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Time Limited Event Rewards & "Gone Forever"
canis36
Member Posts: 737 Arc User
So, the Mirror Universe event, like the two previous iterations of the Crystalline Entity event, has a time limited reward that will likely never be seen again once this event ends...just like the Mirror Shard non-combat space pet and the Tyken's Rift DOFF from the aforementioned Crystalline Entity event.
This also mirrors the trend that seems to be set with last year's Summer Event and Dev comments on the Winter Event ships not being available the next time those events roll around unless you'd already slotted the projects.
This...is not a trend that pleases me. I don't object to the events themselves or the giveaways of free stuff if you're willing to put in the necessary time and effort. Nor do I object to having something new each time as a way to attract repeat players.
No, what I object to is the "Gone Forever" aspect of the rewards like the Hakeev DOFF, or the risian Corvette. It has worn on me - producing a sense of urgency over the fact that these items may not be available later, made me worry and fret, and frantically plan and evaluate and ask myself "Who should get them" only to eventually settle on an alt that I may not actually want it on because that's the only one that's actually in a position to earn it at that time.
It also eats into my enjoyment of the game because it ends up being the only thing I do in game for several weeks and causing me to burn out. So I'd like to toss an idea the Devs way, one I'm pretty sure isn't that far-fetched.
Your special rewards, the limited time "Gone Forever" ones? Don't make them "Gone Forever." For the DOFFs (and yes the non-combat pet too) find someplace like the Reputation systems to put them - only delay their release by two to four weeks after the event ends. Oh, and inform us up front that you'll be doing so if you decide to. The ships are even easier - stick them in the Lobi Store. 10-console slots, special console, and only the Corvette needs a special bridge at this time as they all have a special ability console.
TLDR
"Gone Forever" prizes are killing my enjoyment of the game. Please make them "Early Release, No Pay" prizes instead. Please?
This also mirrors the trend that seems to be set with last year's Summer Event and Dev comments on the Winter Event ships not being available the next time those events roll around unless you'd already slotted the projects.
This...is not a trend that pleases me. I don't object to the events themselves or the giveaways of free stuff if you're willing to put in the necessary time and effort. Nor do I object to having something new each time as a way to attract repeat players.
No, what I object to is the "Gone Forever" aspect of the rewards like the Hakeev DOFF, or the risian Corvette. It has worn on me - producing a sense of urgency over the fact that these items may not be available later, made me worry and fret, and frantically plan and evaluate and ask myself "Who should get them" only to eventually settle on an alt that I may not actually want it on because that's the only one that's actually in a position to earn it at that time.
It also eats into my enjoyment of the game because it ends up being the only thing I do in game for several weeks and causing me to burn out. So I'd like to toss an idea the Devs way, one I'm pretty sure isn't that far-fetched.
Your special rewards, the limited time "Gone Forever" ones? Don't make them "Gone Forever." For the DOFFs (and yes the non-combat pet too) find someplace like the Reputation systems to put them - only delay their release by two to four weeks after the event ends. Oh, and inform us up front that you'll be doing so if you decide to. The ships are even easier - stick them in the Lobi Store. 10-console slots, special console, and only the Corvette needs a special bridge at this time as they all have a special ability console.
TLDR
"Gone Forever" prizes are killing my enjoyment of the game. Please make them "Early Release, No Pay" prizes instead. Please?
Post edited by canis36 on
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Granted I will still do it (because it's hard to pass up such a tasty reward), but it's a little annoying.
Anywho, back to the grind.
It is nice pwe/cryptic are adding new things and variants on currently established play modes to STO. However, after running one char thru the Omega, Romulan and Nukara Reps and all that running about in the Winter Event to acquire yet another ship, I thought, "Enough! I am going to play the parts of the game I like and if or when I get around to the other parts, then we'll see."
The phrase 'For A Limited Time Only!' is a marketing tactic, nothing more. If pwe/cryptic makes money off of an item, they will make it available again somehow. JHAS anyone? The allure of having something which is only available in a limited quantity or for a limited time period plays on everyone's desire to be first or special or different from the rest of the herd.
I missed out on a great many things which were available prior to the game going F2P. Such as the Red Matter Capacitor. While I'd like to have them, I can still play the game without them. I haven't yet been to the Dyson Sphere or started any of my toons on the Dyson Rep. Lots of things there which may not be available whenever I get around to starting either of these. Oh well.
If I allow the game to become a endless series of grinds chasing the current Shiny of the Month, then it takes a lot of fun out of it for me. The game is large enough now it may very well be impossible for someone to own every single ship or Universal Console. But I do know they will place something back into the game at a later date if they make money off of it or enough people indicate they would like to have it. So, don't be concerned abut maybe missing out on something. STO ain't going anywhere anytime soon and whatever it is that seems out of reach or behind a larger grind than usual will be coming around again.
I didn't mention the Obelisk carrier or the Anniversary Dyson Destroyer intentionally - they're both still available in game. The basic Obelisk that was available for free can be obtained from a Fleet Shipyard after reaching the requisite Tier in the Fleet Spire - I think it's T1.
The Anniversary Dyson Destroyer is available for 600 Lobi in the Lobi store. However, one key issue is that they didn't tell people that either would still be available afterwards.
The basic Ambassador/Kamaraag Retrofit (9-console version) was something I'd forgot about when typing up the post though. Really wish they'd add them to the Fleet Shipyard if nowhere else (having them available as FE-Replay rewards would be nice though).
Pearls will definitely be coming back, so as long as you've got it slotted you should be fine.
No feedback yet. Looks like I'm waking up in 4 hours to get ahead of the 20 hour cd..
yeah, but that 800 lobi basically costs more than a normal c-store ship. I did not think about the obelisk from the fleet yard though.
Also, forgot to mention, the Risian Corvette and Breen ships actually DO comeback every year (at least that is the pattern) so those should stay that way, because it is something to look forward to at least.
Actually that's false. The Devs have stated that they have no plans to bring the Corvette or either of the Breen ships back this year when those events roll around again. When questioned about their bringing the Chel Gret back they explained it as not having said that they intended to not bring it back until the summer event so they changed their mind for this past winter event only.
Actually in an interview it was mentioned that the Raider would be available again similarly as the Chel Grett was a second-chance deal.
Valdus | Charn | Costello | Typhus | Thyran
13 days left.
Still would appreciate a backup option.
Oh, good. I was a n00b when the event finished, and spent a bunch of Lobi on pearl boxes.
I know. Dunce. But I'd only been playing for 3 weeks, I hadn't even shot Hakeev yet.
Hope so... I've got one toon that is one shard shy and no way to complete it.
My expectation is that they put a lot of time, energy, and money into both Crystalline Cataclysm and the new Mirror Universe Invasion. I can't see those being one-time only events, I just can't. Not if they're as successful as they seem to be.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
My biggest issue is that it seems Cryptic has realized these events are the best way to keep people logging in every day. So, they've been running one right after the other. I didn't mind them much when they were an occasional thing, but we've had one running pretty consistently since the Winter event went live (Winter, Anniversary, Mirror). The only real break was a couple weeks between the Anniversary and Mirror. When Mirror ends, we will be quickly launching into a new season (presumably with a new rep to grind out), and then the Summer event. They may even work a CE rerun in between there. It's burning me out.
^ This. I've got "only" 12 alts, and it's taking me a good 15-20 minutes each. So that translates to, say 3.5 hours per night, every night. I've done this before with other events, but this is beginning to feel overwhelming. I'm slowly falling behind -- I still have some leeway thanks to the extra week, but it's getting close. And there are some nights that I'm busy doing other things and can't play STO at all.
It would be great if the devs could add some sort of "sponsorship" system, like they added to the Reputation system. Full grind for one toon, half price for others.
I admire the clever marketing ploy though, give away free, one-off ships but don't give people enough slots to have them all at once, so they have to choose between losing unique ships or paying up for more ship slots. Very clever.
I may get flamed for this. But I hope they do not keep this event around. My reasoning is that it is reasonably fun, and has some challenge to it. With it being time gated there are always people in the queue for this event. Were it just another stf, then it would be get in line and go make a sandwich like many of the omega ones.
That said if they decide to have it come back next year this time, that would be great. But time gating it with this nice reward has it always packed.
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
There is nothing wrong with an event, a grind, or any form of new content. I'll just say that first off.
Where the frustration lies with a lot of players in this game, is that a lot of us have more than one character. I personally have 8 myself, on my account. However, I would venture to say that since there are three factions, and three arc types, it would probably be quite normal for a lot of players to have a character of each arc type in each faction...making for a total of at least 9 characters to be normal alt habits.
Now, having said that. One can see where an event requiring you to log on with each of your characters in an "allotted amount of time" can quickly become tiresome, especially when there seems to be a new one each month.
Also, I don't know about anyone else but I also like to play other games. I realize that Star Trek Online my be a very good example of an mmo where this is most peoples first, and last mmo, or otherwise only mmo they play. This is noted and not overlooked.
The main issue I have is the "Time Frame" placed on these events. If it was something that you could do at your own pace, like the Reputation Grind that would be fine. However, you are given an ultimatum ...either play the event in the allotted amount of time or miss out on the reward. This is a little bit unfair, given the "Frequency" of these type of events. If it was just a couple a year, it would be understandable, but there seems to be an ever increasing number of this sort of event.
In closing, I am not "Complaining" I am simply trying to provide some sound feedback from a customer point of view. Therefore I would offer the suggestion that one might be able to do this event and unlock the Key reward with all the characters on their account. In the current events case the Duty Officer...Not the marks or the Dil, I know full well how to grind those things myself, with my 8 characters.
Furthermore, I feel that if a player does the event, they should get a legacy unlock in the c-store to unlock the duty officer, ship, whatever and then claim it once per character on their account. This would be fair I believe. Especially if you decide to make a new character next month. It don't even have to be in the c-store. It could be a vendor npc like the veteran npc, or idc tribble npc, that you could go to and claim the item on your account.
Going by one of the rules of acquisition "Time is Money friend". An argument can be made that since one puts forth their time in such an event that they have basically put forth money in said event. And, since a player can pay money to unlock a c-store item for their account. How come they can not get the same type of unlock for the time they have put forth? Just an Idea from someone whom plays the game...
Thanks.
I would like to complain about a related issue and that is the winter event reward store. I completed the winter event on several characters, got all the goodies from the store and have several bobbles and beads left over, yet I cannot use them on my alts to purchase what I have unlocked on other toons. SO, if I want frost boots on a new character, I have to wait until next winter although I have unlocked it.
Thus, I agree with you again that these limited time events should be account based rather than character based. Sincerely, Dano.
And ship events? How many toons do you really want to fly the same ship on? Most of my event ships are sitting in their boxes in the corner of my bank and if I didn't really enjoy collecting things I wouldn't bother getting them on more than one toon in the first place.
Yeah, what kind of crazy person would force someone to play this event so often?
Why is it so important to complete the event on multiple characters, or at all?
If you didn't do it, how would you acquire the Dilithium and Marks gained on these characters? Or would you simply not ,playing less? Why can't you do that instead of grinding the event?
Or do you think the reward is far better than what you would make otherwise (I think people have pointed out that it is not the most effective way to earn it)?
Is it just because the Mirror Hakeev is so awesome every character needs it? That's the only unique reward, the rest is stuff you can earn in other ways. Maybe faster, maybe slower, but definitely at the pace you could choose yourself.
My character Tsin'xing