If you are only addressing my NGE comment then yes. SWG lasted 6 years past NGE: NGE was introduced in 2005 and Lucas cancelled the SWG license in 2011 to support SWTOR.
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.
I only know all of my friends no longer play, I loved having them along for missions. I do not login as much anymore because the game has become too isolating and I'm afraid my old habits to get ahead will turn out to be against rules now, so I generally setup my Duty Officer missions and I might do a patrol or daily then log out. But the game is loosing its fun for me, I'm not ragging on Cryptic I just miss the company.
I wouldn't have minded leveling faster, patrols should have been an end game mark grind in my honest opinion. If we could have just been able to play through the missions, even with a team, I would have really enjoyed that. Then been leveled after we had completed them. Our old fleet used to team up, even after we where leveled to enjoy a story mission together, we used voice chat to speak for our characters and act out the parts with our own dialogue, those where good times. I miss all of them!
New Lunar Republic
"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine!" -Lina Inverse
One thing I learn in this nearly 5 years of STO, is that CRYPTIC loves to make money, not matter the cost, no matter anything.. and if the things were so bad as we think they are, they would have change it by now.. and the only thing they did was keep nerfing the XP.. so yea, they are still making moneny, probably more than ever.
Beacose I can bet, that most ppl that complay, aldeady upgrade all their items to MK XIV and they are flying their T6 ship.
No, they're not perfect, because Steam is only a single entry point into the game.
I've already covered this in-depth elsewhere so not going into it in great detail again. However, a few points:
DR was promoted as "the most successful launch ever". Yet, its peak player count and its average player count are both less than Legacy of Romulus. Thus, Legacy of Romulus appears to be the most successful launch to date.
i would dispute your conclusion, Legacy of Romulus Launched on May 21 2013 and on steam the Avg. Players for may 2013 were 2656.06 and for june were 2595.65 but by july it had dropped to 1788.57 and dropped even further after that.
the Avg. Players for oct 2014 are 2535.97 granted that is a little less then may 2013 but we will need to wait for nov, dec, jan & feb numbers to see if the drop off is so rapid as it was for legacy.
the thing is legacy was good but the content didnt last long so the players that came in for it soon left again, with DR although there is not so much story content the extended leveling and such may keep players hooked for longer.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Last anniversary I bet someone we'd be around to see the next one with complete confidence. Right now, I feel we'll see Risa again. Beyond that, for the first time, I don't have much confidence.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I still pop in to play Anarchy Online occasionally too.
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.
I love the "everyone is leaving" comments. As someone already pointed out, in October, steam recorded a large increase in new players signing up to STO, so no, everyone is not leaving.
I stilll see lots of new players in the STO universe, so I know this games longevity will remain.
I also wonder why everyone is saying that to get your equipment up to max is a sinkhole for dil. Well no it isn't. It isn't if your not trying to get everything up to MK XIV "epic" rarity (which everyone wants it seems).It is the persons choice if they are happy with having items at level XIII or XIV, Very rare, ultra rare or epic. I bet there will be mk XII players who will be able to defeat mk XIV players in pvp scenarios, so upgrading your equipment is simply a choice, not an obligation.
I decided for chuckles and gaffores to upgrade my Ferengi energy whip, and I did to Level XIII "very rare" and it didnt cost me anything apart from 1000 dil. and a couple of upgrade tokens.
Also, people complaining that they are only concentrating on one character, so why is this an issue?
The very first time I started STO I had a fed human, I got to Level 50, but then I didnt like him as a tac so I scrapped him in favour of my KDF klink. I still have my klink (who is currently level 51), but recently I have put most of my time in on my Reman fed character. Once my reman fed is where I want him to be, then I will turn my efforts back to my klink. That means the game will have longevity for me and I like the variety that I can do with my two chars with regards to their skills, builds and development.
Are you a whale? Whales are not the ones who paid 20 dollas a month, or buy a couple of ships. Whales are the one that were Tier 20 on crafting the first day, players that spend thousands of dollars each month. And thouse whales are bearly affected, beacose with money you can fix most of the DR problems.
If there's nobody to play with then the whales move on too
PVP is dead, PVE queues are empty, fleets are draining out, ...
If there's nobody to play with then the whales move on too
PVP is dead, PVE queues are empty, fleets are draining out, ...
PVP is not relevant (sad but true) to cryptic money milk.
PVE queues are not empty, maybe they take 1 more min to pop, but that hardly empty.
Look, I hate DR, I hate the way cryptic treat loyal players and I hate how they treat the name Star Trek, but we all have to admit that they are good making money.
Has anyone considered that PVE queues are dead because of all the people farming patrols to get spec points and doing content, much of which is more effective solo? Personally my own fleet seems busier than usual in terms of people online, yet barely anyone is chatting, because most know they need to be at least 60 to access some of the new content and have a chance of completing it and alot are still only level 55 at best as they aren't rabid gamers, so it's taking them a while to get there. Also some of the social areas are quieter, chat wise, but not from what I have seen are they less populated (even though there are even more areas to populate now), with the same number of instances of places like ESD as before, it's just as with PVE queues, people have stuff to do, rather than chat idly now.
I love the "everyone is leaving" comments. As someone already pointed out, in October, steam recorded a large increase in new players signing up to STO, so no, everyone is not leaving.
I stilll see lots of new players in the STO universe, so I know this games longevity will remain.
I also wonder why everyone is saying that to get your equipment up to max is a sinkhole for dil. Well no it isn't. It isn't if your not trying to get everything up to MK XIV "epic" rarity (which everyone wants it seems).It is the persons choice if they are happy with having items at level XIII or XIV, Very rare, ultra rare or epic. I bet there will be mk XII players who will be able to defeat mk XIV players in pvp scenarios, so upgrading your equipment is simply a choice, not an obligation.
I decided for chuckles and gaffores to upgrade my Ferengi energy whip, and I did to Level XIII "very rare" and it didnt cost me anything apart from 1000 dil. and a couple of upgrade tokens.
Also, people complaining that they are only concentrating on one character, so why is this an issue?
The very first time I started STO I had a fed human, I got to Level 50, but then I didnt like him as a tac so I scrapped him in favour of my KDF klink. I still have my klink (who is currently level 51), but recently I have put most of my time in on my Reman fed character. Once my reman fed is where I want him to be, then I will turn my efforts back to my klink. That means the game will have longevity for me and I like the variety that I can do with my two chars with regards to their skills, builds and development.
You know, that isn't such a bad idea. I've been curious about the Romulan side, I may make a new one and just abandon my main toon. It would be a new storyline and challenge. I have gotten bored with my current one, I haven't even leveled her to 55 as of yet.
I have no intention of playing the super hard elite stuff, so I should be ok. My main concern right now is worrying that the game will be closed down. It makes me nervous to really get into the game further.
New Lunar Republic
"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine!" -Lina Inverse
Has anyone considered that PVE queues are dead because of all the people farming patrols to get spec points and doing content, much of which is more effective solo? Personally my own fleet seems busier than usual in terms of people online, yet barely anyone is chatting, because most know they need to be at least 60 to access some of the new content and have a chance of completing it and alot are still only level 55 at best as they aren't rabid gamers, so it's taking them a while to get there. Also some of the social areas are quieter, chat wise, but not from what I have seen are they less populated (even though there are even more areas to populate now), with the same number of instances of places like ESD as before, it's just as with PVE queues, people have stuff to do, rather than chat idly now.
I think this is why the ques are down. This usually happens when a new game expansion comes out. The number in ques drop, but thats cause they are leveling, and going through the new content.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Are you a whale? Whales are not the ones who paid 20 dollas a month, or buy a couple of ships. Whales are the one that were Tier 20 on crafting the first day, players that spend thousands of dollars each month. And thouse whales are bearly affected, beacose with money you can fix most of the DR problems.
I've spend way more than I care to admit. And yes, I am between 17-20 on all crafting schools. =P
This doesn't affect me directly...i had plenty of crafting materials and dilithium to be able to get all my Gear to amk XIV no problem.
The issue is the only people I have to play with now are the other whales. No much for helping my newbie fleeties gear up. The queues are dead. It doesn't matter if I have Mk XIV gear and am all ready to go if there is no one to play with.
And yes, you can form a group manually, but who wants to spend half their game time grouping, rather than playing?
PVP is not relevant (sad but true) to cryptic money milk.
PVE queues are not empty, maybe they take 1 more min to pop, but that hardly empty.
Look, I hate DR, I hate the way cryptic treat loyal players and I hate how they treat the name Star Trek, but we all have to admit that they are good making money.
aued for starbase defense this morning around 12 ish Played through the day. didnt get a game till about 4. Yeah the ques are totally jumping
Well my fleet is all but dead at the mo, fleet projects at a stand still, hardly anyone on line, cant even make a team up.
Fleet members at lvl 60 1, 55 to 60 2, 50 to 55 4, out of 76 of which 54 are lvl 50 & yes just over half are atls. It dont look good.
Any fleet which is not tier 5 is now screwed including mine. only had tier 5 to complete,,,:(
My largest fleet I am in is Tier 4, we're remaining pretty active, 366 members and that is with an inactive player kick policy that has been in place for awhile. But yes, for the most part for small fleets the nail is in the coffin.We have about 9 people at lvl 60 (including one of my own toons which is in that fleet), and about 27 at lvl 55-59.
I'm running 5 toons, lvls right now are 60, 55, 53, 52, 52, 52. 60 has leveled with doff and story content, 55 is leveling right now with doff and story content.... the rest have reached level via just doffing at this point.
aued for starbase defense this morning around 12 ish Played through the day. didnt get a game till about 4. Yeah the ques are totally jumping
In all fairness, Starbase Fleet Defense is not as important to people right now as STFs are. People are far-more focused on leveling and getting Diltihium then they are Fleet Marks right now - as they need the Dilithum for Upgrades and the rewards have been cut in half. The queues giving Dilithium are getting most of the attention.
I only play with my Fleetmates and since DR has gone live no one has asked for us to do Fleet Mark missions - and we are currently building our second Fleetbase. Everyone is primarily focused on Dilithium and leveling.
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.
tl;dr version the reading comprehension-challenged: Pics or it didn't happen.
Go into the game, log in with your character, click on the PvE Queues button, and take screenshots (you may have to type into chat or bind it to one of your keys /screenshot_ui or /screenshot_ui_jpg).
Now go to where you installed Star Trek Online and open the screenshots folder (where you installed STO)\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\screenshots.
Now how many items do you need to Craft? 8 weapons, Shields, Engines, Deflectors, Warp Core, and 11 Consoles. So 23 items. At roughly 6,000 Diltihium each you are looking at 138,000 Dilithium, or 17 days at 8K per day. So in less then 1 month I can Upgrade my ship to Mk XIII, if that were my only objective.
I understand the "want it now" concept but I can live with 3-4 months to get a full set of Mk XIV gear. I have spent far more time then that grinding Raids in WoW to get end-game Raid Gear.
From page 4 - thecosmic1
Thank you for this post. I can say the same concerning my EQ days. I'd wager if more people understood, or had or exercised, patience then a lot of complaining would simply stop.
Yeah I used to buy lots of stuff for my Fed alts but now they are retired so I didn't buy the Delta pack since it is mostly Fed ships and I only have time to play my KDF main.
The steam stats and endless rageposts are pretty indicative of a serious problem. Dan solved the dilithium nerf problem in 3 days. Rivera still hasn't solved the problem and the ques are looking deader and deader. I see people complaining in all of the big channels about how bad the grind is. But by all means, continue to preach that the expansion is the best ever!
You mean the rise of player numbers is a problem for STO? The servers can't handle the extra 40 % players or something?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Nah I'm pretty sure we're talking about the nosedive, after the mandatory rise ... happening after every new Season, EXP etc ....
At the end of october, the average player count was still up. And in the first few days of November, Steam still indicates a rise (very small one, however.) We'll probably see at end of November how many players the game actually retained from last month. If Legacy of Romulus is an indication, the numbers should drop again.
But there are already some other differences to LOR - before LOR, STO was still losing average player count according to the Steam charts. But STO had seen a 2 month rise. It could very well be that this is actually the effect of Season 9(.5?)'s Crafting revamp. If you wanted to craft, daily logins are a good way to boost your crafting skills (As Cosmic1 pointed out, he managed to rise multiple crafitng skills to level 15 for Delta Rising. I only managed one so far, but I am close to Level 15 on several other crafting skills spread across 2 "crafting alts").
So it may be that Delta Rising and Season 9 actually brought something LOR couldn't bring as much - stronger player retention. It may be grind, but maybe it works. (We don't have to like that...)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
With the changes that made optionals mandatory to success the shift in queues may simply mean more people are forming private teams with people they know who are built for success, won't afk, won't grief
verses
random pugs with people whose characters aren't built to succeed, go afk, or think it's funny to cause the team to fail.
Add in the mirror event grinding too. After running all my characters through it, I'm pretty much done for the day.
STO is too expensive. It's either too much of an investment in real money or too much of a waste of time to be anything more than a marginal PVE player.
The artist formerly known as PlanetofHats.
Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
STO is too expensive. It's either too much of an investment in real money or too much of a waste of time to be anything more than a marginal PVE player.
My thoughts exactly. Ironically, I was finally becoming active again this September, eagerly awaiting the DR release, but drastically lowered playtime over the days after the release.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Comments
I wouldn't have minded leveling faster, patrols should have been an end game mark grind in my honest opinion. If we could have just been able to play through the missions, even with a team, I would have really enjoyed that. Then been leveled after we had completed them. Our old fleet used to team up, even after we where leveled to enjoy a story mission together, we used voice chat to speak for our characters and act out the parts with our own dialogue, those where good times. I miss all of them!
"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine!" -Lina Inverse
I still play TF2. Oldie but good.
Beacose I can bet, that most ppl that complay, aldeady upgrade all their items to MK XIV and they are flying their T6 ship.
Division Hispana
www.divisionhispana.com
i would dispute your conclusion, Legacy of Romulus Launched on May 21 2013 and on steam the Avg. Players for may 2013 were 2656.06 and for june were 2595.65 but by july it had dropped to 1788.57 and dropped even further after that.
the Avg. Players for oct 2014 are 2535.97 granted that is a little less then may 2013 but we will need to wait for nov, dec, jan & feb numbers to see if the drop off is so rapid as it was for legacy.
the thing is legacy was good but the content didnt last long so the players that came in for it soon left again, with DR although there is not so much story content the extended leveling and such may keep players hooked for longer.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I stilll see lots of new players in the STO universe, so I know this games longevity will remain.
I also wonder why everyone is saying that to get your equipment up to max is a sinkhole for dil. Well no it isn't. It isn't if your not trying to get everything up to MK XIV "epic" rarity (which everyone wants it seems).It is the persons choice if they are happy with having items at level XIII or XIV, Very rare, ultra rare or epic. I bet there will be mk XII players who will be able to defeat mk XIV players in pvp scenarios, so upgrading your equipment is simply a choice, not an obligation.
I decided for chuckles and gaffores to upgrade my Ferengi energy whip, and I did to Level XIII "very rare" and it didnt cost me anything apart from 1000 dil. and a couple of upgrade tokens.
Also, people complaining that they are only concentrating on one character, so why is this an issue?
The very first time I started STO I had a fed human, I got to Level 50, but then I didnt like him as a tac so I scrapped him in favour of my KDF klink. I still have my klink (who is currently level 51), but recently I have put most of my time in on my Reman fed character. Once my reman fed is where I want him to be, then I will turn my efforts back to my klink. That means the game will have longevity for me and I like the variety that I can do with my two chars with regards to their skills, builds and development.
If there's nobody to play with then the whales move on too
PVP is dead, PVE queues are empty, fleets are draining out, ...
PVP is not relevant (sad but true) to cryptic money milk.
PVE queues are not empty, maybe they take 1 more min to pop, but that hardly empty.
Look, I hate DR, I hate the way cryptic treat loyal players and I hate how they treat the name Star Trek, but we all have to admit that they are good making money.
Division Hispana
www.divisionhispana.com
You know, that isn't such a bad idea. I've been curious about the Romulan side, I may make a new one and just abandon my main toon. It would be a new storyline and challenge. I have gotten bored with my current one, I haven't even leveled her to 55 as of yet.
I have no intention of playing the super hard elite stuff, so I should be ok. My main concern right now is worrying that the game will be closed down. It makes me nervous to really get into the game further.
"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine!" -Lina Inverse
I think this is why the ques are down. This usually happens when a new game expansion comes out. The number in ques drop, but thats cause they are leveling, and going through the new content.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
I've spend way more than I care to admit. And yes, I am between 17-20 on all crafting schools. =P
This doesn't affect me directly...i had plenty of crafting materials and dilithium to be able to get all my Gear to amk XIV no problem.
The issue is the only people I have to play with now are the other whales. No much for helping my newbie fleeties gear up. The queues are dead. It doesn't matter if I have Mk XIV gear and am all ready to go if there is no one to play with.
And yes, you can form a group manually, but who wants to spend half their game time grouping, rather than playing?
STOP TELLING PEOPLE TO LEAVE!
They have their opinion and so do you, but telling them to LEAVE IS WRONG!
Zeus
My largest fleet I am in is Tier 4, we're remaining pretty active, 366 members and that is with an inactive player kick policy that has been in place for awhile. But yes, for the most part for small fleets the nail is in the coffin.We have about 9 people at lvl 60 (including one of my own toons which is in that fleet), and about 27 at lvl 55-59.
I'm running 5 toons, lvls right now are 60, 55, 53, 52, 52, 52. 60 has leveled with doff and story content, 55 is leveling right now with doff and story content.... the rest have reached level via just doffing at this point.
I only play with my Fleetmates and since DR has gone live no one has asked for us to do Fleet Mark missions - and we are currently building our second Fleetbase. Everyone is primarily focused on Dilithium and leveling.
You know it's true, look at the queues.
[SIGPIC]Click here to visit my STO YouTube channel[/SIGPIC]
Go into the game, log in with your character, click on the PvE Queues button, and take screenshots (you may have to type into chat or bind it to one of your keys /screenshot_ui or /screenshot_ui_jpg).
Now go to where you installed Star Trek Online and open the screenshots folder (where you installed STO)\Cryptic Studios\Star Trek Online\Live\screenshots.
From page 4 - thecosmic1
Thank you for this post. I can say the same concerning my EQ days. I'd wager if more people understood, or had or exercised, patience then a lot of complaining would simply stop.
You mean the rise of player numbers is a problem for STO? The servers can't handle the extra 40 % players or something?
Nah I'm pretty sure we're talking about the nosedive, after the mandatory rise ... happening after every new Season, EXP etc ....
At the end of october, the average player count was still up. And in the first few days of November, Steam still indicates a rise (very small one, however.) We'll probably see at end of November how many players the game actually retained from last month. If Legacy of Romulus is an indication, the numbers should drop again.
But there are already some other differences to LOR - before LOR, STO was still losing average player count according to the Steam charts. But STO had seen a 2 month rise. It could very well be that this is actually the effect of Season 9(.5?)'s Crafting revamp. If you wanted to craft, daily logins are a good way to boost your crafting skills (As Cosmic1 pointed out, he managed to rise multiple crafitng skills to level 15 for Delta Rising. I only managed one so far, but I am close to Level 15 on several other crafting skills spread across 2 "crafting alts").
So it may be that Delta Rising and Season 9 actually brought something LOR couldn't bring as much - stronger player retention. It may be grind, but maybe it works. (We don't have to like that...)
Add in the mirror event grinding too. After running all my characters through it, I'm pretty much done for the day.
STO is too expensive. It's either too much of an investment in real money or too much of a waste of time to be anything more than a marginal PVE player.
Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
My thoughts exactly. Ironically, I was finally becoming active again this September, eagerly awaiting the DR release, but drastically lowered playtime over the days after the release.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.