@zarasz Ok, I'm not going to argue the point anymore. It's clear that I'm not getting through to you. Maybe you're resistant to hearing anything from me in particular due to my moderator status hence why I'm bowing out, because now I have a job to do.
Anyway, no one has threatened you, least of all me. You've been warned for your behavior, though, which is violating forum rules. Flaming, insulting, and accusatory language towards others and Cryptic are violations. And I'm not referring to your responses towards me. I can understand and empathize with being upset about this, but I think you're taking it a bit too far. I advise you to tone it down.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
I have a question regarding the inventory items:
I know the blog post says Anniversary/Season event projects are excluded, but are those really old currencies also excluded?
Specifically, Anniversary Qmendations, and Autographed 8x10 Glossy's of Q.
Currently they're part of the old buy-back system. I still keep those around so I get the emote packs for new characters.
Do I need to spend them now or lose them, or will they remain?
You don't/didn't need ANY 'Tokens' to slot a Project. There's the rub. Autocomplete for NO investment.
@trekonlinegame: Plans are not currently finalized for the Weekend Event store and its tokens. For next week's update, none of this will be touched, but we'll have further announcements later this summer.
The term 'hoarding' is not offensive but a bit condescending. It conjures up images of a Ferengi bent over counting his Gold Plated Latinum. Persistent dedication is more like it. Again, don't forget 'The Ant and the Grasshopper'.
Of course people will use TFO Commendations from Crystalline to put towards Mirror Incursion. Cryptic wants you to, that's why they sell you a bundle of 10 TFO Commendations and then allow you to run it 21 more times during an Event. That gives you 31, enough for Crystalline and Mirror and 3 towards Breach.
As I said last week when this first reared its ugly head, all of these 'Tokens' including TFO Commendatios are all Character Bound. They all have a unique internal database number, including TFO Commendations. If one were to change the internal database number of these specific items to that of the TFO Commendations, you have a conversion. Now what they are doing is scanning each Character for the items with the unique internal database numbers for the old 'Tokens' and nulling them to oblivion.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I like the change, seems like a fair way for everyone.
If someone has been hoarding (I don't care of that offends you) event marks without slotting the projects then you have lost nothing, suck it up.. move on. If anything, they have done you a favor and given you back the bank space you have been needlessly wasting. Next time, slot the project like the rest of us.
I agree with Cryptic's overall plan to unify various Event type vouchers into a single TFO commendation. However, whenever there is a currency conversion there is almost always a buy-back option in the real world and in gaming.
For example, when Q-mendations were deprecated, a buy-back store was created to trade the pictures for something of minor value. Converting old vouchers for TFO commendations would actually be far easier, since the exchange rate is a flat 1:1.
I am with Zarasz on the need for a token vendor. This doesn't have to built for Thursday, nor do the old vouchers have to be deleted on Thursday. The vendor could start with exchanging shards for TFO tokens with other old token conversion options added over time. Alternatively something simple like a flat replace each old token in inventory with a TFO commendation. Even 1 old token = 1 phoenix box might be an option. No guarantee of something great, but worth what you would have obtained if you had turned in the old token for 2,000 dil.
At a basic level,
Crystalline Catastrophe 2018 reward for 14 shards was:
50,000 dil, 500 fleet marks, 250 marks of choice, plus a unique item.
Crystalline Catastrophe 2019 reward for 14 TFO commendations is:
50,000 dil, 500 fleet marks, 250 marks of choice, plus a unique item.
The June event also grants ship coupons, but this is not always the case.
So the only real change is the token type used to contribute to the project.
Same event, same effort, essentially the same reward.
With 8 previous runs of the Crystalline Event, Cryptic made no mention that the 2018 run was the last use for crystal shards and that shards should be used up before the event ends. If they had done this, every shard would probably be gone and this negative player experience avoided.
The only change is that Cryptic has deprecated one token in favor of another, of exactly equal value, towards completion of a 21 day event.
Regardless of the spin people want to put on it, Cryptic has chosen to make the old tokens worthless and will delete them, without any form of currency conversion you would reasonably expect.
The currency conversion for shards->TFO tokens is less complex the Q-mendations. It is 1:1.
Dealing with multiple event vouchers was indeed a bit of a pain, but in the end it was Cryptic that created these multiple event vouchers rather than starting with a single event currency for the beginning of the Event road. To just delete these without compensation is unfair to players who may have stored a few for future events – like CC#9.
It's not fair to “blame” players for banking tokens. We all live in the real world where people have work, family commitments or holidays that intersect with Cryptic's special events and may mean we absent from the game for a period. Keeping a few tokens in your back pocket to make up for part of the time you are away from an Event makes sense. It's no different than saving TFO commendations ahead of time for a future event, since we reasonably assume there will be future TFO Events and people may not be able to play a full 14 days during an Event. And no, I don't want to buy TFO Event tokens.
Imagine an announcement by Cryptic -that as this morning's patch- all reputation elite marks and regular marks are now worthless and will be deleted; in compensation any reputation projects you had slotted will auto complete. A universal 'Cob' worth 100 'Kernels' will be used from this point forward. The process to obtain Cobs and Kernels is exactly the same as elite and regular marks and hasn't changed. And yes, to help you complete your Rep Projects, a universal Cobs and Kernels Package can now be purchased from the Zen Store for 1,000 Zen.
That's basically what's happening here, but with tokens/vouchers/transponders etc.
Would you still be saying, you shouldn't have banked the elite marks and regular marks for a future Rep Project?
Post edited by herrgis#1415 on
You need to think of Star Trek Online as a marathon, not a sprint. Senlac t'Karveth Sometimes the Universe allows for the making of unexpected memories. Philippa Georgiou No matter your shame, gather your strength. Find a way to help those in need. Sarek of Vulcan
No, the T6 Ship event was not about furthering the Discovery storyline. It just so happened that the first FTFO of the event happened to be a Discovery one.
If you have one of those projects slotted, even without a single token in them, they will auto complete. If you didn't slot the project, though, then yes, you're out of luck.
It's not a kick to anything, though. Everyone was given an opportunity to run the event, slot the project, and allocate their tokens. If you completed the main project, then you were given a secondary project to allocate extra tokens to, if you chose to run the event past the initial required number. If you chose not to turn those in, that's on you. You were given an opportunity to get rewarded for those, though.
I like the change, seems like a fair way for everyone.
If someone has been hoarding (I don't care of that offends you) event marks without slotting the projects then you have lost nothing, suck it up.. move on. If anything, they have done you a favor and given you back the bank space you have been needlessly wasting. Next time, slot the project like the rest of us.
I have 14 Crystalline Shards on some characters. I actually completed those events though, what happened was I played everyday for all 21 days of the event. Why? It saves me the time when some of my multiple characters already have some tokens ready to go.
So after two Crystalline entity events I end up with seven spare shards per run, ending up with 14 shards. Enough to complete the event and focus on doing it for someone else.
I CAN'T reslot the project after I finish it, so I hold the shards. And it's not as economical to simply do the daily afterwards as that would only net me 28,000 dilithium as opposed to 50,000.
Now you might say tough S**t, you already got the main reward, but I still invested the requisite amount of time. That's what those shards represent, the fourteen runs worth of time that I put in for those events. A time investment which has just been needlessly rendered useless.
The Crystalline Entity is an old event. So old it's currently in its third iteration. This can easily come off as change for change's sake, and it there's no carry over. I remember when they changed the tokens for the Summer Event. They still allowed you to use the previous tokens you already had. They didn't erase them from your inventory and say, "Tough Luck kid."
This is a bad call because they've told me retroactively, you wasted your time. I'm working now, I have less time to actually invest in these events, so this preemptive time saving by..."hoarding" is less offensive than imprecise, it's stockpiling has just been erased like profit in a Ferengi Stockmarket Crash.
I personally think that them just making everything a single TFO Commendation is redundant, but if it's what they're set on it's their prerogative.
But a buy back system would at least ameliorate that by giving us something for the time invested and the game work put in.
Them autocompleting slotted projects is generous, I don't deny that, and I'll get some benefit out of that on some characters.
But just Thanos Snapping the shards and other tokens we already have for nothing is just....wasteful. At least let us buy something with them, if not dilithium and marks, then Phoenix Packs, Universal upgrades. I don't recall them ever just nuking stuff we've earned out of existence.
The management of this game over the past 10 months has been atrocious. This type of "thinking" is a great example of it: If you didn't play and don't have tokens we will give you everything for free. If you did play and have tokens we will take those away and give you nothing.
Exactly.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Deleting players' FTFO tokens could be seen as deleting something players paid for. The last time, I bought the 10 tokens but still did the full event. So it could be argued that you are now about to delete the 10 tokens I paid for. At the very least, there should be some Dilthium exchange value for them. Preferably what you would have made if you had spent them on the secondary event turn-ins.
Useless. The old 'Tokens' are now rendered useless. Reason C-Store. Step right up we'll sell you 10 for your troubles. And don't get me wrong because I have bought the Bundle on my Discovery Character each time they sold it and have still done close to the 21 days each time. Ultimate Upgrade Token, bank for the future (don't forget the Ant), etc.
And the ones shouting 'tough luck' probably have some stashed but like to be Contrarians.
First they came for the Crystal Shards, and I did not speak out—because I had no Crystal Shards.
Then they came for the Multidimensional Transporter Devices, and I did not speak out— because I had no Multidimensional Transporter Devices.
Then they came for the Voth Operative Transmission, and I did not speak out—because I had no Voth Operative Transmissions.
Then they came for TFO Commendations—and there was no one left to speak out.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Question: Can we turn in any old save crystals from previous CC Events toward anything or are they completely useless?
Inquiring minds want to know!
I assume you did not read the blog. Allow me to highlight the appropriate section in a quote.
All existing tokens used in the aforementioned projects will be automatically removed from players’ inventories, as they will no longer have a purpose going forward.
There will be nothing for you to turn in, as they are being deleted.
I have 1084 shards, 45 the breech tokens and 158 the mirror tokens. It's 1287 tokens in total. Also I have 5 the same the breech events sloted with 0 tokens in them. This is -70 tokens from my total. Where is my compensation for over than 1200 tokens?
Now you might say tough S**t, you already got the main reward, but I still invested the requisite amount of time. That's what those shards represent, the fourteen runs worth of time that I put in for those events. A time investment which has just been needlessly rendered useless.
Except it's not useless. You already got the base rewards for doing the queue, the daily mark package and a little dilithium. IMO it's not a fair statement to say you wasted all your time. You just lost the bonus reward value. No different than playing the same queue multiple times a day on the same character.
That said, I have probably 50 tokens per character for each of those events combined, so I lost quite a lot as well.
I would have preferred a buy-back system like we had for the Qmendations.
A simple 1:1 swap for FTFO Commendations will not happen, since that will cut into the C-Store buyout pack, and keep people from playing new content for years.
That said, I already have at least 14 FTFO Commendations on each of my 12 characters, so I still don't have to actually play for the next year if I don't want to.
Offering a 1:1 for old tokens to FTFO tokens would be best. But I know that Cryptic has to make their shekels during the events somehow. Conversion OPTION to dilithium via a vendor would be the next best thing. Give people the choice and a place for dumping the old tokens, rather than just a mandatory "we're going in and ratphucking your bank as though it's a case of MREs." This way, people who like souvenirs can keep their souvenirs. Those who no longer want their obsolete tokens that they earned or purchased, can cash them in for let's say...2500 dilithium each(2k dil, plus what a reputation box could give, for the daily run). That is about how much a fleet dilithium or reputation dilithium voucher is worth from the dilithium mine claims if you don't want or can't use the dilithium mine claims.
Nobody likes a bank/barracks thief. And that's what Cryptic is doing to players. What's next? Theft of sponsorship tokens from those who created them? Maybe theft of old items that you can't acquire anymore(such as certain ship weapons)?
And before someone complains about how "it's not easy to code/track, so it's not feasible this solution..." Keep in mind, they have at least two precedents regarding this sort of situation. The old kit frames(you could keep them, or redeem them for more EC), and old crafting materials(you could keep them, or redeem them for new crafting mats).
Question: Can we turn in any old save crystals from previous CC Events toward anything or are they completely useless?
Inquiring minds want to know!
I assume you did not read the blog. Allow me to highlight the appropriate section in a quote.
All existing tokens used in the aforementioned projects will be automatically removed from players’ inventories, as they will no longer have a purpose going forward.
There will be nothing for you to turn in, as they are being deleted.
DAMN MY EYES!
I looked right at that and still missed it.
Shame that they're just gonna take them and offer nothing. I have nine or ten chrystals on eight of my Captains saved from the last BIG CC. If there were some place to turn them in, even for a little bit of Dil that would be nice, but...
Players didn't "hoard" tokens by allocating them to the project. They used/spent them for their intended purpose. Hoarding is keeping them in inventory and not using them. Why anyone would do this is beyond me, but apparently it happens. The secondary projects were put in place to encourage players NOT to hoard them. Obviously, players did stockpile extra tokens to apply towards the next project. I'm guilty of this as well. But there was never a guarantee that said tokens wouldn't be retired. This was previously done with the Summer/Winter event ships, so I'm surprised that anyone would be surprised that it would happen again.
Those that slotted the PROJECT will get rewarded regardless of whether they spent or even earned a token or not. If this is you, congratulations. Those that hoarded tokens but didn't slot projects will be the unfortunate ones, though. If this is you, my condolences.
I've a few characters that didn't get the chance to complete this year's First Contact Day (some just need one, some others needed three).
So, these special events will all give TFO tokens?
There was a point early on in my playing of this game when a few players would complain about "stockpiled" (I just lol'd at that whole thing) tokens accidentally disappearing from their inventory. This scared me, even though it never happened to me, and may have turned out to not be true. I just know that because I read about it in the forums here and in the trusty NoP chat that I slotted EVERY project in hopes of one day finishing it (I knew that the rewards changed each time and didn't want to pass up a Phaser console in lieu of a Tetryon one, lol), AND instantly spent tokens I earned, out of an irrational fear of losing them. Therefore,I have no leftover stockpiles of tokens for any event, but I did just go thru and remove all old events a few days ago, because I've come so far in this game in my over 8 years of playing it that I felt I no longer needed them...
I COULD complain and moan and put up a fuss that I just gave up 50,000 Dil x 9 Projects, but I woke up this morning and chose to "take the road less traveled by" (thank you Robert Frost), since I just passed my first kidney stone ever at age 43 and got called to serve jury duty this week.
For those who are going to cash out with this, good anya! Me? I'm gonna have fun earning back that Dilithium playing the ONE single TFO that takes less than 3 minutes to complete, even on advanced!
Thank you, Cryptic, for giving me some Star Trek to hold on to for the last 8+ years... And that is actually a sincere thank you!!
CM
"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science." - Edwin Hubble
In the past when they stopped with the non-Unique yearly 'Tokens' for the Summer, Winter, and Anniversary Events, they had a buyback. In the case of these 14-day Event Tokens, they were UBIQUITOUS, meaning they could be used for any FUTURE Event of that type. Instead of converting those 'Tokens' into TFO Commendations they are just throwing them away (which requires an effort on Cryptics part). So all this talk about not having time to come up with a conversion method is just blather.
If used in the daily projects, those tokens gave us 2K Dil ore and reputation marks.
I see many options for Conversions, pick one, Devs!
2K Dil ore per old event token -> ok
2K Dil and reputation marks boxes per old event token -> fine
Overall, this is definitely a positive change. It'll make combining rewards from different events easier, and it'll simplify the 'currencies' in game. Excellent. I'll lose out on some (not many) stockpiled tokens, but I can deal with that.
Why not enable the "1 token project" permanently/semi permanently for each of the token types you're retiring? That way, people will be able to get something for their saved tokens. Keep it to a 20 hour cooldown, so the game doesn't get flooded with marks/dilithium, and it should remain quite balanced.
Now you might say tough S**t, you already got the main reward, but I still invested the requisite amount of time. That's what those shards represent, the fourteen runs worth of time that I put in for those events. A time investment which has just been needlessly rendered useless.
I would not say that to you at all.
I would say that to the other poster ranting like a child and calling people names because he's not getting his way.
In your case, I hope that something is put in place to give you some form of compensation.
Now you might say tough S**t, you already got the main reward, but I still invested the requisite amount of time. That's what those shards represent, the fourteen runs worth of time that I put in for those events. A time investment which has just been needlessly rendered useless.
I would not say that to you at all.
I would say that to the other poster ranting like a child and calling people names because he's not getting his way.
In your case, I hope that something is put in place to give you some form of compensation.
You might not be saying that, but Cryptic is giving that sort of message out by sticking dirty paws into the banks/inventories of players of those who put in the time/work/resources for those tokens.
A means of compensation or choice offered by Cryptic instead than outright deletion/swiping of items would cause fewer negative moods to flare up.
This has been a long time coming, and honestly? No matter what Cryptic did someone would be unhappy.
They could place an NPC somewhere to convert the tokens. Those with the slotted tokens automatically get their reward without doing anything. How would that make anyone unhappy??
How is it fair? Lets see... you didn't have the project slotted. They other person did.
And the mechanics behind it are that the system can tell who has those projects actively slotted right now. The system does NOT know what your intentions were as it is not all knowing. If you didn't have a project slotted, then all you're getting is your inventory slots back.
What an utterly absurd argument. I lose the tokens, get inventory space and should be grateful for that?
And stop calling hypocracy if you're the one who decided to just stockpile without slotting projects and expect to be rewarded for hoarding.
You just dont get it, do you?
Players slotted at least one token -> full reward
Players have at least one token in inventory -> no reward
Thats by definition hypocrisy!
How does the system know what to give you if you don't have a project slotted? You expecting them to just GIVE you everything just because you decided to hoard the tokens for a rainy day?
And there it is. The "you just want handouts" argument.
Let it go dude. You're derailing the thread with your ranting.
You make only absurd claims to justify this TRIBBLE. Dont project your ignorance onto me. I dont have to take this TRIBBLE from anyone.
I say it as many times as it needs to be said:
All they have to do is place an NPC somewhere where we can just convert our old tokens into something useful. Drozana station already has some of them. How hard can it be to add another TEMPORARILY?
Nice editing - thanks for tagging me as the author of stuff I DIDN'T say.
This is the problem with ranting and not keeping your chill, ultimately you fub up and make a fool of yourself.
People ask how long have I been playing STO - well the answer is simple: I have been here since the beginning. I just haven't always had a lot to say.
I'm going to lose out because I removed them from the slots because it clearly said that the tokens were useless now. I assumed the event was then incomplete able. I really feel shafted by the fact that I like trying to get rid of what is labeled as useless only to find out that it really is a free tier six ship.
Well one of my toons still has mirror universe event slotted so I guess I got lucky there.
well, i too am a bit disappointed at losing my few accumulated tokens from the old events, with no compensation.
I understand that without the event slotted(which i only do for the Big three before i have the requisite tokens needed) they can't give me the rewards for a specific event. I'm ok with that. A bit upset that people who slotted the event but didn't actually get any tokens, or only one, will get that loot, but I'll survive.
But some form of compensation for those tokens would be nice. A direct change to FTFO tokens is a bit silly, as those aren't limited to the Crystal/Mirror/Breach trinity, but a way to trade them in for dill or marks or SOMETHING would be nice.
Otherwise thanks Cryptic I've been looking forward to this Event making it's way back, and while i wont actually use the mines, i will enjoy playing this.
Players didn't "hoard" tokens by allocating them to the project. They used/spent them for their intended purpose. Hoarding is keeping them in inventory and not using them. Why anyone would do this is beyond me, but apparently it happens. The secondary projects were put in place to encourage players NOT to hoard them. Obviously, players did stockpile extra tokens to apply towards the next project. I'm guilty of this as well. But there was never a guarantee that said tokens wouldn't be retired. This was previously done with the Summer/Winter event ships, so I'm surprised that anyone would be surprised that it would happen again.
I have one or two crystalline things cause the project was time gated, and I forgot to slot the project cause I was like, you know, playing the game.
"..and like children playing after sunset, we were surrounded by darkness." -Ruri Hoshino
No, the T6 Ship event was not about furthering the Discovery storyline. It just so happened that the first FTFO of the event happened to be a Discovery one.
If you have one of those projects slotted, even without a single token in them, they will auto complete. If you didn't slot the project, though, then yes, you're out of luck.
It's not a kick to anything, though. Everyone was given an opportunity to run the event, slot the project, and allocate their tokens. If you completed the main project, then you were given a secondary project to allocate extra tokens to, if you chose to run the event past the initial required number. If you chose not to turn those in, that's on you. You were given an opportunity to get rewarded for those, though.
The after event projects are a manipulation to persuade players to not save tokens in our attempt to shorten the next grind. They are not just something generous cryptic put in place altruistically.
I can't believe you just wrote "...that's on you..." If you are offered two options and one does not work for you, that is no option at all....If you want to discuss accountability with such phrases, we will be here all day where Cryptic is concerned hiding behind NDAs and no real transparency policies.
This person poured time, money and effort into your grinds,he feels cheated out of his very real efforts and as a voice for cryptic you say that's on you?!?
The thing that makes me uneasy over all this, is the precedent being set that they are NOT beyond going into your banks and inventories to delete stuff you have earned.
Today "old" tokens they say now have no use.
Tomorrow? "Oh we see you have played too many events and saved up too many TFO tokens. This wont help our metrics for you to have this kind of head start. So to improve the game and for you to retain time invested, we are going to relieve you of some of these, so you have a reason to play and improve our metrics. Have a nice day."
And if you think the above scenario is unbelievable, just remember the "Japori incident".
I member, and have ZERO trust in cryptic not to do stuff like that.
No need for the 20 hour cooldown if they were to make a Daily availible for turn in. It would not 'flood' the market. If it did, Cryptic can do what they did with the last Bonus Dilitium Weekend, immediately follow it up with a Phoenix Event. So much for a long range plan.
As far as the old 'Tokens', I have 7 Shards on one Character, and a scattering of one or two of those or the Transporters or Transmissions on a couple of other Characters. All in all not much at all. As of the last year and a half, I have done these Events on one Character only, even Crystalline, which I used to do on all my Characters. The loss for me is not the point at all.
And the one thing people have not asked as they sing hosannas for Cryptic for their wise and thoughtful decisions:
Will Discovery Marks be made availible as a Marks Choice selection?
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Comments
Anyway, no one has threatened you, least of all me. You've been warned for your behavior, though, which is violating forum rules. Flaming, insulting, and accusatory language towards others and Cryptic are violations. And I'm not referring to your responses towards me. I can understand and empathize with being upset about this, but I think you're taking it a bit too far. I advise you to tone it down.
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
Terms of Service / Community Rules and Policies / FCT
Facebook / Twitter / Twitch
I know the blog post says Anniversary/Season event projects are excluded, but are those really old currencies also excluded?
Specifically, Anniversary Qmendations, and Autographed 8x10 Glossy's of Q.
Currently they're part of the old buy-back system. I still keep those around so I get the emote packs for new characters.
Do I need to spend them now or lose them, or will they remain?
@trekonlinegame: Plans are not currently finalized for the Weekend Event store and its tokens. For next week's update, none of this will be touched, but we'll have further announcements later this summer.
The term 'hoarding' is not offensive but a bit condescending. It conjures up images of a Ferengi bent over counting his Gold Plated Latinum. Persistent dedication is more like it. Again, don't forget 'The Ant and the Grasshopper'.
Of course people will use TFO Commendations from Crystalline to put towards Mirror Incursion. Cryptic wants you to, that's why they sell you a bundle of 10 TFO Commendations and then allow you to run it 21 more times during an Event. That gives you 31, enough for Crystalline and Mirror and 3 towards Breach.
As I said last week when this first reared its ugly head, all of these 'Tokens' including TFO Commendatios are all Character Bound. They all have a unique internal database number, including TFO Commendations. If one were to change the internal database number of these specific items to that of the TFO Commendations, you have a conversion. Now what they are doing is scanning each Character for the items with the unique internal database numbers for the old 'Tokens' and nulling them to oblivion.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
If someone has been hoarding (I don't care of that offends you) event marks without slotting the projects then you have lost nothing, suck it up.. move on. If anything, they have done you a favor and given you back the bank space you have been needlessly wasting. Next time, slot the project like the rest of us.
For example, when Q-mendations were deprecated, a buy-back store was created to trade the pictures for something of minor value. Converting old vouchers for TFO commendations would actually be far easier, since the exchange rate is a flat 1:1.
I am with Zarasz on the need for a token vendor. This doesn't have to built for Thursday, nor do the old vouchers have to be deleted on Thursday. The vendor could start with exchanging shards for TFO tokens with other old token conversion options added over time. Alternatively something simple like a flat replace each old token in inventory with a TFO commendation. Even 1 old token = 1 phoenix box might be an option. No guarantee of something great, but worth what you would have obtained if you had turned in the old token for 2,000 dil.
At a basic level,
Crystalline Catastrophe 2018 reward for 14 shards was:
50,000 dil, 500 fleet marks, 250 marks of choice, plus a unique item.
Crystalline Catastrophe 2019 reward for 14 TFO commendations is:
50,000 dil, 500 fleet marks, 250 marks of choice, plus a unique item.
The June event also grants ship coupons, but this is not always the case.
So the only real change is the token type used to contribute to the project.
Same event, same effort, essentially the same reward.
With 8 previous runs of the Crystalline Event, Cryptic made no mention that the 2018 run was the last use for crystal shards and that shards should be used up before the event ends. If they had done this, every shard would probably be gone and this negative player experience avoided.
The only change is that Cryptic has deprecated one token in favor of another, of exactly equal value, towards completion of a 21 day event.
Regardless of the spin people want to put on it, Cryptic has chosen to make the old tokens worthless and will delete them, without any form of currency conversion you would reasonably expect.
The currency conversion for shards->TFO tokens is less complex the Q-mendations. It is 1:1.
Dealing with multiple event vouchers was indeed a bit of a pain, but in the end it was Cryptic that created these multiple event vouchers rather than starting with a single event currency for the beginning of the Event road. To just delete these without compensation is unfair to players who may have stored a few for future events – like CC#9.
It's not fair to “blame” players for banking tokens. We all live in the real world where people have work, family commitments or holidays that intersect with Cryptic's special events and may mean we absent from the game for a period. Keeping a few tokens in your back pocket to make up for part of the time you are away from an Event makes sense. It's no different than saving TFO commendations ahead of time for a future event, since we reasonably assume there will be future TFO Events and people may not be able to play a full 14 days during an Event. And no, I don't want to buy TFO Event tokens.
Imagine an announcement by Cryptic -that as this morning's patch- all reputation elite marks and regular marks are now worthless and will be deleted; in compensation any reputation projects you had slotted will auto complete. A universal 'Cob' worth 100 'Kernels' will be used from this point forward. The process to obtain Cobs and Kernels is exactly the same as elite and regular marks and hasn't changed. And yes, to help you complete your Rep Projects, a universal Cobs and Kernels Package can now be purchased from the Zen Store for 1,000 Zen.
That's basically what's happening here, but with tokens/vouchers/transponders etc.
Would you still be saying, you shouldn't have banked the elite marks and regular marks for a future Rep Project?
Sometimes the Universe allows for the making of unexpected memories. Philippa Georgiou
No matter your shame, gather your strength. Find a way to help those in need. Sarek of Vulcan
I have 14 Crystalline Shards on some characters. I actually completed those events though, what happened was I played everyday for all 21 days of the event. Why? It saves me the time when some of my multiple characters already have some tokens ready to go.
So after two Crystalline entity events I end up with seven spare shards per run, ending up with 14 shards. Enough to complete the event and focus on doing it for someone else.
I CAN'T reslot the project after I finish it, so I hold the shards. And it's not as economical to simply do the daily afterwards as that would only net me 28,000 dilithium as opposed to 50,000.
Now you might say tough S**t, you already got the main reward, but I still invested the requisite amount of time. That's what those shards represent, the fourteen runs worth of time that I put in for those events. A time investment which has just been needlessly rendered useless.
The Crystalline Entity is an old event. So old it's currently in its third iteration. This can easily come off as change for change's sake, and it there's no carry over. I remember when they changed the tokens for the Summer Event. They still allowed you to use the previous tokens you already had. They didn't erase them from your inventory and say, "Tough Luck kid."
This is a bad call because they've told me retroactively, you wasted your time. I'm working now, I have less time to actually invest in these events, so this preemptive time saving by..."hoarding" is less offensive than imprecise, it's stockpiling has just been erased like profit in a Ferengi Stockmarket Crash.
I personally think that them just making everything a single TFO Commendation is redundant, but if it's what they're set on it's their prerogative.
But a buy back system would at least ameliorate that by giving us something for the time invested and the game work put in.
Them autocompleting slotted projects is generous, I don't deny that, and I'll get some benefit out of that on some characters.
But just Thanos Snapping the shards and other tokens we already have for nothing is just....wasteful. At least let us buy something with them, if not dilithium and marks, then Phoenix Packs, Universal upgrades. I don't recall them ever just nuking stuff we've earned out of existence.
Exactly.
Question: Can we turn in any old save crystals from previous CC Events toward anything or are they completely useless?
Inquiring minds want to know!
And the ones shouting 'tough luck' probably have some stashed but like to be Contrarians.
First they came for the Crystal Shards, and I did not speak out—because I had no Crystal Shards.
Then they came for the Multidimensional Transporter Devices, and I did not speak out— because I had no Multidimensional Transporter Devices.
Then they came for the Voth Operative Transmission, and I did not speak out—because I had no Voth Operative Transmissions.
Then they came for TFO Commendations—and there was no one left to speak out.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I assume you did not read the blog. Allow me to highlight the appropriate section in a quote.
There will be nothing for you to turn in, as they are being deleted.
Except it's not useless. You already got the base rewards for doing the queue, the daily mark package and a little dilithium. IMO it's not a fair statement to say you wasted all your time. You just lost the bonus reward value. No different than playing the same queue multiple times a day on the same character.
That said, I have probably 50 tokens per character for each of those events combined, so I lost quite a lot as well.
I would have preferred a buy-back system like we had for the Qmendations.
A simple 1:1 swap for FTFO Commendations will not happen, since that will cut into the C-Store buyout pack, and keep people from playing new content for years.
That said, I already have at least 14 FTFO Commendations on each of my 12 characters, so I still don't have to actually play for the next year if I don't want to.
Nobody likes a bank/barracks thief. And that's what Cryptic is doing to players. What's next? Theft of sponsorship tokens from those who created them? Maybe theft of old items that you can't acquire anymore(such as certain ship weapons)?
And before someone complains about how "it's not easy to code/track, so it's not feasible this solution..." Keep in mind, they have at least two precedents regarding this sort of situation. The old kit frames(you could keep them, or redeem them for more EC), and old crafting materials(you could keep them, or redeem them for new crafting mats).
Aye.
DAMN MY EYES!
I looked right at that and still missed it.
Shame that they're just gonna take them and offer nothing. I have nine or ten chrystals on eight of my Captains saved from the last BIG CC. If there were some place to turn them in, even for a little bit of Dil that would be nice, but...
Oh, well.
I've a few characters that didn't get the chance to complete this year's First Contact Day (some just need one, some others needed three).
So, these special events will all give TFO tokens?
I COULD complain and moan and put up a fuss that I just gave up 50,000 Dil x 9 Projects, but I woke up this morning and chose to "take the road less traveled by" (thank you Robert Frost), since I just passed my first kidney stone ever at age 43 and got called to serve jury duty this week.
For those who are going to cash out with this, good anya! Me? I'm gonna have fun earning back that Dilithium playing the ONE single TFO that takes less than 3 minutes to complete, even on advanced!
Thank you, Cryptic, for giving me some Star Trek to hold on to for the last 8+ years... And that is actually a sincere thank you!!
CM
If used in the daily projects, those tokens gave us 2K Dil ore and reputation marks.
I see many options for Conversions, pick one, Devs!
YouTube: MitNaqt Facebook: STO Neuling
@ambassadorkael#6946
Why not enable the "1 token project" permanently/semi permanently for each of the token types you're retiring? That way, people will be able to get something for their saved tokens. Keep it to a 20 hour cooldown, so the game doesn't get flooded with marks/dilithium, and it should remain quite balanced.
-K
I would not say that to you at all.
I would say that to the other poster ranting like a child and calling people names because he's not getting his way.
In your case, I hope that something is put in place to give you some form of compensation.
You might not be saying that, but Cryptic is giving that sort of message out by sticking dirty paws into the banks/inventories of players of those who put in the time/work/resources for those tokens.
A means of compensation or choice offered by Cryptic instead than outright deletion/swiping of items would cause fewer negative moods to flare up.
Nice editing - thanks for tagging me as the author of stuff I DIDN'T say.
This is the problem with ranting and not keeping your chill, ultimately you fub up and make a fool of yourself.
Well one of my toons still has mirror universe event slotted so I guess I got lucky there.
I understand that without the event slotted(which i only do for the Big three before i have the requisite tokens needed) they can't give me the rewards for a specific event. I'm ok with that. A bit upset that people who slotted the event but didn't actually get any tokens, or only one, will get that loot, but I'll survive.
But some form of compensation for those tokens would be nice. A direct change to FTFO tokens is a bit silly, as those aren't limited to the Crystal/Mirror/Breach trinity, but a way to trade them in for dill or marks or SOMETHING would be nice.
Otherwise thanks Cryptic I've been looking forward to this Event making it's way back, and while i wont actually use the mines, i will enjoy playing this.
I have one or two crystalline things cause the project was time gated, and I forgot to slot the project cause I was like, you know, playing the game.
The after event projects are a manipulation to persuade players to not save tokens in our attempt to shorten the next grind. They are not just something generous cryptic put in place altruistically.
I can't believe you just wrote "...that's on you..." If you are offered two options and one does not work for you, that is no option at all....If you want to discuss accountability with such phrases, we will be here all day where Cryptic is concerned hiding behind NDAs and no real transparency policies.
This person poured time, money and effort into your grinds,he feels cheated out of his very real efforts and as a voice for cryptic you say that's on you?!?
Today "old" tokens they say now have no use.
Tomorrow? "Oh we see you have played too many events and saved up too many TFO tokens. This wont help our metrics for you to have this kind of head start. So to improve the game and for you to retain time invested, we are going to relieve you of some of these, so you have a reason to play and improve our metrics. Have a nice day."
And if you think the above scenario is unbelievable, just remember the "Japori incident".
I member, and have ZERO trust in cryptic not to do stuff like that.
As far as the old 'Tokens', I have 7 Shards on one Character, and a scattering of one or two of those or the Transporters or Transmissions on a couple of other Characters. All in all not much at all. As of the last year and a half, I have done these Events on one Character only, even Crystalline, which I used to do on all my Characters. The loss for me is not the point at all.
And the one thing people have not asked as they sing hosannas for Cryptic for their wise and thoughtful decisions:
Will Discovery Marks be made availible as a Marks Choice selection?
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'