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Arc Quests improvements stuck in a ditch?

newnjanewnja Member Posts: 137 Arc User
in Star Trek Online General Discussion
The original announcement was almost 4 moths ago... https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10819944-arc-quests-pc-improvements-on-the-horizon

But then again... why disable a feature for 4+ months to "implement improvements"? You could have just been honest and said "We are disabling Arc Quests.".
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    avoozuulavoozuul Member Posts: 3,196 Arc User
    edited July 2018
    I don't think this is really the right place to be discussing this, but even then I don't know where the correct place is. The people responsible for STO aren't related to the actual arc employees and arc client, but even the they rarely ever check the forums in any case.
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    newnjanewnja Member Posts: 137 Arc User
    In any case... it had to be said...
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    where2r1where2r1 Member Posts: 6,054 Arc User
    4 months for a fix??? That is peanuts.
    "Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK

    “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
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    arionisaarionisa Member Posts: 1,421 Arc User
    As I've stated before. By now it is quite obvious (almost a certainty) that the "making improvements" announcement was just a ploy to avoid the flood of complaints that would have happened if they had announced that they were actually doing away with it. And it appears to have worked, instead of a massive flood of complaints when they got rid of it, instead, months later, every once in a while, someone will ask about it but the majority of players seem to have either forgotten it ever existed or just accepted the fact that it is gone forever.
    LTS and loving it.
    Ariotex.png
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    warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    They are doing something with it. My leftover points have recently reset to 0.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    edited July 2018
    I just looked at mine, and they're all still there. Don't have enough to turn in so I just hope they get it back for us and I don't lose what I have, which is 2k.

    Edit: My F2P acct also still has its extra points, so if they was going to not bring it back, one would think they'd take the points too. And/or tell us one way or another.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 58,020 Community Moderator
    Hm... wonder what's going on over there...
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    Yang Xiao Long wrote:
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
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    ichaerus1ichaerus1 Member Posts: 986 Arc User
    I'm stuck at 4500 arc points...I was actually one day away from getting to 5k for the zen, when it went away...
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    My guess? This is JUST a guess, but they could be revamping it into something that requires you to do more than just click the button to launch the game. I've never played any of the games that it gave quests for other than the ones I already played for other reasons.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
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    avoozuulavoozuul Member Posts: 3,196 Arc User
    Well that isn't going to get me to play those games as hardly any of them outside of STO even interest me, I did play Champions for a bit but mostly on and off, I also liked Gigantic but it died fairly quickly.
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    sirmaydaysirmayday Member Posts: 535 Arc User
    markhawkman wrote: »
    My guess? This is JUST a guess, but they could be revamping it into something that requires you to do more than just click the button to launch the game. I've never played any of the games that it gave quests for other than the ones I already played for other reasons.

    I suspected this the second I heard the quests were being changed. I finagled something like a hundred dollars worth of C-Store stuff out of STO for nothing more than starting launchers to Arc games. I imagine the program was always intended to spark interest in other Arc games, and the original implementation just failed to do that. I suspect they'll come back with mostly 'Play [game x] for [y hours]' style quests, which will rarely be of interest to me but would better serve their purpose.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    If it does go to "Play x game for y number of hours" then they better give more zen per quest, depending on the length of time we're supposed to play each game.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    Getting people to install and visit games they otherwise wouldn't IS the purpose of the system. If you had to play them for hours to count, everyone would just play the game(s) they play anyway, collect whatever reward they can and ignore the rest. That most certainly wouldn't serve their purpose.

    No, the most likely reason they disabled it in such a hurry is to stop some kind of mass farming exploit.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    You're probably right, though I have no idea of what exploit was out there. Visit each game, do whatever task until you run out of things to click, then do it all again 20 hours later.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    echatty wrote: »
    You're probably right, though I have no idea of what exploit was out there. Visit each game, do whatever task until you run out of things to click, then do it all again 20 hours later.
    Who knows? Maybe someone came up with a way to automate it?
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    markhawkman wrote: »
    echatty wrote: »
    You're probably right, though I have no idea of what exploit was out there. Visit each game, do whatever task until you run out of things to click, then do it all again 20 hours later.
    Who knows? Maybe someone came up with a way to automate it?

    That wouldn't surprise me a bit. Though I'd not do that. I was doing just fine clicking them for myself. Not like I have anything better to do, like clean house *Chuckle*
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    I seem to have got my 2000 extra points put back now...must be doing something.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    Let's hope so. I enjoyed getting that bit of zen on my F2P.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    stupidconversionstupidconversion Member Posts: 151 Arc User
    Somebody posted in another thread about an exploit, which I won't describe, which may have been connected, unless it was made-up BS, which is just as likely.

    In either case, Cryptic, if that Zen goes in the trash can, don't expect any more where that came from.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    No, it wasn't, it was just busy for a bit.

    I'm still waiting to see what they've done to it over the last few months when it does come back.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    aetjeaetje Member Posts: 12 Arc User
    echatty wrote: »
    You're probably right, though I have no idea of what exploit was out there. Visit each game, do whatever task until you run out of things to click, then do it all again 20 hours later.
    Replacing the game launcher with a 0 length file, then just hitting "play" in the Arc client. It still counted as launching the game and tended to speed up farming arc quests that way. Did it myself as well after learning this trick over from a few peeps at PWI - its use was widespread there. Probably to the point where it started to dig into PWE's profits, which is why the system was cut.
    I'd not be surprised if it never returns. They've cut systems like this in the past and not replaced them, despite promises.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    Eh, couldn't have sped things up that much and sounds like too much trouble to me. Hopefully they'll come up with something to stop that if it's cutting into their profits. Still, you only had so many quests per day you were allowed, then come back the next day to do them again. So either way, I don't see where it would cut into PWI's profits.

    Even if people were farming with extra accounts, there would be no way of transferring the zen to another account. I have two accounts myself and farmed for both of them, plus I had started doing them for my son and son in law and grandson.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    garaks31garaks31 Member Posts: 2,845 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    zen - key - key ring - ec ... so don't thnk it will come back or at least as easy doable as it was
    tmprl.jpg?width=998&height=499

    https://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1249570/axanar-locks-in-start-date-for-filming
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    lordsteve1lordsteve1 Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    I suspect it'll be either dumped without warning or it'll come back in a more grindy form so that people cannot get so much free Zen.

    Problem with it always was that if you only reward people for playing games fully, they will just ignore 90% of the games and only play STO or whatever. So the system serves no purpose and the incentive don't make people want to play things they have no interest in.
    But conversely making it so that launching a patcher/launcher for 30 secs gets you the freebies just ends up with a farming situation, and that's not even an exploit really as the system freely allowed you to run it that way.

    If i was them i'd swap it to a rewards per time spent playing anything type of system. That rewards the loyal and intensive players who are more likely to stick around and support said games. If someone plays STO for 8hrs a day record that and have the Arc points awarded per whatever unit of time they deem acceptable. Much better to reward players who play the things they enjoy than try to railroad them into content they have no interest in.
    SulMatuul.png
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    warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    lordsteve1 wrote: »
    I suspect it'll be either dumped without warning or it'll come back in a more grindy form so that people cannot get so much free Zen.

    Problem with it always was that if you only reward people for playing games fully, they will just ignore 90% of the games and only play STO or whatever. So the system serves no purpose and the incentive don't make people want to play things they have no interest in.
    But conversely making it so that launching a patcher/launcher for 30 secs gets you the freebies just ends up with a farming situation, and that's not even an exploit really as the system freely allowed you to run it that way.

    If i was them i'd swap it to a rewards per time spent playing anything type of system. That rewards the loyal and intensive players who are more likely to stick around and support said games. If someone plays STO for 8hrs a day record that and have the Arc points awarded per whatever unit of time they deem acceptable. Much better to reward players who play the things they enjoy than try to railroad them into content they have no interest in.
    But the purpose of the system is not to reward players for doing what they'd do anyway. Why would they do that?

    It's an advertisement. Getting players to pay attention to games they would otherwise ignore is the whole point. Every time someone launches one of those games for their point peanuts, there's a chance (s)he'll actually try it and like it. If the system demands too much attention, it won't get any and it might as well not exist at all.

    And for that matter, I don't know about other games but at least STO does little to suggest they'd even want anyone to play 8h a day. The design incentive is for players to log in, spend 15-30 minutes and come back tomorrow. F2P games don't run on poopsockers, they run on impatient moneybags who'll pay through the nose to get everything right now.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    I've been known to play STO for 8+ hours a day across several toons. And no, I don't have anything better to do lol.

    That's during my 'gaming phase', then I'll move onto maybe another game for awhile, or my crocheting or knitting. Generally, the closer it gets to cooler weather, the more I want to crochet or knit.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    lianthelialianthelia Member Posts: 7,825 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    They are doing something with it. My leftover points have recently reset to 0.

    Might want to send in a ticket, I literally just checked and I still have all my points.
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    echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,914 Arc User
    He posted a few days later that he got his points back.
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
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    sapeppersapepper Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    the whole system was a fake too boost "active" players too draw in new players into the games.
    since they removed arc quests you should haven noticed games closing down. or at least server mergers / reductions.
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