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Incentivizing people to spend money
dragonmalice12
Member Posts: 25 Arc User
I see a lot of threads about creating dilithium sinks because the exchange is too high - it all seems to miss the point. With enough set up characters, an hour a day is enough to generate all the dilithium I need to get whatever I want within reason, even at an exchange rate of 500. The issue is that I see no reason to - there's nothing to work towards. To get people to spend money, you need to get them excited - right now, all STO has is a new shiny every month and the DPS crawl (ok, let's call it a flood). If you're not obsessed with having the newest thing all the time, or running a parser and desperate for greater and greater numbers, the game has little to offer long time players.
The game is bug ridden mess overrun with ships putting out so much DPS that most TFO's could be completed by a single player now. In my view, STO is now mostly a single player game - admiralty, doffing, endeavors that don't include TFO's, etc. If I needed something from a specific TFO enough to want to run it, the queue is dead. If it's one of the few people are playing, it'll probably be over while I'm still trying to get my BOFF tray to activate. I'll get what I need, but there isn't much fun in it.
So, want some money? Here are some ideas that will incentivize a life time account holder who's been playing for over a decade to pony up:
I'm sick and tired of bugs - try fixing a few for a change. Here are some ideas:
- Personal, ship, and starship traits shouldn't have a mind of their own, and I shouldn't have to check them 8 times a day to make sure they stayed put. Once a trait is slotted, make it stay put until the player deliberately clicks on that trait and changes it.
- I gave up on using batteries this past year. It'd be great if I could put a stack on (and add to a depleted stack) and know it would still be on the my ship (not back in inventory) next time I want to use it.
- All of the work in how the ship operates is done in advance of battle - I choose my weapons, set up my trays, have key binds set up. Battle should be about choosing the speed and direction of the ship, targeting, and decision making. Instead, and for pretty much the entire time I've played this game, it's instead an excruciating mini game of: Tap key bind or click ability, watch it intently - button grays out, ability sound chimes... nope, didn't activate. Tap key bind or click ability, watch it intently - button grays out, ability sound chines... nope, still didn't activate. Look up - oh, I died, it doesn't matter any more. Half of my BOFF skills are activated by key binds, and I STILL have to stare at the tray more than the battle to make sure they activate.
I click the button or key bind, the game reacts to it and shows me that it recognizes the action, then basically forgets it happened and we start over. Everything works find in orbit space, so call it lag as much as anything else. It gets worse in multiplayer events where everyone else is spamming TRIBBLE too - which brings us back to why I call this a single player game now. Upgrade your servers, cut down on the AoE effects that are dragging them down, work on your priorities - whatever it takes, when I hit a button it should activate. And, yes, I know there is a delay between abilities - even the first one doesn't activate.
- I'm sure that tactical escorts spamming Subnuc, boarding parties and abilities that disable the entire tray and ignore tac team, and abilities that make my ship fly 20k from the battle all seem like wonderful ideas in theory. In practice, if you disable my ship for the entire battle or make it fly away from the battle, I take the hint and walk away. In conjunction with time based battles, all you're doing is telling me that you don't want me to actually play the game but just wait for it to end. Definitely not something the entices me to spend money on upgrades - they won't work either.
- It's clear that enabling people to do more insane amounts of DPS is the only goal of the game right now. Despite the fact that the enemy flagship usually only has seconds to live, it's perfectly okay for the players to activate Alpha patterns, Beta, Go down Fighting, Tac Fleet, Intel Fleet, Fire on my Mark, and every other damage boost they can find simultaneously. God forbid I have some obscure console or trait activate that gives me a second of damage immunity when I don't need it, because then I need to be punished by having access to the Rock and Roll skill I committed half my specializations to having blocked out for half a minute! News flash - the DPS'ers aren't taking pilot skills. You're disabling the fun part of the game to make up for the imbalances you caused catering to them.
The game is bug ridden mess overrun with ships putting out so much DPS that most TFO's could be completed by a single player now. In my view, STO is now mostly a single player game - admiralty, doffing, endeavors that don't include TFO's, etc. If I needed something from a specific TFO enough to want to run it, the queue is dead. If it's one of the few people are playing, it'll probably be over while I'm still trying to get my BOFF tray to activate. I'll get what I need, but there isn't much fun in it.
So, want some money? Here are some ideas that will incentivize a life time account holder who's been playing for over a decade to pony up:
I'm sick and tired of bugs - try fixing a few for a change. Here are some ideas:
- Personal, ship, and starship traits shouldn't have a mind of their own, and I shouldn't have to check them 8 times a day to make sure they stayed put. Once a trait is slotted, make it stay put until the player deliberately clicks on that trait and changes it.
- I gave up on using batteries this past year. It'd be great if I could put a stack on (and add to a depleted stack) and know it would still be on the my ship (not back in inventory) next time I want to use it.
- All of the work in how the ship operates is done in advance of battle - I choose my weapons, set up my trays, have key binds set up. Battle should be about choosing the speed and direction of the ship, targeting, and decision making. Instead, and for pretty much the entire time I've played this game, it's instead an excruciating mini game of: Tap key bind or click ability, watch it intently - button grays out, ability sound chimes... nope, didn't activate. Tap key bind or click ability, watch it intently - button grays out, ability sound chines... nope, still didn't activate. Look up - oh, I died, it doesn't matter any more. Half of my BOFF skills are activated by key binds, and I STILL have to stare at the tray more than the battle to make sure they activate.
I click the button or key bind, the game reacts to it and shows me that it recognizes the action, then basically forgets it happened and we start over. Everything works find in orbit space, so call it lag as much as anything else. It gets worse in multiplayer events where everyone else is spamming TRIBBLE too - which brings us back to why I call this a single player game now. Upgrade your servers, cut down on the AoE effects that are dragging them down, work on your priorities - whatever it takes, when I hit a button it should activate. And, yes, I know there is a delay between abilities - even the first one doesn't activate.
- I'm sure that tactical escorts spamming Subnuc, boarding parties and abilities that disable the entire tray and ignore tac team, and abilities that make my ship fly 20k from the battle all seem like wonderful ideas in theory. In practice, if you disable my ship for the entire battle or make it fly away from the battle, I take the hint and walk away. In conjunction with time based battles, all you're doing is telling me that you don't want me to actually play the game but just wait for it to end. Definitely not something the entices me to spend money on upgrades - they won't work either.
- It's clear that enabling people to do more insane amounts of DPS is the only goal of the game right now. Despite the fact that the enemy flagship usually only has seconds to live, it's perfectly okay for the players to activate Alpha patterns, Beta, Go down Fighting, Tac Fleet, Intel Fleet, Fire on my Mark, and every other damage boost they can find simultaneously. God forbid I have some obscure console or trait activate that gives me a second of damage immunity when I don't need it, because then I need to be punished by having access to the Rock and Roll skill I committed half my specializations to having blocked out for half a minute! News flash - the DPS'ers aren't taking pilot skills. You're disabling the fun part of the game to make up for the imbalances you caused catering to them.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
The vast, vast majority of players don't have the time to do any massive alt farming. The few that do are not the cause of the problem.
The actual cause is simple: more people want zen than dilithium.
The reason? Because they are constantly adding new things that require zen, while not regularly adding new things that require dilithium.
The solution requires them to regularly add new things that people actually want that requires dilithium. If they don't do it regularly, it won't work. If the new things they add aren't things most people care about, it also won't work.
If they actually want to solve the problem then they are simply going to have to make it a part of their normal development schedule. If they don't, then the problem won't go away.
Plenty of people are spending money. I'm sure the Kelvin Mudd bundle sold really well. Getting people to spend money isn't the issue as far as the dilex is concerned.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
- There's just as much potential in modifying the existing ships as there is in selling new ones. I don't care about the shiny new stuff you put out each month (aside from buying it cheap on the exchange for later resale). I am attached to most of the ships I currently have, and would LOVE to be able to do more with them. What do I mean?
*How about the ability to change a ship's role? Voyager wasn't a science ship, and I'll never play it as one. How about spending some Zen to change the layout to a Tactical/Cruiser role? I'd love to be able to rearrange BOFF seating - I'd pay more to be able to choose the exact layout in one go, but if it's cheap enough, a randomizer might be interesting as well.
*How about upgrading older ships? I have a lot of mirror universe ships in inventory due to admiralty - since they're taking up space anyhow, I started equipping and playing around them. I like them, I'm stuck with them (because the game is so stable I don't trust the the admiralty cards will never get lost or reset), and I'd do more with them if I could. More upgrades to allow previously unupgradeable ships to progress would be nice. Being able to take a T5U to T6 would be nice. For that matter, regardless of the availability of a T6 version of the ship, why isn't it possible to upgrade all the way from T1? Maybe even come up with some other benefit for that investment (at the very least, an admiralty card for each level the ship goes through, with an epic when you get to T6X).
*Similar to changing BOFF seating, how about being able to change the specializations? Hmm, that temporal seat isn't too useful, but I'd love for an Intel spot...
*Weapon layouts - hmm, my Defiant would love 5 forward guns...
I love the tinkering aspect of the game, and could see spending more on that than I ever will on new ships. Considering the cost of the upgrade tokens and such, it certainly wouldn't be cheaper than buying new ships (which means it technically shouldn't kill that revenue stream either). Also, the motivation for buying ships is as often in the consoles and traits, so again, not dipping too heavily in that. As long as rules are in place to maintain the balance on number and layout of stations, these could be really fun, interesting additions.
- Doffing and Admiralty - so many possibilities. I'm honestly scared to bring this up, because those systems are functional right now. Still, there's so much potential:
* How about Doffs that gain xp and level up?
* How about being able to assign Boff and Doffs to Admiralty ships to boost their stats? I suppose the monetization would be in purchasing the stations - maybe an account wide unlock for that ship?
* What if equipment on ships affected that ship's admiralty stats? This is an easy one, gotta have the ship in active roster to equip it. Need equipment, need more slots, etc - infinite potential for income and customization.
* And a more integrated system - more complex missions that allow for a choice of ship AND crew. Maybe even something along the lines of new tours of duty culminating in putting together a task force to do a simulated TFO!
I guess the key would be not losing Doffing and Admiralty as they exist - they have a lot of value as they are now. I'd just like to go beyond that as additional options. I really like the Endeavor system, and would love to see other long term ways to feel like I'm developing my characters further.
Great Comment, Voyager should be a science/destroyer type vessel. Its even stated in the opener that its designed for combat performance .. (new systems and all)
Well that's part of it...and part of it well it's rather easy to get dilithium, combine that with no dilithium sinks and bam...capped market.
Capped market is in the devs favor, it makes zen more valuable which makes dilithium less valuable, and that gives people more a reason to open their wallets instead of wasting time on the slow but easy grind. (Which requires a bunch of alts which people probably don't want to bother with)
(especially because different people have different things they're looking for. Personally, I buy ships for appearance & ship parts, not traits or roles. Other people have favorite ship classes. Etc. This isn't to say that I've bought much recently - all these giant bundles are things I'm never going to go for. I've never had more than ~5000zen at once, and that was when the dil exchange had a much lower exchange rate. Even the old "9-ship cross-faction bundles" were out of my price range, let alone the crazy junk they shove in the store these days.)
All abilities "lag"/jam. Keybinds don't truly help much.
All loadouts scramble.
Now traits get randomly deleted.
Game crashes to desktop randomly more often than ever.
Joystick support is gone again because "there is no official joystick support."
The once-good F2P model is no longer valid, it's a cash-grab casino running on never-ending exclusive items and mini clicky-grinds.
The end-game dynamics, player interaction has not expanded to justify the massive increase in prices (it's regressed to DPS-spam).
Balance in STO? There is none.
Forum feedback? "We're a tiny non-representative sample."
The sooner new players see it for what it is, hopefully in fair reviews of "Is STO worth trying in 20xx", the better, to stop them from sinking their time and cash down a well, to avoid promoting such a failed 'business model' to other MMOs that actually do things right.
STO actually does a lot of things right from a F2P point of view, like the entire game being accessible without paying for dozens of DLCs like a lot of other games do. And the gamble parts are not in the essential systems, you can get by quite well without spending anything if your budget is tight (mine is not quite zero but I have to plan out purchases very carefully in advance, especially since I simply don't have the budget to get more than a ship or some characters slots or a few other minor service items now and then).
You can even get free T6 ships via some of the events, and the tailor is free (though it does have some pay clothing) unlike a lot of games where if you want to adjust the looks after character generation you have to pay an often hefty fee to do it.
Archeage is notoriously bad for that kind of thing, playing that game is like being stuck in a Jack Benny skit the way they try to nickel and dime you to death. DCUO used to be great... until you hit endgame which required purchasing an expensive combat suit to be at all competitive (though I have heard that in recent years they backed off a bit on that). And SWTOR used to be a notorious sponge though they have toned that part down a bit in the last few years too.
Pretty sure they started toning it down after Disney glared at them over the Battlefront 2 fiasco.
"Launched in the year 2371, the Intrepid-class Federation starship USS Voyager was a ship built to return to Starfleet's founding principle of scientific exploration. It was fitting that the ship's captain, Kathryn Janeway, rose up through the science ranks rather than command."
Aside from progressing my toons (you call it getting insane numbers) there is not much the game offers for me.
Depending on my level of fun I pay for could haves and would be nices. If there is no fun I keep it to the must haves that I can easily cover f2p.
Glad to be part of the problem because if there one thing this game is lacking for years now it’s fun.
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