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Why a non-stop bombardment of 'special events', Cryptic?

dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
Is it just me, or does the rapid pace of 'special events' worry anyone else? Like Cryptic/PWE is trying too hard.

Also, imo, the release of the Command Ships was poorly timed. You already had a bunch of people grinding out the Anniversary ship and before the average player even got the 1000 Qmmendations that ship was overshadowed (outclassed?) by the new bundle of ships. Kinda like stepping on your customers' toes. They don't even get to enjoy their new ship before you throw 9 more in their faces.
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Comments

  • fusionax77fusionax77 Member Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Long post short: Because metrics.
  • woodwhitywoodwhity Member Posts: 2,636 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Since the game is neither healthy nor growing if you do the normal routine, cryptic makes one event after another to get ppl to still play it. Its like trying to triage a severed arm with bandaid though.
  • xenificationxenification Member Posts: 615 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    fusionax77 wrote: »
    Long post short: Because metrics.

    and then some.
  • platewearingbirdplatewearingbird Member Posts: 455 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    I'd like to imagine they're doing all these special events to celebrate STOs 5 year mission.

    But in reality they're probably grasping at straws to keep people in the game since the disaster we know as DR.

    They don't wanna admit the fact that Delta Rising isn't the best expansion like they said it was, and that the players aren't living it.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Agreed OP, event is the most single overused word in this entire game. I even had to look up the dictionary to find out what it originally means.

    Problem is just that beside the doff system freely handed out stuff alongside events is the only reason for a lot of people to log.

    Too bad, a quality product with a lot of happy customers would have worked as well.
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  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    special events are just a short term means to an end for the quickest cash grab as possible, probably metrics to "prove" to pwe that everything is running as it should over a duration of a month im guessing by the length of the number of shinies. but metrics are not the main reason, the more moths and crane flies you can get trapped in a specially designed box, the more you can hold them to ransom in toll fees trying to escape the maze when the light is switched off and several smaller ones directing them out of the box are switched on.

    in the end it is just a short term cash grab. either cryptic are running low on their income this quarter or they are planning to do something big at a later date.
    T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW.
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  • platewearingbirdplatewearingbird Member Posts: 455 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    special events are just a short term means to an end for the quickest cash grab as possible, probably metrics to "prove" to pwe that everything is running as it should over a duration of a month im guessing by the length of the number of shinies. but metrics are not the main reason, the more moths and crane flies you can get trapped in a specially designed box, the more you can hold them to ransom in toll fees trying to escape the maze when the light is switched off and several smaller ones directing them out of the box are switched on.

    in the end it is just a short term cash grab. either cryptic are running low on their income this quarter or they are planning to do something big at a later date.

    Which will be a big server closing event. Finally strike the decisive blow on the Iconians and establish galactic peace before STO goes poof.
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  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Maybe it's because some people keep complaining that they have nothing to do except grind Arugula all day to earn the salad points they "need."

    Feels like their dangling shiny trinket's in front of us in a attempt at distracting us to what's really going on....

    That's just what they WANT you to think. Don't fall for it, the conspiracy goes ever so much deeper than that!
  • nikephorusnikephorus Member Posts: 2,744 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Because there is nothing else...
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  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Wasn't there a time where the game had hourly events?

    The events are obviously an attempt to advertise the game at all times, always providing players to log back in the game so they don't miss anything. By being large and taking multiple hours and giving unique rewards, they work much better for Cryptic at their purpose than the old hourlies did.


    Cryptic has, over the past years, constantly expanded their repertoire of events. So I think it has always been the plan to have enough events to practically run them back-to-back. It's not a sign of the game failing, it's a sign of Cryptic having a strategy to keep playerbusy in the game.

    All the people complaining about grind and what not - many of them are kept playing because there is a new, special reward around and if they don't join the grind, they'll lose out.

    One could argue it's a dirty psychological trick, but it works, and on the plus side, it ensures that all the items I acquired in the game for real money keeps being useful...
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • guilli88guilli88 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Because the game has been in decline for a while now. Players numbers are becoming more 'spiky' meaning less people consistently keep playing. It becomes very risky for investors (they are seeing this as a risk on their investments).

    I'd wager zen sales have been overall going down as well as more and more people just do not think the game is worth the money any more.



    It's all a classic case of upper management forcing a game to go a specific direction to make a quick short-term buck. It comes at the cost of the long term economical welfare of the game. Meaning they'll make their investment back and profit over the course of a short period and then pull out leaving the game to close.

    sig

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    It is a peculiar phenomenon that we can imagine events that defy the laws of the universe.
  • nikephorusnikephorus Member Posts: 2,744 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Wasn't there a time where the game had hourly events?

    The events are obviously an attempt to advertise the game at all times, always providing players to log back in the game so they don't miss anything. By being large and taking multiple hours and giving unique rewards, they work much better for Cryptic at their purpose than the old hourlies did.


    Cryptic has, over the past years, constantly expanded their repertoire of events. So I think it has always been the plan to have enough events to practically run them back-to-back. It's not a sign of the game failing, it's a sign of Cryptic having a strategy to keep playerbusy in the game.

    All the people complaining about grind and what not - many of them are kept playing because there is a new, special reward around and if they don't join the grind, they'll lose out.

    One could argue it's a dirty psychological trick, but it works, and on the plus side, it ensures that all the items I acquired in the game for real money keeps being useful...

    That's the problem every couple weeks were grinding the same mission over and over to fill a slide bar and get a new shiny. That's not fun content. It's not for me anyway. I've played a lot of mmos but I've never played one this shallow.
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  • aelfwin1aelfwin1 Member Posts: 2,896 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    This was talked about a long time ago by Cryptic .
    They wanted an arsenal of events that they could rotate similar to the old calendar , in order to both keep the players in game and give themselves time to develop content at the same time .

    It's a two-for-one idea that initially worked .
    But then they got greedy and turned the anniversary event into a grind too, in essence chaining grind events one after the other from the winter event through the anniversary straight on to whatever "event" (grind) they have coming up after the anniversary that is supposed to keep us busy until "the announcement" that unveiles their plans for the year / summer .

    The key point to me was the anniversary , as turning that into a grind event turned the grind itself into a nonstop 4+ months of pure grind .
    This process is repeated once the main event of the year is launched as well .

    The new players might not notice .
    But older players for whom this is the 2nd or 3rd time around this wheel seem to sense it even if they do not see it .




    ... sadly instead of actual development , 1/3 of the time gained by the Devs is used to remove and revamp older content which is of no use to older players , but that's what happens when only metrics and bad math are used as a guide and not the notion of their players happiness & well being ...
  • jellico1jellico1 Member Posts: 2,719
    edited March 2015
    once you level up

    There isn't any end game content....just the same content you used to level up

    PvP isn't end game its a joke and doesn't resemble star trek ship combat at all

    no exploration
    colonization
    territory control

    So you got to keep the Native's distracted
    Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
    Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
    Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng

    JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
  • guilli88guilli88 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    aelfwin1 wrote: »
    This was talked about a long time ago by Cryptic .
    They wanted an arsenal of events that they could rotate similar to the old calendar , in order to both keep the players in game and give themselves time to develop content at the same time .

    It's a two-for-one idea that initially worked .
    But then they got greedy and turned the anniversary event into a grind too, in essence chaining grind events one after the other from the winter event through the anniversary straight on to whatever "event" (grind) they have coming up after the anniversary that is supposed to keep us busy until "the announcement" that unveiles their plans for the year / summer .

    The key point to me was the anniversary , as turning that into a grind event turned the grind itself into a nonstop 4+ months of pure grind .
    This process is repeated once the main event of the year is launched as well .

    The new players might not notice .
    But older players for whom this is the 2nd or 3rd time around this wheel seem to sense it even if they do not see it .




    ... sadly instead of actual development , 1/3 of the time gained by the Devs is used to remove and revamp older content which is of no use to older players , but that's what happens when only metrics and bad math are used as a guide and not the notion of their players happiness & well being ...

    The worst part is, these rotating events are nothing more that "log in for 10 minutes per day". There really isnt anything more than that.

    It's boring shallow as hell.

    sig

    http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5451/om71.jpg

    It is a peculiar phenomenon that we can imagine events that defy the laws of the universe.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    guilli88 wrote: »
    The worst part is, these rotating events are nothing more that "log in for 10 minutes per day". There really isnt anything more than that.

    It's boring shallow as hell.

    Indeed which makes me think they only need pure daily logging numbers as magnitude while leaving cash grabs for fresh audiences.

    Must also be the reason why the doff system and its outcome compared to image earnings hasn’t been nerfed to the ground yet.
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  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    skollulfr wrote: »
    single player MMO? who the hell thought that was going to be healthy?

    Can't say but bet is was the same one who came up with the omega minigame. :o

    STO really was down to Tetris with that one.
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  • millimidgetmillimidget Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    Wasn't there a time where the game had hourly events?
    That was actually a great mechanic.

    What a tragedy they dropped it when EU players cried foul that the hourly rotation screwed them 85% of the time. Could have been resolved so easily, at that...
    "Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
  • jellico1jellico1 Member Posts: 2,719
    edited March 2015
    skollulfr wrote: »
    i dont know, but im pretty much sick of them.

    cant get near the foundry for new content
    cant get near pvp because its so broken its for nobody but tryhards
    cant get near team pve because the schizm between low and high dps geko made broke the game content.

    a ****ing single player MMO? who the hell thought that was going to be healthy?


    Quoted for truth
    Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
    Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
    Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng

    JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
  • baconmaesterbaconmaester Member Posts: 110 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    special events are just a short term means to an end for the quickest cash grab as possible, probably metrics to "prove" to pwe that everything is running as it should over a duration of a month im guessing by the length of the number of shinies. but metrics are not the main reason, the more moths and crane flies you can get trapped in a specially designed box, the more you can hold them to ransom in toll fees trying to escape the maze when the light is switched off and several smaller ones directing them out of the box are switched on.

    in the end it is just a short term cash grab. either cryptic are running low on their income this quarter or they are planning to do something big at a later date.

    That would indicate that not only is Cryptic misleading the playerbase theyre also misleading their Parent Company.

    I think PWE wouldnt think twice about severing a underperforming portion of their holdings. It would benefit them in the long run and Cryptic knows this. So Cryptic seeks to fudge the numbers by providing a short term 'fix' to what will become a long term issue if they dont turn things around.

    It wouldnt be the first time a Parent Company was mislead about an assets situation. And considering the way Cryptic handles itself I can easily see them doing something as shady as inflating their metrics with 'events' to conceal that they arent doing so well.

    There was a point in STOs history that there was no content added for half a year or more. And plenty of people stuck around. Remembering back to that point and then faced with the back to back events. Im sold on the idea they arent doing as well as theyd like everyone to believe. Atleast back then there was a path they could take to fix the issues they were having. That path was going F2P. It was their get out of jail free card. But now. They dont have that option and would likely face the STO team getting canned at best. Cryptic itself being gutted at worse.
  • js26568js26568 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    There are so many events because Cryptic has forgotten all the other ways they could attract players to log in every day. I personally have no problems with lag or game drop-outs but there are people who do, and it breaks the game for them. Why would THOSE people log in every day if there wasn't an event going on?
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  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    OP: "Why a non-stop bombardment of 'special events'?"

    For a very long while now, there has been a cycle of regular, small scale events. XP weekend. Dil weekend. Bonus Marks weekend. Promotion Events. Etc.

    Then we had DR's release which we knew was going to happen November 2014.

    Then there's the stuff that was expected to happen:
    - Winter Event - For winter 2014, duh
    - Anniversary Event - Because STO released in the 1st Qtr of 2010 and you don't have STO's Anniversary Event in say... JULY.

    So, exactly where do you see the "non-stop bombardment of 'special events?'" Because none of the stuff that has happened is out of the norm.
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  • humblesheephumblesheep Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    OP: "Why a non-stop bombardment of 'special events'?"

    For a very long while now, there has been a cycle of regular, small scale events. XP weekend. Dil weekend. Bonus Marks weekend. Promotion Events. Etc.

    Then we had DR's release which we knew was going to happen November 2014.

    Then there's the stuff that was expected to happen:
    - Winter Event - For winter 2014, duh
    - Anniversary Event - Because STO released in the 1st Qtr of 2010 and you don't have STO's Anniversary Event in say... JULY.

    So, exactly where do you see the "non-stop bombardment of 'special events?'" Because none of the stuff that has happened is out of the norm.

    I hear what you say, but it has felt like they have been back-to-back recently. Perhaps someone who keeps track of these things could comment. I logged on a couple of days ago and was surprised to see nothing on special offer.
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  • aelfwin1aelfwin1 Member Posts: 2,896 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    guilli88 wrote: »
    The worst part is, these rotating events are nothing more that "log in for 10 minutes per day". There really isnt anything more than that.

    It's boring shallow as hell.

    Yep , and when you do them with Alts , sooner or later it's boring and shallow x 17 . :D

    Can't say but bet is was the same one who came up with the omega minigame. :o

    STO really was down to Tetris with that one.

    Horizontally , perhaps .
    But vertically (like Tetris) , you've also got Rockband ... , one of the most successful franchises in the last decade . :o

    Wasn't there a time where the game had hourly events?

    Yes , and for single toon players those were great as they complemented the "grind events" well , as players logged in , did the "event" and looked at the upcoming Dil / Mark bonus hour on the calendar and stayed logged in longer .

    Even the P1 folks asked Geko if the hourlies would return -- ofcourse he said no ... .
  • swatopswatop Member Posts: 566 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    well, its hard not to notice that we are practically in running events ... nonstop

    one stops, the next starts
    there is barely a time without any grinding event anymore

    Cryptic is meanwhile at the point that multiple events are running at the same time and the players of course go for every event since they feel like missing a reward if they dont do

    When i started playing the game events used to be something special... now they are just... dunno... standard grind
  • aelfwin1aelfwin1 Member Posts: 2,896 Arc User
    edited March 2015
    .

    None of this is new or different from how they've done it in the past.

    People just perceive it differently because of their preconceptions and biases.

    Or burnout & boredom . :cool:
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