I have the same issue in Firefox where I will be asked for my PIN when logging into the STO forums or the Arc website. This only happens if I clear my browsing history, and it only asks me once after each time I clear everything. Probably a browser cookie. So if you don't accept cookies or have them cleared from your browser on a regular basis, this is why it asks for your PIN every time.
That's a good place to start, but 1.) I'm using Chrome, 2.) I accept almost all cookies, and C.) I pretty much never delete or clear them. This also happens every single time I try to log in from my phone. The same phone I've had for more than a year. Using the same browser. Chrome. Which shares its login and password saves across devices. Which also accepts cookies. Which I also never clean out. Unfortunately, at this point, I can safely rule out that it's the user not accepting and/or clearing out cookies. In this case, I think the issue lies with Arc Defender. Sorry.
i use Crome too ( and win 7) , without problems
but IF i delete cookies and brownser history THEN i must deal with arc defender again too , so ....... problem isnt at ARC side , or with Crome but in your PC
Not a fan of the new layout I'm afraid it's not very user friendly. While it looks slicker than before actually navigating your way around has become far more difficult than it was.
ok no-one seems to have asked this and it is nowhere in the post when is this system going live
Also fed up with reading entire threads and every blog because they simply fail to include one of the most important pieces of info: release date or TBA!
I updated my Arc launcher today. Brand new is the Arc Quests.
Wow....all I can say is what a complete waste. As it turns out, this is only designed to push other Arc games. This thing had three windows on it, each with a different quest. Two of them are for some game I have never played and never will. It allowed me to close one of those, and immediately put in another so-called quest for another game - that was not STO.
If this thing had rewards based on the game that I actually play then it would not be so bad. As it is, it is not going to get another look from me.
When it becomes mandatory thats when I will say bye to STO
^^^ This! When I pre-ordered a life time subscription to play STO for the lifetime of the game, it was sans ARC. And while I understand that the game STO needs to be periodically updated to make this happen, I don't recall anything in the EULA about requiring the installation of programs that are unrelated to STO.
While I applaud the attempt to give us a localized place to see/access F2P games and I thank you for the "rewards" system as a way to help me aquire "currency I can use in these games....I must say I'm disappointed in the non game "quests". I play MMORPGs to encounter the games themselves, to see/enjoy/experience the stories/missions/quests. I *don't* play MMORPGs to go onto Twitter/Facebook/Multiple other sites (even game Forums) to experience the stories there. I don't appreciate the "push" to make everything Twitter/Facebook aligned, nor the "half a story"; I liken it to going to a movie and having to have some form of computer access and a magazine/book that I have to have access to at certain points to get major plot points of the movie. No offense, but in my humble opinion this is 'bunk'.
Also, like many folks above I don't care for the push to "make" me use ARC. Granted I do - but that is only because I started having in game issues (beyond the norm) that *only* seemed to clear up if I signed in through ARC. I get the folks responding to others saying "well if it causes issues you must need a comp upgrade, mine runs just fine" - *however* to them I ask this..."you going to pay for that upgrade for those of us whose computers don't meet the standards you seem to think are acceptable?". I wish I could upgrade my stuff every 6 months to a year, but I can't; I'm sure I'm not the only one who is in this situation.
*Suggestion: Perhaps you could "adjust" the rewards via a survey or questionaire that allows the users to check off the games the play and social media they use (if any). That way every one has a chance to complete the "missions" that corelate to them and their interests without the frustration of feeling "forced" to comply. Yes, I know we are not forced to do so..hence the " ".
This is based on mostly STO and a bit of Neverwinter play:
Maybe if as much time and effort went into the games and any "bugs"/issues with them as went into the "push" for ARC and other Social Media more folks would play. Perhaps even more would be willing to pay to do so. I look at the currency in STO and all I see is the "need" to spend real money or way too much time to earn dilithium to exchange for ZEN at an exchange rate that boggles my mind more often than not. Already I'm playing a game I LOVE the genre of, the theory behind but always with the feeling it's more like a job; the time gates, the having to do "x" so many times/ so many times in a row - so little reward for both the "risk" (in game time doing Episodes, etc.) and time (things that say "takes 15 minutes on average" - when/where 'average' is calculated by figures not pertaining to many involved... Removing a lot of the "time" factors might help folks to feel more "comfortable" to attempt different games as well.
Please don't get me wrong, I *love* the game...I just worry about the things going on 'behind the scenes'/outside of it and all of the issues that have been long standing ones slated to be fixed/corrected "soon", and the lack of transparency that often clouds many of these "issues"/bugs.
I have a better idea, lets get the STO community to do a Go Fund Me page, and for every activity that Cryptic does (ie. fixes), we give them a few dollars. Ya' think Cryptic would sign up for that? Then why do they think its incentive for us?
I wish PWE would give us content that makes us want to play, not dangling carrots in the form of grinding that substitutes playing real STO content.
Seriously, if I wanted to play those other games, I would have already played them!
Whammer1, you make a valid point as far as I'm concerned. I'm more likely to play a game I *want* to play - content, customer support, and the like appeal to me MUCH more than time sinks, forced attendance, and 50 different things I *have* to do daily/weekly in order to "stay competative" in game. Also, I'm more likely to spend real life cash if the things offered aren't *so* expensive - for instance I'd pay a monthly fee *IF* I got new content and items "needed" to play end game content as opposed to not really getting much more for a sub. *side note - I don't think making any one ship that is likely to be 'outdated' in a month to a year cost more than a monthly sub - the fact it takes 6 months or so to come up with the exchange rate's worth of ZEN doesn't help...nor does having ALL characters be about DPS, DPS, some DPS, and more DPS. Very little incentive to play alts in a game where 95% of the stuff is the same old same old and things aren't account opened, in my humble opinion.
Never really used ARC, so I updated to check it out. My 3 quests were play STO 7 days (easy), log onto arc 2 days (given from first quest) and play one other game twice. Don't really care about other game, but decided to see how easy filling this quest would be. Downloaded game, looked around. Hated the camera, liked the character designs, did tutorial, logged out. Will only play that game for 10 mins tomorrow and get the xp. Took me about the same time to try that game as it would to torrent and watch the latest episode of "Boku dake ga Inai Machi", so not bad, not near as fun, but I could have been doing worse.
I'll try their games for 30 minutes, I play'd PWI for a couple years before Trek, so no biggie. If you don't want to do it don't, it's really simple.
FYI. I logged into Trek through arc, did one characters Doffs and that was my quest for the day. Rest of the evening I play'd without ARC like I always do.
so how is it free ? , if you have to do something for it then it is not free
Like breathing? Guess nothing is free then, or it was a "expression", you know that word right? The stylistic characteristics of an utterance (opposed to meaning)?
Okay, but the launcher is now so big it barely fits on my screen. Yes I play on a laptop with a small screen, sue me. How do I make it smaller so it doesn't take up the whole screen? And no, it's not maximized.
Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of it.
Don't care, I stopped using arc since it sucked. I keep it installed for code redeems and such but that's about it. How much points do you need to get say 100 zen and is it related to the game/s you have installed?
(...) Downloaded game, looked around. Hated the camera, liked the character designs, did tutorial, logged out. Will only play that game for 10 mins tomorrow and get the xp. Took me about the same time to try that game as it would to torrent and watch the latest episode of "Boku dake ga Inai Machi", so not bad, not near as fun, but I could have been doing worse.
I'll try their games for 30 minutes, I play'd PWI for a couple years before Trek, so no biggie. If you don't want to do it don't, it's really simple.
FYI. I logged into Trek through arc, did one characters Doffs and that was my quest for the day. Rest of the evening I play'd without ARC like I always do.
(...)
"It's not much effort" isn't really a good argument for that. Keep in mind that until you can net Zen from these quests a lot of time will pass and you will need to do those log-in tasks every day and at one point you have three "play for seven days" quests involving games you don't want to play.
For people who don't use or enjoy a broad spectrum of PW games besides STO this reward system really doesn't hold any benefit as they don't even need it to play STO to begin with. But those players aren't really the target audience for this anyway.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Last time I downloaded STO it was 16+GB, took a few hours, not going to do that for a game I'm not going to play, alot more effort than forgetting about questing
(...) Downloaded game, looked around. Hated the camera, liked the character designs, did tutorial, logged out. Will only play that game for 10 mins tomorrow and get the xp. Took me about the same time to try that game as it would to torrent and watch the latest episode of "Boku dake ga Inai Machi", so not bad, not near as fun, but I could have been doing worse.
I'll try their games for 30 minutes, I play'd PWI for a couple years before Trek, so no biggie. If you don't want to do it don't, it's really simple.
FYI. I logged into Trek through arc, did one characters Doffs and that was my quest for the day. Rest of the evening I play'd without ARC like I always do.
(...)
"It's not much effort" isn't really a good argument for that. Keep in mind that until you can net Zen from these quests a lot of time will pass and you will need to do those log-in tasks every day and at one point you have three "play for seven days" quests involving games you don't want to play.
For people who don't use or enjoy a broad spectrum of PW games besides STO this reward system really doesn't hold any benefit as they don't even need it to play STO to begin with. But those players aren't really the target audience for this anyway.
Given that it's essentially free zen? you tell me how much investment of effort is worth the reward. If it's a quest for a game you don't play then you can click skip and forget you saw that one.
While I agree with your statement about the "click" away games one doesn't play, the one fact about Arc 3.0's, and other Cryptic/PWE marketing techniques is simple:
The goals are to satisfy short term metrics, instead of building long term satisfaction and relationships with the customer.
Seriously, what percentage of players are realistically do the quests and decide to play STO (at thier current level) AND become an active player in one of the other games?
This is the problem with the current marketing/business plans, short term metrica satisfaction, grind this for a month, grind that for a month, play designated game for "x" days/times, for some reward.
This seems to be PWE/Cryptics idea of what end-game activites are, it shows minimal innovation, and thats not encouraging.
Give the players actual content, that makes them feel part of the game, and the community, thats how one creates customer satisfaction and long term loyalty/relationships.
While I agree with your statement about the "click" away games one doesn't play, the one fact about Arc 3.0's, and other Cryptic/PWE marketing techniques is simple:
The goals are to satisfy short term metrics, instead of building long term satisfaction and relationships with the customer.
Seriously, what percentage of players are realistically do the quests and decide to play STO (at thier current level) AND become an active player in one of the other games?
This is the problem with the current marketing/business plans, short term metrica satisfaction, grind this for a month, grind that for a month, play designated game for "x" days/times, for some reward.
This seems to be PWE/Cryptics idea of what end-game activites are, it shows minimal innovation, and thats not encouraging.
Give the players actual content, that makes them feel part of the game, and the community, thats how one creates customer satisfaction and long term loyalty/relationships.
Bla blah.... so? this is free stuff for nearly no effort, whether you play more than STO or not. this actually seems more a long-term plan than short term unless your idea of "short" is 3-6 months....
I am not using Arc unless it takes up a single process that runs in the background at a fraction of the memory STO takes while it is running.
As it is, ARC spans across 4 processes, with a combined memory that exceeds the system resources required to run STO itself. This is totally unreasonable.
The very definition of a short term (business) plan is less than a year.
And you can say "blah, blah, blah" ( or should it be "bleh, bleh, bleh") to your hearts content but think about this, what would keep you playing more/longer; more direct content, that makes you feel like your really participating in the Star Trek Universe, or more grinding for minor rewards, some of the grinding not even on, or a part of, STO?
It's ARC... Arc is not a part of STO, therefor it has no reason to feel like a part of the Star Trek universe.
And like I said before... what grinding? It gives you rewards just for being there.
No, it gives you rewards for downloading, installing, and regularly running a series of 10-20GB marketing brochures. And if you think that's "free," I suggest you go get some "free" stuff by listening to someone's marketing spiel about timeshares in Aspen.
What @farranor said, and PWE/Cryptic are trying to tie Arc into Star Trek Online, and "rewarding" us for playing other games. If you want to do that, for an obvious attempt to boost metrics on the other games, instead actually trying to actively increase the player base of STO by actually targeting the player base to play, I dunno, Star Trek, by all means, enjoy.
I just hope that PWE/Cryptic will, someday, learn to make content that doesnt require the players to do the same mission, over and over again, to get a particular reward (ie. grind).
What @farranor said, and PWE/Cryptic are trying to tie Arc into Star Trek Online, and "rewarding" us for playing other games. If you want to do that, for an obvious attempt to boost metrics on the other games, instead actually trying to actively increase the player base of STO by actually targeting the player base to play, I dunno, Star Trek, by all means, enjoy.
I just hope that PWE/Cryptic will, someday, learn to make content that doesnt require the players to do the same mission, over and over again, to get a particular reward (ie. grind).
The reward quests are not targeted at STO players. Someone who exclusively plays Neverwinter or Perfectworld will see quests telling them to go play STO.
And like I said before, if a quest is for a game you don't play, just skip it. Presumably that's why the option to skip games is there.
The good news: You don't actually have to play ANY of the games. All you have to do is select the game in your games list and click the 'Play' button to bring up the game launcher. That's it. I had a quest come up to play STO for 7 different days and all I did was click the 'Play' button to bring up the game launcher, then checked to see that the Arc Quests showed it as 1/7 days complete. Didn't even need to fully launch the game.
There was another to just play Torchlight*, which I have. I clicked the 'Play' button to launch the game, then ALT+Tabbed the game and saw the Arc Quest complete and I could claim the XP from it.
The bad news: You would need to download/install various games through the Arc client, which could take up quite a bit of room on your hard drive, depending on the games.
If that's all it takes to 'Play' specific games, and you have plenty of room on your hard drive, I say go for it. Quick easy way to earn free Zen......well, after the hours it would take to download all those games LOL.
To access the Arc Quests, click the icon on the bottom right that is on the left, right next to the messages icon. It looks sorta like a town portal scroll from Diablo and other similar games.
To access your list of games you have installed, click the icon on the far left at the bottom, right under 'Charge', that looks like a group of squares.
Edit: At least the quests show how much XP each one gives. Also, hover your mouse over the 'Next Reward' text above the right corner of the XP bar and a tooltip shows you get 500 Arc Points.
Also of note, the available quests don't seem to change unless you complete and/or skip a quest. So no need to worry about 1 you were working on or wanted to do later being removed before you can complete it, and I think that's a good thing.
*Torchlight is a game you would need to buy a license key for. (I got it free a couple years ago through a PWE winter sale deal of some kind) Some other PWE games may also require you to buy them before you could play them. Just keep that in mind when selecting games to install.
What @farranor said, and PWE/Cryptic are trying to tie Arc into Star Trek Online, and "rewarding" us for playing other games. If you want to do that, for an obvious attempt to boost metrics on the other games, instead actually trying to actively increase the player base of STO by actually targeting the player base to play, I dunno, Star Trek, by all means, enjoy.
I just hope that PWE/Cryptic will, someday, learn to make content that doesnt require the players to do the same mission, over and over again, to get a particular reward (ie. grind).
The reward quests are not targeted at STO players. Someone who exclusively plays Neverwinter or Perfectworld will see quests telling them to go play STO.
And like I said before, if a quest is for a game you don't play, just skip it. Presumably that's why the option to skip games is there.
No, the option to skip games you don't play is there to make it look like you can still use the new system to get reasonable rewards. The rewards have to be balanced for min/maxers, meaning that someone who plays all the games and does all the quests will get a moderate level of rewards rather than a ridiculously huge payout. Playing only some of the games - or, worse still, only one game - will mean a small fraction of that reasonable reward.
This, of course, makes perfect sense given the goal of this new system, which is to get people playing more PWE games (and possibly spending real money on some of them). You are basically thanking the company for sending you a pile of marketing brochures, with a "reward" of a tiny coupon that they'll send you if you walk around the participating stores and browse their wares.
Comments
Click on the box of 9 squares. That takes you to the library. [sarcasm]Isn't it obvious?[/sarcasm]
i use Crome too ( and win 7) , without problems
but IF i delete cookies and brownser history THEN i must deal with arc defender again too , so ....... problem isnt at ARC side , or with Crome but in your PC
My character Tsin'xing
Sometimes less is more
The quest stuff is a nice idea, but given that I only play STO, I won't be getting much out of it.
Also fed up with reading entire threads and every blog because they simply fail to include one of the most important pieces of info: release date or TBA!
Wow....all I can say is what a complete waste. As it turns out, this is only designed to push other Arc games. This thing had three windows on it, each with a different quest. Two of them are for some game I have never played and never will. It allowed me to close one of those, and immediately put in another so-called quest for another game - that was not STO.
If this thing had rewards based on the game that I actually play then it would not be so bad. As it is, it is not going to get another look from me.
^^^ This! When I pre-ordered a life time subscription to play STO for the lifetime of the game, it was sans ARC. And while I understand that the game STO needs to be periodically updated to make this happen, I don't recall anything in the EULA about requiring the installation of programs that are unrelated to STO.
Also, like many folks above I don't care for the push to "make" me use ARC. Granted I do - but that is only because I started having in game issues (beyond the norm) that *only* seemed to clear up if I signed in through ARC. I get the folks responding to others saying "well if it causes issues you must need a comp upgrade, mine runs just fine" - *however* to them I ask this..."you going to pay for that upgrade for those of us whose computers don't meet the standards you seem to think are acceptable?". I wish I could upgrade my stuff every 6 months to a year, but I can't; I'm sure I'm not the only one who is in this situation.
*Suggestion: Perhaps you could "adjust" the rewards via a survey or questionaire that allows the users to check off the games the play and social media they use (if any). That way every one has a chance to complete the "missions" that corelate to them and their interests without the frustration of feeling "forced" to comply. Yes, I know we are not forced to do so..hence the " ".
This is based on mostly STO and a bit of Neverwinter play:
Maybe if as much time and effort went into the games and any "bugs"/issues with them as went into the "push" for ARC and other Social Media more folks would play. Perhaps even more would be willing to pay to do so. I look at the currency in STO and all I see is the "need" to spend real money or way too much time to earn dilithium to exchange for ZEN at an exchange rate that boggles my mind more often than not. Already I'm playing a game I LOVE the genre of, the theory behind but always with the feeling it's more like a job; the time gates, the having to do "x" so many times/ so many times in a row - so little reward for both the "risk" (in game time doing Episodes, etc.) and time (things that say "takes 15 minutes on average" - when/where 'average' is calculated by figures not pertaining to many involved... Removing a lot of the "time" factors might help folks to feel more "comfortable" to attempt different games as well.
Please don't get me wrong, I *love* the game...I just worry about the things going on 'behind the scenes'/outside of it and all of the issues that have been long standing ones slated to be fixed/corrected "soon", and the lack of transparency that often clouds many of these "issues"/bugs.
I wish PWE would give us content that makes us want to play, not dangling carrots in the form of grinding that substitutes playing real STO content.
Seriously, if I wanted to play those other games, I would have already played them!
I'll try their games for 30 minutes, I play'd PWI for a couple years before Trek, so no biggie. If you don't want to do it don't, it's really simple.
FYI. I logged into Trek through arc, did one characters Doffs and that was my quest for the day. Rest of the evening I play'd without ARC like I always do.
EDIT
Like breathing? Guess nothing is free then, or it was a "expression", you know that word right? The stylistic characteristics of an utterance (opposed to meaning)?
"It's not much effort" isn't really a good argument for that. Keep in mind that until you can net Zen from these quests a lot of time will pass and you will need to do those log-in tasks every day and at one point you have three "play for seven days" quests involving games you don't want to play.
For people who don't use or enjoy a broad spectrum of PW games besides STO this reward system really doesn't hold any benefit as they don't even need it to play STO to begin with. But those players aren't really the target audience for this anyway.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
My character Tsin'xing
While I agree with your statement about the "click" away games one doesn't play, the one fact about Arc 3.0's, and other Cryptic/PWE marketing techniques is simple:
The goals are to satisfy short term metrics, instead of building long term satisfaction and relationships with the customer.
Seriously, what percentage of players are realistically do the quests and decide to play STO (at thier current level) AND become an active player in one of the other games?
This is the problem with the current marketing/business plans, short term metrica satisfaction, grind this for a month, grind that for a month, play designated game for "x" days/times, for some reward.
This seems to be PWE/Cryptics idea of what end-game activites are, it shows minimal innovation, and thats not encouraging.
Give the players actual content, that makes them feel part of the game, and the community, thats how one creates customer satisfaction and long term loyalty/relationships.
My character Tsin'xing
As it is, ARC spans across 4 processes, with a combined memory that exceeds the system resources required to run STO itself. This is totally unreasonable.
The very definition of a short term (business) plan is less than a year.
And you can say "blah, blah, blah" ( or should it be "bleh, bleh, bleh") to your hearts content but think about this, what would keep you playing more/longer; more direct content, that makes you feel like your really participating in the Star Trek Universe, or more grinding for minor rewards, some of the grinding not even on, or a part of, STO?
And like I said before... what grinding? It gives you rewards just for being there.
My character Tsin'xing
No, it gives you rewards for downloading, installing, and regularly running a series of 10-20GB marketing brochures. And if you think that's "free," I suggest you go get some "free" stuff by listening to someone's marketing spiel about timeshares in Aspen.
What @farranor said, and PWE/Cryptic are trying to tie Arc into Star Trek Online, and "rewarding" us for playing other games. If you want to do that, for an obvious attempt to boost metrics on the other games, instead actually trying to actively increase the player base of STO by actually targeting the player base to play, I dunno, Star Trek, by all means, enjoy.
I just hope that PWE/Cryptic will, someday, learn to make content that doesnt require the players to do the same mission, over and over again, to get a particular reward (ie. grind).
again for all the haters out there it is no worse than Steam,Origins,Uplay etc.
And like I said before, if a quest is for a game you don't play, just skip it. Presumably that's why the option to skip games is there.
My character Tsin'xing
There was another to just play Torchlight*, which I have. I clicked the 'Play' button to launch the game, then ALT+Tabbed the game and saw the Arc Quest complete and I could claim the XP from it.
The bad news: You would need to download/install various games through the Arc client, which could take up quite a bit of room on your hard drive, depending on the games.
If that's all it takes to 'Play' specific games, and you have plenty of room on your hard drive, I say go for it. Quick easy way to earn free Zen......well, after the hours it would take to download all those games LOL.
To access the Arc Quests, click the icon on the bottom right that is on the left, right next to the messages icon. It looks sorta like a town portal scroll from Diablo and other similar games.
To access your list of games you have installed, click the icon on the far left at the bottom, right under 'Charge', that looks like a group of squares.
Edit: At least the quests show how much XP each one gives. Also, hover your mouse over the 'Next Reward' text above the right corner of the XP bar and a tooltip shows you get 500 Arc Points.
Also of note, the available quests don't seem to change unless you complete and/or skip a quest. So no need to worry about 1 you were working on or wanted to do later being removed before you can complete it, and I think that's a good thing.
*Torchlight is a game you would need to buy a license key for. (I got it free a couple years ago through a PWE winter sale deal of some kind) Some other PWE games may also require you to buy them before you could play them. Just keep that in mind when selecting games to install.
No, the option to skip games you don't play is there to make it look like you can still use the new system to get reasonable rewards. The rewards have to be balanced for min/maxers, meaning that someone who plays all the games and does all the quests will get a moderate level of rewards rather than a ridiculously huge payout. Playing only some of the games - or, worse still, only one game - will mean a small fraction of that reasonable reward.
This, of course, makes perfect sense given the goal of this new system, which is to get people playing more PWE games (and possibly spending real money on some of them). You are basically thanking the company for sending you a pile of marketing brochures, with a "reward" of a tiny coupon that they'll send you if you walk around the participating stores and browse their wares.