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I am worried...

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I do not know about the rest of you but I am worried.

Reasons I am worried is these...

1. Slower GM support. I have noticed that the GM are very much slower in responding to GM requests, it use to be less than a day and now its up to at least 2 days for simple thing.

2. Presence of GM's on forums. I have noticed a drop in amount of presence or replies by the GM's in the forums. There use to be more respknses and more precence felt from the GM's, nowadays its more and more the rule breaking notices that I see and lesser and lesser comments and responses by the GM's

3. Lesser thing but still worrysome is the amount of threads in the forums making notice of the drop in CS and the way we are met as players by the Cryptic.

All these added can have a logical reason for sure but I for one am wondering if this is not all connected to the Advisory Council, that Crytpic feels that since they have that council that their GM and Cs can be cut down a size and perhaps cut down on the cost of having hired personel.

Something is happening at least, thats for sure and it is not positive for us players and I for one would like to have an official note from Crytpic about whats going on, is Crytpic pulling back resources or perhaps they noticed players dropping one by one and revenue is down so they start to cut corners...

Listen Crytpic, people are worried, it is time to either confirm the changes and the drop or to put the worried people at ease. Either way best way to let things get worse is saying nothing...

Thank you
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    I must say my experience is quite different to yours. Myself i've never even had to use GM support at all in the game, GM responses seem as prevalent as ever on the forums and i don't put much stock in doom posts.

    In terms of things i could worry about, STO is extremely low on that list.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    My guess is that right now it's all hands on deck to get the next update out.

    The weekly poll is late this week (that must take 5-10 mins top to get out), and GM activity on the forums does seem less than usual - but the patch is notable by it's absence.

    So my hope (if my suspicion on the patch taking longer than expected) is that everyone able @ cryptic is testing on Tribble to try to get out the update before it's pitchforks and flaming torches on here because it's a minute late.

    Personally I'd rather the patch do what it's supposed to and let the deadline slide a day or two...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Parrek wrote:
    My guess is that right now it's all hands on deck to get the next update out.

    The weekly poll is late this week (that must take 5-10 mins top to get out), and GM activity on the forums does seem less than usual - but the patch is notable by it's absence.

    So my hope (if my suspicion on the patch taking longer than expected) is that everyone able @ cryptic is testing on Tribble to try to get out the update before it's pitchforks and flaming torches on here because it's a minute late.

    Personally I'd rather the patch do what it's supposed to and let the deadline slide a day or two...

    This is logical.....They are throwing all of their efforts into the Test Server for this next update.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    From your mouth to the STO gods ears...or as JLP would say...Make it so..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    When a server goes down at 3am Pacific time and isn't restored because there is no one working the night shift, then I will become concerned. I'm not going to wring my hands because Cryptic won't respond to my trouble ticket. I haven't received a response to any of my trouble tickets... hmmm.. maybe I'll get concerned if they start responding to them, that would mean they aren't doing other things, like making new patches.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Blodveard wrote: »
    This is logical.....They are throwing all of their efforts into the Test Server for this next update.

    Well, the GMs don't really have to be on the test server... That's really more for the devs.

    However, I will say that I've noticed the GMs stepping up presence on the forums a bit.

    Also, my husband just recently actually got his STO retail key. He's a life timer too, has a GameStop preorder. Thing is, he didn't get his Constitution Class. So he sent in a through account support and it was fixed the next day. I've seen people complaining that they haven't gotten their connie yet even now, but they probably haven't sent the support ticket through the right channels.

    http://www.startrekonline.com/support have to submit it as a billing and account ticket, not an in-game help ticket since it specifically pertains to the billing/account system.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    I can't address all your fears but I counted 45 posts by a Dev yesterday in the Dev Tracker, most of which were from dstahl. That doesn't seem like it's diminished to me.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ragesh wrote: »
    I do not know about the rest of you but I am worried.

    Reasons I am worried is these...

    1. Slower GM support. I have noticed that the GM are very much slower in responding to GM requests, it use to be less than a day and now its up to at least 2 days for simple thing.

    2. Presence of GM's on forums. I have noticed a drop in amount of presence or replies by the GM's in the forums. There use to be more respknses and more precence felt from the GM's, nowadays its more and more the rule breaking notices that I see and lesser and lesser comments and responses by the GM's

    3. Lesser thing but still worrysome is the amount of threads in the forums making notice of the drop in CS and the way we are met as players by the Cryptic.

    All these added can have a logical reason for sure but I for one am wondering if this is not all connected to the Advisory Council, that Crytpic feels that since they have that council that their GM and Cs can be cut down a size and perhaps cut down on the cost of having hired personel.

    Something is happening at least, thats for sure and it is not positive for us players and I for one would like to have an official note from Crytpic about whats going on, is Crytpic pulling back resources or perhaps they noticed players dropping one by one and revenue is down so they start to cut corners...

    Listen Crytpic, people are worried, it is time to either confirm the changes and the drop or to put the worried people at ease. Either way best way to let things get worse is saying nothing...

    Thank you

    *sigh*

    2+2 = 107
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    I can't address all your fears but I counted 45 posts by a Dev yesterday in the Dev Tracker, most of which were from dstahl. That doesn't seem like it's diminished to me.

    Perhaps, but how many was last week and the week before that...? And that is yet just one dev, what about the rest of them that use to post..? But I guess its true about the patch coming soon....they need to get it done...

    Makes me wonder about 2.0 how big thats going to be...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    *sigh*

    2+2 = 107

    I guess your demeaning my post so I just got one thing to say to you....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMLrA_0O5I
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    wrote:
    Perhaps, but how many was last week and the week before that...? And that is yet just one dev, what about the rest of them that use to post..? But I guess its true about the patch coming soon....they need to get it done...

    Makes me wonder about 2.0 how big thats going to be...
    Saying most are by dstahl doesn't mean all are. Most doesn't mean all. Beyond that, go and count them yourself if you want to see how many were on Wednesday 2 weeks ago. Seeing 45 Dev posts in a Cryptic work day is sufficient for me to believe the Dev haven't decreased their forum presence. YMMV
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ragesh wrote: »
    I guess your demeaning my post so I just got one thing to say to you....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMLrA_0O5I

    that exactly what i was doing

    you have a perceived notion that the devs have been responding less, and they are not responding as much when they have been far clearer and more informative in the last two weeks than ever before

    because of this perception you think they are no longer listening to us, that the money is drying up and they are cutting costs, and your conclusions is to jump back on the advisory council wagon of ignoring the forums

    you speak for 'people being worried' when it basically just you, and you want an official dev response to alleviate your fears

    im sorry if this offends you but this is a massive over-reaction to you not seeing as many posts from the devs as you would have liked

    would a ' hey does anyone else think the devs are not posting here as much as before' not have been a better post before firing off the conspiracy theory's and demanding updates?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    I can't address all your fears but I counted 45 posts by a Dev yesterday in the Dev Tracker, most of which were from dstahl. That doesn't seem like it's diminished to me.

    Don't sully up worry with facts!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    mirek99 wrote:
    Don't sully up worry with facts!
    Well, as Mr. Spock would say, the hope is that real data will overried emotional fear. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    that exactly what i was doing

    you have a perceived notion that the devs have been responding less, and they are not responding as much when they have been far clearer and more informative in the last two weeks than ever before

    because of this perception you think they are no longer listening to us, that the money is drying up and they are cutting costs, and your conclusions is to jump back on the advisory council wagon of ignoring the forums

    you speak for 'people being worried' when it basically just you, and you want an official dev response to alleviate your fears

    im sorry if this offends you but this is a massive over-reaction to you not seeing as many posts from the devs as you would have liked

    would a ' hey does anyone else think the devs are not posting here as much as before' not have been a better post before firing off the conspiracy theory's and demanding updates?

    Just me eh?
    Let me correct you in that....
    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=153598
    among others...

    However I am getting use to that once someone sets his/her opinion in the forums that trolls invetiably comes about and starts bashing those whom actually dare to have an opinion. Now either respond with come constructive post other than slam the OP or just leave the forums alone, we have a right to post our fears etc without the ever trolling players who,m have nothing better to do than to nitt pick every little thing you say.

    To the rest who actually posted constructively, yeah its most likely that the amount of posts on forum has increased to the amount that it SEEMS as if the GM's have not been as active when first glance. But at same time...if they remove a support access like phone numbers and when GM's in game is slower and slower to respond, then I do tend to worry and yes I meet new bugs every day in game and yes I report them...so I notice...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    That they are working hard on the new update seems to be a logical enough explenation, but if, like last time, my patch is completly copy&pasted from a one week old status of the tribble client without one MB of real download (i can see that!) ...then i will call shenanigans!

    Also it seems to me that Cryptic is supplying an impression of having 21 - 22+ Moderators active on the Forums (english forums only, there are more on the german and france sections i presume), yet when you look at the postcount there are like 5 who have 0 postings, another 10 with way less then 100 postings and all they did was to close threads, so that makes them Moderators and not Dev's?

    My *Real active people*-count is below 10 (while like 5 of them are more for support (closing threads, handing out infractions) like Phoxe and 5 actually talk about the game, like dstahl, Gozer & Coderanger and a few others only *occasionaly*).

    yes i'm kind of a Dev-Stalker ;P



    But That all is not realy in line with the statement that Cryptic told ALL it's Dev's to go on the Forums and communicate more openly with *us*.
    Sure there is some good Info out there (and that is nice!) but on a *rumored* 100 Man Team i would expect more then 5 people to be willing or able to chat from time to time about what they do and what is going on.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ragesh wrote: »
    Just me eh?
    Let me correct you in that....
    http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=153598
    among others...

    However I am getting use to that once someone sets his/her opinion in the forums that trolls invetiably comes about and starts bashing those whom actually dare to have an opinion. Now either respond with come constructive post other than slam the OP or just leave the forums alone, we have a right to post our fears etc without the ever trolling players who,m have nothing better to do than to nitt pick every little thing you say.

    To the rest who actually posted constructively, yeah its most likely that the amount of posts on forum has increased to the amount that it SEEMS as if the GM's have not been as active when first glance. But at same time...if they remove a support access like phone numbers and when GM's in game is slower and slower to respond, then I do tend to worry and yes I meet new bugs every day in game and yes I report them...so I notice...

    in the interest of good relations, i will apologise for the sarcasm. i usually try to be fair but sometime my sarcastic nature gets the better of me

    i will still stand by my second post. your over-reacting and creating conspiracies where non exist
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    in the interest of good relations, i will apologise for the sarcasm. i usually try to be fair but sometime my sarcastic nature gets the better of me

    i will still, stand by my second post. your over-reacting and creating conspiracies where non exist

    I did NOt create a conspiracy, as it says inn the topic, "I am worried..." that means I have a concern. In no way am I saying it is a fact that they cut down or in other way diminish the DEv's or GM's. I am just worried. I am expressing a concern that it MAY be so, I am not saying it IS so.

    In fact I think that it may not be so but it does not mean I can not worry, worry can be done without a cause and then someone corrects you and we go on playing as if nothing happend.

    If I wanted to be conspiratory about something id wonder for example why Crytpic announces that they are addings a 3d faction without finishing the 2nd one first...that seems unfair to the Klingons...but Im not doing that since that question already been answered by the DEV's...

    So yeah, I am just expressing a concern of mine...nothing more...nothing less...

    But its more fun to cont playing so thats what ill do...see you in game :)

    Ragesh out...beepbeep....scotty beam me up... ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ragesh wrote: »
    I did NOt create a conspiracy, as it says inn the topic, "I am worried..." that means I have a concern. In no way am I saying it is a fact that they cut down or in other way diminish the DEv's or GM's. I am just worried. I am expressing a concern that it MAY be so, I am not saying it IS so.

    this sounded like a conspiracy theory to me -
    edit - maybe i took it the wrong way

    'All these added can have a logical reason for sure but I for one am wondering if this is not all connected to the Advisory Council, that Crytpic feels that since they have that council that their GM and Cs can be cut down a size and perhaps cut down on the cost of having hired personel.

    Something is happening at least, thats for sure and it is not positive for us players and I for one would like to have an official note from Crytpic about whats going on, is Crytpic pulling back resources or perhaps they noticed players dropping one by one and revenue is down so they start to cut corners...

    Listen Crytpic, people are worried, it is time to either confirm the changes and the drop or to put the worried people at ease. Either way best way to let things get worse is saying nothing...'
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    this sounded like a conspiracy theory to me -
    edit - maybe i took it the wrong way
    Maybe someone should explain to ragesh that the council was, for the most part, moth-balled? :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Speculate much?

    Perhaps cryptic is reading our minds and we should wear tinfoil hats?:rolleyes:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Oh my...someone's foil hat is in a tizzy.

    Here is my theory. I think we have seen less interaction, although I haven't experienced it, because so much stuff on these forums are repetitive, redundant, self absorbed, self serving, and otherwise at the point of being so nonconstructive that they could just cut & paste their answers.

    All of the "good" posts are only useful up to about the second page. After that the trolls hit the pool and its time for the sane people to get out, shower off, and get back to playing.

    So where are the "authoritative" comments these days, well I hope they are working on more content and/or polishing the game up a bit. I would rather them focus on answering tickets and getting the game to where it needs to be. Considering the time constraints that Cryptic was given, I am still very impressed.

    Now in all fairness to your Council theory, I think the majority of us who have read up on this issue agree, Atari needs to let Cryptic be Cryptic.


    Sorry I forgot to mention. If you fear da trollz...don't feed da trollz.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Nikkadaem wrote: »
    Here is my theory. I think we have seen less interaction, although I haven't experienced it, because so much stuff on these forums are repetitive, redundant, self absorbed, self serving, and otherwise at the point of being so nonconstructive that they could just cut & paste their answers.

    All of the "good" posts are only useful up to about the second page. After that the trolls hit the pool and its time for the sane people to get out, shower off, and get back to playing.

    So where are the "authoritative" comments these days, well I hope they are working on more content and/or polishing the game up a bit. I would rather them focus on answering tickets and getting the game to where it needs to be. Considering the time constraints that Cryptic was given, I am still very impressed.

    Now in all fairness to your Council theory, I think the majority of us who have read up on this issue agree, Atari needs to let Cryptic be Cryptic.


    Sorry I forgot to mention. If you fear da trollz...don't feed da trollz.


    I agree with what you say about the forums. I'm not targetting the OP here, but there is a certain crew of forum dwellers that do nothing but post doom threads and their ducklings follow them around with blind support. In the immortal words of The Joker (Jack Nicholsen version), "This town needs an TRIBBLE!"
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Ragesh wrote: »
    I do not know about the rest of you but I am worried.

    Reasons I am worried is these...

    1. Slower GM support. I have noticed that the GM are very much slower in responding to GM requests, it use to be less than a day and now its up to at least 2 days for simple thing.

    That goes in spurts in any game, based on many different factors. One thing that can make it go up is a big influx of new players. Another is the addition of a new feature that causes a lot of people to play more.

    Ask any MMO veteran, he'll tell you stories of his MMO of choice going from 1 day response to 14 day response because of something temporary in nature. MMO companies can't staff for these surges, because the employees require a lot of training and can't just be dismissed a month later. Generally anything that lasts less than six months has to be endured, not staffed for.
    2. Presence of GM's on forums. I have noticed a drop in amount of presence or replies by the GM's in the forums. There use to be more respknses and more precence felt from the GM's, nowadays its more and more the rule breaking notices that I see and lesser and lesser comments and responses by the GM's

    I haven't seen this dip; if anything, their involvement has gone up.
    3. Lesser thing but still worrysome is the amount of threads in the forums making notice of the drop in CS and the way we are met as players by the Cryptic.

    This is a circular argument. The main complaint about CS lately isn't changing response times, its the removal of the telephone option for contacting them. That's a change that will improve ticket response times, and Cryptic's not the only one who does that. The 800 pound gorilla of the industry, Blizzard, doesn't have phone support from the GM team either, for instance, although they do have it for Billing support, and I don't like Cryptic removing that option. But it doesn't indicate anything about sub sizes; if anything, if subs were falling drastically there'd be less need to get rid of phone support.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    this sounded like a conspiracy theory to me -
    edit - maybe i took it the wrong way

    'All these added can have a logical reason for sure but I for one am wondering if this is not all connected to the Advisory Council, that Crytpic feels that since they have that council that their GM and Cs can be cut down a size and perhaps cut down on the cost of having hired personel.

    Something is happening at least, thats for sure and it is not positive for us players and I for one would like to have an official note from Crytpic about whats going on, is Crytpic pulling back resources or perhaps they noticed players dropping one by one and revenue is down so they start to cut corners...

    Listen Crytpic, people are worried, it is time to either confirm the changes and the drop or to put the worried people at ease. Either way best way to let things get worse is saying nothing...'


    Ahh but you forget one thing, if a conspiracy id have to CLAIm it is so...and I do clearly state that I am wondering if its not all connected... and as for the rest of that quote its just wanting a confirmation from cruptic, nothing cosnpiratory about that...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Sizman wrote:
    Speculate much?

    Perhaps cryptic is reading our minds and we should wear tinfoil hats?:rolleyes:

    You mean they are not??? and here im sitting with tinfoil over my head...ah well, it looks purdy... ;)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    And lastly even if STO went down the crapper I guess I spent 300 dollars on worse things than the lifetime subscription to STO.....and after all soon the star wars mmo comes up, supposedly the next best thing to sex... if you go by their advertising...:p:p:p
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    Parrek wrote:
    My guess is that right now it's all hands on deck to get the next update out.

    I also suspect this is more along the lines of what's happening as well.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited April 2010
    I've gotten a timely GM response from Cryptic exactly once, in CO near its release. And the documentation the GMs were given for the commands available to them was so bad that two of them together couldn't figure out how to get the mission to just declare itself complete when the only thing stopping it from being so was that an NPC that needed to run away was stuck on terrain. From my limited experience in a wholly different sector of the economy I can't say I'm surprised that Customer Support itself gets insufficient support to be empowered to do the job properly, but its disappointing.
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