Nar Nightlife Event Updates 2024

[panzmo]

On 7/11/2024 at 1:31 PM, Xyranis said:

I'm very new to the game, so obviously new to this event. I find it enjoyable. Two things feel a bit wrong:

• Every single time my character is "feeling lucky", he always unconditionally looses the round, which doesn't feel very lucky.
• My character claps his hands and seems very happy to just have his token back. I don't understand why. I just lost my time, won nothing. Yet he seems to celebrate this for a questionable reason.

Wait, THAT’S why my character keeps clapping? I thought my game was bugging because this kept happening despite not winning anything.

I also thought my chat was bugged because nobody was typing anything. Sometimes that happens. Then I realized that, nah, this event is THAT dead already. It’s really sad.

 

Also, how do we earn kingpin chips now? It seems like the main way to get them so that you can obtain the good karma buff is by buying them, is that correct?

[Sir-steve]

36 minutes ago, panzmo said:

Also, how do we earn kingpin chips now? It seems like the main way to get them so that you can obtain the good karma buff is by buying them, is that correct?

You can get them as loot in the open world, though the drop rate is abysmal this year.  Can't help but think its tied to all the loot table changes they made to bring back old items that cause them to become harder to obtain this way.

[Galahard]

The event has become horrible.
I played it for 2-3 hours.
I had hundreds of kingpin chips accumulated, I played them all, I won two old prizes (Rodian companion, Kingpin's Predator mount).
I won none of the new rewards. I won nothing on the Emperor machines. Certificates don't count, I have 500+ Golden and 350+ Cartel Market.

Achievements: in 2-3 hours I had 1/100 of the new achievement.
Edit: I read the description again, it is for playing the Empror's machine (not winning), so I am 3/100 on that right now. Only 97 hours to go, woo-hoo!

Are you telling me I have to play 200-300 hours to get to 100/100?
The last two Emperor chip, which took me an hour to get, got me exactly nothing (not even certificates I don't care about).
Thanks Bioware, I don't want to waste my time with a boring event with no new rewards, just frustration.
(Player since 2011, playing on 3 servers, 10k+ hours played)

Edited July 13 by Galahard

[Johnycat]

I tried the event like every year it's available, on day one... I am flush with credits, so personally, I'm not fussed about the changes - feels like every year, with every change it's a bit of a new learning process. So... here's what I learned/observed  (remember, I said I'm flush with credits - just a drop in the bucket for my wallet - not everyone has this luxury, I get it):

1) bought 20 MAX Bet Emp tokens... yup, 3 bil - like others, not counting certs... I got maybe 4 jackpots (all old stuff). Ok, that stung a bit.. 3 bill is a filthy amount of credits for anyone, coupled with the 1 pet, 2 weapons, and 1 mount that I already won dozens of in previous years. That was absolutely a mistake - recommend NEVER pulling that machine handle.

2) Played 100 Emp tokens, so 750 mil each time, on 5 toons (Satele Shan), and then 1 toon on all others (except Shae Vizsla... no money there) and got fairly similar results:

^  overall, ~15% jackpots with too many certs to count and lots of straight up losses

^  tons of old jackpot rewards; everything from pets to mounts to weapons...

^  more weapons than I would have liked to see (which are over flowing with availability again via GTN)

^  I was happy to add a few more 70's sunglasses, LOL

^  completed the full chevo's on Satele Shan (after 520 pulls over 5 toons)

^  and in ALL those spins across every server (920 pulls) I won one, single, new shiny helmet with the 70's visor

Given my in-game financial situation, I wasn't too bent about the Emp token outcomes and experience... was a couple hours of fun. MAX Bet machine is a joke - and a very expensive lesson. Lastly, I know RNG is exactly that... RNG - but 1 helmet in 920 pulls was bit disappointing. Oh well - I suspect in the next year or two I'll have one on every toon (unless further, significant changes) - we'll see?

Happy gambling, and MTFBWY - like, for real!

EDIT: one bonus... I got zero Wraith mounts from the Emp slot machine. Not like previous years, I've won so many I could open a Wraith mount dealership on every planet!?

Cheers,

J

Edited July 13 by Johnycat

[Destiny_Legend]

On 7/12/2024 at 7:55 AM, agoraholik said:

ok so how do you get Emperoe chips ??  

 

 

I got 2 emperor's chips while doing a simple daily and the area mission on Oricon. You don't NEED to farm starter planets, many do because they are easy kills. 

[Przemo_No]

Like many, i also tried to play this year, but gave up pretty much quickly. First and foremost is the inability to play few machines same time. they modified the "sizes" such a way that you cannot position yourself even to press 2 Smuggler machines. i am not sure maybe this is body type 3 issue only, but I guess not.

and...on contrary to many players i do not and i did not spend credits on the coins. Last 2 years i did the initial quests in full one 2 or 3 chars, and that gave me enough basic coins for "Feeling Lucky" on each of them. Then I bought literally 3 or 4 Max Bet Kingpin Coins and gathered few Emperor's coings via various game activities (FP, Ops, PVP, world loot, etc). Having these, I was either playing Max Bet kingpin machines or Emperor's and got all the "new" items. No, not in a row, it took some time of course, but with abundance of Kingpin regular coins and "feeling lucky" you could get the rewards.  Rinse and repeat on different alts.  This year, I had 10 Emperor coins and literally lost 5 of them, + got 3 CM certificates and 1 purple pet, which was considered as "jackpot". Pathetic. Waste of time basically and end of the "event" for me.  They modified it so badly that it is absolutely not worth playing it for rewards, because there are none. That "new' helmet is just ugly and not worth the time. The rest I already have, so..." event gone, carry on" :)

[Meiran]

6 hours ago, Przemo_No said:

First and foremost is the inability to play few machines same time. they modified the "sizes" such a way that you cannot position yourself even to press 2 Smuggler machines. i am not sure maybe this is body type 3 issue only, but I guess not.

There are valid criticisms of their changes, but this isn't one of them. I've seen no difference in positioning, with any body type.

[Gimpeline]

14 hours ago, Destiny_Legend said:

I got 2 emperor's chips while doing a simple daily and the area mission on Oricon. You don't NEED to farm starter planets, many do because they are easy kills. 

I got a few from bosses in the fight for illum or what ever its called flashpoint. No idea of its a part of the loot table or just luck.

Dont plan to use them this year. I save them untill they have rewerted this trash and made it fun again

[tritiya]

Please, please, please don't touch the next event (the Abundance one in late October). Just leave it as it is, not even graphic modernization. It's quite atmospheric one. I don't play it because of the rewards (they are a nice side bonus). Just leave it be. And the Life day one as well.

[Traceguy]

Nothing but straight losses for Broadsword/SWTOR in 2024.

[Banthabreeder]

I'm glad there is only one new item this year, and it's something I don't care about in the least. 

Hopefully, next year things will be adjusted to be more fun. And there will be more new prizes. 

[ImminentRagnarok]

I want to preface this by saying that I appreciate the hard work and the enthusiasm the team puts into things. While not all of it is a 'hit', and things like the slow content drip and 'KOTOR'-style dialogue becoming standard are difficult to swallow, to say there is no passion or no quality or imagination placed into SWTOR's modern content would be a lie. You've also been good about responding to some feedback and taking action- it would be nice to see more of that. I personally enjoy the live update streams very much, and appreciate that you have dedicated time to interacting with the community here on the forums some. It's great that this iteration of the team is artistic, and wants to explore different elements of the SWTOR universe. It's great that they want to try new types of content, or explore how to implement something standard like a graphics update or new companion in a micro-plot-impactful and player-engaging way.

But something that does not feel so great is these changes that have been made to Nar'shadda Nightlife. In fact they're bad enough that I felt compelled to drop two cents before my sub runs out, if only to be one more voice. This was an event I genuinely enjoyed and looked forward to, and after what a fine little event this first Spring Abundance Festival turned out to be, I was anticipating being able to knuckle down and dig back into this one too.

Y'know how those people who never stop complaining about how games are 'unrealistic' are the first ones to whine when devs add things like ammo for ranged weapons? They say 'If it's not broke, don't fix it', and of all the things to adjust, making the fantasy gambling event more like real gambling wasn't the one. Adding losses to the fancier machines and increasing losses on the basic ones? Taking away all chances at getting bonus chips? Making it harder both to get the buffs, and nerfing the buffs to prevent them from doing their job and protecting you from losses and endless repeat spins? WHY? Three days in, and I gave up after winning one gold certificate and losing everything else. No thanks; I'll save my chips for when this event is actually worthwhile again, if it ever is. Also, it was noted that the regular machines were 'fixed' to prevent 'endless cycles' of players being handed back their chips. 'Fixed' as in they cycle your chips two or three times and then eat them. No buffs, no bonus chips, just losses.

Also the chip price for the golden machine is woefully out of touch. There is no way I'm spending millions of creds for a paltry shot at maybe getting some cool sunshades, but more likely walking away empty-handed. And by 'empty-handed', I mean empty, as your chances of getting nothing are suddenly astronomical from the part of the event that was supposed to be the 'winning' stretch. Three days, whatever buffs I could get, and I never did see a single person win anything from that machine. To make matters worse, FTPs and Preferreds can't even touch that number, and this is supposed to be a 'community' event for all.  We already have a cash shop, a clear divide between paid and unpaid benefits, exclusive daily and seasonal rewards, basic support locked behind a paywall, and you have to unlock things to Legacy with real money. Why ruin such a well-known and cross-sectional event by drawing lines?

I genuinely do not understand how any devs tested this in length and decreed it 'fun'. Pretty sure the only thing most players wanted, outside of the buffs being slightly easier to get versus the long cycles of 'put in a chip, get back a chip', was more rewards, as this event is known for its unique and fun ones. Slightly less fun when it's the same few rewards for umpteen years, and while that's not as much a problem for newer or casual players who don't have it all yet, it's a huge disservice to your veteran and more dedicated players, who thrive on quality-of-life updates to content like this. This was a great opportunity to build hype for your metallic dyes, release some new gloves styled like rings, etc. etc.

Experiencing Nightlife from player perspective, it is like you all sat at a table and said, "How can we ruin this event as much as possible?" I don't know what else to say. Weak storytelling is one thing- it can improve in time, and good side stories and lore bits are often still introduced. But weak gameplay, on an event that is fundamentally supposed to be relaxing and light, is a catastrophic failure. I don't think we could even call this 'game play'. There's nothing to play. There's nothing to game, or game for.

 

On 7/9/2024 at 5:39 PM, JoeStramaglia said:

 With the new adjustments, the revamped odds give you a higher chance at winning an actual prize or just removing the chip, meaning you should come out with more rewards for less time investment at a cost of less chips won.

This is straight-up incorrect. It removes the chips. It does not at all improve your chances of willing, because it's almost impossible to get the buffs in the first place. The machines eat your chips at a high rate before you ever see them, unless you're exceptionally.... 'lucky'.  ...Oh wait. You can lose with both buffs on you at once. 🤪 I ran out of chips multiple times before I ever saw a single buff, and that was just on the Smuggler machines.

On 7/9/2024 at 5:39 PM, JoeStramaglia said:

Please keep in mind the Lucky and Karma buffs are more important than before for Emperor’s Grace pulls. If you’re planning on doing an Emperor’s Grace pull I would recommend getting at least one of the buffs but preferably both regardless of which Emperor’s Grace machine you intend to play to give you the best shot at a Jackpot.

Again, why would you add losses to the 'winning' stretch of the event in the first place? The player has already gone through the work of grinding out the chips for those higher machines. To spit in their faces with 'Nyeh, you need both buffs to have a shot at get anything for your trouble, IF the middle machine doesn't just eat all your chips first, SUCKER!' feels like it comes from a place of genuine hate. And I get that we hit you guys with a lot of negativity. Even making this post, I'm conscious of that. But... you kind of need us to feel inclined to participate in order to help make revenue.

On 7/9/2024 at 5:39 PM, JoeStramaglia said:

Legacy Currency instead of Character

This is something we talk about internally quite a bit. We want to make changes to the way these currencies work and making them legacy based instead of character based is one of the proposed changes. While this is not a change that is happening in this year's event, I did want to acknowledge that there is a desire to make an adjustment here, but there are also some logistical challenges to this kind of change that require a heavy lift.

Herein lies the root of your problems. You looked at the feedback (Thank you!!), said 'here is something players want!', and then... promptly shoved it on the backburner to implement a bunch of sadomasochistic changes nobody asked for.

Now heavy-lifting logistical challenges are a reasonable roadblock, especially overhauling an event currency as old as this one. In the case of making chips Legacy currency specifically, if you had left it at that and made good on the notion to adjust it in the future, put your energy into giving players the other things they asked for- substantial new rewards and a minor adjustment to the chip loops / buff acquisition- you would have been golden. If you would have just done one of these things instead, you would have surely gotten less complaints.  We know this game is being sunsetted while simultaneously pushing most of the resources into the cash shop for every penny it's worth, but there's something especially insulting about needlessly wrecking an event that so many people look forward to, and were supposed to be able to participate in.

On 7/9/2024 at 5:39 PM, JoeStramaglia said:

I really do appreciate your feedback and we’ll be incorporating it in future iterations of the event.

Given your initial response, I question this statement deeply. If you truly do take player feedback into account and are inclined to act on it, like you did with the Christmas cash shop event, please put in a patch to revoke these changes, or at least remove them before next year.

I didn't want my first post here to be so negative. I'm sorry that it had to take this tone, and hopefully it doesn't read as inflammatory. But your decisions here are baffling, there's no attempt or desire to repair the damage, and quite frankly, I feel disappointed that my sub and cash shop money went into this. It hurt my fellow players. Nar'shadda Nightlife has been ruined, irrevocably so if you decide to double-down as you've indicated thus far.

Edited July 16 by ImminentRagnarok

[Setta]

I went back for round two today.  After having a horrible experience on launch day.  I figured I had some chips on various characters over the course of the week or so from doing OPs, and other things saved up by this point, so let's see what I get. 

The smugglers chips got me a few extra kingpin chips, and nothing more.  After having wasted hundreds of them, I might have come out with an extra 20 or so kingpin chips that I didn't have before, and a few hours of wasted time.  The kingpin chips got me absolutely nothing across all characters, complete garbage.  The emperor chips, which i had about 25 or so in total at this point, I came away with 1 pet, and some golden certificates, and not even that many of them.   

So yea still a very, very garbage event that needs fixing.  Glad I didn't actually waste any money on this. 

[Eckrond]

Here's been my gameplay loop every few days or so since the event started:

1. Get Emperor's Tokens while running missions'

2. Head to Nar Shaddaa

3. Grab both buffs, wildly hoping I lose at slot machines to do so.

4. Spend my Emperor tokens

5. Get a pet or mount.

6. Sigh

7. Log off

Been through this loop a few times, not sure is that was the PX you were looking for, but there you go.

[MI_rai]

I literally subed again for this event and its unplayable now. If I knew i would not. I am so dissapointed right now i am unable to even.

[psikofunkster]

Well to each his own, i got the helmet and all the new cheevos.

How much did it take me? Perhaps 100 emperor coins and the lucky buff spending most of them one after the other pretty much.

The new "issue" i see here is if one is poor.... then the only way to obtain emperor coins is PLAYING THE GAME, which is good for the game in general so...

[Cindron]

lol, could have reduced the speech about rich and poor to four simple words.

Let them eat cake.
 

[ThotterTosser]

This is easily the WORST update from this game I have ever seen, actually in any game I have ever seen in YEARS.

Why did we nerf drop rates in the first place? We no longer get Kingpin chips from Emperor Slot Machines, we no longer get Emperor Chips from Smuggler Slot Machines. Feeling Lucky is harder to get, and over all drop rate of certificates both GOLDEN and CARTEL along with the rest of the rewards are reduced. 

This is the first year of Nightlife I have ever had to spend actual credits for chips. I already dropped 200 MILLION credits on Kingpin Chips when in the past as I was able to get them back for FREE from the Emperor slot machines. 

This is an ABSURD move on the dev's part, i have actually no idea what they were thinking here. Why nerf drop rates for an event that only happens 1-2 times a year? Absolutely insane. 

It is CLEAR that these changes are not having the desired results. I am seeing the casino floor being more empty than ever, and more people are getting frustrated because they are wasting their chips winning NOTHING. I'm just thankful I got most of the items that i wanted from previous years, at this point I'm just after certs for decorations.

Due to these changes (that no one asked for), we now have to spin machines LONGER for LESS REWARDS. What's the point? This event only happens 1-2 times a year and I'm infuriated that any of this was changed in the first place.

This "update" so far has felt like nothing but a giant middle finger to us players who have played the event in prior years. And well for new players, good luck getting the credits to get enough Kingpin Chips to actually win something or keep you busy for more than 10 minutes.

PLEASE revert these changes by the time the event ends this year, I recently subscribed before the event started and it's almost the entire reason i re-subbed for my first month of returning to the game. 

I don't want to sound overtly negative here, but Nightlife will be absolutely dead next year if you decide to carry through with these changes after this year. It already is dying off quickly and I don't expect to see anyone left in the casino areas by the time the event is over in a month.

 

-Sincerely, 

A veteran player since 2014.

Edited July 19 by ThotterTosser
Elaboration

[Cindron]

I have tossed it about for awhile.  This idea of taking a credit sink event people did enjoy and trying to force out a longer grind and a much larger way to siphon out credits. 

SWTOR is slowly fading into the sunset.  It is not a terrible thing.  It has been a pleasure for me to play since it began.  What is sad is the disregard by the developers for the players.  No warning, no input and no care if they reduce the limited population.  For SWTOR, the population will never see days of old.  It simply amazes me the effort taken while knowingly, willingly alienate even a small percentage and consider it a good move, worth it.  I do not say that lightly but it seems clear to me.  The change without any notice, the addition of one little item and most importantly the lie.  I get some changes are hard but needed.  But this, they went out of their way to do when it had little to no impact on the mechanics of the game, and then posted a notice about how it was faster and better knowing that anyone can look at it, test it and see the truth.  No it is not.   I tried to find a way to see a positive side, perhaps there would be a change.  Their response, we fixed the buff.

 

[Sonicphoto]

I tried the event again, this time focused on emperor's chips. Now in terms of the emperor chips I did about 8-10 chips, all of them with both buffs active, most of them were gold certificates, one of them gave me no reward despite buffs, and the last one I played gave me C1-4W pet which I admit was excited about since I been wanting it for years. Overall in terms of the emperor machine, I don't think is bad per say the changes, but I would have preferred to have gotten 50 kingpins instead of having one emperor chip be no reward despite having two buffs active. However the main issue for me lies on getting access to the emperor's machine, you either have to play a lot of content and hope the rng drops are good, I managed 2 emperor chips on my 5 heroics run (the nightlife quests did not grant me one), and the other chips I bought them with my credits, which is about 60+ million credits, which again is a whole lot for a casual/newer player.

So my issue here that remains is that I can no longer just keep on playing kingpin or smuggler machines to then get lucky and get the emperor chips in the process, because no matter how many times I tried, the kingpin machines on my second day gave 0 rewards again, the only reward was getting the buff active and that's it. Not even a Vectron, Rodian companion, Emperor Chip, nada and the buffs that use to impact kingpin, simply no longer does. On top of this, the emperor's machine not giving 50 kingpins like it used to, it means I also have to buy those kingpin chips in order to activate a buff for the emperor one to be rewarding.  So essentially the flow of the event has been changed, instead of spending time in that gambling experience, I instead have to go back to the usual content to score some chips and then try my luck for a little bit and then go back to the game again. Maybe that's ultimately your intention, but I feel it kills the experience of the event, specially for a once a year event. If this was say one of the recurring weekly events that come and go, I think the concept fits better. I feel this was one of the more welcoming to new player events like Life day, but not feeling is the same this time around. Sorry for typing a lot, but just hoping more and more player experience can help the feedback along.

[Leoperaghost]

The casino areas are so dead and empty compared to previous years. It’s depressing. This used to be my favorite event too I’d look forward to it year round but, just like everyone else has said, the fun has been sapped out of it. 

[Lyriel]

9 hours ago, psikofunkster said:

The new "issue" i see here is if one is poor.... then the only way to obtain emperor coins is PLAYING THE GAME, which is good for the game in general so...

Except that I have yet to get a single EG (or KP for that matter) chip in playing the game. For real. I have done multiple heroics runs, slain hundreds of mobs in the vain search for blueprints, and gotten zip. So even if I were inclined to gamble under the present conditions, I would have to buy the chips to do so - and then hope I lose (how is that intuitive?) at the lower machines to have a hope of winning anything on the Emperor's Grace.

This change is not good for the game. It disincentivizes participation in an event that is touted as being all about fun. Getting the occasional EG chip as a drop still means investing in the other chips, losing them, and then maybe, if you are lucky, getting something worthwhile.

The casinos should be hopping with life, and they are not. That should answer the question of whether engagement has suffered.

[eabevella]

4 hours ago, Leoperaghost said:

The casino areas are so dead and empty compared to previous years. It’s depressing. This used to be my favorite event too I’d look forward to it year round but, just like everyone else has said, the fun has been sapped out of it. 

It was fun to play the machines while waiting for a pug group to form and chat with people, and cheering when someone hit the real jackpot.

[Meiran]

9 hours ago, Cindron said:

lol, could have reduced the speech about rich and poor to four simple words.

Let them eat cake.
 

Kind of offtopic, but that quote is always misused. It was actually about genuinely helping the poor.

[Toraak]

My experience so far from the event. I used 110 emperor chips I had farmed through game play. 

 

Almost all of the rewards I got I could have purchased with the hundreds of Golden Certificate's I've collected from previous years. The majority of the time I get useless Golden Certificate's or Cartel Market Certificate's (I have hundreds of both, and If I had anything to spend either on I wouldn't have any).

 

The fact the emperor machine just makes us lose those coins is a slap in the face. I'd rather get my chip back then golden certs or cartel market certs at this point. Also that machine should not have items on it that are on the vendors for (x) number of golden certificates. They are no longer Jackpots if you can just buy them off of a vendor anyway.