Advancement and loss

chengirpwe

Players should not read this ... the below is for the designers and the business people:

I've been playing the game now for five years ... since the beginning. Some changes I've liked, some ... not so much. Now I find myself asking why?

The Delta Recruit angle has been an interesting experience. I find that at lower levels the ships I face are about 30% higher in hull strength than I am. Now generally that would be unfair. How could any fleet of space ships constantly face ships that outclass them at every turn (and this is on normal difficulty.) They would be destroyed and fade into unwritten history. The other day I faced a ship with 500,000 hull points. That's ten times my hull and we are not talking about a Borg cube here, but a Romulan warbird.

I now have a favorite tier 5U escort that I have built up for five years that is basically useless. I have not seen any other ships of this type in some time, so the other players must have realized this as well or I would see at least some of these ships. My best ship can't even be upgraded to a tier 5U ... and I paid real money to get the tools needed to get that ship. It was supposed to be a reward. Now it's scrap.

So why did I advance? Why did I pay real money to get better weapons? Why did I contribute to fleets to get fleet weapons that now leave my ships worse off in the game compared to their opponents than a Tier 1 player with a pair of plasma arrays?

OK, I'm a bad player. I get blown up all the time. I can't jump pits and I fall to my death when the floor moves. But should that matter? I'm a player with money and not only is this a game but a businnss.

The other day, with very low shields, my new tier 6 ship with 100% hull was destroyed by a runabout with a single shot. A single shot! A runabout. At some point a game stops being a challenge and becomes a pointless exercise.

In a fantasy world ... especially a game world ... you should be the hero, not a punching bag for a computer! If I wanted to be a punching bag, I'd go back to High School. On the bright side, being a punching bag on the computer involves no expensive medical bills. But I keep going back to the concept that I am also a customer that pays the creators money.

I ask them this simple question: Why should I continue to pay you money when you take my best ships away? When you make my other ships that I worked so long to improve worthless? Why would I pay to be a punching bag for a computer program that you authored?

As a game master It's my fault when the players fail. When they fail repeatedly, I lower the abilities of their opponents. Sure, I give them much lower rewards. Personally I'd love to just survive some of the episodes and only get a Tier 1 engine as a reward. Fine, all engines are worth much less than you got for them in the old days anyway (a couple of hundred bolts are now cost more than engines do after all.) But why put me up against computer opponents ten times more powerful ... consistently? After all I am also a customer ... so my final question is why would you want to make your long standing customers unhappy with you?

Why should you care? I've paid more money for this game than any other game I have ever played and I have always enjoyed it ... until now.

shadowwraith77

chengirpwe wrote: »

Players should not read this ... the below is for the designers and the business people:

I've been playing the game now for five years ... since the beginning. Some changes I've liked, some ... not so much. Now I find myself asking why?

The Delta Recruit angle has been an interesting experience. I find that at lower levels the ships I face are about 30% higher in hull strength than I am. Now generally that would be unfair. How could any fleet of space ships constantly face ships that outclass them at every turn (and this is on normal difficulty.) They would be destroyed and fade into unwritten history. The other day I faced a ship with 500,000 hull points. That's ten times my hull and we are not talking about a Borg cube here, but a Romulan warbird.

I now have a favorite tier 5U escort that I have built up for five years that is basically useless. I have not seen any other ships of this type in some time, so the other players must have realized this as well or I would see at least some of these ships. My best ship can't even be upgraded to a tier 5U ... and I paid real money to get the tools needed to get that ship. It was supposed to be a reward. Now it's scrap.

So why did I advance? Why did I pay real money to get better weapons? Why did I contribute to fleets to get fleet weapons that now leave my ships worse off in the game compared to their opponents than a Tier 1 player with a pair of plasma arrays?

OK, I'm a bad player. I get blown up all the time. I can't jump pits and I fall to my death when the floor moves. But should that matter? I'm a player with money and not only is this a game but a businnss.

The other day, with very low shields, my new tier 6 ship with 100% hull was destroyed by a runabout with a single shot. A single shot! A runabout. At some point a game stops being a challenge and becomes a pointless exercise.

In a fantasy world ... especially a game world ... you should be the hero, not a punching bag for a computer! If I wanted to be a punching bag, I'd go back to High School. On the bright side, being a punching bag on the computer involves no expensive medical bills. But I keep going back to the concept that I am also a customer that pays the creators money.

I ask them this simple question: Why should I continue to pay you money when you take my best ships away? When you make my other ships that I worked so long to improve worthless? Why would I pay to be a punching bag for a computer program that you authored?

As a game master It's my fault when the players fail. When they fail repeatedly, I lower the abilities of their opponents. Sure, I give them much lower rewards. Personally I'd love to just survive some of the episodes and only get a Tier 1 engine as a reward. Fine, all engines are worth much less than you got for them in the old days anyway (a couple of hundred bolts are now cost more than engines do after all.) But why put me up against computer opponents ten times more powerful ... consistently? After all I am also a customer ... so my final question is why would you want to make your long standing customers unhappy with you?

Why should you care? I've paid more money for this game than any other game I have ever played and I have always enjoyed it ... until now.

Why do people pay for anything?

Because they need it?

Because they must have it?

Because they want it?

Because they enjoy it?

If we compared this game to say TV, going to the movies, watching a sports activity, none of this you could be paying to watch, ever guarantees your complete satisfaction.

TV plays shows you may not like so, you change the channel.

Movies may not be very good after having watched it so, we don't ever watch it again hopefully.

Sports teams lose and, many get irate/angry over it so, we either do something we shouldn't and/or, get in trouble for it or, we move on by either getting over it and/or, pick another team and/or sport.

Games are entertainment but, with no absolute guarantee it will actually entertain us.

thissler

chengirpwe wrote: »

Players should not read this ... the below is for the designers and the business people:

I respected your wishes!

Here's to hoping it was juicy!