What is this Welcome Back reward stuff?

ozzm0dious · February 2019

I can not find ANYWHERE, on any forum or even a post here, regarding how or why I am able to collect 3x 25,000 EXP boosts, or 10 small tech upgrades. All my characters can collect them, and yet my friend who played longer than me, and has been a sub the whole time, can not collect them. I have another friend who has never subbed who is able to collect them as well. So what is this a reward for? what makes a player eligible for it? And why is it so hard to find any info about anything for this game?

davefenestrator · February 2019

Cryptic marketing is the most um ... different ... about deciding what freebies to give out to current and inactive players.

Over the past 5 years I've randomly received holographic bridge officers, a couple of C-Store ships, XP boosts, and a "raise a character to level 60" token that you can't buy in the C-Store even though people here ask for it.

I've spend a decent amount on Zen and have a lifetime sub, but I'm far, far away from being a whale. My purchases are in the hundreds rather than thousands.

Cryptic has handed out other things like a special golden Ferengi ship and every theory of how they decided to award it was shot down by counter-examples of people who didn't fit. Unless some ex-staffer spills the beans we'll never know why.

Other head-scratching examples exist. The criteria for many giveaways remains ... Cryptic.

tigeraries · February 2019

they have a criteria but then you also need to win the rng. they probably have a fix number of codes and then if you are in the right criteria for this promo... you still need to get the right number.

psytce0002 · February 2019

This happened to my sister. She had not played STO for a long time and had a LTS. I believe that because she started playing again she received a welcome back gift. I have a LTS but have not gone away from the game for as long as she did and received nothing at all .....

So I guess the story is that if you want to get some freebies (not any of the one that are periodically given away or you can earn doing the different events) stop playing the game for 6 months to a year and you may get some XP boosts and some small tech upgrades.

I will keep playing and earn the ones from the events....

peterconnorfirst · February 2019

In any case it’s a good time to get back. With multiple ST series on the horizon and Cryptic’s talent to bring the trek stuff to live in this game I think exiting times are ahead.

From a gaming standpoint it is also prudent to return now. With the easy and absolutely f2p endeavor system the game hands out so much power within a progression timeframe of two years that I doubt you or anybody else would want to miss it out.

duasyn · February 2019

Just another example of how people who don't play get stuff for free. I understand the reasoning for it, but get tired of companies that give all the good deals to 'new' customers.

For example...
a.) I just had to cancel our ISP and have another household member sign up so we could get the same price. Companies don't value existing customers like they should. It's all about how many NEW! customers you can get metric.

b.) One time my father had to move from one apartment to another (in the same complex) to qualify as a 'new customer' and avoid a price increase. It's just silly.

markhawkman · February 2019

This is less of a bonus for not playing than it is a compensation for missing stuff.

littlesarbonn · February 2019

I've left the game a couple of times, and every now and then they'd send me some gift to get me back into the game again, like a free ship. Now, I play nonstop, again, and I'm not getting any special benefit, but what I want from the game is to play it and have fun. I would love free stuff, but it doesn't have to happen in order to keep me wanting to play the game.

markhawkman · March 2019

littlesarbonn wrote: »

I've left the game a couple of times, and every now and then they'd send me some gift to get me back into the game again, like a free ship. Now, I play nonstop, again, and I'm not getting any special benefit, but what I want from the game is to play it and have fun. I would love free stuff, but it doesn't have to happen in order to keep me wanting to play the game.

Honestly you get more stuff via logging daily anyways.

psytce0002 · March 2019

markhawkman wrote: »

This is less of a bonus for not playing than it is a compensation for missing stuff.

This is the point I was trying to make.
This game gives us so much stuff for free (Event ships, daily endeavors, Anniversary giveaways, and so much more) that when you leave for 6 months to a year you get these little gifts for returning. But you missed out on at least 3 ships (If out for a year) The Christmas ship, Anniversary ship, and the Summer ship, but only get a few XP boost and some small tech upgrades.

I'd rather play and get these ships for all my characters then try to get the ship I missed in phoenix boxes because they are only good for 1 character. I know this because I took some time off and missed ships and have only been able to get 2 of the ships I missed and only for 1 character... I just have no luck getting the higher drops from the phoenix boxes. I have opened about 15 hundred boxes and have only gotten 1 of the epic and 1 of the ultra rare tickets. I usually only get 100 or 200 boxes each time they are out, but since I got the 1 epic and 1 ultra rare in my first 200 boxes I have had no luck with them since the first time they were offered. With the fact that these are only per character I'm going to make sure I never miss a free ship again......

Thanks for letting me rant for a little while.

lordmalak1 · March 2019

OK, so I got one of these 'Gifts' but in order to use the XP pools I have to play some kind of tutorial but the item description doesn't say what tutorial. Anyone know ?

littlesarbonn · March 2019

markhawkman wrote: »

littlesarbonn wrote: »

I've left the game a couple of times, and every now and then they'd send me some gift to get me back into the game again, like a free ship. Now, I play nonstop, again, and I'm not getting any special benefit, but what I want from the game is to play it and have fun. I would love free stuff, but it doesn't have to happen in order to keep me wanting to play the game.

Honestly you get more stuff via logging daily anyways.

Like I said, I just enjoy playing the game. I get more enjoyment slaughtering (or being slaughtered by) the mobs in the Dyson ground battle zone than I do doing anything else. Lately, I've been finding myself playing specifically there and nowhere else.

littlesarbonn · March 2019

lordmalak1 wrote: »

OK, so I got one of these 'Gifts' but in order to use the XP pools I have to play some kind of tutorial but the item description doesn't say what tutorial. Anyone know ?

My guess is the tutorial when you first start up a character because I don't really know of too many other tutorials, although there is one for pvp, if I remember correctly. But I seriously doubt that's it.

lordmalak1 · March 2019

littlesarbonn wrote: »

lordmalak1 wrote: »

OK, so I got one of these 'Gifts' but in order to use the XP pools I have to play some kind of tutorial but the item description doesn't say what tutorial. Anyone know ?

My guess is the tutorial when you first start up a character because I don't really know of too many other tutorials, although there is one for pvp, if I remember correctly. But I seriously doubt that's it.

shrug
Could it be the new ST:D content ? It's the only bit this 5 year old toon hasn't done, other than the arc restructuring STO has done in my 18 month absence.

davefenestrator · March 2019

lordmalak1 wrote: »

OK, so I got one of these 'Gifts' but in order to use the XP pools I have to play some kind of tutorial but the item description doesn't say what tutorial. Anyone know ?

The only tutorial is the first few missions after you create a new character.

What is the faction and sub-faction (Fed - TOS, Fed - Disco, etc.) of the character you want to use it on, and what story episodes have you finished?

lordmalak1 · March 2019

davefenestrator wrote: »

lordmalak1 wrote: »

OK, so I got one of these 'Gifts' but in order to use the XP pools I have to play some kind of tutorial but the item description doesn't say what tutorial. Anyone know ?

The only tutorial is the first few missions after you create a new character.

What is the faction and sub-faction (Fed - TOS, Fed - Disco, etc.) of the character you want to use it on, and what story episodes have you finished?

The toon I'm currently playing was created when Romulans were added as a playable faction (LOR), and is currently lvl 63. These boosts are unusable on this toon.

artan42 · March 2019

azrael605 wrote: »

Its DSC content.

Darn... beat me to it

.

lordmalak1 · March 2019

TY, will check it out.

chipg7 · March 2019

I've been a lifetime sub for... maybe a year after I started playing? I got a few freebies while I was playing regularly a couple years ago. One time I even got a T6 ship that was account-unlocked, the Archon-class!

Over the last almost two years, I'd been mostly out of the game. When I came back the first time early last fall, I got the 'welcome back' gift. I got pretty busy after that, and only logged in again a couple weeks ago to find I got the gift again.

Like others said, the random freebies are definitely RNG (unless there's some strange set of criteria that I tripped a couple of times), and the welcome back gifts are on some type of timer.

What is this Welcome Back reward stuff?

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