Cartel Pack Changes with the GEMINI Pack

[Anzel]

These packs are terrible. I bought zero of them. I used the same amount of money to treat myself to an awesome dinner at one of my favorite places. Thanks for making this an easy decision!!!!

[TUXs]

As I stated very few would have read that. They would have come here complaining anyway then had to have NUMEROUS links showing them where it was stated.

It's fine. Eric did good here.

Of course very few would have read it...very few seem to read ANYTHING...but the few that would have would have set the record straight with those who didn't take the time to read it. And there's nothing wrong with players not reading a note or missing it, that's normal...this is entertainment...I don't read the books of a series before I go see a movie about it and I bet more people than not, approach gaming the same way...they read very little about it and only post when they see a perceived issue.

 

The point is...this change should have been communicated beforehand. It's not like it's a freaking bug...it's a damn big change.

[Anzel]

Of course very few would have read it...very few seem to read ANYTHING...but the few that would have would have set the record straight with those who didn't take the time to read it. And there's nothing wrong with players not reading a note or missing it, that's normal...this is entertainment...I don't read the books of a series before I go see a movie about it and I bet more people than not, approach gaming the same way...they read very little about it and only post when they see a perceived issue.

 

The point is...this change should have been communicated beforehand. It's not like it's a freaking bug...it's a damn big change.

 

Yeah, I'm the one with the money. I'm the one paying them, not the other way around. I'll read what I feel like reading. If I feel like asking a question then I will ask. I could care less if I missed some link on a web page somewhere.

[AlienEyeTX]

Hey folks,

 

Yesterday, we made a few changes to how Cartel Packs work with the release of the GEMINI pack. I want to share the changes that were made to the pack.

 

Grand Chance Cubes/Bronze Items

The primary feedback we have heard from players over the past few months is that you would prefer to receive Bronze items rather than Chance Cubes. For that reason, one of the first things you will notice is that we have re-introduced Bronze items back into the Cartel Pack. Although you can get amazing items out of the cubes, we took your feedback and made the following changes:

• We have introduced multiple Bronze items into the GEMINI Pack.
  
• To allow for the addition above, the drop rate of Grand Chance Cubes has been greatly reduced.
  

 

Pack Pricing Changes

You will notice that with the GEMINI Pack, the price has moved back to 300 Cartel Coins. As with any price change we want you to understand why it changed. The short explanation is that we have item slots to the packs, packs contained fewer slots with the launch of KotFE and therefore the pricing was lowered. Now that we have added items and value to the pack in the form of additional slots, we adjusted the price to match. Here is a more detailed breakdown.

 

Pre-KotFE Packs (2 pack items) – 300 Cartel Coins discounted to 250 Cartel Coins for launch

• Pack item
  
• Pack item
  
• Additional items including companion gifts, etc.
  

 

KotFE Launch Packs (1 pack item) – 200 Cartel Coins

• Pack Item
  
• Companion Gift
  

 

GEMINI Pack (2 pack items) – 300 Cartel Coins discounted to 250 Cartel Coins for launch

• Pack Item
  
• Pack Item
  
• Additional items including companion gifts, etc.
  

 

You may also notice that Hypercrates are more expensive than before. We added 6 more packs into each Hypercrate with KotFE and so the price is reflective of that change. The price per pack in a Hypercrate is actually lower than the pre-KotFE numbers. Thank you for your understanding and support! As always, the team will continue to look to your feedback regarding packs and their content.

 

-eric

 

I think this level of feedback and information is great.

 

But... don't you think it would have been a better idea to be more proactive and provide this information in the patch notes? Or at the very least make this post the day before the packs went live?

 

Why is everything a day late and a dollar short around here?

[FlavivsAetivs]

I think this level of feedback and information is great.

 

But... don't you think it would have been a better idea to be more proactive and provide this information in the patch notes? Or at the very least make this post the day before the packs went live?

 

Why is everything a day late and a dollar short around here?

 

This^^

 

This is a case where this information should have been given out ahead of time.

 

~ Eudoxia

[CaptRogue]

No it is not okay, read my post what I said. Do realize that what you get from the packs is fluff and more worth around 10 euros better to make 6 euros, because what you get now is legal robbery, and you all think that is okay? Paying 40 bucks for random items?? No my lad. All hypercrates where fluff the 4.0 ones are even worse and here for you an post people complaining about it and actually testing it https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/comments/4qak8m/psa_new_packs_contain_less_and_cost_more/.

 

I said his explanation was great. NOWHERE did I say anything about the packs. Not my problem you waste your hard earned money for fluff items in a virtual world.

It's not legal robbery, NO where does it state to play this game you have to buy these packs or that you're guaranteed certain items or that you will make back X amount credits in game. That's all on you bro.

 

I disliked the high price till I saw Eric's explanation & it makes more sense because the old packs were like this & higher priced.

 

I don't spend any money on cartel coins. Just what I get from monthly sub, and refer a friends. I've occasionally bought a couple Hypercrates in the last few months. But I've never spend real life money on hypercrates just for RNG to screw it all up. It's gambling, and you my friend don't like, don't have to do it. But don't you come to the forums whining because you didn't get the stuff you wanted from a gambling pack(s) that you wasted money on. You want the items, wait for them to be put on the GTN & buy it with credits.

 

There are still people who like the Hypercrates & spend lots of RL money on it. More power to them.

[Bruticis]

Yeah, I'm the one with the money. I'm the one paying them, not the other way around. I'll read what I feel like reading. If I feel like asking a question then I will ask. I could care less if I missed some link on a web page somewhere.

 

It's almost sad that you have absolutely no idea how asinine this comment is.

[ikinai]

Of course very few would have read it...very few seem to read ANYTHING...but the few that would have would have set the record straight with those who didn't take the time to read it. And there's nothing wrong with players not reading a note or missing it, that's normal...this is entertainment...I don't read the books of a series before I go see a movie about it and I bet more people than not, approach gaming the same way...they read very little about it and only post when they see a perceived issue.

 

The point is...this change should have been communicated beforehand. It's not like it's a freaking bug...it's a damn big change.

 

That's not funny, you know I don't know how to read.

[CaptRogue]

The point is...this change should have been communicated beforehand. It's not like it's a freaking bug...it's a damn big change.

 

Um no. A BIG change was the "silent" Heroic credit nerf. :mad:

This is not an in game item per say & something that's optional only for those who have extra cash to spend in game. And if you have that, you are going to spend it regardless of the price. It's not like the price was hidden & then once you finalize the purchase you saw the price.

I don't see the issue here at all.

 

IF the GEMINI packs stayed exactly as the rest of the KOTFE packs, which is what I thought at first, then yes there would be an issue, but they're not. They've made them pretty much back to how they were pre-KOTFE. They were more expensive back then, but you get 6(?) more packs this time.

[TUXs]

Um no. A BIG change was the "silent" Heroic credit nerf. :mad:

This is not an in game item per say & something that's optional only for those who have extra cash to spend in game. And if you have that, you are going to spend it regardless of the price. It's not like the price was hidden & then once you finalize the purchase you saw the price.

I don't see the issue here at all.

 

IF the GEMINI packs stayed exactly as the rest of the KOTFE packs, which is what I thought at first, then yes there would be an issue, but they're not. They've made them pretty much back to how they were pre-KOTFE. They were more expensive back then, but you get 6(?) more packs this time.

Two wrongs don't make a right - BOTH should have been communicated.

[IanArgent]

These packs are terrible. I bought zero of them. I used the same amount of money to treat myself to an awesome dinner at one of my favorite places. Thanks for making this an easy decision!!!!

 

Good choice, for you. .I got more RoI on buying a supercrate on this than I would have out of dinner, but I don't happen to have a free dinner coupon right now, and I do have a certain amount of free CCs from subscribing

[Aulus_Claudius]

I'm fine with the price increase, as it's accompanied by an increase in new items as opposed to chance cubes. However, as someone who's bought dozens of hypercrates over the past 4-5 years, I will not be spending one dime on any pack you ever release again now that you've sent the signal via the LvD 'event' that you're willing to take what we spend our money on and hand it out wholesale like candy to everyone.

[DarthWoad]

 

You may also notice that Hypercrates are more expensive than before. We added 6 more packs into each Hypercrate with KotFE and so the price is reflective of that change. The price per pack in a Hypercrate is actually lower than the pre-KotFE numbers. Thank you for your understanding and support! As always, the team will continue to look to your feedback regarding packs and their content.

 

-eric

 

I don't understand and I don't support this.

 

Packs are now 6300, and require you to pay FIFTY DOLLARS to get the CC to buy ONE.

 

You are literally putting a price on pixels. Pixels which you can just conjure up with a dev command.

 

It's a price you didn't need to raise. Why didn't you just add 6 more packs and leave them at 5400 cc? In fact if you just kept the price the same, it would attract even more people as they will buy them because they'll see they get more packs and more rewards in those packs. Everyone i've spoken to in game has been completely put off by the price.

 

To me this is just screaming the word milk. I'm sorry BW, but I don't accept your justification on this.

Edited June 29, 2016 by DarthWoad

[blackphantome]

Let me ask something: Weren't the OLD packs like Shadowpacks etc. 5400 CC? I mean, regarding to this, BioWare's argumentation doesn't make sense. In the old packs, there were more things.

[FlavivsAetivs]

I don't understand and I don't support this.

 

Packs are now 6300, and require you to pay FIFTY DOLLARS to get the CC to buy ONE.

 

You are literally putting a price on pixels. Pixels which you can just conjure up with a dev command.

 

It's a price you didn't need to raise. Why didn't you just add 6 more packs and leave them at 5400 cc? In fact if you just kept the price the same, it would attract even more people as they will buy them because they'll see they get more packs and more rewards in those packs. Everyone i've spoken to in game has been completely put off by the price.

 

To me this is just screaming the word milk. I'm sorry BW, but I don't accept your justification on this.

 

To be honest, this is how I feel. They did a good job giving a justification, but I don't accept it. They should have left it at 5400 and kept the additions they made, because that would encourage people to buy more packs in exchange for a few numbers in a few lines of code. That's like a huge investment to profit ratio, in theory, and also would help fight inflation on the GTN by putting more items per pack per buyer.

 

~ Eudoxia

[EpicOlympian]

Grand Chance Cubes/Bronze Items

The primary feedback we have heard from players over the past few months is that you would prefer to receive Bronze items rather than Chance Cubes. For that reason, one of the first things you will notice is that we have re-introduced Bronze items back into the Cartel Pack.

 

People were complaining because a hypercrate could very well yield more old items than new with way too many chance cubes, resulting in greatly varying crate values.

They were also complaining because the 'silver' items were on the level of previous bronze items quality/rarity/design-wise, but cost more to unlock in collections because of their rarity rating.

 

Pack Pricing Changes

You will notice that with the GEMINI Pack, the price has moved back to 300 Cartel Coins. As with any price change we want you to understand why it changed. The short explanation is that we have item slots to the packs, packs contained fewer slots with the launch of KotFE and therefore the pricing was lowered. Now that we have added items and value to the pack in the form of additional slots, we adjusted the price to match. Here is a more detailed breakdown.

 

IIRC you added items after the complaints on the very first KotFE pack which contained only 1 item and 1 gift. Why didn't you change the price back then? The recent few packs were all at 200 CC and you could get 2 pack items (plus gift & Jawa Scrap). The change to the GEMINI Pack brings back bronze items instead of chance cubes, but the overall content of the pack stays the same.

I'd think you increased the price to cover for a potential loss of overall pack sales because there is not as much gambling involved anymore, and/or the more accessible collections unlock.

Edited June 29, 2016 by EpicOlympian

[Tsillah]

It's a fair explanation. I do have a comment and a suggestion.

 

Comment: Personally I think the current pack is lackluster. It's a personal observation but I feel items in the new pack are very appealing overall. Together with the increased price of the hypercrate it made it easy for me to decide against buying any.

 

Suggestion: I think the 5500 CC deal is not the correct amount. I think it should be 6500 CC instead. Why? Because it doesn't require people to have to buy an addition 1050 at a higher cost price and you don't have to spend an arm and a leg right away for the 14500 CC option. It's also easier for other purchases like items that cost 2000 CC and allows you to have some left over for things like armour unlocks etc. All in all a 6500 CC purchase seems a better amount than the current 5500 CC.

[DarthDymond]

Let me ask something: Weren't the OLD packs like Shadowpacks etc. 5400 CC? I mean, regarding to this, BioWare's argumentation doesn't make sense. In the old packs, there were more things.

 

I believe the Shadow Packs were the first to drop to the 5400 price-point, for years before that the various Hypercrates had all been more than the Gemini ones are now (with only 24 Packs per Hypercrate as he mentioned):

 

Cartel Pack Hypercrates: 7,344 CCs

• Crime Lord Packs
  
• Blockade Runner Packs
  
• Skip Tracer Packs
  
• Space Pirate Packs
  

Contraband Pack Hypercrates: 6,912 CCs

• Regulator Contraband Packs
  
• Vice Commandant’s Contraband Packs
  
• Archon’s Contraband Packs
  
• Supreme Mogul’s Contraband Packs
  

Bounty Pack Hypercrates: 6,912 CCs

• Freelancer’s Bounty Packs
  
• Pursuer’s Bounty Packs
  
• Tracker’s Bounty Packs
  
• Opportunist’s Bounty Packs
  

Starfighter Pack Hypercrates: 6,912 CCs

• Dogfighter’s Starfighter Packs
  
• Galactic Ace’s Starfighter Packs
  
• Space Jockey’s Starfighter Packs
  
• Hotshot’s Starfighter Packs
  

Nightlife Pack Hypercrates: 6,912 CCs

• Star Cluster’s Nightlife Packs
  
• Club Vertica Nightlife Packs
  

Stronghold Pack Hypercrates: 6,480 CCs

• Gatekeeper Stronghold Packs
  
• Constable’s Stronghold Packs
  
• Seneschal’s Stronghold Packs
  
• Architect’s Stronghold Packs
  

 

Factor in a 25% increase to scale the price up to 30 packs and those first 22 different Hypercrates all would have been north of 8,000 CCs for an equivalent amount (and for the original Cartel Packs Shipment... well).

Edited June 29, 2016 by DarthDymond

[Anzel]

It's almost sad that you have absolutely no idea how asinine this comment is.

 

Awwwww someone with money hurt your eFeelings. Sorry bro.

[AlienEyeTX]

To be honest, this is how I feel. They did a good job giving a justification, but I don't accept it. They should have left it at 5400 and kept the additions they made, because that would encourage people to buy more packs in exchange for a few numbers in a few lines of code. That's like a huge investment to profit ratio, in theory, and also would help fight inflation on the GTN by putting more items per pack per buyer.

 

~ Eudoxia

 

True. Would also have been a nice gesture to the players after all of the missteps recently. Instead, it just comes off looking like another half-baked idea that fell flat when they tried to serve it.

[ikinai]

True. Would also have been a nice gesture to the players after all of the missteps recently. Instead, it just comes off looking like another half-baked idea that fell flat when they tried to serve it.

 

If it were me, I would have simply added one or two packs per crate and left the price the same. Changed the drop rates to what it is, meaning fewer chance cubes etc. Then touted that we added extra packs per crate without changing the price. The % change of packs per crate would be the same, but the net effect would be, 'Hey, look guys we added more packs per crate for y'all!'

[Lowarro]

Hey folks,

...

Pack Pricing Changes

You will notice that with the GEMINI Pack, the price has moved back to 300 Cartel Coins. As with any price change we want you to understand why it changed. The short explanation is that we have item slots to the packs, packs contained fewer slots with the launch of KotFE and therefore the pricing was lowered. Now that we have added items and value to the pack in the form of additional slots, we adjusted the price to match. Here is a more detailed breakdown.

...

KotFE Launch Packs (1 pack item) – 200 Cartel Coins

• Pack Item
  
• Companion Gift
  

 

GEMINI Pack (2 pack items) – 300 Cartel Coins discounted to 250 Cartel Coins for launch

• Pack Item
  
• Pack Item
  
• Additional items including companion gifts, etc.
  

.....

-eric

 

This is bull. All other KotFE packs had 2 pack items, comp gift and jawa junk. This pack has 2 pack items, comp gift and less jawa junk. the only difference is the chance cube (which is a great product, but one that should have been separate from the packs the entire time) has a reduced drop rate in this pack. If you want an excuse for a more expensive pack give the chance cube its own slot in the pack.

 

Also has this screenshot http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/swtor-cm-weekly-sales-june-28-july-5.jpg shows all current advertisement for the new hypercrate still show 30 packs, what it has been for all KotFE packs, so I doubt you upped it to 36 and will not spend the 6300 cartel coins to find out.

 

Finally having the super and hyper crates at the same amounts you can buy coins (e.g. the hyper at 5400, the exact amount of coins you get for $40) was a helpful system. Upping the price the way you did is going to drive away more spending than the increased price per sell is going to make up for.

[TheSeventhJedi]

Yeah, I'd much rather have the chance cubes. Sure, they're not as much fun, but those things SELL. I'd actually make more money opening a crate and selling the chance cubes than selling the whole dang hypercrate. My only hope is that the prices of the cubes will go up with their increased rarity. Pounce on those older items when you can, they're about to get a lot more pricey!

[ikinai]

Yeah, I'd much rather have the chance cubes. Sure, they're not as much fun, but those things SELL. I'd actually make more money opening a crate and selling the chance cubes than selling the whole dang hypercrate. My only hope is that the prices of the cubes will go up with their increased rarity. Pounce on those older items when you can, they're about to get a lot more pricey!

 

I have storage lockers full of old items I haven't sold yet, have had some of them since the inception of the CM.

[Zorvan]

I, personally, am glad to see bronze items returning. We were getting new items that would have been labeled bronze under the old system before but were now labeled silver, and as such were much higher to unlock in collections. The removal of bronze items meant the removal of 60 CC unlock prices for any future content, and that didn't sit right with me. To make matters worse, all new crystals, which used to be bronze, have since been bumped to silver. Are we going to see the return of bronze crystals again as well?

 

Yet you'll notice they didn't return the unlock prices back to match. Probably shouldn't expect to see them do it in the future, either. They know everyone will pay 200-300 cc each to unlock low level crap now, and EAware don't give up free money.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Zorvan