I appreciate the thoughtful post. I will say that I have suffered almost no lag in the game except for some isolated maps. .
Well, maybe you should try to play stfs or red alerts, or go to the undine battlezone. Then you will experiment the lag, like everybody else.
I play the redalerts 3 times today with zero lag. I did also 2 crystalline and 1 ISA with no lag except slight abilty click lag. I hammer the keys and they activate just feel a little sticky.
I have said many times that the planet killers in undine zone are a flipbook for me and have been since day 1 of the zone. It is slightly better now than it was in the early days of it.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
those consoles should be atractive for sci players , not for high dps ppl.
It should but since there is no real specialization of ships. Tactical players with tactical ships with 5 tactical and 4 science slots. Might as well use the 4 additional slots for science consoles that improve or help DPS, or negate a opponent make the 5 tactical slots even more powerful. Then you can do the same for science.
I think it's a never ending cycle of damage or DPS.
I didn't read it all - just the part about the issues we've been experiencing and I agree. Well said. I too hope they can get the ship righted. This is a great game, but it needs a complete overhaul. I thought that's what the last massive "update" was but things only seem worse. I'll keep hope alive. If it doesn't at least it'll be easier to take time off for NBA 2K16, Battlefront 2015, Fallout 4 and KOTOR3
Oh well, exercise bike, writing, reading, Duolingo all await.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
It's been a while since I've read an entire forum discussion but it gave me some time to reflect on the excellent points that were made here.
Snipey thanks for channeling what most of the player base feels of late. I tried to play the game for a few hours tonight in Kerrat and, as you know because you were there, suffered severe lag.
As of tonight I'm done being frustrated with Cryptic. They've made clear their intentions - despite their utter lack of communication to their loyal player base. I'm no longer purchasing zen until I see some major stability and bug fixing improvements.
PvP is ruined. Power creep/immunities/shield penetration has destroyed what is for me the last best most exciting component of the game. I ask what the point of shields are anymore if I'm going to die with them up? Why should I use attack pattern alpha if my opponents are going to immune through every shot? I'm done trying to fight through the lag. It's soul crushing.
PvE is underwhelming. One can only kill so many ships and play featured episodes on 8 characters while fighting the lag spikes from the nether realms. I might run a patrol here or there but other than that what's the point.
This is, as has been rightly noted, a business first and foremost. Therefore, as customers, let's stop buying their products. Grind your zen the poor man's way if that new ship matters so much to you.
~Stop paying for lag and stop paying for broken products.~
It's been a while since I've read an entire forum discussion but it gave me some time to reflect on the excellent points that were made here.
Snipey thanks for channeling what most of the player base feels of late. I tried to play the game for a few hours tonight in Kerrat and, as you know because you were there, suffered severe lag.
As of tonight I'm done being frustrated with Cryptic. They've made clear their intentions - despite their utter lack of communication to their loyal player base. I'm no longer purchasing zen until I see some major stability and bug fixing improvements.
PvP is ruined. Power creep/immunities/shield penetration has destroyed what is for me the last best most exciting component of the game. I ask what the point of shields are anymore if I'm going to die with them up? Why should I use attack pattern alpha if my opponents are going to immune through every shot? I'm done trying to fight through the lag. It's soul crushing.
PvE is underwhelming. One can only kill so many ships and play featured episodes on 8 characters while fighting the lag spikes from the nether realms. I might run a patrol here or there but other than that what's the point.
This is, as has been rightly noted, a business first and foremost. Therefore, as customers, let's stop buying their products. Grind your zen the poor man's way if that new ship matters so much to you.
~Stop paying for lag and stop paying for broken products.~
Although I agree with your sentiment, I don't completely agree with your solution. We are stuck in a Win-Win scenario for Cryptic/PWE if we want to play the game at all. Either A.) We pay our way past as much of the grind fest as possible and they reap all the rewards or B.) We grind and grind and grind and grind and grind thus boosting their metrics more and more.. and, again, they reap the benefits. Both options are neither fun nor entertaining thanks to the lag and stability issues. That being said, we, the loyal playing gamers and paying customers, are pretty much screwed if we want to play at all. I hate to be cynical but that's how it is. I emphatically implore the devs to prove me wrong.
Although I agree with your sentiment, I don't completely agree with your solution. We are stuck in a Win-Win scenario for Cryptic/PWE if we want to play the game at all. Either A.) We pay our way past as much of the grind fest as possible and they reap all the rewards or B.) We grind and grind and grind and grind and grind thus boosting their metrics more and more.. and, again, they reap the benefits. Both options are neither fun nor entertaining thanks to the lag and stability issues. That being said, we, the loyal playing gamers and paying customers, are pretty much screwed if we want to play at all. I hate to be cynical but that's how it is. I emphatically implore the devs to prove me wrong.
I understand your reasoning but what they're doing right now isn't working. How much money do they want? I've forked over enough cash to buy a used car (I'm pretty ashamed of that but I love trek.) They wont talk to us about the game's issues and they can't/wont fix them. I'm kind of starting to worry the game is in a death spiral and that's not something I wanna see.
Although I agree with your sentiment, I don't completely agree with your solution. We are stuck in a Win-Win scenario for Cryptic/PWE if we want to play the game at all. Either A.) We pay our way past as much of the grind fest as possible and they reap all the rewards or B.) We grind and grind and grind and grind and grind thus boosting their metrics more and more.. and, again, they reap the benefits. Both options are neither fun nor entertaining thanks to the lag and stability issues. That being said, we, the loyal playing gamers and paying customers, are pretty much screwed if we want to play at all. I hate to be cynical but that's how it is. I emphatically implore the devs to prove me wrong.
I understand your reasoning but what they're doing right now isn't working. How much money do they want? I've forked over enough cash to buy a used car (I'm pretty ashamed of that but I love trek.) They wont talk to us about the game's issues and they can't/wont fix them. I'm kind of starting to worry the game is in a death spiral and that's not something I wanna see.
I am with you there 100%.... I haven't spent nearly that much but I did blow my whole first job's pay on this game (300-500 USD) and i'm still F2P. Sad thing people were already fearing the downward spiral and Delta Rising was a major catalyst in my opinion.
This is, as has been rightly noted, a business first and foremost. Therefore, as customers, let's stop buying their products. Grind your zen the poor man's way if that new ship matters so much to you.
~Stop paying for lag and stop paying for broken products.~
This is what I have done, and why I show in my signature that I am F2P.
Ultimately, though my logging in is a metrics boost for Cryptic, my no longer paying is a resource drain. While it would be nice to trust enough that the game would remain playable and enjoyable long enough for any investment I make to reward me sufficiently in terms of time of enjoyment, I haven't seen enough yet to make me come around. I feel, based on current product quality, that playing free is the only way I can make good on what I did pay in my first year or two here.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
As long as we continue to exist where the players and to some extent the developers operates in a constantly shifting environment, we will have issues, bugs and problems.
The real question is what can they/we do to adapt to those changes.
Players can adapt. They do it begrudgingly, sometimes even kicking and screaming every step of the way, but they do manage it eventually. DR the goalpost moved considerably, yet these days all the problems that came with that rarely get discussed if at all.
As for what we can do to make things better on ourselves? Just say no really. If players didn't use broken consoles, refused to use all the flashy new gear with blinding effects - and decided to play casual and not invest in a product they are not entirely satisfied with...then you'll feel much better about things. Perhaps if people left the flashy new stuff alone as well the lag might let up a touch.
Not sure if someone has experimented with this yet for the lag. Anyone tried say, an ISA in old school endgame ships? So stock T5 with VR MK XII gear sort of thing. And see if the lag is reduced in this scenario?
This is what I have done, and why I show in my signature that I am F2P.
Ultimately, though my logging in is a metrics boost for Cryptic, my no longer paying is a resource drain. While it would be nice to trust enough that the game would remain playable and enjoyable long enough for any investment I make to reward me sufficiently in terms of time of enjoyment, I haven't seen enough yet to make me come around. I feel, based on current product quality, that playing free is the only way I can make good on what I did pay in my first year or two here.
I think the inherent problem of proclaiming that you are "F2P" is that it can make you a hypocrite.
Why? The Dilithium Exchange. Do you play it? I'm pretty sure you do. I'm pretty sure that, despite the fact that you proclaim that you are "F2P", you use the Exchange to buy your things. If not, I'm pretty sure it hurts only having seven BOFF slots and ten ship slots per character.
looking at things analytically (and looking at Cryptic's other active titles) points to a simple fact...
It's not so much that they don't have the will to fix broken issues, it's that the technical skill just isn't there anymore (if it ever was).
Like issues of Game Balance, they lack something at a critical level when addressing ongoing technical issues. Particularly the ones that continue to reappear time after time.
I suspect the technical skill went out the door to find 'other opportunities'. what we've got instead, is a fully staffed Art Department and a lead developer who doesn't understand his own game, under an Executive Producer who's forced to retain unqualified people because he doesn't have anyone to replace them.
part of it would by necessity be a money issue, but the rest must be corporate culture at Cryptic-a system that appears to be a stepping stone to better gigs at better places rather than a serious achievement to work at.
all you have to do, is look at the people who've left, and where they've gone, and what kind of games those places make, and how people compare STO or Champions Online to those other games.
then, you look at who's stayed.
Let's break it down...
who's stayed?
Geko-has remained Lead Developer for close to the entire run of Star Trek Online, this is a man who, in other gaming segments, wouldn't be able to hold his position without knowing the base mechanics of the game he's Leading Development on inside out, upside down and backward/forward. This is a man who confused basic abilities during an interview-not console powers, but BASIC abilities all players in STO have on their base character sheet.
as in he demonstrated he didn't know what those abilities DO, what they're for, or how they work.
this is the guy who makes the decisions about how the game runs, what gets added, subtracted, altered, nerfed, buffed, and otherwise adjusted.
We've had a succession of Executive Producers during this same tenure, with all of them sharing a single trait in that without an announcement, the direction of the game shows little of their stamp beyond the rate at which broken mechanics and imbalances are released.
Ricossa's our latest man in that cell. We're coming up on the point at which the policies of his predecessor should be timing out and his own stamp should begin to seriously appear...but, while I was hopeful months ago that this would finally be the EP who puts "Executive" into action, gets a handle on the pell-mell unorganized hyper-release-it-before-the-paint's-dried source of thousands of bugs...
I'm less confident now. Materially, very little has changed, beyond the direction things were going last year.
Major mechanical systems are introduced that are buggy, on top of existing bugs, untested, unrefined and unimproved. This may be a holdover from D'Angelo's term, but my gut thinks no. New console is released, it's generating DPS in the millions thanks to a bug that should have been caught early-and wasn't.
we've seen this before...a lot.
so, it's gotta be the corporate culture at Cryptic, placing arbitrary public deadlines on releases, then working to those deadlines...which is fine-if the deadlines are reasonable and the work is largely competent.
The issue/problem/difficulty is that those deadlines aren't reasonable, and there's no QA in place. (well, not 'no' QA, but damned insufficiently staffed and resourced.)
Fundamentally, what we're seeing here, is mis-application of 'lean' manufacturing as applied to an entertainment medium.
Insuficient staffing in the code-writing area, insufficient testing of product, insufficient time to either write good code or test it, insufficient manpower to make up for the lack of time, quality, or testing, and insufficiently skilled manpower to make up for the shortage of eyes-brains-and-bodies.
Without the Star Trek IP, STO would have died a long time ago-their monopoly on the form and IP application to that form (i.e. the exclusive license and the rabid Star Trek fanbase that makes it valuable as a cash-generator) is the only thing that has kept this game afloat.
the definition of such materials, according to my comp/sci and e-business type friends, is "Shovelware". It's shoveled out fast and incomplete, relying on a name, or tie to some other, successful, product or Intellectual Property. MOST shovelware ends up in the cheap bin at walmart or some other mass-selller of low-quality TRIBBLE.
and THAT is corporate culture-the outfit that did the initial design and development was trying to make a WoW killer-and the bones of that good game are still there under the piled on chaff and TRIBBLE shoveled over this game by schedule-driven half-assed shoddy workmanship.
Which is why people get angry instead of just writing this game off as another 'barbie's playhouse' game.
the problem can be defined as simply thus;
Shoddy workmanship IS the corporate culture at Cryptic- "Get it out today, we'll fix it to-morrow" and maybe to-morrow comes, but most often it does not.
the shoddy extends into so MUCH of what we're looking at, too. It touches on every aspect of this game, from story/timeline progression ("Cadet to Fleet Admiral in Eighteen Months!!") to Villain dialogue (why didn't they give the undine a nice moustache to twirl while he recited mindless silent-movie-villain drivel? why is it when I see an Undine, my first impression is snidely whiplash?) to Pathing (the storyline has a distinctly 'Rail Road' feeling to it. You never get to MAKE decisions!) to problem solving (They appear to have abandoned even puzzles for the most part...) to interactions with NPC's and their reactions (Starfleet Lt. and Cdr's giving orders to Klingons that outrank them AND aren't yet their allies...Romulans or Klingons being lectured about the Prime Directive on Kobali Prime, 'cooking with Neelix"...Starfleet officers compelled to shoot first and never ask questions at all? where's the diplomacy?) to game mechanical issues, the host of known mechanical bugs in the game, unexpected (because they weren't tested) interactions of abilities, the 'Bridge officer coffee-break" on the Dyson destroyers, bugs in loadouts, bugs in specializatons, bugs in skill point progression, map points that you just end up stuck inside, costume defects...every aspect of the game.
and, of course, Lag, log-on bugs, log out bugs, random disconnects, random server-not-responding bugs, frame rates that drop to stop-motion (or just stop) when abilities are put into play...
but,they've only delayed anything once. everything else has been released on schedule even if it meant a release unfinished, untested, even un-useable.
because it's shovelware, and they'll fix it when they get a round tuit.
which is a pretty worthless strategy-with an IP like this one, THIS should be Cryptic's 'Flagship' game-the game that gets all the goodies in terms of talent hired, management under the microscope, and quality control. It's an IP that is like having a license to print money for your own use. even with crushing residuals to pay out, the name is enough that, had Cryptic a quality culture in place and sufficient skill to apply it, this game would be 'The' game others are compared to...
but it isn't.
at this point, five years in, it's become a 'Could have been'. They started with a strong level of backgrounding and promise, a strong narrative, and lots of potential.
The potential has been pissed away, the narrative has become a rather poor joke, literary causality has become a series of deus-ex-machinae and cardboard parodies. even the art, which was a very strong point early on, has become...less.
I appreciate the thoughtful post. I will say that I have suffered almost no lag in the game except for some isolated maps. .
Well, maybe you should try to play stfs or red alerts, or go to the undine battlezone. Then you will experiment the lag, like everybody else.
I play the redalerts 3 times today with zero lag. I did also 2 crystalline and 1 ISA with no lag except slight abilty click lag. I hammer the keys and they activate just feel a little sticky.
I have said many times that the planet killers in undine zone are a flipbook for me and have been since day 1 of the zone. It is slightly better now than it was in the early days of it.
Play THOLIAN red alerts, not borg ones. CC Is not use to lag too much either, depends on how many people are in there. And ISA, use to lag for almost everybody more or less. If you dont get lag on ISA, well you must be maybe one of a kind lol.
And the undine battlezone is terrific. You dont have lag there?? well, you are unique, for sure.
I really think it would make a stronger point to make a master list, though at least it does seem like the costume issues thread sometimes results in a few things fixed, since I know callevista looks at it. So I'd say keep his thread active, but a master list of ALL known issues would probably drive the point home with the devs of just how severe the problems and the poor testing REALLY are. If action is not taken, such a list could also stand a chance of impacting player behavior, by providing the ability to see the overall picture and JUST how severely the real bug list outweighs the "Known Issues." I'd suspect the ratio is even worse than 500:1, real to "actually acknowledged."
The problem with that KDF list was this: We never got any interaction from a Dev. Even to this day, I have no clue if anyone read the dang thing and if it made any impression.
People get discouraged....not knowing if it was HELPING the Devs in some small way, much less making an impact on getting "easy" fixes done.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
I'm kind of starting to worry the game is in a death spiral and that's not something I wanna see.
The game is in a death spiral since years ago. But as any death spiral, things come slower. What is happening now was happening 2 years ago. But 2 years ago things were not so bad, and everybody was happy. They didnt want to know that this game was going to be so terribly. And some of us, called "trolls" those days, said that this day will come, and of course, there were those who said "you kidding, this is like any other mmorpg, all mmorpgs have problems, go troll somewhere else or stop playing", typical response. Well, im "glad" that my visions came true as a smart and reasonable person i am. I saw this coming since ages ago when most of you just kept saying things like "all mmoprgs have bugs" "all mmorpgs have a lousy qualiy control" and other things. Well, i hope that you still dont think the same way.
I appreciate the thoughtful post. I will say that I have suffered almost no lag in the game except for some isolated maps. .
Well, maybe you should try to play stfs or red alerts, or go to the undine battlezone. Then you will experiment the lag, like everybody else.
I play the redalerts 3 times today with zero lag. I did also 2 crystalline and 1 ISA with no lag except slight abilty click lag. I hammer the keys and they activate just feel a little sticky.
I have said many times that the planet killers in undine zone are a flipbook for me and have been since day 1 of the zone. It is slightly better now than it was in the early days of it.
Play THOLIAN red alerts, not borg ones. CC Is not use to lag too much either, depends on how many people are in there. And ISA, use to lag for almost everybody more or less. If you dont get lag on ISA, well you must be maybe one of a kind lol.
And the undine battlezone is terrific. You dont have lag there?? well, you are unique, for sure.
Criminey - read please. I've said over and over that the undine zone is a frame by frame flipbook for me since day 1 of it opening on the planet killers and in the Voth fight. It is maybe 25% better today than it was on day 1. And I do play THOLIAN red alert with no issues.
I was getting lag on ISA when the lag problems first were reported. However, it is fixed now for me anyway.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Criminey - read please. I've said over and over that the undine zone is a frame by frame flipbook for me since day 1 of it opening on the planet killers and in the Voth fight. It is maybe 25% better today than it was on day 1. And I do play THOLIAN red alert with no issues.
I was getting lag on ISA when the lag problems first were reported. However, it is fixed now for me anyway.
Oh well, i could swear i read the opposite. Anyways, my apologizes and welcome to the club of the lag-omatic-ones.
I really think it would make a stronger point to make a master list, though at least it does seem like the costume issues thread sometimes results in a few things fixed, since I know callevista looks at it. So I'd say keep his thread active, but a master list of ALL known issues would probably drive the point home with the devs of just how severe the problems and the poor testing REALLY are. If action is not taken, such a list could also stand a chance of impacting player behavior, by providing the ability to see the overall picture and JUST how severely the real bug list outweighs the "Known Issues." I'd suspect the ratio is even worse than 500:1, real to "actually acknowledged."
The problem with that KDF list was this: We never got any interaction from a Dev. Even to this day, I have no clue if anyone read the dang thing and if it made any impression.
People get discouraged....not knowing if it was HELPING the Devs in some small way, much less making an impact on getting "easy" fixes done.
Actually... given that most if not all, of the bugs(fixed or otherwise) I've reported have gone unacknowledged, I'd say that you're wasting your time to expect devs to say anything more than "thanks for telling us". sure, it does occasionally happen.... once in a blue moon.
This is what I have done, and why I show in my signature that I am F2P.
Ultimately, though my logging in is a metrics boost for Cryptic, my no longer paying is a resource drain. While it would be nice to trust enough that the game would remain playable and enjoyable long enough for any investment I make to reward me sufficiently in terms of time of enjoyment, I haven't seen enough yet to make me come around. I feel, based on current product quality, that playing free is the only way I can make good on what I did pay in my first year or two here.
I think the inherent problem of proclaiming that you are "F2P" is that it can make you a hypocrite.
Why? The Dilithium Exchange. Do you play it? I'm pretty sure you do. I'm pretty sure that, despite the fact that you proclaim that you are "F2P", you use the Exchange to buy your things. If not, I'm pretty sure it hurts only having seven BOFF slots and ten ship slots per character.
Actually, I greatly restrict my use of the Dilithium Exchange. It is near nothing with but one exception post DR. In the time since DR, I have only had a single break in my resolve (I ground DOFF slots for the Delta recruit). Other than that one occasion, I do not contribute my dilithium to feed anyone else's habit, as I have thought through the implications of doing so. I don't wish to help the dilithium economy. I had a bit of hope at one point and thought I might relax that rule on a more permanent basis, but that didn't last. So that one break from procedure is still the only one.
All of my other toons besides the Delta Recruit are long established, pre-DR, and either benefit from things I bought them before Delta Rising, or they get nothing C-store, these days. As for my Delta Recruit...she's basically a DOFFing mule and other than the DOFF slots, will receive no other benefits but the spec points that happen to come along with DOFFing.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I really think it would make a stronger point to make a master list, though at least it does seem like the costume issues thread sometimes results in a few things fixed, since I know callevista looks at it. So I'd say keep his thread active, but a master list of ALL known issues would probably drive the point home with the devs of just how severe the problems and the poor testing REALLY are. If action is not taken, such a list could also stand a chance of impacting player behavior, by providing the ability to see the overall picture and JUST how severely the real bug list outweighs the "Known Issues." I'd suspect the ratio is even worse than 500:1, real to "actually acknowledged."
The problem with that KDF list was this: We never got any interaction from a Dev. Even to this day, I have no clue if anyone read the dang thing and if it made any impression.
People get discouraged....not knowing if it was HELPING the Devs in some small way, much less making an impact on getting "easy" fixes done.
That's because it was posted in a niche subforum I'd doubt gets any dev attention and discussed bugs affecting only a small subset of the player population. What I envision a list headed by the game-wide and then Fed bugs, followed by faction bugs, all of it together and possibly linked to in General Discussion. I suspect that would be far more effective in illustrating the extent of the problems than something hidden on the KDF forums and KDF exclusive. It needs to be shown that this significantly affects everybody.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Comments
My character Tsin'xing
I play the redalerts 3 times today with zero lag. I did also 2 crystalline and 1 ISA with no lag except slight abilty click lag. I hammer the keys and they activate just feel a little sticky.
I have said many times that the planet killers in undine zone are a flipbook for me and have been since day 1 of the zone. It is slightly better now than it was in the early days of it.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Fleet Defiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support | Fleet Manticore Kinetic Strike Ship | Tactical Command Kinetic Siege Refit | Fleet Defiant Quantum Phase Escort | Fleet Valiant Kinetic Heavy Fire Support
Turning the Galaxy-X into a Torpedo Dreadnought & torpedo tutorial, with written torpedo guide.
"A good weapon and a great strategy will win you many battles." - Marshall
I knew using Kinetics would be playing the game on hard mode, but what I didn't realize was how bad the deck is stacked against Kinetics.
It should but since there is no real specialization of ships. Tactical players with tactical ships with 5 tactical and 4 science slots. Might as well use the 4 additional slots for science consoles that improve or help DPS, or negate a opponent make the 5 tactical slots even more powerful. Then you can do the same for science.
I think it's a never ending cycle of damage or DPS.
"The higher the fewer."
Yeah, the lag is too severe to play tonight.
Oh well, exercise bike, writing, reading, Duolingo all await.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Snipey thanks for channeling what most of the player base feels of late. I tried to play the game for a few hours tonight in Kerrat and, as you know because you were there, suffered severe lag.
As of tonight I'm done being frustrated with Cryptic. They've made clear their intentions - despite their utter lack of communication to their loyal player base. I'm no longer purchasing zen until I see some major stability and bug fixing improvements.
PvP is ruined. Power creep/immunities/shield penetration has destroyed what is for me the last best most exciting component of the game. I ask what the point of shields are anymore if I'm going to die with them up? Why should I use attack pattern alpha if my opponents are going to immune through every shot? I'm done trying to fight through the lag. It's soul crushing.
PvE is underwhelming. One can only kill so many ships and play featured episodes on 8 characters while fighting the lag spikes from the nether realms. I might run a patrol here or there but other than that what's the point.
This is, as has been rightly noted, a business first and foremost. Therefore, as customers, let's stop buying their products. Grind your zen the poor man's way if that new ship matters so much to you.
~Stop paying for lag and stop paying for broken products.~
Although I agree with your sentiment, I don't completely agree with your solution. We are stuck in a Win-Win scenario for Cryptic/PWE if we want to play the game at all. Either A.) We pay our way past as much of the grind fest as possible and they reap all the rewards or B.) We grind and grind and grind and grind and grind thus boosting their metrics more and more.. and, again, they reap the benefits. Both options are neither fun nor entertaining thanks to the lag and stability issues. That being said, we, the loyal playing gamers and paying customers, are pretty much screwed if we want to play at all. I hate to be cynical but that's how it is. I emphatically implore the devs to prove me wrong.
I understand your reasoning but what they're doing right now isn't working. How much money do they want? I've forked over enough cash to buy a used car (I'm pretty ashamed of that but I love trek.) They wont talk to us about the game's issues and they can't/wont fix them. I'm kind of starting to worry the game is in a death spiral and that's not something I wanna see.
I am with you there 100%.... I haven't spent nearly that much but I did blow my whole first job's pay on this game (300-500 USD) and i'm still F2P. Sad thing people were already fearing the downward spiral and Delta Rising was a major catalyst in my opinion.
This is what I have done, and why I show in my signature that I am F2P.
Ultimately, though my logging in is a metrics boost for Cryptic, my no longer paying is a resource drain. While it would be nice to trust enough that the game would remain playable and enjoyable long enough for any investment I make to reward me sufficiently in terms of time of enjoyment, I haven't seen enough yet to make me come around. I feel, based on current product quality, that playing free is the only way I can make good on what I did pay in my first year or two here.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
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Players can adapt. They do it begrudgingly, sometimes even kicking and screaming every step of the way, but they do manage it eventually. DR the goalpost moved considerably, yet these days all the problems that came with that rarely get discussed if at all.
As for what we can do to make things better on ourselves? Just say no really. If players didn't use broken consoles, refused to use all the flashy new gear with blinding effects - and decided to play casual and not invest in a product they are not entirely satisfied with...then you'll feel much better about things. Perhaps if people left the flashy new stuff alone as well the lag might let up a touch.
Not sure if someone has experimented with this yet for the lag. Anyone tried say, an ISA in old school endgame ships? So stock T5 with VR MK XII gear sort of thing. And see if the lag is reduced in this scenario?
I think the inherent problem of proclaiming that you are "F2P" is that it can make you a hypocrite.
Why? The Dilithium Exchange. Do you play it? I'm pretty sure you do. I'm pretty sure that, despite the fact that you proclaim that you are "F2P", you use the Exchange to buy your things. If not, I'm pretty sure it hurts only having seven BOFF slots and ten ship slots per character.
I didnt want to quote you. lol. It was Sheldon. xD. but since these forums are terrible i really quote wrong people all the time. sigh.
Play THOLIAN red alerts, not borg ones. CC Is not use to lag too much either, depends on how many people are in there. And ISA, use to lag for almost everybody more or less. If you dont get lag on ISA, well you must be maybe one of a kind lol.
And the undine battlezone is terrific. You dont have lag there?? well, you are unique, for sure.
Tonight?? lolz, its every day dude.. if it was just only a couple of "nights" a week we will not be complaining..
The problem with that KDF list was this: We never got any interaction from a Dev. Even to this day, I have no clue if anyone read the dang thing and if it made any impression.
People get discouraged....not knowing if it was HELPING the Devs in some small way, much less making an impact on getting "easy" fixes done.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
The game is in a death spiral since years ago. But as any death spiral, things come slower. What is happening now was happening 2 years ago. But 2 years ago things were not so bad, and everybody was happy. They didnt want to know that this game was going to be so terribly. And some of us, called "trolls" those days, said that this day will come, and of course, there were those who said "you kidding, this is like any other mmorpg, all mmorpgs have problems, go troll somewhere else or stop playing", typical response. Well, im "glad" that my visions came true as a smart and reasonable person i am. I saw this coming since ages ago when most of you just kept saying things like "all mmoprgs have bugs" "all mmorpgs have a lousy qualiy control" and other things. Well, i hope that you still dont think the same way.
Criminey - read please. I've said over and over that the undine zone is a frame by frame flipbook for me since day 1 of it opening on the planet killers and in the Voth fight. It is maybe 25% better today than it was on day 1. And I do play THOLIAN red alert with no issues.
I was getting lag on ISA when the lag problems first were reported. However, it is fixed now for me anyway.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Oh well, i could swear i read the opposite. Anyways, my apologizes and welcome to the club of the lag-omatic-ones.
You to Patrickngo. Got it entirely.
My character Tsin'xing
Actually, I greatly restrict my use of the Dilithium Exchange. It is near nothing with but one exception post DR. In the time since DR, I have only had a single break in my resolve (I ground DOFF slots for the Delta recruit). Other than that one occasion, I do not contribute my dilithium to feed anyone else's habit, as I have thought through the implications of doing so. I don't wish to help the dilithium economy. I had a bit of hope at one point and thought I might relax that rule on a more permanent basis, but that didn't last. So that one break from procedure is still the only one.
All of my other toons besides the Delta Recruit are long established, pre-DR, and either benefit from things I bought them before Delta Rising, or they get nothing C-store, these days. As for my Delta Recruit...she's basically a DOFFing mule and other than the DOFF slots, will receive no other benefits but the spec points that happen to come along with DOFFing.
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That's because it was posted in a niche subforum I'd doubt gets any dev attention and discussed bugs affecting only a small subset of the player population. What I envision a list headed by the game-wide and then Fed bugs, followed by faction bugs, all of it together and possibly linked to in General Discussion. I suspect that would be far more effective in illustrating the extent of the problems than something hidden on the KDF forums and KDF exclusive. It needs to be shown that this significantly affects everybody.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.