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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

CM: Confusing Language Again on Dreadnoughts

repetitiveepicrepetitiveepic Member Posts: 6,549 Arc User
edited December 2014 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
This issue came up with Bulwarks earlier this year, and caused some trouble. I'm worried that the trouble may occur again.

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/5007203-duty-officer-pack-promo

That is the Bulwark announcement with the confusing language:
NOTE: Newly purchased Romulan Survivor Duty Officer packs will only offer the chance to win the Voth Bulwark Dreadnaught Cruiser during this promotional event. Once this event ends, the packs will revert back to their previous state and no longer offer the Bulwark.

This lead to a lot of confusion, specifically in this thread:

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=17443841&postcount=22
pwecaptainsmirk wrote: »
It only applies to newly purchased Romulan Survivor DOff packs. Old packs sold on the exchange or sitting in your inventory will not offer the chance to get the Bullwark. Once this event goes down, any packs purchased during this event will no longer offer the extra chance reward if not opened before the end of the event.

~CaptainSmirk

This turned out not to be the case, but it is easy to see how captainsmirk was misled by the confusing language in the release.

----

Now, with another promotion upon us, the announcement once again contains confusing and potentially misleading language:
For a limited time from December 11th to January 5th at 10am PST , we are running a promotion from that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack.

The first part of this seems to suggest that simply opening a R&D pack will provide an additional bonus. If this is the case, then it means the promition is not being run the way previous promotions were, where the C-Store item "Research and Development Pack" is replaced by a different item with a different name, that does a different thing.

To wit,
When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or an Elachi Sheshar Dreadnought Cruiser, in addition to the Research and Development Pack.

Can the CMs please clarify this before the promotion actually starts?

Specifically, the issue that caused so much confusion last time around was this:

The announcement absolutely refused to acknowledge the fact that during the promotion, a wholly different item was available in the C-Store, an item called [Promotion! - Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack], which was different from the item called [Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack].

The Promotion! pack was an item that was durable, it did not revert after the promotion ended, but it was only available in the c-store for a limited time.

Specifically, in the recent release materials, this same issue has come up again

"When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or an Elachi Sheshar Dreadnought Cruiser, in addition to the Research and Development Pack."

Will a new item called a [Promotion! - Research and Development Pack] be added to the c-store, and will only this new item have a chance for a Sheshar Dreadnought and 10 lobi, or will opening any [Research and Development Pack] purchased at any time in the past give the same chance?

Will this promotion involve a durable 'container' pack like the previous Promotion! packs that can be opened at any time after the event, but will only be available in the C-Store during the event?

Thank you for your time and consideration!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • hyplhypl Member Posts: 3,719 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Amazing how Perfect World still can't seem to get the specifics right, leading to unnecessary confusion. If this promotion only counts towards R&D packs purchased directly from the C-Store while it runs, there's gonna be a lot of PO'd folks tomorrow that bought up R&D packs tonight.

    To be safe, I'd avoid buying packs from the exchange and hold off grabbing them from the C-Store until the promotion actually starts.
    HyperLimited - UNUSED ROMULAN NOTIFICATIONS
    cNpFfly.jpg
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • demuderdemuder Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    repetitiveepic wrote: »
    This is a great opportunity for you guys to be proactive, engage with the community, and head off a problem before it is a problem. And it's so easy!

    The problem is that if they had any idea how or even any intention to do so, the problem would not have appeared in the first place.

    The problem with the phrasing in the announcement is so evident, that personally, I can't believe it was a "just a mistake".
  • lordsteve1lordsteve1 Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    It's possibly done as an "intentional mistake" so that later on once people have blown their cash on R&D packs prior to it starting they can say they messed up and tell us the correct conditions. They still get their money and the whales will still pour more money into their pockets despite the misdirection.

    If it's not intentional then they need to seriously look at their PR/community relations people and get then to taught how to put out factually correct statements.
    SulMatuul.png
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • smokeybacon90smokeybacon90 Member Posts: 2,252 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    If the box doesn't have Promotion! in the name, then it won't drop the ship. You'll only ever get the promotion box if buying the R&D pack from the c-store during the event. You can choose to open it whenever you want. It will contain the actual R&D pack which can be sold or opened separately.

    Also be aware that the bugship and Bulwark packs have identical names, the only difference being the tiny ship image in the icon, and a different detailed description.
    EnYn9p9.jpg
  • knuhteb5knuhteb5 Member Posts: 1,831 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    So essentially it's a bait and switch technique? What's funny is that there's no fine print to read here since they forgot to leave that key detail out.
    aGHGQIKr41KNi.gif
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    lordsteve1 wrote: »
    It's possibly done as an "intentional mistake" so that later on once people have blown their cash on R&D packs prior to it starting they can say they messed up and tell us the correct conditions. They still get their money and the whales will still pour more money into their pockets despite the misdirection.
    Silly conspiracy theories. :rolleyes:

    It's not like it benefits the company in any way if people mistakenly buy them too early. The ship is just ones and zeroes on a server hard drive, it costs them nothing when people win it. Its all the same to them if you buy your boxes on the 10th or the 11th.
  • admrenlarreckadmrenlarreck Member Posts: 2,041 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    I don't get the confusion. It states that the chance is only from packs from the c-store bought from those dates.

    "For a limited time from December 11th to January 5th at 10am PST , we are running a promotion from that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack.

    When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or an Elachi Sheshar Dreadnought Cruiser, in addition to the Research and Development Pack."

    So how is that confusing.

    You buy it from the c-store after the promotion starts, and you get a chance to get the ship.

    Bought before then no chance, bought after no chance.

    I guess people are reading too much into it.
    fayhers_starfleet.jpg


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    @ren_larreck
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • js26568js26568 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    I'm sure this is an innocent oversight by Cryptic that someone will happily correct.

    *prepares tinfoil hat for when they don't correct it*
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Free Tibet!
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • erraberrab Member Posts: 1,434 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    admrenlarreck wrote: »
    I don't get the confusion. It states that the chance is only from packs from the c-store bought from those dates.

    "For a limited time from December 11th to January 5th at 10am PST , we are running a promotion from that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack.

    When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or an Elachi Sheshar Dreadnought Cruiser, in addition to the Research and Development Pack."

    So how is that confusing.

    You buy it from the c-store after the promotion starts, and you get a chance to get the ship.

    Bought before then no chance, bought after no chance.

    I guess people are reading too much into it.

    That's the logical way of looking at :P
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • jackal1701apwjackal1701apw Member Posts: 669 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    Looks like we arent gonna get an answer on this prior to the event.


    Ah well. Another fail to jot up to the 'fabulous' CM team.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    ...#LLAP...
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited December 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • js26568js26568 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2014
    repetitiveepic wrote: »
    It really does mystify my why they refuse to call [Promotion! - xxxxxx] packs by their proper name.

    It causes a spike in sales. Some people only read the first line or two of these announcements and then, thinking they're being smart, they run off and buy loads of R&D packs with Zen or buy up all the packs on the exchange planning on A) Opening them or B) Selling them for a quick profit.

    In fact the price of the non-promo R&D packs is going to tank through the floor. It always happens this way.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Free Tibet!
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