[...]
Considering that Cryptic managed to replace every single item in our inventories with a "dynamic item" variant of the item to enable the upgrade system (and did so free of charge, even if you never ever did use these "dynamic" items to make upgrades), and yet hasn't tried to sell us this feature hints that it just might not be so easy.
I suspect organizational, not technical issues here. Someone who has to make that decision is either not aware of the potential for sales, is lazy, or believes that it would somehow hurt overall sales. Either way, it is something that should be corrected.
The developers actually have talked about this before, and explained that it is difficult. Even if they are not the ones making the decisions, if the ones making the decisions have missed this wish for several years...
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Too much of one thing however the cost of these virtual items has increased to rather unreasonable prices for something that isnt real, coupled with the dilithium market that could be around 300 - 1, the chances of making some real progress is significantly limited even with a number of alts.
Right, this as well. 30 bucks for a virtual star ship isn't something I'd ever pay, the dilithium rate doesn't really bother me as I get dilithium while playing. Sure, it takes maybe a year to save for a T6 but whatevs
But items in a game for the price of a new game? No, definitely not. Realistically, what I would be willing to pay would be 10 currencies tops for account unlock star ships.
Yeah, $30 ship is a lot for me when I buy games typically for $25 or less. Most times around $5-$6.
That said, I find it hard to buy stuff here. I don't understand how people can spend $100-$500 a MONTH? What do you buy exactly? Even if I was just handed $100 worth of zen everything month, I in no way could spend it even if I wanted to.
Retired. I'm now in search for that perfect space anomaly.
The Lobi Store is what has derailed the C-Store since F2P hit.
The C-Store is essentially become a place for Ships and Service Tokens.
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
I've actually stopped buying things in the Lobi Store, to protest this change.
<shrug>
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
There have been few items in the store where i'm like Mehhh, no interest, but there have also been lots of things where I just don't buy them cause I know I wouldn't use it. I like more ships, and I'd definately buy extra upgrades to ships, even if they acted like fleet ship mods where its a use and done item where I could add an extra weapon slot or consoles to a ship. or even upgrade a bridge officer slot! Right now my biggest wants for other items would be the red matter generator, and more enterprise era stuff like the M.A.C.O. gear and phase pistols. Addmitted I'm a life time sub, since day 2 of the game, so I have a stipend I use every month, but I normally buy a few thousand zen a month for ships and such
Depends how long you've been playing, been here since F2P started on this account so I've got virtually everything out so far that I want either by buying or from giveaways and I'd think that'd be the case for many people. If I've any complaint at all, it's that a lot of the costumes and gear seem to go to the Lobi store now rather than the C-Store.
Prices are quite high for a bunch of pixels IMO, but not all that different from many other F2P MMOs out there. Nature of the beast, and it's not like you need to buy everything that comes out. C-Store stuff's always been optional extras anyway.
This is actually why I say getting worse. With more things that should have been C-Store relegated to the lobi or fleet projects etc. The C-Store is losing some value. Few services are going to be used often. The new ships are going to all be T6 so less interest. If there were a few more low level choices with consoles then they would be snapped up. The way it is working you can have everything in the store and still be looking for things you might want.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
The Lobi Store is what has derailed the C-Store since F2P hit.
The C-Store is essentially become a place for Ships and Service Tokens.
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
I've actually stopped buying things in the Lobi Store, to protest this change.
<shrug>
I actually never thought about this. That makes a lot more sense. Placing the cosmetic and exotic ships in a per-character unlock store that is way more expensive while the c-store gets essentially dusty might seem like a economically sound choice, but it sure leaves a bitter taste. But I never purchased anything from the Lobi store anyway, despite having around 300 Crystal collecting dust on some character I acquired during replay events and the like over the years. I'm not paying for per-character unlocks with anything but currency I can gain in-game (dil to zen doesn't count). In fact, if anything isn't a account unlock I don't bother.
^ 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
It is pretty obvious that C-Store items are highly desirable. The exchange rate of dil/Zen is going up, that's all you need to know.
Dil/zen means people want Zen which can buy keys for the Lobi store items. And some like me would rather buy my Dil than spend a few days a week mining instead of playing the game.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
The Lobi Store is what has derailed the C-Store since F2P hit.
The C-Store is essentially become a place for Ships and Service Tokens.
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
I've actually stopped buying things in the Lobi Store, to protest this change.
<shrug>
I actually never thought about this. That makes a lot more sense. Placing the cosmetic and exotic ships in a per-character unlock store that is way more expensive while the c-store gets essentially dusty might seem like a economically sound choice, but it sure leaves a bitter taste. But I never purchased anything from the Lobi store anyway, despite having around 300 Crystal collecting dust on some character I acquired during replay events and the like over the years. I'm not paying for per-character unlocks with anything but currency I can gain in-game (dil to zen doesn't count). In fact, if anything isn't a account unlock I don't bother.
Yeah, I only have one character with anything out of the lobi store, and that's my "dominion" character (second to the right in my sig). She has the Jem'Hadar uniforms for most of her BOffs (all aliengen approximations of Jem'Hadar), and the new mirror uniforms for Elisa (who I consider a terran who was stranded in the prime galaxy and subsequently joined my rouge Vorta captain).
While I would probably use at least the mirror uniforms on other captains, I refuse to spend any more money on something I feel should be an account unlock. I -only- picked up the mirror uniform for role play reasons, and now that I'm happy with all my characters I won't be getting anymore lobi items, not unless the uniforms become account wide anyway.
Ok, if a T6 Excalibur showed up in the lobi store I might have to break the bank, but since that's a main faction ship I doubt that will happen.
Much better, before Delta Rising you had to buy lockbox and other exchange ships if you wanted the best. These days I feel like it's a much more horizontal progression especially with specialization ships like the pilot escorts. It's an Uber bugship at 1/10 the price!
It is pretty obvious that C-Store items are highly desirable. The exchange rate of dil/Zen is going up, that's all you need to know.
That can just as easily be interpreted as a decrease in dilithium value brought about by the increase in dilithium supply (Admiralty, for example) and decrease in dilithium demand (more and more fleets are maxed out, some people have stopped upgrading, etc.).
Also, lockboxes.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
I feel they are getting worse because every new season adds more stuff you need to purchase to use your c-store item. All items need to be available on the exchange because it is quite difficult to spend zen on a ship that doesn't have potential unless you get the other matching ships with it or an upgrade.
Well, some C-store ships and the essential service (EC limit, account bank) are really the only things I desire. But that's only because there is not a chance in hell I will ever get my hand on the ridiculous lobi store and lockbox mechanism due to their ridiculous cost. Even now C-store items are so expensive (due to the ridiculous 320:1 exchange rate) that I don't bother too much unless there are some ships that really attract me either in terms of aesthetics or design.
Even with that, C-store is becoming less interesting to me now because there really aren't too many new things that aren't ships in the C-store and I won't be collecting ships after I get what I want. What's the point of buying so many ships when your character can fly one at a time anyway. The more ships I have, the less time I have to really play with each ship, and making further purchases even less desirable. (And nope, don't tell me you can still use them for admiralty, spending $30 on a ship that will end up used as a ship card in a clicking mini-game short time after is simply not justifiable)
The Lobi Store is what has derailed the C-Store since F2P hit.
The C-Store is essentially become a place for Ships and Service Tokens.
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
I've actually stopped buying things in the Lobi Store, to protest this change.
<shrug>
I actually never thought about this. That makes a lot more sense. Placing the cosmetic and exotic ships in a per-character unlock store that is way more expensive while the c-store gets essentially dusty might seem like a economically sound choice, but it sure leaves a bitter taste. But I never purchased anything from the Lobi store anyway, despite having around 300 Crystal collecting dust on some character I acquired during replay events and the like over the years. I'm not paying for per-character unlocks with anything but currency I can gain in-game (dil to zen doesn't count). In fact, if anything isn't a account unlock I don't bother.
I unlocked the Jem'hadar uniform and the dark Solanae EVA suit... pretty sure thats all I'll ever get as I have like 90lobi left
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
There's really been nothing new added to the cstore for a very long time aside from the occasional power creep inducing ships. Sure we get crafting packs (lol) and new doff packs occasionally, and once in a blue moon some new costume but it seems more and more like new stuff is getting stuffed into lockboxes and they just want to sell master keys.
But speaking of ships.....why spend money on a ship when something better is going to come out in a few months? Cryptic promised over and over and over that T5 was the end of the line for ship progression and we'd just see new and different T5 ships because they didn't want to make us feel like we wasted our money on something that then got made obsolete, but now we have T6 ships. Not only that but to upgrade our c-store T5 ships to T5-U we have to spend even more money to buy the idiotic upgrade tokens while lockbox and lobi ships got free upgrades. This does not in any way entice me to spend my money.
Ship interiors for sale, some broken, do we have a functional ship interior system to make them worth it? No.
Ship bundles are not worth the money.
Some 'Services' that are in the store should be in-game, i.e., captain respec token.
Most items in general are overpriced.
Ships cost too much, Recycled ships with less desirable designs than the originals, Nothing else new added to it anymore besides pack promos and ships. Just wondering if the future holds more expensive ships for every new tier they add or what?
Yes, $30 is too much. When they went to T6 they should have scaled down the costs to keep max level at $25. Do they really think that what used to be max level for $25 is still worth $25? I think not.
Yes, $30 is too much. When they went to T6 they should have scaled down the costs to keep max level at $25. Do they really think that what used to be max level for $25 is still worth $25? I think not.
Well, when you consider the official announcement when the delta operations pack promo was ending included a line that went something like "get it now before the price increases".....yeah, they probably really do think they're still worth $25.
While I bought a flagship mega-pack, I don't see myself doing it again. The value there was dealing with all the empty ship skills slots on my characters. I don't need more T6 ships to have a good library to choose from now.
And the older ships are definitely outliving their value. I may buy a T6 arbiter, but $25 dollars to get the VATA console from the T5 Avenger for it is too much for me to seriously consider that transaction.
The only thing I ever saw (with the exception of dry docks) since I started playing going to the c-store are faction ships. Everything else goes either to the boxes or lobi store which is ok I guess. Easier for me to save up ec and buy keys or items directly than save up dil and buy zen.
Character class change token.
Character species change token.
I'd also pay for things like better ship interriors. Not in the sense of a bridgepack, but in the sense of a "instead of the basic ship interior, you get a realistic map of the ship's 40 decks, where you can see from the layout that you are actually in a ship".
I honestly cant think of an MMO that lets you change your race like that, nor your class. That's just not how games work.
They would make ship interiors if people actually used them.
Have to say getting worse but only really in respect of certain T5 ships. The old VA T5.5 ships like the B'rel, Galaxy and Defiant really need to be knocked back to level 40 requirements as who in their right mind would ever buy a T5 ship once they are in the T6 ship ranges?
A fair amount of people out of their minds bought the Rommy Valdore just for that console, the skin also rocks, even when mixed with other parts.
Broken ships etc. in this game is why i voted negative, the previously mentioned rename token, the two dyson ships i bought that were broken with a Jan. 2015 patch, and were then "fixed".
Many people told me theirs worked fine after said fix, mine never have, now im in tier 6 fleet ships with no reason to fly them anyway.
Nothing bothers me more than games that constantly have busted content, and after 6 yrs and more than enough money spent the people who constantly apologize for it.
If you have to make mediocre products, dont bother.
It's simple - we have old and new ships, but all other items/services are old (well there are Drydock and loadouts slots). The last big good item was Delta Operations Pack, from that one - it was only ships, ships, and ships.... where are new playable races, new ship bridges, even new uniforms and ground gear (Zen store ones, not Lobi, Reputation or Mission Rewards)?
And all new ships are T6 with ship-bound special gear, or gear set (consoles/torpedo/weapons/whatever) - and the Event ship does not count - it's not Zen Store ship....
Getting worse, but only in the sense that there isn't enough of them.
Ships are ships, and I don't play the lottery, so cstore ships are the only ships I will ever purchase.
Same goes for Lobi items. I would love quite a few items from there, but being so expensive and per character only, put's me right off.
Need more cstore items in general, really.
Do you consider the desirability of C-Store items to be getting better or getting worse? Give your thoughts on why you think so.
There's just TRIBBLE to get on there now.
I would be TOTALLY cool with exclusive Space Barbie items in the Z-Store - kinda like the way the Tempest skin was WAYYY back in the day (Before it became re-purposed for a "Fleet" skin)
But now, most costumes are NOT account-un lock...and that sucks.
Comments
Yeah, $30 ship is a lot for me when I buy games typically for $25 or less. Most times around $5-$6.
That said, I find it hard to buy stuff here. I don't understand how people can spend $100-$500 a MONTH? What do you buy exactly? Even if I was just handed $100 worth of zen everything month, I in no way could spend it even if I wanted to.
The C-Store is essentially become a place for Ships and Service Tokens.
The Lobi Store is now the place for all other cosmetic items, mainly because it takes a crapload more of Cash to build up Lobi Crystals to purchase items and thus sells more lockbox keys.
(which is this games bread & butter now)
I've actually stopped buying things in the Lobi Store, to protest this change.
<shrug>
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
This is actually why I say getting worse. With more things that should have been C-Store relegated to the lobi or fleet projects etc. The C-Store is losing some value. Few services are going to be used often. The new ships are going to all be T6 so less interest. If there were a few more low level choices with consoles then they would be snapped up. The way it is working you can have everything in the store and still be looking for things you might want.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
"Let them eat static!"
I actually never thought about this. That makes a lot more sense. Placing the cosmetic and exotic ships in a per-character unlock store that is way more expensive while the c-store gets essentially dusty might seem like a economically sound choice, but it sure leaves a bitter taste. But I never purchased anything from the Lobi store anyway, despite having around 300 Crystal collecting dust on some character I acquired during replay events and the like over the years. I'm not paying for per-character unlocks with anything but currency I can gain in-game (dil to zen doesn't count). In fact, if anything isn't a account unlock I don't bother.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Dil/zen means people want Zen which can buy keys for the Lobi store items. And some like me would rather buy my Dil than spend a few days a week mining instead of playing the game.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
Yeah, I only have one character with anything out of the lobi store, and that's my "dominion" character (second to the right in my sig). She has the Jem'Hadar uniforms for most of her BOffs (all aliengen approximations of Jem'Hadar), and the new mirror uniforms for Elisa (who I consider a terran who was stranded in the prime galaxy and subsequently joined my rouge Vorta captain).
While I would probably use at least the mirror uniforms on other captains, I refuse to spend any more money on something I feel should be an account unlock. I -only- picked up the mirror uniform for role play reasons, and now that I'm happy with all my characters I won't be getting anymore lobi items, not unless the uniforms become account wide anyway.
Ok, if a T6 Excalibur showed up in the lobi store I might have to break the bank, but since that's a main faction ship I doubt that will happen.
That can just as easily be interpreted as a decrease in dilithium value brought about by the increase in dilithium supply (Admiralty, for example) and decrease in dilithium demand (more and more fleets are maxed out, some people have stopped upgrading, etc.).
Also, lockboxes.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Even with that, C-store is becoming less interesting to me now because there really aren't too many new things that aren't ships in the C-store and I won't be collecting ships after I get what I want. What's the point of buying so many ships when your character can fly one at a time anyway. The more ships I have, the less time I have to really play with each ship, and making further purchases even less desirable. (And nope, don't tell me you can still use them for admiralty, spending $30 on a ship that will end up used as a ship card in a clicking mini-game short time after is simply not justifiable)
I unlocked the Jem'hadar uniform and the dark Solanae EVA suit... pretty sure thats all I'll ever get as I have like 90lobi left
Sums up my opinion too.
But speaking of ships.....why spend money on a ship when something better is going to come out in a few months? Cryptic promised over and over and over that T5 was the end of the line for ship progression and we'd just see new and different T5 ships because they didn't want to make us feel like we wasted our money on something that then got made obsolete, but now we have T6 ships. Not only that but to upgrade our c-store T5 ships to T5-U we have to spend even more money to buy the idiotic upgrade tokens while lockbox and lobi ships got free upgrades. This does not in any way entice me to spend my money.
Ship bundles are not worth the money.
Some 'Services' that are in the store should be in-game, i.e., captain respec token.
Most items in general are overpriced.
Yes, $30 is too much. When they went to T6 they should have scaled down the costs to keep max level at $25. Do they really think that what used to be max level for $25 is still worth $25? I think not.
Well, when you consider the official announcement when the delta operations pack promo was ending included a line that went something like "get it now before the price increases".....yeah, they probably really do think they're still worth $25.
And the older ships are definitely outliving their value. I may buy a T6 arbiter, but $25 dollars to get the VATA console from the T5 Avenger for it is too much for me to seriously consider that transaction.
FF14 does as well.
A fair amount of people out of their minds bought the Rommy Valdore just for that console, the skin also rocks, even when mixed with other parts.
Broken ships etc. in this game is why i voted negative, the previously mentioned rename token, the two dyson ships i bought that were broken with a Jan. 2015 patch, and were then "fixed".
Many people told me theirs worked fine after said fix, mine never have, now im in tier 6 fleet ships with no reason to fly them anyway.
Nothing bothers me more than games that constantly have busted content, and after 6 yrs and more than enough money spent the people who constantly apologize for it.
If you have to make mediocre products, dont bother.
And all new ships are T6 with ship-bound special gear, or gear set (consoles/torpedo/weapons/whatever) - and the Event ship does not count - it's not Zen Store ship....
Ships are ships, and I don't play the lottery, so cstore ships are the only ships I will ever purchase.
Same goes for Lobi items. I would love quite a few items from there, but being so expensive and per character only, put's me right off.
Need more cstore items in general, really.
There's just TRIBBLE to get on there now.
I would be TOTALLY cool with exclusive Space Barbie items in the Z-Store - kinda like the way the Tempest skin was WAYYY back in the day (Before it became re-purposed for a "Fleet" skin)
But now, most costumes are NOT account-un lock...and that sucks.