Are you an avid decorator that has had much luck getting the new decos this way? I mean that as a sincere question, not sarcasm. And I ask because my personal experience doesn't bear this out, so it's good to hear what other people's experiences have been.

Yes, I am an avid decorator... and other then a few rare items that only drop in game and are not tradeable, and hence you have to go "old school" to get them, I have had absolutely no difficulty farming decorations off the GTNs in whatever quantity I choose. I am also a long term planner... and plan ahead. I have one character that pretty much only works on accumulating decorations from the GTNs and then when needed applying them to one or more Strongholds. This character has almost three cargo tabs of various decorations... some of which are quite rare and pricey these days... being as the items dropped from long obsolete packs. Given the rarity of some of them these days... I probably have between 500M and 1B credits worth in storage for future use.... because I am a long term planner and do not buy or act on impulse. Easily 1B if I use current market prices on the SPA decoration.. since I still have 3 in storage.

Decorations work like everything else from the CM via the GTNs .... you price shop the listings, buy early and buy often because later on they will be largely unavailable, and this is more true for decorations because they are consumable and in many cases multiple copies are needed/wanted. By the way.. the same is true for decoration drops in game as well... I buy them mostly... as I do not personally go out and farm them (because farming credits in game is much much more efficient use of my time as a market player). And... since I buy based on pricing... I will accumulate more then I typically need... so I end up selling off some of my decoration inventory over time... because I can and do find lots of bargains on the GTNs... since I shop daily. There are always sellers.. and while some of them demand scalper prices.... I wait until I see prices that are at (or below) prevailing market prices for the item. Any that I end up not wanting later.. I relist them.. at prevailing market prices OR under market pricing (since I bought them a lower prices, I can actually still make a profit and keep price pressure downward in the GTN at the same time as a side benefit to other players).

It pretty simple really... if you have a particular set of items you want or crave in game... you work the system that is presented.. NOT demand the system be changed to suit ones personal wants/needs. I treat decorations like I do everything else in game.... a challenge to be overcome. Overcoming challenges in an MMO is part of intended play in my view and a personal accomplishment.... and that includes overcoming the ongoing challenges in the player economy as well.

There is also a very large decoration that is used on the sky deck pvp area.

^^ One of the few BoP decorations too. Not sure why they did this... unless it is to keep price scalpers off of that particular decoration.

Since it takes 6 Mk-4 universals.... players can effectively buy up the prefabs and have one of these for under 2M credits all-in.... even less if they make them on their own. And seller competition keeps downward price pressure on the prefabs.

Phase 3 I can't see happening. I could be wrong but it has been how many years since the Cartel Certificate vendor in the SH area has been updated? Even when updating the cert vendors in the Fleet Bazaar area they just changed a name. The titles and ranks were just copied over from an existing reputation. They don't really seem to want to touch these vendors outside adding certificates back into pack circulation for the time being. Maybe this will change in the future. I think we'll have to see if pack buying metrics change now that people have a chance to get a cert instead of an item.

I figure when/if they add some more via the phase 3 route... it will be dirty towels with poop all over them, and umbrellas in disrepair.. with holes, bent poles etc. Then again.. some players love the "run down" look... so something for everyone.

Until they do release..... I am using Makeb Canopies for Umbrellas. I think I will plop down one of the massive bars right on the beach too. Maybe a dance floor to go with it.. and some Pergolas and some NPCs. Probably scatter a few speeders around too... because I figure nobody walks to the beach in the SW universe. I have all of this stuff in storage, and can use right now.. and it's not like redecorating when more appropriate decorations is hard once they release.

Yes, I am an avid decorator... and other then a few rare items that only drop in game and are not tradeable, and hence you have to go "old school" to get them, I have had absolutely no difficulty farming decorations off the GTNs in whatever quantity I choose. I am also a long term planner... and plan ahead. I have one character that pretty much only works on accumulating decorations from the GTNs and then when needed applying them to one or more Strongholds. This character has almost three cargo tabs of various decorations... some of which are quite rare and pricey these days... being as the items dropped from long obsolete packs. Given the rarity of some of them these days... I probably have between 500M and 1B credits worth in storage for future use.... because I am a long term planner and do not buy or act on impulse. Easily 1B if I use current market prices on the SPA decoration.. since I still have 3 in storage.

 

Decorations work like everything else from the CM via the GTNs .... you price shop the listings, buy early and buy often because later on they will be largely unavailable, and this is more true for decorations because they are consumable and in many cases multiple copies are needed/wanted. By the way.. the same is true for decoration drops in game as well... I buy them mostly... as I do not personally go out and farm them (because farming credits in game is much much more efficient use of my time as a market player). And... since I buy based on pricing... I will accumulate more then I typically need... so I end up selling off some of my decoration inventory over time... because I can and do find lots of bargains on the GTNs... since I shop daily. There are always sellers.. and while some of them demand scalper prices.... I wait until I see prices that are at (or below) prevailing market prices for the item. Any that I end up not wanting later.. I relist them.. at prevailing market prices OR under market pricing (since I bought them a lower prices, I can actually still make a profit and keep price pressure downward in the GTN at the same time as a side benefit to other players).

 

It pretty simple really... if you have a particular set of items you want or crave in game... you work the system that is presented.. NOT demand the system be changed to suit ones personal wants/needs. I treat decorations like I do everything else in game.... a challenge to be overcome. Overcoming challenges in an MMO is part of intended play in my view and a personal accomplishment.... and that includes overcoming the ongoing challenges in the player economy as well.

I, too, have cargo holds full of stored decorations. I too shop the GTN daily (multiple times daily, and on more than one server), and what few copies of these newer decos I've been able to acquire I acquired because I patiently, carefully, and attentively worked the GTN and bought decos when I saw they were at reasonable prices (the same way I got 16 Underworld Bar arrangements and also patiently monitored Trade channel and traded with other players to acquire the Burning Skull statue along with all the other very rare Ops decos that can't be sold on the GTN at all). Sometimes I recognize it is more profitable to buy a deco and flip it later to help mitigate the high price I paid on the decos I did unlock for myself. Sometimes I buy it because it was a good price even if I didn't immediately need it, and hold onto it for a later time to see if I end up needing it then or if it becomes profitable to resell it later.

The only reason I took the time to ramble all of the above is to explain that I get what you're saying, from my own experience. The approach you are outlining, with its care, patience, attentiveness, and canny market playing, is perfectly effective.

But I still don't think that, in the specific matter of these new decos that are available only in the UItimate Packs, it's a good model to achieve the following: getting decos into the hands of players in sufficient quantity to create a healthy supply vs the amount of demand.

Yes, you can, if you have a lot of time to play the market, a lot of time to farm credits, and 1 billion credits accumulated, acquire many rare decos. But not everyone has that time, and the CM should be about maximizing game profit. Direct Purchases seem to be maximizing their profit right now. Direct Purchases also mean that the people who don't have time but do have interest can both support the game and enjoy themselves.

I would like to buy more Cantina Speakers and I would like to buy more Acropolis Crystal Sconces. I check the GTN for these multiple times every day. They are, always, exceedingly rare, if they're available at all. And my opinion is that it doesn't make much sense for them to be that rare.

In your opinion, are the numbers on the deco availability that I outlined in my previous post a healthy supply? One that successfully reaches a majority of interested players?

If getting multiple copies of Cantina Speakers is something only intended to be accessible to players with 1 Billion credits... that just seems very odd and counter-productive to me from a design standpoint. We're not talking about Senya's Lightsaber Pike, we are talking about... cantina speakers.

I treat decorations like I do everything else in game.... a challenge to be overcome.

My counter-argument to this sentiment would be that I don't think it makes any sense for them to make their MARKET a challenge to be overcome. Wouldn't it make more sense to release all their new decos for Direct Purchase, just like they are doing with absolutely everything else on the CM under the new model?

My counter-argument to this sentiment would be that I don't think it makes any sense for them to make their MARKET a challenge to be overcome. Wouldn't it make more sense to release all their new decos for Direct Purchase, just like they are doing with absolutely everything else on the CM under the new model?

Honestly.. I think you are getting ahead of yourself here. You don't know that ultimate packs will be the only way to get these... you just assume that so you can demand something different. Why not be patient and wait and see how they unfold ongoing access to beach decos? Based on precedent over the last couple years.. it is highly likely we will shortly see a bundle for direct sale. I will still buy said bundles from other players off the GTN by the way.... because spending CCs is a poor leverage way to acquire CM content when you have plenty of credits. If they release a bundle.. they will be a hot item for a while for players to buy with CCs and resell, so in that context.. the player market will largely smooth out any supply/demand imbalances.

And we can agree to disagree on the "challenge" aspects of accumulating decorations. I personally play MMOs for their challenge elements as much as for the IP, or theme, or friends, or whatever. Maybe that is because I have played MMOs for more then 20 years and know that in the old days... the challenge was much higher on anything coveted... because you had to grind and grind and grind and grind to get them. There were no studio stores for cosmetics, heck.. there were not even any cosmetics, and for a number of years.... not player markets either.. we had to do all buying/selling in chat channels and face to face trades. Even the worst in terms of availability of CM decorations these days is miles ahead of old school MMO grinding.

^^ One of the few BoP decorations too. Not sure why they did this... unless it is to keep price scalpers off of that particular decoration.

 

Since it takes 6 Mk-4 universals.... players can effectively buy up the prefabs and have one of these for under 2M credits all-in.... even less if they make them on their own. And seller competition keeps downward price pressure on the prefabs.

I am just hoping that particular decoration can be copied into the guild as that is a decoration we are going to want to use in our guild.

I am just hoping that particular decoration can be copied into the guild as that is a decoration we are going to want to use in our guild.

Great point!

I am just hoping that particular decoration can be copied into the guild as that is a decoration we are going to want to use in our guild.

It can be; I have that decoration (been crafting Mk-4s like mad) and the button is there to donate a copy to your guild. I think it costs 50k, but I'll have to doublecheck next time I log in.

It can be; I have that decoration (been crafting Mk-4s like mad) and the button is there to donate a copy to your guild. I think it costs 50k, but I'll have to doublecheck next time I log in.

Yeah it can be. Our guild already has it in place.

Honestly.. I think you are getting ahead of yourself here. You don't know that ultimate packs will be the only way to get these... you just assume that so you can demand something different. Why not be patient and wait and see how they unfold ongoing access to beach decos?

I assume so not out of petulance but based upon precedent (specifically the precedent of the other decos I explicitly cited), a distinction I made multiple times in my other posts. Also as I said in my posts above, I still hold out hope for the beach-themed decos specifically being made into a bundle yet (please do, devs!), which is why I also took care to exempt them from several of my arguments. So I am, indeed, willing to be patient. That doesn't mean I have to be silent.

And we can agree to disagree on the "challenge" aspects of accumulating decorations.

I don't think we necessarily even disagree on this on all fronts, to be honest. I have been trying to be very clear in singling out specifically the decos that are being released only in the Ultimate Packs; I have not made any complaint about the availability of any other deco (even though I do believe there is an imbalance in demand vs. supply in general).

I think it's a great idea to make some decos harder to acquire, requiring work and challenge. It's good in terms of giving players the satisfaction of an achievement, and it's good for engaging player participation over time.

It took me almost two years of cobbling together groups to grind Kuat Driveyards, struggling with that RNG scenario monster, just to get that one piece of artwork - and I'd do it again, with no regrets. Just like I don't regret all the time I spent getting every single reputation that provides decos to Legend (before many of them were rolled into one, and despite the toll on my sanity that Section X grinding took), and just like I don't regret the innumerable times I've run incredibly tedious Star Fortresses for decos for my guilds, or the countless times I ran the Eternal Championship for those champion holos, or running conquest and crafting Invasion Forces for the new conquest decos, or negotiating with players on multiple servers for some of the most rare drops in the hundreds of millions of credits, or trying for those Nightmare mode Ops runs for trophies, or the ongoing grind of running the Landing Party Uprising as I hold out hope that RNG will take pity on me and drop the gosh-darned Commander Tassar holo deco.

I could keep listing things, but the point is that when I set out to deliberately track and collect every deco the game had, to the extent that my time humanly allowed, I never expected it to be easy or that it wouldn't require challenge or work. So, respectfully, I would like to push back against the allegation that I am too "impatient" in my hunt for decos.

But you said -

There were no studio stores for cosmetics, heck.

- and that dovetails with the distinction I have been trying to make all along with this argument, between items for sale by the studio vs. items acquired via in-game achievement. I have been specifically talking about the Cartel Market decos. Decorations acquired through purchase in a store, for real $$. The purpose of a $$ store for vanity/cosmetic items is to create products that your customers will want to buy, and to facilitate a means to get that product into the hands of as many customers as want it in such a way as will maximize both your profit and their satisfaction (the latter feeding into the former).

And the reason I will continue to recommend and hope that all new decos will be made available for direct purchase instead of some of them being left exclusively in the Ultimate Pack loot table is because these decos are the only new Cartel Market item that is bottle-necked in this fashion. Armor, weapons, mounts, pets, crystals, flairs, tunings, emotes, and even dye modules (which are single use just like decos are) are all available for Direct Purchase as well as in the Ultimate Pack, and this has been true since the Ultimate Pack was introduced so it's not a matter of "waiting to see what they do" for those items. ONLY the decos are completely limited to and at the mercy of the Ultimate Pack's abysmal RNG drop chance, which leads directly to the scarcity I pointed out with hard numbers in my earlier post.

I feel that that scarcity is not only entirely unnecessary, but also completely counter-productive to the interest of maximizing profit via the addition of a direct purchase option (not to mention counter-productive to the interests of players who might be loyal CM customers with less play time available to them). Given that every single deco bundle released hits that "Popular" designation (don't know if that's statistics-based or if it's marketing, but either way it indicates a belief that there is significant demand for it), it seems like an extremely odd oversight to not be releasing every new deco for Direct Purchase just like they are doing for everything else.

I hope this helps to clarify that I am not trying to say I am certain that there will never ever in a million years ever be any other way to get these new and currently Ultimate-Pack-only decos. Rather, I am trying to say that these decos are a complete anomaly within the very model under which they are being released, with all the negative impacts I have already enumerated and won't now repeat.

So... while I don't think we necessarily disagree on the idea of challenge being a good thing for an MMO as regards acquiring some items, we may indeed need to agree to disagree on the question of whether or not decos alone should be exempted from the treatment all other new CM items get.

It can be; I have that decoration (been crafting Mk-4s like mad) and the button is there to donate a copy to your guild. I think it costs 50k, but I'll have to doublecheck next time I log in.

Yep, it's 50k. In fact, all of the new Martial decos can be donated to your guild at a cost of 50k per copy - with the sole exception of the Martial decos vendor itself, but that's par for the course since vendors have always only been donatable to a guild via physical copy as opposed to credit cost.

If anyone is looking for an easy reference tool for which decos in the game are or aren't donatable, I previously shared in the Bug Reports forum this Google Sheets spreadsheet I built of all the game's decos. If you are familiar with how to use filters in a spreadsheet it is a very handy reference tool, where you can filter by source, category, name, and etc. There are some columns in there that might not be universally relevant (since I also use it as a means to offer guild donations on my server), but if it can still help fellow decorators then I'm happy!

I don't buy decorations via the GTN. Too expensive for my taste.

And I don't want to fill everything with decorations, either.

But, I still wonder : Where ARE those beach decorations now ???

I don't buy decorations via the GTN. Too expensive for my taste.

And I don't want to fill everything with decorations, either.

 

But, I still wonder : Where ARE those beach decorations now ???

Sometimes you can get some good deals on the GTN with them.

They are still hidden apparently. >.>

I had no idea those beach decos had even made it into the game. I agree with what's being said here. It's ridiculous that something like beach towels, drink buckets and umbrellas would be rare items or would cost millions.

It's too bad they didn't make some of those decos available from the fabrication droids. If the droids can make rugs and beds, they could handle a towel or an umbrella, I think.

Barring that it would have been nice to see the beachy decos, and a few other similar things like the dune umbrellas, offered for direct sale on the Cartel Market.

I had no idea those beach decos had even made it into the game. I agree with what's being said here. It's ridiculous that something like beach towels, drink buckets and umbrellas would be rare items or would cost millions.

 

It's too bad they didn't make some of those decos available from the fabrication droids. If the droids can make rugs and beds, they could handle a towel or an umbrella, I think.

 

Barring that it would have been nice to see the beachy decos, and a few other similar things like the dune umbrellas, offered for direct sale on the Cartel Market.

They haven't made it in game yet. Just in preview. So far not one has been spotted. It's still pending release.

They haven't made it in game yet. Just in preview. So far not one has been spotted. It's still pending release.

They are in the cartel market as direct buys.

They are in the cartel market as direct buys.

^^ Yep..... and I rest my case.

Also.. they are pretty reasonably priced as well at ~120cc for those that prefer to direct buy.

I'll get mine off the GTNs as I'm sure there will be plenty being resold once the initial frenzy and scalping subsides.

^^ Yep..... and I rest my case.

 

Also.. they are pretty reasonably priced as well at ~120cc for those that prefer to direct buy.

 

I'll get mine off the GTNs as I'm sure there will be plenty being resold once the initial frenzy and scalping subsides.

Yea and they seem to be adding more and more decorations for direct sale, even if some are bundles but they are still decorations, which I appreciate.

Edit: One complaint, you have red and purple beach towels but only a red umbrella. Now come on you can't do that!!! Where is my purple umbrella!!!!!!!!!!!

I see this as a good thing and those prices are a good value.

-edit-

You can only find the beach ball under Popular on the CM.

I see this as a good thing and those prices are a good value.

 

-edit-

You can only find the beach ball under Popular on the CM.

It also shows up if you search "beach" in the search bar.

^^ Yep..... and I rest my case.

Since releasing the Beach decos for direct sale was exactly what I was asking and hoping for (including repeatedly stating that they might yet be on the way), I'm pretty happy too! I guess whether they released them because we asked for it in the thread, or because they always intended to all along, we'll never know. Seems to me it's a good argument for both continuing to ask for things when you don't see them and also not condemning the studio when they don't do exactly what you want with the instantaneous turnaround of a genie's magic wish.

Also.. they are pretty reasonably priced as well at ~120cc for those that prefer to direct buy.

 

I'll get mine off the GTNs as I'm sure there will be plenty being resold once the initial frenzy and scalping subsides.

This is an excellent price, and I am very happy to see it. I don't have any problem with the bundles either, but I've mentioned in many posts elsewhere (this is hardly the first time the question of decos for direct sale has come up on these forums) that individually selling decos at prices comparable to those from the very first bundles (which 120 definitely is) is probably the ideal way to go, in my opinion. It increases the likelihood that they'll get listed on the GTN, it makes it easier for people to buy exactly what they want, and it makes it more likely that folks will impulse buy more because it's a truth of shopping psychology that people are more likely to buy multiples of a cheap thing than a single expensive thing (even if it amounts to the same value spent in the end). Individually sold decos at a reasonable price seem like nothing but win.

I see this as a good thing and those prices are a good value.

I agree, I think it's a very good thing. I hope they keep it up! As Casirabit mentioned, they are adding more and more old decos for direct sale every week. My guess would be they are slowly working through the enormous deco history to create direct sale interface items. They appear to be starting with Gold decos only, and pricing them at 575, which I personally feel is a smidge too steep but hey, if their metrics show people are buying in large quantities at that price, then they'll keep it up and I can't blame them.

That being said, I think it would probably be a good idea to sprinkle some Silver and Bronze decos in there as they go rather than prioritizing only the Golds - the reason I would suggest this is because while people want specific Gold decos, what is more frequently and consistently needed are more of a specific chair or table, more of a specific light sconce, and etc. As myself and many others have argued, decos are different from gear in that you don't just need the thing you want once and you're done; multiples of "simple" things are just as crucial if not more so. So while I hope they'll get through all the decos inventory eventually (getting them up for direct sale I mean), I also hope we won't have to wait until the very end of that months/years long process before people are able to direct buy more Selkath Chairs or Luminous Yellow Scones just because they're Bronzes, since we're more likely to need to buy multiples of things like that than multiple Yavin Combat Arenas.

And whether it was this thread that helped have an impact on getting these decos released direct sale, or they had been scheduled for direct sale release all along, I do hope that some dev (CM market team specifically) thought can be given to how decos have been released as part of the Ultimate Packs. It turns out that the beach decos were handled differently, either by design or oversight, and that's great, but it doesn't change the history or model of all the other decos that have been released exclusively in the Ultimate Packs (as I outlined here and here). There have been two full sets of "new release" decos that have fallen into that black pit and I hope that more won't share the same fate. There's no good reason to make decos the only cartel item that can't be direct purchased under the new CM model. It might be too late for the Acropolis Crystal Sconce or the Cantina Speaker (although I hope it's not, there's nothing stopping the studio retroactively making these direct purchase either), but for all the future deco releases I hope they'll have a direct purchase option and not be the sad and neglected bastard stepchild forever, with the ignominious distinction of being the only cartel item now 100% at the mercy of the Ultimate Pack's RNG when even dye modules get more love.

Since releasing the Beach decos for direct sale was exactly what I was asking and hoping for (including repeatedly stating that they might yet be on the way), I'm pretty happy too! I guess whether they released them because we asked for it in the thread, or because they always intended to all along, we'll never know. Seems to me it's a good argument for both continuing to ask for things when you don't see them and also not condemning the studio when they don't do exactly what you want with the instantaneous turnaround of a genie's magic wish.

LOL....

Fluff your feathers all you like here.. but the fact remains... as explained earlier....putting them on direct sale (as well as random in crates) DOES FOLLOW established precedent by the studio on CM items. Leaving them as crate only random drops would have actually broken precedent. They even followed pretty well established timing of the releases as well in terms of pack-randoms vs direct sales.

The beach decorations are available as individual items on the Cartel Market.

Two warnings --

* One of the Mandalorian bundles is gone! You can't get the jet pack station and such anymore.

* The beach umbrellas and towels only work in Flooring (rug) hooks. You can't put a towel under the umbrella.

(This one really disappoints me.)

It's too bad they didn't attach a set of towels to the umbrella. They should keep that idea in mind for a future alternate version. I'd drop the worth of those decorations for a set variant.

The beach ball also should be set on solid ground. I tried to drop it into one of my Manaan walkway fountains and it just floated in the air.