Okay, this may tick some people off, but what else is new?
I think it is time to consider adding a third loot table to all kills (on top of the standard loot table and the lockbox loot table). This table will be for all Gold Members, regardless they are LTS or not. Silver members will notice no change at all. Gold members will simply have an extra "roll" after each kill.
The loot table would look a little like this (ie
for example):
95% Nothing
1% 3 Lobi
1% 1 Master Key
1% 10 Romulan Marks
1% 10 Omega Marks
1% 100 Dilithium Ore
So every twenty kills or so you would get at least one of the above.
This still fits into the goal of going F2P, mainly that all content is earnable without spending a dime. But at the same time, it does throw a little bit of a bone to those willing to support the game financially. It isn't much, but at the same time it would be nice to get one of the above every now and then.
This loot table would only apply to Cryptic-designed missions. Foundry missions would be excluded (to avoid exploits). But all STFs and Fleet Actions would have this loot table overlap the existing drops and these would be locked to the player who got the drop. So no "Need/Greed."
As for bounding, I'm all for the above to eventually become account locked rather than character locked. And so all items would follow the existing bounding rules.
Anyway, this is my thought. Stahl had mentioned adding more for Gold members and this is my suggestion.
Comments
The percentages are open to negotiation. As you said, they have more data than I am privy to.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
Lot's of lifetime subscribers buy lock box keys and you start giving them a free key 1/100 kills it will hurt the bottom line and only thing cared about around here is bottom line.
Cryptic REALLY need to reward people who support the game via subscription. Its a ridiculous over-sight in my opinion that they have went this long giving Gold members no real perks.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
This is so true. I bought STO some time ago, back when it was still a sub only game. This back around season 2. The game really didn't hold my interest then and when the second month was done I didn't bother renewing.
Came back just before S7 and find the game much more enjoyable. But I have found very little reason to bother subbing. I have the inventory space, Boff slots, ect... of a gold player on my 3 characters because I was gold.
I completely this idea - it's genius
Golds and Lifers should get exactly the same deal though since some Gold subscribers have actually paid a lot more money to Cryptic than a lot of Lifers have.
I don't see them giving out either of those things, not as long as they're making so much money off them.
Again speaking as a sliver player, sliver accounts shouldn't get anything more then they already do. We already get so much stuff and only really pay for stuff Gold people pay for as well that there's almost no reason to sub to this game.
.1% you might be able to sell them on. Maybe.
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
Interesting suggestion. I like the concept anyway.
Again, the percentages I proposed are for illustrative purposes. I'd imagine they would have more accurate numbers. They need to drop enough for us to see they are there, but obviously not so much they circumvent any other game mechanic.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
This wouldn't change that. These are randomly dropped items that Gold members would get while participating in the game. They are enough to make me go "cool" but not enough to throw the games balance out of kilter.
My suggested table can be changed to match whatever they happen to be pushing. Make it a Romulan themed table in May with Romulan Marks, Gold Romulan Lockboxes, Epohh Tags, etc. And then change it when the next FE comes out.
The idea is to add an enticement for you to go Gold. If you decode not to, nothing changes for you.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
Other than that, it's a nice idea if the lobi and master keys weren't involved. lol
Don't you mean "Lifetimers"? Gold members can cancel at anytime. lol.
(yes I know, Cryptic already have Gold's monies too but they can choose to give no more!)
and we all know the answer to the "choice"
I actually received two free master keys and lockboxes from some strange little NPC Ferengi in Earth Space Dock a few weeks ago! The key has a shade of green as did the lock boxes and could not be used on anything other than the lockboxes supplied. The loot was only one item per box. So this is a possibility.
As for the OP's idea, sounds good!:)
The items I put on the original list are just examples. But it needs to be premium type loot. No batteries, etc. Any of the Marks, Lobi, Special DOffs, etc would make a great contribution to the list. Dilithium and other stuff would also make great contributions.
And again, the percentages listed are for demonstration purposes only. I know they will put more realistic numbers in. In fact, I would imagine there is a single random number generator that determines what you get (for example):
95 = 3 Lobi
96 = 1 Master Key
97 = 10 Romulan Marks
98 = 10 Omega Marks
99 = 100 Dilithium Ore
My OP was designed to show a possible way to sweeten the pot for Gold members while not throwing the entire game's economy into disarray. You will not destroy the C-Store by giving away one Master Key to people already paying you. The same goes for the Lobi.
This is meant to just be a supplement to what we already get. A minor reward that requires participation to earn but isn't guaranteed. You play, you get 10 Romulan Marks after killing a Cardassian and you go "Yea! I can half fill up one of my Romulan Reputation projects" and then you keep playing until you get another random prize.
In fact, the prizes could just be a roll on another loot table (like special weapons designed specifically for the Gold loot table or instead of 3 Lobi, you roll a loot table full of Lobi).
Buying a Gold sub just allows you access to the loot table. It doesn't promise you'll get anything from it all the time.
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In game: Commadore_Bob; Joined Jul 2009; That post count + 20,000
Cause that's what I am currently, and I don't know how to add subscription time since I have no credit card. <-- Yes I will keep pointing this out every now and then all over these forums until fixed. :P
- This will cause Cryptic/PWE to loss money.
- Plus gold members already get a lot of benefits, including free ships, the 600 and 1000 day rewards. Plus the other rewards and 500 zen/month.
- BTW the average invested F2P player spends more then the average Gold Member now. Why do you think there's not going to be a subscription option in Neverwinter.;)
Right now lifetime subscribers who bought their subscription at launch and no longer buy zen are actually sucking money out of Cryptic/PWE with the rewards they are still receiving, which everyone else is paying for.
This game is already very light on "grind" requirements, except for fleet content (it's completely beyond sanity in this case but it's another topic). Getting over the refinement cap is easily achevied in under 1h. I still have 80k to refine on my KDF and it grows slowly unless i do not play him at all. I played no romulan mission in weeks and get to T5 rep in a month and a half. ECs (and keys) are also incredibly easy to acquire.
Most of my gaming time is being idle in sector space doing something else than playing STO. Because there's nothing to do when you play regularly, let's say, an average 3-4h a day. Seriously, i'd rather see the devs working on actual challenging content instead of making new boosts for something that is so easy to achieve.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
I limit myself to not making comments about their monetization scheme because, while they may listen to players about gameplay, I have see no evidence since their sale to PWE that they listen to players on the forums whatsoever regarding monetization schemes.