1.08 detailed patch notes

MEA MP makes money by enticing people to buy Andromeda Points so they can unlock loot faster than by grinding out Credits. It is a combined enticement of getting new shinies, saving time, being cooler than people who don't yet have good loot, gambling, and the obsessive need to collect and "max" things. 

The game must have a careful balance between free to play and pay to get stuff. If the free to play aspect is too easy then there is little reason to spend real money. If the pay aspect is too expensive or too naked there is backlash and fewer customers. 

I *speculated* cynically that the reason enemy damage was boosted was because the balance is tipping too far in the free direction. Making enemies deal more damage should mean overall fewer Full Extractions, meaning fewer credits being paid out. This increases demand for APs.

Also higher enemy damage might mean more Boosters being used which causes players to spend credits on the new Jumbo Equipment Pack rather than on Premium Packs. This also increases demand for APs. 

Also so we have strong hints of new content coming such as Angara Exemplar plus whatever is on the Quarian Ark. This too entices people to buy APs so they can get the new content quickly. Or at least spend their hoarded credits. 

All of this his is being done openly, either announced in patch notes (new packs, enemy damage boosts) or verbally and textually hinted (new content). 

It it is all salesmanship. If Bioware is correct they sell more APs and everyone wins. If they are wrong, some product manager gets chewed out and maybe fired. 

Again, all speculation and educated guesses on my part. 

The word you're looking for is "incentivization", which is a polite way of saying "naked greed".

Sounds like several of you are mad at the basic tenets of capitalism but either don't realize it or don't want to admit it.

Publicly-traded corporations like EA literally have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to maximize profits. Among the most common strategies employed to meet this duty is one which entails setting a price point as close to what the market will bear as possible, balancing the loss of revenue from the customers you'll alienate against the revenue gained from those who will pay more.

If the price of an item is already set and can't be changed without raising the ire of consumers (e.g. like the respective static prices of the AP packs), other strategies will be employed to drive demand. Making game-credit progression harder is the easiest means available by which EA can drive demand.

I'm not defending it. I'm not attacking it. It is what it is. Not EA. Capitalism.

I'm not mad at all. I'm a staunch capitalist.

Hell, one of my earliest claims to fame was when I used demand curve analysis to prove that my company could charge $2 more on a $7 product without adversely affecting the quantity of products sold. That is an immense improvement in profit margin. Exactly what you are talking about in your second paragraph.

So what? This is literally, 100% a copy of the ME3MP model. It was not only totally predictable, it was inevitable after ME3MP made them piles and piles of money.

If you don't like it, don't buy the product.

To buy the product while complaining about the price and product features is, frankly, stupid.

Edit: @jr

Sorry, guess I was unclear. I grasped your position from your posts; you were pretty much the only person in that exchange to whom that was NOT directed.

So what...? Oh, nothing. It's just that the whole "need to balance" reasoning doesn't hold water because you pay for this shit upfront. Hence, the assorted greedy/shady accusations.

Besides, I don't remember skill points being hidden behind character cards, for instance. So it's actually not a carbon copy, but rather a similar model with even more "incentivization". I guess that, in hindsight, and given EA's track record it was predictable, but in no way inevitable, unless you think that getting worse value for your dollar as time goes on is some sort of natural law.

And I would agree with you that buying it and complaining is stupid... if they had been upfront with the details, allowing for informed purchases on release. They never were, and getting information in general from these bozos is like pulling teeth (cf. Expert Pack streakbreaker "fix" fiasco).

Anyway, I'm not even mad. And certainly not invested enough to keep derailing this thread... even though the patch itself doesn't have nearly enough meat to keep the topic going much more. Agree to disagree and all that.

So Kroguard's and Assy Duelists will one shot mooks with melee now.

I approve so, so, SO freaking hard.

Always glad to see a buff to Duelist, one of the few kits that doesn't mind the damage buff enemies are getting, especially with the Backlash fix.

The real treat here, however, is Asari Sentinel getting big time buffs through tech explosion and Throw detonate buff.

Energy Drain nerf is miniscule with how often you can spam it anyway.

Time to fry all the things...

Biggest surprise? Flak Cannon makes it through yet another patch untouched.

I'm cool with that.

Why no Sadstorm buff?!?

It is not 100% same as ME3, it is lot more greedy. Kits have to be levelled up indiviudally and progression is locked behind rare and UR cards. They saw that they can get away slapping a F2P scheme on a pre-paid product so why not? And there are people defending them on public forums ...

It was impossible to decide whether I like the game or not before buying. Large part due to the fact that they released a half-finished product, basically a beta version.

If I buy product I expect a fully functional version. If I buy a car I expect a functional car not some "beta version" that cannot work properly for month. Any car salesman selling a car in a state MEA was at release would have been sued on the spot.

I think i'll add a patchnote for myself: -frustration levels during a game increased from 105% to 250%