And again there's NO UNIVERSE where Cryptic is going to directly assault the people doing the heavy lifting in keeping the company's doors open.
What does that have to do with the people spending actual money, newsflash the EC billionaire club aren't the whales, the people who spend considerable amounts of real money on lockbox keys and promo boxes are the whales. The people who buy large sums of zen and covert it to large sums of dilithium are whales.
I don't see how loads of EC factor into that outside of letting them get keys no promo boxes for free, And I doubt Cryptic wants too much of that happening.
Really I think the EC billionaires club needs to stop acting like they are that important in the grand scheme of the game.
They are more likely to buy the promo pack and open it or the master keys and open the box. Remembers there the ones that don't mind throwing $200 at the prize ship aka the ones the EC billionaires call stupid.
You on the otherhand...not so much.
I sell them dilithium, so wrong.
It's a very nice arrange that you people are TRIBBLE up by encouraging them to take up EC farming instead.
Actually I would think the ultimate trolling would be after the promo and Kelvin lockbox are over Cryptic announces that all promo give away ships will be added to the infinity lock box, followed by changes that force all prize ships to be "Bind on Drop", there by gutting the EC billionaires ability to make loads of EC. In addition they announce that the Dilithium Exchange is being shut down, so in the future all zen purchases are cash only.
Fixed that for you if you wanna go ultimate troll.
The forums blow up at the drop of a dime. So yeah, the drama would be pretty crazy.
But say they did this ...
A free T5 9 console, no hybrid/spec seating, version of the ship for free. Ala the Ambassador. Very stripped down. But free. And even make it so there's no way to T5-U it.
Versus the T6 promo pack, 11 console, hybrid and spec seating beast that is out now.
Then the price difference gets largely justified because it's the folks who have the massive desire for the rarest or the very best who are the same target audience that in the past have shelled out massive amounts of EC for those types of products (the old JHAS for instance).
And the folks who just want something end-game-y to let them fly their TOS Connie/TMP Connie/Excalibur/Exeter skin get a little something something.
I'd be extremely happy with that turn of events.
But even so, the forums will still be filled with drama. So yeah, nothing we can do about that.
Every change Cryptic has made to the EC economy my EC income has increased. Back at LoR I was doing good (I thought) making 3 to 5 million EC per day. Nowadays I can pull down in the neighborhood of 40 to 80 million per day basically whenever needed. I've never had a billion all at the same time but I have most certainly spent several billion over the years.
When the Kelvin lockbox hit I bought 1 pack of keys with zen, & spent roughly 250 million EC on keys & opened boxes. I didn't get lucky, so I switched to earning the ship flat out & put up 300 million EC in 5 days to get the ship.
Because the changes forced the super rich to cut prices while increasing the ec players could earn. Otherwise the extra EC would have been met with exchange price increases and more things done in private sells.
The general response to those changes wasn't yay I can make billions. It was yay things are super expensive anymore.
Yes they do. They are the main suppliers for whales.
No they aren't
Without them, the whales buy less.
You don't charge Dilithium or Zen, so they aren't buy in ways Cryptic will care that much about.
Cryptic ain't as stupid as you think they are. They ain't YOU. They understand supply and demand and hell even the more nuianced aspects of economy. So don't think for a moment that somebody who can't even grasp the BASIC concepts of economy knows how better to run a company then one that has been around for YEARS and has an MMO that lasted 6 years. As for the infinity boxes...yes it cut into the space rich...but guess what...they don't care. They quickly figured out how else to make their money. Why? Because unlike you, they are once again NOT STUPID and figured out the new trends and where the new money is. And you know what else it did? It placted plebs like you. So the rich don't care. The whales gets what they want...and stupid plebs like you think they won. That was a masterful way to handle the out of control inflation on some items that was going to cause a massive revolt actually. So yeah...cryptic ain't stupid...can't say the same for your drivel however.
The rest of this is just angry ranting that has nothing to do with pushing zen, that is what makes Cryptic money not EC.
Oh silly me. I forgot for a moment who I was speaking to...as if you could actually learn something.
Petty insults are typically a sign that you have no argument.
Especially after arguments that basically boil down to people with lots of in game currency that has no real money value get people to spend actual money becuase they sell something to them only for the in game currency that has no real money value just becuase.
Hate to break it to you but your customer base sounds like it would more likely be poor farmers who grind dilithium and EC then whales. Because thats typically how they get things
Whales are the ones Cryptic can get to put cold hard cash down without thinking about how much their actually spending becuase they want the new shiny. Thats how freemium games actually work.
T6 connie, why not mount laserscopes on stone age spears :O)
My usual comparison is to mounting railguns on Old Ironsides, the sailing ship USS Constitution (still officially part of the US Navy!), and sailing her out as a front-line battleship.
You know...I was going to try and explain how F2P models work
Should have lead with that instead of "becuase I say so", petty insults, and rants about sterilizing people who don't agree with you over a video game.
Besides didn't this guy also disagree with the EC billionaire club price gouging
What I do object to is overpricing, but that's not such a big deal as I can simply elect not to spend on a vanity item.
And if that many R&D boxes in the system pushed crafting mats in the Exchange down to reasonable prices, that would also be a great outcome. But it doesn't because the megabuck people in the system work to keep the inflation at an artificial high. Market manipulation is a thing, but only the rich can play. Just because it isn't against the rules doesn't make it fair.
What I can't understand is why people think it's a great idea to open as many as 50+ R&D boxes at a time hoping to get a ship. Even with the "earn it" method some people are pushing, you're still generating just as many R&D boxes to convert to EC. Maybe more. Does it matter whether you open it yourself or throw it out onto the Exchange for someone else to open? Somebody still has to open about the same number of boxes on average to generate the ships. That's still a lot of boxes and a hugely inefficient method of obtaining a ship.
If you're into crafting and you're going to open that many boxes at a time anyway, then why not? That I could understand. But throwing away money on a lot of something you don't really want and contributing to insanely inflated prices in-game? Yeah, I see the 'win' for Cryptic; I just don't see a whole lot of win for everybody else. Which is why I wish you'd stop pushing the 'everyone gets a chance' mantra. It's simply not true.
Let's call it what it is: A high risk for low return. No matter what currency the trade is getting pushed in, that part never changes.
I wish they'd go a similar route as they did with the lockboxes. A guaranteed redeemable currency (Lobi) that can be used as an alternate way to obtain the reward. That would effectively create a reasonable cap on how much someone has to spend to obtain something they want and cut down on the 'gambling' factor. You could still play the odds with the RNG boxes, but with the certain knowledge that at some point you'd have enough Lobi to just purchase it -- or something of near equal value -- based on the number of boxes you bought.
That made lockboxes much more reasonable in the eyes of many people and it would have worked well for this, too. Effectively increasing sales in the aggregate while being a lot more fair to the customers. That's the win-win they already have with lockboxes and it's a proven system... so why not with R&D Promo boxes?
Let me be clear... I have pretty much given up on the idea of the T6 TLC. There will not be one in my immediate future, if ever. But I'm concerned about the people who are throwing away money and/or time trying to obtain something with an unreasonably high value at an unreasonably high rate of risk. And not a little irritated by the people who are leading them on.
And last time I checked I believe he worked here, are you going to lobby petty insults at him as well?
I already explained almost everything to you and so has dozens of other posters...
So basically a drama queen rant.
which is half directed at the PLAYERS themselves.
aka the ones jacking the price up to 1 billion ec or $120 aka the ones who I've been calling out on the over pricing. Heres the thing Cryptic isn't telling players to price them that high and put them out of reach of most of the playerbase and then rant about supply and demand, they do that themselves on their own based on their greed.
I just feel the need to make a point about both the lockboxes and the packs. The R&D packs and the lockboxes come with Lobi.
And the Lobi store still provides some of the best consoles in the game, for multiple builds and playstyles.
Sooooooo, no matter what it is you're gambling on trying to get as a premium prize, every box or pack you open gives you base materials that you may or may not need, as well as a resource that when you build up enough of it (Lobi) can get you consoles that are very much recommended for your ship's build, as well as if you build up even more of it, a ship itself.
Now the R&D packs themselves give you crafting materials. Which you may not find you need. Or you may again be trying to build up your equipment that you put into the ship. So you want to do the oft recommended path for weapons, which is craft and craft and craft until you get the weapon you want with the mods you want ... or you get the ENG or SCI consoles you want with the mods you want ... and then you go in on an upgrade weekend and go nuts getting them up to Mk XIV and then rarity increases to Epic.
So yes, in an extreme type of example, if no one ever opened another box, there wouldn't be any of the ships for sale.
But the way this system is set up in the game and in reality is, every item opened has some sort of payout, be it the contents of the box or the Lobi or both. So there is incentive for people to open these things no matter what. And the rare prizes are just that, rare prizes.
TLDR: As long as people keep recommending Bioneural Infusion Circuits and the like for build after build, there's still a reason for people to open packs and boxes.
And last time I checked I believe he worked here, are you going to lobby petty insults at him as well?
Stobg, once known as "Bluegeek", was never a Cryptic (or PW) employee. He was a volunteer moderator for the forums, who gave it up eventually for reasons we have no need to know.
"Appeal to authority" is seldom a valid argumentative technique; "seldom" drops to "never" when the authority appealed to is not in fact an authority at all.
I could not see Cryptic releasing a Free T5 as the timing of the end of the Promo and the Anniversary does not work. It could hurt the sales of the promo as some might be happy not spending any more on a chance for a ship when an end game capable Connie would be present.
Now if they release it as a C-Store 2500 zen up-gradable to T5-U on the anniversary date before the promo ends I could see that happening. It may get those who originally spent no or little money buying promo boxes and not aquired the T6 ship to shelve out some real money for an end game Connie. This would be less of an impact on Promo sales, they still would be making revenue and potentially getting some hard set players set to never spend another dime on STO to open their wallets again. Same could go for the D7 and T-Liss. As well they could offer a discounted 3 pack for those wanting all 3 ships.
I have no idea how the 50th anniversary of Star Trek is going to be celebrated in game. I expect a well written dev blog about the 50th anniversary but as for free giveaways I am not expecting much. And to be honest I never expect them too and am grateful whenever they do one. I believe the big thing was a T6 Connie in a Promo gamble box. Now if I am wrong I am wrong but we all will soon see what happens on the Anniversary.
I could not see Cryptic releasing a Free T5 as the timing of the end of the Promo and the Anniversary does not work. It could hurt the sales of the promo as some might be happy not spending any more on a chance for a ship when an end game capable Connie would be present.
Now if they release it as a C-Store 2500 zen up-gradable to T5-U on the anniversary date before the promo ends I could see that happening. It may get those who originally spent no or little money buying promo boxes and not aquired the T6 ship to shelve out some real money for an end game Connie. This would be less of an impact on Promo sales, they still would be making revenue and potentially getting some hard set players set to never spend another dime on STO to open their wallets again. Same could go for the D7 and T-Liss. As well they could offer a discounted 3 pack for those wanting all 3 ships.
I have no idea how the 50th anniversary of Star Trek is going to be celebrated in game. I expect a well written dev blog about the 50th anniversary but as for free giveaways I am not expecting much. And to be honest I never expect them too and am grateful whenever they do one. I believe the big thing was a T6 Connie in a Promo gamble box. Now if I am wrong I am wrong but we all will soon see what happens on the Anniversary.
Yeah but do they even really bother with T5 ships anymore, the Ranger is probably the first T5 ship they have released in 2 years and they probably only did that becuase using a TOS skin on a T6 ship that you need to get the TOS ship to use said skin is a magic technically the "its too old people" will ignore when ranting about why certain ships shouldn't be end game.
I could not see Cryptic releasing a Free T5 as the timing of the end of the Promo and the Anniversary does not work. It could hurt the sales of the promo as some might be happy not spending any more on a chance for a ship when an end game capable Connie would be present.
Now if they release it as a C-Store 2500 zen up-gradable to T5-U on the anniversary date before the promo ends I could see that happening. It may get those who originally spent no or little money buying promo boxes and not aquired the T6 ship to shelve out some real money for an end game Connie. This would be less of an impact on Promo sales, they still would be making revenue and potentially getting some hard set players set to never spend another dime on STO to open their wallets again. Same could go for the D7 and T-Liss. As well they could offer a discounted 3 pack for those wanting all 3 ships.
I have no idea how the 50th anniversary of Star Trek is going to be celebrated in game. I expect a well written dev blog about the 50th anniversary but as for free giveaways I am not expecting much. And to be honest I never expect them too and am grateful whenever they do one. I believe the big thing was a T6 Connie in a Promo gamble box. Now if I am wrong I am wrong but we all will soon see what happens on the Anniversary.
Yeah but do they even really bother with T5 ships anymore, the Ranger is probably the first T5 ship they have released in 2 years and they probably only did that becuase using a TOS skin on a T6 ship that you need to get the TOS ship to use said skin is a magic technically the "its too old people" will ignore when ranting about why certain ships shouldn't be end game.
These promo gamble box ships will not be available in great quantities once the promo is finished. New players may never get a chance to get one. Many existing players cannot get one. So new and existing players could shell out real money for these ships generating a constant source of revenue. Not everyone in game has to have the top of the line most powerful ship. Crazy concept for some to grasp. Some people actually play this game for fun. Given all I ever use to see on the forums is When are we getting an end game Connie??? many people would buy the ship because they love Star Trek. Remember this is not just any ship (like the Ranger you mentioned) is it THE ship many fans of Star Trek would want to use in game at end game. It is not like they have to do as much to make them T5. The models are already in game so I speculate that in theory this should be less work to make them T5 then adding a brand new ship in game.
Comments
What does that have to do with the people spending actual money, newsflash the EC billionaire club aren't the whales, the people who spend considerable amounts of real money on lockbox keys and promo boxes are the whales. The people who buy large sums of zen and covert it to large sums of dilithium are whales.
I don't see how loads of EC factor into that outside of letting them get keys no promo boxes for free, And I doubt Cryptic wants too much of that happening.
Really I think the EC billionaires club needs to stop acting like they are that important in the grand scheme of the game.
They are more likely to buy the promo pack and open it or the master keys and open the box. Remembers there the ones that don't mind throwing $200 at the prize ship aka the ones the EC billionaires call stupid.
I sell them dilithium, so wrong.
It's a very nice arrange that you people are TRIBBLE up by encouraging them to take up EC farming instead.
Fixed that for you if you wanna go ultimate troll.
What I would love even more?
Watching the forum fire, when everyone who shelled out a s%1T load of resorurces for the T-6,feels"burned" that everyone has a connie.
I will bring my mug, and drink hot salty tears like it was free beer at an octoberfest.
It will be glorious!
But say they did this ...
A free T5 9 console, no hybrid/spec seating, version of the ship for free. Ala the Ambassador. Very stripped down. But free. And even make it so there's no way to T5-U it.
Versus the T6 promo pack, 11 console, hybrid and spec seating beast that is out now.
Then the price difference gets largely justified because it's the folks who have the massive desire for the rarest or the very best who are the same target audience that in the past have shelled out massive amounts of EC for those types of products (the old JHAS for instance).
And the folks who just want something end-game-y to let them fly their TOS Connie/TMP Connie/Excalibur/Exeter skin get a little something something.
I'd be extremely happy with that turn of events.
But even so, the forums will still be filled with drama. So yeah, nothing we can do about that.
Cryptic doesn't care about them, they care about the people buying zen to get packs and keys. The player EC economy means nothing to them.
And before trying to argue that they do remember that Cryptic made recent changes that cut down on their EC income.
Because the changes forced the super rich to cut prices while increasing the ec players could earn. Otherwise the extra EC would have been met with exchange price increases and more things done in private sells.
The general response to those changes wasn't yay I can make billions. It was yay things are super expensive anymore.
No they aren't
You don't charge Dilithium or Zen, so they aren't buy in ways Cryptic will care that much about.
The rest of this is just angry ranting that has nothing to do with pushing zen, that is what makes Cryptic money not EC.
Petty insults are typically a sign that you have no argument.
Especially after arguments that basically boil down to people with lots of in game currency that has no real money value get people to spend actual money becuase they sell something to them only for the in game currency that has no real money value just becuase.
Hate to break it to you but your customer base sounds like it would more likely be poor farmers who grind dilithium and EC then whales. Because thats typically how they get things
Whales are the ones Cryptic can get to put cold hard cash down without thinking about how much their actually spending becuase they want the new shiny. Thats how freemium games actually work.
Either way, it's just silly.
Should have lead with that instead of "becuase I say so", petty insults, and rants about sterilizing people who don't agree with you over a video game.
Besides didn't this guy also disagree with the EC billionaire club price gouging
And last time I checked I believe he worked here, are you going to lobby petty insults at him as well?
So basically a drama queen rant.
aka the ones jacking the price up to 1 billion ec or $120 aka the ones who I've been calling out on the over pricing. Heres the thing Cryptic isn't telling players to price them that high and put them out of reach of most of the playerbase and then rant about supply and demand, they do that themselves on their own based on their greed.
And the Lobi store still provides some of the best consoles in the game, for multiple builds and playstyles.
Sooooooo, no matter what it is you're gambling on trying to get as a premium prize, every box or pack you open gives you base materials that you may or may not need, as well as a resource that when you build up enough of it (Lobi) can get you consoles that are very much recommended for your ship's build, as well as if you build up even more of it, a ship itself.
Now the R&D packs themselves give you crafting materials. Which you may not find you need. Or you may again be trying to build up your equipment that you put into the ship. So you want to do the oft recommended path for weapons, which is craft and craft and craft until you get the weapon you want with the mods you want ... or you get the ENG or SCI consoles you want with the mods you want ... and then you go in on an upgrade weekend and go nuts getting them up to Mk XIV and then rarity increases to Epic.
So yes, in an extreme type of example, if no one ever opened another box, there wouldn't be any of the ships for sale.
But the way this system is set up in the game and in reality is, every item opened has some sort of payout, be it the contents of the box or the Lobi or both. So there is incentive for people to open these things no matter what. And the rare prizes are just that, rare prizes.
TLDR: As long as people keep recommending Bioneural Infusion Circuits and the like for build after build, there's still a reason for people to open packs and boxes.
"Appeal to authority" is seldom a valid argumentative technique; "seldom" drops to "never" when the authority appealed to is not in fact an authority at all.
Now if they release it as a C-Store 2500 zen up-gradable to T5-U on the anniversary date before the promo ends I could see that happening. It may get those who originally spent no or little money buying promo boxes and not aquired the T6 ship to shelve out some real money for an end game Connie. This would be less of an impact on Promo sales, they still would be making revenue and potentially getting some hard set players set to never spend another dime on STO to open their wallets again. Same could go for the D7 and T-Liss. As well they could offer a discounted 3 pack for those wanting all 3 ships.
I have no idea how the 50th anniversary of Star Trek is going to be celebrated in game. I expect a well written dev blog about the 50th anniversary but as for free giveaways I am not expecting much. And to be honest I never expect them too and am grateful whenever they do one. I believe the big thing was a T6 Connie in a Promo gamble box. Now if I am wrong I am wrong but we all will soon see what happens on the Anniversary.
Yeah but do they even really bother with T5 ships anymore, the Ranger is probably the first T5 ship they have released in 2 years and they probably only did that becuase using a TOS skin on a T6 ship that you need to get the TOS ship to use said skin is a magic technically the "its too old people" will ignore when ranting about why certain ships shouldn't be end game.
These promo gamble box ships will not be available in great quantities once the promo is finished. New players may never get a chance to get one. Many existing players cannot get one. So new and existing players could shell out real money for these ships generating a constant source of revenue. Not everyone in game has to have the top of the line most powerful ship. Crazy concept for some to grasp. Some people actually play this game for fun. Given all I ever use to see on the forums is When are we getting an end game Connie??? many people would buy the ship because they love Star Trek. Remember this is not just any ship (like the Ranger you mentioned) is it THE ship many fans of Star Trek would want to use in game at end game. It is not like they have to do as much to make them T5. The models are already in game so I speculate that in theory this should be less work to make them T5 then adding a brand new ship in game.