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C-Z Store and 2014
flash525
Member Posts: 5,441 Arc User
I open this discussion up after the reveal of the second C-Store giveaway, but is the C-Store more or less dead? Aside from Master Keys and the odd Retrain/Tetrait Token, how much does the average person buy from there? I don't remember the last time I purchased anything of note from the C-Store.
Lately, everything seems to be via Lobi, even costumes are taking a turn for the worst (in the sense that they're becoming character unlocks instead of account unlocks). Any ship purchased via the store is essentially a skin and console only (cause fleet ships are better), I wonder whether Cryptic would just make more sales by selling C-Store consoles.
Are C-Store items a dying theme? Is everything (for the most part at least) destined to be released through the Lobi Store or Fleet Advancement?
Lately, everything seems to be via Lobi, even costumes are taking a turn for the worst (in the sense that they're becoming character unlocks instead of account unlocks). Any ship purchased via the store is essentially a skin and console only (cause fleet ships are better), I wonder whether Cryptic would just make more sales by selling C-Store consoles.
Are C-Store items a dying theme? Is everything (for the most part at least) destined to be released through the Lobi Store or Fleet Advancement?
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I bought all the ships and costumes in the c-store in all the time since open beta..... with the exception of that Ar'kif whatever.... one thing I had no need for was another tactical warbird.
Now if the trend moves towards more lockboxes and fewer cstore items (it should be noted that a cstore item generally cannot be bought on the exchange) then we can reconsider this.
I do not know the history of when it went free but there seem to be a fair # of people playing less than a few months and most seem to spend at least a little. I used my christmas money on zen, probably spent more than most.
The store is probably far from dead, in spite of the spending habits of long term players. How many new mogh ships have you seen, that is new, and people have bought those at a fair rate... how many scimitars are out there? Every other noob has one, myself included.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Lobi Store costumes and ships also mean that there's more possible profit, since you need waaay more than 550 Zen to get a Lobi Costume.
Anything other than ships going into the C-Store? I know I keep mentioning it, but - ENT Maco Outfit, perchance?
The lobi, lockbox, and doff pack ships outnumbered any individual faction's C-store releases (again, without counting the LoR rush, if you count those Romulans just dominate the list in every category), but not total C-store releases.
There has certainly been a decline in other items, particularly costumes, but even if you count lobi and holdings those haven't must moved to other places, they've just declined overall. Cryptic's said they never sold especially well, and the fact that they're now a mix of throwaways and consolation prizes seems to reflect that.
CStore 3 ship pack 5500 Zen ~ $50 US
Lobi Ship = 800 Lobi (Character Bound).
800 Lobi = 160 Lockboxes (assuming 5 Lobi per Lockbox (I know the number varies... but that seems about the norm).
160 Keys = 16 10 Key Packs (@956 Zen With today's sale) = 15296 Zen or about $150 US.
Even if you up the number of Lobi to 10 Per Lockbox, the cost is still about $75 for a character bound ship.
Sure you can offset it by selling other items received in the lockbox lottery, and buying the key from the exchange (but remember someone bought the key to post it on the exchange)... so, in the end Cryptic makes the same amount on the Lobi ship.
As for the lockbox ship... with such a low drop rate there is probably 250 - 500 or so lockboxes opened for each ship awarded... the ROI on a lockbox ship is crazy high.
Honestly, I think Cryptic should be required to post in game Gambling Addiction warnings when with each 10 lockboxes opened. Talked to more than a few people who have dropped some serious coin trying to get a lockbox ship that once they were dont they already had enough Lobi for the Lobi sister ship.
By adding an element of chance, and scarcity to the lobi/lockbox ship, they earn a lot more than the C-Store versions.
Star Trek Online, Now with out the Trek....
I don't think this was ever actually true in either case.
Raptr profile
We really have not had any items in 2013. Bridge's, Uniforms, and such. Its been lobi stuff. Maybe a duty officer pack or 2. That's it. Cryptic needs to work on this. Back to the days of introducing bridge packs!
I have some big $$$ items from you all. Galaxy X, TOS interior, Defiant interior pack, Oddy X3. Not to mention every uniform & bridge! Even bought me a unused Cat person lol.
Cryptic You put out some fed ships, More Bridge or even ship Interiors, uniforms "The khan one from ARC I would of gave $5 or so for btw" You do that you would have my money.
And you are correct in calling it that.
and it's C-store, sicne its the CRYPTIC-Store, has nothing to do with the currency that it uses it, it was only renamed when the atari points came along because atari told 'em to. so until the Devs officially start calling it the "Zen store" it will always be the C-store.
As for ships, while it's fair to say that it was probably more important to expand the Romulan roster following the launch of LoR, their overall record for non-Romulan ship releases (not counting Lockbox ships, or the Obelisk) has been pretty shoddy this past year. The Avenger and the Mogh are the only two C-Store ships that the Fed/KDF recieved at top tier. EDIT; And the Kumari. Whoever said the Vesta, check again. That was October 2012.
Bran made mention of stuff going into the C-Store this year in another thread, but honestly, until I see it, i'm not convinced it's going to be much. It'd be nice if they'd show a sneak peak of what's to come in 2014, but they won't.
2013 had plenty of items that came out to the c-store. Federation got the Avenger, Klingons got the new Mogh class, Romulans got the Scimitar and Ar'kif, Ar'kala and Ar'kif retrofit all added to the store. Not to mention that there were also some uniforms for Romulans that came out after the launch of the Expansion. They also brought the IDIC tribble into the C-store so all could purchase it.
I don't see them really doing any more bridge packs in the long term. Costumes and ships however are definitely a different story.
Sneak peeks are worthless for them to do since they would rather keep us surprised till the last minute in most cases. Plus, if they were to show us something that might not be released for like half the year and then it doesn't get released, do you really think they want to open that pandora's box? We've seen what happens when they promise us stuff and it doesn't happen.
It is the only way Cryptic will be getting anymore money from me.
Hear here!
I hope STO get's better ...
I hate that we have to buy keys to open lock boxes in the game to get lobi for the lobi store and/or pay over-inflated prices on the exchange if we want a lock box ship but don't want to open lock boxes.
The items available from lock boxes and the lobi store should be cool/useful stuff to encourage people to buy lock box keys and open lock boxes, but EVERYTHING shouldn't be lock box and lobi store gear.
I know some people prefer the lock box/lobi solution because you can buy keys via the exchange after mining/farming as a f2p player, but I personally don't like spending weeks or months grinding to get one piece of gear from the exchange and I would rather just pay 2000 zen for a ship and 500 zen for a really cool weapon than pay 10,000 zen for lock box keys for the "chance" to get the ship I want.
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
Lockboxes have only one purpose. Yes, it gives some people a way to waste money but it is essentially a money sink to stabilize the in-game economy. If the economy is bad then the people selling their freshly bought zen will stop doing so because they will get very little in return.
PWE knows how to keep their business model running for years and years. Their own flagship games are still running after nearly a decade. The day people stop selling zen is when you start worrying about the game's future.
Seems they noticed that its turning a lot of people off from buying store stuff, but people still tell themselves that the lockboxes are not "buying stuff from the store" despite needing a masterkey to unlock.
The fact we have TWO "Events" (Obelisk carrier and now the anni set) that requires you to /buy/ c-store stuff to get the "full effect", it more or less makes it seem like PWE/Cryptic has noticed people are not using the store enough ..and are looking to "nudge" them into it more and more.
Don't really know how it goes for everyone else but I use the Dilithium exchange occasionally and don't really use the C-Store. Ships have become boring at least in my opinion. I loved the TOS and DS9 bundles and would love to see the other interiors that we had been told were coming out. Items like weapons, armor, and new species to play as a captain and bundles were more interesting than just another ship. Possibly putting some of the older Lobi store items into the C-Store to add a variety of ways for people to get these items especially as older lockboxes are no longer offered.
Given that Cryptic is moving into the Delta Quadrant a Voyager bundle would be great. Something like that could include Phaser III rifles both variants, maybe for those that don't have the DS9/Voyager style uniforms, and maybe an Ocampan bridge officer and the Intrepid Interior for example.