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.
but thats the difference. bar the mounts (that isnt ANY better then what we can get in game) its purely cosmetic stuff.
Cryptic is actually making stuff thats beyond cosmetic doodle, like the different races, and the galaxy-x, even tho that's not such a great ship it's pretty much an icon in the star trek lore and for most true fans is a must have, and they knew that as they charge such a stupid price for it.
tbh, cryptic needs to decide if they want to be a proper MMO or a crappy F2P game with a item mall, trying to be both obviously is not working as the declining subscriptions show.
but thats the difference. bar the mounts (that isnt ANY better then what we can get in game) its purely cosmetic stuff.
Cryptic is actually making stuff thats beyond cosmetic doodle, like the different races, and the galaxy-x, even tho that's not such a great ship it's pretty much an icon in the star trek lore and for most true fans is a must have, and they knew that as they charge such a stupid price for it.
tbh, cryptic needs to decide if they want to be a proper MMO or a crappy F2P game with a item mall, trying to be both obviously is not working as the declining subscriptions show.
Wanting more free content instead of C-Store content doesn't necessarily mean we're cheap or poor. I've already spent hundreds of dollars on the game buying my Pre-Order and my Lifetime Sub.
Sure, character slots, name changes, ship slots, are all fine in the C-Store. That stuff's simple bread-and-butter MMO-Store stuff. That stuff's expected. Actual ships, playable races, respec tokens, etc, should be part of the playable-game, not a buyable extra. Especially respec tokens, unless they give us a way to save Skill Sets to freely switch between once paid for with Merits (as I've suggested elsewhere). Which other games punish you for wanting to try a different Skill build?
So many times I've seen new updates/items announced and thought "Oooh, yes, i'd like that" only to find that yet again, it's C-Store only. Lame. So I just go without.
I'd much rather Cryptic spent their time making things that everybody can/will use, rather than just making random bits that a small number of people will pay to use. Seems a bit of a shame to spend time making things that most players won't use. Bear in mind that each update to the C-Store could have been a 'proper' update in-game, improving it for those that play and encouraging new players to join.
Every time you see something new to the C-Store, I want you to think "Hmmm, they could have added something new for everybody instead of spending time on that..."
My issue with the c-store is the quality of the goods being sold, which im suprised no one has complained about.
The Nomad had to be fixed several times is one example, and Im very disapointed with the re-hashed Galaxy class bridge which the textures on the consoles are beyond a joke (poor cut and paste effort) and the officers are not even correctly sitting on their chairs but hovering on them.
If cryptic wants to sell ingame items on the c-store then they need to make sure that they are not a cheap effort and actualy get the QA team to actualy do their job and test them before they are launched.
I think, as many have already pointed out, that the existence of the C-Store isn't necessarily a bad thing for the game. However, at this stage in its development, there is a serious lack of content included in the game for "free". It's painful to see so many items go up on the C-Store, and so few items which you don't have to pay extra for be added to the game. I think they should focus on getting a decent amount of content in the game which players don't have to pay extra for, before they start throwing a lot of things onto the C-Store.
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.
You know why some of us are finally giving up? It's because Cryptic doesn't listen to us. They relegate any complaint (no matter how small) to the C-Store & Promotions section, buried and forgotten. It's as if they don't care about the players and only see dollar signs.
I've made my stance pretty clear throughout the last few months regarding the C-Store. I agree that things have gotten way too out of hand and need to be fixed. The concept of an MT store is not new nor is it inherently a bad thing. Like so many other things in life it's how it is handled that matters, not the existence of said thing.
My complaints and concerns are that so much has been put up in so short of a time period for what seems to be arbitrary and increasingly large amounts of CP. These things add up, you know (2000CP for a ship that's not as cool as my Star Cruiser? No, thank you...I'll pass on that). My other big complaint is that there is now PER-CHARACTER TRIBBLE on the C-Store. With the exception of some items (respec, rename, etc.) everything should be unlocked account-wide.
And then there's the promise from the powers-that-be that anything put up on the C-Store will be earnable in-game. Guess what? That's yet to happen to anything except for the respec option and the new refit ships...and even those are pretty damn hard to get. Put these items as unlocks through some means (missions, accolades, badges, etc) and some of us probably wouldn't be *****ing so much about the sheer greed that seems to be floating around marketing.
For those of you talking about the finance/accounting side...WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE REVENUE IS FUNDING!!! They could be spending the money made on C-Store TRIBBLE on blow and hookers or they could be funneling it back into the game and are working towards making it better. Until they outright state one way or the other the best we can do is speculate.
You know why some of us are finally giving up? It's because Cryptic doesn't listen to us. They relegate any complaint (no matter how small) to the C-Store & Promotions section, buried and forgotten. It's as if they don't care about the players and only see dollar signs.
I've made my stance pretty clear throughout the last few months regarding the C-Store. I agree that things have gotten way too out of hand and need to be fixed. The concept of an MT store is not new nor is it inherently a bad thing. Like so many other things in life it's how it is handled that matters, not the existence of said thing.
My complaints and concerns are that so much has been put up in so short of a time period for what seems to be arbitrary and increasingly large amounts of CP. These things add up, you know (2000CP for a ship that's not as cool as my Star Cruiser? No, thank you...I'll pass on that). My other big complaint is that there is now PER-CHARACTER TRIBBLE on the C-Store. With the exception of some items (respec, rename, etc.) everything should be unlocked account-wide.
And then there's the promise from the powers-that-be that anything put up on the C-Store will be earnable in-game. Guess what? That's yet to happen to anything except for the respec option and the new refit ships...and even those are pretty damn hard to get. Put these items as unlocks through some means (missions, accolades, badges, etc) and some of us probably wouldn't be *****ing so much about the sheer greed that seems to be floating around marketing.
For those of you talking about the finance/accounting side...WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE REVENUE IS FUNDING!!! They could be spending the money made on C-Store TRIBBLE on blow and hookers or they could be funneling it back into the game and are working towards making it better. Until they outright state one way or the other the best we can do is speculate.
I am surprised that we havent heard the recycled excuses of why the C-Store exists from a Mod yet. Let's see, we have heard excuses that range from it allows more customization all the way to it keeps the game afloat.
If this game has to rely upon MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS and the C-STORE to stay around, then this game is failing. The player base obviously does not exist or cryptic is unable to manage its funds.
Then we get the statements saying that the C-store sales allow more people to be added to the Dev team. If this is the case, then the person added is there just to make c-store items. But then you get statements from Captlogan stating that he has been working on ships for the c-store.
This brings me to another lie cryptic spreads in which they state that c-store items are only being worked on after hours. In that case why has Captlogan stated several times that he has be unable to do normal work as he has been busy making content for the C-Store?
My personal favorite comment regarding the C-store was from Dstalh stating that the money generated by the C-Store goes to bug fixes. I still laugh MAO at this statement. There have been bugs in this game since OB that STILL exist 6 months later. (Coughs) Kar'rat.
I bought this game when it was $49.99 pre-order. I have paid a montly Sub for almost 7 months now. I should not have to spend any extra money to get a satisfactory gameplay experiance. But this is what is happening. Look at the ships and the items being placed in the C-Store. The items that are now being offered for sale are part of Trek lore.
I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY EXTRA TO HAVE TREK PUT INTO STAR TREK ONLINE!!!!!!
hit Rear Admiral, two more BOFF slots yay! more space buddies.
hit Vice Admiral, wtf no new BOFFs again?
look on C-Store see BOFF slots are now a purchase. That's wierd, didn't know BOFFs were considered "just cosmetic".
look closer, BOFFs slots are PER CHARACTER not account wide.
/consider cancelling
Dont you think 10 BOFFs Slots are enough? if you want more I call that 'cosmetic'.
I mean how many of you Bridge Officers are in use all the time?
4 on the Bridge and 4 on the Away-team (if you choose diffrent ones then the ones on the Bridge)
So that makes 2 poor buddies unused all the time... and you need more? For what purpose?
we should only get 4 BOFF slots in-game and have to purchase the rest at $6 a pair PER character.
you need 10? i only need 5. but then i ranked up and the game gave me 2 more and it was cool and then 2 more and then it became a c-store item and then i didnt get 2 more for ranking up . . . i wonder ch-ching why they ch-ching decided to ch-ching ch-change that?
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.
As long as it stays purely costumization (well and account services) and not content them I'm okay with it and supportive for it.
To clarify, content is things like new zones, new missions, new functional items, pretty much everything you need to play the game.
New uniform options are always welcome though. I just wished stuff was a bit cheaper. I tend to buy pretty much everything new unless it's extremely expensive such as those tier 5 ships and I wished some services were better.
The option to buy 2 additional BO slots or ship slots for example should be account wide and not just character wide. For all I care they increase the price a little bit but I really wish I could make use on it on more chars then just my main one.
I also wish that they'd allow you to get more off duty uniforms then just the single one we got now.
Overall I'm happy with the c-store though, as long as I don't look at my bank receipt that is.
The option to buy 2 additional BO slots or ship slots for example should be account wide and not just character wide. For all I care they increase the price a little bit but I really wish I could make use on it on more chars then just my main one.
LOL, this is exactly what the OP was pointing out.
I get the impression you think the "2 Additional BOFFs" C-store purchase is a bit of a rip off (me too) . . . and your reaction, what compromise you're willing to put up with to see it be account wide? CHARGE US MORE.
hit Rear Admiral, two more BOFF slots yay! more space buddies.
hit Vice Admiral, wtf no new BOFFs again?
look on C-Store see BOFF slots are now a purchase. That's wierd, didn't know BOFFs were considered "just cosmetic".
look closer, BOFFs slots are PER CHARACTER not account wide.
/consider cancelling
The BO progression does predate the new BOFF slots, though. It was always that way. Vice Admiral is new, of course, and came after the new BOFF slots, but the gap you encountered earlier was in the game before there was a C-Store item to fill it. BOFF slots definitely represent space on the servers, though. You've got to store their looks (head, body, uniform selections), traits, race, equipment, name, powers (selection and levels) and all that. I can see that they want to limit how much storage space requires and how much transaction cost every player costs them (and not just them, but also us - the more data to be handled, the slower their database will return results. Remember the change in the Exchange only showing the first 400 items?)
I think some people don't understand the purpose of the C-Store, or don't want to understand it. Or just don't like it's purpose. Whatever.
Others seem to eager to spend money on the C-Store and get items there. Some stuff has to come out in regular, "free" (more "subscription included") updates.
I think ship costumes and even the refits are fine for C-Store and maybe even best done there- they are not crucial for the content of the game. As long as I can fly a tier 5 ship with my character and have some choices, I am good. But if I had to pay to get even one ship for my rear admiral or vice admiral, or if I had to pay for a new mission, I would think that's wrong. That's part of the core they need to expand. It would be like saying "If you want to continue playing, your subscription price will increase."
BOFF slots definitely represent space on the servers, though. You've got to store their looks (head, body, uniform selections), traits, race, equipment, name, powers (selection and levels) and all that. I can see that they want to limit how much storage space requires and how much transaction cost every player costs them (and not just them, but also us - the more data to be handled, the slower their database will return results. Remember the change in the Exchange only showing the first 400 items?)
You do know that character/ship/BOff information takes up very little space in a database, right? It's all text. The items that take up the space (looks, traits, etc) is shared amongst all players (either stored locally or on the server). So no, it's NOT a space issue...no matter what the devs want to tell you. It's the same argument that was made during beta when people were complaining about only getting three character slots free with a paid subscription. The only costs incurred would be having to run backups on the database...which they should already have had if they have intelligent programmers.
You do know that character/ship/BOff information takes up very little space in a database, right? It's all text. The items that take up the space (looks, traits, etc) is shared amongst all players (either stored locally or on the server). So no, it's NOT a space issue...no matter what the devs want to tell you. It's the same argument that was made during beta when people were complaining about only getting three character slots free with a paid subscription. The only costs incurred would be having to run backups on the database...which they should already have had if they have intelligent programmers.
Each toon takes up as much memory as a full page of text. Cryptic just uses the "too much space" trick to get people to pay an outrageous price for soemthing that they wouldnt even notice in their memory storage. Cryptic servers would have multiple Terabytes of storage. (or atleast we hope :eek:)
Each toon takes up as much memory as a full page of text. Cryptic just uses the "too much space" trick to get people to pay an outrageous price for soemthing that they wouldnt even notice in their memory storage. Cryptic servers would have multiple Terabytes of storage. (or atleast we hope :eek:)
LOL, this is exactly what the OP was pointing out.
I get the impression you think the "2 Additional BOFFs" C-store purchase is a bit of a rip off (me too) . . . and your reaction, what compromise you're willing to put up with to see it be account wide? CHARGE US MORE.
I'm weird like that.
In a perfect world I could get everything for free, however I do understand that when it comes down to basic matters it's money that makes the world go round. Well that and the kinetic energy from over 5 billion years ago when our solar system was created and swung our blue marble in orbit around a hot ball of gas.
In a perfect world I could get everything for free, however I do understand that when it comes down to basic matters it's money that makes the world go round. Well that and the kinetic energy from over 5 billion years ago when our solar system was created and swung our blue marble in orbit around a hot ball of gas.
Know the second thing that is needed to keep customers and make more money?
Decent customer service. You can charge whatever you want but if people get tired of the antics you can bet, there is another company, another MMO title that will treat customers just a little better.
Many MMO gamers do not leave the current MMO title because they "jump around." They leave because customer service is lacking. In this case it is about loot.
For example: New level cap, but sorry loot tables are broken with this patch...can only get batteries.
Grats, mark 11 gear is fixed now....it looks JUST like your Mark 10 gear. BTW on the C-store we have the latest and greatest ship up for sale! We'd love to make it free, but we couldn't fit it into our schedule. We are busy making content that has no actual rewards tied to it.
Instead of making content with USEFUL loot/rewards they take a shortcut: don't give them loot at all! Just sell it on the C-store instead!
It is horrible that the thing everyone is RAVING about in the game is the newest ship: The Excelsior instead of the new content. You know why? It is because content is a one and DONE sort of experience. Nobody is going to even remember it a week from now. The ship is something tangible, you can touch it....I bet you anything if that ship ws tied to some group mission, everyone would be talking bout the awesome missions and the lead up to that group mission...because it had something WORTH obtaining. A reason to do it.
As it stands there isn't anything worth talking about except the latest and greatest in the C-store. Like I said, you can bet it leaves a bitter taste in a customers mouth and when there is always a new MMO around the corner I promise, customer service is what will "make them more money" otherwise, don't expect many of us to be still playing to support this kind of customer abuse.
You do know that character/ship/BOff information takes up very little space in a database, right? It's all text. The items that take up the space (looks, traits, etc) is shared amongst all players (either stored locally or on the server). So no, it's NOT a space issue...no matter what the devs want to tell you. It's the same argument that was made during beta when people were complaining about only getting three character slots free with a paid subscription. The only costs incurred would be having to run backups on the database...which they should already have had if they have intelligent programmers.
I am not really takling about physical disk space (and dStahl was explicitely not talking about in the thread I remember).
Storing data is one thing. Retrieving is another. Databases take some time looking for data, even if it's just one tiny piece of information. (The size of the information is generally less relevant then the size of the database itself, unfortunately.)
The C-Store is a way for Cryptic to make a little extra cash in order to ensure the continuation of this game. For the most part it has cosmetic items which don't affect your gameplay in anyway. Having that extra content in-game for free won't do anything for you. It doesn't give you extra missions and it doesn't make you stronger. It simply "looks cool".
Other items such as additional slots are necessary to be sold through the C-Store. In order to give you these additional slots Cryptic needs more storage space, which costs money. You are essentially paying for a portion of that space.
I don't know what you're true problem with the C-Store is. Perhaps you want all those items and can't afford it. Maybe you want a 100% free Star Trek MMO. Whatever you're reason, that's your opinion and its fine. Just understand that the C-Store is a way to support this game even further, and I see nothing wrong with giving them a little extra support.
well i guess the problem is that many other companies have much much more customization options in their games. Here the variations without C-Store are, to say it nice, very limited.
I am fine with C-Store for things like additional Charslot.
But I cant agree with the customization only argument many talk about. We know that there are things that give you other not achievable options obtained through C-Store that are not obtainable ingame. I dont know why ppl still use that argument if you can easy look through C-Store and find out the items that dont fall under this made statement about "looks cool only"
But feel free to show me a Cruiser with Cloak obtainable ingame...
Comments
but thats the difference. bar the mounts (that isnt ANY better then what we can get in game) its purely cosmetic stuff.
Cryptic is actually making stuff thats beyond cosmetic doodle, like the different races, and the galaxy-x, even tho that's not such a great ship it's pretty much an icon in the star trek lore and for most true fans is a must have, and they knew that as they charge such a stupid price for it.
tbh, cryptic needs to decide if they want to be a proper MMO or a crappy F2P game with a item mall, trying to be both obviously is not working as the declining subscriptions show.
Absolutely, you are correct.
Sure, character slots, name changes, ship slots, are all fine in the C-Store. That stuff's simple bread-and-butter MMO-Store stuff. That stuff's expected. Actual ships, playable races, respec tokens, etc, should be part of the playable-game, not a buyable extra. Especially respec tokens, unless they give us a way to save Skill Sets to freely switch between once paid for with Merits (as I've suggested elsewhere). Which other games punish you for wanting to try a different Skill build?
So many times I've seen new updates/items announced and thought "Oooh, yes, i'd like that" only to find that yet again, it's C-Store only. Lame. So I just go without.
I'd much rather Cryptic spent their time making things that everybody can/will use, rather than just making random bits that a small number of people will pay to use. Seems a bit of a shame to spend time making things that most players won't use. Bear in mind that each update to the C-Store could have been a 'proper' update in-game, improving it for those that play and encouraging new players to join.
Every time you see something new to the C-Store, I want you to think "Hmmm, they could have added something new for everybody instead of spending time on that..."
The Nomad had to be fixed several times is one example, and Im very disapointed with the re-hashed Galaxy class bridge which the textures on the consoles are beyond a joke (poor cut and paste effort) and the officers are not even correctly sitting on their chairs but hovering on them.
If cryptic wants to sell ingame items on the c-store then they need to make sure that they are not a cheap effort and actualy get the QA team to actualy do their job and test them before they are launched.
Exactly, like no Rewards for the new Missions.
You know why some of us are finally giving up? It's because Cryptic doesn't listen to us. They relegate any complaint (no matter how small) to the C-Store & Promotions section, buried and forgotten. It's as if they don't care about the players and only see dollar signs.
I've made my stance pretty clear throughout the last few months regarding the C-Store. I agree that things have gotten way too out of hand and need to be fixed. The concept of an MT store is not new nor is it inherently a bad thing. Like so many other things in life it's how it is handled that matters, not the existence of said thing.
My complaints and concerns are that so much has been put up in so short of a time period for what seems to be arbitrary and increasingly large amounts of CP. These things add up, you know (2000CP for a ship that's not as cool as my Star Cruiser? No, thank you...I'll pass on that). My other big complaint is that there is now PER-CHARACTER TRIBBLE on the C-Store. With the exception of some items (respec, rename, etc.) everything should be unlocked account-wide.
And then there's the promise from the powers-that-be that anything put up on the C-Store will be earnable in-game. Guess what? That's yet to happen to anything except for the respec option and the new refit ships...and even those are pretty damn hard to get. Put these items as unlocks through some means (missions, accolades, badges, etc) and some of us probably wouldn't be *****ing so much about the sheer greed that seems to be floating around marketing.
For those of you talking about the finance/accounting side...WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE REVENUE IS FUNDING!!! They could be spending the money made on C-Store TRIBBLE on blow and hookers or they could be funneling it back into the game and are working towards making it better. Until they outright state one way or the other the best we can do is speculate.
Very good points, as usual. Agreed, 100%
If this game has to rely upon MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS and the C-STORE to stay around, then this game is failing. The player base obviously does not exist or cryptic is unable to manage its funds.
Then we get the statements saying that the C-store sales allow more people to be added to the Dev team. If this is the case, then the person added is there just to make c-store items. But then you get statements from Captlogan stating that he has been working on ships for the c-store.
This brings me to another lie cryptic spreads in which they state that c-store items are only being worked on after hours. In that case why has Captlogan stated several times that he has be unable to do normal work as he has been busy making content for the C-Store?
My personal favorite comment regarding the C-store was from Dstalh stating that the money generated by the C-Store goes to bug fixes. I still laugh MAO at this statement. There have been bugs in this game since OB that STILL exist 6 months later. (Coughs) Kar'rat.
I bought this game when it was $49.99 pre-order. I have paid a montly Sub for almost 7 months now. I should not have to spend any extra money to get a satisfactory gameplay experiance. But this is what is happening. Look at the ships and the items being placed in the C-Store. The items that are now being offered for sale are part of Trek lore.
I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY EXTRA TO HAVE TREK PUT INTO STAR TREK ONLINE!!!!!!
hit Rear Admiral, two more BOFF slots yay! more space buddies.
hit Vice Admiral, wtf no new BOFFs again?
look on C-Store see BOFF slots are now a purchase. That's wierd, didn't know BOFFs were considered "just cosmetic".
look closer, BOFFs slots are PER CHARACTER not account wide.
/consider cancelling
Dont you think 10 BOFFs Slots are enough? if you want more I call that 'cosmetic'.
I mean how many of you Bridge Officers are in use all the time?
4 on the Bridge and 4 on the Away-team (if you choose diffrent ones then the ones on the Bridge)
So that makes 2 poor buddies unused all the time... and you need more? For what purpose?
If thats a reason to quit a game, go ahead...
Cya!
we should only get 4 BOFF slots in-game and have to purchase the rest at $6 a pair PER character.
you need 10? i only need 5. but then i ranked up and the game gave me 2 more and it was cool and then 2 more and then it became a c-store item and then i didnt get 2 more for ranking up . . . i wonder ch-ching why they ch-ching decided to ch-ching ch-change that?
As long as it stays purely costumization (well and account services) and not content them I'm okay with it and supportive for it.
To clarify, content is things like new zones, new missions, new functional items, pretty much everything you need to play the game.
New uniform options are always welcome though. I just wished stuff was a bit cheaper. I tend to buy pretty much everything new unless it's extremely expensive such as those tier 5 ships and I wished some services were better.
The option to buy 2 additional BO slots or ship slots for example should be account wide and not just character wide. For all I care they increase the price a little bit but I really wish I could make use on it on more chars then just my main one.
I also wish that they'd allow you to get more off duty uniforms then just the single one we got now.
Overall I'm happy with the c-store though, as long as I don't look at my bank receipt that is.
LOL, this is exactly what the OP was pointing out.
I get the impression you think the "2 Additional BOFFs" C-store purchase is a bit of a rip off (me too) . . . and your reaction, what compromise you're willing to put up with to see it be account wide? CHARGE US MORE.
The BO progression does predate the new BOFF slots, though. It was always that way. Vice Admiral is new, of course, and came after the new BOFF slots, but the gap you encountered earlier was in the game before there was a C-Store item to fill it. BOFF slots definitely represent space on the servers, though. You've got to store their looks (head, body, uniform selections), traits, race, equipment, name, powers (selection and levels) and all that. I can see that they want to limit how much storage space requires and how much transaction cost every player costs them (and not just them, but also us - the more data to be handled, the slower their database will return results. Remember the change in the Exchange only showing the first 400 items?)
I think some people don't understand the purpose of the C-Store, or don't want to understand it. Or just don't like it's purpose. Whatever.
Others seem to eager to spend money on the C-Store and get items there. Some stuff has to come out in regular, "free" (more "subscription included") updates.
I think ship costumes and even the refits are fine for C-Store and maybe even best done there- they are not crucial for the content of the game. As long as I can fly a tier 5 ship with my character and have some choices, I am good. But if I had to pay to get even one ship for my rear admiral or vice admiral, or if I had to pay for a new mission, I would think that's wrong. That's part of the core they need to expand. It would be like saying "If you want to continue playing, your subscription price will increase."
You do know that character/ship/BOff information takes up very little space in a database, right? It's all text. The items that take up the space (looks, traits, etc) is shared amongst all players (either stored locally or on the server). So no, it's NOT a space issue...no matter what the devs want to tell you. It's the same argument that was made during beta when people were complaining about only getting three character slots free with a paid subscription. The only costs incurred would be having to run backups on the database...which they should already have had if they have intelligent programmers.
Each toon takes up as much memory as a full page of text. Cryptic just uses the "too much space" trick to get people to pay an outrageous price for soemthing that they wouldnt even notice in their memory storage. Cryptic servers would have multiple Terabytes of storage. (or atleast we hope :eek:)
Agreed. 100%
I'm weird like that.
In a perfect world I could get everything for free, however I do understand that when it comes down to basic matters it's money that makes the world go round. Well that and the kinetic energy from over 5 billion years ago when our solar system was created and swung our blue marble in orbit around a hot ball of gas.
Know the second thing that is needed to keep customers and make more money?
Decent customer service. You can charge whatever you want but if people get tired of the antics you can bet, there is another company, another MMO title that will treat customers just a little better.
Many MMO gamers do not leave the current MMO title because they "jump around." They leave because customer service is lacking. In this case it is about loot.
For example: New level cap, but sorry loot tables are broken with this patch...can only get batteries.
Grats, mark 11 gear is fixed now....it looks JUST like your Mark 10 gear. BTW on the C-store we have the latest and greatest ship up for sale! We'd love to make it free, but we couldn't fit it into our schedule. We are busy making content that has no actual rewards tied to it.
Instead of making content with USEFUL loot/rewards they take a shortcut: don't give them loot at all! Just sell it on the C-store instead!
It is horrible that the thing everyone is RAVING about in the game is the newest ship: The Excelsior instead of the new content. You know why? It is because content is a one and DONE sort of experience. Nobody is going to even remember it a week from now. The ship is something tangible, you can touch it....I bet you anything if that ship ws tied to some group mission, everyone would be talking bout the awesome missions and the lead up to that group mission...because it had something WORTH obtaining. A reason to do it.
As it stands there isn't anything worth talking about except the latest and greatest in the C-store. Like I said, you can bet it leaves a bitter taste in a customers mouth and when there is always a new MMO around the corner I promise, customer service is what will "make them more money" otherwise, don't expect many of us to be still playing to support this kind of customer abuse.
Storing data is one thing. Retrieving is another. Databases take some time looking for data, even if it's just one tiny piece of information. (The size of the information is generally less relevant then the size of the database itself, unfortunately.)
well i guess the problem is that many other companies have much much more customization options in their games. Here the variations without C-Store are, to say it nice, very limited.
I am fine with C-Store for things like additional Charslot.
But I cant agree with the customization only argument many talk about. We know that there are things that give you other not achievable options obtained through C-Store that are not obtainable ingame. I dont know why ppl still use that argument if you can easy look through C-Store and find out the items that dont fall under this made statement about "looks cool only"
But feel free to show me a Cruiser with Cloak obtainable ingame...