I have noticed that since I started playing in March, right around the time the foundry was taken down, a lot of people said the dil rate would go up because so many whales were displeased and leaving. Well it has now gone up to 440 dil, and earning dil to buy zen is about 25% more expensive. I don't have much to spend on the game and grinding dil for zen was a great way of doing it, yeah it took ages but now it's just taking so long. Cryptic need to do something to bring back the big spenders!
On a similar note, what is the best way to get dil? I have been grinding the Dyson battlezone and doffing and admiralty as well as dil mining, am I missing anything?
You can do the three missions from Yamlun Nuk in the bar on Nimbus. He gives you three missions, which will net up to a little over 1600 dil (dependent upon how many creatures you kill during one mission)
There is also the Deferi dailies from Ambassador Surah in the Alpha quadrant which also gives around 1200 or so dil.
There are also the Romulan Republic Patrol Missions which give 480 dil per. I've run around 8 of them and gotten just over 4k dil. How fast you get that depends on how fast you clear the patrols.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
Well the rates always go up when we have sales and such, we have had a lot of that since they released the Discovery Connie/D7 and there is a new ship pack which is going to be on sale soon.
Rule of thumb is if you buy zen with dilithium, a sale isn't as much of a sale because the rates always skyrocket. It has nothing to do with whales, all dilithium whales will do is buy up all the cheap zen thus the prices will go up even more, and cash whales wont really affect the price at all.
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
I remember the days when the Dil Exchange was in the 70s and 80s.
I know, right?
Of course, I wasn't making nearly as much Dil back then. At this point, I even miss 280-330. I'm not sure another run of Phoenix packs will make a big difference anymore - people know that the chance of getting the ships is teeeeny, and almost everyone who cares has zillions of Phoenix Upgrades in their banks.
It was in the 400s when they first introduced Phoenix. I usually sell Zen for Dilitium. My Discovery Character has about 1.8 million Unrefined.
The New Romulus Ground areas award more Dilitium and Marks than do the Space Patrols and provide a Daily Mark and Dilitium Bonus for the first ground Mission of the day (and that Marks Bonus is above the normal 55 Daily Bonus).
'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.'
On a similar note, what is the best way to get dil? I have been grinding the Dyson battlezone and doffing and admiralty as well as dil mining, am I missing anything?
No you're doing all the right things. All you can do is make more characters.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
'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.'
Long-term, the Dil Exchange will head up from inflation, because there are a lot of ways and people earning Dil in the game and fewer effective 'dil sinks' to spend it on other than Zen.
A couple years ago, when it was doing what it's doing now, hitting 480 and higher... they introduced the Phoenix pack. Which was enough by itself (when introduced) to encourage so much Dil buying that the exchange dropped back to the 280 range (even a bit lower for a while).
Unfortunately, once all the active players have gone through multiple Phoenix cycles (which most of us have); there is very little reason to keep buying. The Epic/UR tokens are too rare, the ship unlocks are single-char only, and we've all already purchased the few DOffs/items etc. we want and most of us have piles of Phoenix upgrade tokens.
It is possible that Cryptic favors a high exchange rate (if they think it sells more Zen). It is also possible that a lower rate means those who care to spend real $$ to get their Dil need to buy more Zen to do so. Hard to tell without the data.
At any rate, expect the Dil exchange price to keep rising, with small dips when a Phoenix event comes along. Unless they make the Phoenix pack more interesting/valuable - in which case it may have a real effect on the exchange prices again.
You can do the three missions from Yamlun Nuk in the bar on Nimbus. He gives you three missions, which will net up to a little over 1600 dil (dependent upon how many creatures you kill during one mission)
There is also the Deferi dailies from Ambassador Surah in the Alpha quadrant which also gives around 1200 or so dil.
There are also the Romulan Republic Patrol Missions which give 480 dil per. I've run around 8 of them and gotten just over 4k dil. How fast you get that depends on how fast you clear the patrols.
On a similar note, what is the best way to get dil? I have been grinding the Dyson battlezone and doffing and admiralty as well as dil mining, am I missing anything?
No you're doing all the right things. All you can do is make more characters.
I just started a Sci toon so maybe that will help, thanks
Utterly hilarious to see posts begging for whales to help on forums where everyone and their brother maligns them as "evil".
I know lol, but it's common sense to me, if the whales have gone and are no longer spending thousands on zen then zen will be in shorter supply and hence cost more, pretty much supply and demand. A friend of mine who got me into the game and then left in May told me to expect it to go up, seems she was right!
Zen at 80 dil? really?
That was when it wasn't extremely easy to cap on dilithium with no effort.
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
Long-term, the Dil Exchange will head up from inflation, because there are a lot of ways and people earning Dil in the game and fewer effective 'dil sinks' to spend it on other than Zen.
A couple years ago, when it was doing what it's doing now, hitting 480 and higher... they introduced the Phoenix pack. Which was enough by itself (when introduced) to encourage so much Dil buying that the exchange dropped back to the 280 range (even a bit lower for a while).
Unfortunately, once all the active players have gone through multiple Phoenix cycles (which most of us have); there is very little reason to keep buying. The Epic/UR tokens are too rare, the ship unlocks are single-char only, and we've all already purchased the few DOffs/items etc. we want and most of us have piles of Phoenix upgrade tokens.
Sort of. The issue is not really about the top rewards being "too rare," it's that most of the collector-type players who would actually spend to get them, already have them from the events they originally came from. I dumped a couple million dil during the first run to get a Bulwark, but everything else I already have. Neither the tokens nor the ship boxes are tradeable so they're worthless for someone who already has the rewards.
And the upgrades aren't sinking any more dil at all, as they have simply replaced the standard upgrades which actually cost more dil than the phoenix upgrades.
I keep creating new characters and giving them their own gear, so I need more phoenix upgrades at least a couple of times a year.
I do wish I could sell my 2 Epic tokens on the Exchange since I already have all the T6 event ships plus the two Breen T5s. Even being able to gift them would be nice since then I could help out someone who missed the events.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,577Community Moderator
Another issue is back when the DL Exchange was really low... it was because of fleets working on their Starbases.
Right now we've had several things that have made Zen more desirable, and everyone has responded accordingly. We've had that trial run of the C-Store bought T6 gift tokens, we've just had an announcement of a new ship release, and I think we had a sale. All of which drives the Zen prices up because of demand. And the last couple balancing events, IE Phoenix Box events, were nullified by having sales or new things come out on top of them. Their timing has been kinda bad lately. We really do need another Phoenix event or something to balance out the economy so that it remains viable for all parties.
I do think most of the problem lies on the dil side of the issue. Zen sales and similar of course have an effect, but dil supply is too high (it is very easy with admiralty and the other ways to fill multiple toons' 8k limit daily) while dil demand is too low. While I don't think that Phoenix has run its course counting how many still upgradeable items I still have, but a meaningful dil sink would be helpful. Colony was one, but many fleets have finished and many have given up ever finishing, the vanity uniforms didn't seem to click with the player base, and as has correctly been said, phoenix boxes for upgrades even reduce the dil demand already at uncommon, but the (not at all rare) rare and very rare drops are twice or four times as effective.
As for disgruntled whales leaving: yeah, they do, all the time, in all MMOs, but they usually get replaced. While being a whale is nice in that you can afford a lot of stuff and have fun with it, the disadvantage of course is that you run through the meaningful content way faster and it gets very easy, so the excitement of the game is reduced to "woah, new stuff", and devs can never keep up with introducing it.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Long-term, the Dil Exchange will head up from inflation, because there are a lot of ways and people earning Dil in the game and fewer effective 'dil sinks' to spend it on other than Zen.
A couple years ago, when it was doing what it's doing now, hitting 480 and higher... they introduced the Phoenix pack. Which was enough by itself (when introduced) to encourage so much Dil buying that the exchange dropped back to the 280 range (even a bit lower for a while).
Unfortunately, once all the active players have gone through multiple Phoenix cycles (which most of us have); there is very little reason to keep buying. The Epic/UR tokens are too rare, the ship unlocks are single-char only, and we've all already purchased the few DOffs/items etc. we want and most of us have piles of Phoenix upgrade tokens.
It is possible that Cryptic favors a high exchange rate (if they think it sells more Zen). It is also possible that a lower rate means those who care to spend real $$ to get their Dil need to buy more Zen to do so. Hard to tell without the data.
At any rate, expect the Dil exchange price to keep rising, with small dips when a Phoenix event comes along. Unless they make the Phoenix pack more interesting/valuable - in which case it may have a real effect on the exchange prices again.
A long time ago, when the Dil exchange was first brought up during the game's free 2 play transition, the idea of the exchange was that it would enable two things.
1) It would allow players who buy zen via cash to exchange it for dilithium, which was fewer in ways to acquire it at the time.
2) It would allow f2p players whom farmed dilithium a way to be able to acquire anything they wanted from the C-store in time.
I recall reading somewhere that the devs at the time wanted a fair rate for both to be around 250 dil for 1 zen (or rather cryptic point as it used to be) as the player buying zen would be able to get a fair deal and the player selling zen in exchange for dilithium would still get a fair amount.
I agree with you that a higher exchange rate would benefit Cryptic and Perfect World as more people would be pressed to buy zen. However, at the end of the day, if the exchange was capped out at 500 and never went lower, people would likely have a hard time buying dilithium if there is no dilithium being traded by players.
I feel cryptic would rather see everyone be able to get what they want at the end of the day, since I know they all seem to like it when they see people enjoying the things that they build, whether it be a new uniform or a new shiny ship.
There were two flash sales the weekend before the discoprise made its arrival and once it did a lot of folk will have just dumped their zen and will be waiting for the next phoenix to buy it back with interest.
A risky tactic on cryptics part when they've put so much stock into the ships=content approach as if the exchange stagnates then people will feel pushed into buying zen and either ignore the new shiny or walk away from the game entirely.
There's nothing anymore that will seriously move the needle. Anything new with fleet? Most will skip it and get invites.
Phoenix (maybe 30 points for a day)
upgrade week - not a peep.
Dilithium has been rendered largely worthless and it will remain so for the duration.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Dilithium has been rendered largely worthless and it will remain so for the duration.
All they could really do is cut dil payouts or reduce the refinement limit but that would only be a mathematical solution and a temporary one at that. The player rage wouldn't be worth it.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
440:1
So a buyer's market. My 500 Zen stipend will now get me 220,000 Dil.
Not bad for doing literally nothing.
Assuming I need Dil for anything? Other than Phoenix Upgrades, probably not.
Anything new with fleet? Most will skip it and get invites.
Is it most though? Many fleets admittedly have given up on the colony. But also many fleets want to be top notch even if it really isn't that useful to be tier 5 (or tier 3, since another T5 holding was more or less ruled out).
Not that I am clamoring for a new holding, mind you. We're still at Colony-4.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Of course they could create any number things to sell for dil. Whether they actually will is another question entirely. They may have expected the colony to last longer as a sink, as the starbase did.
Comments
There is also the Deferi dailies from Ambassador Surah in the Alpha quadrant which also gives around 1200 or so dil.
There are also the Romulan Republic Patrol Missions which give 480 dil per. I've run around 8 of them and gotten just over 4k dil. How fast you get that depends on how fast you clear the patrols.
Rule of thumb is if you buy zen with dilithium, a sale isn't as much of a sale because the rates always skyrocket. It has nothing to do with whales, all dilithium whales will do is buy up all the cheap zen thus the prices will go up even more, and cash whales wont really affect the price at all.
I know, right?
Of course, I wasn't making nearly as much Dil back then. At this point, I even miss 280-330. I'm not sure another run of Phoenix packs will make a big difference anymore - people know that the chance of getting the ships is teeeeny, and almost everyone who cares has zillions of Phoenix Upgrades in their banks.
The New Romulus Ground areas award more Dilitium and Marks than do the Space Patrols and provide a Daily Mark and Dilitium Bonus for the first ground Mission of the day (and that Marks Bonus is above the normal 55 Daily Bonus).
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.'
No you're doing all the right things. All you can do is make more characters.
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.'
A couple years ago, when it was doing what it's doing now, hitting 480 and higher... they introduced the Phoenix pack. Which was enough by itself (when introduced) to encourage so much Dil buying that the exchange dropped back to the 280 range (even a bit lower for a while).
Unfortunately, once all the active players have gone through multiple Phoenix cycles (which most of us have); there is very little reason to keep buying. The Epic/UR tokens are too rare, the ship unlocks are single-char only, and we've all already purchased the few DOffs/items etc. we want and most of us have piles of Phoenix upgrade tokens.
It is possible that Cryptic favors a high exchange rate (if they think it sells more Zen). It is also possible that a lower rate means those who care to spend real $$ to get their Dil need to buy more Zen to do so. Hard to tell without the data.
At any rate, expect the Dil exchange price to keep rising, with small dips when a Phoenix event comes along. Unless they make the Phoenix pack more interesting/valuable - in which case it may have a real effect on the exchange prices again.
That was when it wasn't extremely easy to cap on dilithium with no effort.
And the upgrades aren't sinking any more dil at all, as they have simply replaced the standard upgrades which actually cost more dil than the phoenix upgrades.
I do wish I could sell my 2 Epic tokens on the Exchange since I already have all the T6 event ships plus the two Breen T5s. Even being able to gift them would be nice since then I could help out someone who missed the events.
Right now we've had several things that have made Zen more desirable, and everyone has responded accordingly. We've had that trial run of the C-Store bought T6 gift tokens, we've just had an announcement of a new ship release, and I think we had a sale. All of which drives the Zen prices up because of demand. And the last couple balancing events, IE Phoenix Box events, were nullified by having sales or new things come out on top of them. Their timing has been kinda bad lately. We really do need another Phoenix event or something to balance out the economy so that it remains viable for all parties.
As for disgruntled whales leaving: yeah, they do, all the time, in all MMOs, but they usually get replaced. While being a whale is nice in that you can afford a lot of stuff and have fun with it, the disadvantage of course is that you run through the meaningful content way faster and it gets very easy, so the excitement of the game is reduced to "woah, new stuff", and devs can never keep up with introducing it.
A long time ago, when the Dil exchange was first brought up during the game's free 2 play transition, the idea of the exchange was that it would enable two things.
1) It would allow players who buy zen via cash to exchange it for dilithium, which was fewer in ways to acquire it at the time.
2) It would allow f2p players whom farmed dilithium a way to be able to acquire anything they wanted from the C-store in time.
I recall reading somewhere that the devs at the time wanted a fair rate for both to be around 250 dil for 1 zen (or rather cryptic point as it used to be) as the player buying zen would be able to get a fair deal and the player selling zen in exchange for dilithium would still get a fair amount.
I agree with you that a higher exchange rate would benefit Cryptic and Perfect World as more people would be pressed to buy zen. However, at the end of the day, if the exchange was capped out at 500 and never went lower, people would likely have a hard time buying dilithium if there is no dilithium being traded by players.
I feel cryptic would rather see everyone be able to get what they want at the end of the day, since I know they all seem to like it when they see people enjoying the things that they build, whether it be a new uniform or a new shiny ship.
A risky tactic on cryptics part when they've put so much stock into the ships=content approach as if the exchange stagnates then people will feel pushed into buying zen and either ignore the new shiny or walk away from the game entirely.
Looks like they will succeed.
Phoenix (maybe 30 points for a day)
upgrade week - not a peep.
Dilithium has been rendered largely worthless and it will remain so for the duration.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
So a buyer's market. My 500 Zen stipend will now get me 220,000 Dil.
Not bad for doing literally nothing.
Assuming I need Dil for anything? Other than Phoenix Upgrades, probably not.
Is it most though? Many fleets admittedly have given up on the colony. But also many fleets want to be top notch even if it really isn't that useful to be tier 5 (or tier 3, since another T5 holding was more or less ruled out).
Not that I am clamoring for a new holding, mind you. We're still at Colony-4.
They've yet to sink EC or GPL, either.
500 is the max it can reach on the upper end. It can also go as low as 50