I've done my best to communicate my frustrations with the Ultimate Pack and the new model of releasing CM items in many others threads now for many months. But with this week's CM update, I feel compelled to try again. Rather than link to all the previous discussions on this, I'm going start fresh and lay out the issues.

 

The Ultimate Pack model is terrible for older players who just want the NEW STUFF. New items have an abysmally low drop rate when thrown into the Ultimate Packs. I swore I wouldn't do it again but I decided to give it one more chance and I bought one hypercrate of Ultimate Packs this time around... and got ONE new item. One. And since I won't be able to flip a bunch of Rark speeders and Antique Socorro weapons on the GTN for anything at all ever, I now also make no credit return on my investment. (I also only got a grand total of one Cartel Market Certificate, but that's a sob story for another time.)

 

Decorations suffer the most under the Ultimate Pack model. This was brought up with the last two updates, but I'll just stick to this most recent, wherein 8 new beach themed decorations were added to coincide with the release of the Rishi stronghold. You would think the ideal situation would be to get these into the hands of players, yes? Except there isn't a single one of these decos available on SS, because these 8 decos are only available in Ultimate Packs and they have to compete with the entire history of the CM for a drop chance. When they eventually do start showing up on the GTN it will be like all the decos that came with the last two updates: they will be exceedingly scarce, and cost upwards of 15 million credits each. The net result of releasing new decos only in the Ultimate Packs is that they are not even getting into the hands of your players. Why even bother making them?

 

There's now almost no way to tell what has been newly added to the CM if it isn't up for direct sale (and sometimes not even if it is, because there's no "newly added" section in the CM and not everything is visible in Collections). For example, with patch 5.9.2, there were new dye modules added. How do I know this? Because I obsessively collect dye modules and I tabbed through every page on the GTN and got lucky enough to see ONE name I didn't recognize (and where there's one there's almost always two). But there was no way even for a third party site like Dulfy to clearly datamine this to discover the addition, like they used to be able to do with named pack shipments.

 

Supply on the GTN for new items is almost non-existent. This is not a good thing. There will always be players who can't afford the direct purchase route this month, or who pay their subscription fee and are loyal players with credits to spend who don't have disposable cash otherwise, and it used to be these folks could reliably purchase the new items on the GTN because the people who bought packs were getting duplicates. The GTN supply is important; it incentivizes people to play more in order to be able to buy the things they want on the GTN.

 

Direct purchase options are a good thing - there are some people who hate gambling and they'll use this, and when gambling fails and you really want the thing then you can still buy it. Keep direct purchase options for everything, I say.

 

A grab-bag pack for new players is a good thing. Keep the Ultimate Pack for new players.

 

But you need to bring back the old pack model for the older players. Use it alongside direct purchase and the Ultimate Pack. The old model kept the GTN supply of new items healthy. It insured your players who invested $$$ in your store recouped some credits from GTN sales. It made it easier to track what new stuff is actually being added to the market. It increased the supply of decorations (which are a one-time use item that needs large supply) and made them more accessible to everyone.

 

If you're just never ever going to go back to the old pack model (I really think you should, for all the reasons I mentioned above), then at minimum I strongly encourage the dev team to consider some of the following changes:

 

1. Every new decoration you release needs to be available as a bundle or single item for direct purchase on the CM. Every single one. The eight beach-themed decos that were released with 5.9.2 should have been a bundle. Single decos from bundles are already dropped into the Ultimate Pack loot table so that wouldn't change. But the fact that you are creating decos that aren't even getting into the hands of your players right now is just completely stupid. (The bundles are almost always a really good buy, but single deco sales of 500 CCs are not. Single decos should absolutely be in the 90-150 range that the singles from the original bundles are. Remember that these are consumables, and that you need more than one chair to make a scene in a single SH. Decos are not the same as gear; for the majority of them it is not one-and-done because they cannot be unlocked in Collections.)

 

2. Every new dye module you release needs to be available for direct purchase on the CM, and it needs to be available as soon as it's been added, not at some randomly staggered later time. Currently there's no way to know these even exist otherwise.

 

3. You need to create a Newly Added category on the CM where absolutely everything that has been added in the last CM update cycle is included. Make it rolling/cumulative so that if you are staggering stuff like armor sets that they get added to the category rather than replacing previous items. This category should continue to include everything that was newly added until the next CM update, at which point it could reset.

 

4. Change the logic on the Ultimate Pack so that the chance of getting newly added items is increased. Frankly I think it ought to be guaranteed, but at minimum make the odds better. Use the same logic you use to increase the chance of a Platinum the more packs you open if you must, but do something.

 

I really like the Direct Purchase option, and I'm sure lots of other people do too. But until you make that comprehensive (so that it covers things like all decorations and anything else that's added) then you are creating assets many of us never get a chance to access. And Direct Purchase does almost nothing to increase GTN supply, which is important too.

Edited August 11, 2018 by JediBoadicea

/signed

 

Absolutely in agreement 1000% with all of this.

 

I've been incredibly frustrated and disappointed ever since the "Ultimate Pack" replaced the regular cartel packs that used to feature all the new stuff. The Ultimate Pack is ultimate garbage. I purchased 1 Ultimate hypercrate when it was first released for the sole purpose of acquiring NEW items: armor sets, weapons, color crystals, decorations, etc. I ended up with only 2 or 3 new items and a pile of mediocre stuff I already owned.

 

The Ultimate Pack model is terrible for older players who just want the NEW STUFF.

I have been a regular subscriber and supporter of this game ever since launch. I'm also a working adult who used to regularly buy hypercrates of the old cartel packs before they were replaced by the Ultimate Crap Pack. For me, the old model was a much, MUCH better investment. When I used to buy hypercrates, I did it because I wanted the new items and also felt it was fair way to support the game. I got far more new items from the old packs compared to this Ultimate garbage heap. I also knew that whatever I didn't get I could still rely on acquiring it off the GTN knowing that there would be a surge of new items flooding the GTN. This used to be our tried and true routine, and it worked very well. I was able to acquire what I wanted while also selling whatever duplicates or rare items I didn't need for a decent profit. This was a good, reliable balance for me and I imagine it was the same for many others as well.

 

 

 

Decorations suffer the most under the Ultimate Pack model. This was brought up with the last update, but I'll just stick to this most recent, wherein 8 new beach themed decorations were added to coincide with the release of the Rishi stronghold.

 

This was such a stupid, stupid decision, Devs. One of the most upsetting things for me about the Ultimate packs was realizing that all the new items were now sharing the RNG for everything ever produced by the CM. The results have been a disaster. Decorations, even simple decorations like the Cantina Speaker or Mercenaries Table, have super-inflated to astronomical prices on the GTN. That intolerable RNG has turned every single new item into super rare items. It is totally absurd and absolutely unnecessary.

 

 

There's now almost no way to tell what has been newly added to the CM if it isn't up for direct sale

 

Had I not read OP's post, I wouldn't have realized there was a new dye module or even new beach decos available! Why the hell did these latest Beach decos not even come in a bundle as suggested? Does that make too much sense or something?! Does anyone know the name of the new dye module? Why is this information not being properly communicated to us?!

 

Supply on the GTN for new items is almost non-existent

My enthusiasm for acquiring new items on the GTN has now turned into a far more cautionary exercise. The scarcity and inflation makes it feel like everything is might as well be designated as a Platinum item. It's ridiculous and highly upsetting. I agree that making things available for direct purchase was a good idea. I even like the new feature they have where a random CM item is sold for 50% off every 24 hours, but what they NEED to do is bring back the old cartel pack model as well.

 

Ever since the Ultimate Garbage Pack came out I have stopped buying any more hypercrates. I don't enjoy wasting my hard-earned money knowing that the chance of me getting a new item is probably less than 1 percent. That infuriates me. Mixing in the new stuff with the old stuff was a stupid idea. The Ultimate pack works fine as a general grab bag for newer players but KEEP THE NEW STUFF SEPARATE FROM THE OLD STUFF and give the new stuff its own pack designation like how you use to do it.

I know you said you'd touch on the certificate drop rate later, but I think it bears mentioning here. The drop rate is abysmal! I averaged 5-6 certs per hypercrate in the old system, but from the reports I'm reading, the new drop rate is 1-2 per hypercrate. I thought this would help restore the value to hypercrates since they are no longer a reasonable source of new items, but not at that low of a drop rate

I know you said you'd touch on the certificate drop rate later, but I think it bears mentioning here. The drop rate is abysmal! I averaged 5-6 certs per hypercrate in the old system, but from the reports I'm reading, the new drop rate is 1-2 per hypercrate. I thought this would help restore the value to hypercrates since they are no longer a reasonable source of new items, but not at that low of a drop rate

 

I also got only one Cert out of my hypercrate, so my experience bears out that new average you're seeing reported. It's a shame. I appreciate that they took steps to make the CM faction items and rep relevant again and are acknowledging that Certs are needed, but I don't think this fix goes anywhere near far enough as regards making Certs an accessible active currency again.

 

I previously suggested that they remove Certificates as a currency and convert all of those items to be purchasable with Jawa scrap instead. My reasoning was that Jawa scrap is likewise a BoL currency that can only be obtained through investing real $$ into the game (either by purchasing crates or by being a paying subscriber getting the scrap out of Command Crates). I still think this would be a better idea.

 

But if keeping Certificates in use is the way we're going, then they need to have a better drop chance. OR. Another thing I suggested in another post was that, instead of making Certs drop in the packs (competing with the whole loot table), that they make a Cert a guaranteed part of any Direct Purchase transaction of 240 CCs or higher (or 500 if you have to push that ceiling). So that every armor set comes with a Cert, every deco bundle comes with a Cert, every mount or whatever comes with a Cert. This way people get exactly as many Certs as they are willing to pay for, as a bonus to other purchases they might already want to be making.

Edited August 11, 2018 by JediBoadicea