Amateur hour, seriously.

Wrong sir, Wrong. You get nothing.

Wrong sir, Wrong. You get nothing.

Apart from duplicate 252s, obviously.

Amateur hour, seriously.

You got 175 UCs for 20 minutes of play time. That's a pretty good trade off.

Dasty

You got 175 UCs for 20 minutes of play time. That's a pretty good trade off.

 

Dasty

exactly. people need to realize that this is a 1 1/2 nim boss reward you get there in about the same time(building group, killing trash etc.), no matter what skill and item level you are at.

i do the weekly every week even on full 258 toons just to get more UCs to spend on crystalls.

While I don't like to agree with the OP on anything...

I believe the issue is less about the perceived difficulty than it is about the randomness. See also GC as it first launched, which was pure RNG. that went over super well too

You got 175 UCs for 20 minutes of play time. That's a pretty good trade off.

 

Dasty

Yup. Save the UCs and trade up. Everyone's in the same boat. Some people had 10s of 1000s of UCs stored up from before, some didn't......

You can also buy your way to BiS It's expensive, sure, but you can do any activity you want to earn credits - even spend IRL money on CCs.

But TBH the difference in 248 to 258 isn't as much as you think.

It's supposed to be a long grind to keep you on the hamster wheel while they think about making the next chapter. - only 6 months now.....

- It's also supposed to be exciting. I've not yet met anyone who considers it exciting tho.....

Duplicates are part of RNG - yes it's a disappointment to get the same unusable relic or w/e week after week, but that's the system. Just disintegrate anything you already have/don't want. You're not obliged to keep it.

OMG how could I not think of 175 UCs as being the total solution.

It's crappy programming no matter how you slice it.

...Duplicates are part of RNG....

Nope, been a software engineer for 30 years, all they have to do is reroll when a duplicate comes up.

Inferior engineering.

Nope, been a software engineer for 30 years, all they have to do is reroll when a duplicate comes up.

 

Inferior engineering.

How would you work that for Implants, where 2 of the same are needed for most classes?

I do think this gearing system needs to be better tuned - don't mistake my question for support of a crappy gearing system.

OMG how could I not think of 175 UCs as being the total solution.

 

It's crappy programming no matter how you slice it.

Yet somehow since 5.10 has now been out 15 weeks, many of us have fully geared characters, some of us more than one. In my case, with the exception of MH/OH, I could have more than one fully geared but have chosen to spread the wealth around my alts with 252s since, as StormCutter noted, it doesn't matter that much, particularly since they didn't scale the content upward.

I'm on record as not liking the manner in which you get the gear -- but the pacing of gear acquisition is the least of the problems IMHO.

Dasty

Yet somehow since 5.10 has now been out 15 weeks, many of us have fully geared characters, some of us more than one. In my case, with the exception of MH/OH, I could have more than one fully geared but have chosen to spread the wealth around my alts with 252s since, as StormCutter noted, it doesn't matter that much, particularly since they didn't scale the content upward.

 

I'm on record as not liking the manner in which you get the gear -- but the pacing of gear acquisition is the least of the problems IMHO.

 

Dasty

Again i think his protest is less about the pacing and more about pure rpg in general.

Again i think his protest is less about the pacing and more about pure rpg in general.

Pure RNG is a failed system...thankfully, this is only pure RNG for the free weekly box, You're guaranteed the piece you want if you use crystals.

OMG how could I not think of 175 UCs as being the total solution.

 

It's crappy programming no matter how you slice it.

there it is, the i want it all and now attitude again.

tell me a faster way in any mode of the game to get the same amount of UCs, which doesnt require any skill, i´ll wait.

the main way to gear is NOT the RNG loot box, its to farm crystals to buy stuff.

the boxes are a bonus, a needed piece at best to save 2 crystals, or atleast 175 UCs, which is a tremendous amount compared to playtime.

get over it.

the system has many flaws like unnecessary slot bindings which are in fact annoying. but the rng boxes are none of them.

(snip)

 

the system has many flaws like unnecessary slot bindings which are in fact annoying. but the rng boxes are none of them.

I disagree; the RNG boxes is definitely one of the many flaws.

I disagree; the RNG boxes is definitely one of the many flaws.

Everyone has their patience threshold for length of gearing. In this case, the reason I disagree with you is that the RNG box can be disintegrated into a universal, legacy-wide currency. For 20 minutes of play time, that's some seriously good banging for your buck. When I get a useful 252 piece -- my thought is: Woot! I just saved 1000 UCs.

There's a reason Mrphstar keeps running the Ossus Weekly on his / her fully 258-geared characters. Because s/he is smart.

I chose to spread the wealth through my multitude of alts -- but that was my choice for the content I enjoy (soloing Vet FPs). Overall, though, I just don't think 2-3 months of running the Ossus-related quests is an undue hardship to get BiS for your main(s). That those quests get stale and are not terribly engaging (because they gutted Galactic Command, as Eric himself all but acknowledged during the Twitch Stream) is an entirely different kettle of fish.

There will always be a balance between RNG and purchasability. Personally, I would up the disintegration amount to 250 vice 175, but the bottom line remains: The current gearing system (despite its Ossus focusing flaws) is not "pure RNG." To state so is simply factually incorrect since there is a universal, legacy-wide currency that it converts to.

Dasty

While I do find the RNG boxes annoying, to me they are just a way to farm UCs. Most of my (played) toons have 252 gear, several are at 254-256. That said, I think the UC / Crystal ratio is too high, and the weekly limit too low. Ossus is noticeably dead-er lately, and I think there are two reasons: 1) ppl who farmed it seriously are fully geared and burned out / moved on to HQ Vet 2) ppl who farm it casually are burned out

More incentive is important. Bioware seems to be fixated on stingy gear progression, and I agree that gear too easily acquired is no fun, but I can't think of a single person I've heard from that thinks the current pace is beneficial to players or to the game.

Can you imagine how active Ossus would again be if devs announced improvements to the UC per crystal price? And, heaven forfend ... increase in crystals per week? My suggestion would be to eliminate the RNG box and substitute it with a crystal weekly for completing 10 dailies.

And how about if they made the drops in Hive Queen SM actual gear pieces (not RNG boxes) that could be either rolled for or bid on? So you could participate in getting gear you need, or get a share of the credits if you don't? Right now there's little or no incentive to run HQ SM for anyone with all 252 gear, the roll chances are too low to bother for a once per week per toon run.

Oh in case I forgot to mention it... EVERYBODY HATES RNG BOXES. I know... maybe gambling addicts, but I'm pretty sure they're playing something else right now. I can't think of a single game I've played where RNG boxes were spoken of fondly. I know, it's subtle and really really hard to tell reading these forums or in-game chat, but there you have it. You can thank me later Fully expecting more RNG boxes in '6.0' btw

Oh in case I forgot to mention it... EVERYBODY HATES RNG BOXES. I know... maybe gambling addicts, but I'm pretty sure they're playing something else right now. I can't think of a single game I've played where RNG boxes were spoken of fondly. I know, it's subtle and really really hard to tell reading these forums or in-game chat, but there you have it. You can thank me later Fully expecting more RNG boxes in '6.0' btw

No kidding...they're universally despised.

Nope, been a software engineer for 30 years, all they have to do is reroll when a duplicate comes up.

 

Inferior engineering.

Indeed

Wrong sir, Wrong. You get nothing.

or this

(.57 seconds of the video)

There will always be a balance between RNG and purchasability. Personally, I would up the disintegration amount to 250 vice 175, but the bottom line remains: The current gearing system (despite its Ossus focusing flaws) is not "pure RNG." To state so is simply factually incorrect since there is a universal, legacy-wide currency that it converts to.

The reward you get from the box is RNG. (Random number Generator). What you do with the reward afterwards is separate. You could sell the randomly generated reward to an NPC Vendor for credits which is also a universal, legacy-wide currency... but that fact of the matter is, the initial reward is still RNG.

It’s the same thing with loot crates, you are still at the mercy of RNG. You will always get a reward (and that reward can be converted into some form of a legacy wide currency), but that does not mean it is not a RNG based system.

The reward you get from the box is RNG. (Random number Generator). What you do with the reward afterwards is separate. You could sell the randomly generated reward to an NPC Vendor for credits which is also a universal, legacy-wide currency... but that fact of the matter is, the initial reward is still RNG.

 

It’s the same thing with loot crates, you are still at the mercy of RNG. You will always get a reward (and that reward can be converted into some form of a legacy wide currency), but that does not mean it is not a RNG based system.

We can play semantic games of degree vs. kind all day long about the distinction between Unassembled Components and Vendor Trash for credits.

At the end of the day, here is what I know: At the end of two months I had the opportunity to have 3 characters with BiS minus MH / OH (which was true by definition since Hive Queen wasn't out yet).

And, in the language of economists, there is no meaningful distinction between "initial reward" vs. "minimum ultimate value." Regardless of how you shake it, the loot box was worth either 1000 UCs or 175 UCs. It could not possibly be lower, which is the point.

I'll let individual readers decide who has the better argument. As I mentioned, each player will define for themselves what is an acceptable pace of gearing. But to the call the current gearing system "RNG-based" when I can never even touch Ossus and just do PvP and Ops and buy THE EXACT item I want proves my point -- BY DEFINITION. If you can go to a menu, and exchange currency for the specific item you want -- the system is NOT RNG, MUCH LESS PURE RNG-BASED.

Posit the hypothetical counterfactual: Let's say the Ossus Daily Reward was just 175 UCs and no RNG loot box given. Anyone with a brain intent on gearing would still do it. Now, folks like Kendra may (justifiably) not because they see no point in the new gearing system, but that is an entirely separate issue.

But folks like Mrphstar and yours truly would because, given our respective utility functions, we desire to gear up and we understand rudimentary math.

Dasty

there it is, the i want it all and now attitude again.

 

tell me a faster way in any mode of the game to get the same amount of UCs, which doesnt require any skill, i´ll wait.

 

 

the main way to gear is NOT the RNG loot box, its to farm crystals to buy stuff.

the boxes are a bonus, a needed piece at best to save 2 crystals, or atleast 175 UCs, which is a tremendous amount compared to playtime.

get over it.

 

the system has many flaws like unnecessary slot bindings which are in fact annoying. but the rng boxes are none of them.

^^^this. I do believe it has flaws and while I am not a PVPer, I also believe this system is bad for PVPers they do need to separate PVP and PVE gear is some way. If this system did not hurt PVP I would argue that the ossus gear grind is good mostly, and it is actually a good thing to have alts to collect crystals, buy the gear and send it off to one character. I also believe that solo players do not need the highest gear, if they only intend to play solo. I believe doing the hardest content should get you the better gear (Ops, FP). but I also think that queen should at least give you one non random gear. This is all my opinion of course.

We can play semantic games of degree vs. kind all day long about the distinction between Unassembled Components and Vendor Trash for credits.

 

At the end of the day, here is what I know: At the end of two months I had the opportunity to have 3 characters with BiS minus MH / OH (which was true by definition since Hive Queen wasn't out yet).

 

And, in the language of economists, there is no meaningful distinction between "initial reward" vs. "minimum ultimate value." Regardless of how you shake it, the loot box was worth either 1000 UCs or 175 UCs. It could not possibly be lower, which is the point.

 

I'll let individual readers decide who has the better argument. As I mentioned, each player will define for themselves what is an acceptable pace of gearing. But to the call the current gearing system "RNG-based" when I can never even touch Ossus and just do PvP and Ops and buy THE EXACT item I want proves my point -- BY DEFINITION. If you can go to a menu, and exchange currency for the specific item you want -- the system is NOT RNG, MUCH LESS PURE RNG-BASED.

 

Posit the hypothetical counterfactual: Let's say the Ossus Daily Reward was just 175 UCs and no RNG loot box given. Anyone with a brain intent on gearing would still do it. Now, folks like Kendra may (justifiably) not because they see no point in the new gearing system, but that is an entirely separate issue.

 

But folks like Mrphstar and yours truly would because, given our respective utility functions, we desire to gear up and we understand rudimentary math.

 

Dasty

Before you open the gear crate, do you know the exact 252 rated item you will receive (without any degree of mistake) from that exact gear crate that you are opening? If not, then, by definition, it is programmed as RNG by design.