The last few packs have been missing decorations from the list of what the person can get from them. This is by definition ADVERTISING FRAUD. As a gamer we all know oops happen but not this many times (PLUS to just be swept under the rug is unexceptable).

How players see what decorations are coming out. Their is a in game decoration list you can preview the decorations that will be coming out of the next pack(s). People wanting this decoration buy the packs hoping to get those decorations for their strong holds threw CM points which they buy with real money.

*Example. If I created a new lotto charging a dollar for a chance to win a million with a few lesser prizes. Then decided nope you cant win the top amount due to a *coff coff BUG. (also ignoring the fact the chance is 0% to win it and not telling the buyers) wouldn't this be counted as FRAUD and a federal offence (Its still stealing real money).

(list of recent ooooops from CM decorations that I know of

Nathema Voreclaw Corpse, Imperial Logo Hologram, sith profane mural, and zakuulan part table

a older YET still missing one zakuulan Console (cm one not the in game versions).

plus all the in game one but is not sold threw real currency so does not count.

Fix the problem EA/Bioware.

(list of recent ooooops from CM decorations that I know of

Nathema Voreclaw Corpse, Imperial Logo Hologram, sith profane mural, and zakuulan part table

a older YET still missing one zakuulan Console (cm one not the in game versions).

plus all the in game one but is not sold threw real currency so does not count.

 

Fix the problem EA/Bioware.

In 2013/14 items that were actually missing from the cartel packs were put on a vendor who sold them for 1 credit for a couple of weeks (until the next patch).

It was a very nice policy but seems to have gone the way of the operation.

This may just be lack of knowledge on my part, but what sort of advertising is there for these packs? I'd consider the image that displays in the Cartel Market window to be advertising--and it's an image sometimes used elsewhere (emails, launcher)--but that only shows a few items. What other advertising is there? I go to Dulfy for previews of what will be in an upcoming pack, but that's just a good guess and not official.

As already mentioned, there were a few times in the past that something intended to be in a pack wasn't, and they made it available for 1 credit, but lately there have been a few cases where a couple things expected in a pack weren't there, and they were merely pushed to the next pack. If at the time you're buying the pack, you see an official image (like in the Cartel window) with an item and it is not in the pack, then that is dishonest (or a bug) and they should make it available for 1 credit. But if it's something players inferred would be there before it's released and is not officially promised to be there at the time of purchase, then it's just a change of plan and you may have to wait.

This may just be lack of knowledge on my part, but what sort of advertising is there for these packs? I'd consider the image that displays in the Cartel Market window to be advertising--and it's an image sometimes used elsewhere (emails, launcher)--but that only shows a few items. What other advertising is there? I go to Dulfy for previews of what will be in an upcoming pack, but that's just a good guess and not official.

 

As already mentioned, there were a few times in the past that something intended to be in a pack wasn't, and they made it available for 1 credit, but lately there have been a few cases where a couple things expected in a pack weren't there, and they were merely pushed to the next pack. If at the time you're buying the pack, you see an official image (like in the Cartel window) with an item and it is not in the pack, then that is dishonest (or a bug) and they should make it available for 1 credit. But if it's something players inferred would be there before it's released and is not officially promised to be there at the time of purchase, then it's just a change of plan and you may have to wait.

Read OP's post. He explicitly stated that the missing decorations he referred to are listed in the game's decoration window. And if you decorate your SHs, you would know that the decorations' sources are listed. The missing decorations are listed in the decoration in-game complete with its source, but they are not actually obtainable through the packs they said they were available from. This is what he meant when he meant "advertise", maybe not the best choice of words, but it gets the point through nonetheless.

For example, you could see that the "Imperial Logo Hologram" is listed in-game, and its source is listed as being in the Oppressor Alliance pack, yet it is missing from the pack.

And yeah I agree, the missing items should be released via other means.

Read OP's post. He explicitly stated that the missing decorations he referred to are listed in the game's decoration window. And if you decorate your SHs, you would know that the decorations' sources are listed. The missing decorations are listed in the decoration in-game complete with its source, but they are not actually obtainable through the packs they said they were available from. This is what he meant when he meant "advertise", maybe not the best choice of words, but it gets the point through nonetheless.

 

For example, you could see that the "Imperial Logo Hologram" is listed in-game, and its source is listed as being in the Oppressor Alliance pack, yet it is missing from the pack.

I understood that about the decoration window, but I had never considered that to be "advertising." Before an item is released in the game, I always consider the window listing to be a placeholder until the devs figure out what they're really going to do with that decoration. I realize this is ambiguous, because once a pack is released, you don't know whether it's an accurate description of an in-game item or a "placeholder" for a yet-to-be-released item. So, while I never considered those lists to be advertising, I can see how others would interpret it that way and be frustrated.

I understood that about the decoration window, but I had never considered that to be "advertising." Before an item is released in the game, I always consider the window listing to be a placeholder until the devs figure out what they're really going to do with that decoration. I realize this is ambiguous, because once a pack is released, you don't know whether it's an accurate description of an in-game item or a "placeholder" for a yet-to-be-released item. So, while I never considered those lists to be advertising, I can see how others would interpret it that way and be frustrated.

The fact is even after the packs were introduced without said decorations, the items remain displayed in the decoration window. Some players might scroll through it and decide they'd try to get said decoration by buying multiple packs, with no actual chance of getting the items they want. If that's not false "advertising", I don't know what is. Again, advertising may not be the perfect word for it but it does give the impression that the item is available, while it is not.

If you don't believe me, find the "Imperial Logo Hologram" decoration under "technological", you will find that its source is still listed as the Oppressor Alliance Pack.

Don't focus on mere semantics and realize the real problem here. Some items remain missing, and they continue to be shown on the decoration window, listed with a false source. What they can do is find a way to reintroduce the items in the game in a different way, via a vendor or something.

The fact is even after the packs were introduced without said decorations, the items remain displayed in the decoration window. Some players might scroll through it and decide they'd try to get said decoration by buying multiple packs, with no actual chance of getting the items they want. If that's not false "advertising", I don't know what is. Again, advertising may not be the perfect word for it but it does give the impression that the item is available, while it is not.

 

If you don't believe me, find the "Imperial Logo Hologram" decoration under "technological", you will find that its source is still listed as the Oppressor Alliance Pack.

 

Don't focus on mere semantics and realize the real problem here. Some items remain missing, and they continue to be shown on the decoration window, listed with a false source. What they can do is find a way to reintroduce the items in the game in a different way, via a vendor or something.

Yep its ether A or B purposely doing this to up sales or pure laziness due to micro management.

Ether way EA will never take the blame they will blame a worker even thou people have complained for awhile now. They know and don't want to fix the problem or are exploiting it (hint no response to this post from any GM). They should have said ty for telling us about the problem we will look into fixing the problem..... but nope ignored. We can make more $$$ or don't want to spend any $ to fix it.

as cute as the rage in that post was.

there's not really a thing called Advertising fraud, whether you put it in all caps or red type font.

a RNG loot crate is also not a guarantee of any item, i'm sure if you read your eula/TOS it probably somewhere in the fine print clearly adds language that typifies that the company is not liable for things like this.

also. if all you're seeing is items front loaded into the deco menu, and then upset they didn't make it into the next cartel pack? that's not really fraud either.

best bet. wait til they actually release the next cartel pack, and wait for a reputable site to do a listing of confirmed drops. before you decide to buy any RNG crates. Or in general think before you buy RNG crates.

as cute as the rage in that post was.

 

there's not really a thing called Advertising fraud, whether you put it in all caps or red type font.

 

a RNG loot crate is also not a guarantee of any item, i'm sure if you read your eula/TOS it probably somewhere in the fine print clearly adds language that typifies that the company is not liable for things like this.

 

also. if all you're seeing is items front loaded into the deco menu, and then upset they didn't make it into the next cartel pack? that's not really fraud either.

 

best bet. wait til they actually release the next cartel pack, and wait for a reputable site to do a listing of confirmed drops. before you decide to buy any RNG crates. Or in general think before you buy RNG crates.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising the government says it does. As far as the eula/Tos that's for changing in game NONE charged items. They are allowed to changed items in game but not the bought items or they fall under the false advertising laws. The eula is ment to stop stupid people from sueing over retarded things like the coffee lady at Mc. Donalds or someone dies from not eating while playing mmo. Eula are not supposed to allow companies to do what ever they want.

Now I restate "Oooops or Advertising fraud" if they say they fed up and make up for it then its just a oops if they don't it is Advertising fraud.

as cute as the rage in that post was.

 

there's not really a thing called Advertising fraud, whether you put it in all caps or red type font.

 

a RNG loot crate is also not a guarantee of any item, i'm sure if you read your eula/TOS it probably somewhere in the fine print clearly adds language that typifies that the company is not liable for things like this.

 

also. if all you're seeing is items front loaded into the deco menu, and then upset they didn't make it into the next cartel pack? that's not really fraud either.

 

best bet. wait til they actually release the next cartel pack, and wait for a reputable site to do a listing of confirmed drops. before you decide to buy any RNG crates. Or in general think before you buy RNG crates.

Just to clarify a few points:

While it is not called advertising fraud, false advertising is indeed illegal. Specifically these fall under the laws of the Lanham Act and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

As for what the EULA says... this has been challenged and lost in court many times with enough precedent that a EULA can eventually mean nothing. The courts have upheld that no contract (of which a EULA falls under), can be established between two parties that is in violation of any federal or state law.

That being said, what most companies (specifically EA and Activision) bank on is that because their customers base is made of millions of smaller paying customers this will never see court. A law is only as good as it can be enforced in a court of law. So the reality is unless customers could bring a civil action suit (which I doubt would ever happen in the case the OP mentioned) or a state AG in the relevant jurisdiction brought case, nothing is every going to happen or change. That is the unfortunate reality of law in the US.

Well written Wayshuba,

Thanks I have never been great at spelling out this type of problem. It especially doesn't help when half the people don't read the full post or go into it with a closed mind thou.

When I posted this post I was just hoping EA/Bioware would notice and try to resolve the issue (customer service) .

Not saying EA is evil but...

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke

Just like kids you correct their mistakes and TRY to teach them the right way. Maybe one day EA will be put in a corner some where .

The last few packs have been missing decorations from the list of what the person can get from them. This is by definition ADVERTISING FRAUD. As a gamer we all know oops happen but not this many times (PLUS to just be swept under the rug is unexceptable).

 

How players see what decorations are coming out. Their is a in game decoration list you can preview the decorations that will be coming out of the next pack(s). People wanting this decoration buy the packs hoping to get those decorations for their strong holds threw CM points which they buy with real money.

 

*Example. If I created a new lotto charging a dollar for a chance to win a million with a few lesser prizes. Then decided nope you cant win the top amount due to a *coff coff BUG. (also ignoring the fact the chance is 0% to win it and not telling the buyers) wouldn't this be counted as FRAUD and a federal offence (Its still stealing real money).

 

(list of recent ooooops from CM decorations that I know of

Nathema Voreclaw Corpse, Imperial Logo Hologram, sith profane mural, and zakuulan part table

a older YET still missing one zakuulan Console (cm one not the in game versions).

plus all the in game one but is not sold threw real currency so does not count.

 

Fix the problem EA/Bioware.

I would like to point out that many of the 'false advertised' decorations have ended up within the stalwart pack, so maybe they got your point, or it was simply a bug.

So for their to be fraud, here's some info from the legal definition of advertising fraud (USA i would presume)

To establish that an advertisement is false, a plaintiff must prove five things: (1) a false statement of fact has been made about the advertiser's own or another person's goods, services, or commercial activity; (2) the statement either deceives or has the potential to deceive a substantial portion of its targeted audience; (3) the deception is also likely to affect the purchasing decisions of its audience; (4) the advertising involves goods or services in interstate commerce; and (5) the deception has either resulted in or is likely to result in injury to the plaintiff. The most heavily weighed factor is the advertisement's potential to injure a customer. The injury is usually attributed to money the consumer lost through a purchase that would not have been made had the advertisement not been misleading. False statements can be defined in two ways: those that are false on their face and those that are implicitly false.

Types of False Advertising

Today's regulations define three main acts that constitute false advertising: failure to disclose, flawed and insignificant research, and product disparagement. The majority of these regulations are outlined in the Lanham Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C.A. § 1051 et seq), which contains the statutes that govern trademark law in the United States.

Failure to Disclose: It is considered false advertising under the Lanham Act if a representation is "untrue as a result of the failure to disclose a material fact." Therefore, false advertising can come from both misstatements and partially correct statements that are misleading because they do not disclose something the consumer should know. The Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988, which added several amendments to the Lanham Act, left creation of the line between sufficient and insufficient disclosure to the discretion of the courts.

American Home Products Corp. v. Johnson & Johnson, 654 F. Supp. 568, S.D.N.Y. 1987, is an example of how the courts use their discretion in determining when a disclosure is insufficient. In this case, Johnson and Johnson advertised a drug by comparing its side effects to those of a similar American Home Products drug, leaving out a few of its own side effects in the process. Although the Lanham Act does not require full disclosure, the court held the defendant to a higher standard and ruled the advertisement misleading because of the potential health risks it posed to consumers.

Flawed and Insignificant Research: Advertisements based on flawed and insignificant research are defined under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act as "representations found to be unsupported by accepted authority or research or which are contradicted by prevailing authority or research." These advertisements are false on their face.

Alpo Pet Foods v. Ralston Purina Co., 913 F.2d 958 (D.C. Cir. 1990), shows how basing advertising claims on statistically insignificant test results provides sufficient grounds for a false advertising claim. In this case, the Ralston Purina Company claimed that its dog food was beneficial for dogs with canine hip dysplasia, demonstrating the claims with studies and tests. Alpo Pet Foods brought a claim of false advertising against Purina, saying that the test results could not support the claims made in the advertisements. Upon looking at the evidence and the way the tests were conducted by Purina, the court ruled not only that the test results were insignificant but also that the methods used to conduct the tests were inadequate and the results could therefore not support Purina's claims.

Product Disparagement : Product disparagement involves discrediting a competitor's product. The 1988 amendment to the Lanham Act extends claims for false advertising to misrepresentations about another's products.

(so we'll set aside for a second, that this scenario really doesn't fall into those 3 main categories ...maybe a stretch for the very first one. but you're already way out on a limb there)

So first you'd have to prove that there was advertising. Or what you're claiming is officially or any sort of advertising? Or that there is an implicit guarantee of all things listed being in a pack. I mean if there's just one "may include" or any such language. you're basically screwed.

when i looked on swtor's site for the newest cartel pack, there's very few items listed. If the OP is claiming that mouse over tooltips, or ingame info-tip menus constitute "advertising" I dunno how easy a sell that would be.

then that the deception was sufficient enough to affect the purchasing decision, ...even further a substantial population of potential buyers. -given that it's fairly known that items sometimes aren't in packs, and data mining, and community info disseminates what is and isn't in packs fairly quickly. this might also be a major hurdle.

that the transaction was interstate commerce. which might be hard if cartel coins aren't really money and you're doing so within a game. Buying the cartel coins, is def commerce, but using them ingame?

and then that someone was injured or put out by the false advertising?

so what is the OP claiming, well wasn't specific, but it's obvious that from time to time some items don't make it into cartel packs. so we'll just go with that being a given. Now... were they advertised? did this affect your decision to buy a cartel pack? the specific advertising promise seems hard to prove. Nothing is "promised" to you in cartel packs. everyone knows they're RNG. You would have to prove that an item was not in a cartel pack with any chance to get it. Even if the item was listed, but never was paid out, they could just claim it's RNG or was an internal error or any number of things that might undermine you right there.

then the commerce clause. online and digital currency are murky areas. which i'm sure are bound by eula and tos. the cartel market site has a hefty, warranties section where swtor absolves themselves of all liability for use of the digital currency. and it's safe to assume, you have no real ownership of the cartel coins.

and then injury? how do you prove this? Or what injury are you claiming? that you spent money on cartel coins but had no chance to get a digital item with no value? if you used cartel coins to buy a cartel pack. did you get a cartel pack? and get items from it? is that the expectation of doing that activity? was your expectation to a guarantee of a specific item reasonable?

i wouldn't be losing sleep over this if I was anyone at bioware.