'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I rarely post anything on the forums but Mudd's Market definitely caught my attention. I was at first excited to see what items or ships that I may have missed would be available for sale. That excitement quickly was stunted however when I saw that I already had almost everything except the ship, but I felt the price was a bit much so easily passed on it. The pricing on the rest of the items was also quite high and account wide or not would never pay what's being asked.
It's a shame that this promotion was so poorly handled and resulted in such turmoil. It certainly doesn't move me to spend any money on the game. Swing and a miss developers, swing and a miss.
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Well, we can stop playing internet lawyer on this forum. Thank you.
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Now I am thinking that Cryptic is going to jack-up all the existing ships prices to match Mudds inflated market and then just have hourly, daily, weekly, monthly sales to bring the prices back to normal. If so, maybe they are trying to cause a run on the Dilithium market. People will be in a mad rush to purchase ship with Zen at the sales prices before the inflation takes place. My thinking is that it is better to take a hit at 500:1 and pick up a ship for 3500@75% off then wait for the Exchange to come down by itself and pay the full price of 14,000Zen later. If you wanted to wait, Zen would have to go down to 125:1 to match the current discount price
Yeah and insane conspiracy theory, but given what happened, I am leaning more towards this approach. Ships are a commodity and best way control the markets is just to restrict the access the ships thought pricing. If all the ships go higher and they control when a ship goes on sale, they can directly impact the markets.
I could see this happening and over time it would push the Exchange down, but it might just make everyone quit first. Their solution might be to give free ships away for new players, but anyone not paying attention will feel ripped off.
Oh no, "real" lawyers aren't allowed to play videogame according to this guy on the internet, he just made a rule that says they're banned from videogames.
I never said that.. or anything like it.
I would think that being such a highly accomplished attorney you would be better at extrapolating information to use against someone..
How very odd.
Oh well, let me know when you file your lawsuit, I will follow it with great interest.
> @seaofsorrows said: > (Quote) > > I never said that.. or anything like it. > > I would think that being such a highly accomplished attorney you would be better at extrapolating information to use against someone.. > > How very odd. > > Oh well, let me know when you file your lawsuit, I will follow it with great interest.
I never thought you were such an antagonistic person. I suppose that you are as ridiculous as you claimed everyone else to be if not more so.
I never thought you were such an antagonistic person.
I never antagonized you, I made a general comment and you responded directly. You have to admit.. it's funny how every time something happens, people start yelling about suing and all the laws they're breaking.. blah blah blah..
If you really did study law (not saying you didn't) I am surprised you don't find it as amusing as I do.
It was a general comment toward many different posts. You opted to make it about you and I can't control that.
It was not an attempt to directly antagonize you, you just took it that way. Either way, it's obviously counter productive to continue.. besides, with so many forum lawyers, we have to be careful or we might get sued.. then you would have to be my lawyer!!
Ok, c'mon.. that was at least a little funny. Yes?.. Maybe?..
Well, we can stop playing internet lawyer on this forum. Thank you.
Objection, your honor! Playing internet lawyer is 12.8% of what the internet is for!
But seriously, ignoring legality entirely, I find the Mudd store... offensive. It reminds me of when Stephen Colbert would make a big show of shamelessly promoting some gag item on the Colbert Report: I get the joke, but I can't help but notice you really are selling the item.
Same thing here. I get this is supposed to be a flavorful way to build excitement and fund the game. But in the end it's still deliberately manipulating an artificial market in a way that maximizes pressure on consumers. That is not a business practice I want to support.
Well I think 14,000 Zen is outrages 1000 zen for the two EMH boffs Is not bad to me because that’s 500 each but personally I see this ending very badly and I hope this is not something that’s going to eventually cause the game to close up shop due to this but that’s just me spouting off at 1:23 in the morning
the Command Assault Cruiser (Vizier class) which is a sibling ship to the Intel-based Archon: I have no plans to purchase this ship, but being as rare/difficult as it was to acquire I think the 3500z price for it is reasonable. It was originally a joint Promo for a real-world physical toy/miniature from WizKids. It's just 500z more than a normal T6 ship for that "rarity" but with that being said it is an older ship by now.
the Blinded By The Light pack: I have this ship device already, but I do think it is overpriced at 2000z. I think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the Crystal Power pack: I have these two weapons already too & think this is overpriced at 2000z as well given that each weapon is unique so you can only have one in use at a time. I also think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the Bio-Engineered Furiadon: Again I have this as well & think it is overpriced at 2000z & again I think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the It's About Time pack: So far this has my interest the most. It has 4 items being that Ophidian Cane, Shard of Possibilities, the Breen Tac BOFF, & the Reman Sci BOFF. All 4 items used to be free & mission rewards. I have none of these, but this DOES NOT offer an Ultimate Tech Upgrade. So besides just bragging-rights in having them how often would one use them to justify the 2000z cost? Neither BOFF even has a unique trait. If an Ultimate Tech Upgrade had been included I probably would've already bought it lol.
the EMH BOFF for 1000z. This is one of the game's newer somewhat special BOFFs & I could see it being a decent value since just like everything, so far, from Mudd's market it is account-wide with Fed & KDF both having aesthetically different versions & it has a couple of, subjectively, good traits. The only negative imo is that it is also acquirable from the Phoenix Prize pack but based upon per character. So depending upon how much a player would use the BOFF I think would help determine which method to buy it.
the Leeta BOFF for 1000z. This is a somewhat newer special BOFF as well with a couple of, subjectively, good traits. I also think this is a decent value for someone if they'd be using the BOFF & didn't have it since it is account-wide.
the TOS BOFF crew for 2500z. It has 7 special BOFFs & a title. Most, 5 of the 7, BOFFs have ground & space traits. The other 2 just ground traits. There is a huge nostalgia factor, but this is also limited to only Fed characters.
For myself, the most tempting pack is the 'It's About Time' since I don't have any of it. I need to research & learn whether or not BOFFs can actually use the Cane & Shard & are those only 1 per character or could I have myself & my 4 BOFFs all sporting pimp-canes lol. If so I think that slightly adds to the value.
while the "Full Price" is a Joke the sale prices are WAY too high , 500 more than a regular , 2000 zen for things that where free in a replay , so now i have toons that will never get these items , cuz at these prices NO WAY im spending that and it clear that the REPLAYS arent coming back to get these items the old way . what these prices have done was to intice me to CLOSE my WALLET once again and get me to consider stop playing the game all together , if that was the goal then you succeeded
Can anyone say cash grab? Seriously, these items should be free the those that had previously earned them. I guess the Greedy Ferengi have taken over PWE too.
Oh my god, it's actually even worse than I thought!
At least with the "Na, but the original prices are outrageous on purpose and not to be taken seriously!", that made some sense and while I still think the discount prices are still too much for some items, I could see the reasoning behind that from an in-character POV, even if it was poorly handled.
But this is actually for real? Seriously?! 14,000 Zen for ONE ship only Federation-aligned Captains can use and that isn't anything special?! 8,000 for rewards that used to be free, only requiring missions to be played at specific dates?
Hey, I got an idea to keep with the whole "that's what Mudd would do". How about having him randomly showing up on our ship and keeping blowing it up, stacking injuries while locking us in time loops until we cave in and buy one of these items? Now, that's something new, totally in-character and that can use some feedback!
At first, I too thought the alleged 'real' prices were a joke. Turns out they're not. And that, ironically, makes them a joke. 8,000 Zen for 2 freely obtainable AP Matter Conversion Beams + 1 Ultimate Tech upgrade?! I can only say LOL. Key-ring pack is what, $20 bucks? So, this Ultimate Tech will cost you $80 bucks (sans the 20 keys you'd be getting with the key-ring pack). I think ppl can do their own math.
These prices are an insult, really, wrapped inside a joke. And that's all I have to say on the matter.
I guess the Greedy Ferengi have taken over PWE too.
Ironically, when Cryptic was "fair" in their prizes, they got several hundred Euros from me per year. Now they are greedy they are getting nothing. They are achieving the opposite of what they want to achieve I guess. Seriously, since the new Executive producer has taken over, a lot of the decisions have driven the community AWAY from the game, which shouldn't be in Cryptic's interest. Foundry shutdown, "Disco-Gate", now Mudds Market. Dil to Zen is 500, i.e. the market has crashed. One could hope that at some point, there will be 90% discounts on these items, so the Vizier would be 1400 Zen... but, honestly, I'm not interested in purchasing it even then after all that has transpired.
A zero cost way for Cryptic to finance and expand the foundry
If you try to buy at the overinflated price, simply have a Ferengi comlink in and offer it at its proper price, undercutting Mudd as Ferengis oft do when theres a profit to be made (with optional infuriated Mudd comlink for added flavour - heck, you could even make a jab at the ec exchange)
Jokes still there but nobody gets the mudd covered end of the stick
Simple, easy, funny and wouldn't cause this level of furore
As to those who bought the overinflated stock... I'd refund them as if it was a joke, it should have had a safety net for those who fell for it otherwise its not a joke in any way shape or form - its akin to slapping someone hard over the head then stating 'it was just a joke' - it still hurts and while others might see it as funny, said slapped would not
That is, of course assuming it was a 'joke' as stated and not just a quick scramble to save face in the backlash to come as my gut reaction feels like it is, STO seeming to be heading in the direction of EA esque monetisation...
I think the idea was to get people checking the store every day, and maybe they would buy something besides Mudd. I got from the original message that you were supposed to wait for things to be on sale. Whether I think it was also supposed to be a joke... well, the legal team says no comment.
They even have Mudd say (in his blurb) 'Only a sucker would buy this at full price!' It says to me, that the full prices were clearly meant as a joke. If not, what will this say then about ppl now buying it full-price?! :P Publikumsbeschimpfung is a bad marketing tool.
As i mentioned in the previous now closed topic about this market, i like that the items have become available.
That said, the prices are somewhat steep. Joke or new model or both.
Good thing i already have most items and that items i do not yet have are not coveted by me.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
...Okay, so I wasn't conned. That does not make 14,000 zen for a single ship remotely sane.
Then don't pay it. What's the problem?
The problem is actually for YOU, not him. His money funds YOUR content, so if enough "hims" don't pay for (stuff), you are the one that is going to suffer for it.
That's not the way a market works. The way a market works is that if a product doesn't sell for a given price, the price is lowered until enough consumers are willing to pay for it. The current price is 14,000 Zen, you say, or $140 US. That does indeed seem rather steep for a single ship, especially one that's not even a "hero ship" from the existing franchise; therefore, it seems unlikely to me that very many people will pay that price for it. As a result, one would expect the price to slowly lower, until it reaches a point where enough people are willing to shell out the cash for it. (For me, that price point would be around 3500 Zen, similar to other T6 ships in the store. Your mileage may vary, obviously.)
The key here is that no one needs a Vizier-class starship. It might be cool to have one, and only the individual concerned can say whether it's a hundred and forty bucks worth of cool, but it's not required by any means. The price was probably pegged high at first because the inventory of them is entirely virtual, so the company can afford to hang onto them while finding the optimal price point in the market (a riskier strategy when one is dealing with a physical inventory that can decay or at least gather dust over time). It's a long negotiation, basically, and it's generally wise to start a negotiation from a position that one's trading partner finds ridiculous, so you have more room to work before reaching your middle ground. (Remember the scene in TOS:"The Trouble With Tribbles", when Jones is negotiating with the bartender over the price he would get per tribble? The barkeep started at 2 credits per, as I recall, while Jones was asking ten; they eventually settled on five. Then the barkeep was going to charge Uhura ten credits for her tribble, a 100% markup - until Jones undercut him by giving it to her for free. Of course, Jones was doubtless aware that Uhura would proceed to overfeed her tribble, flooding the market in a matter of days at most, but by then he was probably counting on being lightyears away, counting the money he'd gotten for his initial cargo.)
Incidentally, I'm reminded by concatenation of a comment from early in the thread, about STO "deciding to go with the interpretation of Mudd as a pure villain." That struck me as odd, and in thinking about TOS while typing the above I realized why. The first time we encountered Harcourt Fenton Mudd, he was engaged in human trafficking, having addicted a group of women to a drug and then headed for a frontier mining colony where he was going to sell them into sex slavery ("wives", forsooth!). The second time, he'd tried to suborn an ancient alien android factory into providing him with pleasure slaves; when that backfired, he attempted to use the androids to kidnap the entire crew of a Federation starship so he could steal it and leave them there. He's charming, and kind of funny - but from the beginning Mudd has been the blackest-hearted of villains, with absolutely no concern for the welfare of others when his own comfort is threatened. So yeah, this store is entirely in character for his holographic copy that was probably programmed by his descendant on Nimbus III.
As i mentioned in the previous now closed topic about this market, i like that the items have become available.
That said, the prices are somewhat steep. Joke or new model or both.
Good thing i already have most items and that items i do not yet have are not coveted by me.
Agreed. I'm all for newer players to get past items - after all, why not? Some of those are fun to use even now, when they've been surpassed by other shinies and really, "exclusivity" is a concept that never appealed to me because it creates a divide that communities in general really don't need - but not like this.
The fact that the discounted prices are the real prices makes matter worse - better than if it was a joke, but still not good.
I mean, we can all agree that the Phoenix Store is all based on your luck with RNG, (laugh at me if you must, but I got the first VR the second-to-last time they run the Phoenix, never got a single Epic and only a handful of blues), but at least you can get other things out of the boxes if the tokens simply won't come, like the upgrades which are quite worth it especially during Upgrade Weekends.
So, putting the Furiadon and the BoK up for 8k at full price is... BMZ, please don't kill me for this: but it's kinda digusting.
I know they're not necessary by any stretch of the imagination (and in fact, I'd nuke the BoK myself for all the times I've been blinded by it) but if the intention was to let people have what they couldn't get before, why not put them in the Phoenix Store with the rest of the past even rewards?
4k for the EMH, which was previously available from the Phoenix, too - granted, character-unlock instead of account, but still this price is absurd.
I can, maybe, get behind 4k for Leeta for those that wanted her, but that's a big maybe.
And the FE pack is a joke: 2k for each item? Come on, we can't be all whiners to think that the prices are way too high.
Not agreeing with someone doesn't give you the right to be an TRIBBLE.
Ci sono tre tipi di giocatori:
- quelli a cui non va mai bene niente... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
- quelli che sono talmente imbesuiti da credere a qualunque cosa i dev dicano, perfino che la luna è fatta di formaggio... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
- quelli che credono a quello a cui è giusto credere, sono d'accordo con quello con cui è giusto essere d'accordo e sono critici con quello che non va;
Ai giocatori dei primi due tipi, gratis in omaggio un bello specchio lucente su cui arrampicarsi. E una mazzata in testa per la loro poca intelligenza e compassione verso gli altri giocatori che non la pensano come loro.
Agli appartenenti al terzo tipo, invece, dico grazie. Anche se non sempre si riesce a mantenere la calma, siete quelli per cui vale la pena incazzarsi.
The key here is that no one needs a Vizier-class starship.
Au contraire. You need this ship. You want this ship. This ship will make you the coolest Captain at every TFO. If you don't buy this ship at this incredible price, you'll be kicking yourself for the rest of your days in STO.
The key here is that no one needs a Vizier-class starship.
Au contraire. You need this ship. You want this ship. This ship will make you the coolest Captain at every TFO. If you don't buy this ship at this incredible price, you'll be kicking yourself for the rest of your days in STO.
I would say some people need to purchase the Vizer. Reason for this is that we need some comic relief in every TFO.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Well, the "real" prices are definitely too high for my taste. I don't think there is anything I would want that bad. But ... I as usual with this old stuff, I have most of it.
I think the Convention BOFFs might be the only ones that could be somewhat reasonable. I actually bought them at the sales price, however. It seems to be an account unlock. But realistically, I am not going to equip them on most of my characters. I made an exception for my TOS Captain.
But in the end, this is pure luxury stuff, like a Rolex watch or a Porsche 911 or whatever. Even in the context of the game it's luxury.
But I had most of these items because I was around when they were available in game. And I got myself a Vizier, too. Never played the associated table top game, however. Only the Star Wars version of it.
Oh, and we should be all glad that the Blinded by the Light pack is expensive. We don't really need more people using this in game. I really wish there was a way to neutralize the light flash.
According to The Ambassador the list price IS the real price and will be reverted to when this sale is over. It was stated that even insaner discounts off that list would be forthcoming sometime in the future.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Blog post should be updated to better highlight how the pricing system for this is meant to work.
Prices are still disgusting and if this is an attempt at a daily deal thing then they should have checked into POE's store where everything is at a regular price but goes on a daily/weekend deal at somepoint. Nothing has an obscenely high price to make the sale discount seem better than it is and there's no excuse for STO to make such a ballsup of trying something "new" that's been done better elsewhere.
Here's the way it was explained to me after some clarification. The prices are intended to be an in-universe pun on Mudd being a con man. At some point the current sale price will revert to what folks see as the "regular price" however it is intended to be an extremely rare thing for those items to actually be full price and regular rotating sales will be applied to the Mudd store. As it sits right now there is a 75% discount. In the future this may be only a 65% discount, or could be even higher at an 85% discount. So your best bet if/when it hits the "regular price" is to ignore the item as though it doesn't exist until it's on sale at a level you're comfortable paying. If you want to pay the full price then that's your choice, but it's not intended for that to happen.
Personally I will say I'm not fond of that kind of system myself and think it's more trouble than needs to be, but it is what it is for the time being. With that said, folks are allowed to like it or dislike it and free to voice their opinions as such in the positive or negative. Flaming/trolling however does not help and will get folks nowhere. Myself and cohorts are going to keep in contact with the Cryptic crew and if something changes, believe me we will let you guys know.
"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations
\I was hoping those prices *sale price* were a joke and they were gonna come down eventually to something reasonable, but now, I guess not. NO PURCHASES IN MUDDS MARKET WILL BE MADE BY ME AT EITHER OF THOSE PRICES WAY TOO EXPENSIVE EVEN ON SALE!
Comments
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
It's a shame that this promotion was so poorly handled and resulted in such turmoil. It certainly doesn't move me to spend any money on the game. Swing and a miss developers, swing and a miss.
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Yeah and insane conspiracy theory, but given what happened, I am leaning more towards this approach. Ships are a commodity and best way control the markets is just to restrict the access the ships thought pricing. If all the ships go higher and they control when a ship goes on sale, they can directly impact the markets.
I could see this happening and over time it would push the Exchange down, but it might just make everyone quit first. Their solution might be to give free ships away for new players, but anyone not paying attention will feel ripped off.
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I never said that.. or anything like it.
I would think that being such a highly accomplished attorney you would be better at extrapolating information to use against someone..
How very odd.
Oh well, let me know when you file your lawsuit, I will follow it with great interest.
> Well, we can stop playing internet lawyer on this forum. Thank you.
Sorry, I just took offense to his snarky comment and got a bit off topic counterarguing.
> (Quote)
>
> I never said that.. or anything like it.
>
> I would think that being such a highly accomplished attorney you would be better at extrapolating information to use against someone..
>
> How very odd.
>
> Oh well, let me know when you file your lawsuit, I will follow it with great interest.
I never thought you were such an antagonistic person. I suppose that you are as ridiculous as you claimed everyone else to be if not more so.
I never antagonized you, I made a general comment and you responded directly. You have to admit.. it's funny how every time something happens, people start yelling about suing and all the laws they're breaking.. blah blah blah..
If you really did study law (not saying you didn't) I am surprised you don't find it as amusing as I do.
It was a general comment toward many different posts. You opted to make it about you and I can't control that.
It was not an attempt to directly antagonize you, you just took it that way. Either way, it's obviously counter productive to continue.. besides, with so many forum lawyers, we have to be careful or we might get sued.. then you would have to be my lawyer!!
Ok, c'mon.. that was at least a little funny. Yes?.. Maybe?..
Ok, nevermind then.
Objection, your honor! Playing internet lawyer is 12.8% of what the internet is for!
But seriously, ignoring legality entirely, I find the Mudd store... offensive. It reminds me of when Stephen Colbert would make a big show of shamelessly promoting some gag item on the Colbert Report: I get the joke, but I can't help but notice you really are selling the item.
Same thing here. I get this is supposed to be a flavorful way to build excitement and fund the game. But in the end it's still deliberately manipulating an artificial market in a way that maximizes pressure on consumers. That is not a business practice I want to support.
-R
the Blinded By The Light pack: I have this ship device already, but I do think it is overpriced at 2000z. I think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the Crystal Power pack: I have these two weapons already too & think this is overpriced at 2000z as well given that each weapon is unique so you can only have one in use at a time. I also think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the Bio-Engineered Furiadon: Again I have this as well & think it is overpriced at 2000z & again I think Cryptic added that Ultimate Tech Upgrade just to try to add an appearance of value while adding to the price.
the It's About Time pack: So far this has my interest the most. It has 4 items being that Ophidian Cane, Shard of Possibilities, the Breen Tac BOFF, & the Reman Sci BOFF. All 4 items used to be free & mission rewards. I have none of these, but this DOES NOT offer an Ultimate Tech Upgrade. So besides just bragging-rights in having them how often would one use them to justify the 2000z cost? Neither BOFF even has a unique trait. If an Ultimate Tech Upgrade had been included I probably would've already bought it lol.
the EMH BOFF for 1000z. This is one of the game's newer somewhat special BOFFs & I could see it being a decent value since just like everything, so far, from Mudd's market it is account-wide with Fed & KDF both having aesthetically different versions & it has a couple of, subjectively, good traits. The only negative imo is that it is also acquirable from the Phoenix Prize pack but based upon per character. So depending upon how much a player would use the BOFF I think would help determine which method to buy it.
the Leeta BOFF for 1000z. This is a somewhat newer special BOFF as well with a couple of, subjectively, good traits. I also think this is a decent value for someone if they'd be using the BOFF & didn't have it since it is account-wide.
the TOS BOFF crew for 2500z. It has 7 special BOFFs & a title. Most, 5 of the 7, BOFFs have ground & space traits. The other 2 just ground traits. There is a huge nostalgia factor, but this is also limited to only Fed characters.
For myself, the most tempting pack is the 'It's About Time' since I don't have any of it. I need to research & learn whether or not BOFFs can actually use the Cane & Shard & are those only 1 per character or could I have myself & my 4 BOFFs all sporting pimp-canes lol. If so I think that slightly adds to the value.
At first, I too thought the alleged 'real' prices were a joke. Turns out they're not. And that, ironically, makes them a joke. 8,000 Zen for 2 freely obtainable AP Matter Conversion Beams + 1 Ultimate Tech upgrade?! I can only say LOL. Key-ring pack is what, $20 bucks? So, this Ultimate Tech will cost you $80 bucks (sans the 20 keys you'd be getting with the key-ring pack). I think ppl can do their own math.
These prices are an insult, really, wrapped inside a joke. And that's all I have to say on the matter.
Ironically, when Cryptic was "fair" in their prizes, they got several hundred Euros from me per year. Now they are greedy they are getting nothing. They are achieving the opposite of what they want to achieve I guess. Seriously, since the new Executive producer has taken over, a lot of the decisions have driven the community AWAY from the game, which shouldn't be in Cryptic's interest. Foundry shutdown, "Disco-Gate", now Mudds Market. Dil to Zen is 500, i.e. the market has crashed. One could hope that at some point, there will be 90% discounts on these items, so the Vizier would be 1400 Zen... but, honestly, I'm not interested in purchasing it even then after all that has transpired.
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1247522/foundry-sunset-april-11th-2019/p15
Look at my post about a Foundry Ship
BRING BACK THE FOUNDRY!
If you try to buy at the overinflated price, simply have a Ferengi comlink in and offer it at its proper price, undercutting Mudd as Ferengis oft do when theres a profit to be made (with optional infuriated Mudd comlink for added flavour - heck, you could even make a jab at the ec exchange)
Jokes still there but nobody gets the mudd covered end of the stick
Simple, easy, funny and wouldn't cause this level of furore
As to those who bought the overinflated stock... I'd refund them as if it was a joke, it should have had a safety net for those who fell for it otherwise its not a joke in any way shape or form - its akin to slapping someone hard over the head then stating 'it was just a joke' - it still hurts and while others might see it as funny, said slapped would not
That is, of course assuming it was a 'joke' as stated and not just a quick scramble to save face in the backlash to come as my gut reaction feels like it is, STO seeming to be heading in the direction of EA esque monetisation...
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They even have Mudd say (in his blurb) 'Only a sucker would buy this at full price!' It says to me, that the full prices were clearly meant as a joke. If not, what will this say then about ppl now buying it full-price?! :P Publikumsbeschimpfung is a bad marketing tool.
That said, the prices are somewhat steep. Joke or new model or both.
Good thing i already have most items and that items i do not yet have are not coveted by me.
The key here is that no one needs a Vizier-class starship. It might be cool to have one, and only the individual concerned can say whether it's a hundred and forty bucks worth of cool, but it's not required by any means. The price was probably pegged high at first because the inventory of them is entirely virtual, so the company can afford to hang onto them while finding the optimal price point in the market (a riskier strategy when one is dealing with a physical inventory that can decay or at least gather dust over time). It's a long negotiation, basically, and it's generally wise to start a negotiation from a position that one's trading partner finds ridiculous, so you have more room to work before reaching your middle ground. (Remember the scene in TOS:"The Trouble With Tribbles", when Jones is negotiating with the bartender over the price he would get per tribble? The barkeep started at 2 credits per, as I recall, while Jones was asking ten; they eventually settled on five. Then the barkeep was going to charge Uhura ten credits for her tribble, a 100% markup - until Jones undercut him by giving it to her for free. Of course, Jones was doubtless aware that Uhura would proceed to overfeed her tribble, flooding the market in a matter of days at most, but by then he was probably counting on being lightyears away, counting the money he'd gotten for his initial cargo.)
Incidentally, I'm reminded by concatenation of a comment from early in the thread, about STO "deciding to go with the interpretation of Mudd as a pure villain." That struck me as odd, and in thinking about TOS while typing the above I realized why. The first time we encountered Harcourt Fenton Mudd, he was engaged in human trafficking, having addicted a group of women to a drug and then headed for a frontier mining colony where he was going to sell them into sex slavery ("wives", forsooth!). The second time, he'd tried to suborn an ancient alien android factory into providing him with pleasure slaves; when that backfired, he attempted to use the androids to kidnap the entire crew of a Federation starship so he could steal it and leave them there. He's charming, and kind of funny - but from the beginning Mudd has been the blackest-hearted of villains, with absolutely no concern for the welfare of others when his own comfort is threatened. So yeah, this store is entirely in character for his holographic copy that was probably programmed by his descendant on Nimbus III.
The fact that the discounted prices are the real prices makes matter worse - better than if it was a joke, but still not good.
I mean, we can all agree that the Phoenix Store is all based on your luck with RNG, (laugh at me if you must, but I got the first VR the second-to-last time they run the Phoenix, never got a single Epic and only a handful of blues), but at least you can get other things out of the boxes if the tokens simply won't come, like the upgrades which are quite worth it especially during Upgrade Weekends.
So, putting the Furiadon and the BoK up for 8k at full price is... BMZ, please don't kill me for this: but it's kinda digusting.
I know they're not necessary by any stretch of the imagination (and in fact, I'd nuke the BoK myself for all the times I've been blinded by it) but if the intention was to let people have what they couldn't get before, why not put them in the Phoenix Store with the rest of the past even rewards?
4k for the EMH, which was previously available from the Phoenix, too - granted, character-unlock instead of account, but still this price is absurd.
I can, maybe, get behind 4k for Leeta for those that wanted her, but that's a big maybe.
And the FE pack is a joke: 2k for each item? Come on, we can't be all whiners to think that the prices are way too high.
Ci sono tre tipi di giocatori:
- quelli a cui non va mai bene niente... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
- quelli che sono talmente imbesuiti da credere a qualunque cosa i dev dicano, perfino che la luna è fatta di formaggio... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
- quelli che credono a quello a cui è giusto credere, sono d'accordo con quello con cui è giusto essere d'accordo e sono critici con quello che non va;
Ai giocatori dei primi due tipi, gratis in omaggio un bello specchio lucente su cui arrampicarsi. E una mazzata in testa per la loro poca intelligenza e compassione verso gli altri giocatori che non la pensano come loro.
Agli appartenenti al terzo tipo, invece, dico grazie. Anche se non sempre si riesce a mantenere la calma, siete quelli per cui vale la pena incazzarsi.
Au contraire. You need this ship. You want this ship. This ship will make you the coolest Captain at every TFO. If you don't buy this ship at this incredible price, you'll be kicking yourself for the rest of your days in STO.
I would say some people need to purchase the Vizer. Reason for this is that we need some comic relief in every TFO.
I think the Convention BOFFs might be the only ones that could be somewhat reasonable. I actually bought them at the sales price, however. It seems to be an account unlock. But realistically, I am not going to equip them on most of my characters. I made an exception for my TOS Captain.
But in the end, this is pure luxury stuff, like a Rolex watch or a Porsche 911 or whatever. Even in the context of the game it's luxury.
But I had most of these items because I was around when they were available in game. And I got myself a Vizier, too. Never played the associated table top game, however. Only the Star Wars version of it.
Oh, and we should be all glad that the Blinded by the Light pack is expensive. We don't really need more people using this in game. I really wish there was a way to neutralize the light flash.
Another 30.2 % is making up statistics on the spot! I appreciate your contribution!
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Prices are still disgusting and if this is an attempt at a daily deal thing then they should have checked into POE's store where everything is at a regular price but goes on a daily/weekend deal at somepoint. Nothing has an obscenely high price to make the sale discount seem better than it is and there's no excuse for STO to make such a ballsup of trying something "new" that's been done better elsewhere.
Personally I will say I'm not fond of that kind of system myself and think it's more trouble than needs to be, but it is what it is for the time being. With that said, folks are allowed to like it or dislike it and free to voice their opinions as such in the positive or negative. Flaming/trolling however does not help and will get folks nowhere. Myself and cohorts are going to keep in contact with the Cryptic crew and if something changes, believe me we will let you guys know.
Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator