Silver Players can now increase their maximum Energy Credit limit from 10 million to 1 billion! The Energy Credit Cap Increase is available now in the C-Store.
God I feel like this game is turning into a Dairy Farm, we're the cows and cryptic is the farmers.....tug - squirt.. .tug - squirt.. tug - squirt
This..... This is exactly how the new STO feels to me, especially in regards to the C-store. This officially makes Paying for an account completely useless as any benefit subs have can easily be achieved by c-store purchases. Throw the c-store enough money and you're better off than the base line gold member. $15 a month for the life of the game as a gold member isn't quite the same as $15 a month to the c-store for a few months for gold member equivalent.
400CP seems to be the minimum magic number now. Encouraging this item as part of ala carte as opposed to encouraging Silver player's to go Gold is an interesting choice. I don't know that it was right or wrong.
To be fair, 400 CP for ACCOUNT WIDE increase of EC is ridiculously low... we pay tons more for extra DOff slots, and thats a per character unlock.
Would have been better if it was something like 400 CP for 100mil increase or something, 5 times to 510mil, per character... that way at least gold will mean something, the EC limit was the one decent advantage over silver imo, not anymore
400CP seems to be the minimum magic number now. Encouraging this item as part of ala carte as opposed to encouraging Silver player's to go Gold is an interesting choice. I don't know that it was right or wrong.
It actually makes sense as a way to maximize Cryptic's profits.
The players who are dedicated will see the value in a lifetime subscription in terms of unlocking all these little things over a large number of characters for a onetime (or monthly) fee.
The players who are casual will see the value in playing for free and unlocking things one at a time when they feel it is justified.
It gives the dedicated players a way to spend large sums of cash upfront and never have to spend another dime so they do not feel nickled-and-dimed to death.
Ig gives the casual players the ability to feel like they do not have to make a financial commitment to enjoy the game. They can just pay for something when they want it.
Yet again, another perfect example of devaluing their whole gold subscription model. I guess this influx of new players expected was well below expected targets.
hmmmm,,,,,,i am a veteran player since the game came out 2 years ago,,,i have traded, barted, and sold alot of my unique items to attain my energy credits. i have 10 million now, so for a 400 cryptic points is it easily now to increase to the cap? Wow, what i went thru for these 2 years to accumulate those energy credits. hey, i am just talking oout loud, i am not knocking anyone - but if this is a great step for sto to hand us the cap, i'll take it. the E/C cap will help more than ever to buy the items i need or manuever around items that i don't. - :rolleyes:
Silver Players can now increase their maximum Energy Credit limit from 10 million to 1 billion! The Energy Credit Cap Increase is available now in the C-Store.
Thank you for listening to the feedback and offering this new option for Silver players. The price is reasonable for an account wide unlock. I'm a returning game owner (CE) and former subscriber, but this will be my first C-Store purchase.
For those that weren't following closely, the F2P Matrix was updated about a week ago to lower the Silver EC limit from 100 Million down to 10 Million. For returning players who had seen that higher number on the F2P Matrix for the past few months, the sudden, drastic lowering of the limit was a bit surprising, but I'm sure PW and Cryptic have multiple good reasons (including making things harder on farmers).
I'm glad you've offered this unlock to allow Silver players to participate in the economy and not have our EC disappear down into a black hole. Although EC is often described on these forums as "worthless" and many players can happily get by without ever hitting the Silver EC limit, there are certainly useful and fun items which can quickly add up to exceed the current limit.
It all depends on your play-style. Some enjoy buying ships, races, pets or cosmetics. Some of us also enjoy being able to sell our extra loot for what it's worth and save up piles of "worthless" virtual currency.
I agree with the sensible ones. Its a free to play game. No required subs mean they have to find other ways to make money.......how do guys think new features, content and other maintenance is done, by air? no it requires money and if they can make more money by increasing prices in the C-store and putting items in there that can get people to buy them more power to them. Because at the end of the day, every dollar they earn means one step closer to them ability to higher more people, and putting out more goodies for us to enjoy....please use your heads before you speak.....
Yet again, another perfect example of devaluing their whole gold subscription model. I guess this influx of new players expected was well below expected targets.
How does this devalue the gold subscription? You don't have to pay extra. It is included in your sub.
Personally, I've never been close to 10 mil on any character so far.
Nice to know that I can lift the cap when I need to tho.
I think this move actually helps in a way. With the ability to remove some of the Silver disadvantages, it makes it easier to go back and forth between Gold and Silver. I can sub when I want Gold priority access ... like when FE's are released... and go back to Silver when I don't need the extras without losing anything I really want.
A cap of 1 billion EC's is pretty darn generous. Given the limits of what you can actually use EC's for now, I don't think it really hurts anything. My only concern is that raising the cap that high could affect the Exchange, encouraging inflation.
Personally, I've never been close to 10 mil on any character so far.
Nice to know that I can lift the cap when I need to tho.
I think this move actually helps in a way. With the ability to remove some of the Silver disadvantages, it makes it easier to go back and forth between Gold and Silver. I can sub when I want Gold priority access ... like when FE's are released... and go back to Silver when I don't need the extras without losing anything I really want.
A cap of 1 billion EC's is pretty darn generous. Given the limits of what you can actually use EC's for now, I don't think it really hurts anything. My only concern is that raising the cap that high could affect the Exchange, encouraging inflation.
that's the whole point of having a silver, or limited access account, if you want to play for free there are LIMITS to what you can do, the whole point is to get you to SUBSCRIBE. Geez Cryptic, didn't you read the F2P manual when you decided to adopt this ridiculous structure in the first place.
Are you trying to put yourselves out of jobs?
At this point, I would say that if Cryptic plans on adding, other account upgrades like this that Gold's should get them automatically, if they make us pay for it, that will be completely unfair.
The makers of this game seem more bent on grabbing what they can then driving it off a cliff than any I can recall... It's like they are trying to ruin in two years that which it normally takes five years to ruin...
and I'm very sorry to say that because I love this game, and want to see it flourish...
But at some point you have to open your eyes for a minute or two, and when I do, it's pretty obvious that the only future planned for Star Trek is a fictional one...
Why do people get so excited over such a small thing?...
It makes perfect sense to offer the extras included in the Gold subscription as components in the C-Store, that way you can pick and choose what you want. The advantage of getting a Gold sub would be that it is much cheaper than the addition of the overall parts if bought separately.
Why do people get so excited over such a small thing?...
It makes perfect sense to offer the extras included in the Gold subscription as components in the C-Store, that way you can pick and choose what you want. The advantage of getting a Gold sub would be that it is much cheaper than the addition of the overall parts if bought separately.
It's one little thing in the context of countless other 'one little things'...
I'm a free-to-play advocate... or I was until the past couple of days when the nonsensical wallet driven model started becoming clear... I'm a lifetime subber too, so I don't even have a monthly payment involved...
Frankly, the game was becoming a credit farmers cow.... and Cryptic's answer to that was to to make it so you'd be buying points to buy dilithium in a thinly veiled attempt to just become the credit farmers themselves...
Now they're embracing both, simultaneously... It's getting to where you don't need skill or a love of Star Trek to play this game... you just need a lot of extra time... and above all, a fat wallet... And the makers are the head cheerleaders for that model... It's being turned into a buy stuff, look uber, doff / pokemon hybrid...
I think that's got something to do with it anyway.... *shrug*
Yet again, another perfect example of devaluing their whole gold subscription model. I guess this influx of new players expected was well below expected targets.
How does this devalue the gold subscription? You don't have to pay extra. It is included in your sub.
because one of the FEW reasons to sub was to NOT have the limit, now, that's gone. so yes its a clear devaluation of the gold sub.
Its ok though they're very clear that they don't want you to sub, they want to nickel and dime you to death. I say let them, I've removed my credit card information from them, which cancels my sub to CO at the same time because I don't support the STO nickle and dime routine. Consider the fact that it also kills my wife's accounts in CO and STO, so 45.00 a month they no longer have from us and 45.00 another company will get.
Why do people get so excited over such a small thing?...
It makes perfect sense to offer the extras included in the Gold subscription as components in the C-Store, that way you can pick and choose what you want. The advantage of getting a Gold sub would be that it is much cheaper than the addition of the overall parts if bought separately.
actually not true, you can get all the stuff from the gold account now, for a couple of months of sub fees and NEVER pay again, and spend LESS than sub to get MORE points. (this is based off of folks only having the normal amount of characters.
I ofthen don't chime in the forums but... Wake up guys they made it clear from the start that paying for gold is never going to be worth it. So please stop complaning and go silver and ....
Players complained about single captain unlocks (myself included)... cryptic listened and here are players again... complaining.
I've a lifetime sub. I don't benefit one iota from this. I'm all for account wide unlocks. I always felt the single toon unlocks to fall into the nickel and dime money grab schtick.
f2p games die when players trickle off and new players don't see anyone on. Account wide unlocks encourages protracted play.... players feel invested with something that wont go away just because they felt like Playing a different toon ( pun intended)
I'd like more account wide stuff.
I am not sure this is a good thing or not! I have only at most ever earned 24 million energy credits I do not think the average player ever gains 1 billion energy credits. I am not apposed to the idea of silver players paying for extra perks that we gold players get for free!
it devalues it because its one less thing on the features matrix that is exclusive to gold, and therefore would motivate people to sub up.
that's the whole point of having a silver, or limited access account, if you want to play for free there are LIMITS to what you can do, the whole point is to get you to SUBSCRIBE. Geez Cryptic, didn't you read the F2P manual when you decided to adopt this ridiculous structure in the first place.
Are you trying to put yourselves out of jobs?
At this point, I would say that if Cryptic plans on adding, other account upgrades like this that Gold's should get them automatically, if they make us pay for it, that will be completely unfair.
because one of the FEW reasons to sub was to NOT have the limit, now, that's gone. so yes its a clear devaluation of the gold sub.
I think you are confusing devaluing incentives for silver players to switch to gold with the devaluing of your subscription as a consumer.
If you actually add up the value of all the benefits you get with a lifetime subscription, I think you will find that it is of greater value than a silver subscription simply because the cost to buy all the benefits of gold membership for a silver account are of lesser value than the cost of a subscription.
If anything, this adds value to a gold account because it is yet another tangible cost for silver players that gold players do not have to pay.
Comments
This..... This is exactly how the new STO feels to me, especially in regards to the C-store. This officially makes Paying for an account completely useless as any benefit subs have can easily be achieved by c-store purchases. Throw the c-store enough money and you're better off than the base line gold member. $15 a month for the life of the game as a gold member isn't quite the same as $15 a month to the c-store for a few months for gold member equivalent.
Would have been better if it was something like 400 CP for 100mil increase or something, 5 times to 510mil, per character... that way at least gold will mean something, the EC limit was the one decent advantage over silver imo, not anymore
It actually makes sense as a way to maximize Cryptic's profits.
The players who are dedicated will see the value in a lifetime subscription in terms of unlocking all these little things over a large number of characters for a onetime (or monthly) fee.
The players who are casual will see the value in playing for free and unlocking things one at a time when they feel it is justified.
It gives the dedicated players a way to spend large sums of cash upfront and never have to spend another dime so they do not feel nickled-and-dimed to death.
Ig gives the casual players the ability to feel like they do not have to make a financial commitment to enjoy the game. They can just pay for something when they want it.
Thank you for listening to the feedback and offering this new option for Silver players. The price is reasonable for an account wide unlock. I'm a returning game owner (CE) and former subscriber, but this will be my first C-Store purchase.
For those that weren't following closely, the F2P Matrix was updated about a week ago to lower the Silver EC limit from 100 Million down to 10 Million. For returning players who had seen that higher number on the F2P Matrix for the past few months, the sudden, drastic lowering of the limit was a bit surprising, but I'm sure PW and Cryptic have multiple good reasons (including making things harder on farmers).
I'm glad you've offered this unlock to allow Silver players to participate in the economy and not have our EC disappear down into a black hole. Although EC is often described on these forums as "worthless" and many players can happily get by without ever hitting the Silver EC limit, there are certainly useful and fun items which can quickly add up to exceed the current limit.
It all depends on your play-style. Some enjoy buying ships, races, pets or cosmetics. Some of us also enjoy being able to sell our extra loot for what it's worth and save up piles of "worthless" virtual currency.
Thanks again.
How does this devalue the gold subscription? You don't have to pay extra. It is included in your sub.
Nice to know that I can lift the cap when I need to tho.
I think this move actually helps in a way. With the ability to remove some of the Silver disadvantages, it makes it easier to go back and forth between Gold and Silver. I can sub when I want Gold priority access ... like when FE's are released... and go back to Silver when I don't need the extras without losing anything I really want.
A cap of 1 billion EC's is pretty darn generous. Given the limits of what you can actually use EC's for now, I don't think it really hurts anything. My only concern is that raising the cap that high could affect the Exchange, encouraging inflation.
it devalues it because its one less thing on the features matrix that is exclusive to gold, and therefore would motivate people to sub up.
that's the whole point of having a silver, or limited access account, if you want to play for free there are LIMITS to what you can do, the whole point is to get you to SUBSCRIBE. Geez Cryptic, didn't you read the F2P manual when you decided to adopt this ridiculous structure in the first place.
Are you trying to put yourselves out of jobs?
At this point, I would say that if Cryptic plans on adding, other account upgrades like this that Gold's should get them automatically, if they make us pay for it, that will be completely unfair.
Like a Dilithium Refining upgrade for example.
-
and I'm very sorry to say that because I love this game, and want to see it flourish...
But at some point you have to open your eyes for a minute or two, and when I do, it's pretty obvious that the only future planned for Star Trek is a fictional one...
It makes perfect sense to offer the extras included in the Gold subscription as components in the C-Store, that way you can pick and choose what you want. The advantage of getting a Gold sub would be that it is much cheaper than the addition of the overall parts if bought separately.
It's one little thing in the context of countless other 'one little things'...
I'm a free-to-play advocate... or I was until the past couple of days when the nonsensical wallet driven model started becoming clear... I'm a lifetime subber too, so I don't even have a monthly payment involved...
Frankly, the game was becoming a credit farmers cow.... and Cryptic's answer to that was to to make it so you'd be buying points to buy dilithium in a thinly veiled attempt to just become the credit farmers themselves...
Now they're embracing both, simultaneously... It's getting to where you don't need skill or a love of Star Trek to play this game... you just need a lot of extra time... and above all, a fat wallet... And the makers are the head cheerleaders for that model... It's being turned into a buy stuff, look uber, doff / pokemon hybrid...
I think that's got something to do with it anyway.... *shrug*
because one of the FEW reasons to sub was to NOT have the limit, now, that's gone. so yes its a clear devaluation of the gold sub.
Its ok though they're very clear that they don't want you to sub, they want to nickel and dime you to death. I say let them, I've removed my credit card information from them, which cancels my sub to CO at the same time because I don't support the STO nickle and dime routine. Consider the fact that it also kills my wife's accounts in CO and STO, so 45.00 a month they no longer have from us and 45.00 another company will get.
actually not true, you can get all the stuff from the gold account now, for a couple of months of sub fees and NEVER pay again, and spend LESS than sub to get MORE points. (this is based off of folks only having the normal amount of characters.
Thank you
I've a lifetime sub. I don't benefit one iota from this. I'm all for account wide unlocks. I always felt the single toon unlocks to fall into the nickel and dime money grab schtick.
f2p games die when players trickle off and new players don't see anyone on. Account wide unlocks encourages protracted play.... players feel invested with something that wont go away just because they felt like Playing a different toon ( pun intended)
I'd like more account wide stuff.
I think you are confusing devaluing incentives for silver players to switch to gold with the devaluing of your subscription as a consumer.
If you actually add up the value of all the benefits you get with a lifetime subscription, I think you will find that it is of greater value than a silver subscription simply because the cost to buy all the benefits of gold membership for a silver account are of lesser value than the cost of a subscription.
If anything, this adds value to a gold account because it is yet another tangible cost for silver players that gold players do not have to pay.