You're wrong about the Legal aspect: https://gameslaw.org/new-regulation-for-loot-boxes-in-china-international-impact-for-all-online-games 1.25% is... gacha game realms of chances, especially if we assume the "magical" "Increased chance at platinums" was triggered in our 120 box reveal. The simple point is that China is regulating this far more than USA has bothered to do, and... You might want to look up what % of all western Publishing houses Tencent now owns (it's close to 10-40% for *all* western publishing houses now, barring the big three). You can be an ethically mature and righteous person and still be wrong about this topic. Although, noted, we didn't forget. ~ Translated: there is no official disclosure of Loot Box %chances. This is illegal in a few countries (not Belgium you oik). SWOTOR is sold in these countries. 1.25% breaks gacha gambling Laws. QED. ** c.f "Saudi Arabia's $400 Billion Wealth Fund Invests In EA, Activision Blizzard, And Take-Two" https://www.gamespot.com/articles/saudi-arabias-400-billion-wealth-fund-invests-in-ea-activision-blizzard-and-take-two/1100-6487651/ ~ But yes, there are specific legal Laws against non-disclosed %drop rates, especially if you advertise (ingame or out) that buying more of them will increase your chances and they do not. < This is the important bit. SWOTOR specifically has even an ingame loading screen telling you that "the more you open, the better your chances get at gaining..." said items. If this is 1.01% > 1.25% then they're breaking all kinds of rules. Laws, even. And not just in Belgium. For instance: https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/03.html Section 3.11, 3.14 3.14 states: "Marketing communications must not claim that products can facilitate winning in games of chance." Both are breached by the splash screens ingame. i.e. by advertising (falsely we think) that buying said products increases your chance of winning (getting increased %chance of rares / pack opened) ... fairly clear breach of UK Law. We can do this... for all EU countries.

Well. Here's the thing. By your reckoning, there's no diffrence between 1.25% and 5%. Now do that for $200. Or $2000. Or $600,000,000. It very quickly adds up. ~ For the record: we dumped this amount to test a thesis (and science demands we use the same methods as you all do, no cutting corners and asking for free loot boxes to stream with here). In other news: $600,000,000 is also a number on a project I have worked on. 1.25% in that case is.. well. 5% is $30 million dollars. 1.25% is 7.5 million dollars. There's a difference. Bit out of your pay grade though*. In case this isn't obvious enough, reverse the figures and make them revenue streams for selling loot boxes. With a 1.25% purple rate you make X, with a 5% chance you make X-Y. You know, the difference between $30,000,000 and $7,500,000. Just think a bit on it.

Well... this went well. Here's a little bit of math: 120 crates is 480 items. If 6 items from 480 are platinum... that's a 1.25% hit rate. One box = 4 items. 120 boxes = 480 items 480 items with 6 platinum items = 1.25% chance. Open up a calculator: 6 / 480 x 100 = 1.25. That's how this works. The fact that all of you couldn't work this out says a lot about how weighted your responses will be. It's gonna be a footnote. A footnote pointing out that those gambling on said lootboxes do not even understand the odds when they buy them. ~ Which is the point. They're selling this trash to people who cannot even do the basic math. Oh and points: 1) Statistical distribution is bounded by # class items. We were getting multiple repeat results [this means duplicate items, edit] within the test and the item class range (especially since a lot of cartel items actually do not appear to be in these packs) isn't huge. It's in the realms of 1'000s not millions, which is where statistics usually gets into issues. Tell me you do not know anything about this if you conflate a tiny little MMO loot table with say, 320,000,000 people in the USA 2) It's just wrong: they don't advertise the loot rates and drumroll: the advertised increase in platinum drops does not exist. << this is the bit a lot of Countries have rules against 3) Absolutely none of the replies are from adults with experience with this, so hey.

The items do not matter. What matters is the <subtype> generation. All items are listed by rarity. In this case, if you got six identical "platinums" it would not matter because we're interested in the class / <subtype> tables and the percentage spread on generation. Rolls on these tables can be weighted and can be *really unfair* because that's a different set of rules. So, if EA / Bioware were actually playing by the Legal Law, they'd have X% of platinum wins: legally they could cheat this by making 90% of all platinum wins be X item > this is a different argument and legally separate. 1.25% return on bets is breaking the Law. And yes, I did just spend >$200 testing this. And no, it's not like a lottery ticket. Look it up: gambling with 100% returns (which this is) has a different rule book than the Lottery. ~ And we really did test this. 60 / 60 crates: 3/3 spread. 120 on single char: 6. Etc. It's a scam.

For the kids out there: The Casino (EA / Bioware in this case) already "stack the deck" by making arbitrary distinctions between item classes. Is a "platinum item" any different from a "gold" or "bronze" item? Of course not, they're all in the same database and all use the same assets, take the same effort and have no distinction in form other than artificial rarity produced by the company. What the company has done here is, essentially: rip off all those buying "hyper crates" or "cartel crates" for the last ten years. Deliberately and fully intentionally. 1.25% return is illegal, flat out, especially if you advertise that this rate will increase if you open more crates seqentially [this breaks two rules: 1) odds requirements on bets and 2) artifical incentives to increase stake gambling where no such recourse exists) It's also really illegal. And you muppets put up with it for ten years.

As title. Doing a PHD on this, so, of couse - had to dump $240 or close enough to open 120 crates for Science [and 120 more on separate accounts to test the "buff" claim]. The moxy title "Open more and get an increased chance at platinums!" comes to mind. There were (*drum roll*) six (6) platinum items. That's a 1.25% hit chance. Which, strangely enough, is less than all Legal Laws require for gambling . All opened sequentially. None were companions, rare sets or sets that have been on the sales front end for the last six months [we have to check these things] - I'm also pretty sure that all the top end #cost items aren't in the boxes, but hey, and none were anything current. This breaks several Laws in a couple of Countries on loot box distribution. You might want to look them up. i.e. You cannot advertise a "larger return on a larger gamble" and ... not actually do it. Six platinums in 120 boxes (480 items) is... breaking the rules. It's a lower percentage return than even Casinos get away with. We did not see a difference in drop rates from opening 120 crates sequentially or 120 crates on 4 different characters, thus we doubt the entire "Platinum buff" claim. i.e. Breaking the Law (and advertising Gambling, but hey, those are separate penalties). This will get you a RICO / gambling Law suit in like 10 countries. For the record: We're not surprised, we're just like: disappointed. I'll make this clear: Lootboxes are gambling. Having a 1.25% hit rate on a $120 bet is illegal. Especially if you advertise that that "luck chance" goes up when opening boxes and it does not. ~ You're breaking the Law (in multiple Countries) and it's just sad. p.s. Happy to show you where the Law is being broken if you flame me with a [i am in Country X] tab. This is flat out illegal and rude in multiple countries that SWOTOR is sold in. And you can bring a class Law suit and win.

The reply to all of this is simply: "OK". You're 10 years in, and you're still balancing classes. What crack are you smoking? Fix your skill trees first. Fix the tacticals. Fix the design choices. Fix trying to make all things equal and all DPS equal and so on. Class X is better for raid Y? Yes, cool: make a raid Z where class Y is better. Don't attempt to balance your entire content for 10 years to flatten your psychotic Excel curve. If you design a system where there is a single "meta" for a class... then nerf that meta, you're gonna have a bad time / lose subscribers. UO from 2002 says hello. Especially if you don't like, you know, do that creative thing the 6 figure salary suggests and make four new metas. That's the bit you're missing. Not going to lie, SWOTOR is a boring game atm - it doesn't know when to let players "off the reigns" and enjoy spanking the crap PvE and it, (shockingly) after 10 years doesn't even have functioning three tier skill forks for classes.* That's like... first year training diapers stuff. p..s You totes frakked up 330 stuff, but hey. Under 2 months, you can max out 8 chars in 331. Good design choice ~ Full disclosure: I don't think the "dev" team actually have license to change the base game in any meaningful way btw - pretty sure this is a case of "Whale MMO preservation" territory. They simply don't have the exec pull to change the game anymore. @Chris - prove me wrong, but it's true. *This reminds me of the difference between Torchlight 2 and Torchlight 3 btw. Only... you've had 10 years to know this stuff.

Gonna say this one: Having looked at these changes and the skill trees, 100% Chris isn't doing his job properly. There are literally entire skill trees where entire selections are never taken, for multiple combat styles. The stuff suggested for tacticals (as discussed in the first post) are 100% skill tree discussions. If this happens, 100% you've failed in your design brief. Tacticals should modify or extend already existing skill tree choices not function as band-aids. And the less said about all the "gives 3% reduction" on implants the better.

And yet: 1) I've never heard of "Shard of Mortis" as a tactical and no-one ingame has ever recommended it. On checking it is in the shop, but... everyone uses AM. 2) It is never mentioned in discussions, and it is not used. No guide recommends it. 3) Why is it being introduced as a new 7.1.1 tactical when it already exists? All of these strongly suggest my initial analysis.. is correct and has been proven by player experience. All of these additions did: 1) Not change the meta 2) Are not used so.. 3) Why are the dev team wasting time adding useless stuff to the DB that is never used if they understand their own game? 4) This all suggests they do not. QED. ~ I was actually looking for the new 7.1.1 patch notes / changes. The fact an "old post" is the top sticky is kinda telling. https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/08112022/game-update-7.1a -- does not have the new patch details in it. Aka, are Operative Healers being nerfed?

As a general note, I've only commented on classes I have played to 330+. But these tacticals are terrible and no decent QA would have let them through the alpha stage. All three: a) do nothing good for the class, b) do not challenge the current meta in any significant way and c) are actively worse than the current meta, thus will never be used. It is obvious that Chris (and team) do not actually play Mercenaries / Mara Carns in any fashion at all.

Carnage Marauders are receiving a new Tactical to replace Fanged God Form Shard of Mortis - Using Massacre / Blade Rush adds Hyper stacks to you, increasing your critical chance by 25% per stack and increasing the cost of your next Massacre / Blade Rush by 1 rage / focus per stack, up to 3. When you deal damage with another ability, Hyper is removed. Again, a tactical that might be used only because the current selection for Carn Maras is so bad. 1) A decent Carn Mara is rage intensive, but the old "spam x3 massacres to build" meta is ancient news. Adding a feature that makes them more rage intensive is 100% dumb as rocks. You just broke all the rotations for a +25% crit chance on a filler attack. Yay! 2) 330+ Mara Carns are already swimming in +crit chance. 3) Seriously, what is this supposed to even do for Mara Carns? A tactical that gave some bonuses to ranged attacks (DB / DST / VT) might be an interesting balanced choice versus Andeddus Mal. which... every Mara chooses because all the other tacticals are useless. You just added a tactical that sucks more rage from the build, thus lowering the DPS, throwing off all the rotations, for a +25% crit on a filler. 100% amazing work. 100% no Mara Carns will use this.

Hello: RE: changes to Merc Bodyguard / Tacticals / Heat. Sorry, no. This 100% misunderstands the issues at hand and an emergency vent on a tactical will *never* be chosen over the current Supercharged Gas Meta. The entire tactical needs scrapping and the abilitiy (ranged 8 target AoE centered on player with limited heat vent) moved to lvl 73 "Afterburners". This forces a choice between advanced heat dissipation (good for raids) vrs Trauma Regulators (personal RCD, good for everything). Absolutely no-one is going to choose an emergency vent vrs the current Super-charged Gas meta because the issue with Merc Bodyguard healing is DURATION and SUSTAINABILITY. You gain far far more viability from a constant trickle of super-charge than from a long heat timer. This is not an issue for ARSENEL, so the current tactical meta, ticking burn.... is not going to get chosen for a situational heat vent. Your DPS just went down two tiers for 100% no benefit. You have designed a tactical that is useless. 100% this is bad design. Move the tactical abilitties to the Lvl 73 Afterburners skill, it's a skill that IS ONLY EVER CHOSEN FOR SINGULAR OPS (thinking ToS Blade tossing etc, maybe KP HM puzzle). Make it useful, force a viable (i.e. cost balanced) choice for the lvl 73 tier skills. Or you know, think outside the box, and offer the players a self-stun at 100% heat already - Gyroscopic Aligment Jets is 100% useless, if you gave the players a skill that self-stunned for X duration @ 100% heat while dissippating 50 heat it might work. At the moment, it is never used, which is a great sign your skill tree needs work. I repeat: you do not understand why 100% of merc healers are using the double-supercharged gas meta if you think this tactical works in any way, nor do you understand ARSENEL DPS. I'll make this simple: ARSENAL MERCS DO NOT SUFFER HEAT ISSUES AS DPS. NADA, DOESN'T HAPPEN, NOT HOW IT IS PLAYED. Bodyguards.... DO. Bodyguard Mercenaries will receive a new Tactical based on their old Rocket Fuel Vapors item Kolto Vapors - The Kolto Pods left by Kolto Missile / Kolto Bomb last a second longer and heal for an additional 5%. Just lol. Seriously, LOL. This is a tactical? No-one takes the pods part of kolto missile seriously. It's a 3k tick (if you crit) joke. 5% of 3k is.... 100% a waste of a database space. It is used for the x2 19-20k tick for DPS you're not focus Healing scan on. That's it. Whoever designed this is not actually playing the game. Period. It might help in EV SM raids if you're the only healer. That's it. Since you apparently don't understand your own game, 100% of bodyguards use SC-4 scanner tactical + Random Charge Package to maximise the 10 heat vent on super-charged gas. They will not be giving it up for a +5% to a 3k tick, ever. ~ Move the proposed Arsenel tactical to the skill, and actually play your own game.

This is the correct answer.

Reward tiers, in order of rarity: 50 Blue chips 1 Emp chip (return) 1-2 Golden tickets 1-2 Cartel Tokens <pet table #1> <mount table #1> <companion> <pet table #2> <mount table #2> <high roller weapons table> <glasses> <??? Casino Grand Prize ???> -- this may not exist in game. There is no way to not get anything when rolling, so you are mis-reading your event chat. The Unlucky roll / Lucky roll achievements are locked to Blue Kingpin and below tables.

Here's a pro tip from someone who has coded loot tables in their time: IF (big if, it's a terrible design choice) you go with sequential upgrade systems so that your initial green Goblin poker eventually becomes the Ogre smashing valor of doom[tm] ... You never, ever split the base items off like you have. You want a boring system of 320 > 330? Fine. Then you make the green drops into blues into purples using the same items and merely change the currency requirements on upgrades as dropped by new zones. You explicitly do NOT make all the base items different loot tables and have separate vendors and currencies because.. *drum roll*: Smart players will 100% skip as much content as possible to reach current Endgame, and you end up with a slew of dead Content zones because no-one wants to farm yesterday's endgame. That took me 4 minutes to type out: it cost your company a few million. Seriously. And the Dev team all made six figures and the C team even larger making this disaster.