I'm a casual player and cannot fathom how people are able to grind out enough dilithium for the cap to matter. It's mind-boggling to me from that perspective. So I'm like you, I'd rather the costs come down across the board. The cap wouldn't matter then, would it?
I'm also a casual gamer, however I've found that after you've gotten your STF-equipped ship / ground guy (specialize in one) and you have them outfitted, that it's pretty easy to hit the 8k / day max. This was originally what they were nerfing by taking away the Dilithium rewards from STF's because after you were outfitted, you were able to just re-run with a set group of friends for around 45 - 60 minutes.
In that time you should be able to do 3 elite STF's easy. 4 if you've gotten your ground stuff lined up and in order. Each Elite STF yields 1,100 dil. After that you take your stack of 10 EDC's that you've saved up over the adventures, green and blue weapons, deflector, and shield tech and turn it in for dilithium packages (a little over 1k per), and your prototype weapons, deflectors, and shield techs and prototype generics for mk xii items (yields 2k per) and after an hour or so of grinding STF's if your elite enough, you have your 8k dil grind out.
1 hour of dedicated playing per day, maybe 2 tops meets the 8k / day grind. Personally, I got insanely frustrated with it (at one point I was gathering around 10k / day just from an hour of STF's) and I couldn't do anything with the left overs.
I'm totally in agreeance with the lower dil prices, frankly I'd -love- to see the 8k cap removed altogether! From me personally, everything on the "new" end game costing so much dilithium and me only able to max out 8k / day only makes me not want to play the game. Esp if stuff is gonna start costing 36k, I think I saw upwards of 160k for a full set... That's 20 days of refining dilithium just for a set of mk xii gear. Not worth it.
If they follow through with that I will have the "buyers remorse" and take my money and my fandom of this game to another and spend my money there. It blows my mind that new stuff comes out, and they put these stupid limits on it, but there it is.
Edit:
Apparently a dev somewhere verified as 180,000 dilithium to get mk xii STF stuff, so with the 8k max /day that would be 23 days to get it. Again, imho, still not worth the wait.
It stands noting that the forums are not in any way, shape or form representative of the actual playerbase. For any game (well unless the game IS the forums, which it is not for STO). To claim so is simply a placation for those who participate in them to make themselves feel important.
What you're seeing here is the rants of highly specialized and dedicated people (some of whom claim to not even play the game anymore) with causes to champion. Right now, you're seeing rants that make it seem like "everyone" is a lifer, "everyone" is maxing out the Dilithium cap, "everyone" is at level 50. Last year about this time, people on the forums were kvetching because "everything" was going to the C-Store and you had to buy everything. Now people on the forums are kvetching that "everything" is on the Lobi store and that the C-Store is dead.
Forums always show the upset party. Contented parties don't speak up much on the forums because, well, they're content. They probably have something better to do, leading happier lives. Playing a game they enjoy.
Your Koolaid is in the next room.
There are a TON of people upset by this and more people who haven't taken to the forums before who are protesting this. It's no vocal minority in this case when fleet admirals speak up concerning their fleets and the sounds they're hearing from THEM. It is no rant from me who's solidly specced and loves this game. Maxing out the dilithium cap. Takes a total of about...2.5 hours. Each space STF nets 1100 so run all three with a completion and thats 3300 right there. You can get 2600 from the B'tran Cluster and another 3k or so from the Deferi missions. Assuming you DONT trade in any STF loot you've just capped by that alone. Add in Elite STF loot or good Normal loot and you WILL cap before even hitting the def sector. It is NOT hard to hit 8k dilithium in a day but it DOES turn into a bit of a grind. That WAS set to change. The OP's problems are valid and so are the complaints if you actually took the time to read them rather than dismiss them out of hand.
I dont have better things to do until my job starts. At that point the rubber will hit the road and i will either choose to keep this game installed or i wont. Given i'm thinking of adding GW2 with my first paycheck there need to be some real changes for me to keep this installed and possibly buy things off the C-store. Comments like yours are why some people disregard solid legitimate complaints that while have the tone of rage reflect a far darker and dangerous truth. You just hurt the community and allow PWE to further destroy this IP which has been slandered, defiled, and changed in ways i can barely believe. When people call for CBS to yank the license then you KNOW its bad.
And recycling the tactical's ability to beam personal down is budget coding just like adding numbers to the damage in the script.
You aren't adding anything to the game there is nothing new. I heard a developer say they are working on building your own kits so I can't really be impressed with getting a cut down (non combat or consumable) budget, replica version of 1 tac. ability as an end game reward...
The end game reward is a consumable... what would I be paying for those ? Dilithium ?
Gimme a break
Agreed. Even if the rewards are nice, it really looks cheap, nothing new is added to the game for season 7, except a new UI and some missions. No new experience. No new gameplay.
And the comsumable will cost dilithium, for sure. Of course, it would be perfectly understandable if it was a device but it looks like the lockbox lesson was forgotten in the meantime, because no one like consumables, especially when it's not completely free of charge...
I will likely still play, but be unsubscribing my pay-per-month subscription I do, and be no longer spending -any- cash on Cryptic / PW's game at all. In fact, if we're to show PW our blatant displeasure at what they're doing, when S7 hits I -actively encourage- our entire community to do the same thing!
They are apparently paying a little bit of attention to the forums as from one of the threads they -have- reintroduced the dilithium drops and dilithium boxes as turn-ins for the STF's onto the server.
However there's still a lot that the community as a whole is being ignored on:
Removal of the 8k / day cap
Lower Dilithium Prices for S7
An Abandoned Crafting System
Actual Klingon Content
(Some of the existing stuff is nice, but a majority of it is simply the Fed Mission in Klingon colors...)
The bugs fixed (many many MANY bugs that should've been fixed a long time ago...)
Lockboxes -not- taking up any of our loot (and yes, despite being told "it doesn't take away from your loot", from testing when I first started playing and testing now, I still get less loot than boxes).
Lockbox ships introduced into Zen-store (make 'em cost 3,000 zen if you really want the cash for them, but people would appreciate those ships as well that don't want to gamble on a box... maybe introduce them 1 or 2 seasons -after- the original introduction of them...)
And I'm sure many many more if I continue to talk to my fleet members, people in game, and surf the forums all.
The problem is, there's only one way to make PW / Cryptic truly know how upset we are, and that is to hit them in their pocket-books. If they're not going to pay attention to the forums, they're not going to listen to their devs saying "listen, they're really not happy about this", then we need to make upper management listen by saying "Hey, we're not paying for your product until you -do- listen to us".
At the moment, STO is a huge cash cow because of all the people willing to pay to support their game; however if everyone stopped purchasing for 7 days (go get a comic book, gaming book, regular book, see a movie, go on a date, something else with your money), I gurantee attention will be looked at on the forums. And if nothing happens, wait another 7 days. Seriously, if we as a -community- got behind this... I gurantee we'll get results we can at least say "ok, that's a fair compromise".
Anyways, I've said my 2 creds, here hoping I'm not alone in this (I know I'm not sadly, as 1 member of my fleet has already quit because of some of the S7 changes that his friend on the inside has said "is coming no matter what"...)
I will likely still play, but be unsubscribing my pay-per-month subscription I do, and be no longer spending -any- cash on Cryptic / PW's game at all. In fact, if we're to show PW our blatant displeasure at what they're doing, when S7 hits I -actively encourage- our entire community to do the same thing!
I understand your frustration but i think you are walking a fine line with that statement.
While people are still happy to open hundreds of lockboxes those ships will never hit the store directly.
I say never but if level cap raises and we get a new tier of ships making them obsolete then maybe then they will hit the store as they dont compete with the latest flavours any more.
The crafting system is apparently still up for review in the near future (this century maybe) and in fact I will admit I did recently use it a few weeks back to make starbase consumables. I am glad my needed components didnt have a dilithium cost.
The 8k a day as a casual player doesnt really impact me so cant comment on that as I have only hit cap maybe once or twice.
Klingon content would be nice and we will get some soon as right now Cryptic has probably got CBS reviewing foundry missions for acceptability into slotting in the storyline. I pity Zero's job though at trying to find which ones can give continuity from one to the next.
As for not spending a penny on PW again, good luck with that as temptation is a meanie and always strikes when you least expect it.
I understand your frustration but i think you are walking a fine line with that statement.
We'll find out. Either I'll get banned on the forums, account locked out, or nothing. Hopefully it's nothing (after all, this is only my opinion and my being an activist), but if the same thing was done earlier and nothing happened anyways, well what's the harm in me saying it?
However I still do recommend it if something can't come to a better situation. Granted I've not been playing as long as some of the true veterans here, but I really do enjoy this game, and while sure, if the direction they want to take the game is grind grind grind, I will, but they won't get another dime of my hard earned money, nor should they yours if you aren't actually enjoying the game as you did when you first started.
Games like this are meant to mutate, grow, become more than they were when they started, but the people making the game and hosting have to realize that without -US- enjoying the game, we're not gonna pay money for it. If you're truly gonna enjoy the game post S7 with all the Dil Hikes and everything else, keep paying cash and buying stuff, but I'll be cancelling my monthly subscription unless I can see that the results are indeed more to my (personal) liking in S7.
Planning on doing the same, posted some reasons in other threads, but it boils down to why support a game that doesn't support the players? why should i pay them just to work? that's all the new grind is, work. this game doesn't have the end game content to even come close to supporting the monotonous grind they plan.
X Rebirth and HotS is coming out soon anyway, subbed to tera as well. plenty to do and enjoy actually gaming as opposed to working in this.
Dr. Patricia Tanis ~ "Bacon is for sycophants and products of incest."
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
While people are still happy to open hundreds of lockboxes those ships will never hit the store directly.
I say never but if level cap raises and we get a new tier of ships making them obsolete then maybe then they will hit the store as they dont compete with the latest flavours any more.
If my idea on Fleet Admirals is correct, then as a Fleet Admiral or Admiral, you will give your T5 ship to one of your underlings and have them support you in battle or do missions for you. In other words, away teams in space or more elaborate duty officer assignments. You as the Fleet Admiral or Admiral will pilot a T6 ship or could take over one of your fleet's T5 or lower ships for a period of time. Therefore, lockbox ships will never be in the C-Store since people would still be using them with their T6 ships.
I understand your frustration but i think you are walking a fine line with that statement.
He's not walking the line at all with that statement; BUT, by saying "I will still play...", the entire statement is blunted a bit. Why? If you still play, even if you don't spend your own real money, but you continue to be active on the Dil and Zen exchange just using what you personally attain, you're STILL supporting PWE as you're moving Zen that someone somewhere paid real money for - and keeping the overall in game economy active.
There's metrics and studies from a number of F2P games where the company realizes that 5% - 10% are the only players EVER spending real money, while the rest just do what they can and play 100% free <--- And even with that situation a company running such a game makes more money than they would via a 100% paid subscription model. As long as you play and keep the in game economy active, you continue to in effect support the game and enable those who spend real money.
If you are indeed really upset and want to make a clear statement - you have to both stop paying and stop playing. <--- that's honestly the only 'message' PWE upper and marketing management will understand.
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..."
As for not spending a penny on PW again, good luck with that as temptation is a meanie and always strikes when you least expect it.
That's the real kicker there honestly. Personally though, while tempted, I can be spending the money I spend on this on other things, maybe save up my cash, get a new video card, more ram, better computer, whatever. I choose to spend it here b/c I enjoy the game, but if it's gonna change this drastically, then I'll spend it elsewhere.
My best advice to UM and the Devs... Don't blatantly ignore your player-base. SOE did that with a game and well, it's an MMO that when created was awesome, and closed up shop after limping along sadly after their massive downgrade to iconic TRIBBLE.
He's not walking the line at all with that statement; BUT, by saying "I will still play...", the entire statement is blunted a bit. Why? If you still play, even if you don't spend your own real money, but you continue to be active on the Dil and Zen exchange just using what you personally attain, you're STILL supporting PWE as you're moving Zen that someone somewhere paid real money for - and keeping the overall in game economy active.
There's metrics and studies from a number of F2P games where the company realizes that 5% - 10% are the only players EVER spending real money, while the rest just do what they can and play 100% free <--- And even with that situation a company running such a game makes more money than they would via a 100% paid subscription model. As long as you play and keep the in game economy active, you continue to in effect support the game and enable those who spend real money.
If you are indeed really upset and want to make a clear statement - you have to both stop paying and stop playing. <--- that's honestly the only 'message' PWE upper and marketing management will understand.
That's great to know. Thank you. (not being sarcastic - really!)
I can understand why your upset, i feel the same way.
BUT no ones going to stop spending money on this game. As soon as a new lock box or c-store ship comes out, everyones going to spend large sums of money.
Even if they do stop spending money...once a new, TEMPTING ship comes out then their going to buy it under pressure of the new shiny toy.
Trust me, i have seen it multiple times in my fleet, outside my fleet, and so on. AND if everyone stops spending money...there goes STO.
PWE is not going to change it's ways for a couple people.
Again i agree with you, but most people not spending money on this game is fiction.
If you are indeed really upset and want to make a clear statement - you have to both stop paying and stop playing. <--- that's honestly the only 'message' PWE upper and marketing management will understand.
You are indeed correct there. In fact I am getting really tired of all the ranting going on(and I share guit there as well)
Bottom line is that Cryptic could do everything they plan and 99% of the people complaining on the forums will keep playing and in many many cases - keep paying.
I have no plans to cancel my monthly sub at this point - although I have decided to pass on the LTS sale. But passing on the sale has nothing to do with season 7 - I just don't see the value for me personally over my $10 gold sub(bought during the sale)
I can understand why your upset, i feel the same way.
BUT no ones going to stop spending money on this game. As soon as a new lock box or c-store ship comes out, everyones going to spend large sums of money.
Even if they do stop spending money...once a new, TEMPTING ship comes out then their going to buy it under pressure of the new shiny toy.
Trust me, i have seen it multiple times in my fleet, outside my fleet, and so on. AND if everyone stops spending money...there goes STO.
PWE is not going to change it's ways for a couple people.
Again i agree with you, but most people not spending money on this game is fiction.
guess i'm no one then, and all it takes is a little self control. the only thing cryptic/pwe listen to is cash, or lack thereof. one thing though, it tells me what i could have expected from neverwinter...so not even going to bother trying that. they TRIBBLE up sto, s7 goes up as planned. last pwe/cryptic game, i'll avoid them like the plague they are.
sad...but neither is adapting whatsoever to how mmo's and gamers have changed. both are still stuck in what was acceptable 3 years ago. doesn't help that fanbois, and as you stated (i paraphrase) fools and their money so easily parted help them keep that illusion alive.
Dr. Patricia Tanis ~ "Bacon is for sycophants and products of incest."
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
I don't tend to agree with all of you. There are a lot of star-trek fans, but it's not like the number is infinite. Think about Wow. Even with the consistent expansions they've been releasing, they've seen their numbers dwindling. Eventually people will just get tired of the gated events, endless grind, and shinies because that's what they are-a lot of fluff with little substance. The missions haven't changed; the foundry hasn't received very many upgrades. Granted, foundry missions are being released, but it is no substitute for official content. If the game continues on it's current path of focusing more on shinies and lock boxes than content, then it won't be long before the long-time veterans abandon this game.
The moment STO is no longer profitable PWE will shut it down without a second thought.
The answer is simple.
Keep buying only the things you like in STO, but don't stop spending money on it if you want to keep it live.
Don't buy into the next game NWN instead.
If NWN tanks, then all the money lust/ support returns to STO.
wrong, if the lack of profit is due to game changes then they'll revert them rather than lose money shutting down the game. where is there any logic in your post? why would they close down servers of what was a profitable mmo when the could alter what ticks people off, bring them back and keep cash flowing in?
dude...never start your own business, or manage one. if you want an analogy, i have 2, cadbury tried to stop using cocoa butter for a less expensive substitute, consumers hated it, stopped buying, they reverted to the original mix. ~> everything fine again.
coca cola, changed their formula, while they didn't revert they did make the classic available after there was enough sales falloff and general very vocal dissatisfaction.
completely losing all profits because of pigheaded decisions and stubbornly refusing to change those forcing a shutdown....think people would get replaced before that happened in management at the very least. track record of monetary embargoes is the mmo devs/publishers change their tune rather than shutdown the game.
Dr. Patricia Tanis ~ "Bacon is for sycophants and products of incest."
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
Most companies when something is profitable will look at "What went wrong" when it becomes unprofitable and try and fix it if possible. It's when something is "unfixable" that the decision to "shut it down" comes in.
In this case, it's very simple, all they have to do is listen to their player-base saying "woah wait just a cotton-pickin' second" and look at what we're saying.
Honestly, 90% of this is Dilithium-related, but content, bugs, etc is in there too.
If they would focus -less- on putting out unfinished seasons or buggy work, and finish to completion what they've started, most of what's here on the forums wouldn't be here.
Sure there'd still be people complaining, but FAR less than there is -right now- (myself included).
To be honest how they managed the changes for season 7, the crazy bugs they've introduced via seemingly innocuous patches and the unfinished and buggy content from previous seasons has basically put any idea of getting NWN out of my mind, I'll stick to DDO thanks
To be honest how they managed the changes for season 7, the crazy bugs they've introduced via seemingly innocuous patches and the unfinished and buggy content from previous seasons has basically put any idea of getting NWN out of my mind, I'll stick to DDO thanks
DDO was fun, I enjoyed that. I could never get it installed on Win 7 Ultimate (64 bit) system though. So I haven't done DDO in like 2 years now. =(
Wonder if they've finally found a way to have it installed w/out me copying someone elses files first?
i dont see how they think that adding dilithium cost to better gear is a good idea..
180k dilithium to purchase a mk xii stf set.. all its going to do is keep people from getting it.
now everyone is going to be doing stfs in normal gear
sigh.
pugs are going to be impossible.. specially since the elite ones are the ones everyone has to do to get dil.
[12:35] Vessel Two of Two Unimatrix 01 deals 225232 (271723) Plasma Damage to you with Plasma Lance.
[12:44] Vessel One of Two Unimatrix 01 deals 1019527 (1157678) Kinetic Damage to you with Plasma Energy Bolt Explosion.
i dont see how they think that adding dilithium cost to better gear is a good idea..
180k dilithium to purchase a mk xii stf set.. all its going to do is keep people from getting it.
now everyone is going to be doing stfs in normal gear
sigh.
They want to remove any free way to get endgame stuff to give you the option to take the cash shortcut everywhere in game. Furthermore you won't be able to contribute to all endgame content - your rep, starbases, embassies, gear - at the same time so you'll have to pick up one or to take the cash sortcut. That's what the game is about now. So it's going to be very long or very expensive. Your decision. :P
pugs are going to be impossible.. specially since the elite ones are the ones everyone has to do to get dil.
Technically pugs are always a hell for two weeks after any season release, since many new people are back, and the disaster is that they often forgot how to play the game but have lvl 50 characters. Expect a lot of name calling after various tacs in assault cruiser or Atroxes without any hangar item equiped, rainbow builds, blowing up when attacked by a couple of spheres, etc... :rolleyes: Happened with season 6 and it was worth queueing for STFs just for the drama between players.
The worst part of the new rep system is that it prompts you toward elite content to progress. If you've got your Mk XI set you'll want to give it a try to the Mk XII since it's "so close" and quite easily achievable as long as it's your only focus (it should be one month of intense farming or cash), but you'll need elite marks. People not willing to make enough efforts (which include improving your gaming skills) to get the Mk XII stuff used to step away from elite stfs but now they'll queue everywhere because the system is easier with just cash, but cash doesn't make you a better MMO player, sadly, since there's no way to buy a brain.
They want to remove any free way to get endgame stuff to give you the option to take the cash shortcut everywhere in game. Furthermore you won't be able to contribute to all endgame content - your rep, starbases, embassies, gear - at the same time so you'll have to pick up one or to take the cash sortcut. That's what the game is about now. So it's going to be very long or very expensive. Your decision. :P
Technically pugs are always a hell for two weeks after any season release, since many new people are back, and the disaster is that they often forgot how to play the game but have lvl 50 characters. Expect a lot of name calling after various tacs in assault cruiser or Atroxes without any hangar item equiped, rainbow builds, blowing up when attacked by a couple of spheres, etc... :rolleyes: Happened with season 6 and it was worth queueing for STFs just for the drama between players.
The worst part of the new rep system is that it prompts you toward elite content to progress. If you've got your Mk XI set you'll want to give it a try to the Mk XII since it's "so close" and quite easily achievable as long as it's your only focus (it should be one month of intense farming or cash), but you'll need elite marks. People not willing to make enough efforts (which include improving your gaming skills) to get the Mk XII stuff used to step away from elite stfs but now they'll queue everywhere because the system is easier with just cash, but cash doesn't make you a better MMO player, sadly, since there's no way to buy a brain.
Also expect lots of Lifers to come back and fly in Chimera's not fully decked out. And login queues, gotta love those. Ah its a cluster each season.
I really could see PWE having an issue with the best gear in the game "free". Its one of the things I would always bring up when someone asked if the game was P2W, that the best gear could not be purchased and had to be earned.
Comments
I'm also a casual gamer, however I've found that after you've gotten your STF-equipped ship / ground guy (specialize in one) and you have them outfitted, that it's pretty easy to hit the 8k / day max. This was originally what they were nerfing by taking away the Dilithium rewards from STF's because after you were outfitted, you were able to just re-run with a set group of friends for around 45 - 60 minutes.
In that time you should be able to do 3 elite STF's easy. 4 if you've gotten your ground stuff lined up and in order. Each Elite STF yields 1,100 dil. After that you take your stack of 10 EDC's that you've saved up over the adventures, green and blue weapons, deflector, and shield tech and turn it in for dilithium packages (a little over 1k per), and your prototype weapons, deflectors, and shield techs and prototype generics for mk xii items (yields 2k per) and after an hour or so of grinding STF's if your elite enough, you have your 8k dil grind out.
1 hour of dedicated playing per day, maybe 2 tops meets the 8k / day grind. Personally, I got insanely frustrated with it (at one point I was gathering around 10k / day just from an hour of STF's) and I couldn't do anything with the left overs.
I'm totally in agreeance with the lower dil prices, frankly I'd -love- to see the 8k cap removed altogether! From me personally, everything on the "new" end game costing so much dilithium and me only able to max out 8k / day only makes me not want to play the game. Esp if stuff is gonna start costing 36k, I think I saw upwards of 160k for a full set... That's 20 days of refining dilithium just for a set of mk xii gear. Not worth it.
If they follow through with that I will have the "buyers remorse" and take my money and my fandom of this game to another and spend my money there. It blows my mind that new stuff comes out, and they put these stupid limits on it, but there it is.
Edit:
Apparently a dev somewhere verified as 180,000 dilithium to get mk xii STF stuff, so with the 8k max /day that would be 23 days to get it. Again, imho, still not worth the wait.
Your Koolaid is in the next room.
There are a TON of people upset by this and more people who haven't taken to the forums before who are protesting this. It's no vocal minority in this case when fleet admirals speak up concerning their fleets and the sounds they're hearing from THEM. It is no rant from me who's solidly specced and loves this game. Maxing out the dilithium cap. Takes a total of about...2.5 hours. Each space STF nets 1100 so run all three with a completion and thats 3300 right there. You can get 2600 from the B'tran Cluster and another 3k or so from the Deferi missions. Assuming you DONT trade in any STF loot you've just capped by that alone. Add in Elite STF loot or good Normal loot and you WILL cap before even hitting the def sector. It is NOT hard to hit 8k dilithium in a day but it DOES turn into a bit of a grind. That WAS set to change. The OP's problems are valid and so are the complaints if you actually took the time to read them rather than dismiss them out of hand.
I dont have better things to do until my job starts. At that point the rubber will hit the road and i will either choose to keep this game installed or i wont. Given i'm thinking of adding GW2 with my first paycheck there need to be some real changes for me to keep this installed and possibly buy things off the C-store. Comments like yours are why some people disregard solid legitimate complaints that while have the tone of rage reflect a far darker and dangerous truth. You just hurt the community and allow PWE to further destroy this IP which has been slandered, defiled, and changed in ways i can barely believe. When people call for CBS to yank the license then you KNOW its bad.
Agreed. Even if the rewards are nice, it really looks cheap, nothing new is added to the game for season 7, except a new UI and some missions. No new experience. No new gameplay.
And the comsumable will cost dilithium, for sure. Of course, it would be perfectly understandable if it was a device but it looks like the lockbox lesson was forgotten in the meantime, because no one like consumables, especially when it's not completely free of charge...
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
They are apparently paying a little bit of attention to the forums as from one of the threads they -have- reintroduced the dilithium drops and dilithium boxes as turn-ins for the STF's onto the server.
However there's still a lot that the community as a whole is being ignored on:
Removal of the 8k / day cap
Lower Dilithium Prices for S7
An Abandoned Crafting System
Actual Klingon Content
(Some of the existing stuff is nice, but a majority of it is simply the Fed Mission in Klingon colors...)
The bugs fixed (many many MANY bugs that should've been fixed a long time ago...)
Lockboxes -not- taking up any of our loot (and yes, despite being told "it doesn't take away from your loot", from testing when I first started playing and testing now, I still get less loot than boxes).
Lockbox ships introduced into Zen-store (make 'em cost 3,000 zen if you really want the cash for them, but people would appreciate those ships as well that don't want to gamble on a box... maybe introduce them 1 or 2 seasons -after- the original introduction of them...)
And I'm sure many many more if I continue to talk to my fleet members, people in game, and surf the forums all.
The problem is, there's only one way to make PW / Cryptic truly know how upset we are, and that is to hit them in their pocket-books. If they're not going to pay attention to the forums, they're not going to listen to their devs saying "listen, they're really not happy about this", then we need to make upper management listen by saying "Hey, we're not paying for your product until you -do- listen to us".
At the moment, STO is a huge cash cow because of all the people willing to pay to support their game; however if everyone stopped purchasing for 7 days (go get a comic book, gaming book, regular book, see a movie, go on a date, something else with your money), I gurantee attention will be looked at on the forums. And if nothing happens, wait another 7 days. Seriously, if we as a -community- got behind this... I gurantee we'll get results we can at least say "ok, that's a fair compromise".
Anyways, I've said my 2 creds, here hoping I'm not alone in this (I know I'm not sadly, as 1 member of my fleet has already quit because of some of the S7 changes that his friend on the inside has said "is coming no matter what"...)
/salute
I understand your frustration but i think you are walking a fine line with that statement.
Lock-boxes and grind.
I say never but if level cap raises and we get a new tier of ships making them obsolete then maybe then they will hit the store as they dont compete with the latest flavours any more.
The crafting system is apparently still up for review in the near future (this century maybe) and in fact I will admit I did recently use it a few weeks back to make starbase consumables. I am glad my needed components didnt have a dilithium cost.
The 8k a day as a casual player doesnt really impact me so cant comment on that as I have only hit cap maybe once or twice.
Klingon content would be nice and we will get some soon as right now Cryptic has probably got CBS reviewing foundry missions for acceptability into slotting in the storyline. I pity Zero's job though at trying to find which ones can give continuity from one to the next.
As for not spending a penny on PW again, good luck with that as temptation is a meanie and always strikes when you least expect it.
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
We'll find out. Either I'll get banned on the forums, account locked out, or nothing.
However I still do recommend it if something can't come to a better situation. Granted I've not been playing as long as some of the true veterans here, but I really do enjoy this game, and while sure, if the direction they want to take the game is grind grind grind, I will, but they won't get another dime of my hard earned money, nor should they yours if you aren't actually enjoying the game as you did when you first started.
Games like this are meant to mutate, grow, become more than they were when they started, but the people making the game and hosting have to realize that without -US- enjoying the game, we're not gonna pay money for it. If you're truly gonna enjoy the game post S7 with all the Dil Hikes and everything else, keep paying cash and buying stuff, but I'll be cancelling my monthly subscription unless I can see that the results are indeed more to my (personal) liking in S7.
X Rebirth and HotS is coming out soon anyway, subbed to tera as well. plenty to do and enjoy actually gaming as opposed to working in this.
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
If my idea on Fleet Admirals is correct, then as a Fleet Admiral or Admiral, you will give your T5 ship to one of your underlings and have them support you in battle or do missions for you. In other words, away teams in space or more elaborate duty officer assignments. You as the Fleet Admiral or Admiral will pilot a T6 ship or could take over one of your fleet's T5 or lower ships for a period of time. Therefore, lockbox ships will never be in the C-Store since people would still be using them with their T6 ships.
He's not walking the line at all with that statement; BUT, by saying "I will still play...", the entire statement is blunted a bit. Why? If you still play, even if you don't spend your own real money, but you continue to be active on the Dil and Zen exchange just using what you personally attain, you're STILL supporting PWE as you're moving Zen that someone somewhere paid real money for - and keeping the overall in game economy active.
There's metrics and studies from a number of F2P games where the company realizes that 5% - 10% are the only players EVER spending real money, while the rest just do what they can and play 100% free <--- And even with that situation a company running such a game makes more money than they would via a 100% paid subscription model. As long as you play and keep the in game economy active, you continue to in effect support the game and enable those who spend real money.
If you are indeed really upset and want to make a clear statement - you have to both stop paying and stop playing. <--- that's honestly the only 'message' PWE upper and marketing management will understand.
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..."
That's the real kicker there honestly. Personally though, while tempted, I can be spending the money I spend on this on other things, maybe save up my cash, get a new video card, more ram, better computer, whatever. I choose to spend it here b/c I enjoy the game, but if it's gonna change this drastically, then I'll spend it elsewhere.
My best advice to UM and the Devs... Don't blatantly ignore your player-base. SOE did that with a game and well, it's an MMO that when created was awesome, and closed up shop after limping along sadly after their massive downgrade to iconic TRIBBLE.
That's great to know. Thank you. (not being sarcastic - really!)
I can understand why your upset, i feel the same way.
BUT no ones going to stop spending money on this game. As soon as a new lock box or c-store ship comes out, everyones going to spend large sums of money.
Even if they do stop spending money...once a new, TEMPTING ship comes out then their going to buy it under pressure of the new shiny toy.
Trust me, i have seen it multiple times in my fleet, outside my fleet, and so on. AND if everyone stops spending money...there goes STO.
PWE is not going to change it's ways for a couple people.
Again i agree with you, but most people not spending money on this game is fiction.
You are indeed correct there. In fact I am getting really tired of all the ranting going on(and I share guit there as well)
Bottom line is that Cryptic could do everything they plan and 99% of the people complaining on the forums will keep playing and in many many cases - keep paying.
I have no plans to cancel my monthly sub at this point - although I have decided to pass on the LTS sale. But passing on the sale has nothing to do with season 7 - I just don't see the value for me personally over my $10 gold sub(bought during the sale)
Guess that's an answer to a problem, just bury it in other people complaining.
/sighs
/salute
/farewell
guess i'm no one then, and all it takes is a little self control. the only thing cryptic/pwe listen to is cash, or lack thereof. one thing though, it tells me what i could have expected from neverwinter...so not even going to bother trying that. they TRIBBLE up sto, s7 goes up as planned. last pwe/cryptic game, i'll avoid them like the plague they are.
sad...but neither is adapting whatsoever to how mmo's and gamers have changed. both are still stuck in what was acceptable 3 years ago. doesn't help that fanbois, and as you stated (i paraphrase) fools and their money so easily parted help them keep that illusion alive.
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
The answer is simple.
Keep buying only the things you like in STO, but don't stop spending money on it if you want to keep it live.
Don't buy into the next game NWN instead.
If NWN tanks, then all the money lust/ support returns to STO.
wrong, if the lack of profit is due to game changes then they'll revert them rather than lose money shutting down the game. where is there any logic in your post? why would they close down servers of what was a profitable mmo when the could alter what ticks people off, bring them back and keep cash flowing in?
dude...never start your own business, or manage one. if you want an analogy, i have 2, cadbury tried to stop using cocoa butter for a less expensive substitute, consumers hated it, stopped buying, they reverted to the original mix. ~> everything fine again.
coca cola, changed their formula, while they didn't revert they did make the classic available after there was enough sales falloff and general very vocal dissatisfaction.
completely losing all profits because of pigheaded decisions and stubbornly refusing to change those forcing a shutdown....think people would get replaced before that happened in management at the very least. track record of monetary embargoes is the mmo devs/publishers change their tune rather than shutdown the game.
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
In this case, it's very simple, all they have to do is listen to their player-base saying "woah wait just a cotton-pickin' second" and look at what we're saying.
Honestly, 90% of this is Dilithium-related, but content, bugs, etc is in there too.
If they would focus -less- on putting out unfinished seasons or buggy work, and finish to completion what they've started, most of what's here on the forums wouldn't be here.
Sure there'd still be people complaining, but FAR less than there is -right now- (myself included).
They will never expend any resources to find out what they did wrong because they believe they can do no wrong.
This game is full of proof of that.
They have another game on the burner right now, they will just move on.
I would make a great company owner/ manager, I am just stating what I have observed to be this companies modus operandi.
Can we afford to make the assumption they will change?
#2311#2700#2316#2500
DDO was fun, I enjoyed that. I could never get it installed on Win 7 Ultimate (64 bit) system though. So I haven't done DDO in like 2 years now. =(
Wonder if they've finally found a way to have it installed w/out me copying someone elses files first?
That is strange I'm running it on Windows 7 Pro 64Bit. Maybe try it again, I never had any problems
#2311#2700#2316#2500
When you loose people like that they will not come back.
I think this is all in the back of our minds bothering us as we all think its great the way it is..
Perhaps mostly because none of us have a clue to why
We can only guess why such negative changes and being made.
180k dilithium to purchase a mk xii stf set.. all its going to do is keep people from getting it.
now everyone is going to be doing stfs in normal gear
sigh.
pugs are going to be impossible.. specially since the elite ones are the ones everyone has to do to get dil.
[12:44] Vessel One of Two Unimatrix 01 deals 1019527 (1157678) Kinetic Damage to you with Plasma Energy Bolt Explosion.
They want to remove any free way to get endgame stuff to give you the option to take the cash shortcut everywhere in game. Furthermore you won't be able to contribute to all endgame content - your rep, starbases, embassies, gear - at the same time so you'll have to pick up one or to take the cash sortcut. That's what the game is about now. So it's going to be very long or very expensive. Your decision. :P
Technically pugs are always a hell for two weeks after any season release, since many new people are back, and the disaster is that they often forgot how to play the game but have lvl 50 characters. Expect a lot of name calling after various tacs in assault cruiser or Atroxes without any hangar item equiped, rainbow builds, blowing up when attacked by a couple of spheres, etc... :rolleyes: Happened with season 6 and it was worth queueing for STFs just for the drama between players.
The worst part of the new rep system is that it prompts you toward elite content to progress. If you've got your Mk XI set you'll want to give it a try to the Mk XII since it's "so close" and quite easily achievable as long as it's your only focus (it should be one month of intense farming or cash), but you'll need elite marks. People not willing to make enough efforts (which include improving your gaming skills) to get the Mk XII stuff used to step away from elite stfs but now they'll queue everywhere because the system is easier with just cash, but cash doesn't make you a better MMO player, sadly, since there's no way to buy a brain.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Also expect lots of Lifers to come back and fly in Chimera's not fully decked out. And login queues, gotta love those. Ah its a cluster each season.
I really could see PWE having an issue with the best gear in the game "free". Its one of the things I would always bring up when someone asked if the game was P2W, that the best gear could not be purchased and had to be earned.
Now that's only 1/2 true.