Now to address my personal question which may or may not shut me up on these threads....Why won't you consider making ARC optional?
Because PWE is making it mandatory because it allows PWE to shove all their other games they have into people's faces for a chance for them to download and play them.
Period.
Cryptic saying ANYTHING else at this point is a lie based on how they are continuing to shove it in our faces despite 99% of the forum population saying, "We don't want this. At all."
As long as I can get around ARC by using the Steam clients (even though I WANT to have it stay how it is with the simple launchers for each of their games), I'll keep playing.
You disable that 'workaround' however, and I'll sing to high praises how Cryptic, and thus PWE, is trying to TRIBBLE us all over and I'll leave you all in a heartbeat.
I'll add my voice to the "I absolutely will not install this on my computer" list. I have major privacy and security concerns with this software. I am here to play STO and nothing else- not other PWE games, not to help you with your marketing. If you have questions that go beyond what was necessary to start playing STO or can't be gleaned from analyzing server data, send me a survey.
Okay, on the mobile version of arc, story, news. What do I see? OUTDATED JUNK BLOWN UP ON MY SCREEN! Winter event live, a month old, the new Klingon ship, month old, the voth lock box now available, SEVERAL MONTHS OLD! It's only after scrolling down past these overblown sales pitches that I find a cleaner, more orderly list of news. Stop with the gigantic pictures of revenue based junk and put the latest bit up top, all news should be in order as it has been for years under Cryptic control.
God pwe, just come out and say it, you don't think we are throwing every damn penny we have at you so you plan to harass us about it. The site looked okay at first glance but the more I explore the less I like.
I absolutely hate this with every fiber of my being....and to top it all of you have rendered my normal launcher useless..is there anything you people wont do for money?? lifetime sub and i am clueless on how to get in and play! i feel as though i have been robbed after 3 years of loyal gameplay
I just rebuilt my old WinXP computer as a Win7. In the process I had to reload STO and lost my launcher-only status, gaining ARC in the process. I'd not followed the Steam/Arc discussions as a result, until now.
So the question: is it possible to exchange for Steam without having to create a new account? I've got 3 lvl 50s and if I can't keep them to gain Steam, then the ARC advantage is clear for me, regardless of how crummy it might really be.
STO's login system exists separately from the others. You'll be fine. Or, if you don't want to use Steam, click the link for a standalone installer in my sig.
Oh, and I see branflakes is posting here. I hope you're forwarding this thread to your superiors so they can see how much money they'll be losing.
"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"
Ok, so I have been doing some testing with this new Arc version.
Using the tools provided, I can see that this new version still scans all attached hard drives, but does not (from what I can tell with monitoring) send any information outside my virtual machine.
Whether it masks the data somehow, I don't know....
It is also important to note that is still does this despite not allowing permission to do so. Why Arc still needs to scan hard drives that have nothing to so with the directory it is installed into, is beyond me....
Make you own minds up, but this program will still never be put onto any of my gaming computers, period.
Who the heck knows what it's looking for? Details like that aren't being disclosed, and that alone should set off red flags for everyone.
No, you may not scan my system or install plugins everywhere. You may not do anything to my system without my explicit permission, and no, you may not establish this permission with some vague, catch-all TOS agreement. You will tell me every single thing your program does and give me the chance to opt out of each item, or it's not getting installed on my machine.
*Note: Even though a new Arc client is available for download, all Game Launchers will remain in their current form during the beta. this is a god dam lie,my launcher has worked fine for 3 years now suddenly it does nothing but stall out and freeze...I hate you STO you evil greedy thieving backstabbing TRIBBLE!
This is why there's such a fervor to "please tell us every detail of what your scanner said about ARC."
It's because of the unspoken conclusion: "...so that we can better disguise the spyware and rootkits to prevent them from being detected in the future, mandatory installation."
I hate to say it but my suspicions are leading me to that conclusion as well, that every detail we give here isn't going to benefit us but is just being used to make it easier to sneak it under the radar.
We have no proof of that, in fact there has been zero transparency about what ARC actually does on a users computer and things we discover on our own are proving contrary what we are being told. We're told ARC has no Spyware yet it installs plugins in other browsers that are active when viewing other websites, We're told ARC has no Torrent capability but will be used for downloading and patching game files where a torrent function would be implicit.
I realize you guys are obligated by your employers to put a positive spin on this thing but you better remember you are not dealing with a bunch of idiots, if something smells fishy we are not going to call it a rose.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
So it's okay when a corporation does it, but it's not okay when an individual or a government agency does it.
Can you see the logical disconnect there?
"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 hate to say it but my suspicions are leading me to that conclusion as well, that every detail we give here isn't going to benefit us but is just being used to make it easier to sneak it under the radar.
We have no proof of that, in fact there has been zero transparency about what ARC actually does on a users computer and things we discover on our own are proving contrary what we are being told. We're told ARC has no Spyware yet it installs plugins in other browsers that are active when viewing other websites, We're told ARC has no Torrent capability but will be used for downloading and patching game files where a torrent function would be implicit.
I realize you guys are obligated by your employers to put a positive spin on this thing but you better remember you are not dealing with a bunch of idiots, if something smells fishy we are not going to call it a rose.
Yeah, it sounds like corporate marketing BS Bingo, to me. They're not installing spyware, just something that acts like spyware but is named something else. It's not a torrent, it's "on-demand, peer-to-peer patching," or somesuch. Or "Arc doesn't have this capability", but it does call up some client program with that capability.
If hope you guys know that you can uninstall the arc from your system and still play STO, because there is an option in the uninstaller which says that only uninstall Arc but keep the installed games.
And yes, it installs additional stuff on the machine like firefox plugins, so stop lying to us about not sniffing on us.
I hate to say it but my suspicions are leading me to that conclusion as well, that every detail we give here isn't going to benefit us but is just being used to make it easier to sneak it under the radar.
I know, right? Tell me this doesn't set off klaxons and red lights:
For any reports of alerts from these programs, please let us know. The more information that can be provided, the better. The full report from the software, including what specific activity or behavior it identified as suspicious, can help us improve Arc to ensure that it is accurately analyzed as safe and secure.
I find "so that it is accurately analyzed" and "...as safe and secure" to look very, very strange as linked together here. It reads to me like "Oooooh, all those silly scanners finding all sorts of issues to warn about are doing it wrong, and we need to help them correctly interpret our innocuous little tidbits."
Yeah, and maybe the reason multiple malware scanners are shrieking "malware" is for the most obvious reason. :rolleyes:
Another thing, this is supposedly PWE's idea of a unified launcher, maybe I'm remembering wrong and with PWE games but with Cryptic games we already have a unified launcher. You can open up Cryptic's launcher settings and click an option to allow you to select any Cryptic game you have installed to patch.
My conclusion is... after having tested Arc for myself and having seen the opinions and concerns in this thread... and having seen the Corporate reaction to our concerns...
Game Over.
The company won't listen, is more interested in figuring out how to stealth the functionally of Arc and flat out refuses to tell us what is going on under the hood.
You're dealing with a user-base that is slightly smarter than the average bear. You have no concept of what you are dealing with here. Continue to ignore our requests and play corporate-babble games and you will in fact put yourselves out of business.
My conclusion is... after having tested Arc for myself and having seen the opinions and concerns in this thread... and having seen the Corporate reaction to our concerns...
Game Over.
The company won't listen, is more interested in figuring out how to stealth the functionally of Arc and flat out refuses to tell us what is going on under the hood.
You're dealing with a user-base that is slightly smarter than the average bear. You have no concept of what you are dealing with here. Continue to ignore our requests and play corporate-babble games and you will in fact put yourselves out of business.
Rapidly.
Hi Cryptic remember us the people who pay your salary heed this warning
Invasive game addons ? The moment I am forced to install that garbage, is the moment I uninstall STO for good.
Look what gameguard did to Trickster Online in the US... oh right Trickster Online was SHUTDOWN after being in operation for years.
Say no to invasive rootkit style programs that turn your computer into a remote torrent sharing server. I guess there is no end to the data mining either. I predicted this game would start dying at a rapid pace before the end of 2014... looks like my predictions are becoming a reality.
End the greed! You can make a profit without TRIBBLE us over.
I've made up my mind, because STO is the main game I play and my other games have nothing to do with pwe I'm going to hard reset my gaming PCB, completely wipe the drives and reload the Oscar under a fake name. Install arc and STO, nothing else, never will I put payment information on it for anything, this will be my STO rig and PWE will not see a red scent from me. My laptop will be scrubbed of anything pwe has their hands on and become my business rig. Probably something I should have done long ago but meh, if PWE wants to try this money grab I'm personally going to make sure it backfires on my end.
Nope. Other than probably having to give information to ARC developers of what to put on the STO part of it, they don't have influence on it.
Indeed, I know just from personal experience even volunteering for a certain small project how little say you can have in game related matters as a developer of any content, you take your orders like a soldier in a boot camp and do them, if you don't and challenge the views of your overlord, especially publicly, you get the boot real quick. simple as that. An actual business chain of command could only be more strict that what I've experienced.
Comments
Arc does not have this capability.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Because PWE is making it mandatory because it allows PWE to shove all their other games they have into people's faces for a chance for them to download and play them.
Period.
Cryptic saying ANYTHING else at this point is a lie based on how they are continuing to shove it in our faces despite 99% of the forum population saying, "We don't want this. At all."
As long as I can get around ARC by using the Steam clients (even though I WANT to have it stay how it is with the simple launchers for each of their games), I'll keep playing.
You disable that 'workaround' however, and I'll sing to high praises how Cryptic, and thus PWE, is trying to TRIBBLE us all over and I'll leave you all in a heartbeat.
Razira's Primus Database Page
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
(P.S.: Also yes to the pretty Jadzia Dax, alias Terry Farrel :P :O):D
God pwe, just come out and say it, you don't think we are throwing every damn penny we have at you so you plan to harass us about it. The site looked okay at first glance but the more I explore the less I like.
STO's login system exists separately from the others. You'll be fine. Or, if you don't want to use Steam, click the link for a standalone installer in my sig.
Oh, and I see branflakes is posting here. I hope you're forwarding this thread to your superiors so they can see how much money they'll be losing.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Using the tools provided, I can see that this new version still scans all attached hard drives, but does not (from what I can tell with monitoring) send any information outside my virtual machine.
Whether it masks the data somehow, I don't know....
It is also important to note that is still does this despite not allowing permission to do so. Why Arc still needs to scan hard drives that have nothing to so with the directory it is installed into, is beyond me....
Make you own minds up, but this program will still never be put onto any of my gaming computers, period.
looking for installed PWE games perhaps...
Who the heck knows what it's looking for? Details like that aren't being disclosed, and that alone should set off red flags for everyone.
No, you may not scan my system or install plugins everywhere. You may not do anything to my system without my explicit permission, and no, you may not establish this permission with some vague, catch-all TOS agreement. You will tell me every single thing your program does and give me the chance to opt out of each item, or it's not getting installed on my machine.
I realize you guys are obligated by your employers to put a positive spin on this thing but you better remember you are not dealing with a bunch of idiots, if something smells fishy we are not going to call it a rose.
Idon'thate to break this too you, but
THE NSA ALREADY DO! :eek:
I hope STO get's better ...
So it's okay when a corporation does it, but it's not okay when an individual or a government agency does it.
Can you see the logical disconnect there?
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Yeah, it sounds like corporate marketing BS Bingo, to me. They're not installing spyware, just something that acts like spyware but is named something else. It's not a torrent, it's "on-demand, peer-to-peer patching," or somesuch. Or "Arc doesn't have this capability", but it does call up some client program with that capability.
And yes, it installs additional stuff on the machine like firefox plugins, so stop lying to us about not sniffing on us.
I know, right? Tell me this doesn't set off klaxons and red lights:
I find "so that it is accurately analyzed" and "...as safe and secure" to look very, very strange as linked together here. It reads to me like "Oooooh, all those silly scanners finding all sorts of issues to warn about are doing it wrong, and we need to help them correctly interpret our innocuous little tidbits."
Yeah, and maybe the reason multiple malware scanners are shrieking "malware" is for the most obvious reason. :rolleyes:
Game Over.
The company won't listen, is more interested in figuring out how to stealth the functionally of Arc and flat out refuses to tell us what is going on under the hood.
You're dealing with a user-base that is slightly smarter than the average bear. You have no concept of what you are dealing with here. Continue to ignore our requests and play corporate-babble games and you will in fact put yourselves out of business.
Rapidly.
Oh it was probably the same people who asked for the voth who now want arc, you know the people nobody ever see's or hears from ever!
How many "no's" must you guys get before you listen?
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
It's PWE that's trying to force this trash on us, Cryptic has nothing to do with it
Hi Cryptic remember us the people who pay your salary heed this warning
That is a question of whether someone's principles are worth more to them than their job.
Look what gameguard did to Trickster Online in the US... oh right Trickster Online was SHUTDOWN after being in operation for years.
Say no to invasive rootkit style programs that turn your computer into a remote torrent sharing server. I guess there is no end to the data mining either. I predicted this game would start dying at a rapid pace before the end of 2014... looks like my predictions are becoming a reality.
End the greed! You can make a profit without TRIBBLE us over.
| Join Date: January 2009 | Computer | Fleet: Broken Wings |
Nope. Other than probably having to give information to ARC developers of what to put on the STO part of it, they don't have influence on it.
Edit: @mewi, cute signature
11 August 2008
Indeed, I know just from personal experience even volunteering for a certain small project how little say you can have in game related matters as a developer of any content, you take your orders like a soldier in a boot camp and do them, if you don't and challenge the views of your overlord, especially publicly, you get the boot real quick. simple as that. An actual business chain of command could only be more strict that what I've experienced.
| Join Date: January 2009 | Computer | Fleet: Broken Wings |