We've lately seen a trend in selling rare armor sets directly, this week arguably the most rare and expensive in the Revan Reborn set.

I'd like to address Strongholds and decorations in this post.

Two new Strongholds are being introduced into the game this year, and we have five (mostly larger) ones from the past.

It's simply not possible to buy decorations, which are primarily gated behind CM-packs that are no longer available, especially in the numbers required to decorate the various Strongholds well.

Instead of relying on random drops from Chance Cubes to populate server GTNs with decorations from the past, can BW please put together a few large, themed bundles of decorations for direct sale?

Some examples include the Jedi/Republic decorations, Sith/Empire decorations, Underworld/Bounty Hunter/Smuggler decorations seen in past CM packs. It would be great if the bundles included a few new items for each theme, and if some new decorations could be earned in the game as well (HM FPs being one source, for example, as an incentive for more players to run them).

Each bundle should ideally include many multiple copies of each decoration, or a new collections "unlock" ability for the bundle or items within it. This way, if you're willing to pay a cost in cartel coins, a player can use as many of a given decoration as they might find necessary.

Players cannot replicate the beautiful environments seen throughout the game, but, with enough decorations that fit each Stronghold's basic aesthetic layout, we can attempt to come close. As it stands currently, this is not possible, even if you've accumulated hundreds of millions of credits or more over years of subscribing to SWTOR (which I doubt is your typical player). Single, one-time-use gold or even silver decorations are regularly sold for 10-25 million or more credits.

Essentially, there is a system in the game that is engaging, but the items required to use it properly either aren't available or are so expensive it's not possible to decorate Strongholds well. Instead, the effort put forward by SWTOR's staff in making them results in the various Strongholds being filled with chairs so players receive a 100% conquest bonus for each.

Relating to the conquest bonus, I think it might be worthwhile for the SWTOR team to revisit how this is calculated as well. Instead of how many hooks are used, it might be better to calculate the bonus based on fully unlocking each Stronghold and a smaller percentage of hooks used. This way, players can decorate a Stronghold with aesthetics in mind and still receive a full bonus for each one. Currently, in order to do so, it's typically necessary to use almost all available hooks, and this generally makes for a visually unappealing result.

Since Keith mentioned recently the team is reengaging all game systems, I thought I'd make a post about Strongholds. The current drops from new CM packs and chance cubes simply don't allow for decorating Strongholds properly.

Would be nice but I have actually given up on them doing anything like this.

Same. I think the OP has nice ideas. However, there has been zero acknowledgment of decoration availability concerns despite numerous threads on the topic, and posts to Dev threads asking for player input. No Dev response is a response.

Same. I think the OP has nice ideas. However, there has been zero acknowledgment of decoration availability concerns despite numerous threads on the topic, and posts to Dev threads asking for player input. No Dev response is a response.

While generally the case, it never hurts to bring this to the attention of Keith and the developers. I imagine they're pretty busy with trying to redirect the game toward more multiplayer aspects, alongside the other systems also in place in SWTOR.

Since new Strongholds are being released this year, I thought this might be a good time to bring this up, especially when ultra-rare armor sets are being sold directly.

It follows that something more akin to a direct-sale "expansion pack", Galactic Decorations, might be reasonable to suggest, even if it's split into different decoration types as suggested in the OP. It's cartel coin sales for BW, and a way better approach to utilizing Strongholds for players.

I can't imagine the folks in Austin would prefer players fill Strongholds up with chairs and Rishi meat trees. There must be a better way to get CM decorations into the game.

They should add all CM decorations to our collection and allow us to use Cartel Coins or In game currency to add more copies of the unlocked decorations to our strongholds. Much like how a player can add a copy of the decoration to their guild ship. However, this would be from our collection to the strongholds. Decorations from the CM are far to rare and the pricing is way out of control. This would be a good way SWTOR could make more money through the sale of cartel coins for unlocking more copies of decorations.

Edit: Also I do like the OP idea.

Rock on!

They should add all CM decorations to our collection and allow us to use Cartel Coins or In game currency to add more copies of the unlocked decorations to our strongholds. Much like how a player can add a copy of the decoration to their guild ship. However, this would be from our collection to the strongholds. Decorations from the CM are far to rare and the pricing is way out of control. This would be a good way SWTOR could make more money through the sale of cartel coins for unlocking more copies of decorations.

 

Edit: Also I do like the OP idea.

 

Rock on!

Agreed to this and the OP! I'd love to see more actual multi-item themed deco packs. I know they did the single-item RNG packs on the CM awhile back, but that was rather disappointing...for me, anyway.

I agree. I don't want to buy packs for random decorations. I much prefer the bundles they sell with specific decorations and wish they offered more of those, as well as more decorations by the piece. There are so many decorations in various environments around the SWTOR world that would be amazing if they could be added to one's stronghold. And when one has a number of SHs, it's sad that they all end up looking somewhat similar because there are only, say, three options for beds, and a handful of couches, and so on.

I also wish they would be in Collections so you could unlock multiple copies of each decoration.

I also wish they would be in Collections so you could unlock multiple copies of each decoration.

Yes...also this! Especially if they don't put much out on the CM in the first place. I know that I personally would rather buy a deco on the GTN, then spend the CC to unlock more copies rather than spend CC trying to *maybe* get something in an RNG crate....especially since decos aren't guaranteed in the first place.

I would also buy more SHs if this was available since it would save me from having to spend millions buying more of what I already have in my other SHs...or emptying out one or more of my already-furnished SHs just to decorate the new one.

I don't understand why they don't simply offer all decos for direct sale on the CM. Allow every play to buy whatever deco they desire for real life money whenever they want. How could this be damaging to BW's finances?

At this point of time, I think they should do this with everything. I mean, if people are willing to buy a virtual armor set for 30 Euros, why not offer them the chance to buy 100 armors for 30 Euros each. Instead of only one every now and then?

Also, offer all packs at all times, for the people who prefer gambling or hope for a lucky bargain.

I suppose it's safe to say that this game needs to generate more revenue. If it doesn't get more new subs, then there is nothing left but milking the whales. If I would be in charge, I would put much more direct sales item to the CM and decos would come first. It's a huge market opportunity that BW is currently ignoring.

They should add all CM decorations to our collection and allow us to use Cartel Coins or In game currency to add more copies of the unlocked decorations to our strongholds. Much like how a player can add a copy of the decoration to their guild ship. However, this would be from our collection to the strongholds. Decorations from the CM are far to rare and the pricing is way out of control. This would be a good way SWTOR could make more money through the sale of cartel coins for unlocking more copies of decorations.

 

Edit: Also I do like the OP idea.

 

Rock on!

This, so much this. Even when you are lucky enough to get a deco at the prohibitively expensive prices or crap odds, you can only have 1.

Why bother introducing 2 new strongholds if we can't have the decorations to put in it? If you want players to care about strongholds, you need to make it possible to actually do something with them - and it's a great extra way for Bioware to make some more money, since a lot of people would rather pay to unlock extra copies/buy guaranteed decos than buy them from the GTN where virtual currency just moves around.

I love decorating but there's no way I'm buying gambling packs just for those. Not to mention a lot of the recent stuff has just not been to my taste. Iokath stuff is just ugly...

with these recently themed armor/starter bundles, like the current Veteran Soldier bundle, it would really be nice to see themed decoration bundles as well, that would actually give a decent number of items.

For example, a Jedi Academy bundle, with 4 of Padawans, 2 of the Kel dor masters, 3-4 of the meditation chambers, 4 jedi temple banners, 6 temple chairs, 6 temple beds, and 2-3 jedi library pieces, for 2000 cc.

in the mean time, if they choose not to do that, then I'm still of an opinion that they need to permanently put those gold/silver/bronze deco packs back up in the market, with an initial price cut for a couple of weeks.

something has to be done at least, because while we could a stronghold on every planet everyone has ever wanted, the fact is, we don't have enough decorations to make them look good.

Has this what Swtor become? Jesus, and they say whales were bad talk about wanting everything now now now, my word if you missed the windows they were currently at you don't deserve it frankly. No wonder why all the collectors left the game, the game itself is losing so much value in every aspect.

It's the only part of the game with constant development and new stuff every few weeks....

I want a room in Rishi, ONE room not TWO, not MORE.

I'd like an entire house on Rishi. A really big one, with beautiful views of the lakes and beaches and a wrap around deck. If they gave me my house...well, I'll lease you *one room* no more, no less lol.

Has this what Swtor become? Jesus, and they say whales were bad talk about wanting everything now now now, my word if you missed the windows they were currently at you don't deserve it frankly. No wonder why all the collectors left the game, the game itself is losing so much value in every aspect.

The word "Deserve" does not even belong in this conversation.

The founders who've been active every day since 2012 or the whales don't "deserve" exclusive access to anything from the Cartel Market either. None of those items are earned through an achievement. They're purchased, either through Cartel Coins or credits. That a player was blessed by the RNG gods in 2013 or purchased decos at that time when they are new and cheap, shouldn't guarantee them exclusive access. Why shouldn't players who weren't active in 2012 or 2013 have an opportunity to purchase those same items for prices that aren't ridiculous inflated on the GTN? The only decorations that should be gated behind exclusivity are those earned through achievements, like clearing a NiM Operation.

Part of the problem with the decorations being so overpriced is their rarity. Many are from packs that are no longer available, and even when a pack is available the drop rates are often low to begin with. If Bioware is going to be introducing new Strongholds, they need to increase the number of available decorations on the market.

Finally and most importantly, this game is bleeding subscriptions. Having the ability to fully decorate Strongholds be limited to founders or the richest players is doing nothing to encourage new players to stick around. It's a bad business practice. This game can't survive on just it's founders.

You do realize most of the whales spent way to many creds on them as well, I have clearly spent over 3.5b credits on my decorations and I don't want them to drop the worth of nothing and have everything communist just cause people missed the opportunities to buy them at the given time.

But what do I know about the market and how all these direct sales are driving away all the whales from the game also the collectors as well, pretty soon everyone will be equal and have everything everyone else does and not show anything off which they have and others don't then just end up quitting themselves.

Take a look at Swg, before it shut down it dished out as much Tcg crap as possible just like how Bioware is doing now with the CM.

This game can't also survive on just new players coming in as well, if everything's the same and everyone has what you have, why bother even playing?

The word "Deserve" does not even belong in this conversation.

 

The founders who've been active every day since 2012 or the whales don't "deserve" exclusive access to anything from the Cartel Market either. None of those items are earned through an achievement. They're purchased, either through Cartel Coins or credits. That a player was blessed by the RNG gods in 2013 or purchased decos at that time when they are new and cheap, shouldn't guarantee them exclusive access. Why shouldn't players who weren't active in 2012 or 2013 have an opportunity to purchase those same items for prices that aren't ridiculous inflated on the GTN? The only decorations that should be gated behind exclusivity are those earned through achievements, like clearing a NiM Operation.

 

Part of the problem with the decorations being so overpriced is their rarity. Many are from packs that are no longer available, and even when a pack is available the drop rates are often low to begin with. If Bioware is going to be introducing new Strongholds, they need to increase the number of available decorations on the market.

 

Finally and most importantly, this game is bleeding subscriptions. Having the ability to fully decorate Strongholds be limited to founders or the richest players is doing nothing to encourage new players to stick around. It's a bad business practice. This game can't survive on just it's founders.

word for word i agree with this, i also don't think anyone deserves anything. we are just customers and some of us have been around longer than others, but thats no justification for entitlement claims.

word for word i agree with this, i also don't think anyone deserves anything. we are just customers and some of us have been around longer than others, but thats no justification for entitlement claims.

Yeah, easy for someone to say that hasn't spent over 5b credits in game yet right? Those that have been in game longer might not have entitlement claims, but those that just constantly whine and not even bother trying to obtain what they wanted at the given time they were being driven into the game sure does not have entitlement either, goes both ways sorry to say.

Yeah, easy for someone to say that hasn't spent over 5b credits in game yet right? Those that have been in game longer might not have entitlement claims, but those that just constantly whine and not even bother trying to obtain what they wanted at the given time they were being driven into the game sure does not have entitlement either, goes both ways sorry to say.

what difference does it make if it's 5 billion credits or 500 credits? you made that choice to put in the effort to pick up that fuff content, that isn't on anyone but you. an entitlement claim is about how one feels about what they consider an injustice regarding how much effort they have put into something, unfortunately more often than not it's misguided, especially on MMO's where people feel that their time and effort should be rewarded just because they put more effort into it.

the problem is that we are only just customers, the game maker has no right to do anything for anyone.

Yeah, easy for someone to say that hasn't spent over 5b credits in game yet right? Those that have been in game longer might not have entitlement claims, but those that just constantly whine and not even bother trying to obtain what they wanted at the given time they were being driven into the game sure does not have entitlement either, goes both ways sorry to say.

I doubt you're the only one who has spent 5b credits in-game. Just because maybe at the time certain decorations became initially/readily available, any given person (like myself) wasn't interested in decorating SHs and therefore didn't pick up a certain deco, doesn't mean that just because now they've decided to decorate a SH (or an additional one since new ones are being offered), that they should be totally SOL.

Plus, people like to decorate different SHs in different themes sometimes. So while my DK or NS or Tatooine SH was in no need of some no-longer-available deco, maybe my new Manaan or the upcoming Umbara one is just screaming for it. SOL again, I guess?

It's not a "sense of entitlement" ...it's just wanting to be able to decorate one's SH in the way one desires. If I have to spend credits or CCs on it, fine. I have no problem with that. I've dropped several mil just to get a couple of rare pieces that I really wanted. I've spent CCs on deco packs. I don't see anyone on this thread saying that they want it all for free. Just make some of the now-non-available ones available again...for a price...so that those who missed out on them...either because they weren't playing the game at the time or just weren't interested in them at the time...can purchase them if they want.

We've lately seen a trend in selling rare armor sets directly . . . <znip>

Believe me if they figure it's a profit in it, it will be there, and by the way wanna take the opportunity to thank those pouring money into the game via CM, prolly the one and only thing that keeping us alive and online as a game. . .

Now go out there and buy some stuff . . .

Yeah, easy for someone to say that hasn't spent over 5b credits in game yet right? Those that have been in game longer might not have entitlement claims, but those that just constantly whine and not even bother trying to obtain what they wanted at the given time they were being driven into the game sure does not have entitlement either, goes both ways sorry to say.

1. there have been several compromise suggestions, both in this thread and several in the Stronghold forum, where people have said they want a similar feature like the guilds, where we can purchase decorations that we have already for some credit amount. This means the player has to already have gotten one of the item in question, in order to make copies of it. it has a secondary benefit of bleeding large amounts credits out of circulation in order to purchase those copies. i've seen that personally, dropping 10M credits buying guild copies of several items so we could have a cool looking flagship and headquarters.

2. if they didn't implement #1, and were to have themed decoration packs on the CM, new people as well as the whales would still be buying these things, which has the benefit of feeding some starving developer, artist, or community manager, as well as allowing people who may have missed something, to be able to purchase it.

i get that you get a sense of accomplishment for being able to RNG some item, and displaying that is a sense of pride. i get a sense of pride when I work on my strongholds, making them look good, even if no one else ever see's them.

No one is suggesting any silly communist or socialist crap, its still capitalism at its finest. no one is being given anything freely without having to do anything for it, we are just suggesting that a way to be able to purchase things that are no longer in proper circulation be there. I was looking for 2 Dread Fate Plaques to help complete a Sith area I was working on last night, and there were none available on the GTN. I was lucky to get 2 from RNG packs last year, but I need 2 more. I will be looking at the GTN often to see if someone eventually puts a couple up, but am I SOL on finishing this? does someone get a sense of accomplishment knowing that I will not be able to finish the stronghold i'm working on? i just don't get it.

so i leave you with the a real world anecdote to see if this makes sense now:

the commies win, no more amazon, overstock.com, ikea, best buy, fry's, sears, walmart, kmart, whatever. every month you get the ability to go to a large warehouse where you draw a single ticket that says what you can purchase, a sofa, tv, computer, bed, toilet, etc... you are really hoping for a bed this time, but draw a bookshelf, again... you have drawn a bookshelf for the last 20 times. and while you have been able to trade them for some other things you would like, beds are rare and no one wants to trade for them. so you continue to wait, and wait, and wait.