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Craftamancer

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  1. A logical fallacy? This isn't like stating that if A shares properties with B, and B shares properties with C, that A shares properties with C. The logical sequence I used in my argument is quite clear. Perhaps your comprehension was not.
  2. A couple of clicks... and the risk that your account is permanently banned, or hacked. As for the end game crafting, I don't disagree with end game crafting, I only disagree with how it was implemented. Crafting should either be skill based, or extremely challenging with BOP mats to the point where it is extremely difficult to craft end game gear. That said, they would need to find other ways to make crafting viable if they did that, perhaps by creating a BOE consumeable unique to each profession that all ops teams or pvp folk would need. That said, I think that crafting should be a viable alternative to running operations or PVE. You should not be required to run operations or PVP in order to be a good crafter in the game. They managed to do that in its current iteration, but forgot about making it skill based or challenging, and instead allowed RNG to rule the crafting world.
  3. Unopened Cartel packs sell for 200-300k credits. Armor sets often have several pieces that will sell for 500k to 1 million credits.
  4. As I've made mention of several times now, the armor bonuses you speak of are available on Tionese, Columi and Rakata gear. The Tionese set is acually given to you as a gift in the form of commendations when you hit level 50. As a crafter and someone who watches the market closely, I notice that certain Cartel Market items sell for a lot of credits, and they sell fast. I routinely see specific expensive items for sale in muliples by the same sellers. It's a simple cash to credits game for them.
  5. When I speak of Progress, I'm speaking of End Game content. Perhaps I should have clarified that, but that's generally the accepted meaning when speaking of Progression in a MMO.
  6. Ahh, I understand where you're coming from. Pay to Win means that you can pay real money in order to gain an advantage in the game that you would normally only be able to gain by playing the game. For example, nothing currently offered in the cash shop would really be considered pay to win if it was all Bind On Pickup. It would be considered Vanity gear. In the case of SWTOR, it is far quicker to gear a new level 50 via credits than via operations, if you have enough credits. The Cartel Market provides that source of credits, thereby making it Pay to Win.
  7. Actually, as a player who plays the game in order to progress in the game, I do take exception to people being able to simply buy their way through the game with real money. I enjoy challenges, and it's nice to know that what I achieve in game is difficult. If there is no longer any difficulty involved, then I am no longer challenged, and I lose interest in the game. So yes, allowing the alternate path of Pay to Win does reduce my satisfaction with the game and "push me away". Just because you do not feel that way does not mean that it is not a valid feeling.
  8. You actually reiterated my post, but seem to think it's a positive thing. The fact that people are selling Cartel Market Items on the GTN is what makes this Pay to Win. You are correct, it's easier than it was before. That does not, however, mean that it is better.
  9. Gold Farmers are not sanctioned by the MMOs in question, and gold farming via bots, hacking etc, even in this game, is a bannable offense. Stating that it's ok because it's Bioware rather than gold farmers is hardly a valid argument. In addition, as stated in my original post, in game currency in most games will not allow you to buy even a third of your gear. In SWTOR, you can purchase all of it.
  10. The OP was an observation on the effects of the Cartel Market in its current iteration. Please refrain from posting in the thread if you are neither willing to read nor able to contribute.
  11. Every currently available dread guard armoring, mod and enhancement, hilt and barrel, can be purchased with in game credits. The set bonus can be had via the free tionese commendations received at level 50. Hence, you can sell Cartel Market items for in game credits, then use those credits to purchase maxed out gear. Pay to Win.
  12. A long time ago in a Galaxy far far away, I had the expectation that SWTOR would not allow players to "pay to win". When Free to Play was announced, I was fine with the idea. Afterall, allowing new players to experience the storyline of SWTOR might very well hook them on the game and increase subscriptions. The Cartel Market never worried me because I had seen similar ideas in other subscription MMOs, and buying from the online cash only store never affected your game play. What I didn't expect was the ability purchase items on the cash only store that could be sold on the GTN. In some games, even that would not have had as big an impact as in SWTOR, because in those other games there's an extremely limited amount of gear that is useful in end game content that can be purchased for in game currency. In SWTOR, PVE content is completed using gear that can be purchased, in its entirety, from crafters selling on the GTN. What about the set bonus? Well, in other games with an armor set bonus, this would be a problem. In SWTOR, you are given commendations enough to purchase a complete set of Tionese gear at level 50, all of which can be upgraded to the latest standard of gear while maintaining the set bonus. Or you could get the same from running a week's worth of flashpoints and operations. To summarize, in game currency is now sufficient to purchase the highest tier of gear for all PVE content. Since you can sell Cartel Market items for outlandish sums on the GTN, it is very easy for someone to turn real money into in game currency and then into in game items that improve their performance. This is, of course, what is meant by Pay to Win. The only thing worse, and less subtle than the route Bioware has chosen to follow, would be to include the highest tier mods in the armor they sell on the Cartel Market. Bioware has chosen the smarter route, which is to allow players to handle the exchange themselves, thus avoiding the immediate ire of everyone who hates pay to win. Bioware understands very well that if they were to make the cash shop items Bind on Pickup, rather than Bind on Equip, their revenue might drop. A significant portion of the purchases made on the Cartel Market go straight to the GTN, and that would no longer be possible. That said, as a counter argument, even more real money purchases might arise, because players in the game wouldn't be able to spend their in game credits to purchase them, and might actually want a lot of what is being offered, and therefore be forced to pay real money for it. The Pay to Win practice pushes away players who play for the love of the game. It is especially disheartening when you see introductions to the GTN like the new speeder with protection against falling off that exceeds speeder piloting III. Only an incredibly small portion of the SWOTR population can receive a mount with a similar ability by playing the game (the NiM Denova Tank Mount), and even that is a matter of luck, since it is a rare drop. As it now stands, you can purchase everything used for space content and PVE content using either directly or indirectly purchased goods. Only PVP gear is sacred at this point in time (other than the expertise crystal), and it would not surprise me to see the introduction of a Cartel Market item that allowed players to get around the valor limitation as well. Furthermore, Cartel Market items tread on the corpse of Legacy, allowing players to purchase Legacy only unlocks using cartel coins instead of credits. I wouldn't mind this particularly if it wasn't for the fact that in doing so they also eliminated the requirement of Legacy Level to use these perks, and have not bothered to introduce any Legacy Level perks over level 25. Nor have they kept any of the Legacy level perks sacrosanct to Legacy. If you have money, rather than time, you can simply purchase them with cash and ignore the effort level normally required to earn such rewards. This wholesale approach to this game via the Cartel Market has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm not ditching my subscription just yet. I've enjoyed previous Bioware games, and respect the quality they normally bring to the table. However, I am becoming more and more certain that the long time players, those who would pay a subscription for 10 years straight in return for quality, are not the players Bioware is currently catering to. I could go on to list bug fixes left undone since launch, UI features that are so basic that they should never have left Beta without them, etc, but in reality, my chief complaint is the Cartel Market. I'm not interested in Pay to Win. The rest of the stuff, even a ready check, I can improvise around. I'm having difficulty coming to terms with a subscription game where you can simply buy your gear with real money. What do you think?
  13. I will be updating this guide for Terror From Beyond level content in the near future, most likely after Patch 1.7 so that I can include any new changes to Cybertech at that time. My update will include the removal of outdated information regarding what sells and doesn't sell on the GTN, as much of what was in this guide no longer sells very well at all.
  14. Legacy Level 50 should grant a title and another perk, neither of which can be obtained ANY other way (including the Cartel Market). Darkside Perk: The GTN no longer charges you a fee for transactions. You know someone, who knows someone else, who runs the GTN. You also know where all their children live. Lightside Perk: The GTN no longer charges you a fee for transactions. You know someone, who knows someone else, who runs the GTN. You also saved all their children from the hideous bugblatter beast of Alderaan. Title Ideas: The Inbred The Well Endowed The Infamous The Inconceivable
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