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Would you buy more of the lobi stuff if it was ACCOUNT WIDE?

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  • anazondaanazonda Member Posts: 8,399 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    sle1989 wrote: »
    The whole point of Lobi and Lockboxes are too make money. They'd make less money if all this stuff was an account wide unlock.


    That said, what if these items were an account wide unlock, but only for lifetimers? Gold subscribers could get a discount on other toons once an item is unlocked.


    (Ducks from flames)

    Your suggestion would have been much more likely to draw positive attention, if it hadn been as obviously self-serving as it was.

    OF CAUSE it should count for all Gold members if such a thing was ever implemented... We are NOT worth more than monthly subs... If anything we are worth less.
    Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
    Let me put the rumors to rest: it's definitely still the C-Store (Cryptic Store) It just takes ZEN.
    Like Duty Officers? Support effords to gather ideas
  • tyriniussstyriniusss Member Posts: 317 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I totally would!
  • vetteguy904vetteguy904 Member Posts: 3,937 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I know I would.

    are you kidding? I'd buy enough boxes to get a JHDC and Recluse.

    what I would LIKE to see instead of account wide is account BOUND. that way if I want to use the Recluse with my tac I don't have to waste a ship slot, just get it from a 4-5 ship "drydock" slot.
    sig.jpg
  • tucana66tucana66 Member Posts: 710 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Yes. YES.

    I would!
  • erei1erei1 Member Posts: 4,081 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    sle1989 wrote: »
    The whole point of Lobi and Lockboxes are too make money. They'd make less money if all this stuff was an account wide unlock.


    That said, what if these items were an account wide unlock, but only for lifetimers? Gold subscribers could get a discount on other toons once an item is unlocked.


    (Ducks from flames)
    Your argument is limited, you only see the very obvious drop in sales because you need less items. But you don't check the larger picture.

    For example, mine. I only bought a single ship on the store. I never bought any costume or anything tailor related. I would have done that if it was account wide. The only reason I'm not buying tailor unlock is because it's character lock.

    I understand ships and gear is character lock. But I don't think they would loose money if the tailor unlock was account wide.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • seriousdaveseriousdave Member Posts: 2,777 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    If this would happen: YES!

    But it never will happpen. Because? MONEY!
  • oldravenman3025oldravenman3025 Member Posts: 1,892 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Realistically, account bound makes more sense than an account-wide unlock, on most ground items, consoles, space weaponry, and consumables.


    Costumes should be an account-wide unlock.


    But it will never happen. The gamble boxes are a big bread winner for Cryptic/PWE.
  • flyingshoeboxflyingshoebox Member Posts: 123 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    As much as I don’t really like lockboxes and the cost associated with them. Account wide unlock on lobi stuff could maybe get me to buy them on a more regular bases. As for right now I’ve purchased the 10 pack twice since the introductory of the lobi system to just sell on the ah when I found myself needing a bit of folding money on new toons.

    As for which way would make more money I have no idea I can see how it would make more money with account wide unlocks bringing in new money that would not have been spent otherwise like myself. I can also see how it would be a hit to profits if a good bit of the people that use lobi regularly double up on items from the store.
  • rinksterrinkster Member Posts: 3,549 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Realistically, account bound makes more sense than an account-wide unlock, on most ground items, consoles, space weaponry, and consumables.


    Costumes should be an account-wide unlock.


    But it will never happen. The gamble boxes are a big bread winner for Cryptic/PWE.

    Yeah, account wide unlocks are problematic on the big ticket items like ships.

    Costumes though are a different story, I imagine they might actually pick up more trade if they allowed that.

    The grey area is space sets.

    They are relatively pricey, and I don't want to buy lots of Tachyokinetic convertors at 200 lobi a pop for all my toons.

    However, if space items (not ships) got a permanent 33% reduction on price, clothing items and ground weapons became account wide, and everything else got left the same.....I think they'd see more eager purchasers than they have today.
  • mindshadow999mindshadow999 Member Posts: 241 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    rinkster wrote: »
    Yeah, account wide unlocks are problematic on the big ticket items like ships.

    Costumes though are a different story, I imagine they might actually pick up more trade if they allowed that.

    Also, IIRC, part of the reason they were allowed to add the alien ships in the game in the first place is that they have to be rare. It sounded like they wouldn't be able to make the Lobi ships more easily acquired or used, even if they wanted to.

    Costumes are another matter entirely. Friends don't let friends use per-character real money vanity unlocks. I might buy some of them if they were account-wide, though. I certainly have a large pile of Lobi I could spend on them at this point.
  • r37r37 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I fail to see how account wide unlocks for any lockbox TRIBBLE (including lobi obviously) is an issue, even if you have 500 characters on an account you can only ever play one of those characters at a time.

    That said, the OP asked if I would buy "more", given that I have maybe 2 lobi items that I actually payed for with lobi, I would say yes, the fact that I need to buy each item on every character turns me off, it'd rather do without then spend 20 bucks on clothes or 100 bucks on a dam shuttle. It's still a hard sell for the more expensive lobi items given the crazy costs (ships are much cheaper on the Exchange), but for the smaller stuff I might consider it.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • lowy1lowy1 Member Posts: 964 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I have some of the stuff however, I would rather them upgrade the items VR over rare.
    HzLLhLB.gif

  • galadimangaladiman Member Posts: 346 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Yup. 7 alts. Definitely.
    Please reconsider ARC. Please make it optional, at the least. PLEASE.
    It seems the vast majority of your most active players (forum regulars) hate the idea... and while that's a small subset of the playerbase, I think it's an important constituency.
    THE PLAYERS DO NOT WANT THIS.
  • shaanithegreenshaanithegreen Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Ships: no.

    Costumes: absolutely. Costumes should always be account unlocks, unless you have to earn them (like the VA coats).

    Consoles: maybe? I wouldn't complain if my TK converters were suddenly account bound, but Cryptic might.
  • generalmocogeneralmoco Member Posts: 1,634
    edited June 2014
    1 word:


    YES!
  • neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Ships no, uniforms yes, Armor no, junk stuff maybe, weapons no.
    GwaoHAD.png
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,965 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    No. I need particular things for particular purposes. Making it account-wide doesn't help if I need two of the same thing in different places.
    "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"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
  • shadowfirefly00shadowfirefly00 Member Posts: 1,026 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I've read posts about the lottery boxes saying don't open them for the prizes. You will just be angry and disappointed. Open them for the lobi and if you do win a prize, all the better. So I thought, ok, there are some big prizes I would like to get, but also some lobi stuff I want, so I will try this approach.

    What happens when I break open a 10 pack of keys? 4 lobi - 4 lobi - 4 lobi - 4 lobi - 4 lobi... Ok, so a second mortgage later, maybe I can finally make that purchase.
    Fact: getting any of the LCC ships, from a clean start, is expensive. I was talking with an acquaintance about this and crunched the numbers:

    • required: 800 lobi crystals
    • number of keys needed, assuming minimum drop (4 crystals) from all boxes: 200
    • 20 10-key packs: 22,500Z

    Which, given the ration of 100Z to the US dollar, translates into US$225.00. Most players, I suspect, would balk at dropping that kind of money for this purpose; between that and the asking prices on the Exchange, it's no wonder some... shall we say, enterprising persons... are in fact putting down that kind of money, and making brisk business reselling the things for a lot less (one such group is offering TDDs for US$46).
  • yreodredyreodred Member Posts: 3,527 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Would you buy more of the lobi stuff if it was ACCOUNT WIDE?
    100% YES!
    "...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--" - (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie

    A tale of two Picards
    (also applies to Star Trek in general)
  • orangeitisorangeitis Member Posts: 5,222 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Would you buy more of the lobi stuff if it was ACCOUNT WIDE?
    You bet your sweet TRIBBLE I would.

    I'd also get DOFF roster, ship slot, and inventory/bank expansions if they came in account unlock versions.
  • ghyudtghyudt Member Posts: 1,112 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    No. I'd actually buy some more stuff now as is if I had more than 1 way to get lobi. But its like cryptic doesn't want you to buy any of it. Either that or they think people who play this game have money to blow.
  • bones1970bones1970 Member Posts: 953 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    rinkster wrote: »
    Yes, it'd be a far easier spending decision.

    Same here, 200 lobi for 1 console is to much. 200 lobi = 40 keys = +/- $40
  • jackal1701apwjackal1701apw Member Posts: 669 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    No less.

    Tachyokinetic and bio-circuits consoles on 6 toons
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    ...#LLAP...
  • walshicuswalshicus Member Posts: 1,314 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I just want to know why the Lobi consoles aren't Bind on Equip. There's an Energy Credits market for Lobi ships which helps push up demand for Lobi (and thus lockboxes, and thus Zen).
    http://mmo-economics.com - analysing the economic interactions in MMOs.
  • talonxvtalonxv Member Posts: 4,257 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Ships I could see as character bound along with consoles, but ground equipment like specific weapons like the elachi pistol, those should be account bound.
    afMSv4g.jpg
    Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!

    http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
  • bluegeekbluegeek Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I would. That's a no-brainer.

    I don't think all of it should be account wide, necessarily.

    I do think that costumes should be account-wide unlocks, at the very least.

    But what do I know about how they should make their money? I don't get to sit in on their sales reports.

    For all I know, it's a large source of recurring revenue and they'd be foolish to reduce sales for what might only be a short term benefit.

    If repeat buys are rare, then maybe they could stimulate sales by putting more account wide stuff in the Lobi store. But if buying the same item over for multiple characters is fairly common, then it's sub-optimal for them unless they're trying to get more players to buy in to the Lobi store.

    They might be better off tinkering with the prices, instead. That might be another way to get me to part with my hoarded Lobi crystals. I took advantage of the last Lobi store sale.
    My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here
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  • irishcaptain007irishcaptain007 Member Posts: 48 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I have yet to spend a single Lobi, partly because there is no account-wide unlock. It takes so long to accumulate enough Lobi for just 1 ship, let alone the console sets, that it's a hard decision to commit such a high value to a single character. Of course, many veteran players have now built up their fleets with Lobi ships over a period of years, but a little over 6 months on STO, I'm still not ready to pull the trigger...

    This ^. I've been playing since FTP and have yet to buy a thing in the lobi store. I'm saving for a ship, but I know that even when I get to 800 lobi (at about 550 right now) I'm still not sure that I'd pull the trigger. I love the Romulan timeship warbird, but since it doesn't use singularity powers it seems like a stupid purchase. I have also thought about buying consoles, but honestly thats a waste since PvE isn't all that hard and the rep and fleet consoles work well enough. But it will be a while before I can even make a decision, since I have never and will never buy a lock box.
  • centersolacecentersolace Member Posts: 11,178 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    orangeitis wrote: »
    You bet your sweet TRIBBLE I would.

    I'd also get DOFF roster, ship slot, and inventory/bank expansions if they came in account unlock versions.

    That would be nice wouldn't it.
  • thecosmic1thecosmic1 Member Posts: 9,365 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    The only thing I have ever purchased from the Lobi Store was the EV Suit upgrade. While I appreciate all the people financially supporting this game through Key purchases I have no desire to do so myself - though the Xindi Lockbox might change my mind. :)

    I have no issues with the "gambling" aspect of Lockboxes some people like to throw around as some type of moral badge. I am all for people spending their recreational money however they wish to spend it. I probably spend more per summer on golfing then most people have spent on STO over the last 4.5 years. I simply have no desire to justify $200.00 ships and whatnot - and making them account-wide would not change that for me. As long as I can buy items from the C-Store and Exchange I am content to do so.

    From a financial standpoint Cryptic gains nothing by making Lobi Store items account-wide. The important thing to keep in mind is that every time someone asks Cryptic to stop making money on X item that person needs to provide an alternative to balance out the lost revenues. Cryptic cannot just eat losing $50,000.00 per month on Lobi Store items, as an example. To lose $50,000.00 on one thing means they need to replace it with something else that makes them $50,000.00+.

    People are constantly asking for things to cost less, or to get more benefit for less expense, but without the cost there is no income. Without the income there is no game. We cannot have it both ways: less cost but Cryptic makes more. It is not possible. :)
    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.
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