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Well Played PWE
johnny111971
Member Posts: 1,300 Arc User
If this game has shown me anything, is that people here will pay through the nose to get the new and shiny ship for some perceived edge it will give them in game... only to see them slowly disappear in favor of tried and true ships, or the next bright and shiny. and... people will be willing to pay through the nose again to be the first to tier a star base...
So, I have been reading the Feedback threads on the new fleetbases, and have been playing with them as well.
It wasnt until I went to the project screen and i noticed that the requirement was COMMON duty officers, I laughed thinking how many common duty officers I had RECENTLY either traded in for uncommon, then uncommon for rare... or simply discarded to make room in my duty roster for more.
A post on one of the fleetbase feedback threads popped into my head of a player lamenting the fact that the project required specifically COMMON duty officers be donated, that he should be able to assign any duty officer (regardless of rarity).
Then it struck me, it was by design...
How many of us have bought more doffs than we can slot... how many of us tossed the commons (not worthy of going on exchange) or traded them 5 at a time for 1 uncommon... I know it isnt just me... I know of people who have opened a hundred or more packs looking for the Jem-bug... another bunch looking for the new DOFFs (purple please)
The move was brilliant, after two heavy doff pack feeding frenzies, the fleetbases are released requiring low level doffs... The duty officer packs will continue to be a revenue source even without the ships... why... because we now will need a lot of specific types of common duty officers. Not just any common duty officer, but specific class (Military, Science, or Engineering) depending on the project. Where else can you get commons?
Check the exchange be the way.. the number of available commons is dropping dramatically (and the price is rising).
By the way... I am not poking fun at anyone who has bought ships, or duty officer packs, master keys... I have... i am as guilty as anyone for encouraiging or enabling this practice...
Well played PWE... Well Played. I tip my hat to you... that was brilliant.
So, I have been reading the Feedback threads on the new fleetbases, and have been playing with them as well.
It wasnt until I went to the project screen and i noticed that the requirement was COMMON duty officers, I laughed thinking how many common duty officers I had RECENTLY either traded in for uncommon, then uncommon for rare... or simply discarded to make room in my duty roster for more.
A post on one of the fleetbase feedback threads popped into my head of a player lamenting the fact that the project required specifically COMMON duty officers be donated, that he should be able to assign any duty officer (regardless of rarity).
Then it struck me, it was by design...
How many of us have bought more doffs than we can slot... how many of us tossed the commons (not worthy of going on exchange) or traded them 5 at a time for 1 uncommon... I know it isnt just me... I know of people who have opened a hundred or more packs looking for the Jem-bug... another bunch looking for the new DOFFs (purple please)
The move was brilliant, after two heavy doff pack feeding frenzies, the fleetbases are released requiring low level doffs... The duty officer packs will continue to be a revenue source even without the ships... why... because we now will need a lot of specific types of common duty officers. Not just any common duty officer, but specific class (Military, Science, or Engineering) depending on the project. Where else can you get commons?
Check the exchange be the way.. the number of available commons is dropping dramatically (and the price is rising).
By the way... I am not poking fun at anyone who has bought ships, or duty officer packs, master keys... I have... i am as guilty as anyone for encouraiging or enabling this practice...
Well played PWE... Well Played. I tip my hat to you... that was brilliant.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
Post edited by johnny111971 on
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Comments
equal parts cynical and helpful
Where else can you get commons?
The 8 recruitment assignments available to you on the Academies. There's also other assignments out there that grant common duty officers as rewards. Oh, and the Doff packs you get while leveling up, should you not be at max level yet (or you level an alt).
There are ways to get them, but you might have to actually play the game to do it. If you just want instant gratification, be prepared to drop cash... oh, or play the game and get dilithium, which you can exchange for CP or Zen or whatever it'll be next week.
You're making the assumption that everyone reads the forums regarding what Heretic said.
Ok, I stand corrected on where to get the common doffs. Provided you have sufficient space in your roster to house them.
Please do not make the assumption that I did not or do not play the game... I have dilithium grinded with the rest, STF, Dilithium Mining, Defera, Investigate Daily Officer, Btran, and a host of others... and yes, I have exchanged dilithium for c-points, to buy packs, and even a few lockbox keys.
I still grind, albeit a fruitless venture as I grind more a day then I can refine.
Lets talk about the move on the Jem-Bug... at 220 C points per pack... at 336 Dilithium per C-Point (current exchange rate as of the moment I am writing this post) thats 73920 refined dilithium, or 10 days of refining per pack... and how long did the jem-bug lottery run?
The lotteries are weighted to the people dropping money, and while theoretically possible for a grinder to have won a Jem Bug, or the freighter... statisically the odds are not in their favor.
I'm not saying its right, but it is fact... just watch the value on the dilithium exchange, or the cost per duty pack on the exchange... it was a well played move on their part. One way or the other, the packs will be in demand... either for those buying them to open, or those buying them to sell... either way... PWE wins.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
I agree with this. All my tiers are at 150k, and my roster is pretty packed with Purple, Blue, no green & white. At last I will have a home for the Common Doff's.
e.t.a. Now if only I can use those locked characters that are no longer useful to recycle or put on our new starbase...
Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
You can exchange them for non locked doffs using the various "exchange officer program" doff missions. The Cardassian area has several of them spread on the three sectors. Even the doffs sold by Ferra can be exchanged this way.
Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
if not. put them all in TOS redshirts and have them "check the airlocks" to make sure they are properly sealed..... then open them. XD
I've got something like 65 emails sorted by Resolve's/Common's/Refugee's and Colonist's...
I've also got about 30 emails of Assorted Green DOff's...
I just didn't have the heart to Airlock any of them.
On Tribble I was trading them in constantly for up-grades at SFA, just to see how it worked so my count there is crappy...
But I'm just fiddling with the new system over there anyway, to see how it works.
I do wish They would put the ODDy's into the Tribble store though...
None of my Toons over there have any of them... and even if I delete one of the current ones, the stupid '6 limit-Transfer-BUG' won't let me send any of my Toons that do have an Oddy over.
:frown:
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
For a while there during the gamma pack promo no one was buying white doffs. Its just the market. You've got to be willing to play the field. The exchange is a mini game in itself.
they are in. you get them from the special requisition console next to the lady who runs the store.
the only unobtainable ships on tribble are the Atrox and armitage. those can only be put on tribble by transferring.
I'm pointing out the fact that those who make a minimal effort to seek out knowledge and information increase their chances of being able to get ahead.
At this point it's rather difficult to research the backlog since the dev tracker doesn't work for the old posts (at least it didn't last I checked). However, he stated it several times, weeks before testing started. He also said it ingame several times.
Your "well played, PWE" post seems to imply some megalomaniacal manipulation regarding the increase in value of certain things. I disagree, since it had been made known to us for quite a while that it would happen. There has to be a middle ground here - the devs put out information, but people have to seek out what is being released. It shouldn't be PWE's responsibility to beat people over the head with information they make available.
As for your other points, yes, they are offering extra incentive to purchase doff packs now. So what? What you get from them is exactly the same as what you used to be able to get from them, with the exception that they come with more stuff and potentially valuable stuff. They ran a limited time offer sale on the Gamma Packs - hardly anything innovative in the history of marketing.
Personally, I'm much more apt to give them money for something I want that has a chance to have something awesome over a mystery box that probably has a pile of dog poo in it. If you're buying doff packs but you don't care about the doffs then you're doing it wrong.
237 Blue
0 Green
0 White
8 Open slots
Ummm... Well I know what I won't be contributing towards starbases...
Not disagreeing there... you must concede however, there are more players than there are forum readers. Many may not even know a developer if they were standing right next to them. I've played for a year +, and can honestly say... I've never gone looking for developers in game.
You are misinterpreting me, and I can see why... You and I are not far off... my comments are not meant to beat up anyone, or suggest some deep conspiracy to get money out of people (not picturing a bunch of evil people twirling their mustaches, and laughing manically)... thats their job, and I expect nothing less than them finding new revenue streams for the company. A company/business is in place to make money, thats what they do...
All I am saying is that I was particularly impressed with this direction. They created a incentive to buy DOFF packs with the new ships. People bought a lot of doff packs in an attempt to get the new ship. Yes there was an incentive before, but the sales (if using exchange prices as a guide) shyrocketed when the new ship was added as a special drop.
The quantity that people bought quickly filled their available duty roster slots. Human nature would be to keep the higher valued items (blue/purple) and trade in or discard the lower value items (white/green). Or game play itself (high chance of success/critical success on doff missions with blue/purple) would lead to the mass airlock jetison of common officers.
Now here come the fleetbases, they require what was considered discardable not even a week ago. The value of the duty officer packs went down when the time gate expired to win the bug-ship. The value has already begun to increase on the exchange again... which means there is once again a demand for them (Reinforcement packs are at just shy of 4 million, and gamma's are just north of 5 million)... if there is a demand people with either buy them from the c-store to open, or they will buy them from the c-store to sell (which considering there are a total of 154 on the exchange, they are selling well).
I am not arguing the point on what they did, you are correct... they offered an incentive to increase sales, which is what any company will do. I was simply impressed with the fact that they have found a way to keep the demand high on the sale of duty officer packs after the incentive ended.
As I said, and as many here have already shown, they have high numbers of blue and purple duty officers, none, or next to none of the more common variety. This in and of itself will create a demand for the commons. Since many have discarded or traded in (using Reassign Underperforming Officers) their white/green doffs. So now, what was considered less valueable has an increaed value. People will continue to buy packs, again to either sell outright, sell the doffs on the exchange, or open for themselves. Prolonging the revenue stream.
No argument there, but as evidenced by the cost of ships on the exchange, and the flood of messages offering to buy the new and shiny ship... there is a population that that is willing to pay for the ship (and pay through the nose for it).
I am not condemning anyone here, nor scoffing at those who bought packs hand over fist... I am impressed with the marketing plan (and you know there is one) that is keeping the demand for duty officer packs high.
No one is being exploited, people can choose to buy or not buy.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
It's not new, anything and everything they do is to make money off you. If you happen to enjoy any of their games in the process of paying them, well this is just a freak coincidence :biggrin:
I'd tip my hat to them too, if I wasn't so sure they'd charge me for the privelage:rolleyes:
Ahhhhh... Thanks...
It's been awhile since I've fiddled on Tribble and I'de forgotten about that console. :rolleyes:
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
If you live outside of EUA, you have a few options to buy ZEN/C-points. And paypal and other virtual pre-paid card like ultimate game card works, but you have to handle with many local bank rules, but have to wait 2 or 3 days.
With this burocratic level, is better to stop to buy zen instead wait too much.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Join Date: Sept 2008
"Holographic tissue paper for the holographic runny nose. Don't give them to patients." - The Doctor
Well... they are on Tribble for testing and viewing pleasure.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
Nope.... once my roster got filled up (before by roster expansions)... they were jetisoned or traded in for Greens (who were then traded in for blues) They were expendable... (like Ricky Red Shirts on the TOS). Now they have (or will have) some value.
Caveat: I have only seen the mission/project requirements for Tier 1 projects... will the rarity of the required doffs increase at the higher tiers, it would be logical.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
I would think that the commons will be in plentiful supply from newer players and alts, and at least this way we won't be joking about "airlocking" our own crew. ( a BSG practice that has nothing to do with Star Trek )
Not to mention we should consider that they HAVEN'T ( as far as we know ), made left handed, resilient Horta a requirement .. ( which would be available in specially priced Gold DOff packs ).