This definitely bears repeating that should a T6 show up that allows me to use the Sovereign skin, I'm buying some zen and making it happen!
I currently run a T5-U Fleet Assault Cruiser, and it definitely is capable and good enough for what I do in the game...
However, should the dev team decide that in an effort to boost more sales of T6 ships, certain content needs to be "out of reach" for a T5-U ship, I'll simply stop playing that content before being baited into "buying" a ship to remain competitive at end game.
I don't think they underestimate it at all. I think the forum u derestimates the spending habits of the silent players.
Consider the forum's opinion of the dyson bundle. And yet gecko said in the priority one interview that "bundles of bundles" were a huge money maker for them and something they were planning more of. Days later the command ships hit.
Believe me, there will be more 9-packs coming. They sell. Just not to forumites.
I suspect even to those. I feel an urge to buy these ships, even though I'd practically need more characters to actually get something out of all those ships I have access to.
Or rather, I need more time.
Oh, I noticed I forgot one thing they probably also consider a Tier 6 requirement: A new skin for the ship. And I see it so as well. If you want 3,000 Zen from me, you better give me some new artwork. Even if in the end I still pick the original canon variant or whatever, having options is great. (And personally, I usually do mod and kitbash my ships to not look like all the rest and to make it my hero ship.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Well i heared some great things about the breen Frig pets .. and the fighters as well Ultra rare.. Nothing is better its all about play style and captain.. So in reality if you like your tier 5 ships keep em let us keep out tier 6 ships .. I don't force any one to play my tie 6 ships i dont say its better i just like the options if offers to use intel powers ..
Oh I like the Breen carrier too. The frigates there are almost as good as the mobuli. I guess using cannons over beams sometimes slows them down.
I haven't invested in either for the top version as I'm still waiting to see if they put out epic.
Mostly the xindi carrier moves so beautifully I would never give it up.
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."
IMO people are going to buy ships because they like how they look. I know if a ship design doesn't appeal to me, I won't buy it, no matter what bells and whistles it comes with.
Very much so. It seems an unfortunate issue many have in making the T6 transition is, they just don't like those ship designs.
I would love to make my T5 ships into true T6 ships.
I have several alts, and each has a ship that I've associated with them for a reason. I like the ship and their crew. I have already upgraded (most, so far, all eventually) these ships to T5-U, and would pay (again, as applicable) to upgrade them to true T6 ships.
Here's the main ships my alts fly:
D'Kyr Science Vessel
Fleet D'deridex Warbird Battle Cruiser Retrofit
Fleet Negh'Var Heavy Battle Cruiser
Fleet Norgh Bird-of-Prey Retrofit
Fleet Vo'Quv Carrier
Tal Shiar Adapted Battle Cruiser
Tholian Recluse Carrier
Vesta (Aventine/Multi-Mission Recon Explorer)
Wells Temporal Science Vessel,
I have a lot invested in the above ships. I enjoy using them and expect to continue using them. I don't PvP. I dominate in all the "single-player" content. I'm above-average in the team/STF/queue games. I don't need new T6 ships, but I would upgrade further if I could keep the ships I've become accustomed to.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
Honestly I'm wouldn't be ok with anything less then upgrading to full t5.
I paid already 50 for my scimitar, odysee and Kumari each. I paid additionally for upgrade tokens to have them be.... Slightly better second class ships now?
I knew that was happening the micro second they announced delta rising.
And it's not that I'm not willing to buy additional ships if I like them.
But essentially forcing me out my favorites will make me stop doing that. And I don't see me paying additional full price for a ship I already paid that much money for.
The moment Crpytic announced that T6 Jem'Hadar ship, this thread came back to my mind. I guess the combination of a new T6 Bug ship and a T6 Intrepid is slowly giving us an answer to this question. While upgrading all the way on our existing ships looks like a no no, I'd now say the chance of T6 versions of all the standard, popular ships is almost a certainty now.
Oddy and Schimitar T6 within six months? Any bets?
A lot of these will be waiting for the new fleet holding and they want to sell regular T6 for some time more first before going to fleet.
But I've seen a number of consoles that can be equipped only on T6 and Fleet T6 versions of a ship so they must be in the planning stage to some extent. The vesta consoles don't mention T6.
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."
IMHO T5-U was an incredibly bad, poorly implemented idea.
Nothing more than a PR gesture to stop a mass revolt at the time of the T6 announcement. There was no good way to implement the idea, just a way to soften the blow when they revealed a whole tier class.
Nothing more than a PR gesture to stop a mass revolt at the time of the T6 announcement. There was no good way to implement the idea, just a way to soften the blow when they revealed a whole tier class.
Making all "true" T5 ships T5-U (negating the need for the -U and -FU designations) for free automatically would have helped immensely.
Buy the new ship, earn the trait, stick it on your old favorite sounds a lot better than "oh hey, you have to pay rent on your old ships now to not be completely out classed by the new hotness."
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Looking through the thread on the new Command Ships, it seems to be a very divided reaction. A shame since I think the designs (minus the poor Klingons) are pretty good and they've put in some impressive work. But given how Cryptic seem to be unable to entice so many players over to T6 still, is it time for them to acknowledge how many players how dug their feet in and how many customers they are missing out by not making some more T5-U ships T6?
While I understand they cant do this for every T5-U ship, there are clearly several in high use that players will simply not abandon. I'm thinking the Oddy, Avenger, Scimitar, Galaxy, Advanced Escort, etc Metrics will help them identify the most used in game.
I suspect there is a massive and very easy amount of revenue to be made by giving them what they want (and it obviously isn't going to be any of these new T6 ship efforts) for very little work. Like with the Intrepid, just make another new, interchangeable skin, boost some stats, add a ship trait and (maybe) a console or some BOFF station tweeks if needed.
Its very little work by comparison and new money for old rope. At this stage, I honestly think they should just consider it as I can't see the T5-U supporters ever shifting on their stance and that is a LOT of money being sat on.
you cant tell those players to give up their loved ships and setups that work so well, it just so happens players still consider their t5u the 1st choice simply because they find it suits them and is in their comfort zone. there are reasons why people dont wis hto switch over to t6, i wont switch to t6 for example for 3 reasons
1. im a hard canon trek type of person, you wont ever see me praising anything jjcrap or false inspired, so i fly the flag for those days with the excelsior.
2. t6 is just a flimsy and transparent cash grab, thats reason enough not to care at all.
3. there are not enough t6 ships and clearly a great deal in lacking imagination on what to do with their design focus. i mean have cryptic thought about destroyers, continuing the frigate line, minelayers, artillery, corvette, patrol, gunboat?
so many other things to work with and they stick with escorts, cruisers and science ships. with such a stale lack of interest in their own business, what business do i have to be interested in something they are clearly not?
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Making all "true" T5 ships T5-U (negating the need for the -U and -FU designations) for free automatically would have helped immensely.
They would never have given any kind of upgrade for free. Imagine the money they'd have lost at DR launch? Compared to the massive profit spike they'd have seen, with players either grabbing a T6 or paying for the T5 upgrade.
you cant tell those players to give up their loved ships and setups that work so well, it just so happens players still consider their t5u the 1st choice simply because they find it suits them and is in their comfort zone. there are reasons why people dont wis hto switch over to t6, i wont switch to t6 for example for 3 reasons
1. im a hard canon trek type of person, you wont ever see me praising anything jjcrap or false inspired, so i fly the flag for those days with the excelsior.
2. t6 is just a flimsy and transparent cash grab, thats reason enough not to care at all.
3. there are not enough t6 ships and clearly a great deal in lacking imagination on what to do with their design focus. i mean have cryptic thought about destroyers, continuing the frigate line, minelayers, artillery, corvette, patrol, gunboat?
so many other things to work with and they stick with escorts, cruisers and science ships. with such a stale lack of interest in their own business, what business do i have to be interested in something they are clearly not?
I fly an Advanced Escort and with it T5U and kitted in mostly Epic gear, don't feel much need to change either. The BOFF set up is solid, my tactics are simple but effective in it and I can generally pull my weight in pretty much any STF. That said, I would hop to a T6 version.
Like a lot of people, I don't also like the design elements for T6. Its getting better but I'd love to see more Prometheus/Intrepid style interpretations. Think sleek, think flatter.
They would never have given any kind of upgrade for free. Imagine the money they'd have lost at DR launch? Compared to the massive profit spike they'd have seen, with players either grabbing a T6 or paying for the T5 upgrade.
How much did they lose from people like me? I bought a lot of T5 ships, I had alts flying their own ships pre DR, enjoying a particular ship's playstyle and building a captain up just to fly that ship. I bought a scimitar bundle with only 2 romulans, an avenger, excelsior, the T5 nebula (even though I think it was given away free at some point), among other Cstore ships that I flew. Some were still in original T5s like the Negh'var and the Bird of Prey because I never liked the alternatives. I had one in a Dyson science destroyer and another in the Breen Cruiser.
Post DR, though, everyone got put into the 1000 day vet reward ships or an event ship if they weren't already in another ship that got a free upgrade. The one free upgrade token went to the Scimitar, the other two in the bundle will just stay unupgraded. I had enough Lobi to buy a Hazari destroyer which went to one character. The only thing I did put zen down for post DR was the Phantom, but not until the ship sales, and only for the trait. Otherwise I find the majoritiy of the T6s hideously ugly as well as having overinflated price tags. If no ships got free upgrades I would have simply quit outright.
I certainly won't pay again for things I've already paid for. The Pathfinder seriously pissed me off to see them roll out another intrepid just a few weeks after they wanted everyone to buy an upgrade token for the ones they already have. All those T5s that I could T5U for a token won't be getting that token. All those T6s that I could be flying on my alts won't be getting bought. I mean they are just going to be obsoleted some point, and many are terribly ugly as well, so why bother wasting zen on them?
Getting some customer good will would have been a smart thing to do with automatic free upgrades for all ships bought pre DR. Post DR, fine ask for upgrade tokens for new purchases of the old ships, but no one should have been demanded to pay a second time for the ship they already paid for. Too much money grab, too little respect for the customer.
They would never have given any kind of upgrade for free. Imagine the money they'd have lost at DR launch? Compared to the massive profit spike they'd have seen, with players either grabbing a T6 or paying for the T5 upgrade.
I basically shut down spending on ships before DR hit because of the soon to be existence of the upgrade. Why spend money on end-of-life ships?
I had the Kumari, Oddy, and Vesta three packs. They are all mothballed now and the only T5-Us I'm flying are the free ones.
The only T6 ship I've bought is the Phantom, and that was to give my Kumari and Defiant captains something to fly and a trait that's just about universally useful, especially when I don't have four ships with traits as it is.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The future has already been decided. The Pathfinder literally showed us the way. Now the JHSS.
That leaves 4 ships currently more likely to get a T6 version sooner than the rest.
Rhode Island - Captained by Harry Kim, and getting some Spotlight in the Delta Quadrant.
Galaxy - Shares a core Boff loadout with the Intrepid, 2 for 3 for a bundle, is an iconic ship, could be starred with Geordi in command. Helps a little that at least one of the Devs wants to work on an interior for it as well at some point.
Defiant - Shares a core Boff loadout with the Intrepid, 2 for 3 for a bundle, is an iconic ship, could be featured in future DS9-related content.
Voth Bulwark - Promotional ship like the JHAS. Sold promotional packs during its run.
The only choice now; is to save up the Zen via Dil->Zen for those Faction ships, and/or EC for that future Promotional ship.
though i cant speak for all i will say there is no way i would pay 500/700 zen to upgrade a T5 ship to T5u its just not worth it financially, i would however spend 1000 zen to upgrade a T5 ship to T6.
if other players feel its worth upgrading T5 ships to T5u that their choice.
so far the only ships i have upgraded have been free or gratis.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
I bought the Pathfinder, and up until that point i'd always flown tac ships on my tac captain. Now it's my main ship for my tac captain so in my view it was a success as it opened up the way for me to play differently on that toon.
Now i'd really like to see some other lower level ships get that treatment and make them appealing.
I'd love to fly a Lunar class, it just looks nice. But no way i'll buy a ship that is going to be out of date within the year once fleet T6's come out.
I'd like my Avenger to be useful again but i'm not forking out 700 Z's for an upgrade to a semi-competitive ship.
A lot of players are very, very loyal to their favourite ships. We've got Galaxy fans, Nova fans, Vesta fans, BOP fans. All of them would throw money at the game for some T6 action.
In a broader sense, zilch quite simply. They knew fully well that 90% of the players would without question either upgrade at least one ship or go for a T6 in that initial DR launch week. That in itself is an astronomical amount of concentrated revenue that makes the few who passed on it irrelevant.
If ever there was a guaranteed surge of very large income coming in to Cryptic, it was during the release of T5U/T6 options. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone not flying a T5U now at least. The game is simply too demanding for anything less - precisely as they designed it to be.
I basically shut down spending on ships before DR hit because of the soon to be existence of the upgrade. Why spend money on end-of-life ships?
I had the Kumari, Oddy, and Vesta three packs. They are all mothballed now and the only T5-Us I'm flying are the free ones.
The only T6 ship I've bought is the Phantom, and that was to give my Kumari and Defiant captains something to fly and a trait that's just about universally useful, especially when I don't have four ships with traits as it is.
They knew players would either take the T5U offering for what it was or go all the way to T6. Either way, you game them money. In buying a T6, you also gave them a lot of money considering those ships rattle for 3,000 Zen. It all worked out for them. They either got loads of brand new ship purchases or sat there watching us pay for the same ship a third/fourth time, etc.
They knew players would either take the T5U offering for what it was or go all the way to T6. Either way, you game them money. In buying a T6, you also gave them a lot of money considering those ships rattle for 3,000 Zen. It all worked out for them. They either got loads of brand new ship purchases or sat there watching us pay for the same ship a third/fourth time, etc.
I used to buy three packs. I used to buy ships on a whim if I had a idea that would use it.
So in the span of time that they used to get one or two three packs out of me they got one ship and an otherwise cessation of all zen expenditures. I had most of the zen sitting around from before DR to pick up the Phantom.
If I saw a costume pack I liked, they'd get money.
A ship I liked, they'd get money.
I used to like making new captains, so they'd get money for slots.
Now I've retired most of my captains to true Admiral status and they sit behind a desk looking at a shiny gold model of the ship(s) they used to fly.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Looking through the thread on the new Command Ships, it seems to be a very divided reaction. A shame since I think the designs (minus the poor Klingons) are pretty good and they've put in some impressive work. But given how Cryptic seem to be unable to entice so many players over to T6 still, is it time for them to acknowledge how many players how dug their feet in and how many customers they are missing out by not making some more T5-U ships T6?
While I understand they cant do this for every T5-U ship, there are clearly several in high use that players will simply not abandon. I'm thinking the Oddy, Avenger, Scimitar, Galaxy, Advanced Escort, etc Metrics will help them identify the most used in game.
I suspect there is a massive and very easy amount of revenue to be made by giving them what they want (and it obviously isn't going to be any of these new T6 ship efforts) for very little work. Like with the Intrepid, just make another new, interchangeable skin, boost some stats, add a ship trait and (maybe) a console or some BOFF station tweeks if needed.
Its very little work by comparison and new money for old rope. At this stage, I honestly think they should just consider it as I can't see the T5-U supporters ever shifting on their stance and that is a LOT of money being sat on.
To be honest, look closely at the T6 ships, and the T5/T5-U. You will see that they did exactly that. Each of the T6 ships have a T5/T5-U version of it, just with a different skin on it, and a different class of name.
All they did was take existing ships that players already own, and add a skill slot, maybe a console slot or two, then give it special hybrid seats, and one more level that you can level the up for a star ship trait.
Even the Samsar is just the Ambassador class ship, but with 2 console slots, and a trait. It even has a console with it. It is essentially a T6 version of the Ambassador, but with a different skin.
If you think about what T5/T5-U players are asking for, it is already there. They just don't have the skins on them that the players wanted.
What I think they should have done (especially with the high cost of the upgrade tokens) they should have made the T5 ships upgraded to T6, without needing to buy a whole other ship. Either that, or not even bother with the T5-U insult.
The Scimitar, and very few other ships didn't even need the upgrade to meet the high DPS focus they are making the game become. However, it would have been nice for other T5 ships with the option to upgrade to have been able to keep up with the T6 ships in queued missions.
Leader of Elite Guardian Academy.Would you like to learn how to run a fleet? Would you like to know how to do ship builds (true budget as well as high end)?The join the Academy today!
To be honest, look closely at the T6 ships, and the T5/T5-U. You will see that they did exactly that. Each of the T6 ships have a T5/T5-U version of it, just with a different skin on it, and a different class of name.
All they did was take existing ships that players already own, and add a skill slot, maybe a console slot or two, then give it special hybrid seats, and one more level that you can level the up for a star ship trait.
Even the Samsar is just the Ambassador class ship, but with 2 console slots, and a trait. It even has a console with it. It is essentially a T6 version of the Ambassador, but with a different skin.
If you think about what T5/T5-U players are asking for, it is already there. They just don't have the skins on them that the players wanted.
What I think they should have done (especially with the high cost of the upgrade tokens) they should have made the T5 ships upgraded to T6, without needing to buy a whole other ship. Either that, or not even bother with the T5-U insult.
The Scimitar, and very few other ships didn't even need the upgrade to meet the high DPS focus they are making the game become. However, it would have been nice for other T5 ships with the option to upgrade to have been able to keep up with the T6 ships in queued missions.
I do kind of agree. I mean, the Guardian is pretty much a T6 Galaxy, right? And the Phantom a T6 Defiant? But I guess people want the option of keeping the proper Galaxy class look in a T6?
I think that might say more about the viability of t5u, just because you still see them doesn't mean those people aren't buying t6 ships. I know plenty of players who have t6s who still fly (and sometimes flip flop between) t5u ships...myself included
That's my feelings as well. I really don't see the need for a T6 version of many ships. T5-U, and even base T5, are actually still very good in the end-game. Heck, I'm still flying the freebie T5 Ambassador from time to time with minimal issues, and any of my T5-U ships are still great. T6 is just T5-U with the additional mastery trait, really - there's not much else that's noticeably different, and the common practice seems to still be for a lot of players to stick with their T5s anyways.
I'd rather they spend development time on making new T6 ships, like the Command ships. If they just re-released old ships as T6, I wouldn't bother buying it. Not when T5-U is plenty capable - if not more capable - in combat than many of the T6 ships that are forced to sacrifice a bit to balance out their fun specialization abilities.
I paid additionally for upgrade tokens to have them be.... Slightly better second class ships now?
T5-U = T6 in all but label. T6 just signifies that there's a mastery trait, and that there's the option of using some of the specialization stuff. A T5-U gets all the important things, such as hull boosts and an extra console slot. You shouldn't really see a painfully large difference between a T5-U ship and T6 ship stats-wise or playability-wise.
Nothing more than a PR gesture to stop a mass revolt at the time of the T6 announcement. There was no good way to implement the idea, just a way to soften the blow when they revealed a whole tier class.
They also said that the T5-U upgrade would put the ships on par with T6, which in my experience they have.
They would never have given any kind of upgrade for free. Imagine the money they'd have lost at DR launch? Compared to the massive profit spike they'd have seen, with players either grabbing a T6 or paying for the T5 upgrade.
They actually did. Lockbox and special event ships were a free upgrade.
They also have made every ship giveaway since DR a T6, so they're giving quite a lot of stuff away without asking for money in return.
though i cant speak for all i will say there is no way i would pay 500/700 zen to upgrade a T5 ship to T5u its just not worth it financially, i would however spend 1000 zen to upgrade a T5 ship to T6.
T6 isn't the instant-win-boat or T5-killer that many players seem to be convinced they are. If they sold an additional 'upgrade to T6' token that's almost twice the price of a T5-U upgrade token... I'd be a little peeved that they're taking advantage of misunderstood information. T6 is not leaps and bounds above T5-U, or even too drastically over the base T5 for that matter. And the devs have said this multiple times, that T6 was not going to ruin T5 in the game - and they delivered on that promise.
If and when I find that my T5-U ships have become worthless, I'll join the cries of foul for wanting a T6 upgrade. But I just haven't found that to be the case.
And before anyone points out that there's a T6 in my sig, yeah, yeah there is. It's the Aelahl. But c'mon, it's GORGEOUS. As I said above, I'd rather they put design effort into new ships like the Aelahl, rather than rebuild old ones.
Comments
I currently run a T5-U Fleet Assault Cruiser, and it definitely is capable and good enough for what I do in the game...
However, should the dev team decide that in an effort to boost more sales of T6 ships, certain content needs to be "out of reach" for a T5-U ship, I'll simply stop playing that content before being baited into "buying" a ship to remain competitive at end game.
Captain Ariel Trueheart Department of Temporal Investigations
U.S.S. Valkyrie - NCC 991701
=/\= ================================= =/\=
I suspect even to those. I feel an urge to buy these ships, even though I'd practically need more characters to actually get something out of all those ships I have access to.
Or rather, I need more time.
Oh, I noticed I forgot one thing they probably also consider a Tier 6 requirement: A new skin for the ship. And I see it so as well. If you want 3,000 Zen from me, you better give me some new artwork. Even if in the end I still pick the original canon variant or whatever, having options is great. (And personally, I usually do mod and kitbash my ships to not look like all the rest and to make it my hero ship.)
Oh I like the Breen carrier too. The frigates there are almost as good as the mobuli. I guess using cannons over beams sometimes slows them down.
I haven't invested in either for the top version as I'm still waiting to see if they put out epic.
Mostly the xindi carrier moves so beautifully I would never give it up.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Very much so. It seems an unfortunate issue many have in making the T6 transition is, they just don't like those ship designs.
I have several alts, and each has a ship that I've associated with them for a reason. I like the ship and their crew. I have already upgraded (most, so far, all eventually) these ships to T5-U, and would pay (again, as applicable) to upgrade them to true T6 ships.
Here's the main ships my alts fly:
D'Kyr Science Vessel
Fleet D'deridex Warbird Battle Cruiser Retrofit
Fleet Negh'Var Heavy Battle Cruiser
Fleet Norgh Bird-of-Prey Retrofit
Fleet Vo'Quv Carrier
Tal Shiar Adapted Battle Cruiser
Tholian Recluse Carrier
Vesta (Aventine/Multi-Mission Recon Explorer)
Wells Temporal Science Vessel,
I have a lot invested in the above ships. I enjoy using them and expect to continue using them. I don't PvP. I dominate in all the "single-player" content. I'm above-average in the team/STF/queue games. I don't need new T6 ships, but I would upgrade further if I could keep the ships I've become accustomed to.
You can find/contact me in game as @PatricianVetinari. Playing STO since Feb 2010.
I paid already 50 for my scimitar, odysee and Kumari each. I paid additionally for upgrade tokens to have them be.... Slightly better second class ships now?
I knew that was happening the micro second they announced delta rising.
And it's not that I'm not willing to buy additional ships if I like them.
But essentially forcing me out my favorites will make me stop doing that. And I don't see me paying additional full price for a ship I already paid that much money for.
Oddy and Schimitar T6 within six months? Any bets?
But I've seen a number of consoles that can be equipped only on T6 and Fleet T6 versions of a ship so they must be in the planning stage to some extent. The vesta consoles don't mention T6.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Nothing more than a PR gesture to stop a mass revolt at the time of the T6 announcement. There was no good way to implement the idea, just a way to soften the blow when they revealed a whole tier class.
Making all "true" T5 ships T5-U (negating the need for the -U and -FU designations) for free automatically would have helped immensely.
Buy the new ship, earn the trait, stick it on your old favorite sounds a lot better than "oh hey, you have to pay rent on your old ships now to not be completely out classed by the new hotness."
you cant tell those players to give up their loved ships and setups that work so well, it just so happens players still consider their t5u the 1st choice simply because they find it suits them and is in their comfort zone. there are reasons why people dont wis hto switch over to t6, i wont switch to t6 for example for 3 reasons
1. im a hard canon trek type of person, you wont ever see me praising anything jjcrap or false inspired, so i fly the flag for those days with the excelsior.
2. t6 is just a flimsy and transparent cash grab, thats reason enough not to care at all.
3. there are not enough t6 ships and clearly a great deal in lacking imagination on what to do with their design focus. i mean have cryptic thought about destroyers, continuing the frigate line, minelayers, artillery, corvette, patrol, gunboat?
so many other things to work with and they stick with escorts, cruisers and science ships. with such a stale lack of interest in their own business, what business do i have to be interested in something they are clearly not?
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
They would never have given any kind of upgrade for free. Imagine the money they'd have lost at DR launch? Compared to the massive profit spike they'd have seen, with players either grabbing a T6 or paying for the T5 upgrade.
I fly an Advanced Escort and with it T5U and kitted in mostly Epic gear, don't feel much need to change either. The BOFF set up is solid, my tactics are simple but effective in it and I can generally pull my weight in pretty much any STF. That said, I would hop to a T6 version.
Like a lot of people, I don't also like the design elements for T6. Its getting better but I'd love to see more Prometheus/Intrepid style interpretations. Think sleek, think flatter.
They'll probably start working on it once idiots start asking for it. Like Turkey's wishing for christmas.
Thanks for getting the festive ball rolling.
How much did they lose from people like me? I bought a lot of T5 ships, I had alts flying their own ships pre DR, enjoying a particular ship's playstyle and building a captain up just to fly that ship. I bought a scimitar bundle with only 2 romulans, an avenger, excelsior, the T5 nebula (even though I think it was given away free at some point), among other Cstore ships that I flew. Some were still in original T5s like the Negh'var and the Bird of Prey because I never liked the alternatives. I had one in a Dyson science destroyer and another in the Breen Cruiser.
Post DR, though, everyone got put into the 1000 day vet reward ships or an event ship if they weren't already in another ship that got a free upgrade. The one free upgrade token went to the Scimitar, the other two in the bundle will just stay unupgraded. I had enough Lobi to buy a Hazari destroyer which went to one character. The only thing I did put zen down for post DR was the Phantom, but not until the ship sales, and only for the trait. Otherwise I find the majoritiy of the T6s hideously ugly as well as having overinflated price tags. If no ships got free upgrades I would have simply quit outright.
I certainly won't pay again for things I've already paid for. The Pathfinder seriously pissed me off to see them roll out another intrepid just a few weeks after they wanted everyone to buy an upgrade token for the ones they already have. All those T5s that I could T5U for a token won't be getting that token. All those T6s that I could be flying on my alts won't be getting bought. I mean they are just going to be obsoleted some point, and many are terribly ugly as well, so why bother wasting zen on them?
Getting some customer good will would have been a smart thing to do with automatic free upgrades for all ships bought pre DR. Post DR, fine ask for upgrade tokens for new purchases of the old ships, but no one should have been demanded to pay a second time for the ship they already paid for. Too much money grab, too little respect for the customer.
I basically shut down spending on ships before DR hit because of the soon to be existence of the upgrade. Why spend money on end-of-life ships?
I had the Kumari, Oddy, and Vesta three packs. They are all mothballed now and the only T5-Us I'm flying are the free ones.
The only T6 ship I've bought is the Phantom, and that was to give my Kumari and Defiant captains something to fly and a trait that's just about universally useful, especially when I don't have four ships with traits as it is.
That leaves 4 ships currently more likely to get a T6 version sooner than the rest.
Rhode Island - Captained by Harry Kim, and getting some Spotlight in the Delta Quadrant.
Galaxy - Shares a core Boff loadout with the Intrepid, 2 for 3 for a bundle, is an iconic ship, could be starred with Geordi in command. Helps a little that at least one of the Devs wants to work on an interior for it as well at some point.
Defiant - Shares a core Boff loadout with the Intrepid, 2 for 3 for a bundle, is an iconic ship, could be featured in future DS9-related content.
Voth Bulwark - Promotional ship like the JHAS. Sold promotional packs during its run.
The only choice now; is to save up the Zen via Dil->Zen for those Faction ships, and/or EC for that future Promotional ship.
if other players feel its worth upgrading T5 ships to T5u that their choice.
so far the only ships i have upgraded have been free or gratis.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
You can buy an Intrepid four times. (VA, Fleet, Bellerophon, Pathfinder)
And people are.
Fully expect to see 'new' versions of all the hero ships, and a few more.
Now i'd really like to see some other lower level ships get that treatment and make them appealing.
I'd love to fly a Lunar class, it just looks nice. But no way i'll buy a ship that is going to be out of date within the year once fleet T6's come out.
I'd like my Avenger to be useful again but i'm not forking out 700 Z's for an upgrade to a semi-competitive ship.
A lot of players are very, very loyal to their favourite ships. We've got Galaxy fans, Nova fans, Vesta fans, BOP fans. All of them would throw money at the game for some T6 action.
Cryptic would be mad to miss out on that.
In a broader sense, zilch quite simply. They knew fully well that 90% of the players would without question either upgrade at least one ship or go for a T6 in that initial DR launch week. That in itself is an astronomical amount of concentrated revenue that makes the few who passed on it irrelevant.
If ever there was a guaranteed surge of very large income coming in to Cryptic, it was during the release of T5U/T6 options. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone not flying a T5U now at least. The game is simply too demanding for anything less - precisely as they designed it to be.
They knew players would either take the T5U offering for what it was or go all the way to T6. Either way, you game them money. In buying a T6, you also gave them a lot of money considering those ships rattle for 3,000 Zen. It all worked out for them. They either got loads of brand new ship purchases or sat there watching us pay for the same ship a third/fourth time, etc.
I used to buy three packs. I used to buy ships on a whim if I had a idea that would use it.
So in the span of time that they used to get one or two three packs out of me they got one ship and an otherwise cessation of all zen expenditures. I had most of the zen sitting around from before DR to pick up the Phantom.
If I saw a costume pack I liked, they'd get money.
A ship I liked, they'd get money.
I used to like making new captains, so they'd get money for slots.
Now I've retired most of my captains to true Admiral status and they sit behind a desk looking at a shiny gold model of the ship(s) they used to fly.
To be honest, look closely at the T6 ships, and the T5/T5-U. You will see that they did exactly that. Each of the T6 ships have a T5/T5-U version of it, just with a different skin on it, and a different class of name.
All they did was take existing ships that players already own, and add a skill slot, maybe a console slot or two, then give it special hybrid seats, and one more level that you can level the up for a star ship trait.
Even the Samsar is just the Ambassador class ship, but with 2 console slots, and a trait. It even has a console with it. It is essentially a T6 version of the Ambassador, but with a different skin.
If you think about what T5/T5-U players are asking for, it is already there. They just don't have the skins on them that the players wanted.
What I think they should have done (especially with the high cost of the upgrade tokens) they should have made the T5 ships upgraded to T6, without needing to buy a whole other ship. Either that, or not even bother with the T5-U insult.
The Scimitar, and very few other ships didn't even need the upgrade to meet the high DPS focus they are making the game become. However, it would have been nice for other T5 ships with the option to upgrade to have been able to keep up with the T6 ships in queued missions.
I do kind of agree. I mean, the Guardian is pretty much a T6 Galaxy, right? And the Phantom a T6 Defiant? But I guess people want the option of keeping the proper Galaxy class look in a T6?
That's my feelings as well. I really don't see the need for a T6 version of many ships. T5-U, and even base T5, are actually still very good in the end-game. Heck, I'm still flying the freebie T5 Ambassador from time to time with minimal issues, and any of my T5-U ships are still great. T6 is just T5-U with the additional mastery trait, really - there's not much else that's noticeably different, and the common practice seems to still be for a lot of players to stick with their T5s anyways.
I'd rather they spend development time on making new T6 ships, like the Command ships. If they just re-released old ships as T6, I wouldn't bother buying it. Not when T5-U is plenty capable - if not more capable - in combat than many of the T6 ships that are forced to sacrifice a bit to balance out their fun specialization abilities.
T5-U = T6 in all but label. T6 just signifies that there's a mastery trait, and that there's the option of using some of the specialization stuff. A T5-U gets all the important things, such as hull boosts and an extra console slot. You shouldn't really see a painfully large difference between a T5-U ship and T6 ship stats-wise or playability-wise.
They also said that the T5-U upgrade would put the ships on par with T6, which in my experience they have.
They actually did. Lockbox and special event ships were a free upgrade.
They also have made every ship giveaway since DR a T6, so they're giving quite a lot of stuff away without asking for money in return.
T6 isn't the instant-win-boat or T5-killer that many players seem to be convinced they are. If they sold an additional 'upgrade to T6' token that's almost twice the price of a T5-U upgrade token... I'd be a little peeved that they're taking advantage of misunderstood information. T6 is not leaps and bounds above T5-U, or even too drastically over the base T5 for that matter. And the devs have said this multiple times, that T6 was not going to ruin T5 in the game - and they delivered on that promise.
If and when I find that my T5-U ships have become worthless, I'll join the cries of foul for wanting a T6 upgrade. But I just haven't found that to be the case.
And before anyone points out that there's a T6 in my sig, yeah, yeah there is. It's the Aelahl. But c'mon, it's GORGEOUS. As I said above, I'd rather they put design effort into new ships like the Aelahl, rather than rebuild old ones.