A Closer Look at the Crime Lord's Cartel and Black Market Packs

Players on the test Server received 2400 Cartel Coins today to test new goodies and I decided to use the coins to compare loot in the two different Cartel Packs (the Crime Lord's Cartel and the Black Market). 

I'm still really impressed with the randomness of the loot in these packs. Out of the nine packs I opened today, I received only one duplicate item and if I include the four other packs I purchased yesterday, I have received a total of 3 duplicate items over 13 packs-1 mount and 2 transparent chess pieces. 

But which of the two packs is better value for money and which has the better loot? Let's break down ...

Crime Lord's Cartel Pack

The Crime Lord's Cartel packs cost 360 Cartel Coins. You get two special items and three non-special items (like XP boosts, hand crafting mats, etc.) The Crime Lord's pack also has the chance of a super-rare item. Out of the four packs I opened I got two chest pieces (one in an upper body kit containing a chest piece and gloves), one mount, one pet, one relic, one crystal, one emote and one banner. Details are in the screenshot compilation below.

Black Market Pack

Out of the five Black Market Packs I bought I got two chest pieces, one pet, a lightsaber, and a banner. Details are in the compiled screenshot below.

So which type of  pack is best?

So although the Black Market Packs are exactly half the cost, making them seem like great value for the total items you get, the chance for rare items is reduced. I have not seen any mounts drop from the Black Market Packs yet, whilst I've already got a total of four mounts out of the seven Crime Lord's Cartel Packs I have opened over the last couple of days. Having said that, I did get some cool stuff from the The Black Market packs like the Tythonian Force Master lightsaber and the Bastilia's Sash relic. If you can afford it, the Crime Lord's Cartel packs are better, but if I only had the coins for a Black Market Pack I wouldn't not buy one, especially when you're just starting to buy them. Down the track, once you've collected most of the cool items you will find it hard to get what you want from a Black Market pack, especially mounts, crystals or seemingly hard to get drops.

Some cool stuff from packs

To give you an idea of what some of the cooler items are, here are some screenshots. The Menace Emote pictured above makes you glow red while you hold your hand out and gesture for someone to come closer to you.

You can't be taken as a serious crime Lord without a monkey-lizard. Just make sure he stays clear of R2 units as they like to shock them.

The Tythonian Force-Master's lightsaber adds a cool glow effect to the bottom of your lightsaber blade as you can see in the above screenshot. This smokey-glow effect works with any color crystal, including the pink/purple pictured here. Is it just me, or is my character getting ready for a madi-gras? Shirt off: check. Pink glow-stick: check.

The two new relics can be seen in action here. Although the Tulak Hord Force apparition seems to just stand there and not attack, the Bastila's Sash apparition heals you with no problems at all and as you can see, both are able to proc at the same time.