene Armor would sit on it for a few months and wait for the price to go up as it got more rare, then sell it for credits. And something like the Sensuous Dress Set, which has never to my knowledge reappeared on the Market, now goes for 10 million credits or more. It looks like that practice will be eliminated. Now that's either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what end of the equation you are looking at. But that "feature" of the market has been there since the beginning and removing it is going to affect the nature of the market considerably.

Did you actually read how this is going to work? Except for some limited-time direct sales, items are still going to be pulled from random packs -- it's just that those new random packs consolidate all the items from previous packs and direct sales into one giant drop table (per item type/rarity). So now, at any time, you can purchase a pack that gives you a small chance at what you want -- and that chance will decrease as more new items are added to the CM.

 

IOW, it's still going to be RNG Central, although the constant availability of the packs may at least limit the spikiness of supply (and consequently pricing) on the GTN.

Bronze packs = chance at a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Item

Silver packs = chance at Silver or Gold Item

Gold packs = Gold item

 

Unless the price difference is significant I fear you may have inadvertently reversed the rarity of the items.

It looks right to me. Paying Gold prices guarantees a Gold item. Paying for a (presumably cheaper) Bronze pack guarantees you a Bronze item -- but you might get lucky and end up with something better.

[AbsolutGrndZero]

Bronze packs = chance at a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Item

Silver packs = chance at Silver or Gold Item

Gold packs = Gold item

 

Unless the price difference is significant I fear you may have inadvertently reversed the rarity of the items.

 

If I go for the gusto and buy gold packs I will at a later date need to shell out more effort and cash to fill in my collection holes of bronze and silver items that will now be at a premium.

 

I may be really confused here and just not understand the format yet.

 

Uh no... If I buy a gold pack, I want a gold item. So, yes this way they have it listed is the way it should be.

 

Bronze = At least a gold, chance for silver or gold

Silver = At least a silver, chance for gold

Gold = Guaranteed gold.

 

Yes, a gold pack will be more expensive that a bronze pack, and for that reason it should contain ONLY gold items.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Also - Add my name to the list of people very concerned that the _real money_ I spent and put into 'storage' in the form of a significant number of Cartel Market Certificates, and also in the form of Jawa Crafting materials, and what is going to happen to this.

 

If anything, create a cartel market certificate store for which we can turn 1 market certificate into 1 pack of any type of our choosing.

[EnkiduNineEight]

Just get rid of gambling packs altogether. Its a 'jerk move' anyway and it is a dissatisfier for even your most prolific Cartel market Purchasers.

 

Just make the cartel market an actual 'store' where you go in and you buy the exact stuff you want. Throw stuff not moving on the clearance rack at a significant discount. Pull stuff now and again and return it as part of a special/seasonal sale to manage your activie inventory and keep its size managable. Whatever.

 

But let players buy what they want, and make the prices actually more in line with 'micro transactions'.

 

I can virtually guaranty you will recognize more revenue for that simple change. As it is you eliminate a very large segment of your playerbase because the coin cost for everything is too high. Thus, your subscribers are the largest purchasers from the cartel market and of them, its only a smaller subset that spends any appreciable cash.

 

Bringing prices down to @ a dollar and you'll have loads of people happily shelling out the several hundred dollars it takes to buy one of everything.

 

You'll also get more people 'impulse purchasing'.

 

And don't lie to yourselves. You created the Cartel Coins purely based on the studies that show people who are 'insulated' from knowing a direct real cost for an item are more likely to spend money and more money than they should for that item because its in a 'ficitonal' credit/currency value. If you were displaying prices in the baseline exchange rate of Cartel Coins to real dollars people would not spend as much as they do.