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

[IanArgent]

LOL 2700 credit mission returns 1900 credit items. Very nice fix. Might as well have just removed the lockboxes entirely unless you plan to reduce the mission cost by 1000 creds.

 

It's still a way to get drop-table items for the outfit designer. Especially for stuff on the lower-level drop tables, that's not nothing.

 

Between this and the slicing nerf, I suspect the New Way is to have gathering skills be a minor credit sink, in exchange for getting valuable stuff out of crits. (Not going to comment on whether that's a good thing or not - depends on your view of how much bots are affecting the economy).

[DarthEnrique]

Don't know why anyone is calling it a stealth nerf it's in then patch notes at the very bottom

 

Missions + NPCs

• Removed the Group Finder Tactical Flashpoint Mission that was incorrectly appearing on the Republic Fleet's Priority Missions Terminal.
  
• Attack effects no longer fire from the feet of Annihilator T4-1D.
  
• M1-4X’s Quick Kolto Burst now fires from his cannon instead of his chest, which he considers a marked improvement.
  
• The description of the Heroic Transport item on the Mission “Search and Rescue” now references the correct Mission.
  
• The description of the Heroic Transport item on the Mission “Factory Recall” now references the correct Mission.
  
• Imperial and Republic Commanders now only spawn in PvP Instances.
  
• Increased the Credit reward amount of all Heroic Missions.
  
• Treasure Hunting Lockbox Missions no longer reward credits.
  

[Rolodome]

Don't know why anyone is calling it a stealth nerf it's in then patch notes at the very bottom

They edited it in. It wasn't there when the patch was released.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9022744#edit9022744

[ZXFiveNineAFour]

Don't know why anyone is calling it a stealth nerf it's in then patch notes at the very bottom

 

It wasn't in the patch notes until Musco acknowledged the change and updated them. That's why they called it a stealth nerf.

[ZXFiveNineAFour]

They edited it in. It wasn't there when the patch was released.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9022744#edit9022744

 

Dang. Posting from my phone is so much slower.

[TapVallian]

Quote: Originally Posted by jimmorrisson View Post

 

Now that Slicing and Treasure Hunting are "done" what is going to be the next targeted crew skill.

 

Investigation... come on BW- make the 5 of us that have it credit gods!

 

I think it actually could be Investigation. The companion gift missions take about half as long from Investigation as with any other crew skill that offers them.

 

Clearly that makes Investigation over powered and subject to the next great witch hunt and subsequent nerf.

 

Good call!

[AngFour]

Quote: Originally Posted by jimmorrisson View Post

 

Now that Slicing and Treasure Hunting are "done" what is going to be the next targeted crew skill.

 

 

 

I think it actually could be Investigation. The companion gift missions take about half as long from Investigation as with any other crew skill that offers them.

 

Clearly that makes Investigation over powered and subject to the next great witch hunt and subsequent nerf.

 

Good call!

 

I can see it, which kind of sucks because Investigation ONLY gives out Researched Compounds and Companion Gifts. There is no third option and IIRC only one crafting skill uses those mats (Armstech). Unless I'm wrong and Armormech uses it too (My Armormech isn't maxed out yet, so I'm not sure. I haven't crafted anything other than the bonded attachments.) Having the Companion Gift missions go a bit faster is a nice way to make Investigation somewhat "worthwhile."

[LyraineAlei]

I can see it, which kind of sucks because Investigation ONLY gives out Researched Compounds and Companion Gifts. There is no third option and IIRC only one crafting skill uses those mats (Armstech). Unless I'm wrong and Armormech uses it too (My Armormech isn't maxed out yet, so I'm not sure. I haven't crafted anything other than the bonded attachments.) Having the Companion Gift missions go a bit faster is a nice way to make Investigation somewhat "worthwhile."

 

Armormech uses Underworld Trading.

 

Which does not reward lockboxes to my memory. Just cloth or metal or companion gifts.

 

Why not have all companion crew skills be nerfed? Artifice should -obviously- not make artifacts or armor dyes, which could be sold on the GTN to make a ton of credits. Cybertech shouldn't make vehicles ... that can't be sold to other players. Or grenades of -total unfairness- in PvP. Or Ship Parts for those Space Missions very few people do anymore... And-and uh. DIPLOMACY! Diplomacy shouldn't reward Light/Darkside points -at all-, not just the comp gift missions being neutral.

 

/shrug I was going a little over the top, but the first two sentences were my main post. I personally find this whole companion crew skill thing being nerfed kinda "meh". I mean, I always felt that slicing missions if they reward a lockbox should reward at about the cost of going on the mission for a close-to-net-zero payout, or higher than it cost, but we have lockboxes out in the field too.

[PatT]

i performed a series of tests where i sent 6 max influence companions on treasure hunting lockbox missions

 

the missions consisted of the following

2 treasure hunting lockbox missions from grade 9

2 treasure hunting lockbox missions from grade 8

2 treasure hunting lockbox missions from grade 7

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

i then opened the boxes and recorded the amount of credits.

i then vendored the items from the boxes and recorded the amount of credits.

i then recorded the profits and reset the credits to 100,000 and repeated the test ten times.

 

 

average profit per six missions = 32,311.20

 

time to complete all six missions = 3 minutes, 27 seconds

3 minutes and 27 seconds = 3.45 minutes

60 minutes / 3.45 minutes = 17.39 runs of six missions per hour

profit per hour = (32,311.20 * 17.39) = 561,891.768

profit per day = (561,891.768 * 24) = 13,485,402.432

 

 

 

by removing the decimals

 

profit per hour = 561,891

profit per day = 13,485,402

 

 

 

 

if you did the same thing with slicing lockboxes and vendored the contents you would only get 8k profit per six missions which is much less harmful to the economy.

 

 

therefore, treasure hunting lockbox profits are severely imbalanced compared to all other crewskills such as slicing. this is likely being exploited by bots and is the main source of inflation in the game.

 

the cheap and easy credits generated from this by bots is likely causing a massive decline in cartel coin sales as it has to compete with this massive amount of exploited credits being generated and sold at prices cheaper than cartel coins.

 

a proposed solution is to have the items from treasure hunting lockboxes have a vendor value of 1 credit. the same should be applied to any item that comes from crewskills which isn't a material. if the items have value then they should be sold on the gtn to fellow players.

 

the problem exists with all treasure hunting missions, not just grade 9, 8 and 7

 

the fact that this generates pure credits on a massive scale and does not require any interaction with fellow players and the gtn is what makes this such a huge problem and easily exploited by bots.

 

 

the reason this problem exists is because the system was designed around these missions taking 30 to 50 minutes, not 3 minutes and 27 seconds with the new influence system with a companion at 50 influence. they were balanced at 30 to 50 minutes but at 3 minutes and 27 seconds they can be exploited to produce massive credits. the developers didn't realize this when they changed the system to operate so quickly.

 

 

 

the mission tests and their results are listed below

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

107,577 after opening the lockboxes

135,247 after vendoring the items

35,247 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 10 lockboxes

110,529 after opening the lockboxes

133,569 after vendoring the items

33,569 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

110,156 after opening the lockboxes

130,861 after vendoring the items

30,861 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

109,321 after opening the lockboxes

128,031 after vendoring the items

28,031 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 7 lockboxes

105,700 after opening the lockboxes

128,355 after vendoring the items

28,355 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 11 lockboxes

114,980 after opening the lockboxes

140,935 after vendoring the items

40,935 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 8 lockboxes

107,144 after opening the lockboxes

129,084 after vendoring the items

29,084 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

108,834 after opening the lockboxes

135,424 after vendoring the items

35,424 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

108,595 after opening the lockboxes

125,975 after vendoring the items

25,975 profit

 

 

 

100,000 initial funds

85,300 after sending off 6 companions

received 9 lockboxes

106,886 after opening the lockboxes

135,631 after vendoring the items

35,631 profit

 

Congratulations. All the credits in these boxes are now gone.

[PatT]

Rozzeran or whomever you are, are you a gold seller? Trying to get all the gold out of the game but the gold you sell?

 

I don't know what your motives are, but you are partially responsible for ruining crafting. I hope you are happy. i hold you responsible, you and your rants.