I do actually agree with you, money walks right I just meant to say that giving them money is an investment in new content.
And people who did that previously didn't know what was coming in season 7.
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.
Now that you mention it, that does sadly make too much sense.
If their argument is they wanted people to be able to get the old omega gear without random drops they could have done in in any number of ways like you point out.
Keep the shop but the sets on the c-store, 10 min of coding.
It does seem more than anything they just wanted to kill the STF shop or more precisely the rewards there.
Which would also be in continuity with adding dil. costs to doff
I also don't have to leave tutorial and nobody forces me to play STO, right? :rolleyes:
Exactly?
You can either look at the dilithium cost as a real money cost, or a real time cost. That's your choice. You can choose to put time into the game to gain items (at a much faster rate than 90% of all MMO's I'd wager) or you can shortcut it with real money.
But the fact remains that you can play this game and get a LOT of enjoyment without putting a single penny in. It's your choice to put your cash in. I think some of you forget that.
I have been hearing rumors that season 7 will add a lot of grind.
I HOPE this is not true, we already have to grind heavy for fleet starbases(VERY pointless by the way) and dilithium already took over just about everything now.
Here are some rumors i heard:
1.To get a part of a stf set you must pay dilithium to get it.
2. Dilithium will NO LONGER be a reward for stf's
3. The new romulan stuff will just be another mega grind.
4. The free doff thing at the acadamy will require dilithium(I will be so mad if this happens)
5.Bigger requirments for fleet starbases?
6.DAILY OFFICER REPORTS being REMOVED.
7.Doff exhange will require dilithium.
The thing about number 4 is, is that if it cost dilithium the white doff's on exhange will go up in price and we need white doff's to upgrade fleet starbases(still fleet starbases are just a re-skin of the other starbases). I do not do much to contribute to fleet starbases. But for those who do will have a hard time upgrading the starbases if the rumors turn out true.
Again these are rumors i don't knoe if they are true or not.
Perhaps venture to the test server to see whats currently there (not all of season 7 is available), and start forming your own opinions instead of relying on Zonechat for your information?
1.To get a part of a stf set you must pay dilithium to get it.
2. Dilithium will NO LONGER be a reward for stf's
3. The new romulan stuff will just be another mega grind.
4. The free doff thing at the acadamy will require dilithium(I will be so mad if this happens)
5.Bigger requirments for fleet starbases?
6.DAILY OFFICER REPORTS being REMOVED.
7.Doff exhange will require dilithium.
1. Yes. Up to 36,000 for one MkXII piece, along with 5 elite marks. (But hey, 5 elite STFs is better than several hundred, right?)
2. I think Cryptic is still discussing this.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.
5. There is a new fleet holding, the Romulan embassy. But compared to Starbase projects, they are not supposed to be as big.
6. I haven't heard about this being removed, but I've heard that it might be changed.
7. Not sure what you mean here, but the dilithium prices to bump up 5 Doffs to the next tier have gone up.
Perhaps venture to the test server to see whats currently there (not all of season 7 is available), and start forming your own opinions instead of relying on Zonechat for your information?
Very much this^ For the past couple season it seem that there is a very well organized hate machine in Zone chat and on these forums, there message is basically a simple one; bash any thing that Cryptic does and make at least ten snarky comments a day about lock boxes ( yes we get it you hate them and they are evil :rolleyes: ) And there really seems to be no other purpose to this but to bash and troll.
That's why it's really important to form your own opinion about things.
Another quick update -- as Salami and I both confirmed, you will be getting Dilithium from completing a STF (normal or elite), as it is on Holodeck currently, as well as an option to exchange Elite Omega Marks through Reputation system for additional Dilithium. I do want to point out that the exact amount of Dilithium you'll be receiving is still in discussions and may be different from what is on Holodeck currently. As soon as we have information to provide, we'll let you know
It still costs nothing, unless you choose to take a shortcut by paying. Just go earn Dilithium by running content. Who's forcing you to use the D-Exchange?
I don't think you understand, either by choice or ignorance. Let me try to explain:
At the moment it costs no Dilithium.
After the change both this and the Doff upgrades/downgrades will cost Dilithium.
Dilithium is restricted to a maximum of 8.5k per day.
Using Dilithium for new things means they can't be used for existing things like getting a new C-Store ship. Y'know, the only thing to look forward to while we wait for new content.
In order to get more than 8.5k you need to pay real money.
I can't explain it any simpler.
At the moment I play to earn Dil to trade for Zen. Then I buy a new ship. That's my reason for continuing to play after hitting level 50. If the dil is used up every day for other things that were previously free then I'm getting nothing out of the game so I see myself only playing rarely when new content comes out. I did that with another game and only check in at festive periods when an event might be going on, play for a short time then not for months. When Officer Reports no longer worked I stopped playing until they were fixed.
Now if the game had something other than Dil to aim for then that'd be fine but there isn't. So taking the Dil away takes away the reason for playing so much for me.
Well, it's been obvious for quite some time that this title no longer has anything what so ever to do with Star Trek, other than a few ship models and uniforms.
Any and all Star Trek content and "feel" is done with after the Romulan tour of duty posting.
I have leveled up three characters now, and each time the feeling of the game being over got more pronounced after the end of the Romulan missions tree.
This is now just another MMO grind your way to riches economics simulator. No different than any other MMO out there.
Once again, true fans of the Star Trek IP are left out in the cold.
It's sad because this game had lots of promise at the beginning, but the lack of vision and storyline writing ability killed it.
Those of us who are real fans of Start Trek never wanted a grind to win MMO, we wanted Star Trek.
Hello fellow players.
A main cause of unrest stems from when a certain company brought a certain company.
The first company we will call F-cat and the second we will call Talent for the purpose of this post.
Now to be sure there was problems before caused by another company we will call them---.
Well actually, we will not bother calling them anything as they themselves did not seem too bothered in the game we love.
There was an announcement used a while ago when the sale was done and dusted which went along the lines of F-cat touting that the Talent they had brought was their new research and development branch.
This I believe may be one of the reasons as to the state of the game.
F-cat historically had many other games in their stable but mainly developed for eastern areas of the globe we will call Wallet for now.
F-cat had a good handle on how to succeed in business in that area of Wallet, having mapped the social psyche and spending tolerances of that areas gaming population.
But elsewhere in Wallet the same did not apply.
So F-cat made a very canny business move they sought out a very specific type of product to acquire.
In Talent they found had everything they wanted.
A talented development team who love the genre.
A matured game ready for the F2P model.
With not 1 but 2 triple A IP?s that would have been very expensive and /or difficult to get otherwise.
And more importantly the players.
The players ticked all the right boxes for F-cat.
A player base mainly from the western parts of Wallet.
Proven loyalty to the product and extreme loyalty to the genre.
The changes we have seen and will still be seeing are part of the research and development.
It has become an exercise in testing the gaming psyche and spending tolerances of all of US.
There could be no better group of players to test how far they can be pushed, tempted and still play on.
The monetisation has been pushed through at a fast rate and shows little sign of slowing.
Yes I am aware of the F2P needs funding of course it does but this can be funded in other more conservative ways.
This genre above most others could have the longest legs on it so to speak if managed the right way.
Season 7 changes will be the next push and tempt.
Some changes will stealth and not so stealth tax the player base via the fleet system and reputation system among other areas.
Be warned this will continue for better and for worse most likely the latter as to complete the test cycle the subject must be pushed to the limit and beyond
If the Dev?s at Talent actually support this or not is immaterial they are paid to do a job.
For the ones who don?t support it but have to toe the line you have my sympathy.
For us who love the genre and who actually enjoy most of what gets released warts and all but of course would enjoy it far more if released in a different format.
The key to is to try to have fun, participate as much as we want or as little as we want.
In the end we are all small wheels in the mechanism of this research and development cycle.
And if we suffer it, buy into it or rage quit it is all valuable data in the end.
You're in your 30s for crying out loud, be mature and realize that it's just a video game.
Ironically that's what I too was hoping for Al ... , but sadly I had to contend with your Star Trek Universe ... , where the fanboy ship lists rule , and thus Excelsior Ruled Supreme in STO for almost 2 years , despite being woefully out of date by 2409 .
So which one of us had a problem realizing that this was just a game ?
But I suppose you were man enough to "put her down" with the first Borg Set nerf , so kudos there . It only took you ... what , some 2+ years ?
I wonder how long it will take to grasp that some of the things happening to the game now (over monetizing , 2 Seasons in a row focused on Grind and possibly others) are NOT what the "limited edition" western sci-fi fans have signed on for .
(and yes , the "limited edition" bit was a metaphor to the lack of infinite supply of young 25/y old Chinese males to serve as your "churn crowd") .
But hey , if you get your adult manly ya-ya's from occasionally sniping at me from the benches ... pfffttt ... .
I'll just laugh and pretend it's raining . But I won't be laughing with you Al .
I couldn't agree more that you can obtain everything by grinding that's great.
I am just saying there is no point in letting us regrind for old content and try to pass it off as new.
/edit
Like I said in my last post if there really is new content I'd love to hear about it until then
I'd agree with you if it were not for the fact that they've added various new rewards in the reputation tiers. People are very quick to ignore that point and attempt to make this soly about the gear. If people want those new rewards, then go get them. It IS genuine entitlement to think otherwise, old content or not.
There will apparently be new Romulan content, including instances. I'm eager to see if they are on par with the STFs and what their quality/format will be. Either way, thats completely new.
I don't think you understand, either by choice or ignorance. Let me try to explain:
At the moment it costs no Dilithium.
After the change both this and the Doff upgrades/downgrades will cost Dilithium.
Dilithium is restricted to a maximum of 8.5k per day.
Using Dilithium for new things means they can't be used for existing things like getting a new C-Store ship. Y'know, the only thing to look forward to while we wait for new content.
In order to get more than 8.5k you need to pay real money.
I can't explain it any simpler.
At the moment I play to earn Dil to trade for Zen. Then I buy a new ship. That's my reason for continuing to play after hitting level 50. If the dil is used up every day for other things that were previously free then I'm getting nothing out of the game so I see myself only playing rarely when new content comes out. I did that with another game and only check in at festive periods when an event might be going on, play for a short time then not for months. When Officer Reports no longer worked I stopped playing until they were fixed.
Now if the game had something other than Dil to aim for then that'd be fine but there isn't. So taking the Dil away takes away the reason for playing so much for me.
It sounds like your trying to make Cryptic responsible for the decisions you make on how to spend your dilithium. You want to eat the whole cake now and not just the slice you decided to pick first.
Dilithium is a necessary timegate to the new system. It is the tradeoff for guaranteed drops that "People" were so passionately begging for. It recognizes time spent playing the STFs (and the wider game). Yes, it also recognizes those who want to spend money to avail of a shortcut in time, but thats not 'new news' for a free to play game.
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.
Whilst i don' think where there yet. We are heading more and more for a situation where the degree of dilithium gating on verything makes aquiring things freely so impossibble on a timescale level that the fact that you can technichlly do it is bassiclly meaningless. Not practicablly possibble is the same as impossibble in real terms, Even if technichally their diffrent.
Dilithium is a necessary timegate to the new system. It is the tradeoff for guaranteed drops that "People" were so passionately begging for. It recognizes time spent playing the STFs (and the wider game). Yes, it also recognizes those who want to spend money to avail of a shortcut in time, but thats not 'new news' for a free to play game.
Why is Dilithium needed as a time gate for EVERYTHING? that is absurd, if you had said, "Well it gets people to spend 10 times what the would in our F2P model as they do in a Monthly sub model", then i would agree.
There is no reason every bit of new content needs to be a dilithium sink.
This was what players warned about when the Cstore first opened, and the minority was shouted down by the majority and the Devs promise of this EXACT scenario never happening.
Guess we were right, but it is truly sad when we cant get a bugged fixed, but they can make a new ship every 4 weeks that cost you upwards of a hundred currency of your choice, sad day indeed.
Whilst i don' think where there yet. We are heading more and more for a situation where the degree of dilithium gating on verything makes aquiring things freely so impossibble on a timescale level that the fact that you can technichlly do it is bassiclly meaningless. Not practicablly possibble is the same as impossibble in real terms, Even if technichally their diffrent.
True,I don't 'have' to spend money on transport if I want to make a journey around the world,technically I can walk the entire distance.....
The PWE/Cryptic sweatshop...not where the game is made,but where the game is played!
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
Well, it's been obvious for quite some time that this title no longer has anything what so ever to do with Star Trek, other than a few ship models and uniforms.
Any and all Star Trek content and "feel" is done with after the Romulan tour of duty posting.
I have leveled up three characters now, and each time the feeling of the game being over got more pronounced after the end of the Romulan missions tree.
This is now just another MMO grind your way to riches economics simulator. No different than any other MMO out there.
Once again, true fans of the Star Trek IP are left out in the cold.
It's sad because this game had lots of promise at the beginning, but the lack of vision and storyline writing ability killed it.
Those of us who are real fans of Start Trek never wanted a grind to win MMO, we wanted Star Trek.
We didn't get it.
So long.
BlitzPig_ElAurens, Commanding Task Force Three.
Signing off, permanently.
You wanted hours of new mission content every week. That wasn't sustainable. You wouldn't keep a game afloat doing that.
But we still have hours of mission content through the Foundry. And the secret is you can get your gaming fill doing nothing but Foundry. On easy you don't have to worry about gear or doffs or dilithium. You can do that now. So where are the grounds for complaint when you can do that for free and enjoy that Star Trek feeling?
Very much this^ For the past couple season it seem that there is a very well organized hate machine in Zone chat and on these forums, there message is basically a simple one; bash any thing that Cryptic does and make at least ten snarky comments a day about lock boxes ( yes we get it you hate them and they are evil :rolleyes: ) And there really seems to be no other purpose to this but to bash and troll.
That's why it's really important to form your own opinion about things.
While i wouldn't call it a hate machine, it has gone on longer than the "Last Couple" of seasons. There has been a minority voice since Closed Beta, that gets accused of hating the game any time they bring a horrible change up.
This started with the change to the Skill tree the weekend before open Beta, and has brought attention to most of the bone headed moves and lack of bug fixing since day one.
You may not agree with them, but for the most part, they get issues brought to the forefront, and get yelled down every time. This is sad IMHO, because most things they have tried to talk about are now in game, and can you say it is honestly for the better?
While i wouldn't call it a hate machine, it has gone on longer than the "Last Couple" of seasons. There has been a minority voice since Closed Beta, that gets accused of hating the game any time they bring a horrible change up.
This started with the change to the Skill tree the weekend before open Beta, and has brought attention to most of the bone headed moves and lack of bug fixing since day one.
You may not agree with them, but for the most part, they get issues brought to the forefront, and get yelled down every time. This is sad IMHO, because most things they have tried to talk about are now in game, and can you say it is honestly for the better?
Here here. I've been following these changes, and i'll be honest. If they make it into the game as is. I wont be playing much. I need HD space and this game is quickly become a waste of it. I want to add Rift's new expansion and hopefully guild wars 2 before the year's end. I liked this when i came back to it. It was a nice break from DCUO which had launched another expansion i didnt really want and it became more expansion gated content which they promised that wouldn't be.
People need to wake the **** up. I have 430 Gigs on my HD. Why should i waste the 5-10 this one takes when i can put something far better in it if season 7 goes live Hmm?
I completely agree with (what I think is) the most of the posts in this thread.
I tend to say, STO was more fun playing back in Season 5, when we had no Doffs or Starbases or grind missions. Of yourse we had little content, but that content was fun to play.
It was my favourite game and not just because its name was Star Trek, but now... we grind and grind and grind... things which will make it easier for us to grind even more.
It has become and will even more with S7 what PWE stand for.
As Sekritagent said in his OP, there not much Star Trek anymore in the game
Perhaps in an alternate Universe, STO would have taken a better way
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.
Bort you just dont get it do you ? cmon man you were one half of the best ever video podcast for this game so I know youve got intelligence but where is it ?
How about people who are 1/3rd or 2/3rds of their way through a set ? what happens to them ? making people having to run through hoops just to get back to where they were ? that isnt acceptable it really isnt.
It wouldnt take that much effort to run a script that looks at peoples STF accolades in terms of how many they have run of each one and their overall accolade progress towards the 300 accolade.
I really really do not like the way this whole scheme is being forced onto the players and is ill thought out, bordering on shambles, of a system
The original drop system was a way to keep players playing for STF gear. It wasnt a guarenteed thing it was just a nice additional bonus if you got it. Whilst this system takes the random drop factor out of it it no less cheapens and de values the whole STF gear.
STF gear should be earned. You have the 300 accolade (not in game and cant remember what its called now) but your not telling me you cant have a system that every 50 stf runs you earn a piece of mk 12 gear. 3 for space or 3 for ground etc so every 50 runs of a particular stf you earn a piece of mk 12 gear. This could continue beyond the 300 run mark
What your proposing is just giving away the gear which is a big insualt and a big middle finger to those of us who have done every single thing asked of us and run these STF's till we no longer can or have been burnt out by them. IS IT REALLY FAIR ? YOUR DAM RIGHT IT ISNT
All you need to do with the current system is take the random factor out of it but make the gear a reward, a sign of having played the game at the highest possible level and earning your wings so to speak.
Whilst this system could have been considered acceptable at the start when STF's were launched you cant just force this on everyone now. Its crazy and ludicrous and the best way i can describe it is "star treks next gen experience NGE" yes you know which game im talking about that forced an NGE on its players and fell hard on its face.
Unless the whole system is taken back to the drawing board and reworked this game will fall HARD on its face and where as now you have people lining your pockets with money after season 7, if this change is forced, then no one will be handing money over. Do you understand that ? are the developers so detached from the people who play this game so much ?
im not gonna say anymore as this will fall on deaf ears but I am deeply disappointed at the way in which cryptic/pwe have brushed the star trek ip with mud and taken adavnatge of each and every single player stealing their money from them. People love this game so they are bound to consume content, so why punish them for consuming every single bit of content in the game ?
Instead of slowing people down the devleopers should be adding content and fixing bugs and being happy that people play this game. Im a big star trek fan id love to work on this game, just remember that as a developer its not a right ITS A DAM PRIVELEGE
so is it really fair to say to the community f you, you will like this and we dont give a s**t what you as players think.
It sounds like you're trying to make Cryptic responsible for the decisions you make on how to spend your dilithium. You want to eat the whole cake now and not just the slice you decided to pick first.
No. I want the amount of Dil that is required at the moment to remain as it is so I can spend the Dil I earn as I want, not be forced into using it for things that don't need any (or much) at the moment. I don't want everything all at once. I Doff and occasionally run an STF while saving Dil to eventually buy a new ship. That's my enjoyment in the game and all I want is for it to continue.
I have heard about another change coming that actually make some sense:
They plan to remove the mail system as a infinite bank storage for some players.
Which is probably a good thing as they have to keep all that data on there system and of course if you want more bank space - guess what - you can buy more with ZEN! And if you are storing doffs - well you can buy more doff space with ZEN
Don't know how they will do it - maybe after x amount of days the mail will get automatically deleted.
I have heard about another change coming that actually make some sense:
They plan to remove the mail system as a infinite bank storage for some players.
Which is probably a good thing as they have to keep all that data on there system and of course if you want more bank space - guess what - you can buy more with ZEN! And if you are storing doffs - well you can buy more doff space with ZEN
Don't know how they will do it - maybe after x amount of days the mail will get automatically deleted.
Comments
I also don't have to leave tutorial and nobody forces me to play STO, right? :rolleyes:
I do actually agree with you, money walks right I just meant to say that giving them money is an investment in new content.
And people who did that previously didn't know what was coming in season 7.
Now that you mention it, that does sadly make too much sense.
If their argument is they wanted people to be able to get the old omega gear without random drops they could have done in in any number of ways like you point out.
Keep the shop but the sets on the c-store, 10 min of coding.
It does seem more than anything they just wanted to kill the STF shop or more precisely the rewards there.
Which would also be in continuity with adding dil. costs to doff
Exactly?
You can either look at the dilithium cost as a real money cost, or a real time cost. That's your choice. You can choose to put time into the game to gain items (at a much faster rate than 90% of all MMO's I'd wager) or you can shortcut it with real money.
But the fact remains that you can play this game and get a LOT of enjoyment without putting a single penny in. It's your choice to put your cash in. I think some of you forget that.
I couldn't agree more that you can obtain everything by grinding that's great.
I am just saying there is no point in letting us regrind for old content and try to pass it off as new.
/edit
Like I said in my last post if there really is new content I'd love to hear about it until then
I HOPE this is not true, we already have to grind heavy for fleet starbases(VERY pointless by the way) and dilithium already took over just about everything now.
Here are some rumors i heard:
1.To get a part of a stf set you must pay dilithium to get it.
2. Dilithium will NO LONGER be a reward for stf's
3. The new romulan stuff will just be another mega grind.
4. The free doff thing at the acadamy will require dilithium(I will be so mad if this happens)
5.Bigger requirments for fleet starbases?
6.DAILY OFFICER REPORTS being REMOVED.
7.Doff exhange will require dilithium.
The thing about number 4 is, is that if it cost dilithium the white doff's on exhange will go up in price and we need white doff's to upgrade fleet starbases(still fleet starbases are just a re-skin of the other starbases). I do not do much to contribute to fleet starbases. But for those who do will have a hard time upgrading the starbases if the rumors turn out true.
Again these are rumors i don't knoe if they are true or not.
1. Yes. Up to 36,000 for one MkXII piece, along with 5 elite marks. (But hey, 5 elite STFs is better than several hundred, right?)
2. I think Cryptic is still discussing this.
3. Yes.
4. Yes.
5. There is a new fleet holding, the Romulan embassy. But compared to Starbase projects, they are not supposed to be as big.
6. I haven't heard about this being removed, but I've heard that it might be changed.
7. Not sure what you mean here, but the dilithium prices to bump up 5 Doffs to the next tier have gone up.
Very much this^ For the past couple season it seem that there is a very well organized hate machine in Zone chat and on these forums, there message is basically a simple one; bash any thing that Cryptic does and make at least ten snarky comments a day about lock boxes ( yes we get it you hate them and they are evil :rolleyes: ) And there really seems to be no other purpose to this but to bash and troll.
That's why it's really important to form your own opinion about things.
1)
2)
[URL="http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=6176711&
postcount=304"]Source[/URL]
3)
The doffgrinder will have increased costs to grind 5 into 1 and the doff recruitment pack will cost dilithium, this is as it stands on tribble now.
Link to Current Costs.
As this is all on tribble now, try to remember it is subject to change.
I don't think you understand, either by choice or ignorance. Let me try to explain:
I can't explain it any simpler.
At the moment I play to earn Dil to trade for Zen. Then I buy a new ship. That's my reason for continuing to play after hitting level 50. If the dil is used up every day for other things that were previously free then I'm getting nothing out of the game so I see myself only playing rarely when new content comes out. I did that with another game and only check in at festive periods when an event might be going on, play for a short time then not for months. When Officer Reports no longer worked I stopped playing until they were fixed.
Now if the game had something other than Dil to aim for then that'd be fine but there isn't. So taking the Dil away takes away the reason for playing so much for me.
{UFP}Thomas45 - Thomas Nixon U.S.S. Majesty Unbound
Any and all Star Trek content and "feel" is done with after the Romulan tour of duty posting.
I have leveled up three characters now, and each time the feeling of the game being over got more pronounced after the end of the Romulan missions tree.
This is now just another MMO grind your way to riches economics simulator. No different than any other MMO out there.
Once again, true fans of the Star Trek IP are left out in the cold.
It's sad because this game had lots of promise at the beginning, but the lack of vision and storyline writing ability killed it.
Those of us who are real fans of Start Trek never wanted a grind to win MMO, we wanted Star Trek.
We didn't get it.
So long.
BlitzPig_ElAurens, Commanding Task Force Three.
Signing off, permanently.
A main cause of unrest stems from when a certain company brought a certain company.
The first company we will call F-cat and the second we will call Talent for the purpose of this post.
Now to be sure there was problems before caused by another company we will call them---.
Well actually, we will not bother calling them anything as they themselves did not seem too bothered in the game we love.
There was an announcement used a while ago when the sale was done and dusted which went along the lines of F-cat touting that the Talent they had brought was their new research and development branch.
This I believe may be one of the reasons as to the state of the game.
F-cat historically had many other games in their stable but mainly developed for eastern areas of the globe we will call Wallet for now.
F-cat had a good handle on how to succeed in business in that area of Wallet, having mapped the social psyche and spending tolerances of that areas gaming population.
But elsewhere in Wallet the same did not apply.
So F-cat made a very canny business move they sought out a very specific type of product to acquire.
In Talent they found had everything they wanted.
A talented development team who love the genre.
A matured game ready for the F2P model.
With not 1 but 2 triple A IP?s that would have been very expensive and /or difficult to get otherwise.
And more importantly the players.
The players ticked all the right boxes for F-cat.
A player base mainly from the western parts of Wallet.
Proven loyalty to the product and extreme loyalty to the genre.
The changes we have seen and will still be seeing are part of the research and development.
It has become an exercise in testing the gaming psyche and spending tolerances of all of US.
There could be no better group of players to test how far they can be pushed, tempted and still play on.
The monetisation has been pushed through at a fast rate and shows little sign of slowing.
Yes I am aware of the F2P needs funding of course it does but this can be funded in other more conservative ways.
This genre above most others could have the longest legs on it so to speak if managed the right way.
Season 7 changes will be the next push and tempt.
Some changes will stealth and not so stealth tax the player base via the fleet system and reputation system among other areas.
Be warned this will continue for better and for worse most likely the latter as to complete the test cycle the subject must be pushed to the limit and beyond
If the Dev?s at Talent actually support this or not is immaterial they are paid to do a job.
For the ones who don?t support it but have to toe the line you have my sympathy.
For us who love the genre and who actually enjoy most of what gets released warts and all but of course would enjoy it far more if released in a different format.
The key to is to try to have fun, participate as much as we want or as little as we want.
In the end we are all small wheels in the mechanism of this research and development cycle.
And if we suffer it, buy into it or rage quit it is all valuable data in the end.
Live Long And prosper.
Fellow mice of Wallet.
Ironically that's what I too was hoping for Al ... , but sadly I had to contend with your Star Trek Universe ... , where the fanboy ship lists rule , and thus Excelsior Ruled Supreme in STO for almost 2 years , despite being woefully out of date by 2409 .
So which one of us had a problem realizing that this was just a game ?
But I suppose you were man enough to "put her down" with the first Borg Set nerf , so kudos there . It only took you ... what , some 2+ years ?
I wonder how long it will take to grasp that some of the things happening to the game now (over monetizing , 2 Seasons in a row focused on Grind and possibly others) are NOT what the "limited edition" western sci-fi fans have signed on for .
(and yes , the "limited edition" bit was a metaphor to the lack of infinite supply of young 25/y old Chinese males to serve as your "churn crowd") .
But hey , if you get your adult manly ya-ya's from occasionally sniping at me from the benches ... pfffttt ... .
I'll just laugh and pretend it's raining . But I won't be laughing with you Al .
Hey ! I totally can't deal !
Lucky for me I have my counterparts on the Dev team !
Too bad Gozer left ... , at least his snipes had some style ... .
I'd agree with you if it were not for the fact that they've added various new rewards in the reputation tiers. People are very quick to ignore that point and attempt to make this soly about the gear. If people want those new rewards, then go get them. It IS genuine entitlement to think otherwise, old content or not.
There will apparently be new Romulan content, including instances. I'm eager to see if they are on par with the STFs and what their quality/format will be. Either way, thats completely new.
It sounds like your trying to make Cryptic responsible for the decisions you make on how to spend your dilithium. You want to eat the whole cake now and not just the slice you decided to pick first.
Dilithium is a necessary timegate to the new system. It is the tradeoff for guaranteed drops that "People" were so passionately begging for. It recognizes time spent playing the STFs (and the wider game). Yes, it also recognizes those who want to spend money to avail of a shortcut in time, but thats not 'new news' for a free to play game.
Whilst i don' think where there yet. We are heading more and more for a situation where the degree of dilithium gating on verything makes aquiring things freely so impossibble on a timescale level that the fact that you can technichlly do it is bassiclly meaningless. Not practicablly possibble is the same as impossibble in real terms, Even if technichally their diffrent.
Why is Dilithium needed as a time gate for EVERYTHING? that is absurd, if you had said, "Well it gets people to spend 10 times what the would in our F2P model as they do in a Monthly sub model", then i would agree.
There is no reason every bit of new content needs to be a dilithium sink.
This was what players warned about when the Cstore first opened, and the minority was shouted down by the majority and the Devs promise of this EXACT scenario never happening.
Guess we were right, but it is truly sad when we cant get a bugged fixed, but they can make a new ship every 4 weeks that cost you upwards of a hundred currency of your choice, sad day indeed.
True,I don't 'have' to spend money on transport if I want to make a journey around the world,technically I can walk the entire distance.....
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
I know what you meant though
You wanted hours of new mission content every week. That wasn't sustainable. You wouldn't keep a game afloat doing that.
But we still have hours of mission content through the Foundry. And the secret is you can get your gaming fill doing nothing but Foundry. On easy you don't have to worry about gear or doffs or dilithium. You can do that now. So where are the grounds for complaint when you can do that for free and enjoy that Star Trek feeling?
While i wouldn't call it a hate machine, it has gone on longer than the "Last Couple" of seasons. There has been a minority voice since Closed Beta, that gets accused of hating the game any time they bring a horrible change up.
This started with the change to the Skill tree the weekend before open Beta, and has brought attention to most of the bone headed moves and lack of bug fixing since day one.
You may not agree with them, but for the most part, they get issues brought to the forefront, and get yelled down every time. This is sad IMHO, because most things they have tried to talk about are now in game, and can you say it is honestly for the better?
Here here. I've been following these changes, and i'll be honest. If they make it into the game as is. I wont be playing much. I need HD space and this game is quickly become a waste of it. I want to add Rift's new expansion and hopefully guild wars 2 before the year's end. I liked this when i came back to it. It was a nice break from DCUO which had launched another expansion i didnt really want and it became more expansion gated content which they promised that wouldn't be.
People need to wake the **** up. I have 430 Gigs on my HD. Why should i waste the 5-10 this one takes when i can put something far better in it if season 7 goes live Hmm?
I tend to say, STO was more fun playing back in Season 5, when we had no Doffs or Starbases or grind missions. Of yourse we had little content, but that content was fun to play.
It was my favourite game and not just because its name was Star Trek, but now... we grind and grind and grind... things which will make it easier for us to grind even more.
It has become and will even more with S7 what PWE stand for.
As Sekritagent said in his OP, there not much Star Trek anymore in the game
Perhaps in an alternate Universe, STO would have taken a better way
Bort you just dont get it do you ? cmon man you were one half of the best ever video podcast for this game so I know youve got intelligence but where is it ?
How about people who are 1/3rd or 2/3rds of their way through a set ? what happens to them ? making people having to run through hoops just to get back to where they were ? that isnt acceptable it really isnt.
It wouldnt take that much effort to run a script that looks at peoples STF accolades in terms of how many they have run of each one and their overall accolade progress towards the 300 accolade.
I really really do not like the way this whole scheme is being forced onto the players and is ill thought out, bordering on shambles, of a system
The original drop system was a way to keep players playing for STF gear. It wasnt a guarenteed thing it was just a nice additional bonus if you got it. Whilst this system takes the random drop factor out of it it no less cheapens and de values the whole STF gear.
STF gear should be earned. You have the 300 accolade (not in game and cant remember what its called now) but your not telling me you cant have a system that every 50 stf runs you earn a piece of mk 12 gear. 3 for space or 3 for ground etc so every 50 runs of a particular stf you earn a piece of mk 12 gear. This could continue beyond the 300 run mark
What your proposing is just giving away the gear which is a big insualt and a big middle finger to those of us who have done every single thing asked of us and run these STF's till we no longer can or have been burnt out by them. IS IT REALLY FAIR ? YOUR DAM RIGHT IT ISNT
All you need to do with the current system is take the random factor out of it but make the gear a reward, a sign of having played the game at the highest possible level and earning your wings so to speak.
Whilst this system could have been considered acceptable at the start when STF's were launched you cant just force this on everyone now. Its crazy and ludicrous and the best way i can describe it is "star treks next gen experience NGE" yes you know which game im talking about that forced an NGE on its players and fell hard on its face.
Unless the whole system is taken back to the drawing board and reworked this game will fall HARD on its face and where as now you have people lining your pockets with money after season 7, if this change is forced, then no one will be handing money over. Do you understand that ? are the developers so detached from the people who play this game so much ?
im not gonna say anymore as this will fall on deaf ears but I am deeply disappointed at the way in which cryptic/pwe have brushed the star trek ip with mud and taken adavnatge of each and every single player stealing their money from them. People love this game so they are bound to consume content, so why punish them for consuming every single bit of content in the game ?
Instead of slowing people down the devleopers should be adding content and fixing bugs and being happy that people play this game. Im a big star trek fan id love to work on this game, just remember that as a developer its not a right ITS A DAM PRIVELEGE
so is it really fair to say to the community f you, you will like this and we dont give a s**t what you as players think.
:mad:
Thanks Pointed. You made a decision for me a hell of a lot easier to make.
stop trolling you know i dont like it when you troll
:P
No. I want the amount of Dil that is required at the moment to remain as it is so I can spend the Dil I earn as I want, not be forced into using it for things that don't need any (or much) at the moment. I don't want everything all at once. I Doff and occasionally run an STF while saving Dil to eventually buy a new ship. That's my enjoyment in the game and all I want is for it to continue.
They plan to remove the mail system as a infinite bank storage for some players.
Which is probably a good thing as they have to keep all that data on there system and of course if you want more bank space - guess what - you can buy more with ZEN! And if you are storing doffs - well you can buy more doff space with ZEN
Don't know how they will do it - maybe after x amount of days the mail will get automatically deleted.
At least this is not another dilth tax
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
This sucks.
Centre are you being sarcastic? I am sure they see this as closing a MASSIVE exploit of the bank system.
(color black on "this sucks" - planting hidden messages eh centre??)