Slicing nodes broken, giving way too many credits since 4.1

[MeNaCe-NZ]

yet you seem to be denying it strongly..what do you do with those billions of credits you keep telling us about?...interesting

 

Billions now? Wow ... I've gotten a credit boost.

 

What am I denying exactly?

[MeNaCe-NZ]

here is a collection of quotes i found on a hacker website, i won't name the website

 

 

"rofl the devs are so dumb in this game.... just keep raking in the credits from this exploit.... if the price keeps dropping just stock pile the credits.. we should start posting in that forum post about the slicing nodes and say how this is a great change in the game to delay the time until they fix it lol.... hell they may be dumb enough to never fix it. the com crystal exploit lasted more than a month "

 

 

looks like the hackers are having lots of fun with this

 

Funny because there are people actually doing just that in this thread ... food for thought.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I'm not claiming that there are no bots, or that botters and gold spammers aren't a problem at all. Heck, I hate seeing them on fleet, etc, spamming away continuously.

 

Just tired of every little "exploit" supposedly rising to the level of urgent national security, with the game doomed to die in a matter of hours if the servers aren't shut down right now to save us all.

 

So tired of it yet you protest so rigorously against said posts ... one would think if it annoyed you so much you would just ignore it.

[Mezarkan]

So lower prices would "increase demand", but increased demand wouldn't raise prices? What sort of economics is this, exactly?

 

Never mind that you're still not offering any actual proof, just people seeing what they believe are bots, and a lot of working backwards from your conclusion via several hypothetical steps.

 

as i said, you don't understand basic supply and demand. also you made up the second part, i never stated that second part.

 

you can lower prices to increase the demand for a product. if i am selling the latest iphone for 1000 dollars each i will sell more of them if i sell them for 100 dollars each. many more people will be willing to pay the 100 dollars, thus increasing demand. this is basic stuff. people can't generate iphones out of thin air to sell for 100 dollars but the botterss can generate credits out of thin air to sell to buyers and at a much faster rate with this exploit.

 

the credit farmers are exploiting this with tons of accounts as shown by anyone going to the areas where these nodes are. they can generate hundreds of millions very easily. they use this massive amount of easily farmable credits with their bots to lower the price so that they generate tons of sales and unload it and turn it into cash.

 

also since they can generate it so fast they can sell it a lot cheaper than the game currency you can get from cartel coins. therefore a lot more people are buying from them because of the low prices from this virtual unlimited generation of game currency from this terrible game design combined with exploiting it with bots.

 

this has to be hurting cartel coin sales which hurts the game.

 

if these nodes gave resources or items instead of credits the this problem would be easily fixed.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Mezarkan

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Since when do you multi quote now Menace? .

 

As for the OP...how in the dark lords name is this even a problem... and how is this thread been going on for so long?

 

Lets be honest here...this thread has gone on long enough and no one really changed there opinions on anything, I think its best to just let this thread go.

 

It's all one post I replied to.

 

It's a problem for the reasons outlined in the thread. Ideally the nodes aren't the problem it's the bots and BW inability to deal with the bots without doing something about the nodes.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

or it could be that less people are buying from them because they are running heroics to get cash. unless you are a. a bioware employee or b. an gold seller you have no idea which it is.

 

Oddly enough ... neither would you so by your own definition ... which are you?

[ivanhedgehog]

Oddly enough ... neither would you so by your own definition ... which are you?

 

I am not the one claiming that there is a problem, he is. I am not claiming that gold sellers are making so much cash that they are hurting their own sales..he is. I am not making up data that I do not have access to...he is.

Edited March 1, 2016 by ivanhedgehog

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I am not the one claiming that there is a problem, he is. I am not claiming that gold sellers are making so much cash that they are hurting their own sales..he is. I am not making up data that I do not have access to...he is.

 

You made a counter statement to his and gave a definition on the only way anyone would know if either statement is true is if they were a Bioware employee or a gold seller.

 

so again based on YOUR OWN post ... which are you? You set the criteria that your statement should be judged on so you must therefore feel you either fit into one of those categories or you are just offering up nonsense counter points to other posters for the sake of argument.

[grayblux]

Its crazy how areas where nodes are plentiful are just dominated by bots and people teleporting or harvesting while stealth. A real shame.

[Max_Killjoy]

as i said, you don't understand basic supply and demand. also you made up the second part, i never stated that second part.

 

you can lower prices to increase the demand for a product. if i am selling the latest iphone for 1000 dollars each i will sell more of them if i sell them for 100 dollars each. many more people will be willing to pay the 100 dollars, thus increasing demand. this is basic stuff. people can't generate iphones out of thin air to sell for 100 dollars but the botterss can generate credits out of thin air to sell to buyers and at a much faster rate with this exploit.

 

the credit farmers are exploiting this with tons of accounts as shown by anyone going to the areas where these nodes are. they can generate hundreds of millions very easily. they use this massive amount of easily farmable credits with their bots to lower the price so that they generate tons of sales and unload it and turn it into cash.

 

also since they can generate it so fast they can sell it a lot cheaper than the game currency you can get from cartel coins. therefore a lot more people are buying from them because of the low prices from this virtual unlimited generation of game currency from this terrible game design combined with exploiting it with bots.

 

this has to be hurting cartel coin sales which hurts the game.

 

if these nodes gave resources or items instead of credits the this problem would be easily fixed.

 

Wow, yes, thank you for your special little lesson on economics, as if only you understand this.

 

Meanwhile, I refer people your earlier posts, and I'll let them decide if you seem to think that prices drive demand and never the other way around.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8841727#post8841727

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8840875#post8840875

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8840761#post8840761

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8839319#post8839319

 

 

As for "hundreds of millions of credits"... I refer to earlier:

 

2.5 mil per hour would be one node every 17 seconds or so, without any interruptions or competition.

 

If "bots" are as rife as is claimed, then at some points the bots would just start competing with each other....

 

 

What you haven't actually done is offer any proof that people are buying massive amounts of "illegal" credits, you just keep working backwards from your conclusion to make the facts fit it.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Max_Killjoy

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

First you'd need to prove that any part of that is actually happening -- that there is a horde of bots, that they're making significantly more credits from this than prior, that it's being used to fuel credit sellers, that more players are buying "illegal" credits than before, that they're doing so instead of CM purchases and thus not buying from Bioware, and so on -- instead of expecting everyone to simply accept your assertion as fact.

 

Of particular note is the conflict between you assertion that many more people are buying more "illegal" credits, and your assertion that prices for "illegal" credits are going down.

 

Quick note - I'm not responding directly to the quoted, only in reference to the subject of the poster's comments.

 

I'm a slicer on the Shadowlands server. Slicing is my only source of making in game money [credits], I've been doing this for a few years now and so I think I can speak with a good amount of experience with what's going on on Yavin Four in the slicing area. The following is factual and there is no room for interpretation to my mind.

 

Bots are rampant. I can state with absolute certainty that there are no less than 5-6 Bots who regularly 'slice' in slicing area just outside the portal to the ToS Operation. They aren't always on at the same time, but many times at least three or four of them are on at the same time, and sometimes all of them. All hours of the day, all hours of the night.

 

There is no mistaking a bot if you spend enough time there and see what they do. Heres how you know they are bots -

 

~ They can appear out of no where. You can have already clicking on a box and started the 'channel' the bot can appear a second after you started, start thier own channel to slice the box and even tho u started first they still get the box. If they appear more than a second after you have begun you can get the box but most of the time your going to lose it.

 

~ They are automotons to the level of stupidity.You can be on the verge of finishing the channel wherein no one could possibly get it after you already been channeling for several seconds and they will still come up from behind you [if they didnt just appear there out of thin air] and begin to channel. A live person would know at that point its impossible to get the box than.

 

~ They can appear at a box sorrounded by adds within the distance where they would definately see you and attack and yet remain undetected, can slice the box and than disappear into thin air again without the adds having acknowledged their presence.

 

~ Bots don't use speeders. You are an idiot of you don't use a speeder while running the circuit to find slice boxes. You would miss out on many boxes by just going on foot because other people would beat you to slice boxes regularly.

 

~ Bots who are walking around do not attempt to get out of the "agroo" range of adds. There can be an add coming right up the lane that you could see in plenty of time and bots will just walk/run right into them and agroo them. Fighting takes some away from slicing and gives other slicers a chance to get boxes while you are fighting.

 

~ You can't kill them. Slicers know that if you are in close proximity [aoe range] of a member of the opposing faction and you or they use an aoe that the other gets caught in the radius of it can force flag you instantly. [They go from blue fly text to red fly text]. When this happens you can fight and kill the other. [i love it when this happens, gives me a chance to kill some stinken pubs]. If the 'player' [bot] gets red flagged like this you can't attack them, you can't kill them. Futhermore, once you leave "combat" time, they instantly revert back to not being flagged whereas a player can only become unflagged again by staying in a rest area for five minutes or they will just remain flagged. This is part of the "bot" program otherwise the people who set the bots up know that players would go out of their way to kill a bot on sight. [i would, i wouldnt care that it cost me some time and miss out on some boxes].

 

~ Bots can sometimes walk through walls and other things that a player would not be able to go through.

 

~ Almost all bots are stealth classes [ I've seen one or two exceptions]. This is not what is causing their companions who they send to get boxes to be able to appear and disappear from thin air. Players can stealth, companions cannot and most of the time it is the companion they send while the bot itself attempts to move in closer to another box. Once the companion has collected the box it was sent to it instantly appears back next to the bot, hencely why the bot was moving to another box while the companion teleports.

 

~ Bots do not attempt to protect or help their companions. If a companion of a bot is spotted [They dont always teleport around, most of the time they do but not always] and attacked by adds, a bot will take no action to help the companion, it will simply keep on trying to move to a new box even tho it is not in fight mode [weapons automatically come out] and they move slower. If they are attacked by an add directly they will fight.

 

~ Bots can detect boxes well outside the range of 'their' compass unlike players.

 

~ Bots spend more time slicing than any human could possibly bare before becoming so mindnumb you'd rather shoot yourself in the foot than keep on going thru this rattrap that is the slicing area.

 

Id venture to say I spend more time on Yavin slicing on the Shadowlands server than any other player [not proud of that fact mind you =p]

 

There is absolutely no question in my mind that bots are rampant there. You will never find a time when there are not at least two or three bots slicing away on Yavin. Not ever.

 

THAT SAID -

 

The problem is NOT with slicing. The problem is not with how much you can make slicing. The problem is with the bots.

 

If you take the bots away you hurt the credit/gold spammers.

 

Slicers are the ONLY 'profession' in the game that works on a time-to-income scale like in real life. For example if someone makes twelve bucks an hour if he wants to make twenty four bucks he has to invest two hours of his time to make that much. Slicers to sell stuff, they dont make stuff, they don't play the market, they don't price gouge, they don't launder and they sure as *** don't money launder or sell credits. Whatever amount a slicer makes he earns with actual time invested. Crafters do not spend as much actual time to make credits as slicers spend to make theirs. Crafters can make a shyt ton more than a slicer can make if he's mastered his craft and chosen one that is in general continued demand. Doesn't even have to be rare.

 

Slicers face direct physical competition. They not only have bots trying to beat them to the next box they also have other players trying to do the same thing, and slicers are downright cutthroat when it comes to messing up their competition. The competition is real and it is heated, their is no curtiosy shown what so ever. If they can mess you up to give them more time to scope up something you are going for too they will. Even if you are standing on top of a slicing box fighting the adds for it they will swope in and gank that slice box right out from under your feet.

 

Lastly, to those who feel that slicing is "Op" and gives to much credits, I say this to them - Than why the fuk aren't you slicing than too?

 

It's not a secret club, there is no investment, their is nothing to learn, their is no level of aptitude you need,there are no rules to it. If its so great start slicing, no ones stopping you.

 

There is no actual economy in this game, there is free trade. At the very heart of free trade there is a no-restriction philosophy at play. There is also nothing illegal going on in this game except wherein there is actual real life money involved. Even an exploit is not illegal, it may be against the TOS rules of BW, but it's not illegal. Just like ninja-looting is not illegal [hell its not even against the TOS rules], it's scumy, but not illegal. Points made about "inflation" by legitimate means of credit earning are assanine. You don't like it? Too friggen bad, welcome to free trade. I don't even know what the hell these people are talking about, I have seem absolutely no difference in pricing for non-rare/brand new items [not talking about CM crap, people spend real life money buying packs, they can sell things from those packs for however the hell much they like. You can buy it or not. Can't afford it? Join the friggen club.].

 

 

 

I don't give a shyt how much any crafter makes. I dont care if he makes five times more than i do, God Friggen bless. What the hell do I care? If you care so much what another player makes, especially that there is nothing stopping you from doing the very same thing, than you are a total ******** who is in dire need of losing your virginity.

Guess what happens if BW nerfs slicing so that people can't make enough to sustain the level of income they are used to? They start doing something that makes more creds than nerfed slicing does, which means all you crafters out there are gonna have a lot more competition. Anytime I win a deco or a DMC I see it because I have no use for it and it makes good money, but im not wasting time playing "let's pretend this is wallstreet". I'm going to undercut every since person selling the same thing on the GtN. I want the credits, I don't give a rats *** what it does "to the market" and Id venture to say im not the only person that does that. You don't want new competition like that, but if I am forced to start crafting [which I hate] because they nerfed slicing into oblivion, I'm taking It out on those people ************ about slicing like it friggen matters. I'm underselling everyone.

 

That said, there is no way that the people with those elaborately decorated SHs on Yavin that are breathtakingly beautiful [i've seen some really outstanding ones] put their strongholds together like that did so with profits made from slicing.

 

I sincerely hope that every last person in this game is making more credits than I am because I got enough to cover my nut. Why would I not want everyone to be as happy and content as they can be?

 

So to the slicer naysayers, ****, get rich, and stop worrying how much Caviare Dork the Jedi has in his fridge.

 

It's like I always say, the problem with MMOS is that you can't hit people.

 

P.S. Please accept my apologies for the litany of grammatical/spelling errors this post undoubtedly has. I'm an Idiot =]

Despite the tone of my reply, I hope everyone is making their nut and grows more prosperous. If that brand new saber they just came out with that's selling for forty five million creds on the GtN makes ya happy, I hope you find a way to get it. Live and let live =]

[ZanyaCross]

They should really just do away with credit slicing entirely. It was horrible game design to include it in the first place.

[Max_Killjoy]

And in case anyone is going to say I don't think there's any problem here at all.

 

My issue with quite a few of the posts here is that I can't stand presumptions treated as fact, arguing backwards from one's preferred conclusion, ludicrous outraged overreaction, or the insinuations that people who aren't outraged here must have something they're trying to hide.

[grayblux]

If they banned all the botters and people using teleporting/stealth tactics to get the nodes, it would be fine. The sad fact is that its so profitable for them to do these things because of the nodes giving so much, that they will continue doing it till its nerfed. Its the same when mobs gave alot of credits, you would just see bots killing the same stuff 24/7. There are different opinions on what should be done, but I do not think anyone argues that something must be done about the rampant cheating/botting going on.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

They should really just do away with credit slicing entirely. It was horrible game design to include it in the first place.

 

Pandora's box. At this point the total removal of an established way of making an in-game income would meet with a sizable uproar and rightly so. Imagine if BW decieded to no longer allow the selling of crafted items on the GTM. For slicers it would be of no less magnitude. I can't imagine why people would find the abolishment of slicing any more tolerable than the abolishment of the selling of crafted items. Just because some people might not chose that method of making credits shouldn't make it any less deserving of the same considerations. Crafters can and do make more credits from crafting than many slicers make from slicing and I don't see anyone calling for the abolishment of crafting for profit. You can bet that's exactly what would happen if BW did take slicing out of the game.

 

Respectfully, I really really don't get you people who think nothing of how that would effect so many fellow players and leave them suddenly in a lurch for income. I find the total lack of such consideration shocking really and not a little spiteful. Than they'd just go on about their day, not a care in the world. Nice.

[Mezarkan]

Pandora's box. At this point the total removal of an established way of making an in-game income would meet with a sizable uproar and rightly so. Imagine if BW decieded to no longer allow the selling of crafted items on the GTM. For slicers it would be of no less magnitude. I can't imagine why people would find the abolishment of slicing any more tolerable than the abolishment of the selling of crafted items. Just because some people might not chose that method of making credits shouldn't make it any less deserving of the same considerations. Crafters can and do make more credits from crafting than many slicers make from slicing and I don't see anyone calling for the abolishment of crafting for profit. You can bet that's exactly what would happen if BW did take slicing out of the game.

 

Respectfully, I really really don't get you people who think nothing of how that would effect so many fellow players and leave them suddenly in a lurch for income. I find the total lack of such consideration shocking really and not a little spiteful. Than they'd just go on about their day, not a care in the world. Nice.

 

 

 

 

if they changed the reward from slicing nodes to give resources instead of credits you would make more credits by selling the resources on the gtn and the botters would stop botting them. this would also give you a lot more free nodes to access.

[grayblux]

if they changed the reward from slicing nodes to give resources instead of credits you would make more credits by selling the resources on the gtn and the botters would stop botting them. this would also give you a lot more free nodes to access.

 

truth

[sentientomega]

I happen to like where the nodes are at, it means that in a pinch, I can amass some emergency credits, too.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

If they banned all the botters and people using teleporting/stealth tactics to get the nodes, it would be fine. The sad fact is that its so profitable for them to do these things because of the nodes giving so much, that they will continue doing it till its nerfed. Its the same when mobs gave alot of credits, you would just see bots killing the same stuff 24/7. There are different opinions on what should be done, but I do not think anyone argues that something must be done about the rampant cheating/botting going on.

 

As a slicer I have absolutely no disagreement with your stance. Those of us who fairly earn credits from slicing should not be made to suffer because BW is to lazy to write some script that could prevent bots from being able to abuse slicing in the manner they do. I do not believe for one second that that would be a particularly hard thing to do considering how they have shown the ability and willingness [albeit not always in a timely fashion] to address the many instances of exploits for profit that have existed in many forms in the past [stacking, temple chairs, etc.].

Those who employ the bots are nothing less than hackers abusing bioware coding.

 

While I would imagine that slicers compromise only a small percentage of the player base in terms of how players make in-game incomes, BW stands to piss a lot of people off should their methods of dealing with boters/credit-spammers negatively effect legimate slicers. Affecting the profitability of legitmate slicers would be one such example. Fact is, before they raised the credits from slicing in that patch, which wasn't that long ago, the Bots were still here in just as strong of force. Whatever the profitability, they will still go about it because there is absolutely no reason not to. Still making free money by exploiting, credit spammers have been here all along. Its all profit for the, and whats more its REAL life profit, they are making actual dollars and cents out of it. Free money is free money. You might rather get handed a hundred dollar bill as a gift, but your not gonna turn down a fifty either.

 

Hurt the botters/credit spammers. Don't hurt the slicers. We're not hurting anyone.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

if they changed the reward from slicing nodes to give resources instead of credits you would make more credits by selling the resources on the gtn and the botters would stop botting them. this would also give you a lot more free nodes to access.

 

I'm not interested in playing wall street, if I was I would be a crafter/materials broker. I don't want to play businessman. Not knocking the people who do, there are more people who it do it that way than not, just doesn't appeal to me.

 

Besides, it wouldn't matter even if they did do that. You would still have bots out there collecting the resources in unbelievable amounts, that would only add an extra step to their illicit practice. They'd have to include the step where all the collected resources are than sold on the GtN, so what? Still free money for them. They would undersell every legitmate source of the gathering of these resources and only than add to their competition which they would lose because they would constantly be being undersold. There is zero time investment for them. No one is actually riding around yavin hour after hour picking up slice boxes , or as you suggest resources from the boxes, only the legitimate players have to invest those hours into it. What do botters/Creditspammers care? They don't have to do anything, that's what robots are for. Even if it decreased their overall profit margin, it would still be advangous to them because its all free money and no time investment, so why the hell not?

 

Once again, it only hurts the legitmate players who invest the time and effort. It wouldn't be fair.

[sentientomega]

Once again, it only hurts the legitmate players who invest the time and effort. It wouldn't be fair.

 

Exactly, for people with few alts, their earning potential would be exceedingly limited, and no, not all of us want to play swtor's NASDAQ.

 

STO has some sort of minigame requirement to gaining items from an anomaly, this would totally deter bots, since each one would be randomised, I wouldn't mind a similar slicing minigame, bot-proof, but new-player-friendly.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Pandora's box. At this point the total removal of an established way of making an in-game income would meet with a sizable uproar and rightly so. Imagine if BW decieded to no longer allow the selling of crafted items on the GTM. For slicers it would be of no less magnitude. I can't imagine why people would find the abolishment of slicing any more tolerable than the abolishment of the selling of crafted items. Just because some people might not chose that method of making credits shouldn't make it any less deserving of the same considerations. Crafters can and do make more credits from crafting than many slicers make from slicing and I don't see anyone calling for the abolishment of crafting for profit. You can bet that's exactly what would happen if BW did take slicing out of the game.

 

Respectfully, I really really don't get you people who think nothing of how that would effect so many fellow players and leave them suddenly in a lurch for income. I find the total lack of such consideration shocking really and not a little spiteful. Than they'd just go on about their day, not a care in the world. Nice.

 

Thing is slicing is the only crew skill that rewards pure credits. It is also, for those that are into crafting, the most single useful crewskill for providing mats for crafting and thus it's mats are some of the best priced and sought after in the game.

 

Also I'm not saying remove only slicing nodes, I mean removal all nodes or find a way to gate them behind actual activity.

Everything nodes provide can be gained via sending out companions, to offset the loss they could then boost the amount one gets from sending out ones companions on missions - to offset bots taking advantage of this you remove the ability to sell mats to pure vendors and only set it so you can sell mats on gtn or in trade ( thus crew skill no longer ideally generate credits, only share the wealth ).

 

I would just like to see a little more thought put in by Bioware before making changes to help the community make more credits ... basically "but can it easily be automated"? In this case they've dropped the ball providing it's not a bug to begin with because this change was never announced.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I'm not interested in playing wall street, if I was I would be a crafter/materials broker. I don't want to play businessman. Not knocking the people who do, there are more people who it do it that way than not, just doesn't appeal to me.

 

Besides, it wouldn't matter even if they did do that. You would still have bots out there collecting the resources in unbelievable amounts, that would only add an extra step to their illicit practice. They'd have to include the step where all the collected resources are than sold on the GtN, so what? Still free money for them. They would undersell every legitmate source of the gathering of these resources and only than add to their competition which they would lose because they would constantly be being undersold. There is zero time investment for them. No one is actually riding around yavin hour after hour picking up slice boxes , or as you suggest resources from the boxes, only the legitimate players have to invest those hours into it. What do botters/Creditspammers care? They don't have to do anything, that's what robots are for. Even if it decreased their overall profit margin, it would still be advangous to them because its all free money and no time investment, so why the hell not?

 

Once again, it only hurts the legitmate players who invest the time and effort. It wouldn't be fair.

 

Selling on the GTN can't lead to inflation from increased money supply though - it only moves credits between players. They would still rely on someone generating credits.

 

Also you sounds like you are making out it would be bad if the credits were exchanged for mats ... that's rather selfish isn't since all other crew skills reward mats and those don't sell to a vendor for anywhere near what you get from a slicing node so if anything slicing is completely unbalanced in it's current form and needs a nerf for that reason too.

Only reason I don't care or raise this point too often is because anyone can choose slicing to take advantage of this thus my only real concern is botting though it still is worth pointing this out to those who want to defend any slicing nerf as though it were somehow unfair to slicers - it's not, it would just bring them back on equal footing with other crew skills.

[DawnAskham]

I'm not interested in playing wall street, if I was I would be a crafter/materials broker. I don't want to play businessman. Not knocking the people who do, there are more people who it do it that way than not, just doesn't appeal to me.

 

Besides, it wouldn't matter even if they did do that. You would still have bots out there collecting the resources in unbelievable amounts, that would only add an extra step to their illicit practice. They'd have to include the step where all the collected resources are than sold on the GtN, so what? Still free money for them. They would undersell every legitmate source of the gathering of these resources and only than add to their competition which they would lose because they would constantly be being undersold. There is zero time investment for them. No one is actually riding around yavin hour after hour picking up slice boxes , or as you suggest resources from the boxes, only the legitimate players have to invest those hours into it. What do botters/Creditspammers care? They don't have to do anything, that's what robots are for. Even if it decreased their overall profit margin, it would still be advangous to them because its all free money and no time investment, so why the hell not?

 

Once again, it only hurts the legitmate players who invest the time and effort. It wouldn't be fair.

 

Sorry but I have to disagree.

 

Bots farming materials would not create free credits the way slicing creates free credits, it would simply move credits around, and most likely for the very reasons you mentioned (dealing with the GTN and players undercutting), would not be something botters would pursue as an avenue to make credits.

 

Besides, legitimate players already have plenty of ways to earn credits in-game which are not hard, do not require selling items to others (which again does not create credits), though do require playing the game (such as combat), and are more difficult to bot.

 

Not to mention no other crew skill provides an avenue to obtain free credits by running around the game world picking up boxes, so if slicing were like other mission skills, it would simply have missions to run which returned materials, which could be used to craft items or sell / trade to other players.

 

That some players would rather run in a circle and click boxes than complete fast and easy missions for credits is not debatable, but it is also not debatable that they would have plenty of alternatives to earn credits if slicing lockboxes were reduced or removed.

 

And no, I'm not advocating total lockbox removal, only stating that if they ever did remove slicing lockboxes, it would not be the end of the world as some suggest.

 

That and saying if the buff to lockboxes in 4.1 is a bug, they should correct it as soon as possible, and while doing so, take a look at activities that generate credits directly and which can be automated through bots, and start addressing the botting issue (up to and including removing easy to bot credit generating activities).

Edited March 2, 2016 by DawnAskham

[chumrick]

Heroics give out good amounts of credits. There is no need for slicing to even give credits. Tbh they should of given materials from the start. I think some have already said it but keep big amounts of easy credits away from bots. Keep the big amounts to things bots can't easily do.