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HYPOTHETICAL scenario: Cryptic shuts down STO
stardestroyer001
Member Posts: 2,615 Arc User
A mind exercise, just for fun. Don't worry, as far as we know, STO is continuing to chug along.
Hypothetical scenario:
Because of Delta Rising f***ing over players old and new, server problems, possibilities of players getting their Steam accounts locked, or whatever calamity affects STO, PWE loses a significant amount of money and playerbase. Because it's financially unfeasible to continue running the game on its servers, PWE pulls the plug on STO.
What happens to:
I find it unlikely we would ever see a refund, since that's how business works. It would be a huge shame to see a large amount of time, effort, and money placed into a virtual server only to have it shut down. When you think about it, the game seems rather finite and extremely fallible. Of course, the next question becomes: Why bother paying PWE your money if the server will shut down sometime in the (near?) future?
*Edit: Whoops, bad terms. Title should read "PWE shuts down STO", as Cryptic is just the game developer.
Hypothetical scenario:
Because of Delta Rising f***ing over players old and new, server problems, possibilities of players getting their Steam accounts locked, or whatever calamity affects STO, PWE loses a significant amount of money and playerbase. Because it's financially unfeasible to continue running the game on its servers, PWE pulls the plug on STO.
What happens to:
- All equipment, items, ships, everything (including titles, ingame funds, dil and ZEN)?
- This forum?
- Intellectual property (IP) for STO's assets (such as the Odyssey Cruiser design, characters like Shon, etc)?
- Our lives without STO?
- Insert your own concern here
I find it unlikely we would ever see a refund, since that's how business works. It would be a huge shame to see a large amount of time, effort, and money placed into a virtual server only to have it shut down. When you think about it, the game seems rather finite and extremely fallible. Of course, the next question becomes: Why bother paying PWE your money if the server will shut down sometime in the (near?) future?
*Edit: Whoops, bad terms. Title should read "PWE shuts down STO", as Cryptic is just the game developer.
stardestroyer001, Admiral, Explorers Fury PvE/PvP Fleet | Retired PvP Player
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
My List of Useful Links, Recently Updated November 25 2017!
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
My List of Useful Links, Recently Updated November 25 2017!
Post edited by stardestroyer001 on
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Comments
If they take it down for a few days to fix things...well, hell will freeze over.
Let CBS pull the plug. Let it be OVER.
EDIT: If the game ends completely, obviously we lose everything. If they remove DR (which they won't) I really don't think we'll lose anything important. Like any other MMO going offline we will not get our money back. It's ****ty, but our own fault for spending it in game. Life sucks like that.
They make a wondrous mess of things. Brave amateurs, they do their part.
2. Forums will shut down. No point in having them if there's no game.
3. Not sure if PWE or CBS will retain rights to STO material.
4. My time and money will just go elsewhere, like it has already been for the past few months. Probably keep an eye on other Star Trek projects like Timelines and Excalibur.
Honestly, at this point I say let it happen. Whomever comes along to do the next game will probably do a better job. I am sure it will be content light, and there will be bugs and there will be grinds and cash grabs.
But at least they might treat their players with some respect and listen to complaints once in a while. We can do better than Cryptic and PWE! I am sure we can.
- Judge Aaron Satie
Gone, and with no refunds.
In an MMO, one pays for the right to have access to in-game digital items, not the right to own them.
Probably left around for a little while to let people reminisce in old times, then eventually shut down to make way for something else.
Most likely the rights will be returned to CBS.
I'll just have my fond memories and some ideas for what I want to do in my next ST game/fanon/MMO/whatever.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I really don't think another company would even try to make another Star Trek MMO. You never know, but if they go based on STO in terms of how it performed, I highly doubt it.
Anyway, PWE shut down one of their other games and they refunded any purchases the players made in the last 6 months of the game's life. I would think STO would receive similar treatment.
This is why I equate spending money with online games like going to the movies. Once you spend the $$$, you are not getting it back.
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I think next time an ST MMO comes along (because lets face it, everyone wants to cash in on ST) I'll just hope I get the kind of character customisation I get with STO now and enjoy that for as long as I can.
It will go away.
It will depends on the license agreement. Many Trek licenses have joint ownership - which is why STO cannot use things from other games, as both CBS and the other company own the creations, rather then only CBS owning it.
It is a game, not my life. I have been gaming for nearly 18 years now. I have seen many games come and go, and will probably see dozens more before my life ends. No big deal.
I would point out, though, that the existence of STO does not stop CBS from offering new Trek MMO licenses. They gave an MMO license to Gameforge - but they ran out of money and had to abandon the project. CBS also gave a Trek MMO license to NGames a few months ago. You can read about their basic ideas HERE. Of course it might be several years before they get it done - and it could run out of money just as Infinite Space did.
1. You would LOSE IT ALL: all of your gear, all of your Dil, all of your ECs, all your of BOFFs, all your of DOFFs, all of your ships, all of your mats, all of your lockboxes, all of your master keys, all of your Lobi Store items.
2. You would go through the five stages of grief:
DENIAL: They're not really shutting down. The hamsters are taking a break.
ANGER: Those f-ing b*st*rds destroyed the only Star Trek game out there. I hate you!
BARGAINING: A few of us could get together and pitch in to save what's left of the game. Company A could take over so that the game could continue.
DEPRESSION: Remember when we used to be able to high DPS the Borg. I remember running all the STFs in under 30 minutes. I used to vape tons of Feds at Ker'rat with just crappy gear. I miss those days.
ACCEPTANCE: Just loving this new game. I hear a new gaming company is working on a new Star Trek game. Can't wait to see what's next! Just not spending money on it like I did the last time.
I thought Excalibur was an April fools prank done on Facebook...
UH, these are the 5 stages of dying, as studied by E. K. Ross, On Death and Dying. Greif itself is experienced differently by every individual. While IT IS MENTIONED AS STAGES OF GREIF, THE PHRASE AND STUDY ITSELF PERTAINS TO THE PROCESS THE TERMINAL PATIENT GOES THROUGH STARTING WITH THE DIAGNOSIS. Forgive the nitpick here, but it bothers me when people get it wrong. We live in a death denying society, so it's all I can do to change that.
And Sorry for the random caps. I was typing too fast. No emphasis intended there.
Don't worry, they'll go in the virtual item paradise. They'll be able to see their old friends and family.
No sir. Star Trek Excalibur (the game, not the TOS webisode series) is a game that's been in production for years.
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
My List of Useful Links, Recently Updated November 25 2017!
You're thinking of Star Trek: Excelsior which George Takei fooled us with.
Ah, the game, not the "TV series".
Like Turbine, I would totally support another development team taking this IP. I think it would be an absolute necessity at this point, really I do and it's not because I hate anyone. I just think they haven't improved the game. They've made it worse in alot of aspects. There are tons of things they could have done, things I'm actually seeing in other scifi games that they totally could have added to this title and I'm not just talking about gameplay I'm talking about basic quality of life ui enhancements. For example, why do we have a warp to friend option in the social window if it doesn't work? It never has for me. Why don't we have tailor made explores like Firefall? Why don't we have a mini friends list that appears just above or part of the chat window to let use know and team with easily either our standard friends list or custom friends lists? Why can't we designate other players as family members with perks?
Makes no sense does it? How many expansions have we had and really the only thing updated was the graphics of the same old ui we've always seen?
I more likely find a hobby or something else to do to replace it. Something outside, something to tinker with, etc.
That will be a sad day indeed if STO goes down.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Just Like Star Wars. While SWTOR is successful it is not what galaxies was or could have been if the masters had any clue about running an MMO with a AAA license could be. All they see are dollar signs but do not realize it takes a little bit more with an IP like ST or SW to work.
Chances are, Cryptic won't announce it until the very last moment. They want to milk us for as long as they can. It will be dishonest, for sure; but that's how it will go down. Heck, judging by the *still* empty queues, they may be planning a shutdown already, for all we know.
I also very much enjoy the story and *did* enjoy the gameplay as it had some sense of feeling rewarding. I would miss playing as well but...I already do. With LoR, I began to lose my ability to equip and enjoy playing my alts. Since DR, I can barely manage to gear my mains beyond DPS builds due to the returns on dilithium for the relatively fun, non-grindy feeling content.
I'm by no means a Cryptic basher. They made a game I enjoyed playing for a few years but, sadly, pulled an Arthur Fonzarelli and jumped the shark with these recent changes. The game isn't hard if you're geared for it but it's barely fun and feeling rewarded has become a hollow hole in my gameplaying soul. The days of playing around with my builds is over because failure now has such a high cost. I don't have 16 hours a day to sit around playing a game.
SWG was a really great game, till some idiot thought they could make it better by Completely Changing the Games Mechanics...
If they had just UNDONE NGE (after all the obvious RAGE it instilled in the player-base), and continued to add stuff to the game like the cool ship interiors, it would probably still be around.
I was worried for bit that D.R. was going to be STO's, NGE.
But it seems that Cryptic realized fairly quickly, that making such HUGE changes in such a SHORT period of time was detrimental to the health of the game.
They are slowly coming around to listening better to the chorus of Intelligent Posts in their own forums.
And hopefully, the recent increase in Dev communication will benefit both sides of this Star Trek Internet Connection.
They have to make money to keep the game operational, so I can see why just about everything is being monetized...
We just have to remember that the one thing in our favor is that Dilithium is still the F2P gamers' friend.
It might take longer to acquire, but almost EVERYTHING in this game can be purchased with only a commitment to the time it takes.
PvP not withstanding, there's NO part of this game that can't be played without having to spend cash.
I've tried that other popular Space IP MMO, and even though it's prettier and fancier, it's waaaay more expensive to play than Star Trek Online is, in order to get the same amount of gaming satisfaction.
:cool:
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Forever a STO Veteran-Minion