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.
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.
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. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
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
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 ... .
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
Comments
and then some.
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.
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.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
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.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Which will be a big server closing event. Finally strike the decisive blow on the Iconians and establish galactic peace before STO goes poof.
That's just what they WANT you to think. Don't fall for it, the conspiracy goes ever so much deeper than that!
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...
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
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.
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.
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 ...
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
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
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.
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 hasnt been nerfed to the ground yet.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Can't say but bet is was the same one who came up with the omega minigame.
STO really was down to Tetris with that one.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
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...
Quoted for truth
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
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.
Free Tibet!
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.
Yep , and when you do them with Alts , sooner or later it's boring and shallow x 17 .
Horizontally , perhaps .
But vertically (like Tetris) , you've also got Rockband ... , one of the most successful franchises in the last decade .
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 ... .
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
Or burnout & boredom . :cool: