7.3 Credit Economy Initiative: Updates and the GTN

[DeannaVoyager]

19 hours ago, Darkestmonty said:

Yes, of course, there are no new players unfamiliar with with any of the SWTOR ops and all players to SWTOR are veteran MMOers who understand basic mechanics. The constant Disney Star Wars shows are certainly not bringing in a steady stream of new and inexperienced people to the only official Star Wars MMORPG that exists... only veteran players of MMOs that already know all operation mechanics somehow find this game... /s

Not everyone is going to be great at every aspect of this game let alone ops. Getting mad at people, who very well maybe new to MMOs, disabled, or just bad at controls for not reacting as fast as you want is a you problem, not a them problem.

What? Did you even read what I posted? 

FYI I have disabled friends who play this game slowly, very very slowly. I help them out every now and then when they need me, but most content is perfectly doable with disabilities. Can you elaborate how you perceive me "getting mad" at people because they are new and don't know everything yet? Sounds more like a you problem because you sure aren't describing me, so must be projection. 

 

My concern was that people, especially the new ones don't learn anything from TF farms, nobody is teaching them because everyone just wants to get their frags asap. And because everyone only farms 1-2 ops for that, the new people will get bored before they get to see the rest of the content. Beats me how you managed to misinterpret that so badly. Unless you are trying to stick labels on me that actually belong to you.

[TrixxieTriss]

11 hours ago, Darkestmonty said:

this is generally the slowest time of the year, it will pick up closer to December and last a few months then the population will drop again. If you sit on fleet or visit reddit after a new series premiers you will see a lot questions from people who just watched the series and want to play and look like X character.

Sure, but that doesn’t account for the numbers being this low compared to the same time last year or the year before. 

[Darkestmonty]

8 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Sure, but that doesn’t account for the numbers being this low compared to the same time last year or the year before. 

I'm not sure i understand what you are saying. The Disney series helps bring in new players, some of which are new to MMORPGs.

[Toraak]

53 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Sure, but that doesn’t account for the numbers being this low compared to the same time last year or the year before. 

Part of that is Baldur's Gate 3, and other games that have recently come out I'm sure. I know many Swtor players that are currently playing BG 3. Myself included. It's an amazing game. The difference is I still log onto Swtor every day for my GSF weekly, and when raids happen in my guild. I'm just not on for very much time compared to what I was before I started playing BG 3.

[AbsolutGrndZero]

On 9/2/2023 at 6:48 PM, TrixxieTriss said:

https://steamcharts.com/app/1286830#1m
That’s why Steam shows the lowest player numbers at the moment in the history of the game 🤷🏻‍♀️

While that may be true, many players still prefer the old launcher.  It's like another game I play, everyone is posting the Steam charts and like the game is dying!!! If the devs don't do something quick it will be the end.. and it's like... Gosh, only about 30k players on average... but what these people forget is that the game is also on Epic, Games for Windows, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series S or whatever the latest gen Xbox is called, and Switch.   It was also on Stadia (LOL) until Stadia shut down recently (they did a special account link where progress and all purchases could be transferred to another platform of your choice) Only Steam makes their player numbers public.

[TrixxieTriss]

40 minutes ago, AbsolutGrndZero said:

While that may be true, many players still prefer the old launcher.  It's like another game I play, everyone is posting the Steam charts and like the game is dying

Actually, anyone posting steam charts knows it’s only a representation of a percentage of the total games population. We know it isn’t the total population.
We aren’t misrepresenting the situation by saying these are the lowest Steam numbers on record or that they present a worrying trend for the games total population.
Because since BW took steps years ago to hide the total games population (as they were embarrassed), the only way to track population trends is through Steam. If BW hadn’t decided to be so dodgy as to take active steps to hide the actual server populations, we wouldn’t need to use Steam to gauge trends.
The problem as I see it, is white knights defending the low numbers constantly & making excuses for them, like they don’t matter. The numbers do matter because they are a canary in the coal mine.

Edited September 5, 2023 by TrixxieTriss

[AbsolutGrndZero]

On 9/4/2023 at 11:23 PM, TrixxieTriss said:

Actually, anyone posting steam charts knows it’s only a representation of a percentage of the total games population. We know it isn’t the total population.
We aren’t misrepresenting the situation by saying these are the lowest Steam numbers on record or that they present a worrying trend for the games total population.
Because since BW took steps years ago to hide the total games population (as they were embarrassed), the only way to track population trends is through Steam. If BW hadn’t decided to be so dodgy as to take active steps to hide the actual server populations, we wouldn’t need to use Steam to gauge trends.
The problem as I see it, is white knights defending the low numbers constantly & making excuses for them, like they don’t matter. The numbers do matter because they are a canary in the coal mine.

I play another game that is always having their Steam numbers posted as "concerning"  They have never posted their player numbers, so all anyone has is Steam to post.   So, if people posting the Steam charts for SWtOR know it's only a representations of a percentage, then SWtOR players are a lot smarter than that game's players.  This is a game that regularly does licensing with popular media, heck they even recently secured a license with Disney and have another huge license coming in two months (we don't know what yet).... and players post the Steam charts as if they represent proof the game is dying.

As I've said many times before...

Will there come a time when this game dies? Yes.
Will it be tomorrow? No.
Will it be next year? Maybe but probably not.

What it boils down to is that SWtOR DOES know the numbers, and either they will care and try to make changes, or they won't care and the game will die.  Posting the Steam numbers just serves to do what it does with all games, nothing.

[Skummy]

My husband crafted me p2w augments you guys! crazy how much more damage you do in a gear v gear korean style pvp! Neato! Don't bring back a bolster to make it fair and competitive. Having p2w gear is too good i get it now!. Anways teehee toodles o/ ❤️ Kiss kiss 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1134927630936842475/1153449565027057664/Screenshot_2023-09-17_20_34_17_138544.jpg?ex=6515f69e&is=6514a51e&hm=2e104af06b45cb63b931bb14921bf298dfec1ad2308c92b33eef12078b523b58&

 

You can buy cartel coins and turn it into credits to buy player power then use that player power to dominate in a game mode were people with less gear will be at disadvantage and it's multiplied if you're in a premade. Can make the season track go faster if you win. I'm sorry you don't know what pay2win means lol. I knew people in 5.0 buying coins just for augments so they could have ranked toons on each server. It just like buying coins in korean mmos to get player power. Wow had it in shadowlands boosting went crazy because gear was tied to rating. So people were buying boost with the wow tokens because gear is that strong in mmos lol. Anyone saying other wise is not serious. You probably work for them so you have to defend your money i get it.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Skummy

[LD_Little_Dragon]

6 hours ago, Skummy said:

My husband crafted me p2w augments you guys! crazy how much more damage you do in a gear v gear korean style pvp! Neato! Don't bring back a bolster to make it fair and competitive. Having p2w gear is too good i get it now!. Anways teehee toodles o/ ❤️ Kiss kiss 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1134927630936842475/1153449565027057664/Screenshot_2023-09-17_20_34_17_138544.jpg?ex=6515f69e&is=6514a51e&hm=2e104af06b45cb63b931bb14921bf298dfec1ad2308c92b33eef12078b523b58&

That doesn't prove anything.  I still maintain the difference between gold and purple augments is neglible.
Also: still not p2w.  Even if gold augs were that awesome, you don't have to pay real money to get them.  Learn what pay to win means before using it.

[Darkestmonty]

9 hours ago, LD_Little_Dragon said:

That doesn't prove anything.  I still maintain the difference between gold and purple augments is neglible.
Also: still not p2w.  Even if gold augs were that awesome, you don't have to pay real money to get them.  Learn what pay to win means before using it.

the difference between purple augment 74s and gold augment 77s is less than 2% of a players stats in 336 gear.

The argument that gold augment 77s are "pay to win" because players can buy them on the Galactic Trade Market while ignoring the fact that anyone that earns tech frags can craft them if they choose to is hilarious.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Darkestmonty

[AbsolutGrndZero]

On 9/28/2023 at 10:33 AM, LD_Little_Dragon said:

That doesn't prove anything.  I still maintain the difference between gold and purple augments is neglible.
Also: still not p2w.  Even if gold augs were that awesome, you don't have to pay real money to get them.  Learn what pay to win means before using it.

Honestly, it's gotten to a point the second someone says "P2W" I tune out.  Is X game pay to win? Maybe, maybe not.  But the phrase has been so diluted, so overused that the majority of players have no idea what it actually is.   It's like when people call another game I play Pay 2 Win  (not saying it's name, but by my terminology anyone that plays it should know exactly what characters I am talking about).  Is it? No.  Do they have licensed content that you have to buy that can give you unique perks? Yes. Are those perks required to win though? No.   The strongest character (which to be fair, I wish they'd just remove. God I hate her.) is and always will be free.  Now, you may not like her (as I don't) and you may want to play one of the licensed characters (I play a character of the porcine variety whose license recently released their 10th movie.  In fact, the developers nerfing her has become a meme) but that doesn't make the game pay to win at the least.  Plus, even if you can't get the licensed characters themselves without real money, you can still get their perks as those rotate in an in-game market for currency earned in game. Sure, with the number of perks that exist in the game that might mean it will be awhile before the perks you want rotate in, but that still doesn't make the game pay to win.  You NEVER have to pay to get those perks if you are willing to wait, especially since no perk is mandatory to win. I win all the time with a weak character that being nerfed into oblivion is a meme with perks that I almost never actually end up needing at all. In fact, about 70% of my wins they didn't even get used. At all.

Edited October 2, 2023 by AbsolutGrndZero

[Darkestmonty]

7 hours ago, AbsolutGrndZero said:

Honestly, it's gotten to a point the second someone says "P2W" I tune out.  Is X game pay to win? Maybe, maybe not.  But the phrase has been so diluted, so overused that the majority of players have no idea what it actually is.   It's like when people call another game I play Pay 2 Win  (not saying it's name, but by my terminology anyone that plays it should know exactly what characters I am talking about).  Is it? No.  Do they have licensed content that you have to buy that can give you unique perks? Yes. Are those perks required to win though? No.   The strongest character (which to be fair, I wish they'd just remove. God I hate her.) is and always will be free.  Now, you may not like her (as I don't) and you may want to play one of the licensed characters (I play a character of the porcine variety whose license recently released their 10th movie.  In fact, the developers nerfing her has become a meme) but that doesn't make the game pay to win at the least.  Plus, even if you can't get the licensed characters themselves without real money, you can still get their perks as those rotate in an in-game market for currency earned in game. Sure, with the number of perks that exist in the game that might mean it will be awhile before the perks you want rotate in, but that still doesn't make the game pay to win.  You NEVER have to pay to get those perks if you are willing to wait, especially since no perk is mandatory to win. I win all the time with a weak character that being nerfed into oblivion is a meme with perks that I almost never actually end up needing at all. In fact, about 70% of my wins they didn't even get used. At all.

some players think if you can buy cash shop items with real money and sell those items on the auction house, everything associated with the auction house is automatically "pay to win" even if you can craft all the equipment sold on the auction house.

When MMOs first starting getting big in Asia, "pay to win"meant only those who paid actual money in the cash shop could unlock the highest level attacks and equipment and that equipment was usually bind on pick up. You stood zero chances against someone who could buy the best from the cash shop.

I agree, some players today think the loosest connection to earning credits in game by selling cash shop cosmetics on an auction house automatically makes all crafting gear sold on the auction house "pay to win" even if those same players could craft it themselves but make up excuses like "I am not a loser who can spend time in game grinding so anyone who can afford it is exploiting pay to win" even if those same posters spend more than enough time on these forums to craft anything they want in game.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Darkestmonty

[DIVAvonFarstar]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:40 PM, TrixxieTriss said:

Sure, but that doesn’t account for the numbers being this low compared to the same time last year or the year before. 

Maybe the lower numbers this time have something to do with the fact that they were higher in the last two years due to Corona-related measures such as lockdowns.

[SirGith]

On 6/13/2023 at 10:09 AM, JoeStramaglia said:

Hello folks! With 7.3 now live, I wanted to answer a couple of questions that we saw on the forums in regards to the access cooldown we’ve added to Guild Banks. 

The original Guild Leader will still have access starting at guild creation, this change only applies to new members in that guild, including the ones that help form it.

Repairs and summons should remain unaffected by this change. The guild membership in this case should be looking at your legacy to determine if you have access, so your alts should remain unaffected. In terms of giving things to new members during this period, you may still trade or mail the item or credits as necessary to the new member.

This restriction was largely added to reduce the need for taxation at the guild bank level, but there were some additional behaviors we saw during a review of guilds that this helps to discourage. We’ll continue to monitor behavior to help us determine if we need to make other changes.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this thread, so please continue to offer your feedback here. 

Ok I must disagree on the 30 days before you can do anything in a guild bank.   this is just stupid amount of time, especially if you are promoted to Guildmaster and still have to wait.  And yes it is currently setup this way, so why join guilds? 

[AFadedMemory]

56 minutes ago, SirGith said:

Ok I must disagree on the 30 days before you can do anything in a guild bank.   this is just stupid amount of time, especially if you are promoted to Guildmaster and still have to wait.  And yes it is currently setup this way, so why join guilds? 

Unfortunately exchanging items in the guild bank lets you avoid the taxes generated by person to person trade and the GTN. hypothetically one could make a guild that's purpose was to function like the GTN with zero taxation. The Guild Bank was not intended to be used as a work around for implemented polices thus the restriction, most likely. The 30 days is definitely painful, but not as painful as having the bank taken away. 

Should the time be shorter? I don't think so. Having people wait a month for credits at no in game cost is a stronger deterrent then having them wait 7 days for credits with no in game cost. guilds still give exp, can do summons. If players are unwilling to stick around for 30 day or refuse to donate through the mail then what are they helping the guild accomplish?

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, SirGith said:

30 days before you can do anything in a guild bank

30 days is extreme. It never needed to be that long to prevent people circumventing taxes or fees. 14 days would be more than sufficient to achieve that. 

[DeannaVoyager]

4 hours ago, TrixxieTriss said:

30 days is extreme. It never needed to be that long to prevent people circumventing taxes or fees. 14 days would be more than sufficient to achieve that. 

Or just a week. People who want to use guild bank for trading will wait anyhow and they will stay in that guild for future trading as well. Making the waiting period so long hurts everyone else way more: individual traders AND guilds. I was trying to put some flagship encryptions to guild bank on Shae Vizla, and I couldn't yet. It's very frustrating that I can't help unlock the flagship.