Mandatory is the only way. These days pioneers are waylaid by people trying to hold onto the past. It takes strong leadership and commercial vision to come up with something like this, and the users need to be forced to use it. They will see the benefits later.
Do you know of any spyware?
Hopefully I'll come back from my break; this break is fun; I play intellectual games.
Sigh, this is one of those times where I have to admit that Dental can be brilliant and artistic in its tactics. It's still pretty reprehensible, but you have to give props where props are due. It's like watching a blooper reel on fail blog.
As a consumer, this isn't something I worry about. You have to remember that PWE and Cryptic pay far more tax than we will in our lifetimes, and it's therefore our responsibility to assist them in helping keep the economy afloat.
"A man who gives up a little privacy for the good of his country is a true patriot" - Abraham Lincoln
Mandatory is the only way. These days pioneers are waylaid by people trying to hold onto the past. It takes strong leadership and commercial vision to come up with something like this, and the users need to be forced to use it. They will see the benefits later.
Certainly. Would you prefer:
"The beatings will continue until morale improves",
"What is not forbidden is compulsory", or
"Resistance is futile"?
"Susse-thrai" had been the name bestowed upon her, half in anger, half in affection, by her old crew on Bloodwing; the keen-nosed, cranky, wily old she-beast, never less dangerous than when you thought her defenseless, and always growing new teeth far back in her throat to replace the old ones broken in biting out the last foe's heart. Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
As a consumer, this isn't something I worry about. You have to remember that PWE and Cryptic pay far more tax than we will in our lifetimes, and it's therefore our responsibility to assist them in helping keep the economy afloat.
"A man who gives up a little privacy for the good of his country is a true patriot" - Abraham Lincoln
With all due respect,
Does Cryptic's or PWE's revenue get Taxed here in the UK?
And what is spyware ? (Sorry to sound daft?)
Hopefully I'll come back from my break; this break is fun; I play intellectual games.
Does Cryptic's or PWE's revenue get Taxed here in the UK?
And what is spyware ? (Sorry to sound daft?)
Pah. Kid I've news for you. NO companies pay tax here in the UK. Not Google, Starbucks, Vodafone. None of them.
Spyware is a set of programs designed to spy on you in some form. At it's simplest it logs what websites you go to and when and at it's worst it logs your keystrokes and collects your passwords and other such sensitive data.
Do you really think that any of us are going to get to say 'no', or that our opinions matter or will change anything?
Do you really think that, in the end, our only choice will be whether to keep playing or not under these conditions?
'Cause I don't.
PWE has decided. This is going to happen.
Been Awhile Mudd. Remember the Lock Boxes? We really won that one did we not? Yeah...
I agree with you. Your choices are going to be "Stop Playing" or "Bend over and prepare thy rear!". Resistance, just as it was before, is Futile.
Mandatory is the only way. These days pioneers are waylaid by people trying to hold onto the past. It takes strong leadership and commercial vision to come up with something like this, and the users need to be forced to use it. They will see the benefits later.
Why is Voluntary participation in Arc trying to hold on to the past, I don't understand you at all?
My PC goes bang takes few weeks to save up for the parts and come back to find this happening. Atleast unlike the mail limit change we have advance warning this maybe happening.
However like others I do not want to be forced into adding more software to my PC that will do nothing for me. If this is seen as a p2p client then my ISP will throttle it to the hot place and back. They did this with Blizzard until enough of us contacted them and explained it is only used to update the game and is not for the "bad" p2p stuff they want to control. They then took a look and made it exempt from the throttle filter. That took a few months to sort out and they still throttle it after it gets updated so another couple of months to get it exempt again.
Given the small number of players that play this game as opposed to the one, the forum won't allow to be named, by Blizzard I can see the speed throttle lasting a lot longer. I doubt mine is the only ISP to do this auto throttling, especially at peak times, it will cause more problems than they think it will solve.
Personally I do not like being forced to install software I do not want and so I will choose not to install it. If that means saying goodbye to the game so be it. This needs to be optional however as others have said it is unlikely it will be so on their own heads be it.
However remember one thing in advertising word of mouth is the most powerful form there is. If a number of people who gave good word of mouth to this game sudenly change it will more than likely reduce the number of popeple who may join the game and so eventually the income coming in. Per person this will be rather an insignificant number but add them all up and it could be quite a large amount.
So, I thought I'd give it a look-see in order to discover what all the negative backlash is about. Apparently this is what it offers:
Check out these awesome benefits for Arc users:
-News - Receive the latest news across games with embedded updates from Arc.
Ummm...no thanks...? If I'm launching the game it's because I want to play the game...not read news.
-Billing - Easily recharge and transfer ZEN across games through a variety of payment methods.
I was under the impression you could already do that. Do players currently have to jump through flaming hoops to give you money? O.o
-Browse - Arc's In-Game Overlay with fully functional web browser will allow you access the forums or browse the internet.
Oh yay! Another layer of stuff my cpu has to cope with! Because, yeah, I was getting a little tired of how smooth and quick my current browser works.
-Support - Contact Customer Service with a click of the button and easily send in a ticket to request assistance.
Goody! This means I'll receive my automated responses even faster!
-Connect - Check out what your friends are playing and connect with them on Arc's built-in messenger.
Worthless to me. All my friends are IRL, and they don't play MMOs.
-Notifications - Get the most out of your online gaming experience and never miss another event with the in-game notification system.
Oh sweet! Even more fly-in text to annoy and irritate me!
-Coupons - Arc users will receive exclusive promotions and coupons when available.
So even you guys think ARC is so bad you've got to give away stuff to sucker...errr...convince people to use it?
All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways, so start using Arc today and experience a new way to play your favorite game!
You know what I'd like to experience? A Foundry that actually opens a project without a CTD every stinking time. Is ARC going to do that for me? No? I didn't think so.
Great to know that instead of allocating resources to work on existing issues in their games PWE is spending resources on developing junkware that's likely to introduce a bevy of new problems. :rolleyes:
Normally I don't like to post with such negativity, but I feel compelled to let PWE and Cryptic know what I think of this...
No...just no.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Command Officers of the USS Wyvern (from left to right): Aurellia Eshkah (Tactical); Indigo Shae (Engineering); Nysiay Chysiayki (VA, Ship Captain) Jeclia Sek (Science); Vally Mantivour (Security)
The Arc team is also working on many more features to enhance your experience. What features would you like to see? Let the Arc team know directly via the client ('Help' menu > 'Support/Feedback' link).
Arc is the new CORE, and we are working on more integration for STO. As I've mentioned, the goal of Arc is to enhance your game play experience and that's exactly what we are working towards. The current features are only the start.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
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...
If Arc is so great and is meant for me, can I have 1 zen per MB Pando uploads with it? I mean, shouldn't I be compensated for distributing your games with my bandwidth?
If you think about it, it is actually a good marketing strategy by PWE. They have a number of other MMO's, so if they had a system where ALL of their games were available via just one source a person is more likely to give them a go, and it helps a player not have multiple launchers on their desktops.
I ONLY play 1 so-called MMO, STO. I have NO wish to even try any of the other PWE titles given the crappy support and problems STO has had over the last 18 months, and IF they mandate ARC on my system not only will I stop attempting to play STO I will definitely NOT EVER consider playing ANY PWE title in the future, and will advise my friends to do the same.
Unfortunately Cryptic is as much a victim here as the players, but as they're part of the PWE machine I will ALSO avoid any Cryptic games in the future and tell my friends to avoid them as well.
:mad:
Is that the kind of 'good marketing strategy' you're talking about ?
Many games that use similar systems can also be launched directly via the application .exe itself, so if ARC works that poorly for you, you could, hypothetically, also create a shortcut directly to the game, and launch that way. Something like this is hardly worth quitting a game over if you actually enjoy it.
Also, at least in Win7 and likely Win8, you can usually lock certain ports, such as torrent ports, or restrict access to a program, to prevent it from using certain features.
P.S. There is a rule against petitions. Petition/voting posts are considered spamming.
Please leave your opinion, positive or negative. Posts that have nothing to say will be moderated according to the rule.
Not to hijack, but I'm not seeing the logic here, for this thread or any others. How is a vote/poll spam? I've been on several forums where there is a 'create a poll' option for a thread to be JUST about a petition/voting.
And again I'm not getting the logic of saying vote posts are spam, but opinion posts are ok. Can you not extrapolate that a 'no' vote is a negative opinion, and a 'yes' vote is a positive one?
What is the purpose behind classifying voting/petition threads as spam by fiat, as by any other standard, they certainly aren't?
_________________________________________________
::WARNING:: This game is not intended for use as a source of self-esteem.
Many games that use similar systems can also be launched directly via the application .exe itself, so if ARC works that poorly for you, you could, hypothetically, also create a shortcut directly to the game, and launch that way. Something like this is hardly worth quitting a game over if you actually enjoy it.
Also, at least in Win7 and likely Win8, you can usually lock certain ports, such as torrent ports, or restrict access to a program, to prevent it from using certain features.
That is a bit to do for no reason because it should never be mandatory to begin with. Also there are a number of folks (especially our new blood) who will be totally blindsided by this and may have an adverse reaction right from the start.
I generally find that whenever they try to cram different games into one launcher it just makes things more complicated and confusing. I wish we would STOP this trend in Society altogether. I do not need a phone that is a computer/stock ticker/remote car starter/GPS/Camera/Credit Card/etc... I just need a phone that is a darned PHONE...
But more to the point... This program would only be excess baggage to me. Much like many of the other posters I do not find any features it has listed useful at all. When I play STO or even Champs that is what I am doing and interested in doing. I do not need to do anything else. If I want to surf the web a bit for things to listen to under the program then I will do it with my own browser of choice unspied upon by PWE, thank you very much.
More importantly I cannot imagine what Arc could offer me that would make me WANT to use it. It is not so much a matter of "There is nothing that could improve my gaming experience" as it is that the sort of program Arc is fundamentally fails to be capable of providing any improvements that 'I' would desire and can only tax my system resources, which while not as dire as it is for some, is undesirable.
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....
I ah don't really know too much bout this Arc thing.... guess we'll see how it is. Yet if we got no choice, then so be it.
I'm sure if it becomes terrible where no one can log in, they'll change it from being mandatory (if it gets to be so).
Can we please get rid of arc it is keeping me from getting on this game as i play at the library it is keeping me and countless others from using startrek online
Thank you for continuing to post your feedback, ideas, questions and concerns. It's great to see that you all are passionate in ensuring they are addressed. The Arc team sincerely appreciates them, too, and is reading them closely.
I'd like to share that we are working on a blog-type post that will answer many of your questions and concerns, so look out for that over the next couple weeks -- I'll be sure to update this thread when it's live and provide a link to where you can read it.
In the meantime, continue posting the aforementioned subjects so we can be sure to include them in the upcoming post.
Sorry but it's true, I can't even log onto ARC anymore, it just stopped working after the last patch for it
We are the Borg. Existence as you know it is over. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
Fellow Citizens of STO,
A while ago we were told PWE was developing their own launch platform named Arc. Overwhelmingly we cried out that we didn't need it or even want it, and some very serious concerns were brought up by a number of us. We even said if you really insist on making it that's fine if it isn't mandatory.
We were told that when/if they planned on making it mandatory we would be told, they lied.
If you look on the Star Trek Online main page it now has the "download button" replaced with the "play on Arc" button. Obviously this only effects new players at the moment, but more than anything it's a matter of principle.
Multi-game launch platforms have been and continue to be notoriously favored targets for hackers. All the major platformers (ie Steam, etc.) learned this very early on and in a very hard way. The amount of devastation a hacker can cause via one of these "one password to rule them all" platforms in immeasurable, especially if you have a saved payment such as a credit card. Despite the most advanced security, hackers can and do find ways to infiltrate these platforms, which leads to another point.
STO already available on Steam as I'm sure other PWE/Cryptic games probably are, so really why do we need Arc as well? The answer is simple, it's all about marketing. If you're constantly seeing these other PWE/Cryptic games eventually people will become curious enough to try them, and even possibly spend more money on them.
EDIT:
Okay from what has been said this was actually made mandatory on Monday, not today so my apologies as I haven't been on the sto main page this week with the exception of today. It's also been said that there was an announcement that it was going to be mandatory for new users, however that was conveniently tucked away in one of the several Arc threads, NOT in an appropriately dedicated thread as it should have been.
Begs the question all the more, why is PWE trying so hard to sneak it in? My guess is because they are tired of all the negativity regarding this controversial decision that yet again player feedback obviously has no influence over. Just one more piece of evidence of the continuing and widening rift between players and devs.
Comments
lol I like STO but they didnt make it. Simply put, I dont care about any other PWE game.
Do you know of any spyware?
I hope STO get's better ...
"at this time"? :rolleyes:
As a consumer, this isn't something I worry about. You have to remember that PWE and Cryptic pay far more tax than we will in our lifetimes, and it's therefore our responsibility to assist them in helping keep the economy afloat.
"A man who gives up a little privacy for the good of his country is a true patriot" - Abraham Lincoln
Certainly. Would you prefer:
"The beatings will continue until morale improves",
"What is not forbidden is compulsory", or
"Resistance is futile"?
Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
With all due respect,
Does Cryptic's or PWE's revenue get Taxed here in the UK?
And what is spyware ? (Sorry to sound daft?)
I hope STO get's better ...
Pah. Kid I've news for you. NO companies pay tax here in the UK. Not Google, Starbucks, Vodafone. None of them.
Spyware is a set of programs designed to spy on you in some form. At it's simplest it logs what websites you go to and when and at it's worst it logs your keystrokes and collects your passwords and other such sensitive data.
Been Awhile Mudd. Remember the Lock Boxes? We really won that one did we not? Yeah...
I agree with you. Your choices are going to be "Stop Playing" or "Bend over and prepare thy rear!". Resistance, just as it was before, is Futile.
Why is Voluntary participation in Arc trying to hold on to the past, I don't understand you at all?
However like others I do not want to be forced into adding more software to my PC that will do nothing for me. If this is seen as a p2p client then my ISP will throttle it to the hot place and back. They did this with Blizzard until enough of us contacted them and explained it is only used to update the game and is not for the "bad" p2p stuff they want to control. They then took a look and made it exempt from the throttle filter. That took a few months to sort out and they still throttle it after it gets updated so another couple of months to get it exempt again.
Given the small number of players that play this game as opposed to the one, the forum won't allow to be named, by Blizzard I can see the speed throttle lasting a lot longer. I doubt mine is the only ISP to do this auto throttling, especially at peak times, it will cause more problems than they think it will solve.
Personally I do not like being forced to install software I do not want and so I will choose not to install it. If that means saying goodbye to the game so be it. This needs to be optional however as others have said it is unlikely it will be so on their own heads be it.
However remember one thing in advertising word of mouth is the most powerful form there is. If a number of people who gave good word of mouth to this game sudenly change it will more than likely reduce the number of popeple who may join the game and so eventually the income coming in. Per person this will be rather an insignificant number but add them all up and it could be quite a large amount.
Check out these awesome benefits for Arc users:
-News - Receive the latest news across games with embedded updates from Arc.
Ummm...no thanks...? If I'm launching the game it's because I want to play the game...not read news.
-Billing - Easily recharge and transfer ZEN across games through a variety of payment methods.
I was under the impression you could already do that. Do players currently have to jump through flaming hoops to give you money? O.o
-Browse - Arc's In-Game Overlay with fully functional web browser will allow you access the forums or browse the internet.
Oh yay! Another layer of stuff my cpu has to cope with! Because, yeah, I was getting a little tired of how smooth and quick my current browser works.
-Support - Contact Customer Service with a click of the button and easily send in a ticket to request assistance.
Goody! This means I'll receive my automated responses even faster!
-Connect - Check out what your friends are playing and connect with them on Arc's built-in messenger.
Worthless to me. All my friends are IRL, and they don't play MMOs.
-Notifications - Get the most out of your online gaming experience and never miss another event with the in-game notification system.
Oh sweet! Even more fly-in text to annoy and irritate me!
-Coupons - Arc users will receive exclusive promotions and coupons when available.
So even you guys think ARC is so bad you've got to give away stuff to sucker...errr...convince people to use it?
All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways, so start using Arc today and experience a new way to play your favorite game!
You know what I'd like to experience? A Foundry that actually opens a project without a CTD every stinking time. Is ARC going to do that for me? No? I didn't think so.
Great to know that instead of allocating resources to work on existing issues in their games PWE is spending resources on developing junkware that's likely to introduce a bevy of new problems. :rolleyes:
Normally I don't like to post with such negativity, but I feel compelled to let PWE and Cryptic know what I think of this...
No...just no.
Command Officers of the USS Wyvern (from left to right):
Aurellia Eshkah (Tactical); Indigo Shae (Engineering); Nysiay Chysiayki (VA, Ship Captain)
Jeclia Sek (Science); Vally Mantivour (Security)
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...
I ONLY play 1 so-called MMO, STO. I have NO wish to even try any of the other PWE titles given the crappy support and problems STO has had over the last 18 months, and IF they mandate ARC on my system not only will I stop attempting to play STO I will definitely NOT EVER consider playing ANY PWE title in the future, and will advise my friends to do the same.
Unfortunately Cryptic is as much a victim here as the players, but as they're part of the PWE machine I will ALSO avoid any Cryptic games in the future and tell my friends to avoid them as well.
:mad:
Is that the kind of 'good marketing strategy' you're talking about ?
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
Also, at least in Win7 and likely Win8, you can usually lock certain ports, such as torrent ports, or restrict access to a program, to prevent it from using certain features.
Not to hijack, but I'm not seeing the logic here, for this thread or any others. How is a vote/poll spam? I've been on several forums where there is a 'create a poll' option for a thread to be JUST about a petition/voting.
And again I'm not getting the logic of saying vote posts are spam, but opinion posts are ok. Can you not extrapolate that a 'no' vote is a negative opinion, and a 'yes' vote is a positive one?
What is the purpose behind classifying voting/petition threads as spam by fiat, as by any other standard, they certainly aren't?
::WARNING:: This game is not intended for use as a source of self-esteem.
I have no interest in Arc.
If it becomes mandatory, as EA did with Origin, then I will take my money elsewhere. One way or another, I will exercise my consumer choice privilege.
Thanks for this.
LOL
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
That is a bit to do for no reason because it should never be mandatory to begin with. Also there are a number of folks (especially our new blood) who will be totally blindsided by this and may have an adverse reaction right from the start.
I generally find that whenever they try to cram different games into one launcher it just makes things more complicated and confusing. I wish we would STOP this trend in Society altogether. I do not need a phone that is a computer/stock ticker/remote car starter/GPS/Camera/Credit Card/etc... I just need a phone that is a darned PHONE...
But more to the point... This program would only be excess baggage to me. Much like many of the other posters I do not find any features it has listed useful at all. When I play STO or even Champs that is what I am doing and interested in doing. I do not need to do anything else. If I want to surf the web a bit for things to listen to under the program then I will do it with my own browser of choice unspied upon by PWE, thank you very much.
More importantly I cannot imagine what Arc could offer me that would make me WANT to use it. It is not so much a matter of "There is nothing that could improve my gaming experience" as it is that the sort of program Arc is fundamentally fails to be capable of providing any improvements that 'I' would desire and can only tax my system resources, which while not as dire as it is for some, is undesirable.
I ah don't really know too much bout this Arc thing.... guess we'll see how it is. Yet if we got no choice, then so be it.
I'm sure if it becomes terrible where no one can log in, they'll change it from being mandatory (if it gets to be so).
Cause if they did not, then they'd lose business.
So don't worry, it'll be fine.
Thank you for continuing to post your feedback, ideas, questions and concerns. It's great to see that you all are passionate in ensuring they are addressed. The Arc team sincerely appreciates them, too, and is reading them closely.
I'd like to share that we are working on a blog-type post that will answer many of your questions and concerns, so look out for that over the next couple weeks -- I'll be sure to update this thread when it's live and provide a link to where you can read it.
In the meantime, continue posting the aforementioned subjects so we can be sure to include them in the upcoming post.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I hope STO get's better ...
A while ago we were told PWE was developing their own launch platform named Arc. Overwhelmingly we cried out that we didn't need it or even want it, and some very serious concerns were brought up by a number of us. We even said if you really insist on making it that's fine if it isn't mandatory.
If you look on the Star Trek Online main page it now has the "download button" replaced with the "play on Arc" button. Obviously this only effects new players at the moment, but more than anything it's a matter of principle.
Multi-game launch platforms have been and continue to be notoriously favored targets for hackers. All the major platformers (ie Steam, etc.) learned this very early on and in a very hard way. The amount of devastation a hacker can cause via one of these "one password to rule them all" platforms in immeasurable, especially if you have a saved payment such as a credit card. Despite the most advanced security, hackers can and do find ways to infiltrate these platforms, which leads to another point.
STO already available on Steam as I'm sure other PWE/Cryptic games probably are, so really why do we need Arc as well? The answer is simple, it's all about marketing. If you're constantly seeing these other PWE/Cryptic games eventually people will become curious enough to try them, and even possibly spend more money on them.
EDIT:
Okay from what has been said this was actually made mandatory on Monday, not today so my apologies as I haven't been on the sto main page this week with the exception of today. It's also been said that there was an announcement that it was going to be mandatory for new users, however that was conveniently tucked away in one of the several Arc threads, NOT in an appropriately dedicated thread as it should have been.
Begs the question all the more, why is PWE trying so hard to sneak it in? My guess is because they are tired of all the negativity regarding this controversial decision that yet again player feedback obviously has no influence over. Just one more piece of evidence of the continuing and widening rift between players and devs.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....