The #1 thing I remember back from when I played Diablo 2 is that Blizzard cared more about squashing exploits like map hack than anything else. Sure... they fixed bugs and rebalanced some of the more ridiculous things... some. But they also did things like cutting the amount of time common items remaine din loot drops... which made finding runes and gems a lot harder.
Ive been playing Diablo saga, ********, Starcraft, and everything from Blizzard since i have memory. You cant compare em. Why people keep doing that?? Diablo 2 was the only "fiasco" talking about stability. People abused so much from chetos and exploits that in the end was almost impossible to fix. BUT AGAIN they did it, or maybe you cant remember. After lord of destruction they launched a massive series of patches. And they fixed almost everything of diablo 2 + the expansion. So, please stop writting TRIBBLE. You are another one that keeps trying to justify cryptic at all costs (there are 4 or 5 of you always the same people lol) i wonder if actually you are employers of cryptic or something else.
If another game company suddenly made a good Star Trek game and it didn't have lock boxes would you play it?
The answer to this question is the same as the answer to the OP's implied question.
The anwser is, probably yes. The only reason i play STO is because it is star trek at least in 75%. But as a game, in terms of quality, is a crappy one. A game cant be a good game with so many bugs and fails and a company like cryptic behind, sorry its a fact lol.
Sure I can. STO is not that much more unstable than WoW. You seem to have an odd definition of stable though.
Arguing with edgcryser is like arguing with stupid. He'll drag you down to his level then beat you to death.
Basically since STO isn't the utopia he demands, it's just pure and utter garbage. Least that's how he comes across to me.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
If you think that an MMO doesn't exist solely for profit, you are sorely mistaken, my friend. I would rather play a Free to Play MMO and pay for only what I want rather than just hand $15 per month to a developer and end up getting NOTHING in return.
Some of us have forgotten how it was before PWE took over. Cryptic was getting our money EVERY MONTH, and yet we went months and months with nothing but C-store TRIBBLE.
A subscription guarantees nothing other than a steady revenue flow for the executives holding the developers' leashes.
And I would like to point out that there has been more work done on STO since it went F2P than there was while it was still sub-based. It may not be exactly what YOU want it to be (It certainly isn't exactly what I want it to be), but it is what it is.
Somebody else who gets it. FINALLY. Yes there are complaints, and I don't dispute that. But look at what F2p has brought the game. It got us the Romulans, got us a hell of a lot more ships in the C-store, reworking of previous episodes that were by and large ugly. An actual 1-50 story for the klingons.
I mean going F2p, may have it's cons, but the benefits FAR outweigh the cons.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
These topics always show up on f2p mmo boards. And its always from someone that has no clue about anything. Its these guys that sub and think it makes them special. The sub only model does not work today. Also cash shops bring in more money to a company than just a sub. These players need to come down off their mountain. I will bet that most f2p players here spend more money in a month than sub.players. You can bet every new mmo coming out has plans down the road to grab that f2p/cash shop money. Look what ESO is doing. They put out what most people are saying is a crappy mmo. And they say they going to fix it. Yet they made millions off the ip name and they have a cash shop allready in the game. Any game that puts in a cash shop will add a free to play model soon. They just don't say it because they know those sub players think if a game is sub.only that it will have that special sub.only entitlement. It just proves these guys are stupid. A game company is a business first. They will add a f2p model with a cash shop because its good for business. Its not about you or your ego. No mmo will ever again make the money that Wow makes. Even they have a cash shop and let you play for free to lvl20. If they do it you can bet every game coming out will. Imagine if ESO said up front that they will have a f2p model. They wouldn't have made the money they have so far. These companies are a business first. You sub.players need to get over yourselves.
The only bad thing about F2P I see is posts like this one. I still can't understand why some players seem to be so personally involved with a video game......its a game.
MMOs are also a business, so the ultimate goal is to make money in order to keep the ability of creating new content and at the same time supporting the Staff, internet fees, lawyers, Community Managers and so on.
IMO this is one of the best F2P models out there for the fact you can get everything in game you want, w/o spending a dime, it will just take you longer. In this game paying money for in game ships/stuff is more of a convienence/time saver than it is anything else.
Ive been playing Diablo saga, ********, Starcraft, and everything from Blizzard since i have memory. You cant compare em.
Yes I can. Why? Because I used to be a Diablo 2 modder. I know how f-ed up that game's code is.
For an example: Mephisto doesn't have a proper death animation. Instead he has an ability triggered by his death that spawns an untargetable enemy that immediately dies as soon as it spawns, and the crack that opens up under Mephisto is actually this creature's death animation. And the white cloud surrounding Mephisto is actually an aura visual, not that the aura does anything. It's just there to make Mephisto look cool.
You must sprang from the Lords brain to comprehend my ideas (quote Apocolypse age of apocolypse marvel comics). what I am trying to comprehend is to how we as gammers willingly accepted this. at some point we had to give companys that make games the idea they can make more money by giving us less than more. I mean take a subscription based game and compare their updates or expansions (theres more than wow) to a Free 2 play games updates and expansions. They completely dwarf a F2Ps. Theres 10x the content maybe more. Theres character level increases, Many areas of exploration and tons of Lore. Cut scenes. Playable Content for rewards. After season 9 I cant think of anything you need to complete that nets a just reward. Not even the reputation hubs now are worth it since they Nerfed our traits. Please somebody justifly why. I'm sorry if I sound so negative I just really love sto and I want it to do great things. Im afraid tho that with F2P its a dead end street. After the shine wears off everyone leaves. Theres no integrity to keep people around. No personal stories, no attachment other than ppl who feel attached because they spent alot of money on the game and they think someday their investment is gonna pay off (these ppl need comitted btw). I think that I'm just so dissapointed I cant stand it. I know somebody has to feel this way. Are we our own worst enemys?
Okay, first of all, wow...wall of text. Please learn to use the ENTER key. A spell-checker wouldn't hurt either.
However, the answer to your question about how we came to accept this is simple: artificial scarcity.
Name any other Star Trek MMO out there right now.
You can't. There aren't any. CBS holds (most of) the rights to the show, and they've licensed it to one entity: Cryptic.
And Cryptic isn't stupid. They know that microtransactions bring in more money than subscriptions, on average. Yes, there are a few people like the responder early in this thread who said essentially "no, it's not a moneymaker because I don't spend money on it".
But that's the minority...most people do tend to spend more in a "free"-to-play environment for the same reason many of us buy inferior mass-produced products of all types: the marketing of temptation.
Want a better ship? I'm sorry, you can't...unless you have a couple bucks for us. Oh, you want to create another character or two? That'll be more, please. Aww, did you want that shiny uniform that other player is wearing? Money.
And besides, "free"-to-play has been here for a long while now. This thread is really a couple of years late.
After reading all these post I believe the majority of them is trying to get basically 1 point across and that is why is anyone compaling, its Free. You get to play for Free. Well i ask this, if you lived next to a industrial power plant that released harmful chemicals into the air and you went to compalin about your mouth and throat burning and they looked at you and said what are you complaining about, the air is free. what would you say. I know the game is free but there is better ways to give it to its customers. We as the gamer should not be short handed just because they decided to use a diffrent revenue model than subscription. We should get the same content as anyone no matter what revenue model is used. in the last few seasons we have been neglected. Besides if cryptic is making more money with their F2P model we should be getting more content than we should even expect to get. At every turn we should be surprised with new content. It should be rolling out non stop. But instead we keep getting lockboxes. Does anyone else feel like they keep getting a new car but their only allowed to drive it in their driveway. Whats the point in getting a new starshilp if you cant drive it anywheres new. Same old road but with a diffrent ride. Gets boreing quick.
First of all, get off your high horse, your opinion is no better than the hobo who lives down the street.
Second of all, I will admit that the size of the Seasons have gone down, but the quality of them have risen dramatically. Who really knows why the Tholians were at Nukara or remember why they were at New Romulus, but players can tell you about the story of the Voth, the Undine, and the Iconians.
F2p saved this game. There was no golden age of STO, within six months of releasing the game, STO's content became a trickle to the point where we got Season 4.
Free 2 play is bad simple because it is Completly Developer Driven for Profit and a Subscription based game is Completely Player and Content driven.
And you actually believe this guffaw-inducing joke, don't you? Here's a little reality check for you: Any game with a "developer" and a "publisher" is completely developer-and-publisher-driven for profit. Anyone who thinks subscription-based games are all about the players needs to sit down, sober up, and contemplate what "You have to pay before we'll even let you in the door" suggests about the company's real motivations.
I honestly would not credit Free 2 Play with saving STO, there is absolutely no way to know one way or the other.
The problem with Atari was that they were sucking the game dry and putting virtually no money back into the game for the development of new content.
When PWE bought up Cryptic and STO they had already decided before hand that STO was going to become a Free 2 Play game, which is their style.
STO could easily have been a huge success with the Subscription only model had it not been mismanaged so badly from the start.
but players can tell you about the story of the Voth, the Undine, and the Iconians.
Which Story ... who are the Voth ? ... Undine all the way now till S10 ... then it's gonna be : Whats an Undine, we got the Krenim now ... btw what happened to these other guys, don't remember their names something like E-Lychee ...
[Quoting someone from the Undine Battlezone these days : "Seriously, whats the Voth Fleet doing here ...?"]
F2p saved this game. There was no golden age of STO, within six months of releasing the game, STO's content became a trickle to the point where we got Season 4.
So 4 Seasons within 6 months ... seriously people do you even TRY to remember, just use Google or Wiki if you can't ...
Some help ... cause it seems, some people can't be bothered :
Season 2 - Ancient Enemies (7 months after release) :
1 . The following new missions have been added:
Federation and Klingon
Undine Front
The Return
Assimilation
Fluid Dynamics
A Light in the Dark
Federation
Diplomacy
Ancestral Sin
Family Ties
Hostile Takeover
Quarantine
Shady Supplies
Standoff
Taste of Home
Trade Deal
Klingons
Klingon Sector
Bringing Down the House
The House Always Wins
Second Star to the Right, Straight on 'til Morning
Keep Your Enemies Closer
Fek'Ihri Front
Blood of the Empire
Destiny
Afterlife
The Gates of Gre'thor
2. Season Two saw the launch of weekly Feature Episode mission arcs. The first series focused on a conflict between the Deferi and the Breen, second one followed 3 weeks later named "The Spectres"
F2P has its advantages, one of which is opening the door to a larger playerbase.
Yeah, subscription based games have a barrier to entry that people find intimidating. A lot of people simply aren't willing to pay 15$ or more just to find out if they like a game.
So 4 Seasons within 6 months ... seriously people do you even TRY to remember, just use Google or Wiki if you can't ...
Some help ... cause seems some people can't be bothered :
-> if it was trickling down, it still is pretty hard :P
Season 2 was probably the best Season for the pre-F2P era, but then Season 3 had the Foundry, a daily mission, and Cloaked Intentions while Season 4 had just the First City and Starfleet Academy "missions". So Season 3 and Season 4 just had the Foundry and Cloaked Intentions for decent mission content. There is a reason why 2011 is the Year of He** for Star Trek Online.
Season 2 was probably the best Season for the pre-F2P era, but then Season 3 had the Foundry, a daily mission, and Cloaked Intentions while Season 4 had just the First City and Starfleet Academy "missions". So Season 3 and Season 4 just had the Foundry and Cloaked Intentions for decent mission content. There is a reason why 2011 is the Year of He** for Star Trek Online.
Yeah not gonna argue about, all went to hell with S4 (1,5 YEARS later), because of Atari basically abandoning the game ... but the first year, maybe the first 1,5 years were pretty good ... without anything "trickling down", more like "a sudden hit in the face" ~Early 2011 ...
Yeah, subscription based games have a barrier to entry that people find intimidating. A lot of people simply aren't willing to pay 15$ or more just to find out if they like a game.
To me this is a way to play. I'm glad its Free to Play. As I only get to play a couple hours per week. So I can't justify dumping $15 per month just to play a couple hours per week. Plus you would then have to pay extra for the store items. So then I will be also more unwilling to buy those items. Since your forcing me to pay $15 per month. Where for Free to Play I have bought lots of stuff from the store and still do so.
Another thing is for the kids. Some parents are less convinced to let their kids pay a subscription just to play a game.
It does have its pros and cons to either way. To me I see more pros than cons for Free to Play. This is what got my attention to join up.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Comments
Ive been playing Diablo saga, ********, Starcraft, and everything from Blizzard since i have memory. You cant compare em. Why people keep doing that?? Diablo 2 was the only "fiasco" talking about stability. People abused so much from chetos and exploits that in the end was almost impossible to fix. BUT AGAIN they did it, or maybe you cant remember. After lord of destruction they launched a massive series of patches. And they fixed almost everything of diablo 2 + the expansion. So, please stop writting TRIBBLE. You are another one that keeps trying to justify cryptic at all costs (there are 4 or 5 of you always the same people lol) i wonder if actually you are employers of cryptic or something else.
Yup, and even that, you cant compare that unstability with cryptic's lol. A world of difference.
The anwser is, probably yes. The only reason i play STO is because it is star trek at least in 75%. But as a game, in terms of quality, is a crappy one. A game cant be a good game with so many bugs and fails and a company like cryptic behind, sorry its a fact lol.
Arguing with edgcryser is like arguing with stupid. He'll drag you down to his level then beat you to death.
Basically since STO isn't the utopia he demands, it's just pure and utter garbage. Least that's how he comes across to me.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Somebody else who gets it. FINALLY. Yes there are complaints, and I don't dispute that. But look at what F2p has brought the game. It got us the Romulans, got us a hell of a lot more ships in the C-store, reworking of previous episodes that were by and large ugly. An actual 1-50 story for the klingons.
I mean going F2p, may have it's cons, but the benefits FAR outweigh the cons.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
MMOs are also a business, so the ultimate goal is to make money in order to keep the ability of creating new content and at the same time supporting the Staff, internet fees, lawyers, Community Managers and so on.
IMO this is one of the best F2P models out there for the fact you can get everything in game you want, w/o spending a dime, it will just take you longer. In this game paying money for in game ships/stuff is more of a convienence/time saver than it is anything else.
For an example: Mephisto doesn't have a proper death animation. Instead he has an ability triggered by his death that spawns an untargetable enemy that immediately dies as soon as it spawns, and the crack that opens up under Mephisto is actually this creature's death animation. And the white cloud surrounding Mephisto is actually an aura visual, not that the aura does anything. It's just there to make Mephisto look cool.
My character Tsin'xing
I agree. That takes a lot of time though.
However, the answer to your question about how we came to accept this is simple: artificial scarcity.
Name any other Star Trek MMO out there right now.
You can't. There aren't any. CBS holds (most of) the rights to the show, and they've licensed it to one entity: Cryptic.
And Cryptic isn't stupid. They know that microtransactions bring in more money than subscriptions, on average. Yes, there are a few people like the responder early in this thread who said essentially "no, it's not a moneymaker because I don't spend money on it".
But that's the minority...most people do tend to spend more in a "free"-to-play environment for the same reason many of us buy inferior mass-produced products of all types: the marketing of temptation.
Want a better ship? I'm sorry, you can't...unless you have a couple bucks for us. Oh, you want to create another character or two? That'll be more, please. Aww, did you want that shiny uniform that other player is wearing? Money.
And besides, "free"-to-play has been here for a long while now. This thread is really a couple of years late.
Second of all, I will admit that the size of the Seasons have gone down, but the quality of them have risen dramatically. Who really knows why the Tholians were at Nukara or remember why they were at New Romulus, but players can tell you about the story of the Voth, the Undine, and the Iconians.
F2p saved this game. There was no golden age of STO, within six months of releasing the game, STO's content became a trickle to the point where we got Season 4.
And you actually believe this guffaw-inducing joke, don't you? Here's a little reality check for you: Any game with a "developer" and a "publisher" is completely developer-and-publisher-driven for profit. Anyone who thinks subscription-based games are all about the players needs to sit down, sober up, and contemplate what "You have to pay before we'll even let you in the door" suggests about the company's real motivations.
The problem with Atari was that they were sucking the game dry and putting virtually no money back into the game for the development of new content.
When PWE bought up Cryptic and STO they had already decided before hand that STO was going to become a Free 2 Play game, which is their style.
STO could easily have been a huge success with the Subscription only model had it not been mismanaged so badly from the start.
Which Story ... who are the Voth ? ... Undine all the way now till S10 ... then it's gonna be : Whats an Undine, we got the Krenim now ... btw what happened to these other guys, don't remember their names something like E-Lychee ...
[Quoting someone from the Undine Battlezone these days : "Seriously, whats the Voth Fleet doing here ...?"]
So 4 Seasons within 6 months ... seriously people do you even TRY to remember, just use Google or Wiki if you can't ...
Some help ... cause it seems, some people can't be bothered :
-> if it was trickling down, it still is pretty hard :P
Which one is it ... you just contradicted yourself ...
My character Tsin'xing
Season 2 was probably the best Season for the pre-F2P era, but then Season 3 had the Foundry, a daily mission, and Cloaked Intentions while Season 4 had just the First City and Starfleet Academy "missions". So Season 3 and Season 4 just had the Foundry and Cloaked Intentions for decent mission content. There is a reason why 2011 is the Year of He** for Star Trek Online.
Yeah not gonna argue about, all went to hell with S4 (1,5 YEARS later), because of Atari basically abandoning the game ... but the first year, maybe the first 1,5 years were pretty good ... without anything "trickling down", more like "a sudden hit in the face" ~Early 2011 ...
fixed that for you :P ... well ok maybe LOR, which wasn't a "Season" soo ... :P
14 day trials aren't enough these days.
Another thing is for the kids. Some parents are less convinced to let their kids pay a subscription just to play a game.
It does have its pros and cons to either way. To me I see more pros than cons for Free to Play. This is what got my attention to join up.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.