Lobi store reclaim function

tilarta

I don't know what caused it, whether it was user or program error, but a console I purchased from the Lobi store mysteriously vanished.
Fortunately, Cryptic was able to restore the item and I've enabled protection on it (plus several others) to avoid this happening again.

But it would have resolved the problem a lot easier if I'd simply been able to "reclaim" the missing item.

So I am proposing that if a character purchases a specific item from the Lobi store, the game tags it as an per character unlock item that can be "reclaimed" in case it's deleted for whatever reason.

It's probably a little more complex then normal reclamation mechanic, given that multiples of some items might be desired.
But for a "equip one only item", it might have merit.
Especially if the game is programmed to lock out reclamation unless the item is absent from inventory.

All of these mechanics are already existing ingame, so adapting them for the Lobi store shouldn't be difficult.

kiralyn

Well, one big issue is that most/many lobi store items are unbound/sellable. So you can't just say "Bob can claim new copies of Cool Battlecruiser[T6]" because he bought it from the lobi store. It would have to be linked to actually using/binding the item.

(Kind of how SWTOR has the collection window, which keeps track of which of the millions of lockbox items your character has actually equipped.)

disqord

kiralyn wrote: »

Well, one big issue is that most/many lobi store items are unbound/sellable. So you can't just say "Bob can claim new copies of Cool Battlecruiser[T6]" because he bought it from the lobi store. It would have to be linked to actually using/binding the item.

(Kind of how SWTOR has the collection window, which keeps track of which of the millions of lockbox items your character has actually equipped.)

Like Kiralyn says, there are many items that can be sold and traded at will, so those items can't be reclaimable.

However, there is also the problem that for space and ground equipment, all items are one-time purchases. Much like reputation items, you would have to pay again to receive another copy of the item.

dracounguis

I've had all sorts of things disappear. Mostly Admiralty ship cards. I did lose a Epic Type 1 Phaser and all I got was a 'sorry' from Cryptic. And that's just the stuff I noticed! Who knows how much stuff I haven't noticed is gone. Just more proof Cryptic isn't what I'd call a 'professional' team of game makers. Only slack I'll give them is their PWE overlords probably crack the whip about new lockboxes; that they don't have the time to fix the numerous & obvious errors in the game. Just played the 1st mission of the Dyson Sphere chain, and there were graphical errors ALL over the place!

tilarta

Yes, my proposition is that the item would have to be activated and "bound to character" in order to be reclaimable.
Purchasing alone should not be a method of unlocking a character item to reclaim.

But honestly, why would someone need more then one lobi ship item?
With loudouts handling the ship gear switch easily now, whatever item it is can be used on multiple vessels.

Ground gear might be another matter, like if you wanted to have your entire crew outfitted with lobi weapons.
Then it would have to track all the ones you purchased and say "you bought 5 of this item, so you can only reclaim five".

taylor1701d

Only way it would work is if everything from the lobi store came in an non-bound box. Once opened the item would then be changed to Bound to Character. The system would then have to write this item/ship to a "purchased" status on your account.

Then the Lobi reclaim store would have to add items/ships dynamically to the Lobi store as you deleted them.
Say you had 5 Boolean Cannons and you delete one;
A Boolean reclaim icon would appear in your reclaim store (x1). If you delete 5 of them, same situation except it would be (x5).

The question them becomes, would they allow the reclaim of the Boolean on a different character on your account ? Or would these reclaims be limited to the specific character that originally purchased them ?

Kind of a lot of pointless work if the associated items would remain bound to a character. Because who deletes lobi store items anyway ? (other then a mistaken deletion-which can happen on rare occasions I guess)..
I just don't see many people needing a character bound reclaim store for lobi stuff...

Now, if each item could be transferred around all your characters on an account, that would make much more sense, and provide a great QoL improvement player side.
Though I don't think they like the idea of people swapping Lobi items around from one character to another on an account in the first place. Probably more profitable for them to leave things as is and make you equip each of your character individually.


In any event its an interesting idea... And would be a nice QoL improvement player side. But I doubt the staff have the time, nor the desire to implement such a system.
Never know though I guess.

tilarta

I don't know precisely how the console was lost, but I have some theories:

1. While I was transferring my gear from my old ship to my new ship, I somehow missed the console and when that ship was deleted, it took the console along with it.
2. Because I had a lot of that white vanilla gear from ship requisition in my personal inventory and was deleting it as fast as possible, I accidentally deleted the console too.
3. While attempting to drag the console onto my new ship, I missed the slot and the game interpreted that as a deletion command.

The least likely possibility is that it just deleted itself due to game error.

Cryptic have stated they won't be able to fix this if it should occur next time, so that's why I am insistent this system get implemented, as insurance that my lobi gear doesn't get permadeleted again.
And I will be doing some gear upgrades on it at some point, which will require me to remove the items from the ship temporarily for this process.
And I think doing an upgrade also removes the protection function, so this is the time the gear is most at risk.
Let's be honest here, if I upgrade the gear to purple quality, it's not going to be cheap to replace, in terms of dilithium used and crafting resources expended.

Plus, the console that I lost did cost me $20 USD in the form of lockbox keys, so I think an insurance mechanic against accidental deletion is necessary.
Yes, I did pay Cryptic that money directly, I didn't use my stipend or exchange dil for c-points to get the keys.

borg0vermind

I am missing now the Na'kuhl Plasma Assassin Sword. I had it during the last upgrade weekend event and now it's gone. Noticed it's gone when claiming the new Klingon items (and one of them auto-mounted to an active slot - means slot was empty).

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darkbladejk

holy necro batman /closed