DEVS/Cryptic/PW: What is your plan to lead CO to glory (and profits)?

android1990 · January 2014

Why does Star Trek update twice as much, or more, as Champions Online?

I assume it's because legions of trek fans are happy to pay for every new ship model that comes into the game, and/or many more people play it, but I am concerned.

I don't want to see Champions Online go into a death spiral.

No *large* new updates since Alerts in mid-2012.

Why?

Is it too expensive to add a Foundry to CO? Is that why CO is getting incremental additions but not big ones?

Is it time to consider adding paid expansions as some other freemium games have done?

Cryptic/Perfectworld/Devs:

What is your plan to lead CO to glory and more profits?

There's also been no State of the Game since mid-2012 when Brad Stokar came on board.

This inquiring player wants to know why!

towershield · January 2014

STO makes more money and subsequently has a larger dev team and development budget. Until CO starts rivaling STO in the profits we're gonna be stuck with what we've got.

sistersilicon · January 2014

Having said that...

With the Rampage rotation/private queue/Justice gear update and Fire & Ice on PTS right now, it does appear that we've come to the end of a development cycle. It feels like there's a new milestone coming up here in February.

Ready to give a few hints here, guys? A little something to whet our appetites?

guunie · January 2014

Lifetime subber here, I was just peeking in to see what's been going on with the game and I noticed this thread. I'd almost forgotten about this game, but the funny thing is that I very regularly check in with STO, because there's an almost constant stream of Dev update blogs, and along the way I just stopped checking in with the game I loved so much even before it officially launched, that I devoted myself to sticking with it for the long run and grabbed the Lifetime sub...And in all honesty, if I could trade in my Lifer status for one in STO, I would without second thought, which just feels so depressing.

Where are we headed, let us all in on your roadmaps, your aspirations, or is the silence the answer in itself? Is this once loved game doomed to a slow death of nothing but "Drifter Salvage" and lockboxes just to keep up server costs until inevitably just shutting down some day, quietly into the night?

I'm currently reinstalling Champions Online, this is a new year and a new chance for the Devs to remind everyone that they're still with us and have the same hopes and expectations that not just a game, but a world that still lives on, and wont just snuff itself out due to stagnation.

I think I'm in the mood to make a healer champion.

bwdares · January 2014

Lockboxes and more lockboxes, duh.

spinnytop · January 2014

TT very recently explained why the devs aren't telling us much about their plans, and the reasons he gave were solid.

crypticbuxom · January 2014

Considering that STO was at one point doing very poorly where they only got lockboxes, and built up from that into what it is now. Champions was actually doing better around that point.

Well we're going through the same thing now.

Ignore the fact that Champions got this way not because the game was doing poorly in sales but because potential NWO customers were more of a priority than CURRENT Champions customers.

jonsills · January 2014

shieldtower wrote: »

STO makes more money and subsequently has a larger dev team and development budget. Until CO starts rivaling STO in the profits we're gonna be stuck with what we've got.

And of course there are all the people who've sworn not to spend any money on CO until those updates start coming through, thus doing their part to ensure it never happens...

chaelk · January 2014

as for the Foundry,
it took about a year to get it to work properly in STO.
Every patch in NW seems to stuff up theirs.

you want more development, spend more money. Get other people to sepnd more money.

If they say, they aren't spending unless CO gets updates. Point out Cryptic isn't doing updates unless we are spending.
Less money in = less money in budget.
Thats what causes the death spiral.

MInd you, If we were able to have weekly sales like NW has, we migth be able to sell more stuff from the Z store.

bwdares · January 2014

Unless CO get a MAJOR over haul, don't expect the Foundry here. CO's engine is too old and the source code is WAY too Horribly put together to handle it. On top of the fact that CO was not written with a foundry in mind as apposed to STO and NWO.

Simply not gonna happen until PWE is willing to put a ton of people on this game and a TON of money in order to upgrade the engine and fix the million coding issues plauging this game.

We will just have to be happy with the small updates.

Which those small updates have been quality ones, just compare costume sets, heads above the past ones. In fact they make most of the other costume pieces look like crap.

kallethen · January 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

TT very recently explained why the devs aren't telling us much about their plans, and the reasons he gave were solid.

Also, in that post, he wrote that while CO isn't outselling STO, it is doing well financially and they are happy with it's performance. There's no plans to shut down CO.

I very much believe him? Why?

First, while we haven't had huge "expansion" updates in a while, we have been getting updates at least thanks to Cryptic North. Sure, I'd love to see a new Comic Series or such, but at least we did get new powers, new costumes, new missions, new alerts, new auras at last, etc. For the immediate future, we've got Rampages coming down the line (the new Fire & Ice, plus retooling Sky Command and Lemurian Invasion into rampage alerts, PLUS letting us create private queues for Rampages) and Justice Gear.

I also think it's rather telling that CO was included in the Arc promotion (while the newer PWE game Raiderz isn't...).

I think we all just need to chill and see what this year brings.

spinnytop · January 2014

kallethen wrote: »

I also think it's rather telling that CO was included in the Arc promotion (while the newer PWE game Raiderz isn't...).

Which I'm kinda bummed about... they need the attention even more than we do.

chaelk · January 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

Which I'm kinda bummed about... they need the attention even more than we do.

you're kidding? They are THAT bad?

crosschan · January 2014

bwdares wrote: »

On top of the fact that CO was not written with a foundry in mind as apposed to STO and NWO.

Nothing personal, Beedub, but in this case that word in red doesn't mean what you think it does. It's there....just a very very very alpha version that doesn't currently work.

chaelk wrote:

you want more development, spend more money. Get other people to sepnd more money.

While I concede that Cryptic North and Cryptic are different beasts....this "logic" has been spit out time and time again and people gave testimonials on having done just that and...well...<looks around> <crickets> Yeah...how's that working out for ya?

And I just wanna say this one more time from the top. Cryptic North are X-Pirates. NW is basically looting all kinds of pretties from STO. I think it's time CN broke out their hats and swords and got us some stuff from our neighbors. They do, after all, have some nice things.... Like a Campaign Zone w/ Boon/AA System and Champions Online Season 1: Space Reserved for Snazzy Title.

I get the unrest and such. I've been here too. I just see things happening with Cryptic North and think the vast majority of it has been positive. I am, personally, willing to give them a chance. No Cheerleading. No Doomspeaking. Just one fair objective shot to turn on the wow factor. Sooo....Lordgar, Radioscience, Gentleman_Crush, and Cryptic North...the ball is in your court. Dazzle me. :cool:

crypticbuxom · January 2014

I have a feeling that we are getting ONE MORE thing in the game that will try to take our money (aside from Aura Set pricing, BoA failure) before we get real, non-popcorn content added to the game.

Sidekicks.

kallethen · January 2014

chaelk wrote: »

you're kidding? They are THAT bad?

If I were to judge by their forum activity... yes.

jennymachx · February 2014

STO gets more frequent updates because the license does not belong to PWE / Cryptic. They have an obligation to upkeep the quality of the game to continue having the rights to use the license in order to profit from it.

PWE / Cryptic owns the Champions license, so they can afford to get away with putting less development focus on CO.

thearkady · February 2014

kallethen wrote: »

Also, in that post, he wrote that while CO isn't outselling STO, it is doing well financially and they are happy with it's performance. There's no plans to shut down CO.

Of course, one could argue that not allocating many resources to a game beyond keeping the servers running would make it reasonably easy to do well financially. (And it's telling how badly CO was handled at times that apparently, the Company That Is Besmirching The Proud Heritage Of The Name Atari couldn't even pull that off.)

The problem is, from a perspective of player attraction/retention, just keeping the servers running is practically tantamount to shutting a game down. Apparently, PWE actually realized that, seeing how we actually got some devs to work on the game again.

Unfortunately, what they have been doing so far is mostly about player retention. Overhauling powersets isn't really going to bring in completely new players (unless perhaps there's new ATs involved), and it's not going to get that many people to return, either (unless Cryptic finally let people convert old characters to Silver FF slots - I mean, most every game that goes F2P has proper provisions for letting returning players reactivate their old chars because that is a draw. How stupid the hell do you have to be to not realize that? And it's not like were actually talking microtransaction here - if you're not willing throw someone to slap down $50 a bone, you bloody well deserve your game to fail).

Even improving on the Alerts system isn't so much of a draw as throwing current players a bone. I mean, how many people who didn't feel Alerts was enough to make the game appealing are going to give it (another) shot just because the selection/rotation of Alerts improves?

I really hope there'll be some legitimately new content in 2014, and by that I sure as hell don't mean another Alert added.

mrhinkypunk · February 2014

Why do people always mention the foundry like it is the best thing that they could add, all it would be if it was possible is a super exploited and buggy thing that doesn't fix any of the true problems at hand within the game.

I think I know just what will save CO...

magic%2Bmeme.gif

The game is doing fine to be honest, they are currently developing the new rampage which I must say is tons of fun after trying it on PTS. Also they are doing a rampage system with new gear. After this we may see some balancing fixes still after on alert and various other times ended up borking a few of the mechanics.

nepht · February 2014

android1990 wrote: »

Why does Star Trek update twice as much, or more, as Champions Online?

I assume it's because legions of trek fans are happy to pay for every new ship model that comes into the game, and/or many more people play it, but I am concerned.

I don't want to see Champions Online go into a death spiral.

No *large* new updates since Alerts in mid-2012.

Why?

Is it too expensive to add a Foundry to CO? Is that why CO is getting incremental additions but not big ones?

Is it time to consider adding paid expansions as some other freemium games have done?

Cryptic/Perfectworld/Devs:

What is your plan to lead CO to glory and more profits?

There's also been no State of the Game since mid-2012 when Brad Stokar came on board.

This inquiring player wants to know why!

Its does have more players but the real reason I think is they need to keep CBS happy.

spinnytop · February 2014

Here is a good place to go to find some answers to the OP's questions: http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/search.php?searchid=33898671

zahinder · February 2014

Why Foundry?

Because if we are going to have something half-assed and incomplete and then abandon us to our own devices, at least Foundry synergizes with players doing their own thing and can actually expand without dev involvement.

There are massive problems with Foundry on STO, but it staggers forward because of the tireless dedication of people who just love the option.

Foundry is much better on NW, building wise, but suffers partially from continued inability to understand how players work, and from a playerbase that is much more concerned with loot (and a game system that highlights loot more).

The other thing about CO is that, unlike NW and STO, there is already SUCH a profusion of options available, from costumes to powers, than the other games. It CRIES out for a creative outlet.

I mean, Foundry on CO would let you make all SORTS of things, like the battle between dryads and cyborgs. Or a spy thriller set in a steampunk metropolis. Or a psychic battle between Mayan temples. Or...

What pains me is that all the creative options of CO are limited to costume contests and basically entertaining yourself.

r9xchaos · February 2014

even if not a real foundry.. but an enhanced nemesis where we can fully create our nemsis ( with all powers and auras ) and of course to make their minions, and their powers aswell... AND make thise missions available to anyone , like they search for high threat and randomly find your nemesis to fight

would be cool

bwdares · February 2014

mrhinkypunk wrote: »

Why do people always mention the foundry like it is the best thing that they could add, all it would be if it was possible is a super exploited and buggy thing that doesn't fix any of the true problems at hand within the game.

I think I know just what will save CO...

The game is doing fine to be honest, they are currently developing the new rampage which I must say is tons of fun after trying it on PTS. Also they are doing a rampage system with new gear. After this we may see some balancing fixes still after on alert and various other times ended up borking a few of the mechanics.

Because the Foundry works for multiple player types. The are many creative people who could make some amazing missions. The RP community would have something to use in order to build stories for those who partake in their ideas.

PVP could build new locations to hold their own battles.-Imagine building your own Stadium and Ring to hold PVP tournements in. Would be cool to watch.

Plus it could take a load off the development team for a little bit as people could enjoy played created content.

But it is a moot point, as the Foundry is never coming here, end of story.

spinnytop · February 2014

Looking into my crystal ball... seeing a post from a future where the Foundry has been implemented... let's see what it says...

"The lazy devs are using the Foundry as an excuse to not put out any new content; we keep making all these amazing suggestions on ways to improve the Foundry and they don't do any of it! Our foundry is a joke compared to that other game's foundry, I can't believe they're so greedy that they would steal our money and then laugh while they make us make the content ourselves!"

What a bleak and perilous future n_n

bwdares · February 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

Looking into my crystal ball... seeing a post from a future where the Foundry has been implemented... let's see what it says...

07/22/2016...

"The lazy devs are using the Foundry as an excuse to not put out any new content; we keep making all these amazing suggestions on ways to improve the Foundry and they don't do any of it! Our foundry is a joke compared to that other game's foundry, I can't believe they're so greedy that they would steal our money and then laugh while they make us make the content ourselves!"

What a bleak and perilous future n_n

Added the date for you.

chaelk · February 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

Looking into my crystal ball... seeing a post from a future where the Foundry has been implemented... let's see what it says...

"The lazy devs are using the Foundry as an excuse to not put out any new content; we keep making all these amazing suggestions on ways to improve the Foundry and they don't do any of it! Our foundry is a joke compared to that other game's foundry, I can't believe they're so greedy that they would steal our money and then laugh while they make us make the content ourselves!"

What a bleak and perilous future n_n

That comment looks very familiar, 1-2months after NW went live. Which is about 3weeks to 7 weeks from when the cries of "when are we getting a new class, when are we getting a new race, when are we...."

People started complaining about the Devs not putting anything out because they didn't have to , with people doing foundry missions.

mrhinkypunk · February 2014

In the time the foundry would take to impliment and the lack of worth it truly would have for this time. I would much rather them make a couple of new zones and a few story lines plus balance up the game, fix the pvp queues and add questionite there and continue to work on new hard 10 man content that is actually hard and needs teamwork.

Am I wrong?

The foundry isn't a great idea for CO, or atleast that's what I believe. It is not the way to do things from where we currently are.

chaelk · February 2014

well except for the hard 10 man stuff..
just kidding, I won't be doing those but those that want to , should enjoy it. The rotation should make it even better

how about an alert , where the 6th person gets to choose traps and enviromental hazards to hit the other 5 with?
Volcano mid- recuitment drive
wall to wall punji traps
random teleport spots - my players used to A) hate them,

jump on them at every opportunity. (6 players in 6 places on a 200 room map, I used th max size map maker.)
immunity to a power
vulnerability to a power- hey, lets make that person spamming epidemic, gas themselves.

ok. I'm eating lunch right now

kallethen · February 2014

chaelk wrote: »

That comment looks very familiar, 1-2months after NW went live. Which is about 3weeks to 7 weeks from when the cries of "when are we getting a new class, when are we getting a new race, when are we...."

People started complaining about the Devs not putting anything out because they didn't have to , with people doing foundry missions.

This underscores the point that people will complain no matter what.

darqaura · February 2014

mrhinkypunk wrote: »

In the time the foundry would take to impliment and the lack of worth it truly would have for this time. I would much rather them make a couple of new zones and a few story lines plus balance up the game, fix the pvp queues and add questionite there and continue to work on new hard 10 man content that is actually hard and needs teamwork.

Am I wrong?

The foundry isn't a great idea for CO, or atleast that's what I believe. It is not the way to do things from where we currently are.

I find it hilarious that you think we would EVER get all of those things even if they decide to never do a foundry.

I'd say expect 10 man alerts and a FEW balance passes going forward every few months and that's pretty much it. Everything else you mention I don't see happening realistically.

And honestly the time they spent on vehicles could have been also spent on those things you mention. Yet they did that epic waste of development time.

Just saying.

spinnytop · February 2014

darqaura2 wrote: »

I find it hilarious that you think we would EVER get all of those things even if they decide to never do a foundry.

I'd say expect 10 man alerts and a FEW balance passes going forward every few months and that's pretty much it. Everything else you mention I don't see happening realistically.

And honestly the time they spent on vehicles could have been also spent on those things you mention. Yet they did that epic waste of development time.

Just saying.

I find it hilarious that you think we would EVER get ANYTHING. Take off the rose colored glasses cheerleader.

nepht · February 2014

I can sum up their plan in one word.

Lockboxes.

twg042370 · February 2014

android1990 wrote: »

Why does Star Trek update twice as much, or more, as Champions Online?

It's their flagship game and it brings in a tonne of money.

I don't want to see Champions Online go into a death spiral.

Too late. Enjoy being undead.

No *large* new updates since Alerts in mid-2012.

Why?

Atari tried to kill it in it's crib and Cryptic moved on to more profitable games. You're lucky you got On Alert instead of a shut down server.

Is it too expensive to add a Foundry to CO? Is that why CO is getting incremental additions but not big ones?

Lat I heard it's like putting a Porsche engine into a Model T and they have other places to put the development time. This may or may not change but I figure that it'll come on the same day the Nemesis System gets an overhaul and expansion.

Is it time to consider adding paid expansions as some other freemium games have done?

They were called "Comic Series" and it didn't work.

There's also been no State of the Game since mid-2012 when Brad Stokar came on board.

This inquiring player wants to know why!

I'll do it for them;

"We've been adding things as we've had the time and resources to do so. We can't tell you what we're working on because it may change at any time and this causes you all to go mental."

nepht · February 2014

twg042370 wrote: »

Too late. Enjoy being undead.

OI! thats undeadophobic U_U

jonsills · February 2014

twg042370 wrote: »

Too late. Enjoy being undead.

Please. It's "living impaired". Check your privilege, breather!

twg042370 wrote: »

I'll do it for them;

"We've been adding things as we've had the time and resources to do so. We can't tell you what we're working on because it may change at any time and this causes you all to go mental."

Yeah, that's a pretty succinct and exact summary.

skylyger · February 2014

jonsills wrote: »

Please. It's "living impaired". Check your privilege, breather!

Yeah, that's a pretty succinct and exact summary.

yeah because insulting the people who actually care enough to bother checking back on this stagnant swamp of a game is a good plan.

They seem to forget that going mental is a direct result of their constant failings, dating all the way back to CoX and Jack making statements with the word promise attached, and then going back on them without a explanation of the need for the changes and the long term plans associated with them.

If for example back on CoX when the red side, villains, and pvp where added, and he made the bold promise or brazen lie that no changes to established power mechanics would ever occur for the sake of pvp balance, and then Enhancment Diversification hit with little more then the explanation that the ability to have end stank powers on scrapper and tankers was deemed OP and breaking all balance in PvP. Had he followed up mentioning the long term plan of Invention Origins and sets with bonuses that would create a far greater variety of character builds, players wouldnt of gone mental on cryptic back then.

Cryptic is staffed by some of the least professional people I have ever had to waste time reading responses by. They cant handle the heat yet want to work in the field.

They are imo far better suited to working in teaching their skills to others rather then trying to do the job themselves

towershield · February 2014

skylyger wrote: »

yeah because insulting the people who actually care enough to bother checking back on this stagnant swamp of a game is a good plan.

They seem to forget that going mental is a direct result of their constant failings, dating all the way back to CoX and Jack making statements with the word promise attached, and then going back on them without a explanation of the need for the changes and the long term plans associated with them.

If for example back on CoX when the red side, villains, and pvp where added, and he made the bold promise or brazen lie that no changes to established power mechanics would ever occur for the sake of pvp balance, and then Enhancment Diversification hit with little more then the explanation that the ability to have end stank powers on scrapper and tankers was deemed OP and breaking all balance in PvP. Had he followed up mentioning the long term plan of Invention Origins and sets with bonuses that would create a far greater variety of character builds, players wouldnt of gone mental on cryptic back then.

Cryptic is staffed by some of the least professional people I have ever had to waste time reading responses by. They cant handle the heat yet want to work in the field.

They are imo far better suited to working in teaching their skills to others rather then trying to do the job themselves

I get that you and many others are still mad at Jack for various things, he's not my favorite guy either, but holding a grudge is unhealthy. It's also ridiculous to STILL be upset about what Jack and company did during their CoX days, especially when a good number of the things they did wrong were corrected by Paragon after Cryptic's exodus.

In summary: Get over it and put some serious thought into not playing any more Cryptic games if dislike the staff this much.

superstar78 · February 2014

jonsills wrote: »

And of course there are all the people who've sworn not to spend any money on CO until those updates start coming through, thus doing their part to ensure it never happens...

This makes me laugh all the time.

Let's say Cryptic suddenly got twice the paid subscription numbers. How do you know Cryptic wouldn't just pat themselves on the back and say, 'boy! looks like we're doing something right. Steady as she goes, guys. Steady as she goes."

In fact, prove to me they wouldn't do that. I'm serious.

Cryptic's business model has always been about creating games on the cheap - That's straight from Emmeret's mouth, (sadly he said that after I bought my lifetime.)

Sorry, but I have yet to see anything from Cryptic showing me this game would improve if they magically got more money. Especially since we're sorely lacking things that cost little to no money like, updates and planning, basic discussion about this game's future, year in reviews and simple communication that other developers provide.

Sorry, but the onus is on Cryptic to prove they are worth people's continuous money.

NOT the other way around.

kaosarcanna · February 2014

jonsills wrote: »

Please. It's "living impaired". Check your privilege, breather!

My undead characters prefer the term "Differently Animated."

jonsills · February 2014

Star, check TT's statement again. Cryptic spends on each ongoing game according to what that game brings in. STO just got Season 8.5, and more stuff in the Solonae Sphere, because STO players will drop 25 bucks for a package of three whole ships. Meanwhile, we can't get CO players to be happy about spending five bucks for a set of Auras. They're making more money, so they get more money. That's just basic corporate math.

There was an exception for a while - NW couldn't make any money until it launched, so it got some cash lavished on it because it looked like a good source of income later. Now it has to support itself - more expansions will require more expenditures.

If you refuse to give CO more monies until you see expansions, you're never going to see expansions. That's just the way it is.

bwdares · February 2014

If Cryptic wanted to make money on this game then perhaps they should work on some content they can sell, like a expansion zone and story, rather then free events that result in stupid alerts.

I still don't even trust that cryptic puts the money we pay back into CO. I would probably have a better view point if the CO leadership ever communicated with us. I mean, do we even have an executive producer anymore?

spinnytop · February 2014

Content that you have to pay for would quickly lose them their Free2Play audience, since one of the major things this game has going for it is that you can do all the content for free. Once that F2P audience feels left behind, they leave, and then what happens to the game? I'll give you a hint: It involves that NextNameTaken guy posting a whole lot of screenshots.

darqaura · February 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

I find it hilarious that you think we would EVER get ANYTHING. Take off the rose colored glasses cheerleader.

Hey I was trying to be optimistic for the person I quoted.

You don't want to know what I really think we'll actually be getting.

darqaura · February 2014

spinnytop wrote: »

Content that you have to pay for would quickly lose them their Free2Play audience, since one of the major things this game has going for it is that you can do all the content for free. Once that F2P audience feels left behind, they leave, and then what happens to the game? I'll give you a hint: It involves that NextNameTaken guy posting a whole lot of screenshots.

Which is why I don't expect any serious content to come to this game ever.

Just more alerts, if that.

LOL, keep dreaming those that want the foundry. :rolleyes:

spinnytop · February 2014

darqaura2 wrote: »

Just more alerts, if that.

LOL, keep dreaming those that want the foundry. :rolleyes:

Lucky for me, all my dreams involve alerts

sterga · February 2014

Telling people they should spend money so that new content is added isn't going to work. There's been too much time where people did spend money and got nothing for it for that line to receive anything other than an eye roll. At this point, Cryptic needs to show people that this game is going to get attention before many people bother spending.

PWI's policy may be devs for dollars, but it wasn't always that way.

rianfrost · February 2014

jonsills wrote: »

Star, check TT's statement again. Cryptic spends on each ongoing game according to what that game brings in. STO just got Season 8.5, and more stuff in the Solonae Sphere, because STO players will drop 25 bucks for a package of three whole ships. Meanwhile, we can't get CO players to be happy about spending five bucks for a set of Auras. They're making more money, so they get more money. That's just basic corporate math.

There was an exception for a while - NW couldn't make any money until it launched, so it got some cash lavished on it because it looked like a good source of income later. Now it has to support itself - more expansions will require more expenditures.

If you refuse to give CO more monies until you see expansions, you're never going to see expansions. That's just the way it is.

so death spiral catch 22 then? i don't disagree really, but also I dont see a way that with such a mindset that co has a shot in hell of ever pulling out of maintenance mode. expecting an influx of players to suddenly pump cash into a game that, outside of some small additions, has been in maintenance mode is unrealistic. so when cryptic north is tasked more and more to make content for sto and nw and the other project, the self fulfilling prophecy continues. i hold some hope, but make no claim that said hope is particularly rationally based.

spinnytop · February 2014

I think the "Spend money so they develop more!" thing is just silly.

Let's just stick with "Spend money on the stuff you want, let the accountants and executives worry about the stuff that is their jobs to worry about, and you just play the video game".

So long as they keep putting out stuff that people actually want to buy, like costume sets and auras and emote packs and vehicles (hey, someone keeps buying them), everything's fine.

agentnx5 · February 2014

jonsills wrote: »

Star, check TT's statement again. Cryptic spends on each ongoing game according to what that game brings in. STO just got Season 8.5, and more stuff in the Solonae Sphere, because STO players will drop 25 bucks for a package of three whole ships. Meanwhile, we can't get CO players to be happy about spending five bucks for a set of Auras. They're making more money, so they get more money. That's just basic corporate math.

There was an exception for a while - NW couldn't make any money until it launched, so it got some cash lavished on it because it looked like a good source of income later. Now it has to support itself - more expansions will require more expenditures.

If you refuse to give CO more monies until you see expansions, you're never going to see expansions. That's just the way it is.

*almost falls over from the complete lack of common sense displayed in this quote*

That is not how the world works man...

I will give CO more money based on implementing things I want to see in it. Pardon, but I don't care that much for vehicles, lockboxes, or auras. They're nifty, but nothing to make me want to drop $100 on.

Know what've I've been doing with Zen? Used some keys to get Salvage for the Justice Gear, and the rest of it I've converted into sweet delicious resources/gold/globals.

I'm all geared up with no place to go and nothing worth farming. I've got all the key costume unlocks I wanted, I love the way my characters look. I spend much of my time saving up, hanging with friends and SG mates, doing a little team PvP or team rampage when I can, and helping out new players. I would LOVE IT if there was more new stuff I could do with a team, and for that I'm looking forward to Fire & Ice. It's something new, and something you want to do with a good team at your side. I log in every Thursday right now hoping to see it's arrived.

You argument is kind of infuriating. It translates to me as "well just buy more stuff you don't want so you might have a chance at getting development you actually want"

That's just wishful thinking Jon. Blowing smoke. Bogus. A fool's deduction.

In the meantime we have bad stuff like this going on:

Costume drop rates secretly nerfed (I believe I saw Crosschan in this thread, care to share how low the drop rates on Kigatilik were that you experienced?)
Dodge and avoidance from gear/mods being nerfed.
A few zealots (people with strong believes that have basis in faith and not facts) screaming loudly enough that we might actually see a cooldown nerf *shudders to think how many people's builds this would really mess up badly, not to mention archetypes...*
Bugs going UNTOUCHED for over year now! (i.e.: Overdrive, certain specs being broken, Telepathic Reverb, Aspect of the Bestial, etc. etc. etc.)
Vehicle weapons mods (the weapons themselves not the vehicles) being every more grotesquely overpowered versus player powers (never mind the cost for being Lifetime or Gold subscribers). Compare say... Incendiary Rounds 2 versus Conflagration? Incendiary Rounds 2 gives +400 Threat per hit (same as Crippling Challenge, except this is AoE not single-target), 75 ft AoE radius, 120ft range, stacking debuff, and NO self-root (use and move at the same time). Conflagration however, has 15 ft radius, 50 ft range, and oh yeah can't move when using it (which is fine, but where's the benefit for being forced to be rooted in place?) Gravity Pulser does even better damage, and knocks-to like crazy. And don't even get me started on Advanced Hyperkinetic Dampening Field ... ugh!

I'd love to see you make excuses for these. And for the record, yeah I told you so about Vehicle weapons from Day 1. I told you they'd make them ridiculously overpowered compared to player powers so they could get more money. And if I follow your logic I should just buy more vehicles if I want to see the actual SUPERHERO (not the superhero's vehicle) get more options to be powerful. Hell at this point I'd even pay for Rank 4 and Rank 5 advantage ranks on character powers. But you don't see that as an option I can actually spend money on do you? I'd also spend money on Adventure Packs, new ones. Buy hell, they made the ones you used to have to buy free, so there goes that option to cast my money towards a development direction.

They are not developing things I want to spend more money on. I've been saving up, but I don't see ANYTHING worth it on the horizon except for maybe the tiny benefit I can get from Justice Gear over Legion Gear.

zahinder · February 2014

You have to spend money to make money. Not doing so means you are either stupid, short-sighted, or have absolutely no faith in your product.

CO came out with a serious content drought. Which is fine, because everyone was willing to give Cryptic some leeway to catch up after release.
Except at that point Cryptic treated anything they did as above and beyond. It's like a miser opening his coinpurse to give you a nickel tip.

I'm sorry that the company has inherited... it's own... lack of development, but, well, tough.

As for F2P players running from paying for stuff... bollocks. ALL the successful F2P games have a variety of microtransactions for all sorts of stuff. Dungeons and Dragons Online, for example, has a huge number of modules (instances/dungeons/missions) that cost money.

The problem is that PWE or Cryptic is cheap and short-sighted.
I would normally blame PWE, but this has been true since day 1, so ... the excuse of 'financial bosses' only holds so many weight before I begin wondering why Cryptic's luck has been consistently lousy with the last three bosses. Hmmm.

DEVS/Cryptic/PW: What is your plan to lead CO to glory (and profits)?

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