They stopped giving Certificates after the introduction of the Alliance packs (or perhaps even earlier).

If you still need them, you'll have to purchase older crates from the GTN (which now rack up serious money).

So I've bought two hypercrates, one anarchist and one disavowed, and gotten zero certificates from either one. Are certificates something that they're phasing out or something?

Not phasing out. More like phased out with the release of 4.0. Ones you have left over have stayed, but the only ways to get new certificates are:

* Use the slot machine, they drop on a very low percentage.

* Find an old pack for sale on the GTN.

EDIT: Apparently there is some confusion about what I wrote above. I only meant they are phased out FOR NEW PACKS.

they are still available in the older packs, which at the moment can only be bought on the trader for the cost of 1 arm and 2 legs

you should also note that the cert's are not guaranteed in every pack they are a random scarce as rocking horse ***** drop

In 494 spins, I haven't picked one up yet. The Internet tells me CMCs drop at a 0.001% rate on the Contraband Slot Machine. I'm in the process of putting 1,000 coins in it (about 1,200 spins), so we'll see : )

0.001%? (ie 1 in 100,000.) That's the odds on getting the faction specific walker mount reskin that they added to it with the nerf. The odds on the certificate are 0.05%. (ie 1 in 2,000.) Which still isn't exactly "great".

*opens up an old spreadsheet that's still lying around*

Within those 2000 spins you'd also expect to see 900 losing spins, 400 tokens refunded (yes you'll re-spin them until they finish in a real result but at the moment this summary is treating the refund as a result), 340 green rep, 260 blue rep, 90 purple rep, 4 green scrap, 3 blue scrap, and 2 purple scrap. That was 1.5 mil to purchase the 2000 tokens and it's 655k regained from selling the rep items to a vendor if you're already maxed out on the rep.

And then you might expect to see 180 losses, 80 refunds, 68 green rep, 52 blue rep, 18 purple rep, 1 green scrap, 1 blue scrap, and 0 of anything else when re-spinning the 400 tokens. That's another 131k regained from vendoring the rep items.

And you keep going like that. You could expect to see another 16 refunds and 27k worth of rep items in the next round. Then only 3 refunds and 6k worth of rep items after that.

The grand total after regaining what you can from those rep items is about 681k in overall losses (not to mention the time spent feeding the slot machine for about 2500 total spins) to obtain on average 5 green scrap, 3.75 blue scrap, 2.5 purple scrap, and 1.25 certificates.)

(Want to get really crazy and overboard with it (and waste more than twice as much time on it)? Reinvest ALL of the money regained from vendoring the rep items to obtain more tokens. Really test your luck until the entire 1.5 mil is entirely spent up with no more refunds. You'll get about 5500 spins in total that way. Let's see... It looks like you might expect on average 2.75 certificates at the end of all of that.)

So which packs on the GTN have those certificates?

Only got them from shadow acolytes pack, so far

0.001%? (ie 1 in 100,000.) That's the odds on getting the faction specific walker mount reskin that they added to it with the nerf. The odds on the certificate are 0.05%. (ie 1 in 2,000.) Which still isn't exactly "great".

Ah yeah, I did get that number mixed up. I'm tired : )

I wonder if they remember that a couple vendors still only take those certs...

And one of the vendors is a deco one. He has several nice decos and npc decos. It's really sad. Why would they neglect the certificates? It almost seems malicious. Change the vendors to crystals.

That would really take a dev so long to change? 300 lines of code and several hours (sarcasm)? I seriously doubt it.

"Here's several vendors that have some nice item... you can't have! Enjoy our game. Please buy more cartel coins."

In 494 spins, I haven't picked one up yet. The Internet tells me CMCs drop at a 0.001% rate on the Contraband Slot Machine. I'm in the process of putting 1,000 coins in it (about 1,200 spins), so we'll see : )

Whether your numbers are right or wrong, I recall seeing someone post not too long after the nerf that he got a certificate after about 2000 spins.

That would really take a dev so long to change? 300 lines of code and several hours (sarcasm)? I seriously doubt it.

Doubt even that. A search and replace of a table within the database more likely. Replace the ID number of the certificates with the ID number of the crystals. That is if nothing else changes like the actual vendor who is selling them. Pricing would have to be looked at too.

Send it to QA and make sure it works.

Really depends on how they have their vendors set up. Seems like most are cookie cutter with just a different name and model attached to them. Plus item differences depending on level and/ or location.

Doubt even that. A search and replace of a table within the database more likely. Replace the ID number of the certificates with the ID number of the crystals. That is if nothing else changes like the actual vendor who is selling them. Pricing would have to be looked at too.

 

Send it to QA and make sure it works.

Your Expert Armchair Software Developer post has enabled me to fill my current Forum Bingo card.

Your Expert Armchair Software Developer post has enabled me to fill my current Forum Bingo card.

Nah, it's the 4 years I spent running a MUD and the 21 years I've spent as a webhoster, support and programmer so far. Plus the BS in Computer Engineering but that's so far out of date....

Some of us do databases for a living. I'd point to the different CMS patches I've submitted on a number of platforms but linking to real life stuff is a nono around here. You may note I removed the link to my old blog in my sig. There's a reason for that.

edit: If you can come up with a better explanation instead of just your normal trolling, feel free to add it in. Give me a reason to take you off of my ignore list. (Like that's ever going to happen.)

Nah, it's the 4 years I spent running a MUD and the 21 years I've spent as a webhoster so far. Plus the BS in Computer Engineering but that's so far out of date.

And you even posted your "credentials" for the bonus follow-up.

Some of us do databases for a living. I'd point to the different CMS patches I've submitted on a number of platforms but linking to real life stuff is a nono around here. You may note I removed the link to my old blog in my sig. There's a reason for that.

Implying that I might have paid attention to your (or anyone else's) sig is either a joke or a horrible delusion.

And you even posted your "credentials" for the bonus follow-up.

Whatever. Enjoy your typing with one hand.

Whatever. Enjoy your typing with one hand.

The oblique "mental ************" retort. Very clever indeed.

I wonder if they remember that a couple vendors still only take those certs...

Another option for those specific items is the GTN (via the former gold/silver/bronze crates... and I believe via the current chance cubes). Those cartel crates/cubes have a chance to drop CM versions of any of the rep vendor items... which on the plus side, can actually be unlocked in Collections account wide, and do NOT require rep with the specific vendors.

I've never purchased/opened a pack in my life... and have acquired all but 1 of those "exclusive" items just buying off GTN. Including mounts, weapons, armor, pets, companion customizations, etc.

Cheers,

J