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Are people getting too used to the C-Store?

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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Seems like a lot of us are giving up. We just want content and we add "for the C-Store" to try and make it happen. :P

    I hate the C-Store. It's pure evil. But I still find myself compromising and suggesting stuff for the C-Store when in reality, again, I hate it and believe nothing should be in it at all. The amount of content is already too small even compared to most MMOs out there to be charging me for other stuff.

    I don't hate the C-Store. It is what it is to me. If there's something on there I want (like playable Pakleds) I'll get it.

    If there's something on there that confuses me, and seems completely out of place in the star trek game I want to play (air guitar emote ... 21st century formal wear) ... I'll ignore it and not pay it any mind.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    When I buy anything I tend to look for a deal. Maybe I am a cheap that way. But I have never seen the C-Store have a sale on anything, to me that's just a bad store idea.

    The C-Store has had multiple sales. They've been tied into holiday "events." Like the last one I remember was the fourth of july sale, I think, what, Bridge Packs were put on sale?

    Also they have a pretty decent super-saver deal for Added character slots. Per character, the 4 characters are cheaper than just the 2.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    Than why is it that other P2P games run just fine with no C-Store even games like Age of Conan( which does not have a large subscription base anymore) don't need a C-Store to operate. Not to mention what do you actually think it cost to make this game?

    free to play really? i dont consider this free to play i call it free to play then buy the game.

    The company is offering a free "trial" that allows gamers to wander the entire Island of Tortage for free. In fact, gamers can play the game forever without having to upgrade to a full subscription... or until Funcom says otherwise. That's certainly not a bad deal, but there's a catch.

    According to the company, gamers must first create a free account, download the client, and then jump into the MMORPG before January 1, 2010. There's also another catch: the level cap is only 20, so don't expect to conquer the island as a level 100 barbarian. Funcom said that other restrictions apply as well: there's no trading with other players, no in-game mail, no public chat channels, and no posting on the forums.


    Aion? ring a bell? heck they charge 10 bucks to change a name

    here its like 3 bucks
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    bigduckie wrote:
    free to play really? i dont consider this free to play i call it free to play then buy the game.

    The company is offering a free "trial" that allows gamers to wander the entire Island of Tortage for free. In fact, gamers can play the game forever without having to upgrade to a full subscription... or until Funcom says otherwise. That's certainly not a bad deal, but there's a catch.

    According to the company, gamers must first create a free account, download the client, and then jump into the MMORPG before January 1, 2010. There's also another catch: the level cap is only 20, so don't expect to conquer the island as a level 100 barbarian. Funcom said that other restrictions apply as well: there's no trading with other players, no in-game mail, no public chat channels, and no posting on the forums.


    Aion? ring a bell? heck they charge 10 bucks to change a name

    here its like 3 bucks

    I never stated that AoC was F2P.:confused:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    That is not what you originally said. If it really adds more money to make more content than why have we not seen allot of added content?

    because your only quoting part of my post. i was referring to the c-store items in general, as i made clear in my posts. the money made from one c-store items funds the creation of the next one. i did not say it hampers the production of the free content like season 1 and 2.

    we have seen added content. the caitians the pakleds, the other future races that are due soon. new costumes, formal wear, merc wear etc etc would not be here if we had not spent money buying the earlier items
    its also impossible to know if some of the money used from the c-store has gone into making season 2 better than it would have been without it. but that isall guess work

    see below
    there are people that only work on the c-store, there wages are probably paid by the c-store funds. get rid of that and they then cant afford to keep two extra artists.

    yes the core game artist could spend time designing things like the nebula or the other ships skins anyway for free, but the time they spend doing that is something else taken from the game. perhaps the breen or fluidic space does not get made because they have to spend time doing the items people want. and then people moan they want the breen.....
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Shingi wrote:
    frankly, i wonder what people's problem with the C-Store is..

    I get tired of seeing things that i think should be part of my subscription going into the c-store.

    I also am getting tired of seeing the price go up! Astronomically every time.

    For example all the ships where 200 or so c-points. Fine. then the Enterprise Dreadnaught comes on the scene and its like 2000 POINTS! thats 10 times what the cost of the others was. I bet the excelsior and Nebula will be the same. 1500 or 2000 points each.

    then they put things in there that are universal to all your characters so again your only buying it once. but wait! Now they have stuff that is per character! that means if you want it for each character guess what. bend over and forget the lubricant.

    that again is a cost increase to us.

    To me some of these things they put in the c-store should be part of my monthly subscription fee and should not be bartered to me on the side like some overcoated thug in a side ally in NYC pedalling watches.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    because your only quoting part of my post. i was referring to the c-store items in general, as i made clear in my posts. the money made from one c-store items funds the creation of the next one. i did not say it hampers the production of the free content like season 1 and 2.

    we have seen added content. the caitians the pakleds, the other future races that are due soon. new costumes, formal wear, merc wear etc etc would not be here if we had not spent money buying the earlier items
    its also impossible to know if some of the money used from the c-store has gone into making season 2 better than it would have been without it. but that isall guess work

    see below

    And all I am saying is with the lack of content to begin with there is no reason for them to charge us for those items especially ships and playable species. Also they are not designing anything for free we pay monthly fees for that.
    Originally Posted by Captain_Revo
    there are people that only work on the c-store, there wages are probably paid by the c-store funds. get rid of that and they then cant afford to keep two extra artists.

    yes the core game artist could spend time designing things like the nebula or the other ships skins anyway for free, but the time they spend doing that is something else taken from the game. perhaps the breen or fluidic space does not get made because they have to spend time doing the items people want. and then people moan they want the breen.....
    Once again you make the assumption that without the C-Store the game could not operate.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    I never stated that AoC was F2P.:confused:

    my mistake there
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    And all I am saying is with the lack of content to begin with there is no reason for them to charge us for those items especially ships and playable species. Also they are not designing anything for free we pay monthly fees for that.

    Once again you make the assumption that without the C-Store the game could not operate.

    but are you not also making the assumption that without the c-store the game can operate?


    both assumption that we know nothing of.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Seems like a lot of us are giving up. We just want content and we add "for the C-Store" to try and make it happen. :P

    I hate the C-Store. It's pure evil. But I still find myself compromising and suggesting stuff for the C-Store when in reality, again, I hate it and believe nothing should be in it at all. The amount of content is already too small even compared to most MMOs out there to be charging me for other stuff.

    I agree with you on this its pretty much a rip off... The only way to get new Items/costumes/ships is threw the c-store. If they added these IG threw a series of quest of grinding for them a lot more people would still play because they have to work to get somthing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Shingi wrote:
    WoW uses a micro transaction store for cosmetic items.
    Guild Wars
    DDO (had one before going F2P)
    i also believe one has been announced for the forthcoming starwars MMO

    i'm also still waiting for someone to explain why giving players CHOICE is the most evil thing ever...

    I personally have nothing against a c-store but I'm not thrilled with the way STOs' is being used.

    Guild wars - F2P
    DDO - F2P
    and WoW has far more items in game to acquire and chose from than in the cash store. STO has half it's cosmetic content on the c-store.

    I think this article sums it up fairly well
    .http://www.massively.com/2010/07/15/captains-log-the-c-store-and-the-perils-of-going-freemium/
    That is where the comparison to STO breaks down. STO currently offers nine playable Federation races, and nine more for purchase in the C-Store. Players have access to nine ship types when they reach Rear Admiral, and another eight in the C-Store. Do you see what I'm getting at? Unlike Blizzard's store, the offerings from which represent the merest fraction of equivalent content available in-game, Cryptic's store contains fully half of the Federation races, and nearly half of the game's top-tier ships! And don't even get me started on the fact that the folks at Cryptic want you to pay human moneys for emotes.

    Put very simply, players have to buy an outrageous proportion of certain content -- half of the races and nearly half of the endgame ships in STO -- on top of the mandatory subscription. So what happens when you remove most subscriptions from the equation?

    Personally, I think people would have more choice if the items were in the actual game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    bigduckie wrote:
    but are you not also making the assumption that without the c-store the game can operate?


    both assumption that we know nothing of.

    Yes in one way I am making that assumption, but I believe that my assumption is at least partially based upon facts. Since we have never seen a P2P game need an in-game store to operate.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    And all I am saying is with the lack of content to begin with there is no reason for them to charge us for those items especially ships and playable species.

    because your thinking like a fan or a gamer and not from a business point of view.

    they had a small budget by gaming standards and limited time and they produced a game that was underdeveloped. their parent company atari are in massive debt and this game has been trying to get off the ground with one company or another for about 6 odd years, so the game was launched now before it was ready. there is nothing we can do about that now.

    but from the money that they have made and from the current level of subs they can make the game but they cant make everything. ship skins and races are totally useless to the game or to attracting new players, they are cosmetic only and will not attract new players or bring back old ones, only actually content will so that is where they put their focus in.

    if they spent time making all of the current c-store items for free, in game, like we all want it would have hurt the actual free content that they release, so season 2 would not have been as good as a result. (ie no breen or new iconians or no someone else.
    you might be ok with that, others might not. you free to like it or not but if the devs decide that they want to focus on making the breen or the iconians then thats a creative choice.

    but if you get rid of the c-store everything in there goes and you dont have access to any of those items unless you want something else sacrificed in their place.

    what im saying is how is having none of those items at all, better than having the choice to buy them and the c-store gives them a chance to add more stuff quicker, because that whats it means. getting rid of the c-store means getting rid of all the items in it and all the future item completely from the game, or if your lucky just delaying them for months or years until they can get round to it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    because your thinking like a fan or a gamer and not from a business point of view.

    they had a small budget by gaming standards and limited time and they produced a game that was underdeveloped. their parent company atari are in massive debt and this game has been trying to get off the ground with one company or another for about 6 odd years, so the game was launched now before it was ready. there is nothing we can do about that now.

    but from the money that they have made and from the current level of subs they can make the game but they cant make everything. ship skins and races are totally useless to the game or to attracting new players, they are cosmetic only and will not attract new players or bring back old ones, only actually content will so that is where they put their focus in.

    if they spent time making all of the current c-store items for free, in game, like we all want it would have hurt the actual free content that they release, so season 2 would not have been as good as a result. (ie no breen or new iconians or no someone else.
    you might be ok with that, others might not. you free to like it or not but if the devs decide that they want to focus on making the breen or the iconians then thats a creative choice.

    but if you get rid of the c-store everything in there goes and you dont have access to any of those items unless you want something else sacrificed in their place.

    what im saying is how is having none of those items at all, better than having the choice to buy them and the c-store gives them a chance to add more stuff quicker, because that whats it means. getting rid of the c-store means getting rid of all the items in it and all the future item completely from the game, or if your lucky just delaying them for months or years until they can get round to it.

    I am a business man; I have been working in high end retail for years. One of the first things you do to drum up profits is liquidate bad assets and lower the cost of your product to drum up business. There has never been a company on the planet that fixed its financial woes buy hiking up their prices. That only alienates there current customers and scares off prospective new ones.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Seems like a lot of us are giving up. We just want content and we add "for the C-Store" to try and make it happen. :P

    I hate the C-Store. It's pure evil. But I still find myself compromising and suggesting stuff for the C-Store when in reality, again, I hate it and believe nothing should be in it at all. The amount of content is already too small even compared to most MMOs out there to be charging me for other stuff.

    I think the players of this game (especially the C-Store detractors) have come to understand that the C-Store is the future of this game. It is such a major component of the game, it will never be removed, and as long as Cryptic turns a profit from it, it will forever more be the central focus of STO.

    People will only fight the good fight so long as they believe they have a chance to affect change. Once they loose the belief they can change anything, they stop fighting.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »

    Once again you make the assumption that without the C-Store the game could not operate.

    i dont understand how you can continue to misunderstand my words. i have never said that and i am trying my very best to make that clear to you

    more money from c-store means more stuff

    less money from c-store means less stuff , NOT no stuff
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    I am a business man; I have been working in high end retail for years. One of the first things you do to drum up profits is liquidate bad assets and lower the cost of your product to drum up business. There has never been a company on the planet that fixed its financial woes buy hiking up their prices. That only alienates there current customers and scares off prospective new ones.

    im not arguing about the rights and wrongs of the store, as i say your free to like it or not. you free to think its a good thing or not. i really dont care

    you have continued to suggest that im saying the game needs the c-store to stay afloat. im not, all im saying is that the extra revenue helps to produce items that we would not see otherwise and seam to be misunderstanding all of my posts
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    im not arguing about the rights and wrongs of the store, as i say your free to like it or not. you free to think its a good thing or not. i really dont care

    you have continued to suggest that im saying the game needs the c-store to stay afloat. im not, all im saying is that the extra revenue helps to produce items that we would not see otherwise and seam to be misunderstanding all of my posts

    Some of your earlier posts seemed to claim otherwise(at least they did to me), but since you insist that you did not mean that I will just have to take that at face value. Although I do stand firm on my opinion that the C-Store adds nothing of real value to the game and is just another item for us players to gripe about.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    I think the players of this game (especially the C-Store detractors) have come to understand that the C-Store is the future of this game. It is such a major component of the game, it will never be removed, and as long as Cryptic turns a profit from it, it will forever more be the central focus of STO.

    People will only fight the good fight so long as they believe they have a chance to affect change. Once they loose the belief they can change anything, they stop fighting.

    I agree, now we just need to insist that those profits be put to use; like hiring more bug fixers.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Presbytier wrote: »
    Although I do stand firm on my opinion that the C-Store adds nothing of real value to the game and is just another item for us players to gripe about.

    well that is probably true
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    I'm not a big fan of the C-store. I have spent $0 there and that's not going to change anytime soon.

    Unfortunately, though, I don't see it going away anytime soon. Blizzard has made a ton of money off their store just selling cosmetic stuff like in-game pets, mounts, etc. I know they have sold a lot of it because, before I got sick of WoW in general, I saw what seemed like everyone and their dog running around with store-bought stuff. Cryptic has seen a golden opportunity to make some extra money here and they are running with it. Much like Mr. Spock in relation to the war between Eminiar and Vendikar, I understand but do not approve.

    Perhaps as new items continue to be added to the C-store, they will eventually make some of their older stuff free or otherwise available in-game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    rayvenwing wrote: »
    I get tired of seeing things that i think should be part of my subscription going into the c-store.

    I also am getting tired of seeing the price go up! Astronomically every time.

    For example all the ships where 200 or so c-points. Fine. then the Enterprise Dreadnaught comes on the scene and its like 2000 POINTS! thats 10 times what the cost of the others was. I bet the excelsior and Nebula will be the same. 1500 or 2000 points each.

    then they put things in there that are universal to all your characters so again your only buying it once. but wait! Now they have stuff that is per character! that means if you want it for each character guess what. bend over and forget the lubricant.

    that again is a cost increase to us.

    To me some of these things they put in the c-store should be part of my monthly subscription fee and should not be bartered to me on the side like some overcoated thug in a side ally in NYC pedalling watches.


    i'm not making any point about the actual prices.. as i agree some of them do seem a little on the harsh side, and i also agree that the "per character" items are controversial to say the least and not something i'd spend money on either.. per account is fine in my books.


    but if they had no C-Store and were making all this stuff and holding it off for a paid expansion, while making it with your monthly sub money, would you pay for the expansion? would you even blink at the thought of doing that?

    because most wouldnt, its just "how its done" right? because this whole argument over "it should be free as i've paid monthly subs" happened when MMO's started selling expansions as well.. and based on that i can say with some certainty that in years to come no-one will blink at a cash store in a monthly sub game...

    its like watching history repeat itself all over again..
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    The reason the Gal X is expensive is because of all the angst, frustration etc over how it was handled. When it was released for the RAF people got angry. When it was announced it was coming out for the c-store, again folks got angry and those in the RAF demanded that the cost be consistent with the principle in which it was released in the first place.

    In a nutshell... it was a royal pain
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    I enjoy finding new things in the C-Store, although the price of some ships is a bit high. I would certainly *not* pay $25 USD for the Galaxy-X, although I understand that that price is commensurate with its value in the referral program.

    I really cannot fathom why people have such a "problem" with the C-Store, beyond them wanting everything for free and/or just looking for something to complain about.

    What I *would* have a problem with is if actual content was put in the C-Store. That has not happened, but the naysayers are going to stir up trouble nonetheless. I'll bet that some of them aren't even playing the game anymore -- if they ever played it in the first place!

    Stop being hateful and stop demanding that the Devs lose their jobs just because *you* are not satisfied with your own lives outside of this game.

    Games are meant to be fun, not a continually flowing river of bile and angst!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    AtomicFB wrote:
    The reason the Gal X is expensive is because of all the angst, frustration etc over how it was handled. When it was released for the RAF people got angry. When it was announced it was coming out for the c-store, again folks got angry and those in the RAF demanded that the cost be consistent with the principle in which it was released in the first place.

    In a nutshell... it was a royal pain

    Also to add to this its actually a *SHIP* not a ship *SKIN* and as such has a different pricing, and to be honest 25 bucks isnt much considering how you had to get it originally, and well..its still a piece of gosa.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Paneth wrote:
    Also to add to this its actually a *SHIP* not a ship *SKIN* and as such has a different pricing, and to be honest 25 bucks isnt much considering how you had to get it originally, and well..its still a piece of gosa.

    Hypothetically you only had to invite 5 friends who then subbed for at least one month to get the ship, so no I do not believe the overly steep price point is justified. I do not think that the feelings of those who spent their money on 5 additional subs should have been considered sense that was not the intended response to the program.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    The people who bought 5 copies of STO and paid for 5 monthly subs were as foolish as the people who bought multiple copies of STO prelaunch just so that they could get the pixellated toys. Those same people then groused at those items going into the C-Store *months* later. No one to blame but themselves.

    Of course, those people got a whole lot of C-Points thrown their way, so the point was simply emphasized that whining yields tangible results.

    As far as the Galaxy-X goes, the $25 USD actually converts to the 2000 C-Points you'd get from actually getting 5 people to subscribe.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Seems like a lot of us are giving up. We just want content and we add "for the C-Store" to try and make it happen. :P

    I hate the C-Store. It's pure evil. But I still find myself compromising and suggesting stuff for the C-Store when in reality, again, I hate it and believe nothing should be in it at all. The amount of content is already too small even compared to most MMOs out there to be charging me for other stuff.

    I don't much care for microtransactions either, but they allow a smaller MMORPG like this one have a larger development budget, so I'm happy with the fruit that it bears.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    I just ignore it mostly. The new zootsuits are pretty cool, but I wish women could wear them.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited August 2010
    Seems like a lot of us are giving up. We just want content and we add "for the C-Store" to try and make it happen. :P

    I hate the C-Store. It's pure evil. But I still find myself compromising and suggesting stuff for the C-Store when in reality, again, I hate it and believe nothing should be in it at all. The amount of content is already too small even compared to most MMOs out there to be charging me for other stuff.

    pretty much hit the spot there for me.

    this game doesn't have nearly enough content as is for them to try and squeeze even more money out of us.

    i might have agreed with the C-store if klingons actually were playable to the same extent as feds, but when they delay and delay again the release of fun content for the klingons in favour wasting precious manhours on useless stuff for the C-store** i'm really finding it hard to take cryptic as a serious MMO company.

    **no i don't care if they have dedicated team(s) for the C-store or not, its still wasted manhours better spent on the actual game...
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