Those Lockbox Boff Powers should have come like the ones you get in the FEs. One packet of all three levels and it unlocks the ability for your Character to create more manuals, bound to character. Period.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
What? they cost that much? I bought 7 of those for 10k each and I still have 5 gathering dust in my inventory.
Now they aren't worth much...but back in the day they used to be worth a ton...in the day where leadership I think it is was completely 100% worthless and efficient was the best you could hope for as a Fed. Back before there was a million ways to boost all subsystems and Pirate was changed to be a decent mod...well before Romulans were launched...before the Embassy Operative Boffs were launched.
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
Yeah I paid 140m for the lieutenant level for my efficient saurian BOff.
Then I paid 145m for another lieutenant level for my pirate fed nausicaan.
They will probably add another tactical BOff with good space abilities and I will buy another one for them too.
What? they cost that much? I bought 7 of those for 10k each and I still have 5 gathering dust in my inventory.
Cool story, bro.
Nevermind, misunderstood the sentence, my fault.
Sorry I was referring to the lieutenant level kemocite ability for my BOffs. The lieutenant KLW cost about 140m right now.
I was actually opening the xindi boxes they come in. I got the ship - a manasa escort I think. I sold it for about 100m and still needed more EC to get the skill. KLW is the most expensive thing in that box.
Actually I got the Saurian for a few tens of millions years ago. They used to be pretty expensive. They are dirt cheap now.
Because the devs actually designed a boff ability that people wanted. Heck, I paid for Struct collapse. Pretty useful to blow up one target quick when I have them all bunched up in my massive GW.
Oh yeah, I switched to a grav gens build for PvE purposes. Very useful.
I think a core problem with the design all along has been that people don't get EC as a direct drop and it only comes from vendoring or other players, which creates a knowledge gap in EC acquisition. This means that the value of EC actually is different depending on which knowledge sector of gameplay you exist in. (Efficient market theory requires perfect information flow which I don't think we have in STO or else people wouldn't say, "I can tell you privately how to make a lot of EC if you promise not to let everyone else in on it." That is, by definition, not an efficient free market.)
This is definitely my personal experience. How do I get dilithium? I play the game. 10 million refined and 10,000 zen worth and counting after having bought countless sets and upgraded everything.
How do I get EC? I dunno. In 4 years I have acquired about 600 million. Buy that kemosabi and a leech - oops you're broke. Play the market? I can guarantee I would lose hundreds of millions trying this. Converting dilithium to EC is about 150 million EC for 1 million dilithium. To me that is a sad joke. 125 days or 4 months of grinding dilithium for 150 million EC. I would rather dump it into space.
I say many times before and now again EC is the most valuable resource in STO.
One thing off the top is that who you vendor items to and how you vendor them affects the rate you get for them.
One thing I only pieced together recently:
More DPS is more EC. I always thought it wouldn't matter that much, that you'd get 5 minute Infected runs instead of 7 minute runs and that you'd get maybe 20% more.
I went from 8k to 38k DPS and decided to start managing resources a bit closer (powers, keybinds, etc.) with a calculator and using different vendors for different things and I thought, "Ooh. Faster runs will be convenient."
And you know what happens now? I'm seeing more and better loot drop much more often. I'm trying harder content with bigger rewards because higher difficulty settings are trivial in terms of added time/challenge/cost. I went from getting 50-100k EC a day to getting 500k to 1M or more, with the prospect of more very attainable. Just from killing faster and being choosy about vendors.
hmm, I don't know what you mean about different vendors. But sure, I could sell salvage and make 1.5 million for less than an hour grinding elites. The crafting materials are largely worthless now, though I made a couple hundred million all told off of them. Other valuable drops? Well, once in a while the 2 purples from crystalline will net a few hundred thousand, but other than that not sure of any other valuable equipment drops. It would take 100 hours of grinding elites to buy this kemocite...
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."
Keys are up, Prices on the exchange are up, dil exchange is up, i think cryptic just changed their business model and said TRIBBLE the whiners, lets no longer cater to them.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Delta Rising in a nutshell. Best expansion ever, and you know the rest.
Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and the players love it! No, seriously! ...Why are you laughing so hard?
And you know what happens now? I'm seeing more and better loot drop much more often. I'm trying harder content with bigger rewards because higher difficulty settings are trivial in terms of added time/challenge/cost. I went from getting 50-100k EC a day to getting 500k to 1M or more, with the prospect of more very attainable. Just from killing faster and being choosy about vendors.
People area always missing the obvious ways to make money playing as well... they worry about loot drops. Yet never seem to consider how much they make from the Crafting drops.
One blue crafting box; = (at least)
10 Whites (2-20k)
10 Greens (2-20k)
7 Blue (70-280k)
3 Purple (10-150k) (these are not random so easy to plan for
1 Salvage Tech = 380k
Bottom line is even a bad Blue crafting box is worth 400k to you... and a good one can be worth over a million. (when the greens upgrade to blue and you pull 17 Z or Rub particles)
These don't take very long to earn... and you can easily earn 3-4 of them a night. Play 2 or 3 toons though 2-3 missions each and you can easily make 7-10 million ec just selling the salvage tech and particles.
So how ANYONE can complain about ec in this game is beyond me honestly. Yes there are lots of things to spend it on... and if you want something really nice you may need to drop 100+ million... but if you just play casual 3-4 nights a week if your doing harder content you should be able to make that much EC in a month. (not working the market... start doing that just a little and you can easily double that number)
And you know what happens now? I'm seeing more and better loot drop much more often. I'm trying harder content with bigger rewards because higher difficulty settings are trivial in terms of added time/challenge/cost. I went from getting 50-100k EC a day to getting 500k to 1M or more, with the prospect of more very attainable. Just from killing faster and being choosy about vendors.
People area always missing the obvious ways to make money playing as well... they worry about loot drops. Yet never seem to consider how much they make from the Crafting drops.
One blue crafting box; = (at least)
10 Whites (2-20k)
10 Greens (2-20k)
7 Blue (70-280k)
3 Purple (10-150k) (these are not random so easy to plan for
1 Salvage Tech = 380k
Bottom line is even a bad Blue crafting box is worth 400k to you... and a good one can be worth over a million. (when the greens upgrade to blue and you pull 17 Z or Rub particles)
These don't take very long to earn... and you can easily earn 3-4 of them a night. Play 2 or 3 toons though 2-3 missions each and you can easily make 7-10 million ec just selling the salvage tech and particles.
So how ANYONE can complain about ec in this game is beyond me honestly. Yes there are lots of things to spend it on... and if you want something really nice you may need to drop 100+ million... but if you just play casual 3-4 nights a week if your doing harder content you should be able to make that much EC in a month. (not working the market... start doing that just a little and you can easily double that number)
ssssssh. Stop telling people this. I am tired of failing DRSE and NTTE.
Dil is the most important currency as it's the only way to get Mk XIV. Salvage will stay expensive because it allows you to get Mk XIV Epics (easier at least). People like gold things, and will min-max.
EC is inflated because people are playing the market. "Really nice guys" over in some chats like to watch for specific items 10+ hours of the day hoping to rip you off and have billions stockpiled and don't care if you don't have a Kemo.
On the other hand it is really lousy to provide a good ability with such a low drop chance behind a really high EC wall. It was a bad mistake. Kemo can double your DPS if played right.
So don't Starship Masteries, and a lot of those cost more than Kemo.
So doesn't PL, which should simply be removed from the game by how utterly broken it is.
Yeah I paid 140m for the lieutenant level for my efficient saurian BOff.
Then I paid 145m for another lieutenant level for my pirate fed nausicaan.
They will probably add another tactical BOff with good space abilities and I will buy another one for them too.
What? they cost that much? I bought 7 of those for 10k each and I still have 5 gathering dust in my inventory.
Cool story, bro.
Nevermind, misunderstood the sentence, my fault.
Sorry I was referring to the lieutenant level kemocite ability for my BOffs. The lieutenant KLW cost about 140m right now.
I was actually opening the xindi boxes they come in. I got the ship - a manasa escort I think. I sold it for about 100m and still needed more EC to get the skill. KLW is the most expensive thing in that box.
Actually I got the Saurian for a few tens of millions years ago. They used to be pretty expensive. They are dirt cheap now.
As a FED, I bought Kemo 1 for my "Superior Romulan Operative" Romulan. I wouldn't waste Kemo on a Saurian.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
Heh, and to think of it I bought my first kemo I manual for just 250k ec. For real. In the 1srt or 2nd day of the promotion, there was 1 listed for that and next ones for 2m and up. Most likely a missed 0 of course. Anyway, I am glad I bought klw I for all my toons that day. Was just intuition, didnt even knew how well they perform.
Heh, and to think of it I bought my first kemo I manual for just 250k ec. For real. In the 1srt or 2nd day of the promotion, there was 1 listed for that and next ones for 2m and up. Most likely a missed 0 of course. Anyway, I am glad I bought klw I for all my toons that day. Was just intuition, didnt even knew how well they perform.
People would save themselves a lot of frustration if they simply did the same thing.
When a new lockbox hits... in the first few days. Buy one of everything for everyone of your toons. Unlock every trait, grab every book. Prices are NOT going to be going down on that stuff from that point ever again.
Yeah I bought mine for 5M around day 2. People told me it wasn't worth that much and it woud come down eventually. I bought it anyway. I'm glad I did. My only regret is not getting KLW3 (I got 1 and 2 for around that much).
I know the exchange is player based, but don't you folks think 108M EC for a kemocite laced weapons training manual is somewhat excessive?
Come on, man. You've been in this game long enough to already know the answers to that. The prices are that way because that's what people are willing to pay for them.
I know the exchange is player based, but don't you folks think 108M EC for a kemocite laced weapons training manual is somewhat excessive?
Come on, man. You've been in this game long enough to already know the answers to that. The prices are that way because that's what people are willing to pay for them.
I don't really have an issue with players getting market rates although I do think the market could probably stand a bit more hands on management on Cryptic's end, particularly to bust up cartels and keep game balance from becoming TOO MUCH of a market commodity. Sure, there's money to be made from imbalance but there's also money and reputation to be made from balance. I think it would be ideal to strike a balance a bit closer towards balance than we presently have, maybe making cartels a bit harder and capping prices on anything with too much impact, particularly in a way that generates Cryptic a direct profit.
Right now, if I REALLY wanted KLW, I'd buy 50 keys. Hooray, that's 50 keys worth of profit that Cryptic makes. Except those keys will probably get used, which generates value in them. All in all, my demand probably only added some extra value to a sale Cryptic would have made anyway. Ie. maybe more keys sold or sold more quickly but some of those 50 keys would have sold regardless of whether *I* bought them to trade for EC. And part of how I'd pay for that would be lifer stipend ZEN. So maybe if I didn't buy those keys and sell them, somebody else would have bought 35 keys and sold them and 5 of my keys were covered with my monthly stipend. So maybe between that and ZEN I bought on sale and whatnot, Cryptic is getting $10 they wouldn't have otherwise from my demand. And I'm only going to buy one and I'll have some burnout from the purchase...
Whereas if Cryptic also offered each of the Xindi training manuals, the rare DOffs, cross-faction consoles, etc. for 200 Lobi, bind on pickup, they'd get a more direct sink and be giving away less surplus. Somebody else buys keys to sell that person. I buy the manuals. Could be a net win for Cryptic.
Although, you know, I don't have the financials or all the numbers. I'm just stating what seems to me to be
They should make them craftable once you get the manuals for the first time.
Like they did with all the extra BOFF-skills that come with episodes. I see the merit in hiding captain kit modules in lockboxes. But BOFF skills should really be available to all. They advance the basic profession BOFFs after four and a half years for the first time and that expansion is locked behind a gamble, effectively. It's not even a paywall, it's a chance based gamble. Whose idea was that?
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
They should make them craftable once you get the manuals for the first time.
Like they did with all the extra BOFF-skills that come with episodes. I see the merit in hiding captain kit modules in lockboxes. But BOFF skills should really be available to all. They advance the basic profession BOFFs after four and a half years for the first time and that expansion is locked behind a gamble, effectively. It's not even a paywall, it's a chance based gamble. Whose idea was that?
Some game designer working together with a beancounter?
At least they put half of the new skills in lockboxes and the others in mission rewards...
(An interesting that interests me more actually is: How did it come to the sudden flurry of new skills in the first place? For years things have been static? Did they crack the secret code of making skills?)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
(...)
(An interesting that interests me more actually is: How did it come to the sudden flurry of new skills in the first place? For years things have been static? Did they crack the secret code of making skills?)
I suspect it because things got stall. If you take a look at the T5 ships you'll see that they sold every single possible combination of BOFF sets - that game was over, dead end. There aren't more ships to sell. T6 introduced specializations to re-sell BOFF stations and add a hybrid in the mix to keep it fresh. Those new BOFF skills also infuse value in old BOFF setups and T5 ships again because suddenly you get alternatives for those BOFF seats the popular leading fraction of players have not made good use of until now. Mind you, they never, ever got back and fixed the BOFF skills that objectively don't work - there are skills like Viral Matrix, Aceton Beam, Charged Particle Burst, Boarding Party (that has been changed, but not for the better necessarily) and Subsystem Targeting (and others) which factually don't work because the game has changed in a way that those skills don't do what they're intented to do any more, or, never have.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Actually, Aceton Beam was recently buffed. Whether that is enough is probably another matter.
I wouldn't say the other skills you listed don't work - but their effect on gameplay is neglible - and they might need a complete overhaul to make sense.
Unfortunately, as people know even the new skills aren't always that great... Transport Warhead is also pretty forgettable, for example, and most people think that Command doesn't really have many good powers.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Actually, Aceton Beam was recently buffed. Whether that is enough is probably another matter.
I wouldn't say the other skills you listed don't work - but their effect on gameplay is neglible - and they might need a complete overhaul to make sense.
Unfortunately, as people know even the new skills aren't always that great... Transport Warhead is also pretty forgettable, for example, and most people think that Command doesn't really have many good powers.
That's because Command's abilities are extremely underwhelming (at least in space). Compared to Command Ground which gets several extremely powerful self/team buffs, including one that reduces CD/Damage based on HP lost.
Come on, man. You've been in this game long enough to already know the answers to that. The prices are that way because that's what people are willing to pay for them.
But it ISN'T that value because of the handful of traders who own a monopoly on them. People aren't buying them out of choice, they are buying them out of lack of options.
In fact, lack of options is EXACTLY what it's about, because as other have said, Kemo 1 is the first useful tac ens skill we've had in years. And it's more powerful than some Cmd level skills when used 'right' (as in, with FAW spam like everything else...)
Real Temporal Operative: Purchased the Special Temporal Agent pack before it was even officially announced!
I'll tell you this, If Cryptic did make kemocite laced weaponry EASIER to get, by either increasing their drop rate in a future drop box, or maybe by making it craftable, we'd all better take shelter fast!
Because a TRIBBLE storm would follow.
Just like when the fleet tactical consoles came out.
But it ISN'T that value because of the handful of traders who own a monopoly on them. People aren't buying them out of choice, they are buying them out of lack of options.
There are more options than kemo if one doesnt limit themselves on forcing kemo on the boffs.
In fact, lack of options is EXACTLY what it's about, because as other have said, Kemo 1 is the first useful tac ens skill we've had in years. And it's more powerful than some Cmd level skills when used 'right' (as in, with FAW spam like everything else...)
All those players who can make kemo powerful can make other builds powerful without kemo. Success of those players are independent of Kemo. Kemo is just the flavor of the month.
I know the exchange is player based, but don't you folks think 108M EC for a kemocite laced weapons training manual is somewhat excessive?
Why do you think it's excessive? I didn't see a reason in your post.
It's expensive because it is a 1/9 drop from a lockbox loot that has a low drop rate of its own. A lot of keys have to be used to get the training manual pack, and 9 packs have to be opened on average for each kemocite1.
And at the end of the day, it's only worth what people are willing to pay for it.
If you aren't willing to pay 180m or whatever, you probably won't be able to get one on the exchange, because other people are willing to pay that much.
I agree with this. I am wondering if this thread is one of those ingame socialist rants wherein those who didnt spend time nor spend real money want to have the same candies as those who spent time and/or real money to the game.
It's a player driven market and messing with the marked directly is most often a bad thing.
We just need some EC sink. Outside of the exchange or other player to player transactions, what do players buy with EC? not much. On the flip side, how many ways is there to make EC? Lots. The farm vs spend ratio is way on the farm side leading to some inflation.
EC has lost value for several reasons, most of them due to exploits. I won't tell you what they are for obvious reasons but one in particular allows you to make literally billions of EC in a matter of days.
It only works under specific circumstances thankfully but it's seriously damaging the economy since it became possible after the Delta Recruit event. It has yet to be patched at last notice. These exploits are the most damaging thing to the economy right now.
P.S. There aren't enough 'whales' to control the economy in its current state so all you conspiracy theorists are quite wrong. It's a stupid argument any way you look at it.
EC has lost value for several reasons, most of them due to exploits. I won't tell you what they are for obvious reasons but one in particular allows you to make literally billions of EC in a matter of days.
It only works under specific circumstances thankfully but it's seriously damaging the economy since it became possible after the Delta Recruit event. It has yet to be patched at last notice. These exploits are the most damaging thing to the economy right now.
P.S. There aren't enough 'whales' to control the economy in its current state so all you conspiracy theorists are quite wrong. It's a stupid argument any way you look at it.
Hey look another worthless post of someone bragging about bugs and not reporting them to Cryptic. This is why we can't have nice things because the community is so damn secretive because they care about their space shekels (Druk notwithstanding)
If you have an exploit to share, please share it to Cryptic so it gets fixed and we can move on with our lives. It's just a silly game, I can make over 10m a day doing some pretty trivial stuff and I have neither the time, nor the established amount of accounts as these players have. Obviously these things take a minute barrier of entry, which most players cannot even fathom, but the fatcats are too good for.
The exploits HAVE been reported and Cryptic has not fixed them. There are a number of reasons for this, one possibility being that they can't find a simple solution. That is why we 'fat cats' keep these under wraps until Cryptic can fix them. I could create a post right now that would give everyone the simple way to exploit and make billions but if I were to do that the entire game economy would crash in a matter of days...
We are in fact doing the community a service by keeping said information locked down until the problem is fixed by the DEV's. So I don't understand your hatred except that it's the latest trend in today's world to hate rich people.
Comments
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Now they aren't worth much...but back in the day they used to be worth a ton...in the day where leadership I think it is was completely 100% worthless and efficient was the best you could hope for as a Fed. Back before there was a million ways to boost all subsystems and Pirate was changed to be a decent mod...well before Romulans were launched...before the Embassy Operative Boffs were launched.
Sorry I was referring to the lieutenant level kemocite ability for my BOffs. The lieutenant KLW cost about 140m right now.
I was actually opening the xindi boxes they come in. I got the ship - a manasa escort I think. I sold it for about 100m and still needed more EC to get the skill. KLW is the most expensive thing in that box.
Actually I got the Saurian for a few tens of millions years ago. They used to be pretty expensive. They are dirt cheap now.
Because the devs actually designed a boff ability that people wanted. Heck, I paid for Struct collapse. Pretty useful to blow up one target quick when I have them all bunched up in my massive GW.
Oh yeah, I switched to a grav gens build for PvE purposes. Very useful.
One thing off the top is that who you vendor items to and how you vendor them affects the rate you get for them.
One thing I only pieced together recently:
More DPS is more EC. I always thought it wouldn't matter that much, that you'd get 5 minute Infected runs instead of 7 minute runs and that you'd get maybe 20% more.
I went from 8k to 38k DPS and decided to start managing resources a bit closer (powers, keybinds, etc.) with a calculator and using different vendors for different things and I thought, "Ooh. Faster runs will be convenient."
And you know what happens now? I'm seeing more and better loot drop much more often. I'm trying harder content with bigger rewards because higher difficulty settings are trivial in terms of added time/challenge/cost. I went from getting 50-100k EC a day to getting 500k to 1M or more, with the prospect of more very attainable. Just from killing faster and being choosy about vendors.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Delta Rising in a nutshell. Best expansion ever, and you know the rest.
People area always missing the obvious ways to make money playing as well... they worry about loot drops. Yet never seem to consider how much they make from the Crafting drops.
One blue crafting box; = (at least)
10 Whites (2-20k)
10 Greens (2-20k)
7 Blue (70-280k)
3 Purple (10-150k) (these are not random so easy to plan for
1 Salvage Tech = 380k
Bottom line is even a bad Blue crafting box is worth 400k to you... and a good one can be worth over a million. (when the greens upgrade to blue and you pull 17 Z or Rub particles)
These don't take very long to earn... and you can easily earn 3-4 of them a night. Play 2 or 3 toons though 2-3 missions each and you can easily make 7-10 million ec just selling the salvage tech and particles.
So how ANYONE can complain about ec in this game is beyond me honestly. Yes there are lots of things to spend it on... and if you want something really nice you may need to drop 100+ million... but if you just play casual 3-4 nights a week if your doing harder content you should be able to make that much EC in a month. (not working the market... start doing that just a little and you can easily double that number)
ssssssh. Stop telling people this. I am tired of failing DRSE and NTTE.
Dil is the most important currency as it's the only way to get Mk XIV. Salvage will stay expensive because it allows you to get Mk XIV Epics (easier at least). People like gold things, and will min-max.
EC is inflated because people are playing the market. "Really nice guys" over in some chats like to watch for specific items 10+ hours of the day hoping to rip you off and have billions stockpiled and don't care if you don't have a Kemo.
On the other hand it is really lousy to provide a good ability with such a low drop chance behind a really high EC wall. It was a bad mistake. Kemo can double your DPS if played right.
So don't Starship Masteries, and a lot of those cost more than Kemo.
So doesn't PL, which should simply be removed from the game by how utterly broken it is.
CRUISERS NEED A 206% HULL BUFF
People would save themselves a lot of frustration if they simply did the same thing.
When a new lockbox hits... in the first few days. Buy one of everything for everyone of your toons. Unlock every trait, grab every book. Prices are NOT going to be going down on that stuff from that point ever again.
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Come on, man. You've been in this game long enough to already know the answers to that. The prices are that way because that's what people are willing to pay for them.
I don't really have an issue with players getting market rates although I do think the market could probably stand a bit more hands on management on Cryptic's end, particularly to bust up cartels and keep game balance from becoming TOO MUCH of a market commodity. Sure, there's money to be made from imbalance but there's also money and reputation to be made from balance. I think it would be ideal to strike a balance a bit closer towards balance than we presently have, maybe making cartels a bit harder and capping prices on anything with too much impact, particularly in a way that generates Cryptic a direct profit.
Right now, if I REALLY wanted KLW, I'd buy 50 keys. Hooray, that's 50 keys worth of profit that Cryptic makes. Except those keys will probably get used, which generates value in them. All in all, my demand probably only added some extra value to a sale Cryptic would have made anyway. Ie. maybe more keys sold or sold more quickly but some of those 50 keys would have sold regardless of whether *I* bought them to trade for EC. And part of how I'd pay for that would be lifer stipend ZEN. So maybe if I didn't buy those keys and sell them, somebody else would have bought 35 keys and sold them and 5 of my keys were covered with my monthly stipend. So maybe between that and ZEN I bought on sale and whatnot, Cryptic is getting $10 they wouldn't have otherwise from my demand. And I'm only going to buy one and I'll have some burnout from the purchase...
Whereas if Cryptic also offered each of the Xindi training manuals, the rare DOffs, cross-faction consoles, etc. for 200 Lobi, bind on pickup, they'd get a more direct sink and be giving away less surplus. Somebody else buys keys to sell that person. I buy the manuals. Could be a net win for Cryptic.
Although, you know, I don't have the financials or all the numbers. I'm just stating what seems to me to be
Like they did with all the extra BOFF-skills that come with episodes. I see the merit in hiding captain kit modules in lockboxes. But BOFF skills should really be available to all. They advance the basic profession BOFFs after four and a half years for the first time and that expansion is locked behind a gamble, effectively. It's not even a paywall, it's a chance based gamble. Whose idea was that?
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
At least they put half of the new skills in lockboxes and the others in mission rewards...
(An interesting that interests me more actually is: How did it come to the sudden flurry of new skills in the first place? For years things have been static? Did they crack the secret code of making skills?)
I suspect it because things got stall. If you take a look at the T5 ships you'll see that they sold every single possible combination of BOFF sets - that game was over, dead end. There aren't more ships to sell. T6 introduced specializations to re-sell BOFF stations and add a hybrid in the mix to keep it fresh. Those new BOFF skills also infuse value in old BOFF setups and T5 ships again because suddenly you get alternatives for those BOFF seats the popular leading fraction of players have not made good use of until now. Mind you, they never, ever got back and fixed the BOFF skills that objectively don't work - there are skills like Viral Matrix, Aceton Beam, Charged Particle Burst, Boarding Party (that has been changed, but not for the better necessarily) and Subsystem Targeting (and others) which factually don't work because the game has changed in a way that those skills don't do what they're intented to do any more, or, never have.
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I wouldn't say the other skills you listed don't work - but their effect on gameplay is neglible - and they might need a complete overhaul to make sense.
Unfortunately, as people know even the new skills aren't always that great... Transport Warhead is also pretty forgettable, for example, and most people think that Command doesn't really have many good powers.
That's because Command's abilities are extremely underwhelming (at least in space). Compared to Command Ground which gets several extremely powerful self/team buffs, including one that reduces CD/Damage based on HP lost.
This, so much this. It's ridiculous that this was not the case anyway.
But it ISN'T that value because of the handful of traders who own a monopoly on them. People aren't buying them out of choice, they are buying them out of lack of options.
In fact, lack of options is EXACTLY what it's about, because as other have said, Kemo 1 is the first useful tac ens skill we've had in years. And it's more powerful than some Cmd level skills when used 'right' (as in, with FAW spam like everything else...)
Because a TRIBBLE storm would follow.
Just like when the fleet tactical consoles came out.
There are more options than kemo if one doesnt limit themselves on forcing kemo on the boffs.
All those players who can make kemo powerful can make other builds powerful without kemo. Success of those players are independent of Kemo. Kemo is just the flavor of the month.
I agree with this. I am wondering if this thread is one of those ingame socialist rants wherein those who didnt spend time nor spend real money want to have the same candies as those who spent time and/or real money to the game.
We just need some EC sink. Outside of the exchange or other player to player transactions, what do players buy with EC? not much. On the flip side, how many ways is there to make EC? Lots. The farm vs spend ratio is way on the farm side leading to some inflation.
It only works under specific circumstances thankfully but it's seriously damaging the economy since it became possible after the Delta Recruit event. It has yet to be patched at last notice. These exploits are the most damaging thing to the economy right now.
P.S. There aren't enough 'whales' to control the economy in its current state so all you conspiracy theorists are quite wrong. It's a stupid argument any way you look at it.
Hey look another worthless post of someone bragging about bugs and not reporting them to Cryptic. This is why we can't have nice things because the community is so damn secretive because they care about their space shekels (Druk notwithstanding)
If you have an exploit to share, please share it to Cryptic so it gets fixed and we can move on with our lives. It's just a silly game, I can make over 10m a day doing some pretty trivial stuff and I have neither the time, nor the established amount of accounts as these players have. Obviously these things take a minute barrier of entry, which most players cannot even fathom, but the fatcats are too good for.
We are in fact doing the community a service by keeping said information locked down until the problem is fixed by the DEV's. So I don't understand your hatred except that it's the latest trend in today's world to hate rich people.
Edited: Was off-topic near the end