Yeah, not surprised at that price. But, then, I'd looked at their site before and saw what the things they make cost.
(also, after a few years of seeing Kotaku articles about things like the Hot Toys superhero action figures that are $200-300+, etc. Non-super-mass-produced stuff is expensive.)
What is this garbage? You HAVE to have MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS to send data to a website?! And don't tell me it's because of the lighting, that shouldn't be an issue. NOT EVERYONE HAS A SUPER AWESOME GRAPHICS CARD.
What is this garbage? You HAVE to have MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS to send data to a website?! And don't tell me it's because of the lighting, that shouldn't be an issue. NOT EVERYONE HAS A SUPER AWESOME GRAPHICS CARD.
The game requires Intel HD graphics as minimum.. That's not an "SUPER AWESOME" graphics card, it's a chipset.
If you don't even have that... Well.. lol. How are you even playing the game? Or using modern websites?
What is this garbage? You HAVE to have MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS to send data to a website?! And don't tell me it's because of the lighting, that shouldn't be an issue. NOT EVERYONE HAS A SUPER AWESOME GRAPHICS CARD.
Of course the lighting is an issue, they are sending digital renders of the ship so that they have an idea how to paint it. Obviously this needs to conform to a certain standard. It's probably rendered on your computer, but maybe it just exists so that the servers render and what you saw in game actually match up and you're not completely suprised by the result.
For your enjoyment of the game I would probably also recommend to spend the 150 $ of the ship model on a graphics card instead.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Steeeeeeep Pricing.. $2.00 worth of plastic.. The paint job I can see paying for mind you, the printed mold is not worth a fraction of the price though... 10000% mark up... You can buy spools of plastic for 3d printing for $20.00 each.. Hope they have some extreme discounts or this program will fail like the last attempt
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
far to steep of a price for plastic, rip off some might say
You have no clue what custom work costs guy. These are RESIN not plastic the resin as has been pointed out costs over 140 dollars a liter. Then add in the labor cost of custom painting each one frankly 350 is a bargin. Have you ever priced out what a complete custom build runs from a professional builder who uses top shelf materials and after market parts to correct the flaws in most kits? I am not talking bargin basement Joe Plumber cranking out kits bone stock from the box using testors tube glue to slap them together. In a three words "No you haven't". Yeah get ready to layout around 2 grand then TRIBBLE about the price here. Clueless people. Oh yeah want to know what my Forbidden Planet Blaster cost? Not talking the old Polar lites kit that is wrong in size and details but one made to exactly match the hero ones in the film. The maker used an actual on screen one and the drafts to make the kit. Try a grand just for the kit plus 60 bucks for the lighting and sound kit. So yeah 350 is dirt freaking cheap for a custom made detailed model. Want yet another example? My wifes Spock ears made off the actual molds used to make Mr. Nimoys prosthetics in STTMP and later used in Undiscovered Country and made and painted by Steve Neill the EFX guy who made them for the films try 200 bucks right there. So yeah tell me again how this is a rip off?
Umm...no they ain't crash. They are complaining that it costs too much. Nevermind that the resin alone in an average ship will be over 100 bucks and considering the wear and tear on the $3500 printer along with over head cost AND labor, you are looking at them pretty much break even on the base primered version.
Just like VCRs being over $600 when they first came out, now you are some technophobe it you still have one.
Even if they are selling these at a minimal profit, it's still, obviously, way above what most people were expecting or have the disposable income to get one.
If materials are that much for a 12" one, w/ all the complaining they should see that there is a market for cheaper versions. A 6" one will use much less material. The question would be how much detail can be printed at a smaller size. I've got some "Johnny Lighting" Trek ships that are mass-produced plastic around that size. Not great detail, but the size is good for sitting on the shelf. Plus, I think I bought them for $7 each. There should be a sweet spot between detail and cost that will make people happy.
I mean, I got a 12" decently detailed DS9 for $70...
Ultimately, all the debates about quality, painting, shipping, bubble wrap expenditure (with overhead to cover the employees addicted to the pop-pop noise) are just side issues.
The simple fact is, the price is too high to get the average player interested in ordering this product, regardless of how good it is.
And there's nothing that can be said to convince someone who regards the price as exhorbitant to suddenly turn around and say, yes, I'll pay that much.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Ultimately, all the debates about quality, painting, shipping, bubble wrap expenditure (with overhead to cover the employees addicted to the pop-pop noise) are just side issues.
The simple fact is, the price is too high to get the average player interested in ordering this product, regardless of how good it is.
And there's nothing that can be said to convince someone who regards the price as exhorbitant to suddenly turn around and say, yes, I'll pay that much.
True, but the item is probably not aimed at the "average" gamer. It's aimed at people with a strong love for their ships, at collectors, and with the budget to afford it. Apparently Gameprint does this type of work not just for Star Trek Online, so they probably have a good idea on how many they make.
The setup for exporting ship models to Gameprint was probably an upfront cost Cryptic and Gameprint had to pay, but it's probably not on the scale of building a production template and producing 50,000 models and now hoping to sell them all to make a profit. The ships are made on demand.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Ultimately, all the debates about quality, painting, shipping, bubble wrap expenditure (with overhead to cover the employees addicted to the pop-pop noise) are just side issues.
The simple fact is, the price is too high to get the average player interested in ordering this product, regardless of how good it is.
And there's nothing that can be said to convince someone who regards the price as exhorbitant to suddenly turn around and say, yes, I'll pay that much.
I don't think anyone is trying to convince others that they should buy one. People have mentioned that they feel the price is too high and have tried to compare other less expensive products to the process and service offered with what PWE has in place. Resin isn't cheap! Paying artists to hand paint something close to a foot long isn't cheap! Especially in California where everyone feels like they need to be making $50 an hour because they work at McDonald's. Primer and paints cost money too! People trying to explain why the cost is what it is is not trying to convice people to buy something they can't afford.
For those that can't afford it. Perhaps PWE and the company could come up with some sort of payment plan to entice a few more that really would like something like this but simply can't afford the upfront cost. The cost isn't an issue for me. However, they don't offer the Vesta class, which is the one ship I have that I wanted more than any other. PWE said they spoke to Mark Rademader about including the Vesta's but his Tweet when asked, suggests that PWE is full of it. No Vesta, no money from me!
make sure the shield in your actual shield slot doesn't have visuals (if it has any) toggled on...putting a shield in the vanity slot is supposed to override visuals of the shield in your equip slot - but this is cryptic, so don't rely on things to be working like they should
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
make sure the shield in your actual shield slot doesn't have visuals (if it has any) toggled on...putting a shield in the vanity slot is supposed to override visuals of the shield in your equip slot - but this is cryptic, so don't rely on things to be working like they should
Logging out and then in again seems to have fixed it.
Well, let's look at this from an economic/financial assessment viewpoint.
Cryptic have provided a service that caters to only a small percentage of the playerbase for a high fee.
So which is better, selling a high cost item to only 10% of the playerbase or a low cost item to 50% of the playerbase?
I would think that the second option would generate more income to support the game, if that is the intended purpose of this function.
Are there really players who pay $1000 per month for STO?
What are they buying????
And why do they need to buy it every month?
I actually have been wondering how the shield visuals affect the printed model.
For example, I used the 8472 rep shield to make the carapace of my Bioship dark green.
If that ship was printed, would it acknowledge the darker/different colors of the visual appearance or print the default model without the visual applied?
I assume this could apply to all kinds of visuals, deflectors, impulse engines, consoles.
Like if a ship was printed with the Borg Assimalted Console visible, there'd be little assimilation nodes all over the ship.
I can hear the 3D printer begging someone not to do this now......
And now I am curious what would happen if someone got their $350 painted model and the colors were wrong?
Would they be able to send it back with a note that said "you didn't get it right, so now you have to make another one and don't mess up".
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
make sure the shield in your actual shield slot doesn't have visuals (if it has any) toggled on...putting a shield in the vanity slot is supposed to override visuals of the shield in your equip slot - but this is cryptic, so don't rely on things to be working like they should
Logging out and then in again seems to have fixed it.
Hopefully that bug will make it into the next patch notes. I haven't noticed any issues as of yet, but I am not interested in any Romulan ships unless they finally give us a TOS Romulan D7.
Well, let's look at this from an economic/financial assessment viewpoint.
Cryptic have provided a service that caters to only a small percentage of the playerbase for a high fee.
So which is better, selling a high cost item to only 10% of the playerbase or a low cost item to 50% of the playerbase?
I would think that the second option would generate more income to support the game, if that is the intended purpose of this function.
That is pretending that there is a low cost option here. If you want a standard canon ship model, there probably is. If you want customized paint with your own registry number and colors or patterns on a canon ship, you probably would have to paint it yourself.
But if you also want a custom design, e.g. something not found in canon, that no one mass produces because the number of people that want it would be about 1 (you), you would normally have to make it yourself or find someone that could make it for you, which would cost a lot of time and money.
This is the half-way approach - if it can be build in STO, GamePrint (with some exceptions) can make it for you.
The number of options for a customizable ship in STO are... significant.
A ship that has 4 customizable elements (say, saucer, neck, nacelles and hull) with options from 3 variants would have 64 possible variants, before you apply materials, colors and patterns. Lockbox ships tend to have a lot less options, but C-Store ships usually have more. These variations will never be available in the regular mass-production market. So that is exactly the niche this service is occupying, and it costs what it costs.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Comments
(also, after a few years of seeing Kotaku articles about things like the Hot Toys superhero action figures that are $200-300+, etc. Non-super-mass-produced stuff is expensive.)
The game requires Intel HD graphics as minimum.. That's not an "SUPER AWESOME" graphics card, it's a chipset.
If you don't even have that... Well.. lol. How are you even playing the game? Or using modern websites?
Of course the lighting is an issue, they are sending digital renders of the ship so that they have an idea how to paint it. Obviously this needs to conform to a certain standard. It's probably rendered on your computer, but maybe it just exists so that the servers render and what you saw in game actually match up and you're not completely suprised by the result.
For your enjoyment of the game I would probably also recommend to spend the 150 $ of the ship model on a graphics card instead.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Also when you go to the order page, the site provides you with some really nice high resolution pictures of your ship on a black background.
> 350$ for 12" of plastic...i could understand if they were made out of solid gold, but PLASTIC? i don't bloody think so
Yeah, that price is goofy. Plus no Jupiter, I'm out.
You have no clue what custom work costs guy. These are RESIN not plastic the resin as has been pointed out costs over 140 dollars a liter. Then add in the labor cost of custom painting each one frankly 350 is a bargin. Have you ever priced out what a complete custom build runs from a professional builder who uses top shelf materials and after market parts to correct the flaws in most kits? I am not talking bargin basement Joe Plumber cranking out kits bone stock from the box using testors tube glue to slap them together. In a three words "No you haven't". Yeah get ready to layout around 2 grand then TRIBBLE about the price here. Clueless people. Oh yeah want to know what my Forbidden Planet Blaster cost? Not talking the old Polar lites kit that is wrong in size and details but one made to exactly match the hero ones in the film. The maker used an actual on screen one and the drafts to make the kit. Try a grand just for the kit plus 60 bucks for the lighting and sound kit. So yeah 350 is dirt freaking cheap for a custom made detailed model. Want yet another example? My wifes Spock ears made off the actual molds used to make Mr. Nimoys prosthetics in STTMP and later used in Undiscovered Country and made and painted by Steve Neill the EFX guy who made them for the films try 200 bucks right there. So yeah tell me again how this is a rip off?
Just like VCRs being over $600 when they first came out, now you are some technophobe it you still have one.
Even if they are selling these at a minimal profit, it's still, obviously, way above what most people were expecting or have the disposable income to get one.
If materials are that much for a 12" one, w/ all the complaining they should see that there is a market for cheaper versions. A 6" one will use much less material. The question would be how much detail can be printed at a smaller size. I've got some "Johnny Lighting" Trek ships that are mass-produced plastic around that size. Not great detail, but the size is good for sitting on the shelf. Plus, I think I bought them for $7 each. There should be a sweet spot between detail and cost that will make people happy.
I mean, I got a 12" decently detailed DS9 for $70...
The simple fact is, the price is too high to get the average player interested in ordering this product, regardless of how good it is.
And there's nothing that can be said to convince someone who regards the price as exhorbitant to suddenly turn around and say, yes, I'll pay that much.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
True, but the item is probably not aimed at the "average" gamer. It's aimed at people with a strong love for their ships, at collectors, and with the budget to afford it. Apparently Gameprint does this type of work not just for Star Trek Online, so they probably have a good idea on how many they make.
The setup for exporting ship models to Gameprint was probably an upfront cost Cryptic and Gameprint had to pay, but it's probably not on the scale of building a production template and producing 50,000 models and now hoping to sell them all to make a profit. The ships are made on demand.
I don't think anyone is trying to convince others that they should buy one. People have mentioned that they feel the price is too high and have tried to compare other less expensive products to the process and service offered with what PWE has in place. Resin isn't cheap! Paying artists to hand paint something close to a foot long isn't cheap! Especially in California where everyone feels like they need to be making $50 an hour because they work at McDonald's. Primer and paints cost money too! People trying to explain why the cost is what it is is not trying to convice people to buy something they can't afford.
For those that can't afford it. Perhaps PWE and the company could come up with some sort of payment plan to entice a few more that really would like something like this but simply can't afford the upfront cost. The cost isn't an issue for me. However, they don't offer the Vesta class, which is the one ship I have that I wanted more than any other. PWE said they spoke to Mark Rademader about including the Vesta's but his Tweet when asked, suggests that PWE is full of it. No Vesta, no money from me!
You can! Just put the shield in the visual slot for it or put it on the ship temporarily, view it in the ship tailor, and then upload your design.
Doesn't seem to work for me, at least not with my Command Warbird. Maybe it's just a bug, because I swear it worked on my Miracle Worker yesterday.
Tried it with both the Iconian Rep and the Terran Rep shields. Doesn't seem to work on the Miracle Worker bird either.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Logging out and then in again seems to have fixed it.
Cryptic have provided a service that caters to only a small percentage of the playerbase for a high fee.
So which is better, selling a high cost item to only 10% of the playerbase or a low cost item to 50% of the playerbase?
I would think that the second option would generate more income to support the game, if that is the intended purpose of this function.
Are there really players who pay $1000 per month for STO?
What are they buying????
And why do they need to buy it every month?
I actually have been wondering how the shield visuals affect the printed model.
For example, I used the 8472 rep shield to make the carapace of my Bioship dark green.
If that ship was printed, would it acknowledge the darker/different colors of the visual appearance or print the default model without the visual applied?
I assume this could apply to all kinds of visuals, deflectors, impulse engines, consoles.
Like if a ship was printed with the Borg Assimalted Console visible, there'd be little assimilation nodes all over the ship.
I can hear the 3D printer begging someone not to do this now......
And now I am curious what would happen if someone got their $350 painted model and the colors were wrong?
Would they be able to send it back with a note that said "you didn't get it right, so now you have to make another one and don't mess up".
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Hopefully that bug will make it into the next patch notes. I haven't noticed any issues as of yet, but I am not interested in any Romulan ships unless they finally give us a TOS Romulan D7.
But if you also want a custom design, e.g. something not found in canon, that no one mass produces because the number of people that want it would be about 1 (you), you would normally have to make it yourself or find someone that could make it for you, which would cost a lot of time and money.
This is the half-way approach - if it can be build in STO, GamePrint (with some exceptions) can make it for you.
The number of options for a customizable ship in STO are... significant.
A ship that has 4 customizable elements (say, saucer, neck, nacelles and hull) with options from 3 variants would have 64 possible variants, before you apply materials, colors and patterns. Lockbox ships tend to have a lot less options, but C-Store ships usually have more. These variations will never be available in the regular mass-production market. So that is exactly the niche this service is occupying, and it costs what it costs.