How much REAL money do you spend???

wanghunglo42

Starting to feel like a fool here. Specifically talking about spending real money to buy zen, then spending it on lockbox keys. Spent $200 on zen then poured most of it into opening only Xindi lockboxes. No Xindi Aquatic Dreadnought. Then I spent another $200 a few days later and this time used it ONLY to open Xindi lockboxes. STILL no ship!

So my question to you all is this: is it WORTH it??? I'm probably the reason why STO Gamepedia posts percentages next to the lockbox items. I waged a long and protracted war with the devs about the legal ramifications of taking REAL money from people and not telling us what our chances are of getting a certain items. Perhaps others did too.

The fight began because I was angry at how much I spent back in the day trying to unlock the Voth Bastion Cruiser. Now here I am again. So if I'm a fool spending real money on these guys, please tell me. I'm a big man and can take criticism.

stf65

i spend around 50 bucks every 3 months of my own money and and around 10 bucks a month in exchange zen. about twice a year i subscribe too. i subbed last week so i could get into tribble and i'll get priority login when dr goes live on the 14th. i figured that was worth the 10 bucks. i figure 220 bucks a year's worth it. i'd spend close to that much on a subs game.

groomofweird

Spending THAT much money for one lockbox ship via opening boxes is a bad plan, youd be better served spending it on keys and then selling said keys to buy the ship outright from the exchange with EC.
Thats just my two cents however.

havokreign

REAL money isn't backed.

I'm actually only trading one "in game" currency for another in game currency.

chalpen

I haven't spent a penny since f2p. Not enough kdf stuff to buy.

anazonda

Zero... Havn't payed for anything Zen-related since F2P, but the LoR pack... I feel dirty and ashamed of that btw.

som3one1

All I can say is that I feel that I've spent waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much for a game on sto. Always wanting to get rare and exclusive ships, which are rarely cheap. >.<

stomperx99

Sell your keys on the Exchange instead of opening boxes. Works much faster and cheaper. Believe me, I went down that road before.....

stf65

if no one opens boxes selling all the keys in the world won't help. someone needs to open the boxes to put the shps in the exchange.

johngazman

Too much.

/10char.

captainkron

Too Much!!! Got 20 Toons all max lvl50 max-reps all 5 and almost all space weapons and sets for each toon. Playing 8-10 hrs day after work sleep maybe 4-6 hrs. Addiction - OCD - no life. How do you kill a man with no life... turn off access to STO !!!! LOL

wanghunglo42

I hear all of you. But it seems to me that the REAL solution is for the devs to increase the odds. I mean really...how much is a cartoon ship in a virtual world REALLY worth? Compare that to things you could buy in the REAL world with that much money!

cincyman39

You chose to buy keys and open lock boxes I will not come on here and call you a fool its your choice. My advice to you is if your going to open lockboxes dont make the shiney new ship your goal focus on something else like the mine claims then you wont be so upset.

As for myself I spend 14.99 a month hve been since 2010 I know I should of went lts and it would'nt benefit me now since I have all the vet rewards and titles. I chose to remain a gold member becouse had I gone lts I would not have spent another dime on this game this way I feel I am doing my part in keeping sto alive.

captinwh0

including my gold membership, a little over £1000

stf65

wanghunglo42 wrote: »

I hear all of you. But it seems to me that the REAL solution is for the devs to increase the odds. I mean really...how much is a cartoon ship in a virtual world REALLY worth? Compare that to things you could buy in the REAL world with that much money!

don't blame the devs if you can't control your impulses. i saw a post over the weekend from some guy who said he had cryptic put his account on hold because he couldn't stop playing on his own. if you can't stop yourself at 30 bucks or whatever, that's on you.

voporak

I've spent maybe $110 on the game, and haven't spent a cent since around January 2013. I don't plan on giving another cent either because the way the game is being taken doesn't make it deserve any more of my money (all in my own opinion of course).

wanghunglo42

It's not an "impulse buy" to do what you want to do. My argument is about the odds. Again, how much is a cartoon ship in a virtual world REALLY worth in real dollars?

I'm a lifetime subscriber. I'd even go so far as to say the odds of achieving a premium item should be higher for subscribers than for casual players.

ursusmorologus

I used to spend $10-20 every month just because I wanted to support the game hoping that they would fix some of the gameplay issues, but since details of DR have been made public I no longer spend any money here and put it to other games instead.

As for you other question: if you can afford to spend $200 on a ship thats your call. I used to spend that much on a round of golf or a weekend drinking. IMO no ship in this game is worth $200. You can buy 5 other games for that much money, and they are probably all better games.

centaurianalpha

~$80US before I signed up for Gold sub ($15us/mo), and $100US for a (overpriced) copy of STO Collector's Edition. Apart from the sub, nothing more, and if Cryptic/PWE breaks any more of the game, that will stop, too...

BTW, if one is buying keys with the goal of getting a specific ship, you should know that a ship's availability is inversely proportional to your desire for it... :eek:

stf65

wanghunglo42 wrote: »

It's not an "impulse buy" to do what you want to do. My argument is about the odds. Again, how much is a cartoon ship in a virtual world REALLY worth in real dollars?

if you're dumping 200 bucks to get it then it must be worth 200 bucks to you. i stop a 25 buck when it comes to lockbox ships. someone else might stop at 5 or 500.

chalpen

I am forty and have never gambled and cannot conceive of gambling with really money. My hand just stops over the Buy button and cannot move.
I would buy virtual ship cryptic makes for the kdf just as easily that I would buy a virtual video games.
But nowadays nobody wants my money.

capnmanx

I bought the Nebula not too long after it came out. I bought a couple of bridge packs, and maybe a uniform or two (can't really remember). I bought the Hephaestus back when it was a c-store item. I bought the collector's edition of the game (and still have all the stuff, even those stupid postcards); and I subscribed for several months before the F2P conversion. I even bought a copy of Champions and a 3 or 6 or whatever month subscription, so that I could get the guaranteed STO beta access.

I feel I've done plenty to support STO. It's not my fault most of what I've spent on the game got nicked by Atari.

I only play their lottery if there is something that I really want (which so far has only been an Isometric Charge console, which I got; a couple of Doffs, which I didn't; and a Mirror Heavy Cruiser, which I ended up just getting off the exchange).

wanghunglo42

Well...as the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME! No more real cash to this game. At least not while the odds are so abysmal.

Sorry it had to come to this. I'm a HUGE Star Trek fan! And this game is not perfect, but it's pretty awesome when you examine the details. But from now on I'll live with whatever I get for free.

heckgoblin

Zero dollars, zero cents. Unless you count the additional power drawn by my video card while playing STO, and the subsequent costs reflected on my electric bill.

hyefather

I think I've spent about 12 dollors or was that 1200 dollors. I can't remember.

stf65

wanghunglo42 wrote: »

Well...as the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on ME! No more real cash to this game. At least not while the odds are so abysmal.

Sorry it had to come to this. I'm a HUGE Star Trek fan! And this game is not perfect, but it's pretty awesome when you examine the details. But from now on I'll live with whatever I get for free.

nerd rage is nerd rage. set a spending limit and live with in. if you don't get what you want within that limit learn to accept that.

wanghunglo42

Whatevs, dude.

kerriknight

Surely you got enough goods you can sell on the exchange or enough Lobi to grab a 100m EC ship from all of those boxes and thus have enough to buy the one you want?

stf65

wanghunglo42 wrote: »

Whatevs, dude.

you think you're the first person who spent more on a lockbox then they wanted to and came to the forum telling cryptic to change the odds or else? you're not.

stf65

kerriknight wrote: »

Surely you got enough goods you can sell on the exchange or enough Lobi to grab a 100m EC ship from all of those boxes and thus have enough to buy the one you want?

exactly. if the guy spent 200 bucks on keys he has millions of ecs in items from all those lockboxes that he can be selling to just buy the ship.

sunfrancks

chalpen wrote: »

I haven't spent a penny since f2p. Not enough kdf stuff to buy.

anazonda wrote: »

Zero... Havn't payed for anything Zen-related since F2P, but the LoR pack... I feel dirty and ashamed of that btw.

Apart from the LOR and Steam starter packs, pretty much the same.

What with my stipend and Dilithium generation, they haven't released enough in the cstore to dent my supply.

I wont touch scam boxes either...