Fix Inflation PLEASE

[septru]

6 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

i offered up a potential 'fix' earlier above ^^  and it was largely ignored in favor of more flaming back&forth flexing.

 

I didn't ignore. Neither did TrixxieTrixx (welcome back).

Just think both ideas require too much work for BioWare to ever realistically implement. Remember - small team, small resources. 

[illgot]

41 minutes ago, septru said:

i really like this idea, even better than my initial idea. 

 

I just think we need a higher tax than 8%. Maybe 20%. 

Taxing all credit transactions is just one of many credit sinks that should be introduced to help fix the economy. It doesn't need to be set extraordinarily high considering all transactions will be taxed 8%.

  

1 hour ago, Loc_n_lol said:

Now that is something I'd love to know because I find it a little hard to believe that it could just be bots doing dailies, with the amount of credits that seem to be getting into the economy. I assumed there's either massive leftovers from past exploits, waiting to be sold, or some exploit(s) still running unchecked, generating as much as players will buy.

or thousands of bots running 24/7 doing something quick and easy. There are plenty of missions that can be fully automated and players will never see these bots due to how the game is instanced.

Edited October 14, 2022 by illgot

[DeannaVoyager]

20 hours ago, illgot said:

you can't delete credits in an MMO to combat inflation without negatively effecting the trust players have in the cash shop.

1) anyone who bought CM items and sold them for credits might be a little upset to find they just lost 1/10th of their credits. Players who stopped playing only to come back to their credits deleted will probably leave permanently.

2) SWTOR would become known as the game that will delete player credits instead of fixing the issue of inflation. This type of reputation can have an impact on whether new players even try the game. Why would anyone trust the devs if they start deleting things a player earns because they are too lazy to fix the core issue of inflation. What other shortcuts are they going to take because they don't have the time or energy to fix the actual problem.

3) If the devs do not fix the fact that there are hundreds of billions of credits entering the economy and a tiny fraction of those credits ever leave the economy, inflation will return to our current levels in a few months. People will be buying third party credits at a rate of 1 billion credits per dollar the instant the servers go live after deleting credits from players inventory.

4) This would not effect some of the wealthiest players who have already stopped accepting credits.  Many traders have been hitting the legacy cap for months. They have been busy buying up hypercrates, name changes, datacrons, rare equipment. The players who will be hit the hardest are the honest players with mid level wealth. Credit buyers will be back at 100 billion in no time buying up everything while the legitimate players will just be broke and pissed.

 

I wasn't advocating to take out zeroes, I was commenting that IF they would do it, they should leave the poor people alone. They need their credits more than whales do. 

 

Considering how many people have converted their credits into CM packs or other items because they capped on credits (including myself), it would not even be fair to only cut the credits. I'd prefer credit sinks, being able to buy stuff from vendors with credits instead of some special currency. And what I would really like to see copying decos to your personal SH with credits. The same system we already have with buying decos for guild SH and FS. 

[ZUHFB]

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/901164-habt-ihr-euch-schon-immer-gefragt-wie-die-credits-bots-an-die-credits-kommen/

@septruIt's a post I made a few years back, it shows how credit sellers use bots to farm the credits. I do not have more information as the screenshots in the post. To add context all those SS are taken at 9A.M. on Tulak Hord. These bots are gone now but I'm sure if people would look they would be able to find them the same way.

Edited October 15, 2022 by ZUHFB

[starbuckone]

14 hours ago, illgot said:

If Bioware has not fixed how credit sellers are farming their credits, any stock they lost will quickly be replaced.

  

tax any credits mailed, traded, or passed through a guild bank, 8%. I love the GTN but if we tax all credit transactions this would hit the credit sellers before the credits even enter our economy.

Wrong because a 8% tax increase wouldn't hunt Credit Sellers who are paid in real world currency not in-game credits.  Credit sellers are websites that employ credit farmers to farm credit's then they bank said credits with a dummy account and send out the credits via other accounts. Credit sales is a major issue in the industry and the only way to stop them is track down the companies doing it however they are mainly in countries like China.

[curulz]

21 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

There would be a TAX on the bounty. ( good ole  'Bounty Broker's Association'   ) and also remember how i said it'll have to be a comprehensive  fix of multiple  solutions?   I'm here trying to offer some potential  ideas  not only to help combat inflation  , but also to maybe help  combat the stale-ness of  SWTOR  overall.

As to your 2nd sentence i quoted ^ :  if you read my  'edit reason' in my post you quoted,  i mention how the BASIC guts of the code is already  in the game.

You say the basic guts of the code is in the game, but that is just the duel part...you have to post the bounty somewhere, hold credits in escrow, have an automatic transfer system.  Sure the individual items might be scattered about, but they still have to be put together to complete system, tested, assets (even if reused) added to a location, etc.  I'm not a game dev, but that sounds like a good amount of work to put out and the upside is just removing roughly the percentage of credits from the system as a GTN transaction...just doesn't sound like its worth it.  Not to mention if it all hinges on the target to opt in, I doubt many would even bother.  I mean why I would duel someone because they might get credits for killing me?  Honor?  You might have folks in the PVP community participate, but I doubt you'd have any outside of that group.  I really couldn't care less if people I know lose a duel in PVP, and I certainly don't care enough to pay 1B to see it.  

If you think its a fun thing and would be popular, then great...but I don't think it would be a worthwhile way of battling inflation.  If you want to make it a fun thing, then the barrier to entry would have to be low enough for people to participate and those that put up the bounty would need to get something out of it besides the satisfaction of seeing someone lose a duel.  You'd need titles or achievements or something like that, again more work. 

 

[Nee-Elder]

2 hours ago, curulz said:

 I mean why I would duel someone because they might get credits for killing me?  Honor?

 You'd need titles or achievements or something like that, again more work.

For sure  there'd be some  titles & cheevos (hidden ones too) yep.  And anything worthwhile takes "work" , so i don't consider that to be a valid reason to avoid  doing something.

As to your 1st sentence/question i quoted ^  ...  The reason is simple:  Because this is STAR WARS and Bounty Hunters  HUNT  people (not npc's ) .   Heck, cross-promote it with 'Mandalorian season 3' TV show! As for being the 'mark' , well, anyone who has ever PVP'd knows why that could be fun too (being chased) .

Regardless, i'll state this again:  My 2 ideas i've posted (in this thread) are merely meant to be part of a multi-pronged  effort to combat SWTOR  inflation.  There is no  '1 hit wonder' quick fix.  Other than a complete server-wipe of all credits , combined with a total eradication of  BioWare's entire  F2P/Cartel-Market  game model  in favor of a more player driven (and player crafted) system.

p.s.  Here's my 3rd idea:  In addition to allowing  'Nar Shaddaa Nightlife casino event' being 24/7 year-round (like i mentioned in my earlier post) ,  people would also be able to view (as audience)  warzones and place BETS on which team would win, which player would get most kills or highest dps per match, etc. etc.  *Huttball + gambling  FTW!

Edited October 15, 2022 by Nee-Elder
Reason: why does everyone always think my ideas are so "radical" lol

[FlatTax]

There is no problem from EA/BW's perspective.

The less attainable free grinds are, the more incentivized cash purchases become.

Far from fighting inflation, they're consciously driving it by rotating high-demand items out of direct purchase from the Cash Shop. This drives sales of their gambling product, which is another story.

Or am I missing something? Jackie, will you share what's going on?

Edited October 15, 2022 by FlatTax

[illgot]

12 hours ago, starbuckone said:

Wrong because a 8% tax increase wouldn't hunt Credit Sellers who are paid in real world currency not in-game credits.  Credit sellers are websites that employ credit farmers to farm credit's then they bank said credits with a dummy account and send out the credits via other accounts. Credit sales is a major issue in the industry and the only way to stop them is track down the companies doing it however they are mainly in countries like China.

This is about creating a credit sink that removes credits before they enter the player economy. 8% taxed when third party sites transfer credits from secondary accounts to a primary account that can mail credits to players, another 8% taxed when the primary account mails the credits to players. That's assuming most credit sellers use guild banks, trades, and the mail system to transfer credits.

This is not about taking real life money away from credit sellers (though this be a secondary effect of taxing (deleting) all credits third party credit sellers transfer). This is about creating a credit sink that will tax credits before they are sold to players by taxing every credit transfer.

Edited October 15, 2022 by illgot

[curulz]

On 10/15/2022 at 12:38 PM, Nee-Elder said:

For sure  there'd be some  titles & cheevos (hidden ones too) yep.  And anything worthwhile takes "work" , so i don't consider that to be a valid reason to avoid  doing something.

As to your 1st sentence/question i quoted ^  ...  The reason is simple:  Because this is STAR WARS and Bounty Hunters  HUNT  people (not npc's ) .   Heck, cross-promote it with 'Mandalorian season 3' TV show! As for being the 'mark' , well, anyone who has ever PVP'd knows why that could be fun too (being chased) .

Regardless, i'll state this again:  My 2 ideas i've posted (in this thread) are merely meant to be part of a multi-pronged  effort to combat SWTOR  inflation.  There is no  '1 hit wonder' quick fix.  Other than a complete server-wipe of all credits , combined with a total eradication of  BioWare's entire  F2P/Cartel-Market  game model  in favor of a more player driven (and player crafted) system.

p.s.  Here's my 3rd idea:  In addition to allowing  'Nar Shaddaa Nightlife casino event' being 24/7 year-round (like i mentioned in my earlier post) ,  people would also be able to view (as audience)  warzones and place BETS on which team would win, which player would get most kills or highest dps per match, etc. etc.  *Huttball + gambling  FTW!

Ah, see you said it wouldn't be much work because the guts of the coding is already there, now it doesn't matter if it is a lot of work because its worth it?  And sorry but "because its Star Wars" doesn't mean people are going to participate.   PVP has been in this game forever, what percent of the current population do you think actively play?   And how many do you think will cough up credits to know that other people are actively PVPing?   

I don't really have an issue with your ideas for an event, or an expansion of an event...I don't necessarily think two would be popular enough to justify the effort, but just my opinion and opinions vary.  Its just something tells me your "multi prong approach to combat inflation" is really just "here's a list of things I think would be cool".  And I don't think these will impact inflation in any significant way.

Edited October 17, 2022 by curulz

[Nee-Elder]

1 hour ago, curulz said:

Ah, see you said it wouldn't be much work because the guts of the coding is already there, now it doesn't matter if it is a lot of work because its worth it?

  Its just something tells me your "multi prong approach to combat inflation" is really just "here's a list of things I think would be cool". 

And I don't think these will impact inflation in any significant way.

First, you're playing  semantics and conflating my posts which were merely replying to your prompting, but np.  ( i've been a Coder before, on another SW themed MMO, so i'm well aware of what is & isn't  "work" when it comes to coding---And notice how i used air QUOTES around the word "work" , right?  Obviously, anything takes SOME level of work lol sheesh. )

Secondly,  yes i admit  i'm offering up STAR WARS BASED ideas that i both personally think would be cool/fun  AND  would also (in my opinion)   HELP with inflation. (and certainly couldn't make things any worse)  So what's wrong with that?  Nothing, except to you apparently.  Probably because you fear/dislike  PVP , which is fine np i totally get that.

Lastly, you don't think ANY of my 3 ideas will "impact"  huh?  Well guess what:  We'll never know unless  ideas are tried.  But guess what again:  We'll never know anyways because BioWare  won't ever implement any of "my" ideas regardless.   (trust me i've been annoying them since 2011 beta testing  )

p.s.  I'm curious:  exactly what realistic ideas are YOU offering?  I'll wait....

Edited October 17, 2022 by Nee-Elder
Reason: haters gonna hate

[curulz]

1 minute ago, Nee-Elder said:

First, you're playing  semantics and conflating my quotes, but np.  ( i've been a Coder before, on another SW themed MMO, so i'm well aware of what is & isn't  "work" when it comes to coding)

How did I conflate your quotes?

"i mention how the BASIC guts of the code is already  in the game" was your reply to when i said it seemed like a good amount of coding and testing would need to be involved.  Then you said "And anything worthwhile takes "work" , so i don't consider that to be a valid reason to avoid  doing something".   You implied it wouldn't be too much work to make it happen only to follow up with the work is worth it.  Pointing out the change in your reasoning isn't semantics. 

Reminds me of Moneyball when they're trying to convince the guy to swap from playing catcher to first base...."playing first base is easy, tell him Wash"  "its incredibly hard".  "hey anything worth doing is hard".  Funny scene, but they're different rationale....just like yours.  

Quote

So what's wrong with that? 

Nothing is wrong with it, I just don't think they'll work to combat inflation

I think your assumptions are just too optimistic.  For starters, I don't think BW would set the minimum bounty at 1B.  I think at most it would be closer to 1M with a 10% tax/loss.  Adding cheevos would certainly bring people in to participate, but only to get the cheevos.  Lets say you have to collect 5 bounties and have 5 bounties collected off you.  You know people would just swap bounties, you kill me and I kill you.  So it will cost me 5M to post the bounties, and I collect 4.5M back on yours.  So you've taken out 500k per participant.  Even if you have 1M people that do it, you're taking out 500B.  and thats mostly one timers only.  Lets say you have 10k PVPers that just love it and do it every time it comes around, and they put up 20 bounties each.  thats another 20B every 6 weeks or so?  In the grand scheme, it just seems paltry compared to how many credits are in the game and come in on a daily basis.    

Sure you can increase the amount of the bounty itself, and you can make it more grindy to get the cheevos, BW could take out a bigger cut...but doing those things would also reduce the number of people that participate.   

 

 

Quote

Probably because you fear/dislike  PVP

I wouldn't say fear, but dislike for sure.  Do you think i'm in the minority in disliking PVP in SWTOR?   But as I've said before,  I'm not against the suggestion because its PVP, I'm not even against the suggestion.  I'm just saying I don't think it will be an effective way to combat inflation.  So far your counterpoints have been "trust me, it should work".   

Quote

Lastly, you don't think ANY of my 3 ideas will "impact"  huh?

Extending Nighlife, maybe.  It should be easy enough for BW to extend it, but how much are people actually spending credits wise?  Honestly, I don't know.  originally it was a really good credit sink but over time they make it easier to get tokens so I haven't spent a single credit since it first came out.  But I'm sure there a late comers chasing the prizes and cheevos.  But really I don't know if they'd drop enough credits to really have an impact or not.

The Bounty idea, no I don't think it will

Gambling on PVP, yes in theory.  Assuming they could introduce a gambling system, I think you'd see more casino type games against the house than sports betting.  I would imagine there are legal restrictions with it being a game rated T though.  If they can't give us Sabacc, I don't see them giving us PVP wagering.    

 

[OlBuzzard]

Just a few observations of my own.  Warning ...  a wall of text is about to follow (most of which many will not like)

1.  What is really at the heart of the inflation we are seeing?  Credit sellers?  Other?  If the acquisition of credits (in some cases AKA credit farming) is also considered a major contributor ...  then SWTOR and other similar games have that aspect built into the game.

Personally, the only real culprit that needs to be addressed is the credit sellers.  Credit "farmers" (since I have no other term available) have been around for a long, long time.  Credit farming is perfectly legitimate.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that there are others out there who play this part of the game just as aggressively as many who are engaged in PvP or perhaps even Ops or raids.  I know that may seem a bit strange ... but none-the-less it's still true.

IN short, these two areas seem to have provided the vehicle or means for the mass accumulation of credits.

2.  Taxation:  Only works up to a point but will never really address the real "core" of the matter.  In the end perhaps it serves as a bit of a credit sink (once inflation is dealt with) but is limited in its ability to really affectively fix the current situation (assuming that there really is something that can be done to satisfy those who are looking for an immediate fix).  Please note:  Sometimes the real answer might not be a "quick fix" but rather something else.

3.  Credit swapping ...  Selling items (even for ridiculously high prices) is not the cause of inflation, but rather the result of tons of credits accumulated and no real "outlet" to spend them on.  Again, some credit sinks may help with this (in the past) ... but now it's highly unlikely that those credit sinks would offer that much help.

4.  We use to spend a lot of credits on buying armor / mods ... etc at the fleet.  Now many (if not all) of the items we need in order to secure the level of gear we need comes from in game only.  Some of these gear items are, in fact, in areas where many players refuse to participate.  While this discussion does not need to erode into THAT discussion ... it MUST be pointed out WHERE these gear items are and how they are acquired.  In other words, very little credits (competitively speaking) are needed.  In one since of the word this is a good thing since many are already complaining that things are "too expensive".    The end result, however, is that fewer and fewer credits are being spent overall.

5.  There is nothing in game, crafting or otherwise, to compete with the esthetically well-done designs of items (weapons or armor) found in the CM.  This in turn gives rise to another issue.  How to get those items?  Many will not hesitate to purchase them through the CM itself, as needed.  A lot of players on the other hand use the GTN in order to purchase said items (hopefully at a bargain price).  When those items can be found at a good price (for credits on the GTN) this is VERY appealing.  Heck I've done this many, many times (on occasion entire sets of armor).  On the other hand, if a player is looking for a deal ... this may take time.  And indeed, with the prices where this is at right could take a considerable amount of time.  This process can add to the frustration of just about anyone who is not willing to wait as long as it takes in order to get what they want in a timely fashion.

(It should be noted that my personal opinion is that crafting needs to be once again something really worth getting into.  This would apply in several areas:  Weapons, armor, stims, just to mention a few).  

Addendum:  even items (rewards) earned in ops and other group activities do not offer esthetically competitive items.  

6.  Most of what we see in the GTN are not required items in order to play SWTOR very affectively.  Most overpriced seem to stim from armor items (cosmetically more appealing), Decos and other related items that are either extremely scarce (no longer available in the CM) rare items or items that are difficult to acquire.  YES, there are some items that are needed in crafting and perhaps a few crafting finished goods that also fall into this category.  The bottom line is "How bad do I need this?"

I personally have just over 20B.  If every time I saw something that I "had to have" I dropped another "billion" ... I'd be broke in a heartbeat!  On the other hand...  I can simply sit tight and bide my time and know that I have plenty for those times when I do see something that I do want and is reasonably priced. 

7.  Gambling:  not good!  IMO it's not the answer to any of this.  Those "crates"  (you know the ones) ...  I have yet to ever buy one (whether on the GTN or off of the CM).  WHY?  The simple answer is that it IS a GAMBLE as to what you are buying (and is clearly stated as such that it is CHANCE to get something).  

IMO .. if you want to sell me something:

A).  Tell me in detail what it is that I'm buying

B).  Tell me how much it costs.

I will either buy it or I won't.

ALSO:  don't gripe about those crates/packages and the "chances" you are taking if in the next breath you are insisting on playing the "Night Life" (aka MORE gambling).

This overall only touches the outskirts of the entire matter.  I'm certain that there is no easy fix.  I'm also certain that after 10 years of accumulating tons of credits that this was bound to happen (in some degree or another).  

** Just taking credits away from players will be counterproductive.

** Credit sinks might help (once there is some semblance of order is restored.

** Players really do need some sort of "outlet" (for lack of a better phrase) to spend their credits on.

** Not everyone who has a huge pile of credits is a bad person nor have they violated any rules.

Sorry of the wall of text.  I am certain that the team is watching this discussion.  IMO ... there is no easy solution.  Certainly, one that can be instituted overnight will create more problems that we have now!

 

[Nee-Elder]

10 minutes ago, curulz said:

 So far your counterpoints have been "trust me, it should work".  

Not at all what i said and you know it.

I said, very clearly, the  "trust me" part about having to do with CODE and how much supposed "work" it MIGHT be.  ( just like practically every other thing worth doing on the planet lol )

Once again: it's impossible to predict if  ANYTHING truly works (to help) until it's attempted.  (or at least considered by the powers that be)

Anyways, good chat!  Still waiting for your  idea(s) to be offered.

In the meantime, i'm working on my 4th.... cya 'round!

[Nee-Elder]

2 hours ago, curulz said:

Gambling on PVP, yes in theory.  Assuming they could introduce a gambling system, I think you'd see more casino type games against the house than sports betting.  I would imagine there are legal restrictions with it being a game rated T though.  If they can't give us Sabacc, I don't see them giving us PVP wagering.   

*Sorry to double-post & double-quote you  @curulz back-to-back, but these NEW forums leave a lot to be desired when it comes to multi-quoting/multi-replying .  Ugh.  Anyways....

Regarding  that ^  quote from you:  We already have not only that ridiculous  RNG + RL money scam called 'Cartel Market'  and we already have a summer EVENT literally based on (and encouraging) more gambling.

Furthermore,  players can already  "place bets"  right now if they want to, by their own free will.  Now, i'm certainly not a legal expert and i'm def. not in BioWare/EA/Disney/LucasArts  corporate bored (spelling pun intended) meetings , but i don't see how the 'T' rating of SWTOR would dissuade them from just simply  extended & evolving the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife to be year round 24/7 (as one facet of inflation-reduction) .

Yes i realize  it gives some players something to look forward to in the summertime but....well... let's just say after 10+ years  that limited luster has diminished quite a bit by now.  Plus, SWTOR is on it's last legs.

Just release every "event" 24/7  imo.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Nee-Elder
Reason: not like inflation can get any worse in SWTOR at this point lol

[AdsAillard]

On 10/14/2022 at 10:28 AM, Deaconik said:

This is the only solution. If they don't combat the credit sellers, any fix will only hurt the playerbase and solve literally nothing.

The. Only. Way. To. Fix. Inflation. Is. To. Cut. Out. Credit. Sellers.

 

The fact they're still around means something, think about that and then think about all the nonsense solutions.

BTW if I would lost 2 or 3 zeroes from my bank account and BW wouldn't update the rest of the game properly (e.g. repair costs) I would quit faster than you can say inflation.

 

One of the things here, tho, is that we have no clear data on how much these credit sellers really sell - and what these fake credits are used for. Last I heard, a good chunk of people resorting to credit sellers were doing so to buy cheevos/item runs, which is... A very peculiar form of trading, ngl. Nowadays, I hear they're being sold by hypercrates instead of credits, as credits means nothing. 

Thing is we really don't have enough hard data on it.

 

 

On 10/14/2022 at 10:58 PM, Loc_n_lol said:

Now that is something I'd love to know because I find it a little hard to believe that it could just be bots doing dailies, with the amount of credits that seem to be getting into the economy. I assumed there's either massive leftovers from past exploits, waiting to be sold, or some exploit(s) still running unchecked, generating as much as players will buy.

I honestly always believed they were exploiting system weakensses to "motherload" it into the game.

(yes, that's my level of trust in EA).

 

On 10/14/2022 at 11:43 PM, septru said:

I think BioWare took the same approach to moderating ranked PvP as they did credit sellers. They no longer have the resources to ban credit sellers, and thus have given up trying. In other words, the reason why inflation has EXPONENTIALLY increased over the last two years has been because a) we no longer have a meaningful credit sink in amplifiers b) credit sellers can inject credits into the economy with little challenge. Credit sellers might not actually have a lot of bots, or a even some exploit that we don't know about. There's just literally 0 moderation being taken against them. 

This is based on complete guesses. I have no evidence, other than my personal experience from the ranked PvP moderation. 

 

I think a lot of the bot moderation in the past was done through player-reporting and squelching them on gen chat. Lately, I've noticed bots mostly using say/yell, which makes it harder for them to get caught... 

 

As for the Bounty Hunt thing: are you aware there are actual guilds who do this but without tax and without player co-opt, yeah? And, let me tell you, it's the absolute worst.

 

[fordpre]

There is no fix to this. Players who have been playing constantly for 10 years have accumulated huge amounts of cash, other players who have real life money to burn can just buy things on the cartel market and sell it on easily. Bioware/EA make money off the cartel market it keeps the game going they will do nothing that will choke off CM sales. I dont have billions of credits but I also want to see the game continue to be developed. A large part of that funding comes from CM sales. 

[Nee-Elder]

12 minutes ago, AdsAillard said:

As for the Bounty Hunt thing: are you aware there are actual guilds who do this but without tax and without player co-opt, yeah? And, let me tell you, it's the absolute worst.

All the more reason to consider my idea, which is indeed opt-in AND taxed. (so even if you hate PVP, you could still place a bounty, thereby increasing the amount for others to take contract)

Anyways, i don't expect my supposed "radical" ideas to be "popular" .  Still though, i just find it very odd how in SWTOR  a Bounty Hunter  can never actually  hunt bounties....except during 1 arbitrary (non-canon) pre-announced week every 6 weeks.  It's silly to me and feels totally un-immersive.

oh and BTW: You know what else feels un-immersive?  A single 'Cartel pack' selling for 500mil on GTN from an exterior EARTH cash grab with an intrusive interior *pop up* advertisment each time i login to the game.

[curulz]

10 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

We already have not only that ridiculous  RNG + RL money scam called 'Cartel Market'  and we already have a summer EVENT literally based on (and encouraging) more gambling.

Furthermore,  players can already  "place bets"  right now if they want to, by their own free will. 

<snip> but i don't see how the 'T' rating of SWTOR would dissuade them from just simply  extended & evolving the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife to be year round 24/7 (as one facet of inflation-reduction) .

Well, RNG in the game isn't technically gambling.  They get away with it the CM because you're not buying a chance to win a box, you're buying a box that contains X number of items.  The items inside vary, but you're not buying a chance to win, you get a set thing in return, the box with X number of items, for a set price.  The Nightlife Event is pretty on point, because the outcome is uncertain every time you pull the lever.  But it is limited to the player vs. the game (aka the house).  And you can earn tokens other than buying them and the prizes are fixed and generally can't be sold to others (although some of the new stuff this year could be sold) so its softened a little.  Those type of games COULD be expanded, but I think they'd still be limited to player vs the game with the same push button, then RNG. But I don't think we'd see any player vs player or games where the odds change during the course of a game, such as card games and craps or anything where you can win more than what you wagered.   

Sure, we can place bets amongst ourselves.  But that is far different from BW creating a system that allows you to bet on the outcome of events with them taking a cut.  I just think it would create more problems and headaches.  Plus this is a 10 year old game that is pretty much a cash cow for them now, I don't think they want to make waves or draw attention with anything that would be viewed as controversial.  And adding the equivalent of a sports book in game would likely qualify.  

[Nee-Elder]

13 minutes ago, fordpre said:

There is no fix to this.

Players who have been playing constantly for 10 years have accumulated huge amounts of cash, other players who have real life money to burn can just buy things on the cartel market and sell it on easily. Bioware/EA make money off the cartel market it keeps the game going they will do nothing that will choke off CM sales. I dont have billions of credits but I also want to see the game continue to be developed. A large part of that funding comes from CM sales. 

First, there better be a fix (or fixes) pretty darn soon  cuz otherwise the GTN is literally gonna be EMPTY (of certain items) .

Secondly, imho,  the blame (if there is any) should go more toward  'Cartel Market' and 'Credit Sellers' , than it should toward  2011 longtime vets like me.  Heck, i've spent 75% of my "wealth" on our 2 GUILDS.

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p.s.  Those are all fair points  @curulz  (posted just as i had already clicked my reply ^^ ) but still  we gotta do something imo.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Nee-Elder
Reason: seriously Jackie please change how to MULTI-quote reply & edit/add ...ugh

[OlBuzzard]

7 minutes ago, fordpre said:

There is no fix to this. Players who have been playing constantly for 10 years have accumulated huge amounts of cash, other players who have real life money to burn can just buy things on the cartel market and sell it on easily. Bioware/EA make money off the cartel market it keeps the game going they will do nothing that will choke off CM sales. I dont have billions of credits but I also want to see the game continue to be developed. A large part of that funding comes from CM sales. 

IMO there is a lot of truth to this.  If we stop and think for a minute the higher the pricing on the GTN for CM stuff the cheaper those CC's look!

The single biggest unknown variable that we just don't have actual facts on is the number of credits sold/purchased through inappropriate means.  

I also agree that TONS of credits have been generated through daily / normal / credit farming.  And ... (on the flip side) ... there's been very little incentive / stuff / fun items (or anything else for that matter)  to spend those credits on.  Soooo  naturally if players are bored (and that can happen) messing around with the GTN and making a few (more) credits ...   (Yeah ...  I've done that too.) 

[Nee-Elder]

10 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

The single biggest unknown variable that we just don't have actual facts on is the number of credits sold/purchased through inappropriate means.  

.  And ... (on the flip side) ... there's been very little incentive / stuff / fun items (or anything else for that matter)  to spend those credits on.

Both fair points yep ...and.... sorry to beat a dead (SWG) horse here again but: If  BioWare would please just finally implement more  'sandbox' type elements to SWTOR , like say for example  PLAYER-crafting (construction of ships & cities & bases & such )  then maybe  people wouldn't  be so inclined to horde billions upon billions of credits all the time.

[denavin]

Credit Syncs will only hurt players that do NOT have Hundreds of Millions to Billions of credits.

It makes it very hard to get ahead when everything costs Millions of credits more, than you have. When you can't afford to repair your gear or use the local taxi, then Credit Sync becomes the problem.

As a low level player I ran out of credits and did not have enough to pay the Taxi. I figured I'd go fight some mobs as I have done before. Well the mobs dropped NOTHING. I could not pay to get my gear repaired. Or pay for the shuttle off of Tython.

I had to take a level 80 character and send credits to low level character, just so I could continue to play the game.

I have not been able to buy ANYTHING off of the GTN for at least 3 to 4  years. I simply do not have the Hundreds of Millions to Billions of credits necessary to buy anything anymore. It's fortunate that I have played this game long enough to have been able to outfit my characters with enough collection gear that I no longer need to buy anything off of the stupidly over priced GTN.

 

My suggestion for Inflation Control is a little more radical...

 

• Simply put,
• No Player can have MORE that 100 million Credits.
• NOTHING can cost more than 50 million Credits.
• Thus the Permanent end to Inflation.
• The permanent end to Credit Sellers, and Credit Farmers.
• The permanent ability for players to be able to outfit their characters they way the want, instead of what they can afford.

 

Its not popular I know, but I don't care anymore.

IT WILL end Inflation PERMANENTLY.

Entitlement and Elitists rants....

To Follow....

[Achnaattwo]

2 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

Both fair points yep ...and.... sorry to beat a dead (SWG) horse here again but: If  BioWare would please just finally implement more  'sandbox' type elements to SWTOR , like say for example  PLAYER-crafting (construction of ships & cities & bases & such )  then maybe  people wouldn't  be so inclined to horde billions upon billions of credits all the time.

unfortunately it's too late for that

it's more likely to make it worse, if they added that now.

If that was something started a long time ago, I think that would have worked, but we still would have ended up where  we are now.

The only thing that could be done now, we don't want ..lower the caps

[Darcmoon]

4 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

By that measure then none of the classes get do do what their ‘job’ is much if ever.   Bounty Hunters hunt multiple bounties during their  origin story and have an event that does the same.  After the stories are done, how often does the Agent do infiltration missions, how often do troopers go on military missions, etc?   That is unfortunately one of the limitations we have to deal with while playing the game.  
 

Edit: stupid forums removed the part of the post I quoted for some stupid reason. It was the one about Bounty Hunters never being able to hunt bounties. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by Darcmoon