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What the hell Cryptic??
darthkuriboh
Member Posts: 211 Arc User
imgur.com/a/ChaLxI logged on today to do some daily fleet mark slogging and found that all of our commodities are gone from our fleet projects... and, while they were full, now the projects are demanding a total of 30 million energy credits. We already spent our energy credits filling the damn commodities. FIX THIS. YOU will mark those two projects as full on EC's. I'm a spender. I have spent quite a lot on this game in the last few years. I will not spend another penny until you fix this TRIBBLE. Which means you will be missing out on the several HUNDRED dollars I plan on spending over the next few months.
I get that you want to change things. When you do, you need to make certain you are not SERIOUSLY TRIBBLE over your player base. This is a TRIBBLE job, pure and simple.
imgur.com/a/ChaLx
the two projects that need fixed are on the url. fix it.
I get that you want to change things. When you do, you need to make certain you are not SERIOUSLY TRIBBLE over your player base. This is a TRIBBLE job, pure and simple.
imgur.com/a/ChaLx
the two projects that need fixed are on the url. fix it.
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when someone threatens me in such a manner my first and only reaction is expletive YOU
Actually, they didn't so much tell us. More like they hoped we would dig the information up, and do something different than moving forward with our projects in good faith. Different like sit on our hands and not donate or something. Most people are busy playing the game, not reading design notes looking for prophecies of disaster.
When I buy a game for ... lets say XBox, I don't expect to have to read the design notes every day to play and progress through the game. When I play CIV with XBox online I don't expect the game to suddenly take away all my progress towards a Technological victory with the next patch, so I'm not looking for it to happen. The designers of CIV aren't that dumb.
Dragons Dogma killed a few exploits but I didn't lose any progress, it just made it harder to buy carrots, and re-sell them. This commodities thing killed progress on projects that were full or nearly so. I can't get text on my game yet, but a co-leader tells me we lost progress in a project that had already begun it's countdown. Also, on the point of leadership ... I know a lot of leaders who missed this information. A lot of cash customers did also.
I try to keep informed about how the game works, and how to help other players, especially in my Armadas. If I had not been looking for information on the best ways to maximize the commodities for Fleet projects in the first place, I would never have run across the information that we would lose progress. Most of the people I know in game had no clue this was coming because they were busy playing the game, not reading boring design notes. It's like most people didn't know they had a chance at a promotional prize recently, but that was also bugged so yeah ...
As it happens, the information about commodities was received to late to save everything that was started. If it takes progress from a project on it's countdown, then we lost worse than I thought we would. It takes a week for some upgrades to count down. When you are two days away and if a project stops and resets it would kind of suck to be needing millions of new EC for something you had already wrapped up!
As far as communicating an impending loss of the sort many of us have just experienced, they could use a few seconds of time on the launcher to say "Very Important! Changes coming for all Fleet Projects!" so that everyone would see, and have a chance to click on THAT! Compared to putting the info in the middle of upcoming release notes, putting a warning in the launcher ads would maybe reach the gaming audience at large. Having the TV announcer interrupt the show in progress to tell you a tornado is coming, is a kind of what I would hope for ...
A fix would imply something is broken, that is true. I contend that something is indeed broken. It is the thinking behind the way this change was implemented. I have trouble imagining that it would be so hard to just make the next project in queue work with EC and let the current projects go as they are. The next project isn't started, needs no conversion, and nothing is lost. The current project finishes never to be seen again, but no progress lost. I am not one of the developers, but it seems it should still basically boils down to some new 'if-then' statements that redirect new projects in queue to a different version menu and that version of the older fleet project would load instead.
Lastly, I believe this is bad for purely economic reasons. Now the smart strategy is to grind for or buy ZEN. Ten bucks and I have some keys to sell for EC, and it only took me an hour at work after taxes. So much less time than grinding EC the other way, in game. I expect it to alter the exchange for the worse as well. Anyway, the OP has a point. Something is broken here, and the OP did have something of value taken without proper warning.
Anyway. Have a nice day. Make it so!
My character Tsin'xing
I see they let the trolls out from under the bridge again. Too bad I sold my crossbow. I love hunting trolls.
I hear what you are saying ... but STO is at least somewhat a retail business, and in retail we always used to teach that for every customer you have complain, you have ten who just shut up, and shop somewhere else. I would say that Cryptic should listen to this particular foot stamper, and do something. Lots of people lost out. Many seemed unaware this was coming, and I do blame Cryptic for not having a better warning system for major changes like that.
So what we have is a customer who pays for something, the seller then takes it away without giving fair value. The buyer then complains, and you would say expletive you? That is bad business practice all around.
You could say that 'once you have their money you never give it back' but you could also say that a 'wise man hears profit in the wind', and better customer service in this case would more likely lead to even larger future profits.
Peace is good for business.
EDIT: Actually it is a slight reduction in cost - if you hadn't filled a project before, that is. Otherwise it's roughly double the cost for currently active projects.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Also: War is good for business.
My character Tsin'xing
ETA: And now I see that there are more replies that said that already, which the forum software didn't deign to show me for some reason. Oops.
Actually the F2P model is still at it's roots a retail business. It counts on people being excited about the game enough to buy the non-free content. Also we can't ask the quiet leavers their opinion because they have left already
EC value can be extrapolated based on the number of units already donated, and even at replicator prices that would be something. I am not asking you to agree with the OP's delivery of the complaint. I am only saying that he has a right to do so, and Cryptic should be willing to keep this kind of reaction in mind for the next time they have similar changes in mind.
Anyway, this won't change anything and 'only a fool fights in a burning' so I'm suggesting moving on.
Qapla!
it was on tribble
every podcast and stream about sto reminded us about the changes
we got fc from previous contributions and now we will get it from the ec's
nothing to fix but the prices are a bit high considering my ferengis cell wonder
First, they need to fix the way they communicate to people, especially when it is so costly. I think ,ost of us who do come to the forums forget that most people only log on to play. We are the minority out of the STO population.
Second, they need to fix the mindset that makes such a costly change ok without some sort of consideration for players who worked hard.
Not the point of this, but I will miss the awesomeness of my Ferengi purchasing power as well. I think we can agree that was a cool thing.
Qapla!
But, before "bandwagon jumping" and screaming righteous indignation with you, I have but a few questions for you.
1. Please prove, conclusively, that the projects in question were 100% full as of your posting.
2. Please explain, in detail, how as a fleet leader and therefore "in position" to be making this complaint, you've avoided the forum for... oh... the past week and a half where at least two topics were being discussed about this pending change - though one was called "lets talk downgrade of the cell ship".
3. Please explain, again, in detail, how the Starbase IV upgrade, which as of your picture is 100% complete except for the EC (and therefore previously commodity) slider(s), is in such a shape if, as your posting infers, the commodities were at 100%, being that since all the other sliders were seemingly full prior to the patch and/or the taking of the picture, it should have been counting down and therefore not subject to the EC conversion issue.
Answer these questions please...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
I'll stick up for him here. Consider me a witness.
One of my co-leaders informs me that projects counting down apparently lost commodities also, and subsequently were reset to incomplete. I was able to see the screen they were looking at, and it was an Armada view of a Fleet that the Co-Leader was not in personally, but which I know had been counting down before the update. It was available to take donations in EC where Fighter had been filled, and to repeat, it was complete and counting down prior.
I have been unable to confirm this myself from inside the actual Fleet as yet due to text not being visible to navigate the game after the update. I will be looking into this as soon as I can log on properly. However based on the Armada view which I did see and the ability to donate to a 'finished' project, I would have to say it no longer counts as finished despite the fact everything was there.
As a person, I have a real life that includes work and family, and I sometimes work 19 hours a day as my profession demands. I have missed events as long and large as the Delta recruit because Real Life comes first. I had some time recently, and I wanted to play and make up for lost time from previous weeks.
As a Fleet and Armada Leader I am usually in the Fleet/Armada trying to do stuff there, and answer questions and help members. I only come to the forums if I don't know something, or something happens that seems to have gone horribly wrong. I can usually get better advice or tutorials on most of what I need from You-tube. It is only by chance that my desire to learn about better ways to farm commodities gave me any warning at all. It was still not in time to do enough, apparently, since projects I got in under the wire, now aren't anymore? You will almost certainly here more about that from others ...
It seems that being in countdown is no guarantee of project safety ...
I already mentioned the 'burning house'. I guess I am a fool.
Qapla!
That is probably why Cryptic didn't try to make some complicated work-around to enable you to keep your old progress in some manner.
In fact, it's like the third or fourth time in the last six years.
Personally, I've cut my spending on this game to zero since They decided to make getting the most desired and iconic ship in the IP, a MEGA-Cost Crapshoot.
I've even cut my play time down to a one or two hours a week (from 15 to 20 hours).
They've bungled just about every opportunity to appease this disgruntled customer since launching AoY.
These latest faux pas (bad gift code/terrible patch) just reinforce my desires to stay away.
<shrug>
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
You came here for the love of Star Trek, don't let Cryptic ruin it for you.
I miss your minion posts.
Most of the time when I encounter a tool like this. I just lay a smack down on them. But that usually gets the wambulance crying even more.
If you have that much of an investment in the game and know enough to come on here to complain, you may wish to spend some of that time coming on here to stay aware of upcoming changes. Things that happen on the test server WILL affect you eventually. These changes to fleet projects may not have jumped out of the sector space screen to smack you in the face, but they were far from secret and far from sudden
And if you are going to continue to press forward in willful ignorance, stop thinking that this is a place to come and fly your ignorance flag in the hope of receiving sympathy for it.
My character Tsin'xing
Either way you have paying customers to think about ... but enough on that. I'm going to try and load again.
Qapla!