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Kai Zykken Merchant Feedback


EricMusco

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Hey folks,

 

The elusive Kai Zykken sets up shop in the supplies section of each fleet to sell an ever-changing inventory of specific items. For the context of testing some things to understand about how he works. He is only available from Friday - Monday. This is how it is planned to work on live and so it is currently this way on PTS as well. Each week his inventory will change so if you don't see an item that you want, check back the next week!

  • How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?
  • Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?
  • Anything else to add?

 

Thanks all!

 

-eric

Edited by EricMusco
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I like the idea of this merchant (ok it´s eso-like but whatever).

 

But it´s too expensive. Since there is a cap on the components you can only get 2 items per week.

The variety is great. But the crafters probably won´t like the RNG for the schematics.

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The idea of weekly vendor with high quality random stock gear is cool. Except the random part.

 

I agree with the price comments. Everything is rather expensive. If this game turns into big grind again like it was for Gtfm MM with Masterwork crystals, its not fun. Grind should be present to just block people from getting new alts geared in 1 day. Making it weeks to gear just one toon is stupid.

 

So, why the RNG on all the stats? Okay I know I am buying this set bonus item, but I have no idea about the stats. Can we get some kind of mod/enhancements vendor like on pts stage 1.5? It could sell them for Tech Fragments. But at least players would know what they are buying. Its almost like I come to a market, I want to buy tomatoes and cucumbers, but there are only vegetables packs available. I buy a pack, I pay for it, I cannot refund it. I open it. 10% of it are tomatoes, 15% are cucumbers, rest is cabbage. And you are like: seriously? This is crazy, nobody will ever have fun with this.

 

Did I also understand you correctly that vendor's stock will vary from week to week? And it is going to be random stock? I really dont like this random thing again. What if I have all except 1 item from the set bonus and that 1 item is not spawning for a couple of weeks in the row? Those who respect themselves and their time are likely to unsub and you are going to loose all the community except the pitiful no lifers.

 

The game needs a reliable and stable way to get the gear each role/discipline needs. Like it was in a classic way, before the command crates - each boss drops a token, some gear can be bought through commendations. I detest WoW loot system where min maxing stats takes a very long time. It's pretty much the main reason I don't play WoW. I would really hate to see SW:ToR becoming like that.

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How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?

Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?

Anything else to add?

 

 

1. It's way too expensive when it comes to tech fragments, considering the amount we get from doing OPS and M FP's combined. I did 1 KP SM and 5-6 HS on Master mode and got around 600 tech fragments. Either drop the price or increase the amount of fragments we get from various activities.

 

2. I personally dont like the RNG part, because of it, I couldnt get the tactical item I wanted.

 

3. It would be good to be able to get implants, relics, MH/OH from him.

 

4. Also, mod vendor would be great to have, like the one we had on Odessen.

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I would suggest to halve the prices of all Items and remove the random part. I think 750 Tech fragments and 500.000 credits are enough for one piece of item and shouldn't be capped with a random selection. According to me you can keep the 4 days a week thing, but please find a fair solution for the current too expensive gear, which is random on top...
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Gear piece prices from Kai Zykken are extremely high - 1500 TF + 1M creds for everything, even bracers and belt (which historically have been cheaper due to no enhancement). I got 155 TF after 5x Vet runs of Hammer station. So that would be about 48 runs per piece. So unless other content is going to drop a lot more TF, I don't think I'll even manage a single piece per week without grinding really hardcore.

 

Also, in the purchase window, all the gear shows as if it has no armoring, mod, or enhancement. I'm not sure if that's intended or if it's the same situation that I experienced with a renown crate - shows as having no mods until you claim it, then mods suddenly appear. It must be a bug (I hope), else that's an insane cost for an empty piece, and I don't know where I'm supposed to get mods. I'd like to buy a piece and find out, but I don't really want to grind that much on PTS, let alone on live. The cost is extreme enough to make me give up.

 

Variety seems good, other than the fact that I didn't see any implant, ear, or relics. It's annoying that the class/spec filter isn't working. Having to scroll through so much stuff that is useless to me is annoying. The "Show usable" filter seems to work though.

Edited by teclado
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I like the idea of this merchant (ok it´s eso-like but whatever).

 

But it´s too expensive. Since there is a cap on the components you can only get 2 items per week.

The variety is great. But the crafters probably won´t like the RNG for the schematics.

 

My sentiments exactly. Love the concept, but the prices need to come down to make him useful.

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  • How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?
  • Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?
  • Anything else to add?

 

The pricing with tech fragments are too high. Since this vendor is limted to once per week, and you can only have a maximum of 3000TF since they are legacy bound, this will make trying to obtain set bonus pieces for both main and alts painfully slow. I say remove the cap from the maximum amount of TF that you can have.

 

The items he has are the only way to deirectly obtain set bonus pieces. There needs to be another way of directly getting the pieces you need, such has tokens from OPS that allow you to choose the piece of gear (like boss A drops a chest piece token).

 

The RNG for the mods in the gear needs to be removed. If I am having to pay this high of a price, for what is end game set bonus gear, I want the correct unlettered mods that are at the same level on them. Just because the stats are higher then what you currently have does not mean that they are better. As it stands right now you can get a piece of gear and between the armor/mod/enhancement, all 3 are at different level ratings (ie. 274/270/272) and then the stats are all screwed up with the wrong versions of the mods in them. It is not fun at all to continuously buy and return the same piece of gear for hours, trying to win the game of RNG roulette, so that I can get an unlettered adept mod with the correct type of enhancement that is needed and have everything be at a higher level then what you have so it is an actual upgrade.

 

To put how annoying this is another way. Ask the persion on the game design team that came up with this if they would like the have the same system implemented with their pay check. For every hour they work, their pay scale is RNG. They might make less, they might make more. But they will never ever make the same amount.

 

This needs to be changed.

Edited by Flying-Brian
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I understand very well what the items are from the vendors, but I also see that devs are inching toward a Korean MMO level of grind. You really haven't listened at all, and if you do not make SIGNIFICANT changes to drop %, breakdown value, and vendor costs, this game will lose a ton of players, including me.

 

I realize this is PTS and it's all very premature, but I'm not even sure I understand how devs thought we'd be able to test this? The prices are so high it will take weeks of running just to afford a single piece. I've run 8 Hammer MM, 1 Dxun, and 3 Hammer VM and still have barely enough to get a single RNG piece, and not even 1/2 way to a Kai Zykken piece. Add to that the layers of RNG from both vendors, and my stress and frustration level is high enough to probably quit the game if changes to this aren't massive.

 

Overall the level of stinginess in PTS - gear drops, vendor prices, breakdown value of gear, is at 'wicked witch of wallstreet' levels (google it).

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Hey everyone: remember click the booster terminal on Odessen a bunch of times for credits, go buy tons of the new medpacks, and disassemble for lots of Tech Fragments (did 700 at time before hitting the 3000 cap). Do this over and over to test out the system. I did this for about three hours tonight and have min/maxed green 270 gear and then you can test out the Kai Zaikken gear too. With the credits you can also play around with the amplifiers.
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  • How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?
  • Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?
  • Anything else to add?

I think is a bit expensive. Some credit sinks are good but this is just too much.

What i don't like most, is the RNG. Really, pay attention to what people disliked about gearing in 5.0, it was the RNG part mostly. So please, stop it already:

RNG loot that ignores class and specs.

RNG crates from renown

RNG piece for tech parts

RNG availability from this merchant.

 

Is all RNG. I think the merchants should be:

* Cheap RNG per Slot/Spect box.

* Expensive (but not this expensive) direct purchase of specific piece (and schematics).

 

You really need to consider that rotating the availability and stock of this merchant will be a nightmare for those that cannot play all the time.

Edited by Balameb
correction
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How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?

It seems a bit overpriced at least in terms of tech fragments, but in terms of credits i think its okay.

Since we can chose the item we want.

 

Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?

Yes

 

Anything else to add?

I think that since this sets/tactical will be more important now i think that the tech fragments should be removed from the price, or drastically lowered.

I would not mind giving 1 million credits per piece...

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I think the pricing seems quite high given what we get from running content and the fact that unfortunately, while we are able to choose a set bonus, the mods in it are still rng. The list of items is long and I have no idea why it was all put in a single merchant instead of separated into different class vendors (and a general one) to make finding things much easier. That sort of separation is implemented with the MUCH more player friendly (non-rng) vendors we currently have in that area on live. I was hoping this vendor would be a good way to circumvent a lot of the stupid rngfest that gearing in the expansion looks like it'll end up being and am very dissapointed that it is yet more rng on top of not having everything available at once.
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To put how annoying this is another way. Ask the persion on the game design team that came up with this if they would like the have the same system implemented with their pay check. For every hour they work, their pay scale is RNG. They might make less, they might make more. But they will never ever make the same amount.

 

This needs to be changed.

 

This ^^

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How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?

Prices are high, for both tech fragments and creds…

Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?

… but I would be willing to pay it if the variety is wider. E.g. Kai the merchant sells all possible tacticals and set bonuses for a spec and random range of class and general items. Or just sells everything.

 

The amount of RNG is incredibly annoying. All drops are RNG. First vendor gives RNG implants, earpieces and such. And even the second vendor has RNG range of items with RNG stats. Can anything is this system be not RNG please?

 

We all would prefer to work towards certain goal and get an expected result. Let’s say, I want a certain relic. I run content, acquire enough tech fragments, go to vendor and buy that relic. Right now no amount of work will help if I’m unlucky, damned relic doesn’t drop and Kai doesn’t sell it.

 

That’s demotivating. Please reconsider it.

 

I also would like to know how is it decided which items the vendor has each week. Is it completely random? Or there is some pattern? Is it possible that a certain item won’t appear for several weeks while another is always present?

Edited by Ollmich
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Hey folks,

 

The elusive Kai Zykken sets up shop in the supplies section of each fleet to sell an ever-changing inventory of specific items. For the context of testing some things to understand about how he works. He is only available from Friday - Monday. This is how it is planned to work on live and so it is currently this way on PTS as well. Each week his inventory will change so if you don't see an item that you want, check back the next week!

  • How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?
  • Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?
  • Anything else to add?

 

Thanks all!

 

-eric

 

I was really excited when I found this vendor, then I saw the costs of what he was selling, I stopped play testing and started to take in the sights :mad:

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Hey folks,

 

The elusive Kai Zykken sets up shop in the supplies section of each fleet to sell an ever-changing inventory of specific items. For the context of testing some things to understand about how he works. He is only available from Friday - Monday. This is how it is planned to work on live and so it is currently this way on PTS as well. Each week his inventory will change so if you don't see an item that you want, check back the next week!

  • How does the pricing feel on the items (tech fragments and credits)?
  • Do you feel like he has an adequate variety of items?
  • Anything else to add?

 

Thanks all!

 

-eric

1. Prices are too high

2. Personally I would like it to have everything available always and not some random stuff that changes from week to week.

3. Even though the tool tip on the items he sells says bound to legacy, you cannot place it on legacy storage.

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The gear that is available is so over priced, feel like it would take an age to get a full set bonus and tactical item. I kinda got the impression that gear would be easier to earn in onslaught than it currently is. I certainly think that if gear was far easier to obtain people would change their approach to playing, they would be more willing and able to change roles to suit the activity without penalization. Easier gearing would enable a more thriving community in my opinion. I for one have played swtor for so long I am good playing any role, and can play most classes at a good level. I think that these are the strengths of faster gearing, Swtor was very good at this, but in recent times has forgotten the numerous benefits to this game model. I would like to add that it may feel counter intuitive to allow faster gearing, but I have to disagree, it would suit casual and hardcore players alike, after all, people like the content not the grind, and anything that enables more players to play more content can only be a good thing for the game as a whole.

 

In short I think that the gear is surprisingly over priced, and I wish that it was lowered, by a lot.

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I feel it would be better to make Kai available at all times and get rid of the RNG availability factor. There's already RNG in the quality of the contents of the shells and the implifiers on the mods. I don't think it's helpful to have two additional limiting factors.

 

It is currently possible to keep buying and refunding specific items (i.e. not the random item for 1k fragments) from Kai to get a more favorable combination of mods and amplifiers. Now, considering the outlay of resources (1m creds and 1.5k tech frags), I'm sure you don't want to make the non-random items non-refundable. For something that expensive, people should be able to change their minds, or not be afraid of misclicks. That being the case, we essentially have a situation where (considering how long it takes to get the resources) a player would be mad not to keep refunding and rebuying until they get (at the very least) non-terrible combinations. But buying, refunding, and rebuying maybe fifty times just to feel like you didn't waste your resources is not fun. It's like this puts the player into a lose-lose situation where they lose time no matter what (either accepting their first - probably crappy - result, and wasting time accumulating resources for the next roll of the dice, or wasting time refunding and rebuying). Just make it so there's a smaller range of mod ratings compared to the PC's average item rating. For instance, it's possible to get an item from Kai with average 284 rating, when one's own average rating of equipped items is 306. That's an 22-point gap. That's really not reasonable. (And even that is smaller than the gap from the random item vendor - I've seen 306-rated chars get 274-rated items, a 32-point gap. That's nuts.)

Edited by Estelindis
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