I have to agree. I definitely preferred the hourly events. I could get a little something everyday I played. The current structure feels more aimed at forcing player to grind a particular type of content all weekend long, with no bonuses for playing during the week. The system is fairly off putting, in my opinion.
Well, let's face it, the hourly schedule was mostly all about Bonus Marks Event. And that's precisely what was taken away in the new weekend events. At the rate it shows up now, if you miss it, it's like sitting out the Winter Event. Tune in next year for your next chance to take part.
It can take a long time to get a team for lots of missions lately. And while I'm not a hardcore dps maniac, I can definitely tell its harder to get decently smart players on teams.
Vets have run out of content and are leaving. They have finished their fleet grinds, their rep grinds, etc., and there is no end-game here for anything except grind. They used to spend downtime building up another ship or toon, or tweaking some strategies, but the removal of hourlies makes it hard to get teams together--its one thing to put a lot of effort into building a main ship/toon something else entirely to do it for an alt ship/toon.
Still see a lot of beginners and mid-level players around, not many vets. Pug queues are still popping, PVP and PESTF and DPS channels are dead.
Well my impression is that the numbers of active players drop extremely.
I mean... just a few days ago i actually managed to be completely alone on New Romulus. No other instances, not other player in mine...
Also even qing for infected can take up to 5 minutes now, usually there were a couple of hundreds of players qing for that simultaneously.
Problem is:
I don't think that is connected to the removal of the hourly event alone.
There have been a lot of changes recently.
I personally think the MAIN reasons for that are 2 factors:
a. grind
b. "events".
c. connection of b and a.
Those things simply do one thing: Burn people out. And this is why they don't play any more.
Especially since there is nothing really to work for.
Sicne the removal/ change of the STFs to the current state there is nothing left that is remotely close to actual real end content.
Outside of pvp which is... well, after having played Guild Wars 2 I have to say: pvp essentially is not there. Miningames do not make real pvp.
The removal of the hourly events are just one nail in the coffin.
My suggestion: Before even thinking about changes in the game they should think about some personal changes in the Dev staff, and that means in particular changing out D'Angelo.
The numbers drop since HIS changes are implemented. HE almost ruined the game once before, last time when he was in charge. He was booted rather quickly back then.
No he comes back and it starts over again.
Unless somebody brings in the number of players from a dev or something official, all this is speculation. Just because you don't see players in a certain zone at one point doesn't mean people are leaving in droves. School day, work day, family, natural disaster, internet shortage, etc, could all keep people from going ingame.
Formerly known as Echo@Rivyn13
Member since early 2011
I'm gonna be honest, The Hourly events didn't really get me to log on more often, I log on when i feel like it
BUT I do kinda miss them, it was nice when the mining event came on or the foundry bonus hour
I'd like it if we can have both hourly events back and Continue with the weekend events as well
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
The hourly events were a nice distraction and kept me logged in during the week. Now I just login a few mins for doff missions and the exchange. Mostly on during the weekends now but that is getting boring fast because everyone just grinds. If not for the LTS, I would probably not log on at all anymore.
Signs of decline in STO aren't new at all. STO's luck is that there's a clear lack of interesting alternatives right now, however some upcoming MMOs might change that luck in disaster at the end of the year. I won't name the upcoming Sci fi MMOs but those of you that have been following the development of said games are more then aware of the quality of those games.
STO could have a bright future for many more years if Cryptic stops pulling stupid stunts like getting rid of the hourly events and adding drop-dead-boring events like the Mirror Universe grind. Simply said, we need more of the classic MMO content and the hourly events should definitely come back. Add more STFs just like the Borg ones and stop making those "Adventure Zones". Everyone I've spoken to and even teamed up with are just there for mark grinding, once they've got said marks they've got no intention of ever doing these zones again.
For starters, return Undine Terradome as a proper STF, fix it up and add it to the list in the queue so people can start playing it. Every so often add more STFs, go back to the original STF schedule like it was shown on the official STO website around the time the first Borg STFs launched. Start with finishing off the Undine STF series and move up to the so called "Children of Khan" STF series. Even if it is still grindy, it'll keep people more focussed on the content itself and not on the boring grind.
Unless somebody brings in the number of players from a dev or something official, all this is speculation. Just because you don't see players in a certain zone at one point doesn't mean people are leaving in droves. School day, work day, family, natural disaster, internet shortage, etc, could all keep people from going ingame.
Not exactly, we're seeing an obvious impact in the DPS channels, where most of the experienced, veteran and "power" players group. We have a better handle on the situation than probably whatever stats the Devs might have on hand.
It's hard for the Devs to see things clearly just from stats, e.g. distinguishing veteran players from new ones in all theiir stats, as well as the activeness of experienced players (e.g. a player may log in just to process dil or buy/sell stock on the exchange, but not actaully play the game anymore).
Especially on the bringing back bonus marks hourly event thing. That was one of the best things about the game and the queues were roaring. it was already bad KDF side, now its worse, so much worse. in fact Fed now is what KDF was before as far as the queues go.
Not exactly, we're seeing an obvious impact in the DPS channels, where most of the experienced, veteran and "power" players group. We have a better handle on the situation than probably whatever stats the Devs might have on hand.
It's hard for the Devs to see things clearly just from stats, e.g. distinguishing veteran players from new ones in all theiir stats, as well as the activeness of experienced players (e.g. a player may log in just to process dil or buy/sell stock on the exchange, but not actaully play the game anymore).
There absolutely is stat tracking for all the things you just talked about. They can look at your expertise/skill point gains to see if you're doing anything game wise, ship deaths are tracked, buy and sell numbers are tracked, dilithium numbers are tracked, just about anything related to gameplay is tracked in some fashion.
I agree that the devs can't get the full picture just from stats, but likewise you can't get the full picture from just playing the game. Some of the devs play this game too. Your anecdotal evidence of specific chat channels, that by their very nature don't receive a lot of new blood, losing players is not evidence of the game dying. It's evidence that the most veteran of players are leaving or simply taking a break. My fleet chat is as lively, if not more so, than when I first joined. Again, anecdotal evidence.
Yeah the only kind of gameplay I'm interested in lately is PVP, but with all the time-gated TRIBBLE and no bonus events even getting a new toon ready for PVP is a pain I'm not willing to endure anymore.
There absolutely is stat tracking for all the things you just talked about. They can look at your expertise/skill point gains to see if you're doing anything game wise, ship deaths are tracked, buy and sell numbers are tracked, dilithium numbers are tracked, just about anything related to gameplay is tracked in some fashion.
I agree that the devs can't get the full picture just from stats, but likewise you can't get the full picture from just playing the game. Some of the devs play this game too. Your anecdotal evidence of specific chat channels, that by their very nature don't receive a lot of new blood, losing players is not evidence of the game dying. It's evidence that the most veteran of players are leaving or simply taking a break. My fleet chat is as lively, if not more so, than when I first joined. Again, anecdotal evidence.
Tracking stats and being able to discern underlying player trends from them is a totally different thing. Nothing compares to actual observations by players in game. And before you marginalise the exxperience in the DPS channels - do you even know who we are, and the depth of our experienced player base?
"by their very nature don't receive a lot of new blood" is so uninformed, it's not funny.
Really getting tired of trolls saying "DOOOOOOM!" in their posts to mock people making legitimate complaints, its getting really old already and childish. Just because you managed to queue for an ISE and it started doesn't mean there is no problem, there are many other events besides STFs that don't ever start now. Ground STFs, fleet actions, fleet events, Nukara and rom marks are all harder to grind now, their queues are dead.
We need some sort of hourly event system back, mainly the mark event happening for an hour or 2 at least twice per day like it was before. If they take away weekend events to get the hourly back then its still worth it.
The other problem with weekend events or even the week long events, is that it rail-roads interested players into doing a single thing all weekend or all week. Leaving the other players totally out in the cold with no one to play with.
Experience week is a prime example, a good chunk of the playerbase goes off training alts, meanwhile all the STFs go dead and players who have fully trained toons have absolutely nothing to do and no one to play with.
Here is where the hourly event system really shined, events were quickly rotated so there was a playerbase in most areas of the game throughout the day.
Anyway, Cryptic, this is a plea--you are killing the game for the top players. If this is your intent, then well done, you did it. But, I find it hard to log in and play any stf''s anymore. We are getting so bored with the game that we are doing stupid things like 3-manning NWS, etc. Add more content, please. And stop with this silly time-gated end content--it is painful and no one wants to do them.
Let me take my tin foil hat off for a minute and give a plausible reason why they might be making the decisions deliberately to drive players away.
Ok - let's just say the licence is up for renewal this year - let's also say that the cost is based on avg player numbers or hours.
Lets say with a 500,000 players logging in during any particular time - the renewal fee is $10million US
So they make all these changes before the renewal and drive the player count down to 200k
Maybe at 200k the renewal is only $3 million for 4 more years.
After the renewal they could do a new expansion and throw $2 million at it to bring the player count back up and still be $5 million ahead.
Perhaps Stahl did not like this plan so he has been put on another "secret" project
Of course this is all stuff coming into my head without my tin foil hat on - so it could just be crazy talk.
Really getting tired of trolls saying "DOOOOOOM!" in their posts to mock people making legitimate complaints, its getting really old already and childish. Just because you managed to queue for an ISE and it started doesn't mean there is no problem, there are many other events besides STFs that don't ever start now. Ground STFs, fleet actions, fleet events, Nukara and rom marks are all harder to grind now, their queues are dead.
We need some sort of hourly event system back, mainly the mark event happening for an hour or 2 at least twice per day like it was before. If they take away weekend events to get the hourly back then its still worth it.
I think you need to look up the definition of 'troll.'
As for my earlier post, how else can this thread be titled as? Look back over the past few years and you'll see dozens of similar styled posts that call out the death of the game over one thing or another. The most recent was the introduction of the Voth. 'O no, dinos with lasers! The game is dying!' Still here. Before that, 'Romulans are OP! The game is dying!' Still here. Remember the introduction of the Kumari? 'O no, five fore weapons! The game is dying!' How about when the game went F2P? 'O no, the game is not P2P anymore! The game is dying financially!' The list goes on and on.
All these threads follow the same basic logic. Something new or old is introduced/taken out, and somebody sees it as the death bells of the game. Do some of these have valid points? Sure, many of them point out pretty accurate facts, but to label them, including this thread, as 'game dying fast' is just like those doom cryers on street corners.
Formerly known as Echo@Rivyn13
Member since early 2011
I'd like to know why anyone would actually believe the daily events will ever be returned. They have stated that all they care about is repeatable (Read: GRIND) content. That means that this game has gone from being reasonably entertaining to a grindfest second job, AND the devs knew it when they made the announcement. Aside from it being a full-on admission of not caring about the Trek universe it was also a punch in the gut to its fans. Again, they knew this but went ahead with it anyway. Why beg for it to change when they've made up their mind? (It's also FAR more lucrative to charge for grinding than it is to actually create well-written and effective story arcs, but the point has been beaten to death already.)
We are noticing a large drop in the number of experienced players in game recently.
This has been going on since the game went F2P. Also, the game is more for gear grinders now than it ever was. That alone has turned more people off than the recent loss of bonus events. Hell, we wouldn't NEED bonus events to begin with if we didn't have rep after rep after rep to grind out. Think about it.
There is no particular time when players can expect others to be playing STFs or other mark events.
This also isn't new. The queue system was supposed to alleviate the forced teaming issue. It helped somewhat, but the problem was never fully solved. My solution: remove the forced teaming dynamic entirely. But that isn't going to happen.
No one is around on weekends now, expecially when there is no event going on.
I don't remember there ever being huge crowds around on weekends...unless there was a new FE out. At most there were more people in one place during a given event than there were elsewhere, but that doesn't automatically mean there were more players active overall. You make it sound like there were tons of players active all at once just for the events when that never really was the case.
Something needs to be done about player base retention - FAST.
You're assuming they want to retain every player to have ever logged into this game ever. All that matters is that people are spending money on this game. Player retention (and turnover) isn't relevant to the company's bottom line.
My Old Blog about things that could and should have been added when I wrote it. Not sure what I want to do with it now. I'll just keep it available now that most of it is outdated.
Just want to provide some constructive feedback on the impact of recent changes made to the game, based on actual experience.
Except that you don't provide constructive feedback... or any feedback. You just state unsupported subjective facts and say "fix it."
We are noticing a large drop in the number of experienced players in game recently.
Who's "we?" Don't try to stuff me in that group.
For example, during the last month or so it's been extremely hard to get a team together for ISE (even in the DPS channels if you can believe it). Based on feedback from talking to people, it seems everyone is just losing interest.
Not quite sure who your people are, but I have yet to see this massive loss of interest. Again - don't try to speak for me or anyone.
To some extent this seems to be attributable to the removal of hourly events.
When daily/hourly events were still around:
- You could expect a decent volume of players to be on and playing EVERY DAY, particularly during the MARKS EVENT. People had the opportunity to group and play together - it was fun.
First, there still is a large volume of people on and playing every day. I see lots, every day. And somehow I doubt that the calendar is the main reason your aforementioned "people" aren't logging on.
With the revised event calendar:
- There is no particular time when players can expect others to be playing STFs or other mark events.
Except, whenever we want to, at any given time in the day/week/month. I could hop in game right now and get an STF going. Or tomorrow. Or next month.
So it is very hard for people to find other players on any given day (particularly on weekdays when no events occur).
*Sigh* Again... just stop trying to speak like you magically know of a game-wide problem that doesn't exist. Maybe you and your people have trouble, not my friends and I.
Over time this fustration has caused many people to do other things (such as playing other games and not coming back at all in some instances).
- The lack of bonus marks removes any impetus to do a run on a week day or on weekends with no bonus.
The lack of a few measly marks never stopped me or anyone I know from doing a mark mission. Sure, we'd wait for the marks hour to come up, but if it isn't around we'll just do it regardless. You're speaking like the entire reason to play the game hangs on a handful of marks equal to one or less extra run of a mission.
- People generally only care about bonus marks and dilithium - these are looking to be quarterly, or god-forbid even longer, cycled weekend events... No one is around on weekends now, expecially when there is no event going on.
- Getting an STF together with people in the fleet or on the channels is becoming a fruitless exercise.
And yet again, this is not the case for most of the game. And besides, if all else fails, not finding four friends is not the end of the world. PvE is so easy now, pugging isn't much a fear anymore.
Extra slicing required ahead.
Honestly, we're seeing the early signs of a game dying an inevitable death.
Yet the game is growing. Tell me how it's dying, show me proof that actually makes...
An other troubling sign that supports this view is that trading on exchange has slowed quite a bit for ship equipment.
...sense. That's a stupid thing to base game life off of. Oh, not sure if you noticed between all those mark runs, but tradable - AKA non-fleet, non-lockbox, non-rep - ship equipment is long obsolete, so of course it won't sell quickly or easily.
Prices are also becoming inflated as there are no people selling drops from STFs.
This doesn't even relate to anything. People not selling STF drops is to game death as a cat not playing with two year old catnip is to nuclear apocalypse.
The usual end of season drag is also compounding this, a number of experienced and veteran players have already given up on this game or have expressed a serious view to do so very soon...please don't let this game die.
It's not dying. People are always leaving and joining. And unless you have a hobby of interviewing vets, I have seen less "It is time for me to move on" threads from vets on the forums than I have fingers on my two hands.
Something needs to be done about player base retention - FAST.
I think you need to look up the definition of 'troll.'
As for my earlier post, how else can this thread be titled as? Look back over the past few years and you'll see dozens of similar styled posts that call out the death of the game over one thing or another. The most recent was the introduction of the Voth. 'O no, dinos with lasers! The game is dying!' Still here. Before that, 'Romulans are OP! The game is dying!' Still here. Remember the introduction of the Kumari? 'O no, five fore weapons! The game is dying!' How about when the game went F2P? 'O no, the game is not P2P anymore! The game is dying financially!' The list goes on and on.
All these threads follow the same basic logic. Something new or old is introduced/taken out, and somebody sees it as the death bells of the game. Do some of these have valid points? Sure, many of them point out pretty accurate facts, but to label them, including this thread, as 'game dying fast' is just like those doom cryers on street corners.
The game won't die and get shut down, but the queues do look like they are pretty dead, especially non STF queues so there is a valid point and everyone mocking the OP just distracts from it.
Granted he should leave the "game dying fast" part of it out, but only because people choose to seize on that very minor point instead of the main point of the discussion. I get a little sick of it too because even in threads where I don't say game is dying but just have a complaint it still has people doing that. It is trolling because instead of offering a counter argument you just mock the OP instead. Using a worn out overused phrase people are tired of already too doesn't help.
Unless you really like only having dil or mark events once every 6 weeks or more for some strange reason instead of the old hourly system I don't see why you should be distracting from the main point.
Not quite sure who your people are, but I have yet to see this massive loss of interest. Again - don't try to speak for me or anyone.
I wasn't speaking or trying to speak on your behalf, if you used a bit of logic, and paid some attention, you'd realise "we" mainly relate to people in the DPS channels and other experienced/vet players.
First, there still is a large volume of people on and playing every day. I see lots, every day. And somehow I doubt that the calendar is the main reason your aforementioned "people" aren't logging on.
Except, whenever we want to, at any given time in the day/week/month. I could hop in game right now and get an STF going. Or tomorrow. Or next month.
*Sigh* Again... just stop trying to speak like you magically know of a game-wide problem that doesn't exist. Maybe you and your people have trouble, not my friends and I.
Stop assuming there is not problem just because you are able to start a run in a small group with a few friends.
The lack of a few measly marks never stopped me or anyone I know from doing a mark mission. Sure, we'd wait for the marks hour to come up, but if it isn't around we'll just do it regardless. You're speaking like the entire reason to play the game hangs on a handful of marks equal to one or less extra run of a mission.
You're missing the point, it's not about the extra marks, it's about the event "co-ordinating" players to play together. Trust me, if you reach the point of what some of the TOP players can do in the DPS channels, marks is not a problem, many people around here have more EC, marks, dilithium than they ever care to spend.
Yet the game is growing. Tell me how it's dying, show me proof that actually makes...
It's dying because any MMO game that cannot retain experienced verteran players has no long term value. Soon the new players will realise this and ask themselves: What am I spending so much time and effort grinding for?
...sense. That's a stupid thing to base game life off of. Oh, not sure if you noticed between all those mark runs, but tradable - AKA non-fleet, non-lockbox, non-rep - ship equipment is long obsolete, so of course it won't sell quickly or easily.
Obviously you have no clue as to the value of ship equipment, most fleet weapons are junk for DPS/PVP, ever seen those accx3 and crtdx3 weapons that sell for 50M?
This doesn't even relate to anything. People not selling STF drops is to game death as a cat not playing with two year old catnip is to nuclear apocalypse.
It means everything, they aren't selling because they don't have any to sell. Why? Because they aren't playing STFs... Think a bit before using your knife pls.
It's not dying. People are always leaving and joining. And unless you have a hobby of interviewing vets, I have seen less "It is time for me to move on" threads from vets on the forums than I have fingers on my two hands.
I don't interview them, I play with them and know them...
Constructive feedback, huh...
Obviously you have a comprehension problem, I was never talking about players in general, I'm talking about experienced players here.
The game won't die and get shut down, but the queues do look like they are pretty dead, especially non STF queues so there is a valid point and everyone mocking the OP just distracts from it.
Granted he should leave the "game dying fast" part of it out, but only because people choose to seize on that very minor point instead of the main point of the discussion. I get a little sick of it too because even in threads where I don't say game is dying but just have a complaint it still has people doing that. It is trolling because instead of offering a counter argument you just mock the OP instead. Using a worn out overused phrase people are tired of already too doesn't help.
Unless you really like only having dil or mark events once every 6 weeks or more for some strange reason instead of the old hourly system I don't see why you should be distracting from the main point.
The non stf queues are not as busy because they dont offer anything that contributes to the grind we have to go through. The dil they can give is made up for through the STFs, so of course there is going to be more people in the STF related queues. Also, define 'pretty dead.' I've run a verity of STF related content today with little to no downtime. Does that mean my experience applies to everybody else? No, of course not, but on the other hand, just because you appear to have hit a slower time of day to play said content does not mean people are leaving the game.
Again, reread my earlier post if you must, I did put more meat into it then just the one line you appear to be focusing on. I challenged the OP to bring the official numbers from a verified source to the table so we can hash it out, and if the OP could not, then it is simply speculation on his/her part.
As for the removal of the daily events, I don't have much of a problem with it. I still hit my daily limits through the content we have in about the same amount of time before, though I have to contribute a good deal of my success to my fleet, who holds daily runs. Again, I did not 'distract' from the point of this thread, I challenged the OP. There is a difference. If I wished to distract the point, I would have thrown in a kitten.
Formerly known as Echo@Rivyn13
Member since early 2011
Comments
Well, let's face it, the hourly schedule was mostly all about Bonus Marks Event. And that's precisely what was taken away in the new weekend events. At the rate it shows up now, if you miss it, it's like sitting out the Winter Event. Tune in next year for your next chance to take part.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
as a leader of what was a big fleet i can say i have seen and felr the losses...
Elite Scorpion Fighter / LAGind
It can take a long time to get a team for lots of missions lately. And while I'm not a hardcore dps maniac, I can definitely tell its harder to get decently smart players on teams.
Its been really hard to get any missions going lately, especially for fleet marks on the KDF side.
Both my Fed fleet and KDF fleet have seen 50% losses in player activity in the last 3 months, even with the events that have been going on.
The inability to schedule daily fleet events due to the lack of the hourly events is killing this game.
Please bring them back. The weekly events are not working.
Fluf - USS Angelia
Kazar Chugra -USS Mirak
Du'Ralle - IKS - K'Rag
Koval - RRW -D'Dara
Still see a lot of beginners and mid-level players around, not many vets. Pug queues are still popping, PVP and PESTF and DPS channels are dead.
I mean... just a few days ago i actually managed to be completely alone on New Romulus. No other instances, not other player in mine...
Also even qing for infected can take up to 5 minutes now, usually there were a couple of hundreds of players qing for that simultaneously.
Problem is:
I don't think that is connected to the removal of the hourly event alone.
There have been a lot of changes recently.
I personally think the MAIN reasons for that are 2 factors:
a. grind
b. "events".
c. connection of b and a.
Those things simply do one thing: Burn people out. And this is why they don't play any more.
Especially since there is nothing really to work for.
Sicne the removal/ change of the STFs to the current state there is nothing left that is remotely close to actual real end content.
Outside of pvp which is... well, after having played Guild Wars 2 I have to say: pvp essentially is not there. Miningames do not make real pvp.
The removal of the hourly events are just one nail in the coffin.
My suggestion: Before even thinking about changes in the game they should think about some personal changes in the Dev staff, and that means in particular changing out D'Angelo.
The numbers drop since HIS changes are implemented. HE almost ruined the game once before, last time when he was in charge. He was booted rather quickly back then.
No he comes back and it starts over again.
Unless somebody brings in the number of players from a dev or something official, all this is speculation. Just because you don't see players in a certain zone at one point doesn't mean people are leaving in droves. School day, work day, family, natural disaster, internet shortage, etc, could all keep people from going ingame.
Member since early 2011
BUT I do kinda miss them, it was nice when the mining event came on or the foundry bonus hour
I'd like it if we can have both hourly events back and Continue with the weekend events as well
The hourly events were a nice distraction and kept me logged in during the week. Now I just login a few mins for doff missions and the exchange. Mostly on during the weekends now but that is getting boring fast because everyone just grinds. If not for the LTS, I would probably not log on at all anymore.
the idiotic ( oh lets just stand and shoot ) new mirror event took a lot of the fun for me and the lack of hourly stuff and NEW CONTENT ..actually new
now fleet ships or other stuff like that but new intresting stuff is getting too much repetetive at this point.
frankly if it wasnt for friends i made this game would be on his way to get deleted
but im still hoping for the game to get better somehow so please dont dissapoint
STO could have a bright future for many more years if Cryptic stops pulling stupid stunts like getting rid of the hourly events and adding drop-dead-boring events like the Mirror Universe grind. Simply said, we need more of the classic MMO content and the hourly events should definitely come back. Add more STFs just like the Borg ones and stop making those "Adventure Zones". Everyone I've spoken to and even teamed up with are just there for mark grinding, once they've got said marks they've got no intention of ever doing these zones again.
For starters, return Undine Terradome as a proper STF, fix it up and add it to the list in the queue so people can start playing it. Every so often add more STFs, go back to the original STF schedule like it was shown on the official STO website around the time the first Borg STFs launched. Start with finishing off the Undine STF series and move up to the so called "Children of Khan" STF series. Even if it is still grindy, it'll keep people more focussed on the content itself and not on the boring grind.
Not exactly, we're seeing an obvious impact in the DPS channels, where most of the experienced, veteran and "power" players group. We have a better handle on the situation than probably whatever stats the Devs might have on hand.
It's hard for the Devs to see things clearly just from stats, e.g. distinguishing veteran players from new ones in all theiir stats, as well as the activeness of experienced players (e.g. a player may log in just to process dil or buy/sell stock on the exchange, but not actaully play the game anymore).
Especially on the bringing back bonus marks hourly event thing. That was one of the best things about the game and the queues were roaring. it was already bad KDF side, now its worse, so much worse. in fact Fed now is what KDF was before as far as the queues go.
Bonus marks event and Mirror Event really helped new chars and new players.
And lets not forget, we haven't had bonus marks now in almost 4 months.
There absolutely is stat tracking for all the things you just talked about. They can look at your expertise/skill point gains to see if you're doing anything game wise, ship deaths are tracked, buy and sell numbers are tracked, dilithium numbers are tracked, just about anything related to gameplay is tracked in some fashion.
I agree that the devs can't get the full picture just from stats, but likewise you can't get the full picture from just playing the game. Some of the devs play this game too. Your anecdotal evidence of specific chat channels, that by their very nature don't receive a lot of new blood, losing players is not evidence of the game dying. It's evidence that the most veteran of players are leaving or simply taking a break. My fleet chat is as lively, if not more so, than when I first joined. Again, anecdotal evidence.
Tracking stats and being able to discern underlying player trends from them is a totally different thing. Nothing compares to actual observations by players in game. And before you marginalise the exxperience in the DPS channels - do you even know who we are, and the depth of our experienced player base?
"by their very nature don't receive a lot of new blood" is so uninformed, it's not funny.
We need some sort of hourly event system back, mainly the mark event happening for an hour or 2 at least twice per day like it was before. If they take away weekend events to get the hourly back then its still worth it.
Experience week is a prime example, a good chunk of the playerbase goes off training alts, meanwhile all the STFs go dead and players who have fully trained toons have absolutely nothing to do and no one to play with.
Here is where the hourly event system really shined, events were quickly rotated so there was a playerbase in most areas of the game throughout the day.
Let me take my tin foil hat off for a minute and give a plausible reason why they might be making the decisions deliberately to drive players away.
Ok - let's just say the licence is up for renewal this year - let's also say that the cost is based on avg player numbers or hours.
Lets say with a 500,000 players logging in during any particular time - the renewal fee is $10million US
So they make all these changes before the renewal and drive the player count down to 200k
Maybe at 200k the renewal is only $3 million for 4 more years.
After the renewal they could do a new expansion and throw $2 million at it to bring the player count back up and still be $5 million ahead.
Perhaps Stahl did not like this plan so he has been put on another "secret" project
Of course this is all stuff coming into my head without my tin foil hat on - so it could just be crazy talk.
I think you need to look up the definition of 'troll.'
As for my earlier post, how else can this thread be titled as? Look back over the past few years and you'll see dozens of similar styled posts that call out the death of the game over one thing or another. The most recent was the introduction of the Voth. 'O no, dinos with lasers! The game is dying!' Still here. Before that, 'Romulans are OP! The game is dying!' Still here. Remember the introduction of the Kumari? 'O no, five fore weapons! The game is dying!' How about when the game went F2P? 'O no, the game is not P2P anymore! The game is dying financially!' The list goes on and on.
All these threads follow the same basic logic. Something new or old is introduced/taken out, and somebody sees it as the death bells of the game. Do some of these have valid points? Sure, many of them point out pretty accurate facts, but to label them, including this thread, as 'game dying fast' is just like those doom cryers on street corners.
Member since early 2011
We are noticing a large drop in the number of experienced players in game recently.
This has been going on since the game went F2P. Also, the game is more for gear grinders now than it ever was. That alone has turned more people off than the recent loss of bonus events. Hell, we wouldn't NEED bonus events to begin with if we didn't have rep after rep after rep to grind out. Think about it.
There is no particular time when players can expect others to be playing STFs or other mark events.
This also isn't new. The queue system was supposed to alleviate the forced teaming issue. It helped somewhat, but the problem was never fully solved. My solution: remove the forced teaming dynamic entirely. But that isn't going to happen.
No one is around on weekends now, expecially when there is no event going on.
I don't remember there ever being huge crowds around on weekends...unless there was a new FE out. At most there were more people in one place during a given event than there were elsewhere, but that doesn't automatically mean there were more players active overall. You make it sound like there were tons of players active all at once just for the events when that never really was the case.
Something needs to be done about player base retention - FAST.
You're assuming they want to retain every player to have ever logged into this game ever. All that matters is that people are spending money on this game. Player retention (and turnover) isn't relevant to the company's bottom line.
Except that you don't provide constructive feedback... or any feedback. You just state unsupported subjective facts and say "fix it."
Who's "we?" Don't try to stuff me in that group.
Not quite sure who your people are, but I have yet to see this massive loss of interest. Again - don't try to speak for me or anyone.
First, there still is a large volume of people on and playing every day. I see lots, every day. And somehow I doubt that the calendar is the main reason your aforementioned "people" aren't logging on.
Except, whenever we want to, at any given time in the day/week/month. I could hop in game right now and get an STF going. Or tomorrow. Or next month.
*Sigh* Again... just stop trying to speak like you magically know of a game-wide problem that doesn't exist. Maybe you and your people have trouble, not my friends and I.
The lack of a few measly marks never stopped me or anyone I know from doing a mark mission. Sure, we'd wait for the marks hour to come up, but if it isn't around we'll just do it regardless. You're speaking like the entire reason to play the game hangs on a handful of marks equal to one or less extra run of a mission.
And yet again, this is not the case for most of the game. And besides, if all else fails, not finding four friends is not the end of the world. PvE is so easy now, pugging isn't much a fear anymore.
Extra slicing required ahead.
Yet the game is growing. Tell me how it's dying, show me proof that actually makes...
...sense. That's a stupid thing to base game life off of. Oh, not sure if you noticed between all those mark runs, but tradable - AKA non-fleet, non-lockbox, non-rep - ship equipment is long obsolete, so of course it won't sell quickly or easily.
This doesn't even relate to anything. People not selling STF drops is to game death as a cat not playing with two year old catnip is to nuclear apocalypse.
It's not dying. People are always leaving and joining. And unless you have a hobby of interviewing vets, I have seen less "It is time for me to move on" threads from vets on the forums than I have fingers on my two hands.
Constructive feedback, huh...
The game won't die and get shut down, but the queues do look like they are pretty dead, especially non STF queues so there is a valid point and everyone mocking the OP just distracts from it.
Granted he should leave the "game dying fast" part of it out, but only because people choose to seize on that very minor point instead of the main point of the discussion. I get a little sick of it too because even in threads where I don't say game is dying but just have a complaint it still has people doing that. It is trolling because instead of offering a counter argument you just mock the OP instead. Using a worn out overused phrase people are tired of already too doesn't help.
Unless you really like only having dil or mark events once every 6 weeks or more for some strange reason instead of the old hourly system I don't see why you should be distracting from the main point.
Do you actually like weekend events more then hourly events, and why? I find this opposition to people wanting hourly back baffling
I wasn't speaking or trying to speak on your behalf, if you used a bit of logic, and paid some attention, you'd realise "we" mainly relate to people in the DPS channels and other experienced/vet players.
Stop assuming there is not problem just because you are able to start a run in a small group with a few friends.
You're missing the point, it's not about the extra marks, it's about the event "co-ordinating" players to play together. Trust me, if you reach the point of what some of the TOP players can do in the DPS channels, marks is not a problem, many people around here have more EC, marks, dilithium than they ever care to spend.
It's dying because any MMO game that cannot retain experienced verteran players has no long term value. Soon the new players will realise this and ask themselves: What am I spending so much time and effort grinding for?
Obviously you have no clue as to the value of ship equipment, most fleet weapons are junk for DPS/PVP, ever seen those accx3 and crtdx3 weapons that sell for 50M?
It means everything, they aren't selling because they don't have any to sell. Why? Because they aren't playing STFs... Think a bit before using your knife pls.
I don't interview them, I play with them and know them...
Obviously you have a comprehension problem, I was never talking about players in general, I'm talking about experienced players here.
Um, I never said I liked them. I want the hourly stuff. I just pointed out how ridiculous the OP's support was.
The non stf queues are not as busy because they dont offer anything that contributes to the grind we have to go through. The dil they can give is made up for through the STFs, so of course there is going to be more people in the STF related queues. Also, define 'pretty dead.' I've run a verity of STF related content today with little to no downtime. Does that mean my experience applies to everybody else? No, of course not, but on the other hand, just because you appear to have hit a slower time of day to play said content does not mean people are leaving the game.
Again, reread my earlier post if you must, I did put more meat into it then just the one line you appear to be focusing on. I challenged the OP to bring the official numbers from a verified source to the table so we can hash it out, and if the OP could not, then it is simply speculation on his/her part.
As for the removal of the daily events, I don't have much of a problem with it. I still hit my daily limits through the content we have in about the same amount of time before, though I have to contribute a good deal of my success to my fleet, who holds daily runs. Again, I did not 'distract' from the point of this thread, I challenged the OP. There is a difference. If I wished to distract the point, I would have thrown in a kitten.
Member since early 2011