I`d like to ask you all what are your thoughts about the way PW and Cryptic deal with their zen in this game ?
I feel Star Trek is genuinely good and with alot of potention that its yet to be used, but I feel quite annoyed that pretty much any action in this game is halted by either Zen or its counterpart masked as ''dilithium'' wich hinders your progress even more and works as a way for players to feel the need to buy more zen only to sell it and earn more of that thing so they can progress faster in the game.
Not only that but one of the most reconigsable feuture of StarTrek, its ships, are mostly locked behind subscriptions and 20 dollars worth of zen EACH.
I can`t belive that this is ok with this community and even if it is, can anyone honestly say that the way they are doing this isn`t at the very least agressive consumer wise ?
If I had to make a example of sucessfull free to play with a good buisness model it would be Warframe, that game can be grinding most of the time and not always can be as acessible as the people who buy they coins (platinum) with real life money, but it gives the player the option to trade gear and modules for the platinum he needs to progress better in it.
I hope at least some of you share in the same concern.
EDIT: I don`t bother to do this but just got a few last things to say on the matter:
-This game is awesome and I support w/e you people may belive or not (subscriber)
-No I won`t stop playing because some entitled jerk thinks its all good to them, I want this game to improve and I`ll keep bringing topics to the forums where I found the choices made by PW or Cryptic unfair or unresonable even if people may or may not be blind to the truth
-Evryone can tell me 100 times that most of the ships are avaible without having to pay but they seem to froget that`s only 50% of those you get trough progression that you wont use anymore after you reach Rear admiral and the rest is blocked behind either trough C-Store, Lobi Crystals, Jackpot boxes or trough FOUR Fleet Ship Modules (wich are also necessary to be bought in C-Store or paid in the exchange for absurd ammounts of EC)
-Dilithium is just an excuse it shouldn`t be used as exchange for zenny and its design with limitations per day just to make people grind even more to incentivise you to pay for your Zen, its not bad but I`d rather ask for another solution.
-If anyone finds this stupid or idiotic, shame on you guys because there are better ways to earn money without locking your community into a brutal grinding system wich you need to make 10 characters to cope with your quote each week, last I checked I came here to play a game not to find a job.
the only ships locked behind a subscription are the 3 vet reward ships. the other 100 ships are all in the c-store.
as far as the price, most games store items cost $20+. A simple horse in lotro costs 10-20 bucks. plus you can exchange dilithium for zen. at 8000 dilithium per day, which takes about an hour to get, you have over 1000 zen in a month. a player can easily make 1500-2000 zen a month without even trying hard. then your $20 ship only costs you a couple of bucks.
You can get quite a lot without actually spending your money in this game, it seems a pretty worthwhile setup for time vs money in my opinion.
And if you spend a month's time on dil and a month's equivalent of a subscription (15 bucks or so) you can buy a ship, and have enough left over for some bank upgrades.
Fate - protects fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise Will Riker
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I agree that the route the c-shop has been taking is concerning. Ships were expensive before but T6 really went over the top imho.
Though you can still grind dil and turn it into zen. That's pretty much the only thing that keeps the game away from straight P2W.
While I really do like how the new stuff looks I'll probably never have any of it cause I stopped giving them money. Massive lags, outright broken mechanics and bugs all over the place. Once the start fix more than they break I may reconsider but with the direction they're heading now there's no way in hell.
I'm not a fan of how this game is run (just look at my signature). Nevertheless, you can't judge this game by another game's standards. You also can't judge this game by real life standards since it is just a game. The micro-transactions in the game are semi-justified but have only recently become moves of greed (i.e. the plethora of new T6 ships). So if really bugs you, don't play and go play Warframe. I'd hardly call it an MMORPG but it is fun all the same.
I was okay with it until DR asked everyone to repay for ships they already bought. That crosses a line, that and the whole Pathfinder a month later after many people upgraded their Intrepids.
However, FtP games are a very bad job if you don't pay. Do the math on it, how many days does it take you to earn the dilithium for $10 of zen? Then realize that many people make more than $10 an hour.
I was okay with it until DR asked everyone to repay for ships they already bought.
And the tempest didn't? C-store DSD's? Fleet ships? Regent Class?
Funny how that works.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
However, FtP games are a very bad job if you don't pay. Do the math on it, how many days does it take you to earn the dilithium for $10 of zen? Then realize that many people make more than $10 an hour.
if you're equating your hobby as a job that makes you the idiot. how much does the bowling alley pay you to bowl 3 games? how much does the movie theater pay you to go and watch a movie? how much does the water park pay you to come over and swim in their pools? NOTHING.
you do hobbies for the recreation and fun not as an equation to how much you can get if you had worked instead. if they're not fun don't do them. go find something else that is fun to you.
You're nuts. If anything I'm constantly surprised by how generous the F2P aspect of the game is. You can be competitive without spending a penny.
And since you can trade Dilithium for Zen, I don't see how your paragon Warframe is better...
Yeah, I've tried any number of games that are much worse than this one. (Ugh, don't even get me started on the TRIBBLE that Aeria pulls in it's games. And I've been trying SWTOR recently.... yeah, it has a few nice features in it's cash shop, but there's some other things that are pretty sleazy. Like the incredibly low credit cap for non-sub players, combined with consumable/temporary credit cap increasers. There's definitely major encouragement to sub.)
I will admit that my first month or two of Trek was subbed, so my first 5-6 characters all have pretty decent sized inventory & bank, and I got a few other things unlocked (account bank, credit cap, etc). But everything I've gotten since then has been via the dil exchange or EC. Several ships, character/boff/ship/outfit slots, a number of costume unlocks, lots of keys....
(And yeah - I tried Warframe. Yes, you can earn a lot of stuff in-game. But hoo-boy, is that game grindy.)
You're nuts. If anything I'm constantly surprised by how generous the F2P aspect of the game is. You can be competitive without spending a penny.
And since you can trade Dilithium for Zen, I don't see how your paragon Warframe is better...
Exactly this, times a million. I've played a lot of MMOs, and STO has the most generous F2P model by FAR.
You can play EVERY mission/queue in the game for FREE. You can trade in game currency for game store currency, meaning you can get ANY item in the game store without spending YOUR money.
Anyone who actually understands the above facts and still has a problem with STO's F2P model is simply unreasonable, and will never be satisfied.
I was okay with it until DR asked everyone to repay for ships they already bought. That crosses a line, that and the whole Pathfinder a month later after many people upgraded their Intrepids.
You didn't have to do the upgrades. You can still play pretty much everything except maybe the elite queues with the top end gear from pre-DR. Also, as previously mentioned dilithium converts to zen, meaning even if you decided you want to upgrade your ship, you can do it without spending any of your own money. Every game constantly adds new and better gear. You either pay money or have to grind to get it. This game gives you the choice to do either one, so don't complain if you don't like your own choice.
But, the thing is, they arent "micro-transactions" to alot of us long term players, due to us having inbetween 3-20 characters capable of farming for dill when we need it. 8k (9k for lifers) a day times by 5 to 20 characters adds up alot.
But, if you have only 1 or two leveled, i can see how it would look like micro transactions.
Moral of the story, level up as many characters as you can.
All of the micro transactions are completely optional. It's not pay to win. It helps, but it's not mandatory. Considering that the game's also free to buy and can provide hundreds of hours of play, throwing the developers the odd few quid doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Up to level 50, I don't think its a problem. 50 onwards, well, it might just be me, but I'm getting tired of using a level 40 ship for level 55 missions - that said, its not impossible.
I feel that the costs for stuff is about 15-20% too high, or at least the grind for stuff feels about 20% too grindy.
That said, I don't think its unreasonable. I guess my only feeling is that by the time I've finished upgrading gear and can grind Dil for Zen, I've finished all the stories and so the need for grinding for a better ship seems a bit pointless.
Exactly this, times a million. I've played a lot of MMOs, and STO has the most generous F2P model by FAR.
I don't know if I'd go quite that far. Path of Exile has a fantastic model that is truly free to play, in that the only microtransactions are convenience and cosmetic things like extra stash space or unique skins/visual effects. They are explicitly and emphatically opposed to "pay to win".
But the rest:
You can play EVERY mission/queue in the game for FREE. You can trade in game currency for game store currency, meaning you can get ANY item in the game store without spending YOUR money.
Anyone who actually understands the above facts and still has a problem with STO's F2P model is simply unreasonable, and will never be satisfied.
Pretty much this. There is literally nothing in this game other than a very tiny number of LTS perks that a player cannot earn through in-game means. You can earn upwards of 1000 Zen worth of dilithium a month in even at the current stupidly-high exchange rate.
Up to level 50, I don't think its a problem. 50 onwards, well, it might just be me, but I'm getting tired of using a level 40 ship for level 55 missions - that said, its not impossible.
Fleet shipyard retrofits. There are a number of early-tier ships with retrofit versions, and with a tier 3 fleet shipyard they only cost 200k Fleet Credits, no FSM required.
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Eclipse Class Intel Cruiser U.S.S. Dioscuria NX-91121-A - Interactive Crew Roster
To the Op.. There are a lot of things to bicker about regarding STO, usually small annoyances but the cstore is not really one of them.. It is by far the best f2p model available.. With a little patience you can get anything you want minus a sub. Nothing that you NEED to play with is locked behind the cash store.. They even go as far as giving away free (very decent) ships three times a year. At the end of the day the cstore is full of nice to haves but doesnt prevent anybody from accomplishing anything really.
Edit: while we are on about the cstore i DO have one problem.. I am apparently forever forbidden from getting tge voyager interior or bundle because i already own the LRSV that i snagged like years ago probably now. Wish they would make the pathfinder+interior bundle come back so i can get it
I`d like to ask you all what are your thoughts about the way PW and Cryptic deal with their zen in this game ?
I feel Star Trek is genuinely good and with alot of potention that its yet to be used, but I feel quite annoyed that pretty much any action in this game is halted by either Zen or its counterpart masked as ''dilithium'' wich hinders your progress even more and works as a way for players to feel the need to buy more zen only to sell it and earn more of that thing so they can progress faster in the game.
Not only that but one of the most reconigsable feuture of StarTrek, its ships, are mostly locked behind subscriptions and 20 dollars worth of zen EACH.
I can`t belive that this is ok with this community and even if it is, can anyone honestly say that the way they are doing this isn`t at the very least agressive consumer wise ?
If I had to make a example of sucessfull free to play with a good buisness model it would be Warframe, that game can be grinding most of the time and not always can be as acessible as the people who buy they coins (platinum) with real life money, but it gives the player the option to trade gear and modules for the platinum he needs to progress better in it.
I hope at least some of you share in the same concern.
I gotta agree with others. I'm not gonna pull a don't complain because this is easier compared to x, but don't expect it to change. There ARE worse ones out there and for that reason PWE/Cryptic can think the way it is is perfectly fine. And in a way it CAN be. I'm currently running 20 or so chars and can get a t6 ship in 4 days or so of grinding. So yeah it's not a piece of cake but it's nowhere near as hard as others (Darkorbit being a fine example, you can spend thousands of dollars to have the best stuff, or actual years without)
The boss being a gigantic Winter Epohh Researcher. As you lay waste to the Epohh Horde, she can occasionally cry out things like, "Didn't you want an Epohh friend?"
if you're equating your hobby as a job that makes you the idiot. how much does the bowling alley pay you to bowl 3 games? how much does the movie theater pay you to go and watch a movie? how much does the water park pay you to come over and swim in their pools? NOTHING.
you do hobbies for the recreation and fun not as an equation to how much you can get if you had worked instead. if they're not fun don't do them. go find something else that is fun to you.
You're entirely missing the point. STO if you want to be a F2P player, you spend way more time than necessary grinding out dilithium. I imagine a few people might find that fun, but very few indeed. I think most do it because they think they are getting something for "free" but if they worked an extra hour or had a job at all (not exactly easy these days I understand) the time value spent to save a few $$ is incredibly poor.
But you were perfectly fine repaying for Fleet Ship variants of ships you already owned. :rolleyes:
Fleet ships bought=0
T5U upgrade modules bought=0
Fleet ships are slightly different though since you can get fleet ships without owning the actual Cstore ship, and the power difference is much, much less than T5:T5U. But no I don't like that either.
But I bought no upgrade modules either. I just switched everyone to the freely upgradeable ships rather than spend $60 on upgrade modules for ships I already bought.
I don't dislike microtransactions in general. I'd love to see thounsands of those if they all were of cosmetic nature. New bridges, costumes, non combat pets, emotes, skins for ships/guns/etc - I'm perfectly fine with that, and I'd buy alot of those thing to support the game.
Sadly, most of the stuff is p2w. You don't want the new ship, but you cannot afford not having the trait that comes with it if you're into PvP or competetive PvE cuz everyone else is having that stuff.
If you just want play casually, play a mission or PvE here and there. STO is perfectly fine - you won't need to purchase anything. Every endgame content can be done with free ships and gear if you know what you're doing.
Just don't dare to enter the world of competetive gameplay. The shameless and greedy cash grabs are going to break your neck. If you'd like to have 1 (!!!) maxed out pvp character, prepare to either have a veeeeeeeery long grind or drop several thousand dollars!
You're entirely missing the point. STO if you want to be a F2P player, you spend way more time than necessary grinding out dilithium. I imagine a few people might find that fun, but very few indeed. I think most do it because they think they are getting something for "free" but if they worked an extra hour or had a job at all (not exactly easy these days I understand) the time value spent to save a few $$ is incredibly poor.
how much time is necessary's a subjective concept. if you're having fun then 4 hours can seem like 5 minutes, and if you're not 5 minutes can seem like 4 hours. if you only think of everything as work then everything is just work.
i log into sto to get my trek geek on. when i want my superhero geek on i go to dcuo or marvel. when i want my fantasy geek i got to lotro. none of it is work and i'm not thinking about how much money i could be earning doing something else rather then the pennies i'm earning playing sto. as i said, if that's the way you think then you need to find a better hobby because you're treating this one all wrong.
i don't mind giving sto 10 bucks a month for the enjoyment; or 30 bucks every 3 months if that's when i decide to buy a new ship. ymmv
how much time is necessary's a subjective concept. if you're having fun then 4 hours can seem like 5 minutes, and if you're not 5 minutes can seem like 4 hours. if you only think of everything as work then everything is just work.
i log into sto to get my trek geek on. when i want my superhero geek on i go to dcuo or marvel. when i want my fantasy geek i got to lotro. none of it is work and i'm not thinking about how much money i could be earning doing something else rather then the pennies i'm earning playing sto. as i said, if that's the way you think then you need to find a better hobby because you're treating this one all wrong.
i don't mind giving sto 10 bucks a month for the enjoyment; or 30 bucks every 3 months if that's when i decide to buy a new ship. ymmv
Again, completely missing the point I was trying to make. I'm not going to try and explain it again though. Oh well.
Again, completely missing the point I was trying to make. I'm not going to try and explain it again though. Oh well.
i'm not missing your point. i dont' see your point as being valid. how much time someone grinds in sto is up to them. if you have no problem dropping 15-20 bucks a month on sto, just as you did when it was subscription, then you have no need to grind. they're not adding 5 new ships every month that you have to buy. as is usually the case this is people who can't separate wanting something from needing something, and then blaming everyone else because they can't get everything they want instantly for free.
I find microtransactions a bit of a mixed blessing, when done properly they add some premium (though not unbalancing) items/convieniences to a game, for a price...
And if done properly one would never need to utilize microtransactions to be good in a game, microtransaction items should be convienience/vanity only. (In my opinion)
Lockboxes are what really gets me, MMO's dangle a spiffy new gadget or whatzit in front of you but neglect to tell you that your chances of getting it are ~3% and 97% of the time you just get TRIBBLE/consolation prizes, which are hardly worth the price of the key to open the box.
STO isn't the only game that does this, and for the most part STO isn't too bad with microtransactions, the Dilithium exchange allows players to make microtransaction purchases without actually spending any real money.
Unfortunately the items in STO's microtransaction store (C-Store) and the items in lockboxes are hardly just convienience/vanity and actually serve a purpose in-game, making them more desireable/needed to be effective in end game content. This is moderately annoying, but again, mitigated by the Dilithium exchange.
STO is a business not a charity. They need our cash monies to keep the server hamsters in pellets.
I like their F2P better than SWTOR where you have to pay $20 to see the new season content. No pay? No content for you.
With STO I might want some shiny new ship but I don't need to buy it just to be allowed to play the content. It's up to me to decide when I want to spend more money.
Comments
And since you can trade Dilithium for Zen, I don't see how your paragon Warframe is better...
Progression in this game is fine (up to level 50). You don't need dilithium or zen to succeed.
The lockbox thing is what annoys me.
STO Screenshot Archive
as far as the price, most games store items cost $20+. A simple horse in lotro costs 10-20 bucks. plus you can exchange dilithium for zen. at 8000 dilithium per day, which takes about an hour to get, you have over 1000 zen in a month. a player can easily make 1500-2000 zen a month without even trying hard. then your $20 ship only costs you a couple of bucks.
And if you spend a month's time on dil and a month's equivalent of a subscription (15 bucks or so) you can buy a ship, and have enough left over for some bank upgrades.
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Though you can still grind dil and turn it into zen. That's pretty much the only thing that keeps the game away from straight P2W.
While I really do like how the new stuff looks I'll probably never have any of it cause I stopped giving them money. Massive lags, outright broken mechanics and bugs all over the place. Once the start fix more than they break I may reconsider but with the direction they're heading now there's no way in hell.
However, FtP games are a very bad job if you don't pay. Do the math on it, how many days does it take you to earn the dilithium for $10 of zen? Then realize that many people make more than $10 an hour.
And the tempest didn't? C-store DSD's? Fleet ships? Regent Class?
Funny how that works.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
you do hobbies for the recreation and fun not as an equation to how much you can get if you had worked instead. if they're not fun don't do them. go find something else that is fun to you.
Yeah, I've tried any number of games that are much worse than this one. (Ugh, don't even get me started on the TRIBBLE that Aeria pulls in it's games. And I've been trying SWTOR recently.... yeah, it has a few nice features in it's cash shop, but there's some other things that are pretty sleazy. Like the incredibly low credit cap for non-sub players, combined with consumable/temporary credit cap increasers. There's definitely major encouragement to sub.)
I will admit that my first month or two of Trek was subbed, so my first 5-6 characters all have pretty decent sized inventory & bank, and I got a few other things unlocked (account bank, credit cap, etc). But everything I've gotten since then has been via the dil exchange or EC. Several ships, character/boff/ship/outfit slots, a number of costume unlocks, lots of keys....
(And yeah - I tried Warframe. Yes, you can earn a lot of stuff in-game. But hoo-boy, is that game grindy.)
Exactly this, times a million. I've played a lot of MMOs, and STO has the most generous F2P model by FAR.
You can play EVERY mission/queue in the game for FREE. You can trade in game currency for game store currency, meaning you can get ANY item in the game store without spending YOUR money.
Anyone who actually understands the above facts and still has a problem with STO's F2P model is simply unreasonable, and will never be satisfied.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
You didn't have to do the upgrades. You can still play pretty much everything except maybe the elite queues with the top end gear from pre-DR. Also, as previously mentioned dilithium converts to zen, meaning even if you decided you want to upgrade your ship, you can do it without spending any of your own money. Every game constantly adds new and better gear. You either pay money or have to grind to get it. This game gives you the choice to do either one, so don't complain if you don't like your own choice.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Of course they have.
But, the thing is, they arent "micro-transactions" to alot of us long term players, due to us having inbetween 3-20 characters capable of farming for dill when we need it. 8k (9k for lifers) a day times by 5 to 20 characters adds up alot.
But, if you have only 1 or two leveled, i can see how it would look like micro transactions.
Moral of the story, level up as many characters as you can.
I feel that the costs for stuff is about 15-20% too high, or at least the grind for stuff feels about 20% too grindy.
That said, I don't think its unreasonable. I guess my only feeling is that by the time I've finished upgrading gear and can grind Dil for Zen, I've finished all the stories and so the need for grinding for a better ship seems a bit pointless.
But the rest: Pretty much this. There is literally nothing in this game other than a very tiny number of LTS perks that a player cannot earn through in-game means. You can earn upwards of 1000 Zen worth of dilithium a month in even at the current stupidly-high exchange rate. Fleet shipyard retrofits. There are a number of early-tier ships with retrofit versions, and with a tier 3 fleet shipyard they only cost 200k Fleet Credits, no FSM required.
Eclipse Class Intel Cruiser U.S.S. Dioscuria NX-91121-A - Interactive Crew Roster
Edit: while we are on about the cstore i DO have one problem.. I am apparently forever forbidden from getting tge voyager interior or bundle because i already own the LRSV that i snagged like years ago probably now. Wish they would make the pathfinder+interior bundle come back so i can get it
You're entirely missing the point. STO if you want to be a F2P player, you spend way more time than necessary grinding out dilithium. I imagine a few people might find that fun, but very few indeed. I think most do it because they think they are getting something for "free" but if they worked an extra hour or had a job at all (not exactly easy these days I understand) the time value spent to save a few $$ is incredibly poor.
Fleet ships bought=0
T5U upgrade modules bought=0
Fleet ships are slightly different though since you can get fleet ships without owning the actual Cstore ship, and the power difference is much, much less than T5:T5U. But no I don't like that either.
But I bought no upgrade modules either. I just switched everyone to the freely upgradeable ships rather than spend $60 on upgrade modules for ships I already bought.
Sadly, most of the stuff is p2w. You don't want the new ship, but you cannot afford not having the trait that comes with it if you're into PvP or competetive PvE cuz everyone else is having that stuff.
If you just want play casually, play a mission or PvE here and there. STO is perfectly fine - you won't need to purchase anything. Every endgame content can be done with free ships and gear if you know what you're doing.
Just don't dare to enter the world of competetive gameplay. The shameless and greedy cash grabs are going to break your neck. If you'd like to have 1 (!!!) maxed out pvp character, prepare to either have a veeeeeeeery long grind or drop several thousand dollars!
i log into sto to get my trek geek on. when i want my superhero geek on i go to dcuo or marvel. when i want my fantasy geek i got to lotro. none of it is work and i'm not thinking about how much money i could be earning doing something else rather then the pennies i'm earning playing sto. as i said, if that's the way you think then you need to find a better hobby because you're treating this one all wrong.
i don't mind giving sto 10 bucks a month for the enjoyment; or 30 bucks every 3 months if that's when i decide to buy a new ship. ymmv
Again, completely missing the point I was trying to make. I'm not going to try and explain it again though. Oh well.
And if done properly one would never need to utilize microtransactions to be good in a game, microtransaction items should be convienience/vanity only. (In my opinion)
Lockboxes are what really gets me, MMO's dangle a spiffy new gadget or whatzit in front of you but neglect to tell you that your chances of getting it are ~3% and 97% of the time you just get TRIBBLE/consolation prizes, which are hardly worth the price of the key to open the box.
STO isn't the only game that does this, and for the most part STO isn't too bad with microtransactions, the Dilithium exchange allows players to make microtransaction purchases without actually spending any real money.
Unfortunately the items in STO's microtransaction store (C-Store) and the items in lockboxes are hardly just convienience/vanity and actually serve a purpose in-game, making them more desireable/needed to be effective in end game content. This is moderately annoying, but again, mitigated by the Dilithium exchange.
Addiction.
I like their F2P better than SWTOR where you have to pay $20 to see the new season content. No pay? No content for you.
With STO I might want some shiny new ship but I don't need to buy it just to be allowed to play the content. It's up to me to decide when I want to spend more money.
Each new suite of ships is the price of another full priced game.