1. The sustainability of continuously pressuring people to log on every day and treat the game like a job (specifically: how long will this work, how long will it take for loyal players to simply collapse and just walk away?)
Last time I know of that Cryptic was asked about this, which was around the time of the Mycelial Crisis event, Al Rivera stated that player participation in events has only gone up, and there has been no sign of burn out.
If they had any information showing people were leaving, I suspect we would see some changes to the pattern of events. That we haven't is indicative of that not being a problem yet.
Yeah, do you think he would have admitted it if things were different?
Of course he's going to say that the 'players love it'.
I'm just saying; comments from one of the leading devs who is responsible for the strategy followed, may not be the most reliable source when discussing the drawbacks of said strategy.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
I just wish that among the devs (or whomever) tweaks their ongoing barrage of overlapping events was someone with the actual technical expertise to implement one event without breaking another.
This weekend just ended, I kept getting kicked out of loading screens for the First Contact Day event or the Borg Invasion event over, and over, and over, again and again. Don't even get me started on the Winter Wonderland in April? To the point, that I swiftly tired of it all and just played other games thus losing out on a weekends worth of dilithium and marks. Their busted process is not being managed effectively by their staff sitting around ignoring this reality while these regular bugs occur!
And I unplugged and rebooted everything on my end just to see if this was something within my system, and it wasn't. I also checked with my internet provider. I had no problems with any other games either online types or console discs. Just Star Trek Online on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sadly an all-too common occurrence with this game in particular!
Quality control is not high on their priority list, seemingly.
1. The sustainability of continuously pressuring people to log on every day and treat the game like a job (specifically: how long will this work, how long will it take for loyal players to simply collapse and just walk away?)
Last time I know of that Cryptic was asked about this, which was around the time of the Mycelial Crisis event, Al Rivera stated that player participation in events has only gone up, and there has been no sign of burn out.
If they had any information showing people were leaving, I suspect we would see some changes to the pattern of events. That we haven't is indicative of that not being a problem yet.
Yeah, do you think he would have admitted it if things were different?
Of course he's going to say that the 'players love it'.
I'm just saying; comments from one of the leading devs who is responsible for the strategy followed, may not be the most reliable source when discussing the drawbacks of said strategy.
This is something I think many people forget or ignore. Companies rarely if ever admit to something they do failing(Look at the comic book industry), because its actually more beneficial for them to lie if it is failing. Cryptic is trying to boost metrics, to say "look how our much our players are engaged!" its actually a lot worse for them to admit that no, there's less participation than before. That's why they created the buyout function. It wasn't just to "be nice" or just for money. It gives them another avenue to claim more engagement.
People like to say, "Oh they have no reason to lie" or "Oh they have all the metrics they know whats really going on" but in reality, its in their best interest to lie about things doing well even when they're failing. They probably get in more trouble actually admitting something is failing than being truthful.
(Now this isn't me speculating or anything like that, and I'm not saying businesses are always lying. Im just saying that most businesses will lie, if it helps them in some way or if the truth hurts.)
'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.'
Comments
Yeah, do you think he would have admitted it if things were different?
Of course he's going to say that the 'players love it'.
I'm just saying; comments from one of the leading devs who is responsible for the strategy followed, may not be the most reliable source when discussing the drawbacks of said strategy.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
True. Perhaps the word new on its own doesn't really properly describe the situation.
What I wanted to communicate is that it appears to be a new strategy for them to have an event running basically all the time.
While there have always been events, the intensity is clearly higher than before.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
This weekend just ended, I kept getting kicked out of loading screens for the First Contact Day event or the Borg Invasion event over, and over, and over, again and again. Don't even get me started on the Winter Wonderland in April? To the point, that I swiftly tired of it all and just played other games thus losing out on a weekends worth of dilithium and marks. Their busted process is not being managed effectively by their staff sitting around ignoring this reality while these regular bugs occur!
And I unplugged and rebooted everything on my end just to see if this was something within my system, and it wasn't. I also checked with my internet provider. I had no problems with any other games either online types or console discs. Just Star Trek Online on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sadly an all-too common occurrence with this game in particular!
Quality control is not high on their priority list, seemingly.
This is something I think many people forget or ignore. Companies rarely if ever admit to something they do failing(Look at the comic book industry), because its actually more beneficial for them to lie if it is failing. Cryptic is trying to boost metrics, to say "look how our much our players are engaged!" its actually a lot worse for them to admit that no, there's less participation than before. That's why they created the buyout function. It wasn't just to "be nice" or just for money. It gives them another avenue to claim more engagement.
People like to say, "Oh they have no reason to lie" or "Oh they have all the metrics they know whats really going on" but in reality, its in their best interest to lie about things doing well even when they're failing. They probably get in more trouble actually admitting something is failing than being truthful.
(Now this isn't me speculating or anything like that, and I'm not saying businesses are always lying. Im just saying that most businesses will lie, if it helps them in some way or if the truth hurts.)
'We are winning their hearts and minds.'
There is always a reason to obfuscate the truth.
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.'