But that's just it. The Event isn't being abandoned 3 weeks in. If players ONLY cared about the ships, they'd login, fly around for 5 minutes, and leave. They're not, though. Players are sticking around and grinding out Favors and Tags. If you ask me, THAT'S where they should be looking for their Event metrics, not how long it took players to get ships.
Perhaps "abandoned" is too extreme of a description. I noticed a serious decline of players on Risa comparing week 1 and 2 to week 3 onwards. I skipped the Winter Event this past year, so I can't comment on that.
I think most players grind out favors for whatever goodies they want within the first couple of weeks and then don't log in again, except to run "Flying High" once a day. Which... is pretty much how it is going to be this year...
Because it's not much of an apology when it comes with an insult. Calling people exploiters for playing the game as it exists is never going to go over well.
And no amount of shrieking their praises is going distract the dissatisfied from poor decisions.
That being said, I appreciate the gesture of making the earned ships account unlocked. Hopefully tho latest forum/social media fire will be enough to convince Cryptic to reassess what they're doing overall.
maybe you should actually read the salami post before commenting on it.. not once was there any mention of exploiting, or any insinuation, innuendo or hinting of such.
but that's just the reality of how these things are. they are only special, because they exist in this manner, their value is subject to the fact, that they were limited to a specific time frame. i only had a single fed character during the anniversary that rewarded the worf sash, id so love to have that on all my fed characters, but you know what? its all the more special because i cant, and anyone that sees me wearing it, knows i was there.
anyone who joins a new game with the expectation of getting access to all the historical glitter, is at best somewhat delusional and misinformed on how reward systems work and where the value lies in them. in the case of these ships, they were a carrot on a stick to keep players logging into game x times in y number of days. as with most events and challenges, if you aren't there to take part or compete, you don't get the goody bag or the medal.
new players should be pleased that they wont have to farm the full event on every character to get their ships as many of us did. we older players aren't getting anything extra here, this new rule is just being applied retrospectively, as such we have already earned those ships, where as, new players or those players that never took part in the events haven't. so please explain to me why its unfair for new players to not get the old ships, and then maybe take some time to consider, just how unfair it would really be to us old players, if the new players did get access to them..
I have all of these ships, and I don't think it would be unfair at all if a new player were to come in this year and get access to them as well. The fact is, they'd still have to earn them, just like I did, and if they're willing to do that, then they deserve them.
We're not talking about a true one time event, like the grand reopening of the club on ESD where everyone that participated got a free costume (which, BTW, is still available to be purchased). These events are annual, and so there is really no reason that their rewards shouldn't continue to be available annually, other than to make some elitists feel special about themselves. So, I have no problem with Cryptic reusing past or future "special" rewards to draw attention to game and get people playing.
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Perhaps "abandoned" is too extreme of a description. I noticed a serious decline of players on Risa comparing week 1 and 2 to week 3 onwards. I skipped the Winter Event this past year, so I can't comment on that.
I think most players grind out favors for whatever goodies they want within the first couple of weeks and then don't log in again, except to run "Flying High" once a day. Which... is pretty much how it is going to be this year...
True, there's going to be some drop off in participation. High turnout in the beginning to try new events, see/get new items. But consider WHEN these Events are taking place. I'm sure most folks have "better things to do" with their summer/winter holidays than to sit at a computer all day. They'd probably prefer to be/do with family and friends. Which is why, IMHO, I believe these Events in particular should be more lax in their approach to earning these rewards. Killing someone's ship project just because they couldn't get it done before the end of the Event is a bit extreme for a game that has historically catered to the casual player.
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I have all of these ships, and I don't think it would be unfair at all if a new player were to come in this year and get access to them as well. The fact is, they'd still have to earn them, just like I did, and if they're willing to do that, then they deserve them.
This is how I feel. I'm a bit sad that others won't get to enjoy the corvette or luxury cruiser like I have. I think they are very fun ships. I'm hoping the replacements will be even better though.
As for the pearls, I can see both sides of the argument. The only thing I don't like is the all or nothing on the projects. Having them go away if I can't manage to finish them during the event, along with all the play that went into it, would be a bit of a bummer. Things happen, days get missed. Of course the work-around is to just not commit anything more to the project than you have to until you have enough to finish it.
I am still looking forward to the summer event though. I love the whole look and feel of it.
We will be making every event ship youve ever earned and every event ship moving forward total account unlocks. As soon as one character on your account owns a ship, every single other character on your account that exists now or you will ever create will have immediate access to any event ship youve earned. There will be no need for your alts to play the event mission, no hoops to fly through other than picking up the ship from a store. Hopefully taking this extra step will address any lingering concerns you have with the overall change. Thanks for reading this far, and I look forward to seeing you on Risa soon!
When reading the reply, my initial reaction was to be upset that event currency I had saved up was now useless, but after reading this part.. I'm so happy about it that you could have told me you were taking all my Dilithium and donating it to help Dental continue to troll people and I probably would have just nodded and smiled.
True, there's going to be some drop off in participation. High turnout in the beginning to try new events, see/get new items. But consider WHEN these Events are taking place. I'm sure most folks have "better things to do" with their summer/winter holidays than to sit at a computer all day. They'd probably prefer to be/do with family and friends. Which is why, IMHO, I believe these Events in particular should be more lax in their approach to earning these rewards. Killing someone's ship project just because they couldn't get it done before the end of the Event is a bit extreme for a game that has historically catered to the casual player.
so why bother having events? or setting up prizes to be earned during them? if not to try and encourage players to log into game during real life holiday periods, where they will normally be off doing real life things instead of playing the game. remove the necessity to run x number of missions within a fixed number of days, and you basically kill the event, in turn greatly reducing the number of players in game.. its the reason they provide such appealing rewards. there are many things in game i'm not overly happy about, but the holiday events are never on that list, yes they make us dance like marionettes, but that dancing rewards well and breaks up the monotony of kill kill kill kill.. repair.. kill kill kill kill.. repair..
As much as I appreciate the straightforward Dev reply, and saw it in the other thread, I think the Devs are missing sight of a lot of things here. Also I should mention I have no pearls saved up from last year, and while I do have the winter currency saved up from this year, that was chiefly because of the huge problem with being an original owner of the Chel Grett and no guarantee the issue would be fixed in time. So this change affects me not at all.
1: It is a grind. It is. I mean honestly it is fun for maybe 5-10 days to do the floater race, but you have to ensure you do it nearly every day. You can't let yourself forget or get caught up in other activities, or you can miss out on the ship. It doesn't take long, it isn't remotely close to the spec grind, but you have to keep doing it. You have to remember to do it. You have to ensure you have the days to do it. It demands planning and methodical attention to it that is counter to the fun aspect. It is also easy to forget about because each day blurs into the next when you make it so repetitive like this. Did I do the race today? Was that yesterday? In some small way you have to schedule your day in game around it.
2: "Fun will now commence." On the point of people not participating, I will have to point out that expecting or demanding people to participate is entirely losing sight of the real issue. Why aren't people participating? This is a deeper question that demands an understanding to make the event better all around.
3: Yet, the mere fact people had the currency saved up from last year means they did participate, and ran the race exactly as many times as required for the ships. Why is this a problem? You want people running it in that given year, but why? It is extremely concerning that Cryptic has started removing the ability of people to put forethought into how they play the game. Play on Cryptic's schedule, not ours.
4: This whole issue is again a problem with Cryptic's way of changing things. While it seems the feedback is heard and we are getting at least one positive change out of this, there is still the issue of changing things at the last minute. This, like the mark turn ins during the bonus dilithium events, you let us use them for years, but then change it right before the next one. It would be far more palatable and respectful to your players, who are simply using the system as designed and planning ahead, if you announced the change before the coming event and didn't make the change apply until after that event. Thus you would tell us that pearls won't be used again after this year, let people get their ship with their saved up pearls, and then no one has any expectation that they can save up for the next ship this way, but those who did that last year don't find out their forethought and planning was wasted.
5: There is no reason to run the race more than once a day for the ship. Now I am firmly against demanding us run the event 25 times on every character that wants the ship, that is patently ridiculous. Yet at the same time, the pearls existed for one reason and one reason only, to get the ship. They have zero other purpose. This is something you've done for events like Crystaline entity, the extra shards you get after completing the event project can grant some extra dilithium and such. Don't you think the winter/summer/anniversary events should have something like that too, make the pearls mean something more than just the ship?
6: One of the other expectations here is the ability to get old ships. Whether new player or someone who couldn't make it last year or didn't want it last year but now wants it this year, this has been a recurring theme for the summer and winter events. How many new players saw a Corvette, asked about it, and were told they could get it this year at the summer event? You switch this up at the last minute and it is too late for anyone to do anything about it, for those that could. Now, maybe we will get T6 versions and make the issue moot for this year, but that is just speculation.
7: Final point, the removal of the project after the event. I find this unnecessary and pointless. There really is no good reason for this. For whatever reason someone can't finish it this year, the fact they keep it slotted means they want to return next year and finish it. How is that bad for the game?
so why bother having events? or setting up prizes to be earned during them? if not to try and encourage players to log into game during real life holiday periods, where they will normally be off doing real life things instead of playing the game. remove the necessity to run x number of missions within a fixed number of days, and you basically kill the event, in turn greatly reducing the number of players in game.. its the reason they provide such appealing rewards.
Sure it's a draw to encourage people to play when they would otherwise be more likely to do other holiday related things. But let's be practical. Most people aren't going to completely abandon their summer/winter plans just to play a video game for a special in-game event. The draw is that the Events are for a limited time, and it's the only time these rewards can be earned. The appeal, historically, has been that you could always go back to get/finish something that you might've missed. "Hey! Risa is back! I can finally finish getting my luxury liner from last year!"
No one's talking about removing the necessity to participate for X number of days. Just allow the rewards to continue to be available for each annual event. If they want to change the currency each year to prevent front loading and to ensure annual participation, I'm OK with that. Just make sure that old ship projects accept the new currency and new ship projects don't accept the old currency.
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Over the last couple of seasonal events we noticed a trend that was different than we had seen in the past. General participation on the event was dropping, but the number of ships being collected was staying the same. Somehow people were playing less and still earning the ships from these events; we started digging into the numbers to figure this out. We initially assumed people were using the Lobi bypass option to speed their way through the events, but after digging deeper into the numbers that wasnt the case either. It turned out the change we made to make earning the ships more alt friendly had completely trivialized play of the events. Players could earn currency on all of their alts in one year, and then spend the currency from a single character every year to get the ship immediately. While some few players would then re-run the event on the character that spent their currency, the vast majority wouldnt. Again, this meant participation was down while rewards were still earned at the same rate.
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We will be making every event ship youve ever earned and every event ship moving forward total account unlocks. As soon as one character on your account owns a ship, every single other character on your account that exists now or you will ever create will have immediate access to any event ship youve earned. There will be no need for your alts to play the event mission, no hoops to fly through other than picking up the ship from a store. Hopefully taking this extra step will address any lingering concerns you have with the overall change. Thanks for reading this far, and I look forward to seeing you on Risa soon!
While I did not like the fact that the Lohlunat Pearls have been retired, I can understand why it was done now that Salamiinferno went through the process of explaining why it has been done. It is nice to know that he is taking the time to explain the thought process.
It is a nice change that once the Event Ship is unlocked for one captain it will be an account wide unlock for all captains. This further cuts down on the grind factor for players with multiple captains. Players with only one captain is not really affected at all, but at least if they create another captain, that captain will have access to the Event Ship as well.
I never used any of the Pearls 4 of my toons have earned from last year's event, but at least I can turn them in for some "consolation prizes".
so why bother having events? or setting up prizes to be earned during them? if not to try and encourage players to log into game during real life holiday periods, where they will normally be off doing real life things instead of playing the game.
It should not be too much of a burden since you only need to log in once per day to do the event activity to earn whatever the new currency is for this year's event.
From what I remember, in the 2014 Risa Summer Event you had to fly through 3 obstacle courses to earn the 40 Lohlunat Pearls per day. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes about 5 - 8 minutes to complete depending on the jet pack you had. Let's round that up to 10 minutes which includes logging into the game as well.
10 minutes per day is not much of a burden. I am pretty sure people can find 10 minutes a day during summer vacation or any holiday to eventually get a T6 starship which would generally cost $30 or 3,000 Zen for a T6 starship from the C-Store.
im more circumspect of the change, not in the intention but rather if this is a one time "give the players what they want" and then resume normal business practice afterwards, meaning minimal contact and not letting the community know the full details on something coming.
as for the intention, i dont mind every event ship having it being account unlocked, so that opens up the breen carrier and raider pets, the kobali cruiser and the risian cruiser. and yes keeping each currency like the q tokens has taken biscuit somewhat, i mean last event if people have collected the previous seasons, there would of probably been just enough to just buy the breen carrier and leave the event without a second thought after a few minutes on the event map. i mean for sure you want the players to get through the experience and some bypassed the system completely, no point crying about what happened, none the less the change is most certainly needed.
To be honest dude Salami is more engaging then any other EP we had. Stahl talked and never did, de angelo never talked and salami isnt afraid to jump in and explain the problem but also effect change. i say let it continue.
It should not be too much of a burden since you only need to log in once per day to do the event activity to earn whatever the new currency is for this year's event.
From what I remember, in the 2014 Risa Summer Event you had to fly through 3 obstacle courses to earn the 40 Lohlunat Pearls per day. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes about 5 - 8 minutes to complete depending on the jet pack you had. Let's round that up to 10 minutes which includes logging into the game as well.
10 minutes per day is not much of a burden. I am pretty sure people can find 10 minutes a day during summer vacation or any holiday to eventually get a T6 starship which would generally cost $30 or 3,000 Zen for a T6 starship from the C-Store.
Not too much of a burden, no. But decidedly impractical/impossible for those who might not be near their computer for any part of the Event's timeframe.
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Good to know the Devs look more into an event that only happens every 6 months than the lag going on right now and is more of a serious issue! Can't wait to rubberband my way through all the jetpack courses on Risa! And if they really wanted to make the Pearl buy-back system worth while, how about buying Lobi back instead of R&D materials I have a ton of already? After all, seeing as how some players did spend Lobi for those players, it would only seem fair.
Good to know the Devs look more into an event that only happens every 6 months than the lag going on right now and is more of a serious issue! Can't wait to rubberband my way through all the jetpack courses on Risa! And if they really wanted to make the Pearl buy-back system worth while, how about buying Lobi back instead of R&D materials I have a ton of already? After all, seeing as how some players did spend Lobi for those players, it would only seem fair.
FFS dude, they have already told us that they are working on the issues. Give it up and let then fix it rather then bagging on them cause they dont have a magic wand. Or are you one of those so called experts that think they can do it better. lmao
I was most pleased to read the Dev response on this issue, and would like to express my shock and gratitude for this compromise.
I would like to ask a few questions about this though, and would greatly appreciate a Dev response or follow up on yesterday's statement which would clear things up:
Which ships, specifically, can be reclaimed via the account unlocks?
How much will it cost to reclaim said ships?
Should I discharge an event ship (ie. Plesh Brek after purchasing the hangars) would I be able to purchase the Hangars/console from the stores without reclaiming it, or would I have to reclaim the ship again to get these items?
And perhaps a redundant question, considering, Should I discharge an event ship, will it still be available for reclaim & how much will it cost to do so?
Thank you Cryptic Devs for your speedy response and player friendly solution to this issue.
If the account unlock proves to allow my alts to claim previously missed ships (like the Kobali Cruiser, Risan Corvette, etc...) I'll gladly turn in ALL my remaining Pearls, Qmendations, and 8x10's on my characters for the unlocks of these excellent ships!
Edit: I realize that the unlocks don't actually require the pearls, Qmendations, or 8x10's but I consider these currencies, which were used to purchase limited time ships, to be more valuable than a few spec points, or R&D mats. So, if I just tell myself that the account unlock requres my old pearls, turning them in is now worth the spec points, R&D mats, etc... :P
This my point exactly. It essentially punishes those players who have the sense to plan ahead and save up some extra pearl or photos etc as a backup plan in case they can't play for the whole of the next event. I've always been away for at least a week of the summer event each year but I've saved up on the previous year and thus been able to acquire the ships.
I have the same perspective.
I genuinely appreciate the change in direction, I appreciate even more the thoughtful background on why they reconsidered.
But I was making a conscious effort to put time in one day to get more free time in the future to explore the event. A lot of folks did, this was actively talked about in the forums and recommended by players to other players who were worried about being available to get the full event rewards.
Waiting two years to call this exploitative behavior is a bit rich. Eliminating banked time will mitigate the Day One affect, it won't change the fact the event will still empty out well before it ends.
I know this is going sound like I'm being a bit of a jerk but honestly, from my perspective...that's their problem. If your life is that hectic you can't take 10 minutes a day for 25 days out of a 50 day event to log in and run one single minigame then maybe you've got bigger issues than not being able to get the latest ship for your captain.
This is a game. As such it has certain rules and conditions. When you perform task X you are given reward Y. You want the shineys? Put in time and the effort for them. Everyone else has to. Those who want shortcuts to get the latest new super duper widget pay for that privilege and they do so by choice. Whether it's really worth it is up to you.
Wow. Yeah, that did come off like being a jerk. :P
Not once did I, nor anyone else that I've seen, ask for a shortcut or exemption from effort. I'm simply advocating for the Events to continue working as they historically have: by allowing ships from previous years to be completed and/or earned during current/future Events.
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Reading through your full explanation of what prompted the change, I am saddened and disappointed not at you or your team, but at my fellow players. People were exploiting what was a gift (the alt discount) to avoid ever having to participate in the event at all. You were right to close that loophole and I'm glad you did it. People saying "it's for teh metrix!" are being TRIBBLE$holes, plain and simple. I play the Risa event for exactly the reason you say, to have a fun and social event full of relaxation and lighthearted activities, like a vacation within the game itself. For me, it's the only kind of vacation I can afford to take. And if the population of Risa drops because people exploit the loophole to get the ship without ever setting foot on Risa at all, that screws up MY fun and that of everyone else who wants to enjoy actually participating in the event. If they want to be sticks in the mud and not play the games, they shouldn't get the reward. Their participation in the event makes it more fun for everyone because a party isn't a party unless it's populated. So if they have to be bribed to join the party, so be it. If they want to pass on the reward, ok fine, but the enticement is enough to get a lot of them to join in and that keeps the event population up and the players who want to enjoy it happy.
Calling other people's name (exploiters) for being SMARTER than what the DEVs structured is uncalled for?. Even if one don't agree we are just data points and in the scheme of things just a metric for PWE to push around at their will. PWE dont care if you play or not....kind of ironic from what is being "incendiary" portrayed by the OP.
I knew it would, one way or another, but do feel it needed to be said. From my mind rewards for extra effort should feel special in some way. Yes, it's mostly bragging rights. But considering that there will be a new ship available that players can work to (and mostly likely a T6 no less), I honestly don't see how it is so unfair that past ships have been taken off the menu. It isn't like they were are saying "You can't ever a free ship at the summer event ever again." or "We're going to take away Risian ships from people who still have them." Nor did they just retire the pearls without offering at least some kind of compensation. Yet to read some of the posts on the subject (and based on some I have the uncomfortable feeling more than few were made before people actually reading the full release) one would have thought Cryptic had just cut people's eyes out and left them in a razor wire maze. Heck, even after they explained themselves and capitulated by allowing those who had previously earned the ships access to them there are still folks railing at them.
Look, I get that some people were upset by the change and don't like the reason for it. I myself was a little disappointed too. But this is Cryptic's game and they have the right to change the conditions and rewards. When one gets right down to it, nothing was really, actually lost. Those who had the old ships can keep them, those who slotted the project last year can still finish it, and those who didn't have the ships in the first place still can get the new one coming up. That event project tokens wont be carried forward isn't game breaking nor TRIBBLE anyone. As I said before, if you want the extra shiney you actually have to show up to earn it and, again, if your life is too busy to spend 10 minutes a day for 25 days out of 50 to get it then maybe you should focus on that rather than throwing a fit you can't get a bragging rights reward in a free to play online game.
I get what you're saying. I really do. But by the same token, it's not unfair or game breaking to leave the older ships in for others to acquire later either. Those who would insist on retiring rewards (Risian ships) or raging over retired rewards being reissued (Tamarian badges/emote) just come off as elitist jerks.
Hell, I would advocate right now for ANYONE who puts in the effort to advance ALL of their Crafting Schools to level 20, be granted a special project to craft their own Red Matter Capacitor (bound to account).
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maybe you should actually read the salami post before commenting on it.. not once was there any mention of exploiting, or any insinuation, innuendo or hinting of such.
You know what? You're correct. I misconstrued the C.D.F.'s incessant jabbering for Salami's point, and for that I'm sorry.
But perhaps members of the C.D.F. should avoid saying it so that doesn't happen as easily.
My only remaining issue is that the two previous ships are supposedly going to be unavailable. Due to haw things have run in the past, it seemed like I'd end up able to get all 3 this year, but not anymore. I'd have liked if the announcement said something like "After this event, these ships are not going to be available, so LAST CALL" or something like that.
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Perhaps "abandoned" is too extreme of a description. I noticed a serious decline of players on Risa comparing week 1 and 2 to week 3 onwards. I skipped the Winter Event this past year, so I can't comment on that.
I think most players grind out favors for whatever goodies they want within the first couple of weeks and then don't log in again, except to run "Flying High" once a day. Which... is pretty much how it is going to be this year...
maybe you should actually read the salami post before commenting on it.. not once was there any mention of exploiting, or any insinuation, innuendo or hinting of such.
I have all of these ships, and I don't think it would be unfair at all if a new player were to come in this year and get access to them as well. The fact is, they'd still have to earn them, just like I did, and if they're willing to do that, then they deserve them.
We're not talking about a true one time event, like the grand reopening of the club on ESD where everyone that participated got a free costume (which, BTW, is still available to be purchased). These events are annual, and so there is really no reason that their rewards shouldn't continue to be available annually, other than to make some elitists feel special about themselves. So, I have no problem with Cryptic reusing past or future "special" rewards to draw attention to game and get people playing.
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True, there's going to be some drop off in participation. High turnout in the beginning to try new events, see/get new items. But consider WHEN these Events are taking place. I'm sure most folks have "better things to do" with their summer/winter holidays than to sit at a computer all day. They'd probably prefer to be/do with family and friends. Which is why, IMHO, I believe these Events in particular should be more lax in their approach to earning these rewards. Killing someone's ship project just because they couldn't get it done before the end of the Event is a bit extreme for a game that has historically catered to the casual player.
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This is how I feel. I'm a bit sad that others won't get to enjoy the corvette or luxury cruiser like I have. I think they are very fun ships. I'm hoping the replacements will be even better though.
As for the pearls, I can see both sides of the argument. The only thing I don't like is the all or nothing on the projects. Having them go away if I can't manage to finish them during the event, along with all the play that went into it, would be a bit of a bummer. Things happen, days get missed. Of course the work-around is to just not commit anything more to the project than you have to until you have enough to finish it.
I am still looking forward to the summer event though. I love the whole look and feel of it.
When reading the reply, my initial reaction was to be upset that event currency I had saved up was now useless, but after reading this part.. I'm so happy about it that you could have told me you were taking all my Dilithium and donating it to help Dental continue to troll people and I probably would have just nodded and smiled.
The response is buried under mountains of peoples worthless opinions, so no.. we wouldn't.
I never would have seen it without this thread, so thanks to the OP. The Dev Team really should make the announcement it's own sticky thread.
so why bother having events? or setting up prizes to be earned during them? if not to try and encourage players to log into game during real life holiday periods, where they will normally be off doing real life things instead of playing the game. remove the necessity to run x number of missions within a fixed number of days, and you basically kill the event, in turn greatly reducing the number of players in game.. its the reason they provide such appealing rewards. there are many things in game i'm not overly happy about, but the holiday events are never on that list, yes they make us dance like marionettes, but that dancing rewards well and breaks up the monotony of kill kill kill kill.. repair.. kill kill kill kill.. repair..
1: It is a grind. It is. I mean honestly it is fun for maybe 5-10 days to do the floater race, but you have to ensure you do it nearly every day. You can't let yourself forget or get caught up in other activities, or you can miss out on the ship. It doesn't take long, it isn't remotely close to the spec grind, but you have to keep doing it. You have to remember to do it. You have to ensure you have the days to do it. It demands planning and methodical attention to it that is counter to the fun aspect. It is also easy to forget about because each day blurs into the next when you make it so repetitive like this. Did I do the race today? Was that yesterday? In some small way you have to schedule your day in game around it.
2: "Fun will now commence." On the point of people not participating, I will have to point out that expecting or demanding people to participate is entirely losing sight of the real issue. Why aren't people participating? This is a deeper question that demands an understanding to make the event better all around.
3: Yet, the mere fact people had the currency saved up from last year means they did participate, and ran the race exactly as many times as required for the ships. Why is this a problem? You want people running it in that given year, but why? It is extremely concerning that Cryptic has started removing the ability of people to put forethought into how they play the game. Play on Cryptic's schedule, not ours.
4: This whole issue is again a problem with Cryptic's way of changing things. While it seems the feedback is heard and we are getting at least one positive change out of this, there is still the issue of changing things at the last minute. This, like the mark turn ins during the bonus dilithium events, you let us use them for years, but then change it right before the next one. It would be far more palatable and respectful to your players, who are simply using the system as designed and planning ahead, if you announced the change before the coming event and didn't make the change apply until after that event. Thus you would tell us that pearls won't be used again after this year, let people get their ship with their saved up pearls, and then no one has any expectation that they can save up for the next ship this way, but those who did that last year don't find out their forethought and planning was wasted.
5: There is no reason to run the race more than once a day for the ship. Now I am firmly against demanding us run the event 25 times on every character that wants the ship, that is patently ridiculous. Yet at the same time, the pearls existed for one reason and one reason only, to get the ship. They have zero other purpose. This is something you've done for events like Crystaline entity, the extra shards you get after completing the event project can grant some extra dilithium and such. Don't you think the winter/summer/anniversary events should have something like that too, make the pearls mean something more than just the ship?
6: One of the other expectations here is the ability to get old ships. Whether new player or someone who couldn't make it last year or didn't want it last year but now wants it this year, this has been a recurring theme for the summer and winter events. How many new players saw a Corvette, asked about it, and were told they could get it this year at the summer event? You switch this up at the last minute and it is too late for anyone to do anything about it, for those that could. Now, maybe we will get T6 versions and make the issue moot for this year, but that is just speculation.
7: Final point, the removal of the project after the event. I find this unnecessary and pointless. There really is no good reason for this. For whatever reason someone can't finish it this year, the fact they keep it slotted means they want to return next year and finish it. How is that bad for the game?
Sure it's a draw to encourage people to play when they would otherwise be more likely to do other holiday related things. But let's be practical. Most people aren't going to completely abandon their summer/winter plans just to play a video game for a special in-game event. The draw is that the Events are for a limited time, and it's the only time these rewards can be earned. The appeal, historically, has been that you could always go back to get/finish something that you might've missed. "Hey! Risa is back! I can finally finish getting my luxury liner from last year!"
No one's talking about removing the necessity to participate for X number of days. Just allow the rewards to continue to be available for each annual event. If they want to change the currency each year to prevent front loading and to ensure annual participation, I'm OK with that. Just make sure that old ship projects accept the new currency and new ship projects don't accept the old currency.
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While I did not like the fact that the Lohlunat Pearls have been retired, I can understand why it was done now that Salamiinferno went through the process of explaining why it has been done. It is nice to know that he is taking the time to explain the thought process.
It is a nice change that once the Event Ship is unlocked for one captain it will be an account wide unlock for all captains. This further cuts down on the grind factor for players with multiple captains. Players with only one captain is not really affected at all, but at least if they create another captain, that captain will have access to the Event Ship as well.
I never used any of the Pearls 4 of my toons have earned from last year's event, but at least I can turn them in for some "consolation prizes".
It should not be too much of a burden since you only need to log in once per day to do the event activity to earn whatever the new currency is for this year's event.
From what I remember, in the 2014 Risa Summer Event you had to fly through 3 obstacle courses to earn the 40 Lohlunat Pearls per day. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes about 5 - 8 minutes to complete depending on the jet pack you had. Let's round that up to 10 minutes which includes logging into the game as well.
10 minutes per day is not much of a burden. I am pretty sure people can find 10 minutes a day during summer vacation or any holiday to eventually get a T6 starship which would generally cost $30 or 3,000 Zen for a T6 starship from the C-Store.
To be honest dude Salami is more engaging then any other EP we had. Stahl talked and never did, de angelo never talked and salami isnt afraid to jump in and explain the problem but also effect change. i say let it continue.
Not too much of a burden, no. But decidedly impractical/impossible for those who might not be near their computer for any part of the Event's timeframe.
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FFS dude, they have already told us that they are working on the issues. Give it up and let then fix it rather then bagging on them cause they dont have a magic wand. Or are you one of those so called experts that think they can do it better. lmao
I would like to ask a few questions about this though, and would greatly appreciate a Dev response or follow up on yesterday's statement which would clear things up:
Which ships, specifically, can be reclaimed via the account unlocks?
How much will it cost to reclaim said ships?
Should I discharge an event ship (ie. Plesh Brek after purchasing the hangars) would I be able to purchase the Hangars/console from the stores without reclaiming it, or would I have to reclaim the ship again to get these items?
And perhaps a redundant question, considering, Should I discharge an event ship, will it still be available for reclaim & how much will it cost to do so?
Thank you Cryptic Devs for your speedy response and player friendly solution to this issue.
If the account unlock proves to allow my alts to claim previously missed ships (like the Kobali Cruiser, Risan Corvette, etc...) I'll gladly turn in ALL my remaining Pearls, Qmendations, and 8x10's on my characters for the unlocks of these excellent ships!
Edit: I realize that the unlocks don't actually require the pearls, Qmendations, or 8x10's but I consider these currencies, which were used to purchase limited time ships, to be more valuable than a few spec points, or R&D mats. So, if I just tell myself that the account unlock requres my old pearls, turning them in is now worth the spec points, R&D mats, etc... :P
I genuinely appreciate the change in direction, I appreciate even more the thoughtful background on why they reconsidered.
But I was making a conscious effort to put time in one day to get more free time in the future to explore the event. A lot of folks did, this was actively talked about in the forums and recommended by players to other players who were worried about being available to get the full event rewards.
Waiting two years to call this exploitative behavior is a bit rich. Eliminating banked time will mitigate the Day One affect, it won't change the fact the event will still empty out well before it ends.
Anyway, I appreciate the gesture.
Wow. Yeah, that did come off like being a jerk. :P
Not once did I, nor anyone else that I've seen, ask for a shortcut or exemption from effort. I'm simply advocating for the Events to continue working as they historically have: by allowing ships from previous years to be completed and/or earned during current/future Events.
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Calling other people's name (exploiters) for being SMARTER than what the DEVs structured is uncalled for?. Even if one don't agree we are just data points and in the scheme of things just a metric for PWE to push around at their will. PWE dont care if you play or not....kind of ironic from what is being "incendiary" portrayed by the OP.
I get what you're saying. I really do. But by the same token, it's not unfair or game breaking to leave the older ships in for others to acquire later either. Those who would insist on retiring rewards (Risian ships) or raging over retired rewards being reissued (Tamarian badges/emote) just come off as elitist jerks.
Hell, I would advocate right now for ANYONE who puts in the effort to advance ALL of their Crafting Schools to level 20, be granted a special project to craft their own Red Matter Capacitor (bound to account).
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You know what? You're correct. I misconstrued the C.D.F.'s incessant jabbering for Salami's point, and for that I'm sorry.
But perhaps members of the C.D.F. should avoid saying it so that doesn't happen as easily.
Rather than merge the two, which might cause confusion at this point, I will be closing this one.
I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback. If you have more to say on this, please direct your comments to the main thread here:
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1458421
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