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  • smokebaileysmokebailey Member Posts: 4,659 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    (Trolling comments moderated out. - BMR)
    dvZq2Aj.jpg
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    I'm sorry if your frustrated Smoke.. but again.. these types of promotions are a 'necessary evil' for games with a Free to Play structure.

    It just doesn't do any good to complain about it, Cryptic knows that it's not a popular option, they're not doing it because they're mean or vindictive.. they're doing what they need to do.

    It's not the first promo ship and it certainly won't be the last. I do hope it sells well, these things help keep the game alive and ultimately that's good for all of us so that's one thing we all have in common.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    I'm sorry if your frustrated Smoke.. but again.. these types of promotions are a 'necessary evil' for games with a Free to Play structure.

    It just doesn't do any good to complain about it, Cryptic knows that it's not a popular option, they're not doing it because they're mean or vindictive.. they're doing what they need to do.

    It's not the first promo ship and it certainly won't be the last. I do hope it sells well, these things help keep the game alive and ultimately that's good for all of us so that's one thing we all have in common.

    Well...I don't. I don't care if a ship is promo, lockbox or zen store. I want a ship that looks pretty and isn't a space whale and that is all they seem to be producing as of late...so I hope it does poorly so we can get some good looking ships that isn't painful to fly around made.

    But this isn't a space whale. It's a space jelly fish! :p
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    What I resent most is the waste of Developer time on a ship that only 5 people will be able to obtain, according to the results from exchange that day.
    That time could have been better spent on inventing a ship for the C-Store, one that would be available to every player.
    Another case of brutal honesty, I don't think Cryptic want to do this, they're being ordered to by Perfect World.

    Also, from my perspective, the random chance box system is on limited time, governments are already starting to be concerned with the issue, given that one country has already banned them and there was an international conmission on the subject recently.
    So basically, when it's decided random chance boxes are an unregulated gambling addiction and banned, Cryptic will only have one choice, remove them from the game.
    And at that time, they'd better have a plan B for generating revenue.
    Better that they start on that now instead of when the Banhammer falls.......


    I don't remember who it was stated I seek the Strike Ship for egotistic instead of practical reasons, there's a lot of forumites with mouth2foot insertion ratios higher then their intelligence quotient, all I remember is laughing at five or more of then lining up to apply their mentality onto someone who isn't an egotist "because it's how they think".

    FYI, Cardassian Bridge Officers do exist ingame and are sellable on exchange, so that's a perfectly reasonable item to expect to buy, whether they exist with the trait I am seeking, unknown at this time.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • saurializardsaurializard Member Posts: 4,385 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    So, after copy-pasting many characters and opening dozens of packs on Tribble, I managed to get it and some info for those interested:

    *Model:
    Absolutely beautiful, even the textures are top-notch!
    20191204224908_1.jpg?raw=1


    *Size:
    No surprise here, they significantly boosted it. It's the size of the Defiant, literally. That's a Jellyfish-XL, not the real Jellyfish.
    20191204221855_1.jpg?raw=1
    20191204221857_1.jpg?raw=1

    Funnily enough, the "summon pet" devices, when used while in it, seem to boost the pets' size for some reason:
    20191204224036_1.jpg?raw=1


    *VFX:
    They look pretty nice and the rotation speed increases the faster you move. The cockpit part moves too when the ship isn't stationary, but seems to follow a set pattern so it's not random:
    20191204221930_1.jpg?raw=1
    20191204221920_1.jpg?raw=1

    Although, they put the deflector where the cockpit is supposed to be.

    *Console:
    Note that the ship also comes with the old Red Matter Capacitor device. For the new console itself, the Red Matter projectile is sloooooooow, taking forever to reach its target but the damage is decent, assuming your enemy doesn't have evasive maneuvers. Outside of that, it's pretty much a reskinned Gravity Well with a much higher recharge timer.

    *Sounds:
    Why is there a "sounds" part, you ask? Well, you remember the Na'kuhl ships and their innate engine sounds? Well, do I have bad news for you, the Jellyfish-XL has those too! Less loud, but it's still there.

    *Hull materials:
    The default one and the Vulcan ones. Nothing else.

    *Interior:
    Oh boy! That's just majestic! You ready for it? Because Cryptic outdid themselves with this one!
    20191204222138_1.jpg?raw=1
    ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!
    Of all the available bridges, even those already made, you chose the worst and most basic of all that can't even be swapped?! Just why?!





    Post edited by saurializard on
    #TASforSTO
    Iconian_Trio_sign.jpg?raw=1
  • salazarrazesalazarraze Member Posts: 3,794 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    tilarta wrote: »
    What I resent most is the waste of Developer time on a ship that only 5 people will be able to obtain, according to the results from exchange that day.

    Ha. Your point here is so wrong it isn't even funny. First, the exchange is not the be-all end-all of how many of these ships exist. We can't know for sure what the exact percentages are but I would wager that a clear majority of winners keep their ships for themselves.

    Second, not everyone sells their ship on the exchange or even keep them for themselves. Some people prefer to sell privately. Some give them to friends. I myself gave away a bugship back in the day to one of my best IRL friends so we could both fly JHDC's with bugship pets.

    3rd, winners are allowed to choose from over 20 different promo ships these days. So there are actually a lot more promo ships being awarded than you are aware of based on all these factors. Way more than 5 people won in the first day. How many, I can't say because I won't sit in front of my computer counting all the winners that fly across the screen, but the number has to be in the hundred to hundreds I'm guessing. And that was only day 1. So we're easily looking at several thousand people that will win a promo choice pack this go around.
    When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
  • smokebaileysmokebailey Member Posts: 4,659 Arc User
    (Trolling comments moderated out. - BMR)

    NOW what did I say was bad? o.O;
    dvZq2Aj.jpg
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    About that Bridge. Reminds me of this:

    https://youtu.be/wb_AbEqFRe4
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    The number of reward tokens won is irrevalent, as is the number of ships kept and/or claimed that didn't make it to the exchange.

    My objection is simply based on the fact these ships aren't available to every player in the game due to the comparitively low drop rate relative to playerbase numerical count.
    In other words, they should be a direct purchase from C-Store or some other method of guaranteed direct ingame acquisition, lobi store, whatever.

    And I remember the second time I actually won a prize ship, the Nicor, while I was acquiring lobi (for the record, it was a lot of boxes unlocked!).
    I knew in advance I was going to use/claim the ship for myself, but immediately seconds after I did so, someone sent me a direct PM asking for it to be sold before I even moved to put it in the account bank for transferring it to another character.
    I had to restrain myself from saying something harsh and impolite in response, settling for "no, I'm going to keep this ship and use it myself".

    So based on that, I think there are players who just assume the random prize is a commodity to be sold, not a ship to be used.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • smokebaileysmokebailey Member Posts: 4,659 Arc User
    tilarta wrote: »
    The number of reward tokens won is irrevalent, as is the number of ships kept and/or claimed that didn't make it to the exchange.

    My objection is simply based on the fact these ships aren't available to every player in the game due to the comparitively low drop rate relative to playerbase numerical count.
    In other words, they should be a direct purchase from C-Store or some other method of guaranteed direct ingame acquisition, lobi store, whatever.

    And I remember the second time I actually won a prize ship, the Nicor, while I was acquiring lobi (for the record, it was a lot of boxes unlocked!).
    I knew in advance I was going to use/claim the ship for myself, but immediately seconds after I did so, someone sent me a direct PM asking for it to be sold before I even moved to put it in the account bank for transferring it to another character.
    I had to restrain myself from saying something harsh and impolite in response, settling for "no, I'm going to keep this ship and use it myself".

    So based on that, I think there are players who just assume the random prize is a commodity to be sold, not a ship to be used.

    Same here, IF, by some MIRACLE, I win one, I'm keeping it.
    dvZq2Aj.jpg
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    tilarta wrote: »
    The number of reward tokens won is irrevalent, as is the number of ships kept and/or claimed that didn't make it to the exchange.

    My objection is simply based on the fact these ships aren't available to every player in the game due to the comparitively low drop rate relative to playerbase numerical count.
    Well, that might actually be a reason why we can have all these oddball ships as playable ships in the first place - It was allegedly Cryptic's way to honor CBS request that such ships remain rare. (Of course, nowadays it' also a great way to make a ton of money for them.)

    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    It was allegedly Cryptic's way to honor CBS request that such ships remain rare. (Of course, nowadays it is also a great way to make a ton of money for them.)

    Well, from my perspective, Cryptic is riding high on a wave that is about to crash hard into the shore and dump them headfirst into the sand, to use a surfing metaphor.

    Simply because the topic of these random prize boxes being unregistered gambling causing financial hardship has already been raised at an international conference and one country has already banned them completely.

    So eventually, no matter how long it takes, game companies will eventually find themselves in the position of having to remove the random prize boxes or face criminal charges/pay million dollar fines.
    And at that time, they'd better have a plan B for sustaining the game's monetary income.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • lasoniolasonio Member Posts: 490 Arc User
    tilarta wrote: »
    It was allegedly Cryptic's way to honor CBS request that such ships remain rare. (Of course, nowadays it is also a great way to make a ton of money for them.)

    So eventually, no matter how long it takes, game companies will eventually find themselves in the position of having to remove the random prize boxes or face criminal charges/pay million dollar fines.
    And at that time, they'd better have a plan B for sustaining the game's monetary income.

    Yeah, none of that will happen in America. Both CBS and Cryptic are America based companies and this is never going to happen. Ever.

    Well, I wouldn't say never, but it won't be in your lifetime nor will it be in the lifetime of this game, that's to be sure.

    So I wouldn't hang my hat on that nor die on that hill you based on your own personal morality.

    Gambling in the first place is legal in America with the right documentation; a few restrictions here and there and that also comes down to the individual state and its views on gambling, so even if a law was passed that would outlaw this particular form of gambling, the state has to ratify and enforce it. So, yeah, not happening.

    Hell, football, basketball, baseball, all have anti gambling prohibitions in their by-laws yet they actively promote gambling through commercials and sponsorships, hell there's plenty of stadiums named after these institutions.

    Even the lottery in its current and past form is illegal, even those high dollar scratch offs are felonies by federal mandate, one of the oldest laws on the books, and yet states are so brazen they side step it and present it daily to the masses. Going so far as to congratulate and praise those individuals that have just committed federal felony offenses. And then allows these companies to then encourage the winner to then commit more crimes by sending the ticket off to the state capital through the mailing system adding interstate crimes on top of that. But because its so normalized and the lack of interest in upholding these laws its become a nonissue.

    So in other words, not going to happen.
    Even god rested. No work ethic.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,867 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    tilarta wrote: »

    So eventually, no matter how long it takes, game companies will eventually find themselves in the position of having to remove the random prize boxes or face criminal charges/pay million dollar fines.
    And at that time, they'd better have a plan B for sustaining the game's monetary income.

    I think competition is going to be the more immediate driving factor. New games are moving away from loot boxes and onto other forms of monetary enticement which don't carry a stigma ATM. For example: rotating store fronts (leveraging FOMO and uncertainty versus gambler's fallacy.) This is an immediate problem for Cryptic because not only is there a "better way" to potentially entice players and dollars away from STO but it muddles the message to new players.

    "Hey, play STO! It's a fun game with a forward looking F2P model. Oh these loot boxes? Um..."

    Add to this the development problem of loot boxes. As they became much more prominent in STO many other types of microtransactions found much fewer releases. For example: c-store costumes and boffs. They just didn't pay as much. This constrained STO's appeal with each launch cycle (typically containing a new lock box) players were channeled into the types of content those provided. While broad, that appeal not as broad as a diverse microtransaction ecosystem could be providing. So as Cryptic tries to make the most possible from its biggest sellers, it's also losing the margins due to lack of investment. The more they push in one direction the less the potential there is for growth or breaking out into new audiences (especially). It's a feedback loop narrowing the game's appeal and making it more dependent on fewer release formats. That's not sustainable (which I think is where we're at with promos. Every one seems to subtract enthusiasm and to be perfectly frank with Cryptic community subgroups not focused on DPS have been falling off due to lack of accessible input. We're at a very different place now than we were last year.)

    I think we've seen concerted attempts by Cryptic to break this over the last year or so with more diverse content going to the C-store and new zen mechanics (ex. Mudd's, buyouts) with very little investment on new ways to make loot boxes more appealing. They're being released but Cryptic is not fighting negative feedback through iterative improvements to the promo/lock box formats of any kind (they're putting their time into other systems even over low hanging like swapping R&D for DOFF promos.) Add to this competitive pressures pushing Cryptic in the same direction.

    It's unclear ATM when political pressure or new regulations will prohibit loot boxes but by the time it happens (assuming it ever does on a global scale) there's reason to suspect that it won't matter for STO. Cryptic will have already shifted to Mudd's or a Mudd-like C-store overhaul. And TBH I wouldn't be too surprised if the Jellyfish is one of the last promo ships (though when Cryptic shifts emphasis to another format will depend on when they're confident that doing so won't ruin the game's viability. Each evolutionary step has to be workable in its own right.)
    Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
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  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    Um, it kindof did happen in America, the conference in question about banning loot boxes was held in Washington DC.

    My main concern is that Cryptic not do what SquareEnix did in petty retaliation for their game being "regulated", which was to take that game away from their customers in that country, simply because they were not allowed to sell lootboxes anymore.
    That's always a possibility, that if countries decide to enact the law on their own, the residents of that country will suddenly find they've been banned from the game.

    Since I'm an Australian and our government initiated the conference I mentioned above, it's possible Australia may be the second country to push that law independently and I don't want Cryptic to take away the only good mmo that currently exists from me just because they can't sell Australians lockbox keys anymore.
    Especially considering I'm a lifetime veteran since before the game started, with a lot of effort put into advancing my account.

    To be brutally honest, if I wasn't playing STO, I'd be playing no mmos, I quit playing all the others out of boredom.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • lasoniolasonio Member Posts: 490 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    (Political comments moderated out. - BMR)
    Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
    Even god rested. No work ethic.
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,247 Community Moderator
    Alright, that's enough. Y'all have derailed this thread long enough with your lockbox/promo complaining. If you're not going to discuss the actual ship, then you can move along.
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  • captaincelestialcaptaincelestial Member Posts: 1,925 Arc User
    Reading the description of the future people who stole/updated the Jellyfish, it reminds me of the guy who went back in time to steal stuff from the Enterprise in TNG, claiming to be a historian ('A Matter of Time', 5th Season, Berlinghoff Rasmussen played by Matt Frewer).

    If there was some more timey-whimey future stuff, I hope we can have Berlinghoff Rasmussen return (with all the ways of travelling in time, even before the temporal drive, I can't see why he couldn't return to the future).
  • captaincelestialcaptaincelestial Member Posts: 1,925 Arc User
    So, after copy-pasting many characters and opening dozens of packs on Tribble, I managed to get it and some info for those interested:

    *Model:
    Absolutely beautiful, even the textures are top-notch!
    20191204224908_1.jpg?raw=1


    *Size:
    No surprise here, they significantly boosted it. It's the size of the Defiant, literally. That's a Jellyfish-XL, not the real Jellyfish.
    20191204221855_1.jpg?raw=1
    20191204221857_1.jpg?raw=1

    Funnily enough, the "summon pet" devices, when used while in it, seem to boost the pets' size for some reason:
    20191204224036_1.jpg?raw=1


    *VFX:
    They look pretty nice and the rotation speed increases the faster you move. The cockpit part moves too when the ship isn't stationary, but seems to follow a set pattern so it's not random:
    20191204221930_1.jpg?raw=1
    20191204221920_1.jpg?raw=1

    Although, they put the deflector where the cockpit is supposed to be.

    *Console:
    Note that the ship also comes with the old Red Matter Capacitor device. For the new console itself, the Red Matter projectile is sloooooooow, taking forever to reach its target but the damage is decent, assuming your enemy doesn't have evasive maneuvers. Outside of that, it's pretty much a reskinned Gravity Well with a much higher recharge timer.

    *Sounds:
    Why is there a "sounds" part, you ask? Well, you remember the Na'kuhl ships and their innate engine sounds? Well, do I have bad news for you, the Jellyfish-XL has those too! Less loud, but it's still there.

    *Hull materials:
    The default one and the Vulcan ones. Nothing else.

    *Interior:
    Oh boy! That's just majestic! You ready for it? Because Cryptic outdid themselves with this one!
    20191204222138_1.jpg?raw=1
    ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!
    Of all the available bridges, even those already made, you chose the worst and most basic of all that can't even be swapped?! Just why?!





    Hmm, it would have been interesting to have the pilot seat in the front by the window, like in the actual Jellyfish vessel, and have the bridge inflated behind it with consoles/seating based on the pilot seat around the edges of the Jellyfish XL bridge.
This discussion has been closed.