I feel like we're glossing over the fact we were told these things *had* to be in lockboxes because of CBS wanting to maintain rarity etc. But now its suddenly okay because its a less popular ship and writing is on the wall for the legality of lockboxes in many territories?
Would this affect the sales of the lockbox version of the ship on the exchance in any way?
Well, if you looked at the exchange price when the announcement hit and look at the exchange price now, you'd have your answer. And the answer is that we've seen a drop of about 40% in price on the exchange.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
Honestly, I am kind of tempted to get it for 6k zen even though I'm not a big fan of the miradorn, but sadly the sale will most likely end before my next paycheck. But the original price of 12k zen is a bit outlandish for a lockbox ship I'm not that interested in.
There are other lockbox ships I might be tempted to for 12k, and especially promo ships, but the miradorn is not a ship I inherently want.
I feel like we're glossing over the fact we were told these things *had* to be in lockboxes because of CBS wanting to maintain rarity etc. But now its suddenly okay because its a less popular ship and writing is on the wall for the legality of lockboxes in many territories?
Things change. CBS finally allowed a T6 TOS Connie into the game after blocking it for many years. CBS is working with Cryptic more closely now, such as with the Discovery content.
For those that want the Miradorn, now is the time to put up or shut up.
If it was any ship I actually wanted, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I have no interest in the Miradorn however, and since I know I wouldn't use it buying it would be a waste of money.
I feel like we're glossing over the fact we were told these things *had* to be in lockboxes because of CBS wanting to maintain rarity etc. But now its suddenly okay because its a less popular ship and writing is on the wall for the legality of lockboxes in many territories?
Things change. CBS finally allowed a T6 TOS Connie into the game after blocking it for many years. CBS is working with Cryptic more closely now, such as with the Discovery content.
Pity it was executed in a way that CBS left a nasty flavor in our mouths. *glares at the R&D boxes*
Well, some people were claiming that they'd buy some lockbox ships for Zen, even if they were more expensive, especially when it became an account unlock. Now everyone has the chance to put their money where their mouth is, and a great chance for the community to show to Cryptic how profitable selling gamble ships directly in the C-Store could be.
Your comment is incredibly disingenuous. The ONLY people who need to "put their money where their mouth is" are the very few people who said they would be this SPECIFIC ship if it were added to the zen store. All the other people who said they would buy any OTHER lock box ship have nothing to prove in this specific situation. For example, a person who vowed to buy a t6 connie if it were ever added to the zen store is under absolutely no obligation to buy the Miradorn.
I don't expect everyone that ever said they would lockbox ships if they were direct buys to purchase these ships. Just as I don't expect everyone that acquires the occasional lockbox ship to buy all of them.
But despite this, this model is a way for Cryptic to gauge whether it can work. Because there are people that acquired the Miradorn via lockboxes. So if now a sufficiently larger number of people are going to buy the C-Store version of the ship, Cryptic has the data to suggest they could have just sold the ship in the C-Store. If not, they see it was better to take the money from the people that were willing to buy the lockboxes, because they gave Cryptic more, and selling it at the C-Store prize would have been less profitable.
Or maybe they figure out that the C-Store price needs to be just a bit higher and it could work.
Either way, this is a way for Cryptic to see if it could actually work, or people just are making predictions that don't match reality.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,582Community Moderator
The primary deterant though is the price. Full price actually costs MORE than pretty much everything in that pack bought seperately.
If they dropped the full price to maybe 8k or something it might be reasonable, but 12k is too much off sale.
Honestly a better way to measure interest in C-Store lockbox ships would be to not put it in an overpriced bundle, especially one that is more geared towards newer players that don't already have most of what's in said bundle.
The 6k might be justified by some as you'd likely be dumping more than that on keys to gamblebox a ship but once the ship hits the store that "exclusive" status is removed and it becomes another store ship.
The 6k isn't FOR a ship, it's for a whole bundle.
It's just a bit unfortunate all the bundle contents are rather old and most players who wanted it probably already have it.
Even more unfortunate when that 6k is a 50% discount on the bundle of floor sweepings they threw together.
I bought the overpriced Picard bundle, mainly for the Miradorn and Constellation costume, and I would really like account unlocks for Lobi/Phoenix/Lockbox/Promo ships. I would buy more keys and such then I do now if the ships were account unlock. (Promo is what really annoys me, one ship I really want is a promo ship but R&D packs are expensive compared to buying lockbox keys, and spending hundreds of dollars for a small chance to get a single ship to use on one character vs buying a bunch of zen store T6 ships, just doesn't seem worth it. Especially since the other stuff you get aside from Lobi just isn't as interesting as the stuff you can get from lockboxes. I had so much R&D stuff on my main, I got an overflow bag when opening R&D promo packs a while ago and had to move some stuff to my account bank. Might be different if I did R&D more, but most stuff I actually use comes from reputation system, fleet stores, or consoles from other ships.)
Rather then try getting the Kelvin for multiple Fed chars after getting it on one, I've put most of my money into zen store ships. And if I hadn't been really lucky, I probably would have given up trying to get the Kelvin in the first place, I've already given up on the Freedom since that would not be my first choice of a promo ship. (On the other hand, I'm not done buying zen store ships yet, there are still ships I'm planning to buy when I've got the money to spare.) Likewise, I got the NX on one char but don't have any plans to try and get that particular ship on another char, so making it account unlock would not lose money on keys from me. It would make the ships affected more valuable to me and I'd make more of an effort to get them. (Kinda like making T6 ships level scaling, or making Romulan ships usable by Fed/KDF.) Especially once I start running out of zen store ships I really want to get.
I've never gotten a flyable ship through Phoenix, and I don't expect I will get one in the near future. Won't stop me from trying now and then though, unless I need my dil for something else. Like reputation gear. But I'm not using real money to buy zen to buy dil to get Phoenix boxes. Also, more available ships means that people who actually want to fly them on multiple chars may need more ship slots. Or drydock slots. And possibly Ship Upgrade Tokens. So the question isn't just
The only lockbox ships I've considered getting on multiple characters, are the old mirror ships, and those I'd buy from the exchange for EC rather then try to get them through lockboxes. And that's basically for the hull material. I mainly fly T6 ships.
Lastly, I do think they should consider putting the Miradorn in the zen store separately for those that just want the ship and either have or don't want the other stuff. (Putting the Galaxy in the bundle makes sense in that it was Picard's ship, but I already got that ship for free, so it doesn't really add any value to me.)
The 6k might be justified by some as you'd likely be dumping more than that on keys to gamblebox a ship but once the ship hits the store that "exclusive" status is removed and it becomes another store ship.
The 6k isn't FOR a ship, it's for a whole bundle.
It's just a bit unfortunate all the bundle contents are rather old and most players who wanted it probably already have it.
Even more unfortunate when that 6k is a 50% discount on the bundle of floor sweepings they threw together.
True.
I do expect they'll make a REAL Picard bundle with content from the show, after the show is aired. And that one may actually be worth buying.
That will be the Picard Lockbox and R&D Infinity Promotion, because, you know they will be rare ships.
'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 feel like we're glossing over the fact we were told these things *had* to be in lockboxes because of CBS wanting to maintain rarity etc. But now its suddenly okay because its a less popular ship and writing is on the wall for the legality of lockboxes in many territories?
Things change. CBS finally allowed a T6 TOS Connie into the game after blocking it for many years. CBS is working with Cryptic more closely now, such as with the Discovery content.
Pity it was executed in a way that CBS left a nasty flavor in our mouths. *glares at the R&D boxes*
indeed, my TOS toon is still very frustrated. You can add to that, the kelvin ships (I like very much the kelvin movies), all are in gamble boxes.
I stopped opening boxes (too many TRIBBLE in them), and grind ec (for ships) because of the disgust for these boxes.
Even if we would only get the option to send a ship away from a certain character, that would be an improvement.
I've got too many characters right now, to the point I'm considering creating a new account and just start over with 3 or 4. I would simply delete characters but then I'd be wasting many special ships.
"We are looking into the data for making lock box and phoenix stuff account wide, but..."
so no new word on making phoenix account wide or maybe I'm to assume that Mudds Market is the answer and anything in phoenix will always be single character unlocks?
Mudd's Market may not be the full answer. Look to the 'Picard' Bundle for another possibility. Seems like they are experimenting.
Post edited by ltminns on
'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 would do this for my T6 Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier, my favorite ship in the entire game, definitely.
Love the new Klingon/Fed ship too by the way. It is another "must have" to my ship collection, lol. Y'all have a lovely evening!
> @foxman00 said: > Sadly, I think the chance of these ships becoming account unlock might be too large of a financial hit for Cryptic to take. The ships being character locked might be a necessary evil for the greater good. > > I agree with @baddmoonrizin statement expect for the trade up option for Phoenix. Dont know exactly why but something makes me feel uncomfortable when that is mentioned.
You assume folks buying multiples of the exact same Lockbox ships is common, if its extremely rare, as it most likely is, then the tiny loss of profit will be way more then made up for in new profits from folks that were unwilling to buy Lockbox ships that were previously unwilling to do so for none account wide ships.
In fact I've seen anyone or heard of anyone buying multiples of a single type of lockbox ship for their characters ever.
> @foxman00 said:
> Sadly, I think the chance of these ships becoming account unlock might be too large of a financial hit for Cryptic to take. The ships being character locked might be a necessary evil for the greater good.
>
> I agree with @baddmoonrizin statement expect for the trade up option for Phoenix. Dont know exactly why but something makes me feel uncomfortable when that is mentioned.
You assume folks buying multiples of the exact same Lockbox ships is common, if its extremely rare, as it most likely is, then the tiny loss of profit will be way more then made up for in new profits from folks that were unwilling to buy Lockbox ships that were previously unwilling to do so for none account wide ships.
In fact I've seen anyone or heard of anyone buying multiples of a single type of lockbox ship for their characters ever.
I'd think the only ship you might really see people having multiple of is the TOS Dread simply because of the console. I soooorta do have 2 of these >.> (though the second one came by way of me getting an epic token and sadly passing on the T'laru I always wanted for a FRIGGIN console..)
You assume folks buying multiples of the exact same Lockbox ships is common, if its extremely rare, as it most likely is, then the tiny loss of profit will be way more then made up for in new profits from folks that were unwilling to buy Lockbox ships that were previously unwilling to do so for none account wide ships.
In fact I've seen anyone or heard of anyone buying multiples of a single type of lockbox ship for their characters ever.
As someone who has bought multiple copies of the same lock box ship, even I can't say how common or rare it is with 100% certainty. Nobody can really since people don't typically spout off about how many copies of a ship they have bought. If I had to guess, I would say that it is very rare though I admittedly can't prove it. I would also guess that players buying multiple copies of the same lobi ship are probably more common than lock box ships since lobi ships are way cheaper and more readily available on the exchange.
I'd think the only ship you might really see people having multiple of is the TOS Dread simply because of the console. I soooorta do have 2 of these >.> (though the second one came by way of me getting an epic token and sadly passing on the T'laru I always wanted for a FRIGGIN console..)
Epic phoenix tokens don't give you a choice of lock box ships. They give you a choice of event ships.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
Well a couple had the Wells, and Adapted Destroyers.
'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.'
You assume folks buying multiples of the exact same Lockbox ships is common, if its extremely rare, as it most likely is, then the tiny loss of profit will be way more then made up for in new profits from folks that were unwilling to buy Lockbox ships that were previously unwilling to do so for none account wide ships.
In fact I've seen anyone or heard of anyone buying multiples of a single type of lockbox ship for their characters ever.
As someone who has bought multiple copies of the same lock box ship, even I can't say how common or rare it is with 100% certainty. Nobody can really since people don't typically spout off about how many copies of a ship they have bought. If I had to guess, I would say that it is very rare though I admittedly can't prove it. I would also guess that players buying multiple copies of the same lobi ship are probably more common than lock box ships since lobi ships are way cheaper and more readily available on the exchange.
Weather or not people purchase multiple copies of Lock Box/Lobi ships for their alts might not something people actively talk about, but it's definitely something that the people at Cryptic know. Since Cryptic is even considering account-wide Lock Box ships, and has actually started to implement it with both the Picard Bundle and the upcoming Legendary Starship Bundles, the data more than likely points to it being rare enough for such bundles to turn more of a profit than key sales.
I feel like we're glossing over the fact we were told these things *had* to be in lockboxes because of CBS wanting to maintain rarity etc. But now its suddenly okay because its a less popular ship and writing is on the wall for the legality of lockboxes in many territories?
Things change. CBS finally allowed a T6 TOS Connie into the game after blocking it for many years. CBS is working with Cryptic more closely now, such as with the Discovery content.
Pity it was executed in a way that CBS left a nasty flavor in our mouths. *glares at the R&D boxes*
indeed, my TOS toon is still very frustrated. You can add to that, the kelvin ships (I like very much the kelvin movies), all are in gamble boxes.
I stopped opening boxes (too many TRIBBLE in them), and grind ec (for ships) because of the disgust for these boxes.
Random boxes are another thing that need to be changed to CHOICE!. Items on the exchange are getting way too expensive in ec to have to buy more than you need to get for what you want. EX: Borg module boxes are too expensive to play multiple choice with when some of the contents cant be sold at what you purchased the module box for.
Comments
Well, if you looked at the exchange price when the announcement hit and look at the exchange price now, you'd have your answer. And the answer is that we've seen a drop of about 40% in price on the exchange.
There are other lockbox ships I might be tempted to for 12k, and especially promo ships, but the miradorn is not a ship I inherently want.
Things change. CBS finally allowed a T6 TOS Connie into the game after blocking it for many years. CBS is working with Cryptic more closely now, such as with the Discovery content.
If it was any ship I actually wanted, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I have no interest in the Miradorn however, and since I know I wouldn't use it buying it would be a waste of money.
I think the whole "alien ships need to be rare" thing went out the window when Jem'hadar and Cardassian ships were added to the C-Store.
Pity it was executed in a way that CBS left a nasty flavor in our mouths. *glares at the R&D boxes*
I don't expect everyone that ever said they would lockbox ships if they were direct buys to purchase these ships. Just as I don't expect everyone that acquires the occasional lockbox ship to buy all of them.
But despite this, this model is a way for Cryptic to gauge whether it can work. Because there are people that acquired the Miradorn via lockboxes. So if now a sufficiently larger number of people are going to buy the C-Store version of the ship, Cryptic has the data to suggest they could have just sold the ship in the C-Store. If not, they see it was better to take the money from the people that were willing to buy the lockboxes, because they gave Cryptic more, and selling it at the C-Store prize would have been less profitable.
Or maybe they figure out that the C-Store price needs to be just a bit higher and it could work.
Either way, this is a way for Cryptic to see if it could actually work, or people just are making predictions that don't match reality.
If they dropped the full price to maybe 8k or something it might be reasonable, but 12k is too much off sale.
Honestly a better way to measure interest in C-Store lockbox ships would be to not put it in an overpriced bundle, especially one that is more geared towards newer players that don't already have most of what's in said bundle.
Even more unfortunate when that 6k is a 50% discount on the bundle of floor sweepings they threw together.
Rather then try getting the Kelvin for multiple Fed chars after getting it on one, I've put most of my money into zen store ships. And if I hadn't been really lucky, I probably would have given up trying to get the Kelvin in the first place, I've already given up on the Freedom since that would not be my first choice of a promo ship. (On the other hand, I'm not done buying zen store ships yet, there are still ships I'm planning to buy when I've got the money to spare.) Likewise, I got the NX on one char but don't have any plans to try and get that particular ship on another char, so making it account unlock would not lose money on keys from me. It would make the ships affected more valuable to me and I'd make more of an effort to get them. (Kinda like making T6 ships level scaling, or making Romulan ships usable by Fed/KDF.) Especially once I start running out of zen store ships I really want to get.
I've never gotten a flyable ship through Phoenix, and I don't expect I will get one in the near future. Won't stop me from trying now and then though, unless I need my dil for something else. Like reputation gear. But I'm not using real money to buy zen to buy dil to get Phoenix boxes. Also, more available ships means that people who actually want to fly them on multiple chars may need more ship slots. Or drydock slots. And possibly Ship Upgrade Tokens. So the question isn't just
The only lockbox ships I've considered getting on multiple characters, are the old mirror ships, and those I'd buy from the exchange for EC rather then try to get them through lockboxes. And that's basically for the hull material. I mainly fly T6 ships.
Lastly, I do think they should consider putting the Miradorn in the zen store separately for those that just want the ship and either have or don't want the other stuff. (Putting the Galaxy in the bundle makes sense in that it was Picard's ship, but I already got that ship for free, so it doesn't really add any value to me.)
I do expect they'll make a REAL Picard bundle with content from the show, after the show is aired. And that one may actually be worth buying.
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.'
indeed, my TOS toon is still very frustrated. You can add to that, the kelvin ships (I like very much the kelvin movies), all are in gamble boxes.
I stopped opening boxes (too many TRIBBLE in them), and grind ec (for ships) because of the disgust for these boxes.
I've got too many characters right now, to the point I'm considering creating a new account and just start over with 3 or 4. I would simply delete characters but then I'd be wasting many special ships.
so no new word on making phoenix account wide or maybe I'm to assume that Mudds Market is the answer and anything in phoenix will always be single character unlocks?
Mudd's Market may not be the full answer. Look to the 'Picard' Bundle for another possibility. Seems like they are experimenting.
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.'
Love the new Klingon/Fed ship too by the way. It is another "must have" to my ship collection, lol.
You're wrong.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
> Sadly, I think the chance of these ships becoming account unlock might be too large of a financial hit for Cryptic to take. The ships being character locked might be a necessary evil for the greater good.
>
> I agree with @baddmoonrizin statement expect for the trade up option for Phoenix. Dont know exactly why but something makes me feel uncomfortable when that is mentioned.
You assume folks buying multiples of the exact same Lockbox ships is common, if its extremely rare, as it most likely is, then the tiny loss of profit will be way more then made up for in new profits from folks that were unwilling to buy Lockbox ships that were previously unwilling to do so for none account wide ships.
In fact I've seen anyone or heard of anyone buying multiples of a single type of lockbox ship for their characters ever.
I'd think the only ship you might really see people having multiple of is the TOS Dread simply because of the console. I soooorta do have 2 of these >.> (though the second one came by way of me getting an epic token and sadly passing on the T'laru I always wanted for a FRIGGIN console..)
Epic phoenix tokens don't give you a choice of lock box ships. They give you a choice of event ships.
I'd never drop funds on a gamblebox ship purely for a console though.
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.'
Weather or not people purchase multiple copies of Lock Box/Lobi ships for their alts might not something people actively talk about, but it's definitely something that the people at Cryptic know. Since Cryptic is even considering account-wide Lock Box ships, and has actually started to implement it with both the Picard Bundle and the upcoming Legendary Starship Bundles, the data more than likely points to it being rare enough for such bundles to turn more of a profit than key sales.
Same, and it's taking me forever.