These Hazmat implants are like EAWare's "windows vista" - a failure in design on every level. If the stats were even mildy (10-15%) better than their BH cousins, you can justify the 10x in costs and grindage. As it stands, you are grinding in excess of 60-70hrs for a pittance of an upgrade.

Way to build confidence in your subscribers EA.

Look at it this way.

Who buys Rakata Ear/Implants now that BH comms are easily attainable? 120 Dailies vs 35 BH comms. The BH ones are better than the Rakata ones and take only slightly longer (but are much faster in terms of time investment) to attain. Why buy the Rakata one when you can buy the BH one 2 days later? In 1 week of running HM FPs I can get ~65 Daily Comms and 35 BH comms. Thats a BH implant or half a Rakata one. Before 1.3 there was a reason to get the Rakata one first: now, not so much.

If the Hazmat ones were only slightly more expensive than BH why would people buy the BH ones instead of saving up for the Hazmat ones? Hazmat needs to be notably more expensive to give people an incentive to still buy the BH ones as a stepping stone otherwise why still have the BH ones available?

However, I do agree that 350 is a little excessive. I think 150 would have been a good point especially after removing the BH comms from EC SM and KP NiM.

In terms of the 400 Daily Comm relics. I'm actually coming to the conclusion that these aren't that hard to get now (even though the relics themselves aren't in game). Since 1.4 hit I've run 1 round of dailies (for cash), done my HM FPs, HM Op weekly and Asation/Denova weekly and I've gotten close to 200 just from those. Without really trying for them; if I really tried, I think I could probably hit 400 in 2 weeks.

I'm one of the crazy ones that will be buying them for my main, but only my main (Merc). Currently have about 315 from starting at about 5 from when they were first complained about on the PT forums.

If I hadn't of geared up 4 alts I would have been able to buy them the day they went live. That's the only thing that annoys me, that there wasn't really enough warning that they would be so expensive.

I'm one of the crazy ones that will be buying them for my main, but only my main (Merc). Currently have about 315 from starting at about 5 from when they were first complained about on the PT forums.

 

If I hadn't of geared up 4 alts I would have been able to buy them the day they went live. That's the only thing that annoys me, that there wasn't really enough warning that they would be so expensive.

I do agree with that. I'd have liked more warning and I wouldn't have glutted my comms on Exotech schematics and Implants for RE.

I also will only be getting the new implants on my main because of the time involved. Thankfully, the difference isn't huge. Noticeable, but not huge.

While I dont mind the price at all, I doubt I would bother getting these considering I could gear up my alt to a HM OPS level for the price of one, and the improvements are just so tiny that it actually makes no difference whether I get them or not.

I guess the idea is that all the small improvements over the ENTIRE SET of Dread Guard gear adds up to a decent improvement. Remember the raids are very finely tuned to a certain gear set (Rakata or Campaign for eg.), so if you get all the small improvements from Dread Guard/Hazmat tier it would probably be quite noticable.

I agree that the cost is crap! BW please be realistic. (Like 60 MAX - Price of BH Chest piece)

Marginal increase in stats = Marginal increase in cost.

I've used the Tionese > Columi example before... You don't see a 10x factor in that gears price tag. Being able to gear up my companions with black hole gear for the cost of a single implant is just plain silly.

It's stuff like this that ticks people off and puts another nail in the coffin for SWTOR. (IMHO)

To clear up some of the confusion we've seen in this thread, we asked George to clarify his answer. He was referring specifically to the relics that cost 400 Daily Commendations, which have been removed and are not available in 1.4. The Hazmat Implants, on the other hand, are priced as intended. I hope this helps clear up the confusion about the answer!

Oh wow. It's a shame they suck then for almost all classes! 350 BH comms for something that's ... well at best on par with the 35 comms ones ... really?!

The new offhands at 75 are ridiculous as well - they're not even moddable and most people can get better with Rakata.

I could afford one and I still dont intend to buy it. To address the cost specifically its not bad if it actually was a good upgrade. I'm currently full campaign but prior to that I was full 61 across all pieces from ripping out black hole mods/enhancements/armor.

Even with taking 4 weeks off from the game for PC issues im still sitting on 580 Black Hole Comms. If your guild was actually doing EC Story the week it came out, and you did your Black Hole Weekly/Hard Mode Daily every day, you should be swimming in black hole comms, so again unless you blew comms on your companions, 700BH comms is not some unreachable insane mark.

I'm currently full campaign but prior to that I was full 61 across all pieces from ripping out black hole mods/enhancements/armor.

That all being said I wont be buying it, not because its overprised for an UG, I simply wont be buying it because enough people are crying Im betting they are going to reduce the cost or up the stats....so Ill wait it out, the extra 5 power and 6 alac I would get from each wouldnt be worth it anyway

Doing the "Red Face Test" shows that BH Comm's would be better spent on something else.

ROI Approach:

• 350 BH Comm's would get me 7 Sets of Black Hole Boots or Gloves
  
• Removing 7 Enhancements and 7 Mod's to RE for a total of 14 RE chances
  
• Move the leftover (61) Armor to my companions as needed (Slot specific)
  
• Likely to get 1-3 of those to RE actually and provide a (61) Schematic (20% Chance each).
  
• Turn around and craft those and make $75k - $100k for each sold.
  
• WAIT for someone to RE those Hazmats (Not sure if they are RE)
  
• Most likely 10-20 SOLD would provide profit enough to purchase one implant instead and more revenue.
  

Granted, this is an RNG game and time consuming, but I'd rather do that before shelling out 350 BH Comm's for a single item. ROI Approach provides a revenue stream AFTER I've obtained a GTN purchased Hazmat. See how many Black Hole implants and ear pieces we have now on GTN? On our server I'm already seeing (63) Level Mod's and Enhancements popping up on GTN.

I agree with the comment someone made that apparently DEV's are not playing the game. (IMHO)

A slight spin on what everyone else has already indicated:

-Black Hole MK-1 Pummler Implant - 317 well-itemized points total = 35 BH coms.

-Hazmat Pummler MK-1 Implant - 337 terribly itemized points total = 350 BH coms.

20 points of terrible itemization for 350 coms? :confused:

The only LOGICAL conclusion I can come up with is this is BW's lame attempt at forcing us to log in more every day to do the daily dungeons/BH weekly/HM Terror From Beyond raid. The fact that the new TfB bosses only drop two pieces of loot on 16 man HM seems to be another indicator of this line of thinking. I'm all for pacing content but once again it seems like this is just a silly knee-jerk reaction to people gearing up too quickly via coms or Explosive Conflict.

It clears it up, but it doesn't make it better. 350 Coms for a very minimal stat increase are really no incentive to grind them, and having them is still nothing special if that was the intention behind this strange price. It's only a grind.

Ok, then dont get them. It's such a minor stat increase anyway right?? Although, I'm pretty sure some players have an abundance of daily comm's they've been saving for whatever reason and they will be the ones to purchase it.

But you answered you're on quandary. Such a large grind for such a minor stat increase. Once again the answer is so simplistic. Forget the item, don't get it. I know I wont grind for it.

Although, the SM Op's now give you 30 Daily comm's I beleive, so that a pretty significant boost.

Ok, then dont get them. It's such a minor stat increase anyway right?? Although, I'm pretty sure some players have an abundance of daily comm's they've been saving for whatever reason and they will be the ones to purchase it.

 

But you answered you're on quandary. Such a large grind for such a minor stat increase. Once again the answer is so simplistic. Forget the item, don't get it. I know I wont grind for it.

 

Although, the SM Op's now give you 30 Daily comm's I beleive, so that a pretty significant boost.

The problem is that we are not talking about daily commandations, we are talking about BH commandations...

The question was about both so can we get some clarifiaction behind why they have been priced at 350 coms for a very marginal increase.

 

Is this the future for TOR where equipment is going to be so over priced that it becomes a mind numbing grind to get hold of it. When it is easier to either forgo the minor improvement or use PvP gear?

Their Cartel Coin store is coming soon.....

This topic and itemization in general begs a response from the team doing the itemization. What kind of long term view they have for an example? Nothing overly specific but something to point out the general arc of progress ahead so that people can actually make an educated guess when they min/max and tune their sets. So far they have admitted that higher endurance on dps armorings, hilts or barrels has been a mistake. On mods and enhancements you have both available, with higher endurance or higher beneficial stats.

Itemization conversation has happened after Rakata, Campaign and Dread Guard gear and to top it all, there is still a disparity between factions. Why is Dread Guard gear setbonus named "Denova" anyway? Is the TfB located at Denova (I only have the gloves for my trooper so far)?

As for the 350 BH commendation implants: I have geared five alts with Campaign and BH items (shuffled the mods and enhancements for all too) and I currently have roughly 600-700 commendations spread between my characters. I think, as many others, that gearing alts is more realistic way than actually spending 350 BH coms at this point. For now, I have no plans to gear a new alt. Instead, I am going to wait and see if they are going to change stats of those implants because: I might have dreamed it, but somewhere I read that they will tune the stats of those implants to be more viable.

This stuff should not be easy to get. And if some biochemist reverse engineers that he can charge proper and fair amounts of cash. 350 comms is pain to get. Few million credits isn't. Eventually you'll get enough comms to get the implant, so what's the problem? Do your raid once a week and do daily random HM. It's not that much time.

Stats on Juggernaut implants are fine. The only problem is that people would have to recalculate their gear and replace a lot of mods and enhancements types. The only problem with the new implants, imo, is that the rest of the gear will not be a simple replacement of 26 into 27.

Eg. There is a bis implant there, for a Juggernaut, with a lot of strength and other stats but it lacks accuracy, unlike most implants i had until now. It will mean that I'll have to replace my current, say, Adept enhancement with Initiative enhancement.

I just noticed that there is a rather big outcry on general chat regarding the items... Both their stats and lack of available apperance :/

A slight spin on what everyone else has already indicated:

 

-Black Hole MK-1 Pummler Implant - 317 well-itemized points total = 35 BH coms.

-Hazmat Pummler MK-1 Implant - 337 terribly itemized points total = 350 BH coms.

 

20 points of terrible itemization for 350 coms? :confused:

This. The only decent power surge one has high engurance and low strength. Even if I had 350 comms its strictly a downgrade for a rage jugg.

I don't see them anywhere in my future either.

You get far more mileage mod-ripping a full set for legacy gear to gear up an alt.

One fully geared alt or one implant? Hmmm

Edit:

No, I won't get them, but I would really LIKE to have something worthwile to work for apart from raiding one or two times a week, you know... so I'd appreciate those items including the price if they had stats WORTH THE WHILE.

it's just for people who have no gear left to buy

Like I said. One geared alt means more chances to raid.

This. The only decent power surge one has high engurance and low strength. Even if I had 350 comms its strictly a downgrade for a rage jugg.

To those bleating about the stat balance, every class and class role has at least one item optimally weighted for stats that they can build the rest of their gear around.

The cost is what is somewhat prohibitive, but if you're dedicated to ops with one character you will get there eventually, and probably inside 2 months without even trying.

Here's the sum total:

LFG: Up to 51 per week

Denova HM: 28 (bosses + weekly)

TFB HM: 33 (bosses + weekly)

Black Hole weekly: 6

Rakghoul weekly: 8

NMP weekly: 4

Total: 130

So it's 130 if you do everything (less than 3 weeks), and let's be honest, you could do about 97 of those on alts @ 50 as well that you've probably optimised in full 61 gear.

To me this is BioWare's ham-fisted way of keeping the casuals linked to the hardcore, with opportunities for Denova HM available to them, although they really should have left a greater BH comm incentive in the two story versions IMO.

Sorry I should add to the above that we don't know what the rewards will be for upcoming content (i.e. new space missions which seem to require current ops materials and a new daily area on Belsavis).

For all we know that BH comm count could double or triple, which means it's effectively like grinding for a campaign relic.

To those bleating about the stat balance, every class and class role has at least one item optimally weighted for stats that they can build the rest of their gear around.

 

The cost is what is somewhat prohibitive, but if you're dedicated to ops with one character you will get there eventually, and probably inside 2 months without even trying.

 

Here's the sum total:

 

LFG: Up to 51 per week

Denova HM: 28 (bosses + weekly)

TFB HM: 33 (bosses + weekly)

Black Hole weekly: 6

Rakghoul weekly: 8

NMP weekly: 4

 

Total: 130

 

So it's 130 if you do everything (less than 3 weeks), and let's be honest, you could do about 97 of those on alts @ 50 as well that you've probably optimised in full 61 gear.

 

To me this is BioWare's ham-fisted way of keeping the casuals linked to the hardcore, with opportunities for Denova HM available to them, although they really should have left a greater BH comm incentive in the two story versions IMO.

Interesting prospect, but to a fairly casual person like me, that would be equivalent to a full time job, even on one, much less across a legacy.

Well, certainly one very intense day's worth of ops, +lfg dailies.

I could afford one and I still dont intend to buy it. To address the cost specifically its not bad if it actually was a good upgrade. I'm currently full campaign but prior to that I was full 61 across all pieces from ripping out black hole mods/enhancements/armor.

 

Even with taking 4 weeks off from the game for PC issues im still sitting on 580 Black Hole Comms. If your guild was actually doing EC Story the week it came out, and you did your Black Hole Weekly/Hard Mode Daily every day, you should be swimming in black hole comms, so again unless you blew comms on your companions, 700BH comms is not some unreachable insane mark.

 

I'm currently full campaign but prior to that I was full 61 across all pieces from ripping out black hole mods/enhancements/armor.

 

That all being said I wont be buying it, not because its overprised for an UG, I simply wont be buying it because enough people are crying Im betting they are going to reduce the cost or up the stats....so Ill wait it out, the extra 5 power and 6 alac I would get from each wouldnt be worth it anyway

how wonderful for you. Unfortunately, everyone didnt level to 50 at the same time you did. People are saying that these arent worth the tiny increase they give. Which means either raise the stats(unlikely) or lower the cost. Its like seeing the new Mountain dew bottles are 22 oz and cost $15 each. You can tell us you worked 2 jobs for 6 months and anyone could afford them if they did what you did, but that does not change the fact they are overpriced. I could easily afford them myself but that still doesnt make them worth 350 bh comms