SWTOR Economic Changes

There are some changes planned for the SWTOR economy in the near future. Patch 1.2 is supposed to have a fair number of changes for many things, especially crafting, but it looks like patch 1.1.5 will already have some of the groundwork.

…including the much requested removal of light side / dark side requirements on color crystals

Very cool.  I always thought the color crystal alignment requirement was just stupid. Sure, Sith use red crystals in the movies and Jedi use mostly blue and green, but in SWTOR the crystals are not used just by Jedi. They affect the color of the weapons on non-Jedi as well.

The rest of the hints for the changes in this Dev post are more cryptic, which is fun but also annoying, as it build ambiguity into it. While fun to speculate, that’s dangerous for a gaming community. They tend to make the worst interpretation, and that’s the one that spreads to everyone.  But for now, I’ll just speculate what I think it means.

Korrealis Corporation, a family-owned personal transportation company based out of Balmorra, has announced that, in response to a sharp increase in customer complaints, all production of the ‘Sovereign’, ‘Prince’, ‘Baron’ and ‘Commander’ speeder lines has been halted indefinitely. This announcement comes on the heels of the rumor that Tirsa Industrial Consortium has quietly ceased production of their less than successful ‘Prime’ model, which faced similar blowback.

Vehicle Vendors across the galaxy have been advised to clear out any remaining stock of these models, and many Vendors have begun offering steep discounts to entice potential customers. Collectors and investors may want to take note that the previous limitations governing the resale of some vehicles seem to have been lifted and are encouraged to use the opportunity to purchase these legacy vehicles while they are still available.

It would seem that some of the existing vehicles are going away and that vehicles can now be traded? I’ve not looked into vehicles to extensively, only recently got the Tier 3 skill and purchased the basic one from the vendor on the Fleet station. Before that I just used the one that came with the digital version of the game.

Does this mean they are adding new vehicles, or just reducing the price on vehicles? Hard to say. Both would be cool.

After several months of deliberation, the Republic Senate’s Committee on Transportation and Public Safety has passed new regulations that, among other things, adjust the cost of speeder licenses. Once these regulations are signed by the Supreme Chancellor in the coming weeks, prices for Tier I and Tier II speeder licenses across the galaxy are expected to see a significant decline. To help offset the loss of revenue generated by these licenses, taxes on all models of Tier III speeders will be significantly increased once the new regulation takes effect.

Critics claim that the resolution will only add to the serious strain on the Republic’s finances, while others see this as a vain attempt to keep on pace with the Imperial Transportation Authority, which recently passed a similar law.

This one seems clear, they are reducing the price of vehicle piloting skills, at least tier 1 and 2. This is good, because 40k at level 25 can be hard to come by.  The tier 2 is similarly outrageously priced. If they are increasing the cost of tier 3, that might mean that the overall cost for all three might remain the same. But, since money is easier to get at max level, the last one being the most expensive, and the others being affordable, seems like a good idea.

It’s been reported that Operatives of the Republic Strategic Intelligence Service have recovered several new variations of color crystal prototypes during a daring raid on a cutting edge Imperial Science Bureau outpost on Ilum. Among the items recovered are a number of rare, purple-hued color crystals, usually exclusive to Imperial-held worlds.

Republic scientists are confident that they will be able to reverse-engineer and potentially replicate the captured Imperial technology, including the color crystals, in a matter of weeks. While most of the prototypes are still being analyzed, it has been confirmed that the Imperial Science Bureau’s “Project Expertise” at the Ilum outpost scored a major breakthrough in the crystal cutting process. While information on the new technology has been kept tightly guarded, we know that the process can create several variants of existing crystal colors which improve the crystal’s natural properties.

The seizure of this technology by the Strategic Intelligence Service has led to a race between the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic to mass produce the crystals. Advance shipments of these crystals have already been dispatched to their respective fleets for field testing, and both sides say that once they have cleared any safety concerns, and have finalized a safe and efficient means of mass distribution, the crystals will become available.

Now, this is one of the more cryptic statements. It seems clear that more crystal variants are being added, potentially including the ability to make purple crystals. What is not clear is how these schematics are being added. To the crafting vendor? As loot? As end game or for all levels? There are lots of ways this could be implemented, ranging from cool to stupid. But, if purple becomes available, along with the dark/light restrictions lifted, then all of the base colors will be available, which just makes sense.

In related news, a very limited number of pure white color crystals have been recovered by a Hutt-sponsored expedition into uncharted space. As of today, small stocks of these extremely rare and expensive crystals have started to appear in Vendor stocks at the primary Imperial and Republic transportation hubs. With no new shipments expected for several months, those wealthy enough to afford these crystals may find themselves in possession of a highly sought-after collectable.

To me, this suggests that white crystals may be made available at vendors for a really high price for a limited time. I don’t have any strong desire for a white crystal, but know some that do. White seemed like an appropriate color to make hard to acquire, but making it available to anyone is cool too. Though, making it really expensive is in some ways worse than just a reward for a real hard quest (like magenta). Some people are really rich in the game, most (like me) get by, but aren’t wealthy.

So that’s my take. I’m interested to see what these actually turn out to be and when they appear on the live servers.