I downloaded ARC but once it started installing plugins into Internet Explorer and had to be continuously running in the background while I played STO I uninstalled it immediately. I only play STO. I will only ever play STO. I will never need or want any extra launcher other than STO's.
Ok, so on my main rig I have the old-fasioned STO launcher, and aside from a mere 2 occasions in the past that required a manual launcher update, I've had no problems with it, and there was no way I was going to remove that to try ARC out.
Now, personally, I don't want ARC, it doesn't appeal to me at all, but in the interests of fairness I've tried both the latest and previous incarnations on my laptop. Now my laptop is quite old and not much use for gaming, but using the old STO launcher I could log in, start/collect Doff assignments, change ship appearances, loadouts and even cope with the smaller scale PvE missions. The last incarnation of ARC wouldn't even let me start STO up on my laptop, whilst the latest gets me as far as character selection, logs that character in and then just lets me see the lowest possible quality image of where my toon is but is incapable of any actual interaction.
I can't speak to the security features as I've not tested those thouroughly (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt atm because, despite the fact that ARC seems to be getting pushed through against the wishes of the playerbase, I'm fairly sure you're not likely to actively seek ways to lose players.).
As for using ARC as a way to encourage users to try out other PWE games, I'm not sure that will work. The only other games I was vaguely interested in were Neverwinter (tried before ARC and was very disappointed with it, so haven't touched it since) and Champions Online (tried with Arc, enjoyed the gameplay but disliked the lack of comprehensive storyline, and as it was tying me to ARC that was enough to not make me want to play again. So in that instance ARC actually dissuaded me from playing a title further).
Overall the severe hit to performance (admitedly on a lower-end spec rig, but the point remains that there IS a performance hit, and one I don't want on my main rig) is my biggest concern at the moment, although I intend to look further into other ARC aspects.
So, I started from a position of not wanting ARC, gave it a try and came away even less happy with the system.
***The above ramblings are, as always, my own opinion. Based on my experiences and interpreted by my mind, they by no means reflect the universal truth (unless coincidentally). Peace.***
Ok, so on my main rig I have the old-fasioned STO launcher, and aside from a mere 2 occasions in the past that required a manual launcher update, I've had no problems with it, and there was no way I was going to remove that to try ARC out.
Now, personally, I don't want ARC, it doesn't appeal to me at all, but in the interests of fairness I've tried both the latest and previous incarnations on my laptop. Now my laptop is quite old and not much use for gaming, but using the old STO launcher I could log in, start/collect Doff assignments, change ship appearances, loadouts and even cope with the smaller scale PvE missions. The last incarnation of ARC wouldn't even let me start STO up on my laptop, whilst the latest gets me as far as character selection, logs that character in and then just lets me see the lowest possible quality image of where my toon is but is incapable of any actual interaction.
I can't speak to the security features as I've not tested those thouroughly (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt atm because, despite the fact that ARC seems to be getting pushed through against the wishes of the playerbase, I'm fairly sure you're not likely to actively seek ways to lose players.).
As for using ARC as a way to encourage users to try out other PWE games, I'm not sure that will work. The only other games I was vaguely interested in were Neverwinter (tried before ARC and was very disappointed with it, so haven't touched it since) and Champions Online (tried with Arc, enjoyed the gameplay but disliked the lack of comprehensive storyline, and as it was tying me to ARC that was enough to not make me want to play again. So in that instance ARC actually dissuaded me from playing a title further).
Overall the severe hit to performance (admitedly on a lower-end spec rig, but the point remains that there IS a performance hit, and one I don't want on my main rig) is my biggest concern at the moment, although I intend to look further into other ARC aspects.
So, I started from a position of not wanting ARC, gave it a try and came away even less happy with the system.
I agree with your points here.
I would like to add that I was going to try Champions Online (I've heard good things about it, I like the genre, a buddy plays it and says that it's awesome) and Neverwinter (even though I'm not a fan of 4e D&D or the new Forgotten Realms), but the requirement of ARC dissuaded me. Note that the sole negative factor of ARC outweighed every single good thing that I have heard and seen of the games themselves.
Despite my bias against D&D 4e, I have heard nothing but good about the actual Neverwinter and Champions Online games. I would like to play both of them. However, playing them is NOT worth downloading ARC bloatware, for reasons outlined in the quote and elsewhere on this thread.
Congrats, PWE. Your software cost you a customer on two of your flagship games.
Again, nothing against the Cryptic team. My beef is with the stuffed-shirt corporate raiders at PWE.
Chiming in again: Hey PWE YOU ARE NOT Google, we dont trust you, hell I dont even like you. I like Cryptic and did like Atari.. You bought your way into a successful title (vastly more successful than the low res poor grade trash that you produce, all of your game suck) So now your trying to smash the one cash cow you bought? How stupid can you be? Forcing unknown, unsecure malware on your player base? Dafuq you thinkin? We are not the facebook cattle you take us for... Smarter player base will defect to steam to avoid your malicious software and eventually you will kill the game, I also bet ya that there are more hackers on our side than yours.. Want a war, steal and misuse our data like you ARE OBVIOUSLY trying to do. Remember you are doing business in multiple countries all with a myriad of laws AGAINST what you are trying to do.. Want a war? Want to lose money instead of make it? Keep attacking the people that PAY YOUR salaries... I have tried all clients for this game, wish I could have a simple launcher without constant adds puking at me, also the launcher was faster BY FAR, guess Im going to use steam and do my best to avoid your viruses...
The interface seems clean enough, if a touch dark. Good grief, some of those games look like TRIBBLE games, though.
Everything is sluggish and slow to load. Not very impressive.
Site Functionality
Forum integration was seamless , which is good.
Site Usefulness
The link to the STO wiki was a nice touch.
Overall
Not a bad site.
As to the rest...
I have no 'friends' in this game, or in Champions. I do not use social media of ANY kind for ANY reason. I play no other products by PW, and after looking over their lineup, have no intentions of doing so. The functionality as presented by the site and the 'What is ARC?' page thus has zero interest for me.
I am a lifetime subscriber, so my voice has no real impact since you aren't getting a revenue stream from me.
I see nothing that ARC actually offers me that I'm interested in. I'm not against it so much as disinterested. I have enough skill to secure my computer against silly intrusions, and it's powerful enough that I'm not going to be like these sky-is-falling purists who make bold statements about spyware cluttering their computer. I have Origin because it's required, I have Gamestop because it's required, I have Steam because it's required, and all combined they don't even make a dent in my performance.
So while I have no problems with ARC, I find it to be completely useless for the portion of the market like me: casual gamers with no connections, who do not need any of the tools provided by ARC and have zero interest in the PWI catalogue.
It makes me wonder who exactly this is targeted at? Chinese MMO's are never going to succeed in America, they are not targeted at the correct cultural or gamestyle backgrounds and rely far too much on enormous amounts of micro transactions. And I have serious doubts that PWI -- who is in this to make money -- would throw such a large amount away on a bad idea.
So I'm interested as to what this is really all about.
kneelift, it has been established in the forums that Arc as it stands is NOT spyware
kintisho, you trust Google?
To the ARC site team, Star Trek Online has an installer for MAC, your system requirements for windows is outdated and mac requirements are non-existent, as well as a download link for the mac package known as Cider. as far as I know, ARC does not work on mac. While I run windows I caution you not to alienate my friends that will only use mac and push them away from the game.
OK. With Arc running, while in game you can press Shift+Tab to bring up the Arc console. Click the News button to open the Arc web browser.
And when I say web browser, I mean a fully working web browser.
So out of curiosity I pasted the address of an adult website and sure enough, it came up in the Arc browser accessed from the Arc console in game.
This is awesome! I can go to Youtube and look at fail compilation and stupid cat videos without having to even minimize the game. Watch me some Ray William Johnson or Weird Al videos.
Good show Cryptic. Good show.
Now......how do I clear my Arc web browser history?
Edit: You can also go to the STO wiki, which has a link in the Arc software. But there is no Wiki link button in the Arc console in the game, but you can see the link in the News section by clicking the button and it will take you to it in the browser. This is convenient except for 1 problem: I use Firefox with Adblock Plus, so in the Arc web browser I'm seeing all the stupid ads I prefer to have blocked on websites.
#1: After pressing Shift+Tab in game to bring up the Arc console, if you don't press that button combo again to close the console and instead click the button on screen, the shift button no longer works. You won't be able to make your character sprint or anything. If you open the Arc console and then press Shift+Tab to close it, it seems to fix itself and the shift button works for in game functions again.
#2: In the Arc console I clicked the Forums button. It asked me to log in when I clicked the Reply button in this thread, even though I was already logged into the forums in my Firefox web broweser. Upon logging in it took me to the support page instead of the forum page.
#3: I see no way to log out of the forums in the Arc web browser. I can edit my avatar, check my User CP (control panel), but not log out.
#4: Pressing the middle button (scroll wheel) on my mouse when clicking a link does nothing. In Firefox browswer it would open the link in a new tab. Right clicking also does nothing. Usually when right clicking a link in a web browser you get a pop up with options for opening in new tab/window/etc.
#5: There seems to be no parental controls for the Arc web broswer, and as I stated in my last post here, website access seems to be completely unrestricted. I could imagine parents thinking their kids are playing the game only to come and find they are looking at something they aren't suppose to.
#6: No way to change the homepage in the Arc web broswer. I guess you guys wouldn't want us to steer away from your wonderful news page, now would you?
#7: I see no way to clear browser history. How does it work? Does it clear itself each time you exit Arc? Or does it just keep all history overwriting older history when the cache gets full?
#7: No spell checker in the Arc broswer.
I'm curious though. What guarantee do we have viruses from web pages will be blocked? In Firefox I have the No Script addon that blocks most stuff from coming through. There have been times where I chose to temporarily allow scripts on a page only to find it tried to give me a virus. Any chance of having a similar feature in the Arc broswer?
This is in regards to ones "Profile" Page currently the Software itself let's use choose our cover/profile image, which I Find to be a nice feature, under activity I would suggest adding something that allows us to send our messages, some sort of personal timeline where friends can see...
In regards to this as well, it be nice if the in game version got this feature as well... currently I have not found a way to send friend request, accept friends requests, an use the chat from the ARC software itself... Adding this few things to the in game version will be nice...
Thanks to @ MonkeyBone13 for helping me test this part of ARC....
and this is a message to the community itself...
And I personally know that for saying the following... I will get a lot of heat from the non ARC likers.... ALL I ask from you guys... is to take in to consideration what I will mention below...
It seems like many are taking their decisions based on popularity in regards to ARC..
I would suggest Testing out ARC before it set as official "If it becomes permanent* I would suggest you download it, check it out... help the Devs of ARC with POSITIVE Feedback in order for them to improve ARC so you guys enjoy it...
and Don't base your decisions on what everyone else sais...
Go out there and test it out for yourself, this way you will know why you don't like ARC or why you do like if it is the case... again help the devs improve ARC to OUR Liking and I say OUR liking because this is our STO community, make it something posting guys....
Saying "I don't like ARC" does not help the DEVS in any way know why you don't like it.. and it gets them no where in regards of improve ARC as they will not know why YOU personally don't like it...
Again, PLEASE help Perfect World Make ARC better, something to OUR OWN Liking, if not it will be pushed out how it is, and features that something not like... so again... help PWE make it better... This way both The DEVS and Community become happy...
Go ahead and quote me on all you want.... Throw your Heat on me... As this way we both know, YOU (whom quotes me) and I, that dropping heat on me will not improve ARC...
ARC sucks, its spyware, it slows down your PC, and is second only to Real Player as the worst add on program in computer history.
DO NOT WANT
Have you tested out ARC before basing your decision???? Do you have prove that it slows down your computer or are basing your decision on what the first couples pages said???
Chiming in again: Hey PWE YOU ARE NOT Google, we dont trust you, hell I dont even like you. I like Cryptic and did like Atari.. You bought your way into a successful title (vastly more successful than the low res poor grade trash that you produce, all of your game suck) So now your trying to smash the one cash cow you bought? How stupid can you be? Forcing unknown, unsecure malware on your player base? Dafuq you thinkin? We are not the facebook cattle you take us for... Smarter player base will defect to steam to avoid your malicious software and eventually you will kill the game, I also bet ya that there are more hackers on our side than yours.. Want a war, steal and misuse our data like you ARE OBVIOUSLY trying to do. Remember you are doing business in multiple countries all with a myriad of laws AGAINST what you are trying to do.. Want a war? Want to lose money instead of make it? Keep attacking the people that PAY YOUR salaries... I have tried all clients for this game, wish I could have a simple launcher without constant adds puking at me, also the launcher was faster BY FAR, guess Im going to use steam and do my best to avoid your viruses...
Rants like the above I can only imagine what happens when they lose in pvp. It's not the end of the world and rant like you're trying grasp your last breath to save the planet. They asked for feedback, respectful feedback.
Since this thread has been started, I have installed this Arc installer, played the game, watched what was being accessed, nothing critical to me on any level. The virus software I'm running would alert me if critical system/registry/personal files were attempted to be accessed AND my wonderful cable bandwidth was the same with the standard launcher. I had no issues at all while playing the game with ARC.
Respectfully, your Terms Of Service, no matter who owns Cryptic, states you can change whatever you wish, with or without notification to anyone. As long as my gameplay OR quality of life (personal information) is not interrupted, do what you will.
Either way I had no issues with it, I prefer my standard launcher overall. :eek:
Again, PLEASE help Perfect World Make ARC better, something to OUR OWN Liking, if not it will be pushed out how it is, and features that something not like... so again... help PWE make it better... This way both The DEVS and Community become happy...
Go ahead and quote me on all you want.... Throw your Heat on me... As this way we both know, YOU (whom quotes me) and I, that dropping heat on me will not improve ARC...
Quoted... because, why not? Burn baby burn! Disco inferno!
In all seriousness, though, the simplest way to improve Arc (at least from my perspective) would to make its various functions completely optional. By which, I mean allowing those who want a standalone launcher to open STO with Arc and then completely exit the overlay upon launching the game, including all tertiary functions. We can already use Alt+Tab rather than Shift+Tab to access our current browsers, complete with security and/or adblocker plugins... Arc really isn't adding any groundbreaking functionality, and lacks the functionality I already enjoy when simply opening my web browser when I desire.
So, if you want something to "OUR OWN Liking"... let the PWE dev team either keep Arc itself optional or allow Arc to be used solely as a standalone launcher without the bells, whistles, and scanning of files outside of the game's location. I really don't need anything beyond a launcher capable of patching STO, so for me everything else is a waste of resources since I don't care to use it. I'd rather they fire the Arc dev team and transfer their payroll over to the STO dev team; they make something I can actually enjoy, and would probably appreciate a raise and maybe a few more teammates.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
This is in regards to ones "Profile" Page currently the Software itself let's use choose our cover/profile image, which I Find to be a nice feature, under activity I would suggest adding something that allows us to send our messages, some sort of personal timeline where friends can see...
In regards to this as well, it be nice if the in game version got this feature as well... currently I have not found a way to send friend request, accept friends requests, an use the chat from the ARC software itself... Adding this few things to the in game version will be nice...
Thanks to @ MonkeyBone13 for helping me test this part of ARC....
and this is a message to the community itself...
And I personally know that for saying the following... I will get a lot of heat from the non ARC likers.... ALL I ask from you guys... is to take in to consideration what I will mention below...
It seems like many are taking their decisions based on popularity in regards to ARC..
I would suggest Testing out ARC before it set as official "If it becomes permanent* I would suggest you download it, check it out... help the Devs of ARC with POSITIVE Feedback in order for them to improve ARC so you guys enjoy it...
and Don't base your decisions on what everyone else sais...
Go out there and test it out for yourself, this way you will know why you don't like ARC or why you do like if it is the case... again help the devs improve ARC to OUR Liking and I say OUR liking because this is our STO community, make it something posting guys....
Saying "I don't like ARC" does not help the DEVS in any way know why you don't like it.. and it gets them no where in regards of improve ARC as they will not know why YOU personally don't like it...
Again, PLEASE help Perfect World Make ARC better, something to OUR OWN Liking, if not it will be pushed out how it is, and features that something not like... so again... help PWE make it better... This way both The DEVS and Community become happy...
Go ahead and quote me on all you want.... Throw your Heat on me... As this way we both know, YOU (whom quotes me) and I, that dropping heat on me will not improve ARC...
I heard a voice say "Don't you want an epohh friend?" and suddenly I got a friend request :eek:. I jumped for joy until I found out it was you. (j/k;))
But you're right. Me, I'm too lazy to think for myself. I just got bored listening to everybody else and figured Arc is coming whether we like it or not. I like this game and like Cryptic. There have been a lot of improvements to the game since I've been playing and I eventually bought a lifetime sub a couple months ago because I felt they deserved it.
Rage quitting the game because of something like this would be a waste of my $200 (bought lifetime during last sale), plus I've bought a lot more than $200 in zen alone before I went lifetime.
If you can't beat them, join them (or stick some tribbles under their bed with a couple large pizzas in the middle of the night ).
Quoted... because, why not? Burn baby burn! Disco inferno!
In all seriousness, though, the simplest way to improve Arc (at least from my perspective) would to make its various functions completely optional. By which, I mean allowing those who want a standalone launcher to open STO with Arc and then completely exit the overlay upon launching the game, including all tertiary functions. We can already use Alt+Tab rather than Shift+Tab to access our current browsers, complete with security and/or adblocker plugins... Arc really isn't adding any groundbreaking functionality, and lacks the functionality I already enjoy when simply opening my web browser when I desire.
So, if you want something to "OUR OWN Liking"... let the PWE dev team either keep Arc itself optional or allow Arc to be used solely as a standalone launcher without the bells, whistles, and scanning of files outside of the game's location. I really don't need anything beyond a launcher capable of patching STO, so for me everything else is a waste of resources since I don't care to use it. I'd rather they fire the Arc dev team and transfer their payroll over to the STO dev team; they make something I can actually enjoy, and would probably appreciate a raise and maybe a few more teammates.
Alt+Tab? Did you know in the top right corner of the screen there is a minimize button? For me I find Alt+Tab is a pain at times. Often times it will just bring up whatever other window I have open, such as my web browser, but if I were to minimize that so I could access something on my desktop, the game pops right back up. And if I don't have my web browser or any other window open, such as a windows folder, the game will minimize for a split second then pop back up. It doesn't happen all the time but is annoying when it does. So I avoid using Alt+Tab at all costs unless it's a game without a minimize button. (For reference I play the game in Windowed-Maximized mode)
Alt+Tab? Did you know in the top right corner of the screen there is a minimize button? For me I find Alt+Tab is a pain at times. Often times it will just bring up whatever other window I have open, such as my web browser, but if I were to minimize that so I could access something on my desktop, the game pops right back up. And if I don't have my web browser or any other window open, such as a windows folder, the game will minimize for a split second then pop back up. It doesn't happen all the time but is annoying when it does. So I avoid using Alt+Tab at all costs unless it's a game without a minimize button. (For reference I play the game in Windowed-Maximized mode)
If you hold Alt until the indicator shows the screen you want, then release Alt once you've Tabbed over to the desired screen, it's easier... Window+Tab works similarly, for a Windows 7 machine (not sure about Windows 8), but has a slightly better visual. I haven't had an issue with the popping back up thing, though, so that I can't help with.
Plus, since you play windowed, you can click on programs in your taskbar to hop over or launch them directly. I have run into oddities where during some (not all) cutscenes the mouse won't actually leave the STO window, which is why I normally just Alt+Tab or Window+Tab. I likewise play Windowed, since I can play music, access the forums, etc. more easily that way... does Pandora launched within Arc stay active while you play? I know Arc wouldn't support locally stored music that way, but I didn't test to see if it continued playing streamed audio once I Shift+Tabbed back into STO...
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
Have you tested out ARC before basing your decision???? Do you have prove that it slows down your computer or are basing your decision on what the first couples pages said???
Just asking out curiosity
It's plain and simple. Every program/application that is running on your pc drains a portion of pc resources needed to operate. So does Arc. So if you, let's say, run only STO at a given moment when Arc comes you will run 2 programs instead of 1 on your pc.
Arc still needs to use the pc resources therefore slowing performance regardles if it is 1% or 25% depending on the machine age and quality. Not to mention that the 10GB reserved shtick is plainly put - idiotic.
It's not a question of wheather Arc slows the pc or not, is more of a question as to 'why'?
Why do I need to have a +1 program running in background that does absolutely nothing of benefit for me. Why should I be forced to have my pc slowed down or resource drained by an application I have absolutely no use whatsoever?
It's like keeping the lights in your house on during the day on a nice summer day. It does nothing of benefit to you, but it drains electricity thus increasing your bill.
The issue here is this being forced upon. For example - you may be playing a few or more of the Cryptic or PWE games and have a use for such application. Good for you, you'll have some use of Arc. But me for example, I only play STO and I'm not really interested nor have the time to play any other game. Plus, I hate pop-up commercials showing up all around my screen. So to me, Arc is nothing but a resource drain, redgardless how big based on the quality and age of my machine.
So why not optional? You have a use of it - download it, install it and hopefully it will improve your gaming experience. I have no use for it, so I would not be forced to install it. Everybody is happy.
That is the essence of the debate and outrage here. I just can't fanthom how anyone in their right mind would believe that forcing something upon people, furthermore your own customers could possibly have any possitive impact? PWE must have some pretty weak people in charge, or at least in the marketing department.
P.S. Just to make it clear, I'm talking from a position of having installed and tested Arc. Does absolutely nothing of benefit for me, just sits there and needs to update more often than my anti-virus for Star Trek sakes.
I haven't read everything about ARC yet, but I want to know if you can start up STO with it then shut ARC down with the task manager and still run the game without ARC running in the background. Also, 10Gigs of reserved space?? I have an old HD and have to juggle space for different games and 10gigs is at least 1 or 2 games Id have to delete to put this unwanted extra TRIBBLE on my HD.
I haven't read everything about ARC yet, but I want to know if you can start up STO with it then shut ARC down with the task manager and still run the game without ARC running in the background.
Based on reports so far, it is possible to forcibly shut it down with Task Manager. Based on same, that's also the only way to make it shut down while STO is running, and the lack of any option to shut it off while playing is a deliberate design decision.
The people who insist "We don't have ARC doing anything behind your back while you're playing" also insist that it must sit there sucking up RAM while you play, and is "intended to run in the background" while refusing to offer any reason beyond "because we said so" that it absolutely must run in the background.
Mark my words, if they're so married to it staying open (for no reason, or for whatever reason- but until it's actually doing something there is no reason for it) they'll do something later on to enforce that too.
kneelift, it has been established in the forums that Arc as it stands is NOT spyware
kintisho, you trust Google?
To the ARC site team, Star Trek Online has an installer for MAC, your system requirements for windows is outdated and mac requirements are non-existent, as well as a download link for the mac package known as Cider. as far as I know, ARC does not work on mac. While I run windows I caution you not to alienate my friends that will only use mac and push them away from the game.
It has also been established that Bigfoot, UFO's and the chupacabra exists on various internet forums.
ARC is spyware, no amount of spin can change that.
It's plain and simple. Every program/application that is running on your pc drains a portion of pc resources needed to operate. So does Arc. So if you, let's say, run only STO at a given moment when Arc comes you will run 2 programs instead of 1 on your pc.
Arc still needs to use the pc resources therefore slowing performance regardles if it is 1% or 25% depending on the machine age and quality. Not to mention that the 10GB reserved shtick is plainly put - idiotic.
It's not a question of wheather Arc slows the pc or not, is more of a question as to 'why'?
Why do I need to have a +1 program running in background that does absolutely nothing of benefit for me. Why should I be forced to have my pc slowed down or resource drained by an application I have absolutely no use whatsoever?
This ^^^^
Putting security concerns aside. Plain and simply, I don't need the damned thing already.
SOMEONE is going to benefit from this software, PWE certainly has spent a lot of time and resources developing and promoting it. I don't believe for a second it's just to make things
better for me.
Please stop telling me it's going to enhance my gaming experience, because that's flat out untrue. Your data should already tell you this. This doesn't help with the trust issue one damned bit.
Infact, I would even go so far as to say, that I bet it probably won't enhance anything for a majority of the players who play STO.
So what's the real angle here? Marketing? Fine, PWE has to make it's money, I get it. Find another way please.
You want to put software on my rig that I don't need? You want to use some of my limited resources for marketing purposes? Fine, just throw me some Zen for my trouble and I'll look at all the pretty little ads you want me to.
But as a gold member, I would like the option to opt out of Arc. My gold membership should at least afford me this.
You don't want to use it, don't use it. But stop frightening everybody else into thinking Arc is the end of STO.
Perhaps this can be addressed IF the devs actually came out and said WHAT made ARC so mission critical and actually addressed the concerns instead of blatantly ignoring the questions and concerns...
Personally, until those concerns are addressed/answered I will firmly believe that its spyware/bloatware and it will NOT find a home on my computer.
Don't let facts ruin your ideological fanaticism mm'kay?
Kneelift please, the skeptics have been trying to voice legitimate concerns about the security and purpose of this program but making statements like that just turns this discussion into a farce.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
ARC is redundant software, it cant do anything that I can't already do better with what I already have and even if everything about the software is 100% squeaky clean, I seriously doubt that PWE is capable of staying on top of keeping the software up to date in security like every other commercial and open source browser does.
Even if their hearts are true (which I believe in as much as a Moon made of cheese) the hearts of the hackers, gold farmers and all that ilk certainly won't be and they will be giving ARC a real good look too.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
Okay, so honest feedback. Well with Arc as it stands, it's okay. Not great, not really needed. I like some of the features, it has some potential. Will I use it, frankly no. Mostly because my machine is older. Can't afford anything better at the moment or in the foreseeable future as well. Reasons why are not really important but what is well without arc using just the normal launcher I have no issues logging into the game, playing the game at all. Launching from arc and if I made it into the game without crashing I would have thanked what ever divine powers of gaming I could. Tried launching the game with the normal launcher and arc running... Same issue. So for the two-cents that I can give on it. It's just not something I CAN! use, and really at the moment don't want to.
Space is vast, it's wonderful and maddening. Yet in that madness is some of the greatest beauty I have ever seen.
Kneelift please, the skeptics have been trying to voice legitimate concerns about the security and purpose of this program but making statements like that just turns this discussion into a farce.
People are brushing off the multitude of complaints and concerns about this already proven piece of spy/bloatware like it doesn't matter and to just "accept this and don't complain"....cause you know, that attitude has worked SO WELL in history.
ARC is cover for spyware, its been discussed on other websites that anyone with half a brain can go Google(tm).
But hey, go ahead, install it and watch what happens to your registry and resource allocations and such.
Comments
No to ARC.
Now, personally, I don't want ARC, it doesn't appeal to me at all, but in the interests of fairness I've tried both the latest and previous incarnations on my laptop. Now my laptop is quite old and not much use for gaming, but using the old STO launcher I could log in, start/collect Doff assignments, change ship appearances, loadouts and even cope with the smaller scale PvE missions. The last incarnation of ARC wouldn't even let me start STO up on my laptop, whilst the latest gets me as far as character selection, logs that character in and then just lets me see the lowest possible quality image of where my toon is but is incapable of any actual interaction.
I can't speak to the security features as I've not tested those thouroughly (I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt atm because, despite the fact that ARC seems to be getting pushed through against the wishes of the playerbase, I'm fairly sure you're not likely to actively seek ways to lose players.).
As for using ARC as a way to encourage users to try out other PWE games, I'm not sure that will work. The only other games I was vaguely interested in were Neverwinter (tried before ARC and was very disappointed with it, so haven't touched it since) and Champions Online (tried with Arc, enjoyed the gameplay but disliked the lack of comprehensive storyline, and as it was tying me to ARC that was enough to not make me want to play again. So in that instance ARC actually dissuaded me from playing a title further).
Overall the severe hit to performance (admitedly on a lower-end spec rig, but the point remains that there IS a performance hit, and one I don't want on my main rig) is my biggest concern at the moment, although I intend to look further into other ARC aspects.
So, I started from a position of not wanting ARC, gave it a try and came away even less happy with the system.
I agree with your points here.
I would like to add that I was going to try Champions Online (I've heard good things about it, I like the genre, a buddy plays it and says that it's awesome) and Neverwinter (even though I'm not a fan of 4e D&D or the new Forgotten Realms), but the requirement of ARC dissuaded me. Note that the sole negative factor of ARC outweighed every single good thing that I have heard and seen of the games themselves.
Despite my bias against D&D 4e, I have heard nothing but good about the actual Neverwinter and Champions Online games. I would like to play both of them. However, playing them is NOT worth downloading ARC bloatware, for reasons outlined in the quote and elsewhere on this thread.
Congrats, PWE. Your software cost you a customer on two of your flagship games.
Again, nothing against the Cryptic team. My beef is with the stuffed-shirt corporate raiders at PWE.
First, feedback on the site.
The interface seems clean enough, if a touch dark. Good grief, some of those games look like TRIBBLE games, though.
Everything is sluggish and slow to load. Not very impressive.
Forum integration was seamless , which is good.
The link to the STO wiki was a nice touch.
Not a bad site.
As to the rest...
I have no 'friends' in this game, or in Champions. I do not use social media of ANY kind for ANY reason. I play no other products by PW, and after looking over their lineup, have no intentions of doing so. The functionality as presented by the site and the 'What is ARC?' page thus has zero interest for me.
I am a lifetime subscriber, so my voice has no real impact since you aren't getting a revenue stream from me.
I see nothing that ARC actually offers me that I'm interested in. I'm not against it so much as disinterested. I have enough skill to secure my computer against silly intrusions, and it's powerful enough that I'm not going to be like these sky-is-falling purists who make bold statements about spyware cluttering their computer. I have Origin because it's required, I have Gamestop because it's required, I have Steam because it's required, and all combined they don't even make a dent in my performance.
So while I have no problems with ARC, I find it to be completely useless for the portion of the market like me: casual gamers with no connections, who do not need any of the tools provided by ARC and have zero interest in the PWI catalogue.
It makes me wonder who exactly this is targeted at? Chinese MMO's are never going to succeed in America, they are not targeted at the correct cultural or gamestyle backgrounds and rely far too much on enormous amounts of micro transactions. And I have serious doubts that PWI -- who is in this to make money -- would throw such a large amount away on a bad idea.
So I'm interested as to what this is really all about.
DO NOT WANT
kintisho, you trust Google?
To the ARC site team, Star Trek Online has an installer for MAC, your system requirements for windows is outdated and mac requirements are non-existent, as well as a download link for the mac package known as Cider. as far as I know, ARC does not work on mac. While I run windows I caution you not to alienate my friends that will only use mac and push them away from the game.
OK. With Arc running, while in game you can press Shift+Tab to bring up the Arc console. Click the News button to open the Arc web browser.
And when I say web browser, I mean a fully working web browser.
So out of curiosity I pasted the address of an adult website and sure enough, it came up in the Arc browser accessed from the Arc console in game.
This is awesome! I can go to Youtube and look at fail compilation and stupid cat videos without having to even minimize the game. Watch me some Ray William Johnson or Weird Al videos.
Good show Cryptic. Good show.
Now......how do I clear my Arc web browser history?
Edit: You can also go to the STO wiki, which has a link in the Arc software. But there is no Wiki link button in the Arc console in the game, but you can see the link in the News section by clicking the button and it will take you to it in the browser. This is convenient except for 1 problem: I use Firefox with Adblock Plus, so in the Arc web browser I'm seeing all the stupid ads I prefer to have blocked on websites.
#1: After pressing Shift+Tab in game to bring up the Arc console, if you don't press that button combo again to close the console and instead click the button on screen, the shift button no longer works. You won't be able to make your character sprint or anything. If you open the Arc console and then press Shift+Tab to close it, it seems to fix itself and the shift button works for in game functions again.
#2: In the Arc console I clicked the Forums button. It asked me to log in when I clicked the Reply button in this thread, even though I was already logged into the forums in my Firefox web broweser. Upon logging in it took me to the support page instead of the forum page.
#3: I see no way to log out of the forums in the Arc web browser. I can edit my avatar, check my User CP (control panel), but not log out.
#4: Pressing the middle button (scroll wheel) on my mouse when clicking a link does nothing. In Firefox browswer it would open the link in a new tab. Right clicking also does nothing. Usually when right clicking a link in a web browser you get a pop up with options for opening in new tab/window/etc.
#5: There seems to be no parental controls for the Arc web broswer, and as I stated in my last post here, website access seems to be completely unrestricted. I could imagine parents thinking their kids are playing the game only to come and find they are looking at something they aren't suppose to.
#6: No way to change the homepage in the Arc web broswer. I guess you guys wouldn't want us to steer away from your wonderful news page, now would you?
#7: I see no way to clear browser history. How does it work? Does it clear itself each time you exit Arc? Or does it just keep all history overwriting older history when the cache gets full?
#7: No spell checker in the Arc broswer.
I'm curious though. What guarantee do we have viruses from web pages will be blocked? In Firefox I have the No Script addon that blocks most stuff from coming through. There have been times where I chose to temporarily allow scripts on a page only to find it tried to give me a virus. Any chance of having a similar feature in the Arc broswer?
This is in regards to ones "Profile" Page currently the Software itself let's use choose our cover/profile image, which I Find to be a nice feature, under activity I would suggest adding something that allows us to send our messages, some sort of personal timeline where friends can see...
In regards to this as well, it be nice if the in game version got this feature as well... currently I have not found a way to send friend request, accept friends requests, an use the chat from the ARC software itself... Adding this few things to the in game version will be nice...
Thanks to @ MonkeyBone13 for helping me test this part of ARC....
and this is a message to the community itself...
And I personally know that for saying the following... I will get a lot of heat from the non ARC likers.... ALL I ask from you guys... is to take in to consideration what I will mention below...
It seems like many are taking their decisions based on popularity in regards to ARC..
I would suggest Testing out ARC before it set as official "If it becomes permanent* I would suggest you download it, check it out... help the Devs of ARC with POSITIVE Feedback in order for them to improve ARC so you guys enjoy it...
and Don't base your decisions on what everyone else sais...
Go out there and test it out for yourself, this way you will know why you don't like ARC or why you do like if it is the case... again help the devs improve ARC to OUR Liking and I say OUR liking because this is our STO community, make it something posting guys....
Saying "I don't like ARC" does not help the DEVS in any way know why you don't like it.. and it gets them no where in regards of improve ARC as they will not know why YOU personally don't like it...
Again, PLEASE help Perfect World Make ARC better, something to OUR OWN Liking, if not it will be pushed out how it is, and features that something not like... so again... help PWE make it better... This way both The DEVS and Community become happy...
Go ahead and quote me on all you want.... Throw your Heat on me... As this way we both know, YOU (whom quotes me) and I, that dropping heat on me will not improve ARC...
Have you tested out ARC before basing your decision???? Do you have prove that it slows down your computer or are basing your decision on what the first couples pages said???
Just asking out curiosity
Rants like the above I can only imagine what happens when they lose in pvp. It's not the end of the world and rant like you're trying grasp your last breath to save the planet. They asked for feedback, respectful feedback.
Since this thread has been started, I have installed this Arc installer, played the game, watched what was being accessed, nothing critical to me on any level. The virus software I'm running would alert me if critical system/registry/personal files were attempted to be accessed AND my wonderful cable bandwidth was the same with the standard launcher. I had no issues at all while playing the game with ARC.
Respectfully, your Terms Of Service, no matter who owns Cryptic, states you can change whatever you wish, with or without notification to anyone. As long as my gameplay OR quality of life (personal information) is not interrupted, do what you will.
Either way I had no issues with it, I prefer my standard launcher overall. :eek:
Quoted... because, why not? Burn baby burn! Disco inferno!
In all seriousness, though, the simplest way to improve Arc (at least from my perspective) would to make its various functions completely optional. By which, I mean allowing those who want a standalone launcher to open STO with Arc and then completely exit the overlay upon launching the game, including all tertiary functions. We can already use Alt+Tab rather than Shift+Tab to access our current browsers, complete with security and/or adblocker plugins... Arc really isn't adding any groundbreaking functionality, and lacks the functionality I already enjoy when simply opening my web browser when I desire.
So, if you want something to "OUR OWN Liking"... let the PWE dev team either keep Arc itself optional or allow Arc to be used solely as a standalone launcher without the bells, whistles, and scanning of files outside of the game's location. I really don't need anything beyond a launcher capable of patching STO, so for me everything else is a waste of resources since I don't care to use it. I'd rather they fire the Arc dev team and transfer their payroll over to the STO dev team; they make something I can actually enjoy, and would probably appreciate a raise and maybe a few more teammates.
I heard a voice say "Don't you want an epohh friend?" and suddenly I got a friend request :eek:. I jumped for joy until I found out it was you.
But you're right. Me, I'm too lazy to think for myself. I just got bored listening to everybody else and figured Arc is coming whether we like it or not. I like this game and like Cryptic. There have been a lot of improvements to the game since I've been playing and I eventually bought a lifetime sub a couple months ago because I felt they deserved it.
Rage quitting the game because of something like this would be a waste of my $200 (bought lifetime during last sale), plus I've bought a lot more than $200 in zen alone before I went lifetime.
If you can't beat them, join them (or stick some tribbles under their bed with a couple large pizzas in the middle of the night
Alt+Tab? Did you know in the top right corner of the screen there is a minimize button? For me I find Alt+Tab is a pain at times. Often times it will just bring up whatever other window I have open, such as my web browser, but if I were to minimize that so I could access something on my desktop, the game pops right back up. And if I don't have my web browser or any other window open, such as a windows folder, the game will minimize for a split second then pop back up. It doesn't happen all the time but is annoying when it does. So I avoid using Alt+Tab at all costs unless it's a game without a minimize button. (For reference I play the game in Windowed-Maximized mode)
If you hold Alt until the indicator shows the screen you want, then release Alt once you've Tabbed over to the desired screen, it's easier... Window+Tab works similarly, for a Windows 7 machine (not sure about Windows 8), but has a slightly better visual. I haven't had an issue with the popping back up thing, though, so that I can't help with.
Plus, since you play windowed, you can click on programs in your taskbar to hop over or launch them directly. I have run into oddities where during some (not all) cutscenes the mouse won't actually leave the STO window, which is why I normally just Alt+Tab or Window+Tab. I likewise play Windowed, since I can play music, access the forums, etc. more easily that way... does Pandora launched within Arc stay active while you play? I know Arc wouldn't support locally stored music that way, but I didn't test to see if it continued playing streamed audio once I Shift+Tabbed back into STO...
It's plain and simple. Every program/application that is running on your pc drains a portion of pc resources needed to operate. So does Arc. So if you, let's say, run only STO at a given moment when Arc comes you will run 2 programs instead of 1 on your pc.
Arc still needs to use the pc resources therefore slowing performance regardles if it is 1% or 25% depending on the machine age and quality. Not to mention that the 10GB reserved shtick is plainly put - idiotic.
It's not a question of wheather Arc slows the pc or not, is more of a question as to 'why'?
Why do I need to have a +1 program running in background that does absolutely nothing of benefit for me. Why should I be forced to have my pc slowed down or resource drained by an application I have absolutely no use whatsoever?
It's like keeping the lights in your house on during the day on a nice summer day. It does nothing of benefit to you, but it drains electricity thus increasing your bill.
The issue here is this being forced upon. For example - you may be playing a few or more of the Cryptic or PWE games and have a use for such application. Good for you, you'll have some use of Arc. But me for example, I only play STO and I'm not really interested nor have the time to play any other game. Plus, I hate pop-up commercials showing up all around my screen. So to me, Arc is nothing but a resource drain, redgardless how big based on the quality and age of my machine.
So why not optional? You have a use of it - download it, install it and hopefully it will improve your gaming experience. I have no use for it, so I would not be forced to install it. Everybody is happy.
That is the essence of the debate and outrage here. I just can't fanthom how anyone in their right mind would believe that forcing something upon people, furthermore your own customers could possibly have any possitive impact?
P.S. Just to make it clear, I'm talking from a position of having installed and tested Arc. Does absolutely nothing of benefit for me, just sits there and needs to update more often than my anti-virus for Star Trek sakes.
Based on reports so far, it is possible to forcibly shut it down with Task Manager. Based on same, that's also the only way to make it shut down while STO is running, and the lack of any option to shut it off while playing is a deliberate design decision.
The people who insist "We don't have ARC doing anything behind your back while you're playing" also insist that it must sit there sucking up RAM while you play, and is "intended to run in the background" while refusing to offer any reason beyond "because we said so" that it absolutely must run in the background.
Mark my words, if they're so married to it staying open (for no reason, or for whatever reason- but until it's actually doing something there is no reason for it) they'll do something later on to enforce that too.
It has also been established that Bigfoot, UFO's and the chupacabra exists on various internet forums.
ARC is spyware, no amount of spin can change that.
This ^^^^
Putting security concerns aside. Plain and simply, I don't need the damned thing already.
SOMEONE is going to benefit from this software, PWE certainly has spent a lot of time and resources developing and promoting it. I don't believe for a second it's just to make things
better for me.
Please stop telling me it's going to enhance my gaming experience, because that's flat out untrue. Your data should already tell you this. This doesn't help with the trust issue one damned bit.
Infact, I would even go so far as to say, that I bet it probably won't enhance anything for a majority of the players who play STO.
So what's the real angle here? Marketing? Fine, PWE has to make it's money, I get it. Find another way please.
You want to put software on my rig that I don't need? You want to use some of my limited resources for marketing purposes? Fine, just throw me some Zen for my trouble and I'll look at all the pretty little ads you want me to.
But as a gold member, I would like the option to opt out of Arc. My gold membership should at least afford me this.
That's my sincere feedback. Thanks for listening.
wow, okay... have fun with that
Don't let facts ruin your ideological fanaticism mm'kay?
Perhaps this can be addressed IF the devs actually came out and said WHAT made ARC so mission critical and actually addressed the concerns instead of blatantly ignoring the questions and concerns...
Personally, until those concerns are addressed/answered I will firmly believe that its spyware/bloatware and it will NOT find a home on my computer.
I can launch STO and CO from the same launcher already and I'm not interested in any other PWE game U_U"
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
Even if their hearts are true (which I believe in as much as a Moon made of cheese) the hearts of the hackers, gold farmers and all that ilk certainly won't be and they will be giving ARC a real good look too.
People are brushing off the multitude of complaints and concerns about this already proven piece of spy/bloatware like it doesn't matter and to just "accept this and don't complain"....cause you know, that attitude has worked SO WELL in history.
ARC is cover for spyware, its been discussed on other websites that anyone with half a brain can go Google(tm).
But hey, go ahead, install it and watch what happens to your registry and resource allocations and such.