I remember back a couple years when they had just released the first fleet holding (Starbases),
they had put out a blog about how well STO was doing and they used a few numbers.
I wish I could find the exact post they had, but it was something along the lines of showing how successful the game was by saying there were over 1.5million captains or some such bs. Not PLAYERS mind you, but captains. So if anyone at all expects to see actual real numbers, prepare to see numbers that are scewed to what THEY want you to think, what they want the public to think. Short of having an insider drop the raw data in our hands we'll never get the truth.
I remember back a couple years when they had just released the first fleet holding (Starbases),
they had put out a blog about how well STO was doing and they used a few numbers.
I wish I could find the exact post they had, but it was something along the lines of showing how successful the game was by saying there were over 1.5million captains or some such bs. Not PLAYERS mind you, but captains. So if anyone at all expects to see actual real numbers, prepare to see numbers that are scewed to what THEY want you to think, what they want the public to think. Short of having an insider drop the raw data in our hands we'll never get the truth.
LMAO yeah something very similar to that. There was a nice little chart filled with numbers that were probably mostly bs or the words used in the descriptions made them accurate enough. Oh well, if someone finds it they'll have a good chuckle, I know I did.
LMAO yeah something very similar to that. There was a nice little chart filled with numbers that were probably mostly bs or the words used in the descriptions made them accurate enough. Oh well, if someone finds it they'll have a good chuckle, I know I did.
Is this the one you mean? It's the only one I could find.
Not really. Dan always came across as a greasy used car salesman to me. He always seemed to say what people wanted to hear at the time, then used weasel words to get out of being nailed down to any kind of 'promise' later on.
- Seems oblivious to glaring issues that the game hass post DR "The queues aren't dead; it's a display bug..."
- Classifies ANY player feedback that isn't "Great job Cryptic" as whining.
- By his OWN admission, often reads threads just to see "How many posts 'til Hitler".
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..."
I have to admit that I talked this game up huge and tried to get friends to play when DStahl was running the show. I was having loads of fun and it felt like Trek. Then things started to change and I no longer recommend the game to anyone. I didn't know what caused that or why it happened at the time. But I learned later that it coincided with the change to Geko.
I have to admit that I talked this game up huge and tried to get friends to play when DStahl was running the show. I was having loads of fun and it felt like Trek. Then things started to change and I no longer recommend the game to anyone. I didn't know what caused that or why it happened at the time. But I learned later that it coincided with the change to Geko.
I can figure out why it happened. Dstahl did took good game. Much of what he promised/talked about/theorized that made people optimistic actually happened, however.
(But he wasn't all bad. Some things actually got done. He's no Russ Bullocks... )
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I love seeing blind faith, it's so heartwarming...
It's refreshing after all the lunatic conspiracy doom topic lately. If i had to face palm every time one of those came along I'd be diagnosed with Repetitive Strain Injury by now.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Watching numbers only goes so far though ... there is to much lost doing that, there is no passion in it, there isn't much soul to that kind of thing, some things need the human factor.
They had a perfect formula pre-DR though, regardless of what it looked like it was why we where here. no bug XP, no nerfs, just plain awesomes and stuff.
it's system was flat out iconic.
To top it all off, their metrics are based on faulty data. They somehow "missed" a lot of players when they hit people with the spec point removal.
To top it all off, their metrics are based on faulty data. They somehow "missed" a lot of players when they hit people with the spec point removal.
I'd be very surprised if the data was at fault. They *know* what their revenue per player per day is. They *know* what their average playtime per day is; how much Dilithium is created or destroyed or traded for Zen; how many queues are initiated and how many are completed.
What likely happened with the spec point issue was that the query on their database that was run was at fault for a number of edge cases.
I'd be very surprised if the data was at fault. They *know* what their revenue per player per day is. They *know* what their average playtime per day is; how much Dilithium is created or destroyed or traded for Zen; how many queues are initiated and how many are completed.
What likely happened with the spec point issue was that the query on their database that was run was at fault for a number of edge cases.
Do they? As was pointed out supposedly they also knew who was 'exploiting Japori' (D'Angelo made more then one port about that fact) - yet later apologized and in effect undid punishments because they then realized their method of determination was obviously flawed. Many that DID partake (and admitted it) in public were passed over in the initial point removal; and many who never did Japori were docked points.
Given the above (and the 'quality' of anything Cryptic codes in general) I'd say there's ample reason to believe the metrics they do gather may not be accurate.
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..."
Do they? As was pointed out supposedly they also knew who was 'exploiting Japori' (D'Angelo made more then one port about that fact) - yet later apologized and in effect undid punishments because they then realized their method of determination was obviously flawed. Many that DID partake (and admitted it) in public were passed over in the initial point removal; and many who never did Japori were docked points.
Given the above (and the 'quality' of anything Cryptic codes in general) I'd say there's ample reason to believe the metrics they do gather may not be accurate.
I consult in this field for a living. Data integrity is almost certainly NOT the problem; data interpretation is.
I consult in this field for a living. Data integrity is almost certainly NOT the problem; data interpretation is.
Really? If Cryptic's data integrity is so good (regarding what info they pull from STO server); how do you explain the 'Japori Exploit' situation where again, they CLAIMED to know who was and who was not 'exploiting' - yet missed many who did 'exploit' and similarly punished many who did not -- to the point where they REMOVED the punishment entirely and apologized.
^^^
This shows quite explicitly they have anything but 100% data integrity on what data they pull.
(Again, it may be a problem with whatever system they used or programmed - but said system is NOT providing reliable data.)
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..."
Really? If Cryptic's data integrity is so good (regarding what info they pull from STO server); how do you explain the 'Japori Exploit' situation where again, they CLAIMED to know who was and who was not 'exploiting' - yet missed many who did 'exploit' and similarly punished many who did not -- to the point where they REMOVED the punishment entirely and apologized.
^^^
This shows quite explicitly they have anything but 100% data integrity on what data they pull.
(Again, it may be a problem with whatever system they used or programmed - but said system is NOT providing reliable data.)
You're not really thinking here. It's simple, in the absence of evidence either way and with my own personal, lengthy experience in this field it's most probable that...
THEY INTERPRETED THE DATA WRONG. THEY RAN A QUERY WITH PARAMETERS SUCH THAT THE RESULTS PROVIDED WERE NOT WHAT THEY INTENDED. THE UNDERLYING DATA WAS ALMOST CERTAINLY ACCURATE TO AN ACCEPTABLE TOLERANCE.
I remember back a couple years when they had just released the first fleet holding (Starbases),
they had put out a blog about how well STO was doing and they used a few numbers.
I wish I could find the exact post they had, but it was something along the lines of showing how successful the game was by saying there were over 1.5million captains or some such bs. Not PLAYERS mind you, but captains. So if anyone at all expects to see actual real numbers, prepare to see numbers that are scewed to what THEY want you to think, what they want the public to think. Short of having an insider drop the raw data in our hands we'll never get the truth.
And most of those captains have been sold into slavery in the dilithium mines, kept in suspended animation until there's a bonus dilithium weekend.
I'd welcome Dan back as EP in a heartbeat. I sincerely wish Positron is given the reigns at some point. Would love to see him in command of STO.
Oh. Yes. That. Would. Be. Amazing.
He helmed a F2P MMO briefly and is a very beloved EP. I bet a lot of people don't realize he's even on the STO team right now.
Heck, if Matt were systems lead and Stahl were EP, I'd go out and buy a very large bundle of C-points as soon as I could be sure it was for real and that they had power to implement things.
I think Stahl is a create opportunity and vision locator, a good spin doctor and connector of people. And I KNOW Matt could make the ships run on time and in a humane way with a high level of artistry.
I wonder if folks inside Cryptic recognize how big a difference there is between the communication styles and satisfaction generated between their various leads in terms of community interaction, if you control for the right variables like events and content releases.
I've never said fire Geko but I think games in development and a running MMO need to work differently. His rigid design focus belongs on games in development and doesn't belong on post-launch game where the service and community-interaction matters more. Heck, man, I think he could do better work without a community at all to deal with, even from a metrics standpoint, working up pure theory for alpha and pre-alpha games and letting other people massage it into a user acceptable state in beta.
I'd be very surprised if the data was at fault. They *know* what their revenue per player per day is. They *know* what their average playtime per day is; how much Dilithium is created or destroyed or traded for Zen; how many queues are initiated and how many are completed.
What likely happened with the spec point issue was that the query on their database that was run was at fault for a number of edge cases.
Well, that's the thing I see a lot of folks forget in today's world:
Data is only as good as the questions you ask to get it, even when you're datamining.
The wrong question yields the wrong answer. You can't just vomit correlations.
In the words of Mr. Spock:
"Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, the starship also runs on loyalty."
I was surprised hearing Geko talk so much about how they made tons on money at launch... As they say, don't count your tips in public. He is really something else...
This interview confirmed it for me, STO is in dire straits.
It's not a matter of opinion, just look at the facts.
Who the hell says "It is successful, we made so much money out of it". I mean seriously. Maybe you would say that in a board room, behind closed doors. It's not something that is said even unofficially, let alone on an interview that is going to be listened to by your customers. Just imagine Steve Jobbs saying "The iPhone is a success, we made so much money out of it". It is simply put, insulting, and if someone doesn't understand that, there's something wrong with their social skills. Delusions of grandeur is a very mild term for it. Or even simpler, that's the only goal given to him by his boss: if it makes money, it's successful, if it doesn't, it's not.
Raising the level cap is not game design. It's a decision. The design part comes into making it smooth and appealing and rewarding. I would challenge anyone to rate the design of this process in DR with anything over a 2 out 10.
Who the hell designs a level progression, where you get from 1 to 50 in X hours and from 50 to 60 in X+something hours while they provide 1/10th of the content for the last part. I mean seriously, leave the XP nerfs, broken (not empty, broken) queues aside for a minute. The guy actually said that it was by design that the player should spend just as much time for 50-60 as for 1-50 but with a fraction of the content. Replaying an older mission was not designed to give decent XP for 50-60, he also said that. I would also challenge anyone to rate this... design with more than 1 out 10.
These facts alone lead to the conclusion that either Geko really is clueless (doubtful) or that simply the plan given to him was to get rid of long time players - or at least deprive them of their dilithium stash so that they start spending zen again. New players ? Who cares about them, let them play a nice game from 1 till 50, let them buy a zen ship in hopes of an even better experience from 50 to 60, let them then hit a paywall of upgrades, let them spend some more cash trying to get around it, and then see them leave.
It's a F2P game afterall, right ? In the twisted view of companies that run F2Ps it is apparently more profitable to have players spend 50 bucks and leave in a couple of months than having players subscribe for years at a time. STO was built with a sub model in mind, where players would live and play with the game for years. Changing to F2P didn't dilute that model, it couldn't, it was too soon.
What we are seeing now with DR is effectively the liquidation (in financial terms) of STO's assets, it's playerbase primarily. Financially, it's a strategy long established - amoral, but nonetheless practiced all over. It now moved to the game industry. Some CEO or a VP in Mergers & Acquisitions, will be very proud in a year or so. "See? I bought this for X cash, broke it down and dismantled it for Y cash, profit achieved".
Comments
they had put out a blog about how well STO was doing and they used a few numbers.
I wish I could find the exact post they had, but it was something along the lines of showing how successful the game was by saying there were over 1.5million captains or some such bs. Not PLAYERS mind you, but captains. So if anyone at all expects to see actual real numbers, prepare to see numbers that are scewed to what THEY want you to think, what they want the public to think. Short of having an insider drop the raw data in our hands we'll never get the truth.
Seems infographics and statistics like this are popular for MMOs: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20141126
LMAO yeah something very similar to that. There was a nice little chart filled with numbers that were probably mostly bs or the words used in the descriptions made them accurate enough. Oh well, if someone finds it they'll have a good chuckle, I know I did.
Is this the one you mean? It's the only one I could find.
https://feb33d8763de0c0f2e0a-dd07187202f57fa404a8f047da2bcff5.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/sGYjImzGI9KX.878x0.Z-Z96KYq.jpg
Mine Trap Supporter
That's the one. Wow my sense of time is off. Must be the 50 to 60 level grind taking its toll lmao.
DStahl was better than Captain Geko who:
- Blames ALL game issues on the playerbase.
- Seems oblivious to glaring issues that the game hass post DR "The queues aren't dead; it's a display bug..."
- Classifies ANY player feedback that isn't "Great job Cryptic" as whining.
- By his OWN admission, often reads threads just to see "How many posts 'til Hitler".
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..."
I have to admit that I talked this game up huge and tried to get friends to play when DStahl was running the show. I was having loads of fun and it felt like Trek. Then things started to change and I no longer recommend the game to anyone. I didn't know what caused that or why it happened at the time. But I learned later that it coincided with the change to Geko.
I can figure out why it happened. Dstahl did took good game. Much of what he promised/talked about/theorized that made people optimistic actually happened, however.
(But he wasn't all bad. Some things actually got done. He's no Russ Bullocks... )
It's refreshing after all the lunatic conspiracy doom topic lately. If i had to face palm every time one of those came along I'd be diagnosed with Repetitive Strain Injury by now.
To top it all off, their metrics are based on faulty data. They somehow "missed" a lot of players when they hit people with the spec point removal.
I'd be very surprised if the data was at fault. They *know* what their revenue per player per day is. They *know* what their average playtime per day is; how much Dilithium is created or destroyed or traded for Zen; how many queues are initiated and how many are completed.
What likely happened with the spec point issue was that the query on their database that was run was at fault for a number of edge cases.
Don't forget:
- Is "baffled" that players are able to do 10k, 20k, 30k, and higher DPS.
Do they? As was pointed out supposedly they also knew who was 'exploiting Japori' (D'Angelo made more then one port about that fact) - yet later apologized and in effect undid punishments because they then realized their method of determination was obviously flawed. Many that DID partake (and admitted it) in public were passed over in the initial point removal; and many who never did Japori were docked points.
Given the above (and the 'quality' of anything Cryptic codes in general) I'd say there's ample reason to believe the metrics they do gather may not be accurate.
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..."
I consult in this field for a living. Data integrity is almost certainly NOT the problem; data interpretation is.
Really? If Cryptic's data integrity is so good (regarding what info they pull from STO server); how do you explain the 'Japori Exploit' situation where again, they CLAIMED to know who was and who was not 'exploiting' - yet missed many who did 'exploit' and similarly punished many who did not -- to the point where they REMOVED the punishment entirely and apologized.
^^^
This shows quite explicitly they have anything but 100% data integrity on what data they pull.
(Again, it may be a problem with whatever system they used or programmed - but said system is NOT providing reliable data.)
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..."
You're not really thinking here. It's simple, in the absence of evidence either way and with my own personal, lengthy experience in this field it's most probable that...
THEY INTERPRETED THE DATA WRONG. THEY RAN A QUERY WITH PARAMETERS SUCH THAT THE RESULTS PROVIDED WERE NOT WHAT THEY INTENDED. THE UNDERLYING DATA WAS ALMOST CERTAINLY ACCURATE TO AN ACCEPTABLE TOLERANCE.
And most of those captains have been sold into slavery in the dilithium mines, kept in suspended animation until there's a bonus dilithium weekend.
Oh. Yes. That. Would. Be. Amazing.
He helmed a F2P MMO briefly and is a very beloved EP. I bet a lot of people don't realize he's even on the STO team right now.
Heck, if Matt were systems lead and Stahl were EP, I'd go out and buy a very large bundle of C-points as soon as I could be sure it was for real and that they had power to implement things.
I think Stahl is a create opportunity and vision locator, a good spin doctor and connector of people. And I KNOW Matt could make the ships run on time and in a humane way with a high level of artistry.
I wonder if folks inside Cryptic recognize how big a difference there is between the communication styles and satisfaction generated between their various leads in terms of community interaction, if you control for the right variables like events and content releases.
I've never said fire Geko but I think games in development and a running MMO need to work differently. His rigid design focus belongs on games in development and doesn't belong on post-launch game where the service and community-interaction matters more. Heck, man, I think he could do better work without a community at all to deal with, even from a metrics standpoint, working up pure theory for alpha and pre-alpha games and letting other people massage it into a user acceptable state in beta.
Well, that's the thing I see a lot of folks forget in today's world:
Data is only as good as the questions you ask to get it, even when you're datamining.
The wrong question yields the wrong answer. You can't just vomit correlations.
In the words of Mr. Spock:
"Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, the starship also runs on loyalty."
It's not a matter of opinion, just look at the facts.
Who the hell says "It is successful, we made so much money out of it". I mean seriously. Maybe you would say that in a board room, behind closed doors. It's not something that is said even unofficially, let alone on an interview that is going to be listened to by your customers. Just imagine Steve Jobbs saying "The iPhone is a success, we made so much money out of it". It is simply put, insulting, and if someone doesn't understand that, there's something wrong with their social skills. Delusions of grandeur is a very mild term for it. Or even simpler, that's the only goal given to him by his boss: if it makes money, it's successful, if it doesn't, it's not.
Raising the level cap is not game design. It's a decision. The design part comes into making it smooth and appealing and rewarding. I would challenge anyone to rate the design of this process in DR with anything over a 2 out 10.
Who the hell designs a level progression, where you get from 1 to 50 in X hours and from 50 to 60 in X+something hours while they provide 1/10th of the content for the last part. I mean seriously, leave the XP nerfs, broken (not empty, broken) queues aside for a minute. The guy actually said that it was by design that the player should spend just as much time for 50-60 as for 1-50 but with a fraction of the content. Replaying an older mission was not designed to give decent XP for 50-60, he also said that. I would also challenge anyone to rate this... design with more than 1 out 10.
These facts alone lead to the conclusion that either Geko really is clueless (doubtful) or that simply the plan given to him was to get rid of long time players - or at least deprive them of their dilithium stash so that they start spending zen again. New players ? Who cares about them, let them play a nice game from 1 till 50, let them buy a zen ship in hopes of an even better experience from 50 to 60, let them then hit a paywall of upgrades, let them spend some more cash trying to get around it, and then see them leave.
It's a F2P game afterall, right ? In the twisted view of companies that run F2Ps it is apparently more profitable to have players spend 50 bucks and leave in a couple of months than having players subscribe for years at a time. STO was built with a sub model in mind, where players would live and play with the game for years. Changing to F2P didn't dilute that model, it couldn't, it was too soon.
What we are seeing now with DR is effectively the liquidation (in financial terms) of STO's assets, it's playerbase primarily. Financially, it's a strategy long established - amoral, but nonetheless practiced all over. It now moved to the game industry. Some CEO or a VP in Mergers & Acquisitions, will be very proud in a year or so. "See? I bought this for X cash, broke it down and dismantled it for Y cash, profit achieved".