I support PWE/Cryptic in trying to make money from this game. I will continue to pay into
the game what is required as long as I enjoy playing the game. I do hope STO outlasts
CoH in longevity.
Where have you been? August 31, 2012 NC Soft announced that Paragon Studios was shut down and City of Heroes was shutting down for good. It was announced later that November 30 is the end date for the game, a little over a month from now.
In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world?s first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year.
Where have you been? August 31, 2012 NC Soft announced that Paragon Studios was shut down and City of Heroes was shutting down for good. It was announced later that November 30 is the end date for the game, a little over a month from now.
noun
1.
a long individual life; great duration of individual life: Our family is known for its longevity.
2.
the length or duration of life: research in human longevity.
3.
length of service, tenure, etc.; seniority: promotions based on longevity.
he clearly meant he hopes STO lasts the same time frame as COH seven years.
Some dilithium reward for story missions would be a good thing...
As for PVP, I would agree with the person who said about doing it on a game more suited to it. Either be that game an MMO or a shooter.
My major problem seems to be this added dilithium cost to the duty officer system. Luckily I got most of the STF stuff I need already, though I may just grind out the 15 ECDs per character for the borg set on my alts.
Cost-wise, its by far the best.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
I'd agree with you if it were not for the fact that they've added various new rewards in the reputation tiers. People are very quick to ignore that point and attempt to make this soly about the gear. If people want those new rewards, then go get them. It IS genuine entitlement to think otherwise, old content or not.
There will apparently be new Romulan content, including instances. I'm eager to see if they are on par with the STFs and what their quality/format will be. Either way, thats completely new.
It sounds like your trying to make Cryptic responsible for the decisions you make on how to spend your dilithium. You want to eat the whole cake now and not just the slice you decided to pick first.
Dilithium is a necessary timegate to the new system. It is the tradeoff for guaranteed drops that "People" were so passionately begging for. It recognizes time spent playing the STFs (and the wider game). Yes, it also recognizes those who want to spend money to avail of a shortcut in time, but thats not 'new news' for a free to play game.
I was specifically talking about the recycled maco/omega/honor G items when I talked about serving up old content as new.
Security team escort beam down is not new and changing stats around on old items doesn't make it new either.
But hey if you can tell me there are are new omega and romulan armor with skins and new abilities we never saw great, I'd love to be wrong.
I gladly come on the forums and apologizing to everyone for asking for what they said was going to be in the patch, no problem.
All I am saying is, don't call 2-year-old stf gear new - announce the season as a revamp instead and explain the necessity of having to ask us to pay after they were able to double their staff.
It's terrific people who can't or won't play ground can now buy the sets instead but did they really have to pull out all the rewards out of stf and kill the stf shop for that ?
I already have the sets so I have zero interest in grinding 5 tiers for a replica security ability consumable (beam down sec. team).
Has anyone asked the team why virtually everything in the game now costs dilithium? What is the design mentality behind the decision to gate everything behind dilithium--a currency itself gated behind a maximum allowance per day?
Has anyone asked the team why virtually everything in the game now costs dilithium? What is the design mentality behind the decision to gate everything behind dilithium--a currency itself gated behind a maximum allowance per day?
That's easy. They want Zen flowing into the game as Dilithium rather than the other way around. Doesn't take a Dev to answer that.
I strongly believe the goal of a free to play game should be rewarding customers who pay rather than punishing players who don't.
Raising dilithium costs across the board just drives away your free-to-play players without doing much to entice new paying customers.
Making new content that's actually WORTH buying, increasing the amount of options available to paying customers, and generally rewarding the players who ARE paying for your game is the way to go.
To me, there are two types of free-to-play players:
1. These are players who do not have access to disposable income, who nonetheless love the game and are willing to put in the time and effort needed to get enjoyment out of it. You're not going to turn these guys into pay-to-play customers. If they had the capacity to pay, they would have done it already. All you will end up doing if you try to nickle and dime these guys is drive them away to another free-to-play game. If anything, you should be rewarding these guys and try your hardest to keep them in the game, because at the end of the day, these are the guys who really make the backbone of your community and drive the game forward.
2. Players who are still trialing the game, who are still exploring the gameplay, and are willing (and capable) to put money into it if the rewards are sufficient. These are the people you should be trying to convert, and you don't do that by increasing the the grind across the board. If the choice is between an awful grind if you don't pay and a slightly less awful grind if you do pay, most players will choose to quit. Instead, you should focus on fleshing out the cryptic store. Put up finer quality products. Stop it with the re-skins. Create a more robust commercial model which rewards your paying customers. That's how you win the F2P business. Just look at any other successful F2P franchises.
Say, just kind of curious, I can see the fees for "general recruitment" and doff reassignment, but I cannot find mention of the tactical/engineering/science/civil corps/race specific cadre/enlistments, can you still do those without the exorbitant fees?
That's easy. They want Zen flowing into the game as Dilithium rather than the other way around. Doesn't take a Dev to answer that.
It would be great to hear a dev confirm that. Or, at the very least, hear what rationalization they try to pawn off on us for the ridiculous direction things are going. It'd be nice to see them own these decisions.
Say, just kind of curious, I can see the fees for "general recruitment" and doff reassignment, but I cannot find mention of the tactical/engineering/science/civil corps/race specific cadre/enlistments, can you still do those without the exorbitant fees?
That's easy. They want Zen flowing into the game as Dilithium rather than the other way around. Doesn't take a Dev to answer that.
It would be great to hear a dev confirm that. Or, at the very least, hear what rationalization they try to pawn off on us for the ridiculous direction things are going. It'd be nice to see them own these decisions.
No, that's the reason. Dilithium has been both a good thing and a very bad thing for the Devs ever since they implemented it. It streamlined the currencies (Temporarily) for sure, but it made it really easy to for players to earn Zen without paying money. Even six months ago not a lot of dilithium was going back into the game as there was nothing to spend it on.
Starbases were made, but it seems all that does was drive the price of Zen down. So obviously didn't make as much of a difference as the Devs hoped. So.... we get all of this stuff.
Is it for better or worse? Well that remains to be seen. Just remember, keeping a hand on those torches is great for preventing things you don't want, but keep your wallet in the other for the things you do. Take a look at my signature.
That's easy. They want Zen flowing into the game as Dilithium rather than the other way around. Doesn't take a Dev to answer that.
I'm pretty sure they play a balancing act with Zen and Dilithium. When the value of Zen crashes for too long and the value of Dilithium is inflated, they release C-Store items. Then you see the market shift. When it shifts too far the other way for too long, then you see them toss in Dilithium sinks. Back and forth. Rinse repeat.
No, that's the reason. Dilithium has been both a good thing and a very bad thing for the Devs ever since they implemented it. It streamlined the currencies (Temporarily) for sure, but it made it really easy to for players to earn Zen without paying money. Even six months ago not a lot of dilithium was going back into the game as there was nothing to spend it on.
Starbases were made, but it seems all that does was drive the price of Zen down. So obviously didn't make as much of a difference as the Devs hoped. So.... we get all of this stuff.
Is it for better or worse? Well that remains to be seen. Just remember, keeping a hand on those torches is great for preventing things you don't want, but keep your wallet in the other for the things you do. Take a look at my signature.
I'm waiting Cryptic.
One slight wrinkle is that assessment - No matter if a player buys Zen in the Dil exchange or not - aside from LTS folks who put some or all of their stipend on the Dil exchange - someone paid real money to Cryptic/PWE for that Zen (yes, even the monthly subbers as effectively, $5.00 of their sub is converted into Zen for them via the stipend.)
So, regardless of the source - PWE/Cryptic is getting real money for Zen (unless you believe there are more LTSers than Silver or Monthly Subbers, and they're all flooding the Dil exchange with their Zen.)
As an LTS myself, it's been about 6 months since I put part of one ZP stipend on the exchange.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Say, just kind of curious, I can see the fees for "general recruitment" and doff reassignment, but I cannot find mention of the tactical/engineering/science/civil corps/race specific cadre/enlistments, can you still do those without the exorbitant fees?
No, just the General Recruitment. But don't forget there is a greater charge for the exchanging DOFFs as well.
IMHO, they should keep the General Recruitment and the Exchange DOFFs alone, and simply add a Dilithium Store with the DOFFs needed for the Starbase Projects.
Right there people still get their free option and have to do the DOFF shuffle, or they can buy them immediately at cost.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
this TRIBBLE has gone too far. this is what, the third or fourth time a dev has done something like this? its ignorant, offensive and insulting and is far from anything resembling professional behavior
insulting your customers is a good way to get fired, or worse if people start filing complaints against the company. frankly, if anybody that worked for me did this, they'd be fired on the spot, no matter what their job was
I repeat: this is not even close to the first time this has happened. its gotten to the point where the boss needs to step in and put a stop to it, if not outright make an example of the next employee to do it
Not exactly the first time devs have insulted or been dismissive of the playerbase/forumites. Dan has done it, Thomas the Cat has done it, Gozer was notorious for it, this isn't the first time Gecko has done it. Kind of half expected really. I'll just continue to not give them any more of my money than they already have.
yes and this has been allowed to continue because....?
I do play the game. It's just that Gecko published an internal joke on a public channel. I call that a mistake.
a mistake that multiple devs have done, in some cases more than once? I doubt that
this TRIBBLE has gone too far. this is what, the third or fourth time a dev has done something like this? its ignorant, offensive and insulting and is far from anything resembling professional behavior
insulting your customers is a good way to get fired, or worse if people start filing complaints against the company. frankly, if anybody that worked for me did this, they'd be fired on the spot, no matter what their job was
I repeat: this is not even close to the first time this has happened. its gotten to the point where the boss needs to step in and put a stop to it, if not outright make an example of the next employee to do it
yes and this has been allowed to continue because....?
a mistake that multiple devs have done, in some cases more than once? I doubt that
pretty much sums up the forums what's the problem? :eek: not like he wrote it
It's fine if you're Wal-Mart. Because let's be honest...no matter how much you hate Wal-Mart, you'll still go there because a lot of things are cheaper there than elsewhere. And there's a Wal-Mart just about everywhere. And if they manage to TRIBBLE you off so much that you refuse to ever shop there again, it's so immeasurably insignificant that they won't realize anything at all happened. Wal-Mart cannot fail because you get mad at them.
Lets see what happens if they do that to all there base.
STO is not Wal-Mart. STO is small. STO can fail. Antagonizing your customers like this is not very smart. The old "the customer is always right" doesn't mean you always give the customer what they want. But it does mean you go out of your way to NOT TRIBBLE them off.
Coming form a retail job mself, I can relate, however I have to call commonsence on this. I mean heck even I have to have some PR, like yesterday a lady with a stroller decided hey Ill ride the escaltor dwn, and fall. I could not tell her anyhting along these lines if I wanted to have a paycheck.
If someone wants to think everyone on the forums is an immature moron, they can think that. But actually saying it is another thing. You can do it, but it's not very smart.
And furthermore, I'd be shocked if the people that post a lot on the forum were not the people that spent the most cash on this game. Calling them all whiners and cry-babies is a GREAT way to get them to spend more money.
Bottom Line: People are entitled to there opions, but this is lacking but tact and comonsence. i get what youre saying about its a game, but this is not how you deal with complaints, that might be how its handled in Cali.
Al's comment was already a little flame bait-y, but the poster you quoted is intentionally trying to make it look worse by posting the two "rules" most likely to be insulting towards forum-goers. It's a low, dirty tactic that you should ignore.
Seriously though, Mr. Rivera. If you read this, I get what you meant, but at what point did posting that to start with seem like a remotely good idea? You had to know that was going to end badly.
pretty much sums up the forums what's the problem? :eek: not like he wrote it
Nobody likes mirrors
No he didn't write or post it...
But suggesting that it gets his whole-hearted approval, was probably not the wisest of things to tweet during a time of major change in the game and considerable upheaval in the forums.
While perhaps it doesn't require even thinking about termination...,
If I were his boss, I would softly suggest in his ear that he refrain from throwing poo at the animals in the zoo...
...for they are quite likely to throw it back..., ...along with a bunch of their own.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
But suggesting that it gets his whole-hearted approval, was probably not the wisest of things to tweet during a time of major change in the game and considerable upheaval in the forums.
While perhaps it doesn't require even thinking about termination...,
If I were his boss, I would softly suggest in his ear that he refrain from throwing poo at the animals in the zoo...
...for they are quite likely to throw it back..., ...along with a bunch of their own.
and was the post that Archabaddon wrote, was it really that far off from how the forums are, no it was pretty much how they are, and everyone who got mad at it, are pretty much the one's that do what it says.
What Archabaddon wrote shows that the forums need to be changed. How people react to changes cryptic or any MMO or any forum in general and talk like adults, and leave the insults to children.
I'm the last one to talk for I do act like a child at times on here, but when in Rome:cool:
It's sad when I see someone start a tread about something, and they like the game and just have a simple complaint and it's either hijacked by players who say 'well why should they work on that it's not important enough, or no one say's anything because the OP did not insult Cryptic enough, or a Dev, and the thread goes into the Abyss
But, when a tread is started with off with the dev's head well everyone loves those and they get more attention from other players, who just want to mob the forums with pitch forks and fire.
Would you take people who just scream at you and insult you serious, i know I would not.
and was the post that Archabaddon wrote, was it really that far off from how the forums are, no it was pretty much how they are, and everyone who got mad at it, are pretty much the one's that do what it says.
What Archabaddon wrote shows that the forums need to be changed. How people react to changes cryptic or any MMO or any forum in general and talk like adults, and leave the insults to children.
I'm the last one to talk for I do act like a child at times on here, but when in Rome:cool:
It's sad when I see someone start a tread about something, and they like the game and just have a simple complaint and it's either hijacked by players who say 'well why should they work on that it's not important enough, or no one say's anything because the OP did not insult Cryptic enough, or a Dev, and the thread goes into the Abyss
But, when a tread is started with off with the dev's head well everyone loves those and they get more attention from other players, who just want to mob the forums with pitch forks and fire.
example, someone made a Thread about what Season 7 should be called...and well so enter the jokes and insults
Would you take people who just scream at you and insult you serious, i know I would not.
If this had been the first instance of this I would most likely agree whole-heartedly with this assessment...
But since the 'poo' has been tossed around several times before, one would think that the Zoo Keepers would know by this point, what NOT TO DO, to rile up Their captive audience.
The "Name That Season" thread, has pretty much become a standard tradition around here dating back to the second or third if I'm remembering correctly...
I for one enjoy the more Creative & Humorous submissions and tend to ignore the more mean spirited ones.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
If this had been the first instance of this I would most likely agree whole-heartedly with this assessment...
But since the 'poo' has been tossed around several times before, one would think that the Zoo Keepers would know by this point, what NOT TO DO, to rile up Their captive audience.
The "Name That Season" thread, has pretty much become a standard tradition around here dating back to the second or third if I'm remembering correctly...
I for one enjoy the more Creative & Humorous submissions and tend to ignore the more mean spirited ones.
Yet we are not in a Zoo and are not animals, but it would be a better place if we could act more like what a lot of players love to throw in Cryptic face, which is Star Trek
Yet we are not in a Zoo and are not animals, but it would be a better place if we could act more like what a lot of players love to throw in Cryptic face, which is Star Trek
I love the jokes and witty humor don't want that to go away, but would love to see more constructive criticism and less poo flinging.
To be honest, the amount of posts that boarder on irrational meanness, tend to be kept to a minimum except for times like these when large changes are heading toward the game play.
There are always going to be forum-ites who can't control their emotions and don't have the where-for-all to be mindful of how others interpret what they post.
And even those, unfortunately, that don't care.
As I said before, if by some weird circumstance I were in-charge, there'd have been a memo sent around quite a while ago suggesting that all employees please refrain from riling up the masses through internet postings, even on their own time.
After all, in this day and age of Instant Communication, it doesn't behoove the company's public image to have it's employees ticking off it's clientele in such a public manner.
If they want to go around bad mouthing the folks that pizz them off to friends and family, even jokingly, it's a lot less derisive if it's kept off of the public airwaves.
Many company's have policies in place now-a-days, that deal exactly with this kind of situation and take it quite seriously... to the point of actually letting folks go.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
and was the post that Archabaddon wrote, was it really that far off from how the forums are, no it was pretty much how they are, and everyone who got mad at it, are pretty much the one's that do what it says.
What Archabaddon wrote shows that the forums need to be changed. How people react to changes cryptic or any MMO or any forum in general and talk like adults, and leave the insults to children.
I'm the last one to talk for I do act like a child at times on here, but when in Rome:cool:
It's sad when I see someone start a tread about something, and they like the game and just have a simple complaint and it's either hijacked by players who say 'well why should they work on that it's not important enough, or no one say's anything because the OP did not insult Cryptic enough, or a Dev, and the thread goes into the Abyss
But, when a tread is started with off with the dev's head well everyone loves those and they get more attention from other players, who just want to mob the forums with pitch forks and fire.
I can't help but to find it ironic that they want people to act more maturely on the forums when Cryptic pulls such stunts.
And many long-term supporters pretty much are tired of acting nice and Cryptic stepping on their toes. And we shouldn't be blamed at all for going off the handle, when Cryptic is directly messing withour playstyles because it doesn't suit their tastes. So we shouldn't be scolded and "act our age" when they mistreat us.
They added the costs to the General Recruitment, hurting our progress in the Starbse system and makes it harder for us with the new Reputation system. Those that are arn't harmed are those in Large Fleets where people chip in, or the very wealthy players who can snub costs.
They completely redo the STF system, completely ignoring players who been working hard to unlock those Elite Sets, and forcing them to start over. Thent telling them if they want the sets, they have to part with 100,000 Dilithium? (Even more for [Borg] Weapons.
Then there is more grind added.
Enter the Hive, well pretty much everyone going WTF after playing it and saying, "we waited 3 years for this?" Which ends up something that appears to been thrown together at the last minute.
And they expect us to act rationally when they do this to us? It's no different than someone running over a person, backing up, running them over again, and going "oh well" as they put it into drive and run over us again one last time.
If they go ahead with these changes without anykind of negotation, it will be a powerful sign what they really think of their customers. Do they really care as they keep trying to convey, or they finally going to show their true colors and telling us to "Deal with it or get out".
It is quite simple, CRYPTIC Devs do not care about the forums and the topics at hand. They do not care about our suggestions, recommendations, our wants and dislikes. At least thats how it seems.
Al's suppose comments only proves this - I also tend to believe that he is not alone in that attitude towards the STO population on the forums. They, for the most part, brand us as a whole, like whining children with any legitimate arguments brushed off as coming from a bunch of malcontents.
Do they even bother to read? While a few do, it seems out of formality.
The true question is, does Cryptic take its forums seriously? You guys be the judge.
I can't help but to find it ironic that they want people to act more maturely on the forums when Cryptic pulls such stunts.
And many long-term supporters pretty much are tired of acting nice and Cryptic stepping on their toes. And we shouldn't be blamed at all for going off the handle, when Cryptic is directly messing with our play-styles because it doesn't suit their (Bottom Dollar)* tastes. So we shouldn't be scolded and "act our age" when they mistreat us.
They added the costs to the General Recruitment, hurting our progress in the Starbse system and makes it harder for us with the new Reputation system. Those that are aren't harmed are those in Large Fleets where people chip in, or the very wealthy players who can snub costs.
They completely redo the STF system, completely ignoring players who been working hard to unlock those Elite Sets, and forcing them to start over. Then telling them if they want the sets, they have to part with 100,000 Dilithium? (Even more for [Borg] Weapons.
Then there is more grind added.
Enter the Hive, well pretty much everyone going WTF after playing it and saying, "we waited 3 years for this?" Which ends up something that appears to been thrown together at the last minute.
And they expect us to act rationally when they do this to us? It's no different than someone running over a person, backing up, running them over again, and going "oh well" as they put it into drive and run over us again one last time.
If they go ahead with these changes without any kind of negotiation, it will be a powerful sign what they really think of their customers. Do they really care as they keep trying to convey, or they finally going to show their true colors and telling us to "Deal with it or get out".
They've been pretty much indicating a trend toward that particular ideology, for the last three seasons...
I tend to believe it has more to do with "Orders from Upon High" than an actual desire to displease the player-base.
I also like to believe that the instances in which They 'fire back' individually, have more to do with Their own personal frustrations with the way things are...
Though I have no proof to back up that belief.
(* = my edit)
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
(Almost) no one cares about the forums.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
Funny. Although Cryptic should not be laughing. It's not wise to bite the hand that feeds you. Constant nerfs and increasing costs are legitimate issues to complain about.
I'm well beyond complaints and have gone on to taking action. Like deleting my payment options from my account. I simply don't have to monetarily support a game that keeps moving the goal posts via nerfs, currency revamps and grinds. It's just not fun any more.
Comments
Where have you been? August 31, 2012 NC Soft announced that Paragon Studios was shut down and City of Heroes was shutting down for good. It was announced later that November 30 is the end date for the game, a little over a month from now.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=295621
You got your wish and didn't even know it. :P
longevity
noun
1.
a long individual life; great duration of individual life: Our family is known for its longevity.
2.
the length or duration of life: research in human longevity.
3.
length of service, tenure, etc.; seniority: promotions based on longevity.
he clearly meant he hopes STO lasts the same time frame as COH seven years.
As for PVP, I would agree with the person who said about doing it on a game more suited to it. Either be that game an MMO or a shooter.
My major problem seems to be this added dilithium cost to the duty officer system. Luckily I got most of the STF stuff I need already, though I may just grind out the 15 ECDs per character for the borg set on my alts.
Cost-wise, its by far the best.
I was specifically talking about the recycled maco/omega/honor G items when I talked about serving up old content as new.
Security team escort beam down is not new and changing stats around on old items doesn't make it new either.
But hey if you can tell me there are are new omega and romulan armor with skins and new abilities we never saw great, I'd love to be wrong.
I gladly come on the forums and apologizing to everyone for asking for what they said was going to be in the patch, no problem.
All I am saying is, don't call 2-year-old stf gear new - announce the season as a revamp instead and explain the necessity of having to ask us to pay after they were able to double their staff.
It's terrific people who can't or won't play ground can now buy the sets instead but did they really have to pull out all the rewards out of stf and kill the stf shop for that ?
I already have the sets so I have zero interest in grinding 5 tiers for a replica security ability consumable (beam down sec. team).
That's easy. They want Zen flowing into the game as Dilithium rather than the other way around. Doesn't take a Dev to answer that.
Raising dilithium costs across the board just drives away your free-to-play players without doing much to entice new paying customers.
Making new content that's actually WORTH buying, increasing the amount of options available to paying customers, and generally rewarding the players who ARE paying for your game is the way to go.
To me, there are two types of free-to-play players:
1. These are players who do not have access to disposable income, who nonetheless love the game and are willing to put in the time and effort needed to get enjoyment out of it. You're not going to turn these guys into pay-to-play customers. If they had the capacity to pay, they would have done it already. All you will end up doing if you try to nickle and dime these guys is drive them away to another free-to-play game. If anything, you should be rewarding these guys and try your hardest to keep them in the game, because at the end of the day, these are the guys who really make the backbone of your community and drive the game forward.
2. Players who are still trialing the game, who are still exploring the gameplay, and are willing (and capable) to put money into it if the rewards are sufficient. These are the people you should be trying to convert, and you don't do that by increasing the the grind across the board. If the choice is between an awful grind if you don't pay and a slightly less awful grind if you do pay, most players will choose to quit. Instead, you should focus on fleshing out the cryptic store. Put up finer quality products. Stop it with the re-skins. Create a more robust commercial model which rewards your paying customers. That's how you win the F2P business. Just look at any other successful F2P franchises.
It would be great to hear a dev confirm that. Or, at the very least, hear what rationalization they try to pawn off on us for the ridiculous direction things are going. It'd be nice to see them own these decisions.
Those are still free from what I can tell.
No, that's the reason. Dilithium has been both a good thing and a very bad thing for the Devs ever since they implemented it. It streamlined the currencies (Temporarily) for sure, but it made it really easy to for players to earn Zen without paying money. Even six months ago not a lot of dilithium was going back into the game as there was nothing to spend it on.
Starbases were made, but it seems all that does was drive the price of Zen down. So obviously didn't make as much of a difference as the Devs hoped. So.... we get all of this stuff.
Is it for better or worse? Well that remains to be seen. Just remember, keeping a hand on those torches is great for preventing things you don't want, but keep your wallet in the other for the things you do. Take a look at my signature.
I'm waiting Cryptic.
I'm pretty sure they play a balancing act with Zen and Dilithium. When the value of Zen crashes for too long and the value of Dilithium is inflated, they release C-Store items. Then you see the market shift. When it shifts too far the other way for too long, then you see them toss in Dilithium sinks. Back and forth. Rinse repeat.
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One slight wrinkle is that assessment - No matter if a player buys Zen in the Dil exchange or not - aside from LTS folks who put some or all of their stipend on the Dil exchange - someone paid real money to Cryptic/PWE for that Zen (yes, even the monthly subbers as effectively, $5.00 of their sub is converted into Zen for them via the stipend.)
So, regardless of the source - PWE/Cryptic is getting real money for Zen (unless you believe there are more LTSers than Silver or Monthly Subbers, and they're all flooding the Dil exchange with their Zen.)
As an LTS myself, it's been about 6 months since I put part of one ZP stipend on the exchange.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
No, just the General Recruitment. But don't forget there is a greater charge for the exchanging DOFFs as well.
IMHO, they should keep the General Recruitment and the Exchange DOFFs alone, and simply add a Dilithium Store with the DOFFs needed for the Starbase Projects.
Right there people still get their free option and have to do the DOFF shuffle, or they can buy them immediately at cost.
this TRIBBLE has gone too far. this is what, the third or fourth time a dev has done something like this? its ignorant, offensive and insulting and is far from anything resembling professional behavior
insulting your customers is a good way to get fired, or worse if people start filing complaints against the company. frankly, if anybody that worked for me did this, they'd be fired on the spot, no matter what their job was
I repeat: this is not even close to the first time this has happened. its gotten to the point where the boss needs to step in and put a stop to it, if not outright make an example of the next employee to do it
yes and this has been allowed to continue because....?
a mistake that multiple devs have done, in some cases more than once? I doubt that
pretty much sums up the forums what's the problem? :eek: not like he wrote it
Nobody likes mirrors
Bottom Line: People are entitled to there opions, but this is lacking but tact and comonsence. i get what youre saying about its a game, but this is not how you deal with complaints, that might be how its handled in Cali.
Calm down.
Al's comment was already a little flame bait-y, but the poster you quoted is intentionally trying to make it look worse by posting the two "rules" most likely to be insulting towards forum-goers. It's a low, dirty tactic that you should ignore.
Seriously though, Mr. Rivera. If you read this, I get what you meant, but at what point did posting that to start with seem like a remotely good idea? You had to know that was going to end badly.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
No he didn't write or post it...
But suggesting that it gets his whole-hearted approval, was probably not the wisest of things to tweet during a time of major change in the game and considerable upheaval in the forums.
While perhaps it doesn't require even thinking about termination...,
If I were his boss, I would softly suggest in his ear that he refrain from throwing poo at the animals in the zoo...
...for they are quite likely to throw it back..., ...along with a bunch of their own.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
and was the post that Archabaddon wrote, was it really that far off from how the forums are, no it was pretty much how they are, and everyone who got mad at it, are pretty much the one's that do what it says.
What Archabaddon wrote shows that the forums need to be changed. How people react to changes cryptic or any MMO or any forum in general and talk like adults, and leave the insults to children.
I'm the last one to talk for I do act like a child at times on here, but when in Rome:cool:
It's sad when I see someone start a tread about something, and they like the game and just have a simple complaint and it's either hijacked by players who say 'well why should they work on that it's not important enough, or no one say's anything because the OP did not insult Cryptic enough, or a Dev, and the thread goes into the Abyss
But, when a tread is started with off with the dev's head well everyone loves those and they get more attention from other players, who just want to mob the forums with pitch forks and fire.
Would you take people who just scream at you and insult you serious, i know I would not.
If this had been the first instance of this I would most likely agree whole-heartedly with this assessment...
But since the 'poo' has been tossed around several times before, one would think that the Zoo Keepers would know by this point, what NOT TO DO, to rile up Their captive audience.
The "Name That Season" thread, has pretty much become a standard tradition around here dating back to the second or third if I'm remembering correctly...
I for one enjoy the more Creative & Humorous submissions and tend to ignore the more mean spirited ones.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Yet we are not in a Zoo and are not animals, but it would be a better place if we could act more like what a lot of players love to throw in Cryptic face, which is Star Trek
This would have been different if he started name calling
I love the jokes and witty humor don't want that to go away, but would love to see more constructive criticism and less poo flinging.
To be honest, the amount of posts that boarder on irrational meanness, tend to be kept to a minimum except for times like these when large changes are heading toward the game play.
There are always going to be forum-ites who can't control their emotions and don't have the where-for-all to be mindful of how others interpret what they post.
And even those, unfortunately, that don't care.
As I said before, if by some weird circumstance I were in-charge, there'd have been a memo sent around quite a while ago suggesting that all employees please refrain from riling up the masses through internet postings, even on their own time.
After all, in this day and age of Instant Communication, it doesn't behoove the company's public image to have it's employees ticking off it's clientele in such a public manner.
If they want to go around bad mouthing the folks that pizz them off to friends and family, even jokingly, it's a lot less derisive if it's kept off of the public airwaves.
Many company's have policies in place now-a-days, that deal exactly with this kind of situation and take it quite seriously... to the point of actually letting folks go.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
I can't help but to find it ironic that they want people to act more maturely on the forums when Cryptic pulls such stunts.
And many long-term supporters pretty much are tired of acting nice and Cryptic stepping on their toes. And we shouldn't be blamed at all for going off the handle, when Cryptic is directly messing withour playstyles because it doesn't suit their tastes. So we shouldn't be scolded and "act our age" when they mistreat us.
They completely redo the STF system, completely ignoring players who been working hard to unlock those Elite Sets, and forcing them to start over. Thent telling them if they want the sets, they have to part with 100,000 Dilithium? (Even more for [Borg] Weapons.
Then there is more grind added.
Enter the Hive, well pretty much everyone going WTF after playing it and saying, "we waited 3 years for this?" Which ends up something that appears to been thrown together at the last minute.
If they go ahead with these changes without anykind of negotation, it will be a powerful sign what they really think of their customers. Do they really care as they keep trying to convey, or they finally going to show their true colors and telling us to "Deal with it or get out".
Hasn't dstahl already said something to that effect before? Something about either get out or sit in the back seat and eat our cheerios I believe?
Al's suppose comments only proves this - I also tend to believe that he is not alone in that attitude towards the STO population on the forums. They, for the most part, brand us as a whole, like whining children with any legitimate arguments brushed off as coming from a bunch of malcontents.
Do they even bother to read? While a few do, it seems out of formality.
The true question is, does Cryptic take its forums seriously? You guys be the judge.
They've been pretty much indicating a trend toward that particular ideology, for the last three seasons...
I tend to believe it has more to do with "Orders from Upon High" than an actual desire to displease the player-base.
I also like to believe that the instances in which They 'fire back' individually, have more to do with Their own personal frustrations with the way things are...
Though I have no proof to back up that belief.
(* = my edit)
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Funny. Although Cryptic should not be laughing. It's not wise to bite the hand that feeds you. Constant nerfs and increasing costs are legitimate issues to complain about.
I'm well beyond complaints and have gone on to taking action. Like deleting my payment options from my account. I simply don't have to monetarily support a game that keeps moving the goal posts via nerfs, currency revamps and grinds. It's just not fun any more.