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*psst* Hey, Cryptic guys. Come over here. I've got a business proposition for you.
Most of us know what your definition of "exclusive" means by now: "only given out to certain people for a limited amount of time before we put it up for sale". Well, I'm here to suggest another way to make money and possibly retain subs. I'm pretty sure that you're already thinking about offering certain bonus items outside of their original intended audience. Hell, it's already been done with the Captain's Table and TOS unis.
I suggest putting certain highly wanted items in the Veteran program. Some people are asking for the MU unis, the Lib Borg, and the Galaxy-X (as, I'm sure, among other things). Why not make them available for the 500+ day mark(s)? This will give an incentive to those who really want the item(s) and we all know that some non-lifers will be willing to go to this mark, especially if the game ends up worth playing for more than a couple months.
Don't put these things in the C-Store. That place is already too overcrowded and you don't need to put anything else there. Hell, there are lots of things already in the works to be put up there.
I know that there will be people who would argue "why should we have to give up our EXCLUSIVE bonus items"? As stated above, this could be a way to earn more revenue. If you guys are set on acting like Ferengi, at least act like INTELLIGENT Ferengi. Read the posts. There are people who would be willing to do this.
If others wish to comment on this idea, I invite a civil discourse. Please leave the hateful posts at the door.
Most of us know what your definition of "exclusive" means by now: "only given out to certain people for a limited amount of time before we put it up for sale". Well, I'm here to suggest another way to make money and possibly retain subs. I'm pretty sure that you're already thinking about offering certain bonus items outside of their original intended audience. Hell, it's already been done with the Captain's Table and TOS unis.
I suggest putting certain highly wanted items in the Veteran program. Some people are asking for the MU unis, the Lib Borg, and the Galaxy-X (as, I'm sure, among other things). Why not make them available for the 500+ day mark(s)? This will give an incentive to those who really want the item(s) and we all know that some non-lifers will be willing to go to this mark, especially if the game ends up worth playing for more than a couple months.
Don't put these things in the C-Store. That place is already too overcrowded and you don't need to put anything else there. Hell, there are lots of things already in the works to be put up there.
I know that there will be people who would argue "why should we have to give up our EXCLUSIVE bonus items"? As stated above, this could be a way to earn more revenue. If you guys are set on acting like Ferengi, at least act like INTELLIGENT Ferengi. Read the posts. There are people who would be willing to do this.
If others wish to comment on this idea, I invite a civil discourse. Please leave the hateful posts at the door.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Rule of Acquisition #9 - Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Rule of Acquisition #57 - Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.
Rule of Acquisition #76 - Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
Can you send these and any other tidbits of Ferengi wisdom by private message? I need more content for my Ferengi, named "Profit", biography.
Rules of Acquisition
Note to self: Still need to check my messages when I get home to see if I got any additional responses.
That depends on what one considers a good customer.
In Cryptic's case, a "good customer" is someone who will purchase 5 subscriptions on top of their previous things, thus increasing their profit.
If that is true, then Cryptic/Atari doesn't have a good grasp as to what a "good customer" is. They're playing in a field where sub retention is more important than short-term sales. If people do get others to play and sub and stay for months or years, then that would be a better business plan. However, they're thinking is flawed as many people will do as you said. They will go out and buy five more copies of the game, start five more accounts, and pay for five extra months of playtime just to get a ship that is not just cosmetic.
In the short-term the game will prosper as they are making money from box sales. In the long run, though, they will lose not only revenue from the perceived notion that subs have skyrocketed but they will also lose revenue from those who had considered staying on but felt put off by such marketing tactics. As it currently stands, the referral program is a lose-lose situation.
In order to keep people playing, there has to be two things: a more solid game with better end-game content & something to work towards. Putting items like the MU unis, the Lib Borg, and the Galaxy-X as something to strive to earn will benefit everyone in the long run.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=154693
Since the new Galaxy is not related to the amount of a monetary investment the person made I am not too concerned with seeing that as a vet item.
I'm fine with adding more exclusives to the game, but they should really slow down with the ammount of exclusive items they are adding and they should really be careful about adding things that have been advertised as exclusive to get people to buy them.
The problem is that Cryptic does not seem to understand what "exclusive" and "limited time only" means. Look at the TOS unis. They were supposed to be exclusive to the DDE...guess what? They're giving them away for free now. While I can't officially confirm it, I've heard that the limited-time pre-order items are still being offered by their respective retailers.
I don't particularly have any problems with offering exclusives. Lots of MMO companies seem to be doing it these days. However, they need to be more intelligent with what they offer and how they offer it.
Yes, you can still get preorder items at certain retailers. Look for a box that has the preorder item still on it.
I do object to them giving things I paid a lot for to someone for Cryptic points that are worth less than $10. But if somoene can put in close to 2 yeasrs on the game, I think they earned the right to slowly be granted things they cannot get for bing a good cutomer.
Please Cryptic!!!
Hmmm, funny thing I don't remember anyone saying anything about specialty retailer specific items being "Pre-Order" items. They were items you were definitely gonna get if you pre-ordered because they attached a limited number of them to box codes for those retailers.
That means that the initial run or two off the print line came with these special items included. If a retailer was unable to sell all of them initially then there are still some left. In fact from what I've heard most of these items are only being found in CE editions since most retailers sold all of their normal editions that had these items attached.
As I said about 30 times on these boards before and after launch those items are NOT Pre-Order folks only items! Pre-Ordering was just the only way to guarantee that you actually got that limited quantity item from that retailer.
BACK To Topic: I want to see a transwarp skill to Memory Alpha, DS9, and K7....these are major game areas why are there not transwarp gateways or at least "off-ramps" in their systems?
preach on that's how i feel if they start making exclusives available then i know not to dump money on this game when things first come out i'll just wait and get them later for far less money
totally agree,
make people ''earn' the rewards. likes been stated. play/sub for 200days, get such and such.
but dont sell it on c-store. only loyalty rewards....