Eric Musco has informed the SWTOR community that the Unstable Arbiter’s Lightsaber is now up for direct sale. It’s going to take deep pockets to buy it though:
Hey folks,
Later today we are going to be adding the first ever Platinum rarity item to the Cartel Market for direct sale, the Unstable Arbiter’s Lightsaber. The single-handed saber is going to be on sale from today, Tuesday 3/7 through next Tuesday 3/14 at the price of 7,600 Cartel Coins.
Before the item is posted we wanted to let you about why we are offering a Platinum item at all and the rationale for its price.
Why put up a platinum item for direct sale?
Since the introduction of Cartel Market packs we have had requests to allow more items, especially our rarest items, to be bought directly with Cartel Coins. The desire is to pay for the item and avoid the random nature of Cartel packs. For some time now, we have been direct selling more Cartel pack items and our data shows it’s a popular method of acquiring specific items from the Cartel Market. Yet, we have been cautious of doing this with Platinum items, as these items are intended to be exceptionally rare and we need to ensure we do not cause them to be undervalued, especially for players who got them from packs.
Why the price of 7,600 Cartel Coins?
It’s a lot of Cartel Coins, but this sale is directed at those players who have the resources to acquire the item. The price is set higher than current Hypercrates and previous Gold rarity items to help maintain the rarity of the Unstable Saber. We may discover that direct selling Platinum items erodes their value, and that will have an impact on how we handle these sales in the future. Basically, this is a test and we wanted you to be aware of what we are doing and why.
The net result for us is we want to see if this is something our players have interest in. While ensuring it doesn’t undermine the value for players who already have one and see how receptive everyone will be to us continuing to rotate other Platinum items into the Cartel Market in the future. More than likely, we would not direct sale Platinum items until they’ve been unavailable from Cartel Packs for a number of months. This will also help maintain their rarity for a fairly long time.
Thanks everyone.
-eric
