I used to play a game called Star Wars Galaxies. One of the rarest things you could get in that game was Mandalorian armor, and it took a really long time to get all of the materials needed to craft a complete suit. When you did, you really felt like you had accomplished something. Which brings me to lock boxes.
I own a number of lock box ships, and I have never spent one red cent gambling to get them. Instead, I grind out dilithium, convert that dilithium to zen, use that zen to buy master keys, sell those mater keys for EC, then use that EC to buy the ships I want. This process isn't quick, but by the time I have a lock box ship without any cost to me in RL, it feels like an accomplishment.
I for one am glad to have long term goals in the games I play. So thank you for lock boxes!
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Logging on for 15 minutes to refine and buy the key and logging off?
From what I’ve experienced, Dil to Zen isn’t work, especially how easy it is to scoop up ore. It’s just time-gated.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
If I could have everything instantly, there wouldn't be much to do.
Is it an accomplishment like completing an Elite queue for the first time, or flying through the rings properly to slingshot back to the 23rd century? No, but it's still earning something in-game rather than just paying for it.
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People stupidly flush money down the toilet buying lock boxes, funneling hundreds of dollars at a time into the game. This keeps the game going and lets people like me keep playing it for free. Plus, I love to laugh at peoples threads when they don't win the ship and have a hissy fit, that's just pure gold.
As far as 'accomplishment,' sorry.. but no. You log in to 6-8 alts a day and do some admiralty missions, refine your 8k per day and flip keys.. then you eventually get the ship. It's easy, it's free.. but it's hardly any type of accomplishment. The only thing you accomplished is the ability to click the 'refine dilithium' button every day.
Still, I will admit.. it's fun to get the ship for free with no effort while you read threads about others that have spent tons of money doing the same thing only to fail.
This has to be some kind of intense troll. Nobody in their right mind would actually use the word "accomplishment" in regards to random drops that you pay money for, ESPECIALLY after a *certain company* used that exact same word when describing loot boxes in a *certain game* that rhymes with Star Doors.
Long-term effort that pays off in the end is by definition an accomplishment. Whether it is an accomplishment you appreciate or respect is the only thing debatable, the definition itself is not.
Personally, I just buy keys/R&D packs and sell them for credits when there is a lockbox ship I want, I can't be bothered to waste time (from my persecutive) doing what the OP describes.
Reading comprehension: Not a skill that everyone has.
If you're too poor to buys keys and sell for credits, you have my empathy, I know how frustrating that can be.
If you're a cheap whiner, you have my derision, you're the sort of person that nobody likes or respects.
Fair enough.
They wouldn't have to worry about paying staff since your suggestion would drive away the bulk of the player base and kill the game inside of 6 months.
The base audience for premium-currency RNG summons is people who will pay whatever to get the shiny. Making it all tradeable expands that target audience therefore increasing sales. The people with money don't just buy keys to win a ship, but also to sell for game currency. Including, as some people prefer, selling the keys and allowing someone else to play the RNG so that they can then buy the ship. Not subject to self-entitled dime store IAPers' jealousy over other players getting things "for free." Someone paid for those keys and that's all that matters for the business.
And anyone clamoring for a return to subscription model obviously knows nothing of the economics of modern online games.
That's a general problem with pretty much everything in STO. Nothing is substantially better than anything else (at least not on purpose) and you don't really need any of it for anything.
You're supposed to call me daddy.
They're present in the game and like it or not they're a decent part of why the game is still around. You can gripe and cry about it as much as you like but they won't be going anywhere. It's not as though Cryptic have pulled an EA on us really.
If people want to open lockboxes, let them. They keep the game running. I have not had any problems in the game that have been game-breaking, so I'm happy. And right now, I'm playing on an inferior laptop at almost the lowest settings. And I'm still happy because I can play. I just got my F2P all the goodies from the replayed FEs. Yes, she had to run through hoops and skip a lot of content to get to the episode she needed, but she did it. Now she'll be going back and taking up the skipped stuff.
Let the keys be traded, it's a great way to earn ec, among others and it isn't hurting anyone. Neither are lockboxes. We have the choice to open them or not.