Quality of gear in crates are the problem, not quantity.

[TUXs]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

I'll restate what I think they should contain...

 

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

 

You have a game where it's very common for players to have 2-full sets of gear - tank/dps or heal/dps...the current gearing system prohibits players from switching roles with the ease the game seemingly intended. The GTN and CM are for cosmetics, not the gearing system. We had a plethora of ways to get cosmetic gear prior to 5.x, we didn't need another.

[RudbekAlliance]

I'll restate what I think they should contain...

 

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

 

You have a game where it's very common for players to have 2-full sets of gear - tank/dps or heal/dps...the current gearing system prohibits players from switching roles with the ease the game seemingly intended. The GTN and CM are for cosmetics, not the gearing system. We had a plethora of ways to get cosmetic gear prior to 5.x, we didn't need another.

 

I wonder how people would feel if we knew exactly how small the current % drop rate is for those items. I would imagine its far closer to the rancor in the nightlife event rare than even the tier 3% you suggest.

[DHTarez]

I'll restate what I think they should contain...

 

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

 

You have a game where it's very common for players to have 2-full sets of gear - tank/dps or heal/dps...the current gearing system prohibits players from switching roles with the ease the game seemingly intended. The GTN and CM are for cosmetics, not the gearing system. We had a plethora of ways to get cosmetic gear prior to 5.x, we didn't need another.

 

Absolutely agree with this but to add one more change to it. The crate should drop the unassembled token instead so that duplicates can actually be made useful and there is no reason to have to remember to switch disciplines just to make sure you are getting the gear you need. That way when you get a second set of boots you can trade them in for a piece of gear that supports either your second discipline or for use on an alt.

Edited February 1, 2017 by DHTarez

[FireFoxed]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

What I don't understand is why higher rank crates drop the same junk at the same percentages as GC rank 1 crates. I'm rank 3 and I see lots of useless rank 3 greens and blues. Why can't I get rank 2 purples (234) and legendaries (236) instead? Those would be far more useful for me than junk greens with no set bonus.

 

The same goes for crafting schematics. Many of my rank 3 crates have no schematic. In those instances I'd rather get a rank 1 or 2 schematic since I don't have all of them yet and that's better than nothing at all.

Edited February 1, 2017 by FireFoxed

[TUXs]

Absolutely agree with this but to add one more change to it. The crate should drop the assembled token instead so that duplicates can actually be made useful and there is no reason to have to remember to switch disciplines just to make sure you are getting the gear you need. That way when you get a second set of boots you can trade them in for a piece of gear that supports either your second discipline or for use on an alt.

GREAT addition!!!

[FerkWork]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

Please consider removing the green and blue items from the crates. I don't mind the grind that much but it's deflating when your last 40 crates aren't upgrades at all and makes me want to not participate in GC at all. Especially since Mods and Enhancments are craftable so we're mostly looking for set bonus pieces at this point. Especially as to those who raid gear is a tool not a decorative item. Please consider that and adjusting the drops. Thanks

Edited February 1, 2017 by FerkWork

[Joonbeams]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

Finally an acknowledgement! Thanks!

 

It's pretty simple - increase quality of drops SUBSTANTIALLY. Be aggressive about the fixing loot tables and state those intentions CLEARLY in communication ASAP. Begin implementation in the next patch. Keep everything else about GC if you like, keep RNG even - these are distractions. 98.78% (precise math )of the issues with GC go away with radically increasing the quality of drops alone.

 

Doing anything other than, or not including, this will be justly interpreted as tone deafness - even hostility - toward the playerbase. There is really no more "feedback" needed. Thanks.

[vicadin]

The way I see it...

 

Tier 1 = 228 Greens, 230 Blues, 230 Purples, 232 Purples

Tier 2 = 232 Greens, 234 Blues, 234 Purples, 236 Yellows

Tier 3 = 238 Greens, 240 Blues, 240 Purples, 242 Yellows

 

What if we just added some weight to the items as you get higher in Command Rank?

 

CR 1-45 = All items are available

CR 46 - 75 = No more or less weight on greens

CR 76 - 90 = No more or less weight on greens or blues

 

Sure you would still get some RNG to duplicate items but it would force you to still have to grind out Command Rank, which is what Bioware wants you to do.

[Elssha]

I'd prefer for the crates to simply have cosmetic items/schematics/pets/mounts/etc with maybe green gear, while the tokens they already stuck in there (an increased amount) were how you get whatever gear you want via vendor-bought unassembleds.

 

That way the one part of RNG everyone hates would disappear (since we know how many tokens we'll get - even if you make it slightly randomized (10-20 instead of 15, for instance) and we can easily but the gear we need. If they want to force a grind they can make only T2 toons buy T2 unassembleds directly with just tokens (leaving PvP/Ops methods tier-independent, of course).

 

 

You can even make purple SB a *rare* drop as a bonus.

[TUXs]

The way I see it...

 

Tier 1 = 228 Greens, 230 Blues, 230 Purples, 232 Purples

Tier 2 = 232 Greens, 234 Blues, 234 Purples, 236 Yellows

Tier 3 = 238 Greens, 240 Blues, 240 Purples, 242 Yellows

 

What if we just added some weight to the items as you get higher in Command Rank?

 

CR 1-45 = All items are available

CR 46 - 75 = No more or less weight on greens

CR 76 - 90 = No more or less weight on greens or blues

 

Sure you would still get some RNG to duplicate items but it would force you to still have to grind out Command Rank, which is what Bioware wants you to do.

I don't like this at all. Too close to what we currently have. This is STARTER gear...not end game gear. It needs to be easily available for players...hell, they used to give you free PvP gear just for logging in...and if you sold it, you could get another full set from a vendor. Starting gear can not be this random nor this gated.

[Eli_Porter]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

I know you said you read them all, but I'm gonna shamelessly plug my suggestion anyway.

[Ryenke]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

Oh, you tease me with the possibility of wanting to resub... I do wish y'all had started these 'tweaks'" pre-live and you were getting this feedback from PTS participants, because I'm afraid many people I know are gone for good.

 

To keep me, the changes need to be significant. Tux has good ideas, and the unassembled token idea is a good one as well.

 

I'd also say that if we are stuck with green/blue gear (especially in Tier 2 and 3 where it doesn't belong at all because it absolutely isn't a true upgrade) then you need to boost the disintegration rate - I'd make it a flat percentage of the cxp level progression: i.e. disintegration of the gear piece yields 1/2 a cxp level.

[GeorgeWhite]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

Add smth like companion gifts tokens to crates please, which you can exchange for the gifts you want.

Previously you could do it with data crystals which dropped from almost every quest/boss int the game, now - only with credits (and you need a lot of credits to level multiple companions). So just add a system similar to command tokens:

tier 1: 9 gift tokens

tier 2: 18 gift tokens

tier 3: 27 gift tokens

Vendor costs:

blue rank 5 gifts -1 token

purple rank 5 - 2 tokens

legendary rank 6 - 3 tokens

rank 1-4 and green rank 5 - cost credits.

or...add rank 6 green/blue/purple gifts in game and give the ability to ppl with treasure hunting crew skill to get em via crew skill missions.

You (or was it Charles?) said in one of the pre-kotet streams that galactic command will be the most efficient way of getting gifts. In reality - it's worse than we had before.

[Decidion]

I've posted this a number of times, but BioWare just ignores it, even though its the *perfect* way to fix the GC crates (IMO).....

 

 

Why this is so undesireable or too tough for BioWare to put into the game is beyond me. This is just insane when we have so many good ideas.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Decidion

[SithSkereKaan]

Still not a fan of RNG, but one good thing are the reputation tokens you can find in the boxes. I have increase the reputation on some factions just using the rep tokens.

[PlasmaJohn]

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

Each crate is guaranteed to contain one "usable" piece of gear. Any cosmetic piece is an extra. I think those have been confusing folks into thinking that's what the RNG gave them.

 

I agree with what you wrote up there: Greens gotta go and the chance of a set piece drop needs to be dramatically improved. Enough should drop that its possible to gear up both specs within a tier. Repeats are a particularly vexing problem. Sure that can be solved by some sort of exchange but that just makes GC even more convoluted.

 

GC as it stands would be fine as a bonus gearing path. It's fatal as a primary gear path.

[Radzkie]

Has anyone gotten a full set of purple 230s from rank 1 crates? I wonder if the devs have looked up that info. Maybe we werent suppose to? But why if thats the case?

 

The GC is supposedly our main source for gear, since ops and PvP are only "supplements" for the unlucky, yet I wouldnt be shocked if no one has got a full set of purple starter gear from it. That's pretty abysmal, worse if you think of how easy it was before 5.0. The scariest part is the GC was created without those supplements in mind....

Edited February 1, 2017 by Radzkie

[DanNV]

GC as it stands would be fine as a bonus gearing path. It's fatal as a primary gear path.

 

There is the big take-away from the conversation that BW refuses to understand.

[DariusCalera]

I'll restate what I think they should contain...

 

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

 

You have a game where it's very common for players to have 2-full sets of gear - tank/dps or heal/dps...the current gearing system prohibits players from switching roles with the ease the game seemingly intended. The GTN and CM are for cosmetics, not the gearing system. We had a plethora of ways to get cosmetic gear prior to 5.x, we didn't need another.

 

They should replace the purple items with a purple token that could be used for any item and guarantee those every 10 levels for tier 1. That way, if someone did nothing but say FPs, Uprisings, or planetary heroics they would have a full 230 starters set plus MH/OH when they hit 90.

 

There would still be a chance to get tokens in between those levels so that they could pick up implants/ears/relics or, if they do OPs, start working on an off set.

 

After they started on Tier 2 though I would remove the guarantee token drops but I think the 50% drop rate you suggest is a bit high. I think 20-25% woudl be better with 10-12% for Tier 3.

 

To counter act this lower drop rate I would have the big planetary heroic mission, uprisings, and flashpoints drop components like PvP and GSF. The component drop rate would not need to be huge, but significant enough that it makes doing those other aspects of the game worthwhile.

[Costello]

The content of the Crates is something we are looking into as well. Keep the feedback coming.

 

-eric

 

Eric your killing us.

 

Seriously what is the point of being a subscriber now. It seems if you came back in 5 or 6 months you will get 300% faster crate acquisition with better stuff in them.

 

Seems to make a joke of being a subscriber and participating in the GC now.

[curulz]

Eric your killing us.

 

Seriously what is the point of being a subscriber now. It seems if you came back in 5 or 6 months you will get 300% faster crate acquisition with better stuff in them.

 

Seems to make a joke of being a subscriber and participating in the GC now.

 

I get where you're coming from, but I'd much rather see them make positive changes than stay status quo. If not, there might not be a 5-6 months down the road to come back to.

[AscendingSky]

I get where you're coming from, but I'd much rather see them make positive changes than stay status quo. If not, there might not be a 5-6 months down the road to come back to.

 

I would rather they make positive changes too, but the changes they're making are coming too slowly. They need to change drop rates and CXP gains NOW, not in April when 5.2 drops. It shouldn't take 2-3 months to adjust variables in the code when they are hemorrhaging subs due to said variables making gearing miserable. They're dragging their heels on this and it's making people who are already frustrated about how terrible GC is (which EAWare was warned would be the case from the moment RNG gearing was announced) all the more angry. They're acting like they have another 5 years to get this 'tweaked', and they really, really don't.

Edited February 1, 2017 by AscendingSky

[GNWP]

I'll restate what I think they should contain...

 

1-90 = all purple set piece gear WITH bonuses. (this is BASIC starter gear, you need to do this imo)

91-180 = 50% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

181-300 = 25% chance for legendary item, no green, no cosmetic

 

You have a game where it's very common for players to have 2-full sets of gear - tank/dps or heal/dps...the current gearing system prohibits players from switching roles with the ease the game seemingly intended. The GTN and CM are for cosmetics, not the gearing system. We had a plethora of ways to get cosmetic gear prior to 5.x, we didn't need another.

I think Bioware should give players a choice with two options when they open a command crate:

1) Get gear

2) Get cosmetics

Edited February 1, 2017 by GNWP

[thepilk]

Another thing to consider for the value of contents in the crates is to look ahead of gearing too. While its not too big of a deal just yet, the system doesnt go away after youve gotten all your gear.. you keep gaining ranks for playing and will keep getting crates with gear you dont need and galactic command tokens with no use. The light/dark vendors suffer from this too.. once you have bought the items on the light/dark vendors you want... the tokens keep piling up because youre still playing the system even if you have nothing to gain from it. Nothing on the vendor is consumable or resellable.

 

In the old system, data crystal vendors were around that allowed you to spend your crystals on things when you were "gear maxed", even if it was just high end companion gifts and crafting supplies. These were at least things you could spend those tokens on, even if all you did was put those items on the GTN.

 

The "disintegrate" option should have the choice to convert the items into command xp OR command tokens, and then there should be vendors for command tokens that sell fluff items and consumable/resellable items like companion gifts/decos/crafting supplies/etc so that you never hit a point of being done with the system and just have tokens uselessly piling up once you are geared.

 

On a similar note, the light/dark vendors need to have some similarly consumable/repurchaseable items as well so that it doesnt become stagnant, or alternatively Command Tokens and Unassembled Components should be added to those vendors, then so you can use your light/dark tokens to supplement your other systems with a sort of exchange system.

[RswanBing]

I get where you're coming from, but I'd much rather see them make positive changes than stay status quo. If not, there might not be a 5-6 months down the road to come back to.

 

Sure changing things is better than doing nothing at all, but it doesn't change the fact that they're asking players to keep paying while the game isn't working properly. Others pointed that it makes whatever we're doing now on GC command pointless, and that's true.

 

Musco himself said that players could level up a new alt, or get legendary achievment waiting for the changes. Why ? Because even him knows that playing now with GC makes no sense AND is a waste of time. It would take a lot of time now to do things you could do faster after they fix things.

 

Also this: If they make changes on the stuff we get in crates, why opening a lot of crates now for ****** stuff ? It's wasting the chance to get real good stuff later ( maybe ) Why win less Cxp while you will get more later ? Since they plan to change A LOT of things, I could go on on many things.

 

Some people can stay sub because there's things outside of GC they want to do of course, but If gearing your char is mostly what you want to do, there's no point to do it now.

Edited February 1, 2017 by RswanBing