... but then I remember that new char means another million Di for upgrades and tens of millions of XP for spec points to grind out.
Which going to total to about 1% new content and 99% of grinding the same content I'm tired of.
And there goes my excitement!
All that and the seeming fact that any Iconian war / invasion should have happened 1-2 years ago .
This may be just my opinion , but they have stretched the "Iconians behind everything" line so long and so thin that frankly I just don't care anymore .
In that aspect , STO's story arc has been both more thin and longer then most comics I know and frankly I've dropped comics for stringing me along for less time then this .
Cryptic think that they can do everything .
Waste time on systems , waste time on refurbishing content , waste time on redoing UI icons over and over , waste our time with non stop grind (hey look the 3rd non stop grind event is on, so hear about the next one in this blog) -- it's all a bit too much .
... and incidentally , that "Iconian war..." -- hold on, as it will be stringed along for a loooooong time before it's announced that it's about to hit full swing ... .
Something-something about a one trick pony ...
I honestly feel there is enough on my screen already, I don't need another mission tracker.... Also I don't want to be forced to create another new toon just to be able to participate....
all alts should qualify, i dont want to start over again, being a ensign is awful, even if you own everything.
'Delta Recruitment' has me intrigued however until we get more details I can't make an informed decision as to whether I like it or not and whether I will take part or not.
I look forward to hearing more about 'Delta Recruitment' so I can make an informed decision. :cool:
i am wondering why u need to create a even bigger speed to the leveling i had a char parked at level 6 and inside 1 week i had him at 50+ without a lot of fuss ok i had a bonues xp weekend along to help but if u add a full 6 week period its going to flood end content with folks tha tdont know tactics and dont realy know the way to play a char getting frustrated in stf and other high level end content because newbys go in all guns blazing instead of knowing when to hold back is going to be a big turn down.
Wow so many negative Nancies and Debbie Downers in this thread. Lets try to look at some "silver linings" to this shall we?
1) To everyone that's whinging about how the event "only looks at new players" or "is desperate for getting more players". This event isn't exactly a full fledged recruitment drive, it's a full fledged "go make a new character" drive.
In a hypothetical scenario, if they get 0 new people to sign up, but every single current player goes and makes a new character for this, the event doesn't magically end up not giving those guys the delta buff. So again, not a whole hearted campaign for fresh players.
2) To everyone that's just drained at the upkeep of their x number of alts, you ever iunno, just think of gaming the system? No one (so far) is holding a gun to your head telling you to keep the delta recruit you made for all eternity. Just keep em and slog until you get all the account wide unlocks, then delete. There, now you never have to worry about maintaining that guy you made for the sole purpose of an event.
good call on number 2 creating LT.Weakness in preperation for farming this. thx!
I heard that you need a free character slot to make foundry content. If so, then the only good thing from this is that I will have that free character slot for that.
Only thing is that I am not bored enough yet in the other games I play between grind events to do it yet. Maybe in a month or two.
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!
Wow so many negative Nancies and Debbie Downers in this thread. Lets try to look at some "silver linings" to this shall we?
1) To everyone that's whinging about how the event "only looks at new players" or "is desperate for getting more players". This event isn't exactly a full fledged recruitment drive, it's a full fledged "go make a new character" drive.
In a hypothetical scenario, if they get 0 new people to sign up, but every single current player goes and makes a new character for this, the event doesn't magically end up not giving those guys the delta buff. So again, not a whole hearted campaign for fresh players.
2) To everyone that's just drained at the upkeep of their x number of alts, you ever iunno, just think of gaming the system? No one (so far) is holding a gun to your head telling you to keep the delta recruit you made for all eternity. Just keep em and slog until you get all the account wide unlocks, then delete. There, now you never have to worry about maintaining that guy you made for the sole purpose of an event.
New and old player are not in conflict... until developing a new char is easy and fast enough. The problem is that with so much reputation, specialization and resourse demanding systems (starbase, holdings, items upgrade...) it's really long and hard having a full skilled toon.
So delta recruitment is not the solution is just a way to force all current players to start with a new char. Moreover since this new char is needed to unlock traits and eventually other mechanics for the others toons... if you do not create and develop this new toon your older toons can be outclassed.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Playing STO spamming FAW is like playing chess using always the computer's suggested moves
I just leveled an alt from 1 to 56 this last xp event and it was one of the most boring leveling exercises in my time in STO... Hell, even bought the T6 intel cruiser for the character just so itd have an updated ship....
Now they want us to make new characters and do this all over again. Sorry but if there isnt a given T6 ship at the end they can take this event and choke on it... Im about tired of putting money in this dead end game.
Not going to take part in this. Simply because i have more than enough alts and i just don't have the time/energy/money to start a new one from scratch.
One character is more than enough for me.
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
The Rep system doesn't bother me on alts nearly as much since they added the sponsorship tokens. It only takes 20 days to gain all reps now on alts which is not that bad. The R+D system and the new Spec Trees on the other hand, those are the new alt killers. Hell, the rate of gain on the Spec Trees alone has pretty much killed my interest in playing.
Same here, the reps are easy to level on alts, especially if you already did them on a main.
It is the specialization system that will keep me from ever making a serious alt, as another main..
I would've make more characters if you didn't destroy the old Mirror Invasion!
If you didn't make leveling so slow, I would've keep playing the missions.
If you didn't mess up the traits system, I would've explore more possibilities!
If you didn't mess up the kits, I would've create more chars. & assign them as specialists!
If you didn't make the main storyline so Call of Duty, I would've want to play the those missions!
I have made RnD specialist char & now with the new RnD skills, she's out of a job!
Reputation is just a lazy system, I want you to turn reputations into questlines. That way, I would care about the items. I care about my Omega set & my MACO set because I got them in S5 & I worked by back off playing STFs day & night for it & I still use them to this very day. I don't give a TRIBBLE about Delta & Undine sets because I don't know a thing about them because you don't give me any reasons to care about them!
First off, if anyone actually thinks there are 3 million active accounts for this game, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
I'd be surprised if there's even 3 million CHARACTERS in this game honestly. If you don't believe me, just look at how many queues are perpetual ghost towns and tell me you think any more than thousands of people play at any one time. Unless 95% of the playerbase only does single player and Foundry missions, I think there's a lot less active players than any of us really think.
This event really only applies to two kinds of people: those that are just going to get into the game, and those who have to have everything.
If you don't think Cryptic/PWE is fully aware of the fact that many of you are Star Trek fanboys and subsequently, cash cows, then you need to open your eyes. How many of you have said "Gee, I really don't like this event, but I'm gonna roll a new character anyway because I don't want to miss out." Between that and the ones that will just do anything because it's Trek, you're exactly what they want. So for the time of that event, their numbers will look great because they'll have all these players logged in, and they'll probably spend money too buying stuff they haven't yet.
Some have played it off as that, well they're GIVING you a free character slot, why are you complaining? Because anytime someone gives me more work for seemingly little benefit, that I didn't ask for, that sucks. If you have 4 children you're already taking care of, and someone shows up and just gives you a 5th, you what, just say "thank you may I have another"?
I can't help but find the distinct lack of any comment from the Devs or Geko to be very telling here either. Not that I expect them to comment on every ****storm bitchfest, but this seems like one where they'd want to start clearing up some misconceptions to ensure their event isn't a terrible bust.
This is going to be one of those things that if I decide to do it, that character will get to level 50 and sit. I've already ground out the storyline on two characters during the last XP event, and frankly, after now having 5 characters, I don't know how anyone keeps up with more than 1 or 2. It's mind-numbing and exhausting to do the same things over and over again. It's bad enough to do it on 1 character, but then go back and do it 2, 3, 4, or 5 more times? As it stands right now, there's little point in having alts. The only reason I even do at this point is to have more options to generate resources for my fleets. But even then, it's impossible to keep up.
I really don't know whether I'll participate at all in this. My brain says no because this is pretty clearly a test bed for something further down the road. I have no desire to have any more characters. I'm sick of the grind and it feels like a chore logging in every night. I don't need another job that I pay to do to go along with the job I already have that pays me. I don't have a problem spending money from time to time on things I want. What I do have a problem with is being nickle and dimed and gouged every chance they get.
Character progression still isn't even completely implemented in the game since DR. You still can't even reach the final tier of ships without paying out, since there's no level-up/dilithium T6 ships available despite every tier below it having several options to choose from. I honestly feel sorry for new players at this point. Even with all the stuff I've bought from the zen store during my time playing, making alts is just too much work these days. I'll probably make a throwaway fed character just to get that trait, and then that'll be it. I'm sure that's all cryptic really need from me though, just that one playthrough of the missions to pad out their metrics so they can claim this has been a success.
I'm still worried that 'delta recruits' are going to get permanent bonuses over older characters though. Anyone with any common sense should know that making older characters that people have spent time and money on permanently weaker than new characters is a fantastically bad idea, but this is the same company that thinks that taking away bonus dilithium during a bonus dilithium event is actually doing us a favour by 'making our marks valuable all the time' rather than just less valuable during the event than they were, so...
If you didn't make leveling so slow, I would've keep playing the missions.
In what universe is levelling so slow in STO? it takes me all of 4 days to get a character from 1-60 with enough time set aside for eating, sleeping, and other daily necessities.
If you didn't mess up the traits system, I would've explore more possibilities!
What in particular is messed up about traits now than they were before? Back then you got to have 4 traits, all hardlocked to your character. You pick them and you're stuck with them. If you wanted you could be captain badass on either ground or space, but never both. With traits now interchangeable and having a wider number of traits you can slot you get even more possibilities opened up for yourself.
If you didn't mess up the kits, I would've create more chars. & assign them as specialists!
The repurposing of the kits allows for better diversity on what you can bring on away missions. As for "making them specialists" you can do that via the skill points you allocate to your captain. Even if you were to spend all 100,000 points that you can allocate to the ground, you still can't max out every single ground skill there is. That right there is where your "specialists" line of thought comes in.
Reputation is just a lazy system, I want you to turn reputations into questlines. That way, I would care about the items. I care about my Omega set & my MACO set because I got them in S5 & I worked by back off playing STFs day & night for it & I still use them to this very day. I don't give a TRIBBLE about Delta & Undine sets because I don't know a thing about them because you don't give me any reasons to care about them!
Except the Omega and Maco sets came into the game long after the STFs were stripped of every bit of story. Your "attachment" to your sets comes from a misplaced sentimentality by assosciating them with something they weren't a part of in the first place.
But it also reminds me of a job I had fresh out of college where I was unloading trucks and our performance was rated collectively on how many pieces the team collectively unloaded. Or gym class when I think a coach rated us on how many miles the group ran. Or when I got busted for talking in class in grade school and I had to transcribe an essay five times on how much time was collectively wasted by a five minute disruption.
"If I disrupt a class of 30 students for just 5 minutes each day, then in a single 180 day school year, I will have wasted over 18 days of valuable learning time that could have been spent educating my classmates on valuable skills that could improve their lives. If I disrupt my classmates for 5 minutes every day from years Kindergarten through 12th grade, then over one full school year worth of education will be disrupted. If everyone in the class disrupted class for 5 minutes each day, then the loss of education would be the same as if more than two students didn't attend school at all."
I forget how the fuzzy math on that went (it was the third grade) but it eventually hit a point where it was talking about every student taking up 5 minutes of every class twice in a 7 period day or something and how it would be the equivalent of nobody getting any education at all and how it was the equivalent of mass truancy.
And then how the lost wages of millions of dollars were absolutely absurd and that if you were going to calculate for potential earnings, you should weight the effect by IQ, family wealth (which would determine earnings potential), and how the impact would be less if nobody went to college since that would reduce expected earnings potential which would also reduce the loss of earnings potential as a result of less education.
I remember I took all kinds of issue with those essays and pointed out that the time wasted was concurrent when you had two people talking to one another, how the time wasted was closer to 10 seconds, how sending someone to study hall to write the essay actually increased the total time of the disruption, and how punishment for time wasting typically wasted more time than the actual infraction... And that time value is CONTEXTUAL.
I believe my teacher-parent student evaluation said I was "tenacious and precocious". :-) Still, I got an A in finance in grad school, which I credit to my ability to critique half-baked assessments of the value of time as a metric.
Time can have a tremendous value. But also be wary about OVER-valuing time as you can wind up with an assessment many times in excess of market value. Same goes for those "If I invest a dollar a day and two dollars the next day..." assessments. There's usually a flaw somewhere in those type of performance metrics, in that they're overly optimistic about the relevant range for performance targets and tend to ignore timing, sustainability, and the differences between concurrent and consecutive events. And then you have risk premiums that aren't accounted for.
One thing I intend to write a paper on at some point is how time value is in relation to life expectancy and an aging population can distort stock value and business practices, based on changes to expected cash-out dates.
One old prof had a trick question he liked to use early in the lectures. "What's the single best way to become a millionnaire through investment?" After taking a few guesses, he'd respond, "Marry somebody who's rich." He'd then cite stats on how it was the single most reliable way to move up an income class (perhaps the only reliable way) and then rattle off a few stats about time spent dating versus market returns.
Point being, this is all a colorful way of saying that when it comes to metrics, you can always increase a metric with a little bit of number shifting but that doesn't necessarily translate to a value increase.
From OUR perspective, I think we need more info to determine if this promotion is a good one for us. From Cryptic's perspective, I kind of think they're working from cookie cutter metrics that may not yield the returns they're hoping for and that they may tend to have players digging ditches and then refilling those ditches without necessarily getting the returns they'd hope for in every case.
But it also reminds me of a job I had fresh out of college where I was unloading trucks and our performance was rated collectively on how many pieces the team collectively unloaded. Or gym class when I think a coach rated us on how many miles the group ran. Or when I got busted for talking in class in grade school and I had to transcribe an essay five times on how much time was collectively wasted by a five minute disruption.
Ever considered that they might just want more fish than they already have?
Most businesses try to grow, not just stagnate.
That's why we get rushed, bug-ridden seasons every 6 month, to hype the game and bring new fish.
Recently Cryptic is trying extra hard though. "First-Time Buyer" promo, non-stop Z-Store sales and promos, and now this "Make New Char Pretty-Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top!" event.
I'm one of many with conflicted thought about that news.
I have more than enough character at max level (5), and considering the absolutely crazy amount of grind involved, from rep to specialization (individually, rep are fine, but taken together alongside everything else, it start to really adds up), I do not plan to make another character soon. I already have 2 lowbies waiting since years, but all they do is contraband mission and Romulan BOFF mission (when I can find one).
I'll probably make a new character, but that will be for the account wide stuff/curiosity, and once it's unlocked, I'll delete the character.
Let's face it, the game is by far, too grindy to be alt friendly. Sure, leveling an alt to 50 is fast and easy. But to 60 it's already a pain in the [CENSORED]. And then, I feel like Chaplin in Modern Times
.
But I also think of all the people with limited character slot. They will not be able to enjoy this event at all. And it's sad.
Finally, if this is some kind of offer to attract new players, you have to advertise more than just on the forum, and probably twitter/facebook. The people looking at STO news already have the game, or at least plan to play without the offer. I don't look games news when I'm not playing/plan to play.
Where is the hype on major website ? I hope you plan to do some, because right now, even SC damage localization generate more hype than you, and it's just a video of a ship being blown to bits. Literally.
Thing that bothers me is we may well be giving a new character slot but will be expected to PAY for everything else. All things we have ALREADY paid for !
We will need expanded bank slots ? Inventory slots ? I have already paid for these unlocks on 2 toons and am not doing it on anymore.
Also due to the nature of the upgrade system right now and the excessive grind I have a single primary toon that I play, My Rom. My Fed toon I use pretty much to give extra Dilithium for my Rom toon and nothing more. I have no plans to upgrade him to any great lengths.
Which is kinda sad, As I bought the Kumari bundle which I now cannot use. I bought the Tac Cruiser which I also now cannot use due to the grin and the time needed to invest. I just simply don't have it.
I refuse to waste anymore money on a game which it appears from the direction it's going is on the slippery slope to extinction.
It appears to me, that you are looking at very easy and simple ways to make money for the "Short" term.
Indeed it can .
And if DR has any lessons to teach , that would be one of them .
After all it took me quite some time to acknowledge that bringing my 15 pre-DR combat ready toons to a MK 14 UR gear level was beyond both my in game means and beyond what I was willing to invest financially into this game .
And believe me, time was a big factor in those calculations .
The other factor was enjoyment VS time spent .
Here I got to examine my general dissatisfaction that went back a few months prior to DR and that lead me to recently resigning my duties in active recruiting for my fleet , as I can't honesty recommend STO to ppl anymore , and it felt like lying about STO to in game players if I was recruiting them .
(meaning that I don't see a difference between recruiting ppl inside or outside of the game to play STO)
Yaay, a free character slot? Time to make that Fed Alien I always wanted. (That said, once he hits level 50 I'm done with him unless they give out free XP or have a triple-XP event or something.)
It's the only way they have of maintaining the population. The game has reached critical mass. It's fusing helium now. There's so many flaws in the game, that it wouldn't be cost effective to correct them, even if Cryptic did know how. Any top shelf company would be talking about a new engine at this point. Instead, Cryptic will just beat every last drop of sweat out of their dying horse, and then shut it down, probably with no more explanation than a "thanks for playing" message on the login screen. I almost feel bad for the more gullible folks that are still spending copious amounts of time and money on this stinker.
It might be cost effective to fix the issues, actually, in the long run. VERY cost effective. Thing is, apparently either Cryptic and/or PWE can't accept "in the long run."
just how op will the new trait whatever impact my existing characters
If its huge I may level one to get that perk then at the cut off line the new alt will sit
no desire at all to spec out another toon
No...just no...seriously no
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
I very much look forward to this as a way to re-engage with my fleet more
Appreciate the free character slot.
Despite already having 7 capable leveled or near-level characters across many species and all factions, just having bought another 2 slots and currently leveling a new character that I'll have to essentially duplicate to meet the fleet requirements that I strongly believe in, it might be a reason to make the 2nd delta recruit the first joined trill.
Comments
All that and the seeming fact that any Iconian war / invasion should have happened 1-2 years ago .
This may be just my opinion , but they have stretched the "Iconians behind everything" line so long and so thin that frankly I just don't care anymore .
In that aspect , STO's story arc has been both more thin and longer then most comics I know and frankly I've dropped comics for stringing me along for less time then this .
Cryptic think that they can do everything .
Waste time on systems , waste time on refurbishing content , waste time on redoing UI icons over and over , waste our time with non stop grind (hey look the 3rd non stop grind event is on, so hear about the next one in this blog) -- it's all a bit too much .
... and incidentally , that "Iconian war..." -- hold on, as it will be stringed along for a loooooong time before it's announced that it's about to hit full swing ... .
Something-something about a one trick pony ...
all alts should qualify, i dont want to start over again, being a ensign is awful, even if you own everything.
I look forward to hearing more about 'Delta Recruitment' so I can make an informed decision. :cool:
good call on number 2 creating LT.Weakness in preperation for farming this. thx!
Only thing is that I am not bored enough yet in the other games I play between grind events to do it yet. Maybe in a month or two.
Most businesses try to grow, not just stagnate.
New and old player are not in conflict... until developing a new char is easy and fast enough. The problem is that with so much reputation, specialization and resourse demanding systems (starbase, holdings, items upgrade...) it's really long and hard having a full skilled toon.
So delta recruitment is not the solution is just a way to force all current players to start with a new char. Moreover since this new char is needed to unlock traits and eventually other mechanics for the others toons... if you do not create and develop this new toon your older toons can be outclassed.
Playing STO spamming FAW is like playing chess using always the computer's suggested moves
I just leveled an alt from 1 to 56 this last xp event and it was one of the most boring leveling exercises in my time in STO... Hell, even bought the T6 intel cruiser for the character just so itd have an updated ship....
Now they want us to make new characters and do this all over again. Sorry but if there isnt a given T6 ship at the end they can take this event and choke on it... Im about tired of putting money in this dead end game.
ALL HAIL THE GRIND !!!!!
... Hail ! Hail ! Hail ...
One character is more than enough for me.
Yup, Ill believe it when i see it!
Same here, the reps are easy to level on alts, especially if you already did them on a main.
It is the specialization system that will keep me from ever making a serious alt, as another main..
I would've make more characters if you didn't destroy the old Mirror Invasion!
If you didn't make leveling so slow, I would've keep playing the missions.
If you didn't mess up the traits system, I would've explore more possibilities!
If you didn't mess up the kits, I would've create more chars. & assign them as specialists!
If you didn't make the main storyline so Call of Duty, I would've want to play the those missions!
I have made RnD specialist char & now with the new RnD skills, she's out of a job!
Reputation is just a lazy system, I want you to turn reputations into questlines. That way, I would care about the items. I care about my Omega set & my MACO set because I got them in S5 & I worked by back off playing STFs day & night for it & I still use them to this very day. I don't give a TRIBBLE about Delta & Undine sets because I don't know a thing about them because you don't give me any reasons to care about them!
But I don't!
I'd be surprised if there's even 3 million CHARACTERS in this game honestly. If you don't believe me, just look at how many queues are perpetual ghost towns and tell me you think any more than thousands of people play at any one time. Unless 95% of the playerbase only does single player and Foundry missions, I think there's a lot less active players than any of us really think.
This event really only applies to two kinds of people: those that are just going to get into the game, and those who have to have everything.
If you don't think Cryptic/PWE is fully aware of the fact that many of you are Star Trek fanboys and subsequently, cash cows, then you need to open your eyes. How many of you have said "Gee, I really don't like this event, but I'm gonna roll a new character anyway because I don't want to miss out." Between that and the ones that will just do anything because it's Trek, you're exactly what they want. So for the time of that event, their numbers will look great because they'll have all these players logged in, and they'll probably spend money too buying stuff they haven't yet.
Some have played it off as that, well they're GIVING you a free character slot, why are you complaining? Because anytime someone gives me more work for seemingly little benefit, that I didn't ask for, that sucks. If you have 4 children you're already taking care of, and someone shows up and just gives you a 5th, you what, just say "thank you may I have another"?
I can't help but find the distinct lack of any comment from the Devs or Geko to be very telling here either. Not that I expect them to comment on every ****storm bitchfest, but this seems like one where they'd want to start clearing up some misconceptions to ensure their event isn't a terrible bust.
This is going to be one of those things that if I decide to do it, that character will get to level 50 and sit. I've already ground out the storyline on two characters during the last XP event, and frankly, after now having 5 characters, I don't know how anyone keeps up with more than 1 or 2. It's mind-numbing and exhausting to do the same things over and over again. It's bad enough to do it on 1 character, but then go back and do it 2, 3, 4, or 5 more times? As it stands right now, there's little point in having alts. The only reason I even do at this point is to have more options to generate resources for my fleets. But even then, it's impossible to keep up.
I really don't know whether I'll participate at all in this. My brain says no because this is pretty clearly a test bed for something further down the road. I have no desire to have any more characters. I'm sick of the grind and it feels like a chore logging in every night. I don't need another job that I pay to do to go along with the job I already have that pays me. I don't have a problem spending money from time to time on things I want. What I do have a problem with is being nickle and dimed and gouged every chance they get.
Vice Admiral of - Starfleet Command -
I'm still worried that 'delta recruits' are going to get permanent bonuses over older characters though. Anyone with any common sense should know that making older characters that people have spent time and money on permanently weaker than new characters is a fantastically bad idea, but this is the same company that thinks that taking away bonus dilithium during a bonus dilithium event is actually doing us a favour by 'making our marks valuable all the time' rather than just less valuable during the event than they were, so...
In what universe is levelling so slow in STO? it takes me all of 4 days to get a character from 1-60 with enough time set aside for eating, sleeping, and other daily necessities.
What in particular is messed up about traits now than they were before? Back then you got to have 4 traits, all hardlocked to your character. You pick them and you're stuck with them. If you wanted you could be captain badass on either ground or space, but never both. With traits now interchangeable and having a wider number of traits you can slot you get even more possibilities opened up for yourself.
The repurposing of the kits allows for better diversity on what you can bring on away missions. As for "making them specialists" you can do that via the skill points you allocate to your captain. Even if you were to spend all 100,000 points that you can allocate to the ground, you still can't max out every single ground skill there is. That right there is where your "specialists" line of thought comes in.
Except the Omega and Maco sets came into the game long after the STFs were stripped of every bit of story. Your "attachment" to your sets comes from a misplaced sentimentality by assosciating them with something they weren't a part of in the first place.
The event actually does intrigue me.
But it also reminds me of a job I had fresh out of college where I was unloading trucks and our performance was rated collectively on how many pieces the team collectively unloaded. Or gym class when I think a coach rated us on how many miles the group ran. Or when I got busted for talking in class in grade school and I had to transcribe an essay five times on how much time was collectively wasted by a five minute disruption.
"If I disrupt a class of 30 students for just 5 minutes each day, then in a single 180 day school year, I will have wasted over 18 days of valuable learning time that could have been spent educating my classmates on valuable skills that could improve their lives. If I disrupt my classmates for 5 minutes every day from years Kindergarten through 12th grade, then over one full school year worth of education will be disrupted. If everyone in the class disrupted class for 5 minutes each day, then the loss of education would be the same as if more than two students didn't attend school at all."
I forget how the fuzzy math on that went (it was the third grade) but it eventually hit a point where it was talking about every student taking up 5 minutes of every class twice in a 7 period day or something and how it would be the equivalent of nobody getting any education at all and how it was the equivalent of mass truancy.
And then how the lost wages of millions of dollars were absolutely absurd and that if you were going to calculate for potential earnings, you should weight the effect by IQ, family wealth (which would determine earnings potential), and how the impact would be less if nobody went to college since that would reduce expected earnings potential which would also reduce the loss of earnings potential as a result of less education.
I remember I took all kinds of issue with those essays and pointed out that the time wasted was concurrent when you had two people talking to one another, how the time wasted was closer to 10 seconds, how sending someone to study hall to write the essay actually increased the total time of the disruption, and how punishment for time wasting typically wasted more time than the actual infraction... And that time value is CONTEXTUAL.
I believe my teacher-parent student evaluation said I was "tenacious and precocious". :-) Still, I got an A in finance in grad school, which I credit to my ability to critique half-baked assessments of the value of time as a metric.
Time can have a tremendous value. But also be wary about OVER-valuing time as you can wind up with an assessment many times in excess of market value. Same goes for those "If I invest a dollar a day and two dollars the next day..." assessments. There's usually a flaw somewhere in those type of performance metrics, in that they're overly optimistic about the relevant range for performance targets and tend to ignore timing, sustainability, and the differences between concurrent and consecutive events. And then you have risk premiums that aren't accounted for.
One thing I intend to write a paper on at some point is how time value is in relation to life expectancy and an aging population can distort stock value and business practices, based on changes to expected cash-out dates.
One old prof had a trick question he liked to use early in the lectures. "What's the single best way to become a millionnaire through investment?" After taking a few guesses, he'd respond, "Marry somebody who's rich." He'd then cite stats on how it was the single most reliable way to move up an income class (perhaps the only reliable way) and then rattle off a few stats about time spent dating versus market returns.
Point being, this is all a colorful way of saying that when it comes to metrics, you can always increase a metric with a little bit of number shifting but that doesn't necessarily translate to a value increase.
From OUR perspective, I think we need more info to determine if this promotion is a good one for us. From Cryptic's perspective, I kind of think they're working from cookie cutter metrics that may not yield the returns they're hoping for and that they may tend to have players digging ditches and then refilling those ditches without necessarily getting the returns they'd hope for in every case.
Oh the irony...
That's why we get rushed, bug-ridden seasons every 6 month, to hype the game and bring new fish.
Recently Cryptic is trying extra hard though. "First-Time Buyer" promo, non-stop Z-Store sales and promos, and now this "Make New Char Pretty-Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top!" event.
The fish clearly went downstream.
I'm making an effort to waste as much of people's time as possible now to make up for it.
It's impactful!
;-)
I have more than enough character at max level (5), and considering the absolutely crazy amount of grind involved, from rep to specialization (individually, rep are fine, but taken together alongside everything else, it start to really adds up), I do not plan to make another character soon. I already have 2 lowbies waiting since years, but all they do is contraband mission and Romulan BOFF mission (when I can find one).
I'll probably make a new character, but that will be for the account wide stuff/curiosity, and once it's unlocked, I'll delete the character.
Let's face it, the game is by far, too grindy to be alt friendly. Sure, leveling an alt to 50 is fast and easy. But to 60 it's already a pain in the [CENSORED]. And then, I feel like Chaplin in Modern Times
.
But I also think of all the people with limited character slot. They will not be able to enjoy this event at all. And it's sad.
Finally, if this is some kind of offer to attract new players, you have to advertise more than just on the forum, and probably twitter/facebook. The people looking at STO news already have the game, or at least plan to play without the offer. I don't look games news when I'm not playing/plan to play.
Where is the hype on major website ? I hope you plan to do some, because right now, even SC damage localization generate more hype than you, and it's just a video of a ship being blown to bits. Literally.
We will need expanded bank slots ? Inventory slots ? I have already paid for these unlocks on 2 toons and am not doing it on anymore.
Also due to the nature of the upgrade system right now and the excessive grind I have a single primary toon that I play, My Rom. My Fed toon I use pretty much to give extra Dilithium for my Rom toon and nothing more. I have no plans to upgrade him to any great lengths.
Which is kinda sad, As I bought the Kumari bundle which I now cannot use. I bought the Tac Cruiser which I also now cannot use due to the grin and the time needed to invest. I just simply don't have it.
I refuse to waste anymore money on a game which it appears from the direction it's going is on the slippery slope to extinction.
It appears to me, that you are looking at very easy and simple ways to make money for the "Short" term.
And for those reasons.... I'm out.
That makes one of us .
Indeed it can .
And if DR has any lessons to teach , that would be one of them .
After all it took me quite some time to acknowledge that bringing my 15 pre-DR combat ready toons to a MK 14 UR gear level was beyond both my in game means and beyond what I was willing to invest financially into this game .
And believe me, time was a big factor in those calculations .
The other factor was enjoyment VS time spent .
Here I got to examine my general dissatisfaction that went back a few months prior to DR and that lead me to recently resigning my duties in active recruiting for my fleet , as I can't honesty recommend STO to ppl anymore , and it felt like lying about STO to in game players if I was recruiting them .
(meaning that I don't see a difference between recruiting ppl inside or outside of the game to play STO)
Forum interactions and PVP have been far more fun then the actual game .
... for me it has been that way for quite a while now ...
It might be cost effective to fix the issues, actually, in the long run. VERY cost effective. Thing is, apparently either Cryptic and/or PWE can't accept "in the long run."
If its huge I may level one to get that perk then at the cut off line the new alt will sit
no desire at all to spec out another toon
No...just no...seriously no
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
Appreciate the free character slot.
Despite already having 7 capable leveled or near-level characters across many species and all factions, just having bought another 2 slots and currently leveling a new character that I'll have to essentially duplicate to meet the fleet requirements that I strongly believe in, it might be a reason to make the 2nd delta recruit the first joined trill.