Except all the evidence suggests that they dont work hard. Assuming a development team of 15 (and I cant see how or why any company would attempt STO with less then that), what we have gotten indicates that the development team are lazier then any EA development team.
Assuming half that number, and I am mildly impressed by how much they have released. However, that doesnt change the fact that ANYONE knows that you should fix what is in the game now rather then release new stuff all the time.
I played for better than 6 years on an EA game that was released un-finished, I would say would be the best way to word it. Partly, I guess, because they were in the process of being Bought Out by another company at time of release.
It was full of Bugs, and just plain Missing Content. the game was offered with SP and MMO/PVP options, and the first thing they had to do was set up a site to get a Patch to fix most of the bugs. The MMO Option of that game was only played on Privately Owned Servers, and was not available on Company Owned Units as this one is.
Once people started to offer their equipment for Server use to play on, there was another problem found that needed yet another Patch to operate the server. There was so much instability on servers that for a time, people could not play on most of them. Once a Server Owner installed the Server Patch, it stabilized the servers for public access.
Many Players who operated Servers kept creating MOD's for use on their equipment, and then made those available for anyone who wanted to play on their Equipment. Some of those MOD's were extensive enough that the Server Owners, ask for Donations of $15, US each month, to use their server. Some of those even worked with Launchers as this one does. If you failed to pay the Donation, your char was deleted, and your account was closed.**
I think that is exactly Parallel to what is being done right here. For the Vastness of the Server Operations here on STO I believe Cryptic is doing very well whether they do or do not have enough personnel to get the job done to any individual players expectations.
**(Makes me think of this as a FEE instead of being a Donation)
I was simply stating that not all MMOs rely on cash stores.
The TCG isn't there to sell you in game items for SWG. You actually purchase "cards" to play the "TCG game". The TCG is a game in itself and is in no way a cash strore.
The items you get from the TCG that are redeemable in SWG are "bonus" items you get outside the actual cards for playing the game. The cards are what your purchasing, by the way. On top of that, any items you receive from decks you purchased are tradable to other players.
Another thing you may or may not be aware of is SWG gives every player 10 free packs a month which give you just as much of a chance of a redeemable item as someone who pays for cards.
Despite the mistakes that were made 7 years ago, they still haven't found a need to sell items in game to keep it running. That's all I was pointing out.
Will it last? Who knows.
And I have a feeling SWTOR will be as much of a disappointment at launch as STO was.
The tcg in swg is a c store in with a pretty face I know this because i played swg to just before launch of this game, yes it is a game BUT the main reason that people buy the packs is for the loot, and i have seen people spend hundreds of dollars try to get the 5 cards it takes to make some or the things that you can get. So you might even say it is worse because you spend really money on packs of cards that may or may not have the loot card that you need to combine with 4 or 3 other cards to make a item that you cant even trade if you dont want it later so please dont try to put a good spin on the swg tcg , because its a bigger cash cow than the c store, with the c store at least you know what you are buying.
If this game makes it to October, then I'm playing for free. It's called an investment. And no, I'm not loaded. I saved my money knowing the purchase was coming.
I'm fine with or without the C-store.
However I agree that they most put more time and effort into fixing major game issues,
rather than creating C-store items - a little of both please!
How come there's so much bugs, and in my opinion ''missing content'',
even with the current C-store (real money)?
I'm not complaining, only bringing this up for discussion,
and when I say that this game is warplicious - I'm being generous.
The tcg in swg is a c store in with a pretty face I know this because i played swg to just before launch of this game, yes it is a game BUT the main reason that people buy the packs is for the loot, and i have seen people spend hundreds of dollars try to get the 5 cards it takes to make some or the things that you can get. So you might even say it is worse because you spend really money on packs of cards that may or may not have the loot card that you need to combine with 4 or 3 other cards to make a item that you cant even trade if you dont want it later so please dont try to put a good spin on the swg tcg , because its a bigger cash cow than the c store, with the c store at least you know what you are buying.
And a kid can buy thousands of packs of Cracker Jacks to get the whistle but that doesn't mean the actual food in the box isn't what they're selling.
If you removed SWG from the equation, the TCG would stand on it's own as a viable game. The cards have "value" even without the "loot" card.
If you remove STO, the items in the c-store would have no viable value.
The TCG is a genre of game the same as an MMO, FPS or RPG. The C-store isn't.
The TCG has a lobby, tournaments, scenarios, player matches and an area for players to trade and collect cards. This is what you're paying for. It's a game that generates revenue. Absolutely not the same as a cash store which simply provides items and services for the game you already pay to play.
If by saying that because the revenue is used to help support SWG, then you might as well call STO a cash store because it'll earn money for their next project. I also have no doubt that they'll offer something in STO or CO for purchasing the new game. And if a few people purchase several copies to get more than one special item, does that makes STO a cash store? I don't think so.
And I'll reiterate for those that seem to have missed it. "All" sub players get the same chance to receive those items every month "free". Zero money down. If they wanted you to spend oodles of dollars on cards to get the loot, they wouldn't offer free packs in game. It's counter productive to the idea of a cash store.
You know my biggest gripe with any kind of in-game store?
I can't be the only person who plays computer games as a form of escapism. It's no different to losing yourself in a good book or a movie for a few hours.
Unfortunately, the immersion of STO is shattered by these "points" sold by present-day game-maker Atari, who don't exist in the Star Trek universe.
They don't make any attempt to keep a pure Star Trek universe. It's overloaded with their money-grubbing, immersion-breaking antics.
It's akin to the author of a really good novel inserting a line every few pages to remind the reader they're reading a book and that none of iwhat they're reading is real. Who needs that in entertainment? Not I. What self-respecting author would fill his work with such poison to his readers' enjoyment? Well... none that want to sell any books.
And a kid can buy thousands of packs of Cracker Jacks to get the whistle but that doesn't mean the actual food in the box isn't what they're selling.
If you removed SWG from the equation, the TCG would stand on it's own as a viable game.
If you remove STO, the c-store would have no viable value.
If by saying that because the revenue is used to help support SWG, then you might as well call STO a cash store because it'll earn money for their next project.
I also have no doubt that they'll offer something in STO or CO for purchasing the new game. And if a few people purchase several copies to get more than one special item, then that makes STO a cash store? I don't think so.
You really believe that the tcg in swg is not a c store ok then answer me this why don't they pull all the loot cards from the packs? they serve no value in the tcg. why because over 90% of the sales of the packs are buy people buying them for the loot cards that's why, all you have to do is look at there boards and see that . its a c store wrapped up in a tcg to make them feel better. The tcg in swg is a bigger rip off than the c store because the call it a game and then want you to buy pack after pack to get loot cards, If it wasn't for the loot cards swg wouldn't have made it a game because without the loot cards its not profitable for them to make em take out the loot cards that tcg dies. The c store is a c store not a lie, not a no its a card game really we wouldn't lie to you please you really cant believe that load of ****. Edit I went and looked it up you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a loot card in a pack so that frre ten packs you get yea maby you will get a loot card, but problie not if you got one last month and oh yea for the real nice stuff requires 3 to 4 loot cards to make the item. you do the math cost a hela of alot of real money to get the loot more so than the C store give me a C store any day then that nightmare and money sink.
And a kid can buy thousands of packs of Cracker Jacks to get the whistle but that doesn't mean the actual food in the box isn't what they're selling.
If you removed SWG from the equation, the TCG would stand on it's own as a viable game. The cards have "value" even without the "loot" card.
If you remove STO, the items in the c-store would have no viable value.
The TCG is a genre of game the same as an MMO, FPS or RPG. The C-store isn't.
The TCG has a lobby, tournaments, scenarios, player matches and an area for players to trade and collect cards. This is what you're paying for. It's a game that generates revenue. Absolutely not the same as a cash store which simply provides items and services for the game you already pay to play.
If by saying that because the revenue is used to help support SWG, then you might as well call STO a cash store because it'll earn money for their next project. I also have no doubt that they'll offer something in STO or CO for purchasing the new game. And if a few people purchase several copies to get more than one special item, does that makes STO a cash store? I don't think so.
And I'll reiterate for those that seem to have missed it. "All" sub players get the same chance to receive those items every month "free". Zero money down. If they wanted you to spend oodles of dollars on cards to get the loot, they wouldn't offer free packs in game. It's counter productive to the idea of a cash store.
Can you say that about STOs c-store?
Very well put, and anyone who says it is a C-store, is just turning a blind eye to the fact that it is another game on its own that is linked with another game.
As the a person mentioned in a earlier post which is a good point. If the funds from c-store items fund content for the game. Where is it? I think the content dropped off to almost nothing since they started making the featured episodes.
Um, the featured episodes ARE ciontent. There's also the ESD revamp (requested by players); Sector Space Revamp (requested by players); Crafting revamp (made with a lot of player feedback); the new Dailies (added with the featured episodes); the upcoming Q'Nos area revamp, and the new KDF tutorial (allowinhg new players to start out as KDF characters without ever rolling a Fed chracter); the upcoming Ground Combat revamp (again requested by players); shuittlecgraft interiors (again requested by the players); the fact they're retooling to try and do 9 to 10 FE series a year..
^^^^
Yes - they're working on NOTHING but C-Store additions and free (ie insluded with your subscription) content and game improvements are non-existent...oh, wait...
As for the speed at which this content is coming - hell, take a look at the content production of other, longer established MMOs. WoW has had nothing since their last paid expansion; EVE Online barely manages 2 major content updates a years, and the last couple have had way less feature additions then the first two STO updates (and STO managed 3 major updates in its first year online plus the 3 FE series episodes.) SWG has had nothing for a while; and CoH had a 4 month break between Issue 19 and 20.
So, sorry, in the long run it looks like at worst, STO is maintaining new content production at 'industry standards'; but IMO, if you look at the content and the level at which they include player feedback, I'd still submit the STO Dev team is putting the larger Dev teams of most estabhished MMOs to shame in comparison.
I'm just wondering how many more 'I hate the c-store' threads we plan on starting...It got old about 100 threads ago.
That just goes to show you, that no matter what the player base says, Cryptic/Atari are doing it for no other reason then to milk the player base of this I.P.
If they truly cared, they would put this issue to rest once and for all, but they dont, and they know, in todays society, that most people want instant satisfaction, and they are using a loved I.P, to offer items that rightly should have been in game at launch. Unless of course, the new premise is that the launch version was a perfect game and were actually buying expansions.
There is no other subject that causes so much dissent and flame wars as the C-store. Even when people quote Cryptic employee's own words on the subject, they get flamed away,m such as "there will not be any itmes in the C-store except fluff items,Uniforms and such"
Personally, my biggest peeve with the C-store, is that it is double dipping. They want to use a P2P model and also a F2P model. If they want it to be a Asian style MMO, then by all means, go for it, but change the pricing accordingly.
For everyone that says it benefits the game. i challenge you to provide cold hard facts to support that premise. You know what? you cant. There is no telling where this money goes, they sure haven't hired more Dev's for more playable content.
First off some of you think this is a sto thing only the c store, News flash this is the way most games are going. second I am getting tired of the old stand by of it should have been here at launch, Yes launch sucked yes i know i was here but we have come a long way since then so the old standby of it should of been is not very valid any more. third you can get all of the ships except the gal X through in game means so all that is left is fluff. The C store is not going anywhere so get over it or go play another game people but wait you will have the same problem else were soooo guess you will have to invent your own game.
People don't even necessarily hate the idea of a C-store. It's what is getting put in there store that is angering people and the price of those things. If it were just costumes and character services, there would be little complaint, particularly if they were minimal cost, say $1-$5 instead of $15-$25 for one item.
That frustration is then amplified by dissatisfaction with the state of the game itself.
The C store is not going anywhere so get over it or go play another game people but wait you will have the same problem else were soooo guess you will have to invent your own game.
Or just look for avenues of entertainment where you don't get bent over a barrel. That's the most sensible course of action. Much easier than inventing your own game.
I don't know whether it's arrogance or just poor practice, but why ruin people's immersion in Star Trek with your company store? You could have saved a lot of hassle by simply calling it the Starfleet Store. But then of course the Klingons would complain all the way to bedtime.
Um, the featured episodes ARE ciontent. There's also the ESD revamp (requested by players); Sector Space Revamp (requested by players); Crafting revamp (made with a lot of player feedback); the new Dailies (added with the featured episodes); the upcoming Q'Nos area revamp, and the new KDF tutorial (allowinhg new players to start out as KDF characters without ever rolling a Fed chracter); the upcoming Ground Combat revamp (again requested by players); shuittlecgraft interiors (again requested by the players); the fact they're retooling to try and do 9 to 10 FE series a year..
^^^^
Yes - they're working on NOTHING but C-Store additions and free (ie insluded with your subscription) content and game improvements are non-existent...oh, wait...
As for the speed at which this content is coming - hell, take a look at the content production of other, longer established MMOs. WoW has had nothing since their last paid expansion; EVE Online barely manages 2 major content updates a years, and the last couple have had way less feature additions then the first two STO updates (and STO managed 3 major updates in its first year online plus the 3 FE series episodes.) SWG has had nothing for a while; and CoH had a 4 month break between Issue 19 and 20.
So, sorry, in the long run it looks like at worst, STO is maintaining new content production at 'industry standards'; but IMO, if you look at the content and the level at which they include player feedback, I'd still submit the STO Dev team is putting the larger Dev teams of most estabhished MMOs to shame in comparison.
Um, and as I mentioned in a later post fifteen quest in five months is almost nothing. Sector space should have looked like space to begin with. Buying items from vendors isn't crafting. You gather materials and turn them into a NPC. That will never be crafting to me. The other stuff you mentioned isn't in the game yet and it may not make to next year. Since season four is in June. Other than the ground combat changes the other stuff may not happen. Plus you don't know if one cent from c-store went to any of this.
Cataclysm the expansion for WoW has more play able content than STO, either factions quest. So you can say they do as much as the much as the AAA MMO's if you like. It doesn't mean I will believe it.
Or just look for avenues of entertainment where you don't get bent over a barrel. That's the most sensible course of action. Much easier than inventing your own game.
Yep later then I guess you will be leaving us, Sorry to burst your bubble but this is the way games are going You may not like it but its true so either adapt or don't play.
Yep later then I guess you will be leaving us, Sorry to burst your bubble but this is the way games are going You may not like it but its true so either adapt or don't play.
/agreed 100%
Anybody that doesn't like buying C-store items has 2 choices. Grind emblems or be comfortable with what is free.
I don't know whether it's arrogance or just poor practice, but why ruin people's immersion in Star Trek with your company store? You could have saved a lot of hassle by simply calling it the Starfleet Store. But then of course the Klingons would complain all the way to bedtime.
The tcg in swg is a bigger rip off than the c store because the call it a game and then want you to buy pack after pack to get loot cards, If it wasn't for the loot cards swg wouldn't have made it a game because without the loot cards its not profitable for them to make em take out the loot cards that tcg dies.
You're saying that TCGs aren't viable games and that people wouldn't pay to play them if they didn't have special cards?
There are plenty of people out there that love TCG games and hate MMOs. Not all people who play the TCG sub to SWG.
I played Magic the Gathering for years without the benefit of special loot cards. The fact that you don't consider TCGs an entertaining style of game, doesn't change the fact that there aren't thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who do.
And just for clarity, i'd like to point out that SOE created the TCG, not SWG.
First off some of you think this is a sto thing only the c store, News flash this is the way most games are going. second I am getting tired of the old stand by of it should have been here at launch, Yes launch sucked yes i know i was here but we have come a long way since then so the old standby of it should of been is not very valid any more. third you can get all of the ships except the gal X through in game means so all that is left is fluff. The C store is not going anywhere so get over it or go play another game people but wait you will have the same problem else were soooo guess you will have to invent your own game.
I think your missing the point of "it should have been there at launch", Its not about what should have been there, it is about paying additional monies for it now that it is here.
There are plenty of people out there that love TCG games and hate MMOs. Not all people who play the TCG sub to SWG.
I played Magic the Gathering for years without the benefit of special loot cards. The fact that you don't consider TCGs an entertaining style of game, doesn't change the fact that there aren't thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who do.
And just for clarity, i'd like to point out that SOE created the TCG, not SWG.
No Magic is a whole other story I am saying that the tcg for swg wouldn't be there without the loot cards. and for you to say that it isnt a C-store for swg is just not right. without swg there would have been no tcg for swg and without loot cards that game would have died a long time ago.
I think your missing the point of "it should have been there at launch", Its not about what should have been there, it is about paying additional monies for it now that it is here.
I think you are missing my point That saying doesn't make much sense any more because people are still using it whenever anything new comes to the c store first words are it should have been here at launch yes ma by that worked awhile back but i think we have gone past that point.
You either pay for it in the C-Store. Or you get a $30 to $50 expansion pack once a year, with very little content updates in between. Take your pick, I prefer the C-Store method. As has been mentioned before, this is the wave of the future. EA, Ubisoft and many other developer's are using this model.
At least Cryptic had the decency to wait almost 6-month's. Unlike EA with release day DLC for most of thier new games.
Does that included finishing a game that was half-built when it was released?
B/c I haven't seen too much progress.
With all due respect, where were you when we got the new sector space? Or the last three featured series? Or the diplomacy system, the shuttles, or the klingon pve content (I KNOW IT IS FAR FROM COMPLETE, but some is better than none)?
If they try to put featured series or basic mechanics in the c-store, we should complain. Right now nothing in the game is impossible (content wise) without the c-store.
You either pay for it in the C-Store. Or you get a $30 to $50 expansion pack once a year, with very little content updates in between. Take your pick, I prefer the C-Store method. As has been mentioned before, this is the wave of the future. EA, Ubisoft and many other developer's are using this model.
I prefer the expansion pack. I mean, buy a couple of ships and the TOS pack and you're already paying as much as an expansion pack already. If the C-store wasn't such an obvious price gouge and things had a reasonable cost I might think differently, but the way things are going right now its impossible to argue that Cryptic/Atari aren't just being greedy.
That tos pack for fifteen dollars costs as much as some games, definitely more than most indie games, and while a good amount of work went into it, it's obviously out of line with the amount of work for other software you can get for 15 dollars. A fair price for the TOS pack would be 4 dollars. A fair price for a new ship would be 3 dollars. The issue isn't that Cryptic is nickel-and-diming it's customers -- The issue is that they are five, ten, and even twentying their customers for content that obviously should cost only a fraction of what they do.
And you better believe it's hurting the player base. I've talked with a lot of people who won't play STO after taking one look at the C-store page. Why would anyone want to come into a game where they need to pay 15 dollars a month but still miss out of hundreds of dollars of cool stuff?
The only reason for the high prices is to milk the poor sods willing to pay that much. Anyone who defends price gouging is a hopeless fanboy wearing Cryptic colored glasses plain and simple.
Or someone who knows a thing or two about economics, and understands where a price comes from and what its purpose is.
This.
Anyone who thinks the $15/month price point for MMOs is still sustainable since its launch in the late 1990s, hasn't followed either business or tech trends carefully enough.
Value of dollar has decreased
Wages have gone up
Time it takes to create content has gone up
Market is more competitive (meaning each new title has eaten part of teh available pie)
Subscription fees have remained static for MMOs
All this ad hominem makes me wonder if STO is actually a Kobayashi Maru simulator.
I prefer the expansion pack. I mean, buy a couple of ships and the TOS pack and you're already paying as much as an expansion pack already. If the C-store wasn't such an obvious price gouge and things had a reasonable cost I might think differently, but the way things are going right now its impossible to argue that Cryptic/Atari aren't just being greedy.
That tos pack for fifteen dollars costs as much as some games, definitely more than most indie games, and while a good amount of work went into it, it's obviously out of line with the amount of work for other software you can get for 15 dollars. A fair price for the TOS pack would be 4 dollars. A fair price for a new ship would be 3 dollars. The issue isn't that Cryptic is nickel-and-diming it's customers -- The issue is that they are five, ten, and even twentying their customers for content that obviously should cost only a fraction of what they do.
And you better believe it's hurting the player base. I've talked with a lot of people who won't play STO after taking one look at the C-store page. Why would anyone want to come into a game where they need to pay 15 dollars a month but still miss out of hundreds of dollars of cool stuff?
The only reason for the high prices is to milk the poor sods willing to pay that much. Anyone who defends price gouging is a hopeless fanboy wearing Cryptic colored glasses plain and simple.
Were have you been THIS IS THE WAY ALL GAMES ARE GOING not just sto its the way they have to go to stay alive sorry to say i do belive that maby they could lower the prices a little but its not going anywhere and be thankful you arnt paying the 60 to 100 for expantions that you do with other games that do have a c store type thing and still pay the 15 a month. Like I said before adapt or find another game, and anyone that cant see that is wearing i played games in the 1990s colored glasses plain and simple. those days are long gone.
Anyone who thinks the $15/month price point for MMOs is still sustainable since its launch in the late 1990s, hasn't followed either business or tech trends carefully enough.
Value of dollar has decreased Yes, it has.
Wages have gone up Not as fast as the cost of living. It now requires less workers to do more work.
Time it takes to create content has gone up The software to make content is far more advanced now. You can make much more higher quality content in the same amount of time. With less people than you could in the 90's.
Market is more competitive (meaning each new title has eaten part of teh available pie) There are now millions of MMO players just in the U.S. alone where as there were only thousands in the 90's.
Subscription fees have remained static for MMOs Which means they are doing very well. Since the adult film industry only out preforms the gaming industry in entertainment.
All this ad hominem makes me wonder if STO is actually a Kobayashi Maru simulator.
So please don't give me the poor ole game makers can't get by without micro transactions.
Comments
I played for better than 6 years on an EA game that was released un-finished, I would say would be the best way to word it. Partly, I guess, because they were in the process of being Bought Out by another company at time of release.
It was full of Bugs, and just plain Missing Content. the game was offered with SP and MMO/PVP options, and the first thing they had to do was set up a site to get a Patch to fix most of the bugs. The MMO Option of that game was only played on Privately Owned Servers, and was not available on Company Owned Units as this one is.
Once people started to offer their equipment for Server use to play on, there was another problem found that needed yet another Patch to operate the server. There was so much instability on servers that for a time, people could not play on most of them. Once a Server Owner installed the Server Patch, it stabilized the servers for public access.
Many Players who operated Servers kept creating MOD's for use on their equipment, and then made those available for anyone who wanted to play on their Equipment. Some of those MOD's were extensive enough that the Server Owners, ask for Donations of $15, US each month, to use their server. Some of those even worked with Launchers as this one does. If you failed to pay the Donation, your char was deleted, and your account was closed.**
I think that is exactly Parallel to what is being done right here. For the Vastness of the Server Operations here on STO I believe Cryptic is doing very well whether they do or do not have enough personnel to get the job done to any individual players expectations.
**(Makes me think of this as a FEE instead of being a Donation)
The tcg in swg is a c store in with a pretty face I know this because i played swg to just before launch of this game, yes it is a game BUT the main reason that people buy the packs is for the loot, and i have seen people spend hundreds of dollars try to get the 5 cards it takes to make some or the things that you can get. So you might even say it is worse because you spend really money on packs of cards that may or may not have the loot card that you need to combine with 4 or 3 other cards to make a item that you cant even trade if you dont want it later so please dont try to put a good spin on the swg tcg , because its a bigger cash cow than the c store, with the c store at least you know what you are buying.
Because real men don't make perceived-value judgements!
*stare*
However I agree that they most put more time and effort into fixing major game issues,
rather than creating C-store items - a little of both please!
How come there's so much bugs, and in my opinion ''missing content'',
even with the current C-store (real money)?
I'm not complaining, only bringing this up for discussion,
and when I say that this game is warplicious - I'm being generous.
And a kid can buy thousands of packs of Cracker Jacks to get the whistle but that doesn't mean the actual food in the box isn't what they're selling.
If you removed SWG from the equation, the TCG would stand on it's own as a viable game. The cards have "value" even without the "loot" card.
If you remove STO, the items in the c-store would have no viable value.
The TCG is a genre of game the same as an MMO, FPS or RPG. The C-store isn't.
The TCG has a lobby, tournaments, scenarios, player matches and an area for players to trade and collect cards. This is what you're paying for. It's a game that generates revenue. Absolutely not the same as a cash store which simply provides items and services for the game you already pay to play.
If by saying that because the revenue is used to help support SWG, then you might as well call STO a cash store because it'll earn money for their next project. I also have no doubt that they'll offer something in STO or CO for purchasing the new game. And if a few people purchase several copies to get more than one special item, does that makes STO a cash store? I don't think so.
And I'll reiterate for those that seem to have missed it. "All" sub players get the same chance to receive those items every month "free". Zero money down. If they wanted you to spend oodles of dollars on cards to get the loot, they wouldn't offer free packs in game. It's counter productive to the idea of a cash store.
Can you say that about STOs c-store?
I can't be the only person who plays computer games as a form of escapism. It's no different to losing yourself in a good book or a movie for a few hours.
Unfortunately, the immersion of STO is shattered by these "points" sold by present-day game-maker Atari, who don't exist in the Star Trek universe.
They don't make any attempt to keep a pure Star Trek universe. It's overloaded with their money-grubbing, immersion-breaking antics.
It's akin to the author of a really good novel inserting a line every few pages to remind the reader they're reading a book and that none of iwhat they're reading is real. Who needs that in entertainment? Not I. What self-respecting author would fill his work with such poison to his readers' enjoyment? Well... none that want to sell any books.
You really believe that the tcg in swg is not a c store ok then answer me this why don't they pull all the loot cards from the packs? they serve no value in the tcg. why because over 90% of the sales of the packs are buy people buying them for the loot cards that's why, all you have to do is look at there boards and see that . its a c store wrapped up in a tcg to make them feel better. The tcg in swg is a bigger rip off than the c store because the call it a game and then want you to buy pack after pack to get loot cards, If it wasn't for the loot cards swg wouldn't have made it a game because without the loot cards its not profitable for them to make em take out the loot cards that tcg dies. The c store is a c store not a lie, not a no its a card game really we wouldn't lie to you please you really cant believe that load of ****. Edit I went and looked it up you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a loot card in a pack so that frre ten packs you get yea maby you will get a loot card, but problie not if you got one last month and oh yea for the real nice stuff requires 3 to 4 loot cards to make the item. you do the math cost a hela of alot of real money to get the loot more so than the C store give me a C store any day then that nightmare and money sink.
Very well put, and anyone who says it is a C-store, is just turning a blind eye to the fact that it is another game on its own that is linked with another game.
Um, the featured episodes ARE ciontent. There's also the ESD revamp (requested by players); Sector Space Revamp (requested by players); Crafting revamp (made with a lot of player feedback); the new Dailies (added with the featured episodes); the upcoming Q'Nos area revamp, and the new KDF tutorial (allowinhg new players to start out as KDF characters without ever rolling a Fed chracter); the upcoming Ground Combat revamp (again requested by players); shuittlecgraft interiors (again requested by the players); the fact they're retooling to try and do 9 to 10 FE series a year..
^^^^
Yes - they're working on NOTHING but C-Store additions and free (ie insluded with your subscription) content and game improvements are non-existent...oh, wait...
As for the speed at which this content is coming - hell, take a look at the content production of other, longer established MMOs. WoW has had nothing since their last paid expansion; EVE Online barely manages 2 major content updates a years, and the last couple have had way less feature additions then the first two STO updates (and STO managed 3 major updates in its first year online plus the 3 FE series episodes.) SWG has had nothing for a while; and CoH had a 4 month break between Issue 19 and 20.
So, sorry, in the long run it looks like at worst, STO is maintaining new content production at 'industry standards'; but IMO, if you look at the content and the level at which they include player feedback, I'd still submit the STO Dev team is putting the larger Dev teams of most estabhished MMOs to shame in comparison.
That just goes to show you, that no matter what the player base says, Cryptic/Atari are doing it for no other reason then to milk the player base of this I.P.
If they truly cared, they would put this issue to rest once and for all, but they dont, and they know, in todays society, that most people want instant satisfaction, and they are using a loved I.P, to offer items that rightly should have been in game at launch. Unless of course, the new premise is that the launch version was a perfect game and were actually buying expansions.
There is no other subject that causes so much dissent and flame wars as the C-store. Even when people quote Cryptic employee's own words on the subject, they get flamed away,m such as "there will not be any itmes in the C-store except fluff items,Uniforms and such"
Personally, my biggest peeve with the C-store, is that it is double dipping. They want to use a P2P model and also a F2P model. If they want it to be a Asian style MMO, then by all means, go for it, but change the pricing accordingly.
For everyone that says it benefits the game. i challenge you to provide cold hard facts to support that premise. You know what? you cant. There is no telling where this money goes, they sure haven't hired more Dev's for more playable content.
That frustration is then amplified by dissatisfaction with the state of the game itself.
Or just look for avenues of entertainment where you don't get bent over a barrel. That's the most sensible course of action. Much easier than inventing your own game.
I don't know whether it's arrogance or just poor practice, but why ruin people's immersion in Star Trek with your company store? You could have saved a lot of hassle by simply calling it the Starfleet Store. But then of course the Klingons would complain all the way to bedtime.
Um, and as I mentioned in a later post fifteen quest in five months is almost nothing. Sector space should have looked like space to begin with. Buying items from vendors isn't crafting. You gather materials and turn them into a NPC. That will never be crafting to me. The other stuff you mentioned isn't in the game yet and it may not make to next year. Since season four is in June. Other than the ground combat changes the other stuff may not happen. Plus you don't know if one cent from c-store went to any of this.
Cataclysm the expansion for WoW has more play able content than STO, either factions quest. So you can say they do as much as the much as the AAA MMO's if you like. It doesn't mean I will believe it.
Yep later then I guess you will be leaving us, Sorry to burst your bubble but this is the way games are going You may not like it but its true so either adapt or don't play.
/agreed 100%
Anybody that doesn't like buying C-store items has 2 choices. Grind emblems or be comfortable with what is free.
How does the C store ruin your immersion???
You're saying that TCGs aren't viable games and that people wouldn't pay to play them if they didn't have special cards?
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/294982/the_popularity_of_trading_card_games.html
There are plenty of people out there that love TCG games and hate MMOs. Not all people who play the TCG sub to SWG.
I played Magic the Gathering for years without the benefit of special loot cards. The fact that you don't consider TCGs an entertaining style of game, doesn't change the fact that there aren't thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who do.
And just for clarity, i'd like to point out that SOE created the TCG, not SWG.
I think your missing the point of "it should have been there at launch", Its not about what should have been there, it is about paying additional monies for it now that it is here.
No Magic is a whole other story I am saying that the tcg for swg wouldn't be there without the loot cards. and for you to say that it isnt a C-store for swg is just not right. without swg there would have been no tcg for swg and without loot cards that game would have died a long time ago.
I think you are missing my point That saying doesn't make much sense any more because people are still using it whenever anything new comes to the c store first words are it should have been here at launch yes ma by that worked awhile back but i think we have gone past that point.
At least Cryptic had the decency to wait almost 6-month's. Unlike EA with release day DLC for most of thier new games.
With all due respect, where were you when we got the new sector space? Or the last three featured series? Or the diplomacy system, the shuttles, or the klingon pve content (I KNOW IT IS FAR FROM COMPLETE, but some is better than none)?
If they try to put featured series or basic mechanics in the c-store, we should complain. Right now nothing in the game is impossible (content wise) without the c-store.
I prefer the expansion pack. I mean, buy a couple of ships and the TOS pack and you're already paying as much as an expansion pack already. If the C-store wasn't such an obvious price gouge and things had a reasonable cost I might think differently, but the way things are going right now its impossible to argue that Cryptic/Atari aren't just being greedy.
That tos pack for fifteen dollars costs as much as some games, definitely more than most indie games, and while a good amount of work went into it, it's obviously out of line with the amount of work for other software you can get for 15 dollars. A fair price for the TOS pack would be 4 dollars. A fair price for a new ship would be 3 dollars. The issue isn't that Cryptic is nickel-and-diming it's customers -- The issue is that they are five, ten, and even twentying their customers for content that obviously should cost only a fraction of what they do.
And you better believe it's hurting the player base. I've talked with a lot of people who won't play STO after taking one look at the C-store page. Why would anyone want to come into a game where they need to pay 15 dollars a month but still miss out of hundreds of dollars of cool stuff?
The only reason for the high prices is to milk the poor sods willing to pay that much. Anyone who defends price gouging is a hopeless fanboy wearing Cryptic colored glasses plain and simple.
Or someone who knows a thing or two about economics, and understands where a price comes from and what its purpose is.
This.
Anyone who thinks the $15/month price point for MMOs is still sustainable since its launch in the late 1990s, hasn't followed either business or tech trends carefully enough.
All this ad hominem makes me wonder if STO is actually a Kobayashi Maru simulator.
Were have you been THIS IS THE WAY ALL GAMES ARE GOING not just sto its the way they have to go to stay alive sorry to say i do belive that maby they could lower the prices a little but its not going anywhere and be thankful you arnt paying the 60 to 100 for expantions that you do with other games that do have a c store type thing and still pay the 15 a month. Like I said before adapt or find another game, and anyone that cant see that is wearing i played games in the 1990s colored glasses plain and simple. those days are long gone.
So please don't give me the poor ole game makers can't get by without micro transactions.