i think because other accounts arn't always in the same fleet they want to stop ppl with a end tier fleet ship in a big fleet take it to a small fleet on another account which hasnt unlocked the ship or earned the points to do it
Actual Requirements for Buying a Fleet Ship
(1) 20,000-200,000 Fleet Credits.
(2) 4 (20,000 Zen) Modules - Price of fleet ship without buying it's c-store counterpart. --- or ---
(2) 1 (500 Zen) Module - Price of fleet ship if you bought it's c-store counterpart.
(3) Tactical Ship Provision - 18,000 dilithium + Other Resources. --- or ---
(3) Tactical Ship Provision - 200,000 dilithium.
(4) Resources spent for unlocking tier (or multiple tiers). Dilithium, Zen, and Energy Credits used to purchase the resources required to upgrade each individual tier.
Even though everyone is looking at the store prices, the ability to obtain them costs way more than what is advertised. What does not help is the depletion of common exchange items, and how their demand has caused prices to skyrocket. Duty officers specifically.
The prices of these ships keeps Cstore ships relevant, otherwise the purchases people have already made would be almost completely obsolete.
Yes and no.
You can technically skip buying from the c-store, and you can still obtain a powerful ship at tier one. Even though I bought the Armitage a few weeks ago, the Fleet Patrol Escort I recently bought made it slightly obsolete. I may lose a turret console and hanger, but I gained a stronger hull, universal station, and a tenth console slot. Regardless about which one I use, I will no doubt win out at the end.
Odyssey Star Cruiser is the conundrum. Compare the Star Cruiser's specs to the other three Odysseys, and you will see virtually no reason to buy the fleet version. Some other fleet ships have similar issues, but those are only seen in how much hull they have. I have also never seen a need for an extra ensign station. Regardless about if its universal or not, I just don't see any advantage in having a standalone ensign station.
Anyone else love how we only get a thread thrown at us...then Cryptic retreats before we can start posting? 4 pages of the same thing should be a message to these guys.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] EXPLORE.
Dec '07 Account I EARNED 1000 days...I didn't BUY it! New LTS=Death to Vet.System: 10/10/12 Never Forget Something should be done for those who cared enough to have a 1000+ day sub.
I don't see the point in these fleet ships I think I heard the only bonus was a little more health? And if I got a fleet odyssey could my consoles be equipped on it?
This is just the reality of F2P, and as others have mentioned, is not so much of a "rip-off" as most people here have suggested.
The same thing goes for the other f2p "elements" like e.g. lockboxes...companies everywhere make money with some sort gambling and Im sure almost everyone knows that the odds are not in the players favor...also the new boxes have better drop rates and there 4 different ways to get a fleet ship.
You want to talk real Rip-Off?
Try "fortune-tellers" or "mediums" or multi-level marketing!
Finally all of this is optional, none of it is required to play the game!
All the core elements of the game are available for free!
But there is no such thing as a free lunch...the game has to be maintained and expanded and when your f2p that works by introducing things like payed ships and lockboxes...
Only thing Im concerned about, is wether those proceeds go into STO or are used for other projects..
the new tholian lock boxes are much better than the boxes before when you are playing with a team, no more need/greed spam, you just collect them and if you dont want them -> discard when you have a full stack. so cryptic listend to the community here
for the fleet ships i suggest that the price (only the modules needed, not the credits) decreases when you buy it again for another character. for example:
first character -> 4 modules
second character -> 2 modules
third character -> 1 module
additional characters -> only fleet credits
i wont need more than one of a type but since i hate character unlocks i will probably buy more when its at least some kind of account unlock. if more people think like this you can even make more money because more people will support the system
This was in discussion on the 'SHIP TRADES' in game chat channel this morning... I don't think I will get one of the fleet ships. too rich for my blood...
... or if you own a T5-variant of the fleet-vessel you want, you only need 1 module. However it still is 220000 Fleet-Credits till then.
I constantly see people referring to this, and I do hope it's accurate. But the in-game UI most certainly does not ever show "1" module. Always 4.
Perhaps it doesn't need to be accurate if the Shipyard Tier is not unlocked (all of my Store ships are higher than Tier 1 Shipyard), but it doesn't inspire confidence.
Edit: thanks @qjunior. Still waiting to see what happens. With all the S6 brokenness it's just one more thing on the list to not jump to conclusions about, or trust hearsay. Gotta see it for myself.
=/\=Transwarp 10.0 Victory Achieved on 26-July-2012, Six Months After F2P =/\=
I constantly see people referring to this, and I do hope it's accurate. But the in-game UI most certainly does not ever show "1" module. Always 4.
Perhaps it doesn't need to be accurate if the Shipyard Tier is not unlocked (all of my Store ships are higher than Tier 1 Shipyard), but it doesn't inspire confidence.
It?s a T5 store-bought ship that grants the discount, not a fleet retrofit like the poster you quoted refered to.
It really does seem odd that people have to grind through getting fleet credit, and then pay money. It really should be one or the other - grind or pay.
You're forgetting the facts, otherwise you'd know what you said is already true.
1. Dozens and dozens of modules are on the exchange, at a rate far lower than master keys. Easy EC flip. (Protip: They're under Data Samples, don't search "All".)
2. It is still entirely possible to grind 2000 points on the dilith exchange, I know because I have fleeties who do it to buy ships.
3. In an active fleet there should be the possibility of donations and giveaways. We had a module awarded during our trivia contest last night. Someone bought a ship during the meeting too!
4. If fleet modules didn't exist, the best spec ships in the game would cut into F2P profits. No monitization, no game. Should they be cheaper? Of course, but we're the consumer. See point 1. Let the buyer beware.
5. All that money I already spent on the MVAE and Defiant? Still counts for getting my Uber Fleet ship. I don't feel cheated because I'll have the best of the best, I don't throw those Store ship benefits out the airlock by upgrading.
6. Stipend. :P
7. I repeat, the EC exchange exists to say "this has a market value between players". If it is not bound - and just like Unreplicatables and Keys, Modules are not - you will never be forced to pay your money for it. Yeah the exchange is the Broke Du Jour right now, but have you seen the new Sort options? Awesome for comparison shopping.
=/\=Transwarp 10.0 Victory Achieved on 26-July-2012, Six Months After F2P =/\=
What does not help is the depletion of common exchange items, and how their demand has caused prices to skyrocket. Duty officers specifically.
Actually, that's the best thing - ever.
Totally useless TRIBBLE is now valuable. That's awesome. It rarely happens in games, and I have to commend the team for coming up with such a robust way to stimulate the economy.
That said, I'm trying to buy a ship and it says I need 4 fleet things, but I already have the C-store version...is there a bug?
1. Dozens and dozens of modules are on the exchange, at a rate far lower than master keys. Easy EC flip. (Protip: They're under Data Samples, don't search "All".)
Exactly how much is "far lower"? Plus that would still require grinding EC, which I admit is not the hardest thing to do in STO.
2. It is still entirely possible to grind 2000 points on the dilith exchange, I know because I have fleeties who do it to buy ships.
Really? Cause my current understanding of the Dilithium Exchange is that if I took my roughly 12,000 Dilithium I could get 40 zen. So for the 2500 zen I would need I would have to get around 600,000 Dilithium.
So as I currently understand it my choices are grind, grind, grind, or pay money. So it seems to me that if I don't have a lot of time to play, or simply hate grinding, I am SOL.
On the Modules in exchange. Every time I've looked they were well over 10m per. Many times they were listed as almost as much as one of these lockbox ships. For one Module.
The cost of these fleet ships as stated before is much more then just the listed.
I was under the impression from what was stated that the cost of the ship was supposed to reflect this. So either this was not true or they believe the ships are worth far more then they are. I see no other way to look at it.
Also, some of these fleet ships are really nothing more them a refit.
Compare for example the Recon science and the Fleet Recon Science. You get 1 console, a little over 2k armor, and the name fleet. Not a single universal seat even. I don't see doing all the work to get to the point of buying it, and dishing out for those 4 modules for so little. So what makes this example ship a fleet ship?
I can's see spending even one module on some of these slightly refit basic ships let alone 4.
I understand it being toon and not account wide, but that also should have been factored into the cost.
Really these are just more of the same, gotta catch them all things that people will feel pressured into getting. Not forced. While no one is forcing someone into getting them They are bombarded with these things to the point they feel they NEED them.
(EDIT)
Current price for 1 module is down to 6.5 mil.
On the Modules in exchange. Every time I've looked they were well over 10m per. Many times they were listed as almost as much as one of these lockbox ships. For one Module.
The cost of these fleet ships as stated before is much more then just the listed.
I was under the impression from what was stated that the cost of the ship was supposed to reflect this. So either this was not true or they believe the ships are worth far more then they are. I see no other way to look at it.
Also, some of these fleet ships are really nothing more them a refit.
Compare for example the Recon science and the Fleet Recon Science. You get 1 console, a little over 2k armor, and the name fleet. Not a single universal seat even. I don't see doing all the work to get to the point of buying it, and dishing out for those 4 modules for so little. So what makes this example ship a fleet ship?
I can's see spending even one module on some of these slightly refit basic ships let alone 4.
I understand it being toon and not account wide, but that also should have been factored into the cost.
Really these are just more of the same, gotta catch them all things that people will feel pressured into getting. Not forced. While no one is forcing someone into getting them They are bombarded with these things to the point they feel they NEED them.
I gotta agree with this, the reward just does not seem worth the investment.
Really? Cause my current understanding of the Dilithium Exchange is that if I took my roughly 12,000 Dilithium I could get 40 zen. So for the 2500 zen I would need I would have to get around 600,000 Dilithium.
So as I currently understand it my choices are grind, grind, grind, or pay money. So it seems to me that if I don't have a lot of time to play, or simply hate grinding, I am SOL.
Have you ever played an MMO before?
Serious question.
MMO's are about grinding. If you grind, you get better/more stuff.
We are VERY lucky that they allow us to buy our way out of the grind - most games give you no choice.
That said, you need to learn how to DOff. You can earn 600K Dilith in a few weeks, especially if you do it on multiple characters.
Do you expect them to just hand everything to you? I don't want to grind, I don't want to pay, I just want to sit here and have everything presented on a silver platter...that's what some of you guys sound like.
MMO's are about grinding. If you grind, you get better/more stuff.
We are VERY lucky that they allow us to buy our way out of the grind - most games give you no choice.
That said, you need to learn how to DOff. You can earn 600K Dilith in a few weeks, especially if you do it on multiple characters.
Do you expect them to just hand everything to you? I don't want to grind, I don't want to pay, I just want to sit here and have everything presented on a silver platter...that's what some of you guys sound like.
Yes, I know you have to grind in any MMO. What I am saying is that the grinding to reward ratio just does not seem worth it.
The thing I can see from all of this and from what I have gathered from people that were playing before STO went FTP, is that it seems that they are finding more and more ways to get us to pay for the game. So essentially they are taking the free to play and throwing it out the window.
Seems to really enjoy STO now, you cannot be FTP, but have to hand them more and more money for anything.
I agree, this is a rip off. Only a Ferengi would think of a scheme like this!
What really grinds my teeth, is the way it's not enough to have grinded enough projects to be allowed to sell, say, Tier 1 ships, but that you need this too:
Basic Ship Provisioning
Provision the shipyard with fleet ships that will be available to be requisitioned by fleet members.
This provisioning assignment only requires dilithium and completes very quickly, but it provides a limited supply and does not provide fleet experience
In other words, as a fleet, you need to sink in another 200,000 dilithium, just to be able to sell a limited amount of ships. So, a rather sizeable fleet could well have to collectively cough up millions of dilithium, just so everyone can be supplied. And then they'd have to do it all over again, for the next round. Plus, of course, the personal cost of 4 fleet ship modules and fleet points per ship.
So, apart from the 4 fleet modules, and the 200,000 fleet marks, individual fleet members will also be hit for dilithium contributions to fund the provisioning.
Personally, I think that's insane. Unlocking fleet ships should be a completed deal: once you did the required projects, and unlocked the ability, you should be able to sell those ships indefinitely.
I guess Cryptic fell for the 12th Rule Of Acquisition:
12. Anything worth selling is worth selling twice.
while I Understand These Are Extremely Expensive And Not Account Unlocks, For People Complaining A Few Things To Consider:
you Don't Need These Ships To Actually Complete Any Content.
ship Modules Can Be Purchased From The Exchange Using Ec.
the Prices Of These Ships Keeps Cstore Ships Relevant, Otherwise The Purchases People Have Already Made Would Be Almost Completely Obsolete.
Its Not Like Cryptic Is Rolling Out New Missions Regularly Wich Is Why Many Such As Myself Would Turn To Pvp Wich Requires You To Spend Money To Be Competitive
Its Not Like Cryptic Is Rolling Out New Missions Regularly Wich Is Why Many Such As Myself Would Turn To Pvp Wich Requires You To Spend Money To Be Competitive
They aren't rolling out missions because they are too busy rolling out things you have to pay for. As long as people are buying things they have no reason to "waste" their time on missions (and when they stop buying things the game will shut down) so I don't expect anything from them except Z-Store items from now on.
What a supremely ridiculous joke this game has become.
If I could slingshot around the sun and go back in time, I would most assuredly not pay the Lifetime Sub. and be much better off for that decision.
You can take your stooopid fleet ships and shove them up your exhaust manifold Craptic Imperfect World.
Reprehensible money grabbing ****tards.
This game now has all the lustre of a "former superpower nation in debt over it's ears to a communist dictatorship that denies most basic human rights and freedoms, yet knows how to exploit capitalism to the nth degree"
I could elaborate my shared frustrations even more, but what is the point? Deaf ears and all...
Honestly, if you want to grind, there is nothing in this game you need to pay real money for. End of story. Granted, it's faster and easier to pay, but you don't have to. I just bought the Fleet Patrol Escort, thats 20000 FC's and 4 modules. Now I already had almost 200k FCs, so that's not the hard part. I crafted one MkXII purp tactical console, got 20 mil, and there were 3 modules right there. Then a little more grinding for EC, got the 4th, and poof, my new ship. This isn't rocket science folks, you just have to put the time in!
Honestly, if you want to grind, there is nothing in this game you need to pay real money for. End of story. Granted, it's faster and easier to pay, but you don't have to. I just bought the Fleet Patrol Escort, thats 20000 FC's and 4 modules. Now I already had almost 200k FCs, so that's not the hard part. I crafted one MkXII purp tactical console, got 20 mil, and there were 3 modules right there. Then a little more grinding for EC, got the 4th, and poof, my new ship. This isn't rocket science folks, you just have to put the time in!
Not sure if you realize it, but in 6-8 months *all* current ships will be obsoleted by Tier 3 fleet ships and higher. And, oh yeah, your current, 'precious' purple gear will have become entry-level too... Unless you keep paying the man, of course.
I'm saying people should let the reality of this sink in for a moment: *everything* you can acquire in game by grinding will ere long be outclassed by having-to-pay-for fleet stuff.
The thing I can see from all of this and from what I have gathered from people that were playing before STO went FTP, is that it seems that they are finding more and more ways to get us to pay for the game. So essentially they are taking the free to play and throwing it out the window.
Well, you see, life is tough. That means there are no free things anywhere. There are things what appear to be free, yes. And the mastery to sell something is to convince your customer that he has made a good deal. And what is the best deal ? To get something for nothing, apparently. But this deal is that of the thief, and not of an honourable person.
You are right, that the words "free to play" suggest that you don't have to pay for it. But think about it. Would you provide something for someone, free of any charge ? Each one of us has to live. Our time is valuable, isn't it ? "thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn". So if we think a little we realize that absolute "free to play" cannot be accomplisehd. The company has to get it's money. You see it right, they do want to make you pay. The free to play part is juts the incentive to get you know their product better, in order for you to become a buyer. This is not a bad or mischievous act, it is marketing (although you know what Bill Hicks said about marketing - if don't search youtube).
I am just saying that expecting getting something for nothing is a naive thing to do. Remember, the choice to buy anything, from subscription, to costumes, things that cost money, is yours. They do not force it on you. You can always choose to fly a T4 ship, never buying a T5 z store one for example. I for one did not buy one yet, (but I did buy other things I held valuable). On the other hand, once you get into dilithium farming, your free player status becomes virtual. Because if you do this, you are not doing anything else but invest your time into the game, working to create a product other players will buy. Time is money. Thus, you don't actually pay for the game using real life currency, but you pay for it using your valuable time. That such person ( me included) plays for free, is an illusion, generated by the fact that many people outthere don't know the value of their time.
Anyway, I hope I have shown that the honest thing to do is to pay for a game, a product, pay for your entartainment, because it has production costs. And all the free to play thing we can thank to file sharing networks, and the so called online piracy. And than we have to think, as the thieves we are, we created this world and this industry. So really here is noone to blame but ourselves. That a producer is smart and finds ways to sell his product ... and he advertises free to play because we are used to free downloads and free entertainment ... whose fault is that in the end ?
Whatever we deny or embrace, we belong togheter./ Pat Benatar
Comments
I wont be buying any of the ships personally. Mainly because I don't grind grind grind, and then pay for the same ship I already bought in the cstore.
I will sell the odd module though.
(1) 20,000-200,000 Fleet Credits.
(2) 4 (20,000 Zen) Modules - Price of fleet ship without buying it's c-store counterpart.
--- or ---
(2) 1 (500 Zen) Module - Price of fleet ship if you bought it's c-store counterpart.
(3) Tactical Ship Provision - 18,000 dilithium + Other Resources.
--- or ---
(3) Tactical Ship Provision - 200,000 dilithium.
(4) Resources spent for unlocking tier (or multiple tiers). Dilithium, Zen, and Energy Credits used to purchase the resources required to upgrade each individual tier.
Even though everyone is looking at the store prices, the ability to obtain them costs way more than what is advertised. What does not help is the depletion of common exchange items, and how their demand has caused prices to skyrocket. Duty officers specifically.
Keep in mind that you are also working as a team.
Yes and no.
You can technically skip buying from the c-store, and you can still obtain a powerful ship at tier one. Even though I bought the Armitage a few weeks ago, the Fleet Patrol Escort I recently bought made it slightly obsolete. I may lose a turret console and hanger, but I gained a stronger hull, universal station, and a tenth console slot. Regardless about which one I use, I will no doubt win out at the end.
Odyssey Star Cruiser is the conundrum. Compare the Star Cruiser's specs to the other three Odysseys, and you will see virtually no reason to buy the fleet version. Some other fleet ships have similar issues, but those are only seen in how much hull they have. I have also never seen a need for an extra ensign station. Regardless about if its universal or not, I just don't see any advantage in having a standalone ensign station.
By your own logic, you dont actually NEED to read the forums. So if any of these complaints bother you in any way...dont read them.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Guess who's back...back again!
Dec '07 Account
I EARNED 1000 days...I didn't BUY it! New LTS=Death to Vet.System: 10/10/12 Never Forget
Something should be done for those who cared enough to have a 1000+ day sub.
The same thing goes for the other f2p "elements" like e.g. lockboxes...companies everywhere make money with some sort gambling and Im sure almost everyone knows that the odds are not in the players favor...also the new boxes have better drop rates and there 4 different ways to get a fleet ship.
You want to talk real Rip-Off?
Try "fortune-tellers" or "mediums" or multi-level marketing!
Finally all of this is optional, none of it is required to play the game!
All the core elements of the game are available for free!
But there is no such thing as a free lunch...the game has to be maintained and expanded and when your f2p that works by introducing things like payed ships and lockboxes...
Only thing Im concerned about, is wether those proceeds go into STO or are used for other projects..
for the fleet ships i suggest that the price (only the modules needed, not the credits) decreases when you buy it again for another character. for example:
first character -> 4 modules
second character -> 2 modules
third character -> 1 module
additional characters -> only fleet credits
i wont need more than one of a type but since i hate character unlocks i will probably buy more when its at least some kind of account unlock. if more people think like this you can even make more money because more people will support the system
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Perhaps it doesn't need to be accurate if the Shipyard Tier is not unlocked (all of my Store ships are higher than Tier 1 Shipyard), but it doesn't inspire confidence.
Edit: thanks @qjunior. Still waiting to see what happens. With all the S6 brokenness it's just one more thing on the list to not jump to conclusions about, or trust hearsay.
It?s a T5 store-bought ship that grants the discount, not a fleet retrofit like the poster you quoted refered to.
You're forgetting the facts, otherwise you'd know what you said is already true.
Actually, that's the best thing - ever.
Totally useless TRIBBLE is now valuable. That's awesome. It rarely happens in games, and I have to commend the team for coming up with such a robust way to stimulate the economy.
That said, I'm trying to buy a ship and it says I need 4 fleet things, but I already have the C-store version...is there a bug?
Exactly how much is "far lower"? Plus that would still require grinding EC, which I admit is not the hardest thing to do in STO.
Really? Cause my current understanding of the Dilithium Exchange is that if I took my roughly 12,000 Dilithium I could get 40 zen. So for the 2500 zen I would need I would have to get around 600,000 Dilithium.
So as I currently understand it my choices are grind, grind, grind, or pay money. So it seems to me that if I don't have a lot of time to play, or simply hate grinding, I am SOL.
The cost of these fleet ships as stated before is much more then just the listed.
I was under the impression from what was stated that the cost of the ship was supposed to reflect this. So either this was not true or they believe the ships are worth far more then they are. I see no other way to look at it.
Also, some of these fleet ships are really nothing more them a refit.
Compare for example the Recon science and the Fleet Recon Science. You get 1 console, a little over 2k armor, and the name fleet. Not a single universal seat even. I don't see doing all the work to get to the point of buying it, and dishing out for those 4 modules for so little. So what makes this example ship a fleet ship?
I can's see spending even one module on some of these slightly refit basic ships let alone 4.
I understand it being toon and not account wide, but that also should have been factored into the cost.
Really these are just more of the same, gotta catch them all things that people will feel pressured into getting. Not forced. While no one is forcing someone into getting them They are bombarded with these things to the point they feel they NEED them.
(EDIT)
Current price for 1 module is down to 6.5 mil.
I gotta agree with this, the reward just does not seem worth the investment.
Have you ever played an MMO before?
Serious question.
MMO's are about grinding. If you grind, you get better/more stuff.
We are VERY lucky that they allow us to buy our way out of the grind - most games give you no choice.
That said, you need to learn how to DOff. You can earn 600K Dilith in a few weeks, especially if you do it on multiple characters.
Do you expect them to just hand everything to you? I don't want to grind, I don't want to pay, I just want to sit here and have everything presented on a silver platter...that's what some of you guys sound like.
Yes, I know you have to grind in any MMO. What I am saying is that the grinding to reward ratio just does not seem worth it.
Seems to really enjoy STO now, you cannot be FTP, but have to hand them more and more money for anything.
I agree, this is a rip off. Only a Ferengi would think of a scheme like this!
Basic Ship Provisioning
Provision the shipyard with fleet ships that will be available to be requisitioned by fleet members.
This provisioning assignment only requires dilithium and completes very quickly, but it provides a limited supply and does not provide fleet experience
In other words, as a fleet, you need to sink in another 200,000 dilithium, just to be able to sell a limited amount of ships. So, a rather sizeable fleet could well have to collectively cough up millions of dilithium, just so everyone can be supplied. And then they'd have to do it all over again, for the next round. Plus, of course, the personal cost of 4 fleet ship modules and fleet points per ship.
So, apart from the 4 fleet modules, and the 200,000 fleet marks, individual fleet members will also be hit for dilithium contributions to fund the provisioning.
Personally, I think that's insane. Unlocking fleet ships should be a completed deal: once you did the required projects, and unlocked the ability, you should be able to sell those ships indefinitely.
I guess Cryptic fell for the 12th Rule Of Acquisition:
12. Anything worth selling is worth selling twice.
Its Not Like Cryptic Is Rolling Out New Missions Regularly Wich Is Why Many Such As Myself Would Turn To Pvp Wich Requires You To Spend Money To Be Competitive
join date: Jan. 2012
They aren't rolling out missions because they are too busy rolling out things you have to pay for. As long as people are buying things they have no reason to "waste" their time on missions (and when they stop buying things the game will shut down) so I don't expect anything from them except Z-Store items from now on.
If I could slingshot around the sun and go back in time, I would most assuredly not pay the Lifetime Sub. and be much better off for that decision.
You can take your stooopid fleet ships and shove them up your exhaust manifold Craptic Imperfect World.
Reprehensible money grabbing ****tards.
This game now has all the lustre of a "former superpower nation in debt over it's ears to a communist dictatorship that denies most basic human rights and freedoms, yet knows how to exploit capitalism to the nth degree"
I could elaborate my shared frustrations even more, but what is the point? Deaf ears and all...
Not sure if you realize it, but in 6-8 months *all* current ships will be obsoleted by Tier 3 fleet ships and higher. And, oh yeah, your current, 'precious' purple gear will have become entry-level too... Unless you keep paying the man, of course.
I'm saying people should let the reality of this sink in for a moment: *everything* you can acquire in game by grinding will ere long be outclassed by having-to-pay-for fleet stuff.
Well, you see, life is tough. That means there are no free things anywhere. There are things what appear to be free, yes. And the mastery to sell something is to convince your customer that he has made a good deal. And what is the best deal ? To get something for nothing, apparently. But this deal is that of the thief, and not of an honourable person.
You are right, that the words "free to play" suggest that you don't have to pay for it. But think about it. Would you provide something for someone, free of any charge ? Each one of us has to live. Our time is valuable, isn't it ? "thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn". So if we think a little we realize that absolute "free to play" cannot be accomplisehd. The company has to get it's money. You see it right, they do want to make you pay. The free to play part is juts the incentive to get you know their product better, in order for you to become a buyer. This is not a bad or mischievous act, it is marketing (although you know what Bill Hicks said about marketing - if don't search youtube).
I am just saying that expecting getting something for nothing is a naive thing to do. Remember, the choice to buy anything, from subscription, to costumes, things that cost money, is yours. They do not force it on you. You can always choose to fly a T4 ship, never buying a T5 z store one for example. I for one did not buy one yet, (but I did buy other things I held valuable). On the other hand, once you get into dilithium farming, your free player status becomes virtual. Because if you do this, you are not doing anything else but invest your time into the game, working to create a product other players will buy. Time is money. Thus, you don't actually pay for the game using real life currency, but you pay for it using your valuable time. That such person ( me included) plays for free, is an illusion, generated by the fact that many people outthere don't know the value of their time.
Anyway, I hope I have shown that the honest thing to do is to pay for a game, a product, pay for your entartainment, because it has production costs. And all the free to play thing we can thank to file sharing networks, and the so called online piracy. And than we have to think, as the thieves we are, we created this world and this industry. So really here is noone to blame but ourselves. That a producer is smart and finds ways to sell his product ... and he advertises free to play because we are used to free downloads and free entertainment ... whose fault is that in the end ?
You can buy them on the exchange for about 5m EC
or ... Earn dilithium, convert to Zen, buy Module.