So the only way to get gravbikes is through lockboxes.
Nice move Cryptic ?^#%$ you've managed to cram so mach failure into STO that's it's spilled out onto Champions, the only game you had left that wasn't sickeningly leveraged to the hilt.
Arrogant greed is not the way to get people to spend money with you.
I used to have an Orion slave girl, then PWE 'perfected' her, now all I have is this lousy signature
At least they reduced the lockbox drop rate significantly.
Reduced drop rate? 15 minutes in Lemuria spent defeating the mobs above the submarine and escorting those 3 mini subs in the open mission garnered me 45 of those lockboxes. No, the rate wasn't reduced.
Hey, why pay straight up for what we want when we can gamble for the chance to MAAAYBE get it? When was the last time you went into a store and just "bought" something instead of the chance to maybe get what you want?
Hey, why pay straight up for what we want when we can gamble for the chance to MAAAYBE get it? When was the last time you went into a store and just "bought" something instead of the chance to maybe get what you want?
But Vision they arn't lockboxes we are guaranteed 1 salvage.
/isarcasm
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
But Vision they arn't lockboxes we are guaranteed 1 salvage. /isarcasm
2 salvage guaranteed
i imagine this is just the first wave of grav bikes, there is a precedent of releasing the gamble first then the other ways
my guess is as the stages go on they will be available in the drifter and z store. so at this stage the AH and boxes are the only way.
probably done this way to maximize sales from the early adopters and the collector market
But Vision they arn't lockboxes we are guaranteed 1 salvage.
/isarcasm
2+ salvage, eleventy near-useless vehicle mods, and one +20% XP / +20% team XP / +20(?)% resource / +10 permanent skill boost. The boosts make it not as bad a deal as I thought it was, though a better drop rate on the 5-slot bikes would be a lot nicer. The Super Packs at CoX still seem like they were the far better deal.
I imagine this is just the first wave of grav bikes, there is a precedent of releasing the gamble first then the other ways
my guess is as the stages go on they will be available in the drifter and z store. so at this stage the AH and boxes are the only way.
probably done this way to maximize sales from the early adopters and the collector market
An average of 2.75 Drifter Salvage per lockbox opened with a key, actually.
The rest of what you wrote is spot-on. They're trying to profit of the "must have it now" people. If you're a patient investor, it's often more in your favor (most things depreciate in value over time).
The rest of what you wrote is spot-on. They're trying to profit of the "must have it now" people. If you're a patient investor, it's often more in your favor (most things depreciate in value over time).
I am going with the sandwich-heavy investment portfolio.
They made the bikes too big. If they were 1/2 the length that would have been better. Bikes are suppose to be small and nimble. These seem to me to be like a supersonic fighter with an open cockpit or a rocket you ride on top of. Imagine a Harely the length of a limousine. I"m not happy with become devices as vehicles but I might have gone for a 5 slot bike for a transport if they looked like a bike and not rocket you grab on to.
2+ salvage, eleventy near-useless vehicle mods, and one +20% XP / +20% team XP / +20(?)% resource / +10 permanent skill boost. The boosts make it not as bad a deal as I thought it was, though a better drop rate on the 5-slot bikes would be a lot nicer. The Super Packs at CoX still seem like they were the far better deal.
The Super Packs at CoX still seem like they were the far better deal.
I suppose that remains to be seen. Someone who purchased one of those a short time before the announced closure of the game might not have considered it a better deal (Did COX offer refunds for purchases made in the period right before the closure announcement ?)
The 'best' part about grav bikes is how they aren't even colorable. :rolleyes:
I've seen a few people in game using them and all are available only with hard set colors.
Even if they were colorable on PTS.
It's even worse than with jets or tanks. Jet or tank replaces character model, so having generic colors on it isn't a very big issue - they don't interfere with character costume because it's not visible.
But with bikes you will be using generic vehicle with generic colors with no option for making it matching your costume colors.
Not that it's really surprising.
In short, there is no point in being upset because bikes are available only in lockboxes.
Because there is no point in having a grav bike, except maybe for an additional travel power - given how limited vehicles are in combat.
Spare yourself an embarassment and don't buy it.
And before somebody tells that maybe Cryptic couldn't make vehicles at least colorable.
They could and they did.
For a short time it was possible to change bike colors at PTS tailor.
Vehicles are extentions of character costumes, same as models for become devices.
With an additional effort it is possible to make them colorable, though it would also require tweaking tailor interface for it.
It's simply that PWE decided that they could make money by selling separate vehicles in different colors. And obviously they didn't learned anything from how few people are using tanks or jets right now.
Which is obviously a failure, because a main appeal of CO is customisation. And no amount of vehicles in Z-store will make possible to match with all colors available for player costumes.
At least in my eyes, present incarnation of vehicles is simply a failure.
So the only way to get gravbikes is through lockboxes.
Nice move Cryptic ?^#%$ you've managed to cram so mach failure into STO that's it's spilled out onto Champions, the only game you had left that wasn't sickeningly leveraged to the hilt.
Arrogant greed is not the way to get people to spend money with you.
HEY! We have been full of Fail long before STO was even around! :biggrin:
It's simply that PWE decided that they could make money by selling separate vehicles in different colors. And obviously they didn't learned anything from how few people are using tanks or jets right now.
Which is obviously a failure, because a main appeal of CO is customisation. And no amount of vehicles in Z-store will make possible to match with all colors available for player costumes.
At least in my eyes, present incarnation of vehicles is simply a failure.
Exactly,
They're going by the logic that, if they limit us to just one color then make variations for differen't colors we'll buy more of them, instead of simply not buying any of them at all.
Would some people attempt to buy multiples just to have more color options? Maaaybe. But others (I'd venture to say most), would simply opt to not buy any of them at all. And people on the fence about the idea of buying a vehicle would be less likely to buy them. So the end result is equal sales or less (I'd venture to say less) for less product.
They're going by the logic that, if they limit us to just one color then make variations for differen't colors we'll buy more of them, instead of simply not buying any of them at all.
Would some people attempt to buy multiples just to have more color options? Maaaybe. But others (I'd venture to say most), would simply opt to not buy any of them at all. And people on the fence about the idea of buying a vehicle would be less likely to buy them. So the end result is equal sales or less (I'd venture to say less) for less product.
If i could colour them, and especially if i could put an emblem on them and so clearly tie them in with my hero, then i'd have bought one of each of the jets and z-store tanks and i might even be opening lockboxes right now for a bike. Instead i.... have just one jet that was given to me by someone else as a present and a tank from a lockbox i opened for drifter salvage thats sitting in my bank account unused.
Because my heroes don't drive around any old tank or jet, it has to be clearly THEIR tank or jet! If could change just the colour fields, no need for patterns or anything, and have an emblem on it from the ones already in the game it'd be fine! Then this Hawkwing Jet would be clearly Moon Unit's Hawkwing jet and that Manta tank would be Dr Cerebellums legendary Think-Tank and that red and black bike would clearly be Professor Ant-heads Ant-Cycle!
So lets see... thats one purchase someone else made and a freebie as the legacy stuff is what sold the lockbox keys versus a lost potential income of the many purchases i would have made but didnt.
Ergo: bad move PW, you missed way more money than you got from me on vehicles with that decision.
___________________________________
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
An average of 2.75 Drifter Salvage per lockbox opened with a key, actually.
The rest of what you wrote is spot-on. They're trying to profit of the "must have it now" people. If you're a patient investor, it's often more in your favor (most things depreciate in value over time).
The tanks in the last lockbox were superior (more mod slots) in quality to the vehicles you purchased with Zen. So if they do release the bikes on the zen store they will likely not be the same as what is in the box.
In my previous post I complained about the size of the bikes. I was basing that on the two available on the PTS. I saw one of the new Hawk bikes today and it was about the right size.
That being said, having to gamble to get them is stupid. Just put a price on them already. One problem with these low chance gambles is if you don't spit out something worth having often enough people stop playing. I calculate at a 3% chance for any bike (I am basing this on someone who opened 200 of the tank boxes on the PTS) 23 keys or about $21 will give you about a 50% to get a bike. A fixed price of say 1500z for the 4 slot and 2500z for an 8 slot bike I think would be a better policy. $15 for 100% I would go for but $21 for a maybe is not worth even trying.
In my previous post I complained about the size of the bikes. I was basing that on the two available on the PTS. I saw one of the new Hawk bikes today and it was about the right size.
The bikes actually scale with your toon. The length and height example changes with chest depth, character height etc. Too bad this means getting you ideal shape may require adjustments to your character.
I'm thankful mine looks perfect without any adjustment.
At least they reduced the lockbox drop rate significantly.
They did? I must be "lucky" then because I got what seemed like the same amount of these things while taking a character from 24 to 40 this weekend and then running UNITY missions on several toons to regear her.
Did they post that they were reducing the drop rate?
The Super Packs at CoX still seem like they were the far better deal.
I agree. The Lockboxes are nothing more than a sleezy cash grab IMO. This is a downside of PWE buying Cryptic. These are never going to to away and they'll only get worse from here on out.
Lockboxes ruined STO for me. It's sad to see them here in CO too.
Dear Devs: I enjoyed the Legacy of Romulus expansion much more than the Delta Rising expansion. .
What makes this really bad for me, is even if I wanted to gamble on lockboxes, the selections are two beighe and one black and gold bike. Why would any of my characters use thos color bikes? At least if I could color change them I could get an orange and black bike for Deathwicsh...
I recently leveled up four toons, two pre-hoverbike, two post-hoverbike, from levels 5-15.
The hoverbike ones have half as many lockboxes.
I wish my numbers looked like that. I took Stalker and Kyobu Ryushiho from 24-40 a few weeks ago and then took Hot Flash from 24-40 this weekend using a combination of regular missions and smash alerts alerts whenever dockside dustup or soul siphon were up (I don't PUG the others anymore). All had close to the same number of lock boxes when it was all said and done.
What makes this really bad for me, is even if I wanted to gamble on lockboxes, the selections are two beighe and one black and gold bike. Why would any of my characters use thos color bikes? At least if I could color change them I could get an orange and black bike for Deathwicsh...
Since we seem to be stuck with these unpimpable rides, they should make Themed Vehicles atleast. Steampunk, Retro Space/Tech, Western, Blingbling, Clown and Stuff like that. Couple of different models just isn't cutting it.
But i guess the Asian Overlords know better what people like. Or more like what they have to like.
:mad:
CHAMPIONS ONLINE:Join Date: Apr 2008
And playing by myself since Aug 2009 Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
I suppose that remains to be seen. Someone who purchased one of those a short time before the announced closure of the game might not have considered it a better deal (Did COX offer refunds for purchases made in the period right before the closure announcement ?)
Oh boy. The silly "that game closed so it must have sucked" canard.
1: People who bought superpacks and points shortly before the closure were fully refunded.
2: In an ongoing game system, the way super packs in CoH worked was eminently superior to the way lockboxes in CO work.
Is this why they held back the release of grav bikes while the first batch of "Reloaded" vehicles are released at one go? Did they anticipate that grav bikes had the potential to be the most sought after vehicle out of all of them and decided to exploit that demand by making us gamble for them?
Personally I'm disgusted, and ironically the grav bike is the one vehicle I have the most interest in.
Oh boy. The silly "that game closed so it must have sucked" canard.
That is not what I said. Not even close actually.
I do not think that COH, "sucked." I did not like it, but that says nothing about the merits of the game. The point of a game is to entertain. COH entertained tens of thousands of people for most of a decade. I would say that pretty much defines not sucking.
I wasn't going to come here, but now I have too, because I'm sad, angry and disgusted with myself all at the same time, and it's because of these lockboxes and keys.
I have been, like many long time subscribing veterans of the game, saving my Zen up for a long time. Had over 5000 z at one point, and spent some last month to upgrade the size of my hideout stash to accommodate all the new Vehicle mods that I wanted to also save and fuse in anticipation of the hover Bike I knew I'd be wanting.
Last night, I purchased a set of ten cosmic keys, for 900, after speaking with several people I have seen flying around on new Hawk bikes. Three separate people each told me, completely independently, that it took them around 30 boxes to land their Hawk bikes.
So, I got my first raft of keys, and got some really terrible luck. a grand total of 22 Drifter Salvage, a ton of low ranked mods, and not a single bike nor even a weapon mod.
Figuring I would need more rolls to get a shot, I got ten more, and at least this time the secondary luck was better. Total of 55 Drifter salvage at the end of twenty boxes opened, and now two weapon mods, plus some medium ranked defense and utility mods along with all the low ranked ones.
I'm not going in for more keys, I'm already angry enough. I just thought I'd pass along my "user feedback".
I mostly earned my Zen the hard way, through subbing to the game, paying to keep the lights on over there at Cryptic. Supplemented with Zen from the Questionite exchange of course, but by far most of it has come from spending my real money on my subscription that I have maintained since the game first shipped in Sept. of 09, with no lapses.
I have been saving with few needed expenditures for some time, as I long ago purchased all the costume slots, services and costume sets on offer that I wanted. Much of it before the F2P transition, which means it was real money spent extra over and above my Sub rate, from before there was a Stipend.
We don't really want gamble boxes, nor pre-patterned and painted vehicles. I feel pretty strongly if the Vehicles were just sold with prices based on "power" alone, IE Mod slot totals, and each given skin and color options in a "Garage" or tailor specifically for vehicles, saved to costume slots essentially, then they could have sold for a fairer and higher price.
Whatever happened to this being a game about Customization, anyway?
Instead of feeling unlucky and possibly cheated, I'd have spent a similar amount of my saved up cash, and possibly far more, buying the vehicles I felt I could afford for whatever purpose I'd need, and making them look as I want to fit my specific characters.
You'd have more money from me, and I'd be happy. Not saddened, angry, and disgusted.
It's probably just me being an "Ugly American", but when I see something like lockboxes, and think "Why would they think we'd buy that?" I fall back on "must be something the Asian market inexplicably likes".
It's probably just me being an "Ugly American", but when I see something like lockboxes, and think "Why would they think we'd buy that?" I fall back on "must be something the Asian market inexplicably likes".
Except, Decorum, that many, many American gamers buy lockboxes.
Instead of feeling unlucky and possibly cheated, I'd have spent a similar amount of my saved up cash, and possibly far more, buying the vehicles I felt I could afford for whatever purpose I'd need, and making them look as I want to fit my specific characters.
You'd have more money from me, and I'd be happy. Not saddened, angry, and disgusted.
Thank you for reading.
But they already got our money, we were suckered enough to try the keys for bikes anyways.
I wasn't going to come here, but now I have too, because I'm sad, angry and disgusted with myself all at the same time, and it's because of these lockboxes and keys.
I have been, like many long time subscribing veterans of the game, saving my Zen up for a long time. Had over 5000 z at one point, and spent some last month to upgrade the size of my hideout stash to accommodate all the new Vehicle mods that I wanted to also save and fuse in anticipation of the hover Bike I knew I'd be wanting.
Last night, I purchased a set of ten cosmic keys, for 900, after speaking with several people I have seen flying around on new Hawk bikes. Three separate people each told me, completely independently, that it took them around 30 boxes to land their Hawk bikes.
So, I got my first raft of keys, and got some really terrible luck. a grand total of 22 Drifter Salvage, a ton of low ranked mods, and not a single bike nor even a weapon mod.
Figuring I would need more rolls to get a shot, I got ten more, and at least this time the secondary luck was better. Total of 55 Drifter salvage at the end of twenty boxes opened, and now two weapon mods, plus some medium ranked defense and utility mods along with all the low ranked ones.
I'm not going in for more keys, I'm already angry enough. I just thought I'd pass along my "user feedback".
I mostly earned my Zen the hard way, through subbing to the game, paying to keep the lights on over there at Cryptic. Supplemented with Zen from the Questionite exchange of course, but by far most of it has come from spending my real money on my subscription that I have maintained since the game first shipped in Sept. of 09, with no lapses.
I have been saving with few needed expenditures for some time, as I long ago purchased all the costume slots, services and costume sets on offer that I wanted. Much of it before the F2P transition, which means it was real money spent extra over and above my Sub rate, from before there was a Stipend.
We don't really want gamble boxes, nor pre-patterned and painted vehicles. I feel pretty strongly if the Vehicles were just sold with prices based on "power" alone, IE Mod slot totals, and each given skin and color options in a "Garage" or tailor specifically for vehicles, saved to costume slots essentially, then they could have sold for a fairer and higher price.
Whatever happened to this being a game about Customization, anyway?
Instead of feeling unlucky and possibly cheated, I'd have spent a similar amount of my saved up cash, and possibly far more, buying the vehicles I felt I could afford for whatever purpose I'd need, and making them look as I want to fit my specific characters.
You'd have more money from me, and I'd be happy. Not saddened, angry, and disgusted.
Thank you for reading.
Great post and I am in the same boat, only I bought one set of keys and no more.
Saving up money for keys or bike won't bother me much, but......................
Why on earth would they want to make money with non-colorable vehicle, since they know that customization is everything to CO. Plus not many people would buy something that doesn't suit their style, only those who have use for it but not in need of it
What the point of model of vehicle since you can't even make it your own like.
Something tells me that PWE almost the same as some company I know, care for their games while leave the other delayed.......... leave with nothing but bugs and error while using the game money to develop something else, guess CO workers feel the same as most CO players would feels
It's probably just me being an "Ugly American", but when I see something like lockboxes, and think "Why would they think we'd buy that?" I fall back on "must be something the Asian market inexplicably likes".
I don't know if its "something the Asian market inexplicably likes", but I think rune's post above yours answers the question quite well: "Even if they don't like it and will feel 'disgusted' with themselves for doing it, they'll spent the money anyways".
That is the real reason Cryptic/PW keeps doing this. As long as people throw money at them for this garbage they don't and won't care how you feel. They'll keep putting it out because it makes them money. You only have yourselves to blame for this game falling down this track--and I say "you" because I personally don't support this and never will.
Gratz to all of you spending money on this for helping make CO and Cryptic game's in general into a massive scam where you're expected to gamble your way into new content. Me, I won't support another Cryptic product again while they continue down this track.
PS: And yes, I have spent significant amounts of money on this game in the past, including a $300 LTS I've barely used in a year that's is still 72 days (as of this post) from "paying for itself" and reaching the point were a LTS'er supposedly becomes and non-supportive leech not financially contributing to the game. Plus one full year on monthly subs before that, as well as at least $100+ (not sure how much exactly but I'm certain it's been $100 min, and likely several times that) points for the store.
I totally supported the Takofanes lockbox since the rewards were great! (Up to 5 Rank 6s or 7s. Dozens of Rank 5s. A become device and/or up to 3 top end 4 slot gear WITH R7 mods on top of it. A much smaller chance of getting junk R3s or R4s which were still somewhat alright since you got around 50 each or something.) All these rewards were amazing with the cost of a dollar each.
I was disappointed when I saw that some of the drops for the vehicle boxes never got as high as R7s and at best you get a vehicle. The rewards were never as good as what the Takobox gave. Not even close!
This is why I never used a single Cosmic Key on anything but the Takofanes lockbox. And I never will unlock any box unless the rewards were promising. So stop wasting your money on vehicles because they were nothing like what we wanted or were promised.
Cryptic keeps track of Cosmic Key purchases. But they also equally keep track of which box they are used on. Don't use your keys unless its on boxes that provide worthwhile results. That way they will be forced to release better lockboxes.
I totally supported the Takofanes lockbox since the rewards were great! (Up to 5 Rank 6s or 7s. Dozens of Rank 5s. A become device and/or up to 3 top end 4 slot gear WITH R7 mods on top of it. A much smaller chance of getting junk R3s or R4s which were still somewhat alright since you got around 50 each or something.) All these rewards were amazing with the cost of a dollar each.
I was disappointed when I saw that some of the drops for the vehicle boxes never got as high as R7s and at best you get a vehicle. The rewards were never as good as what the Takobox gave. Not even close!
This is why I never used a single Cosmic Key on anything but the Takofanes lockbox. And I never will unlock any box unless the rewards were promising. So stop wasting your money on vehicles because they were nothing like what we wanted or were promised.
Cryptic keeps track of Cosmic Key purchases. But they also equally keep track of which box they are used on. Don't use your keys unless its on boxes that provide worthwhile results. That way they will be forced to release better lockboxes.
Or ooooooooorrrrr, they could just stop putting everything in lockboxes, and sell them via questionite, recog, C-store? I mean, call me crazy but, 4 different markets in game, and you only add new items to a lockbox....AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!
What good does it do Cryptic and PWE to make the new Grav Bikes ONLY available in lockboxes? There must be plenty of people like me who would gladly buy Grav Bikes and their associated upgrades directly, multiple times even, if only we could. Are there REALLY that many MORE people in this game who will happily fork over their hard-earned dollars over and over and over again on the CHANCE they might "win" a Grav Bike?
Frankly, I find Cryptic/PWE's behavior to be shameful. Obtaining a Grav Bike has become a test of just how far players are willing to go to pay for them, rather than setting a fixed price and seeing how well they sell.
I wonder how the Cryptic/PWE staff would react if, the next time they needed to buy a car, or a six-pack of beer, or a package of bathroom tissue, the sellers told them "We have plenty in stock, but we don't sell them directly anymore, only by raffle. How many raffle tickets would you like, sir? They're only $100 each, or $900 for a pack of ten..."
Target1one
"ENOUGH!!! You are ALL of you BENEATH me! I am a GOD, you dull creature, and I will NOT be BULLIED by--" -- Loki
*SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* <pause> *SMASHSMASH* "... puny god..." -- Hulk
Comments
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Reduced drop rate? 15 minutes in Lemuria spent defeating the mobs above the submarine and escorting those 3 mini subs in the open mission garnered me 45 of those lockboxes. No, the rate wasn't reduced.
But Vision they arn't lockboxes we are guaranteed 1 salvage.
/isarcasm
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
i imagine this is just the first wave of grav bikes, there is a precedent of releasing the gamble first then the other ways
my guess is as the stages go on they will be available in the drifter and z store. so at this stage the AH and boxes are the only way.
probably done this way to maximize sales from the early adopters and the collector market
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
I don't like that change
...Wait...We get guaranteed salvage?
*springs into action*
2+ salvage, eleventy near-useless vehicle mods, and one +20% XP / +20% team XP / +20(?)% resource / +10 permanent skill boost. The boosts make it not as bad a deal as I thought it was, though a better drop rate on the 5-slot bikes would be a lot nicer. The Super Packs at CoX still seem like they were the far better deal.
An average of 2.75 Drifter Salvage per lockbox opened with a key, actually.
The rest of what you wrote is spot-on. They're trying to profit of the "must have it now" people. If you're a patient investor, it's often more in your favor (most things depreciate in value over time).
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
I am going with the sandwich-heavy investment portfolio.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
As long as you weren't trying for a Black Wolf pet. :biggrin:
I lived just fine without the black wolf, myself. What I really miss is the liger. :biggrin:
and if you remember i complained about them too.
Fixed that for you.
"Champions-Online and Star Trek Online contained hundreds of hours of mediocre content!"
and "nothing was polished".
--Jack Emmert
I suppose that remains to be seen. Someone who purchased one of those a short time before the announced closure of the game might not have considered it a better deal (Did COX offer refunds for purchases made in the period right before the closure announcement ?)
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
I've seen a few people in game using them and all are available only with hard set colors.
Even if they were colorable on PTS.
It's even worse than with jets or tanks. Jet or tank replaces character model, so having generic colors on it isn't a very big issue - they don't interfere with character costume because it's not visible.
But with bikes you will be using generic vehicle with generic colors with no option for making it matching your costume colors.
Not that it's really surprising.
In short, there is no point in being upset because bikes are available only in lockboxes.
Because there is no point in having a grav bike, except maybe for an additional travel power - given how limited vehicles are in combat.
Spare yourself an embarassment and don't buy it.
And before somebody tells that maybe Cryptic couldn't make vehicles at least colorable.
They could and they did.
For a short time it was possible to change bike colors at PTS tailor.
Vehicles are extentions of character costumes, same as models for become devices.
With an additional effort it is possible to make them colorable, though it would also require tweaking tailor interface for it.
It's simply that PWE decided that they could make money by selling separate vehicles in different colors. And obviously they didn't learned anything from how few people are using tanks or jets right now.
Which is obviously a failure, because a main appeal of CO is customisation. And no amount of vehicles in Z-store will make possible to match with all colors available for player costumes.
At least in my eyes, present incarnation of vehicles is simply a failure.
HEY! We have been full of Fail long before STO was even around! :biggrin:
Oh pleeeease. It's nice for once to not be swimming in those things.
Exactly,
They're going by the logic that, if they limit us to just one color then make variations for differen't colors we'll buy more of them, instead of simply not buying any of them at all.
Would some people attempt to buy multiples just to have more color options? Maaaybe. But others (I'd venture to say most), would simply opt to not buy any of them at all. And people on the fence about the idea of buying a vehicle would be less likely to buy them. So the end result is equal sales or less (I'd venture to say less) for less product.
If i could colour them, and especially if i could put an emblem on them and so clearly tie them in with my hero, then i'd have bought one of each of the jets and z-store tanks and i might even be opening lockboxes right now for a bike. Instead i.... have just one jet that was given to me by someone else as a present and a tank from a lockbox i opened for drifter salvage thats sitting in my bank account unused.
Because my heroes don't drive around any old tank or jet, it has to be clearly THEIR tank or jet! If could change just the colour fields, no need for patterns or anything, and have an emblem on it from the ones already in the game it'd be fine! Then this Hawkwing Jet would be clearly Moon Unit's Hawkwing jet and that Manta tank would be Dr Cerebellums legendary Think-Tank and that red and black bike would clearly be Professor Ant-heads Ant-Cycle!
So lets see... thats one purchase someone else made and a freebie as the legacy stuff is what sold the lockbox keys versus a lost potential income of the many purchases i would have made but didnt.
Ergo: bad move PW, you missed way more money than you got from me on vehicles with that decision.
While she has been rescued
what diabolical mastermind
was behind the devious brain-napping of
the Volterrific Dr Cerebellum?
The tanks in the last lockbox were superior (more mod slots) in quality to the vehicles you purchased with Zen. So if they do release the bikes on the zen store they will likely not be the same as what is in the box.
That being said, having to gamble to get them is stupid. Just put a price on them already. One problem with these low chance gambles is if you don't spit out something worth having often enough people stop playing. I calculate at a 3% chance for any bike (I am basing this on someone who opened 200 of the tank boxes on the PTS) 23 keys or about $21 will give you about a 50% to get a bike. A fixed price of say 1500z for the 4 slot and 2500z for an 8 slot bike I think would be a better policy. $15 for 100% I would go for but $21 for a maybe is not worth even trying.
The bikes actually scale with your toon. The length and height example changes with chest depth, character height etc. Too bad this means getting you ideal shape may require adjustments to your character.
I'm thankful mine looks perfect without any adjustment.
They did? I must be "lucky" then because I got what seemed like the same amount of these things while taking a character from 24 to 40 this weekend and then running UNITY missions on several toons to regear her.
Did they post that they were reducing the drop rate?
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I agree. The Lockboxes are nothing more than a sleezy cash grab IMO. This is a downside of PWE buying Cryptic. These are never going to to away and they'll only get worse from here on out.
Lockboxes ruined STO for me. It's sad to see them here in CO too.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
The hoverbike ones have half as many lockboxes.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
I wish my numbers looked like that. I took Stalker and Kyobu Ryushiho from 24-40 a few weeks ago and then took Hot Flash from 24-40 this weekend using a combination of regular missions and smash alerts alerts whenever dockside dustup or soul siphon were up (I don't PUG the others anymore). All had close to the same number of lock boxes when it was all said and done.
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Same colors I want for my main.
I'm offended.
ba dum tish
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But i guess the Asian Overlords know better what people like. Or more like what they have to like.
:mad:
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
The vehicles will make off with your children! It will come after them in the night. We're not safe until the copperhead is mounted on my wall.
I say we kill the vehicles!
Oh boy. The silly "that game closed so it must have sucked" canard.
1: People who bought superpacks and points shortly before the closure were fully refunded.
2: In an ongoing game system, the way super packs in CoH worked was eminently superior to the way lockboxes in CO work.
"Champions-Online and Star Trek Online contained hundreds of hours of mediocre content!"
and "nothing was polished".
--Jack Emmert
Personally I'm disgusted, and ironically the grav bike is the one vehicle I have the most interest in.
That is not what I said. Not even close actually.
I do not think that COH, "sucked." I did not like it, but that says nothing about the merits of the game. The point of a game is to entertain. COH entertained tens of thousands of people for most of a decade. I would say that pretty much defines not sucking.
How shortly before closure would a purchase need to have been made to qualify for a refund ?
I am actually impressed that they offered refunds. It was the right thing to do.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
I have been, like many long time subscribing veterans of the game, saving my Zen up for a long time. Had over 5000 z at one point, and spent some last month to upgrade the size of my hideout stash to accommodate all the new Vehicle mods that I wanted to also save and fuse in anticipation of the hover Bike I knew I'd be wanting.
Last night, I purchased a set of ten cosmic keys, for 900, after speaking with several people I have seen flying around on new Hawk bikes. Three separate people each told me, completely independently, that it took them around 30 boxes to land their Hawk bikes.
So, I got my first raft of keys, and got some really terrible luck. a grand total of 22 Drifter Salvage, a ton of low ranked mods, and not a single bike nor even a weapon mod.
Figuring I would need more rolls to get a shot, I got ten more, and at least this time the secondary luck was better. Total of 55 Drifter salvage at the end of twenty boxes opened, and now two weapon mods, plus some medium ranked defense and utility mods along with all the low ranked ones.
I'm not going in for more keys, I'm already angry enough. I just thought I'd pass along my "user feedback".
I mostly earned my Zen the hard way, through subbing to the game, paying to keep the lights on over there at Cryptic. Supplemented with Zen from the Questionite exchange of course, but by far most of it has come from spending my real money on my subscription that I have maintained since the game first shipped in Sept. of 09, with no lapses.
I have been saving with few needed expenditures for some time, as I long ago purchased all the costume slots, services and costume sets on offer that I wanted. Much of it before the F2P transition, which means it was real money spent extra over and above my Sub rate, from before there was a Stipend.
We don't really want gamble boxes, nor pre-patterned and painted vehicles. I feel pretty strongly if the Vehicles were just sold with prices based on "power" alone, IE Mod slot totals, and each given skin and color options in a "Garage" or tailor specifically for vehicles, saved to costume slots essentially, then they could have sold for a fairer and higher price.
Whatever happened to this being a game about Customization, anyway?
Instead of feeling unlucky and possibly cheated, I'd have spent a similar amount of my saved up cash, and possibly far more, buying the vehicles I felt I could afford for whatever purpose I'd need, and making them look as I want to fit my specific characters.
You'd have more money from me, and I'd be happy. Not saddened, angry, and disgusted.
Thank you for reading.
Except, Decorum, that many, many American gamers buy lockboxes.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
But they already got our money, we were suckered enough to try the keys for bikes anyways.
Oh, yes, I'm aware, it's just that that's the part that confuses me. But then, eh, PT Barnum was right.
Great post and I am in the same boat, only I bought one set of keys and no more.
Why on earth would they want to make money with non-colorable vehicle, since they know that customization is everything to CO. Plus not many people would buy something that doesn't suit their style, only those who have use for it but not in need of it
What the point of model of vehicle since you can't even make it your own like.
Something tells me that PWE almost the same as some company I know, care for their games while leave the other delayed.......... leave with nothing but bugs and error while using the game money to develop something else, guess CO workers feel the same as most CO players would feels
I don't know if its "something the Asian market inexplicably likes", but I think rune's post above yours answers the question quite well: "Even if they don't like it and will feel 'disgusted' with themselves for doing it, they'll spent the money anyways".
That is the real reason Cryptic/PW keeps doing this. As long as people throw money at them for this garbage they don't and won't care how you feel. They'll keep putting it out because it makes them money. You only have yourselves to blame for this game falling down this track--and I say "you" because I personally don't support this and never will.
Gratz to all of you spending money on this for helping make CO and Cryptic game's in general into a massive scam where you're expected to gamble your way into new content. Me, I won't support another Cryptic product again while they continue down this track.
PS: And yes, I have spent significant amounts of money on this game in the past, including a $300 LTS I've barely used in a year that's is still 72 days (as of this post) from "paying for itself" and reaching the point were a LTS'er supposedly becomes and non-supportive leech not financially contributing to the game. Plus one full year on monthly subs before that, as well as at least $100+ (not sure how much exactly but I'm certain it's been $100 min, and likely several times that) points for the store.
I was disappointed when I saw that some of the drops for the vehicle boxes never got as high as R7s and at best you get a vehicle. The rewards were never as good as what the Takobox gave. Not even close!
This is why I never used a single Cosmic Key on anything but the Takofanes lockbox. And I never will unlock any box unless the rewards were promising. So stop wasting your money on vehicles because they were nothing like what we wanted or were promised.
Cryptic keeps track of Cosmic Key purchases. But they also equally keep track of which box they are used on. Don't use your keys unless its on boxes that provide worthwhile results. That way they will be forced to release better lockboxes.
Or ooooooooorrrrr, they could just stop putting everything in lockboxes, and sell them via questionite, recog, C-store? I mean, call me crazy but, 4 different markets in game, and you only add new items to a lockbox....AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!
Frankly, I find Cryptic/PWE's behavior to be shameful. Obtaining a Grav Bike has become a test of just how far players are willing to go to pay for them, rather than setting a fixed price and seeing how well they sell.
I wonder how the Cryptic/PWE staff would react if, the next time they needed to buy a car, or a six-pack of beer, or a package of bathroom tissue, the sellers told them "We have plenty in stock, but we don't sell them directly anymore, only by raffle. How many raffle tickets would you like, sir? They're only $100 each, or $900 for a pack of ten..."
Target1one
"ENOUGH!!! You are ALL of you BENEATH me! I am a GOD, you dull creature, and I will NOT be BULLIED by--" -- Loki
*SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* <pause> *SMASHSMASH* "... puny god..." -- Hulk