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Dilithium exchange issue
blackdragon1992
Member Posts: 41 Arc User
Ok, so I have been waiting for my offer for the dilithium exchange since July. I was thinking if only they would remove the cap or create a worthwhile dilithium sink or both to help with the problem. Perhaps maybe allow players to use dilithium to build a ship that they can use at the utopia planitia shipyards…huh, I kinda like that last thought, can you imagine how cool that would be? I am creating this thread so everyone who sees this can share their ideas for potential solutions to this. Please feel free to add your input.
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The wait time for offers of 500 dil per zen are running at around 34-36 day at the moment.
Removing the cap would not solve the problem, and would eventually just get so expensive that it wouldn't even be worth it. Devs are looking at long term data to help bring it back down, even if we don't get play by play word on what they're doing. And we've had many threads come up regarding this same issue. Usually always bounces around some of the same ideas that wouldn't work, or would make things worse. Then the confrontations and the accusations start flying, which brings in us mods to try and calm things down or just shut it down outright depending on how far gone it is.
Technically right now we CAN buy ships with Dilithium, however its only really T1-4, specifically the old C-Store ships like the Exeter Cruiser Refit. We really do need some worthwhile, sustainable sinks. That part is not in dispute. However removing the Exchange cap would just make things much worse. As of right now its about a month's wait at 500/1. Removing that cap would just make that 500 DL per 1 Zen skyrocket to a point the market will probably implode outright.
Well, that's just not gonna happen. You're talking about cutting into the game's revenue stream at that point.
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Cryptic gives away dil for free, and lets you play for free without a subscription fee or a fee for expansion packs.
Ships are what funds the game, so if Cryptic makes them free too then how will they pay for the staff, the servers, and the license fees for Star Trek?
The zen you want to trade your free dil for comes from other players who paid cash for it. Not enough other players want your free dil right now, so dil supply exceeds zen demand. You either need to price it at the market rate of 500 and wait a month, or buy your own zen.
Just make them cost 2.5-3.5 mill dill and only sell them in a limited quantity with some fancy vanity shield
And then 6-12 months later release them in the store for 3k zen without the vanity shield.
i dont know the metrics of sto so it's possbile this idea is stupid but i just thought i would give an example of how it could be done without necessarily cutting into the game's revenue stream :P
Limited time/quantity? We're already dealing with a thread where people are complaining about ships they missed for free and having to pay for later when made available again. So, this is just more of the same. No, the only Dilithium ships you're going to see are the T1-4 ships at the ship vendor.
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> Just make them cost 2.5-3.5 mill dill and only sell them in a limited quantity with some fancy vanity shield
>
> And then 6-12 months later release them in the store for 3k zen without the vanity shield.
>
> i dont know the metrics of sto so it's possbile this idea is stupid but i just thought i would give an example of how it could be done without necessarily cutting into the game's revenue stream :P
You may be on to something, if we exclude the limited quantity and just have it as a limited time thing (kinda like a sale) it might work while at the same time, not cutting into the revenue.
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That isn't really a problem in the idea i proposed. and whether or not it will happen it besides the point.
It actually is. Because those individuals are literally complaining about ships not being available when they are, and having missed out on getting them when they were first introduced and saying how unfair it is to new players that veteran players got them.
I don't doubt that, in theory, it might be attractive to sell ships for dilithium for a certain amount of time, but we also have to consider STO's income as well. They'd have to price these ships at an equivelent amount to be viable (There will be complaints about being too expensive guaranteed), then we'd have to figure out if they're single character or account wide (guaranteed to be hotly debated), and then we'll have to deal with the FOMO complaints between the end of that sale and the C-Store release on top of "its unfair that the earlier version got a vanity shield" lines.
Its a lot of work for an unknown amount of return on investment. Not only that, if they are account unlock, that means that it also cuts into future income because people will already have that ship.
Hate to say it, but around here...
Cryptic does something, people complain.
Cryptic doesn't do something, people complain.
Cryptic EXISTS, people complain.
(Maybe I should add this to my sig one of these days...)
No matter what is discussed or settled on, people will complain because "its not what we want" even when it is something players have been wanting.
The promo release period idea... is a major can of worms that may be better off left closed.
No wonder the economy sucks. People don't understand basic economics. 🙄
You want a fix to the Dilithium Exchange with this Dilithium ship suggestion? Ok...
Ships are the driving force of the game's economy within and without. You want them to start selling ships for Dilithium first, for a limited time, before offering them for Zen. Great! Now there's a Dilithium sink that players may actually be willing to spend their Dilithium on. So let's say that players will spend their Dilithium on said ships. Dilithium prices are set high for these ships according to this suggestion, but not so high that they cannot save up enough Dilithium during the introductory time if they are diligent. Obviously players will need to grind and save up their Dilithium to get the ships they want.
FTPers are the major Dilithium listers for Zen on the Exchange, because they cannot afford to or are unwilling to spend IRL money on the game. But no worries, because they grind like hell for their Dilithium trades and are now saving up their Dilithium to make their ship purchases. FTPers would also obviously withdraw their offers for Zen in order to spend their Dilithium on said ships instead, because there's no more need for Zen to get them, plus with the high Dilithium prices, every piece of Dilithium counts. Realize, though, that this is essentially what FTPers are doing anyway when converting Dilithium to Zen: Exchanging time (Dilithium) for money (Zen). So, essentially from their POV they are already spending Dilithium for their ships. We're just cutting out the middle man for them: Zen. So, now there is absolutely no Dilithium on the Exchange. Great! Now the exchange bottleneck is cleared, so offers for Zen will go through more quickly. Except, why trade for Zen now?
Zen buyers, who do buy Dilithium on the other hand, are usually doing so as a shortcut to what they're wanting to do, be it completing Fleet projects, crafting, upgrading, etc. They are essentially exchanging money (Zen) for time saved (Dilithium). But lately they really haven't had much to invest their money (Zen) into to save them time (Dilithium). But now maybe they want to buy their Dilithium, so they can get their Dilithium ships faster instead of grinding for them. Except there's no Dilithium on the Exchange for them to trade their Zen for, because all of the FTPers are hanging on to their Dilithium to get their ships. So, Zen buyers are reduced to having to grind out their Dilithium, too, to purchase their Dilithium ships.
Now remember, these ships are being offered for Dilithium first for a limited time before going to the Zen store, so players will obviously want to try and get their ships for free (Dilithium). Also, players want to be among the "first" to get the ships, because "look what I got". So, if ships are being offered for Dilithium only first, then there's no way to buy them for Zen during the introductory time, neither through direct purchase nor Zen trade for Dilithium, because there's no Dilithium on the Exchange.
So, if ships are only available for Dilithium at introduction, and players want to get them as soon as possible, then there's no real demand for Zen when ships first come out and hype for them is at its highest. And since Zen buyers are reduced to having to grind for their Dilithium due to there being no Dilithium on the Exchange anyway, they have no major reason to purchase Zen. They cannot trade Zen for Dilithium to save them time. And why wait for the ship to go to the Zen store, if one can grind out enough Dilithium beforehand to purchase said ship? So, no Zen gets bought. And if no Zen is bought, then the game's development capital dries up, and the game gets shut down, because it's no longer making money and can no longer be supported.
Congratulations! You just killed Star Trek Online.
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Thing is, you cannot take something from their sole source of revenue (ships) and release it for RD without cutting into the revenue stream. They won't do it.
Most people with Zen to spare would rather hold onto it than waste it on RD, which to them has no purpose. The only way to fix the problem with the dilithium exchange is for Cryptic to produce gameplay content that has a repeatable need for RD. In the thread about spicing up the game, I talked about the use of the Fleet Holding mechanics to facilitate the construction of alliance facilities that would play a part in forthcoming story arcs. But instead of locking them behind a fleet membership wall, anyone who wishes can contribute. Not everyone will want to, I realize that. But I believe there would be a large enough group of players who would jump at the chance to participate in building something from the ground up that will become a new social hub and serve as the starting point for new stories... And new gameplay loops that allow interested parties to get involved with aspects that canonically are part of Star Trek, but have yet to be represented in STO yet.
zArtificial stimulation of the RD/Zen economy would not help. It might move the numbers the right way briefly, but then it will be right back to where it is now.
Only Cryptic can do what needs to be done to make the RD/Zen economy of interchangable time and money work. By creating content that makes RD useful.
Unfortunately, at this juncture, it doesn't seem to be in their time or money budget to be able to do so. Only Gearbox can change that, but ship sales are profitable enough without RD conversion to Zen being as quick and painless as it used to be, so they may not see the DilEx problem as an actual problem.
This is a situation that requires multiple levels of business philosophy to resolve. So many stars need to align to make it happen. All we can do is keep talking about it and presenting ideas.
There's plenty of special ship weapons in the Dilithium store, but you have to have the ship for them to show up. Plus, the Crafting and Upgrade systems uses Dilithium. Not everyone engages with those, though, so... 🤷🏼♀️
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Oh, my suggestions have already been shot down by management, so there's not much sense in me repeating them here. Whatever the solution, it's not going to be an easy one.
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"Would you like to know more?"
There are existing threads that are many pages long discussing ideas for fixing the dil exchange. The forum search function is not great, but searching on "dil exchange" or "dilithium" should turn up some of them.
It's not something that's easy to fix.
- Cryptic adding their own zen to increase supply of zen cuts directly into the zen sales that keep the game running.
- Cryptic giving away ships or other c-store items to increase demand for dil also cuts directly into the zen sales that keep the game running.
- Finding new dil sinks to increase demand for dil without hurting zen sales is hard. One-time sinks like the vanity shields help for a short time, then demand goes right back down again.
So it comes back to Cryptic needing to create content that has a RD cost to it, I still maintain that it should be content that uses the Fleet Holding mechanic but noit restricted to those in a fleet. Building facilities and infrastructural elements for the sake of reinforcing alliance interests.
What were to happen if the capital city of Andoria were to be destroyed in some massive natural disaster. What if the Alliance sets a priority to rebuild the city and make it something grander than it ever was. And after its done, whenever people beam down to Andoria, they beam down in the common district of the new city. Anyone who will have participated will be able to look at it and saw with honesty, "I helped build this."
Makes me curious what those suggestions were..
Either way, something to make dilithium a coveted commodity and not just something to be exchanged for zen,
If such a thing was easily added at this time it would have been added already.
Personally i would not mind getting access to specific cardassian ground weapon models or new models from SNW, but those are more likely to be added to the lobi store.
As of right now the only place I can think of that qualifies, story wise, is Khitomer.
> As of right now the only place I can think of that qualifies, story wise, is Khitomer.
That’s really not that old.
> May not be old, but I meantioned that it would make sense story wise due to recent events.
True, what if it was made into a social zone?