With such limited resources for new stuff, it is getting offensive that the majority of new ships since F2P are not available to the average player, just through buying raffle tickets. I don't want a Cardassian or Jem Hadar ship. I just want the layout and stats they posess available.
I don't want to complain, it just doesn't seem very logical. Even from a financial standpoint, wouldn't FED and KDF layouts generate more money n the C-Store? And please customers rather than create this environment of the 'lucky' and the 'have nots'
Anyways, my two cents. I do not believe in gambling so for me there is only 1 of 3 new ships in this game, and I hate turn rates below 10, so thats out as well.
I am not threatening to leave or anything, just letting the WWW know how I feel. I doubt I am alone.
With such limited resources for new stuff, it is getting offensive that the majority of new ships since F2P are not available to the average player, just through buying raffle tickets. I don't want a Cardassian or Jem Hadar ship. I just want the layout and stats they posess available.
I don't want to complain, it just doesn't seem very logical. Even from a financial standpoint, wouldn't FED and KDF layouts generate more money n the C-Store? And please customers rather than create this environment of the 'lucky' and the 'have nots'
Anyways, my two cents. I do not believe in gambling so for me there is onlt 1 of 3 new ships in this game, and I hate turn rates below 10, so thats out as well.
I am not threatening to leave or anything, just letting the WWW know how I feel. I doubt I am alone.
And the last 2 out of 46 Federation ships are drop box only too! You can skew anything badly if you pick arbitrary boundaries for your sample. You could also say 100% of the last ship released was drop box too.
I say 2 out of 3 because any character only has access to 3. a KDF toon cannot access the Odyssey and ditto with the FEDs. The post is not meant to play number games. Go back close to a year to find a FED ship release that was new, not a +1 remake. It is about the playability of the layouts that longtime players want. Most ships in the last year have been low level skins, useful only as console power containers and new skins for existing ships.
A lot of work and resources have gone into ship designs that most players will get little to no benefit from. I have leveled 10 alts from new to VA in the last 3 months and the low lvl ships don't get used much. The last one took me 4 days to hit VA.
I don't need a Cardassian ship, just some new BO/console/power layouts for the existing ships. Something that actually enhances my gameplay. The only effect these Raffle Ticket ships have is if I happen to pass one. Unless you count the new annoying announcements.
I will never "C-Store Gamble" for a Ship, no matter how good it is. I plan on purchasing at least $50 in C Points but I won't purchase a single Key. I will not gamble in STO unless it's Dabo. I will not participate in the lockbox and key mechanic.
Gambling is NOT fun or enjoyable. I know personally a dozen or more People in real life that deal with Gambling addiction. It''s not a fun thing at all.
The Lock Box and Key Mechanic *IS* Gambling, just like an Instant Lottery Ticket or just like a Slot Machine.
Bad Move Cryptic. You have chosen to have the C Store and that isn't going away, but at least allow us to purchase all ships and items ingame rather than INSIST we gamble for them.
Keep this up and I will cancel my plans to purchase C Points and just move on. That's how wrong I feel this is for STO or any MMOG.
After hearing all sorts of reasons why there was not time, or enough ideas, for a new Federation Escort, we get one via a lottery and yet a second ship after it.
We have still received ZERO new Federation Escort hulls since the game launched. The only new Escorts have been minor tweaks on existing ships.
Clearly there is enough time to model, develop and test ships. Why not release the ships that the game is missing fairly before resorting to grab bags?
I fear that the attempt to mass market games has taken away from them most of the elements that hardcore gamers love.
About 15 years ago PC Gamer had an article about how big companies wanting large sales numbers over originality and artistic expression was going to ruin the gaming world as we knew it, how true. As predicted, most new games have a number after the title. Not really new games, glorified updates. Developers with good ideas are bought out and the ideas are dumbed down for the mass market.
This means hardcore players lose out. DaVinci sells far fewer paintings than others, and few people appreciate the difference. The same trend has been occuring in Video Games. The really good stuff takes too long and too much money to make. When the only store around is Wal-Mart, and the only game company is EA, the trend will be complete. Just buy the newest Madden game dumbed down so anyone can play it and join the crowd.
Just a note (I'm not defending the lack of non lottery ships here), CBS won't allow cryptic to put in any non faction ships (like the bug and galor, or a cube/ ferengi ship) unless its going to be incredibly rare to see players in them. Best way to do that is lottery, sucks but them's the breaks. Offer up a better solution to CBS' criteria
Just a note (I'm not defending the lack of non lottery ships here), CBS won't allow cryptic to put in any non faction ships (like the bug and galor, or a cube/ ferengi ship) unless its going to be incredibly rare to see players in them. Best way to do that is lottery, sucks but them's the breaks. Offer up a better solution to CBS' criteria
First problem. Why do we need these ships in the game? No one was really asking for them, certainly not on the same level they are requesting the T5 Akira, Andorian ship, Ambassador class, etc. Big deal if the lottery box is the only way to get them. Why do we need to have them in the first place? Why not the missing ships?
Second problem. How rare are these really? By all accounts, people sampling chat logs are seeing about 1 ship awarded every 1.5 to 2 minutes. What is the standard for "rare" here? Is it as a percentage of total characters? Percentage of total accounts? Percentage of active players/accounts? Finite number?
Let's say, the chance to roll a Galor is 1%. A key costs 90 c-points. Then on average, PW gets 9000 c-point revenue per Galor rolled.
Galors roll one per 1-2 minutes as we all observed, say 30 per hour. That's 270000 c-points per hour.
Each c-point is $0.0125 USD if you were to buy them. That's $3375 per hour. Let's say the rate dies off, and reaches an equilibrium of 5 galors per hour (conservatively). That's $562.5 per hour, over the entire event.
The even is about 35-days long. So.... that's about $472,500 of revenue, just from people getting galors.
I'm not sure how the enthusiasm of people towards lottery changes over time. But the numbers could easily go into millions. That's just a rough estimate.
Now, how much does it cost to make the Galor. The model already exists, costs associated with that is zero. You might need to make a few mechanics update to allow players to use it. Make that new Spiral Phaser thing, and some FX. I'm going to be generous here, for such little work, you give them 100 engineering hours to complete. Say $100/per including overhead, for a company the size of Cryptic, which is again generous. The galor costs $10,000 to make.
So... on the galor alone, the gross margin is about 97.88%, probably higher. In business terms, that's literally free money.
So, how could you question their money-grab model from a business standpoint?
Let's say, the chance to roll a Galor is 1%. A key costs 90 c-points. Then on average, PW gets 9000 c-point revenue per Galor rolled.
Galors roll one per 1-2 minutes as we all observed, say 30 per hour. That's 270000 c-points per hour.
Each c-point is $0.0125 USD if you were to buy them. That's $3375 per hour. Let's say the rate dies off, and reaches an equilibrium of 5 galors per hour (conservatively). That's $562.5 per hour, over the entire event.
The even is about 35-days long. So.... that's about $472,500 of revenue, just from people getting galors.
I'm not sure how the enthusiasm of people towards lottery changes over time. But the numbers could easily go into millions. That's just a rough estimate.
Now, how much does it cost to make the Galor. The model already exists, costs associated with that is zero. You might need to make a few mechanics update to allow players to use it. Make that new Spiral Phaser thing, and some FX. I'm going to be generous here, for such little work, you give them 100 engineering hours to complete. Say $100/per including overhead, for a company the size of Cryptic, which is again generous. The galor costs $10,000 to make.
So... on the galor alone, the gross margin is about 97.88%, probably higher. In business terms, that's literally free money.
So, how could you question their money-grab model from a business standpoint?
Given your 1% drop rate (which may be possible if they changed it from the Jem'Hadar), the average number of keys purchased per Galor would be 100. That works out to $125, or 10,000 C-Points per Galor.
I would suspect that things will level off quite quickly after this weekend. Most people that are going to participate will have participated by then. The last lottery box drew in about 40% of the active population. A smaller percentage of that group bought a LOT of boxes.
I do not expect them to make quite as much as you suggest, but it certainly is possible. We should really have some one online logging how many have been created over the first day. I desperately want some idea of the actual volume of Galors released into the game.
Easy, add to it. Make the BO layout and power layout/hitpoints shield point, etc available in C-Store as well to put in an alternate version of a FED and KDF cruiser so we can all buy it. I DO NOT want to fly a Galor, I just want a nice handling Cruiser with good BO layout +10 weapons and shields. Or let us buy all kinds of interesting layouts.
Just a note (I'm not defending the lack of non lottery ships here), CBS won't allow cryptic to put in any non faction ships (like the bug and galor, or a cube/ ferengi ship) unless its going to be incredibly rare to see players in them. Best way to do that is lottery, sucks but them's the breaks. Offer up a better solution to CBS' criteria
The ship could of been added as uber rare loot drops but PWI's business model for all there games is lottery boxes you spend real life cash on for a slim chance at getting an epic item. I don't buy that CBS said so line at all as STO is not Trek cannon so has no effect on the IP in any way otherwise players would not be allowed to design their own uniforms.
Easy, add to it. Make the BO layout and power layout/hitpoints shield point, etc available in C-Store as well to put in an alternate version of a FED and KDF cruiser so we can all buy it. I DO NOT want to fly a Galor, I just want a nice handling Cruiser with good BO layout +10 weapons and shields. Or let us buy all kinds of interesting layouts.
I am completely fine with them having ultra rare ship costumes via grab bags. So long as the ship has the same stats as an existing non-grab bag ship. It is also important that the creation of the costume not substantially detract from the art time required to make a new ship. Balance those aspects and I have no issue with grab bags.
Comments
I agree with you.
Lottery:
Jem'hadar
Galor
Regular:
Odyssey
Bortas
Assuming i'm not missing any that's 2/4 not two out of three.
I think he meant releases. Which then the Ody / Bort was the same realease = 1
A lot of work and resources have gone into ship designs that most players will get little to no benefit from. I have leveled 10 alts from new to VA in the last 3 months and the low lvl ships don't get used much. The last one took me 4 days to hit VA.
I don't need a Cardassian ship, just some new BO/console/power layouts for the existing ships. Something that actually enhances my gameplay. The only effect these Raffle Ticket ships have is if I happen to pass one. Unless you count the new annoying announcements.
Gambling is NOT fun or enjoyable. I know personally a dozen or more People in real life that deal with Gambling addiction. It''s not a fun thing at all.
The Lock Box and Key Mechanic *IS* Gambling, just like an Instant Lottery Ticket or just like a Slot Machine.
Bad Move Cryptic. You have chosen to have the C Store and that isn't going away, but at least allow us to purchase all ships and items ingame rather than INSIST we gamble for them.
Keep this up and I will cancel my plans to purchase C Points and just move on. That's how wrong I feel this is for STO or any MMOG.
We have still received ZERO new Federation Escort hulls since the game launched. The only new Escorts have been minor tweaks on existing ships.
Clearly there is enough time to model, develop and test ships. Why not release the ships that the game is missing fairly before resorting to grab bags?
About 15 years ago PC Gamer had an article about how big companies wanting large sales numbers over originality and artistic expression was going to ruin the gaming world as we knew it, how true. As predicted, most new games have a number after the title. Not really new games, glorified updates. Developers with good ideas are bought out and the ideas are dumbed down for the mass market.
This means hardcore players lose out. DaVinci sells far fewer paintings than others, and few people appreciate the difference. The same trend has been occuring in Video Games. The really good stuff takes too long and too much money to make. When the only store around is Wal-Mart, and the only game company is EA, the trend will be complete. Just buy the newest Madden game dumbed down so anyone can play it and join the crowd.
No thank-you.
First problem. Why do we need these ships in the game? No one was really asking for them, certainly not on the same level they are requesting the T5 Akira, Andorian ship, Ambassador class, etc. Big deal if the lottery box is the only way to get them. Why do we need to have them in the first place? Why not the missing ships?
Second problem. How rare are these really? By all accounts, people sampling chat logs are seeing about 1 ship awarded every 1.5 to 2 minutes. What is the standard for "rare" here? Is it as a percentage of total characters? Percentage of total accounts? Percentage of active players/accounts? Finite number?
In fact, you do make a lot of money from lottery!
Let's say, the chance to roll a Galor is 1%. A key costs 90 c-points. Then on average, PW gets 9000 c-point revenue per Galor rolled.
Galors roll one per 1-2 minutes as we all observed, say 30 per hour. That's 270000 c-points per hour.
Each c-point is $0.0125 USD if you were to buy them. That's $3375 per hour. Let's say the rate dies off, and reaches an equilibrium of 5 galors per hour (conservatively). That's $562.5 per hour, over the entire event.
The even is about 35-days long. So.... that's about $472,500 of revenue, just from people getting galors.
I'm not sure how the enthusiasm of people towards lottery changes over time. But the numbers could easily go into millions. That's just a rough estimate.
Now, how much does it cost to make the Galor. The model already exists, costs associated with that is zero. You might need to make a few mechanics update to allow players to use it. Make that new Spiral Phaser thing, and some FX. I'm going to be generous here, for such little work, you give them 100 engineering hours to complete. Say $100/per including overhead, for a company the size of Cryptic, which is again generous. The galor costs $10,000 to make.
So... on the galor alone, the gross margin is about 97.88%, probably higher. In business terms, that's literally free money.
So, how could you question their money-grab model from a business standpoint?
Given your 1% drop rate (which may be possible if they changed it from the Jem'Hadar), the average number of keys purchased per Galor would be 100. That works out to $125, or 10,000 C-Points per Galor.
I would suspect that things will level off quite quickly after this weekend. Most people that are going to participate will have participated by then. The last lottery box drew in about 40% of the active population. A smaller percentage of that group bought a LOT of boxes.
I do not expect them to make quite as much as you suggest, but it certainly is possible. We should really have some one online logging how many have been created over the first day. I desperately want some idea of the actual volume of Galors released into the game.
The ship could of been added as uber rare loot drops but PWI's business model for all there games is lottery boxes you spend real life cash on for a slim chance at getting an epic item. I don't buy that CBS said so line at all as STO is not Trek cannon so has no effect on the IP in any way otherwise players would not be allowed to design their own uniforms.
I am completely fine with them having ultra rare ship costumes via grab bags. So long as the ship has the same stats as an existing non-grab bag ship. It is also important that the creation of the costume not substantially detract from the art time required to make a new ship. Balance those aspects and I have no issue with grab bags.