Heh !
After the amount of sarcasm and belittling you and jexsamx dished out recently during the LTS Sale "with benefits" -- it's oh so enjoyable to see you two noticing that funny onrushing light at the end of the tunnel .
I don't see how my opinion of the LTS situation and the DOff price jump are at all related, or how my support of the former somehow invalidates my hatred of the latter.
Despite what some may think, I'm not some blind apologist. I'm just an easy man to please. As long as changes introduced don't drastically harm my experience, I'm generally okay with it. On top of that, I make an effort to consider changes from a developer and business standpoint. This helps me see the logic in most changes.
But this DOff hike... I can't see the logic behind it. I can't see where it adds a needed gate. DOffs are already strained price-wise because of the need to input them into the Fleet system. This new tax only stands to hyperinflate DOff prices on the exchange by virtue of limiting their creation. There is no intelligent reason to add such exorbitant prices. Even the "but Cryptic needs to make money" argument falls flat because they're introducing alongside this change not one, but two Rep grinds that require Dil input. Dil in those I can understand, as a form of time gating it. But why this needless change to DOffs?
I still think Lifers, and everyone else whining about the LTS bonus, for that matter, that fly Gal-X's they didn't earn through Referals are giant flaming hypocrites, btw.
I don't see how my opinion of the LTS situation and the DOff price jump are at all related, or how my support of the former somehow invalidates my hatred of the latter.
Despite what some may think, I'm not some blind apologist. I'm just an easy man to please. As long as changes introduced don't drastically harm my experience, I'm generally okay with it. On top of that, I make an effort to consider changes from a developer and business standpoint. This helps me see the logic in most changes.
But this DOff hike... I can't see the logic behind it. I can't see where it adds a needed gate. DOffs are already strained price-wise because of the need to input them into the Fleet system. This new tax only stands to hyperinflate DOff prices on the exchange by virtue of limiting their creation. There is no intelligent reason to add such exorbitant prices. Even the "but Cryptic needs to make money" argument falls flat because they're introducing alongside this change not one, but two Rep grinds that require Dil input. Dil in those I can understand, as a form of time gating it. But why this needless change to DOffs?
I still think Lifers, and everyone else whining about the LTS bonus, for that matter, that fly Gal-X's they didn't earn through Referals are giant flaming hypocrites, btw.
There are a few of us "professional" doffers as I call it that will make off like bandits with these changes - as more fleets move up to T3/T4 and require green/blue doffs their exchange prices are going to triple. Green security doffs are 300k+ most of the day - they could easily head toward a million EC - awesome!!
I make an effort to consider changes from a developer and business standpoint. This helps me see the logic in most changes.
But this DOff hike... I can't see the logic behind it.
Think of the following as ... The New (and improved) Prime Directive :
Monetize Everything !
Still makes no sense ?
How about this : take the above directive and look at what new things had a Dill sink added to them :
STF's
Mark XII gear shop (where you can by stuff w/STF Marks + Dill)
Doff starter packs
All of the above were not connected to the Dilithium monetized economy .
Now they are .
Good times ! :cool:
Still makes no sense ?
How about this :
They are developing a "free" web/tablet/phone app that will eventually allow you to Doff on the Road away from your PC .
Now ... do you think that they will let you Doff for free , or that they will try to somehow monetize your "on the road" Doffing (either partially or fully) ?
The Doff system was a beautiful place ... while it was for free .
Not Any Longer .
I don't see how my opinion of the LTS situation and the DOff price jump are at all related, or how my support of the former somehow invalidates my hatred of the latter.
(snip)
Despite what some may think, I'm not some blind apologist. I'm just an easy man to please. As long as changes introduced don't drastically harm my experience, I'm generally okay with it.
Yeah , except that you (and neoakiraii) were more than a little bit selfish in the LTS debacle precisely because your world view in this instance boiled down to "if it does not bother Me than it must not matter" .
The world only works like that if you are permanently locked in a room .
I kind of hope that you are not .
I still think Lifers, and everyone else whining about the LTS bonus, for that matter, that fly Gal-X's they didn't earn through Referals are giant flaming hypocrites, btw.
a - your tone is offensive
b - I don't care about the "items" ppl get , I have a problem with the selling of the "Veteran" title to ppl who never visited Omega Leonis .
You cannot sell Veterancy and still be respected . (imho)
Plus the turnaround between announcing the 1000 day vet award and putting it up for sale was literally akin to handing someone a gift and then yanking the gift out of their hands and yelling "for sale !" .
c - The sale of the Galaxy-X is a stale-stale issue that is 2 years old . If you think that you are being clever by comparing it to the objections to the new LTS sale ... , well you have my sympathies .
Well no , not really . Actually you have my pity .
Enjoy your Cryptic Defense League status . It never lasts . Ever .
No, it really isn't. Here's the numbers you're not seeing:
A full set of Mk XII Gear costs 3000 Marks, 15 Elite Marks, and ~100,000 Dilithium.
Attaining Tier 5 in Omega Rep costs 1,686 Marks, 0 Elite Marks, and ~80,000 Dilithium.
People that have already obtained a full set of the Mk XII gear of their choosing no longer have the need to spend the currency listed in above. In fact, along the way to obtaining that gear, it's incredibly likely that they've picked up a good chunk of EDCs, Salvage and Tech, all of which they have no use for (because they already have their desired gear), and will all be converted into Omega Marks which now have a purpose for them, should they choose to use them.
Their extra 'reward' is the fact that the system will cost them less. Considering the prices involved here, that's not something to be ignored.
You've already said that each mkxii item would be 5 elite marks. So as you stated above, a "complete set" is only the shield/engine/deflector.
So if you want a weapons set that's another 30k x number of weapons. So for me that's 7 which equals another 210k. So that is a total 390k dil for what really is a complete set. THAT'S A MONTH AND A HALF OF USING EVERY BIT OF DIL YOU CAN REFINE PER DAY.
ARE YOU GUYS NUTS?
And if you've got multiple toons you'd have to contribute 80k dil for each to unlock the store
And not only dil but all the other stuff you have to contribute to reputation projects
And not only is there omega but if you want romulan stuff, its the same
And now you want us to pay outrageous amounts for doffs
And we're supposed to contribute to our fleet projects
And now there is MORE fleet projects with the embassy
Never mind the fact that there are those who have already put countless hours into stf's and now have to grind..again to get access to the things they already have access to (ie have prototype and edcs saved to get new things when I want) for however long it takes to re-unlock it. I mean this whole thing just reeks of you guys wanting to make the game so f'ing miserable that the only way to enjoy it is to cough up fist fulls of dollars. I understand that you need to make money but ffs you already nickle and dime people to death. And... what about those who already give you money? Those people really get screwed.
What do I suggest?
1) scrap the idea of the doff price increases. They're completely outrageous.
2) Make the rep system account wide, not character specific or allow the items to be able to be traded between characters in an account.
3) Get rid of the project completion time in the rep system. If someone has the marks because they converted it from edc/prototypes, there's no reason why they should have to wait 2 months to get the things they already have access to. Either that or just simply open the store to anyone who already has access to those items. Again asking people to grind again for something they have already done the grinding for is BS.
4) Something that should have been done long ago..... get rid of the dil refinement cap for gold/veterans. They give you money already and they shouldn't be limited. If you worried about people zen farming....simple solution. Put a cap on how much zen can be bought with dil per day.
On a side note. Scrap the borg set changes. 3 piece + maco is the most popular config in the game. It's not overpowered and doesn't need to be changed. How about instead you create something new for people to try and get. That's called adding value instead of what you propose which feels like a big middle finger to the player base.
p.s. while your at it.....you should come up with a new reward for those veterans who put in so much time into the game (which is very valuable, money isn't the only that keeps this game alive) AND gave you money, since you decided to give thier reward away to those who have given far less (both in time and money)
It's a shame that STO does not have a "Jita Monument" equivalent I can let the dread unload on all night... And I guess it means nothing that I cared about STO enough to consider doing just that.
On a side note. Scrap the borg set changes. 3 piece + maco is the most popular config in the game. It's not overpowered and doesn't need to be changed. How about instead you create something new for people to try and get. That's called adding value instead of what you propose which feels like a big middle finger to the player base.
Although Borticus is an excellent dev and is by for the most active on the forums he has one major flaw: He listens almost exclusively to the hard core PvPer's - who make up 1% of the game population.
According to them they inform him the PvE is so easy that they can do it on elite with all common gear and their eyes closed - so no-one need the extra power that these sets give but them - this is going to make borticus make some critical errors regarding the desires of the bulk of the player base.
Yeah , except that you (and neoakiraii) were more than a little bit selfish in the LTS debacle precisely because your world view in this instance boiled down to "if it does not bother Me than it must not matter" .
The world only works like that if you are permanently locked in a room .
I kind of hope that you are not .
Supporting an increase in LTS value for basically everyone that wasn't already hitting 1000 days anyway is selfish? I find that laughable.
No, it really isn't. Here's the numbers you're not seeing:
A full set of Mk XII Gear costs 3000 Marks, 15 Elite Marks, and ~100,000 Dilithium.
Attaining Tier 5 in Omega Rep costs 1,686 Marks, 0 Elite Marks, and ~80,000 Dilithium.
People that have already obtained a full set of the Mk XII gear of their choosing no longer have the need to spend the currency listed in above. In fact, along the way to obtaining that gear, it's incredibly likely that they've picked up a good chunk of EDCs, Salvage and Tech, all of which they have no use for (because they already have their desired gear), and will all be converted into Omega Marks which now have a purpose for them, should they choose to use them.
Their extra 'reward' is the fact that the system will cost them less. Considering the prices involved here, that's not something to be ignored.
That is nothing but pure sophistry. You're TRIBBLE the entire player base over by making the current system more expensive AND more grindy, then trying to pretend that anyone benefits from it.
What you're doing is essentially like a store raising the price of a product by 30%, then making a 10% off "sale." You're doing the exact same thing here, you're jacking up the prices and trying to convince the gullible that they're "saving" because they're not getting over-charged by quite as much as everyone else. It's complete and utter TRIBBLE.
The feedback so far is monumentally opposed to these changes. You need to rethink them. If you don't, you're basically saying you don't care about your player base's opinions.
We want more content, not more grind. The game is already grindy enough, thank you.
Don't be short-sighted. Yes, adding a dil cost to everything is a way to make more money in the short term. But if people get fed up with being abused and manipulated by your transparent talks about how they're "saving" with your new grindy system, not to mention getting fed up with the grind itself, they'll leave. And then you'll lose that potential revenue.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
It's fine if you're Wal-Mart. Because let's be honest...no matter how much you hate Wal-Mart, you'll still go there because a lot of things are cheaper there than elsewhere. And there's a Wal-Mart just about everywhere. And if they manage to TRIBBLE you off so much that you refuse to ever shop there again, it's so immeasurably insignificant that they won't realize anything at all happened. Wal-Mart cannot fail because you get mad at them.
STO is not Wal-Mart. STO is small. STO can fail. Antagonizing your customers like this is not very smart. The old "the customer is always right" doesn't mean you always give the customer what they want. But it does mean you go out of your way to NOT TRIBBLE them off.
If someone wants to think everyone on the forums is an immature moron, they can think that. But actually saying it is another thing. You can do it, but it's not very smart.
And furthermore, I'd be shocked if the people that post a lot on the forum were not the people that spent the most cash on this game. Calling them all whiners and cry-babies is a GREAT way to get them to spend more money.
-36k dili for any XII space weapon
-5k dili for transfering blue doffs into a purple
-no free doff packs
-a grind system for items i already own
- more grind features with dili-doff costs
and still no retrait-token
to keep it short: FU
i wont support this BS any longer. there is a limit and now you crossed mine
at least i can smile a bit that i haven't purchased the lifetime abo. and damn i would have bought it next month.
Well thanks for being honest Captain Geko, dear Al, even if it was an ill advised lapse in professionalism.
Sure. it's just a game. I used to enjoy it. I invested a lot into it and was "passionate" about it. This was "my" mistake. Not yours. No one on staff cares that many of us do not like the direction they are taking the game with these changes. They are going to do what they want as we are the minority in their view. We are just basement dwelling trolls rather than the passionate and vocal players who supported you through the hard times, love or hate what you were doing.
I understand completely. I will not waste more time or emotion on it. I'll just spend my money elsewhere.
Somebody said a few pages back about 'cutting the fat' and I believe we do need to. So, let's all take a breath and maybe look a little more at all this again.
I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
Its just a game. I wonder if "its just a job" is how they feel about their jobs? "They're just dumb little hamsters that will go on the boring wheel we give them".. is that how they see the players? Would they play a game with these upcoming grinds themselves?
I think having to change the game to a PWE style grindfest has killed whatever passion they may have once had for the game. Can't say I blame them, to see your work turned to something you probably wouldn't touch yourself has to be pretty frustrating. And they can't say anything... so now and then they loose their cool and say or act in a foolish and/or unprofessional manner.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
Coming from Al (Gecko) Rivera, the biggest Troll on the devs team is a bit rich.
Kind of expecting from him though, he is about as unprofessional as you can get for a dev :rolleyes:
Was it last week a certain developer said reading the forums were painfull ?
I think just about all of them said something to that extend by now...
But yeah it would be easier to dismiss a ton of consumers than actually listen to them; after-rationalizing why you aren't able to perform the job you are getting paid for.
It of course has to be someone else that's wrong, so you have zero responsibility that's certainly the mature approach.
Instead of blaming the frustration on something externally, take some responsibility - you are in charge after all, and come out and explain to these here people how dilithium costing cycled content makes any kind of sense and who came up with the idea of calling it "new".
You could have named it a revamp or balancing or optimization and you wouldn't have people asking what the new armor is.
Did you not have enough time to make new visuals, you didn't anticapate this reaction, you feel the borg set was vastly overpowered?
And if no one cares about the forum why are you here posting on them ?
You should have turned it over in your head while you were busy making excuses.
Lastly, actually it's not "just a game" it's people recreational time off from work, they are paying money for, you are messing with.
The time they want to yes relax, have fun and not be stressed out.
Of course they are passionate and upset and do you really want to advocate an indifferent attitude ?
Albeit I am sure it would be great to be a developer that could just throw anything they wanted into a game and get zero complaints.
That said it must be frustrating to work on something for months and try to get your employees behind it and then get up to this response.
If they truely do care about actually making a good game over anything else nothing is more hurtful than getting this feedback on their forums.
The best feedback on free-to-play games is spending money if you support a feature, and not spending money if you do not support a new feature.
So not spending money on buying dilithium in this case is the best way to show a customer's displeasure.
Like I dislike PVP in general. The solution is that I do not do it.
If the developers will put something overpowered or charming to the C-store (for example, a quad cannon with a new energy type, not just the old boring phaser/disruptor version, or a new pet or uniform) then I can show my appreciation by buying it.
If they put something in like a big dilithium price on duty officer packs, then I just will have to do without these packs, and signal my dissaproval by not spending money on C-store packs.
As far as the STF changes, I dislike the time limit and dilithium costs it is said they will put on the reputation system.
To be honest, I do not get why we no longer have any new race unlocks. With the Romulan faction hopefully in the works (Something I would be willing to spend zen points for) , I can understand why don't we get Romulans federation side... but what about other races? Or new uniforms?
Or to money-tise items, a new c-store set that does not require weeks of waiting? A new gun like the TR-116a Tactical Sniper Rifle with kinetic damage? Name it the TR-120. Quad cannons of other energy types? A duty officer pack of purple officers?
These all seem like worthy investements. Lockbox keys? Sorry, no thanks! I don't gamble!
On the new veteran reward, I understand selling the new ships to Lifers. Lifetime subscription is a HUGE amount of money. More money then what I can earn in a month with an average job here. So giving them a little extra for so many dollars spent is understandable.
And on the final note, will all duty-officer requisition missions cost dilithium? Only the general recruitment pack will get this nerfing , or will the specific cadres or missions like instigate defection get this dilithium cost too?
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
But yeah it would be easier to dismiss a ton of consumers than actually listen to them; after-rationalizing why you aren't able to perform the job you are getting paid for.
It of course has to be someone else that's wrong, so you have zero responsibility that's certainly the mature approach.
Well that's the kind of jokes you tell your coworkers. I'm pretty sure you'll find them in every job. I'm a teacher - I'm not american but I'm sure yours have the same behaviour - and I can tell you we have a lot of fun about pupils, but we're smart enough to do that internally. If I tell students they're just fu**ing morons if they don't like the way I try to keep their interest in something, I'd have a revolt in my classroom and I'd probably have some troubles with my management, and I would totally deserve it.
That's really, really not smart at all to use an official twitter account to tell that kind of jokes, and devs are fortunate enough to have adult players who can deal with being trolled and insulted.
TBH that's not that hard to make people you work for/with happy, anyone denying that means you have completely different priorities but can't be comfortable with these priorities, but you need to be able to question yourself about what you did if something goes wrong.
Not exactly the first time devs have insulted or been dismissive of the playerbase/forumites. Dan has done it, Thomas the Cat has done it, Gozer was notorious for it, this isn't the first time Gecko has done it. Kind of half expected really. I'll just continue to not give them any more of my money than they already have.
The don't spend cash argument is invalid - if people hadn't already invested in future content we wouldn't even have made it to season 7...
The only thing I take note of is that he cares enough to get upset even to the point of perhaps treading dangerous waters with his company.
A lot of people thought they were calculative and devious and really could less than getting people's money it the easiest way possilble.
I think this proves that is not the case, at least not for everyone. Of course this raises the question if you really are trying to improve the game all in, everything you got, how competent are you.
I think the one spot where developers have an excuse is the complication of software. You can't just flip a switch and it's on.
It does take time to develop, code and program and whatever, sure.
And at times everyone have to settle for what was possible within a deadline. And sometimes that won't be a lot.
I just question the common sense of trying to pass 2 year-old stf gear for new.
We didn't have the resources to create a brand new armor! Fine then don't try to pass it as such...
It's not new, don't call it new there is nothing new about it.
The don't spend cash argument is invalid - if people hadn't already invested in future content we wouldn't even have made it to season 7...
How so? If I like the way things are going, I give them money. If I don't like it, I don't give them money. My money alone won't make or break them for sure, but if enough people vote with their wallet they will either have to change course or shut down.
Money is the only language they speak at this point, so its either rage on the forums and get nowhere, or vote with cash.
Because the last thread was closed down I still feel the need to show diogene the insanity of his position that Al Rivera is somehow "wrong" in his supporting Obsidius' light-hearted forum rules; that his Diogene's position is damaging to all of us and he should generally be ashamed of himself.
So let's analyse each section of STOWiki user Obsidius' page (and I'll be referencing Obsidius a lot here rather than Al Rivera, because Diogene among others has attempted to represent the page as coming from Rivera himself).
Forum posts are not legally binding contract
You wonder why devs don't talk about a lot of stuff on the forums? Because every time they talk about something in development that doesn't actually make it into they game, it bites them in the TRIBBLE. But when they do, don't hoist it on your shoulders like the Ten Commandments, Moses. Sometimes stuff just doesn't pan out in the long run. Anything a dev "promise" on the forums isn't actually a promise (unless they actually use the word "promise" in their posts, which is pretty farking unlikely). But seriously, Cryptic and PWE don't guaranty the legality of anything said on the forums, so deal.
Obvious, yes? You subscribe (or more likely play free) to the game based on its state as is.
Why haven't the devs put in <insert feature here> yet?
Priorities. In Dev Land, you have to get the most bang for your buck with the resources at hand, and there's usually not enough resources to do everything at the same time. It gets frustrating when the feature you want keeps getting pushed back, but it's probably because the devs have to concentrate on different priorities set upon them by higher-ups (see Calling the devs lazy is lazy, below). Sometimes devs will work on personal projects outside of the normal scope of their work, but usually it means that particular items will take longer to see the light of day, if it ever does. Remember, forum posts are not legally binding contracts (see above), and that the schedule constantly changes. Just deal with it.
AND
Calling developers lazy is lazy.
If you think developers are "lazy" just because they haven't inserted whatever feature or function you've been holding your breath for, there's probably a better reason than lethargy. Unfortunately, you're probably too lazy yourself to consider things like demand of the player majority, budgets, timeframes, other things in the developers' schedule, adding things that benefit the greatest amount of the playerbase, etc. Congratulations, lazy thinker. You win teh interwebz.
The truth is: you are probably placing the blame on the people who have the least amount of control over the schedule. Developers tackle the schedule delivered to them by the lead developers; who in turn answer to the studio managers, publisher, investors, etc. If anything, any blame should be with their higher-ups. And it's honestly not a question of laziness, rather than player demand and priority. However, if you can convince them, in a civil fashion, that something is in demand, it might help to increase the priority. But slinging insults (ie: calling people lazy) at the people you're trying to sway to your point of view is probably the worst way in which to accomplish this.
Again this is not controversial is it? Developers don't pick priorities, producers etc. do.
Demanding a Cryptic or Dev response in your thread is a good way not to get one.
The community forums are for the community. Sometimes, you'll get a dev to chime up about something. They do this during their free time, out of "the kindness of their hearts". They get paid to develop MMOs, not sit around on the forums all day (aren't you supposed to be working, buddy?). So demanding a dev response from anyone but the community representative just makes you look petulant. Your supper-important issue will be addressed when it's prudent to do so, and when there aren't a lot of more important things ahead of it on the schedule.
Another uncontroversial paragraph. The community rep is paid to talk to you. Developers aren't.
Why don't the developers post more?
See the above rules. They're probably busy - you know - developing things. Or making sure they don't post any "promises" or anything else that can be taken completely out of context by players.
Still can't see any controversy.
Don't Nitpick.
If you seriously believe that fixing every last window on a Galaxy class star cruiser or fixing some deflector art on a drop-box unlocked ship is the top priority of the art team, I want to know what you're smoking, and where I can get some. Well, I guess you can nitpick, but it won't get you very far and will probably just chafe the people that can actually "fix" your "problem". Just ask CapnLogan. Go ahead, send him a PM about a weapons hardpoint. Oh wait, you can't, because he got tired of all the nitpicking and left STO (damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess).
Is this controversial? With fandoms like Star Trek you probably have to expect a certain degree of... focus on the minuti? from a small and... dedicated segment of its population. But there's a world of difference between making calm and reasoned suggestions to improve art assets (for example) which most people generally do, and going on tirades that the tiniest of details has been left out. But yeah, common sense paragraph.
Do you ask loaded questions because you eat babies?
See what I did there? I hope so. The devs sure love to respond to threads entitled "Devs: why do you hate <insert faction or gameplay here>?" OK, not really. If you want to get a serious response to your thread, maybe even by an actual developer, instead of just looking like a troll, leave your questions unloaded. Don't be "that person".
This is one of the things this forum is guilty of the most. Everything is "Cryptic hating x" or "slapping the face of every y player". Again, I can't see this being a controversial statement unless you're one of the arses who uses this conversation style.
Asking for compensation is overt entitlement.
So the servers were down for a few hours, or someone TRIBBLE into your account. Besides restoring your account to a previous state, you're not entitled to anything. Look it up on the End User License Agreement and the Terms of Service. You know, those things you agree to whenever you log into the game. Don't ask for something not owed to you.
Not controversial. Read the ToUs before you sign up for anything.
Threatening to leave for <insert game here> really shows your lack of maturity.
You're mad and upset about something the developers have (or haven't) done in the game. You start dropping names of a studio or a game in context such as "<Insert game here> is coming out next month, hope you like loosing customers" or "I guess not everyone can be like <insert studio or developer here>".
Congratulations. Perhaps the grass will actually be greener on the other side. But what you're actually saying isn't very constructive; it's just trolling, plain and simple. Frankly, the forums and the game would probably be better without you, so please go over to your new-found love, and try not to let the novelty wear off too fast, lest you simply repeat this same process on that title's forums. After all, if that other title is so perfect and incomparable, why bother even posting here, unless your only point is to call the devs lazy or just troll for the sake of trolling? Really, the door's over there; don't let it hit your posterior on the way out. Just remember that the only thing worse than insulting a game as you leave for a "better" one is the shame of crawling back when all your dreams and novelty are tarnished and shattered.
I LOVE this paragraph. And I say that as someone who DID leave the game after getting in a hissy fit over the first round of x.5 ships. If you want to leave, then do so. Every time you play the game, you should really be doing a cost/benefit exercise in your head to make sure you're not doing something you don't enjoy. If you don't enjoy the content or the direction then stop playing and find something better to do. If you come back, the chances are you over-reacted.
Threats to leave the game are just wind. Nobody listens to them. Actually leaving the game? That's a matter for you.
(Almost) no one cares about the forums.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
I'm putting these together because they're both basically the same thing. I think this is probably what you're getting your knickers in a twist about. But the facts are self evident. Go to any big game's forums and you'll see pretty much the same thing. WoW, tOR, Halo, CoD, damn near any game with a big online following will have the same problem. The forums are meaningless and generally not drivers of decision-making. If you think STO is unique in that then I've got a bridge in London to sell you.
And yes. It IS just a video game. Play it to have fun. If you're not having fun, stop playing. There is literally nothing more to be said on that subject.
So now, where is the controversy in Obsidius' page (or the fact that Al Rivera expressed his general approval of the content)? Or can we just accept that you're more invested in complaining about the game than you are playing it?
EDIT: And maybe I've been too harsh singling out Diogene on this. But damn, there's nothing I hate more than trying to get people in trouble for having opinions (and uncontroversial ones at that).
So now, where is the controversy in Obsidius' page (or the fact that Al Rivera expressed his general approval of the content)? Or can we just accept that you're more invested in complaining about the game than you are playing it?
I do play the game. It's just that Gecko published an internal joke on a public channel. I call that a mistake. And anyway if you want people to be nice with you don't complain they aren't, start to be nice with them and it'll come. There are devs players have a lot of respect for on these forums, there's no magic behind that fact. Anyway.
I just question the common sense of trying to pass 2 year-old stf gear for new.
We didn't have the resources to create a brand new armor! Fine then don't try to pass it as such...
They had these ressources for season 6. Two new sets (the tholian ones), many new armors, but there is another far less glorious issue: the STF stores were overshadowing the other stores since it was endgame gear you had to get for free without real cash shortcut. Thus it had to disappear because it was overshadowing the new dilithium stores.
Of course no one can admit that because it would just be adding fuel to the fire...
Edit: The new rep system is a great improvement but the real goal is to remove the STF store since it's about to be done and since both system could perfectly exist in game at the same time.
Get some perspective - it's Star Trek.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I won't say they've been doing it for forty years, but definately as long as there's been an internet to do it on. And you [Cryptic] knew this when you picked up the IP. The argument, it's just a game, leave if you don't like it, would've been borderline reasonable if this was Space Champions Online, but it's not. It's Star Trek. And the problem with Star Trek is that it's damned hard to get Trekkies to walk away from it, or shut up about it. So when, for whatever reason, you [Cryptic] chose Star Trek Online over Space Champions Online, this is the minefield you chose to work in. It was clearly marked, so don't be such a whiny ***** about losing that leg.
There, fixed that for you.
Nice job however on the "Do you complain about developer-induced injustices cause you're a basement dwelling loser?" (paraphrasing) after the loaded questions bit. Glad to see the level of internal consistency between Cryptic and its staunchest supporters is at least itself consistent.
I hope the effort sekritagent put into the initial posting will not be wasted.
It's getting really annoying that we have to pay more and more and even get double-triple-quadruple-dipped for many things, most no longer account- but character-only unlocks.
To put it bluntly, we pay more and more for less and less!
After Star Trek Online apparently consolidated I think it is time that
1. more and better quality content gets added
2. stop making things even more ridiculously expensive
That Perfect World acquired Cryptic and now wants to see $$$ from their investment is clear, but you shouldn't expect from your already paying customers to pay even more. Don't test the pain treshold of your paying customers even more.
That Perfect World acquired Cryptic and now wants to see $$$ from their investment is clear, but you shouldn't expect from your already paying customers to pay even more. Don't test the pain treshold of your paying customers even more.
Are you denying it's season 7 purpose? Come on, I'd like a good laugh, dare saying that it's not.
I'm saying Season 7 is consistent in continuing the mantra of "No content is locked behind a paywall. You can get everything for free with enough time, but you can get it quicker with cash". Welcome to free to play.
Comments
I don't see how my opinion of the LTS situation and the DOff price jump are at all related, or how my support of the former somehow invalidates my hatred of the latter.
Despite what some may think, I'm not some blind apologist. I'm just an easy man to please. As long as changes introduced don't drastically harm my experience, I'm generally okay with it. On top of that, I make an effort to consider changes from a developer and business standpoint. This helps me see the logic in most changes.
But this DOff hike... I can't see the logic behind it. I can't see where it adds a needed gate. DOffs are already strained price-wise because of the need to input them into the Fleet system. This new tax only stands to hyperinflate DOff prices on the exchange by virtue of limiting their creation. There is no intelligent reason to add such exorbitant prices. Even the "but Cryptic needs to make money" argument falls flat because they're introducing alongside this change not one, but two Rep grinds that require Dil input. Dil in those I can understand, as a form of time gating it. But why this needless change to DOffs?
I still think Lifers, and everyone else whining about the LTS bonus, for that matter, that fly Gal-X's they didn't earn through Referals are giant flaming hypocrites, btw.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
There are a few of us "professional" doffers as I call it that will make off like bandits with these changes - as more fleets move up to T3/T4 and require green/blue doffs their exchange prices are going to triple. Green security doffs are 300k+ most of the day - they could easily head toward a million EC - awesome!!
Think of the following as ... The New (and improved) Prime Directive :
Monetize Everything !
Still makes no sense ?
How about this : take the above directive and look at what new things had a Dill sink added to them :
STF's
Mark XII gear shop (where you can by stuff w/STF Marks + Dill)
Doff starter packs
All of the above were not connected to the Dilithium monetized economy .
Now they are .
Good times ! :cool:
Still makes no sense ?
How about this :
They are developing a "free" web/tablet/phone app that will eventually allow you to Doff on the Road away from your PC .
Now ... do you think that they will let you Doff for free , or that they will try to somehow monetize your "on the road" Doffing (either partially or fully) ?
The Doff system was a beautiful place ... while it was for free .
Not Any Longer .
Yeah , except that you (and neoakiraii) were more than a little bit selfish in the LTS debacle precisely because your world view in this instance boiled down to "if it does not bother Me than it must not matter" .
The world only works like that if you are permanently locked in a room .
I kind of hope that you are not .
a - your tone is offensive
b - I don't care about the "items" ppl get , I have a problem with the selling of the "Veteran" title to ppl who never visited Omega Leonis .
You cannot sell Veterancy and still be respected . (imho)
Plus the turnaround between announcing the 1000 day vet award and putting it up for sale was literally akin to handing someone a gift and then yanking the gift out of their hands and yelling "for sale !" .
c - The sale of the Galaxy-X is a stale-stale issue that is 2 years old . If you think that you are being clever by comparing it to the objections to the new LTS sale ... , well you have my sympathies .
Well no , not really . Actually you have my pity .
Enjoy your Cryptic Defense League status . It never lasts . Ever .
You've already said that each mkxii item would be 5 elite marks. So as you stated above, a "complete set" is only the shield/engine/deflector.
So if you want a weapons set that's another 30k x number of weapons. So for me that's 7 which equals another 210k. So that is a total 390k dil for what really is a complete set. THAT'S A MONTH AND A HALF OF USING EVERY BIT OF DIL YOU CAN REFINE PER DAY.
ARE YOU GUYS NUTS?
And if you've got multiple toons you'd have to contribute 80k dil for each to unlock the store
And not only dil but all the other stuff you have to contribute to reputation projects
And not only is there omega but if you want romulan stuff, its the same
And now you want us to pay outrageous amounts for doffs
And we're supposed to contribute to our fleet projects
And now there is MORE fleet projects with the embassy
Never mind the fact that there are those who have already put countless hours into stf's and now have to grind..again to get access to the things they already have access to (ie have prototype and edcs saved to get new things when I want) for however long it takes to re-unlock it. I mean this whole thing just reeks of you guys wanting to make the game so f'ing miserable that the only way to enjoy it is to cough up fist fulls of dollars. I understand that you need to make money but ffs you already nickle and dime people to death. And... what about those who already give you money? Those people really get screwed.
What do I suggest?
1) scrap the idea of the doff price increases. They're completely outrageous.
2) Make the rep system account wide, not character specific or allow the items to be able to be traded between characters in an account.
3) Get rid of the project completion time in the rep system. If someone has the marks because they converted it from edc/prototypes, there's no reason why they should have to wait 2 months to get the things they already have access to. Either that or just simply open the store to anyone who already has access to those items. Again asking people to grind again for something they have already done the grinding for is BS.
4) Something that should have been done long ago..... get rid of the dil refinement cap for gold/veterans. They give you money already and they shouldn't be limited. If you worried about people zen farming....simple solution. Put a cap on how much zen can be bought with dil per day.
On a side note. Scrap the borg set changes. 3 piece + maco is the most popular config in the game. It's not overpowered and doesn't need to be changed. How about instead you create something new for people to try and get. That's called adding value instead of what you propose which feels like a big middle finger to the player base.
p.s. while your at it.....you should come up with a new reward for those veterans who put in so much time into the game (which is very valuable, money isn't the only that keeps this game alive) AND gave you money, since you decided to give thier reward away to those who have given far less (both in time and money)
Although Borticus is an excellent dev and is by for the most active on the forums he has one major flaw: He listens almost exclusively to the hard core PvPer's - who make up 1% of the game population.
According to them they inform him the PvE is so easy that they can do it on elite with all common gear and their eyes closed - so no-one need the extra power that these sets give but them - this is going to make borticus make some critical errors regarding the desires of the bulk of the player base.
What's happening to this game?
Supporting an increase in LTS value for basically everyone that wasn't already hitting 1000 days anyway is selfish? I find that laughable.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
That is nothing but pure sophistry. You're TRIBBLE the entire player base over by making the current system more expensive AND more grindy, then trying to pretend that anyone benefits from it.
What you're doing is essentially like a store raising the price of a product by 30%, then making a 10% off "sale." You're doing the exact same thing here, you're jacking up the prices and trying to convince the gullible that they're "saving" because they're not getting over-charged by quite as much as everyone else. It's complete and utter TRIBBLE.
The feedback so far is monumentally opposed to these changes. You need to rethink them. If you don't, you're basically saying you don't care about your player base's opinions.
We want more content, not more grind. The game is already grindy enough, thank you.
Don't be short-sighted. Yes, adding a dil cost to everything is a way to make more money in the short term. But if people get fed up with being abused and manipulated by your transparent talks about how they're "saving" with your new grindy system, not to mention getting fed up with the grind itself, they'll leave. And then you'll lose that potential revenue.
I'm al Rivera, and I approve this message.
......
(Almost) no one cares about the forums.
Game forums in general are known to be stereotyped as the place where petulant man-children rant and rave about everything that's "wrong" with the game. Therefore, there's no such thing as "bad press" on the forums, because by association, forums are known to be nothing but the home of ranting tirades. Rarely, someone in the game press will refer to a game's forums, but only to reinforce something already in a story. Press or breaking info rarely starts wholly from the forums (usually Marketing posts something elsewhere first or in conjunction with a thread), because, by their reputation, no one but die-hard fans and community reps read them.
Get some perspective - it's a video game.
People will complain incessantly on the forums about even the most trivial things. Look, I understand that you're upset about your ship's turn rate or the latest "nerf" for whatever. It doesn't main you have to go on a tirade every chance you get. You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game. Otherwise you just end up getting wrapped around the axle and looking like this guy, getting kicked off the forums and keeping track of every little developer-induced injustice from your secret underground lair (read: mother's basement). Is this how you want to live your life? Or would you rather enjoy a warm summer day with friends and/or loved ones and blow up some Borg when you want to relax and put your feet up? That's what I thought.
It's fine if you're Wal-Mart. Because let's be honest...no matter how much you hate Wal-Mart, you'll still go there because a lot of things are cheaper there than elsewhere. And there's a Wal-Mart just about everywhere. And if they manage to TRIBBLE you off so much that you refuse to ever shop there again, it's so immeasurably insignificant that they won't realize anything at all happened. Wal-Mart cannot fail because you get mad at them.
STO is not Wal-Mart. STO is small. STO can fail. Antagonizing your customers like this is not very smart. The old "the customer is always right" doesn't mean you always give the customer what they want. But it does mean you go out of your way to NOT TRIBBLE them off.
If someone wants to think everyone on the forums is an immature moron, they can think that. But actually saying it is another thing. You can do it, but it's not very smart.
And furthermore, I'd be shocked if the people that post a lot on the forum were not the people that spent the most cash on this game. Calling them all whiners and cry-babies is a GREAT way to get them to spend more money.
-5k dili for transfering blue doffs into a purple
-no free doff packs
-a grind system for items i already own
- more grind features with dili-doff costs
and still no retrait-token
to keep it short: FU
i wont support this BS any longer. there is a limit and now you crossed mine
at least i can smile a bit that i haven't purchased the lifetime abo. and damn i would have bought it next month.
Sure. it's just a game. I used to enjoy it. I invested a lot into it and was "passionate" about it. This was "my" mistake. Not yours. No one on staff cares that many of us do not like the direction they are taking the game with these changes. They are going to do what they want as we are the minority in their view. We are just basement dwelling trolls rather than the passionate and vocal players who supported you through the hard times, love or hate what you were doing.
I understand completely. I will not waste more time or emotion on it. I'll just spend my money elsewhere.
It's like voting... And I am casting this one.
Somebody said a few pages back about 'cutting the fat' and I believe we do need to. So, let's all take a breath and maybe look a little more at all this again.
I think having to change the game to a PWE style grindfest has killed whatever passion they may have once had for the game. Can't say I blame them, to see your work turned to something you probably wouldn't touch yourself has to be pretty frustrating. And they can't say anything... so now and then they loose their cool and say or act in a foolish and/or unprofessional manner.
Coming from Al (Gecko) Rivera, the biggest Troll on the devs team is a bit rich.
Kind of expecting from him though, he is about as unprofessional as you can get for a dev :rolleyes:
I think just about all of them said something to that extend by now...
But yeah it would be easier to dismiss a ton of consumers than actually listen to them; after-rationalizing why you aren't able to perform the job you are getting paid for.
It of course has to be someone else that's wrong, so you have zero responsibility that's certainly the mature approach.
Instead of blaming the frustration on something externally, take some responsibility - you are in charge after all, and come out and explain to these here people how dilithium costing cycled content makes any kind of sense and who came up with the idea of calling it "new".
You could have named it a revamp or balancing or optimization and you wouldn't have people asking what the new armor is.
Did you not have enough time to make new visuals, you didn't anticapate this reaction, you feel the borg set was vastly overpowered?
And if no one cares about the forum why are you here posting on them ?
You should have turned it over in your head while you were busy making excuses.
Lastly, actually it's not "just a game" it's people recreational time off from work, they are paying money for, you are messing with.
The time they want to yes relax, have fun and not be stressed out.
Of course they are passionate and upset and do you really want to advocate an indifferent attitude ?
Albeit I am sure it would be great to be a developer that could just throw anything they wanted into a game and get zero complaints.
That said it must be frustrating to work on something for months and try to get your employees behind it and then get up to this response.
If they truely do care about actually making a good game over anything else nothing is more hurtful than getting this feedback on their forums.
So not spending money on buying dilithium in this case is the best way to show a customer's displeasure.
Like I dislike PVP in general. The solution is that I do not do it.
If the developers will put something overpowered or charming to the C-store (for example, a quad cannon with a new energy type, not just the old boring phaser/disruptor version, or a new pet or uniform) then I can show my appreciation by buying it.
If they put something in like a big dilithium price on duty officer packs, then I just will have to do without these packs, and signal my dissaproval by not spending money on C-store packs.
As far as the STF changes, I dislike the time limit and dilithium costs it is said they will put on the reputation system.
To be honest, I do not get why we no longer have any new race unlocks. With the Romulan faction hopefully in the works (Something I would be willing to spend zen points for) , I can understand why don't we get Romulans federation side... but what about other races? Or new uniforms?
Or to money-tise items, a new c-store set that does not require weeks of waiting? A new gun like the TR-116a Tactical Sniper Rifle with kinetic damage? Name it the TR-120. Quad cannons of other energy types? A duty officer pack of purple officers?
These all seem like worthy investements. Lockbox keys? Sorry, no thanks! I don't gamble!
On the new veteran reward, I understand selling the new ships to Lifers. Lifetime subscription is a HUGE amount of money. More money then what I can earn in a month with an average job here. So giving them a little extra for so many dollars spent is understandable.
And on the final note, will all duty-officer requisition missions cost dilithium? Only the general recruitment pack will get this nerfing , or will the specific cadres or missions like instigate defection get this dilithium cost too?
Well that's the kind of jokes you tell your coworkers. I'm pretty sure you'll find them in every job. I'm a teacher - I'm not american but I'm sure yours have the same behaviour - and I can tell you we have a lot of fun about pupils, but we're smart enough to do that internally. If I tell students they're just fu**ing morons if they don't like the way I try to keep their interest in something, I'd have a revolt in my classroom and I'd probably have some troubles with my management, and I would totally deserve it.
That's really, really not smart at all to use an official twitter account to tell that kind of jokes, and devs are fortunate enough to have adult players who can deal with being trolled and insulted.
TBH that's not that hard to make people you work for/with happy, anyone denying that means you have completely different priorities but can't be comfortable with these priorities, but you need to be able to question yourself about what you did if something goes wrong.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
The only thing I take note of is that he cares enough to get upset even to the point of perhaps treading dangerous waters with his company.
A lot of people thought they were calculative and devious and really could less than getting people's money it the easiest way possilble.
I think this proves that is not the case, at least not for everyone. Of course this raises the question if you really are trying to improve the game all in, everything you got, how competent are you.
I think the one spot where developers have an excuse is the complication of software. You can't just flip a switch and it's on.
It does take time to develop, code and program and whatever, sure.
And at times everyone have to settle for what was possible within a deadline. And sometimes that won't be a lot.
I just question the common sense of trying to pass 2 year-old stf gear for new.
We didn't have the resources to create a brand new armor! Fine then don't try to pass it as such...
It's not new, don't call it new there is nothing new about it.
How so? If I like the way things are going, I give them money. If I don't like it, I don't give them money. My money alone won't make or break them for sure, but if enough people vote with their wallet they will either have to change course or shut down.
Money is the only language they speak at this point, so its either rage on the forums and get nowhere, or vote with cash.
So let's analyse each section of STOWiki user Obsidius' page (and I'll be referencing Obsidius a lot here rather than Al Rivera, because Diogene among others has attempted to represent the page as coming from Rivera himself).
Obvious, yes? You subscribe (or more likely play free) to the game based on its state as is.
AND Again this is not controversial is it? Developers don't pick priorities, producers etc. do.
Another uncontroversial paragraph. The community rep is paid to talk to you. Developers aren't.
Still can't see any controversy.
Is this controversial? With fandoms like Star Trek you probably have to expect a certain degree of... focus on the minuti? from a small and... dedicated segment of its population. But there's a world of difference between making calm and reasoned suggestions to improve art assets (for example) which most people generally do, and going on tirades that the tiniest of details has been left out. But yeah, common sense paragraph.
This is one of the things this forum is guilty of the most. Everything is "Cryptic hating x" or "slapping the face of every y player". Again, I can't see this being a controversial statement unless you're one of the arses who uses this conversation style.
Not controversial. Read the ToUs before you sign up for anything.
I LOVE this paragraph. And I say that as someone who DID leave the game after getting in a hissy fit over the first round of x.5 ships. If you want to leave, then do so. Every time you play the game, you should really be doing a cost/benefit exercise in your head to make sure you're not doing something you don't enjoy. If you don't enjoy the content or the direction then stop playing and find something better to do. If you come back, the chances are you over-reacted.
Threats to leave the game are just wind. Nobody listens to them. Actually leaving the game? That's a matter for you.
I'm putting these together because they're both basically the same thing. I think this is probably what you're getting your knickers in a twist about. But the facts are self evident. Go to any big game's forums and you'll see pretty much the same thing. WoW, tOR, Halo, CoD, damn near any game with a big online following will have the same problem. The forums are meaningless and generally not drivers of decision-making. If you think STO is unique in that then I've got a bridge in London to sell you.
And yes. It IS just a video game. Play it to have fun. If you're not having fun, stop playing. There is literally nothing more to be said on that subject.
So now, where is the controversy in Obsidius' page (or the fact that Al Rivera expressed his general approval of the content)? Or can we just accept that you're more invested in complaining about the game than you are playing it?
EDIT: And maybe I've been too harsh singling out Diogene on this. But damn, there's nothing I hate more than trying to get people in trouble for having opinions (and uncontroversial ones at that).
I do play the game. It's just that Gecko published an internal joke on a public channel. I call that a mistake. And anyway if you want people to be nice with you don't complain they aren't, start to be nice with them and it'll come. There are devs players have a lot of respect for on these forums, there's no magic behind that fact. Anyway.
Now back on the main topic:
They had these ressources for season 6. Two new sets (the tholian ones), many new armors, but there is another far less glorious issue: the STF stores were overshadowing the other stores since it was endgame gear you had to get for free without real cash shortcut. Thus it had to disappear because it was overshadowing the new dilithium stores.
Of course no one can admit that because it would just be adding fuel to the fire...
Edit: The new rep system is a great improvement but the real goal is to remove the STF store since it's about to be done and since both system could perfectly exist in game at the same time.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
There, fixed that for you.
Nice job however on the "Do you complain about developer-induced injustices cause you're a basement dwelling loser?" (paraphrasing) after the loaded questions bit. Glad to see the level of internal consistency between Cryptic and its staunchest supporters is at least itself consistent.
It's getting really annoying that we have to pay more and more and even get double-triple-quadruple-dipped for many things, most no longer account- but character-only unlocks.
To put it bluntly, we pay more and more for less and less!
After Star Trek Online apparently consolidated I think it is time that
1. more and better quality content gets added
2. stop making things even more ridiculously expensive
That Perfect World acquired Cryptic and now wants to see $$$ from their investment is clear, but you shouldn't expect from your already paying customers to pay even more. Don't test the pain treshold of your paying customers even more.
Except you don't have to -pay- anything at all.
Are you denying it's season 7 purpose? Come on, I'd like a good laugh, dare saying that it's not.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
I'm saying Season 7 is consistent in continuing the mantra of "No content is locked behind a paywall. You can get everything for free with enough time, but you can get it quicker with cash". Welcome to free to play.