This game has continually gone to the dogs since Free 2 Play was released. The problem is now, pretty much EVERYTHING in the game requires money if you want to be a decent player and Cryptic has taken a road of blatant exploitation of their player base. This has unfortunately become the literal translation of a Chinese sweatshop in which you grind and grind to get little reward that has really any value.
So I think Cryptic should abandon the Free 2 Play model and go back to the Subscription Model which they had when this game came out. Sure, there were problems back then too but at least they developed some new content without the incessant need to get greedy and try to make the player, even subscribed players like myself now, pay for everything.
Its unfortunate that such a game like this has gone the way it has, however if people stopped buying zen and focused on only the free features, then this game would rapidly change back to the subscription base and free stuff that we used to have because we were PAYING for the game back then.
This game could easily survive on subscriptions alone, even with the amount of lifetimers but Cryptic want their new coffee machine or water cooler so they do not actually want to change back. Why change if the sheep are buying into it?
There is no way STO will go back to subscription for the simple reason they are making a killing with the F2P model. I would have to say that the drop boxes and key's are their Golden Egg's.
For all the complaint about free to play, there's a few steadfast things that've held up in WoW, various Muds, and other games, be it free to play or pay to play...
1) Some people have money to burn and can still be.... pains. Be it free to play or pay to play, see the playerbase on World of ******** or Evercrack.
2) Regardless of pay to play or free to play, the people that are interested in a quick fun time will eventually burn out. If they have too much money, they may try to push the forum and the dev's to advance the game more to their pace, before still burning out.
3) No amount of pay to play will make up for poor product, see again the diminished playerbase of WoW, still gotta pay to play it, but a lot of folks gradually leave because quality got... pathetic. To the point, imho, that the development and creativity in the Muds that I play on seemed better.
4) Free to play is the trend for the net, and works to get players. Someone gets impatient, they spend a 5 or a 20 and instant gratification. That works for most of the youngers that play. When they get older, they'll view it differently. A sucker is born every minute, and a lot of them make it to 18 and credit cards.
5) Lets follow that trend, Jimmy pays to play, talks up the game to his buddies. Gets them to playing, they talk it up to their other friends... from Jimmy, we're now up to 20 or 30 people playing for free.... but Bill can get that new officer for duty assignments for a 20$, Jessi can get that outfit for her character for a $5 or a 10$... It continues for a few years as they leisure play while spending every few days, the amount so little, they barely notice it. Like an impulse buy at the grocery...
6) and that's what this model is for on the internet. It's the equivalent of the candybar or the soda at the register in a grocery store. I can get a 2 liter coke for 1.28 at WalMart, or I can get a 20 ounce for 1.59... I still sometimes get the 20 ounce because its cold. But I could've got 3 times the product for less.
7) Welcome to the World of Business. Presentation is everything.
8) IRE runs MUDs. Text based games!!!! That you use a telnet client to play!!! And they charge MORE for their monthly memberships... PER Game!... And MORE for the big currency!!! And it still works. At least here on STO, we have a graphics engine. And decent quality graphics. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
For all the complaint about free to play, there's a few steadfast things that've held up in WoW, various Muds, and other games, be it free to play or pay to play...
1) Some people have money to burn and can still be.... pains. Be it free to play or pay to play, see the playerbase on World of ******** or Evercrack.
2) Regardless of pay to play or free to play, the people that are interested in a quick fun time will eventually burn out. If they have too much money, they may try to push the forum and the dev's to advance the game more to their pace, before still burning out.
3) No amount of pay to play will make up for poor product, see again the diminished playerbase of WoW, still gotta pay to play it, but a lot of folks gradually leave because quality got... pathetic. To the point, imho, that the development and creativity in the Muds that I play on seemed better.
4) Free to play is the trend for the net, and works to get players. Someone gets impatient, they spend a 5 or a 20 and instant gratification. That works for most of the youngers that play. When they get older, they'll view it differently. A sucker is born every minute, and a lot of them make it to 18 and credit cards.
5) Lets follow that trend, Jimmy pays to play, talks up the game to his buddies. Gets them to playing, they talk it up to their other friends... from Jimmy, we're now up to 20 or 30 people playing for free.... but Bill can get that new officer for duty assignments for a 20$, Jessi can get that outfit for her character for a $5 or a 10$... It continues for a few years as they leisure play while spending every few days, the amount so little, they barely notice it. Like an impulse buy at the grocery...
6) and that's what this model is for on the internet. It's the equivalent of the candybar or the soda at the register in a grocery store. I can get a 2 liter coke for 1.28 at WalMart, or I can get a 20 ounce for 1.59... I still sometimes get the 20 ounce because its cold. But I could've got 3 times the product for less.
7) Welcome to the World of Business. Presentation is everything.
8) IRE runs MUDs. Text based games!!!! That you use a telnet client to play!!! And they charge MORE for their monthly memberships... PER Game!... And MORE for the big currency!!! And it still works. At least here on STO, we have a graphics engine. And decent quality graphics. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
you need help, its up to the player if he or she wants to go gold or lifer. you clearly have far too much time on your hands, as a gold player soon to get lifer im happy with the work they do and the graphics are good. and to be truthful i dont care about your reasons, they are pointless as its a free world
Sure there are a lot of F2P aspects of the game that suck like the grind and I think it is time to put the grind content and the rep system on hold and produce some more fun content rather than leaving it to the playerbase and the foundry to churn out thhe good stuff while the devs spend maybe 30 minutes thinking up a new grind and a month or so implementing it.
The old STF system for example maybe it wasn't as certain to give you the gear but the random chance element and the having a piece of kit tied to each STF forcing you to play all of them to complete sets made life more interesting and fun rather that the current "ISE grind" we have now where you don't do anything else because its inefficient, seriously devs, put that back in alongside the rep system!
and the fact the grind is ALL DPS based and most of the new things also benefit escorts more than the other classes doesn't help matters much, that focus needs changing to make the others more playable, more fun and ultimately more profitable.
Pre FTP the STO team had 20 employees. Post FTP the STO team now has 50, with a new Rom Micro-Faction and new FE coming out.
Yes, please, stop FTP.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
personally i say no, the F2P model is supported by the dilithium exchange to make the game fair and profitable.
yes it has gotten alot worse in terms of quality. but i would place that blame on Cryptic focusing to much on details on maps and not enough on bug fixes for old content.
also if it becomes P2P then the mass of new players coming to the game when Star Trek Into Darkness comes out (look at the release date and compare it to the romulan update) will decrease.
F2P i think we can see ALOT more people joining after watching the movie(which looks freaking sweet. Star Wars can go die in its "they evil cause they evil" beliefs. Star Trek actually has a soul, "they evil because of certain events that caused trouble in thier life")
personally i say no, the F2P model is supported by the dilithium exchange to make the game fair and profitable.
yes it has gotten alot worse in terms of quality. but i would place that blame on Cryptic focusing to much on details on maps and not enough on bug fixes for old content.
also if it becomes P2P then the mass of new players coming to the game when Star Trek Into Darkness comes out (look at the release date and compare it to the romulan update) will decrease.
F2P i think we can see ALOT more people joining after watching the movie(which looks freaking sweet. Star Wars can go die in its "they evil cause they evil" beliefs. Star Trek actually has a soul, "they evil because of certain events that caused trouble in thier life")
quick fact. according to Wikipedia(which may not be correct i know) Cryptic has closer to 100 employees. this may be the 50 devs they announced and then 50 other employees(janitor, advertisement, and so on)
quick fact. according to Wikipedia(which may not be correct i know) Cryptic has closer to 100 employees. this may be the 50 devs they announced and then 50 other employees(janitor, advertisement, and so on)
The STO team currently has 50. The CO team has X amount and the NWN team has X amount. Cryptic also has a Foundry team, an Engine team, a Server team, a business division, a QE team, and then housekeeping and everyone else on top of all that. And then you have the PWE employees who work on STO, like Brandon.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Comments
There is no way STO will go back to subscription for the simple reason they are making a killing with the F2P model. I would have to say that the drop boxes and key's are their Golden Egg's.
1) Some people have money to burn and can still be.... pains. Be it free to play or pay to play, see the playerbase on World of ******** or Evercrack.
2) Regardless of pay to play or free to play, the people that are interested in a quick fun time will eventually burn out. If they have too much money, they may try to push the forum and the dev's to advance the game more to their pace, before still burning out.
3) No amount of pay to play will make up for poor product, see again the diminished playerbase of WoW, still gotta pay to play it, but a lot of folks gradually leave because quality got... pathetic. To the point, imho, that the development and creativity in the Muds that I play on seemed better.
4) Free to play is the trend for the net, and works to get players. Someone gets impatient, they spend a 5 or a 20 and instant gratification. That works for most of the youngers that play. When they get older, they'll view it differently. A sucker is born every minute, and a lot of them make it to 18 and credit cards.
5) Lets follow that trend, Jimmy pays to play, talks up the game to his buddies. Gets them to playing, they talk it up to their other friends... from Jimmy, we're now up to 20 or 30 people playing for free.... but Bill can get that new officer for duty assignments for a 20$, Jessi can get that outfit for her character for a $5 or a 10$... It continues for a few years as they leisure play while spending every few days, the amount so little, they barely notice it. Like an impulse buy at the grocery...
6) and that's what this model is for on the internet. It's the equivalent of the candybar or the soda at the register in a grocery store. I can get a 2 liter coke for 1.28 at WalMart, or I can get a 20 ounce for 1.59... I still sometimes get the 20 ounce because its cold. But I could've got 3 times the product for less.
7) Welcome to the World of Business. Presentation is everything.
8) IRE runs MUDs. Text based games!!!! That you use a telnet client to play!!! And they charge MORE for their monthly memberships... PER Game!... And MORE for the big currency!!! And it still works. At least here on STO, we have a graphics engine. And decent quality graphics. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
you need help, its up to the player if he or she wants to go gold or lifer. you clearly have far too much time on your hands, as a gold player soon to get lifer im happy with the work they do and the graphics are good. and to be truthful i dont care about your reasons, they are pointless as its a free world
The old STF system for example maybe it wasn't as certain to give you the gear but the random chance element and the having a piece of kit tied to each STF forcing you to play all of them to complete sets made life more interesting and fun rather that the current "ISE grind" we have now where you don't do anything else because its inefficient, seriously devs, put that back in alongside the rep system!
and the fact the grind is ALL DPS based and most of the new things also benefit escorts more than the other classes doesn't help matters much, that focus needs changing to make the others more playable, more fun and ultimately more profitable.
Yes, please, stop FTP.
yes it has gotten alot worse in terms of quality. but i would place that blame on Cryptic focusing to much on details on maps and not enough on bug fixes for old content.
also if it becomes P2P then the mass of new players coming to the game when Star Trek Into Darkness comes out (look at the release date and compare it to the romulan update) will decrease.
F2P i think we can see ALOT more people joining after watching the movie(which looks freaking sweet. Star Wars can go die in its "they evil cause they evil" beliefs. Star Trek actually has a soul, "they evil because of certain events that caused trouble in thier life")
quick fact. according to Wikipedia(which may not be correct i know) Cryptic has closer to 100 employees. this may be the 50 devs they announced and then 50 other employees(janitor, advertisement, and so on)