I learned long ago that when it comes to the Internet, do whatever you feel like. You can't break me. If someone seriously is 'hurt' with simple sig posts on a forum, that to me is childish.
Cyberbullying isn't real because Nelson Muntz told Milhouse to stop hitting himself before running his fist into his face each time.
If Milhouse didn't want Nelson to hit him in the face with his own fist, why didn't he just stop hitting himself?
Also note that, as I've mentioned before (and started a fire over), STO is a product. We make a product. You are the consumers. You can choose to consume said product, or not consume said product. You can offer feedback about said product, and we may or may not choose to utilize your feedback. You are not the only thing that decides how/what our product is.*
*Note: This is NOT me saying "STFU or GTFO" as was the misinterpretation last time, so please don't take it as such this time. We've had that thread already.
I definitely get the point that not every product is for everybody and we shouldn't expect it to please everyone. In that respect absolutely, customers need to select their product of choice accordingly and not expect ALL products to please them. And businesses that try to please all audiences without considering what part of the market they want *do* get in trouble. One of Borders' problems, to use a high-profile example...they tried to go for all market segments at once instead of focusing the way Barnes & Noble did on the high end, like Books a Million on the low-cost end, or Hastings on small/university markets with eclectic/geeky/OUR kind of taste. I don't know about you, but even the great sales when they closed their doors didn't stop it from being a sad day when they went under. :-/ I may have picked up a freaking TON of art books cheap but it really was the end of an era and not in a good way.
So I definitely get that concern. It would be a futile exercise to please everyone if not dangerous to the company.
That said, I would also point out that as a counterbalance to that, customers define quality except in a VERY rare few cases--Apple being a prime example--of a company so innovative and with so much reputation capital that they really can many times tell the customer what they want. They created a whole market segment. It is a very rare company that has the power to do that and they don't keep it forever. (Example: FedEx invented overnight air delivery and over time has had to adjust to a mature market with competitors and adapt their way of doing thing. Doesn't make them any less of a great company now that they no longer have the extent of power to define customer expectations that they did before.)
Under more normal circumstances, which is most companies, even producing a great widget if a customer wants or needs a sprocket instead can be trouble. Under this definition of quality, the great widget isn't quality because it does not meet customer expectations and as a result it doesn't sell. And sometimes the best laid plans of mice (hamsters?? Tribbles???) and metrics go awry if when they get out into the wider world something goes wrong. New Coke is a good example--though fortunately that company reversed course before it was too late. It might have been a good drink in and of itself but it did not meet Coke customers' specific expectations of quality Coke. (Yikes, if I read that the wrong way it sounds like we're on Breaking Bad. O_O )
I think that the worry here is that too little incorporation of customer feedback could result in losing the niche market that is Star Trek fans (similar to how Coke had a pre-existing, defined loyal following) in the process of chasing after more market share or unaccustomed forms of monetizing that the audience is not willing to accept. I know that I cut my own spending off as a result of what has happened and I know others have too.
So some of us worry that Cryptic does not have a proper balance between avoiding being all things to everyone (which IS a legitimate concern and you are right to not expect or try to appeal to everyone) and getting where you (the company) lose touch with the majority customer definition of quality and as a result define your market TOO narrowly. As is often the case, success requires navigation between two extremes.
So basically I don't want a Borders (sniffle sniffle ) scenario OR a New Coke one if it can at all be helped.
BTW, as far as constructive feedback, you and other devs still have a few weeks to jump in the really excellent constructive dialogue in my review, before Smirk slaps a nice big ban on you for necro-posting! Mwaaaahahahaha! :evil grin:
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
It wouldn't be surprising to find out about the money thing. Personally I'm not greedy, if I'm happy at what I do, I'm happy and don't need money to make me happy. I don't ask for more money, I just earn it if I want more, I'd never TRIBBLE anyone over to get ahead.
Some of what you say somewhat implies that INTJ people are pretty gullible, and while I completely am socially, I tend to call people out on these half baked attempts to convince me to do things. Just like most situation, its easy to see all the angles, so I wouldn't accept it, maybe some would, I don't know; my right and wrong is pretty set in stone though. Of course its impossible to see what we can't see, so maybe I've been manipulated.
As someone who runs a business, I have a lot of customers that have been here a long time, they are happy, they tell me they are happy without me asking, I have few complaints on our fees, our customer loss rate is much less than our gain rate. I hear complaints on competition, I get a lot of referrals, this business is in a different state than it was 12 years ago. I don't believe I've been manipulated to do what others want, I get there is always compromises, because I'd totally give everything away for free if I could, but we (most of the time) just do it better, and when we don't, we'll admit it, try to make up for it, but can't always.
A judgementon on people in a situation nobody here really knows about would be wrong. Nobody knows what any single dev is told, so you can blame management and only management. Don't blame the dev making the denonators or the one making the explosives, management coordinated it and put it into action.
Not gullible at ALL.
I just think there's a lot of money in harnessing the potential of smart people and so there's a mountain of well-established tactics for convincing smart people to run things a certain way.
I described one set of tactics I think would work for a smart INTJ in many cases. But whatever your personality, there are folks in business who are going to try to overcome your objections and get you using your talents to increase their profits. It will just be a different set of tactics for different people.
"I asked for no pickles on my burger, but they gave me pickles on it anyway. Now I'm going to go set the restaurant on fire because obviously they didn't listen to me or anyone ever. I already tried going the route of asking for no pickles. The only recourse the restaurant has left me is arson."
It's a horrible strawman analogy (before somebody points it out to me), but it seems that rhetoric is the only communication some people understand.
Well I guess we have different POV here ... I don't think Sarcasm is necessarly "immature"
, tbh I don't know how people can exist in Real Life without handling Sarcasm ... imho it's a perfect way to show discontent, I'm with the ancient Greeks on this one ...
A good real life example of this is a game called "The Dozens", and I'm sure a few of you have heard of it. It generally involves jokes regarding disparaging remarks involving somebody's mother. The object of 'the game' is to get progressively more insulting and creative with the remarks until the other person eventually loses their cool and gets angry.
Sounds to me like it's their problem ... my mother died 15 years ago, mostly due to "weight issues" ... yet the only response you'll get from me for "Your mother is so fat ...." Jokes, is a condescending smile ... I'm not Vulcan, I'm totally capable of handling my own emotions ...
Thank you for responding Tacofang. I realize how thankless a job it has to be sometimes for those of you looking at this forum and yet some of you do take the time to step in and try and let us know how you feel and everything.
Now, let me ask a question of those posting in this forum that are not Tacofang...if your job included having to look at these forums day-in and day-out for a 5 day work week and saw what was sometimes said about the game you pour your heart and soul into because you love the IP?
How would you feel about the nearly countless times a good topic on a game mechanic that could use improvement or is getting an overhaul devolved into an argument over why this improvement sucks, even before it is implemented? The current BOff Training Change is a good proof of how that looks.
How would any of you feel if a storyline you spent probably up to a year working on was being bashed before it was implemented?
How would you feel watching the many good suggestions for the game devolved into arguments about why the game you love to work on sucks without a reason?
I've been a Trekkie since the womb and a Trekker since TNG premiered. I grew up on this franchise and I am one of the first to defend it not only from those who look at it from the outside and says it sucks without detailing the why...I am also the first to step into arguments over which series ruined trek or why Janeway sucks and point out how both views are wrong.
I stand here now to point out that if we do want change (and I think the Devs want another shot at getting talking to us right) than we need to do a job of policing not just our own words, but watching out for when others do the things we should not be doing.
I understand your frustrations well but the way this community has gone is not making me want to stay on this forum. I still play the game but I have ESD zone chat closed for a good reason.
A kind suggestion is to let people know the reason why signatures/avatars are being removed so we can change them. I have submitted tickets about it already and not discussing policies just asking for clarification for future reference.
Thanks
Clarification on infractions:
Each infraction can be anywhere from 1 to 20 points, depending on severity. Most infractions are worth 5 points. Ergo, four infractions will usually get somebody a permanent vacation.
Warnings (what the Mods hand out) are zero-point infractions. Theoretically they don't count toward a ban, but if someone has a lot of warnings they are more likely to get an infraction from PWE because they are clearly disregarding the warning to follow the rules.
As to removal of sigs/avs, Mods don't remove them so we have no way to tell you they're being removed or why. Sometimes the PWE peeps get busy and don't have time for a formal response, especially when there are a lot of infractions/issues involved. I think one can safely conclude that if their sig went away, they needed to change it... and probably have a very good idea why without being told.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Well I guess we have different POV here ... I don't think Sarcasm is necessarly "immature"
, tbh I don't know how people can exist in Real Life without handling Sarcasm ...
I love sarcasm. But like Tacofangs, there gets a point where it just starts getting old. It doesn't really grate on me over time (then again I don't work at Cryptic), but I probably roll my eyes at some of these signatures just as much as I'm sure people roll their eyes at mine.
Sounds to me like it's their problem ... my mother died 15 years ago, mostly due to "weight issues" ... yet the only response you'll get from me for "Your mother is so fat ...." Jokes, is a condescending smile ...
Well yeah, that's where you and I differ. But it does come down to willing participants. I don't mind it when Al Rivera says disparaging things about the players, because the players say disparaging things about him. Some players get hurt over that and say that he should be held to a higher standard because he's the employee and it's his job to be told that he's an animal and Hitler on a regular basis.
But most of Cryptic has nothing to do with a few possibly poorly-phrased words from Al Rivera or Stephen D'Angelo. And while I know not a lot of devs post to the forums, I know they read them quite often.
Just as often as I read what people have to say about me on Reddit or 4chan. Just because I don't participate in either doesn't mean I'm not aware of what people say about my forum posts there.
That was not me saying "we need better feedback."
That was me saying "creating (or helping to create) a hostile environment through the use of a passive aggressive meme, RATHER THAN constructive feedback, is not helpful.
And please, everyone who's saying "nothing ever comes of feedback" just stop. Yes, it may not be as often as you like, but there are a thousand times that feedback from players, from the forums, has had a direct impact on something we did in the game.
This is patently false. My line about being able to develop the game without visiting the forums is not saying I don't care what you have to say. It's saying that my interaction with you here is entirely voluntary on my part. If I feel like I'm taking hits below the belt, or getting too much flak, I can just leave. Your feedback is important, and we DO care what you think.
Beta, you say there wouldn't be as many problems if we "just listened" to you. If you say Apple, and someone else says Broccoli, what's the right answer? We can't do both, we have to pick one. No matter which we pick, we will be told that we didn't listen* to the other side.
*Note: Listening does not equal action. We listened to both sides, and we picked a direction. Apple won. That doesn't mean Broccoli was ignored.
Also note that, as I've mentioned before (and started a fire over), STO is a product. We make a product. You are the consumers. You can choose to consume said product, or not consume said product. You can offer feedback about said product, and we may or may not choose to utilize your feedback. You are not the only thing that decides how/what our product is.*
*Note: This is NOT me saying "STFU or GTFO" as was the misinterpretation last time, so please don't take it as such this time. We've had that thread already.
Ok then wher come from the feedback that make cryptic monetize the bridge officers? since obviously was not from the player base... or the grind of Delta rising? or that trap called probation system that take the money of customers but dont deliver the product advertissed but a "locked" variant?
There is a whole section of feedback that warned about issues like tau dewa before the release of DR and even so you ignore it and then nerfed the thing when players were using it thinking was fine, and then you people come to the forum to call us cheaters and exploiters.
Sure, but if that's the case, didn't you just admit that the sig pic was essentially just noise? The sig did nothing to raise the issues you talk about in your posts, and does nothing to attract positive attention to said posts. . . so. . . how is that sig helping get your point across again?
Bumping forum threads is against the rules. Should we just recreate the same feedback topics over and over in order to bring attention to various aspects of the game that could use some TLC? Signatures are at least persistent and can't fall off the first page or two of threads, thus becoming forgotten.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
Bumping forum threads is against the rules. Should we just recreate the same feedback topics over and over in order to bring attention to various aspects of the game that could use some TLC?
Don't we do that already? I know I make sure to restart threads involving suggestions I'm really passionate about every few months, even if nobody responds to them.
Sure.. a few month ago feedback was "STFs are too easy".. what cryptic did? Increase the HP on NPC and make the STFs a DPS race instead of improbing the AI or the mechanics. And that is just one example.
Yeah, but anyone paying attention to the game for the past almost 5 years would notice that they tend to go with HP and DPS increases then TRIBBLE with the AI, so yeah it was easy to see coming. I figure its probably a limitation of the game something some players need to understand when considering their pie in the sky fantasies.
While I don't necessarily agree with this design decision (I also consider raw hitpoint increases to be the lazy way out), it is a design decision that does deal with "STFs are too easy" at the very fundamental level.
Just because it isn't a design decision you or I agree with doesn't mean that it wasn't implemented in response to player feedback regarding more challenging content.
And now the pugs are dead, so probably was a bad idea. And it makes me wonder if the ones calling for the STFs to be harder aren't just a minority of the player base as they seem pretty dead now.
I asked for a crafting improvement, and while it remains to be seen how much dilithium is going to be hooked up to it, I think this is a positive and beneficial quality of life improvement that is much better than what we've had for the last 4 years.
Its takes 6 months to fully use whereas I have all the reps and their stores maxed out in less time, you used to have to either run STFs god knows how many times or pay out cash for the mats needed to craft something top level, its under RNG which means all that work could get you a piece of TRIBBLE item, and you can't even craft some things without Doffs that only comes from a lock box.
So please tell me why I should bother with this system?
You say that the everpresent signature pictures/jokes/attacks whatever are wearing you down? I know how that feels. We all know how that feels.
But... kinda sorta... that's why we're doing it. Because it's the only thing we have left. It's the only avenue of communication, the only means of conveying our feelings that we have left.
I'm saying that, despite how effective you think those other methods are/are not, this method is only serving to burn yet another bridge.
People often tout me as being "the only" one to communicate. The only one to wade into the maelstrom. I don't believe that to be the case, but IF that's the true, and IF the signatures are your "last option" and IF they are driving away your last hope. . . they aren't working either.
:::thud:::thud:::thud:::
"Hey Joe, why are you beating your face against the wall?"
"Well, the sledgehammer wasn't working."
And now the pugs are dead, so probably was a bad idea. And it makes me wonder if the ones calling for the STFs to be harder aren't just a minority of the player base as they seem pretty dead now.
I still find PUGs in certain queues. Yes, some queues are dead and I've offered constructive feedback on how to alter that. But I can't win them all.
Its takes 6 months to fully use whereas I have all the reps and their stores maxed out in less time, you used to have to either run STFs god knows how many times or pay out cash for the mats needed to craft something top level, its under RNG which means all that work could get you a piece of TRIBBLE item, and you can't even craft some things without Doffs that only comes from a lock box.
So please tell me why I should bother with this system?
So you can buy things off of people who do bother with the system via the exchange. That's not mentioning I've been able to participate in the crafting system without lockbox-related items involved.
In fact I recently sold a doff I got from "Request R&D Assistance" for around 12 million EC. So, clearly I'm benefitting from the crafting system even if I'm not directly involved in some capacities.
Don't we do that already? I know I make sure to restart threads involving suggestions I'm really passionate about every few months, even if nobody responds to them.
If we are going to restart suggestion threads, them I'm going to say we need Orion Pole Dancers... I made that suggestion 2 years ago... even suggested that the devs should take a field trip to.. ehm.. learn all they can from RL pole dancers, to replicate as accurate as possible their abilities...
Some general thoughts about the alot of the issues that are causing rage.
I believe it comes from belief that "the customer" is always right. We as the customers are not always right. We know what we want but what we want might not be either good for the game or good for the company.
Cryptic is owned by PWE which is a public traded company, the higher ups in Cryptic are responsible for ensuring that Cryptic games make money. That is their job. They are making this game available to us. So that we'd give them money for varioius "new coolness" whether ships, or other in-game items.
PWE is not responsible to us the gamers, they are responsible to their share holders to try and get them money. It is part of the capitalist system. being spend money in the hopes of getting more back.
I'm not saying that PWE is the devil or PWE being a publicly listed company is. All I'm saying is that is not our game. It is Cryptics. They let us create characters and play in this world they've created but this game is owned, ran, maintained and updated by them. not us. They are the ones that have to decided what resources they have, what they allocate those resources too and what kind of timeframe they can do it in.
As consumers we do not see what is happening behind the scenes at cryptic. What metrics they have compared to the limited metrics we have. Who is doing what in terms of leadership. We do not know what people there want to do but simply can't. Anything we say about the internal workings (unless we are somehow incorporated with them and even then anyone who would be would most likely be unable to say anything) is just conjecture.
I play STO because of Star Trek, I love the story and most of the missions that they've come up with. I love the very idea of the foundry and the creative tools it brings to the players. I love doing a variety of things that is why I am here.
Whatever you think of the devs or the people at cryptic. It's time to ask yourself why are you here. What do you like about STO, do you love any specific part of it? If you had the choice what part of STO would you focus on.
Well yeah, that's where you and I differ. But it does come down to willing participants. I don't mind it when Al Rivera says disparaging things about the players, because the players say disparaging things about him. Some players get hurt over that and say that he should be held to a higher standard because he's the employee and it's his job to be told that he's an animal and Hitler on a regular basis.
Well true ... but who exactly started "The Dozen" - Game ... ?
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
Some general thoughts about the alot of the issues that are causing rage.
I believe it comes from belief that "the customer" is always right. We as the customers are not always right. We know what we want but what we want might not be either good for the game or good for the company.
Cryptic is owned by PWE which is a public traded company, the higher ups in Cryptic are responsible for ensuring that Cryptic games make money. That is their job. They are making this game available to us. So that we'd give them money for varioius "new coolness" whether ships, or other in-game items.
PWE is not responsible to us the gamers, they are responsible to their share holders to try and get them money. It is part of the capitalist system. being spend money in the hopes of getting more back.
I'm not saying that PWE is the devil or PWE being a publicly listed company is. All I'm saying is that is not our game. It is Cryptics. They let us create characters and play in this world they've created but this game is owned, ran, maintained and updated by them. not us. They are the ones that have to decided what resources they have, what they allocate those resources too and what kind of timeframe they can do it in.
As consumers we do not see what is happening behind the scenes at cryptic. What metrics they have compared to the limited metrics we have. Who is doing what in terms of leadership. We do not know what people there want to do but simply can't. Anything we say about the internal workings (unless we are somehow incorporated with them and even then anyone who would be would most likely be unable to say anything) is just conjecture.
I play STO because of Star Trek, I love the story and most of the missions that they've come up with. I love the very idea of the foundry and the creative tools it brings to the players. I love doing a variety of things that is why I am here.
Whatever you think of the devs or the people at cryptic. It's time to ask yourself why are you here. What do you like about STO, do you love any specific part of it? If you had the choice what part of STO would you focus on.
What this guy said people. Read it and understand what he is talking about.
Though I do not neccesarily agree on one point. That being the game itself...Cryptic has to walk a fine line between both what PWE wants them to do and what we want them to do. No, the Customer is NOT always right. Neither is the Shareholder...who is another form of Customer. But they have to keep both in mind when PWE issues an order about what the Shareholders want and balance it with our wants and needs as customers.
Well true ... but who exactly started the "Dozen" - Game ... ?
At this point, does it really matter?
If anyone has had brothers and sisters, sometimes your parents just don't care who started it, and things need to stop no matter what.
But we're all adults here, not children. So to some people it really does matter. To me it doesn't. Some things should remain in the past. But some people make a hobby out of beating dead horses.
In terms of who started "The Dozens" game involving the Delta Rising sigs? The players did. In fact I can even point to the exact posters who fostered it, but I'm fairly sure that naming and shaming is against the terms of service.
People often tout me as being "the only" one to communicate. The only one to wade into the maelstrom.
I do like it when Bort shows up. His posts are generally very illuminating with regards to underlying systems and mechanics and how stuff is (or sometimes is not) functioning from a more technical standpoint. It's nice to know the "how" of the "why."
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
Man, am I going to get destroyed for this. Oh well.. here it goes anyway!
There are a lot of posters here, myself included, who have complained about lack of interaction with the Development Team. People feel they have issues that they would like addressed and they feel ignored, this creates a hostile response. This hostile response encourages Devs to avoid the forum because they don't want to wade through all the negativity, this furthers the feeling of being ignored.
We're in a nasty loop here. We have to find a way to stop this.
Someone has to blink first, and I'm going to suggest that it's us. Before you rip me apart, hear me out.
I'm not saying to kiss butt. I'm not saying pretend you love everything even if you don't. I'm saying, we should try and make the forum a place that the Dev team is more encouraged to visit and make them more receptive to the idea of interacting with us. Taco responded a few times on other threads saying that they want to visit here, they want to use the feedback but it's hard because people are always bashing them. As long as it continues, they are not going to interact with us here. I'm proposing a change in the culture through the following suggestions:
1. Keep the negative comments constructive. If you don't like something, state exactly why you don't like it and if possible, post how you would like to see it changed.
2. Limit negative posts to the issue, not to the poster. Rather it's another player or the Dev Team, calling them names won't prove your point. I know some people feel offended by things that were said in the past, I get it. Well, we have fired off a fair number of our own barbs, so can we please let it go now? What good is it doing any of us to keep bringing up old wounds? It's making things here toxic.
3. Try and post something positive if you like something. Do you like the Winter Event? Are you happy with your Breen Ship? Is there something you like or a story that you feel is well written? Maybe give an occasional prop to balance out the negative?
4. This is a big one, and people aren't going to like it but.. Lets get rid of the Signature Banners. Seriously guys, we have made our point, I had a couple of them myself and they're not making any point or doing any good anymore. All they're doing is fueling a constant negative environment, we made our point it's time to stop. They have said things, we have said things, all we're doing right now is keeping the wounds fresh. It's counter productive.
I know I'm going to get torn apart for this, I accept that. Bash me, flame me.. it's all good but please understand first what I'm trying to accomplish. I really like this game, but there are things that can be better. I'm sure everyone agrees about that. We can actually help this game by creating an environment where the Cryptic Team feel safe to come and exchange ideas with us. Sure, we're not going to get everything we suggest, that's obvious, but at least we can work to open the dialogue. I see in these threads lately that a lot of us are sick of the negativity, so lets do something about it.
If we quit hammering each other, and quit with the outright vicious hate toward the Cryptic Staff we're going to have a much better chance of effecting actual change. Rip me if you want, I'm ready for it and I can take it.. but before you do, understand that my only motivation is to help make this site a little better place.
If you feel that deserves an insult, then hit me. I assure you I can take it. If you agree though, post it.. if enough people get on board maybe things will change.
Sounds to me like Taco's strings are being pulled...
Let me see if I can make sense of this.
We should take down our sigs, because they don't accomplish anything, even though Taco posting about them suggests they have at the very least caught attention.
We are told that we need to engage in meaningful conversation, even though we have clearly stated that we don't feel the meaningful conversation route works. That we feel ignored at best, and reviled at worst.
So the end result of this conversation is:
- Drop the sigs.
- Go back to posting the meaningful threads.
- We'll (Cryptic) go back to ignoring your meaningful threads.
- Everyone pretend nothing happened.
Status quo for the win!
:rolleyes:
"You shoot him, I shoot you, I leave both your bodies here and go out for a late night snack.
I'm thinking maybe pancakes." ~ John Casey
i don't participate in the banner brigade because its just a sweeping criticism of every dev, and i think only a few are responsible for what is now wrong with the game. all the content and missions and environments and voice acting, all the content of DR was great, the team did a great job with that and i don't want these that worked on that to think any of that was bad or is the problem.
the only ones deserving of scorn are those that set the global variables on xp gaining, npc HP, intel skill balancing and implementing, and the overall cost required to get your gear up to mk14. these people ruined the game, these people should be fired immediately, before their changes loose everyone their jobs. they took something that was functioning well for FOUR YEARS, had more then reasonable grind/reward and approachability, and in 1 update turned it into the most tedious, high bar of entry grind and cost fest imaginable.
the specialization, once all story content has been completed, can only really be leveled by DR patrols effectively. and the fastest one to get through would require about 1000 runs to max out. on what planet is even 1/4 of that reasonable? this screams we hate our players, and we want them to suffer dead through tedium. this is an absolute deal breaker, i will not jump through this hoop, this game is dead to me until this is reigned in to reasonable levels.
the 'difficulty' change is merely one that makes gameplay in most qued content mathematically impossible without massive upgrades and specialization bonuses, also requiring premade teams. basically nothing is pugable now above normal, and only advanced and elite reward required reputation items and high end mats.
the cost to go from mk12 season 9 gear to mk 14 is astronomical, and the improvement over mk12 is astronomical too. by comparison, playing DR with mk 12 gear would be like playing season 9 with mk 4-6 gear. the difficulty changes were balanced for a fully upgraded and specialized character, so someone with a done season 9 character will find 0 approachability to DR. the cost and grind required to get a done DR character is between 5 to 10 times higher then going from a fresh 50 to a done season 9 character was. whats left is a whale's only club, maxing your character can only be done if you don't mind dropping hundreds of dollars on keys to turn into EC or trade for dil.
pvp has also been ruined by the gear and intel skills DR brought, so even if i did the literally insane grind, and dropped hundreds into upgrades, there would be nothing worth playing at the end.
this all fundamentally changed the cost of entry and required grind to play this game, somewhere between doubling it and increasing it 10 fold, in the space of a single update. its been radically changed into something abhorrent and unplayable, i will not sink this much time and funds into a video game, on principle, regardless if i could or not. any game and company that would demand this much deserves to fold and fail. correct this GRAVE error cryptic before everyone finally has the good sense to stop playing.
If anyone has had brothers and sisters, sometimes your parents just don't care who started it, and things need to stop no matter what.
But we're all adults here, not children. So to some people it really does matter. To me it doesn't. Some things should remain in the past. But some people make a hobby out of beating dead horses.
Well sorry it kind of does ... you just said it comes down to "willing participants" ... afaik Cryptic started the whole thing, showing they're "willing participants" ... and now all of a sudden they don't like to "play" anymore ... sure it's in their rights to do so, and since Cryptic is not "one collective entity", the whole thing might be not that simple (Taco being hurt etc) ...
But being "butthurt", because the whole thing might have backfired is kind of silly ... imho ... if you really want that whole thing to stop, just explain why Dev XY said condescending Stuff ZX etc ...
-> see this guy i.E. :
Originally Posted by THIS IS NOT A REAL QUOTE
"Hi
This is YOU KNOW WHO -
During a recent podcast, I made a couple of assertions off the top of my head which may have come across as being disconnected to what's happening in the game.
First - at the time, I was sure they were true in principle. Please let me revise those comments.
1.) It does take more that 2 hours of playtime to increase an item from one rank to another. in truth we don't have an accurate number because there are so many elements, it can vary from player to player, item to item. Lower rank items yes, VR elite items no. But it's reasonable to assume the higher the quality of the item, the more it will cost.
2.) Yes, it's costs more than 5000 dil to raise an item to mark XIV. I got mixed up with a previous test I ran on a Mark II item. As I have already said, we wanted this process to take players time.
Our goal was to have some sort of quotable meric - like it taking X hours to raise one item to XIV. I think we're close to achieving that, and in the rush to judgement on our release we lost sight of providing the players with some form of measurable goal.
It didn't help that players rushed to see the total costs. That was very off-putting for many of us. But at the end of the day the spreadsheets, calculators and even the infographic did show a picture that it's going to take a dedicated player a lot of time to complete.
That was intentional.
3.) As for 'this is the best ______'. From a financial standpoint, the game is very successful and we are proud of that. Many of you feel that monetization is somehow not part of the F2P model. Here we disagree. For STO to continue we need not just to be profitable - but growing in terms of sales. If that means a smaller player base, that is a price we're very willing to pay.
4.) Reporting bugs with the queues. Ok, you got me there.
Our goal as a company and as the caretakers of an incredible IP is to make sure that continues to thrive for years to come.
We do read your posts, and we will strive to do better. We work and look forward a future with you as our customers.
Respectfully Yours,
YOU KNOW WHO"
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
Sounds to me like Taco's strings are being pulled...
He's made it obvious on several occasions he's not obligated to post to the forums, and neither is any other developer. Trevor and Morrigan are the only ones who actually get paid to wade into this cesspool.
Let me see if I can make sense of this.
We should take down our sigs, because they don't accomplish anything, even though Taco posting about them suggests they have at the very least caught attention.
If they don't accomplish anything productive, and only accomplish something destructive, is it worth staying the course?
Or are you one of the people who think any sort of attention is good attention? No such thing as bad publicity? Because when it comes to Cryptic employees communicating more with us, I think taking steps to let that happen more often should outweigh any axe we have to grind with our own individual opinions regarding Delta Rising.
We are told that we need to engage in meaningful conversation, even though we have clearly stated that we don't feel the meaningful conversation route works. That we feel ignored at best, and reviled at worst.
And this has proven to be demonstratably false time and time again. Some people feel their feedback should be acted upon 100% of the time, and because it isn't, it gives them free reign to be disparaging and insulting to the point it hinders a good working relationship with Cryptic.
Be more creative with your sigs instead of jumping on the hate bandwagon. If you want constructive signatures? The Galaxy Revamp signatures were way more helpful since it made Cryptic aware there are still players who are dissatisfied with the state the ship is in.
Use signatures that show your individual problems with the game and how better to solve them. If you don't like the Galaxy, add in the bridge officer slotting and console slotting on the signature.. just as an example. That actually is helpful.
- Go back to posting the meaningful threads.
I see nothing wrong with this.
- We'll (Cryptic) go back to ignoring your meaningful threads.
Or reading the threads, taking the feedback into account, and acting on what they feel is best. Maybe your feedback gets acted on, maybe it doesn't. We're giving feedback, not giving marching orders. We give suggestions, not demands.
Nobody should ever expect their feedback to be acted on, but when it is, it's important to recognize that it is and be thankful and supportive of that.
- Everyone pretend nothing happened.
Status quo for the win!
:rolleyes:
Don't pretend it didn't happen. But acknowledge it happened, learn from errors made (on both Cryptic and the forum warriors' sides), and make future decisions with mistakes learned in mind.
Well sorry it kind of does ... you just said it comes down to "willing participants" ... afaik Cryptic started the whole thing, showing they're "willing participants" ... and now all of a sudden they don't like to "play" anymore
No. Al Rivera possibly made a gaffe or a poor choice of words, and the players are railroading the entirety of Cryptic over it via signatures with that soundbite.
... sure it's in their rights to do so, and since Cryptic is not "one collective entity", the whole thing might be not that simple (Taco being hurt etc) ...
But being "butthurt", because the whole thing might have backfired is kind of silly ... imho ... if you really want that whole thing to stop, just explain why Dev XY said condescending Stuff ZX etc ...
-> see this guy i.E. :
Backfiring implies some kind of target was aimed at before firing. The Delta Rising signatures aren't firing specifically at any target. It's just hate for hate's sake.
Comments
Cyberbullying isn't real because Nelson Muntz told Milhouse to stop hitting himself before running his fist into his face each time.
If Milhouse didn't want Nelson to hit him in the face with his own fist, why didn't he just stop hitting himself?
I definitely get the point that not every product is for everybody and we shouldn't expect it to please everyone. In that respect absolutely, customers need to select their product of choice accordingly and not expect ALL products to please them. And businesses that try to please all audiences without considering what part of the market they want *do* get in trouble. One of Borders' problems, to use a high-profile example...they tried to go for all market segments at once instead of focusing the way Barnes & Noble did on the high end, like Books a Million on the low-cost end, or Hastings on small/university markets with eclectic/geeky/OUR kind of taste. I don't know about you, but even the great sales when they closed their doors didn't stop it from being a sad day when they went under. :-/ I may have picked up a freaking TON of art books cheap but it really was the end of an era and not in a good way.
So I definitely get that concern. It would be a futile exercise to please everyone if not dangerous to the company.
That said, I would also point out that as a counterbalance to that, customers define quality except in a VERY rare few cases--Apple being a prime example--of a company so innovative and with so much reputation capital that they really can many times tell the customer what they want. They created a whole market segment. It is a very rare company that has the power to do that and they don't keep it forever. (Example: FedEx invented overnight air delivery and over time has had to adjust to a mature market with competitors and adapt their way of doing thing. Doesn't make them any less of a great company now that they no longer have the extent of power to define customer expectations that they did before.)
Under more normal circumstances, which is most companies, even producing a great widget if a customer wants or needs a sprocket instead can be trouble. Under this definition of quality, the great widget isn't quality because it does not meet customer expectations and as a result it doesn't sell. And sometimes the best laid plans of mice (hamsters?? Tribbles???) and metrics go awry if when they get out into the wider world something goes wrong. New Coke is a good example--though fortunately that company reversed course before it was too late. It might have been a good drink in and of itself but it did not meet Coke customers' specific expectations of quality Coke. (Yikes, if I read that the wrong way it sounds like we're on Breaking Bad. O_O )
I think that the worry here is that too little incorporation of customer feedback could result in losing the niche market that is Star Trek fans (similar to how Coke had a pre-existing, defined loyal following) in the process of chasing after more market share or unaccustomed forms of monetizing that the audience is not willing to accept. I know that I cut my own spending off as a result of what has happened and I know others have too.
So some of us worry that Cryptic does not have a proper balance between avoiding being all things to everyone (which IS a legitimate concern and you are right to not expect or try to appeal to everyone) and getting where you (the company) lose touch with the majority customer definition of quality and as a result define your market TOO narrowly. As is often the case, success requires navigation between two extremes.
So basically I don't want a Borders (sniffle sniffle
BTW, as far as constructive feedback, you and other devs still have a few weeks to jump in the really excellent constructive dialogue in my review, before Smirk slaps a nice big ban on you for necro-posting! Mwaaaahahahaha! :evil grin:
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Not gullible at ALL.
I just think there's a lot of money in harnessing the potential of smart people and so there's a mountain of well-established tactics for convincing smart people to run things a certain way.
I described one set of tactics I think would work for a smart INTJ in many cases. But whatever your personality, there are folks in business who are going to try to overcome your objections and get you using your talents to increase their profits. It will just be a different set of tactics for different people.
Well I guess we have different POV here ... I don't think Sarcasm is necessarly "immature"
, tbh I don't know how people can exist in Real Life without handling Sarcasm ... imho it's a perfect way to show discontent, I'm with the ancient Greeks on this one ...
Sounds to me like it's their problem ... my mother died 15 years ago, mostly due to "weight issues" ... yet the only response you'll get from me for "Your mother is so fat ...." Jokes, is a condescending smile ... I'm not Vulcan, I'm totally capable of handling my own emotions ...
They don't use Sigs ... they say it out loud ...
Now, let me ask a question of those posting in this forum that are not Tacofang...if your job included having to look at these forums day-in and day-out for a 5 day work week and saw what was sometimes said about the game you pour your heart and soul into because you love the IP?
How would you feel about the nearly countless times a good topic on a game mechanic that could use improvement or is getting an overhaul devolved into an argument over why this improvement sucks, even before it is implemented? The current BOff Training Change is a good proof of how that looks.
How would any of you feel if a storyline you spent probably up to a year working on was being bashed before it was implemented?
How would you feel watching the many good suggestions for the game devolved into arguments about why the game you love to work on sucks without a reason?
I've been a Trekkie since the womb and a Trekker since TNG premiered. I grew up on this franchise and I am one of the first to defend it not only from those who look at it from the outside and says it sucks without detailing the why...I am also the first to step into arguments over which series ruined trek or why Janeway sucks and point out how both views are wrong.
I stand here now to point out that if we do want change (and I think the Devs want another shot at getting talking to us right) than we need to do a job of policing not just our own words, but watching out for when others do the things we should not be doing.
I understand your frustrations well but the way this community has gone is not making me want to stay on this forum. I still play the game but I have ESD zone chat closed for a good reason.
Clarification on infractions:
Each infraction can be anywhere from 1 to 20 points, depending on severity. Most infractions are worth 5 points. Ergo, four infractions will usually get somebody a permanent vacation.
Warnings (what the Mods hand out) are zero-point infractions. Theoretically they don't count toward a ban, but if someone has a lot of warnings they are more likely to get an infraction from PWE because they are clearly disregarding the warning to follow the rules.
As to removal of sigs/avs, Mods don't remove them so we have no way to tell you they're being removed or why. Sometimes the PWE peeps get busy and don't have time for a formal response, especially when there are a lot of infractions/issues involved. I think one can safely conclude that if their sig went away, they needed to change it... and probably have a very good idea why without being told.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I love sarcasm. But like Tacofangs, there gets a point where it just starts getting old. It doesn't really grate on me over time (then again I don't work at Cryptic), but I probably roll my eyes at some of these signatures just as much as I'm sure people roll their eyes at mine.
Well yeah, that's where you and I differ. But it does come down to willing participants. I don't mind it when Al Rivera says disparaging things about the players, because the players say disparaging things about him. Some players get hurt over that and say that he should be held to a higher standard because he's the employee and it's his job to be told that he's an animal and Hitler on a regular basis.
But most of Cryptic has nothing to do with a few possibly poorly-phrased words from Al Rivera or Stephen D'Angelo. And while I know not a lot of devs post to the forums, I know they read them quite often.
Just as often as I read what people have to say about me on Reddit or 4chan. Just because I don't participate in either doesn't mean I'm not aware of what people say about my forum posts there.
Ok then wher come from the feedback that make cryptic monetize the bridge officers? since obviously was not from the player base... or the grind of Delta rising? or that trap called probation system that take the money of customers but dont deliver the product advertissed but a "locked" variant?
Btw: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/forumdisplay.php?f=250
There is a whole section of feedback that warned about issues like tau dewa before the release of DR and even so you ignore it and then nerfed the thing when players were using it thinking was fine, and then you people come to the forum to call us cheaters and exploiters.
And now do you really want that our signatures give the feedback? lol are you high?
again here is the link if you really care about feedback.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/forumdisplay.php?f=250
Signatur are to let you feel our "apreciation" of what your people has made with a game named Star Trek.
Still with signature
time to nerf url links?
GG Cryptic.
dnirg eht nioj
Bumping forum threads is against the rules. Should we just recreate the same feedback topics over and over in order to bring attention to various aspects of the game that could use some TLC? Signatures are at least persistent and can't fall off the first page or two of threads, thus becoming forgotten.
Joined January 2009
They put those signatures in because they love DR just like everyone else who doesn't have one!
Don't we do that already? I know I make sure to restart threads involving suggestions I'm really passionate about every few months, even if nobody responds to them.
Yeah, but anyone paying attention to the game for the past almost 5 years would notice that they tend to go with HP and DPS increases then TRIBBLE with the AI, so yeah it was easy to see coming. I figure its probably a limitation of the game something some players need to understand when considering their pie in the sky fantasies.
And now the pugs are dead, so probably was a bad idea. And it makes me wonder if the ones calling for the STFs to be harder aren't just a minority of the player base as they seem pretty dead now.
Its takes 6 months to fully use whereas I have all the reps and their stores maxed out in less time, you used to have to either run STFs god knows how many times or pay out cash for the mats needed to craft something top level, its under RNG which means all that work could get you a piece of TRIBBLE item, and you can't even craft some things without Doffs that only comes from a lock box.
So please tell me why I should bother with this system?
I'm saying that, despite how effective you think those other methods are/are not, this method is only serving to burn yet another bridge.
People often tout me as being "the only" one to communicate. The only one to wade into the maelstrom. I don't believe that to be the case, but IF that's the true, and IF the signatures are your "last option" and IF they are driving away your last hope. . . they aren't working either.
:::thud:::thud:::thud:::
"Hey Joe, why are you beating your face against the wall?"
"Well, the sledgehammer wasn't working."
I still find PUGs in certain queues. Yes, some queues are dead and I've offered constructive feedback on how to alter that. But I can't win them all.
So you can buy things off of people who do bother with the system via the exchange. That's not mentioning I've been able to participate in the crafting system without lockbox-related items involved.
In fact I recently sold a doff I got from "Request R&D Assistance" for around 12 million EC. So, clearly I'm benefitting from the crafting system even if I'm not directly involved in some capacities.
If we are going to restart suggestion threads, them I'm going to say we need Orion Pole Dancers... I made that suggestion 2 years ago... even suggested that the devs should take a field trip to.. ehm.. learn all they can from RL pole dancers, to replicate as accurate as possible their abilities...
just saying!
I believe it comes from belief that "the customer" is always right. We as the customers are not always right. We know what we want but what we want might not be either good for the game or good for the company.
Cryptic is owned by PWE which is a public traded company, the higher ups in Cryptic are responsible for ensuring that Cryptic games make money. That is their job. They are making this game available to us. So that we'd give them money for varioius "new coolness" whether ships, or other in-game items.
PWE is not responsible to us the gamers, they are responsible to their share holders to try and get them money. It is part of the capitalist system. being spend money in the hopes of getting more back.
I'm not saying that PWE is the devil or PWE being a publicly listed company is. All I'm saying is that is not our game. It is Cryptics. They let us create characters and play in this world they've created but this game is owned, ran, maintained and updated by them. not us. They are the ones that have to decided what resources they have, what they allocate those resources too and what kind of timeframe they can do it in.
As consumers we do not see what is happening behind the scenes at cryptic. What metrics they have compared to the limited metrics we have. Who is doing what in terms of leadership. We do not know what people there want to do but simply can't. Anything we say about the internal workings (unless we are somehow incorporated with them and even then anyone who would be would most likely be unable to say anything) is just conjecture.
I play STO because of Star Trek, I love the story and most of the missions that they've come up with. I love the very idea of the foundry and the creative tools it brings to the players. I love doing a variety of things that is why I am here.
Whatever you think of the devs or the people at cryptic. It's time to ask yourself why are you here. What do you like about STO, do you love any specific part of it? If you had the choice what part of STO would you focus on.
Well true ... but who exactly started "The Dozen" - Game ... ?
What this guy said people. Read it and understand what he is talking about.
Though I do not neccesarily agree on one point. That being the game itself...Cryptic has to walk a fine line between both what PWE wants them to do and what we want them to do. No, the Customer is NOT always right. Neither is the Shareholder...who is another form of Customer. But they have to keep both in mind when PWE issues an order about what the Shareholders want and balance it with our wants and needs as customers.
At this point, does it really matter?
If anyone has had brothers and sisters, sometimes your parents just don't care who started it, and things need to stop no matter what.
But we're all adults here, not children. So to some people it really does matter. To me it doesn't. Some things should remain in the past. But some people make a hobby out of beating dead horses.
In terms of who started "The Dozens" game involving the Delta Rising sigs? The players did. In fact I can even point to the exact posters who fostered it, but I'm fairly sure that naming and shaming is against the terms of service.
I do like it when Bort shows up. His posts are generally very illuminating with regards to underlying systems and mechanics and how stuff is (or sometimes is not) functioning from a more technical standpoint. It's nice to know the "how" of the "why."
Joined January 2009
There are a lot of posters here, myself included, who have complained about lack of interaction with the Development Team. People feel they have issues that they would like addressed and they feel ignored, this creates a hostile response. This hostile response encourages Devs to avoid the forum because they don't want to wade through all the negativity, this furthers the feeling of being ignored.
We're in a nasty loop here. We have to find a way to stop this.
Someone has to blink first, and I'm going to suggest that it's us. Before you rip me apart, hear me out.
I'm not saying to kiss butt. I'm not saying pretend you love everything even if you don't. I'm saying, we should try and make the forum a place that the Dev team is more encouraged to visit and make them more receptive to the idea of interacting with us. Taco responded a few times on other threads saying that they want to visit here, they want to use the feedback but it's hard because people are always bashing them. As long as it continues, they are not going to interact with us here. I'm proposing a change in the culture through the following suggestions:
1. Keep the negative comments constructive. If you don't like something, state exactly why you don't like it and if possible, post how you would like to see it changed.
2. Limit negative posts to the issue, not to the poster. Rather it's another player or the Dev Team, calling them names won't prove your point. I know some people feel offended by things that were said in the past, I get it. Well, we have fired off a fair number of our own barbs, so can we please let it go now? What good is it doing any of us to keep bringing up old wounds? It's making things here toxic.
3. Try and post something positive if you like something. Do you like the Winter Event? Are you happy with your Breen Ship? Is there something you like or a story that you feel is well written? Maybe give an occasional prop to balance out the negative?
4. This is a big one, and people aren't going to like it but.. Lets get rid of the Signature Banners. Seriously guys, we have made our point, I had a couple of them myself and they're not making any point or doing any good anymore. All they're doing is fueling a constant negative environment, we made our point it's time to stop. They have said things, we have said things, all we're doing right now is keeping the wounds fresh. It's counter productive.
I know I'm going to get torn apart for this, I accept that. Bash me, flame me.. it's all good but please understand first what I'm trying to accomplish. I really like this game, but there are things that can be better. I'm sure everyone agrees about that. We can actually help this game by creating an environment where the Cryptic Team feel safe to come and exchange ideas with us. Sure, we're not going to get everything we suggest, that's obvious, but at least we can work to open the dialogue. I see in these threads lately that a lot of us are sick of the negativity, so lets do something about it.
If we quit hammering each other, and quit with the outright vicious hate toward the Cryptic Staff we're going to have a much better chance of effecting actual change. Rip me if you want, I'm ready for it and I can take it.. but before you do, understand that my only motivation is to help make this site a little better place.
If you feel that deserves an insult, then hit me. I assure you I can take it. If you agree though, post it.. if enough people get on board maybe things will change.
Thank you for listening.
Let me see if I can make sense of this.
We should take down our sigs, because they don't accomplish anything, even though Taco posting about them suggests they have at the very least caught attention.
We are told that we need to engage in meaningful conversation, even though we have clearly stated that we don't feel the meaningful conversation route works. That we feel ignored at best, and reviled at worst.
So the end result of this conversation is:
- Drop the sigs.
- Go back to posting the meaningful threads.
- We'll (Cryptic) go back to ignoring your meaningful threads.
- Everyone pretend nothing happened.
Status quo for the win!
:rolleyes:
"You shoot him, I shoot you, I leave both your bodies here and go out for a late night snack.
I'm thinking maybe pancakes." ~ John Casey
the only ones deserving of scorn are those that set the global variables on xp gaining, npc HP, intel skill balancing and implementing, and the overall cost required to get your gear up to mk14. these people ruined the game, these people should be fired immediately, before their changes loose everyone their jobs. they took something that was functioning well for FOUR YEARS, had more then reasonable grind/reward and approachability, and in 1 update turned it into the most tedious, high bar of entry grind and cost fest imaginable.
the specialization, once all story content has been completed, can only really be leveled by DR patrols effectively. and the fastest one to get through would require about 1000 runs to max out. on what planet is even 1/4 of that reasonable? this screams we hate our players, and we want them to suffer dead through tedium. this is an absolute deal breaker, i will not jump through this hoop, this game is dead to me until this is reigned in to reasonable levels.
the 'difficulty' change is merely one that makes gameplay in most qued content mathematically impossible without massive upgrades and specialization bonuses, also requiring premade teams. basically nothing is pugable now above normal, and only advanced and elite reward required reputation items and high end mats.
the cost to go from mk12 season 9 gear to mk 14 is astronomical, and the improvement over mk12 is astronomical too. by comparison, playing DR with mk 12 gear would be like playing season 9 with mk 4-6 gear. the difficulty changes were balanced for a fully upgraded and specialized character, so someone with a done season 9 character will find 0 approachability to DR. the cost and grind required to get a done DR character is between 5 to 10 times higher then going from a fresh 50 to a done season 9 character was. whats left is a whale's only club, maxing your character can only be done if you don't mind dropping hundreds of dollars on keys to turn into EC or trade for dil.
pvp has also been ruined by the gear and intel skills DR brought, so even if i did the literally insane grind, and dropped hundreds into upgrades, there would be nothing worth playing at the end.
this all fundamentally changed the cost of entry and required grind to play this game, somewhere between doubling it and increasing it 10 fold, in the space of a single update. its been radically changed into something abhorrent and unplayable, i will not sink this much time and funds into a video game, on principle, regardless if i could or not. any game and company that would demand this much deserves to fold and fail. correct this GRAVE error cryptic before everyone finally has the good sense to stop playing.
Not sure if you realize it or not, but I left my job at Borders to work for Cryptic. . . :P
Well sorry it kind of does ... you just said it comes down to "willing participants" ... afaik Cryptic started the whole thing, showing they're "willing participants" ... and now all of a sudden they don't like to "play" anymore ... sure it's in their rights to do so, and since Cryptic is not "one collective entity", the whole thing might be not that simple (Taco being hurt etc) ...
But being "butthurt", because the whole thing might have backfired is kind of silly ... imho ... if you really want that whole thing to stop, just explain why Dev XY said condescending Stuff ZX etc ...
-> see this guy i.E. :
He's made it obvious on several occasions he's not obligated to post to the forums, and neither is any other developer. Trevor and Morrigan are the only ones who actually get paid to wade into this cesspool.
If they don't accomplish anything productive, and only accomplish something destructive, is it worth staying the course?
Or are you one of the people who think any sort of attention is good attention? No such thing as bad publicity? Because when it comes to Cryptic employees communicating more with us, I think taking steps to let that happen more often should outweigh any axe we have to grind with our own individual opinions regarding Delta Rising.
And this has proven to be demonstratably false time and time again. Some people feel their feedback should be acted upon 100% of the time, and because it isn't, it gives them free reign to be disparaging and insulting to the point it hinders a good working relationship with Cryptic.
This is a movie, not advice on how to improve communication to Cryptic regarding STO.
Be more creative with your sigs instead of jumping on the hate bandwagon. If you want constructive signatures? The Galaxy Revamp signatures were way more helpful since it made Cryptic aware there are still players who are dissatisfied with the state the ship is in.
Use signatures that show your individual problems with the game and how better to solve them. If you don't like the Galaxy, add in the bridge officer slotting and console slotting on the signature.. just as an example. That actually is helpful.
I see nothing wrong with this.
Or reading the threads, taking the feedback into account, and acting on what they feel is best. Maybe your feedback gets acted on, maybe it doesn't. We're giving feedback, not giving marching orders. We give suggestions, not demands.
Nobody should ever expect their feedback to be acted on, but when it is, it's important to recognize that it is and be thankful and supportive of that.
Don't pretend it didn't happen. But acknowledge it happened, learn from errors made (on both Cryptic and the forum warriors' sides), and make future decisions with mistakes learned in mind.
No. Al Rivera possibly made a gaffe or a poor choice of words, and the players are railroading the entirety of Cryptic over it via signatures with that soundbite.
Backfiring implies some kind of target was aimed at before firing. The Delta Rising signatures aren't firing specifically at any target. It's just hate for hate's sake.