Time Capsule count before you lucked out?

I'm in 247 Qwadrian Time Capsules and have yet to complete the ever so illusive "Void Essence" I have completed the Citrien Mist how ever, but still. I don't know about you guys, but since this resurgence update I seem to always get the same collections parts back to back even when opening 20 at a time. I all for the game making money off suckers like myself, but after a while its annoying. I want to stop, but I'm addicted. Now I know why I stay away from the casino.

I completed the Future Batman set and all 3 mist auras at about 240.

Shim'tar I grew wise and just bought all the armor pieces off the Auction House a few weeks after real cheap. The Phoenix I don't have because I did not care for the look so did not really drop $$$ on opening capsules.

Green Arrow Time Capsule Armor is completed, but again via the Auction house. I have not opened any Team Up capsules and all my $$$ is still spent on trying for Void.

I need to really just save my in game cash and buy off AH. This time capsule business is to much of a chance.

I wish they would just stick cool stuff like that on the actual MP, but I know its more of a money maker for compulsive buyers like myself that help feed the need not to.

Why would they sell it on the market place for 10-20 bucks when people will spend hundreds trying to obtain it.

Nice catch, but it's getting easier to find those corresponding quotes on the forums week by week

The sad thing though about more and more people on the forums getting that or becoming great examples of people acting against their very own best interest is that a) that insight is limited to the forums and the silent majority ingame still seems to happily trash their kids' college fund to get "lucky" with TCs. Oh, and of course the people who know that all the negative aspects of TCs are right but still buy them due to peer pressure and irrational fears of losing their "lead" in the game or personality disorders, additction, etc.

The most interesting thing is why people going from "pro TC" to "contra TC" need/needed that long. The writings on the wall were there back in September last year already but back then the general opinion here was "Yay " while it's ok to say it turned to "Nay " by now. Another example of human beings not being able to learn what's bad for them in any other way but their own personal mistakes, maybe even pain/suffering. At least that part is fun to watch again and again

Why they SHOULD, is because for every one person that spends $100, there are are probably 10 who keep their money in their pockets that would otherwise spend the $10-20 on the marketplace. That way you would have 10 happy customers rather than 1 abused customer, and they may even be loosing money.

We (and even they) don't really know for sure though, because there is not now and never has been a single awesome item like a Phoenix Material on the MP to even use as a guideline

I'm pretty sure the ratio is grossly in their favor, or they'd actually would go the marketplace way. So it's either for every person that spends 200 or 300 bucks, or just 5 or less customers opting out. No one is by choice picking the "unhealthy" customer solution if the profit is the same. That road starts with the profit being better for focusing on the unhealthy customers. So basically, the majority of the playerbase in DCUO seems to just get what they deserve....

lol.

And the second part of my post covers why even they don't have any benchmark for that "ratio".

The MP has been under utilized since Day 1, and there is not a single item on there that compares to a Phoenix Material, or even a corrupted aura. So if they were to compare past MP performance, to current TC performance they would be comparing apples to chupacabras

MP = chupacabra (because it doesn't really exist)

Marketing analysis does not work that simple on "comparable" items. When you point at "material" items, Daybreak can extract numbers from the Booster Bundle sales that came with the Cosmic. When you point at highly desirable items at insane pricing, they can use Batcowl etc.

The point of "them" not really having a ration to calculate on has been made eversince. When Daybreak pointed out in their SOE days still that filling the marketplace with styles is of no use players answered with "but the style sets currently there a crap, you need to do something better like the stuff we suggesting to have a benchmark." - basically the same situation.

To Daybreak it is evident that the road they currently walk down is netting them the most money possible - no matter if we agree with their benchmarking method or not. It's on the players to shatter that evidence, but forum posts won't do that. Sales have to go down massively before they reconsider their overly focus on TC. But as long as a seemingly huge number of players not on the forums is ok with dropping their money on them, and as long as there is even the problem of people speaking out against TCs, showing they understood all the flaws and psycho-tricks coming with them while stil buying huge numbers of stabilizers due to the unhealthy reasons mentioned above, Daybreak will not slaughter their cash cow.

Last, the cashflow itself is benchmark enough: they do have more money than before, they do have the money they want now which they could not get with the marketplace model before. That by math alone shows that the profit scale from the "abused" customers is outperforming the side of the customers leaving or opting out. And arguing that the sale numbers of stabilizers are good is fighting on lost ground - everyone against TCs is practically begging players buying stabilizers to stop doing so, and the insight that parting fo....lks from their money is easier done one buck time by time than "large" amounts at once is not exactly a "new" insight.

So, as much as you hate it, you're standing on lost ground fighting wind mills with the "they don't have a benchmark" approach. Look at it from another perspective: imagine TCs would have never happened, neither did the Booster Bundle with the cosmic, and Daybreak starts selling materials 20 bucks per item on the marketplace, as a consumable and not per account. People nowadays with the experience of what they sunk into TCs before would consider buying it, but without the bad experience the TCs are for lots of healthy-minded players? The forums would be full with "grab your torch and pitchfork!"-posts in reaction, while the number of players buying the stuff "in secret" would be way smaller than now due to the initial price hurdle. After all, the majority of the "TCs are bad"-threads break down to "we want that stuff cheaper!", no matter if by better drop rates or by "subscription bonus" or cheaper stabilizers etc. And the insight about how expensive TCs really are is just growing over time in players by now. I remember how many players were all "TCs! totally great" back then when Daybreak announced/launched them.

Daybreak fails at a lot of things - not able to bring a single update free of bugs, unable to produce a game getting the most out of the lore at hand, unable to make simply a fun game at a point, unable to fix their social engineering of the playerbase etc. - but they do know how to make max money with a broken product.

In this thread, willingly spends $240 and then complains they should have been able to spend 10

I'm sure someone at Daybreak is sitting back reading that and going, "Nice! I hope that idiot...err I mean customer...never finishes the collection.".

P.S: For the record I'm not calling you a idiot, I'm just imagining some Daybreak employee thinking it and laughing when reading the fact that you have admitted you are addicted to opening them.

Haven't bought a single TC. Got them every 3 days and I'm ok with that.
Haven't gotten jack from those either

Brice is much kinder than I am

Never stated I wish I could have only spent $10 and obtained the item, but anyways ... I do however wish they would place OG Auras in the Market place. I would be willing to spend like $100 on a OG Smoke, OG Nimbus, or OG Plasmic, but fat chance on those ever be re-rolled. It would be a money maker tho. I just wish I had some good luck like others, but its the game and I have fun so...

It would piss off another large portion of the old-time customers since those items were all marketed as "exclusive" back then. This could maybe done on Xbone since the items were never released there, but not on the PS/PC servers.

Besides, case you didn't conlcude that yourself: There are lots of people who are not OK with spending huge amounts of money on virtual items or just the chance to get one, that is why the discussion on TCs is so fueled. And there are people at the end of their credit cards' limits who would continue to do so, but can't anymore. Aura's for 100 bucks each would maybe make 500 players happy, because keep in mind lots of the people still dumping tons of money in the game do so because they invested so much money over time already and are afrraid to "lose their lead" or "fall back"; these folks do have those auras already; they wouldn't buy, but instead feel like having found the last nail to the coffin and leave.

i'm almost embarrassed to think how much i've spent on stabilizers and i think i've been one of the luckier ones.

lets say if i never bought a single stabilizer i could have gotten a nice new laptop. i always think of that old anti drug commercial that shows things like tv's and stereos going up that guys nose...

i'm kind of sitting this one out. i spent the past couple of months seriously budgeting my game play and i've already hit my budget for the month five days into new content. of the stabilizers ive opened this go around-which is about 30-the collection drops seem to be even worse than the amazon and qward capsules. i've gotten tons of tactical mods and only a couple of pieces of gear.

in game cash ive been hoarding was spent finishing off the sori not sori feat by buying the gear off the vendor the second day. i figure if i don't have enough in game cash to buy the ultra rare collections for material and time capsule stuff i may as well make the most of the event and score as many extra spores as i can so no cash for collections off the vendor either.

its weird this new attitude. i just dont care about the feats anymore. i would like the material for the toon that would make good use of it. maybe i'll get around to it eventually but i'd rather get a new laptop over the summer.

a week or so ago on one of these threads i asked how much money do we think the time capsule styles should go for and only one poster answered me and i think he/she got it right/very close.

i would really like to start having these things available on the marketplace. even if it eant having to shell out 50 bucks for a new material.

they should make the materials available to subscribers.

no sub...no access to materials...

The 1st two TCs i didnt open many of em. The qwardian one tho i opened 83 of em before i got the void essence. This new one? I opened 33 with the keys i had saved up. I didnt get anything rare at all. The 1st two TCs i opened 40 of em combined and got nothing rare. I wont spend $ on these anymore. This current one ive finished everything but the material and im closing in on it but not sure if i will buy it off the broker. Imo the only way to get the TC items is by using the free keys ya get ingame and by buying the items off the broker.

The qwardian one was the only one i spent a good amount of real $$$ on. And i wont be doing that again. Only reason i did was because it was extra christmas cash i had left over. And as of right now the only TC item im missing is the negative speed force material.

TC is chupa the cabras out (if you know what i mean)

Keep track of all your drops and use this.

http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/binomial.aspx#trial

Haven't gotten lucky lol, I opened about 60 and got at least 25 provisions capsules for the new ones and only got a few emblems, few pieces of gear, and out of all those provisions capsules NOT ONE collection piece, only bytes. It's a bummer I really like the new material. I still think that the styles from the capsules should be sold on the mp on a per character basis, not redeemable for all but one per purchase. Then you remove the feat from the mp version and people will still buy capsules, but I could have a material one more than one character without spending thousands on a gamble or hundreds of millions in game. Plus people would continue to buy them every time they wanted it for another character. Just my two cents.