Someone remind me why everyone hates ARC again...? I don't use it (I installed via Steam and just run STO's launcher via shortcut directly from my desktop... and I rarely play Neverwinter.) but so far I see no issue with it.
Um. If you don't use it, I don't think the fact that you see no issues is useful information.
"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
As much as my "doom and gloom sensors" are blaring "skeptical", this statement gives me a modicum of hope...
Since Steam uses the Cryptic launcher for patching right now anyway, there's not a ton of difference between a steam-users patch and my straight-to-launcher patch...
However, since there will be a "launcher subroutine" built into ARC, and the rest of ARC's "for the player" features are repeats of Steam's, then making a separate "launcher only" App that steam-users call for the patch (open, patch, get game going, leave rest to Steam) is the most logical way to go during this conversion...
The "brainstormers" are probably hung up on a way to make sure that this "mini-launcher" only works for Steam users and can't be "TRIBBLE" and used by anyone else. Seems PWE is dead-set on the data mining (that steam probably lets them see from STO but not us launcher-only people) because the quickest way to "silence our whining" would be to offer this "new launcher" to all us STO peeps that are requesting just this...
Let me pull on some boots and stomp all over your modicum of hope.
What they said is that the design goal is to allow Steam users to bypass the 'full Arc' and they were brainstorming how to do that and the plan was to leave the Steam user flow intact.
Which means that they don't know how they're going to do it. Which really means that their plan is about as solid as their plan not to make Arc mandatory.
I think it's entirely possible that they'll come back and say they couldn't figure out a way to make it happen, so Steam will just launch Arc. Sorry, plans change.
"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
0
dezstravusMember, Cryptic DevelopersPosts: 2Arc User
During the forum migration last year, many players lost their forum handles. I hope your website integration doesn't cause the same thing to happen again. Since we all post using PWE accounts now, I doubt it will happen again, but I'm mentioning it just in case.
Hey frtoaster,
The website integration doesn't involve any back-end changes to forums. The forums will remain in their current state, with their current content. There will likely be some small changes to the menu bar at the top of the page (My Account, Support, Language), since the forums will live "inside" a new website infrastructure, but the forums themselves will be unaltered in terms of content, accounts, and features.
I've posted this in another thread but I'll cc it since no one has addressed this issue:
I play STO mostly when I'm outside town for work since at home I have a family to take care of. Since work for me is a bit far off on a mine site, I have to rely on Mobile Internet and such I have monthly data limit which costs a lot if I exceed. If Arc sends advertisement and anything else that would bust that limit I'll have to close down my monthly account and switch to another game.
So not-so-Perfect World Entertainment, hoping that you read this (in a Perfect World they would), here are some options and I encourage others to give some instead of just complaining:
1- Have low bandwidth-cap option with lower download-heavy of quality advertisements
2- Get the other way around: GIVE Zen to users that run the full Arc software. Just a small monthly amount, enough to keep players happy and for us players that can't operate/tolerate/whateverate the use of Arc, we'll also be happy not getting a candy by not having Arc.
3- Give subscribing player an option to opt out of the "wonderful" features of Arc (aka we're already giving you money so give us a break!)
We all know that maintenance costs are high for servers, debugs, new contents, etc. and for a free game it can be difficult to find income sources. Making players pay more elsewhere means they will invest less in the game.
As of now, I have not cancelled my subscription but I am thinking about it.
Cheers
Let me just add that just running the normal launcher sucks up between 5-10 MB of data. If there's all sorts of data transfer that I will not use it will be a no go. LotRO sucks 25 MB per launch, SWtOR less than 4...
EDIT: Dezstravus, I have read all posts of this thread and I would like to thank you for reading them as well. Your comments and feedbacks are always appreciated.
"Starship captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. The secret is to give them what they need, not what they want."
- Scotty, to La Forge
Great question! I have seen a couple people ask about running multiple clients at the same time, though I'm not sure how specifically this is affected by launching STO with the new version of Arc we are developing. I'll try to get some information on this.
Can you provide any updates on this yet?
Should we ever be forced to migrate, i'd rather not lose any of the existing features. Also wondering about the other launcher features here, like using one of the proxies for patching/playing, being able to turn on-demand patching off, starting playback of demo files etc..
Since i remember also seeing something about chat in the launcher, we will keep our xmpp chat service i hope ? Chatting in the launcher may be nice, but the xmpp way we have here atm is already greatly superior as it allows to keep the chat available from just about anywhere, even on cellphones.
Well I decided to abandon ship tonight I uninstalled Star Trek Online on both my laptop and desktop computer. I am sad that I had to do this especially 1 day away from celebrating 1 year anniversary of playing this game but I was not going to continue to play this game with the knowledge that ARC will become mandatory sometime in the future and that I refuse to download/install it.
I would like to say thank you to the multiple fleets I had a character in and to say thank you to everyone who I played the game with. I don't know if you will see this post because I predict it will be deleted or whatever.
To any smart TRIBBLE no you can't have my stuff no one will profit from my leaving.
<- no Steam account = no Steam installed
<- no Origin account = no Origin installed
<- no Uplay account = no Uplay installed
<- no Impulse account = no Impulse installed (ok, now it is a app)
<- no Triton account (dead anyway)
<- no facebook account
<- no google account
No need for anything that works like that TRIBBLE above. Leave me allone with that stuff and let me choose.
But I will give Arc a real chance.
Test 1.
I will throw it out of the autostart. And when it does make problems because of that - bye bye STO
Test 2
After starting STO [Alt + Tab] + [Strg + Alt + Del] and the thing is killed if it does not want to die on its own after playing the to fat launcher.
If it does make problems, see above.
If it is putting itself between the communication of STO and the Servers, see above.
I think I will launch it only in a very limited sandbox too. See above.
I don't have any "friends" and no REAL friends in the game I need to keep contact outside of the game. I do that with my real life friends in other ways.
I don't need any of the verbal diarrhea of social networks.
I don't need an other wanabe browser on my system. I allready see how good the IE based launcher is working. With all this Iframe errors I get.
I don't need informations about other cryptic games because I don't want to play one of the other ones atm. And if I would like to. I don't need a wanabe browser to learn something about that games. I don't even need informations about other cryptic games. I'm here for Star Trek Online. Thats all.
And I don't need an addware!
If there would be an option to update the game without the launcher. I would even skip the current launcher and just start the game from the STO.exe with doing the login ingame.
Ah, btw
I was thinking about spending some more money to cryptic for the new season. You know, new season, new contend I want to thank for.
Lets say, delayed.
Hey, arc sounds good to me! I used it and didn't mind it, but then I had to format for other reasons and didn't install it again. But hey, all the features sound good and I won't drag my feet to change like everyone else seems to be doing. Also, bye everyone quitting!
Yes, that is absolutely the goal. I should also clarify that Arc does not use your upload bandwidth to host game downloads to other users. This was a feature that was experimented with in the past, however, we no longer utilize torrent functionality, and host all downloads via our own infrastructure.
Currently, Cryptic's account and patch servers are hosted by Cogent Communications in Boston. When we switch to your new unified infrastructure for logging in and patching, will we still be using these servers? Or will all PWE games be switched over to new account and patch servers?
Can we get a stand-alone launcher and patcher without the other features of Arc (overlays, web browsing, social media, etc.)? From a technical standpoint, I see no reason why these functions need to be integrated into a single application.
Since i remember also seeing something about chat in the launcher, we will keep our xmpp chat service i hope ? Chatting in the launcher may be nice, but the xmpp way we have here atm is already greatly superior as it allows to keep the chat available from just about anywhere, even on cellphones.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it work with any client that supports XMPP? I think the important thing is not that it works on phones, but that it works with non-Cryptic and non-PWE clients.
1. Is it true it hordes 10Gb of memory for later downloads? If so, downloads of what?Possibly free(unwanted) other games?
From what I can see, that sounds like a hack program. it is controlled a part of another persons computer, that it has no right too. The owner of the computer determines allocation of resources, what if they need the 10Gig for something else. not everyone has alienware.
2. I have 2 accts, 1 gold, 1 LTS. Currently to swap from one to the other, I log out and log back. from the breif time I had ARC, it seems I would then be doing log out of game, log out of ARC, log back in arc and back into game.
3. The performance reporting. having just read a description of Spyware, unless OPT OUT is the default setting, then that is spyware.
4.The funny one, I was bored at work. Since ARC users will be able to access games and non ARC users will not, this makes it an exploit, as it gives people who use it an unfair advantage ie, being able to play, over people who don't. This makes it illegal for us to use it under the TOS.
5.as other peopel have posted. I do not use any social media. so that is no use to me.
I chat on ingame chat with people playing. I can email/message people if they are not on.
6.I only play one game. I've stopped playing NW since it so completely boring. I have no interest in generic fantasy gear grind MMOs. If I decide to play one I will restart my Rift subs.
7. advertisements. NO
8 special offers. meh, I'm on Champions special offers are few and far between. We'res till waiting for the special item from NW founders packs that the other games got.
9. What is it doing the time it is running in the background? If I only need it to launch the game and don't want any of the other stuff, how do I stop it from running in the background?
As it is for now, it's possible to launch game from Arc, then go to desktop and close Arc from your Windows task bar.
So it is possible to have Arc running in background or not, player's choice. I think it's a good feature and if it will be kept in the final version there should be no problem.
The same can be done with Steam.
Now, if final version of Arc will start games without running their launchers as a middle step, but it will also retain this feature (right click icon in task bar, close it), and the same will be for Steam versions of the game - everyone should be happy.
My brother in law wanted back into sto so downloaded the arc app and surprise surprise it doesbt work his co game showed but when pressing install it didn't do anything neverless hes now going to use steam for his gaming needs and like me sto will be uninstalled when it is removed if steam and dont say it won't I know it will.
NO TO ARC
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I am amused that any of you are bothering to post feedback here.
This studio will have zero say in this platform, and will be forced to use whatever the PWE marketing team feels will best position the ads for them. PWE bought this studio in order to get its other titles a foothold in North America, and frankly, that hasn't happened.
They do not care if this is the only game you play. They want their other titles in your face as much as possible, in the hopes that constantly seeing the links and ads for them will eventually wear you down and get you to try them.
This isn't about streamlining, or consolidating technology. It is purely about selling you their product.
All your questions are doing is forcing this Dev to lie to you.
It all comes down to a simple decision. You will either use ARC or you will leave the game. No other threat, or plea will make a difference. And ARC is and will be EXACTLY the kind of adware/spyware you think it is.
I can tell you, for myself, that as soon as they make ANY changes to how the game runs via Steam, I and the years of zen purchases I have made will be leaving.
I'd like to quote this for truth and really, really recommend you all read it carefully.
I doubt very , very strongly that anything the community managers say is going to change this roll out, assuming the community managers are even allowed to communicate to anyone who can alter the strategy.
I recall my last company gobbled up a much smaller company a few years back with a niche focus product (insurance subrogation software). The smaller acquisition had the knowledge about what their customers did and did not want, but the COO had this audacious plan about lining up core assets to use the same platforms of software ,and we ended up forcing this stuff down the pipeline.
More than a few of the acquisitions people tried to get the message out that this was going to drive off customers. A few even quit in protest. Didn't matter. The line went out that if you were not on board with the company's long term strategic goals you should get out. As for customer complaints -- actual quote -- "All customers complain in the short term. They'll get over it or we'll make up the business in the long run."
We lost about 55% of the customers of that platform. When I left three years later, most of the lost profits had been recouped in other ways. The COO became CEO , the managers who protested got sidelined, and the customer ultimately lost.
If you want to take a high, hard line on what you chose to run or not run on your computer, that's fine and admirable. But please, let's not act like if people post enough anything will change.
I do not understand why they would force a new launcher on us that can hurt our gaming. Arc disables my MMO mouse. I don't want to have to use it.
Because they want to sell their ****ing product no matter how much it ****s up their customers. Count me out: STO is literally the only MMO I play and am interested in playing. The rest of my collection is single-player and usually without optional multiplayer.
The day Arc starts interfering with how STO runs with Steam is the day I stop paying for this game.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
The Arc Client will allow you to download Perfect World games, and will eventually replace the various launchers, patchers, and download methods we currently offer.
Seriously, thanks for the heads-up. I was considering subscribing to the game again. Maybe even going lifer, when it went on sale. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore. With ARC eventually becoming mandatory, I have no reason to invest in this game, as I won't be installing ARC.
And thanks for making my remaining time in STO even more enjoyable. With the knowledge that I will be a short term player, I have no reason to continue the grinding. I'll just play what I've got and stop looking to improve on it. It's a much more satisfying way to play. Thanks again.
Will I eventually have to install this ARC on every PC I play STO on?
Right now I just launch the game from my USB drive, I use at work and home.
I know I will not be able to install a game portal /steam / origin type software on my work PC.
I to only play one PW game, STO. I have no interest in any of the many other F2P+Micro Transaction games PW offers.
However, it looks like ARC will eventually be mandatory, then I'll either have to install it (not likely), or look elsewhere to spend my game time. Everquest Next looks interesting...
Will I eventually have to install this ARC on every PC I play STO on?
Right now I just launch the game from my USB drive, I use at work and home.
I know I will not be able to install a game portal /steam / origin type software on my work PC.
I to only play one PW game, STO. I have no interest in any of the many other F2P+Micro Transaction games PW offers.
However, it looks like ARC will eventually be mandatory, then I'll either have to install it (not likely), or look elsewhere to spend my game time. Everquest Next looks interesting...
Doh, perhaps you should do something other than playing STO at work... I don't know, like for example... work?
Doh, perhaps you should do something other than playing STO at work... I don't know, like for example... work?
Though that sounds logical, there are many jobs that require long hours of idle time. Firefighters work 24 hour shifts with much free time, IT personnel may just be there in case something goes wrong, Congress...
Though that sounds logical, there are many jobs that require long hours of idle time. Firefighters work 24 hour shifts with much free time, IT personnel may just be there in case something goes wrong, Congress...
Yea I should of clarified. At work as in on my lunch break. Although, yes I'm in I.T..
Just really against any type of online portal I must install to play a game.
Origin, Steam, BattleNet, I avoid them all.
I view the launcher as a patching mechanism, it does its job then closes.
The day ARC is mandatory, is the day I'll take my game time elsewhere, unless, and only if Cryptic makes ARC as light, small, portable, and only runs when I click on STO, closes after.
Some preliminary testing on the current ARC gateway / launcher
Size: STO Launcher (exe) = 51MB; ARC (folder) = 77MB
RAM: STO Launcher (idle not logged in & displaying everything I need to know about STO) = 24MB; ARC (idle not logged in with no information whatsoever about anything) = 26MB
Installed to Programs\ARC; but it installed to Programs\ARC\Arc
[Create Account] and [Lost Password] buttons seem to be broken, as pressing them does nothing. HTM, HTML, URL are associated properly in windows.
Looks to be "portable" as I installed ARC, uninstalled it, then ran the backup I made of it, and it worked without any dll or registry errors.
No startup items were added, however, an ArcService was added to my services list, but was off (Stopped) by default.
Unknown, but looks like it will want to install any PW game in the Arc folder with no option to place where the user would like. Say STO on a SSD, and Neverwinter on HDD.
Did not log into it as I tested it in a VM and would have to add the machine to my approved STO locations, plus I have no 3D capabilities in the VM.
Questions:
Why is there an ArcService?
Will one be able to choose what folder games are installed to?
Suggestions:
Verify is truly portable (as at least portable as current launcher)
Keep is small, under 70MB.
If it operates just like the current launcher (Run, log in, click game, game runs). No background services, Does not run on startup, no collection of data, just basically an easier loader for you guys to manage, then you may have a winner here (IMO).
...I hope the powers that be don't just use this as a way to lose a bunch of current players to make room for new players and THEIR subscriptions...!! LOL ...
(Just re-formatted my hd, so I was forced to do the arc thing...)
You understand and agree that the Software may monitor and communicate information from your computer, including without limitation....
...You acknowledge that you have no expectation of privacy.....
...you expressly consent to the monitoring and information collection...
blah, blah, blah...
Just when things start to go so well,... Q in town, Sphere episode, free carriers, advanced pets...
Then BAM! lol
Just disapointed.
I'm just glad I'm not amounst the ones that have to see ads after dishing out cash for this game.
Remember you heard it here first...."a2p"!
Now i'm off to scrape my new carrier along the side of esd...provided this updater actually works. So far No good.
Steve@SCCreations - Fleet General - Persistent OfficerTitle & Accolade Deceiver's Lair Fleet
As a player who has no use for any Arc features, apart from launching and updating the game, and since I am also one of those who would opt out of any data sharing, I would like to know why Arc will continue to run in the background after the STO is up and running. I honestly cannot think of a legitimate reason for Arc to do so.
I can, however, imagine nefarious reasons for it to do so.
So now, PWE/Devs, I have handed you this opportunity to explain why Arc must operate in this manner. Please do so as a thorough, honest explanation of what exactly is happening in the background may put this whole matter to rest. That is unless there is, in fact, something nefarious afoot.
I, and, I suspect, those like me, simply want our privacy respected and to have the option to have Arc shut down entirely once the game is launched. Especially those of us who have put money into the game.
I don't want to be adversarial about this Arc issue. I suspect others in my position don't want to be adversarial, either. Please don't put us in that position.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
I can't help thinkin' that all lifers whom are unhappy about ARC and other degredations of the service you subcribed to, should be seeking legal counsel... possible class action suit in this to get reimbursed for failure to maintain status Quo in a lifetime contract.
I'm an LTS who will drop this game completely when/if ARC is made a mandatory component required to play (as well as ANY OTHER Cryptic MMO). That said, if you bothered to read the TOS and EULA we all agreed to, it stated they can (Cryptic/PWE) can make changes to the game as they see fit.
^^^
Thus, there is no real basis to file a lawsuit over ARC, regardless of how they decide to implement it.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Comments
Um. If you don't use it, I don't think the fact that you see no issues is useful information.
Let me pull on some boots and stomp all over your modicum of hope.
What they said is that the design goal is to allow Steam users to bypass the 'full Arc' and they were brainstorming how to do that and the plan was to leave the Steam user flow intact.
Which means that they don't know how they're going to do it. Which really means that their plan is about as solid as their plan not to make Arc mandatory.
I think it's entirely possible that they'll come back and say they couldn't figure out a way to make it happen, so Steam will just launch Arc. Sorry, plans change.
Hey frtoaster,
The website integration doesn't involve any back-end changes to forums. The forums will remain in their current state, with their current content. There will likely be some small changes to the menu bar at the top of the page (My Account, Support, Language), since the forums will live "inside" a new website infrastructure, but the forums themselves will be unaltered in terms of content, accounts, and features.
I play STO mostly when I'm outside town for work since at home I have a family to take care of. Since work for me is a bit far off on a mine site, I have to rely on Mobile Internet and such I have monthly data limit which costs a lot if I exceed. If Arc sends advertisement and anything else that would bust that limit I'll have to close down my monthly account and switch to another game.
So not-so-Perfect World Entertainment, hoping that you read this (in a Perfect World they would), here are some options and I encourage others to give some instead of just complaining:
1- Have low bandwidth-cap option with lower download-heavy of quality advertisements
2- Get the other way around: GIVE Zen to users that run the full Arc software. Just a small monthly amount, enough to keep players happy and for us players that can't operate/tolerate/whateverate the use of Arc, we'll also be happy not getting a candy by not having Arc.
3- Give subscribing player an option to opt out of the "wonderful" features of Arc (aka we're already giving you money so give us a break!)
We all know that maintenance costs are high for servers, debugs, new contents, etc. and for a free game it can be difficult to find income sources. Making players pay more elsewhere means they will invest less in the game.
As of now, I have not cancelled my subscription but I am thinking about it.
Cheers
Let me just add that just running the normal launcher sucks up between 5-10 MB of data. If there's all sorts of data transfer that I will not use it will be a no go. LotRO sucks 25 MB per launch, SWtOR less than 4...
EDIT: Dezstravus, I have read all posts of this thread and I would like to thank you for reading them as well. Your comments and feedbacks are always appreciated.
- Scotty, to La Forge
Can you provide any updates on this yet?
Should we ever be forced to migrate, i'd rather not lose any of the existing features. Also wondering about the other launcher features here, like using one of the proxies for patching/playing, being able to turn on-demand patching off, starting playback of demo files etc..
Since i remember also seeing something about chat in the launcher, we will keep our xmpp chat service i hope ? Chatting in the launcher may be nice, but the xmpp way we have here atm is already greatly superior as it allows to keep the chat available from just about anywhere, even on cellphones.
I would like to say thank you to the multiple fleets I had a character in and to say thank you to everyone who I played the game with. I don't know if you will see this post because I predict it will be deleted or whatever.
To any smart TRIBBLE no you can't have my stuff no one will profit from my leaving.
<- no Origin account = no Origin installed
<- no Uplay account = no Uplay installed
<- no Impulse account = no Impulse installed (ok, now it is a app)
<- no Triton account (dead anyway)
<- no facebook account
<- no google account
No need for anything that works like that TRIBBLE above. Leave me allone with that stuff and let me choose.
But I will give Arc a real chance.
Test 1.
I will throw it out of the autostart. And when it does make problems because of that - bye bye STO
Test 2
After starting STO [Alt + Tab] + [Strg + Alt + Del] and the thing is killed if it does not want to die on its own after playing the to fat launcher.
If it does make problems, see above.
If it is putting itself between the communication of STO and the Servers, see above.
I think I will launch it only in a very limited sandbox too. See above.
I don't have any "friends" and no REAL friends in the game I need to keep contact outside of the game. I do that with my real life friends in other ways.
I don't need any of the verbal diarrhea of social networks.
I don't need an other wanabe browser on my system. I allready see how good the IE based launcher is working. With all this Iframe errors I get.
I don't need informations about other cryptic games because I don't want to play one of the other ones atm. And if I would like to. I don't need a wanabe browser to learn something about that games. I don't even need informations about other cryptic games. I'm here for Star Trek Online. Thats all.
And I don't need an addware!
If there would be an option to update the game without the launcher. I would even skip the current launcher and just start the game from the STO.exe with doing the login ingame.
Ah, btw
I was thinking about spending some more money to cryptic for the new season. You know, new season, new contend I want to thank for.
Lets say, delayed.
Currently, Cryptic's account and patch servers are hosted by Cogent Communications in Boston. When we switch to your new unified infrastructure for logging in and patching, will we still be using these servers? Or will all PWE games be switched over to new account and patch servers?
Can we get a stand-alone launcher and patcher without the other features of Arc (overlays, web browsing, social media, etc.)? From a technical standpoint, I see no reason why these functions need to be integrated into a single application.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it work with any client that supports XMPP? I think the important thing is not that it works on phones, but that it works with non-Cryptic and non-PWE clients.
1. Is it true it hordes 10Gb of memory for later downloads? If so, downloads of what?Possibly free(unwanted) other games?
From what I can see, that sounds like a hack program. it is controlled a part of another persons computer, that it has no right too. The owner of the computer determines allocation of resources, what if they need the 10Gig for something else. not everyone has alienware.
2. I have 2 accts, 1 gold, 1 LTS. Currently to swap from one to the other, I log out and log back. from the breif time I had ARC, it seems I would then be doing log out of game, log out of ARC, log back in arc and back into game.
3. The performance reporting. having just read a description of Spyware, unless OPT OUT is the default setting, then that is spyware.
4.The funny one, I was bored at work. Since ARC users will be able to access games and non ARC users will not, this makes it an exploit, as it gives people who use it an unfair advantage ie, being able to play, over people who don't. This makes it illegal for us to use it under the TOS.
5.as other peopel have posted. I do not use any social media. so that is no use to me.
I chat on ingame chat with people playing. I can email/message people if they are not on.
6.I only play one game. I've stopped playing NW since it so completely boring. I have no interest in generic fantasy gear grind MMOs. If I decide to play one I will restart my Rift subs.
7. advertisements. NO
8 special offers. meh, I'm on Champions special offers are few and far between. We'res till waiting for the special item from NW founders packs that the other games got.
9. What is it doing the time it is running in the background? If I only need it to launch the game and don't want any of the other stuff, how do I stop it from running in the background?
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
http://techsupport.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=34231
So it is possible to have Arc running in background or not, player's choice. I think it's a good feature and if it will be kept in the final version there should be no problem.
The same can be done with Steam.
Now, if final version of Arc will start games without running their launchers as a middle step, but it will also retain this feature (right click icon in task bar, close it), and the same will be for Steam versions of the game - everyone should be happy.
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I'd like to quote this for truth and really, really recommend you all read it carefully.
I doubt very , very strongly that anything the community managers say is going to change this roll out, assuming the community managers are even allowed to communicate to anyone who can alter the strategy.
I recall my last company gobbled up a much smaller company a few years back with a niche focus product (insurance subrogation software). The smaller acquisition had the knowledge about what their customers did and did not want, but the COO had this audacious plan about lining up core assets to use the same platforms of software ,and we ended up forcing this stuff down the pipeline.
More than a few of the acquisitions people tried to get the message out that this was going to drive off customers. A few even quit in protest. Didn't matter. The line went out that if you were not on board with the company's long term strategic goals you should get out. As for customer complaints -- actual quote -- "All customers complain in the short term. They'll get over it or we'll make up the business in the long run."
We lost about 55% of the customers of that platform. When I left three years later, most of the lost profits had been recouped in other ways. The COO became CEO , the managers who protested got sidelined, and the customer ultimately lost.
If you want to take a high, hard line on what you chose to run or not run on your computer, that's fine and admirable. But please, let's not act like if people post enough anything will change.
Visit my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Akurie369?feature=watch
Captain Bi Shonen's official Thread! http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=22866531#post22866531
Read the post above you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcZSDn5cQ5Q
Because they want to sell their ****ing product no matter how much it ****s up their customers. Count me out: STO is literally the only MMO I play and am interested in playing. The rest of my collection is single-player and usually without optional multiplayer.
The day Arc starts interfering with how STO runs with Steam is the day I stop paying for this game.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Seriously, thanks for the heads-up. I was considering subscribing to the game again. Maybe even going lifer, when it went on sale. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore. With ARC eventually becoming mandatory, I have no reason to invest in this game, as I won't be installing ARC.
And thanks for making my remaining time in STO even more enjoyable. With the knowledge that I will be a short term player, I have no reason to continue the grinding. I'll just play what I've got and stop looking to improve on it. It's a much more satisfying way to play. Thanks again.
Will I eventually have to install this ARC on every PC I play STO on?
Right now I just launch the game from my USB drive, I use at work and home.
I know I will not be able to install a game portal /steam / origin type software on my work PC.
I to only play one PW game, STO. I have no interest in any of the many other F2P+Micro Transaction games PW offers.
However, it looks like ARC will eventually be mandatory, then I'll either have to install it (not likely), or look elsewhere to spend my game time. Everquest Next looks interesting...
Doh, perhaps you should do something other than playing STO at work... I don't know, like for example... work?
Though that sounds logical, there are many jobs that require long hours of idle time. Firefighters work 24 hour shifts with much free time, IT personnel may just be there in case something goes wrong, Congress...
Yea I should of clarified. At work as in on my lunch break. Although, yes I'm in I.T..
Just really against any type of online portal I must install to play a game.
Origin, Steam, BattleNet, I avoid them all.
I view the launcher as a patching mechanism, it does its job then closes.
The day ARC is mandatory, is the day I'll take my game time elsewhere, unless, and only if Cryptic makes ARC as light, small, portable, and only runs when I click on STO, closes after.
Some preliminary testing on the current ARC gateway / launcher
Size: STO Launcher (exe) = 51MB; ARC (folder) = 77MB
RAM: STO Launcher (idle not logged in & displaying everything I need to know about STO) = 24MB; ARC (idle not logged in with no information whatsoever about anything) = 26MB
Installed to Programs\ARC; but it installed to Programs\ARC\Arc
[Create Account] and [Lost Password] buttons seem to be broken, as pressing them does nothing. HTM, HTML, URL are associated properly in windows.
Looks to be "portable" as I installed ARC, uninstalled it, then ran the backup I made of it, and it worked without any dll or registry errors.
No startup items were added, however, an ArcService was added to my services list, but was off (Stopped) by default.
Unknown, but looks like it will want to install any PW game in the Arc folder with no option to place where the user would like. Say STO on a SSD, and Neverwinter on HDD.
Did not log into it as I tested it in a VM and would have to add the machine to my approved STO locations, plus I have no 3D capabilities in the VM.
Questions:
Why is there an ArcService?
Will one be able to choose what folder games are installed to?
Suggestions:
Verify is truly portable (as at least portable as current launcher)
Keep is small, under 70MB.
If it operates just like the current launcher (Run, log in, click game, game runs). No background services, Does not run on startup, no collection of data, just basically an easier loader for you guys to manage, then you may have a winner here (IMO).
Now you have me thinking...
LOL only 3 pages... guess that shows where Cryptics users are, keep us STO players happy.
If you must do ARC, put out a ARC Lite that only patches STO, NOTHING ELSE!
From "Free to Play" (f2p) to "Ad to Play". (a2p).
(Just re-formatted my hd, so I was forced to do the arc thing...)
You understand and agree that the Software may monitor and communicate information from your computer, including without limitation....
...You acknowledge that you have no expectation of privacy.....
...you expressly consent to the monitoring and information collection...
blah, blah, blah...
Just when things start to go so well,... Q in town, Sphere episode, free carriers, advanced pets...
Then BAM! lol
Just disapointed.
I'm just glad I'm not amounst the ones that have to see ads after dishing out cash for this game.
Remember you heard it here first...."a2p"!
Now i'm off to scrape my new carrier along the side of esd...provided this updater actually works. So far No good.
Deceiver's Lair Fleet
I can, however, imagine nefarious reasons for it to do so.
So now, PWE/Devs, I have handed you this opportunity to explain why Arc must operate in this manner. Please do so as a thorough, honest explanation of what exactly is happening in the background may put this whole matter to rest. That is unless there is, in fact, something nefarious afoot.
I, and, I suspect, those like me, simply want our privacy respected and to have the option to have Arc shut down entirely once the game is launched. Especially those of us who have put money into the game.
I don't want to be adversarial about this Arc issue. I suspect others in my position don't want to be adversarial, either. Please don't put us in that position.
Standalone STO installer. Use it.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
I'm an LTS who will drop this game completely when/if ARC is made a mandatory component required to play (as well as ANY OTHER Cryptic MMO). That said, if you bothered to read the TOS and EULA we all agreed to, it stated they can (Cryptic/PWE) can make changes to the game as they see fit.
^^^
Thus, there is no real basis to file a lawsuit over ARC, regardless of how they decide to implement it.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."