I see the push for us to use Ark but it really just floods features and is confusing. Like Steam ark has no Freedom to where games are installed thus we get just another directory within another. Maintenance on my PC is made far more difficult with these launcher platforms.
Some of us have many game installs, Customized to our liking that is the Freedom of Using a Computer, Now i see PC games being managed like a Gaming console leading the way for more and more Virtual platform apps. I am one voice among millions and some out their see these Virtual platforms annoying thus if forced into these platforms, some of us will simply Stop playing because its sucking Pc Resources and Expensive Bandwidth.
Tech problems are another issue where the game platform or Game itself suffers errors requiring patching and loosing good old get on and play now. Not all of us can take patching for Granted and so what of your players who don't have Cable or Fibre or unlimited downloads?
If it must happen, then let it be despite my frustration and dislike of Game platforms, at least i can still launch STO the old way. I do not have time to ponder around Steam or ark using ram to Store ark in memory and Drain precious Bandwidth and Frequent crashes.
Lastly, the new Web page is Slow and not well done and i found it unusable, so i cant Get to top up ZEN web site.Please consider things like ram and Bandwidth VS Performance because even if ark uses only a little, take into account things like windows update, Chat rooms, VOIP and possibly many other apps too. On my PC not having Software like ark running, Games run better and are much more Stable running on Windows (I.E the Platform we Already use).
I hope you sort it all out but i can only play sto without Ark. To have it means Lag and Dropouts, not a good Experience.
instead of of a proper "migration" of the sto website
you managed to transform a fast and tidy website with neatly arrange categories and information into a chaotic cluttered and (very) slow one...
a clear backstep, especially for people interested in important daily or weekly news about the game (patches, events etc.)
It feels like we moved back in time from the 25th century to the 20th century. Not user-friendly at all. For a moment I thought my vid card had died when I saw all those ugly, bland colours. Even my 8 year old son found it ugly. And that's only the looks. Tons of irrelevant, useless information and to find the intersting stuff you have dig and click several times. It almost feels like the Foundry editor. I felt like I was creating my own website. Please, bring the old website back . I don't want this thing. It's making me sick. In fact it feels like my 1920x1080 resolution is now down to 640x480.
As Captain Picard said in The Drumhead: I implore you, do not continue with this proceeding. End it now.
Sucks to be you then, 'cause PWE is addicted to it like Snoop [Predatory Mammal of the Month] to ganga.
I really love the new *koff* "feature" where clicking the "keep me logged in" button does nothing beyond showing a checkmark in the box and then I have to log in next visit anyway.
This raging-incompetence-fueled conversion for its own sake sucks. I'm talking "could suck the chrome off a '53 Buick" sucks. Guess it's time to look into uninstalling this POS since it's not going in any good directions in any way that I can see.
I see the push for us to use Ark but it really just floods features and is confusing. Like Steam ark has no Freedom to where games are installed thus we get just another directory within another. Maintenance on my PC is made far more difficult with these launcher platforms.
Some of us have many game installs, Customized to our liking that is the Freedom of Using a Computer, Now i see PC games being managed like a Gaming console leading the way for more and more Virtual platform apps. I am one voice among millions and some out their see these Virtual platforms annoying thus if forced into these platforms, some of us will simply Stop playing because its sucking Pc Resources and Expensive Bandwidth.
Tech problems are another issue where the game platform or Game itself suffers errors requiring patching and loosing good old get on and play now. Not all of us can take patching for Granted and so what of your players who don't have Cable or Fibre or unlimited downloads?
If it must happen, then let it be despite my frustration and dislike of Game platforms, at least i can still launch STO the old way. I do not have time to ponder around Steam or ark using ram to Store ark in memory and Drain precious Bandwidth and Frequent crashes.
Lastly, the new Web page is Slow and not well done and i found it unusable, so i cant Get to top up ZEN web site.Please consider things like ram and Bandwidth VS Performance because even if ark uses only a little, take into account things like windows update, Chat rooms, VOIP and possibly many other apps too. On my PC not having Software like ark running, Games run better and are much more Stable running on Windows (I.E the Platform we Already use).
I hope you sort it all out but i can only play sto without Ark. To have it means Lag and Dropouts, not a good Experience.
I gave Arc a try to see of for myself how it performed. Hmm. Not too bad expept for the unusually long time it takes to get to the character selection screen: 2-3 minutes at least. Without Arc it takes 5 seconds. But the most annoying thing that happens to me when running Arc is that I get a bloody Server Not Responding that lasts anything from 240 to 360 seconds every time I warp into a new zone or STF, FE, etc... Needless to say that I removed it. It is not going anyhwere near any of my computers any tjme soon. I just hope it is completely removed...
It is real easy to get to the forums. When on the main arcgames site, you click social and boom there is all the games with sto up on the first line. Click forum and boom there you go.
And NO not all the members don't want ARC. Forum posters are the minority, majority of the players don't even come on the forums cause they are too busy playing the game.
I have been using ARC since day 1 when they did the first release of it last year and have never had a single issue with it.
^^^
Yep, but I daresay the people who want ARC are in an ever SMALLER minority; and as for the playerbase at large that don't read the forums and have had ARC forced on them yet - when they see a new 10G download that does nothing to improve the actual game but just adds another layer of bloat to getting to the game - I'm sure many will click 'cancel' and move on to another MMO.
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..."
Launching games using Arc is not mandatory. The new website, which is separate from the launcher is what I was referring to. While you can no longer access the old website (As others pointed out you can), you can still launch STO from the old clients without the use of Arc.
I just wanted to let you know that right now I'm logged into the old website from work. It's 13:13 EST.;) So it is obviously still possible. Unless you made a wise move and reverted to the old website! Cheers!?
For ease of my overall anger (and not only at the PWE web people, I've had other RL issues today), here's a part of my recent comment in the Arcgames.com feedback thread:
To be quite honest, it looks like TRIBBLE. It looks like one of those "and if you're interested..." type redirect sites. It looks ugly and disorganized. It is in a similar manner to the redesign Anime News Network did a couple of months ago. The big difference between the two, ANN at least has a number of settings to allow visitors how they want to view the site. I personally hate tiles and the way the Arcgames site looks is just so disorganized.
If this is supposed to get me interested in to trying ARC, it's doing the exact opposite.
To be quite honest, I have been severally disappointed in both Cryptic and PWE's work on STO for the last several months. The excessive grinding. The obvious money grabbing on top of the grinding (i.e grinderversary ships). The obsession (and lack of helpful information) on this POS called ARC. It's all coming to a head. And I don't think it's just me either.
I know I'm rambling a bit, but everything I'm seeing here just is putting me off to the changes to the website.
Thank you for the time...
STO CBT Player - 400 day+ Vet, Currently Silver
Cryptic, would you actulaly like me to spend actual Money? It's Simple:
Full, Story-driven, select from start 1-50 Klingon Side
Scrap current Lock Box & Lobi system for something more reasonable
Expand Dil and Rep/Fleet Marks to regular story content
^^^
Yep, but I daresay the people who want ARC are in an ever SMALLER minority; and as for the playerbase at large that don't read the forums and have had ARC forced on them yet - when they see a new 10G download that does nothing to improve the actual game but just adds another layer of bloat to getting to the game - I'm sure many will click 'cancel' and move on to another MMO.
10 gig download?? Am I not using the same ARC version as you? ARC alone doesn't even come close to 10 gigs, and you don't have to redownload the game to get it to register with ARC so I'm confused by your statement.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
As you can tell, STO has been officially migrated over to the new Arc website layout. You will now automatically be redirected to this site and no longer the old one. We want to inform you that this does NOT mean Arc is mandatory, and that you can still access your games through the old launchers. As always, we are aware of player concerns, so if you have any feedback or questions, let us know.
^^^
Yep, but I daresay the people who want ARC are in an ever SMALLER minority; and as for the playerbase at large that don't read the forums and have had ARC forced on them yet - when they see a new 10G download that does nothing to improve the actual game but just adds another layer of bloat to getting to the game - I'm sure many will click 'cancel' and move on to another MMO.
Umm. You don't have to re-download the game. It auto-found my current install just fine.
Umm. You don't have to re-download the game. It auto-found my current install just fine.
And if it dosen't there is an "Add Games" button in the bottom left corner, you can add the sto patcher there. You can even add other games that aren't PW related.
Took me quite while just to get to the forum page. Wtf are they thinking? That somehow we will stumble on some of their other games if we have to navigate a ****estorm of pages and links irrelevant to anything we are looking for?
Took me quite while just to get to the forum page. Wtf are they thinking? That somehow we will stumble on some of their other games if we have to navigate a ****estorm of pages and links irrelevant to anything we are looking for?
To solve that I just pinned this site to my desktop via shortcut.
...talking to players is like being a mall Santa. Everyone immediately wants to tell you all of the things they want, and you are absolutely powerless to deliver 99% of them.
It is interesting that it shows how the downloads of the top games through ARC, though.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Took me quite while just to get to the forum page. Wtf are they thinking? That somehow we will stumble on some of their other games if we have to navigate a ****estorm of pages and links irrelevant to anything we are looking for?
They are probably thinking of less upkeep by having all sites integrated under the same system. As such there is only "one" site to worry about, anything else is merely content information that varies depening on game.
Yes ARC finds your current Cryptic/PWE game installs if you had the games installed before installing ARC. Yes you can add other non-cryptic/pwe games to the ARC library. I have 9 MMOs on my ARC library, 5 of those are non cryptic/pwe titles. You can even add non game titles to ARC. I put my photoshop launcher on there also. As long as the program has an exe file then it can be added to ARC.
1. Main scrollbar shouldn't be showing news from November (launch of S8.0...)
2. Main ARC page doesn't need two "Learn More" boxes, first one should be "learn more", second one should be link to main page. Instead, main page link is buried into a far corner as an actual link. If you're gonna go all tiley and mobile friendly, the important content like the entire main site of the game needs to be on a mobile friendly tiley thingy instead of an old-school computer link
3. Guides? Wouldn't that be where I found tutorials, blogs like "Dilithium 101" and the "refresher blogs" about "Ship X"? Not "game critical" things like, oh, the Vet Reward Matrix (aka an incentive to subscribe), key redemption, etc?
4. Branding - I can understand PWE "finally" taking the "appropriate" listing as publisher, relegating Cryptic to the "usual" unlisted status that most developers are stuck in. However, ARC shouldn't be bigger than the game people are reading about... :P
5. Mobile friendly. Got that. Is a "smallish" repeating starfield pattern that can go in the margins gonna kill that Galaxy S2 the Chinese are developing the site for? Will it even show up? Or flapping capes for CO? Something in the margins that tells us a little more than "we're bland, here's some thematically appropriate decoration for you?"
6. Is this the "space grey" iARC? Can we have the options of, say, a gold iARC or even iARCc's in green, white, Federation blue, heck, rose? :P
7. Loving the beta tag. On that note, is it just me or did the ARC version of the STO website "become mandatory" - even though we're "still transitioning and all non-ARC versions of the appropriate systems will be available until the end of the beta period"... Is there a way to return to the "gold" - aka fully functional - website until said beta period ends?
8. Finally found "My Account". Is the infamous "core connect" ever gonna start heading that way?
9. A shopping cart? For a pile of F2P games? Really?
More to come if I decide to poke around again later...
Could not have said it better!
AKA Primus01, Lifetime member since January 16, 2010
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Windows 10 Pro
Intel Core i7-5700
RAM 32 GB
2 Titan GTX 980M GDDR5 8 GB
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yay for forcing us to use a really ****ty site!! Really...the new site is mildly confusing to a user, looks half assed and not professional imo and was not wanted nor needed.
I like to browse the STO website for news from my iPhone. The new ARC powered version is nearly impossible to navigate. The graphics are pancaked and you have to scroll for miles to see the recent news . This is a big turn off.
P.s. I do not find the new site mobile friendly. In fact it is the opposite
Wow! STO doesn't even have a dedicated website... not much of a confidence builder.
"Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want." - Scotty
Ya it seems to be a copy past of EverQuest Next website...lots of info just tossed everywhere and your suppose to figure it all out...not digging it than again, haven't dug anything since summer of 2013 this game has done....RIP Dan Stahl
yay for forcing us to use a really ****ty site!! Really...the new site is mildly confusing to a user, looks half assed and not professional imo and was not wanted nor needed.
Actually, go look at every game PWE has. All of them are uniform, these new sites are not half assed and are very professional looking.
PWE is a business, not a charity, the primary focus being? Well duh, getting people to play their games, so making a single website containing all of them, and giving each forum the same style is the logical approach.
And no one is "forcing" you to use this website. You don't have to use the website nor the forums, you want to, otherwise why are you even here and posting?
And no one is "forcing" you to use this website. You don't have to use the website nor the forums, you want to, otherwise why are you even here and posting?
Yeah they are hence the redirect before you can do anything....but I suspect thats not what you meant....anyway...
I hate this new site - it took me 20 real time minutes to find a piece of information from a blog post 6 months ago only to have the arc redirect right in the middle of the screen!
And on top on that when one goes to the forum, and clicks cornflakes little link out to the blog post - BOOM right back to the arc redirect staring at me.....so I've got about 8 second to try to find the information I'm looking for quickly before the arc auto-direct happens....
this is BS...fixing things that aren't broken....
Edit: I cleaned out most of the curse words so as not to offend PW/Cryptic's tender sensibilities....
Actually, go look at every game PWE has. All of them are uniform, these new sites are not half assed and are very professional looking.
PWE is a business, not a charity, the primary focus being? Well duh, getting people to play their games, so making a single website containing all of them, and giving each forum the same style is the logical approach.
And no one is "forcing" you to use this website. You don't have to use the website nor the forums, you want to, otherwise why are you even here and posting?
Yes, they want people to be interested in their games and want to play them. To that end the essential information should be right up front (not buried in the Guides section) and the logo for the individual game should played up (not relegated to smaller text) rather than the loader/semi-browser (which has the big logo at the top).
They're not 'selling' Arc, they're 'selling' the PWE line of games.
Comments
I see the push for us to use Ark but it really just floods features and is confusing. Like Steam ark has no Freedom to where games are installed thus we get just another directory within another. Maintenance on my PC is made far more difficult with these launcher platforms.
Some of us have many game installs, Customized to our liking that is the Freedom of Using a Computer, Now i see PC games being managed like a Gaming console leading the way for more and more Virtual platform apps. I am one voice among millions and some out their see these Virtual platforms annoying thus if forced into these platforms, some of us will simply Stop playing because its sucking Pc Resources and Expensive Bandwidth.
Tech problems are another issue where the game platform or Game itself suffers errors requiring patching and loosing good old get on and play now. Not all of us can take patching for Granted and so what of your players who don't have Cable or Fibre or unlimited downloads?
If it must happen, then let it be despite my frustration and dislike of Game platforms, at least i can still launch STO the old way. I do not have time to ponder around Steam or ark using ram to Store ark in memory and Drain precious Bandwidth and Frequent crashes.
Lastly, the new Web page is Slow and not well done and i found it unusable, so i cant Get to top up ZEN web site.Please consider things like ram and Bandwidth VS Performance because even if ark uses only a little, take into account things like windows update, Chat rooms, VOIP and possibly many other apps too. On my PC not having Software like ark running, Games run better and are much more Stable running on Windows (I.E the Platform we Already use).
I hope you sort it all out but i can only play sto without Ark. To have it means Lag and Dropouts, not a good Experience.
It feels like we moved back in time from the 25th century to the 20th century. Not user-friendly at all. For a moment I thought my vid card had died when I saw all those ugly, bland colours. Even my 8 year old son found it ugly. And that's only the looks. Tons of irrelevant, useless information and to find the intersting stuff you have dig and click several times. It almost feels like the Foundry editor. I felt like I was creating my own website. Please, bring the old website back . I don't want this thing. It's making me sick. In fact it feels like my 1920x1080 resolution is now down to 640x480.
As Captain Picard said in The Drumhead: I implore you, do not continue with this proceeding. End it now.
Sucks to be you then, 'cause PWE is addicted to it like Snoop [Predatory Mammal of the Month] to ganga.
I really love the new *koff* "feature" where clicking the "keep me logged in" button does nothing beyond showing a checkmark in the box and then I have to log in next visit anyway.
This raging-incompetence-fueled conversion for its own sake sucks. I'm talking "could suck the chrome off a '53 Buick" sucks. Guess it's time to look into uninstalling this POS since it's not going in any good directions in any way that I can see.
I gave Arc a try to see of for myself how it performed. Hmm. Not too bad expept for the unusually long time it takes to get to the character selection screen: 2-3 minutes at least. Without Arc it takes 5 seconds. But the most annoying thing that happens to me when running Arc is that I get a bloody Server Not Responding that lasts anything from 240 to 360 seconds every time I warp into a new zone or STF, FE, etc... Needless to say that I removed it. It is not going anyhwere near any of my computers any tjme soon. I just hope it is completely removed...
^^^
Yep, but I daresay the people who want ARC are in an ever SMALLER minority; and as for the playerbase at large that don't read the forums and have had ARC forced on them yet - when they see a new 10G download that does nothing to improve the actual game but just adds another layer of bloat to getting to the game - I'm sure many will click 'cancel' and move on to another MMO.
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..."
If you've seen how they upgraded it for NW, you'd be thankful for the ugliness of our Foundry editor. Just saying.
I just wanted to let you know that right now I'm logged into the old website from work. It's 13:13 EST.;) So it is obviously still possible. Unless you made a wise move and reverted to the old website! Cheers!?
To be quite honest, I have been severally disappointed in both Cryptic and PWE's work on STO for the last several months. The excessive grinding. The obvious money grabbing on top of the grinding (i.e grinderversary ships). The obsession (and lack of helpful information) on this POS called ARC. It's all coming to a head. And I don't think it's just me either.
I know I'm rambling a bit, but everything I'm seeing here just is putting me off to the changes to the website.
Thank you for the time...
Cryptic, would you actulaly like me to spend actual Money? It's Simple:
10 gig download??
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
Hang on... I thought you were on the PWI team.
Umm. You don't have to re-download the game. It auto-found my current install just fine.
And if it dosen't there is an "Add Games" button in the bottom left corner, you can add the sto patcher there. You can even add other games that aren't PW related.
This is what I see when I run ARC.
The way I see it is: Using arc for all my games saves room on my taskbar.
To solve that I just pinned this site to my desktop via shortcut.
The "Product" page is lousy, and has a text-only forum link that's kind of buried in the description of the game.
I'm guessing you were on the Product page.
They are probably thinking of less upkeep by having all sites integrated under the same system. As such there is only "one" site to worry about, anything else is merely content information that varies depening on game.
How so? Those numbers seem meaningless to me.
Could not have said it better!
***********************************************************
Windows 10 Pro
Intel Core i7-5700
RAM 32 GB
2 Titan GTX 980M GDDR5 8 GB
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You are not the only one.
I have this happening too.
-Klintobean
"Put Star Trek back into the STO Web site"
http://s1254.photobucket.com/user/klintobean/media/New-STO-Web-Site.jpg.html
View The Zypex Revelation Mission Trailer
View The Zypex Intrusion Mission Trailer
View TECHNOBABBLE Mission Trailer
P.s. I do not find the new site mobile friendly. In fact it is the opposite
Actually, go look at every game PWE has. All of them are uniform, these new sites are not half assed and are very professional looking.
PWE is a business, not a charity, the primary focus being? Well duh, getting people to play their games, so making a single website containing all of them, and giving each forum the same style is the logical approach.
And no one is "forcing" you to use this website. You don't have to use the website nor the forums, you want to, otherwise why are you even here and posting?
Yeah they are hence the redirect before you can do anything....but I suspect thats not what you meant....anyway...
I hate this new site - it took me 20 real time minutes to find a piece of information from a blog post 6 months ago only to have the arc redirect right in the middle of the screen!
And on top on that when one goes to the forum, and clicks cornflakes little link out to the blog post - BOOM right back to the arc redirect staring at me.....so I've got about 8 second to try to find the information I'm looking for quickly before the arc auto-direct happens....
this is BS...fixing things that aren't broken....
Edit: I cleaned out most of the curse words so as not to offend PW/Cryptic's tender sensibilities....
Yes, they want people to be interested in their games and want to play them. To that end the essential information should be right up front (not buried in the Guides section) and the logo for the individual game should played up (not relegated to smaller text) rather than the loader/semi-browser (which has the big logo at the top).
They're not 'selling' Arc, they're 'selling' the PWE line of games.