A lot of times someone or company will offer to purchase another one. In hopes to get a gain. Sometimes they will get the company, and sometimes they won't.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
I read his letter and some analysis. He saw a good price and wants to get his company back. Now whether he wants to take it private to run it or Gordon Gekko it - that we won't know until we get a site not found error.
i'll try to enjoy it while it lasts. will be very very sad to see it go.
Generally founders don't want to Gordon Gekko their companies although sometimes they can be figureheads for investors who do. Company founders generally have a lot of care for their product.
This is why the Atari founder became a spokesman/consultant for the shareholders with Infrogames/Atari.
Even founder-like figures tend to care about building up their company. It's why Howard Schultz came back to Starbucks (which he didn't technically found even though he more or less did; Schultz founded a company that became Starbucks).
I also think it's what kept Jack Emmert involved here with Cryptic. He could have walked away after the NCSoft buyout of City of Heroes a fairly well-to-do man, I think, and gone back into academia but I gather he pumped everything he got there into keeping the company afloat long enough for the Atari buyout of Cryptic.
Even if a founder has an intent to sell out again, they almost always want to seriously build up a company on very stable footing and see value in reinvesting.
That doesn't mean no change or cutbacks. Schultz took serious issue with what Starbucks did while he was gone and shutdown a bunch of the locations. While Schultz was gone, the CEO had the idea of putting Starbucks EVERYWHERE (in some cases, multiple locations in a single building). That guy infamously said that he didn't want customers to have to cross a street or use an elevator to get to a Starbucks and Schultz reversed that, saying he wanted to build the company back up to something "worth crossing the street for."
So PWE's Founder, I'd think, might look at offloading some of their acquisitions and really laser focusing their mission in a way that might or might not include holding onto Cryptic. In some ways, I'd think it would make sense even if Cryptic is a great profit center for them to be managed by a company with a more narrow focus. Generally, narrower focus is a good thing for most managers. (Granted, I say this and you do have "everything companies" like GE. But those end up being a different kind of animal.)
Chi has been chairman of the board at PWE for awhile but he stepped back in 2013. So he did oversee the acquisition of Cryptic so it isn't necessarily as likely that it would be something he would reverse on unless he thought it would benefit PWE.
Sorrows, I tried to play Trek a few times on Free Weekends, while it was still under Atari.
Didn't you ever get tired of falling through the bottom of the turbolift and out into space every time you went through its doors? Or trying to play KDF, only to find that it was necessary to grind like a one-man machine shop because KDF "content" didn't start until you forced your way to 25th level? And absolutely no sign of improvement on the horizon?
The mess I was looking at was part of the reason I didn't play back then. The improvements in QoL since then are just ridiculous - it's just that so many people have this ludicrous resentment of PWE for simply existing, they choose to disregard all of them.
Rose-colored lenses should never be installed in your historical view.
Those issues weren't as bad as some that have annoyed me under PWE's ownership. My 3 KDF characters were also created before the changes in starting level. KDF leveling did and still lacks content from 1-60 to the point of being forced to run Sorties repeatedly to make up the difference. With the reduces XP recently brought in under PWE, this makes leveling any character from any of the two and a half factions a waste of time from my point of view.
One of the biggest complaints I have under PWE's time is time used to redo stations that didn't need redoing when there are plenty of other things that could be improved or added to the game. The only thing PWE adds more of are rep systems and grinds. Some grinds aren't so bad but as a casual player, there are just way too many currently and more to come. The current R&D system is a good example as well. It is classic pay to get ahead with a very heavy lean on pay.
I don't want to start a debate on what time period of STO was the best. These are my gripes and why I feel things were better when I playing under the Atari reign versus the Perfect World reign we are currently under.
<
> <
> <
>
Looking for a new fleet? Drop by the in-game chat channel, "tenforwardforum", and say hi to the members of A Fleet Called Ten Forward (Fed) and The Orion Pirates (KDF). If you already have a fleet you are happy with, please feel free to drop by our chat channel if you are looking for a friendly bunch of helpful people to socialize with.
I agree that STO was better off before Perfect World as well. The less grindy game over all was much more enjoyable for me. Feature Episodes being 5 episodes long gave me something to look forward to. I also preferred the shorter episodes over the 40+ minute single missions we have had added under Perfect World that are supposed to make up for 5 missions that average about 15 minutes each.
I think STO needed a cash infusion and at least a version of F2P -- or else an even larger cash infusion.
Atari wasn't doing either. So PWE was an improvement in that regard.
I've worked out at last what I think a better F2P model would look like but I think the PWE acquisition beat some of the alternatives including doing nothing. But it probably wasn't a best case scenario either and, ideally, especially over the last year or two, Cryptic needed more independence and a more active hand in developing a different F2P model than the parent company model. And they either didn't want to do that or weren't allowed to do that.
The news of the stock buyback is not surprising. Even while PW was purchasing Cryptic in 2011 they were in the midst of a $100 million stock buyback. I believe the company's long-term plans have always included taking it private again.
If PW is hoping to maintain any presence in the US/Euro markets I do not see them selling Cryptic - as none of their other PWE lines are that popular. STO and NW are big draws. As such I do not see a buyback having much of an impact on Cryptic.
Also, since the owner is going to be looking at recouping millions from the buyback I do not see STO changing its marketing/sales system - especially since PW has always been a FTP company. The game will continue to offer Lockboxes, C-Store items, and everything else we currently have, IMO.
This seems fair. I'd think the big improvement might be a more longterm focus, less stress to hit quarterly numbers, and heightened emphasis on business model R&D and development.
Sorrows, I tried to play Trek a few times on Free Weekends, while it was still under Atari.
Didn't you ever get tired of falling through the bottom of the turbolift and out into space every time you went through its doors? Or trying to play KDF, only to find that it was necessary to grind like a one-man machine shop because KDF "content" didn't start until you forced your way to 25th level? And absolutely no sign of improvement on the horizon?
The mess I was looking at was part of the reason I didn't play back then. The improvements in QoL since then are just ridiculous - it's just that so many people have this ludicrous resentment of PWE for simply existing, they choose to disregard all of them.
Rose-colored lenses should never be installed in your historical view.
Sills, I tried to play Trek a for quite a while, while it's still under PWE. I still do, in fact, RPing with my fleet and doing random STFs occasionally.
Didn't you ever get tired of grinding through the top of millions of Argala runs and out into Level 60 every time you made a character? Or trying to kit out a ship, only to find that it's necessary to shell out cash like a one-man bank for a shiny new T6 because T5U "Equivalent" upgrades are a lie? And absolutely no sign of improvement on the horizon?
The mess I'm looking at is part of the reason why I haven't payed for anything in this game besides my D'kyr. The piles of grind added since I joined are just ridiculous - and when I joined there was already Omega, Nukara, and Romulan rep to grind through - plus that was all essentially mandatory at the time to have all the rep traits. I understand that STO under Atari might've sucked, but PWE's model isn't so great either, QoL or not.
Accusations of rose-colored glasses should never be installed in lieu of a reasonable and objective evaluation of PWE. Nobody resents PWE "simply for existing."
Didn't you ever get tired of grinding through the top of millions of Argala runs and out into Level 60 every time you made a character? Or trying to kit out a ship, only to find that it's necessary to shell out cash like a one-man bank for a shiny new T6 because T5U "Equivalent" upgrades are a lie? And absolutely no sign of improvement on the horizon?
No, because I'm enjoying the journey, not trying to cap out the destination as quickly as possible. The problem with the entire concept of "endgame" is that in order to reach it, the game has to end. And that's not a goal for me.
TRIBBLE, I haven't even been to this "Argala" yet - and from what I've been hearing, my main is the only one who's likely to need it. (Vazlav's almost done with lvl 43, and hasn't even finished the Romulan Mystery arc yet. He's probably going to be somewhere near 60 before he ever sees the Jenolan Sphere.)
It's interesting to ponder whether this offer would have been made if DR had seen 1.5 or even 1.2 times the player increase that LOR saw. Perhaps the stock wouldn't have dropped to 15 but rather gone up to 25.
I personally think that if they had left the advanced more casual friendly they might have had such a result - maybe at least in the ballpark. The spec point trebling came a little later so I'm not sure that can take so much blame.
I do think there's a good chance this will amount to no change or a change for the slightly better. There might possibly be some deep housecleaning also. But since one alternative might be the end - it's just hard to ignore that. This is the kind of doom thing that gets very real very fast.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
If you ask me, PWE is looking for an excuse to drop STO so they can just turn it into a failed venture tax write-off.
Why on earth would they want to do that!? STO is their most successful game ever, and the players love it! No, seriously, STO does very well for PWE, and is their only viable foothold into the US/Western market.
If STO wasn't exactly what PWE wanted it to be, then they would directly step in make sure that Cryptic corrected that. But I see no evidence that they have done that. So that means Cryptic is doing exactly what they've been told, and this is the outcome PWE wants.
Hence, there's no reason for PWE to drop STO at all.
All this wondering what will happen and speculating. Whatever happens, the new owner of the company will do whatever he can to reduce overhead and improve profitability. Things which are profitable will continue. Things which are not will be removed or melded into parts of the company which are. Or they will be sold off. And all of the above will happen as inexpensively as possible.
I think it is a positive sign this guy wants to purchase the company stock and privatize it. He would not want to waste money on something which was not profitable or could not be made so. I also think Cryptic would survive such a purchase.
All of this gloom about what happens next is mere fluff and nonsense. Kadiith! as the Vulcans say. What is, is. If STO goes under, we've had some fun for awhile with a Star Trek based game. Now it is over. Time to move on. I'll miss STO. A lot. But it will not be the end of civilization as we know it if STO does not continue.
Good thing I still have my Star Trek: Armada 2 disc. If STO does fall, this will be my big opportunity to finally finish that JJTrek Full Race Mod I started all those months ago.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Well, this is all rumor and conjecture. Until you see a credible news story on a reputable site that a company is already sold or made a big move you should take whatever is being said with a grain of salt. Even if news does leak anything can happen before a deal is signed and money exchanges hands.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
No need to latch onto some random story out there
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,671Community Moderator
Good thing I still have my Star Trek: Armada 2 disc. If STO does fall, this will be my big opportunity to finally finish that JJTrek Full Race Mod I started all those months ago.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
No, because I'm enjoying the journey, not trying to cap out the destination as quickly as possible. The problem with the entire concept of "endgame" is that in order to reach it, the game has to end. And that's not a goal for me.
TRIBBLE, I haven't even been to this "Argala" yet - and from what I've been hearing, my main is the only one who's likely to need it. (Vazlav's almost done with lvl 43, and hasn't even finished the Romulan Mystery arc yet. He's probably going to be somewhere near 60 before he ever sees the Jenolan Sphere.)
The story missions will get you through level 50 (51 maybe? I dunno.) just by doing them... But when you hit lvl. 51, you'll find out what Argala is soon enough.
The actual leveling process is a lot of fun, until you hit 51-ish. Back when I was still leveling (To 50, way before DR), I thought that STO was awesome. Now... eh. Think of it this way: Don't judge a book by its cover. All those awesome story missions`(Up through the Dyson Sphere) are... essentially STO's cover.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for "Doom," I think it would be a silly mistake to drop a Star Trek MMO. Hell, if I were a company buying Cryptic Studios, I'd divert resources to that like crazy - it isn't every day that you get to acquire a studio developing a game based on IP like Star Trek.
Well, this is all rumor and conjecture. Until you see a credible news story on a reputable site that a company is already sold or made a big move you should take whatever is being said with a grain of salt. Even if news does leak anything can happen before a deal is signed and money exchanges hands.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
No need to latch onto some random story out there
Thank you for putting this straight makes me wonder where this story originated though as in is this totally made up??
That doesn't mean no change or cutbacks. Schultz took serious issue with what Starbucks did while he was gone and shutdown a bunch of the locations. While Schultz was gone, the CEO had the idea of putting Starbucks EVERYWHERE (in some cases, multiple locations in a single building). That guy infamously said that he didn't want customers to have to cross a street or use an elevator to get to a Starbucks and Schultz reversed that, saying he wanted to build the company back up to something "worth crossing the street for."
Well, that did give Lewis Black some good material for his comedy routine for awhile at least.
I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
I think STO needed a cash infusion and at least a version of F2P -- or else an even larger cash infusion.
Atari wasn't doing either. So PWE was an improvement in that regard.
I've worked out at last what I think a better F2P model would look like but I think the PWE acquisition beat some of the alternatives including doing nothing. But it probably wasn't a best case scenario either and, ideally, especially over the last year or two, Cryptic needed more independence and a more active hand in developing a different F2P model than the parent company model. And they either didn't want to do that or weren't allowed to do that.
I definitely agree STO needed some more cash pumped in to it but has the extra cash gone in to making the game better? Personally, I believe content for a game will bring in more money than making the game harder for players to make them want to spend more money. The voice actors from the Star Trek TV shows don't come cheap and are a very nice addition to the game. Whether or not TV stars voice acting was money well spent will differ from player to player. Star Trek Online suffers in a few departments, one of which is fixing bugs. We have heard before that bug fixing doesn't generate money but it can help showcase this game as one with high standards when it comes to quality control.
<
> <
> <
>
Looking for a new fleet? Drop by the in-game chat channel, "tenforwardforum", and say hi to the members of A Fleet Called Ten Forward (Fed) and The Orion Pirates (KDF). If you already have a fleet you are happy with, please feel free to drop by our chat channel if you are looking for a friendly bunch of helpful people to socialize with.
The story missions will get you through level 50 (51 maybe? I dunno.) just by doing them... But when you hit lvl. 51, you'll find out what Argala is soon enough.
My main is 54, and at Kobali Prime. And I haven't even finished some of the arcs back in Alpha Quadrant, so if I got bored I could always go hook up with Task Force Omega again...
lol well its all over the internet but it really means nothing other then it would no longer be a publicly traded company. Just means the guy has managed to save up enough money to buy the rest of it which me may have intended from the get go.
Well, this is all rumor and conjecture. Until you see a credible news story on a reputable site that a company is already sold or made a big move you should take whatever is being said with a grain of salt. Even if news does leak anything can happen before a deal is signed and money exchanges hands.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
No need to latch onto some random story out there
Well, no need for panic but I'd also say it's a bit more than rumor that Michael Chi made an offer:
And he's not a total outsider. He is Perfect World's current chairman of the board. Among other things, he should have access to pretty good information to back his offer.
One way or another, it should be interesting to watch and may be a forerunner of good things, either way.
Well, this is all rumor and conjecture. Until you see a credible news story on a reputable site that a company is already sold or made a big move you should take whatever is being said with a grain of salt. Even if news does leak anything can happen before a deal is signed and money exchanges hands.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
No need to latch onto some random story out there
"a credible news story on a reputable site"
You mean, like this Reuters article posted 3 days ago? (before seekingalpha)
Things were bad while Cryptic was under Atari ownership (which is also why the game launched half-baked, missing half of it's MMO features including things like Skill Respecs, and a Death Penalty). Things improved prior to it's acquisition by Perfect World Entertainment. In the time since PWE acquired STO, things have gone downhill.
While the game might've received more polish over the years, PWE has sunk their teeth into the product, forcing multiple avenues of monetization onto it's players. In recent months, Cryptic (likely under demand by PWE), has made the game considerably more difficult for the playerbase. Things that either worked fine, or was potentially too easy, has now become a tremendous grind, with additional mechanics in place that cause player frustration.
Rumor or not, truth or not, Cryptic needs to be removed from PWE ownership, and it's entire upper management needs to be put out to pasture. A company like Valve or Activision might be more capable of running a successful MMO, without having its customers feeling like nothing more than money grinders.
You mean, like this Reuters article posted 3 days ago? (before seekingalpha)
See, this is what I'm talking about. You have to take everything I said and not just latch onto one small thing in my comment. One of the key things I said was that until there is a story about the company is sold or making a big move that you should take it with a grain of salt. Anything can happen in the financial world.
At this point even Arenanet would be a better option for STO because at least they care about the NPE over there so leveling is definitely handled properly.
One can only hope. I'll be watching from Draenor to see what happens next because as it stands now even though I invested heavily into this game, i refuse to log back in until these problems with progression in regards to spec point acquisition and dilithium refinement/cost are fixed completely and thus no longer tied direction to the real money exchange for dilithium to progress.
It's not just PWE to blame. Geko must go as well. It's this combination which is killing player enjoyment in this game.
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!
Well, this is all rumor and conjecture. Until you see a credible news story on a reputable site that a company is already sold or made a big move you should take whatever is being said with a grain of salt. Even if news does leak anything can happen before a deal is signed and money exchanges hands.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
I think when the wall street journal and bloomberg write about it its legit.
The offer is real... your right of course that doesn' mean it goes though. I would say though that the fact the stock is now trending better then it has since 2012 I would think it would take a massive TRIBBLE up somewhere for this to not go through. There are a few large block holders that have north of half a millions shares, I guess if a few of those don't want the quick profit of the buyout it could fall through.
Still doesn't mean anything happens to Cryptic. As a small time investor I liked the fact that Perfect world picked up Cryptic. For licence deals that will help them turn profits at home. IMO anyway being able to put Cryptics licences to work at home was always the best reason to own Cryptic.
In any event hopefully it all works out well for everyone working at Cryptic and for games like STO that most of us still love. (even if where not playing right now for reasons I don't need to retread here lol)
Comments
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Generally founders don't want to Gordon Gekko their companies although sometimes they can be figureheads for investors who do. Company founders generally have a lot of care for their product.
This is why the Atari founder became a spokesman/consultant for the shareholders with Infrogames/Atari.
Even founder-like figures tend to care about building up their company. It's why Howard Schultz came back to Starbucks (which he didn't technically found even though he more or less did; Schultz founded a company that became Starbucks).
I also think it's what kept Jack Emmert involved here with Cryptic. He could have walked away after the NCSoft buyout of City of Heroes a fairly well-to-do man, I think, and gone back into academia but I gather he pumped everything he got there into keeping the company afloat long enough for the Atari buyout of Cryptic.
Even if a founder has an intent to sell out again, they almost always want to seriously build up a company on very stable footing and see value in reinvesting.
That doesn't mean no change or cutbacks. Schultz took serious issue with what Starbucks did while he was gone and shutdown a bunch of the locations. While Schultz was gone, the CEO had the idea of putting Starbucks EVERYWHERE (in some cases, multiple locations in a single building). That guy infamously said that he didn't want customers to have to cross a street or use an elevator to get to a Starbucks and Schultz reversed that, saying he wanted to build the company back up to something "worth crossing the street for."
So PWE's Founder, I'd think, might look at offloading some of their acquisitions and really laser focusing their mission in a way that might or might not include holding onto Cryptic. In some ways, I'd think it would make sense even if Cryptic is a great profit center for them to be managed by a company with a more narrow focus. Generally, narrower focus is a good thing for most managers. (Granted, I say this and you do have "everything companies" like GE. But those end up being a different kind of animal.)
Chi has been chairman of the board at PWE for awhile but he stepped back in 2013. So he did oversee the acquisition of Cryptic so it isn't necessarily as likely that it would be something he would reverse on unless he thought it would benefit PWE.
Those issues weren't as bad as some that have annoyed me under PWE's ownership. My 3 KDF characters were also created before the changes in starting level. KDF leveling did and still lacks content from 1-60 to the point of being forced to run Sorties repeatedly to make up the difference. With the reduces XP recently brought in under PWE, this makes leveling any character from any of the two and a half factions a waste of time from my point of view.
One of the biggest complaints I have under PWE's time is time used to redo stations that didn't need redoing when there are plenty of other things that could be improved or added to the game. The only thing PWE adds more of are rep systems and grinds. Some grinds aren't so bad but as a casual player, there are just way too many currently and more to come. The current R&D system is a good example as well. It is classic pay to get ahead with a very heavy lean on pay.
I don't want to start a debate on what time period of STO was the best. These are my gripes and why I feel things were better when I playing under the Atari reign versus the Perfect World reign we are currently under.
> <
> <
>
I think STO needed a cash infusion and at least a version of F2P -- or else an even larger cash infusion.
Atari wasn't doing either. So PWE was an improvement in that regard.
I've worked out at last what I think a better F2P model would look like but I think the PWE acquisition beat some of the alternatives including doing nothing. But it probably wasn't a best case scenario either and, ideally, especially over the last year or two, Cryptic needed more independence and a more active hand in developing a different F2P model than the parent company model. And they either didn't want to do that or weren't allowed to do that.
This seems fair. I'd think the big improvement might be a more longterm focus, less stress to hit quarterly numbers, and heightened emphasis on business model R&D and development.
Sills, I tried to play Trek a for quite a while, while it's still under PWE. I still do, in fact, RPing with my fleet and doing random STFs occasionally.
Didn't you ever get tired of grinding through the top of millions of Argala runs and out into Level 60 every time you made a character? Or trying to kit out a ship, only to find that it's necessary to shell out cash like a one-man bank for a shiny new T6 because T5U "Equivalent" upgrades are a lie? And absolutely no sign of improvement on the horizon?
The mess I'm looking at is part of the reason why I haven't payed for anything in this game besides my D'kyr. The piles of grind added since I joined are just ridiculous - and when I joined there was already Omega, Nukara, and Romulan rep to grind through - plus that was all essentially mandatory at the time to have all the rep traits. I understand that STO under Atari might've sucked, but PWE's model isn't so great either, QoL or not.
Accusations of rose-colored glasses should never be installed in lieu of a reasonable and objective evaluation of PWE. Nobody resents PWE "simply for existing."
TRIBBLE, I haven't even been to this "Argala" yet - and from what I've been hearing, my main is the only one who's likely to need it. (Vazlav's almost done with lvl 43, and hasn't even finished the Romulan Mystery arc yet. He's probably going to be somewhere near 60 before he ever sees the Jenolan Sphere.)
I personally think that if they had left the advanced more casual friendly they might have had such a result - maybe at least in the ballpark. The spec point trebling came a little later so I'm not sure that can take so much blame.
I do think there's a good chance this will amount to no change or a change for the slightly better. There might possibly be some deep housecleaning also. But since one alternative might be the end - it's just hard to ignore that. This is the kind of doom thing that gets very real very fast.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Why on earth would they want to do that!? STO is their most successful game ever, and the players love it! No, seriously, STO does very well for PWE, and is their only viable foothold into the US/Western market.
Hence, there's no reason for PWE to drop STO at all.
I think it is a positive sign this guy wants to purchase the company stock and privatize it. He would not want to waste money on something which was not profitable or could not be made so. I also think Cryptic would survive such a purchase.
All of this gloom about what happens next is mere fluff and nonsense. Kadiith! as the Vulcans say. What is, is. If STO goes under, we've had some fun for awhile with a Star Trek based game. Now it is over. Time to move on. I'll miss STO. A lot. But it will not be the end of civilization as we know it if STO does not continue.
Good thing I still have my Star Trek: Armada 2 disc. If STO does fall, this will be my big opportunity to finally finish that JJTrek Full Race Mod I started all those months ago.
There has been no talk of PWE or Cryptic being sold. And absolutely no talk of STO going anywhere.
No need to latch onto some random story out there
Nothing's stopping you from working on it now.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
The story missions will get you through level 50 (51 maybe? I dunno.) just by doing them... But when you hit lvl. 51, you'll find out what Argala is soon enough.
The actual leveling process is a lot of fun, until you hit 51-ish. Back when I was still leveling (To 50, way before DR), I thought that STO was awesome. Now... eh. Think of it this way: Don't judge a book by its cover. All those awesome story missions`(Up through the Dyson Sphere) are... essentially STO's cover.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for "Doom," I think it would be a silly mistake to drop a Star Trek MMO. Hell, if I were a company buying Cryptic Studios, I'd divert resources to that like crazy - it isn't every day that you get to acquire a studio developing a game based on IP like Star Trek.
Thank you for putting this straight makes me wonder where this story originated though as in is this totally made up??
Oh yeah? Well Sega does what Nintendon't.
Well, that did give Lewis Black some good material for his comedy routine for awhile at least.
please....i would rather have EA buy them or even SOE ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN PWE...well then again there is TRION uggg
I definitely agree STO needed some more cash pumped in to it but has the extra cash gone in to making the game better? Personally, I believe content for a game will bring in more money than making the game harder for players to make them want to spend more money. The voice actors from the Star Trek TV shows don't come cheap and are a very nice addition to the game. Whether or not TV stars voice acting was money well spent will differ from player to player. Star Trek Online suffers in a few departments, one of which is fixing bugs. We have heard before that bug fixing doesn't generate money but it can help showcase this game as one with high standards when it comes to quality control.
> <
> <
>
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/01/02/perfect-world-announces-receipt-of-its-chairman-s-preliminary-non-binding-going
I dont really see it affecting sto in any way.. after all he is running the company already
official press release on pwe site
Waaahhh PWE is ordering the employes to work in their freetime!
But wait, he is a PWE himself.. Waaahhh Adamanteus is forcing himself to work in his freetime!
Well, no need for panic but I'd also say it's a bit more than rumor that Michael Chi made an offer:
http://www.briefing.com/investor/analysis/story-stocks/perfect-world-%28pwrd%29-trades-sharply-higher-after-getting-offer-from-founder-to-take-company-private.htm
And he's not a total outsider. He is Perfect World's current chairman of the board. Among other things, he should have access to pretty good information to back his offer.
One way or another, it should be interesting to watch and may be a forerunner of good things, either way.
"a credible news story on a reputable site"
You mean, like this Reuters article posted 3 days ago? (before seekingalpha)
Things were bad while Cryptic was under Atari ownership (which is also why the game launched half-baked, missing half of it's MMO features including things like Skill Respecs, and a Death Penalty). Things improved prior to it's acquisition by Perfect World Entertainment. In the time since PWE acquired STO, things have gone downhill.
While the game might've received more polish over the years, PWE has sunk their teeth into the product, forcing multiple avenues of monetization onto it's players. In recent months, Cryptic (likely under demand by PWE), has made the game considerably more difficult for the playerbase. Things that either worked fine, or was potentially too easy, has now become a tremendous grind, with additional mechanics in place that cause player frustration.
Rumor or not, truth or not, Cryptic needs to be removed from PWE ownership, and it's entire upper management needs to be put out to pasture. A company like Valve or Activision might be more capable of running a successful MMO, without having its customers feeling like nothing more than money grinders.
... And H
See, this is what I'm talking about. You have to take everything I said and not just latch onto one small thing in my comment. One of the key things I said was that until there is a story about the company is sold or making a big move that you should take it with a grain of salt. Anything can happen in the financial world.
One can only hope. I'll be watching from Draenor to see what happens next because as it stands now even though I invested heavily into this game, i refuse to log back in until these problems with progression in regards to spec point acquisition and dilithium refinement/cost are fixed completely and thus no longer tied direction to the real money exchange for dilithium to progress.
Missing the good ol' days of PvP: Legacy of Romulus to Season 9
My List of Useful Links, Recently Updated November 25 2017!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-02/perfect-world-jumps-most-since-2012-on-buyout-offer.html
http://www.wsj.com/articles/perfect-world-gets-buyout-offer-from-chairman-1420208337
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12998383/1/buyout-offer-spurs-surge-for-perfect-world-co-pwrd.html
I think when the wall street journal and bloomberg write about it its legit.
The offer is real... your right of course that doesn' mean it goes though. I would say though that the fact the stock is now trending better then it has since 2012 I would think it would take a massive TRIBBLE up somewhere for this to not go through. There are a few large block holders that have north of half a millions shares, I guess if a few of those don't want the quick profit of the buyout it could fall through.
Still doesn't mean anything happens to Cryptic. As a small time investor I liked the fact that Perfect world picked up Cryptic. For licence deals that will help them turn profits at home. IMO anyway being able to put Cryptics licences to work at home was always the best reason to own Cryptic.
In any event hopefully it all works out well for everyone working at Cryptic and for games like STO that most of us still love. (even if where not playing right now for reasons I don't need to retread here lol)