test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
About Cryptic points...
System
Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I have never taken an economics course or anything but I'm pretty sure that everything costs less if you buy it in bulk.
Why are Cryptic Points exempt from this rule? I think you guys (Cryptic) might sell some more Cryptic Points if people got a bit of a discount for purchasing them in bulk. Right now there is no incentive to purchase more points than the exact amount you need. If there was a bulk discount though; people might buy more just to have them "in case something cool comes out next month" or maybe buy a respec token or something.
Just a thought.
Why are Cryptic Points exempt from this rule? I think you guys (Cryptic) might sell some more Cryptic Points if people got a bit of a discount for purchasing them in bulk. Right now there is no incentive to purchase more points than the exact amount you need. If there was a bulk discount though; people might buy more just to have them "in case something cool comes out next month" or maybe buy a respec token or something.
Just a thought.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
The idea is to make it so that if you purchase C-points (or any MMO cash-shop currency), you can't spend a round dollar amount, like most people would naturally do. This sets off a subconcious desire to spend more money on more points, to make the dollar amount spent a round figure.
The next step is to make it so it's extremely difficult to spend all of your points and leaving yourself with a zero-balance. Most likely, you'll still have a few points left that you can't spend, because - even though there's a dollar amount attached - it's less than what the cheapest item is. Therefore, in order to spend the points you have (that are completely useless outside of the game, and therefore a complete waste of money if left unspent) you have to give them MORE money to buy MORE points to spend the points you already have. This, in turn, will start the whole cycle over of buying multiple orders of points and spending as many as possible (since they only have value in the game to begin with) but still having a positive point balance.
And that means... what, exactly? That the ones people paid for can be used in CO, STO and the Atari Facebook games. Other than that, it means nothing.
the Atari Points is used everywhere in the games that's part of Atari. like Videogames for any platform is made by Atari. like TDU2 (Test Drive Unlimited 2)
Again, what's your point? That point adds nothing to the conversation whatsoever.
I've long since wondered if Cryptic has any idea what they're doing here. It's money in the short term, but it's a horrible reputation to have. Look, I like STO and all, but if anybody asks me about Cryptic and their games I have a hard time saying "Go get that" because well... Cryptic as an organization doesn't care. Dan might care. The STO team might care, but Cryptic/Atari doesn't. Clearly if they did, they would invest a bit more money into this game instead of passing it onto the players as "well, we'd sure like to get it in there for ya, but you know how expensive it can be"
and by the way, don't give me the normal bit about how MMOs haven't changed sub fees ever, because if that was such a damaging aspect about MMOs then no sane company would make one because there would be no money in it.
Well, sub fees aren't necessary in any way. It's all pocket lining, which I'm generally okay with, in principle, if I'm lining pockets TO ACTUALLY GET SOMETHING.
That isn't the case with STO, IMO. STO NEEDS so many things, and instead of working on what the game NEEDS, they add stuff to the C-store, throw in more leveling content (which the game only needs for KDF players), and expect the players to make the rest.
Right which is why until Atari decides that they care (they probably will after TOR comes out) then I'll tell people buy from them, but right now, it's practically a scam. I played COH and even without pvp and all of that, the game seemed to feel more complete.
While all of this is true, I don't really see a correlation between this and the way Cryptic and Atari sell A-points. Every game that offers their own alternative form of money for their cash shop does the same thing. It takes advantage of human tendencies to make some extra dough. I can respect that. I'm in sales, and I have to do the same thing.
The difference between what I sell and what Cryptic sells is that the products I sell are respected, and thought of as among the best in their particular industry. What Cryptic sells is not and, at least for the foreseeable future, rightfully so.
Hmm...
Alright, here's my beef with it. There's a lot missing from the game itself. I think Cryptic probably has the numbers showing how that took away players in the very get go and continue up until this day. If you log in right now as a Klingon, you'll see the giant holes in the game. If you're rolling a fed, good luck with it being more interesting this time around. What you will also notice though, is that the C-Store has a slew of TRIBBLE that looks cool. In fact, some of your favorite iconic ships are in there. So, you're left to wonder what you pay the 15 a month for? Server maintenance? X-Box doesn't cost that much for server maintenance a month.
People might say that the game upgrades massively 4 times a year and chunks out content when it can the rest of the year, but then there are whole months where nothing comes out... except C-Store stuff.
I'm serious about this too. If anyone asks me about Atari games or Cryptic games, I'm saying to the person unless you really love the genre, don't bother with it. There are some cool things about STO and then there's Cryptic/Atari over there not caring enough to go the extra mile.
Read my post history, dude. You're preaching to the choir here. I'm just saying that while you're telling the truth, that really has nothing to do with the bundles that A-points are sold in.
Companies do not have any obligation to treat their customers as anything but cash cows - but equally consumers have no obligation to treat companies as anything other than faceless entities who provide a service they desire.
Ideally, however, there should be a sense of friendship and loyalty that works both ways - and I think Cryptic would /like/ that. Dan talks on these forums in a very informal way, clearly regarding this as a 'community' moreso than a 'customer base'... but the C-store policies and prices fly totally in the face of that.
my point is that Money is Used in C-Store is for Content Creation and to help expand Gameplay. in case you Don't KNOW, Some of Items from C-Store are Earnable in-game already.
No, a C-store purchased ship is NOT earnable in-game. If I buy a ship off the C-store, make a new character and level up to T5, I can automatically choose that ship I purchased. I cannot do so by emblem grind, since you can't grind for emblems until T5, and emblem-purchased ships aren't unlocked account-wide.
Also, your comments are still pointless in this particular thread, because we aren't talking about why there's a C-store. We're talking about the A-points themselves, namely why they are purchased in bundles like they are.
Finally, if the money is used for content creation, what are sub fees for? If that's used for content creation as well, where is all this content that we, the players, have paid for?
With two sentences, you made three wrong points. Kudos to you, sir or madame.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ________
. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . ,.-. . . . . . . . . .``~.,
. . . . . . . .. . . . . .,.-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-.,
. . . . .. . . . . . ..,/. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :,
. . . . . . . .. .,?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\,
. . . . . . . . . /. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,}
. . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`^`.}
. . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:. . . ./
. . . . . . .?. . . __. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :`. . . ./
. . . . . . . /__.(. . .~-,_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`. . . .. ./
. . . . . . /(_. . ~,_. . . ..~,_. . . . . . . . . .,:`. . . . _/
. . . .. .{.._$;_. . .=,_. . . .-,_. . . ,.-~-,}, .~; /. .. .}
. . .. . .((. . .*~_. . . .=-._. . .;,,./`. . / . . . ./. .. ../
. . . .. . .\`~,. . ..~.,. . . . . . . . . ..`. . .}. . . . . . ../
. . . . . .(. ..`=-,,. . . .`. . . . . . . . . . . ..(. . . ;_,,-
. . . . . ../.`~,. . ..`-.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..\. . /\
. . . . . . \`~.*-,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..|,./.....\,__
,,_. . . . . }.>-._\. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . ..`=~-,
. .. `=~-,_\_. . . `\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
. . . . . . . . . .`=~-,,.\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `:,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . `\. . . . . . ..__
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`=-,. . . . . . . . . .,%`>--==``
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _\. . . . . ._,-%. . . ..`\
no you're wrong.. MVAM is Earnable in-game by Buying the ship with 500 Emblems from Battle Group Omega in Gamma Orionis.
um.. ok...
That is your point and it makes sense, BUT it's totally besides the point of the thread, which is about the way those points are purchased.
It is not about their purpose.
All that being said, I actually think the developers do an amazing job on the customer service and development level. Dan is fantastic. On one hand, he probably breaks a lot of the standard customer service rules sometimes when he comes across as honest or upset, but on the other, that makes Dan come across as human, likable, and understandable. I realize this don't make devs happy either. They're probably hardcore about Cryptic/Atari and if they weren't, well.... they probably wouldn't be where they are.
If anyone's listening though, it's just something to keep in mind. You buy this game, you want to play your favorite klingon or your looking for more to your Star Trek experience than just pew. pew (by the way, the federation side does look alright now to be honest) and you don't get what you paid for... but then.... you notice the C-Store and it's slammed full of TRIBBLE.
"feature" around here.
what do we want to support, what dont we want to support? how should things look in the future? i think poeple should make their voices more heard in regard to this, even tho it may be just another game(tm).
otherwise, apparently that is the deal you get.
Who doesn't?