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Why Cryptic should make ship traits (from ships) account bound.
cerealplayer
Member Posts: 214 Arc User
This is not about why I want account-bound traits (I'm sure lots of us do), but why I think it's in Cryptic's best (profit) interest to make ship traits (from ships) account bound.
Like many, I stopped playing when DR hit, and just recently came back. I used to have several alts I invested in (expensive consoles, traits, etc), but now I've decided to play mostly one character. For me, at least, its not so much because of the specialisation grind, but mostly because of ship traits.
First, the point needs to be made that people playing alts is good for Cryptic. More alts, means more lockbox consoles and traits per person, which means more key sales, and therefore profit. People playing less alts means, in general, less profit. And I'm not suggesting all traits (or even all ship traits) become account-bound. Just those that come from ships. Why?
For many of us, the idea of buying a ship just for the trait seems wasteful. We might do it once, but what are the chances someone will buy 9 Astika Battlecruisers just to have Supremacy on all their alts? Chances are they may buy ONE Astika, put it on their main captain. But now, they have only ONE character with Supremacy, making playing any other alt less attractive. Next big lockbox ship trait comes along, and it'll most likely be put on the same toon with Supremacy, exacerbating the situation. And it's not just me, I keep hearing about people abandoning alts after DR.
I think making ship traits (that come from ships) account bound would actually increase ship sales (and key sales). Instead of feeling wasteful for purchasing a ship they would never play (on their main) people would start buying more ships for their alts, in the knowledge that unlocking the trait also helps their main. Likewise, this move would encourage cross-faction playing (and, hence, people playing more alts). All in all, I think this would be a brilliant move for Cryptic, and a welcome one by the player-base.
Like many, I stopped playing when DR hit, and just recently came back. I used to have several alts I invested in (expensive consoles, traits, etc), but now I've decided to play mostly one character. For me, at least, its not so much because of the specialisation grind, but mostly because of ship traits.
First, the point needs to be made that people playing alts is good for Cryptic. More alts, means more lockbox consoles and traits per person, which means more key sales, and therefore profit. People playing less alts means, in general, less profit. And I'm not suggesting all traits (or even all ship traits) become account-bound. Just those that come from ships. Why?
For many of us, the idea of buying a ship just for the trait seems wasteful. We might do it once, but what are the chances someone will buy 9 Astika Battlecruisers just to have Supremacy on all their alts? Chances are they may buy ONE Astika, put it on their main captain. But now, they have only ONE character with Supremacy, making playing any other alt less attractive. Next big lockbox ship trait comes along, and it'll most likely be put on the same toon with Supremacy, exacerbating the situation. And it's not just me, I keep hearing about people abandoning alts after DR.
I think making ship traits (that come from ships) account bound would actually increase ship sales (and key sales). Instead of feeling wasteful for purchasing a ship they would never play (on their main) people would start buying more ships for their alts, in the knowledge that unlocking the trait also helps their main. Likewise, this move would encourage cross-faction playing (and, hence, people playing more alts). All in all, I think this would be a brilliant move for Cryptic, and a welcome one by the player-base.
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the zen ships are accwide anyway
And it should always be that way IMO. The starship mastery is the game's way of showing your crew becoming familiar with that vessel and improving over time. The trait at the end is the reward for learning how to best operate that vessel. You can then transfer the trait to other ships as your crew take the "knowledge" with them when they move ships.
To make traits account bound is like you best friend learning to drive and suddenly you're able to drive as well, it makes now sense. You need to put the effort in to learn that skill just like your alt's crew need to learn to fly their ships.
Plus it would also lower the time people play the game as grinding out the traits per alt is something the devs expect and want you to be doing.
With the lobi and lockbox ships, well they are the big prizes. So they will never be account bound. You win the lottery on one alt, so make sure you open the box on the correct one and live with the consequences.
If I could throw my Ship Sets, Consoles and such to other characters on my account and they could use them. Id actually have alts.
At this point regardless of the 'Just play it once and you immediately unlock it' angle. I wont be starting any Alts. Because even when I can get that super rare item that will never be offered again. The level of effort I would have to put in to get a new alt to where my Level 60 Five Year Old Main is. Id basically have to abandon that Main. Mothball him.
I understand others have alts that they leveled up along with their Mains and they have a bit more leeway with gaining items for their alts.
But for me with but one alt (currently using it to map the storyline for the Feds) that alt will never ever be where my main is.
Only they're not cross-faction. Half the problems with mastery traits is that imbalance between the number of ones available for Federation characters vs. KDF AND Romulan. Making them account wide after unlock would not only go a fair ways towards balance it would also be an incentive to sell more c-store ships.
What could I buy to make this grind go away ? Or make it more fun ?
Nothing
Its a mindless grind to level the trait on all of your alts so making a player do all that grinding does not put 1 cent in cryptics pocket
The alt was not created to grind a ship trait it was created for something else you enjoy doing that you might spend currency on
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
I spend a lot less now on the game than I used to. For example: Peviously, I would have bought my Fed Sci one of the new T6 ships, but as it is not one of my main 3, It's just not worth it.
I doubt that I am the only person who has cut down on their spending on their alts.
I also play a lot less than I used to, but that is more down to the nerfs, upgrade costs, low exp rewards and because the new Advanced STFs are just not fun.
i bet hes speaking of crossfaction acc wide.
cuase really reciprocity kills balance and makes rom and kdf feel really clunky, when you once get used to it.
its basically unfair that fed has traits to actually CHOOSE FROm while kdf hasnt even enough ships to get traits full.
my kdf is forced into using one turret just to make use of the trait i have to use, because there are few to choose from ... im having 2/4 slots traits kdf, and 10/4 fed ...
(and no i wont buy lobi or box ships just to get traits full on my kdf char)
not to mention kdf traits are kind of TRIBBLE compared to fed ones ... though, the romulan ones arent that good either.
this is why i think making traits crossfaction acc wide (but having them to earn still somehow maybe) would be 100% good for balance.
Yes. Exactly this. Yes, I know some people --the KDF purists come to mind--would object to "having" to play a different faction alt to unlock some traits. My counterpoint is this: no one would force you to get those traits unlocked. It would be an option open to you. Even if you are currently a single faction player you would have the option to level a new alt on a different faction to unlock a trait. And hey, who knows, you might find out you actually like this other faction. As of right now, there is simply no way for a KDF or Romulan to get, say, Reciprocity.
Also, one may argue that that Cryptic could simply add a KDF ship with reciprocity. However, lets face it, there will NEVER be ship parity across factions. As it stands right now, that means that there will never be trait parity either. With my suggestion, at least the other two (non-fed) factions would not feel so left out in terms of traits.
Imagine a faeht with Reciprocity, Overwhelming Force and Tactical Retreat.
http://sto.gamepedia.com/Starship_Trait
Now you know why account bound traits are a bad idea.
surely if you buy a ship that ship becomes an account wide unlock and can be claimed for all other characters from the same faction then surely all those that can claim the ship can access the same ship traits, I don't see why any characters from alternative factions should be allowed access to traits from non faction ship just like they are not allowed access to the ships themselves.
sorry to disagree with you.
if you are never going to use the ship why buy it? , if its just for the trait that is one expensive trait.
if you have bought the ship to use it ( and that is the only reason you should buy it IMO ) you will automatically start to gain the traits that come with them as you use it and that's the way it should be IMO, the more you use the ship the quicker you will gain the traits.
I felt a great sense of achievement as I levelled my characters firstly as I levelled them from 0 to 50 and then again when I levelled them from 50 to 60 and beyond with every specialization I get, the same applies to ship traits, I get a great thrill with every tier I go through and would not give that up for anyone.
it sometimes seems that players don't want to play the game, they just want to log in look at all the shinnies they own and log out again, to me all the things I gain as I play are all a part of a journey for my characters and the biggest joy I get from playing them is going along with them on that journey.
without all that the game would not be worth playing just like the achievements you gain IRL are what make life worth living.
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.
yeah but that's it...it is not really an achievement to level that particular starship and get the trait.
If it was a real accomplishment I'd be all for it, but you just need to collect a certain amount of XP and that's it.
I'd rather have traits like that bound to certain use of abilities or gameplay achievements. That would be something to motivate me to play more extensively.
I'm not moaning or anything, the game is overall just fine and even after 4 years playing I still enjoy it, but some things are just very questionable design decisions that can't even be explained away by cryptic trying to make money.
BUT ... it is also true that there are FAR more T6 Fed ships than KDF or Rom. It's one of the reasons I changed my main from a Rom to a Fed: I got the Delta pack and there was just much more to experiment with on the Fed side.
Now I know the vast majority of players play Fed. But Cryptic should still make it a point to release new ships for the other factions rather than just Fed. Otherwise, there's less incentive to play the others. And diversity is a good thing.
And I'd say the take-with-you ship trait itself is already fail.
I dont want to buy a ship only for a trait in the first place. Leveling it is about 3-5 patrols, thats not even worth the time writing about it.
Exactly. It's usually Feds saying that traits should not be cross-faction. Then again, I didn't see a single Fed player complain when Plasmonic Leach was opened to them.
That said, I think people are focusing on just this cross-faction aspect. Consider lockbox ships.
Imagine your main captain (a Fed Sci, for argument's sake) flies the Breen Carrier. The Astika comes out, and you would really like Supremacy to help increasing your aux and weapon power at the same time. But you have no intention of flying the Astika on your main. You decide that the cost of the ship is too much for a trait, and you decide to pass on it. Lost revenue for Cryptic!
Now, imagine you also have an Engineer. You never did the Winter event on your Engi, and even if you had, a sci carrier isn't the best fit. The Astika cruiser would be perfect for him. But, he's an Alt. You decide you don't really want to spend that much on a character that you don't play that often. Again, lost revenue for Cryptic.
Now, imagine if ship traits were an account-wide unlock? You look at the Astika and say: "Hey, my engi gets a spanking new ship, and my Sci main gets a new trait?! WINNING! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"
This is why I'm saying: I think this would be a smart (in the business sense) move for Cryptic.
Not a bad idea! I would add to it by suggesting that an alt could claim the trait, without the ship, for a lesser amount of lobi --say say in the range of 20-200 to keep at about half.