No offense but amoebas have more common sense than your marketing department...
Are you in a hurry to get people in and not able to wait to July? Is that a unfortunate side effect to the referal program and veteran rewards? Are you trying very hard to make sure that those who go never come back? Is Naomi Campbell ever gonna stop going all Klingon on the reporter petaQs?
Free weekends are standard practice for the MMO biz.
Free weekends are standard practice AFTER A FEW YEARS once the game has improved greatly to have actually responded to player feedback when they cancel.
This was WAY too early. It should have been done AFTER season 2 to show off interiors and say, "look, you guys wanted to fly your ship from the inside? Here you go, interiors, which are functional, and you can navigate from the bridge, and heal damage and repair the ship from sickbay and engineering"
Right now it seems like a lot of people quit over a variety of reasons and Cryptics response is "We fixed some bugs, added a difficulty slider, there are a few missions at end game now, look how much better it is" This isn't really what players left over, so with this being the only things fixed, this really isn't going to get them to come back.
No offense but amoebas have more common sense than your marketing department...
Are you in a hurry to get people in and not able to wait to July? Is that a unfortunate side effect to the referal program and veteran rewards? Are you trying very hard to make sure that those who go never come back? Is Naomi Campbell ever gonna stop going all Klingon on the reporter petaQs?
I really want to know...
It is either desperation (not unlikely, given the perceptible drop in players in game), or their team just lacks foresight and is struggling to make goals.
It could also be a combination of both. But until Cryptic gives us a straight answer (which I doubt they would), we are left to speculation. Unfortunately... nothing points to wisdom or secret success as it is right now.
Free weekends are standard practice for the MMO biz.
Do you work in the industry? Because I do, and free weekends became a staple with Warhammer, and then with AoC both largely unsuccessful games. They did that months after closing down servers, and community fiascos. What Cryptic does it not the norm for the industry, but is the "norm" for them it is seemingly becoming. Blizzard to my knowledge has had RaF programs but not free weekends.
As for having a "please come back weekend"... 2-3 months after a game's launch? Well, Cryptic popularized this, starting with CO. I'd imagine their average subscription retention rate per game will make this a sort of "Cryptic tradition". Note to self... never buy a Cryptic box to try a game again... just wait a few months for their free "please come back weekend. "
No offense but amoebas have more common sense than your marketing department...
Are you in a hurry to get people in and not able to wait to July? Is that a unfortunate side effect to the referal program and veteran rewards? Are you trying very hard to make sure that those who go never come back? Is Naomi Campbell ever gonna stop going all Klingon on the reporter petaQs?
I really want to troll...
I am sure you offended nobody. :rolleyes:
If they did welcome back weedend within a month of Season 2, I'd Be upset. I rather have dev's support paying customers and fix bugs, assist current customers, and focus on minor patches im sure they will have to do after season's 2 release.
I am sure welcome back weekend is them trying very hard to make sure that "those who go" never come back. :rolleyes:
Either people will re-sub for season 2 or not, free weekend for season 2 though? Come on...Maybe a couple months afterward.
Its a pretty standard practice for nearly any game these days. The number of months are irrelevant. Sony took an exceptionally odd way to go about it in EQ2 recently, by adding a wacky 'subscription plan' that only lets you play 2 days a month. SOE cracks me up at times. :rolleyes:
But anyway I'd expect a second such weekend when Season 2 happens. I'm sure the only reason for this one was to test it out while launching the Vet & referral programs. Feedback from this one will help them on that more important one.
Free weekends are a decent way to bring back early leavers. 1.2 has tons of material in it, and to be fair, from launch to 1.2 is a decent amount of headway. We're not 'there' yet, no, but we're moving significantly fast (in MMO terms).
I'm sure 2.0 or 2.1 will see another free weekend, and so on. I'm equally sure that someone who decided not to sub up after the 30 days ended will find the progress so far fixed or added something to give them reason to stay a bit.
Consider it this way - 1 is essentially finished. Free weekend. 2.0 hits, tweaked in 2.1, finished in 2.2, free weekend, etc.
If they did welcome back weedend within a month of Season 2, I'd Be upset. I rather have dev's support paying customers and fix bugs, assist current customers, and focus on minor patches im sure they will have to do after season's 2 release.
I am sure welcome back weekend is them trying very hard to make sure that "those who go" never come back.
Either people will re-sub for season 2 or not, free weekend for season 2 though? Come on...Maybe a couple months afterward.
I never specified how early after season 2 is live they should do this. I only question the wisdom of doing it before that. So my guess is you knew you would disagree even before you read my post.
So in light of this and your lack of arguments on the Naomi situation I would say you are here to troll
Free weekends are a decent way to bring back early leavers. 1.2 has tons of material in it,...
You see I think you need to lie down because you are hallucinating
No offense but amoebas have more common sense than your marketing department...
Who really cares why they decided to hold a free weekend? Good for them. If it helped bring in a few new subscribers or to have a few returning players re-sub, it's a good thing.
This coming from a person who begins their OP with...
Who really cares why they decided to hold a free weekend? Good for them. If it helped bring in a few new subscribers or to have a few returning players re-sub, it's a good thing.
My argument is not about the free weekend but the time is implemented. Unlike what you believe its made with the game's ineterest at heart. I am just not in the business of soft petalling the truth like yourself. This attempt only verified in people's eyes that STO had nothing else to offer. There is hardly any new content apart from the fixes and couple of STFs. People are more likely to stay away now.
Another poor attempt to promote the game, not very unlike your poor attempt to disagree before you even realised what the subject was. In fact 3 out of 3 already of people who voice objections with this seem to have no reading comprehension skills at all. A very intriguing pattern...:rolleyes:
My argument is not about the free weekend but the time is implemented.
Yes you think it's too early for one, we get that. Again I'll ask, so what? So what if it is 1 month or 1 day or 1 hour after launch? If it helped the game, STO is better off for it.
Yes you think it's too early for one, we get that. Again I'll ask, so what? So what if it is 1 month or 1 day or 1 hour after launch? If it helped the game, STO is better off for it.
Do you need help to read past the first sentence? Nevermind I will bite.
The reason most people did not resub the first time round was lack of content and ommission of features like diplomacy and interiors etc. Asking those same people back before the season that is supposed to implement them is rather counter productive. Would you not agree with this?
I am not saying its a bad thing. I am just not sure if they have anything really to show yet. In fact many people ( I am in a rather big fleet) who already in game feel bored. I am just bringing this up to discover the logic behind it because I see none. I understand that this does not stop them to offer it again after season 2, but will that be too late for those who try this now?
Do you need help to read past the first sentence? Nevermind I will bite.
The reason most people did not resub the first time round was lack of content and ommission of features like diplomacy and interiors etc. Asking those same people back before the season that is supposed to implement them is rather counter productive. Would you not agree with this?
I am not saying its a bad thing. I am just not sure if they have anything really to show yet. In fact many people ( I am in a rather big fleet) who already in game feel bored. I am just bringing this up to discover the logic behind it because I see none. I understand that this does not stop them to offer it again after season 2, but will that be too late for those who try this now?
But there were also people who claimed to quit over things like having to use their spacebar too much, and not being able to turn off their shield rings. So they might indeed be happy with recent changes.
(Tongue in cheek yes, but people really did say things like that on their quit rants)
But there were also people who claimed to quit over things like having to use their spacebar too much, and not being able to turn off their shield rings. So they might indeed be happy with recent changes.
(Tongue in cheek yes, but people really did say things like that on their quit rants)
True true, but I like to think that the reasons I mentioned sound a little more representative of the Star trek fanbase. Good point though none the less
The reason most people did not resub the first time round was lack of content and ommission of features like diplomacy and interiors etc. Asking those same people back before the season that is supposed to implement them is rather counter productive. Would you not agree with this?
What about the people who left because there was no difficulty setting or death penalty? Or those who left due to 1 endgame STF?
Sure, there were those who left for the reasons you pointed out, but there were those who left for a variety of other reasons. Saying "most left because of X" is a guess and you have no real evidence to back that up. You've no idea what the reasons are people did not stay with STO after their free month expired.
Some things have been added since launch that might be what those who left were looking for. If it the free weekend helped get them to re-sub, it was worth it, regardless of timing.
Free weekends are standard practice AFTER A FEW YEARS once the game has improved greatly to have actually responded to player feedback when they cancel.
This was WAY too early. It should have been done AFTER season 2 to show off interiors and say, "look, you guys wanted to fly your ship from the inside? Here you go, interiors, which are functional, and you can navigate from the bridge, and heal damage and repair the ship from sickbay and engineering"
Right now it seems like a lot of people quit over a variety of reasons and Cryptics response is "We fixed some bugs, added a difficulty slider, there are a few missions at end game now, look how much better it is" This isn't really what players left over, so with this being the only things fixed, this really isn't going to get them to come back.
I don't agree with how you said it, but I agree with what you are saying. Having a welcome back weekend so soon with nothing really new speaks of a failing game. Waiting for real change after Season 2 would have shown confidence in the changes and thier game. Just another bad move in an ever growing list.
It's a marketing gimmick. One that works. It doesn't speak of failure at all.
LOOK at the forums. How many new players and returning players took advantage of this. It worked. As cynical as we all might like to feel about it ... it was a marketing gimmick that worked. It didn't fail. The game isn't failing.
They'll offer more of these. Just like they do in their other game. And over time, more people will come back.
Free. That's the key word in this marketing gimmick. It's free. It loses no one anything other than time. Time to try out the game. It's made of win. Because it lets people play it for free.
Just my opinion, but having a free weekend or a welcome back weekend before all the content goodness in July is sorta a wasted opportunity and IMO counterproductive... I had a friend come back and he was not overly impressed by what was added since he left after 30 days. He liked the STF (He did hardcore raiding in WoW, although he did have some issues with the amount of trash in the STFs). He also really enjoyed the addition of the difficulty slider... however when he was done, he stated that would would probably not come back in July unless "I" am impressed with the content they add... most people will give something a second chance... but not a third chance. Cryptic does not need to waste the second chance they can get with people until they have added a lot more stuff to the game, I.E. wait till July.
It's a marketing gimmick. One that works. It doesn't speak of failure at all.
LOOK at the forums. How many new players and returning players took advantage of this. It worked. As cynical as we all might like to feel about it ... it was a marketing gimmick that worked. It didn't fail. The game isn't failing.
They'll offer more of these. Just like they do in their other game. And over time, more people will come back.
Free. That's the key word in this marketing gimmick. It's free. It loses no one anything other than time. Time to try out the game. It's made of win. Because it lets people play it for free.
Actually speaking from playing the game I see no more players now that I saw a week ago. I still think the timing for those promotions is rather unfortunate and have really hurt the game in terms of credibility. So maybe you think its worked because your experiences are different than mine. Fair dues. I still see more people I used t play leave and those that came back to check it out this wekend were hardly impressed past the weekend. I am not here to state whether the actual game is failing as such. My thread relates to the promotional blunders that seem to have followed a chain reaction since launch that IMO have hurt the playerbase most likely beyond repair.
What about the people who left because there was no difficulty setting or death penalty? Or those who left due to 1 endgame STF?
Sure, there were those who left for the reasons you pointed out, but there were those who left for a variety of other reasons. Saying "most left because of X" is a guess and you have no real evidence to back that up. You've no idea what the reasons are people did not stay with STO after their free month expired.
Some things have been added since launch that might be what those who left were looking for. If it the free weekend helped get them to re-sub, it was worth it, regardless of timing.
On another note, the slider and injury system may have been some people's primary concern, like some have pointed out but that does not mean that someone would not be affected by other aspects of the game. I think everyone is unhappy with RA5 content regardless of other complains. Many people hate STF with a passion and the single daily 3 months now is rather a stagnant epilogue since the Genesis is yet to live up to expectations. My evidence is the concensus from the vast majority of reactions in game (not the forums). Higher difficulty was welcome but there is only so much you can test it on save leveling another alt. And most people in my fleet already have all their slots full trying all careers. So maybe I have no evidence as such but neither have you. At least I can report on what I see in hopes to gather more information.;)
I was one such person that has benefitted from the free weekend. As someone who has been following the saga of this mmo and did want it to succeed, I was disappointed with the reviews. So I held back.
I took advantage of the free demo for newcomers and so far I have enjoyed it.
However, my major concern is all the negativity surrounding the game. The patch seems to have improved the game from what I can read on the forums but still is short of what the community wants!
That has left me in a delimma; to buy or wait and see what happens in the next 2/3 months?
I was one such person that has benefitted from the free weekend. As someone who has been following the saga of this mmo and did want it to succeed, I was disappointed with the reviews. So I held back.
I took advantage of the free demo for newcomers and so far I have enjoyed it.
However, my major concern is all the negativity surrounding the game. The patch seems to have improved the game from what I can read on the forums but still is short of what the community wants!
That has left me in a delimma; to buy or wait and see what happens in the next 2/3 months?
Decisions Decisions!!
K
You should never allow your decision to be made purely on someone elses view of the game. If you are enjoying it then that is all you need to know. The "negativity" you see is merely a reflection from people who been around long enough to hit the bumps along he road. You should be aware of what the game limitations and strengths are but its always better to experience for yourself. If the improvements have been enough for you, then all the merrier since you have even more to look forward to once season 2 hits
It was a huge mistake. But then TRIBBLE up spectacularly is business as usual for the "genius" that is Atari/Cryptic marketing. I'm beginning to think their constant foibles are no accident, that they are getting bonuses for creating havoc and driving people away. I mean, if you set out to do this deliberately, could you PLAN it any better than marketing has executed?
I haven't left because I can't (see blue colored user name) but I've all but left, given how little I've actually played the game the last month (I played more in the first week than I did all last month). Why? There is nothing to do!
That is likely the #1 reason why people left. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to try to entice those people back until this issue is fixed. People who did try the game again logged in, saw that other than a bunch of TRIBBLE in the C-Store and 3 missions that you have to have groups for, absolutely nothing had changed since they quit and promptly logged out and uninstalled the game.
The earliest you can possibly think the game will be able to attract new people or old people back will be after Season 2.
Comments
Free weekends are standard practice AFTER A FEW YEARS once the game has improved greatly to have actually responded to player feedback when they cancel.
This was WAY too early. It should have been done AFTER season 2 to show off interiors and say, "look, you guys wanted to fly your ship from the inside? Here you go, interiors, which are functional, and you can navigate from the bridge, and heal damage and repair the ship from sickbay and engineering"
Right now it seems like a lot of people quit over a variety of reasons and Cryptics response is "We fixed some bugs, added a difficulty slider, there are a few missions at end game now, look how much better it is" This isn't really what players left over, so with this being the only things fixed, this really isn't going to get them to come back.
It is either desperation (not unlikely, given the perceptible drop in players in game), or their team just lacks foresight and is struggling to make goals.
It could also be a combination of both. But until Cryptic gives us a straight answer (which I doubt they would), we are left to speculation. Unfortunately... nothing points to wisdom or secret success as it is right now.
Do you work in the industry? Because I do, and free weekends became a staple with Warhammer, and then with AoC both largely unsuccessful games. They did that months after closing down servers, and community fiascos. What Cryptic does it not the norm for the industry, but is the "norm" for them it is seemingly becoming. Blizzard to my knowledge has had RaF programs but not free weekends.
As for having a "please come back weekend"... 2-3 months after a game's launch? Well, Cryptic popularized this, starting with CO. I'd imagine their average subscription retention rate per game will make this a sort of "Cryptic tradition". Note to self... never buy a Cryptic box to try a game again... just wait a few months for their free "please come back weekend. "
I am sure you offended nobody. :rolleyes:
If they did welcome back weedend within a month of Season 2, I'd Be upset. I rather have dev's support paying customers and fix bugs, assist current customers, and focus on minor patches im sure they will have to do after season's 2 release.
I am sure welcome back weekend is them trying very hard to make sure that "those who go" never come back. :rolleyes:
Either people will re-sub for season 2 or not, free weekend for season 2 though? Come on...Maybe a couple months afterward.
But anyway I'd expect a second such weekend when Season 2 happens. I'm sure the only reason for this one was to test it out while launching the Vet & referral programs. Feedback from this one will help them on that more important one.
I'm sure 2.0 or 2.1 will see another free weekend, and so on. I'm equally sure that someone who decided not to sub up after the 30 days ended will find the progress so far fixed or added something to give them reason to stay a bit.
Consider it this way - 1 is essentially finished. Free weekend. 2.0 hits, tweaked in 2.1, finished in 2.2, free weekend, etc.
I never specified how early after season 2 is live they should do this. I only question the wisdom of doing it before that. So my guess is you knew you would disagree even before you read my post.
So in light of this and your lack of arguments on the Naomi situation I would say you are here to troll
You see I think you need to lie down because you are hallucinating
This coming from a person who begins their OP with...
Who really cares why they decided to hold a free weekend? Good for them. If it helped bring in a few new subscribers or to have a few returning players re-sub, it's a good thing.
Yeah. That was slanderous against amoebas.
Yes If I were a single Cell organism, I'd be offended if I were confused with a 'Multiple-Sell' one.
Disclaimer: Just couldn't resist the pun. Not really making a commentary on any recent promotions.
My argument is not about the free weekend but the time is implemented. Unlike what you believe its made with the game's ineterest at heart. I am just not in the business of soft petalling the truth like yourself. This attempt only verified in people's eyes that STO had nothing else to offer. There is hardly any new content apart from the fixes and couple of STFs. People are more likely to stay away now.
Another poor attempt to promote the game, not very unlike your poor attempt to disagree before you even realised what the subject was. In fact 3 out of 3 already of people who voice objections with this seem to have no reading comprehension skills at all. A very intriguing pattern...:rolleyes:
Yes you think it's too early for one, we get that. Again I'll ask, so what? So what if it is 1 month or 1 day or 1 hour after launch? If it helped the game, STO is better off for it.
Do you need help to read past the first sentence? Nevermind I will bite.
The reason most people did not resub the first time round was lack of content and ommission of features like diplomacy and interiors etc. Asking those same people back before the season that is supposed to implement them is rather counter productive. Would you not agree with this?
I am not saying its a bad thing. I am just not sure if they have anything really to show yet. In fact many people ( I am in a rather big fleet) who already in game feel bored. I am just bringing this up to discover the logic behind it because I see none. I understand that this does not stop them to offer it again after season 2, but will that be too late for those who try this now?
But there were also people who claimed to quit over things like having to use their spacebar too much, and not being able to turn off their shield rings. So they might indeed be happy with recent changes.
(Tongue in cheek yes, but people really did say things like that on their quit rants)
True true, but I like to think that the reasons I mentioned sound a little more representative of the Star trek fanbase. Good point though none the less
What about the people who left because there was no difficulty setting or death penalty? Or those who left due to 1 endgame STF?
Sure, there were those who left for the reasons you pointed out, but there were those who left for a variety of other reasons. Saying "most left because of X" is a guess and you have no real evidence to back that up. You've no idea what the reasons are people did not stay with STO after their free month expired.
Some things have been added since launch that might be what those who left were looking for. If it the free weekend helped get them to re-sub, it was worth it, regardless of timing.
I don't agree with how you said it, but I agree with what you are saying. Having a welcome back weekend so soon with nothing really new speaks of a failing game. Waiting for real change after Season 2 would have shown confidence in the changes and thier game. Just another bad move in an ever growing list.
LOOK at the forums. How many new players and returning players took advantage of this. It worked. As cynical as we all might like to feel about it ... it was a marketing gimmick that worked. It didn't fail. The game isn't failing.
They'll offer more of these. Just like they do in their other game. And over time, more people will come back.
Free. That's the key word in this marketing gimmick. It's free. It loses no one anything other than time. Time to try out the game. It's made of win. Because it lets people play it for free.
do remember, life time subs already paid, and they have already spent that money.
If the monthy subs fall to much.....plug is pulled
Actually speaking from playing the game I see no more players now that I saw a week ago. I still think the timing for those promotions is rather unfortunate and have really hurt the game in terms of credibility. So maybe you think its worked because your experiences are different than mine. Fair dues. I still see more people I used t play leave and those that came back to check it out this wekend were hardly impressed past the weekend. I am not here to state whether the actual game is failing as such. My thread relates to the promotional blunders that seem to have followed a chain reaction since launch that IMO have hurt the playerbase most likely beyond repair.
On another note, the slider and injury system may have been some people's primary concern, like some have pointed out but that does not mean that someone would not be affected by other aspects of the game. I think everyone is unhappy with RA5 content regardless of other complains. Many people hate STF with a passion and the single daily 3 months now is rather a stagnant epilogue since the Genesis is yet to live up to expectations. My evidence is the concensus from the vast majority of reactions in game (not the forums). Higher difficulty was welcome but there is only so much you can test it on save leveling another alt. And most people in my fleet already have all their slots full trying all careers. So maybe I have no evidence as such but neither have you. At least I can report on what I see in hopes to gather more information.;)
I was one such person that has benefitted from the free weekend. As someone who has been following the saga of this mmo and did want it to succeed, I was disappointed with the reviews. So I held back.
I took advantage of the free demo for newcomers and so far I have enjoyed it.
However, my major concern is all the negativity surrounding the game. The patch seems to have improved the game from what I can read on the forums but still is short of what the community wants!
That has left me in a delimma; to buy or wait and see what happens in the next 2/3 months?
Decisions Decisions!!
K
You should never allow your decision to be made purely on someone elses view of the game. If you are enjoying it then that is all you need to know. The "negativity" you see is merely a reflection from people who been around long enough to hit the bumps along he road. You should be aware of what the game limitations and strengths are but its always better to experience for yourself. If the improvements have been enough for you, then all the merrier since you have even more to look forward to once season 2 hits
Thank you for the first hand feedback
All looks very positive.
Looks like I will be beaming aboard.
T
I haven't left because I can't (see blue colored user name) but I've all but left, given how little I've actually played the game the last month (I played more in the first week than I did all last month). Why? There is nothing to do!
That is likely the #1 reason why people left. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to try to entice those people back until this issue is fixed. People who did try the game again logged in, saw that other than a bunch of TRIBBLE in the C-Store and 3 missions that you have to have groups for, absolutely nothing had changed since they quit and promptly logged out and uninstalled the game.
The earliest you can possibly think the game will be able to attract new people or old people back will be after Season 2.