Hear me out, there has been a lot of discussion about this game becoming more of a grind, more of a money grab, more of a "insert complaint here." The typical response from most of the playerbase has been, well, look at other Free to Play MMO's and how grindy they are. STO is just like every other MMO in that it becomes a grind at end-game, and a money grab/gambling casino because it is free to play.
My response to this is, why should we accept that the bar is set so low on this game that it's just like every other MMO? In the beginning, it was stated from the people in charge that STO would be different, it would get away from the grind that other MMO's have. This game was supposed to be unique, different, and set itself apart. That has all changed of course, with the changing of the guard, and the move to free to play this motive has been dropped and the bar lowered and this game has become like every other MMO. Why are we so apt to accept this lowering of the bar for this game?
This is Star Trek for crying out loud, this is the one franchise that should rise up above the rest and show other MMO's how to do it right. The bar should be set higher, the grind should not be here, the money grabs, the gambling, the lack of the content, the unfinished content, the disappointment of Season 6, all of it removes us from the soul of Star Trek. This game is currently not doing the Star Trek franchise justice. It started out on the right path, but has drifted far off course. Why are we content with allowing it to do so and become 'like every other MMO.' We should be striving for better, we should want better, we should want this MMO to be unique, different, set itself apart and raise the bar on what an MMO is.
I reach out to the people working at Cryptic, bring back the passion for Star Trek that we know you all have. This game started on that passion, and the direction then was phenominal. Guys and girls, the game has drifted from this course, and is not following true to the Star Trek franchise. Don't sit there at your desks and let this happen, tell the people at PWE that this game deserves better treatment true to Star Trek. Put this game back on course and follow the passion in your hearts to what is true about Star Trek. Do this, or leave your jobs, because right now you are doing Star Trek a disservice, and I know this must pain you as true Star Trek fans. Bring this game back around to the direction it had from the beginning, to make it a unique, different kind of MMO that doesn't need to rely on grinds/money grabs/gambling to be successful. We know you have it in you, make it so.
And to the playerbase of this game, as a long time player, since open beta, I've been here from the beginning, I've seen it evolve for the worse. I ask you all to keep the pressure on, keep the bar raised, don't ever let us accept that this game is just like every other MMO, we should want better for this game! Let's keep the bar high for this game, critique, debate, and help the devs make this game worthy of the Star Trek franchise! The potential is there for greatness, let's make it happen.
Thank you all for listening.
You don't have to accept it. You can just not play it. Give it a break. Put it on hiatus for awhile, as I have.
As far as "keeping the pressure on, and the bar raised", you know that feeling you get when you realize you're talking to your dog, or cat, or bird? When you look deep into their attentative, loyal, eyes, and say "You don't understand a word I'm freakin' sayin', do you?" Well trying to talk to Cryptic is very similar. They want to please you, with all their heart, but they have absolutely no idea how to.
You said it yourself, this is a Star Trek MMO, we want to see it succeed. Regardless of how terrible it may be. I think a lot of people share my view, and that is that the grindy stuff is simply laying the groundwork for better and new things, and will eventually become relegated to the background noise, rather than centre stage.
My 2 cents on the whole thing.
That is just ashame. Youre rational that BECAUSE its a Star Trek MMO it should survive, and not BECAUSE its a GOOD Star Trek MMO is beyond understanding for me.
I wanted this game to make it, I wanted it to be an amazing game that finally gave fans of this IP a place to become apart of their life long fantasies. That doesnt mean I let a company take advantage of my dreams and hopes. That doesnt mean I let them take something I hold dear and turn it against me. And wether the Devs are fans or not, they too have played their part in twisting Star Trek into this monster.
I refuse to pay for anything in this game anymore. I continue to play because of two reasons.
1.) Its free, which means beyond logging in I no longer invest in/support this game financially.
2.) I can fly around in a ship of my own limited design, with a crew of my limited design without having to pay another dollar.
But I have to disagree with you, this game should not survive because of its Title, it should survive if any because it was able to give the playerbase what it wanted without taking the fun out of the game.
And lets just be honest, Cryptic took was taking the fun out of this game long before PWE came along. And as much as I want to raise my fist in the air and yell PWWWWWWEEEEE for their part in what this game has become. They did give STO a second chance and they gave me the ability to continue playing this game without having to ever spend another dollar.
That is just ashame. Youre rational that BECAUSE its a Star Trek MMO it should survive, and not BECAUSE its a GOOD Star Trek MMO is beyond understanding for me.
If someone wants to make a "good" Star Trek game, good being entirely subjective to the individual, CBS will gladly sell them a license. CBS had no problems selling licenses to both Cryptic and Gameforge, so I doubt they'll have any problems licensing it to some other developer that might want it.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
If someone wants to make a "good" Star Trek game, good being entirely subjective to the individual, CBS will gladly sell them a license. CBS had no problems selling licenses to both Cryptic and Gameforge, so I doubt they'll have any problems licensing it to some other developer that might want it.
Im not sure what youre trying to get out of this? The quoted texts I was responding to said nothing about a good game. It was talking about how the game should survive simply because of its title.
"The first duty of a corporation is its' customers" sounds great, but...
The first legal duty of a corporation is to its' investors. This is not negotiable. The investors want profit and they're legally entitled to insist on it.
They do need sales to make the investors a profit and that means that they do need to put customer satisfaction really high on the list.
But that doesn't mean that they need sales to hardcore Trekkies. They just need profit. Doesn't matter if sales are being generated by flying pink elephants. The bottom line is profit.
Do they target this game at Trek fans? Absolutely. It's the reason this game is as close to the IP as it is. The departures from "Trekness" could be a heck of a lot worse, if you stop to think about it. I'm not necessarily defending those anomalies, but I understand them.
However... If their primary market for STO turned out to be leprechauns who worshipped the Rules of Acquisition, people shouldn't be surprised if the game turned into Dabo Online. Not because the game producers necessarily want it to. Because their investors demand profit.
All true.
And I'm not saying NOT to support STO, personally...
But in the same sense that I believe in shopping local when it isn't an inconvenience, I would say to skew your purchases towards companies that are NOT traded on the stock exchange. It will produce a better world and make you a happier customer.
HOWEVER, you can't buy everything that way and anything with "Star Trek" on the box, directly or indirectly, will be fueling publicly traded companies.
But when you're buying non-Star Trek products and looking for new stuff, absolutely, support companies that aren't on the stock market.
Sorry i just have read the opening post and i want to respond to it right now. So sorry if something i am going to write has been brought later in this thread.
Hear me out, there has been a lot of discussion about this.....
.... like every other MMO, we should want better for this game! Let's keep the bar high for this game, critique, debate, and help the devs make this game worthy of the Star Trek franchise! The potential is there for greatness, let's make it happen.
Thank you all for listening.
The problem is that STO is being made by people who don't give a d**m about the philosophical and moral aspects of Star Trek. In the best case they want to make a (in their eyes) good MMORPG. In the worst case these people just want to make money no matter how.
Anyway, they don't care for the potential of creating a living and breathing Star Trek universe, filled with real poeple.
Instead of looking at Star Trek as someone elses work and trying to make a suitable and believeable gaming world, they just throw in random stuff they think is "cool".
My dear Doctor, please don't missunderstand me i do completely agree with you, without any reservation.
I am all for setting the moral bar higher and making this game a real challenge for anyones conscience, but i am afraid that the people currently making this game are not interested or willing to make a game like that, nor do i believe these people could even if they wanted to. (sorry for my bad english)
Live long and prosper.
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
You can't blame a company for being a company.
At Cryptic there are some Trek geeks, who have the trekstuff in their blood.
But to be the all so "glorious" Trek everyone is talking about, this game would have plain and simply sucked. It were boring as hell in the longrun.
Just take a look at the foundry: There are really really great missions to play. With just that right balance of action, "diplomacy" and story, everyone is used to "know".
But there are tons of boring missions, too. They don't have the right balance, and this breaks it. Either they focus too much on the action, or are just plain walls of text (this is called "roleplay" sometimes) etc.
A game which is heavily storydriven (which is so much required from a "true" Star Trek MMO) would be required to have tons of new content, on a monthly scale to even start to work. And to be a true MMO, it would have to be multiplayerstorydriven content.
STO at least got the Foundry to reach that goal, you know the outcome: Quickies for easy Dilithium, tons of "TRIBBLE", and a few really great pearls. (Add in the fact that you can manipulate scores, and it is even harder to find them)
One MMO really tried it on a more professional "scale", with more money to waste on things and failed great at it: Star Wars
The Storyline was great, everything else? Not so much. Multiplayer? Well, it is an MMO, right?
STO in the beginning was not a well rounded MMO either, but it still grew over the years. Before FEs, grinding "Outer Rims" was normal to even reach 40+
Klingons had it even harder, without nearly any content at all. Replay? Nope.
Endgame? Well, there were those buggy ... later the Foundry.
C-Store with more stuff to buy (I will never forget the outcry of those stupid enough to referral themselves multiple times to get a Galaxy-R for several hundred bucks), at reasonable prices.
Then came the problems, because it didn't make enough money. One sale and F2P-switch later, it starts working again.
Am I happy with the current state of STO?
In many aspects I am, I even prefer it being F2P. I don't have to pay for a sub, and still get everything I want, just by playing it.
There are things I find really stupid: The new Account Bank Space for 10 bucks/10slots? Overpriced EV-Suits?
And there are things, where I understand why it is done the way it is, because they nearly don't have a choice: Fleetships, Lockboxes, Starbases
(and I am really fine with Fleetships, because it is a rather easy grind)
I learned STO can grow, and am happy that it does. But don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I don't ask
STO in the beginning was not a well rounded MMO either, but it still grew over the years. Before FEs, grinding "Outer Rims" was normal to even reach 40+...
Am I happy with the current state of STO?
In many aspects I am, I even prefer it being F2P. I don't have to pay for a sub, and still get everything I want, just by playing it.
This. I'll say it up front: I'm a lifer, since day one. I paid my $200 and over the past few years I've probably paid $150+ more in C-points and Zen. I'm a "whale" as they call my type of player, I couldn't be happier with STO as it is today.
Frankly, the vast majority of the improvements to the game happened AFTER (or shortly before) the F2P switch, and today STO is a more mature, more accessible, more fun (to me) game than any MMO I have ever played, including several CURRENT sub-based games (one of which will be F2P soon).
Surely, part of the reason that I'm having fun is that the game has effectively been F2P for me FOREVER. I never had to feel my money was "wasted" (I already paid it back then, and it was "paid for" in time nearly 1.5 years ago), and I could take breaks for as long as I liked without feeling "cheated".
And yet, STO keeps me coming back. I am currently paying a Euro sub for an MMO that has vastly better writing, story, and character than most of STO's content. And yet, it's STO I log into every day, if even for just an hour to reset my Duty Officers or mine dilithium or run Infected Space Normal or throw a few Fleet Marks at the starbase. And every day, I am surprised by how much functionality is in the game that is NOT in the other MMO I'm subscribed to!
Grouping tools, custom chat, shooter controls, costumes, menu minigames (believe it or not the anomaly scanning and mining games are fun!), microtransactions that matter, the ability to pay for TRIBBLE easily, an auction house, and of course STAR TREK, all are in this FREE game, and that WASN'T in it BEFORE it was free.
And in the game I'm paying for (which I continue to pay for because of the writing/etc.), it isn't there. Whenever I see someone in that game shout over zone chat "TANK LFG POLARIS" for an hour, I shake my head and think about how easy it is to join a queue for any STF or Fleet event.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect, and some of the trends I'm seeing are not nice ones. Are new ships too costly? Yes. Are fleet ships a rip? Yes (because new ships are too costly). Are Fleet Bases a filthy resource hole? Yes. Are Character-only unlocks insulting? YES! Is PVP busted? I wouldn't know, but probably yes.
STO is a much better game than a lot of the people here are giving it credit for (though I could be giving it more credit than it deserves in turn), and if even half of that reason is because it's free-to-play now, then it was worth it.
That said, you people calling this stuff "eastern-style" and referring to Asia's "caste system" and laying this all at PWE's feet can go drown themselves in lava, along with the twitter bigots crowing about Pearl Harbor. You're all the worst. :mad:
For all the growth that STO has seen since its creation, it still has much potential to grow into before its a true reprensentation of the IP.
F2P and the marketing concepts it uses are irelevant to the the fact that if said marketing does not bring more playible story content to STO then STO fails to be much more than a Space Combat game with a Trek Veneer.
Star Trek has always been about the stories, whether the Feds, The Klingons, Romulans or all the other races the IP has shown us over the decades.
Its time to put the STOries back in STO and let the Players find thier places within them.
If they had a steady delivery of story content, you know actual content other than terribly executed grindfests like Defera and Tholian Incursion it wouldn't be bad. But the content is so far apart.
If the game weren't F2P it would have closed down, no one would be paying a sub for it given the alternatives on the market.
For all the growth that STO has seen since its creation, it still has much potential to grow into before its a true reprensentation of the IP.
F2P and the marketing concepts it uses are irelevant to the the fact that if said marketing does not bring more playible story content to STO then STO fails to be much more than a Space Combat game with a Trek Veneer.
Star Trek has always been about the stories, whether the Feds, The Klingons, Romulans or all the other races the IP has shown us over the decades.
Its time to put the STOries back in STO and let the Players find thier places within them.
I agree with you completely - and have said as much in hundreds of posts on the old forum. But are you sure YOU'RE not secretly talking about KDF stories?
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
If the game weren't F2P it would have closed down, no one would be paying a sub for it given the alternatives on the market.
All these games went FTP for a reason: the Subscription gaming market is dying, if not already dead. The economy has changed the industry. Even the mighty WoW just reported their Sub number at 9.1 million. That's a 3 million drop in 3 years: 25% of their player-base gone - and it's important to keep in mind that a huge chunk of that 9.1 million is the Asian market, which doesn't buy monthly Subscriptions. I wouldn't be surprised to see WoW going FTP next year - it will all depend on how well their next EP does.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
And I'm not saying NOT to support STO, personally...
But in the same sense that I believe in shopping local when it isn't an inconvenience, I would say to skew your purchases towards companies that are NOT traded on the stock exchange. It will produce a better world and make you a happier customer.
HOWEVER, you can't buy everything that way and anything with "Star Trek" on the box, directly or indirectly, will be fueling publicly traded companies.
But when you're buying non-Star Trek products and looking for new stuff, absolutely, support companies that aren't on the stock market.
Ok, but I used the word 'investor' specifically because that implies something beyond just the stock exchange. Even private companies have investors, if only a single investor who happens to own the business.
I wouldn't necessarily call my statement universal... there are probably companies that do prioritize something more than profit... but it's probably a good description of most businesses that people deal with everyday.
And, full disclosure, I do not own stock in Perfect World and so far as I know none of my funds hold stock in Perfect World. I'm saying this because I don't want anyone mistaking me for someone with a vested interest in STO's profits beyond keeping this game moving forward.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
In answer to the OP - quite simply because it is Star Trek, there is no other Star Trek MMO, it is entertainment for the casual crowd that continues to deem it worthy enough to spend their hard-earned cash on to help support and keep it running.
This game will always go the developers and producers way. It is their game that they make money with.
You can accept what is available and enjoy it for what it is or you go make your own or go enjoy what someone else offers.
Perhaps players that do not like STO in its current or future status should be asking themselves why they bother to continue hanging around a game that they do not like or enjoy?
Seriously, if hitting themselves in the head with a hammer causes pain, why not stop hitting themselves in the head (or at least switch to a nerf-hammer)!
This game isn't for the casual player. A causal player could, and probably would, spend yrs and not get the end game loot they want.
In my own opinion, we can?t expect a quality MMO product from PWE. It won?t happen! The philosophy of the Chinese is not like that of the USA, Europe or Japan that believes in producing quality products for consumer loyalty. They (PWE) will do what is absolutely necessary and not a thing more to earn every cheap dollar that they can.
Furthermore, since Cryptic Studios failed to do justice to this MMO... couldn't even release with two complete factions... why would anyone think that PWE would do any better? Look at the MMO?s that PWE has made in the past. Really, do not fool yourselves into thinking even for a second that Star Trek Online is headed anywhere but the current path that has the Asian Company milking the Money cow. Yeah! You we are the cows! Line up to get your hay (new lock box) and like it. That is what this game is all about from now on. And the recent history and trajectory of this game is on my side!
So like others have said? we can either accept it or play something else. I have by far and large been playing other games more recently? even though I love Star Trek? I can?t love this game.
If the game weren't F2P it would have closed down, no one would be paying a sub for it given the alternatives on the market.
Such as?
A Star Trek video game? There aren't any out there. Last one worth playing was SFC.
A space based MMO? EvE if you like a even more massive grind then STO had. Or perhaps SWTOR, but that's not really a better option, not if you like actual combat in space.
what is a starbase military pervission and i hop yall can read this i dont spell good
They're Fleet missions you to on a Fleetbase that give you Provisions you can then sell in the Fleet store. You need to advance your Fleetbase before you can take those Missions, though.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
In my own opinion, we can?t expect a quality MMO product from PWE. It won?t happen! The philosophy of the Chinese is not like that of the USA, Europe or Japan that believes in producing quality products for consumer loyalty. They (PWE) will do what is absolutely necessary and not a thing more to earn every cheap dollar that they can.
Furthermore, since Cryptic Studios failed to do justice to this MMO... couldn't even release with two complete factions... why would anyone think that PWE would do any better? Look at the MMO?s that PWE has made in the past. Really, do not fool yourselves into thinking even for a second that Star Trek Online is headed anywhere but the current path that has the Asian Company milking the Money cow. Yeah! You we are the cows! Line up to get your hay (new lock box) and like it. That is what this game is all about from now on. And the recent history and trajectory of this game is on my side!
So like others have said? we can either accept it or play something else. I have by far and large been playing other games more recently? even though I love Star Trek? I can?t love this game.
U.S companies REALLY!!! i have one word about U.S game companies.... Greedy E.A.
For Europe the greedy Game company goes too Ubisoft
and for Japan greedy game company that loves to nickle and dime people and where all ideas come from is Capcom they all seem to share that same philosophy.
I agree with you completely - and have said as much in hundreds of posts on the old forum. But are you sure YOU'RE not secretly talking about KDF stories?
I always want KDF PvE content becuase I believe a complete KDF faction will only add to the overall attraction of STO, but in this threads case I was advocating a return to Story in general (especially the Path to 2409 storyline) over the constant "Here is more grinding to accumilate a new currency to spend of more items so we can make more grinding content to keep the cycle going" style of content.
Don't get me wrong, I like the starbases and the Tholians but Perpetually Working for Everything gets boring without story to back it up.
Some players actually like a cuase, a purpose and background to the why we are doing what we do. It gives us a meaning for punching the old grindclock and getting to work.
This game isn't for the casual player. A causal player could, and probably would, spend yrs and not get the end game loot they want.
Defo not a casual game in my eyes.
A truly casual player would not care. They would be casual about how quickly they advance.
I'm a causal player. I play when I feel like, run STF's when I feel like, and the only panic I get into over gear is that I don't run elites in ships I don't feel are ready for them.
I haven't joined a fleet because doing so would mean caring about the fleet and getting bogged down in fleet politics.
And I have been enjoying the game, even spent some on ships.
The closest thing to anything I couldn't do as a casual has been STF's but since I don't do many elites, I don't miss the gear from them.
I suppose I could use the gear in PvP. but I PvP only very rarely. I have won on the ground whenever I have been challenged simply because those challenging me have had no sense of tactics. In space, my PvP has been limited to Ker'rat, and given the typical situations there (either outnumbered or ganking or both) I have held my own well enough to have fun.
That said, I do still work on improving gear, and ships, and DOffs.... I do care about how my ships and characters perform.... I just do so at a relativly easy going pace, i.e. casual.
The people this game is not for is those who want to be hard core with no investment of time or money. I don't call those people casual though. "Greedy" and "Lazy" are better words for those......
U.S companies REALLY!!! i have one word about U.S game companies.... Greedy E.A.
For Europe the greedy Game company goes too Ubisoft
and for Japan greedy game company that loves to nickle and dime people and where all ideas come from is Capcom they all seem to share that same philosophy.
Fair enough... they are all greedy... but my point was more about a qaulity product.
The answer to the OP's question is pretty simple. MMO designers tried for years to develop and market innovative, expansive MMOs and every single one that didn't fail out-right had to morph into something simple-minded in order to be profitable. Why? Because complex,deep games don't attract the kind of numbers to be as successful as those that follow the WoW model.
I'll be blunt. The vast majority of today's gamers are not exactly rocket scientists. Look at the most popular titles out there. They are all the same, except for the costumes. As a Sony exec once said, the formula is "kill, loot, repeat". Anything more complex than that only results in howls of frustration from the masses who find even the minimal skills required to play a game like this to be far above their capabilties. Sadly, they are the majority and so far no MMO IP owners are interested in appealing to those looking for a more intellectually stimulating experience. This is understandable; a scrub's money spends just like everyone elses and as long as you dangle some shiney new item in front of them from time to time and pretend to listen to their idiotic ideas, they will keep playing and paying. So, that is what they do.
it seems to me that the key to success these days is to find something that appeals to really stupid people and sell it. /shrug
Of course if you can double or tripple what they paid, maybe pwe will give you Cryptic and STO/Champs and Neverwinter, but then what time will you have for playing when you have to ok builds, change the money grabb stuff and sign paychecks?
and then theres the what if in getting it to the place it deserves to be as a Trek based MMO, you nickel and dime it to death?
Because complex,deep games don't attract the kind of numbers to be as successful as those that follow the WoW model.
Part of that is the cost to make a video game. When UO or EQ came out, it cost quite a bit less to make a video game. Tech wasn't as advanced, didn't need a huge budget to make art, and movies, ect...
Also back in the late 90's early 00's $15 was a good deal more money then it is now. In 2012 dollars, a subscription should cost $20 a month when you factor in inflation.
Blizzard for example still only charges $15 a month, but when you figure in inflation, they should be charging $17, that means they are effectively making $2 less per sub then they were when WoW first started.
So unless MMO's started charging more for the monthly sub, they have to make up the loss somehow. Part of that is things like buying items with real money, part of that is simply increasing the size of the player base.
Tabula Rasa was a fun game, but because NCsoft wasn't getting the revenue they thought they should the game was canned, no concessions to the player base, no thought of going to an F2P model, just into the trash and that's the end of that. That is what would have happened to STO if PWE had not come along. Without PWE there would be no STO, so a little gratitude is in order.
A couple of decades ago saying "This is Star Trek" would have meant something, not anymore, Star Trek is a tired old franchise that has been milked to death, expecting grand things for the sake of the name now is unrealistic to the point of being ludicrous.
The sentiment of massive censure to obtain something of higher quality will have only one result, investors will decide that producing a Star Trek product is more trouble than it's worth, there will be no more Star Trek products, anywhere, ever.
These people are not creating this game because they love Star Trek, they're doing it to make a profit selling to, what is now, a very small niche market, be thankful that someone at least is making that much of an effort.
Lock boxes and C-Store items may be a money grab but they are an ignorable money grab, you don't have to buy keys, you don't have to buy ships and bridge sets, you don't have buy expansions, you don't have to buy a subscription, you don't have to pay a dime, the game is entirely playable without having to spend one red cent and if you play the right way you can get whatever you want without spending any money at all.
STO is by no means perfect, but there is no such thing as perfect, even much vaunted subscription based MMOs that have been around for years have problems and they too have had the naysayers crying about how the product was doomed from day one.
I enjoy STO, I play casually, I'm not a fanatic about the games imperfections because I haven't seen a game yet without them, I'm a science fiction fan and there are that I know of no other Science fiction games out there that offer both fully controllable space content as well as ground combat, Star Wars Galaxies had it, but that game is no more.
EVE has only space content, a tedious training setup that has you waiting to play more than actually playing which favors long time players and puts new players at a serious and long term disadvantage and ships that are point an click controlled, you don't actually have control of the ship. Black Prophesy is a PK Griefers paradise with no ground content, and Star Wars The Old Republic has a buggy outdated engine, ridiculously long animated cutscenes, relatively few area maps and an arcade rail based space combat model.
Only STO so far as I know has a full free flight space model as well as ground mobility on a large array of explorable areas.
So I am going to enjoy what there is of it, not pointlessly hold out waiting for something that likely will never come.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
Comments
You don't have to accept it. You can just not play it. Give it a break. Put it on hiatus for awhile, as I have.
As far as "keeping the pressure on, and the bar raised", you know that feeling you get when you realize you're talking to your dog, or cat, or bird? When you look deep into their attentative, loyal, eyes, and say "You don't understand a word I'm freakin' sayin', do you?" Well trying to talk to Cryptic is very similar. They want to please you, with all their heart, but they have absolutely no idea how to.
That is just ashame. Youre rational that BECAUSE its a Star Trek MMO it should survive, and not BECAUSE its a GOOD Star Trek MMO is beyond understanding for me.
I wanted this game to make it, I wanted it to be an amazing game that finally gave fans of this IP a place to become apart of their life long fantasies. That doesnt mean I let a company take advantage of my dreams and hopes. That doesnt mean I let them take something I hold dear and turn it against me. And wether the Devs are fans or not, they too have played their part in twisting Star Trek into this monster.
I refuse to pay for anything in this game anymore. I continue to play because of two reasons.
1.) Its free, which means beyond logging in I no longer invest in/support this game financially.
2.) I can fly around in a ship of my own limited design, with a crew of my limited design without having to pay another dollar.
But I have to disagree with you, this game should not survive because of its Title, it should survive if any because it was able to give the playerbase what it wanted without taking the fun out of the game.
And lets just be honest, Cryptic took was taking the fun out of this game long before PWE came along. And as much as I want to raise my fist in the air and yell PWWWWWWEEEEE for their part in what this game has become. They did give STO a second chance and they gave me the ability to continue playing this game without having to ever spend another dollar.
Im not sure what youre trying to get out of this? The quoted texts I was responding to said nothing about a good game. It was talking about how the game should survive simply because of its title.
All true.
And I'm not saying NOT to support STO, personally...
But in the same sense that I believe in shopping local when it isn't an inconvenience, I would say to skew your purchases towards companies that are NOT traded on the stock exchange. It will produce a better world and make you a happier customer.
HOWEVER, you can't buy everything that way and anything with "Star Trek" on the box, directly or indirectly, will be fueling publicly traded companies.
But when you're buying non-Star Trek products and looking for new stuff, absolutely, support companies that aren't on the stock market.
One or two days ago the other one, which was planned and even advertised was officially canceled
So I do agree with you.
The problem is that STO is being made by people who don't give a d**m about the philosophical and moral aspects of Star Trek. In the best case they want to make a (in their eyes) good MMORPG. In the worst case these people just want to make money no matter how.
Anyway, they don't care for the potential of creating a living and breathing Star Trek universe, filled with real poeple.
Instead of looking at Star Trek as someone elses work and trying to make a suitable and believeable gaming world, they just throw in random stuff they think is "cool".
My dear Doctor, please don't missunderstand me i do completely agree with you, without any reservation.
I am all for setting the moral bar higher and making this game a real challenge for anyones conscience, but i am afraid that the people currently making this game are not interested or willing to make a game like that, nor do i believe these people could even if they wanted to.
(sorry for my bad english)
Live long and prosper.
At Cryptic there are some Trek geeks, who have the trekstuff in their blood.
But to be the all so "glorious" Trek everyone is talking about, this game would have plain and simply sucked. It were boring as hell in the longrun.
Just take a look at the foundry: There are really really great missions to play. With just that right balance of action, "diplomacy" and story, everyone is used to "know".
But there are tons of boring missions, too. They don't have the right balance, and this breaks it. Either they focus too much on the action, or are just plain walls of text (this is called "roleplay" sometimes) etc.
A game which is heavily storydriven (which is so much required from a "true" Star Trek MMO) would be required to have tons of new content, on a monthly scale to even start to work. And to be a true MMO, it would have to be multiplayerstorydriven content.
STO at least got the Foundry to reach that goal, you know the outcome: Quickies for easy Dilithium, tons of "TRIBBLE", and a few really great pearls. (Add in the fact that you can manipulate scores, and it is even harder to find them)
One MMO really tried it on a more professional "scale", with more money to waste on things and failed great at it: Star Wars
The Storyline was great, everything else? Not so much. Multiplayer? Well, it is an MMO, right?
STO in the beginning was not a well rounded MMO either, but it still grew over the years. Before FEs, grinding "Outer Rims" was normal to even reach 40+
Klingons had it even harder, without nearly any content at all. Replay? Nope.
Endgame? Well, there were those buggy ... later the Foundry.
C-Store with more stuff to buy (I will never forget the outcry of those stupid enough to referral themselves multiple times to get a Galaxy-R for several hundred bucks), at reasonable prices.
Then came the problems, because it didn't make enough money. One sale and F2P-switch later, it starts working again.
Am I happy with the current state of STO?
In many aspects I am, I even prefer it being F2P. I don't have to pay for a sub, and still get everything I want, just by playing it.
There are things I find really stupid: The new Account Bank Space for 10 bucks/10slots? Overpriced EV-Suits?
And there are things, where I understand why it is done the way it is, because they nearly don't have a choice: Fleetships, Lockboxes, Starbases
(and I am really fine with Fleetships, because it is a rather easy grind)
I learned STO can grow, and am happy that it does. But don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I don't ask
This. I'll say it up front: I'm a lifer, since day one. I paid my $200 and over the past few years I've probably paid $150+ more in C-points and Zen. I'm a "whale" as they call my type of player, I couldn't be happier with STO as it is today.
Frankly, the vast majority of the improvements to the game happened AFTER (or shortly before) the F2P switch, and today STO is a more mature, more accessible, more fun (to me) game than any MMO I have ever played, including several CURRENT sub-based games (one of which will be F2P soon).
Surely, part of the reason that I'm having fun is that the game has effectively been F2P for me FOREVER. I never had to feel my money was "wasted" (I already paid it back then, and it was "paid for" in time nearly 1.5 years ago), and I could take breaks for as long as I liked without feeling "cheated".
And yet, STO keeps me coming back. I am currently paying a Euro sub for an MMO that has vastly better writing, story, and character than most of STO's content. And yet, it's STO I log into every day, if even for just an hour to reset my Duty Officers or mine dilithium or run Infected Space Normal or throw a few Fleet Marks at the starbase. And every day, I am surprised by how much functionality is in the game that is NOT in the other MMO I'm subscribed to!
Grouping tools, custom chat, shooter controls, costumes, menu minigames (believe it or not the anomaly scanning and mining games are fun!), microtransactions that matter, the ability to pay for TRIBBLE easily, an auction house, and of course STAR TREK, all are in this FREE game, and that WASN'T in it BEFORE it was free.
And in the game I'm paying for (which I continue to pay for because of the writing/etc.), it isn't there. Whenever I see someone in that game shout over zone chat "TANK LFG POLARIS" for an hour, I shake my head and think about how easy it is to join a queue for any STF or Fleet event.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't perfect, and some of the trends I'm seeing are not nice ones. Are new ships too costly? Yes. Are fleet ships a rip? Yes (because new ships are too costly). Are Fleet Bases a filthy resource hole? Yes. Are Character-only unlocks insulting? YES! Is PVP busted? I wouldn't know, but probably yes.
STO is a much better game than a lot of the people here are giving it credit for (though I could be giving it more credit than it deserves in turn), and if even half of that reason is because it's free-to-play now, then it was worth it.
That said, you people calling this stuff "eastern-style" and referring to Asia's "caste system" and laying this all at PWE's feet can go drown themselves in lava, along with the twitter bigots crowing about Pearl Harbor. You're all the worst. :mad:
F2P and the marketing concepts it uses are irelevant to the the fact that if said marketing does not bring more playible story content to STO then STO fails to be much more than a Space Combat game with a Trek Veneer.
Star Trek has always been about the stories, whether the Feds, The Klingons, Romulans or all the other races the IP has shown us over the decades.
Its time to put the STOries back in STO and let the Players find thier places within them.
R.I.P
If the game weren't F2P it would have closed down, no one would be paying a sub for it given the alternatives on the market.
Ok, but I used the word 'investor' specifically because that implies something beyond just the stock exchange. Even private companies have investors, if only a single investor who happens to own the business.
I wouldn't necessarily call my statement universal... there are probably companies that do prioritize something more than profit... but it's probably a good description of most businesses that people deal with everyday.
And, full disclosure, I do not own stock in Perfect World and so far as I know none of my funds hold stock in Perfect World. I'm saying this because I don't want anyone mistaking me for someone with a vested interest in STO's profits beyond keeping this game moving forward.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
This game isn't for the casual player. A causal player could, and probably would, spend yrs and not get the end game loot they want.
Defo not a casual game in my eyes.
Furthermore, since Cryptic Studios failed to do justice to this MMO... couldn't even release with two complete factions... why would anyone think that PWE would do any better? Look at the MMO?s that PWE has made in the past. Really, do not fool yourselves into thinking even for a second that Star Trek Online is headed anywhere but the current path that has the Asian Company milking the Money cow. Yeah! You we are the cows! Line up to get your hay (new lock box) and like it. That is what this game is all about from now on. And the recent history and trajectory of this game is on my side!
So like others have said? we can either accept it or play something else. I have by far and large been playing other games more recently? even though I love Star Trek? I can?t love this game.
Such as?
A Star Trek video game? There aren't any out there. Last one worth playing was SFC.
A space based MMO? EvE if you like a even more massive grind then STO had. Or perhaps SWTOR, but that's not really a better option, not if you like actual combat in space.
So exactly what other alternatives are there?
U.S companies REALLY!!! i have one word about U.S game companies.... Greedy E.A.
For Europe the greedy Game company goes too Ubisoft
and for Japan greedy game company that loves to nickle and dime people and where all ideas come from is Capcom they all seem to share that same philosophy.
I always want KDF PvE content becuase I believe a complete KDF faction will only add to the overall attraction of STO, but in this threads case I was advocating a return to Story in general (especially the Path to 2409 storyline) over the constant "Here is more grinding to accumilate a new currency to spend of more items so we can make more grinding content to keep the cycle going" style of content.
Don't get me wrong, I like the starbases and the Tholians but Perpetually Working for Everything gets boring without story to back it up.
Some players actually like a cuase, a purpose and background to the why we are doing what we do. It gives us a meaning for punching the old grindclock and getting to work.
R.I.P
A truly casual player would not care. They would be casual about how quickly they advance.
I'm a causal player. I play when I feel like, run STF's when I feel like, and the only panic I get into over gear is that I don't run elites in ships I don't feel are ready for them.
I haven't joined a fleet because doing so would mean caring about the fleet and getting bogged down in fleet politics.
And I have been enjoying the game, even spent some on ships.
The closest thing to anything I couldn't do as a casual has been STF's but since I don't do many elites, I don't miss the gear from them.
I suppose I could use the gear in PvP. but I PvP only very rarely. I have won on the ground whenever I have been challenged simply because those challenging me have had no sense of tactics. In space, my PvP has been limited to Ker'rat, and given the typical situations there (either outnumbered or ganking or both) I have held my own well enough to have fun.
That said, I do still work on improving gear, and ships, and DOffs.... I do care about how my ships and characters perform.... I just do so at a relativly easy going pace, i.e. casual.
The people this game is not for is those who want to be hard core with no investment of time or money. I don't call those people casual though. "Greedy" and "Lazy" are better words for those......
Fair enough... they are all greedy... but my point was more about a qaulity product.
I'll be blunt. The vast majority of today's gamers are not exactly rocket scientists. Look at the most popular titles out there. They are all the same, except for the costumes. As a Sony exec once said, the formula is "kill, loot, repeat". Anything more complex than that only results in howls of frustration from the masses who find even the minimal skills required to play a game like this to be far above their capabilties. Sadly, they are the majority and so far no MMO IP owners are interested in appealing to those looking for a more intellectually stimulating experience. This is understandable; a scrub's money spends just like everyone elses and as long as you dangle some shiney new item in front of them from time to time and pretend to listen to their idiotic ideas, they will keep playing and paying. So, that is what they do.
it seems to me that the key to success these days is to find something that appeals to really stupid people and sell it. /shrug
and then theres the what if in getting it to the place it deserves to be as a Trek based MMO, you nickel and dime it to death?
galacticguards.enjin.com/
Formerly Jewkesman Member from Nov 2009!
Part of that is the cost to make a video game. When UO or EQ came out, it cost quite a bit less to make a video game. Tech wasn't as advanced, didn't need a huge budget to make art, and movies, ect...
Also back in the late 90's early 00's $15 was a good deal more money then it is now. In 2012 dollars, a subscription should cost $20 a month when you factor in inflation.
Blizzard for example still only charges $15 a month, but when you figure in inflation, they should be charging $17, that means they are effectively making $2 less per sub then they were when WoW first started.
So unless MMO's started charging more for the monthly sub, they have to make up the loss somehow. Part of that is things like buying items with real money, part of that is simply increasing the size of the player base.
A couple of decades ago saying "This is Star Trek" would have meant something, not anymore, Star Trek is a tired old franchise that has been milked to death, expecting grand things for the sake of the name now is unrealistic to the point of being ludicrous.
The sentiment of massive censure to obtain something of higher quality will have only one result, investors will decide that producing a Star Trek product is more trouble than it's worth, there will be no more Star Trek products, anywhere, ever.
These people are not creating this game because they love Star Trek, they're doing it to make a profit selling to, what is now, a very small niche market, be thankful that someone at least is making that much of an effort.
Lock boxes and C-Store items may be a money grab but they are an ignorable money grab, you don't have to buy keys, you don't have to buy ships and bridge sets, you don't have buy expansions, you don't have to buy a subscription, you don't have to pay a dime, the game is entirely playable without having to spend one red cent and if you play the right way you can get whatever you want without spending any money at all.
STO is by no means perfect, but there is no such thing as perfect, even much vaunted subscription based MMOs that have been around for years have problems and they too have had the naysayers crying about how the product was doomed from day one.
I enjoy STO, I play casually, I'm not a fanatic about the games imperfections because I haven't seen a game yet without them, I'm a science fiction fan and there are that I know of no other Science fiction games out there that offer both fully controllable space content as well as ground combat, Star Wars Galaxies had it, but that game is no more.
EVE has only space content, a tedious training setup that has you waiting to play more than actually playing which favors long time players and puts new players at a serious and long term disadvantage and ships that are point an click controlled, you don't actually have control of the ship. Black Prophesy is a PK Griefers paradise with no ground content, and Star Wars The Old Republic has a buggy outdated engine, ridiculously long animated cutscenes, relatively few area maps and an arcade rail based space combat model.
Only STO so far as I know has a full free flight space model as well as ground mobility on a large array of explorable areas.
So I am going to enjoy what there is of it, not pointlessly hold out waiting for something that likely will never come.