I'm really trying hard to understand what the point of the argument is about. You are upset because the ToS Bundle was included in the Sale? Really, is this what you are upset about. Didn't this item come out on sale last month? So it's almost a month, right? Since I can remember they have always put items on sale if the release date is not too close. I new the bundle would be put on sale this weekend because of the amount of time between release and sale. I've always waited for sales with the few exceptions of something that I wanted now, and the bundle was one of them. So the pattern did not change, and it's business as usual. The only problem here is that you made assumptions and your assumptions miss the mark.
I really would like to know why there is such a big resistance when it comes to Micro Transactions stores? It's not just here but in other MMO's. Let me ask this, how long has the $15 a month been in place. Has it been a decade? I'm pretty sure it has, and probably longer. So what is a more realistic monthly price that is up to par with the cost of living these day? What, $20, 21, 22. Cryptic is NOT a None Profit Organization, so get this embedded in your brains.
One of the new up and coming MMO's will have to break the subscription barrier. Which one? Your guess is as good as mine, but it must happen or you will see a tsunami of C-store rise from all the MMO's. The only one I see that might be able to do it is SW TOR. There is a lot of hype behind it, people will scream and holler, but in the end they will subscribe and be happy. With a more reasonable monthly subscription, we can keep the stores down to a low roar, but they are not going away, Gentlemen.
Well, I'm against this argument. I don't hink you got ripped off in any way, but I will say this:
The $15 a month thing is bogus. Watch TV for a while. Everything is still only $19.95 + shipping and handling. Has been since the 80's.
But seriously, in fact, server space, bandwidth and etc are much cheaper today than they were ten years ago. If anything, that $15 should be about $10 bucks. As someone in the webhosting business, I can tell you that it costs me far less to maintain a server with more bandwidth today than what it did only 5 years ago.
The only cost rising part is security, trying to keep those hackers out and being able to counter "denial of service" attacks. I guarantee that Blizzard makes more now than they did per customer 5 years ago, and they have one of the largest server, account and game networks in the world.
Companies like Perfect World have over 50 million players daily, worldwide, but they never charge a monthly fee for their games. Development of content, customer service and licensing costs 75% of a game's overhead. The servers and network is a tiny piece of it.
That doesn't mean I am against the C-Store though. I think it's a nice addition to help boost income and show investors that Star Trek Online is a worthy place to dump their cash, but I can promise you that the population only needs a couple hundred players to maintain the servers.
Well, I will say this. If it needs more than that to pay for servers, they got a bad deal and should find a new server company.
I don't think I've bought a C-Store item outside of a 20% off sale in a long time. They have these sales so often, if you just wait a month or so, you get a discount.
I bought the TOS pack upon its release due to being a fan. And fine...they had a sale for it. But I don't feel the need to gripe nor do I take it personal. Why? Because this is a buniness. And I know they didn't single me out to work me over financially. They made a sale when they thought many could benefit from it, that is all. I bought lifer during the summer. Since then, they had sales for it twice. And still I don't complain. I bought it when I bought it. Just keep this in mind when you make your purchases. Do you want it now? Or do you want it when it will be cheaper? In the end, it is your choice.
Except, had they followed their own precedence, I would've gotten it cheaper.
They never include their newest high end items in the sale,s until now apparently.
Had they followed there own pattern, even with a 25% sale on the items in the non limited time offer, it still would have been cheaper.
But, just when I was starting to think about giving Cryptic more money (my 2nd C-Store purchase), they go and do something like this.
Bottom line, they decide to start changing things up, its up in the air when its gonna be cheapest, so I can't give em any money and I certainly can't recommend the game.
I am not a big fan of the C-store. (And beleive they sell far too many items that should be given away freely)
However, this is how the real world works, businesses have marketing departments made especially to get money out of your wallet, this is how a business runs itself.
If they had told everyone there would be a sale soon, they would have probably lost money (and perhaps even been reprimanted/sacked) for costing the business money.
I have bought many items in my life, only to have them go on sale a week or a month later, that is life, life is not fair, never has been never will be. Learn from this experience and be more prudant in future. Getting the best value for your money is always a cat and mouse game, and a skill that can be honed.
Also bear in mind that the devs and mods most likely have zero imput on how the game and its items are marketed, they get told to make it, they make it, and there ends the relationship, i doubt they have any imput on its past, present or future price model.
Except, had they followed their own precedence, I would've gotten it cheaper.
They never include their newest high end items in the sale,s until now apparently.
Had they followed there own pattern, even with a 25% sale on the items in the non limited time offer, it still would have been cheaper.
But, just when I was starting to think about giving Cryptic more money (my 2nd C-Store purchase), they go and do something like this.
Bottom line, they decide to start changing things up, its up in the air when its gonna be cheapest, so I can't give em any money and I certainly can't recommend the game.
I would describe this as ingratitude. Despite my missgiving about the C-store, they did not HAVE to give you a 20% discount, nobody is en****led to it. The fact they had a sale is a bonus to the people who like to buy from the C-store. The time factor is moot, if they had offered 20% off 6 months from now, would you still be complaining.
And to those who think that the TOS bundle should not have been included in the sale... how on earth would this make you feel better? you would not get any money back, and you would be putting more money into the pockets of the company you are complaining about, the logic is simply selfish and makes no sense.
Maybe after all this complaining Cryptic will decide never to have a sale again, and I would not blame them.
I am not a big fan of the C-store. (And beleive they sell far too many items that should be given away freely)
However, this is how the real world works, businesses have marketing departments made especially to get money out of your wallet, this is how a business runs itself.
If they had told everyone there would be a sale soon, they would have probably lost money (and perhaps even been reprimanted/sacked) for costing the business money.
I have bought many items in my life, only to have them go on sale a week or a month later, that is life, life is not fair, never has been never will be. Learn from this experience and be more prudant in future. Getting the best value for your money is always a cat and mouse game, and a skill that can be honed.
Also bear in mind that the devs and mods most likely have zero imput on how the game and its items are marketed, they get told to make it, they make it, and there ends the relationship, i doubt they have any imput on its past, present or future price model.
Unfortunately, prudancy in this case means never purchasing from them again. Due to their highly erratic and randomly changing pattern of sales and how they work. Its impossible to predict these things anymore.
Had they followed there pattern, I wouldn't have had a problem.
This is just another line in the series of unbelievably poor things Cryptic has done and the last straw for me.
I had just started changing my mind about this game a month or tow ago and I had been saving for this sale for a while now and was just starting to get some friends interested in the game, but now I can no longer in good faith buy anything nor recommend it.
I would describe this as ingratitude. Despite my missgiving about the C-store, they did not HAVE to give you a 20% discount, nobody is en****led to it. The fact they had a sale is a bonus to the people who like to buy from the C-store. The time factor is moot, if they had offered 20% off 6 months from now, would you still be complaining.
1) Yes, I should be thanking them for using smoke and mirrors to give them more money
2) No, its not, had they offered this in 6 months, I would not care.
And to those who think that the TOS bundle should not have been included in the sale... how on earth would this make you feel better? you would not get any money back, and you would be putting more money into the pockets of the company you are complaining about, the logic is simply selfish and makes no sense.
Except that the reason I'm upset with them is that they did put it in the sale, had they not, I wouldn't be upset with them right now.
Maybe after all this complaining Cryptic will decide never to have a sale again, and I would not blame them.
Makes no difference to me, never buying another Cryptic product again.
I have no problem with you voicing your opinion, but could you please not tell me how I feel and I react to things, I think I know me a bit better than you know me.
They never include the newest big ticket items, until now.
Like the ships and the bundle packs.
Yes... and thats a GOOD thing, it means LOTS of people are getting things for CHEAPER.
The fact you decided to impulse buy is your problem and nobody elses. If you are old enough to play the game, you are old enough to take responsibilty for your actions.
I bought the TOS bundle when it became available too. I have absolutely no issues with it being part of the sale now. I expected the latest addition to the store to be full price, and it was (bajoran uniforms).
The fact you decided to impulse buy is your problem and nobody elses. If you are old enough to play the game, you are old enough to take responsibilty for your actions.
I did not impulse buy, I spent days calculating and considering. Than took my action based on there record. They decided to go ahead and use marketing to get people to waste money, unfortunately long term that is why they are small.
They treat customers poorly and those customers don't ever want to do business with them again, thats my perogative. I will give them feedback regarding their poor, sickening behavior. I have never had a company be this abusive towards its customers.
They treat customers poorly and those customers don't ever want to do business with them again, thats my perogative. I will give them feedback regarding their poor, sickening behavior. I have never had a company be this abusive towards its customers.
So I take it you will be leaving the game then? Because if you are paying a monthly sub, that means you will be doing business with them still.
As I have stated before, I find Cryptics business practices 'shady', but it is no more shady than the same practices carried out the world over by millions of other businesses. (if you have never heard of this kind of thing before,.. then you have lived a sheltered life...)
It is always a bonus when a company treats its customers favourably (and can even lead to them making more money) but you should not be suprised when this kind of thing happens, because it is pretty much the norm.
You can complain and that is your right, and I can offer my own opinion, that is also my right
As I have stated before, I find Cryptics business practices 'shady', but it is no more shady than the same practices carried out the world over by millions of other businesses. (if you have never heard of this kind of thing before,.. then you have lived a sheltered life...)
No, I don't have a sheltered life, I have never had a business repeatedly treat me like such dirt.
And I disagree that it is this common.
Poor service may not be uncommon, but I have never had a company deliver such poor quality product and service of this magnitude.
It is always a bonus when a company treats its customers favourably (and can even lead to them making more money) but you should not be suprised when this kind of thing happens, because it is pretty much the norm.
It isn't a bonus for a company to treat me well, I have always either had a good product or good service, perhaps you have had bad luck with businesses but that is no excuse for them to treat customer poorly.
People need to remember that the discount isnt on the price of the Atari points, its only on the amount of points required to buy the item. Take TOS pack, since that is what the OP is so up in arms about. That normally costs 1400 points, but with the discount it only costs 1120 or something. The catch is, they only sell Atari points in increments of 500. So unless you already had 200 points, then you would STILL have to buy the 1500 point package which would STILL cost the same amount regardless of the sale.
money is money my man. It dosnt matter if its a penny back into our wallets, they made it out to be a special release item that would later be gone, and to take advantage of it being there. Now its on sale... again another cryptic blunder.. Id like some of my money back please
no, i looked at the wording, only says limited time. it never, not once gives an actual time. Folks draw their own conclusions on that.
Because it's a business.
They aren't just making the game to be your best friend, they are also making it to reach into your pocket and remove the money you have in there, then transfer it into their pocket.
Thats just the way things work, the way to win at that game is to hold on to your money, and keep holding it until they reduce the cost of the item you want.
they will always word an advertisement to make it seem like if you don't buy it now you will never have it.
That's what good advertising is, but the reality of the whole thing is, they will always offer the product again, not offering the product again is stupid, because thats like saying hey, I don't want to make money anymore!
the short version:
wait three months before spending on something and chances are it will either be the same price, or on sale.
wait six months and it will be on sale or half price.
wait a year and it will probably be bundled into a much better package and the cycle repeats.
Yes... and thats a GOOD thing, it means LOTS of people are getting things for CHEAPER.
The fact you decided to impulse buy is your problem and nobody elses. If you are old enough to play the game, you are old enough to take responsibilty for your actions.
I wonder when someone was going to state the obvious. This is true of anything that has the tag "Sale" on it, no matter the market, or commodity.
I can appreciate where you are comming from, but being 'treated like dirt' is quite subjective.
To some the small amount of monetary value that 20% represends is not worth getting upset about, and then of course there is the principle that you bought the items in good faith, only to have them change the pricing structure.
When the TOS bundle came out with the tag line 'limited time offer' I responded to a post that this is an obious marketing tactic in order to get people to buy (as it makes NO sense to have a limited time offer on a digital item that can be reproduced into infinity)
I have done business with lots of organisations (and have even run one myself) and although I would not use this kind of tactic (as I like to treat customers like family) I can assure you that this kind of marketing is pretty much the norm in the business world (I am not defending it, nor saying it is 'right).
In many peoples opinion, a business is a business, and is there to make money full stop, and as long as they do not go outside of the law, they can (and in some opinions) SHOULD do whatever it takes to make as much money as possible, in the shortest time possible.
If you are not happy, you have done the right thing by voting with your feet and refusing to purchase from the c-store again.
I for one hope that the bean counters at cryptic rethink the way they do business, but this is unlikely.
As for the devs and the moderaters on the forum, I feel for them as they get the backlash from things that are essentially out of thier hands.
If you really want to make a difference you may also wish to contact the CEO of cryptic and tell him of your problems/concerns. If you are polite, it can often lead to positive change (or at least a small refund)
You really seem to obsessed with the size of the company.
I feel bad for small businesses everywhere. "Oh, you're small, that means you suck."
Srsly?
No, only that they have a small business and that restricts the quality they can make which in turn keeps their player base small which in turn keeps the game small.
Well, yes I can get my blood pressure up and get all offenive over I just purchased the Lifetime membership for $299 last month. I have been unemployed since June of 2009 and I saved up for over 6 months to purchase it. But at the end of it all, getting upset only affects you and your health. So please stop having a heart attack over $3 to $4.:eek:
I guess some people really don't get how the world works and believe in moaning constantly over such trivial matters. For how long this thread has been going, and how much you've spent moaning and quoting and answering back, you could have earned that small amount you apparently lost many times over.
Companies sell products, and sometime said products cost more or less at different times. Ever heard of Christmas and January sales? We have them in England. Items are more expensive before Christmas, and in January, prices drop to maintain sales. So Cryptic sold a product, and a month later its cheaper. Oh my word.
Now i brought my LTS in December. Two months later there was a 20% sale. Did i moan?
After reading this thread, again i'm subjected to the same people complaining about the same things. Either give up on this game or simply grow up. And which ever you decide, try then refraining from purchasing anything else in life, just in case the price changes on a product and you are left a few pounds/dollars/whatever out of pocket. Some people really need to gain a little perspective in life. You think you have it bad? You have no clue what so ever...
The timing of this is the problem, had they done it in 2 or 3+ months, it wouldn't have upset me.
But now, I can't in good faith buy anything or recommend anything from Cryptic, C-Store or otherwise.
For such a low quality game, poor service is just making it worse.
The only way they are ever gonna get any other C-Store purchases from my account is the inevitable F2P in a year or so.
Okay since you obviously have been here for awhile, based off your forum registration, you said you did research before you purchase things.
Then did you not notice that last year they did the same identical sale, at the same identical time, with the same identical name (pretty much) and think... hrm they probably will do the same again?
You blame a small company like cryptic doing this type of stuff for being why they are small. That statement couldn't be more wrong. Marketing teams have done these kind of tactics for god knows how many years now. Small and large companies alike. It's nothing new to use LIMITED TIME ONLY or BUY TODAY! as a marketing tool.
It's like Disney and it's "vault" it puts movies in never to be released again. Somehow magically they kept coming out and being released allover again hehe.
I'm not going to try to change your mind because obviously you feel wronged. Fine so be it, but you might give them a break here. Blaming them for doing marketing practices every major corporation in the world does is not really fair =\
Okay since you obviously have been here for awhile, based off your forum registration, you said you did research before you purchase things.
Then did you not notice that last year they did the same identical sale, at the same identical time, with the same identical name (pretty much) and think... hrm they probably will do the same again?
Unfortunately, this doesn't follow that patter for two reasons
1) Unlike every other sale, the latest big ticket item is included
2) 20%, not 25% Sale
You blame a small company like cryptic doing this type of stuff for being why they are small. That statement couldn't be more wrong. Marketing teams have done these kind of tactics for god knows how many years now. Small and large companies alike. It's nothing new to use LIMITED TIME ONLY or BUY TODAY! as a marketing tool.
It's like Disney and it's "vault" it puts movies in never to be released again. Somehow magically they kept coming out and being released allover again hehe.
There are three components
1) Content quality
2) Consumer base
3) Service/ Marketing
Many of the larger companies get away with poor number 3 because they have 1& 2 in great supply.
Unfortunately, Cryptic does not have high 1 or 2, and they have low quality 3, that is why they are small.
I'm not going to try to change your mind because obviously you feel wronged. Fine so be it, but you might give them a break here. Blaming them for doing marketing practices every major corporation in the world does is not really fair =\
I don't give em a break for doing something "other businesses" do for 2 reasons
1) Many of those "other companies" have different situations than Cryptic.
2) Just because everybody is doing it, doesn't make it right
I'm sure you and many other disagree, but that is my opinion, hardened by there treatment of me over the past year.
I'm sure you and many other disagree, but that is my opinion, hardened by there treatment of me over the past year.
Noone can disagree with your opinion. I´m sorry that you feel this way. But what exactly is your goal in this thread ?
You say you can´t leave because you bought a lifetime sub, but that you would have left without it. You do have the option to ignore the game, don´t play it, don´t think about it and don´t use the forums.
If you really feel that angry all the time, it´s not healthy for you. Take a break, do something else. Maybe it´ll get better with time.
Noone can disagree with your opinion. I´m sorry that you feel this way. But what exactly is your goal in this thread ?
You say you can´t leave because you bought a lifetime sub, but that you would have left without it. You do have the option to ignore the game, don´t play it, don´t think about it and don´t use the forums.
If you really feel that angry all the time, it´s not healthy for you. Take a break, do something else. Maybe it´ll get better with time.
1) My goal was to tell Cryptic exactly how I feel and that they have made one of their customers extremely upset and will no longer EVER give them money nor recommend their product
2) I will continue to play since obviously I spent the money to, but I will never EVER give them money again. Not playing the game doesn't help me at all, I'm angry at the service, the content, and the small playerbase. Unfortunately, I can't change any of that, they seem unwilling to. Not playing doesn't help that any, nor does not giving them feedback.
Hopefully one day, they will one day try to improve themselves.
1) My goal was to tell Cryptic exactly how I feel and that they have made one of their customers extremely upset and will no longer EVER give them money nor recommend their product
2) I will continue to play since obviously I spent the money to, but I will never EVER give them money again. Not playing the game doesn't help me at all, I'm angry at the service, the content, and the small playerbase. Unfortunately, I can't change any of that, they seem unwilling to. Not playing doesn't help that any, nor does not giving them feedback.
Hopefully one day, they will one day try to improve themselves.
Ah, i see. I can see improvements to the game. Not that a new uniform or ship is giving me something to do, other than enjoying the new shiny factor for a day or two.
Sometimes i wonder what a Star Trek MMORPG would look and play like if it had been developed by a large company, a lot of money and it´s own engine, one that actually is made for the game exclusively. But i guess there will never be such a game.
Comments
I really would like to know why there is such a big resistance when it comes to Micro Transactions stores? It's not just here but in other MMO's. Let me ask this, how long has the $15 a month been in place. Has it been a decade? I'm pretty sure it has, and probably longer. So what is a more realistic monthly price that is up to par with the cost of living these day? What, $20, 21, 22. Cryptic is NOT a None Profit Organization, so get this embedded in your brains.
One of the new up and coming MMO's will have to break the subscription barrier. Which one? Your guess is as good as mine, but it must happen or you will see a tsunami of C-store rise from all the MMO's. The only one I see that might be able to do it is SW TOR. There is a lot of hype behind it, people will scream and holler, but in the end they will subscribe and be happy. With a more reasonable monthly subscription, we can keep the stores down to a low roar, but they are not going away, Gentlemen.
Enjoy The Game
DL
The $15 a month thing is bogus. Watch TV for a while. Everything is still only $19.95 + shipping and handling. Has been since the 80's.
But seriously, in fact, server space, bandwidth and etc are much cheaper today than they were ten years ago. If anything, that $15 should be about $10 bucks. As someone in the webhosting business, I can tell you that it costs me far less to maintain a server with more bandwidth today than what it did only 5 years ago.
The only cost rising part is security, trying to keep those hackers out and being able to counter "denial of service" attacks. I guarantee that Blizzard makes more now than they did per customer 5 years ago, and they have one of the largest server, account and game networks in the world.
Companies like Perfect World have over 50 million players daily, worldwide, but they never charge a monthly fee for their games. Development of content, customer service and licensing costs 75% of a game's overhead. The servers and network is a tiny piece of it.
That doesn't mean I am against the C-Store though. I think it's a nice addition to help boost income and show investors that Star Trek Online is a worthy place to dump their cash, but I can promise you that the population only needs a couple hundred players to maintain the servers.
Well, I will say this. If it needs more than that to pay for servers, they got a bad deal and should find a new server company.
Cheers.
They never include their newest high end items in the sale,s until now apparently.
Had they followed there own pattern, even with a 25% sale on the items in the non limited time offer, it still would have been cheaper.
But, just when I was starting to think about giving Cryptic more money (my 2nd C-Store purchase), they go and do something like this.
Bottom line, they decide to start changing things up, its up in the air when its gonna be cheapest, so I can't give em any money and I certainly can't recommend the game.
However, this is how the real world works, businesses have marketing departments made especially to get money out of your wallet, this is how a business runs itself.
If they had told everyone there would be a sale soon, they would have probably lost money (and perhaps even been reprimanted/sacked) for costing the business money.
I have bought many items in my life, only to have them go on sale a week or a month later, that is life, life is not fair, never has been never will be. Learn from this experience and be more prudant in future. Getting the best value for your money is always a cat and mouse game, and a skill that can be honed.
Also bear in mind that the devs and mods most likely have zero imput on how the game and its items are marketed, they get told to make it, they make it, and there ends the relationship, i doubt they have any imput on its past, present or future price model.
I would describe this as ingratitude. Despite my missgiving about the C-store, they did not HAVE to give you a 20% discount, nobody is en****led to it. The fact they had a sale is a bonus to the people who like to buy from the C-store. The time factor is moot, if they had offered 20% off 6 months from now, would you still be complaining.
And to those who think that the TOS bundle should not have been included in the sale... how on earth would this make you feel better? you would not get any money back, and you would be putting more money into the pockets of the company you are complaining about, the logic is simply selfish and makes no sense.
Maybe after all this complaining Cryptic will decide never to have a sale again, and I would not blame them.
Unfortunately, prudancy in this case means never purchasing from them again. Due to their highly erratic and randomly changing pattern of sales and how they work. Its impossible to predict these things anymore.
Had they followed there pattern, I wouldn't have had a problem.
This is just another line in the series of unbelievably poor things Cryptic has done and the last straw for me.
I had just started changing my mind about this game a month or tow ago and I had been saving for this sale for a while now and was just starting to get some friends interested in the game, but now I can no longer in good faith buy anything nor recommend it.
1) Yes, I should be thanking them for using smoke and mirrors to give them more money
2) No, its not, had they offered this in 6 months, I would not care.
Except that the reason I'm upset with them is that they did put it in the sale, had they not, I wouldn't be upset with them right now.
Makes no difference to me, never buying another Cryptic product again.
I have no problem with you voicing your opinion, but could you please not tell me how I feel and I react to things, I think I know me a bit better than you know me.
the latest item is the bajoran uniform, and that is excluded from the sale.
so what's the problem?
Like the ships and the bundle packs.
Yes... and thats a GOOD thing, it means LOTS of people are getting things for CHEAPER.
The fact you decided to impulse buy is your problem and nobody elses. If you are old enough to play the game, you are old enough to take responsibilty for your actions.
Speculation
I did not impulse buy, I spent days calculating and considering. Than took my action based on there record. They decided to go ahead and use marketing to get people to waste money, unfortunately long term that is why they are small.
They treat customers poorly and those customers don't ever want to do business with them again, thats my perogative. I will give them feedback regarding their poor, sickening behavior. I have never had a company be this abusive towards its customers.
So I take it you will be leaving the game then? Because if you are paying a monthly sub, that means you will be doing business with them still.
As I have stated before, I find Cryptics business practices 'shady', but it is no more shady than the same practices carried out the world over by millions of other businesses. (if you have never heard of this kind of thing before,.. then you have lived a sheltered life...)
It is always a bonus when a company treats its customers favourably (and can even lead to them making more money) but you should not be suprised when this kind of thing happens, because it is pretty much the norm.
You can complain and that is your right, and I can offer my own opinion, that is also my right
No, I'm an LTSer (fortunately for them, I probably would have left months ago)
No, I don't have a sheltered life, I have never had a business repeatedly treat me like such dirt.
And I disagree that it is this common.
Poor service may not be uncommon, but I have never had a company deliver such poor quality product and service of this magnitude.
It isn't a bonus for a company to treat me well, I have always either had a good product or good service, perhaps you have had bad luck with businesses but that is no excuse for them to treat customer poorly.
I'm well aware of that, but I disagree with some of your opinion and will voice that disagreement.
To some the small amount of monetary value that 20% represends is not worth getting upset about, and then of course there is the principle that you bought the items in good faith, only to have them change the pricing structure.
When the TOS bundle came out with the tag line 'limited time offer' I responded to a post that this is an obious marketing tactic in order to get people to buy (as it makes NO sense to have a limited time offer on a digital item that can be reproduced into infinity)
I have done business with lots of organisations (and have even run one myself) and although I would not use this kind of tactic (as I like to treat customers like family) I can assure you that this kind of marketing is pretty much the norm in the business world (I am not defending it, nor saying it is 'right).
In many peoples opinion, a business is a business, and is there to make money full stop, and as long as they do not go outside of the law, they can (and in some opinions) SHOULD do whatever it takes to make as much money as possible, in the shortest time possible.
If you are not happy, you have done the right thing by voting with your feet and refusing to purchase from the c-store again.
I for one hope that the bean counters at cryptic rethink the way they do business, but this is unlikely.
As for the devs and the moderaters on the forum, I feel for them as they get the backlash from things that are essentially out of thier hands.
If you really want to make a difference you may also wish to contact the CEO of cryptic and tell him of your problems/concerns. If you are polite, it can often lead to positive change (or at least a small refund)
Overall, unless they change, I just can;t in good conscience buy anything nor recommend it to anyone.
And I think business crud like this is why Cryptic is so small and stays that way,
I feel bad for small businesses everywhere. "Oh, you're small, that means you suck."
Srsly?
No, only that they have a small business and that restricts the quality they can make which in turn keeps their player base small which in turn keeps the game small.
Companies sell products, and sometime said products cost more or less at different times. Ever heard of Christmas and January sales? We have them in England. Items are more expensive before Christmas, and in January, prices drop to maintain sales. So Cryptic sold a product, and a month later its cheaper. Oh my word.
Now i brought my LTS in December. Two months later there was a 20% sale. Did i moan?
After reading this thread, again i'm subjected to the same people complaining about the same things. Either give up on this game or simply grow up. And which ever you decide, try then refraining from purchasing anything else in life, just in case the price changes on a product and you are left a few pounds/dollars/whatever out of pocket. Some people really need to gain a little perspective in life. You think you have it bad? You have no clue what so ever...
But now, I can't in good faith buy anything or recommend anything from Cryptic, C-Store or otherwise.
For such a low quality game, poor service is just making it worse.
The only way they are ever gonna get any other C-Store purchases from my account is the inevitable F2P in a year or so.
Okay since you obviously have been here for awhile, based off your forum registration, you said you did research before you purchase things.
Then did you not notice that last year they did the same identical sale, at the same identical time, with the same identical name (pretty much) and think... hrm they probably will do the same again?
You blame a small company like cryptic doing this type of stuff for being why they are small. That statement couldn't be more wrong. Marketing teams have done these kind of tactics for god knows how many years now. Small and large companies alike. It's nothing new to use LIMITED TIME ONLY or BUY TODAY! as a marketing tool.
It's like Disney and it's "vault" it puts movies in never to be released again. Somehow magically they kept coming out and being released allover again hehe.
I'm not going to try to change your mind because obviously you feel wronged. Fine so be it, but you might give them a break here. Blaming them for doing marketing practices every major corporation in the world does is not really fair =\
Unfortunately, this doesn't follow that patter for two reasons
1) Unlike every other sale, the latest big ticket item is included
2) 20%, not 25% Sale
There are three components
1) Content quality
2) Consumer base
3) Service/ Marketing
Many of the larger companies get away with poor number 3 because they have 1& 2 in great supply.
Unfortunately, Cryptic does not have high 1 or 2, and they have low quality 3, that is why they are small.
I don't give em a break for doing something "other businesses" do for 2 reasons
1) Many of those "other companies" have different situations than Cryptic.
2) Just because everybody is doing it, doesn't make it right
I'm sure you and many other disagree, but that is my opinion, hardened by there treatment of me over the past year.
Noone can disagree with your opinion. I´m sorry that you feel this way. But what exactly is your goal in this thread ?
You say you can´t leave because you bought a lifetime sub, but that you would have left without it. You do have the option to ignore the game, don´t play it, don´t think about it and don´t use the forums.
If you really feel that angry all the time, it´s not healthy for you. Take a break, do something else. Maybe it´ll get better with time.
1) My goal was to tell Cryptic exactly how I feel and that they have made one of their customers extremely upset and will no longer EVER give them money nor recommend their product
2) I will continue to play since obviously I spent the money to, but I will never EVER give them money again. Not playing the game doesn't help me at all, I'm angry at the service, the content, and the small playerbase. Unfortunately, I can't change any of that, they seem unwilling to. Not playing doesn't help that any, nor does not giving them feedback.
Hopefully one day, they will one day try to improve themselves.
Ah, i see. I can see improvements to the game. Not that a new uniform or ship is giving me something to do, other than enjoying the new shiny factor for a day or two.
Sometimes i wonder what a Star Trek MMORPG would look and play like if it had been developed by a large company, a lot of money and it´s own engine, one that actually is made for the game exclusively. But i guess there will never be such a game.