Dan ,i know your trying to balance the earnings in the game . Directing us to play certain content for certain things , but why not let us choose what kind of reward for the content we play . Have a option that lets us choose between type of marks and Di rewards .
that way we can play what we want to play and get what we need at the same time . i mean we have that for missions where we choose the reward , why not for this too . especially for the foundry wrapper at least . but having this for all the content might be more prudent
just my 2 cents .
There are two additional big changes coming in May that will greatly improve a Fleet's abilities to complete projects, I'm just not at liberty to talk about them yet.
It's this kind of thing that makes us all very untrusting of you (Cryptic). If I said something like this to one of my contract clients, I'd be out of a job. They'd move along to someone who would be more forthcoming and honest with them.
Fact is Dan you've pulled the rug out from under us time and time again and like a loyal dog, we keep coming back. Like a woman in love with her cheating husband, you can't just keep doing this sort of thing to us because we will eventually go off and be with someone else.
This whole thing of "We can't talk about it" is so foreign to me. A competitor of yours never hid things like this from us. They were always straight forward and if something fell through, they let us know and why.
Seriously, is this the way it's always going to be? Please, give me an honest answer. Are you all always going to treat us this way? Keeping us in the dark and coming through on maybe half your promises? And don't say you keep them because after 3 years, KDF is still a joke and you know it.
No, I am not who you think I am. I am someone different. I am instead a banana.
- KDF Ambassador Syon vocalizing her objection to the discussions of possible peace talks with the UFP due to recent Borg and Undine activities.Hegh'bat, Stardate 66588.8
And to answer the naysayers - STO had its best month of growth ever and the game is only going to get bigger, expecially this summer. We do look at the economy reports every day. Players ARE earning more Dilithium AND more Fleet Marks than they ever have.
*pulls Dan's metrics sheet from his face* Over here!
You had better approach this build-up for May very carefully. I can guarantee that if Cryptic doesn't deliver...whatever the heck you're delivering in May, people are just not gonna put up with it anymore.
So because we have a small group of friends (originally from CoH) we should not even attempt to advance our small fleet beyond where it is? Good to know. I don't want to waste my time in this game. Really the only reason I played this game was that my friends were here, and I could do something constructive on my maxed level characters. I really see no reason to log in now since my friends are not logging either because of this.
IMHO, the Time/Reward of the fleet tiers was already way out of whack, but I did it to help my small group. With this change, the time/reward is just plain ridiculous.
Well said and I fully agree with your logic. It makes no sense at all to try and continue building a fleet base or embassy when the game developer has already determined that you cannot progress without giving up your job and life and just doing the farming grind all day every day for years to just be able to compete with large fleets.
Enough is enough PWE/Cryptic. I guess you don't want the thousands of dollars players like me spend to try and keep up with the blessed "large" fleets this game is now designed for.
Thanks but no thanks. I guess it's time to find something else to spend my hard enarned money on. Go ahead and look up how much I have spent PWE/Cryptic. See if that is something you did not want to continue to get. Maybe your blessed large "farming" fleets will be giving you more.
Here is a suggestion to resolve two issues. I myself have completed the Reputation system and purchased all the gear I intend to. So I no longer farm Epoh's I no longer do the Tau Dewa dailies, I no longer need to do STF's beacuse I have no need for Omega or Romulan marks anymore. So the New Romulas planet has no reason for me to go there anymore at all except to use the store at our Embassy, But now I need FM, My starbase has every project that is queud up finished except for FM, on every project that is all we are waiting on. So do a 1:1 conversion of RM and OM to FM. Then i'm back farming Epohs and doing the Tau Dewa patorls and doing STF's again.
I have a challenge for you Dan. For the next week, using the fleet events, try to get 900 fleet marks. I did it last week. Just go for it. Walk in our shoes for the ten days and see what it's like. See what it makes you think of this game. See how much fun it really is. Then come back and lets have a conversation about fleet marks and internal metrics, ok?.
To add to that challenge, factor in working 8 to 12 hours a day and having maybe a 2 to 3 hour window to play STO (factoring in taking breaks to do minor chores, walk the dog, care for children, eat dinner etc.)
I love Star Trek, Dan. I love Space Combat. I love this game you've created. For the last year this has been the only video game I've played, and I've financially supported. It's the only game I want to play. And yet as we speak I'm in the process of downloading The Old Republic and LOTR online. Because I'm tired of the grind, and increasing it for less rewards is not viable for me or my fleetmates. I'm logging into turn in my dilithium now, and that's it, and that's out of the optimistic hope that you're going to fix this problem soon.
That perfectly echoes the attitudes of many here. I'd never thought I'd consider going back to SWTOR. I might have to return to Mech Warrior Online as well (had to give that up to invest more time into STO).
The problems with all those numbers and metrics is they don't predict the future,Dan. If you looked at those metrics last week, when I was merrily grinding day and night, they wouldn't have told you that I'd be downloading your competitors product today and not playing yours, would they?
That's the problem with metrics; the system often ignores the "eye test" and just plain common sense.
As a businessman, I would advise you in the strongest possible terms to listen to your customers first and foremost, and your numbers second. Things can change too quickly for your charts and graphs to reflect.
Thanks for your time.
To that I will say listen to customers within reason. Something like player choice and options is within reason however. All about choice; you don't want pickles on your burger, no problem.
EVERYONE is now being forced to eat a pickel sandwich with very limited amounts of beef, and because some number on some graph in some system that is not open to public review says so.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Fleet marks should be kinda dynamic in nature where any mission can earn them. The only thing required to enable earning them is to do any mission with someone from your fleet in your team. The more fleet members in your team perhaps the more the FM rewarded at the end. Longer the mission, the more the reward too.
No fleety in team, no FMs.
THAT would encourage fleet play. And would work anywhere a mission can be played by 2 or more players together. Would allow fleets to play content they want/like whilst helping the fleet out with marks.
My fleet loves STFs and team up nightly to play it together. Yet as much as I like them I also hate it because they do not reward FMs at all or the fact that our fleet plays them together.
Azure Nebula is another often played one but the 8FM or something reward is just not worth it.
My suggestion would also enable PvP to generate FM's too. Even featured episodes etc.
FMs currently are only rewarded in specific events that need to be repeated over and over. With my suggestion fleets can play a very broad range of content, preventing them getting bored and enable proper fleet play.
There will be hell to pay, like the last time there was hell to pay....this time we mean it really...we do i am serious...Cryptic stop laughing i mean it...I'm walking out...I'll do it.....I'm not playing...this is me walking out...there is the door....this is me walking out.....
It's this kind of thing that makes us all very untrusting of you (Cryptic). If I said something like this to one of my contract clients, I'd be out of a job. They'd move along to someone who would be more forthcoming and honest with them.
Fact is Dan you've pulled the rug out from under us time and time again and like a loyal dog, we keep coming back. Like a woman in love with her cheating husband, you can't just keep doing this sort of thing to us because we will eventually go off and be with someone else.
This whole thing of "We can't talk about it" is so foreign to me. A competitor of yours never hid things like this from us. They were always straight forward and if something fell through, they let us know and why.
Seriously, is this the way it's always going to be? Please, give me an honest answer. Are you all always going to treat us this way? Keeping us in the dark and coming through on maybe half your promises? And don't say you keep them because after 3 years, KDF is still a joke and you know it.
Maybe it would help if people stopped treating everything Cryptic said as 'We promise this', and instead treated it like the 'We'd LIKE to have this here by now' it actually is
Cryptic is a business, and things change in schedules, or get held back. Therefore holding them to promises only sets you up for the expected happiness, or bitter disappointment. The other way, you either continue as normal, or get a happy surprise.
I understood this from Day 1, or should I say Open Beta I hope others do too
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Now if you start scaling FM requirements for fleet just wait until you see fleet implode because fleet leader start kicking out who they feel are inactive players so they can reach a absurd goal. This is a scary road to go down!!!
Currently we have to grind rep marks, fleet marks and Dilithium to very high levels and the only one we can't get within reason is fleet marks. All of this grinding takes lots and lots of time so we need to stock on my soda and chips and forget about the outside world.
The system cryptic has now for fleet marks is bad and dependent on other players and not your own efforts. It would be nice to say that you could always get other reliable players or fleet members but that is not always the case and you use up with a failed event.
I love in star base defense when we get some lower level captains that can't do anything vs the siege invaders but try and stay alive but can't really help sadly. Also that is not that players fault for trying desperately to grind out FM.
How about the AKFers
Also all the missions even during the rep events don't give us nearly the amount of marks as it should. A good run for a fleet mark rep event should hit you 100 marks not 22.
YAY to star base missions/projects needing 12k marks or 48k for tier 5 sad face that is not going to happen for small fleets.
Let people in the same fleet join up and set any "official" cryptic mission to a fleet mission that gives marks.
We can even go wild and add fleet marks as a option to all mission replay rewards as a selectable option beside the crummy loot.
PS: Maybe create a fleet alliance system so a fed/KDF fleet can share contributing to each others projects and it might even create more people playing both factions.
Sorry I'm really not happy about this and if the scaling system comes in and depending on what the details are I fear for some fleets and the player base. Just give us better ways of getting marks or people will start to find other games to take up there extra time if we keep pushing the heavy grind side of the game.
you can come stf with me on my beloved fps game q3 arena... oops did i just make an ad... naaa the game is free license now
Bah, with all you guys gone I might as well call it quits too. Only reason I played was to have fun with you lot in STF's and No-Win and stuff...I hate season 7 and all it caused:mad: Pretty much 1/3 of my friends quit altogether, another 1/3 logs on every now and then to see if the game became fun again (It hasn't) and then there's the 1/3 that are online but went into sweatshop mode and grind so hard it hurts even to look at them.
Whatever, I give up. Resistance is futile, all you fun will be assimilated.
Lost and Delirious... and Disenchanted too Apparently some forum posters have diplomatic immunity nowadays, where can I get mine?
Why am I not getting Dil rewards for doing my own missions? Everyone playing my missions One and Done Fed and One and Done KDF are gettign 750+ Dil but I get nothing. I understand not letting an author's time played count in setting the average, but taking my reward away is enough to make me stop playing and never even think about Neverwinter again. I really hope this is a bug. Can someone please speak to this?
Problem here, Dan, contrary to your "naysayers" snippet is that I'm seeing a lot of feedback that suggests that your "improvements" are hardly that. And this is just a fraction of the ire that you're drawing. Checked ESD/KA zone chat lately?
Shiny 3-year anniversary ships and new lockboxes don't distract from the fact that this game is in a very, very delicate state currently. The switch over from paid subs to free to play is a very sensitive time, and there's a potential that your somewhat flippant, "if you don't like it sorry about ya" responses are going to further alienate users that are already at the very least disgruntled and at the very most disgusted with this current system.
Staggering the rewards makes sense, I get that. No need to have them too easy to get. But making it so that small, cohesive fleets have to "merge" with bigger, less personal fleets is simply not a solution. That's just an easy out that requires no real effort on your (the dev's) part.
This game has become grind heavy with high time versus low reward scenarios, which is part of problem. There is no reason I should have to grind so hard for fleet marks AND spend a good chunk of di/ECs to get the other required items for the advancement system. It's an upside down pyramid that's only going to force out players, not attract them.
Captain Jason A. Kendall U.S.S. Indianapolis NCC-94668 90th Special Operations Task Force
You had better approach this build-up for May very carefully. I can guarantee that if Cryptic doesn't deliver...whatever the heck you're delivering in May, people are just not gonna put up with it anymore.
Which is why I view both Cryptic and STO through the eyes of a skeptical cynic. I've heard promises left and right these past years. I've had my hopes trashed repeatedly, i've been disappointed more often than I can count. So rather than seeing the game through rose-tinted glasses, I see it as always being the potential to "crash and burn". That way, I can be happily surprised when/if Cryptic finally comes through for all of us.
Some people may say, "Well if you don't like it, quit." And yes, it would be a simple matter to walk away, since I no longer spend any of my hard-earned cash on this game. As a Star Trek fan, I WANT it to succeed, and be a pleasant gaming experience for ALL involved.
I am both skeptical about the May update, and hopeful about it. But I try my hardest not to get my hopes up too high, since I have this nagging feeling, i'll just end up disappointed yet again.
All these hints from Mr Stahl on things coming in May, and as always he's "not at liberty to say". Those are more like the words from a small child simply saying;
"Nah-nah... I know something you don't, and i'm not gonna tell you. Haha!!"
I understand you can't reveal -everything-, but using the same statements repeatedly, makes it look worse. One wonders, what are you hiding from us? If it's something we should be happy about, one would think you could be anxious to reveal atleast -some- of the information, as it becomes "set in stone".
I think everyone should check their email. I just got a survey from PWE and so did my fleetmates... I think it's time we let them know how we feel since they're asking.
Gold Sub since March 2010
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
Pity. I would have utilized them better and they would have been happier without having a high pitched whine in their ear all day.
It's attitudes like this that lead to games going down the drain; people too willing to pay for and accept mediocrity and poor decisions, while failing to hold the devs accountable.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Thanks for confirming that you're not in the pocket of a select group of elitist and arrogant Foundry authors who engage in massive conspiracies to rob players of their fleet marks.
The subtlety is appreciated.
He confirmed no such thing. The role of that small coterie of foundry members who lobbied for these changes has not been confirmed or denied.
All we know is that you asked for such changes, got them and then tried to pretend on another thread that you hadn't asked for them in the first place.
Whether cryptic changed these things on your say so or not is not the issue.
I do know, however, that any foundry missions authored by someone who lobbied for these changes will not be getting the attention they feel they have a right to......
I think everyone should check their email. I just got a survey from PWE and so did my fleetmates... I think it's time we let them know how we feel since they're asking.
If any KDF fleet needs marks I have about 16,000 that I am selling - of course the price just went up from last week when I posted about it and got laughed at from most of the other KDF players out there - you know who you are!!
All these hints from Mr Stahl on things coming in May, and as always he's "not at liberty to say". Those are more like the words from a small child simply saying;
"Nah-nah... I know something you don't, and i'm not gonna tell you. Haha!!"
I understand you can't reveal -everything-, but using the same statements repeatedly, makes it look worse. One wonders, what are you hiding from us? If it's something we should be happy about, one would think you could be anxious to reveal atleast -some- of the information, as it becomes "set in stone".
Guess he does know his Sun Tzu; "If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."
Lost and Delirious... and Disenchanted too Apparently some forum posters have diplomatic immunity nowadays, where can I get mine?
I think everyone should check their email. I just got a survey from PWE and so did my fleetmates... I think it's time we let them know how we feel since they're asking.
Thank you for pointing this out.
Feedback? Why yes, I do have some. Imagine that.
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
This game is supposed to be fun to play for ALL groups. Now Stahl admits they don't give damn about smaller fleets by making it extremely hard for smaller fleets to get up there.
Thanks Dan for the slap in the face to all small fleets.
This game is NOT supposed to be work! But now you admit to purposely and now openly fighting smaller fleets. Yes you promise to add stuff to help fleets that are struggling with Dilithium and this bull TRIBBLE Marks system for starbases. But now you've turned the game into work for a large number of people because you want to, and because you don't care enough about us players to actually put a little thought into how you can make it work for all of us.
I love Star Trek, and is why I have put up with your incredible lack of in game content, and increased money squeezing ideas aka lockboxes, which is designed to use player's love for ships, to get them to buy stuff and make money, but to also destract players from the should be unreal lack of actual game content. The game has suffered.
How many true Star Trek fans have you lost because of positions like this one? How many hard core Klingon fans have left because the KDF faction is basically tossing a targ a bone to play with? How many hard core supporters have you pushed away now? The hard truth is STO is dying. Just wait until Neverwinter AND Elder Scrolls Online is released. Those my simple friend, will hurt STO big time, and you know it. Be prepared for it because many of us can no longer let our love for Star Trek keep us in this sorry excuse of a game it has become, and many of us will not, even for the name Star Trek.
When STO was first released Devs kept talking to us players, made us feel important and wanted. Had devs talking all the time and getting our input. Now, we don't feel heard at all because nothing gets done to help us players. Only needless nerfs and more handicaps on players who just want some cool stuff to play with.
So thanks Stahl. Thinking like a Corporate Commander, I completely understand why you leave small fleets behind. Too much effort to include them. Do not tell us you 'plan' on doing something in months. We've played the game too long to see through that lie. I understand your position perfectly. And I don't like what I see.
Average max level player refining per day is nowhere near the cap yet. Once the average Dilithium refined per day by max level players gets closer to the cap, we'll consider it.
There are two additional big changes coming in May that will greatly improve a Fleet's abilities to complete projects, I'm just not at liberty to talk about them yet.
We have a small fleet ourselves (with no cheaty dev accounts either) and we're only at T3 - so we understand how challenging it can be if everyone isn't playing the right content or contributing.
We are beginning the tuning process that will get us to where we want to be for the big May update and that includes adding new things and balancing existing things.
Fleet Marks will becoming common rewards for "Group Queued Gameplay" whereas Dilithium will be focused on more solo Mission Gameplay.
We appreciate that there is frustration about losing the Fleet Marks in the Foundry, but Fleet Marks were never intended for solo based gameplay.
Balancing is no fun, but we hear the suggestions that trying to get in the groove with a standard set of content is important. That is where we are trying to go without horking the economy.
And to answer the naysayers - STO had its best month of growth ever and the game is only going to get bigger, expecially this summer. We do look at the economy reports every day. Players ARE earning more Dilithium AND more Fleet Marks than they ever have.
Removing the Marks from the Foundry needed to happen, and since it was scheduled to come off after the Anniversary, it did. We will get Fleet Marks back into more appropriate content quickly as we did after Season 7 launch.
I appreciate that we don't always make good decisions. We do listen to feedback and we do adjust in order to make things better for everyone.
Relying on averages is not a very good way to analyze data, especially when setting maximum tolerances such as dilithium refinement caps. I have hundreds of thousands of dilithium that I can't refine and use on my fleet's starbase - that is why we are so starved on dilithium. On top of that, your team is removing one of the few fleet mark generators my fleet enjoyed doing together aside from No Win Scenario. I'm not sure I understand the logic of taking something like this away and not having a workable replacement ready to implement. What could possibly be the reason to rush this out?
Future promises for May are great....why make the game less fun in Feb-April spoiling your lead into May? Your arguments really do not make much sense (I'm inclined to believe this is because you cannot divulge the real data/reasoning behind them). You say that people are earning more dilithium and fleet marks (not sure if this is per character or not - if it isn't per character then you have a serious data interpretation issue...) than ever before but you just took out what they were using to get both...How is that an argument for the change?
Guess he does know his Sun Tzu; "If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."
I think you're forgetting that Sun Tzu didn't have to fight the "I Quit" button.
Comments
There is someone in game right now who is in the process of upgrading to a TIER 4 SOLO starbase.
But he does not play as much as he used to so he told me it's slow going. He also never used the now deleted foundry wrapper.
But I am sure he is a fairly isolated case.
you can come stf with me on my beloved fps game q3 arena... oops did i just make an ad... naaa the game is free license now
that way we can play what we want to play and get what we need at the same time . i mean we have that for missions where we choose the reward , why not for this too . especially for the foundry wrapper at least . but having this for all the content might be more prudent
just my 2 cents .
It's this kind of thing that makes us all very untrusting of you (Cryptic). If I said something like this to one of my contract clients, I'd be out of a job. They'd move along to someone who would be more forthcoming and honest with them.
Fact is Dan you've pulled the rug out from under us time and time again and like a loyal dog, we keep coming back. Like a woman in love with her cheating husband, you can't just keep doing this sort of thing to us because we will eventually go off and be with someone else.
This whole thing of "We can't talk about it" is so foreign to me. A competitor of yours never hid things like this from us. They were always straight forward and if something fell through, they let us know and why.
Seriously, is this the way it's always going to be? Please, give me an honest answer. Are you all always going to treat us this way? Keeping us in the dark and coming through on maybe half your promises? And don't say you keep them because after 3 years, KDF is still a joke and you know it.
Pity. I would have utilized them better and they would have been happier without having a high pitched whine in their ear all day.
Yes, the feddie whine is quite loud, indeed!
Take care. Was fun sharing words!
- KDF Ambassador Syon vocalizing her objection to the discussions of possible peace talks with the UFP due to recent Borg and Undine activities. Hegh'bat, Stardate 66588.8
*pulls Dan's metrics sheet from his face* Over here!
You had better approach this build-up for May very carefully. I can guarantee that if Cryptic doesn't deliver...whatever the heck you're delivering in May, people are just not gonna put up with it anymore.
Well said and I fully agree with your logic. It makes no sense at all to try and continue building a fleet base or embassy when the game developer has already determined that you cannot progress without giving up your job and life and just doing the farming grind all day every day for years to just be able to compete with large fleets.
Enough is enough PWE/Cryptic. I guess you don't want the thousands of dollars players like me spend to try and keep up with the blessed "large" fleets this game is now designed for.
Thanks but no thanks. I guess it's time to find something else to spend my hard enarned money on. Go ahead and look up how much I have spent PWE/Cryptic. See if that is something you did not want to continue to get. Maybe your blessed large "farming" fleets will be giving you more.
PWE/Cryptic You have killed the fun in STO!
Zeus
To add to that challenge, factor in working 8 to 12 hours a day and having maybe a 2 to 3 hour window to play STO (factoring in taking breaks to do minor chores, walk the dog, care for children, eat dinner etc.)
That perfectly echoes the attitudes of many here. I'd never thought I'd consider going back to SWTOR. I might have to return to Mech Warrior Online as well (had to give that up to invest more time into STO).
That's the problem with metrics; the system often ignores the "eye test" and just plain common sense.
To that I will say listen to customers within reason. Something like player choice and options is within reason however. All about choice; you don't want pickles on your burger, no problem.
EVERYONE is now being forced to eat a pickel sandwich with very limited amounts of beef, and because some number on some graph in some system that is not open to public review says so.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Fleet marks should be kinda dynamic in nature where any mission can earn them. The only thing required to enable earning them is to do any mission with someone from your fleet in your team. The more fleet members in your team perhaps the more the FM rewarded at the end. Longer the mission, the more the reward too.
No fleety in team, no FMs.
THAT would encourage fleet play. And would work anywhere a mission can be played by 2 or more players together. Would allow fleets to play content they want/like whilst helping the fleet out with marks.
My fleet loves STFs and team up nightly to play it together. Yet as much as I like them I also hate it because they do not reward FMs at all or the fact that our fleet plays them together.
Azure Nebula is another often played one but the 8FM or something reward is just not worth it.
My suggestion would also enable PvP to generate FM's too. Even featured episodes etc.
FMs currently are only rewarded in specific events that need to be repeated over and over. With my suggestion fleets can play a very broad range of content, preventing them getting bored and enable proper fleet play.
I'm going to the store want anything.
Cryptic is a business, and things change in schedules, or get held back. Therefore holding them to promises only sets you up for the expected happiness, or bitter disappointment. The other way, you either continue as normal, or get a happy surprise.
I understood this from Day 1, or should I say Open Beta
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Currently we have to grind rep marks, fleet marks and Dilithium to very high levels and the only one we can't get within reason is fleet marks. All of this grinding takes lots and lots of time so we need to stock on my soda and chips and forget about the outside world.
The system cryptic has now for fleet marks is bad and dependent on other players and not your own efforts. It would be nice to say that you could always get other reliable players or fleet members but that is not always the case and you use up with a failed event.
I love in star base defense when we get some lower level captains that can't do anything vs the siege invaders but try and stay alive but can't really help sadly. Also that is not that players fault for trying desperately to grind out FM.
How about the AKFers
Also all the missions even during the rep events don't give us nearly the amount of marks as it should. A good run for a fleet mark rep event should hit you 100 marks not 22.
YAY to star base missions/projects needing 12k marks or 48k for tier 5
Let people in the same fleet join up and set any "official" cryptic mission to a fleet mission that gives marks.
We can even go wild and add fleet marks as a option to all mission replay rewards as a selectable option beside the crummy loot.
PS: Maybe create a fleet alliance system so a fed/KDF fleet can share contributing to each others projects and it might even create more people playing both factions.
Sorry I'm really not happy about this and if the scaling system comes in and depending on what the details are I fear for some fleets and the player base. Just give us better ways of getting marks or people will start to find other games to take up there extra time if we keep pushing the heavy grind side of the game.
Bah, with all you guys gone I might as well call it quits too. Only reason I played was to have fun with you lot in STF's and No-Win and stuff...I hate season 7 and all it caused:mad: Pretty much 1/3 of my friends quit altogether, another 1/3 logs on every now and then to see if the game became fun again (It hasn't) and then there's the 1/3 that are online but went into sweatshop mode and grind so hard it hurts even to look at them.
Whatever, I give up. Resistance is futile, all you fun will be assimilated.
Apparently some forum posters have diplomatic immunity nowadays, where can I get mine? [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Shiny 3-year anniversary ships and new lockboxes don't distract from the fact that this game is in a very, very delicate state currently. The switch over from paid subs to free to play is a very sensitive time, and there's a potential that your somewhat flippant, "if you don't like it sorry about ya" responses are going to further alienate users that are already at the very least disgruntled and at the very most disgusted with this current system.
Staggering the rewards makes sense, I get that. No need to have them too easy to get. But making it so that small, cohesive fleets have to "merge" with bigger, less personal fleets is simply not a solution. That's just an easy out that requires no real effort on your (the dev's) part.
This game has become grind heavy with high time versus low reward scenarios, which is part of problem. There is no reason I should have to grind so hard for fleet marks AND spend a good chunk of di/ECs to get the other required items for the advancement system. It's an upside down pyramid that's only going to force out players, not attract them.
U.S.S. Indianapolis NCC-94668
90th Special Operations Task Force
Which is why I view both Cryptic and STO through the eyes of a skeptical cynic. I've heard promises left and right these past years. I've had my hopes trashed repeatedly, i've been disappointed more often than I can count. So rather than seeing the game through rose-tinted glasses, I see it as always being the potential to "crash and burn". That way, I can be happily surprised when/if Cryptic finally comes through for all of us.
Some people may say, "Well if you don't like it, quit." And yes, it would be a simple matter to walk away, since I no longer spend any of my hard-earned cash on this game. As a Star Trek fan, I WANT it to succeed, and be a pleasant gaming experience for ALL involved.
I am both skeptical about the May update, and hopeful about it. But I try my hardest not to get my hopes up too high, since I have this nagging feeling, i'll just end up disappointed yet again.
All these hints from Mr Stahl on things coming in May, and as always he's "not at liberty to say". Those are more like the words from a small child simply saying;
"Nah-nah... I know something you don't, and i'm not gonna tell you. Haha!!"
I understand you can't reveal -everything-, but using the same statements repeatedly, makes it look worse. One wonders, what are you hiding from us? If it's something we should be happy about, one would think you could be anxious to reveal atleast -some- of the information, as it becomes "set in stone".
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
It's attitudes like this that lead to games going down the drain; people too willing to pay for and accept mediocrity and poor decisions, while failing to hold the devs accountable.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
He confirmed no such thing. The role of that small coterie of foundry members who lobbied for these changes has not been confirmed or denied.
All we know is that you asked for such changes, got them and then tried to pretend on another thread that you hadn't asked for them in the first place.
Whether cryptic changed these things on your say so or not is not the issue.
I do know, however, that any foundry missions authored by someone who lobbied for these changes will not be getting the attention they feel they have a right to......
Yup, just sent mine back.
The timing is interesting, don't you think?
Guess he does know his Sun Tzu; "If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."
Apparently some forum posters have diplomatic immunity nowadays, where can I get mine? [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Because they don't want facebook awash with the player bases response to this ill considered change.
A lot of people read facebook, I wouldn't be at all surprised if feedback on the facebook page is monitored by D'Stahls bosses.
Thank you for pointing this out.
Feedback? Why yes, I do have some. Imagine that.
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
Thanks Dan for the slap in the face to all small fleets.
This game is NOT supposed to be work! But now you admit to purposely and now openly fighting smaller fleets. Yes you promise to add stuff to help fleets that are struggling with Dilithium and this bull TRIBBLE Marks system for starbases. But now you've turned the game into work for a large number of people because you want to, and because you don't care enough about us players to actually put a little thought into how you can make it work for all of us.
I love Star Trek, and is why I have put up with your incredible lack of in game content, and increased money squeezing ideas aka lockboxes, which is designed to use player's love for ships, to get them to buy stuff and make money, but to also destract players from the should be unreal lack of actual game content. The game has suffered.
How many true Star Trek fans have you lost because of positions like this one? How many hard core Klingon fans have left because the KDF faction is basically tossing a targ a bone to play with? How many hard core supporters have you pushed away now? The hard truth is STO is dying. Just wait until Neverwinter AND Elder Scrolls Online is released. Those my simple friend, will hurt STO big time, and you know it. Be prepared for it because many of us can no longer let our love for Star Trek keep us in this sorry excuse of a game it has become, and many of us will not, even for the name Star Trek.
When STO was first released Devs kept talking to us players, made us feel important and wanted. Had devs talking all the time and getting our input. Now, we don't feel heard at all because nothing gets done to help us players. Only needless nerfs and more handicaps on players who just want some cool stuff to play with.
So thanks Stahl. Thinking like a Corporate Commander, I completely understand why you leave small fleets behind. Too much effort to include them. Do not tell us you 'plan' on doing something in months. We've played the game too long to see through that lie. I understand your position perfectly. And I don't like what I see.
Relying on averages is not a very good way to analyze data, especially when setting maximum tolerances such as dilithium refinement caps. I have hundreds of thousands of dilithium that I can't refine and use on my fleet's starbase - that is why we are so starved on dilithium. On top of that, your team is removing one of the few fleet mark generators my fleet enjoyed doing together aside from No Win Scenario. I'm not sure I understand the logic of taking something like this away and not having a workable replacement ready to implement. What could possibly be the reason to rush this out?
Future promises for May are great....why make the game less fun in Feb-April spoiling your lead into May? Your arguments really do not make much sense (I'm inclined to believe this is because you cannot divulge the real data/reasoning behind them). You say that people are earning more dilithium and fleet marks (not sure if this is per character or not - if it isn't per character then you have a serious data interpretation issue...) than ever before but you just took out what they were using to get both...How is that an argument for the change?
I think you're forgetting that Sun Tzu didn't have to fight the "I Quit" button.