I only lost a couple of hours... but I cannot believe there is not a lot more information from the support team about this as well as some form of compensation for at least those greatly affected. It's pretty simple really... make it right Bioware. Make. It. Right.

A fundamental problem with the Cartel packs is the perceived VALUE of the packs. If I am going to pay for an item that is about chance, it is in the interest of the vendor to make me feel like it was a good purchase even f I don't get what I exactly want; this will encourage to make MORE purchases, and that should be the prime focus of selling these for Bioware. It's about the psychology of the purchase and its impact on future purchases of packs. If the value was better and you strongly considered the suggestions I list below, then it is a high bet that the perceived value of the packs will improve and thus purchases will rise. If a buyer doesn't get the item(s) he or she was hoping for, then they should immediately move to the thought of "well, at least I got these other goodies that I can sell, use, trade, etc.) This is sort of happening, but only for half the items IMO. I suggest the powers that are conceiving what goes in these packs take a hard look at what is going into other games' "lockboxes" or equivalent. Especially games that improved and learned a lot from their lottery boxes and have greatly improved the value (i.e. STO.) The current perceived value of cartel packs is pretty low, considering you have a high-probability to get half your pack being useless and/or valueless. Everything you get you should be useful, in any situation. An example of a useless, valueless item: the Droid customization items. Why? It's bound immediately. You can't sell it. You can't send it to others in your legacy. You can't trade it. You get a Customization for the droid you can't even have (Imp getting Rep droid.) Yet... they take up a slot in your pack. A slot that something much more valuable could have taken up. And all you can do is destroy it. It feels incredibly disheartening to just destroy something you just paid a bit of money to get. If I could, sell, trade, etc. the item, it would not have this effect as harsh as it is currently. Suggestions: 1- take emotes/moods/social trinkets OUT of all future packs. Put them on sale in the Cartel Market. Sell them for 90-180 coins. This includes things like banners, ball throw, etc. Let those who want these, get them directly from Cartel Market. 2- Add more components, gifts, boosts, gear items, mounts, etc. in lieu of #1 3- Remove the specific follower customizations and create a new "Companion Customization" item that's universal and Version 9 or 10 or w/e makes sense. This would be something, that when slotted into ANY companion, it calls up the new Version 9, 10, etc. look. This would also make these customizations more valuable, as they are not for only 1 companion and people might actually WANT to get several. Additionally, don't make them Bind on Pickup!!! Yes, this idea would need to be front loaded with art assets, but if people started getting these we wouldn't necessarily feel completely cheated when we get our 7th droid customization on the same toon- especially when you get a pack that has TWO DROID customization for the same droid. /headsmack 4- Reduce the "bound till" timer. 36 hours is foolish at best. To recap- boost the perceived value of what is in the packs. P(l)ayers should not have a groan moment when they open a pack. Everything should be able to help move a progress bar, add credtis directly or indirectly, or enhance the look and power of gear/companions. Nothing should be BOP. If the item doesn't fit the above criteria, it doesn't go in the pack. Put it in the market- which will bolster direct purchase options and inventory in the market pages. I'm buying your packs, make it a worthy endeavor for me. Leave no room for buyer's remorse! I'm already accepting that there is a strong possibility I'm not going to get ultra-rare item X... but don't pour salt on the wound by having me open a pack to receive: Ball Toss, Droid Customization, Hero Banner, Republic Banner, and a crafting component. That pack will only infuriate me and wish death by fire on cartel packs in general... and HAS!

Doh! Saw "Cartel" and thought Packs, not Market. I posted my thoughts on packs in the Suggestion forum. But I do agree with many people here. We all get that you guys are banking on income from the Cartel Market- but you can go a LOT further to make it worth our while without putting a ton more effort. Please look at your F2P competitors and what they are doing with their markets/stores. Then figure out how you can become a front-runner there as far as value of purchase. THAT will increase player enticement to purchase. The key is CONTINUED PURCHASING, not 1 and done. You want your customers to keep coming back to buy the next new thing, not have a bad experience (ala the Speeder and Piloting 1 debacle) and say "no more of that noise" and never come back to the store. On the speeder & piloting1 problem, really what would have been the big issue by allowing account wide unlocks? You might have sold a LOT more!!!

I love the dye idea! I think Rift did that and it was very well received.

A fundamental problem with the Cartel packs, beyond it trumping in-game gear earnablity, is the perceived VALUE of the packs. If I am going to pay for an item that is about chance, it is in the interest of the vendor to make me feel like it was a good purchase even f I don't get what I exactly want; this will encourage to make MORE purchases, and that should be the prime focus of selling these for Bioware. It's about the psychology of the purchase and its impact on future purchases of packs. If the value was better and you strongly considered the suggestion I list below, then it is a high bet that the perceived value of the packs will improve and thus purchases will rise. If a buyer doesn't get the item(s) he or she was hoping for, then they should immediately move to the thought of "well, at least I got these other goodies that I can sell, use, trade, etc.) This is sort of happening, but only for half the items IMO. I suggest the powers that are conceiving what goes in these packs take a hard look at what is going into other games' "lockboxes" or equivalent. Especially games that improved an learned a lot from their lottery boxes and have greatly improved the value (i.e. STO.) The current perceived value of cartel packs is pretty low, considering you have a high-probability to get half your pack being useless. Everything you get you should be useful, in any situation. An example of a useless, valueless item: the Droid customization items. Why? It's bound immediately. You can't sell it. You can't send it to others in your legacy. You can't trade it. You get a Customization for the droid you can't even have (Imp getting Rep droid.) Yet... they take up a slot in your pack. A slot that something much more valuable could have taken up. And all you can do is destroy it. It feels incredibly disheartening to just destroy something you just paid a bit of money to get. If I could, sell, trade, etc. the item, it would not have this effect as harsh as it is currently. Suggestions: 1- take emotes OUT of all future packs. Put them on sale in the Cartel Market. Sell them for 90-180 coins. This includes things like banners, ball throw, etc. Let those who want these, get them directly from Cartel Market. 2- Add more components, gifts, boosts, gear items, mounts, etc. in lieu of #1 3- Remove the specific follower customizations and create a new "Companion Customization" item that's universal and Version 9 or 10. This would be something, that when slotted into ANY companion, it calls up the new Version 9 or 10 look. This would also make these customizations more valuable, as they are not for only 1 companion and people might actually WANT to get several. Additionally, don't make them BOP!!! Yes, this idea would need to be front loaded with art assets, but if people started getting these we wouldn't necessarily feel completely cheated when we get our 7th droid customization on the same toon- especially when you get a pack that has TWO DROID customization for the same droid. /headsmack To recap- boost the perceived value of what is in the packs. P(l)ayers should not have a groan moment when they open a pack (other than not getting that ultra-rare item they wanted.) Everything should be able to help move a progress bar, add credtis directly or indirectly, or enhance the look and power of gear/companions. Nothing should be BOP. If the item doesn't fit the above criteria, it doesn't go in the pack. Put it in the market- which will bolster direct purchase options and inventory in the market pages.

A fundamental problem with the Cartel packs, beyond it trumping in-game gear earnablity, is the perceived VALUE of the packs. I suggest the powers that are conceiving what goes in these packs take a hard look at what is going into other games' "lockboxes" or equivalent. The current perceived value of packs is pretty low, considering you have a high-probability to get half your pack being useless. Everything you get you should be useful, in any situation. An example of a useless, valueless item: the Droid customization items. Why? It's bound immediately. You can't sell it. You can't send it to others in your legacy. You can't trade it. You get a Customization for the droid you can't even have (Imp getting Rep droid.) Yet... they take up a slot in your pack. A slot that something much more valuable could have taken up. And all you can do is destroy it. It feels incredibly disheartening to just destroy something you just paid a bit of money to get. If I could, sell, trade, etc. the item, it would not have this effect as harsh as it is currently. Suggestions: 1- take emotes OUT of all future packs. Put them on sale in the Cartel Market. Sell them for 90-180 coins. This includes things like banners, ball throw, etc. Let those who want these, get them directly from Cartel Market. 2- Add more components, gifts, boosts, gear items, mounts, etc. in lieu of #1 3- Create a new "Companion Customization" item that's universal and Version 9 or 10. This would be something, that when slotted into ANY companion, it calls up the new Version 9 or 10 look. This would also make these customizations more vluable, as they are not for only 1 companion. Additionally, don't make them BOP!!! Yes, this would front load with art assets, but if people started getting these we wouldn't necessarily feel completely cheated when we get our 7th droid customization on the same toon. To recap- boost the perceived value of what is in the packs. P(l)ayers should not have a groan moment when they open a pack (other than not getting that ultra-rare item they wanted.) Everything should be able to help move a progress bar, add credtis directly or indirectly, or enhance the look and power of gear. Nothing should be BOP. If the item doesn't fit the above criteria, it doesn't go in the pack. Put it in the market- which will bolster direct purchase options and inventory in the market pages.

Yeah. Ran into the same issue today. Says my account either doesn't have permission to post or has been flagged not to post. Thing is... this is my second post ever. O_o

I'm not sure what the deal is lately, but loading into Corellia sucks the big one. It's the only planet I've experienced 5minute (srsly, stop watched it) load times. This is extremely discouraging to 1) go there and quest 2) load into Warzones. I've been dropped from groups trying to load in when group was already there and questing. Please look into this and any other planet optimization please, BW. I should add that the "****** and can't believe it hasn't been fixed yet (among others)" PVP Q to CHar Select drop bug compounds the frustrations with loading Corellia..