Ok, I know I'm not the only one thinking this but, say NO to mandatory ARC. This game is the ONLY PWE/Cryptic game that interests me. I'm fine with ARC but mandatory? thats to far. Planetside 2 is a good game so if it becomes Mandatory, Hi PS2. So who else agrees with me? If a Dev could shed some more light on a mandatory ARC it would be awesome sauce:D
You already have a launcher for STO. It will be called ARC instead of STO launcher, not a big deal IMO.
Except it is a big issue if you're on a limited data cap because of this:
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.
Agree with OP ... If they force this down my throat I am done. Ain't no such thing as unlimited broadband.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Obviously I agree with OP. Reminds me of the problems I had with The Sims taking up more bandwidth with all the possible internet connections turned off than non-Arc STO.
Pando Media Booster has been in STO install for awhile now. This was something done awhile ago to assist in downloading the enormous client and not overload their patch servers. Unless they removed it in the past year or so.
ARC I can live with. Do I like being forced to use it? Not really but it's not something that's going to make me quit a game over.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
I installed the new software without needing it because I liked the sound of a media booster. My movies have been playing a little slowly recently and I thought maybe I had a virus or something, but since installing Pando(R)(TM) Media Booster(R)(TM), my movies have been faster, and in higher definition.
I'm glad that PWE have decided to make such an altruistic move, and encourage everyone to install this software.
Ok, I know I'm not the only one thinking this but, say NO to mandatory ARC. This game is the ONLY PWE/Cryptic game that interests me. I'm fine with ARC but mandatory? thats to far. Planetside 2 is a good game so if it becomes Mandatory, Hi PS2. So who else agrees with me? If a Dev could shed some more light on a mandatory ARC it would be awesome sauce:D
You may now DISCUSS....
Agreed with you, I don't care about ARC one little bit as I'm not even remotely interested in any of PWE's other games. Voluntary use of this thing to me is fine, but if it's forced on us without taking into account the community's feelings on it then I'm gone.
Lol, everytime i visit this forum, Cryptic comes up with something new that makes me NOT want to play their game.
OT: why should i want another programm run in the background, especially something that is able to download things without my knowledge ?
Who guarantees me that nothing harmful gets on my computer?
Who guarantees me that i am not getting spied on?
"...'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
Lol, everytime i visit this forum, Cryptic comes up with something new that makes me NOT want to play their game.
OT: why should i want another programm run in the background, especially something that is able to download things without my knowledge ?
Who guarantees me that nothing harmful gets on my computer?
Who guarantees me that i am not getting spied on?
lol, given cryptics illustrious past with sto, and the term security... i would also have a huge problem with this.. but alas, its now been over 2 months since i have logged in, and they keep adding reasons for me not to log back in..
Lets start a Vote. To get this the hell out of here. Made for us ya right. This program uses Pando Media booster.
(EDIT: Let's not. Petition/voting posts are considered spamming. You may leave an opinion, not a vote. ~Bluegeek)
What is Pando Media Booster?
PMB.exe is a small application that is installed along with some free-to-use software such as League of Legends, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, NBC, etc? PMB.exe basically helps the company off-load the responsibly of sharing their media files, patches or installations directly by turning their user?s machines into Peer 2 Peer clients. (Rather than having pushing you a 600MB update file, which actually costs the company money, the users might receive parts of the file from hundreds of other players.)
lets look at the problems across the web.
1. An unsuspecting user that leaves Pando.exe running on their system is pretty much being forced to seed files to thousands of users ALL THE TIME (pando.exe has been reported by users to use up to 80+% of their internet connection?s upload bandwidth.) For some users this could lead to their ISP throttling their connection and/or actually charging them extra $$$ for using more bandwidth than they knew they were using."
2. Pando Media Booster (PMB.exe) listens on TCP ports 443 and 563. People having trouble getting web servers such as Apache, IIS, or others working should consider removing Pando Media Booster. Pando Media Booster runs at startup and takes priority to other downloads. Slowness in downloading or general network performance issues may be related to this product.
3. Everyone that has used PMB says to delete it if it does not give the option to not use it with your game.
Now lets talk about Arc. They say it was created for us.
According to the trademark filed by PWE Arcs
Goods and Services:
On-line retail store services featuring game software, video games, computer games, game programs, game plug-ins, computer software tools and related merchandise; On-line retail store services featuring physical and virtual merchandise for use by players of on-line games; Retail store services featuring virtual goods, namely, fashion items and accessories, mounts, pets, ships, and other consumable in-game items and functional in-game items for use in online virtual worlds; On-line retail store services featuring physical and virtual merchandise for use by members of an online community in connection with a designated website featuring fictional characters; distributorship services in the field of computer game software, video games, computer games, game programs and computer software tools.
So this is a online retail store.
The class issued by the goverment is that its.
Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions.
So again how is this made for us??
I am starting this in hopes we have enuff response to stop this as manditory for star trek online. I like this game i have a lifetime sub and spend a 100 a month getting new ships and items. I dont want to be forced to quit do to them wanting to implament a version of steam or origin that i never wanted.
Coming up with new ways to make you not want to play the game, im glad i'm not the only one that thinks this. We don't need another gaming platform, we didn't need origin when steam was already available, we don't need Ubi-softs platform when origin and steam are already available.
Reminds me of the old IM wars when everyone was trying to install their client on your computer. You will drive people away from the game.
I removed PMB soon after I did a little research and found that it is not needed to play STO, mainly because it doesn't help with my download speeds and as such, I shall sign your petition.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." Q Join the 44th Fleet. [FED and KDF] Apply Online: startrek.44thfleet.com
Just to clarify, this is PWE's little Project, not Cryptic's.
Personally, I've championed this game a long time - given what monetary support I can afford, spent hours upon hours helping to test LoR, recommended the game to friends, and even try to help people in the Steam forums(which is neglected/forgotten by Cryptic and PWE).
I am incredibly dubious about this program - I've been burned too many times in the past by seemingly innocuous programs that do all manner of invasive things without consent or knowledge from the user. I've blacklisted Blizzard ever since their whole battlenet integration into everything. I refuse to go anywhere near Origin and avoid purchases that will benefit EA as much as possible. I have chosen to not purchase several games(like Anno 2070, Heroes 6, etc.) solely because of Ubisoft's U-play 'service'. The List goes on..
If this little ARC program becomes mandatory for STO, it is highly likely that I will drop this game, cold turkey. Not because I don't like Cryptic or the game(quite the contrary, I'm quite passionate about both), but because I refuse to have such a program on MY machine, much less actually use it. Furthermore, I will actively dissuade people from doing business with anything under the PWE 'umbrella', rather than the praise and encouragement I currently dole out for STO.
Ultimately, this program becoming mandatory will drive away and keep away far more 'customers' than it will benefit. I actually think this program will be a great addition if it is an OPTIONAL feature. However, this will have a noticeable impact on the Quarterly Report(s) if things continue down the obvious path this is headed.
Agree with OP ... If they force this down my throat I am done. Ain't no such thing as unlimited broadband.
1. I am from Texas and talk the way you type.
2. Yes there is a such thing as unlimited broadband, it all depends on your service provider. (TimeWarnerCable is pretty good and the cost isn't much)
3. I'm not worried about the resource drain on my net, have plenty of bandwidth, but I am upset about having extra resources from my rig being used to run an unnecessary launcher. Granted my desktop handles it just fine, my laptop is limited in what it can handle.
All and all I am in favor of The Arc being an option, but forcing it on the players is wrong. For the time being the work around for this is to have a hard copy of the game. (as I do) If a hard copy of the game is not in your reach try downloading the current install package on the install page of the story site and keep it in a safe place. This will shield your from having to download The Arc if you for some reason need to install the game on a new system or reinstall on your current system. At lest until they lock out the launcher completely and force everyone on to The Arc.
Comments
Why even care, you install ARC, you launch STO, done.
Except it is a big issue if you're on a limited data cap because of this:
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=793581
Occam's Razor makes the cutting clean.
Its never a great idea to make anything mandatory and they should avoid doing it if possible, but its simple enough to use.
- Judge Aaron Satie
ARC I can live with. Do I like being forced to use it? Not really but it's not something that's going to make me quit a game over.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
I dont know where you live but I have a 500 GB allowance. Also I agree with the OP. ARC should not be forced on us.
I'm glad that PWE have decided to make such an altruistic move, and encourage everyone to install this software.
Agreed with you, I don't care about ARC one little bit as I'm not even remotely interested in any of PWE's other games. Voluntary use of this thing to me is fine, but if it's forced on us without taking into account the community's feelings on it then I'm gone.
OT: why should i want another programm run in the background, especially something that is able to download things without my knowledge ?
Who guarantees me that nothing harmful gets on my computer?
Who guarantees me that i am not getting spied on?
my Internet never slows neither do I get charged for data on average in use must be about 800gig if not more a month.
I have unlimited broadband so when sense say no such thing as unlimited well sorry but obviously is. .
I'm with Virgin Media so guess when they say unlimited it truly is
lol, given cryptics illustrious past with sto, and the term security... i would also have a huge problem with this.. but alas, its now been over 2 months since i have logged in, and they keep adding reasons for me not to log back in..
(EDIT: Let's not. Petition/voting posts are considered spamming. You may leave an opinion, not a vote. ~Bluegeek)
What is Pando Media Booster?
PMB.exe is a small application that is installed along with some free-to-use software such as League of Legends, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, NBC, etc? PMB.exe basically helps the company off-load the responsibly of sharing their media files, patches or installations directly by turning their user?s machines into Peer 2 Peer clients. (Rather than having pushing you a 600MB update file, which actually costs the company money, the users might receive parts of the file from hundreds of other players.)
lets look at the problems across the web.
1. An unsuspecting user that leaves Pando.exe running on their system is pretty much being forced to seed files to thousands of users ALL THE TIME (pando.exe has been reported by users to use up to 80+% of their internet connection?s upload bandwidth.) For some users this could lead to their ISP throttling their connection and/or actually charging them extra $$$ for using more bandwidth than they knew they were using."
2. Pando Media Booster (PMB.exe) listens on TCP ports 443 and 563. People having trouble getting web servers such as Apache, IIS, or others working should consider removing Pando Media Booster. Pando Media Booster runs at startup and takes priority to other downloads. Slowness in downloading or general network performance issues may be related to this product.
3. Everyone that has used PMB says to delete it if it does not give the option to not use it with your game.
Now lets talk about Arc. They say it was created for us.
According to the trademark filed by PWE Arcs
Goods and Services:
On-line retail store services featuring game software, video games, computer games, game programs, game plug-ins, computer software tools and related merchandise; On-line retail store services featuring physical and virtual merchandise for use by players of on-line games; Retail store services featuring virtual goods, namely, fashion items and accessories, mounts, pets, ships, and other consumable in-game items and functional in-game items for use in online virtual worlds; On-line retail store services featuring physical and virtual merchandise for use by members of an online community in connection with a designated website featuring fictional characters; distributorship services in the field of computer game software, video games, computer games, game programs and computer software tools.
So this is a online retail store.
The class issued by the goverment is that its.
Advertising; business management; business administration; office functions.
So again how is this made for us??
I am starting this in hopes we have enuff response to stop this as manditory for star trek online. I like this game i have a lifetime sub and spend a 100 a month getting new ships and items. I dont want to be forced to quit do to them wanting to implament a version of steam or origin that i never wanted.
vote yes if you agree to not have arc.
Thanks
Reminds me of the old IM wars when everyone was trying to install their client on your computer. You will drive people away from the game.
/10 char
Join the 44th Fleet. [FED and KDF] Apply Online: startrek.44thfleet.com
Gotta keep the illusion the forums have a point up. Take it to Twitter, I say.
Personally, I've championed this game a long time - given what monetary support I can afford, spent hours upon hours helping to test LoR, recommended the game to friends, and even try to help people in the Steam forums(which is neglected/forgotten by Cryptic and PWE).
I am incredibly dubious about this program - I've been burned too many times in the past by seemingly innocuous programs that do all manner of invasive things without consent or knowledge from the user. I've blacklisted Blizzard ever since their whole battlenet integration into everything. I refuse to go anywhere near Origin and avoid purchases that will benefit EA as much as possible. I have chosen to not purchase several games(like Anno 2070, Heroes 6, etc.) solely because of Ubisoft's U-play 'service'. The List goes on..
If this little ARC program becomes mandatory for STO, it is highly likely that I will drop this game, cold turkey. Not because I don't like Cryptic or the game(quite the contrary, I'm quite passionate about both), but because I refuse to have such a program on MY machine, much less actually use it. Furthermore, I will actively dissuade people from doing business with anything under the PWE 'umbrella', rather than the praise and encouragement I currently dole out for STO.
Ultimately, this program becoming mandatory will drive away and keep away far more 'customers' than it will benefit. I actually think this program will be a great addition if it is an OPTIONAL feature. However, this will have a noticeable impact on the Quarterly Report(s) if things continue down the obvious path this is headed.
I'm pretty sure they are. The OP has my support in any event.
1. I am from Texas and talk the way you type.
2. Yes there is a such thing as unlimited broadband, it all depends on your service provider. (TimeWarnerCable is pretty good and the cost isn't much)
3. I'm not worried about the resource drain on my net, have plenty of bandwidth, but I am upset about having extra resources from my rig being used to run an unnecessary launcher. Granted my desktop handles it just fine, my laptop is limited in what it can handle.
All and all I am in favor of The Arc being an option, but forcing it on the players is wrong. For the time being the work around for this is to have a hard copy of the game. (as I do) If a hard copy of the game is not in your reach try downloading the current install package on the install page of the story site and keep it in a safe place. This will shield your from having to download The Arc if you for some reason need to install the game on a new system or reinstall on your current system. At lest until they lock out the launcher completely and force everyone on to The Arc.
They are... the thread will get locked soon enough.
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