What does the OP mean by "opposite direction" in the title? Devs already confirmed that they want more exclusivity. So they are continuing to go in that direction. Not the opposite direction.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
What does the OP mean by "opposite direction" in the title? Devs already confirmed that they want more exclusivity. So they are continuing to go in that direction. Not the opposite direction.
He probably meant opposite direction from what the playerbase would want. Which seems to be a bit of consensus of this thread - people don't seem to want this 'exclusivity'.
[10:20] Your Lunge deals 4798 (2580) Physical Damage(Critical) to Tosk of Borg.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator "bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh." "Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness."~Day[9] "Your fun isn't wrong."~LaughingTrendy
I've not agreed with this exclusivity thing, either. In all honesty, I never believed it had anything to do with exclusivity or to put more value in limited time items, it had 100% to do with people who had the foresight to plan ahead for next year's event. Cryptic didn't have that foresight to plan ahead, so the players aren't allowed to, either. But Cryptic can't just come out and say they want to punish the players for their own in-house mistakes. They have to use meaningless buzz words like "exclusivity" to justify their decision.
To put that many labor hours into a ship that you're only going to give out for a month is, in my opinion, a poor decision to make. There is no reason to make this sort of thing exclusive. You put a lot of work into making these really awesome ships -- and I think it does players a disservice that it won't be available more often. You have entire blogs devoted to the hype. You're clearly proud of your work. You have every right to be. The ships in this game look fantastic and they're fun to fly.
This artificial scarcity might work great for the Disney Vault, but it rings hollow in a game like STO.
Just my two quatloos.
Precisely, so much this. Really well said, thank you.
I think people who are crying about the event exclusive items are more about the consoles. I don't have an issue with them selling the consoles in the C-store. I think they should for $25 bucks a console. That way the wallet warriors get their precious console and the ones who do the event get the ship AND console. Oh yeah FYI most event ships kinda suck. Only the T-6 Nandi is worth it. Breen dred is ok but lacking in a few areas. Going to hanger mine once the traits unlocked.
has anyone spoken in favor of closing off old ships? i haven't seen any of the old Risa ships in over a year. who cares if someone can get them? I see a chel grett maybe once a month. less than that for the nandi. haven't seen the Breen raider in well over a year. the only ones you see are breen carriers and kobali. hard to see how it would bother someone if they were made available.
You obviously haven't seen me then, I run my Corvette as my main ship. But I also am in the camp that says, DOWN WITH EXCLUSIVITY!
Does the exclusivity thing sound anything like the horse hockey when they removed the Reputation Marks Turn in for Dilithium from being eligible for Bonus Weekends, etc. with the reason that it would now make turning in Marks for Dilithium valuable all year to do so.
I am not dismissing other venues to be able to obtain the ships. Just stating it's more likely to happen in those than them ever putting them in the C-Store. Now they could put in some sort of Claim Voucher into the C-Store for say 500 or 1,000 Zen to unlock a particular Event ship for the account in the Event Store. That would be thinking outside the box.
Summer 2013, I did not go for the Corvette. Too clumsy. I started playing the game at the end of May 2013.
Winter 2013, after a false start on being able to do the Ice Race, KDF characters went for the new Plesh Brek, and Federation characters for the previous year's Chel Grett. That was 1,000 Pictures each character.
Summer 2014, they instituted the unlocks. One character ground for the Corvette and one for the new Crusier, 1,040 each. A third character ground 1,000 for the Next Summer. All others did 40 for next Summer. All characters picked up the opposite Winter Ship that they did not grind for in the past Winter with 40 Pictures.
Winter 2014, one character did 1,080 to unlock the Sarr Theln and be ready for the next two years. Two other characters did 1,080 to unlock one year each of the next two years and get the current and future ships.
Summer 2015, the ballgame changed and we are where we are now. All four Delta Recruits got everything that was unlocked.
Not let me say that just because I ground ahead for the future did not mean I was not going to participate in future Events. Just that I could do the other stuff instead. They would have to have no confidence in the other activities for the Event if they thought that it would be a Ghost town if they didn't force a login because of their scaring you into it. It's now or never for that brand new Shiney.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Does the exclusivity thing sound anything like the horse hockey when they removed the Reputation Marks Turn in for Dilithium from being eligible for Bonus Weekends, etc. with the reason that it would now make turning in Marks for Dilithium valuable all year to do so.
I am not dismissing other venues to be able to obtain the ships. Just stating it's more likely to happen in those than them ever putting them in the C-Store. Now they could put in some sort of Claim Voucher into the C-Store for say 500 or 1,000 Zen to unlock a particular Event ship for the account in the Event Store. That would be thinking outside the box.
Summer 2013, I did not go for the Corvette. Too clumsy. I started playing the game at the end of May 2013.
Winter 2013, after a false start on being able to do the Ice Race, KDF characters went for the new Plesh Brek, and Federation characters for the previous year's Chel Grett. That was 1,000 Pictures each character.
Summer 2014, they instituted the unlocks. One character ground for the Corvette and one for the new Crusier, 1,040 each. A third character ground 1,000 for the Next Summer. All others did 40 for next Summer. All characters picked up the opposite Winter Ship that they did not grind for in the past Winter with 40 Pictures.
Winter 2014, one character did 1,080 to unlock the Sarr Theln and be ready for the next two years. Two other characters did 1,080 to unlock one year each of the next two years and get the current and future ships.
Summer 2015, the ballgame changed and we are where we are now. All four Delta Recruits got everything that was unlocked.
Not let me say that just because I ground ahead for the future did not mean I was not going to participate in future Events. Just that I could do the other stuff instead. They would have to have no confidence in the other activities for the Event if they thought that it would be a Ghost town if they didn't force a login because of their scaring you into it. It's now or never for that brand new Shiney.
Just like when they said they were converting the old badges into Dilithium (at an extremely laughable exchange rate, effectively nullifying hundreds of hours of playtime) in order to reduce the amount of currencies in the game into 3 (Zen, Dilithium, and EC).
We see how well that worked out now that we have just as many, if not more currencies than before the dilithium conversion.
I guess they only need the lie to work long enough for people to forget they said anything at all.
Not that I don't think the game shouldn't have changes, or that Cryptic shouldn't be allowed to change their mind or get hamstrung by corners they paint themselves into willingly.
But, when they do these things at player expense, yes, I do feel they are deserving of every bit of player scrutiny as they get. We shouldn't be punished for poor game design choices they make, especially when those game design choices are rooted in monetization practices instead of the game experience itself. This goes double when there is player feedback telling them beforehand that those particular game design choices are bad.
Cryptic: "Okay, so we have this new idea where we take a gun and shoot ourselves in the foot. It'll be awesome!"
Players: "Yeah, about that. If you take a gun and shoot yourself in the foot, it's probably going to hurt a lot and later on down the line you're going to run into some problems by having a bullet wound in your foot..."
Cryptic: "Okay, so we just shot ourselves in the foot. It's really just a bit of discomfort at first but we think this was still a great idea."
Players: "You say that now. But we still think you haven't thought this cunning plan all the way through. But, oh well... if you think it's awesome, we might as well take advantage of it."
Cryptic: "Well, now the bullet wound has become infected and gangrenous and we're getting kind of lightheaded from the blood loss. So, we're going to go ahead and fix that problem."
Players: "We told you that was a bad idea way back then, but good for you. Everybody makes mistakes."
Cryptic: "Oh, and here's our medical bill. You guys can pick up the tab, right?"
Players: "Uhh... we told you a long time ago not to shoot yourself in the foot. Now you want us to make up for it? How will you ever learn from your mistakes if we're the ones paying for them?"
Cryptic: "Okay, so maybe that wasn't a great idea. We'll give you some Cryptic Fun Bux for covering our medical expenses. It's not as good as money, but it'll compensate you for the time and money you wasted putting up with us when we shot ourselves in the foot."
Players: "... and you wonder why we're cynical."
Does the exclusivity thing sound anything like the horse hockey when they removed the Reputation Marks Turn in for Dilithium from being eligible for Bonus Weekends, etc. with the reason that it would now make turning in Marks for Dilithium valuable all year to do so.
I am not dismissing other venues to be able to obtain the ships. Just stating it's more likely to happen in those than them ever putting them in the C-Store. Now they could put in some sort of Claim Voucher into the C-Store for say 500 or 1,000 Zen to unlock a particular Event ship for the account in the Event Store. That would be thinking outside the box.
Summer 2013, I did not go for the Corvette. Too clumsy. I started playing the game at the end of May 2013.
Winter 2013, after a false start on being able to do the Ice Race, KDF characters went for the new Plesh Brek, and Federation characters for the previous year's Chel Grett. That was 1,000 Pictures each character.
Summer 2014, they instituted the unlocks. One character ground for the Corvette and one for the new Crusier, 1,040 each. A third character ground 1,000 for the Next Summer. All others did 40 for next Summer. All characters picked up the opposite Winter Ship that they did not grind for in the past Winter with 40 Pictures.
Winter 2014, one character did 1,080 to unlock the Sarr Theln and be ready for the next two years. Two other characters did 1,080 to unlock one year each of the next two years and get the current and future ships.
Summer 2015, the ballgame changed and we are where we are now. All four Delta Recruits got everything that was unlocked.
Not let me say that just because I ground ahead for the future did not mean I was not going to participate in future Events. Just that I could do the other stuff instead. They would have to have no confidence in the other activities for the Event if they thought that it would be a Ghost town if they didn't force a login because of their scaring you into it. It's now or never for that brand new Shiney.
Just like when they said they were converting the old badges into Dilithium (at an extremely laughable exchange rate, effectively nullifying hundreds of hours of playtime) in order to reduce the amount of currencies in the game into 3 (Zen, Dilithium, and EC).
We see how well that worked out now that we have just as many, if not more currencies than before the dilithium conversion.
I guess they only need the lie to work long enough for people to forget they said anything at all.
Not that I don't think the game shouldn't have changes, or that Cryptic shouldn't be allowed to change their mind or get hamstrung by corners they paint themselves into willingly.
But, when they do these things at player expense, yes, I do feel they are deserving of every bit of player scrutiny as they get. We shouldn't be punished for poor game design choices they make, especially when those game design choices are rooted in monetization practices instead of the game experience itself. This goes double when there is player feedback telling them beforehand that those particular game design choices are bad.
Not that this is an excuse as it is a reason that over time, there has been turn over in people working for Cryptic, so what one person envisioned to work someone else came in an thought it wasn't for whatever reason. This is also assuming PWE didn't have a say as well.
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
Retired. I'm now in search for that perfect space anomaly.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,689Community Moderator
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
While it does spread people out, switching to a universal rep Mark would be a disaster as the ONLY PvE queue that would get touched then would be Infected Space as just about everyone can do it in their sleep these days. While Undine and Dyson PvEs seem to be dead already, it would be 100x worse if we go to a single universal rep Mark. Why play new content to get rep in the new track when I can just faceroll Infected Space, which isn't even REMOTELY related to the rep I'm working on?
A savy player can maximize their DL income by hitting different rep tracks if they already hit T5 on them. Run an Infected, get Omega with daily bonus. Run a Tau Dewa patrol, get Romulan with daily bonus. Run a Delta patrol, get Delta with Daily bonus. Run Crystaline Entity, get Nukara with daily bonus. Trade marks for Dilithium, and you get at least 1k per track on marks alone. AND you get to see more than just the same old Borg.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
Does the exclusivity thing sound anything like the horse hockey when they removed the Reputation Marks Turn in for Dilithium from being eligible for Bonus Weekends, etc. with the reason that it would now make turning in Marks for Dilithium valuable all year to do so.
I am not dismissing other venues to be able to obtain the ships. Just stating it's more likely to happen in those than them ever putting them in the C-Store. Now they could put in some sort of Claim Voucher into the C-Store for say 500 or 1,000 Zen to unlock a particular Event ship for the account in the Event Store. That would be thinking outside the box.
Summer 2013, I did not go for the Corvette. Too clumsy. I started playing the game at the end of May 2013.
Winter 2013, after a false start on being able to do the Ice Race, KDF characters went for the new Plesh Brek, and Federation characters for the previous year's Chel Grett. That was 1,000 Pictures each character.
Summer 2014, they instituted the unlocks. One character ground for the Corvette and one for the new Crusier, 1,040 each. A third character ground 1,000 for the Next Summer. All others did 40 for next Summer. All characters picked up the opposite Winter Ship that they did not grind for in the past Winter with 40 Pictures.
Winter 2014, one character did 1,080 to unlock the Sarr Theln and be ready for the next two years. Two other characters did 1,080 to unlock one year each of the next two years and get the current and future ships.
Summer 2015, the ballgame changed and we are where we are now. All four Delta Recruits got everything that was unlocked.
Not let me say that just because I ground ahead for the future did not mean I was not going to participate in future Events. Just that I could do the other stuff instead. They would have to have no confidence in the other activities for the Event if they thought that it would be a Ghost town if they didn't force a login because of their scaring you into it. It's now or never for that brand new Shiney.
Just like when they said they were converting the old badges into Dilithium (at an extremely laughable exchange rate, effectively nullifying hundreds of hours of playtime) in order to reduce the amount of currencies in the game into 3 (Zen, Dilithium, and EC).
We see how well that worked out now that we have just as many, if not more currencies than before the dilithium conversion.
I guess they only need the lie to work long enough for people to forget they said anything at all.
Not that I don't think the game shouldn't have changes, or that Cryptic shouldn't be allowed to change their mind or get hamstrung by corners they paint themselves into willingly.
But, when they do these things at player expense, yes, I do feel they are deserving of every bit of player scrutiny as they get. We shouldn't be punished for poor game design choices they make, especially when those game design choices are rooted in monetization practices instead of the game experience itself. This goes double when there is player feedback telling them beforehand that those particular game design choices are bad.
Not that this is an excuse as it is a reason that over time, there has been turn over in people working for Cryptic, so what one person envisioned to work someone else came in an thought it wasn't for whatever reason. This is also assuming PWE didn't have a say as well.
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
I'm fine with that. I'm fine with people changing their minds. Sometimes an idea works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes someone new comes on board who has different ideas, different strategies. That's fine too. There are things that shouldn't be seen as etched in stone.
But when the players are expected to pay the price for mistakes Cryptic makes, I have an issue with that. Players should never bear the burden of mistakes made by a video game developer
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
While it does spread people out, switching to a universal rep Mark would be a disaster as the ONLY PvE queue that would get touched then would be Infected Space as just about everyone can do it in their sleep these days. While Undine and Dyson PvEs seem to be dead already, it would be 100x worse if we go to a single universal rep Mark. Why play new content to get rep in the new track when I can just faceroll Infected Space, which isn't even REMOTELY related to the rep I'm working on?
A savy player can maximize their DL income by hitting different rep tracks if they already hit T5 on them. Run an Infected, get Omega with daily bonus. Run a Tau Dewa patrol, get Romulan with daily bonus. Run a Delta patrol, get Delta with Daily bonus. Run Crystaline Entity, get Nukara with daily bonus. Trade marks for Dilithium, and you get at least 1k per track on marks alone. AND you get to see more than just the same old Borg.
I'd ask why burn yourself out doing the same 2-3 missions for the necessary reputation marks when there are 20 or 30 missions in the queue with 0 players in them?
Not that you don't have a point (you do), but sometimes it's not about efficiency. Maybe it's just about having fun.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,689Community Moderator
My main point isn't efficiency. I personally find it more fun to fight things besides Borg. For example, in Tau Dewa, it may be the same "kill 5 squadrons" patrol, but there are like 5-6 different enemy groups based on which system you go to. Beta Thoridar has Rebel Klingons, Archer has Tholians, ect.
Who says you can't be efficient and have fun at the same time? Especially when working on a C-Store project while waiting for the prices to come down.
While I agree that the queues need some love, people will go for the newest and and the easiest based on what I've seen. And I'm sure we've BOTH seen the idea of a universal rep mark come up lots of times iconians, but switching from the system we have now to that would make the queues even worse off than they are now.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
My main point isn't efficiency. I personally find it more fun to fight things besides Borg. For example, in Tau Dewa, it may be the same "kill 5 squadrons" patrol, but there are like 5-6 different enemy groups based on which system you go to. Beta Thoridar has Rebel Klingons, Archer has Tholians, ect.
Who says you can't be efficient and have fun at the same time? Especially when working on a C-Store project while waiting for the prices to come down.
While I agree that the queues need some love, people will go for the newest and and the easiest based on what I've seen. And I'm sure we've BOTH seen the idea of a universal rep mark come up lots of times iconians, but switching from the system we have now to that would make the queues even worse off than they are now.
I don't think the correlation implies causation. They go for the newest because there's no other choice for the new shinies. They go for the easiest because it's intentionally grindy. Would a universal reputation thing be so bad? Maybe. Maybe not. I think something needs to change, and it needs to be done in a smart manner. Whether that means universal reputation or rotating queued missions around, I don't know.
But things are pretty bad right now. They've been bad for a while.
My main point isn't efficiency. I personally find it more fun to fight things besides Borg. For example, in Tau Dewa, it may be the same "kill 5 squadrons" patrol, but there are like 5-6 different enemy groups based on which system you go to. Beta Thoridar has Rebel Klingons, Archer has Tholians, ect.
Who says you can't be efficient and have fun at the same time? Especially when working on a C-Store project while waiting for the prices to come down.
While I agree that the queues need some love, people will go for the newest and and the easiest based on what I've seen. And I'm sure we've BOTH seen the idea of a universal rep mark come up lots of times iconians, but switching from the system we have now to that would make the queues even worse off than they are now.
I don't think the correlation implies causation. They go for the newest because there's no other choice for the new shinies. They go for the easiest because it's intentionally grindy. Would a universal reputation thing be so bad? Maybe. Maybe not. I think something needs to change, and it needs to be done in a smart manner. Whether that means universal reputation or rotating queued missions around, I don't know.
But things are pretty bad right now. They've been bad for a while.
We have universal rep thingies.... *grills a mint eppoh* Mmm... universal.... Oh you meant things outside special events? Nah, that sounds like a terrible idea. Awesome and special has to be limited or it's "normal and boring".
I can understand the sentiment of frustration when it comes to the delivery of event exclusive rewards; I'm in the Navy and work 60+ hours a week on a regular basis, so some ease of access would be greatly appreciated. That being said I could, if I wanted to, simply play this game during all of my free time. Instead I spend time with my wife and family and friends, which is a conscious choice. Like I said, I understand the OP's frustration, but I don't think that opening everything directly to LTS is the way to go. As an LTS myself, I do in some twisted way enjoy the grind. I guess I just wish there was a way to allow those of us with busy schedules or work that takes us away from the possibility of earning seasonal rewards to be able to enjoy and share in the event experience.
In regards to the more recent post activity in the thread, I too agree that a universal currency would be a bad idea. I hope that the devs can find a way to encourage more queue activity; as it stands it seems like the queues are just to push us into content that is "new" and "fresh". I find myself squishing Borg more often than not because it's what I find fun and because, as was said earlier, I can basically faceroll Infected in my sleep.
The game needs some work, the direction they are going in could use some work too, but I'm pretty satisfied overall. I'm still waiting on that endgame Constitution...
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
While it does spread people out, switching to a universal rep Mark would be a disaster as the ONLY PvE queue that would get touched then would be Infected Space as just about everyone can do it in their sleep these days. While Undine and Dyson PvEs seem to be dead already, it would be 100x worse if we go to a single universal rep Mark. Why play new content to get rep in the new track when I can just faceroll Infected Space, which isn't even REMOTELY related to the rep I'm working on?
A savy player can maximize their DL income by hitting different rep tracks if they already hit T5 on them. Run an Infected, get Omega with daily bonus. Run a Tau Dewa patrol, get Romulan with daily bonus. Run a Delta patrol, get Delta with Daily bonus. Run Crystaline Entity, get Nukara with daily bonus. Trade marks for Dilithium, and you get at least 1k per track on marks alone. AND you get to see more than just the same old Borg.
the best way I have found to handle reputation marks is not to think of them as currency at all but rather to think of them as loyalty points similar to the way supermarkets used to have loyalty cards and if you shopped at Tesco's and collected loyalty points there you could not the go to Sainsbury's to spend your loyalty points, you could only use them at Tesco's where they were earned.
by thinking of reputation marks/loyalty points in this way instead of classing them as currency it makes it a lot easier to handle in your mind, it makes the few currencies that are left and the whole shebang a lot easier to deal with.
that's the way I do it anyway and it works for me and makes the whole thing far less confusing.
Post edited by bobbydazlers on
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.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,689Community Moderator
I kinda see them like that, although I don't use the supermarket loyalty card analogy. Why should I get credit for fighting the Tholians by fighting the Borg? It doesn't make sense. Fighting Borg doesn't get any recognition from the Nukara Strikeforce, so why should they give you access to their Tholian gear if you're not helping them?
The ONLY time marks can be truly considered a currency is when you grind them into Dilithium.
So... there ya go!
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
seems to me it would be quite a simple matter to let you buy *any* event ship at the end of an event, instead of just this years offering. Run your 25 races, or whatever, then it gives you a voucher you can exchange for any ship in the event catalog. Don't fancy this years huge Breen, but would quite like last summer's Nandi? Cash in your voucher for that instead. That is a simple (in coding terms) change that would make everyone happy I would have thought. Devs get full event zones, players get choice.
LUKARI GUERILLA GARDENING MILITIA - Glowing fingers are Growing fingers!
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
While it does spread people out, switching to a universal rep Mark would be a disaster as the ONLY PvE queue that would get touched then would be Infected Space as just about everyone can do it in their sleep these days. While Undine and Dyson PvEs seem to be dead already, it would be 100x worse if we go to a single universal rep Mark. Why play new content to get rep in the new track when I can just faceroll Infected Space, which isn't even REMOTELY related to the rep I'm working on?
Then either;
a) the new/other content is bad
b) infected space is too good
c) a hybrid of both
It almost feels like they know the content they are releasing is not good, so they sweeten the deal by providing new shinnies and the only way to get said shinnies is by playing that specific content that is questionable in enjoyment. Like you said, Undine and Dyson PvEs are already dead so it doesn't seem to be working all that well anyway.
Like Iconians said....something needs to change. They can't just keep on course the way they have been for a couple of years now.
Retired. I'm now in search for that perfect space anomaly.
What does the OP mean by "opposite direction" in the title? Devs already confirmed that they want more exclusivity. So they are continuing to go in that direction. Not the opposite direction.
He probably meant opposite direction from what the playerbase would want. Which seems to be a bit of consensus of this thread - people don't seem to want this 'exclusivity'.
Absolutely, it's the opposite direction both in terms of what many if not a majority of players want, as well as what is fiscally prudent. For a people running a VR casino business(lockboxes) you'd think they'd be better Ferengi and exploit all those ships/cosmetics locked away from new/absent players.
A wise man can hear profit, in the wind.
Really, knowing I got my Sehlat Cub for free, and now it costs Lobi, makes me feel enough like a special snowflake, I don't have to be so petty as to endorse a scorched earth doctrine against anyone who didn't happen to get a Sehlat Cub for free!
seems to me it would be quite a simple matter to let you buy *any* event ship at the end of an event, instead of just this years offering. Run your 25 races, or whatever, then it gives you a voucher you can exchange for any ship in the event catalog. Don't fancy this years huge Breen, but would quite like last summer's Nandi? Cash in your voucher for that instead. That is a simple (in coding terms) change that would make everyone happy I would have thought. Devs get full event zones, players get choice.
I think I like this. You can only get one ship from an event a year. Kind of a middle ground between what the devs say they want and what the players want.
I have a full time job, four kids (including a six month old), and a menagerie of exotic animals. I have never had an issue obtaining an event ship, its only a couple of minutes a day afterall. The only exception being the summer event ship which I usually cant get because of my annual pilgrimage to Download festival. To this I say "drat, ah well", and move on. The ships aren't game breaking and any sets they include parts to are easily forgotten in favour of the myriad of other set combinations available. Do I think they should be accessible to anyone at all outside of the event? No, thats sort of the point of the event. I missed the first winter event and thus missed out on that bugship, am I butthurt? Nope. I did manage to get the summer ship this year however as I was unable to attend said festival due the impending birth of the afformentioned 6 month old. I will be heading away again this June so probably won't get that summer ship. To the OP, you may not be able to do every event as yes life gets in the way, such is the same in real life. It sucks, but there will be a new shiny to come again soon, as you say its "a stupid ship", whilst I wouldn't call it stupid myself, that sentiment in of itself makes me question why you want them so bad as to make a post here about it in the first place. And I cant of course assume the facts of your life and their affects on gametime, but I can say with absolute certainty that I spend way more time sat on the toilet in the morning than it took me to run the daily race for the winter ship when I got in from work
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
Do I think they should be accessible to anyone at all outside of the event? No, [that's] sort of the point of the event.
I don't understand this argument though.
For those who participated in the event get a free ship or whatever prize while others, if they wish to have access to it can pay for it.
What's wrong with that? It provides more flexibility for those who either miss, or didn't wish to participate in the event while giving those who did participate getting a reward for no cost. This also provides another potential revenue stream for Cryptic.
I'm not seeing the draw back here.
Retired. I'm now in search for that perfect space anomaly.
Do I think they should be accessible to anyone at all outside of the event? No, [that's] sort of the point of the event.
I don't understand this argument though.
For those who participated in the event get a free ship or whatever prize while others, if they wish to have access to it can pay for it.
What's wrong with that? It provides more flexibility for those who either miss, or didn't wish to participate in the event while giving those who did participate getting a reward for no cost. This also provides another potential revenue stream for Cryptic.
I'm not seeing the draw back here.
Your happiness in life is likely not derived from making sure others are deprived of what you have.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
...I also agree they first need to fix the many and mirade amount of bugs before that happens...
Bug fixes & testing is done by completelly different department of the company. Addressing the issue in OP would be done by other people entirely; and it would not take anything/time from the QA team.
[10:20] Your Lunge deals 4798 (2580) Physical Damage(Critical) to Tosk of Borg.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator "bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh." "Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness."~Day[9] "Your fun isn't wrong."~LaughingTrendy
Comments
He probably meant opposite direction from what the playerbase would want. Which seems to be a bit of consensus of this thread - people don't seem to want this 'exclusivity'.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator
"bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh."
"Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness." ~Day[9]
"Your fun isn't wrong." ~LaughingTrendy
Find me on Twitterverse - @jodarkrider
Precisely, so much this. Really well said, thank you.
You obviously haven't seen me then, I run my Corvette as my main ship. But I also am in the camp that says, DOWN WITH EXCLUSIVITY!
We come in peace, SHOOT TO KILL!
I am not dismissing other venues to be able to obtain the ships. Just stating it's more likely to happen in those than them ever putting them in the C-Store. Now they could put in some sort of Claim Voucher into the C-Store for say 500 or 1,000 Zen to unlock a particular Event ship for the account in the Event Store. That would be thinking outside the box.
Summer 2013, I did not go for the Corvette. Too clumsy. I started playing the game at the end of May 2013.
Winter 2013, after a false start on being able to do the Ice Race, KDF characters went for the new Plesh Brek, and Federation characters for the previous year's Chel Grett. That was 1,000 Pictures each character.
Summer 2014, they instituted the unlocks. One character ground for the Corvette and one for the new Crusier, 1,040 each. A third character ground 1,000 for the Next Summer. All others did 40 for next Summer. All characters picked up the opposite Winter Ship that they did not grind for in the past Winter with 40 Pictures.
Winter 2014, one character did 1,080 to unlock the Sarr Theln and be ready for the next two years. Two other characters did 1,080 to unlock one year each of the next two years and get the current and future ships.
Summer 2015, the ballgame changed and we are where we are now. All four Delta Recruits got everything that was unlocked.
Not let me say that just because I ground ahead for the future did not mean I was not going to participate in future Events. Just that I could do the other stuff instead. They would have to have no confidence in the other activities for the Event if they thought that it would be a Ghost town if they didn't force a login because of their scaring you into it. It's now or never for that brand new Shiney.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Just like when they said they were converting the old badges into Dilithium (at an extremely laughable exchange rate, effectively nullifying hundreds of hours of playtime) in order to reduce the amount of currencies in the game into 3 (Zen, Dilithium, and EC).
We see how well that worked out now that we have just as many, if not more currencies than before the dilithium conversion.
I guess they only need the lie to work long enough for people to forget they said anything at all.
Not that I don't think the game shouldn't have changes, or that Cryptic shouldn't be allowed to change their mind or get hamstrung by corners they paint themselves into willingly.
But, when they do these things at player expense, yes, I do feel they are deserving of every bit of player scrutiny as they get. We shouldn't be punished for poor game design choices they make, especially when those game design choices are rooted in monetization practices instead of the game experience itself. This goes double when there is player feedback telling them beforehand that those particular game design choices are bad.
Cryptic: "Okay, so we have this new idea where we take a gun and shoot ourselves in the foot. It'll be awesome!"
Players: "Yeah, about that. If you take a gun and shoot yourself in the foot, it's probably going to hurt a lot and later on down the line you're going to run into some problems by having a bullet wound in your foot..."
Cryptic: "Okay, so we just shot ourselves in the foot. It's really just a bit of discomfort at first but we think this was still a great idea."
Players: "You say that now. But we still think you haven't thought this cunning plan all the way through. But, oh well... if you think it's awesome, we might as well take advantage of it."
Cryptic: "Well, now the bullet wound has become infected and gangrenous and we're getting kind of lightheaded from the blood loss. So, we're going to go ahead and fix that problem."
Players: "We told you that was a bad idea way back then, but good for you. Everybody makes mistakes."
Cryptic: "Oh, and here's our medical bill. You guys can pick up the tab, right?"
Players: "Uhh... we told you a long time ago not to shoot yourself in the foot. Now you want us to make up for it? How will you ever learn from your mistakes if we're the ones paying for them?"
Cryptic: "Okay, so maybe that wasn't a great idea. We'll give you some Cryptic Fun Bux for covering our medical expenses. It's not as good as money, but it'll compensate you for the time and money you wasted putting up with us when we shot ourselves in the foot."
Players: "... and you wonder why we're cynical."
Not that this is an excuse as it is a reason that over time, there has been turn over in people working for Cryptic, so what one person envisioned to work someone else came in an thought it wasn't for whatever reason. This is also assuming PWE didn't have a say as well.
I do however, 110% agree. Currency in this game is a mess, and doesn't make any sense game play style wise. Only reason I can think of is it's a way to force players to play specific content, and that's pretty much it.
While it does spread people out, switching to a universal rep Mark would be a disaster as the ONLY PvE queue that would get touched then would be Infected Space as just about everyone can do it in their sleep these days. While Undine and Dyson PvEs seem to be dead already, it would be 100x worse if we go to a single universal rep Mark. Why play new content to get rep in the new track when I can just faceroll Infected Space, which isn't even REMOTELY related to the rep I'm working on?
A savy player can maximize their DL income by hitting different rep tracks if they already hit T5 on them. Run an Infected, get Omega with daily bonus. Run a Tau Dewa patrol, get Romulan with daily bonus. Run a Delta patrol, get Delta with Daily bonus. Run Crystaline Entity, get Nukara with daily bonus. Trade marks for Dilithium, and you get at least 1k per track on marks alone. AND you get to see more than just the same old Borg.
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I'm fine with that. I'm fine with people changing their minds. Sometimes an idea works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes someone new comes on board who has different ideas, different strategies. That's fine too. There are things that shouldn't be seen as etched in stone.
But when the players are expected to pay the price for mistakes Cryptic makes, I have an issue with that. Players should never bear the burden of mistakes made by a video game developer
I'd ask why burn yourself out doing the same 2-3 missions for the necessary reputation marks when there are 20 or 30 missions in the queue with 0 players in them?
Not that you don't have a point (you do), but sometimes it's not about efficiency. Maybe it's just about having fun.
Who says you can't be efficient and have fun at the same time? Especially when working on a C-Store project while waiting for the prices to come down.
While I agree that the queues need some love, people will go for the newest and and the easiest based on what I've seen. And I'm sure we've BOTH seen the idea of a universal rep mark come up lots of times iconians, but switching from the system we have now to that would make the queues even worse off than they are now.
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I don't think the correlation implies causation. They go for the newest because there's no other choice for the new shinies. They go for the easiest because it's intentionally grindy. Would a universal reputation thing be so bad? Maybe. Maybe not. I think something needs to change, and it needs to be done in a smart manner. Whether that means universal reputation or rotating queued missions around, I don't know.
But things are pretty bad right now. They've been bad for a while.
My character Tsin'xing
In regards to the more recent post activity in the thread, I too agree that a universal currency would be a bad idea. I hope that the devs can find a way to encourage more queue activity; as it stands it seems like the queues are just to push us into content that is "new" and "fresh". I find myself squishing Borg more often than not because it's what I find fun and because, as was said earlier, I can basically faceroll Infected in my sleep.
The game needs some work, the direction they are going in could use some work too, but I'm pretty satisfied overall. I'm still waiting on that endgame Constitution...
STO Beta Test and Launch Veteran
the best way I have found to handle reputation marks is not to think of them as currency at all but rather to think of them as loyalty points similar to the way supermarkets used to have loyalty cards and if you shopped at Tesco's and collected loyalty points there you could not the go to Sainsbury's to spend your loyalty points, you could only use them at Tesco's where they were earned.
by thinking of reputation marks/loyalty points in this way instead of classing them as currency it makes it a lot easier to handle in your mind, it makes the few currencies that are left and the whole shebang a lot easier to deal with.
that's the way I do it anyway and it works for me and makes the whole thing far less confusing.
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.
The ONLY time marks can be truly considered a currency is when you grind them into Dilithium.
So... there ya go!
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colored text = mod mode
Then either;
a) the new/other content is bad
b) infected space is too good
c) a hybrid of both
It almost feels like they know the content they are releasing is not good, so they sweeten the deal by providing new shinnies and the only way to get said shinnies is by playing that specific content that is questionable in enjoyment. Like you said, Undine and Dyson PvEs are already dead so it doesn't seem to be working all that well anyway.
Like Iconians said....something needs to change. They can't just keep on course the way they have been for a couple of years now.
Absolutely, it's the opposite direction both in terms of what many if not a majority of players want, as well as what is fiscally prudent. For a people running a VR casino business(lockboxes) you'd think they'd be better Ferengi and exploit all those ships/cosmetics locked away from new/absent players.
A wise man can hear profit, in the wind.
Really, knowing I got my Sehlat Cub for free, and now it costs Lobi, makes me feel enough like a special snowflake, I don't have to be so petty as to endorse a scorched earth doctrine against anyone who didn't happen to get a Sehlat Cub for free!
I think I like this. You can only get one ship from an event a year. Kind of a middle ground between what the devs say they want and what the players want.
I have never had an issue obtaining an event ship, its only a couple of minutes a day afterall.
The only exception being the summer event ship which I usually cant get because of my annual pilgrimage to Download festival.
To this I say "drat, ah well", and move on. The ships aren't game breaking and any sets they include parts to are easily forgotten in favour of the myriad of other set combinations available.
Do I think they should be accessible to anyone at all outside of the event? No, thats sort of the point of the event.
I missed the first winter event and thus missed out on that bugship, am I butthurt? Nope.
I did manage to get the summer ship this year however as I was unable to attend said festival due the impending birth of the afformentioned 6 month old.
I will be heading away again this June so probably won't get that summer ship. To the OP, you may not be able to do every event as yes life gets in the way, such is the same in real life.
It sucks, but there will be a new shiny to come again soon, as you say its "a stupid ship", whilst I wouldn't call it stupid myself, that sentiment in of itself makes me question why you want them so bad as to make a post here about it in the first place.
And I cant of course assume the facts of your life and their affects on gametime, but I can say with absolute certainty that I spend way more time sat on the toilet in the morning than it took me to run the daily race for the winter ship when I got in from work
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
I don't understand this argument though.
For those who participated in the event get a free ship or whatever prize while others, if they wish to have access to it can pay for it.
What's wrong with that? It provides more flexibility for those who either miss, or didn't wish to participate in the event while giving those who did participate getting a reward for no cost. This also provides another potential revenue stream for Cryptic.
I'm not seeing the draw back here.
Your happiness in life is likely not derived from making sure others are deprived of what you have.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator
"bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh."
"Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness." ~Day[9]
"Your fun isn't wrong." ~LaughingTrendy
Find me on Twitterverse - @jodarkrider