Making changes that would effect gameplay balance is a far cry from making people play content they don't want to. Far easier to just nerf rewards than manage a faction.
With all do respect, people only believe in coincidences up to a point.
A link to a thread was posted in this topic showing a lot of authors upset of the lack of rating they were getting in favor of grinding missions for FM, and less than a month later FM are removed. And a similiar event happened before the previous Foundry nerf.
Perception is Reality in this case. Crpytic may not let a few make there decisions, but they sure are more open to the demands of a few that may happen to share Cryptic's views on the future, rather than try to have a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy.
It's not a coincidence.
But. Cryptic was planning to kill grinders anyways. So again... it's not something you can actualy blame on the Foundry Authors.
Changes to the game are Cryptic's decision. No small group of players has any real control over what they decide.
Continuing to blame a "Foundry Few" for what Cryptic has done is not productive and it's frankly a form of Flaming/Trolling which is against the rules.
Please focus your feedback on the game itself. If you don't like the changes, say so. If you have a suggestion, say so.
But please leave other players and forum users and their motivations out of it.
~Bluegeek
That's strange because I remember a thread about certain dilithium changes that actually had Stahl posting the new rewards that they then implemented rather quickly.
This was the same, just a smaller minority who used every medium they could sort of like a puffer fish to make themselves look bigger just to get attention they needed.
How many pages are we at now? And the EST players haven't even got home from work yet. Wait and see what happens in another 4 hours.
But. Cryptic was planning to kill grinders anyways. So again... it's not something you can actualy blame on the Foundry Authors.
The evidence showing the disent of Foundry authors has already been linked to in this thread.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Making changes that would effect gameplay balance is a far cry from making people play content they don't want to. Far easier to just nerf rewards than manage a faction.
With all do respect, people only believe in coincidences up to a point.
A link to a thread was posted in this topic showing a lot of authors upset of the lack of rating they were getting in favor of grinding missions for FM, and less than a month later FM are removed. And a similiar event happened before the previous Foundry nerf.
Perception is Reality in this case. Crpytic may not let a few make there decisions, but they sure are more open to the demands of a few that may happen to share Cryptic's views on the future, rather than try to have a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy.
FM in the foundry was never meant to me permanent after Fleet week in game they put FM back in the foundry, but said for nowthey are staying....
All Cryptic has to do is increases the FM in the events or add more FM missions, but as for its the Authors fault...no one faction in the game has that much power to make Cryptic do things....Except the Federation:D
The only Foundry authors who contributed to this change in any way are those who used the Foundry to break the risk/reward curve. This change is about pure numbers.
It's unfortunate that it was done in such a way as to remove the reward, instead of moving it over to the content with higher risk.
Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...
More likely they will RAISE the costs.
THIS^^
Why was the officer reports repetable taken away??? What was your thinking process?
"Lets TRIBBLE of the player base again...we haven't done it in a long time!"
Because people were doing it to get fleet marks instead of your boring always the same...sometimes 20 min+ fleet event missions?
People...want to do what THEY want...not what YOU want us to do...STOP TREATING US LIKE FY SHEEPS!
Stop "fixing" stuff that does not need FIXING! Like...I dont know...the empty red alert encounter in Serius Sector shoebox.
This isnt really killing grinders, Ill play any GOOD foundry mission as long as I receive compensation for my time and Ill honestly use grinders to get a pile of loot to sell off for EC, thats how it works.
The loss of the fleet mark reward means I will no longer be patronizing the foundry (unless theres a mission I like).
Also, small fleets were using the 50 received to help with the massive inputs needed for their bases, this is another nail in the coffin for small fleets since the fleet events are utter TRIBBLE when it comes to output. less than 30 fleet marks (during fleet event WITH FM boost) is just sad.
I know Cryptic doesnt give 2 farts for small fleets, but they still exist, some people dont want to get bogged down in all that fleet BS.
[SIGPIC]InGame - @Darth_Tauri[/SIGPIC]
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
I am personally not happy about losing Fleet Marks for Foundry content.
However, I am not going to single out individuals for blame. Or complain that some players get heard more than others. Or refer to anyone else as elitist or any other inflammatory remark.
In short, any comment that is intended to be divisive is a violation of forum rules.
Now, people can post according to the forum rules, or we have to start moderating this thread more aggressively.
I'd rather not do that. I'd rather see comments explaining WHY we're not happy about the Fleet Marks change and suggestions for how to improve the situation that maybe Cryptic can live with.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
It's unfortunate that it was done in such a way as to remove the reward, instead of moving it over to the content with higher risk.
That's not unfortunate. That's just another example of the lack of skill, time and resources available to the development team in terms of actually addressing and fixing a problem in their gameplay.
There's been a lot of solutions offered in this thread on how to maintain fleet marks but avoid the overt farming aspect that was going on.
But the problem is all of those solutions require time and effort from the development team. Just straight up removing them from the equation takes the least amount of time and resources.
drkfrontiers said;
"Thanks to the grinders we now have all lost the daily FM's. Thanks. I knew that they would TRIBBLE it for the rest of us."
Fleet/Reps progression IS grinding.
Not to mention the severe lack of worthwhile sources for Fleet Marks guarantees some content gets more attention than others.
The WORST decision by Cryptic (casting the Season 7 STF fun-killing in it's shadow) in STO and it's only month 2 into 2013...
I am referring the explosion of grinder mission in the foundry. And yes, as per Cryptic this was an exploit of the intention of the Foundry. They were kind enough to extend the FM IOR, which worked fine until the grinders set themselves to task.
You think the change occurred because of other foundry content that was causing the bubble? Had folks respected what the Foundry was for and used it as such, we would not be here.
Changes to the game are Cryptic's decision. No small group of players has any real control over what they decide.
Well then if that is the case then the last few months have clearly been about Vulcan-Thundercats that were let loose on the Foundry forums !
People kept yelling S'Narf - S'Narf while discussing anything from Clickys to AFK-ers to Fleet Marks , so Cryptic clearly misinterpreted the "S" as communication static hiss , and all Cryptic got was Narf - Narf , which they apparently again misinterpreted as Nerf - Nerf !!
Thank Jaga it was all just a big misunderstanding !
Can I haz my clicky's back now ?
Why is there a funny look on your face ?
I am personally not happy about losing Fleet Marks for Foundry content.
However, I am not going to single out individuals for blame. Or complain that some players get heard more than others. Or refer to anyone else as elitist or any other inflammatory remark.
In short, any comment that is intended to be divisive is a violation of forum rules.
Now, people can post according to the forum rules, or we have to start moderating this thread more aggressively.
I'd rather not do that. I'd rather see comments explaining WHY we're not happy about the Fleet Marks change and suggestions for how to improve the situation that maybe Cryptic can live with.
Heres my idea, we need more fleet marks, not less.
Up the output for the fleet events or add the 50 back to foundry, thats the simple solution and why people are pissed off.
I am part of a 5 man fleet, we started it because we all know each other and didnt want to deal with fleet politics and other BS, we SHOULD NOT be penalized for this choice.
The removal of the fleet marks from the foundry is just another way of sticking it to the small fleet in an attempt to get them to "conform".
The output on the PVE events is just pathetic, less than 30 marks given for the missions and it doesnt go above that number even with a fleet mark boost and fleet event going on, I think the most Ive recently gotten was 27... 27 effing marks!
[SIGPIC]InGame - @Darth_Tauri[/SIGPIC]
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
To put it bluntly, this was an extremely stupid move on Cryptic's behalf, and there should have been more thought put into it. The Foundry bolstered small Fleets by giving them an easy, repeatable source of Marks to help advance their Starbases and Embassies. Now, all we have to rely on are extremely repetitive missions with absolutely pitiful rewards for the time invested, even during the Fleet Mark event.
Foundry authors lose out on a potential audience because of the community's backlash against perceived entitlement ruining their rewards, advancement of small Fleets grinds to a halt, frustrated players leave and undermine the profit margin. Everyone loses. Either up the rewards from all remaining sources of Fleet Marks to accommodate the loss, or revert it now.
The only Foundry authors who contributed to this change in any way are those who used the Foundry to break the risk/reward curve. This change is about pure numbers.
It's unfortunate that it was done in such a way as to remove the reward, instead of moving it over to the content with higher risk.
Unfortunately, when you speak of numbers, I think your speaking of dollar numbers.
Let me ask one question, why, in not one instance, has Cryptic ever asked the PLAYERS what they want to change? These changes are again being foisted on us without our being asked if we even want them. And please don't quote the 'Ask Cryptic' thread. We all know those questions are picked over and fit into an exact formula answering canned questions prepared beforehand. Try a poll or two and see what happens.
Anything with 'Mark' after it is being carefully throttled so we can only advance at their pace.
Don't allow direct publication into the foundry. People who want to have their story featured on the foundry have to make sure that they follow the rules. Have a story of content and quality.
Have a team or at least a person assigned to the foundry to go through the suggested missions from us writers and if its follow certain ground rules before have it accepted into the foundry.
It seems to me that ANY mission is currently accepted .. you cannot trust that the public will not take advantage which we have seen with these loot mission etc.. and before clicks. Then you won't have problems like this. Its human nature .. and its screams that there need to be "acceptable" ways of getting EC or Marks. People are probably making these loot mission because they need it in able to keep up with the gaming demands.
Being published on the foundry an honor....just like any authors have to go to a publisher, will get published or not. Something to inspire for. Have the reviewer come back with comments if its not approved. You could even have pre-foundary that us players (that want to help) can review for you and is finally screened/approved by someone at cryptic before being actual published with daily rewards.
I really appreciate the time and effort cryptic put into the development into New Romulus, its truly a great map to visit. Great missions for newer players, but for us Vets, they bombed it with their choice of missions.
I must say the same for the Fleet Star bases. I love the system and enjoy the objectives. Again thou, bombed it with missions that got old faster than a peeled banana on a hot summer day.
The foundry was my only escape from the velcro (or fly paper) crates on SB Incursion, or the forever endangered colonists in colony invasion with some random monkey to kill. And all the other missions topped off with a 2 hour bonus event so in the end we still have few fleet marks to spend.
As a fleet, were lucky if we make it 30 min. into the event.
STF's are a huge success. why, because they take skill and teamwork.
I CHALLENG cryptic to create STF's for New Romulus and Fleet Star bases. Harder mission that reward us the way we want to be rewarded. stop the grind fest.
Have a team or at least a person assigned to the foundry to go through the suggested missions from us writers and if its follow certain ground rules before have it accepted into the foundry.
Based on the number of missions in the Foundry, it would be completely impractical. It would take multiple employees devoting their full time.
Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
Heres my idea, we need more fleet marks, not less.
Up the output for the fleet events or add the 50 back to foundry, thats the simple solution and why people are pissed off.
I am part of a 5 man fleet, we started it because we all know each other and didnt want to deal with fleet politics and other BS, we SHOULD NOT be penalized for this choice.
The removal of the fleet marks from the foundry is just another way of sticking it to the small fleet in an attempt to get them to "conform".
The output on the PVE events is just pathetic, less than 30 marks given for the missions and it doesnt go above that number even with a fleet mark boost and fleet event going on, I think the most Ive recently gotten was 27... 27 effing marks!
Ok, by that measure I think that it's fair to say that players believe that fleet projects require too many marks to complete and that Cryptic believes 50 FM's is too high a reward for the Foundry.
I'm okay with smaller FM requirements and/or smaller FM rewards for Foundry. I've also suggested that long term, there should be a way to mark Foundry content as "Team Only" and allow FM rewards for that.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
It doesnt matter anyways, Cryptic has made their feelings on small fleets clear in the past, they believe a fleet should be 25 or more, and the starbases are scaled for that number.
The only real way to fix this is to admit that small fleets exist for a reason and instead of shunning these fleets make it a bit easier for them to get moving on the projects.
This probably wont happen, sadly, which means the death of the small fleet.
I know there are a lot of players that agree with the small fleet view that Cryptic holds, and that there are others who see small fleets as someones attempt to get content they just dont deserve, but some small fleets are legitimate.
Why should I go join Jupiter Force, or S.O.S. or any other large fleet? I dont want to be held back by fleet politics, I dont like that I may be denied use of a fleet provision all because I havent put in 10 million credits worth of material.
I also dont know anyone on a larger fleet, all the people in my fleet are people I talked to before we formed it, we tend to play together no matter what so starting a fleet was a natural progression for us.
[SIGPIC]InGame - @Darth_Tauri[/SIGPIC]
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
The only Foundry authors who contributed to this change in any way are those who used the Foundry to break the risk/reward curve. This change is about pure numbers.
It's unfortunate that it was done in such a way as to remove the reward, instead of moving it over to the content with higher risk.
Poke 'em some more! I like being entertained by their new "end of the world" and "I am really quitting this time, really really really" posts.
You don't HAVE to be a dev to enjoy it, but I bet they giggle more than we do!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________ You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
See, this is what I find fascinating about people that post on here including the Devs and Mods.
If these forums are only viewed by a small minority that we are constantly told by the Devs or by those who choose to bring it up to suit their case, then why would Cryptic remove something based on a minority of people (Foundry Authors), who are posting on a forum viewed by a minority?
That said, why do Cryptic change anything due to "feedback" on these forums if once again it's only a minority that view them?
I see ???? signs in everything Cryptic does and nothing to do with feedback or whether you are happy or not. It's all about their internal metrics. I bet they are showing they are loosing cash because people are getting marks from doing Foundry missions. Their solution, remove it. It's that simple.
Same as lock boxes, they know that most people don't like them, but they also know that enough are buying them (including those who don't like them) so they will keep on churning them out.
When you have people who have 10+ alts, or are begging for more ship space, then you know these people are who they cater for, as these are the most "obsessive" fans that will lap up anything that Cryptic does.
When I read people saying things like, "Be thankful for what we have", or "I buy stuff from the C store, even stuff I don't want", I know that nothing that people say on here really means anything to Cryptic.
You either have to decide to leave the game like loads have, or except that since PW took over, this game has gone the way many said it would. Grind or pay.
Straight from the mouth of one of the leaders of the CDF - "I tell you what, Haven't spent any money either - I'm a lousy freeloader" - Jonsills 17/12/2014
Comments
Borg ships are coming soon. No, I'm not joking.
But. Cryptic was planning to kill grinders anyways. So again... it's not something you can actualy blame on the Foundry Authors.
My character Tsin'xing
That's strange because I remember a thread about certain dilithium changes that actually had Stahl posting the new rewards that they then implemented rather quickly.
This was the same, just a smaller minority who used every medium they could sort of like a puffer fish to make themselves look bigger just to get attention they needed.
How many pages are we at now? And the EST players haven't even got home from work yet. Wait and see what happens in another 4 hours.
Nowhere have I said that I want it to be my way, I just want the option to play it a certain way.
Now, I have no option. I pretty much have to play it their way; over long and over done for limited reward for my time investment.
The evidence showing the disent of Foundry authors has already been linked to in this thread.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
the ior mission is not aviable now,and there is only 1, 1 spotlight mission now,all the missions with ior or grind in it are deleted........
GREAT JOB CRYPTIC!KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK<AND YOU CAN SELL YOURE SERVERS SOON!
FM in the foundry was never meant to me permanent after Fleet week in game they put FM back in the foundry, but said for now they are staying....
All Cryptic has to do is increases the FM in the events or add more FM missions, but as for its the Authors fault...no one faction in the game has that much power to make Cryptic do things....Except the Federation:D
It's unfortunate that it was done in such a way as to remove the reward, instead of moving it over to the content with higher risk.
THIS^^
Why was the officer reports repetable taken away??? What was your thinking process?
"Lets TRIBBLE of the player base again...we haven't done it in a long time!"
Because people were doing it to get fleet marks instead of your boring always the same...sometimes 20 min+ fleet event missions?
People...want to do what THEY want...not what YOU want us to do...STOP TREATING US LIKE FY SHEEPS!
Stop "fixing" stuff that does not need FIXING! Like...I dont know...the empty red alert encounter in Serius Sector shoebox.
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Perfect World Entertainment Community Rules and Policies . ~syberghost
The loss of the fleet mark reward means I will no longer be patronizing the foundry (unless theres a mission I like).
Also, small fleets were using the 50 received to help with the massive inputs needed for their bases, this is another nail in the coffin for small fleets since the fleet events are utter TRIBBLE when it comes to output. less than 30 fleet marks (during fleet event WITH FM boost) is just sad.
I know Cryptic doesnt give 2 farts for small fleets, but they still exist, some people dont want to get bogged down in all that fleet BS.
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
Nothing's deleted; looks like there's another republish going on. This happens after patches fairly frequently. It'll all be back soon.
However, I am not going to single out individuals for blame. Or complain that some players get heard more than others. Or refer to anyone else as elitist or any other inflammatory remark.
In short, any comment that is intended to be divisive is a violation of forum rules.
Now, people can post according to the forum rules, or we have to start moderating this thread more aggressively.
I'd rather not do that. I'd rather see comments explaining WHY we're not happy about the Fleet Marks change and suggestions for how to improve the situation that maybe Cryptic can live with.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Dude check your facts, they've just made a massive alteration to the Foundry, the missions will take a little time to republish.
That's not unfortunate. That's just another example of the lack of skill, time and resources available to the development team in terms of actually addressing and fixing a problem in their gameplay.
There's been a lot of solutions offered in this thread on how to maintain fleet marks but avoid the overt farming aspect that was going on.
But the problem is all of those solutions require time and effort from the development team. Just straight up removing them from the equation takes the least amount of time and resources.
See? Cryptic in action.
I am referring the explosion of grinder mission in the foundry. And yes, as per Cryptic this was an exploit of the intention of the Foundry. They were kind enough to extend the FM IOR, which worked fine until the grinders set themselves to task.
You think the change occurred because of other foundry content that was causing the bubble? Had folks respected what the Foundry was for and used it as such, we would not be here.
Divisive commentary is a violation? Since when? I thought trolling and flaming, sure. But just being divisive? That's new to me.
Well then if that is the case then the last few months have clearly been about Vulcan-Thundercats that were let loose on the Foundry forums !
People kept yelling S'Narf - S'Narf while discussing anything from Clickys to AFK-ers to Fleet Marks , so Cryptic clearly misinterpreted the "S" as communication static hiss , and all Cryptic got was Narf - Narf , which they apparently again misinterpreted as Nerf - Nerf !!
Thank Jaga it was all just a big misunderstanding !
Can I haz my clicky's back now ?
Why is there a funny look on your face ?
Thundercats Ho ?
Heres my idea, we need more fleet marks, not less.
Up the output for the fleet events or add the 50 back to foundry, thats the simple solution and why people are pissed off.
I am part of a 5 man fleet, we started it because we all know each other and didnt want to deal with fleet politics and other BS, we SHOULD NOT be penalized for this choice.
The removal of the fleet marks from the foundry is just another way of sticking it to the small fleet in an attempt to get them to "conform".
The output on the PVE events is just pathetic, less than 30 marks given for the missions and it doesnt go above that number even with a fleet mark boost and fleet event going on, I think the most Ive recently gotten was 27... 27 effing marks!
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
Foundry authors lose out on a potential audience because of the community's backlash against perceived entitlement ruining their rewards, advancement of small Fleets grinds to a halt, frustrated players leave and undermine the profit margin. Everyone loses. Either up the rewards from all remaining sources of Fleet Marks to accommodate the loss, or revert it now.
Unfortunately, when you speak of numbers, I think your speaking of dollar numbers.
Let me ask one question, why, in not one instance, has Cryptic ever asked the PLAYERS what they want to change? These changes are again being foisted on us without our being asked if we even want them. And please don't quote the 'Ask Cryptic' thread. We all know those questions are picked over and fit into an exact formula answering canned questions prepared beforehand. Try a poll or two and see what happens.
Anything with 'Mark' after it is being carefully throttled so we can only advance at their pace.
Don't allow direct publication into the foundry. People who want to have their story featured on the foundry have to make sure that they follow the rules. Have a story of content and quality.
Have a team or at least a person assigned to the foundry to go through the suggested missions from us writers and if its follow certain ground rules before have it accepted into the foundry.
It seems to me that ANY mission is currently accepted .. you cannot trust that the public will not take advantage which we have seen with these loot mission etc.. and before clicks. Then you won't have problems like this. Its human nature .. and its screams that there need to be "acceptable" ways of getting EC or Marks. People are probably making these loot mission because they need it in able to keep up with the gaming demands.
Being published on the foundry an honor....just like any authors have to go to a publisher, will get published or not. Something to inspire for. Have the reviewer come back with comments if its not approved. You could even have pre-foundary that us players (that want to help) can review for you and is finally screened/approved by someone at cryptic before being actual published with daily rewards.
I must say the same for the Fleet Star bases. I love the system and enjoy the objectives. Again thou, bombed it with missions that got old faster than a peeled banana on a hot summer day.
The foundry was my only escape from the velcro (or fly paper) crates on SB Incursion, or the forever endangered colonists in colony invasion with some random monkey to kill. And all the other missions topped off with a 2 hour bonus event so in the end we still have few fleet marks to spend.
As a fleet, were lucky if we make it 30 min. into the event.
STF's are a huge success. why, because they take skill and teamwork.
I CHALLENG cryptic to create STF's for New Romulus and Fleet Star bases. Harder mission that reward us the way we want to be rewarded. stop the grind fest.
Till then,
Fleet Marks and the Foundry is dead Jim
Based on the number of missions in the Foundry, it would be completely impractical. It would take multiple employees devoting their full time.
Ok, by that measure I think that it's fair to say that players believe that fleet projects require too many marks to complete and that Cryptic believes 50 FM's is too high a reward for the Foundry.
I'm okay with smaller FM requirements and/or smaller FM rewards for Foundry. I've also suggested that long term, there should be a way to mark Foundry content as "Team Only" and allow FM rewards for that.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
On this way play leave the Game an no player play the foundrys.
FM was the best prise... I am so angry now.....
:mad:
The only real way to fix this is to admit that small fleets exist for a reason and instead of shunning these fleets make it a bit easier for them to get moving on the projects.
This probably wont happen, sadly, which means the death of the small fleet.
I know there are a lot of players that agree with the small fleet view that Cryptic holds, and that there are others who see small fleets as someones attempt to get content they just dont deserve, but some small fleets are legitimate.
Why should I go join Jupiter Force, or S.O.S. or any other large fleet? I dont want to be held back by fleet politics, I dont like that I may be denied use of a fleet provision all because I havent put in 10 million credits worth of material.
I also dont know anyone on a larger fleet, all the people in my fleet are people I talked to before we formed it, we tend to play together no matter what so starting a fleet was a natural progression for us.
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
I bet most of the mission are not really real missions. Most of them are shorties with shoot them up, quickies.. or loots.. or rp scenery etc.
THAT is my point.
There have to be SOME kind of screening otherwise this is not going to work.
Poke 'em some more! I like being entertained by their new "end of the world" and "I am really quitting this time, really really really" posts.
You don't HAVE to be a dev to enjoy it, but I bet they giggle more than we do!
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
If these forums are only viewed by a small minority that we are constantly told by the Devs or by those who choose to bring it up to suit their case, then why would Cryptic remove something based on a minority of people (Foundry Authors), who are posting on a forum viewed by a minority?
That said, why do Cryptic change anything due to "feedback" on these forums if once again it's only a minority that view them?
I see ???? signs in everything Cryptic does and nothing to do with feedback or whether you are happy or not. It's all about their internal metrics. I bet they are showing they are loosing cash because people are getting marks from doing Foundry missions. Their solution, remove it. It's that simple.
Same as lock boxes, they know that most people don't like them, but they also know that enough are buying them (including those who don't like them) so they will keep on churning them out.
When you have people who have 10+ alts, or are begging for more ship space, then you know these people are who they cater for, as these are the most "obsessive" fans that will lap up anything that Cryptic does.
When I read people saying things like, "Be thankful for what we have", or "I buy stuff from the C store, even stuff I don't want", I know that nothing that people say on here really means anything to Cryptic.
You either have to decide to leave the game like loads have, or except that since PW took over, this game has gone the way many said it would. Grind or pay.