Eh, this is a problem that crops up when you have a system that allows you to buy power. Items that don't provide 'power', will naturally be less appealing as an investment.
That said, I imagine having more ship interior(not bridge packs) skins would be fairly popular. I know I would purchase an Orion interior in a heartbeat(it's really jarring to have a red, industrial Klingon interior with those ships). Unfortunately, the few we do have available at the moment are generally locked inside of bundles and I imagine a fair number of people don't even realize they're there.
I do like the idea of attaching costumes to unique bridge officers though.. or even just the exotic ones - such as unlocking a special andorian outfit when you purchase an Aenar Boff, etc.
They were accountwide.
They included a costume.
They included a weapon.
They included a kit with themed powers. (Does NOT necessarily require all new animations.)
They included a costume slot.
There is something weird in what he say. Ground costume don't sell a lot. I won't disagree. Yet, they still do costumes for lobi store. And I'm sure a lot of people would rather buy them from the C store, instead than from the lobi store. A lot of these people simply won't buy them in the lobi store.
Also, I'm sure they earn less money from key than they did from the C store, from people who only want the costume. Most people buy keys for the ship, the costume unlock is a "side effect" from it. IE they have lobi, they spend them.
Which mean they could probably stop making costume for the lobi store, and still make the same revenue from the keys. Which also mean, they could have made those costume C store, and made the same, or even more profit.
This thread was started because Geko says that doing that takes more character art time than a ship and sells less.
Yeah, I actually listened to the interview after posting lol
I'd be interested in knowing which costumes were better sellers than others. For example I suspect certain outfits such as the Jupiter range which had 5/6 variants in it, and the canon uniform packs are much better sellers than for example the Klingon Academy uniforms and the rather poor Section 31 uniforms.
I'd say if you're looking for more uniform options by all means boost the cost if that's what it takes to make them profitable (can't believe I'm saying that...), make sure there's no dumb clipping issues on 'normal' body types, ensure there's customisation options where appropriate, and that things like the TNG comm badge don't clip TRIBBLE.
Where canon options are available I'd expect a full range of ranks and division colours *cough* Wrath of Khan *cough* and that time isn't being wasted on costumes that are seen in passing (I suspect the racing uniforms have barely sold)
It may also be worth considering selling parts packs, a range of 20 different trouser styles for 1000zen or perhaps a dozen sets of gloves...Mix and match so to speak?
I'd be interested in knowing which costumes were better sellers than others. For example I suspect certain outfits such as the Jupiter range which had 5/6 variants in it, and the canon uniform packs are much better sellers than for example the Klingon Academy uniforms and the rather poor Section 31 uniforms.
Seven of Nine's catsuit has got to be their best-selling costume.
I'm the wrong person to ask this, as I've already bought almost all of the costumes. But I want more. I want high-quality, account-wide costume unlocks. I want some nice KDF costumes. I want some of my existing costumes, like the Mercenary set and, uh, Seven catsuit to work on my KDF characters, too. Because reasons.
To answer the OP's question... nothing. Frankly I hate the amount of "diversity" in the game. My playing experience is made poorer because the game feels less like Star Trek due to everyone wearing nighties, suits or other rubbish instead of a standard uniform.
I'd probably pay money to have an override which allowed me to make everyone else appear in the correct uniforms on my PC.
There are numerous example of unpolished costumes in this game. Which don't work well on the female characters of STO. Example, a belt of, say, any newer uniform clipping horribly on the female variants of older costumes. Yet works perfectly on the male variant of the same older costume. Permitting the Art Team time to finish what they started might encourage more men to part with their money to buy more ground costumes.
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
I've bought a lot of costumes. I have almost all of the main canon ones aside from the TMP one (I've only seen it in the wild once) and the Enterprise one (workin on it). Some of the choices for what's offered have been... odd. Why the early TNG admiral uniform? Nobody wants that, I've barely ever seen it. Offer the later TNG admiral uniform, like what Nechayev wore, and I'd be all over that. I also don't like when costumes are only offered in expensive bundles (DS9 Admiral). The TOS bundle comes with several uniforms, but you can buy them all separate if you want.
Klingons badly need some more styles, but that's a more difficult proposition. Fed has vast amounts of canon uniform variants to draw from, KDF only a few. The only major one I can think of that's missing is Gorkon's outfit from VI. The Klingons from V might've had some unique variants, but I can't recall because that movie is horrible. Regardless, releasing a lot of Klingon outfits will basically mean designing from scratch. That means more investment up front, that Cryptic will have trouble recouping if A) Costumes don't sell super well and Klingon stuff doesn't sell well in general. Sad state of affairs, but that's probably what's keeping our Klingons stuck in the same couple outfits while my Feds just about have a new uniform for every hour of the day.
I think its that first step that they have trouble with. I have not gotten all the ground costumes simply because many look terrible/boring! They keep releasing fed PJs that I find utterly useless and undesirable.
I get that with the way they use resources (max profit for minimum expense) ships are far cheaper to make than costumes, but how son until people get ship gut? So long as it would happen after they churn out of the game....
Seven of Nine's catsuit has got to be their best-selling costume.
I'm the wrong person to ask this, as I've already bought almost all of the costumes. But I want more. I want high-quality, account-wide costume unlocks. I want some nice KDF costumes. I want some of my existing costumes, like the Mercenary set and, uh, Seven catsuit to work on my KDF characters, too. Because reasons.
It's undoubtedly the Terran Empire uniforms. I would bet my life on it.
It's undoubtedly the Terran Empire uniforms. I would bet my life on it.
Definetely, if they made a "modern" Terran Empire uniform with a proper midriff, skimpy top, short skirt, and thigh high heeled books they would rival sparkle pony sale numbers.
Definetely, if they made a "modern" Terran Empire uniform with a proper midriff, skimpy top, short skirt, and thigh high heeled books they would rival sparkle pony sale numbers.
definetely, If They Made A "modern" Terran Empire Uniform With A Proper Midriff, Skimpy Top, Short Skirt, And Thigh High Heeled Books They Would Rival Sparkle Pony Sale Numbers.
I passed because its 700 Zen for a character unlock, its a rip-off and they were certainly testing the waters with it.
Account Unlock? I would have brought them.
Costumes sell, even that EV suit would have sold if it was a account unlock because its not even a particular good suit, the stuff we get for FREE in Nukara is equal or superior so this is a shinny example of being greedy and it blowing in their faces.
As an account-wide unlock I too would have bought it for the price they were asking.
They can't put inferior value items in the C-Store and then complain that it doesn't sell very well. That's their fault. They could've sold those better if they had done it right.
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
If they really wanted to sell costumes on a per-character basis, the thing that would really sell it is if you could then use those to outfit your crew... and I'm not just talking about Bridge Officers. I'm talking about all those unnamed crew members wandering around in the ship interior.
Then give people better reasons to visit their ship's interior and watch the costume sales go through the roof.
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
But ships are more than costumes. They're almost like a new class with a new weapon...I think it's the "costume alone" aspect of these bundles that limit their appeal and that they need to be treated more like a feature heavy action figure.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I've bought a lot of the canon costumes, but like you I think C-Store starships are much more comparable to buying a new race (e.g., Federation Klingons, Ferengi).
Your idea of a bundle containing weapons, kits, and other goodies is a good one.
Frankly, even bundles of costumes would be nice. For example, I'd buy a Wrath of Khan costume pack if it included every relevent costume variant for that era. Era-appropriate weapons and gear would be even better, but I'd buy the pack with just the uniforms.
Remember: simple ship costumes did exist at one point. They weren't popular, either.
...talking to players is like being a mall Santa. Everyone immediately wants to tell you all of the things they want, and you are absolutely powerless to deliver 99% of them.
I would pay for access to an unrestricted color wheel. Why limit any uniforms to any particular palette?
Gah! The eyesore color combinations possible are bad enough, thank you very much. I vote not.
Now, if there were more civilian-style outfits, then I'd have no objections to unrestricted colors on those...
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
Space Barbie is half the point of this game, really. I own every single costume except a few: The Motion Picture, Section 31, Racing Jumpsuit, All Good Things, TNG's Admiral costume, and the base Enterprise outfit. I'd love to keep buying outfits if they made ones that weren't as pointless as the racing jumpsuit that you see in a grand total of one episode, really. Hell I even bought every ship costume except the Imperial despite the fact I didn't fly any of those ships but the Advanced Escort.
Best way to get people buying more outfits is probably to stop being so tight fisted on things like BOFFs only being able to use on-duty uniforms, not armor or off duty. In addition to that supporting the ability to mix uniforms would undoubtedly spur more sales as people mixed and matched things. Making the colors on outfit options more consistent so its not such a fight to get a top and bottom to match (sometimes the same damn outfit's top and bottom will have mis-matched palettes what the hell?) would do wonders for me, too. I know I had fun when the setslottype command still worked and you could do more interesting and varied outfits on yourself and your BOFFs.
Making interesting outfits people actually want would likely work a lot better than releasing awful, niche things like the racing outfit, too. $10/1k zen costume bundles of, say, civilian clothing seen in the TOS movies would likely be popular, for example. Or as at least one person keeps asking for, a bundle of various TOS dress inspired off duty outfits.
I know I've never seen anyone with the racing outfit on in game. And I've barely seen anyone with the Temporal outfits either. The closest I've been to wanting the weird temporal jumpsuit thing from Enterprise involved seeing someone using the bottom half colored up to look like ripped jeans, too. But hey can't do that anymore, and the outfit kind of looks hideous by itself.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. I've bought a lot of the canon costumes, but like you I think C-Store starships are much more comparable to buying a new race (e.g., Federation Klingons, Ferengi).
Your idea of a bundle containing weapons, kits, and other goodies is a good one.
Frankly, even bundles of costumes would be nice. For example, I'd buy a Wrath of Khan costume pack if it included every relevent costume variant for that era. Era-appropriate weapons and gear would be even better, but I'd buy the pack with just the uniforms.
Remember: simple ship costumes did exist at one point. They weren't popular, either.
I think Cryptic is reluctant on the bundles because none of the Bundles were hot sellers, apparently, and the Enterprise Bundle especially so.
I think C-Store items need to be gameplay affecting. That said, they get away with being LESS gameplay affecting if they're cosmetically awesome.
Take even the 5 least popular kit powers across all three classes. Fine tune what they do to be more novel. Fine tune the visuals on using them. Bundle with a costume. Profit.
I really think Dixon Hill with a class agnostic kit that takes the melee moves from the Operative Kit, a 40s Bartender Bunker Fabrication in place of grenade, and a Science power -- bundled with a Dixon Hill costume and tommygun -- would sell like gangbusters.
The trick is this: the weapon, like a lot of weapons that come with ships, would be outclassed.
I also don't think they need to go "per character."
I think they need to look at ships on the C-Store and remake that for the ground at no more than 60-75% the price point because ground is less popular.
Now, from there, they can have dilithium upgrades for C-Store ground weapons or Fleet upgrades to get the revenue equivalent of a C-Store ship.
The costume is, well... a costume. Those wax and wane in novelty. It should be eye catching.
The kit is PRETTY MUCH the chasis of the bundle. You might have later upgrades but they aren't as necessary. A kit the the equivalent of console/BO loadout.
Then you have a weapon that scales through Mk X. And upgraded versions at a premium for people who really want them, for dilithium.
And, overall, consider it not as a "big bundle of cosmetics" but an action figure.
If you're making a "TNG Season 2 Admiral" action figure for people to kitbash with characters, he should have TNG Admiral action FEATURES. He should have TNG goldshirt security guards and throw pink parasite critters on people and maybe have a health regeneration treatment where he/she briefly gets older and has hair turn white while regenerating health.
When people wanted the Galaxy or the Excelsior or even the Kumari in-game, they were able to start pointing to examples of what those ships did, actively.
That's how I would want people thinking about ground "Action Packs."
So, you know, you've got a Riker "Action Pack." Maybe it comes with the "Future Imperfect" combadge and Riker's outfit from First Contact, a better beard and haircut, maybe some face details from Riker's Malcorian disguise and his Vulcanoid disguise. And you get a kit full of Riker-inspired combat (maybe not direct but say he gets an Edo Probe skinned Exocomp -- the important thing is homaging Riker episodes), and a weapon that Riker used.
I feel like centering it on action like that is a better sell.
As for the clipping issues? Yeah. That's important for repeat sales. It's not entirely avoidable. And I don't think it's as important as some think because the important thing is that most people have probably never bought costumes and the change needs to be centered on making ground sales more like ship sales, IMHO.
Definetely, if they made a "modern" Terran Empire uniform with a proper midriff, skimpy top, short skirt, and thigh high heeled books they would rival sparkle pony sale numbers.
I second this suggestion. So much of Star Trek took place aboard the ship. It would be great if Cryptic could start making use of the interiors.
There is at least 30 different interiors. It's clearly not possible to create anything with that. Interiors will never be used, it'd be too much resource consuming for very little return.
Comments
That said, I imagine having more ship interior(not bridge packs) skins would be fairly popular. I know I would purchase an Orion interior in a heartbeat(it's really jarring to have a red, industrial Klingon interior with those ships). Unfortunately, the few we do have available at the moment are generally locked inside of bundles and I imagine a fair number of people don't even realize they're there.
I do like the idea of attaching costumes to unique bridge officers though.. or even just the exotic ones - such as unlocking a special andorian outfit when you purchase an Aenar Boff, etc.
They included a costume.
They included a weapon.
They included a kit with themed powers. (Does NOT necessarily require all new animations.)
They included a costume slot.
500-700 and no more.
Also, I'm sure they earn less money from key than they did from the C store, from people who only want the costume. Most people buy keys for the ship, the costume unlock is a "side effect" from it. IE they have lobi, they spend them.
Which mean they could probably stop making costume for the lobi store, and still make the same revenue from the keys. Which also mean, they could have made those costume C store, and made the same, or even more profit.
Me spending money to buy a custom isn't an issue, its the lack of options. I've purchased the only C-store option available.
Yeah, I actually listened to the interview after posting lol
I'd be interested in knowing which costumes were better sellers than others. For example I suspect certain outfits such as the Jupiter range which had 5/6 variants in it, and the canon uniform packs are much better sellers than for example the Klingon Academy uniforms and the rather poor Section 31 uniforms.
I'd say if you're looking for more uniform options by all means boost the cost if that's what it takes to make them profitable (can't believe I'm saying that...), make sure there's no dumb clipping issues on 'normal' body types, ensure there's customisation options where appropriate, and that things like the TNG comm badge don't clip TRIBBLE.
Where canon options are available I'd expect a full range of ranks and division colours *cough* Wrath of Khan *cough* and that time isn't being wasted on costumes that are seen in passing (I suspect the racing uniforms have barely sold)
It may also be worth considering selling parts packs, a range of 20 different trouser styles for 1000zen or perhaps a dozen sets of gloves...Mix and match so to speak?
Seven of Nine's catsuit has got to be their best-selling costume.
I'm the wrong person to ask this, as I've already bought almost all of the costumes. But I want more. I want high-quality, account-wide costume unlocks. I want some nice KDF costumes. I want some of my existing costumes, like the Mercenary set and, uh, Seven catsuit to work on my KDF characters, too. Because reasons.
I'd probably pay money to have an override which allowed me to make everyone else appear in the correct uniforms on my PC.
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
There are numerous example of unpolished costumes in this game. Which don't work well on the female characters of STO. Example, a belt of, say, any newer uniform clipping horribly on the female variants of older costumes. Yet works perfectly on the male variant of the same older costume. Permitting the Art Team time to finish what they started might encourage more men to part with their money to buy more ground costumes.
Klingons badly need some more styles, but that's a more difficult proposition. Fed has vast amounts of canon uniform variants to draw from, KDF only a few. The only major one I can think of that's missing is Gorkon's outfit from VI. The Klingons from V might've had some unique variants, but I can't recall because that movie is horrible. Regardless, releasing a lot of Klingon outfits will basically mean designing from scratch. That means more investment up front, that Cryptic will have trouble recouping if A) Costumes don't sell super well and
I think its that first step that they have trouble with. I have not gotten all the ground costumes simply because many look terrible/boring! They keep releasing fed PJs that I find utterly useless and undesirable.
I get that with the way they use resources (max profit for minimum expense) ships are far cheaper to make than costumes, but how son until people get ship gut? So long as it would happen after they churn out of the game....
It's undoubtedly the Terran Empire uniforms. I would bet my life on it.
Definetely, if they made a "modern" Terran Empire uniform with a proper midriff, skimpy top, short skirt, and thigh high heeled books they would rival sparkle pony sale numbers.
Mirror Odyssey uniforms? I can has?
They could then release a latex/leather version and call it a MU Section 31 uniform!
Orions, eat your hearts out!
I like the way you think.
Take My Money
As an account-wide unlock I too would have bought it for the price they were asking.
They can't put inferior value items in the C-Store and then complain that it doesn't sell very well. That's their fault. They could've sold those better if they had done it right.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Then give people better reasons to visit their ship's interior and watch the costume sales go through the roof.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Your idea of a bundle containing weapons, kits, and other goodies is a good one.
Frankly, even bundles of costumes would be nice. For example, I'd buy a Wrath of Khan costume pack if it included every relevent costume variant for that era. Era-appropriate weapons and gear would be even better, but I'd buy the pack with just the uniforms.
Remember: simple ship costumes did exist at one point. They weren't popular, either.
Agreed. To the point that simple ship costumes were rarer than even the rarest costumes. :P
That... can be arranged. How much money are we talking about?
I bought most of the ship costumes, too :P
I'm a consumer *****.
Gah! The eyesore color combinations possible are bad enough, thank you very much. I vote not.
Now, if there were more civilian-style outfits, then I'd have no objections to unrestricted colors on those...
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Best way to get people buying more outfits is probably to stop being so tight fisted on things like BOFFs only being able to use on-duty uniforms, not armor or off duty. In addition to that supporting the ability to mix uniforms would undoubtedly spur more sales as people mixed and matched things. Making the colors on outfit options more consistent so its not such a fight to get a top and bottom to match (sometimes the same damn outfit's top and bottom will have mis-matched palettes what the hell?) would do wonders for me, too. I know I had fun when the setslottype command still worked and you could do more interesting and varied outfits on yourself and your BOFFs.
Making interesting outfits people actually want would likely work a lot better than releasing awful, niche things like the racing outfit, too. $10/1k zen costume bundles of, say, civilian clothing seen in the TOS movies would likely be popular, for example. Or as at least one person keeps asking for, a bundle of various TOS dress inspired off duty outfits.
I know I've never seen anyone with the racing outfit on in game. And I've barely seen anyone with the Temporal outfits either. The closest I've been to wanting the weird temporal jumpsuit thing from Enterprise involved seeing someone using the bottom half colored up to look like ripped jeans, too. But hey can't do that anymore, and the outfit kind of looks hideous by itself.
I think Cryptic is reluctant on the bundles because none of the Bundles were hot sellers, apparently, and the Enterprise Bundle especially so.
I think C-Store items need to be gameplay affecting. That said, they get away with being LESS gameplay affecting if they're cosmetically awesome.
Take even the 5 least popular kit powers across all three classes. Fine tune what they do to be more novel. Fine tune the visuals on using them. Bundle with a costume. Profit.
I really think Dixon Hill with a class agnostic kit that takes the melee moves from the Operative Kit, a 40s Bartender Bunker Fabrication in place of grenade, and a Science power -- bundled with a Dixon Hill costume and tommygun -- would sell like gangbusters.
The trick is this: the weapon, like a lot of weapons that come with ships, would be outclassed.
I also don't think they need to go "per character."
I think they need to look at ships on the C-Store and remake that for the ground at no more than 60-75% the price point because ground is less popular.
Now, from there, they can have dilithium upgrades for C-Store ground weapons or Fleet upgrades to get the revenue equivalent of a C-Store ship.
The costume is, well... a costume. Those wax and wane in novelty. It should be eye catching.
The kit is PRETTY MUCH the chasis of the bundle. You might have later upgrades but they aren't as necessary. A kit the the equivalent of console/BO loadout.
Then you have a weapon that scales through Mk X. And upgraded versions at a premium for people who really want them, for dilithium.
And, overall, consider it not as a "big bundle of cosmetics" but an action figure.
If you're making a "TNG Season 2 Admiral" action figure for people to kitbash with characters, he should have TNG Admiral action FEATURES. He should have TNG goldshirt security guards and throw pink parasite critters on people and maybe have a health regeneration treatment where he/she briefly gets older and has hair turn white while regenerating health.
When people wanted the Galaxy or the Excelsior or even the Kumari in-game, they were able to start pointing to examples of what those ships did, actively.
That's how I would want people thinking about ground "Action Packs."
So, you know, you've got a Riker "Action Pack." Maybe it comes with the "Future Imperfect" combadge and Riker's outfit from First Contact, a better beard and haircut, maybe some face details from Riker's Malcorian disguise and his Vulcanoid disguise. And you get a kit full of Riker-inspired combat (maybe not direct but say he gets an Edo Probe skinned Exocomp -- the important thing is homaging Riker episodes), and a weapon that Riker used.
I feel like centering it on action like that is a better sell.
As for the clipping issues? Yeah. That's important for repeat sales. It's not entirely avoidable. And I don't think it's as important as some think because the important thing is that most people have probably never bought costumes and the change needs to be centered on making ground sales more like ship sales, IMHO.
[reaction gif]
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
There is at least 30 different interiors. It's clearly not possible to create anything with that. Interiors will never be used, it'd be too much resource consuming for very little return.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.