I'd really like to know if these progress coupons are account-bound or character bound. (Or, do I have to do all three TFO chains with the same character, who must be the one to get the ship?)
While I also don't like the shift away from story missions.. I will say that I appreciate the fact that Cryptic has introduced a method to get a free T6 ship from the store.
I'm honestly not sure what you mean by a shift away from solo/story missions.
We have gotten two missions per major release so far, and are getting at least another 2 more with Rise of Discovery. Al Rivera has mentioned several times that by the time the Discovery content is done, there will be two full arcs for Discovery content, meaning anywhere from 12-16 missions. And they are coming out every 3ish months just like missions used to.
I mean I prefer the old 'Featured Episode' method to the current 'Featured TFO' system. Running one mission 3 times over 3 weeks felt less 'grindy' to me then running 1 TFO 14 times over 3 weeks.
60 days of TFO grinding? pass. i don't care it is a free t6 ship after that point, the gameplay value vs reward is not enough to justify it when you can get a free t6 ship from the summer or winter event in 25 days.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Hmm, the idea is interesting but i don't think there is any ship in the zen store i'm interested at the moment, If we can hold on on the coupon until something pops up great. Another idea would be using the coupon to buy any t6 ship including lockbox ones, account wide (specially since they're stuffing them with carriers wich is what i like most).
For me its mixed feelings. I like the idea of getting a ship as there are a few ships that might be fun to play with but do not interest me enough to buy. Things like the Jupiter I would be happy to grind towards but would never buy that one. So this is a good systems for that. My only concern is possible burn out. some of the event TFO's recently have been really bad and the thought of playing them extra days isn't fun. Then again a TFO as fun and along the lines of the Swarm I would have no problem playing the entire run for.
The problem is the constant daily endeavour plus almost none stop events will cause some people to feel like they need to play 45mins+ daily every day and that will lead some to burn out.
60 days from 63 grinding for a char only ship? But if its 45 or 30, its too long. Players _has_ real life, with work, family and others. I'm here from 2012, but I have not enough time to finish only my main toon. No time for endeavor, admiralty, reputation, finishing story lines. Just one thing at a time.
So its impossible.
Personally I don't find the Featured TFO's a good idea especially three back to back, forcing players to play the same TFO mission over and over again for 14 days sucks the enjoyment out of playing the game.
I barely managed to get to the end of the last Featured TFO, as it became such a chore logging to play the TFO, and based on other players going AFK towards the end of the event I can't be the only one feeling like this.
As others have said, players have lives outside of STO, when I do log in I only play for one or two TFO's a day and not everyday, as my job as an Programmer is rather mentally taxing and I don't always want to play STO.
Post edited by thanatos9t on
"I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me!"
> @stlhee said: > 60 days from 63 grinding for a char only ship? But if its 45 or 30, its too long. Players _has_ real life, with work, family and others. I'm here from 2012, but I have not enough time to finish only my main toon. No time for endeavor, admiralty, reputation, finishing story lines. Just one thing at a time. > So its impossible.
It is not a Character only ship. All C-Store Ships are Account Unlocks for the appropriate Faction. If you purchased one of the 31st Century Ships it would be unlocked for every Character on your Account as it is Cross-faction.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Featured Episodes, while Character based only, provided for three or four piece sets of equipment. Featured TFOs provide one non-Set piece of equipment for the Account.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
> @kellmg96#5851 said:
> Great, another FN 2 week grind for prizes, instead of actual TRIBBLE content!
You get a free T6 ship if your choice out of it and you’re still complaining?
A new ship isn't content and what Star Trek Online is really missing now is end game content and content to play. End game content is in the worst state that's its ever been in STO having taken a real step backwards in the past year. Giving us more ships but no real content to use those ships with is not really solving anything. Having new ships is nice but what do we do with those ships?
Does playing the same content 20 times over make it more interesting? Or more fun to do?
Please Cryptic, I thought you guys had finally learned it. Players want more diverse content and if it is really necessary to play things multiple times over because content is played faster than it can be created, then at least make the content more dynamic.
Even some minor changes to the setting, or some different tasks would be welcome.
Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.
Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle?
I mean I prefer the old 'Featured Episode' method to the current 'Featured TFO' system. Running one mission 3 times over 3 weeks felt less 'grindy' to me then running 1 TFO 14 times over 3 weeks.
That also provided more variation in cadence with the TFO grinds of the time, allowing one to back off a little (avoiding burnout) without "missing out" on active events (negative phycological reinforcement) or spending zen on a buyout. Contrast that with now, we've been on a TFO grind since February and will continue into May. It's intense grinding at an unprecedented interval in STO and of its most intense type (undermining whatever Cryptic's done for this TFO to make it fun in its own right. The context is grueling.)
And while free T6 for playing is a nice freebie it is presenting intense, long term grinding as the company recommended default in STO (3 more TFO's between now and fall) Add to this personal endeavors.
Cryptic, you guys can take player retention mechanisms too far. Try expanding narrative content forms, gameplay, and character building instead.
> @kellmg96#5851 said:
> Great, another FN 2 week grind for prizes, instead of actual TRIBBLE content!
You get a free T6 ship if your choice out of it and you’re still complaining?
It's unprecedented for us to have 3 consecutive TFO grinds (in modern memory) without episodic content. Folks are well within their rights to complain about the new content strategy (particularly with the lack of an alternative now), irrespective of the new reward scheme (hey it's a freebie, not much downside to that, but an incidental freebie shouldn't be the thing to sustain interest in a game.)
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Doing three missions a total of 60 times - but only being allowed to do it once a day for the price - is not my idea of fun. And I have stuff to do besides playing this game anyways. Those of us who have lives outside of the game (please do understand that 'there is nothing beyond space, so with space being in the game there is nothing outside of the game' was a joke) simply cannot afford to reserve time for the game every single day ; even if we wanted to.
In fact, events like these remind me why I have seriously reduced the overall amount of time I spend in the game. If you would at least give players a chance to follow their own schedule instead of telling them 'do it now, sixty times each day within the next sixty days' or so, it might be much more attractive already.
Why not allow players say, after ten days, to do it ten times on one and the same day? Players wouldn't get their ships much faster, they would still need to play a given amount of time but at least you're not forcing to treat the game as a second job, with tasks waiting for the player to get completed every single day.
If you 're going to expect people to either become some sort of addict or just opt out of events altogether, don't be surprised if more and more players will eventually choose the latter. I've seen dozens of players, including good friends leave the game because of this. And I might soon follow them if this is going to be the new normal.
I'm afraid that you will accomplish the exact opposite of what you are intending with these events. Players are more likely to reduce their time spent in the game than increase it. That is at least what I have observed over the years, and how I am feeling about this.
Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.
Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle?
For me it's simply going to depend on rather or not the queue itself is fun.
I will do the 14 events for the 'exclusive item' because I am a sucker and always do the exclusives. After that, if I like the queue enough to work one run into my daily routine, I will and I'll eventually collect the free C-Store Ship.
If the queue is not something I find fun, then I'll simply stop after the 14 day run. The idea of the free C-Store ship is cool, but honestly.. I already have most everything I want from the C-Store, and I have enough Dilithium to get anything I might have missed.
I won't play something I don't enjoy just to get the ship, but if the queue(s) are enjoyable enough anyway.. then I'll be happy to keep doing them and take the free ship as a nice bonus. I believe this offering is geared more toward new players that are trying to earn a T6 though regular game play. It's nice that they have given them a way to accomplish that.
If you want the featured toys its 14 days but if you want a ship it'll be the full 21, unless you're in a timezone where the maintenance routinely removes days from events. Maybe thats why the bonus days idea came from but if they're a random something to look out for then not a fan, just make it a weekend, saturday or sunday.
From reading it looks like you can only work towards a single ship at a time so any of those triple bundles will be a long time coming.
On a brightside since the recent ships have been disco ones or non-romulan there's not really any that I might want.
Another veiled attempt to push ships as content. They're not! A ship is something you do content in, what little content trickled out anyway.
Cryptic have handed out free ships before. In fact the first T6 I got was a free one from Cryptic (The Andromeda Class). The event ships are nice, but tend to be smaller. I like the idea of earning what amount to 50 Zen a day to pay for a T6 ship. I can't farm that much, lol. I've brought ships in the past, I may in the future. I'm F2P. Working to get one? This sounds good to me.
People ask how long have I been playing STO - well the answer is simple: I have been here since the beginning. I just haven't always had a lot to say.
Repeating the same objective sixty times in a row is just a tad redundant. It would be more interesting if there was a three-mission arc you could complete in order. You would still be repeating each mission 20 times, but at least it would provide some variety from day to day.
For me it's simply going to depend on rather or not the queue itself is fun.
For me I'm just past that point, I'll definitely be checking out the queue but even if it is fun I probably won't be able to commit to the full 14 day grind. There needs to be a counterpoint to the grind or a deeper narrative reason for playing and TBH I can't find that ATM. 30-40 minutes of cameo-focused story every 3 months or so is a lot to grind this much for.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
If you want the featured toys its 14 days but if you want a ship it'll be the full 21, unless you're in a timezone where the maintenance routinely removes days from events. Maybe thats why the bonus days idea came from but if they're a random something to look out for then not a fan, just make it a weekend, saturday or sunday.
How did you get 21 days for a ship? At 50 tokens per day and 3000 needed for the ship Coupon, that's 60 days (not taking into account the double token days) per ship.
"I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me!"
The queue might be fun for the first few goes, but after a couple of weeks (let alone 50 to 60 days)... Burnout sounds like it would be an understatement at this point.
It's not 60 days of the same queue. It's 60 days of the Featured queues, and even less if you're able to take advantage of the bonus days. There will be 3 of these Featured queues, each lasting for 3 weeks. The first of the 3 begins tomorrow. There will likely be breaks between each featured queue.
Now, with that said, yeah, burnout is going to happen. I burned out on the Pahvo ground queue and then we got the Pahvo Gauntlet queue very soon after and that made it worse. Now just a week removed from Pahvo Gauntlet and we have yet another.
I'm still going to get the console for this run, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get enough of the vouchers for the ship. I'd love too though, as I'm cheap.
Life however has thrown me several huge curveballs lately and I simply may not have the time to dedicate to this. I like the idea behind allowing players to 'work' towards earning a T6 CStore ship so I will do what I can to support it.
Hello. My name is iamynaught and I am an altaholic.
They say owning a ship no longer blocks you from buying a bundle, but will folks now get a discount if they own a ship that is included in a bundle? I would rather you guys made it so folks could work towards unlocking an account wide T6 Lock Box or Lobi store ship.
It's not 60 days of the same queue. It's 60 days of the Featured queues, and even less if you're able to take advantage of the bonus days. There will be 3 of these Featured queues, each lasting for 3 weeks. The first of the 3 begins tomorrow. There will likely be breaks between each featured queue.
Well to be more specific it's participation with 3 queues (plus bonuses) but the experience per each is still going to be subject to deprecation. 14 runs of one content type does invariably meet a point of diminishing returns and the more frequently the pattern is repeated the more rapidly players acclimate (we know what to look for in experiencing new queues.)
I think the greater point here isn't that STO is doing featured TFO's but using them as backbone as opposed to filler. In the past, TFO events were used to buffer downtime between episode releases. Now we're looking at ~3 months between major episode drops completely filled by consecutive TFO grinds. The episodes may come in pairs but as Peril over Pahvo showed, these can function as a single attenuated episode (combining the two we've had in this format is analogous to single episodes we've also had in the past. Ex. Home, Mirrors and Smoke; in terms of map use and progression) with the option to break in between.
Basically STO's content focus has inverted and there's a point to make that might not provide players who've remained invested in STO because of the narrative with enough to sustain interest. Even if one can hand-wave the average figure away as being within statistical limits (probably the case), the cadence can darn well fall below threshold stimulus for active interest.
Work arounds:
Stronger narrative focus in TFO's, use them to advance plot directly
Cheaper episodes released more frequently
Alternative forms of regular content drops (anything else besides full episodes or TFO's)
Basically make stuff with more narrative impact and mix up the formula a bit more
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Comments
I mean I prefer the old 'Featured Episode' method to the current 'Featured TFO' system. Running one mission 3 times over 3 weeks felt less 'grindy' to me then running 1 TFO 14 times over 3 weeks.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
The problem is the constant daily endeavour plus almost none stop events will cause some people to feel like they need to play 45mins+ daily every day and that will lead some to burn out.
So its impossible.
I barely managed to get to the end of the last Featured TFO, as it became such a chore logging to play the TFO, and based on other players going AFK towards the end of the event I can't be the only one feeling like this.
As others have said, players have lives outside of STO, when I do log in I only play for one or two TFO's a day and not everyday, as my job as an Programmer is rather mentally taxing and I don't always want to play STO.
"I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me!"
> 60 days from 63 grinding for a char only ship? But if its 45 or 30, its too long. Players _has_ real life, with work, family and others. I'm here from 2012, but I have not enough time to finish only my main toon. No time for endeavor, admiralty, reputation, finishing story lines. Just one thing at a time.
> So its impossible.
It is not a Character only ship. All C-Store Ships are Account Unlocks for the appropriate Faction. If you purchased one of the 31st Century Ships it would be unlocked for every Character on your Account as it is Cross-faction.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
> Great, another FN 2 week grind for prizes, instead of actual TRIBBLE content!
You get a free T6 ship if your choice out of it and you’re still complaining?
Please Cryptic, I thought you guys had finally learned it. Players want more diverse content and if it is really necessary to play things multiple times over because content is played faster than it can be created, then at least make the content more dynamic.
Even some minor changes to the setting, or some different tasks would be welcome.
Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle?
That also provided more variation in cadence with the TFO grinds of the time, allowing one to back off a little (avoiding burnout) without "missing out" on active events (negative phycological reinforcement) or spending zen on a buyout. Contrast that with now, we've been on a TFO grind since February and will continue into May. It's intense grinding at an unprecedented interval in STO and of its most intense type (undermining whatever Cryptic's done for this TFO to make it fun in its own right. The context is grueling.)
And while free T6 for playing is a nice freebie it is presenting intense, long term grinding as the company recommended default in STO (3 more TFO's between now and fall) Add to this personal endeavors.
Cryptic, you guys can take player retention mechanisms too far. Try expanding narrative content forms, gameplay, and character building instead.
It's unprecedented for us to have 3 consecutive TFO grinds (in modern memory) without episodic content. Folks are well within their rights to complain about the new content strategy (particularly with the lack of an alternative now), irrespective of the new reward scheme (hey it's a freebie, not much downside to that, but an incidental freebie shouldn't be the thing to sustain interest in a game.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Doing three missions a total of 60 times - but only being allowed to do it once a day for the price - is not my idea of fun. And I have stuff to do besides playing this game anyways. Those of us who have lives outside of the game (please do understand that 'there is nothing beyond space, so with space being in the game there is nothing outside of the game' was a joke) simply cannot afford to reserve time for the game every single day ; even if we wanted to.
In fact, events like these remind me why I have seriously reduced the overall amount of time I spend in the game. If you would at least give players a chance to follow their own schedule instead of telling them 'do it now, sixty times each day within the next sixty days' or so, it might be much more attractive already.
Why not allow players say, after ten days, to do it ten times on one and the same day? Players wouldn't get their ships much faster, they would still need to play a given amount of time but at least you're not forcing to treat the game as a second job, with tasks waiting for the player to get completed every single day.
If you 're going to expect people to either become some sort of addict or just opt out of events altogether, don't be surprised if more and more players will eventually choose the latter. I've seen dozens of players, including good friends leave the game because of this. And I might soon follow them if this is going to be the new normal.
I'm afraid that you will accomplish the exact opposite of what you are intending with these events. Players are more likely to reduce their time spent in the game than increase it. That is at least what I have observed over the years, and how I am feeling about this.
Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle?
I will do the 14 events for the 'exclusive item' because I am a sucker and always do the exclusives. After that, if I like the queue enough to work one run into my daily routine, I will and I'll eventually collect the free C-Store Ship.
If the queue is not something I find fun, then I'll simply stop after the 14 day run. The idea of the free C-Store ship is cool, but honestly.. I already have most everything I want from the C-Store, and I have enough Dilithium to get anything I might have missed.
I won't play something I don't enjoy just to get the ship, but if the queue(s) are enjoyable enough anyway.. then I'll be happy to keep doing them and take the free ship as a nice bonus. I believe this offering is geared more toward new players that are trying to earn a T6 though regular game play. It's nice that they have given them a way to accomplish that.
From reading it looks like you can only work towards a single ship at a time so any of those triple bundles will be a long time coming.
On a brightside since the recent ships have been disco ones or non-romulan there's not really any that I might want.
Another veiled attempt to push ships as content. They're not! A ship is something you do content in, what little content trickled out anyway.
Cryptic have handed out free ships before. In fact the first T6 I got was a free one from Cryptic (The Andromeda Class). The event ships are nice, but tend to be smaller. I like the idea of earning what amount to 50 Zen a day to pay for a T6 ship. I can't farm that much, lol. I've brought ships in the past, I may in the future. I'm F2P. Working to get one? This sounds good to me.
For me I'm just past that point, I'll definitely be checking out the queue but even if it is fun I probably won't be able to commit to the full 14 day grind. There needs to be a counterpoint to the grind or a deeper narrative reason for playing and TBH I can't find that ATM. 30-40 minutes of cameo-focused story every 3 months or so is a lot to grind this much for.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
"I walked away from the last great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me!"
"No matter where you go...there you are."
Now, with that said, yeah, burnout is going to happen. I burned out on the Pahvo ground queue and then we got the Pahvo Gauntlet queue very soon after and that made it worse. Now just a week removed from Pahvo Gauntlet and we have yet another.
I'm still going to get the console for this run, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get enough of the vouchers for the ship. I'd love too though, as I'm cheap.
Life however has thrown me several huge curveballs lately and I simply may not have the time to dedicate to this. I like the idea behind allowing players to 'work' towards earning a T6 CStore ship so I will do what I can to support it.
Losing faith in humanity, one person at a time.
Well to be more specific it's participation with 3 queues (plus bonuses) but the experience per each is still going to be subject to deprecation. 14 runs of one content type does invariably meet a point of diminishing returns and the more frequently the pattern is repeated the more rapidly players acclimate (we know what to look for in experiencing new queues.)
I think the greater point here isn't that STO is doing featured TFO's but using them as backbone as opposed to filler. In the past, TFO events were used to buffer downtime between episode releases. Now we're looking at ~3 months between major episode drops completely filled by consecutive TFO grinds. The episodes may come in pairs but as Peril over Pahvo showed, these can function as a single attenuated episode (combining the two we've had in this format is analogous to single episodes we've also had in the past. Ex. Home, Mirrors and Smoke; in terms of map use and progression) with the option to break in between.
Basically STO's content focus has inverted and there's a point to make that might not provide players who've remained invested in STO because of the narrative with enough to sustain interest. Even if one can hand-wave the average figure away as being within statistical limits (probably the case), the cadence can darn well fall below threshold stimulus for active interest.
Work arounds:
Basically make stuff with more narrative impact and mix up the formula a bit more
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!