Star Wars: The Old Republic II: Hutts don't have feet!

[Kish]

If there were not advantages to subscribing, then no one would subscribe. The F2P and preferred options are loss-leaders with limitations that are designed to encourage players to either purchase cartel coins or subscribe. Your post states that your free game experience is inferior. Well yes, that's the point.

While I will not presume to speak for Guancyto or anyone but myself, speaking for me, I think their distribution of "ways you get better-than-acceptable play for being a subscriber" to "ways you get worse-than-acceptable play for not being a subscriber" is suboptimal. From a "we want people to play, and then to subscribe so they can get the rewards, not to say 'forget this' and just stop playing out of annoyance" perspective.

But...EA.

^World of Warcraft has a fundamentally different crafting system. No comparison is applicable; there would be no point to being able to "queue" crafted items when it takes about two seconds to craft any item. That's like asking if the personal spaceships in World of Warcraft are more attractive than the ones in SWTOR.

[Guancyto]

If there were not advantages to subscribing, then no one would subscribe. The F2P and preferred options are loss-leaders with limitations that are designed to encourage players to either purchase cartel coins or subscribe. Your post states that your free game experience is inferior. Well yes, that's the point.

See, there's the thing.

Someone who was not previously a subscriber would have no idea about this. With how many things they tell you are gotten by subscribing (they'll up and tell you that you're receiving less xp, not receiving rest xp, paying more at vendors, not receiving all mission rewards, etc. You can't go five minutes without running into that icon), you'd think the list of F2P restrictions was exhaustive.

You'd be wrong. The net result is...

Cartel Market revenue from this change: Zero, because there's no pay option to remove it.
Incentive to subscribe from this change: Zero, because it's not indicated anywhere that this is a F2P vs. subscription issue.
Incentive to find another game from this change: Nonzero, because it makes mass production terribad.

This is why I am laughing. I understand that making F2P experience inferior is something they have to do. This is just hilariously incompetent.

(Also, even a $5 Preferred is not a loss-leader because they lose $0 by having more players right up until they need to buy another server, but that's another matter entirely.)

(Also, WoW doesn't have parallel production - that is, making more than one thing at once - but it has infinite queuing of identical items, so its mass production is essentially "get materials, set to craft, get a sandwich." But Kish is right, totally different system.)

[mistformsquirrl]

Question all: I'm looking to get a hold of the Restored Triumvirate armor for my Jedi - and I was wondering if anyone knew what the drop rate was like out of the pack?

If I were higher level I'd just buy it off the market, but it's 500k just for the chest piece on my server, and I'm only level 22 at present.* Ditto for the Silver-Blue Hawkeye crystal in the same pack.

Essentially I'm trying to see whether I need to expect to buy a Hypercrate or not <x.x>

*I hopped servers for this latest run at the game, so I don't have access to my old level 50 Commando.

[Sith_Happens]

You could buy it from the GTN on your Commando and then unlock it from Collections on your Jedi.

[mistformsquirrl]

Commando is presently out of cash < . .> I'd have to farm for it. Still, I have more time than money so that might be the better route to go assuming I can buy it on her server.

[NEO|Phyte]

Man, I'd like to believe that Bioware is smarter than this, but they're trying real hard to prove otherwise. I was fine with the earlier preview of 2.3 content where they showed off a new blaster pistol model (That was in fact the exact same model used by a low-level moddable blaster rifle), but this is going too far.

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[Sith_Happens]

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First thought: This is definitely one of the better hoaxes I've seen.

A few clicks later: IT'S REAL. WHY OH WHY IS IT REAL!? Just kidding, I actually kind of like Ewoks.

[MCerberus]

First thought: This is definitely one of the better hoaxes I've seen.

A few clicks later: IT'S REAL. WHY OH WHY IS IT REAL!? Just kidding, I actually kind of like Ewoks.

That's nothing. People are using the word 'troubleshooter' independent of 'commie mutant freaks'. Treason I say!

[mistformsquirrl]

On the one hand, I'm one of those weird Star Wars fans who's always loved Ewoks. So I admit I actually really like the idea of having one on my crew. < . .>

On the other hand I'm a lot less certain I like the idea of having to buy an additional companion, even with in game money - I grant, Treek being a merc this makes sense; but I certainly hope this isn't how ALL new companions will be delivered. I'd much rather they show up as part of stories.

It also hrm... I guess there's a concern about quality on my end as well - sure it's entirely possible this is a fun companion with some unique content; and that's great... but I don't want a great mass of alien-speaking* mercs with no interesting features showing up all of the sudden either.

Long story short - I have mixed opinions.

That said if they ever give me a Jawa in Republic Trooper armor, I'll be on that like white on a stormtrooper.

*While it's appropriate for some characters, like Treek, sometimes the alien-speak feels like a dead giveaway that "we didn't want to pay a voice actor to do this".

[Kish]

On the one hand, I'm one of those weird Star Wars fans who's always loved Ewoks. So I admit I actually really like the idea of having one on my crew. < . .>

On the other hand I'm a lot less certain I like the idea of having to buy an additional companion, even with in game money - I grant, Treek being a merc this makes sense; but I certainly hope this isn't how ALL new companions will be delivered. I'd much rather they show up as part of stories.

It also hrm... I guess there's a concern about quality on my end as well - sure it's entirely possible this is a fun companion with some unique content; and that's great... but I don't want a great mass of alien-speaking* mercs with no interesting features showing up all of the sudden either.

Long story short - I have mixed opinions.

That said if they ever give me a Jawa in Republic Trooper armor, I'll be on that like white on a stormtrooper.

*While it's appropriate for some characters, like Treek, sometimes the alien-speak feels like a dead giveaway that "we didn't want to pay a voice actor to do this".

I like the idea of Treek.

And I'm relieved to see that we're finally getting a companion who is both unambiguously female and non-romanceable. Bloody treating "male" as the default...

That said, if they do plan on continuing to throw Makebs and HKs and Treeks and Lord Cytherats at players instead of actually adding more class story, I think they've lost track of what the major draw of their game is.

[NEO|Phyte]

That said, if they do plan on continuing to throw Makebs and HKs and Treeks and Lord Cytherats at players instead of actually adding more class story, I think they've lost track of what the major draw of their game is.

I'd certainly hope they've got plans to continue class stories in some fashion, but remember that it is far easier to make one (or two, in the cases where the factions get different stuff) story with minor variations depending on the class of the character playing it than it is to make 8 different stories. I'd be very surprised if any of their "6 week content update schedule" stuff ever includes entirely class-separate content. Expansions are another story, we'll see what we get in the future.

[Guancyto]

Ewoks?

Ewoks?!

...wait, they already had a Star Wars Christmas Special event, this is only half as much of a shark-jump.

And I'm relieved to see that we're finally getting a companion who is both unambiguously female and non-romanceable. Bloody treating "male" as the default...

What, no love for SCORPIO?

(Although that's a lady I'd love to see as romanceable.)

[MCerberus]

What, no love for SCORPIO?

I'm I the only one that hears that name sung Bond-style in my head whenever reading that?

[mistformsquirrl]

Alright, I need to vent a bit here, I'm going to spoiler it so you don't have to read my griping if you don't want to; but grr... so angry atm:

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So, ultimately I decided to go ahead and treat myself to a Hypercrate, specifically the Vice Commandant's one as it has most of what I want in it.

My luck was... poor. I got precisely *1* item I wanted out of 24 crates. Now I know... it's random, it's effectively gambling; but you'd think the odds wouldn't be quite *that* horrifyingly bad.* But alright, I can deal with that, I knew going in my luck may not be so great; and in a day and a half when I can sell the junk I got, I may be able to afford to just buy outright the stuff I want.**

I still have some cartel coins leftover and I think to myself "Well, I've been meaning to get the new hairstyles and colors, those are pretty nice!"

Yeah so apparently when they say "Human Hairstyles" - they really, genuinesly, seriously mean Human only. What kinda crap is that? I mean no, the advertising isn't false, but it's tooth-grindingly irritating nonetheless. Especially since the character in question is a Cyborg, so effectively 'a human with metal bits'.

So to use my new hair I either have to reroll as human, spend more money to get a species change, or wait, and spend more money when they release the exact same thing as "Cyborg Hair styles" later on. (Or even worse - they just won't release them for Cyborgs at all.)

Blegh. All I want is the darn Triumvirate armor and a silver-blue hawkeye crystal; I don't think I'm asking that much right? (I did at least get the Triumvirate chest piece; but nothing else.)

*Really why are we gambling for this stuff in the first place? Why can't I just buy it straight out anyway? I'm much happier to part with money when I feel like I'm being dealt with fairly. As it is, I'm seriously considering this being my last cartel market purchase ever. And I like this game and am generally happy to spend money on it... good effing grief.

**Why the heck do we have to wait a day and a half to sell things anyway? No seriously, I do not understand the logic behind this at all.

I'll shut up, I'm cranky and ticked off now.

[Sith_Happens]

Told you you should use Collections.

[mistformsquirrl]

Yeah, you were right, it's just frustrating. Bleh. I think what annoys me the most at this point is this wait time to sell the junk I got - I can afford the collections with the sale prices on most of it no problem; but waiting 36 hours for seemingly no reason is irritating. < . .> *sigh* oh well.

On the upside, when all is said and done I'm going to look awesome (at least imo >.>)

[Guancyto]

Well, you can take some solace in that the hairstyles are not really that great.

I got them with credits (I think my account has at least a hundred dollars' worth of unlocks that were paid for with credits. Somewhere a Chinese farmer is crying and I'm okay with that) and honestly they're not all that. The ladies' hair has really bad clipping (it's one thing to clip through giant pauldrons, that's to be expected, but the braid clips through your back no matter what you're wearing!), and the dreadlocks are just a (poorly) ported Sith Pureblood hairstyle.

But yeah, gambling packs are complete arse and have been since the cartel market released.

I was there. I saw the first rash of disappointments. They contained junk, junk, junk. (On the plus side, those were the days you could get those excellent-knockoff-protection-at-travel-1 speeders for 3k credits.)

I'm personally still well past being mad at Bioware Austin, they're like a big retarded puppy looking soulfully at you whining about how lonely it is, not even vaguely remembering that an hour ago it peed on your leg.

Escrow transfers were really the breaking point for that. New patch! There's a way of busting the f2p credit cap now! Yay! This seems like an economically sound move because one of the main drivers of the cartel market economy is preferred players buying stuff for credits! Surely this will sell well because a ton of people will purchase credit cap unlocks they're not really going to use! It's... a one-time token for a not-that-impressive number of credits. ...oookay. And now buying it is required to get any of your credits, cap or no, out of escrow again, ever.

After about ten minutes of alternately raging at how ridiculous it was and being baffled at such a monumentally stupid decision, everything seemed much brighter! It was like that Sith in the tomb on Dromund Kaas, I'd gone so far down into rage that I'd come out the other end and there was only calm.

I mean, they came up with space passes. You can't let them go under, they really need this job! (because god knows they won't get another)

[GungHo]

I'll give you that the space passes are pretty dumb. Especially when you get a free one on the level 44 space mission. Seriously? I've gotten all the way to level 44 and now you want to give me pass for this? I'm a subscriber, so it's not like I even need the thing. Can't even trade it on the market. It's moronic.

[Guancyto]

Space passes. The final frontier.

There's the thing about Bioware Austin. You have Operations Passes! You have Warzone Passes!

These are both excellent things. The key with the passes is that the people buying them generally aren't the people using them - there's a strong demand and a good dollars to credit ratio, so the people who buy them sell them on GTN because they hate farming or playing the markets.

Then the people who are fine with farming buy them, and Bio still gets a consistent income from that. You want to participate in endgame, there's a periodic fee and Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows.

Then you have space passes, aside from the legendary brilliance of being a thing in the first place, cost the same amount for the same period of time. That's right, in this MMO for a nominal fee you can raid, you can PvP, or you can... do our little single-player rail shooter minigame. Aww yeah. Try not to thank us too much.

Baconator: $5
Spicy Chicken Sandwich: $5
Single Leaf of Lettuce: $5

BUSINESS ACUMEN.

[mistformsquirrl]

Woohoo <o_o> Sold enough junk that I was able to pick up the Triumvirate armor!* So very happy with my new look:

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I'm on the fence as to whether or not I want to dye it red and black... on the one hand the default silver/black colorscheme is pretty darn awesome and costs me nothing. On the other hand, combined with my new saber crystal, red and black looks an awful lot like Imperial Knight armor; which is pretty spifftacular.**

I used my extra remaining credits to pick up several other outfits I wanted as well because I have a mix-and-match idea I want to employ for a Sith down the line.

My next aim is a Mint Green crystal, a White Crystal, and a Purple crystal. I've given up on worrying about the relatively minor difference between +41 Power vs +41 Endurance, so I'm just buying the cheap ones at this point. It's not like I ever do group content, and on the off chance I started I could even respec to tank if it really, really came down to it.

All of which is a longwinded way of saying "Yay I am happy with my costume now." < . .> Now to get back to leveling.

*Which I will add, in case anyone else is doing it via the collections route, costs 480 cartel coins to allow your whole account to retrieve it rather than just the collecting character. Just a heads up since it's more than the 90 for more typical fair by a good margin.

**My knowledge of the expanded universe ends before they actually show up in the timeline, so I have no idea what I'd think of them in terms of story or anything; I just think they've got nice duds. /fashionista

[GungHo]

**My knowledge of the expanded universe ends before they actually show up in the timeline, so I have no idea what I'd think of them in terms of story or anything; I just think they've got nice duds. /fashionista

They are basically Lawful Neutral. They do not draw on the dark side (doing so is a sin), but they do not meditate on the nature of the light side of the force, either. It's basically a tool to enforce their Emperor's (who is not the Sith Emperor) will. Their Empire is still quite authoritarian, but it's the Empire that would exist without Vader choking everyone and without the Death Star blowing planets up.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ah, very interesting Gungho, thank you for that! Sadly I found I cannot dye the armor <;_;> So being an Imperial Knight is not possible. Ah well. (One of the few armors in the game with no dye slot.)

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In happier news, I have a new Sith Marauder who's costume is imo, quite snazzy! I even have pictures to share:

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Pieces are:

Genteel Dress Top (Dyed Red/Black)
Covert Pilot's Belt
Covert Pilot's Pants
Sith Raider's Boots
Sith Raider's Gloves

Surprisingly only the Covert Pilot's Pants are set to "match color" with the torso; everything else looks better without it imo. Though the pants I may be changing for a different set if I can find one I like better.

[Sith_Happens]

In happier news, I have a new Sith Marauder who's costume is imo, quite snazzy! I even have pictures to share:

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Dang, get that girl some protein bars. She looks like she'd suffer knockback from a basic attack.

[Guancyto]

Huh, those are some nice robes.

By comparison I'm a hack, I just grabbed a sharpshooter's jacket and modded it up. ^^;

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[mistformsquirrl]

That looks pretty darn good though Gauntyco - nothing says simple is bad <^-^>

@Sith_Happens - I think it's the big hair hehe; she's no thinner than my Jedi, but my Jedi has a short bob haircut while my marauder has hair nearly as wide as her shoulders; it reallllly influences perception. Well that and my Jedi's armor is a lot bulkier than the Marauder's robes, so there's that too.

I was trying to go for an unusual waif-fu type Sith. >_>

[NEO|Phyte]

So apparently sometime this month there is going to be a one-day-only cartel market item with a price of 10 coins. Only details given is that it will be available for a single day, and priced at 10 coins.

I'm hoping it'll manage to be something halfway cool, but it'll probably end up being some frivolous nonsense like a pet.

[mistformsquirrl]

The SWTOR forums indicate it'll be a title - "Revan's Heir"; though could just be forum gossip though.

[Sith_Happens]

The SWTOR forums indicate it'll be a title - "Revan's Heir"; though could just be forum gossip though.

Seeing as the forums got it from here, I'm pretty sure it's legit.

(Title is per character, but word of yellow-post says it'll go in Collections at 5 CC.)

[MCerberus]

So do former subs get a "premium" account status or have some of the limitations on their characters lessened?

[NEO|Phyte]

There is f2p, preferred access (has spent any amount of real money on the game, including former subs from before f2p), and active sub.