This man does not speak for all of us. I'm happy to grind for this beautiful free ship.
But he speaks for me and many others. This event or anniversary event is to give thanks to all the players that during last year supported the game via ZEN, subscriptions etc etc and you are going to repay us by giving us more work?
For those of you who weren't here for the last week of the summer event, we had that week of free stuff offered (DS9 costume, TOS command tunic, Yellowstone Runabout, To'Duj Fighter, Nova refit, Phalanx science vessel, Nebula (Tier V) and the Marauder Flight deck cruiser). The giveaway is gonna be similar to this.
You're making an assumption. Brandon said there would be giveaways. He didn't say it would be like this summer's giveaways. We don't know what this means until they tell us in their own good time.
Third, Brandon also stated that there's a reason why they implemented the ships behind the event reputation grind. Think about previous events that they've given a special ship away. CBS didn't want everyone able to be able to fly non-faction ship that was given away, so when they started to offer the Breen ships, they introduced the whole 1000 pictures of Q to be traded in. This eventually got tied into the event reputation introduced during the spring and summer when they offered the Risian corvette.
The previous ships for years 2 and 3 of the anniversary were obviously limited time ships. The ambassador/kamarag tier 3 ships stayed free ships as a mission reward since it was the only way to get them. The Odyssey, Bortas and the tier V Ambassador/Kamarag were all eventually added to the fleet shipyards.
I have one word: precedent.
Once a precedent has been set, it's unusual for anything in this game to revert back to the "old" way. Some of us are picturing 2015 when we've just begun recovering from the 2014 Winter Event and seeing something like this roll back around with another gaggle of ships that takes "a little extra effort" to get. To be followed by C-Store and/or fleet versions a month later.
So I'd just like to know up front... Will variants of these ships show up in the C-Store? Can I just skip the event and wait for it?
(My guess is no. If anything, they might show up as per character Fleet ships.)
My boys are both playing Engineers... not sure this is worth grinding, for them. They won't get the best use out of a "Science Destroyer" unless there's some other mechanic they haven't revealed yet. Won't make my decision until I see the stats.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the paradigm of "Do X, Y times, then get Z".
What I'm after is something to ease the grind. Make it more interesting and replayable, or else with fewer repetitions -- so I don't have to feel like I'm giving up having fun or working toward other rewards just for some collectable reward ship I might end up never using. (Still haven't flown last year's Chel Grett and only got it on one character)
"Do T, U, V, or W once a day for Y days", or a lower value of Y than 15-20 times per character, or even "if you want to grind for the basic model, that's cool, but you can get the advanced version in the C-Store next month if you don't want to grind it."
I know I'm not likely to get the old way back, and it's too late to make any changes this year, so I'm looking for a new precedent to be set for next year that brings the fun and eases the sting.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not being fallen deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
Further feedback from me then ...
I know this is speculation at the moment cause nothing has been mention of it officially, but if these ships are going to get fleet variants (highly likely seeing as they come standard with 9 consoles, fleet ships generally have 10), and taking into account that we do have to grind for these, could we (at the very least) have the fleet version cost a single ship module instead of four (or five). Ideally they'd cost nothing but fleet marks, but I get you guys have to make money.
Secondly, are you able to talk about skins? These ships all share that Sphere-themed-appearance, yet I'd like to fly a Federation ship that looks like it's Federation, hull pattern included. In addition, if you are opening up an event-like window for anniversary ships, are there any plans to open up event windows for past anniversary ships and rewards? I wouldn't mind that TNG sash for one of my Federation officers (he's a Klingon).
... it seems unlikely (considering the work involved) that these Qmendations are going to be a one-time thing.
Simple question. ARE these ships going to be in the C-store 1 month after the event? If yes I am skipping the event. If Not, are they going to be in the fleet, if Yes I am skipping the event, if Not, are the ships going to be part of the new Lock Box? if Yes I am skipping the event? if Not are these ships going to be available by using the other money (lobi) if Yes I am skipping the event. If Not, then 1 ship for 7 characters, hope they learn to share, oh wait you cant do that.
...We have other giveaways planned that will lead up to the anniversary where you can just log-in and claim an item for free, like the summer giveaway last year -- more info on that soon, too. So there are some free, no-work-necessary items that will be given away...
This giveaway was already planned well before this thread, so the timing is unfortunately and as some may look at it as we're making up for the "grind"y, but in actuality, this was planned well in advance and is why "leaks" like this can alter the perception once information and blogs come out. It was unfortunate, as we really wanted it to be the opposite.
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not being fallen deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
I may have some additional information than this, but here is some more information about the event that I can share now:
As mentioned, you'll get 400 Qmendations on your first play through of the new FE.
The "daily" to get 40 more has taken 2-5 minutes on average during testing, and you either complete one mini-game or another for the daily.
The event runs for 28 days (we say 25+ as we also have maintenances, etc.)
With only 600 more Qmendations needed, you'll need to complete 15 dailies in those 28 days (around once every other day, or so).
We've got this information and much more planned in upcoming Dev Blogs, so stay tuned and thanks again for your passion and feedback.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Bran
Thank you for replying to this thread and giving us some sense that it isn't an echo chamber.
I think the clarifications you've made are stuff we mostly knew or suspected.
400 QM for a mission, then grind out 600 more either by playing a mini game or buying lobi.
You say a handful of minutes to run the minigame, but of course that wont take into account getting to the academy.
So, in a comparison from last year, for a players with six toons, we're looking at 6 x 15 minutes (to run through the missions that were offered), as compared with 6 x 10-15 minutes (for the FE), followed by 6 x 15 x 5 minutes (lets be generous and say 5 minutes with travel time).
So, last years anniversary event required 90 minutes from our theoretical player, a time that could be spent at any point during the event. No cooldowns had to be waited for.
This year, the same player must put in 540 minutes. Furthermore they must log in for 15 days while the event is running, as cooldowns are waited for.
I think we already knew the scale of the problem Bran.
The problem is that an event that was a celebration of the longevity of the game has been turned into a grind. A pretty strong grind, right after another grind. And we're getting indications from Mr D'Angelo that he rather likes grinds.
Can you address this issue Bran? You were an ordinary player once.
We've gone from 90 minutes, played whenever you like; to 540 minutes on a schedule imposed by Cryptic.
The ships look lovely, but they don't disguise such a radical shift.
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not falling on deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
I may have some additional information other than this, but here is some more information about the event that I can share now:
As mentioned, you'll get 400 Qmendations on your first play through of the new FE.
The "daily" to get 40 more has taken 2-5 minutes on average during testing, and you either complete one mini-game or another for the daily.
The event runs for 28 days (we say 25+ as we also have maintenances, etc.)
With only 600 more Qmendations needed, you'll need to complete 15 dailies in those 28 days (around once every other day, or so).
We've got this information and much more planned in upcoming Dev Blogs, so stay tuned and thanks again for your passion and feedback.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Fixed a few things for you (in red). :P Not entirely sure I got the last one right, but...
I still think it should be account-wide. Or at least faction-wide. That'd mitigate the problem a lot, even if you still have to do 45 dailies.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
This giveaway was already planned well before this thread, so the timing is unfortunately and as some may look at it as we're making up for the "grind"y, but in actuality, this was planned well in advance and is why "leaks" like this can alter the perception once information and blogs come out. It was unfortunate, as we really wanted it to be the opposite.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
So wait, if I understand this correctly, you're not actually giving us a ship anymore? You took the anniversary ship gift away and are giving us other things instead, but are conveniently letting us grind for a new ship at the same time as part of the same event?
What's the justification for making players have to log in every other day when you acknowledge it's just for a 2-5 minute mission?
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not being fallen deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
I may have some additional information than this, but here is some more information about the event that I can share now:
As mentioned, you'll get 400 Qmendations on your first play through of the new FE.
The "daily" to get 40 more has taken 2-5 minutes on average during testing, and you either complete one mini-game or another for the daily.
The event runs for 28 days (we say 25+ as we also have maintenances, etc.)
With only 600 more Qmendations needed, you'll need to complete 15 dailies in those 28 days (around once every other day, or so).
We've got this information and much more planned in upcoming Dev Blogs, so stay tuned and thanks again for your passion and feedback.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
You keep repeating the same answers over and over. It is obvious that our feedback on this issue, like so many times before, is moot. So I will repeat the same feedback over and over in the dim hopes that maybe Geko will stop looking down his nose at us and actually listen.
The first time a "free" grind ship came out, I dutifully ground it out on 10+ toons. And of those 10+ toons I fly it on zero of them. The grind took up all of my play time for the month of December that year, it was also the same time you introduced the first rep grind, and it put me a month behind in that as well.
The next grind ship, from Risa, I ground out on 3 toons, and use it on zero. Again, this took up much of my play time while it was happening. I will say that the map and events there were much better then the winter events, but still, it got old really fast.
This years grind ship I didn't even bother with. Just the though of running that dam ice race, 10 times a day for a month made my head ache.
And now we are off to the grind again. Why can't you take example from your own events and do with this what you did with sphere of influence, or the Odyssey/bortasque release?
Give us a "free" T5 version of the ship for participating in the event at the time of its launch. and then put the full, you might actually use it version, in the c store so that all of your toons can have it. Hell at this point I might even settle for the lobi store like the advanced obelisk. I may only have it on one toon, but at least that way I can earn it on my terms.
Everything you have released in the last year seems bent on punishing people who actively play more then one character. And frankly it is starting to push me away from the game.
As you mentioned "You were an ordinary player once" -- I actually still am an ordinary player, playing every night to get up my reps, contribute inputs to my fleet, work on my builds, etc. I started working here in Nov. 2011, and just like everyone else at that time, I had to work towards my drops in the STFs. After 300+ runs of IGE, I finally got my PSG. I ran IGE multiple times a night until that happened.
Regarding the ships, I know that my Fed Engineer is going to continue flying his Recluse, so I am not planning on running the project for him. Same for my KDF Tactical. However, I am very interested in some of my other characters flying this ship, so I'll run it on them.
That said, I can empathize with our ship collectors out there though, and so does the team, and is why we continue to talk about this and consider your feedback. The event is not live yet, so anything is subject to change. Heck, the blogs about the event are not even out yet Whether something changes or not, the feedback from this thread was strongly, and will continue to be, considered. You are our players, you are the reason you are here and why the game continues to exist. You are important to us, and so are your feelings.
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not being fallen deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
I may have some additional information than this, but here is some more information about the event that I can share now:
As mentioned, you'll get 400 Qmendations on your first play through of the new FE.
The "daily" to get 40 more has taken 2-5 minutes on average during testing, and you either complete one mini-game or another for the daily.
The event runs for 28 days (we say 25+ as we also have maintenances, etc.)
With only 600 more Qmendations needed, you'll need to complete 15 dailies in those 28 days (around once every other day, or so).
We've got this information and much more planned in upcoming Dev Blogs, so stay tuned and thanks again for your passion and feedback.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Ok... I am gonna bit... heck, I will even try to "forgive" (in lack of a better word) you guys this time around...
That said:
Start doing something different. This whole come-back-and-do-the-same-x-times... It's too much.
Look... remember the mission "Spin the wheel"..? Do that... Missions like that... Basic do-and-get missions, where you have to fix something for the production of the ship.
I mean, we can do these really simple missions in the foundry in 10 - 15 minutes, and I HAVE to assume Cryptic have significantly better tools (not that it takes much), so do it...
Make the easy missions, that take 10-15 minutes to make, and have a new one each day, or 15 rotating ones...
Believe it or not... doing this could have saved you the back-fire you are experiencing right now..
Or give some of the best foundry creators X-Zen pr mission they would offer for you to implement in such a chain...
SOMETHING different than the same bloody mission every day.
Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
This giveaway was already planned well before this thread, so the timing is unfortunately and as some may look at it as we're making up for the "grind"y, but in actuality, this was planned well in advance and is why "leaks" like this can alter the perception once information and blogs come out. It was unfortunate, as we really wanted it to be the opposite.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Well it is better that we know about it now, ahead of time. There is plenty of time to go in and code-fix this so there is either far far less grind, no cool down on the grind OR do away with the grind entirely.
I mentioned I'm moving and I'll be without net for at least a month. So I miss out on this entirely. Highly unfair. I want the ship... would be willing to pay cash in hand for it out of the C-store or even the Lobi store.
Instead, we are rewarded for another year of loyalty with another punishing grind on top of ALL THE OTHER GRINDS IN THE GAME.
I'm going dark here very shortly in preparation for my move -- don't know if I'll be back once I do restore internet at the other end of my journey... I do NOT like the direction this game has gone in and I DO NOT like the fact that I have to grind... for an anniversary "reward."
I wanted to stop by and let you know we've been reading (and will continue to) this thread since it's inception and are considering your feedback -- it's not being fallen deaf ears and we appreciate the passion everyone has around the event and the new ships. Please just remember to keep your feedback constructive, as nonconstructive feedback is harder to consider.
I may have some additional information than this, but here is some more information about the event that I can share now:
As mentioned, you'll get 400 Qmendations on your first play through of the new FE.
The "daily" to get 40 more has taken 2-5 minutes on average during testing, and you either complete one mini-game or another for the daily.
The event runs for 28 days (we say 25+ as we also have maintenances, etc.)
With only 600 more Qmendations needed, you'll need to complete 15 dailies in those 28 days (around once every other day, or so).
We've got this information and much more planned in upcoming Dev Blogs, so stay tuned and thanks again for your passion and feedback.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I don't see problem Brandon,
tell your Cryptic team to raise from 400 Omendations to 700 and problem solved.... we can enjoy grinding mission for rest 300 Omendations... you will have player based on servers this month and that will sound very great on paper and players will not be sickened by Grinding.....is this so hard to do ?
Although the "grind" issue is a problem, I find it amusing that some people seem upset with an actual item giveaway that was promissed in addition to the daily mission and Dyson ships... I mean, really?
For a moment I felt bad for posting this leak, but on the other hand this was coming one way or another. If anything, I wish this hadn't caused so many problems to Brandon so early on. :P
Regardless, I still think there are some issues that should be cleared up in the next week's blogs. For example, we will be able to buy Qmendations for Lobi to get our 9 console ship, but will there be an eventual 10 console upgrade sold in C-Store/Fleet Store/Lobi Store? And if so, won't it seem unfair to people who have spend their Lobi on the Anniversary version?
That said, I can empathize with our ship collectors out there though, and so does the team, and is why we continue to talk about this and consider your feedback. The event is not live yet, so anything is subject to change. Heck, the blogs about the event are not even out yet Whether something changes or not, the feedback from this thread was strongly, and will continue to be, considered. You are our players, you are the reason you are here and why the game continues to exist. You are important to us, and so are your feelings.
With respect to this (highlighted), would it not be more ... practical for certain event details to be released a little earlier? Ship stats and images don't need to come until a week before release, but the teams intentions could do with being seen earlier.
The feedback here is a good example of that. The team made their plans and let everyone know, now (most people) are kicking off about it as they're unhappy. If the team wishes to please those people (some of them at least, you'll never please everyone) they're going to have to make some quick and sudden changes to the way they planned to implement the event.
If some details of the event were released earlier, then they'd get their feedback earlier and would have more time to assess the situation and make the relevant changes. As it stands, you guys have a week to essentially fix it for the community. Isn't that a rush? Wouldn't said fix take time away from other ongoing projects?
I'm a ship collector and have over 20 toons at this point (been playing since launch). I would like to own these ships but I'm not going to grind for them.
As you mentioned "You were an ordinary player once" -- I actually still am an ordinary player, playing every night to get up my reps, contribute inputs to my fleet, work on my builds, etc. I started working here in Nov. 2011, and just like everyone else at that time, I had to work towards my drops in the STFs. After 300+ runs of IGE, I finally got my PSG. I ran IGE multiple times a night until that happened.
<smiles>
Regarding the ships, I know that my Fed Engineer is going to continue flying his Recluse, so I am not planning on running the project for him. Same for my KDF Tactical. However, I am very interested in some of my other characters flying this ship, so I'll run it on them.
And you make a fair point that others have made somewhat more aggresively. Nobody has to grind this out for any of their toons.
I will say though, that these ships have been made to be as desireable as possible. And they truly are interesting. I think there is a legitimate question about power creep, but thats another issue.
However, why do these ships have to be ground for now?
I can honestly say that if the summer event of Risa had, somehow, these ships for rewards I'd have absolutely no objection.
The timing of this grind is extremely and predictably unfortunate.
That said, I can empathize with our ship collectors out there though, and so does the team, and is why we continue to talk about this and consider your feedback. The event is not live yet, so anything is subject to change. Heck, the blogs about the event are not even out yet Whether something changes or not, the feedback from this thread was strongly, and will continue to be, considered. You are our players, you are the reason you are here and why the game continues to exist. You are important to us, and so are your feelings.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Given that a wholesale reorganisation is probably impossible at this point, please allow me to suggest a few ways to lessen the grind.
1. Qmmendations are a lovely pun, but make them interchangeable with Q glossies. Q really doesn't need two currencies and it'd allow players to lessen this grind with resources from the WW.
2. Bite the bullet and do for QM what you've done for lobi. Make it account, rather than character bound. Thus the player that can only get on at the weekend can still get this ship by combining resources from multiple toons.
3. Reduce the cooldown on the daily, even making it every 6 hours would help.
4. Currently you can buy, with 5 lobi, 2-6 of these sort of resources. That is a bit stingy, 5 lobi getting you 5 QM would be better, as it'd remove the gamble if one was using a limited amount of lobi.
And with respect and apologies.........
You are our developers, you are the reason we are here and why the game continues to exist. You are important to us, and so are your decisions.
Wait, are the grind ships 9 console ones? I thought they would be 10 console ships like the Breen one.
They appear to be 9 consoles ones ... which is why I believe a fleet version of all of them will be released in due course, likely at the Spire Tier #3 level.
so Brandon, you might as well of reposted your post from yesterday, cause it was basically the same thing..
as far as the other giveaways, it doesn't matter, I mean unless its better than the ship.. the idea of the anniversary event (that people have been talking about for months now) is that we get a ship, which is the most popular thing in the game (ships).. a thank you if you will, not another stressfull (oh sh*t, ive got to make sure I log in for 16 days straight to get it.. and jeese, I hope the 2 feet of snow that is predicted doesn't knock power out for a few days and what not lol..) and as far as it being only a little grind.. weve grinded for a year, its time to let us have a vacation that rewards us something..
ontop of that, last year we got a ship, a costume, q's little leveling boost, accolades, and the party popper thing.. and past years were similier.. the obelisk was a nice surprise, I didn't like the mission all that much, but I genuinely said, "hey, they care" and I don't say that often..
that is the precident that was set.. that is what I expect out of the anniversary event.. and all we had to do was one (friggen awesome) mission..
ive said it before through out the years.. cryptic is constantly testing the boundries of what they can get away with.. and this time, its gone too far..
and as far as anything is changeable, well that is a load of horse TRIBBLE, cause firstly, the past has shown us that cryptic isn't really all that flexible, even when the community doesn't like something, you just force feed us it anyways, and the devs barely know how to tie their shoes without messing something up ingame, so I don't see them even trying to change how the event works..
I cant remember anyone saying, oh yay, I love grind.. please, release this in its grinding state.. no, I seem to remember a lot of opposition to the grind.. yet, we get more and more and more..
and remember, there is a difference between repeatable over a long term, and repeatable short term.. id much rather have weekly stuff, than daily. that way I do my grind, 2-3 times a week, and can enjoy the things I actually enjoy about the game the rest of the time.. cause that is what this is after all, a game.. not a chore, or a job...
After reading the blog and getting a feel for the ships themselves...I'm still not convinced unfortunately. The ships really do look awesome and it would work great on my Fed sci, but the 15 day grind still puts me off. For the record, I haven't done any of the event ship grinds. I have no breen ships and no corvette. They looked fun to play with, but not for the amount of effort required in my opinion.
However, I realize that it's a bit late in the development schedule to do drastic changes. So I'd like to offer a compromise: Reduce the 15 days to 7 days this time around. I'm of the opinion that no event should take more than a week to finish up. This goes with my earlier post about events being a nice break/diversion from the daily grinds. Just something nice for a week to play around and goof off. This is largely how the other MMOs I've played have handled it and I like that style much better. This would also give those who have less time to play a better chance at getting the ships. A month long event that only needs 1 week total should be adequate I believe.
If you captain a ship, you're a captain. Don't have to do with rank. In other words, there are two definitions to "captain"... one is rank, and the other is commanding officer of a ship.
Comments
This thing gonna be a carrier too?
But he speaks for me and many others. This event or anniversary event is to give thanks to all the players that during last year supported the game via ZEN, subscriptions etc etc and you are going to repay us by giving us more work?
You're making an assumption. Brandon said there would be giveaways. He didn't say it would be like this summer's giveaways. We don't know what this means until they tell us in their own good time.
I have one word: precedent.
Once a precedent has been set, it's unusual for anything in this game to revert back to the "old" way. Some of us are picturing 2015 when we've just begun recovering from the 2014 Winter Event and seeing something like this roll back around with another gaggle of ships that takes "a little extra effort" to get. To be followed by C-Store and/or fleet versions a month later.
So I'd just like to know up front... Will variants of these ships show up in the C-Store? Can I just skip the event and wait for it?
(My guess is no. If anything, they might show up as per character Fleet ships.)
My boys are both playing Engineers... not sure this is worth grinding, for them. They won't get the best use out of a "Science Destroyer" unless there's some other mechanic they haven't revealed yet. Won't make my decision until I see the stats.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the paradigm of "Do X, Y times, then get Z".
What I'm after is something to ease the grind. Make it more interesting and replayable, or else with fewer repetitions -- so I don't have to feel like I'm giving up having fun or working toward other rewards just for some collectable reward ship I might end up never using. (Still haven't flown last year's Chel Grett and only got it on one character)
"Do T, U, V, or W once a day for Y days", or a lower value of Y than 15-20 times per character, or even "if you want to grind for the basic model, that's cool, but you can get the advanced version in the C-Store next month if you don't want to grind it."
I know I'm not likely to get the old way back, and it's too late to make any changes this year, so I'm looking for a new precedent to be set for next year that brings the fun and eases the sting.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Further feedback from me then ...
I know this is speculation at the moment cause nothing has been mention of it officially, but if these ships are going to get fleet variants (highly likely seeing as they come standard with 9 consoles, fleet ships generally have 10), and taking into account that we do have to grind for these, could we (at the very least) have the fleet version cost a single ship module instead of four (or five). Ideally they'd cost nothing but fleet marks, but I get you guys have to make money.
Secondly, are you able to talk about skins? These ships all share that Sphere-themed-appearance, yet I'd like to fly a Federation ship that looks like it's Federation, hull pattern included. In addition, if you are opening up an event-like window for anniversary ships, are there any plans to open up event windows for past anniversary ships and rewards? I wouldn't mind that TNG sash for one of my Federation officers (he's a Klingon).
... it seems unlikely (considering the work involved) that these Qmendations are going to be a one-time thing.
That is all.
Cheers.
I posted this yesterday:
This giveaway was already planned well before this thread, so the timing is unfortunately and as some may look at it as we're making up for the "grind"y, but in actuality, this was planned well in advance and is why "leaks" like this can alter the perception once information and blogs come out. It was unfortunate, as we really wanted it to be the opposite.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Bran
Thank you for replying to this thread and giving us some sense that it isn't an echo chamber.
I think the clarifications you've made are stuff we mostly knew or suspected.
400 QM for a mission, then grind out 600 more either by playing a mini game or buying lobi.
You say a handful of minutes to run the minigame, but of course that wont take into account getting to the academy.
So, in a comparison from last year, for a players with six toons, we're looking at 6 x 15 minutes (to run through the missions that were offered), as compared with 6 x 10-15 minutes (for the FE), followed by 6 x 15 x 5 minutes (lets be generous and say 5 minutes with travel time).
So, last years anniversary event required 90 minutes from our theoretical player, a time that could be spent at any point during the event. No cooldowns had to be waited for.
This year, the same player must put in 540 minutes. Furthermore they must log in for 15 days while the event is running, as cooldowns are waited for.
I think we already knew the scale of the problem Bran.
The problem is that an event that was a celebration of the longevity of the game has been turned into a grind. A pretty strong grind, right after another grind. And we're getting indications from Mr D'Angelo that he rather likes grinds.
Can you address this issue Bran? You were an ordinary player once.
We've gone from 90 minutes, played whenever you like; to 540 minutes on a schedule imposed by Cryptic.
The ships look lovely, but they don't disguise such a radical shift.
Actually, anyone who commands a ship is a Captain.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Fixed a few things for you (in red). :P Not entirely sure I got the last one right, but...
I still think it should be account-wide. Or at least faction-wide. That'd mitigate the problem a lot, even if you still have to do 45 dailies.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Depends of the size of the ship...;)
So wait, if I understand this correctly, you're not actually giving us a ship anymore? You took the anniversary ship gift away and are giving us other things instead, but are conveniently letting us grind for a new ship at the same time as part of the same event?
What's the justification for making players have to log in every other day when you acknowledge it's just for a 2-5 minute mission?
My main is an ambassador :P
You keep repeating the same answers over and over. It is obvious that our feedback on this issue, like so many times before, is moot. So I will repeat the same feedback over and over in the dim hopes that maybe Geko will stop looking down his nose at us and actually listen.
The first time a "free" grind ship came out, I dutifully ground it out on 10+ toons. And of those 10+ toons I fly it on zero of them. The grind took up all of my play time for the month of December that year, it was also the same time you introduced the first rep grind, and it put me a month behind in that as well.
The next grind ship, from Risa, I ground out on 3 toons, and use it on zero. Again, this took up much of my play time while it was happening. I will say that the map and events there were much better then the winter events, but still, it got old really fast.
This years grind ship I didn't even bother with. Just the though of running that dam ice race, 10 times a day for a month made my head ache.
And now we are off to the grind again. Why can't you take example from your own events and do with this what you did with sphere of influence, or the Odyssey/bortasque release?
Give us a "free" T5 version of the ship for participating in the event at the time of its launch. and then put the full, you might actually use it version, in the c store so that all of your toons can have it. Hell at this point I might even settle for the lobi store like the advanced obelisk. I may only have it on one toon, but at least that way I can earn it on my terms.
Everything you have released in the last year seems bent on punishing people who actively play more then one character. And frankly it is starting to push me away from the game.
As you mentioned "You were an ordinary player once" -- I actually still am an ordinary player, playing every night to get up my reps, contribute inputs to my fleet, work on my builds, etc. I started working here in Nov. 2011, and just like everyone else at that time, I had to work towards my drops in the STFs. After 300+ runs of IGE, I finally got my PSG. I ran IGE multiple times a night until that happened.
Regarding the ships, I know that my Fed Engineer is going to continue flying his Recluse, so I am not planning on running the project for him. Same for my KDF Tactical. However, I am very interested in some of my other characters flying this ship, so I'll run it on them.
That said, I can empathize with our ship collectors out there though, and so does the team, and is why we continue to talk about this and consider your feedback. The event is not live yet, so anything is subject to change. Heck, the blogs about the event are not even out yet
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Ok... I am gonna bit... heck, I will even try to "forgive" (in lack of a better word) you guys this time around...
That said:
Start doing something different. This whole come-back-and-do-the-same-x-times... It's too much.
Look... remember the mission "Spin the wheel"..? Do that... Missions like that... Basic do-and-get missions, where you have to fix something for the production of the ship.
I mean, we can do these really simple missions in the foundry in 10 - 15 minutes, and I HAVE to assume Cryptic have significantly better tools (not that it takes much), so do it...
Make the easy missions, that take 10-15 minutes to make, and have a new one each day, or 15 rotating ones...
Believe it or not... doing this could have saved you the back-fire you are experiencing right now..
Or give some of the best foundry creators X-Zen pr mission they would offer for you to implement in such a chain...
SOMETHING different than the same bloody mission every day.
Well it is better that we know about it now, ahead of time. There is plenty of time to go in and code-fix this so there is either far far less grind, no cool down on the grind OR do away with the grind entirely.
I mentioned I'm moving and I'll be without net for at least a month. So I miss out on this entirely. Highly unfair. I want the ship... would be willing to pay cash in hand for it out of the C-store or even the Lobi store.
Instead, we are rewarded for another year of loyalty with another punishing grind on top of ALL THE OTHER GRINDS IN THE GAME.
I'm going dark here very shortly in preparation for my move -- don't know if I'll be back once I do restore internet at the other end of my journey... I do NOT like the direction this game has gone in and I DO NOT like the fact that I have to grind... for an anniversary "reward."
I don't see problem Brandon,
tell your Cryptic team to raise from 400 Omendations to 700 and problem solved.... we can enjoy grinding mission for rest 300 Omendations... you will have player based on servers this month and that will sound very great on paper and players will not be sickened by Grinding.....is this so hard to do ?
For a moment I felt bad for posting this leak, but on the other hand this was coming one way or another. If anything, I wish this hadn't caused so many problems to Brandon so early on. :P
Regardless, I still think there are some issues that should be cleared up in the next week's blogs. For example, we will be able to buy Qmendations for Lobi to get our 9 console ship, but will there be an eventual 10 console upgrade sold in C-Store/Fleet Store/Lobi Store? And if so, won't it seem unfair to people who have spend their Lobi on the Anniversary version?
With respect to this (highlighted), would it not be more ... practical for certain event details to be released a little earlier? Ship stats and images don't need to come until a week before release, but the teams intentions could do with being seen earlier.
The feedback here is a good example of that. The team made their plans and let everyone know, now (most people) are kicking off about it as they're unhappy. If the team wishes to please those people (some of them at least, you'll never please everyone) they're going to have to make some quick and sudden changes to the way they planned to implement the event.
If some details of the event were released earlier, then they'd get their feedback earlier and would have more time to assess the situation and make the relevant changes. As it stands, you guys have a week to essentially fix it for the community. Isn't that a rush? Wouldn't said fix take time away from other ongoing projects?
<smiles>
And you make a fair point that others have made somewhat more aggresively. Nobody has to grind this out for any of their toons.
I will say though, that these ships have been made to be as desireable as possible. And they truly are interesting. I think there is a legitimate question about power creep, but thats another issue.
However, why do these ships have to be ground for now?
I can honestly say that if the summer event of Risa had, somehow, these ships for rewards I'd have absolutely no objection.
The timing of this grind is extremely and predictably unfortunate.
Given that a wholesale reorganisation is probably impossible at this point, please allow me to suggest a few ways to lessen the grind.
1. Qmmendations are a lovely pun, but make them interchangeable with Q glossies. Q really doesn't need two currencies and it'd allow players to lessen this grind with resources from the WW.
2. Bite the bullet and do for QM what you've done for lobi. Make it account, rather than character bound. Thus the player that can only get on at the weekend can still get this ship by combining resources from multiple toons.
3. Reduce the cooldown on the daily, even making it every 6 hours would help.
4. Currently you can buy, with 5 lobi, 2-6 of these sort of resources. That is a bit stingy, 5 lobi getting you 5 QM would be better, as it'd remove the gamble if one was using a limited amount of lobi.
And with respect and apologies.........
You are our developers, you are the reason we are here and why the game continues to exist. You are important to us, and so are your decisions.
Cheers,
Rinkster
Unless you are an Admiral.
so Brandon, you might as well of reposted your post from yesterday, cause it was basically the same thing..
as far as the other giveaways, it doesn't matter, I mean unless its better than the ship.. the idea of the anniversary event (that people have been talking about for months now) is that we get a ship, which is the most popular thing in the game (ships).. a thank you if you will, not another stressfull (oh sh*t, ive got to make sure I log in for 16 days straight to get it.. and jeese, I hope the 2 feet of snow that is predicted doesn't knock power out for a few days and what not lol..) and as far as it being only a little grind.. weve grinded for a year, its time to let us have a vacation that rewards us something..
ontop of that, last year we got a ship, a costume, q's little leveling boost, accolades, and the party popper thing.. and past years were similier.. the obelisk was a nice surprise, I didn't like the mission all that much, but I genuinely said, "hey, they care" and I don't say that often..
that is the precident that was set.. that is what I expect out of the anniversary event.. and all we had to do was one (friggen awesome) mission..
ive said it before through out the years.. cryptic is constantly testing the boundries of what they can get away with.. and this time, its gone too far..
and as far as anything is changeable, well that is a load of horse TRIBBLE, cause firstly, the past has shown us that cryptic isn't really all that flexible, even when the community doesn't like something, you just force feed us it anyways, and the devs barely know how to tie their shoes without messing something up ingame, so I don't see them even trying to change how the event works..
I cant remember anyone saying, oh yay, I love grind.. please, release this in its grinding state.. no, I seem to remember a lot of opposition to the grind.. yet, we get more and more and more..
and remember, there is a difference between repeatable over a long term, and repeatable short term.. id much rather have weekly stuff, than daily. that way I do my grind, 2-3 times a week, and can enjoy the things I actually enjoy about the game the rest of the time.. cause that is what this is after all, a game.. not a chore, or a job...
After reading the blog and getting a feel for the ships themselves...I'm still not convinced unfortunately. The ships really do look awesome and it would work great on my Fed sci, but the 15 day grind still puts me off. For the record, I haven't done any of the event ship grinds. I have no breen ships and no corvette. They looked fun to play with, but not for the amount of effort required in my opinion.
However, I realize that it's a bit late in the development schedule to do drastic changes. So I'd like to offer a compromise: Reduce the 15 days to 7 days this time around. I'm of the opinion that no event should take more than a week to finish up. This goes with my earlier post about events being a nice break/diversion from the daily grinds. Just something nice for a week to play around and goof off. This is largely how the other MMOs I've played have handled it and I like that style much better. This would also give those who have less time to play a better chance at getting the ships. A month long event that only needs 1 week total should be adequate I believe.
Mine Trap Supporter
Helpful Tools: Dictionary.com - Logical fallacies - Random generator - Word generator - Color tool - Extra Credits - List of common English language errors - New T6 Big booty tutorial