Interesting points. Geko has said in interviews that he does the podcasts primarily because he's just been designated "that guy" and doesn't mind promoting and talking about the game. According to him, it's not because he's really the one calling the shots.
So it seems natural to feel like he's in charge since he's the one we hear talking about the game more often.
IMO it's really PWE who is pushing for all the increased monetization after seeing the profits it's produced in Neverwinter. Not to say it's a great game or a bad one, just that it seems to be incredibly profitable for them.
I'm not one to defend Geko in fact I can't stand the guy. He's the opposite of likeable to me. I just don't see him sitting behind his desk doing the Mr. Burns fingers and coming up with schemes to increase profits. I do see him as someone who would be super stoked to get the cast of Voyager to do VO work for the expansion though. Which is pretty cool even though I'm not personally a fan of the series.
Maybe you're right. I just lean towards this view because Cryptic seems to place systems as the core of its design process and the frustrations here come from systems, which doesn't seem like the most customer friendly or responsive department.
Contrast with WoW where content is the rockstar department and their content head Chris Metzen does WWE style entrances at public events in a leather jacket and shades. And I think making content the rockstar department yields better customer satisfaction, even if it probably is hard to reconcile with F2P.
From my point of view I would not compare STO to SWTOR. I play STO primarily because it reminds me of Star Trek: Starfleet Command since it is capital ship vs capital ship combat. SWTOR is not like that, it's more focused on ground combat and what seems like a bit of starfighter combat on rails. I think Eve Online would be a closer comparison for me.
LOL, "Free" 2 Play? This is what you guys wanted, this is what you guys get.
On the flip side to this, is when I see players that have spent absolutely no money in any game, making demands about something. If they don't get what they feel entitled to (despite putting in no money), they'll take their non-paying TRIBBLE somewhere else.
For me, the problem is opposite of how people criticize it. People keep comparing STO to SWTOR but then compare the two on the basis of the minimum requirements to play each so that you can thrive at the lowest tier, basically the basic value of the game. But a lot of us play at the higher end of a game, and that's where STO becomes a horrific value to me because to do everything at the higher levels and at the most bells and whistles is massively expensive to keep up with what's normal. SWTOR doesn't have that same problem. Once you're past the initial threshold, you're basically getting the same things that someone who might want to pay for everything is getting. With STO, a new ship becomes extremely expensive. If I'm running several characters with different ships, the cost invovled are outrageous. $125 for a "keep what you already have at the highest level" is ridiculous. If I was playing WoW, or anything else, my $15 a month would keep me at the maximum of what I needed, not $125. And let's add to it that I'm a lifetime member, which means that in that scenario I"m considered someone who IS paying the $15 a month so even being a paid subscriber, I still have to pay an astronomical amount of money just to be considered up to speed with the current stuff in the game.
I don't think people are seriously thinking this through. The game is now moving into a "you need to pay a LOT of money to get full experiences out of this game" which you can argue all you want that that's not the case, but you'd be wrong. We're throwing a lot of cognitive dissonance because the last thing we want to believe is that we're being seriously ripped off by a game we loved so much.
Fleet Admiral Duane Gundrum, U.S.S. Merrimack
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire
Comments
Maybe you're right. I just lean towards this view because Cryptic seems to place systems as the core of its design process and the frustrations here come from systems, which doesn't seem like the most customer friendly or responsive department.
Contrast with WoW where content is the rockstar department and their content head Chris Metzen does WWE style entrances at public events in a leather jacket and shades. And I think making content the rockstar department yields better customer satisfaction, even if it probably is hard to reconcile with F2P.
From my point of view I would not compare STO to SWTOR. I play STO primarily because it reminds me of Star Trek: Starfleet Command since it is capital ship vs capital ship combat. SWTOR is not like that, it's more focused on ground combat and what seems like a bit of starfighter combat on rails. I think Eve Online would be a closer comparison for me.
On the flip side to this, is when I see players that have spent absolutely no money in any game, making demands about something. If they don't get what they feel entitled to (despite putting in no money), they'll take their non-paying TRIBBLE somewhere else.
I don't think people are seriously thinking this through. The game is now moving into a "you need to pay a LOT of money to get full experiences out of this game" which you can argue all you want that that's not the case, but you'd be wrong. We're throwing a lot of cognitive dissonance because the last thing we want to believe is that we're being seriously ripped off by a game we loved so much.
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire