Galactic Seasons is a Cash Shop Front

[TrixxieTriss]

/5char

 

LoL, I missed that last bit. Did you add that to make it on topic cause you and I know the bulk of the post really isn’t. Why didn’t you put the post in the other thread? It’s actually well written and presented. I think you wasted a good post arguing those points in this one.

[ceryxp]

LoL, I missed that last bit. Did you add that to make it on topic cause you and I know the bulk of the post really isn’t. Why didn’t you put the post in the other thread? It’s actually well written and presented. I think you wasted a good post arguing those points in this one.

 

I think it is quite relevant to several of the complaints that have been made in this thread. I am not going to quote each of them, but more than half of the thread misrepresents the program and makes claims about it that are simply unfounded and unsubstantiated.

[TrixxieTriss]

I think it is quite relevant to several of the complaints that have been made in this thread. I am not going to quote each of them, but more than half of the thread misrepresents the program and makes claims about it that are simply unfounded and unsubstantiated.

 

Fair enough.

[NobleDemon]

Havent dug through all the posts, but just so it was mentioned: The credit skip will be introduced later in the season and is meant as a catch up mechanic. It not being here is not indicative of Bioware cashing in.

 

Oh, did I mention that I almost never PvPed since... forever, but was enticed to do so for Galactic Seasons? And then a strange thing happened: I had fun in this mode that I never play. Weird. Will try Galactic Starfighter next.

 

I'd feel sorry for the folks that had me as a team mate, but we won the match regardless

 

And I feel sorry for the folks that dont want to come out of their comfort zones. You are missing out not only on gameplay modes, but also the feeling of trying something new, the excitement of playing content you dont know anything about, the fear of failure, and the reassuring experience that you dont die and the world doesnt end if things go suboptimal. Really, its not the end if you underperform. The people that would burn you for it, likely did poorly too at some point, or still do.

 

Chill, have fun, play content, try out something new maybe, dont let others decide your fun, thats your agency alone, wait for the catch up mechanic, maybe spend credits or even CC if the rewards entice you enough

[Suzsi]

Havent dug through all the posts, but just so it was mentioned: The credit skip will be introduced later in the season and is meant as a catch up mechanic. It not being here is not indicative of Bioware cashing in.

 

Oh, did I mention that I almost never PvPed since... forever, but was enticed to do so for Galactic Seasons? And then a strange thing happened: I had fun in this mode that I never play. Weird. Will try Galactic Starfighter next.

 

I'd feel sorry for the folks that had me as a team mate, but we won the match regardless

 

And I feel sorry for the folks that dont want to come out of their comfort zones. You are missing out not only on gameplay modes, but also the feeling of trying something new, the excitement of playing content you dont know anything about, the fear of failure, and the reassuring experience that you dont die and the world doesnt end if things go suboptimal. Really, its not the end if you underperform. The people that would burn you for it, likely did poorly too at some point, or still do.

 

Chill, have fun, play content, try out something new maybe, dont let others decide your fun, thats your agency alone, wait for the catch up mechanic, maybe spend credits or even CC if the rewards entice you enough

 

I'd love to do unranked PVP again but bioware killed Aussie pings when they decided to put both servers in the worst location for us. Also everytime I try PUGs I'm reminded why I hate them, so operations, uprisings and group FPs are out.

 

I already pay a monthly sub we can barely afford and have a grand total of 20mil credits to my name across my toons.

 

Any other ideas?

Edited April 29, 2021 by Suzsi

[NobleDemon]

I will try into starfighter matches. You start out so badly outmatched in terms of both equpiment and skill that you die in seconds anyways, no matter the ping. For myself, I know I will die horribly and witness the explosion of my ship in glorious detail. You might die horribly with lag sparing the sight of your demise?

 

Yesterday, I saw a lightsaber that is part of the rewards that I kind of like for my Jedi Characters, so... yeah... might have to get some dailies done.

 

I suppose if one is a subscriber and not keen on all of the rewards, one can relax and only do so much. Dieing a few times in four starfighter matches seems doable, spread over a week. In fact, it may be easier than doing solo content.

[Suzsi]

I'd still rather do the solo content. Slashing enemies with lightsabers is FUN!

 

I did the unranked last night - dying a bunch of times because everyone was warping all over the place due to lag, was not fun.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Suzsi

[DarkTergon]

There are two sides to this argument, but there is also a middle ground where both sides are 'essentially' correct

 

Not a cash shop front: You don't have to do the content, nor spend credits/cc's to catch up if you don't want to. Which is true, play the game you want, enjoy what you like, and ignore the rewards.

 

BUT. we know this is a targeted campaign, it's aimed at completionist, achievements hunters, and people with OcD, and we all know there are a bucket load of us out there, who can't help but 'have' to do it. Are they holding a gun to our heads, no, but people are still going to feel forced in to doing it.

 

So in this respect then yes, it's a Cash shop front.

 

 

Don't forget, they said something along the lines, they didn't want people to use credits for the first month, because they wanted people to play and experience it, yet the still set it up straight away to use CC's, because they wanted people to use real money to skip, and they KNEW people would do it. It's akin to waiving a betting token in front of a gambler, you're not pointing a gun at them and forcing them to take it, but you know their compulsion is going to drive them to it.

Edited April 29, 2021 by DarkTergon

[robertthebard]

Your kind of off topic here. Did you mean to post in this thread or the one where people are asking for more choice? http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=992523&page=3

Cause this thread is about it being a cash shop.

 

It's completely on topic. There's absolutely no requirement to use the CS to complete a Season. The vast majority of us will have met the criteria for completion by simply logging in and playing the game. So for yesterday, I may not have done Heroics on Alderaan specifically, but I would have been running some Heroics, it's part of what I do on a normal day. When the Alliance crates were first introduced, I had toons that didn't do anything but Heroics to build up reserves of those crates.

 

It's inconvenient though, especially if one's wanting to call it a cash grab. As I said earlier, or perhaps in another thread, I unlocked both the speeder and the comp yesterday, for my entire legacy, w/out spending a dime. Paying for my sub was done before this system was introduced, it comes with CC, as does my Security Key. It's not like I'm going to use that CC for loot boxes, so if there's no outfits or whatever for sale that I really want, that 20 CC outlay didn't cost me a dime. So hyperbole aside, this isn't a very effective cash grab. The only people it's going to catch are the people that are going to be spending that money anyway, or the people that need everything new in a content release yesterday.

[robertthebard]

I'd love to do unranked PVP again but bioware killed Aussie pings when they decided to put both servers in the worst location for us. Also everytime I try PUGs I'm reminded why I hate them, so operations, uprisings and group FPs are out.

 

I already pay a monthly sub we can barely afford and have a grand total of 20mil credits to my name across my toons.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Log in 4 days a week, and run what Daily content appeals to you, or that you can run. You obviously aren't paying just to hang out on the forums, one would think, so there must be aspects of the game that you do, in fact, play, right? So just play those when they come up. Tuesday I got to squash bugs on Balmorra, yesterday I was doing Heroics on Alderaan. Between the two days I made 9 points. In about a half hour, I'll find out what's next on the daily stuff. I have no intention of even looking at the weekly stuff this week for sure, but even w/out it, I'm not going to struggle to make it to max points, if I continue to sub after next month, but that's because ME Legendary is launching, and I'm planning to be really busy with it.

 

Even with that, if I decide to run my sub anyway, I can still log in every morning and see what I need to do, and do it or not, as the mood strikes me, and still won't struggle with making the final goal, and won't have to spend any money to do it, other than my sub, which has been a condition of me playing this game since RotHC.

[TrixxieTriss]

I'd love to do unranked PVP again but bioware killed Aussie pings when they decided to put both servers in the worst location for us. Also everytime I try PUGs I'm reminded why I hate them, so operations, uprisings and group FPs are out.

 

I already pay a monthly sub we can barely afford and have a grand total of 20mil credits to my name across my toons.

 

Any other ideas?

 

The ping isn’t so bad from Aus depending on where you are and what ISP you have. I can still pvp in regs (ranked isn’t possible for me).

I’m in NSW and have fibre to the house. I use Superloop and they are pretty quick at around 210-230ms

The only drama I can have is ping spikes or bad routing in the US. I get around that limitation by paying for WTFast gaming VPN. It reduces ping spikes and packet loss significantly and also allows me to choose two hops in routing to the servers. This lets me decide which route has the best connection and WTFast have LOTS of server hubs and ports.

 

I’ve tested 5 NBN ISPs in Aus that are supposed to specialise in gaming or good international speeds. The one piece of advice I have is to make sure it’s not Telstra or an ISP that uses its backbone (peering) because they add 40-60ms to my connections.

So far the best has been Superloop because they are essentially a back bone company themselves and use their own sub cables. AussieBB was excellent till they signed a deal with Telstra for backup peering and my connection to the server started having too many issues.

 

You can use WTFast free version. But it doesn’t allow you to choose two hops, which kind of defeats the purpose. They do have a trial though, so maybe test it out and see if it helps.

Edited May 1, 2021 by TrixxieTriss

[srtyab]

What a poke in the eye; Galactic Seasons presents us with dubious grinds, and with every click asks for cash.

 

It's a giant, shameful monetizaiton strategy.

 

Yup. The entire thing is a giant piece of trash. If they're objective was to get me to spend money, they've failed.

[Jdast]

So, basically, some players are complaining about a new feature which is completely optional and rewards you cosmetic things.

 

/shrug

 

Dasty

Edited April 30, 2021 by Jdast

[JediKamo]

So, basically, some people are complaining about a new feature which is completely optional and rewards you cosmetic things

 

/shrug

 

Dasty

 

Sounds to me the complaint is what they have to go through to use it. New content you can’t use is effectively worthless to that specific player.

[Jdast]

Sounds to me the complaint is what they have to go through to use it. New content you can’t use is effectively worthless to that specific player.

 

Fair enough. So don't use / ignore it. Part of the reason I stay sane is I follow a simple rule in life: First, Do No Harm.

 

There is nothing about Galactic Seasons that hurts anyone. At its worst, it offers cosmetic rewards, however slowly.

 

Dasty

Edited April 30, 2021 by Jdast

[Suzsi]

The ping isn’t so bad from Aus depending on where you are and what ISP you have. I can still pvp in regs (ranked isn’t possible for me).

I’m in NSW and have fibre to the house. I use Superloop and they are pretty quick at around 210-230ms

The only drama I can have is ping spikes or bad routing in the US. I get around that limitation by paying for WTFast gaming VPN. It reduces ping spikes and packet loss significantly and also allows me to choose two hops in routing to the servers. This lets me decide which route has the best connection and WTFast have LOTS of server hubs and ports.

 

I’ve tested 5 NBN ISPs in Aus that are supposed to specialise in gaming or good international speeds. The one piece of advice I have is to make sure it’s not Telstra or an ISP that uses its backbone (peering) because they add 40-60ms to my connections.

So far the best has been Superloop because they are essentially a back bone company themselves and use their own sub cables. AussieBB was excellent till they signed a deal with Telstra for backup peering and my connection to the server started having too many issues.

 

You can use WTFast free version. But it doesn’t allow you the to choose two hops, which kind of defeats the purpose. They do have a trial though, so maybe test it out and see if it helps.

 

We are on Aussie BB in QLD (sunshine coast). Unranked was lagging like crazy for me when I tried it the other night. Players were warping all over the hutball maps, and not from any skills they were using

 

Still got a couple of mvp votes, so guess my laggy self didn't completely suck, just mostly. Ping was about 230 before going in - didn't see what it was in there, a little rusty its been a while, so I was focused. The pylons with everyone in the middle was even worse.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Suzsi

[robertthebard]

Sounds to me the complaint is what they have to go through to use it. New content you can’t use is effectively worthless to that specific player.

 

Can't use isn't the same as "won't"? The rub is, despite the fact that I won't be doing the weeklies, likely ever, depending on what pops on them, I won't be struggling with this. The hardest thing I've had to do so far is figure out who could go to Onderon for the dailies, since that came up yesterday. So far I've had to squash bugs on Balmorra twice, Heroics and what amounts to a rampage on Alderaan, and dailies on Onderon. Today will be day four, and I'll get the first of the rewards that one gets from simply logging in, no gameplay required at all.

 

This thread is dedicated to "but someone can spend money to progress it". I'll be concerned about that kind of thing when it's "but we have to spend money to progress it". Whales are gonna whale, and it doesn't matter what they whale on, it's not like they'll buy any real advantages with all those cosmetic items.

 

Edit: So this morning I got two bug squashing objectives, one on Alderaan, and one on Balmorra. I went to Alderaan first, since I'd already been to Balmorra twice this week, and both objectives counted down at the same time. Between that, and the login reward, I unlocked 2 levels in about 20 minutes this morning. Not a very effective "cash grab" if you ask me.

Edited April 30, 2021 by robertthebard

[TrixxieTriss]

Time will tell, but where I think BW fails (I call it like I see it) is whether or not players gravitate to Ops, etc., because of cosmetic rewards. Personally, wild wolves couldn't drag me to Nightmare Ops even if the reward is the Lightsaber of 1000 Truths.

 

I believe you’re correct. I can’t see a mass migration of people playing content they don’t like or would not usually want to play. It’s not even been a full week and I believe my wife and I are already over it.

Even when the task isn’t something we dislike, it’s often boring and takes us away from playing what we enjoy. Neither of us has yet had an activity we were excited to get.

[DarkTergon]

I believe you’re correct. I can’t see a mass migration of people playing content they don’t like or would not usually want to play. It’s not even been a full week and I believe my wife and I are already over it.

Even when the task isn’t something we dislike, it’s often boring and takes us away from playing what we enjoy. Neither of us has yet had an activity we were excited to get.

 

Probably not ops, but i've definitely seen pvp ques pop more, and gsf, but the issue is, these people are here just to grab the points, what is it going to do for the game modes. I know there are people here, who only care about bodies, so they can up their kills, and that's all it is to them, but I'd hate to see any game mode destroyed like that, whether I play it or not. The other question is, how much longevity does it have, people are rushing to do it now, but as you said, you & your wife are over it, and I'm sure others are too.

[DawnAskham]

Probably not ops, but i've definitely seen pvp ques pop more, and gsf, but the issue is, these people are here just to grab the points, what is it going to do for the game modes. I know there are people here, who only care about bodies, so they can up their kills, and that's all it is to them, but I'd hate to see any game mode destroyed like that, whether I play it or not. The other question is, how much longevity does it have, people are rushing to do it now, but as you said, you & your wife are over it, and I'm sure others are too.

 

I tried to run some random flashpoints yesterday and got one terrible group after another always in the same flashpoints, and heard more than once 'I'm just here because of seasons'.

 

I like flashpoints and enjoy running them with new players who are excited and willing to listen / learn, however, I have no patience for noobs who refuse to listen yet make the run more difficult, annoying, and time-consuming.

 

If PVP and GSF matches are going as well as FPs, I'd imagine anyone wanting an actual competitive match is not happy right now (though honestly, I've met very few 'PVP' players queueing regs who actually want competitive matches).

Edited April 30, 2021 by DawnAskham

[robertthebard]

Probably not ops, but i've definitely seen pvp ques pop more, and gsf, but the issue is, these people are here just to grab the points, what is it going to do for the game modes. I know there are people here, who only care about bodies, so they can up their kills, and that's all it is to them, but I'd hate to see any game mode destroyed like that, whether I play it or not. The other question is, how much longevity does it have, people are rushing to do it now, but as you said, you & your wife are over it, and I'm sure others are too.

 

The first day, I got an objective, even after a re-roll, that I wasn't going to do, and I simply skipped it. For the rest of the week, barring the "hey, I hope this is working as intended", I could pick up some heroics on the designated worlds and do what I normally do for CQ/credits. If it keeps popping like that, I'll keep doing it, if it pops something I'm not interested in, I'll just do business as usual. With the points as they are for subs, I'm not seeing that I need to spend any cash though. It's not like I subbed specifically for this, or that I'll keep on subbing specifically for it either. Maybe that's a bad thing, maybe not, but either way, it's not like I've maintained a constant sub for the time I've been here, so nothing's really changing for me.

[DarkTergon]

I tried to run some random flashpoints yesterday and got one terrible group after another always in the same flashpoints, and heard more than once 'I'm just here because of seasons'.

 

I like flashpoints and enjoy running them with new players who are excited and willing to listen / learn, however, I have no patience for noobs who refuse to listen yet make the run more difficult, annoying, and time-consuming.

 

If PVP and GSF matches are going as well as FPs, I'd imagine anyone wanting an actual competitive match is not happy right now (though honestly, I've met very few 'PVP' players queueing regs who actually want competitive matches).

 

admittedly, FP's are the one thing I've rerolled, I'd rather do SM queen 3 times than any fp...lol . Although at first, I was just going to ignore it, but a group was stuck for a tank, so I helped. And it wasn't too bad, everyone was chilled, and we beat it easily enough, so when it popped again, I helped out, even managed to heal one, and I'm a crap healer.

 

I did about 10 or so pvp matches, and interestingly enough, they were horrendously unbalanced, but the people were really chill about it, no toxicity at all. Even when people said they were new, low level, or even just there for the points, people were, cool, and played. Now everyone tried their best, we won some lost some, but it was actually fun(ish).

I actually saw mope toxic behaviour in GSF than pvp, which is normally unusual.

[DawnAskham]

admittedly, FP's are the one thing I've rerolled, I'd rather do SM queen 3 times than any fp...lol . Although at first, I was just going to ignore it, but a group was stuck for a tank, so I helped. And it wasn't too bad, everyone was chilled, and we beat it easily enough, so when it popped again, I helped out, even managed to heal one, and I'm a crap healer.

 

I did about 10 or so pvp matches, and interestingly enough, they were horrendously unbalanced, but the people were really chill about it, no toxicity at all. Even when people said they were new, low level, or even just there for the points, people were, cool, and played. Now everyone tried their best, we won some lost some, but it was actually fun(ish).

I actually saw mope toxic behaviour in GSF than pvp, which is normally unusual.

 

I must have had bad luck - and the groups were not toxic, they were just full of players who would not listen while saying 'never done this - only here for seasons' and wandering off pulling trash, dying repeatedly, going AFK, getting lost, etc.

Edited April 30, 2021 by DawnAskham

[TrixxieTriss]

Probably not ops, but i've definitely seen pvp ques pop more, and gsf, but the issue is, these people are here just to grab the points, what is it going to do for the game modes. I know there are people here, who only care about bodies, so they can up their kills, and that's all it is to them, but I'd hate to see any game mode destroyed like that, whether I play it or not. The other question is, how much longevity does it have, people are rushing to do it now, but as you said, you & your wife are over it, and I'm sure others are too.

 

My guess is after a month, the queues will go back to where they were before. Sadly, there will no longer be a proper lowbie bracket, which means new people won’t be able to learn and in the long run, there will potentially be less people queuing for pvp at all levels that there were before.

Edited April 30, 2021 by TrixxieTriss

[Soul_of_Flames]

I just think this whole concept is flawed.

 

It's a season pass event like most online games are doing nowadays. Which is fine, imo.

The problem is that unlike other games, this is an MMO with vastly different avenues for players to find their enjoyment in. So while other games can focus on their core gameplay, an MMO has no "core" gameplay. So when other games have dailies and weeklies, they will always revolve around how the players are already playing. But for an MMO with tons of different things for players to do, having dailies and weeklies that pool randomly from different areas of the game, you're going to simply end up disappointing the majority of players because for every 1 daily that focuses on one aspect of the game, there are X number of other parts of the game that a portion of players will prefer playing instead (where X is greater than 1).

 

So basically, this whole thing is literally a convoluted way to irritate your player base.