I have run 5 of these missions so far 3 Slicing, 1 underworld trading and 1 treasure finding. I received 1 of the purple material each time for the slicing missions, 6 purple gems from the treasure hunting and no purple mats from the underworld trading. It seems like the new mission are a lot more of a gamble with so far a 0-6 range on the return.

 

I will keep testing this return rate, but it seems very odd to run a purple mission and not receive any purple mats or just one. The new augments will be much harder to obtain and priced very high for a long time.

Agree Completely. I like knowing at least approximately what will come back with 2 and a half hours of investment running a mission. My fave was a treasure hunting mission that came back with a blue item box but no actual gems. Made me want to log, basically. Doubling down on rng is not the way to go. Edited March 4, 2013 by Karl-Just-Karl

If they are removing the guaranteed purple drops from purple missions gained from slicing, that will piss off a lot of crafters. The reason I love the purple missions gained from slicing is if someone wants a gauranteed chance at the mats they need, they will pay the premium. I am one of those people. I hate gambling, I will never gamble in vegas, so I hate the idea of paying a ton of money for a purple mission that will not guarantee a purple mat.

 

I guess this might be their new system to deal with credit inflation. Having purple mats becoming a lot rarer, they will cost more on the GTN, so the percentage cut will be a lot more credits per transaction.