The concept of paid upgrade tokens, of themselves, are a terrible idea. I already paid to buy the ship in the first place. I am not going to pay you again, just so I can re-buy the ship I already bought in the first place. So all C-Store ships should also get free upgrades.
T6 isn't needed to be successful within this game. Neither is Mk XIV Epic-quality gear.
Precisely. All of the gear is still XII Very Rare, or Fleet. And I still get 1st or 2nd in any Crystalline run. If you know what weapons to equip, you are perfectly good.
Why can't T6 abilities just available for everyone? When I first heard about, I just assumed they'd updated the original abilities, which they hadn't done since the game started!
Why can't T6 abilities just available for everyone? When I first heard about, I just assumed they'd updated the original abilities, which they hadn't done since the game started!
Money. They need people to keep buying ships. And they don't believe they can expect people to spend 2,000 to 3,000 Zen just to unlock a spec skil on the same ship they had since forever.
So they create Tier 6 and add spec slots, a BO slot, a console slot and a new ship costume in one package.
Star Trek Online is majorly financed by selling ships, be it directly in the C-Store or by lockbox/promo ships. That's what the players are willing to spend money on. If players find they have everythnig they need and stop buying, the game can't work anymore.
In some way, it's a neccessary evil if you want to keep getting mission content and keep playing the game.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Well, how about something to buy that would make your ships either T6, or able to use T6 abilities. And Traits also available to buy separately, without the ships? Some really will buy those, just like the ability to create bespoke skins.
Well, how about something to buy that would make your ships either T6, or able to use T6 abilities. And Traits also available to buy separately, without the ships? Some really will buy those, just like the ability to create bespoke skins.
How much Zen would you be willing to spend? And if we compare this across all the players, will this work out as much as Cryptic needs to operate at profit?
I also think there is some "cross-financing" going on. I strongly suspect that creating a new mastery trait is not as time intensive and resource intensive for the STO team as making a new ship model. But by bundling it all together it doesn't matter if someone wants just the mastery trait or just the model - he will have to pay for both.
I suspect that is also going on with the cross-faction packs - the Romulan ship as stand-alone will likely never make as much money as the Federation ship as stand-alone. But the bundles mean that some people will pay the price of two ships to get all three, but without the bundles, they would probably have bought only one ship.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
The concept of paid upgrade tokens, of themselves, are a terrible idea. I already paid to buy the ship in the first place. I am not going to pay you again, just so I can re-buy the ship I already bought in the first place. So all C-Store ships should also get free upgrades.
And we also have tokens already (see. T5-U.) If cryptic wasn't going to include a boff seat with the other parts of the upgrade then what makes another token on top of that a workable idea now?
However I don't see the reason behind "well if I bought it once I shouldn't have to buy it again." You bought a T5 ship at a T5 ship price. You didn't buy T6 at T6 prices. Its the same situation as with T2-T4 (you only get THAT ship, not all higher level variants), only with an almost trivial difference between tiers once you upgrade.
And as for the T6 re-releases (which you didn't comment on but are none-the-less related to this), what we have there is, from one point of view, a call to buy the same ship again. I could be using a T5-U excelsior, or a T6. Visually, it's the same damn thing. But is it? All of the re-releases could have been made as stand alone, single costume, new ships. What we have instead are new ships (new boff layout, new console, new skin) which in some cases can also use existing customization parts, which is a really nice thing to balance out some of cryptic's designs. And of course you can also just make them look like the old ships too.
There's really not much to complain about here from any angle. If you don't buy or even upgrade you probably won't have much fun in elite or PVP (though having fun in STO PVP wasn't likely to begin with) but the rest of the game is still very much open to you. If you upgrade then you get to enjoy a slightly better version of your old ship (spending resources for stat gains is very much a core part of the RPG.) If you buy a T6 ship, then you have an even nicer ship though not one that'll make you a thunder-god of infinite doom (justifying the 3,000 zen price tag while not invalidating the other choices.)
It's a nice mix of options.
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Put simply its taken a Long time (real) money and Pure luck to get the lock box Ship I wanted, is there any plans to Allow for a Full upgrade to T6 for these ?
It has been asked before...Don't think Cryptic will ever do. That was a waste of money and T6 ships could be obsolete as well if they advanced to another T7 tier...however, I think the server might shut it down before that. It's a ponzi scheme to make money and glutton over it.
Cryptic would never stop the gambling gravy train.
One day Cryptic will be free from their Perfect World overlord. Until that day comes, they will continue to pamper the whales of this game, and ignore everyone that isn't a whale.
To those who say "never use real money in game", do you realize that real money can be acquired far more quickly and easily than the equivalent in game earnings.
In an hour of sto, I make maybe 8k dilithium... Or about 32 cents using a rough market conversion estimate...
In an hour out in the real world, I can pick up a couple of uber fares, work a job even at minimum wage, find a few odd jobs on craigslist, or recycle aluminum cans found on the side of the road; all of which earn at a faster pace.
For God's sake, if you really want a thing; just but it. Don't be wasteful with your time by grinding missions you don't even find fun.
Plus, bringing cash into the game enhances profitability, and encourages reinvestment to the development of the game. Spend real money, it's a win win.
I don't think it's so much an issue of actually spending money, it's the high cost of a lot of the items. A single T6 ship (a comparatively small component of the game) is half the price of a new game. It's difficult to tell if Cryptic would see higher volume sales if they reduced the base prices of the C-Store items, though, but for me, and I think for a lot of others, it's just the prices.
And the current dollar exchange rate doesn't help: 3,000 zen is now $40 where I am, not counting the conversion fees the bank/CC companies charge...
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Money. They need people to keep buying ships. And they don't believe they can expect people to spend 2,000 to 3,000 Zen just to unlock a spec skil on the same ship they had since forever.
So they create Tier 6 and add spec slots, a BO slot, a console slot and a new ship costume in one package.
Star Trek Online is majorly financed by selling ships, be it directly in the C-Store or by lockbox/promo ships. That's what the players are willing to spend money on. If players find they have everythnig they need and stop buying, the game can't work anymore.
In some way, it's a neccessary evil if you want to keep getting mission content and keep playing the game.
I also think there is some "cross-financing" going on. I strongly suspect that creating a new mastery trait is not as time intensive and resource intensive for the STO team as making a new ship model. But by bundling it all together it doesn't matter if someone wants just the mastery trait or just the model - he will have to pay for both.
I suspect that is also going on with the cross-faction packs - the Romulan ship as stand-alone will likely never make as much money as the Federation ship as stand-alone. But the bundles mean that some people will pay the price of two ships to get all three, but without the bundles, they would probably have bought only one ship.
And we also have tokens already (see. T5-U.) If cryptic wasn't going to include a boff seat with the other parts of the upgrade then what makes another token on top of that a workable idea now?
However I don't see the reason behind "well if I bought it once I shouldn't have to buy it again." You bought a T5 ship at a T5 ship price. You didn't buy T6 at T6 prices. Its the same situation as with T2-T4 (you only get THAT ship, not all higher level variants), only with an almost trivial difference between tiers once you upgrade.
And as for the T6 re-releases (which you didn't comment on but are none-the-less related to this), what we have there is, from one point of view, a call to buy the same ship again. I could be using a T5-U excelsior, or a T6. Visually, it's the same damn thing. But is it? All of the re-releases could have been made as stand alone, single costume, new ships. What we have instead are new ships (new boff layout, new console, new skin) which in some cases can also use existing customization parts, which is a really nice thing to balance out some of cryptic's designs. And of course you can also just make them look like the old ships too.
There's really not much to complain about here from any angle. If you don't buy or even upgrade you probably won't have much fun in elite or PVP (though having fun in STO PVP wasn't likely to begin with) but the rest of the game is still very much open to you. If you upgrade then you get to enjoy a slightly better version of your old ship (spending resources for stat gains is very much a core part of the RPG.) If you buy a T6 ship, then you have an even nicer ship though not one that'll make you a thunder-god of infinite doom (justifying the 3,000 zen price tag while not invalidating the other choices.)
It's a nice mix of options.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
It has been asked before...Don't think Cryptic will ever do. That was a waste of money and T6 ships could be obsolete as well if they advanced to another T7 tier...however, I think the server might shut it down before that. It's a ponzi scheme to make money and glutton over it.
In an hour of sto, I make maybe 8k dilithium... Or about 32 cents using a rough market conversion estimate...
In an hour out in the real world, I can pick up a couple of uber fares, work a job even at minimum wage, find a few odd jobs on craigslist, or recycle aluminum cans found on the side of the road; all of which earn at a faster pace.
For God's sake, if you really want a thing; just but it. Don't be wasteful with your time by grinding missions you don't even find fun.
Plus, bringing cash into the game enhances profitability, and encourages reinvestment to the development of the game. Spend real money, it's a win win.
And the current dollar exchange rate doesn't help: 3,000 zen is now $40 where I am, not counting the conversion fees the bank/CC companies charge...