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Starship Traits Unlockable Account Wide
thelunarboy
Member Posts: 412 Arc User
I wish that once you had unlocked a starship trait on a C Store ship, that it unlocked for your other appropriate captains at VA level... without having to grind through the ship again. You've already paid for the ship and unlike lockbox or event ships, there's no further profit to be gained from them, so there isn't any real reason to disallow it.
I respect some people will see it as a matter of earning the right to have it being akin to reputation powers, but for me its about allowing people who have the already existing right to get the trait, the opportunity to do so without breaking their sense of immersion.
And you know what? I really wouldn't mind if there was a compromise of a secondary trait slot progress meter that had no other purpose than building towards traits you had earned on other Captains that you could put in the empty slot and re-earn in the ship you were already flying. (No other benefits on the second mastery bar, just earn the same level of XP that it would take to earn on a trait by trait basis.. and exempt event, lobi and lockbox ship traits).
I think that would make everyone happy. No free starship trait without playing for it... but no loss of immersion if you already have access to the traits banked.
I respect some people will see it as a matter of earning the right to have it being akin to reputation powers, but for me its about allowing people who have the already existing right to get the trait, the opportunity to do so without breaking their sense of immersion.
And you know what? I really wouldn't mind if there was a compromise of a secondary trait slot progress meter that had no other purpose than building towards traits you had earned on other Captains that you could put in the empty slot and re-earn in the ship you were already flying. (No other benefits on the second mastery bar, just earn the same level of XP that it would take to earn on a trait by trait basis.. and exempt event, lobi and lockbox ship traits).
I think that would make everyone happy. No free starship trait without playing for it... but no loss of immersion if you already have access to the traits banked.
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It's all part of the Metrics.
Metrics look good to investors, they can point an say, "look at our average user playtimes, they're on for over an hour per day !"
That's worth more to them then anything else, that is what will secure future investment.
Or its a big part of it.
It's a real shame, because I agree with you. It would be a real nice QoL change.
What do you think of my compromise solution then? Doesn't that give them their Metrics at the same time as giving players a way to access traits without faffing about?
Won't happen. They make waaaaay too much off keys and all that to do it.
I agree that it should have been set up that way from the beginning, sure- but it's their business plan... microtransactions wherever they can place them.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Its a fair and reasonable compromise imo, but will cost dev time to get it programmed/implemented.
I'm not a programmer, so I've got no idea how long that would take. It may very well be a relatively easy job. It also may be more complicated then we can even imagine.
I would enjoy this though, if ever it came to pass.
Well... that's why I specifically exempted lockbox, lobi and event ships from my idea. I respect the notion that they want to retain their uniqueness and special nature.
at least for me that yould be incentive to buy a few more c-store ships, which I do not want to fly, but would be worthwhile for the trait. In other words, I'd buy more ships.
Join Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2010
For example, if you currently want to have the "All Hands On Deck" ship trait for all characters and all factions you would need to spend $90 to purchase each ship in each faction. If the ship trait is account unlocked after just one captain has unlocked it, then that would effectively reduce revenue by $60 or 66%.
Of course, if you want to fly the faction specific ship with that trait then naturally you would want to buy the ship anyway. But if you are specifically only interested in getting the ship trait, then Cryptic will see a decrease in revenue.
Could it be unlocked for the specific faction? I guess... but that can affect the metrics. If you did not need to grind playing with the ship to unlock the tier 5 ship trait, then potentially you could play STO less often. With the current grind you know and Cryptic knows you are going to play and play and play until you unlock the trait especially if you want to use it with another ship.
The compromise I envisaged *is* faction restricted and compensates the metrics by merely allowing you to slot the trait in a buildup bar in a faction appropriate ship of your choice. So once you have unlocked the trait using the ship it came on with one account, you can drag and drop the trait in to the grind bar slot and earn it in exactly the same way (earning ship xp), the only difference being you don't have to juggle ships.
Same gameplay time, same requirements for ship purchase... just much less faff for players who want to stay in one ship per character. Nobody loses any money.
ALT Characters are the PLAYER option. If you want a "special" trait for each character, then, IMHO, each toon should, and excuse me for the next word - "EARN" that trait.
I applaude Cryptic for the Account unlock for event ships.. That, imho, was probably the best thing they did to be ALT Friendly..
Just having the ships that has the trait SHOULD NOT, imho, unlock the trait for each toon you have.. Ship Traits are "extra" skills, buff's, boost, that are unlocked by actually "mastering" the ship.
If any toon does not FLY the ship, Master the Ship, EARN the trait, then the trait should remain locked until they do.
MMO's and STOL, are NOT an "instant gratification" and "Something for Nothing" business plan. If you want instant gratification, go cut your lawn.. tyvm..
If you actually bothered reading instead of knee-jerk reacting, you'd see that my compromise says you still have to work for it.
That's how this thread has evolved I proposed an idea... people point out why the developers wouldn't go for it, I adapt the idea so it arguably works for both parties.
There's now no something or nothing element to it.
Ideas adapt as knowledge improves.
I mean isn't that the idea of debate in a forum? Someone propose an idea, other people point out perceived flaws in that idea, then as the community knowledge base grows, ideas evolve.
There really is no need for the guns blazing approach.