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Drop rate for the Jem'hadar Strike Ship [T6] is just sad....
zeatrex
Member Posts: 212 Arc User
Okay so...
Personally I do not like this ship, I do not like anything about it at all and quite frankly, I will never be caught piloting this thing even if it was given to me for free. However, that is my opinion, it is ugly, looks like a beetle, I seriously do not know who wants to fly this thing in the game only to show off they actually got it with the probably 1% drop rate the R&D Promo boxes must have.
Whatever.
However, unlike me... I have a friend that has been really nice to me in my time of playing the game and she wants this ship badly - why? I am really not sure, but when you like something you go for it right? So, since this event started, me and her both started farming EC in the game to buy the Promo R&D boxes. In some cases when we get paid from our actual jobs, we toss in some Zen to buy the boxes directly from the Zen store (we mostly buy the boxes in the exchange).
After opening (seriously) exactly 267 R&D Promo boxes to get the Jem'hadar Strike Ship, there is no drop. I mean, this is between me and her opening these boxes and we still have yet to get one. I seriously do not care about this ship and do not want it as I mentioned, but I would like to get one and just give to her for free, because I really do not care about the ship but since she wants it so bad - why not?
Now, I want to know if anyone can help my friend out and give her a Jem'hadar Strike Ship, she has many things that she can trade for it. The things she has are the following:
1. Xindi Aqautic Dreadnaught Carrier.
2. Voth Heavy Figheter Shuttle.
3. TR-116B Rifle - Sniper Rifle Mk XIV [Dmg]x2 [ShPen]x4]
4. Close to enough Lobi Crystals to get a shuttle.
There are 9 days left in this even, and we are still going crazy trying to farm as much EC as we can to continue to open the R&D boxes in hopes of getting just one Jem'hadar Strike Ship. I seriously hope she actually gets it before the event ends because if she doesn't, I will probably never gamble on another lockbox or anything with the word "box" on it again.
If anyone is nice enough to contact me in the game at some point to talk about this and offer whatever, please do, opening over 200+ boxes and not seeing anything almost makes you want to uninstall the game or even think that the called "prize" the Devs supposedly says is in the box isn't even being given at all!
You can contact me in the game via:
@zeatrex
It's easy to remember, thanks!
Personally I do not like this ship, I do not like anything about it at all and quite frankly, I will never be caught piloting this thing even if it was given to me for free. However, that is my opinion, it is ugly, looks like a beetle, I seriously do not know who wants to fly this thing in the game only to show off they actually got it with the probably 1% drop rate the R&D Promo boxes must have.
Whatever.
However, unlike me... I have a friend that has been really nice to me in my time of playing the game and she wants this ship badly - why? I am really not sure, but when you like something you go for it right? So, since this event started, me and her both started farming EC in the game to buy the Promo R&D boxes. In some cases when we get paid from our actual jobs, we toss in some Zen to buy the boxes directly from the Zen store (we mostly buy the boxes in the exchange).
After opening (seriously) exactly 267 R&D Promo boxes to get the Jem'hadar Strike Ship, there is no drop. I mean, this is between me and her opening these boxes and we still have yet to get one. I seriously do not care about this ship and do not want it as I mentioned, but I would like to get one and just give to her for free, because I really do not care about the ship but since she wants it so bad - why not?
Now, I want to know if anyone can help my friend out and give her a Jem'hadar Strike Ship, she has many things that she can trade for it. The things she has are the following:
1. Xindi Aqautic Dreadnaught Carrier.
2. Voth Heavy Figheter Shuttle.
3. TR-116B Rifle - Sniper Rifle Mk XIV [Dmg]x2 [ShPen]x4]
4. Close to enough Lobi Crystals to get a shuttle.
There are 9 days left in this even, and we are still going crazy trying to farm as much EC as we can to continue to open the R&D boxes in hopes of getting just one Jem'hadar Strike Ship. I seriously hope she actually gets it before the event ends because if she doesn't, I will probably never gamble on another lockbox or anything with the word "box" on it again.
If anyone is nice enough to contact me in the game at some point to talk about this and offer whatever, please do, opening over 200+ boxes and not seeing anything almost makes you want to uninstall the game or even think that the called "prize" the Devs supposedly says is in the box isn't even being given at all!
You can contact me in the game via:
@zeatrex
It's easy to remember, thanks!
Post edited by zeatrex on
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But you also mentioned its aesthetics, too. I personally like the look especially when I combine JHAS and JHSS ship parts to make a unique looking ship. I can also use a smoother material that doesn't look like a bunch of exposed circuitry. And if you liked the look of the JHAS you can just choose that costume option and fly a T6 JHAS look-a-like. As you also mentioned there is the prestige and ego boosting effect one usually gets by acquiring something very rare and expensive that they can flaunt in front of less fortunate people.
As for the R&D/lock boxes... zeatrex, zeatrex, zeatrex where do I begin? Ok, I'm about to give you some advice here that not many think to do when they spend zen on master keys to open boxes or buy those R&D boxes. As an ex-gambler addict I've had to learn the hard way that the house almost always comes out on top. So how do you take advantage of the system and get exactly what you want? You acquire your zen, be it cash or dil to zen. You buy your master keys BUT instead of opening any lock boxes with them or buying any R&D boxes, you sell the keys on the exchange for 2 million energy credits. They will sell so fast you wont be able to keep up. The down side is you get like 300 emails from exchange sells
All of the zen you spent on the boxes, 267,000 zen if I'm correct since each R&D box cost 1,000 zen, could have been used to buy master key bundles of 10, for 1,125 zen per bundle. You would have been able to get 237 of them, if my math is correct. Selling each key on the exchange for 2,000,000 energy credits each, would have given you a total of 4,740,000,000 energy credits, yes... that's four billion seven-hundred-and-forty million energy credits, if my math is correct. The max one character can hold is 1 billion credits. You would have to use your account bank and 2 or 3 alt's to store that much money. If you paid 500,000,000 ec for a new bug ship you would have been able to get 9 of them. I have spent a lot more cash on zen then you have probably, so far, so I know what kind of money and time you are putting into this. Since Launch with Atari and when PWE took over STO, I've spent a total of over $15,700 USD on this game. Yes, call me insane, most do so I'm used to it, but I've been very careful around lock boxes and promotion bundles that give a chance for an op item.
I know after reading this you're probably hitting your head against the wall. This was a lesson you had to learn the hard way and I know it's infuriating AND frustrating beyond words. I hope my advice has helped some. And hopefully you will consider ALL options before spending a single unit of zen on something. Cryptic relies on our impulse to spend money to open their gambling contains. They know that people will go on a spending spree trying to get that particular ship or item. Plus if you ever want anything from the Lobi Store, you HAVE to open boxes. This has been the only time I've opened lock boxes. But this incident is different and involves store bought boxes. You also spent energy credits you could have saved to get R&D boxes off the exchange I believe you said at one point. Instead of buying and buying boxes, use my advice with the master keys. That way you may only purchase the right amount of zen to buy the right amount of keys to sell, just to get the ship. This way, you control the flow of money.
Anyways, good luck to you and your friend. I hope she gets the bug. It's a pretty nifty ship to fly. If you ever have a question you can contact me in game. My @handle is @4id I'll be glad to answer any questions you have. I have spent 5 years watching and studying cryptics methodology and have found way to beat the systems they set up to entrap us.
I'm not talking about spending everything on buying boxes and opening them, I never said that. On that note, it is very PATHETIC that the drop rate of this ship is with - no lie - probably a 1%. If you are going to have an event, and on top of that it is very limited, then at least bump up the damn ship drops some more to get something out of it or all it looks like is that they are just milking people and not giving a chance at all at the whole damn point of the siltation.
The only reason I am even grabbing R&D boxes is for this person, because if not I would never touch a lockbox or an R&D box.
I'm sorry, I briefly read what you said about you're dissatisfaction of the ship because I've heard people talk about it just as you did. I should have paid more attention. Sadly, there are quite a few people, usually new to the game, that do not know of the method of selling keys instead of opening boxes with them like you and I do. I noticed you registered on the forums this year in january if i remember correctly. To me, that is a very short time of playing the game since I've been here from beta. I didn't know the extent of your knowledge of the game and some well known tricks of beating the lock boxes. So I felt obligated to tell you about it so you didn't make the mistake again.
I've seen many posts in the past about people who have spent a lot of money, usually on the JHAS, and had nothing to show for it. My intention was not to belittle or insult you. I just wanted to make the mistake I thought you made, sink in. I've read a few posts where people that have opened over 1,000 R&D boxes say the drop rate is anywhere from 0.67% to 1.03%. Those number's are solely based on their experience opening boxes over a period of a few days. So yeah you're right it is about a 1% drop rate.
Yeah as you already have figured out, quickly too I imagine, that cryptic has got a system set up to leach our wallets so much that the store must have a plasmonic leach program, or they are placing disguised messages on signs and wall that we don't see except sub consciously. I wouldn't put it past them and to be honest if I were an MMO owner with a store my goal would be to make money and subliminal messages would sound like a great marketing technique. They have discovered that some of people become so obsessed with the game and the acquisition of rare or op items that they are blinded and the "need" for that item is so great it's worth throwing good judgement aside, "just this once," except in most cases when the next cool thing comes out they repeat.
Sadly, it is essentially no different then becoming an addicted gambler for some people. And just like Las Vegas and many other places, they prey on people like this. I still have problems with this in STO on occasion. Most of the time my large expenditures of zen are for items to upgrade my ship and ground performance and abilities. I find that more logical then gamblings since I'm guaranteed to get the item I want.
I'm relieved to find out that I was mistaken about how much you must have spent on zen. Just believing that you had acquired 267,000 zen and not gotten a single ship made me feel bad for you and angry too. Everyday I see players fall prey to this and in their case all of their zen was acquired with real money and it makes me furious. Don't even get me started about the intrepid bridges. I can't get them because I had already bought several intrepids already. I almost quit the game when I read on the forums that others had the same problem and cryptic hasn't even taken the time to address us on whether they intend or not to release them on the store. If you want a good read, check out this post, in the same sub forum your post is in: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1394511
By the way, I sent you a friend invite in game. You were offline when I decided to try and talk to you. I don't know if you have gotten it or not as I haven't logged in for a few hours.
Actually, the math is 300zen per box or 1000 for a 4-pack. So he spent a minimum of 66,900 zen for all those boxes between the two players. that is 59 10-packs of Master Keys. 590 keys at the 2Million amount is 1.18 Billion EC, enough for both of them to get the JHSS on the exchange. However, another way they could have afforded it was to sell the packs on the exchange. The average since the event started for these packs has been 7.5Million each. That would've brought in over 2 Billion EC, enough for 4 JHSS.
It doesn't make the hurt the OP is feeling any better, but that is the way to beat the numbers every time. Sell the item people want and let them play the gambling game. Only open boxes if you need the Lobi for something not available on the exchange, like consoles or weapons.
If people insist on playing for the ships, then they need to understand that their chances of winning a ship are not based on x number of players, like a sweepstakes. There are no guaranteed winners.
If I understand correctly (I'm no Dev and don't know the exact mechanism) your chances are entirely dictated by the RNG coming up with the right number at the precise instant you open up your lockbox or R&D box or whatever. It's probably a lot like Lotto, only the numbers are drawn every second instead of once a week.
Actually, the odds are probably not quite that bad.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
the facts that we can get that much ec in game in a short time
that we can buy reward packs and the ships from exc.
is compensation enough for the low drop rates
thnks for supporting the game
Yes, thank you for correcting my calculations. I am terrible at math, always have been and always will be. What you calculated does indeed sound more realistic then the numbers I came up with. Still the fact remains that if they had decided to never open a single r&d box and focus on dil to zen and buying zen from pwe, they would have accomplished their goal, as you pointed out. Although, zeatrex said they only send a small to moderate amount of real money, I don't know how much dil they have to trade for zen. So they may or may not have enough dil to get enough zen to buy the number of master key packs they needed.
You know I kinda came up with the usage of a RNG method as well. I figure that the first box you open uses the RNG for the first time, and every box you open is treated as if it where the first box, meaning there is no cummulative effect. There's no way to "count cards," or really predict how many boxes it will take to get the item you desire. I know that some people believe it's timing or whether you're at a certain location in game, or other superstitious ideas.
This ^^^^ 100% this.
There's no way of beating the system, other than utilizing a little common sense when you play these ship lottos.
Don't spend what you aren't prepared to loose without getting the ship.
Good luck, but please guys, don't get carried away. There are other ways to support the game without loosing your shirt for something that is never truely yours anyway.
I got a friend request in game but I do not know if it is from you though. I am in the game now and will be for the rest of the night or at least even morning to farm more EC for my friend. All she wants is one bug ship - that's it. She has things she can trade for it but our odds for getting has been really sad. I seriously did not think that the drop rate was going to be as bad as it is. And the 200+ R&D boxes are a total of me and her together, not just me.
Still, if anyone can help me with this for my friend, please do contact me in the game using my handle:
@zeatrex
P.S.
I lost the email due to a hack (was yahoo email - yay) and I can't get my original old account back so I had to create this one. I been playing this game for 4 years but I stopped playing for 2 years and came back to play again just this passing December.
The drop rates for these kinds of things are generally very low. As others have said, if you really want the ship, then save your EC and buy it off the Exchange. Do not open R&D packs. Let someone else gamble. Use your Zen to buy keys and sell them on the Exchange. Alternatively, you can sell R&D packs.
I think you would be better off selling keys or R&D packs than opening boxes in hopes of getting something good to sell.
Basically, how it works is this. The pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) is seeded with some value that the programmer thinks is hard to guess. Then, the program calls the PRNG every time it needs a number generated. If the PRNG has been well written, then the sequence of numbers it generates should look random, but it's not truly random. Suppose you seed the PRNG with a value and generate 100 numbers. Then, you seed it again with the same value and generate another 100 numbers. The two sequences of numbers should match. That's why we call it a "pseudorandom number generator".
The technical way of saying this is that distinct calls to the PRNG should be independent. Of course, they aren't really independent, but they should look that way to the user. If you are really smart, you might be able to guess the seed based on the events you observe in the game. This is not an easy task. I doubt you'll be able to do it by hand. You'd probably have to a write a program to monitor the packets the server sends to your computer, parse data from those packets, and then do some computations on that data. There are a lot of complications. How is the PRNG seeded? Is there one PRNG per server? per instance? per player? Is the PRNG for opening boxes the same as the PRNG for combat? If multiple players share a PRNG, it becomes more difficult to predict, because the actions of other players affect what numbers you get.
on box 101 its still 1% per box or less
At 267 1% chance or less
At 1000 boxes its still a FAT 1% or less
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Since launch, I've handed out many starships and items. I've given over 20 billion energy credits to people that asked me for help. The fact is, people like me and zeatrex get taken advantage of. against what my heart was telling me, I decided to never give out more then 10 million credits to someone. I've stuck by that promise for over a year now.
I know there are hundreds of people that are desperate for the jhss and probably have a better selection of items to trade for it. If I could, I would give everyone a JHSS and a JHD in their mailbox. Everyone should have access to these ships. If you don't spend real money then you should have to buy them with dil or something.
When Atari was still in charge and Stahl had just become the new EP he fought for us. Put a lot of effort to help the community. He is a great person. He made it to where c-store ships could be earned by doing ingame grinding for several months. This was before FTP so they were getting your sub money during that time. Plus you had to spend a lot of time doing it so that made getting it free seem fair. You still had to sacrifice something.
But I decided to help zeatrex. I know you'll all probably shoot me down for it and yes I am aware that logically I should not be doing this, but I want to do something good for someone and this seems as good an opportunity as any, I have billions on my other toons (I only transfer what money I need from them to my main character to make it harder for me not to buy things impulsively), a lot more credits then I need, but I did earn them through business on the exchange and real money too. What I'm trying to say is that the ship he wants to get his friend is very cheap for me to get compared to what I have, so it's not like I'm donating a kidney.
They aren't getting the ship for free. I'm getting an Astika that I can sell for around 80 mil and 250 mil ec in exchange, over 300 mil total so I'm only losing 100 mil or so. I find it a good trade since my intention is for them to have it since they cant afford it. I almost backed out, told some fleet members what I was doing and had 5 people trying to convince me that I was making a financially bad decision. Money is money no matter how wealthy or poor you are. You never throw it away unless you're a complete fool. But I'm going with my moral compass on this one.
You might be wondering, "Why him? What makes him so special?" The only reason I can give you is that I came across this post and read it. Saw how many boxes they opened and felt no one should ever have to go to that much trouble in a game. He also said he hated it and has no interest in it, yet he is spending his own time and resources to help this person that helped him earlier get one. He pays back his debts to the best of his abilities and he's thoughtful.
If the post was the same except it was a "Someone give me a JHSS I want it for myself," post then I could make a comment like i did, and think nothing more of it. He turned to the forums cause he has been trying all other avenues to get this for his friend cause it's so important to her. I had requested to be present when she flies the ship for the first time because I want to see her freak out and have a blast. That right there is payment enough, but I have to consider my finances as well, thus I'm not giving it away for free.
Some of you may still disagree with my decision and think I am giving a ship to someone that begged on the forums to try and get someone to pity them. Trust me, I see excessively begging all the time in game and I don't lift a finger. I see this as sort of a donating-to-a-cause situation where someone much less fortunate then me could be happy with my help.
I wanted to tell you all of this because I feel that we should be reminded to be more thoughtful, with in limits, to others. I know that some if not most of you already are. But I just want it visible for those that aren't. People that help others make friends. And lots of times get some of that help back when they need it. I can't and won't hand out any more starships right now so please don't ask me. But I feel that just helping one person only is better then hoarding my money and helping no one. Cryptic isn't making it easy for any of us no matter how much money we have. If we are ever going to receive help, it will be from each other.
Great post!
I would find it very difficult to be as generous as that. Though I try to be helpful, giving a lot of money to strangers does not come easily to my selfish nature.
I commend the spirit behind the gesture. That which is given as a gift is not truly lost. Enrichment of the soul through charity, kindness, and self-sacrifice is worth quite a lot.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Thank you for the commendation bluegeek. As a matter of fact, it became a very difficult decision once I made the mistake of telling some friends. They all had logical and financially sound advice. They argued that trading a ship like that without full compensation was no different then flushing credits down the toilet. I had made a promise to not give out things because of this very reason, it was making me go broke. But this situation seemed different to me.
Against "my better judgement," I went with my "heart" or "generosity (as I would call it)," and decided to accept an A Xindi-Aquatic Dreadnought, a shuttle, and a Xindi Tactical Bridge Officer. I got to meet with zeatrex's friend and she was a very nice and very thankful person. I had to leave to eat dinner so I didn't get a chance to see her test it out like I wanted too, but I had made a big wish come true for two very nice people. Some would disagree, but to me, seeing them talk about it was payment enough for me. It makes me happy to see others happy and to know I had a hand in it. It sounds kinda selfish, but the feeling of happiness is not the true reason I do it. The true reason is to help. Sharing the excitement is just the cherry on top.
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Thank you for the nice comments. I know for a fact that there are a lot of people out there that are very, very generous. Be it to their fleet mates or strangers alike. I feel I've drawn too much attention away from their sacrifices so I want everyone that reads this to remember and thank those people in your fleet or friend's list. And if you are the fleet leader, maybe you could have some sort of appreciation or recognition for those people in your fleet that stand out above the rest. No one makes them do what they do. It's pure choice and it's almost always a loss of an asset of some kind.
Currently, I got three people in my fleet PMing me every day wanting weapons, ships, and money since I helped out a fleet mate get four fleet modules. This fleet mate has been kind to me since I joined last year and I respect him very much. He and many others have earned my respect and thus I want to help them. But now I have beggars after me, again. Some of them newish members too that I don't know well.
I had forgotten how annoying and hard to turn them down it is, constantly making excuses on why I can't fulfil their wishes because I don't want to be cold and blunt. Also as we all have witnessed, occasionally a member will join your fleet and drool over the stuff in the fleet bank, and sometimes ask right away for things like ships and gear. We'll two of the three people that are bugging me fit that description. It makes me wary. If I give them something, will they ask for more? It's a decision I have to think on. Just another stressor that comes with the act of giving.
Are these odds getting any better? I mean from going from keys to R&D duty pack should be better?
once I saw someone explain that converting Zen to EC and getting it on the exchange was always the smart play I came here. I bought 4 x 4-packs during the R&D sale, looking for a big hit to sell. No luck but I am set for some crafting and upgrading when I get to where I want to be. I have hit a decent ship box (90 mil) once across about 100 various attempts in 3 years. So I am well ahead of the curve, I was prepared to get nothing but minor stuff cause that is gambling. A little gamble now and then with measured resources is fun for me, but is always acknowledged as sub-optimal.
But I would like to offer a suggestion for QOL change, used in another game, that has been pretty well thought of. In addition to the big prizes, the boxes have incremental rewards that can be collected over time and exchanged for a full claim later. Since they fall much more often, if you were to open 200 boxes you would be pretty much certain to have at least one full claim of some type and possibly two or even three, in addition to any homerun item(s) you hit. The claims are managed by the claim exchanger such that some more desirable full claim rewards cost more than 1 claim device.
That system has really worked well to reduce the number of drop complaint threads.