Ok, so I had never heard of ARC before the Khan outfit promo, and I downloaded it like so many others for the express purpose of getting my freebie. Since I had taken the time to download it and install it, I played around with it like a good beta tester. I found that it was using a fair bit of resources and did keep running after launching STO, one assumes so that I could quickly launch other PWE games. I am NOT a fan of adding more things that take up my resources, especially since the computer I am using is far from optimum for gaming in the first place. STO is also the only PWE game that I play or am even interested in at this time. Why would I need or want the ARC client? I suppose if I were a player of many of your games, it could be a convenient tool, as mentioned by another poster, but I am not. This tool does nothing for me except take up resources (and give me a free costume, for which I must say.. thanks!). I have uninstalled it, and do not plan to ever use it (barring any promo freebies I can't resist).
There is a perfectly usable and stable digital distribution platform (Steam) available already.
As of this afternoon, Steam suddenly refuses to recognize my Internet connection. I had to use Arc in order to log in for the uniform giveaway. The big hogging of resources takes about four minutes or so just after I first log in; it stays stable as I change characters and accounts, though, so it's only a relatively brief slowdown for me.
So yeah, maybe Steam isn't as stable as they would like us to think, and Arc, while less convenient in some ways, isn't exactly Satan.exe either.
Dont want to use ARC, never going to. As missconstrued said... everyone wants their own personal version of Steam, and its BS. I only recently even bothered making a Steam account and only then because of Valve games I like *cough*XCOM*cough* :P
X-Com isn't made by Valve.
"Participation in PVP-related activities is so low on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly basis that we could in fact just completely take it out of STO and it would not impact the overall number of people [who] log in to the game and play in any significant way." -Gozer, Cryptic PvP Dev
You know, statements about how you're never going to use Arc and don't think anyone else should aren't exactly feedback on its performance. If you were online looking to find out how well the Chevy Volt performed, and you kept running across people complaining about how evil General Motors is and how nobody wants to buy anything but Fords, would you find that helpful?
So I tried ARC, despite all the warnings of it being a horrible, slowing down your computer, lagging your connection constantly running etc, etc.
Reality is less horrible.
Installed no problems. Launches my games easily enough, didn't even require a new install to Neverwinter or STO, both of which are installed through steam. Downside is that Steam doesn't register them as launched if you launch via Arc. Arc does install a plug-in to Firefox, it is easily disabled. Arc doesn't run constantly and can be turned on and off at your leisure, it doesn't eat resources, it doesn't lag your system. You can close it down and continue to launch your games via Steam if you wish, I do.
Arc is ok if you don't have Steam, it's unnecessary if you do.
What it is, is a simple launcher program with less DRM than Uplay or Origin and what not that isn't really necessary to have but is alright.
What it isn't is the second coming of Satan that people make it out to be.
Two things I noticed
1. I have to log into Arc, then log in again to access the forums. It would be nice to see the logins connected so two logins are not necessary.
2. In a normal browser, hovering the mouse over a thead title will give you the first few paragraphs of a thread. Arc doesn't do that, so one has to click into the thread to see what it's about...
Just suggestions I thought I'd mention. Otherwise, still funny to have to click "play" twice.
CM
"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science." - Edwin Hubble
I found a security issue.
The login credentials are stored per machine.
Say I login into Arc while using my normal Windows account. Now if I switch to a different Windows user and launch Arc (never launched before with that account) then it automatically logs in with the last Arc credentials I used on the other Windows account (since I selected save credentials).
EDIT:
The other account is a standard account that asked for elevation to check for updates (why?). The account I used for admin rights is the same account that I originally entered the Arc information under. In case it matters.
Either way it's a bug.
Ok The first ting a real gamers does is tun off all the extra processing TRIBBLE stupid businnesses put or try to put on our privately owned pcs in our house. I dont like your music and i dont have to use it. Now get the funk outta my facea now get the funk. A song from From cosmic Slop years ago. Arc does lag my pc. Arc does send information to pwi even when it sayes it does not. Arc does spam my pc and heard drive up with TRIBBLE i dont want to spend the time to look at and slow down what i do.
The servers are down after being offline for a new patch and server update...
what kind of feedback do you expect?
Again, if I'm looking to experience driving a Volt myself and give feedback on it, I'm not going to start talking about what it's like before the car even arrives. I'm certainly not saying, "I've never driven a Chevy, I'm never going to, and I never talk to anyone who does - I just know it's going to eat all my left shoes if I even park it in my driveway!"
You want to give feedback on Arc? Use it. Game's down? Wait until the game's up again, then try it. Until then, "I don't want it and you can't make me!" is no more valid as a critique of software from an adult than it is as a food review from a toddler.
So I tried ARC, despite all the warnings of it being a horrible, slowing down your computer, lagging your connection constantly running etc, etc.
Reality is less horrible.
Installed no problems. Launches my games easily enough, didn't even require a new install to Neverwinter or STO, both of which are installed through steam. Downside is that Steam doesn't register them as launched if you launch via Arc. Arc does install a plug-in to Firefox, it is easily disabled. Arc doesn't run constantly and can be turned on and off at your leisure, it doesn't eat resources, it doesn't lag your system. You can close it down and continue to launch your games via Steam if you wish, I do.
Arc is ok if you don't have Steam, it's unnecessary if you do.
What it is, is a simple launcher program with less DRM than Uplay or Origin and what not that isn't really necessary to have but is alright.
What it isn't is the second coming of Satan that people make it out to be.
For those of us who don't have the luxury of a state of the art computer with a minimum of 8GB's of ram and Mach speed processing ability; having to run both Arc and the game does slow the computer and lags gameplay. Launchers like Arc and Steam may have their uses but they're just a pain in the TRIBBLE for me.
I keep hearing from several people here that Steam will remain as a launchable option, if the current launcher is being removed how would this be the case? Will patching be done via the steam patcher? If so then by all means continue as that would be an improvement.
I installed Arc as it appears to be inevitable and they offered a free costume
Since then I have played around with it a little and find the controls a little off. (I have to hunt around a bit.)
It seems to use the launchers I already have. And those launchers occasionally ask for my password again. Making the Arc launcher pointless.
1 stop to launch multiple titles sounded okay.
Sometimes it does not wish to shutdown claiming it is running something. (and it isn't)
So, I am underwhelmed by Arc. It does not seem to hurt me, but is no help either.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
My name is Anthony and I am the new Community Manager for Arc. I wanted to come and introduce myself to you all, and to let you know that I've been closely monitoring the forums and taking in all of your feedback. I know many of you have questions and concerns, so I will be doing my best to answer them as they come in. I am very excited to be a part of the community and will be working closely with all of you to help make Arc the best possible experience you can have. If you haven't already, go ahead and drop by the Arc FAQ page that we put up recently. This will give you a general guideline on what we plan to offer and where we are currently with our new beta build. Remember, we're always open to feedback and even if you don't get a direct response, I have more than likely taken note and passed it on to the appropriate people!
Aside from that, I have just started playing STO and am getting the hang of things slowly. I'm really excited to get to know you all and hopefully I will get time soon to come in-game and chat!
If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
Currently, it is only possible to launch one instance of a game client through Arc.
Can you close Arc after launching a game?
At this time Arc is designed to run seamlessly in the background, and uses minimal system resources when running alongside a game.
Are there any plans to address these two points from the Faq as they are taking away more from the game for some people than Arc could possibly ever add?
Aside from that, I have just started playing STO and am getting the hang of things slowly. I'm really excited to get to know you all and hopefully I will get time soon to come in-game and chat!
If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Welcome aboard, Captain! You've got an interesting ride ahead of you. Don't be a stranger on the forums while you're experiencing it.
Former moderator of these forums. Lifetime sub since before launch. Been here since before public betas. Foundry author of "Franklin Drake Must Die".
I can appreciate PW's desire to use a Steam-esque DRM management suite to organize their games. Ubisoft and EA have also been interested in doing this. While I applaud anyone that wants to compete with Steam, as it needs competition, I'd rather see more broad opt-in programs rather than a big mix of proprietary systems designed principally with a single publisher's games in mind.
As it stands, I will avoid Arc as I do Origin and the Ubisoft DRM. I simply don't want a lot of DRM systems sitting on my harddrive, each managing one or two games. That means trying to avoid purchasing games that require these unnecessary systems as well.
My name is Anthony and I am the new Community Manager for Arc.
Sooo... What happened to dezstravus? I know he was here for arc and only for arc. Is he okay? Did the community cause him mental anguish to the point where he was no longer able to withstand the poisonous and toxic arc remarks of the sto community?
Well I hope you are more durable. My condolences on your new position.
My name is Anthony and I am the new Community Manager for Arc. I wanted to come and introduce myself to you all, and to let you know that I've been closely monitoring the forums and taking in all of your feedback. I know many of you have questions and concerns, so I will be doing my best to answer them as they come in. I am very excited to be a part of the community and will be working closely with all of you to help make Arc the best possible experience you can have. If you haven't already, go ahead and drop by the Arc FAQ page that we put up recently. This will give you a general guideline on what we plan to offer and where we are currently with our new beta build. Remember, we're always open to feedback and even if you don't get a direct response, I have more than likely taken note and passed it on to the appropriate people!
Aside from that, I have just started playing STO and am getting the hang of things slowly. I'm really excited to get to know you all and hopefully I will get time soon to come in-game and chat!
If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
I look forward to hearing from you!
ARC is a waste of space.
For me all I would ever use it for is launch game. The rest of the stuff, I just look on the forums with Firefox.
The stupid thing is still running in the background.
I am currently downloading STO through it.
I can't run CO or even launch it because ARC is hoging all the bandwidth.
With the normal launcher, I can run 2 sessions at once.
This is the new version, it is a heap of S>>>, just like the previous version.
the pages are badly laid out.
It's hard to navigate through.Finding anything is a nightmare.
the scroll bar at the side sometimes vanishes.
the wiki is not attached to ARC but merely a link.
the guides, just like in CO are BUY THIS, not the guides from the forums.
News ? I get from forums
Billing ? I can do from forums
Browse ? I DON'T want to browse in game.
Support ? JUst like the button on the website which sends you into a loop?
Connect ? I can do that ingame already ->friends
First off - welcome and congrats! Also, I hope you enjoy the game as much I do.
I did read the FAQ, but I couldn't find the answers to the questions below.
1. If I were to install Arc, would I need to re-install STO? Sadly, this is a deal-breaker for me - for this month at least.
2. How much longer will the bonus stuff (like the Khan outfit etc.) be available for?
Best of luck with it, sparkiesoft!
I can answer those with my own anecdotal experience.
1) If you installed STO to the default location in C:\Program Files, then you probably don't need to redownload the client. However if you didn't, it won't pick it up right.
2) Bonus stuff is available until the 27th.
IMO, the Arc client has so many simple usability bugs that could have been taken care of with foresight. Reminds me of the company I work for. Bugs/issues I mention are ignored unless a customer complains about them.
Not properly detecting an STO install (since it tries to in the first place), and saving login credentials per-machine basis (HUGE no-no), are just a few of the issues you'll run into.
Thanks for your reply Phoenix841, I appreciate it. I'm definitely going to try it out, and now I know when to do it and what to expect (to some degree).
I tried to keep every version of the star trek online .exe as I'm sure lots of us players did so when something TRIBBLE like this happened we could work around it.
If I'm forced to use your crappy arc add enabled launcher to play star trek I will stop immediately. No more of my money for cryptic or pw.
You asked for feedback, here it is.
Also, someone please explain why ARC is even involved in this? Sounds like pw is getting greedy and selling our souls for a little extra $$ for coffee money.
Comments
It needs server status info, maintenance status, ect.
So yeah, maybe Steam isn't as stable as they would like us to think, and Arc, while less convenient in some ways, isn't exactly Satan.exe either.
Fleet Admiral GRIZZ
U.S.S. Chicago NCC 1833-C
Sector 31 ANTKB
ANTKB Gaming Community
Friends don't let friends use ARC.
X-Com isn't made by Valve.
Reality is less horrible.
Installed no problems. Launches my games easily enough, didn't even require a new install to Neverwinter or STO, both of which are installed through steam. Downside is that Steam doesn't register them as launched if you launch via Arc. Arc does install a plug-in to Firefox, it is easily disabled. Arc doesn't run constantly and can be turned on and off at your leisure, it doesn't eat resources, it doesn't lag your system. You can close it down and continue to launch your games via Steam if you wish, I do.
Arc is ok if you don't have Steam, it's unnecessary if you do.
What it is, is a simple launcher program with less DRM than Uplay or Origin and what not that isn't really necessary to have but is alright.
What it isn't is the second coming of Satan that people make it out to be.
what kind of feedback do you expect?
I like the game
Customer Service 0/10 seeing as you can't even be bothered to let anyone know what is happening
Two things I noticed
1. I have to log into Arc, then log in again to access the forums. It would be nice to see the logins connected so two logins are not necessary.
2. In a normal browser, hovering the mouse over a thead title will give you the first few paragraphs of a thread. Arc doesn't do that, so one has to click into the thread to see what it's about...
Just suggestions I thought I'd mention. Otherwise, still funny to have to click "play" twice.
CM
The login credentials are stored per machine.
Say I login into Arc while using my normal Windows account. Now if I switch to a different Windows user and launch Arc (never launched before with that account) then it automatically logs in with the last Arc credentials I used on the other Windows account (since I selected save credentials).
EDIT:
The other account is a standard account that asked for elevation to check for updates (why?). The account I used for admin rights is the same account that I originally entered the Arc information under. In case it matters.
Either way it's a bug.
You want to give feedback on Arc? Use it. Game's down? Wait until the game's up again, then try it. Until then, "I don't want it and you can't make me!" is no more valid as a critique of software from an adult than it is as a food review from a toddler.
Since then I have played around with it a little and find the controls a little off. (I have to hunt around a bit.)
It seems to use the launchers I already have. And those launchers occasionally ask for my password again. Making the Arc launcher pointless.
1 stop to launch multiple titles sounded okay.
Sometimes it does not wish to shutdown claiming it is running something. (and it isn't)
So, I am underwhelmed by Arc. It does not seem to hurt me, but is no help either.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
- First time download of Arc
- It needed about 2-3x longer until the game actually startetd
- It took a big bite out of my PC performance and resources
- bad performance while playing
- deinstalled it
My name is Anthony and I am the new Community Manager for Arc. I wanted to come and introduce myself to you all, and to let you know that I've been closely monitoring the forums and taking in all of your feedback. I know many of you have questions and concerns, so I will be doing my best to answer them as they come in. I am very excited to be a part of the community and will be working closely with all of you to help make Arc the best possible experience you can have. If you haven't already, go ahead and drop by the Arc FAQ page that we put up recently. This will give you a general guideline on what we plan to offer and where we are currently with our new beta build. Remember, we're always open to feedback and even if you don't get a direct response, I have more than likely taken note and passed it on to the appropriate people!
Here is the link to the Arc FAQ: http://www.arcgames.com/en/arc-news/detail/3028293-arc-faq
Aside from that, I have just started playing STO and am getting the hang of things slowly. I'm really excited to get to know you all and hopefully I will get time soon to come in-game and chat!
If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Are there any plans to address these two points from the Faq as they are taking away more from the game for some people than Arc could possibly ever add?
Welcome aboard, Captain! You've got an interesting ride ahead of you. Don't be a stranger on the forums while you're experiencing it.
As it stands, I will avoid Arc as I do Origin and the Ubisoft DRM. I simply don't want a lot of DRM systems sitting on my harddrive, each managing one or two games. That means trying to avoid purchasing games that require these unnecessary systems as well.
Sooo... What happened to dezstravus? I know he was here for arc and only for arc. Is he okay? Did the community cause him mental anguish to the point where he was no longer able to withstand the poisonous and toxic arc remarks of the sto community?
Well I hope you are more durable. My condolences on your new position.
ARC is a waste of space.
For me all I would ever use it for is launch game. The rest of the stuff, I just look on the forums with Firefox.
The stupid thing is still running in the background.
I am currently downloading STO through it.
I can't run CO or even launch it because ARC is hoging all the bandwidth.
With the normal launcher, I can run 2 sessions at once.
This is the new version, it is a heap of S>>>, just like the previous version.
the pages are badly laid out.
It's hard to navigate through.Finding anything is a nightmare.
the scroll bar at the side sometimes vanishes.
the wiki is not attached to ARC but merely a link.
the guides, just like in CO are BUY THIS, not the guides from the forums.
News ? I get from forums
Billing ? I can do from forums
Browse ? I DON'T want to browse in game.
Support ? JUst like the button on the website which sends you into a loop?
Connect ? I can do that ingame already ->friends
Notifications ?I get from the forums
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
^ this. If STO ever were to become arc only, i'd stop playing. And not just because of the arc, but arc would be the last drop for me with this game.
First off - welcome and congrats! Also, I hope you enjoy the game as much I do.
I did read the FAQ, but I couldn't find the answers to the questions below.
1. If I were to install Arc, would I need to re-install STO? Sadly, this is a deal-breaker for me - for this month at least.
2. How much longer will the bonus stuff (like the Khan outfit etc.) be available for?
Best of luck with it, sparkiesoft!
I can answer those with my own anecdotal experience.
1) If you installed STO to the default location in C:\Program Files, then you probably don't need to redownload the client. However if you didn't, it won't pick it up right.
2) Bonus stuff is available until the 27th.
IMO, the Arc client has so many simple usability bugs that could have been taken care of with foresight. Reminds me of the company I work for. Bugs/issues I mention are ignored unless a customer complains about them.
Not properly detecting an STO install (since it tries to in the first place), and saving login credentials per-machine basis (HUGE no-no), are just a few of the issues you'll run into.
I CONTINUE to play WITHOUT ARC!
I tried to keep every version of the star trek online .exe as I'm sure lots of us players did so when something TRIBBLE like this happened we could work around it.
If I'm forced to use your crappy arc add enabled launcher to play star trek I will stop immediately. No more of my money for cryptic or pw.
You asked for feedback, here it is.
Also, someone please explain why ARC is even involved in this? Sounds like pw is getting greedy and selling our souls for a little extra $$ for coffee money.