Let’s Chat – Cartel Market and You: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Category Packs

[Aardevark]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but do they have a discount on the cost of buying CC every so often?

 

If not then maybe they should think about doing that as that will reduce the cost of everything you get from the cartel.

[Flyingtam]

NO, I DO NOT THINK THE CARTEL PACKS ARE WORTH IT.

 

As I stated in another thread, I bought 53 Grand Crystal Packs. As far as I know, there are 33 possible crystals available in those packs. I received 45 bronze level crystals and 8 silver level crystals, and a total of 21 unique crystals. Not one gold level crystal.

 

As a consumer and player in a game with DLC and micro-transactions, I should be able to purchase exactly what I want, not an absurd chance of what I want when I'm using real money. After opening those 53 packs, I resented the entire Cartel Market Program as a basic sham to make players spend more money on this horrible MMO. The experience made me quit the game immediately in anger and frustration.

 

When items are only available on the Cartel Market, and you make players spend real money and not in-game currency for them, then they should be allowed to buy that item, not the chance of possibly getting that item with an apparent random item distribution that is horrible. From a game developer standpoint, I can see why Bioware chose this route. If you could just buy every item you wanted from the Cartel, there would not be a Galactic Market. So instead they use this horrible random item distribution and force players to use the in game Galactic Market. Result: Players spend real money and flood The Galactic Market with "Crezik SH-17 Pistol" for 10 credits, and a White Crystal for 25,000,000 credits.

 

The entire Cartel Market System is a frustrating, negative play experience and should either be removed entirely or changed to allow players to purchase what they want instead of a chance of what they want.

[JennyFlynn]

I liked the packs but I do feel that current items available on the CM (including content pertaining to current stronghold boxes) should not also be in these packs.

 

If anything I'd like to see sales like this more often. For new players, or returning ones, it's really hard/expensive obtaining some older armor looks. They're entirely depending on the 'greed' of others on the GTM. It would be nice if newer and returning folks would have an alternative/better chance at obtaining these older armor sets themselves without having to pay 15 mill credits.

[Jessabeans]

I don't care for these boxes. I would prefer just to buy items directly, especially since I have to buy them in multiple if I want them to appear in more than one of my strongholds. I honestly wish there was a way to purchase more copies of an item once you've unlocked it. The GTN gets brutal price-wise once an item is no longer available.

 

I have spent more rebuying extra copies of the handful of decor items that you can directly purchase from the cartel market than I ever would on the rgn boxes. Also anytime I've gotten the more expensive version I'm way more disappointed than with the lower cost boxes.

 

I like knowing what I am paying for, I'm always happier with getting what I want. There is no 'thrill' for me in the unknown/chance aspect of those boxes, only annoyance/avoidance.

 

All that said, I still prefer these as the lesser of the evils. I loath getting titles, toys, rep I'll never reach and other nonsense when I just want a decoration or single piece of an armor set. So I guess if RGN boxes are all that will be on offer I prefer the ones with narrowed down item lists.

[MarekLonefeather]

There is plenty of gear on the cartel market that I would pay cash for, but after getting burned gambling on the purchase of 30 cartel packs, I'm not going to be spending any more cash on those. The galactic trader is glutted with items from those boxes due to all the people gambling to get that one item they want, which has made most items from cartel packs virtually worthless. It would not be so bad if any item from a cartel pack had a certain credit value to a vendor. That would reduce the supply of such items on the galactic trader, causing prices to rise back up to what they should be for such items.

[sidiousj]

You know i actually liked the lockboxes this time around. however I agree that things that can be bought already should be excluded from the packs. its a waste of the players time and money. And hints as to what exactly u can get should be required becuase this is already a bit of a lousy raffle. Perhaps include chance to get an unlock token for a specific type of item so u can have it in collection. for example a 20% chance to get a single unlock token for a weapon or armor set or mount in collections. that way players get wat they like but still random i guess. Furthermore warn someone when the packs are going away. i bought my last cartel coinpack at midnight and came back in the afternoon and they were gone. i wanted to try armor again. Ive been missing a single piece of Noble Attendant and Regal Apparel armor for months and now im never getting them in collections just cuz no one has em to sell. its not fair the other people get cool stuff to sell but i get crappy armor and a few decent crystals. theres only 11 good cartel armors in the game far as im concerend now i get nothing Bring it back now! Edited January 22, 2016 by sidiousj

[Tempestane]

I don't understand why FINALLY the bronze, silver, and gold packs were back this week, but now they're gone again tonight. Why?

 

I really dislike the standard packs - I just don't like collecting pieces here and there and I prefer to get full outfits when I gamble even if I don't know what those will be. I chose to not purchase anything until the tiered packs were back, and once again, they're gone.

 

Was it a plan to have them back in for a couple days only?

[BrianDavion]

I don't understand why FINALLY the bronze, silver, and gold packs were back this week, but now they're gone again tonight. Why?

 

I really dislike the standard packs - I just don't like collecting pieces here and there and I prefer to get full outfits when I gamble even if I don't know what those will be. I chose to not purchase anything until the tiered packs were back, and once again, they're gone.

 

Was it a plan to have them back in for a couple days only?

 

yup, it's a marketing trick, making something limited time, limited edition etc produces more sales then it otherwise would have

[Tempestane]

yup, it's a marketing trick, making something limited time, limited edition etc produces more sales then it otherwise would have

 

That would make sense if they had created interest in bringing the packs back "for a limited time," but in this case, there was no warning that I saw. It feels more like an error than a plan.

 

Personally, I plan to buy nothing on the Cartel Market until I have the option of buying the tired packs. I doubt my boycot will have any impact, but I also have no interest in purchasing what is currently offered.

[CrypticHavok]

I just came back to the game and have not played since just before the Hutt Cartel expansion. The gold, silver, and bronze packs are awesome and give me a chance to collect outfits otherwise unavailable or too expensive on the GTM to get. Now if you guys include the ability to purchase old packs then the armor packs are not so valuable but if you have no intention of making old packs purchasable then the armor packs should stay. The price point is a bit high for gold, I think 1000 would be better but the two I got were well worth the price.

[Tooie]

I agree It was nice to have the category packs but sad they were removed again I really hope to hear biowares input on whats going on with those packs and are they honoring the players requests to make the armor sets, weapons, Stronghold Decorations to be purchasable?

 

I do agree we do want all the old Cartel Armor sets back and to be purchasable Like some of the armor sets currently seen on the cartel market but more reasonable prices by the armor set value. Same with the weapons, and Stronghold Decorations.

 

As For the new packs that bioware releases having a random drop rate its not right I have read that alot of people spent 100's of dollars of real money to get an item or armor set they want either they finally get it or never will get it.

I would suggest instead have the pack go by bronze silver and gold value and have all the items in that value that pack that way those people will have the item they want and the rest well they will sell on the GTN for the other people who want those items. By doing this way will save alot of money than getting random items from that pack.

 

I just hope that bioware will make the right decision.

[NocturnalMoth]

Please put the BSG Packs back onto the Cartel Market. I had planned on buying a bunch for chrismas and POOF.. They're gone. The GTN on my server is suffering. The only armor pieces and mounts listed are the cheapy ones from the Alliance Packs. Also.. no lovely colored Lightsaber Crystals.. Just put them back up and let players decide if they DO or DON'T want to pay to take the risk on a random item.

[DreadtechSavant]

My one and only issue is there is no list of what item can and cannot be gotten in the packs. There needs to be one and it need updating every time items are added to it or removed.

 

Other than this I am OK with them.

[Loqlan]

When are they bringing back the stronghold packs? Would like to get my rep up to legend. There is a certain I ttem I wish to get.

[Wander_Er]

The development team blew it in regards to the new cartel pack introduced with the 4.1 patch. Why are we getting old armor? I can get most of it in the cartel market or the bazaar if I wanted it. But, I don't! I have so much of this armor, I cannot even get rid of it on the GTN, can't vendor it, so all I have left to do is destroy it. So, tell me, why do I pay a subscription?? Early access was a complete failure on this patch, there is no concession for that coming along. Then on top of those insults you design a crappy cartel pack to boot. So, are you intentionally trying to kill off the game? Seems like it. The first pack that was issued when the 4.0 expansion was released was very similar to the new one. That was not well received, so you try it again. Failure on top of failure is all I see.

[ScionHo]

I hate the pack system now if I wanted paint customisation or decoration items I'd buy them

when they brought out individual packs for armour weapons and so on I thought finally there been fair and honest way of doing it but no now they taking them down and only putting them on for a limited time just another why to get your money witch they wud get more of my money if I knew I was going to some think I could use and not just thing I'm going to sale witch upset me more cus of the charges even if they're in game just make the galactic market more realistic I don't care about a realistic tired I'm getting my credits which I could use to buy things

Edited February 26, 2016 by ScionHo

[jedi_brandier]

I think the whole Cartel Market needs to be overhauled. If I am going to spend REAL Money to buy Cartel Coins, I should be able to buy the items I want and not have some random drop of stuff that is BOUND to my character that I will never use or even want. On that note there should be a way to unbind items you don't use after a time so you can sell them on the GTN or to a vendor.

[ElsaSilverDragon]

I think the only thing I'd ask for is to bring back Satele Shans armor set as a Bronze or Silver category armor pack. Buyable completely on its own and once bought from the cartel market, its automatically unlocked for all characters to an account + dyeable. Its driving me nuts trying to find Satele's armor set for a character of mine {that I am trying to match my original vision of her which includes Satele's armor set recolored to black and green/gold} that is at least around 10K credits on the GTN, sadly every set is at least upwards of 30 million credits on the GTN with indidivual pieces of the set at upwards of 6 million credits each

 

Just a thought really; I understyand if it cant be done

[rickzenz]

http://massivelyop.com/2016/02/23/hyperspace-beacon-an-open-letter-to-the-creators-of-the-swtor-cartel-packs/#comments

 

Will say it all

[Guden]

So when will we see the Bronze/Silver/Gold packs again, will they ever come back?

 

We got chance cubes added to hypercrates that noone asked for and is basicly 50% of a hypercrate. I dont see the point of adding these when you could have added more bronze/silver/gold packs to cover this and just put em up once in a while.

 

2½ months since we had these packs now.

[Xina_LA]

Sure, I buy a few packs just for fun, but I don't drop the "big money" on them anymore.

 

I would spend serious cash on the Bronze, Silver, Gold decoration, mount, and pet packs.

I'd also shell it out for packs that had a reasonable chance of a Cartel Certificate.

 

Has there been any word on this? I try to catch all the news and announcements, but I haven't heard anything about this particular issue. With so many threads and people complaining about this one issue, I hope there is an improvement plan coming soon.

[TheSeventhJedi]

Really need these to come back. I've got CC burning a hole in my wallet waiting for those gold packs.

[MotorCityMan]

Grand Chance Cubes = Me having lost interest in Cartel packs entirely.

[BlackSilverRoar]

The new category packs are terrible. Horrid drop rates, and now "platinum" items are the new gold. Grand chance cubes are god awful, way too plentiful AND TOTALLY UNWANTED. New packs should mean new items.

 

As for armor crates, I agree with them in theory. I've been playing since Beta, and don't see how it's fair for "Johnny-come-latelys" to have a bargain on [whole] armor sets, mounts and crystals that my mates and I grinded hard for, especially individual pieces for rare armor sets. I would hope that the value on my goods increases over time, not decreases. I really don't want to see it all become like a galactic soup kitchen for old rare items.

 

Bringing back old packs, or old rep is the worst idea, as there's no incentive to by new packs in the present, when you can buy what's in it whenever. To bring back old rep is more than many veterans can stomach/ game breaker. Do that and you better bring back old pvp season rewards, because it's no different overall, both had their time windows, so honor them, at least.

No time urgent incentive, and no time window for relevant/ current items alligned with the current expansion/ storyline. It's like buying a lot of Revan returns stuff and amping it up when we're on Zakuul/ Eternal Empire right now. No focus.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Willjb

[FragRockKnuckles]

So this evening I used my sub acquired CC's and bought some packs. Yet again I had the feeling of being disappointed and robbed of any enjoyment. Especially when getting 4 Advanced Turquoise War Hero's Crystal from 4 packs. I have purchased countless packs but my overall feeling has not changed since a number of changes have been made. So I went online to see how others felt about the packs. I read allot of posts online and in this thread (which I appreciated being posted for feedback) and here is what I gathered from comments about the packs:

 

Packs are too expensive

Gold items too rare

Packs are too random

CC don't bring value for money

Popular items that have been removed (Reps and Certs)

Decorating is passion not being served

Having complete armor sets is good

Grand Chance Cube is not an improvement

 

Overall, I get the general feeling that most people are not satisfied and that actually made me feel better knowing that I wasn't the only one. There are some excellent arguments and suggestions in this thread that I hope Mr. McCall and the team take into consideration for future development and direction.

 

However, when thinking about cartel packs then one will think about getting an item of value to either use or sell on the GTN and make some credits. When I look on the GTN and see a single lightsaber being sold for 150,000,000 credits or a mount for 50,000,000 credits (which I could easily afford) then something is seriously unfair with these packs. It seriously makes me sad to see that level of unfairness within the game which is meant to be for everyone.

 

There are items in packs that should have been removed long ago like gifts and others that should have been kept like rep and certs. A grand chance cube does not feel so grand when you get a bronze item. When you open a pack and not have a chance cube you feel robbed. Having 2 makes me feel robbed of having something else.

 

Percy in post #26 summed up my feeling and thoughts:

If you know what you are buying and you get what you bought you are happy and being happy when you make a purchase makes you want to do it again. If you buy a item and you don't know what your going to get then you get something that you don't want and is worthless you are sad. If you are sad you do not want to do it again. You are conditioning us to feel sad when we think about buying packs.

 

I understand the need to generate an income from the sale of cartel packs as well as the randomness you get with cartel packs in order to continue the interest. However, I feel we need some level of control of our SWTOR destiny and thus balance the Force with any disappointment that we might have, with a Force of opportunity to help us aim for something we desire and give hope of acquiring it someday and not by chance. Percy also eluded to some sort of vendor to buy items from. That would be ideal to give folks a chance to do something with their CC purchase and have a goal.

 

So to extend that idea in a fun way and be able to reach that goal of getting what you desire could be with the introduction of a known currency called the "Wupiupi Coin". As you know, sixteen Wupiupi coins makes one Trugut, and sixty-four of them equal one Peggat. Then a set number of Peggat's would let you buy any bronze, silver or gold item available in cartel packs from Mos Espa vendor's. Grand chance cubes could also be purchased with Peggat's for any random silver, gold or platinum item. You can trade in your current certs or scrap for Peggat's. Furthermore. there are many other items that Mos Espa vendor's could cater for and are not available on the GTN.

 

Ok so some of that idea may need refining but the overall concept and goal is to bring some fairness, opportunity, fun and enjoyment from buying cartel packs. If people want to get a gold or platinum item then at least give them a fair chance of getting that item. There is such a wide variety of things that are available and people love but the process in acquiring them is way too hard and unfair.

 

Finally, I love this game but I am so tired of feeling sad and robbed whenever I open a cartel pack. I honestly dread it and don't buy them anymore. Please change this very soon and make them fun, exciting, rewarding and enjoyable as they once were a long time ago.

Thank you.

Edited June 6, 2016 by FragRockKnuckles