Installed easily, found my existing install of STO, and launched it properly--and automatically logged me in, to boot. It offered to install Neverwinter, and I may try that at some point in the future. So far, I like what I see.
i haeve teh fancay signaetures!!!!!!!1 i am teh l33t usar!!!!!!1
Well, the install went smoothly. I hit launch, and it launched the old launcher, so as yet I see little use in this portion of the tool, but time will tell. Other than that, I haven't noticed any problems.
This, combined with the descriptions I've seen so far, seems to mean the software is worse than useless. So basically installing this would do nothing useful and instead *add* steps to launching STO, then eat up extra memory while STO is running? That certainly makes no sense.
-Allows forum, support, etc access in-game and without a second login requirement... but for some reason keeps opening my normal browser that does require a second login for links within the Arc launcher news.
So you don't need to log in to the forums when opening them through Arc? That actually sounds useful, but *only* because of the bug that stops me from being able to stay logged in on the forums in my normal browser. And using this software because the forums themselves are bugged is not exactly desirable.
Once this software gets to the point of launching STO instead of just launching the launcher to launch STO, and if it will close after doing so (I have not seen any reports that it can be made to do this), then I *might* download it.
__________________ Ann Manistee Traverse - Human Science ~~ Oken Miquat - Saurian Tactical
Exin Jor - Joined Trill Engineer ~~ Vartox - Romulan Science Dn'Dok, son of Ladok - Klingon/Romulan Engineer ~~ Mosa M'ren-faa - Ferasan Tactical
Krushan Twinn - Orion Science
Been using Arc for a while now and it's alright. The download went fine and it recognized my install of STO, so I didn't have to reinstall the game.
I found a bug though. The default keybind to open up the Arc overlay is Shift+tab. When I use that in STO I find that my Shift key stops working in game after I bring the overlay up. This is a problem since Shift is the default sprint key for ground combat. So far the only way I've found to fix it is to log out of the game and log back in. It isn't a problem with my keyboard since it works perfectly as long as I don't use the overlay in game. Because of this I haven't used the overlay in a few weeks.
Some feedback on the browser function. It's very nice but it needs a few quality of life adjustments. First is smooth scrolling. I've gotten so used to it that going back to the old style scrolling is nasty lol. Second is forum post previews. What I mean is that normally in Firefox, when I hover my cursor next to a thread title I get a preview of the contents of that thread. I don't get that in the Arc browser and I find it somewhat frustrating.
Feedback on the overlay itself. I'm not fond of the dark text on a light background. It makes it difficult for me to read. I much prefer lighter text on a dark background. It's easier on my eyes.
The one thing I'd really like with this is an actual built in launcher instead of being a launcher for the launcher. That would be golden.
I'll keep using Arc, I have no problems with it. However those few adjustments would go a long way for me.
I know it is a day before the date we can actually download this and give feedback on it in relation to STO, but I have tested it with CO.
It is an extremely useless tool that adds extra steps to launching a Cryptic game. The features it provides are not worth the extra inconvenience it burdens us with and I hope that this is not becoming a required thing for Cryptic games.
There should only ever be one Steam. Please, for our sakes. I wish companies would respect that. It's getting to the point where we have to open a launcher to open a launcher to open a launcher to play a game. Not to mention if we also have to be logged in for any of those launchers.
No go on Arc. Please, don't do this to us..
"You hurt me long ago; my wounds bled for years. Now you are back, but I am not the same."
does this mean that STO will no longer be available to play/Download on STEAM???
I doubt it, Steam is another profit source for STO. This is due to the ability to use Steam Wallet funds, which are the ONLY way for non USA users without credit/debit cards to buy ZEN.
If you can't solve it logically, solve it like a moron.
51 + 1 Foundry Character Slots is NOT enough. Some of us love our characters. If I want to buy more character slots, why can't I? I couldn't experience the entire Delta Recruitment event without deleting a character.
The Iconians themselves can't time travel because their memories revert, but there is nothing to say an Iconian couldn't write everything she needed to do on a PADD, pin it to herself, travel back, read the PADD, do the tasks and return. Or just get one of her Non-Herald underlings to go back in time for her.
Oh yeah, I do Foundry missions for both KDFs and Feds. Just search KSTF (Short for Kinas Special Task Force, where Kinas is the name of the Admiral you will be serving under). The earlier ones are less story based and more combat based, while the later ones have a much heavier story element, but keep the large battles.
I know it is a day before the date we can actually download this and give feedback on it in relation to STO, but I have tested it with CO.
It is an extremely useless tool that adds extra steps to launching a Cryptic game. The features it provides are not worth the extra inconvenience it burdens us with and I hope that this is not becoming a required thing for Cryptic games.
There should only ever be one Steam. Please, for our sakes. I wish companies would respect that. It's getting to the point where we have to open a launcher to open a launcher to open a launcher to play a game. Not to mention if we also have to be logged in for any of those launchers.
No go on Arc. Please, don't do this to us..
Steam auto-loads and games have desktop icons which launch them instantly, the copies, such as Origin, do not and make loading games so much slower, not to mention that Steam is smooth and efficient and is useful, while Origin and the others are not.
If you can't solve it logically, solve it like a moron.
51 + 1 Foundry Character Slots is NOT enough. Some of us love our characters. If I want to buy more character slots, why can't I? I couldn't experience the entire Delta Recruitment event without deleting a character.
The Iconians themselves can't time travel because their memories revert, but there is nothing to say an Iconian couldn't write everything she needed to do on a PADD, pin it to herself, travel back, read the PADD, do the tasks and return. Or just get one of her Non-Herald underlings to go back in time for her.
Oh yeah, I do Foundry missions for both KDFs and Feds. Just search KSTF (Short for Kinas Special Task Force, where Kinas is the name of the Admiral you will be serving under). The earlier ones are less story based and more combat based, while the later ones have a much heavier story element, but keep the large battles.
You should integrate the game updating into ARC, one login, updates all installed games, then play means play, not checking for updates.
The guild membership is not right as it doesn't support STO fleets
If you don't support something yet in the client you should have some flag (exclamation mark) a user can click that lets them know the status the first time they visit that pane in AR
PWI started to install when I started ARC. I don't play that game so 6GB of storage would be wasted had I not stopped it.
No Cryptic games are fully integrated with PWE yet. Just go to the CORE Connect page and try to find your STO characters or friends. Arc will be using the same information from CORE Connect so all those wonderful features they're describing (cross-game chat, achievements, etc) are of no use for Cryptic games.
Then there's this, from the thread in the Galactic News Network, page 15, first post:
And then we have the PandoMediaBooster issue, which was the one that was the cause of the most vehement hostility.
According to what they said, PMB is a constant torrent streamer which is inbuilt into Arc.
Unless you force terminate it in background processes, it keeps streaming data, which can cap out your data limit or exceed it, resulting in excessive download fees from your ISP.
I even described it to a technical software expert who is not familiar with the Arc issues and after using a rude statement involving a swear word, they said it's garbage software, nobody with any sense allows it to be installed or used on their system.
And this is what they're pushing at us, a pointless piece of software to do the job that Steam already does.
And one that installs Malware on top of that!
If it really uses Pando Media Booster for downloading stuff then that's a big no for me. I hate that piece of software with a passion. "Speeds up your downloads!" Yeah more like slows it down because it's also uploading to other users.
I've said it before and will say it again, this is just a stunt to make us more aware of PWE's other games.
For Cryptic customers, this adds nothing, since we play only STO, CO and Neverwinter.
I doubt there is anyone out there who plays all of PWE's games and will install this program just to avoid seperate account logins.
This is why I hate game hubs. I don't want to play any of your other games. If I did, I'd still install them separately. So far with Arc I haven't seen anything other than STO related information when I started the program.
Given what you said about PandoMediaBooster I checked the process name for it which is pmb.exe. I kicked off a download using Arc and watched network traffic from all processes. I saw no sign of pmb under Windows 7. The ArcBrowser.exe process started doing all the heavy lifting with Arc.exe doing a some as well. Then after leaving it running for a minute or so. having downloaded %2 of PWE (100Mbps cable) I stopped the download and ArcBrowser.exe went quiet, Arc.exe continues for a little while decreasing slowly then stopping as well. So the continuous download issue on this platform appears to no longer exist.
As for being a stunt. I am not so sure. A lot of the larger gaming companies are now building there own delivery platforms. They see the value in capturing the target audience in a platform of there own making. Steam has shown them all the power of having a digital marketing channel to people who are interested in that class of product. They want to take some of that power back into there own hands. Think of is as browser wars where Steam is the Microsoft of content delivery.
While functionally it does not offer much now, as it builds over time and the integration becomes complete it will become more useful as a delivery, update and communications platform for this game company. I do like one thing about these platforms, if you own it you can download it whenever and wherever you are. I find that immensely useful.
Steam auto-loads and games have desktop icons which launch them instantly, the copies, such as Origin, do not and make loading games so much slower, not to mention that Steam is smooth and efficient and is useful, while Origin and the others are not.
Completely agree.
Also, Steam has over 9000 useful features like multitab web-browser, user-guides in overlay, cloud sync, screenshots capture and publishing, video posting, voice and text chat, real money inter-game marketplace, anticheat, gamematching, trading cards and much more.
While Steam also eats up resources, at least it gives plenty in return, unlike Origin, Uplay and this newest Ark.
I want to once again stress, that if this Ark thing will be forced on me, It may very well lead to me abandoning this game and moving onto some new F2P game on Steam. Please, Cryptic, don't do this.
Think of is as browser wars where Steam is the Microsoft of content delivery.
There is a flaw in that analogy: IE sucked back then and it still is the worst browser out there. That's why Microsoft forced it down our throats. That's why other companies fight it.
Steam was and is awesome. I created my account over 6 years ago and didn't regret it for a second. But now everyone makes inferior knock-offs and forces it on players to get some easy cash.
I have over $1000 of steam games so I know exactly what you are talking about when it comes to feature sets. Doesn't mean someone else cannot come and compete though does it?
I say good on them as long as they continue to develop the platform. Steam have seven years head start so it will take them a while.
The UI is really too big. If you guys have seen the SOE launcher, it's really compact. I want the ability to see just a mini version of the launcher without the pictures of the games.
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 sure hope this extra software won't become a requirement to launch/login to STO..?
I'm sure it's a good convenient way for PWE to get a few seconds of advertising their other games to new players every time they log in, but I don't need it nor do I want it.
If I want Arc I know of a few nice ones on Risa, and if I want Steam I'll get a sauna.. etc.
"Coupons ? Arc users will receive exclusive promotions and coupons when available."
"Don?t forget! All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways"
...
that is about the only possibly interesting thing i've read here.
i use STEAM because it is a good piece of reliable Software, well and because they do a lot of Sales. (and because of Steam i do not need to look in 10 million places for new games on the market, Steam just wants to sell them to me when they are released)...
i also use Origin for EA games (Battlefield and Mass Effect kinda forced me to), that software is bad in comparison but functional for its purpose.
I do not use any of the community, group, chat, in-game overlay non-sense Steam has to offer.
Nor am i interested in any of that kind for ARC...
so what does this thing offer me?
...i do not see the appeal here beyond "oooh FREE STUFF!"
You guys really implement such a sense-and useless tool instead of caring for loooong existing bugs and errors?
Never mind the games have errors and bugs that are existing like for aeons?
No, keep eyewashing everybody instead by bringing up new **** nobody wants,or ever asked for...
Why the hell cant the devs care for the things that really matter?
Make the game smooth and running without the numerous bugs and errors it has.
That is a goal worth the effort.
That would make the players applaud.
That would give the impression of a serious enterprise that cares for its customers...
Not just every few weeks something "NEW" thats completely useless and moreover utterly redundant...
This is as useless as the community feedback-questions that the sto players were ment to answer...
I mean, honestly. These questions were so idiotic.
What would you expect? Anyone to answer the question in what way a defective and faulty game would affect the gameplay with : doesnt affect my gameplay?
I really am not very pleased, to say the least.
So, back to topic:
I am neither interested in nor do I want a tool that is useless,senseless and just past any demands...
I dont want TRIBBLE-software to overfill my HDD.
And I do neither want nor need another steam-clone...
Does not work on Windows 8 64bit :mad:
But regular Cryptic launcher does
Wow, that's bad. Anyone try it with Windows 7 64-bit?
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
As a reminder this thread is not about your opinions about software you've never installed. There are at least two other threads active for that.
Thank you to the people who have posted useful feedback about installing and running Arc.
The lack of real integration with STO and the failure to run under Windows 8 64-bit deeply concerns me. Hopefully the devs take that to heart.
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
Yeah yeah
we are supposed to keep our responses on a specific topic --- but honestly, if you want us to try something out for you, Perfectworld, then you need to man up and take the criticism.
I just don't see the value or meaningfulness of this tool as an STO player. Let's be real --- this tool isn't meat for STO players to have easier access to their STO content. It is Perfectworld's attempt to market their other games.
The first thing I saw, immediately after I logged into Arc, was an advertisement for a game I care nothing about.
Truthfully, I only got Arc to take advantage of the exclusive offers and giveaways. This better not be an "Arc tribble" or I will be really disappointed.
My verdict: Arc is useless. The original launcher does the same thing; for the most part. If I need to access in game news, my account, or anything else outside of STO, I can visit the site. If I want to learn about your other games, I can visit the PerfectWorld site. End of story.
Has anyone been able to determine what actual web browser Arc is using? Underneath all the pretty looking custom ui it still has to rely on an actual web browser, so is it IE or using whatever your system default is?
Okay, so my feedback on Arc:
-Not bad, but not that impressive either.
-Allows forum, support, etc access in-game and without a second login requirement... but for some reason keeps opening my normal browser that does require a second login for links within the Arc launcher news.
-Allows me to see news for more than one PWE game without cycling through each of their individual launchers. This is kind of a nice feature. Of course, I only play STO and Neverwinter, and haven't logged into Neverwinter for 26 days at this point... something about "Shocking Execution: The base damage of this power has been reduced by 60%." in the last gameplay and balance update looked a bit off-putting, though my Trickster Rogue hadn't unlocked it yet. Meh, STO is better anyway :P
-Doesn't really provide any unique functionality. Simply adding the STO Forums and Support pages to your Favorites works almost as well... and really, the in-game support should have all of the features of the site anyway. It doesn't though... so I suppose Arc is kind of helpful in that respect.
-The Achievements in-game tab just reminds us all that our Accolades are meaningless, and are not counted. Maybe a good exercise in humility?
-Often seems to suffer from a display bug; it will remain in Arc overlay mode, but only show you the overlay where other interaction boxes exist on the screen. This is relatively recent however.
-As mentioned by others in previous: No, do not make Arc a requirement.
Like they said. There is no update checking funtion, it just runs the normal launcher. It hogs resources. As a beta, its alrite and has promise, if this is the final version, i have no positive comments on it.
New home of the Romulan Republic.
I have an idea for what Season 11 should be; Season 11: The Big Bug Fix.
I have not been able to read my bug tickets in over a year, not even the tickets about not being able to see my tickets.
I find the drama of your signature proof of your immaturity, this means you, DR whiners.
...I just don't see the value or meaningfulness of this tool as an STO player. Let's be real --- this tool isn't meat for STO players to have easier access to their STO content. It is Perfectworld's attempt to market their other games.
The first thing I saw, immediately after I logged into Arc, was an advertisement for a game I care nothing about.
Truthfully, I only got Arc to take advantage of the exclusive offers and giveaways...
Do you see the irony here?
The value that you say you "don't see" is the "exclusive offers and giveaways". The payment for such offers/giveaways is having to deal with PW's marketing.
It's like American broadcast television. It's "free" to anyone who can pull the signal out of the sky. But it's really paid for by those commercials everyone complains about.
You want free promos, you get ads.
:rolleyes:
That being said, there needs to be a way to opt-out of said promos/marketing.
I don't want to be forced to install bloated adware just to play the Star Trek Online game. I already have a browser that can access the Intarwebs, including the STO website. I don't need a special browser just for PW games.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Given what you said about PandoMediaBooster I checked the process name for it which is pmb.exe. I kicked off a download using Arc and watched network traffic from all processes. I saw no sign of pmb under Windows 7.
*snip*
All I did was quoting someone else. I haven't downloaded anything using Arc so I wouldn't know if it uses PMB or not, though according to what you said it doesn't. However there is a PMBWrapper.dll is the Arc directory, so maybe if you have PMB installed it will utilize it?
As for being a stunt. I am not so sure. A lot of the larger gaming companies are now building there own delivery platforms. They see the value in capturing the target audience in a platform of there own making. Steam has shown them all the power of having a digital marketing channel to people who are interested in that class of product. They want to take some of that power back into there own hands. Think of is as browser wars where Steam is the Microsoft of content delivery.
Again, the "stunt" bit is a quote. Like I said below that quote, I haven't seen Arc doing anything like that yet and I'd rather it not do that either. Also, I don't use steam.
just downloaded ARC that went ok and it installed fine but refuses to update itself .its gets to about 3/4 of the way through the update and gives an error
After installing ARC my "benefit" was that i need to download the game again...cause, you know...arc did not find it installed on my machine. So i tried to install it with ARC, same directory..guess what..it deletet my installation and i had to download it AGAIN. Really "COOL" feature...
Windows XP, Vista, or 7, 512 MB RAM, 1 Ghz or faster processor, 1 GB HD space (recommended)
Since I am running STO on a Linux machine I will have a hard time getting this to run (well not without some decent sledgehammer work anyways). Granted we might not be many, but you should not make this mandatory for everyone .... it will just TRIBBLE your Linux and Mac users in the knee. Let us simply continue to log in the old way.
I find Arc to be great! I can access the forums of my game without having to open a new browser Tab! Can we also use facebook and youtube and some other services along with this? And also i didn't have to reinstall my game so nothing to lose by testing Arc
The Wildcards Fleet =/\=
Admiral T'Vanto of the I.R.W. Dreaded Balerion (Scimitar Dreadnought Warbird) "Burn them All!"
AdmiralAtraxis of the U.S.S. Daskalogiannis (Avenger class Cruiser) "I am Iron Cat!"
OK, now the game is down for maintanance and I have tried the game with Arc time for some feedback. First let me state that the only Cryptic/PWE game I play is STO.
First off the install:
I run Windows 8 64-bit and Arc installed and found STO, which is in the default install location fine. It also runs fine on my system.
Launching the game:
When I press the play button in Arc, it launched the standard STO launcher, it does enter my user name and password for me, but then goes through the normal checking for an update then sits and waits for me to press engage. For me this is wasted steps, I should be able to press play and be loaded straight to my
caracter select screen.
I will have to wait untill STO is back up to see if Arc will update STO or I will have to go through the normal patching process.
In game overlay:
Chat is comming soon apparantly. Although when I game, I already have a chat box, not sure what this would add.
Achievments/Core Connect:
These seemed to have no functionality at all with STO, in fact, when I looked at the available achievements, they all related to a different game. Therefore here again there is nothing usefull, or added to my gaming experiance.
Billing:
This appears to be done through a built in browser, the same a most of the other functions, however, as it looks like a very basic one and did not readily show any of the security indicators I look for in my default browser, it is not something I trust to put my credit card information into, therefore will not be using at all.
Forum:
I personally do not look at the forum whilst I game, so for me this is redundant.
Support:
I have not used this yet so will refrain from commenting until I do.
Other:
I have also had the issue where using the default keybind to bring up the overlay stopped the shift key working in game, this only happened once however and did not repeat for me.
Conclusion:
At the moment for me this adds nothing to my gaming experiance, it does infact feel like it just takes me longer to get in game. So I personaly will not be using it at the moment. I understand that this is experimental, so may give it another go when something is added that improves or enhances my in game experiance.
Feel free to post feedback about your Arc download and STO install experiences here -- the Arc team will be watching this thread closely and looks forward to reading the feedback!
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I have a deep aversion against Programs running in the background, especially if they are supposed to download things without my knowledge.
Can Cryptic guarantee that no harmful thing get on my Computer?
Can Crpytic guarantee that i don't get spied on, while running that program?
Can Cryptic guarantee me that my data doesn't get into the wrong hands?
As soon as Arc gets mandatory i'm off then.
Just a personal Question, when are you (Crpytic) going to take care of thing that matter to us players, like this: LINK
Sorry for being emotional here, but i am sick of features like that, which only serve to annoy people. Now ban me or do what you want, i don't care.
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
Comments
So you don't need to log in to the forums when opening them through Arc? That actually sounds useful, but *only* because of the bug that stops me from being able to stay logged in on the forums in my normal browser. And using this software because the forums themselves are bugged is not exactly desirable.
Once this software gets to the point of launching STO instead of just launching the launcher to launch STO, and if it will close after doing so (I have not seen any reports that it can be made to do this), then I *might* download it.
Ann Manistee Traverse - Human Science ~~ Oken Miquat - Saurian Tactical
Exin Jor - Joined Trill Engineer ~~ Vartox - Romulan Science
Dn'Dok, son of Ladok - Klingon/Romulan Engineer ~~ Mosa M'ren-faa - Ferasan Tactical
Krushan Twinn - Orion Science
I found a bug though. The default keybind to open up the Arc overlay is Shift+tab. When I use that in STO I find that my Shift key stops working in game after I bring the overlay up. This is a problem since Shift is the default sprint key for ground combat. So far the only way I've found to fix it is to log out of the game and log back in. It isn't a problem with my keyboard since it works perfectly as long as I don't use the overlay in game. Because of this I haven't used the overlay in a few weeks.
Some feedback on the browser function. It's very nice but it needs a few quality of life adjustments. First is smooth scrolling. I've gotten so used to it that going back to the old style scrolling is nasty lol. Second is forum post previews. What I mean is that normally in Firefox, when I hover my cursor next to a thread title I get a preview of the contents of that thread. I don't get that in the Arc browser and I find it somewhat frustrating.
Feedback on the overlay itself. I'm not fond of the dark text on a light background. It makes it difficult for me to read. I much prefer lighter text on a dark background. It's easier on my eyes.
The one thing I'd really like with this is an actual built in launcher instead of being a launcher for the launcher. That would be golden.
I'll keep using Arc, I have no problems with it. However those few adjustments would go a long way for me.
Mine Trap Supporter
It is an extremely useless tool that adds extra steps to launching a Cryptic game. The features it provides are not worth the extra inconvenience it burdens us with and I hope that this is not becoming a required thing for Cryptic games.
There should only ever be one Steam. Please, for our sakes. I wish companies would respect that. It's getting to the point where we have to open a launcher to open a launcher to open a launcher to play a game. Not to mention if we also have to be logged in for any of those launchers.
No go on Arc. Please, don't do this to us..
I doubt it, Steam is another profit source for STO. This is due to the ability to use Steam Wallet funds, which are the ONLY way for non USA users without credit/debit cards to buy ZEN.
Steam auto-loads and games have desktop icons which launch them instantly, the copies, such as Origin, do not and make loading games so much slower, not to mention that Steam is smooth and efficient and is useful, while Origin and the others are not.
Regards
Zerlargal
Yes, yes it is.
No Cryptic games are fully integrated with PWE yet. Just go to the CORE Connect page and try to find your STO characters or friends. Arc will be using the same information from CORE Connect so all those wonderful features they're describing (cross-game chat, achievements, etc) are of no use for Cryptic games.
Then there's this, from the thread in the Galactic News Network, page 15, first post:
If it really uses Pando Media Booster for downloading stuff then that's a big no for me. I hate that piece of software with a passion. "Speeds up your downloads!" Yeah more like slows it down because it's also uploading to other users.
This is why I hate game hubs. I don't want to play any of your other games. If I did, I'd still install them separately. So far with Arc I haven't seen anything other than STO related information when I started the program.
11 August 2008
Given what you said about PandoMediaBooster I checked the process name for it which is pmb.exe. I kicked off a download using Arc and watched network traffic from all processes. I saw no sign of pmb under Windows 7. The ArcBrowser.exe process started doing all the heavy lifting with Arc.exe doing a some as well. Then after leaving it running for a minute or so. having downloaded %2 of PWE (100Mbps cable) I stopped the download and ArcBrowser.exe went quiet, Arc.exe continues for a little while decreasing slowly then stopping as well. So the continuous download issue on this platform appears to no longer exist.
As for being a stunt. I am not so sure. A lot of the larger gaming companies are now building there own delivery platforms. They see the value in capturing the target audience in a platform of there own making. Steam has shown them all the power of having a digital marketing channel to people who are interested in that class of product. They want to take some of that power back into there own hands. Think of is as browser wars where Steam is the Microsoft of content delivery.
While functionally it does not offer much now, as it builds over time and the integration becomes complete it will become more useful as a delivery, update and communications platform for this game company. I do like one thing about these platforms, if you own it you can download it whenever and wherever you are. I find that immensely useful.
Zerlargal
Completely agree.
Also, Steam has over 9000 useful features like multitab web-browser, user-guides in overlay, cloud sync, screenshots capture and publishing, video posting, voice and text chat, real money inter-game marketplace, anticheat, gamematching, trading cards and much more.
While Steam also eats up resources, at least it gives plenty in return, unlike Origin, Uplay and this newest Ark.
I want to once again stress, that if this Ark thing will be forced on me, It may very well lead to me abandoning this game and moving onto some new F2P game on Steam. Please, Cryptic, don't do this.
There is a flaw in that analogy: IE sucked back then and it still is the worst browser out there. That's why Microsoft forced it down our throats. That's why other companies fight it.
Steam was and is awesome. I created my account over 6 years ago and didn't regret it for a second. But now everyone makes inferior knock-offs and forces it on players to get some easy cash.
Basically, everyone else is Microsoft here.
I have over $1000 of steam games so I know exactly what you are talking about when it comes to feature sets. Doesn't mean someone else cannot come and compete though does it?
I say good on them as long as they continue to develop the platform. Steam have seven years head start so it will take them a while.
Zerlargal
I sure hope this extra software won't become a requirement to launch/login to STO..?
I'm sure it's a good convenient way for PWE to get a few seconds of advertising their other games to new players every time they log in, but I don't need it nor do I want it.
If I want Arc I know of a few nice ones on Risa, and if I want Steam I'll get a sauna.. etc.
"Don?t forget! All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways"
...
that is about the only possibly interesting thing i've read here.
i use STEAM because it is a good piece of reliable Software, well and because they do a lot of Sales. (and because of Steam i do not need to look in 10 million places for new games on the market, Steam just wants to sell them to me when they are released)...
i also use Origin for EA games (Battlefield and Mass Effect kinda forced me to), that software is bad in comparison but functional for its purpose.
I do not use any of the community, group, chat, in-game overlay non-sense Steam has to offer.
Nor am i interested in any of that kind for ARC...
so what does this thing offer me?
...i do not see the appeal here beyond "oooh FREE STUFF!"
that is my feedback.
You guys really implement such a sense-and useless tool instead of caring for loooong existing bugs and errors?
Never mind the games have errors and bugs that are existing like for aeons?
No, keep eyewashing everybody instead by bringing up new **** nobody wants,or ever asked for...
Why the hell cant the devs care for the things that really matter?
Make the game smooth and running without the numerous bugs and errors it has.
That is a goal worth the effort.
That would make the players applaud.
That would give the impression of a serious enterprise that cares for its customers...
Not just every few weeks something "NEW" thats completely useless and moreover utterly redundant...
This is as useless as the community feedback-questions that the sto players were ment to answer...
I mean, honestly. These questions were so idiotic.
What would you expect? Anyone to answer the question in what way a defective and faulty game would affect the gameplay with : doesnt affect my gameplay?
I really am not very pleased, to say the least.
So, back to topic:
I am neither interested in nor do I want a tool that is useless,senseless and just past any demands...
I dont want TRIBBLE-software to overfill my HDD.
And I do neither want nor need another steam-clone...
Go and fix some bugs instead.
Greetz Katzoid
Wow, that's bad. Anyone try it with Windows 7 64-bit?
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Windows 7 64-Bit works for me. But not the ingame-layer.
As a reminder this thread is not about your opinions about software you've never installed. There are at least two other threads active for that.
Thank you to the people who have posted useful feedback about installing and running Arc.
The lack of real integration with STO and the failure to run under Windows 8 64-bit deeply concerns me. Hopefully the devs take that to heart.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
we are supposed to keep our responses on a specific topic --- but honestly, if you want us to try something out for you, Perfectworld, then you need to man up and take the criticism.
I just don't see the value or meaningfulness of this tool as an STO player. Let's be real --- this tool isn't meat for STO players to have easier access to their STO content. It is Perfectworld's attempt to market their other games.
The first thing I saw, immediately after I logged into Arc, was an advertisement for a game I care nothing about.
Truthfully, I only got Arc to take advantage of the exclusive offers and giveaways. This better not be an "Arc tribble" or I will be really disappointed.
My verdict: Arc is useless. The original launcher does the same thing; for the most part. If I need to access in game news, my account, or anything else outside of STO, I can visit the site. If I want to learn about your other games, I can visit the PerfectWorld site. End of story.
Like they said. There is no update checking funtion, it just runs the normal launcher. It hogs resources. As a beta, its alrite and has promise, if this is the final version, i have no positive comments on it.
I have an idea for what Season 11 should be; Season 11: The Big Bug Fix.
I have not been able to read my bug tickets in over a year, not even the tickets about not being able to see my tickets.
I find the drama of your signature proof of your immaturity, this means you, DR whiners.
The value that you say you "don't see" is the "exclusive offers and giveaways". The payment for such offers/giveaways is having to deal with PW's marketing.
It's like American broadcast television. It's "free" to anyone who can pull the signal out of the sky. But it's really paid for by those commercials everyone complains about.
You want free promos, you get ads.
:rolleyes:
That being said, there needs to be a way to opt-out of said promos/marketing.
I don't want to be forced to install bloated adware just to play the Star Trek Online game. I already have a browser that can access the Intarwebs, including the STO website. I don't need a special browser just for PW games.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
All I did was quoting someone else. I haven't downloaded anything using Arc so I wouldn't know if it uses PMB or not, though according to what you said it doesn't. However there is a PMBWrapper.dll is the Arc directory, so maybe if you have PMB installed it will utilize it?
Again, the "stunt" bit is a quote. Like I said below that quote, I haven't seen Arc doing anything like that yet and I'd rather it not do that either. Also, I don't use steam.
11 August 2008
windows 7 64 bit
After installing ARC my "benefit" was that i need to download the game again...cause, you know...arc did not find it installed on my machine. So i tried to install it with ARC, same directory..guess what..it deletet my installation and i had to download it AGAIN. Really "COOL" feature...
Since I am running STO on a Linux machine I will have a hard time getting this to run (well not without some decent sledgehammer work anyways). Granted we might not be many, but you should not make this mandatory for everyone .... it will just TRIBBLE your Linux and Mac users in the knee. Let us simply continue to log in the old way.
Admiral T'Vanto of the I.R.W. Dreaded Balerion (Scimitar Dreadnought Warbird) "Burn them All!"
Admiral Atraxis of the U.S.S. Daskalogiannis (Avenger class Cruiser) "I am Iron Cat!"
First off the install:
I run Windows 8 64-bit and Arc installed and found STO, which is in the default install location fine. It also runs fine on my system.
Launching the game:
When I press the play button in Arc, it launched the standard STO launcher, it does enter my user name and password for me, but then goes through the normal checking for an update then sits and waits for me to press engage. For me this is wasted steps, I should be able to press play and be loaded straight to my
caracter select screen.
I will have to wait untill STO is back up to see if Arc will update STO or I will have to go through the normal patching process.
In game overlay:
Chat is comming soon apparantly. Although when I game, I already have a chat box, not sure what this would add.
Achievments/Core Connect:
These seemed to have no functionality at all with STO, in fact, when I looked at the available achievements, they all related to a different game. Therefore here again there is nothing usefull, or added to my gaming experiance.
Billing:
This appears to be done through a built in browser, the same a most of the other functions, however, as it looks like a very basic one and did not readily show any of the security indicators I look for in my default browser, it is not something I trust to put my credit card information into, therefore will not be using at all.
Forum:
I personally do not look at the forum whilst I game, so for me this is redundant.
Support:
I have not used this yet so will refrain from commenting until I do.
Other:
I have also had the issue where using the default keybind to bring up the overlay stopped the shift key working in game, this only happened once however and did not repeat for me.
Conclusion:
At the moment for me this adds nothing to my gaming experiance, it does infact feel like it just takes me longer to get in game. So I personaly will not be using it at the moment. I understand that this is experimental, so may give it another go when something is added that improves or enhances my in game experiance.
I have a deep aversion against Programs running in the background, especially if they are supposed to download things without my knowledge.
Can Cryptic guarantee that no harmful thing get on my Computer?
Can Crpytic guarantee that i don't get spied on, while running that program?
Can Cryptic guarantee me that my data doesn't get into the wrong hands?
As soon as Arc gets mandatory i'm off then.
Just a personal Question, when are you (Crpytic) going to take care of thing that matter to us players, like this:
LINK
sollution:
LINK
Sorry for being emotional here, but i am sick of features like that, which only serve to annoy people. Now ban me or do what you want, i don't care.