Well, an answer of "the next pack will be back to the regular drop rates and rarities" would have meant that they are exactly that, back the way they were.

An answer of "the next pack will be more in line with what you are used to in previous packs" could still mean that the droprates are changed by alot... just not as much as they were in this pack.

So it instills no trust with me at least. It still smells like they will be dodgy with the drop rates and unlock prices for the next pack.

What's dodgy about charging more for rarer or limited items?

It is indeed. And while in most cases, on most days, in most MMO forums.... it's adequate....... given the hole they have dug in the good will of the players on this one means that they need to come clean on this one IMO. No marketing BS... no hedging.... just the straight honest truth.

 

Now, in leiu of the truth here... at least learn the lessons and put key information about changes to how pack contents are handled in terms of rarity of drop and collections price changes into patch notes.

AND if they are limited time only packs...

I believe them when they say that the packs were to be available only during the Nightlife event, but I don't believe for a second that this pack was scheduled to be embargoed with patch 2.8.1 when the other pack is supposed to be around until patch 2.9 comes out.

This was a premature emergency embargo to bury the problem.

What's dodgy about charging more for rarer or limited items?

They don't want to pay it, that's why it's dodgy.

What's dodgy about charging more for rarer or limited items?

This.

What's dodgy about charging more for rarer or limited items?

Where did I say that?

I just said that I don't believe that the drop rates and unlock prices will be what we are used to in the other packs because of the wording they used.

I never said that there was anything dodgy about charging more for rare or limited items.

I believe them when they say that the packs were to be available only during the Nightlife event, but I don't believe for a second that this pack was scheduled to be embargoed with patch 2.8.1 when the other pack is supposed to be around until patch 2.9 comes out.

This was a premature emergency embargo to bury the problem.

I agree with you on this. What they did here broke all precedent from prior packs.

Now.. I respect that as the owner of the game, they can make any new precedents they choose in how they deliver content. That part is fine. Keeping it a secret until after many thousands of players have bought packs or even items off the GTN and found out the hard way that they are not going to get the expected returns for their access of pack content is flat out wrong. Set any precedent, any time Bioware......just tell us about it before players sink real money into CCs to go after the packs. Not finding out until after we submit bug reports and then telling us it was all part of their grand plan (which they kept completely secret) is bush league.

Where did I say that?

I just said that I don't believe that the drop rates and unlock prices will be what we are used to in the other packs because of the wording they used.

 

I never said that there was anything dodgy about charging more for rare or limited items.

You wrote, "It still smells like they will be dodgy with the drop rates and unlock prices for the next pack."

I don't think it's a dodgy practice. They should have communicated better, yes. But they aren't doing anything wrong otherwise.

I agree with you on this. What they did here broke all precedent from prior packs.

 

Now.. I respect that as the owner of the game, they can make any new precedents they choose in how they deliver content. That part is fine. Keeping it a secret until after many thousands of players have bought packs or even items off the GTN and found out the hard way that they are not going to get the expected returns for their access of pack content is flat out wrong. Set any precedent, any time Bioware......just tell us about it before players sink real money into CCs to go after the packs.

It's kinda like raising the subscription fee, but not telling us and just letting the recurring subscribers find out on their bill.

It's kinda like raising the subscription fee, but not telling us and just letting the recurring subscribers find out on their bill.

Except it's nothing like that. Not even a little bit.

You wrote, "It still smells like they will be dodgy with the drop rates and unlock prices for the next pack."

 

I don't think it's a dodgy practice. They should have communicated better, yes. But they aren't doing anything wrong otherwise.

Let's use the candy bar analogy for a moment to level some context:

Joe, a candy bar lover, has been buying candy bars from his favorite candy bar company for more then a year. The price and quality of the candy bars has never been in question until one day... Joe buys a candy bar, but there is only half a candy bar in the package and the price of the candy bar has been raised 4x in one jump. Further.... Joe was given absolutely zero notice of the change in candy bar size and price until it came time to pay the cashier AND opened the package. No, check that... he was given no notice about the changes until after he filed a complaint with the candy bar company.

The way they have handled communications on this pack is analogically the same as Joe and his candy bar.

You wrote, "It still smells like they will be dodgy with the drop rates and unlock prices for the next pack."

 

I don't think it's a dodgy practice. They should have communicated better, yes. But they aren't doing anything wrong otherwise.

In the content of my post it means that I don't believe that they will bring back the droprates and unlock prices to the previous expected levels because of their wording.

It's dodgy to be vague about pricing...

Would you be ok with them changing the subscription fee and then when people found out afterwards and complained they say "my impression is that the next months subscription fee will be more in line with what you have come to expect"?

Because that's a dodgy answer. And it certainly doesn't mean that the fee would be back to the regular fee.

The devs have now completed what is known in sports as a hat trick.

Alienate PVP community - check

Alienate Raiding community - check

Alienate CM junkies - check

What do devs have planned to piss off the RP community? Take away the "walk" toggle?

It's kinda like raising the subscription fee, but not telling us and just letting the recurring subscribers find out on their bill.

Exactly. They have probably used their fabled metrics to discover the trend I certainly have of simply putting on outfits and unlocking them whether I use them or not since it was pretty cheap to do so.

The stealthy way of increasing their revenue being to charge me more that privilege.

Well, not only am I not unlocking them, I have zero intention to buy anymore until packs come with proper guidance as to what we can expect. I am not referring to RNG here, I totally accept that concept.

I checked in with the CM team and it sounds like in general you will see both rarities and collections costs be a bit more expected in the Club Vertica pack!

 

-eric

Thank goodness this was CM-related so it could receive timely responsiveness unlike those PVE, PVP, and GSF minigames.

Thank goodness this was CM-related so it could receive timely responsiveness unlike those PVE, PVP, and GSF minigames.

Never did get the same outrage on the forums tho...

This thread should be considered a showcase for entitlement and the bad attitudes that gamers have which helped to create the present toxicity of the big budget gaming industry. The very reason companies have poor customer service is because a very vocal minority cannot be pleased. For every forum warrior there are dozens of people playing the game who don't care.

Agreed, although I would not (and you do not) say that BW has bad customer service. They are willing restore items that players accidentally destroy, for example. I think that's quite nice of them, and it makes the game less stressful knowing they will do that.

In the content of my post it means that I don't believe that they will bring back the droprates and unlock prices to the previous expected levels because of their wording.

It's dodgy to be vague about pricing...

Would you be ok with them changing the subscription fee and then when people found out afterwards and complained they say "my impression is that the next months subscription fee will be more in line with what you have come to expect"?

Because that's a dodgy answer. And it certainly doesn't mean that the fee would be back to the regular fee.

Pretty much. In fact they can just say that we have now come to expect this.

It could even be more costly as it's "more in line", so if they first add 10%, adding another 9% after could be seen as a "more in line" change compared to the 10%... disregarding that the increase in this example would be at 19.9% compared to the original cost.

From what I hear I'm happy I decided to wait with looking if I wanted to buy it, passing on both these packs. Between this and the lack of fighting credit spammers, they don't have to expect much on top of the subscription fee (unless they try even more desperately and chase paying customers away even more).

...

...

You.... you... you changed your avatars! I DON"T LIKE CHANGE!!!

I think the primary reason things cost so much more CC to unlock was to try and get people to rush to buy/unlock things while the packs are still available before Strongholds launches. The fact that the packs are a limited time only before they are embargoed supports this as well.

They want us to be broke when Strongholds releases so there is a bigger market for RMT on the CM when the new stuff arrives.

You.... you... you changed your avatars! I DON"T LIKE CHANGE!!!

I wasn't aware my previous avatar meant so much to people..

I wasn't aware my previous avatar meant so much to people..

it honestly took me a few posts to realize it was you posting when you first changed it

it honestly took me a few posts to realize it was you posting when you first changed it

I wanted to stand out.

And People wonder why I have almost every cartel coin earned from my sub and game events, Cartel Pack are a rip off from the get go.

If it isn't purchasable individually from the market i dont buy it and never will play the RNG game in a game.

If I wanted RNG i'd go to Vegas thank you very much

I checked in with the CM team and it sounds like in general you will see both rarities and collections costs be a bit more expected in the Club Vertica pack!

 

-eric

you'll forgive me if I don't rush out to buy this new pack right away I'm sure