I am renown ranked 150ish and the things that I get in these crates are total useless garbage....

 

It seems like it doesn't make any difference If I'm renown 1 or 150 as the drops are still useless.

 

So what's the point of this system ? Anyone with higher renown and getting better stuff ?

Edited November 22, 2019 by DavidAtkinson

Have you been pulling them into your inventory? There's a piece of fine design(1) that means that while gear pieces are in the stash, they don't show what gear level they are, so they look as if they are empty-shell junk with two or three "Unidentified mod" lines, and no stats to speak of. Once extracted into your inventory, they become less junky.

 

No guarantees that they are worth having, of course, but better than they look like before you claim them.

 

(1) Coded language for "inexplicably bizarre decision-making"...

The point?

 

At some stage in the development cycle, after they had already decided to revamp gearing, they realized removing the Galactic Command systems would be more work than just leaving them in place and making them irrelevant.

 

So they renamed Command to Renown, upped the amounts needed to rank up, and made each rank less rewarding.

 

Exciting design, don't you think?

Edited November 22, 2019 by DawnAskham

The point?

 

At some stage in the development cycle, after they had already decided to revamp gearing, they realized removing the Galactic Command systems would be more work than just leaving them in place and making them irrelevant.

 

So they renamed Command to Renown, upped the amounts needed to rank up, and made each rank less rewarding.

 

Exciting design, don't you think?

 

No matter the rank, the reward is the same at rank 1 as it is at 999.

My thoughts on this is that sooner or later the entire concept of crates will be scrapped.

 

With Command crates, at least we received decent drops and typically Companion gifts. With Renown, you typically get one item and sometimes two. About the only good thing that comes from these crates is gear and modifications you can deconstruct. There was a post from a dev somewhere about how the crates weren't meant to be used as the main source of gearing, which I can understand, but as it is, the crates aren't even icing on the cake, most of items from the crates get deconstructed. If they were to mix in Companion gifts or other usable items, I can see the crates sticking around.

They needed a mechanic to continue awarding DvsL tokens and renown ranks fill that role, though admittedly much more slowly than command ranks did. While I've been disappointed by what I've gotten out of the crates so far, I view it as slightly better than getting nothing (but I definitely won't be grinding for renown ranks).

No matter the rank, the reward is the same at rank 1 as it is at 999.

 

true, I guess what he meant was the amount needed per rank to get a crate is far more than the Command system. I not sure the actual number but was not command rank 300 somewhere around the 5.5K to get a crate. It far more than that by a huge margin to get a renown crate even if the number is stationary.

 

However OP, renown is nor meant to be the primary method of getting gear. Command rank probably was for a lot of players like myself.

Edited November 24, 2019 by DreadtechSavant

I deconstruct most of the items from crates now that all my characters have 306 gear (there is very rarely a set piece or tactical). You only get a few tech frags, but you get a decent amount of scraps that you can use to buy crafting materials. And, if you don't craft, you can buy crafting materials to sell. So, at the very least you get some income and tech frags for doing nothing more than you were already doing. It's not an exciting system, but it isn't horrible or worthless either.

No matter the rank, the reward is the same at rank 1 as it is at 999.

Dawn meant "less rewarding than GC crates were", I think.

 

GC crates, by explicit statement early in the process, were intended to be a supplement to the main gearing methods, but they were a pretty effective supplement if taken alone, especially after the drop rates were manipulated. Renown crates are *also* intended, by explicit statement early in the process, to be a supplement to the main gearing methods, but they are a *pathetic* supplement.

 

"Play Your Way" is more accurate as a slogan for 5.X than it is for 6.0.

true, I guess what he meant was the amount needed per rank to get a crate is far more than the Command system. I not sure the actual number but was not command rank 300 somewhere around the 5.5K to get a crate. It far more than that by a huge margin to get a renown crate even if the number is stationary.

 

However OP, renown is nor meant to be the primary method of getting gear. Command rank probably was for a lot of players like myself.

 

They might as well remove them completely because the only benefit I see are the 100 tech frags we get for climbing a renown level.

 

The crates have never dropped anything I could use. GC were actually useful because they helped me a lot with companion gifts and some mats.

I wish they would at least put the companion gift and cosmetic items back in the crates so that they would be a little better.

I wish they would at least put the companion gift and cosmetic items back in the crates so that they would be a little better.

 

Me too. I don't understand why they took the fluff out. Things like that make it seem the dev. team just wants to kill fun where ever players manage to find it.

Have you been pulling them into your inventory? There's a piece of fine design(1) that means that while gear pieces are in the stash, they don't show what gear level they are, so they look as if they are empty-shell junk with two or three "Unidentified mod" lines, and no stats to speak of. Once extracted into your inventory, they become less junky.

 

No guarantees that they are worth having, of course, but better than they look like before you claim them.

 

(1) Coded language for "inexplicably bizarre decision-making"...

 

He's rank 150 so he'll have 306 gear already. Once you have 306 gear, Renown is utterly useless. In fact loot in general becomes just tech frag fodder till you have your set bonuses/tacticals sorted.

 

I currently have all 10 alts in 306 gear. I have all the perfect mods I need statwise and just need to put 2 more characters in set bonus gear and a couple of tacticals and then I'm done. Then no loot is useful anymore and also tech fragments will be useless to me. So it'll be interesting for me to consider what to do next.

Just hit 75 and disappointed to see how useless this system indeed is :/

The point of renown crates in the overall scheme of things is to make you spend money. It's conditioning. You get so used to the idea of opening packs that it becomes normal to you. You'll be less likely to cause a fuss because it no longer seems like gambling. You'll also be more likely to buy cartel coins.

The point of renown crates in the overall scheme of things is to make you spend money. It's conditioning. You get so used to the idea of opening packs that it becomes normal to you. You'll be less likely to cause a fuss because it no longer seems like gambling. You'll also be more likely to buy cartel coins.

 

I assure you, despite my Hutt brilliance, I doubt I'm the only one who is able to distinguish quite clearly b/t Renown Crates one acquires automatically from playing the game vs. purchasing Crates / Coins with the respective currencies we use here on Planet Earth.

 

The only logical connection in your post is the word "crates" -- and that's a pretty slender reed.

 

Dasty

. GC were actually useful because they helped me a lot with companion gifts and some mats.

 

Well, it is clear that the prime game design consideration going forward is to make everything as grindy as possible, and ever more reliant on RNG.

 

Bioware / EA are, frankly, stupid enough to believe this will incentivise players to play more; all the evidence suggest the exact opposite.

 

 

All The Best

So what's the point of renown and it's crates ?

 

All MMOs -- regardless of the story, plot, characters, play style, or anything else -- share one thing in common:

a constant, positive feedback loop.

 

Jump. +1 to jumping!

Cook something. +1 to baking!

Kill something. Ding! New level.

Kill something. Your faction with the Faydark Guards just improved.

Kill something. New codex entry!

Complete an alternate achievement point. Ding! Your alternate achievement points increased!

Complete a renown level. Renown crate!

 

The constant stream of positive reinforcement for what you do, be it a skillup, a drop, an achievement, whatever -- is all designed to get you to play more.

 

Renown and crates are meant to contribute to that positive feedback loop, and that feedback loop has a name:

maintaining player addiction.

Well, it gives you 100 fragments, wich you might or not need. I just grab whatever i get and vendor it.

 

But, yeah. I miss when it had companion gifts.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Nemmar

Renown and crates are meant to contribute to that positive feedback loop, and that feedback loop has a name:

maintaining player addiction.

 

I agree that may be the intent, but implementation-wise it is a failure for a basic reason...

 

There is no incentive to raise your Renown rank.

 

I don't even look at my Renown rank / level anymore. Since I do have an equal number of light and dark side characters I enjoy playing, I do pay attention to the 15% bonus, but that's more of an afterthought.

 

In the end, I view Renown crates, as Nemmar does, as little more than some extra Tech Fragments.

 

Dasty

Renown Crates were renamed and made purposefully awful so that the people would clamor for the awful Galactic Command system back.

if positive feedback is the goal, then BW scored for the opposing team...

 

here's what goes through my mind when I get another renown crate:

 

 

 

at least before there were some companion gifts, and random armor shells that I could collect and/or use on companions, and renown boosts actually contributed toward conquest

I wish they would at least put the companion gift and cosmetic items back in the crates so that they would be a little better.

 

Bloody this. At this point they're just effing with you.

Well I must admit I much preferred the Command Creates and you not find a single complaint against them from me. As for Renown crates well not near as good but better than nothing because if they were removed they would not be replaced. If nothing else you can get jawa scrap from items. I do use the jawa scrap metal soo... not all bad.

I'll bet the for-cosmetic-purposes empty shells that used to be in GC crates are gone, with no way to get again, right?

 

(That's really annoying)