Golden Geese?

How much do you think EA made from the retirements of Julio and Pat Pete?

I hope this doesn't give them any crazy ideas moving forward.

They do tribute cards every year and always look for anyway to make a buck, why would anything change? Ea's primary goal every year is ripping every spare coin from your pocket.

Eagles215 said:

They do tribute cards every year and always look for anyway to make a buck, why would anything change? Ea's primary goal every year is ripping every spare coin from your pocket.

What I'm suggesting is a shift in how LTDs are released and balanced. Right now, the appeal of LTDs can be hit or miss, mainly because many non-LTDs are already strong enough to compete. But imagine if that changed.

What if non-LTD cards were intentionally scaled down a bit in terms of abilities or AP value, and LTDs were given the spotlight, similar to how overpowered 'Tribute' cards are treated?

Picture a setup where only LTDs had exclusive features like X-Factor abilities or 0AP buckets. That would instantly elevate them to must-have status for any competitive player. It would create a clearer incentive to chase LTDs, while also reinforcing their value and rarity.

Right now, most people are battling with the idea of going into their pocket to try and get these Tribute cards; if EA nerfed non-LTDs and made LTDs undeniably better, that would generate a ton of income, but hurt the casual player.

That's what I mean by "crazy ideas" - Happy Easter

They seemingly already have a strategy they feel that works and its done on a promo basis rather than strickly ltds. Even aka ltds get cheaper ap abilities than the non ltd. They are too afraid to make too many op cards from their past mistakes since people stopped buying packs once they had a crazy op team. This year they tried being cute with the limited time zero ap abilitie  per major promo crap.

Eagles215 said:

They seemingly already have a strategy they feel that works and its done on a promo basis rather than strickly ltds. Even aka ltds get cheaper ap abilities than the non ltd. They are too afraid to make too many op cards from their past mistakes since people stopped buying packs once they had a crazy op team. This year they tried being cute with the limited time zero ap abilitie  per major promo crap.

Thanks for filling me in.

This is my first year back to MUT in almost 10-years and it sounds like I missed some of the EA cazyness :)

I greatly appreciate you taking the time.

Yeah they "try" to contain the OP madness for long as possible so they can continue to milk pockets from slight upgrades and 1ap discounts or temporary zero ap. Next they will drop AP limits again and force people to buy into golden tickets since they should be heavily discounted buckets. Im sure their strategy will change next year and I hope it does...the temporary ap discount crap was dumb af.

Eagles215 said:

Yeah they "try" to contain the OP madness for long as possible so they can continue to milk pockets from slight upgrades and 1ap discounts or temporary zero ap. Next they will drop AP limits again and force people to buy into golden tickets since they should be heavily discounted buckets. Im sure their strategy will change next year and I hope it does...the temporary ap discount crap was dumb af.

100% with you.

Mythomaniac said:

How much do you think EA made from the retirements of Julio and Pat Pete?

I hope this doesn't give them any crazy ideas moving forward.

I hope they get the crazy idea that they should always have $100 bundles that guarantee ltds.

No reason people who spend shouldn't get more guaranteed for their dollar and it helps those of us who don't spend but keeping LTD prices reasonable.

How much do you think EA made from the retirements of Julio and Pat Pete?

Just looking at Julio Jones AH sales to date...

• 3,794 on PS5
• 3,333 on XBOX
• 232 on PC
• 151 on XBOX One
• 126 on PS4

Variables...

• What percentage of people keep the card vs. list it on AH? (probably 80% keep it)
• If you bought the $25 bundle twice, you had 51% odds of pulling the 99 so every single pull was basically $100 to EA.

So, Qty 7,636 total sold on the AH x5 (i.e. number of players who don't list it) = 38,180 sold at $100 each = $3.818 million made by EA minus the perhaps $100-200k (complete guess here) they paid for Julio's rights = 

$3.618m in profit to EA? (just for Julio...$7.2m for both)

c59x0x0 said:

How much do you think EA made from the retirements of Julio and Pat Pete?

Just looking at Julio Jones AH sales to date...

• 3,794 on PS5
• 3,333 on XBOX
• 232 on PC
• 151 on XBOX One
• 126 on PS4

Variables...

• What percentage of people keep the card vs. list it on AH? (probably 80% keep it)
• If you bought the $25 bundle twice, you had 51% odds of pulling the 99 so every single pull was basically $100 to EA.

So, Qty 7,636 total sold on the AH x5 (i.e. number of players who don't list it) = 38,180 sold at $100 each = $3.818 million made by EA minus the perhaps $100-200k (complete guess here) they paid for Julio's rights = 

$3.618m in profit to EA? (just for Julio...$7.2m for both)

Ea didnt have to pay julio anything since he was still under nfl contract. If they did it would be about $2,000 which is what they offer retired legends and why we lost so many good legends this year. No jerry rice in mut is insane.

Moderator Sevein131 said:

I hope they get the crazy idea that they should always have $100 bundles that guarantee ltds.

No reason people who spend shouldn't get more guaranteed for their dollar and it helps those of us who don't spend but keeping LTD prices reasonable.

I believe that the whole point of using probabilities is to make getting those top-tier cards feel rare and exciting. 

That rarity keeps people chasing — like, “Maybe the next pack will hit.” If they just gave out guaranteed pulls, people would stop at that one pack. 

Think about it, how many Boom or Bust packs will you open when Golden Tickets drop? Maybe they drop another opportunity pack for $100 (This should earn you any card in the game), the point is that you don't know how far you're willing to go for any particular card.

With odds, you’re stuck in that “one more pack” mindset. It plays on stuff like the gambler’s fallacy and sunk-cost thinking — and yeah, it’s totally feeding that dopamine rush when you finally hit something big.

Plus, it gives EA way more control over the in-game market. They can tweak the drop rates whenever they want — during promos, events, whatever — to keep the economy in check or to nudge people into spending more. It’s like having a dial they can quietly turn up or down depending on how hype (or dry) they want the pack odds to be.

You should have a 100% guarantee to pull the 99 Pat Pete if you're paying for the pack, there is no reasonable explanation why you shouldn't.

c59x0x0 said:

How much do you think EA made from the retirements of Julio and Pat Pete?

Just looking at Julio Jones AH sales to date...

• 3,794 on PS5
• 3,333 on XBOX
• 232 on PC
• 151 on XBOX One
• 126 on PS4

Variables...

• What percentage of people keep the card vs. list it on AH? (probably 80% keep it)
• If you bought the $25 bundle twice, you had 51% odds of pulling the 99 so every single pull was basically $100 to EA.

So, Qty 7,636 total sold on the AH x5 (i.e. number of players who don't list it) = 38,180 sold at $100 each = $3.818 million made by EA minus the perhaps $100-200k (complete guess here) they paid for Julio's rights = 

$3.618m in profit to EA? (just for Julio...$7.2m for both)

Damn bro :)

All these numbers made my brain feel numb!

Way to dig deep... Very impressive work.

Eagles215 said:

Ea didnt have to pay julio anything since he was still under nfl contract. If they did it would be about $2,000 which is what they offer retired legends and why we lost so many good legends this year. No jerry rice in mut is insane.

Here is Rasheed Wallace talking about how they process works; its 2k Sports, but you get the idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnpDKR9MJA

Ea didnt have to pay julio anything since he was still under nfl contract. If they did it would be about $2,000 which is what they offer retired legends and why we lost so many good legends this year.

If accurate, that really is such an embarrassing small number for EA to offer NFL legends.

You should have a 100% guarantee to pull the 99 Pat Pete if you're paying for the pack, there is no reasonable explanation why you shouldn't.

Here is the classic 2017 quote from EA regarding why they offer packs with less than 100% chance...

“The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes."

Way to dig deep... Very impressive work.

Thanks, just a rough guesstimate.  Should be in the ballpark though.  Biggest unknown variable is % of people who list on Auction House.  80% is a fair guess, IMO.