Cartel Pack Changes Coming with Steadfast Champion Pack on 5/16

[Kirameki]

LOL, Chance cubes in every pack, along with the usual useless jawa junk and companion gifts....

 

I haven't bought packs on the level I did when we got reputation tokens and cartel certificates. Thanks BW, for continuing to save me real money, and allowing me to purchase everything off the GTN instead.

 

Likewise. Thanks Bioware.

 

I now save up an average of 150 euro a month for other stuff. Instead of no more inventory space ingame I now lack inventory space offline. Need new closet.

[Jedi_riches]

I agree with silver becoming the next bronze, without bronze items to compare against everything comes down a tier so even now platinum items will essentially just be rare gold items.

 

I see nothing in the next pack that interests me at all

[Variolias]

Haven't you tried this last year BW?I think it is a mistake,but time will tell.

 

I bought 3 hypercrates last year with 93 chance cubes in them.Best item(and only gold item) I got was Shae Vizla's upper armor.Hated myself for month after that experience and never bought single pack again.

 

I guess the sales are down and they need to increase income by any means necessary.

 

SUGGESTION: Remove companion gifts that can be obtained in-game for credits from cartel packs and replace them with certificates and/or decorations.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Variolias
missing words

[Kirameki]

If they really want to get more money from their packs they just have to get cartel certificates back in the packs. Or you know...make cartel certificates a direct sale item.

[GolgoXIII]

Silver quality at Bronze drop rates (adjusting for the "one is always a Chance Cube now" change), alright that's a fair enough pitch - although, as you mentioned, that "quality" element is pretty subjective, there have definitely been Packs where my favorite armor was a Bronze one.

 

As others have mentioned, this does have the effect of shifting the Unlock costs upward for the most common drops, so I hope the quality of what we see shows through. We really only have your word that Silver and Gold items are getting the same amount of TLC in the design process that they used to under the previous tiers.

 

Seems like a bit of a jump to go from "take less time / effort relative to that put in on Silver / Gold / Plat items" to "ugly / lazy on purpose."

 

EDIT:

 

Jeez, people really are pouncing to try to turn "we put different amounts of time / effort into the four different tiers" into "the lowest tier was deliberately garbage."

 

I have to disagree there DarthDymond they will not have changed the drop rates on any of the silver/gold/platinum items it just stands to reason that if there are no bronze items the silver items will drop more it's just logical there is nothing there that could cause a non drop of a silver item, as for the gold and the platinum they are gonna be exactly the same rarity with the new system as they are now, they won't have changed the percentage rate of those items coming out of a pack. Realistically when it comes down to it money makes the monkey dance. Lowest rarity item that drops now all of sudden costs 4 times as much to unlock across the account so bioware/EA's bottom line is looking a lot healthier and that is pretty much the reason why this is happening I don't begrudge them trying to make more money but I do wish that they were a bit more honest about it.

[tummiswtor]

If that is gold rate item, that im Saint http://imgur.com/GHVztgq (Ultra settings) Edited May 13, 2017 by tummiswtor

[LordAppius]

Hey folks,

 

Currently, when you open a pack you will receive:

• Two items – New pack item(s) and/or Grand Chance Cube(s)
  
• Two misc. – Jawa Scraps and Companion Gifts

 

Starting with the Steadfast Champion pack on May 16th, you will now receive the following:

• One new pack item
  
• One Grand Chance Cube
  
• Two misc. – Jawa Scraps and Companion Gifts

 

Additionally, packs will now only contain Silver, Gold, and Platinum rarity items. What this change means is that you will more consistently get new pack items (since one is guaranteed in each pack) and you will have a much greater chance of getting Silver, Gold, and Platinum items than you did previously. Our plan moving forward is that we are not going to be making Bronze quality armor sets, decorations, etc. any longer. Our focus is to ensure the new items in each pack are of the highest quality, giving you greater value for your investment.

 

Let us know what you think! Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

 

 

Lol.... what eric is thinking "no sorries for the long trol is a Irvin potato"

[Storm-Cutter]

Nice to know that Cartel Market sales are priority over server uptime. System Alert - Again.

 

And:

 

Come on you Whales!

Edited May 13, 2017 by Storm-Cutter

[Talon_strikes]

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

Please stop ruining the in-game economy and catering to the whales

[CrazyCT]

Please stop thinking this is a game - it's a business

[JattaGin]

If they really want to get more money from their packs they just have to get cartel certificates back in the packs. Or you know...make cartel certificates a direct sale item.

 

That's what I thought as well when reading through this thread.

 

As a serious feedback to BW: The maximum I was and am willing to pay for a collections unlock is 60 CC. That means almost all my unlocks are bronze items (of which I quite liked a lot of them, particularly armors). Or 120 CC unlocks when there was a 50% discount.

 

If unlocks cost 120 CC and more from now on for everything, you won't get a dollar from me for that, unless you have a sale. But then it's the same income for you as if you keep bronze rarity. Or actually still less.

 

I do like that there are less items in the packs though. There was just way too much stuff. However, it has to show in the pack price. Same price for half the items = no deal for many people (I assume).

[RevansSoul]

A guaranteed new item is nice. Last hypercrate I bought I couldn't even complete a full bronze armor set. I got no silver or gold mounts or weapons and at one point I opened a pack that gave me jawa scraps, two chance cubes and a deco. That was it for me.

 

It's good to phase out bronze since there are too many grades after the tragic introduction of platinum items. Some bronze quality armor sets look nicer than gold quality though. So if we're getting better looking equipment for our money's worth, actually make armor better looking. No complaints about mounts and weapons, but armor has been a letdown these past two years because feedback was consistently ignored. Hoping that will change with Keith at the helm.

 

A guaranteed Grand Chance cube is good for some, but not all players. New players can benefit from a cube because all the stuff in there is new, but for veteran players like me, there's too much stuff in a cube I already have. While I don't mind spending real money in the cartel market on new items, I'm not going to risk geting stuff I already have. As long as a chance cube is guaranteed in each pack, I'm not buying any.

 

I like that there's less items, but the price of the packs must reflect that, and unlock costs have to go down.

Edited May 13, 2017 by RevansSoul

[AscendingSky]

Please stop thinking this is a game - it's a business

 

Yes, it is a business. Businesses want to make money. They're not making money off SWTOR, or as least as much as they might like to based on their last earnings report. So they need to do something to turn that around. Making one of their biggest sellers in the cash shop LESS appealing for people to buy, while simultaneously trying to nickle and dime more payments out of the customers they still have around, is NOT the way to turn things around. If something provides less value for the same or more bucks than previously, people will buy less of it, which means less money for EAWare.

 

They definitely get less money from me now... I stopped buying packs a while back, when they increased the cost while decreasing the number of drops and including those damn Chance Cubes so we had even less of a chance to get the stuff we wanted from the new pack. Whereas I bought a large number of hypercrates from the older shipments, because they had a much better value overall. If they keep pushing the value vs. price balance point further in this direction, more people will make the same decision I made and stop buying those packs, period.

Edited May 13, 2017 by AscendingSky

[CrazyCT]

A decrease in appeal for the random crates, right after they start introducing direct buy items? Maybe it's just coincidence, or maybe they actually do have some very clever people working there. You know, the kind of people who know how to squeeze every last cent out of a player. Business people.

[Darkside]

A decrease in appeal for the random crates, right after they start introducing direct buy items? Maybe it's just coincidence, or maybe they actually do have some very clever people working there. You know, the kind of people who know how to squeeze every last cent out of a player. Business people.

 

That is very good point. ESPECIALLY if they don't adjust the drop rates, or worse if they adjust them down.

[DarthSpuds]

A business trying to make as much money as possible. Oh the humanity.

Seriously though, they need to make money to keep the game running and continue development.

Who knows why they think this is the way to go. My speculation is that they are not hitting financial goals with Subscriptions or CM sales. Will this change help? Doubtful but it might drive down price of GCCs which are ridiculously overpriced on the GTN right now.

 

They'd make money by selling a value for money product that people are happy to spend their leisure funds on.

 

Increasing the chances of getting ripped off by a Cartel Crate, and then upscaling the "color" quality of items so players get ripped off a bit more on Unlock prices will do more harm than good if the intent is to increase revenue streams.

 

Everything in the Gambling Crates should be on the Cartel Market at a fixed price.

 

I'll pay a reasonable amount of RL cash to buy what I want from the Cartel Market.

I'll not pay an unreasonable amount of RL cash to buy a 95% chance of NOT getting what I want - I ain't that daft.

 

This last week I bought Cartel Coins to buy Satele Shan's Armour - I had one piece from a Crate (purchased with the CC I got from being subbed) months ago, but saw no hope of completing the set so gave up, until this week.

In the same week I have bough a Mount (Ashfall Tauntaun), and spent close on 1000 Crowns buying specific decorations I wanted for my Stronghold.

 

I would have spent Zero CC for those things had they only been available via Gambling Crates.

 

All The Best

Edited May 13, 2017 by DarthSpuds

[DarthDymond]

Why? You did this before and ended up reverting it back to the old system.

Well, the answer to that is pretty straightforward: it's cheaper to make fewer items per Pack, especially if they can get away with still selling them at the same price point.

 

Heck, if the items currently listed in the Collections interface are the only ones that will be in the Pack (and, to be fair, that is an "if" - I certainly hope there are more when the Pack goes live), then they're making some fairly significant cuts to the Pack content.

 

Just comparing to other Command Packs:

• While every other Command Pack had 5-7 new armor sets (2 Gold, 2 Silver, and 1-3 Bronze), Steadfast looks like it might only have two (1 Gold and 1 Silver).
  
• While the other Command Packs had 5-7 new mounts, Steadfast looks like it might only have four.
  
• With no apparent increase in the number of other new items (weapons, color crystals, pets, companions, flairs, weapon tunings, emotes, etc.) to offset the fewer armors and mounts.
  

 

Now, within the realm of wild, irresponsible conjecture (), the most optimistic view would be that they're taking the "stop focusing so much on the CM!" feedback to heart and are cutting back on the resources allocated to the CM so as to divert those freed-up resources to more game content, resulting in smaller Packs. The most cynical view would be that after KotFE/KotET failed to retain the subscriber bump they got at the launch of KotFE (and after ME:A also under-performed) the studio is seeing even deeper cuts across the board, to the point where even the CM team is being scaled back.

Edited May 13, 2017 by DarthDymond

[omaan]

Hey folks,

 

Currently, when you open a pack you will receive:

• Two items – New pack item(s) and/or Grand Chance Cube(s)
  
• Two misc. – Jawa Scraps and Companion Gifts

 

Starting with the Steadfast Champion pack on May 16th, you will now receive the following:

• One new pack item
  
• One Grand Chance Cube
  
• Two misc. – Jawa Scraps and Companion Gifts

 

Additionally, packs will now only contain Silver, Gold, and Platinum rarity items. What this change means is that you will more consistently get new pack items (since one is guaranteed in each pack) and you will have a much greater chance of getting Silver, Gold, and Platinum items than you did previously. Our plan moving forward is that we are not going to be making Bronze quality armor sets, decorations, etc. any longer. Our focus is to ensure the new items in each pack are of the highest quality, giving you greater value for your investment.

 

Let us know what you think! Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

As i expected, the sales of cartel packs plunged significantly, and you are directing into some desperate moves (direct sales of items, guaranteed drops of new items now), yet until you guys balance pvp and pve gearing progressions (pve at the moment provides much faster way of gearing) and solve class balance issues - no one will buy your packs, since everyone prefers more balanced games.

[Sarova]

What you are asking about sounds like the Bronze / Silver / Gold <type> packs, such as the Silver Decorations pack, etc. Those types of packs the team puts on and off at various points in the year. I will pass on your interest for the deco version.

 

-eric

Plus one for the introduction of separate stronghold decoration packs - I would probably spend all of my Cartel Coins / credits on these

I also preferred the packs when they were silver/bronze platinum before - lately I've been shafted with hypercrates that have contained 90% bronze tat that is unsellable and can't be vendored.

[Damask_Rose]

Oh yeah, silver is definitely the new bronze. Check out the weapons in the next pack: http://dulfy.net/2017/05/02/swtor-steadfast-champions-pack-preview/

 

Reminds me of the antique weapons I still get in those worthless GCCs.

 

To be honest, the quality of most of the items they've produced lately have been bronze level. Very few have been worth the full price collections unlocks. Bad, uninspired designs and reskins are all we've been getting.

[ThrakhathSpawn]

I would pretty much only buy bronze off the GTN, can't really afford to unlock much else with monthly CC grant.

[Green_Goblin]

Did we not have similar changes in the not so distant past?

You removed the bronze items in Jan 2016 with this post here

You then added them back again in June 2016 with this post here

Now you want to go back again to the Jan 2016 version?

 

What they have kept in all this is inconsistency and ineptness at 100%. So that is a win/win right?

[DarthSpuds]

Did we not have similar changes in the not so distant past?

You removed the bronze items in Jan 2016 with this post here

You then added them back again in June 2016 with this post here

Now you want to go back again to the Jan 2016 version?

 

To me this is indicative of a project with no clearly defined plan of action, and one which is seeing a high turnover of Staff.

 

Because if there was any significant Staff retention - especially in decision making roles - someone would have said "Hang on, we can remove them again, we removed them once then six months later put them back in; if we do that again our consumers will justifiably think we don't have a damn clue what we are doing." or words to that effect.

 

All The Best

[Theeko]

Without bronze quality items you will cause all remaining items to be hugely devalued. Will pack cost be decreased for the noticeably fewer items, or will it be increased in order to maintain rarity value? Or are you adjusting rarity drop rate down?

 

They already killed the rarity in game with direct sales

[AscendingSky]

They already killed the rarity in game with direct sales

 

Yes... the handful of platinum and gold items they've put up for direct sale in the 6 years this game has been running has totally killed the rarity of the dozens and dozens of rare items from all the packs ever issued....

 

Really now, you're just being hyperbolic at this point. I get you like flipping items for big virtual money profits, but not everyone likes either being price-gouged on the GTN or buying gamble packs with crap drop rates to get stuff.