I mostly interested in the breadth of choices we'll have available to us for that secondary deflector slot. The way it was written, "Solanae Secondary Deflector", makes it sound very particular, as if we won't be able to slot a deflector our choice in there (i.e an Omega Force deflector to go with our MACO Deflector). Which makes sense, but just what will our options (if any) be for that secondary deflector?
I have a suggestion, I think this might be the best way to handle these grinds going forward. A lot of the problem isn't that it is something we have to do day after day, it is something that isn't fun that we have to do day after day. Its busywork. The race for the winter event didn't take long, no, but it was boring, annoying, and honestly pretty stupid. Same for the Risa thing, the jetpacks were novel for a couple of days and then it just became a tedious, monotonous grind that no one actually enjoyed that I know of.
So we need 600 Qmendations to get this, and the mission you've come up with to get them takes 2-5 minutes on average. That, to me, spells repetitive. There is apparently a choice of minigame, which is a step in the right direction, but honestly? I don't think we need this. The ships are related to the Dyson Sphere, right? Both Dyson STFs offer a choice of marks. Why not add a third choice for the duration of the event, so we can get Qmendations by doing something that is actually fun? Something not on a daily timer, something that would make the grind no different than any other rep grind. I have no problem putting in effort for a reward, but this is a game, and that effort should be fun.
Putting stuff that looks cool and fun behind 15/25 days of boring busywork is a horrible method of doing these events. Give us options, and no, Lobi is not an option, especially at the frankly ridiculous exchange rate of 5 lobi for 2-6 marks. The grinds are too long, too boring, honestly they feel more like punishment for not having unlimited disposable income than they feel like gameplay, and yes I know a lot of F2P game design is built around psychological tricks to make people pay for things they can technically get for free. Still, these event ships are just handled horribly.
I don't mean any disrespect to anyone on the team, if you read my post that was merged into this thread you can see I've got some fairly good reasons to dislike this practice.
I mostly interested in the breadth of choices we'll have available to us for that secondary deflector slot. The way it was written, "Solanae Secondary Deflector", makes it sound very particular, as if we won't be able to slot a deflector our choice in there (i.e an Omega Force deflector to go with our MACO Deflector). Which makes sense, but just what will our options (if any) be for that secondary deflector?
This post is kind of off topic, but a secondary deflector != a deflector. You'll still be able to slot whatever main deflector you want, the secondary one is just extra, a long talked about feature they've been wanting to add to science ships.
I have to agree with a lot of other people that a grind is a grind, no matter what you put on the end of it. Anytime you place a menial and repetitive task into getting a reward, you cheapen the game by taking the fun out of it. When you take the fun out of the game you make it a grind, and this game already has too many of those at end game. We have the personal rep, the fleet rep, the special event rep, the accolades, and grinding to get endgame gear for multiple ships and people across multiple accounts. The Anniversary events should be about celebrating, not baiting the players to play more often. We should be playing daily because it's fun, not because we feel that we have to just to get ahead.
As a side note, please change the name Qmandations. Q should have nothing to do with Starfleet designing a new ship, or every single anniversary and special event. Sometimes, it would be nice to just have it be done by the faction leaders, or even your crew on the ship throwing an event. Q doesn't have to be involved in every special occasion.
As another side to that note: Please make The Infected skin full body. Ending it at the neck like that really looks terrible.
Considering feedback we were actually never supposed to give (until it would have been to late)? Well, for what it's worth: I'd prefer the old setup of a free teaser variant and a paid cstore variant like to odyssey or fleet variant like the ambassador (and their equivalents).
This way everyone got a new ship to fly as thank you for playing STO as part of the anniversary, while you guys could still monetize your work with the upgraded full variant.
Watch out. These are against TOS and can get you banned. Just learned about this one ...
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
To be fair to Bran, he is responding to our request. I hope they reconsider their plan and give out the basic ship for free. Leave the consoles in lobi store.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
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 =/\=
Well i guess im out the ships. Im having shoulder surgery and wont be able to play regularly for a few weeks. If it had been a simple mission/FE like the Odd 1 day all your toons get it.
Grinds arent fun. Grinds for "Free" stuff are even less fun. Winter/Summer/Ann grinds are all WAAAYYY to long. Who wants to spend 15-25 days doing that? Honestly. Then you yank the content out of an already low content game at the end. Aka Mars Utopia Planisha.
Instead of inserting grinds, game makers need to just make content FUN and REWARDING. People will repeat play if it is. Grinds kill that urge like RAID kills roachs.
Ships look sweet, and sounds neat. But I will miss this boat. God be with those who grind this out on all their toons, I hope their eyes dont bleed to much.
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 =/\=
Hello-
I'm glad to hear that this thread is being monitored, thank you.
I do not like to grind. If I'm going to grind for an item then I'd like the item to be top tier, and that grind to be short, interesting (e.g. the extra lobi event Featured Episode (FE) replays-mildly interesting), varied, and challenging, but not too hard (e.g. the Summer Event Flying maze). While I'd like this Anniversary ship to be more Science-oriented, and am disappointed that it is not, I understand that there probably are competing business pressures.
In addition, I'd much rather grind for a better item than get a subpar one in a one-off mission and learn that a better one will be made available in the C-Store or for Lobi. I want a 10 console ship if I am grinding for it.
I think that 400 Qmendation points from the first play of the FE is a good starting compromise point for an Anniversary Event that was a one-mission then receive item tradition. I?m sure that the company established a 15 day minimum threshold for running the event for a reason. At this point, given that the event is going to be run for 25+ days, that 400 Qmendation points (10 free days) will be given to players, and 15 back-to-back dailies need to be run before the first ships appear in game; then perhaps FE replays for Qmendations can be offered on the weekends after the initial 15 day period. Or give players a choice to earn Qmendations doing other things after that 15 day period, while still running the daily.
And I wanted to say thanks again to Brandon and others for their hard work and attention. I appreciate Cryptic/PWE considering my opinions.
Instead of inserting grinds, game makers need to just make content FUN and REWARDING. People will repeat play if it is. Grinds kill that urge like RAID kills roachs.
Indeed. Grinding, unless it puts the focus on a fun and variable aspect of the game, can easily kill the game aspect of it. Though with what Bran posted this is probably going to be the least intensive grind I've done for this game (it'll hardly break me out of my usual routine), the point should still definitely be made "Please don't pull this TRIBBLE." There's enough repetition between Dilithium, reputation systems, maintaining a decent level of EC, Doff assignments, and the general format of this game that additional grinds don't do nearly as much as short-cutting them (more.)
That said, I can appreciate cryptic not wanting to completely flood the game with powerful freebie ships, but you guys do need to go a bit further in the compromises to at least make this approachable for multi-toon players (how about an account level ship unlock for getting 1000 qmendations? Give everyone the same hill to climb.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I rather just buy the last 600 marks for 20 dollars on the Cstore (not z, TRIBBLE perfectworld, it'll always be Cstore to me) as an ACCOUNT unlock, NO opening boxes to get LOBI.
I have multiple characters so it WILL be a grind when I am doing this on 7 characters every day. That's not even fun and especially since it was just recently, I was grinding that Christmas event. It's like we don't even get a break from it. I honestly don't get why games have to be joblike. I have a job and it sucks. I play games to not emulate a job. Take my money from my job on the Cstore and let me buy the last marks for 20 dollars. No lobi nonsense.
Bran I know you don't like leaking all this stuff but the 722 posts in this thread really show we need clarity, and we need clarity now.
Is the ship from the grind indeed 9 consoles?
Will there be a 10 console variant available concurrently? If so, will it be C-Store, Fleet Store, or Lobi Store?
Would Cryptic/PWE consider one of the many, many compromises being suggested, i.e. account binding Qmendations, removing the daily timegate, reducing the amount required for the project, putting it in the c-store straight away, letting players test the ship on Tribble to see if it is worth their time?
I won't lie, I'm angry. Anniversary ships have always been free. I don't have much issue with grinding when it is not time-limited or I can do it on my own terms. This event, from everything you have said, is none of those. It needs to be.
Again, Romulans only have ONE science ship available to them, and it doesn't even have an original design, its just the top half of the Ha'apax. The R'Mor doesn't cloak or use a singularity core, plus its an extremely expensive lockbox ship. Unless you count the Vo'quv, which most wouldn't, Klingons have ZERO science ships available to them without paying for the Varanus, widely regarded as a sub-par ship. I know finding new ways to make us grind doesn't take as much dev time as interesting content does, but you've developed three ships, two of which are SORELY needed by their respective factions, and they are, to our best understanding, limited availability ships that require grinding or exhorbitant cost, and are deliberately underpowered.
Sorry, but I think you need to push some of this information sooner than intended, I know if I could get all the money I've poured into this game refunded, I would, at the drop of a hat, but that's not going to happen. I trusted Cryptic and by extension PWE. Please, repay this trust.
In the interests of giving useful feedback I'm going to lay out how I approach these kinds of events, in the hopes that other people will affirm what I am saying and so that it makes sense.
When I am using a character in a multi-day event, like the Winter Event, I recognize that it can take a certain amount of time to get from point A to point B. Add in stops at the Bank or Exchange, and it gets even longer.
Because I know I have limited time to earn the rewards, because I have limited play time before wife aggro kicks in, and because I am likely going to run this event on multiple characters I pretty much "park" those characters at the starting point for the event.
If I don't, I run the risk that I will run out of time and won't be able to collect what I need to finish the event.
I did nothing else with those characters, except DOFFing. This past Winter Event, I had three characters who barely ever left ESD/Qo'Nos. I logged them on, I ran the race, I sometimes did some of the other activities for awhile, and I logged out. I didn't use up any time going from point A to point B. It would have been a lot harder if the Winter Wonderland didn't have convenient Bank services.
My 2 boys were running the event with me, one at a time since we only have two laptops. Likewise, they never left the event the whole time. Unlike me, they don't have all of those handy transwarp destinations and slipstream drives to fall back on yet. They did not progress in the storyline, they did not level like they would have if they had been running the normal mission progression. Some nights (some of those were school nights) we basically did the race and got out.
Is it any wonder that we get tired of events by the time they're over?
Sure, we could have done other stuff, too. But that would have involved all of that point A to point B travel time. It definitely would've had a negative influence on marital bliss. And, like I said, there were many nights we simply didn't have time to do more than race. The boys had to get the hang of the ice track at first, and had to redo it 3-4 tries a night.
During that time, I didn't earn a lot of dilithium. I didn't earn a lot of fleet marks. Most of my non-Event Reputations came to a standstill. Choosing to make these events a priority means that I am not doing other things that earns the resources I need to build my characters and my fleet, or helping my boys to level up to 50.
That's what I'm reacting to. I was looking forward to a fun, quick, no-stress anniversary mission where my boys get a free ship to fly when they get to level 50. Because that's been the precedent set up until now. I give Cryptic money on a regular basis, so it's not like I'm not supporting the game and crying for freebies at Cryptic's expense.
I'm in the same boat with bluegeek. I'm in my seat for as long as I can be as it is, I don't want my limited time spent running the same mind-numbing task for several days AGAIN... especially so soon after we just finished the Winter event.
I don't just want a free ship handed to me for nothing either. If Cryptic needs more money than having people play one mission (or a series) can give them, then they should just put the ships in the C-Store.
Yeah, we got a choice whether to run it or not. It might be time to opt-out. But I hate to miss-out too.
Star Trek Battles Channel - Play Star Trek like they did in the series!Avatar: pinterest-com/pin/14003448816884219Are you sure it isn't time for a "colorful metaphor"? --Spock in 'The Voyage Home' SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
As a side note, please change the name Qmandations. Q should have nothing to do with Starfleet designing a new ship, or every single anniversary and special event. Sometimes, it would be nice to just have it be done by the faction leaders, or even your crew on the ship throwing an event. Q doesn't have to be involved in every special occasion.
Not that the issue itself is big of a deal or something very important, but I do kinda' agree with you on this one. I also feel that Q is being slightly overused lately and it's starting to get way too goofy. He really doesn't need to be involved in each and every ocassion. I'm just happy he wasn't involved in the summer event.
Had a lengthy back-and-forth on twitter with Bran about this. Bottom line, from what I can tell his hands are tied as to giving us any more information, like, nine or ten consoles, will there be a version available through alternate, non-grindy means, etc. The dev blogs containing all those details will go up next week, and that will be that.
Since the messaging seems to be heavy on "choice" and I do agree, these ships are a choice, like all ships ultimately are, but we're not going to have much time to make an educated decision before starting that grind, I suggested, and suggest again, here in the forums, that all such event ships be made available freely on Tribble before the event goes live so players can see whether or not they want to devote their time to them. I think that's a reasonable first step, though I still maintain that all event ship grinds need more options that are less tedious and/or less cash intensive.
I got a little heated and for that I'm sorry, both to my fellow players and to Bran, there's a lot of personal drama between me and PWE support when my illness was at its worst. Keep posting suggestions in this thread, and opinions, everyone. They need to hear this and Bran is our best conduit for getting this feedback to the people who make the decisions. Bran doesn't do that. And he does his job well, and already gave us quite a bit of information that he probably wasn't supposed to, or at least scheduled to.
Can we have the return of the Festive Party Popper (that makes balloons) and the other past versions of it? There are still some in the c-store but it's too pricey for me to get the balloon one for characters I didn't have last year during the event.
well they just posted the "free c store giveaways" which is a good gesture, and I highly appreciate it (and Is a good move on cryptics part as given how upset this is making people..
however, I just want to make sure that this doesn't cloud some of the main points in this thread, as they are things that will effect star trek online going forward.. most importantly, that value is something we are striving for, not just in what we spend money on, but in the game itself.. I see as a majority of the community wants the grind to change ( not necessarily go away, but be more friendly and less blatent.
I for one want the game to switch focus from grind this and that to hey, heres some meaintenance you have to do (like in every mmo) but we value your time doing the things you like in game as well.
don't look at this as a dodged bullet, but as chance to right some wrongs, and to streamline the game to something everyone can enjoy, not just the unemployed.. lol...
again, still sucks that there is a grind for the anniversery ship, and it shouldn't be, and grinds suck.. plain and simple.. I bet even the people who don't mind them as much (ie, your fan boys) wouldn't mind having some time to run some foundry, or an older mission they like or what not..
well they just posted the "free c store giveaways" which is a good gesture, and I highly appreciate it (and Is a good move on cryptics part as given how upset this is making people..
I don't appreciate it! I'll be at a conference until Wednesday!
Dammit Cryptic you can't do anything right.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
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.
These are all just fluff words since it doesn't seem like you guys are going to budge on the whole grinding aspect. Not sure why you shifted to this when the previous three free ships (Odyssey, Ambassador, Obelisk) were limited time rewards to new missions. With three different faction ships, these "fun" dailies will immediately become a chore.
These are all just fluff words since it doesn't seem like you guys are going to budge on the whole grinding aspect. Not sure why you shifted to this when the previous three free ships (Odyssey, Ambassador, Obelisk) were limited time rewards to new missions.
We might understand better once the stats and new abilities are posted. There's free ships, and then there's free ships which might require an extra gate or two just so they don't totally de-value the next set of freebies Cryptic throws out there.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Yeah I don't like this free cstore gifts in exchange for accepting this grinding gameplay and playing a game like a job. I already do other grinds daily and on multiple characters so this anniversary grind won't be fun. These mmos always do this, giving something to try to mask the bad TRIBBLE they are about to do (grinds, nerfs etc).
This man does not speak for all of us. I'm happy to grind for this beautiful free ship.
This man does not speak for me. I don't mind grinding for a ship, nor do I mind being given a free ship- but I don't make the mistake of confusing the two very different things, either.
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.
For me, the above was back when this was a single thread less than 4 pages long.
Now, what I'm picturing is 2015 when you finish up the Winter Wonderland grind/"freebie," then do the Anniversary grind/"freebie," then move on to the Spring Event grind/"freebie," the Risa Summer Lohlunat Festival grind/"freebie," and then (it being 2015) get treated to the rollout of the Rura Penthe Fall Festival grind/"freebie" before starting over with the 2015 Q's Winter Wonderland.
All that remains, it would seem to my paranoid grumpy self, is working out how new characters will level by doing nothing but the nonstop Event grinds for "free" ships. (Which then have better versions rolled out in Fleet/C-store.)
Glad all 10 of mine are level 50 already, all I've got to do is grind 10 "free" ships per festival. It's a CDO thing...functionally it's just like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be.
We might understand better once the stats and new abilities are posted. There's free ships, and then there's free ships which might require an extra gate or two just so they don't totally de-value the next set of freebies Cryptic throws out there.
They've posted about the new abilities in the big designing a ship blog, as well as some details about what the ship is supposed to be. So while it's not an exact measure of the final stats and complete ability description, it's enough to give an idea.
Is there anyway that we can get a video of the two options of mini-games we can choose from? This will at least give us a chance to see what we will be in for, and how to do it.
And, if so, can we get it before the event starts, or before it is way too later to benefit anyone? This is not a priority, just an idea.
Leader of Elite Guardian Academy.Would you like to learn how to run a fleet? Would you like to know how to do ship builds (true budget as well as high end)?The join the Academy today!
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.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Well... you might reconsider the idea of account wide unlocks.
Ok I know this will not happen... especially with the good old/new DeAngelo back in charge who is infamous for being allergic to the word "account wide"... but still an account wide unlock would rise the incentive to those types of events A LOT.
People STILL would lock in daily, wich seems to be the major point of this. They, after all have to do the mission once a day, but not on multiple characters (well in this case... still on 3 characters.... mhm...)
But the event would be a lot less annoying if that wouldn't have to be done multiple times per day (on multiple characters). In this particular case, even if you don't want the ship on every character, you would probably want in on at least on of every faction...
So people would hate the grind a little less if they had only to do it with 1 char.
The mission itself could/should work kind of like the Lobi event, with only being able to get that marks once a day per account too.
And, speaking of lobby, people who invest on lobby to get the ships will do that either anyway or not at all. You don't run a mission to get stuff for "free" with 4 characters and then buy it for the 5th.
I know it won't happen.... but I wanted to suggest it anyway.
On a distantly relatet note:
Any chance we'll get the Worf sash and beard again in this event?
I've been thinking about this thread for a while. I figure I'll throw in my two credits, for what they're worth.
I kind of understand why it was linked to a reputation event. I would rather work for something as awesome as these ships than just be handed them, but I really wouldn't want to do a daily grind either. I consider myself a "ship collector".. but I use that term account wide. I don't have to have each and every ship on each and every character.
I plan on getting the Romulan ship for sure on my Romulan science toon because I've wanted something sweet looking that has a Commander science slot. I just don't like the Ha'apax. I won't be getting it on my other Romulan, I'm pretty darned happy with my Fleet D'deridex for him.
I'm happy with the ships my two Fed toons use, too, but I'll probably get it on at least one of them. I'm not sure what one yet; I'm really not sure I'd use it, I'm happy with my Trill's Vesta and my Human's Fleet Sovereign.
I'm also happy with my Klingon's Mogh.. but I'll probably pick it up just to have it. So I'll have to do it three times a day, plus the initial mission three times. Honestly is that a big deal for me? Nah. I only work three days a week.. so I shouldn't have any problem getting it done unless my connection craps out.
Anyway, back to what I was saying originally.. I can see why it was maybe linked to a reputation event, but I still don't really want it to be. I want to work for it in a fun way, but I don't want to grind for it. It's the fourth anniversary of a game some doomsayers were claiming wouldn't make it past it's second year. I want to work for these ships. I want to work for them in an epic way.
I just wish that epic way had linked the event reputation with a featured episode series. I know that would have been an enormous undertaking, but how awesome would it have been to have spread it across four or five episodes and each time you complete one you get a "piece of dyson tech" or something to slot into the rep project to build the ship. How awesome would it have been to raid a Voth engineering lab to steal a hybrid dyson warp (or singularity) core like the Voyager crew did a Borg transwarp coil.
Lot's of work dev side.. but something like that would have been epic and it wouldn't have been instant gratification, which was the precedent we had up until now. I do like free stuff, and I think the c-store giveaway is completely and totally kick***, I love it, but I don't want the big prize to be instant gratification.. I want to get it from some epic story driven gameplay over the course of a few episodes.
I completely get the "grind." I just would have liked a grind hidden behind an epic featured episode series.
I don't appreciate it! I'll be at a conference until Wednesday!
Dammit Cryptic you can't do anything right.
oh don't worry, im still pissed they tried to pull that bull and that there is still yet another grind.. but, you have to call it what it is, it was a gesture on their part, which is why in my post I asked that we keep pushing for rectification on that..
We must have some kind of go back on time mission that can give us a "token of rerolling", so I can change my science for tactical (Oh mine I gave Cryptic an idea for a new item in C store the "Token of Rerolling"):D
You don't want that. They can't get the character rename to work properly. Just imagine how corrupted your character would be if they let you change profession.
Comments
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
So we need 600 Qmendations to get this, and the mission you've come up with to get them takes 2-5 minutes on average. That, to me, spells repetitive. There is apparently a choice of minigame, which is a step in the right direction, but honestly? I don't think we need this. The ships are related to the Dyson Sphere, right? Both Dyson STFs offer a choice of marks. Why not add a third choice for the duration of the event, so we can get Qmendations by doing something that is actually fun? Something not on a daily timer, something that would make the grind no different than any other rep grind. I have no problem putting in effort for a reward, but this is a game, and that effort should be fun.
Putting stuff that looks cool and fun behind 15/25 days of boring busywork is a horrible method of doing these events. Give us options, and no, Lobi is not an option, especially at the frankly ridiculous exchange rate of 5 lobi for 2-6 marks. The grinds are too long, too boring, honestly they feel more like punishment for not having unlimited disposable income than they feel like gameplay, and yes I know a lot of F2P game design is built around psychological tricks to make people pay for things they can technically get for free. Still, these event ships are just handled horribly.
I don't mean any disrespect to anyone on the team, if you read my post that was merged into this thread you can see I've got some fairly good reasons to dislike this practice.
As a side note, please change the name Qmandations. Q should have nothing to do with Starfleet designing a new ship, or every single anniversary and special event. Sometimes, it would be nice to just have it be done by the faction leaders, or even your crew on the ship throwing an event. Q doesn't have to be involved in every special occasion.
As another side to that note: Please make The Infected skin full body. Ending it at the neck like that really looks terrible.
My same exact feelings!
- Judge Aaron Satie
- Judge Aaron Satie
Well i guess im out the ships. Im having shoulder surgery and wont be able to play regularly for a few weeks. If it had been a simple mission/FE like the Odd 1 day all your toons get it.
Grinds arent fun. Grinds for "Free" stuff are even less fun. Winter/Summer/Ann grinds are all WAAAYYY to long. Who wants to spend 15-25 days doing that? Honestly. Then you yank the content out of an already low content game at the end. Aka Mars Utopia Planisha.
Instead of inserting grinds, game makers need to just make content FUN and REWARDING. People will repeat play if it is. Grinds kill that urge like RAID kills roachs.
Ships look sweet, and sounds neat. But I will miss this boat. God be with those who grind this out on all their toons, I hope their eyes dont bleed to much.
Hello-
I'm glad to hear that this thread is being monitored, thank you.
I do not like to grind. If I'm going to grind for an item then I'd like the item to be top tier, and that grind to be short, interesting (e.g. the extra lobi event Featured Episode (FE) replays-mildly interesting), varied, and challenging, but not too hard (e.g. the Summer Event Flying maze). While I'd like this Anniversary ship to be more Science-oriented, and am disappointed that it is not, I understand that there probably are competing business pressures.
In addition, I'd much rather grind for a better item than get a subpar one in a one-off mission and learn that a better one will be made available in the C-Store or for Lobi. I want a 10 console ship if I am grinding for it.
I think that 400 Qmendation points from the first play of the FE is a good starting compromise point for an Anniversary Event that was a one-mission then receive item tradition. I?m sure that the company established a 15 day minimum threshold for running the event for a reason. At this point, given that the event is going to be run for 25+ days, that 400 Qmendation points (10 free days) will be given to players, and 15 back-to-back dailies need to be run before the first ships appear in game; then perhaps FE replays for Qmendations can be offered on the weekends after the initial 15 day period. Or give players a choice to earn Qmendations doing other things after that 15 day period, while still running the daily.
And I wanted to say thanks again to Brandon and others for their hard work and attention. I appreciate Cryptic/PWE considering my opinions.
Indeed. Grinding, unless it puts the focus on a fun and variable aspect of the game, can easily kill the game aspect of it. Though with what Bran posted this is probably going to be the least intensive grind I've done for this game (it'll hardly break me out of my usual routine), the point should still definitely be made "Please don't pull this TRIBBLE." There's enough repetition between Dilithium, reputation systems, maintaining a decent level of EC, Doff assignments, and the general format of this game that additional grinds don't do nearly as much as short-cutting them (more.)
That said, I can appreciate cryptic not wanting to completely flood the game with powerful freebie ships, but you guys do need to go a bit further in the compromises to at least make this approachable for multi-toon players (how about an account level ship unlock for getting 1000 qmendations? Give everyone the same hill to climb.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I have multiple characters so it WILL be a grind when I am doing this on 7 characters every day. That's not even fun and especially since it was just recently, I was grinding that Christmas event. It's like we don't even get a break from it. I honestly don't get why games have to be joblike. I have a job and it sucks. I play games to not emulate a job. Take my money from my job on the Cstore and let me buy the last marks for 20 dollars. No lobi nonsense.
Is the ship from the grind indeed 9 consoles?
Will there be a 10 console variant available concurrently? If so, will it be C-Store, Fleet Store, or Lobi Store?
Would Cryptic/PWE consider one of the many, many compromises being suggested, i.e. account binding Qmendations, removing the daily timegate, reducing the amount required for the project, putting it in the c-store straight away, letting players test the ship on Tribble to see if it is worth their time?
I won't lie, I'm angry. Anniversary ships have always been free. I don't have much issue with grinding when it is not time-limited or I can do it on my own terms. This event, from everything you have said, is none of those. It needs to be.
Again, Romulans only have ONE science ship available to them, and it doesn't even have an original design, its just the top half of the Ha'apax. The R'Mor doesn't cloak or use a singularity core, plus its an extremely expensive lockbox ship. Unless you count the Vo'quv, which most wouldn't, Klingons have ZERO science ships available to them without paying for the Varanus, widely regarded as a sub-par ship. I know finding new ways to make us grind doesn't take as much dev time as interesting content does, but you've developed three ships, two of which are SORELY needed by their respective factions, and they are, to our best understanding, limited availability ships that require grinding or exhorbitant cost, and are deliberately underpowered.
Sorry, but I think you need to push some of this information sooner than intended, I know if I could get all the money I've poured into this game refunded, I would, at the drop of a hat, but that's not going to happen. I trusted Cryptic and by extension PWE. Please, repay this trust.
I'm in the same boat with bluegeek. I'm in my seat for as long as I can be as it is, I don't want my limited time spent running the same mind-numbing task for several days AGAIN... especially so soon after we just finished the Winter event.
I don't just want a free ship handed to me for nothing either. If Cryptic needs more money than having people play one mission (or a series) can give them, then they should just put the ships in the C-Store.
Yeah, we got a choice whether to run it or not. It might be time to opt-out. But I hate to miss-out too.
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Not that the issue itself is big of a deal or something very important, but I do kinda' agree with you on this one. I also feel that Q is being slightly overused lately and it's starting to get way too goofy. He really doesn't need to be involved in each and every ocassion. I'm just happy he wasn't involved in the summer event.
Since the messaging seems to be heavy on "choice" and I do agree, these ships are a choice, like all ships ultimately are, but we're not going to have much time to make an educated decision before starting that grind, I suggested, and suggest again, here in the forums, that all such event ships be made available freely on Tribble before the event goes live so players can see whether or not they want to devote their time to them. I think that's a reasonable first step, though I still maintain that all event ship grinds need more options that are less tedious and/or less cash intensive.
I got a little heated and for that I'm sorry, both to my fellow players and to Bran, there's a lot of personal drama between me and PWE support when my illness was at its worst. Keep posting suggestions in this thread, and opinions, everyone. They need to hear this and Bran is our best conduit for getting this feedback to the people who make the decisions. Bran doesn't do that. And he does his job well, and already gave us quite a bit of information that he probably wasn't supposed to, or at least scheduled to.
however, I just want to make sure that this doesn't cloud some of the main points in this thread, as they are things that will effect star trek online going forward.. most importantly, that value is something we are striving for, not just in what we spend money on, but in the game itself.. I see as a majority of the community wants the grind to change ( not necessarily go away, but be more friendly and less blatent.
I for one want the game to switch focus from grind this and that to hey, heres some meaintenance you have to do (like in every mmo) but we value your time doing the things you like in game as well.
don't look at this as a dodged bullet, but as chance to right some wrongs, and to streamline the game to something everyone can enjoy, not just the unemployed.. lol...
again, still sucks that there is a grind for the anniversery ship, and it shouldn't be, and grinds suck.. plain and simple.. I bet even the people who don't mind them as much (ie, your fan boys) wouldn't mind having some time to run some foundry, or an older mission they like or what not..
I don't appreciate it! I'll be at a conference until Wednesday!
Dammit Cryptic you can't do anything right.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
These are all just fluff words since it doesn't seem like you guys are going to budge on the whole grinding aspect. Not sure why you shifted to this when the previous three free ships (Odyssey, Ambassador, Obelisk) were limited time rewards to new missions. With three different faction ships, these "fun" dailies will immediately become a chore.
We might understand better once the stats and new abilities are posted. There's free ships, and then there's free ships which might require an extra gate or two just so they don't totally de-value the next set of freebies Cryptic throws out there.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
This man does not speak for me. I don't mind grinding for a ship, nor do I mind being given a free ship- but I don't make the mistake of confusing the two very different things, either.
For me, the above was back when this was a single thread less than 4 pages long.
Now, what I'm picturing is 2015 when you finish up the Winter Wonderland grind/"freebie," then do the Anniversary grind/"freebie," then move on to the Spring Event grind/"freebie," the Risa Summer Lohlunat Festival grind/"freebie," and then (it being 2015) get treated to the rollout of the Rura Penthe Fall Festival grind/"freebie" before starting over with the 2015 Q's Winter Wonderland.
All that remains, it would seem to my paranoid grumpy self, is working out how new characters will level by doing nothing but the nonstop Event grinds for "free" ships. (Which then have better versions rolled out in Fleet/C-store.)
Glad all 10 of mine are level 50 already, all I've got to do is grind 10 "free" ships per festival. It's a CDO thing...functionally it's just like OCD, but the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be.
And, if so, can we get it before the event starts, or before it is way too later to benefit anyone? This is not a priority, just an idea.
Then why does the game insist to call me Admiral all the time?^^
And what about the romulans......
Well... you might reconsider the idea of account wide unlocks.
Ok I know this will not happen... especially with the good old/new DeAngelo back in charge who is infamous for being allergic to the word "account wide"... but still an account wide unlock would rise the incentive to those types of events A LOT.
People STILL would lock in daily, wich seems to be the major point of this. They, after all have to do the mission once a day, but not on multiple characters (well in this case... still on 3 characters.... mhm...)
But the event would be a lot less annoying if that wouldn't have to be done multiple times per day (on multiple characters). In this particular case, even if you don't want the ship on every character, you would probably want in on at least on of every faction...
So people would hate the grind a little less if they had only to do it with 1 char.
The mission itself could/should work kind of like the Lobi event, with only being able to get that marks once a day per account too.
And, speaking of lobby, people who invest on lobby to get the ships will do that either anyway or not at all. You don't run a mission to get stuff for "free" with 4 characters and then buy it for the 5th.
I know it won't happen.... but I wanted to suggest it anyway.
On a distantly relatet note:
Any chance we'll get the Worf sash and beard again in this event?
I've been thinking about this thread for a while. I figure I'll throw in my two credits, for what they're worth.
I kind of understand why it was linked to a reputation event. I would rather work for something as awesome as these ships than just be handed them, but I really wouldn't want to do a daily grind either. I consider myself a "ship collector".. but I use that term account wide. I don't have to have each and every ship on each and every character.
I plan on getting the Romulan ship for sure on my Romulan science toon because I've wanted something sweet looking that has a Commander science slot. I just don't like the Ha'apax. I won't be getting it on my other Romulan, I'm pretty darned happy with my Fleet D'deridex for him.
I'm happy with the ships my two Fed toons use, too, but I'll probably get it on at least one of them. I'm not sure what one yet; I'm really not sure I'd use it, I'm happy with my Trill's Vesta and my Human's Fleet Sovereign.
I'm also happy with my Klingon's Mogh.. but I'll probably pick it up just to have it. So I'll have to do it three times a day, plus the initial mission three times. Honestly is that a big deal for me? Nah. I only work three days a week.. so I shouldn't have any problem getting it done unless my connection craps out.
Anyway, back to what I was saying originally.. I can see why it was maybe linked to a reputation event, but I still don't really want it to be. I want to work for it in a fun way, but I don't want to grind for it. It's the fourth anniversary of a game some doomsayers were claiming wouldn't make it past it's second year. I want to work for these ships. I want to work for them in an epic way.
I just wish that epic way had linked the event reputation with a featured episode series. I know that would have been an enormous undertaking, but how awesome would it have been to have spread it across four or five episodes and each time you complete one you get a "piece of dyson tech" or something to slot into the rep project to build the ship. How awesome would it have been to raid a Voth engineering lab to steal a hybrid dyson warp (or singularity) core like the Voyager crew did a Borg transwarp coil.
Lot's of work dev side.. but something like that would have been epic and it wouldn't have been instant gratification, which was the precedent we had up until now. I do like free stuff, and I think the c-store giveaway is completely and totally kick***, I love it, but I don't want the big prize to be instant gratification.. I want to get it from some epic story driven gameplay over the course of a few episodes.
I completely get the "grind." I just would have liked a grind hidden behind an epic featured episode series.
oh don't worry, im still pissed they tried to pull that bull and that there is still yet another grind.. but, you have to call it what it is, it was a gesture on their part, which is why in my post I asked that we keep pushing for rectification on that..