The only area I would have to say Cryptic and PWE are going wrong with is the actual cost of ships. As the ships get more powerful and we move to T6 (and then maybe T7?) are the prices going to keep going up? $30 for a ship is getting pretty pricey, any higher and they risk putting players off entirely.
I'd suggest a keep the top tier ships at $30 max and each time a new tier comes out drop all the other lower ranked ships. Because as it stands i'd love to buy some lower tier ships for skins, consoles etc but no way will I pay nearly full T6 prices for obsolete ships.
Have you ever played or tried to play an asian game? trust me on this from my past experiances the prices will only go up they wont drop any prices unless an item isnt selling and only then put it on sale to boost its sales.
PWE is first and foremost an asian gaming company that has always produced the asian style grinder games and has sadly taken STO down that road aswell so dont expect any price drops but increases as tiers go up so will prices.
I'm a life long Trek fan and I disagree with everything in this so-called article.
Well you can't reasonable disagree with everything... He IS right on the Prices (looking at it overall), he is right about the PWE takeover, and several other factors.
What you CAN reasonably disagree on, is wherever you enjoy the game dispute of these factors, and even if the mentioned factors are an issue for you.
He's actually incorrect or misleading on prices, too. Tier 1 ships are $5, not $10, and while there are bundles as high as $150, they contain more than just ships, and he puts the caption below the picture of the Command Cruiser mega-bundle that states that it is $150, when it is actually $120 at its most-expensive.
This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
I'm a life long Trek fan and I disagree with everything in this so-called article.
Well you can't reasonable disagree with everything... He IS right on the Prices (looking at it overall), he is right about the PWE takeover, and several other factors.
What you CAN reasonably disagree on, is wherever you enjoy the game dispute of these factors, and even if the mentioned factors are an issue for you.
He's actually incorrect or misleading on prices, too. Tier 1 ships are $5, not $10, and while there are bundles as high as $150, they contain more than just ships, and he puts the caption below the picture of the Command Cruiser mega-bundle that states that it is $150, when it is actually $120 at its most-expensive.
It kinda depends on where you are... For me, for example, any purchase I make is 25% more expensive, because of VAT.
But yes, overall he is roughly wrong, but not by that much.
Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
it seems to me that some people think that perhaps CBS will look at sto and disapprove so will not grant a new licence when the current one runs out, oh how wrong you can be, all that CBS will look at is the $$$ that cryptic are willing to pay for the next licence and if the game is doing well and they can offer a reasonable amount of $$$ then CBS would not give two hoots about how good or bad the game is.
there's no room for sentiment in business.
and I firmly believe that at this moment cryptic/PW have plenty of $$$$$$$$ to secure the next licence and I cant see that changing anytime soon.
they are just investing too much in developing the game at the moment to let it slip away that easily.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
personally i hope that STO will have a long life, because I like this game and my toons. this is why often my comments are harsh because this game could be better and it has a big potential.
All I ask, are commercial gestures (like I wrote previously), more things to do with my away stay (my away teams are the thing that i like the more in this game) and modifications for the r&d and upgrade tool. i'm not against the fact to grind, but i'm tired to gamble. In my opinion, when a player is frustrated or lack of recognition when he is a good customer, the wallets stay close.
While he may have points, they are all entirely up for debate. Nevermind the fact that he seems to be coming from a place of feeling like he's been personally affronted in all this. His personal bias heavily taints quite a bit of this article, so it's pretty impossible to get anything resembling objectivity from it.
I'm not saying I will defend every business decision that has come up in the last several years, far from it. I have my own fair share of nitpicks about them that are reminiscent or the same as the ones this guy brings to the table.
But I also understand that some good has come from some of these decisions, such as increased revenue leading to an increase in operating budget, leading to more steady development for the game.
I don't know, I think he was spot on and told complete truth. How can you have objectivity to complete truth? I am personally glad he wrote the article. I'm not a big fan of the Free to Play practices either. In my opinion Free to Play has ruined what MMO's used to be and have become casinos instead of games.
I don't know, I think he was spot on and told complete truth. How can you have objectivity to complete truth?
Apart from (in my eyes minor) inaccuracies that have already been pointed out. But much of that article is opinion, and as such only true in the sense that it is the writer's opinion that some people share. So even if you agree, it's not more true.
I am personally glad he wrote the article. I'm not a big fan of the Free to Play practices either. In my opinion Free to Play has ruined what MMO's used to be and have become casinos instead of games.
And that is a valid opinion. Within this thread we have seen the opposite argued as well, though. Who is right and who is not? Neither, it is a matter of taste. What will prevail? Where the money is. The other side will continue to exist as well though, since there's always a niche market. No help for those who prefer a subscription architecture and like their Trek, agreed here.
Personally I am happy that this is F2P, because I wouldn't have started playing it (and enjoying it) if it were subscriber only. Not that I have any reservations or objective criticisms against subscription mode. But I know how I work. I am happy to spend my money for stuff I enjoy, but I would not subscribe to something I haven't been able to get to know well first.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
If STO ever goes down, you had better enjoy Timelines 'cause you ain't seeing another Trek MMORPG again.
Games like Timelines disappear in under a year. Remember Star Trek DAC?
But will there be another STO MMO? I wouldn't entirely say no, because Star Trek is a major IP that everyone knows and is inspired by. Right now, there are people who are actually making actual holodecks and surely one of the first things people would love to do is walk around on the Enterprise. All it takes is a game company with resources and pitch the idea to CBS.
I am absolutely certain that, if STO went under which I don't see happening soon, considering how much money gets invested - a thing PWE wouldn't do if it were something they consider dropping in the near futúre, companies would queue up for a shot at pushing another Star Trek themed game. About who gets the licence under what conditions and what kind of game would it be - that's another matter. How long it would take, well, gotta agree - quite some time, larger games tend to have loooong development phases these days, and no one's gonna buy a premium IP licence and make a Tetris clone of it.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
I love Star Trek and used to love this game alot. Was playing since beta (and spending money + LTS) and then pretty pretty much stopped playing (and spending) 2 years ago. I have happily been at SWTOR and spending my money there ever since.
Why? Because, not only do I also like SW but more importantly: SWTOR is a AAA quality game and ST:O is not. Sure, ST:O didn't have the benefit of a 200 million-dollar budget but for the aging B game that it is, I now find that repeatedly buying the same 30+$ ships or spending any amount for that matter, to be a complete waste of money. Mind you, SWTOR is in no way a F2P game. It is and always has been designed as a premium game and it's F2P really serves as a trial version.
If Cryptic wants me to dish out the kind of money it charges for premium content, then Cryptic and CBS should dish out the $$$ and put out a new Star Trek:Online 2, AAA-quality game that this large and long-standing IP has always deserved.
What I'm basically saying is that everything in the Zen store should be much cheaper because this game is only mediocre quality.
Well, have you ever seen that place at the corner where there is the Chinese restaurant? Wasn't there a coffee shop 6 months ago? And some cheap diner before that? Well, the Chinese seems to be closing, too. Thing is: some things scream "There is money to be made here" and some people think they know what the previous guys did wrong. They may be right in this, they may be wrong. Thing is: if a Star Trek licence was available, there would be people interested in making something with it. Whether they succeed is a different question. The same holds for other major IPs. The only thing that could stop it would be Star Trek falling out of fashion completely, but I guess that won't happen in the remainder of this year.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
While he may have points, they are all entirely up for debate. Nevermind the fact that he seems to be coming from a place of feeling like he's been personally affronted in all this. His personal bias heavily taints quite a bit of this article, so it's pretty impossible to get anything resembling objectivity from it.
I'm not saying I will defend every business decision that has come up in the last several years, far from it. I have my own fair share of nitpicks about them that are reminiscent or the same as the ones this guy brings to the table.
But I also understand that some good has come from some of these decisions, such as increased revenue leading to an increase in operating budget, leading to more steady development for the game.
I don't know, I think he was spot on and told complete truth. How can you have objectivity to complete truth? I am personally glad he wrote the article. I'm not a big fan of the Free to Play practices either. In my opinion Free to Play has ruined what MMO's used to be and have become casinos instead of games.
Complete truth?!? He LIED in the article. Yes, it maybe a quibble about 5 bucks vs 10 or 150 vs 120...but it can't be the complete truth when there are COMPLETE LIES in it. Also quite a bit of that article was OPINION. It is YOU OPINION that F2P ruined MMO. I said it saved it since many players would NEVER have subbed for an MMO. I know I wouldn't have. I tried a few sub MMOs in beta or trials...and yeah, for me, TOTALLY not worth paying a monthly fee. Much better for me to pay whenever I FEEL like it...which is pretty dang rare for me. If you lack basic self control and must have the shinies NOW...well...I'm not sure blaming a game for your lack of self control is the way to go. Not only that, but in a game as PvE based as STO, what the hell is the point anyways? Now if we had a working PvP system, I can see some of the complaints being valid...but we all know that PvP is dead...so why the fuss.
You do realize you pay more for a F2P game than you would for a sub, right? I can't help but to get the impression that many of the players here who live and die by the F2P model simply did not know what gaming was like before F2P invaded American games. Maybe I am just an old timer who is out of my time. You can't miss what you never had, but let me assure you, everything you guys are paying high dollar for now would have only costed you 15 a month in the old days of MMO's. Lock boxes should have never existed and I wish the law would come crashing down on these companies who are using gambling in their games with lock boxes. Only a matter of time and until then, Perfect World will continue to suck every penny they can with these lock boxes and fill the economy of China with your not so well spent hard earned cash.
Okay, that was a bit of a rant, so I'm going to leave it be from here. Pretty much, my opinion has been made...probably best if I leave the conversation alone from this point on. It's not like my opinion will change so much as a single mind, much less the actual practice of Lock Boxes.
I thought about adding a comment to the tirade of anti-sto comments already there but then I realised no matter what I said I would be wrong. Frankly I don't care what people like this say in their blogs, who the hell are they anyway, someone trying to make a name for themselves by slagging off something others enjoy and receiving huge slaps on the back from like minded miserable individuals who are only happy when complaining. Naw, nothing to see here, please move on.
What he said. When a game starts to TRIBBLE you off, leave and take a long break
Seek and ye shall find. Ask and ye shall receive. Rabboni
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" (Benjamin Franklin).
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy
You do realize you pay more for a F2P game than you would for a sub, right?
I do. But others pay a lot less. Down to nothing.
I can't help but to get the impression that many of the players here who live and die by the F2P model simply did not know what gaming was like before F2P invaded American games. Maybe I am just an old timer who is out of my time. You can't miss what you never had, but let me assure you, everything you guys are paying high dollar for now would have only costed you 15 a month in the old days of MMO's. Lock boxes should have never existed and I wish the law would come crashing down on these companies who are using gambling in their games with lock boxes. Only a matter of time and until then, Perfect World will continue to suck every penny they can with these lock boxes and fill the economy of China with your not so well spent hard earned cash.
Okay, that was a bit of a rant, so I'm going to leave it be from here. Pretty much, my opinion has been made...probably best if I leave the conversation alone from this point on. It's not like my opinion will change so much as a single mind, much less the actual practice of Lock Boxes.
But if that means that F2P games are no longer viable, you don't suddenly get a return of the 15 $ subscription MMOs. People stopped doing them because for some reason, they could not copy the success of WoW and ran into financial troubles.
I dislike lockboxes. They just smell fishy. But at the fundamental core it seems to me that F2P models are "pay-what-you-feel-it's-worth-it-to-you" model. Some people say it's not worth spending money on, others feel its worth spending thousands of Dollars on. Of course, the "fishy" part is that some people might not realize that they spend hundreds or thousands dollars already.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Why? Because, not only do I also like SW but more importantly: SWTOR is a AAA quality game and ST:O is not. Sure, ST:O didn't have the benefit of a 200 million-dollar budget but for the aging B game that it is, I now find that repeatedly buying the same 30+$ ships or spending any amount for that matter, to be a complete waste of money. Mind you, SWTOR is in no way a F2P game. It is and always has been designed as a premium game and it's F2P really serves as a trial version.
Please don't post such sensible and logical stuff in these parts, people's heads might explode.
Why? Because, not only do I also like SW but more importantly: SWTOR is a AAA quality game and ST:O is not. Sure, ST:O didn't have the benefit of a 200 million-dollar budget but for the aging B game that it is, I now find that repeatedly buying the same 30+$ ships or spending any amount for that matter, to be a complete waste of money. Mind you, SWTOR is in no way a F2P game. It is and always has been designed as a premium game and it's F2P really serves as a trial version.
Please don't post such sensible and logical stuff in these parts, people's heads might explode.
One of these days I'm gonna have to give TOR a real go. I have the game downloaded I just haven't played it.
The only area I would have to say Cryptic and PWE are going wrong with is the actual cost of ships. As the ships get more powerful and we move to T6 (and then maybe T7?) are the prices going to keep going up? $30 for a ship is getting pretty pricey, any higher and they risk putting players off entirely.
I'd suggest a keep the top tier ships at $30 max and each time a new tier comes out drop all the other lower ranked ships. Because as it stands i'd love to buy some lower tier ships for skins, consoles etc but no way will I pay nearly full T6 prices for obsolete ships.
T5 upgrades is the only place I must admit that cryptic made a big Bobo, I think it so unfair that players are expected to pay the extra $5-$7 or 500-700zen to upgrade tier 5 ships, this should have been a free upgrade across the board.
it would have been fair if the upgrade was to full T6 but as it stands a T5U costs around the same price as a T6 ship.
I know players can still grind the extra zen for an upgrade token and effectively get a free upgrade but if you are buying a T5 ship and directly upgrading it to T5U you might as well just buy a T6 instead regardless of how you got your zen.
this is why I have only ever made T5U upgrades I got for free, its just a total waste of time or money otherwise.
having said that ships are not that bad compaired to come MMO game items, take a look here at the top 10 most expensive game items. >
One of these days I'm gonna have to give TOR a real go. I have the game downloaded I just haven't played it.
Just don't fall into the trap of believing that SW:ToR is a F2P game and you'll be all right. Like the poster I quoted said - SW:ToR's F2P is more of a trial mode so one can see if he/she's into the game enough to get a sub or just leave. Theoretically, you can play SW:ToR as F2P - but in reality you'll just be struggling instead of enjoying a fun past-time. If you happen to like the game and enjoy playing grabbing a sub. is the only real way to go.
By no means am I saying that ToR is "all that", my quote referred more to the not being a F2P game. If you're a fan or familiar with the SW universe chances are you'll like the game, the storytelling and voice acting is top-notch and the game's in a much much better place than STO is atm. Just take into account that it's not a F2P, but a sub. game when comparing impressions.
Comments
Have you ever played or tried to play an asian game? trust me on this from my past experiances the prices will only go up they wont drop any prices unless an item isnt selling and only then put it on sale to boost its sales.
PWE is first and foremost an asian gaming company that has always produced the asian style grinder games and has sadly taken STO down that road aswell so dont expect any price drops but increases as tiers go up so will prices.
He's actually incorrect or misleading on prices, too. Tier 1 ships are $5, not $10, and while there are bundles as high as $150, they contain more than just ships, and he puts the caption below the picture of the Command Cruiser mega-bundle that states that it is $150, when it is actually $120 at its most-expensive.
It kinda depends on where you are... For me, for example, any purchase I make is 25% more expensive, because of VAT.
But yes, overall he is roughly wrong, but not by that much.
there's no room for sentiment in business.
and I firmly believe that at this moment cryptic/PW have plenty of $$$$$$$$ to secure the next licence and I cant see that changing anytime soon.
they are just investing too much in developing the game at the moment to let it slip away that easily.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
All I ask, are commercial gestures (like I wrote previously), more things to do with my away stay (my away teams are the thing that i like the more in this game) and modifications for the r&d and upgrade tool. i'm not against the fact to grind, but i'm tired to gamble. In my opinion, when a player is frustrated or lack of recognition when he is a good customer, the wallets stay close.
I don't know, I think he was spot on and told complete truth. How can you have objectivity to complete truth? I am personally glad he wrote the article. I'm not a big fan of the Free to Play practices either. In my opinion Free to Play has ruined what MMO's used to be and have become casinos instead of games.
Apart from (in my eyes minor) inaccuracies that have already been pointed out. But much of that article is opinion, and as such only true in the sense that it is the writer's opinion that some people share. So even if you agree, it's not more true.
And that is a valid opinion. Within this thread we have seen the opposite argued as well, though. Who is right and who is not? Neither, it is a matter of taste. What will prevail? Where the money is. The other side will continue to exist as well though, since there's always a niche market. No help for those who prefer a subscription architecture and like their Trek, agreed here.
Personally I am happy that this is F2P, because I wouldn't have started playing it (and enjoying it) if it were subscriber only. Not that I have any reservations or objective criticisms against subscription mode. But I know how I work. I am happy to spend my money for stuff I enjoy, but I would not subscribe to something I haven't been able to get to know well first.
My character Tsin'xing
Games like Timelines disappear in under a year. Remember Star Trek DAC?
But will there be another STO MMO? I wouldn't entirely say no, because Star Trek is a major IP that everyone knows and is inspired by. Right now, there are people who are actually making actual holodecks and surely one of the first things people would love to do is walk around on the Enterprise. All it takes is a game company with resources and pitch the idea to CBS.
Why? Because, not only do I also like SW but more importantly: SWTOR is a AAA quality game and ST:O is not. Sure, ST:O didn't have the benefit of a 200 million-dollar budget but for the aging B game that it is, I now find that repeatedly buying the same 30+$ ships or spending any amount for that matter, to be a complete waste of money. Mind you, SWTOR is in no way a F2P game. It is and always has been designed as a premium game and it's F2P really serves as a trial version.
If Cryptic wants me to dish out the kind of money it charges for premium content, then Cryptic and CBS should dish out the $$$ and put out a new Star Trek:Online 2, AAA-quality game that this large and long-standing IP has always deserved.
What I'm basically saying is that everything in the Zen store should be much cheaper because this game is only mediocre quality.
You do realize you pay more for a F2P game than you would for a sub, right? I can't help but to get the impression that many of the players here who live and die by the F2P model simply did not know what gaming was like before F2P invaded American games. Maybe I am just an old timer who is out of my time. You can't miss what you never had, but let me assure you, everything you guys are paying high dollar for now would have only costed you 15 a month in the old days of MMO's. Lock boxes should have never existed and I wish the law would come crashing down on these companies who are using gambling in their games with lock boxes. Only a matter of time and until then, Perfect World will continue to suck every penny they can with these lock boxes and fill the economy of China with your not so well spent hard earned cash.
Okay, that was a bit of a rant, so I'm going to leave it be from here. Pretty much, my opinion has been made...probably best if I leave the conversation alone from this point on. It's not like my opinion will change so much as a single mind, much less the actual practice of Lock Boxes.
What he said. When a game starts to TRIBBLE you off, leave and take a long break
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy
But if that means that F2P games are no longer viable, you don't suddenly get a return of the 15 $ subscription MMOs. People stopped doing them because for some reason, they could not copy the success of WoW and ran into financial troubles.
I dislike lockboxes. They just smell fishy. But at the fundamental core it seems to me that F2P models are "pay-what-you-feel-it's-worth-it-to-you" model. Some people say it's not worth spending money on, others feel its worth spending thousands of Dollars on. Of course, the "fishy" part is that some people might not realize that they spend hundreds or thousands dollars already.
Please don't post such sensible and logical stuff in these parts, people's heads might explode.
T5 upgrades is the only place I must admit that cryptic made a big Bobo, I think it so unfair that players are expected to pay the extra $5-$7 or 500-700zen to upgrade tier 5 ships, this should have been a free upgrade across the board.
it would have been fair if the upgrade was to full T6 but as it stands a T5U costs around the same price as a T6 ship.
I know players can still grind the extra zen for an upgrade token and effectively get a free upgrade but if you are buying a T5 ship and directly upgrading it to T5U you might as well just buy a T6 instead regardless of how you got your zen.
this is why I have only ever made T5U upgrades I got for free, its just a total waste of time or money otherwise.
having said that ships are not that bad compaired to come MMO game items, take a look here at the top 10 most expensive game items. >
http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-popular/10-of-the-most-expensive-virtual-items-in-video-games/
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Just don't fall into the trap of believing that SW:ToR is a F2P game and you'll be all right. Like the poster I quoted said - SW:ToR's F2P is more of a trial mode so one can see if he/she's into the game enough to get a sub or just leave. Theoretically, you can play SW:ToR as F2P - but in reality you'll just be struggling instead of enjoying a fun past-time. If you happen to like the game and enjoy playing grabbing a sub. is the only real way to go.
By no means am I saying that ToR is "all that", my quote referred more to the not being a F2P game. If you're a fan or familiar with the SW universe chances are you'll like the game, the storytelling and voice acting is top-notch and the game's in a much much better place than STO is atm. Just take into account that it's not a F2P, but a sub. game when comparing impressions.
What flamefestery is this?