Never gonna happen. Your supposed to buy Zen, trade it for dill, then get everything you want. Increasing the refinment cap would decrease their profits.
Never gonna happen. Your supposed to buy Zen, trade it for dill, then get everything you want. Increasing the refinment cap would decrease their profits.
Yup.
The refining cap is their sole control over the economy.
Wonder why people always bring up the idea of a refinement cap increase, instead of just saying that the prices should go down?
Who benefits from a refinement cap increase? Only people that make more than 8000 Dilithium per day and character. If you make less, stuff is still expensive, and you still take forever to afford it.
It seems this is only ever a minority of players - despite playing almost daily, I practically never manage to beat the cap. I might make more Dilithium than 8,000 per day, but that is across multiple characters and mostly from DOFFing, so I couldn't limit that to one character anyway.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
You know, I seem to remember reading a response from Cryptic that said they would consider raising the cap when it got to the point when the majority of players were actually hitting the existing cap. That was a while back, and since then there have been all these tips and tricks talked about to make it easier to reach the daily cap. so by now, many more people are probably hitting the cap.
Now here's Cryptic's dilemma... since that statement, many many more elements of the game have received a dilithium price tag, part and parcel to the indirect monetization that is sweeping into every aspect of the game. If they riase the cap, they would have to go into each of these and rebalance the Dilithium costs to make sure that it still takes the same amount of time to refine all the necessary dilithium.
with an increase in the cap, there would be an exponential decrease in the number of players reaching the new cap. By decreasing the payout they have accomplished the same goal, comparatively speaking, and they haven't had to increase the dilithium costs.
It is my assumption that cryptic's metrics use averages, percentages and other fuzzy math to calculate everything. And in a system where the numbers differ from player to player, it's probably for the better that they do it that way, as doing so can have the positive effect of normalizing things across the board.
Bear in mind that they have likely calculated the dilithium costs on everything based on how much dilithium can be earned in a given time period and how long they want it to take to achieve something. See they don't want us achieving things at OUR pace. If we were allowed to do that, then we would yet again outpace Cryptic in how long it takes them to produce and release the next new grindfest. The rebalance of dilithium payout is their attempt to make sure that those who manage to get as much dilithium they can without spending Zen on it will only get enough to keep them in pace with Cryptic's timetable.
Want to get it faster? Like others have said. Buy some Zen and trade for it on the dilithium exchange...
the whales are not enough to keep them afloat. They need regular players spending money as well. That's what it's all about. Because to Cryptic and PWE, STO is not a game. It's a business venture. And they are doing their damnedest to make sure it doesn't fail.
At this point I'd rather it fail.
Not sure why people *want* to spend more and more money instead of, y'know, playing the game more.
8k per day is fine per character.
8.5k if you're in a fleet.
9k if you also subscribe or have a lifetime pass.
Want more?
Play other characters besides one. The extra slots make their money back in a couple days after you hit 50, sooner if you chose KDF and doing contraband and prisoner exchanges.
Then there's always the zen to dil if you need refined dil now.
Not sure why people *want* to spend more and more money instead of, y'know, playing the game more.
Wasn't saying I want or even like spending more money, I mean back before launch I got the lifetime sub to avoid just that. However that's what this game has become ... and what the gaming industry as a whole is moving towards.
Making extra dil for free is fairly simple. Use multiple characters, turn in contraband. Level them to 50 during a bonus XP weekend and farm battlezones, turning in the marks, injectors, and implants. Don't spend dil on your alts, unless you have extra. You can get contraband from the exchange, or from DOFF missions (KDF marauding, Inspect Civilian Freighter, Strike Against Fugitive Support Network). Finish all their rep tiers and you get a huge chunk of unrefined dilithium (around 100k if I remember correctly).
The dil exchange works 2 ways. One can buy zen and trade it for dil, or farm dil and trade it for free zen. Regarding players buying zen to trade for dil, that comes from a player's lack of patients and desire for instant gratification. Something that the players selling dil take full advantage of.
Mhm, responses are exactly what I though they'd be.
"Several year old standard is totally fine for modern game. The game hasn't changed at all in ~3 years, and dilithium costs are exactly what they were when F2P launched. Obviously you just want to have everything handed to you for free and don't care at all about the game."
Why do you tihnk the Dil:Zen ratio is nearly double what it used to be?
Idiocy in this thread is astounding.
Seriously, I don't want INSTANT gratification, I want gratification that's 1 month instead of two months. 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks. LESS TIME does not mean instant and you are a fool if you cannot see that.
Never gonna happen. Your supposed to buy Zen, trade it for dill, then get everything you want. Increasing the refinment cap would decrease their profits.
More like you're supposed to be frustrated by the refinement cap, so that you feel compelled to either buy Zen or leave the game.
Why do you tihnk the Dil:Zen ratio is nearly double what it used to be?
Because paying customers leave by the dozen.
Those who remain are more sensitive to the zen:dil exchange ratio; exchange rates are no doubt manipulated directly via release of zen or dilithium into the market, as well as indirectly through the various sales promotions they run.
Wasn't saying I want or even like spending more money, I mean back before launch I got the lifetime sub to avoid just that. However that's what this game has become ... and what the gaming industry as a whole is moving towards.
The industry just lacks the talent to actually chase the profits they thought were available to be made. In my opinion, that's a greater indictment of corporate culture and the universities which churn out developers than it is of the genre itself.
You know, I seem to remember reading a response from Cryptic that said they would consider raising the cap when it got to the point when the majority of players were actually hitting the existing cap.
With all the countless alts and unplayed or underplayed accounts, they can easily fudge the numbers for eternity to show that the dilihtium refinement cap isn't being reached in sufficient quantity.
the whales are not enough to keep them afloat. They need regular players spending money as well.
Yes, but they chose to chase the whales instead of the casuals long ago. They're too poorly positioned to regain all of those lost players and lost revenue.
And they are doing their damnedest to make sure it doesn't fail.
You could have fooled me.
By all appearances PWE just wants to bleed whatever profit they can out of the game before CBS realizes the IP has more value sitting collecting dust than being further stepped on by a second-rate game studio.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
If 24,000 dil per day isn't cutting it, save up for 4 days, buy 2 more character slots. Now that you're at 40,000 per day, if that's still not cutting it, save for 3 days, get 2 more. Now you're at 56k per day. Repeat...
SCM - Crystal C. (S) - [00:12] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 8.63M(713.16K) - Fed Sci
The industry just lacks the talent to actually chase the profits they thought were available to be made. In my opinion, that's a greater indictment of corporate culture and the universities which churn out developers than it is of the genre itself.
You misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about MMOs, I wad talking about the entire gaming industry. Steadily more and more games are adding micro transactions. Hell I was shocked to see that the newest Assassin's Creed, a single player game, has micro transactions to let you get the better weapons earlier.
Within ten years every game will have some form of microtransactions, because mobile games like Candy Crush have shown developers that there is much more money to be had that way. It may be something as simple as the cheat codes many games used to come with back in the day, but eventually those transactions -will- be everywhere.
Honesty OP, with the amount of players creating alts for the sole purpose of going around the refinement cap in the game, and the amount of dil already flowing around in the game, and how easy it is to get 8k in dil in less then an hour in the game, the cap should be lowered.
OP, if the refining limit would be raised you can be certain that prices will raise accordingly to keep the balance. But looking at some comments in this forums people will probably not notice and be overly grateful for Cryptic finally "listerning" to them
Seriously, what a lot of people don't get (the majority of posters in this thread thankfully did get it) is that dilithium refining and leveling your specializations is not a matter of *comfort*. Arguments that this is frustrating, slow or tiring are of no concern since it is *designed* to be this way - it is working as intented because it "motivates" you to buy the stuff you want instantly for cash because this is how they make money. The people in charge of STO have absolutely no desire to make anything more comfortable for you, this is the "trade off" you are bargaining for when you want to play for free. Ironically, paying for a subscription puts you in the exact same place which makes it obvious that subscriptions are something the peopl in charge don't want either. They want you to buy all the shiny ships for outrageous full game prices by the bunch.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
You misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about MMOs, I wad talking about the entire gaming industry. Steadily more and more games are adding micro transactions. Hell I was shocked to see that the newest Assassin's Creed, a single player game, has micro transactions to let you get the better weapons earlier.
Within ten years every game will have some form of microtransactions, because mobile games like Candy Crush have shown developers that there is much more money to be had that way. It may be something as simple as the cheat codes many games used to come with back in the day, but eventually those transactions -will- be everywhere.
Fair enough, and in many cases I can't even blame them for exactly the reasons I outlined in what you quote.
PC corporate culture and graduates better educated in trigger warnings than game theory no doubt leave development a major crapshoot.
I would be extremely hesitant to invest in any development studio, or into any game development project, especially not when some self-taught punk can produce a dramatically more popular (and more profitable) game more-or-less on their own and with minimal funding.
Ironically, paying for a subscription puts you in the exact same place which makes it obvious that subscriptions are something the peopl in charge don't want either.
Of course not. Then they can't sell you as much junk.
There was room in the industry for a $30+ subscription model to succeed, but instead they went this route, where they're expecting paying customers will spend upwards of $30-50 per month on average.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
stealthrider
Member Posts: 2 Arc User
Comments
Yup.
The refining cap is their sole control over the economy.
Yup, it's their way of saying, "No matter how much Dilithium you *think* you're making per day, you're really only making 8k."
It does prevent inflation, though; which is a good thing.
Free Tibet!
Who benefits from a refinement cap increase? Only people that make more than 8000 Dilithium per day and character. If you make less, stuff is still expensive, and you still take forever to afford it.
It seems this is only ever a minority of players - despite playing almost daily, I practically never manage to beat the cap. I might make more Dilithium than 8,000 per day, but that is across multiple characters and mostly from DOFFing, so I couldn't limit that to one character anyway.
At this point I'd rather it fail.
Not sure why people *want* to spend more and more money instead of, y'know, playing the game more.
8.5k if you're in a fleet.
9k if you also subscribe or have a lifetime pass.
Want more?
Play other characters besides one. The extra slots make their money back in a couple days after you hit 50, sooner if you chose KDF and doing contraband and prisoner exchanges.
Then there's always the zen to dil if you need refined dil now.
Wasn't saying I want or even like spending more money, I mean back before launch I got the lifetime sub to avoid just that. However that's what this game has become ... and what the gaming industry as a whole is moving towards.
50k for some, 35k for others.
Free Tibet!
"Several year old standard is totally fine for modern game. The game hasn't changed at all in ~3 years, and dilithium costs are exactly what they were when F2P launched. Obviously you just want to have everything handed to you for free and don't care at all about the game."
Why do you tihnk the Dil:Zen ratio is nearly double what it used to be?
Idiocy in this thread is astounding.
Seriously, I don't want INSTANT gratification, I want gratification that's 1 month instead of two months. 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks. LESS TIME does not mean instant and you are a fool if you cannot see that.
Because paying customers leave by the dozen.
Those who remain are more sensitive to the zen:dil exchange ratio; exchange rates are no doubt manipulated directly via release of zen or dilithium into the market, as well as indirectly through the various sales promotions they run.
The industry just lacks the talent to actually chase the profits they thought were available to be made. In my opinion, that's a greater indictment of corporate culture and the universities which churn out developers than it is of the genre itself.
With all the countless alts and unplayed or underplayed accounts, they can easily fudge the numbers for eternity to show that the dilihtium refinement cap isn't being reached in sufficient quantity.
Yes, but they chose to chase the whales instead of the casuals long ago. They're too poorly positioned to regain all of those lost players and lost revenue.
You could have fooled me.
By all appearances PWE just wants to bleed whatever profit they can out of the game before CBS realizes the IP has more value sitting collecting dust than being further stepped on by a second-rate game studio.
SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci
Tacs are overrated.
Game's best wiki
Build questions? Look here!
You misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about MMOs, I wad talking about the entire gaming industry. Steadily more and more games are adding micro transactions. Hell I was shocked to see that the newest Assassin's Creed, a single player game, has micro transactions to let you get the better weapons earlier.
Within ten years every game will have some form of microtransactions, because mobile games like Candy Crush have shown developers that there is much more money to be had that way. It may be something as simple as the cheat codes many games used to come with back in the day, but eventually those transactions -will- be everywhere.
Seriously, what a lot of people don't get (the majority of posters in this thread thankfully did get it) is that dilithium refining and leveling your specializations is not a matter of *comfort*. Arguments that this is frustrating, slow or tiring are of no concern since it is *designed* to be this way - it is working as intented because it "motivates" you to buy the stuff you want instantly for cash because this is how they make money. The people in charge of STO have absolutely no desire to make anything more comfortable for you, this is the "trade off" you are bargaining for when you want to play for free. Ironically, paying for a subscription puts you in the exact same place which makes it obvious that subscriptions are something the peopl in charge don't want either. They want you to buy all the shiny ships for outrageous full game prices by the bunch.
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PC corporate culture and graduates better educated in trigger warnings than game theory no doubt leave development a major crapshoot.
I would be extremely hesitant to invest in any development studio, or into any game development project, especially not when some self-taught punk can produce a dramatically more popular (and more profitable) game more-or-less on their own and with minimal funding.
Of course not. Then they can't sell you as much junk.
There was room in the industry for a $30+ subscription model to succeed, but instead they went this route, where they're expecting paying customers will spend upwards of $30-50 per month on average.
Except this one: did you lose your mind?