The coolest thing I've bought from Cartel Market were my Legacy unlocks.

 

I really don't want to give those up.

 

/notSigned

Also...

 

 

WHY does everyone seem to hate the Cartel Market?

The coolest thing I've bought from Cartel Market were my Legacy unlocks.

 

I really don't want to give those up.

 

/notSigned

You wouldn't be giving those up.

Are you serious? Have you seen the amount of hatred the game has gotten for the F2P transition?

 

The same as every other game that's gone from P2P to F2P?

This is seriously the worst idea I've seen on these forums in a while, and that's truly saying something. All of those fancy things on the cartel market ARE available in game for credits right now, that's the beauty of the system. You don't have to buy gambling packs, you don't have to buy expensive armor, you can wait till someone puts it on the GTN and buy it for credits, problem solved.

 

I would put money on it that at least 90% of subscribers utilize the cartel market. Anyone willing to play on a server without is willfully gimping their experience. Who wants to pay millions of credits for unlocks that can be purchased for a couple of dollars?

 

Bioware is making a killing off their cartel market, they would never consider implementing a server that would limit their profit by design.

Most moronic idea ever.

Considering the subs are probably the ones spending the most this would never work, and I hope it never happens. If the f2ps arent forking out 15 bucks a month to sub they sure arent spending 20 to 40 bucks on cartel coins a month or week or more than that. Just means less subs on the main servers. I vote no.

Having read the OP thoroughly... yes, this is a pretty terrible idea, but not for the reason that's getting thrown around in the following posts.

 

$25 a month for a server where everything on Cartel is free is a terrible deal... for Bioware. A person who pays that premium will buy half a billion cartel packs, all the unlocks, absolutely everything, and basically rolll in it. For a month.

 

In a month, they'll go "well, that was amusing," downgrade their subscription, never revisit that server, and probably spend a lot less on the Cartel Market for as long as they continue to play the game, because they had those robes/packs/unlocks, and now paying for them doesn't feel right.

 

Net result? $10 to Bio in exchange for spoiling a cartel customer on the service forever.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Guancyto

Having read the OP thoroughly... yes, this is a pretty terrible idea, but not for the reason that's getting thrown around in the following posts.

 

$25 a month for a server where everything on Cartel is free is a terrible deal... for Bioware. A person who pays that premium will buy half a billion cartel packs, all the unlocks, absolutely everything, and basically rolll in it. For a month.

 

In a month, they'll go "well, that was amusing," downgrade their subscription, never revisit that server, and probably spend a lot less on the Cartel Market for as long as they continue to play the game, because they had those robes/packs/unlocks, and now paying for them doesn't feel right.

 

Net result? $10 to Bio in exchange for spoiling a cartel customer on the service forever.

 

I don't think you did read it thoroughly. Or perhaps you just misread it. There would be no cartel packs in the premium subscription server.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Machine-Elf

No just no!!! This is even worse idea than the Cartel Market. I rather get my 500-600 monthly coins that I can save to buy the expensive stuff than having to pay another $5-10 to get it for "free".

Wait, so if it's a worse idea than the Cartel Market, what is the alternative? You do realize my proposal basically just reverts the game to the state it was in prior to the introduction of the Cartel Market, right?

Edited January 12, 2013 by Machine-Elf

Most moronic idea ever.

 

Agreed. Stuff on the CM is cosmetic, it doesnt affect the game. Only the ship parts make easier something that is now alot easier without the market... so... yeah. What would be the point? Its still the same game, except with better looks. Nothing to go back to.

What about companion gifts, which increase crafting efficiency and affection with your companions, which in turn affects the presence stat? Edited January 13, 2013 by Machine-Elf

I've seen worse ideas.

Not many, but they're definitely out there.

 

BioWare's goal in all of this is to make enough money to keep running the game and enough beyond that to make an acceptable profit and I predict that all the Cartel Market haters they eventually lose will be more than made up for by people that enjoy it and spend money on it or by subscribers who save up their free coins and only use them.

 

It's in their own best interest to keep the market running, keep it constantly updated, and not waste time on a second version of the game that doesn't include it including all the infrastructure necessary to keep the two apart.

 

The fact that there are so many junk items from the packs flooding the GTN means that they're making a LOT of sales and are, therefore, in no hurry to remove it from your field of view.

There's at least $700 (a very low estimate) worth of packs worth of stuff on sale in the "toys" category on my server right now.

 

On the up side, all the haters will eventually disappear and we won't have to hear their complaints about and half-baked ideas to do away with the Cartel Market.

Just pretend the cartel market isn't there, like I do.

 

Exception: I do check out the market from time to time just to get an idea of what might turn up on the GTN. The only offering thus far that makes me consider spending part of my stipend is the extra character slot. No need for it yet tho.

I've seen worse ideas.

Not many, but they're definitely out there..

Name a few.

Name a few.

I admit, I was planning to fire off a list of ideas I've seen that were worse than this one but it proved to be a tougher challenge than I thought it would so I'm drawing a blank right now.

I'm sure they're out there, though.

Maybe someone else has the time to do the research.

Name a few.

 

Name some worse ideas? Sure, why not:

Back in beta, people were demanding that single blows with a laser sword kill and dismember the target.

Snipers demanded 300m plus range on all their attacks.

People demanded Jedi of all sorts be banned from hutt-ball, as Jedi wouldn't participate in a blood sport.

Halo/glow effects for high rank light-side characters.

The ability to fail your class mission, ending it prematurely and permanently.

Failing a space mission through death forcing you to pay a huge credit fee (based of your ship parts' grade) to "buy a new ship."

 

A premium server just wouldn't have enough people on it for anything. Cross-realm pvp and lfg would soften the blow at low levels of content, sure, but at max level, you'd be hard pressed to find anything on the GTN and you'd probably only see 1 or 2 raid guilds on each side. Maybe one pvp guild, but probably not even that.

Keep in mind this wouldn't replace the current model, but compliment it, by simply offering an alternative.

 

An alternative already exists, it's called the GTN. I managed to get two of the pieces of armor I wanted for my jugg ( Revan's chest and leg pieces) for just over 40,000 credits the other day. Even if I don't use my stipend or buy more cartel coins I can still get the items that I want.

 

As for all of the threads you mentioned about f2p and cartel market hate, I've noticed it's mostly the same posters over and over again.

Name some worse ideas? Sure, why not:

Back in beta, people were demanding that single blows with a laser sword kill and dismember the target.

Snipers demanded 300m plus range on all their attacks.

People demanded Jedi of all sorts be banned from hutt-ball, as Jedi wouldn't participate in a blood sport.

Halo/glow effects for high rank light-side characters.

The ability to fail your class mission, ending it prematurely and permanently.

Failing a space mission through death forcing you to pay a huge credit fee (based of your ship parts' grade) to "buy a new ship."

 

A premium server just wouldn't have enough people on it for anything. Cross-realm pvp and lfg would soften the blow at low levels of content, sure, but at max level, you'd be hard pressed to find anything on the GTN and you'd probably only see 1 or 2 raid guilds on each side. Maybe one pvp guild, but probably not even that.

 

I like a few of those ideas: the sniping range would allow snipers to, well, you know -- snipe -- and the halo/glow effect for lightside players is in keeping with what KOTOR has already established, and a nice incentive to level up on that alignment.

 

But yeah, the rest are pretty poor.

Edited January 13, 2013 by Machine-Elf

You do realize my proposal basically just reverts the game to the state it was in prior to the introduction of the Cartel Market, right?

 

That is your whole problem. Before the addition of F2P and the Cartel Market this game was failing financially. The subscription-only business model is no longer a viable option in today's MMO market. There is absolutely no way this game could have survived as long as it has without the new model. It amazes me that so many subscribers whine and complain about what essentially amounts to an alternate payment method. Everyone who plays this game for any significant amount of time pays for it. Some with a subscription, and some with micro transactions for Cartel Coins. It's not that big a deal.

 

edit: Fixed for clarity.

Edited January 13, 2013 by MattyTN

So I just had an idea: what if there were a server in which the Cartel Market didn't exist? This server would be exclusive to subscribers who would pay a premium (say, 20$/25$ a month instead of the standard 15$) in order to gain access to it.

 

Not gonna happen... no way im paying more than my usual £9 a month for that.. plus with my sub I get free coins.. yes not much but I only buy what I need/like from the market using those and save up if its more... plus you can already buy majority of the cartel market on the gtn anyways..yes its a higher price but they are already available for credit purchase in stead of cartel coins