Treasure Hunting Lockboxes are causing massive inflation and a proposed solution.

[Stilgaard]

........... doing TH legally ........

 

I think I found the part you did not get where many in this thread are pointing out literally dozens of toons just standing around 24/7 for weeks on end macro-ing TH.

 

Why would anyone run Heroics when they can just click start and check back next week to empty their coffers with no REAL consequence??

[lightSaberAddiCt]

It doesn't matter how much you can make legally. You don't design game mechanics in a way that anyone can easily cheat, game design 101.

 

For the record you have no idea how many people are abusing this so saying it has no effect on the economy is asinine.

 

almost as asinine as trying to insinuate that a MMO doesnt have bugs.

[lightSaberAddiCt]

I also think with the amount of people disillusioned with the game and especially the cartel market they would happily give buying credits a go ... they find it works out, no punishment, no nothing - soon more and more people are doing it..

 

In all honesty, I am one of those people that has no problem with the CM having an exchange rate for CC's to creds. That would also stabilize the value of CM items on the CM.

 

Some may say that is pay to win, but honestly, if you are paying to support the game, rather then off site sellers, then I don't have a problem with that.

 

But, the flip side of that is, that it MAY cause the GTN inflation to get worse. It is hard to say, guess it depends on how many people do it.

 

I don't know any game over a few years old, to where to the GTN, or AH is just inflated to all hell.

[Max_Killjoy]

Interesting post history you have. My "Sock Puppet" sense is tingling.

 

He has certain writing quirks that make it quite clear that he's the same guy who has been on this train for the last several months. It is what it is, certain people just write the way they write.

 

I expect that if I had a sockpuppet account, it would become obvious that it was me... I'd have to avoid all the ellipses and all the dashes -- not to mention "not to mention" and the use of the word "verisimilitude". And nevermind "nevermind".

Edited June 17, 2016 by Max_Killjoy

[TiaNicole]

Ok think I found the problem, It's called the Temple Ruins on Yavin 4. There are a lot of slicing nodes there and while I was killing Massasi for the achievements I noticed what seemed like people just popping up from no where. So I figured "stealth" classes. Sure enough I spent 5 hours there and 1 person in particular was there the whole time , going in and out of stealth and doing nothing but farming the slicing nodes.

 

I was fortunate enough to be able to nab a few of them from time to time and them things hand you from around 1200 to over 2000 credits per box and each node gives you 2-4 boxes. Mind you I also have 550 slicing. I made over 10,000 outta the 6 boxes I was able to grab.

 

*Removed all of the pictures

Edited June 27, 2016 by TiaNicole
removed some things

[Max_Killjoy]

Slicing nodes and botting farmers were the subject of another panic thread a while back, from the same set of sockpuppet accounts made this thread happen.

[TiaNicole]

Slicing nodes and botting farmers were the subject of another panic thread a while back, from the same set of sockpuppet accounts made this thread happen.

 

Yes I was here back then when that happened. But I know what I saw, and I know that 1 person in particular was there for the whole 5 hours using stealth to get by the mobs so they could get to the nodes. Just imagine how many boxes that person has been able to farm though in 5 hours, and maybe more.

 

As I noted previously , I managed to grab 6 boxes from 3 nodes. And I made over 10k off them 6.

 

You do the math.

 

I still think I am on to something and as much as I would hate to see Slicing nerfed again, it's either we take that or we put up with the credit farmers, their whispers and their mails.

[TiaNicole]

This market has no inventory cost as you just said right after saying "that's not how markets work" ... most markets have inventory costs so it's a pretty poor statement imo.

 

They drop prices because there is of course competition. If all of a sudden everyone can suddenly make insane amounts of credits from an exploit or an really easy macro process that means they all have to compete for the business which drives the price down.

 

Also a major source to buy credits from is a player managed "auction" site for lack of a better word. Fairly elaborate system in place it seems to secure your transaction and judging by the amount of games supporter and the insane amount of money that goes through for regular sellers of WoW gold ( you can check their feedback too ) it's suffice to say it's fairly legit.

 

There will also be 2 types of main buyers - those that want X credits for X item and thus the cheaper prices are more attractive than before because it's suddenly affordable ( inflation dependent of course ) and the second type is those than probably regularly buy credits who set a budget for themselves on how much they will spend and thus get more than ever for their money.

 

I also think with the amount of people disillusioned with the game and especially the cartel market they would happily give buying credits a go ... they find it works out, no punishment, no nothing - soon more and more people are doing it.

 

As I've said I can find evidence that more real money than ever is being spend on RMTs ... I've not seen anything to the contrary than pure speculative opinion thus far.

 

So believe said evidence or not ... not my problem if you have your head buried in the sand but at least if anyone is going to bother making statement around reduced RMt income or no one using RMTs because they always hack your account or your CC or whatever at least try support it with some evidence.

 

I play WoW also and I really like the way Blizzard has the price fixed on the WoW tokens. Best thing ever imo.

 

If I remember right I think Rift got something similar added to it not long ago. It was another game like this one that had the credit seller site problems.

 

SWTOR needs to implement something of this type and then we would not be bothered by them anymore.

 

For those not sure of what this is... a person buys a token using their preferred payment method then they take said token and place it on the GTN at a price that BW/EA could dictate (like Blizz does). Then when it sells, you get the credits. So basically your turning your own money into ingame coinage, credits, etc.

Edited June 17, 2016 by TiaNicole
adding something

[Taramayne]

I play WoW also and I really like the way Blizzard has the price fixed on the WoW tokens. Best thing ever imo.

 

I think BW should implement something like the WoW tokens, game time for credits at a fixed rate.

 

The gold sellers would have competition they would be hard pressed to compete with, and it would be money spent to support the game instead of third party vendors.

 

People could in effect buy gold LEGALLY, FROM Bioware instead of someone else.

[TiaNicole]

I think BW should implement something like the WoW tokens, game time for credits at a fixed rate.

 

The gold sellers would have competition they would be hard pressed to compete with, and it would be money spent to support the game instead of third party vendors.

 

People could in effect buy gold LEGALLY, FROM Bioware instead of someone else.

 

I was just editing my post to reflect what you just said lol

 

But I agree with you 110% It would be a very good move on BW/EA's part.

[Taramayne]

I was just editing my post to reflect what you just said lol

 

But I agree with you 110% It would be a very good move on BW/EA's part.

 

The only drawback to something like this is it could only be effectively taken advantage of by existing subscribers with a lot of credits who want to extend their sub time for in game money.

 

The credit caps would make this difficult if not impossible for F2P or preferred players to start with; they would have to cough up for at least the first month's sub, but then they could extend the time with tokens for credits afterwards, assuming they made enough in-game.

[ivanhedgehog]

Yes I was here back then when that happened. But I know what I saw, and I know that 1 person in particular was there for the whole 5 hours using stealth to get by the mobs so they could get to the nodes. Just imagine how many boxes that person has been able to farm though in 5 hours, and maybe more.

 

As I noted previously , I managed to grab 6 boxes from 3 nodes. And I made over 10k off them 6.

 

You do the math.

 

I still think I am on to something and as much as I would hate to see Slicing nerfed again, it's either we take that or we put up with the credit farmers, their whispers and their mails.

 

so you think that a character spending 5 hours(you were spending 5 hours there too btw) using a class skill to do a crafting skill exactly as bw intended for it to work is an exploit? is using your basic attack to kill things and then looting them also an exploit?

[shyroman]

The only drawback to something like this is it could only be effectively taken advantage of by existing subscribers with a lot of credits who want to extend their sub time for in game money.

 

The credit caps would make this difficult if not impossible for F2P or preferred players to start with; they would have to cough up for at least the first month's sub, but then they could extend the time with tokens for credits afterwards, assuming they made enough in-game.

 

It would easily let people with lots of credits not have to pay for subs anymore, but if they were sold for the equivalent of $15 in CC for 30 days of sub, it doesn't hurt bioware at all since someone would still be paying for each sub, it would just be in a different way, as well as give people another chance to gain credits for selling sub tokens if they want pay real money.

[shyroman]

so you think that a character spending 5 hours(you were spending 5 hours there too btw) using a class skill to do a crafting skill exactly as bw intended for it to work is an exploit? is using your basic attack to kill things and then looting them also an exploit?

 

Pretty sure he's talking about the botters that are simply automating gathering the slicing nodes which would be against the tos.

[TiaNicole]

Pretty sure he's talking about the botters that are simply automating gathering the slicing nodes which would be against the tos.

 

Indeed I was. I was indeed out there for 5 hours myself, yes. I have been working on clearing out achievements on my 65 and I had just dropped Investigation in turn for Bioanalysis. So I was working on the 450 crafting achievemnet for it and also the ones for the Massassi out there. But at least I was at my keyboard and moving around the area. Unlike the others I spoke of.

[masterceil]

I still think I am on to something and as much as I would hate to see Slicing nerfed again, it's either we take that or we put up with the credit farmers, their whispers and their mails.

 

Nice false dichotomy, bro.

 

If BW were actually to take action here, I'd rather it be to actually code in some chat filters. There's no excuse for <insert RMT site here> to be able to get spammed with impunity when all it would take to block it is putting in the most basic of chat filters. I'd also like the option to filter whispers and mail - let me ignore all messages in both formats that don't come from within my legacy, a friend, a guild member, or a group member.

 

The above would be far preferable to nerfing slicing again, and would probably piss off a lot fewer players. It might even be a damned welcome change.

[TiaNicole]

Nice false dichotomy, bro.

 

If BW were actually to take action here, I'd rather it be to actually code in some chat filters. There's no excuse for <insert RMT site here> to be able to get spammed with impunity when all it would take to block it is putting in the most basic of chat filters. I'd also like the option to filter whispers and mail - let me ignore all messages in both formats that don't come from within my legacy, a friend, a guild member, or a group member.

 

The above would be far preferable to nerfing slicing again, and would probably piss off a lot fewer players. It might even be a damned welcome change.

 

Do you really think I want to see Slicing nerfed again? No, been through it once don't care to go through it again. Besides I have 550 slicing.

 

But instead of just jumping on me for that 1 comment have you bothered to read any of my other posts? Like the one where I spoke about them implementing something like WoW did to combat the credit sellers. I would much prefer to see something like that created which would benefit both parties (buyer and seller) than to see any more nerfs.

 

But I am now also beginning to wonder if this whole thing is okay with BW/EA. Maybe the others are right and they don't care that it is happening.

 

Either way, I am done posting here since not one representative of BW/EA has even bothered to chime in on this matter.

 

Take Care Everyone!

[squirrelballz]

The way I see this matter is until we get a dev response this thread is just a bunch of back and forth with nowhere to go. If the dev's don't do anything to treasure hunting in next patch can we all just leave treasure hunting and other crew skills be? Please stop nerfing all my crew skills it felt like a major kick in the nads the first time it happened. With 4.0 alot of credits have been introduced. Players need to learn to adjust to the climate of the game nothing needs to be adjusted in regards to design with inflow of credits.

[peter_plankskull]

The way I see this matter is until we get a dev response this thread is just a bunch of back and forth with nowhere to go. If the dev's don't do anything to treasure hunting in next patch can we all just leave treasure hunting and other crew skills be? Please stop nerfing all my crew skills it felt like a major kick in the nads the first time it happened. With 4.0 alot of credits have been introduced. Players need to learn to adjust to the climate of the game nothing needs to be adjusted in regards to design with inflow of credits.

 

 

I don't know... they removed a lot of features that once use to cost credits so that even the most casual person can now obtain millions, not to mention they added a lot of fast travel which also furthers credit inflation. You use to have to be able to buy skills, speeder upgrades, a speeder, actually travel to earn credits, now you just click a button and your ported to a heroic which makes 100k per doing a single one. Not to mention various exploits got out, repairs were bugged for months, whales have been paying extra for the platinum rarity in the CM which only furthers the amount of credits in game.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

In all honesty, I am one of those people that has no problem with the CM having an exchange rate for CC's to creds. That would also stabilize the value of CM items on the CM.

 

Some may say that is pay to win, but honestly, if you are paying to support the game, rather then off site sellers, then I don't have a problem with that.

 

But, the flip side of that is, that it MAY cause the GTN inflation to get worse. It is hard to say, guess it depends on how many people do it.

 

I don't know any game over a few years old, to where to the GTN, or AH is just inflated to all hell.

 

I don't spend real cash on the CM so I wouldn't know care either way unless it affected my ability to buy packs ( something I enjoy ) with credits.

 

If things all of a sudden became direct to buy and no more packs and no more operations or MMO content to look forward to I would cancel my sub personally and just resub once or twice a year to pick up the solo content for a healthy $15 as I suspect many are doing.

 

Might seem off topic but my point is the cartel packs are more or less the main reason I play now ... I enjoy the RNG of them, buying and selling on the GTN etc. - earning tons of credits then blowing a couple of hundred mill on more crates.

 

Some may view this as insane or silly but each to their own ... I often wonder how people can do the same heroics day in and day out, month in and month out ... we all have our own reasons for playing and the cartel market as it stands is one of mine which is why I'm looking forward to this bronze pack change ... more credits in the long run for all these old bronze/silver items I have.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

He has certain writing quirks that make it quite clear that he's the same guy who has been on this train for the last several months. It is what it is, certain people just write the way they write.

 

I expect that if I had a sockpuppet account, it would become obvious that it was me... I'd have to avoid all the ellipses and all the dashes -- not to mention "not to mention" and the use of the word "verisimilitude". And nevermind "nevermind".

 

Right so because he posts a certain way it means he must be that person?

 

So way back when during the ravagers exploit where Max here would go out of his way to defend exploiters and the punishment people felt valid kept going on and on about along the lines of "just because I post a certain way doesn't make me one of them" yet here he is now basically doing the same thing and saying because this person posts a certain way he must be the same person.

 

Pot meet kettle.

 

Funnily enough the previous poster wanted TH nerfed, this posters doesn't ... yup they MUST be the same person.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I play WoW also and I really like the way Blizzard has the price fixed on the WoW tokens. Best thing ever imo.

 

If I remember right I think Rift got something similar added to it not long ago. It was another game like this one that had the credit seller site problems.

 

SWTOR needs to implement something of this type and then we would not be bothered by them anymore.

 

For those not sure of what this is... a person buys a token using their preferred payment method then they take said token and place it on the GTN at a price that BW/EA could dictate (like Blizz does). Then when it sells, you get the credits. So basically your turning your own money into ingame coinage, credits, etc.

 

People will always be lured by the cheaper credits RMTs can offer and WoW still has the issue but you are right ... direct to buy credits would put a massive dent into their business where as nothing else lately has and if anything recent changes have probably helped make it more profitable for them

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I think BW should implement something like the WoW tokens, game time for credits at a fixed rate.

 

The gold sellers would have competition they would be hard pressed to compete with, and it would be money spent to support the game instead of third party vendors.

 

People could in effect buy gold LEGALLY, FROM Bioware instead of someone else.

 

Plus it lets Bioware be able to control the economy a bit easier I would imaginey.

 

I.e. Lets say Bioware sells 10 million credits for the price of a hypercrate in terms of CC/Cash. It would then be difficult for hypercrates to sell on the GTN for 25 million as they do now. I haven't fully thought this through so there are probably things I'm not considering but that's how I basically see it.

[lightSaberAddiCt]

Plus it lets Bioware be able to control the economy a bit easier I would imaginey.

 

I.e. Lets say Bioware sells 10 million credits for the price of a hypercrate in terms of CC/Cash. It would then be difficult for hypercrates to sell on the GTN for 25 million as they do now. I haven't fully thought this through so there are probably things I'm not considering but that's how I basically see it.

 

I am thinking that the price of credits would be more premium then that man. They would probably do it in a way that didnt negatively affect their crate sales. So you would probably be paying about the same.

 

not to mention, if you were able to buy credits, it would cause a wide increase of GTN prices overall, and not just hypercrates.

Edited June 17, 2016 by lightSaberAddiCt

[Andryah]

Plus it lets Bioware be able to control the economy a bit easier I would imaginey.

 

I.e. Lets say Bioware sells 10 million credits for the price of a hypercrate in terms of CC/Cash. It would then be difficult for hypercrates to sell on the GTN for 25 million as they do now. I haven't fully thought this through so there are probably things I'm not considering but that's how I basically see it.

 

Right now.. The CM is credit neutral, as in it does not inject any new credits into the game. It does allow players to trade items, which moves credits from one player to another.

 

Directly selling credits for actual money by the studio would inject fresh new credits into the game without any actual game play effort on the part of the player... and hence would be the very thing people are complaining about.... credit inflation.

 

I personally do not have a big issue with in game inflation in MMOs. It's all relative.. and as long as newer players have easy access to credits and can build up characters and character wealth to be on par with veterans after a reasonable period of time.. I don't see the issue. Many veterans in this game are clearly wealthy enough to not have to care too much about choosing to splurge on some rare items.

 

I do support the model used by some MMOs where they sell a 30 day sub token to players, who in turn can resell them in game to other players. Again.. a credit neutral action. I'm netural on whether such tokens should be "price fixed" inside the game. WoW price fixes, EVE Online does not. Both seem to work well.

 

As for the original premise of this thread (massive inflation due to TH lockboxes) ... I think enough discussion from sane players in this thread have proven A) this is not the cause of massive inflation B) may be exploited (like just about anything else in game) with clever botting which is a banable offense. Given how much effort and investment is required to just prepare an accounts characters and companions for this particular source of credits... I find it dubious that there is much botting going on for TH. That said.. there are always players that will bot, and so the best defense is to report suspects so that they are on the studios radar and can be assessed and actioned as the studio determines is best.

 

Player economies.... are.... by definition... player economies, and the more the studio stays out of it.. the better. Players will sort out amongst themselves the relative virtual worth of any given item in game, regardless of where it comes from.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Andryah