Look what they did with the crafting system trying to make money from crafting by making things cost so much Dilithium that now not a lot of people craft stuff outside of Aegis set gear. If they are going to make some things cost Dilithium they should make it cost a much smaller amount not so much.
The reason people don't craft is not due to cost. It's due to the fact that, for the most part, the best things you can craft are far inferior to the things you can earn just from grinding the various Rep systems. There's no reason to craft something pre-level 50 - as you're not at lower ranks long enough to really use it - and the level 50 crafted gear is generally far inferior to grinding gear.
I would happily spend the Dilthium to craft good gear over needing to do the same Rep system missions for the thousandth time - even if it was just the Rep Sytem gear. I'm sure I'm not alone there.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Yes but why does that matter now? STO is now in the f2p payment model so any new player, like me as of last January, the old sub payment model has no bearing on the game for us, right?
And really that just confirms my comment in my other post about how MMO's are no longer subscription only, because STO started out that way and apparently could not make a profit with that payment model and decided to go free to play because they actually make more money as free to play.
STO went F2P because that's a PWE standard, all of PWE's games are F2P.
STO went F2P because that's a PWE standard, all of PWE's games are F2P.
CO went FTP a year prior to STO going FTP, and STO was converting to FTP while Atari owned Cryptic, prior to PWE's purchase.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
The reason people don't craft is not due to cost. It's due to the fact that, for the most part, the best things you can craft are far inferior to the things you can earn just from grinding the various Rep systems. There's no reason to craft something pre-level 50 - as you're not at lower ranks long enough to really use it - and the level 50 crafted gear is generally far inferior to grinding gear.
I would happily spend the Dilthium to craft good gear over needing to do the same Rep system missions for the thousandth time - even if it was just the Rep Sytem gear. I'm sure I'm not alone there.
Well their are some good stuff that does not cost any Dilithium that I know some people craft a lot of and sells and that is the Very Rare Mk X kits. Image what would happen if they made a change that it requires Dilithium to craft them.
Very rare melee weapons that are account bound on equip are not easy to get and I would like to craft but a Lirpa costs 7000 Dilithium so I don't craft it.
That was a rather underwhelming interview IMO. The last Romulan canon ship turns out to be veteran-only, and a shuttle to boot. Completely unapologetic for the disgustingly high prices for the Doff-grinding missions, completely ignoring the large amount of time commitment required by them to get anything out of them, and how it gave players an actual reason to use the academy recruitment missions for the white doffs they give out. and Lastly, much requested ships such as the famous Constellation are apparently too ugly to warrant an-in game representation. I guess we can expect more hideous 2409 ship designs And the hideous 'jellyfish' ship. Norways, Saladin's and Constellations are apparently too ugly to warrant being in the game, but the jellyfish is just fine? ugh.
Funny that the doff system 'scares away casual players', yet putting huge paygates (in addition to the pre-existing time-gate) onto the doff system in regards to the academy exchange missions is not considered a problem in this regard. I haven't used them a single time since the cost increase has been implemented.
The reason people don't craft is not due to cost. It's due to the fact that, for the most part, the best things you can craft are far inferior to the things you can earn just from grinding the various Rep systems. There's no reason to craft something pre-level 50 - as you're not at lower ranks long enough to really use it - and the level 50 crafted gear is generally far inferior to grinding gear.
I would happily spend the Dilthium to craft good gear over needing to do the same Rep system missions for the thousandth time - even if it was just the Rep Sytem gear. I'm sure I'm not alone there.
Yep, that's pretty much the reason that outside of Aegis Engines and Field Gens I don't craft otherwise. There's not really anything else worth crafting - even if the costs were massively cheaper, the sheer availability of better gear makes it generally worthless to me.
Should Cryptic do a crafting revamp where craftable gear is anywhere near comparable to other gear, I'd fully expect that the costs would be comparable as well...which means they might be pretty hefty in the eyes of some. But if there's a built-in convenience charge of not having to wait a month or more to get it, as long as it is not absurd - I'd wager my 2 ec that many folks would go that route.
That was a rather underwhelming interview IMO. The last Romulan canon ship turns out to be veteran-only, and a shuttle to boot. Completely unapologetic for the disgustingly high prices for the Doff-grinding missions, completely ignoring the large amount of time commitment required by them to get anything out of them, and how it gave players an actual reason to use the academy recruitment missions for the white doffs they give out. and Lastly, much requested ships such as the famous Constellation are apparently too ugly to warrant an-in game representation. I guess we can expect more hideous 2409 ship designs And the hideous 'jellyfish' ship. Norways, Saladin's and Constellations are apparently too ugly to warrant being in the game, but the jellyfish is just fine? ugh.
Funny that the doff system 'scares away casual players', yet putting huge paygates (in addition to the pre-existing time-gate) onto the doff system in regards to the academy exchange missions is not considered a problem in this regard. I haven't used them a single time since the cost increase has been implemented.
I run a small business. Last time I checked, good will would buy me...hmm...lets see...factor in inflation...taxes...Oh yeah, nothing.
Nothing paid for in this game is required to play or compete. Now if all you want is to be the best PvP'er or have the most shinies...that's you chasing the dragon. That's no more Cryptic's fault than it's Best Buy's fault for selling $2000 TVs.
You didn't know about nadorac? This is one of the most widely known parts of the doff system.
To actual players that bother with the doff system. I'm not sure what the article's writer does in STO, as far as I know she's emblematic of the casual STO player base. She's an expert in nothing STO related but still seems to play ocationally.
What the dev is really saying, is that they want to make the doff system even simpler and more accessible, so more ultra casual players will get into it and therefore make the doff system more apt for monetization.
Edit: as far as how interesting the article was... it really wasn't. Cryptic is known for pre approving the questions they get asked so you can imagine how such interviews will go, at best tehy will be thinly veiled marketting, at worst empty and bland.
I sincerely wish the Massively STO columnist was someone with a little more in depth knowledge of the game, or at least someone that was able to voice their opinions on what the company was doing instead of simply bashing the players.
No, and i doubt that there will ever be any...unfortunately there is little logic in actually implementing a 3rd to an already existing and older lockbox imo. 2 factions = 2 timeship designs.
Two things: There are mirror ships for Romulan vessels in the Dom, Temp, and Tholian lockboxes (so that kind of destroys your logic). Two, Stahl said we would get them.
One of the reasons people don't do crafting is the ridiculous material costs. you need too many differant mats and way too many of each of those to craft anything. Storing those mats takes up too much space to make it worth the time. then add in the mats you get from dilithium and you get nobody wanting to do it. fewer mats required but add some very rare mats and more would be inclined to do crafting. They could make the plans that is required for everything a zen pack for 1 of each to sell to impatient players and make them a very rare drop thats worth keeping. only the one mat should be hard to get while the rest you can go spend ten minutes collecting before doing the crafting.
Join Date: Nobody cares.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
The next question came in from Justin Lowmaster, who asked Rivera, "I got my DOff crew where it is by compacting them up from white to green to blue to purple. The new cost to do this by reassigning under-performing officers has increased exponentially. What is the reason for the increase? Even if it won't change, I'd sleep better knowing the reason why."
Rivera explained that the team did a lot of math to determine what the actual costs, based on odds, to obtain a purple duty officer in a duty officer pack versus how much it cost to "grind one up." He said Cryptic realized it was "way undercharging" for the grinding missions, and he believes the studio is still undercharging, but previously the costs were off "by orders of magnitude." He said that before the changes were implemented, the game risked losing duty officer sales because the cost-differential was so vast.
I still say 5000dil is a horribly high price considering you're also sacrificing 5 blue doffs and possibly getting garbage in return. The only reason the reassign was being used so much back in S6 was because of a bug stealth fixed about 3 weeks ago. Anyway the officer stopped getting used for up grinding as soon as S7 came out because between fleet holdings and rep/gear grinds, they killed any incentive to use dil for doffs.
I run a small business. Last time I checked, good will would buy me...hmm...lets see...factor in inflation...taxes...Oh yeah, nothing.
Nothing paid for in this game is required to play or compete. Now if all you want is to be the best PvP'er or have the most shinies...that's you chasing the dragon. That's no more Cryptic's fault than it's Best Buy's fault for selling $2000 TVs.
I too have run a small successful business now in its 15th year, and I can tell you without a shadow of doubt, good will pays for itself many times over. Over the years I could not even count the times I have taken care of something trivial or simple for a customer at no cost. What did it buy me? Customer appreciation and loyalty. Customers remember stores or employees that treat them poorly, but they also remember where they were treated well. They return, they spend money, they refer you to their friends and family. So yes, it most certainly pays for itself.
The point I think many are missing, is this is a game. Yes it is free to play even if you once bought and paid for a sub. Yes you do not have to pay if you don't wish. But, a big but, it's a game, games are meant to be fun, if it's not a game, its simply just another business.
I am not saying it's wrong to earn money off the game, i'm saying that once you start nickle and diming every little thing in the name of profit, its not fun anymore, its not a game anymore.
I too have run a small successful business now in its 15th year, and I can tell you without a shadow of doubt, good will pays for itself many times over.
It depends on what type of business you're running. If it's a retail business then goodwill buys you nothing. No matter how nice or helpful you might be if Walmart is selling it 10-20% cheaper your customers are off to Walmart - or Kmart, or Target, or whatever is in your area that's a little cheaper.
If it's a service-based business - like heating and cooling or plumbing - then yes, goodwill can go a long way, but STO is a retail business selling fluff vanity items to make a living, even though people seem to think it's a service-based business.
I am not saying it's wrong to earn money off the game, i'm saying that once you start nickle and diming every little thing in the name of profit, its not fun anymore, its not a game anymore.
There's a difference between buying something you need to play the game and buying something that's just fluff - personal preference. The vast majority of C-Store items are fluff. If it costs 5,000 Dilithium to convert 3 blues into 1 purple that's all of 30-40 cents. If someone wants to blow 40 cents on fluff I don't see that as unreasonable. I don't even consider $2.75 for a Doff pack to be unreasonable. That's less then most people pay for a cup of coffee - and becomes even cheaper, or costs nothing at all, if you're using sweat equity.
To be nicked-and-dimed to death it needs to be because you must have something to play the game. Not because you want the bubble gum ball in the machine and so buy it, IMO.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Uhm, he was reffering to the Dil price for upgrading, i cant see where the "it is all about profit" is
Maybe you should re-read the article?
Else, thanks for linking it, quite interresting and i have to agree with some points about the doff system, i would not call it "complicated" but the interface simply is a mess and lacks any good tutorial on it.
From that article:
Rivera explained that the team did a lot of math to determine what the actual costs, based on odds, to obtain a purple duty officer in a duty officer pack versus how much it cost to "grind one up." He said Cryptic realized it was "way undercharging" for the grinding missions, and he believes the studio is still undercharging, but previously the costs were off "by orders of magnitude." He said that before the changes were implemented, the game risked losing duty officer sales because the cost-differential was so vast.
Doesn't say anything specific about profits, but it does insinuate the reason for the high increase in costs to 'reassign underperforming doffs' was increased to boost sales on doff packs in the C-store thus increasing profits, which I knew all along. Increasing the costs to upgrade doffs at the academy was meant to deter players from doing that and just buy Zen to get doff packs in the C-store to get the very rare quality doffs they needed.
The problem with that is, if your doff roster is full, you need to make room by dismissing/selling/storing in the mail, to make room for the new ones. When upgrading doffs at the academy you are basically trading in several doffs for 1 of a higher rarity thus you have room in your roster to get it.
What gets me is the fact they still think they aren't charging enough dill to upgrade doffs at the academy, but I doubt at this point they will increase it any time soon, especially with the backlash they received because of it.
To prove his point, he turned the question around on me. "Right now the duty officer system allows people to make ship consoles. Terilynn, how do you make ship consoles using your duty officers?" I admit it -- I was silent. I had no clue. He smiled and said, "Exactly."
FYI for all of you reading this, you do it with your engineering officer inside your ship. The wiki or the DOFFJOBS channel are your friends.
What gets me is the fact they still think they aren't charging enough dill to upgrade doffs at the academy, but I doubt at this point they will increase it any time soon, especially with the backlash they received because of it.
I don't think it would matter. At this point they could raise prices a hundred-fold and the same number of people would be upgrading doffs: none.
"Participation in PVP-related activities is so low on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly basis that we could in fact just completely take it out of STO and it would not impact the overall number of people [who] log in to the game and play in any significant way." -Gozer, Cryptic PvP Dev
It depends on what type of business you're running. If it's a retail business then goodwill buys you nothing. No matter how nice or helpful you might be if Walmart is selling it 10-20% cheaper your customers are off to Walmart - or Kmart, or Target, or whatever is in your area that's a little cheaper.
If it's a service-based business - like heating and cooling or plumbing - then yes, goodwill can go a long way, but STO is a retail business selling fluff vanity items to make a living, even though people seem to think it's a service-based business.
There's a difference between buying something you need to play the game and buying something that's just fluff - personal preference. The vast majority of C-Store items are fluff. If it costs 5,000 Dilithium to convert 3 blues into 1 purple that's all of 30-40 cents. If someone wants to blow 40 cents on fluff I don't see that as unreasonable. I don't even consider $2.75 for a Doff pack to be unreasonable. That's less then most people pay for a cup of coffee - and becomes even cheaper, or costs nothing at all, if you're using sweat equity.
To be nicked-and-dimed to death it needs to be because you must have something to play the game. Not because you want the bubble gum ball in the machine and so buy it, IMO.
In all fairness online games are service based businesses as they retain the rights and control of everything, you are simply paying (be it flat price, sub, or micro-transactions) for the use of their "service". This is at least what gaming companies have stated through the years and protected themselves in court proceedings.
I still have to somewhat disagree with you, I have loyal customers that will flat out tell you they would rather pay a higher price from me then go to one of my competitors for less because of the service or quality of product I provide. I also agree that our country has a disposable culture that has developed over the years and will buy something simply because the cost is less, having no idea or care of the quality.
The nickle and dime point stands however. If they were charging for uniforms or pets or other "fluff" I would agree with you completely. When they started putting every single ship into the Cstore, I stated then this was going to be the outcome. If it were skins for a ship that is fluff, when it's a ship that is better than what you earn in game, its not fluff.
To prove his point, he turned the question around on me. "Right now the duty officer system allows people to make ship consoles. Terilynn, how do you make ship consoles using your duty officers?" I admit it -- I was silent. I had no clue. He smiled and said, "Exactly."
Well, first you need a 17mm hydrospanner, which you apply smartly to the back of the DOff's head, about where the skull meets the spinal column. Disassembly of the DOff can be accomplished with a laser scalpel, a tight-beam phaser, or a simple hacksaw...
I have to confess, although I've been playing the game (rather casually) for about a year or so now, I was completely unaware that you could upgrade your DOffs. And now that I do know this, I'm still not planning on doing it.
In all fairness online games are service based businesses as they retain the rights and control of everything, you are simply paying (be it flat price, sub, or micro-transactions) for the use of their "service". This is at least what gaming companies have stated through the years and protected themselves in court proceedings.
I still have to somewhat disagree with you, I have loyal customers that will flat out tell you they would rather pay a higher price from me then go to one of my competitors for less because of the service or quality of product I provide. I also agree that our country has a disposable culture that has developed over the years and will buy something simply because the cost is less, having no idea or care of the quality.
The nickle and dime point stands however. If they were charging for uniforms or pets or other "fluff" I would agree with you completely. When they started putting every single ship into the Cstore, I stated then this was going to be the outcome. If it were skins for a ship that is fluff, when it's a ship that is better than what you earn in game, its not fluff.
Agree with you completely! An example for me would be Discount Tire. I have found tires cheaper elsewhere but DT has treated me right every time I've been there. I've been so happy with their service I don't even price tires anywhere else any longer. Not only myself but now all of my family members and many friends only get their wheels and tires there. Customer loyalty is a powerful thing.
I can see where people who are on a very tight budget might have to stick with the lowest price they find. For people who have the means places that treat them right will have them coming back for years.
In all fairness online games are service based businesses as they retain the rights and control of everything, you are simply paying (be it flat price, sub, or micro-transactions) for the use of their "service". This is at least what gaming companies have stated through the years and protected themselves in court proceedings.
When your business income is based on items you sell rather then services you provide it's a retail business. Sub-based MMOs, like WoW, are a service - though even WoW is not going to add MTs. FTP businesses are not a service. Their income doesn't come from providing you a game. It comes from selling you items in the game.
The nickle and dime point stands however. If they were charging for uniforms or pets or other "fluff" I would agree with you completely. When they started putting every single ship into the Cstore, I stated then this was going to be the outcome. If it were skins for a ship that is fluff, when it's a ship that is better than what you earn in game, its not fluff.
Ships are meaningless. If you don't PvP, which the vast majority of STO players don't do, you can play just as effectively in a free T5 ship as you can a C-Store of Fleet ship. I can do an elite STF just as quickly in my free Patrol Escort as I can in my Fleet Defiant. The $25.00+ spent doesn't even shave 1 minute of time off the encounter.
One top of that you can earn your base 8,000 Dilithium per day and have 1,500 to 2,000 Zen per month just from playing - meaning you can buy a C-Store ship in a short amount of time for little or no actual money out-of-pocket. That means even the fluff can be free if you want it to be.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
What gets me is the fact they still think they aren't charging enough dill to upgrade doffs at the academy, but I doubt at this point they will increase it any time soon, especially with the backlash they received because of it.
Someone once did the math on that, and I believe they came out with a figure that the cost of upgrinding to purple had increased by 19000%. This isn't an exaggeration, this was apparently the actual value.
Suffice it to say, at this price, no one does it anymore. And it is not as if I have been motivated to go and acquire doffpacks, either: Those things contain the TRIBBLE 4white 2green 1blue array that all doffpacks have contained since antiquity, and frankly, there are better ways of acquiring 19 pieces of starbase food that don't cost 275Z. You don't buy those doffpacks because you want purple doffs, you get them to get whatever prize they packed into what amounts to an overly expensive lockbox, because there AREN'T any purple doffs in there, and it says so on the label.
because there AREN'T any purple doffs in there, and it says so on the label.
There can be purples in there. Everyone one of the Doffs in a C-Store pack has a chance to upgrade. What cryptic Did was to increase the cost of grinding for a purple to be more in line with the average cost of acquiring a Purple in a Doff Pack (which is probably based on a static "this is what we would expect" dil:zen ratio).
What they should do is simply expand their product line.
At the moment they offer very limited products in the department of doffs.
Romulan Survivor Pack - 275 Zen
Fed/KDF DOff pack - 200 Zen
Duty Officer Roster Slot 100 - 725 Zen
Duty Officer Roster Slot 25 - 225 Zen
5 Items for sale.
They could expand this by so much. They could leave the Romulan Survivor Pack as is with the prizes. They could sell white-purple DOffs by traits and speciality. They could sell white-purple DOffs by active duty ability. They could sell active duty slots. They could sell more roster slots. They could sell more assignment point slots. They could sell brig and passenger slots. They could sell storage space dedicated for white doffs for starbase food.
So much possibilities for them to do to help monetize the system without interfering with the system as is, and they have the nerve to say they can't make any money off of it. What a limited mindset. Obviously the person in charge of DOff sales doesn't have a clue.
since every one wants to voice on costs of things in which i cant blame anyone for doing ,. wonder what cryptic would do if everyone for one week refused to spend a dime on the game ... a strike kinda of to show cryptic that the player deserves fairness and not a co. looking to be greedy !!
Comments
I would happily spend the Dilthium to craft good gear over needing to do the same Rep system missions for the thousandth time - even if it was just the Rep Sytem gear. I'm sure I'm not alone there.
STO went F2P because that's a PWE standard, all of PWE's games are F2P.
...and there will be some weird kind of suicides and deaths.
Ain't Nobody Got Time for That
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Well their are some good stuff that does not cost any Dilithium that I know some people craft a lot of and sells and that is the Very Rare Mk X kits. Image what would happen if they made a change that it requires Dilithium to craft them.
Very rare melee weapons that are account bound on equip are not easy to get and I would like to craft but a Lirpa costs 7000 Dilithium so I don't craft it.
Well, some people will cry tonight.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10052253
Why are you not rejoicing?
Funny that the doff system 'scares away casual players', yet putting huge paygates (in addition to the pre-existing time-gate) onto the doff system in regards to the academy exchange missions is not considered a problem in this regard. I haven't used them a single time since the cost increase has been implemented.
Yep, that's pretty much the reason that outside of Aegis Engines and Field Gens I don't craft otherwise. There's not really anything else worth crafting - even if the costs were massively cheaper, the sheer availability of better gear makes it generally worthless to me.
Should Cryptic do a crafting revamp where craftable gear is anywhere near comparable to other gear, I'd fully expect that the costs would be comparable as well...which means they might be pretty hefty in the eyes of some. But if there's a built-in convenience charge of not having to wait a month or more to get it, as long as it is not absurd - I'd wager my 2 ec that many folks would go that route.
QFT
/10char
Nothing paid for in this game is required to play or compete. Now if all you want is to be the best PvP'er or have the most shinies...that's you chasing the dragon. That's no more Cryptic's fault than it's Best Buy's fault for selling $2000 TVs.
To actual players that bother with the doff system. I'm not sure what the article's writer does in STO, as far as I know she's emblematic of the casual STO player base. She's an expert in nothing STO related but still seems to play ocationally.
What the dev is really saying, is that they want to make the doff system even simpler and more accessible, so more ultra casual players will get into it and therefore make the doff system more apt for monetization.
Edit: as far as how interesting the article was... it really wasn't. Cryptic is known for pre approving the questions they get asked so you can imagine how such interviews will go, at best tehy will be thinly veiled marketting, at worst empty and bland.
I sincerely wish the Massively STO columnist was someone with a little more in depth knowledge of the game, or at least someone that was able to voice their opinions on what the company was doing instead of simply bashing the players.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
Rivera explained that the team did a lot of math to determine what the actual costs, based on odds, to obtain a purple duty officer in a duty officer pack versus how much it cost to "grind one up." He said Cryptic realized it was "way undercharging" for the grinding missions, and he believes the studio is still undercharging, but previously the costs were off "by orders of magnitude." He said that before the changes were implemented, the game risked losing duty officer sales because the cost-differential was so vast.
I think this is what he is referring to!!!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
I too have run a small successful business now in its 15th year, and I can tell you without a shadow of doubt, good will pays for itself many times over. Over the years I could not even count the times I have taken care of something trivial or simple for a customer at no cost. What did it buy me? Customer appreciation and loyalty. Customers remember stores or employees that treat them poorly, but they also remember where they were treated well. They return, they spend money, they refer you to their friends and family. So yes, it most certainly pays for itself.
The point I think many are missing, is this is a game. Yes it is free to play even if you once bought and paid for a sub. Yes you do not have to pay if you don't wish. But, a big but, it's a game, games are meant to be fun, if it's not a game, its simply just another business.
I am not saying it's wrong to earn money off the game, i'm saying that once you start nickle and diming every little thing in the name of profit, its not fun anymore, its not a game anymore.
If it's a service-based business - like heating and cooling or plumbing - then yes, goodwill can go a long way, but STO is a retail business selling fluff vanity items to make a living, even though people seem to think it's a service-based business.
There's a difference between buying something you need to play the game and buying something that's just fluff - personal preference. The vast majority of C-Store items are fluff. If it costs 5,000 Dilithium to convert 3 blues into 1 purple that's all of 30-40 cents. If someone wants to blow 40 cents on fluff I don't see that as unreasonable. I don't even consider $2.75 for a Doff pack to be unreasonable. That's less then most people pay for a cup of coffee - and becomes even cheaper, or costs nothing at all, if you're using sweat equity.
To be nicked-and-dimed to death it needs to be because you must have something to play the game. Not because you want the bubble gum ball in the machine and so buy it, IMO.
From that article:
Doesn't say anything specific about profits, but it does insinuate the reason for the high increase in costs to 'reassign underperforming doffs' was increased to boost sales on doff packs in the C-store thus increasing profits, which I knew all along. Increasing the costs to upgrade doffs at the academy was meant to deter players from doing that and just buy Zen to get doff packs in the C-store to get the very rare quality doffs they needed.
The problem with that is, if your doff roster is full, you need to make room by dismissing/selling/storing in the mail, to make room for the new ones. When upgrading doffs at the academy you are basically trading in several doffs for 1 of a higher rarity thus you have room in your roster to get it.
What gets me is the fact they still think they aren't charging enough dill to upgrade doffs at the academy, but I doubt at this point they will increase it any time soon, especially with the backlash they received because of it.
FYI for all of you reading this, you do it with your engineering officer inside your ship. The wiki or the DOFFJOBS channel are your friends.
I don't think it would matter. At this point they could raise prices a hundred-fold and the same number of people would be upgrading doffs: none.
In all fairness online games are service based businesses as they retain the rights and control of everything, you are simply paying (be it flat price, sub, or micro-transactions) for the use of their "service". This is at least what gaming companies have stated through the years and protected themselves in court proceedings.
I still have to somewhat disagree with you, I have loyal customers that will flat out tell you they would rather pay a higher price from me then go to one of my competitors for less because of the service or quality of product I provide. I also agree that our country has a disposable culture that has developed over the years and will buy something simply because the cost is less, having no idea or care of the quality.
The nickle and dime point stands however. If they were charging for uniforms or pets or other "fluff" I would agree with you completely. When they started putting every single ship into the Cstore, I stated then this was going to be the outcome. If it were skins for a ship that is fluff, when it's a ship that is better than what you earn in game, its not fluff.
I have to confess, although I've been playing the game (rather casually) for about a year or so now, I was completely unaware that you could upgrade your DOffs. And now that I do know this, I'm still not planning on doing it.
Agree with you completely! An example for me would be Discount Tire. I have found tires cheaper elsewhere but DT has treated me right every time I've been there. I've been so happy with their service I don't even price tires anywhere else any longer. Not only myself but now all of my family members and many friends only get their wheels and tires there. Customer loyalty is a powerful thing.
I can see where people who are on a very tight budget might have to stick with the lowest price they find. For people who have the means places that treat them right will have them coming back for years.
Ships are meaningless. If you don't PvP, which the vast majority of STO players don't do, you can play just as effectively in a free T5 ship as you can a C-Store of Fleet ship. I can do an elite STF just as quickly in my free Patrol Escort as I can in my Fleet Defiant. The $25.00+ spent doesn't even shave 1 minute of time off the encounter.
One top of that you can earn your base 8,000 Dilithium per day and have 1,500 to 2,000 Zen per month just from playing - meaning you can buy a C-Store ship in a short amount of time for little or no actual money out-of-pocket. That means even the fluff can be free if you want it to be.
It was a Scout ship with 1 person aboard before it showed up as a science vessel. They just used the same model and zoomed in.
Suffice it to say, at this price, no one does it anymore. And it is not as if I have been motivated to go and acquire doffpacks, either: Those things contain the TRIBBLE 4white 2green 1blue array that all doffpacks have contained since antiquity, and frankly, there are better ways of acquiring 19 pieces of starbase food that don't cost 275Z. You don't buy those doffpacks because you want purple doffs, you get them to get whatever prize they packed into what amounts to an overly expensive lockbox, because there AREN'T any purple doffs in there, and it says so on the label.
Then you kill off officer exchanges and colonization hoping people will be buying doff packs?
Slap a new HUD on and call it a day.
Well, season 7 all over again - better get what you want while there is still time.
At the moment they offer very limited products in the department of doffs.
Romulan Survivor Pack - 275 Zen
Fed/KDF DOff pack - 200 Zen
Duty Officer Roster Slot 100 - 725 Zen
Duty Officer Roster Slot 25 - 225 Zen
5 Items for sale.
They could expand this by so much. They could leave the Romulan Survivor Pack as is with the prizes. They could sell white-purple DOffs by traits and speciality. They could sell white-purple DOffs by active duty ability. They could sell active duty slots. They could sell more roster slots. They could sell more assignment point slots. They could sell brig and passenger slots. They could sell storage space dedicated for white doffs for starbase food.
So much possibilities for them to do to help monetize the system without interfering with the system as is, and they have the nerve to say they can't make any money off of it. What a limited mindset. Obviously the person in charge of DOff sales doesn't have a clue.