This one item was just pretty much a reminder that they haven't forgotten about that vendor. They say they are thinking about giving more stuff. I'd just suggest lowering your expectation for next time, maybe you won't feel so betrayed then. I'm personally just glad that the vendor is still exclusive and not public, so any extra stuff in there, no matter how minor and / or ugly is still nice to me. Of course I could also cry how I didn't get a new pet, like I wanted, but if I'm gonna cry about anything I'd rather cry about cash-only reputation.

So as I said, DON'T expect anything cool, will save you the disappointment. And if it will somehow turn out to be cool, then you will be even more happy.

You need to get your head out of your *** and not step in randomly on a topic before giving an attempt on posting about it with no previous knownledge.

EAware has admitted that they forgot about the CE vendor and trying to slap us in the face with the copy + paste from the advertisement that tricked everyone is nothing to say "oh look they care." They already failed because this clippy as hell, one color, 100,000cr DBZ-look-alike gear is NOT unique already.

My expectations on this whole game have been lower than any other I've ever played - it's not my fault that somehow EAware goes beneath that regularly.

I think it was after the Taunta, when Ohlen was talking about CE vendor on PAX last year. It's all on youtube.

It was actually pre-launch, shortly after the CE was announced and people were asking what the vendor was about before they laid down their cold, hard cash on it.

It was a marketing tactic that directly influenced purchasing decisions at the time of the pre-order and beyond, and that makes it even more important that BioWare makes good on this.

It was actually pre-launch, shortly after the CE was announced and people were asking what the vendor was about before they laid down their cold, hard cash on it.

 

It was a marketing tactic that directly influenced purchasing decisions at the time of the pre-order and beyond, and that makes it even more important that BioWare makes good on this.

^ This.

But prepare for people to defend EAware and say we are the ones at fault.

The ONLY way this thread will end is when we see a regular updates and that is all. It was never about what items we got, just as long as vendor keeps getting "REGULAR" updates.

Depends on the person it seems, some people seem to care specifically about the items being truely unique. I think we should get around to identifying some items that we feel are desirable, and decide if we'd be cool with getting reskins of CM items in exchange for a higher quantity of updates.

Depends on the person it seems, some people seem to care specifically about the items being truely unique. I think we should get around to identifying some items that we feel are desirable, and decide if we'd be cool with getting reskins of CM items in exchange for a higher quantity of updates.

Personally, as long as it's updated as regularly as the Cartel Market, I'd be sated. Doesn't need the volume, but the regularity is a necessity. That being said, the store was marketed as having weapons and armour that would differentiate us from other players as we level, and that it would update "dynamically."

Some people don't want to use the Security Keys because they have been known to cause issues and are not easily removable from an account once applied.

 

They remove them pretty easy now. They didn't when first released but by September when I had to do it, easy as a phone call. The hard part was the wait time if you call during an update or whatever to flood the lines. But if you call on a slow day, it's a call less than 5 minutes.

It was actually pre-launch, shortly after the CE was announced and people were asking what the vendor was about before they laid down their cold, hard cash on it.

 

It was a marketing tactic that directly influenced purchasing decisions at the time of the pre-order and beyond, and that makes it even more important that BioWare makes good on this.

Sure there is a video back down in the thread which I could track

In response to thread:

25 Feb 2012

Yes.

28 Feb 2013

Hey everyone,

 

I just brought this back to the development team to get some clarification. One thing I can say is you will see something added into the CE vendor in Game Update 1.7.2, so look for it.

 

I cannot go into any details but I can say that we are exploring different ideas on how to give more consistent and regular updates to the CE vendor going forward. Again I cannot go into any details and these plans are not finalized, but we have definitely not forgotten about the vendor!

 

-eric

I like Eric.

Eric is good people for the amount of contact that he has with this community... something that it should've had a year and a half ago and I hope it keeps up.

The people making the choice to flood the CM vendor/store with items and not putting anything on the CE vendor are the ones we don't like. The fact that there is a reputation vendor filled with unique items that is only obtainable through CM packs, is a slap in the face to every CE owner who was promised a vendor just like that at the beginning. We have gotten 2 updates (3 if you count the gear on the vendor being changed from light to adaptive) in a year.

Bioware most certainly doesn't care nor do they care to respond with a public apology for their choice to CONTINUE to ignore what was advertised and profited from. (the CE sale)

^ This.

 

But prepare for people to defend EAware and say we are the ones at fault.

just a couple of things to think about....

1) Be careful not to confuse "rabid fanboi-ism" with temporary satisfaction that ANY movement on this issue was achieved. Given the amount of time that passed between the two updates, it's a VERY good sign that we were able to get anything added to the vender.

2) There wasn't much time between when Musco decided to approach this problem with the devs, and when we got the update. I don't think we got a "recolor of a CM item" ~ It's very likely we got an item that was originally intended for the CM. Updating the CE vender wasn't even an item on "the wall of crazy" ~ BW had obviously decided to abandon it.

3) They have previously stated that the content teams are divided, and that the art teams for the CM shop and "rest of the game" are different people. Our item obviously came from the CM team. The team that's been releasing the largest volume of new gear, for the last 4 months. The team that has a short development cycle, and only works with gear/mounts/pets/ & toys. If updating the CE vender has ended up being added into their workflow ~ we should start getting something new on a regular basis...

3) They don't launch a patch just as soon as the items are finished. They launch the patch when they believe that it's ready to go live. The items may have been done weeks ago. Some of them may have even been pulled from files that were completed before the game launched. Given the number of meetings/discussions that this issue had to work it's way through on the way up the management chain ~ it's surprising we got anything this fast.

4) There is no point in trying to please people who refuse to be pleased....because they will not be pleased. If you cannot be pleased, you cannot blame anyone else for your never being happy. If BW decides that there is no point to trying the please CE owners.....the vender will not be updated again. Your displeasure does not give you any leverage to force BW to update the vender. The only leverage you have is your subscription that you pay. Get it out of your head that the vender was updated because "CE holders raised a fuss on the forums". It was updated because someone at BW read what we had to say and thought, "Ok, they're right about this, and this is wrong." It's not that we complained, it's that those complaints finally reached the right brain.

Personally, as long as it's updated as regularly as the Cartel Market, I'd be sated. Doesn't need the volume, but the regularity is a necessity. That being said, the store was marketed as having weapons and armour that would differentiate us from other players as we level, and that it would update "dynamically."

^^^QFT

The CE vender will never be updated with the quantity of items that go into the CM shop. I'm not saying that to sound like a pessimist ~ it's just logic. The CM shop has to have a revolving inventory to keep generating sales. If the CM shop inventory doesn't change, the money coming in from it continually declines. Players buy what they want rapidly, and then the sales from it will always start to fall flat.

*EDIT* If updating the CE vender has in fact been added to the workfolow of the CM team, it's at least possible we'll see updates with the same frequency as the CM shop.

So we have to differentiate between these two types of updates ~ because the CE vender doesn't generate revenue directly. The CE store generates revenue by improving the retention rate of long time subscribers, encouraging conversion from f2p to subscription, and subscribers are part of the content of an MMO. Those are completely different drivers.

The CE vender will never be updated with the quantity of items that go into the CM shop. I'm not saying that to sound like a pessimist ~ it's just logic. The CM shop has to have a revolving inventory to keep generating sales. If the CM shop inventory doesn't change, the money coming in from it continually declines. Players buy what they want rapidly, and then the sales from it will always start to fall flat.

I don't disagree with that. I never asked for quantity, not to mention the quantity flowing into the Cartel Market. I asked for regularity. And that's all that can realistically be expected, at this point.

I don't disagree with that. I never asked for quantity, not to mention the quantity flowing into the Cartel Market. I asked for regularity. And that's all that can realistically be expected, at this point.

I quoted to make sure that people had a second chance to read what you wrote, because I agree with you.

I think one of the reasons why the CE vender wasn't updated is because there wasn't a clear choice of which team had the responsibility for keeping up with it. It was just a victim of poor organization. And I imagine every team leader was saying, "My people don't have time to take care of that."

Thing is... If the CE vender has been added to the workflow of the CM shop team, we should see at least one update every 90 days.

I say that because, so far, that seems to be how the CM schedule is organized.

They go live in each series with something like this.

1) 4 series of packs in 2 grades (8 packs total, 2 for launch, 6 to be trickled in as sales decline)

2) 6 premium armor sets (2 released at the launch of the series - 4 to be trickled in later as sales decline)

3) spend the next 90 days developing the next series.

But I hope they've decided that we're going to get something every 6 weeks or so, with 2-3 items set aside for the CE vender from each 90 day development cycle. And that those items will be released over time, instead of all at once. I think that would generate the most activity on the CE vender.

I'm not going to get bent out of shape everytime the CM shop gets updated and I don't see something new pop up on the CE vender.

BUT ~ if we go 90 days without another update, I will be among the posters who help keep this thread on the front page.

If CE holders start using the vender ~ and it begins to function as the credit sink it was intended to be, we could start seeing some of the larger updates many people were hoping for. Things like complete armor sets, or truly unique mounts & pets that are not just reskins. I'm sure one of the reasons BW didn't bother with updating the vender was that no one was using it. Use it or lose it......

If CE holders start using the vender ~ and it begins to function as the credit sink it was intended to be, we could start seeing some of the larger updates many people were hoping for. Things like complete armor sets, or truly unique mounts & pets that are not just reskins. I'm sure one of the reasons BW didn't bother with updating the vender was that no one was using it. Use it or lose it......

The entire point of this thread is that there were never "Regular updates" as promised. 1 item for us while an entirely new Cartel Market vendor with 10+ items pops up along side of it, isn't right. That's what we were "promised" when information came out about the CE.

I have a taunta on every level 50 that I have (7 of them) and full imperial set // republic set on 2 of the characters. I'm sure all of the other CE owners out there have bought from the vendor as well. Are we just supposed to continually buy things that we've bought a year ago to show them we're using it?

You believing that one of the reasons they never updated it was us not using it is an absolute joke. We didn't use it because we had everything off it in the first 3 months of the game being live and then NOTHING being there for a year.

I can speculate too as to why they never updated it: The original dev team wasn't ready for the demand of the current MMO population nor were their standards anywhere NEAR the industries. That being said, the CE vendor got pushed to the back table (and consequently out of sight) because they lost a million subs and had to push out ways to make the game survive over fulfilling a promise to the CE owners. They had to produce content , pvp ranked warzones (which...they failed to do and was one of the last straws for a -lot- of people...hell, it's still preseason nearly a year later.) and make the game more user friendly (which didn't happen until 1.3).

The Cartel Market has eased their financial woes but it was way too late. The original dev team is gone except for a few folks... they bailed when they realized they put out a very SUB PAR mmo to the industries standards and the villagers were coming with pitchforks. (Examples of "industry standards" are Rift and Wow. Rift's development team is easily the best I've ever seen in this genre with community feedback and updating and WoW is just ... well it was an anomaly for sure) Now, this new team still wants to make money come in so they're not shut down by a certain money mongering machine that most of the population can't stand. (but they have to because EA is involved in multiple studios). They produce for them ... and not for the people that they forgot about.

There were a few certain letters that hit the internet when the SimCity launch failed for 3 days about the integrity of EA corp* from EA employees... Everything said in those letters holds true for this game as well. The production company has lost sight of the CUSTOMER (ce vendor) and what kind of product they deserve over their own greedy desire. (The cartel market)

In all honesty, I think it's safe to say that most peoples love of star wars is one of the reasons they continue to be here. (Guildmates probably being the other major reason) If this was some generic fantasy game, I doubt that any CE holder would still be posting here about something promised a year ago.

*snip*

You believing that one of the reasons they never updated it was us not using it is an absolute joke. We didn't use it because we had everything off it in the first 3 months of the game being live and then NOTHING being there for a year.

 

I can speculate too as to why they never updated it: The original dev team wasn't ready for the demand of the current MMO population nor were their standards anywhere NEAR the industries. That being said, the CE vendor got pushed to the back table (and consequently out of sight) because they lost a million subs and had to push out ways to make the game survive over fulfilling a promise to the CE owners. They had to produce content , pvp ranked warzones (which...they failed to do and was one of the last straws for a -lot- of people...hell, it's still preseason nearly a year later.) and make the game more user friendly (which didn't happen until 1.3).

 

*snip*

Who'se joking.

I doubt very seriously any of the CE holders that rage quit right after launch ever bought anything from the vender. This game lost 75% of it's players before the first CE update. And I'd be surprised if more than 25% of the CE accounts were subbed at that time. Many CE holders rage quit because of the pet update. The number of CE holders who are still playing is probably very very low.

If I had bought my CE before the game launched, and paid full retail price....I would have rage quit too.

None of that translates to the CE vender being used much by active players. And the only reason for them to ever bother with updating it now, is to try and attract some of the players who quit to come back. Failing to update the vender didn't cause anyone who has been posting in this thread to quit ~ so they don't need to update it for us.

And if it doesn't perform it's intended functions of helping to retain avid players and creating a credit sink to offset the high volume of credits added to the game economy by their high volume of game activity ~ there is no benefit to either CE holders, BW, or the game.

They need to add a 40million credit item to the CE vender just for players like Alec_Fortescue..LOL

I'd say your speculation about why it wasn't updated is accurate. I'd also it's more complicated than a single cause.

Wow, this update was overpromised and under delivered. A reskinned cartel pack item. I was even more disappointed to see both factions had the same item.

After seeing how Pay to Rep for a new reputation category is in every cartel pack now...no longer surprised.

EA is worse than an Asian MMO.

I don't think people rage quit because of the CE vendor though. The games issues were fundamentally with End game for both PVP and PVE. I could write a laundry list of them, but this thread isn't the place for it nor can it change the past.

The mistakes with the CE vendor can be rectified though and restore a lot of faith.

I don't think people rage quit because of the CE vendor though. The games issues were fundamentally with End game for both PVP and PVE. I could write a laundry list of them, but this thread isn't the place for it nor can it change the past.

 

The mistakes with the CE vendor can be rectified though and restore a lot of faith.

Well, actually it doesn't even matter why they quit.... the point is that the vender never got used. And there is no point in worrying about updating a feature that the player base isn't even capable of using. Especially when the "house is burning down around you".

I really, really lowered my expectations...somehow they still managed to under-deliver.

I've always managed to resist being a hater...just...but I've pretty much had it with them now.

I feel utterly ripped off, I purchased the CE version of the game pre-release for near £150, and I did it in large part on the strength of the exclusive vendor.

Whatever you might think my mistake was, the fact remains that they polished a turd.

This "update" is such a dry w@nk.

Well, actually it doesn't even matter why they quit.... the point is that the vender never got used. And there is no point in worrying about updating a feature that the player base isn't even capable of using. Especially when the "house is burning down around you".

To say that it never got used is just ridiculous. You only had to use it once per character and to say that CE owners never did that is way out there in la la land to the truth.

Also: If people didn't buy anything off the vendor, shouldn't that have raised red flags to Bioware that what they put on there was crap and it should be fixed for the CE owners? Clearly, that never happened.

Fact of the matter is this: The Cartel Market got it's own special vendor with Unique items that should've went to the CE owners who never got their promised updates... all because the CM vendor brings in bucket loads of cash.

To say that it never got used is just ridiculous. You only had to use it once per character and to say that CE owners never did that is way out there in la la land to the truth.

 

Also: If people didn't buy anything off the vendor, shouldn't that have raised red flags to Bioware that what they put on there was crap and it should be fixed for the CE owners? Clearly, that never happened.

 

Fact of the matter is this: The Cartel Market got it's own special vendor with Unique items that should've went to the CE owners who never got their promised updates... all because the CM vendor brings in bucket loads of cash.

True - if you purchase multiple Collector's Editions of SWTOR each month, at their original price point, perhaps EA will update your vendor with better items and even a unique reputation!

For example, Legendary status might garner a title, "Incessant Whiner of Unknown Consequence."

Point being: SWTOR flopped in its first months, plans changed, and your vendor did not get updated. You might also consider THE ENTIRE GAME barely received updates between March and September of 2012, and, really, content only started being input regularly once F2P launched. If that had not been a success, we'd likely have seen SWTOR go into maintenance mode.

Since there's now been a CE vendor update, perhaps there will be more. In the meantime, don't purchase collector's editions of anything, games or otherwise, unless you are doing so for the physical items included.

Perhaps a mental exercise of Malgus directing you will help in this endeavor. He does seem to intimating something or other in that $5 action figure pose.

 

Point being: SWTOR flopped in its first months, plans changed, and your vendor did not get updated. You might also consider THE ENTIRE GAME barely received updates between March and September of 2012, and, really, content only started being input regularly once F2P launched. If that had not been a success, we'd likely have seen SWTOR go into maintenance mode.

 

Yeah, basically the CE vender was the least of the Dev's worries about the game. And that's why I think it's a very good sign that they have finally added anything to the CE vender. Because it means that there are least a few people still on staff who think it's something that BW needs to fix.

Veyl. It's the chicken or egg all over again. And what you and I are saying are NOT mutualy exclusive. I'm not disagreeing with your assertation that "players didn't use the vender because it didn't sell anything players wanted".

All I'm trying to say is this..

"IF you have a CE, and the CE vender has something you like that you have not bought, BUY IT. Please use the vender if you can, or want to. "

The reason I feel that this is important, right now, is that vender participation is a metric that is being measured. Various devs have spoken to this fact several times over the past year. They have metrics that let them see which venders are being used, and what quantity of which items are being sold. If updating the CE vender does not boost it's activity, it will not be further updated ~ because there is no reason to update something that very few players will use. It will help the CE vender seem more important, and worth additional updates, if BW sees it being used more often.

BW designed a bad inventory for the CE vender to start with. It wasn't large enough, and the items were lackluster. And then they made the problem worse by failing to update it. I'm sure that didn't help retain subscriptions from people who bought the CE, and it surely didn't help sell copies of the CE. Bad reviews of the CE were up on Youtube during early access. In fact, at the time, I couldn't find a good review of it. Based on those reviews, I bought a vanilla copy of the game. I did not buy my CE, It was given to me as a gift in April, by someone close to me who knew I really enjoyed the game.

I'm glad I didn't buy a CE ~ If I had paid $120 for the CE, I would have rage quit before April. As it was, I didn't feel that $60 + sub was a rip off for the game I was playing at the time. If I had paid $120 + sub, I can't really describe how angry I would have been. That was a rip off of epic proportions, even for EA. I have enjoyed my CE, but I never would have paid for it.

You know, I actually like the update. I bought it right away for my main, a Chiss Imperial Agent. I've always always always had my head slot hidden, because I play her like a true agent of the Empire. You never once saw an officer of the Imperial Navy walking around the bridge of a star destroyer wearing some weird ninja mask or crazy-goggle head helm; so I didn't want that look either. However when I saw that the CE vendor was given a pretty cool little tech head piece, I purchased and equipped it. It looks a whole lot more "Imperial" than much of the other helms. Also, I don't care if it is a so called "reskinned" cartel item; as far as I'm concerned, no one but CE owners can get the gold version.

A whole-hearted Thank You Bioware!

You know, I actually like the update. I bought it right away for my main, a Chiss Imperial Agent. I've always always always had my head slot hidden, because I play her like a true agent of the Empire. You never once saw an officer of the Imperial Navy walking around the bridge of a star destroyer wearing some weird ninja mask or crazy-goggle head helm; so I didn't want that look either. However when I saw that the CE vendor was given a pretty cool little tech head piece, I purchased and equipped it. It looks a whole lot more "Imperial" than much of the other helms. Also, I don't care if it is a so called "reskinned" cartel item; as far as I'm concerned, no one but CE owners can get the gold version.

 

A whole-hearted Thank You Bioware!

Mako, Risha and Quinn look pretty awesome with the laser-sight.