However, as with all things in life, it came with a cost. No one here is happy that some players are upset by this. However, we have a responsibility to listen to our players feedback, and to provide you with what you request when we can.
There was (and remains) a large demand for these items from you all (meaning, our player base). I understand why some of you feel upset about this. We feel that this was the right thing to do for the community as a whole. I hope you all can appreciate that, and accept that we're really not out to slight the people who ultimately let us do the awesome things we do.
At best, that's an incomplete rationale for the decisions you're making. If this were all about giving the majority of players what they wanted, then the Galaxy-X would be in the C-Store right now. If it's not about being "exclusive", and the referral program's true purpose is for us to enjoy playing the game with friends, then the fancy ship is just a nifty bonus of no real value. Putting it in the C-Store would give the legions of subscribers clamoring for another way to get it what they want. So why isn't it there?
It's not there because at the moment, some people are paying a small fortune to "buy" it with extra subscriptions, and others are beating the bushes for anyone they can get to use a referral code. All of which brings money into your coffers. So it's too soon to put it in the C-Store. Once you've wrung that promotion dry, you'll put it up for sale in the C-Store, and grab whatever cash you can there.
As a lifetime subscriber, I've no leverage with Cryptic - they've got my money, so they can do whatever they like and all I can do is save them some resources by not playing the games I paid for - not top on my priority list at the moment. What I can do is express my feelings on how I've been treated, and assure them that they've gotten the last dime they'll ever see from me.
Throw a bone here... A few C-Store points so we could buy the "exclusives" we missed out on by purchasing another set may not make everyone happy, but it would be a step in the right direction...
Actually, didn't the DD and CE versions come with 500 Cryptic points? ... Maybe that was the LTS...
Check the boldface in my sig. It's a simple concept really. I'm amazed that so many English speaking people have such a poor grip on their own language.
Also, I don't think anyone here is saying they want to take legal action. However, there are quite a few of us who are VERY upset and feel they've been taken advantage of. That's not the way anyone would want to feel after spending their hard earned money.
At the time of the offer they were exclusive and yes that is the definition. However, do you see a time limit there? Nope. When Cryptic made the offer and for the duration of the offer they were exclusive.
At the time of the offer they were exclusive and yes that is the definition. However, do you see a time limit there? Nope. When Cryptic made the offer and for the duration of the offer they were exclusive.
I agree. I just expected it to more along the lines of 12-18 months, not less than 6.
I agree. I just expected it to more along the lines of 12-18 months, not less than 6.
Not trying to anger you or sound sarcastic or anything, but am I to understand that another 8 months of waiting would make you feel less upset? Would you have bought it knowing it was only exclusive for a year? Or would that have made no impact on your decision at all? What about people like me who arrived late to the scene and wanted the previously exclusive item but not given any method of acquiring it? Should I be forced to wait a year because it would hurt your feelings less?
I'm not trying to troll, I am trying to understand your point of view. Please don't take these questions personally or be offended in any way, I'm just trying to understand....
Not trying to anger you or sound sarcastic or anything, but am I to understand that another 8 months of waiting would make you feel less upset? Would you have bought it knowing it was only exclusive for a year? Or would that have made no impact on your decision at all? What about people like me who arrived late to the scene and wanted the previously exclusive item but not given any method of acquiring it? Should I be forced to wait a year because it would hurt your feelings less?
I'm not trying to troll, I am trying to understand your point of view. Please don't take these questions personally or be offended in any way, I'm just trying to understand....
I can see his point of view towards this end. I mean if they had waited a year lets say then the items would have a less of a new feeling to those who just got the MU uniforms a month ago for example. Some of those folks fought hard to get those uniforms as they were supposed to be in at launch. So they only had them a month and after a month now a lot of people are running around in them. For some, not all mind you but some this was an issue.
Quite obviously, the people who feel they have been "cheated", which is why buying an item for the bonus rather than for the product itself is a bad idea. This whole situation proves it better than anything I could say.
But it proves the observation that most people invest based on their emotions rather than their logic, http://www.fusion-trade.com/2010/06/03/emotion-in-investing/. I mean if emotion never entered into the equation then we would all be driving Civics and exclusive marks like Benz and Bentley would not exist.
GrandNagus I agree with the majority of your posts but this is different. This is not about exclusive always being exclusive. It's about the verbiage of the marketing used to stimulate a customers emotion to buy. Basically Cryptic's use of the word exclusive was misleading and manipulative.
How many less CO LT subs would have sold if Cryptic did not imply to the customer that the only way to get the MU unies was to drop 200 on a game a STO player would seldom play? If those STO customers knew that they could get the MU unies from the C-Store four months after launch the majority probably would have waited those four months.
It will be difficult for many to trust Cryptic to hold true to the definition of exclusive as that exclusive will be in the C-Store soon after. I'm glad that you bought the LT sub only because you wanted to never pay a service fee to play again, but that places you in a minority of people who invest on the sole basis of their logic. Logic that is in some way initiated by emotion, (for example you are emotional enough about the Star Trek experience to drop 250 on the LT sub).
I have said the same thing that Metalurgist has said, I wont quit over this, but I will not be swayed by Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future either. This can be a bad thing if Cryptic were to offer an exclusive on a future expansion pre-order. I, and others, will wait and buy that exclusive from the C-Store four months after the expansion launches.
Read the fine print, only buy on logic, whatever. Those hind sight is 20/20, non-empathic, pretentious after the fact work arounds will not get customers like me to trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive again. Sure the game is fine and the service is grand, they even improved their compatibility with my new video card in the last patch, and it is awesome that the devs play with us, test with us and listen to us but in the end when it comes to the word exclusive Cryptic just does not get it. When it comes to this single aspect of the Cryptic experience the damage is done and like it or not this is the two edged sword of trust and this is how it cuts.
Not trying to anger you or sound sarcastic or anything, but am I to understand that another 8 months of waiting would make you feel less upset? Would you have bought it knowing it was only exclusive for a year? Or would that have made no impact on your decision at all? What about people like me who arrived late to the scene and wanted the previously exclusive item but not given any method of acquiring it? Should I be forced to wait a year because it would hurt your feelings less?
I'm not trying to troll, I am trying to understand your point of view. Please don't take these questions personally or be offended in any way, I'm just trying to understand....
Absolutely. I feel I would have gotten some mileage out of my money. Had I known it would have been a year? Yes, I still would have bought it because I could justify the amount I spent. The longer they were exclusive the more bang I got out of my buck. If you just arrived, there are still plenty of GameStops out there selling the Collector's Edition at a large discount compared to what a lot of us shelled out in January. The DDE is also out there for purchase and includes the exclusive items. Any one of us on the forums would of pointed you in that direction to help you obtain the exclusive items as well, that's what community is for.
Actually, didn't the DD and CE versions come with 500 Cryptic points? ... Maybe that was the LTS...
The Atari Digital Download Edition came wit 500 CP and the TOS Uniforms (It's the one I decided to go with myself). As to the previous posters who are claiming that "The only reason people wanted these items is because they were rare; and now that they're not demand will plummet..."
Sorry to burst your bubble. At launch I would have liked to have also gotten:
- The DS9/First Contact Uniform set
- The TOS version Tier 1 Constition class 1701 ship.
- The Borg BO
(I already had the MU uniform set as I liked Champions Online and bought as LTS because I saw potential in the game and also like the superhero genre. Had I NOT liiked CO, neither the 'STO closed beta acces' perk nor the MU uniform perk would have gotten me to spend money on something I don't want to play; and for me, money is not an issue as I make a good living).
In deciding what version to go with I settled on the TOS uniforms because I figured I'd get more use out of them in the long run; but now that the other items I want are available (and I could honestly care lees about who does or doesn't have them; I'll pick them up at the next C-Store 20% off sale (probably on the July 4th holiday, since Cryptic seems to have a habit of doing C-Store sales on national holidays).
But bottom line. MANY players want to model their characters abd in games experiences to their favorite series. So, TOS fans like myself will go for the TOS items, TNG fans for the TNG items, etc. I think that is what's driving a purchase decision more them "Hey, I can get something no one else has."
But it proves the observation that most people invest based on their emotions rather than their logic, http://www.fusion-trade.com/2010/06/03/emotion-in-investing/. I mean if emotion never entered into the equation then we would all be driving Civics and exclusive marks like Benz and Bentley would not exist.
GrandNagus I agree with the majority of your posts but this is different. This is not about exclusive always being exclusive. It's about the verbiage of the marketing used to stimulate a customers emotion to buy. Basically Cryptic's use of the word exclusive was misleading and manipulative.
How many less CO LT subs would have sold if Cryptic did not imply to the customer that the only way to get the MU unies was to drop 200 on a game a STO player would seldom play? If those STO customers knew that they could get the MU unies from the C-Store four months after launch the majority probably would have waited those four months.
It will be difficult for many to trust Cryptic to hold true to the definition of exclusive as that exclusive will be in the C-Store soon after. I'm glad that you bought the LT sub only because you wanted to never pay a service fee to play again, but that places you in a minority of people who invest on the sole basis of their logic. Logic that is in some way initiated by emotion, (for example you are emotional enough about the Star Trek experience to drop 250 on the LT sub).
I have said the same thing that Metalurgist has said, I wont quit over this, but I will not be swayed by Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future either. This can be a bad thing if Cryptic were to offer an exclusive on a future expansion pre-order. I, and others, will wait and buy that exclusive from the C-Store four months after the expansion launches.
Read the fine print, only buy on logic, whatever. Those hind sight is 20/20, non-empathic, pretentious after the fact work arounds will not get customers like me to trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive again. Sure the game is fine and the service is grand, they even improved their compatibility with my new video card in the last patch, and it is awesome that the devs play with us, test with us and listen to us but in the end when it comes to the word exclusive Cryptic just does not get it. When it comes to this single aspect of the Cryptic experience the damage is done and like it or not this is the two edged sword of trust and this is how it cuts.
They really should have waited eight more months.
Marketing by it's very nature is manipulative.
However, what Cryptic did was not misleading. Almost every industry used this same marketing tactic. They do it because it works. People allowed themselves to believe that these items would be exclusive for ever. Even though post launch people were informed that this was not the case.
But it proves the observation that most people invest based on their emotions rather than their logic, http://www.fusion-trade.com/2010/06/03/emotion-in-investing/. I mean if emotion never entered into the equation then we would all be driving Civics and exclusive marks like Benz and Bentley would not exist.
GrandNagus I agree with the majority of your posts but this is different. This is not about exclusive always being exclusive. It's about the verbiage of the marketing used to stimulate a customers emotion to buy. Basically Cryptic's use of the word exclusive was misleading and manipulative.
How many less CO LT subs would have sold if Cryptic did not imply to the customer that the only way to get the MU unies was to drop 200 on a game a STO player would seldom play? If those STO customers knew that they could get the MU unies from the C-Store four months after launch the majority probably would have waited those four months.
It will be difficult for many to trust Cryptic to hold true to the definition of exclusive as that exclusive will be in the C-Store soon after. I'm glad that you bought the LT sub only because you wanted to never pay a service fee to play again, but that places you in a minority of people who invest on the sole basis of their logic. Logic that is in some way initiated by emotion, (for example you are emotional enough about the Star Trek experience to drop 250 on the LT sub).
I have said the same thing that Metalurgist has said, I wont quit over this, but I will not be swayed by Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future either. This can be a bad thing if Cryptic were to offer an exclusive on a future expansion pre-order. I, and others, will wait and buy that exclusive from the C-Store four months after the expansion launches.
Read the fine print, only buy on logic, whatever. Those hind sight is 20/20, non-empathic, pretentious after the fact work arounds will not get customers like me to trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive again. Sure the game is fine and the service is grand, they even improved their compatibility with my new video card in the last patch, and it is awesome that the devs play with us, test with us and listen to us but in the end when it comes to the word exclusive Cryptic just does not get it. When it comes to this single aspect of the Cryptic experience the damage is done and like it or not this is the two edged sword of trust and this is how it cuts.
They really should have waited eight more months.
Excellent post, sir! Well said!
This is an emotional issue and the emotions are currently strong on both sides...
Cryptic had better have taken into account the fact that they have a 3rd "super secret" project in the works...
And regardless of which side you're currently on, you're going to remember this when that game comes out with their "exclusive" offers...
However, what Cryptic did was not misleading. Almost every industry used this same marketing tactic. They do it because it works. People allowed themselves to believe that these items would be exclusive for ever. Even though post launch people were informed that this was not the case.
I disagree here to an extent. I don't play a lot of MMORPG games, but from what I've been hearing this is a common tactic in the genre. I'm surprised. In any other game I've played the exclusive items have been just that, exclusive. I also really don't think people are upset they have become available, just that they became available so soon.
I disagree here to an extent. I don't play a lot of MMORPG games, but from what I've been hearing this is a common tactic in the genre. I'm surprised. In any other game I've played the exclusive items have been just that, exclusive. I also really don't think people are upset they have become available, just that they became available so soon.
You missed this issues threadnaught then. Yet it is common in a lot of games. Example. Even Blizzard does it. The little panda pet in the hat was an exclusive but now you can buy it for 10 dollars. That is just one of others.
To soon maybe but to be honest very few this weekend took that approach.
Both my hubby and I have lifetime on CO and STO. We're both much less likely to buy Lifetime, preorder, or anything else again because the exclusives we paid for (at least as far as Lifetime goes, preorders aren't really paying extra) are now on the CStore.
This is not an "I quit" thread. It's not a rage thread. It's not a "I hate Cryptic" thread. It's a "just going subscription and not buying into exclusive item hype next time" thread.
Yes, I know the playable Borg isn't up, but the CO Lifetime -> STO mirror universe exclusive is up.
Ultimately, we're not upset. We're just going to ignore any offers of exclusive items when making purchasing decisions around Cryptic or not. This is a pretty big blow considering we essentially paid a total of about $1200 collectively between the two of us.
He cares less than I do, I only care enough to now read "Exclusive" as "Paying $300 for Early Access For Something That costs $3 Just a Few Months Later"
That is to say that at least my husband and I don't suffer from the hyperbolic discounting fallacy that Cryptic's marketing team seems to be relying on at this point.
I just checked into the game this week, and even though I do not have the CO lifetime, I am disappointed just as you. At the very least, the prices should be comparable to the item it came with or how rare it should be in game. I guess that is why the Constitution class is 800 points, but still that price should have been also applied to the Mirror Universe uniform. It's disappointing to see otherwise.
Here's hoping that when(not if) the liberated Borg is available that is is price at or higher than the Constituion class. After all Gamestop sells items by a larger quantity than most so its not like there are not many that don't have the option of using that ship skin, or is this item on the C store more than a Skin?
How can you expect us to trust anything you say now?
You know what you can trust now - that if Cryptic is asked by a majority of its players and fans, they will probably do something to make it work.
People asked for a death penalty. They got one.
People asked for an optional death penalty. They got one.
People asked for exclusive and pre-order items to be available on C-Store. They got it.
Yes, maybe Cryptic will sometimes say "we will do or not do X". Just put a disclaimer on it: "Unless enough players ask us to do something different."
And that's hardly wrong. I care more about a Cryptic that is listening then a Cryptic that stands by every decision it ever made, no matter how much its player hate it.
And none of this made any sense to me. So if a retailer has a "buy one get one free" promotion I'm not really getting that second item free? Cause I have a number of items right here on my desk that I got for "free" -- as in, I didn't pay a single penny for them, not even shipping. Are we now going to argue the semantics of the word "free" in addition to "package" and "exclusive"? Thanks, but no thanks. I think most people understand the concept of "free" without any extra analysis.
And AFAIK there is no additional cost for getting pre-order items. You pay exactly the same amount for the game either way. So sorry, but they are indeed "free" bonuses.
Well those things you've got 'free' has been paid for, either by you or someone else.
If I own a store and want to sell coconuts. I buy them for 2.50 and to be able to pay the rent of the store, my and everyone else's salaries, the electric bill etc I need to sell it for 10.50. Of course I want some profit as well so I decide the price should be 12.50 per nut. But I want to have a drive and empty my inventory of nuts before they go bad. So I raise the price on the individual nuts to 15.50. I raise the price on all the other products I sell to cover the price on the second nut that I'm giving away for "free".
This is basic knowledge that I thought everyone knew about. There ain't not such thing as a free meal.
You maybe don't have to pay for it with cash but somehow, some way, someone did pay for it.
When it comes to these Gold Editions, Silver Editions, Collector Editions etc. The price for them were higher. Then we had the normal editions that were cheaper that if you bought them in advance you got an item or two. They were paid for by giving the company a infusion of money early without people knowing what the game was like. The special editions paid extra for their games and financed the costs it took to develop the game. From all the money Cryptic got, they had to pay the employees who made the so called "free" items for the time it took to make them.
Don't forget to add to the list of things they said they'd do after fan requests ...
- Diplomatic (non-combat) missions.
- Ship interiors.
Both things that IIRC were not very well planned ideas during the game's creation. And obviously weren't in at launch. But were popular and oft asked for things that they agreed they'd work on getting in-game.
However, what Cryptic did was not misleading. Almost every industry used this same marketing tactic. They do it because it works. People allowed themselves to believe that these items would be exclusive for ever.
When did I say anything about exclusive forever? I never said that on this thread. Oh you must have missed the very last, dangling all by it's self, sentence where I suggested that they should have waited eight more months.
Even though post launch people were informed that this was not the case.
I bought my per-order DDE well before post launch. I was in Open Beta, I was there for Head Start.
Truth told I am on a limited budget. I agonized over which pre-order to buy. I read the fine print about offers subject to change. I have seen other MMOs use similar verbiage and their then exclusives are still, to some degree, exclusive today. I taught myself to read. I was reading equivalent to a college sophomore when I was in the ninth grade, and four years ago scored perfect on the reading portion of the Compass college entry exam, (not bad for a bouncer with eight learning related visual disorders *hint, hint; I am an abnormal intellect as the visual disorders were not discovered till five months after that ninth grade reading comprehension test*). Yes the marketing employed by Cryptic was misleading and intentionally so.
Nothing stays totally exclusive forever. In 1910 the Stanley steam powered Rocket held the world speed record at 127.66mph. A record that held, in one way shape or form, for almost a hundred years. You had to pay allot of money back then to get one so a Stanley Rocket was by definition as exclusive as today's Veyron. Today they are still very rare and very expensive so they are still exclusive in those respects. Yet a modern Ford Fiesta has more than enough performance to spank the Rocket in a standing quarter mile and beyond the Rockets top end. So while a Stanley Rocket is still exclusive today it's performance is not.
If Cryptic would have taken a similar route and offered similar, but not the exact same, bonuses in the C-Store to the items they called exclusive in the pre-orders and LT memberships then I for one would be inclined to trust their definition of the word exclusive. This all just proves that when it comes to the word exclusive, Cryptic just does not get it.
On a more serious note: I really do understand why you feel the way you do, and I'm sorry we have made you feel that way. It's never our intent to make our players unhappy. This move was made to boost the overall satisfaction of the vast majority of our customers. Sadly, in this case, it also made you, and several others very unhappy.
Unfortunately, Storm, this is the MO of the Cryptic Marketing Department. So far, there has yet to be a marketing venture put forth in conjunction with STO that hasn't had the "unfortunate" side effect of making many players unhappy enough to quit, or at least tie the forums up with rage posts for days.
It's not our intent to give the middle finger to any one Mirror. Not only myself, but all of Cryptic values each and every customer we have. We simply wouldn't exist as a company if that weren't true. Releasing these items on the C-store was done to appease an overwhelming number of players asking us to do so.
However, as with all things in life, it came with a cost. No one here is happy that some players are upset by this. However, we have a responsibility to listen to our players feedback, and to provide you with what you request when we can.
This is the flaw in your team's approach to developing this game. You have a very hard time recognizing who to say "No" to and who to say "Yes" to. Some things that players ask for, I hate to say, are just plain stupid. The fact that we have armies of scantilly clad female characters running around everywhere from the TOS and MU female uniforms is an example. And I think those players are doing it on purpose just to rub it in that they bought those uniforms from the C-Store. You've givern a bunch of tools the... uhm... tools with which to grief people in a way they can't be punished for. After all, you guys put those uniforms up for EVERYONE to buy. And if they buy them, they're gonna wear them. Because that's what they are for.
Thank you very much...
There was (and remains) a large demand for these items from you all (meaning, our player base). I understand why some of you feel upset about this. We feel that this was the right thing to do for the community as a whole. I hope you all can appreciate that, and accept that we're really not out to slight the people who ultimately let us do the awesome things we do.
Stormshade
Well, you can't fix a broken, rotten egg. Once it's cracked open, it makes an awful stink. In time, it'll drift away and the air will seem fresh again. Until the next rotten egg gets dropped in our midst by your marketing team, which should be replaced by people with enough tact to know that you should never try to please customers they don't have at the expense of the ones they do have. This whole issue could have been averted had the words "exclusive" not been used. You guys are referring to these items as what they should have ALWAYS been referred to as:
Bonus Items
You might want to write the words "the customers we have are just as important as the customers we want, if not moreso!" down in nice big bold letters and hand it over to Ivan and his "professional and expert" marketing team. Drill it into their heads so they can recite it from memory. Either that or replace them with people who understand it by default. It will be the biggest favor you can do for your company.
For the record, I am in favor of the items being added to the C-Store. But the almost "We couldn't care less how it makes some of you feel" attitude I have seen displayed makes me feel that the whole thing could have been handled a lot better with less hard feelings.
The dev team is doing a terrific job an turning the game around. But with all these marketing decisions upsetting the delicate balance of this community, many people cannot see the positives. If marketing wants to do STO some good, let them put together commercials that ACCURATELY represent the game, explain what players can (actually) do and make it look exciting, with cool music and visual effects. No making it look like you can command our ships in combat from the Bridge.
With Season 2, we;ll be getting the weekly episodic missions. Put together a promo of the next episode. Cut together scenes from the content. Give it to all the gaming news sites and STO fan sites and put it on YouTube. Put the game out there in a way that people will want to experience it. That's what marketing needs to do...
...They also need to stop agrivating the existing customer base. This game is teerering on the edge of a precipice as it is. Nudge it too far, and it will collapse like a house of cards at the mercy of the wind.
If thats the case, then the feedback itself doesnt really matter at all. The only question would be which decision would make the most money: C-store purchases vs potential cancellations of unhappy people. And TBH, that answer has pretty much been obvious from the start.
That may be true, but this decision was made without any kind of poll. Granted, the one I posted showed the people who supported this vs those that didnt as a 60/40 ratio, but that was after Cryptic had already made the decision.
Once again though, I agree with this decision. I just dont agree with all of the official statements about it. At the end of the day more money = more development power, so theres no need to beat around the bush with that.
Great post. Even though I am unhappy with this, the money formula rings true more than most of the other posts in here.
It's always good to have a Ferengi around to get down to basics of why business do what they do.
You might not can trust them to keep the items exclusive, but you can certainly trust them to provide the game/sub you paid for. So when it comes to future Cryptic products I might be interested in, I obviously am not going to make any purchase decisions based on BONUS items, but I have no fear at all about buying the actual product itself.
While i too purchased the Life time sub, it will most definately be my last Cryptic product. This game has been fun, but after the 2nd month i cant even force myself to log in every day. For me, i guess its just the way they spend more time thinking of ways to get my money out of the C store, then actually fixing the bugs still left from beta. This company has shown they only care about milking its player base.
"There was (and remains) a large demand for these items from you all (meaning, our player base). I understand why some of you feel upset about this. We feel that this was the right thing to do for the community as a whole. I hope you all can appreciate that, and accept that we're really not out to slight the people who ultimately let us do the awesome things we do.
Thanks,
Stormshade"
This is one of the problems since the game went live, you offered certain things that everyone was aware would come from certain retail packages that for the most part were at minimum, twice the cost of what the game is retailing for now, and then give the items away for pennies in the C Store. The Life Time sub is another example of the greed Cryptil has shown for money, you took that money from customers willing to shell out basically your operating fund for the short term until you could truy to plug the holes in your press and marketing schemes, then turn around and stop listening to the majority, and given the vocal minority any and all things to make them happy
Those of you who want CP compensation ARE YOU OUTA YOUR FRACKIN MIND!!!!! those of us who did not buy the othe versions to get the things offered now are spending money on CP to get items you have already purchased you should not also get CP now that cryptic/atari has allowed people to purchase the items through the c store.
as for deceptive practices. DID YOU READ the terms of service you agreed to it the moment you created an account and logged into the game. the terms of service are linked on the web site if YOU failed to read them its yourt own fault. IT IS NOT DECEPTIVE, if they did not disclose in the tos that they can change what they want when they want then it might be deceptive but THEY DO disclose this !!!
Those of you who want CP compensation ARE YOU OUTA YOUR FRACKIN MIND!!!!! those of us who did not buy the othe versions to get the things offered now are spending money on CP to get items you have already purchased you should not also get CP now that cryptic/atari has allowed people to purchase the items through the c store.
as for deceptive practices. DID YOU READ the terms of service you agreed to it the moment you created an account and logged into the game. the terms of service are linked on the web site if YOU failed to read them its yourt own fault. IT IS NOT DECEPTIVE, if they did not disclose in the tos that they can change what they want when they want then it might be deceptive but THEY DO disclose this !!!
This looks like a job for a long sting of cliches...
Like I said I like the game still, I just will never trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future. For I have learned that it is better to be patient with Cryptic than to be first in line. Unless it is a race, to be first is great, but it is better to be second. To make Darwinism work for you does not mean you have to be the fastest just faster than the next person. Besides karma is a mean mother. The next time Cryptic is looking for the fast fleece by dangling another "exclusive" I'll keep the bulk of my money in my pocket and buy it from the C-Store a few months later. Then we'll see just who's karma is running over who's dogma.
this threads being going on non-stop for days and just seems to be going in circles its gone from unfair that everyone can buy my exclusives to its unfair the the stuffs in c-store to soon to the wording used when using the word "exclusive" oh and ofc to "we want free stuff because you ripped us off" and this thread was made simply because (and heres the kicker) the OP wants to feel special said so herself 90 odd pages all for that....
i`m hoping the devs read this thread and say "right thats it i can`t take the endless complains lets just put it on Free to play and call it a night" i mean its a bunch of stupid bloody little things that don`t alter the balance of the game there just there to make it more fun and why shouldn`t the others get that...(and they are paying for and i ain`t going into the price of the items coz thats be argued over already) hell maybe thats why they put all that up there because come christmas it will be free to play you ever think of that.?
So some of you won`t trust cryptic`s word again thats fine lession learned let the blasted thread die and move on to the next issue.
On a side note this is meant to be a game a hobby to spend so much time on this thread complaining instead of playing the game you bought because you wanted to play it is daft
ps how about this for a title..."vanity thy name is....."
i like this game but with this amount of complaining/whining over little things i can`t see it lasting aslong as i hoped..
and to the ppl that control the thread please close it as its not going anywhere
I've got one friend I've brought into STO on a referral code. Trying to go for four more to get that ship... He doesn't know who I am on the forums (yet)
Me: Hey, I've got some free trial codes for STO. Care to give it a shot?
Friend: Yeah sure, but I'm not going to buy the game. I've been watching the forums trying to wait for a good time to get the game. I don't really trust Cryptic. Are you trying to get that special ship?
Me: Yeah, the Galaxy X, from the last episode of TNG.
Friend: Just wait till they put it on that micropayments thing.
Similar conversations have been had with my coworkers, former coworkers, friends, and even former friends whom I am not too estranged from yet. Great, Cryptic now has the credibility of the devil and I'll never get the Galaxy X until it's on CStore because I refuse to engage in sneaky tactics like that one person on ebay who's selling copies of the game with the stipulation that the person use the buddy code before getting the retail box.
This company is trying too hard to appease the perceptions on the forums. In order to reach the "vocal minority" and win them over as advocates, they have taken their founding advocates and stripped them of any recognition.
This is a most dangerous mistake.
Those who come here to offload continuous streams of complaint are simply not going to instead post praise. They have now been shown that through bombarding the idea of unhappiness in public, they will receive anything they desire, make any change. Through insisting something is already true, they can later exclaim "Hurray! I won! I changed the policy [which I so adamantly exclaimed was already this way as a method for making it change]"
Those who had been vocal champions and advocates for the company are now given undeniable proof that dedication and loyalty is in fact pointless, that the company has no intention whatsoever to return that loyalty, no gratitude or appreciation for it or its value. Moreover, it chooses to directly slight that loyalty by very publicly stripping the recognition it had given in the first place. While not as specific, the message is very loudly aligning with those here who chose to express their inferiority issues by exclaiming anyone who desires recognition is a "elitist *****" - seems Cryptic agrees.
The result is easy enough to see: Now those who want things they didn't put any effort into can simple muscle up to the forum and complain until its theirs. Tantrums are rewarded, so they will increase. On the other side of the coin, you have former advocates and loyalists - feverant and vocal once for the cause, we are now just as confident and determined to convey the new message: There is no loyalty here. There is no community. There is nothing different or better about Cryptic. I am a friend of Cryptic no more, just another customer, another trick. Of course, we were always nothing more than that, but the build up to be let down leaves me and others in the "jilted" category - and that makes for some new, scathing, venom spitting and vocal antagonists in the review article comments and forums.
I just checked into the game this week, and even though I do not have the CO lifetime, I am disappointed just as you. At the very least, the prices should be comparable to the item it came with or how rare it should be in game. I guess that is why the Constitution class is 800 points, but still that price should have been also applied to the Mirror Universe uniform. It's disappointing to see otherwise.
Here's hoping that when(not if) the liberated Borg is available that is is price at or higher than the Constituion class. After all Gamestop sells items by a larger quantity than most so its not like there are not many that don't have the option of using that ship skin, or is this item on the C store more than a Skin?
Maybe they should have adopted a tiered pricing system where the prices drop every few months to settle at a base level. That way, some could have had it "exclusively" for four months (or one month for the MU uniforms). Then, it could have been ridiculously expensive for four months so those with disposable income could join the "exclusive" club for a bit. Then, it could just be over priced for four months, expensive for four months, acceptable for four months, then the base "cost." Maybe they can do this once the current forum bonfire calms down; after all, we don't want the fire to go out. We didn't start the fire, it was always burning...
There was (and remains) a large demand for these items from you all (meaning, our player base). I understand why some of you feel upset about this. We feel that this was the right thing to do for the community as a whole. I hope you all can appreciate that, and accept that we're really not out to slight the people who ultimately let us do the awesome things we do.
Stormshade
I've long wondered why the majority of the iconic items from the series (TOS uniforms, TNG uniforms, Constitution, etc.) are sold via the C-Store. Should all the iconic items be part of the base game with the new concept art sold as extras?
Comments
It's not there because at the moment, some people are paying a small fortune to "buy" it with extra subscriptions, and others are beating the bushes for anyone they can get to use a referral code. All of which brings money into your coffers. So it's too soon to put it in the C-Store. Once you've wrung that promotion dry, you'll put it up for sale in the C-Store, and grab whatever cash you can there.
As a lifetime subscriber, I've no leverage with Cryptic - they've got my money, so they can do whatever they like and all I can do is save them some resources by not playing the games I paid for - not top on my priority list at the moment. What I can do is express my feelings on how I've been treated, and assure them that they've gotten the last dime they'll ever see from me.
Actually, didn't the DD and CE versions come with 500 Cryptic points? ... Maybe that was the LTS...
At the time of the offer they were exclusive and yes that is the definition. However, do you see a time limit there? Nope. When Cryptic made the offer and for the duration of the offer they were exclusive.
I agree. I just expected it to more along the lines of 12-18 months, not less than 6.
Not trying to anger you or sound sarcastic or anything, but am I to understand that another 8 months of waiting would make you feel less upset? Would you have bought it knowing it was only exclusive for a year? Or would that have made no impact on your decision at all? What about people like me who arrived late to the scene and wanted the previously exclusive item but not given any method of acquiring it? Should I be forced to wait a year because it would hurt your feelings less?
I'm not trying to troll, I am trying to understand your point of view. Please don't take these questions personally or be offended in any way, I'm just trying to understand....
I can see his point of view towards this end. I mean if they had waited a year lets say then the items would have a less of a new feeling to those who just got the MU uniforms a month ago for example. Some of those folks fought hard to get those uniforms as they were supposed to be in at launch. So they only had them a month and after a month now a lot of people are running around in them. For some, not all mind you but some this was an issue.
But it proves the observation that most people invest based on their emotions rather than their logic, http://www.fusion-trade.com/2010/06/03/emotion-in-investing/. I mean if emotion never entered into the equation then we would all be driving Civics and exclusive marks like Benz and Bentley would not exist.
GrandNagus I agree with the majority of your posts but this is different. This is not about exclusive always being exclusive. It's about the verbiage of the marketing used to stimulate a customers emotion to buy. Basically Cryptic's use of the word exclusive was misleading and manipulative.
How many less CO LT subs would have sold if Cryptic did not imply to the customer that the only way to get the MU unies was to drop 200 on a game a STO player would seldom play? If those STO customers knew that they could get the MU unies from the C-Store four months after launch the majority probably would have waited those four months.
It will be difficult for many to trust Cryptic to hold true to the definition of exclusive as that exclusive will be in the C-Store soon after. I'm glad that you bought the LT sub only because you wanted to never pay a service fee to play again, but that places you in a minority of people who invest on the sole basis of their logic. Logic that is in some way initiated by emotion, (for example you are emotional enough about the Star Trek experience to drop 250 on the LT sub).
I have said the same thing that Metalurgist has said, I wont quit over this, but I will not be swayed by Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future either. This can be a bad thing if Cryptic were to offer an exclusive on a future expansion pre-order. I, and others, will wait and buy that exclusive from the C-Store four months after the expansion launches.
Read the fine print, only buy on logic, whatever. Those hind sight is 20/20, non-empathic, pretentious after the fact work arounds will not get customers like me to trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive again. Sure the game is fine and the service is grand, they even improved their compatibility with my new video card in the last patch, and it is awesome that the devs play with us, test with us and listen to us but in the end when it comes to the word exclusive Cryptic just does not get it. When it comes to this single aspect of the Cryptic experience the damage is done and like it or not this is the two edged sword of trust and this is how it cuts.
They really should have waited eight more months.
Absolutely. I feel I would have gotten some mileage out of my money. Had I known it would have been a year? Yes, I still would have bought it because I could justify the amount I spent. The longer they were exclusive the more bang I got out of my buck. If you just arrived, there are still plenty of GameStops out there selling the Collector's Edition at a large discount compared to what a lot of us shelled out in January. The DDE is also out there for purchase and includes the exclusive items. Any one of us on the forums would of pointed you in that direction to help you obtain the exclusive items as well, that's what community is for.
The Atari Digital Download Edition came wit 500 CP and the TOS Uniforms (It's the one I decided to go with myself). As to the previous posters who are claiming that "The only reason people wanted these items is because they were rare; and now that they're not demand will plummet..."
Sorry to burst your bubble. At launch I would have liked to have also gotten:
- The DS9/First Contact Uniform set
- The TOS version Tier 1 Constition class 1701 ship.
- The Borg BO
(I already had the MU uniform set as I liked Champions Online and bought as LTS because I saw potential in the game and also like the superhero genre. Had I NOT liiked CO, neither the 'STO closed beta acces' perk nor the MU uniform perk would have gotten me to spend money on something I don't want to play; and for me, money is not an issue as I make a good living).
In deciding what version to go with I settled on the TOS uniforms because I figured I'd get more use out of them in the long run; but now that the other items I want are available (and I could honestly care lees about who does or doesn't have them; I'll pick them up at the next C-Store 20% off sale (probably on the July 4th holiday, since Cryptic seems to have a habit of doing C-Store sales on national holidays).
But bottom line. MANY players want to model their characters abd in games experiences to their favorite series. So, TOS fans like myself will go for the TOS items, TNG fans for the TNG items, etc. I think that is what's driving a purchase decision more them "Hey, I can get something no one else has."
Marketing by it's very nature is manipulative.
However, what Cryptic did was not misleading. Almost every industry used this same marketing tactic. They do it because it works. People allowed themselves to believe that these items would be exclusive for ever. Even though post launch people were informed that this was not the case.
Excellent post, sir! Well said!
This is an emotional issue and the emotions are currently strong on both sides...
Cryptic had better have taken into account the fact that they have a 3rd "super secret" project in the works...
And regardless of which side you're currently on, you're going to remember this when that game comes out with their "exclusive" offers...
I disagree here to an extent. I don't play a lot of MMORPG games, but from what I've been hearing this is a common tactic in the genre. I'm surprised. In any other game I've played the exclusive items have been just that, exclusive. I also really don't think people are upset they have become available, just that they became available so soon.
You missed this issues threadnaught then. Yet it is common in a lot of games. Example. Even Blizzard does it. The little panda pet in the hat was an exclusive but now you can buy it for 10 dollars. That is just one of others.
To soon maybe but to be honest very few this weekend took that approach.
I just checked into the game this week, and even though I do not have the CO lifetime, I am disappointed just as you. At the very least, the prices should be comparable to the item it came with or how rare it should be in game. I guess that is why the Constitution class is 800 points, but still that price should have been also applied to the Mirror Universe uniform. It's disappointing to see otherwise.
Here's hoping that when(not if) the liberated Borg is available that is is price at or higher than the Constituion class. After all Gamestop sells items by a larger quantity than most so its not like there are not many that don't have the option of using that ship skin, or is this item on the C store more than a Skin?
You know what you can trust now - that if Cryptic is asked by a majority of its players and fans, they will probably do something to make it work.
People asked for a death penalty. They got one.
People asked for an optional death penalty. They got one.
People asked for exclusive and pre-order items to be available on C-Store. They got it.
Yes, maybe Cryptic will sometimes say "we will do or not do X". Just put a disclaimer on it: "Unless enough players ask us to do something different."
And that's hardly wrong. I care more about a Cryptic that is listening then a Cryptic that stands by every decision it ever made, no matter how much its player hate it.
Well those things you've got 'free' has been paid for, either by you or someone else.
If I own a store and want to sell coconuts. I buy them for 2.50 and to be able to pay the rent of the store, my and everyone else's salaries, the electric bill etc I need to sell it for 10.50. Of course I want some profit as well so I decide the price should be 12.50 per nut. But I want to have a drive and empty my inventory of nuts before they go bad. So I raise the price on the individual nuts to 15.50. I raise the price on all the other products I sell to cover the price on the second nut that I'm giving away for "free".
This is basic knowledge that I thought everyone knew about. There ain't not such thing as a free meal.
You maybe don't have to pay for it with cash but somehow, some way, someone did pay for it.
When it comes to these Gold Editions, Silver Editions, Collector Editions etc. The price for them were higher. Then we had the normal editions that were cheaper that if you bought them in advance you got an item or two. They were paid for by giving the company a infusion of money early without people knowing what the game was like. The special editions paid extra for their games and financed the costs it took to develop the game. From all the money Cryptic got, they had to pay the employees who made the so called "free" items for the time it took to make them.
Do you still think those items were "free"?
- Diplomatic (non-combat) missions.
- Ship interiors.
Both things that IIRC were not very well planned ideas during the game's creation. And obviously weren't in at launch. But were popular and oft asked for things that they agreed they'd work on getting in-game.
What ever happened to truth in advertising? What happened to word as bond?
When did I say anything about exclusive forever? I never said that on this thread. Oh you must have missed the very last, dangling all by it's self, sentence where I suggested that they should have waited eight more months.
I bought my per-order DDE well before post launch. I was in Open Beta, I was there for Head Start.
Truth told I am on a limited budget. I agonized over which pre-order to buy. I read the fine print about offers subject to change. I have seen other MMOs use similar verbiage and their then exclusives are still, to some degree, exclusive today. I taught myself to read. I was reading equivalent to a college sophomore when I was in the ninth grade, and four years ago scored perfect on the reading portion of the Compass college entry exam, (not bad for a bouncer with eight learning related visual disorders *hint, hint; I am an abnormal intellect as the visual disorders were not discovered till five months after that ninth grade reading comprehension test*). Yes the marketing employed by Cryptic was misleading and intentionally so.
Nothing stays totally exclusive forever. In 1910 the Stanley steam powered Rocket held the world speed record at 127.66mph. A record that held, in one way shape or form, for almost a hundred years. You had to pay allot of money back then to get one so a Stanley Rocket was by definition as exclusive as today's Veyron. Today they are still very rare and very expensive so they are still exclusive in those respects. Yet a modern Ford Fiesta has more than enough performance to spank the Rocket in a standing quarter mile and beyond the Rockets top end. So while a Stanley Rocket is still exclusive today it's performance is not.
If Cryptic would have taken a similar route and offered similar, but not the exact same, bonuses in the C-Store to the items they called exclusive in the pre-orders and LT memberships then I for one would be inclined to trust their definition of the word exclusive. This all just proves that when it comes to the word exclusive, Cryptic just does not get it.
Unfortunately, Storm, this is the MO of the Cryptic Marketing Department. So far, there has yet to be a marketing venture put forth in conjunction with STO that hasn't had the "unfortunate" side effect of making many players unhappy enough to quit, or at least tie the forums up with rage posts for days.
This is the flaw in your team's approach to developing this game. You have a very hard time recognizing who to say "No" to and who to say "Yes" to. Some things that players ask for, I hate to say, are just plain stupid. The fact that we have armies of scantilly clad female characters running around everywhere from the TOS and MU female uniforms is an example. And I think those players are doing it on purpose just to rub it in that they bought those uniforms from the C-Store. You've givern a bunch of tools the... uhm... tools with which to grief people in a way they can't be punished for. After all, you guys put those uniforms up for EVERYONE to buy. And if they buy them, they're gonna wear them. Because that's what they are for.
Thank you very much...
Well, you can't fix a broken, rotten egg. Once it's cracked open, it makes an awful stink. In time, it'll drift away and the air will seem fresh again. Until the next rotten egg gets dropped in our midst by your marketing team, which should be replaced by people with enough tact to know that you should never try to please customers they don't have at the expense of the ones they do have. This whole issue could have been averted had the words "exclusive" not been used. You guys are referring to these items as what they should have ALWAYS been referred to as:
You might want to write the words "the customers we have are just as important as the customers we want, if not moreso!" down in nice big bold letters and hand it over to Ivan and his "professional and expert" marketing team. Drill it into their heads so they can recite it from memory. Either that or replace them with people who understand it by default. It will be the biggest favor you can do for your company.
For the record, I am in favor of the items being added to the C-Store. But the almost "We couldn't care less how it makes some of you feel" attitude I have seen displayed makes me feel that the whole thing could have been handled a lot better with less hard feelings.
The dev team is doing a terrific job an turning the game around. But with all these marketing decisions upsetting the delicate balance of this community, many people cannot see the positives. If marketing wants to do STO some good, let them put together commercials that ACCURATELY represent the game, explain what players can (actually) do and make it look exciting, with cool music and visual effects. No making it look like you can command our ships in combat from the Bridge.
With Season 2, we;ll be getting the weekly episodic missions. Put together a promo of the next episode. Cut together scenes from the content. Give it to all the gaming news sites and STO fan sites and put it on YouTube. Put the game out there in a way that people will want to experience it. That's what marketing needs to do...
...They also need to stop agrivating the existing customer base. This game is teerering on the edge of a precipice as it is. Nudge it too far, and it will collapse like a house of cards at the mercy of the wind.
In the immortal words of Forest Gump
Take care...
Great post. Even though I am unhappy with this, the money formula rings true more than most of the other posts in here.
It's always good to have a Ferengi around to get down to basics of why business do what they do.
While i too purchased the Life time sub, it will most definately be my last Cryptic product. This game has been fun, but after the 2nd month i cant even force myself to log in every day. For me, i guess its just the way they spend more time thinking of ways to get my money out of the C store, then actually fixing the bugs still left from beta. This company has shown they only care about milking its player base.
"There was (and remains) a large demand for these items from you all (meaning, our player base). I understand why some of you feel upset about this. We feel that this was the right thing to do for the community as a whole. I hope you all can appreciate that, and accept that we're really not out to slight the people who ultimately let us do the awesome things we do.
Thanks,
Stormshade"
This is one of the problems since the game went live, you offered certain things that everyone was aware would come from certain retail packages that for the most part were at minimum, twice the cost of what the game is retailing for now, and then give the items away for pennies in the C Store. The Life Time sub is another example of the greed Cryptil has shown for money, you took that money from customers willing to shell out basically your operating fund for the short term until you could truy to plug the holes in your press and marketing schemes, then turn around and stop listening to the majority, and given the vocal minority any and all things to make them happy
Those of you who want CP compensation ARE YOU OUTA YOUR FRACKIN MIND!!!!! those of us who did not buy the othe versions to get the things offered now are spending money on CP to get items you have already purchased you should not also get CP now that cryptic/atari has allowed people to purchase the items through the c store.
as for deceptive practices. DID YOU READ the terms of service you agreed to it the moment you created an account and logged into the game. the terms of service are linked on the web site if YOU failed to read them its yourt own fault. IT IS NOT DECEPTIVE, if they did not disclose in the tos that they can change what they want when they want then it might be deceptive but THEY DO disclose this !!!
Watch the happy baby and mellow out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyoA4LXQco4
Is it not strange that Atari still is selling the games (At the time i wrote this post) with the c-store items and calling them Exclusive and Unique?
Exclusive Klingon Blood Wine Toast Emote
Unique Registry Prefix
Exclusive "KHAAAN!" Emote
http://www.atari.com/games/startrek_online_digital_deluxe_ed/download
Exclusive access to uniforms.
http://www.atari.com/games/startrek_online_collectors_ed/dvd_rom
This looks like a job for a long sting of cliches...
Like I said I like the game still, I just will never trust Cryptic's use of the word exclusive in the future. For I have learned that it is better to be patient with Cryptic than to be first in line. Unless it is a race, to be first is great, but it is better to be second. To make Darwinism work for you does not mean you have to be the fastest just faster than the next person. Besides karma is a mean mother. The next time Cryptic is looking for the fast fleece by dangling another "exclusive" I'll keep the bulk of my money in my pocket and buy it from the C-Store a few months later. Then we'll see just who's karma is running over who's dogma.
I sound like a gang of bad fortune cookies.
i`m hoping the devs read this thread and say "right thats it i can`t take the endless complains lets just put it on Free to play and call it a night" i mean its a bunch of stupid bloody little things that don`t alter the balance of the game there just there to make it more fun and why shouldn`t the others get that...(and they are paying for and i ain`t going into the price of the items coz thats be argued over already) hell maybe thats why they put all that up there because come christmas it will be free to play you ever think of that.?
So some of you won`t trust cryptic`s word again thats fine lession learned let the blasted thread die and move on to the next issue.
On a side note this is meant to be a game a hobby to spend so much time on this thread complaining instead of playing the game you bought because you wanted to play it is daft
ps how about this for a title..."vanity thy name is....."
i like this game but with this amount of complaining/whining over little things i can`t see it lasting aslong as i hoped..
and to the ppl that control the thread please close it as its not going anywhere
Me: Hey, I've got some free trial codes for STO. Care to give it a shot?
Friend: Yeah sure, but I'm not going to buy the game. I've been watching the forums trying to wait for a good time to get the game. I don't really trust Cryptic. Are you trying to get that special ship?
Me: Yeah, the Galaxy X, from the last episode of TNG.
Friend: Just wait till they put it on that micropayments thing.
Similar conversations have been had with my coworkers, former coworkers, friends, and even former friends whom I am not too estranged from yet. Great, Cryptic now has the credibility of the devil and I'll never get the Galaxy X until it's on CStore because I refuse to engage in sneaky tactics like that one person on ebay who's selling copies of the game with the stipulation that the person use the buddy code before getting the retail box.
This company is trying too hard to appease the perceptions on the forums. In order to reach the "vocal minority" and win them over as advocates, they have taken their founding advocates and stripped them of any recognition.
This is a most dangerous mistake.
Those who come here to offload continuous streams of complaint are simply not going to instead post praise. They have now been shown that through bombarding the idea of unhappiness in public, they will receive anything they desire, make any change. Through insisting something is already true, they can later exclaim "Hurray! I won! I changed the policy [which I so adamantly exclaimed was already this way as a method for making it change]"
Those who had been vocal champions and advocates for the company are now given undeniable proof that dedication and loyalty is in fact pointless, that the company has no intention whatsoever to return that loyalty, no gratitude or appreciation for it or its value. Moreover, it chooses to directly slight that loyalty by very publicly stripping the recognition it had given in the first place. While not as specific, the message is very loudly aligning with those here who chose to express their inferiority issues by exclaiming anyone who desires recognition is a "elitist *****" - seems Cryptic agrees.
The result is easy enough to see: Now those who want things they didn't put any effort into can simple muscle up to the forum and complain until its theirs. Tantrums are rewarded, so they will increase. On the other side of the coin, you have former advocates and loyalists - feverant and vocal once for the cause, we are now just as confident and determined to convey the new message: There is no loyalty here. There is no community. There is nothing different or better about Cryptic. I am a friend of Cryptic no more, just another customer, another trick. Of course, we were always nothing more than that, but the build up to be let down leaves me and others in the "jilted" category - and that makes for some new, scathing, venom spitting and vocal antagonists in the review article comments and forums.
More tantrums, more antagonists, less advocates.
Good job.
Maybe they should have adopted a tiered pricing system where the prices drop every few months to settle at a base level. That way, some could have had it "exclusively" for four months (or one month for the MU uniforms). Then, it could have been ridiculously expensive for four months so those with disposable income could join the "exclusive" club for a bit. Then, it could just be over priced for four months, expensive for four months, acceptable for four months, then the base "cost." Maybe they can do this once the current forum bonfire calms down; after all, we don't want the fire to go out. We didn't start the fire, it was always burning...
I've long wondered why the majority of the iconic items from the series (TOS uniforms, TNG uniforms, Constitution, etc.) are sold via the C-Store. Should all the iconic items be part of the base game with the new concept art sold as extras?
-Auspice