For our existing players, nothing is changing at this time. Feel free to continue launching directly from the launcher you use today. If there are any changes to this, we?ll be sure to communicate them.
I don't believe you will tell us about it before you install it.
A week ago I considered taking another look at Champions Online. As soon as I saw that Arc was a requirement to play the game, I went elsewhere. It will be the same for STO. If I am required to install an intrusive and entirely unnecessary launcher, I will go elsewhere. I know that Arc users will likely have to wade through adverts for PWE cookie-cutter fantasy rpgs and such. This is a really bad move.
I do not want another platform hoop to jump through. I do not want another glorified advertisement that feels the need to update itself every 10 mins with 100's of MB I know nothing about. I especially don't want one because I already have Steam, and one resource hog is enough.
I was glad when I realised I didn't have to go through the last 'account linking' since I came late enough to get a pwe account, but now you're about to do something even worse. You're gonna force me to fill MY hardware with useless stuff in order to play STO (maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but apparently eventually-even your trademarked 'soon' seems to fit).
Oh believe me, if I wanted to play (or just care about) any other game you may make 'easily accesible' through this, I'd find it. At the very least, this 'Arc' must remain a personnal choice: Do you intend to check out other Cryptic games? Yes? -> We recommend dowloading 'Arc'. No? -> Don't bother, here's the game you want.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
I don't run Steam and I don't use Raptr. They are installed only because of the special STO rewards. They are completely optional to my gaming experience and I don't have to incur any overhead (cpu, ram, etc) if I don't want to. Given the age of my laptop, this is an important point. I try to shut down anything I don't need running while I'm playing.
Let's define what we mean when we're concerned about it being "invasive". If this is basically just a unified launcher for PWE games, well, that's not unique to PWE. The real concern is what is this "launcher" doing exactly while we're playing the game?
What overhead will Arc impose, if any?
Does it have a separate communication channel from the game itself? Or, in other words, will there be yet another port open to yet another server or will it use the same server connections that the game currently uses? (I imagine the answer is yes, separate.)
If you're not using the overlay, what exactly does this do in the background? Is it collecting information? Such as? If you use the web browser overlay in game, does it collect that information too?
Will Arc be "user-friendly" to run STO under WINE or virtualization? Or is it Windows-only and going to be a torture for Mac and Linux Wine users?
I gotta tell you... I'm already feeling a sense of rebellion about running the latest version of Windows and STO is one of those things that I grudgingly admit I might want Windows for. I'm also considering giving up STO altogether and cutting the Windows ties to my personal PC more-or-less permanently.
You might want to think twice about anything that limits users' options.
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
Sad thing is, they don't care. It's business and for PWE it's better to force... I mean "encourage" people to be able to play their other games with a click of a button, so they would spend even more Zen on even more games. As for others, we can cry all we want, but they know that most of us will just have to deal with it if we want to keep playing...
What I don't like are all the buzzwords used. That it's all for us, that they want our experience to be better blah blah yada yada. I don't believe a word of it. Personally, I just want to be able to play my game, and the less apps I have to launch to do so, the better.
Good thing with STO launcher is that it's what it is - a launcher. This "Arc" on the other hand seems like yet another bloatware client running in the background, collecting data, forcing adverts, encouraging "easy Zen purchase" and so on... Do not want.
I was glad when I realised I didn't have to go through the last 'account linking' since I came late enough to get a pwe account, but now you're about to do something even worse...
I, too came after the account linking, but at least that was just switching from one log-in client to another. This is another creature entirely. I used to play Sins of a Solar Empire. Then I had to download Origin to play it and it became impossible to update.
Please, PWE, don't kill off this game we've come to love.
I absolutely hate everything about ARC from the concept of the thing to the what would appear to be the little baby steps marketing wise and PR wise to try and convince us to accept it. It is inevitable that eventually they will be forcing this TRIBBLE on us. Inevitable.
The first step to forcing it on all users, which is exactly what is happening.
... First, we want to test it out, add new features, make sure people like it, and, above all else, grow it into something that players want to use because it legitimately improves the overall game experience...
Good Luck with that. People aren't going to like it, but we're gonna get forced to use it anyway if we want to play our favorite game. People are not going to "want" to use it, because there is no way that a LAUNCHER is going to improve my game experience playing STO.
The LAUNCHER I have now works just fine thanks. i don't need one that serves as an Advertising board or a bunch of games i don't want to play. On the whole, non Cryptic Perfect World games don't appeal to me in the slightest.
Make no mistake, we will eventually be forced into using this TRIBBLE.
I am sure that the PR will try to make it look like all sunshine and rainbows, but it's TRIBBLE.
It's a cheap marketing gimmick to force someone to look at other PWE games while logging into their preferred game. It's like billboards on the side of the road.
It's unwlecome.
But get used to it.
I feel a small amount of sympathy for Cryptic in this matter. WHEN this becomes mandatory to play STO, I am sure I won't be the only one looking for a new game to play.
I know that Arc users will likely have to wade through adverts for PWE cookie-cutter fantasy rpgs and such.
Exactly what I'm worried about. I will make this blatantly clear here:
I have no interest in any of the other titles that PWE produce. If I am interested in a game I will go out, research it and I will download it.
Me, not you, Me.
I trust my judgement infinitely more than I trust anyone else's, especially when that other persons interests diverge from my own, or can be seen to have an alternate motive.
Getting pestered "hey have you seen this game, we think its really cool" constantly is going to harm your chances to get me playing. If by some miracle I feel like having my wallet groped on a crowded bus I might well bimble over to PWE's website and see what they have.
However any game I've been forced to watch adverts for is going to get no chance.
Lets put it this way, go watch a sew of Youtube videos. You get three types of videos.
1: Adverts which you can't skip
2: Adverts which you can skip after 5 seconds
3: Annoying banners.
Fun fact: only one of those adverts Has worked. I voluntarily watched or paid attention to a couple of Option 2 ones, as it got my interest in the first 5 seconds. All the others can go get their hair dried by a jet engine.
Ok, apologies that turned into a bit more of a rant than I was intending.
I feel a small amount of sympathy for Cryptic in this matter. WHEN this becomes mandatory to play STO, I am sure I won't be the only one looking for a new game to play.
I, too, feel bad for Cryptic, especially after all the hard work they put into LOR.
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
I can imagine that new client downloads are going to drop significantly in number. Which will make them push harder to get more adverts to our eyes. Why not billboards at ESD? Sarcasm aside, I have already turned down games for having Arc and other "buy buy buy" style launchers. As for Steam, I have that set to turn itself off after launching the game I came in to play.
How about STO Devs concentrate on fixing ALL of STO's bugs first before adding more programming?
I did "Night of the Comet" on my Rom and it still had the "Unkillable NPC" bug!? (There since it launched.)
I hate the fact they don't fix bugs as well but there is a way to get around it. Make sure that one ship you fight before you beam down... Baby fight it to where it doesn't dip below 20% hull thats what causes the bug.
Hmm so the sto launcher starts suspiciously glitching then a new launcher comes out that promotes buying more of their games...very suspicious indeed.<.<>.>
How about STO Devs concentrate on fixing ALL of STO's bugs first before adding more programming?
Arc team has nothing to do with STO whatsoever. They're here just to make a bloatware for all PWE games and get moar moneyz. STO team just has to obey and rely the message.
Comments
I don't believe you will tell us about it before you install it.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
This x 1000. This is so boneheaded it makes you wonder if it's a prank.
I was glad when I realised I didn't have to go through the last 'account linking' since I came late enough to get a pwe account, but now you're about to do something even worse. You're gonna force me to fill MY hardware with useless stuff in order to play STO (maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but apparently eventually-even your trademarked 'soon' seems to fit).
Oh believe me, if I wanted to play (or just care about) any other game you may make 'easily accesible' through this, I'd find it. At the very least, this 'Arc' must remain a personnal choice: Do you intend to check out other Cryptic games? Yes? -> We recommend dowloading 'Arc'. No? -> Don't bother, here's the game you want.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
I don't run Steam and I don't use Raptr. They are installed only because of the special STO rewards. They are completely optional to my gaming experience and I don't have to incur any overhead (cpu, ram, etc) if I don't want to. Given the age of my laptop, this is an important point. I try to shut down anything I don't need running while I'm playing.
Let's define what we mean when we're concerned about it being "invasive". If this is basically just a unified launcher for PWE games, well, that's not unique to PWE. The real concern is what is this "launcher" doing exactly while we're playing the game?
What overhead will Arc impose, if any?
Does it have a separate communication channel from the game itself? Or, in other words, will there be yet another port open to yet another server or will it use the same server connections that the game currently uses? (I imagine the answer is yes, separate.)
If you're not using the overlay, what exactly does this do in the background? Is it collecting information? Such as? If you use the web browser overlay in game, does it collect that information too?
Will Arc be "user-friendly" to run STO under WINE or virtualization? Or is it Windows-only and going to be a torture for Mac and Linux Wine users?
I gotta tell you... I'm already feeling a sense of rebellion about running the latest version of Windows and STO is one of those things that I grudgingly admit I might want Windows for. I'm also considering giving up STO altogether and cutting the Windows ties to my personal PC more-or-less permanently.
You might want to think twice about anything that limits users' options.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
What I don't like are all the buzzwords used. That it's all for us, that they want our experience to be better blah blah yada yada. I don't believe a word of it. Personally, I just want to be able to play my game, and the less apps I have to launch to do so, the better.
Good thing with STO launcher is that it's what it is - a launcher. This "Arc" on the other hand seems like yet another bloatware client running in the background, collecting data, forcing adverts, encouraging "easy Zen purchase" and so on... Do not want.
I, too came after the account linking, but at least that was just switching from one log-in client to another. This is another creature entirely. I used to play Sins of a Solar Empire. Then I had to download Origin to play it and it became impossible to update.
Please, PWE, don't kill off this game we've come to love.
Is it like Raptor and Core Connect?
What does PWE get with ARC?
The first step to forcing it on all users, which is exactly what is happening.
Good Luck with that. People aren't going to like it, but we're gonna get forced to use it anyway if we want to play our favorite game. People are not going to "want" to use it, because there is no way that a LAUNCHER is going to improve my game experience playing STO.
The LAUNCHER I have now works just fine thanks. i don't need one that serves as an Advertising board or a bunch of games i don't want to play. On the whole, non Cryptic Perfect World games don't appeal to me in the slightest.
Make no mistake, we will eventually be forced into using this TRIBBLE.
I am sure that the PR will try to make it look like all sunshine and rainbows, but it's TRIBBLE.
It's a cheap marketing gimmick to force someone to look at other PWE games while logging into their preferred game. It's like billboards on the side of the road.
It's unwlecome.
But get used to it.
Resistance is futile.
Exactly what I'm worried about. I will make this blatantly clear here:
I have no interest in any of the other titles that PWE produce. If I am interested in a game I will go out, research it and I will download it.
Me, not you, Me.
I trust my judgement infinitely more than I trust anyone else's, especially when that other persons interests diverge from my own, or can be seen to have an alternate motive.
Getting pestered "hey have you seen this game, we think its really cool" constantly is going to harm your chances to get me playing. If by some miracle I feel like having my wallet groped on a crowded bus I might well bimble over to PWE's website and see what they have.
However any game I've been forced to watch adverts for is going to get no chance.
Lets put it this way, go watch a sew of Youtube videos. You get three types of videos.
1: Adverts which you can't skip
2: Adverts which you can skip after 5 seconds
3: Annoying banners.
Fun fact: only one of those adverts Has worked. I voluntarily watched or paid attention to a couple of Option 2 ones, as it got my interest in the first 5 seconds. All the others can go get their hair dried by a jet engine.
Ok, apologies that turned into a bit more of a rant than I was intending.
I, too, feel bad for Cryptic, especially after all the hard work they put into LOR.
Let subscribers opt-out of Arc!
I'd sub for that.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I did "Night of the Comet" on my Rom and it still had the "Unkillable NPC" bug!? (There since it launched.)
I hate the fact they don't fix bugs as well but there is a way to get around it. Make sure that one ship you fight before you beam down... Baby fight it to where it doesn't dip below 20% hull thats what causes the bug.
What about Lifers like me I DO NOT NEED another Steam/Origin half-&^% thing running in me background of my computer.
PWE is working on this, not Cryptic. STO's Game Devs are at Cryptic, the same Devs that make the game and work on bug fixes.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Past golds as well? pretty please :P
Bleed Green and Gold