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Official Landing Page Feedback Thread

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  • strathkinstrathkin Member Posts: 2,666 Bug Hunter
    edited May 2018
    Something to note. Everyone has been arguing for the landing page because it'll help people find out about flash sales that "many people" are supposedly missing.

    It seems odd, then, that the only positive anyone has argued the landing page brings ISN'T EVEN TRUE. The landing page makes absolutely no mention of the currently ongoing flash sale for keys, and instead still drones on about the same content that was listed during its launch.

    The landing page is irredeemable and, as we have all clearly seen, is driving players away (Regardless of how...reasonable these people are being, it is still something to note). Two updates have passed and it still has not been updated to fix the bugs it came with on launch, saying nothing of its actual design problems.

    A very fair assessment @disqord#9557 which is why I included suggesting an update to use HAIL as Landing Page as it already has Calendar similar to the Neverwinter Landing Page. Then we could also see it unbound from MAIN MENU as Neverwinter doesn't bind their Landing Page to Rearrange HUD, Chat Settings, Options, Change Character, Logout or Exit similar to how we had it previously.

    HAIL also already has a Minimap button, and Overview TAB which is the default selection, has something called HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND.

    I suggested they update that to SENIOR OFFICER REPORTS: Then various ongoing reports could be presented there. From Flash Sales, Promotions, New Lockbox Keys &/or possibly even a 40% off single key purchase to try the new Lockbox. All they'd need to add is What's new in Season 14.5 perhaps a button above Calendar that already exists today.
    0zxlclk.png
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    It seems odd, then, that the only positive anyone has argued the landing page brings ISN'T EVEN TRUE. The landing page makes absolutely no mention of the currently ongoing flash sale for keys, and instead still drones on about the same content that was listed during its launch.

    It does, however, link directly to the latest content available in STO and thereby ensure the general population has access to both new information and its related content (something that the landing page, blog posts, social media, and loading screen ads all can't do). :)

    But apart from that, it makes the "What's new in season X?" blurb a lot more accessible and references a contemporary PVE queue as opposed to generic art (see. front page of the mission journal.) ;)

    But apart from all those things, it also has a clean UI design (effective for presenting basic information to a mass audience) and doesn't actually crash the game. :tongue:


    (The issues are that it's a bit too clean, the information is seasonal, the placement of the outro page (ie. ESC menu), frequency (ie. the bug), lack of user controls (ie. disable option), and a point of redundancy with the main page of the mission journal offering similar information and more. But what this means is simply that the landing page is [quite arguably] a net negative feature owing to specific implementation (which definitely can stand to be changed in significant ways.) It's not a universal negative by any means.)
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  • jcswwjcsww Member Posts: 6,789 Arc User
    edited May 2018
  • ussvaliant#6064 ussvaliant Member Posts: 1,006 Arc User
    jcsww wrote: »
    The over the top censorship makes me think we are stuck with this annoyance regardless of how good the suggestions to improve and revamp it are. I would rather not play than be harassed by a landing page tied into the ESC menu.

    This is why i'm under the suspicion that it is working as intended and like the PvE UI was rushed to the live server before it was actually ready. Hench why no roll back and no emergency patch to fix it because it is WAI. The once a day is a retro-statement in response to player reaction over seeing it pop up each logon and being tied to the esc menu.


    I'd love to take Ambassador Kael's word that it is a bug he seems a genuinely honest guy with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for what he does, but past experience with Cryptic not Kael does cast shadows of doubt.

    maR4zDV.jpg

    Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
  • arion08arion08 Member Posts: 23 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    Discussion of moderation redacted in favor of gratuitous tribble.

    7c19ef3c3f0b38cbc81ecc405acf4825--deep-space-nerd-stuff.jpg

    Have a nice day. -- StarSword-C


    Not sure why any of you hoped that fixing the bug will be fast. Past experience show clearly that will take at least several weeks if not months. Devs have their priorities and time restrictions and if they can't do it right first time it will take some time until will be able to revisit the issue.

    We can only hope and wait.
    Post edited by starswordc on
  • jcswwjcsww Member Posts: 6,789 Arc User
    jcsww wrote: »
    The over the top censorship makes me think we are stuck with this annoyance regardless of how good the suggestions to improve and revamp it are. I would rather not play than be harassed by a landing page tied into the ESC menu.

    This is why i'm under the suspicion that it is working as intended and like the PvE UI was rushed to the live server before it was actually ready. Hench why no roll back and no emergency patch to fix it because it is WAI. The once a day is a retro-statement in response to player reaction over seeing it pop up each logon and being tied to the esc menu.


    I'd love to take Ambassador Kael's word that it is a bug he seems a genuinely honest guy with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for what he does, but past experience with Cryptic not Kael does cast shadows of doubt.

    Kael is also just the messenger. Whether the game has been under Cryptic, Atari, or PWE. None of them have a perfect record with the players. I get it. They have their goals and such but this is one of those few things they have put it in the worst place possible. They could restore the previous ESC menu and still have it pop up when we log on. I still think I only need to see it once per login for my account but I don't like seeing seeing it at least twice for every character I have. It is so, "in your face", it makes me ignore what it on it and instantly close it. What PWE needs to learn here is that shoving something in our faces too much is counter productive to their goal of increasing sales.

    I do miss @pwlaughingtrendy though. She was the closest, at least in my opinion, to a member of the community and not just another Community Manager.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    arion08 wrote: »
    Moderated post redacted. -- StarSword-C

    "Losing out on sales" is not a valid argument for allowing folks to flaunt the rules of forum discourse.
    • Don't flame people (including the devs)
    • Don't trade in conspiracy theories (ie. trolling by circular logic)
    • Have a productive discussion
    It's not difficult to express a negative opinion about a feature and yet find yourself moderation free. I and many others have done that consistently through this thread (the application of the landing page is wanting and it deserves major change.) Just stick to evidence based reasoning. If there's no way that factual evidence can be gained or applied in a rational test: throw that supposition out as a waste of people's time (ie. "what if this is working as intended?")

    What if Kael is a Grokathrian cyborg sent to test a prototype pacification system before the arrival of the great mothership?

    They're both equally untestable (it's a binary designation, 1/0) and your level of feeling about either case in no way changes their suppositious basis (it is what it is.) The level of support for a point that cannot be falsified is, and forever will be, zero. What remains is simply a will to believe which is an expression of one's personality, not a point that can be treated in open debate between two or more people. So, toss them out as failing to meet the criteria of what can be handled via a forum (a place for discussion between two or more people) and move on with discussion of the feature, what can be done differently, and what lessons might be applied in future. The landing page isn't outside the range of variation for intro-pop ups, so what does this mean for STO UI design in general? Does Cryptic need to be so concerned with bare simplicity? Can they push utility further not just with this but other features?

    jcsww wrote: »
    Moderated post redacted. -- StarSword-C

    If you're concerned with the state of good suggestions, don't equate them to flaming via cries of "censorship." Let posters take responsibility for violating the code of conduct as then they can reflect on ways of better delivering feedback without failing the terms of a reasonable discussion.
    Post edited by starswordc on
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  • protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,950 Arc User
    [...]Kael is a Grokathrian cyborg sent to test a prototype pacification system before the arrival of the great mothership[...]
    Now you're beginning to understand.

  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 2,899 Arc User
    Discussing posts being modded is asking for trouble yourself. As someone thats had one of those red graphics applied I'll just say that it won't affect my spending habits in the game and on certain subjects I do sail close to the wind, sometimes I don't reread what I put and it probably comes across as overly hostile rather than a hey guys you can do better you know.

    On the feedback side the flash sale should have been put into the landing page instead of the infinity box as it was more relevant and landing page news worthy. It's also still neglecting to mention the MI event currently running. Information like that needs to be got onto the lander and kept up to date with events whether or not its bugged into showing every time you swap characters on and off.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    protoneous wrote: »
    [...]Kael is a Grokathrian cyborg sent to test a prototype pacification system before the arrival of the great mothership[...]
    Now you're beginning to understand.

    Now now, not all cyborgs are Grokathrian cyborgs...

    :tongue:
    Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
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  • jcswwjcsww Member Posts: 6,789 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    arion08 wrote: »
    Moderated post redacted. -- StarSword-C

    "Losing out on sales" is not a valid argument for allowing folks to flaunt the rules of forum discourse.
    • Don't flame people (including the devs)
    • Don't trade in conspiracy theories (ie. trolling by circular logic)
    • Have a productive discussion
    It's not difficult to express a negative opinion about a feature and yet find yourself moderation free. I and many others have done that consistently through this thread (the application of the landing page is wanting and it deserves major change.) Just stick to evidence based reasoning. If there's no way that factual evidence can be gained or applied in a rational test: throw that supposition out as a waste of people's time (ie. "what if this is working as intended?")

    What if Kael is a Grokathrian cyborg sent to test a prototype pacification system before the arrival of the great mothership?

    They're both equally untestable (it's a binary designation, 1/0) and your level of feeling about either case in no way changes their suppositious basis (it is what it is.) The level of support for a point that cannot be falsified is, and forever will be, zero. What remains is simply a will to believe which is an expression of one's personality, not a point that can be treated in open debate between two or more people. So, toss them out as failing to meet the criteria of what can be handled via a forum (a place for discussion between two or more people) and move on with discussion of the feature, what can be done differently, and what lessons might be applied in future. The landing page isn't outside the range of variation for intro-pop ups, so what does this mean for STO UI design in general? Does Cryptic need to be so concerned with bare simplicity? Can they push utility further not just with this but other features?

    jcsww wrote: »
    Moderated post redated. --

    If you're concerned with the state of good suggestions, don't equate them to flaming via cries of "censorship." Let posters take responsibility for violating the code of conduct as then they can reflect on ways of better delivering feedback without failing the terms of a reasonable discussion.

    Discussion of moderation redacted in favor of gratuitous tribble.

    7c19ef3c3f0b38cbc81ecc405acf4825--deep-space-nerd-stuff.jpg

    Have a nice day. -- StarSword-C


    Why the big change all of a sudden? Is it too much to ask for some sort of response on what is being done to fix this "bug" that has some people very frustrated and annoyed because it affects their enjoyment of the game? Why hasn't it been removed from the game until it is fixed? A little PR couldn't hurt here. Speculation tends to kick in when questions are asked and answers aren't provided, so some answers, even if vague, would go a long way and would be greatly appreciated.
    Post edited by starswordc on
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    jcsww wrote: »

    The thread is full of moderated posts, almost all of which I didn't see before they were edited. When you edit something, the rest of us only see that it has been edited, which is basically censoring something from the rest of us.

    They violated the code of conduct in one way or another. If you have question about that, refer here:
    https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1191393/perfect-world-entertainment-community-rules-and-policies

    The mods are under no obligation to preserve the historical record of a thread to avoid suppositious needling that moderation is acting in contravention of PR. If people flame, troll, or harass other users then those posts are liable for moderation and removal at the community team's discretion. That's the consequence for an individual's chosen behavior, not a talking point to try to encourage more expressed dev attention in this thread (along the lines of: if we act out more, Cryptic should respond more.) Necessary attention has already been given.
    Hey folks, we'll be making some changes to the landing page in an upcoming update - it was intended to only appear once per account, not once per character.
    Until there's a change in the situation, we have no reason to believe that this is no longer the case. Any question regarding the implementation of the landing page fix can still be directed back at this post. It'll arrive in an upcoming update; interpret that as probably being within the next two from now. Why not the last one or a blanket removal? Technically infeasible or simply impractical, we haven't reached a scenario where a layman's appreciation of video game development is insufficient to arrive at a most likely scenario (such that burning questions arise.)
    Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
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  • szimszim Member Posts: 2,503 Arc User
    It's a pity that flash sales are not displayed on the landing page. Short term "events" like that would have justified its existence. In its current form, the landing page does not add anything to the game.
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,165 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    jcsww wrote: »
    Moderated statements removed. -- StarSword-C

    Is it too much to ask for some sort of response on what is being done to fix this "bug" that has some people very frustrated and annoyed because it affects their enjoyment of the game? Why hasn't it been removed from the game until it is fixed? A little PR couldn't hurt here. Speculation tends to kick in when questions are asked and answers aren't provided, so some answers, even if vague, would go a long way and would be greatly appreciated.
    Discussion of moderation redacted in favor of gratuitous tribble.

    7c19ef3c3f0b38cbc81ecc405acf4825--deep-space-nerd-stuff.jpg

    Have a nice day. -- StarSword-C


    This was the final stew that has all but killed off the fleet I am in. Between the new queue UI, unfair flash sales other badly thought out changes and now this splash screen nearly every single one of my friends and all but one other fleet member has quit. Then the devs wonder why retention is so poor.

    Post edited by starswordc on
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,245 Community Moderator
    Duncanidaho pretty much hits the nail on the head. Discussion of moderation is against the rules, and that is so a circular argument doesn't start where a moderator has to defend/justify their actions every time they try to do their job. So, I'm not going to entertain a debate on my actions, but since I've done most of the moderating in this thread I will say this much:

    Any moderation that has been/will be done (here or anywhere) is because there were forum rules violations. Not because of negative feedback. There's plenty of negative feedback in this thread and all over this forum. The assertion that Cryptic is trying to hide such negativity is blatantly false. If anything, negative feedback is encouraged as much as positive feedback, because it shows where changes/improvements can be made. The key is calm, reasoned, respectful communication. Flaming, trolling, swearing, demanding are not going to drive your point home any farther. In fact, it will be quite the opposite and might earn yourself a vacation from the forum.

    So, please, provide feedback. Even negative feedback. Preferably constructive feedback. Just do so in such a way that you're not burning the forum to the ground.
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  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,245 Community Moderator
    First of all, the flash sale advertisement thing was a suggestion made by me for improving the Landing Page, and a possible answer to the cries for an in game advertisement for such things (yes, those cries exist). It wasn't meant to suggest any intent on Cryptic's part, though.

    Secondly, a more obvious answer (than it is WAI, but they're doing damage control and claiming it's a bug) to why the acknowledged bug hasn't been addressed as yet, is because they are busy with finishing up VIL, which we are weeks away from launch now. It would seem apparent that time for the Landing Page was factored into the development schedule at that time. Time to fix it will be scheduled at some future point, but it's not in the cards right now, because all hands are on deck for an expansion that's about to launch.

    As for the question of retention, that's jumping to conclusions that they are having a problem. The question wasn't what can they do to keep you, it was what are they already doing that keeps you coming back. It's simply a question of them wanting to know what we think they are doing right that they can do more of, or what we are doing that they can better support or further develop.

    Not everything is doom and gloom. Seeing shadows where there are none is just more conspiracy talk.
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  • lagomorphic#0794 lagomorphic Member Posts: 28 Arc User
    Seeing shadows where there are none is just more conspiracy talk.

    There are 2 equally wrong and equally harmful perspectives that develop on most game forums.

    Person 1: the game is doomed, and anyone who disagrees is wrong

    Person 2: the game can never be doomed, and anyone who disagrees is wrong

    You, BMR, are person 2. Of course there are shadows. That doesn't mean the game is doomed or that the shadows are even the "majority" of the situation, but claiming that there are "none"(your word) is equally as unrealistic and equally harmful to the game as the person who thinks it's all shadows.

    Both person 1 and 2 are unrealistic extremes. The truth is every game has flaws, and they shouldn't be downplayed by white knights. At the same time, the flaws should be viewed in the context of the many other great things about the game.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    Of course there are shadows.

    I'm going to take a crack at the logical problems of this post to dispense with the uglier points and arrive at a more honest middle ground:


    Unfalsifiable statement* suggesting existence of an unspecified menace (prompting CM's to lie, let's be direct about what "the shadows" are supposedly doing here and what precipitated these posts), covered by a rhetorically unjustified "of course" to hide (via adopted language of clarity) the weakness of user's argument. Leads into false equivalency between those offering negative feedback and those suggesting that the landing page is "working as intended" (in spite of a direct statement saying otherwise) to specify a "middle ground" (there are some shadows) which is simply a restatement of conspiracy theorist's point of view (ie. that there are shadows, quantity unspecified.)



    What we can say is that between the extremes of self-conforming opinion there are simply people trying to do the best they can in offering their thoughts on the game. What hurts is presuming characterizations of dev and user mentality which takes away a human consideration for motivation and intent in favor of a caricature without real existence. Anything is permissible if one doesn't have to think about the other person as a person. So, you have trolling, flaming, "white-knight-ism", and other unregulated extremes of discourse (ex. shadows) that ultimately services the poster.

    What would help isn't to try to elevate yourself above a mod by criticizing their enforcement of the code of conduct and efforts to promote rational discourse. It's to simply have a discussion about the landing page in a thread dedicated to its feedback.


    (*On "unfalsifiable": if you don't find shadows in any given example, you can always say these motivating factors are choosing not to manifest themselves for deeper reasons of their own. It would be just as appropriate to call shadows of game development evil spirits. They don't exist, what does is ordinary human motivation and circumstance which can be handled in the realm of -open- discourse. Shadows is simply not a functional concept for assessing what's going on in the game and why.)
    Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
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  • alexanderb#7559 alexanderb Member Posts: 188 Arc User
    First of all, the flash sale advertisement thing was a suggestion made by me for improving the Landing Page, and a possible answer to the cries for an in game advertisement for such things (yes, those cries exist). It wasn't meant to suggest any intent on Cryptic's part, though.

    Secondly, a more obvious answer (than it is WAI, but they're doing damage control and claiming it's a bug) to why the acknowledged bug hasn't been addressed as yet, is because they are busy with finishing up VIL, which we are weeks away from launch now. It would seem apparent that time for the Landing Page was factored into the development schedule at that time. Time to fix it will be scheduled at some future point, but it's not in the cards right now, because all hands are on deck for an expansion that's about to launch.

    As for the question of retention, that's jumping to conclusions that they are having a problem. The question wasn't what can they do to keep you, it was what are they already doing that keeps you coming back. It's simply a question of them wanting to know what we think they are doing right that they can do more of, or what we are doing that they can better support or further develop.

    Not everything is doom and gloom. Seeing shadows where there are none is just more conspiracy talk.

    If they don't have the time to fix it, they shouldn't had said it would be fixed in the upcoming update. I do understand that they are hard working on finishing the new season, but if that's the case, they shouldn't be telling lies about fixing the landing page.
    That's just holding people off on it, and not doing a thing on settling the problem they do have with the players right now.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    [
    If they don't have the time to fix it, they shouldn't had said it would be fixed in the upcoming update.

    Kael said that it was coming in an upcoming update, not the upcoming update.
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  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,245 Community Moderator
    I can agree with your two examples, lagomorphic, as it pertains to the game in general. Where you get it wrong is in trying to label me. I wasn't suggesting that there aren't any flaws with the game. Nor would I suggest that the game could never be "doomed" at some future point. Quoting me out of context in an attempt to obfuscate my meaning by implying it to be a generalized statement, doesn't make you clever. My statement was in reference to the specifics of this thread.
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  • tunicate515#4416 tunicate515 Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    I can agree with your two examples, lagomorphic, as it pertains to the game in general. Where you get it wrong is in trying to label me. I wasn't suggesting that there aren't any flaws with the game. Nor would I suggest that the game could never be "doomed" at some future point. Quoting me out of context in an attempt to obfuscate my meaning by implying it to be a generalized statement, doesn't make you clever. My statement was in reference to the specifics of this thread.

    If you actually want some honest feedback I'll give you some. You may say that you aren't claiming the game doesn't have flaws, but any time a specific flaw is brought up you try to prove the person is wrong. You supposedly admit there are flaws in a general sense (meaning you never have to actually name one), but when someone tries to talk about any specific one you shut them down. It's disingenuous.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    If you actually want some honest feedback I'll give you some. You may say that you aren't claiming the game doesn't have flaws, but any time a specific flaw is brought up you try to prove the person is wrong.

    Eh? Strathkin and I have created aggregated list of flaws (via proposed changes) from what other users have been saying (without interference) and badmoon hasn't chimed in to try to "prove us wrong" (it would go against their stated point of view!)

    Again, false equivalency. The users who received moderation violated the forum's code of conduct. They didn't simply point out flaws. If they did, there wouldn't be an issue. They complicated matters with unreasonable behavior (flaming, trolling, saltiness, ect.)
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  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,165 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    “As for the question of retention, that's jumping to conclusions that they are having a problem”
    We are not jumping to conclusions. While I don’t think the game is doomed there clearly is a real problem that needs addressing.

    Not only have I seen people quit due to poor designs like the queue UI and this splash screen but there has been a signification drop in players during my main play time.

    A drop in players that is so high that even the most popular queues like ISA and CE runs are no longer instantly popping. I run CE every single morning at around the same time and over the past 5 months the amount of time it takes to get into the queue is getting longer and longer. Its got that bad that I have to wait to run a CE queue. CE which is currently in the top most popular and most played queues.

    It’s as patrickngo said. The splash screen by itself wouldn’t be a massive problem but with the cumulative pervious problems it adds up.

    I hate to say this but right now in a number of areas the game is worse than when it first shipped 8 years go. Not all the add content added has been bad, but I truly believe the devs have gone down the wrong path in the past few years and a number of areas have gone backwards.

    “Seeing shadows where there are none is just more conspiracy talk.”
    Except it’s not conspiracy talk it’s a real problem that is affecting gameplay and my ability to play the game. There is a problem with player numbers and player retention right now.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    pottsey5g wrote: »
    Except it’s not conspiracy talk it’s a real problem that is affecting gameplay and my ability to play the game.

    To refocus: "conspiracy" is specifically addressed at the suggestion (via circular reasoning) that Kael may have been lying to us when he said that the current frequency of the landing page was a bug (at the behest of his masters in marketing). It's not a comment directed at constructive negative feedback. That's been given throughout this thread without issue (from the mods, others users though have done a lot to torpedo the quality of discussion via COC violating behavior and tangential discussions of moderation. Badmoonrizin's doing their job (well, I'll add) and the only thing holding you back now from giving constructive negative feedback about the landing page is your decision to talk about something else.)
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  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,245 Community Moderator
    alexanderb: Kael never said the next update. He said in an upcoming update. That could be at any future date. That's not a lie.

    tunicate: Actually, I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong, but rather offer an alternative, if more plausible explanation, for certain things when I see people making claims to implied intent. I'm not claiming that my alternatives are the one true answer either. But they're sufficient enough to suggest the implication of shady things going on with the Landing Page implementation to be less than true. As to not mentioning other flaws with the game, well, those would be off topic anyway. So, you can accuse me of what you wish, but I will still continue to enforce the rules.

    pottsey: I'm quite sure that there are several problems that should be addressed. And I'm quite sure that there are several people who leave the game everyday. Just as sure as there are several people everyday who join or return. I can't speak to your in-game experience. I do know, though, that I have had no problem getting into queues or having queues pop when I play. So, it would seem that your mileage may vary.

    For all: perhaps I should be more clear about my euphemisms. By shadows, I mean nefarious or shady attempts to manipulate the playerbase as has been implied by accusations about the Landing Page. I really don't see that going on. So, talk along those lines is just conspiracy.
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  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,165 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    pottsey5g wrote: »
    Except it’s not conspiracy talk it’s a real problem that is affecting gameplay and my ability to play the game.

    To refocus: "conspiracy" is specifically addressed at the suggestion (via circular reasoning) that Kael may have been lying to us when he said that the current frequency of the landing page was a bug (at the behest of his masters in marketing). It's not a comment directed at constructive negative feedback. That's been given throughout this thread without issue (from the mods, others users though have done a lot to torpedo the quality of discussion via COC violating behavior and tangential discussions of moderation. Badmoonrizin's doing their job (well, I'll add) and the only thing holding you back now from giving constructive negative feedback about the landing page is your decision to talk about something else.)
    The conspiracy talk was about the retention problem which is very real and the splash page links into the retention problem. Also “the only thing holding you back now from giving constructive negative feedback about the landing page is your decision to talk about something else” is an unfair thing to say as I am providing constructive feedback by pointing out the two problems are directly linked. I don't agree on the comments about the mods either but we are not allowed to talk about that.

    EDIT: I was also pointing out that player frustration has been building up for a while now which is why the reaction to the splash screen has been so strong.
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,165 Arc User
    edited May 2018
    alexanderb: Kael never said the next update. He said in an upcoming update. That could be at any future date. That's not a lie.

    tunicate: Actually, I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong, but rather offer an alternative, if more plausible explanation, for certain things when I see people making claims to implied intent. I'm not claiming that my alternatives are the one true answer either. But they're sufficient enough to suggest the implication of shady things going on with the Landing Page implementation to be less than true. As to not mentioning other flaws with the game, well, those would be off topic anyway. So, you can accuse me of what you wish, but I will still continue to enforce the rules.

    pottsey: I'm quite sure that there are several problems that should be addressed. And I'm quite sure that there are several people who leave the game everyday. Just as sure as there are several people everyday who join or return. I can't speak to your in-game experience. I do know, though, that I have had no problem getting into queues or having queues pop when I play. So, it would seem that your mileage may vary.

    For all: perhaps I should be more clear about my euphemisms. By shadows, I mean nefarious or shady attempts to manipulate the playerbase as has been implied by accusations about the Landing Page. I really don't see that going on. So, talk along those lines is just conspiracy.
    It depends when your play time is; there is a curve within 24 hours with a peak and low point in player numbers which is pretty constant day to day. Right now we are moving towards peak and for the next hours the player population levels should increase.

    If you are at or near prime them there say a 20% drop in player numbers isn’t very clear as the queues still instantly pop. If like me your prime time is at the low point in the curve then a 20% drop in player numbers is a lot easier to spot and there has been a steady drop in player numbers at the bottom of the player curve point within each 24 hours. The vast majority of the time when there is a drop at the low point in the curve there is also a drop in the high point.

    The splash page is not helping the situation and in fact is making it worse.
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,245 Community Moderator
    I grant you that having the Landing Page pop up every time you login to or logout of a character is a bit much. But if anyone is letting that (little, my opinion) annoyance dissuade them from playing... I don't know what to say to that.

    All I can say is that it's not some big conspiracy to drive key sales. If the claims here are true, and so many people are actually quitting over it, then it's actually having the opposite effect in getting keys sales. So, the accusations make no sense.

    The constant pop ups are a bug. It's a bug that has been acknowledged and will be addressed. When? I cannot say, but I would think that players would understand that the devs are hard at work on an expansion right now, and this particular issue will get addressed in good time.

    I'm just asking people to calm down with the rhetoric. Focus here on giving feedback on the Landing Page and leave the rest alone.
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