Link: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5569050#edit5569050

 

That post was made on December 12 / 2012 -- almost a month ago. The dev tracker is easily accessible so there really isn't an excuse for ignorance.

 

Players were warned. They didn't heed it.

 

What I will give you, tho, is I would like to see some sort of compensation for purchases made before the post went up. But that's as far as I'll go.

 

I clearly stated the forum does not count as an appropriate announcement and provided FACTS for why that does not count as an announcement to the general gaming population. A VERY SMALL MINORITY of players look at the forum for the game they play. An even smaller minority are likely to visit the dev tracker instead of just hopping to the forum they normally go to (PVPers come to mind as well as the story writers).

 

It's not that players didn't heed it, it's that players were not PROPERLY warned. There is a VERY GOOD reason that the announcement bout speeder piloting was put prominently on the game launcher - it's a place that EVERYONE sees before logging into the game.

 

That someone does not trawl the forum constantly - such as you apparently do - does not make their money less meaningful for purchases.

BW please fire the whole art department. Your design team is absolutely horrrid. In case you are wondering, NO we don't need skyscrapper size shoulder pads on all armor pieces.

 

This change is just plain HORRIBLE. Seems like you really are GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY to generate as much hate and contempt for this game as you possibly can.

This is really bad form for BW, as a seller the last thing you want to do is change something from under a customer's feet after it was bought, I hope that the intended design was for the sets changed to be so from now on, while their old versions where meant to stay in their respective looks so to not antagonize all of the people that bought them, but this change was somehow bugged (hopefully this is it)

 

As for the advertising cartel store depictions there are three things you need to keep in mind, the first one is that advertising pictures are always loose representations so should never be looked at too closely, one should always "sample" the goods as much as possible before buying anything ( I learned this when I was a teenager, I'm quite surprised some folks have still not figured this out), this sampling is done in TOR through the preview window, so it's quite logical to assume that people went and previewed the items and then thought than that was the official look, a fact supported by the Icons of the items which accurately represent the original "preview window" versions.

 

The second one is that the Trailblazer set which has NO advertising images anywhere in the Cartel Store was changed as well for reasons I can't figure out.

 

And third if we want to apply the "items need to be as in the cartel store image" logic to the Revan set then clearly the original ring-less version should not be changed since it is clearly advertised in the cartel pack image as without rings.

 

Really though if BW thought the Phantom, Spymaster and other such sets where not being shown as intended then they should have pulled them from the store ASAP, then fix them and re-release with it's proper look, what should not have been done is to let them linger in the store for months so that a considerable number of people buys it based on their actual looks, and THEN decide to retroactively change it, this can't possibly have been the intention.

I remember the patcher having a warning about Legacy Speeder Piloting 1 not being account-wide, as was advertised in the cartel market. Any similar situations should warrant the same warning. Now I -did- know about the changes -a bit- before they arrived because I sometimes read the forums. However, as correctly stated by others, a lot of people don't and never will. When real money is involved, as it was with the speeder piloting thing, the correct thing is putting a warning out where everyone can see it.

Update: C.S. Joveth even says it should appear like the promos

 

Hi folks,

 

Thanks very much for reporting this to us. We apologize for the mistake and we're working to fix this in an upcoming patch. The gear should look like the way they appear in the promos.

 

Thank you for your patience with this!

 

And just very recently.

All right folks, I talked to our developers and got some clarification:

 

• The Revan outfit was adjusted to look more like Revan’s armor in the game.
  
• The Spymaster and the Phantom outfits were both adjusted to look more like their advertised appearance in the Cartel Market, after we received more than a few remarks about this dissimilarity. This is to ensure that customers receive the advertised appearance.
  
• Currently, the Stylish Dancer’s outfit is advertised as being white, but it should be red, as it appears when you preview the item. This will be adjusted for a future patch.
  

We apologize for any inconvenience. In the future, we will ensure that all assets are in alignment on the Cartel Market. The final products are meant to look like the advertised art.

 

 

------------------------------------------------ Update ending

 

The Phantom set is, as and was ALWAYS Based as an inquisitor ROBE.

 

 

Crime Lord Pack gave an orange moddable set for Smugglers and Agents

Blockade Runner gave INQUSITORS and Consulars

Skip Tracer gave Knights and Warriors

Space Pirate will give Troopers and Bounty Hunters

 

 

 

 

Phantom set was to be as it looks on the advertisment, and I'll be damned if me, or the hundreds who wanted it fixed and have begged for it for 3 weeks will be ignored on our long plight.

 

Its not built to be a stealthy all black scubby ninja shirt. It was a Robe, why does no many people not understand this? You are complaining it looks like a robe now BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT IT IS. Seriously, this is frustrating. You guys put this on a Smuggler or a Agent or whoever thats your issue for putting a robe on that character and expecting it to magically transform to what you wish it to be.

 

It is plain and simple.

 

"All of the armor made for the cartel market were NOT quality checked by bioware, They did not notice or realize their error until the big obvious missing components on the Blockade Set. The items were ALL FIXED TO WHAT THEY WERE ORIGINALLY SPECIFIED TO LOOK LIKE."

 

Look closely at the Crime Lord Pack, The Spymaster set is now exactly as it is advertised, Eye Scanner on the helmet and all.

 

 

I don't really care if this thread gets flamed on because they think I am wrong, when I am putting logic into this. Not to mention it was listed in the known bugs for the longest time.

 

 

Besides Revan's Lower Robe default color being brown as a bug, and The Chestpeice having a 2nd hood mesh on the back. Everything is what it was supposed to be.

 

It does not need to be turned back. I can call out False Advertising with a legal right for a refund if it gets changed back, me and hundreds of others who have complained in the CS thread since December wanting this to be the way it was supposed to be.

 

 

Quote from all the people on the forums saying it wasnt explained enough on the forums.

 

This is the same argument as:

 

"Sorry officer, I didn't know about the driving change the city passed. I was too busy driving to read the new legislation."

 

It doesn't matter what percentage of people visit the forums. If they put it on the launcher do you think people would read it? Probably not; people as a rule don't read notices. Should they annoy people in-game with a plethora of pop-ups every time the developers comment on something? Outside of the obvious displeasure that would cause, people still wouldn't read it.

 

This is how the real world works. Announcements are made on websites, notice boards, or whatever else. They're not shoved in your face. It is your responsibility to go out there and read the information. My work sends out important notices to e-mail. If I decide not to read it, that's on me and I face the consequences for it. Similiarily, BioWare posted a notice in an easily accessible space on their website. If you don't read it, it's on you.

 

edit: As another poster pointed out, they also published this on Known Issues on their customer service board. So it was in two places. Ignorance is not an excuse.

 

Wrong. You didn't take the precaution of reflecting the situation. That doesn't mean that you're wrong or at fault but anyone who bought this stuff should of known that there was a big chance that it would eventually be changed.

 

As said, it sucks that these items were released "wrong"-looking but you simply can't blame BW for addressing the issue as a lot of players have been complaining about the sets not looking like they do in the pictures.

I didn't buy the Phantom set for that very reason.

 

Phantom was implemented incorrectly to begin with. Did you actually think that Bioware wouldn't change it to what they actually advertised? False advertising is what would have been if they left it without matching the pictures on the cartel pack.

 

The images of content and armor on the cartel packs are in-game images, not some graphic cartoon hand-made drawing of an artist's "representation".

 

Get over it. The in-game was finally fixed to appear as intended.

 

 

You're trying to make this really really difficult, aren't you?

 

They have been fixed so they are as advertised on the cartel pack stock photos.

 

The in-game "Preview" function only showed the broken version, not the intended stock photo version.

 

Wrap your head around it.

I get the feeling I'm one of the few who likes the updated look. I went ahead and finally bought the preceptor and phantom sets.

 

We are also seeing a gross overreaction.

 

We were told weeks ago that the actual items did not match the advertised pictures on the Cartel Market. So we all knew that this was going to happen.

 

So we really shouldn't be all that upset. You bought it after you were warned it was going to be changed.

 

When the Blockade Runner pack first came out and I saw the advertised image for the Phantom Set I got super excited. The original advertised image can be seen here: http://s3.hubimg.com/u/7459694_f260.jpg

 

I spent CC's on those packs and got myself damn near the full set (minus the helm). Imagine my disappointment when the set I received did not match the advertised image: http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/swtor-phantom-set-2_thumb.jpg

 

Thank you Bioware for fixing this! I now have the armor set I paid for!

 

 

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=570402&highlight=false+advertising

Edited January 8, 2013 by Magnusheart

I clearly stated the forum does not count as an appropriate announcement and provided FACTS for why that does not count as an announcement to the general gaming population. A VERY SMALL MINORITY of players look at the forum for the game they play. An even smaller minority are likely to visit the dev tracker instead of just hopping to the forum they normally go to (PVPers come to mind as well as the story writers).

 

It's not that players didn't heed it, it's that players were not PROPERLY warned. There is a VERY GOOD reason that the announcement bout speeder piloting was put prominently on the game launcher - it's a place that EVERYONE sees before logging into the game.

 

That someone does not trawl the forum constantly - such as you apparently do - does not make their money less meaningful for purchases.

 

Look at my post history. You don't see 10 million posts. I don't post on the forums as often as you insinuate.

 

On the main community page there is a link to the dev tracker. This will only show you posts from community reps and developers on forums that are not customer service. I check this every few days. It takes less than a minute to get caught up on every post a developer makes. I do this to see about upcoming content, bugs, glitches, or whatever else.

 

If there wasn't a dev tracker, you have a valid argument. But when it takes less than 60 seconds, but more like 30 seconds, to see what's going on, then no, the onus is on the players, not the developers.

I'm sorry, but I don't spend my days reading every little bit of information on the forums. I actually spend my days working, and my leisure time playing the game. I purchased certain outfits based on their look IN GAME at the time of purchase. I spent real money for those specific looks. Not for the current ugly crap they have on after this change.

 

I am rarely on the forums. The vast majority of players are rarely (if ever) on the forums.

 

What I really don't get though is BW's insistence on producing some of the most god awful ugly armor in the MMO world. They had made some good looking armor, and then ruin it by making horrid changes that make your characters look like they have a third **** growing out of their chests or are trying to sprout wings off their shoulders and fly away. Seriously... beyond ugly and frankly whoever designed those looks, needs to be fired because they couldn't design a good looking piece of armor if their life depended on it, w/o messing it up.

 

I've seen some fugly armor in games, don't get me wrong, but I have NEVER sen a game that is so consistent with the fugly armor as I have with this game. It makes it very difficult to mix/match to get gear that LOOKS good and when you do they turn around and fugly it up on you again.

 

They just can't seem to help themselves. They make something halfway decent and then cant keep their hands off it. So we have weird leather bibs comming out of the neck on the cloth robes, metal **** cups over the metal geared robes that look like we needed breast spitoons on our armor to drool into, twenty different antennae designes sticking out of our back, and huge spikey chevrons over our chest that would make a rodeo winners belt buckle blush on elegant loungewear + color clones... Just someone take that desiner and stop them from screwing up almost ever piece of gear they put in game before they start adding little pieces of poo to things that are just fine.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Karaiblis

Obviously, the advertisements were wrong, and not based on the final designs of the items. The advertisements should be fixed and the items reverted to the state they were released in.

So sure about that? Guess which was finalized first, the item or the picture. And keep in mind it was added to the list of known bugs they were not as advertised. Edited January 8, 2013 by Magnusheart

Phantom was implemented incorrectly to begin with. Did you actually think that Bioware wouldn't change it to what they actually advertised? False advertising is what would have been if they left it without matching the pictures on the cartel pack.

You're trying to make this really really difficult, aren't you?

They have been fixed so they are as advertised on the cartel pack stock photos.

The in-game "Preview" function only showed the broken version, not the intended stock photo version.

Wrap your head around it.

 

Considering the "picture" on the cartel pack is a concept drawing and not an in-game graphic any difference between the two could be written off. The in-game preview shows you exactly what the item looks like on your character and purchasing an item based on that preview and having it look different is more of a false advertising issue than your concept art differences.

The images of content and armor on the cartel packs are in-game images, not some graphic cartoon hand-made drawing of an artist's "representation".

 

Um, no. That is EXACTLY what it is, hand drawn concept art. If it was in-game images it would have looked like the ones that actually came in the pack.

We were told weeks ago that the actual items did not match the advertised pictures on the Cartel Market. So we all knew that this was going to happen.

So we really shouldn't be all that upset. You bought it after you were warned it was going to be changed.

Link: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5569050#edit5569050

That post was made on December 12 / 2012 -- almost a month ago. The dev tracker is easily accessible so there really isn't an excuse for ignorance.

Players were warned. They didn't heed it.

 

No,"WE" weren't told about this otherwise thousands of phantom chests would not have sold for several hundred thousand credits on the GTN. No one knew of any changes coming to this piece except those reading every entry in a specific forum out of the thousands and thousands of forums

Did the ad have a big sign over the puffy outfit that said "Phantom Chestpiece!" that I missed? Because last I looked those splash adverts just showed some pictures.

I had absolutely no reason to believe that the chest I received was one of the ones in the picture. Not all of the items in the pack make it into the advert picture. I assumed that was one of them and that ugly puffy robe was something else.

 

Here, here. There was nothing to indicate that the cool looking phantom chest piece that you and I loved and equipped was "supposed" to look like that puffy necked, shoulder padded black robe.

I agree, they completely ruined it this patch. The sole reason I was using the chest piece before on my sentinel was because it had no hood. But now that they added a hood to the chest piece its practically useless to me. 90% of the pre-50 gear ive seen that knights can use has a hood. Playing characters whos heads are shrouded by hoods are a huge turn off for me, and its such a pain to fine a medium armor chest piece that doesnt have a hood and still lets me look like a jedi. Their armor designers need to get the idea out of their head that any outfit can be made to look better by giving it a hood. Minus the revan outfit, im pretty sure that most armors with hoods would look better without the hood.

The problem is that some people bought it based on the Cartel screenshot, others bought it based on the preview screen. Regardless of how you look at the issue, there's some set of customers who were screwed over in the process.

 

Just bring back the old version of the Cartel pieces alongside the new ones. It's a digital item - it's not as if Bioware needs to go to a garment factory and put in an order for another 70,000 pieces.

 

Just give an old version to everyone who bought the Cartel item (or currently has it in their possession - whichever) through the mail.

 

At the worst, it's Bioware's responsibility and at the best it's a reasonable way for Bioware to apologize to some ticked off customers.

You can easily hide the hood. Plenty of headbands out there, go get the one from the Nar Shadaa vendor.

Hi folks,

 

This change was unintentional and will be corrected in a future patch. Apologies for the inconvenience.

 

please please please. I spent rl money on the outfit, plus loads of credits keeping it updated with updated BH/Rakkata mods.

Look at my post history. You don't see 10 million posts. I don't post on the forums as often as you insinuate.

 

On the main community page there is a link to the dev tracker. This will only show you posts from community reps and developers on forums that are not customer service. I check this every few days. It takes less than a minute to get caught up on every post a developer makes. I do this to see about upcoming content, bugs, glitches, or whatever else.

 

If there wasn't a dev tracker, you have a valid argument. But when it takes less than 60 seconds, but more like 30 seconds, to see what's going on, then no, the onus is on the players, not the developers.

 

Once more FACTS show that only a very small minority of people visit the forum for their respective games, as small as 10%! FACTS prove that you have no valid argument and really need to just stop digging your hole. So Bioware placing it only in the forums (no matter how easily accessible that is, it's a FACT that people do not visit them) KNEW that they would only reach about 10% of the gaming population of their game. That is not a PROPER announcement, no matter how you like to spin it.

 

And if it was a proper announcement, there wouldn't be THIS MANY people with a problem with it who had no idea a change was coming.

 

You can say I don't have a valid argument all you want, but FACTS prove that I'm correct and they handled this INCREDIBLY poorly.

I have the same problem with the perceptors chest piece, they just ruined that one by adding a hood. It was perfect the way it was before, there was no reason at all for the change.

Whatever it was meant to be is besides the point, ppl bought the item and built outfits based on how it looks in game, not how it looks on a small picture most ppl didn't even pay attention to. These outfits are now ruined, I myself am out several million credits through this change which, from the numerous posts that have been made, a large amount of ppl are unhappy with. I now have to try and find a new look that I like and spend another few million credits on that.

 

How about you think of another persons point of veiw for a change.

Completely disagree. I bought the piece AFTER basing it on HOW IT LOOKS on my toon. Bought it with money. BW changes it. If this is a permanent change, then I want a refund. They can have their crappy-ring-shoulder chest back.

A Bioware employee said it was a bug and it was going to be fixed weeks ago, it was labled in the known bugs.

 

 

It was said to be fixed by a person with a yellow name, meaning they work here. It was known, it was said, your ignorance can't protect any of you.

 

Sets are all fine as is, besides the color bug on Revans Lower Robe.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Magnusheart

So... Let me see if I got this straight.

 

Because some people had previously pointed out a slight discrepancy with how they thought these sets would look like based on concept art, BW has changed them to look like frilly-nilly foo foo haha suits? Does that about sum it up?

 

So, these 2 armor sets that I had dropped ~1.5M creds to get and augmenting, and hours matching parts of other sets, then augmenting them and gearing it all up for my dual-spec Shadow main (white set for tank; black for dps), that I had absolutely LOOOOOOOOOVED ('cos they looked absolutely amazing)... are now turned upside down into some jellyfish looking things? Are you serous??!! ...Or just insane?!

 

And we were supposedly 'notified' or 'made aware' in some obscure post buried deep in a dev-tracker thread (that no one 'cept elitists and the dev team peruse through on a daily basis and then bury even further by doing so)? Really?? Yeah.. Let me tell you why that's B/S... Oh wait... I think everyone else has just pointed that out to you BW.

 

So yeah... I'm going to log in to my toon later, and hope that all the stuff herein this thread is just a huge work of fiction, and that my toon will look just as it did last night.

 

If not.... Bioware ... dears... Please undo the thing you did to mess up these once beatiful gear sets... - kthxbai

Obviously, the advertisements were wrong, and not based on the final designs of the items. The advertisements should be fixed and the items reverted to the state they were released in.

 

I'd say the other way round. Judging by helmet and pants, it's supposed to be a robe like OP said. Advertisement on the pack is correct in this case imo.

Once more FACTS show that only a very small minority of people visit the forum for their respective games, as small as 10%! FACTS prove that you have no valid argument and really need to just stop digging your hole. So Bioware placing it only in the forums (no matter how easily accessible that is, it's a FACT that people do not visit them) KNEW that they would only reach about 10% of the gaming population of their game. That is not a PROPER announcement, no matter how you like to spin it.

 

And if it was a proper announcement, there wouldn't be THIS MANY people with a problem with it who had no idea a change was coming.

 

You can say I don't have a valid argument all you want, but FACTS prove that I'm correct and they handled this INCREDIBLY poorly.

Not only did they reach at most 10% of their audience. They probably reached less than 1% of their audience, since even of those who do visit the forums, the majority didn't even bother with that one thread. Only the very minor minority who wanted to wear a black boa with red reflector lights did. Actually, most people visiting the threads about how some cartel items looked wrong only cared about the "wrong" looks of the Revan set, while they were perfectly content with the looks of the Phantom set as it was in game. So that 1% just got a bit smaller again.

Once more FACTS show that only a very small minority of people visit the forum for their respective games, as small as 10%! FACTS prove that you have no valid argument and really need to just stop digging your hole. So Bioware placing it only in the forums (no matter how easily accessible that is, it's a FACT that people do not visit them) KNEW that they would only reach about 10% of the gaming population of their game. That is not a PROPER announcement, no matter how you like to spin it.

 

And if it was a proper announcement, there wouldn't be THIS MANY people with a problem with it who had no idea a change was coming.

 

You can say I don't have a valid argument all you want, but FACTS prove that I'm correct and they handled this INCREDIBLY poorly.

 

This is the same argument as:

 

"Sorry officer, I didn't know about the driving change the city passed. I was too busy driving to read the new legislation."

 

It doesn't matter what percentage of people visit the forums. If they put it on the launcher do you think people would read it? Probably not; people as a rule don't read notices. Should they annoy people in-game with a plethora of pop-ups every time the developers comment on something? Outside of the obvious displeasure that would cause, people still wouldn't read it.

 

This is how the real world works. Announcements are made on websites, notice boards, or whatever else. They're not shoved in your face. It is your responsibility to go out there and read the information. My work sends out important notices to e-mail. If I decide not to read it, that's on me and I face the consequences for it. Similiarily, BioWare posted a notice in an easily accessible space on their website. If you don't read it, it's on you.

 

edit: As another poster pointed out, they also published this on Known Issues on their customer service board. So it was in two places. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Mavery

This is the same argument as:

 

"Sorry officer, I didn't know about the driving change the city passed. I was too busy driving to read the new legislation."

 

It doesn't matter what percentage of people visit the forums. If they put it on the launcher do you think people would read it? Probably not; people as a rule don't read notices. Should they annoy people in-game with a plethora of pop-ups every time the developers comment on something? Outside of the obvious displeasure that would cause, people still wouldn't read it.

 

This is how the real world works. Announcements are made on websites, notice boards, or whatever else. They're not shoved in your face. It is your responsibility to go out there and read the information. My work sends out important notices to e-mail. If I decide not to read it, that's on me and I face the consequences for it. Similiarily, BioWare posted a notice in an easily accessible space on their website. If you don't read it, it's on you.

 

"I know you just bought your car sir, but the manufacture insists we recall it and put fins on the back. No you don't have a choice as we are towing your car to the dealership now. What? You didn't get the newsletter we sent to everyone? Well thats just too bad. Enjoy the big fins on your new car you just bought."

Edited January 8, 2013 by bjbm

This is the same argument as:

 

"Sorry officer, I didn't know about the driving change the city passed. I was too busy driving to read the new legislation."

 

It doesn't matter what percentage of people visit the forums. If they put it on the launcher do you think people would read it? Probably not; people as a rule don't read notices. Should they annoy people in-game with a plethora of pop-ups every time the developers comment on something? Outside of the obvious displeasure that would cause, people still wouldn't read it.

 

This is how the real world works. Announcements are made on websites, notice boards, or whatever else. They're not shoved in your face. It is your responsibility to go out there and read the information. My work sends out important notices to e-mail. If I decide not to read it, that's on me and I face the consequences for it. Similiarily, BioWare posted a notice in an easily accessible space on their website. If you don't read it, it's on you.

I dont spend my time on troll infested forums, I spend it PLAYING THE GAME I PAY FOR. I bought the items in game, there should have been an announcement in game, or I should get my gear, or my money back. Simple. I do read in game announcements, such as the speeder piloting one that they did make.