You don't have the right, simply because it's none of your buisness, but I guess it's tedious to discuss things like that with a person like you, who clearly displays some of the worst character traits humanity has to offer...
Of course he has a right to criticize how someone else spends their money, that's part of the right called free speech. The recipient of the criticism is free to make of it what they will, and equally free to tell him what they think of his criticism. I too think the guy's criticism of the OP is stupid - and it's my right to say so. But I can't truthfully say he "doesn't have the right" to make what I consider to be a stupid comment. That's just factually wrong, and not a matter of opinion. He's free, and has the right to be, as stupid (by my lights) as he is.
That's what freedom and right looks like. See the famous quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall, usually misattributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Incidentally, a lot of the critics of the OP seem to be focussing on the amount he's spent on the game in absolute terms. But he has a pretty high income; in proportionate percentage terms he might even be spending less on the game than many people here who probably drop $20-30 a month of their more meagre income.
The new shiny thing is what motivates people to spend money on a F2P game. Don't bother trying to tell me subscriptions actually pay the bills. If they did, the game wouldn't have gotten bought by PWE....
I am totally unmotivated by new shinies, as I don't have a gambling bone in my body.
Also, I tend to play the game more canon, and blank out the "horrors" the game already has. but I still buy stuff with Zen occasionally (e.g. services, fluff).
Generally, developers will try to sell things that a broad spectrum of people will want to buy. Shiny-lovers are obviously only a certain percentage of the audience. And the point is, if the devs focus only on shinies or too much on shinies, they're going to alienate a bunch of people who would have bought stuff other than shinies anyway, and came for the Trek.
Of course, I don't know whether the "moar shinies" strategy will "work" or not in the long run. It might do. But one thing's for sure: if it works, it will work by making the game less and less Trek and more and more generic s-f.
I think that's what's pissing off people who are pissed off.
Ultimately, I think Cryptic's problem is that they've over-stretched themselves trying to make and sustain too many MMOs at once. They're one of the better developers out there in terms of trying new things, and actually in terms of technical competence too (it's quite a stunning achievement to get any MMO up and running, far less 3 concurrently), and the fact that the Cryptic engine has allowed them to do this is a testament to its quality. But really, it's just been too much. What could have been one or two sterling MMOs has turned into a rolling process where a "leading edge" MMO has lots of effort put into it, with the continually "trailing" MMOs receiving what would in other contexts be considered as mere "maintenance mode". It was a brave experiment, and it's probably just about succeeding in financial terms, but I'm sure lots of the devs must be regretting it by now, in their heart of hearts, in terms of foregone opportunities of producing something they could have been really proud of (as opposed to 3 "ok" things).
This game isn't star trek anymore, it stopped being that a long time ago.
People always spout off something like this, and the funny thing is is that they themselves either A) Can't define "what Trek is" or think that their interpretation is the end all be all.
What is Trek? (According to my opinions)
TOS: A space western where almost every episode devolved into a fist fight (with the occasional social commentary).
TNG: These people may die, but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Our ally is under attack by internal elements aligned with the Romulans but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Let's sign this treaty that will 100% TRIBBLE us over in the long run, but hey at least we have something resembling peace!!
DS9: War movie, and as Han Solo put it, "Hoakie religions and ancient weapons..."
Voy: TOS 2.0
ENT: TOS 3.0
These are my interpretations. You guys will have your own. Cryptic has their interpretation based on their need to keep an MMO moving. Paramount and JJ Abrams have their interpretation based on the need to breath life into what was a dying franchise (and make money, of course).
At the very least keep an open mind to "space dinos" since it is technically canon.
Could be worst though, we could have the Kazon.
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
Like I said, PWE is not going to invest effort in trying to keep you here because they know they can not hold your attention.
Well, this sort of takes for granted that PWE know what they are doing.
As I understand it, PWE are a non-Western company. Their way of doing things may well work in Korea or China or wherever they are based. Their work with Cryptic and other Western developers is, as I understand it, a venture for them, something new that they are trying.
The question is, is their way of doing things working for them in the West? Or will they have to adapt?
There have been these two broadly different ways of doing MMOs for quite some time now. I'm sure that each model can learn much from the other.
And debates like this one reflect part of the to and fro between these two models. I don't think anything's clear cut or set in stone, but the attitude the OP represents must surely be a pretty prevalent one for people who are used to a more Western mindset.
IOW, the part of the Eastern model that sits ok with us in the West is paying for what you use. That's ok, that's fine, no problem with that. Subscription doesn't have to be the only way of doing things. And we also understand economic tricks like market segmentation, and how f2p is merely an example of it.
What may not sit so well with a Western audience is putting everything, including the IP itself, in service of that model. This may be a difference in why people play MMOs in the East vs. West, whether largely for escapism, or largely for competition, or whatever. I'm sure there's a paper waiting to be written
What I mean is, it may be that some people will play an MMO no matter the IP, so long as it has certain features; on the other hand, the IP and its specificity may be part of the reason other types of people play MMOs, and if that specificity gets diluted, the MMO may no longer hold interest for them.
Ultimately, I think Cryptic's problem is that they've over-stretched themselves trying to make and sustain too many MMOs at once. They're one of the better developers out there in terms of trying new things, and actually in terms of technical competence too (it's quite a stunning achievement to get any MMO up and running, far less 3 concurrently), and the fact that the Cryptic engine has allowed them to do this is a testament to its quality. But really, it's just been too much. What could have been one or two sterling MMOs has turned into a rolling process where a "leading edge" MMO has lots of effort put into it, with the continually "trailing" MMOs receiving what would in other contexts be considered as mere "maintenance mode". It was a brave experiment, and it's probably just about succeeding in financial terms, but I'm sure lots of the devs must be regretting it by now, in their heart of hearts, in terms of foregone opportunities of producing something they could have been really proud of (as opposed to 3 "ok" things).
I don't know if has to do something with the fact their sustaining another MMO(s) or the fact that MMOs in general have to be too sustained in their dev hands, utterly failing in a non-profitable situation and devolving in f2p subproducts supported by gambling. I mean, STO is another one of the long list of WoWish clones, but the theme-parkish mechanic that could work in wow, a game sustained by millions of monthly subscribers couldnt be reproduced in any other way again, and it won't be possible. Last two attempts were STWOR and now finally Elder's Scroll Online (probably another failure).
Theme-parks are dyeing in favour if the new fashion, Lol-clones, the so called MOBAs, while the new MMOs are tending again to back to the old sandbox styled games (even the original WoW dev team is working in a hybrid of sandbox-themeparked MMO), style that doesnt require the constant hurry of new updates, expansions and seasons cause the content is directly manipulated and generated by the users.
Only companies comitted to do MMOs at the wowesque style, but directly into f2ps, are asian companies (like PWE) preciselly, cause their target is preciselly a public that enjoys grinding 24/7, specially koreans mmo's. Now these games like STO or the Star Wars one are in a bad position being both f2p's and western games, so they have to make the game profitable but at the same time with the pressure of constantly rushing new content to keep the game fresh to a playerbase that has many choices and demands, but that'll be never possible since all the content is always faster to go through as a player than the time it takes to be developed. Things like reputations and fleet holdings, with intrused delays, are attemps to slow the process, but eventually we end in dinosaurs with head-mounted lasers to call the general attention.
People always spout off something like this, and the funny thing is is that they themselves either A) Can't define "what Trek is" or think that their interpretation is the end all be all.
What is Trek? (According to my opinions)
TOS: A space western where almost every episode devolved into a fist fight (with the occasional social commentary).
TNG: These people may die, but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Our ally is under attack by internal elements aligned with the Romulans but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Let's sign this treaty that will 100% TRIBBLE us over in the long run, but hey at least we have something resembling peace!!
DS9: War movie, and as Han Solo put it, "Hoakie religions and ancient weapons..."
Voy: TOS 2.0
ENT: TOS 3.0
These are my interpretations. You guys will have your own. Cryptic has their interpretation based on their need to keep an MMO moving. Paramount and JJ Abrams have their interpretation based on the need to breath life into what was a dying franchise (and make money, of course).
At the very least keep an open mind to "space dinos" since it is technically canon.
Could be worst though, we could have the Kazon.
Yes we can define it. As someone already posted we should define it based on some of the best examples of Trek like "Best of Both Worlds" or "A Measure of a Man", "Offspring", "Inner Light", "Defector", "In the Pale Moonlight", "Visitor", "Duet", "City on the Edge of Forever", "Balance of Terror" ... I could go on and on but these are some of the most highly rated or fan favorites from TNG, DS9 and TOS.
What they have in common is the "exploration of the human condition in the guise of exploring space". Other people may have other definitions. of course. I don't think anyone will try to define it as "Saturday morning cartoons" or "13 year old's bested funnest stuff eeeeever"
Every series including Enterprise has had some excellent or good episode that can be used as a guide. All series have had average episodes as well. Heck even some of the mediocre ones could have served as examples for the dev teams. What I find most objectionable is the clearly cynical way that devs push out stuff that will appeal to the immature audience and ignore the more mature players. You can see it in the ships ... "Avenger" vs "Galaxy revamp" as well as the content "LoR => Happy friendly space elves vs duplicitous and subversive aliens bent on conquering the galaxy".
I have a hard time finding a single example in STO recently that I can support. If I go back to the content from Season 1, and the STFs and the series arc while you are leveling I can see plenty of stuff I like including some episode/homages to the series.
Cryptic do more of that. You were on the right track in terms of content back then ... stop with silly / stupid TRIBBLE.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I don't know if has to do something with the fact their sustaining another MMO(s) or the fact that MMOs in general have to be too sustained in their dev hands, utterly failing in a non-profitable situation and devolving in f2p subproducts supported by gambling. I mean, STO is another one of the long list of WoWish clones, but the theme-parkish mechanic that could work in wow, a game sustained by millions of monthly subscribers couldnt be reproduced in any other way again, and it won't be possible. Last two attempts were STWOR and now finally Elder's Scroll Online (probably another failure).
I think perhaps you're under-estimating the canniness of developers. While the MMOs that made the shift to f2p may be perceived as "failures", and they may be considered as "failures" relative to WoW, if they're still running and still getting updated, that means they are profitable, and probably still highly profitable. I think of the recent crop, only that wonderful flawed gem TSW came in danger of getting its developers into financial trouble. I think all the rest have been a fairly conscious process of market segmentation.
In effect, what's been happening is just a ploy: you release an MMO with subscription, and that captures the people who would be willing to pay a subscription. Most people prefer "free" because they are usually so stupid they don't realise that "f2p" means anything but. Nevertheless, all these games are free to enter, with the possibility (for any given player) of being hooked and the game effectively becoming "p2w" for them.
The "open beta" idea that's been getting more popular is another version of the same idea: once you've covered your costs, you extract as much money from each individual as they are willing to pay, from nothing, up to excessive amounts. Subscriptions are somewhere in the middle, and some people are always willing to pay subs because of the hassle-free nature.
Far from being "failures", the move to f2p has been a bonanza for developers, for this reason. It's sort of the equivalent of mechanical meat extraction - you winkle out money from every possible crack and crevice. The total result is far higher than sticking to only one financial model.
It's also freed up some developers like Arenanet to evolve the MMO model, even the themepark MMO model, in different ways. (No subscription means the game doesn't have to be based around hamster wheels, because your primary concern is no longer retaining the subscriptions of the the easily-addicted.)
But the real question is: how far do you take it? Do you take it so far as to put the cart (financial reward) before the horse (quality product)?
And this, I suppose, partly depends on the estimated life-time of a game, and to what extent it's considered "throwaway". And that's where my considerations of what Cryptic have been doing come in. It looks like CO, STO and NWO may be from Cryptic's point of view, as it were, a moving cash cow, really one game that shifts its clothing, its dressing, its IP and its audiences. That's ok, the only trouble is it's over-stretch, and it leaves fans of the older IPs in the cold.
And don't forget folks: none of the stuff you "buy" with Zen is actually yours, it's just rented. The game could fold tomorrow and you will have, precisely, nothing to show for all the money you've invested (except hopefully, in the best case, memories of some good times ).
I think perhaps you're under-estimating the canniness of developers. While the MMOs that made the shift to f2p may be perceived as "failures", and they may be considered as "failures" relative to WoW, if they're still running and still getting updated, that means they are profitable, and probably still highly profitable. I think of the recent crop, only that wonderful flawed gem TSW came in danger of getting its developers into financial trouble. I think all the rest have been a fairly conscious process of market segmentation.
In effect, what's been happening is just a ploy: you release an MMO with subscription, and that captures the people who would be willing to pay a subscription. Most people prefer "free" because they are usually so stupid they don't realise that "f2p" means anything but. Nevertheless, all these games are free to enter, with the possibility (for any given player) of being hooked and the game effectively becoming "p2w" for them.
The "open beta" idea that's been getting more popular is another version of the same idea: once you've covered your costs, you extract as much money from each individual as they are willing to pay, from nothing, up to excessive amounts. Subscriptions are somewhere in the middle, and some people are always willing to pay subs because of the hassle-free nature.
Far from being "failures", the move to f2p has been a bonanza for developers, for this reason. It's sort of the equivalent of mechanical meat extraction - you winkle out money from every possible crack and crevice. The total result is far higher than sticking to only one financial model.
It's also freed up some developers like Arenanet to evolve the MMO model, even the themepark MMO model, in different ways. (No subscription means the game doesn't have to be based around hamster wheels, because your primary concern is no longer retaining the subscriptions of the the easily-addicted.)
But the real question is: how far do you take it? Do you take it so far as to put the cart (financial reward) before the horse (quality product)?
And this, I suppose, partly depends on the estimated life-time of a game, and to what extent it's considered "throwaway". And that's where my considerations of what Cryptic have been doing come in. It looks like CO, STO and NWO may be from Cryptic's point of view, as it were, a moving cash cow, really one game that shifts its clothing, its dressing, its IP and its audiences. That's ok, the only trouble is it's over-stretch, and it leaves fans of the older IPs in the cold.
And don't forget folks: none of the stuff you "buy" with Zen is actually yours, it's just rented. The game could fold tomorrow and you will have, precisely, nothing to show for all the money you've invested (except hopefully, in the best case, memories of some good times ).
+1 Internets to you!
This basically captures why MMOs are nothing like what they used to be.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I'm not saying that my opinion is more or less significant than any other gamer. Regardless of how much they spend on a game. The history of these, and other forums are absolutely brimming full of repetitive gamer requests for things like Modernization of the Klingon faction (I use this as an example because I've personally requested it many times).
Same requests over and over. Never delivered on. There are gamer forums dedicated to tracking the conflicting statements of Dan Stahl and his dev team regarding Klingon faction development and multiple other issues.
I do have a soft spot in my heart for what STO used to be. Many of us are frustrated with what it's becoming. As is predictable, many of us will likely leave STO for Eve Online. We'd really like to see the Cryptic team turn things around, respond to their gamers - truthfully, and make STO the great game that it could be again.
I'll repost the above for clarity. Please actually read the thread, and not just the first post.
Most of what you're huffing and puffing about has already been asked and answered in the thread.
Looks like I'll be skipping a season or two. The season 8 previews Look like something out of a fantasy MMO - Neverwinter?.
I'm not very happy with the direction this game or it's "storyline" is headed lately. Looks like a lot of Eve Online in my future. I just have to keep telling myself "Cryptic's not Star Trek".
Now, we're getting more stuff that we didn't ask for, and still not getting the things we have asked for - in some cases, begged after for years like Klingon faction modernization.
Evidently I'm not the kind of gamer the current Exec producer wants to keep around.
Below I've listed some of my recent purchases in support of this game. Am I the kind of gamer you really want to alienate? Check my account's Zen purchases. This is only a fraction.
Klingon Modernization, and listen to your gamers. All the gamers, not just the tribe of yes-men who gush over every dev post.
I'm happy, I got what i really wanted, a cruiser that can hold it's own against escorts, and although i would have prefered the galaxy to be better, with the Oddy tac, avenger and for strictly PvE's, Galaxy X, my cruiser lineup feels really good.
This basically captures why MMOs are nothing like what they used to be.
Yep. Essentially, what are called "MMOs" nowadays bear only a family resemblance to what used to be called "MMOs". There are some similarities, but more differences.
Principally, the idea of presenting a game in which you can have a sort of second life in a virtual world has completely gone out the window in favour of cash grabbing from casual players.
In the early days, there even used to be a vaguely evangelical and beneficial idea to MMOs - they were a place where you could develop yourself psychologically, by achieving things that were only virtual, to be sure, but had value in the eyes of other players.
I remember this worked for me to some extent even with CoH. Before I played CoH, I wasn't a very "leadery" person irl, but as I discovered I could lead teams well in CoH, that bled through to my every day life, so now I'm much more confident about leading irl.
But that was in a context where you had to build teams yourself by some effort (e.g. polite private tells, actual interaction with players). Again, part of the virtual world idea - which goes completely out the window when you have autoqueuing, and you have a succession of events where you're thrown in with a bunch of strangers, who hardly say anything at all to each other, and are only in it for the hamster wheel of a virtual achievement and nothing else.
Another way of saying this: it used to be case that a virtual achievement was recognized because it was difficult to attain, and people acknowledged that you had worked hard to attain it. Hence, people used to say "gratz" when someone dinged, because it was some kind of actual achievement. Nowadays, levelling is so fast it's hardly worth even noticing; and the value of virtual achievements are diminished when you can pay rl money for them.
The irony is that the OP is exactly the kind of player Cryptic is chasing; anyone who drops that much money for a game like STO is a gold mine to them. They can rehash the same tired concepts, fill the game with monotonous rep grinds, and you'll keep pouring out your wallet for them.
The irony is that the OP is exactly the kind of player Cryptic is chasing; anyone who drops that much money for a game like STO is a gold mine to them. They can rehash the same tired concepts, fill the game with monotonous rep grinds, and you'll keep pouring out your wallet for them.
But the point of the OP is that he's no longer going to be laying down that kind of money for the game. Hence, Cryptic ought indeed to take note - if his attitude is at all representative.
That's really the only question of any interest raised by this thread: whether the OP is representative of the big spenders in STO or not. Clearly the OP intended to start a debate around that, and kudos to him for laying his d**k on the table (as they say in Ireland ).
But the point of the OP is that he's no longer going to be laying down that kind of money for the game. Hence, Cryptic ought indeed to take note - if his attitude is at all representative.
That's really the only question of any interest raised by this thread: whether the OP is representative of the big spenders in STO or not. Clearly the OP intended to start a debate around that, and kudos to him for laying his d**k on the table (as they say in Ireland ).
Then why did you say "they can rehash the same tired concepts" etc.? The OP's point is that he's not falling for that, or at least not any longer, and is taking a stand (however individually irrelevant it may be to Cryptic) against that kind of thing by stopping being a "gold mine".
First and foremost, I consider things like game balance and the need for something other than 15 minute pew-pew fests to exist in PvE to be more important than the storyline.
But if we are talking about storyline:
The fact that the game is combat based was always going to make it "un-Trek" to a degree. Out of 28 seasons of Star Trek made, only the Dominion War seasons and the Xindi arc are about military conflict, a total of four seasons. You could stretch to five or six if you include the prelude to the Dominion War. And even then half the DS9 Episodes during the Dominion War don't actually directly involve the war. This is quite simply because it'd be monstrously hard to make a game about exploring strange new worlds and exploring humanity itself through the guise of space exploration that enough people would play in order for it to commercially viable. So I'm absolutely fine with the game being combat based, since most of us wouldn't be playing it and it probably wouldn't exist otherwise.
What bothers me is we're now in a situation where the Federation has regular hostilities with an increasingly ridiculous number of enemies. And actually, the people we're supposed to be in a big war with, the Klingons, end up being our allies half the time because of 'more serious threats', which crop up, and then are forgotten about. Have the Feds and the Klingons agreed to an indefinite stalemate on the frontline or something because they have to send all their experienced Generals and Admirals off to do something else?
Could we not have worked with the Iconian/Elachi angle some more for this season? Is Sela being chopped into little pieces by the Elachi now? Or will she be returned from wherever with a massive fleet of Iconian ships? How about advancing the Borg plot? Weren't they within a year of conquering the Alpha Quadrant with their Unimatrix ships when the 2800 was released (when was that? Season 5?)? What's happening with that? Or does blowing up the Queen in Into the Hive kill that threat off?
Legacy of Romulus was okay because it told a story that had been unfolding at the same time as the existing material, and tied into the Iconian arc, but making us fight the Voth? Why? Yes it's an MMO, there has to be new content and there has to be new enemy NPCs to play with (not that the new enemies make Storm the Spire in any way different an experience from what's already in game) for it to continue to exist. But you don't need to throw new enemy factions at us to create new content. I would much rather new Borg STFs and/or a new add-on to Iconian storyline than fighting the Voth, as a cool as the Dyson Sphere looks.
The irony is that the OP is exactly the kind of player Cryptic is chasing; anyone who drops that much money for a game like STO is a gold mine to them. They can rehash the same tired concepts, fill the game with monotonous rep grinds, and you'll keep pouring out your wallet for them.
Great! Maybe Cryptic will notice and read this thread then.
It has all the elements required for a staffer read:
- It's at 15 pages currently.
- The hissy jr. high school forum girls are tripping over themselves while rushing to Cryptic's defense.
- The broke-assed 25 year old "moral high ground" douchebags are inflamed by the idea of someone actually any having money to spend.
The thread has all of the elements that have come together to make the STO forums what they are today. Yes, I have growing confidence that a Cryptic staffer will read this thread.
Then why did you say "they can rehash the same tired concepts" etc.? The OP's point is that he's not falling for that, or at least not any longer, and is taking a stand (however individually irrelevant it may be to Cryptic) against that kind of thing by stopping being a "gold mine".
Another way of saying this: it used to be case that a virtual achievement was recognized because it was difficult to attain, and people acknowledged that you had worked hard to attain it. Hence, people used to say "gratz" when someone dinged, because it was some kind of actual achievement. Nowadays, levelling is so fast it's hardly worth even noticing; and the value of virtual achievements are diminished when you can pay rl money for them.
Yep. The game developers for give the consumers what they want. Superficial and Vacuous... we just don't know anything else.
First and foremost, I consider things like game balance and the need for something other than 15 minute pew-pew fests to exist in PvE to be more important than the storyline.
But if we are talking about storyline:
The fact that the game is combat based was always going to make it "un-Trek" to a degree. Out of 28 seasons of Star Trek made, only the Dominion War seasons and the Xindi arc are about military conflict, a total of four seasons. You could stretch to five or six if you include the prelude to the Dominion War. And even then half the DS9 Episodes during the Dominion War don't actually directly involve the war. This is quite simply because it'd be monstrously hard to make a game about exploring strange new worlds and exploring humanity itself through the guise of space exploration that enough people would play in order for it to commercially viable. So I'm absolutely fine with the game being combat based, since most of us wouldn't be playing it and it probably wouldn't exist otherwise.
What bothers me is we're now in a situation where the Federation has regular hostilities with an increasingly ridiculous number of enemies. And actually, the people we're supposed to be in a big war with, the Klingons, end up being our allies half the time because of 'more serious threats', which crop up, and then are forgotten about. Have the Feds and the Klingons agreed to an indefinite stalemate on the frontline or something because they have to send all their experienced Generals and Admirals off to do something else?
Could we not have worked with the Iconian/Elachi angle some more for this season? Is Sela being chopped into little pieces by the Elachi now? Or will she be returned from wherever with a massive fleet of Iconian ships? How about advancing the Borg plot? Weren't they within a year of conquering the Alpha Quadrant with their Unimatrix ships when the 2800 was released (when was that? Season 5?)? What's happening with that? Or does blowing up the Queen in Into the Hive kill that threat off?
Legacy of Romulus was okay because it told a story that had been unfolding at the same time as the existing material, and tied into the Iconian arc, but making us fight the Voth? Why? Yes it's an MMO, there has to be new content and there has to be new enemy NPCs to play with (not that the new enemies make Storm the Spire in any way different an experience from what's already in game) for it to continue to exist. But you don't need to throw new enemy factions at us to create new content. I would much rather new Borg STFs and/or a new add-on to Iconian storyline than fighting the Voth, as a cool as the Dyson Sphere looks.
I agree with you here, they keep introducing new enemies each season without resolving the old enemies properly, well some of them anyway. Some earlier arcs like the Breen are actually resolved.
IMO they need to advance and or finish at least some of the outstanding stories first such as:
The undine - aren't these guys supposed to be manipulating the KDF and Starfleet into a costly war for both sides to weaken them possibly on behalf of the Iconians?
The Borg - As you said they were supposed to be within a year of crippling the alpha quadrant.
The Iconians - These guys are supposed to be masterminding pretty much all the **** going down in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants right now yet nothing has come of it since the Reman series a long time ago unless you count the small ret cons in LOR.
The Romulans There is plenty they can do with the rebuilding of new Romulus and defending their homes while tieing in to the other threats that the other two factions are dealing with.
The Elachi - Its kind of resolved but there is more to be done with it I feel, after they get beaten down by the Romulan Republic why aren't they picking on targets of oppotunity against anyone , Starfleet Romulan or Klingon ? Especially as each faction is waging costly conflicts across the galaxy.
Starfleet vs KDF - What should be one of the most important arcs across the entire game is just left as it was since year 1, no advancement and no resolution. They could do a tonne with this like having a Captain/General for each side realize that their respective faction is being played by the Iconians/Undine ect , then trying to convince their governments to do something about it before its too late. Its a gold mine for story advancement.
There may be more to but the point is they don't need space dinosaurs when there is a tonne of existing plots and lore to build off already.
With the "no-read" thread replies taking the topic in wild directions, I'll take the time to restate my point occasionally.
I'm not spending another dime on STO until I see some of the things that have been asked for on these and other forums over and over.
In the case of Klingon faction modernization, these things have been asked for over a period of years.
Instead of listening to their gamers, gathering information on what is being requested and then producing what the gamers want, the Executive producer and development team have consistantly just given the gamers what the Executive producer wants to give us.
The requests are wide spread and diverse. Yes. This is a game for all of "us" gamers. It's a job for Dan Stahl and his staff. Invest the effort in customer communications and figure it out. The forums are overflowing with a lot of consistant requests for the same things. Start there.
I encourage other gamers to also withhold revenue from Crytic until we start getting more of what we've asked for, and less of what we have not asked for.
The Klingon requests are a great example of players asking for something - for years - and not getting it. Instead, we've been given things we haven't asked for. Maybe great things. Maybe not. Either way, our requests have been consistently ignored, and the dev team has gone off in whatever way their fancy takes them.
The only way that I can think of to effect any change at all at Cryptic, and to get the Exec Producer / dev team to respond to player requests is to deprive Cryptic of revenue.
Hate to say that, because I used to enjoy this little game and I hope that the game will be better in the future. All Dan Stahl has to do is to listen to his gamers. Deliver on what we want. Not on what he wants for us.
I don't think anything at Cryptic will change until the financials are impacted and Dan is directed to change the culture in his dev team from "I'll do what I want" to "I'll try to develop what the players want".
Then why did you say "they can rehash the same tired concepts" etc.? The OP's point is that he's not falling for that, or at least not any longer, and is taking a stand (however individually irrelevant it may be to Cryptic) against that kind of thing by stopping being a "gold mine".
Because I was defining what I meant by the type Cryptic loves. So it's ironic that this player is the type PWE want in this game, but is being driven away by their design decisions.
Because I was defining what I meant by the type Cryptic loves. So it's ironic that this player is the type PWE want in this game, but is being driven away by their design decisions.
With the "no-read" thread replies taking the topic in wild directions,...
Maybe not "no read". Maybe "no care". If you want to maintain strict control of the topic, send an email, else I'll exercrsize my prerogative to speak to tangentially related issues.
... I'll take the time to restate my point occasionally.
You go ahead and do that.
I'm not spending another dime on STO until I see some of the things that have been asked for on these and other forums over and over.
Good for you. Stand on principle. Let the devs know what you think.
However be advised that, although you expenditures have been large among individuals, it is such a rarity as to make it inconsequential to PWE's strategic planning.
Allright folks, so my last response to this thread was pure sarcasm but this session of STO griping is turning into the same thing as every other bloody thread
Is it truly my place to get all huffy and whiney because so and so spends $2,000 a month on a video game? My thought is no. It does possibly indicate a serious gambling addiction or lack of judgement reguarding personal finances but that's not truly my concern. I myself have dropped my share of money into this game by falling into the "Open up these shiney lock boxes and get a badass ship!" scheme.
There seems to be a lot of complaining about end-game grinding in MMO's or specifically STO in this sense. To the people who complain about some grind, pull out your dusty ps2 system, take out Final Fantasy 10, and slip that game into the CD drive and play it. Even on console systems you will run into RPG games that feature the dreaded *gasp* grind. Running around the virtual playing field chasing NPC baddies to hack and slash to bump up your XP and earn that next lvl so you can go and fight higher tiered NPC baddies and repeat said cycle while following a story.
In response to an earlier post, you gotta remember that development takes time. Grind is going to be part of what gets placed in your lap as a filler till the new better content can be worked on then released to the public. If you don't like it, then go get yourself an NES console system and play Contra. just don't play Crystalis for NES as that has "gasp" grind in it.
We aren't going to get stupid people from raging on these forums about how Cryptic owes them things. Cryptic is it's own entity and they have the right to do whatever they damn well please. Did you all bother to read the contract and agreement clauses that you agreed to upon downloading the game? If STO ruins your own personal immersion into Star Trek, then my advice is to relax and check yourself into a nice hospital for letting a damn video game rule your life. Speaking of which reguarding cryptic, there is even a features matrix that details the ammount of customer service you get as f2p, gold (subber), or gold (lifer). Try reading more than just the forums.
Starfleet vs KDF - What should be one of the most important arcs across the entire game is just left as it was since year 1, no advancement and no resolution. They could do a tonne with this like having a Captain/General for each side realize that their respective faction is being played by the Iconians/Undine ect , then trying to convince their governments to do something about it before its too late. Its a gold mine for story advancement.
Cryptic has really painted themselves into a corner here. On one hand, Cryptic clearly regards the two-faction structure of Starfleet and KDF as a fundamental part of STO. Virtually all the pre-endgame content is based on that premise, and that's also why Romulans weren't made a proper faction in themselves. On the other hand, by the time the storyline hits endgame, Starfleet and the KDF have had to put aside their conflict to deal with a bunch of other threats - meaning that having even two factions no longer makes any sense, as all players are, in essence, on the same "team" fighting an ever-more-dizzying array of PvE foes at endgame.
In other words, the real problem with Starfleet vs. KDF is that the nature of a persistent MMO (specifically, having endgame and non-endgame players occupying the same universe simultaneously) requires the two factions to be enemies and allies at the same time, with no way to take them in one direction or the other without breaking a huge chunk of pre-existing content.
Cryptic has really painted themselves into a corner here. On one hand, Cryptic clearly regards the two-faction structure of Starfleet and KDF as a fundamental part of STO. Virtually all the pre-endgame content is based on that premise, and that's also why Romulans weren't made a proper faction in themselves. On the other hand, by the time the storyline hits endgame, Starfleet and the KDF have had to put aside their conflict to deal with a bunch of other threats - meaning that having even two factions no longer makes any sense, as all players are, in essence, on the same "team" fighting an ever-more-dizzying array of PvE foes at endgame.
In other words, the real problem with Starfleet vs. KDF is that the nature of a persistent MMO (specifically, having endgame and non-endgame players occupying the same universe simultaneously) requires the two factions to be enemies and allies at the same time, with no way to take them in one direction or the other without breaking a huge chunk of pre-existing content.
They could do a couple of missions which resolves the conflict properly as in the KDF and Starfleet officially realize how stupid they are both being and re start the Khitomer accords once again. PvP can become war games it doesn't really effect it in any way. Plus they can deal with some of the other hanging plot threads to like the Undine controlling parts of Starfleet.
They could do a couple of missions which resolves the conflict properly as in the KDF and Starfleet officially realize how stupid they are both being and re start the Khitomer accords once again. PvP can become war games it doesn't really effect it in any way. Plus they can deal with some of the other hanging plot threads to like the Undine controlling parts of Starfleet.
But you'll still have pre-endgame players in the same universe for whom the "war games" premise makes no sense. Wrapping up the story arc is one thing, trying to present PvP two different ways to two different sets of players (i.e. as "war games" to endgamers and as actual combat to everyone else) occupying the same universe at the same time is another thing entirely.
Short of segregating the two sets of players (i.e. once a toon hits Level 50 it is moved to a similar but completely separate game universe where all the endgame content resides), I don't see a way around this issue, and even that would surely come with its own set of problems.
Comments
Of course he has a right to criticize how someone else spends their money, that's part of the right called free speech. The recipient of the criticism is free to make of it what they will, and equally free to tell him what they think of his criticism. I too think the guy's criticism of the OP is stupid - and it's my right to say so. But I can't truthfully say he "doesn't have the right" to make what I consider to be a stupid comment. That's just factually wrong, and not a matter of opinion. He's free, and has the right to be, as stupid (by my lights) as he is.
That's what freedom and right looks like. See the famous quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall, usually misattributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Incidentally, a lot of the critics of the OP seem to be focussing on the amount he's spent on the game in absolute terms. But he has a pretty high income; in proportionate percentage terms he might even be spending less on the game than many people here who probably drop $20-30 a month of their more meagre income.
Jealousy is always ugly
I am totally unmotivated by new shinies, as I don't have a gambling bone in my body.
Also, I tend to play the game more canon, and blank out the "horrors" the game already has. but I still buy stuff with Zen occasionally (e.g. services, fluff).
Generally, developers will try to sell things that a broad spectrum of people will want to buy. Shiny-lovers are obviously only a certain percentage of the audience. And the point is, if the devs focus only on shinies or too much on shinies, they're going to alienate a bunch of people who would have bought stuff other than shinies anyway, and came for the Trek.
Of course, I don't know whether the "moar shinies" strategy will "work" or not in the long run. It might do. But one thing's for sure: if it works, it will work by making the game less and less Trek and more and more generic s-f.
I think that's what's pissing off people who are pissed off.
Ultimately, I think Cryptic's problem is that they've over-stretched themselves trying to make and sustain too many MMOs at once. They're one of the better developers out there in terms of trying new things, and actually in terms of technical competence too (it's quite a stunning achievement to get any MMO up and running, far less 3 concurrently), and the fact that the Cryptic engine has allowed them to do this is a testament to its quality. But really, it's just been too much. What could have been one or two sterling MMOs has turned into a rolling process where a "leading edge" MMO has lots of effort put into it, with the continually "trailing" MMOs receiving what would in other contexts be considered as mere "maintenance mode". It was a brave experiment, and it's probably just about succeeding in financial terms, but I'm sure lots of the devs must be regretting it by now, in their heart of hearts, in terms of foregone opportunities of producing something they could have been really proud of (as opposed to 3 "ok" things).
Thats not crazy, that's having a minimum level of exigency, something that was always part of gaming and specially in rpg's?
People always spout off something like this, and the funny thing is is that they themselves either A) Can't define "what Trek is" or
What is Trek? (According to my opinions)
TOS: A space western where almost every episode devolved into a fist fight (with the occasional social commentary).
TNG: These people may die, but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Our ally is under attack by internal elements aligned with the Romulans but hey, at least we didn't violate the Prime Directive!! Let's sign this treaty that will 100% TRIBBLE us over in the long run, but hey at least we have something resembling peace!!
DS9: War movie, and as Han Solo put it, "Hoakie religions and ancient weapons..."
Voy: TOS 2.0
ENT: TOS 3.0
These are my interpretations. You guys will have your own. Cryptic has their interpretation based on their need to keep an MMO moving. Paramount and JJ Abrams have their interpretation based on the need to breath life into what was a dying franchise (and make money, of course).
At the very least keep an open mind to "space dinos" since it is technically canon.
Could be worst though, we could have the Kazon.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Well, this sort of takes for granted that PWE know what they are doing.
As I understand it, PWE are a non-Western company. Their way of doing things may well work in Korea or China or wherever they are based. Their work with Cryptic and other Western developers is, as I understand it, a venture for them, something new that they are trying.
The question is, is their way of doing things working for them in the West? Or will they have to adapt?
There have been these two broadly different ways of doing MMOs for quite some time now. I'm sure that each model can learn much from the other.
And debates like this one reflect part of the to and fro between these two models. I don't think anything's clear cut or set in stone, but the attitude the OP represents must surely be a pretty prevalent one for people who are used to a more Western mindset.
IOW, the part of the Eastern model that sits ok with us in the West is paying for what you use. That's ok, that's fine, no problem with that. Subscription doesn't have to be the only way of doing things. And we also understand economic tricks like market segmentation, and how f2p is merely an example of it.
What may not sit so well with a Western audience is putting everything, including the IP itself, in service of that model. This may be a difference in why people play MMOs in the East vs. West, whether largely for escapism, or largely for competition, or whatever. I'm sure there's a paper waiting to be written
What I mean is, it may be that some people will play an MMO no matter the IP, so long as it has certain features; on the other hand, the IP and its specificity may be part of the reason other types of people play MMOs, and if that specificity gets diluted, the MMO may no longer hold interest for them.
I don't know if has to do something with the fact their sustaining another MMO(s) or the fact that MMOs in general have to be too sustained in their dev hands, utterly failing in a non-profitable situation and devolving in f2p subproducts supported by gambling. I mean, STO is another one of the long list of WoWish clones, but the theme-parkish mechanic that could work in wow, a game sustained by millions of monthly subscribers couldnt be reproduced in any other way again, and it won't be possible. Last two attempts were STWOR and now finally Elder's Scroll Online (probably another failure).
Theme-parks are dyeing in favour if the new fashion, Lol-clones, the so called MOBAs, while the new MMOs are tending again to back to the old sandbox styled games (even the original WoW dev team is working in a hybrid of sandbox-themeparked MMO), style that doesnt require the constant hurry of new updates, expansions and seasons cause the content is directly manipulated and generated by the users.
Only companies comitted to do MMOs at the wowesque style, but directly into f2ps, are asian companies (like PWE) preciselly, cause their target is preciselly a public that enjoys grinding 24/7, specially koreans mmo's. Now these games like STO or the Star Wars one are in a bad position being both f2p's and western games, so they have to make the game profitable but at the same time with the pressure of constantly rushing new content to keep the game fresh to a playerbase that has many choices and demands, but that'll be never possible since all the content is always faster to go through as a player than the time it takes to be developed. Things like reputations and fleet holdings, with intrused delays, are attemps to slow the process, but eventually we end in dinosaurs with head-mounted lasers to call the general attention.
Yes we can define it. As someone already posted we should define it based on some of the best examples of Trek like "Best of Both Worlds" or "A Measure of a Man", "Offspring", "Inner Light", "Defector", "In the Pale Moonlight", "Visitor", "Duet", "City on the Edge of Forever", "Balance of Terror" ... I could go on and on but these are some of the most highly rated or fan favorites from TNG, DS9 and TOS.
What they have in common is the "exploration of the human condition in the guise of exploring space". Other people may have other definitions. of course. I don't think anyone will try to define it as "Saturday morning cartoons" or "13 year old's bested funnest stuff eeeeever"
Every series including Enterprise has had some excellent or good episode that can be used as a guide. All series have had average episodes as well. Heck even some of the mediocre ones could have served as examples for the dev teams. What I find most objectionable is the clearly cynical way that devs push out stuff that will appeal to the immature audience and ignore the more mature players. You can see it in the ships ... "Avenger" vs "Galaxy revamp" as well as the content "LoR => Happy friendly space elves vs duplicitous and subversive aliens bent on conquering the galaxy".
I have a hard time finding a single example in STO recently that I can support. If I go back to the content from Season 1, and the STFs and the series arc while you are leveling I can see plenty of stuff I like including some episode/homages to the series.
Cryptic do more of that. You were on the right track in terms of content back then ... stop with silly / stupid TRIBBLE.
- Judge Aaron Satie
I think perhaps you're under-estimating the canniness of developers. While the MMOs that made the shift to f2p may be perceived as "failures", and they may be considered as "failures" relative to WoW, if they're still running and still getting updated, that means they are profitable, and probably still highly profitable. I think of the recent crop, only that wonderful flawed gem TSW came in danger of getting its developers into financial trouble. I think all the rest have been a fairly conscious process of market segmentation.
In effect, what's been happening is just a ploy: you release an MMO with subscription, and that captures the people who would be willing to pay a subscription. Most people prefer "free" because they are usually so stupid they don't realise that "f2p" means anything but. Nevertheless, all these games are free to enter, with the possibility (for any given player) of being hooked and the game effectively becoming "p2w" for them.
The "open beta" idea that's been getting more popular is another version of the same idea: once you've covered your costs, you extract as much money from each individual as they are willing to pay, from nothing, up to excessive amounts. Subscriptions are somewhere in the middle, and some people are always willing to pay subs because of the hassle-free nature.
Far from being "failures", the move to f2p has been a bonanza for developers, for this reason. It's sort of the equivalent of mechanical meat extraction - you winkle out money from every possible crack and crevice. The total result is far higher than sticking to only one financial model.
It's also freed up some developers like Arenanet to evolve the MMO model, even the themepark MMO model, in different ways. (No subscription means the game doesn't have to be based around hamster wheels, because your primary concern is no longer retaining the subscriptions of the the easily-addicted.)
But the real question is: how far do you take it? Do you take it so far as to put the cart (financial reward) before the horse (quality product)?
And this, I suppose, partly depends on the estimated life-time of a game, and to what extent it's considered "throwaway". And that's where my considerations of what Cryptic have been doing come in. It looks like CO, STO and NWO may be from Cryptic's point of view, as it were, a moving cash cow, really one game that shifts its clothing, its dressing, its IP and its audiences. That's ok, the only trouble is it's over-stretch, and it leaves fans of the older IPs in the cold.
And don't forget folks: none of the stuff you "buy" with Zen is actually yours, it's just rented. The game could fold tomorrow and you will have, precisely, nothing to show for all the money you've invested (except hopefully, in the best case, memories of some good times
+1 Internets to you!
This basically captures why MMOs are nothing like what they used to be.
- Judge Aaron Satie
I'll repost the above for clarity. Please actually read the thread, and not just the first post.
Most of what you're huffing and puffing about has already been asked and answered in the thread.
Yep. Essentially, what are called "MMOs" nowadays bear only a family resemblance to what used to be called "MMOs". There are some similarities, but more differences.
Principally, the idea of presenting a game in which you can have a sort of second life in a virtual world has completely gone out the window in favour of cash grabbing from casual players.
In the early days, there even used to be a vaguely evangelical and beneficial idea to MMOs - they were a place where you could develop yourself psychologically, by achieving things that were only virtual, to be sure, but had value in the eyes of other players.
I remember this worked for me to some extent even with CoH. Before I played CoH, I wasn't a very "leadery" person irl, but as I discovered I could lead teams well in CoH, that bled through to my every day life, so now I'm much more confident about leading irl.
But that was in a context where you had to build teams yourself by some effort (e.g. polite private tells, actual interaction with players). Again, part of the virtual world idea - which goes completely out the window when you have autoqueuing, and you have a succession of events where you're thrown in with a bunch of strangers, who hardly say anything at all to each other, and are only in it for the hamster wheel of a virtual achievement and nothing else.
Another way of saying this: it used to be case that a virtual achievement was recognized because it was difficult to attain, and people acknowledged that you had worked hard to attain it. Hence, people used to say "gratz" when someone dinged, because it was some kind of actual achievement. Nowadays, levelling is so fast it's hardly worth even noticing; and the value of virtual achievements are diminished when you can pay rl money for them.
But the point of the OP is that he's no longer going to be laying down that kind of money for the game. Hence, Cryptic ought indeed to take note - if his attitude is at all representative.
That's really the only question of any interest raised by this thread: whether the OP is representative of the big spenders in STO or not. Clearly the OP intended to start a debate around that, and kudos to him for laying his d**k on the table (as they say in Ireland
Hence the use of "irony."
Then why did you say "they can rehash the same tired concepts" etc.? The OP's point is that he's not falling for that, or at least not any longer, and is taking a stand (however individually irrelevant it may be to Cryptic) against that kind of thing by stopping being a "gold mine".
But if we are talking about storyline:
The fact that the game is combat based was always going to make it "un-Trek" to a degree. Out of 28 seasons of Star Trek made, only the Dominion War seasons and the Xindi arc are about military conflict, a total of four seasons. You could stretch to five or six if you include the prelude to the Dominion War. And even then half the DS9 Episodes during the Dominion War don't actually directly involve the war. This is quite simply because it'd be monstrously hard to make a game about exploring strange new worlds and exploring humanity itself through the guise of space exploration that enough people would play in order for it to commercially viable. So I'm absolutely fine with the game being combat based, since most of us wouldn't be playing it and it probably wouldn't exist otherwise.
What bothers me is we're now in a situation where the Federation has regular hostilities with an increasingly ridiculous number of enemies. And actually, the people we're supposed to be in a big war with, the Klingons, end up being our allies half the time because of 'more serious threats', which crop up, and then are forgotten about. Have the Feds and the Klingons agreed to an indefinite stalemate on the frontline or something because they have to send all their experienced Generals and Admirals off to do something else?
Could we not have worked with the Iconian/Elachi angle some more for this season? Is Sela being chopped into little pieces by the Elachi now? Or will she be returned from wherever with a massive fleet of Iconian ships? How about advancing the Borg plot? Weren't they within a year of conquering the Alpha Quadrant with their Unimatrix ships when the 2800 was released (when was that? Season 5?)? What's happening with that? Or does blowing up the Queen in Into the Hive kill that threat off?
Legacy of Romulus was okay because it told a story that had been unfolding at the same time as the existing material, and tied into the Iconian arc, but making us fight the Voth? Why? Yes it's an MMO, there has to be new content and there has to be new enemy NPCs to play with (not that the new enemies make Storm the Spire in any way different an experience from what's already in game) for it to continue to exist. But you don't need to throw new enemy factions at us to create new content. I would much rather new Borg STFs and/or a new add-on to Iconian storyline than fighting the Voth, as a cool as the Dyson Sphere looks.
Great! Maybe Cryptic will notice and read this thread then.
It has all the elements required for a staffer read:
- It's at 15 pages currently.
- The hissy jr. high school forum girls are tripping over themselves while rushing to Cryptic's defense.
- The broke-assed 25 year old "moral high ground" douchebags are inflamed by the idea of someone actually any having money to spend.
The thread has all of the elements that have come together to make the STO forums what they are today. Yes, I have growing confidence that a Cryptic staffer will read this thread.
Yes, thank you! That's my point.
Yep. The game developers for give the consumers what they want. Superficial and Vacuous... we just don't know anything else.
I agree with you here, they keep introducing new enemies each season without resolving the old enemies properly, well some of them anyway. Some earlier arcs like the Breen are actually resolved.
IMO they need to advance and or finish at least some of the outstanding stories first such as:
The undine - aren't these guys supposed to be manipulating the KDF and Starfleet into a costly war for both sides to weaken them possibly on behalf of the Iconians?
The Borg - As you said they were supposed to be within a year of crippling the alpha quadrant.
The Iconians - These guys are supposed to be masterminding pretty much all the **** going down in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants right now yet nothing has come of it since the Reman series a long time ago unless you count the small ret cons in LOR.
The Romulans There is plenty they can do with the rebuilding of new Romulus and defending their homes while tieing in to the other threats that the other two factions are dealing with.
The Elachi - Its kind of resolved but there is more to be done with it I feel, after they get beaten down by the Romulan Republic why aren't they picking on targets of oppotunity against anyone , Starfleet Romulan or Klingon ? Especially as each faction is waging costly conflicts across the galaxy.
Starfleet vs KDF - What should be one of the most important arcs across the entire game is just left as it was since year 1, no advancement and no resolution. They could do a tonne with this like having a Captain/General for each side realize that their respective faction is being played by the Iconians/Undine ect , then trying to convince their governments to do something about it before its too late. Its a gold mine for story advancement.
There may be more to but the point is they don't need space dinosaurs when there is a tonne of existing plots and lore to build off already.
I'm not spending another dime on STO until I see some of the things that have been asked for on these and other forums over and over.
In the case of Klingon faction modernization, these things have been asked for over a period of years.
Instead of listening to their gamers, gathering information on what is being requested and then producing what the gamers want, the Executive producer and development team have consistantly just given the gamers what the Executive producer wants to give us.
The requests are wide spread and diverse. Yes. This is a game for all of "us" gamers. It's a job for Dan Stahl and his staff. Invest the effort in customer communications and figure it out. The forums are overflowing with a lot of consistant requests for the same things. Start there.
I encourage other gamers to also withhold revenue from Crytic until we start getting more of what we've asked for, and less of what we have not asked for.
The Klingon requests are a great example of players asking for something - for years - and not getting it. Instead, we've been given things we haven't asked for. Maybe great things. Maybe not. Either way, our requests have been consistently ignored, and the dev team has gone off in whatever way their fancy takes them.
The only way that I can think of to effect any change at all at Cryptic, and to get the Exec Producer / dev team to respond to player requests is to deprive Cryptic of revenue.
Hate to say that, because I used to enjoy this little game and I hope that the game will be better in the future. All Dan Stahl has to do is to listen to his gamers. Deliver on what we want. Not on what he wants for us.
I don't think anything at Cryptic will change until the financials are impacted and Dan is directed to change the culture in his dev team from "I'll do what I want" to "I'll try to develop what the players want".
@Marcus_Jelico
Because I was defining what I meant by the type Cryptic loves. So it's ironic that this player is the type PWE want in this game, but is being driven away by their design decisions.
Oh I see, sorry - I had a "vulcan moment" there
Maybe not "no read". Maybe "no care". If you want to maintain strict control of the topic, send an email, else I'll exercrsize my prerogative to speak to tangentially related issues.
You go ahead and do that.
Good for you. Stand on principle. Let the devs know what you think.
However be advised that, although you expenditures have been large among individuals, it is such a rarity as to make it inconsequential to PWE's strategic planning.
Is it truly my place to get all huffy and whiney because so and so spends $2,000 a month on a video game? My thought is no. It does possibly indicate a serious gambling addiction or lack of judgement reguarding personal finances but that's not truly my concern. I myself have dropped my share of money into this game by falling into the "Open up these shiney lock boxes and get a badass ship!" scheme.
There seems to be a lot of complaining about end-game grinding in MMO's or specifically STO in this sense. To the people who complain about some grind, pull out your dusty ps2 system, take out Final Fantasy 10, and slip that game into the CD drive and play it. Even on console systems you will run into RPG games that feature the dreaded *gasp* grind. Running around the virtual playing field chasing NPC baddies to hack and slash to bump up your XP and earn that next lvl so you can go and fight higher tiered NPC baddies and repeat said cycle while following a story.
In response to an earlier post, you gotta remember that development takes time. Grind is going to be part of what gets placed in your lap as a filler till the new better content can be worked on then released to the public. If you don't like it, then go get yourself an NES console system and play Contra. just don't play Crystalis for NES as that has "gasp" grind in it.
We aren't going to get stupid people from raging on these forums about how Cryptic owes them things. Cryptic is it's own entity and they have the right to do whatever they damn well please. Did you all bother to read the contract and agreement clauses that you agreed to upon downloading the game? If STO ruins your own personal immersion into Star Trek, then my advice is to relax and check yourself into a nice hospital for letting a damn video game rule your life. Speaking of which reguarding cryptic, there is even a features matrix that details the ammount of customer service you get as f2p, gold (subber), or gold (lifer). Try reading more than just the forums.
Cryptic has really painted themselves into a corner here. On one hand, Cryptic clearly regards the two-faction structure of Starfleet and KDF as a fundamental part of STO. Virtually all the pre-endgame content is based on that premise, and that's also why Romulans weren't made a proper faction in themselves. On the other hand, by the time the storyline hits endgame, Starfleet and the KDF have had to put aside their conflict to deal with a bunch of other threats - meaning that having even two factions no longer makes any sense, as all players are, in essence, on the same "team" fighting an ever-more-dizzying array of PvE foes at endgame.
In other words, the real problem with Starfleet vs. KDF is that the nature of a persistent MMO (specifically, having endgame and non-endgame players occupying the same universe simultaneously) requires the two factions to be enemies and allies at the same time, with no way to take them in one direction or the other without breaking a huge chunk of pre-existing content.
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page
They could do a couple of missions which resolves the conflict properly as in the KDF and Starfleet officially realize how stupid they are both being and re start the Khitomer accords once again. PvP can become war games it doesn't really effect it in any way. Plus they can deal with some of the other hanging plot threads to like the Undine controlling parts of Starfleet.
But you'll still have pre-endgame players in the same universe for whom the "war games" premise makes no sense. Wrapping up the story arc is one thing, trying to present PvP two different ways to two different sets of players (i.e. as "war games" to endgamers and as actual combat to everyone else) occupying the same universe at the same time is another thing entirely.
Short of segregating the two sets of players (i.e. once a toon hits Level 50 it is moved to a similar but completely separate game universe where all the endgame content resides), I don't see a way around this issue, and even that would surely come with its own set of problems.
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page