Credit Economy Feedback Thread

[Achnaattwo]

you just can't afford quick travel

playing as a newbie,  was getting boring, dragging on. I don't have the same immersion as a real newbie would have.

Even with the knowledge I have now, it's  just slow. I tried playing as if I knew nothing about the game and it's perks. I'm trying to recall if it was just as bad  as when I first played the game,  I know I didn't have much back then, and even now more is taken away , leaving me with even less as a new player to spend. 

questions come up .. .  when  can I start using the outfitter? (price to use, keeps going up as you level) ,  which perks should I prioritize? why does it cost over 2k to quick travel, and taxi only 50?, for the same distance !!? is 30 seconds time that expensive ?

Just a few, I'm sure there is more a new player would ask

the only help, is gain credits faster , which you're trying to avoid ? That's what is going to happen if the new player decided they want to keep playing. Adding more cost at the beginning levels is not the right approach

anyway, my newbie role play character  has reached Nar Shadaa, with 49400 credits, and a speeder. Since I was getting bored fast with running to taxi's I decided not to do Balmorra Planetary missions or heroics. Like I said I don't have the same immersion as a real new-player so my newbie experience ended  there. Been there already, I know what it was like back then,  I just don't have the patients, know what I know to go there again.

before I logged off, checked perks most are 20k to start,  I got a chuckle at this though. just not enough for something I really didn't need yet

I'm just hoping this is really going to be a bad April fool's joke

[CaldoChaud]

One change I would make is to remove the travel charge from the starter-strongholds of Dromund Kaas and Coruscant. Why?

No newly created character has 100 credits right off the bat and remember: Ftp/Preferred players can't mail credits between alts. New players who might want to make an alt wouldn't be able to travel directly to a stronghold immediately after character creation to get geared up before starting the new class story.

Having a travel charge on the more advanced strongholds is okay because by then, you'll have a lot of credits to burn through, but keep Dromund Kaas and Coruscant open for free use for the little guy.

[EnbyDisaster_]

I will DEFINITELY be using QT less, because 5k credits is way too much, at that point im just going to use the speeders because my lower-level toons won't be able to afford that (and new players Definitely won't be able to).  That may also just be the Depression baby i got from my granddad though.  I really don't think you should be charged to travel to your SH, or the return from there to wherever you were, i DO think charging to 'exit to [Planet]' would be a solid idea though, since you're actually going there and not just to your house.

edit: i also dont have like 10bil creds to just throw around

Edited March 5, 2023 by EnbyDisaster_

[TheAnemeros]

At a glance, I don't see this changing much, except making it worse for people that don't have a lot of credits.

I think you guys like the inflation, because someone that isn't absurdly rich may be more inclined to spend 500 cartel coins on an item than half a billion of their 'hard earned' credits. Also, with inflation so high I imagine a lot of people are buying from the market just to sell on the network, which is more free money for you guys.

This is not an indictment, I know it's just business and I totally get it, but these half-measures that hurt the little guy are pretty telling.

 

[sirlou]

I heard about these changes, so I downloaded and signed onto the PTS with a new Jedi character, similar to my main.

I DID NOT LIKE THE CHANGES to Quick travel, Priority Transport, or Stronghold, Repair Costs, etc.

These sums are a literal drop in the bucket for the average subbed player at max level and will not have ANY real, serious effect on the out-of-control in-game economy. You know who it damages? Low-level players (like the new character I rolled who had to RUN everywhere b/c she did not have enuf funds to quick travel). This made the early leveling experience really long and really boring.

It seems the result of these changes will be to TURN OFF new potential players, which is a bad idea for a game with lowering pop levels on most servers, where you often cannot find people to do group content with (Been to Manaan lately? It's a ghost town. Good luck finding someone to do that Heroic 4 with!).

I have no idea who thought this was a good idea, but they are sorely mistaken.

If you REALLY want to fix the economy and not just pay lip service to it (and it does need fixing as it is completely broken) then you need to take a hard look at the GTN and consider lowering max sale costs (hard limits to reduce the inflation and maybe weekly sales limits of auctions like with FTP toons ), consider a limit on max transfer from one toon to another (to deal with the constant Billion Credit trades which get around the GTN), and maybe even consider a radical approach, like wiping credits above a certain level - reset the economy completely.  

As a subbed player from the very early days who is still here, I can tell you I would welcome a radical adjustment to the in-game economy. I do not try to hoard credits, and even I have too many credits sitting in my legacy cargo hold doing nothing.

But if you do not take it seriously and do something significant, these penny ante changes will just annoy veteran players and new players alike, with the potential to turn both off and lose yet more subs.

Thanks for listening.

Lou

[CaldoChaud]

More Credit Economy Suggestions:

1.) Introduce new Legacy Character perks as a Credit Sink.

• Advancement - Improved Heroic Experience I, II, III, IV and V
• Travel - Priority Transport unlocks for Mek Sha, Onderon, Ossus and Dantooine.
• Convenience - Field GTN Kiosk Droid I, II, III; Field Guild Cargo Hold I, II, III; Field Combat Respecialization, and Improved Combat Running I, II and III (for PvE combat Only).

2.) To prevent players from being stranded in a hostile area on account of lacking credits, set up Legacy Storage at every Med Center. That way, if a player has squirreled away credits in their Legacy Storage, they can at least withdraw credits from it.

3.) Make sure there is no chance of a player being accidently stranded inside their stronghold with no credits. If we all are going to be charged credits to go to and from our strongholds, there must be a safeguard in place to keep players from being trapped. Perhaps there should only be a single one-way charge just like when we visit a stronghold of an opposing faction.

[DARTH-MANIAK]

I have never before commented on one of these forums before, but this is now becoming a deal breaker for me to continue subbing and playing swtor.

Starting to charge players for functions that have been free in game since the beginning (quicjk travel, strong hold travel, ect.) and use the excuse that this is going to correct the inflation in game is short sighted, rather clamp down on the main reason the inflation has ballooned and that is the gold sellers who sell billions of credits for a couple of dollars to players. Another point to consider, players that are able to spend 15 hrs a day playing swtor are going to accrue way more credits than the average player and these players ultimately determine the prices of trade items on the gtn.

These "gold sellers" are still actively putting their adverts into the chats in game, they need to be stopped, if they are not stopped the inflation will continue to worsen.

If the economy used to work in the past while these functions were free then its not these that cause inflation.

[EzzyShade]

people keep rebuking it but the simplest suggestion to curb the insane billion range prices on CM items is simply to lock out those items from being sold/traded/mailed and put a damn credit cap on the mail and trade windows to match GTN's credit cap.

people cannot price gouge and ruin the credit economy if there's literally BLOCKS to prevent them from selling high end.. and face it, nobody wants to do 9-10 trades to make a sell for a 9B hypercrate.. they already have fear of doing anything over 4b so if you devs CAP US, then the whales are affected just as equally as the lowbies... but then that requires you to listen to us, right?

[Traceguy]

On 3/9/2023 at 8:38 PM, CaldoChaud said:

 

• Travel - Priority Transport unlocks for Mek Sha, Onderon, Ossus and Dantooine.

Priority transport is worthless. These days can you press SHIFT+M and "priority transport" to anywhere in the galaxy. 

[Ucrag]

That's NOT how it works.....To stimulate economic growth by raising prices on everything just makes people more reluctant to use them.....It's infact the opposite of what you should be doing and worse still is...YOU KNOW IT !!

Same school of thought that says allowing 8 man premade teams  into Warzones makes it more "INCLUSIVE" .

As inclusive as picking teams in high-school sport or Howard Wollowitz trying to join the 3rd Reich.

And again...YOU KNOW IT.

[Chitogck]

If you were really interested in making change several things to look at would be 1st how easy it is to level a toon high enough to earn crazy amounts of credits. 2nd the shear amount of totally useless bound gear looted that gets dumped for credits. 3rd. Reselling on the gtn. Far too many market manipulators keeping prices high.. this usually falls in line with the gold spammers having tons of credits to artificially raise prices by buying up low value items like crafting mats then turning them over until prices hit crackhead levels they are today. Thus creating easy high credit turn over. 4th. Stop catering to the punks vs pussies crowd and constantly changing the game to appease the biggest bunch of cry babies in EVERY game. In doing this your own inability to coordinate realistic change forces extremes causing ebbs and flow of insanity where structural changes and gearing changes happen constantly perpetuating insane prices for things where people need to hoard creds just to have basic gear.

 

Just a thought from a person who has gamed since pong and have seen all the mistakes and evolution into the nerf n patch gaming we live with today.

[Mzuta]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:15 AM, JackieKo said:

Be sure to read this post first before jumping onto the PTS and submitting feedback here! 

To reiterate, players will be able to see the following adjustments:

• Quick Travel now has a credit cost associated, with a minimum cost of 100 credits and a maximum cost of 5000. The cost to travel is dependent on the distance traveled.
• Priority Transport Terminal now costs the original planet travel costs to transfer between daily areas.
• Travel to Strongholds now costs the original planet travel costs to transfer between planets.
• Repair cost formulas have been adjusted across the entirety of the game so that repair costs increase in relation to item level.
• Durability of equipment should now be lost at a LOWER rate on death, but a slightly HIGHER rate in normal gameplay. 

Feedback questions!

Adjustments to repairing: 

• Do you find yourself having to repair more or less often?
• When you repair, does the cost increase seem significant or fair?

Adjustments to travel:

• Do the Quick Travel costs seem fair? Do you think this will affect your usage of Quick Travel?
• Are there travel costs that you currently find to be too little or too much? 
• Are there methods of travel that have no cost that you would expect to have a cost?

I think those costs should be for non subbed players. What's the point of subbing if we have low benefits? 

[Nee-Elder]

On 3/22/2023 at 3:49 PM, Mzuta said:

. What's the point of subbing if we have low benefits? 

For one thing, not sure how any survives this game in 2023 with only 1mil credits limit.

However, i also think  $ubscribers should get  at least DOUBLE the Cartel Coins per month.  ( or better yet: Just get rid of that silly  coins-to-credits  game model  once & for all   )

Edited March 24, 2023 by Nee-Elder
Reason: it's never too late to salvage remaining year(s) of SWTOR

[Wagerbane]

No! Not fair! About control players economy and control mission timers is preventing us all from playing freely. Never have play OP mission since game launch. Never seen no one go in story operations and master missions. Want this add into game to make a group out of my companions for story Operations, veteran, master missions!

[Mzuta]

On 2/9/2023 at 2:43 PM, BenKatarn said:

Putting credit costs on player transports feels kind of arbitrary, or at least shortsighted. Yeah, it's not a lot, but as was already pointed out, it'll be more of an issue for new players. I have billions of credits in my legacy storage, this won't really affect my bank account to any significant degree. You want to combat inflation, introduce more things players want to spend credits on. Remember the Cartel Exchange in the Cartel Bazaar? Maybe bring that back so people can spend money there. Or bring out more old decorations and armor sets. You are still sitting on tons of assets from the launch era alone that isn't available for player use. Get this stuff out there, purchasable for credits (maybe with a reputation requirement in conjunction with Cartel Certificates). You need to come up with more incentives to spend credits, not with penalties.

^this.... Incentives not Penalties. Sums it up perfectly. You Penalize people for playing and soon you'll see less people playing. 

[Mzuta]

On 2/20/2023 at 2:22 PM, CaldoChaud said:

I believe that the proposed approach to fighting in-game inflation is a terribly flawed one.

As a ten-year player of SWTOR, I have personally experienced a considerable animosity from newer players who apparently have the opinion that long-time players like myself are somehow responsible for their not having nice things in the game. They think that all long-time players are somehow at fault for the inflation on GTN without ever considering that it took us ten years worth of gameplay to get where we are at. The introduction of new credit charges will only serve to hurt these new players (who have little credits to start with) while not impacting seasoned and veteran players who have an abundance of credits. This in turn will only re-inforce the hard feelings new players have towards seasoned and veteran players and give them just one more thing to blame us for.

I would suggest that instead of punishing the entire playerbase for the actions of a few bad actors, you could do the following to help remove the over-abundance of credits from the game:

1.) Introduce the Gravestone Stronghold which would serve individual players the same way a Guild Flagship would, travelling from planet to planet (at cost of credits), offer a group summons feature (at cost of credits) and a multiple-choice 24-hour bolster (at cost of credits). It would be the most expensive stronghold to date, not including the additional cost to unlock its expansions. It would be the penultimate player status symbol players would genuinely want to throw their credits into.

2.) Restore class-skill trainers to their original purpose of selling class skills for credits. I myself began this game buying my skills as I progressed and never understood why that was ever removed.

3.) Introduce a character tatoo parlor on the fleet where we can buy custom tatoos for our characters (regardless of character race) using credits.

4.) Introduce speeder dyes and paint jobs that can be purchased using credits.

5.) Add more stronghold decorations that can be bought with credits.

6.) Regarding those new players with the bad feelings towards us old-timers, introduce for them an entry-level beast mount vendor, beast companion vendor and droid companion vendor on the starter worlds: Tython, Ord Mantell, Korriban, and Hutta. These wouldn't be like the Cartel Market versions but it would give them "something cool" to start with.

Overall, to fight inflation in this game, you need to go after the players who have the credits to spend; not the ones who don't.

great ideas especially #2

[DMBLaan]

I think the best thing for fixing the inflation isn't to pay for things like QT, as that just punishes new players and takes more time to travel if you can't or don't want to pay, but instead give us more purchasing options for things like unlocking gear for a legacy instead of only Cartel Coins.

[emadel]

I do not like the changes to Quick travel, repair gear and the remove of very slow graphic setting.  That's the only setting I'm able to use in my laptop to play the game smoothly.  First of all charging for using quick travel and making repairs more costly will only make gtn prices goes up.  Not to mention how expensive failed flashpoints would be.  So far players auction stuff for hundred of milllions and billions of credits.  With these changes that can easily change to hundred of trillions or quadrillions of credits.  I'm mostly f2p but I also subscribe 2 or 3 times annually.  But honestly, these changes makes me feel to not subscribe at all.

[Nexxa]

New and poor players will be the only ones who feel anything from these costs at all. Is it possible to make these credit sinks take into account the amount of credits on one's account and adjust accordingly? Higher costs for someone who's super rich, for example, than someone who's broke.

[Mzuta]

16 hours ago, DMBLaan said:

I think the best thing for fixing the inflation isn't to pay for things like QT, as that just punishes new players and takes more time to travel if you can't or don't want to pay, but instead give us more purchasing options for things like unlocking gear for a legacy instead of only Cartel Coins.

another great idea.

[Dlakavi_Guzonja]

Like in real world small (poor) men is punished for the actions of big (rich) men. Inflation is not happening bc of poor players, but bc of rich ones. So you need to remove QT penalties and similar stuff, and put things where rich plyrs can spend their money. Put more INTERESTING stuff which rich players will want to buy. Anyway focus on taking money from rich players, not from poor, and dont do it as penalty like paying price for QT, but as reward. Or you can just put credit cost for QT but only for lvl80 plyrs. Anyway cost on QT wont change nothing for rich plyrs, thats not enough, you need to put stuff which they can buy and it need to be expensive. Also enable more credits to sell stuff on GTN (1b is to low today) and more credits you can hold on your toon and in your legacy and guild bank.

[Gibbanator]

Could make cost based on level. Free travel/Quick Travel level 50 and under lets say for example. Yes many players buy credits but most play the game as intented. Fixed prices for sells where you can not sell a item for more than a certain price. allowing members to lower there price to sell. Stop the billion credit sells. You want to fix this economy you need to stop punishiing the new players and start addressing the core issue of the problem.

[Chiarakai]

On 2/9/2023 at 2:47 PM, Nee-Elder said:

i can understand the 'quick travel'  cost maybe, but i'm totally against the  'priority' & 'stronghold'  costs.

Why would i charge MYSELF to transport myself onto my own/owned  Stronghold?!

Side-note:  all of  this stuff is  immersion-breakng in the 1st place anyway, since we already have our own PERSONAL SHIP that can presumably quick travel & transport!   /sigh

p.s. If you really wanna add a credit-sink  to truly help with inflation, make the  *Nar Shaddaa Nightlife EVENT* run year round 24/7, but just on weekends, and add 'Pazaak Tables' too.

Quick travel was introduced as a perk to players and should not have a cost associated with it. The same with any Legacy perk that players worked to get and already paid for that amenity. I feel like making players buy Legacy perks then charging them again to use it is way over the top! If I have to buy a Legacy perk then pay each time I use it, Im just not going to buy it at all in the first place. 

[Chiarakai]

18 hours ago, DMBLaan said:

I think the best thing for fixing the inflation isn't to pay for things like QT, as that just punishes new players and takes more time to travel if you can't or don't want to pay, but instead give us more purchasing options for things like unlocking gear for a legacy instead of only Cartel Coins.

I fail to see how charging people more for things or charging for things that never cost before is fighting inflation. The very definition of inflation is "a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money." So how does raising prices fight inflation? Big failure on the part of the gamemakers. 

[Mzuta]

I think this is not so much to fix the economy but also to incentivize subbing. However Like others have said. I have been subbed since 2013. I was playing on and off before then. So these changes that I am not in favor for won't hurt me too much, but instead of punishing players. Maybe  have a subscriber vendor that can have a lot of classic cosmetic armors, sabers, etc. That we would be able to buy, make them unable to be sold on the gtn, and make them from 1 million to 1billion credits depending on the rarity. E. G The the dread masters Masks, Deco's Retired Cartel Armors, mounts and deco's. Again just a few example doesn't have to be those. But the best part of this game besides the story is out ability to customize our characters. So give us more to spend those credits on.  I would even open a thread to suggest what Items we subscribers would like to see in such a vendor. You can even rotate the items out weekly and put new items in as you do the galactic seasons vendor.