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Announcing: The Picard Bundle!

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  • crypticarmsmancrypticarmsman Member Posts: 4,101 Arc User
    ee3452p wrote: »
    Some feedback for Cryptic:

    Do I want to purchase previous Lockbox/Lobi-ships from the C-Store for a fair prize? Absolutely.

    Do I want a T6 Constellation? Absolutely. You could even allow it skin unlock for some other ships, like Saggitarius/Europa/Buran just on the visual level once you get the T3 version. Would be easy work for you. It is also working fo the Daedalus/Nautilus class.

    Do I think the Picard pack as a whole is overprized? Absolutely.

    Will I purchase it? Definitely not. I already have too many other items, I don't see any discounts if you already own stuff.

    Do I think Cryptic should sit down and create some intelligent rules for discounts if parts of a pack have already been purchased? Absolutely. It did work for the Gamma-Bundle, once you got the warship for 2000 Zen the rest of the pack was reduced by exactly that margin.

    So, some good ideas here in my opinion, but bad execution, which will lead to me ignoring the pack. You should be fairer in your prizes. Either put a lot more stuff in the Picard pack, or reduce the prize significantly for it to sell.

    Psst - The Bundle wan't designed for existing STO players like you or me. It was designed to entice new players that join the game because of the Star Trek: Picard series.
    Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012
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  • doctorstegidoctorstegi Member Posts: 1,181 Arc User
    ee3452p wrote: »
    Some feedback for Cryptic:

    Do I want to purchase previous Lockbox/Lobi-ships from the C-Store for a fair prize? Absolutely.

    Do I want a T6 Constellation? Absolutely. You could even allow it skin unlock for some other ships, like Saggitarius/Europa/Buran just on the visual level once you get the T3 version. Would be easy work for you. It is also working fo the Daedalus/Nautilus class.

    Do I think the Picard pack as a whole is overprized? Absolutely.

    Will I purchase it? Definitely not. I already have too many other items, I don't see any discounts if you already own stuff.

    Do I think Cryptic should sit down and create some intelligent rules for discounts if parts of a pack have already been purchased? Absolutely. It did work for the Gamma-Bundle, once you got the warship for 2000 Zen the rest of the pack was reduced by exactly that margin.

    So, some good ideas here in my opinion, but bad execution, which will lead to me ignoring the pack. You should be fairer in your prizes. Either put a lot more stuff in the Picard pack, or reduce the prize significantly for it to sell.

    Psst - The Bundle wan't designed for existing STO players like you or me. It was designed to entice new players that join the game because of the Star Trek: Picard series.

    Lol good luck with that.
    C-Store Inc. is still looking for active members on the fed side. If you don't have a fleet feel free to contact me in game @stegi.
  • jennycolvinjennycolvin Member Posts: 1,100 Arc User
    As others have already said before, I'd also like to know if there will be any discount for items already owned.

    Tbh, I'm kinda bummed out that this first pack offers nothing new and I'm still on the fence about adding a lockbox ship into this kind of bundle - it seems like a "we'll throw it in to up the value" kinda move.
    While 6k for a lockbox ship is not that much, considering how many resourcers you actually need to get it otherwise, I'm not entirely sure that's the way to go to make them account-wide unlocks. Assuming, of course, that the ship will actually be for the entire account and not just for the toon you reclaim the bundle with (I'm still miffed about the Tardigrade...).​​
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    Not agreeing with someone doesn't give you the right to be an TRIBBLE.

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  • phoenix841phoenix841 Member Posts: 486 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    ee3452p wrote: »

    Do I think Cryptic should sit down and create some intelligent rules for discounts if parts of a pack have already been purchased? Absolutely. It did work for the Gamma-Bundle, once you got the warship for 2000 Zen the rest of the pack was reduced by exactly that margin.

    To be clear, it was specifically the Gamma Starter Pack which discounted the larger Operations pack. If you purchased only that one ship, you got zero discount.

    Other than that, I totally agree. They keep adding more and more bundles that 1) already include other older items, and 2) break other bundles (like every new faction starter pack they added a couple months ago). Cryptic needs to stop forcing players into choosing which bundles they want to break to get other bundles. It's insane.

    It's pretty much the worst sales decision I've ever seen. Someone at the Cryptic sales/marketing department needs to get their brain re-installed. I usually constrain myself from statements like that, but this really is a boneheaded decision.
    LTS Since Beta (Jan 2010).
  • palpha2clearancepalpha2clearance Member Posts: 432 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    In honor of Star Trek: Picard, we're launching a brand new bundle of some of our favorite Picard items - including, for the first time, a former lock box ship in the Zen Store! Plus - a completely updated Constellation Class!

    https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/11345563

    This is literally the worst release in 10 years:

    1. Most of this stuff has been given away or available for 10 years
    2. Most of us own 99% of what the bundle is.
    3. The Tommy Gun should of been released into the PHX Box as it is a Reputation Reward (and possibly the Mudd Store)
    4. The Lock Box Ship will be at a "Mudd Store" Price Gouging High cost! (6K at 50% ridiculous)

    On the Plus side:

    1.a Lock Box Ship has been released for actual purchase.
    2. an update skin for a non tier 6 Ship (that has not been worth using in the last 6 years).

    I am kinda sad to see such a bad release. This was a very little effort release considering all the TNG Requests that could of made a bundle like this awesome. This release was so ridiculous it brought me out of Forum Retirement to say so...much like Picard.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • inferiorityinferiority Member Posts: 3,932 Arc User
    For me, this pack just doesn't seem to be good value for money at all. At the very least, I'd have expected the complete Galaxy pack to be included, as well as the T6, so that all variants of the Galaxy are playable. (I don't think the T6 Galaxy-X needs to be included, though.)
    Nice idea, and credit is due to the STO team for trying to do something to mark the occasion of the new show, but this pack seems somewhat lacking for the price.
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  • foxman00foxman00 Member Posts: 1,478 Arc User
    Sigh, for context. A reddittor broke down part of the mirandon side of the box and several of the smaller items.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/eo9tuz/zen_store_prices_flawed_logic/feaku2j/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

    "You're assigning prices to something that's sort of unprecedented. But to get a more accurate look at this, here's some prices of these items right now on PC:

    The Theta is 545 million EC. Lockbox keys are currently 5.48 million EC each, so around 100 keys for that one ship - which is around 11250 Zen without any sales (or 9563 w/ a 15% Key Sale) Slightly better with Promotion packs, where it'd be 7200-9000 Zen.

    The Privateer Outfit is 60 million EC. That's 12 keys, so around 1375 Zen (or x4 Promotion Packs if that's running).

    Both of the above are character unlocks, so multiply that cost by however many characters you want these items on.

    We don't have a price point on the the weapon, but if it followed the Mudd's Market pricing I'd speculate it would be on sale for at least 600 Zen (at 85% off), 1200 if an Ultimate Tech upgrade was included. That, again, is all speculation.

    I'm not saying this is a "good" deal as that's subjective. But I'd argue this is a more fair and ethical way of handling Lockbox items while keeping them at a similar price point as they are currently... which is probably the point, to be fair."


    It was in response to this thread someone made when trying to assign prices to everything in the box.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/eo9tuz/zen_store_prices_flawed_logic/

    "This not meant to be a rant, and correct me if I am wrong, but I am seeing more and more Flawed Logic in Zen Store Pricing Model

    Today Cryptic is selling a Picard Bundle

    1xT6 ship: 3000* Zen
    1xT5 ship: 2000 Zen
    1xT3 ship: 1000 Zen
    1xBridge Environment: 2000 Zen
    1 upgrade token: 700 Zen
    1 Ground Weapon: Replica Thompson Submachine Gun: 300* Zen
    4xUniforms: 2200 Zen
    1xLobe Store Uniform :~550 Zen

    Total value of ~11,750 Zen (currently 6000 Zen or 50% Off)"
    pjxgwS8.jpg
  • foppotee#4552 foppotee Member Posts: 1,704 Arc User
    Setting a list-price higher than an offer's value to then offer a discount price is just a marketing tactic. Cryptic is probably testing the waters with this latest approach to find our, the players(consumers), willing-to-pay value-based happy spot.

    Is this Miradorn sale account-wide (probably is or at least should be)? I think of the example of the Galor which is a decent approach.

    Will there be discounts if a player already owns an item or multiple items in this bundle? Many players already owning an item or items in a bundle poses that problem when using older purchasable items as filler for perceived value in a bundle that is new.

    Cryptic has proven they have the technology & know how to discount any bundle based-off of already purchasable content in a bundle. Whether or not Cryptic chooses to do so though is their decision & I'm sure based off of diminishing returns of required effort versus profit margin. It is Cryptic's decision though since they could do it for players.

    Having a list-price in STO even on the Zen Store is as perceived in value as a list price on the Exchange. Just because something on the Exchange is set at a certain price doesn't mean it is automatically worth that set price. Same rule applies here.

    I'm not going to be buying this bundle as it is, but it did get me to re-watch those Gambit 2-part episodes again. :-)
  • psytce0002psytce0002 Member Posts: 157 Arc User
    The main problem I have with this pack is the same one that most of you have voiced.

    The only item I want is the T6 ship. I've been in the game as an LTS since the first sale during beta. I have the T5 ship (which I do not use), I've had the T3 ship for god knows how long, and I also own all of the C-Store clothes plus others from the Lobi store and giveaways. With the advent of T6 ships most, if not all, of the T5 ships just don't stack up and since you can use any T6 ship from the beginning why would you need any of the lower tiered ships besides for Admiralty ... This bundle just does not make sense to me.....

    So I will also state here that I will not be spending any zen on this bundle....

    Just my 2¢ .....
  • roguealltrekroguealltrek Member Posts: 179 Arc User
    I had a good laugh 12000zen didn't know April was close by. Besides that i have 80 - 90% already of this old TRIBBLE devaluing the Miradorn ship and putting it in c-stores is just rude to the people who got through opening boxes or from the exchange. But then nothing supprises me anymore I'm sure the target audience are the same ones who don't know how to upgrade the phasers in this game or set 100% energy to weapons but sign up on advanced and elite content. Well played indeed.

    No need to be snarky about the pack or players. I my self have several things in the pack i have had the tng uniforms from the start 10 years ago, and to some how say something is devalued for being given in a pack i do not see it like that.

    I am glad the older content is available for new players its not just to cater to older players whims like mine.

    And why we have no information as of yet on if it is all account wide items clothing and ship.

    This is a huge discount for those that want it. The Picard outfit in the lobi store just for one is 200 lobi to guaranteee geting it you are looking at 50 keys that translate to 50$, and if you take that account wide even at full price it would cover the cost and then some with only 3 uses of it. Not to mention the other outfits, ships, bridge.

    In general and not all directed at the post quote there is not one thing in this game that said exclusivity was unlimited in time. So any one getting there nickers in a twist try looking at it from the other side of the table first please.
    To be or not to be: B)
  • phoenix841phoenix841 Member Posts: 486 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    Is this Miradorn sale account-wide (probably is or at least should be)? I think of the example of the Galor which is a decent approach.

    Will there be discounts if a player already owns an item or multiple items in this bundle? Many players already owning an item or items in a bundle poses that problem when using older purchasable items as filler for perceived value in a bundle that is new.

    Cryptic has proven they have the technology & know how to discount any bundle based-off of already purchasable content in a bundle. Whether or not Cryptic chooses to do so though is their decision & I'm sure based off of diminishing returns of required effort versus profit margin. It is Cryptic's decision though since they could do it for players.

    I wouldn't go that far. So far we have only seen a limited type of discount, specifically for a particular item being discounted by one, and only one other item. It's easy to code that for one case. It may not be extendable in its current iteration for multiple item discounts. I do hope they plan on doing that, but think of how long it took us to get the discounts we do have. Even the LoR pack wasn't discounted retroactively if you own the starter (latter of which I purchased with $$). It's the only huge bundle I don't own, and over the years I've accumulated most of the items in it anyway. So at this point, I'll never purchase it.

    Speaking of Galor, that's not a bad example...
    In every other pack we've had, if you didn't like one, or event two of the T6 ships in it, it wasn't the end of the day. There was still value in the rest, so you never felt like you wasted money.

    However with this pack, if you aren't interested in the T6 ship, the pack might as well be worthless. The rest of the stuff doesn't even come close to the asking price. Even at the discounted price, it's not really that much of a deal, and less so if you also own a few other outfits it comes with. Sad part though, is that this is the only way (currently) to acquire the tommy gun if you missed out on it before. Sucks if you want that (it's pretty good, and I enjoy using it), but don't want anything else.
    LTS Since Beta (Jan 2010).
  • duasynduasyn Member Posts: 492 Arc User
    Ignoring Mudd's Market... the only good thing about this bundle is the precedent setting (I think?) 50% off sale price. Now any sale they do that isn't 50% off will seem 'not good enough'.

    As they say in marketing books: "The sale price becomes the expected price." ;)
  • psiameesepsiameese Member Posts: 1,644 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    With the release of this bundle, we’ve also revamped the Constellation-class Heavy Cruiser model in the game. This new model update is a complete rebuild that brings the visual fidelity of the model in-line with our current visual standard. This update also adds the Type 8, Type 8b, NX, NX Refit and TOS material options to the model.

    This excites me and looks amazing in those two pictures.
    reyan01 wrote: »
    > @rhazedurile said:
    > Revamped Constellation perhaps means a T6 Heavy Cruiser is coming? I know...you can't talk about upcoming content, right?

    No.

    I feel that there is an argument to support any of the C-Store .5 starships to be recoded as leveling starships. Which would, in effect, make the Constellation a T6 ship down the line. It would certainly make the investment of the visual fidelity update more worthwhile. While that isn't currently the case and won't help sell this bundle now, I still feel it's worth the Devs revisiting for the not-so-distant future.




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  • salvation4salvation4 Member Posts: 1,167 Arc User
    Uh..What exactly in this bundle is from the new show????
    Adrian-Uss Sovereign NCC-73811 (LVL 65 FED ENG) UR/E MKXV Fleet Intel Assault Cruiser (April 2012) (Main)
    Adu-Uss Firefox NCC-93425-F (LVL 65 FED AoY ENG) UR/VR MKXV Fleet Intel Assault Cruiser (July 2016)
    Jean-Uss Seratoga Ravenna (LVL 60 FED Delta ENG) UC/R MKVI Bajoran Escort (April 2018)
    Dubsa-RRW Mnaudh (LVL 50 FED allied ROM Delta ENG) Warbird (May 2018)
    Marop-IKS Orunthi (LVL 50 KNG Delta ENG) BoP (May 2018)
    Kanak'lan-TRIBBLE (LVL 65 DOM Gamma ENG) TRIBBLE (June 2018)
  • alcyoneserenealcyoneserene Member Posts: 2,412 Arc User
    They already, directly or indirectly, spent a lot of money for that ship and that prior investment should be respected.
    Prior investments and the whole retaining of value is never respected in STO by Cryptic.

    All they do is "balance passes" that renders prior investments/gambling/grind/money/time practically obsolete overnight only to pave way to power-sell again next month.

    I've never seen a game that's a landfill of abilities and items that do nothing and don't even help advanced TFO content. Here there are no real choices, only an offering of wrong choices and skill traps and ability traps.

    People join, get in on the meta, see it vanish in a month or two, and probably leave or change their expectations to keep playing. Hence we get empty queues, an exchange with dwindling supply, and event after event to keep artificial player population metrics up.
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  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    Some thoughts on this.

    4. This isn't the account wide unlock for boxed ships that I have been asking for, nor is it the one I want.

    5. The people that do already own the T6 really should get a heavy discount here, or at least an account wide unlock for the T6. They already, directly or indirectly, spent a lot of money for that ship and that prior investment should be respected.

    As with any pack it will ultimately be up to the consumers to decide for themselves whether they believe the value is worth it or not. Some will think it is, some won't. I don't see this pack as being for veteran players but newer players who otherwise never had a chance at some of these items. I have also raised the question of why the T6 Galaxy aka Andromeda wasn't included myself as I don't see a reason for folks to leave their t6 for the t5u Galaxy when the T6 will level all the way to max with them. The t5u is still a capable ship, but I don't see too many who are going to swap ships like that unless they just want to say they're flying a Galaxy class. This again would circle back to the question though, why not give them the T6 Andromeda in the bundle. So questions have been asked. Questions have also been asked about potential discounts for owning parts of the bundle or perhaps sub-bundles such as just the t6 and new uniform.

    Far as account wide unlocking of the Miradorn, it will most likely work like the Galor and t5 Dominion ships did during Victory is Life. The Galor was an account wide unlock and I don't see why they wouldn't retroactively unlock it for the Miradorn folks. If they don't, then I suspect they will sell just that ship individually on its own at some point and folks can pay the 3k zen to unlock it for your account. It would suck to have to pay the 3k zen instead of it being a retroactive unlock, but at least it would be an unlock. I do know folks have been asking for some of the lockbox and promo ships to be made account unlocks for awhile. How they go about it or should go about it is up for debate, but is a different can of worms. I do have to ask though, define what you mean by "this isn't the one I want" and that 4th statement I quoted above. What exactly do you want?

    As for number 5, I would like to see them do a retroactive thing for account unlocks, but I'm not going to be surprised if they don't either. As a service to the customers I would hope they do a retroactive thing, but if not I see it like buying an item then getting mad that a week later they put that same item on sale and demanding a partial refund.
    Prior investments and the whole retaining of value is never respected in STO by Cryptic.

    All they do is "balance passes" that renders prior investments/gambling/grind/money/time practically obsolete overnight only to pave way to power-sell again next month.

    I've never seen a game that's a landfill of abilities and items that do nothing and don't even help advanced TFO content. Here there are no real choices, only an offering of wrong choices and skill traps and ability traps.

    People join, get in on the meta, see it vanish in a month or two, and probably leave or change their expectations to keep playing. Hence we get empty queues, an exchange with dwindling supply, and event after event to keep artificial player population metrics up.

    Simply because something gets changed doesn't mean they've stopped respecting the investment or are doing something to purposefully trash someone's work. First in every blog it makes clear the stats of the items are subject to change, and it's not limited to purely before the release of the item.

    In regards to balance passes, your statement is the same kind of argument I saw people throwing up when the Kemocite situation happened a few years ago, and with the changes made in Season 13. When an item/power in a game gets to be THE answer in all cases, it will get nerfed. WoW does it, SWTOR does it, and every other game out there on the market does it.

    Plasma Exploders and Plasmonic Leech were changed because they became THE answer in all cases, and 95% of all ships out there had them on their build, Tanks, science, DPS, all had them. To give an analogy, it would be like everyone suddenly running nothing but pure Red decks in MTG and only 5% of folks bothering to touch the other 4 colors. It makes for a stale game and a very one dimensional approach to building that will eventually drive people away. Thus part of why they were changed in STO. Yeah it sucked if you invested alot into those items, but the health of the game overall demanded a change. Similarly with Kemocite, it was said from the very start that Kemocite was not working correctly and it would take time to actually fix it properly. People for a time enjoyed the fact that Kemocite was broken and complained when it was fixed, even though they knew a fix was coming.

    No game company is going to let you keep an item like Plasma Exploders, Plasmonic Leech, or Kemocite in a broken state at the expense of the game's overall health. Sorry but no player in this game or single ability is that important. As far as to what is "wrong" is generally a matter of opinion. Not every skill or every power is going to work for every single build, nor should it honestly. Simply because a power works for Builds A and B but not C and D does not mean it's a bad power, it simply means it's not made for those builds.

    Finally in regards to metas changing, it will change from time to time as mmos bring out new content, new items etc. That's the nature of MMOs and games like it. As new items get introduced new interactions that weren't possible before become possible and such. As for "keep artificial metrics up" that's borderlining a doom comment. Simply because you don't see the players personally doesn't mean they're not there or the game is "dying." This game has been "dying" since LoR at the least
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  • alcyoneserenealcyoneserene Member Posts: 2,412 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    I've run the same circles long enough to know. Game sells power, power more often than not is 'accidentally' OP, gets nerfed conveniently down the road. New powers much stronger replace the previous, until such point a game wide 'balance pass' hits.

    Metas shouldn't exist, but they do and are encouraged, and then deliberately changed to favor the new stuff to sell if the new stuff isn't already in line with the meta. It's become a landfill because of endless abilities, items, and powers that are practically obsolete, as in you hurt your build or playstyle to use these, and they fill no role whatsoever. A healthy game does not need to operate like this.

    I don't play that many games, but of those few I play a lot of. Planetside2 is a MMO and thus makes a fair comparison. Almost every weapon, item, and ability has its role, and does eventually receive balance passes and not just nerfs but buffs too. Sure there's the meta loadouts and most ideal gear, it's got a ton of problems too, but they generally do strive to expand horizontally for making new playstyles viable however niche they may be, or in a soft or hard counter type of way, giving way more options to approach any situation. Disables (flash bangs, concussion grenades), AoE splash damage, tanking, dealing damage in endless ways, radar and intel gathering, all of these are completely viable, necessary in a team environment, and will remain that way.
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  • doctorstegidoctorstegi Member Posts: 1,181 Arc User
    galaxydef.png

    So yeah this is how the Galaxy Class Deflector looks like. That aweful pixel junk hasn't been fixed in years and I doubt it ever will be. Another reason NOT to buy this ridiculous package.
    C-Store Inc. is still looking for active members on the fed side. If you don't have a fleet feel free to contact me in game @stegi.
  • foxrockssocksfoxrockssocks Member Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    Yes I know Cryptic has a miserable history of respecting prior investments, and have been very frugal in my own investments into this game because of Cryptic's actions. I had been hopeful with these discussions of possibilities of opening up account wide unlocks of boxed ships that this was changing.

    In these discussions I have made it clear what I wanted, which is simply the ability to get a boxed ship via a box and either eating the ship immediately makes it a direct accountwide unlock, or maybe you have to spend a little bit more in the Cstore to make it an accountwide unlock, definitely not more than 3k zen. At the very least the trait, ASScard and console should become account wide.

    There is another idea out there to have the ship either repackable into an account bound box or some similar system, where you could eat a ship, but if you want to move it to a different character it has to be decommissioned from the first character then moved to the next one. That system could be satisfactory too and does nothing to affect the investment people already made into the lockbox ships, yet it would undoubtedly require a lot more technical work to make it happen.

    Personally I can't imagine flying the same ship on more than 2 maybe 3 characters at the same time, and only if they have significantly differing builds and playstyles, so actually having the ship on every character isn't actually that useful to me as the trait/card/console can be, but those are not worth the price of the ship. The closest I have to two characters flying the same ship is two ships out of the multimission explorer bundle, where one flies the Fed version, and another the Romulan version, but the builds are dramatically different.

    It is also particularly frustrating to have one of these ships and realize this would probably work better for a different character that is specialized into different weapons and a different build than the one I use it on, cause it is stuck on the character I open it on. Because of how expensive that process is, to upgrade a whole set of different weapons, respec and all of that just to try out a different build, I rarely even do it for normal ships, yet an accountwide unlock would also help that situation be less frustrating because I could just use it on the character I think it is better for.

    Now, having it directly purchasable really ruins the value of the lockboxes, and while I'd honestly not shed a tear over that, it is a serious income stream for Cryptic that they are cutting into. Further, it stands to reason that if lockboxes are less valuable because the ships are less coveted due to being directly purchasable, then the effect will be that less people will care to open lockboxes and thus everything else not a ship becomes much more scarce in the economy than it already is, and I don't consider that a good thing. I can't imagine them doing this for newer box ships, but the infinity ships, thus far less of the old traits and so forth on the market as less people open infinity boxes. This is a situation that is somewhere in the future if they did continue down this path of lockbox ship bundles, so it remains to be seen.
  • sennahcheribsennahcherib Member Posts: 2,823 Arc User
    instead of a average smuggler costume (I bought it, and that was a disappointment), a smuggler/scavenger/etc mini faction would be cool, if in the Picard's show, he acts like an "outlaw".
  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    I've run the same circles long enough to know. Game sells power, power more often than not is 'accidentally' OP, gets nerfed conveniently down the road. New powers much stronger replace the previous, until such point a game wide 'balance pass' hits.

    Metas shouldn't exist, but they do and are encouraged, and then deliberately changed to favor the new stuff to sell if the new stuff isn't already in line with the meta. It's become a landfill because of endless abilities, items, and powers that are practically obsolete, as in you hurt your build or playstyle to use these, and they fill no role whatsoever. A healthy game does not need to operate like this.

    As games add more and more items, additional interactions become possible that didn't used to be possible previously. As just one example this is why formats in yugioh, MTG, and similar continue to update their banlists for the various formats. It's 100% possible for a card in those games to be fine for many years, then down the road someone discovers a new broken way to cheese the old card, and the old card is hit with the banlist. The same concept is true for balance in MMOs. From time to time older items that were once fine need to be adjusted to match today's state of the game. This is nothing new and has went on from the dawn of gaming. This is nothing new, and simply because it hits something you like doesn't automatically make it a bad change. Quite a few people complained when Plasmonic Leech and the Plasma Exploders were changed, but it's overall been alot better since season 13. Today there is more variety in consoles and builds that simply didn't exist prior to season 13.

    As for metas, folks are always going to gravitate to what they feel gives them the best performance for the least amount of effort. This is true in every game out there, be it mmos like WoW, SWTOR, STO, or others. It's also true of card games like Yugioh, MTG, Pokemon and others. Why would people invest more than they have to or work harder than they have to? There is always going to be some type of meta that people gravitate towards due to actual or perceived advantages it gives. As for selling ships and abilities, why would they not go with what is going to make them the most money? Cryptic exists to make money as a company, that's what they're in existence to do. I will grant you, there are some powers I feel are too narrow in function, but those are few and far between. Simply because they may not work for my build doesn't mean they're useless.
    I don't play that many games, but of those few I play a lot of. Planetside2 is a MMO and thus makes a fair comparison. Almost every weapon, item, and ability has its role, and does eventually receive balance passes and not just nerfs but buffs too. Sure there's the meta loadouts and most ideal gear, it's got a ton of problems too, but they generally do strive to expand horizontally for making new playstyles viable however niche they may be, or in a soft or hard counter type of way, giving way more options to approach any situation. Disables (flash bangs, concussion grenades), AoE splash damage, tanking, dealing damage in endless ways, radar and intel gathering, all of these are completely viable, necessary in a team environment, and will remain that way.

    STO is one of the few games that does not have Ye Holy Trinity of Tank, DPS, Healer in it, and it's done fine so far without it. If anything I would say it's more of a Holy Duo of Tank and DPS with both being able to heal a bit, or Tank, DPS, Support. As for abilities not being buffed, have you tried a beam overload build as of late? Beam Overload can easily keep up with the FAW builds out there today in terms of raw damage. They also gave significant buffs to mine builds and similar. With that said, this stuff is ultimately a side tangent.
    Yes I know Cryptic has a miserable history of respecting prior investments, and have been very frugal in my own investments into this game because of Cryptic's actions. I had been hopeful with these discussions of possibilities of opening up account wide unlocks of boxed ships that this was changing.

    In these discussions I have made it clear what I wanted, which is simply the ability to get a boxed ship via a box and either eating the ship immediately makes it a direct accountwide unlock, or maybe you have to spend a little bit more in the Cstore to make it an accountwide unlock, definitely not more than 3k zen. At the very least the trait, ASScard and console should become account wide.

    There is another idea out there to have the ship either repackable into an account bound box or some similar system, where you could eat a ship, but if you want to move it to a different character it has to be decommissioned from the first character then moved to the next one. That system could be satisfactory too and does nothing to affect the investment people already made into the lockbox ships, yet it would undoubtedly require a lot more technical work to make it happen.

    The only thing I'm going to say on this bit is that they've been talking about this sort of thing for awhile and how they want to do it. They've kicked some ideas around on streams and such, but have not said one way or another how they intend to do it. We also do NOT know yet for certain if the only way to acquire the Miradorn will be through that bundle deal, and I highly suspect it will have sub-bundles and folks can get it normally on the Cstore. The Galor could be picked up normally on the cstore when it was stuck in there. I highly suspect they will adopt a similar approach.
    It is also particularly frustrating to have one of these ships and realize this would probably work better for a different character that is specialized into different weapons and a different build than the one I use it on, cause it is stuck on the character I open it on. Because of how expensive that process is, to upgrade a whole set of different weapons, respec and all of that just to try out a different build, I rarely even do it for normal ships, yet an accountwide unlock would also help that situation be less frustrating because I could just use it on the character I think it is better for.

    I pulled this part out in particular because I think it gets to the crux of argument. Would I like to see the promo, lockbox, and other ships go account wide, yes, I absolutely would for the simple fact I would be able to claim virtually any ship on any toon since I own them all. So again YES PLEASE however I also recognize that's not going to happen without some other way for Cryptic to keep the cash coming in. As it is right now, you have various checks to keep you from simply opening a box out of the blue and there's a reason it can be a pain in the aft shuttle bay to open one. When you get a lockbox ship, promo, lobi etc, it's up to you to make sure you open it on the correct toon, and is absolutely not their problem if you don't. I know that sounds cold, but it's not their problem to make sure you open the box on the correct toon, that's purely on you. I'm not going to complain if they make them account wide, but that won't happen until a way is found to make sure Cryptic is able to make at least what they are now, or perhaps more than they would have by keeping them character specific.


    Ultimately we don't know for sure all the potential ways to buy the items will be. All we know is just this one bundle so far, and with every large bundle that I've ever seen them do, you could always pick and choose what you wanted/needed with very very very rare exceptions to that rule. I would encourage folks to wait and reserve their judgements until we actually have it in hand
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  • captaincelestialcaptaincelestial Member Posts: 1,925 Arc User
    salvation4 wrote: »
    Uh..What exactly in this bundle is from the new show????

    It's to do with Picard in TNG. It would have been better to wait 'til after ST:Pickard is released to use the Picard Bundle name, especially if people are brought in by the new show wouldn't have a clue about Picard's time before the show.
  • mikeblackwolfmikeblackwolf Member Posts: 64 Arc User
    salvation4 wrote: »
    Uh..What exactly in this bundle is from the new show????

    Nada
  • thedoctorblueboxthedoctorbluebox Member Posts: 749 Arc User
    Just passing this along - https://youtu.be/wz2AQzjW2ls

    Video that is related to the Picard Bundle and this Thread
  • wilbor2wilbor2 Member Posts: 1,684 Arc User
    ill be passing on this bundle as I have some of the items already and think this bundle way over priced.
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  • foppotee#4552 foppotee Member Posts: 1,704 Arc User
    Just passing this along - https://youtu.be/wz2AQzjW2ls

    Video that is related to the Picard Bundle and this Thread

    Really interesting video regarding this "Picard Bundle" from beginning to end.

    This is the cost of a STO full expansion which offers much more & again this is Federation focused.

    I do enjoy the double-edged sword that Cryptic jib-jabs back & forth about regarding starship bridges: Cryptic claims bridges are not worth the effort in producing or improving so Cryptic doesn't, but then uses bridges as filler to place in bundles for perceived value.

    Adding a Psionic Resonator as a ground device would've added something brand new & more value to this bundle.

    Quick cash grab, which if it had enough value wouldn't be bad, & I like Cryptic's attempt to innovative thinking, but lousy execution & poor presentation.
  • paddy#3322 paddy Member Posts: 203 Arc User
    While this bundle is an easy pass, I'm interested to see if more lock box ships will be sold this way. There are a number of ships that I'd be interested in purchasing and if the bundle was better then this one, I'd pull the trigger on it for 6k zen. But only if it was a really good bundle and the ships were account wide unlocks. Maybe a nice Tholian bundle for instance.
    RIP (2022) : Officer Wilbert Mota, Corporal Charles Galloway, Detective Jason Rivera, Officer Fernando
    Arroyos, Officer John Painter, K9 Jedi, K9 Maya, Deputy Constable Neil Adams, Officer Jorge
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    Lieutenant William Lebo
  • szerontzurszerontzur Member Posts: 2,723 Arc User
    I'll take "Marketing is out of touch with reality" for 6000, Trebek!

    (Seriously, there have been a number of offers lately that have really left me scratching my head. Did something change recently with your marketing personal?)
  • ee3452pee3452p Member Posts: 32 Arc User
    szerontzur wrote: »
    Did something change recently with your marketing personal?)

    I've got the same impression, that certain management/marketing decisions have gravely deviated from how Cryptic had handled things in previous years. Recently it has taken on EA-esque forms, and we all know how popular that company is. Introducing Mudds market in a very sloppy way right before Black Friday/Christmas most likely has more hurt Cryptic's sales than done any good.

    Greed by Cryptic only results in me spending less and less, while generosity by Cryptic and delivering good episode content will result in me spending more. I would suggest 6000 Zen for the Picard pack as a regular price, and then 5000 Zen as discounted introduction (you don't need to go much lower than that). That I would consider a "fair" price for all the items.
    A zero cost way for Cryptic to finance and expand the foundry

    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!
  • jennycolvinjennycolvin Member Posts: 1,100 Arc User
    So, the bundle is going live today and we still don't know for sure if the T6 will, in fact, be account unlock.
    That much they could've said, if they really didn't want to answer the other questions we have about this bundle.
    Of course, we're gonna read it anyway in the bundle's description in the Z-Store - or at least, I hope so! - but really... is that such a hard question to answer?​​
    kv1Ohsx.png
    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.
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