Dstahl has bluntly said they have no plans to continue veteran rewards after 1000. That means the plan is very specifically not to, not that they haven't decided. It's just said in such a way to indicate that the plan in question could change (but probably won't).
And where has dstahl said this? The only thing I could find is the vet rewards post which the following quote is from.
With Star Trek Online rapidly approaching its 700th day since it went live, we?re happy to announce the next set of veteran rewards! Without further rambling, here are the details:
The next set sounds more like more is coming. It gives more credibility to they are not done with it or the plans for vet rewards past 1000 days has not been finalized.
Stroll back through the news section. It was in an interview just prior to the release of Season Six, when we were first getting information about it.
EDIT
It just fell off the news section. Google picked it up though, and because I'm such an awesome person I shall provide you the quote and the link (it was an interview with UFP)...
The next set sounds more like more is coming. It gives more credibility to they are not done with it or the plans for vet rewards past 1000 days has not been finalized.
Uh, that's in reference to 700 Days. The next set would be 800 Days. That doesn't imply more past 1000, it implies more past 700, which there have been plans for, specifically the 800, 900 and 1000 Day rewards... two of which have been released. There's no plans past 1000, thus the plan is currently for the program to end at that point.
Stroll back through the news section. It was in an interview just prior to the release of Season Six, when we were first getting information about it.
EDIT
It just fell off the news section. Google picked it up though, and because I'm such an awesome person I shall provide you the quote and the link (it was an interview with UFP)...
So there you have it. A very recent quote from Dan confirming that there plan is to do nothing for 1100 Days.
/EDIT
I will admit that this pushes it too unlikely, but there is some uncertainty to it. It still requires a dev response to say "There will be no more Veteran Rewards after 1000 days." The only real incentive for subscribers is the vet rewards and even vet rewards appeal to a minor fraction. Good incentives are needed for subscribers to stay subscribers and if those are added, then it would give more meaning to making more vet rewards.
Uh, that's in reference to 700 Days. The next set would be 800 Days. That doesn't imply more past 1000, it implies more past 700, which there have been plans for, specifically the 800, 900 and 1000 Day rewards... two of which have been released. There's no plans past 1000, thus the plan is currently for the program to end at that point.
No it is not in reference to 700 days. The next set of rewards are in reference to the 700, 800, 900, and 1000 day vet rewards. Just like the first set of rewards was 100, 200, 300, and 400 days.
I will admit that this pushes it too unlikely, but there is some uncertainty to it.
There's always uncertainty. But the plan that exists, the plan that is currently moving forward, is for us to get nothing at 1100 Days and beyond.
Could that change? Yes. Is it likely to? No.
Remember that they already planned to cut out several rewards and only give us rewards for 750 and 1000. So they already tried to cut the number they had to make, so do you really think they now want to give us more when the goal was to give us less? Seems pretty clear they didn't even want to give us what we've gotten, much less more than that.
So while it's possible there could be a change of heart (generally dependant on how much complaining the forums can muster... which at this point likely isn't much since the game is now F2P and subscribers are no doubt in the tiny minority), it isn't very likely at all.
It still requires a dev response to say "There will be no more Veteran Rewards after 1000 days."
Actually at this point it would require a posting saying there will be more rewards post 1000 Days. They've already professed a lack of plans to do so. Thus they'd require a post to say that they've changed their minds. If they don't change their minds they don't need to say a peep because, well, we know they plan to do nothing so when they do nothing we'll be getting what we were told to expect.
The only real incentive for subscribers is the vet rewards and even vet rewards appeal to a minor fraction. Good incentives are needed for subscribers to stay subscribers...
Which assumes that Cryptic wants subscribers. They don't. They want microtransactions for ships and lockbox sales. That's the business model now. The only reason that subscriptions still exist in any form is because they're trying to honour the LTSes they've already sold. They aren't actively courting subscriptions anymore (a sale on LTSes notwithstanding), as your response here basically makes plain. If they were they'd have given, and would be giving, subscriptions more value.
I think you're reading into this. You took that directly from the announcement for the 700 day reward, which was a set of items. It prefaces by specifically referencing the 700 day reward then talking about the next set of rewards. The next "set of veteran rewards" was a free android bridge officer, character slot, and a boost to skill points. The set after that was a starship slot and a mugato pet. And so on.
In fact, if I recall correctly that page had been updated by BranFlakes during the F2P changeover due to some issues/confusion over what was being given, and the fate of future rewards. I don't believe it even listed anything but the 700 Day Reward when it first released. [though admittedly I could be thinking of another dev blog here... during the F2P switch there were a plethora of blogs released, most of which said nothing except things we already knew or informed us of things that had already happened/been released]
I think it is VERY likely (based on dev comments about how long vet rewards take to unlock and incentivizing lifetimes) that sometime around or after 1000 day vet rewards hit, ALL lifetimes (including new ones) will receive all vet rewards as soon as they go lifetime.
I also think if we see any further attempts to recognize longterm players, it might be something like an extra pet or costume for lifers or maybe something like accountwide nanopulse bat'leths/lirpas.
With 1000 days coming with a ship, Cryptic will probably want to make some money off of it.
I strongly suspect the 1000 day ship will be pretty unique, will be Fleet Tier, and that they may even advertise all vet rewards through 1000 days as an instant perk for all lifers, trying to drive up LTS sales around that time.
Cryptic will come in the day before the first person hits 999 days and say that the ship only applies to anyone who has never had any ship, and since you get a ship to start with you've already received your reward, think va ship tokens. Hey we gave these to everyone, lets take them away and make them a vet reward. What do you mean most of you are already va's well we gave you your token already, even if you did get it before this vet reward even existed it still counts, and look at all the work we got to avoid, yay us.
I seem to recall a dev saying that there could still be vet rewards after 1,000 day's - just not every 100..... not sure which thread it was in or who said it when. if we had dev tracker it would be easier for me to find. either way, it's not likely that too many people will ever reach this mark, making us a minority and no longer a priority.
if you think about it, every 100 days work's out to be 3 times a year (or a little more then once every 3.3 month's) they have to release something, - 4 times on even years - - - the time it takes corporate minded people to design , get proper concept approvals, do artwork, get work in progress approvals, coding, get code approval, do internal testing, more approvals, tribble testing, getting player dis-approvals, and polish it up for final release in time for the reward -is a really big drag on their resources that they could be better using to improve the game for larger groups of people.
once or twice a year seems more reasonable for something that is suppose to be a loyalty reward - every 3 month's sounds more like an entitlement - which these are not.
I think they recognize that with a F2P business model, selling subscriptions or giving added value to them doesn't work because they won't provide enough value.
On the flipside, they can turn a pretty penny selling lifetimes.
Vet rewards don't tie to a product they can sell within the constraints of a F2P business model, designed to make as much off every customer as possible. However, LTS still works because they can manage the economy so that 500 ZEN a month is easily eaten up.
So Vet rewards = realistically, no additional revenue of note because they can't really give a subscription enough value to be worth it, under the model they're pursuing.
Whereas an LTS, they can still manage to be of just enough value to goad people into buying one. That's where the sales they want to make are.
Although I wouldn't be shocked if they don't have a certain date after which:
1) NEW LTSes no longer get a stipend (old ones will stay grandfathered, otherwise its business suicide).
2) All LTSes get all vet rewards, regardless of how new they are.
3) Gold gets phased out as an option, honoring only the prepaid gold time that exists.
Comments
And where has dstahl said this? The only thing I could find is the vet rewards post which the following quote is from.
The next set sounds more like more is coming. It gives more credibility to they are not done with it or the plans for vet rewards past 1000 days has not been finalized.
Stroll back through the news section. It was in an interview just prior to the release of Season Six, when we were first getting information about it.
EDIT
It just fell off the news section. Google picked it up though, and because I'm such an awesome person I shall provide you the quote and the link (it was an interview with UFP)...
UFP's Federation News Network:
"What sort of Veteran Awards would you like to see added after 1000 days?"
Dan Stahl
"There are currently no plans to extend the Veteran Reward program past 1000 days. As with anything, this is subject to change."
So there you have it. A very recent quote from Dan confirming that their plan is to do nothing for 1100 Days.
/EDIT
Uh, that's in reference to 700 Days. The next set would be 800 Days. That doesn't imply more past 1000, it implies more past 700, which there have been plans for, specifically the 800, 900 and 1000 Day rewards... two of which have been released. There's no plans past 1000, thus the plan is currently for the program to end at that point.
I will admit that this pushes it too unlikely, but there is some uncertainty to it. It still requires a dev response to say "There will be no more Veteran Rewards after 1000 days." The only real incentive for subscribers is the vet rewards and even vet rewards appeal to a minor fraction. Good incentives are needed for subscribers to stay subscribers and if those are added, then it would give more meaning to making more vet rewards.
No it is not in reference to 700 days. The next set of rewards are in reference to the 700, 800, 900, and 1000 day vet rewards. Just like the first set of rewards was 100, 200, 300, and 400 days.
There's always uncertainty. But the plan that exists, the plan that is currently moving forward, is for us to get nothing at 1100 Days and beyond.
Could that change? Yes. Is it likely to? No.
Remember that they already planned to cut out several rewards and only give us rewards for 750 and 1000. So they already tried to cut the number they had to make, so do you really think they now want to give us more when the goal was to give us less? Seems pretty clear they didn't even want to give us what we've gotten, much less more than that.
So while it's possible there could be a change of heart (generally dependant on how much complaining the forums can muster... which at this point likely isn't much since the game is now F2P and subscribers are no doubt in the tiny minority), it isn't very likely at all.
Actually at this point it would require a posting saying there will be more rewards post 1000 Days. They've already professed a lack of plans to do so. Thus they'd require a post to say that they've changed their minds. If they don't change their minds they don't need to say a peep because, well, we know they plan to do nothing so when they do nothing we'll be getting what we were told to expect.
Which assumes that Cryptic wants subscribers. They don't. They want microtransactions for ships and lockbox sales. That's the business model now. The only reason that subscriptions still exist in any form is because they're trying to honour the LTSes they've already sold. They aren't actively courting subscriptions anymore (a sale on LTSes notwithstanding), as your response here basically makes plain. If they were they'd have given, and would be giving, subscriptions more value.
I think you're reading into this. You took that directly from the announcement for the 700 day reward, which was a set of items. It prefaces by specifically referencing the 700 day reward then talking about the next set of rewards. The next "set of veteran rewards" was a free android bridge officer, character slot, and a boost to skill points. The set after that was a starship slot and a mugato pet. And so on.
In fact, if I recall correctly that page had been updated by BranFlakes during the F2P changeover due to some issues/confusion over what was being given, and the fate of future rewards. I don't believe it even listed anything but the 700 Day Reward when it first released. [though admittedly I could be thinking of another dev blog here... during the F2P switch there were a plethora of blogs released, most of which said nothing except things we already knew or informed us of things that had already happened/been released]
I also think if we see any further attempts to recognize longterm players, it might be something like an extra pet or costume for lifers or maybe something like accountwide nanopulse bat'leths/lirpas.
With 1000 days coming with a ship, Cryptic will probably want to make some money off of it.
I strongly suspect the 1000 day ship will be pretty unique, will be Fleet Tier, and that they may even advertise all vet rewards through 1000 days as an instant perk for all lifers, trying to drive up LTS sales around that time.
if you think about it, every 100 days work's out to be 3 times a year (or a little more then once every 3.3 month's) they have to release something, - 4 times on even years - - - the time it takes corporate minded people to design , get proper concept approvals, do artwork, get work in progress approvals, coding, get code approval, do internal testing, more approvals, tribble testing, getting player dis-approvals, and polish it up for final release in time for the reward -is a really big drag on their resources that they could be better using to improve the game for larger groups of people.
once or twice a year seems more reasonable for something that is suppose to be a loyalty reward - every 3 month's sounds more like an entitlement - which these are not.
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
I think they recognize that with a F2P business model, selling subscriptions or giving added value to them doesn't work because they won't provide enough value.
On the flipside, they can turn a pretty penny selling lifetimes.
Vet rewards don't tie to a product they can sell within the constraints of a F2P business model, designed to make as much off every customer as possible. However, LTS still works because they can manage the economy so that 500 ZEN a month is easily eaten up.
So Vet rewards = realistically, no additional revenue of note because they can't really give a subscription enough value to be worth it, under the model they're pursuing.
Whereas an LTS, they can still manage to be of just enough value to goad people into buying one. That's where the sales they want to make are.
Although I wouldn't be shocked if they don't have a certain date after which:
1) NEW LTSes no longer get a stipend (old ones will stay grandfathered, otherwise its business suicide).
2) All LTSes get all vet rewards, regardless of how new they are.
3) Gold gets phased out as an option, honoring only the prepaid gold time that exists.