Then why are you on here making statements and commenting on mine and others post? If you are a Moderator, then Moderate. Moderators are supposedly here to enforce the rules of a forum, not get snarky with the people expressing their concerns or worries over the direction the game is taking or throwing "Look at my Signature Line" into peoples faces. Yes, you are special because you got a special Sig Line.
I'm also, like every one here including developers etc, a player and as such am allowed to comment on every open thread as long as my posts relate to said discussion. I did not get "snarky" I made my own comments, read others, replied to those that posted and so on. I don't care if i'm special or not, my point to you was you were directing your comments about development to ME which, as it states in my signature, I'm a volunteer and as such not a paid employee of Cryptic/PWE.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
Then why are you on here making statements and commenting on mine and others post? If you are a Moderator, then Moderate. Moderators are supposedly here to enforce the rules of a forum, not get snarky with the people expressing their concerns or worries over the direction the game is taking or throwing "Look at my Signature Line" into peoples faces. Yes, you are special because you got a special Sig Line.
I would first point out that the community moderators are also players and have as much right to comment about/agree with/disagree with any other forum-goers post as you or I do. Moderators have feelings too.
Secondly, I would suggest you go back and reread all of Askray's posts in this thread before you try to "pick-a-fight" with him. His posts arguing that this move by Cryptic is worrying and not popular with the vast majority of posters in this forum are some of the best written and concise I have seen here.
Given the fact that you are misinterpreting some of Askray's posts I really do suggest you go back to the beginning and start over from post #1. You will then have all the same information we do, and have better insight into how to address other forum-goers posts.
"...we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than the things that divide us.”
Jo Cox 22.6.1974 - 16.6.2016
I was directing my comments to you because of the comments you made, not because you are a Community Moderator. I do happen to know what a Community Moderator is. I do know that you do not work for or are paid by Cryptic. I know that you do not have a "back door channel" to the Dev's. I was in fact replying to your comments. However, others read these posts, including the developers, so keeping that in mind, I always reply with enough information so that people know what I am saying, not just the person I responded to.
I am not going to comment further, because all this is doing is diverting attention away from the fact that a lot of people have issues with the direction Cryptics is taking, regardless of who is moderating, producing or developing. Let's please get back to the reason that this forum was started for.
I want to explore the quadrant, and discover my rewards.
I want to try new things, and gain from my attempts.
I want to play with friends and fleet, and get a bonus for it.
What I do not like is being forced to do a solo repetitive chore to earn my rewards. I will on one of two characters so I can try the ships, but it's too much to do it on all of them.
Solo repetitive chores... keep us in one place so we don't go exploring.
Solo repetitive chores... keep us working on one thing so we don't try new things.
Solo repetitive chores... take away time we could be spending with friends and fleet.
The fourth anniversary only comes once. Give us something special, not another grind.
Then why are you on here making statements and commenting on mine and others post?
Same reason you are: He's a player, has an opinion, and has as much right to express it as you do. Sorry little snowflake, you're not as special as you think.
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.
Again, these ships are not your average anniversary ships -- you'll see that once you learn more about them. Due to this, there is a little bit more effort needed to give them away for free. They're per character, and they're optional. If you don't end up fancying them, you don't have to work on the projects. But if they do, and we think you will like them quite much, we're allowing you to earn them for FREE, but with a little side of effort.
Thanks for your support, and no more spoilers!
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
you`ll get no complaints from me bran, I was ok with it before the c-store giveaway but now its even better you`ll only get thanks from me.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
(And the combination of a free cool, but subpar ship and optional fleetships for 4 fleetmodules did not generate as much revenue as the risian/breen-ships with lobi packs)
And we have a winner!
Cryptic is hoping that they can use what they would have in the past given to us for free" after one play of the new FE and turn it into a mini gold mine.
Lobi is not cheap.
5 Lobi is about $1.25 and it takes 5 Lobi to trade in for 3-5 commendations if used to speed up the process of getting one of these "Free" ships like Cryptic is hoping many players will do, can net them a nice bit of revenue.
I have no problem with Cryptic trying to make has much money has possible for minimal effort; however, I do have a problem with them using the Anniversary Event of STO to do it.
I coined what has become of The Anniversary event here in STO a "Milk Grind"
Cryptic has decided to lock our "Free" ships behind a time grind in hopes that can Milk money out of the players who might not have the time to play or just need to have the new hotness now.
This kind of strikes me has how an Anniversary Event would be run in Bizzaro World :rolleyes:
Hey Guys!
We'd like to thank you all for your continued support and interest in STO!
With the upcoming 4th Anniversary of STO we are pleased to announce that you'll all be getting new "Free" ships!
That's right New "Free" Ships!
Yep and all you have to do is play our new FE mission and then run your choice of 2 repeatable mini missions for at least 15 days and grind out 1000 commendations to claim your new "Free" ships!
That's right only 1000!
And has and added thank you for your continued support of STO we have graciously added an option for you to get you new "Free" ships even faster if you choose by allowing you to use just 5 Lobi and exchange them for a few extra commendations!
That's right for just $1.25 US you can get 3-4 Commendations to get your hands on your new "Free" ship even faster!
I am wondering if this thread will get as long as the changes to fleet marks and dilithium from awhile back - aka the one click investigate officer reports removal.
The thing that worries me the most is that they will put the 10 console version locked behind T3 spire - that will TRIBBLE double the amount of people off I suspect.
I am wondering if this thread will get as long as the changes to fleet marks and dilithium from awhile back - aka the one click investigate officer reports removal.
I was definitely wondering about that yesterday. That was the only other time I recall a thread on here growing so long so fast.
I was definitely wondering about that yesterday. That was the only other time I recall a thread on here growing so long so fast.
I would say it's a fair assesment that the majority of people planning to do the anniversary event don't even know about these changes yet!! It is very likely that a awful lot of player would only start checking it out late next week - expecting like last year to run the event and get the ship. We could have a tidal wave of anger come in around the start of the event if no changes are made.
While I believe they should remove the grind part altogether, I will stick by my much earlier recommendation: the reduce the number of days from 15 to 10. So out of 29 days total, 10 is not too bad. I plan on running 12 of 30 toon's through, so it's still going to be a chore.
And the fleet version - if it's locked behind T3 spire - well let's just say I will be a little annoyed!!
The thing that worries me the most is that they will put the 10 console version locked behind T3 spire - that will TRIBBLE double the amount of people off I suspect.
Well assuming that the choice to go 9 consoles is an arbitrary **** move (Cryptic: "grind my minions, grind! Then buy a better version of the very same ship with FM and render all that work moot. MWA HA HA HA HA!") rather than a balancing decision to offset the new abilities. As it is I think there's still plenty of room to hope for the latter.
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!
And another doom post it tends to happen every month or so :P
No, and that was a cheap shot. This is not a 'doom' thread, and its attracted no more than the usual doom-merchants. What it has attracted is a lot, a vast majority, of negative opinion. Usually thoughtfully expressed and respectful.
You do realize they did the same thing last year giving away free c-store items so your theory on "doing this to calm the masses" doesn't make sense in this scenario. They're doing it because they DO want to thank the players. If they didn't care, they wouldn't do free stuff at all. I will comment on the EP thing after...
I agree, I seriously doubt the c-store giveaway is, in any shape or form, a reaction to this thread. What DID happen is that control was lost of the message. The details about the grind came out before the announcements of the new ships and the giveaway.
I imagine the original schedule would have given us the news about the ships and the giveaway. And then slip the grind bit in afterwards.
This anniversary event was planned MONTHS ago so I doubt it had much to do with Stephen. And no, it's not false advertising as it IS free. You're not having to pay real life money.As for the "it's only 50 lines of code". I didn't know you work for Cryptic/PWE because I'm betting it's a bit more than 50 lines.
Just not quite as free as hitherto.
And before someone comes along forgetting I've been here for over 4 years and not always the "fanboy" and thinks I'm defending this grind idea, I'm not. I actually hate the grind as much as anyone else to be honest. But really 15 days out of the 28ish it's running and it's a 10ish minute mission? I got better things to complain about than that
Ok, and this is the point where it seems to me you've misunderstood what many have been saying.
Lets stipulate an FE takes 15 minutes and to run one of the grind dailies takes 5 minutes.
Previous years we have had a situation where you run a 15 minute thing, once, at the time of your choosing, and get a character locked 9 console ship with no special whistles and bells.
This year, same 15 minutes, but now you'll have to run a five minute thing fifteen times. Additionally, the schedule is imposed on you via the (I assume) 20 hour cooldown.
So, for one toon, we've gone from 15 minutes to 15 + (5x15)= 90 minutes.
OK, granted the ship is a tad better, but its still 9 consoles and Cryptic will still monetarise it later via a lobi or c-store version.
15 minutes becomes 90 minutes.
Six times as much time required and we can no long choose when to spend that time.
That may, just, be supportable if the new ships are all things to all people.
The huge, major, utterly predictable problem comes in when any of us have more than one toon.
Which is most of us.
Two toons. 30 minutes now becomes 3 hours.
Three toons. 45 minutes becomes four and a half hours.
Six toons. 90 minutes becomes a whopping NINE hours.
And remember, these new inflated investments of time are no long as and when we choose. They're time gated.
The reason so many people are miffed about this has nothing to do with the ships, or even how long it would take to run this for one toon.
It's the apparent utter lack of thought that has gone into this from Cryptic, regarding more than one toon.
The very best I can say of this decision is.....extremely careless.
Thats the very nicest way to describe it.
I would wager that the majority of players run and maintain more than one toon.
It's not the five minutes a day thats the problem, its the multiplication of the time needed overall by a factor of six that is. And the fact that player choice over when to spend that time has been taken utterly away.
Not a doom thread.
But, if I had the devs responsible for this in front of me now, I'd stare at them for a while before slowly shaking my head and softly muttering.... "I'm very disappointed in you"
This image was taken from Tribble, but I wanted to provide a few important notes about this. The free ships this year are not your average Anniversary ship; they've got some extremely amazing bells and whistles, and even 2 new mechanics being introduced for the first time (more info soon). Because of this, you'll need to work a tad bit harder for a free ship over just running an episode one time. However! You will receive a package of 400 Qmendations as a one-time reward the first time you complete the Featured Episode, "A Step Between Stars." That means you only need to collect 600 more, which at 40 a day from completing a short daily, will take 15 days out of the 25+ days the event runs. There should also be a Lobi option for additional/ substitute Qmendations.
All of this info and much more will be coming up in our Dev Blogs next week, and I think once you see the ships, you'll see why a little extra effort for the ships will be more than worth it.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I can't possibly read through 80+ pages of posts, so this might be something that others already asked:
Can I collect surplus 'Qmendations' for the next year's anniversary event (like with the winter pictures), or is this just a one-time thing?
No way am I patient enough to read 86 pages of posts.
But, looking at it it's still free. But God, not the grind again.
I only have four characters, so it's not that bad for me, but wow, coupled with the fact that we just got a ship grind from this winter, it's a bit rough.
And I appreciate the extra event slot, but I'd greatly appreciate it if the ship came with a ship slot to store it in for our trouble.
On the other hand there may have been foreshadowing for this; remember the Obelisk carrier? You had to turn around and repeat the mission several times for the Antiproton weapons, the warp core, then lobi for the advanced version and the rest of the set.
I certainly hope this FE is fun at least.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
"We will have a tidal wave of nerd rage when, not if, this event goes off precisely as currently planned."
You think this thread's growing fast now? Wait until the non-forum-haunting players log in expecting their annual "Do mission, get ship" party and get "Do this daily for the next 15 days" right on the heels of the Winter Wonderland. It'll take 2 mods working full-time just to keep up (maybe) with merging all the new rage threads into this one.
Someone at Cryptic's gonna get a harsh lesson on the meaning of "pushing too hard, too soon." Me, I can't wait.
No, and that was a cheap shot. This is not a 'doom' thread, and its attracted no more than the usual doom-merchants. What it has attracted is a lot, a vast majority, of negative opinion. Usually thoughtfully expressed and respectful.
I didn't say doom thread I said doom post which is why i quoted a person that was saying it's the end of STO. The thread in itself is not obviously.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
No way am I patient enough to read 86 pages of posts.
But, looking at it it's still free. But God, not the grind again.
I only have four characters, so it's not that bad for me, but wow, coupled with the fact that we just got a ship grind from this winter, it's a bit rough.
And I appreciate the extra event slot, but I'd greatly appreciate it if the ship came with a ship slot to store it in for our trouble.
On the other hand there may have been foreshadowing for this; remember the Obelisk carrier? You had to turn around and repeat the mission several times for the Antiproton weapons, the warp core, then lobi for the advanced version and the rest of the set.
I certainly hope this FE is fun at least.
I enjoyed the Last FE mission.
You only had to run the mission twice to get all the rewards, 3 times if you were like me and missed the hidden Advanced Swarmers
You only had to run the mission twice to get all the rewards, 3 times if you were like me and missed the hidden Advanced Swarmers
I ran it 6+ times between all my various toons just because I liked the mission. But that would have been a lot less fun to go through if I had to replay that content X number of times within Y days to get reward Z...
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!
You only had to run the mission twice to get all the rewards, 3 times if you were like me and missed the hidden Advanced Swarmers
That's right i enjoyed that too very much, i was getting ship, then i found out for Swarmers , then to complete set then accolades and it was fun for me and it didn't feel like grind at all.
I am wondering why they didn't do something like this for anniversary? They said that they are going big on this year anniversary that we would love it, and gave us grind of 15 days
Is every event from now on going to be grind? I thought that Winter/summer event, and the game itself is quite enough.
I am wondering why they didn't do something like this for anniversary? They said that they are going big on this year anniversary that we would love it, and gave us grind of 15 days .
We would love it without the grind. Tuvok, sweet ships, a new FE, and another C-store grab-bag give-away. I think cryptic just found precisely the wrong thing to do to cap that all off.
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 agree, I seriously doubt the c-store giveaway is, in any shape or form, a reaction to this thread. What DID happen is that control was lost of the message. The details about the grind came out before the announcements of the new ships and the giveaway.
I imagine the original schedule would have given us the news about the ships and the giveaway. And then slip the grind bit in afterwards.
You know, after reading your post carefully, this part really caught my attention. And a thought ran through my mind - what was actually the worse scenario, the one that's happening now due to suaveks' curiosity, or the one from the second paragraph I quoted here? If you catch my drift.
As to the latter part of your post about the time consumption, I just want to say that for me personally is not the time consumtion that is troublesome. (although I can relate to the people who simply don't have the time to do it and I'm on their side)
If that whooping nine hours you mentioned were spent doing, let's say, 5 to 10 new FE missions, I'd be cool with that. But chasing mini Qs for 15 days...ROFL I can think of stuff that is more fun to do, like watching paint dry.
And I'm also not talking about the relevance of multiple characters, although for people that would want the ships on multiple chars.....good luck guys, really, from the heart. I wouldn't bare to do this on a single char., I did the Chel Gret last year, I did the Risa last summer and then it hit me - "Shpoks what the hell are you doing, you've just stuck yourself on Risa for an entire month doing the same thing over and over instead of doing something fun, like FEs or foundry."
Not to mention that if you actually happen to be a ship collector, or just equally play the 3 current factions (something Cryptic encouraged) you have this thing set on 3x15 at least.
But all of this I wrote is beyond the point. A gift should be a gift, given from the kindness of one's heart. You don't 'earn' anniversary gifts, you receive them because the ones that gave you presents care about you.
im not saying that the c store thing might not have been planned, but.. the time of its release is very suspect, and it seemed like a maneuver (weather intended or not) to calm the masses..
unfortunately, this is what happens when you constantly try to pull the sheets over everyones eyes.. eventually, the masses learn.. and even if you are sincere, its like the boy who cried wolf..
I agree that when this goes live like this, its gonna have a lot of backlash for them.. and 1 constant you can rely on is that even though the players who use the forums do not represent the entire player base, it will give you a good idea of how the masses will take it..
sto already managed to scare off most of the "star trek" fans, it cant afford to scare off the other players as well.. and weather someone likes star trek or not, no one wants a boring game that is all about doing the same mission over and over and over again in rapid succession... (daily succession). well I cant say no one, but the masses wont want it..
Cant cryptic see that this is too much grind it's killing the game EVERYTHING is a grind I have been here for 4 years and reading the forums is more fun then the game now something has to change we cant take this anymore! So sick of this "do this hundreds of times to get this"
You know, after reading your post carefully, this part really caught my attention. And a thought ran through my mind - what was actually the worse scenario, the one that's happening now due to suaveks' curiosity, or the one from the second paragraph I quoted here? If you catch my drift.
Yup, Shpoks, we're on the same wavelength.
I think that this sequence of messages was particulary carefully planed by Cryptic to cushion the blow of the new grindaversary.
Control was lost of the message, hence how easy it is to see a certain cynicism in the c-store giveaway.
But, this was always a little cynical.
Seems like they knew we were not going to be happy and were hoping to soften us up beforehand.
Instead, the timing has been broken and the message is out of control.
Many have mentioned SoI in this thread.
I'd like to add my voice to those of us who hoped that it was the future.
A genuinely engaging and clever episode, that rewarded replay beyond mere kit.
I ran it twice on every toon and it never felt like a grind.
Here's the thing.......
Dear Cryptic.
If the new FE was of the same quality as SoI, I'd have less objection to running that, say, five times to get my new ship.
And please think about that. Five times fifteen minutes, as opposed to fifteen times five minutes.
You still get me to park my bum for as long a time as before.
You still get me coming back multiple days, assuming the usual 20 hour cooldown.
You don't have me mindlessly chasing mini-Qs around the academy.
And, if I or anyone else has problems around scheduling, you've just cut my problem down to a third.
In short, if you had stopped to consider any other possible models for a grind before settling for the same ol' same ol' you've used before then you could have avoided all this aggravation, and maybe even not needed to throw the c-store giveaway at us.
I have read and reread all the comments good and bad and I still think this is a grand event that I will really enjoy.
so for the anniversary event they are giving us at least 3 c-store items (maybe more?) free of charge as a thank you and the cherry on top is to extend the celebrations they are giving us the chance if we want it to get free event rep ship that sounds like it might just be the best event rep ship they have ever given us.
this all sounds really cool to me and I think they deserve a mighty big birthday cheer from all of us. hip hip hooray.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
At first glance I'd have to agree that the grind for the anniversary ship seems like an uncalled for grind and tax on people's time, however i recently read the Dev Blog: Ships ? From Start to Finish which gives some hints as to the new ships and what they do, and I have to agree (at least partially) that these new ships are worth a little extra effort to obtain, but since I (like most players) have multiple characters the daily mission to complete to get these ships will become tiring very quickly.
Comments
I'm also, like every one here including developers etc, a player and as such am allowed to comment on every open thread as long as my posts relate to said discussion. I did not get "snarky" I made my own comments, read others, replied to those that posted and so on. I don't care if i'm special or not, my point to you was you were directing your comments about development to ME which, as it states in my signature, I'm a volunteer and as such not a paid employee of Cryptic/PWE.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
I would first point out that the community moderators are also players and have as much right to comment about/agree with/disagree with any other forum-goers post as you or I do. Moderators have feelings too.
Secondly, I would suggest you go back and reread all of Askray's posts in this thread before you try to "pick-a-fight" with him. His posts arguing that this move by Cryptic is worrying and not popular with the vast majority of posters in this forum are some of the best written and concise I have seen here.
Given the fact that you are misinterpreting some of Askray's posts I really do suggest you go back to the beginning and start over from post #1. You will then have all the same information we do, and have better insight into how to address other forum-goers posts.
Jo Cox 22.6.1974 - 16.6.2016
I am not going to comment further, because all this is doing is diverting attention away from the fact that a lot of people have issues with the direction Cryptics is taking, regardless of who is moderating, producing or developing. Let's please get back to the reason that this forum was started for.
I want to try new things, and gain from my attempts.
I want to play with friends and fleet, and get a bonus for it.
What I do not like is being forced to do a solo repetitive chore to earn my rewards. I will on one of two characters so I can try the ships, but it's too much to do it on all of them.
Solo repetitive chores... keep us in one place so we don't go exploring.
Solo repetitive chores... keep us working on one thing so we don't try new things.
Solo repetitive chores... take away time we could be spending with friends and fleet.
The fourth anniversary only comes once. Give us something special, not another grind.
STO Resources: <Ship Comparison - All Tiers + Small Craft + Hangar Pets> <Damage Resistance>
<R&D + Upgrade Costs> <Duty Officer Finder> <Suliban Doff Reqs> <Fleet Costs> <Rep Costs>
<Keybind Tour the Galaxy> <Fleet / Armada Management> <Currency Exchange> <Other STO Links>
Same reason you are: He's a player, has an opinion, and has as much right to express it as you do. Sorry little snowflake, you're not as special as you think.
you`ll get no complaints from me bran, I was ok with it before the c-store giveaway but now its even better you`ll only get thanks from me.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
And we have a winner!
Cryptic is hoping that they can use what they would have in the past given to us for free" after one play of the new FE and turn it into a mini gold mine.
Lobi is not cheap.
5 Lobi is about $1.25 and it takes 5 Lobi to trade in for 3-5 commendations if used to speed up the process of getting one of these "Free" ships like Cryptic is hoping many players will do, can net them a nice bit of revenue.
I have no problem with Cryptic trying to make has much money has possible for minimal effort; however, I do have a problem with them using the Anniversary Event of STO to do it.
I coined what has become of The Anniversary event here in STO a "Milk Grind"
Cryptic has decided to lock our "Free" ships behind a time grind in hopes that can Milk money out of the players who might not have the time to play or just need to have the new hotness now.
This kind of strikes me has how an Anniversary Event would be run in Bizzaro World :rolleyes:
Hey Guys!
We'd like to thank you all for your continued support and interest in STO!
With the upcoming 4th Anniversary of STO we are pleased to announce that you'll all be getting new "Free" ships!
That's right New "Free" Ships!
Yep and all you have to do is play our new FE mission and then run your choice of 2 repeatable mini missions for at least 15 days and grind out 1000 commendations to claim your new "Free" ships!
That's right only 1000!
And has and added thank you for your continued support of STO we have graciously added an option for you to get you new "Free" ships even faster if you choose by allowing you to use just 5 Lobi and exchange them for a few extra commendations!
That's right for just $1.25 US you can get 3-4 Commendations to get your hands on your new "Free" ship even faster!
The thing that worries me the most is that they will put the 10 console version locked behind T3 spire - that will TRIBBLE double the amount of people off I suspect.
I was definitely wondering about that yesterday. That was the only other time I recall a thread on here growing so long so fast.
STO Resources: <Ship Comparison - All Tiers + Small Craft + Hangar Pets> <Damage Resistance>
<R&D + Upgrade Costs> <Duty Officer Finder> <Suliban Doff Reqs> <Fleet Costs> <Rep Costs>
<Keybind Tour the Galaxy> <Fleet / Armada Management> <Currency Exchange> <Other STO Links>
I would say it's a fair assesment that the majority of people planning to do the anniversary event don't even know about these changes yet!! It is very likely that a awful lot of player would only start checking it out late next week - expecting like last year to run the event and get the ship. We could have a tidal wave of anger come in around the start of the event if no changes are made.
While I believe they should remove the grind part altogether, I will stick by my much earlier recommendation: the reduce the number of days from 15 to 10. So out of 29 days total, 10 is not too bad. I plan on running 12 of 30 toon's through, so it's still going to be a chore.
And the fleet version - if it's locked behind T3 spire - well let's just say I will be a little annoyed!!
Well assuming that the choice to go 9 consoles is an arbitrary **** move (Cryptic: "grind my minions, grind! Then buy a better version of the very same ship with FM and render all that work moot. MWA HA HA HA HA!") rather than a balancing decision to offset the new abilities. As it is I think there's still plenty of room to hope for the latter.
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!
No, and that was a cheap shot. This is not a 'doom' thread, and its attracted no more than the usual doom-merchants. What it has attracted is a lot, a vast majority, of negative opinion. Usually thoughtfully expressed and respectful.
I agree, I seriously doubt the c-store giveaway is, in any shape or form, a reaction to this thread. What DID happen is that control was lost of the message. The details about the grind came out before the announcements of the new ships and the giveaway.
I imagine the original schedule would have given us the news about the ships and the giveaway. And then slip the grind bit in afterwards.
Just not quite as free as hitherto.
Ok, and this is the point where it seems to me you've misunderstood what many have been saying.
Lets stipulate an FE takes 15 minutes and to run one of the grind dailies takes 5 minutes.
Previous years we have had a situation where you run a 15 minute thing, once, at the time of your choosing, and get a character locked 9 console ship with no special whistles and bells.
This year, same 15 minutes, but now you'll have to run a five minute thing fifteen times. Additionally, the schedule is imposed on you via the (I assume) 20 hour cooldown.
So, for one toon, we've gone from 15 minutes to 15 + (5x15)= 90 minutes.
OK, granted the ship is a tad better, but its still 9 consoles and Cryptic will still monetarise it later via a lobi or c-store version.
15 minutes becomes 90 minutes.
Six times as much time required and we can no long choose when to spend that time.
That may, just, be supportable if the new ships are all things to all people.
The huge, major, utterly predictable problem comes in when any of us have more than one toon.
Which is most of us.
Two toons. 30 minutes now becomes 3 hours.
Three toons. 45 minutes becomes four and a half hours.
Six toons. 90 minutes becomes a whopping NINE hours.
And remember, these new inflated investments of time are no long as and when we choose. They're time gated.
The reason so many people are miffed about this has nothing to do with the ships, or even how long it would take to run this for one toon.
It's the apparent utter lack of thought that has gone into this from Cryptic, regarding more than one toon.
The very best I can say of this decision is.....extremely careless.
Thats the very nicest way to describe it.
I would wager that the majority of players run and maintain more than one toon.
It's not the five minutes a day thats the problem, its the multiplication of the time needed overall by a factor of six that is. And the fact that player choice over when to spend that time has been taken utterly away.
Not a doom thread.
But, if I had the devs responsible for this in front of me now, I'd stare at them for a while before slowly shaking my head and softly muttering.... "I'm very disappointed in you"
I can't possibly read through 80+ pages of posts, so this might be something that others already asked:
Can I collect surplus 'Qmendations' for the next year's anniversary event (like with the winter pictures), or is this just a one-time thing?
But, looking at it it's still free. But God, not the grind again.
I only have four characters, so it's not that bad for me, but wow, coupled with the fact that we just got a ship grind from this winter, it's a bit rough.
And I appreciate the extra event slot, but I'd greatly appreciate it if the ship came with a ship slot to store it in for our trouble.
On the other hand there may have been foreshadowing for this; remember the Obelisk carrier? You had to turn around and repeat the mission several times for the Antiproton weapons, the warp core, then lobi for the advanced version and the rest of the set.
I certainly hope this FE is fun at least.
"Could?"
"If?"
Now that's rich.
Let me offer a much more realistic scenario:
"We will have a tidal wave of nerd rage when, not if, this event goes off precisely as currently planned."
You think this thread's growing fast now? Wait until the non-forum-haunting players log in expecting their annual "Do mission, get ship" party and get "Do this daily for the next 15 days" right on the heels of the Winter Wonderland. It'll take 2 mods working full-time just to keep up (maybe) with merging all the new rage threads into this one.
Someone at Cryptic's gonna get a harsh lesson on the meaning of "pushing too hard, too soon." Me, I can't wait.
I didn't say doom thread I said doom post which is why i quoted a person that was saying it's the end of STO. The thread in itself is not obviously.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
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I enjoyed the Last FE mission.
You only had to run the mission twice to get all the rewards, 3 times if you were like me and missed the hidden Advanced Swarmers
Please askray send massage to person, and stay on topic of the post for god sake you are moderator:D
I ran it 6+ times between all my various toons just because I liked the mission. But that would have been a lot less fun to go through if I had to replay that content X number of times within Y days to get reward Z...
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!
That's right i enjoyed that too very much, i was getting ship, then i found out for Swarmers , then to complete set then accolades and it was fun for me and it didn't feel like grind at all.
I am wondering why they didn't do something like this for anniversary? They said that they are going big on this year anniversary that we would love it, and gave us grind of 15 days
Is every event from now on going to be grind? I thought that Winter/summer event, and the game itself is quite enough.
We would love it without the grind. Tuvok, sweet ships, a new FE, and another C-store grab-bag give-away. I think cryptic just found precisely the wrong thing to do to cap that all off.
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!
You know, after reading your post carefully, this part really caught my attention. And a thought ran through my mind - what was actually the worse scenario, the one that's happening now due to suaveks' curiosity, or the one from the second paragraph I quoted here? If you catch my drift.
As to the latter part of your post about the time consumption, I just want to say that for me personally is not the time consumtion that is troublesome. (although I can relate to the people who simply don't have the time to do it and I'm on their side)
If that whooping nine hours you mentioned were spent doing, let's say, 5 to 10 new FE missions, I'd be cool with that. But chasing mini Qs for 15 days...ROFL
And I'm also not talking about the relevance of multiple characters, although for people that would want the ships on multiple chars.....good luck guys, really, from the heart. I wouldn't bare to do this on a single char., I did the Chel Gret last year, I did the Risa last summer and then it hit me - "Shpoks what the hell are you doing, you've just stuck yourself on Risa for an entire month doing the same thing over and over instead of doing something fun, like FEs or foundry."
Not to mention that if you actually happen to be a ship collector, or just equally play the 3 current factions (something Cryptic encouraged) you have this thing set on 3x15 at least.
But all of this I wrote is beyond the point. A gift should be a gift, given from the kindness of one's heart. You don't 'earn' anniversary gifts, you receive them because the ones that gave you presents care about you.
And this is the crux of the biscuit- Cryptic is showing us just how much they really care about us. It's just that simple.
unfortunately, this is what happens when you constantly try to pull the sheets over everyones eyes.. eventually, the masses learn.. and even if you are sincere, its like the boy who cried wolf..
I agree that when this goes live like this, its gonna have a lot of backlash for them.. and 1 constant you can rely on is that even though the players who use the forums do not represent the entire player base, it will give you a good idea of how the masses will take it..
sto already managed to scare off most of the "star trek" fans, it cant afford to scare off the other players as well.. and weather someone likes star trek or not, no one wants a boring game that is all about doing the same mission over and over and over again in rapid succession... (daily succession). well I cant say no one, but the masses wont want it..
More like we're being shown how much the care about getting every possible dime out of us that they can.
Grind, Grind, Grind my friends and has a thank you for your continued grinding we present you with....... wait for it....... More Grind!
Somehow this is what I picture happened after the decision was made to add grind to the Anniversary event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6MlHxAzLXA
If this was not part of the Anniversary event it I would have never even blinked at the thought of it; however, it is and it just plain wrong IMO.
A Day or so ago I said that this was just has bad has the JHDC and is Attack Ship Hangers but in retrospect this is far worse.
Yup, Shpoks, we're on the same wavelength.
I think that this sequence of messages was particulary carefully planed by Cryptic to cushion the blow of the new grindaversary.
Control was lost of the message, hence how easy it is to see a certain cynicism in the c-store giveaway.
But, this was always a little cynical.
Seems like they knew we were not going to be happy and were hoping to soften us up beforehand.
Instead, the timing has been broken and the message is out of control.
Many have mentioned SoI in this thread.
I'd like to add my voice to those of us who hoped that it was the future.
A genuinely engaging and clever episode, that rewarded replay beyond mere kit.
I ran it twice on every toon and it never felt like a grind.
Here's the thing.......
Dear Cryptic.
If the new FE was of the same quality as SoI, I'd have less objection to running that, say, five times to get my new ship.
And please think about that. Five times fifteen minutes, as opposed to fifteen times five minutes.
You still get me to park my bum for as long a time as before.
You still get me coming back multiple days, assuming the usual 20 hour cooldown.
You don't have me mindlessly chasing mini-Qs around the academy.
And, if I or anyone else has problems around scheduling, you've just cut my problem down to a third.
In short, if you had stopped to consider any other possible models for a grind before settling for the same ol' same ol' you've used before then you could have avoided all this aggravation, and maybe even not needed to throw the c-store giveaway at us.
so for the anniversary event they are giving us at least 3 c-store items (maybe more?) free of charge as a thank you and the cherry on top is to extend the celebrations they are giving us the chance if we want it to get free event rep ship that sounds like it might just be the best event rep ship they have ever given us.
this all sounds really cool to me and I think they deserve a mighty big birthday cheer from all of us. hip hip hooray.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.